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holdingforgeneralhugs · 3 years

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Bitter Pill to Swallow

Chapter 3 (Ch.2, Ch.1)

Thank you again to the lovely @tvserie-s-world for letting me use her screencaps💕

"Curahee!"

Valarie grinned as she cheered along with her fellow paratroopers. Liebgott managed to slosh some of his drink onto her boots but she couldn't bring herself to get mad about it. After the thrill of completing the five qualifying jumps and managing not to vomit during any of them, Valerie and the rest of Easy felt like they were on top of the world.

She spotted Gene getting a drink at the bar and wandered over to him. He jumped when she clapped him on the shoulder, whacking her in the arm good naturedly for frightening him. Valerie grinned before turning to George who had just popped up with a drink for Gene.

"Hey Georgie, you got another one of those beers under there for me?" She asked.

"That depends," George responded cheekily, "you gonna tell me the magic word of the night?"

"The magic word of the night," Valerie teased, "is kiss my ass and gimme a beer Luz."

George smirked and reached under the counter, pulling out a full glass and planting it firmly on the counter in front of her. He got a mischievous twinkle in his eye then and reached under to grab a glass for himself.

"Now in response to your cheek," stated Luz, in a scarily accurate impersonation of Sink, "I'll have to challenge you to a contest. Whoever downs their drink the quickest gets a full pack of lucky strikes."

"Well how could I back down from a challenge like that," smirked Valerie. "You wanna get in on the fun Gene?" She asked, laughing when Gene vehemently shook his head.

"Oh no, I'm quite happy to drink my beer and watch you two act the fool," he retorted, sipping his drink and leaning against the counter. George and Valerie shared a look, and with a nod they raced to down their drinks. Clearly they'd drawn a crowd, because she could hear the guys shouting out a countdown around her. With a gasp she slammed her glass on the counter, and cried out in dismay when she realised George had just beat her.

"C'mon Val, hand em over," he teased, holding out his hand and fluttering his fingers. She grumbled something about him obviously cheating before pressing her precious box of lucky strikes into his palm. He opened them gleefully and plucked one out for himself before holding out the box to her.

"Aw c'mon Val, you didn't think I'd take em and not offer you one as a peace offering did ya?"

She rolled her eyes but took one gratefully, nodding her thanks to him when he lit it for her. He placed another drink on the counter for her and she took a sip, content to enjoy this glass.

Toye and the mortar gang had decided to stick around at the bar, and she laughed with them as they challenged each other to drinking games. She almost choked on her drink when Skip spilled beer all down his shirt in his eagerness to beat Penk, who was surprisingly good at downing drinks.

"Hate to interrupt your fun fellas, but I was wondering if I could have a word with Lieutenant Landry."

She went stiff in her seat, cigarette in hand suspended right in front of her lips. She glanced to her right and met Gene's eyes, and he was giving her a very pointed look. She glared back at him before turning around and facing her fellow Lieutenant. He gestured towards a quieter corner and she nodded, following him without a word. She smoked her cigarette harshly, wondering what he could possibly want with her tonight of all nights.

"So," he started cautiously, "The batallion officers are drinking in another room to let the enlisted men enjoy themselves here. Nix, Welsh and I were wondering if you'd like to join us?"

She stared back at him sceptically. Outside of the necessary consultations on exercises they hadn't spoken since their argument, and she wasn't quite sure what to say now that he was.

He could sense her hesitation and sighed softly. "Look Landry, I know we haven't exactly gotten off on the right foot but we're celebrating tonight, so how about we put all that aside and enjoy a well deserved night off?"

She contemplated that for a moment, but she agreed that a night off was well deserved, and the men would probably have more fun without any officers breathing down their necks.

"Alright then," she sighed, "lead the way."

He seemed almost surprised that she'd agreed so easily, but he recovered quickly and led her out of the room and down the hall to a smaller room.

"Hell Landry, what a delightful surprise," grinned Lewis when he spotted her walking in behind his friend. He was standing behind the bar and pouring a very generous helping of VAT 69 for himself.

"Don't get used to it Nixon," she shot back.

"Oh don't worry," he replied nonchalantly as she took a seat at the bar, "we're all very aware that you prefer the enlisted men to us 'stuffy' officers."

Ah, so he'd overheard her talking to Bill that day he'd asked her why she was hardly ever with the other officers. "Yeah well, ain't my fault you all wouldn't know fun if it slapped ya," she retorted. Lewis and Harry exchanged a glanced and then burst out laughing.

"You know what Landry," Lewis chuckled, "you're not half bad. What's your poison then? Or are you on the soda water with Dick here?"

"Why am I not surprised Saint Winters doesn't drink?" She snarked, rolling her eyes, "I'll have some of that VAT 69 if you please."

He looked sideways to Dick at her comment, and if he didn't know him so well he would have missed the slight tick in his jaw. Lewis decided to note that down to ask him about it later. He poured Valerie a generous glass, and whistled in surprise when she downed it in one and put the glass back down in front of him expectantly.

