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snibbits · 2 years

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In this last day of Pride (tomorrow we can go back to Wrath), the rest of my prints for the Marvel Pride event I did last year. You can now find them on INPRNT

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henry-fox-biggest-stan · 1 year

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TSATS SPOILERS (KIND OF)

Lines I caught from Rick’s TikTok

Will said “But yeah”

said Screech-Bling, “The River of —- runs deep in Tartarus

Nico added, “which I

“—- caller, longtime

his scorched tricorn hat. “If only that’s all —-.” Hiss-Majesty whimpered in agreement. “The —- of Punishment” (My guess on missing word, Fields)

probably sensing Nico’s hesitation. “So it’s —- deal with pain”.

that clearly meant Explain.

He didn’t want to tell —-. Will already looked miserable but —- and didn’t complain. But Nico feared —- now would break his facade. (😧😧)

one if we’re careful” Nico said.

“Nico.”

He put on the bowlet. —- “You know the trogs—-. Don’t be shy”

He then offered Nico a brown

“I much prefer the weird.”

steaming black stone cup in either —- he said, “I accept a rating between (my guess on missing word, hand)

(Under that) The broth was a dark red color, with —- protein floating in it. “Er, looks great, —- we can’t ingest Styx water—“

(Under that) the comment. “I am aware of human —- worry, Bon-screech-appetite!”

(Under that) pleasantly surprised, It was a little tart,

“Oh, I’m —- (my guess based on the look of the word, okay)

“I’ll let them know —- Besides, you need

(Under that) Will did not look

The dark chapter (chapter 17) (I think they might be flashbacks of when Nico was first on Tartarus):

(All this from the same page, all the lines are in order. Page 159) (first page of the chapter)

figured Nemesis must

Nico was thankful that —-, because if he hadn’t kept —- he would’ve had no idea —- on the strange marshy ground, —- and his lungs burned

seemed to be shifting. That was —-. He’d be staring into the distance, —-, and for the briefest of —- backwards like a mirage. The land- —- sharper edges, with colors so terrifyingly —-. The land itself seemed to be rising. —-. Or was Nico imagining that?

—-, so he kept walking.

(All this from the same page, lines in order. Page 161)

The ground shifted sideways, throwing him

of the Phlegethon, his hands digging —- cinders swingling around him, making —-. Huh, the Phlegethon, he thought. —- think of that.

the river was less like roaring fire and —-. It seemed to call out to him, as if begging

He hauled himself upright. When he turned —- it was much closer, no more than a —- in the green fog between the twisted dark —- thousands upon thousand of tiny, glowing

out if he wanted to. His throat was too —-, and when he looked up again, —- vanished. The ground beneath him, though, —-. Like it was alive.

(Next page, all in order. Page 165)

and falling apart. Nico —- because of the impossible —-, but —- above, whooping and shrieking. —- much sharper thorns —-. Had to use his word to clear his —- creatures scurrying away from him. Always floating in the shadow/s (can’t see the end of the word), —- always watching him. He wondered —- eyes never approached or attacked. What —-! There were far more of them than there —- constant guard, awaiting the inevitable, —- was perhaps worse than if he’d actually been —-.

On the eyes, he barely realize than he’d —- the forest. The fog suddenly lifted, and he —- and impenetrable wall of darkness. It —- direction (??), as far as he could see. Even the River —- sharp left turn and wended off to the north, as —- with that darkness. Nico stopped and stared, —-. How could Tartarus just end like that?

him continued for a few feet, so he took a

appeared in the darkness, a vertical fissure

(All this from the same page, lines in order. Page 167)

his hand. It came from the rift at the

grumbling, getting closer and defi- —-. Whatever it was, Nico estimated —- appearing (??) seeing him, and blocking his

He dated through the archway, ducked —- the nearest cover he could find: a tall tree —-. Beyond, in the gloom, was an area that —- garden.

—-!” said the voice. “Why do we have to

garden, another voice answered. It must have —- tone was harsh and unforgiving.

—- my children are so disobedient” she said. “I gave you life, I gave you purpose and what do I get

said, “Love and affection?”

Mother.

turning his head until his right eye could just —- edge of the trunk. (My guess, missing word is see). What he saw twisted his heart.

(Under that) —-, at least three times the size of an adult —- in smoke and ash than swirled around her —- of an hurricane. Her dress was the deepest black, —- glittering with the twinkles of entire galaxies, (Akhlys??)

#tsats #nico di angelo #will solace #rick riordan

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leafsbabe · 4 months

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Which sluts would look good with their ears pierced? Of the ones who don't have then pierced yet.

i don't think he could pull it off but i need mitch to follow aus and willy in getting some bling, just because

i also need nico to bring back the earring he had as a kid, simply for the vibes

and captain quinny needs a diamond stud in one ear, also for the vibes

i could see trevor getting his pierced, arber too, and don't tell me mo wouldn't look absolutely smoking with a lil dangly earring with his hair half up half down

that being said ROOPE

#mitch marner #nico hischier #quinn hughes #trevor zegras #arber xhekaj #moritz seider #roope hintz #leafsbabe bullshit #list

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cloudynight-pjo · 1 year

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Ok, like I finished the sun and the star yesterday AND DAM WAS IT AMAZING

TSATS SPOILERS (some things I’m not sure on because I haven’t looked back on the book yet)

• Are we just ignore the fact that will GAVE NYX HAY FEVER for like a second but like is he a plague kid or not??? HOW DID THEY JUST SLIDE BY THAT Kinda wish we got more of his darkness(plague)

• Nico and will were so cute throughout this book but that one scene when they got into an argument I had to stop reading an process it and LIKE I WAS READING IT IN CLASS so my friend was What happened?! And the Nicknamesss, Like Night light, Demigod Care bear, Therapy Globe( can’t remember all of it), field medic will solace. Also during the arguement hiss-majesty and screech-bling were like 🐸🐸🧌🧌🧀🎩

• Nicos Cocoa Puffs are amazing but I also thought Cacodemons were a weird name so in my head I kept calling them cocomelons 😭

• During that one scene when will stepped in the goop monster cyst generator looking thing didn’t will like lose his shoe? So did he go around Tartarus shoeless or not am I just confused.

• THERE EXCHANGE OF GIFTS WAS SO CUTE Like Nico with a coin that each side represent them and Will with Nicos RING AHHHH! Also who wants to bet on how many times will tried to apologize to that nymph he accidentally screamed at.

• So you know how Nico kinda let his Cocoa Puffs free (like his demons) I imagine that Will will also try to let go more of his darkness and let out more emotions that aren’t just positive emotions.

• Shal and Piper r amazing too love them. Also I lost it when piper was like ‘Your smoking hot boyfriend Will Solace’ To mock Nico and she has made relate to her on the whole figuring out the identity thing yet.

I probably have other thing to say just don’t wanna Make this any longer.

