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#fourth place is piper just because
bagerfluff · 2 months
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Fire And Feelings
Leo Valdez x Half-Blood Non-Binary Reader
Prompt - Fire
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You ran into the engine room of the Argo II with a fire extinguisher in your hands. You had smelt smoke in there and you wanted to make sure there was no fire. You didn’t feel like plummeting out of the sky with a giant ball of fire.
You also knew that Leo was there.
Even though you knew that Leo couldn’t get burned you were still scared that Leo could be hurt by something else. You didn’t want Leo to get hurt. You cared about him too much for that to happen.
He had also spent the better part of a few hours there doing God knows what because he said he wanted to make sure everything was fine. You had guessed that everything wasn't fine. Once you got to the engine room you entered and all you saw was smoke.
It was making it hard to breath and see but there as far as you could see there was no fire. You let one hand fall from the extinguisher but you still kept it by your side, ready if there was fire. You used your free hand to swat smoke away from your face.
You wished Jason was down here, maybe he could use his wind powers to get rid of the smoke. But you told everyone that you could handle this. After a few minutes most of the smoke had cleared out and you were pretty sure that a few years were taken off your lifespan by inhaling that much smoke.
You looked around again trying to find Leo but all you saw was fire. You brought your fire extinguisher back up and got ready to use it when you heard something.
“Is it hot in here, is it just you?”
You swatted more smoke out of the way to see Leo with a smirk on his face. You knew he was the one that flirted with you, there was no one else down here. You also noticed that Leo was on fire. His hair had some small patches of fire in his and his clothes looked like someone had brought a match to his haphazardly.
You knew Leo couldn’t be hurt from the fire but you were still scared.
“You're on fire! Stop flirting dumbass!”
You dropped the fire extinguisher, not wanting to spray him with it, you knew that the stuff that came out of it was probably the best and you and Leo had already inhaled smoke. You ran over to Leo and started patting out the fire that was in his hair. Leo smiled and patted his clothes.
After all of the fire was out on Leo all of the smoke had left the room and everything in the engine room looked fine. “Is everything okay? Everyone smelt smoke and was worried?” You asked Leo after taking a step back and looking around.
After taking another look around, you saw that everything looked fine. Though you were not the best with machines so you couldn’t really know. “Everything's better now that you're here,” Leo said in a flirty tone. Though when you looked Leo in the eyes you could tell he wasn’t telling the truth. You rolled your eyes at Leo’s flirting and crossed your arms over your chest.
“Okay. But what happened that caused smoke to fill the room and almost kill me?” You asked Leo. Leo suddenly didn’t look so confident and started to play around with a wrench he had in his hands.
You knew Leo wanted to say something so you waited.
And waited.
And waited.
But Leo said nothing.
He looked like he was thinking about what to say but didn’t say it. “Okay. If you don’t want to tell me then you don’t have to tell me. But I’m going to leave. I have stuff to do”. You said before you picked up your fire extinguisher and left the room.
Leaving a blushing Leo standing there wishing he had said something.
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You mumbled curses to the Gods as you walked down into the engine room for the fourth time this week. And it was only wednesday. Everysince this first happened it keeps happening. Nobody was even surprised anymore.
They just all sighed as you got up and got the fire extinguisher and tried to get Leo to tell you what was wrong. He wouldn’t tell you, in fact he wouldn’t tell anyone. Not even Piper or Jason. This was getting annoying.
You placed the fire extinguisher outside the engine room and walked in. Most of the smoke was gone since you walked to the room instead of running. Leo was standing off to the right and he was patting his hair that was smoking slightly. You walked in front of Leo and glared at him, crossing your arms over your chest.
You were angry at him.
Why couldn’t he tell you or anyone what was wrong. Leo could tell you were angry so he looked at the floor instead of you. You took a deep breath in and out. You didn’t want to yell and Leo you just wanted to know why the engine room went up in smoke every day.
“Leo. Why did the engine room go out in smoke for the fourth time this week? I know something is happening, everybody does, but you haven’t told me, well you are now”. You said sternly. Leo seemed to get more nervous when you said that.
“Well” Leo said, after that he kept opening and closing his mouth. Trying to say something but he couldn’t find the words. After ten minutes you were getting more angry. Why wasn’t Leo telling you what was wrong. But beneath that anger was worry.
You cared about Leo.
You had a crush on Leo since he first came to Camp Half-Blood. It only grew when you were asked by him to join him and the rest of the half-bloods on the Argo II.
You said yes, though it wasn’t smart.
Anything could happen, war could happen. So you kept your feelings hidden. But now that Leo was standing in front 
of you, scared and nervous, you wanted nothing more than to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. But you didn’t even know what was wrong, Leo wouldn’t tell you.
That hurt.
Did Leo not trust you? You took another deep breath.
You needed to make Leo feel like he was safe here, reassure him that he could tell you anything and your friendship with him wouldn’t change. You do think you could ever hate Leo. “Leo” You said, getting Leo’s attention from the floor to you.
“I care about you, everybody on this ship does. We want to help you but we can’t help you if you don’t tell us, or at least me what's wrong". You uncrossed your arms from your chest and walked closer to Leo. Leo looked anywhere but your face.
He looked at his hands, the walls, the floor too. Anywhere but your face. You didn’t rush him. But eventually he started speaking. “I have been causing the smoke. You I- I start to think about- about you and how I love you. But I think- I think how you could never- never like me back”.
When Leo finished out could see tears slowly running down his face. Like he was trying to stop them from falling. Your heart broke when you heard Leo confess but you also felt happy, Leo liked you back.
You were still worried about what could happen but you didn’t really care at the moment. That was a thing for you to worry about in the future.
“Well. I guess it's a good thing I like you back” you said and with a smile as you moved closer to grab Leo’s face and kiss him. Leo was shocked but quickly kissed back. When you both pulled away you saw a bit of fire on top of Leo’s head. You laughed at that.
Leo was your little Fire Boy.
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yyyyanyan · 5 days
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Book Club: The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan
part 2 of my Camp Halfblood Chronicles binge!
It had suchhh a strong start with The Lost Hero. I love all three of them to bits (especially Jason but also ALL of them are my babies I'm holding them in my palms). The Roman/Greek split blew my mind when I first read this book years ago and honestly I'm still kind of processing it LOL. I'm obsessed with how Piper works on her charmspeak and getting comfortable in her own skin and Leo and his relationship with his fire powers??? god amazing!! And Jason I always felt like was such a strong stern type and I'm just attached to him. I think specifically he came off super perfect at first (especially with how Piper had her crush on him) and it was so pleasant to see him failing.
I like The Son of Neptune slightly less but not for any specific reason I can pinpoint--I think I just really vibed with the Jason-Piper-Leo trio. I did think it was absolutely sick that we got to see Percy is utterly insanely powerful and Hazel's backstory had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I also have a soft spot for Frank since he's Chinese-Canadian (one nitpick: what is his Chinese name Fai supposed to be?).
Unfortunately, I really lost my drive by the third and fourth books ToT I think there was just too many POVs and every time I was getting in the swing of things it was time for a new character in a new situation. And I'm sorry but Tartarus was such a drag for me!! I feel like I didn't get enough of a sense of just how miserable and horrible it was and honestly I just felt sad for Bob/Iaepetus all the time. The one positive of the variety of perspectives was, again, seeing Percy being a madlad from outsider POV <3
Anyways once once I finished Book 4 and went to the last book (Blood of Olympus) it went way faster--I was so excited about reading from Reyna's and Nico's perspectives! Reyna and Nico are sooo good together they're my #1 brotp (maybe). Honestly though once I got to this point I was kind of like, "seven halfbloods" answering the call feels so arbitrary to me? Both Reyna and Nico play such critical roles--especially Nico--that I feel kind of robbed that they're not officially listed as people in the prophecy. This is also the place where I say: ngl I think Annabeth being one of the seven was totally lame LOL (I like Annabeth though!) I feel like she had more of a supporting role and her Athena prophecy could have been a quest that was helping this big one (also 'cause it wasn't listed in this one). However this is definitely also my Nico bias talking because Nico is definitely one of my top blorbos in PJO
Anyways it's been like maybe two or three weeks since I finished the whole series and I have to say the ending was really underwhelming to me. I'm literally not even sure I could tell you what happened in Blood of Olympus in detail. I was so sure it was going to be even more epic and even grander and it kind of totally missed the mark? I remember being so moved and feeling the battles in The Last Olympian so vividly and this one felt so weak. I also thought that Gaea would be like... more prominent I guess? I literally think Tartarus ended up being more scary and he featured so much less. The final defeat was so underwhelming lmao :'D
Kind of related to the above is: I also felt more and more as the series went on that Leo really was a seventh wheel, in the sense that he just didn't seem as close to everyone else. I wish his relationship with Frank had been less prickly especially after the main point of their antagonism was resolved (like why did Leo ALWAYS have to make Frank the butt of the joke?), and I also wish the weird almost-Hazel/Leo thing just didn't happen? I feel like at that point she already liked Frank and neither she nor he really got invested in the sort-of-romance and I feel like if they had just settled into just being friends after the whole revelation thing then it would have made sense. It was exciting that Leo was the key to winning the battle, but I felt like it lacked emotional impact because he felt so separate from them all. Calypso and Leo ARE the cutest though and I was/am rooting so hard for them
The last thing is, I feel like there were a lot of like... plot points that didn't go anywhere? I can't tell if they were put in so they would get resolved in the third series but I'm kind of disappointed that they weren't dealt with in this series. So the ones that I picked up/am really interested in are:
Percy getting more violent/merciless and being scared of it
Jason's sort of... struggle between Roman and Greek? Specifically I feel like in the first book he was so Roman and then suddenly it became that he had a conflict(??) and felt more Greek. I guess with this one it's less that it was unresolved but more it came out of nowhere for me and I kind of wish it had been laid out more from the beginning. I will continue my salt in my ramblings of the sequel series btw
Hazel coming back from the dead?? Did Nico just see her and go "I'm taking her" and that was it lol or was there something else...?
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pipnchips202 · 2 months
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hello, hello! :)
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so, my name is piper, and here’s one thing you need to know about me: i’m obsessed with valgrace.
but there’s a lot more you ought to know, too! so i made this post.
i’m a minor in junior high school and an aspiring writer, director, and theatre actor ; i’m genderfluid, aroace, & i use she/he/they pronouns with a slight preference for she/he. :))
i’m not going to link other social medias/accounts here because this is actually the fourth tumblr account i have and is admittedly a bit of an escape from my other ones (not that there’s much to escape from, really — i’m just dramatic Like That). i also have adhd!
ah, now to the important stuff.
FANDOMS: pjo/hoo/riordanverse, the hunger games, kpop (mostly twice, nmixx, itzy, lesserafim, & skz, but i’m getting into a lot more groups), infinity train, the magnus archives, dead poets society, everything everywhere all at once, the good place, ethics town, voltron, the stanley parable, the owl house, pokémon, animal crossing, stardew valley, writeblr, musicals (hadestown, into the woods, bmc, etc.), a lot of books (such as agggtm, the secret history, babel, etc.), AND the oddly specific but surprisingly dense community of hero x villain snippets here on tumblr.
DNI IF you’re a proshipper (especially if you romantically ship things like pernico & jasico), anti of my favs, still opposed to leah as annabeth in the pjo show (seriously?? grow up), racist/homophobic/transphobic etc, zionist, & you fund/support that “bring back ofmd” campaign [why is that a bad thing? a) that money could go to way better things, b) the show stars literal zionists, including takia waititi, & c) it is about/romanticizes real pirates who were slave-traders. like, what the fuck.]
🇵🇸🍉 I WILL REGULARLY REBLOG POSTS RELATED TO THE ONGOING GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE. (and also occasionally posts that relate to my moral views, such as / for example, a post criticizing taylor swift’s actions as a billionaire. please keep that in mind before following. also note that i am not a taylor swift hater, as one might assume from the former thing i just said — i am just a firm believer that celebrities & public figures should be held accountable for their actions. i’m, like, a quarter swifite, i guess? i like her music.)
aaaaand that’s about it. thanks for reading; peace! ✌️
— piper :))
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thesungod · 11 months
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hey I just finished the book & wanted to complain somewhere & I saw all ur anons etc about it so I hope this is ok!
but I just thought it was so unbearably...cringe. I can't quite remember how blatant the ‘messages’ were in the other books & maybe it was because I was very young when I read them but I can't remember them being so...unsubtle. & of which were just generally not good. It felt like there was some lesson constantly being repeated, nothing in the subtext to interpret, & I know that it is obviously aimed to younger readers but they still have the skills of inference lol. & Idk I haven't read anything past BOO I don't think but I can't remember any of the others being so relentlessly unserious.
obviously not asking him to write some abstract horror lol but I think even younger readers could engage with a more challenging text. I don't understand the point of the Tartarus plot line (which is constantly reinstated as being this awful, terrible etc etc place) if it's ‘horrors’ are not going to be explored.
what was good in the other books was how we didn't really know much about what happened to Nico there, & could only infer through the very obvious trauma—and even the PercyAnnabeth bits were more mature...I don't know. it just seems like reintroduction if it is less ‘scary’ in a way than the first time around & cheapens in a little. I think there is so much potential that just wasn't explored at all!
plus I just thought the dialogue was so so bad. obviously it's not going to be all serious. but it just seemed like bad one liner after bad one liner to the point they seemed ingeniune & lazy. So much dialogue that could have been used to build a relationship was used to unfunny jokes (which we were constantly being told were jokes! U shouldn't have to tell us a joke is a joke!) & when there were ‘heartfelt’ moments between them they seemed regurgitated out of some trauma self-help book lol. We were told directly of their thoughts about one another so often that the miscommunication & arguing just seemed repetitive...
& I had to half skip thru that later scene of Nico & Piper it was just so so cringe. Don't even know what to say about it lol.
Ok. this has been so long I'm sorry. I'm just too much of a hater....
tdlr: book was bad. characters were cringe.
What I hate is that thanks to this book, my legacy will be being a hater. That’s so fucked up because I literally hate being a hater I enjoy everything my bar is so low.
I watch 99% of movies and think “wow this was fun!”. I liked Pretty Little Liars. All seven seasons. I read the After books. I’m an enjoyer. I love trashy fun.
(Complaining under the cut!)
The problem is exactly that this wasn’t fun😭😭 The messages were so on the nose and blatant. Characters were having conversations for the readers and that’s so bad from a writing standpoint. It was a constant fourth wall and immersion breaking but it was not done intentionally. I got pulled out of the narration all the time.
The dialogues were either “unfunny meme unfunny meme unfunny meme” or self help Ted Talks.
Exactly what you said about Tartarus being scarier because we didn’t know what exactly had happened to Nico. Obviously flashbacks were going to happen, but there was really no subtlety ever, in anything, and i don’t get it because 12-14 year olds can read the Classics, or higher level YA fantasy such as The Hunger Games, and are generally beginning to enjoy a broader scope of fiction. They are not preschoolers. Have faith in them.
Also it’s useless to pretend Rick isn’t aware of his older fanbase. Who do y’all think he’s milking the series for? Newborns that will read it in 10 years? Writing a book for kids that’s enjoyable, even if considered a bit juvenile or simple, for adults too is perfectly doable. “Family movies” are based on this exact concept.
Hell, The Hunger Games is for kids!! Not as young as 10, but still for kids (13-16)!! And look at how it’s written!!!
Overall, I don’t deny that the book is full of important messages and if kids got something out of it, then good. But it’s not well written. From pretty much any point of view.
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novankenn · 4 months
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J/C - the Idols of Beacon
--==(Table of Contents) ==--
(Chapter 9 - Rules & Roles)
Joan and Carla were lounging about, enjoying another greasy feast from the cafeteria. Carla devouring her second bacon double cheeseburger, while Joan was inhaling an extra large bowl of poutine. Groaning, Joan put down her meal and rubbed her stomach.
“If this is how this, whatever this is, is going to be… I’m pretty satisfied.” Joan commented as she rose from the couch, and stretched, cousin her slightly too small t-shirt to rise up and expose her midriff and her just noticeable paunch. 
“I hate to agree, but this is a cakewalk.”
“Is my ass getting fat?” Joan asked as she slapped her hands on her ample, perky butt cheeks. “I think they are. What do you think?”
“Dude! I’m eating.” Carla retorted, “I’m not checking out your ass!”
“It’s just a question, and you’re the only one I can ask.” Joan responded.
“Why are you asking me that type of shit? I don't care if you think your boobs are getting bigger, or your ass is fatter… I don't care, and I don't want to know about it.”
“Bitch.”
“Seriously, dude, what the hell?” Carla asked, a tint of disgust in her voice as she tossed the remains of her burger on the take-out box covered coffee table. “ You’re acting like this whole thing is good. It’s not.”
“I’m just trying to make the most of it.” Joan countered. “We’ve got like three years and some to be like this…”
“Do not remind me.”
A knock on the door on the door to their lodgings ended the conversation, and before anyone could answer the door opened, allowing Goodwitch and four others access. The pair of magically altered young men stiffened at the sight of three. The fourth they had no idea about.
Joan seeing her former partner, then one of her former bullies and finally Coco… who she was very aware of started to invoke the ‘fight or flight’ response… heavily slanted to ‘flight’.
Carla was afraid of all three. Nikos for trouncing her and her team, Coco for being a looming threat of if her real identity ever was revealed that she would be on the receiving of the ass kicking of the century. Then there was Russel, her former teammate. Like Jaune, Carla was extremely entertaining the idea of making a run for it.
“Don’t.” the fourth member of Godwitch’s posse commanded as she strode past everyone and surveyed not only the pair of young women, their state of dress, and the condition of their living space. “Disgusting and depressing.”
“Um… who are you?” Joan stuttered out.
“Speak up, speak clearly, and speak with conviction.” the woman stated, her pink eyes focused on Joan. “I am your agent, choreographer, and vocal instructor. My name is Piper Hamelin, and you are?”
“Joan… Joan A?”
“Then I assume you are Carla W.”
“Y…yes?”
“I see.” Piper studied the pair for several minutes before speaking again. “The three students with me are your support team.”
“Support team? Why do we have…” Joan started to ask.
“Because you need one, and considering the state of this place, and your current appearance… you desperately need them. Sit.” Piper waited as Joan and Carla looked at each other as if having a discussion without words. “I do not have all day, ladies. Sit!”
Joan was the first to cave to Piper’s authoritative tone, with Carla soon following suit.
“So there are going to be several changes to your routine and habits, and you WILL follow my directions to a tee, or I will make things even more strict. Understood?”
The pair just nodded.
“Good. Ms Nikos has agreed to being your fitness instructor and has also been given the authority to monitor your caloric intake. This…” Piper pointed to the cluttered coffee table, “WILL no longer be happening.”
“Ms Adel has been chosen as your fashion consultant and stylist. She will dictate what you wear, especially when you eventually go on stage and start having public appearances… “Piper snorted before continuing, “She will ALSO be enforcing a strict dress code for all over times… you will not be dressed as slops or in other unflattering ways. Are you understanding these directives?”
Joan and Carla silently nodded.