"Hell Nix," chuckled Harry, "I think you may have met your match on the drinking front." Lewis smirked as he poured her another and topped up his own glass. He picked up his and tilted it towards her expectantly.

"I think Harry here may be on to something there," he grinned, "what d'ya say Landry, why don't we start anew and be drinking buddies?"

Valerie sized him up for a moment, contemplating. She'd tended to avoid spending much time with her fellow Easy officers, preferring the company of the enlisted men. She still maintained they were stuffy as hell, but maybe they weren't all bad. Sure, Nixon was another rich jerk from another posh college, but he did seem like the kind of guy who knew how to have a good time. As for Welsh, he was a late addition to the crew and she hadn't exactly taken too much troubles to talk to him. Maybe if she gave them a chance she might grow to like them.

"Hell Landry, you sure know how to keep a guy hanging," quipped Lewis, shaking his glass in front of hers. She rolled her eyes at his impatience but smiled slightly as she clinked her glass against his and they downed their drinks in unison.

"Well I wouldn't want to seem too eager, now would I?" She smirked, sliding her glass across the counter for another. He raised an eyebrow at her sceptically and she narrowed her eyes at him as if to say 'are you doubting I can handle it?' He poured again and watched with fascination as she downed it.

"Jesus Landry you really are somethin' else aren't you?" He laughed.

"I'm here all week folks," she grinned, spreading her arms and doing a mock bow, with Harry and Lewis joining in with a round of applause. It was fun, they were fun, and she thought that maybe, just maybe giving them a chance wouldn't be so bad after all.

She felt a pair of eyes on her and when she looked beyond Harry she was unsurprised to find two blue eyes watching her intently.

"Something you'd like to say Winters?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. He sat up a little straighter then and cleared his throat, clearly not expecting she'd pay him any mind.

"Well, I...was just thinking to myself that I'd never met a lady that could drink like that," he replied honestly. Valerie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Well then it's lucky I ain't no lady, as I've already told you," she replied dismissively, "and there's a whole lotta things you don't know about me."

"Well it'd be hard to know anything about you since you hardly ever talk to us."

Lewis eyed his friend in surprise, and he shared a look with an equally shocked Harry. He subtly poured himself and Harry another drink and sat back to see how it would all play out.

"Well maybe I would talk to you more if you weren't so godamn stiff. You got the rule book stuck up your ass or something?" Valerie snapped. Dick gazed back at her, his jaw clenching and his eyebrows furrowed.

"And maybe if you weren't so argumentative, or didn't act like you were so much better than us, you wouldn't be such a chore to be around."

His eyes widened the minute he realised what he'd said, and she could see that he was about to try and apologise for it, not that she would give him the chance. He'd meant every word of what he said, and they all knew it.

"Well I'll be sure not to impose on your time any longer," she hissed, pushing her glass across the counter and standing abruptly. "Lewis, Harry, it's been fun. We should do it again sometime."

Without waiting for a response she marched from the room. Lewis and Harry watched her walk out the door before turning to Dick with barely smothered smirks.

"Wow Dick," Lewis said, "I've never seen you get so animated. What's going on with there?"

"Yeah," chimed Harry, "I didn't think anyone could get under your skin."

Dick finished off his own drink and placed the glass on the counter, unwilling to meet their eyes. "There's nothing going on," he stated as he pulled on his coat, "Now if you don't mind I'm gonna hit the hay. I'll see you two in the morning."

"Aw c'mon Dick don't be like that," pleaded Lewis, "there's clearly something going on."

Dick shook his head and bid them both goodnight as he walked out the door.

"I'll get it out of him yet, don't you worry," promised Lewis, pouring himself and Harry another drink. There was clearly something with those two and he'd be dammed if he was left out of the loop.

Taglist: @tvserie-s-world @generousdreamlanddestiny @sunsetmando @geniedocroe

#band of brothers #dick winters #dick winters x oc #dick winters x valerie landry #bitterpilltoswallow #valerie landry #bob #band of brothers fanfic #band of brothers fandom #hbo band of brothers #hbo war #enemies to lovers #rivals to lovers #curahee #band of brothers imagine #band of brothers imagines #dick winters imagine

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thegoodgayshit · 3 years

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Luz’s mother really doesn’t want to send Luz to camp. She knows once she leaves, there is no going back. But Luz has a knack for getting into trouble, and one day she stumbles into the same type of people her mother would have preferred she avoided. After helping Luz dissolve her high school bully into dust, Eda and Lilith know right away that this kid is just like them - a child of the gods. So Luz hops on a Pegasus and heads to Camp Half-blood, where she embarks on a dangerous quest that makes her both friends and enemies... and she might even save Olympus along the way.

Chapter Thirty-Six: I Have the Best Summer Ever

The rest of Luz’s summer was a total blur of the best kind of amazing, fantastic, demigod-ness a kid could even imagine.

Luz’s days were filled with training in the arena, playing capture the flag, and hanging out with her friends. Every morning that she woke up and put on one of her orange t-shirts was another reminder that as of right now, she really had it good.

