#oh gods... demigods with VINE

[krkiiz]

mastermind . luke castellan x reader

maybe the things that led luke to you were never accidental at all

luke castellan x f!reader . reader is the daughter of demeter . tooth rotting fluff , established relationship , nicknames

note : this is inspired by mother tay tay’s song “mastermind” (one of my fav songs in midnights frr) not edited! sorry for some mistakes. Hope you enjoy <3

The camp was never silent. Songs of birds echoed all across the painted skies, gallops of pegasus clapping through the fields, chatters of the half-bloods, sounds of clashing swords, shots of arrows. The camp was never silent.

Yet the two of you sat on the edge of a cliff, the camp’s background noises fully muted, too engrossed with each other’s presence as your hands interlaced as one.

From the top, you could see the overview of the camp. As the sun sets on the west, you get the best view of the skies painted in an orange hue, with hints of blue as the moon begins to rise.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” Eyes still on the canvas of clouds, you asked your boyfriend beside you.

“Of course I do, flower.” A small chuckle blew from his lips. “How could I ever forget.” The boy smiled, recalling his encounter with you a few months back.

You tore your gaze from the orange hues to the boy by your side, raising an eyebrow of amusement.

“No, literally. I tripped and got stuck on a vine, and you helped me. It was so embarrassing, I swear, sunshine.” You tilt your head back, erupting in laughter as your boyfriend covered his face that was now as red as strawberries that grew in the camp’s garden.

“That was hell of a first impression, though.” You pointed out. “What were you even doing in the woods alone, by the way?” You asked the boy, curiosity grew in your heart akin to sprouting apples on a tree.

“I don’t know, I guess I felt drawn.” He shrugged sheepishly.

“Drawn? To the forest?”

“To you, flower.” He winked and you rolled your eyes playfully. “Ew Luke, get away or I’ll push you off this cliff right now.”

Luke glowed as he dove into the epiphany of laughters and you joined soon after. “I’m just kidding.” He pinched your cheek softly triggering a frown from you.

“Do you remember the next time that we met?” You tore your gaze from your boyfriend, eyes now settling on the deep blue that was slowly taking over the horizon as the orange tinge melts in the west. The setting sun was truly a sight to behold. But to Luke, no creations of the gods or even titans could ever compare to the beauty of the demigod by his side

Not hearing an answer, you turned your head towards the curly haired boy, the view of his pupils dilating as your e/c hues melted into his own clear as daylight. “Love? Is everything alright?”

Luke now understood how Hades had fall for Persephone as he had found himself entranced by the beauty of another one of Demeter’s daughter before him. The light breeze flushed against your cheeks, how you would always look beautiful even when your hair becomes a mess after training. How your skin glowed in sunlight rivaling Apollo’s children themselves. To Luke, you are his epitome of beauty. Like a single rose that stood amidst thorn bushes. But he has to be careful. One prick is all it takes to let his heart bleed out in his hands.

“Hm? Oh yeah everything’s fine. Don’t worry, darling.” He shifted closer, his fingers grazing yours. “Anyways as you were asking, yes I remember our second meeting. And our meetings after that and after that.” He smiled, recalling the memories.

“We keep meeting up by accident after that first meeting.” He chuckled softly.

You hummed. “Don’t you think it’s weird though? How we keep meeting accidentally after that?” You tilt your head slightly.

“Maybe fate brought us together. Who knows?”

“Yes…” You trailed off. “Or maybe it’s something else.” You started playing with his fingers that was laced with yours, but your eyes remained on him as you observed the slightest shift in his visage.

“What are you saying, flower?”

“What if I told you that…none of it was ever accidental at all?”

Silence engulfed you in the shape of a cold, harsh breeze. The sun was long gone by now. From here, you could see the luminescent glow of Artemis’ vacant cabin, as well as the campfire that brew from the other campers.

Your heart ached at the gap between you as Luke as he slowly untangle your fingers. From outside, you look the same as ever, waiting patiently for his response. Inside however, your head was screaming in every corner, anxious thoughts clouding your thought bubbles as you think of every worst possible scenarios that might happen.

Great job! He probably think you’re a stalker now and wants to break up with you.

Break up? You didn’t want to break up with him! Of course not, you love him and he loves you! … Right?

The storm that was raining all over your thoughts were soon crushed by the slight upturn that formed on one of the corners of your boyfriend’s lip.

He noticed your slightly stiff stance, he took your departed hands once more, knowing it will ease your nerves. “I know, Yn.”

You always loved how your name rolled off his tongue. So effortlessly as it calls your given name with such love, such adoration. Yet it was his answer that got you off guard.

“Really?? You knew, after all this time?”

“You really think you can trick the son of the god of tricks?” He pointed out, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

“This is so embarrassing.” You bury your blood-rushed cheeks into your palms and Luke smiled at the sight, admiring the red hue that settled on your ears and face.

“Hey don’t be! Truth be told, I only found out from the nymphs.” Your eyes lit up at his confession. Maybe your plan wasn’t that horrible after all. “Well I mean that only confirmed it. I had my suspicions about your little master plan after our third time of meeting accidentally.”

Your groan in your hands. “What did the nymphs tell you?”

“That you had a crush on me.” He paused looking at your tomato face. “And that you were too shy to make the first move.” He peeled your fingers from your cheeks, revealing the scarlet hues on your facial epidermis.

“It was impressive though, you little mastermind. It worked didn’t it?” He placed his palms on your cheeks, caressing it like a fragile vase.

You brought him closer, leaning your forehead against his as you brushes your lips on the tip of his nose. “Yeah. I guess it did.”

The demigod frowned as he missed the presence of your lips on his skin. He leant more forward, your noses grazed each other and he finally sealed the distance of your lips with a soft kiss.

The moon shone with a glow more ethereal than usual, the stars map out the skies like seas of glitter. You both dove head first into the epiphany of love. Lips press against another as nature becomes the witness of two demigods’ form of adoration.

©️ sirena | krkiiz 2023

#luke castellan x reader #luke castellan #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo x reader #luke castellan x you #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson x you #percy jackson #pjo show #pjo tv show #pjo series #pjo #luke x reader #demigods

[jgracie]

LOVE GROWS (WHERE MY ROSEMARY GOES) — PERCY + CHILD OF DEMETER

masterlist | rules

❝ Hiya,can i request if you have time,Percy dating a Demeter kid?Thank you💕 ❞ — anon

in which percy dates a child of demeter

pairing percy jackson x demeter!reader

warnings me projecting as a child of demeter LOL, one swear word

on the radio . . . love grows (where my rosemary goes) (edison lighthouse)

an never stop requesting demeter!reader guys (i live vicariously through her) also this features another travis cameo LOL him and percy are bffs in my head ALSO the watering can thing is inspired by stardew valley i cannot wait for the day i get to upgrade to sprinklers

Percy’s never been a morning person. However, he has been forced awake at ungodly times due to nightmares

This was one of those times. He could barely remember what the dream was about, all he knew was that it was bad enough for him to wake with a start, his body drenched in sweat as he tried to recollect himself

Looking over at the clock on his bedside table, Percy could barely make out the time: 5:35AM. Well, there was no point going back to sleep now. Even if he did, he’d probably just be visited by nightmares again

So, Percy slipped the nearest t-shirt on and left his cabin, unsure of where he was heading - maybe the beach to cool off? Who knows, he was in disarray. The worst dreams were always the ones you couldn’t remember, the fear of them possibly being important haunting your day

Suddenly, Percy smelt a comforting scent waft through the air. He’d never smelt anything like that before. It couldn’t be ambrosia or nectar - while they both had good scents, they weren’t half as strong as this one. What could it be?

He decided to follow his instinct and find where the smell was coming from. Which led him to cabin 4

Despite it being right across from his own, Percy never paid cabin 4 much attention. Not until now

He continued following the scent and ended up at the back of the cabin, where there was a huge garden filled with what Percy believed to be the most appetising fruits and vegetables he’s ever seen. To the side, there was a greenhouse, where he could see the silhouette of a person

Curious, Percy made his way over to the greenhouse. He’d never spoken to a Demeter kid before, but he’d heard of your nurturing nature and kind hearts in passing

“It’s okay, Cassie, you can go back to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up, I promise,” Percy heard a voice say, stopping in his tracks. Deciding to take a peek, he found himself facing an angel

You were rocking a young girl who seemed to be six years old at most back to sleep in your arms. Wherever you went, the flowers in the greenhouse bloomed brighter, gravitating towards you and wrapping their stems around your arms, almost as if they were vying for your attention

The girl’s face was tear-streaked, but she nodded, nuzzling into the crook of your neck. You smiled and ran your fingers through her hair, praying to your mother that she wouldn’t have another nightmare

You hated when the younger kids got nightmares - they could barely understand the fact that one of their parents is a God, let alone comprehend the strange demigod nightmares

Then, you noticed him. When you locked eyes, Percy felt as if the last puzzle piece of his life was finally put in place. Was it too early to say you were made for him?

“Hello! Welcome to Flowers and Vines (shoutout to Stella for naming it!), how may I help you today?” You said, your cheery tone snapping Percy out of the trance you put him in. Walking inside (he’d been simply listening next to the door), Percy sheepishly rubbed his neck, hoping you didn’t think he was some weird stalker

Percy looked around, now fully being able to see everything your greenhouse had to offer. His mom would love this place

“Oh, I’m good, thanks… I didn’t know you guys had a flower shop here! That’s really cool…” Percy said, trailing off at the end once he realised he didn’t know your name. He was a little embarrassed, but luckily, you didn’t seem to mind

Giggling, you continued for him, “Y/N, my name’s Y/N. And Flowers and Vines is more than just a flower shop, we sell produce too! Mr D’s kids help us with the grapes.” As you told him all of this, you were going around with a pretty pink watering can and watering every single plant in the whole greenhouse. Surely, there must be a more efficient way to water them all?

That morning, Percy decided he would buy a flower from you. When you’d asked which one he wanted, he simply told you to surprise him

“These are some of my favourites,” you said while wrapping your flowers of choice - to Percy, they looked like every other pink, round flower out there, but he’d learn the difference for you. These were now special

Handing him the little bouquet, you continued, “Rhododendron - ‘I shall never look upon your like again’, that’s what they mean. I don’t see them around much anymore, which is why I planted them here!”

It was almost like you knew Percy would never look upon your like again. When he’d asked you how much they were for, you insisted on giving them to him on the house. After much arguing, Percy accepted, keeping them right next to his bed. Something about them made the nightmares a little better

After that day, Percy couldn’t stop thinking about you. Everything he saw around him reminded him of you - from the flowers in the forest to the smell of mangoes in the air as their season arrived

He’d see you occasionally, too, and would shyly wave whilst hoping you didn’t notice the way his face turned a bright red when you waved back

You thought Percy was really cute, too, and were a little disappointed when he didn’t show up a second time after your original rendezvous. You began taking on so many shifts you might as well have been working at Flowers and Vines full time. Your siblings (as well as Dionysus’ kids) teased you relentlessly for this, but you didn’t care. You just wanted to see him again

And then you did

Percy’s idea was one that was suggested by none other than Travis Stoll. He was simply catching up with the son of Hermes when he’d brought up the fact that everyone working at Flowers and Vines watered the plants using watering cans (something which had been really bothering Katie)

When Percy had asked why they did that, Travis explained that they used to have sprinklers but after the Ares cabin tinkered with them once (they were bitter over a game of Capture the Flag), causing the water to go all over the place and killing a lot of the flowers, the sprinklers were unusable and currently being fixed by the Hephaestus cabin

That’s when Percy came up with it. Since he was a son of Poseidon, he could spread water from a source as far as he wanted to. Therefore, he could help with your issue and have an excuse to talk to you

Immediately, Percy ran to the flower shop/fruit market he’d grown to love so dearly

“Hi! Is Y/N here?” He asked one of your siblings, breathless. They nodded and pointed behind them, smirking as they snuck knowing glances to your other siblings

There you were, in all your glory. You seemed to sparkle under the Sun, watering the flowers with your little pink pot. When the water ran out, you sighed. You really needed to invest in a bigger one

Just as you were about to go fill it, Percy proudly announced, “you won’t have to do that anymore!”

You couldn’t believe your ears. As you turned around, you fought the urge to hug the boy. Despite only speaking with him once, you really did miss Percy

Intrigued, you followed Percy to the fountain in the middle of the greenhouse. Before, it used to just be for decoration (since you had sprinklers), but now it came very handy for refilling your watering cans

Extending his arm towards the fountain, Percy willed droplets of water to hover in the air, then, with one motion, threw them all over the greenhouse, watering your plants perfectly

“Oh my Gods, Percy, this is amazing! Thank you so much!” You exclaimed, running over to him and giving him a peck on the cheek. It was a spontaneous decision mainly done because you were getting quite tired of manually watering all your plants

After that, Percy began working at Flowers and Vines as your temporary plant-waterer. You, your siblings and Dionysus’ kids would all cheer when he’d appear, and he’d play into it, making a big show out of getting the water out of the fountain and sprinkling it over the plants, winking at you as he did so

The plants seemed to flourish even more than usual, too. You told yourself it was probably because water from a son of Poseidon was more powerful than normal water (or something along those lines), but you knew the truth

As a child of Demeter, much like your mother, your emotions influenced nature around you. When you were sad, plants would wilt and wither, mimicking the winter Demeter creates whenever Persephone is in the Underworld

The opposite was true. Whenever you were happy, plants would blossom and bloom all around - and you were really happy when Percy was around. Which is why you needed to tell him before the Hephaestus cabin fixed your sprinklers

However, fear got the best of you every time you tried to get the words out of your mouth. Despite practising several times with your siblings (and even once with the Aphrodite cabin), whenever you tried telling Percy, you’d get shy and vines would grow out of your head, tangling with your hair and acting as a shield

Unfortunately for you, Percy couldn’t tell from that that you liked him, so you simply had to get over your fears and say it

Your confession happened on Percy’s last day as your plant waterer. That morning, Katie had pulled you to the side, telling you to hurry up your confession to Percy as she and Travis couldn’t delay the Hephaestus cabin any more (they were getting quite annoyed, having worked on the sprinklers for so long. What did those Ares kids do to them?)

So, you spent the whole day bracing yourself for Percy’s arrival. All you had to do was say it, get his response and move on with your life. It wasn’t that big of a deal!

