#you guys have done it (@ my Styx mutuals)

[northwestofinsanity]

You know the band hyperfixation is truly real when you’ve had one or more of the members show up in your dreams.

Bonus points for the times it’s the highlight of your day before it’s even started.

[godsofhumanity]

Do you have any headcanons of Nyx's kids for a starving mutual? 🙏🙏🙏

goshh i don't really think that much about them except for Styx and Thanatos T-T

looking through my tag though,, i actually haven't written my hc's for Styx, just briefly in Pallas' section of my younger titans hc post :o

anyways. i know u were probably hoping for something like Hypnos and the gang,, but my brain is numb so i hope this suffices:

STYX

i know that the usual tradition is that Styx is a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, but personally, i think it makes more sense for her to be a daughter of Nyx and Erebus because she's a river running through the underworld which, as we all know, is the home for pretty much all of Nyx's family.

also, Oceanus already has like 3000+ kids so it's not a big deal hahhahaha

anyhow, i think Styx is mostly a very serious goddess. it's not like she's grumpy or anything, but she's a realist.

she knows how to laugh, and she can take a joke-- whether she's on the dishing end or receiving end.

but most of the time, she's very sensible and proper. i think this makes sense because she's the one who oaths are sworn upon. her name is invoked only in the most sacred of times,, so there should be an aura of regality and seriousness about her.

i like the idea that pretty much all of Nyx's kids are tough, and pretty good in a fight-- most of Nyx's children represent the tougher aspects of life (strife, pain, death, etc.), and even though Styx herself isn't primarily a fighter, i think her being a warrior-type reinforces the idea that she's unrelenting; as an oath should be.

now, i don't think any of the other rivers are given any spouses, but Styx is mostly said to be the wife of Pallas (son of the titan Crius, and Gaia's daughter Eurybia by Pontus), and i don't have any issues with that pairing.

i feel that Pallas has a very similar personality to Styx, so they get along really well.

as a pairing, i think they'd be one of the older couples in the second gen. titan group, and kind of like the "parents", the Oceanus & Tethys, of the younger titans.

in some accounts, Styx and Zeus have an intimate relationship, but my version of Styx i think is wayy too sensible for Zeus. i think that by the time Zeus was ready to take on the throne, she'd have already been married to Pallas for sometime. and since she's the oathkeeper, it doesn't make sense that she'd cheat.

nevertheless, i do think that Styx would have been pretty keen to support Zeus against Kronos, and that's why Zeus had a lot of respect for her and rewarded her kindly (as he did for all the titans who helped) by giving her such an important role in his kingdom.. though i also feel he may have done that to win points with Nyx (he's a king- everything's political).

one last note- relating to my comparison of Styx and Pallas with Tethys and Oceanus, i really love the idea of Styx being one of the goddesses to have been part of the whole Prometheus-Zeus falling-out.

specifically, i think that after Prometheus got chained to the mountain, Styx was the one who was with Hesione (Prometheus' wife) and Deucalion, and that she opened her home to Hesione..

being a daughter of Nyx, i think Styx and Pallas live in the Underworld, and since the Underworld is part of Hades' domain and not Zeus', i think it's important that Hesione would stay in a place far from Zeus, and in a safe place. but i don't want to go on a tangent and start talking about Hesione so ill leave it there😊

THANATOS

ok, i've actually talked about Thanatos loads: hc #1, hc #2 but he's kind of awesome so i'll talk a little more :-)))

i've said time and time again that Thanatos is THE funny guy around the Underworld. i just can't imagine anybody else. he's a riot to be around.

this is important to me because, while i do think of him as some sort of "leader" of the death gods, he is also closely linked with peaceful death. so i think that he would not want to come across as scary and terrifying, but just another guy.

also, i think that him being so jovial emphasises the idea that no one really understands the gift of life as he who takes it away. i mean, he's an immortal, but he witnesses mortal life every day and he knows how fleeting time is.