Sometimes in the mornings she and Eda would head out into the arena and spar while King took his usual sunbathing position a few feet away. Eda would parry and block her strikes, give her dirty tricks to use in upcoming games or events, and sometimes Luz would even get lucky enough to disarm her or pull something new she wasn’t expecting.

“I swear kid, one of these days you’re going to be even better than me,” she’d say, reaching down to ruffle her hair and switch her weapon and get ready for another round.

More than once, she and her siblings in the Hermes cabin had banded together to play some light-hearted pranks on the other cabins. Viney and Jerbo were a mischievous force to be reckoned with, and while Luz liked to participate she never really got lucky in the “getting away” part. More than once, Lilith had caught her in the act while she was placing a prank and turned a blind eye, and Luz always felt a rush of affection for the daughter of Zeus. It was asking a lot for her to not snitch, especially since she was a stickler for rules.

Luz made it up to her once or twice by pranking Eda on her behalf with a little bit of help from Edric and Emira. When her mentor showed up to the dining pavilion once with her hair sticking straight up in the air thanks to some magic hair gel, the laugh that came out of Lilith’s mouth made it all worth it.

At nights, Luz and Amity would sneak out of their cabins and hide from the harpies, sitting with their sketchbooks in the strawberry fields. They would laugh, and talk, and kiss, and enjoy each other’s company until one of them inevitably almost fell asleep and they decided to head back.

The wall of Luz’s bunk was soon tacked to the max with drawings, some of them of her quest, and some of them with fond memories of camp. She always did her best to text one to her Mami once in a while, and let her know how she was doing.

Luz made sure her cabin would try and team up with Gus and Willow’s whenever they could. The three of them were officially a force to be reckoned with during capture the flag. Their combinations and chemistry in battle often resulted in very easy and very early wins, and some of the other cabins were quick to point out they had an “unfair quest experience advantage”. While Eda had just shrugged, Willow did her best to make sure the teams would sometimes even out a little better after that.

Gods kept visiting camp here and there, usually to come by and say hello to their kids. Aphrodite had the habit of showing up unannounced and snapping her fingers, giving everybody an unrealistically fashionable outfit and hairdo, while the clothes they’d been wearing got snapped back to their bunks freshly washed and laundered. While some of the campers hated it, Luz didn’t mind. Aphrodite certainly had her style down to perfection, and pocketing another free outfit was always nice. Amity had other opinions on the matter.

“I just don’t get why she has to do this!” She complained, adjusting the pink t-shirt Aphrodite had magically slapped onto her. “It’s so weird!”

“I think that really suits you,” Luz shrugged while pointing to the leather jacket slung over Amity’s arm. “And your shirt says Hexside! How cool is that!”

Amity rolled her eyes as Luz did a spin, showing off her new green jacket and beanie to Gus and Willow. “She gave me new shoes too! My old ones are torn to bits from the quest.”

“You have to admit Amity, it’s nice getting free stuff,” Willow said while examining her own yellow jacket. “And she’s not the goddess of beauty for nothing. These are nice clothes.”

“My clothes look exactly like the ones I already own!” Gus complained, looking down at his simple navy button-up and jeans.

“If it isn’t broken don’t fix it!” Luz teased with a smile, patting him on the back. Amity groaned in embarrassment, slapping her hands to her face.

When Hermes showed up the first few times to visit the camp, Luz said hello to him, but also made sure that her other siblings got to spend some one-on-one time with their dad. As he was leaving the third time he visited, he pulled Luz aside for a quick chat.

“I just want to let you know that the gods have talked about adding an additional reward for you and your friends after what you’ve done for Olympus,” he said quietly, and Luz’s jaw dropped.

“I… I don’t need another reward dad. The way you guys have been showing up at camp is more than enough.”

Hermes tilted his head, smiling softly. “Perhaps you don’t need one, but the gods want to give it to you anyway. You have no idea the gravity of the situation that Belos had created upon Olympus. He almost destroyed us all.”

He looked around to make sure nobody was listening, and then leaned in to whisper.

“As the god of messengers, I was responsible for delivering a package to your mother and the rest of your companion's parents. You should hear from them shortly.”

Luz gaped. “What? What do you mean…”

Hermes reached over and gripped her shoulders. “I am proud of you, Luz. And trust me when I say I will make good on my promise and be there more for you and your siblings.” He winced rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “And… don’t be the first one to use the shower this evening. Your siblings and I might have set up a bit of a cruel prank.”

With a flash of wind, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Luz, Hermes was gone.

Luz didn’t have to wait long to find out what exactly the gods had done, because her Mami was calling her on her cellphone almost immediately after.

“Luz! You’ll never guess what showed up in the mail today! You’ve been accepted for a full ride to a boarding school downtown…”

And she wasn’t the only one.

“I can’t believe this!” Gus had exclaimed while the four of them were sitting on the beach just after dinner. “We’re all going to the same school next year!”

“It really does seem too good to be true,” Willow grinned, handing Luz one of the illicit cans of Sprite that Viney had managed to sneak from out of camp in celebration. “My dads are sad that I won’t be staying at home in Wisconsin, but they had to admit it is a great opportunity.”

