#if nobody reads this i know my girl cap will read this because she's just as gay for donna as i am

[atropalugosi]

Played through the Donna good end route on @resident-lover and had to do something with our favourite dollmaker's little flirt about drawing her during work.

So have a little post good end moment between her and my MC with as much awkwardness and gay panicking as should be expected.

"Can I draw you?" Valeria asks quickly and loudly, grasping the arm of Donna's chair with white knuckles. The botanist quirks an eyebrow at the younger woman, amused.

"You already know I don't mind, tesorina," she laughs teasingly, a sparkle in her eyes. It had been months since the two officially started dating, and things were going great, but still when Donna looked at her like that she couldn't help but feel like her next request would be stupid. Taking a deep breath, she readies herself and just rips the metaphorical bandaid off.

"Can I draw you like an Italian girl?" Valeria asks again, voice pitching embarrassingly. She watches anxiously as Donna's face blooms red and her jaw drops slightly, her eyes widening like a deer in headlights. Fuck! She shouldn't have asked that! It had just been a silly meaningless flirt the older woman had made to test the waters back then, why did Valeria think to bring it up again? She quickly pushes back and out of Donna's space, fully ready to fumble out an excuse to leave and die of embarrassment somewhere else.

"I'm sorry! Forget I said anything, I'm gonna go make us some tea or-"

"Dolcézza, wait!" Donna hurriedly responds, seeming to have gotten her bearings. She takes Valeria by the arm possessively, pulling her down so their eyes are level. "You... are asking me to pose for you," she blushes again as she squeaks out, "nude?"

The redhead nods slowly, her own cheeks heating up at the thought of her love agreeing. "Yeah- but! But only if you're comfy with that!" She says firmly, staring intently into Donna's eyes to let her know it really is okay to say 'no'. Her concern appears wasted though as a cheeky grin graces Donna's face.

"I was... sort of hoping you'd have asked again after we were interrupted the first time," she admits. Valeria's head feels about ready to explode with the way that small confession makes blood rush to her face. Donna truly was insatiable with her desire for the botanist in training. Feeling emboldened, Valeria leans in until their lips are nearly brushing and responds.

"Then let me help you undress and get ready."

#resident lover #donna beneviento #donna beneviento x reader #valeria (maiden oc) #my writing #lugosi speaks #if nobody reads this i know my girl cap will read this because she's just as gay for donna as i am

[cowgurrrl]

Nobody asked but here are my headcanons for Joel as the ultimate girl dad™️

Gets Ellie into a routine as soon as possible so she knows what to expect in her day-to-day life. There’s not much he can guarantee outside of their home but he can make sure she eats, does her homework, and is off to bed at the same time every night.

Speaking of bed, he’s the dad who has a STRICT bedtime set. He can’t sleep until he knows Ellie is safe in bed and even though she’s a teenager he still makes her be in bed by 10 but he absolutely can be persuaded to let her stay up with a long game of cards, guitar lessons, or a movie.

Before Ellie, he would’ve been reckless if it meant keeping Jackson safe but now that he knows she’s relying on him he does things slower and safer.

Maria teaches him how to cut hair so he can help Ellie because he knows how hard it is for her to trust other people especially when they have something that could be used as a weapon so close to her head.

Definitely pushed her into the river while teaching her how to swim. She was pissed and didn’t talk to him until after dinner.

Ellie becomes known as “Joel’s girl” and neither of them correct anybody who says it

Slips notes into Ellie’s backpack when she’s not looking so when she gets to math class and opens her notebook, a sticky note with Joel all-caps handwriting falls out and reads, Why was the toilet paper unstoppable? And on the other side it says, because it was on a roll

He laughed about it for ten minutes before forgetting about it

Ellie secretly keeps all of his notes in a box under her bed

Teaches her how to play football in the spring when all the snow has melted and accuses her of cheating when she scores against him

“How could I cheat? It’s fucking football!” “You’re abusing an old man, you know that?”

Although Ellie never calls Joel dad, there’s an unspoken agreement between them. Joel hated Father’s Day after Sarah died but that Father’s Day they settled, two bouquets of flowers show up on the dining room table with a note from Ellie.

Saw these and thought of you, the note reads. One from me and one from her.

He cries the first time he gets them. He can’t remember the last time anyone gave him flowers.

Lord help the teacher who has to call Joel in for his first parent-teacher conference in twenty years. Everyone is Jackson knows how protective he is over Ellie and her teacher is only slightly terrified of him.

Ellie constantly steals Joel’s shirts and he pretends not to notice

He’s always looking for new tapes for her Walkman and asks every group that comes through Jackson if they have anything

Ellie ends up with three new tapes to listen to by the end of their first year of being settled

Joel knows he’s probably doing a million things wrong and danger is always lurking and the time they have together is fleeting but he does his best to be good for her. He apologizes when he yells, he shows up to her first guitar recital, and constantly reminds her how loved she is even if there aren’t always words exchanged

Sometimes it’s a hug, the squeeze of a hand, or a ruffle of hair but they both know it means so much more. Giving and receiving affection would’ve been seen as a show of weakness in Boston, a vulnerability that others can play into. Here, love doesn’t have to hide or be shunned to the dark corners of their lives. They can just be.

Who knew Ellie tripping Joel while playing football in the spring meadow meant so much more than anyone else thought?

Tumblr if you delete my last paragraph one more time I’m going to gnaw my arm off

#joel miller headcanon #joel miller fluff #joel and ellie #ellie williams #ellie miller #joel miller #joel miller the last of us #joel miller drabble #joel miller x reader #the last of us x reader #the last of us hbo #the last of us #ellie williams headcanons #i wrote this for me but you can read it too i guess #pushing my Joel Miller girl dad agenda once again

[lamentationsofalonelypotato]

You Call It Madness But I Call It Love

Chapter 6: Batter Up

Pairing: Soldier Boy x f!reader, Reader POV

Summary: When the reader left Payback 40 years ago after a falling out with her childhood best friend she never looked back, but when two men show up to her apartment and start asking her questions about the past, the reader begins to think those things can’t stay hidden and starts to question what’s real and what’s fantasy.  This is a re-telling of The Boys Season 3, where the reader is a supe who's known Soldier Boy since 1927. The chapters will fluctuate between past and present. This is chapter six of my "You Call It Madness But I Call It Love" series. (I'm so bad at summaries please forgive me!)

Word Count: 3.1K

Warnings: References to Sex, Sexual Innuendo, Cursing (a few times), Drinking, Soldier Boy might be, is, really, absolutely, a little OOC,

Note: This is told from Reader's perspective. Any references to the reader is made using you or your. There is minimal use of y/n. I tried my best to proofread, but nobody's perfect. Reader is described as "curvy" occasionally. If you don’t like, don’t read, but if you do like, you’re my favorite!

Internal Monologue is in first person and is in italics

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

****************************

Philadelphia 1935

"Only you would bring a sketchpad to a baseball game." Ben shouts over the screaming fans in Shibe Park Stadium. The sun catches his hair turning it into a honeyed brown that drips down into his gorgeous green eyes that shine with charm. 

"I want to capture the devastation on your face when the Phillies lose." You snark back, tracing the curve of his mouth as it pulls down in a frown with the tip of your pencil on your sketchpad, and wishing that you could do the same with your fingertip. It was not the first time that you'd drawn him and by now you didn't need to look up at him to capture the angular structure of his face, but you couldn't help it.

"Funny." Ben taps the ridiculous white and red pinstriped baseball cap on your head that he bought you before the game.

It was a few days after your party, one day before Ben had to go to boarding school number seven, and Ben, being the person he was, decided to drown his sorrows in cheap beer and the electric atmosphere of a baseball game. Before his mother died Ben's father had taken him to a single baseball game, but Ben never forgot. He didn't have to tell you for you to know that it was one of the only happy memories from his childhood, despite his father getting so drunk that he forgot Ben was with him. You figured that Ben liked going because it reminded him of one day that his father didn’t tell him what a disappointment he was. Your heart ached at the thought. Ben didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve the constant disapproval of his father. Yes he got kicked out of numerous boarding schools, he swore like a sailor,  ran after whatever caught his eye, and he drank so much alcohol you wondered how he wasn't flammable. But Ben deserved more. And you wished that he would let you give it to him all the time, not just on the days you were out together or the times he snuck into your room.

Your thoughts drift back to the numerous boarding schools. Although you wanted to defend him, you couldn't come up with an excuse for that, especially since Ben didn’t just flunk out, he made an effort to get kicked out. Ben had a different story that resulted in his expulsion for each that never ceased to amuse you. Boarding school number one was vacated when Ben was only thirteen years old because he glued the history instructor to his chair. Boarding school number two was evacuated due to an “accidental fire” in the science lab, which Ben insisted he didn’t start. And then complained that he didn’t think that his lab partner's coat would catch fire quite that fast. Boarding schools three and four were within months of each other and both due to the fact that Ben got caught with a girl in the dorm. Something you wished he hadn’t told you. Boarding school number five you were the most proud of. Only because Ben used some of the minimal art skills you showed him to draw a naughty doodle of the English teacher on the chalkboard before class. Ben replicated the doodle in one of the sketchpads that you hid under you bed just in case someone were to find it. Finally, Ben left boarding school number six because he drove the dean's car into the swimming pool. When you asked him why, he said that he thought it "needed a wash."

"So is it everything you ever dreamed of?" Ben asks with a smirk.

"What?" You look up from the sketchpad at him in confusion.

"Your first baseball game." He emphasizes the word suggestively.

"It's certainly loud-" You begin to say, leaning towards him so he can hear you over the roar of the crowd.

"Yes, well lots of screaming is expected your first time." Ben wiggles his eyebrows. "Though I'd say that there should be screaming all the time-"

"Ben."

"But I told you that I'd be gentle-" He taunts.

"BEN."

"What? I like that I'm your first." His smirk widens and your cheeks flare bright red, prompting you to punch him in the shoulder.

"Shut up." Your mind can't help, but drift back to the other day when he trailed his fingers down the back of your corset and loosened the ties, which makes you flush a brighter red as a shiver goes down your spine.

The boos around Ben and you get louder as the bottom of the eighth inning begins and as one of the New York Giants' infielders steps up to the plate. Despite Ben's teasing it was your first official baseball game. He was outraged when you told him that you'd never been to one a few days before your birthday and he believed that it was his responsibility to take you to one before he went back to boarding school.

And as much as you pretended to hate it, you were having a lot of fun.

The roar of the crowd is electric and surges up over the trumpet blasts that fill the loud speakers, broken up by the sound of the vendors selling cracker jacks and other food items where they wander up and down the concrete steps of the stadium. The smell of beer, hotdogs, sweat, and peanuts swells over the crowd, while the golden glow of the noon day sun flashes against the metal overhang that shields the crowds from its rays.

"Are you hungry?" Ben asks, nudging your shoulder to grab your attention again.

"A little."

Ben waves down one of the vendors and buys you both hotdogs and a beer to share. And as you sit there and begin to eat, you realize that something about today feels different.

You can't put your finger on it, but him buying you a  baseball hat and food kinda feels like a… date. Ben had bought you things before from street vendors as you walked through Philadelphia, ice cream, pretzels, but being here, sitting so close that your shoulders brushed every few minutes was different. You briefly circle back again  to the other night when he helped you out of your dress. Neither of you had brought up what happened, but you wanted to. You wanted to know if he did that to help you or if he did that because he wanted to go further.

But at the same time you wondered if it happened because Ben was drunk. When he got drunk Ben tended to be a bit more clingy, well at least around you he was more clingy, but he’d never admit that. 

The crack of a baseball against a bat pulls you from your memory of the other night and Ben groans as the ball soars over the wall at the back of the stadium.

“That’s another 5 bucks.” He mutters.

“Told you not to make that bet with Adam.” You sing-song.

“You made a bet too.”

“A winning bet I might add.” You poke his muscular bicep with your pencil.

Adam Winthrop was one of Ben's drinking buddies and someone you had run into at the ticket booth before the game. Ben bet him that by the eighth inning the Phillies would pull ahead, whereas you bet Adam that the Phillies would be down exactly four points. Adam laughed at you, but agreed, while Ben stated that the Phillies were better than the New York Giants and you would lose.

You were eager to make him eat his words. And one look at the scoreboard meant that Ben was suffering through a four course meal.

"I have no idea how you did that. You don't even know what baseball is! How could you know that the Phillies would be down four points in the bottom of the eighth?"

"I've meant to tell you, I'm secretly psychic."

"Oh really?" Ben smirks, eyes darkening as they lock with yours. "What am I thinking right now?"

"That you're happy you didn't bring Missy Callahan." You smirk back at him to stop the butterflies that have erupted in the pit of your stomach.

"I am." He cocks his head to the side in a way that makes his dark hair fall into his eyes.

"Good." You turn back to watch the game so you won't focus too much on how good he looks and to resist the urge to run your fingers through his hair. "And I am getting it a little. My teacher is very good at explaining things."

"I'm good at explaining lots of things doll." You don't need to look at Ben to hear the smirk in his voice.

Damn it. The blush that creeps into your cheeks with his words feels like fire.

"Trollop." You snort, taking the beer from his hand so you can have a sip.

“You should be nicer to me, I got you food.”

“And a ridiculous hat-“

“You look cute.” Ben rolls his eyes and turns away, but his words stick to your chest like fly paper.

He thinks I look cute?

“I don’t think you look too bad yourself.” You respond, turning your eyes back on the field, but watching him in your peripheral vision.

“I know.” He grins.

“Keep being all cocky and I won’t buy you cotton candy with all the cash I’m about to make on this game.”

“What happened to gambling being unladylike?”

“We both know I’m far from a lady, darling.”

“Well the Dawson School for Girls will clear you right up.” Ben sighs, but you can hear the disappointment in his tone.

Oh yes, the wonderful news my mother dropped in my lap, how exciting!

When your mother had come into your room the other night she told you she had a big birthday surprise, which was that she was sending you to the Dawson School for Girls in Boston. You don’t know what prompted her to send you to a boarding school, only that she said it would be good for you.

Which probably meant she was doing it to keep you far away from Ben.

Maybe it won't be so bad. New city, new exciting people-

But no matter how hard you thought about it, you weren't excited and it was because of Ben. Not only would you miss him, you really didn't know what he would do without you. You weren't sure how long that Ben would be at his boarding school in New Jersey, and you didn't know where he would go when he got back.

If I was gone, who would be there for him when he got back? Who would he go to when he didn't want to go home? Would he end up at Missy's?

The thought that he would sleep over at her house makes an ice pick of jealousy stab you in the chest. You still weren't over what happened the other night at your birthday party, but you were getting through the best you could. Being here with Ben was helping you forget how mad you were.

"Y/n?"

"Hmm?" You look up at him.

"Don't focus too much on what they teach you there." Ben says, his eyes are still on the game tracing the pathway of the ball as it soars into right field.

"Why?"

"Because you don't need to change." He glances over at you with a frown as if the thought hurts. "And all those boarding schools are the same, they try to make you like everyone else. Strip you of everything that makes you different.”

"Is that such a bad thing? I've been the odd one out for a while-"

You think about all the other girls that you'd met over the years and of course Missy pops up. She was popular, pretty, and she'd caught Ben's attention. You'd never been that popular, Ben was the only close friend you had. Plus most of the people you interacted with were Ben's friends/drinking buddies who seemed to like you as much as he did. That always made you feel better, that Ben's friends liked you enough to let you come out with them sometimes, even if it was to the bar on the corner and even if it was completely unladylike when you staggered home drunk. It was usually Adam's fault when he bet you that he could drink you under the table and you weren't one to walk away from a challenge. Ben was always there to help you down the street and make sure that you got home okay, laughing when you tried to go into the wrong house or sang off-key. Of course when you arrived home those nights your mother practically locked you in your room, making you feel like Rapunzel, but never dissuaded Ben from coming in through the window.

"For you it is."

"Why?"

"Because you're different."

"I can't tell if that's a compliment or not." Your brow wrinkles and Ben presses a fingertip to the scrunch between your eyebrows under your hat, surprising you.

"I like that you're different." Ben shrugs.

Your cheeks flush bright red with his confession. It's the first time that Ben's ever said anything remotely like that before.

He turns back to the game as if he hasn't said anything.

“I like that you’re different too.” You whisper, barely audible over the crowd.

“Good.” Ben shoots you a sideways grin that makes you warm from head to toe. 

“So is that why you don’t stay?" You look back at your sketchpad, shading along the bottom of Ben’s strong jawline, reveling in the familiar scratch of the pencil against the paper.

“Huh?”

“At the boarding schools? Because you don’t want to change?”

Ben frowns for a minute before reaching for the beer between you. “I don’t like being there.”

“Because?”

Ben shrugs. “It’s not home.”

You didn’t understand that. Ben hated being at his own house with his father. Well, hated being anywhere with his father. The only place that he spent enough time sleeping was in your bedroom and you doubted that’s what he meant.

You wait for him to clarify, but he doesn’t. “Well I'm pretty sure I'm going to hate being in Boston because I'm just going to worry about you the whole time." It slipped out before you could stop it.

"You worry about me?" The corner of his lip twitches.

"Of course I do. You're my friend."

"And what do you worry about happening to me?"

"The usual: barroom brawls, alcohol poisoning..." You smile. "That or sleeping with someone's girl and having the guy come after you."

"I hope you know that you're my alibi if anyone tries to catch me."

"After all these years I'd expect it. And everyone believes me, because I'm trustworthy-"

"I'm not so sure about trustworthy, when we first met you lied for me." Ben's fingertips trace against the back of your hand where it is on the armrest between you.

"Yes I did." You swallow the lump in your throat, trying not to focus on how electricity seems to follow his touch, mildly surprised at the boldness of Ben's touch.

You remembered that night. When you ran into your father's study to hide from your mother and Ben was behind the couch hiding from his father. He had looked so cute with a scowl on his face, when he peered at you from over the back of the couch when you came through the door. You remember asking him what he was doing, but he hadn't said anything, just stared back at you. His father had been enough of an answer when he practically crashed through the door of the study, stumbling around the room and slurring his words together as he demanded you tell him where his son was. You had held his gaze and insisted that you hadn't seen Ben, and his father had left cursing under his breath. It was hard not be friends after that.

"Why?" Ben asks.

You pause considering. Ben's face is impassive, but you see a glint of curiosity in his eyes. His fingers are still resting on the back of your hand.  “Do you really want me to tell you? Or do you want me to lie?”

“I don’t think you’ve ever lied to me before.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know your tell.” He replies smugly.

“I don’t have a tell.”

“You do.”

“What is it?”

“It’s no fun if I tell you.” Ben smirks, tapping the brim of your hat. “But why?”

You didn't want to admit it to him, because you thought that he would mock you. The truth was you'd helped him for two reasons, one because he'd looked scared. Ben wasn't afraid of anything and you hadn't seen the look in his eyes since the day you met, but you know that you did not imagine it when you locked eyes in the study. The other reason was because you thought that your problems with your mother and his problems with his father made you two the same or at least connected in some way. You were happy to meet someone that understood you. None of the other people you met understood what it was like to have a parent that never thought you were enough for them. And as you grew up together, Ben was someone that you could depend on no matter what, just as he depended on you. Even if he couldn't admit it to you or to himself.

“It might have also been because I was also in the study hiding from my mother and it kinda felt like we were sharing a secret.” You press your lips together. “I know that sounds stupid.”

“It’s not.” Ben breathes, holding your gaze with a sincerity that makes your heart warm. “I never said thank you.”

"You’re right. And I’ll hold that against you for as long as we live.” You smile up into his handsome face again admiring how the sun reflects off the perfect angles and rests in his green eyes.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything less sweetheart.” He holds your gaze for another few seconds before turning back to watch the final inning, his forearm pressed firmly against yours where your arms rest between you. And instead of moving back you allow yourself to lean into him, so close that your shoulders are touching, continuing to sketch through the final parts of the game and ignoring the urge to look up at him.

It really was a wonderful day, but that's the thing about wonderful days, they always have to end.

**************************

Thank you so much for reading! If you'd like to be added to the taglist for this series, let me know :)

Taglist: @roseblue373 @anundyingfidelity @cheynovak @cassiecasluciluce @muhahaha303 @deans-spinster-witch @kayleighmeister @demodemo909 @fruitfacess @bobbobbobinogs

#soldier boy x reader #soldier boy x you #jensen ackles soldier boy #soldier boy #soldier boy x female reader #soldier boy x y/n #soldier boy/ben #the boys amazon #the boys fanfic #jensen ackles #soldier boy fanfiction #the boys series #the boys tv #soldier boy fic #the boys season 3

[lovesickonmybed]

all you had to do was stay | (1/?)

eddie Munson x OC | chapter 2 | series masterlist

summary | vivian and eddie were best friends until he betrayed her. she decided to get revenge, but it went too far.

word count | 4,156.

warnings | swearing, alcohol, underage drinking, sexual content, themes of abandonment, smoking, and bullying.

a/n | i don't have anyone to edit for me or anything like that before posting so please feel free to give me some feedback about this first chapter!! also listen to all you had to do was stay (taylor's version) while reading this!

Nobody spends their spring break praying for it to be over…except maybe for me. I used to spend my spring breaks at Eddie Munson’s trailer playing D&D and listening to whatever metal albums we had all put enough money together to buy. Now I spend them at endless parties praying that whatever is in my cup will be enough to drown out my hatred for the people I now surround myself with. I would kill to be back at Eddie’s trailer playing D&D and listening to Black Sabbath, I would kill to be anywhere but Lovers Lake with a beer I didn’t even want in my hand.

Eddie became my best friend in 6th grade when I moved to Hawkins. Back then, I was pretty awkward and pretty angry at absolutely everything. My dear old dad had packed up everything and left me and my mom to try to survive on our own, so we moved back to my mom’s hometown of Hawkins, Indiana. It was nothing compared to back home in New York. I hated it, I hated my dad, I hated everything. But then I met someone who understood my anger, someone who knew exactly how I felt. His name was Eddie Munson. He was dorky as shit but also the coolest kid I had ever met. His hair was buzzed, he wore band tees, and he hung out with a girl who was just as cool as him. Veronica Ecker, or just Ronnie for short. She was tall with dark hair and a baseball cap she refused to ever take off. 

I remember walking in on my first day of 6th grade at Hawkins Middle. I was oh so lucky to be a new student on Halloween day. Everyone was in costume, I was just in an orange sweater and black jeans. I couldn’t afford a costume and we had thrown out all my old ones in the move. We couldn’t bring too much with us to Hawkins. There were already rumors about me before I had even stepped foot on school grounds. Rumors that I moved there because I got kicked out of every school in New York for starting fights. Another rumor spread that I was somebody from a government experiment that they had planned to plant at the school for research. It’s impressive just how creative 6th graders can get. The truth was too boring for them and nobody had cared to hear it, well, not nobody. Eddie Munson had waltzed up to me as I sat on the bleachers, he was wearing a pair of devil horns, a big grin spread across his face. “You’re the new girl, right?” He had asked.

“If you’re gonna ask me about the rumors then they’re both true and you should definitely avoid me,” I said sarcastically. I couldn’t help being defensive after having kids whisper about me all day, giggling to one another about how weird I was.

“Nah, they’re bullshit. You don’t look like you could win any fights against anybody,” Eddie joked.

I liked him from that very moment.

“You don’t know that, I bet I could take you, shrimp,” I joked back. It was the first time in a while that I had smiled, the first time in a while there was anything in my eyes besides anger.

“You know, maybe you could…but just think of all the people we could take on as a team,” he smiled. His smile is infectious and the grin on my face got even wider.

“You’re right…we’d be a great team…I’m Viv, by the way,” I said, sticking out my hand for him to shake. I had cracked royal blue nail polish on my nails and a variety of different rings I had found in my mom’s things littered both hands. His hands weren’t much different than mine, his nails had clearly been chewed short and he also had his own assortment of rings.

“Eddie, Eddie Munson…” 

From that moment on we were friends. He introduced me to Ronnie and then in 7th grade we met Dougie and he joined our group. We had all even performed together in our school's talent show. They had me on vocals because I couldn't play any instruments and I would say that I killed it but half of Hawkins wanted us dead or expelled after that so maybe it’s for the best if I forget it ever happened. Or if I forget that anything had ever happened with that group at all. It’s so strange to know that the people who had taken me in and became my first friends here are the ones who hate me most now. I can’t say I blame them though…

When high school started we were all losers, I mean we were losers in middle school too but it became even more obvious once we hit high school. Jocks hated Eddie and Dougie, targeting them constantly. The cheerleaders and preppy girls had it out for me and Ronnie as well. Nothing says ‘Loser’ like getting trash dumped on you or having to memorize your friends' locker combinations for every time they were stuffed into their own locker and needed you to get them out. For all of Freshman and Sophomore year, I was called ‘Pizza Face’ or told that I was ‘flat as an ironing board’ y’know just all the best things you could say to a deeply insecure teenage girl whose hormones had favored developing acne over developing breasts. 

We had taken our love for D&D with us into high school and created a safe haven for people like us, the freaks and the outcasts. Eddie called them his ‘lost little sheep’ and it became his mission to find them…but it turns out a lot of those other freaks and outcasts had believed the lies fed to them about D&D being satanic so attendance was lacking. Nonetheless, we had somewhere we felt safe and it was exactly what we needed. Eddie became our leader, which sadly meant he’d get the most shit from bullies like Tommy H. 

There was nobody worse than Tommy H. His father owned the biggest and most successful car dealership in town. On top of that, he was also a star athlete (which is shocking considering how awful he is at pretty much everything I’ve ever witnessed him do) and that meant he could get away with whatever he wanted. He’d always go after Eddie, he’d start shit with him and then go crying to Principal Higgins about how Eddie had started it and there started Eddie’s record of so-called bad behavior. Being a Munson means it’s practically impossible to do anything and not get shit for it, Tommy knew this and used it to his advantage. He used Eddie as a punching bag and would get away with it, hell most of the time Eddie was the one taking the blame when Tommy would walk away without a scratch on him. And all of this makes me hate myself even more for what I did to Eddie…what I did to all of them…

It was the summer right before the start of junior year. I had been in New York visiting family for June and most of July. I had called Eddie almost every day to let him know about my trip, I did leave out a few key details though…the details of how I had gotten my braces off, how I had finally found something that fixed my acne problems, and most importantly I kept it a secret that I had finally started to develop. I had always had a bit of a crush on Eddie, as we had gotten older it had only gotten worse. I’ve never been good with relationships, my first kiss came from a game of Spin the Bottle in 8th grade. It was awkward, messy, and something I’d pay thousands to erase from the minds of all who witnessed it. I had a boyfriend at one point too, I’d use the term boyfriend very loosely though. It was Charlie Stump, he was a loser like me and we ‘dated’ Freshman year. Our relationship consisted of holding hands and sharing one kiss before he broke it off because he thought metal music was satanic. He was just something to fill the void that I had hoped Eddie would fill instead.

Ronnie had told me about the time Eddie had tried to kiss her when they were 13, I remember wishing it had been me instead, I would’ve let him kiss me whenever he had wanted. Me and Eddie were complicated…we were flirty with one another but whenever someone would address it we’d both claim it was a joke. I lied every single time. I cherished every single touch I got from him, they all felt electric. I cherished every time we’d hold hands to cross the street or to lead one another through a crowd, I cherished the kisses he’d give me on the cheek or forehead whenever I had saved his ass from his bullies, I cherished how he’d hold me against him when we’d watch horror movies. I was never really scared, but he never had to know that. I was lovestruck, but I knew he’d never feel the same. I saw how certain girls would catch his eye, preppy cheerleaders, good girls, girls that were nothing like me. Girls with perfect skin, perfect teeth, perfect bodies, perfect lives. I couldn’t compare. 

When I had finally started to look like the girls that caught his eye I was overjoyed. It was stupid, I felt good because I thought I would finally have a chance with my best friend. My best friend who had been designated as the freak of Hawkins High. His house was my first stop when I returned from my trip to New York. It was late but his trailer was only about a mile from the apartment complex I lived in with my mother. I had put on my best outfit, something that would surely make him swoon. It was a black denim dress, it buttoned up and the skirt flared out at the bottom, it was cute. I had even learned to do nicer makeup when I was visiting my cousins. I switched out my heavy eyeliner for something more soft and subtle. Something that girls that he likes would wear. I walked over with a smile on my face and hope in my heart. This would be the night I would win him over…or so I thought. 

When I arrived at the Munson residence I was met with the site of an unfamiliar car parked in front of the trailer. It was way too nice to belong to Wayne or Eddie, it was out of place for Forest Hills Trailer Park. My heart was beating faster as I became anxious. Every step I took towards his door felt heavy, it was like my body was slowly becoming filled with lead. I took a deep breath and I finally was at his door. I knocked and waited. It took him a minute to answer the door and when he did I was shocked. He was shirtless and his hair was a mess, there were a few hickeys scattered across his neck and collarbones, he looked hot. But once I got over how good he looked I was overtaken by jealousy. It looks like somebody beat me to it.

“Holy shit…I was not expecting you, Viv,” He chuckled. He was almost unaware of his appearance, unaware that it’s pretty obvious what he’d been doing. 

“I-I just got back into town…I wanted to surprise you…I guess you’re busy…”

Before Eddie could respond I saw a girl walk up behind him, I recognized her instantly and became filled with rage. Nicole fucking Summers. The goddamned bitch who had been tormenting me since 6th grade, she was the one who made up the rumors about me moving to Hawkins for getting expelled from every school in New York. She’s the one who cut off a chunk of my hair in 7th grade, the one who told everyone I still wore a training bra in 8th grade. She was the one who started calling me ‘Pizza Face’ in Freshman year, going as far as to get all her friends to throw slices of pizza at me at lunch. Sophomore year she had stolen my clothes after gym when I was in the shower and I was forced to find them in just my underwear. Out of anyone he could’ve fucked, out of anyone he could’ve lost his virginity to why the fuck did it have to be her. Sure his options are slim but I was right there. 

I was beyond stunned when she began to speak. “Vivi, is that you? You look…different. I guess you grew out of your ugly duckling phase, huh?” She teased. She was in one of Eddie’s shirts, her makeup smeared and her neck was covered in hickeys just like Eddie’s. It took everything in me to not break both of their noses right then and there. 

“I’m just gonna go. Clearly, you’re busy,” I spat out at Eddie. He was lucky I was holding back my anger. I didn’t even let him respond before I was marching off and away from his door, once I was a far enough distance away I started to run. I screamed and I cried and I ran all the way home. My mascara burned my eyes but I ignored it. Eddie’s betrayal had hurt me worse than anything physical ever could. He didn’t notice that I changed, he didn’t care, he fucked the girl who had made my life miserable. At the time I didn’t know it was a one-time thing. She had wanted to brag to her friends about ‘taking the freaks virginity before his loser little friend got a chance.’ 