“Finally, Mr Thrust will be your songwriter and composer. I will be instructing him in the style I believe you are best suited to perform in. You will not be required to play any instruments. You will perform using pre-recorded music.” Piper then opened her leather portfolio and pulled out several stapled together sheets of paper, and proceeded to hand a copy to each of them. “These are the rules and codes of conduct, along with weekly schedule, dress code, exercise plan, and meal plan. Read and memorize. Any questions?”
“I… um…” Joan started to stammer out.
“Good.” Piper cut her off. “Up… up, no time like the present to start.”
“Start?” Carla asked as she hesitantly rose to her feet.
“I need to hear your voices. So you will in turn sing a scale for me. Up and down.” Piper informed the pair, and then pointing to Carla. “You first.”
“Um…” Carla hesitant. “I haven’t… for some time…”
“It matters not. This is a test to sample your abilities. Once I have assessed you, I will work out a training plan. Now. Scale.”
Carla clears her throat and then in almost perfect pitch…
“Doh-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-High Doh”
“Reverse.”
“High Doh-Ti-La-Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Doh”
“Impressive, you still need work, but nothing constant practice will not fix.” Piper nodded. “We will also need to work on your projection and breathing. Very good.”
Piper fixed her gaze on Joan who rubbed the back of her neck, that instantly reminded Pyrrha of her missing leader Jaune.
“I’m waiting.” Piper spoke flatly.
“I can’t.” Joan replied.
“I don't care. Try. I need to assess your voice.”
Joan also cleared her throat, her voice cracking instantly and causing everyone to wince.
““Doh-Re-Mi-”
“Enough” Piper frowned. “You are atrocious, but not completely. You will need extensive and intensive training.”
Joan looked utterly dejected, and Carla despite her normal attitude felt a little bad about Joan’s situation. Vocal training was rough, and Joan was going to suffer.
“Professor, I am finished.” Piper turned her head to look at Glynda. “I will be granted access to these quarters, and I need a sound proofed room, with a sound system, floor to ceiling wall mirrors, and barre. Is this doable, or do I need to arrange for facilities in Vale?”
“We have such a room. I will have maintenance refurbish and clean it.” Glynda replied.
“How long?” 
“A day. It is being currently being used for storage.”
“I also need three basic chairs, wood or plastic, and a mini-fridge stocked with water and sports drinks.”
“No issue.”
“Very well. I am finished here.” Piper let her eye linger on the pair. “I have to return to Vale, but I will be back tomorrow. Be well rested. It will be a long day. Ms Nikos.”
“Yes?”
“Adjust their schedule. They need to work off this garbage.” PIper indicated the collected take-out boxes, “Early morning runs, until I tell you differently. Is that doable? Does it fit with in your class schedule?”
“Yes, I can make it work. I normally take an early morning run, so it will be no issue to pick them up to join me.”
“Good. Get some rest, ladies. You WILL need to be well rested for tomorrow.”
Carla and Joan shivered as Piper, Pyrrha, Coco, Russel and Goodwitch exited the room, leaving the dejected and worried pair alone. Joan’s shoulders slumped as she without a word vanished into her room.
“This is bullshit.” Carla snorted as she as well headed into her room.
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thinkingjasico · 2 years
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i have ideas for FOUR JASICO fanfics — and i just don't know which one to write first [frustrated gasps]
the first: it would be the second season of a fic that I recently published on wattpad in portuguese, in which they are all studying at the university of new rome and the stories of the other characters are also narrated (like leo with an OC, piper and reyna...)
the second: a fluffy story of how they got closer after the war, would have a very wonderful OC daughter of Hecate who would be their best friend
the third: it happens after TOA, I'm VERY excited about this one because it would have more adventure scenes, which I'm not so used to write. There will be jason's ghost and some quests and... I really love this one
the fourth: an AU inspired by an idea I posted these days about nico being the prince of the underworld and jason the prince of olympus, it would take place in ancient greece, it would also be inspired by velinxi's illustrations
I don't know what to write first and at the same time I want to write them all —send help!
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pussyd0n · 11 months
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My silly thoughts about tsats:
okay okay here we go
The plot was...good. as good as it could have gotten, i love how we get to see tartarus in a different light than we saw in house of hades. When Will and Nico had to cross river Acheron i was like woah woah hold on wasn't that the same river Percy swam accross with an unconceous annabeth on his back? And it was ! It was... Intresting to see the effects of the river on them pre-quest and post-quest yk ?
BUT the writing seemed bad ... sorry
I'll be frank Will and Nico's dynamic was ... Cringe? Now Don't come for me, i know it's written for middle schoolers but pjo always reads as good as it did back when I was a middle schooler. This book felt like they tried to compensate absence of Will's character arc before this book with gratituous amounts of fluff. I liked Percy and Annabeth's constant bicker-flirting and I'd have appreciated if Will and Nico weren't as sweet as they are in this book ? Like ..idk Will seemed very two dimensional , he's either always sweet and understanding or straight up blaming Nico for murder under the influence of tartarus.
I think the ...how do I put it ? Hmm . The world building in house of hades seemed more intriguing. Like it was easy to imagine the surrounding atmosphere of tartarus in house of hades than it was in this book. I don't know why, but house of hades was more descriptive. It's probably because hoh was from pov of Percy/annabeth so we could basically experience what was going on each of their heads,while tsats was written in sort of third person pov.
Dionysus, Chiron,seemed very ooc. Then certain things like the iris message with Piper and then the Percy sort of apologising, these seemed very unnecessary.like. Its okay, i don't hate it all (it's a mixed bag, loved some parts, hate some too) it's just. It felt like either or both of the authors scrolled through Tumblr befor writing this book so they know what checkpoint they have to fullfill to make the fans happy. You know? (And yet I'm here moaning about it lmao)
Will could have been more badass. Like i get it he believes in peace and he's a medic and all but , if only for his safety the author could have given him a dagger. Like just for self defence maybe. Like Annabeth..yk ? This is where he seemed one dimensional, like he'd packing up a whole bag of stuff and not one cellestial bronze dagger. In a place that is literal breeding ground for monsters.
Love Will's plague powers (this one was a very popular headcanon too before the book existed👀(see fourth point) )
love how Nico isn't perfect, and his mental health was one of the many focus points in this book. He's spiralling and he's ready to snap at everyone, even Will, especially Will because he isn't perfect and that he is close enough to someone for the first time to know that he's allowed to feel angry. He's angry and he's (mis)directing his anger at the only safe space he knows
My feelings about this book in a nutshell: Disapointing. Like it's not bad. But it reads like a very fluffy fanfic. It feels very fanon , like there no new creative input from the authors. Like the author's made a list of all the popular headcanons by going through Tumblr and wrote it into a book. Nico is an important character to me an i had Expectations™ , which weren't met. (I'm gonna rate it like 3/5)
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Random Questions for Jasmine to Answer
Thought it would be fun to ask Jasmine a bunch of questions for no other reasons than I wanted to. Some are sad, others are less sad.
But OMG I forgot this existed! It’s been sitting in my drafts since May and I forgot some of the answers I wrote so it made me laugh to reread them.
Jasmine: (Sitting at Nicks desk with her legs crossed, a pile of papers in her hands) “Well, guess we are breaking the fourth wall today.” (Flips the papers around) “So many questions, y'all lucky I ain't taking this as an interrogation session.” (Clicks her tongue, rifling back to the first page) “Lets get started then.” What is your name?: “Jasmine. If you want a last name as well, then Valentine.” How old are you?: “About 15.”
How do you style your hair?: “Braids are my go to standard. Keeps this long curly hair I insist on keeping out of my face.”
What kind of clothing do you wear?: “Tactically? Cargo pants and a jacket that are both tailored to my needs.”
Do you wear makeup?: What kind?: “I know how to apply makeup beautifully, but I don't wear it. There isn't much left of the prewar stuff anyways.”
What is your skin tone?: “Uh…” (Glances at her hand and arm) “Like a light honey brown? Golden tan? Never gave it much thought because I don’t care.”
Where were you born?: “Hm, I believe I was found as an infant somewhere in downtown Boston. God only knows where I was exactly born, and who to.” What did your father and mother do for a living?: “I don't know what exactly my adoptive father did prewar times, I know he was in the military at some point. My adoptive mom did a lot of odd jobs at odd hours, again I don't know what. Nick, my Dad, is a private detective.”
Were you well off? Middle class? Impoverished?: “Prewar, right on the very thin line between absolutely broke, and regular broke. We had a cozy house and all, but everything else was a little more scarce. Clothes we got second hand and mended ourselves, sometimes we didn't power, heating, or dinner. Nowadays I guess we are considered middle class by Wasteland standards, have enough to eat, roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, not getting raided every twenty seconds…”
Do you have siblings? If so, what are their names and ages?: “Had an sister named Lilac, who was five years older than me. And a brother named Cosmos, who was three years younger. Both are now long off dead. Right now I guess you could say I have a lot of people who act like older siblings to me. Especially Ellie, Hancock and Piper.”
Where do you fall in the birth order? The oldest, youngest?: “Middle child, but I took the role of the oldest from Lilac. Now I am one of the youngest in our little family-like group, and the only kid who can go out on missions or cases.” Which one of you is your mother’s favorite?: “None. She never play favorites with any of us, even though I was the only adopted child.”
Where did you grow up? Is this a place you’d go back to now? Or avoid?: “I think the town I lived in was called Pepper Valley or something close to that. I have to avoid it now because its in the Glowing Sea, nothing left there worth seeing or visiting anyways. The Vault I spent over a decade in since I was nine is down near New York. No, I don't want to ever go back there…”
Do you still have friends there? Or family?: “Everyone from then and there is dead.”
How did you do in school?: “I soaked up knowledge quickly like a sponge, but I would rather have been doing something active then sit around listening to a half hearted lessons by teachers who barely gave a shit. Who knows, maybe I would've been a genius if the public education system was better.”
What was your favorite subject?: “Gym, because that is where my physical capabilities shinned the most. Guess who was never picked last for teams?”
What was your greatest talent?: “Obviously my extreme athletic and super human abilities. I’m just surprised I haven’t gotten magical abilities yet.”
How far did you advance in your education?: “In a normal public school, I got all the way up to third grade. Afterwords I took lessons up in the Vault in an empty classroom. Most of the time I was learning from reading a worksheet and a occasional book. Other times I listening to an old hag with a ruler droning on about whatever the subject and correcting my every mistake with a smack.”
What is your life like at the moment?: “Pretty good compared to all the other possibilities I could be living. I have basically everything I need, and more.”
Where do you live now?: “At the Valentines Detective Agency in Diamond City. Its pretty small, but cozy. Dad helped me make my little sleeping space feel a little more prewar and personalized.”
What are your physical surroundings like? Are they comfortable, safe, or dangerous?: “We live in one of the more safer places in the Commonwealth. But that doesn't mean there isn't trouble. A lot of people don't like synths, so more than once have we woken up to pounding at our door or something being thrown at it. Get some pretty nasty threats and comments too, but Nick is somehow used to it. Other than that there is just the looming possibility of an attack from Raiders or Super Mutants, like everywhere else.”
Who lives with you?: “Its just me and Nick living here in the agency full time but Ellie is here so much she might as well be counted too.”
How do you get along with them? If you don’t get along, what is the source of conflict?: “We all get along almost perfectly and in harmony, either working together on a case or relaxing with one another.”
Do you have/had children?: (Looks away from the paper) “....pass.”
What do you do for a living? Are you self-employed, or do you work for someone else?: (Brightening up again) “Oh! I work with Dad on any cases he takes up. He gives me a small cut of the pay in case I want to buy extra stuff for myself, but I never do.”
If you use drugs or alcohol, how do you feel about it? Do you brag about it? Try to hide it? Try to give it up and fail? Have no problem with it?: “With drinking its really hard for me to get drunk or gain any lasting negative side effects, so its fine if I chug down some bottles. Chems are a bit difficult. I was forcefully pumped with all sorts of strange and strong stuff for six years, then willingly continued afterwords. No, Im not proud of it, but it helps free me from my troubles for a blissful moment. Its hard to hide it when you're Dad is a detective, if he asked me outright Id would admit it. Otherwise I just tried to keep quiet about it.”
What do you do to entertain yourself?: “I’ve learned how to live without entertainment.”
What is your idea of a really fun time?: “An entire day spent at the lake or pool. Or just hanging out with people I love.”
Are your parents still living?: “Biological? They both probably died in the bombs, if not before. Adopted are also both dead. Nick is alive and perfectly healthy, or I guess functional, at the moment. Wouldn't be lying if I said I wasn't worried about him also dying... If that’s a possibility for a synth like him.”
If so, where are they now? Nearby or far away?: “Dad is out on a case right now, he wouldn't let me tag along after I got smacked out cold during the last one. But I'm usually glued to his side.”
How did they raise you as a child? Were they strict or lenient? Did they pay attention to you, or were they more interested in other things?: “Mamá tried her best to tend to us, but she just couldn't as much as she should with working so much to keep us afloat.”
If one or more of your parents are deceased, when did they die?: “Adopted father was mugged and murdered right before Christmas when I was two. Mami died in a car crash when I was just about turning nine.”
Where are you in your life right now? What are you most pleased with right now?: “According to Nick, Im at a healing process in life after all the traumatic and abusive shit I was shoved through. So its a very wonky and painful at times, the past slapping me down at the worst moments. But… I have people that support me, and I am grateful for that.”
What keeps you awake at night?: “Other than my chronic insomnia caused by a whole string of things? I don’t know for sure. Its never due to the comfortableness of my sleeping position, I can virtually fall asleep anywhere. Slept against a cold hard floor and if I was lucky a wooden bed during the Vault times. Sometimes I fell asleep standing right up against the wall, felt safer that way...”
Would you trade ten years of your life to be richer?: “No. Money wont buy a you a second of lost time, unless someone is holding a gun to you're head and threatens to shoot if you don't pay up.”
What memory makes you swell with pride?: “When my little brother Cozzy finally got the hang of riding a bike. Heh, we spent hours trying to get him to balance… But it was worth it to see the smile on his face.”
If you could relive one day of your life without changing anything that happened, which day would you choose?: “The day my Mamá had a day off and she took us for a hike and a picnic at the beach. We spent the entire day swimming, playing volleyball, burying each other in the sand, hiking the high trails, just having a good time as a family. The sunset that day was also magnificent… One of the best I've ever seen.” (Smiles softly to herself)
How would your best friend describe you?: “Dogmeat? Uh, he'd probably bark happily and lick my face, which in doggy language means Im good.”
How would your parents describe you?: “I don't know what Mamá would think of me now, I always imagined disappointment and disgust on her face. Nick sees me differently then I see myself, so I also don't know. I will ask him when he gets back.”
What do you think about in the shower?: “How much longer must I remain in this vulnerable state and can I kill a man with a bar of soap.”
Do you stay up late or wake up early?: “Both. Although Nick insists I try to get into bed by 10pm if possible, and I cant really put up a strong argument with that.”
What do you do if you can’t sleep?: “Thats almost every night for me. Nick usually holds me until I do fall asleep if he is not busy. It’s a good thing, it gives him a chance to also rest. Daddy works like a machine way too much of the time, but he needs some form of rest like the rest of us.”
Who or what do you turn to when you’re upset?: “For the longest time it was only hurting myself. Cutting, scratching, pinching, burning, and punching a wall until I cant feel my hands. I still have the urge to do that, but I try to either talk it out with Daddy or keep my hands far away from myself.”
Can you lie easily?: “Yes. It was one of the many Vault courses I was forced to take, learn to be able to lie or make something seem like a lie on a whim. I try not to use any of those techniques unless I really have to.”
How can the other people tell when you're lying?: “They can’t if I don’t want them to.”
Have you ever done something illegal?: Prewar childhood times, nothing too bad. The worst thing I did was sneak into a police station with Lilac my older sister to get ahold of some dusty old files. We almost got caught, but other than that nothing else except for some trespassing and misuse of public property.”
Do you pick wildflowers?: “When I can find some on the barren earth? Yes, at least one to put in my hair or press into a book.”
Muffins or cupcakes?: “If I could eat them? Cupcakes, although they both sound good.” (Tilts her head) “I should try making some, for everyone else to try at least.”
If you spray-painted a city wall, what would you write/draw?: “One of those giant cat motivational posters saying BELIEVE or something like that.
You wake up permanently invisible. Do you ask for help right away, or do you stay hidden?: “I would run to Dad for help, probably scare the hell out of the old man in the process, then fall over in defeat.”
Jeans, skinny jeans, or sweatpants?:“Sweatpants, I can move around easier in them.”
How far can you spit a watermelon seed?: “Last time I checked? Across a classroom. In my defense, that girl was getting on my nerves and the look on her face when it hit her glasses and nose was priceless.”
Do you sleep in normal clothes or pajamas? To what degree are you clothed?: “I would sleep in my day clothes all the time, but both Ellie and Dad insist that I change into something clean and light.”
What are your three favorite types of flowers?: “Almost obvious. Roses, Lilacs, Cosmos, and Jasmines are my top three. But I like almost every flower.”
When you sneeze: hand, elbow, or nada?: “Elbow. Its disgusting that many people just blow it out globs of spit and mucus with no regard of everyone else. Ewwww, you can feel the particles.”
What was the last thing you thought about stealing?: “A key for some warehouse out of some guys pocket during the last case I went on with Nick. Good thing I did, we found the runaway tied up in there and were able to get them out alive, eventually.”
When was the last time you physically attacked something?: “During the same case. I got into a scuffle with a big brute on our way out. The runaway almost surrendered back to their captures and I had to jump in to save them.” (Points to her bruised head) “One of the baddies got a good hit in.”
Your favorite thing about riding a Ferris Wheel?: “When it suddenly stops at the very tippy top and you are just swaying from the force and the wind.”
Are you a cat, dog, or horse person?: “Cats and dogs, fight me if ya want me to pick just one.”
Do you prefer raw cookie dough or fully baked cookies?: “Fully baked homemade cookies with a warm glass of milk...” (Smiles dreamily)
Are you ticklish?: “Yeah I think so, just good luck trying to tickle me without dying.”
Do you prefer floral/outdoor scented candles, or candles that smell like food?: “Ugh, I hate the very smell of food. Course I choose the flowers.”
Do you pay attention to the weather forecast?: “Haha, the closest we get to that is Nick squinting up at the sky while holding up a finger and going, “Seems like rain.” So yes, I do pay attention.”
Do you give nicknames to other people?: “I don't use nicknames on a regular basis unless said person tells me directly to call them that. I hardly get call by Jasmine from anyone close anymore, everyone has their own nicknames for me other than the typical Jazzy or Jas.”
When you go to the beach, do you use sunscreen? Lotion or spray-on?: “For someone who doesn't have any skin- Daddy is the sunscreen police with me. And he insists every time that the spray on is no good because the old Nick used it once at the beach and ended up with a nasty burn.”
Do you sing in the car, in the shower, or both?: “We don’t have cars anymore and it’s a rare day when I’m comfortable enough to sing in the shower.”
Deep down, do you believe a hot dog is a sandwich?: “A piece of overly processed meat in between two slices of bread? Sounds like a sandwich to me.”
Long sleeves or spaghetti straps?: “Longed sleeved. More practical out here, and it hides more.”
What’s the weirdest place you've climbed up on?: “Hah, probably a one of those stripper signs, the ones with the legs and high heels. I was trying to navigate back home and needed a good spotting point that I wouldn't get sniped from and it was my best bet.”