Hesiod calls Thanatos cold-hearted and hateful, and i do like the idea that the other gods tend to seem him that way,, but those who know him, like Hades and Hermes, have a bit of a different idea of him.

of course, like death, Thanatos is indifferent- he never really cares what others say about him or to him.. he's sort of immovable in that way. you wouldn't be able to anger him very easily.

but he can get angry.. i like the idea of him sort of disliking most of the Olympians. in particular, i think he doesn't like Zeus very much because Zeus is always putting people up in the constellations or letting some heroes get special treatment and becoming gods, etc. and i think Thanatos feels like maybe it should be a little more impartial. of course, Thanatos also believes in order, and as such, i don't think he'd ever betray Zeus.

something not very relevant to this, but a little more relevant to my point about Thanatos being really fun is that i think he calls Hades "the H-Man", or "boss man", or just something really silly ((he says it with utmost respect though!!!))

i think he'd only call Hades "King" about really serious things, but mostly he's really chill, and Hades kinda digs it. it makes him feel cool.

i loveee the idea of Persephone being in the Underworld for the first time and hearing Thanatos call Hades "H-Man" and having no idea whom Thanatos is referring to because Hades is such a stern guy and there's no way he'd let someone call him that lmfaoo

anyways so yeah :-) nothing really new,, but ahaha i hope u enjoyed :)

[broomballkraken]

Title: Business and Pleasure

Fandom: Hades

Pairing(s): Charon/Hermes

Word count: 1880

Warnings: N/A

Summary: They always say that nothing good will come from mixing business with pleasure, but if you were to ask Hermes, he would tell you that it was the best thing that he had ever done.

As the messenger of the gods, and a conductor of souls into the afterlife, Hermes was always on the move, making his deliveries with the swiftness that he was famous for. He loved his job, as the important, time-sensitive work let him challenge himself to get things done as quickly as possible. The fast-paced lifestyle suited Hermes perfectly.

There were some rare occasions, however, where he preferred to take things slow and wished that time would do the same. His visits to drop off souls at the river Styx were such occasions, and that had everything to do with the river’s notoriously intimidating boatman.

“Charon! You got here before me for once!”

Hermes paused his descent from the sky and watched as Charon turned towards him, his boat rocking slightly with the movement. His eyes immediately lit up when he saw Hermes, and that ever-present purple smoke billowed out of his mouth at an increased rate; Hermes had figured out that there was a positive correlation between the amount of smoke Charon produced and how happy he was. The fact made Hermes’ heart flutter, because the smoke always seemed to be the most abundant when they were together.

Hermes had always been told that mixing business with pleasure was generally a terrible idea, but he knew now that it wasn’t a universal truth, as it was the best thing that he himself had ever done. He didn’t really know how it happened, but throughout their frequent business dealings, Hermes had fallen in love with Charon. Luckily for him, those feelings were mutual, and their relationship had grown to something much more than just a professional association. It was a shame that their jobs kept them apart so much, and yet those same jobs always brought them together again, so Hermes couldn’t really complain too much about that.

As his feet touched down on the ground, Hermes didn’t bother to hide the eagerness in his steps as he stopped in front of Charon’s boat. “So, how’s my favorite river Styx boatman doing on this fine day?” Hermes leaned up to place a quick kiss on Charon’s cheek, and he let out a delighted groan in response as more purple smoke filled the air around both of them.

A cheeky grin crossed Hermes’ face as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I really am surprised, though, that you actually beat me here. Did you really miss me that much?” Hermes teased, and Charon averted his gaze for a moment in a rare showing of embarrassment.

Charon’s flustered state didn’t last long, and when his eyes met Hermes’ again, he groaned softly as he lifted a bony hand to Hermes’ face and cupped his cheek. Hermes couldn’t help but sigh deeply, his eyes slipping shut as he leaned into the touch, something that he had missed desperately during their time apart. Charon was a denizen of the underworld, a supposedly dark and cold place, but Hermes had never felt warmth quite like what he felt whenever his lover’s hands touched his skin.