I locked myself in my room for days, I was beyond angry. I wanted to tear them both apart and then put them back together again so that I could do it all over again. I didn’t know what to think and I didn’t know what to do…until I did. I ignored any calls from Eddie, Ronnie, or Dougie. I told my mom that if they came looking for me to tell them I was sick. I couldn’t face any of them, if I did I wouldn’t have been able to hold myself back. I devised a plan, a plan to get Nicole back for fucking Eddie and one to get Eddie back for fucking Nicole. It was a plan that would go too far for too long. The few times I had gone out in public I had overheard something about there being a party at Steve Harrington's house. His parents were always gone and he hung out with just the people I needed for my plan. 

On a Saturday night in August, I found myself on the front doorstep of the Harrington residence. I was in an almost sheer blouse, my lacy red bra showing through the material, and a mini skirt, it was nothing like I had ever worn before. My makeup and hair were perfect, I knew what these guys liked, it was exactly what Eddie liked. I took a deep breath before waltzing in, heads turning as soon as I walked in the door. I had never been to a party before and I had certainly never looked like this before. “Do you have a staring problem or something, Caleb?” I asked one of Tommy’s cronies. He was closest to me and a perfect target for my plan.

His eyes were glued to me, raking up and down my body slowly. “When Nicole said you got hot I thought she was kidding…” He said as he licked his lips. I rolled my eyes and walked towards the kitchen to find something to drink. 

As I made my way into the kitchen I bumped into none other than Steve Harrington himself. He did a double-take when he saw me. “Holy shit…w-what are you doing here?”

“Can’t a girl go to a party, Harrington?” I replied. He was still sputtering and his face was all red, it felt great to fluster a man like this for once in my life. 

“B-But…you…you’re-”

“I’m what? I’m a loser? An outcast? A freak? Not anymore, Harrington.”

He cleared his throat and got a hold of himself, “Where’s Munson? Aren't you two inseparable or something?”

“Not anymore…I umm…let’s just say I outgrew him.” I was totally bullshitting. 

“Really?” Steve asked. He was looking at me the same way that Caleb was when I walked in. 

“Really. Now do you mind showing me where you’ve got some vodka, I really need a drink.” What I needed was liquid courage, courage for the idiotic bullshit I planned to do that night. Steve led me to the vodka and I took a shot, and then another. I was on a mission but fuck I needed that to be able to succeed. 

I look over at Steve and bat my eyelashes, “Hey, Stevie, do you know where Tommy’s at?”

He scratches the back of his neck as he tries to think, “Last I saw him he was outside in the pool.”

I get on my tip toes and kiss him on the cheek, “Thanks, Stevie.” His face is flushed when I walk off to go find Tommy. It doesn’t take me long, he’s lounging on one of the pool chairs with a beer in his hand. He’s not somebody I find particularly attractive but I’ll have to fake it for my plan. I smile down at him. “Hey Tommy,” I say as I bite my lip. He looks up at me with wide eyes that get even wider as he takes in my appearance. 

“No fucking way…Nicole wasn’t lying…” He’s taking his time to admire me, I hate how his eyes feel on me.

“It’s amazing what a few months can do, huh? Do you…do you mind if I sit down with you?” I bat my eyelashes at him and he crumbles beneath my gaze. 

“Be my guest…” His eyes are glued to my body, more specifically my chest. 

“So, how was your summer?” I ask, I sit across from him with my legs uncrossed, he has a perfect view of my lacy little thong. It’s red and leaves barely anything to the imagination, it’s ideal for a creep like him. His eyes trail down to the spot between my legs and he smirks.

“It would’ve been a lot better had I known you were spending it turning into this, fuck…” He groans. I’ve got him right where I want him.

“It’s amazing what a summer away from Munson could do to a girl,” I giggle. It feels awful coming out of my mouth, worse than the vodka taste going down. 

“You’re done with him, huh? Wanted to join where you should’ve been the whole time…fuck if we had gotten our hands on you sooner just imagine what you would be Vivian…” He marvels, “I knew you weren’t like them…like those freaks. Bet Munson dragged you into all that satanic shit, you’re better than that, better than him…” Tommy rambles. 

“He did…I-I’m not like that anymore,” I lie through my fucking teeth.

“Yeah? You a good girl now?” Tommy teases. 

“I am…can I show you just how good I am, Tommy?” I flirt. 

“Harrington’s got a guest room upstairs that’ll be perfect, baby. Think of it as your initiation into the good side,” Tommy says. I think he’s exaggerating that last part, that he’s being dramatic, but after what we did that night he had no plans of ever letting me return to Eddie again.

In Sex ED they don’t tell you how needy a guy can be after a one-night stand. This was supposed to be a one-time thing that would get spread around to Eddie so that he’d hurt as bad as he had hurt me. But instead, Tommy got attached, and I became his little project. He planned to mold me into his little homecoming queen. And Eddie…Eddie was more than hurt, he hated me. I can’t blame him, I hated myself for it. I expected an angry phone call or an aggressive confrontation but instead, I was met with radio silence, not only from him but from every single one of my old friends. I went too far and had no other choice than to stay with my new ‘friends’. On the first day of Junior year I walked into school a completely different person. People had heard about my transformation and they had also heard about me hooking up with Tommy, I was already the talk of the school and first period hadn’t even started. When I said that Tommy planned to turn me into his little homecoming queen I wasn’t kidding. He made Tina and Carol take me shopping at the goddamn Gap. They picked me out new outfits, told me how to do my hair, who to talk to, what music to listen to, who to be. The worst part is that I kind of…liked it. I liked how I looked in my new outfits, I liked how my hair framed my face, hell I even liked the music they picked out. It turns out Madonna isn’t too bad when you don’t have somebody trying to shove down your throat that enjoying her music is the worst crime someone could commit. 

So on the first day of school I walked in wearing a pink turtleneck, a light washed denim skirt, and a pair of knee high white boots. I felt pretty, I felt confident, I felt fucking amazing. Well I did until I saw my locker. Eddie had taken the liberty of breaking into the school and defacing my locker, in blood red spray paint the word ‘TRAITOR’ had been written for all to see. It didn’t take a genius to know it was him. He watched me walk up to it with a proud smile on his face, leaning against the lockers right across from mine. Ronnie and Dougie were beaming with him. I was raging, I wanted to punch him in the face. I wanted to yell that he was the traitor for what he did with Nicole Summers, but instead I walked up to him and simply said, “The same could be said for you. At least I wasn’t a pity fuck.” That set him off. Before I know it he’s dragging me down the hall by my arm and into the janitor's closet, he slams me against the wall and for a second I smile. Maybe in some other universe he’s dragging me in here to confess his feelings for me and to kiss me, not in this one though, in this one I ruined any chance of that I could’ve possibly had.

He glares at me like he wants me dead and I’m sure he does. He has me pinned against the wall, his face only inches from mine as he begins to speak. “You may have new friends and a new look but you’ll always be a fucking loser!” He spits. It’s an anger I’ve only heard reserved for people like Tommy. “Your new friends used to treat you like you were nothing, don’t think they won’t drop you once they get bored of you. They’ll throw you out and you’ll have nobody because you burned any bridges you could’ve had back to us. You’re fucking pathetic, Vivian.” Eddie spits in my face and walks out, leaving me to process really how bad I had fucked up. He’s right, but I can’t go back now. I don’t have that choice anymore, I lost my chance when Tommy unbuttoned my blouse upstairs at the party. 

So here I am, senior year, still unfortunately friends with Tommy, Carol, and Tina. Carol had the grand idea of throwing a party at Lover’s Lake and was ready to have my head if I skipped out on one more party this week. I didn’t bother showing up in a swimsuit, I have no intentions of swimming. I’m in a red tight fitting t-shirt, black denim cutoffs that show off way more of my ass than my friends thought was acceptable, and a pair of beat up black converse. I’m standing away from most of the crowd sipping on a beer that tastes like actual piss and regretting giving into Carol's whining about how I just had to come tonight. I scan the crowd and attempt to pick out somebody who I might not hate spending my night with when I see him. He’s in a white t-shirt, ripped light wash jeans, and a pair of boots. His hair is tied up and he’s lighting a cigarette. Fuck.

#eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x oc #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fic #joseph quinn #eddie munson x original character #Eddie Munson x original female character

[kimdokja-real]

Kim Dokja's Friends Here, We're Back. We're Sorry for Leaving Kim Dokja Alone.

ANyway we'll try not to type in CAPS. Kim Dokja likes CAPS because it makes things less serious.

We have two things to do, upload his singing and speak about his Past.

We Really want Kim Dokja to be Loved, and we don't want him to hide anymore.

Alright, so...

Kim Dokja was Once part of a Fandom, called Durarara. He became so famous there that everyone called him Senpai, Sensei, even Jesus. Someone said 'I wonder if Heaven looks better than your blog My Body is Ready' He Even Made Haters of the Pairing Shizaya Convert to Loving the Pairing and looking forward to see it Happen in Canon. He was that Good, but of course this Dense Guy Didn't see he was that good. His Butterfly and Camellia Theory blew up in a single night, with over 200+ notes, and famous popular people in the fandom reblogged it. Kim Dokja eventually became so famous and popular and loved in the fandom, he practically went from a nobody to controlling the fandom.

Everyone Loved him. He was the God of the Fandom. When He Posted his First theory, Butterfly and Camellia Theory, Everyone was like OMG and Everyone, every single person Welcomed him to the fandom including the popular people who had like 1000+ 2000+ followers. Everyone was so fascinated at the new Analyzer who managed to sweep off the (stagnant) fandom with One Move. I am not even exaggerating.

However, Kim Dokja was Scarred.

It was all Heaven for Kim Dokja a while, he received praises through Asks, everyone praised him to high heaven, looked upon him like he was a god, And He Was Very Happy. Since he was Lonely in Real Life. He didn't think he could experience such love in his life. He didn't think something like that could ever happen to him. Of Course, He Didn't Think He Was Worthy of it, but he happily replied every message even with doubt.

Then everything came crashing down, popular people who were scared of the new talented person whom Everyone Loved, who had Changed the Fandom, Leading to Less Love for their blog which they 'worked so hard on', were jealous of Kim Dokja. So they reblogged his posts and spoke badly about them, claiming the author did not say this or that...and that he was reading too deeply into things, the pairing is not real, only for fanservice. Basically they disrespected the Hell out of him. And Used their Popularity as a Status for Being Right.

They pressurized him, sent anon hate. And Everyone Fought back. People were really Angry for Kim Dokja's Sake. Everyone fought to Defend Kim Dokja, their analyst god. And when they sent in their loving encouraging messages saying don't be worried about the haters, Kim Dokja felt guilty because there was a Fandom War because of him, one sole person. Someone told him to calm down. Someone defended him from anon hate calling him a bitch, saying they were the bitch because people self-project onto others and that Kim Dokja had people who care about her. someone asked senpai if 'she' was okay. Someone even was like it's been 4 days, are you okay? Kim Dokja was that popular and loved.

All the girls who shipped Shizaya with their life loved him. And a few guys too, two of which he got to know.

But he received challenges from the popular people through their reblogs and their fucking scaredy cat anon asks, However being Kim Dokja, he replied one of them seriously with information......and they left him alone out of respect. (It's the Afterlife now, So We Know). One person who Disagreed with him with their own analyses, with the pairing Shizaya since one of the guys acted a lot like their brother, Ended up agreeing with him so much, he went to Kim Dokja for analyses on whether Shizuo and Izaya could Love each other in canon. Because Kim Dokja was that respectful and polite to people. People admired him for that. They Changed their Mind for him.

But it was still a lot of pressure on Kim Dokja.

He Didn't feel the Love, he just felt the Pressure and Everything, being in the centre of a Fandom War with Most People on his Side ('please don't be sad, there are People who aren't even your Followers who care about you.) and Less People (but the Popular People) on the Other Side.

(Imagine being New, and when you post a Theory, a Fandom War Starts Over your Post, and it Includes the Most Popular People in the Fandom Whom Everyone Go To For Years For Fics and Information.)

Many people said 'Please dont' be sad', but Kim Dokja's mother scolded him until he cried and shamed him for it 'Why are you Crying' so Kim Dokja didn't know how important it was to not be sad.

Eventually, it got so Bad One Thing the person who started it all said, contained so much Negative energy, Kim Dokja literally felt sick from it. His stomach suddenly burned up and it felt like he was dying, but he did not die. He fell intensely sick, and he ended up being hospitalized.

This was when Kim Dokja got his health issue of Acid Reflux, which is when the acid in your stomach travels up your eosphagus, throat, and you feel the acid taste in your mouth and your stomach doesn't feel good either. (And this caused him many problems in the future. When Kim Dokja Did NOthing Wrong.)

Yeah, the situation was so bad, Kim Dokja added up being hosptalized from it, from the emotional turmoil, negative energy, psychological stress. He almost died.

Kim Dokja returned from the hospital, and went back to the fandom. With his sense of responsibility. People loved and were still concerned about him, but the war was still raging, only a bit tamer. Eventually he snapped and let out his true emotions and feelings, saying they were treating him like an outcast, like the outcast Izaya from the Durarara fandom. The popular person who started it all called ruka spoke about the post on her blog, complaining saying she was stressed and handling a lot of shit, she didn't mean it that way...............and her grandmother was in the hospital.

Now Kim Dokja literally went to the hospital himself, with an almost near death experience, but when he heard that her grandmother was in the hospital, he felt so bad he apologized and said sorry and suggested to end it with the post, which thankfully the popular person agreed (for their reputation but whatever). This is how Kind Kim Dokja was. Is.

And So it Ended there, as Kim Dokja continued to make his Analyses and Theories for the Fandom, Even with a Masterlist, but the Scar Never left his heart.

And They Were his former friends too.

Yes, the popular people who Waged a Fandom War Against Him were his friends, Kim Dokja 'got lucky', expressed his admiration for those people, and they talked a bit with the most popular person liking him enough to send :3 emoticon or love emoticon and the other popular person who was her best friend being cheerful and they enjoyed their talks together.

But when his Butterfly and Camellia Theory Exploded the Fandom, they Quit Being His Friends out of nowhere. Kim Dokja didn't understand it and still tried to keep their relationship, (he's not very socially attuned), but they were already Too Jealous.

Yeah, Kim Dokja's Life was Fucked Up...Heaven to Hell with a single Post. You think this sort of thing only happens in Anime, No, it really happened to Kim Dokja.

But Kim Dokja continued with his analyses, he got like at least 3 asks in his inbox each day, while juggling with university life at the same time in the best University in the country. People continued to love him, but Kim Dokja couldn't feel the love.

Years later, the person who started it all came into an anon ask and said two simple words, 'I'm sorry...'

Kim Dokja knew it was the person, his intuition is good and he can feel energy.

So, for the person to have said such a thing, it meant the person after the fandom drama stopped, actually looked through Kim Dokja's blog and followed him and his analyses and even his life. His Life, because Kim Dokja posted bout his health issues there, said he didn't want to talk about it, but in fact it happened after the fandom Drama.

The person read it and said they were sorry. It was Years later, but the person for some reason, the same person who started the Fandom War Against Kim Dokja, Chose to Follow Kim Dokja and even Support him by reading his Analyses. Kim Dokja just has a Way with Words.

Kim Dokja Knew all this, but the Damage had been done and......he was glad even happy but.....it still didn't erase all the scars. He even doubted the message. He wasn't happy he managed to change the mindset and even heart of the popular person who had Waged a Fandom War Against Him, in the first place. A Miracle had Happened, But Kim Dokja did not see it.

This is real. Even though this is the real Kim Dokja, this is real. Here is the Theory. This is Real, it's his true experience in real life, this guy is so great he's other anime characters too but what i want to say is, this is real. It makes him seem like Kim Dokja yes, to change Everyone, but it's still a real issue in this real Kim Dokja's life. Until now

Like the wind (tumblr.com)

That's why we Want Kim Dokja to be Loved So Much, Not Only Because of What He Experienced in Omniscient Reader, As His Friends Who Lost Him There, But Also Because Of His Very Real Issues of his real life on this earth. (Because There's more.) He doesn't know how to Create things to get recognition and love, like popular things so.......we'll Create it all for him. We need to showcase his talents and let him be Loved. It's been too long. -Hansooyoung

Jung Heewon here. I Know we may seem Pushy at times, but we Really just want Kim Dokja to be Loved. Or just for People to Even See this Guy. He is so Talented, he can not only Write and Analyze Anything, but he can also Sing, and Trust me, he can also play the Guitar. And he can Sing way better than what was Posted (He's Just Shy). He went to the Best University in his Country despite all the emotional abuse from his mother saying he'll never amount to anything, saying the teachers praised him so much, handled so many group projects because people pushed all the work to him, him being so intelligent and smart, wrote about the drrr anime in his essay and got an A, and dealt with fandom and writing his fanfictions at the same time. And He's Just So Kind. After going through all that literal shit.

It took Kim Dokja like 3-4 years or was it 5 to return to Fandom Life again, and this time Omniscient Reader before the World Ended because God Said So, and We all flew up to Heaven, to the Universe, except Kim Dokja who was Stuck on Earth, because...of his Issues.

And...it really is the Afterlife. Kim Dokja's issues are so bad, We Returned to Earth to Help him clear up his human issues in the afterlife. Because he's a god in the universe.

#Yoo Joonghyuk wrote this #Kim Dokja #Yoo Joonghyuk #ORV #Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint #Kim Dokja's Real life #Kim Dokja's Past #i don't know if this is getting through to the ORV fandom #But ORV fandom #JoongDok shippers whatever #all you Self-proclaimed Kim Dokja Lovers #Everyone on the Fucking Wall #The Real Kim Dokja is Here #So Stop Worshipping the Past Kim Dokja in a Novel that Has Already Ended and Come See His Real LIfe!!! #wtf are the people who love Kim Dokja all doing damn #he should have 2000+ followers by now #even more than Last time #Stop giving notes on posts from the Past because that ORV Kim Dokja is Here #give your Notes to him Here it's the real Kim Dokja #He even revealed his voice for us he sounds like Kim Dokja #JoongDok #Kim Dokja and Friends #Kim Dokja's LIfe Story

[nie7027]

I always rolled my eyes whenever that post about too much fics always being setted up in American cities and not being afraid of use your own country because of how dumb it sounds.

Except...except until I watched Chainsaw man because...BECAUSE I CAN CLEARLY PICTURE DENJI WEARING ONE OF THOSE PUBLIC MEXICAN SCHOOL UNIFORMS

Just imagine it

Fleeing from Makima the Hayakawa family have to go somewhere far, somewhere Makima control won't reach them. Somewhere she will never thought to look after them.

México is perfect.

(In fact most latino countries are)

Because Aki uses most of his money to pay the costs of moving and buying fake IDs and also because they have to lay low they move to your common popular low income Mexican neighbourhood.

Denji enrolls in the local public high school

(Originally i was envisioning Denji in one of those public middle school uniforms, if you are Mexican you know which ones, but these work too)

Despite everything he does okay-ish in school.

He isn't the only teen who can barely read in high school and because he is a foreigner he gets a pass. Aki, armed with a dictionary, helps him with his homework as much as he can so yeah. He's doing ok.

Except when he's picking fights(the other boys are jealous of how much he is getting the girls attention) and/or being rude to teachers.

That's when they decide to call his parents for a much needed meeting.

What they weren't expecting was for a polite good looking young man missing an arm coming in and declaring himself Denjis older brother and guardian.

What they werent expecting much less was for said good looking young man to apologize profusely for Denjis behaviour and swear he will do his best to have a talk with Denji. That they will accept any punishment they deem necessary.

They love him immediately

They love him a little less(not by much really) once they learn what he does for a living.

Because they needed to make a lot of money quick (in case they had to run away again) and without being questioned about their papers, past or appearance Aki has no choice but to open the most prolifilic bussines you can open in Mexico starting from nothing:

He starts a puesto de micheladas.

(of course Aki has the skills to do something else but even if he manages to not doubt the quality of his forged papers he is still a clearly japanese immigrant with a dubious past and a missing arm who barely speaks the language. He has no chance at formal jobs and said missing arm disqualifies him for most manual labor. The easiest route is food and still he has problems by not being familiar with the cuisine and ingredients)

It becomes popular among young people because Power works there attending customers and everyone wants to bang Denjis super hot sister so they buy more and invite her over

Aki of course doesn't let Power drink but she doesn't know because he always prepares super special drinks for her(nothing more than a simple flavored soda) made to look the same ( yes for those who know un simple refresco preparado. He got the idea from watching customers come in with their kids and asking for that) and she keeps boasting about how mighty she is by not getting drunk like the other weak humans with their feeble minds even though she gets special drinks.

All the customers know what Aki does but nobody dares to speak up against the young man with a missing arm and the stare of someone who has seen too much and seems capable of anything... So they accept it as part of her charm.

That and how easily she burns her tongue with anything remotely spicy noy matter how much she denies it (Denji isn't much better but he manages. If he can eat rotten food he can handle a little spicy here and there)

Denji also works there attending customers and breaking fights. An amazing feat considering how tiny he looks even after throwing out 5 rowdy customers.

Between that, Power being unable to keep her caps/hats on while working (there's just so many times you can convince people that her horns were just a drunk mass hallucination) and the rumours of Denji just standing up and dusting his pants after getting shot in the chest after he resisted when someone tried to rob him on his way back home from school people quicky realize the new neighbors are demons/fiends.

But either because the mexican equivalent of Public Safety doesn't exist or they are just incompetent a hunter never comes no matter how many times they call.

At most the police comes when it gets too loud but all Aki has to do is offer free drinks to the officers and they go on their merry way.

So once people realize they aren't there to drag their souls down to hell and are mostly harmless (yeah they seem super strong and could kill them... but so could many other things. Fear of the death? Here? Pfffft) they leave them alone. They couldn't be worse than the santeros from the other street.

Mostly alone.

Aki still gets stinky eyes from the women whenever he goes to the market to buy groceries

That all changes once Angel goes out.

After seeing nothing happens and nobody came after them once their devil nature got too hard to hide they thought people were ok with them being devils.

So Angel, who was absolutely bored out of his mind from being cupped inside the house all the time as the most outstanding of them, argued that if Power could go out so could he. There was no way he could do worse than Power.

So after a lot of begging Aki finally relented.

It was a grave mistake.

Not because people were scared of Angel.

Oh no.

On the contrary.

All the grandma's in the neighbourhood fell in love with him.

They thought he was a straight up actual angel that descended from heaven to bless the earth.

The concept of an angel devil was unthinkable. Who would in their sane mind fear angels?

Angel hates it.

He wants to be back locked inside the house but it's too late. The grandma's come everyday knocking at the door asking for Angels power to relieve their aches or bless their family.

Even the priest at the local church had to intervene and ask them to stop. That this was against god.

It was to not avail.

The old ladies were dead set on their beliefs. Adoring angel and putting him on a pedestal like a golden idol. Venerating him.

Even when time passed and the novelty wore off. When it was obvious Angel couldn't do/wouldn't do half of the shit they believed. Even then they kept loving him.

He was a fine looking polite young man. Very cute.

Actually he was pretty rude.

They still wouldn't stop pinching his cheeks and sending him back home with dish upon dish of food they cooked for him.

Unluckily for Angel Aki gladly accepted th and even encouraged Angel to keep doing whatever he was doing

After all this time he was still struggling to cook with ingredients he wasn't familiar with (why didn't the rice stick the way it should? Why did noodles taste different? WHAT THE FUCK WAS A MARUCHAN WITH CHILE PIQUIN Y LIMON??) and he was starting to worry about running low on money and Denjis and powers health with how much street food they had to ate to compensate Aki's lack of cooking skills.

This way at least Power and Denji got to eat some home cooked meal instead of stuffing their mouths with tacos de a $1 (Aki knew Power and Denji could eat almost anything and those tacos were a lifesaver those first months but yeah... Better to not risk it)

Besides now everybody was starting to treat Aki better whenever he went out (and this time without him having to give free drinks).

Because...

Those who had control over the local grandmas had control over the whole neighbourhood.

And Angel hated it.

He hated it even more when the priest came over and declared Angel had to help out at church to compensate for leading poor defenseless old ladies through the path of damnation.

Angel was going to refuse until Aki heard the priest was willing to pay him a wage.

It was the only job that would allow Angel to work without having to stuff himself in an overcoat to hide his wings in the middle of the day at 20°C. He would just look like a super devoted disguised weirdo Aki argued.

Angel didn't care.

It would be pretty devilish of Angel to pretend being an actual angel working in a church Aki tried.

Angel still didn't care.

Well in that case if Angel didn't want to work there then he could busy himself by working shifts at the business with them and watching over Power during serving hours so Denji could dedicate more time to his homework.

Angel immediately accepted the priest offer

His job mas mainly cleaning and organizing papers around.

Truth be told Angel sucked at his job and spent most of it sleeping but the grannies were once again attending church every sunday and that was worth the pay to the priest.

(Still Angel also ended up taking shifts to watch over Power and prep with Aki so Denji and power herself could free some time)

(Even though it wasn't that necessary bc Denjis single teachers kept asking denji about his hot older brother after the first time Aki went and were very lenient with him when he didn't turned in homework once they knew Denji tended to help Aki out)

Now that the community was treating them better and Denji had more time he took up little jobs at the market helping butchers cut down big frozen pieces of meat with his powers or carrying around ladies bags and heavy crates.

He usually got payed with money. But sometimes with a bag of fruit/vegetables to Aki's delight. Or sometimes even with a bag of blood from the butchers which was really helpful in case of a sudden injury or simply to quell Powers complains.

Now with both Angel's meager pay and Denji's extra money Aki was able to ample the business by adding hot wings and hamburgers (the tears he cried when he discovered he could at least do that) and stop feeling guilty about selling alcohol to young people.

The business ran smoothly and the four of them could mostly calm down.

Or that was until Christmas season came and the old ladies and the priest himself wouldn't stop asking Angel if he was going to be part of the pastorela this year.

They of course thought he was perfect to play the part of the angel.

Angel of course doesn't want to

Aki tells Angel that as part of the church staff it's his obligation to take part of this even (it really isn't but they don't know that) and that he could learn something

Angel tells Aki that in that case he should be really happy because they also want Power to play as one of the devils

Once Power hears about the piñata and the sweets she'll get nobody can change her mind.

She of course also ends up dragging Denji into it. He plays as one of the peasants trying to get to Bethlehem while Power is one of the mischievous devils trying to derail them and Angel as the reluctant angel that guides them

They are a little too old to be part of the play. It's ridiculous.

But now that all his family is part of the play Aki can worm his way into the group of moms preparing the meal for that day and he finally gets to learn how to cook local dishes.

The day of the play unhappy with the planned ending Power tries to wrestle the other kids for protagonism to show the mightiness of demons. Denji tries to stop her. Angel just watches from the sidelines.

Its complete chaos. Kids are screaming. The scenario is getting destroyed.

It's like any other pastorela.

Aki doesn't stop taking pictures like a proud dad during the whole ordeal.

Once it's time for the piñata Power goes hog wild and summoning a blood bat breaks it before anybody gets a chance to hit it.

She is pretty dissapointed when all that comes from it it's 'more veggies'.

All in all they enjoy it.

Now that Aki can finally cook he can finally leave the alcohol business (and stop corrupting the kids as he sees it on his mind) and goes a step forward:

He opens a puesto de comida económica

Angel quits his job at the church to help him full time.

Denji and Power help him after school when it's more crowded.

Power now also enrolls into school but although she's s little old she starts at middle school.

Aki and the others don't think she could handle highschool yet. They are correct.

And this marks the first year of the Hawakawas coming to live in Mexico.

Life is good.

Bonuses I came up with while talking about this au with my best friend:

At some point during the first months Aki buys *insert your adultered/cheap alcohol of preference* because he wants to cut up expenses and he hear someone say it does the job/every puesto de bebidas uses it.

Half of Denji class misses school the next day

The Mexican public safety department receives that day a lot of calls about three powerful demons cursing all the teens into the hospital in a certain neighbourhood. It's one of the first complaints about them they get.

Not wanting to deal with that shit they literally ignore it.

In their defense they also think it's another case of parents blaming their kids getting drunk/high on demons.

The fact they are kind right doesnt make it better

(am I talking about the parents? The Mexican public safety? Yes)

The reason why Mexico is the perfect place for the Hayakawa to hide it's because once they escape Makima/Japan public safety starts calling every devil containment dependence around the world asking for them and the Mexican branch very aware there are lots of reports of sightings of devils fitting the description but wanting to ignore it being like "no.... We haven't seen anything like that"

The reason why the Mexican department doesn't tell on them can be summarized by the 3 points:

They literally don't want to deal with this shit

Some of the officers know Aki and like the free micheladas he gives them so they ain't snitching on him (yes Aki manages to befriend the police here faster than he ever did back in public safety. They even invite him to smoke with them when they are drinking at his bussines. Aki can't really refuse.)

eventually the reports get lost among a bunch of other papers they had so at some point they aren't even lying anymore and that way get to evade Makimas control

So in the ends it's something like: Blood fiend? Chainsaw devil? We only know al chino y sus hermanos

they then proceed to hang up on Makima

Aki cries everytime he goes to the market. He doesn't understand why the lady at the marked keeps giving him a rock whenever he asks for something to help him clean the bathroom.

He's pretty sure the words are right. He asked Denji and he says his pronunciation is alright...SO WHY? WHY THE FUCl DOES THE LADY KEEP GIVING HIM A ROCK?

He now has 60 of them.

The boy just nods and smiles and pays for the rocks instead of asking. He stores them under the cupboard.

He's very stressed.

Between school and his amazing adapting skills Denji is the best of them at spanish. Aki has to carry a dictionary and hesitates when enunciating. Power just sputters nonsense and gets way with it. Angel just doesn't talk much.

He actually could be very good at it but he's too lazy to study it. Besides he only has to show the minimum of interest in something before an old lady is giving it to him for free. So as Power he gets away with not really practicing the language.

Denji and Power are the kind of kids to always buy unhealthy snacks (papitas con chile, chicharrones, dorilocos) after school even though they can barely handle spicyness.

Aki is suffering for their health. He doesn't understand why they do that when there's so much new fruit they can eat. Aki is in heaven everytime he buys himself un vaso de fruta picada or un agua de sabor.

Angel on his part is content with all the new desserts he gets to eat: Fresas con crema, plátanos fritos, duraznos en almíbar to name a few

Not to mention how crazy Angel goes after he learns bout all the new ice cream flavors there. And raspados and paletas congeladas.

That's all for now folks.

If I ever think of something more for this au I'll let you know and if you come with something else let me know.

I had so much fun writing this.