Would you rather fly or be immortal?: “I am already on the borderline of being immortal, so flying ‘cause why not have another super ability.”
If you were forced to dye their hair, would you rather dye it purple or neon green?: “I think purple would draw the least amount of attention of the two, especially if its dark.”
Most embarrassing middle school moment?: “I didn’t attend middle school.”
On a road trip, are you the driver, the DJ in the passenger seat, or one of the people eating snacks and huddled under the bags in the back?: “Drivers helper in the passengers seat.”
What would you do if you were locked in a room with a rat?: “I would befriend the rat and train it to crawl through a small hole in the wall to let me out.”
Your crush asks you to dance and pulls you to the dance floor. How do you react? Do you try to hide their feelings? And most importantly, do you dance?: “Let’s first push past the low probability of a guy liking me enough back to have the guts to pull me onto the dance floor. If he gets that far without getting the living daylights knocked out of him, then I guess we could do a few songs, if he can keep up.”
Jasmine: (Tosses the piles of paper behind her) “Welp, that’s enough of that for today.” (Squints at the floor) “Why the hell did I even do this again…?”
4 notes · View notes
phoebehalliwell · 3 years
Note
Paige introduced through Mitch bc they both work at social services. He's a social worker; the documents Prue saw were the file on his missing foster kid (the one he was trying to save). And he and Paige have been friends for years, which is why she's so easy to tease him about Prue later because "I'm your best friend, if I don't give you shit about not dating her, who will?"
And maybe Mitch is the one to realize she's half-Whitelighter; he didn't really recognize it before because it had been so long since his mom died, but after the adventures with Leo, he's full of "this is what a Whitelighter feels like" and he recognizes that energy from Paige, only it's muted so he figures she's half like he is, and he brings her to Prue and her sisters to meet.
And if we really want to get the humor going, the p's don't make the connection at first. they're like "oh, you're half-whitelighter, that's so interesting. y'know, our mom had an affair with her whitelighter. maybe your parents did too."
and Paige is like "I have no idea, my parents gave me up for adoption when I was a baby"
and the p's are like "oh, that's so sad" and just not getting it
and meanwhile mitch is sitting there going "HELLO, SHE'S YOUR SISTER!"
god i love a good dumber than a box of rocks premise. p4 all being besties and having No Idea they're related. casually making jokes like haha paige is like our fourth sister. she doesn't have any family so she's our family now. paige you're officially a member of the family! her meeting grams her meeting patty and they didn't even name her they don't know what she looks like so they're like what a lovely witchlighter <3 i hope your long-lost daughter has half the heart of her. and like. they keep casually mentioning it as like a non-possibility that paige thinks the timeline doesn't line up, which, to be fair, the girls think that it doesn't. like they'd remember if mom was pregnant. even if patty mentions having a daughter, they'd assume it was an eldest sister. someone that predate prue. paige's dream is in their book and they're like wow! we must have crossed paths in a past life! isn't that cool. mitch pulls leo aside like is paige they're half sister. and leo's like what ? and mitch is like. paige. like. p name witchlighter like could she be patty's daughter? and leo's like nah haha because.................................................. wait. and then they gotta figure out how to tell the sisters.
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mercy-burning · 3 years
Text
Win Me Back
Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!Reader
Summary: When Reader’s ex-boyfriend comes back to town, he finds a way to make amends— with a little help from her niece.
Category: FLUFF
Warnings: None other than a few swears :)
Word Count: 3k (I barely made the limit, folks, that was hard lol)
MASTERLIST
NOTE: This is my entry for @homoose ‘s 2k Celebration!! And if this fic seems familiar, that may be because it’s a re-telling of the car-wash scene from Ramona and Beezus 🤭😂 It’s one of my favorite movie scenes of all time, it never fails to make me squeal, and I had SO MUCH FUN writing this!
Also! I tried very hard to find the scene for you to watch incase you haven’t seen the movie, but the ones I did manage to find on YouTube cut out THE BEST PARTS, so I’m sorry 😭 But in case you want to know the ~vibes~ I tried to capture and don’t feel like watching the movie, I made THIS post last night with some dialogue/background from the scene if you’d like to read it! Obviously it’s not required since what I’ve written is quite different, but it is encouraged 😊
I hope you like it!! And if somehow you haven’t followed Moose yet, you should! She’s the sweetest ❤❤❤
***
Y/N found an abundance of upsides to taking neighborhood walks with her niece. For one thing, it gave her a distraction, something to focus on as she made sure eight-year-old Piper wouldn't wander too far from the sidewalk. She found solace in quizzing her on the multiplication table as they made their way around the block, an activity in which Piper enthusiastically flaunted her love of numbers.
It was also nice to stay outside and take in the warm sun and soft rustling of the trees, though every once in a while all of it wasn't enough to keep the memory of Spencer at bay.
After all, it was kind of hard when he was back in town, and after all these years he was reaching out to her like he hadn't broken her heart in the first place.
"You seem sad, Auntie," Piper said, grabbing Y/N's hand as the turned the corner.
Y/N swung their arms together gently, smiling down at her with a tilt of her head. "Why d'you think that, hon?"
Piper gave a little shrug, her ponytail blowing softly behind her. "You don't smile as much. And you always smile when you're with me... And you asked me the same times equation 3 times in a row just now. You're distracted."
Y/N couldn't help the breathy laugh that escaped her. You sound just like Spencer... Instead, she told her, "Aw, I'm sorry, Kiddo. My mind is just in a... confusing place right now. But I'm very happy that you got to come stay with me this weekend, you always brighten my day." She punctuated her sentence with a little boop on Piper's nose, to which she giggled and asked for another math equation.
The two of them continued around the block a few rounds, though on their fourth and final one, Y/N noticed very familiar car parked just outside her house.
Heart jumping into her throat, she stopped in her tracks, and Piper kept going only to be pulled back slightly. The girl turned to her aunt and furrowed her brow. "Auntie, why did we stop?"
"Um... I just wasn't expecting any company today besides you..."
Y/N certainly wasn't ready to discuss everything that was going on with Spencer to anyone, let alone her eight-year-old niece who wouldn't probably understand or care anyway. So she explained it the best way she could, quickly coming up with a plan to avoid him as long as possible.
"See the car parked over there?" Y/N asked, and Piper nodded. "Well, that's an... old friend of mine... And we haven't talked in a long time because we don't really get along anymore. So when we get up to the house, he might try to talk to us, and I'm going to tell him that we're busy."
"He's not mean, is he?"
Sensing Piper's reservations, Y/N reassured her while letting her own contempt for her ex fuel the conversation. "No, but... He broke my heart. And he—"
"Y/N... Hi..."
She nearly jumped, mostly from surprise, but also at the fact that hearing her name coming from his lips and his voice and just him brought back a flood of feelings she'd rather have forgotten. Still, she turned to him and cleared her throat. "Spencer... Hi."
Piper suddenly let go of Y/N's hand, a small scoff escaping her. "Oh. Spencer..."
The two adults turned to look at her with surprise, though it was Spencer who spoke up. "You... know me?"
"Mhm," Piper returned with a nod, crossing her arms. "I heard Mom and Auntie talk about you yesterday, and she says you have a stupid, beautiful face."
"Piper!" Y/N screeched, heat rising to her face. "I... You can't tell people that, I— That's not... I..."
"Oh... I'm sorry, Auntie," the little girl said quietly.
Y/N was fully prepared to dig a hole and stay buried in it forever, and her embarrassment grew even stronger when Spencer spoke up again. "It's okay," he reassured gently, a small laugh sounding from his throat that regrettably gave Y/N butterflies. "You're auntie's definitely right, I do have a stupid face."
Before Y/N could stop the conversation altogether, Piper cut in quickly, being sure to add, "And beautiful."
Spencer's eyes flicked up to Y/N, drawing her in with amusement and charm, a fact which she hated to her core. Because it was working, and that was annoying as hell. "Yep," he said, never taking his eyes off of her. "And beautiful."
And then the corner of his mouth turned up slightly, flashing her the most amused, stupidly perfect smirk.
Piper started talking again, and for the second time that day, Y/N wished she hadn't even said anything at all, keeping this whole situation to herself.
"But we can't talk to you, because you broke Auntie's heart, and we're busy. C'mon, Auntie. Let's go." Piper grabbed Y/N's hand and led her up the rest of sidewalk until they got to the driveway. And even though it might have been childish to completely ignore Spencer as they walked past, not giving him a second glance, quite frankly she was quick to abort the situation as soon as possible.
Unfortunately for her, Spencer was persistent.
They were almost to the steps up to the door when he called out. "Piper! Can I ask you something?"
The little girl turned around, losing grip of Y/N's hand and greeting his gaze without batting an eye. "Sure."
Damn kids and their willingness to be nice to strangers, Y/N grumbled in her head.
"I know... your auntie is an important person to you, right?" Spencer inquired, walking up the driveway with his hands in his front pockets. Y/N swallowed, most certainly not noticing how the sun perfectly highlighted him in a glow that made him look more beautiful than stupid.
Piper nodded.
"Well... She's important to me, too. And I really hurt her feelings, but I want to make it up to her. Would you be kind enough to let me try?"
Damn him, Y/N grumbled yet again. Damn him, damn him, damn him to hell... Why was he so charming?
He'd always known that kids were a soft spot for her, and when they'd dated, they talked a lot about having some of their own  one day. Every time they took a walk in the park and they passed a kid, they always gravitated to Spencer, giving him the biggest smiles, and in turn he would give them a high five or perform a little magic trick to make them smile even wider. And Y/N melted into a damn puddle every time.
He knew exactly what he was doing, using Piper as a means to win her back, but even still, she knew that because of his gentle nature, most of it was... well, nature. Deep down, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew that he was a kind person. They may have ended things on bad terms, sure, and Y/N could pretend he was cruel all she wanted— The truth was that no matter how their relationship ended, he was a good man at heart.
And that's why it hurt so much.
Y/N thought for sure Piper would fall into his web, but she was pleasantly surprised when the girl responded with, "I don't know... I don't know if I trust you yet."
You and me both, Kiddo, Y/N thought to herself.
Spencer laughed again. "That's fair. Look, you can say no, but... How about I give you something in return?"
"Spencer, that's no—"
Piper crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side, interrupting Y/N before she could finish protesting. "How much we talking?"
"Piper!"
"Well, I was going to offer to show you a magic trick, but I suppose I could work you a deal... I only have a hundred bucks on me, would that be enough?"
Sure enough, Spencer pulled a one-hundred dollar bill from his pocket, and the young girl's eyes went wide. Y/N's did, too, but more likely than not it wasn't a means of excitement.
"You have yourself a deal!" Piper squealed with a jump. She ran over to take the money, meanwhile Spencer looked up at Y/N with a smile.
She didn't return it.
"Is there somewhere we can talk?" he asked softly. Kindly.
"Well, I'm babysitting Piper today, so you'll have to come back another time," she returned a little coldly, hoping that she and Piper had just scored a free Benjamin to pig out on ice cream while Spencer was left waiting forever for a conversation that was never going to happen.
Funny how eight-year-olds always had a way of making things more difficult for you.
"Auntie, Spencer and I made a deal. He gave me money, and now he has to make it up to you. Remember?"
Y/N groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I remember..."
"Well, how about I... take you guys out for lunch? My treat? If it's alright, we can go to McDonald's..."
"The one with the play place?" Piper gasped, immediately turning to Y/N. "Oh, Auntie, please can we go? Please, please, please?"
She looked up at Spencer, shaking her head in exasperation as he smiled at her, those sparkling honey eyes reeling her in whether she wanted them to or not. Then she turned to Piper and sighed.
"How fast do you think you can eat?"
***
Y/N was surprised Spencer didn't try to talk to her more on the drive over. Though, Piper did most of the talking, telling Spencer about how much she loved numbers and math, and he even quizzed her on some multiplication equations on the way.
If she wasn't so annoyed with him, Y/N would have melted completely.
It was the getting into the restaurant that worried her the most, though. She knew that once Piper ran off to play while they waited for their food, he would spend whatever short amount of time he had trying to win her back. And she was afraid of two things, mostly that she would end up crying in the restaurant, making a scene and wishing she'd never agreed to go, no matter how heart-broken Piper might have been. But there was also a small part of her, nestled deep into her heart, that was afraid she'd fall for him all over again.
He certainly made falling easy.
When the three of them stepped into the restaurant, it was easy to see how excited Piper was to be there. She gently tugged on Y/N's sleeve before looking up at her. "Nuggets, fries, and Sprite?"
"Apples, too, and you've got yourself a deal," Y/N said.
Piper nodded, not really caring but eager to go and play. So she sighed and nodded, leaving her with a, "Be careful!" as she saw the girl quick-walk over to the play area. There was a decent crowd that day, but thankfully no one in the restaurant seemed to have any grievances or knacks for trouble.
Spencer on the other hand... Y/N scoffed to herself, thinking how he was the most troublesome person in the area.
He proved her point by nudging her with his elbow. "She's a fun one."
"Yeah, she's somethin' alright," Y/N grumbled. "I can't believe you bribed her just to talk to me... If I didn't know better, I'd have thought you were being romantic. But I do know better, and you're just stubborn."
Spencer laughed, but she refused to look at him. "Aw, come on, give me some credit. You know I can be a little of both."
This time Y/N did look at him, squinting in a glare, like she was contemplating. "Eh... five to ninety-five. Leaning in favor of stubborn, of course."
"Obviously." The amusement in his voice made her hate his stupid, beautiful face even more than usual.
Thankfully he kept the conversation short after that, at least until they ordered. Since it was Spencer's treat, she milked his wallet for as much as she could afford to on fast-food. She ordered a large chocolate milkshake and enough food for her and Piper to share for dinner later— and probably lunch the next day, too. The amused chuckle Spencer let out as she was ordering did have her believing maybe she was being a bit childish. But the longer she thought about it, the more she stood by her actions.
He did break her heart after all. The least he could do was compensate through chicken nuggets and French fries.
The only thing she didn't count on, though, was how long it was going to take to make all her food, not to mention getting things done for other people. As she and Spencer made their way to the table, she realized she'd have to talk with him longer.
Spencer took advantage of this, naturally.
"So... How've you been?"
Y/N scoffed. "You show up out of the blue five years after you break up with me, and then have the nerve to ask me how I've been, in a McDonald's? Yeah, I've been great."
He sighed, his eyes flitting down to the table. "I know, I'm... I'm sorry. And I know I should have—"
"Spence, please don't... Look, I know... I know why we broke up, and I came to terms with the fact that your job was just to dangerous for us to be together, but... I mean, you weren't even willing to work it out, you just... ran away. That hurt."
"Y/N... I'm so, so sorry that it happened that way. I think about it almost every day and how much I wish I could have changed it..."
"But you can't change it. And now you... you show up here after all this time to—to what? Win me back? Use your kindness and your charm to reel me back in, like that'll somehow make everything better?"
He looked up at her through his eyelashes, the sight almost breaking her. "Maybe..."
"It's not that I don't appreciate the thought, Spence, because I do... I've dreamt about the day you'd come back and apologize, begging me to take you back... But I can't get hurt again. And you have to understand that."
"I do... Just..." His hands reached out across the table, gently touching hers. The feeling sparked something in her, something nostalgic and warm...
Something that felt a lot like home.
He was going to continue his speech, but a knock on the glass separating them from the playroom on the other side jolted them apart. It was Piper, a stern look on her face. "Don't try anything, Mister... You're still on thin ice."
She turned away then, running back to the slide when Spencer sighed. "I thought we had a deal."
Y/N laughed, nodding at Piper through the glass. "Even a hundred bucks and free food isn't enough to win someone's trust." Spencer looked over at her and waited, visibly swallowing. But Y/N flashed the smallest of smiles before finishing, speaking quietly, yet with all the truth and firmness in the world. "You have to work harder than that."
"Duly noted," Spencer replied, his gaze never straying from hers. "Looks like me and my stupid, beautiful face have some work to do."
Y/N rolled her eyes, leaning back in the chair as Spencer grinned like a fool... A stupid, beautiful fool. "Oh, alright... You know what... If you weren't paying for my mountains of food and giving me a ride home, that thin ice you're on would have just shattered under the weight of that comment."
"Oh, come on, it was funny."
"No, it really wasn't."
"Yeah, it was."
He stared at her, smiling until her forced frown slowly and reluctantly transformed into a smile of her own.
***
"Thank you for lunch, Spencer! And for the hundred dollars!" Piper skipped past him and up the driveway, stopping to turn and wave with her Happy Meal toy in hand. Y/N was carrying a bag of leftover food and half a milkshake, her stomach already regretting every choice she'd ever made.
"You're welcome, Piper," Spencer said, smiling at the girl. "And thank you for letting me get a chance to set things right with your auntie. You really helped me out today, I appreciate it."
"Sure thing. Just don't break her heart again, or I'll break your stupid, beautiful face. It'll turn into a stupid, ugly face then."
Y/N mentally face-palmed herself, turning to Piper and telling her to go inside and wash up. The girl gave Spencer one final wave and a smile as she did so, leaving the adults alone once again.
"Thank you..." he said quietly, shifting on his feet. "For giving me a chance. I really want to make things right with us... Make up for the way I hurt you, and... try harder. You deserve that much."
Years of heartache and trying to get over him begged Y/N not to believe it, but deep down she knew he was being truthful. He wasn't the type of guy to come around like this—especially with all the work travel he did—just to manipulate her into heartache again, with empty promises and hurtful intent.
She knew he was really willing to try to make things right, and that was a big start.
"Thank you... for saying that... And for making Piper's day. I know you didn't really mean to bribe her, but the fact that you did it anyway is absurd, so... I guess I have to give credit where credit's due."
Spencer laughed, and this time Y/N didn't hate the feeling of the butterflies in her stomach fluttering at the sound. "Well, I'm glad I could at least amuse you today. Does... this mean my romantic to stubborn ratio shifted a little bit?"
Y/N rolled her eyes affectionately, taking a sip of her milkshake. "Hmm... twenty to eighty."
"Still leaning in favor of stubborn, I suppose..."
The smile they shared in that moment felt more like the ones they used to share back then, officially kickstarting the slow, meticulous mending of their love.
"Obviously."
***
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sof1shticated · 3 years
Text
gorgeous [percabeth college!au]
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[A/N: oh shoot here it is, anyway I just think gorgeous is a song that would describe their relationship if they met in college. also, I personally think seaweed brain is a fixed spot in their relationship so, please enjoy and let me know what you think!! song: gorgeous by taylor swift words: 1.9k warnings: drinking!! intoxication, college party (I am personally imagining them in their fourth year so 21), not much else, if you see anything else let me know!! all just fluff and Percy Jackson being gorgeous ig lmao taglist [join one HERE]: @rcwena @rainwhenurgone @bathrobesinparadise
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“Oh c’mon! So close!”
“Oh c’mon! So close!” Annabeth Chase deepened her voice and put on her best New York accent micmicking her opponent who she had never had the pleasure of meeting before.
It wasn’t often Annabeth went to parties with people she didn’t know. She liked parties with her fellow architecture students, or with the members of the (various) clubs she joined. She preferred being drunk in a place where people she didn’t know couldn’t fully judge her based on a first opinion. This time though, Piper had convinced her this would be a party worth going to, and it had been a long semester, so Annabeth obliged. And Annabeth was in fact drunk and not about to let these strangers lose to them without some smack talk.
