talonblades

[talonblades]

open to anyone

When he woke up, Arthur found a letter on his door. Recognizing Merrick's handwriting right away, he expected it to be something about another hike later that day or something but then he read the message and he could feel his heart sink into his stomach. Merrick was leaving camp and going back to London, Arthur didn't need to read further. Crumpling the note in his hand, he shut the door and slumped back into his bedroom.

His mind was too awake now, he had a million thoughts but he didn't want think. Not right now. Instead of focusing on one of his books, Arthur figured a run would be better for him right now. Luckily Ez wasn't there to question him, so he didn't have to explain himself.

He must have been running for an hour undisturbed, Artie seemed to have the entire forest to himself. His mind was focused on the trees in front of him, and then he was finally found. Nearly running into them, Arthur stopped himself and slid over before falling into some mud. "Oh, sorry about that." even if he was the one who fell.

[talonblades]

arthur had grown up with two younger half siblings, gwen and percy, so the idea wasn't foreign to him... but they were mortal and didn't have the same excitement for academia that arthur did. knowing you had a half brother on your mothers side, that was still something to wrap your head around. "i can't wait to see what he has to say about our mother, perhaps him and my own father should exchange stories. the both must have known her around the same time."

there's a moment when he mentioned evander, arthur cocked a brow curiously but he didn't push further. "you're one to talk." he mused with a grin as his brother sat down next to him. "may i speak freely for a moment, brother? i don't think anything will happen to you, but i'm sure they'd rather know what world we live in than for something to happen and they learn about it that way." maybe he was out of line, but who else could understand this situation? feeling the hand on his thigh, arthur looked down at it and then back up. "kids? i didn't know i was an uncle, ez. oh, i'm going to spoil them."

"i'll give him a call, and we can leave then. he'll be glad to meet you." it's a strange feeling, knowing he has a brother at his age, from his goddess mother no less. sure, he could take an easy way out and think about how there is a distance there, being children of athena does not necessarily makes them siblings but he's accepted arthur as such from the moment they met. and this... it feels nice.

"huh..." he says, a little smirk on his lips, raised eyebrows but he says nothing. should he? he doesn't know how arthur sees that relationship, or how he feels about sharing men with him. a conversation for another time, perhaps.

he smiles, taking a seat on the bed next to him, "nerd." he gently nudges him with his shoulder. "i think... at some point maybe. i have yet to tell them some of the truths out there. they... know but, fighting ghosts and zombies, that's a bit much you know? knowing there's bigger stuff coming. those are conversations we're having slowly. i'd like them to see it sometime though. and the kids." he smiles, a hand on his brother's thigh as he turns to him.

"you'll get to meet them too. they're with my dad."

[talonblades]

one interesting thing about this world they lived in now was that magic seemed to exist. science explained how the mundane world worked, everything from biology to chemistry and physics. that was easy to grasp, but now? magic was something he didn't know enough about, how it made things like this table functioned but he wanted to learn. there had to be a book on it, right?

"alright, i'll accept the title of baby brother. but only from you." he mused with a smile, running his hand along his brothers back as they watched the figures reposition themselves and make small grunting noises of frustration from the two of them messing it up. once they were in position, the recreation of the battle started and arthur leaned down to try and watch as closely as he could.

"my dad's also sharp as hell, but he... had other things that interested him." arthur said, eyes remained on the battlefield before them. "i'm glad to share this journey with you, ezequiel."

ezequiel chuckled, pleased that arthur seemed to be just as intrigued by the table and its uses as he was. it only made sense, and he wasn't sure how the magic of it worked but he did hope the cabin suited him just as much as it did ezequiel. "can't say i mind being called baby, brother," he teased, "but i think the title suits so very well..." a caress on his arm as he looked at the little figures making faces and throwing curses at them for the interruptions.

he set them back where they were, but as it was they just moved when they did not agree with his positioning. "hm... it can be lonely knowing you're the smartest person in a room. not having people who get it."