After Percy watered the plants, everyone watched in silence, waiting for you to say something

“Hey… Percy, can we talk?” You asked, ignoring the hushed cheers of your siblings as you approached the boy. He nodded, smiling at you and letting you lead him to the back, where you kept all the extra supplies

Sitting on a stool, Percy looked up at you, just noticing your nervousness, “is everything okay?” He asked, concern laced in his voice

You nodded, taking a deep breath. You practically had this memorised. You just had to get the words out. You couldn’t get the words out

The vines grew from your head again and you wanted nothing more than to cocoon yourself in them. You’d faced terrifying monsters with a calm smile and eliminated them like you were pulling weeds out of your gardens, but you couldn’t tell a boy you liked him?

At this point, the vines were wrapping around the stool Percy was sat on, and he stood up, confused

Slowly, he made his way over to you and brushed the vines away from your face. As he looked into your wide eyes, he finally understood. Cupping your face with his hands, Percy placed a tender kiss on your lips

“I like you too, Y/N. Like, a lot”

Ok dating hcs 🥳

First of all I just wanna say PICNIC DATES!!! Sometimes you have them on the beach and it’s like you combined both your worlds <3

As a child of Demeter I can confidently say we know how to cook. Percy’s so in love with your cooking. He never thought any cooking could rival his mother’s until you came along

Somehow, you knew how to make meals that make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you asked him to taste ambrosia and one of your meals blindfolded and then choose one, he’d choose yours in a heartbeat

He’s also so obsessed with the fresh produce you bring from Flowers and Vines. I said this in my Percy x Persephone!Reader headcanons but I don’t think Percy’s much of a fruits/vegetables guy so the fact that you have him hooked on them says a lot

Swears he’s addicted. You think he’s just saying that to flatter you but he means it. If someone asked him if he had an addiction he’d look them dead in the eye and go, “yes, my partner’s bell peppers.”

He’s actually right though! Demeter + Dionysus kid powers make the produce taste a little fresher and last for way longer

Percy also decides to learn the language of flowers. He borrows a book about it from the Athena cabin and makes little notes and everything

Once, you came to his cabin and found the book full of scrawled annotations and sticky notes in it and you had to fight the urge to bawl your eyes out because he’s just so adorable

Will literally buy you flowers from your own flower shop though LMAO he doesn’t even try to do the transaction with anyone else. He’ll buy them and you’ll give them to him and he’ll be like “oh thanks I’m gonna go give this to the light of my life now” and he just hands them back to you

Percy’s also def the type of guy to keep one with him so he can get you new ones as soon as they start to wilt. Except his timing is always off because flowers tend to last a little longer when they’re around you

Lowkey still works at Flowers and Vines except he just follows you around and has no salary (he says his salary are kisses from you but knows he’d get them regardless LOL)

Brings Sally and Paul to Flowers and Vines and they’re immediately hooked because flowers in the mortal world aren’t half as beautiful as these hello??

Also, as a child of Demeter, you are naturally very motherly and caring. He loves seeing you interact with Estelle so much!!!

His half-sister warmed up to you extremely quickly and now refuses to be babysat by anyone who isn’t you. Like it can’t even be Percy alone you have to be there!!

Percy ALSO loves it when you dote on him. This leads to him being a little dramatic at times

Looking up, you saw a pouty Percy make his way over to you, his brows furrowed as he looked down at his finger

“Y/N! You won’t believe what happened!” He said. The first couple times he pulled this stunt, he’d scared you shitless, but you now knew all about your boyfriend’s antics and simply gave him a knowing smile

Feigning worry, you asked, “oh no, what is it?” Percy revealed his finger to you, which had a barely noticeable cut at the tip of it

“I was talking to Clarisse when all of a sudden she swung at me!” He told you, looking over to the side. In reality, he’d asked Clarisse to cut him, knowing only a child of Ares could have such precision with a weapon

Sporting a pout of your own, you took Percy’s finger and peppered it with kisses, “I’ll speak to Clarisse, don’t worry.” You said

“Uhh.. Y/N.. she also punched me in the lips… My lips really hurt.”

Let’s just say you didn’t get much work done that day (SAFE FOR WORK!)

#percy jackson x reader #percy jackson x you #percy jackson x y/n #percy jackson #percy jackson x gn reader #pjo #pjo x reader #percy jackson fanfic #percy jackson headcanons #percy jackson x demeter reader #percy jackson x child of demeter #demeter pjo #children of demeter #cynwrites

[stygianoaths]

There are times where I wonder if Luke asked Dionysus to cure his mother, you know, what with Dionysus being the god of madness.

I like to believe that Luke had offered to steal the best bottle of wine there is to be stolen in the world, a solemn promise from the son of Hermes.

"No one would know," he whispered earnestly.

Not even the gods.

And maybe Dionysus had laughed at the idea, no matter how intriguing it was, because of course a demigod of mere fifteen would be so bold yet naive to strike deals with gods so much bigger than he. He shut the child down on the spot. He wouldn't fall for such nonsense.

"And risk my father's wrath? You mock me," he drawled. He had made it a point to omit the fact he was not going to tamper with his uncle's curse either. It was off-limits after all, just like that troublesome nymph. He flicked the dirt from his nails, ignoring the way Luke shook on the spot.

"Well? If that's all you better get going, Lucius," he had said.

And Luke's wrath bubbled over in return.

"What good are you gods for, if you won't help us? You're so useless," he scoffed.

Dionysus's eyes lit up in purple at the jab and he got up from his chair. The ground shook as vines broke through the earth. Something felt off yet familiar with the way Luke did not cower at the display of power. Tch, heroes and their bravado.

"We gods do not owe you mortals anything."

"Yes, you do?" Luke retorted with incredulity, dragging a chair to the side as he inched on Dionysus, uncaring of the purple flames that had begun to circle them, the vines that were dangerously close to tugging him by the ankle.

"You owe your entire existence to humanity! We wrote your stories and remembered you! We fought your battles and we died for you!"

"And?" Dionysus laughed, though there was no humor behind it, "I don't care. You can come up with a thousand sob stories, Luis, and I still won't care. I've seen it all and it's all the same. You demigods are nothing but mayflies, destined to die early since the day you were born."

That seemed to silence the boy.

"Of course, I'll make sure to tell all of that to Castor and Pollux. I'll tell them Pops doesn't give a damn if they die now or later, because apparently it doesn't matter anyways. Tell them how he knew what demigod life would be like for them and still went ahead and brought them into this world anyways."

Or not.

"Take their names out of your mouth, boy," Dionysus warned, vines seizing at Luke's wrists and knees.

"Or what? You're gonna drive me insane just like Mom?"

Dionysus wanted to tell him that he was pretty much halfway there, with the way Luke wore that look of hysteria that bordered on madness. It was so faint yet tangible all the same. Dionysus wanted to push the kid to the limit, see him snap.

"Oh, but that would be too easy!" he sneers, "no, I was thinking more of that little sister of yours you so adore, Annie Bell, her name was? Yes, yes I think madness would look absolutely delicious on a daughter of Athena."

There was absolutely nothing to back up that threat, but it seemed to hit the mark.

Luke had crumpled completely, like something hit him hard in the stomach. Dionysus's lips twitched up in victory. If the boy wanted to play dirty and mention family, then it was only fair he would too.

"Fuck you," Luke whispered, tears cornering in his eyes.

Before the god could act on his threat, however, the sound of trotting hooves nearing towards the Big House made their way through the windows.

Dionysus sighed, raising a hand to release the vines' hold on Luke. He did not want to listen to Chiron's lecture on how threatening the lives of demigods isn't "Camp Director" like.

Luke, on the other hand, slammed the door behind him, scaring off the harpies perched on the roof of the Big House. Dionysus had half a mind to choke the kid with grapevines for the act of insolence.

Chiron came through that same door, placing a hand on the side of it while he looked backwards.

"With that anger, he will get himself killed too early," he murmured with concern. Dionysus snorted, letting the vines return to the soil, the flames around him dying down.

"They all do."

Oh, how he would eat those words, watching Castor's shroud burn.

He was too young. Too young.

A nagging voice reminds him that so was Luke. So was Thalia. So was Annabeth. So was Percy. So was Nico. So was nearly everyone that huddled around the pyres, holding each other and sobbing. Gods, they were crying. War was never kind.

Even that daughter of Ares, who would rather be caught dead than vulnerable, let slip a few tears, and her hissed out "are you happy now?" as she shoved herself past the god of wine will haunt him for millenias to come.

If only he had tried to save May Castellan, given her back to Hermes the way he was supposed to, maybe his son would be standing here with him and watching the pyres light up the night.

Instead, all he could do was listen to Pollux's hysterical screams while Hermes pulls Castor up by the hand, taking the newly deceased to a place where Dionysus can no longer follow.

#in which i bonk dionysus with the 'feel remorse you bastard' sledgehammer #also this is my explanation as to why he helps chris rodriguez get his sanity back because his character arc felt a little choppy #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #dionysus #luke castellan #annabeth chase #may castellan #hermes #percy jackson #thalia grace #clarisse la rue #castor #pollux #chiron #nico di angelo

[wit4writ]

PJO Episode 2 Detailed Review (Part 1/2)

So, episode two serves as our introduction to Camp Half-Blood and the world of demigods, and it wasn’t…great. I really didn’t want to write this review, hence the delay.

Before you come after me with torches and pitchforks, remember what I wrote about exposition robots? Well, this episode was FULL of them, which interfered with the flow of the story and development of characters. So, time to write a detailed review of episode two! (Which will be split in two parts because it’s so long.)

First up, a recap, which I didn’t have an issue with, so moving on.

Percy is in the infirmary after his big fight and sees a girl watching him. When he asks where he is, she tells him, “You drool when you sleep.”

This is a classic line from the book, but my biggest issue with putting the line here is that it feels very abrupt. Framing it as, “You know you drool when you sleep?” would make it flow easier.

Percy falls back asleep and wakes up again to Grover sitting beside him, and their conversation is fraught with tension as Percy grieves and Grover rambles. Again, this conversation could’ve been tightened up with less words.

Mr. D was great. Perfect casting, but I would’ve liked if we had character clues to Mr. D’s identity and Percy figuring it out instead of Grover telling him who he was. I appreciated Percy being a bit sassy, but I think he could’ve given him more attitude. I also didn’t need the whole “Mr. D pretends to be Percy’s dad” part, that felt a too cruel. My ideal scene would go something like this:

// Percy walks in to see Mr. D dozing.

Percy: “Excuse me?”

No response. Percy tries again, a bit louder.

Percy: “Excuse me? I’m Percy Jackson, I’m new here…Hello? Did you hear me? I said—”

Mr. D interrupts him, sitting up straight.

Mr. D: “Yeah, I heard you, Peter Johnson!”

Percy: “That’s not my name.”

Mr. D: “Well, that’s not my problem.”

Percy: “Hey, I’m just looking for the office, or someone who’s in charge?”

Mr. D scans Percy carefully, a gleam in his eye.

Mr. D: “You want to know where the office is? Well, maybe if you grab me that 1985 Chateau Haut-Brion in the galley I’d be able to remember.”

Percy: “Why can’t you just tell me?”

Mr. D: “You help me, I help you. It’s how the world works, Peter.”

Grover runs in, having overheard that last part.

Grover: “Mr. D, you know you can’t, you—”

Mr. D glares at him and Grover takes a step back and swallows hard.

Grover: “Uh, Percy, this is Mr. D—Mr. D, Percy.”

Mr. D: “Yeah, heard him the first time when he was interrupting a great nap.”

Percy: “Did you though?”

Grover: “Percy! Sir, he didn’t mean it—”

Percy: “Why are you so scared of this guy? Maybe if he could get off his own lazy butt, he’d get more blood to his brain and be able to remember my name.”

Mr. D stares at him darkly, Grover looking frantically between them both.

Mr. D: “Are you mocking me?”

Vines twine around Percy’s ankles, trapping him in place. Mr. D leans forward.

Mr. D: “You know, I could blast you, but if you get me that bottle, I’d be happy to forget this whole thing even happened.”

Mr. Brunner/Chiron (offscreen): “That’s enough.”

He enters the room on his wheelchair.

Percy: “Mr. Brunner?”

Mr. Brunner/Chiron: “Hello Percy. I’m afraid Mr. Brunner is a pseudonym I used while I was at Yancy—please, call me Chiron.”

Percy: “Oh. Okay…”

Chiron: “Mr. D, remember your restrictions.” (to Percy) “Zeus forbid Mr. D from consuming alcohol while he’s here.”

Mr. D: “Apparently, I need to ‘set an example,’ well I don’t think so, Dad!”

Percy: “Dad?” He thinks hard. “You’re Dionysus. The god of wine.”

Mr. D: “Wow, someone give the boy a prize before I blow him up.”

Grover: “Sir, Percy’s just distraught. His mom—”

Chiron: “Yes, I think we can be a little more accommodating, considering…”

Mr. D thinks it over.

Mr. D: “Sure. If he apologizes.” //

Percy then grudgingly apologizes, and Chiron ushers him out, quickly stepping out of his chair to reveal his true form. The last little scene where Grover says something doesn’t feel right is cut, instead he goes with them before Chiron sends him away to give them privacy. I think these changes would improve the flow and serve as characterization for not only Mr. D, but demonstrating his relationship with Grover, Chiron, and Percy.

The camp looked great, but Chiron’s speech over top of the montage served as more exposition. It would’ve worked better for Percy to be asking questions to make this an active conversation which he was a participant in. That’s why I appreciated Percy talking to Chiron about the pen, but I would’ve had Chiron introduce the name of the sword here and cut some of the words during his “magical items don’t obey the laws of the physical world,” bit. I would’ve rewritten a LOT of this whole conversation. I did like how Percy saw through Chiron’s rambling and realized the possibility of being unclaimed.

The Hermes cabin looked cool and Percy finding the blue candy still in his bag was a nice touch.

When Luke approaches, I think he should’ve said something so that it makes Percy’s first reaction to him more logical. Something like:

// In the background: “He’s the guy who killed the Minotaur, I think.”

Luke (offscreen): “We should find out.” (to Percy) “Hey.”

Percy looks over and sees Luke and his friends approaching.

Luke: “You’re the kid who killed the Minotaur, right? Percy something?”

Percy: “Yeah.”