“Are you making fun of me?” The boy with dark hair and the green eyes tilted his head slightly to the side and smirked. Annabeth had to use every form of restraint she had left to not knock her cups over and declare the game finished so she could avoid looking at him any longer. At this point of the night she was more likely to kiss the smirk off his face. Instead, as though her brain were taking revenge on her, she continued to flirt.
“Wouldn’t have to if you were better at beer pong,” She shrugged sweetly and raised her own ball to aim, letting it splash in one of their last cups.
“Whoa-ooh-oh,” The boy’s partner laughed which earned him a small shove.
“Watch it, Frank,” Green Eyes raised his eyebrow and raised his arm to make his shot, “Because I have the perfect strategy, and I will get it in.”
Each of the last words were matched with him moving his arm as if throwing it before he finally released the ball. Unfortunately, it did not go towards his perfect strategy, instead opting to spin around the rim and pop back out. Frank stifled his laugh, but Piper and Annabeth did so freely.
“You have seaweed for brains,” Annabeth yelled over the music.
“That is a new insult,” The boy’s mouth dipped as if slightly impressed. Annabeth shook her head as Frank, now knowing his name due to his friend, sunk his ball in the cup.
It didn’t take Annabeth and Piper much longer to finish them off. The girls high-fived while their opponents laughed and took the losing shot that was owed.
“One more game?” Green Eyes asked with a winning smile despite the fact that he just lost. Before Annabeth could answer Piper tapped her arm.
“Hey, Jason just got here! I’m going to meet him out front!” Piper said and rushed off.
“Sorry, boys, lost my partner, though I bet I could beat you single-handedly,” Annabeth smirked but before they could reply she winked and walked into the heart of the party to find more punch.
She walked around the party for another familiar face, she saw her friend Leo dancing when she walked in so she knew he’d be one of the last to leave. Leo did eventually find her and dragged her to the makeshift dance room in the living room. She managed to sneak away for another drink when he got really into Mr. Brightside. Standing close to the wall as she swayed to the music playing glancing around the room when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.
“‘Scuse me,” Said the voice and she turned around to be inches away from Green Eyes who she played — she beat soundly — at beer pong just five minutes ago.
“Oh, it’s you! Good,” He said with a grin.
“It is me isn’t it,” She let out a confused laugh.
From up close he had even brighter green eyes than she expected. Annabeth had lived around the ocean and they looked exactly the same colour. Like she could go swimming if she stared in them long enough. Her comparison to seaweed no longer seemed like a coincidence but an educated guess.
“Yeah- Well, no, but I could use a bathroom so we can find it together,” She nodded quickly, and moved around the party to begin their search.
The house was like a maze of people. Annabeth was sure they had been to this corner before when they turned around. She had definitely seen that couple making out before. It wasn’t until they found a closed door towards middle of the hallway that they decided this must be the washroom.
She could hear the sink turning off and on behind the closed door. Annabeth knocked tentatively, slightly concerned by the occupants weird habits with the sink — a moment later to confirm her suspicion, not one but two voices answered her knock.
“Occupied,” they said at the same time then giggled to each other.
Annabeth turned back towards Green Eyes — which she decided to keep calling him affectionately in her head — and shrugged.
“We can wait?” He asked and leaned his head towards the wall. Annabeth took that as a cue to lean and slide against it to which he followed suit. His hand glanced against hers as he sat down. Annabeth quickly held her own hands together to keep herself from instinctively holding his. He should know better than to accidentally touch her hand in this state. Though Annabeth could control herself she was still thinking about that fleeting thought of kissing the smirk right off his face. Annabeth chewed at her lip before turning to him again.
“So, you’re from New York?” Annabeth noticed to break the silence. He nodded.
“Born and raised, and you definitely have lived here long enough to do a half-decent accent,” He replied then turned on a thicker, stereotypical New York accent, “And that means a lot coming from a New Yorker.”
Annabeth threw her head back to laugh but hit the wall and squished her nose together.
“I lived on Long Island for a long time but moved around,” She replied, “Ever since I first visited though I knew I would be back in New York for college.”
The sober part of her brain was confused as to why she was oversharing. She had just met him and he probably didn’t care, but in her defence he was the one sitting drunk with a drunk girl he just met waiting for a bathroom that would probably never be unoccupied.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever leave, well, I shouldn’t say that,” He shook his head, “But if I’m being honest my mom is here in New York and I don’t think I can be more than a stones throw away from her cooking.”
Annabeth clenched her jaw to keep from audibly awww-ing and slapping herself in the face. This guy had it all. He was gorgeous. He was funny. And he loves his mom. She was beginning to think she was actually talking to the wall and he didn’t exist at all. That would explain a lot.
“I never actually got your name,” Annabeth laughed at her own thoughts.. She couldn’t refer to him in her head as Green Eyes her whole life could she?
“It’s Percy,” He had a wry smile on his face.
“Percy?” She snorted but immediately felt bad after, covering her mouth. She touched his knee with her own, “I’m sorry I’m-“
“Don’t be sorry, you’d be surprised how many times I get that,”
“I don’t think I would be.”
“You’re right I don’t think you would be,” He chuckled, “If you think that’s funny it’s unofficially short for Perseus.”
“Like the Greek Myth?” “I’m impressed, my parents are obsessed with it, so they had a kid and cursed me with this name,” He shook his head but he didn’t seem like he was really complaining. Annabeth couldn’t help but laugh again.
“Well, I’m Annabeth, because my mom couldn’t pick between Anna and Beth,” She shrugged. It was actually a lie, her dad couldn’t remember why her mom chose the name Annabeth but she liked to tell people this was the reason.
“The best of both worlds,” Percy grinned.
Annabeth hated being drunk around cute men. Normally, she knew how to act. Her friends applauded her for not being taken advantage of by a pretty face or nice arms. Now they would be crossing their arms with their eyebrows up as they watched her talk with Percy. Percy had both and with her blood-alcohol level much higher than usual she was started to crumble to mush around him. Though, something told Annabeth, the real, guarded, sober Annabeth that this Percy wouldn’t try and take advantage of her either way.
“Do I have something on my face, because if I do I’d appreciate if you’d tell me,” He joked.
“What? No!” Annabeth laughed and shook her head, a blush creeping to her cheeks so that she was happy the lights were dimmed. She didn’t realize she was staring before she could reply with a witty comment someone laughed.
“Jeez, there you are! Annabeth, I thought you got kidnapped,” Piper peeked her head in and raised her eyebrows, “Maybe I should’ve knocked.”
“Shut up, McLean, is it time to go?”
“You’re the one with a weaving club meeting in the morning,” Piper teased and Annabeth narrowed her eyes
“I’ll meet you in a minute,” She nodded as her best friend left the room then Annabeth turned to Percy, “For the record, I’m not embarrassed about the weaving club.”
Percy let out a loud laugh.
“I didn’t say anything, I think it’s cool,” He said with his arms up in defence.
“Good,” Annabeth said. If Piper had come it meant they had been sitting outside the bathroom for almost an hour. Time had literally flown while they were talking about literally nothing. She liked that. She had a habit of only caring about things that mattered but this was the first time she felt like she could just have fun with anyone besides her friends.
“It was nice to meet you, Percy,” She smiled, his name rolled off her tongue.
“It was very nice to meet you, Annabeth,”
“One upping me again, huh?” She teased but the smile on her face grew wider. She stood up and looked at him one more time. Percy stayed seated which Annabeth oddly appreciated. She took a deep breath, her phone out of her pocket, and a gamble, “Here, put your number in.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Percy’s voice dripped with sarcasm but there was no sting in the smile that he tried to hide by putting his head down.
He handed her phone back and the new contact read SEAWEED BRAIN PERCY.
“Just in case you forget exactly which Percy it is,” He said when she smiled as she read it.
“I don’t think I’ll forget,” She said honestly, then turned around until she reached the end of the hallway. It felt like there was some force field keeping her in the hallway so she turned around one more time. Percy noticed first.
“I’ll see you around, Annabeth.”
“See you around… Seaweed Brain.”
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Note
Hi, so I saw that you explained how did Bart die, but I was wondering if you know more about everyone else reaction? I know that it was much more ignored than Conners death and that Tim heard about it in a phone call or something like that, but I never actually saw any panels so if you could provide some more context that would be great ❤
Okay SO: 
Contrary to what a lot of people think, (myself included before I did this research), Bart’s death was actually a super big deal? No joke, Jimmy Olsen acknowledges the memorial service as the biggest one he’s ever seen and compares it to honoring ROYALTY. This is a BIG EVENT. 
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Countdown #43
Keystone and Central City have completely shut down in mourning, and everyone makes an appearance at the memorial. And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. Every single hero shows up because it’s never fun when it’s one of their own who dies. Even Jason Todd, Donna Troy, Pied Piper, and Trickster show up to pay their respects. Hear that? Two of the people who KILLED Bart show up at his funeral (mostly out of guilt because they didn’t actually mean to kill him, but still. That’s bold). It’s like the fucking president died.
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Countdown #43
Everyone in the world is crushed by Bart’s death in an...admittedly, very confusing way? I don’t think Jason has even met Bart face-to-face, and yet he punches out the Monitor for not taking it seriously. (Then again, it makes sense that Jason would be on edge when the topic of murdered kids comes up, cough cough.)
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Countdown #43
I think a big part of it is that everyone sees Bart’s death as not only the death of a hero, but the death of a YOUNG hero. The Flash is one of the most well-known heroes in the world, always seen as this incredible symbol of strength and bravery. But this time, beneath the cowl he was just...Bart Allen. He was a kid. He’s ALWAYS been a kid, no matter how much he’s grown up physically and mentally. A kid died in the line of duty, saving the world. It’s a heavy thing to process. 
Meanwhile, everyone who knew Bart personally is devastated over his death:
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Countdown #43
Iris was there when it happened, so she takes it hard, but there’s also some acceptance to it. Iris knew her grandson was going to die thanks to future knowledge, but she tried everything she could think of to stop it from happening. As distraught as she is over the death of her grandson, she’s also had a while to get used to the idea, as awful and gut-wrenching as it is. 
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All Flash (2007)
Wally is juggling a LOT of emotions after he gets the news. A big part of it is guilt because his return to Earth is what sapped away Bart’s speed in the first place and made it possible for the Rogues to kill him. He sets himself on a mission to avenge his cousin, tracking down Inertia (the mastermind behind the events that killed Bart), and Wally would have straight-up murdered him if only Inertia didn’t look exactly like Bart. Instead, Wally drains him of all his speed and turns him into a living statue: a fate worse than death.
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All Flash (2007)
As for Bart’s friends, they take a different approach to the loss. The Teen Titans hold their own little funeral for him at Titans Tower, erecting a statue for him right alongside Conner’s. They decide to honor Bart’s life, rather than grieve over his death. They spend a good portion of the issue reminiscing about all of the dumb stunts Bart pulled over the years.
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Teen Titans (2003) #50
Cassie and Tim probably take it the hardest, though, considering that they are now all that remains of the Core Four. Cassie is pretty adamant about wanting him avenged at the public memorial, but with the Titans, she lets herself just miss her best friend/little brother.
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Countdown #43
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Teen Titans (2003) #50
As for Tim, this is the fourth death he’s suffered in roughly two years, so he’s very “why the FUCK can’t I have a single loved one who doesn’t die” about it. He voices his regrets about not taking Bart seriously and constantly seeing him as a goofball, when ultimately Bart was a hero, through and through. He respects Bart for who he became, even if Tim didn’t realize it until it was too late.
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Countdown #43
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Teen Titans #50
So...yeah! Bart’s death pretty much rocked the world for a minute there, and he goes down in history as one of the best Flashes, a true hero. (Until he comes back to life two seconds later, of course, but that’s a story for another day.)
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bbyannabeth · 2 years
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24 pipeyna (i was so excited when i saw you were writing for this ship bc there is NO FANFIC about them and i love them)
not accepting anymore prompts, just doing the ones i already have! <3
after her fourth date with jason, piper decided she needed to call it off. he was a great guy, but it wasn’t fair to him that she was putting about 4.2% of her energy into trying to like him. when he had asked her out, she’d only said yes because she needed to get over a certain someone. which was already a hopeless case.
piper stepped out of the elevator, walking down the halls to the door of her apartment, unlocking it and pushing it open. to her surprise, her roommate was not tucked away in her room, but she was pulling a beer from the fridge. and clearly not her first one.
“hiiii,” reyna sang. she wasn’t a lightweight by any means, so piper wondered how many drinks she’d had already. “how was your date?”
“it was good,” piper said. which wasn’t a lie, the date was objectively fun. she and jason had played mini golf and she had won by a landslide.
“oh my god, you’re in love with him!” reyna laughed. “he’s the man of your dreams, isnt he?”
piper chuckled. “actually, this is probably gonna be our last date,” she said. her roommate’s smile dropped and she blinked.
“oh,” reyna said, suddenly much more sober. “what happened?”
“nothing,” piper said. “i just don’t feel anything for him. not fair to him if my heart isn’t in it.”
“so where is your heart, then?” reyna asked, and piper met her eyes. in the two years they’d been friends, there had always been an inexplicable trust between them. they didn’t keep any secrets. mostly.
“somewhere else,” piper said, feigning nonchalance. her heart fully belonged to the woman in front of her. no matter how hard she’d tried to deny or ignore those feelings, it became impossible at some point and piper had just decided to love with it. she tucked her heart away in a little box that she kept hidden and closed off, afraid that if she opened it up, she’d lose her best friend.
“with someone else?” reyna asked, all too perceptively. piper almost hated how much her best friend knew her. all she could do was nod.
“im too sober for this,” she said instantly, walking towards the fridge and opening another beer, downing half of it. unlike reyna, piper was a lightweight. hopefully that meant she’d be able to feel this drink soon.
“who?”
piper looked at reyna, who had gotten closer while she’d been chugging her drink. she really was way too sober for this. although, maybe that was a good thing because drunk piper loved to talk. it was a miracle she hadn’t already spilled her heart out to reyna.
“no one,” she lied. reyna studied her, stepping closer. piper took another long drink.
“since when do we keep secrets?” reyna pouted. that alcohol, however much she had, must’ve gone to her head because piper had never seen reyna pout. ever. it simply wasn’t something reyna did.
“you don’t know them,” piper lied again. reyna stepped closer until they were a foot apart. piper was already shorter, only by a few inches, but now she felt tiny as reyna analyzed her. tipsy or not, her eyes were sharp and intense, and piper had always felt like reyna would be able to read her mind if she tried hard enough.
“liar,” she decided. “who is it?”
“rey,” piper said. it only occurred to her a moment later, when reyna stepped closer again and placed her palm on piper’s cheek, that she knew. reyna knew, and piper could tell by the look in her eye.
a million times, piper had imagined what reyna would do or say if she found out. obviously, there were the likely chances she would be disgusted or uncomfortable. and more than once, just for her own happiness, piper had imagined that reyna would return the feelings and they’d fall into each other’s arms like they were meant to. not once, though, did piper consider that was what would actually happen.
but sure enough, reyna’s eyes were full of hope and wonder and love, and piper was pretty sure she was hallucinating.
“pipes?” reyna murmured. “you still wanna keep that secret?”
gripping the beer bottle in her hand like her life depended on it, piper took a leap of faith and pushed up on her toes. she pressed her lips to reyna’s, who immediately responded with equal enthusiasm.
and of course piper had imagined kissing reyna. but the real thing was so much better. she was sturdy and strong, but soft at the same time. their bodies melded together perfectly and piper wondered if they were made for this; she wondered if she were put on this earth for sole purpose of finding and kissing reyna. it sure felt like it.
“you,” piper gasped quietly when they finally pulled apart. “i love you.”
reyna smiled, a beautiful show of pearly white teeth. “i love you too,” she whispered. when reyna leaned down again to kiss her, piper couldn’t help but now be a little grateful that she was still sober enough to remember this moment.
-
omg so. this is longer than i meant bc i originally added in another prompt from someone else BUT then i realized that was for pipabeth. so now there’s just a long pipeyna, which hopefully no one in complaining about. but like i’m so dumb how did i not realize the other ask was for pipabeth🧍🏼anyways hope u enjoyed
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remakethestars · 3 years
Text
CABIN 10 — APHRODITE
Headcanons.
❝I want to apologize to all the women I have called pretty before I’ve called them intelligent or brave. I am sorry I made it sound as though something as simple as what you’re born with is the most you have to be proud of when your spirit has crushed mountains. From now on, I will say things like, ‘You are resilient,’ or, ‘You are extraordinary.’ Not because I don’t think you’re pretty. But because you are so much more than that.❞ 
— Rupi Kaur
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Headcanon masterlist.
They’re the camp hairdressers. You need a trim? You want it cut? You want it died? You want to shave it all off? Hit ‘em up.
The type of people that will straight-up chop their hair if it doesn't match their outfit. Somehow, it always works out? I'm looking at Micarah Tewers.
They also run a secret ear piercing — or anything else you need to pierce — parlor.
Okay, but consider: children of Aphrodite that grow up to be models.
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They can charm speak the photographers into letting them pick their own poses & not make them do seductive ones if they’re not comfortable with them.
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Some create clothing lines that represent sustainable fashion & have big names but small carbon footprints.
Some are spies.
Think about it! They know how to switch subtle bits of their personality to fit in with everyone they come across, when & when not to use their charm.
The hide outfits under other outfits & can slip one off in public to reveal the other & lose a tail.
And they'd probably be great at disguise makeup. Add a prosthetic chin, contour their nose differently, pull off their wig, & they're a completely different person.
Plus, their combat training at C.H.B. makes them the perfect agent.
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The floor next to their bunk is scattered with fabric cuttings, pins, needles, their sewing machine, serger, & measuring tape.
The number of times someone's gotten a needle or pin in their foot's a tad concerning.
Will absolutely not wear a top with an overstitched collar. Fast fashion is so tacky! Understitch is the way to go, the staple of a quality garment.
Vintage is better. Not because it's in style (that's a plus, though), but because the seams are big enough for you to let out, & it's made to last.
Experts at thrifting. Not just 'cause it's trendy or whatever, but because they're excellent at upcycling & far too many perfectly good clothes go into the land fill each year.
Make stunning dresses out of Good Will table cloths & curtains.
Or stitch two items together into one better whole.
They iron their clothes; they're not animals.
Really good at getting stains out?
Totally in on the corset bustier top trend, but they're using spiral steel boning in place of zip-ties. Because, again, they want things to last & they're not tacky.
Pass each other tips. Like to tuck your top into your tights to avoid the bulge under your skirt.
Some found big-name, organic makeup companies that don't test on animals. They use packaging that can be recycled or that's biodegradable.
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Borrow their clothes, sure, whatever, but double-dip in their makeup & die. The bacteria will give them acne. (Or is it the oils? Either way, you'll perish.)
Happy to drop their skincare routine, though.
You need to cover up that tattoo you got from C7? They got you.
Flawless makeup on a budget. Expensive doesn't always mean better.
They're taking you to the pool for a first date? Take a seat, C10 knows just the stuff. They use what Disney Princesses use.
Can guess the right shade of foundation/lipstick for you on the first couple tries.
A lot of them invest in magnetic lashes because glue's a b¡tch.