“I’m just excited to go to a school where I finally have real friends.” Luz had never been so happy to think about the start of a new school year before. “We’ll get to go see Olympus on the weekends! Working alongside the actual gods!” Luz turned to Amity, who was watching Luz with her own soft smile. “Are your parents… okay with this? After everything that happened…”

“Oh trust me, they’re more than pleased. They see this whole internship program to create a bridge between the gods and their mortal kids as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity'. They’re even talking about paying for Edric and Emira to go with me and hope that my ‘success’ rubs off on them. They don’t love that you guys are also a part of it though…” Amity’s expression darkened for a moment, and Luz reached across the beach to squeeze her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Luz started, but Amity just shrugged her shoulders.

“Don’t apologize, this is a good thing. I’m going to get to stay here in New York full time.”

“We all get too!” Gus grinned, digging his hands in the sand like he was holding back a squeal. “Luz you’ve got to show us all your favorite moral spots in the city.”

Luz’s smile had stretched wide, already imaging the kinds of shenanigans she and her friends would get up to running loose in Manhattan. “Obviously! The city’s huge; we could do something new every night!”

“You’ll never be able to get away from us now,” Willow teased, passing Amity an amused look as she sipped from her Sprite. Amity tilted her head back and laughed.

“Oh gods, I better stock up on Advil. Between you three and the twins I’m going to have a constant headache…”

As it started to fade to late August, Luz’s days just kept getting better. Thanks to Eda and her training paired with the other camp activities, she was faster than she’d ever been, she could scale up the rock wall in record times, and her sword skills had gotten incredibly good.

So good, that when the annual sparring tournament came up in the arena towards the end of the summer, she’d been able to knock Boscha into the dirt with the pommel of Aletheia, leaving the red-faced daughter of Ares extremely bitter and her final opponent being none other than her girlfriend.

“No chance you’re going to go easy on me?” Luz asked at the campfire that night, really only half-joking.

“Nope,” Amity replied with a little smirk. “I’ve won this tournament two years in a row. I’m about to make it three.”

To say the camp was buzzing with excitement would be an understatement. The whole camp had watched as Luz the newbie quest hero and Amity Blight had grown obviously closer, and in the three days leading up to the final tournament match, the discussion of which girlfriend would be the winner was as common as asking what the harpies would serve for dessert that night.

“Come on, kid, this is what we trained for!” Eda said, smacking her shoulders encouragingly the night before the match. “I don’t care if she’s you’re little girlfriend, she won’t be going easy on you so you shouldn’t either!”

“Knock her into the dirt!” King screeched from his napping spot on the ground.

While they were only trying to help, it wasn’t the most reassuring advice she’d ever received.

Luz tried to turn a blind eye to the gossip leading up to the fight, but it was hard to ignore Emira and Willow exchange a bet right in front of her at breakfast right before the right.

“Seriously?” Luz scoffed, crossing her arms.

“Sorry Luz, but Mittens has years of training under her belt, and I’m out of allowance,” Emira shrugged while she shook Willow’s hand.

“You don’t see the way Amity acts around her,” Willow retorted. “If she’s like that today, Luz has a good chance.”

Emira hummed, “Shoot. I didn’t think of that.”

“Oh my gods,” Luz groaned, slapping both hands to her face, sinking into the bench of the table, mortified.

Once Luz had been fitted into a set of finally well-fitting bronze armor, she drew Aletheia and met Amity in the center of the field, where Eda and Lilith were standing to referee the match. As she approached, she watched Amity coming from the other side, armor almost identical to Luz’s strapped over an orange camp shirt, the crowd of campers cheering in excitement. As her gaze flitted up to Amity’s eyes, there was a glint that reminded Luz that Amity was not the person she wanted to be on the bad side of.

It was too easy to forget weeks after their quest that Amity was a demigod force to be reckoned with and not the kind of enemy you wanted to have.

As the crowd quieted to an anticipated hum, Lilith raised her hand. Her mouth was cocked in an uncharacteristically juvenile smirk. It made Luz wonder if the campers hadn’t been the only folks at camp to place bets. When Eda shot Luz a cartoonish smile with two thumbs up, before patting her pocket knowingly, it confirmed her suspicions.

Gods. Now she really couldn’t lose. Eda would never forgive her.

“Amity! Luz! Are you ready?”

With a single touch to her own wrist, Dike sprung into its full form, lifted just high enough to cover the grin that was spreading across Amity’s face. She swung her sword experimentally in her hand, the little flecks of a glinting in the sun. “Yep.”

Luz took a deep breath and raised her own blade nodding once. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“No holding back, right?” Even though Amity had phrased it as a question, Luz knew better. It was a challenge. The nerves in her stomach faded, and a laugh escaped her lips.

“Since when have I ever held back? ”

She smirked, “good point.”

“Alright your adorable banter is literally making me sick,” Eda scoffed, “let’s just do this already.”

Lilith rolled her eyes, dropping her hand. “Begin!”

Without wasting another beat, Amity charged and swung, and Luz lifted Aletheia to deflect it. A loud metallic clang echoed around the arena, and the watching campers erupted into cheers.