#the sun and the star #will solace #solangelo #nico di angelo #piper mclean #aaaaaahhhhhhhhh #the sun and the star spoilers #pjo hoo toa #percy jackson

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swampstew · 3 months

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hello beloved raven!! congrats on 1000!! for your grandline bling i think i finally have an idea

nico robin/she or they i dont mind!!/insta love (im using that link you included hehe)/hobbies ahh i guess reading, video games, knitting, bird watching, gardening (i also like looking for bones in the woods but idk what that would be called lol)/and aesthetics hmmm i guess 70s and hobbitcore (we can thank rachel maksy for this i almost said whiskey grandpa aesthetic LMAO)

you deserve a million more followers thanks for being you and loving our favorite cranky red head!! <333

hello my sweetums - you want Nico Robin and Robin wants you back ;) sidenote I also love these things and if you lived near me I would 100% do these things with you for the funsies♥

You are now being connected to your sweetie...

Purururu purur—

Robin: Hello my dear, it's so good to hear your voice. The days are long but not as long as the time I've spent away from you. We'll be reaching land very soon and I would like to take you away for some quality girl time. I just know that you'll love what I have planned for you - we're so alike how can I not know your heart's desires? See you soon, sweetie!

You intended to meet Robin at the dockyard to pick her up, but the weather decided to turn before you could step foot outside your house. Unsure of how to meet up, you were pleasantly surprised when a knock on your front door revealed your girlfriend standing under an umbrella big enough for two. Her presence in itself was a present.

The sky itself seemed to shift in mood as the dreary clouds slowly shifted away to reveal a partially clouded sky and a slight rainbow over the bridge in your neighborhood.

"My my, I shouldn't be surprised that the weather would clear up for my beautiful partner," Robin cooed with a wink that made you weak in the knees.

She reached out to hold your hand, bringing it to her lips where she pressed a soft kiss to the back of your palm.

"Let's change into something more comfortable so you can properly enjoy the date I'm going to take you on."

#nico robin x you #1-800-grandlinebling #call me on my shell phone event #follower milestone event #swampstew events #reader insert #nico robin #devil child nico robin #raven's silly events

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hockybish · 2 months

Note

"The diamond one he was supposed give you last night. He spent a good amount of money on it and was so excited to give it to you."

Now Nico feels awful and feels so guilty.

I'm gonna add another level to this. If you don't like let me know and I'll fix it. I promise though I'll fix it. I'm gonna let ya'll decide what she's going to do.

She does.

She asks Trevor to drive her to Matthew's hotel. She should still have enough time, he was leaving a few days before she left for a team USA basketball camp before a big international tourney.

The lady at the front desk recognized her and stopped her before she went any further. She had seen the happy couple multiple times in the tenants stay at her place. She had become very invested in their relationship.

"He left earlier" She pipped up. "He was talking about going home today instead of tomorrow.

The envelope left heavy to her, like something was in there. Nico wanted to read the note before her curiosity got the better of her and look at the other item in envelope.

Krasna, I'm sorry about last night. I don't even know what I'm apologizing for, but whatever it was I did or said to upset you. I'm sorry. I never meant it. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I don't want to lose you. I have enclosed the necklace I wanted to give you last night. I want you to have it, even if you never want to talk to me again. I hope you like it. I consulted your brother's about and they thought it was perfect. I guess I'll talk to you later. I love you to the moon and back. Matthew

Nico dug around the folded paper folder until her fingers found the pendant people were talking about. She gasped a little when she pulled it out. It was beautiful. It had the right amount of bling but didn't screaming anything about being too flashy.

Flipping it over she noticed it was engraved with n + m. Nico ran her thumb over. She couldn't feel the love and thought he put into this gift.

She needed to make this better. Now. She couldn't go another day with him thinking she was mad at him.

#what does she do?#go to arizona now?#or wait until after camp?#im gonna let you guys decide #zegras!sister au #nicolette.grace #au thoughts

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fathervalley · 1 year

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VIOLENCE! MURDER! BLOODSHED! Who is the BEST MARVEL TEEN OF THE 2000s? [Masterpost]

[ID: a bracket with 54 contestants. It is in its sixth and final round. The pairings will be listed off below. end ID.]

Guys, just a quick behavioral note—please don’t be actually mean or rude about the characters involved, at least not in my notes? Jokes are fine but some of you guys are getting a little too mean!

Old rounds under the cut.

now SURGE to the polls!!!

FINALS!!!!

BLINDFOLD V WOLVERINE (Link)

(plain text: Finals!!!! Blindfold v Wolverine)

Round 5 of BLOODSHED!

Prodigy vs. Wolverine (Link)

Blindfold vs. Sister Grimm (Link)

Round 4 of VIOLENCE!!!!

Dust vs. Prodigy (Link)

Blindfold vs. Miss America (Link)

Wolverine vs. Hellion (Link)

Molly Hayes vs. Sister Grimm (Link)

Round 3 of MURDER!!!

Hawkeye vs. Dust (Link)

Wither vs. Prodigy (Link)

Bling! vs. Blindfold (Link)

Stinger vs. Ms. America (Link)

Wolverine vs. Glob (Link)

Hellion vs. Icarus (Link)

Surge vs. Molly Hayes (Link)

Mercury vs. Sister Grimm (Link)

Round 2 of MURDER!! (Closed)

Hawkeye vs. Wiccan (Link)

Speed vs. Dust (Link)

Indra vs. Wither (Link)

Prodigy vs. Loa (Link)

Bling! vs. Rockslide (Link)

Wind Dancer vs. Blindfold (Link)

Onyxx vs. Stinger (Link)

Wallflower vs. Miss America (Link)

Patriot vs. Wolverine (Link)

Glob vs. Esme Cuckoo (Link)

Hellion vs. Phoebe Cuckoo (Link)

Icarus vs. Sophie Cuckoo (Link)

Wolfcub vs. Surge (Link)

Molly Hayes vs. Anole (Link)

Mindee Cuckoo vs. Mercury (Link)

Karolina Dean vs. Nico Minoru (Link)

Round 1 of MURDER! (Closed)

Wiccan vs. Hulkling (Link)

Speed vs. Armor (Link)

Dust vs. Ernst (Link)

Alex Wilder vs. Wither (Link)

Graymalkin vs. Loa (Link)

Rockslide vs. Elixir (Link)

Tag vs. Wind Dancer (Link)

Blindfold vs. Xavin (Link)

Stinger vs. Martha Johansson (Link)

Wallflower vs. Quill (Link)

Ms. America vs. Chase Stein (Link)

Wolverine vs. Victor Mancha (Link)

Match vs. Glob (Link)

Gertrude Yorkes vs. Esme Cuckoo (Link)

Gentle vs. Phoebe Cuckoo (Link)

Trance vs. Sophie Cuckoo (Link)

Surge vs. Cipher (Link)

Molly Hayes vs. Noh-Varr (Link)

Vision vs. Anole (Link)

Quentin Quire vs. Mercury (Link)

Pixie vs. Karolina Dean (Link)

Nico Minoru vs. Celeste Cuckoo (Link)

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tsarisfanfiction · 10 months

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Eclipse: Chapter 24

Fandom: Trials of Apollo Rating: Teen Genre: Family/Adventure Characters: Apollo, Hades Another long chapter ahead! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter... hopefully it doesn't get too confusing in places. I have a discord server for all my fics, including this one! If you wanna chat with me or with other readers about stuff I write (or just be social in general), hop on over and say hi! <<Chapter 23

APOLLO XXIV

The silver titan Trapped within his buried cell Trouble comes hunting

The titan didn’t move, but his eyes flickered from where they had been regarding – searching – Apollo to focus directly on Hades.

