#I think these two would be so cute because Fortune grounds Hollywood and Hollywood really loves her

[crimescrimson]

Red's Favourite Non-Canon Agents Of Mayhem Pairings: Fortwood | Frisephone | ColdSafe | DaisJoule

#Crimson's Gifs: Saints Row #Agents Of Mayhem #AoM #Agents Of Mayhem (2017) #Hollywood #Rod Stone #Rodrick Stone #Fortune #Marina Santos #Fortune x Hollywood #Rodrick Stone x Marina Santos #I think these two would be so cute because Fortune grounds Hollywood and Hollywood really loves her #Persephone Brimstone #Stephanie Alberight #Agent Friday #Persephone Brimstone x Stephanie Alberight #Im ngl I genuinely thought these two were a couple when I started the game for the first time ages ago. Thats the only reason theyre here #Kinzie Kensington #Oleg Kirov #Kinzie Kensington x Oleg Kirov #Saints Row. Enough Said #(And how its said in the files how Safeword is interested in expanding Olegs horizons) #Piper Andrews #Cosima Bellini #Piper Andrews x Cosima Bellini #Agent Daisy #Agent Joule #Joule x Daisy #I just think the dynamic would be cute/they're aesthetically interesting to me

[monicalorandavis]

I was an intern at Comedy Central and it mostly sucked

File this under the category of “Who Cares?”

Everybody knows interns (at basically every company) are treated like shit.  They are used strictly for running errands and little else. It was likely that a TV network should follow suit. To no one’s surprise, Comedy Central treated interns like shit. I was. The interns around me were. I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I had so little work experience and I was so grateful for the opportunity that I figured it was part of the process of getting to where you wanted to be. It wasn’t until I ran into Joe, an assistant (who had particularly made my life hell) at a party a few years later that I even thought about how mean he had been to me. I wanted to let it go. But he had been really fucking mean and it stung to think about. He wasn’t alone. It was actually a whole group of assistants who I’d felt had humiliated me. I remember going to lunch at the same time the assistants were leaving for lunch. They caught the elevator and I had asked to join, trailing just a step behind them. Joe barked “No”, closed the elevator doors in my face and I heard them all laughing at me on the way down. I stared at the closed doors, shocked. Never in my life had I been treated like such a loser. I was in a fucking teen movie being bullied by complete pricks. And the worst part was, these people were definitely the kids who’d been bullied.

I caught the next elevator and when I arrived on the ground level, they were waiting for me. They didn’t say anything. They looked guilty like they’d realized they’d been mean to an intern who would likely say something to someone in HR and decided to extend me the kindness of waiting for me. Only I didn’t want them to wait for me and I would never say anything. Unlike them, I didn’t like making people feel like shit. We walked to get salads in silence. They resumed their conversation but I paid and left before them. It was so weird after that. For like a day. And then, it started all over again.

There were exceptions during that time and I would like to name them and give them all their credit. Tony, one of the early writer/producers of Workaholics (a gig he got during my time there), was fabulously kind to me. He never made me feel lame or stupid and I was sad to see him go even though I knew writing was his goal. Walter was nice. Gary was nice. Seth. But I have forgotten many people’s names and you’ll forgive me as this was almost a decade ago. That time exists in a haze. I was living downtown with two of my girlfriends in a loft apartment that didn’t have walls. I had no bedroom. Just an upstairs “room” with a bathroom with a toilet but no shower. I paid $500 a month for a glorified port-a-potty and thus, acted like a degenerate. Every night, I either smoked weed until I fell asleep or scoured the streets for a cute boy to spend the night with. It was during that time that I was lucky enough to get an internship at a company that could change the course of my life - Comedy Central. It was a gift to work there and I knew it. I didn’t have any Hollywood connections.This was it. I would take it seriously, I promised myself. So, I did.

Comedy Central used to be the mecca. Before Tosh.0 and Jim Jefferies, it was the home of Chappelle’s Show. I am not exaggerating when I tell you this: that show changed the whole goddamn world and I was no exception. it changed me. It was the blueprint. Comedy could be brutal on white people. It could get real and gross and political and stupid all at the same time. Comedy nerds like me ate it up.

Dave Chappelle’s two season masterpiece of a show infected college campuses in 2004 when it was released on DVD. That was the year I started college. By happenstance, I was part of the DVD revolution. We would crowd into each other’s dorm rooms and cry laughing and then watch the same episode again. It caught fire. Dave Chappelle bridged the gap between black and white, famous and normal while still keeping himself removed from the whole thing, aloof - distinguished...better than us. His skewering of racism was a glass through which we could see in fact, we were all participants in the same system albeit on other sides. 

So, Chappelle’s Show was important to me. I wanted to work at a place that had created art. I would try to shine there and let my own ideas blossom into projects.

But in spite of my eagerness, I was aware at the time (as we all were) that Comedy Central had paid Dave Chappelle $50 million for a third season but instead of delivering, he walked off set and fled to Africa. This was the story we were told. This was before Twitter and Instagram. The internet swirled with rumors that he had gone crazy and was going to live in Africa forever. He had abandoned Hollywood for good.

But the whole thing stank of racism, buried just underneath the surface. Why was Chappelle suddenly crazy when he didn’t want a huge sum of money? Yes, that’s a huge sum of money but deep down I thought, those people are trying to exploit him. Intuitively I felt like Chappelle knew he was part of a bigger racial-bridging that was allowing white people access to private areas of black culture. He had invited fans to shout famous lines back at him. Lines that Chappelle himself and other black actors had killed with. But, lines that white fans should never say. They were insensitive to the privilege shared by black people to communicate to other black people. White people want to say the n-word and it’s not theirs to say. It’s a truth other black comedians have shared.

When Chris Rock was caught in conversations with racists who relayed his “niggers versus black people” bit back to him he retired it permanently. The price of being an honest black comedian in this country is that white people can retell your insider information as intel. White people who would otherwise have no interaction with black people now has an arsenal of information. They have evidence that was not acquired through firsthand experience. They have heard the inner monologue of black America and instead of fixing racial injustice, they are repeating their favorite lines. And in spite of all of that, in spite of all the drama between Comedy Central and Dave Chappelle, in spite of the racial implications the media had thrown around, I got a job as an intern in hopes just being in the same office that created Chappelle’s Show could imbue me with some genius or good fortune.

It didn’t.

It was whack. There were like 40 of us on a rotating schedule where three of us would work certain days together and then another three would work another group of days and sometimes you would see other interns on your day because they couldn’t come in on their regular day. Since there were so many interns doing the work that one capable assistant could perform we were all basically twiddling our thumbs, trying to look useful and eager. Some interns dazzled executives with their epic notes on scripts, replete with a solid three act structure and relevant examples, figures, marketing suggestions. Others buried their noses up anyone’s ass who lingered near them long enough, offering to get coffee, lunch, snacks, dry cleaning, children from daycare, gifts for spouses, you name it. I employed none of these strategies. I scoped the most eligible bachelors and tried to dazzle them with my charms. The married ones would have been the smarter bet. Married men are more willing to go out on a limb for a cute, inexperienced graduate with a lot to prove. They won’t cheat but they like feeling important to women still so they’ll toss around bread crumbs. The single ones are still so obsessed with themselves that they can’t see far enough past their noses to help. I was vying for the attention of one executive I was sure would marry me, given I had enough alone time with him in the kitchen, when I learned he was getting engaged. It was devastating. Of course I would choose to be in love with someone just about to propose.

It dawned on me that marrying your way into the entertainment business was sort of gross and I was at Comedy Central to make a name for myself. Meaning, I should make it for myself. Not rely on somebody else giving me a handout. I had to go out and earn my job. Unfortunately, it seemed that only a few at Comedy Central had actually earned their job from sheer hard work. Most people had arrived there from a combination of knowing someone and favors and white privilege that is the winningest cocktail of all time. But, even they didn’t really like their jobs. It made no sense. The ones with the worst attitudes, who were the most lazy, cranky, emotionally unhinged seemed to know the most people. And they hated everything and everyone.

Below them, were us, the interns. And to my chagrin, I’d been wasting entire weeks of time pining over some man who’d hardly noticed me while these nerds were working their asses off. I was light years behind and frankly, unwilling to break my back for a job that didn’t seem like it would ever come my way. I was this sore thumb. I felt like a step sister and everyone else was The Brady Bunch. Primarily, I looked very different than everyone there. I wore ripped jeans and had tattoos and listened to hip hop. Wearing hoop earrings to work basically identified me as a member of the Crips. These people were so white and goofy that the only person of color they’d managed to hire had gone to private school their entire lives.

This sounds bratty already and I swear to God, I am not an ungrateful asshole. I am writing this to say that the experience crushed me a little bit. I left the internship at the end of the summer with no interest in staying in touch with anyone. With the exception of running into Joe at a party, I’ve run into one girl, Sarah, at my exercise class. I reveled when she feigned confusion when I asked if she’d remembered me from Comedy Central three years prior. I thought to myself, “I’m about to ruin this bitch’s day” and I’d like to think that her trembling, noodle-like legs during my class were some karmic retribution for her unkindness.

Besides that, I have no ill feelings towards anyone presently. To be fair, the assistants were only a year or two older than me at the time and wielding an unnatural amount of power. They did not handle power well. Not many do.

#comedy central #dave chappelle #workaholics #comedy #intern #2000s blog

[pixelgrotto]

The deductive point ‘n click escapades of a forgotten southern belle  Adventure games of the point ‘n click variety are a genre that tend to feature female protagonists more often than others. Why this is the case, I’m not entirely sure - it might have something to do with the stereotype that women are more patient, more willing to read and perhaps better at solving puzzles than men. Or, perhaps legendary adventure game designer Roberta Williams’ influence still holds strong, at least on a subconscious level in the minds of designers, over the genre that she helped nourish in the 80s and 90s, and the heroines of today’s games are merely following in the footsteps of fine women that preceded them, like Rosella of Daventry in King’s Quest IV.  Whatever the reason, despite there being quite a few point ‘n clickers popping up these days with engaging female protagonists (Kathy Rain is one that I played early this year and enjoyed), there’s a 1920s southern belle who probably deserved a long-lasting series but only got two games which are somewhat overlooked these days. Her name is Laura Bow, and she served as the protagonist of two Sierra titles that were released in 1989 and 1992 - The Colonel’s Bequest and The Dagger of Amon Ra. 

Laura seems to have been specifically patterned after famous silent film actress Clara Bow, but at her heart she’s more like a slightly older version of Nancy Drew, and her two games embody Nancy’s fine tradition of mystery solving. The Colonel’s Bequest takes place on a private island in the bayous of New Orleans as Laura accompanies a friend and fellow Tulane University student for a weekend getaway at the manor of her uncle, Colonel Dijon. The old man is bequeathing his fortune to relatives and has invited a motley assortment of characters right out of an Agatha Christie paperback - the drunk aunt, the conceited Hollywood starlet, the perverted doctor who seems to have a thing for betting on the ponies - and a la Clue, bodies start piling up as the relatives presumably begin offing themselves in order to get Dijon’s fortune first. 

I mentioned Roberta Williams previously, and The Colonel’s Bequest was actually designed by her as one of those rare side projects that didn’t feature the words “King’s” and “Quest” in the title. (Hm, I suppose it’s called The Colonel’s Bequest, so scratch that.) It’s always hard to tell how much Roberta was involved in non-King’s Quest projects - The Dagger of Amon Ra, for instance, was directed by Bruce Balfour despite featuring her name on the box - but I’d wager that she intended The Colonel’s Bequest to be a spiritual remake of her very first adventure game (and indeed, the first graphical adventure game ever), Mystery House. Mystery House featured a similar murder plot, and The Colonel’s Bequest takes this concept and evolves it, offering a unique structure where there aren’t really any puzzles to solve but instead “scenes” to witness. The entire game is structured like a play - there’s even a cast curtain call in the beginning - and Laura is encouraged to spend as much time as possible talking with the potential murder suspects and finding unique ways to eavesdrop on them. 

The game’s manual makes a huge deal about this emphasis on observing the story and slowly figuring out the links between characters in an effort to deduce the killer, and we can look at Johnny L. Wilson’s 1990 review of the game in Computer Gaming World as an example of how this approach was seen as admirable, fresh and also a bit risky at the time. Don’t let the fact that there aren’t many puzzles fool you into thinking that The Colonel’s Bequest is easy, though - it’s just as tough as Sierra’s other adventures with just as many nonsensical ways to die, and the unique structure where certain events and conversations are “timed” (indicated on screen by a clock) means that sometimes you’ll be wandering around aimlessly searching for the next thing to do, or possibly miss out on vital bits of info because you weren’t at the right place at the right time. It’s a little like The Last Express, only less refined. 

Luckily, the game’s great atmosphere makes up for any shortcomings that its boldly unorthodox but occasionally clunky design creates. This is one of the best 16 color titles that Sierra produced with their SC10 engine, and the soundtrack is packed with jazzy songs influenced by the Roaring Twenties with just enough sense to know when to be quiet as well. As you navigate Laura across the silent grounds of the mansion in the dead of night, wondering where the killer might be, it’s very possible to get shaken by the sound of lightning bursting in the background, and I can certainly imagine young players in 1989 jumping out of their skin when they encountered such moments.

Laura’s next outing, The Dagger of Amon Ra, trades the dark island setting for the Egyptology craze of the 20s, and loses a little bit in the process but makes up for it with 256 colors, rotoscoped animations (which are darn smooth but cause character sprites to be a bit muddy, unfortunately) and an even catchier selection of jazz tunes, including an amusing vocal track called “The Archaeologist Song.” Oh, and the CD version is a “talkie” game, with performances that range from kinda terrible (Sierra was still having their employees voice these games at the time instead of hiring actors) to excellent (Laura’s got a cute southern accent and the narrator’s voice is heavenly).  

The plot revolves around the titular Dagger of Amon Ra, an Egyptian artifact that’s been stolen from a New York City museum. Laura, now a fresh grad from Tulane and in the middle of her first journalism assignment at an NYC paper, has to navigate the mean streets of Manhattan, infiltrate a speakeasy and chat with a mildly racist caricature of a Chinese laundromat owner before getting into the museum, where she once again encounters a wide cast of characters, from the stuck up British twat who removed the dagger from Egypt to the nutty countess, who is possibly engaged in some mild robbery efforts around the museum when nobody’s looking. People start dying pretty soon (and their death scenes are grand - check out this poor SOB who got decapitated and stuck with a Perodactyl beak) and while the beginning section of the game outside of the museum is more like a traditional point ‘n click affair, once you’re locked inside the building after the first murder, everything becomes reminiscent of The Colonel’s Bequest. You’ve got to meander about, hope you bumble upon the right conversations and try your best to piece together clues before the murderer suddenly starts chasing you during the game’s second-to-last chapter. 

The Dagger of Amon Ra kind of stumbles in its execution of this form of gameplay more than its predecessor, because all the chapters of museum exploration feel terribly disjointed even more than walking around Colonel Dijon’s mansion did. Also, the character motivations are unclear, which is a problem in a mystery game - especially one where the entire final chapter actually involves Laura being quizzed by the coroner in an annoying game of 20 Questions as to the identity and motives of the killer! If you slip up once during this finale, you’ll get the bad ending, which involves the killer finding Laura’s apartment and GUNNING HER IN HER SLEEP, jinkies. And even if you succeed and get the good ending, which sees Laura writing her first award-winning expose on the theft and hooking up with putzy love interest Steve Dorian, it’s still quite impossible to discern the killer’s motives and why he went about his nefarious deeds, because The Dagger of Amon Ra just...doesn’t explain things. I’m not the only one who had trouble figuring it out - The Adventure Gamer blog wrote up a fantastic series of posts about this game and came to the same confused reaction as I did. 