It was Luz’s toughest match yet.

The two of them traded blow for blow, each pushing the other to their limit. Amity was, inarguably, better trained, with mastered precision and skill that left Luz reeling with each strike. But Luz was more creative. She was able to flick her sword at the right angle to push her off balance and shove, she was able to dodge and weave without the extra weight of a shield, and she was crazy enough to take steps closer to her and press into her personal space, forcing her to recalculate moves.

As the fight went on for some time, the cheering got louder, their arms got heavier as they began to slow down, and the fighting got dirtier.

Luz did it first, though it was kind of an accident. Amity went to swing when she’d knocked Luz off balance, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop it before it cut into her armor. Amity would have taken it out on herself later if she’d seriously hurt Luz, so it came out as more of an instinctual shout.

“Too low!”

She closed her eyes bracing for impact, but it never came. With a woosh, the sword went right over her head. She opened her eyes and saw Amity’s misty eyes clearing, before changing to a completely indignant look.

“Did you just use your Hermes bartering on me?”

She smiled sheepishly and swung Aletheia towards her, and Amity barely had time to raise her shield to deflect it.

She could hear the snorts and chuckles from both Eda and the crowd, but Luz barely had time to be proud of herself. Within the next two swings back and forth, Amity got her revenge.

Luz swung upwards, flicking the blade and finally getting a decent move that knocked her off balance. But as Luz went to disarm her, Amity’s eyes flashed and a curled smile crept up her face right as Luz brought her weapon forward.

“Don’t!”

And for a moment, all Luz could feel was the thrum of her heartbeat in her head as her vision went blurry. There was an overwhelming urge to get rid of Aletheia, back away, stop herself from getting any closer to Amity. All she could think about was how she couldn’t hurt her, wouldn’t even try. When her vision cleared, she had backed up five feet, and her sword slipped from her hand and clattered in the dirt.

She blinked, trying to figure out what had just happened before it dawned on her that she’d seen Amity do this once before. Aphrodite’s passion.

Luz looked down at the sword, then up at Amity, scowling. “Really?”

Despite the smirk on her face, Amity’s eyes were sparkling with humor and affection. “You started it.”

Luz barely had time to leap out of the way from another swing, doing her best to make a grab for the sword, but Amity wasn’t coming to play. She stepped right over it, and for a couple of moments, all Luz had was her speed. She ducked and dodged and weaved between swings, doing nothing but buying herself a tiny bit of time.

It wasn’t enough. Luz tried to make one last grab for the sword and Amity reached out with her hand, grabbing Luz by the arm and honest-to-gods judo flipping Luz over her shoulder. With a comically loud “oomph!” Luz was thrown onto her back, looking up at Amity as she grinned, her sword lifted in a faux-threatening position just below her chin.

“Alright,” Luz groaned, slapping her hand against the dirt. “Mercy.”

As Luz heard Eda groaning behind her and Lilith’s positively gleeful “and the winner is Amity Blight!” Amity sheathed her sword, reaching down with one hand and pulling Luz up to her feet.

And yeah, it was a tiny bit embarrassing to lose to Amity. But as her girlfriend lifted her fist to the roaring crowd of campers and grinned, her own hand wrapped tightly around Luz’s, she couldn’t find it in her to care.

The following night was Luz’s last night at camp before her first summer as a camper was over. She sat at the dining hall for hours with her siblings, joking, laughing, promising to stay in touch over the school year. Viney ruffled her hair and passed her an emergency pouch of Hermes tricks, while Jerbo reminded her not to be too close to this one when it exploded.

Edric and Emira snuck up on Luz at the table and informed them their parents did in fact enroll them in the same boarding school come the fall, and while Luz loved Amity’s twin siblings, the devious grin on her face did make her a bit nervous.

Right after dinner, Luz made a point to go find Eda and King, who were in their usual spot at the arena.

“Kid!” Eda said as she approached. “That was some great swordplay today.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t win, I know Lilith is probably giving you a hard time…” Luz said immediately, but Eda just held up a hand.

“Gross, sympathy. You’ve accomplished more than most first-timers this summer, and you’ve… made me proud.” There was a crooked smile on her face as Luz looked up at her, and she realized that Eda really was going to miss training with her. “Don’t be slacking while you’re gone. Keep your skills sharp. Stay out of the bad trouble, but in the good trouble. Don’t die. Oh, and if you’re getting chased by another empousai and need a quick getaway, there’s a great alley on sixty-second street-”

Luz rushed in, pulling Eda into a tight hug. While Eda huffed out a little groan at Luz’s overwhelming need to be touchy, Luz felt a rush of affection as the daughter of Zeus leaned into it anyway.

“Thanks, Eda,” Luz muttered into her shoulder.

A hand came up to pat into her hair. “No problem, kid. If Lili and I are ever heading to Mount Olympus, I’ll make sure we stop by that fancy new school of yours and say hello.”

“You better.”

"Can I come too?" King called out from at their feet, and Luz bent down to pick up the tiny hellhound scratching behind his ears.

"Yeah, can he?" Luz pleaded, and Eda rolled her eyes.