Luke and his friends exchange looks.

Luke: “Wow. You must be pretty tough.”

Percy: “Look, if you want to give me a hard time, do it tomorrow. I can’t do any more today.”

Luke: “Relax, fighter. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Percy: “You didn’t?”

Luke: “Nah. I just wanted to say we heard about what happened on the hill. We’re sorry about your mom.”

The other kids nod.

Luke: “I know things are tough right now, but you’re gonna get through it. Believe me, it gets better.”

Percy: “Thanks.”

Luke extends his hand and Percy shakes it.

Luke: “I’m Luke. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood.” //

Then, I’d have Luke invite Percy to lunch and say something about giving him a tour the next day, to allow for a smoother transition to the next scene.

Unfortunately, now that we’ve been introduced to Luke, we need to…talk about Luke. His actor, I mean.

Firstly, I have no issue with how Luke looks. What I do have an issue with is how his actor is portraying him.

Luke is supposed to be charismatic and confident, a leader and camp counsellor. He’s lived at camp for ages, and everyone acknowledges his amazing swordsmanship, and even if he has failed a quest (though I’m not sure if they’re going with that storyline) he’s seemingly good-natured about it.

I’m not getting any of that from the actor. He comes off as more anxious than confident, someone who’d rather not be in the spotlight. Unfortunately, that impression carried throughout the whole episode, and it was not helped by the fact Luke was mostly an exposition robot to spout facts at Percy.

The darkness transition is now three seconds—still feels a little long, but better than the first episode.

Grover’s scene in the woods I would’ve cut entirely. It was sweet to see him with the dryad (who may or may not have been his mom), but it honestly wasn’t needed. I would’ve had Grover be in the background in the previous scene, maybe watching Percy go to lunch before heading off, then started the next scene with Grover, Mr. D, and Chiron already altogether, and had them vaguely hinting instead of outright saying Percy’s mom was alive, to increase the suspense. Something like:

// Grover: “I don’t understand, why haven’t you told Percy yet?”

Chiron: “The truth can be very dangerous if not handled carefully.”

Grover: “But it’s his mom! He deserves to know!”

Chiron: “Grover, there are powerful forces at work, and we still don’t fully comprehend their motives. If we tell Percy the truth too early, we may lose him.”

Mr. D: “Then you’ll be the worst Protector on record, between Thalia and this kid.”

Grover: “But I don’t want to lie to him. He’s my best friend.”

Mr. D: “Then I suggest you avoid him, because if you say one word of this, one word—I’ll put you on stable cleaning duty for the next year. Understood?” //

So that's the end of Part 1, PART 2 will be linked here. Thoughts, reblogs, and comments are welcome!

#pjo tv show #percy jackson #pjo tv series #percy jackson review #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #tv review #annabeth chase #chiron #grover underwood #disney plus #disney percy jackson

[the-ghost-king]

[Part 1]

"You can just call me Persephone you know," there's a slight tremble to her voice, Will can't quite place it, and it's not obvious enough to call her out on it, he only even catches it because of his musical inclined ear (Apollo score 1-2). He tried to ignore it, but he can't help but notice the weight her hesitant pause causes in the air around them.

He debates whether or not to say something, but she beats him to it. 

"For you, at least, I'm not so nice to everyone so don't be giving anyone else ideas. However you can address me without my title, it's fine." 

"It's an honor then," Will catches himself before he addresses her too formally, "Thank you."

She nods, somewhat stiffly. 

They continue their walk down the hallway, there's a tension in the air Will hasn't felt since he tried to date Drew. Not a mistake but, not his best decision either. 

“Would you like to cut through my garden on the way back?” 

He’s not sure where this is going, or what is happening, but she has always been kind to him so far. He, against the advice of many hero’s stories, will trust a god not to lead him wrong. To her credit, Nico is still alive and not killing your husband’s secret bastard has to require a lot more restraint than not killing his boyfriend.

Really Will is more like an accessory. He's like Ken. He thinks it would be nice if his job was beach. Though he thinks of Percy, and decides he would not like to be Percy. 

He realizes then that Persephone is staring at him, he can see her move her thumb to press on the joint of her pointer finger and the soft “pop” that emits as she cracks her joint.

“Oh yes, of course, I'm sorry- please, lead the way.” 

A smile blooms across her face, “Wonderful! Off we go then!” 

Will is pleased to get a good grade in appeasing goddesses. Or goddess. But he'll take it. 

She leads him this was and that, her steps both meandering and direct, until they arrive at a large open space. The ground is soft and plush, but it's the plants that take his breath away.

The garden is obviously meant to be approached from a certain angle, as his awe from seeing it before cannot be compared to his awe at seeing it now. Will is well versed in plants, demigods tendency to try and self destruct and his ability to patch them back together means he is well versed in many healing arts and plants are just another aspect of that. There are plants here though that Will has never seen or heard of, their leaves glisten in the ambient light, and each petal looks like it was cut from gemstones. There's a bioluminescent glow coming from many of the plants and the provide a soft patchwork of light that fills the space with many colors. 

“It's amazing,” Will says, at a loss for more eloquent words. 

“I'm glad you like it, I figured you would understand it's beauty. I'm glad you can appreciate it.” 

Will turns to her and smiles, “Well, of course, thank you so much for sharing.”

“C'mon,” Persephone waves him forward into the stone pathways of the garden, “we still have a ways to go.”

They walk in a more comfortable silence now, Persephone pausing briefly here and there to give extra attention to a flower or a bud. He watches her place a kiss to a glowing pink rose at one point and then feels confused as her face turns red. After that he feels nervous to touch anything, worried about the possibility of an allergic reaction if it was able to have such an effect on the goddess of spring and flowers.

“I actually was hoping to catch you alone,” Persephone rubs a hand up and down her shoulder.

Will hesitates again, but he would like to think he does a better job of masking his hesitation in his footsteps this time. He debates speaking but worries about ruining the moment. 

“What did you want to talk about? Or tell me I suppose?” He finished awkwardly. 

“Oh umm,” she twists a vine around her fingers, tumbling it over and over with a feigned causality, “it's a little complicated?” 

Will looks around and all he can see around them is an expanse of abundant wildlife growing, above water dripping of stalactites twinkles. 

“I think we have a little while before we reach the dining room again.” 

He gives her a comforting smile, and she smiles back. 

[Part 3]

#pjo #persephill #fanfic #part 2 and 3 have arrived!!

[https-cyber-slxt]

Mine

Not proofread 😝

Sub!Fujin x FemDom!Demigod!Reader

You hum your favorite song as you water the roses that were planted not long ago, you smile to yourself as you think about the day ahead of you.

The plans for today day all pile up in your head as you finish watering your plants, you kneel down as red vines cover your body and take you to a well known location.

You stand up and look around, a familiar face stood near the edge of the sidewalk, you walk towards the person, a soft smile on your face.

"Raiden, it's been awhile" You spoke softly.

He turns to look at you, his once serious face turning more friendly, "Miss (Name), why yes, it has been some time since we've seen each other, why the sudden visit?"

"Oh, no reason, I just wanted to see how you and Fujin were doing, especially with these unfortunate events occurring" you confess.

"I see, well there is no need to worry about us, we're doing perfectly fine, I'm assuming it's the same with you?" He jokes.

"Oh Raiden, you and your awful jokes" you laugh.

"Oh yes, I was wondering, where is Fujin?" You ask.

"He is in his room, it seems as if he's been caught with, a cold"

"Oh my, god's can get caught with colds?"

"If you have a functional immune system, then anyone can get colds" he lectures.

"I see, well, is it okay if I talk with him?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind, his room is right up the stairs to the left"

"Thank you Raiden, well, I'll be going now" You bow as you head inside the temple, the clicking of your heels echo in the hallway as you make your way to the stairs.

You walk up the stairs and stand right in front of Fujins door, you lift up your hand, ready to knock on the door, that was until a noise stopped you in your tracks.

You hoped you were just hearing things, and that maybe you heard wrong, until you heard it again, a moan.

You hesitantly grabbed the door handle, you pull it down and slightly open the door, opening it enough just to be able to peak through it.

Your eyes widen in shock at the scene in front of you, there was Fujin, stroking his cock while covering his mouth, attempting to keep his noises on the down low.

You accidentally slam the door closed, causing Fujin to jump and quickly stop his actions, he cleans himself up and rushes to the door, only to see you standing there in absolutely shock.

"F-Fujin! I am so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude!" You apologize.

His face flushes in embarrassment as yours does too, you both awkwardly stand there until an idea pops in your head, you look around to make sure no one was in your presence.

Then immediately you push Fujin back into his room and slam the door close, locking it with your vines and pushing him onto the bed.

He hesitantly spoke "Miss (N-Name), I-"

His sentence was cut off by your vines wrapping around him and squeezing his throat, he moaned at the feeling and bucked his hips at the vine grinding on his crotch.

You walk towards him and lay him on the mattress, your vines pushing his arms above his head. He speaks out softly to you, "Please, Miss (Name)... Ruin me"

His eyes soften at you and you smile at him, you lift his head up and pull him into a kiss, a small whimper escaping him. You squeeze his thigh and pull him closer to you.

"Miss (Name), please, f-fuck me"

You jump on top of him and straddle his hips, you undress him as he's shakily sighs, one of your vines wrap around his cock and starts pumping him up and down. The roughness of the leaves causing him to jolt.

Heavy moans leave him as he strains against the vines holding his arms, he throws his head back as he bucks his hips up, the vine fastening it's pace.

"Oh, f-fuck, M-Miss (Name) I'm go-gonna cum!"

You immediately pull the vine away from him, causing him to let out a whimper, he bucks his hips up into nothing, trying to gain friction. A pathetic whine escaping his lips.

You laugh at him and slap his dick, "Do you really wish to cum, Fujin?"

He nods his head furiously as he looks up at you, his eyebrows furrowing, "please?"

You smile at him and slap his dick again, "Count, if you miss or say the wrong number, we start over, also, no cumming"

He shook his head, acknowledging your request, he took a deep breath and eyed you up and down, signaling you to start. You nod and begin your torment.

SLAP!

"O-one!"

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

"T-two, three, f-four!"

SLAP!

"Five!"

SLAP! SLAP!

"Six, seven!"

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

"E-eight, nine, t-ten!~"

He gasps as pre-cum drips from his tip, he looks up at you while tears fall down his cheeks, he sobs as he begs for his release, his legs shaking the process.

"Please, please Miss, let me cum! I'll do any-anything, just, please let me c-cum!"

You lean down and whisper in his ear, "Hmm, considering you've been so good for me, fine, you can cum"

He thanks you as you begin to pump his cock with your own hand, whorish moans escaping him as thrusts into your hand, your vines let go of his arms, causing him to immediately grip the sheets.

He begins to grip the sheets harder, feeling his orgasm approaching, "Ah! I'm g-gonna c-cum! Oh, f-fuck~ I'm gonna cum!"

"Cum for me, pretty boy"

Those words were enough to send him off, he cries out as thick ropes of cum cover his stomach, he pants loudly as he attempt to calm himself down.

He looks up at you and smiles before passing out, he didn't really have much stamina in bed, you smile at his passed out form and clean him up before heading out the temple.

You giggle to yourself as you head back to your own temple, thinking about the other plans you had for today.

A/N: Rawr :33333

#dom!reader #fem!reader #sub!character #gaming #mortal kombat #mk11 fujin #sub fujin #mk11 #Spotify

[wraith-caller]

WIP whatever day it is today

tagged by @tallmatcha

tagging @no-braincells-inc @rococospade-main @fenharael @terendelev and any others who may like to participate.

im so close to finishing this one....

“Dear Rogier,” Fia said, touching his cheek gently. “Come.”

He rose and let her slip her arm in his. She did not walk so much as she floated, as if she herself were a ghost. The knights threw open the door for her without a word. Once upon a time, he’d thought it would be magnificent to walk these halls, to step where the gods themselves had lived such dramatic and storied lives. Now, he only despised it. The grandeur loomed instead of impressed, a gaping maw threatening to devour.

Fia led him past Godwyn, who sat on the floor of the Erdtree Sanctuary. His gaze was, as ever, turned outward to the grey, dying tree, and he didn't look up as his mother entered. Or was his mother still Marika? Somehow both? Rogier couldn’t rightly say. This creature was not anything he would call golden or divine, but neither was he Tarnished like Fia.

The child’s blackened eyes gazed up at him. His skin was grey and pallid and always damp, and the vines which wrapped around his small body creaked when he moved. His hair was pallid gold shot through with black, and when he spoke, it was in a voice that whispered and trembled like dead tree branches in a winter wind. “Fear,” Godwyn said. “Shame. Grief. You make me sick when I eat you.”

Fia left Rogier to sit beside Godwyn. She ran her fingers through his hair, affectionate and matronly. She had never despised her purpose as one who would bear a noble into a new life. She had only ever despised being unable to choose who it was she'd be bound to the rest of her life, who it was she'd surrender herself to so wholly and completely. Her yearning to be a mother was at long last fulfilled, and her eyes always shone with adoration when she looked upon the blight she'd given new life to, an adoration she showed no others. “My love. That is not a kind thing to say to one of our champions and dear friends."

"I wanted to make him black inside." Godwyn reached up to wrap his arms around Fia's slender neck but his horrible eyes were on Rogier and they were full of resentment. "When I got out of the dark and smelled the air. I saw him, and I wanted to make him black."

A few years ago, Rogier may have made a joke to diffuse the tension welling up in him. It threatened to strangle and suffocate him and he wanted nothing more than to disappear. If it wasn't so insane and pathetic, he would have thrown himself at the little monster's mercy and let him have his twisted wish. Instead he averted his eyes and said nothing.

"And I thank you for choosing otherwise. Rogier has helped us achieve everything we've wanted. What should you say in return?” Fia dropped a kiss to the crown of Godwyn's head.

"If he wants to be dead, I can help."

"Oh dearest," Fia said on an affectionate sigh. She cupped Godwyn's cheeks in her hands gently. Rogier wasn't sure how she could bear to look that thing in the eye and hold him so lovingly. "I will return to you soon. And then perhaps a nap. To help improve your mood."