“Yeah, I missed you too,” Hermes said as he opened his eyes. He gazed up at Charon’s face, and his hand moved to cover the one that cupped his cheek, his fingers slipping in between Charon’s. Charon hummed a response, his head tilting slightly to one side, and Hermes grinned and shook his head.

“Oh no, I definitely missed you more.” Hermes laughed as Charon’s eyes narrowed, and he shrugged as his hands moved up to cup Charon’s face.

“...Well, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree there, love.” Hermes whispered, and he closed the distance between them as he leaned up to press his lips against Charon’s mouth. A burst of purple smoke erupted from the gaps in their connection, tickling Hermes’ nose and coaxing a soft giggle out of him. A low rumbling came from deep in Charon’s chest as he laughed as well, and Hermes didn’t think he had ever heard such a beautiful sound before in his entire existence.

“Let’s get this transfer of souls over with already,” Hermes said when they parted, and he stepped onto Charon’s boat, “‘cause we have a lot to catch up on, you and I. The gossip floating around Olympus is particularly juicy this time around.” Charon hummed in response and they did their jobs quickly, as they both were more eager to just relax and enjoy each other’s company for as long as they could.

In no time at all, Hermes found himself in his most comfortable position: sitting on the boat, with his back pressed against Charon’s chest. One of Charon’s strong arms was wrapped around him, his hand settled in Hermes’ lap while the latter held it in his own. Charon’s other hand was resting on Hermes’ head, his fingers running languidly through his hair and brushing pleasantly against his scalp.

Hermes did most of the talking, as usual, and he rambled on about many things: the latest gossip concerning the Olympian Gods, interesting happenings during Hermes’ travels, and just whatever else he felt like talking about. Charon mostly listened silently, but he did occasionally offer some brief comments, and he gave Hermes an update on how his family was doing when he was asked.

Normally, Hermes liked his fast paced lifestyle, but it was times like these where he wished that he could stop time for as long as he wished. Ironically, these were the times that also seemed to fly by the fastest, and before he knew it, Hermes realized that it was time to head to his next destination.

Charon knew this too, and Hermes glanced at him over his shoulder when he let out a low, sad groan. A drawn out sigh escaped Hermes as he extracted himself from Charon’s warm, comforting embrace and stood up.

“Yeah, I know. Those souls won’t get to the underworld by themselves, will they?” Hermes said, a halfhearted smile crossing his face as Charon stood as well. Charon stared at Hermes, his expression unreadable...well, more so than usual anyway.

“I’ve got other places to be too, although...To be honest, there really is no other place I’d rather be than here with you, love.” Hermes’ face fell as he averted his gaze, and a familiar feeling of loneliness started to creep its way into his heart.

Suddenly, something was placed onto his head, and Hermes looked back up at Charon, eyebrows knitted together with confusion. He blinked owlishly when he saw that Charon’s hat was missing from his head, and Hermes glanced up to see that the brim was casting a shadow over his own face.

“Charon, what…?” Hermes asked, raising an eyebrow. Charon groaned, a string of purple smoke wafting from his mouth as he sipped his fingers under Hermes’ chin and tilted his head up. Hermes’ eyes went wide and he shook his head.

“Oh, wait! I can’t just take this!” Hermes protested, moving to take the hat off, but Charon placed his hands over his, stopping him with another low groan.

“You...want me to take it so that I won’t be lonely without you?” Charon nodded, and Hermes felt his eyes start to tear up, but he managed to blink away the moisture and smile instead.

“Well, what a lucky guy I am, to have fallen for such a thoughtful sweetheart! But I can’t just leave you with nothing, so...here.” Hermes hands dropped from Charon’s hat and instead moved to the laurel wreath adorning his head, which he quickly removed and placed on Charon’s instead. His hand lingered a moment, adjusting the laurels to make sure they were not crooked, and when Hermes was satisfied, he dropped his hands and gave Charon a once-over. He was staring at Hermes, wide-eyed, with his mouth hanging open slightly; Hermes didn’t think he had ever seen the stoic boatman look so shocked before, and he thought it was the cutest thing he’d ever seen.