"Gods, you two are just the cutest things ever. Fine, whatever, the next time I go to Olympus I'll let him tag along."

After a chorus of excited cheering from Luz and King, it was time for the last campfire of the year. Luz finally got the true Camp Half-Blood experience. As Eda was leading the campers in a final last hurrah of songs and games, she walked over to Luz and reached out, handing her a leather necklace.

“As you all know, per tradition, every year we give our campers a bead to celebrate another year at camp. This year, the Hermes cabin designed the beads, and there is someone very special they wanted to honor.”

Luz blinked at it, taking it gingerly, and as she did Viney stood up, the twisted smile on her face visible through the crackling orange, magical, campfire.

“Luz, not only are you our newest sibling, but you helped lead a quest that not only saved Camp Half-Blood but all of Olympus. So with permission from the councilors from all the cabins, we dedicate this year’s bead to you and your quest!”

There was a whooping of applause as the beads were passed out, and when Luz took a look at it her heart clenched, affection and gratitude washing over her in a whirl.

It was a beautiful deep purple bead with a very familiar-looking sword and shield, and as she turned it in the light of the campfire, the glint of the light made it glow a beautiful magical bronze.

“So, did we nail it?” Viney asked as Luz was left speechless. Willow and Gus were grinning over at her with knowing smiles. Next to her, Amity squeezed her hand, looking just as emotional as Luz felt.

Luz leaned over and threw herself into the embrace of her half-sister, and the campfire erupted into more whoops and cheers. And yeah, Luz might have teared up a bit as she sat back down next to her friends, but if anybody noticed they didn’t comment on it.

That morning as she packed up what few belongings she actually had, electing to leave a majority of the items she’d bought for next summer, she was digging through her backpack when her fingers touched something soft. She pulled out a stiff, slick, feather, and immediately broke into a smile. Carefully sliding it across the leather to dangle right next to her bead, she clipped the necklace on and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Saying one final goodbye to the Hermes cabin, she walked out the door to go meet Willow and Gus in the strawberry fields.

When she got there, she couldn’t help but grin. Around the growing collection of beads on their necklaces, five and four respectively, a single matching feather was dangling from the middle. While none of them said anything about it at first, Luz watched as both Willow and Gus glanced down, their eyes softening with affection.

“Well?” Willow asked as she reached them, gesturing towards the now distant Camp Half-Blood. “Give us the verdict. What did you think of your first year at camp?”

“I…” Luz didn’t even know what to say. Sure, there had been the lows. The hungry belly as she traveled across the Midwest, the sword slashes, the monsters, the horrible villain who’d threatened to destroy the world. But right now as Luz looked between her friends and her new home, she felt nothing but love for her new life. The mischievous half-siblings, the rivals between the cabins, the eccentric camp directing duo that was the daughters of Zeus, Gus, Willow, Amity…

Luz couldn’t ever recall a time in her entire life that she’d felt so full.

“All I can think right now is that I don’t want it to end,” Luz finally said, and Willow and Gus stepped forward to pull her into a group hug.

“It won’t end, at least, not really,” Gus promised, his voice muffled as he was shoved into Luz’s bicep.

“Yeah, it’s just a short break,” Willow nodded, leaning her head against Luz’s shoulder and wrapping her other arm around Gus. “And in two weeks, we’ll all be together again on a new adventure.”

Luz laughed, “yeah, because the life of a half-blood is never really quiet, is it?”

“Well, that’s half the fun of it,” Amity said from behind her, and when Luz turned her head she saw her girlfriend walking through the field to join them. Her own backpack was swung over her shoulder, and she had a genuine, at peace, smile on her face.

“Spoken like a true Blight,” Willow chuckled from next to Luz, and Amity laughed.

“Well, maybe I’ll get lucky and this year away from my parents will shake some of that out of me.”

“You’re sure you’re mom and dad are okay with you staying at my Mami’s for two weeks?” Luz asked for what felt like the sixth time that week, and Amity shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m back to being their number one, despite all the… drama, that happened the last time we saw them. Edric and Emira will pack my things for school for me. Honestly… it’s kind of nice not going back to Colorado.”

After getting a first-hand glimpse into how uptight and uncomfortable the Blight Manor was, Luz couldn’t help but agree.

“Don’t have too much fun you two,” Willow teased, and Amity flushed over the sound of Gus’ laugher while Luz bumped her with her shoulder.

Whatever retort Luz would have come up with died in her throat as she looked down towards the pine tree. There, a few parents were already waiting at the border, with some campers joining them and saying hello. Among the waiting ones, Luz saw a man almost identical to Gus, and two other men standing together with their hands interlinked.

“We better not keep them waiting,” Gus said slowly, but he looked back up at Luz with a frown. Willow was standing there as well, and for just another moment Luz felt that same rush of love.

“No, you shouldn’t. Amity and I will meet you at grand central in two weeks, okay?”

“Two weeks,” Willow affirmed, and Luz pulled the four of them into one last group hug before Willow and Gus grabbed their things and went to go join their parents at the pine tree.