Godwyn didn't argue. He never did. Rogier thought he knew what this was whenever it happened. Where the withered and diminished pieces of his life were harvested from, what he fed on. Fia had first created Godwyn with the things she took from her champions and the many others she'd held. But something was so terribly wrong with this child. He grew far faster than even a demigod ought to. Any solid food given to him was choked back up with screams and agony. He could only feed on them. Rogier knew Godwyn somehow absorbed something of their very essence, not just some nebulous or vague energy. He knew things about him that no one else knew, and it was horrific hearing his deepest fears and regrets spouted back at him through that creature's terrible mouth.

Fia led him onward to the room which was maybe a parlor or sitting room once upon a time but now served a very different purpose. He wished he could say he felt relief in Godwyn's absence, but the dread only wound tighter when he was alone with Fia now. Many foolish people had lain with her, not understanding what it was she did because there were no Deathbed Companions in their lands. There had been none in his, either, but he’d read of her kind. Even knowing it all, he’d still given her what she wanted because he thought he’d been cleverer, thought he'd be one step ahead in getting what he was after in return.

He was an idiot.

#700 words #sorcerer rogier #fia the deathbed companion #godwyn the golden #err uh perhaps not so golden

[lunarsands]

ALSMP Fanfic: Along The Roads To Sanctuary Ch 2

Bonus also Empires SMP S2 fanfic! I just didn’t want to make the title field too long ^_^;

Characters: PearlescentMoon, Scott Smajor, MythicalSausage, Eddie the Rabbit, Joel Smallishbeans, Bubbles the Dog, Empires Hermes, mentions of other Empires S2 characters, including a certain misplaced warlock… Sausage Supreme

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor

Tags: Canon Divergent, fictional religion, scosage, Afterlife SMP meets Empires SMP S2 but in an AU way

Warnings: violence, surrealism via magic auras, humorous misunderstandings about infidelity (tfw your husband cheats on you…with you), kidnapping (although we know how that went in canon)

(Sequel to Echoing Through To You, When The Skies Cry, Until The Blood Moon Descends, Then We’ll Rewrite The Stars, Wherever These Flowers May Grow)

Summary: A happily ever afterlife is interrupted by the distant past; Sausage receives another calling and is sent into a different mortal world from their old one, with Scott insisting on following so they won’t be separated. They both lead brand new lives but only Scott regains memories of the previous one on his own, and he isn’t allowed to remind Sausage about any of it without jeopardizing the mission the angel was sent to complete – a mission someone else was supposed to have dealt with.

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Chapter One ]

---

Chapter Two

Elsewhere in the world, Sausage was pushing his way through thick stands of bamboo, trying to keep sights on a small child that had pale yellow hair with a purple streak down the middle, giggling as they ran. Bubbles the interdimensional yorkie was also in pursuit, although maybe she was adding to the child’s mischievous running.

“Hermes! Slow down! I’m a bit bigger than you, you know! I can’t fit through here that easily!”

They were going a little too far outside of Sanctuary for his liking. Even though he had plenty more construction planned, a border would still remain after a certain distance. Natural camouflage was also a safety precaution. Dangers were still out there from his old home.

Just because he had formed an odd co-parent relationship out of the blue with the local god didn’t mean he himself was under divine protection.

Sausage stopped to catch his breath, muttering, “Joel, why did you make this kid the equivalent of a hyperactive toddler instead of an actual infant so there wouldn’t have to be so much running?!” He set off at a jog then realized he had actually lost sight of both Hermes and Bubbles. He sighed in exasperation. “Hey, Thunder Daddy! Answer my prayer and help me find our son!”

There was a boom of thunder. In a flash of light, the towering weather god appeared …in the middle of a cluster of bamboo. “Oh gosh – Sausage! I told you to be out in the open when you called me. How are you having this much trouble keeping up with one child?”

Sausage feigned leaning over from exhaustion, hands on his legs as if he was worn out and still out of breath. Then he lifted his head and grinned. “I’m not really having that much trouble, I just wanted to see if you would respond this time!”

“Right, right. Well, where is he, then?” Joel cast a doubtful glance at the bamboo and vine-covered trees.

“Around here somewhere. Can’t you sense their demigod energy?”

“That would be cheating.”

“Wasn’t this all your idea?”

“I thought it was yours. You were the one who said you missed having a family.”

“I said I was missing my family, as in, I didn’t know where they were!”

“Well, now our child seems to be missing, so, let’s go. Where did you last see them?”

“This way, I think.” Sausage looked around for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Bubbles! Where’d you go, girl?”

“Sausage, why didn’t you say the dog was with them? He’s perfectly safe with her around.”

A bark answered from the other side of a rock outcropping. Joel gave the human an annoyed look and put out an arm to stop him, taking the lead instead and heading past yet another stand of bamboo. Sausage shrugged then followed, running his hand over the surface of the rock on the way. He paused when he felt a series of bumps and grooves. Then he heard Joel chatting to Hermes from the other side of the bamboo and knew it was all right to let himself be distracted.

He took a step back and tilted his head, studying the rock face. “Hey, this is kind of cool! Looks like there’s an actual carving here! It’s really worn… Must be centuries old.” He reached up and ran his hand across the topmost part of it. There appeared to be two different figures, although they were standing close together. He touched the face of the one on the right, trying to make out more of the details.

“Could be,” Joel replied, not sounding very interested. He lifted Hermes and put them on his shoulders, then wandered over. “There are relics of the past all over the place. Who knows who actually made them.”

“Well, you’re a god. Weren’t you paying attention for the past, I don’t know, half millennium?”

“I told you already – big fight amongst the gods, chunks of time gone missing, new legends of ancient history springing up, me crawling out of the metaphorical wreckage not remembering most of it. Plus, I’m specifically a weather god. Someone else was, like, the patron of artists. They might know. If they were still around.”

Hermes began to lean forward over Joel’s head making grabby hands at something beyond the outcropping. Joel ducked around it and chuckled. “Like whoever planted these things. There’s even a little sign. Apparently, someone thought to repaint that but didn’t bother preserving the carving.”

The thing that had caught Hermes’ attention was a small patch of flowers surrounded by a border of round stones. One type of flower was white with silvery edges to the petals, of which there were six main ones with smaller, feathery ones in between. The others were dark blue with a dusting of gold along the petals. Hermes continued to reach toward them until Joel put him down and let the child inspect the blossoms.

Sausage gazed at the flowers in fascination as well. “Wow… I’ve never seen anything like these before! And I’ve got Sanctuary’s magic creating all sorts of things all the time!”

Joel attempted to hunch over enough to read the sign. Then he simply plucked it from the ground to hold it closer to his face. “Hmm, maybe the paint isn’t so well-maintained, after all. Something something ‘seen nowhere else in the world’ something ‘memorial to two lovers’ something something ‘a sign of your own eternal dedication’…” He stuck the sign back in the ground. Then he gave a start. “Hey, Hermes, don’t break any of—”

He was too late, as the child snapped one of the stems of a white flower. Hermes stared at it for a second, then smiled and held it out to Sausage, who smiled back and knelt to accept it, then tucked it into his hair above his right ear. “Thank you, Hermes. It’s very lovely.” Sausage then picked one of the blue flowers and helped the child affix it in their hair. “Which one do you want to give to Thunder Daddy?”

“Ah, no, I’ll… pass…” Joel trailed off as Sausage looked up at him; something about the sight of the white flower, in that particular spot in his hair, struck Joel as familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He had seen Sausage with a hibiscus blossom in his hair before, so it wasn’t the flower in general doing it.

Hermes tugged on Sausage’s hand, drawing his attention back down, and the odd feeling slipped away from Joel’s mind. “Oh, you’re right, Hermes! The gold! How silly of me to forget! I didn’t really need to ask, huh?”

.

With a promise to Hermes to tidy up the area and make a path out from Sanctuary to the patch of unique flowers, Sausage took his leave to get some lumber work done while Joel brought the child back to Stratos with him.  First Sausage checked inventory at the warehouse, making a list of what was running low, then went over orders that had come in via messengers.

Not wanting to ruin the flower Hermes had gifted him, he took an empty potion bottle – perfect for holding a single blossom – and filled it with plain water then carefully set the flower into it. The stem had, admittedly, ended up a bit too short to be sustained for long, but Hermes meant well. Sausage would merely have to top off the water often. He placed it on the windowsill of the bakery so he could look at it whenever he had a break for a snack. Then he grabbed an ax and got to work.

Within a couple of days, he had refilled the lumber yard as well as gotten all of his orders completed. He prepared to head out with a set of neatly organized shulker boxes for a trip around the empires that was planned out so he would reach Stratos’ region last and pick up Hermes.

However, just as he was about to leave, he heard Bubbles barking and growling. He hastily followed the sound to the small dock where he had first arrived in what would become Sanctuary. “What is it, girl? What did you see, or scent – or whichever?”

The small yorkie was bristling and she barked a warning toward a patch of reeds near the water’s edge.

“You thought you saw someone suspicious over there? Someone who… looked like they were trying to scout out the place? Are you sure it wasn’t a friend from home just trying to find us?”

Bubbles barked then whined.

“You think it was someone trying to find us who wasn’t a friend. Got it…” Sausage frowned in worry. They had fled as far as possible, yet with the hopes of being reachable if their actual friends and family came looking for a safe haven. Of course, it would be inevitable that the king’s assassins might follow any scrap of a lead they caught wind of. His hope had been that by the time that happened, Sanctuary would be built up into not just a new home but a defensible land where the tyrant would find himself powerless and unable to steal any more magic.

Sausage and Bubbles made a circuit around the area to hunt for signs of intruders, but came up empty. He made one last check from the air as he took off to begin his deliveries. He didn’t see anything suspicious for the moment.

~*~

By the time Sausage reached the end of his route, the weather had turned, making for a rain-soaked landing in Chromia. He hurried along the paths, looking for a good place to take shelter while calling out to also try to locate the colorful ruler. “Scooottttt! Scott! Are you hooomme?? It’s a little wet out here! Sorry if I ruin anything, but I need to get inside somewhere!”

He finally figured that the tavern was his best option, since other travelers would be tracking in mud and dust from the road, anyway. Just as he pushed the door open – and got a side-eyed look from the llama stationed inside – he heard Scott’s voice behind him.

“Sausage! Sorry, I was in the middle of something when I heard you. Go on in, you can dry off in there.” Scott jogged through the door after him, considerably less soggy since he had recently been inside a different building. “Let me get you a towel. Owen, why isn’t the fireplace lit on a day like this?”

The llama snorted and turned its back on them.

Scott sighed in exasperation. “You’re rubbish at this. I’ll give the job to someone else at this rate.”

“I think I can manage to get a fire going on my own,” Sausage offered with a chuckle.

“Just don’t use any of that wood I ordered,” Scott joked. “That’s for building, not to be tossed away lightly.”

“Or be lit alight,” Sausage quipped.

Scott returned with a towel and bathrobe taken from one of the rooms just as Sausage, facing the now blazing fireplace, was pulling his drenched shirt up over his head. An unintentional noise left Scott’s throat as his left eye’s magic activated and revealed something he hadn’t seen up until that moment.

Sausage heard and turned, now holding his shirt out toward the fire to start it drying, a playful little smirk on his face. “Hm, you’re not used to seeing me from the back – the marks, right? Don’t worry. I know they look bad, but I’ve had them my whole life.”

Scott uttered another noise, having to stop himself from saying no, not those, although the implications from the first part of what he said nearly made him blush. The marks in question were six vertical blotches, the lowest pair mostly covered by his waistband. The sight honestly made Scott’s stomach queasy for a split second, making him think of scars from something removed; but what was actually before his eyes – the left eye, of course, giving feedback to his brain to see with both – were the glowing outlines of six feathered wings, each pair a different size. He blinked and they faded to a mere subtle aura.

“Ah – um,” Scott stammered. “Right. Just birthmarks. Sorry, I… Yeah, I hadn’t noticed them before. I was always too busy looking at your handsome face.”

Sausage leaned over to spread his shirt out on the hearth in front of the fireplace, then looked over his shoulder and winked. “Just my face, huh?”

Scott rustled up a flirtatious smile. “Well, it is easy to get caught up gazing into a pair of lovely blue eyes, you know…” He crossed the room and pushed the towel into Sausage’s hands. “Why don’t I get us something to drink while you dry off? The rain seems like it will keep up for a while, so we might as well relax for a bit and chat.”

“That sounds like a great idea! I have to pick up Hermes before I go back to Sanctuary, but I don’t think another hour or two will matter! And we can find something to do to wait out the weather if it lasts longer...”

Scott went off to the kitchen without adding any thoughts to Sausage’s hints, also avoiding any further glimpses of him as he changed out of the rest of his wet clothes into the robe.

.

The ruler of Chromia returned with a pitcher of pink lemonade and a plate of cookies, which he put on one of the tables next to the fireplace. He poured a glass for each of them, then sat for what turned into a gossip session, since the Protector of Sanctuary wasn’t much one for protecting other people’s secrets, it seemed. The irony was not lost on Scott, who smiled absently when he caught his own gaze drifting to the faint aura of Sausage’s top pair of wings.

After a while Sausage went quiet and munched on a cookie while apparently contemplating the far wall. He glanced toward the fireplace as if to check if his clothes were dry, then attempted to be casual about sipping his second glass of lemonade before asking, “Say, uh… Have you happened to have seen any suspicious strangers around? Not just, like, wandering travelers, but like… y’know, anyone acting a little weird and maybe… entrometido? Uhm, nosy?”

“Nosy as in looking for gossip?” Scott teased, but inside he felt wary.

“Not like that! Come on, now! I’m serious!”

“Sorry. There hasn’t been anyone that I’ve noticed. Why?”

“Well… you see… I, um…” Sausage then blurted out, “I might have assassins coming after me for something that happened in the kingdom where I used to live. I didn’t commit any actual crimes, I swear!” He hastily lowered his voice and hissed, “But the king wanted everyone who had any magical abilities to be hunted down! And Bubbles thought she saw someone earlier today, so I just want to make sure no one else has seen anyone snooping around!”

“That’s pretty serious.” Scott tried to keep his voice even, and took a sip of lemonade to give himself time to think. Why hadn’t Pearl mentioned that detail to him? Well, probably to keep him from rushing off to be even more protective over Sausage.