Reusable makeup wipes.
Rick says C10 kids just sit around the lake & check their reflection, but consider: working out gets them their dream bod. So, yes, they do, in fact, train.
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They just do it with intricate braids/hair gel & stylish sportwear.
And if a potential partner finds it unattractive that they’re “too muscly,” they’re no longer a potential partner.
Weapons disguised as jewelry or chapstick/lipstick.
Thalia had a mace canister that turned into a spear, & I gotta say, I.D.K. how she planned to get that through security. Imagine, alternatively, a tube that appears to be full of bright red lipstick when the T.S.A. agent opens it, but actually turns into a spear when opened by a half-blood.
(I have a headcanon that Riptide would just be a pen in the hands of a mortal. Bounced around for years as random objects until Poseidon nabbed it & took it to Chiron — recall that pen you lost?)
A pink, velvet choker that turns into a kopis with a dove embossed in the handle.
Many choose to train in heels. Might as well wear in training what they’ll be wearing when attacked in the street.
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They’ve got no time for internalized misogyny. 
“C10′s weak ‘cause they like being pretty!” Good way to lose a kneecap, Annabeth. You’ve grown up in this camp, you knew Selina, & you should know better.
They confront Piper’s misogyny pretty early on after The Lost Hero, but Piper still takes some time to get over her bias toward pink.
Are we not gonna talk about Rick’s fashion choices for Piper throughout the series? “She looks so fashionable.” To whom, Rick? To whom?
You couldn’t’ve done a little internet surfing just to see what was in style? I never leave the house in anything but jeans, Converse, & a graphic t-shirt from Walmart, & even I know she’s dressed like a middle-schooler! Probably because that’s how I dressed in middle-school… That’s not the point.
The point is just because a character likes makeup or fashion or the color pink, doesn’t mean they can’t/won’t fight for their lives & the lives of their friends if/when the time comes. And it doesn’t mean that they’re stupid or judgmental.
I don’t know a lot about makeup. Hades, I don’t even wear makeup — you can’t rub your eyes or scratch your face; it would drive me crazy. I don’t know a lot about fashion either. I don’t understand it, but I can respect it.
❝‘Jesus,’ Sara says as Branley walks past us. ‘Too cold to show off cleavage, so instead she goes for jeans so tight I can see her thong.’ ‘She looks nice,’ I say, and she does. Branley always looks put together in a way that tells me she spends hours in front of a mirror before going outside. And while I don’t understand that, I can respect it.❞
— Alex Craft, Mindy McGinnis’s The Female of the Species
According to The Lost Hero, all children of Aphrodite intuitively speak French. Cool, cool, cool — but consider, all of them also intuitively speak the language of flowers. 
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They see a red rose, and they just know it symbolizes love & passion. They see an orange lily, to contrast, & they know it symbolizes hatred. 
There’s a copy of The Language of Flowers in their cabin, and it’s full of annotations, like, So-and-so gave these to so-and-so for Valentines Day! And, So-and-so gave these to so-and-so after their kiss on the Fourth of July; they obviously didn’t do their research! 
They work together with C4 (Demeter) to provide flowers for funerals & the like.
C10 bookshelves also contain a lot of romance novels. 
Beaten up copies of Pride & Prejudice & The Fault in Our Stars with faded highlighter over the beautiful lines & annotations in the margins.
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The outside walls are a dusty pink, & the wood’s stained a dark brown that goes surprisingly well with the pink.
Inside, the walls are covered in faded wallpaper.
The southwest wall has a bay window with extra storage in the seat. (There’s not a body in there; they swear.)
(That’s an Arsenic & Old Lace reference, for you youngsters.)
The curtains have one chiffon layer closer to the window & a thicker floral fabric for inside. The thick curtains are replaced based on the season & whether or not someone’s decided to make a romper out of them.
They have a real bell jar with a real rose in front of the window. Legend has it it’s from Aphrodite herself.
Said window is a stained glass image of a dove.
The chaise lounge was probably beautiful when it was brought it, but it’s got fingernail polish & makeup stains on it now. Honestly, someone should really have that thing cleaned.
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As you might have noticed, I placed a gif of swans at the top instead of a fancast for Aphrodite. This is because I think, as I believe most Percy Jackson fans do, multiple people should play her. I'd cast Arden Cho, Camila Mendes, Candice Patton, Diane Kruger, & Gal Gadot to start with.
Visit my Aphrodite cabin Pinterest board or my headcanon masterlist.
DISCLAIMER ━━━ I know I got a tad political with this one, but I didn’t & don’t intend to offend anyone. ━━━ These headcanons are what I consider to be canon in my fanfictions. They may be others’s headcanons I’ve subconsciously filed away in my noggin. If one’s yours and you want it removed or credited, please send me your post and let me know.
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rosaetae · 3 years
Text
spellbound to be | one
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☇ “I don’t need to drink your blood to have my lips on your neck.”
[this is a part of tale of the purebloods] — prologue / one / two 
➣  pairing: jungkook x reader
➣  genre: vampire!jungkook, fanatasy!au, soulmate!au, angst
➣ word count: 12.3k
➣  rating: pg-13
➣  synopsis: jeon jungkook is the cursed pureblood to have fallen in deep love with someone who was not his Complement. having to have fallen hard, he has to compensate with a life full of heartbreak and pain— one of which a burden weighs heavily on his shoulders. so much so, he hires a witch one day to reverse his inevitable Complement tie.
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Bloodshed.
That is what derives from Witch Trial Week at Ember Academy— overly exaggerating, of course. A witch-made week established decades ago, the equivalence to Hell Week in the mundane world, but something your friend, Piper likes to call "Heaven Week" for her own musings.
Ember Academy's witches spend the week hexing, jinxing, cursing each other in the light of every October 31st, Halloween. There's no real motive behind it. Before, whoever was the last witch standing would be given special treatment, but in modern day, it was used as a tactic for the professors to oversee who would be a powerful witch, for some it was a mechanism to either get revenge or to let out one's anger. For you, it was always fun.
To your misfortune, you were at the short end of the stick, being clever and witty enough to be made part of Witch Trial Week, one of the notable witches that some would target, but unlike the rest of Ember Academy, you didn't grow up with the others. They all knew each other the day you stepped into the academy, looking and talking about you as if you were anything but one of them.
And it was true, you weren't fully one of them.
Growing up, you lived in the mundane world, surrounded by people who upheld no special abilities as those in the Upper World. Surely, you were no stranger to the realm of where your mother comes from, you coming home every day from primary school to your father, a human, and your mother, a full-fledged witch who gave up her immortality and her life in the Upper World for the sake of her Complement. You'd spend the day learning simple arithmetic, and after school, you'd come home to your mother teaching you simple, harmless charms.
It was a normal life growing up for you, your upbringing never straying too far from your roots. On some nights, your father put you to bed by telling you bedtime stories, on other nights, your mother would sing a lullaby of broken latin. You were convinced for awhile that it was your mother's soothing voice, but at a certain age when she stopped singing you to sleep, she exposed that it was a siren's song she learned from a friend in her hometown.
As a child, you'd constantly ask about the Upper World, having constant dreams about another worldly realm and a recurring figure holding their hand out for you. And the minute your finger grazes theirs, you awake. Not on your bed made of sea water and a ceiling made of glass, but in your normal New York apartment that had some crooked crevices on the ceiling, on your springy mattress with beige linen sheets. Although, despite your continuous desire to visit your mother's home world, your mother and father were very against world hopping.
However, due to your father's passing when you turned 14, there was no reason as to why your mother should keep you in the mundane world any longer if you didn't want to stay, and brought you to the Upper World of where your dreams of it had come to reality.
Entering Ember Academy, you could not fathom why your mother was so strict of you convincing yourself and everyone else around you that you are a full-fledged witch. And then you learn during one of the history classes that a hybrid witch that shares two worlds forbidden from each other was subjected to execution if entered the soil of the Upper World. You never understood why such a thing as your existence had such dire consequences, but that just made you more aware of your lies to everyone in the Upper World.
Your mother raised you believing that love shouldn't be forbidden, no matter the circumstances, even if that meant two different worlds. The mundane world was like that too. Star-crossed lovers consisting of Romeo and Juliet, Jack and Rose, Joel and Clementine, your own parents— they're all the epitome of what your mother likes to gush on and on about. And in hindsight, you are the product of it.
Due to your inability to grow up with the other witches, you had almost the entire academy against you for the past few years, especially on Witch Trial Week, only for this year to completely change that.
In the mundane world, sports like kickboxing was one of your favorites, and while there was no such thing as kickboxing in the Upper World, your main characteristic was that you like to play rough. A tug a war, a game of chess— this year, you were not holding back.
"Don't be so quick to be disappointed, Piper."
Piper, one of your only purely good friends at Ember Academy, watches you grind up dried lavender buds in a hard stone mortar and pestle, making a few grinds before running an index finger along an old page of your mother's book you took without her permission. She plops down onto her seat in front of you, her dark purple hair bouncing on her shoulders as she taps on her star glitters on her face. "It's Witch Trial Week, ___. That means I have to witch-proof all of my belongings because Rina and her damn fritter friends are going to pull a last year's move."
"Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad," you state, pouring the crushed up lavender into a glass bottle that had frog mucus and torn rose petals sitting inside about one fourth of the way. Piper doesn't question what you were up to, only continuing to voice out her frustrations.
"They cursed my assignments! You know how many extra credit assignments I had to do? 200 points gone because of this bloody witch-made week!"
Smirking, you peer up at her before standing up from your seat to grab a large jar of purple dragon drool on a shelf right behind you, before sitting back down, "calm down, I have plotted the perfect revenge."
"What?" Piper raises an eyebrow, her facial expression looking concerned. "Is that dragon drool?"
Opening up the jar, Piper makes a sour face when the aroma of a putrid, green whiff draws out of the jar, you having to stifle in a cough at the stench that made no warning traveling up your sinuses. Bringing your index finger and thumb to pinch your nose, you grab the small wooden serving spoon attached to the side of it and put two heeping spoonfuls of the dragon drool into your concoction before swiftly shutting the jar and finally being able to breathe again.
Piper lets out an exhale she's been holding in, staring at you with wide eyes, waiting for an answer that you were sort of stalling as you rip up a piece of paper. "I borrowed my mother's infamous dark magic book."
She gulps at the sound of that. "Dark magic?"
"Calm down, it's not that bad," you roll your eyes at her fear of using an area of magic that you were technically not supposed to touch upon— but you couldn't help it. It's dark magic, it's bound to be used somehow. "Just going to tease around with Rina's emotions a bit. We all know she's been trying to hit on Namjoon despite her Complement is Doyeon. I'm making a simple love potion for Namjoon to fall in love with Rina— only for the week though. She'll be a bit heartbroken at the end, but hey, she stained my uniform with troll's blood last year."
Jung Rina, daughter of Ember Academy's high priestess, who also adapts an attitude problem. She likes to taunt other witches from afar because of the power she gains from being the high priestess's daughter, cursing and jinxing others and acting as if it wasn't her— she gets away with it anyways. Unsure why, even when you do mind your own business, it's as if Rina has something against you— you confirmed this when even after Witch Trial Week, she wouldn't stop jinxing you.
Last year, she took your uniform while you were showering after with a game of shuntbumps, only to wear a uniform stained with a bright yellow color leaving a horrendous, pungent smell of troll's blood. It was one of the most talked about trick for the year, everyone bringing up the fact that Ms. Jung Rina was able to get her hands on troll's blood and use you as a target. A laughing stock, the black sheep— you've endured it for long enough.
"You're using dark magic! On the high priestess's daughter! That's—"
"Risky? I could care less." You finish for her, shrugging. You write down the template for the love spell that was written in high level latin, writing it carefully letter by letter. As your quill inks the paper, you look at a sweating Piper momentarily. "Stop worrying! If anything, you're guilty by association."
Piper places her hands over eyes and sighs. "I did not see anything."
"No, you didn't," you muse along with her as you place your quill back into its holder and roll up the paper into a thin tube, tapping it into the bottle that finishes up the spell. You watch as the dragon's drool acidifies the paper, already acidifying the rose petals, ground lavender buds, and frog's mucus prior, all in all creating a lilac hue in the glass bottle. "See? It's done. Now I just need to pour this into his cup of juniper latte when we go to potions."
"Huh," Piper says aloud. "That's sneaky."
Clicking your tongue at her, you slam the dark magic book closed, quickly shoving it into your tote bag while you plug the glass bottle with a cork, gently placing it along with the magic book.
"May the games begin," you whisper audibly only for Piper to let out another sigh of disappointment, but also in anticipation.
Everything was going smoothly. Going to class was like a mission, having to make sure that you don't mindlessly enter a trap, but as you sit down in your seat, in the sight of Professor Young of where safe base was, you just had to get through this class without being suspicious. Despite all else, everything was smooth sailing. Even pouring the potion into Namjoon's juniper latte when he wasn't paying attention was easy. And you noticed that no one has caught you— yet.
In a whirl of lingering moments, the grace period, you were sat in your seat, reading your potions book when you hear an abrupt sound, you and almost everyone in the class looking up to see Namjoon, his told figure looming over the other students with eyes wide as day.
He makes one audible noise, "Rina," before dashing out of the potion room in a coarse and gawky manner, Professor Young calling after him while the rest of the class took it to their own accord to follow him, already presuming that something only Witch Trial Week can influence. Eventually, all classes grew curious of the commotion that people trickle into the crowd as they follow in a hearty distance from Namjoon's graceless gait.
You pull Piper to the side when you see Namjoon approach his and your target, standing from one of the many columns of the area to get a good look given by the angle you were given. Piper couldn't help but to let out an amused giggle when you both see the moment unfold in front of your eyes.
"Namjoon?" Rina speaks, her cheeks going red when she sees Namjoon on his knees, head down. You almost snort at how her eyes go wide when she finds her biggest crush right in front of her, thinking this was out of his own willingness— Namjoon actually being in love with Rina. "Namjoon, what are you doing?"
"I love you!"
The loud announcement rings and echoes in waves down the hallway, you and Piper already having a hard time stifling your laughter at the confession. Rina gulps before she lets out a scoff in disbelief, a smile creeping on her face as if this was a moment she was expecting. Her cockiness makes you want to gag.
"I love you with all my heart, Rina! I want to stay by your side forever!"
Whispers upon whispers dissipate into the air, one of concern, one of cheer for Rina, and one of straight amusement.
Rina raises her eyebrows, clearing her throat. "Namjoon."
"Please, keep me in your life," Namjoon states, almost like a whimper. In that moment, he peers up at Rina with huge bug eyes, as if he was really begging. The anticipation stabs at you like daggers as Rina continues to stare at him in both awe and confusion by the sudden confession. "Master."
The last word leaves his mouth almost like a mutter, and you were for sure, for a mere second, that you misheard him— everyone did, until you're finding Namjoon leap from his stance into Rina's arms, immediately peppering her with kisses on her cheeks, causing her to stumble backwards. The murmurs amongst the crowd grow, following with a few giggles as Rina is trying to push Namjoon away, trying to hold in her giggles.
"Namjoon," Rina says through fits of giggles as she brings her hands up to his chest, trying to keep some distance between them. "Namjoon, not—"
The words are taken out of her mouth when Namjoon, shamelessly and giddily swipes his entire tongue along her cheek, earning a large gasp from the crowd. It leaves not only you in shock, but as well as Rina who entirely freezes in realization of the contact that was just made. Your mouth hangs open, until you roll your lips inward, trying so very hard not to break into a fit of laughter.
"Wrong spell, you hobworm!" Piper whisper yells, slapping a hand on your arm as you let a snigger out, looking at your friend with amusement, wondering why she wasn't finding this just as funny as you did.
"Hobworm?" You gasp at her insult, your amusement unabashedly shining through.
Piper scowls at you, biting her tongue to prevent from encouraging you further into amusement. "You cast the wrong spell!"
As your smile grows, you shake your head. "No, I swear I didn't. I did everything correctly—"
"Then why on earth is Namjoon under a puppy love spell?"
Glancing your eyes at Rina, you hear whispers among the crowd who watch as she tries to push a puppy in love Namjoon away from her. He whines and whimpers each time she makes the distance greater between them.
"Who did this!" Rina exclaims, trying to push a licking Namjoon away from her. "Who in the heavens thought this was funny? I will be reporting this to my mother and every little squeamish fritter that allowed this to happen— no, Namjoon, bad dog!"
This allows you to snort, all your laughter you were containing bursting out as you couldn't hold it in anymore. However, doing so only allows Rina to make direct eye contact with you, her face twisting in volatile spite, knowing very well that you are the culprit. Widening your eyes, you began to run before your mind processed it.
"___!" Rina screeches from the tops of her lungs, everyone in front of you turning heads to find you, the witch who dared to pull a little stunt against the High Priestess's daughter.
Legs stride step by step, zooming through the halls with adrenaline pumping your veins as the wretched witch was probably right behind you, chasing you down when you hear the sounds of heels, knowing very well that's Rina's 3-inch heeled mules clacking in the distance. Professors peek their head out of their classroom in curiosity, some yelling at you to not run in the halls, however, your eye is set on the prize— the exit.
It was closed, and to save time, you swipe your hand in front of you, a spell recited in your head swinging the door wide open that it hits the walls and causes a loud slamming noise. It was the door that led out to the garden of the academy of where fresh herbs grew, and at this point of your escape plan, you were hoping to hide in the depths of the greenhouse until class ended.
You run down the steps, eyes looking down as your feet land on each step, careful not to miss one or you'd fall down to your doom. And just when you safely made it down the staircase, you are bumped into a wall of rigid flesh and muscle, your immediate reaction to apologize, except the words are taken out of your mouth when you look up and see the face on all pictures and drawings matching to the person who looked just as mesmerizing in person as he is on paper; the one and only—
"Your grace," Jungkook hears you sputter, shutting your eyes and lowering your head to hide your own embarrassment and disappointment in such a quick second. His men behind him step forward, but he raises a hand to halt them in their place. "My sincere apologies—"
"Do you have no mind?" Jungkook hears the secretary who was leading him on a tour around Ember Academy snap, her booming and high-pitched screech at the sheer shame that has been exchanged by this incident.
"I am so incredibly sorry, your grace. I am at fault—"
The king himself is not at all bothered by a simple bump by a young witch, considering that it seemed you were on the run from something. He glances down at you in subtle curiosity, your head bowed before him with your hair braided, as you stand still despite the constant nagging of the secretary scolding you for being so unaware. And something catches his eye.
His eyes focus in on the crystal of pale, fair, ivory that hangs on your neck. It twinkles in his sight with the sunlight just bouncing off of it into his cornea, right before he settles in recognition of where he recalls it. There's a swift movement moments later of where you raise your head just slight, only to lock eyes with him.
How you've grown, he thinks to himself. He remembers how your eyes were that of similar of a doe, and how you stared at him with the same wide eyes when you were little. It scares him how much time has passed and how you stand before him, more matured than before— he wasn't expecting to see you this soon.
The locked gaze lasted briefly before your eyes widen and you bring your head back down.
He manages to let out a sigh, "I suggest you pay attention where you are going in the future."
Jungkook can tell that you were surprised by his response, despite you committing the worst crime by even daring to be this close to the king. Even the secretary was a distance away from him.