"i was lucky i'd say, with dad. lots of smart people on his circle," he taps the table, the pieces antsy for the battle to start. twisting their arms in hands and sending looks their way. "either way, that shouldn't be a worry anymore. you have me."

[talonblades]

"immaculate conception is a very likely possibility, it's in all other kinds of mythology around the world." arthur said, his mind already going into overdrive as he tried to connect those dots that may or may not be there. "in some iterations of the myths, hephaestus wasn't even zeus' child and hera just manifested him on her own; out of fear that zeus would think she cheated on him, that's why she threw her own child off the mountain."

when stanis seemed to laugh at the joke, arthur eased some. he knew it might have been a step too far for some. at least the guy had a decent sense of humor. "yeah, i don't think it's as groundbreaking as some people think but i love any book series with good world building. of course the books are so much better, the show didn't really know how to tackle a lot of the more nuanced or deep topics martin puts. don't get me started on how they mishandled the dorne storyline."

"no, not at all." arthur nodded in agreement, the only face he could recall was his mother's. perhaps that was intentional, those gray eyes were striking and stuck out the moment he saw them. that's when he knew. "some people have tried re-evaluating his myths and make him more.... sympathetic but i think hades is a lot more nuanced. i've always viewed him as a more neutral piece in the mythos." though how true were the myths? what had mankind gotten wrong? "yeah, they really emphasized his connection to wealth and agriculture. a bit more generous than other interpretations of the gods."

"hardly enough time for the big questions, for sure." he muttered, nodding along to his theory, it was something of what he had concluded himself. "i suppose talking about gods and magic there are a lot of ways to go about immaculate conception, surely."

he raised an eyebrow, "name gave it away did it?" he asked, the stanis reference was not new after game of thrones became popular but the brother thing? he snorted, shaking his head at the joke. "let's hope he doesn't, for his sake and ours i suppose." he shook his head again, amused smirk on his lips. "suppose you would be a fan."

"i heard, seeing the man in person... i guess i can understand." he nodded along, "he's..." stanis looked away, "a lot. but he's not all bad is he?" he thinks of his dad, out there, longing, "he has a draw. perhaps that's why the romans made a big deal about his relation to wealth."

"i'd say odds are he is into it too, but i don't want to put all sons of athena in the same boat." he licks his lips, smirk still in place, "he could be an asshole."

[talonblades]

"well, my adventures have remained purely hypothetical." prior to coming to camp, arthur had been purely an academic who studies the ancient myths of the world but it never went beyond that like it did with merrick. he helped with research and identifying ancient relics. the most he'd done was master the art of fencing, but nothing of real danger. "though i suppose a bear isn't as terrifying as a hoard of goblins slicing at your flesh."

merrick had never been someone who stayed anywhere for long, the city seemed to be a base and where he'd run into arthur or seek him out when he wasn't tomb raiding. "yeah, callum was a pleasant surprise." he said as they started to walk, the mention of samson was curious. he knew there was something there between the two of them. "how are... how are things with samson?" arthur knew the two of them had a history and he was important to merrick. "any updates?" would arthur be a forgotten relic to merrick once he reunited with his ex boyfriend?

"good. we get along great. i went to brazil and met his husbands, and his father." arthur recalled the mini vacation. "they're really welcoming."

"i'm not really scared of a bear, arthur. i've seen much worse in caves deep beneath the earth." which is a true statement. there's been plenty of times when he went running in a different direction because he got spooked, though he still finished the job.

a laugh escapes merrick's lips and he tilts his head up toward the sun, even with the canopy above them blotting out most of it. it's a nice day, beautiful even, and he's glad to be taking advantage of that. "i love london, but we both know i never stayed in the city too long." it was job after job after job. place after place after place. "camp has been good. a lot of people who i knew from before are here. you, evander, callum, samson." he lets out a sigh. "and no, no coven. he's busy doing what he needs to do and i do what i need to. we're not as close as some of the others." he gives arthur a look. "what about you and your brother?"