Both Laura Bow adventures come from an older time where it was common to take notes as you went through a game, so perhaps my puzzlement at The Dagger of Amon Ra’s ending is due to my lack of pencil and paper by my side as I played. I did use walkthroughs for both games, though, and if you do end up checking them out (they’re available on GOG), I’d recommend doing the same. You probably still won’t be able to figure out why whatshisname stole that dagger, but despite their flaws, the Laura Bow games really are worth experiencing. Laura’s a likeable lead (just look at this adorable expression on her face as she stumbles upon the museum’s French skank engaged in hanky panky with the janitor) and she does a fine job of showing off the spirit of the 20s, an underrepresented period in the pantheon of electronic gaming. 

Laura never got a third game, and as far as mystery franchises go, Sierra soon passed the torch to the Gabriel Knight series, which apparently takes place in the same universe, since Gabriel visits Tulane in Sins of the Fathers and hears word of a lecture being given by “Laura Bow Dorian” - a hint that Laura married Steve Dorian and lived happily ever after! I’m glad that Ms. Bow got a nice ending even if we couldn’t see it in game form, and I’m sure that if she were a real person, she would be pleased to see spiritual successors of sorts like the aforementioned Kathy Rain following in her footsteps today. 

This is perhaps a good place to mention The Crimson Diamond, an upcoming indie game in the works by Canadian illustrator Julia Minamata. I recently played through the demo and am eagerly awaiting the full release - it’s almost like a direct sequel of The Colonel’s Bequest with an alternate universe version of Laura. Rest assured, Ms. Bow - even if your adventures aren’t as remembered these days as they should be, the example you set of the enterprising female gumshoe is alive, well and in good hands!

All box art and screenshots from Mobygames. 

#pixel grotto #video games #favorites #laura bow #colonels bequest #dagger of amon ra #sierra online #roberta williams

[itsreddiebitch]

Family First Chapter 3

Summary: Emily Tozier knew one thing. Her father loved her as if she was his own. Yet, secrets and lies kept for years will push her into finding out the truth about her real father and his connection with Richie. 

Chapter 1  

Chapter 2

“Any beverages Miss?”

“Water would be great, thank you.” The flight attendant quietly poured Emily a cup of water before moving on to the next guest. The whole flight consisted of Emily over thinking her actions and how she failed to plan if things went wrong. She had never been to New York before. Emily didn’t know how she would get around the city in one piece. She would also have to find a motel to stay at before meeting Myra. Even with these challenges ahead, Emily was worried she would not overcome the obstacle that was her father. She didn’t know how he was going to react. Emily knew she would have a bunch of messages once she turned on her phone. Thirty minutes passed with no change of thought until a ding echoed throughout the plane.

“Ladies and Gentleman we are now approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport. Please keep your seat belts fastened and we will arrive momentarily. Thank you.” Emily let out a deep breath. She felt for her inhaler in her duffel bag to make sure it was there. Her asthma was never an issue that needed intense care. However, when she was born she had a hole in her lung. Her father told her that she was in the hospital for at least two weeks before she was discharged. Ever since, she had trouble running and whenever she panicked she would need her inhaler. Richie always kept a spare when they went out incase her main inhaler was not working. He had always cared for her as if she was glass. One trip or asthma attack and she would shatter.

The plane landed with no issues and Emily was grateful. After grabbing her stuff and successfully getting off the plane she made her way to baggage claim. In front of the exist were a handful of drivers. Some wore suits others wore casual clothing. One guy had a welcome home poster with flowers, she assumed a girlfriend would be happily surprised. Emily looked at them all out of curiosity but one teen caught her eye. He was extremely tall compared to Emily who was considered below average. He looked up from his watch and looked around the room, waiting for his girlfriend maybe? Emily couldn’t help but notice he was undeniably handsome. Guys as good looking as that knew they were good looking. She lived in Los Angeles, it was a common thing. However, what she didn’t expect was that he was holding a name card that said Emily Tozier. Emily stopped walking in disbelief. What is going on? Was she being watched? Did her father do this? People began moving around her, giving her dirty looks but she didn’t acknowledge them. Her eyes stayed on the teenage boy that might be a stalker she never knew existed. She decided to pretend she never noticed him and began to walk in the opposite direction. That was the plan until he made eye contact.

“Oh shit.” She looked down before trying to walk away as he began approaching Emily “Wow, this is how I die.” Emily continued to mutter to herself until the teen stood in front of her.

“Are you Emily Tozier?” She could tell by the look in his eye that he knew it was her. She had no idea why, considering she has never seen this guy in her life.

“Um, yes but I don’t know you.”

“I’m Ethan Denbrough. Nice to finally meet you.” He extended his hand and Emily took it. He looked as if she should know who he was.

“I’m sorry, why do you have my name on a sign?” He looked at her as if she was talking gibberish.  

“You don’t know who I am? Your Dad called my Dad to come pick you up.” So Richie didn’t hate her? She dropped her bag and began to rummage through it till she found her phone. She pressed the power button and began to play the deadly waiting game for all the messages to come in. Before she could finish, Ethan grabbed her bag from the ground. “Come on little lady we got to get going if we’re goanna make it on time for dinner.” Emily stopped walking.

“What did you just call me?” Ethan laughed before messing up Emily’s hair.

“Little lady, you know because you’re so tiny.” Emily felt insulted, no, that was a lie. She was blushing profusely and needed to walk in front of him to not be seen.

“He is lucky that he is cute.” Emily muttered under breath in hopes the tree man behind her wouldn’t hear. However, a laugh was heard which made her think she really didn’t know how to be quiet.

He walked her to the parking lot of the Airport where a blue Subaru waited for them. He opened the passenger door for Emily before walking over to open his own.

“Is this too poor for your taste Miss Hollywood?” Emily could tell that he was kidding but she didn’t appreciate it. Many people stereotyped her because of her father’s success. Many failed relationships were revolved around that reason. She could still remember that last thing her ex sent her before blocking his number. “Can your Dad still get me an internship?”

“Actually, this is refreshing. It reminds me of the car we took on a road trip to Yosemite.” She smiled up at Ethan from her car seat before closing the car door.

“Good enough for me.” Ethan pulled out of the parking structure heading for the freeway. The car seemed to be his own. He had a collection of old cds and some graded essays in the back seat. The car smelled like old French fries and cheap body spray. Emily began looking through the cds, feeling his eyes on her. “You like Hozier?”

“Oh yeah, Vance Joy is a good one as well.”

“I don’t have his cd yet, I usually use them when I’m out of data for the month. My mom gets mad when I do.” Emily cracked the window open and felt the crisp New York air tickle her fingers. She loved California but New York was a nice change.

“So, do you know my Dad too?”

“I do but, not really. I watch him in movies from time to time and the morning radio. I didn’t know my Dad knew him.”

“Really? I thought that was the reason you knew who I was.”

“No. I woke up this morning and my Dad told me to pick you up and bring you back home. He showed me a picture of you.” Emily wondered if Bill was a nice man. She had never heard of him before. She only knew Richie’s Los Angeles friends. Maybe he was one the losers.

“That’s strange I’ve never heard of your Dad before.”

“Yeah well, my Dad is not so great about talking about his past.” Emily watched as Ethan’s eyes shifted. He seemed to be as confused about everything as she was.

“Mine isn’t either. It is why I’m here in the first place.”

“I thought you were here to see colleges?” Emily prepared to explain the situation to Ethan but their destination was closer than she anticipated. Ethan pulled into the driveway. The house looked as if it was an optical illusion. The front seemed small and cozy like the rest of the neighborhood. However, as they began to exit the car the house seemed to extend far beyond the front door. They seemed to be a very fortunate family which made Ethan’s comments almost hypocritical.

“I see I’m not the only one with stereotypical standards.” Emily nudged Ethan’s shoulder which earned her another laugh from him. She seemed to be quite good at it.

“Okay, okay just come on Little Lady.” Well, she couldn’t get rid of all the nicknames. Not yet at least. Ethan rummaged through his jean pocket before finding the house key. He opened the door to reveal a long hallway with photos in every nook and cranny. Emily began searching the photos for anything that would seem familiar to her. Unfortunately, all the photos seemed to be of their immediate family. The sound of joyful screaming halted her train of thought. A young boy began running down the hall. His speed quickened as Ethan opened his arms. The boy jumped, putting full trust in Ethan to catch him. The boy clung to Ethan’s arms as Ethan began twirling him around. The boy began to laugh before asking to be put down.

“Don’t miss me too much George. How are you going to be when I go off to college?” George pouted in response before running back down the hallway. “He’s mad at me but he will get over it quick. Come on, I’ll show you to the kitchen, my parents should be there.” Emily smiled awkwardly before following Ethan further inside the house. It was odd that these people would welcome a stranger so easily. Yet, she might not be a total stranger thanks to her father. They rounded the corner and were welcomed into the brightly lit kitchen. A woman was cutting vegetables at the counter while a man was reading at the table.

“Mom, Dad, this is Emily Tozier.” Both looked towards Emily with smiles on their faces. The woman had short brown hair that landed below her shoulders. She looked as if a gust of wind could blow her away.

“I’m Audra. It is great to meet you. I would shake your hand if mine wasn’t occupied at the moment.” An awkward laugh was shared by the group before Bill stood up.

“I’m Bill Denbrough.” Emily shook the man’s hand noticing he was tall like Ethan. He was skinny like his wife but not as noticeable. His hands were rough which was due to using them as often as he did.

“Nice to meet you both, I appreciate you welcoming me into your home. I didn’t realize my Dad had friends in New York.” She hoped that Bill did not know about her dramatic departure just nine hours ago. Bill smiled before grabbing the book he was reading.

“Oh, we go way back. We grew up together. The memories tend to be fuzzy but they’re still there.” It seemed that Bill had the same issue as Richie when it came to their pasts. It all seemed very odd. Audra looked as if she was uncomfortable with the conversation, as if it brought her back to a time she never wanted to return to.

“Dinner's almost ready. Ethan, how about you show Emily to her room?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I can get a hotel.”

“Oh no, please stay it would make me feel better knowing you are here.” Emily thanked them once again. The rest of the night consisted of dinner where the Denbrough family asked Emily many questions about her life in Los Angeles, her goals for the future, and her father. She had many stories to tell about Richie, like the time she walked right into a pool at two and a half and he jumped in fully clothed to get her. Every story about Richie seemed to make Bill light up, as if a flip switched in his brain. He even threw in his own stories which looked to surprise everyone at the table. The conversations died down when George asked if Emily was Ethan’s girlfriend. She only laughed and shook her head.

“Good then could you be mine?” After dinner was done Emily helped with the dishes before going up to the guest room. She hoped to talk to Ethan about why she had come to New York in the first place. It seemed he has the same idea for he was waiting in the room for her.

“I’m sorry but you never told me why you came to New York in the first place?” Emily closed the door behind her, hoping no one would hear. She sat down on the bed next to Ethan, trying to keep a polite distance between them.

“I’m adopted. My father has been keeping secrets from me about my birth parents for years... I have been trying to get him to talk about it but he just can’t. Anytime I bring up something or it could be at random times, he will fall into grief and run to his office. I finally had a breakthrough when I went through his phone and found this woman who has my birth certificate. Her name is Myra Kaspbrak.”

Emily began rummaging through her bag until she found the information she printed out. “Here is her address I plan to see her tomorrow to see if she is my mother.” Emily let out a breath and waited for Ethan’s response. It took a while for him to register everything that he was just told.

“Well shit. Guess we have a big day tomorrow.”

“We?” Ethan moved so he could face Emily on the bed. The idea of personal space seemed out the window now that their knees were touching. Emily tried to focus on his words rather than the feeling of his skin on hers.

“Listen, I have been going through the same stuff with my parents. It’s like they have this big secret about my father’s past, like he is a murderer or something. Well he does write horror books, but still.”

Emily couldn’t help but laugh. She never thought Richie to be a serial killer but she could understand what Ethan was going through.

“I’m sure it’s not that. My Dad mentioned how where he grew up he had a group of friends. They called themselves “The Losers Club”. Our Dads were probably in it together.” Emily felt his leg move which cause her breath to get caught in her throat. What was wrong with her? It was just a boy.

“Wow, the losers club huh? Very hip. My father has only mentioned that he struggled with stuttering for a long time but he grew out of it. He also lost his youngest brother at a young age. I think George reminds him of his brother.” It seemed that their fathers had lived tough lives where they grew up. Emily worried about her real father and how her mother would be.

“I don’t know, I am kind of nervous about tomorrow. I have no idea if she remembers me or is even a decent person.” Ethan grabbed Emily’s hand and held it in his own. She tried to look in him in the eye and contain the blush she felt creeping up her neck.

“Hey, I’ll be there. I know you don’t know me too well but I feel like for the first time, I found someone who can relate to me. Regarding my family of course. There has to be a reason to all of this and I want to find out.” Emily smiled, feeling safe in his presence. With Ethan being there she felt like it would be a lot easier to handle. He continued to hold her hand and brush his thumb lightly in circles.

“Uh, well we should probably sleep then.” Ethan pulled back quickly. He made his way to the door saying goodnight before leaving. His face looked sunburned and Emily bet hers did too. What a dork. For the first time that night Emily directed her attention to the phone she had been ignoring. She tapped the screen to see message after message from Richie. They started out worried then grew to panic and results into understanding. He never got mad once. He just wished her a safe flight and to call him when she could. She looked to the alarm clock by the bed and could see it was too late to call. She called anyways. The phone began to ring and a part of her wanted him to pick up the phone but another part of her didn’t. She let out a sigh of relief when it went to voicemail.

“Hey Dad, it’s me.” She paused before continuing. “I’m really sorry I made you worried. I am also sorry for hurting you. I just need to do this for me and I hope you won’t be too mad when I come home. I love you so much, bye.” Emily held back tears as she hung up the phone. She knew she would have to talk to him eventually but she needed more time.

Emily Tozier stood outside of Myra Kaspbrak’s house unable to move. The cold morning air is not what froze her, it was the fear that consumed her. She worried how the woman would react. Would she want Emily to become part of her family? Could Emily really do that? What if this created a custody battle that Richie couldn’t win. All these thoughts repeated in her head until she felt a warm hand touch her shoulder.

“You okay?” Ethan stood beside her, looking worried. She was glad to have him with her, especially because he drove. Emily let out a deep breath. She traced the outline of her inhaler in her jacket pocket. It was now or never. Emily walked up the few steps leading to the front door. Her stomach dropped, each step making it harder to take another. She finally reached the front door. She placed her fist against it and made two firm knocks. There was no sound at first, it wasn’t until Emily was prepared to knock a second time that the door opened. The door swung fast and Emily felt herself jump at the quickness. An older woman, very large in size stood before her. She had curling rolls in her hair and a mean look to match. Emily almost turned around and ran but the woman beat her to it.

“Can I help you?” Her accent was thick which made her even more intimidating.

“Does Myra Kaspbrak live here?” Emily did her best to sound confident even though she could feel herself shaking.

“Who wants to know?”

“My name is Emily Tozier. I-.”

“Get in. Come on now hurry up.” Emily did not hesitate, she turned and waved Ethan in with her. The house was filled with clutter. Nick knacks of all sorts were displayed on every wall and table. The house transported them back twenty years. “Sit in the living room I’ll be right there.” Emily looked at Ethan who just shrugged before taking a seat on the floral couch. Emily couldn’t imagine ever living here. It reeked of old furniture and cat litter. Emily looked to see Myra making some tea for herself before taking a seat across from the teens. She did not offer them anything.