"Yes, your grace."
"You may look up," he speaks. The permission makes you hesitate, but swallowing the lump in your throat, you inhale deeply and rise, and when you steadily meet his eyes, immediately, it's as if you could see his past. The pain and sorrow he has been through. It all encompasses into the hallows of his eyes.
"What is your name?" You blink at the question blankly as he awaits your answer, arching an eyebrow when you stay mute. "Well?"
"___," you answer. "My name is ___, your grace."
There's this glint in Jungkook's eye that even he is aware that you notice. It occurs to him that he has not once asked your name before, but somehow he finds it this moment valuable to gain that piece of you. Meanwhile, you hope he does not find any significance to your name, that this incident isn't one to be held against one day.
It's then, he smirks, giving a single nod, etching your name into his brain for he knows he will not forget it. 
"Your name will be in my memory, ___," he speaks ominously. Your heart drops in return. "You are dismissed."
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six years later.
"Welcome."
The books weighed heavy in your arms, but you ignored the fact that it was nearly slipping out of your grasp as you gripped on the jar of dried magnolia leaves in the other hand, making your way to the small work table just right out into the shop of where you greet the presence inside the shop. Taking one last step to your marked destination, you let out a sigh of relief, your shoulders relaxing as you plop all of the buttery books onto the work table, still keeping the jar of magnolia leaves in your grasp.
"Is Circe here?"
At first, the voice processes in your mind, realizing that you were so engrossed on completing a minor trip without making a fool of yourself and dropping all your books at once that you forget for a mere moment that someone was in the shop. And what makes your whole body freeze like the ice age of modern day was the name you haven't heard in so long— only when your father would let it tumble out of his mouth and him being the last one to ever speak of the name.
The aura shifted within the shop. Not daring to turn around and meet eye to eye with the person who knows your mother's real identity, you keep your back turned away, placing the jar gently onto the table right next to your books, a pinky setting down first before gently setting down the bottom of the jar to relieve the loud sound it would have made.
"Who's asking?"
There's a moment of hesitation, one that you can only take in as sly and mischievous. Silently, you maintain a mantra in your head, one that recites a spell to freeze one's muscles entirely, the silence teeter totter between having to put the spell to use or not. The sound of a step is heard— one that sounds too close for your liking that in a whirlwind, you swiftly twirl around and let the mantra come to life in an instant, "carpe musculus."
And with wide eyes, you realize your mistake immediately when eyes lock with the ones that belong to the sheer ruler of the property you stand on— the king. It wasn't hard to forget them, since the last time you two had a rather unpleasant encounter. His eyebrow quirks up at your spell you casted upon him, his body completely frozen over as he was in the midst of grabbing one of the crystal necklaces hung on display at the register, an arm outstretched, but posture and dignified stature remained.
"An old acquaintance."
"Verto," you mutter, blinking with the same wide eyes as you see him gain control over his muscles again, his hand retracting and meeting his other hand from the behind, his throat clearing at the situation that he assumed— correctly— that you were fearful of. Bringing your head down instinctively, you open your mouth with eyes shut. "Your grace, I apologize—"
"Apology accepted," he cuts you off, making you peer up at his form from the curtains of your draping hair. Slowly, you rise your head, keeping your chin up to match his formal, dignified persona. "I am merely here to see your mother."
Scoffing lightly, you let your lips curl upward, turning around to grab at the jar of dried magnolia leaves from the table. "You must be an old acquaintance to call my mother by her real name," you take note aloud, wandering and maneuvering around the vast shop to the corner near the front of where the jars of special ingredients sit in the cupboards.
"Is Circe not what she goes by?"
You shake your head, opening the jar with one of the keys wrapped around your neck, twisting and turning before the cupboard unraveled a collection started by your mother. "Cora," you correct him. "She went by Cora."
"Very well then. Is Cora present?"
You blink at the question, mindlessly nudging the other jars to make room for your new ingredient you've obtained from the village due to a friendly seller who saved the leaves just for you.
"You just missed her," you announce, placing the jar snugly just between the phoenix feathers and pickled frog tongues. "By three years. She passed away."
"She passed?" The king speaks his question in subtle shock, evidently oblivious to your mother's passing, one that makes you question what connection he had to your mother as you turn around to meet his wide eyes. Politely, he realizes the atmosphere that was created and clears his throat. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"I'm sorry for yours," you try to keep the the spirits high, a teasing smile on your lips. "It seems like whatever reason you came here for was pretty important if the king is in need of my mother's services. And in replacement of my mother's absence, how may I assist you?"
In comparison to the young witch that was so invigorated with competition that you grew blind to your own surroundings, you were not like her to easily cower in front of intimidating figures— including the king— anymore. If she saw you now, she'd probably wonder why you are so nonchalant speaking to the king as you are in the moment, but there is one thing you noticed that allowed you to act the way that you are now.
He came into the shop looking for your mother, seeking for her services. Though he has the power to put you into exile or to chop your head off or to even rip your heart out of your chest, it means nothing when he is obviously wanting a favor.
Jungkook's eyes narrow slightly before he scoffs lightly. "Not quite sure if you can help me."
"I'm not that sure either," you muse. "But I am the next option to my mother's assistance. Or if you have no interest of my assistance, then I believe this shop is not meant for you, your grace."
It wasn't hard to notice that he was having an internal battle the minute you turned the other cheek to resume what you were doing. Shutting the cabinet and locking it, you wander to the back of the room of where the work table was, taking the top book of the stack and dusting it with one of your mini feather dusters.
"What do you know about Complements?"
Freezing your wrist, you take a second to process the question set in the air, your eyebrows furrowing. Setting the duster and the ancient novel down, you twirl around once more to meet the eyes of the distant king, each second becoming more comfortable under his gaze that seemingly brought temptation and fear amongst others.
"Depends. I'm not very interested in the topic enough to know the ins and outs of it. However, I do know how to expose a Compliment tie—"
"What about erasing a Complement tie?"
An eyebrow shoots up on your face, his questions becoming more questionable from your mere curious uprising, but as you let his inquiry sit in your mind, you shrug. "Never been done."
His grace scoffs, allowing the pad of his thumb swipe under his nose before returning to hold his hand from his behind. "That's what your mother said."
"And I'm afraid, to this day, her word remains true," retorting to his attitude, you fold your arms over your chest. "However, I can unknot a Complement tie if needed."
"Your mother has already done that."
"Of course she has," you roll your eyes, realizing that the more you talk to the king of Frawen, the more you realize that you were talking to a wall. "How about this? I will do some digging about it in her archives. She has mentioned before that terminating a Compliment tie is hard. However, I do believe it's not impossible." He stares at you attentively before you placate his energy with a smile, a little light of hope intended. "I will come by your castle once I've retrieved a decent amount of information."
He stays silent, a steady gaze on your eyes that slowly made you more uncomfortable with each passing second, but thank the dark lords that someone enters your shop, the door making a very loud entrance that ruined the staring contest between you two, your eyes averting to the customer who entered the premises.
"Welcome," you announce, strolling from the work table up to the front to sit right behind the register, flickering your eyes towards the king when seeing that he hasn't moved from his spot. "Until then, King Jungkook, I have a customer to attend to."
The customer that saved the awkward tension takes a step into the shop, but with a single glance headed their way from the king, the customer drops their head and mutters an, "I'll wait outside" and flees back into the Upper World sun, the door shutting again. Lips parting, you gape at Jungkook who looks back at you, ignoring that his own presence had made one of your customers scurry off in intimidation.
"When will I hear from you again?"
Scoffing at him, you shake your head at his evident advantage and inhale deeply. "I'll start doing some research tonight, your grace. Expect me in front of your castle in two days. And if you could kindly so, can you tell my customer they may come in on your way out?"
He lets his gaze linger on yours for a second before silently nodding on his way out, his presence exchanged for the customer's. The customer glances at you awkwardly as you count write something on a piece of paper with your quill, as if confused that you were not trembling after just speaking with the king, but going back to your normal day as if the king had never arrived.
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"Why, King Jungkook came to visit. Quite sooner than I expected," the amused tone that drips from Circe's tongue when she notices the arrival of none other than the King of Frawen just two weeks after he had gone up and left her abode after the reveal of his dreaded Complement tie.
"Came to greet a happy birthday to her?" The witch doesn't meet his brooding gaze, but gathers bouquets of flowers in her hold.
"No," he flatly states. "I still have a favor to ask of you."
"Ah," Circe nods, balancing the bouquet carefully before tossing her aging hair over her shoulder. "The one about your Complement? You left so quick the last time we spoke."
Jungkook clenches his jaw, an attempt to not forget that his own fear and apprehension after making the forsaken revelation that he had met his Complement so soon; a child— a hybrid, a product against the Upper World law— is his Complement. Curse himself for being so easily affected.
And while the two have known each other for awhile, Circe wastes no time to remind him of inevitable fate, despite her own idea of the past he carries. It weighs on him heavily that even Circe cannot recognize the aura of whom she once knew of.
"Yes," he inhales sharply. "I need you to erase it."
Circe bellows a light chuckle, one that makes his eyebrows raise at the response. "Are you insinuating I kill my daughter?"
Jungkook knows that the witch likes to dig in places to prevent the other party from kicking around the bush. She hates fluff and she hates time being wasted. Only now, giving up her eternal life only makes her that much crabbier about it.
"Do you believe that I'd be daft enough to try to imply such a thing?" He shakes his head, a slight smirk growing on his face. "Murder doesn't sit very well on my shoulders, Circe. You must at least know that much of me."
"Do I? It's been too long."
Jungkook smiles at the grinning witch, "I am insinuating you sever our Complement tie."
The witch in decorative forest green and black, stares at the king who wears a sack-colored cloak that did not do justice hiding his black, feathered doublet that resembled such royalty and wealth. Even with the hood on, it is no mistaking that the man with raven hair and pale, glimmering skin, is the king. She laughs, her finger tapping against the paper wrapped around the bouquet of plum-hued calla lilies. "I'm afraid I can only live up to your favor in part."
"The most powerful witch I know cannot cut a Complement tie?"
She is no stranger to his challenges, but because she has no need to maintain the name of being the infamous witch who wields such immense power no longer (as she knows that name will be given to someone much worthy), she merely shrugs, a smile on her face. "Not even I know how to cut a Complement tie, dearest Jungkook."
"Your lack of knowledge of erasing something as mere as a Complement tie is disconcerting, Circe."
The witch hums in response, before whispering something of broken latin, and with a waver of a her fingers, a string of deep scarlet attaches against Jungkook's chest, one that floats in the air and trails in a ragged line right over Circe's shoulder and through the wooden door of her home as if he were tied to something— to someone.
The unveiling of the string causes Jungkook's breath to be caught in his throat, a pinch of nothing like before right against his chest of where the string is attached to.
"I see that, despite your best efforts, you could not stray away from her. And you want to know why?" Circe turns over her shoulder, before pointing at the single evident knot made along the string. "This knot was formed when she touched you and so long as it is there, you will live in constant yearning to see her and to be with her. Tell me, how many times have you had to prevent yourself from coming here until it became too unbearable?"
"Can you reverse it? Untie the knot?" His breath is tattered, uneven. It's as if the exposure of the string wrapped every inch of his heart and silently, the king of Frawen fears that his heart might be taken out of his chest.
"I can," she nods, an expression of indifference on her face. "But doing so does not change the fact that you are each other's Complements. It means that you will no longer feel the constant and desperate need to see her."
"Then I beg of you to do it—"
"However, the bond is strong, Jungkook," her gold eyes stare back at him before they soften, as Jungkook's mental mantras to fight off the peculiar pain deriving from the scarlet string has become a door to all of the pains he has experienced in the past. "I fear that the more you leave it in the dark, the more it will create more conflicts in the future."
"Having this complement now is already creating conflicts for me, Circe."
"Jungkook, if you two were to see each other again by the universe's happenings, must you know that the knot cannot be made again by simple touches. It has to be tied by the hand of a witch."
"If it's not any burden to you," he breathes in sharply. "I'd like you to unknot our Complement tie."
Circe makes a face of indifference before sighing. "Very well," she states just before she mumbles another string of latin and snaps, and lo and behold, the knot unravels by itself. The scarlet rope looked like it had no indentation of where the knot once was.
Jungkook lets out an aching sigh, as if he was under water for too long. Circe makes one more movement of her hand before the red string dissipates into the air, no longer exposed to the eye.
"There," she says. "Now leave, before she sees you again."
Circe doesn't give Jungkook a look of goodbye as she hurries inside her house. She feels the presence of Jungkook leave, exhaling in relief as she peers down at her daughter who gleams up at her, her hair in two buns on either side of her head. Her daughter lets out a squeal of "mommy!" before dropping a sage bundle in her hand to run up and hug Circe's leg.
"Happy birthday, my dear. Six years old already?" The witch pats her daughter's head as she giggles against her. "Go on into the kitchen. I'll be there in a moment."
And as she turns around to trot inside the kitchen, Circe takes notice of her neck that has been exposed due to her hairstyle that she wanted to wear this morning. The etching of her Complement mark that once inked her skin of a rose, had become a blank canvas.
As if the mark was never there to begin with.
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You haul across the other wing of the castle that stretches from the main entrance of where the gigantic black, grandiose door stares at you mockingly for not having the privilege to be invited by the king himself as well as enter the main entrance to unravel the glory of what stood for centuries.
Servants of the fairest skin and darkest of hairs escort you to the a room you are unsure of, but you don't question them when they open the doors for you of the building. This was as close you were ever getting to the castle.
"Your grace," you announce your arrival before you could realize that another man stands there from the side of your kingdom's king. Freezing in place with books tensing against your chest, your lips part. "King Jimin—!"
"Hello— oh, please. I don't like the bowing," his voice is light, a striking contrast from Jungkook's ominous tone. You lift your head that was on the way down of honorability, eyes staying wide at his unexpected presence. "Trust me, I'm not a big formalities type of person like my brother."
"What is it? Did you find anything?" The king ruins the moment by his barking, an impatience growing in his chest.
You open your mouth, and close it. "Yes, and no."
"Proceed."
Walking over to the table, Jimin smirks when he hears the loud plop that comes from your stacks of ancient books slapping on the table, dust sprinkles in the air by such impact as you wave it dismissively out of your face to spread out the books evenly.
"These are just merely collections my mother had of Complement ties laying out and about," you begin, grabbing hold of the green and gold accented leather bind novel of browning pages. "They all talk about the history of it, the perspectives of it, and some old spells that used to be done moderately back then, but have been taken out of a witch's curriculum in school. Oh, like this one goes on and on about the importance of it and why finding out who your Complement is before you meet them is deemed as bad luck. Like seeing the bride before the wedding, which actually originated from arranged marriages when— sorry, tangent. If I can just find the book..." As your voice trails, your eyes furrow in concentration to find the book amongst the pile you brought that would deem as very important.
Finally, you hold it up to and pat it, Jungkook raising an eyebrow and Jimin looking bemused at your inner workings being elicited through your rambles and tangents.
"This is where I stumbled upon something fruitful," you began. "It's a book that's anti-Complement. The author was actually a witch who thought his Complement was, and I quote, "vile and tremendously horrendous", so he composed this book that explains how to unknot the Complement tie."
"Nothing about cutting it?"
You smile as you open the book. "There's a whole chapter about it, but," as you flip open to it, the book in your hands bursts into bright blue flames illuminating your skin with a blue tint before it calms down, living proof that the book itself was cursed, either by the author or your mother's doing. "The book has been cursed and the most vital information you want means you're not the only one who is searching for a severance."
"Couldn't you just... cut it?" King Jimin chimes in and you shake your head.
"No, this witch said that cutting it would damage the blade and not the tie," you close the book to prevent the fire from getting anywhere. "The tie itself, when exposed, is simply a scarlet rope. Its material is very ethereal and even your finest sword cannot cut it in two."
"Brilliant," Jungkook says, defeatedly. He sucks in a deep breath before looking at you, eyes flickering up and down your form. "When will I hear from you again?"
Making a loud sound as you stack the books on top of each other, you look up at him and raise an eyebrow. "Again? You're expecting me to continue the search for an answer that I can't give you? This is all the information that I can gather from my mother's archive. I don't know what else you expect me to do."
"What the daughter of the most powerful witch of this kingdom can do, of course," he retorts, easily. It makes you scoff.
"I apologize, your grace, but I am not going through those extra lengths."
"For someone who adheres to formalities very often, you don't seem to be very intimidated by me. At least not enough to do what I say."
"Is your job as a king to be intimidating?"
It was that type of riposte that would have your head, an immediate escort to your death for even thinking that a cocky retort would come out of your mouth. If only if Jimin hadn't let out an amused snort, punishment would not have immediately be put off the table, but the irritation forming in the king's blood remains. He doesn't turn to his brother to hush him, but rather keeps a heavy stare at you, narrowed eyes into slits as a heavy warning— yet you stay grounded, raising an eyebrow at him.
"And you don't seem to know when to not speak your mind."
"With all due respect, King Jungkook, may I remind you I am here because you requested my services. I've given you what I can provide, free of charge. My mother has probably dealt with a customer who has wanted the same thing, and if the book was cursed, it's a heavy sign that it's not a wise path to follow."
King Jungkook inhales deeply, eyes staring at the hybrid who fears nothing under his gaze. He mentally curses to himself knowing very well that Circe was the most probable culprit of cursing her own books, for the sole reason of not wanting him to get his hands on vital information that would separate a Complement tie attached to her own daughter. Sighing, he makes a dismissive nod towards you, a finger tapping on his arm chair repeatedly. "Very well. Dismissed."
And without a word, you gather your things and leave, the same men escorting you away from the castle and the inconsiderate king.
Once your presence no longer lingered, Jungkook sinks down into his chair, letting his head fall against the fist of his arm that propped it up. Jimin clicks his tongue beside him.
"Now tell that was not who I thought that was," Jimin sings once the door had fully shut closed and it was just Jungkook and his brother of the neighboring kingdom.
"Your instincts are spot on, brother," Jungkook says with heavy sarcasm, shaking his head.
Jimin heartily laughs. "It doesn't take a Merlin to see that she's your Complement. It's quite obvious."
"Care to go more in depth?"
"Other than the fact that she's the only outsider you granted a visit at your castle, you're not so quick to throw her out either," he begins before tapping his finger on the table. "You also don't like looking her in the eye. You get tense when you do. Either you fear her or you fear getting close to her."
Jungkook raises an eyebrow in surprise at his brother's quick observation— it must be all the times he's observing human behavior in the mortal world.
"She's mentioned that her books derive from her mother's archives— is her mother...?"
"Her mother was the one that undid our Complement knot."
"Her mother was the infamous Circe, then?" Jimin marvels with his signature taunting smirk on his face. "Well, I'll be damned."
"You already are," Jungkook rolls his eyes.
"Your Complement is a hybrid— and not just a hybrid, Circe's daughter?" Jungkook didn't like that his own brother kept reminding him of who his Complement was, thus encouraging the fire of searching for a severance. "Despite the fact that she holds tremendous power, she seems very promising. You're not fond of her?"
"Jimin, you know—"
"Right, pardon me. You don't want her," Jimin inhales deeply, nodding.
"Jimin," Jungkook begins once again. "I can't have her as my Complement. I need her to find a spell to wither our tie."