“Yeah, I, um. I was hoping I’d gone far enough that no one could track me down. But word is getting out that Sanctuary exists. I mean, I hoped it would, so that my surviving friends from back then could make their way to it and reunite somewhere safe, but without the magic part reaching the king’s ears.” Sausage pushed the glass back and forth between his hands, then pressed them against it and looked down at the table top. “Sorry. I suppose our relationship isn’t really the type for heavy stuff like that. F-Forget I mentioned it, we’ll go back to, uh, occasional visits for wood delivery. Thanks for the lemonade and warm fire this time around, though.”

He offered a smile then got up and gathered his mostly-dry clothes. He retreated to one of the rooms to change back into them, leaving Scott to wonder if he had been being too distant this entire time to avoid triggering Sausage’s memory. He slugged back the rest of his lemonade, then hastily cleaned up everything to bring it to the kitchen.

He was checking over his patchwork elytra when Sausage emerged. The Protector of Sanctuary raised an eyebrow. “Are you heading out, too? Was I keeping you from something?”

“No, I just thought I’d take a little flight over to Stratos with you and say hi to Hermes before you two go.” Scott smiled cheerfully. “Not a lot of children around here, you know, so I wouldn’t mind seeing how Hermes is doing. I’ve mostly just got llamas for company.”

“Oh… uh, if that’s what you want to do! I’m sure Joel won’t mind! He’s usually not around when I drop off or pick up Hermes. Must be doing important godly stuff somewhere, I guess!”

They headed out under still-overcast skies, but at least the rain had stopped. It was a very short flight to Stratos, and as Sausage had predicted, Joel was absent, and meanwhile Hermes was waiting just inside a doorway. They ran out when they saw Sausage, who scooped the little demigod up into his arms. “Hermes! Hi! Sorry if I kept you waiting! Thunder Daddy wasn’t paying attention to that storm, was he?”

Scott found himself staring yet again when he caught sight of a dark blue flower in the child’s pale hair. He shook his head, glad Sausage hadn’t witnessed his reaction. “Hello, Hermes. That’s a beautiful flower you have there. Is that something your… Daddy Joel came up with? I see that gold on there – that’s his kind of thing, isn’t it?”

“Oh, no, Joel didn’t know about them, either!” Sausage said blithely. “That’s one of the flowers we found outside Sanctuary, right, Hermes? You discovered them first! Maybe you could come up with names for them!”

“Huh,” Scott feigned nonchalance. “Well, bold of you to have a variety of flower that I don’t already have in Chromia. Do you mind showing me? Or is this a little secret between just you guys?” He leaned over to wink at Hermes.

Hermes didn’t offer an opinion, but waved a hand in front of Scott’s left eye.

Scott blinked and wondered if the silent demigod child could sense something that neither of his parents had picked up on. Of course, Scott’s eye wasn’t revealing anything about Hermes at the moment, despite how the aura around Sausage’s angelic wings was still present, if not dimmed by the sunlight as the clouds began to move off.

“Actually,” Sausage said thoughtfully, “Maybe since you’re so familiar with flowers, you could identify the other one. I mean, even if you don’t know what this one is.”

“I might have an idea, now that you mention it, but a closer look at the leaves could help,” Scott lied. He bit back an extra comment about seeing the flowers at nightfall. That might happen by coincidence.

“Okay then! Um, there’s only a small patch of them, so I might have to ask you to not try to uproot any to take back with you.”

“That’s fine. I could always come by for another visit to study them again later.”

“Huh… You haven’t been by very often, have you? But then again, you can always count on me to make deliveries.” Sausage smiled. “But you should still visit more often. We’re a colorful place, too!”

“Believe me, I’m definitely considering it.”

.

A small bit of travel later and Sausage had gotten Hermes settled in his room, then, after an offhand comment from Scott about the presence of a Warden when they passed by Dolores’ cave, he led the Chromian on a stroll out to where the flowers had been found.

Scott was coming to realize that he needed to be constantly aware of new revelations about this world that might shock him to silence. He pretended to be in awe of the beautiful flowers, but what had grabbed his attention first was the rock outcropping with its weathered relief of two figures. Two florans. Two faces and other features that he knew the details of even if they had been eroded by the elements. He was almost grateful it wasn’t closer to what might have been its original condition, because it might have risked triggering Sausage’s memory.

And meanwhile, he himself had realized the patch of flowers was a result of he and Sausage dying in that very spot however many hundreds of years ago in this world’s past. It was fascinating to think about how their missions could involve different points of time in the same world.

“I guess this was someone’s special spot, somewhere in the past,” Scott finally managed to comment, “If they went to all the trouble to include a rock carving.”

“Yeah, I asked Joel about that, since as a god you would think he had been around long enough to know about things like this, but he said he had lost a bunch of memories and figured some other god oversaw stuff like sculptures and random unique flower patches in the middle of a bamboo jungle!”

Ah, so that finally explained it, Scott thought to himself. He meandered over to the flowers. He smiled softly as he crouched down to pretend to inspect them. It was nice to have a little hint of home… Then his expression turned sad as he realized how much time had passed since they had last been home together. He tried to cover it up by smirking and proclaiming, “Maybe Joel just wanted to keep such gorgeous flowers a secret. I know I would hide these away if I had discovered them in Chromia – and then I would charge people their best trades to see them, and charge double for partners, if going by this sign is anything.”

Sausage laughed, amused by the idea of Scott trying to fleece two or more people over some flowers, but then he abruptly went still as he was gripped by a waking vision. He was looking at Scott similar to how he was now, but his eyes were red. Sausage blinked and then they were gold. Then they were ocean-blue. Then one was gold and the other blue, although not in the way they were right now. Then came another change, and another. His head began to feel like it was spinning, until the vision halted upon the sight of spring-green eyes and numerous flowers in Scott’s hair.

Not just as if they were woven into a flower crown. Sausage had a sense that the flowers were growing there. The appearance of nature magic, like Sanctuary’s…

Cyan hair and flowers.

Flowers… in cyan hair.

Sausage stared hard at Scott as the vision faded out, then grabbed a blue blossom and stuck it into the Chromian’s hair over his ear.

Scott attempted to laugh lightly. “And you said I shouldn’t take any of these. What was that for? …Sausage?”

But Sausage only stared at him again.

“What is it?” Scott laughed again, nervously this time.

“Why do I know you?”

“What do you mean? You do know me – ruler of Chromia, friend of llamas, greatest dye trades in the world—”

“No,” Sausage corrected quietly, “I know you. From… somewhere else. Some… other time.”

“Ummm, no? I had literally never seen you before the day we all met up at the trade summit,” Scott lied, his heart doing cartwheels in his chest. “Do you really think I’d forget if I had? You’re quite… memorable.” He forced a flirty look onto his face.

Sausage wasn’t in the mood to humor that game. “Stop playing around. I’m serious. Look, there’s something else I haven’t told anyone yet, even Bubbles. I’ve started having all sorts of weird memories popping up in my head at random, but none of them make sense – I don’t remember experiencing any of them! It’s like I lived a dozen other lifetimes somewhere else, because they’re not from around my old home or Sanctuary!”

Scott froze. He dearly hoped the ‘dozen’ was a generalization and not specific, since he could personally account for ten of those. Maybe eleven, if he counted the time they were florans together.

“Th-this is the first time it happened so strongly around someone else. It has mostly been quick glimpses or in a dream, but both always feel so real. I just saw—”

“You know what,” Scott cut him off, forcing his tone to sound brusque, “You were right about heavy topics kind of stuff. I think you just have an overactive imagination. All I really know about you is how you like to gossip, and if this is some ploy to get me to compare hidden mysteries about my memories and past, please stop.”

“But that’s not what I meant—”

“I have to go. Take care of your flowers, and don’t go handing them out so lightly.”

Scott dearly wanted to remove the starflower and drop it at Sausage’s feet to enforce the act he was putting on, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Instead, he stalked off through the bamboo to find a clear spot to take off from. He needed to talk to Pearl. He needed to know if Sausage was supposed to be remembering things, or if this was a bad sign and he would have to intervene somehow.

~*~

Sausage stared numbly at the patch of flowers. Why did they have to spark such a weird vision – was it actually a memory of something, or just his imagination, like Scott said? Maybe… Maybe there was someone else he had known in the past and had forgotten, and maybe they only had a passing resemblance to Scott, or something…

He felt like he was missing a piece of this puzzle. He wasn’t sure how to find it… unless it was something back in his old home. He wondered if he should ask Eddie, yet at the same time didn’t want to make him or Bubbles worry. Maybe he should wait, and just keep a record of what he was seeing to try to put it all together later.

As the sun dipped toward the horizon, he realized he should get back to Hermes. When he turned, however, he saw a flicker of golden light. Similar motes appeared as the sky continued to darken. They weren’t fireflies. Too small, and the wrong color. It was coming from… the dark blue flowers.

He gazed at them wistfully. “You sure are something special. I wonder who planted you? Funny how you were here the whole time, with Sanctuary and its magic so close by. Did you guide me here? Were the magics connecting to each other, saying this is would be a safe haven? ...It’s a cool idea, but it’s probably just coincidence.”

He chuckled quietly, then sighed and started on the walk back. The range of the golden motes was limited to that area, and soon he found himself among regular green fireflies as night settled over the land. Up ahead, over the treetops, he saw a shooting star. He gave thought to making a wish, but then only gave a rueful smile. Really, all he could hope for was that Sanctuary would remain protected and safe. Wishing for his own mental turmoil to be sorted out felt a little selfish.

.

The next morning, Sausage went back to Chromia, planning to try to smooth things over with Scott. He enjoyed their casual flings, and maybe that’s all their relationship needed to be, if it continued to work for both of them. If yesterday had been too much, then he would politely make deliveries and go on his way without flirting anymore.

Speaking of being polite, he landed at the outskirts instead of intrusively flying overhead to locate him. A few extra minutes to iron out his thoughts wouldn’t hurt, either. Chromia did have such nice flower fields to wander past, after all.

It was as he was coming up on a supply shed when he heard Scott’s voice coming from the other side. Sausage hesitated and stopped to wait since it sounded like he was talking to someone else.

“Can you give me any kind of time frame? Will it really be much longer? I miss our real home. I miss my angel… I miss my husband.”

Sausage grimaced, eyes going wide, and he barely contained an alarmed squeak before pressing his back against the wall of the shed. His… what? Had he unwittingly been part of another man’s affair? Scott didn’t wear a wedding ring – that Sausage had noticed, anyway – or ever said anything about a significant other. So how was he supposed to have known??

Although, from the sound of it, maybe Scott was hiding undercover from something, too. Maybe that was why he had gotten so defensive all of a sudden yesterday. It made some sense… A sympathetic smile crossed Sausage’s face. He wouldn’t pry or hint about it, but he would still like to get past yesterday’s incident.

He snuck away, deciding to wait for a different chance to sort things out, giving Scott and whoever he was talking to the privacy to finish their own rendezvous. Besides, if Scott was concerned about reuniting with his actual husband, seeing the person he was cheating on him with – even if it was only to keep up his cover story – probably wouldn’t be the best thing at that moment.

With a wry smile, Sausage accepted that keeping up that particular part of this assumed cover story could be his favor to Scott to make up for what had happened the day before.

 [ Chapter Three ]

 [Post A/N: A certain scene in this chapter was inspired by this artwork by Cynthrey! ]

#alsmp #alsmp fanfic #alsmpshipping #scosage #empires smp #empiressmpshipping #mythicalsausage #scott smajor #dangthatsalongname #joel smallishbeans #empires hermes #empires smp fanfic #soul liminality 2 #lunar yarns

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Dark Prophecy: Chapter 15 (SPOILERS)

"Can't catch me!-- Oh, poop!" I can't tell if this is censoring or if they ran into the carnivorous horses or it's both. Am I too excited to see the carnivorous shit horses again?

"half a mile an hour" NOOO THEIR GETAWAY VEHICLE IS SLOWER THAN WALKING

"they probably assumed they'd have plenty of time to come after us." And they'd be right.

"My bladder sloshed." TMI.

"The choo-choo tilted sideways" I like it when they call it a choo-choo instead of a train. Idk why. It just brings me joy, no questions asked.

"those times the sun chariot had to veer to avoid . . . a Chinese celestial dragon." Lol when mythologies collide

"the packet was miraculously intact in Calypso's arms." Yeah, you'd better keep that safe. You know how much it cost?! No, of course you don't.

"He used to enjoy using them for target practice." :/ Do not use ostriches for target practice. "All these animals will be killed?" Animal activist!Calypso to the rescue!

"Their hides are impervious to all metal weapons--like the Nemean Lion" So what made the Nemean LIon special? Was it because it was a lion? Was the Nemean Lion's skin also impervious to other things like fire and pressure?

"the endangered three-eyed stoat" The definition for STOAT is too long, but it's basically a tiny weasel. The three-eyed thing is made-up.

"with egg." Yes, with egg. I think you're missing an "an" there.

"I really didn't feel like singing about all my failures again" Well, too bad. Your lives and the griffins' lives are all in danger. Beggars can't be choosers. Besides, there exist other ways to move people through music.

"Calypso handed me the packet of Tots." Oh yeah, I forgot about the Tots. I can't believe I forgot about the $15,000 Tater Tots.

"You have a decent voice." Uh, he's not gonna like that. Calypso's definitely getting smited the second Apollo regains godhood.

"when he was Kronos's cupbearer, Zeus used to entertain the court with songs." Now that is a surreal mental image. I love hearing about the lives of the gods that we never hear about from the demigods' perspective. I totally forgot that Zeus spent time in the Titan court before overthrowing them.

"why would she forgive me if I apologized now?" The point of an apology isn't for forgiveness. It is to show your remorse and prove that you've changed regardless of whether the person you're apologizing to accepts it. I want to see Apollo realize this.

"Like a true gentleman, he waited until I removed my hand before swallowing down the snack." PogChamp No one loses an arm!

"bloody and battered but still very much alive, was Lityerses" Did the vines really do that much damage? Never mind, I just checked back and turns out the rest of the canopy, lumber and all, fell on him as well.

#reading trials of apollo #reading the dark prophecy #reading toa #reading tdp #toa spoilers #trials of apollo spoilers #trials of apollo #the dark prophecy #percy jackon and the olympians #apollo pjo #apollo #lester papadopoulos #calypso pjo #calypso #zeus pjo #zeus #lityerses pjo #lityerses #$15000 tater tots #if you're gonna pay that much for tater tots you gotta milk it for all it's worth #pjo #toa #pjo hoo toa #rrverse #riordanverse

[anticomedygarden]

Happy 60th birthday, Percy!