“I assumed that fag would get caught in his lies someday.” Emily did her best to not show the shock that took over her body.

“Excuse me?”

“Richie. He didn’t tell you about me right?” Emily shook her head.

“Figures, I should have asked for more money.” Money? Now Emily was even more confused.

“Am I right to assume that you are-“  

“Yeah, I’m your mother.” Emily did not feel as relieved as she thought she would be. “However, I would not use that word if I were you. I didn’t have you the normal way.”

“What do you mean?”

"Your Father was a fag too. He wouldn’t have sex with me. Heck, I don’t think he loved me either but who knows at this point. So I got him to give me a sample of his stuff so I could at least have a baby the new scientific way.” There was that word again, fag. The woman used it so negatively as if she was spitting on the ground that her two fathers walked on. She hated this woman already.

“Where is he?”

“Hell If I know. He went to Derry and never came back. Tozier wouldn’t tell me either he just had to adopt you. He said any price. I wanted a healthy baby but with your lungs and all, It was a waste of my time.” A waste of her time? Emily squeezed her hands together so that she wouldn’t break in front of this woman. Emily could feel a panic attack beginning to rise in her. She had to leave before she exploded.

“How can you say that?” Ethan looked at the woman with disgust. Myra ignored him and took a sip of her tea.

“Is this guy your boy toy or something? I’m surprised you didn’t turn out like your father. That gay sure spreads.” Emily stood up, holding in her anger. She wanted to yell at this woman. She wanted to swear and scream and tell her how she missed out. Emily loved her life with her father she couldn’t believe she wanted to find out who these people were.

“Thank you for your time. We should get going.” Emily wasted no time in showing herself out. She felt her lungs begin to tighten and her vision began to blur from the tears. The cold air felt like it was evaporating on her skin. She rushed down the steps and ran halfway down the block before collapsing on the concrete. She couldn’t breathe. Deep breaths became short gasps as she reached for her inhaler.

“Emily! Emily are you okay?” Ethan was by her side in seconds. He watched as she placed the inhaler to her mouth and took a puff. She took a small breath before taking another hit. Ethan reached for her and brought her back against the hard wood of the fence behind them. He held her as she slowly began to gain her breathing back. She couldn’t help but cry hard into his chest as reality sunk in. Her mother was a terrible human being. Richie lied to her, she was not wanted, not loved.

“She threw me away Ethan.” Emily felt the tears begin to stream down her face once she said the words out loud. Hiding thoughts in your head is much easier than accepting them out in the open.

“That bitch is not your mother okay. Hey, look at me.” Ethan moved Emily’s face up to meet his gaze. His hand held her face lightly as if he held on any harder she would break. “She may have brought you into the world but she did it for selfish reasons. Richie loves you and cares for you. Shit, I care for you even though I met you less than twenty-four hours ago. Don’t let this woman who has not been in your life make you feel like you are not important.”

Emily felt her tears begin to cease as she looked into Ethan’s eyes. She looked down at his lips before focusing back on his gaze. He looked confused now, as if he was debating something. Emily decided to move her head back down to his chest and sit there for a while. He didn’t protest and began weaving his fingers through her hair. They sat together for another ten minutes until Emily felt ready to leave. Ethan suggested a diner near his place and offered her his jacket. She took it and for the rest of the car ride she relaxed in his scent. It smelled distinctly of firewood, something she had rarely smelt but enjoyed.

Once in the diner they took their seats and put in their orders. It was close to empty, leaving the room almost bare of sound other than the old jukebox.

“So what are you going to do now?” Emily had an idea but it was a crazy one. She wasn’t sure if she should go through with it and she wasn’t sure if Ethan would too.

“I think I should go to Derry.”

“You think he is alive?” Emily wasn’t sure how to answer that question. While Myra never said he was dead, she did mention how he was gay as well as Richie.

“I honestly don’t know but I do know that there was something between him and Richie. I want to learn more about it. If he is in Derry he would be the one person who could tell us and if not maybe some of the losers club still live there.” Ethan went quiet which worried Emily. Maybe this idea was too stupid or too rash.

“Listen, I want to tell you something. My parents also get nightmares. These kinds of nightmares that wake my brother and I up. They scream until their throats go dry. They talk about something coming after them. I don’t know what happened to my parents but there is something not right about that town. Supposedly they went back a year before they had me. My mom had serious medical issues while having my brother and I do to how frail she was. My grandmother told me she use to be thicker and healthier.”

Ethan paused to take a sip of his drink. Emily could tell it was hard for him to remember back to those nights of screaming and fear. “I have no idea what happened to them. Only they know but they won’t tell me. So I want to go with you and see what that town did to them. If you will have me?” Emily reached for Ethan’s hand and squeezed it.

“Of course, I wouldn’t want any other person to come with me. Let’s figure this out together.”      

Tag @just-an-akward-fangirl @richietoaster @allison0609 @rheddie @reddie-sett-go  @muruchwitch

#reddie #it 2017 #it stephen king #richie x eddie #bill denbrough

[melodynolan-blog]

Practice Challenge 1

            I look into his eyes, and I feel like I can see the world. There’s so much love in his eyes, and it feels like we’ve been through so much, even though we’ve only known each other for a short time.

           He lets out a sigh and presses forehead to mine. He closes his eyes, as though the emotions he feels are too much to bear. “I love you,” he whispers.

           I can’t help the smile that forms on my face. He lifts his hands to frame my face, then tilts my head to press his lips to mine. I bunch my hands in the material of his shirt to try to pull him ever closer to me as his hands tangle in my hair. My hands slide up to wrap around his neck, while his arms move to my waist to lift me into him.

           I can hardly process the feelings going through me. It seems crazy how close we’ve gotten in such a short amount of time. I’m not the most trusting person usually, but with him, I just feel so free. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I love the way I feel about myself when I’m with him. I love—

           “CUT!” The director yells. “That’s a wrap on Degrees of Love! Moving on to post-production!” I pull away from Trey and look into his eyes. I always used to think it would be awkward after a heavy make out scene on set, but with Trey it’s not. Maybe it’s because we’ve been dating for about 6 months, since just after we were cast for the movie. Being in a real relationship with him made being in an on-screen relationship so much easier. I mean, I’m an amazing actress, so it’s not like I couldn’t act like I love someone, but it just feels so much better when it’s real. And I suppose it does look more real on camera when the actors are in love.

           I sigh contentedly. In love. It’s taken me so long to get to this point to be able to trust someone. Growing up in the hustle and bustle of Hollywood meant that my only friends were the children of other movie stars or producers, and our whole lives were documented by paparazzi. Which also meant that most of my friendships were planned by my parents or publicity managers who thought I would “look cute with” this person or “would work well with” that person in a future movie. Essentially, none of my friendships were formed because we actually got along together, and often resulted in us resenting each other.

           Fortunately, it’s not like that with Trey. When I found out I was cast as Lily Crenshaw in Degrees of Love, I could not have been more ecstatic. I’d been in plenty of movies before, but never the lead role in such a big-budget, high quality movie. And then I found out I was starring besides Trey freaking Reynolds? Obviously, I was freaking out so much. My parents said they were proud of me, but I figured it was less of a feeling of pride as a feeling of relief that I would be making them a lot of money. After my father, Eric Nolan, finished producing one of the biggest movie series of last decade, he decided to retire and not work on any more movies, since he really didn’t have to. And my mother, Ariel, hasn’t worked since the soap opera she was on just before she met my father. The two of them together have enough money to retire and live comfortably and happily for the rest of their lives. But they don’t want to live just “happily”, they want to live royally, lavishly, extravagantly. And if they want to live that way, they can’t do that on the funds they’ve accumulated; they need my money, too.

           So when my parents discovered the amount of money I’d be making from Degrees of Love they drove the whole forty minutes from our large beach house to a penthouse apartment near the production studio to “show their support” to their only daughter. The media ate it up, but I just groaned.

           I was surprised when Trey Reynolds called me up after the casting announcement and said we should meet up. Normally I would just meet my cast members on set a few days before we started filming. Regardless, I met Trey at a coffee shop in central Angeles and we just started talking. We both had similar pasts, growing up in the spotlight, having the struggle of making a name for ourselves that was independent of our parents. It was easy to get jobs in movies by throwing out the old “Do you have any idea who my father is?” But I wanted to be cast for roles by my own merit.

           Trey and I started officially dating a week after we met at the coffee shop, and #Treyody was born. The media and the fans were obsessed with us. They found us no matter where we were in public, and always wanted our autographs and any spoilers we could give about Degrees of Love. I pretended to hate the attention out of false modesty, but honestly I was just so excited to have so many fans, even though I knew most of them were more interested in Trey. He was the more famous of the two of us, after all. But we were a unit, a team, a couple. His fans were now my fans, and it was great.

           The two of us grew closer and closer as production and filming started, and as our characters fell in love, so did we. And now that filming is over, I can’t wait to see what we’ll do together next.

           I beam at Trey as the set workers start to take down pieces of the set and put away cameras and lights. “So, I was thinking. After the after party, we can go back to your place and—”

           Trey raises a hand to cut me off. “Whoa, what? You’re not coming back to my place.”

           “Okay… so we can go to my apartment, or the beach house, maybe,” I suggest.

           Trey starts laughing, but I don’t see what’s funny. “No, I mean, we’re not doing anything together after the after party. We’re done.”

           I didn’t hear him correctly, did I? “What?”

           Trey stops laughing for a moment to search my face. Then he just cracks up again. “Wait, are you serious right now? Did you really think we were going to keep dating after this movie?” I gape at him, unsure of how to respond. He can’t be serious. Trey slaps a hand to his forehead. “As if I were actually in love with you. Oh my god, I can’t believe you would think any of that.”

           “Why the hell were you dating me so long if you didn’t even want to?” I ask, finally finding my voice.

           “Publicity, sweetheart,” He spells out for me as though I’m a toddler. “It’s good press for the stars of a movie to be dating, and it helps with all the on-screen stuff. I mean, you definitely looked like you were in love with me the whole time.”

           I feel my anger turning to despair, and I know I need to finish up with Trey before any tears actually fall. “So none of this meant anything to you?” I asked, my voice only wavering a fractional amount.

           Trey laughs again. “I’m Trey Reynolds, sweetheart. I’m the fifth highest paid actor in all of Illéa. And where do you rank on that list? Oh yeah, you’re not even in the top fifty. At least I didn’t have to sleep my way into getting a role in this movie.”

           I gasp. “Excuse me? How dare you! And you know that’s not true!” I lower my voice considerably. “You know you were my first,” I hiss at him.

           He raises his eyebrows expectantly at me.

           Surely he can’t be implying… no. “That was after I was already cast for the movie!”

           Trey shrugs. “Yeah, but it was before filming started. You still could’ve been replaced.”

           “How dare you!” I say, but my voice has lost its edge.

           “Bye, Melody Nolan. It’s been…” he smirks. “A pleasure.”

           I stand there in shock for a moment, before I blink myself out of my haze. I notice a couple crew members watching me. I feel my anger and frustration bubbling within me. “What the hell do you think you’re looking at?” I yell at them. “Don’t you have jobs to be doing?” They jump at my raised voice and turn around as if they hadn’t just been watching me. I bet they just can’t wait to get off work now, to go talk to all their family and friends and whatever paparazzi will listen and say how they “saw the end of Treyody.” Whatever, let them have their fifteen minutes in the spotlight.

           I turn and walk out of the building to get to my trailer. I manage to get all the way without any photographers spotting me, probably because security on the studio lot is actually pretty good. Once in the trailer, I shut and lock the door, then lean against it and slide to the floor, pulling my knees to my chest.

           Finally alone, I allow myself to feel. I allow the tears I’d been holding back fall from my eyes. I allow the pain of desertion and betrayal overcome me for the moment.

           How could he do this to me? Did our relationship mean absolutely nothing to him? Was he playing me the entire time? It’s not like we were together just when there were cameras around; we had what felt like a real relationship. We went out on plenty of public dates, sure, but that wasn’t all we did at all. We spent plenty of time at each other’s apartments here in the city. I took him to my family’s beach house. He met my family, though I never met his; he said they weren’t that close.

           And I gave him everything. I gave him my trust, I gave him my love, which I don’t just give freely. I lost my… Stop. I need to stop wallowing in the past. So I wasted six months of my life on that jerk, so what? I couldn’t let a stupid guy ruin me any more. I’ve wasted enough time on this already. It’s time to turn off my emotions again. I finally allow my heart turn to stone. No more feelings. No more weakness. No more pain. I wipe my hands to brush away my tears and stand up from my spot on the ground.

           I move across the trailer to a drawer I’ve kept almost completely empty throughout the entirety of shooting the movie. For the most part, I’d moved in a lot of my stuff to the trailer, since it was just easier than always toting everything back and forth between the studio and my city apartment. The apartment isn’t even that full of stuff, I only live there when I’m filming something or have a lot of awards shows in a row. Even though I like that the apartment is all mine, I usually spend most of my time at the beach mansion, even though that’s shared with my parents. They don’t spend a lot of time there, though. They’re usually travelling, when they’re not keeping up the façade of supporting me in my career.

           In the drawer are strings, which most people would have no idea what to do with. I’m not exactly sure how I got started with it, but ever since I was little, I’ve liked making anklets for myself. Personally, I think growing up so close to the beach made me interested in the styles of beach goers, and many people who spend most of their hours at the beach wear anklets for whatever reason. Regardless, I like making and wearing anklets. Sometimes the colors are chosen because they mean something to me at a time, and sometimes they’re just colors that look nice together. Whenever I’m in a movie, I can’t wear any anklets because the characters wouldn’t wear anklets, obviously, but it’s become a sort of ritual to me at the end of production of a film, I make a new anklet.

           I pick up the strings and pull my fingers through them. It calms me a bit. I pick out the red, purple, black strings to begin weaving them together. Red, to symbolize my anger at Trey, or the blood and revenge I plan to get back at him. Purple, to symbolize the power I know I still have in this town. Trey may have more fans than me now, but I still have a huge fanbase, and I plan to use that and whatever else it takes to keep climbing my way to the top. Finally, black, to symbolize the black of my soul and the void of emotions inside me.

           Weaving the strings together calms me even more, and by the time I tie off the anklet around my ankle, I no longer feel the pain brought by emotions.

           There’s a knock at the door, and I groan. I don’t want to see anyone right now. I walk over to the door and look out the peephole. It’s Diana. Of course.

           Diana Pierce. A name that invokes awe and respect in almost everything. Twin sister to the illustrious host of The Report, she can get pretty much whatever she wants in Angeles. Which makes her a pretty good manager. She’s been working for my family since my father was still in the business, and has been my manager from the time I could first talk. She’s been the one who’s helped me get all my roles in movies or tv shows or award shows. She’s the one who’s talked me through any problems I’ve ever had emotionally or mentally. She’s been more of a parent to me than my own parents, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get on my nerves.

           I open the door for her and quickly shut it again as she enters without looking up from her phone.

           “Alright, so you’ve got the Degrees of Love after-production party tonight at 10. You’ll have to make an appearance, but you and Trey can leave early from that if you like. You’ve got an interview with that news show tomorrow morning at 8, so don’t stay out too late. Any questions?” Diana finishes and looks up from her phone. She purses her lips. “Oh, honey, you’re all splotchy. Do you have allergies or something?”

           I sigh. “Yeah, allergies. It seems I’m allergic to assholes.” Diana frowns. I roll my eyes. “Trey broke up with me.”