“I am both,” he said. His voice was lower than Apollo expected – not the gravelly tones of Alcyoneus, but a voice that would no doubt join the bass section of a choir. “Bob and Iapetus.” He didn’t move from where he sat. “They are different stages of my existence but I will not erase either from who I am, now that the choice is mine.”

That… Apollo could understand that, to some extent. Zeus had not stripped his memories, the way Iapetus had been dunked in the Lethe, but he had taken away everything else, forced him to be Lester while he fought to still be Apollo.

He was both now, too. Lester-Apollo, Screech-Bling had titled him, the same way mortals had once named him Phoebus Apollon, and many others beside. Lester was another part of him, part of his history but part of his growth, of who he was now, for all that he still preferred and used Apollo as his name.

Even Hades inclined his head minutely in what Apollo assumed was a gesture of at the least comprehension, if not understanding, although he otherwise stood tall. His uncle was wary, he realised – Apollo had no personal history with the titan, but his uncle had once fought against him, and no doubt knew him well from the battles.

There was a lot to learn about your opponent in a war.

“Which stage are you in now?” the older god asked, and the titan made a noise that could almost be resigned amusement.

“Nico taught me much about demigods, humanity, and kindness,” he said, “and it appears that once learnt, those things tend to stick. I am Bob, now, Hades, and I do not think I will ever use the name Iapetus again, but do not mistake that for the amnesiac, bumbling janitor who swept your halls. I have not discarded the title of Titan of the West, nor the Piercer.”

“Bob the Piercer, Titan of the West,” Apollo mused, sounding out the name. “I understand.”

Those sharp silver eyes snapped back to him. “Leto’s son, if I’m not mistaken. Phoebus, as I recall.”

It was a light feeling, to be called his mother’s son, rather than his father’s. Apollo nodded. “Phoebus Apollo,” he clarified, and was surprised at a look of near-approval in Bob’s eyes.

“I can see Phoebe in you,” he said. Apollo had barely heard his maternal grandmother’s name in millennia, outside of his own epithet. It was rare enough that his titaness mother was mentioned in modern times. The titan looked between the pair of them. “What brings the two of you to visit me? Missing your janitor, Hades?”

“Nico.” The demigod’s name was heavy in the miasma of the prison, sitting between the three of them with no mere insignificance. Bob’s eyes widened a fraction. “My son.”

“You, a god, came down here on the request of a demigod?” Bob asked, clearly surprised. Apollo understood that, too – gods did not do things because demigods asked them to. It just didn’t happen.

“No,” Hades said. “I came down here because my foolish son intended to come back himself.”

“What?” Bob demanded, half-rising from where he sat in the first open display of emotion beyond guarded curiosity. “No. Nico, Percy, Annabeth… none of them must come back! The Pit… he would obliterate them from existence!”

“In that, at least, we are in agreement,” Hades told him, voice clipped short. “I have explicitly forbidden my son from ever attempting to return here, but for you, it appears he had no qualms about attempting to disobey me.”

“Nico…” Bob sighed, shaking his head in something lightly despairing. Apollo knew that feeling all too well. “So you are here to, what, eliminate me so that Nico has no reason to try?” Apollo found himself pinned by silver eyes again. “And this does not explain Phoebus’ presence. Phoebe bequeathed you Delphi, did she not?”

Bob was clearly not someone to be underestimated. “One of my sons would not let Nico come alone,” Apollo told him, not responding to the veiled suspicion that there was a prophecy involved. Sometimes, prophecies were best left unshared, although he was well aware that the clear omission no doubt told Bob that there was one. From the look the titan gave him, he didn’t think that was a good enough reason by itself, but Apollo didn’t elaborate; for one thing, he didn’t know if Nico was out to the titan, and while Bob was of an era much like the gods where such things as same sex attraction and relationships were normal and nothing to get agitated about, that did not mean that coming out did not mean something far heavier in modern mortal’s eyes.

Hades, thankfully, showed a similar degree of tact by not elaborating on his behalf. “We came here,” he began, starting to inspect the wall separating them from the titan, “because the demigods’ intention was to get you out, and if we do not, they will.”

“Out of this prison, or out?” Bob demanded. Neither Hades nor Apollo answered, and he frowned. “I won’t say no to leaving this place,” he said, “but I find it difficult to believe that two Olympian gods want me free.”

He had a point – Apollo was acutely aware that they couldn’t necessarily trust the titan to not attempt something similar to Kronos, but he was also aware that Nico, and Will by extension, would not be satisfied until they knew Bob was no longer in trouble in Tartarus.

“Consider this thanks for keeping Nico alive during his time down here,” Hades replied, rather dryly.

Bob assessed him with clear suspicion. “You put a demigod’s life on par with a titan’s?”

Hades put a stubborn hand on the brass material separating the two of them. “My sole and last living son’s life,” he corrected, an admittance Apollo had never expected to hear him say, especially to a titan. “Although should you betray him, or me, I will not hesitate to send you straight back here.”

Finally, a slow grin spread across the titan’s face. “That, I can believe,” Bob said, standing up straight at last. “Very well, Hades, Phoebus. Get me out of here and I will not betray Nico’s trust… nor either of you unless you betray me first. Does that sound fair?”

Apollo glanced over at Hades, and was slightly surprised to see his uncle glance back at him; he had expected the exchange to be primarily led by the older god. So far through what could only be called negotiations, he had not anticipated his opinion being sought, and yet Hades’ glance could only be described as in askance.

Usually, an agreement as potentially devastating if broken as the one Bob proposed was sworn on the Styx, but Styx had been specifically appointed the keeper of godly oaths, and while that trickled through to bind their children through their heritage, it did not backtrack through lineage to the titans – and even if it did, as far as Apollo knew, Iapetus had had no godly descendants himself. Nymphs, yes, and even mortals if his lineage was traced far enough, but no gods.

It was an exercise in – and a test of – trust. He and Hades could be bound to the Styx, if pressed, but Bob would not be, and binding themselves thus when the titan could break the agreement without consequence was in no way a good idea.

That being said, Apollo sensed no lie in the titan’s intentions. There was no tang of deception hanging between them, nor had he seen any glimpses of potential futures where Bob turned on them. That was not to say it would not happen – Apollo’s glimpses of futures were sporadic at best, and the Fates often withheld vital personal moments from him (such as his third time mortal, or before that the slaughter of his children on Williamsburg Bridge, for all that he’d seen other parts of the Battle of Manhattan long before it came to pass, and glimpses of New Rome burning as the undead spilled across its streets – something he wished he’d remembered seeing when mortal, facing down the possibility of Tarquin) – but one way or another, the lack was significant.