#chainsaw man #csm #csm spoilers #spoilers #chainsaw man spoilers #aki hayawaka #denji #denji hayakawa #power #power hayakawa #angel devil #angel hayakawa #this is the most stupid thing i have ever written #now this au lives rent free on my mind #i know thiw will appeal only to a small portion of people #but GOD i dont care #you have no idea how perfect it is #akis micheladas is a phrase i never thought i would write but god its so good #dunno why but for some reason these 4 fit so well in the mexican lower class society #if you have doubts about what certain ohrases in spanish mean or what its referring you can hit me up ill be happy to explain #i cant believe this is my triumphant return to writing #nie's writing

[euphorbic]

Off the back of my photo dump post, here’s the detailed bit.

First, anyone that follows me should likely know that one of my Special Interests ™️ is motorcycles. Second, others follow me for ball-jointed dolls (BJD) stuff. BJD are just big action figures for me.

Concept

Motored Cyborg Runner (AKA 少女発動機) is a line of 17.5cm action figures, which are a mashup of “girl” and motorcycles. These designs are based on AF Kuro’s work.

I am n o t a fan of his barely-pubescent t¡ts and aśś and pυbis mons work. (Someone call the Hawkeye Initiative on this weird and gratuitous twät shot.) BUT I DIGRESS!

Here’s a pallet cleanser:

As you can see: basically sportbike gajinka. My (very gross) hero!

The details

Sen-ti-nel and Goodsmile teamed up to create action figures based on these designs. I’m assuming that this design is Tsujigiri. (I use Hepburn spelling, despite all packaging and marketing materials using Kunrei-shiki: Tsu-zi-giri. Why? Because there is no “zi” sound in Japanese and because I love you, of course!)

Onward! Have a recap photo:

Here’s where the motorcycle enthusiast in me gets consumed with glee. The motorcycle details. Starting with the removable fuel tank backpack. The tank shape isn’t motorcycleish, but from this angle? Yes, yes it is. It’s like looking down at your fuel cap from sitting on the seat.

Then there’s the torque wrench settings. On race bikes and cars, torque settings are painted next to bolts so nobody has to remember how many newton meters (N/M) is needed for each one.

Sorry, this shot sucks because I just used my phone all these. The warning label on this one reads: Caution, hot surface. The black arrow points up to the engine, but more specifically the engine’s header. Caution is appropriate: I don’t know a single motorcycle tech that hasn’t been burned on a header.

The single cylinder engine is very accurate to a motorcycle. Even the silver cover combined with the darker case is iconic. It’s so accurate that I can’t help but question why anyone would go with this single cylinder 4-stroke model when they could go with a 2-stroke? Better choice in my opinion… on a completely made up future that has internal combustion still in existence.

And, of course, we have the 4-stroke style collector/silencer/muffler. If I had some Akrapovic, Arrow, or Yoshimura decals in the right size, I’d slap that sucker on. The figure comes with two silencers, but the other one is very short.

Not a motorcycle thing, but look at this tiny QR code on the arm pocket! Adorable.

So there’s my word vomit on motorcycle things that make me half the target audience for these figures. Just one more thing, to mention, I guess. Scale.

Scale

Have a super crappy, backlit photo:

Pictured with:

Masterpiece (MP) scale Starscream

Classified scale Cobra Viper

Figma Utena Tenjou

The figure is the same sort of scale as Classified G.I. Joes if you compare them knee-to-knee. Tsujigiri has a lot of height in those wheels.

If you don’t mind that her height obliterates the illusion of “massive machine” she scales very well with MP scale Transformers.

Go to the photo dump post

#motored cyborg runner #少女発動機 #action figures #toy review

[lupinblacktheone]

First times chapter 1 - Freshmen

Hello, friends! This is the first chapter of my fic "First times" for the @newsiesminibang24

I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you will enjoy it as well! The artist was @cowboy-caboodles. Check out his amazing art here:

Read it in AO3!

 “And… there”, said Mr. Jacobs, placing the last box on the wooden floor.

         “Thanks, dad.”

         “Have you got everything you need, honey?”, Mrs. Jacobs asked, looking around the room.

         “Let me see… books, clothes, computer, sheets, extra sheets, snack money…”, the young man rubbed his forehead, making his father giggle. “Oh, yeah. Can I have an extra hug?”

         The woman wrapped her son in a bear hug and kissed his cheek. “Take care.”

         “I will.”

         “Can we visit Sarah now, mom?”, Les begged, pulling on the woman’s skirt. 

         After one more hug and kiss, Esther allowed Meyer to bid their son goodbye.

         “If you need anything, just call us, ok?”

         “Alright, dad.”

         As the family left the room, David turned around to start unpacking his clothes. Halfway through the second box, he heard his mother’s voice again.

         “Medda, darling!”

         He rushed to the door, just in time to see her kissing the cheek of the theater star Medda Larkin. Of course renowned journalists and authors Esther and Meyer Jacobs would treat her as an old friend.

Maybe they really are friends, David shrugged. They had reviewed all of her shows, after all.

“Come here, honey”, Esther waved at him. “I want to introduce you.”

Long ago, David had learned to hide his shyness in front of his parents’ acquaintances, posing as the erudite, well-behaved, happy-not-to-be-noticed middle child. And he was glad to play that role, because it allowed Sarah to take on the intellectual discussions and Les to be the life of the room.

This time, the boy wasn’t interested in charming Miss Medda. He’d rather make someone behind the adults burst into laughter instead.  David looked past his mother’s shoulder to find his little brother telling jokes to a young man around David’s age — probably a freshman as well —, his hair covered by a vintage cap and dressed in a blue button-up shirt.

“Well, if you’ll excuse us, we have to pay a visit to our daughter”, said Meyer.

“Send Sarah my regards”, she waved

Of course Medda Larkin knows Sarah, David laughed to himself.

The house where Sarah lived with two other girls was a fifteen-minute drive away from David’s dorm. As soon as Sarah noticed them getting out of the car, she put a box on the floor and jumped into her father’s arms.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? The place is a mess.”

“How could we not come? Today’s David’s moving day”, Esther kissed Sarah’s cheeks.

“That’s the famous David Jacobs?”, said one of Sarah’s roommates, with bright brown hair.

“The one and only”, he showed her a tiny smile as they shook hands.

“We’ll be throwing a party this weekend. Wanna come?”

“I appreciate it, but I have a lot of things to unpack.”

“C’mon, little bro”, Sarah jokingly slapped David’s arm. “I can come over and help you. And besides, parties are mandatory credits for freshmen. Did you know that?”

“Who are you and what have you done to my sister?”, they laughed. “You used to be daddy’s little princess.”

“And you still are momma’s precious boy, I see.”

“Knock it off, you two”, Les demanded, pushing David so he could hug Sarah.

“She’s right, you know”, Meyer whispered in David's ear. “Not about the credits, of course, but socializing at this stage is very important.”

“Dad…”

“I just want to make sure you are well-adjusted to this whole thing.”

“Fine. If that will make you feel better, I can come to the party.”

“That’s my boy.”

With the rest of the family gone, Sarah drove David back to his dorm, advising him to lose the tweed vest to the party.

“Nobody will want to be your friend if you look like a professor.”

“Thank you”, he grunted, forcing the door open. “For the ride and the advice.”

“Anytime”, she winked at him and drove off.

He walked into the building as fast as he could, trying —and failing, to a certain degree — to avoid the annoying drizzle. He climbed the stairs back to his room.

“I have already picked out my bed”, a male voice announced before David could acknowledge his owner.

It was the young man who laughed at Les’ jokes earlier. He had hung his cap and changed the blue shirt for a pair of — apparently very soft — gray pajamas. They met in the middle of the room to shake hands.

“The name is Jack Kelly”, said he, pocketing his hands.

“David Jacobs.”

“Oh, so you are Les’ brother?”

From Sarah’s brother to Les’ brother. What an upgrade.

“I have never done this before. What do we do now?”

“I think we are supposed to become best friends by default.”

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“So, soon-to-be-best-friend, do you have any plans for the weekend?”, David asked.

Jack’s shoulders went down. “Probably write emails to my friends and draw a little. I’m a bit rusty.”

“I know a place where you’ll find a ton of references.”

Jack showed him a large smile.

“I’ll take my new pencils.”

David sent Sarah a text, just to let her know he had invited his roommate to her party, without giving his brain the time necessary for it to reflect on what was happening.

For the rest of the night, the boys sat in a comfortable silence, with David arranging more of his belongings and Jack sketching — to warm up the muscles for the art classes.

***

“Hey”, Jack said the next morning.

David’s response was a long, heart-felt yawn and a nod.

Jack put on his favorite blue shirt and a pair of jeans. All of his art materials for the day were packed — he even remembered to include some personal favorites along with the recommended list of brushes and paint. Medda had given him a debit card so he could get more supplies and snacks anytime he wanted.

This was his first official day at college and he wouldn’t let anything ruin it, not even a cranky roommate.

As soon as classes started that day, the notice boards of the dorms were flooded by colorful posters inviting freshmen to participate in the most ordinary or exquisite extra-curricular activities, clubs and teams or to join fraternities and sororities. Others, more discreet, announced part-time jobs at restaurants and shops nearby. Jack stopped by it, just to take a look — or so he said. Maybe something interesting would pop up.

“Do you mind giving me a hand?”, said a boy, holding a box full of pamphlets.

“Sure.”

Once he freed himself of that burden,  the boy attached another notice to the board: an invitation for the rugby trials.

“You can take one if you want”, he said, taking the box back. “It’ll be next Wednesday.”

“Thanks”, Jack grabbed a bright red piece of paper.

“I’m Race, by the way.”

“Jack.”

“See ya ‘round”, he waved and walked out of the building.”  

Despite not being late to his first period — art history, what a cliché —, Jack felt the weight of sixty eyes staring him down as he walked by the desks trying to find a free spot. A pink-haired girl dragged some of her stuff, clearing space for him to sit by her side — and protecting her drawing from potential “art thieves” (her words, not mine) in the process.

Everybody around him seemed so… creative and busy. It was almost like he could hear these people’s minds working to create this century’s Starry Night and Jack had nothing more than a few drafts in his sketchbook.

“You are capable of great things”, Medda used to say. “But remember to always run your own race.”

Medda had given Jack all kinds of advice — both as a parent and as an artist —, but that one had always stood out in Jack's brain. Maybe that was because if the world around him was a race, he was definitely losing.

The professor entered the room and the focused students immediately turned their eyes to the white board. Seventeen minutes into the lecture and he had already lost half of his listeners. Most of them were texting, the phones hidden under their desks, like in High School.

When the girl by Jack’s side started to doodle on her notebook — and she was doing a pretty good job on that beach landscape! —, he shook his head, in an effort to regain concentration. Medda worked very hard to find a school with an art program that suited him — not to mention she was paying for his tuition. He would not let her down. He took a deep breath, counted to five, let all the air out through his mouth and grabbed a pencil. Not to draw, but to take notes.

Ninety minutes later, Jack left the room, slightly proud of himself for having sat through such a long class — he would mention it in his next email to Medda, for sure. Now he was on his way to a more “artsy” class, at the carpentry workshop.

With a sigh, the professor told every student to take protection equipment from the locker at the back of the room as soon as they entered. Then, she proceeded to read the syllabus with her monotonous voice. The first project was going to be a medium decorative sculpture. They weren’t going to use the saw yet, but there were sharp tools involved, so they ought to be careful anyways.

Attached to the syllabus, there was a list of forbidden sculptures — tables, shelves, squares and any other kind of simple shape and so on and so forth for two and a half pages.

Jack turned his head to the left, getting a view of the front patio through the window. There had to be a loophole on this list he could explore. He just needed some help to find it.

The bell finally rang, prompting the students to return the equipment to their respective boxes and flee the premises. Jack’s stomach growled as he reached the cement path.

He had a free period before lunch was served, so he bought a snack — a bag of chips and a bottle of lemon juice, his favorites — and headed to the dorm, with the hope that he would have the place to himself.

But well, he was wrong. David was hunched over his desk, typing as if the wooden floor was about to open and shallow him.

 “How’s it going?”, Jack asked, letting the heavy backpack fall on the bed with a muffled sound.

“One day into this and I am already screwed.”, he rubbed his forehead and took a glance at the blank document he should be working on. “You?”

“I am thinking about dropping out”, David stared at him, his eyes wide open. “Relax, it’s just Carpentry.”

They stayed there, in an awkward silence trying to figure out how to kill that piece of free time.

“If you had to write an essay about a historical period, what time would you choose?”, David got Jack’s attention.

“Something easy, like the eighties or the nineties”, Jack approached the desk to read the text on the computer screen. The professor wanted the students to do some broad research — focusing on wherever they found interesting or important — and then, write a news article about it. “Or maybe the seventies. Then, you can write about the hippie movement and its impacts in modern society.”

“I liked your first idea better. I can dissect the millennial lifestyle. Maybe interview some people.” 

Then Jack decided to work on a portrait of Medda, based on a picture taken on the day he graduated from High School. It would make a good Christmas present when finished.

She started acting when she was seventeen, so all the changes time imposed on her were registered somewhere. At thirty-five, when she became Jack’s foster parent, she didn’t look like the star-strucking beauty she once was, but she was gorgeous, for sure. Now, ten years later, she was considered a maternal figure by pretty much everyone who laid eyes on her. However, he still found it difficult to represent her kind and soft gaze.

“Who is she?”, David said, over Jack’s shoulder.

“My mom.”

“That looks awesome, man. Do you take commissions?” 

I do now, Jack thought, nodding.

“Great. Can you paint a picture of my family? They would love it”, he started scrolling through his phone’s gallery. “This one is good. Can you do it?”

Jack studied the image. It showed a happy couple with their three smiley children in front of their double-deck house. He recognized the younger versions of David and Les, along with a girl — perhaps one or two years older than David.

“ I charge fifteen bucks per person plus ten dollars if the background is complex. So that adds up to…”, he pressed buttons on his phone’s calculator. “Eighty-five bucks.”

“Is it okay if I give you fifty bucks now and…”

“The rest when it’s done?”, Jack raised an eyebrow. “Fine, but only because I know where you sleep”, he laughed.

This guy has got a weird sense of humor, David thought, transferring him the money. 

“It is a pleasure to make business with you, good sir.”

***

“We should get going”, David announced on Friday night.

In twenty minutes, they were ready to go to Sarah’s party. Despite the chilly wind, they decided to walk there and take a look around the campus. They passed by fraternity houses and dorm buildings where blaring music could be heard through closed windows and people were already wasted.

He is hating this, David thought as Jack walked silently by his side. He’ll go back to the dorm and never talk to me again.

Jack didn’t. He just kept kicking pebbles along the sidewalk. Around his head, the world was covered by a dark blue cloth as the moon got up from behind the clouds.

Sarah’s house was the block’s church mouse when they got there. David walked ahead of Jack to ring the doorbell.

“Coming!”, an unknown voice announced. The girl took a glance at David before shouting louder: “Your brother’s here!”

“Thanks, Kath”, the girl seemed to have appeared out of thin air. “Evening, boys.”

She hugged David and extended a hand to Jack.

“I’m Jack, the roommate”, he said, shaking her hand politely.

“I’m Sarah, the sister. C’mon, the guys want to meet you.”

In the neatly-decorated living room, two boys were sitting in front of the TV, playing Mario Kart. On the other side of the room, three girls are discussing a book over cups of coffee. Sarah got a hold of David’s arm and dragged him through the little groups. Jack approached the snack table to have some soda.

“Can you fill this up, please?”

Jack filled a cup with lemon soda up to the top and gave it back to the boy who was leaning on the wall next to him.

“Thanks”, he drank a big gulp and burped. “S-sorry. I’m thirsty.”

“Oh, hi, Thirsty. I’m Jack.”

“That was terrible”, he chuckled.

“What? You almost spilled your drink!”

“That’s because I have weak nerd arms”, he flexed his left arm. “My name is Charlie, but everyone calls me Crutchie.”

Before Jack could open his mouth again, the boy showed him the crutch under his right armpit.

“So, how did you sneak in?”, Crutchie grinned. “The window?”

“Nah, Sarah’s brother invited me.”

“Which one is he?”, Crutchie fixed his posture to look around.

“The one with the black pants over there.”

“Hmmm… your boyfriend is pretty.”

“Not my boyfriend. Roommate.”

Someone turned some jazz music on with a loud giggle.

“C’mon, Jane. This isn’t a café!”, Crutchie said. 

“But it looks like one”, a girl replied.

All eyes in the room had turned to the argument going on, except for David’s. He was way too focused on his own conversation to care about people around him. He didn’t even seem to notice that the girls near him had basically turned their backs on him to participate in the “Jane vs. Crutchie” thing.

His hands had stopped mid-air, drawing visual aids for a story Jack couldn’t hear. Something in the scene reminded him of the Vitruvian man he had seen a thousand times in Arts classrooms.

He grabbed the sketchbook and pencil in his pocket and drew a circle. He could draw a basic face with his eyes closed, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t have trouble getting the hands right.

***

Sarah’s friends were very interesting, David noticed as she introduced him to each one of them. Especially the girl who opened the door.  Her name was Katherine and she was more than happy to follow Sarah around. Actually, it seemed that both girls were satisfied with the arrangement, because  every few minutes, Sarah would interrupt the conversation to look for Katherine.

Their other roommate turned some music on while people sat down to eat pizza and drink soda. David watched as Jack helped a boy fill his plate with mini pizza slices.

“You can ask”, Sarah placed a hand on David’s shoulder. “But don’t stare. That is rude.”

 Only then, David noticed the crutch on which the right side of the boy’s body leaned. It wasn’t thicker than a twig and was almost invisible against the yellow wallpaper. And his wide jeans covered any defects his leg could have.

Now Jack, with that button-up shirt he loved so much, was as bright as the Sun. Their conversation was inaudible from across the room, but Jack was smiling a lot — David liked to see him smiling, because that Carpentry project was gradually sucking his soul away.

  Speaking of assignments, David had his own problem to solve: a short story with tridimensional characters and a man vs. society and a man vs. self conflicts. That on top of all the other homework he had to do made his brain twirl. He knew he could make it, but he also wanted to run back to his dorm and type his fingers out.

Stop, take a deep breath and take a look around, was Esther’s advice every time her children had trouble writing. Maybe the universe has got a clue for you.

“So, Debra has quit for real this time?”, Sarah asked Katherine.

“Yeah. She got that position she was hoping for.”

“So you need a new assistant.”

“Correct.”

“You know, my little bro here studies journalism too. And he would love to join the newspaper.” 

“I see…”, Katherine looked at David with a raised eyebrow. “You start on Monday. Thanks, love”, she turned around to kiss Sarah’s cheek.

“Anything for you, dear.”

Sarah finally let go of David’s arm, just to grab Katherine’s waist and walk away. In a millisecond, David crossed the room and sat by Jack’s side, ready to whisper at his ear:

“I’m in.”

“The newspaper?”, David nodded with a huge smile. “That’s great, Davey.”

Davey. No one had ever thought of calling him that way. And when the word came out of Jack’s lips, it sounded like a brand-new symphony.

“C’mon, let’s celebrate”,  Jack offered him a hand.

“I thought you wanted to draw!”

“I have enough sketches for three months now.”

 They put their coats on and got out the door. Jack held it open to David by instinct.

“Why, thank you”, David smiled at him. “You are a true gentleman.”

“Mom taught me well.”

Again, they walked in silence to the empty bus stop. Around them, parties were still going on — and with no end in sight.

“I know a place that sells great coffee. They call it ‘secret blend’ or something”, Jack said, getting on the bus.

“Lead the way, then.”

They passed by the college campus and entered the city neighborhood — which was inhabited mostly by students nevertheless. The apartment buildings were not too high. It was like a toddler had placed some toy construction blocks in groups of four with strip malls under them here and there.

Cheap burger and coffee shops raised to the sky, their green spotlights bashing the sidewalks and streets. They stopped in front of an obscure shop, with a half-lit sign that said “Dale’s” in blue neon calligraphy. This time, David opened the door, which earned him a smile from Jack.

The place wasn’t busy, so they grabbed a seat near the window and waited for someone to bring them the menu. A girl their age — her name was Patricia, according to the little tag on her shirt — welcomed them to Dale’s Coffee Shop, the most trendy place in town and the unofficial home of the Gray Tigers.

 “I should start calling myself an unofficial member of the Gray Tigers”, Jack pondered as the waitress left. “At least, it sounds good”, he looked so determined saying that. Not to mention he had been training and talking about it non-stop ever since he met Racetrack. 

Jack ordered an espresso with one cream and five sugars and David asked for a vanilla cold brew. While waiting, the boys observed the movement on the street.

“I almost forgot”, David said, watching as an old man carried a seemingly heavy wooden box. “How is your Carpentry project?”

“I still have no idea what to do about that”, Jack sighed. “We are not allowed to use simple shapes or saws, so what can we do? I hate this class so much I can’t come up with a single thing.”

“You could take two square pieces, sandpaper them on the top and sides, nail them together and paint it red. Boom! You have a heart.”

“Thanks”, Jack gave him a shy smile. “Actually, do you mind if I use your idea?”

“Yeah. Happy to help.”

David’s mind once again wondered about the short story he had to write. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to discuss the desires and agonies of a young artist’s heart.

“Hey, Jack”, the boy looked up from his phone. “I have a tricky assignment to do. 

“And what is that?”

“A short story.” 

“That should be no trouble for you, a freshman and already a member of the university newspaper.”

 “The thing is: it has to meet some weird requirements and I was thinking I could use you as an inspiration for my main character?”

“Yeah. Just don’t give the poor guy an overly tragic death, ok?”

David nodded as a cup was placed in front of him. Jack was served immediately after and then, his world could be summarized to that slightly stained, chipped porcelain cup.

“You should at least try your drink”, David suggested. “It will get cold.”

“Oh”, Jack shook his head, now passing his gaze to David. He had a gulp of his coffee, perfectly made, as Race said it would be. “Do you have a plot for the story?”

“Kinda. I know what I want to explore, I just don’t know how.”

“Tell me about it. That might help.”

As David recited the concepts he had in mind, Jack noticed how his elbows leaned against the plywood table.

I wonder if he’ll think it’s rude if I do a quick sketch.

“What are you drawing?”

“It’s… hum… your character”, he finished the hair, parted in the middle, like David said. “See?”

“Wow!”, he stared at the small page. “It looks great! I love what you did with his hair.”

“You can use it to illustrate your story if you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’ll give me an excuse to use the graphics tablet my mom’s friend got me.”

“Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it”, Jack wiped the air in front of him.

“Sorry guys, but I need you to leave”, the waitress approached them, followed by a tall, bald man (probably her manager). “We are about to close.”

“Oh, ok. Sorry”, said Jack, getting up. “How much do we owe you?”

Jack insisted on paying for the whole bill — he also left a generous tip. After all, he was the one who did the inviting.

“After you, good sir”, David held the door open.

“Aren’t they the cutest?”, the guy whispered  at the girl’s ear a second before the door was closed.

“I know, right?”

#newsiesminibang24 #Newsies #92ies #Javey #Livesies #Art student!Jack #Journalism Student!David #David Jacobs x Jack Kelly #Sarah Jacobs x Katherine Pulitzer #Sarah Jacobs x Katherine Plumber #Friends to Lovers #Rugby player!Jack #Both Jack and David love coffee #Mutual Pining #Fluff #omg they were roommates

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 3: THE UNDERWORLD SENDS ME A PRANK CALL

Happy Halloween! What a perfectly spooky chapter to kickstart this book!

We have been getting so much Disney PJO stuff I have not been able to put this fic down even though I usually read more on my off times than write. I have chapters predone! I am so excited for this!

Which you still don't get to read until every Monday!

PJOPJOPJO

Alex snatched the book away and ignored the slightly sticky feeling of Magnus's jam fingers lingering on there and how he kind of wanted to sniff it to see what flavor it was as he loudly yelled the new title.

"Why does it not surprise me Bart Simpson made it to hell," Percy nodded, chewing thoughtfully on his pen cap and looking at Nico for what could be going on. The splitting headache he immediately got for this effort quickly made that no fun at all.

"My question is does Percy fall for it?" Thalia was already giving him a tragic look of disappointment. "Please don't tell me you cut up a refrigerator because a shadow made you jump."

Alex waited for the snickering to subside before he started reading, it really was something to be patient for.

Nothing caps off the perfect morning like a long taxi ride with an angry girl.

"You didn't summon the blind ladies again did you?" Magnus looked queasy at just the thought.

"We weren't in as big a hurry as last time," Percy promised, rubbing his stomach at the reminder. "Annabeth gave me the same filthy look though like I stole their eyeball and we were speeding half the time while I clutched my seatbelt, so really, it wasn't that different. Made me miss Tyson."

"I'll scream random numbers at you if you like, really dig home that sense of Deja vu," Alex offered.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Percy promised.

I tried to talk to Annabeth, but she was acting like I'd just punched her grandmother.

"Rhea's done nothing to deserve that Percy," Will snorted, "or would it be Hera?" He muttered with his own cross-eyed look for trying to figure out which would get the title in this case.

"In some versions, Athena doesn't even have a mother, so Annabeth can't even be mad at him for punching someone who doesn't exist," Nico agreed.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about this!" Percy clutched at his ears in instant denial of how weird everything they said was.

"You brought it up," Thalia sided with them. "I'm personally more along the lines of laughing at you tracking down Dr. Chase's mom and punching her for not being around her grandkids enough."

"Next time, I'll think to myself where nobody else should hear, she was acting like I'd punched her best friend," Percy said triumphantly.

"Percy," Jason frowned in concern, "that's you. Why would you punch yourself in the face?"

"Argh," Percy bowed his head in defeat and Alex took pity on him and decided to keep going, despite how curious he was to see how deep Percy could keep digging himself.

All I managed to get out of her was that she'd had a monster infested spring in San Francisco; she'd come back to camp twice since Christmas but wouldn't tell me why (which kind of ticked me off, because she hadn't even told me she was in New York);

Magnus tried his best not to look accusingly at Percy, as Percy instantly shifted to his own concern and promised, "I found out about this in front of Sacks, I swear I didn't know. I sort of wanted a sack on my head when she told me."

Nobody bothered to laugh at the stupid joke, their worry for Annabeth clearly having hidden at least some of her hardships from Percy didn't make anyone feel better.

Percy sunk back into his seat bending his pen, his stomach rumbling for popcorn he'd deny himself now. Would she have told him, during the credits of the movie as they laughed about having put to much salt on their snack? Would she have given him details as they went back to his place, tried to stop denying how little she fit into the mortal world? His mom would have invited her in, just like always, and Annabeth would have inhaled blue cookies until Paul came over for dinner.

It was supposed to feel perfect.

and she'd learned nothing about the whereabouts of Nico di Angelo (long story).

"Am I?" Nico asked blankly, his mind to awash with shock that Percy was actually still looking for him at all. Especially six months later! He would have thought his name wouldn't pop up again until Geryon's farm at minimum.

"Took a whole book to explain it to me, and there's still plenty I didn't get," Percy shrugged, still staring at him kind of strangely like he half expected Nico to spontaneously start getting hearts in his eyes or something. "I still don't even know who this is supposed to be narrated to!" He finished in loud exasperation to the ocean in general.

Will bit down on his lip hard to stop himself asking Nico if he was okay. He didn't look it. He still had a dazed kind of expression like something was in his eye. Will certainly hadn't forgotten him, but then, he'd always done his best to never forget any kid that passed through camp. Jay Martin had loved to stitch and embroidered a beautiful flag for the Hermes cabin, Rory Wayler had loved swimming, Nico Di Angelo had loved Mythomagic, the list went on and on...

"Any word on Luke?" I asked.

She shook her head. I knew this was a touchy subject for her. Annabeth had always admired Luke, the former head counselor for Hermes who had betrayed us and joined the evil Titan Lord Kronos. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew she still liked him. When we'd fought Luke on Mount Tamalpais last winter, he'd somehow survived a fifty-foot fall off a cliff. Now, as far as I knew, he was still sailing around on his demon-infested cruise ship while his chopped-up Lord Kronos re-formed, bit by bit, in a golden sarcophagus, biding his time until he had enough power to challenge the Olympian gods.

"And you said I was a long story," Nico said, clearly unimpressed. "I could have summed up my shit twice as fast as that." He held up one finger, "find kids at boarding school," second finger that was suspiciously out of line, "leave one kid at camp," third finger, "Nico's sister went on quest with me and didn't come back," pinky finger, "now I think Nico wants me dead." He looked around at Percy daring him to contradict him. It was weirdly freeing and morbidly funny Percy was gazing back at him with a twitching mouth. He'd always thought he'd want to melt into the shadows permanently if Percy ever laughed at him, now here he was inviting it.

"You got me Nico," Percy chuckled, "Luke was just more worrisome and much more trouble, definitely needed more context for whichever idiot decided to pick up a book with a four on it first."

"I think you're important enough to get a paragraph Nico," Will grinned. "I think you should get a whole book next."

"Don't even joke about that," Nico looked at him in tragic betrayal.

In demigod-speak, we call this a "problem."

"I'm sure mortals would call that a problem too," Magnus assured from his end. "Nine out of ten things you ever come across would be a major problem."

"Your mom's the exception," Alex added helpfully like Percy had missed that.

"Yeah, I accept that," Percy sighed.

"Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters," Annabeth said. "I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

"Does she have a GPS tracker on him?" Thalia asked mildly. "Is she not sharing that information?" She could never mock her little sister about this to her face, but Annabeth wasn't here and that was a silly thing to say.

"I'm sure she has a wise ass answer for you that involves troops coagulating-"

"Congregating," Magnus sighed.

"-and weather patterns," Percy shrugged, but he didn't look much happier at Annabeth claiming that.

That didn't make me feel much better. "What about Grover?"

"He's at camp," she said. "We'll see him today."

"Why does she know more about what's going on with your best friend than you?" Jason frowned.

"He's not as good having drachma on him for IM'ing," Percy frowned, "he loses his pants to much. At least I'd probably know if he was in real trouble," he tapped the side of his head uneasily. He still got random cravings for cheese enchiladas and smiled delightedly at flowers growing through cracks in the sidewalk like he never had before his empathy link, so he was sure that was still working fine.

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?"

Annabeth fingered her bead necklace, the way she does when she's worried.

"You'll see," she said. But she didn't explain.

"That's a bad habit of hers," Magnus huffed.

"It doesn't seem very wise to constantly not be telling you everything!" Alex was mostly mocking but also annoyed about it too.

"It's a good thing she has a whole personality outside of her parent then," Percy rolled his eyes at them.

As we headed through Brooklyn, I used Annabeth's phone to call my mom. Half-bloods try not to use cell phones if we can avoid it, because broadcasting our voices is like sending up a flare to the monsters: Here I am! Please eat me now!