           Diana nods and starts typing something on her phone. “Of course he did. Well, I hope you’re not planning on using that as an excuse to not go to the after party tonight. If you don’t show, it’ll only seem like you were too emotionally attached to him. You can’t give Trey the chance to work the media against you and make you seem like the needy ex-girlfriend who can’t even face him.”

           I groan. “Yeah, I know. I’ll still go to the stupid party. I’m not an idiot.”

           “Diana looks up from her phone for a moment to pat me on the shoulder. “I know you aren’t an idiot. It’s just that I’ve had so much more experience in this business than you.”

           She really hasn’t. Diana has never been anything other than a manager, so it’s not like she knows how it feels to have your face plastered all over the tabloids and gossip sites.

           “Oh!” Diana exclaims. “You need to call your mother. You know how she gets when she has to hear about breakups and things from the news instead of from you.”

           I rub my forehead. All that’s been going on today has started giving me a migraine. “I’ll call her later,” I concede.

           “No, missy. You call your mother right now.” Diana has her mean face on, which hasn’t really scared me since I was a kid, but I know she means business, so I give in.

           I pull out my phone and start calling my mom.

           “Mellie!” She exclaims when she answers.

           I roll my eyes. She knows I hate it when she calls me that. “Hi, Mom.”

           “So are you done with filming? That’s so fun. Listen, before you head over to the party tonight, you and Trey should come over for a quick dinner. And then we—”

           “Mom, stop.” I take a deep breath. “Trey and I broke up. That’s what I called to tell you.”

           “Aww, that’s too bad. I really liked that boy,” she says. It takes all I have in me not to groan. She didn’t like Trey; she liked his fame and money. She knew any merging of our families would result in a huge income increase for her. She wouldn’t care in the slightest if he was a horrible person as long as he was rich. In fact, I’m almost surprised she’s not trying to convince be to make it work with him. Even if he doesn’t love me, doesn’t mean we couldn’t have some kind of arranged marriage for the money.

           “Yeah, well, we broke up. It’s over. I just wanted you to know before it goes public.”

           “Well, you’re still welcome to come to our apartment this afternoon for a dinner before your party,” she suggests, though she doesn’t really sound like she means it. Apparently without Trey, I’m not even worth my parents’ time.

           “Actually, I think I’m going to go out to the beach house for a few hours. The, uh, dress I want to wear is there,” I tell her.

           “Oh, well, then that works out great. You know, your father and I are actually kind of busy.” Figures.

           “Okay, then I’ll talk to you later. Bye, Mom.”

           “Bye, Mellie.”

           I hang up and give Diana an annoyed look. That phone call was useless, and all her idea.

           “Alright, Diana. So when’s my next audition? A new role is honestly just what I need right now to take my mind off things,” I explain.

           Diana shakes her head, and gives me a conspiratorial smile. Oh no, what is she up to now? “Nope. No more auditions for a while.”

           I groan. “Why not?”

           Diana pulls a packet of papers out of a folder I didn’t even know she’d been carrying and set it down on a countertop.

           “What’s this?”

           “Read it,” she commands, not answering my question.

           I walk over to the counter and look at the top sheet of paper in the stack.

           The words: THE SELECTION are listed in large print on top of the paper. I take a step back from the papers as if they carry disease. “Oh, hell no. I am not entering the Selection.”

           “Yes, you are,” Diana states. “Cynthi called me the other day and was going on and on about how excited she is to host the Report during the Selection. Honestly, I was tuning out most of what she was saying. But I did catch the way she was saying how much screen time all the girls in the Selection get. They get weekly interviews, their faces all over the magazines, and time in the palace.”

           “I get all that already, minus the palace. Unless you count the beach house as a palace, which it almost is,” I point out. “I just got out of a relationship literally a half hour ago, why would I go compete for the snobby little prince?”

           Diana looks like a kid in a candy store, and I still can’t tell why. “The prince doesn’t even matter. Do you realize how much press you’d get as one of the Selected? Just make it to the Elite, and you’re golden. You don’t even have to like the guy, and he doesn’t have to like you. Just convince him to keep you until the Elite, then you can come home and I’ll have ten auditions lined up for you within the week.”

           “Okay, but what if I turn in the application and don’t get Selected? Then I’ll look like the needy girl who needs a guy so much she’ll go to the Selection for it. And then didn’t even get Selected.”

           Diana waves a hand at me, as though my words are meaningless. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got it covered. You’ll get in.”

           I glare at her. “You’re not going to let me talk my way out of this, are you?”

           She smirks. “Nope. So get writing. It’s a long application.”

           I look down at the papers again. How bad could it be? “Fine. I’ll fill them out at the beach house, then get to the party for an hour or so. Anything else?”

           “Don’t leave the trailer without sunglasses. You look like you’ve been crying,” she says with a sneer, as though crying is as disgusting as a dirty diaper. Which, maybe it is.

           I grab my sunglasses and keys and walk out of the trailer, Diana following me out, and immediately walking off in the other direction. I start walking toward my car, which is on the other side of the studio’s main gates. Which means paparazzi have free reign out there. I take a deep breath as I walk past the last security guards.

           Immediately I’m bombarded by cameras and microphones and questions. “Melody!” “Melody, what can you tell us about Degrees of Love?” And the even more annoying: “Melody, is it true you and Trey Reynolds broke up?” “Is Treyody dead?” “Will you still be attending the movie’s premiere together?”

           I ignore all their questions and push my way to my car. I almost run over one reporter as I pull out of my spot, but he moves out of the way when he realizes I’m not stopping.

           Once I make it past the reporters and out of the parking lot, I feel a lot calmer again. Diana always stresses me out with timeframes and deadlines and everything, and her assurance that I am like her and don’t feel any emotions. I do feel emotions, I just try hard not to show it. I understand that emotions are a weakness, and I know I shouldn’t let myself feel so much all the time. I let myself feel with Trey because I thought I could trust him, but obviously that was a mistake. A mistake I won’t be making again any time soon, you can be sure of that.

           After forty minutes of driving in silence that only fueled my hatred for Trey, I pull into the long driveway of the beach house.

           I park the car and as I walk up to the front door, I can hear the high-pitched barking that I know means Teddy is waiting for me. How he always knows I’m coming, I have no idea, but I’m not sure I care. Not when I can open the door and pull him into my arms immediately. Teddy is a little yorkie, just a few months old, and he’s the only living creature I think who loves me unconditionally. I laugh as Teddy licks my cheek while I close and lock the front door behind me.

           “It’s so good to see you, Teddy,” I tell him. I walk over to one of the couches and sit down in it. I set the Selection application down on the coffee table. I look at Teddy. “What do you think, Teddy? You think I could make a good queen?”

           Teddy answers with a little huff that makes me laugh.

           “I don’t think so either. But I guess making it to the Elite isn’t so bad. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to sign up.”

           I grab a pen and write my name on the application.

#challenge entry #pc1 #selectionoc

[jflashandclash]

Traitors of Olympus: Blood of a Mayan

Twenty-Four: Kalypso

Leo Valdez and I Compare Notes from Book One

 The coordinates for Leo Valdez’s location appeared around 6:19 in the morning. Kally knew this because that was when Pax decided to do a very poor imitation of a rooster caw. She wished he had a blow horn instead. That would have been less annoying. Or—even better—that they had a gag.

This was worse than the wakey, wakey work campers! song they played at her Catholic “volunteer” camp in the mornings. Mostly because Pax felt the need to race back and forth across their sleeping bags to emphasize the caw.

Everyone dragged themselves out of bed.

Kally was used to the circadian rhythm’s version of suicide sprints from drama club, where she maybe slept three hours before the last rehearsal, then kept going for each performance their school put on and squished a soccer game before the matinee. Merry was used to it too, but that didn’t stop her from tripping Pax with a grape vine when he raced past her bed.

The Romans had left shortly after the Pax Show the night before, after Reyna went to talk to the Pax brothers under Calex’s recommendation. Kally meant to ask how that went.

Axel went around distributing beef jerky and what Kally could only hope was cleaned river water. Those boys had to have water-cleansing tablets with them, right? Merry huffed at him and waved off the jerky. “Do you have anything else a little less bovine?” she asked.

Pax pulled some grass from the ground and piled it into her lap. “You called for bovine?”

Merry gave him a playful glare that Kally recognized from the times Merry had publicly humiliated and shamed popular kids at their old school. “You’re already on my list for insulting the sounds of nature this morning.”

“Everyone up!” Axel’s call interrupted their conversation. He was half-way through rolling up Calex’s bedroll. The son of Eros had stumbled from his bed and stood there staring at it. Kally hoped he was okay. Calex looked like he might cry. Then she remembered how he described his nightmares.

True, she’d ”fought” Python in her dreams during her few hours of rest, but at least she was the only one in danger. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to dream about your mother and brother dying every night when you’d actually experienced it.

Axel stood with the bedroll and touched Calex’s shoulder. Almost to distract from the comfort, he called over Calex’s shoulder to the younger Song. “Joey, wake up your sister.”

Joey was grumbling about how she didn’t have any of her facial creams with her and that it was a crime against humanity to degrade someone by keeping them from some good Proactive. “You wake her up,” she snapped louder. “I’m not dying today.”

Kally thought everyone was up, but had overlooked the partially mossy pile that was Euna’s sleeping roll. She snored softly, arms and legs peeking out like she’d had an epic blanket battle in her sleep.

Axel released Calex’s shoulder, sighed, and walked over. He knelt down and touched her shoulder. “Euna--”

Euna punched him in the face.

While everyone was still stunned, she rolled over. A weave of grass followed her movement to tuck her in, acting as the world’s best sentient blanket.

“Yea, we throw stuff at her to wake her up in Cabin Four,” Joey explained. She barely hid a smirk as Axel rubbed his chin. “You should see how many alarm clocks she goes through at home.”

At home. Kally suddenly thought about her parents and siblings. Her parents were probably worried about her the same way one would worry over milk they forgot to buy at the store, but John… Her older brother was a jerk, but she’d been gone for over 24 hours. She hoped he didn’t say or do anything stupid.

A small scuffle erupted between Euna and Axel that ended with Calex carrying Euna—sleeping bag and all—to the Pax mobile.  

Merry did a quick morning prayer to the gods— Athena in particular, for whom she composed a quick riddle—Axel scolded her, and they were off.

As the Pax brothers took the front seats and Calex gently set Euna down in the back, he seemed to come out of a state of numbness. He adjusted his beanie and his scarf before leaning over the driver’s seat to Axel. “Uh, if we’re dropping by Leo, is there any chance we could avoid the… mythological travel?”

His face seemed to take on a green shade just looking through the front window at the golden donkey.

“It’s a ten minute drive, mortal car speed,” Axel assured.

“But I’m sure Leo won’t judge you if you throw up on meeting him,” Pax assured.

Calex didn’t seem awake enough to give Pax a proper distasteful scowl, but he tried his best.

Once everyone settled down, the car ride went quickly. They traveled on back roads, coasting smoothly with the new suspensions Hephaestus installed. From the few informational signs Kally noticed out of Pax’s window, they must have been in some kind of state park.

Pax teased Axel about Reyna the whole ride, providing ample entertainment. As they drove, Kally could hear Merry’s empty stomach moaning beside her. She almost felt guilty tearing off a piece of beef jerky and defending it from Baller… but she hadn’t had a proper meal since the night before, so wasn’t going to stop enjoy her meat.

When they stopped, Kally had expected a palace or a mansion or at least some torches lined up to spell Leo Valdez is Here, similar to a Hollywood sign.

Instead, they came upon a small shack in a clearing, built with various pieces of shimmering metal and wood. The scraps of gold, bronze, oak, and steel were mesmerizing as the morning sun reflected off the structure through the gold and orange trees. An embroidered tapestry hung above the shack with fancy, bold script that read: Leo and Calypso’s Garage. Below was smaller writing: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters; Fresh Fruits and Vegetables; Cider and Stew; Tofu Burgers.

There were two picnic tables in front of the shack. Three centaurs stood at one, munching on bowls of stew and pushing each other around. A girl came out to check on their orders. Despite the smudges of dirt on her face, arms, and rolled up sleeves, Kally could tell she was beautiful. She had long caramel hair and radiant skin. The girl was… intimidating. Kally had never met another person named Calypso before, though that’s how people always misspelled her name, if they had a guess at all. Most people expected Kally to look like an exotic model with her name but uh… this girl actually did look like an exotic model.

There was a Hispanic boy with elfish features standing in front of the shack. He seemed far too calm that one hand was smoking and on fire. Not only was he calm, he flipped a patty on that hand like, oh, Berkeley Hills, California regulation states that you need to finish cooking all burgers before you call the fire department.   

And the bronze dragon. Yea, she probably should have first mentioned the dragon hanging out in the clearing behind the shack. The scales outshined the shack, reflecting gold and bronze light everywhere. Two startling red eyes glowed from the dragon’s head as it watched the centaurs—a little too hungrily, Kally thought. Were those rubies? The automaton was so big, the dragon could have easily rolled and crushed the shack, the picnic table, and made some centaur patties. Fortunately, it seemed in a no-rolling mood, and much more intent on sunbathing.

Upon seeing the dragon, Kally’s first instinct was to panic—the first night she met the Pax brothers, the well-dubbed Silver Festus attacked the Pax Mobile. It took a Roman ballista and a well aimed shot from her discus to knock it out of the sky. They’d only gotten lucky that the control disk had popped out. This dragon was much bigger. They could shoot it with a few canons and still end up as a demigod roast.

Kally grabbed her Argonaut statue, wondering if she should climb to the van’s weird sunroof to prepare a futile shot at the dragon’s face, but Axel issued no commands and drove up like this was normal. She really needed to accept that stuff like this was normal… But she’d only known she was a demigod for a month. Maybe another six and she’d find dragons drab and boring.

From the rearview mirror reflection, Kally could see childish excitement in Axel’s brown eyes. It was cute to see him properly emote like a teenager.

Pax’s excitement wasn’t as quiet. He leaned partially out the window and said, “That’s Leo Valdez? He kinda looks like me!”

In the fact that they were both Hispanic, short, and had impish smiles, this was true, though Pax was slightly darker with chubbier cheeks. And the girl kinda looked like Kally, except looking at her was like trying on the same dress as Aphrodite to see who looked better. For an uncomfortable moment, it also made Kally wonder what she and Pax would sell from a stand. Poisoned bake goods? Weasel shirts? Probably weasel shirts.

“Tofu burgers,” Merry sighed wistfully and leaned into Kally’s shoulder. “I think I’m in love.”

“Right,” Calex chuckled. “I’d say a happy ‘two’ on the infatuation meter at best.”

“Tofu burgers are involved. I think that warrants at least a three,” Merry argued.

There was a small clearing about two dozen feet away from the shack that Axel took as a parking lot. He stopped the car, pulled the emergency lever, and exhaled slowly.

Joey grunted and leaned over Pax’s seat to see the flaming boy better. Neither he nor the girl had paid their van any mind. “He looks like a little runt,” she said.

Pax withdrew his apple and tossed it from hand to hand. “I’ve heard a lot about him from Matt. I may never have this opportunity again.” Pax grinned dangerously. “I’ve gotta mess with him.”

Before Axel could say anything, Pax jammed a dart into Axel’s seat belt buckle. He opened the door, pressed the lock button, and slammed it shut.

Axel jerked forward so quickly that his seat belt locked, trapping him. He fumbled to open it, but whatever Pax had done kept the buckle fastened even when the dart was removed. “Ajax!” Axel hissed but his brother was already walking towards Leo, taking a bite into his apple.

Merry shoved Kally forward. She stumbled past Joey and almost over Pax’s seat.

“Stop him!” Axel commanded and withdrew a knife to cut the seatbelt off.