He nodded back at Hades. The known risks of not helping Bob escape far outweighed the known risks of helping – only one decision did not invite their kind-hearted sons to seek Bob out themselves, something that neither he nor Hades wanted, and Bob seemed likewise dismayed at the prospect of. They were odds he was willing to take.

“Very well,” Hades agreed, looking directly at the imprisoned titan. “Those terms are acceptable.” He placed a hand once again on the wall between them, and began to shimmer the purple darkness of his essence, now streaked through with a light Apollo had not seen until Alcyoneus. “Apollo.” The order was clear, and Apollo stepped forwards, pressing his own hand to the brass structure. His own essence reached out cautiously, feeling the threatening tendrils of Tartarus rebelling against his existence.

The lighter streaks of Hades’ essence called to his, and Apollo carefully let his own answer, reaching out and intertwining gently with his uncle’s. It wasn’t quite mindreading, but it immediately gave him the sense of what Hades was doing, the way his power wasn’t assaulting the blockage directly but instead seeking the seams surrounding it and prying them open with far more finesse than a brute force attack could ever achieve.

One god’s raw power wasn’t enough to get through the prison walls – of course it wasn’t, otherwise more powerful inmates including the titans would have been able to break out whenever they chose – but with two combined, the brass began to buckle under the combined assault.

Apollo pushed harder, prying at the stress fractures that were beginning to open under the onslaught of two Olympians at near full power and widening them, delving as far in as he dared with his uncle by his side as they found the weakest point and wrenched it apart.

With a spark that turned into a boom, exploding outwards and punching through Apollo’s exposed essence viciously enough to leave him winded, the brass gave way, a gaping yawn in the material wide enough for Bob to push his way out, which was exactly what the titan did.

“Thank you,” he said. Apollo gave him a small grin as he pulled himself back together again, seeing Hades similarly regathering the tendrils of his essence and standing tall.

“No problem,” he replied. “Now how about we leave?”

Beneath their feet, the prison moved, shaking like an earthquake. The walls of the prison were sturdy, too sturdy to be brought down by simply moving earth, but there could be no way the timing was a coincidence.

“Come.” Hades gripped his forearm tightly, and extended a hand towards Bob, fixing him with an expectant look. The titan hesitated, clearly and admittedly understandably not fully trusting Hades’ motives, and the god clicked his tongue impatiently. “Unless you want to sneak past the guard yourself-”

Apollo’s consciousness was suddenly yanked in half, sudden and harsh enough that the part of it that remained in Tartarus missed the rest of Hades’ argument why Bob should concede to shadow travel. He knew the feeling of being in two places simultaneously instantly, and he also knew what seeing elsewhere and potentially elsewhen felt like, but he had hardly been prepared for it at that moment, when the rush of darkness and power and fear screamed that if they didn’t leave immediately something was about to go very wrong.

The sight of his two sons mollified him somewhat – how could it not, for all that the timing of this vision was absolutely terrible. Will looked better; far more awake and aware, although he was still sitting shoulder to shoulder with Nico on the floor by the bed. Nico, by contrast, looked more tired, as though he’d been using some of his powers since Apollo had last seen them.

Asclepius, much to his concerned surprise, was in conversation with none other than Thanatos, whose dark presence in Nico’s bedroom was wholly unexpected. The demigods appeared to be more or less ignoring the gods, with Will’s periodic glances up – a little wary, but Apollo couldn’t blame him when part of being a healer was keeping Death at bay, for all that it was truly in the hands of the Fates – the only real acknowledgement of their presence.

It was a peaceful scene, a sharp contrast to the sharp disagreement his Tartarus-inhabiting consciousness was hearing between a god and a titan who seemed to prefer the idea of fighting his way out to letting Hades take him anywhere through the shadows, although Apollo could admit Bob had a point and that the possibility of Hades losing control of shadow travel if Tartarus decided to intervene wasn’t zero – not that Hades was willing to admit as such. However, like his uncle, Apollo would also still rather take the shadow travel risk than fight Kampê.

Up in the Underworld, Thanatos tensed, his large wings flaring out and almost taking up the entire room. Will ducked, startled, as the iridescent black feathers narrowly missed the top of his head, but Nico stayed stock still, eyes narrowed as though something was suddenly bothering him. Asclepius was surveying the god of death with some degree of alarm – a feeling Apollo had to admit he was sharing.

“What’s wrong?” Will was the one to ask it, looking at his boyfriend with occasional concerned glances at the wings brushing the air above his head. “Is something-?”

“Something’s… not right,” Nico murmured, his voice shaking slightly. “I don’t- This feels like-”

“Lord Thanatos?” Asclepius ventured, drawing Apollo’s attention back towards the gods in the room. “What happened?”

The Chthonic god shook his head, hand twitching. Immediately, the large scythe materialised, taller than Will, who understandably skittered a little further away from the god, although not so far he was out of contact with Nico, who seemed to be gaining more and more comprehension – and fear – by the moment. It looked a wicked weapon, Stygian Iron for the reaping of reluctant souls, and in Thanatos’ grip it was clearly a familiar weapon, for all that Apollo had rarely seen it used for more than brushing souls.

“I…” he began, before his dark eyes fixed Asclepius firmly. “Protect the demigods.”

“From what?” Will demanded, one arm winding tightly around Nico’s shoulders as the son of Hades trembled. “What’s going on?”

For all his earlier unease around the god of death, Apollo’s demigod son didn’t falter as Thanatos turned to face him, his wings barely missing the demigods with the action.

“Nico,” the god said. “He will not reach this far.”

“I know,” the quivering teen said. “I know. But…”

“What’s going on?” Will demanded. Apollo dearly wanted to know that, too – the Underworld was supposed to be safe, what was scaring Thanatos? The god of death was clearly frightened, but there was very little that death would fear.

In Tartarus, the ground quivered again, and Apollo ducked as a whip cracked, its tip smashing into the side of the corridor. Hades let go of his forearm, growling curses in languages long forgotten by mortals as his sword leapt into his hand, and beside him, a long, silver spear materialised into Bob’s hand.

“She would never have let us escape, shadows or not,” the titan said, and Kampê cackled.

“Escape, Iapetus? Godlings? Escape doesn’t exist.”

“I have to go,” Thanatos said. “He has stirred. He is angry.” There was a tightness to his face, fear so blatant Apollo could see that even Will could parse it as blue eyes widened.

“He..? Is that..?”

Apollo raised his bow, a whole brace of arrows nocked, and let them fly. Kampê was like Python, her body ever-changing, but the transformations appeared limited to her waist. The rest of her body seemed to be more or less stable in appearance, although no less dangerous for it as she charged forwards, her whip slashing half of the arrows out of the air before they could make contact.

“Nice try, godling,” she rasped, snakes hissing derisively at him. Apollo stamped down the queasiness that facing down aggressive snakes provoked and ducked down as the whip once again lashed past him. Black armour over the robes of the damned stepped in front of him, as Hades gripped his sword with two hands and brought it down.

“Not the Lord above,” Thanatos told Will. “You are safe, here.” Will didn’t look convinced, not that Apollo could blame him.

“Then… Who?”