-

ao3 link

-

Percy couldn't remember a time Camp Half-Blood had ever been so full.

Not even his first summer, back before the wars when the gods were so damn horny and irresponsible, were there so many people (and mythical beings) packed into the space, made even more impressive by the fact that everyone seemed to be outside on the grounds, and Percy absolutely loved it. He hadn't seen some of these people in years, maybe even decades; apparently, two half-bloods reaching 60 years old - the first in centuries if he didn't include Nico and Hazel - was a big deal.

Of course, a gathering this size was sure to attract more vile attention, and someone had already spotted a couple hellhounds prowling around the wards, but whatever. Somebody younger could deal with it, someone who didn't have creaky knees.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn to a bright blue streak racing toward the steps of the Big House.

"Grandpa!" little Clio yelled as she catapulted herself into Percy's lap. As the oldest child of Percy and Annabeth's youngest child, Clio was their second youngest grandchild at only three years old. He figured her little brother was probably being passed around somewhere in the throng of people which was how she'd managed to slip away from her moms.

"Hey, squirt," he said, spitting out a piece of her wavy black hair as she got herself situated. "Are you having fun?"

She nodded vigorously. "Aunt Clarisse showed me where to punch someone so they go to sleep, and Aunt Rachel gave me paint tattoos!" She thrust her arms out to reveal both hands covered in roses and vines, and he stifled a laugh. That was sure to go over well with both her parents.

"That's so cool, sweetie," he said while rooting around in his pocket. "Hey, guess what I have!"

Somehow, her big grey eyes lit up even brighter. "What?"

"Candy!" She shrieked  at the sight of the shiny red Kit-Kat wrapper - her favorite, a trick he had picked up from his mom. He quickly unwrapped it and broke it in half. It was his birthday, after all.

A few minutes later found them playing rock, paper, scissors, both of them with sticky hands from the half-melted chocolate bar.

She giggled when he lost the fifth round in a row. "You suck at this."

His mouth dropped open. "Where did you learn that word?" Honestly, Percy couldn't care less what words she used, but kids always loved it when they thought they got away with saying a bad word.

This time was no different. "Uncle Magnus," she said gleefully.

His eyes widened in mock surprise. "Did you get to see Uncle Magnus today?"

She smiled and nodded.

Before he could question her further, Lucy, their youngest daughter, appeared at the bottom of the steps. "Dad, have you seen - oh, there she is. Clio, what did I say about running off?"

Mischief danced in his granddaughter's eyes. "Uh oh."

He laughed, knowing full well that the little girl was allowed to go wherever she wanted at Camp since no matter where she went, there would be a demigod, nymph, or some other mythical being ready to lead her back to her parents.

Then, Lucy spotted the Kit-Kat wrapper. "Dad! She's already had three cupcakes today!"

He stared Clio right in the eyes. "Uh-oh." She giggled again, and he looked back at his daughter who was glaring at him fiercely with eyes that perfectly matched her mother's. "She's my granddaughter, and it's my birthday. I can give her as much candy as I want." He started tickling her then and said a silent thank you that she was still small enough to lay down on his lap even while convulsing with laughter.

"Speaking of your birthday, there are a ton of people who want to talk to you down there." Her hands were on her hips, a habit she still retained from childhood. Anytime she wanted him or Annabeth to do something, this was the exact stance they got: pointed look and hands on hips. He caved almost every time, but then again, Annabeth had always been stronger than him.

Now, though, there was another one on his lap, giggling and wanting something completely different from him. "They can wait a little bit longer."

Lucy huffed but didn't say anything, just sat in the chair opposite him. "Where's mom?"

"I think I saw her with Aunt Piper," he answered. "Speaking of, where is your other child? And your wife?"

She waved a hand. "With Grandma." Of course they were. At 78 years old, Sally Jackson was as spry and magnetic as ever.  

In fact, she was coming up the hill with an infant in her arms.

"Mom, how do you always have a kid?" he said, and was pleased to see Lucy stand up to make a seat for her grandmother.

"Oh, no, don't get up for me. I just wanted to pop up here with the baby to say hello." She waved his little arm. "And to answer your question, son, it's grandma powers."

Again, he didn't question her, though he thought quietly that Annabeth didn't seem to attract children the way his mother did.

"Nana, El!" Clio piped from her place on Percy's lap, hands stretching toward her great-grandmother. Ever since her little brother had been born, she had been fascinated with him, constantly wanting to hold him and play with him.

Lucy gave her a stern look. "What do we say?"

"Please!"

Sally gave Percy a knowing look. It hadn't been very long ago when Lucy's older brother had done almost the exact same thing.

Tamping down the odd, bittersweet feeling, he got Clio situated to hold the baby: sitting up on his thighs with his hands under hers, a watchful eye trained on them between her wild strands of dark hair. "Go ahead, mom."

Gently, Sally lowered the baby into their arms. When he was secure, Percy allowed himself to fully appreciate the moment with his family. Four generations of Jacksons, all on the porch of the Big House. One mortal, one demigod, and two legacies. He never thought he'd see the day.

Of course, this party really was special for his mother. Mortals normally weren't allowed inside the Camp boundaries, but an allowance was made for today, just for his and Annabeth's family.

Sally leaned against his chair. "I remember when you looked like that at your sister."

"Mom, I was 17 when Estelle was born."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And? I had never seen you sit so still. You had that same look in your eyes when Paul handed her to you."

"Sure, mom." He knew she was right, but he would never reach an age where ribbing wasn't funny.

She squeezed his ear. "Hey, I wanted to tell you that we're probably not gonna stay super long."

He gave her an offended look. "It's barely even 2!"

"We are very old, son. Besides, we spent the whole day with you on Annabeth's birthday. This party is really for you demigods, anyway, and us old coots have to be in bed by 8."

So, maybe that was true. "Fine."

"Hey, I was wondering where you all were," Lucy's wife Gina said as she appeared at the bottom of the stairs. With dark skin and mischief in her eyes, she was a very distant legacy of Mercury that Lucy had met at NRU in college. "Percy, Annabeth wants to talk to you."

"Excellent." If there was one person he would always get out of his chair for, it was her. "Where is she?"

Gina picked Elias up, and Percy set his granddaughter on the ground, grinning when she took off toward the crowd with barely a 'bye-bye.'

"Last I saw, she was at the desserts table."

"Thanks," he said and started heading down.

On his way, he was stopped no less than a dozen times by various people wishing him a happy birthday, some a happy 44th anniversary of the end of the Titan War.

Finally, he made it to Annabeth and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hey, wise girl."

"Seaweed brain!" She turned around in his arms and kissed him as if they hadn't seen each other less than a half hour ago.

"Really? In front of the food?" their oldest child Nathan asked. At 34, he had seen his parents kiss countless times yet always seemed to have the same reaction.

"Yeah, guys, come on, really?" the son of Hermes and hero of Olympus asked as he tore into a blue cupcake.

"Hey, Travis," Annabeth said, arms still around Percy's neck. Nathan had already disappeared to the gods knew where, maybe to go find his girlfriend of 10 years, and they probably wouldn't see him again for a while.

Travis waved his cupcake. "We're so old, you guys. We're all getting into our 60s! What the hell happened?"

Just as Percy was about to ask one of his oldest friends to take his crisis somewhere else, Connor popped up out of no where and said, "Okay, bro, let's go find Katie." He then led his brother away to presumably fall into hysterics in the safety of his wife's arms.

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Eventually, Annabeth sobered and said, "He's not wrong. When Leo asked Bianca-" Nico and Will's daughter "-to play 'Material Girl', she said, 'I'm not playing freaking Taylor Swift,' and kicked him off the stage." She gave him a pointed look. "We're old, babe!"

Percy laughed. "That was news, like, 8 years ago." It was also around that time he realized their one strand of grey hair had turned into several strands, and Shrek was considered a classic. "She might have a point about Taylor Swift, though."

Annabeth gave him her patented 'don't get me started' look, and he wisely shut his mouth.

"What did you need me for?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Oh, I just wanted you to see all this blue food!" She waved a hand toward it all, and he recognized at least a couple of his mom's dishes amidst the blue cookies, blue brownies, blue cakes and cupcakes, and blue pasta noodles. He was practically in heaven.

Annabeth handed him a cupcake and took one for herself, and soon they were walking hand in hand through the crowd that had somehow grown since he first stepped into it.

Most of the faces were vaguely recognizable, people they knew from being the two most famous and revered demigods of their generation. Others, he didn't know. He supposed they were the ones that wanted to see firsthand two demigods that had managed to live so long.

He really couldn't blame them for that.

The rest were people they knew well. Speaking of-

"Magnus, Alex! I'm so glad you guys could come," Percy said when he saw the young blond and his partner. Young was relative, of course. Chronologically, Magnus and Alex were only a couple years younger than him and Annabeth, but that was impossible to know just by looking at them. Both still looked the picture of 16.

There was something to be said there about their perpetual youth as a metaphor for the permanence of death while everyone else aged, but today wasn't the day to think about it. Besides, he liked to leave that kind of thing to Annabeth. Instead, he thought about the novel occurrence of Norse demigod einherjar in Camp Half Blood. There were some Egyptian magicians running around, too. Really put the whole Greek-Roman split fiasco in perspective.

"Yeah, we managed to slip down between meetings," Magnus said. Nearly 45 years later and the Chase Space was going strong, so strong, in fact, that they had opened up several more. It was wonderful, but it was also a lot of work. "Blitz is there now with Hearth."

"Ooh, where'd the blue cupcakes come from?" Alex asked.

Annabeth laughed. "Right over there in the pavilion."

Alex waved in thanks before dragging Magnus over to the food.

Percy turned to Annabeth. "You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"I get a 10% discount at Burger King now." He was unreasonably excited for it.

She patted him on the back. "Good. You'll finally be able to join me."

If she thought that would rile him up, she was dead wrong. "Are you saying you want Burger King dates?"

"I'd go on a date anywhere with you." Somehow, she said it totally straight faced despite the cheesiness of the line. He appreciated it all the same. The next person they ran into was Grover.

"G-Man!"

"Percy! Annabeth!"

Man, had he missed Grover. The satyr was running an international project to get mythical creatures more involved in environmentalism, and they rarely had a chance to see each other anymore.

"How's the project going?" Percy asked.

Grover beamed. "It's going really well. We just finished planting a bunch of trees in France, and we're gonna go to Canada next to mess with hunters."

Not all of their business practices were strictly legal, but they didn't really need to be, anyway.

Annabeth laughed. "That sounds like a lot of fun."

Grover nodded.

They chatted for a bit longer until Juniper called him over to do something.

From there, they somehow made it to the activities section of Camp, and Annabeth dared him to race her up the climbing wall. She beat him, of course. Just like old times.

Next, they played a game of volleyball against some Roman legacies and won. The legacies were so excited to play with them that they didn't care a couple of 60 year olds beat them.

After that, they ran into Frank and Hazel.

"Hey, you guys," Hazel said. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, Hazel," Percy said. He wondered how many times he had heard that phrase today. "How are you?"

She smiled wide, exuberance only multiplied with age. "We're good. We're moving into the new house next week."

"Awesome," Annabeth said. "We'll definitely be there to help."

Hazel clapped. "Thank you so much! We'll do dinner or something, too, alright?"

At 56 and 58, Hazel and Frank were planning to retire in a few years and had recently bought a house right on the Tiber River in New Rome.

"Sounds good," Annabeth answered.

They moved on, mingling throughout the crowd. They talked to a few people, mostly the ones they knew well, and played some more games. Percy was beat badly by Clio at cornhole, but he took the loss like a champ.

Eventually, they made it to the beach, and Percy wasn't surprised to see a black haired man in a bright orange Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts holding a trident on the shore.

Before he could say anything, Annabeth said, "I'm gonna go see if I can find Thalia."

With that, she disappeared back into the crowd.

"Son," Poseidon started. "It is good to see you."

A warmth seeped through Percy's chest. He and his father certainly had one of the best relationships between a demigod and godly parent in the entire Greek pantheon, and, for that, he was forever grateful. It had actually been one of the reasons Zeus loosened the rules about God's visiting their children.

"Thanks, Dad." Percy waited a moment. "Any particular reason you're here?" As good as their relationship was, Poseidon was still a god.

"Can I not just say hello to my son on his birthday?"

Percy just looked at him.

"Fine, I did want to tell you something." Poseidon fidgets with his beard, clearly thinking deeply. "I would like to revisit the subject of your mortality."

Percy supposed he should have seen this coming. He is, after all, Poseidon's favorite son that also just so happened to be transitioning into his senior years, but ever since it became clear that he wasn't going to try to overthrow Olympus with his considerable power, he had gotten used to not being asked to become a god. It had been nice.

"Dad, I don't want to be a god-" he started.

Poseidon held up a hand. "Let me finish, son." He sucked in a breath. "You know that when you were born, it was a huge scandal."

Yeah, he knew. He still had nightmares about the Olympian council voting on whether or not to kill him.

"Despite that, you became a hero of Olympus many times throughout your life, and you have come to be my favorite son. I value your life, which is not something I say lightly."

"Gee, thanks, Dad," he said sarcastically. "I value your life, too."

Poseidon gave him an unimpressed look, then shook his head as if ignoring his son's poor attempt at lightening the mood. When he spoke, Percy was surprised to hear a quaver in his voice. "I find I am deeply saddened at the thought of your death."

And, okay, Percy wasn't expecting that one. Death had always been a constant in his life, something ever present and surrounding. If he hadn't become accustomed to the thought of it, his life would have been much harder. He wasn't looking forward to it, obviously, but he wasn't afraid. It was a miracle he had lived this long, actually.

"Listen, I know I'm getting up there, but I've lived this long. Mortals today can make it to over 100." He didn't need to mention that fighting was getting harder every day, or that his knees creaked and his back ached constantly. He and Annabeth would probably retire to New Athens soon, anyway.

"I am aware, but I just want you to know that when you do die, you and Annabeth both have a place in Atlantis."

A generous offer, but they had decided long ago that Elysium was the place for them. They didn't want immortality or godhood. The only thing they ever wanted was to live their lives, and they had done that, were still doing that. They would go to Elysium happy.