Kally climbed over the passenger seat, pulled the lock up, and almost fell when she opened the door. As she scrambled after Pax, she could hear Calex yelp from the back, “Axel—the child lock is still engaged! I can’t open the back!”

So, for the next few seconds, that would leave it up to her to stop Pax. Well, it wasn’t Pax anymore. It was a six foot, blond police officer rapidly closing the distance between he and the teen.

Leo stopped flipping the tofu burger. The flames encircling his hand vanished, leaving a half-fried patty laying awkwardly in his hands. He had curly black hair, not quite as unruly as Pax’s, but close. His eyes were also dark, and couldn’t focus on one location for long. He wore a dirty army jacket and beat up work jeans.

When Pax leveled with him, Leo grinned. “Hello officer,” Leo said with such casual cheer that Kally assumed upsetting the police was as casual for him as walking in late to math class. “You missed the memo! Yesterday was our store’s official Po-Po appreciate day, but—”

“You’re in violation of California Code SB-1221,” Pax interrupted him while flashing a badge. As Kally approached them, she had to marvel at Pax’s acting. His posture had gone rigid, the same way it did when he mimicked Axel or pretended to be Jason Grace. He kept his chin held high, like an authority figure would. He pointed at the dragon “I’d like to see your permit for that dragon.”

Leo’s eyes widened. “You can see Festus?” He glanced back at the dragon, who glanced back at them with those unnerving and beautiful eyes. It creaked and whirred and Kally realized it was talking. Maybe telling Leo which one of them it would make into brunch first. Did metal dragons eat people?

When the son of Hephaestus returned his gaze, he looked more confused than alarmed. Leo tilted his head to one side, examining Pax like he could open his face and find a control board. “Do you have special Mist-piercing contacts or something? Because that would be sweet and I’d like to talk to your optometrist.”

Once Kally got close enough to interrupt them, she remembered how much she hated improvising. Merry would have come up with some story to drag Pax off before he changed back, so they could pretend they didn’t know the crazy guy dressed as a cop that mysteriously vanished.

“Officer—” Kally couldn’t continue when she saw Pax’s name tag. She burst into giggles.

Leo looked a second later and stifled some chuckles.

“Don’t get started with me Ms. Kassand! You’re still in trouble for Gorgon hunting on private property without permission!” Pax snapped. His authoritarian demeanor was so convincing, she almost went silent, but Leo’s laughter destroyed the illusion.

“Officer Doofus?” Leo gasped through his laughs.

Kally could tell that Pax was losing character. His mouth twitched. “You got a problem with that? You demigods think you’re so special and above the law, just because your parents are gods—”

As the air around Pax seemed to ripple, Axel lurched out of the van. The back doors flew open seconds later with Calex and Joey following after. Merry stepped out leisurely after them. Was Euna still sleeping in the car?

Pax’s hair darkened back to his wild black, his skin tanned, and his uniform lengthened into his duster jacket, T-shirt, and worn skinny jeans. He’d given up the façade to laugh along with them.

Again, Leo didn’t seem that surprised by Pax’s shape shifting. He did pick up on the joke. “Man, you had me for a second there, especially with the code. Is that a violation for illegally parking chariots or something?”

Pax shook his head, still laughing. Axel, Calex, and Joey all slowed down to normal walking pace when they saw Leo hadn’t set them on fire.

Pax straightened up enough to use his salesman-voice, “California Code SB-1221: you can’t use a dog to pursue bears or bobcats. One of the most important laws you need to know to live in the sun state.”

Leo saw the others coming and pulled himself together. “Gotta always worry about your spare bobcats,” Leo said. His eyes drifted over to Kally. One of his hands ignited again and he flipped the tofu patty. “Nice assist on the prank. I’m Leo Valdez—Handyman supreme. That’s Calypso—”

He gestured to the girl. She gave a small wave from where she was still trying to calm the centaurs enough to talk to them. “This is our shop. You can’t really find it unless you’re sent by a god, recommended by a friend or, have a life-or-death situation that can only be fixed with the world’s best cider. So… cider?” he offered.

As Leo went to set them up for brunch at an open picnic table, Pax listed off their names while pointing at everyone. She, Pax, and Merry took one side; Joey, Calex, and Axel, the other. Merry called dibs on the tofu burger he was flipping.

From the tempo and sound of Pax’s voice, Kally could tell Pax really wanted to be this guy’s friend. Pax did say that Matthias spoke about Leo a lot. Maybe Leo was also really into weasels and Reese’s Sticks.

“I’m Ajax Pax, your evil duplicate.[1] Here to tell you what you’re doing right in your life and how to ruin it. But call me Pax because there are too many A’s, too many X’s and too much awesome with—”

“Wait. Ajax Packs?” Leo grinned. “Like Ajax packs the heat? Or Ajax packs a punch? Tell me you do some kind of sport or—”

Pax wound up his arm and Kally could see Pax going in to punch Leo. Fortunately, Axel saw it too and darted his hand across the table to stop him.

Pax pouted. “He asked if I could pack a punch—”

“That’s not what he meant and you know—”

Pax shook Axel off and resumed his introductions. “This is Kally my sort-of-not-girlfriend, Axel, my brother—also the god of awesome—Merry is pretty cool, Joey, and some prick—”

Calex came out of his starry-eyed stare at Leo to scowl at Pax. “Ey!”

“—named Calex. Oh! And Euna is probably in the van and hasn’t gone on some crazy killing spree in pursuit of breakfast.”

Kally wasn’t sure how she felt about being introduced as Pax’s sort-of-not-girlfriend, though—like most things Pax said—it wasn’t fully inaccurate.

Joey sighed and stood back up. “I’ll go get her up. If there’s breakfast involved, she’ll be worse if we don’t wake her.”

As Joey walked away to wake the beast, Leo set out plates for everyone and handed Merry a bun. Merry hummed happily. “Mmm—a curdilicious burger. This might push the infatuation scale to a three—“

“Two and a half at best,” Calex offered with a chuckle.

Leo grinned. “Oh, for me? Sorry ladies, but the Leo machine is taken.” He glanced up to follow Joey’s movement. “I like your party mobile—wow! Are you using a…” Leo paused then snapped his fingers. “A Hygieia Hydraulic prototype?”

Axel sighed. “When I get back to Camp Half-Blood, I’m killing Matthias.”

“You’re from Camp Half-Blood?” Leo asked. His fingers traced a belt around his waist and his other hand fiddled with a fork he’d put on the table.

“Yea mate. They’re curious what is keeping you away,” Calex said. He tried to sound casual and lighthearted, but didn’t quite manage. His voice as a little too high-pitched.

“I kinda died and came back. It can really mess with a guy’s head. I tried to send them a message to let them know I was okay…” Leo trailed off.

Kally didn’t know the details of Leo’s story the way Merry or Calex would, but she overheard Piper lose it at one of her campers for suggesting Leo might be dead. From what Kally heard, he’d sacrificed himself so they could win one of the great wars but the camp counselors seemed to refuse his death. Piper and Leo had been close friends, hadn’t they? Kally could imagine Calex sitting up with Piper, comforting her about Leo.

Leo’s mouth moved like he wanted to say more and he glanced quickly over one shoulder.

That beautiful girl was walking over from the centaur table. She looked annoyed. When she noticed Kally, her eyes narrowed. Then they shifted to Merry, giving her a quick look over. The movement was so quick and subtle; Kally thought she must have imagined it when the girl smiled.

Leo whirled to face her like he’d completely forgotten the rest of them. “Hello there Sunshine,” he cheered. “You still don’t want any help with our party-harty patrons?”

She upturned her chin and huffed. “I see centaur manners haven’t changed in the last 3,000 years.”

Kally saw Pax reach for a dart on his belt. She put a hand over his to keep him from an unnecessary dartfest. Did anything not startle this boy? Kally understood why he’d been nervous around Romans, but this girl didn’t look dangerous. Kally was waiting for the day Pax came running to her because he saw a butterfly that reminded him of a monster.

“You’re the Calypso,” Pax hissed.

Calypso examined Pax. Her eyes had widened in alarm, then relaxed into confusion. “Yes,” she said. Almost to herself, she added, “I don’t know you.”

Although Kally didn’t know why, the disinterest on Calypso’s face calmed her. However, Pax’s outburst sent a ripple through the table. Axel’s eyes narrowed and he folded his hands casually in front of him, resting his chin on his thumbs. This obscured the lower half of his face so she couldn’t quite read his expression. Calex flinched and glanced between Leo and Calypso, looking worried.

Finally, there was Merry who munched with her eyes closed. “Whatever comes out of your mouth better not make this delicious feast any less enjoyable,” she said without opening her eyes.

Pax ignored her. His hand tensed under Kally’s. “No, Ms. Stockholm Syndrome. Most people don’t need to know me for me to know them. But you’re different. I know you from Jack’s poetry.”

Calypso’s jaw went slack, then it slammed shut, and she scowled. Tears rimmed her eyes. “You know Jack?”

“Seeing as I just got to tango with his murderers, I knew him,” Pax corrected. His voice had regained some of his normal buoyancy, but it sounded darker than usual.

Leo’s smile faded. He glanced from Pax to Calypso. “Who’s Jack?” he asked. “Uh, I kinda thought you said it was just Percy, that pioneer dude, and that Sissy guy.”

“Odysseus,” Calypso corrected reflexively. She rubbed her sleeve against her face and choked out, “I’m going to get the stew.”

“Wait—” Leo said, but Calypso was already disappearing back to their shack. She even ignored how two of the centaurs butted heads to vie for her attention. He glared at Pax. “Not cool man.”

Leo raced after her.

Before Calex, Merry, or Kally could ask, the Pax brothers began to hiss back and forth in… Mayan?  Because of their accents and her lack of knowledge in any of their languages and dialects, she struggled to tell if they were speaking Spanish, Mayan, or Kriol.

As the two chattered, Kally could see the Song sisters making their way over from the van. Merry set her tofu burger down and dabbed her lips with a napkin. Kally could imagine the verbal assault and battery that she was about to unleash.

“Hold up. What’s this about Calypso making things more complicated?” Calex interjected.

Everyone stared at him. His grey eyes at full attention, like one of the Pax brothers had addressed him directly.

The Pax brothers paused, glanced at each other, then glanced at Calex.

Axel asked him a question, keeping his hands folded over his mouth. His accent altered slightly with the language.

Pax muttered something under his breath.

“Shut it you dumb bloke,” Calex snapped at Pax. He turned back to Axel. “’Course I can understand you. Now what are you on about?”

Merry gave a hearty laugh.

Some floodgate of emotion broke in Kally and she sighed in relief. “Thank God someone can understand them!” she said. When the boys used language as a way to pretend she wasn’t there… it kind of hurt. Especially considering Pax had told her so much, and that she couldn’t tell his secrets anyway... it almost wasn’t fair.

Merry nudged Kally’s shoulder. “Love and desire speaks all languages. I guess that means Calex does too.”

Calex stared thoughtfully off to the side, then nodded his head. “I can understand most languages after hearing them a few times. I suppose that would be a godly power.”

“So, speak English,” Merry said to Pax and Axel. “Else we’ll get it with a British accent and Pax, you know Calex will make you sound stupid.”

“You’re right. I’d make him sound as he normally does,” Calex said.

“I sound like a scholar and a gentleman,” Pax protested.

By now, Joey and Euna had made their way to the picnic table. Although all of them looked exhausted, Kally was pretty sure she could start a sleep walking club with Euna. Probably a little dangerous in the Greek world. The girl’s eyes were barely open and her hair was plastered to the side of her face. After she plopped down in Joey’s former seat, she scanned the table for food other than Merry’s half eaten burger and found none. Slowly, she glared at her sister in a way that would make sloths proud.

Joey shoved Pax further down the bench into Kally so she could squeeze beside them.  “Don’t look at me. Pax probably scared the food off.”

“Don’t worry Flower Girl. Leo will be back with sweets.” Merry reached across to pat Euna’s head, but Kally grabbed Merry’s wrist and pulled her back. She knew the type of look on Euna’s face and didn’t want Merry to be down one hand.

Merry shook her off with an amused grin. She turned her attention back to Axel. “Let’s start this game of question and answer from the beginning. Why are we here? We know you’re a big fan of being the gods’ errand boy and—as much as I know you wanted to see Mr. Hunkihunk’s childlike wonder at seeing Leo Valdez—” She winked at Calex. “—I’m smelling an ulterior motive. And I doubt you’re here to rescue the Human Torch, who apparently doesn’t need rescuing.”

Axel examined Merry. No one was willing to interrupt the staring contest that rapidly degraded into an uncomfortable stalemate, not even Pax. His eyes flicked down to where Kally had rested her hand back on his—she’d only done it in case Calypso came back out and he went for his darts. He enlaced their fingers, lifted their hands into the air, then opened and closed them at random spots like PAC-MAN trying to eat some ghosts.

Euna put her head down on the table to nap.

Axel sighed, closed his eyes, and spoke softly. “Our father is trying to become a god. I need Leo Valdez to craft a weapon that not… not even Ares’s curse could break.” When Axel opened his eyes, they gleamed in the sunshine. For a moment, they glistened from brown to gold and Kally thought about the vision she saw in the van. “Then, I will be properly equipped to stop him.”

Kally had gathered most of this from Pax, but it was weird to hear Axel say them aloud. It felt anticlimactic at their little picnic table.

“A god?” Joey repeated in disbelief.

Calex’s eyes were wide. “Can the average bloke become a god?”

“He’s going to try,” Axel said.

“And what kind of person is your pops like that he wants to become a god?” Merry asked quietly. Her jaw slanted out of alignment and she rubbed it.

Axel nodded his head. “Not a very good one.”

A silent message passed between the two of them. Merry seemed to notice she was rubbing her face and forced her hand to the tabletop. Kally remembered the bruises Merry had when she left her father’s house and how Merry was seeking emancipation . They really needed an ice cream catch up day.

Pax set their hands down on the table. He squirmed back and forth, keeping his eyes on the ground. Kally thought he’d add something. Instead, he used his spare hand to fumble a necklace out from under his shirt.

“And how does…” Merry leaned forward so her mahogany locks dusted the edge of the table. She glanced past Kally at Pax. He paused and gave her a devilish grin. “Ms. Stockholm Syndrome make things more complicated?”

“Isn’t Calypso from the original myths? What’s she doing here?” Joey piped up. She sat up straighter and leaned forward to be more part of the conversation.

Merry nodded. “She was locked up tight on an island as punishment for supporting the Titans in the First Titan War. The gods would send her heroes to spice up her life, but they would always want to leave. She wasn’t known for being a good sport about it and, when Odysseus decided he was ready to stop the hanky-panky and go home to his waifu, she went a little Misery on Odysseus, for maybe seven years or so.”

Pax scowled. He released his necklace and his hand tightened an uncomfortable amount on Kally’s. “She shows her affections in unconventional ways.”

Axel frowned through his fingers. “Jack was a mess afterwards.”

“She captured your friend?” Joey asked, clearly skeptical of Jack’s abilities to defend himself from a tiny woman. “Is this the guy you kept calling the Scourge of Rome?”

Axel hesitated. “Propaganda. Not all killers are brave and not all monsters are ugly.” He glared over at the shack. “We needed Jack for the war and Atlas suspected he knew where Jack had disappeared.”

“So, you went to get him?” Calex asked.

Axel shook his head. “Mortals can’t find Ogygia except as teasers to Calypso, but Titans can. Prometheus and Atlas went to bargain for his release.”

“She had him gagged and muzzled like a dog,” Pax grumbled. “You know, like you do with people you love that want to leave.”