“I must go,” the god said. “Remain as you were. Nico, if you could get word to the Lady Artemis-”

Apollo jolted in shock and failed to dodge the next lash of Kampê’s whip, which bit into his shoulder deeply, drawing a flood of ichor.

“Focus!” Hades snapped at him, which Apollo dearly wished he could do, but the Fates hadn’t freed him from the vision and he stumbled again. Artemis had nothing to do with any of this – and how was Nico contacting her from the Underworld?

“I’ll try,” Nico replied, resting his head on Will’s shoulder, who was looking increasingly upset at being left out of the loop. Asclepius didn’t look much more informed.

“Lord Thanatos, where are you going? What is happening?”

“It would seem that I must go,” the Chthonic god said, before disappearing in a swirl of shadows and darkness. “Tartarus rises.”

Will’s panicked yelp of “what?” was the last thing Apollo heard before the vision faded and his consciousness fully reconciled in Tartarus, and it resonated clearly through his essence.

What, indeed.

His back was to the remains of the wall that had shut Bob in. In front of him, darkness and silver blazed as Hades and Bob pushed back at Kampê. Ichor flowed down his arm, and Apollo covered it with a hand, willing his form back together again so he could once more use his bow.

The ground beneath them continued to quake, but it was a long, steady rumble rather than an unpredictable creation of Poseidon’s. This shouldn’t be enough to be felt in the Underworld, surely? Even if Thanatos was attuned enough to sense Tartarus’ shift in moods, Nico shouldn’t be able to sense a disruption like this. That would be well beyond a demigod’s abilities, even one who had met Tartarus.

The – badly timed – vision left Apollo with more questions than answers, which wasn’t unusual but was thoroughly inconvenient when it had occurred simultaneously with the start of a battle in an enclosed space and a new ally that neither he nor Hades knew how to fight alongside. Thanatos was right; the demigods should be safe inside the Underworld, but that didn’t stop the what if beginning to niggle in the back of Apollo’s mind – which certainly wasn’t useful when he was supposed to be fighting.

Shoulder re-sealed enough to use, Apollo willed more arrows into existence, ready nocked to fire, and at the moment his uncle disappeared from view, the Helm activating, he drew back and released. Bob lunged forwards with his spear the moment the arrows passed him, and ichor splashed onto brass flooring and walls as the missiles this time found their marks.

Kampê laughed, seemingly unconcerned by her new status as a pincushion, and Apollo shrank rapidly as her scorpion tail arched over her back and dove down towards him, dodging to the side before the venomous stinger collided with the brass of the wall behind where he’d been stood. It bubbled and hissed where it connected, large dollops of venom splashing down and forcing Apollo to dodge further away.

He had heard the stories of what that venom could do, and had no wish to be paralysed for any length of time.

A gash opened up in the tail, near the stinger, and Kampê flicked it around irritably as her whip wrapped around Bob’s spear and pulled. The titan resisted for a moment, digging his heels in as best he could, before surrendering his weapon. It thrust past the monster, Kampê far too intelligent to impale herself upon a captured weapon, but that didn’t stop Bob from charging forwards with his bare hands, grasping at one of the heads that had spouted from her waist and yanking it out from the roiling mess of transformations.

That earned him a furious yell, and suddenly there were two scimitars in her hands, glowing a sickly green and flashing out in slashes the mortal eye would never be able to follow. Apollo fired an arrow at one of them, the momentum pushing it back a fraction, while the second stopped with the unmistakable clang of metal against metal, despite the fact that there was nothing to be seen.

Bob took the split second it afforded him to duck down and summon his spear back into his hand, spinning it like a staff and pushing Kampê back a step. She was forced to step up, reminding Apollo that they were at the base of twelve steps.

Archers were not supposed to take the low ground. They could, if they had to, but when the high ground was right there and being held by their opponent instead… it was inconvenient.

Apollo couldn’t see where Hades was, although the periodic opening of new ichor-dripping wounds in Kampê’s carapace and flesh with no visible cause was a sure indication that his uncle was in close combat with the monster. Bob was a vibrant sight of flashing silver, tinted green by the glow of Kampê’s weapons but bright nonetheless. Neither of them seemed to be making any significant progress against her, although they seemed to be holding their ground well enough – the Helm made Hades intangible, and what few specks of gold fell from the otherwise silver titan didn’t appear to bother Bob in the slightest – and Apollo knew he had to find a way to tip the balance.

He darted to one side as the stinger of her tail lashed down again, haphazard in a way that suggested her target was the invisible, mostly indetectable Hades rather than Apollo himself, then dodged back the other way, shrinking down enough to be hopefully negligible in Kampê’s attention compared to the two melee fighters facing her. Then he ran.

Were he still Lester, he would still have done exactly the same thing, but with a mortal constitution and reflexes it inevitably would have gone far worse. Apollo zig-zagged around her legs as they started to stamp, the monster realising where he’d gone but unable to pin him down at his current size, and was forced to leap over more than one sudden injection of venom as her stinger awkwardly caught the ground.

It was, he thought idly as he ducked and dodged, likely similar to the scene John had envisaged as he wrote Samwise attempting to evade Shelob’s own many legs and stinger. If nothing else, it was highly reminiscent of Peter Jackson’s cinematic interpretation.

Apollo had never really wanted to play the role of Samwise – Legolas, on the other hand…

He threw himself into a forward roll, momentum and the godly ability to defy at least some logic allowing him to roll up the steps and past Kampê’s monstrous derriere, to say nothing of the vicious stinger which promptly tried to spear him, and came to a stop only once he was at the top of the steps, down on one knee with several arrows nocked as he returned to a more battle-worthy size.

Then, he let the arrows fly.

Kampê snarled, but while she no doubt could ordinarily turn in the corridor to pursue him, Hades and Bob kept her front end occupied with invisible slashes and vicious thrusts, leaving the monster now sandwiched between two fronts. On the down side, that left Apollo with her tail to contend with as it lashed out behind her, and he was forced to back away further as she began to slowly retreat from the onslaught of Hades and Bob, clearly for reasons that had nothing to do with escape and everything to do with continually getting her tail in range of striking Apollo.

Apollo had no intentions of being struck by her tail. Unfortunately, despite its various cuts from Hades’ attacks, it still appeared to be fully functional and showed no signs of weakening its attacks. Perhaps Ares would be able to sever the limb in a single stroke, but Apollo was not Ares (nor did he have any desire to be), and no amount of arrows, even fired by a god of archery, were going to detach it from the rest of the body – and certainly not before Kampê managed to land a hit with it.

So he was going to have to get creative.

During her invasion to Camp Half Blood, she had been crushed to death, Apollo recalled hearing – he had not been there, had not seen it, had not been able to do anything to help the demigods in that battle, and more than one demigod had paid the price, Lee chief among them. Given the strength it had taken for he and Hades to pry open enough of the prison that Bob could leave his cell, it seemed foolish to even try and collapse the brass ceiling. Kampê would need to be fully distracted, and it would take likely all three of them to do the collapsing in the first place. No, that wouldn’t work.