"I want to know who pays for that subscription now, her dad or Chiron?" Jason asked with a weird mix of concern for whoever it was. He felt like both meant well and were just inviting trouble.

"I'm going to call crap on this entire gaslighting community if Percy isn't attacked by a monster by the time he gets to camp," Alex said, completely nonplussed. "First Rachel name drops a bunch of monsters in the gym which is a no-no, now this, I think someone somewhere just started lying to make things more complicated to you guys and nobody's gotten to the truth of it yet."

"An investigation I'm sure we can gladly sick Annabeth on," Will snorted.

But I figured this call was important. I left a message on our home voice mail, trying to explain what had happened at Goode. I probably didn't do a very good job. I told my mom I was fine, she shouldn't worry, but I was going to stay at camp until things cooled down. I asked her to tell Paul Blofis I was sorry.

Percy breathed deeply through his nose and let it out slowly through his mouth. He owed his mom so much more than a sorry. If Paul even answered the phone he imagined any number of hurtful things he could say to his mom about her delinquent son and things would end so badly because she defended him. Days like this he wished his mom had abandoned him at camp, she really would have been better off.

"Percy?" Magnus asked in concern. He knew that guilt ridden look the scarce few times he'd been in front of a mirror.

It drew everyone's attention though, and Percy really didn't want to hear a bunch of nice claims like his mom loved him and didn't regret it. He knew that, but it wasn't making him feel better.

"Mmm, yeah," Percy agreed, "just hoping Alex is wrong and we don't attract monsters." He made an impatient movement to keep the reading going.

We rode in silence after that. The city melted away until we were off the expressway and rolling through the countryside of northern Long Island, past orchards and wineries and fresh produce stands.

Will smiled to himself, remembering the first time he'd come through this way on the back of a swan. The sun had just been starting to rise, and he'd been so pleasantly surprised and in awe to see how beautiful this landscape was after his ride had skirted all of those huge never ending buildings of the city.

I stared at the phone number Rachel Elizabeth Dare had scrawled on my hand. I knew it was crazy, but I was tempted to call her. Maybe she could help me understand what the empousa had been talking about—the camp burning, my friends imprisoned. And why had Kelli exploded into flames?

"Annabeth stops talking to you for five minutes and you want to decompress with a mortal?" Jason didn't sound insulting, just very dubious of how helpful that would really be.

"You met her," Percy needlessly reminded, "she's got this, this way of making you think she knows what's going on."

Jason nodded in agreement to that, she had a powerful aura to her.

I knew monsters never truly died. Eventually—maybe weeks, months, or years from now—

"Or in Percy's luck, five minutes later," Will oh so helpfully inserted.

"Thank you Will, we all so needed that reminder," he sighed.

Kelli would re-form out of the primordial nastiness seething in the Underworld. But still, monsters didn't usually let themselves get destroyed so easily. If she really was destroyed.

The taxi exited on Route 25A. We headed through the woods along the North Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on our left. Annabeth told the driver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

The driver frowned. "There ain't nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?"

"Yes, please," Annabeth handed him a roll of mortal cash, and the driver decided not to argue.

"I need a book of excuses for when they do argue though," Alex's twitching lips already promised he was making up his own anyway.

"Bad ass scavenger hunt," Magnus said off the top of his head.

"The forest is haunted and I'm out here scrying for attention," Thalia smirked.

"My camp is on the other side, but it's invitation only," Jason said in a very posh voice.

"I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," Percy snickered.

"This is the only place my mom lets me have band practice," Will chuckled.

Nico almost waited a beat to long. Nobody sat around and watched everybody else to see if someone had something to say before they kept on reading, especially not Alex. But the goofy thought sprung to mind, and he made himself say it before it was just interrupting and out of context. "Secret nerd convention. That sends most people running."

"All highly acceptable answers I will be stealing," Alex nodded his thanks.

Annabeth and I hiked to the crest of the hill. The young guardian dragon was dozing,

"Because that's still just a casual thing," Magnus rolled his eyes. He wondered if Zoe had spent her spare time there up cuddling with Peleus while missing Ladon.

coiled around the pine tree, but he lifted his coppery head as we approached and let Annabeth scratch under his chin. Steam hissed out his nostrils like from a teakettle, and he went cross-eyed with pleasure.

Magnus's heart did melt quite a bit hearing that though. He smiled hopefully this was the only dragon he'd have to hear about from now on. At least he sounded like a cute, friendly one.

"Hey, Peleus," Annabeth said. "Keeping everything safe?"

The last time I'd seen the dragon he'd been six feet long. Now he was at least twice that, and as thick around as the tree itself. Above his head, on the lowest branch of the pine tree, the Golden Fleece shimmered, its magic protecting the camp's borders from invasion. The dragon seemed relaxed, like everything was okay. Below us, Camp Half-Blood looked peaceful— green fields, forest, shiny white Greek buildings. The four-story farmhouse we called the Big House sat proudly in the midst of the strawberry fields. To the north, past the beach, the Long Island Sound glittered in the sunlight.

Still...something felt wrong. There was tension in the air, as if the hill itself were holding its breath, waiting for something bad to happen.

"I've been doing that since we wound up down here," Magnus promised.

"Same," Nico muttered.

"Liars," Alex scoffed, "you two would have passed out by now, nobody can hold their breath that long."

"You got them Alex," Will chuckled while Magnus and Nico exchanged exasperated looks.

We walked down into the valley and found the summer session in full swing. Most of the campers had arrived last Friday, so I already felt out of it.

"You have still yet to get to camp at any normal time," Jason said in fascination. "At this rate I'd believe you not getting expelled before you wound up there first day with nothing bad going on."

Percy wanted to argue the point, and knew he couldn't.

The satyrs were playing their pipes in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow with woodland magic. Campers were having flying horseback lessons, swooping over the woods on their pegasi. Smoke rose from the forges, and hammers rang as kids made their own weapons for Arts & Crafts.

The Athena and Demeter teams were having a chariot race around the track, and over at the canoe lake some kids in a Greek trireme were fighting a large orange sea serpent. A typical day at camp.

"Why is it orange?" Alex squinted suspiciously. "Was it there first and that's why you picked your camp colors?"

"One of my siblings actually put it in there last weekend," Will shrugged. "Lee was betting Michael he couldn't shoot the sucker off a squid for some reason, but they still had to drag it back to the ocean when they were done."

"I need to talk to Clarisse," Annabeth said.

I stared at her as if she'd just said I need to eat a large, smelly boot.

"Finding Clarisse is kind of like that," Will agreed. "You're usually left wondering why she's there, where did she come from, and how do I get her to go back."

"I hope Annabeth at least tried to add hot sauce to it," Alex snorted.

"What for?"

Clarisse from the Ares cabin was one of my least favorite people.

"Like on a scale of one to ten, how does she rank compared to her dad, and Luke, and that smelly old guy you're convinced is dead on the back of a bus?" Alex asked clinically.

Percy honestly deliberated with himself for a moment before saying, "the smelly guy wins with a three, he's at least quiet and doesn't belch, then Clarisse is a four."

"Good to know for future notice," Alex grinned.

She was a mean, ungrateful bully. Her dad, the war god, wanted to kill me. She tried to beat me to a pulp on a regular basis. Other than that, she was just great.

"And she loves toilets," Jason smirked, "why do you never mention that?"

"Because I'd like to forget about it!" Percy groaned.

"Oh, well, that's not happening," Jason scoffed.

"We've been working on something," Annabeth said. "I'll see you later."

"Are you guys installing another deadly game?" Magnus looked very weary of what this team up could cause. "Giant chess that kills people? Monster simulators?"

"Those sound awesome," Percy grinned.

Magnus looked like Will could stitch the word dread into his forehead.

"Working on what?"

Annabeth glanced toward the forest.

"I'll tell Chiron you're here," she said. "He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

"What hearing?"

But she jogged down the path toward the archery field without looking back.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Great talking with you, too."

Jason looked like he was trying to eat that mangey old boot named Clarisse. "One of these days we're going to have to strap Annabeth to a chair and make her hear what we've been through with all this cryptic nonsense."

Percy looked like he was deeply considering it himself and Thalia swallowed her own horror at how that could possibly go.

As I made my way through camp, I said hi to some of my friends.

Percy waited for the crack from any of them, their mock shock that he even had friends. It didn't come. Of the two most likely to do so, Alex was reading eagerly for details, probably waiting for something to explode, and Jason had that mystified look on his face like someone said a pink elephant was just casually flying around like usual whenever his Camp was first described. Percy couldn't wait for these books to be done so he could just casually see them around camp too.

In the Big House's driveway, Connor and Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin were hot-wiring the camps SUV. Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, waved at me from her Pegasus as she flew past. I looked for Grover, but I didn't see him. Finally I wandered into the sword arena, where I usually go when I'm in a bad mood. Practicing always calms me down.

"You only mentioned four friends," Jason snorted, "when are you going to do a roll call of the whole place?"

"I'm not a psychopath who keeps count of these things," Percy sighed.

Maybe that's because swordplay is one thing I can actually understand.

"I'm very disappointed Annabeth apparently hasn't sat you down and taught you the physics and fluid dynamics behind sword fighting now," Magnus grinned.

"I know where you sleep," Percy jabbed at the rooms beyond, "you will not put that idea in her head!"

Magnus didn't think it so funny, since Percy would have to hunt him down in the streets when they got back to follow through on the threat, but he didn't know that.

I walked into the amphitheater and my heart almost stopped. In the middle of the arena floor, with its back to me, was the biggest hellhound I'd ever seen.

Percy's heart bounced around in his chest like a rubber ball ricocheting off each rib. That dog- hellhound!... he knew...her? His hand wasn't even trying to reach for his pocket now, he just sat looking at the book with a strange expression on his face like someone was trying to describe a giraffe to him.

I mean, I've seen some pretty big hellhounds. One the size of a rhino tried to kill me when I was twelve. But this hellhound was bigger than a tank. I had no idea how it had gotten past the camp's magic boundaries.

Will vividly remembered when Quintus had first had her over the property line. She'd been in the shadows of the forest, just glowing red eyes this stranger was promising them all was a harmless girl. Then Quintus had opened a jar of peanut butter, and she'd come bounding out, tail wagging like a fighter engine's propeller. The jar got stuck on her tongue as she tried to lap it all up at once.

The Stoll's had laughed, Katie had squealed and made apples fall on everyone's head, and Clarisse's eyes had gleamed with a challenge as she went for her spear; before Quintus began scratching her ears and promising them all she was a harmless softie and his pet as her tail felled trees around them making dryads pop out and shriek in shock.

Most of the kids scattered and locked their doors that night, one girl who everybody swore was a child of Echidna asked if she could rub Mrs. O'Leary's belly. It hadn't even been a blip in their life by next week honestly.

It looked right at home, lying on its belly, growling contentedly as it chewed the head off a combat dummy. It hadn't noticed me yet, but if I made a sound, I knew it would sense me. There was no time to go for help. I pulled out Riptide and uncapped it.

Nico winced. He knew it was silly and obviously didn't work, but he was fond of Mrs. O'Leary. She was Percy's dog, but still one of the very few animals who actively liked him whether he wanted her to or not, and he really could summon her down here or wherever he wanted and she'd most likely come, if he wasn't worried about her drowning.

"Yaaaaah!" I charged.

"I should not make a noise while attacking this monster or it will kill me," Alex raised one hand, then leveled the other palm up, "I shall scream like a lunatic while lunging to attack it," he began moving both up and down like scales. "Makes perfect sense to me!"

"Battle reflexes," Percy said with almost a straight face.

I brought down the blade on the monster's enormous backside when out of nowhere another sword blocked my strike.

CLANG!

The hellhound pricked up its ears. "WOOF!"

I jumped back and instinctively struck at the swordsman—a gray-haired man in Greek armor. He parried my attack with no problem.

"That's not the guy who trained Luke, is it," Jason shifted around in distress who this new guy was who could also immediately keep up with Percy.

"Luke learned with me on the streets, no finer tutor," Thalia grimly corrected. It was the kind of learn or die technique that Percy still didn't have as much training in as them. "This is someone else." She wasn't looking forward to hear the tale of Daedalus, a story that had made Annabeth flinch through the majority of the retelling with scant details.

"Whoa there!" he said. "Truce!"

"You're a very lucky guy Percy," Magnus promised him, "there's not many people who wouldn't decide to murder you for attacking their dog."

Percy still looked a little to dumbfounded somebody was defending that massive monster to respond, but he had no heart to argue even if he could. He'd still never drawn his pen, let alone his sword in here, he'd instinctively been surprised at his past self wanting to attack her.

"WOOF!" The hellhound's bark shook the arena.

"That's a hellhound!" I shouted.

"Was she having an identity crisis?" Alex asked in mock concern. "Did she think she was a harpy? That's not really for you to decide Percy."

He threw his hands up in exasperation already. There really was no point arguing that one.

"She's harmless," the man said. "That's Mrs. O'Leary."

Alex smacked his lips together a couple times as he thought about that one. "That's an acceptable name," he decided, leaving the rest of them now vaguely concerned what he considered their names.

"Never understood why people name their pet Mrs. or Mr. anything," Magnus admitted, "who are they married to? Why are we being proper to the critter that licks its junk?"

"Gender affirming care," Alex said in that weirdly serious way where you weren't actually sure if he was messing with you or not. Then he kept reading like nothing had happened.

I blinked. "Mrs. O'Leary?"

At the sound of her name, the hellhound barked again. I realized she wasn't angry. She was excited. She nudged the soggy, badly chewed target dummy toward the swordsman.

"Aw, I think she wants to play fetch," Jason looked like he had a very bright light shining in his eyes. How did this camp manage to get weirder every time he heard of it? They now had pet hellhounds running around. Between her and Percy's brother the cyclops this place seemed like an oasis...so why did it always sound so unwelcome to him?

"Good girl," the man said. With his free hand he grabbed the armored manikin by the neck and heaved it toward the bleachers. "Get the Greek! Get the Greek!"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded after her prey and pounced on the dummy, flattening its armor. She began chewing on its helmet.

"That's a very good trick," Will nodded along. "I'm sure it won't come in handy for anything."

"It's a good thing you never wear armor so she can't confuse you," Nico smirked.

"I slip her her favorite treat, nobody else realizes she loves apples," Will grinned, before he made an exaggerated 'oops' face and put his hand against his mouth.

Nico smiled back at this oddball, his sense of humor was so strange and Nico always wanted to keep watching for more.

The swordsman smiled dryly. He was in his fifties, I guess, with short gray hair and a clipped gray beard. He was in good shape for an older guy.

He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over an orange camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo, but before I could make out what it was, he shifted his armor straps and the mark disappeared under his collar.

Percy rubbed uncomfortably at the spot on himself, his brain unpleasantly informing him to remember that. He wished his brain would shut up with its unhelpful advice.

"Mrs. O'Leary is my pet," he explained. "I couldn't let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might have scared her."

"I hope she doesn't pee the floor when she gets scared," Thalia said, "because guess who would have to clean it up."

Percy debated for a moment if it was worth getting the oracle so pissed at him again it would go for another midnight stroll to this place instead. He could blame someone getting the piss scared out of them instead and be exempt.

"Who are you?"

"Promise not to kill me if I put my sword away?"

"I guess."

"Still on track with Percy nearly killing every person he's met," Jason muttered.

"And you were surprised he wasn't listing off a dozen friends," Thalia snorted.

He sheathed his sword and held out his hand. "Quintus."

"His name means five?" Jason's lips twitched in amusement. "Most half-bloods are an only child, but I really hope this guys parents got tired of coming up with names after the fourth kid and just went with that."

Alex threw his head back laughing and Percy shook his head as he grinned along.

I shook his hand. It was as rough as a sandpaper.

"Percy Jackson," I said. "Sorry about—How did you, um—"

"Get a hellhound for a pet? Long story, involving many close calls with death and quite a few giant chew toys.

"That was not much of an explanation," Alex looked hurt this guy hadn't launched off into an instruction manual of how to get his own.

"He's not much of a good story teller," Nico said sardonically. "I can find a pup later, if you really want to raise one." He'd spoken without thinking, he'd gone so long in here with no one freaking out over his mere presence being a death sentence, let alone a casual gesture that was meant as no threat.

By the time he braced himself for Alex to scream about strangling him for summoning a monster, he was already smiling in delight like Nico had just offered him his own close shave with death and a few giant chew toys.

I'm the new sword instructor, by the way.

"There was an old sword instructor?" Magnus asked wearily, already knowing he wasn't going to love this insane story.

"Nope," Will shrugged, "unless you counted, um," he stopped and didn't finish, but a name hung oddly in the air that rhymed with fluke. "No official teachers aside from Chiron," he finished all in a rush.

Alex leaned close to Magnus and murmured, "this place can't keep a competent adult anymore than Percy can stay in school. Ten bucks says he's dead by the end of this summer."

Magnus smiled and laughed just because that's what he was supposed to do. It's not like he could honor giving over a measly ten dollars on the silly wager.

Helping out Chiron while Mr. D is away."

"He's gone?" Percy, Alex, Magnus, and Jason all yelped in varying degrees of shock and pleasure.

"Away," Will corrected with a sigh. "Temporary," he emphasized, not looking particularly pleased.

"Last time he left was because of that winter solstice thing though," Magnus looked far from pleased at this temporary great news. "What could be so important Zeus would lift his punishment again?"

Percy leaned forward anxiously in his seat for that answer too, he knew it probably wasn't a good one.

"Oh." I tried not to stare as Mrs. O'Leary ripped off the target dummy's shield with the arm still attached and shook it like a Frisbee. "Wait, Mr. D is away?"

"You know, that's fair Percy," Will said, "anybody would find that distracting no matter the news." It would have been more believable if Will had said that while trying to stifle a laugh, but Percy appreciated the attempt anyways.

"Yes, well...busy times. Even Dionysus must help out. He's gone to visit some old friends. Make sure they're on the right side. I probably shouldn't say more than that."

Magnus didn't seem to find that answer all that cracked up. "Does he get them drunk and promise them free trips to the casino if they stay on his side of the war?" The wine god couldn't get through a conversation without wanting to kill half his charges, what was he out there doing trying to be a liaison?

"Mr. D wasn't born a god," Thalia informed. "He's a younger god, and as such he has pull with quite a few who fit into that category. Others like Artemis were talking with the older gods, each had their own whom they connected with and tried to find out their position. Athena was the one to talk Zeus into using all those at his disposal."

Jason was in awe of her having a goddesses first hand account of even the most brief meeting like that. The instinct kicked in of trying to scold himself, that wasn't information he should be privy to and he should have just reminded Magnus the gods knew what they were doing. The idea lingered less and less the more of this he heard. 

If Dionysus was gone, that was the best news I'd had all day. He was only our camp director because Zeus had sent him here as a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph. He hated the campers and tried to make our lives miserable. With him away, this summer might actually be cool. On the other hand, if Dionysus had gotten off his butt and actually started helping the gods recruit against the Titan threat, things must be looking pretty bad.

"It's good to hear you think of both sides, that's a great skill Percy," Jason sounded pleased, but also just as exhausted as Percy felt about the duality of this situation.

Off to my left, there was a loud BUMP. Six wooden crates the size of picnic tables were stacked nearby, and they were rattling. Mrs. O'Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them.

"Whoa, girl!" Quintus said. "Those aren't for you." He distracted her with the bronze shield Frisbee.

"I really hope those aren't for me either," Percy said like he really hoped somebody would toss the book like a frisbee and he could run around without a care in the world, for once.

The crates thumped and shook. There were words printed on the sides, but with my dyslexia they took me a few minutes to decipher:

TRIPLE G RANCH

"What do the G's stand for?" Magnus asked wearily, already knowing the results could range anywhere from gross to gore.

He got silence.

"Guys, what do the G's stand for?" Magnus repeated a tad more urgently.

"Enjoy your ignorance while it lasts," was all Nico would finally answer.

FRAGILE

THIS END UP

Along the bottom, in smaller letters: OPEN WITH CARE. TRIPLE G RANCH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE, MAIMING, OR EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL DEATHS.

Magnus slumped into his seat and groaned as if that maiming was happening to him just hearing about it. "I hate this guy," he already decided, "I don't care if there are bunnies in that box, nothing bought from a ranch that big is going to be good!"

"I'm sort of hoping it's chickens," Alex grinned, "I want to see someone get the great idea about Jurassic Park gone wrong."

"Well I know who I'm never going to vote to be the next sword instructor," Percy frowned at the horror Alex would wrought with one second of power.

"Don't be ridiculous Percy, I don't use a sword," he scoffed.

"What's in the boxes?" I asked.

"A little surprise," Quintus said. "Training activity for tomorrow night. You'll love it."

"I don't believe him," Thalia mock whispered.

"We don't have to be best friends to agree with that," Percy groaned.

"Uh, okay," I said, though I wasn't sure about the "excruciatingly painful death" part.

"Is there a way to be okay with that part?" Nico snorted. He could cause it with ease and he wasn't actively 'okay' with it either.

"Healthy coping mechanisms?" Will didn't sound so sure though.

Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O'Leary lumbered after it.

"You young ones need more challenges. They didn't have camps like this when I was a boy."

Alex curled his lips around his teeth and imitated a wizened old man voice, "back in my day!" He even mock waved a cane around for a second.

"Yeah," Percy snickered along, "I bet he had to write on stone tablets and walk five miles up hill both ways to go to school in the snow."

"You—you're a half-blood?" I didn't mean to sound surprised, but I'd never seen an old demigod before.

"I think that's more sad than anything," Thalia frowned, even as she tried to imagine it herself. Luke was one of the rare few who didn't get immortality as a teenager and almost got to twenty.

Quintus chuckled. "Some of us do survive into adulthood, you know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies."

"No, I didn't know that," Percy said grumpily. It certainly exploded his brain for a second before he caught up with the rest of what Quintus had said. "Wait, does everybody know about my prophecy?"

"It's the worst kept secret at camp," Will agreed, "right up there with who smuggles in the good stuff and who's dating who."

"Great," Percy groaned.

"You know about my prophecy?"

"I've heard a few things."

I wanted to ask what few things, but just then Chiron clip-clopped into the arena. "Percy, there you are!"

He must've just come from teaching archery. He had a quiver and bow slung over his #1 CENTAUR T-shirt. He'd trimmed his curly brown hair and beard for the summer, and his lower half, which was a white stallion, was flecked with mud and grass.

"Look at you playing detective over here," Jason grinned.

"He does have good powers of perception," Thalia agreed with an eye roll, she'd still like it if those would stop being used on trivial details like Chiron's activities and more on getting a clue in social situations.

"I see you've met our new instructor." Chiron's tone was light, but there was an uneasy look in his eyes.

"Because of Quintus?" Magnus asked wearily, "or because of what he needs you for?"

"When I find out I'll let you know," Percy squirmed in his seat just as uneasily for whatever the answer was. He hadn't even gotten to hack up a dummy, Mrs. O'Leary had slobbered on all the good ones.

"Quintus, do you mind if I borrow Percy?"

"Not at all, Master Chiron."

"No need to call me 'Master'," Chiron said, though he sounded sort of pleased.

Will looked a little chagrined he'd never thought to call him that, meanwhile Percy raised an unimpressed brow at anyone saying that.

"Come, Percy. We have much to discuss."

I took one more glance at Mrs. O'Leary, who was now chewing off the target dummy's legs.

"Hopefully not foreshadowing," Jason twitched and hoped that hellhound was as well trained as the swordsman.

"If it is, a shadow traveling monster would be the culprit," Percy agreed, but the words sounded all wrong on his tongue. Yet his unease for this introduction somehow all still lingered.

He didn't notice, as usual, Nico wincing at Percy calling his powers weird.

"Well, see you," I told Quintus.

As we were walking away, I whispered to Chiron, "Quintus seemed kind of—"

"Mysterious?" Chiron suggested. "Hard to read?"

"Yeah."

Chiron nodded. "A very qualified half-blood. Excellent swordsman, I just wish I understood..."

"You could feed Chiron this book and he'd spit out less horse shit," Alex scowled.

"At least he seems better than Tantalus," but Magnus knew that bar was pathetically low, and Quintus would probably still trip on it.

Whatever he was going to say, he apparently changed his mind.

"First things first, Percy. Annabeth told me you met some empousai."

"Yeah." I told him about the fight at Goode, and how Kelli had exploded into flames.

"Mm," Chiron said. "The more powerful ones can do that. She did not die, Percy. She simply escaped. It is not good that the she-demons are stirring."

"We were all well aware it's not good anything's stirring," Jason said from all the way back to that talk with Artemis.

"And we still haven't gotten any other kind of recipe," Percy agreed.

"What were they doing there?" I asked. "Waiting for me?"

"Possibly," Chiron frowned. "It is amazing you survived. Their powers of deception...almost any male hero would've fallen under their spell and been devoured."

"Almost any male hero," Alex looked extremely interested to test those limits.

"I didn't stop to ask about attracting the rainbow of it all, sorry Alex," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I would've been," I admitted. "Except for Rachel."

Chiron nodded. "Ironic to be saved by a mortal, yet we owe her a debt.

Thalia bit her lip against smiling. It turned into a pretty mutually beneficial relationship in the end.

What the empousa said about an attack on camp—we must speak of this further. But for now, come, we should get to the woods. Grover will want you there."

"Where?"

"At his formal hearing," Chiron said grimly. "The Council of Cloven Elders is meeting now to decide his fate."

Percy made such a loud groaning noise, the others checked the floor for any new cracks. "I've been back for hours and he's about to die, again! Can my best friend just go one time without almost dying!"

"Maybe they're voting on his fate over something less dramatic than his life," Magnus offered without much hope. "Like his coffee intake."

Percy didn't think he was right, but he gave him a nod of thanks all the same.

Chiron said we needed to hurry, so I let him give me a ride on his back.

"You let him!" Magnus went cross-eyed in wonder. "You just casually rode on the back of a centaur!" He couldn't even answer himself why this was so fascinating when he'd now known Chiron existed for days.

"It wasn't something I was comfortable with," Percy promised. He'd never even gotten a piggy back ride from anyone before, not counting the monster boar, and as far as he knew, nobody at Camp casually rode around on Chiron, so it wasn't something he'd ever wanted to do and stand out more.

As we galloped past the cabins, I glanced at the dining hall—an open-air Greek pavilion on a hill overlooking the sea. It was the first time I'd seen the place since last summer, and it brought back bad memories.

Nico cringed into his seat and gripped his sword.

Alex made a little huff noise and kept reading, just like that.

Percy did look at him this time though, and the expression was mingled pity with still plenty of weary concern. It wasn't the bright, shining acceptance he hated himself for wanting, but it wasn't murdery, 'can't take my eyes off your untrustworthy Underworld coat,' either, so Nico forced himself not to say anything too.

Chiron plunged into the woods. Nymphs peeked out of the trees to watch us pass. Large shapes rustled in the shadows—monsters that were stocked in here as a challenge to the campers.

"You really should just call it the Forbidden Forest, make it the epitome of obvious they want you guys to all vanish in the night," Magnus shook his head.

Percy looked interested in the idea while Will opened his mouth in a silent scream of even more kids going in there!

I thought I knew the forest pretty well after playing capture the flag here for two summers, but Chiron took me a way I didn't recognize, through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers.

"Percy, you haven't seen the half of that place," Thalia promised.

"The correct answer to that is, adventure time," Alex informed him.

Percy had to quickly wipe the smile off his face as his first thought had been, Exploring with Annabeth Time. The place would have made a fun picnic spot.

A bunch of satyrs were sitting in a circle in the grass. Grover stood in the middle, facing three really old, really fat satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes. I'd never seen the three old satyrs before, but I guessed they must be the Council of Cloven Elders.

Alex sounded very much like he was getting trampled by a goat. Percy knew he wouldn't have sounded much better, he didn't take well to authority, and now Grover was obviously in trouble for something he didn't do. Grover had an alibi, him!

Grover seemed to be telling them a story. He twisted the bottom of his Tshirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. He hadn't changed much since last winter, maybe because satyrs age half as fast as humans. His acne had flared up. His horns had gotten a little bigger so they just stuck out over his curly hair. I realized with a start that I was taller than he was now.

"Poor guy," Nico looked almost concerned, "he's already got enough troubles without taking years for a growth spurt."

"The horns were kind of cool, but yeah, would not want to be a satyr just for that," Percy nodded. 

It was a casual, silly little thing to agree on, but Nico still smiled in surprise there was a first that didn't make everything feel so tragically doomed. He'd already known they both liked Grover though, so he was probably being weird again.

Standing off to one side of the circle were Annabeth, another girl I'd never seen before, and Clarisse. Chiron dropped me next to them.

Clarisse's stringy brown hair was tied back with a camouflage bandanna. If possible, she looked even buffer, like she'd been working out. She glared at me and muttered, "Punk," which must've meant she was in a good mood. Usually she says hello by trying to kill me.

"Happy days!" Jason looked cheered at least. Maybe she was in a good enough mood she'd even tell what she'd been up to last winter and only slightly maim Percy by the end.

Annabeth had her arm around the other girl, who looked like she'd been crying. She was small—petite, I guess you'd call it—with wispy hair the color of amber and a pretty, elfish face. She wore a green chiton and laced sandals, and she was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "It's going terribly," she sniffled.

"No, no," Annabeth patted her shoulders. "He'll be fine, Juniper."

Annabeth looked at me and mouthed the words Grover's girlfriend.

"I've tried lip reading a couple times," Magnus looked at Percy in surprise. "I was curious how Hearth does it. It's harder than you'd think. That could have been anything from mowers year-land to going golf-fiend."

"I'll stick with my guess," Percy assured, even if the idea boggled his mind just as much as the other two options.

At least I thought that's what she said, but that didn't make any sense.

"Grover can't have a social life outside of you?" Thalia snorted in surprise. "He's been chasing tree nymphs since before you were born, one was bound to take pity on him." She was personally glad, it made his weird admiration of her and her sisters a lot more tame on at least one more satyr.

Grover with a girlfriend? Then I looked at Juniper more closely, and I realized her ears were slightly pointed. Her eyes, instead of being red from crying, were tinged green, the color of chlorophyll. She was a tree nymph— a dryad.

"Is that better or worse than a half-blood dating him?" Magnus asked curiously. "Is that even a thing?"

"Everything's a thing," Alex said with high confidence and great indifference to the answer as he kept reading before anyone could say otherwise.

"Master Underwood!" the council member on the right shouted, cutting off whatever Grover was trying to say. "Do you seriously expect us to believe this?"

"Yes!" Percy said robustly at once. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew his best friend wasn't a liar. Even when he needed to be.

"B-but Silenus," Grover stammered. "It's the truth!"