Kally felt her stomach drop. She wanted to assume Pax was joking, but she had a terrifying image of Pax as an ex-boyfriend, dressing up as a killer rabbit to scare away potential future boyfriends. Assuming future boyfriends were a thing that would ever happen.

Joey rolled her eyes. “Leo is here and ungagged. And I heard some rumors about Percy and this girl. He’s also ungagged. Maybe she changed her ways.”

Axel grunted. “Yea, and maybe Zeus said that humans and gods are born equal or Chiron will stop sending heroes out to die.” He shook his head. “Atlas made her swear on the River Styx that she wouldn’t hold heroes against their will anymore. We couldn’t have her taking anyone else from our cause. How ironic that the next one to show up was probably Percy Jackson.”

Calex said, “I do get some odd feelings off them. Though they do fancy each other just fine.”

“Calypso is probably worried we’re going to drag him back to Camp Half-Blood,” Axel mumbled to himself.

“Well, duh. Leo belongs in Camp Half-Blood,” Joey said. “Why should she care?”

Kally thought about how it would feel living on an island for 3,000 years in solitude. At first, she thought it might be awesome: all that time for writing, reading, and video games. The best part: there’d be no school, no annoying chemistry assignments to fail, and no cute boys to make her freeze up and feel like the world’s most realistic ice sculpture. But she was already lonely without Merry and it had been about a month since she moved to New York. And if the only people to visit would inevitably want to leave you…

“She’s probably scared of having to interact with others,” Kally blurted. When Merry, Axel, and Calex turned towards her, she thought about crawling under the table, but pushed forward. “If everyone she loved left her when she was on an island, I could see her being afraid of them having… more distractions off the island. And she might be nervous about talking to people in general. I wonder if Leo hasn’t gone back because she’s still adjusting.”

Could there be adjustment periods for 3,000 years of near solitude and separation anxiety? She could imagine trying to talk to a school counselor about that. “Uh, I’m a little afraid my boyfriend might leave me. The last 26 did.”

Kally had never been stranded on an island and she was terrified of social interaction. It would be unrealistic to think that wouldn’t leave a person bitter, anxious, and vindictive about the isolation. Especially when you looked like Calypso and could offer immortal paradise and boys still chose to leave.

Pax let go of Kally’s hand. Although she still felt uncomfortable with the exchange, her skin felt cold without his. He pouted at the ground and grumbled, “Nice to know you’ll sympathize with me when I do terrible things in the future because I have a traumatic back story.”

“You’re probably right,” Merry said. She must not have heard Pax, or was ignoring him. Merry gave Kally a little shoulder nudge of approval. She asked Axel, “So, you’re worried she won’t do us any favors for fear we’ll whisk away her knight in greasy armor. I think I can change her mind on that or at least distract her, with a little permission from all of you.”

Merry pressed something on her jacket and smooth jazz filled their ears. The music sounded more like high-quality-surround-sound rather than a dinky jacket radio.

The nearby centaurs perked up like social justice warriors detecting a racist comment.

Axel grinned, tapping his fingers across his goatee. “I like your idea, daughter of Dionysus.”

 Kally wasn’t sure how often she’d get to say it, but having a couple of centaurs handy helped a lot. As soon as Merry had their permission and gave a summary of her plan, she switched her powers on. Maybe it was because they hadn’t had enough sleep or that they’d finally had a chance to relax after almost 24 hours of questing, but Kally calmed when Merry turned the music up. She thought about how easy it was to hide in a corner when other people were dancing and was blissful at the idea.

The centaurs did the opposite.

“Party time!” one cried.

The other two bumped their heads together.

“Alright everyone, if you want to make this far easier on me, give a quick shout out to something that makes you happy! It can be sad-happy or excited-happy. Preferably something giddy-happy though,” Merry shouted. She stood up and gave everyone a charming smile.

Kally wondered how long it would take Leo and Calypso to come back out with the throb of music and the soon-to-be shouting. Merry’s jacket must have had telepathic subwoofers to make the picnic tables buzz the way they did.

Merry pointed at Joey.

Joey smirked and stood up with her. “Easy: dancing.” She put her hands on her hips and Kally could see Joey was already swaying to the beat. Something about Joey’s smile felt contagious.

Although the look on his was a sad grin, Calex stood up as well. “Waking up Tom in the morning,” he said. Although the motion seemed to pain him, he poked Euna in the side.

Euna sat up—Kally expected her to break Calex’s finger—and grumbled, unironically, “A full night’s sleep.”

Merry glanced at Kally. Panic swelled in her. She knew it didn’t matter what her shout out was, but she didn’t want to—

“Starting a new journal,” Kally said and jumped to her feet before Merry could poke her.

“Woo-hoo! Literacy!” One of the centaurs called and smashed a bowl on the table.  

That was less nerve wracking than she thought it would be, even with the Thor-centaur. Merry gave her a thumbs up.

Pax stood up. “A happy family,” he said.

Axel sighed and joined them standing. “When Reyna is trying not to smile.”

Pax nudged Euna with his arm. “Euna, you need to stand up so we can finish our transformation and turn into Sailor Scouts.”[2]

Euna grumbled and stumbled to her feet.

As soon as she did, the centaur, who had originally shouted Party Time, joined in their declarations with, “Red velvet cheesecake!”

“Fuzzy rabbits!”

“The Anti-Corruption Act!” the last one shouted.

The other two stared at him for a moment, shrugged, and echoed, “The Anti-Corruption Act!”[3]

Kally didn’t know what that was, but Axel nodded in approval.

During all their exclamations, someone else crept over. The bronze dragon made a creaking sound from a spot almost directly above Kally. She felt like she should have been more afraid, but the addition of a cheerfully creaking dragon seemed appropriate in the sunny weather.

Kally hadn’t realized she was starting to shift from foot to foot to the beat. Although Merry had warned that her demigod powers magnified with excitement and joy, she hadn’t realized exactly how nice the community feeling and electrojazz would be.  

One of the centaurs, Mr. Anti-corruption jumped onto the picnic table, collapsing it. He took off his Party Ponies shirt and swung it over his head while shouting, “Washington Chapter loves remixes of Louis Armstrong!”[4]

“Yea!” the other two cheered.

Then rushed at their group.

“Not again,” Calex grumbled.

Kally wasn’t sure what to expect, but burst into laughter when one centaur took Calex’s arm to dance with him and another took Joey’s. The height-to-horse ratio was a little ridiculous, but none of them seemed to mind.

Leo and Calypso rushed out of their shack.

Leo frowned at the picnic table, though he perked up at the music. “Aw man, it took me like, 30 seconds to make this table!” Although Leo attempted to look stern, he laughed when he saw Festus swing his head to the music.

A rustling came from the woods. Normally, Kally’s demigod instincts might have shouted danger but, with the music and the pleasant warmth of the sunshine on her face, she knew it couldn’t be evil.

A dozen nymphs and satyrs skipped out of the woods, wearing colorful crowns made of fallen leaves. They needed no invitation or conversation to prance among the centaurs and half-bloods. Kally giggled as the nymphs poked the satyrs horns with sticks then darted away, in a cat-and-mouse dance.

Someone poked her in the ear.

Kally jumped. Pax stood beside her with his devilish grin. He winked his hazel eye. “Try and catch me Cyclops,” he invited.

Kally wanted to do something more than blush. On a whim, Kally lunged forward as though she was going to pursue him then stopped short.

Pax jumped back, though almost stumbled when she didn’t follow. They laughed.

Kally could see Axel offer a hand to Euna. She stared at him.

“I promise you’ll get food afterwards,” he said.

“I can’t dance,” she stated. She didn’t sound embarrassed about it, but factual.

“But you can fight,” Pax pointed out. His eyes remained on Kally and he hopped from foot to foot, the way he often did before doing something stupid. Although he kept focused on her, he said to Axel and Euna. “You ever see Avatar the Last Air Bender? Just take her through some fighting stances.”

Euna shrugged. Within seconds, the satyrs, nymphs and the rest of their group learned to give them a wide birth while they ran through practice drills to the beat. Both laughed when Euna accidentally whapped Axel in the face.

“How have you seen so much TV?” Kally asked Pax as he pranced closer to her.

“It’s how Luke shut up Matt and me when we were causing too much trouble,” Pax said proudly.

When Kally glanced over, she saw Merry had danced up between Calypso and Leo. Calypso looked uncomfortable, the way Kally usually felt at school dances. Part of Kally felt sympathy for her. Dances were super awkward, and they hadn’t even formed a circle group yet. Something about Merry’s music calmed Kally though. Maybe she should pull Calypso in for a dance so she knew she was welcome.

“Man, we gotta start charging party fees,” Leo laughed. His hands fumbled around his apron, withdrawing pieces to construct a quick party hat out of a paper plate. That boy’s fingers could move fast.

“Oh no, honey. Other way around. I’m great for business as you’ll have plenty of greedy tummies to feed in a bit,” Merry hummed with a broad smile. “This one is on the house though because your tofu burger was so yumlicious. However, this party will only be complete with the Leomeister and Calydoll.”

“I might head inside,” Calypso said. She touched her head. “My head kinda hurts. I think I’m going to go lay down.”

Kally had looked away for too long. Pax dove at her. She yelped and stumbled back, but Pax stopped short when he registered what Calypso said. He glanced over at the same time as Axel, who also paused in his fight-dancing with Euna.

Axel nodded to Pax. Then got struck in the face. Again.

Pax scrambled over to Calypso’s side. “Hey! Yea, syndrome-calling is bad and stuff, and I shouldn’t have called you those things.”

If it was anyone other than Pax, Kally might have believed him. But Kally recognized the tone and it said, I should have said worse things.

“That’s not much of an apology—” Leo started to say but Pax cut him off.

“But I have something that will stop you from feeling your headache,” Pax offered. He withdrew a vial from inside his jacket that Kally had never seen before. Unlike his knockout serum and poison, it was full and glittered like the stars. “Our dad owns a pharmaceutical company and this stuff works better than a dream.”

Calypso glared at Pax, probably still unhappy about what he’d said earlier, but her want for a headache remedy won out.

Kally might have been disappointed when Pax took Calypso to the side, but the ensuing game of musical, dancing chairs distracted her. Calex and Joey managed to escape the centaurs and rejoin their group.

Axel left Euna to Calex with strict instructions that she not accidentally kill Calex. Before Leo could go after Calypso and Pax, Axel snagged Leo’s arm and took him to the side. Axel said something about needing to do business before they could party. Merry, Calex, and Leo all looked disappointed as Axel led Leo to the van.

That was the plan though, right? Now Axel could ask Leo to build that unbreakable weapon. But she had to wonder—Axel had mentioned Hephaestus had fixed all the weapons in the back of the van. What tool or talent could Leo have access to that Hephaestus wouldn’t also have?

Merry placed a hand on Kally’s shoulder. “We don’t need pretty boys to have fun,” she said, laughing and shoving Kally to sway her hips.

Joey came over to join them and give Kally a few pointers on dancing. Kally never thought of herself as a good dancer, but Joey proved to be surprisingly encouraging despite all of her criticism. Joey was phenomenal. Kally had almost forgotten the dance battle she had against Apollo when they first got to camp.

“We have a school dance coming up,” Joey shouted over the playful bounce of music. Since the music never seemed to change level when Kally stepped closer or further from Merry, she wondered if part of its magic was to keep it the same volume for anyone partying. “You should all come. I can invite Pax as my date. Euna can invite Axel.” Joey flipped her hair. “I’ve got plenty of friends who would love to take Calex or one of you two if I tell them to.”

“Mmm, I do love parties,” Merry cheered.

Kally envisioned Joey as a mob boss, controlling a roving group of pre-teen girls in pop-star hoodies and perfect makeup. Kally would rather fight Aphrodite’s Devils again than have to keep up conversation with them. Instead of rejecting Joey’s offer, Kally asked, “Joey, don’t you have a boyfriend you’d want to invite instead?”

Kally often forgot Joey was two years younger than her. Despite her age, Kally couldn’t imagine Joey not having a boyfriend.

Joey glanced over to make sure Euna was distracted by Calex. As though she wasn’t shouting, she leaned toward Merry and Kally. “I’m dating Apollo, but he’s really busy.”

That took a moment to process. “My dad?” Kally balked. Regardless of how gods could change their appearance, something about her fourteen-year-old… friend? Could she really call Joey a friend? But her fourteen-year-old friend dating her 3,000 year old father seemed like something she should report to the school counselor and maybe some kind of super powered police force since she doubted their counselor could do much. Did Chiron have a policy for camper-god relationships?

Merry shook her head to the music. “You think you might be a bit too much of a young kitten for—”

           “Nope,” Joey stated without a hint of offense or uncertainty. “When I’m older, I’ll marry him and become a goddess.”

           “Joey, Goddess of Vanity.”

           Kally jumped when Pax appeared beside her. He grinned, winked his hazel eye at her, and slipped his hand into hers.

           Joey huffed, but didn’t break her smile.

           “Where’s Calypso?” Kally asked. It felt weird to say her own name like that.

           “Telling Morpheus I said, ‘sup,’” Pax said.

           “Is she alive, Mr. Vague?” Merry hummed, tapping his cheek.

           “When I saw her last. I went to make some Kool-Aid after—”

           “Are you the girl who considered herself worthy enough to marry a god?”

           Despite the merry atmosphere, everyone jumped when an older woman spoke beside Joey. None of them saw the woman walk up. Or maybe it was a dryad with a shawl? Kally couldn’t be sure, but she’d never seen a dryad hunched over like this one was. Kally couldn’t even see the speaker’s face, but the woman’s voice sounded aged with contempt and haughtiness.

           Merry went from shaking her head to the beat to rapidly shaking her head at Joey. She made consecutive slicing motions at her neck like to say, cut it out. Pax stepped behind Kally, in a way that cued Kally that this was not a mortal.

           Joey ignored her. “Augh, not right now. I haven’t done nearly enough quests yet. I doubt anyone knows me on Olympus. But, Hercules became an immortal. And Psyche married a god. If I work hard at it, anything can happen,” Joey said it with such casual confidence, Kally might have believed her… except she was talking about becoming immortal and marrying Kally’s father. For the record: gross.

           Kally decided she didn’t want to be there for that conversation anymore. Although she assumed Merry’s powers were blocking her from fully understanding her discomfort, it was definitely a killjoy.

           Joey laughed, her eyes sparkling. “Can you imagine it? Eternal beauty? Parties every night?”

           The old woman scowled at Joey, saying, “What did Hermes call it? The illusion of capitalism? Saying you can do anything if you put your mind to it. What a lie they tell children these days.[5] You don’t think it bold for a mortal to want godhood?”

Kally tugged on Pax’s hand.

           “Can we—can you and I—go for a walk in the woods?” Kally whispered. She didn’t want Pax to misunderstand and invite Joey to come along. She hoped he’d come up with an excuse as to why it should be a walk without her—

           Pax nodded, eager to get away from the older woman. He walked them towards the line of orange and yellow trees. To the others, he said, “Guys, Kally and I will be right back. We are going to go make out in the woods.”

           “Pax!” Kally hissed and struggled to withdraw her hand. That’s not what she meant—

           He tapped her nose with his other hand. “What? I’m a forward thinker.” He grinned. “And you didn’t seem like you wanted to be followed, Cyclops.”

           They walked past Festus, where he whirred his gears and bobbed his head. Kally wondered if the vibrations from the music felt like a massage to his wires. Two centaurs were doing a dance around him. Either that, or they were creeping up to attack, but Kally figured Festus could defend himself in the event of a pony riot.

           “That make out comment—it’ll encourage Merry to follow us,” Kally complained once the music quieted to sound more like an iPad and less like the best speakers ever.