It wasn’t a real goodbye, nowhere near it. But Luz couldn’t help but feel her throat close up at the sight of them reuniting with their parents. Gus’ dad scooped him up into the biggest hug, and one of Willow’s dads immediately took her backpack while the other one kissed her cheek.

She felt Amity’s warm hand close around hers, and when she looked back, the daughter of Aphrodite was smiling softly.

“It’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” Luz said, and she meant it. She squeezed her own hand around Amity’s, taking a moment to really let the gratitude she had for this camp, for these people, sink in.

It wasn’t long until she saw another familiar person join the other parents near the pine tree. Luz perked up immediately at the sight of her Mami, still dressed in her scrubs. She’d probably gotten off of a shift at the hospital and rushed all the way down to Long Island just to meet her and was looking around anxiously at the other gathering parents and campers.

“Is that her?” Amity sounded nervous, and when she looked over, she was reaching up with her other hand to self-consciously adjust her mint green hair.

“She’s going to love you,” Luz promised, giving her a reassuring kiss on the cheek. “She’s been talking about how excited she’s been to meet you for like, three weeks.”

“That… somehow makes me even more nervous,” Amity breathed out. Luz chuckled, adjusting the straps of her backpack over her shoulder as her Mami finally looked up and noticed them. She beamed so widely Luz could see it from all the way up in the strawberry hills, waving towards them.

“Well, then let’s do this together.”

Amity looked back at her one more time, taking a deep breath. “Alright. Together.”

And as they walked through the fields hand in hand, slowly getting farther and farther away from camp, Luz felt her anxieties about the coming months slowly begin to fade. That was part of the magic of Camp Half-Blood. The place wasn’t just a training ground for young demigods. It was a safe haven. A family. A place that, even miles and miles away from it, you always knew it would have your back. It would be there for you, whenever you wanted to return. So leaving it didn’t feel like a goodbye, not really.

Instead, it was the promise of another new beginning as a child of the gods.

#the owl house #percy jackson au #lumity #luz x amity #shelby speaks

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stupid-stew · 3 years

Text

me but i decide who dies

amphibia true colors spoiler warning! this is about the owl house but i talk about a big part of the episode so like AH

ALSO MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH TOH WARNING! not a fic, just that's the whole point of what this is so like be warned.

ok, marcy kind of died. yes at least her body has been more or less preserved, idk how alive that makes her, but i'm counting that as an on screen death. reason? getting impaled with a massive flaming sword kills you like 99% of the time, exception being possibly marcy. but what does the on screen death in amphibia have to do with the owl house? soooo much, at least to me.

i would love an on screen death of a major character in the owl house at some point, i think it could add a lot to the series and give a new depth to the characters, but there are some exceptions to the rule

personally, the people that are off limits for dying are lilith, amity, luz, and belos. everyone else is fair game.

lilith is my personal fave, but that's not why i don't want her dead. a big part of season 2 is probably going to have to do with lilith, her involvement in the coven, but also her redemption. i know some people also don't like the use of the word redemption here, just go with it for the sake of the argument. as a part of said redemption, she has to be alive. killing of a character as a way for them to pay for their mistakes is literally so dumb, i hate it, and i refuse to let it happen to her. that level of self sacrifice shouldn't be a part of her journey.

amity, i really hate to be that person, but since we don't really know all that much about her character, this is mostly about her representation. amity is a kid, she has so much character development ahead of her, but if true colors showed us anything it's that no matter how young you are, you can still get impaled. i would love to see more of her and her growth as a witch, season 2 intro gives me really high hopes for her, but since lumity is most likely going to become full canon sometime in the next couple seasons, killing her off would eliminate that, and no more lesbian characters dying off because all they are is expendable representation, dana terrace would never i just fell like it had to be said. no i do not like amity just because of the representation she provides, but i think killing her would be a big mistake for that reason.

luz, she's our protagonist, this is her story, she started it, killing her off would be interesting but i feel like it would ultimately end the story. she really is the centerpiece of the show, though i might let up on this stance if it happens in the last episode of season 3.

belos, this is weird. i don't want him to die, he's such a good villain, and his corruption will live on without him, killing him achieves nothing at all really. that being said, him getting stripped of his powers and imprisoned? i can live with that.

i could sit here and explain who should die and who shouldn't and go through each character, but that's kind of lame and i feel like anyone who read this far doesn't want to read all of that, so i'll just tell you who i think should be the one to die.

eda.

i love eda with all my heart, i really really do, but just think about it. she's such an impact on everyone, she's really important to the series, and her dying leaves a lot of opportunities for a lot of growth in some very prominent characters.

yes my favorite category is angst, but it provides me with thoughts.

if eda died, luz would be wrecked. it would allow us to see her mourning the loss of a family member while being separated from another, and it would give her that revenge aspect we only really saw in ybos with her smashing the crystal ball with lilith's face on it. it would give luz a chance to openly experience some emotions we haven't ever really seen from her, we know she would do anything for eda, but if she has eda taken away from her, in front of her, sheeesh.