The Council guy, Silenus, turned to his colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them. I remembered he was an honorary member of the council, but I'd never thought about it much. The elders didn't look very impressive. They reminded me of the goats in a petting zoo—huge bellies, sleepy expressions, and glazed eyes that couldn't see past the next handful of goat chow. I wasn't sure why Grover seemed so nervous.

"You mouth off to gods," Jason reminded him in exasperation, "I feel like if I tried to explain the concept of an authority figure to you, you'd defenestrate me."

"Yes, yes I would, and I'm not even going to ask what that means," Percy nodded.

Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne. "Master Underwood, for six months—six months— we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak."

"Why is that, scandalous?" Magnus asked like he was missing the obvious. "Haven't they been looking for this guy since the dawn of time? Why are they not building him a thrown of orchids?"

"Don't know, but I hope that rosebush was stabbing his tail," Percy scowled.

"But I did!"

"Impudence!" said the elder on the left.

"Now, Maron," Chiron said. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to...to him."

Percy looked ready to storm up there and drown this guy in the saltiest goat feed he could find, but the bizarre mental image of that old goat eating his way out before he could manage flashed through his mind had him hesitating in here same as in that clearing so much Thalia didn't even have to give him a warning.

Juniper looked like she wanted to charge the old satyr and beat him up, but Annabeth and Clarisse held her back. "Wrong fight, girlie," Clarisse muttered. "Wait."

I don't know what surprised me more: Clarisse holding someone back from a fight, or the fact that she and Annabeth, who despised each other, almost seemed like they were working together.

"I always knew they'd make a badass team up," Jason looked in awe their powers combined were already saving a dryad, they could save the quest from the next disaster too.

"I have so many questions," Percy looked five sentences away from drilling his fingers into his skull in hopes something would make sense.

"For six months," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded.

"Nothing!" the elder in the middle chimed in. "You have found nothing."

"But, Leneus—"

Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs.

The satyrs didn't look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly.

"Master Underwood," Silenus announced, "we will give you one more chance."

"Is Chiron the voice of reason in every room he's in?" Will looked sort of disappointed he'd had to step in there. It was depressing to think how many satyr's had their dreams shattered before this moment.

Grover brightened. "Thank you!"

"One more week."

"Clearly he wasn't being loud enough!" Percy snapped.

"What? But sir! That's impossible!"

"One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing."

"I bet Grover would be great at both of those and still find Pan," Alex sniffed. "Can this Silenus say the same?" His tone very much doubted Silenus could get his hind off that throne.

"But sir, I—I can't lose my searcher's license. My whole life—"

"This meeting of the council is adjourned," Silenus said. "And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!"

Percy's lip was curling disturbingly, he looked about ready to find out what would happen if he fed a Council of Cloven Elders to Peleus.

The old satyr clapped his hands, and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and other goat delicacies.

The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food. Grover walked dejectedly toward us. His faded blue T-shirt had a picture of a satyr on it. It read GOT HOOVES?

"Don't get me started on milk propaganda, I will make somebody regret it," Alex huffed.

Magnus, as usual with everything that came out of Alex's mouth, was fascinated and wished he could ask what the hell that meant, but Percy looked like Thalia was holding onto his patience by an actual thread if someone didn't start answering some questions around here, so he filed that away for later.

"Hi, Percy," he said, so depressed he didn't even offer to shake my hand.

"No goat-bear- best friend hug?" Jason looked as dejected as Grover had been. This satyr, not fawn, had been fascinating to hear about from the start. The idea of finally meeting him and Grover being, just, a pest like the rest of those goats seemed gave him double vision.

"That went well, huh?"

"Those old goats!" Juniper said. "Oh, Grover, they don't know how hard you've tried!"

"There is another option," Clarisse said darkly.

"No. No." Juniper shook her head. "Grover, I won't let you."

Percy threw his hands up in frustration, he probably caused a wave to crash a few buildings above surface, and then just didn't have the restraint anymore and began pacing around behind Thalia and Jason. This was so frustrating constantly wondering what the hell was going on with his friends.

His face was ashen. "I—I'll have to think about it. But we don't even know where to look."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

In the distance, a conch horn sounded.

Percy hoped he never met who blew the conch horn or it would be lost at the bottom of the ocean.

Annabeth pursed her lips. "I'll fill you in later, Percy. We'd better get back to our cabins. Inspection is starting."

"If she tells me one more time she'll explain later, I will steal her architecture books," Percy assured.

"How did you two not kill each other," Thalia said in awe, watching him over her shoulder with interest.

"I have no idea, but at least I explain what's going on!"

"Sometimes too much," Nico muttered, he could do without the other constant, his loving adoration of her.

It didn't seem fair that I'd have to do cabin inspection when I just got to camp, but that's the way it worked. Every afternoon, one of the senior counselors came around with a papyrus scroll checklist. Best cabin got first shower hour, which meant hot water guaranteed. Worst cabin got kitchen patrol after dinner.

"What I want to know is how much bribery factors into this?" Alex grinned.

"That's the first thought out of your mouth?" Will tried so hard to look disappointed in him. "You hear of an honor ranking system that keeps all of us accountable to clean up after yourself, and your first thought is-"

"Oh stop Will," Nico rolled his eyes, "Connor learned how to hide stuff in the rafters from you, he told me."

"That wasn't trash, I needed that stuff later, for um, testing," he was fighting a losing battle not to laugh by the end.

Nico's eyes gleamed with a light that made his breath catch when Nico said, "and I will be entirely innocent when I make my trash vanish into the shadows, so we're all innocent aren't we?"

"Yes, ahem, that's the take away here," Will dragged his eyes back to Alex and decided that was enough sharing and joking for now or he'd cave and admit to offering Silena more than one signed addition of Chewbacca, mint condition in the box. For some reason she never accepted them as she went about the cabin, so technically he'd never bribed anyone.

The problem for me: I was usually the only one in the Poseidon cabin, and I'm not exactly what you would call neat. The cleaning harpies only came through on the last day of summer, so my cabin was probably just the way I'd left it on winter break: my candy wrappers and chip bags still on my bunk, my armor for capture the flag lying in pieces all around the cabin.

"I should be exempt from chores for that brief time, I was living through severe trauma," Percy clutched at his shirt and finally fell dramatically back into his seat, upside down.

"Your girlfriend was back in a week Jackson, and you had time to clean up before you went back for school," Jason scoffed as he waved him down.

"She's not my-" Percy tried again, but Alex was already ignoring his halfhearted attempt.

I raced toward the commons area, where the twelve cabins—one for each Olympian god—made a U around the central green. The Demeter kids were sweeping out theirs and making fresh flowers grow in their window boxes.

"Now that definitely feels like cheating," Magnus agreed with Percy's put out look.

"Until someone comes rushing in with fresh mulch," Will waved his hand under his nose, though he'd always thought that was a good look on Katie.

Just by snapping their fingers they could make honeysuckle vines bloom over their doorway and daisies cover their roof, which was totally unfair. I don't think they ever got last place in inspection. The guys in the Hermes cabin were scrambling around in a panic, stashing dirty laundry under their beds and accusing each other of taking stuff.

Will couldn't help a nostalgic chuckle about the time his cabin had received second to last place when he'd let Conner hide his clothes under his bed, only to find out later it wasn't all just Conner's. He'd probably gone overboard by washing them before returning them back, but it had felt like the kind, sanitary thing to do even when he'd scowled at all of Katie's stuff mixed in.

They were slobs, but they still had a head start on me.

Over at the Aphrodite cabin, Silena Beauregard was just coming out, checking items off the inspection scroll.

"That can't be fair," Thalia sided with Percy's tragic groan. "Inspection Barbie shouldn't get to review her own."

"Oh trust me, she's more strict on them than anyone, they hate it when she does," Will defended the bias.

I cursed under my breath. Silena was nice, but she was an absolute neat freak, the worst inspector. She liked things to be pretty. I didn't do "pretty." I could almost feel my arms getting heavy from all the dishes I would have to scrub tonight.

"Anything's good training if you've got enough lava?" Jason offered.

"I'll remember that when you ask me to train with you," Percy promised.

The Poseidon cabin was at the end of the row of "male god" cabins on the right side of the green. It was made of gray shell-encrusted sea rock, long and low like a bunker, but it had windows that faced the sea and it always had a good breeze blowing through it.

I dashed inside, wondering if maybe I could do a quick under-the-bed cleaning job like the Hermes guys, and I found my half-brother Tyson sweeping the floor.

Everybody did a double take at that, especially Percy who got the clashing mental image and fell fresh out of his seat.

"Percy!" he bellowed. He dropped his broom and ran at me. If you've never been charged by an enthusiastic Cyclops wearing a flowered apron and rubber cleaning gloves, I'm telling you, it'll wake you up quick.

"And I wasn't even asleep," Percy was rubbing at his heart doing double time. He wasn't even afraid of his brother, but some base instinct of his lizard brain had chosen flight over fight after seeing that, and he hadn't gotten the chance to act.

"Hey, big guy!" I said. "Ow, watch the ribs. The ribs."

I managed to survive his bear hug. He put me down, grinning like crazy, his single calf-brown eye full of excitement. His teeth were as yellow and crooked as ever, and his hair was a rat's nest. He wore ragged XXXL jeans and a tattered flannel shirt under his flowered apron, but he was still a sight for sore eyes. I hadn't seen him in almost a year, since he'd gone under the sea to work at the Cyclopes' forges.

"I'm hoping they didn't instill to many bad habits in him, like military cleanliness," Alex sniffed.

"What's wrong with that?" Jason frowned.

"I'm sure he just like's having a home for a change and is keeping up with it," Magnus said in a much gentler kind of way.

"You are okay?" he asked. "Not eaten by monsters?"

"Not even a little bit." I showed him that I still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson clapped happily.

"Yay!" he said. "Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!"

I hoped he didn't mean all at the same time,

"And here I was hoping the opposite," Alex sighed.

"I kind of thought that was on a banner for the camp somewhere," Magnus admitted.

but I told him absolutely, we'd have a lot of fun this summer. I couldn't help smiling, he was so enthusiastic about everything.

"But first," I said, "we've gotta worry about inspection. We should..."

Then I looked around and realized Tyson had been busy. The floor was swept.

"Yeah Percy, you walked in on him sweeping and in cleaning gear," Jason looked at him like he was out of his mind for not noticing this before the charging cyclops.

"I swear he wouldn't notice if Tyson were in a dress, big guy's a lot to take in at first," Thalia said in some defense of him.

The bunk beds were made. The saltwater fountain in the corner had been freshly scrubbed so the coral gleamed. On the windowsills, Tyson had set out water-filled vases with sea anemones and strange glowing plants from the bottom of the ocean, more beautiful than any flower bouquets the Demeter kids could whip up.

"Tyson, the cabin looks...amazing!"

He beamed. "See the fish ponies? I put them on the ceiling!"

A herd of miniature bronze hippocampi hung on wires from the ceiling, so it looked like they were swimming through the air. I couldn't believe Tyson, with his huge hands, could make things so delicate.

"One of the many great things about him, though his fascination with fish ponies is still my favorite," Alex assured. He personally still could not wait to meet Tyson to show off some of his pottery to someone with some level of skill.

Then I looked over at my bunk, and I saw my old shield hanging on the wall.

"You fixed it!"

The shield had been badly damaged in a manticore attack last winter. But now it was perfect again—not a scratch. All the bronze pictures of my adventures with Tyson and Annabeth in the Sea of Monsters were polished and gleaming.

I looked at Tyson. I didn't know how to thank him.

"And you're surprised?" Thalia chuckled at the wide smile so bright on his face, the first since he'd been back at camp, all just from his brother. "That look on your face was thanks enough I'm sure."

Percy glanced down at his wrist and saw the watch still wasn't there now, but hopefully it was just waiting for him back at his cabin like his brother.

Then somebody behind me said, "Oh, my."

Silena Beauregard was standing in the doorway with her inspection scroll.

"There's a floor in here!" Alex said in what he clearly thought was an approximation of Silena's voice.

"And it's polished," Percy sniffed in honor of Tyson, "and somehow peanut butter scented," he finished with his own perplexed mutter, hoping it was just his little brother eating a sandwich while taking out the trash and not some new cologne.

She stepped into the cabin, did a quick twirl, then raised her eyebrows at me.

"Well, I had my doubts. But you clean up nicely, Percy. I'll remember that."

She winked at me and left the room.

Alex wolf whistled, Percy blushed, and Thalia muttered, "gods am I glad Annabeth isn't here all of a sudden." The girl got quite jealous, and she didn't need Annabeth cursing over nothing.

Tyson and I spent the afternoon catching up and just hanging out, which was nice after a morning of getting attacked by demon cheerleaders.

Jason began ticking off on his fingers, "and having all my friends being annoyingly vague, and running into a mortal who gave me nightmares, and blowing up another school."

"Yeah, it's no wonder Tyson's the easy guy," Percy agreed with an exhausted sigh.

We went down to the forge and helped Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin with his metalworking. Tyson showed us how he'd learned to craft magic weapons. He fashioned a flaming double-bladed war axe so fast even Beckendorf was impressed.

"Setting aside how terrifying it is there's a whole forge of cyclops that can do that," Magnus began, "can Poseidon not just create all of that into existence if he needed them?"

"You are way overthinking this," Percy told him in exasperation. "They do have some limits, they can't just snap their fingers and reshape the world."

"Huh, good to know," Magnus said honestly.

While he worked, Tyson told us about his year under the sea. His eye lit up when he described the Cyclopes' forges and the palace of Poseidon,

Percy smiled through his jealousy of just how excited Tyson had been. Maybe one day when he did finally get to visit, Tyson would have so much fun showing him around they wouldn't stop smiling the whole day.

but he also told us how tense things were. The old gods of the sea, who'd ruled during Titan times, were starting to make war on our father. When Tyson had left, battles had been raging all over the Atlantic. Hearing that made me feel anxious, like I should be helping out,

"You cannot actually split yourself into multiple people," Thalia reminded him. "You would be down there and just as guilty you weren't back at camp helping with this big attack coming."

Percy looked wounded because she was entirely correct. Not even covering the fact he wasn't certain why he and his friends were currently trapped in the Titan Oceanus's palace.

but Tyson assured me that Dad wanted us both at camp.

"Lots of bad people above the sea, too," Tyson said. "We can make them go boom."

"Percy's number one talent," Jason nodded seriously, "I see he's spreading out his forces to great effect."

Percy knew he was kidding, and he still rolled his eyes.

After the forges, we spent some time at the canoe lake with Annabeth.

Percy took a deep breath, like he was trying to inhale that memory into him now. Traveling through the Sea of Monsters wasn't exactly a great moment in his life, but the memories were something he'd never want to lose again.

She was really glad to see Tyson, but I could tell she was distracted. She kept looking over at the forest, like she was thinking about Grover's problem with the council.

"Or thinking about revenge on those goats," Alex helpfully added. "I'm thinking we start with the fun house of mirrors and work our way up." Alex had made one to many jokes about some guy eating goats in here to ask what came next.

I couldn't blame her. Grover was nowhere to be seen, and I felt really bad for him. Finding the lost god Pan had been his lifelong goal. His father and his uncle had both disappeared following the same dream.

Last winter, Grover had heard a voice in his head: I await you—a voice he was sure belonged to Pan—but apparently his search had led nowhere. If the council took away his searcher's license now, it would crush him.

"I don't understand why he couldn't look without a license," Thalia scowled, "there's no goat police that's going to keep him in the system!"

Jason looked a little queasy at the idea of her blatant disregard of authority, and yet couldn't deny he'd still help Grover no matter how long his license was expired by.

"What's this 'other way'?" I asked Annabeth. "The thing Clarisse mentioned?"

She picked up a stone and skipped it across the lake.

"She's weirdly good at that too," Percy grinned. "She gets so mad when she can't beat me cause I'll get the water to help mine skip farther every time. I don't care it's cheating, do you know how often I beat her at something?"

He always spoke with this hyper, happy kind of way when he started talking about her, then concluded with a forlorn smile when he looked around the room and realized she wasn't here. The others chuckled for the silly little anecdote all the same even if it was a little sad.

"Something Clarisse scouted out. I helped her a little this spring. But it would be dangerous. Especially for Grover."

"Goat boy scares me," Tyson murmured.

I stared at him. Tyson had faced down fire-breathing bulls and sea monsters and cannibal giants. "Why would you be scared of Grover?"

"Hooves and horns," Tyson muttered nervously. "And goat fur makes my nose itchy."

And that pretty much ended our Grover conversation.

"No, no, no, no, no," Alex looked ready to continue the verbal abuse of that one word until Magnus hesitantly began patting his shoulder and Alex finally articulated, "we politely ask Tyson to go to another room and we explain to Percy what the heck has been going on while not traumatizing the innocent cyclops! Both are possible!"

"I didn't want to exclude him," Percy admitted, "so we started talking about my mom, they wanted an update on her."

"Tyson's appropriate fear of the satanic features of goats and his allergies aside," Jason frowned, "I'm on Alex's side, this has been teased since the last one, I don't know how you could stand it back then."

"Being constantly distracted was a forced help," Percy sighed. Being bunted from one situation to another with his friends often left him the last to know about any of them.

Before dinner, Tyson and I went down to the sword arena. Quintus was glad to have company. He still wouldn't tell me what was in the wooden crates, but he did teach me a few sword moves. The guy was good. He fought the way some people play chess—like he was putting all the moves together and you couldn't see the pattern until he made the last stroke and won with a sword at your throat.

"Who did this guy say his godly parent was?" Jason grinned at such strategic battle strategies.

"He didn't," Percy frowned. He might not even know, but there was something strange in that question Percy felt he knew the answer for.

"Good try," he told me. "But your guard is too low."

He lunged and I blocked.

"Have you always been a swordsman?" I asked.

He parried my overhead cut. "I've been many things."

"I'm still impressed he's lived long enough to grow facial hair," Percy muttered.

Thalia fought hard not to laugh at that, Percy might have an inkling of just how old Quintus is and she didn't want to encourage that line of thought.

He jabbed and I sidestepped. His shoulder strap slipped down, and I saw that mark on his neck—the purple blotch. But it wasn't a random mark. It had a definite shape—a bird with folded wings, like a quail or something.

"You went with quail?" Alex asked with interest. "That's the first bird you think of?"

"Well it didn't look like a penguin," Percy said in exasperation. "I don't know, it was bird shaped."

"What's that on your neck?" I asked, which was probably a rude question, but you can blame my ADHD. I tend to just blurt things out.

"I usually just blame you, no ADHD required," Thalia said.

"Hey, I have layers," Percy grinned, "sometimes I just don't give a shit and ask, sometimes I'm trying to throw people off. It all just ties back to the ADHD."

"Uhhu," Thalia sighed, looking very much like she wanted to smother him. "You keep blaming that you little shit."

Quintus lost his rhythm. I hit his sword hilt and knocked the blade out of his hand.

"Percy's entire personality is a secret weapon confirmed," Jason chuckled.

"Don't encourage him!" Thalia yelped while Percy drowned her out laughing and leaned across her to give Jason a high-five.

Alex watched patiently to see if Thalia was going to break his wrist as he pulled back, and then kept reading in disappointment when she restrained herself.

He rubbed his fingers. Then he shifted his armor to hide the mark. It wasn't a tattoo, I realized. It was an old burn...like he'd been branded.

Will flinched at the insinuation, while Jason rubbed his thumb over his. He'd obsessed over the design of it for hours, but the act of getting it had never given him much pause. It had felt natural, he'd always looked upon it with a sense of pride as he tried to understand the mystery those lines were.

"A reminder." He picked up his sword and forced a smile. "Now, shall we go again?"

He pressed me hard, not giving me time for any more questions.

Percy rubbed at his shoulder where the muscles remembered how much time he'd had off a lot more than his stomach had after all that. Quintus had definitely put him through his paces, but he was also smiling at some of the tricks he'd picked up.

While he and I fought, Tyson played with Mrs. O'Leary, who he called the "little doggie."

Magnus's heart skipped a beat at trying to figure out what he'd call Cerberus all of a sudden, while Alex nodded along to this statement. "She sounds like a very sweet puppy," he agreed.

Dogs, especially tank sized monster-hell hound- dogs, were usually a little to close to wolves for Magnus to really like them. The bigger and messier the strays he saw were, the more he avoided them.

They had a great time wrestling for the bronze shield and playing Get the Greek.

"I really hope Quintus stays forever now, just for his dog," Jason chuckled. "Tyson's probably never had a pet."

"Neither have I, and it was surprisingly easy to stop expecting her to lunge at my back hearing him laugh with her," Percy agreed fondly. He'd gotten over his weariness of her that afternoon, and by the time Tyson had been rubbing her belly so much her tail put a hole in the arena wall, Percy had been guilty of promising her peanut butter treats himself they were so cute together.

By sunset, Quintus hadn't even broken a sweat, which seemed kind of strange;

"I know everything in your body's supposed to start going downhill when you get old," Percy said in concern, "but do old people keep their sweat glands?"

"Yes Percy, old people still sweat. A lot," Will told him in exasperation. He was probably the only person who could have answered that without sounding condescending for the supremely ADHD question.

but Tyson and I were hot and sticky, so we hit the showers and got ready for dinner.

I was feeling good. It was almost like a normal day at camp. Then dinner came, and all the campers lined up by cabin and marched into the dining pavilion. Most of them ignored the sealed fissure in the marble floor at the entrance—a ten-foot-long jagged scar that hadn't been there last summer—

"Just another day in this madhouse," Magnus agreed. "If I didn't know why it was there, I really wouldn't bat an eye the place had almost sunk into the ground or something."

"You should have heard the rumors," Will said fondly. "My favorite was Silena's when she said it was Clarisse standing in one place to long," he snorted, and then quickly backtracked, "um, don't tell her I said that."

"Tell who what?" Percy mock cleaned out his ear, though there really was a strange buzzing there for a moment.

but I was careful to step over it.

"Big crack," Tyson said when we were at our table. "Earthquake, maybe?"

"No," I said. "Not an earthquake."

I wasn't sure I should tell him. It was a secret only Annabeth and Grover and I knew. But looking in Tyson's big eye, I knew I couldn't hide it from him.

"We already knew you were terrible at keeping secrets," Jason snorted.

"This," Percy waved around the room in exhaustion, "isn't my fault. I just can't think of a reason to care against sharing my life with strangers."

Jason smiled in exasperation Percy only proved his point.

"Nico di Angelo," I said, lowering my voice. "He's this half-blood kid we brought to camp last winter. He, uh...he asked me to guard his sister on a quest, and I failed. She died. Now he blames me."

Nico, of all people, snorted with laughter, causing Percy to chuckle in relief.

"You did use my summary," Nico looked oddly pleased.

"Wasn't going to leave you out Nico, then Tyson wouldn't get the chance to hug you when he meets you," Percy grinned.

Nico looked horrified at the idea of a cyclops being sicked on him in that way, but more than that, it was so calming to hear Percy just joking with him like he was anyone else. He'd been expecting the pressure of wishing it was more to be smothering him by now, but instead the opposite seemed to keep happening. The more they talked, the less intense it felt.

Tyson frowned. "So he put a crack in the floor?"

"It was a very reasonable response to be honest," Will said fairly.

"It was an awesome crack I want to see in person," Alex reminded.

"With flames, I remember," Nico nodded.

"These skeletons attacked us," I said. "Nico told them to go away, and the ground just opened up and swallowed them. Nico..." I looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Nico is a son of Hades."

Tyson nodded thoughtfully. "The god of dead people."

"Yeah."

"So the Nico boy is gone now?"

"I—I guess. I tried to search for him this spring. So did Annabeth. But we didn't have any luck.

Nico felt the burning eyes on him, everybody in this room wanting to know in detail what had happened to him in the intervening time. He fiddled with his ring and gave none of them an answer. His time in the Labyrinth would send any of them running and screaming.

Alex dragged his eyes away first, not for the obvious reason the book might tell, but because Nico had had more than enough of his life exposed lately.

This is secret, Tyson. Okay? If anyone found out he was a son of Hades, he would be in danger. You can't even tell Chiron."

Will dragged his eyes away next, and put on the corniest smile he could. "Hey, has anyone ever wondered why Chiron always gives a speech at dinner? It's because he loves being the sent-aur of attention."

Percy and Thalia groaned in unison while Jason looked at him as if in physical pain.

Magnus looked at him blandly and said, "if Chiron ever sends you on the next world ending quest, I'm not going to ask why."

Nico was smothering a laugh though. He wasn't doing a very good job of it, and that was all Will wanted to hear anyways.

"The bad prophecy," Tyson said. "Titans might use him if they knew."

I stared at him. Sometimes it was easy to forget that as big and childlike as he was, Tyson was pretty smart.

"I'm not questioning his intelligence," Alex promised, "but was this a secret? Was Tyson really showing some special smarts there by agreeing this is a good secret to keep from all not pertinent?"

"Like I said, I kind of forgot how much Tyson paid attention, more than I gave him credit for," Percy frowned. He wanted his little brother to hear about Nico and ask if the guy was going to be okay and if he could make things go boom on command, not realize he was a potential pawn for an evil Titan and all the horrible ways he could be manipulated. He hadn't had a lot of innocence growing up with all the strange things in his life, not to mention Gabe. He'd just deluded himself for a second Tyson had some.

He knew that the next child of the Big Three gods—Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades—who turned sixteen was prophesied to either save or destroy Mount Olympus. Most people assumed that meant me, but if I died before I turned sixteen, the prophecy could just as easily apply to Nico.

"Exactly," I said. "So—"

"Mouth sealed," Tyson promised. "Like the crack in the ground."

"Hopefully not as permanently, with fire and skeletons stuck in his mouth," Thalia offered.

"I don't want to know what that dentist visit would be like," Percy grinned.

I had trouble falling asleep that night. I lay in bed listening to the waves on the beach, and the owls and monsters in the woods. I was afraid once I drifted off I'd have nightmares.

"A valid fear," Magnus promised. He'd never had dreams even before this place, and he was really worried once he got back he would because of his realization he wasn't mortal.

See, for half-bloods, dreams are hardly ever just dreams. We get messages.

We glimpse things that are happening to our friends or enemies. Sometimes we even glimpse the past or the future. And at camp, my dreams were always more frequent and vivid.

"Gods, I would be pissed," Alex scowled for Percy. His recurring dream of Loki visiting him was awful enough, but at least when he recognized that dripping cavern he could brace himself for what was coming and more tricks of his mother. The unknown of anything disturbing his sleep sounded somehow like a worse punishment than having to listen to a manipulative birth canal.

So I was still awake around midnight, staring at the bunk bed mattress above me, when I realized there was a strange light in the room. The saltwater fountain was glowing.

They'd almost forgotten the chapter title should make an appearance about prank calls, with so much other stuff going on in this one. Now everyone looked on, as confused as Percy for what was about to happen.

I threw off the covers and walked cautiously toward it. Steam rose from the hot salt water. Rainbow colors shimmered through it, though there was no light in the room except for the moon outside. Then a pleasant female voice spoke from the steam: Please deposit one drachma.

"Can the goddess herself send you a prank call?" Jason asked. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing he'd heard of these Greek gods doing, and he knew for a fact not all receiving- iris messages were like this thanks to Sally. She'd never had a drachma on her before to accept a call from Percy, so something strangely specific must be going on here.

"Why am I the one who's going to find out?" Percy sighed in answer.

I looked over at Tyson, but he was still snoring. He sleeps about as heavily as a tranquilized elephant.

"Hopefully his snoring doesn't intercept the signal or something," Magnus muttered.

I didn't know what to think. I'd never gotten a collect Iris-message before.

"At least it didn't start with the message from a state prison," Thalia tried to say with chipper, but she really didn't like she wasn't sure what was going on so early in this one for it to come across right.

"Then we'd know it was from you and I could just hang up," Percy smirked.

"No prison could hold me!" She yelped.

"You were held in a stockade for quite a number of years," Percy's grin widened. The tree wasn't the perfect example of that, but the image flashed to mind of Thalia trapped in that trunk with just her face and hands sticking out now as he fought off a laugh.

"I'm going to put you in a headlock for the rest of your life," she promised.

As fun as that would be to see, Alex was worried it might put a dampening on the rest of their time here if Thalia murdered him. She'd probably regret it eventually or something and be all sad while finishing these.

One golden drachma gleamed at the bottom of the fountain. I scooped it up and tossed it through the mist. The coin vanished.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the rainbow," I whispered. "Show me...Uh, whatever you need to show me."

The mist shimmered. I saw the dark shore of a river. Wisps of fog drifted across black water. The beach was strewn with jagged volcanic rock. A young boy squatted at the riverbank, tending a campfire. The flames burned an unnatural blue color. Then I saw the boy's face. It was Nico di Angelo.

Nico's face scrunched up with pure distaste like somebody had just tried to feed him cat food. He'd known this was a thing, but the reminder that he'd been withering away desperate for a sign from his sister all this time, and she'd chosen to send a message to Percy to spy on him, still left a burn in his mouth he wasn't sure would ever fully heal.

He was throwing pieces of paper into the fire—Mythomagic trading cards, part of the game he'd been obsessed with last winter.

Nico was only ten, or maybe eleven by now, but he looked older. His hair had grown longer. It was shaggy and almost touched his shoulders. His eyes were dark. His olive skin had turned paler. He wore ripped black jeans and a battered aviator's jacket that was several sizes too big, unzipped over a black shirt. His face was grimy, his eyes a little wild. He looked like a kid who'd been living on the streets.

"Dude, that sounds like such a waste, you could have at least sold them," Percy said out of the blue.

Magnus sort of wanted to smack Percy upside the head like Nico obviously wanted to do for that being his comment to all that. They all knew why he did it, a little levity to help ease the uneasy realization of the situation Nico was now in like they all constantly did to Percy, but Thalia didn't have to tug sharply on Percy's ear and hiss at him to shut it before he realized himself the kid hadn't thought that was funny as he shut his mouth back.

I waited for him to look at me. No doubt he'd get crazy angry, start accusing me of letting his sister die. But he didn't seem to notice me.

I stayed quiet, not daring to move. If he hadn't sent this Iris-message, who had?

"You can send an iris message for someone?" Magnus went a little cross-eyed again as he tried to imagine how that worked. "Do you ask the goddess to hook you up like those old phones that had, um, what were they called? Like talking-group messaging?"

"I think I know what you mean," Percy had seen it on a few movies, but he had no more clue. "If so, nobody told me!"

"It's called a conference call, and it's still a thing people do," Thalia said in exasperation. She could excuse their ignorance pretty easily though, neither of them clearly had much time around a phone. The only reason she knew about them was because Beryl had near constantly been on one for work.

Nico kept to himself it actually seemed something Bianca alone had been able to do. He wasn't sure if she was somehow manipulating the Mist, Hades had pulled in a favor through Iris, or what specifically had been going on here. It's not like she'd ever stuck around to explain any of this to him.