He dodged the stinger again, and caught sight of one of the scimitars nicking Bob, who let out a bark of pain, stumbling back a single step. The invisible force that was Hades stopped the next swing of the sword, buying the titan time to re-seal his wound and stagger upright again, traces of agony showing in the twisted lines of his face.

Poison, Apollo realised, firing off another handful of arrows. Most were deflected by either the stinger or a scimitar, but two got through to bury in her back, to her furious hiss.

Kampê took another step backwards, forcing Apollo to edge further away again. She was almost to the top of the steps, now, and Apollo’s height advantage was lessening rapidly – although so, too, was Kampê’s higher ground advantage over Hades and Bob, so Apollo couldn’t be too upset about the overall effect.

Besides, the sight of her poison had given him an idea.

It was something that would have killed any mortal, even a demigod, if it had made contact, yet while it had clearly hurt Bob considerably, it hadn’t completely incapacitated him. Perhaps it would’ve been a different story had he been facing the monster alone, but with numbers on their side, they could cover for the other as necessary, buying recovery time (they being mostly Hades and his intangibility; Apollo wasn’t certain why the Helm was finally working against Kampê when neither Orion or Alcyoneus had been unduly bothered by it, but he was certainly not complaining).

It was too much to hope for that Kampê would be vulnerable to her own venoms and poisons – anyone who used such weaponry had either an innate resistance to them, or one built up over time, and Kampê was old enough that even if the former didn’t hold true, the latter certainly would. Apollo wasn’t going to waste his time trying to get her to nick herself with her own aggression.

That did not, however, mean he hadn’t had what he hoped was a stroke of genius.

He retreated further, buying himself some space away from the stinger, and willed an arrow into existence. It appeared, identical to the rest of his quiver, but Apollo didn’t immediately nock it to the string. Instead, he began to chant, keeping his voice low so that Kampê hopefully wouldn’t be able to hear over the sounds of her scimitars ringing against Hades’ sword and Bob’s spear, or her own clawed feet skittering across the smooth, loud brass surface beneath them.

The last time he had attempted this, he had been a desperate mortal with no way of knowing what he was summoning – if, indeed, he could summon anything at all – and a newly-discovered agitated talking arrow trying to pretend it knew more than it did about enchanting arrows. He almost faltered at the thought of the Arrow of Dodona, and how it had gone from an irritating nuisance to a loyal friend and confidant, before sacrificing itself to help fell Kampê’s own brother, but pushed on.

If plaguey, plaguey, plaguey slipped into the closing stanza of the chant then, well, so be it.

Plagues and illnesses were devastating forces of nature. Apollo’s duty was to keep them under control, by allocating when and where they occurred – much to the ongoing disgust of the nosoi, who wanted to rampage unchecked – and he knew all the strains of disease that could infect mortals intimately well. How could he not?

He also knew how devastating the right one could be – or wrong, depending on perspective. Mama Kokohad been furious with him when the Conquistadores invaded South American in the fifteen hundreds, by the Gregorian reckoning and the strain of smallpox that Apollo had been tickling the Spanish with for centuries made the jump from a society that was used to it to one that had never been exposed to anything of the sort before. Ares had been, too, although his reasoning had been less to do with the population decimation and more to do with how it had weakened the Andean peoples so far that they could hardly fight back.

Even Apollo had been horrified at how viciously it had decimated the various peoples of South America and wiped so much of their civilisation from existence in only a few short years, and he had inflicted many deadly plagues upon the European civilisations across the millennia.

Monsters did not get illnesses the same way mortals did. Nor did gods, nor any immortals. Their constitutions were too fundamentally different for that.

But if an animated colossus could catch a hay fever conjured by a pathetic mortal version of himself, then Apollo saw no reason why Kampê could not catch something rather more debilitating crafted by the god of plague at near full strength.

Unlike most of his domains, plague had not wavered at all in the depths of Tartarus. It did not need the sunlight to grow, did not stem from lightness and love, but rather the darkness of the damp shadows where the light dared not touch.

The Pit fit the requirements perfectly, and where Apollo had noticed effort in maintaining his light, in healing, in music and even materialising his own arrows, it was a lack of effort he noticed as a sickly green haze began to envelop the golden arrow. The very worst things mortals could imagine in a disease bloomed and entwined effortlessly around the arrowhead, sinking in until the metal itself took on a sickly sheen, no longer shining as brightly as its fellows.

Apollo did not know if it would affect Kampê, but he knew he had to try.

The miasma given off by the arrow did not quite rival the general miasma of Tartarus, but it was pungent in its own way, offensive to olfactory systems in a fashion that would have had Lester’s eyes streaming with tears and nose running with a disgusting flow of mucus. It had no such effect on Apollo, but he was still conscious that this thing he had created from and with the dank, disease-provoking aura of Tartarus was not something he wanted to accidentally inflict upon himself, and kept it carefully pointed away from his form as he finally nocked it.

Kampê’s stinger smashed into the wall next to him, and Apollo leaped up, landing on her scorpion tail lightly before running down the segmented limb – now far more like Legolas than Samwise. She thrashed and did her best to turn, but Hades and Bob continued to hamper her, keeping both her vicious scimitars away from Apollo’s advance along her scaled back.

The snakes hissed at him, lashing out from her scalp as her waist deformed, melting and bubbling together until a single, large serpent erupted from what would have been the small of her back if she had the anatomy of a human, heading straight for Apollo.

“Bob!” Hades’ disembodied voice barked, all the warning either Apollo or the titan got before the serpent head with long, no doubt paralytically venomous fangs separated from the rest of its hastily created body, rolling harmlessly down Kampê’s flank to land on the brass floor. In his periphery, Apollo caught sight of silver flashing faster as Bob engaged both of Kampê’s scimitars at once, the reach of his spear enough to keep both her hands occupied.

Hades flickered into view beside Apollo, his deep black sword dripping with ichor and venom combined.

“Will that work?” he demanded. He didn’t ask what it was, but given he had more than once amused himself by startling Apollo into inflicting a pandemic on the wrong city, there was no way he didn’t recognise a plague arrow.

Apollo shot him a grin. “Only one way to find out.”

He leapt forwards, over the writhing mass that was Kampê’s waist, and found purchase on her powerful back muscles, feet morphing into satyr hooves to better find balance on the near-vertical surface. Behind and below him, he heard the swing of a sword and the tell-tale sound of several unpleasant things being decapitated.

Kampê writhed, shaking her body from side to side as much as she could whilst still fending off Bob’s attacks – or more accurately, trying and failing to disengage with the titan so that she could turn all of her offensive strength onto Apollo. Her serpentine hair lashed out at him, but Apollo forced himself to stay still, keeping his balance despite her best efforts through a combination of satyr hooves, the beautiful skill of a horseback archer to adapt to movements beneath their body, and pure godly intent.

He had done something similar four and a half millennia ago, perched on the back of a writhing, ever-transforming creature with a single arrow nocked and the knowledge that if this didn’t work, things were going to go very, very badly wrong.

It hadn’t worked back then, and Python had very, very nearly destroyed him before the resulting fight was finally over. With that nugget of unwelcome memory in the back of his mind, Apollo set his sights on the nape of Kampê’s neck, and fired.