“Why Charon,” Hermes said, a sly smirk crossing his face, “I didn’t think you could get any more handsome than you already were, but I guess I was wrong-” He was cut off suddenly, when Charon let out a surprisingly loud and high pitched groan before grabbing Hermes’ face and pressing his mouth against his lips. Hermes was too shocked to respond immediately, and he watched with wide eyes as the amount of smoke billowing from where their faces were connected quadrupled in size.

‘Oh...Oh wow,’ Hermes thought, his heart hammering hard in his chest as his face flushed a bright red. His surroundings were completely blocked out by the smoke, and Hermes couldn’t recall it ever being quite this abundant. Charon...he was really happy, and the fact that he was the reason why made Hermes fall even more in love with him.

Smiling against his mouth, Hermes couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled up within him, and he found himself giggling in between kisses. Hermes had never before found himself in such a perfectly blissful state, and for once in his life, he wanted time to slow to a halt in this tender moment with the one that he loved.

Unfortunately, the moment had to come to an end eventually, and when Charon broke the kiss, he groaned fondly as he gently pressed his forehead against Hermes’. Hermes laughed again and wrapped his arms around Charon, pulling him close.

“You...You’re really something, Charon. I’m...really glad that I fell in love with you,” Hermes whispered, and Charon let out a groan of agreement. Strong arms embraced Hermes in return, and he sighed as his head came to rest on Charon’s chest; Hermes wondered if Charon’s heart would have been beating as fast as his own, if he actually had one.

When they parted, Hermes placed a final kiss on Charon’s cheek as he hovered in the air above the boat. Charon hummed as he reached up to brush the back of his hand over Hermes’ cheek, leaving a trail of heat in the wake of his touch.

“Well, see you next time, love. I’ll miss you.” Hermes smiled and brushed a hand over the brim of Charon’s hat. “And I’ll take good care of this, don’t you worry.” Charon’s rumbling laughter filled the air, along with a burst of purple smoke, and he promised to do the same with a low groan. With that, Hermes launched himself into the air before he lost the will to pull himself away from his love, leaving Charon to start his journey back to the underworld with his cargo of souls.

As he continued to ascend into the sky, Hermes adjusted Charon’s hat on his head and turned to cast one last glance back at the one that he loved. He smiled when he saw that Charon had done the same, those beautiful purple eyes of his full of a rare sparkle of admiration and his bony mouth curved upwards into an even rarer attempt at a smile. Filled with vigorous determination, Hermes took off to his next destination. He knew that his work would bring him back to Charon eventually, and that was all the motivation that he needed to break all of his delivery speed records.

[mahouproject-one]

"Too weird to live, too rare to die." | Farah | Trial 4-2 | [RE: Results, Joon-Young]

All things taken into the potluck of consideration, they had to admit they sort of saw this coming out on the endless stretch of the horizon.

The vote for Mitsuo-- it was a vengeance vote really, wasn't it? A vote of pragmatism more than of any real authentic confidence or balls. The flaws were all in the fixings, looking back on those seconds before in 20/20-- why would Mitsuo Ueno cut throats for this motive? Surely the composer would be doing well to be forgotten and go incognito, if anything. This was rooted in rue, all this. Joon-Young Myung made sense. Joon-Young Myung was  the answer. And now Joon-Young Myung would kill for the second time in short follow-through. (You just couldn't trust a nice boy these days, Aphrodite almighty. Them's the breaks, them's the breaks.)

Great googly moogly; once again, it had all gone to shit. Little surprises there, miniscule minutiae of 'em. But if there was one faint, rusted, buried-in-lint-and-aged-shimmer of a silver lining to any of this shitfest shebang, it was that Farah Fujibayashi-Beauregard had narrowly dodged the bloody bullet that would have been Catching One Whole Feeling. By gods above, it had been a close shave! But, thankfully, they believed they just might be able to damn well slip past it to freedom, far away from the ticking doom that was catching The Feelings. It was great! Everything Was Totally Fine! (It was not. Probably.)