[talonblades]

Arthur had been to plenty of those kinds of events before, Cambridge hosted plenty of dinners and events to try and get money from potential donors or alumni and most of them were more concerned with getting their name on a building or ensuring their kids got into the school, rather than whatever it was that he was talking about. The dean would constantly show Arthur off to those guests, show them how good of a professor he was and how much he knew. "I know how to handle those kinds of people back in England."

"Oh, so you think I'm handsome?" he couldn't hold back the wicked grin that seemed to curl along the edges of his mouth. He leaned against the statue that stood besides the two, studying the other for a moment. "I'll make sure to study up on that. Luckily architect is a side interest of mine, suppose that comes from my mother."

"I'll be the perfectly charming and handsome date."

Truthfully, history was perhaps the thing Arthur was the most passionate about. Studying past civilizations or groups of people and see how they tackled the world and then paralleling it to the modern day and how people handled similar things. There was a reason Greece had remained a popular point to study, it had a plethora of things you could reflect upon in your own life.

"I must warn you, American and modern history isn't quite my area of expertise." Arthur was familiar enough with the kind of family the Russells were and the events Skylar must have probably attended from the brief and limited interactions they had. "I know more than enough to get through a dinner, though." Maybe he'd read up on a few books before the event. "I have a few suits, if you need to approve them."

[talonblades]

with the more familiar faces who came into camp, the more arthur was sure that the fates were involved in all of this. their threads seemed to intertwine his fate with others like merrick, evander, and now callum. with the myths being real, there couldn't really be coincidences. right? "the fates must have big plans for us, they keep bringing us together."

he lazily draps his arms around the others waist, far more intimate than he might do to a total stranger but he knew callum quite well. old habits died hard. "well, hermes is the good of communication of the messenger of the gods. seems pretty fit for a journalist."

Callum had a feeling that, upon being reacquainted with some familiar faces around camp, that it would be inevitable he'd run into Arthur sooner than later. If anyone would've been touched by a Greek God —in more way than one— it'd be him.

And sure enough...

"Was wondering when you'd pop up, Arthur," he chuckles. "You always seem to find a way to, well, find me, don't you? Not that I'm complaining, but eventually it's going to feel like stalking—"

"Does it? Why's that? I've genuinely got no knowledge about all of thus mythology stuff. It wasn't exactly on the syllabus for basic journalistic practices in school..."

[talonblades]

"you've gotta prepare for this sort of thing, though i think us being demigods with powers now will help us if we run into a bear or something." arthur said as he took his time going down the steps of the athena cabin and following behind merrick, hands on either strap of his own backpack as they walked down the stoned path that led to the edge of camp.

soon enough the two were surrounded by woods and the stones transformed into a dirt path. "you don't love the concrete jungle we live in? though i suppose the police would show up if we tried climbing big ben." artie mused. it was a vibrant morning and there wasn't a cloud in the skies, zeus must be in a good mood today. "how's your adjustment to camp going? started a coven with your new brother yet?"

merrick all but sets a timer for ten minutes. he waits on the steps of the athena cabin, backpack resting at his feet. he leans against the rails of the porch, arms folded over his chest.

that's when arthur comes out. he raises an eyebrow. "you know i like to just up and go. adventure awaits, it calls to us." he claps his hands, grabbing his backpack and hoisting it over his shoulders. "besides, it's a beautiful day and how often do we get to say that around london. it's probably the magic, but either way." he jumps from the top of the stairs, down to the ground. "let's go."

[talonblades]

The one fixation Arthur had revolved around the Ancient Greeks and their mythology, which turned out to be more real than anything else he was raised with. He'd memorized every ancient text that he could get his hand on, visited the old ruins and cities, and tried to get his hands on any old artifacts he could though that was increasingly rare. With all this new knowledge at his fingertips, well Arthur didn't know where to start. He mused a smile at the joke as he flipped through a few pages of the final book. "I was just reading records of a nymph who followed a man from Spain to China, and killed him when she discovered he had a wife."