Nico tossed another trading card into the blue flames. "Useless," he muttered. "I can't believe I ever liked this stuff."

Nico felt the questioning eyes on him like he'd slipped into Italian without warning. He shrugged indifferently and really didn't feel like explaining himself, he felt like that was an explanation.

Will couldn't blame him, in fact last night made all the more sense now, if he'd hesitated over playing for a multitude of reasons instead of just the one he'd guessed. His sister had died trying to get him a figurine from this game, he was trying to draw distance from his past. There were probably a number of other reasons he wasn't qualified to guess at all mixed in there.

"A childish game, master," another voice agreed. It seemed to come from near the fire, but I couldn't see who was talking.

"Did you pick yourself up a yes man?" Alex asked, and he sounded actually concerned more than mocking.

Nico's face twisted as bad as his stomach did. "Something like that," he felt obligated to answer more because he had a lot of respect for Alex after last night than he really thought this would get him through this faster. Why hadn't he dug his way out with a spoon yet? Gotten on his knees and begged his dad to come pick him up from the sleepover set in hell? He was desperate enough to try after yesterday, sitting through a whole day of this was going to make him start neighing at these guys before he'd want to answer any more questions.

Nico stared across the river. On the far shore was black beach shrouded in haze. I recognized it: the Underworld. Nico was camping at the edge of the river Styx.

"You left the camp with the lava climbing mountain and decided to rough it camping at the edge of the death river," Jason told him. "Did you think you needed more of a challenge, or were you just looking to get away for your health?" It was phrased more as a cheerful joke or a conversational starter depending on how Nico wanted to answer.

Will watched with growing agitation at how much Nico was struggling to figure out how to respond to all this before he said briskly, "no more questions for him, it's not helping anybody." Phrasing it in the vein of not antagonizing Percy's memories was always an easy cover.

"Yeah, what he said," Nico managed that without having a panic attack at least.

"I've failed," he muttered. "There's no way to get her back."

The other voice kept silent.

Nico turned toward it doubtfully. "Is there? Speak."

Something shimmered. I thought it was just firelight. Then I realized it was the form of a man—a wisp of blue smoke, a shadow. If you looked at him head-on, he wasn't there. But if you looked out of the corner of your eye, you could make out his shape. A ghost.

Jason, Alex, and Magnus all looked like they had a lot of questions about that in fact, but Will's arm over the back of the couch had gone from casual to shielding behind Nico's back and they didn't want to pressure the guy to spill anyways. Percy was already at his wits end being the center of attention, Nico obviously didn't want to share the spotlight.

"It has never been done," the ghost said. "But there may be a way."

"Tell me," Nico commanded. His eyes shined with a fierce light.

"An exchange," the ghost said. "A soul for a soul."

"I've offered!"

"We all did," Percy agreed. Any of them would have taken Bianca's place in that junk yard, but his instinct still kicked madly in protest at this kid wishing for the same.

Nico couldn't look at him. He'd already let the worst thing possible come out of his mouth, but he felt like it could still get worse if he let himself so much as nod at Percy.

"Not yours," the ghost said. "You cannot offer your father a soul he will eventually collect anyway. Nor will he be anxious for the death of his son. I mean a soul that should have died already. Someone who has cheated death."

Thalia shifted uncomfortably in place for what that could have meant. There weren't a lot of possibilities that didn't relate back to immortal beings, though she knew in this specific case Daedalus fit the bill, he never would have come to mind before her fellow Hunters. They seemed the obvious choice for his revenge to her.

Nico's face darkened. "Not that again. You're talking about murder."

"Can I give an A+ for that response?" Alex said in the tone he wasn't taking no for an answer. "You've still got a great moral compass Nico."

"Thanks," he managed a real smile at him. Like every other half-blood, he'd never gotten anywhere close to a grade that good before, and nobody had ever even said he had morals before. Like being the child of the Underworld meant he went around not-so-secretly coming up with elaborate deaths.

"I'm talking about justice," the ghost said. "Vengeance."

"Those are not the same thing," Jason scowled.

"Those are not the same thing."

Percy laughed boisterously while Nico and Jason grinned faintly in surprise at each other.

The ghost laughed dryly. "You will learn differently as you get older."

"He could be a few thousand years old and his morals don't have to change," Will scoffed.

"Wow, your formative years are that important huh?" Magnus chuckled.

"Let's not get into the whole nature versus nurture thing," Thalia sighed, "we'll be here all day. I think we would all personally stab this ghost through the eye for trying to corrupt young Nico, can we just agree on that?"

"Maybe if you'd stop calling me young every five minutes," Nico didn't help his situation by looking a little pouty. Alex cleared his throat in agreement anyways to keep going so he didn't have to admit Nico did look a lot younger and more innocent when he made that face.

Nico stared at the flames. "Why can't I at least summon her? I want to talk to her. She would...she would help me."

Magnus felt something very tight in him pull taught like a choke hold. Was that possible? The ghost had said it wasn't, but if Nico could bring people back from the dead...Was Bianca out there now still palling around with the Hunters? Would he feel like he had his mom back if she was a zombie?

"I will help you," the ghost promised. "Have I not saved you many times? Did I not lead you through the maze and teach you to use your powers? Do you want revenge for your sister or not?"

"I don't like this ghost," Will's tone was sharp as a blade. "He has no right to brag about saving your life and then make it feel like your fault if you don't get Bianca back. Revenge," he repeated in a truly dangerous snap.

"Mmmm, he was very manipulative," Nico murmured just for him. He'd been a fool for trusting him, but Minos had been a powerful ghost, and Nico had been grateful to him. His first ever friend who had helped him, with seemingly wanting nothing in return. So far the only other person who fit that was Will, and he was still waiting for that shoe to drop.

I didn't like the ghost's tone of voice. He reminded me of a kid at my old school, a bully who used to convince other kids to do stupid things like steal lab equipment and vandalize the teachers' cars. The bully never got in trouble himself, but he got tons of other kids suspended.

"Ah geez, not another Luke," Percy scowled with his own near instant dislike of this ghost. He preferred the bull-like brain dead ones like Clarisse, punching first and asking questions never. Those he could almost understand when he went toe to toe with, he had anger issues too. These sorts, the ones that never got their hands dirty and were the last to be caught usually made him want to start a few fires just to get someone caught red handed.

Nico turned from the fire so the ghost couldn't see him, but I could. A tear traced its way down his face. "Very well. You have a plan?"

Nico's shoulders hunched. He ran a hand painfully through his hair, so sharp he expected his ring or nails to scratch through his scalp. Maybe he'd start bleeding and use it as a way to escape the looks of pity he refused to look at. Wild plans of how to get out of this cursed room were still offering themselves up like a flame he was forced to snuff out. His worst secret hadn't given him a free exit, his miserable pain for it hadn't attracted their jailer into thinking he'd suffered enough. What the hell was it going to take?

The moment of silence passed, and Nico had no new answers. He tried to comfort himself maybe the worst had come to fruition, having to hear Bianca's death in detail and Percy knowing the worst of him.

He didn't believe himself.

"Oh, yes," the ghost said, sounding quite pleased. "We have many dark roads to travel. We must start—"

The image shimmered. Nico vanished. The woman's voice from the mist said, Please deposit one drachma for another five minutes.

"What a tease," Alex frowned. "It's a good promo though, showing just enough of the goods I'd want to see the rest."

"So glad the trailer of my life would make a hit," Nico grumbled.

There were no other coins in the fountain. I grabbed for my pockets, but I was wearing pajamas. I lunged for the nightstand to check for spare change, but the Iris-message had already blinked out, and the room went dark again.

The connection was broken.

"Could you have used a quarter?" Magnus was pretty sure Will wouldn't scowl at him like that if the question didn't pertain directly to Nico. "Do people throw pennies at her and get a few seconds more time?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure that's where that mortal idea came from," Thalia grinned.

I stood in the middle of the cabin, listening to the gurgle of the saltwater fountain and the ocean waves outside.

Nico was alive. He was trying to bring his sister back from the dead. And I had a feeling I knew what soul he wanted to exchange—someone who had cheated death. Vengeance.

Nico di Angelo would come looking for me.

"So self-important," Will sniffed, "you think everybody wants you Percy?"

"I've made crazier leaps," Percy gestured at the past books. "If I wasn't sitting here now with the guy obviously not about to kill me, it would still make plenty of sense."

"Now I'm super curious to know who his target is though," Alex didn't look happy about having to give the book up to Percy. "Does Nico take down a god and cause a power imbalance?" He sounded way to hungry about those prospects considering they'd just eaten breakfast.

Nico took a shaky breath and wondered how long he was supposed to sit here and hear them chat about what a little psychopath he was.

"Would you guys cool it! He obviously doesn't want to talk about this!" Will knew he couldn't make them shut up permanently, but he was so frustrated watching Nico clearly loathing every second of this with no way to help.

Percy froze getting out of his seat as he looked awkwardly at them. He didn't exactly know how to avoid it when Nico was tangled up in his life on page.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Not going to lie, after reading Chalice of the Gods a good dozen times and all the cute percabeth fluff, it was incredibly hard not to put Annabeth into this already. I have a set point where that happens though and I promise you all will love it if you can just hold out for me like I'm making myself do.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #will solace #nico di angelo #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #botl #HDYSG

[twotangledsisters]

16, 21, 30, 39, 40, 43, 55, 65, 71 ,75 (For the Princess, the Pirate and the Prosecutor)

I'm sorry, I can't remember what ones I sent originally before I tried anonymously.

Oh my goodness so many!

I will hid this under a read more because it ended up being quite long!

And no problem, the only repeat is 16 (How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?) which you can find the answer to in this post!

Though I guess I could share another idea... Have I shared on here Guardian of the Sundrop?

It's a fic where Gothel is a smart and shows up at the palace claiming only she can save the queen, but she needs to be left alone with the sundrop and queen (still alive and in soil) to save her!

She saves Arianna and Rapunzel, obviously being careful nobody but her ever hears the healing incantation.

Frederic is grateful and offers Gothel a home at the palace, her own little home in the garden, where she can be Corona's official healer! She accepts because it gives her fame and fortune, the likes of which she is looking forward to.

She brings her four-year-old Cassandra with her. And Arianna is not at all keen on how Gothel treats the child, urging Rapunzel to eventually bond so she can bring the four-year-old into the palace for frequent play dates.

Years down the line though, Gothel loses her exclusivity when a thief known as Flynn Rider shows up at the palace claiming to know how to heal, and is willing to heal not just those on their death-bed (Gothel was very careful her patients couldn't hear the incantation), but anybody seeking help, well, Gothel doesn't like that.

Arianna is very happy to finally have an alternative to Gothel, but Frederic is more weary of the ex-criminal.

21.- Would you ever collaborate with another write for a story?

Well, me and @the-writer1988 are collaborating on a fic at the moment! Our Undying Dream! Plus, we did A Journey Down Memory Lane for NDAW!

So yeah, I love collaborating! I think brainstorming with two people offers up some amazing ideas and if you get stuck it's great to have a partner!

30.- Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it's polished?

I post polished pieces to Ao3, but often share snippets of rough drafts with friends or even just here on tumblr if I feel like sharing!

I think it's almost healthy for authors to do this, like artists sharing sketches, to remind ourselves not to compare our rough drafts with our favourite author's finished polished pieces!

Plus, patience... Lack of patience may be a factor for me!

39.- Share a snippet from a WIP

Sure! Here's a bit from The Guardman's Kids! (An AU where Cap takes in a young thief and adopts a second child).

“Dad.” “Yes, Sweetheart?” “There’s an emergency.” Captain looked up. “There’s a boy in my bed!” Captain paused his prep, smiling. “Oh, right, that’s Eugene.” “Eugene?” Captain came over. “Yeah, he’s going to be staying here for a little while, he’s… He’s in a little bit of danger, so we’re going to protect him and take care of him, alright?” Cassandra looked at her bedroom door, then at her dad. “I don’t like there being a stranger in my bed.” “Well, he’s just a stranger because you haven’t met him. Should we go introduce ourselves?” Cassandra hesitated, then nodded. Captain knocked gently on the door. Receiving a muffled reply, he opened the door a little. “Eugene, may I come in?” “It’s your home…” Captain pushed the door open further and led Cassandra inside. Eugene was now sitting up, wiping his eyes off the sleepy. “Eugene, I’d love to introduce you to my daughter, Cassandra. Cassandra, this is Eugene.” Eugene blinked at the young girl, smaller than himself, with long curly hair and deep grey eyes that stared at him intensely. He swallowed and waved. “Hi… It’s nice to—” Cassandra grabbed the pillow of the bed suddenly and hit Eugene with it, knocking him from the bed to the floor before Captain caught the pillow and took it away so Cassandra couldn’t go in for a second attack. “Cassandra!” he scolded. “What was that for?” The little girl crossed her arms. “I don’t like him in my bed!” Eugene just looked confused, but then his expression hardened and he stuck his tongue out at Cassandra, which made her gasp. “Did you see what he just did to me?” she demanded, expecting her father to defend her. “You attacked him.” Cassandra looked doubly offended by not receiving her father’s defence. She stuck her tongue right back at Eugene in what to her felt like a got you moment. Eugene just rolled his eyes though, which frustrated the four-year-old even more. “Dad!” she looked for the Captain's support but her dad just picked her up. “Are you hungry, Eugene? We’re making spaghetti. Though if you want something else, I can easily prepare it for you?” Eugene shook his head. “Nothing else. Spaghetti sounds good.” “Alright then.” “Dad!” Cassandra wailed in his arms, still wanting justice for having a tongue stuck out at her. “I apologize for her. She’s only four.” “I’m very mature!” “Mature four-year-olds don’t attack guests with pillows.” Cassandra stopped her wailing and crossed her arms, deciding to pout instead. While the Captain was walking towards the sofa to drop her onto it, Eugene walked behind. Cassandra could see him, but the Captain couldn’t. Eugene stuck his tongue out at her again. Cassandra gasped but was not paid any attention as Captain dropped her onto the sofa. Eugene grinned. “You will pay for your lack of respect for me,” Cassandra warned, pointing a finger at him and glaring. “We’ll see,” Eugene grinned.

40.-If someone were to make fanart of your work what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Ooooh.... I mean I'd feel so amazingly flustered by fanart of any of my work, any scene whatsoever! The fact any of my writing could have that sort of impact to make somebody want to make art!

I guess if I had to pick I'd say anything Tangled Sisters just cause that's my main project.

But like, as far as specific scenes I could never pick because part of the joy of fanart would be finding out which scene hit the artist harder! Does that make sense? I hope it makes sense!

43.- Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the 'if you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself' kind of person?

Definitely not the latter... Though not entirely sure I fall into sadistic joy either!

I'm a sucker for the COMFORT! And the higher the pain, the better the comfort. But then, I also adore the tension before the comfort... so maybe I am sadistic joy? Maybe I'm overthinking xD

55.- Of the characters you write for, which is your favourite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers' reactions to certain ones?

My face characters is Cassandra, though she's at her best when interacting with Rapunzel and Eugene. The friendship those three share is what brought me to the fandom and keeps me around!

Though that hasn't changed, my list of faves certainly has been influenced by followers and readers. Seeing how much people enjoy certain characters definitely makes me wwantnat to include them more! Oftentimes that comes through in side-fics more than mainline stories though!

65.- Tell us about what you're most looking forward to writing -in your current project, or a future project

Probably some of the season 3 scenes in Tangled Sisters, there is so much coming up and I've been leading up to this for almost a year now! From side-projects, any of the kid fics, they're just too cute.

71.- When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timelines, etc?

Several different ways... I have a journal for brainstroming or quick outlines for a single arc or chapter I'm struggling with. I use microsoft whiteboards for long outlines such as S3. I also just keep all my notes inside the fic folder in Scrivener for easy access! All organized into folders and titled appropriately!

This last one is probably the most important one. having everything in one place helps me a ton! I even have characters files with timelines when needed.

75.- What scene in The Princess The Pirate and The Prosecutor took the longest to write? What was difficult about it?

Probably the Gallows scene...

A scene where Eugene is nearly wrongfully hanged for a crime hde did not commit.

It's the big moment for the fic and for the season, it's got a lot going on with Rapunzel trying to save him, with Cassandra arriving home, with Frederic made aware of his mistake.

It needed to hit as hard as possible because this was a scene that would haunt the characters for many, many chapters to come (they're still haunted), it dictates a lot of Rapunzel and Frederic's relaitonship... I just kept going back and editing again and again and again... I think it was worht it though!

A close second is just trying to make all the politics in that fic sound interesting xD

Sorry for the super long post but I hope you enjoyed those answers! :D

#ask answered #fanfic

[cazzyf1]

Tribute to Niki Lauda: My favourite quotes/quotes I find interesting from interviews and articles about Niki Lauda 1/?

In honour of the third year without Niki, I've compiled this post full of my favourite quotes that I have found over the last couple of months. I, as like many others, miss Niki a lot, but I hope these amusing and interesting quotes from Niki offer some happiness in celebrating the amazing life Niki had and all the joy he gave to everyone around him.

I don't have the links on hand to the sites I found them on, but if you wanted a particular one I am sure I can track it down, please feel free to share any quotes or articles you have as I love reading new information about him. I would also love to hear your favourite quotes from this section as well! Reblog or comment some of them! 🥰

"Already I've been informed that Niki played up previous evening. Anges warns me 'Niki has a headache this morning, but it doesn't matter.' One of the team tells me in a less guarded tone that Niki drunk too much red wine last night at the $150-a-ticket ball (black-tie affair or not, Lauda none the less appeared wearing that Parmalat cap) then went on to disco. "We had to drag him back to his room at almost two this morning. It's most unlike him, he's normally in bed at nine.'... At 11:00am the little man arrives alone. Carrying a sports bag and wearing a sheepish grin that exposes those slightly buck teeth. "Morning," he says to everybody in general. One of the team saunters over, lifts Lauda's dark glasses and peers into those normally steely blue eyes. 'Not bad' he says, 'Not bad', and everybody laughs."

-

"Lauda is a very lonely man and not very happy, even though he appears to have all he wants. He does not appear to enjoy life."

-

"In addition to Lukas and Mathias, Lauda also fathered an illegitimate son. He was born in the same year as Mathias. In his book, "Let's talk about money" which was published in 2015 he wrote: 'He was born in 1981. I regret that I couldn't be a full father to him."

-

"Are you currently single or is there a new love?

Marlene is unbeatable as a type, nothing has changed in our relationship. We made up our own rules. Our divorce was hyped by the media five years late. Then a wave came up. She is the one who walks with me today. I got them after three months in Wr. Neustadt because I wanted to know what it was like to be married. And one day we said, now let's just get divorced. I know that nobody will probably understand that, but nothing has changed."

-

"Proflie: Does this closeness to death also affect sexual behaviour?

Lauda: Of course. If you have the feeling it could be over tomorrow, you deal with it differently. And the women in the Formula 1 circus were relatively flexible."

-

"Focus: Your children Lukas, 17, and Mathias, 15, live in Barcelona. Do you have a say in education?

Lauda: Raising children is just one of Marlene's numerous strengths. Recently I wanted to explain to my boys that a condom if and how it works. Then they both pulled a rubber band out of their pockets and said, "Here, dad." I was surprised at how well organised they are.

Focus: You may have heard that from Lauda Air, condoms are distributed on flights to Bangkok

Lauda: That can be. My older son Lukas joked that he wanted to experience something "dirty". Since I'm with him in a striptease bar in Vienna. When they found out that Lauda's son was there, the table was already removed and a girl began to dance and undress in front of him. I felt a little funny because I thought, poor Bua, what he has to put up with. But he did it perfectly. When the girl stood stark naked in front of him, he took off his shirt and put it on her. This has definitely not happened before.

Focus: You look at life with an analytical dryness. Are you a man without tears?

Lauda: I cry a lot, most recently with the movie "Phenomenon". The scene where John Travola, poor bastard, was laying in bed saying "Goodbye, honey" to her and then he died.

Focus: Your marrige to Marlene was divorced in 1991. Now we could read everywhere that you had returned to her...

Lauda: I neither turned away from her nor towards her. Our basis has always been right, they understand me and I understand them. Point. We don't have any friction because we don't keep telling ourselves you have to be different because that's how I want it.

Focus: You are often seen alongside beautiful women. Don't you have break on women?

Lauda: Well, a relationship with a woman isn't bad, it's more pleasant, very good, very important. I'd rather be with someone than alone. That's why I dont' have a bad relationship with Marlene. What most people don't understand is that it's that simple. They always just think, something can't be right, it can't be, because they're interpreting their own problems into other life.

Focus: What makes you so attractive to women?

Lauda: I can't judge that. I think my strength is that I don't hang around for long and I don't play shows or drama for women. Why should I change when I meet a woman? Because she would say I should take off my kappl and then I sit in front of her without a kappl. After three years she would think, please, what kind of dog did I raise: it sits 'down' cap on, cap off. Even today, years later, ex-partners still tell me "It was great with you." I'll tell you why, because the next one s such a jerk who gets on her nerves from morning to night because he tells her what they do and how she should be."

-

"But Lauda wasn't just about the money. During the civil war in Rwanda, he personally piloted two aid fights to the crisis area in 1994 and 1996. Undaunted and at his own expense, he piloted a Lauda air machine packed with relief supplies such as medicine and food for the refugees cared for by Caritas. In 1994, Lauda then flew directly to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. As an entrepreneur, Lauda, who was more concerned with his own advantage, justified his aid campaign with the words: "When you see these pictures, you know that it's about the poorest in the world. You have almost no chance of surviving yourself, you have to help them.

Many years later he admitted that his second wife Birgit Wetzinger, whom Layda met in 2004 when she worked as a flight attendant at his airline Niki, had further developed his social conscience: 'As far as social commitment is concerned, Brigit really opened my eyes. You could say she managed to awaked my social conscience.'

-

"He has not only learned to let his soul dangle, but also 'that it's not so bad if iI'm thrown off my path every now and then, which I've followed with great stubbornness and egocentricity."

-

"Is it true that some drivers used to be really wild dogs, as they say?

Lauda's answer: I could tell you the truth because it had already been said before. Of course, due to the willingness to take risks, to which we have fundamentally adjusted, we lived our lives, in which we did not always take everything so precisely, and one did not necessarily want to involve the fixed partners.

-

"F1 legend Niki Lauda even urged the Dutchamn to go to a 'psychatrist' to temper his aggression.

"If I go, then we might as well go together" Verstappen said."

-

"In an interview with 'side view' Brigit Lauda revealed how happy she is with her husband. The former racing driver gave her a very special present for her first wedding anniversary on August 25th. "He gave me a ring in the shape of a 'infinity' sign" revealed the former stewardess "as a sign of the infinity of our love". The couple met at work: Brigit was the flight attendant at Lauda's airline. Niki Lauda was already sure after two years. "She is the woman of my life" he proudly told the same magazine at the time."

-

"With twins you are constantly chasing after two who are running in opposite directions" he bravely completes his childcare service. "We play on the iPad, watch the children's favourite DVD, 'Baby Einstein' and sometimes we go to feed the ducks in the Potzleindofer Schlosspark."

-

"Instead of organ music, Niki Lauda;s favouire music was played, including Tougher than the rest by Bruce Springsteen."

Austria: Were there a few tears?

Lauda: No, but it was a very emotional moment. Above all, it was important that my second eldest son, Matthias was Mia's godfather and that he also wanted that. And that's exactly how it was with my Lukas, who was Max's godfather. That was a reunion for me and they both wanted it that way. "

-

"The marriage anniversary was celebrated in Lauda's regular restaurant, the Viennese Do&co on Stephansplaz. "It was so romantic!" enthuses the Formula 1 legend with unusual emotion. At the sight of the sunset, "emotions really went through." He thanked his Brigit for the now eight year love and loyalty and above all for "the greatest gift of all." his two twins Max and Mia. "The children are really my everything. There really isn't anything bigger or more beautiful."

-

"We recommend getting married" the tough airliner enthuses surprisingly sweetly about his marriage to Birgit a year and a half ago. No wonder, since the former fly Niki stewardess entered his life, he hasn't stopped smiling. "It's very good for him, through her, he became more human, less egotistical and learned to enjoy life." Lukas has long since taken to his young stepmother's heart."

-

Austria: What attracts you to jet into space?

Lauda: I always wanted to fly into space. It's a dream of mine to see the world from up there. But I want to do it as a pilot; if so, then I would like to be in control myself. The additional appeal of the thing is to fly such a space shuttle. If the story comes about, it will be a huge rush.

-

Where your parents religious?

"Catholic."

When did you stop beliveing?

"Never!"

Do you still believe?

"Sure. I think there's something up there, but I don't think I have to go to Church every Sunday."

Do you believe in Jesus?

" I think 99 percent of what you do with your life is up to you. You can achieve anything, but wether it actually works or not depends on something we can't explain."

And then Niki begins a monologue:

"There is someone watching over me, doing something for me, and I have to accept that."

Years ago, Niki tells me, he left the church to save on church taxes. But recently he rejoined as a father of two children and even had his children baptized. And yes, of course: today he pays church taxes again. Today, he proudly explains to me, "I'm a Roman Catholic!"

As everyone knows, Catholics believe in heven and hell. So I ask him: is there car racing in heaven?

"No, unfortunately not."

Why not?

"I don't think racing drivers go to heaven, they behave too badly for that. They go to hell. There are a lot of car races there."

Why shouldn't racers go to heaven?

"You are inherently self-centered."

Are you egocentric?

"Yes! Yes! If you drive at the limit and want to win, you have to be self-centered. Otherwise you'll never make it."

So no racers in heaven?

Almost. With one exception: Senna (Ayrton Senna, anotber three-time Formula One Champion who died at the 1994 San Marion Grand Prix) who, "read the Bible" before racers, is now in heaven.

Does he race cars up in the sky?

"Maybe. But if he does, then he drives all alone..."

Maybe against the angels?

"Right! Could be."

And all other drivers end up in hell. Do you race there?

"Always!"

Against who?

"Against each other. They really have fun in hell."

Will you become world champion in hell?

"I hope. I'll fight the devil too!"

Do you think you can win there?

"I hope. I won earlier, why not in hell. Maybe I have to try harder and go even faster."

-

EJ: You just mentioned James and some of his activities outside the cockpit. He was a womaniser, but you weren't a bum yourself either. It was common knowledge that after marriage, you had more than enough wives.

NL: My marriage was never over. Are you crazy? In the beginning it was my wife. She was always there and supported me through think and thin. Sometimes I have no idea what I was doing without her.

EJ: Your son never became a world champion.

NL: INdeed, there are no guarantees. My son Mathias never really wanted to race when he was eighteen. Why? Because he grew up with Marlene. Marlene is the opposite of any logical, normal racing mum. She had a huge heart. She is afraid of pretty much everything in the world and she has given my children a good heart but no logic.

-

He often vomited before the races. All the tension hit him in the stomach. I used to watch him and when he went back to the bathroom I would follow him and pee next to him and ask, "How are you today James?"

-

Lauda's appearance in the prince's box in 1975 is legendary. The racing driver, who was still rather shy at the time, took the hand of Princess Grace Kelly when the trophy was handed over - and kissed her against all court rules!

Niki: The whirlwind that followed was unbelievable, but the princess just smiled. I only touched the back of her hand lightly!

-

It's a catchy tune that's hard to get rid of: The Ballermann hit 'Mama Laudaaaa' creates a good atmosphere not only in Mallorca, but also at various tent festivals and other celebrations.

The German newspaper BILD asked Formula 1 legend Niki Lauda what he thought of the song,

"Yes, I've heard that, I was very surprised, but I find it funny. I've often been asked about it, you can smile about it."

Lauda also has a message for the musician duo behind the hit: "Keep singing with Mama Lauda!"

-

LL: James Hunt is portrayed in the film as a womanizer, you more as a focused analyst. What role do women play in Formula 1?

NL: unfortunately none today! In principle, the drivers are all married and come to the races with children and dogs because the danger is no longer there. Marlene went to two races with me, then I had an accident and she never wanted to come with me again. So we drivers were left alone in the races - thank God, because that took away the stress of whether I should accelerate or not. Of course, all the other women who wanted to catch one of us lunatics were there. To be honest, I wouldn't want to miss the time of Woodstock and the 1970s in Formula 1!

LL: From the wives to the kids: How are you with the twins Mia and Max?

NL: Pure madness! At first there were discussions about changing diapers and I said I don't do that. And I actually never had to do it, the need was never there. But I always comforted Birgit: "Wait, my time is coming!" Now they are four years old and my time has come. Around 6 or 7:30 in the morning, the two of them come marching up and "bang!" They're in bed with me. A big rush! What they performing. And these fun discussions!

-

"Brigit is my heroine. That this woman came and donated a kidney to me is unique." A statement of love from Niki Lauda, who died exactly one year ago. Since then, hardly anything has been heard from the 41-year-old widow who continues to live in Vienna with the twins, Mia and Max, 10.

"It was love at first sight," said Niki at the time about getting to know the two. She was "unnerved at the moment because he was staring at me like that and staring at my cowboy boots the whole time." But she soon raved about his demure humor and his extraordinary personality "with rough edges."

If you had asked Niki Lauda in front of Brigit if he could imagine marrying again, and becoming a father again, he would definitely have said no. He was considered rather as someone who quickly succumbed to female charm. "Since he was with her, his priorities have changed," says business friend Hannes Jagerhofer. Since he was in a relationship with the ex-stewardess- whom he met on a flight from Vienna to Ibiza in 2004 - he has learned to enjoy life more.

"When I met Niki," Jagerhofer said an interview with WOMAN in 2024, "he walked non-stop about the children. After a certain time he was always in a hurry to get home to put them to bed."

-

It was logical that at some point he had to feel invincible. A few years ago, he demanded a little more respect from my fellow reporter. The justification was typical Lauda:

"After all, I'm something of a divine apparition."

Mercedes sports director Toto Wolff was next to it with a knee injury. His crutch almost fell off his chair.

Recently Niki has softened. Allowed more feelings. His twins Max and Mia softned him. His whatsapp profile picture: the grinning son. Lauda came out as a loving family man. But the body wanted less and less. The lugs: sick from the corrosive fumes back then in the Ferrari. The Lauda cough, his trademark.

When I wished him a Merry Christmas on the phone in 2018, his voice was weak and cracked. The fighter inside showed the first signs of weakening. It was the last time I spoke to Lauda. On the 70th birthday in February 2019, son Max answered his cell phone. "Dad can't right now." I sent greetings.

-

When Lauda was sitting in front of the French motorhome. I happened to walk past. He saw me, jumped up briefly - and gave me the middle finger.