           As she said it, a brilliant explosion of light erupted behind her. At first, she wondered if Leo Valdez had heard about her super nova and wanted to show her up. Then she heard a terrifying voice bellow, “Impetuous mortal!”

           When Kally turned, she saw all the centaurs and nymphs had dropped to grovel on their knees. Calex and Euna froze in mid-dance. There was no longer an old woman beside Joey, but a beautiful goddess, garbed in a glowing white gown and a cloak of peacock feathers. Her black hair was wrapped with golden ribbon in plaits down one shoulder. Those eyes burned with ferocity and radiated power.

           The music quieted. Merry joined the groveling with a quick, “Holy Hera!” Kally wasn’t sure if she was swearing or genuflecting. Merry tugged at Joey’s arm, but the daughter of Demeter stood there, gawking at the goddess.

           There were so many feathers. Kally had to wonder what Joey said to make the old woman combust into a boa with limbs.

           “You think you can handle the same trials and tribulations of the pious Psyche and the great Hercules?” the goddess demanded.

           Joey swallowed and clenched her fist. Kally was impressed. She would have apologized, cried, and probably managed to trip and knock herself out, but Joey stood her ground. “I can,” she said, though Kally could hear her voice quiver.

           Hera’s eyes narrowed. “Very well,” she snapped. Hera raised one hand and Kally was pretty sure they were about to witness a half-blood being smacked into a constellation. Instead, something appeared in Hera’s hand.

           A polished rosewood box with golden filigree.

           Kally was too far to see those details on the box, but she knew that’s what it looked like. She’d seen it before, but she couldn’t remember where.

           “This box allows you to carry the essence of a god or abstract thought. Travel into the Underworld and bring me the essence of Hades and Persephone’s happy marriage. Let’s see if you’re worthy to be a hero, let alone a consort of Apollo.”

           Kally recalled something Rachel said to her in her dream—that there would be a domino effect into a disaster with causalities on both sides.

           “Both sides?” she’d asked. “Monster and half-blood?”

           “No,” Rachel had frowned. “Traitor and hero.”

           And seeing that polished rosewood box, Kally knew that was one of the first dominos.

           Pax frantically tugged Kally’s arm. “We need to go tell Axel,” he whispered.

             Pax dragged Kally into the forest before they could see if Joey accepted the box. From the sudden pop they heard, Kally guessed Joey had accepted the box and Hera had disappeared. Either that or Hera popped Joey into confetti.

           Kally tried to balance not-panicking while scanning her memory for that box. She guessed it must have been from a vision, but she couldn’t pinpoint which.

           Although Pax rushed when they first set out, he slowed them down drastically when they heard Leo from somewhere ahead. “Uh… you want me to what?” the son of Hephaestus sounded like Axel had asked him to jump rope with a Fury’s flame whip. Though, if Leo really was fire proof, he probably could do jump rope with a Fury’s whip. Maybe she shouldn’t mention that to Pax since he might demand a performance.

           With the rays of brilliant sunlight sparkling through the woods, everything glowed yellow and orange. Axel and Leo stood out starkly. Kally hadn’t seen where they went at the start of the dance party, but Axel must have grabbed something from the van. He leaned against a tree, holding some kind of insulated sack in his hand.  

           Kally had to wonder how they didn’t hear Hera’s temper tantrum in the background, but she supposed the centaurs had kicked over a table at the start of their party.

           Pax stopped behind a large oak. He tugged Kally close and motioned for silence. Kally stumbled into Pax’s duster jacket and wanted to remind him that she wasn’t keen on his original public excuse for their departure.

But Pax leaned along the tree to watch the two talk. Kally wanted to point out that it was more important to make sure Joey wasn’t tiny pieces of paper than any prank Pax planned on playing on Axel, but Kally understood why Pax had paused. Axel looked… weird. Too business-like.  

“—with the temperature you’ll need to remove the metal, I’m not sure it would be safe for Calypso to help you.” With such routine smoothness to his speech, Axel must have been continuing a long list of instructions.

Leo waved his hand, pacing back and forth. He had a flip notebook in one hand and a pencil in this other. “Na man, her temper is hotter than any fire I can spill. She’s resistant. Plus I made her a fireproof Iron Lady suit so she can help me on more complicated projects.” Axel perked up at this information. Leo didn’t notice. He was sketching some kind of design. “So, melt the metal out of some coals and build a Buster Sword. Jeez amigo, you made this sound way cooler than it is. And why are you being so secretive with the payment? Do you have counterfeit ambrosia or something?”

Axel reached into the bag and withdrew the Silver Festus’s control disk. A month ago, when Kally first met the Pax brothers, they’d been attacked by a silver automaton dragon. With the help of the Romans, they’d managed to dislodge its control disk and shut it down. After seeing the real Festus, Kally understood the nickname.

Leo’s eyes went wide. “Holy Toledo! That’s Felix’s control disk!” He dropped his pen into his work belt and rushed within inches of Axel. “You have no idea how long it took me to find that much silver without Hazel around! Where did you find her?!”

“Your dragon attacked us,” Axel said.

“Automatons these days, am I right? They grow up so fast.” Although Kally could hear the jest in Leo’s voice, he eagerly darted around the disk, taking note of any of its imperfections. “I wonder why she—oh! Oooooooh!” Leo snapped his fingers and pointed at Axel. “You have a girl named Calypso in your group, right? Uh, Kelly or whatever?”

Kally flinched. She hated being called Kelly.

Pax glanced away to give her an evil grin. She had a feeling she’d hate it even more in the next few days.

“Kally,” Axel corrected.

“I was in the middle of programming Felix’s search engine—the search-and-rescue kind not the Google kind—when she disappeared. Felix was supposed to find Calypso if we ever got separated, but I never got to the ‘rescue’ part of the programming. Looks like Felix is good at finding Calypsos. Well, thanks for returning my disk.”

Axel didn’t look amused. Leo reached to take the control disk, and Axel tilted it up and away from his hand. “Before I give you this, I need you to swear that you’ll finish building the sword. This metal is cursed.”

Axel shook the bag in his hands. Although she already heard him mention coals, she expected some kind of metallic jingle instead of a swoosh of smoke from the bag. Were the coals on fire? “Weird stuff will start to happen when work starts on it and probably won’t stop until it’s done.”

Leo frowned. “What? Did you rob a mummy or something? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal in the book of Rawr.”

“Ra,” Axel corrected again.

When he continued his cold stare, Leo sighed. “Okay, okay. I guess it cursed away your sense of humor too.”

“A handshake will bring it back,” Axel gave him a crooked smile. He looped the satchel’s straps around one arm so he could extend a hand. “On the River Styx, you swear to finish this sword as soon as possible and give it to me and I promise to give you Felix’s disk and do everything I can reasonably do to get you her body. Once I’m done with my mission, respectively.”

“On the River Styx? For a sword?” Leo put his hands on his hips. “Are you sure you’re not a con man? Because you’re starting to sound like Sisyphus.”

Axel frowned. He put the silver disk into the bag.

“Wait—okay, okay.” Leo put his hands up. He fiddled with his tool belt and glanced at the ground, thinking. “It’ll take me a day, day and a half tops. Probably a day and a half if you’re expecting parties and tofu burgers.”

“Deal,” Axel said and put his hand back out.

Pax tensed. As Leo took Axel’s hand to shake, Pax bolted towards them, almost knocking Kally over. “HEY!” he shouted.

But Leo was already shaking.

Kally had learned her lesson about swearing on the River Styx to a Pax boy. It’s why she couldn’t tell any of Pax’s secrets. It was frustrating when Merry teased her about conversations that Merry assumed were romantic and weren’t, but it didn’t hurt beyond that. Plus, this was with Axel, not Pax. Axel always seemed more candid than his brother. But she wondered why he had all these extra precautions. Wasn’t Leo just making Axel a sword?

Leo and Axel glanced over. With the attention in their direction, it would probably look worse if Kally continued to stay half-hidden behind a tree. She stepped out, wishing she had anything to do with her hands and a way to explain away the eavesdropping.

Pax stopped a foot short of them. “Hera gave Joey a fancy box to get marriage advice from Persephone.”

Leo blinked. “Wait, Hera was here? As in goddess Hera? Shouldn’t there be more chaos and general annoyance? And—hey!” Leo suddenly seemed to remember what Pax had said to Calypso. “You were a jerk to Calypso.”

Pax shrugged. “I told Calypso I shouldn’t have said those things. Leo, let’s restart. I want us to be friends. I’m Officer Doofus of the Doof Diversion Team—”

“Ajax,” Axel interrupted. “Aren’t you supposed to be making Kool-Aid to calm everyone’s nerves?”  

Pax pouted and fiddled with something in his duster jacket, eerily similar to how Leo fiddled with his tool belt. “Fine,” Pax grumbled. “You go make more devious sounding plans. Come on Kally.”

 When they came out of the forest, the party had resumed. Hera was nowhere to be seen. The nymphs, satyrs, and centaurs were dancing. Merry must have turned the music back up.

Pax ran off to make some Kool-Aid in the shack. He seemed… more upset than she’d expect from an eavesdropping session, but she continued forward when he waved her on.

              Their friends were back at the picnic table. Kally expected Euna to be shouting at her sister for her recklessness, but Euna had passed back out on the table. That girl must have really loved to sleep. A glass of green liquid rested in front of her, probably the Kool-Aid Pax made.

              “Is Axel’s master sword under construction?” Merry asked. She looked tired, her honey skin glistening with sweat, though Kally wasn’t sure if it was from dancing or from pushing Euna and Joey back into non-killing moods after Hera’s interruption. She sat beside Joey, who wasn’t confetti, with Calex across from her.

              The rosewood box was on top of the table, partially covered by Joey’s hands. When compared to her fingers, the box seemed small, not something to hold the essence of a god. Now that Hera wasn’t around, Joey looked pale and sick. Kally could imagine her epiphany of, “Oh, Hera meant that Underworld. Can I fill this with Gushers instead?” Kally wondered what Euna said to her before falling asleep that made Joey realize a trip to the Underworld probably wasn’t a good thing.

           From the silence prior to her arrival, no one wanted to talk about Joey’s new quest.

              “He and Leo are taking a long time to get things sorted,” Calex said. He frowned at the rosewood box thoughtfully. The gloom in his grey eyes made his gaze feel hundreds of miles away. Probably back in Kakata, Kally thought.

              “Leo said it would take a day or so to make,” Kally said. Something about that conversation didn’t feel right. She didn’t want to bother them or say something to make the boys sound suspicious, especially not after the Missing flier from Hiro and Lapis. But she remembered Calex saying something…

           “Hey Calex,” she prompted quietly.

           When he glanced at her, Kally tried not to look away. She was finally getting comfortable looking all of them in the eye, and it was just in time to remind her that Calex looked like you’d expect a son of Eros to look. “Um, you said something about coals being stolen, er, some kind of rumor at camp…?” Her voice went softer with each word. Merry’s party euphoria must have been wearing off, since her instinct to hide under the nearest piece of cardboard to avoid socializing—it was coming back.

           In the distance, she saw Pax stroll out of the shack, balancing several dozen plastic cups and four pitchers of clear, glittery liquid on a tray. When he ran into a centaur or nymph, he would bow grandly and fill them a cup. As it poured out, the liquid would alter into various neon shades of Kool-Aid. As cool as that was, it made Kally wonder if Pax should ever be allowed to brew them Kool-Aid.

           “Coals…” Calex repeated. “Oh. Hestia’s coals. Someone nicked a few during the chaos of the Second Giant War. Why?” He stooped a little lower to the table, and Kally had to wonder if Calex did it to hide his height. It didn’t work.

           Merry cocked her jaw to one side. Her brown eyes darted to the forest. She hummed in short, declining notes to signal her disapproval. “Oh you silly chillies. We need to round up those Pax boys and give them a talking to. Then we should regroup at Camp Half-Blood before we tackle the last trial of Psyche or Axel’s father.”

           Joey managed to draw her eyes from the rosewood box to look at Merry. “Psyche already did this? Oh duh, someone has always already done it.” She rolled her eyes. “How’d she do it?” The last part sounded more eager than Joey would probably want to admit.

           “She failed sweetie,” Merry said, eyes lingering on the forest.

           Joey huffed and flipped the pink highlights out of her eyes. “Then I just need to be better than Psyche.”

           “Welllll,” Merry said, stretching her arms above her head in a way that made Calex glance away. She grinned at Joey, finally breaking eye contact with the trees. Kally didn’t know how to tell Merry, but she figured the nymphs would be way better at staring contests. “Hubris is clearly your fatal flaw, a very popular choice amongst heroes. Mine is taking things too lightly. Anyone else want to go?”

           “Mine is cowardice.”

           Pax swept in with the tray. He had one pitcher left, probably just enough for their group. In a flash, he’d tossed cups in front of all of them. As he poured it out, the colors altered: Merry’s, purple; Kally’s, red; Joey’s, pink; Calex’s, blue. Pax set another cup down for himself. When he poured, it shimmered to a black. Kally didn’t know they made black Kool-Aid.

           “Can we do that party thing again? It was the perfect distraction to slip bugs into Calex’s sleeping bag,” Pax cheered.

           Calex scowled at him.  

           “Not until you and your brother answer some long awaited questions,” Merry said. She picked up her plastic cup and swirled the contents.

           Pax flipped one hand to the side. “Do you think questions feel rather esteemed and self-important when they’re long awaited?” He set the tray down on the table and sat beside Kally. When no one answered him, Pax pouted. “Can we at least cheers first? I told everyone to wait until I gave the signal so I could poison all of you at once.” He tapped his hands together like an evil mastermind.

           All the centaurs and nymphs were staring at the table, drinks in hand. The centaurs had started to fist pump in the air. “Beers! Beers! Beers!

           Another shouted, “Dude, he said cheers.”

           “Oh…Cheers! Cheers! Cheers!”

           Merry waved Pax on with a smile.

           Pax hopped onto the table and raised his glass. “To trusting and trusted friends, to enabling family, and—most importantly—to super, awesome weasels!”

           The nymphs and centaurs glanced at each other. The ones who were chanting “beer” earlier glanced at one another. “Eh,” one said. “Not as good as the Anti-Corruption Act, but it’s still a reason to party. To weasels!”

           “To weasels!”

           They stomped their hooves and clanked their heads together.

           As the centaurs competed to chug their Kool-Aid fastest, Pax sat down beside Kally. He wrapped an arm around her waist, making Kally’s hip tingle. She raised her cup along with Merry, Joey, Calex, and Pax. They clacked them together and each took a sip. Well, Joey chugged hers down. Kally could imagine the adrenaline rush she would get in the next few minutes.

           As expected from the color, Kally’s was cherry. She set the cup down, glancing over at Pax. He hadn’t touched his drink, but kept swirling it in his hand. From this close, Pax’s annoying chocolate smell mixed wonderfully with the smell of her Kool-Aid. He puffed out those round cheeks and popped them, then wrinkled his button nose.

           “Pax, you’re really cute.” The words came out of her mouth instead of being repressed in her brain, where they belonged and should die. Kally felt her cheeks burn and her head felt light.

           “Paxes—er—Paxi?—Paxes? are all adorable, but, for you, that’s just the Morpheus Dust talking,” he laughed half-heartedly.

           Joey collapsed onto the picnic table, plastic cup clattering to the ground. Behind them, the party ponies staggered to the autumn leaves. Nymphs yawned. The music slowed like Merry’s jacket had run out of batteries. Calex tried to stand but crumbled backwards.

           Pax wouldn’t look down at her, but watched everyone falling into heaps.