He found the page he was on earlier and pushed it across the table to Samson to see. "Not entirely sure how useful any of this will be for us. The most recent records predate the discovery of electricity."

"But it seems that quite a few significant people throughout history were demigods. That shouldn't be surprising as it is."

Samson’s brows lifted slightly, a flicker of admiration crossing his features as Arthur rattled off his reading list with a casualness that he couldn't help but enjoy. Samson reached over and lightly tapped the top book in Arthur’s stack - the one on satyrs, dryads, and nymphs - with two fingers. “Smart move. The dryads already have a betting pool going on how many people accidentally propose by week’s end. I think you’re safe as long as you don’t gift them a fern and recite poetry. Or blink too slowly. Or breathe too romantically.” It was a joke, though it was said in the same, light cadence that Samson might have rattled off any other factoids - though this one was punctuated by a laugh.

"I would love to borrow the demigod accounts when you're done with it, our very existence opens up so many doors - so many questions that I never thought of before." Samson could feel himself getting excited and had to physically try and relax before he got too eager.

[talonblades]

"i'm glad, too." arthur had never gone to brazil before, so he was excited to see what the place had to offer. so far, it was vibrant and warm. the beaches were beautiful and the locals were breathtaking. meeting his brother's husbands, the two men were friendly and happy to welcome him into their home. "yeah, you just let me when when you're ready to go. i'd love to hear what he has to say about our mother."

"evan asked me if i he could room with me," arthur said as he slid the the bag from the shoulder that ezequiel wasn't holding onto. the room was spacious with a massive bed. "i miss it too," he said as he walked over and sat down with his brother before falling back onto the comfortable bed, looking up at him. "have you thought about bringing them back to camp? your husbands, i mean." certainly they missed not being with ez every day.

@talonblades location: ilhabela, são paulo, the fontes-montes-carvalho beachhouse

"I'm glad you could come." He said, grinning at Arthur as he showed him where he'd be staying. He was like a little kid meeting their new sibling, both Rodrigo and Rafael had said so, but they seemed to get it after meeting him. "If you have time, we can drop by my father's place, you might be interested in some of the stuff he keeps."

"Also," he nodded at the bed, it was one of the rooms with a larger one. "You can decide who rooms with you," He winked at Arthur, hand on his shoulder. "or no one, but they might resent you getting a big bed if so."

He walked into the room, sitting down to test the bed and finding it comfortable enough. "It's been nice being back, but would you believe if I said I miss the war table already?"

[talonblades]

while arthur arrived in the second batch of demigods, he didn't know many of them very well. sure, there were friendly conversations and what not but the only people he really connected with had been evander and merrick, both from his past, and then his new half brother ezequiel. he wasn't necessarily a wallflower, but his priorities had been exposing himself to this world and reading up as much as he could. friendships and bonds could come later.

and then there was another familiar face who showed up at random one day, another londoner. "what a small world this must be...." arthur said with a grin on his face, crossing his arms as he approached callum by the lake. he'd been saying that a few times now. "son of hermes? that checks out for you."

"i'm a son of athena."

open to: anyone

Forty-two years old and here Callum found himself, the new kid at camp. Granted, these circumstances were anything but mundane. Just a week or so ago, he'd answered the call of Hermes that brought him here; yet another unexpected development in his life. With all the uncertainty in his line of work lately, how he felt increasingly obsolete and redundant...

Maybe this would be the way he could best enact some change in the world, even if most would never know it. What else was new.

But for now, he could enjoy the cooling waters of this lake around his feet at sundown, feeling the burgeoning summer around him... and then, an unknown visitor behind him.

"Oh, hello," he says, turning to greet them. "Almost forgot there were others here for a moment. I'm Callum... child of Hermes, I suppose. Does that ever start feeling less weird to say...?"