Chapter 25>>

#trials of apollo #trials of apollo fanfiction #riordanverse #riordanverse fanfic #pjo hades #pjo apollo #pjo iapetus #pjo bob #will solace #nico di angelo #pjo asclepius #pjo thanatos #pjo kampe #tsari writes fanfiction #eclipse

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merverse · 1 year

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just finished the sun and the star and im posting this from my phone but i have to write my feelings down so spoilers of course:

first of all, i get it. this is not a fanfic, this is an actually rick riordan book and i can't expect it to go dark even though the story and the characters on it totally deserve to be put into a more mature light, so i'm trying to be more open about all this, but..... i'm really disappointed.

the writing was flat. the only reason i had any sort of sympathy to the characters and what they were going through was because i already knew them beforehand, but even then they felt like.... strangers. i think rick needs to stick with first person povs, because (and this also something i struggled with when reading the heroes of olympus series) he can't do multi character stories that well. i thought mark could help with this, but it honestly felt all over the place.

and i was expecting some character inconsistency throughout the book and messed up timelines once again, but it still surprised me how obvious those mistakes were. for example, we have nico being an advocate for change: people change, they learn from their past experiences and evolve throughout their lives and this is the whole reason why we are going into this quest! the whole reason why nyx is after me! and not even a couple of chapters later he finds out one of the giants did just that and found love and acceptance and he just flat out refuses to accept this. uhm, what? will has to remind him he's all about change? nico: oh yeah! my bad! forgot we were doing that

( see: chapter 19: ‘You see the trogs,’ said Screech-Bling. ‘You see Bob the Titan.’ Will smiled and squeezed his hand. ‘Nyx hates what you represent – change.’ / and then, chapter 22: "Nico scoffed. ‘You didn’t meet Geryon. You don’t know what he’s like.’ ‘Was like,’ said Menoetes. ‘Was. Because now you don’t know what he is like.’ Nico was left speechless. ‘Maybe we should give him a chance,’ said Will. ‘We both know people who were once terrible and then turned things around.' )

and don't get me started of the morals on this book. we get it, it's a book for middle schoolers, but you don't have to state the message of it every single chapter for it to be obvious. we get it, this is about changing and owning up the past but trying to be better in the future. not everything is black and white. okay. oh, ur gonna mention it again? oh, ur gonna get a goddess to spell it out for no reason at all? okay.

and god.......... the whole solangelo situation, i'm so SAD. i love them together, i adore them. but those stories about how they got together........ nico somehow deciding he was gonna tell the entire camp he was gay........ will kissing him for the first time just when he was grieving jason after he died (why. why would any of them think this was okay. WHY)........ i know these situations "make sense" and are explained in the book, but i don't like them. i don't. and i refuse to acknowledge them.

well, no. i'm actually going to acknowledge the whole coming out scene and how the story treats the whole thing. (disclaimer: not every queer person has to agree on this, we all have different experiences and that's fine, this is just my opinion on the matter) i hated how it felt like they were using nico's character as this big pamphlet advertising the "gay is okay!". i know his sexuality is a Big part of his character, and he is the first gay character in the pjo universe, but why did it feel he was also the first queer demigod at the camp? why did it have to be a big deal? i think the whole scene about juniper messing it up and him "choosing" to ask will out and also come out to the entire camp at the same time was..... unnecessary. i didn't need him to say he was gay in front of the entire greek camp, he can be used as an inspiring story for any other demigod just choosing to hold will's hand at dinner.

(and is...... a greek camp...... i can understand internalized homophobia on nico bc of his upbringing, and also anyone can have it no matter their experiences, but..... a greek camp..... and a public coming out scene after the whole thing with cupid.......)

(side note: not even one mention of patroclus and achilles. NOT EVEN ONCE.)

and i think what really sealed the deal for me was hazel. well. THE LACK OF HER. does nico remember he has a sister? does mark knows he has a sister? does rick???????? me, throughout the book: oh so this is the chapter where i get some hazel and nico crumbs! no? okay so the next one! oh, still no mention of her? so the next chapt-

she's mentioned 6 times. 6 times. and only once he's allowed to actually think about her. i hated it. and it was worse with reyna.

(the fact nico thought about annabeth and percy AND JASON? (WHO HE WASNT CLOSE WITH AT THE MOMENT) WHEN HE WAS GOING THROUGH TARTARUS ALONE? BUT DIDN'T THINK ABOUT HAZEL? HELLO?)

and even thought the message of the book is about how light and darkness can coexist within one self (as we are... repeatedly told..... all over again...), it still rubs me the wrong way how, at the end, darkness is still portrayed as something.... bad.... that u have to live with. like will says "‘But now I know that it’s not about conquering, or vanquishing, or any of that kind of hero talk. Sometimes it’s better to learn to live with the darkness.’" uhmmmmmmmmmmmm

all that being said, it was a..... fun book. not life changing and I'm definitely ignoring its existence, but the plot was entertaining enough and i did cry when bianca, maria and hades showed up because i adore the di angelo family. also will has powers! that's cool! i guess!

oh, and nico's little demons/children/whatever they are..... cute. in my head they are like those dust bunnies from ghibli.

#and im not even going to talk about wills whole dilemma with accepting nico's darkness or whatever tf he had going on for the entire book #like i get it but i also dont #should've stayed in the drafts 😁#tsts spoilers #the sun and the stars spoilers #the sun and the star #tsts #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo

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parfumieren · 9 months

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Amanda (Amanda Lepore)

Of all the celebrities in the world, I chose her. I could have had Britney, J.Lo, Maria, Fergie, Celine, or Elizabeth Taylor-- heck, even Tilda Swinton, if androgyny was so compelling….

But no. My very deliberate first choice of celebrity perfume came from an aging transgender socialite with a rampant cosmetic surgery addiction and four dance-mix EPs that can best be described as unlistenable.

Why her? Why Amanda Lepore?

For those not in the know, Amanda Lepore is the steely-yet-vulnerable, thoroughly unshockable, plastic-fantastic queen of Manhattan's stygian depths. During the legendary '90's, Amanda ran with the likes of James Saint James, Richie Rich, DJ Keoki, and the Club Kids' notorious Svengali, Michael Alig. Her über-smooth, surgically-enhanced visage -- complete with cherry-red lips pumped full-to-bursting with collagen -- provided photographer and lifelong friend David LaChappelle with decades of inspiration. On the other hand, it's also attracted a particularly nasty brand of social editorial, scathing in its rejection of the blurred gender line.

But rest assured, I am not here to wield that weapon.

On the surface, Amanda's world is as far from my world as Pluto is to the sun. But I have been attracted to it all my life. I myself have walked the gender identity tightrope, as have many of my idols: David Bowie, Patti Smith, Nico and Candy Darling, Lili Elbe, Justin Vivian Bond, Kate Bornstein, Charles Busch, John Cameron Mitchell, Eddie Izzard, Divine. I identify more with these outlaws of the gender frontier than I do with Britney & Co. any day. And because of all this, I desperately wanted Amanda not to fail. I longed to see her perfume blow away all the haters and baiters and nasty naysayers.