"Is there another reason why you need to find such spell other than you're dreading that she's bound to you?"
"So that she could find real love and romance. She will not find it with me."
There was an unreadable look in Jimin's face that even his own brother could not decipher. It lingers for a moment before he makes the executive decision to stand up from the seat, knocking on the table with his pale knuckles. "I'm heading back to Merosa. May I make the suggestion that you take her to Sagewood?"
"Sagewood? Why in the heavens would I take her there?"
"If you want to cut the tie so badly, then I think it wouldn't be a very shabby place to start, no? After all, she only has access to such limited information— you're not being much help either. Besides, you both will most likely find something valuable there."
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It was pruning day.
The plants you planted outside your windowsill in its respected pots looked green as ever, with some minor flaws sticking out. You walk outside with shears in hand, identifying the buds you'd snip off with love. You enjoy taking care of your plants, the only common denominator between this world and the mundane world that gave you a sense of normality.
Humming an old folk tune from the mundane world, you admire your plants, recalling that some of these plants were the ones your mother would plant back in the mundane world. As you snip off one of your greenery, you hear the faint sounds of neighs from afar, halting in front of your shop and creating audible commotion behind your back. You overhear your neighbors rush out of their respected buildings, having you grow curious by the second.
Raising an eyebrow, you turn around to find nothing but the king hopping off his trusty steed of ebony glory with a luscious mane, planting his feet flat onto the ground with ease while two other men follow his lead, staying a hearty distance from him. He meets your eyes immediately, ignoring that everyone around him are caught in a trance by his sudden appearance in the town.
"King Jungkook," you marvel with a smirk, ignoring the fact that your neighbors were staring in mixed awe and fear. "What a lovely surprise."
He approaches you, stepping onto the gravel, expressionless. "I request your stay at my castle."
The words don't process fast enough in your mind, a blank expression being your response, but even then, you couldn't help but to laugh, but it came out more like a baffled scoff. "I beg your pardon?"
"To make use of the castle's library," he fills in, a smirk painting his face. "We, too, have an archive for all things your curious, knowledgable mind may want to see. Thousands of collections over the centuries, compilations from notable figures. I'm giving you access to that information in search of the severance."
You gape at him, lowering your shears. The king takes this action with positivity as his smirk only grows for a second before he's back to his emotionless expression.
"I will have my men come by to escort you to the castle tomorrow morning at nine-hundred. Pack your things," he says with no confirmation from you. His passive command makes you blink while you watch him turn his shoulder.
Amidst his turn to head back to his source of transportation and the other men who stand in front of your property, you stop him, "really? And when have I agreed?"
His body comes to a full stop just a hearty amount of distance from you. "And you wouldn't?" He calmly states aloud. In a moment, he's turning his body back to completely face you, cocking his head slight. "Tell me, you're not at all curious about how to cut a Complement tie?"
"Why would I? I have no intention of doing so."
"So you'd want to stay bound to one person your whole life? When you meet your Complement, you want to be so attached to the point that being even just miles away from them tears you apart? Every second you do not see them is as if your heart is being shredded apart in layers. Finding out who your Complement is only ruins you in a way that is a hell disguised as a heaven," he says as if it were straight spitfire. There was remorse and dread in his voice that even you cannot decipher completely— as if the pain that courses through his vein is truly authentic.
"In the mundane world, it's different, no? Humans fall in love with who they want, when they want. Did you ever compare that to the Upper World where it is frowned upon to not be with your Complement?"
"They differ, yes," you say through gritted teeth.
"Are you not so curious as to how to sever the tie? To at least be one of the first witches in centuries to hold great knowledge of a severance? That maybe you would one day change your intentions to cut your tie?"
You stay silent, placing your shears down as you stare at him attentively. Sure, you were curious, but your curiosity grew more prevalent seeing how the king was doing so much as to using a rhetoric tactic to ease your answer into a yes. And oddly enough, it was working.
"Besides... free stay, breakfast— in the castle? Surrounded by all things good and gold?"
Letting out a scoff, you narrow your eyes at him. "Is that your way of paying me for my services? A bed and breakfast at the castle? A week to pretend I'm royalty?" Challenge dripped from your tone evidently, but while the others around you and nearly the whole kingdom all feared the king's presence, you didn't share the same feeling. After all, this was the king asking for your services.
And suddenly, his expression changes, one of seriousness turned into dry amusement as he lets out a deep laugh bellowing from his stomach. "No, I'm offended that you may think I'm that cheap," he states as you raise an eyebrow, stabbing your shears, sharp point down into the window sill just right behind your plants. "I may have taken advantage of your services before, forgetting my place as a client to you. For that, I apologize sincerely. I am offering pounds of gold to you in exchange that you continue your search to cut a tie."
"Pounds of gold?"
"I notice that you live in your shop," he speaks of apparentness, making your cheeks go red as he turns his gaze to look at the shop behind you, a place you vaguely remember growing up in. "After your mother died, you decided to turn your home into a shop? Selling your services?" In that moment, you freeze only slight, caught off guard by how easily he put two and two together, you merely forgetting that he was an "acquaintance" with your mother— of course, he knew of this property before you probably were born.
"If the pounds of gold are not enough, I would be glad to make your stay at the castle permanent after you've found the severance."
You raise your eyebrows at his offer, never missing the way his lips quirked upwards for a ghostly second when he sees he's appealing you in the right direction.
"A permanent stay at your castle? As what? Your mistress? A maid?"
He chuckles and shakes his head. "Of course not. Your mother would find a way to resurrect herself to rid of my existence if she found out that I made you, her daughter, a mistress. Let alone a maid."
"You will be staying at my castle free of charge. And while I know this shop has been dear to your mother— dear to you, I am also willing to put a new location in the center of Sapphire Hill for your services on the table. Closer to the castle and in the heart of Frawen. That is, only if you have a mind to accept my proposal."
Inhaling sharply, you both stare at each other in silence as your mind juggles and he patiently awaits your answer, his body still as a stone, probably cold as one too. There was no other ulterior option to choose from— after all, why would you decline such a proposal? You were just as curious about the severance as he was, wondering why your mother never wanted to stray close to that path and why she has never mentioned about it before. And perhaps, you too could also cut your tie before you ever get to find your Complement if you ever came down to it.
However, despite his generous offers for a mere severance, there was a deep feeling in your stomach that didn't sit very well with you, one that was silently yearning you to not accept. It felt alarmingly unnatural. Just as unnatural as interacting with the king up close three times in a month.
"Alright," you sigh, defeatedly, grabbing your shears from the wood and returning to pruning day. "You've appealed to me."
"Wonderful," he acknowledges, a single celebratory nod coming your way before he turns around to head back on his steed. "I will have people to escort you tomorrow. Nine-hundred."  
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"Quite a castle," you announce, eyes boggling at the interior design of the castle you never thought you'd see in person. Hell, you didn't think you'd ever get to see it closer than it being on top of the hill until just previously.
The halls were a fair color accented with alluring gold, intricate designs resembling a brush stroke, as if the gold were painted free-handedly, yet a symmetry being maintained. Crimson rugs, drapes, furniture dabble the expense of the hallway itself, and ebony statues and sculptures stare back at you broodingly. Two broad statues of fairies introduce you on either side of the entrance, facing each other with conch shells held to their mouths.
Selene purrs in your arms, probably just as dazzled at the structure as you are. "I know, baby, I know," you mutter under your breath as your pace slows along the red carpet.
"___." The voice announcing your name echoes throughout the vast hallway, pulling you out of your thoughts and daydreams as you peer towards the grandiose staircase ahead, finding a familiar figure in red with accenting white tassels walk down the steps, slowly and gracefully.
Selene suddenly paws out of your grasp to be let go of, you lowering her down to the floor carefully as you know that she likes to roam around new and foreign areas by herself.
"Your grace," you acknowledge, pacing towards him to meet him in the middle, eyes watching Selene trot along the scarlet carpet just in front of you, only to realize that she made her independent way to the king. You arch an eyebrow when Jungkook stops his footing altogether, both of you noticing Selene taking a liking into him, purring against his leg and her tail curling around his calf, making elegant circles around him in adoration. "I see Selene likes you."
Jungkook coughs before removing his eyes from the feline to meet yours. "You have a cat."
"I do," you nod. "Is she not allowed in the castle?"
"I'll make the exception," Jungkook swallows as Selene rubs her cheek against his leg. You mentally thank Selene for kissing his arse, knowing that Jungkook might have gone soft for your feline friend immediately and discarded the direct thought of kicking her out.
"I was given her a couple years back."
"Were you?"
You hum in response. "Given to me as a gift for my birthday. I named her after selenite, one of my favorite crystals."
"As long as she doesn't get into anyone's way, your feline company is welcome. However, if she were to be causing mischief, do not be blowed if she is in your soup," the king warns as he turns around, a hand motioning you to trail behind him, but the whole situation nearly made you snort out loud. Was that humour in his voice?
Following him, you scoop Selene with a hand as you caught up to her, cutting her curiosity trip short as you did not want to have her disappear and find her as your dinner, despite King Jungkook's warning sounding slightly sarcastic. His foot steps climbing up the stairs echo, his boots emphasizing his steps as you follow a few steps behind him, your flats being light-sounded from underneath you.
The Upper World resembled a victorian age from the mundane world. As much as you missed your tennis shoes and trousers, the Upper World called for bell-shaped dresses, the air-sucking corsets, and uncomfortable shoes that hurt your back if standing for too long.
As King Jungkook walks down the spacious hall with such glorious designs, you notice that there were two beautiful women in gray high neck dresses, eggshell aprons wrapped around their waist standing on the side with head lowered. Despite their dull attire, their appearance is what caught your eye.
The one on the right had skin of the bluest topaz with complementing navy hair tied up into a sleek bun. If she had looked up earlier, you would admire her sunshine eyes that made her look so kind. The on the left had contrasting mauve skin and emerald hair flowing down her shoulders. She wore a headband to keep her hair out of her face.
Nymphs.
"Cricket, Calla," the king's voice ruined the solace of the hallway, the snap of both ethereal beings' heads making direct eye contact with King Jungkook, you catching the hazel eyes of the mauve skinned beauty for a split second before she keeps steady eye contact with the person she serves.
"They will be serving you throughout your stay," he states towards you, a nod cueing the two nymphs accordingly.
"Good morning, ___. I am Calla," the topaz nymph speaks first, bowing her head as you respectfully did the same.
"And I, Cricket," her partner speaks, bowing as well.
"It is lovely to meet you both, Calla and Cricket," you speak with a kind tone as they give the smallest of shy smiles.
"Aster and Fickle are unloading the carriages. They will be up to bring her belongings in any minute. You may start unpacking—"
"Oh no, that's not necessary," you intervene. The king sends you a glare for interrupting him, but daringly, you roll your eyes at him. "Cricket, Calla, just have Aster and Fickle leave my luggages on my bed. I didn't pack heavy, so it's alright. I'd prefer if I unpack myself."
"As you wish," Cricket and Calla say in unison before King Jungkook gives one last asserting, yet hesitating nod, turning his shoulder to continue walking down the hall.
"Come. I will show you the library," he orders, having you share one last look at the beautiful nymphs who both smile at you. In that moment, you give them a smile that you hoped would make them feel safe— as if you all have been friends before. As you tear your eyes away, you trot up to the king's pace, Selene being safe in your arms as you mentally curse the king for having long legs.
Walking for nearly a minute or two, you didn't realize he had stopped in front of large double doors, black wood engraved with the exact designs you recall in the main entrance, intriguing you with every bit. You blink for a nanosecond until you hear the door unlock and open, having to blink once more when you see that the king was only a few feet away from the immense opening, arms held behind his back as the door widened.
"Did you do that?" You question aloud. It sounded very mundane of you— as if you had not seen anything weirder in the Upper World.
"Yes," he speaks, raising an eyebrow at you as you wait for the doors to open fully. "I am a Pureblood, aren't I?"
His reminder made you realize that you did indeed forget that Purebloods hold some sort of power. It was only the three kings who held such powers, being why they were named the most powerful trio over centuries to live. Unsure why, you didn't take the King of Frawen to hold telekinesis, if anything.
The doors finally stop opening, two grand doors coming to a halt on either side of the opening and creating an entrance to a room that already has your mouth hung open.
"This is the library," he speaks, taking a step in first. "All of Frawen's greatest works over the centuries are all kept in here."
It was not the immense room that was its own castle itself, but it was the giant collections, endless spines of literature and word composition that was tempting you to swallow all of the knowledge up from them.
"These are the collections of Edgar Allen Poe," you observe, remembering that you had to read one of his famous works in your mundane junior high, the eerie components of his pieces standing out to you enough that you recall his name. "The Upper World holds mortal works?"
"Just the finer ones. Homer, Machiavelli, the Brontë sisters, Cordelia Maine—"
You widen your eyes. "No way. Cordelia Maine? You have her works, too?"
"Of course," he laughs at your never-ending bafflement. "She might be famous to you mortals, but her roots don't stray away from Frawen."
"Mortals," you repeat, catching his word that he knowingly categorizes you. It makes you blink up at him, more concerned why you weren't feeling as uneasy as you should that the king who stands in front of you and has brought you inside his castle knows you're the product against the Upper World law. "Dare I ask how you know this?"
The king smirks at you, probably bemused at how you weren't exactly trembling in your boots, but you probably have a spell prepared at the tip of your tongue. "Do you forget that I can smell your blood? You reek of mortals."
Arching an eyebrow at him, you narrow your eyes just slight. "Should I be worried?"
He smirks. "That I hold such knowledge? No, or else I would have no way to find a severance now, would I?" His rhetorical question is followed with a quirk of his eyebrow, a bemused smile illuminated from the indirect sun from the window. "Besides, your mother and I were acquaintances. I am well aware of your father and while I have never met him, I do know that your mother loved him, even if they were worlds apart."
Not saying another word, you smile. One that lingers on your face for a bit, one that is shared between you and the king, one that is as if you two have created some sort of connection by this secret he finds indifference to.
However, you do not let the smile linger for too long, for you cannot trust anyone so easily, no matter if your heart is oddly beating out of your chest and there is an odd stir in your stomach when his eyes remain on your form for a moment as if he is trying to study you and your every feature.
You disregard it though, as if a chip on your shoulder, or a hair in your face when he leads you back to your room from the grand library, claiming he has work to finish.
Later that afternoon, you were in the midst of unpacking your luggages when Calla and Cricket make an appearance into your room. They were there to escort you to lunch, but you told them to give you a few minutes to organize your things, encouraging them to wait in your room as you did so.
"Are you his betrothed?"
The sudden question makes you stumble, nearly dropping the books in your hand that you deemed most viable to bring to this trip. "Sorry?" You laugh, looking at them with a sheepish smile. A harmless question, but a stretch to inquire.
"Isn't that why he's having you stay here at the castle?" Cricket asks, keeping her hands intertwined in front of her as they both watch you organize your knick-knacks of books and crystals and Selene's toys.
"Oh to the heavens, no," you laugh, Cricket furrowing her eyebrows and cocking her head to the side, wondering why your peculiar stay at the castle isn't for that singular motive. "I'm here for an entirely different reason."
Calla blinks blankly, her long, blue lashes making it obvious. "Our king doesn't usually like to keep guests overnight— let alone indefinitely."
Placing your books onto the antique dresser, you raise an eyebrow at them. "Is that right?"
"We thought, perhaps, this was his attempt in courting you," Cricket says, rather timidly. "After all, you're very beautiful."
The compliment brings red to your cheeks. "You're just saying that—"
"But, 'tis true," Calla nods. "We're nymphs—"
"We can't lie—"
"We thought that he may have found love again—"
"We would be surprised if he didn't find you, at the very least, beautiful—"
"Our king doesn't open a room for just anyone, since he's very..."
"Closed off."
They jump off their sentences swiftly, as if a ball ricocheted against the walls in great speed and force. It intrigues you as you furrow your eyebrows, more interested in the last part they had to say. "Closed off? Why is that?"
Cricket and Calla look at each other before bringing their head down. "Have you not heard of his past?" You shake your head before Calla sighs and begins again. "Our king is the most kind, most fair— but it does not redirect the light away from his past—"
"Lost the people most close to him. Lost his mind along the way, and perhaps, most tragically, lost his soul. It began with Dawn and then his best friend who happened to be his general, and then his parents, and so on. They are frightened of him."
You furrow your eyebrows. "Who's they?"
"All of Frawen. Even those in the mundane world have heard of his story," Cricket answers.
"Frawen respects our king, if anything. However, that respect derives from fear. I'm afraid that the people in this castle are the only people who love him, who see the better in him."
"So I see it's been a lonely castle on this hill," you nod in understanding. "I won't bombard you both with anymore questions. You both are free to leave, I will meet you both in the dining room."
"Are you sure, my lady?"
"I'm sure. Please, I do not want to be a burden to you both."
The nymphs giggle. "We assure you that you are not. It's rather refreshing to tend to someone other than the king and his brothers."
"You both have been very kind. I will see you both there."
"And my lady," Cricket speaks. "We wish you a wonderful stay."
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"Jungkook," Circe acknowledges his presence in a blink of an eye the minute he makes a step onto the property that was under an invisibility spell for nearly a decade, only to have it reappear as if it didn't disappear in the first place. "Here to welcome me back?"
The king lowly laughs, not taking another step onto the property as Circe turns around from watering her deep red rose bushes planted right outside. "I was surprised to hear that you made a foolish decision to move to the mundane world."
Circe ticks her tongue, shaking her head at how his prejudice against the humans stain his tone. "I don't believe it was foolish, dear Jungkook."
"Is that what you tell the Counsel?"
Circe lets out an amused sound, maneuvering around her bushes. "The Counsel can believe what they want, but they hold nothing against me. By law, I am allowed to be here and to be there. I may be a witch, aging like a mere mortal, but I still uphold powers strong enough to burn them alive before they can even think of crossing me."
"I have no doubt," Jungkook smirks. "But by law, is your daughter allowed to be here?"
Circe pauses her watering, hose in hand halting with the water continuously drenching a part of the rose bush as she raises an eyebrow. "Why are you here, Jungkook?"
"I heard she attends Ember Academy now. Enrolled as a full-fledged witch. I've come bearing a gift for her."
"A gift?"
"Call it a welcome back gift," he speaks with an anticipating tone right before he walks over to his horse of where a woven basket was attached to the saddle. Circe remains where she stands, watching him carefully as he walks towards her before she senses something, one that makes her hair stand on her arms. As he nears, Circe peeks into the basket, only to have her jaw drop as she sees that it is a kitten.
A kitten of midnight beauty, sleeping soundly in its basket of blankets.
Circe, who could not help it at all, laughs. Soft laughter rumbles through her throat as she coos at the creature, reaching her hands out to take the basket in her hands. "And your arrival has nothing to do with the fact that today is her birthday?"
"Is that today?" Jungkook ponders aloud as Circe laughs, sneaking a smirk on his face before she strokes a finger on the kitten's head carefully and gently. She can tell that he remembers, and that the years leading up to now, he always have.
Sighing, Circe's smile fades as she looks up at Jungkook, tired eyes and all. "I must tell you, Jungkook."
He raises an eyebrow at her.
"I've grown ill," she begins, retracting her finger from the kitten to hold the basket with two hands. "I have been for awhile now and I can feel my end nearing. I trust to believe that you will protect her."