[talonblades]

New photos of Jonathan Bailey for GQ Heroes (July 2025)

[talonblades]

It was interesting to run into someone else, besides Ezequiel, who had that thirst for knowledge that Arthur seemed to always have. There was always something to learn, something to better yourself with, and with this world now open to him... Arthur needed to answer so many questions. "If I didn't have control, I'd probably try to annex the library to be a wing of the Athena cabin." he mused with a smile as his fingers reached over to grab the top book from his stack. "I teach ancient history and mythology back at Cambridge. I want to know what myths are real and which ones we got wrong." And then he grabbed the next. "Some extensive reading on satyrs, dryads, and nymphs since they're all over the camp... The last thing I need to do is accidentally get engaged to a nymph for them to later stab my eyes out. There are quite a few accounts of that happening." and then he pulled out the third book from the pile. "any records or personal accounts of previous demigods. They said it's been centuries since they last called on their children. I want to know what to expect." It was clear Arthur's mind had been all over the place, but it was a cohesive chaos.

"Not quite, someone was talking about their exam and it just kind of... triggered a lot of questions in my brain." Questions he'd hoped to find answers for in the library, though in typical Samson fashion, Samson was likely going to leave through those large doors at the end of the day with more questions than he'd started with. Quick eyes raked deftly over the hefty text in Arthur's hand and the inference was enough to make the corner Samson's mouth quirk. "If I tried to carry that one handed I'd break my wrist - light reading? I would love to see what you consider heavy. What's the subject?"

[talonblades]

Some might have assumed a child of Athena was meek or prudent, who would rather hide behind a book than experience whatever a handsome man like Eden had to throw at him. That couldn't be more wrong, Arthur had never been afraid to be bold or try and get what he wanted. That's how he ended up in bed with the likes of Merrick so many times, even before they both showed up at camp. His eyes focused on the others muscles that looked like they wanted to rip through the others shirt, if he didn't have so much self control Arthur may have reached out but he remained composed. "Yeah, I tend to hyper fixate. I'm like a dog with a bone.. when I find a good book I can't put down."

"Someone as beautiful as you, I'm sure you are used to men cooking meals for you." he caught onto being called beautiful, Eden couldn't see his smile since Arthur was now facing away from him and focused on cooking the chicken in front of him. "We were always demigods, it's just... activated, I suppose." Arthur thought about it for a moment. "Though you've probably always been divine."

"I'd appreciate the help if you like to keep yourself busy, though the lovely company is more than enough."

"A man of taste, then." Eden said without missing the beat as he dropped his body against the kitchen island. He could feel those eyes on his body, that was something of a skill he'd had, even more his mother's godly gifts. He knew when he sparked a little moment of desire. Eden's hands shifted back against the table islt as he seemed to show off even more, letting his muscles flex under his tight shirt. "Well I do like to think I make good choices from time time." It's an easy joke as he tilted his head over the other. "Why do I get the feeling that happens more often than you'd admit?" The tease was playful as before gave a little nod at those words.

"Hungry enough and honestly- who am I to turn down a meal made by a beautiful man? I am merely only human after all." Eden's voice floated over at the other before pausing. "Well, I was human. I guess now I'm a demi-god." He added with a little squint in the air. He wasn't entirely sure how that worked really. He pushed off the islt and took a few steps closer.

"Do you need any help? I think can handle some chopping or something. Though you clearly have some more talent in this than I do." He pointed out with a little nod to the chicken.

[talonblades]

Truthfully, history was perhaps the thing Arthur was the most passionate about. Studying past civilizations or groups of people and see how they tackled the world and then paralleling it to the modern day and how people handled similar things. There was a reason Greece had remained a popular point to study, it had a plethora of things you could reflect upon in your own life.

"I must warn you, American and modern history isn't quite my area of expertise." Arthur was familiar enough with the kind of family the Russells were and the events Skylar must have probably attended from the brief and limited interactions they had. "I know more than enough to get through a dinner, though." Maybe he'd read up on a few books before the event. "I have a few suits, if you need to approve them."