Initially, they were inclined to hesitate before embarking back to where they had once been, but something-- perhaps just how irreparably, absurdly gonzo this whole thing really was, as it flung itself off the roadrails-- pushed them away from Joon-Young, the supermodel murderer, and back to the caustic cold comforts of their little black notebook. Oh, they could visibly react to this more, with a "fuck" or a "hm..." or a "goddamn it, what am I doing" or a simiple "crikes", but they needed some sense, some sensibility, some hushed observation-- and where, pray tell, could they contextualise things into such pristine shells and shapes the way they could with writing? That was their duty. They had little more left to spread; this was but another notch on their collective bedpost of surrealism and misery, surely. They were just here to record as they witnessed.

And, ah, wouldn't they have swayed down that merry way of the eagle eye, if only Joon-Young hadn't locked them in with that look and those words.

Dropping their journo's pen with a clack!, Farah immediately looks up to lock gaze with Joon-Young, and something flashes across their features-- quickly, swiftly, rapidly buried underneath that wry, witty, jovially doomsday manner of theirs, and yet...there's still a small, subtle sign of a knit to their eyebrows as they speak-- and their words cut in sharply, clean through the air. Has Joon-Young...perhaps touched a bit of a nerve? (Not that they'll let it show, of course-- they're not the angry type. Or the upset type. Or the rattled type. They are done with the feelings-catching for this particular day, thank you--)

"Ah, please don't let me be misunderstood, Myung-chi. You're off the markings on my musings entirely. Listen sharp, don't just lookit."

Their stare stayed steely, methodical yet merry, in a way that felt...off. Not in a drastic showing of such, just off. They just kept looking.

"Read my lips, Dash. I'll try an' be plain Jane about it. I cawed about death not matterin' much of a whit...here. The now-now, specifically. In this highly particular, reticular hellhole. The rhyme to my reasonings down this particular road? Hell, just look 'round the room, my friend-- at, say, Miyu Suzuki-chi, for an example! She killed, she suffered, she died. But...she hasn't left for any other plane but you and I's, has she? Sure, she's moved to a state of halfs-- semis-- almosts--" (Miyu has heard this before, and they wonder what it sounds to her ears in this modern context)-- "but she's still here, a voice among the haunted crowd, a vox most phantom! She's not alive-- but she is here. The state's the same with the girl you sent to th' spirit level. The sorry sucker you and our thorny Rose here are about to enable the unholy sacrifice of. Sure, you killed 'em. But you can apologise tomorrow, can'tcha? Now, if we talk in terms of what'll happen after the storm if we manage to break this establishment-- that's a tread into the murkier waters, I'll throw that to you. But 'tween all that jazz and a dash of the Labyrinths-- how y'can get eviscerated entirely and get away clean as they come!-- doesn't that render the mutual murderous aspect of Ouryuu and the sellout's game here...a mild range a'moot? In a world where you can greet your dearly departed 'fore their flesh and bones are even loosing their fresh, what are the consequences? It's death, but it's not Real Death, is it?"

It's 1:42 A.M. and Shiny regrets all of her life decisions, but unfortunately, Farah has opinions. They continue unflinchingly.

"Real Death, now-- that'd be something like my dear old gran! See, she's sailed down the river Styx-- been a good couple a'months since it being so, I'd say. But she doesn't get t'stick around. She didn't get the chance on her hands to come back, be here, stay. I'm never gonna get a note on the back of an embroidered napkin from some sleazy retro-riche old restaurant from her again. I'm never gonna watch her go on a passion-packed rant about a corp that's crooked down to its bones, or ride on the back of her motorcycle, or tell her about my history teach's hokey take on McCarthyism, or gag on a sip of that ghastly tonic she loved because it tasted like that on the tongue, or crawl int'her attic space t'look at all her old badges and posters, or-- or-- ooooor--" they were pausing, goddamnit, you're not talking about this, stop talking about it, they don't need to know, look sharp, Fan, for fuck's sake-- "...Y'get the snapshot, don'tcha? And I've known far younger cats-- younger than you an' I, even-- to croak the bucket, and they don't get those chances, either. That's Real Death, methinks. Maybe it's luckier t'be able to leave this level of existence! Or maybe it's as hot as hell wherever the rest of 'em are. But it's different. So are the cluster of consequences, too. That's what my mode is, Myung-chi. And, y'know..."