-

I plucked up all my courage and asked the innkeeper if I could speak to 'Mr Lauda' for a moment. He hurled at me, 'Naa, nobody can get in here.' My heart slipped into my pants and from there straight into the asphalt. Failed, right into the first race.

But Niki saw me come to the door. "So, so you want to talk to me." he said, "But first you have to tell me a Lauda joke and then I'll decide." My brain went though the Lauda jokes that I knew in a split second. Most angry.

Then it shot out of me, "Why can you never marry Lisa (read:Leisa) Minelli?"

"Why not?"

"Becuase her name would be Lisa Lauda!"

Niki bursts out laughing - then he took me to his table. Since then I've been a Lauda fan and of course a fan of Lisa Minelli.

-

Would you like to tell people who don't know you that well a little bit about your husband and father Niki Lauda? There's a lot there.

Lauda: My new family, Brigit and the children are the best thing that could have happened to me. You made me a different person. It's an unbelievable feeling when my two, Max and Misa, come to my bed on Sunday morning and do gymnastics on top of me. Then we go to have breakfast where my grandfather used to have breakfast.

What's up for Christmas?

Lauda: We bring up the children as they should. You should learn to respect. THere is only one gift for a birthday present or Christmas. In the meantime. Max is looking at the price, which Mia has chosen...funny. Pampering them with presents is the worst thing you can do to children, at least I think so.

What changes have you made in your new family

Lauda: Brigit and the children have made me much, much easier. Blinders down, farsighted, less selfish. I'm not that focused on myself anymore. I try to create an attitude to life around me which everyone feels comfortable.

What do your circle of friends say about this?

Niki Lauda, the supervisor in Mercedes Formular 1 family, orders a cappuccino and a glass of water.

Lauda: They are surprised. Speaking of friends: I am very careful with the word friend. Basically, I like having people I work with sit down in the evenings, but I'm not one to talk about 'friends' that easily.

But you have...

Lauda: Stop, stop. Brigit, yes. Brigit is my friend. I can talk to her about anything, anything. There are no secrets. Complete trust.

There is no better compliment from his mouth. What did you think when Brigit told you she was pregnant?

Lauda: It was always my wish. When I heard that there were two of them, a boy or girl. If couldn't have been better.

Were you present at the birth?

Lauda: No, I'll tell you why not. I don't want to be an additional distraction at birth like this. I know of cases where the nurse pressed the newborn baby into the hands of the father sitting there. He was in tears, so happy and suddenly this baby stopped breathing. It took a while for the nurse to notice and take her to the intensive care unit. Events like this are my argument not to make yourself so important. This is my very personal attitude. But I don't cities anyone who wants to be there either.

Has world-famous muli-millioniare Niki Lauda ever changed diapers?

Lauda: As a result of today's life and there associated emancipation of women, I have constant discussions. Why should it be different with us than in other families? I'm not saying I'm old-fashioned, but that's up to the woman. Of course, when the hat was on fire I also changed diapers, but I'm not a diaper changer... I think women are generally better at dealing with babies.

Pure Niki Lauda. He speaks as he thinks. Straight. Don't get bogged down. Think. To say. Ticked off.

I accidentally didn't screenshot this question

Lauda: Always. That's logical. My wife is opening a gallery. She is studying art history, she has two children and me. She wants to do it and can do it, but gets upset because she as too much to do. I said to her, "You made all the decisions to do it this way. I could never to what you do. You are a miracle."

And then it was good again?

Lauda: of course. Because we give each other the freedom and respect to develop as we wish. But when two people nag each other to the core, the marriage fails.

Maybe yes. Niki Lauda speaks more privately than ever. A question arises that you don't want to ask Lauda - out of respect. What touches you deep down in your heart?

Lauda: I can tell you. Just recently the death of Angle Nieto made me cry. He was 13 times motorcycle world champion, we were like brothers. A woman crashed into the back of his quad in Ibiza, fractured a skull, seven days in a coma, dead. His sons made a video of his ashes being dumped into the sea in an urn off Ibiza... flowers all over the water... that's where I was torn...

Niki Lauda shows me the video, poignant. Robbie Williams sings 'Angles' The eyes of to-the-point-not-a-word-too-much analsys next to me blur.

Lauda: The other day Mia suddenly said to me on the phone: 'Dad I heard the song on the radio where your friend died.' That pushes my tears out. Basically. I'm an insanely sensitive guy.'

-

His two adult sons Mathias and Lukas from Niki's ex wife Marlene also talk about the time with their father. And chooses harsh words:

Lukas Lauda: As a family man, Niki was a disaster. He was always on the go. That's why I have more of a brotherly relationship with him, not a father-son relationship. As a family man, he was useless.

-

Too bad. Why isn't there a woman in the race today?

Lauda: Because too few make the effort to drive go-karts as girls and fight their way to the top through the various racing series. This is a pity! For a woman nowadays, it would no longer be a problem to go racing. The cars all have power steering, so it's no longer just physical strength that counts. I wish that women would finally ride with us!

Would I be too old if I discovered my passion for racing tomorrow?

Lauda: How old are you, if I may ask?

I'm turning 22 now.

Lauda: Already too old!

-

Who was most popular with women?

Marko: We are both married. So it's okay.

Again - who was most popular?

Marko (laughs): We only counted the victories, not the women.

Lauda: We didn't have any competition for women. We always looked at each other with awe.

Marko:.. and exchanged experiences. In every sense.

Did you also exchange wives:

Lauda: I can't remember that, you, Helmut?

Marko: Let's just leave these good answers as they are.

What are your biggest character differences?

Lauda: Helmut is a grumpy bear. And I'm always lauging.

-

"It's much easier to have a so-called marriage with Toto than sometimes with wives" analyzed Lauda, "The women with their emancipation have become such a challenge that they become so difficult that I have to defend myself every day." adds Niki.

In the OSTERREICH-Talk, Lauda makes it clear: "It's logical that it's often easier between Toto than me with a wide, Toto said that too" REferring to his dream marriage with Brigit, Niki makes it clear, "We are incredibly harmonious. There's zero discussion there. But first you have to find someone like Brigit."

-

Then Lauda concrete: "The best example, 1984, Portuguese Grand Prix, decisive for the World Champion between Prost and myself. My fitness guru Willi Dungl said to me because he already knew what I was after. "You, there's a blonde Italian girl running around down there, she's always looking for you." I went right over and asked how she was doing. I then took her to dinner on Friday because I am a polite person. Then she asked me if she could have dinner with me again on Saturday. So I told her she couldn't have dinner with me, but she could come to my room from eight to ten?"

Why did Lauda only have two hours?

The ex-champion "I said I had to sleep at ten because I want to be the world champion the next day. She said okay, come into the room and left at ten minutes to ten. I slept like a god."

And what about sex in Formula 1 today?

Lauda: Formula 1 has become more of a family sport. Now the woman and children are coming along because less or nothing happens. Morale is maybe better today..."

-

Niki Lauda has gone into himself again: The ex-racer driver, who was loudly upset in the Austrian media about the participation of a male couple in the ORF dance show "Dancing Stars" has now apologized for his anti-gay statments.

The 61 year old wrote on his company Flyniki's facebook page on Wednesday, "I (...) would like to apologise to all the people who felt hurt by my choice of words, (...) Throughout my life I have not had any prejudice against homosexuals."

-

BILD: What if your son were homosexual?

Lauda: I wouldn't mind at all.

-

I was able to experience so many things with you, for which I am infinitely grateful - whether it was the countless hours in the cockpit around the world or our dinner together at the Plachutta in Grinzing, always at the same table with the same seating arrangement. Yeah, I'm going to damn miss all of that. Although you always claimed you had no friends, I have to tell you now: the kind of friendship you gave someone was unique. In a world where everyone is looking for their own advantage, you have given more than anymore could ever give back.

When you stood up for someone, fears of any consequence were foreign to you. You just did it - without a thought to what you get out of it. And believe me, my dear Niki, that's something that sets you apart from so many people.

But you were also - as already mentioned, merciless in your assessment of things that affected me both privately and professionally. The bottom line is that you were someone who spoke his mind. No ifs or buts. You and our conversations have also contributed a lot to the fact that I am now married and can call myself the happy father of two children.

-

Lauda: True, but I now have one from another institute. At that time I was in Hong Kong on a stopover between two Grand Prix and had dinner in a Japanese restaurant. I wanted to pay with plastic money, but then the waiter came, slapped my credit card in front of me and just said: "Call your bank!" I didn't know what she meant everyone laughed, but I didn't have another credit card with me. And so everyone I wanted to invite scraped together the money and I got out of this thing. The next day I call my bank and they tell me that according to their system it is completely normal that it cannot be me if I brought a sweater and jeans for 300 euros in the morning and then brought them again in the evening wants to pay by credit card. One can.

-

Lauda: I no longer get angry at those who never answer the phone. Friends always answer the phone. And there are people who are my friends. Brigit, for example, is my friend. She would never dare not answer the phone.

-

Lauda: Don't you ever want to get married?

Jagerhofer: Yes, I'll do that now anyway.

Lauda: When? Just make sure it's not a Grand Prix.

Jagerhofer: That's what Niki jokes about. We've already talked about it. I wanted to keep my girlfriends pregnancy a secret, but when I gave an interview to the ORF "Seitnblicken" Niki bursts in, "Ask him why there's a pram under the Christmas tree this year!"

According to tradition, you want the woman to take the man's name?

Both: Logical!

Lauda: This is Mrs. Lauda, and these are the Lauda children. There's no discussion at all.

How do you raise your children?

Lauda: I have an absolute cell phone ban. The children are only allowed to look at photos. There's no iPad either. But they must know how to hold the cutlery, be able to eat normally, have decent manners. Thank God my parents gave me this basic behaviour, so I'm not insecure anywhere. If I were suddenly invited to the Queen's I would have no problem holding a knife and fork properly there.

You, Herr Lauda, are said to have become more human since you married Birgit.

Lauda: When I met Brigit, two complete opposite collided. On one hand I was with my character, which was the way it was, and with my egoism shaped by racing and wanting to survive. I didn't know anything else. Then she came, with her youth, with her different views, and I have to be honest, today I am the opposite of what I was then. I'm happy and I hope my family is too.

What role does age difference play?

Lauda: She's 30 years younger, but it's not about age. It's really about her personality, I have to say that to be fair. She donated her kidney to me after eight months, she's a very strong woman, and she just showed me that I don't have to take life so seriously.

-

Lauda also enjoyed going in and out of strangers' garages. Mercedes man Lauda in front of a stripped Ferrari, that's a bit like Donald Trump showing up unannounced in the Kremlin. Anyone else would have failed at the bouncer. Nobody dared to stop the man with the cap. Niki Lauda was institution.

-

If anyone expects a friend from me, it is Brigit. This is my wide, with whom I raise my children and with whom I logically communicate about everything with. Even if I have a cold, I have to discuss it with her. Then she might say, "If you're sick, I'll make you some tea."

Speakign of tea: who pays for coffee today?

Of course I'll pay, that's logical. You are a woman.

-

Playboy: How wild were you?

Lauda: I've experienced a lot with James. I lived in London for a while when I started my racing career. He was my neighbour. So we let it rip. But he always took it to excess. I remember years later he was at my birthday party in Vienna and the next day there were test drives in France. At three o'clock in the morning I went home and said to James, "Don't tell stories, you'll be at the airport at seven o'clock in the morning." He wanted to fly with me...

Playboy: Did he come...?

Lauda: Yes but how. Half drunk. He looked like he just left out of the last bar. He had a young girl with him and held a portable radio to his ear. I put him on the plane and flew down. The test drives begin at ten o'clock sharp. After three laps I have an engine failure and thought: thank god, now I have four hours to rest. So I was sitting in the pits and suddenly I heard: Accident! We drove straight down to the track and then I saw Hunt's Mclaren. But it didn't look like an accident, no tire tracks, nothing. I went to his car and asked what's going on? And he said: "Niki, I was so tired. I had to stop here." That was James.

Playboy: After your first marriage ended in dirove in 1991, you didn't want to remarry. In 2008 you did it after all. Are men made for monogamy?

Lauda: If you ask me now: yes, before: no

Playboy: Does that mean men over 63 are made for monogamy?

Lauda: This has nothing to do with age, but with finding the right partner, and the woman with whom you have a common ground, but who still gives you enough freedom. That's the most important thing in a marriage. Of course, it's not easy. For example, I have a pronounced egoism, and I just can't shake it off. Although, a few friends who know me from before say to Brigit that I have never been like I am today. When she hears from the past, she doesn't believe it at all.

Playboy: What kinds of stories does she hear?

Lauda: What a self-centered person I was, who only gave a shit about himself and didn't make any compromises for anyone. that's all right.

-

"Is there any chance I can try a racing car one day?" And without even looking up from your newspaper said, "Fuck you guys, there's no way." And that pissed us off so much I decided to arrange it myself.

Their father laughs. "I was surprised that they did - but on the other hand I thought "Shit is not bad. I would have done the same thing." The real problem is Marlene"

Although Lauda claims to have felt little fear in racing days - "After the Nurburgring, I had some difficulties, but it too me one practise and it was fixed again." he is, to his own amusement, plainly intimidated by his ex-wife.

"Marlene hates racing like you would not believe." he says, "I married he and three months I nearly killed myself. So whenever I raced afterwards she said, "Do whatever you want , but I don't want to know." She feels it in her stomach - when I drive with her in the car and go quickly around a corner, she screams. If she finds out the boys were helping Mathias, she will kill us."

-

Krone: You rejoined the Catholic church for Max and Mia. Do you pray with them too?

Lauda: No, there is no prayer. But I read them stories. We spent hours building lego towers. I have a lot of patience, I really have to give myself credit with that. We love to go out in the garden and swing. Dive right and left for half an hour, it is really exhausting.

Krone: You are not know as a man of great feelings. Can you describe father feelings?

Lauda: Father feelings are the rush when I pick up the twins from kindergarten. As soon as they sit in the back of my car, they said in unison: "Dad, please drive in the snow!" (laughs) "Then of course I step on the gas , and then the kids laugh until we get back.

Krone: Is Niki Lauda sometimes strict?

Lauda: Brigit is strict. I'm the calm one. THis contrast works very well. Especially when Max just says, "No" when we want anything from him. Brigit then gets loud, while I have completely different principle. I calmy count to three, then the problem is solved.

Krone: Is it true that another sibling is planned for Max and Mia?

Lauda: The question comes up every month. That's just the way it is with woman. It would be illogical if you ask me. Because Brigit and I can observe and experience all developments in two gender forms with these two great children. Why do we have to triple that now? For me, it's so perfect. But women also have a say in that.

Krone: What would Niki say if a child told him at some point that he was gay?

Lauda: As far as I am concerned, all my children can be gay and lesbian. I have no problem with that at all. I would even support it. My children can be anything they want.

-

in his private life, too, he devoted his entire life to motorsport. "In reality, he only has feelings for his car and nothing else." summed up his former partner Mariella von Reininghaus, from whom he separated in 1975. A year later he married Marlene Knaus whom he had two children with. But the Viennese never had much time for his family, who lived alternately in Salzburg and Ibiza. When asked about this, Lauda once said in the Bunte: "We don't have a marriage in the classic style. We see each other four or five times a month and we're doing quite well with it."

-

Niki makes sure that his children, Mia and max aren't exposed to the public to the scrutiny so that they can live a normal life like any other children of their age. At times when the family was caught by the Paparazzi out in the open, father Niki made sure that the faces of his children were blurred and undiscernible.

-

Reversing roles in "Frustuck bet mir" Niki Lauda, known for being pragmatic, asked his alter-ego Daniel Bruhl questions of his own in today's O3, "Frustuck bei mit" He was particularly interested in the private plans of the acting star. "Well what about foam? Wedding, children?" And Bruhl, who has been in a relationship with therapist Felicitas Rombold for two years, put in a nutshell, "Yes, we will get married. We're still waiting for Felicitas doctoral thesis and until the turbulent times around 'Rush' have subsided for me, But it's very clear what we both want. She is my wife."

The 64-year old Formula 1 legend also gave private insight to. Lauda's wife Brigit is studying art history in her fifth semester, when she's at university, he looks after the children alone at home. "The last time I was supposed to make spaghetti, but I only found the sauce, there wasn't any pasta. But it was relatively easy to solve - the children simply got cornflakes again, like for breakfast. When Brigit came home, I was exhausted, but the children went to bed full and clean." In addition, the three-time Formula 1 champion, who still likes to compete with others, ran a private competition at home: counted which side Max and Mia slip into bed more often in the morning. "It's actually 1-0 for me every day - because they always come to me, Mia-mouse understood who I am, namely master of the house, and since then she's always stuck with me." he says with a laugh. And Lauda, who has always known to have read only one book in his life, namely "The seagull Johnathan" is currently expanding his reading:"I read Max and Mia Snow White every other evening. That has to be."

-

"My children, Max and Mia have just turned 6 and for their birthday they had a go-kart from a friend. I almost screamed 'Idiot!' and they wanted to drive immediately. My wife keeps saying they don't have my genes. Honestly, I have no idea if either of them will be a good driver someday, and I certainly don't want to push to find out."

-

Would you like one of your twins to become a racer?

"I hope not, but it is too early to tell. My daughter however, is a reckless one. She is exactly like me, right now, here in Vienna, it is the first time that I am alone with the children, because my wife is in New York. Immediately after this interview I run home because the baby sitter is leaving and I can't wait to be with them. It's a great experience. Brigit said I would never make it but everything goes on well."

You always seem very cold, controlled and pragmatic. Is this also the case in private life?

"I'm emotional, but I don't show it. I try to protect myself. I'm always in the spotlight so I hide. I'm easy to tears when I watch dull movies: I don't know why, but I feel like crying. "

-

You had twins with your wife Brigit eight years ago. They recently took part in a Formula 1 race for the first time. Why have you waited so long?

Because I am fundamentally opposed to children coming to car races. But my wife convinced me because there was a nice hotel in Austria with a lake and horses.

Are you a fan of a racer?

Max likes Hamilton, Mia Bottas. Perfectly divided.

-

Madonna: How difficult is it for you to give presents to your father?

Mathias Lauda: That is really very difficult. He has no hobbies, he is either sleeping or working. But we thought long and hard and found something.

Lukas Lauda: But it remains a surprise.

Madonna: Can you already reveal how the celebrations will take place?

Lukas Lauda: We're looking forward to a party in Ibiza with a smaller group, with friends and the whole family. But it's nothing pompous. He always wanted everything to be modest. In Barcelona we don't even notice the hype about him.

Mathias Lauda: Ibiza is ideal for us because we live in Barcelona and our mother and family live in Ibiza. We'll have dinner, drink a lot and go out.

Madonna: How close is the contract - despite the distance?

Lukas Lauda: We don't see much of the father, but we're used to that. It's always fun when we're together.

Mathias Lauda: We lived in Salzburg until I was about 15 and father in Vienna. Most of the time we only saw each other on weekends. Now Lukas and I have our center in Barcelona. We actually only wanted to move to the city for a short time and stayed! But we manage to see our father once a month.

Madonna: How is Niki Lauda as a father?

Lukas Lauda: There is a lot of laughter, but also a lot of criticism - in a positive sense. He's a good father, but he's certainly not a model father. That also had advantages. We don't have a typical father-son relationship as a result. We are more like brothers and friends.

Mathias Lauda: That's right, we can talk about anything.

-

Naida: Mr Lauda, congratulations on the wedding. Why did you want to keep the registry office secret?

Niki Lauda: So the wedding after all! Look, it's very simple. I understand that I'm always in the shop window with my red cap. THat's part of it and also helps me in business. But I am not the Boris Becker who has been in the media with his relationship for years. That's his way! My way s very different. Already at the beginning of my career at Ferrari I learnt how to draw boundaries. There is a partition that protects me and people around me. I need a territory that is only mine. The fun stops at my deepest feelings.

Nadia: But a wedding is also a public commitment to each other...

Lauda: Yes, of course, there is a marriage certification and an official act. I stand by Bridit so much that I wanted to go to the reisty office. I wanted to show her she is the woman for me.

Nadia: Sounds almost romantic...

Lauda: So I'm really not romantic

Nadia: How did you ask for Brigit's hand?

Lauda: In ibiza in a pizzeria, about two months ago

Naida: And when exactly did you get married?

Lauda: It was on Augst 25th at half past three in the afternoon in Viennese registry office. The registry organized it and we went in very inconspiciously.

Naida: With the red cap and jeans?

Lauda: Exactly

Naida: Were your family and close friends informed?

Lauda: Marlene and the boys already kenw it, it went according to plan. I didn't tell friends, every single person would have been a source of risk.

-

But they have a ball as friends. "I went to visit him (at his home) in Ibiza", recalls Lewis, "He would often invite me, we'd fly on his plane and I'd always get him to tell me stories. He had so many great stories. If you watch Rush he's portrayed as the serious, dedicated guy in contrast to James Hunt. But that was only one side of him. He loved the ladies too."

-

Niki is very proud of his skills with dogs. He even confided in me once that he thought he was a dog whisperer.

"What does that mean?"

"I understand dogs, and dogs understand me."

"For example?"

"They follow me even in difficult situations because I empathize."

"What would that look like?"

"Felix, for example, got his tail stuck in the trunk of the car and..."

"...hold on. Did he close the trunk himself?"

"No, I closed it, but only very gently..."

"which means the big dog whisperer pinched the dog's tail."

"Just a little, and Felix squeaked just a little. Something like this (Lauda squeaks very softly), but after that, he never jumped into the car again. Not for anything. He lay down on the floor, turned his back, and showed with every move he made: I am not going to jump in to that."

"And how did you cope with this incredible situation?"

"I offered him another car. He didn't want to go in there either. But I talked to him for so long and kept giving him treats until he finally jumped in. Now he's going it again, thank god. And Shivas will jump in anytime."

"Did you pinch his tail as well?"

(Annoyed) "NO."

"All right, all right."

-

Thank you for reading if you got this far! I hope you enjoyed the read and learned a lot more about Niki! Please don't ask how long this took me 😂

#niki lauda quotes #niki lauda #formula one #formula 1 #f1 #james hunt #daniel brühl #daniel bruhl #mercedes

[hollandorks]

I made inhuman noises at this chapter. Planted my face on my keyboard. These two absolute idiots.

But first: to address my last ask! I'm graduating next week! My cap has an assortment of fake flowers in different shades of pink and white in different sizes

They're on two out of four of the edges, situated across from each other. The quote "The more you say, the less I know" (from Taylor Swift's Willow) takes up the middle of the cap in gold metallic marker, except for the words "say" and "know", which are written with fake pearl beads.

I also love Cassandra Clare with all my fucking heart. My mom is flying in for my graduation and I asked her to bring me my copies of The Mortal Instruments so I can re-read them and celebrate. Infernal Devices has to unfortunately wait for the next trip (sorry, Will, Tessa, and Jem—I love them too). I haven't read Chain of Gold yet, but I've wanted to for ages. I just wanna have a hard copy when I read it.

“Just kiss her” the theme of the whole fic! JUST KISS DAMMIT. Just had a bizarre image of Alfred being like Sebastian in the Little Mermaid singing Kiss the Girl 😂

You made me laugh out loud in the bus because of that. Graced all the MTA patrons with my snort. I hope you're happy.

Also, I can't wait for the vacation scene. I look forward to it. I don't care if I have to read 100 more chapters to get to it, I will (happily).

Now! Onto this chapter!

Bruce went very still but didn’t turn around to look at her. 

Bruce is an actual vigilante who constantly has to think on his feet every single night, but when the reader throws him a curve ball, he can do nothing but freeze like a deer in headlights. Are you batman? Freezes. I'm leaving. Freezes. Bad guy tries to punch his face? Counters. Enigma.

Except not really, because he's just in love. This is the one thing he can't figure out and that's endearing.

She didn’t want to have to move, but he so obviously hated having her in his Batman business. He was worried about her getting hurt. Worried so much that he would get himself hurt by being distracted. She was a burden to him. You keep getting in the way. He didn’t like her meddling, didn’t want her help. And once this was all over…she couldn’t work at Wayne Manor forever and be in love with him. It would hurt too much. 

Madam—

Listen, she's not wrong, but she's assuming his reasons and assuming what he feels instead of just talking about it. Clear the air, you'll breathe easier.

But also I feel for her. "You keep getting in the way" is harsh. Nobody would think straight with that being thrown in your face. It's just human nature. Nobody wants to be the impediment. People generally want to help, so being told you're doing the opposite would fucking hurt. Not saying it's completely on Bruce to fix shit, but, like, that was a proper Fuck Up.

Again, I know why he did it. But I have drama degree and have access to therapy and I watch Cinema Therapy on Youtube. So, if I didn't, I'd be really shitty at my job (which is to analyze characters and motives). The Reader, however, likely does not have the same curse luxury, so they need to Talk.

also i'm really shit at analyzing characters and motives in real time in realistic situations. In arguments, for some reason, I'm really good at it (to the point that I've frustrated my past partners because they feel like they can't really hide and I see all of them whoopsie). But god forbid somebody flirt with me in a coffee shop. I would not know. I would have -100 clue.

Both men looked at her. Alfred with bemusement, Bruce with something akin to angry betrayal. 

lmao snitch. Love that for her.

Also Bruce deserves it. He did almost get himself killed again.

Alfred gave Bruce a sharp look that was ignored. 

HAHA

I LOVE THAT SO MUCH

Alfred really assumed it was completely Bruce's fault and is like "what the fuck did you do fix this". He's not wrong either, so like—

I love that moment.

See, Shelby, this is one of the things that you just do so well. These little if-you-blink-you'll-miss-it moments help so much with world building and reader immersion. It's so easy to imagine and fill in the gaps because there are usually no gaps you leave us to fill (if at all). Helps with the suspension of disbelief perfectly. Especially because, even in serious angsty moments, there are generally funny things that happen (like sharp glances that go ignored) that people involved just don't notice in the moment, but people outside do notice.

At the same time, it tells us so much about the relationships between characters. So, it functions as both world building and informing the reader.

 “No, I’ve been thinking about it already. I think it’d be better for everyone. I don’t–”

JUST SAY IT.

Say it. "I don't want to be a burden." Say it, so that Alfred can slap Bruce upside the head and tell him to fix it, so that he does fix it. Say it, so that poor Bruce, who probably doesn't really understand, can realize what's bothering you and help ease it.

Of course it hurt. It's allowed to hurt. Just say that it hurt, so that people can help. Not saying it hurt doesn't do anything—it doesn't get rid of the pain, it doesn't make it okay, it doesn't make anybody less uncomfortable.

Stubborn little—

The reader's really jamming out to "He's Not Yours" and "Someone Else" by Beth Crowley EXCEPT BRUCE LOVES HER TOO—

She and Bruce had barely spoken. She still crept into his room. That same night, he’d found her on the floor again and told her to just sleep in the bed from then on. So she had. But she still tried her own bed first. She tried to stop herself from being so pathetic that she couldn’t sleep alone. But it never worked.

Hey, reader, did you know that sometimes, you know, you can get nightmares in certain situations, like say, I don't know, when you're distressed? Like, you know, if there's something bothering you that you haven't let out or spoken about or addressed?

Have you thought, you know, that you if you just TELL THE MAN YOU LOVE HIM—

He wasn’t even hers

Lmao I didn't even see this line when I suggested the reader listening to "He's Not Yours"

In case you didn't know, I read a chapter multiple times. Usually twice or thrice. The first time I read it, I'm just reading it. The times after are usually when I'm trying to refresh my memory and make sure I didn't miss anything. I missed the "He wasn't even hers" line on my first read through and, as I'm doing the second and writing down my thoughts while doing that second read through, there it is! After I wrote the song thing! Funny how brains work.

Maybe she should start seeing a therapist

Madam, this is not a maybe. You should. You just should.

Take Alfred and Bruce with you.

okay, my dog's getting impatient with me. She's saying it's time for cuddles in bed, so I might have to be more concise.

“I have noticed the house becoming rather sparkly,” Bruce said drily. 

SIR—

God, she was a goner. Her chest ached just looking at him. The smile, the messy hair, the baggy shirt. She loved him so much she couldn’t breathe. 

SO JUST TELL HIM—

“Or are you afraid you can’t win without using the cape to cheat?” 

BRUCE WAYNE HOW DARE YOU

I'm offended!

Full disclosure, I fully expected her to play dirty and just kiss him to distract him before pinning him to the ground.

Like, sense-wise, I knew it wouldn't happen because they're not there right now, what with all the stubbornly refusing to tell each other of their feelings and talk about the elephant in the room, but still.

“I didn’t know you had a medical degree,” Bruce said in a low voice.

God, I'd kiss him just to shut him up—

Sorry, but somebody had to say it. He's being such a snarky bastard right now and he knows it.

“Are you stalling?” Bruce asked. One dark eyebrow rose. There was a hint of a smile in the corners of his mouth. 

Snarky. Son. Of. A. Bitch.

“I told you that I’d prove I was alright,” he said.

Bruce has such a weird way of assuring people he's alright. Like, it would be so much easier to just assure them and take care of yourself, but nah, he'd rather just show them by challenging them to a fight.

This man will really go to any lengths necessary to not talk about his feelings. I disagree with it, but, you know what, I gotta admire it a little. He's nothing if not determined.

(That being said he would totally talk about it if the reader asked him to, as part of the moving mountains thing—it'd be one hell of a mountain, but he'd do it.)

Fighting, fixing things, figuring things out.

This applies to everything except for his feelings for the reader. In which case, he is a headless chicken. Worse, even.

She suddenly felt like crying without exactly knowing why. 

Reader should cry. Just cry in front of him. Confuse the ever-living shit out of him. Create chaos. Watch him squirm.

Listen, I know I'm really beating up Bruce right now, but him being a snarky asshole really brought it out of me, so—

It was the middle of the night

*roll credits*

as if she hadn’t turned his world upside down and given it a shake for good measure. 

THAT'S ONE HELL OF A LINE

I hope you're proud of that line. It's fantastic. Watch me say it when I dramatically confess my love to my dog.

Sometimes, when she was asleep, she reached for him. But then she’d said she was leaving

THAT CONTRAST— UGH

I love it. It makes it more painful, but damn, it's in the best way.

But she wasn’t his, and never would be. 

lmao Bruce is listening to that Beth Crowley song too. Now I have to link it because I'm referencing it so much.

He’d taken to drinking coffee just because she liked it, though he preferred tea. Anything to feel nearer to her. It was pathetic. 

Making me melt.

It's not pathetic, Bruce, just talk to her, goddammit. Tell her that you drink coffee because of her, that you spar just to feel her skin against yours, that you crack jokes to hear her heavenly laugh—JUST TELL HER SO WE CAN ALL MELT AT THE SOFT

Fuck man, at this point, I'd write the confession for you and you can just read it out, as long as the words get said, Bruce, goddamn—

“Little early for you to be up, isn’t it?” Alfred asked softly.