"Awesome," Skylar let his his vice ring out with the excitement. Events like this meant very little to him considering he had been around them all his life. It was assumed that one that he would take up the mantle of the company even if he went to the school for law. "I didn't know thats what you teach but even more lucky there will be someone on my arm that can actually talk about the event to other people." Even if he was using Arthur as a bit of arm candy it would be nice to have someone that understood the event. "My only other option is Quinn and my parents would rather i didn't bring him to another event." Not that they didn't like him but Quinn like to take small things from very rich people. Events like this could be a hunting ground. "Ummmm:" He pulled out his phone finding the email that held all the info for him. "Looks like June 28th. and it is a more formal event so we will need suits but don't need to match even it is a friend date."

[talonblades]

"i didn't get to ask my mother, since we were preoccupied with the ambrosia," arthur started, putting his own hand to his side where he felt himself get stabbed in battle earlier from the ambrosia. "but i suspect i was born from her mind, like she came from zeus. thematically it makes the most sense. hera, artemis, and hestia... i don't have a theory yet."

"are you polish, i presume?" arthur asked as he shook the other's hand. "stanis, like stannis baratheon? that will be easy to remember. i certainly hope your new brother doesn't share a similar fate to renly..." he said with a faint smile, perhaps not appropriate for someone you just met. "sorry, poor joke." but perhaps it was better than him reciting one of stannis' lines about justice or gold?

"did you know the ancient greeks feared hades and even feared saying his name because of his domain and the association with death?" there arthur went, babbling about the one thing he was so passionate about. now why the gods had called upon so many of them, arthur was already starting to brew with theories.

"i hope my brother doesn't get tired of me, i could talk about all of this stuff for hours."

"it was a big clue yeah, didn't expect to see sons of athena, or artemis, or hera though."

"stanisław woźniacki," he says, tightening the grip on his hand before he lets it go, "you may call me stanis though." it was what he was called by anyone that wasn't a business relationship or someone he wanted to intimidate.

"i can relate," he muses, "wasn't a choice at all, really. feel like i'd have found hades one way or the other. at least it wasn't in death, right?" he grins wickedly, showing off his teeth. then he tries not to look so weird in front of a guy he just met.

he grunts, shaking his head slightly, "haven't really met mine, either. feels a little odd they'd call in two batches. makes me wonder why."

"i hope they aren't assholes though, i've not shared a house with anyone for a while, and i'm not looking forward to dealing with that kind of drama at forty."

[talonblades]

arthur had grown up with two younger siblings, gwen and percy, who although he cared for both of them.... neither shared in his passions in this world. he always assumed it was simply they didn't have the same fire burning within them but now he understood why they felt so... mundane in comparison to him, content with having a far more simple life than what he wanted. ezequiel was different, though, they had the same mother and he seemed to share the same interests of arthur.

he let his brother guide him down the stairs and to the first floor of the cabin, not minding the little bit of contact they shared as they made their way to the common living area where arthur hadn't spent much time in so far. "how fascinating...." he ran his fingers along the rim of the table, eyes studying every figure that was on the battlefield. he reached down to grab agamemnon before turning his attention to odysseus.

"i'm not the baby here, zeke." he said with a smile as he leaned into the half hug before putting the two figures back exactly where they had been placed, agamemnon made an annoyed face at arthur for disturbing him. "i'm sure she is," arthur couldn't be more thrilled that athena was his mother still. "it's refreshing to be around someone i would consider an equal."

Ezequiel grinned, pleased that his idea attracted his brother so. As expected, given who their mother was. Though perhaps if kids kept popping up he'd learn the differences among them and not just the similarities.

"... a little while, started a few days after I got to camp but it took me a little bit to understand how the war table worked." He let him examine the figure, guiding him towards the center of the cabin with a hand on his back. "It is pretty great if I say so myself, you just have to set the right intention and maybe do a little customization and it's like watching it in real time..."

He squeezed his hand around Arthur, pulling him into a half hug as they finally reached the table with everything set in motion. "Hey, it's what I'm here for baby brother." He joked, even though Arthur was older and not a baby by any measure, well, maybe a few. "I'm sure mother would be pleased we're getting along like this."