Due to its limited production (only 5,000 bottles released) and prohibitive price tag ($900+), it appears that precious few samples of Amanda ever made their way into the hands of reviewers. Most journalists, online and off, merely recycled the most shocking snippets from the office press release. Its bottle (encrusted with 1,000 Swarovski crystals!) and its preposterous ingredients (red lipstick! Steamed rice! A dash of real Cristal® champagne"!) set Amanda up to be a magnificent train wreck.

Yet Luca Turin swore up and down that the damned thing had merit. He raved about the marvelous job done by Christophe Laudamiel to harness and tame its sizable iris content (which -- more than any amount of tacky bling -- surely accounted for that massive price tag).

If this was the Holy Grail of trash fragrances, loyalty drove this kitten to undertake a quest. In the end I found a tiny decant listed at a 60% percent discount-- perfect for me, since naturally I don't have a month's rent to spend on a single perfume. What else could I do? I snapped it up.

While waiting for its delivery, I confess I began to suffer from buyer's remorse. Had I really stopped to consider what a former Club Kid's perfume might smell like? I envisioned sweaty cleavage encased in a cruelly boned corset, whose black organza and lace had absorbed an evening's worth of subway stench, cigarette smoke, spilled bubbly and lightly toasted ketamine. (What can I say? I've read AND watched Party Monster far too often for my own good.) Even worse, I imagined the smell of the corset's matching black lace panties. A boozy, sexy, sticky, spent-all-night-at-the-club-and-can't-be-bothered-to-shower-now sort of smell. An ANGEL sort of smell.

What the hell had I done?

When Amanda arrived, I sat staring at the spray sample vial as if it held Eau de Kryptonite. I decided to apply it after a shower, not bothering to dress in case I found myself forced to break a land-speed record to get back under the hot spray.

Please, god, please-- don't let it be a scrubber, I found myself chanting. Come on, Amanda….

The first note shocked me cross-eyed. Are you fucking serious? I heard myself saying aloud. Apparently, yes she is. Delicate, delicious, and without a doubt feminine, here was the scent of steamed rice. When I first read those words in the press release, I'd thought it was a joke. But what now rose from my wrists was a remarkable facsimile of steamer-cooked Japanese short-grain brown rice, bran-rich and faintly woody. A mandarin note rode atop it, veiled as daintily in curls of steam as Lady Godiva in her long golden tresses. (Again, Amanda: are you fucking serious?)

A faint hint of fruity plastic -- the so-called "lipstick" accord -- followed, tailed by a tinge of something alcoholic. Cristal®? More like Gekkeikan. Yes, it was the unmistakable scent of warm plum sake. After expecting to be clocked in the head with a disco ball, to be ushered instead into the tatami room of a traditional kaiseki restaurant was near about the limit. The repast Amanda set before me was simple, impeccable, refined-- but she wasn't finished with me yet.

After ten minutes, the iris kicked in. The scent of iris shares so many olfactory characteristics with the notes that came before it -- rice, steam, gluten, wood, even plastic -- that I found myself whispering, Yes, yes, of course, I see it! It's not listed, but I trusted my own nose and that of Luca Turin: there's iris in here, all right. (In fact, I think that perhaps it alone creates that starchy-steam accord.)

After an hour, I was still fully engaged with the interweave of Amanda's three main accords: iris, rice, mandarin. At any given moment, one seemed more prominent than the others-- but a moment later, it gracefully ceded the foreground to another. I kept expecting a hostile takeover by something loathsome a la Angel, but it never came. Over and over, eternal, tranquil, they braided closely around one another - iris, rice, mandarin.

The watershed moment came when my spouse came home from work. I'd warned him that morning that my pulse points would be the staging area for an experiment-- possibly hazardous. Now I held my arm out to him. Correctly gauging the smile on my face as a green light, he leaned in cautiously to inhale, then nodded.

"That's really nice; what is that?" he said.

"It's Amanda," I replied.

"It's quieter than I expected," he said. "Pleasant."

"A keeper?"

"A keeper."

That night I wore it to an art gallery opening. With my spouse by my side and Amanda on my skin, I felt as though I was in the best of company. How does that song go?

Well she's all you'd ever want; She's the kind you'd like to flaunt and take to dinner. Well she always knows her place; She's got style, she's got grace-- she's a winner. She's a lady… and the lady is mine.

--Tom Jones "She's A Lady"

Scent Elements: Iris, mandarin, strawberry, woods, cucumber, "red lipstick", "steamed rice", and "champagne" accords. And Amanda. Beautiful, fascinating, unforgettable Amanda.

#amanda #amanda lepore #perfume review #parfümieren

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bigskydreaming · 2 years

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Marvel peeps, I’m doing a compilation post of all LGBTQ+ mutants in the X-books, who they are and where to currently read about them.....let me know if I’m missing any? I THINK I have everyone here, but just checking....

Iceman Northstar Destiny Mystique Rictor Shatterstar Karma Galura Prodigy Akihiro Anole Somnus Bouncer Tempo Mercury Loa Solem Betsy Braddock Graymalkin Jessie Drake Escapade Darkveil Christian Frost Bling Negasonic Teenage Warhead Mulholland Black Pyro II (Simon Lasker) Carmen Cruz aka Gimmick Benjamin Deeds Hindsight Cam Long Aura Charles Brutha Nature Leonara Eng Monica Sellers Liana Pity Girl Good Arson Faceshopper Morgan Red Amphelion Sunpyre Fantomex Jumbo Carnation Shinobi Shaw Stacy X Skein Courier

I’m including Kyle Jinadu, Romeo, Tommy Shepherd and Billy Kaplan separately as possible mutants (in the case of Tommy and Billy) and/or significant others of mutant LGBTQ+ characters.

And then Wolverine, Colossus, Jubilee and Longshot are canonically LGBTQ+ in other non-616 universes.

And then lastly, there’s the heavily subtexted or ‘Word of God’ LGBTQ+ characters…Storm, Rachel Grey, Magik, Black Tom, Juggernaut, Sunspot, Chance, Kate Pryde, Callisto, Cyclops, Logan and Pyro (St. John Allerdyce).

I’m trying to figure out how to handle this group, because like, we know damn well what they keep implying with the subtext with Scott, Jean and Logan, but like, I don’t want to give that the same weight as the way the other listed characters all have explicitly referenced their identities or relationships on the page, y’know? Same thing with Storm and Yukio, who I will literally fight anyone who tries to pretend that they weren’t a couple BUT at the same time, like….I have gripes with the praise Claremont gets for his handling of certain characters’ probable bisexuality (for the clout), similar to how I have the same issue with Duggan and how he’s used Kate, etc. Like, its more about trying to figure out how to make a distinction that casts side-eye on certain writers for their framing of specific scenes, without invalidating those scenes or what they say or suggest about the characters if that makes sense?

Also, I didn’t read Rainbow Rowell’s Runaways…were Nico and Pixie ever a canon thing there, or just a fanon ship? Anyone know?

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