They didn't have to keep the chatter up, and they knew it. They could just stay vigilant. But there was something else, and they couldn't help but speak that truth loud, but God, couldn't they just...

"...If your personal path of ponderings ledja down the path that I think life's insignificant, I'll have t'throw in an objection on that measure, too. Life, insignificant? Not by any scale, my man! Life's a giantess, as gargantuan as the Reaper! Just 'cause my prerogatives don't add up to staying on this particular playing field for much time doesn't mean I don't place a price on it. It's a beautiful trauma! A euphoria apocalyptica! It's terrible, gorgeous, slimy, grimy, sleazy, seedy, twisted, absolutely fucked! And it's a riot! It's a privilege and pleasure t'be here, and t'have gotten the possibility to drift the continents and see all the wicked the rotten motherfuckers of this world have had t'offer up to me thus far! I wouldn't try spend it like I do if I didn't place as much fucking value on it as I do."

What were they doing? Why? Why couldn't they answer their own questions about it?

"Don'tcha think I have a life outside? Dreams? Plans? Don'tcha think I wanna write a few more pithy politicking exposés, have a few more rounds 'round the block, maybe wander a few more lands, maybe give my Julie the biggest hug I can and tell her I'd shoot a guy on-spot just t'see her crack a laugh, maybe find myself a beautiful wife with a mind like acid, maybe dismantle the capitalist machine, maybe throw a solid couple a'wrenches before letting the wax wings melt and going all Bolivian army and leaving the place a little more shook up when we plunge off Thelma & Louise style?" Their eyes got wider. "Don'tcha think I've seen the circus spectacle they saw and mused 'bout how to at least make it worth the gawk? Don'tcha wonder if I give it moxie just t'make sure it's seen? Don'tcha muse that I have that deep-down yearn to be as witnessed as much as I do my best to bear witness to this whole thing? Don'tcha think that motive might've got me by the balls just as much? Don'tcha think I would've cut throat for that motive they saddles us to if you hadn't gotten your lovely self to the game first? It's not that I 'spect you to-- I'm not looking for answers, I'm just trying t'give you this forsaken rat's idea on it. Think about it, brother. Just that alone."

And suddenly-- all the built up intensity that their face had gathered, their knitted eyebrows, their hunched shoulders, their blazing blue eyes gazing, gazing, gazing-- all dropped. And they were just...

"...Just a glimpse onto my side a'the shimmering pane, Joon-Young Myung. After that, it's yours t'make the deducions on. And frankly, comrade..."

They shrug-- and they return, to their inscrutable, intensive, ever-extending journals.

What else was there that was close to real?

[cruelwritersthesis]

how would luke react to nick? like i keep imaging it in my head, like maybe luke never went twith the whole over throw the gods thing, maybe the gods kinda enslaved him instead, who know? All i need to know is how luke would handle nick being in love with tori. (A drabble, full length thing, bullet point headcanons I DINT CARE I NEED ANSWERS)

i was almost like: yeah! here are some headcanons

*lists them out*

then was like…wait

this is my story. nick is my character, and while luke isn’t my character, i have created an au, which is my au with my oc, so these aren’t even headcanons they’re most def canon

tho…canon that are subject to change, should i ever like actually address this in my story XP

also sorry this took me so long, i’m home for winter holiday and was spending time with my mom and getting presents for my friends (at the biggest, bestest bookstore, i could live there if they’d let me)

anyway

so let’s say luke comes back to camp somehow, someway he’s back at camp

and like the camp’s pretty okay with it???

but luke def gets a lot of “that’s the scary blond guy with the scar?” from the young’ins and “oh great the scary blond guy with the scar is back” from everyone else

but uh, that’s kinda a tangent

luke’s back everyone!