Jungkook blinks a couple times, the odd construct of having someone who has been around for longer than he has tell him explicitly that their end is inevitable and that it was nearing quite sooner than he expected was worth a double take and a few seconds to digest.
"You may not want to stay tied to her, but I trust you enough to uphold her secret. And to protect her when needed," the kitten purrs meekly in the basket, making Circe glance at it for a mere moment before meeting the concerned eyes of Jungkook with matching knitted eyebrows. "Believe that I am not entrusting you with her life, but that the feeling in your heart of wanting to protect her is inevitable. No matter if the knot remains untied."
He opens his mouth, but the words he could not formulate were taken away quickly by Circe's chuckle, waving him off.
"I know what you'll say," she raises an eyebrow, lips curling and eyes creating crescents. "But if anything happens in the future, must you know you have my blessing."
"Circe," he begins.
"She'll appreciate this kitten," Circe interrupts, smiling at how the kitten inhaled and exhaled, curling in its ball with comfort of the soft fleece blankets. "I'm sure you don't want her to know it came from you, perhaps?"
There is a knowing look that the two share, one of pure guise. "May it be our little secret."
"Among thousands," Circe nods, one in which Jungkook does the same. "Will this be the last time we meet?"
"I would hope not."
"Then I bid you farewell, either for now or forever," Circe smiles, a weak curl of her lips, an evident form that made Jungkook realize that she looked much older than before— the gray hairs, her smile lines and forehead wrinkles. It all reminded Jungkook that she is, in fact, a pure mortal, withering faster than most. It scares him, but it makes him curious as to her motive despite him knowing that she did it out of love.
As he leaves the ebony kitten in Circe's hands to give to her daughter's possession, he departs her property with the lingering thought that maybe— perhaps people really do scary things out of love.
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magnusmysteries · 3 years
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Part 3: The Wheel of Fear
The Magnus Archives was a horror podcast. It is now completed. Many of the show’s mysteries were never explained on the show. I intend to explain them. Spoilers for the show, but also spoilers if you wanna solve these mysteries yourself.
In the Architecture of Fear Smirke talks about a great wheel of fear. He talks of the fourteen powers, each with their opposites and their allies. I think Smirke believed the fourteen fears could be arranged in a circle, and that two fears on opposite sides of the circle are opposites. 
In Old Passages there is a circular room with fourteen corridors leading out of it and a datestone that says “Robert Smirke. 1835. Balance and Fear.” I think each corridor represents a fear, with opposing fears placed opposite each other. The building is supposed to balance and thereby neutralize the fears. I think it works to some extent. In End of the Tunnel there is a similar structure. This one was damaged by a bomb during World War 2. This ruined the balance, and the Dark got out.
In Family Business Gerard says some fears really clash with each other, while others can blend together.
I tried to work out how Smirke arranged his fears on the wheel. I looked for episodes where two fears seemed to blend together and put them next to each other. With some fears it is fairly obvious they are neighbors, if you look for the clues. Others connections are harder to spot. I tried a few versions of the wheel that didn’t feel completely right. But then I found a version where suddenly lots of things clicked. It explained why the web table could trap the Not-Then, why Robert Monthauk’s ritual banished the darkness monster and things like that. I think this is the correct wheel:  
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Description of image: A circle with 14 spots similar to a clock. On each spot is a number and the name of a power: 1. Corruption. 2. Desolation. 3. Hunt. 4. Slaughter. 5. End. 6. Lonely. 7. Stranger. 8. Flesh. 9. Spiral. 10. Buried. 11. Dark. 12. Vast. 13. Eye. 14. Web.
Here is how powers overlap:
Corruption and Desolation 
Desolation deals with suffering and loss of loved ones, and disease can cause both of those things.
Asag is a god of both fire and disease.
John Amherst is an avatar of both powers. There is fire in every episode he appears. In Taken Ill the old folks home he managed burns. It appears it was burned by Trevor and Julia, but this is misdirection. Amherst burned it himself. In Pest Control Amherst is burned, yet survives. In the Tale of A Field Hospital Jonathan notices the statement is charred. He speculates this happened when Gertrude burned the book. But I think the book spontaneously combusted. In A Cozy Cabin we learn that Gertrude is very much against burning books in the archives, and would have been more careful and not ruined the statement. And in Rotten Core Adelard says he will sit on Amherst’s throne and burn himself and it. I think that was a very bad idea, more on that in a later post.
In Squirm the protagonist, after being infected by worms, burns his own apartment down. He is influenced by Corruption/Desolation.
Desolation and Hunt 
You can run from a hunter and you can run from fire.
Vampires are Hunt, Desolation and Corruption. In Vampire Killer we learn that vampires burn very easily. Because of the Desolation.
Why do vampires have a long bloodsucking tongue? Because the Corruption deals with mosquitoes.
There is a hint about the vampire-mosquito connection in Dead Horse; “That night the mosquitos were out in force, thick with fever, and hungry for our blood. I did my best to simply ignore them, safe as I was in my net. But over in Raleigh’s tent I kept hearing a sporadic thumping, or clapping sound, as if he were killing them with his bare hands. When I asked him about it the next day, he simply told me he had inside him a strong and enduring hatred of bloodsuckers.”
And then later: “Now, he and his crew were pinning the things that looked like men to trees, with long, iron spikes. They thrashed, and struggled, and a long, bulbous tongue hung from their throats, pinned by the iron of von Toll’s men. “I cannot stand bloodsuckers,” Raleigh said approvingly, as he conversed quietly with Baron von Toll in French.”
Also in Vampire Killer, the vampire offers rotten fruit to Trevor. Her house is dusty, a book Trevor picks up is damp and moldy and the bed is musty. 
Hunt and Slaughter 
The similarities are obvious.
Several of the Slaughter episodes have music that makes people go violent: The Piper, Strange Music, Grifter’s Bone, Civilian Casualties, Nemesis.  Total War had singing corpses. Two hunter episodes also had music connection. First Hunt has the werewolf whistling “A-hunting-we-shall go”. Thrill of the Chase had the protagonist tapping her foot as if to music right before the violence started.
Thrill of The Chase is a Hunt/Slaughter episode. The Man in the mask is like a serial killer from a movie, very Slaughter. But it is a wolf mask, very Hunt.
Slaughter and End
People die in war.
Absent Without Leave covers both fears. Slaughter obviously, but it is also about the inevitableness of death.
Many Slaughter episodes deal with the living dead. And they usually seem to have a horrible existence: The guy getting stabbed in the Smell of Blood. All the soldiers fused together that shot Melanie. The dead people in Grifter’s Bone that had to fight each other. The dead woman in Absent without a leave. The corpses in the tunnel in the same episode. This makes people fear death since they don’t wanna end up like that.
The End also has the skin book which similarly makes people live after death, and it is agony. And Oliver Banks was alive after death.
In Total War, a Slaughter episode, the statement giver says he could believe he was dead and in hell. 
End And Lonely 
You’re all alone when you’re dead I guess.
In the episode Alone, the statement giver is almost drawn into an empty grave. Very End. 
There is also a ghost in that episode. So life after death, like with the End and the Slaughter.
The Lucas family only meet for funerals.
From Boatswain’s call, regard Peter Lukas: “His eyes only moved a fraction of an inch to focus on me, but it felt as though the movement had the weight of a heavy stone door. Like a tomb. Don’t know why that’s what popped into my head, but there you go.”
Lonely and Stranger 
If everyone is a stranger to you, you are lonely.
Lost in the Crowd and Monologue are Lonely/Stranger episodes.
Stranger and Flesh 
Stranger deals with objects that behave like people. Flesh deals with thinking people are just flesh, an object.
Anatomy Class is a Stranger/Flesh episode.
Flesh and Spiral 
Thinking you are just meat is a kind of madness.
In Killing Floor the protagonist is lost in a slaughterhouse maze, very Flesh and Spiral. He also walks a spiral staircase at some point.
I think Jared Hopworth is both Flesh and Spiral. Many reasons for him being Spiral: First: He prays on people with mental problems, body dysmorphia, anorexia etc.
Second: In The Butcher’s Window he twists a bone into a spiral and inserts it in himself.
Third: The book The Boneturner's Tale makes nearby books bleed. I think objects that bleed, that should not have blood, is a sign of the Spiral. The door handle in a Sturdy Lock bled. The tree in Burned Out bled. I think the tree is Spiral, much more on that in another post. Books, door handles and trees that bleed are all impossible, madness. Some might object that blood also fits with the Flesh, but the Flesh is actually fairly into cleanliness. I’ll explain why below.  
Fourth: when Michael Crew is tormented by the Spiral he tries to escape by using the Boneturner’s Tale. “...but when I tried to shift the bits of myself I thought might set me free, the only shapes I could form with them were laced with that horrid, hunting fractal.” You can’t escape from the Spiral by using a book of the Spiral.
Mary Keay seems to think the book that drops bones is of the Flesh “Just a bit of viscera. Poems about dying animals...” The book is part Flesh, hence the dying animals, but is also Spiral. If you see a book producing bones you’d think you’d gone mad right? 
Also in Old Passages, the bone book is stored in the room corresponding to the Spiral. The floor of that room’s corridor apparently bleeds. “I put my hand onto the floor to push myself up, and it came away faintly tinged with red.” There is a mummified hand in the Spiral room, hands are often an element with the Spiral. Think of the Distortion’s hands, or the Worker-in-Clay’s weird hands, or the hands coming out of the pot in Lost and Found. After entering the room, the statement giver gets very confused. He says his memories start to blur, and he ends up apparently taking the wrong door several times. That’s the Spiral messing with his mind and making him lost.
The demon In Confession and Desecrated Host might be of Spiral/Flesh. Or it might be the two Fears working together. More on that in a later post.
Spiral and Buried 
Strong claustrophobia can be irrational, a mental problem. The Spiral includes the fear of getting lost, and you can get lost in a cave.
The Distortion has a yellow door that is a portal to impossible places. The Coffin is yellow and is a portal to an impossible place.
Held in Customs is Buried/Spiral. Time behaved differently for the protagonist, typically Spiral. John says the protagonist got Alzheimer, but it is the Spiral messing with his memories.
Lost Johns’ Cave is Buried/Spiral/Dark. The protagonist's memories are all wrong, the Spiral has changed them. And the cave is a maze. Mazes are spiral. The statement giver is a big fan of darkness.
Buried and Dark 
Caves are dark and cramped. The ocean is dark and choking.
Lights Out is Buried/Dark. Quote: “I was in the Sandman’s sack. (...) The darkness pressed in, and seemed to fill my mouth, my nose.” Also the Sandman spills sand from his mouth, similar to how people chocked on sand in Dust to Dust and how the man spit out mud in We All Ignore The Pit.
Submerged is Buried/Dark. The protagonist is in danger of drowning but there are lots of references to darkness: The lights at the lawyer office don't work because the lightbulb is filled with water. There is thunder but no lightning, that is there are no lights in the sky. There are no street lights or lights on in the other houses. Water is described as dark and murky. The lights of the cars come on, to show dark shapes moving in the water. Quote about the water: "It would wrap itself around me, reach down my throat and fill me with its choking darkness." The water is murky. Dark water is also in several Dark episodes: a Father Love, Nightfall, Tucked In and the Movement of the Heavens. 
Dark and Vast 
The ocean is dark and vast. Space is dark and vast.
High Pressure is a Dark/Vast/Buried episode. The space the protagonist enters seems too dark. The vastness of the underwater space and the size of the creature is Vast. The enormous pressure is Buried.
In Big Picture we learned that Hailey, of the Dark, helped make the diving bell for the Vast ritual.
In Old Passages the first corridor the statement giver is in, is of the Buried. He keeps thinking the corridor is getting narrower. When he gets to the circular room he looks down the other doorways. One makes him feel like he’s gonna fall into it. One is exceptionally dark. It’s the corridors of the Vast and the Dark. They would be the corridors next to the Buried, the first doorways the statement giver would look into.
Vast and Eye 
From The Coming Storm, Mike Crew discussing the Vast and the Eye: “We have a lot in common, really. After all, what, what good’s the height, the terrifying draw of gravity, unless you, unless you really know the scale of what you’re facing?”
In The Architecture of Fear an enormous Eye fills the sky.
In Twice as Bright Jude says of Michael Crew “...he’s closer to your lot than mine.” Meaning the Vast is closer to the Eye than the Desolation.
Quote from Jurgen Leitner: “Imagine, you are an ant, and you have never before seen a human. Then one day, into your colony, a huge fingernail is thrust, scraping and digging. You flee to another entrance, only to be confronted by a staring eye gazing at you. You climb to the top, trying to find escape and, above you, can see the vast dark shadow of a boot falling upon you. Would that ant be able to construct these things into the form of a single human being? Or would it believe itself to be under attack by three different, equally terrible, but very distinct assailants?”
Jurgen is referencing four powers here, the eye is the Eye. The boot is the Vast and the Dark. The digging fingernail is the Buried. And these four powers are next to each other, so in a way they are the same.
When Jurgen said this he was compelled by John. John did not know that he was compelling Jurgen, but Jurgen did know. Jurgen seemed to not want to give too much information. He was perhaps worried John would learn that destroying the archives would kill John. That Leitner, indirectly, was planning to kill John. So Leitner talked in riddles. That way he could give into the compulsion without John getting wiser.
Eye and Web
Both powers can seem passive, waiting and watching. Spiders have eight eyes.
The Book A Guest for Mister Spider is part Eye. Mr. Spider has eight eyes of all shapes and sizes.
Archivists are Eye/Web. First, the way they compel people to speak is very Web. 
Second, the ancient archivist in Alexandria had long spindly fingers. Like spider legs. In Web Development Annabelle Cane is also described as having long spindly fingers. In Thought For The Day Annabelle moves her fingers along the wall, “...like a spider”.
Third, In Doomed Voyage, after John takes Floyd’s statement, Floyd seems confused. John tried to soothe him. Then John says “It’s alright, Floyd. You just need a break.” Floyd says “Yeah. Sure”. I think John was mind controlling Floyd. I think there is a little static when John speaks. Static on the tape often indicates that something magic is happening.  
In Heavy Goods John tells Breekon “Stop”. Breekon is upset. Then John extracts a statement from Breekon’s mind. I think John mind controlled Breekon to stand still. There’s definitely a lot of static.
In Infectious Doubts Gertrude tells Arthur that he can try to leave. It seems he tries but is unable to. I think Gertrude is mind controlling him to stay. 
Web and Corruption 
Insects and spiders are similar. Probably many people afraid of one of them are also afraid of the other.
In Hive Jane Prentiss talks about the song of the hive that affects her. She says webs has a song as well.
Each fear has an opposite:
The Corruption vs. The Flesh 
Because rot harms meat.
The Flesh tends to be very clean. The student in Anatomy Class cleaned up all the blood they spilled. The slaughterhouse maze in killing Floor was very clean. This is to combat the Corruption.
The Man Upstairs was about a Flesh avatar being attacked by the corruption.
I think Blood Bag was also about the Corruption versus the Flesh. More on than in a later post.
The Desolation vs. The Spiral
I’ll explain why they are opposed in a later post, when I get to Hill Top Road.
The Hunt vs. The Buried
The Hunt is a lot about running from a predator. Can’t run in a cramped space.
When Daisy was in the Buried she was freed from the Hunt. It could not reach her there, because it was an opposite force.
The Slaughter vs. The Dark
I’ll explain why they are opposites in the next post.
In The Piper the Slaughter kills Jonathan Rayner of the Dark.
In A Father’s Love the father performs a ritual that involves killing many people. The ritual destroys the darkness monster that is coming for his daughter. I think this worked because it was a ritual of the Slaughter, the opposite of the Dark. The father is chanting as he stabs the human heart. The Slaughter is often associated with music. 
The End vs. The Vast
From Dead Woman Walking, Georgie talking about the End: “The promise of a cold and lonely eternity in the grave would have been a mercy; at least it would be eternal. But everything ends, even the universe, even time. (...) ...the monumental realization of the scale we existed on. Not the meaningless vastness of the universe, but the… the smallness of it.” Sounds like the opposite of the Vast.
I think the Vast also deals with the fear of eternity. First: notice how Georgie said eternity would be a mercy. 
Second: notice how old Simon Fairchild was.
Third: In Submerged we learn that Gertrude threw Jan Kilbride’s body into the pit to disrupt the Buried ritual. John says “But Gertrude also realized that the body need not be alive. Or in one piece. She thought it was a mercy. It wasn’t.” I think this means she chopped up the body, but Jan was still alive. Jan was touched by the Vast. I think this had made him immortal, to make him fear eternity. 
Fourth: In Personal Space a door in password to the door is E109GHT8. Someone on the Magnus subreddit figured out what it means. It refers to the three fears that owned the space station, the Lonely, the Dark and the Vast. For the Lonely, the 10 should be read like lo, and the beginning of the nine as n, giving is elon, sounding like alone. For the Dark, the 9 sounds like ni, making 9GHT sound like night. For the Vast, the 8 sideways is an infinity symbol 
Fifth: in Freefall, when the guy is falling through infinite sky, his watch has stopped and he doesn’t know how long he has fallen. It feels like hours or days. But when he returns it has not been that long. The spiral messes with time to make people doubt their sanity. The Vast does it to make people fear eternity. 
Sixth, quote from A Matter of Perspective: “I don’t know how long I was floating for. I know it was less than a billion years, which is barely a heartbeat in the life of the universe, so how can it really be said to matter? The stars began to wink out, one by one, and I thought – perhaps for a second, perhaps for a hundred years…”
I believe the immortal gamblers from Cheating Death, Section 31 and Burial rites, were not of the End, like John thought, but of the Vast. They didn’t want to die at first, hence they gambled for life. That is the choice they made to embrace the Vast. But later they become afraid not of death, but the opposite, of not dying. The mummy in the pyramid tried to stab itself to death. The gambler in Section 31 tried to shoot himself. There is a symbol of infinity on the pyramid. 
In High Pressure, the statement begins and ends with the statement giver saying she should be dead. She didn’t die because she was touched by the Vast.
The Stranger vs The Web 
The Stranger makes dolls, puppets etc. into living things. The Web does the opposite, makes living people into puppets.
In Heavy Goods Breekon says of the Spider “It knows too much to truly be a stranger.” The Stranger has the Unknowing, a ritual based on not knowing things.  
The Web table trapped a creature of the Stranger. Quote from Jonathan after he smashed the table: “Smash the table, kill the monster, stupid! Lazy, sloppy assumption. Of course the table was binding it. The table is webs and spiders. Spiders are something else. They don’t help each other, they oppose, they… they weaken.”
In Nightfall Officer Musterman tells John he doesn’t know who is listening to the tapes, but that he doesn’t like it. The tapes are Web and Mustermann is Stranger.
In Angler Fish, the Stranger targets smokers. Smokers, like other addicts, are weak to the Web. So the Stranger isn’t just getting victims, it is fighting the Web.
The Eye vs. The Lonely 
Because if you’re watched you’re not alone.
In Personal Space, there is a camera apparently recording the lonely astronaut. But then he finds out the wires of the camera were severed from the start. So it is scary for the astronaut that no-one was watching him, the opposite of the Eye.
But if every fear has an opposite, what about the Extinction? Find out next post.
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