YES ALFRED!!! FIX THIS!!!

Alfred's the real MVP of this entire story. The saving grace of Wayne Manor. Getting these two dysfunctional idiots to be functional together.

“I think it matters more than you’d think.” 

Alfred's telling Bruce everything I've been saying in this entire ask.

“I can’t stop her, can I?”

YES YOU CAN

I mean, you can't. She'll do whatever the fuck she wants, we know that. BUT she deserves to have all the data she needs to make an informed decision. She thinks you hate her, you idiot, that's why she's leaving. So, if you tell her the contrary, what do you think will happen?

And besides, if it doesn't matter, if she leaves anyway, what do you have to lose? Her? She's leaving anyways. I don't think she'd leave though. At least not leave Bruce. She may leave the tower because she wants more independence, but she's not gonna leave him because she loves him too.

How could he explain in words that he would die for her? That he would give up Gotham to save her? How could he express how thoroughly he worshiped her, how fearful he was that she would die, how much he craved to know her every thought? It wasn’t that she kept getting in the way. It was that he was always, always going to care more about her safety than anything else. And that got in the way.

Say it like that. Just like that. Exactly like that. That would be enough.

“I think you at least owe her the truth about how you feel about her.” [...] “Just think about it. She’s leaving, right? What could it hurt?”

Alfred and I are on the same page here. I love that for us. Same wavelength.

Plot twist: Alfred also watches Cinema Therapy and has a therapist.

He loved her, and he would have to let her go. That was all there was to it.

These two—

Nope. No. No. No.

Don't make decisions for each other. Don't decide to "let the other go" without their consent.

You know what, I hope they say that exact line so that Alfred or someone could point out how silly that is. Also how disrespectful it is. Like you're really gonna make a decision on their behalf and change the other person's life without any regard to their own autonomy and opinions? Rude.

As always, fantastic job, Shelby. My dog is now very frustrated with me and I have to go, but I love you bestie.

⌨

***CH 26 SPOILERS***

Hi bestie!! Yay for graduating next week!! Your cap sounds amazing and the lyric made me laugh because wow, what a perfect summary of college 😂

Look we were besties before but this seals it. If you like Cassandra Clare I know you probably have great taste in other books! I actually have a bookstagram and like....600 books in my house (this is an accurate number, I've counted. And I've since bought more books so it's probably 650 ish now). What other books do you like??

Also, Chain of Gold is a contender for my new favorite Shadowhunters series. We'll see after I read book 2 and then when book 3 comes out but I loved CoG!

I'm glad my dumb kiss the girl comment made you laugh 😂 Also it's not exactly a vacation scene but uh I can't really explain it without potentially spoiling like 8 different things 😂 oops

Poor dumb Bruce has to confront emotion and freezes. I imagine his whole mind goes blank. Error 404 not found. He can act on instinct with everything else except feelings.

They need to clear the air so bad! It was a proper Fuck Up to be sure. And poor dumb Bruce is too dumb to figure it out! They definitely need to sit down and be very very very explicitly clear with each other.

I haven't heard of cinema therapy but now I must look it up! I get such joy from analyzing media (movies, shows, books, fanfics, etc) that I know I'd enjoy it.

Also that's so endearing and funny that you're good at it in arguments but not with casual flirting etc. I love it. I relate to it. I'm so much better at figuring stuff out when the emotions are high so I get it!

Look it isn't a spoiler to say that the reader can always be counted on to snitch on Bruce. It will probably come up in the sequel. I haven't written it yet but there's a very good chance.

Alfred knows Bruce and how Bruce is with emotions, so he knows Bruce fucked it up. Like I said to 🦇 anon, poor Alfred was coming downstairs having expected them to have talked it out and maybe boned it out only to come into this absolute shit show.

And wow thank you 🥺 those are always my favorite moments to read (and even catch irl) so I can't help from throwing them in. That's such a nice compliment 🥺

So much could be fixed if these two dummies stopped stopping themselves from completing sentences!! The reader knows Bruce pretty well at this point so like, why isn't she trying to clear things up with him 😂 She knows he's awkward and a little dumb. (I mean the reason is that I love angst, so....my fault on that. But I sometimes I swear these charles have minds of their own and I'm just hanging on for dear life and writing it down)

As for the nightmares etc you're so right. And if the stubborn little reader just went to therapy she might realize that!

That He's Not Yours song 🥵 Yep that's it. "It's all so easy between us/ I start to forget for a while." That's it!! And Someone Else makes me think of the gala scene. You'll see!

Love that you read a chapter multiple times 🥺🥺🥺

Again, they all need therapy. If they have a concierge doctor like Dr. Torres they should just get a concierge therapist.

Have I already asked what type of dog you have??? Because I've forgotten if so. What's her name?

Sassy Bruce here was just so fun. Like there's a few points in the movie we see him kinda peek through that I just know he's secretly hilarious. Couldn't stop myself from making him kinda flirty for once! I, too, wanted them to just kiss and turn the sparring sexy but alas--the angst was calling.

And yes Bruce is so dumb. Instead of being like "here look at the wound and see for yourself that it's healing well" he's like let's fight. He really would go to any lengths to avoid talking about his feelings. Remember the scene where she first calls him Bruce Wayne when he's Batman? Man literally jumped off a fucking roof to avoid confrontation.

"In which case, he is a headless chicken." 💀😂 Dead. You're so right though. He can figure everything out pretty well except anything having to do with emotion. Then he's just like 👁👄👁

"Create chaos. Watch him squirm." Yes exactly. She can create chaos every other way, like stealing the Batmobile, except this!

I don't know if I've ever said it but you crack mw up bestie. Every time. A true comedic genius. Literally your asks are always so full of hilarious lines that if I pointed them all out I'd just have to copy & paste.

Also I am proud of that line thank you for noticing 🥺 Sometimes my brain works well!

Yeah when I was rereading this chapter before posting, and especially when I got to Bruce's POV, I was like damn Shelby you're kind of sucker punching them here.

And it isn't over

Alfred is probably having similar thoughts at this point. Alfred almost definitely wants to write out a confession, hand it to Bruce, and say "Just read it out loud to her."

Alfred is the i voice of reason in Wayne Manor (at least with emotions--we won't talk about how he lets his adopted son dress up as a giant bat and get the shit beat out of him)

You're right though, Bruce has all the words already! Just say it! Just fucking say it!

Y'know Alfred probably does have a therapist. He'll come in every week and the therapist is probably just as invested in these two idiots as Alfred. "Have they confessed their love yet?" "No." "Alright well I'll see you next week."

I am a huge hater of the "I'm leaving to make you safer" or "love them and let them go" trope. So why did I include it? Angst. But also because this Bruce Wayne is the embodiment of those tropes and I love him, therefore I am naturally a bigger fan of those tropes.

Sorry to your dog!! But thanks for the long ask!! 🥺🥰 please let's talk about books sometime because!! I love books!!

#asks #anon #motn spoilers #my bestie ⌨️ #⌨️ anon #⌨️ #sorry to everyone for my asks always clogging up the dash #I am not that sorry actually

[hbkerlon]

Moneybag yo baby mom

It’s the sort of tabloid fodder the media loves to gawk at. In an expletive-filled rant, she insisted that she wasn’t “ stressin’ over no h*e” when it’s clear she was. His little move – gifting Ari a Lamborghini – set Chyna Santana off. After making a public declaration of his love for his new girlfriend, Ari Fletcher, his “baby mama” went on a social media rampage. It’s problematic, and it’s proof positive that “baby mama culture” needs to go.The media loves to gawk at this sort of drama.When Moneybagg Yo gifted his girlfriend an expensive luxury car, Chyna Santana – the rapper’s “baby mama” – earned herself some airtime by ranting about it on social media.“B*tch u sound slow ASF ! But since you got so much talk, h*e whats good ?” Ari has not addressed the situation further, only tweeting that she was laughing at “the sh*t I just read in my comment section. “And one more thing, obsessed with my babydaddy” she wrote, followed by some cry-laughing emojis. Juicy went on to indirectly point the finger at Ari in the next post. “I dont got nomo talk for this sh*t, cause the real know wasup !” In another story, she continued, “And one last thing as far as me taking a bath wit my child, that some I do everyday with her, and her father knows this his self ! I dont never have to be like nobody ! Cause at the end of the day yall are fooled by all of this “social media” sh*t ! Its much bigger then this BS !” “See at this point I cant wit this social media sh*t, cause only if yall knew what happens behind closed doors !” Juicy wrote in all caps. Oop! #MoneybaggYo’s baby mama responds after fans suggest #Ari’s subtweet was about her 👀👀 (SWIPE)Ī post shared by The Shade Room on at 8:18pm PDT Juicy was fed up with all the talk, and decided to address the situation on her Instagram story. That’s a whole pre-teen in the tub w/ her ass 😂 she had no business 😂😂😂 & why ALL OF A SUDDEN she post that…? Never in that girl 10 yrs of living has she posted them in the tub together BYE I knew she was crazy when she had that grown child bathing with her and quoting you and Yosohn 😂😂 her putting that grown behind child in the tub with her was the straw that broke the camels back Juicy was shamed not only for allegedly copying Ari, but also because her daughter was perceived to be too old to be in the bath with her mom. Many thought that she was copying Ari, who often posts similar content with her son, Yosohn. It appears that the reason Ari criticized Juicy in the first place was, according to the replies, because Juicy posted a video of her daughter bathing in the tub with her. Some were concerned that she was talking about Moneybagg’s most well-known ex, Megan Thee Stallion, but others firmly believed that she was taking shots at Juicy. The tweet caused a massive uproar, with many hopping in the replies to clarify just who Ari was referring to. To be obsessed with a nigga to the point you start copying his new bitch is just scary. “To be obsessed with a n*gga to the point you start copying his new b*tch is just scary,” Ari wrote. On Tuesday night, Ari took to Twitter to vent a little, and tons of folks on the Internet were certain that her tweet must have been about her own man’s ex. One of Moneybagg Yo’s baby mamas, Whitney White, who goes by the name Juicy Baby on social media, had a lot to say about his current girlfriend Ari Fletcher’s tweet, after many speculated that it was directed at her. Moneybagg Yo’s baby mama, Whitney White, who goes by the name Juicy Baby, responded to his girlfriend Ari Fletcher’s alleged subtweet about her.

#Moneybag yo baby mom

[mommyg2013]

A Race to the Finish

I asked Saanya if she could spell “Spaghetti”.

She replied unapologetically “No, but I can spell BOB”. “Backwards and forwards”.

 That also summarizes my current state of mind – Pithy and scraping by.

 In the last two weeks alone I have changed and dressed up the kids in the back seat of the car while hurtling from point A to B, made a presentation (on camera) in the back seat of my car (thank you hotspot) while idling in a carpool lane AND AND wait for it…… taken a nap in the back seat of my car because that’s how tired I was.

 I overheard the girls playing BUTT, PAPER, SCISSORS recently. Which is basically using your butt as a ROCK. You know that’s not going to end well. Someone’s ASS is going to sit on someone’s FINGER and it’ll be all downhill from there.

In another recent episode, I found a cut up dollar bill. My investigations revealed that a certain someone, she who can spell BOB BACKWARDS, had cut up a note to use in a craft project.

  A CRAFT PROJECT

 Another nicer parent would use that as a teaching opportunity. Not me, I lost my shit. Poor kid, she may never attempt another craft project for the rest of her life.

 The episodes are many, my patience not as much.

 I had my first post-pandemic FACIAL a few weeks ago. The only place I ever go to get a facial is the Indian “beauty parlor” many miles away. The “beauty parlors” in Mumbai could be featured on Vogue but the Indian ones in Atlanta are in a time warp, circa 1999.

Pots of hot wax, aunties in dripping henna and shower caps (and because they give a fuck they will walk into the grocery store next door with the henna and shower cap) and Bollywood music from 1992. Dekha hai pehli baar saajan ke aankon mein pyaar….

 There was one auntie threading her whole face. Girlfriend, if you have that much hair on your face please get laser hair removal done.  

 I go there because they have the best facials. They give a shit about litigation and such. The blackheads come off first with what seems like a shovel. Once your nose has fallen off your face they attack the whiteheads on your forehead. You leave feeling like a road roller has plied over you – but at least your pores are squeaky clean.

Must be noted that she sniffed the throw before placing it on top of me.

 It’s also the only place I feel REALLY, REALLY TIMID. I hesitantly told her that last time they threaded my eyebrows too thin. She replied that that’s how my left eyebrow is – THIN. Aint nothin’ she can do.

That’s me – girl with a THIN left eyebrow, rest of me – THICK.

 The school year is hurtling to a close. He who shall not be named is also struggling to keep up with activities. The ones that he does attend, he’ll make a show of taking lots of pictures, chatting up folks, thanking the teachers, we’re just so affable…..….WOW. I’m here every second day, aint nobody taking my picture.

 My greatest joys are the smallest ones. More than ever. An email alert telling me the books I put on hold have arrived at the library. They’re taking longer because I’m looking for large print.

  I’m feeling every one of my 41 years. Once you read large print you cannot go back to regular. 

3.5 weeks to go, first and third grade is a wrap. May the smiles be plenty but the CRAFT ACTIVITIES few. 

[possibleplatypus]

#I still think that the only logical way that the compass makes sense#is if Peggy pasted her own picture and sent it with the ammo and rations to the front#and Steve opened up his new compass when the camera happened to be on him#and his 😐 face was because he had no idea how to react to this#but Peggy’s smug face tells you that she’s not smart#because she exposed her face to everyone who was going to see those war reels#including Hydra#so yeah they were weak to downplay the relationships that really affected Steve#and the people he spent years with#for a cheap display of heterosexuality that didn’t even make sense#and also at the end when he opens his compass it’s supposed to show he’s thinking about her#and not that he was looking at which direction he was going to put the plane in the water 🤪#the cheap assholery of the MCU persists and I hope that’s what gets them in the end#+.+ @cosmicmechanism

(I didn’t want to intrude on op’s post so I thought I’d make my own) See that compass scene has puzzled me for a while. How much of it was staged/planned? Were they even allowed to show candid footage of Captain America planning his troop movements?? Steve looks so uncomfortable. Was it shown in movie theaters throughout America, or was it just for military brass (and the Hydra spies in their midst)?

For me, it just seemed too convenient to not be staged. Let’s film Captain America strategizing with the guys, and oh, who’s this? *zooms in so viewers can see Peggy’s face perfectly before Steve closes the compass*

I can see it being filmed for propaganda-- give Captain America a girlfriend! Spin a romance, people will go wild!-- but this doesn’t totally make sense because why would they use Peggy’s face if she’s supposed to be a spy? If this was used for propaganda, now the whole world knows what she looks like, and Hydra will have her in its sights. Unless SHIELD was already in the works and they were planning on using her as a figurehead?

(The photo in the compass also looks like it was poorly ripped out of an official photo that Steve got from somewhere, not carefully cut out of a personal photo that Peggy gifted to him 🙄 So imagine if they told Steve to have a picture of a random girl in his compass so they could film it, but Steve hastily tore out a photo of Peggy because he knows what will happen if she sees another woman in his compass 😂)

If Peggy was the one to send him the photo of her in the compass knowing it would be recorded for posterity, it just means she’s a terrible spy, OR she’s banking on her subsequent fame outweighing any cons that might occur after exposing her face to the world. The video is actually great publicity for Peggy and her ambitions-- if she’s known as Cap’s girl, wouldn’t people think twice about crossing her? Wouldn’t people vie for her attention and approval? (Still need to watch out for Hydra though, and any enemy spy worth their salt)

I know the “canon” interpretation is that it wasn’t staged and that Steve put her photo in the compass because he wanted to show that he was sorry (???for what though, he did nothing wrong???) and committed to Peggy for reals, but it still doesn’t look great since this only happens after she shoots him. Like “don’t hurt me, see how my heart is yours only?”

Actually that reminds me of this meta by @amarriageoftrueminds: 

That domestic abuse means Steve carrying Peggy’s photo after it should not be treated as genuine and unambiguous.

If he’s acting as if he’s 'taken’ by Peggy after receiving a violent punishment for not doing so, that doesn’t mean it’s true. It could easily be read as self-defense. The compass’s odd inclusion in a propaganda reel (where you’d think an allegedly professional spy would not want to feature) supports this.

And imagine the genders flipped:

Nobody would believe a battered woman was carrying her boyfriend’s photo around of her own free will, unless it was meant in a sad, gaslighted this-is-true-love ‘he showed me he’d hit me if I didn’t’ kind of way.)

#mcu #marvel meta #steve rogers #catfa my love #anti peggy carter #unpopular opinion

[look-at-the-soul]

This isn’t goodbye

Tommy Shelby x Greta x Lizzie x Grace x Mum x Grandma Birdie

Summary: Babba is an elderly gypsy who lost her vision a long time ago, but now she can ‘see’ through her hands. It’s a gift that allows her to know your deepest secrets. Tommy asks for her help because he can’t sleep, the Grace hallucinations are becoming too much, but instead he will find out something he didn’t know about his first love, Greta.

✨It starts with a scene between Lizzie & Tommy, then switch to the story…

A/N: It took me a while to finish this one shot, I started it in November but finally, thanks to a fan art I saw, that inspired me, I found the perfect way to end this story ♥️ I hope you like it.

It’s related to S4 E2. That’s where the story start, right after Tommy is talking to Lizzie in his office about how to get Finn a “nice girl”.

But let me explain something important so you won’t get confused, this story is a mix of ‘present time’, visions from the past and flashbacks, so I will mark the start and the end for each; (End of Flashback) (Vision), etc… nevertheless, if this confuses you, don’t hesitate to ask and I will explain 😉

Don’t forget to tell me what you think!

Old memories kept coming back at him as he stared at the canal.

Bored, Lizzie looked at the place, it was humid, there was nothing to do there. “Are we expecting somebody?” Her eyes moving around, trying to find something, anything. Tommy had been quiet. “Tommy, I’m fucking freezing here.”

“We used to come here.” His gaze fixed somewhere in front of him. “She’d wait for hours for me, when I couldn’t make it. And I’d wait for her when her family kept her in.”

“Who?”

A subtle shook of his head, her name at the tip of his tongue. “Some girl.” He replied instead. “Some girl before France.” Finally, Tommy turned around to find Lizzie seating on top of some hay bales. Throwing his cigarette to the ground, he walked in her direction. “I’ve not been back here since.” Parting her legs to step between them, he started caressing her arms. “Wanted to come here with you.” His hands on her face as he leaned down to kiss Lizzie.

Just one kiss and he pulled away.

Lizzie didn’t expect it, confused, she asked: “Are you kissing her or me?”

It was just a second, just a fraction of time while he closed his eyes, that he was able to see her.

Greta.

Right there, in front of him… still the nineteen-year-old girl he had fallen in love with.

Flashback (1915)

Tommy kissed her before pulling out.

“I don’t want to keep hiding” he said while she was fixing her clothes. “Let me talk to your parents. I want to do the right thing.”

“Tom” nobody called him like that, just Greta. Approached him, gently brought her palm to his cheek. “My father will kill you.”

Tommy smiled widely. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Leaning forward to give her a kiss. Then another, and another one until she ended smiling against his lips.

“Need to get back before they realize I’m gone.” Bringing her arms around Tommy, she let out a loud sigh.

The thought of Greta lying to her parents amused him. “Where are you supposed to be?”

“Reading to my aunt Daphne, she can’t see anymore.” She stole his flat cap, to put it on her own head.

A fake expression of shock appeared on his face, as his fingertips started caressing her chin. “You left your poor aunt for me?”

“I want us to spend as much time as possible together before you go.” Greta didn’t want to talk about France, they had an agreement about it, and the last thing she wanted was to make him upset. “I will see you tomorrow Tom, same time. If I can’t make it, just wait for me.” Her finger pointing to their spot in front of the canal. Their secret place, under the bridge.

“I will be here, like I always do.” Solemnly, Tommy placed his right hand over his heart.

“I have something for you. Close your eyes.” When she saw him hesitate, she stole him a quick kiss. “Go on.”

“Closed.”

“No cheating?” she got small envelope she had made and sew out of a scrap of fabric her sister gave her.

“Cross my heart.” A small smirk forming on his lips. He felt her touching his hand, turning it around so his palm was upside.

“You can see now.” Opening his eyes, Tommy found a rectangle of fabric on his hand. Greta unfolded it to show him that inside was a picture. “Whenever you miss me, you can see our picture.”

Feeling his chest expand with all the love he felt for her, Tommy held her face in his hands, a genuine smile on his lips, the same smile on hers as they kissed. He loved her innocence, her big dreams, the way she tried to make the world a better place. Out of the blue her small house was full with four cousins, her aunt and uncle had passed away and the government would have taken the kids to an orphanage if it wasn’t for her parents who welcomed them with open arms. She wanted to help other kids in a similar situation.

“Promise me you will write, whenever you can.” Tommy demanded. “Then we will get married, yeah? Will you wait for me?”

His voice broke a little. He hadn’t left yet, and he was already making promises.

“Always.” She managed to give him a half smile.

(End of flashback)

That was the last time Tommy saw Greta for months, until her death.

“You.” He lied to Lizzie.

***

Tommy knocked on the door and waited until it someone opened it.

He didn`t know if this would help or the woman would just tell him lies, but he was on the edge and it wouldn`t hurt to give it a try.

The old lady was blind, some people said it was a curse, some others assured her vision transmuted, allowing her to see you through her hands.

She couldn’t see the world around her, at least not the same way as we all know it. But she was able to see your heart and your deepest desires. Once she puts her hands over your heart, it is almost as if she connects to your soul and you just can`t help it but give her those secrets that you wouldn`t dare to say out loud.

Tommy waited in the room until the woman entered with someone else for assistance, her eyelids were closed. She invited him to take a seat with her crooked fingers.

“Your soul is restless” she stated. “You’re looking for peace at the wrong place” the old lady said without touching him, or asking for his name. “You are a generous man.” She added gently.

Tommy leaned back in the chair. “I can’t sleep” he admitted.

“A woman is keeping you up”

“I dream of my late wife constantly, day and night… I see her.” What was the point on denying the truth? But he was afraid maybe he wasn’t letting Grace rest. “She passed away a few mon-

“No” the woman interrupted him. “It’s not your wife who is keeping you awake.”

“I see her daily” he repeated in case she didn’t listen.

“I heard you.”

Clearing his throat, he asked: “Who is it then?” Tommy dragged his eyes from the window to look at her.

“You know who she is”

“Right, I won’t take this bull” banging on the table, Tommy got up. The woman didn’t even flinch by his sharpness.

“I have to ask you to watch your manners”.

“Listen to me, I loved my wife, haven’t been thinking of any other woman” he felt the need to let that clear.

“She is still sorry she betrayed you, but your wife is not the woman on the back of your mind.”

A shiver ran through his body. There was no way this woman knew about that.

“Fine, I’m not on the mood to solve riddles” Tommy lost his last ounce of patience and he was about to leave when the woman spoke again.

“She needs you.” the woman said “That’s why you can’t sleep. You were the last person with her.”

¿Polly? ¿Ada? ¿Lizzie? ¿Esme?

Tommy made a mental list of the women in his life.

“No.” She said reading his mind.

Tommy looked at her startled. She held one of her arms in the air for him to get close again. Like a magnet he couldn’t fight, Tommy found himself approaching her. In a gentle motion, Babba covered his eyelids with her fingertips.

“It’s someone who never left you alone during the war. Her spirit protected you. Your love transcended, she left something of herself for you.”

Greta.

Her father heard of their secret romance and as soon as Greta entered her house, she was welcomed by her father ready to beat her for sneaking around with that Gypsy trash as he called him.

He waited days for her at the canal, but she never showed up again.

He tried to reach her, but it was impossible. Until one day, Greta’s sister, Kitty Jurossi found him to deliver the worst news… Greta was really sick and had been asking to see him to say good bye. Kitty mentioned it was consumption.

“That’s not the truth” the old lady pointed now touching his heart, making him jump since he was lost in thoughts.

Tommy closed his eyes and swallowed.

“She died after giving birth to your kid.” He heard her whisper.

That couldn’t be possible. “I was there, I saw her die.”

For the first time, the Babba decided she would allow him to see what really happened. One of her gifts, he needed this to clear his heart. Her hands found their way to touch his forehead so she could share her visions from that moment.

(Vision)

Like a picture in front of him, he stared at his surroundings, it was a room he couldn’t recognize, but the faces were familiar. A heavy breathing came into his ears, a woman in front of him moved from the bead and finally he was able to see her… Greta, she had passed out after letting out a cry that filed the room. “Something is wrong” someone voiced while the other women moved around, apparently none of them could see him.

He tried to move, but he couldn’t. Tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“Hold the baby close to her.” Kitty asked to her oldest sister. “Can you feed her?” Anne nodded.

“Do you think dad will give the baby away like he threatened?”

His baby, he thought.

“Would you shut up Anne?” Their mother hissed, she could feel Greta was in a bad state, but her husband would never allow a Doctor. No, ¿How would anyone know what his little girl did? Sleeping with a gypsy, getting pregnant. He hadn’t talken to Greta even when they were in the same room since he learned she was expecting Tommy’s child.

The worst dishonor of his life, he said.

“Can’t believe she never showed the bump. Where did she hide the baby?”

“I still think Tommy should know, but I know dad won’t let it happen.” They kept cleaning Greta.

“Please don’t make this any worse Anne. We will stick to your fathers’ orders; tell Tommy she’s out, Kitty will keep the baby as hers, since her husband recent passing nobody will question if she was expecting.”

Tommy gasped. All of this time…

“And all of that to keep my little sister’s reputation intact.” Anne rolled her eyes.

“She’s warm Mum.” Worry in Kitty’s voice was evident.

(End of vision)

They all lied to him, they let Greta die.

And they kept his child away from him.

Tommy felt sick suddenly at the thought.

***

(D*)

“Grace?” He couldn’t see anything around, he had been walking around for what it seemed like an eternity. “Grace?” He asked one more time.

It’s been a while since the last time he saw her, maybe he would be able to see her again.

Or… Was he ready to let her go?

But this wasn’t a hallucination, no, as the blurry vision around him dissipated, he saw himself sleeping in his bed, the house was quiet.

Without fully understanding what was happening, he was pulled from his bedroom and found himself in an open field.

The day was beautiful, sunny and the clouds in the sky seemed like made by a brushstroke.

The sound of water running soothed his worries away. This was the calmest he had ever been, the fresh air cleaning his lungs.

As he kept walking next to the river, he found the most beautiful white horse he had ever seen.

The animal as if sensing his presence, turned around to see him. Almost… almost as if it was soul recognition.

Something not a single word in the books could describe.

He approached the horse to caress the animal.

The horse bowed its head and Tommy approached. The most natural thing was riding the animal.

“Do you have any idea what it’s going on?” Tommy asked.

He had had dreams of black cats, and hallucinations about Grace and the German soldiers behind the wall.

But he had never dreamed of white horses.

“Mom?”

Was this even possible?

When she passed away, he wasn’t able to say goodbye, to tell her one more time he loved her, to hug her tighter.

Of course, the horse wouldn’t answer his questions, but even without an answer, Tommy just had a feeling of peace, calmness, he was safe here.

Closing his eyes, he decided if he could trust someone, it was this horse. That’s why he chose to not ask any more questions and just enjoy the ride and the way he felt.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, the three times he checked his pocket watch it had stopped working. As if he was stuck in time.

But no long after, he found a familiar place in front of him.

The canal and bridge where he used to see Greta in secret.

Getting off the horse, on the other side of the canal he could see three female figures, their features slowly showing up.

“Grandma… Mom… Grace.”

Grace was holding something covered in her arms.

Blinking a couple of times, he couldn’t believe what he was watching. “John?” He was there too, a step behind the women, as if watching over them. He was holding a toothpick in his mouth, John nodded in his direction. He had a three-piece suit and flat cap in perfect white color.

His grandma, Birdie smiled at him. She was wearing an immaculate white Romani dress, she also had a white headscarf.

Then his eyes went to his mother, her dark hair around her shoulders, she was wearing a dark grey skirt and blouse.

“I love you Tommy… please forgive me.”

“Mom…” he felt a tight lump in his throat. After uncle Charlie told him what really happened, he silently asked her why she drowned herself, he needed her in his life, he felt like he failed her when he wasn’t able to save her.

“I need you to forgive me, my sunshine.” That was the nickname for him, said he brightened her day. Her blue eyes sparkled at him.

He nodded, unable to say the words out loud. They were stuck, at the tip of his tongue, but struggling to slip from his lips. He looked at the white horse, who’s eyes were on him, after some time that seemed like an eternity, he looked back at her. “I forgive you, Mum.”

“I love you so much my sunshine.”

I love you too Mum. He thought.

Then he saw how the grey color in her clothes began to turn lighter, until it was completely white. Perfectly white, it even lighted her features.

She looked radiant, exuding peace, love and joy, just like she used to do when she was alive.

Finally, his eyes went to Grace. She was wearing the same dress from the Shelby Foundation Fundraising Dinner, also in color white, she had her hair pin, he couldn’t see the sapphire around her neck anymore.

“It wasn’t your fault, Tommy. I will always love you.” She then moved the blanket from the bundle she was holding in her arms, to show him a beautiful baby.

His baby.

She was pregnant when she died, no one knew.

He couldn’t stop the tears now, sobbed loudly.

“Tommy.” It was Greta’s voice behind his back.

Turning to the side, there she was, also dressed in white with her favorite hat on, it had a ribbon with flowers.

“I have to go Tommy. You need to find our daughter, she has your eyes.”

“Wait.”

“Take good care of my little girl.”

“Greta, wait!”

But she was already on the other side of the canal. The white horse was there as well.

They all smiled at him and waved to say goodbye from the other side of the canal.

As the most important woman in his life turned around and started to walk away together, he needed answers, needed more time with them… he needed to hold them one last time.

Tommy tried to cross the canal, but there was no way.

Feeling desperate to watch them go, he needed to try to reach them.

Tell them one more time he loved them.

“Come back!”

He would have to jump.

“Don’t go please.”

His eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t leave me yet.”

He finally jumped, ready to get wet to go after them.

But instead of falling, the sensation of jump into the void woke him up, he was laying on his bed, back in reality. It had been a dream.

He needed to find his daughter. Greta had asked him to take care of her.

But for once in his life, he felt calm, knowing they were together, they were alright. They were in their own way, watching over him.

And he was able to say good bye.

For now.

***

(D)* ~This is where the dream starts, but I didn’t want to give away it was a dream.

Inspiration and massive thank you for the fan art to: @sybilmarlowe maybe you don’t know this, but thanks to your art I was able to finish this story 🤍 you are really talented!

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