           “You shouldn’t joke like that. It makes it hard to tell when you’re lying,” Kally said, trying to raise a finger at Pax. She couldn’t get her hand to work. Those and her feet had gone numb. Some part of her screamed that this should be scary, that she should send out an Iris Message for help, but… maybe Merry’s powers were still keeping her calm.

           She struggled to keep her eyes open. Had Pax not had an arm around her back, she might have fallen off the bench. He pulled her close, so she’d slide against his duster jacket. The leather felt soft.

           “I don’t lie very often Kally,” he whispered into her hair. “Direct lying is Axel’s job. Since you’re not going to remember this conversation later, I think it’s safe for me to admit that I’m falling in love with you. I hope tricking and drugging all of you doesn’t ruin our chances of dating.”

           Tricking? Drugging? Kally tried to wrap her brain around it, but before she could, she felt the cold coils of Python tightening around her chest.

Thanks for reading guys! The next chapter is the one I’m most excited for (as I love ruining characters) so I hope you end up enjoying it too! :D

[1] Author is not oblivious to what you’re probably all thinking XD

[2] And now I need to figure out who would be which Sailor Scout. I’m pretty sure Axel is Sailor Mars…

[3] Shameless and boring political plug! http://anticorruptionact.org/

[4] While this song is more thematic for other characters, the artist inspired this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ssoRXlOhqI

[5] Jack’s not bitter at all -.-

#Blood of a Mayan #PJO #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #HOO #Heroes of Olympus #fanfiction #writing #Hera #Leo Valdez #Calypso #Traitors of Olypmus #tee hee hee--you finally get to see all the boring build up for this book unwind XD

[viralhottopics]

Geena Davis: Thelma & Louise changed everything for me

It was the moment she realised how few inspiring women there are on screen. Now the actor is on a mission to fix that

Somewhere in a parallel universe, Geena Davis is having the time of her life. Yes! Enjoying this new era in American history! As one of the few women to have played a US president on screen, in her parallel universe Davis is having a lovely conversation with me about how fabulous it feels to see a woman finally make it to the White House.

This isnt the first time the actor has found her presidential fantasies preferable to reality. Eleven years ago, she was President Mackenzie Allen on the TV show Commander In Chief. It had been the number one new show, and it was going to run for eight years. I was going to do two terms, Davis grins ruefully. She won a Golden Globe for the role. Then internal studio politics intervened and the show was cancelled after a single season. For a long time after, I felt like, in an alternate universe, I was still on that show. In my mind, she says, laughing, I wanted to set up the Oval Office in my garage and pretend I was still the president.

Davis hoots at her own absurdity, but for the record she did receive a fairly presidential greeting on arrival at the restaurant where we meet. The Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills hotel is a fantastically kitsch extravaganza of salmon-pink table linen and bad taste, but a Hollywood institution nonetheless. While I waited, the lunch tables filled with industry types, and my requests for a quieter corner were defeated by the expert indifference of waiters who understand the rules of Hollywood hierarchy better than I do. But the instant Davis arrived, the matre d descended into an obsequious froth Miss Davis! Welcome back! and whisked us off to a coveted booth.

So good to see you again! he purrs, before blanching in horror. Davis has a white napkin on her lap, but her trousers are black. Quelle horreur! The offending item is whipped away and replaced with a black one, while Davis tries not to giggle.

With Susan Sarandon in 1991s Thelma & Louise. Photograph: Allstar

Davis has no publicist in tow, and nothing about her outfit would suggest celebrity: she is wearing a loose white T-shirt and the sort of plain and comfortable black jacket and trousers one might put on for Sunday lunch in a nice pub. Were she not so tall (6ft), I might easily have missed her when she arrived, full of apologies for being all of 10 minutes late. I take the matre ds instantaneous excitement to mean she must be a regular, but as soon as hes gone, she whispers, No! I cant even remember the last time I was here. Its this very weird phenomenon. If I go to hotels, they always say, Welcome back, even when Ive never been there before. That must be rather disorienting. Yes, weird! She nods cheerfully. You have all these people saying nice things to you, and it can really be like, Wow, Im very fortunate, arent I? Im very, very grateful for it, you know?

When lunch arrives, she gets the giggles again: her salad is a strangely regimented platter that looks like someones idea of gastro-sophistication circa 1974. Its so kitschy! I was going to show your tape recorder my salad, but that wont work, will it? When her phone rings, the mother of three murmurs the universal prayer of working parents everywhere: Please dont be the nanny, please dont be the nanny, please dont be the nanny. It feels like lunching with a gloriously irreverent and relaxed old friend.

Davis has been a Hollywood star for 35 years, but at 61 her status now is a curious hybrid of insider and outsider, a bit like cinemas Ofsted inspector. When starting out, shed have been astonished to know shed devote the later years of her career to exposing her industrys flaws. Back then, she admits, she couldnt see anything to worry about.

With William Hurt in 1988s The Accidental Tourist, for which Davis won an Oscar. Photograph: Ronald Grant

When I was first starting out was also when I first started really paying attention to the Oscars and stuff like that. And I remember thinking, wow, everything is great for women in Hollywood, because Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jessica Lange, Sally Field: theyre all doing incredible work. Every year, fantastic movies were coming out: The French Lieutenants Woman, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Sophies Choice. I think I did hear that, for women, when you get older it can be a problem, but these actors were already in their 30s, which seemed ancient to me then. So I thought, whats the problem? I started getting really cool parts left and right and centre, and I was like, well, even if it turns out theres a problem, its not going to impact on me.

After making her debut in 1982s classic comedy Tootsie, Davis averaged a movie a year, and could easily have made more had she not been fussy. She did sci-fi horror in The Fly, comic fantasy in Beetlejuice and literary drama in The Accidental Tourist, for which she won a best supporting actress Oscar. She played a baseball star in the sports comedy A League Of Their Own, a bank robber in the crime drama Quick Change and, most memorably, a housewife turned outlaw in the feminist road trip Thelma & Louise. Then she turned 40 and in the entire decade that followed, we saw her face only in Stuart Little.

By the time she turned 50, she was fed up. The neglect of women in film and TV was definitely happening she knew that but to prove it the Mensa member realised she would have to measure it: Because people just make assumptions, dont they? Even when the reality might be completely different. I remember talking to a woman editor of a magazine about all this a while ago, and she said, Oh no, no, no, thats just not a problem any more. I told her it still was. She said, and Davis begins to laugh again, But it cant be. Look at Meryl Streep, she works all the time! I was like, Er, Meryls schedule is the exception.

So, 10 years ago, the actor founded the Geena Davis Institute On Gender In Media. I am completely obsessed with numbers and data. I have become a scientist in later life. The institute conducts exhaustive research to establish the facts of gender representation in family entertainment, and they are grimly arresting.

Male characters outnumber female in family films by a ratio of three to one, a figure that has remained startlingly consistent since 1946. From 2007 to 2014, women made up less than a third of speaking or named characters in the 100 top-grossing films distributed in the US, of which less than 7% were directed by women. Of the female characters that did make it on to screen, fewer than one in five were aged 40-64. Last autumn, the institute partnered with Google to launch the Geena Davis Inclusion Quotient (the GD-IQ), a software program that measures the amount of screen and speaking time given to male and female characters. The results were even more confronting: in the top 200 grossing films of 2014 and 2015, males, Davis discovered, enjoyed literally twice the screen time of females, and spoke twice as often.

Its easy to see why this would matter to Davis, or any other female actor, but why should the rest of us care? This gender bias is so ingrained in us, and stuffed into our DNA from when were little, from our first exposure to popular culture. If kids movies and TV shows have profoundly fewer female characters than male characters, and theres nobody saying, By the way, honey, this isnt real. Thats not how the real world is. From 2006 to 2009, not one female character was depicted in a G-rated family film working in the field of medical science, as a business leader, in law or in politics. Our motto is: if they can see it, they can be it. Completely unconsciously, boys and girls are getting the message that girls are less important and less valuable to our society, because theyre not there. And if they are there, theyre not talking.

Playing the first female president in the TV series Commander In Chief. Photograph: ABC

Another way of looking at it, I suggest, would be that what we see on screen is, in fact, uncannily accurate. In a typical crowd scene, female extras account for just 17% of the faces we see a figure close to this crops up across all sorts of sectors in real life in America. Fortune 500 boards are around 20% female, as is Congress. Fewer then 20% of US legal partners, the military and cardiac surgeons are female.

Yes, Davis agrees, but I think the impact of media images is so profound that we actually could make life imitate art. You know, you see a dog or something and you say, Oh, hes cute? The default is always male, and its because weve had such a male-centred culture. And its because its what we see and hear from the very beginning.

I remember I was once with my boys [she has 12-year-old twins, and a 14-year-old daughter] in a park and they saw a squirrel. I consciously decided to say, Look, shes so cute and they both turned to me with surprised expressions and said, How do you know its a girl? I was like, wow, Ive already failed. They were four years old.

Davis takes all the data to Hollywoods decision-makers and creators: heads of studios, production companies, guilds. Does she come in for a bit of oh-no-here-comes-the-feminist eye-rolling? Oh no. No! If I was going in just saying, Youre making fewer movies starring a female character than male characters, theyd say, Yes, we know that. Were fully aware of that. We hope we can do better. We wish we could do better. And they would probably turn to this myth in Hollywood that women will watch men, but men dont want to watch women, so were forced to make all the stories about men.

Instead, Davis shows them the GD-IQs findings on profitability. Films featuring female leads make on average 15% more than those with male leads, while films featuring male and female co-leads earn almost 24% more than those with either a solo male or female lead. Their jaws are on the ground. She grins. Everywhere we go, its the exact same reaction. They are floored.

***

Had anyone told Davis in her youth that she would one day be an activist and advocate, she would have been equally floored. She grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, a bookish child and church organist, and was constantly shy. Just totally shy, especially about men. I had one date in high school, that was it, and he didnt ask me out again, she laughs, because I was taller than everybody. I was very gangly and awkward, and I wore weird clothes that I made. I think my fondest wish as a kid was to take up less space.

My fondest wish as a kid was to take up less space. Photograph: Amanda Friedman for the Guardian

Most peoples childhood self-image can seem surprising by the time theyre in their 60s, but in Daviss case the discrepancy feels comical. She is 6ft and appropriately proportioned, so occupies as much space as you would expect someone with the dimensions of an imposing man to fill. Her voice is gutsy, soaring from throaty depths to gales of laughter, and her beauty is unlike anything Ive observed in an actor. Beautiful women who have lived their life in the public gaze tend to convey an awareness of others admiration that can sometimes seem self-conscious, and sometimes almost pointedly detached. Davis, on the other hand, reminds me more of my cat, a ludicrously gorgeous creature who seems to take as much pleasure from its beauty as any admirer ever could. If I picture Davis looking at herself in the mirror, she isnt frowning anxiously but smiling back at her famous dimples.

And yet she goes on, I think I really wanted to take up less space. It seemed like every time I was exuberant or free, I would get pointed at. Things that really stand out from my childhood were incidents where people told me to tone it down. Like my beloved aunt Gloria, who was a role model and just everything to me, and who adored me, and would say things like, Youre really going to have to learn to laugh more quietly, because boys arent going to like a loud lady.

She knew from the age of three that she wanted to act, and studied drama at Boston University. But the most important thing was that people like me and think Im no trouble. It was as if I lived in some bubble of extreme femininity where you must never say your feelings. I had people who wouldnt date me because I couldnt even decide what restaurant I wanted to go to, literally. I never said my opinion about anything. I was afraid to.

Everything changed in 1990 when she made Thelma & Louise. Davis played Thelma, an unhappy wife who takes off with her friend Louise, played by Susan Sarandon, for a two-day road trip in an old Thunderbird convertible. When a man they meet in a bar tries to rape Thelma, Louise shoots him dead. Convinced the police will never believe their account of events, because Thelma had been drinking and seen dancing with the man before he attacked her, the pair take off. Liberated from the constraints of social convention and the law, they embark on a raucously anarchic adventure from which they will never return.

With then husband Jeff Goldblum in 1989. Photograph: Getty

Davis had her agent call Ridley Scott, the films director, every single week for a year in a concerted campaign to land the part. So it was really, really a passion project for me. And I was aware of womens position in Hollywood by then. But then, when the movie came out and I saw the reaction women had, it was night and day: completely different from anything that had ever happened before, you know? Women wanted to really talk about how it impacted on them. Theyd tell me, This is what I thought, this is who I saw it with, this is how many times Ive seen it, this is how it really changed my marriage. Sometimes Id even hear, My friend and I took a road trip and acted out your trip. Her eyes widen as she laughs. Im like, I hope the good parts? But that really struck me, and it made me realise how few opportunities there are to feel inspired by the female characters we watch. That changed everything for me.

Working with Sarandon changed everything, too. Every day on set, I was just learning how to be more myself, you know? Just because she was such a role model to me. Davis would arrive each morning with her notes tentatively framed in the apologetic, would-you-mind-awfully register of regulation feminine decorum. Sarandon would bustle in, open her mouth and speak her mind. Davis still beams at the memory, and credits it with revolutionising the way she operated.

Her institute is now in its 10th year, but has yet to generate any measurable change in onscreen representation. I feel very confident thats going to happen in the next five to 10 years, though. I know it will. Theres one childrens network that tells us, every time someone pitches a new idea, someone asks, What would Geena say? She roars with laughter. Which is exactly what I want! The parallel between her work and recent increasingly successful campaigns for greater ethnic onscreen diversity in Hollywood speak for themselves, she says. Its exactly the same problem, with exactly the same solution. When a sector of society is left out of the popular culture, its cultural annihilation.

Davis does still act; in recent years, she starred in the TV shows Greys Anatomy and The Exorcist, and appears in the forthcoming sci-fi thriller Marjorie Prime. Shes also in Dont Talk To Irene, an indie film about an overweight cheerleader, which premiered recently in Canada. But its very clear that acting is no longer her driving ambition. She gets much more excited talking about the film festival she co-founded in 2015, the only one in the world to offer its winners the prize of guaranteed distribution, both theatrical and through DVD. The Bentonville festival explicitly exists to champion and promote female and other minority film-makers, and last year became the eighth biggest film festival in the world; this year, it will open in early May in Arkansas and more than 100,000 people are expected to attend.

With husband, Reza Jarrahy, in 2013. Photograph: Getty

The most conventionally starlet thing about Davis these days is probably her marital history: she is now on her fourth marriage. The first, in 1982, lasted less than a year; her second, to the actor and her sometime co-star Jeff Goldblum in 1987, lasted only slightly longer, and was over by 1990. In 1993, she wed the director Renny Harlin, but divorced again in 1998. She has been married to her fourth husband, Reza Jarrahy, the father of her three children, and an Iranian-American plastic surgeon, for 16 years now. Giving birth for the first time at 46, followed by twins at 48, is not an entirely advisable maternal strategy, she laughs. I dont know how I assumed I could wait that long, and I wouldnt recommend it. Id always known I wanted to have kids, but somehow, before then, there wasnt any time I was planning it.

When we part, she gives me a great bear hug and her phone number, and it strikes me that she must be one of the happiest movie stars I can remember meeting. The parallel universe she inhabits appears to have much to recommend it. I had assumed she would put Hillary Clintons defeat down to her motto If she can see it, she can be it so ask if she thinks America would have voted a different way last September had the notion of a woman in charge of the country looked more familiar.

You know, she surprises me, I dont know. I like to just think that she won the popular vote by an enormous amount. She was not this horrifically flawed candidate everyone wants to paint. I mean, OK, she didnt win the electoral college vote. But, in another way, she did win. In Daviss parallel universe, the popular vote determined who would move into the White House, and all is well with the world.

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