"Thanks, dad, really," he said. "I'll pass that along to Annabeth." He turned, unsure what to do next.

To his surprise, Poseidon pulled him into a bone crushing hug, one his now 60 year old body would take at least a few minutes to recover from.

Poseidon pulled away. "Go, be with your family." He looked down and rubbed an eye.

Percy has to admit that his eyes were getting misty at this point, too. "Love you, dad."

"I love you, too." Poseidon turned to gaze out at the glittering sea, so Percy started making his way back to the party.

Poseidon stopped him with a word. "Percy?"

"Yeah, dad?"

"Happy birthday."

-

A few hours later when the sky was dark and Artemis was high in the sky with her chariot, Percy sat in the stands at a campfire, Annabeth next to him. Most of the guests had left or retired to their cabins, having to put the kids to bed or comply with camp curfew.

Some, though, were still up, and Percy couldn't help but think they made a formidable crowd despite the average age.

Carter and Sadie Kane were seated right next to the fire, experimenting with spells to see which ones could influence the hearth's magic. The flames were already so high and vibrant from the party that their magic wasn't doing much, though.

Farther down the steps were Magnus and Alex who had decided to stay the night rather than go back to Boston. They were talking to the Stolls, Clarisse, and Katie Gardener, which could only bring trouble.

Thalia and Reyna were mingling around the crowd, looking young as ever, as was Apollo, surprisingly. Or not so surprisingly, considering his own adventures as a mortal. Meg McCaffrey was also walking around the fire, throwing things in to see how fast they would incinerate.

Piper and Shel - another mortal, he noted - were talking to Jason and Leo toward the middle of the stands, and Hazel and Frank were roasting marshmallows by the fire with Grover and Juniper.

Just behind Percy and Annabeth, Nico and Will were loudly discussing the latest Marvel movie with Rachel, a debate Percy and Annebeth would surely find themselves drawn into sooner or later.

For now, Percy took a moment to admire his wife. Annabeth, whose hair was more grey than blonde now, who had laugh lines and worry lines, who had never looked more beautiful. She wore all signs of her age like badges of honor - because they were.

He still couldn't believe they had made it this far.

A soft whoosh drew Percy's attention to his left. Beside them, the god of wine had formed out of nowhere, still in a leopard print shirt and looking the same as he did when Percy was 12.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" he said. Percy noticed that the cup in his hand didn't smell like alcohol despite his sentence having ended several years ago. "Mortals, Egyptians, Norse, Romans, and Greeks, all around Hestia's hearth. I never thought I'd see the day."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged an amused glance. "Hey, Mr. D."

"Yes, hello, Peter and Annabelle." He took a sip of whatever was in his cup. "I hope you realize the magnitude of what is in front of you."

Saving them from answering, Chiron trotted up next to his old colleague and said, "It truly is a wonder." He looked straight at Percy and Annabeth. "And it's because of you two."

Percy felt his face heat up, and one look at Annabeth showed hers doing the same.

It was true, though, he realized. None of these people would be here without them.

"I've been doing this for a very long time, and it is rare that any of my students live past their teen years, yet here we are in front of so many that have lived over half a century. I wonder - how long will this last?" Chiron shook his head. "I don't know, but I pray it is permanent."

Dionysus nodded. "Well said. I trust there is room in Cabin 1 for me?"

"Of course."

With that, he stood and walked down the steps of the amphitheatre toward the cabins, away from the fire and the remaining party.

The wine god had gotten much better since the wars and even sometimes acted like he cared, but there were still the rough edges. Percy found that he liked him much more, now.

He was leagues better than a lot of other gods.

Chiron continued. "I'll leave you to the party, but I want you to think about the impact you have had on our worlds." He looked at them sadly. "We will never forget you two."

Once again, Percy's eyes had gone a bit misty, as had Annabeth's. She squeezed his hand. "We're really lucky, you know."

"Yeah," he agreed. They were.

"Hey, I was waiting til the end of the night for this. Come here." She picked up his hand and dragged him to the bottom of the steps, right by the fire. He followed her curiously, sure what else could possibly be happening today. They'd already sung happy birthday, and presents had been sent to their apartment out of necessity for sheer volume.

She looked up at the crowd. "Hey, guys! It's time."

He looked at her, suddenly scared. "Time for what?"

She didn't answer, and he was forced to wait while all of their friends climbed down to the center of the amphitheatre looking way too excited.

Then, Clarisse came around from the side with a small blue cake that looked like a brick with a single candle stuck in it, and he knew exactly what was going on.

"Come on, guys, aren't we too old for this?" he said nervously, slightly afraid that if any of these 50-60 year olds attempted to carry them, they would throw out their backs.

"Nice try, Jackson," Clarisse said. She handed him the plate. "Make a wish."

Even the non Greeks and the rest of the Seven seemed to know what was going on.

"Yeah, Percy, we all wanna see you two get dunked,” Grover said.

Percy turned a betrayed look to him. "G-Man?"

Travis spoke up next. "C'mon, hurry up!"

"Yeah, let's go!" He wasn't sure which one said that.

He looked at Annabeth next. "You're okay with this?"

She smirked. "I organized it!"

Of course she did.

Percy threw his head back and laughed, then blew the candle out without thinking too much.

A cheer went up around the crowd. "To the lake!"

"Wooh!"

And that's how they found themselves being lifted up onto everybody's shoulders and thrown into the lake, having the second best underwater kiss ever.

Tomorrow, they would go home to their apartment in Queens and return to their everyday lives, but they always knew Camp Half Blood would be there to return to, because this place, more than anywhere else, was home.

They were home.

#percabeth #percabeth fanfic #sally jackson #poseidon #my writing #my fic #pjo #percy jackson #annabeth chase #rrverse #pjoverse #grover underwood #magnus chase #alex fierro #magnus x alex #camp half blood #chiron #dionysus

[thejadecount]

villain aru shah headcanons?

Okay forgive me when I mention plotpoints and I get them a bit wrong, it’s bit a hot minute since I’ve last read the books, but I mostly remember a bunch of the points in the books where I got bitter and gave Aru permission to become an antagonist. Like, I was bitter in the second book, my god. And yes, you can consider this a strongly worded hate letter to any other Pandava stan and if you say Aru doesn’t deserve to have a villain arc I will physically fight you.

Anyways—

She’s your bitch okay? She’s down for murder. She’s quoting vines. She’s unironically getting them wrong to annoy the other Pandavas

Mini: Aru stop this isn’t you—

Aru: Oh cry me a table, Mini

You see she hates the Pandavas, but she also hates her dad. She hates everyone. So she just does fuck all

“Fuck you, fuck my dad and fuck the gods, I’m Aru Shah you goddamn idiot and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

I’d like to think her villain arc would start in the second book, but it’s only her thinking these antagonistic thoughts, she really doesn’t do anything about them. She gets jealous and bitter but how different and unfair her life was compared to Mini and the others, but she keeps the same personality with them more or less.

It gets worse with the twins. They’re spoiled. They’re kind of brats. She starts getting into tiny, petty arguments with the others in their point of view, but reading in her perspective they’re completely understandable. Perhaps the arguments themselves are a bit ridiculous and overdramatic, but we can understand where it’s coming from.

And then comes her half-sister, and OH BOY this is when everything really starts taking off. Her dad’s trying to get her on his side every more because he knows. He knows Aru is so fed up with all the other Pandavas bullshit and he’s going to try.

Of course Aru isn’t an idiot. No, fuck her dad. She’s going to keep being a Pandavas to beat him of course. But once that’s done she’s out.

Soon enough, she’s a villain. She renounces the Pandavas and her sister, calls them and her mom out on all their bullshit, and just leaves. You don’t need school when you’re an antagonist. She knows 98% of what she’ll learn in that dump will be useless anyway.

She likes mostly annoying and do fuck-all to the Pandavas. You’d be surprised how quickly they’re willing to beat her ass. Of course, they’re failing, but that’s because Mimi still believes in Aru. She’s the only one who has truly appreciated Aru, and Aru respects that by not beating the shit out of her.

She has lightning powers. Her hands are tasers. If you want she could freely provide you a sample of what 3.1 million volts feel like being shot through your body.

I’d like to think she chills out more with Hindu mythological people, like nagas and the such. She has found out that they’re much more accepting and chaotic neutral.

Also, when she quickly makes her way to her villain arc, she finds out she is very much bisexual.

For a villain, she’s not one of the bad bad ones. Like, she’ll fuck up your day and maybe cause a rukus at the Night Bazaar. She might accidentally cause a few deaths here and there, but only a small percent of those were on purpose.

She mostly just hates the Pandavas. Fuck them. And the Gods too. But for the most part, as long as your not a demigod and you have a loose sense of morals, you’re on her decent side.

I’d like to think she’d try to raise a demon army like the Sleeper did to kill the Pandavas, once and for all.

Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss

She is very good at insulting people. She has made demons cry. She is merciless.

No matter the circumstances, if some demon or some other antagonist goes up to her and tells her about literally any plan that may or may not include fucking over the Pandavas, you bet she’s in.

Over time, she gains the heterochromia from her father once she starts accepting her more demonic qualities. She hates it of course—fuck her dad—so she uses contacts. Not those stupid boring brown ones tho, no she’s going to make her eyes highlighter yellow to fuck with everyone and make their eyes bleed.

I’d like to think she very much blurs the line between chaotic neutral and chaotic evil.

If she were to meet canon Aru, she would surprisingly comfort her. She hates the fact that for some reason, this version of her is still with the Pandavas and on ‘the good side’, but she suspects it’s more the gods and Pandavas fault and her desperation for friends and validation than anything.

She’s a theatre kid, most definitely.

And to confuse her enemies she’s start singing in the middle of battle no warning.

Just imagine she’s fighting the Pandavas and all of a sudden she starts belting out every Hamilton song in existence.

She still has her weapon, the classic ping pong ball. But now she knows how to properly use it, it’s her most dangerous thing in her arsenal.

Like you know those scenes in cartoons where a character throws a bouncy ball and it starts bouncing around the entire room at mock speed and breaking almost everything? Imagine that, plus electricity.

Half the time she’s a devious, cunning villain. The other half—

“I have no idea what I’m doing and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

#I probably have a bunch written somewhere that I can’t find #I had a big villain Aru phase like a year ago #but those are all the ones I can think of #enjoy! #aru shah

[ubersatzofficial]

Survival Tips: The Hallow

If one spends enough time around Chori circles, they will no doubt hear stories of beings known as the Anule. Said to range in power from simple household spirits, to all-encompassing forces of nature akin to demigods, the Anule are paranormal entities with no clear origin besides a connection to the natural world, and extensive documentation by the Chori. They are said to range in personality from harmlessly mischievous, or letter-following rulekeepers, to outright malicious and punitive. The Anule have been known to make deals with mortals, faustian bargains which must be made under strict watch, lest one accidentally, through omission or vague writing, allow the Anule to take more than you intend to give; something they will always do if allowed. Those who have faced the Anule- followed them into the breach and beyond, have returned with tales of a place these strange beings call home, a pocket dimension known as The Hallow.

The Hallow is the land of the Anules, though it is unclear if this location is their birthplace, or simply a world they inhabit and control more thoroughly than our own. The true size of the Hallow is impossible to determine, as no edges have ever been found- though common locations do appear. The Hallow is a natural world, constructed from twisting vines and cobbled stone, all structures therewithin seemingly thousands of years old, and in a dilapidated state. Weather and day/night cycles are quite same perceptively within the Hallow as they are on an Ideal planet- however great distortions of time in both directions have been observed (though it is unclear if this is due to perception or reality). Oh yes, perception, this is quite important in The Hallow. This curious pocket dimension operates entirely off of perception- specifically, the point-of-view of the every eccentric Anules. Fantasy can be made reality through the unquestioned belief in its truth, something quite easy for the Anules, or the perpetually mad to achieve. It is a chaotic, psychedelic, mind-twisting wonderland mixing the highest of curiosities with the most dull mundanities. All that is normal may become incomprehensibly strange, while the absurd is made standard. Logic does not exist, and there are frequently no answers to any questions asked within this topsy-turvy place, should said questions be even remotely comprehensible to begin with.

This nonsense is perpetuated by the Anules, of course. And while their existence is defined by their dedication to the silly and the absurd, they do have strict rules they themselves must follow. To them, this world makes sense, and travelers must beware, as they will impose their incomprehensible laws upon mortals, and trap them eternally within their nonsense logic. Understanding the Anules is paramount to escaping or gods forbid existing within this dimension. For instance, metaphysical concepts are made physical. Never give your name when asked, lest it be taken from you and forgotten by all. Instead, when asked for names and pronouns, simply respond that they may not ‘have’ them, but they may call you this. The Anules here will present you with meaningless riddles and pointless questions with no answer, or trap you with games that have no visible rules or means of victory, not to mention the endless banalities and social obligations which they will politely demand you attend, then chastise or even punish you for breaking their unknowable social customs. In these scenarios, it is of dire importance that you firstly remain extremely (even overly) polite and cordial, while still refusing their offers. On the off chance that you take their riddles and questions, play their games, or attend their endless teas and brunches, then you must know how to escape them. Entertainment is what they seek, not answers. No answer will ever be correct, no game can ever be won, you must prove through their logic how you are the victor. But be wary, become too much fun and they’ll find a way to keep you around forever, and while The Hallow may be a nice place to visit, you’d have to be Mad to live there.

#writing #worldbuilding #sci fi #übersatz #creative writing #science fiction #fantasy #faecore #abstract

[wren-kitchens]

Chapter Four

Cyrus was still half in shock when the five of them got back to safety.

Almost immediately after Elliott voiced its worries, something happened to Rowan. He gave an odd shiver before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

The vines holding the drakon had snaked to the ground, limp, and the beast had reared. Elysia had flown them to safety before any of them could get injured, but the shrieks of the infuriated drakon still rang in Cyrus' ears.

They were in a grand library and the two queens had grabbed as many books as they could and were reading them as fast as they could— looking for some answer as to what happened to the drakon.

And Rowan hadn't woken up.

Cyrus was pacing back and forth, wringing his hands. What if he never woke up? Cyrus was known to be with him, what if everyone thought he-

"Okay, Cyrus, shut your brain up." Elliott said. "No one's gonna think that. Besides, he will wake up."

"Right." Cyrus said, still pacing.