tori can’t keep anything from him bc she’s tori and she loves him so fucking much

besides, she’s a terrible liar around him bc he knows all her tells

it’s worse bc he’s a son of hermes, who is like, the god of reading tells

hermes is a trickster, a con artist, of course he’s gonna know how to read tells what

anyway, at first tori kinda just forgets abt it as she do, but luke doesn’t fail to notice the wounded doe eyes nick gives tori whenever she interacts with luke

and so he finally brings it up

side note: luke is super territorial abt tori, so he notices anyone giving her any sort of eyes

and not like in a possessive, unhealthy way, he’s just like…he loves her so much and no fucking way is he gonna let anyone else take her from him

not that he thinks she’s just drop him like a hot cake, but bc he’s a jealous bastard

and so it tori, so like they’re made for each other

back to the main point, he brings it up to her one night, on the roof of the hermes cabin (shhh)

and she just kind of freezes for a moment, trying to work out the best way to break it to him

she’s a little afraid of how he’ll react. not that he’d ever hurt her, but she doesn’t want to see him angry and hurt

of course, he’s angry and hurt anyway when she finally does reveal what that’s all abt, but he can’t help it and she knows this

she def tells him everything: the magic tricks, the growing closer, the kiss (yikes™), the uh…the fact that nick is now hopelessly and helplessly in love with tori (oops)

and from that point on nick would most def be enemy 第一个 (which is basically “number one” in chinese hey everyone always uses spanish so i though i’d mix it up a little, also i’m chinese so) in luke’s eyes

at first, nick’s most def intimidated by luke

big shot–almost destroyed the world, then saved it, is now back at camp, is older, and has a scary scar on his face

but nick doesn’t show it, he closes off his emotions instead

and ppl perceive this as him backing down and being a little meek abt it

it’s bc of his heritage, having grown up in two diff cultures: chinese and american

in china, ppl are taught not to really show their emotions, esp the men so like he falls back into smth that’s comfortable, self-contained, and safe for him, which ppl then misconstrue as meek

putting up his walls protects him from the emotions he’s afraid to feel: the hurt to know that tori really is forever out of his reach, his anger and jealousy toward luke

luke and nick don’t interact at all, and since tori’s nearly always with luke, leaving nick little to no time to hang out with tori like he’s been doing (just as friends, but he’s never gotten over his feelings toward her)

luke just gives him glares every moment he gets, and gets overly touchy-feely with tori to make sure nick knows that tori is his

and yeah it sounds a bit possessive, but luke is also 110% tori’s too (she owns his ass, bruh)

it’s all mutual and respectful, anyway

tori, as per yuzh, is oblivious to the fact that luke may be, just a little, slightly jealous

nick just pretends not to notice luke

until it becomes too much and his more americanized cultural side comes out

nick gets kinda aggressive

but it’s like an inbetween of aggressive and passive-aggressive

he doesn’t outright challenge luke to a duel or anything

but if luke starts to glare at him as they pass, he’ll make it a point to glare back

one time he even shoved luke’s shoulder

that’s what starts the feud between the hermes cabin and the hecate cabin

officially apollo is swizterland

unofficially, bc tori will always side with luke (even if she says she doesn’t), the apollo cabin sides with the hermes cabin

her siblings grudgingly side with her, but they’re don’t exactly wish luke well, despite how much their half-sister loves him, but they love her enough to stand by her decisions

luke saved the world, it doesn’t look like he’ll be trying to destory it anytime soon, “we’ll let him live. fine”

side note: they def, at one point after luke’s return, kidnap him, tie him up, and interrogate him for tori’s sake

not that they really need to, knowing his devotion to her, but they gotta enact some kind of revenge

it kinda backfires bc luke is impeccable at undoing knots with his mind if he concentrates hard enough

but then he gets an arrow to the foot, so

tori’s not horribly happy hearing abt this, but knows that her siblings just did it bc they want to take care of her and love her

but her siblings do make luke’s life a living hell sometimes. any chance they can get, really

anyway, back to the main

capture the flag is terrible

hecate may wield magic, but you should never underestimate a con man or a trickster

not to mention they’ve also go the apollo cabin who has magic of their own

the rest of the cabins just kinda pick sides, make bets

it’s been unheard of amongst the pantheon of a hecate/hermes feud, so siding over old parents’ feuds doesn’t work in this situation

speaking of, the gods are having a grand ole time watching it all pan out on hephaestus tv

don’t put hecate and hermes in the same room tho

you bet your ass aphrodite is having a hay-day with this drama. she’s done enough meddling in tori’s life, tho, and she knows that no magic of hers is going to make this into a love triangle

luke and tori’s love for each other is too deeply intertwined, breaking that bond would literally kill them at this point and she’d rather not anger hermes or apollo

leave their kids alone dammit

zeus only allows this to continue–luke living, not necessarily the sit-com–bc the gods, even hera, is finally focused on someone else’s fuck-ups and not his (literally and figuratively speaking)

chiron has to break up fights daily, and does his best to keep luke and nick apart

tori is angry at both of them for letting their testosterone fuel their thoughts

she talks to them each, separately abt how immature and stupid they’re acting

“this isn’t high school”

“luke, you’re like 24 now, stop acting like a child”

“nick, stop provoking him and grow up”

it doesn’t work

tori then tries to reason with lou ellen, who doesn’t really want to hear it at first

mostly bc being in a feud is fun, her mom is finally getting recognition among the camp

tori goes to will to try and talk some sense in lou ellen then bc she’s tired of this fighting

despite, at the end of the day, always sneaking over the hermes cabin to snuggle with luke

only snuggles tho, bc she’s mad that he’s acting like a brat, maybe the occasional kiss

that’s right! no sex for you luke, sorry not sorry boiiii

nick stays at camp just to piss luke off, like he could leave, bc he’s def done enough training and he really should focus maybe a little harder on his school work and shit, but this is too fucking fun

he’s a vindictive little shit

tori’s tempted to knock sense into both of them, literally, when this goes on for weeks

instead she wails on them during training

chiron tried to get nick into a different class, but tori was having none of it

so she’s spars with nick, absolutely going all out on him

luke it’s a little harder, bc damn he’s good, but she lets her anger and annoyance fuel her enough that she certainly makes a point

tori explains to luke over and over again that she was just confused, lonely, and hurt

luke totally gets it, but his jealousy doesn’t fade, and the more nick provokes him, the more he feels the need to defend himself

so it’s just a vicious cycle of testosterone-induced mutual hatred jfc boys calm the fuck down

eventually, tori manages to convince lou ellen to help end this petty feud

so they end up locking the four of them–nick, luke, tori, and lou ellen in a room

lou’s there as a mediator

and tori is too, but she’s been known to get violent so, everyone thought it best someone else be there with her

this doesn’t solve anything bc men aren’t socialized to work things through with words *sighs*

thankfully a fight doesn’t break out tho

it almost does, but tori threatens them with a swear on the styx, and they grudgingly back down

so the feud continues with no sight in end, much to tori’s and chiron’s annoyance

and basically all the other cabins other than the hermes and hecate cabins

i’m not really sure how to end this definitively, but i hope i answered your question thoroughly enough

thanks for sending this in! it was actually really fun to think abt XD

[rivkahstudies]

music tag

I’ve been tagged by almost everyone I’m mutuals with so you guys know who you are. You’re supposed to name 10 songs you love (or 10 that you get from shuffling) and tag 10.

1. The (Shipped) Gold Standard by Fall Out Boy

2. Hot Blooded by Foreigner

3. Too Much Time On My Hands by Styx

4. Dream Police by Cheap Trick

5. All You Do Is Dance by Billy Joel

6. The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy (basically anything by them)

7. Twist And Shout by The Beatles

8. Something About You by Boston

9. Savages by Marina and the Diamonds

10. Riptide by Vance Joy

I tag whoever sees this, because most of the people I know have done this already!