"I mean it." Elliott stood up from where it was crouched next to Rowan. "Come on, you've been king for, what, a day? You don't need to worry about being convinced of murder."

"Huh?" Lavina looked up from a weirdly large book she was pouring over.

"Cyrus thinks that if Rowan doesn't wake up— which they will— everyone will think that he killed Rowan. Despite the fact that there are three people, two of which gods and one queen, who quite clearly saw you not doing any murder." Elliott explained.

"But what if he doesn't wake up?" Cyrus asked.

"Only the Gods know what I would do." Elliott said. "But he will. End of."

Cyrus paused. Elliott had told him: it'd known Rowan from birth. If it thought anything was wrong, it'd be a lot more panicked.

"Lavina, could he use your Crystal? I don't think teleporting would do him much good right now." Elliott said.

"Of course." Elysia said. "It's just down the hall."

Elliott nodded and picked Rowan up bridal style. Cyrus didn't want to leave Rowan, despite barely knowing him. He knew Elliott a bit more however.

"Can- I mean. Could I.." Cyrus said, cringing at his own nervousness. "Uh, come with?

"Hm? Oh yeah sure." Elliott said.

It occurred to Cyrus how strong Elliott must have been if it could carry Rowan so effortlessly.

Cyrus followed Elliott down a grand corridor, all high ceilings and wide arches, and through golden-accented doors.

Inside was a diamond-shaped crystal, hovering in the centre of the room. Cyrus knew that each ruler had one— a Crystal that could heal anyone. Infernia's own Crystal was a topaz.

Elliott placed Rowan down next to it, whispered something and the crystal began to glow. Something on Rowan's chest did as well, emitting beams of light across the room.

After a few seconds, Rowan's eyes fluttered open.

"Gods, I feel like shit." They groaned, sitting up. "What even happened?"

"We don't know." Elliott said. "One minute you were fine and the next.."

"I remember passing out." Rowan rubbed his head. "And before I did, there was this.. cold."

"Cold?" Elliott frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know how to describe it." Rowan said. "I just felt this weird cold thing at the back of my neck, then the next thing I know, I'm here."

Cyrus realised his tail was flicking back and forth anxiously. He quickly stopped it.

"Before you passed out, you kind of shivered." He said, and Rowan looked at him like they hadn't realised he was in the room. "Then all the vines fell."

Rowan's eyes widened. "They fell? The vines fell?" They looked at Elliott, who nodded.

"But- but that's never happened before." Rowan said, sounding scared. Cyrus realised this was the first time he'd seen Rowan express his emotions. "What does that mean? Is- are my powers weakening?"

"No. They can't be." Elliott said firmly. "There's something happening that isn't supposed to be."

"How can you tell?" Rowan asked, genuine worry in his face.

"Because I'm the demigod of mischief. I can tell when something's up." Elliott said. "And this is not supposed to happen."

"But what if I am, Leo?" Rowan said. "What if I lose them completely? How am I supposed to rule the Overgrown if I lose them? I can't go down to the ocean, I can't-"

"Rowan!" Cyrus said, surprising even himself with the sharpness of his voice. "You're not loosing your powers. Something made you pass out, and I think that same thing made the vines fall."

"Exactly my point." Elliott said. "Your powers are not fading. Now please, you need to rest."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Rowan rubbed their face, exhaled, and adopted the look he wore so often— false calm. It annoyed Cyrus. "I was overreacting."

Cyrus frowned but he knew better than to say anything. Elliott glanced up at him.

'I know.' Its voice echoed in his head. 'He won't listen.'

'Never?' Cyrus thought.

'Nope.'

"Come on." Elliott said out loud. "We'll leave you to rest." It said to Rowan.

-

"Gods, I hate that." Cyrus said as the two of them reentered the library. "How he thinks he can't even show emotion without 'overreacting'."

"Yep." Elliott sighed, a weary look in its eyes. "I've been trying to tell him for so long, but will he listen?”

"How long?" Cyrus asked.

Elliott was silent for a moment. "Eight years." It said quietly.

Cyrus' eyes widened as he connected the dots. "Since.. since they were crowned king."

"Yes." Elliott's head was bent slightly, its hair covering its eyes.

It was then that Cyrus started to realise just how complex the king of the Overgrown was.

—-

Every time I remember this, I can't help but think that Rowan deserved more.

They never believed me when I said that.

-Elliott

#flowering flame #flowering flame story #flowering flame chapter four #ocs #oc #my characters!

[somewhereincairparavel]

congrats on 300 followers!!!

anyway, do you think you could make a drabble of Pollux and Castor picking strawberries and just bickering with each other? like being brotherly and stuff? you don’t have to if you don’t want to btw, just a suggestion!

"Let's party!"

-Platonic! Castor × Pollux

Author's note: thank you anon! My 300 follower event is honestly so fun to do! Also ahh Castor and Pollux are so underrated! I had to research on Dionysus children to write this efficiently, also anon, you made me realize how mis-characterized Dionysus children are :( they are so underrated and great?? Thank you for making me realise this. instead of strawberry picking, I chose grape picking, I hope you don't mind! This is a little short though, I'm sorry, but Enjoy!

"Yo Polly, these grapes have worms in them, Dad's going to disown us if he sees us making wine from these decayed fruits"

Pollux stopped picking his grapes from the vines. "I didn't pick that! You did! I saw you put them in the basket"

"Nah dude, I'm the finest fruit picker in camp, I don't disgrace our dad like that" Castor snided.

"No it was definitely you who picked that"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"stop it both of you! you're giving me a headache, these plants can't grow with both of you yapping like ducks!" a random demeter kid barked as she passed by, she was attempting to grow strawberries in the camp half blood fields.

Castor and Pollux rolled their eyes at the same time. Typical demeter kids and their you-must-grow-plants-like-your-life-depends-on-it behaviour. But then again, Demeter and Dionysus kids were the "plant kids" of camp, so they were in no position to comment.

Castor hated being known that way. Everyone always thought that Dionysus kids were lazy, conceited, aloof, drunk, and useless. But it wasn't true. He wished people saw the good side. Sure they didn't have fancy powers like the other demigods, but so what?

Dionysus kids were the life of the parties, they arranged the snacks, the games, they helped campers with their mental health counseling and they were good at theatre and opera performances.

But their dad didn't seem to care about what people thought of him. I mean, castor knew his dad had heard the demeaning whispers of campers conceding him, but the wine lord didn't give a flying fuck. So why should Castor?

"Cas?" Pollux looked at his twin in concern, "you good, bro?"

"O-oh, yeah. I'm fine. Let's continue picking, we need the wine to be supplied to the big house by 5PM" Castor evaded the topic, but Pollux knew his brother was lying.

"Alright fine. I am the one who picked the decayed grapes, not you. You are the master of grape picking. There, feel better?" Pollux asked, with a smile in his eye.

"Yeah. I feel better, thanks polly" Castor laughed lightly. Even if his brother didn't know what was making him sad, he still made him laugh.

"By the gods, can you please stop calling me that? 'Polly' sounds like something a doll who's hair had been washed with dish soap by a little girl would be named as."

Castor broke out into fits of laughter.

"Now that was a little too specific, dude, have you met a doll named polly who has bad hair?" He asked in between his laughs.

"Yeah. As a matter of fact, i did, actually" Pollux glared.

"Well, that explains it." Castor concluded. "Polly" he added slyly.

Pollux sent grape vines to tangle his brother's legs, Castor ran away laughing his head off as Pollux began chasing him throughout the fields of camp. The grape baskets being completely forgotten on the ground.

Unbeknownst to the twins, Dionysus was watching them both amusedly from the big house windows, sipping on his diet coke, muttering "Silly kids".

#↑♥÷Elora's 300 follower event♥÷↑ #My rules for the event are pinned on my blog! #Also guys event is open till 15 June! So keep sending in requests as per your wish! You are never a bother :) #pjo #pjo fandom #percy jackson #pjo hoo #pjo series #jason grace #pjo hoo toa #annabeth chase #piper mclean #leo valdez #castor and pollux #castor pjo #pollux pjo #castor #dionysus #pjo dionysus #dionysus pjo #pjo fanfiction #pjo fanfic #pjo headcanon #fanfiction #fanfics #fanfic #ao3 #ao3 fanfic

[stuffymcstuffsworld]

Deaf, Blind, Mute, Insane, and Perfect all together Chapter 1

**originally written by stormrideratnight18 given verbal and written permission to rewrite and take over don't kill me.**

Imagine that instead of just giving birth to Percy, Sally Jackson has five children of the Sea. Theodosia, Achilles, Orion, Odessa, and of course Perseus.

Each child except for Percy has a physical defect that gives them a hard time in both the demigod world and the world outside of it. How does this change the fate of the world as we know it?

Sally wept over her children for one last time. It was for the best she knew this. They couldn't stay with her it wasn't safe.

Their sents were too strong, and monsters easily picked them up even though they were only a few months old. There was also no possible way that she could ever separate them from each other. They were all each other had, and it would be cruel to do so for the sake of them living without knowing why a piece of them was missing.

She met Chiron on Half-blood Hill, where she was told that some nymphs would raise them until they could walk and be around other campers. But still, her heart broke because she knew that she would miss everything, from first steps to potty training, even cute little arguments that they would have with each other.

She had given each of them a name so that they were a part of this world. Their own world where myths came to life. Where they had a chance.

"We may never meet again, and I have nothing left to give but this chance that you may live. I need you to take care of each other. Goodbye Thea, Ori, Oddie, Kili, Percy." She whispered softly to them and kissed all five of their heads. Slowly backing up before turning around and walking down the hill.

"A mother's love knows no bounds. To keep all of her children safe and together, she would give up raising them herself, ensuring their happiness before her own." Chiron commented to Mr. D when he appeared.

"Yes, it would appear so. Now isn't this wonderful? we have five new whinny brats to take care of." Mr. D's sarcasm was not lost on the old centaur.

"Yes, my lord. Now you can gain all the experience that you missed out on with your own children by helping to take care of these ones."

Mr. D's face looked startled as he was handed one of the children, which he held awkwardly. "Chiron, are you insane? I have no idea how to take care of this... this thing! Take it back before I drop it or turn it into a dolphin!" The God panicked.

"I believe that the one you're holding is named Odessa. It's best to use her name so that she knows what she is called my lord." The Nymphs giggled behind Chiron as they all began walking back to the big house.

The god slowly followed. Each step painstakingly slow. As if he was walking through one of Ares's minefields, still holding his cargo at arm's length. The baby gurgled at him happily raching out for him.

"Oh no, not a chance, you mongrel." He summoned vines which wove into a cradle and set her in that as he quickened his pace to join the others. Tiny Odessa squealing the whole way.

"Something is off with you, child, very strange indeed. I can't tell if I like that about you or should feel disturbed." He muttered under his breath.

Once settled in the big house on one of the softer rugs the five babes slept peacefully. The god of wine begrudgingly set about fixing one of the guest bedrooms into a nursery. It would be ridiculous to set infants in a cabin.

"Tell me their names again." Mr. D demanded the Nymph, who was currently watching the children, as he made the room safer for infants. "Well, my lord, this child here with the brown hair is named Orion they are blind as far as we can tell."

Snorting at the irony, Mr. D eyed the small child that she was pointing at. He supposed that Artemis may or may not have cursed them with blindness for having the same name as one of her old lovers... or maybe it was Apollo, he never did like the hunter.

"Next to him is the raven hair boy named Achilles. He has blue eyes and seems to be the quietest out of all the children. As well as the most observant."

Switching his gaze onto the other child, he noticed that while the other children murmured or babbled in their sleep, he appeared to be making no noise whatsoever. Interesting... His thoughts were cut off by her continuing.

"Theodosia is the little girl with brown hair. She has Sea Green eyes and appears to have trouble hearing things. We are planning on having a child of Apollo check up on all of them tomorrow, so we'll be sure to mention this."

This child merely tossed around in her sleep, allowing an endless supply of drool to escape her mouth and land on the rug as she did so. It's not really worth his interest. Of that, he was assured.

"The last little boy is called Perseus. As you can see, he also has black hair his eyes are an even more dazzling shade of Sea Green than his sisters are. So far; there is not a single abnormality to be found with this child, but only time will tell."

The moment he laid eyes on this brat, he knew that he would be trouble more so than any of his siblings would be. Hopefully, he would not be squeezed to death by vines or turned into a shrub or dolphin when he's older.

"And last but not least, the little mischief maker that is gripping tightly to your pant leg is -" "Odessa, I'm aware." Mr. D cut off as he gazed down at the girl whose hand was clenched tightly into a fist as she was unwilling to let go of him in her sleep.

Dark Raven hair with deep blue eyes that reminded him of the depths of the sea. When he would bring sailors madness and cabin fever in their new submarines and such. It was clear there was something wrong with this child...

Only time would tell how much trouble these five would bring as they grew older. Mr. D prayed for what seemed like the first time in a long time that the fates would show mercy upon him for dealing with these infants.

#percy pjo #fanfic #chiron #ocs #Mr. D #pjo series #sally jackson #rewrite #taking over project

[dracomysthical]

TOA Headcanon

So our beautiful, marvelous Meg McCafferey, since young, has been under the training of the Roman Emperor Nero. As a result, she has no idea how or what social media exists. She does not know. The vines. The memes. The trends. She. Does. Not. Know. Travis and Connor, who would of course be caught up on mortal trends, could be yelling “I HAVE THE POWER OF THE GODS AND ANIME ON MY SIDE” right at her and she would have no idea what’s going on. None. Worse of all, some of the demigods who have to stay in camp year round with NO access to technology would be just like her. They do not understand.

However. 

As if Apollo, who had been trending on godly internet since 4612 years ago, would ever refuse to utilize some of his godly lifespan to spare a few days, complete, entire DAYS, to educate his demi-nephews and demi-nieces and demi-siblings on such mortal trends-

#trials of apollo #meg mccaffrey #apollo #lester papadopoulos #headcanon #oh gods he would make his own vines #THE DEMIGODS WOULD MAKE THEIR OWN VINES #after suffering through the lessons #that are only slightly better than the camp initiation #but the hermes kids are ecstatic #chiron would be slightly intrigued #the next few days are filled with I HAVE THE POWER OF ATHENA AND ANIME ON MY SIDE #lester is proud of one thing he has accomplished