and luz is a big impact on everyone else, seeing all luz's friends around her have to deal with not only the loss of someone who hopefully becomes very important to them this season, but also the experience of seeing someone they love and care about dealing with it on another level? it could reveal a lot about them, and some characters more than others. especially king, he cares about eda and luz, and we don't really know much about how king and eda met, but he does consider her family, and luz is someone he loves, so him not only suffering the loss of eda but seeing luz going through the same thing could provide a lot of things particularly for his character.

and also lilith. her sister dying? after she spent all that time trying to get her back? after learning how much pain she had caused during her now shortened life time? and now being stuck without eda, probably having to fill in her role for a lot of other characters? it could add another layer to her that we hadn't really seen before. this isn't because i'm like trying to further traumatize lilith, but because eda's role in her life is an important factor here and it needs to be considered.

but if it happens, when?

i think around the end of season 2 would be ideal, but that's just given what we know so far. season 2 is going to be epic, i can feel it in my bones, and i want eda to play a large part in that, which is hard for her to do if she dies. like i said, she's a really important character, and i mean like not to be a copycat but i really think it should happen in a similar way to marcy's "death". by that i mean, there should be a battle, and someone (preferably belos in this situation) comes up and kills her from behind while she's talking to someone. it shouldn't be similar to marcy's situation exactly, but i think that sort of sudden oh shit she just died is perfect for eda's character so far.

even given what little we do know about eda's role in season 2, hopefully with gwendolyn showing up in her life, doing whatever it is that she does and causing strain, it adds a new dynamic to eda, with her having the mother figure inserted suddenly into her life instead of being the mother figure for someone else. and i probably sound like a hypocrite with the whole "no killing characters major development", but if she dies towards the end of season 2, she gets a lot of chances to grow as a character and prove it, especially with how massive her role in the series has been so far.

also, if it happened end of season 2, imagine season 3, hit the ground full sprinting and have the remaining characters take those 44 minute episodes to process and react.

this is obviously really dependent on what actually goes down in season 2 when it starts airing, and seeing as how all we have to go on so far is the episode synopses for the first quarter of season 2, this is really just my personal opinion, but i do think it would be really interesting, even if they have to pull something similar to marcy where everyone just thinks she's dead for a while, i'm totally for that too. it's really just about her place in everyone else's lives and how it would effect the series, i think she's the best choice.

#the owl house #eda clawthorne #luz noceda #lilith clawthorne

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shiftysdogtags · 4 years

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okay i had a dream about toye last night so now i need some toye fluff pretty please???? 🥺

Protective Joe Toye and I mean it's slightly fluffy i guess? i really hope you like it🙈 and i am 100% blaming @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant for giving me feels about his voice

I used the prompt ‘You didn’t have to get bloody knuckles for me to notice you’ and i can't remember where i seen it do all rights to the owner.

Taglist: @floydtab @curraheewestandalone

The sound of kissy noises drew Joe’s attention back towards his friends, the game of cards he was supposed to be playing long forgotten. He couldn’t concentrate, or care less who was winning, when directly over Buck’s shoulder in plain view was Y/N.

George bumped his shoulder, following Joe’s gaze. “Leave her alone, Joe. It's not like she’s your girl.” Luz mumbled with a cigarette handing from his mouth. He tried to distract his friend from the girl he was so obviously fascinated with and return his focus to the card game at hand.

“He doesn't even know her.” Guarnere chuckled, causing George and Buck to snort. Luz felt bad for laughing, but it was true, Joe just about knew her name and that was it.

While Joe and Y/N wouldn’t be considered friends, they were always civil towards each other. They often ran in similar circles and had many mutual friends, but if they went from one end of the week to the other without talking it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be friends, quite the opposite. He was just awkward around her.

Part of the problem was Joe didn’t know what to say to her. It was as if his mind went blank when he seen her, and he was frozen. It was like a compulsion, everything else faded into the background and he fixated on nothing but her. Just when he had gathered enough confidence to try and talk to her, she moved on to another table, setting him back to square one. The longer it went on, the more he became deflated.

That night was no different, just as he was about finally get it over with, she sat in a booth with some private who he barely recalled as Williams. The way she sat closely beside him made his blood run cold, glare in his eye narrowing. The final blow for Joe was when Williams puts his arm around Y/N, and she leaned in. It wasn’t that Joe was jealous- actually he was completely and utterly jealous. He needed to be real with himself and finally admit it. He wanted her.

Joe couldn’t keep his eyes off her and the way she touched Williams’ shoulder trying to move past him in the booth. She smiled politely brushing past him. As she turned to say goodnight, Williams grabbed her wrist, attempting to pull her back down beside him. It caused Joe to sit up straighter, ready to intervene if necessary.

“Where are you going?” The strength of the grip was unexpected, especially because of how intoxicated Williams was. The more Y/N tried to loosen his grip, the tighter it became.

“Jack, let me go.” Y/N tugged her arm with a greater force. It was already begging to turn red and she could feel her skin heating up.

Suddenly her arm was released, and she was being pushed behind George Luz. He looked over her arm, holding her hand in his with such a gentle touch. The difference between George and Jack was evident in that single action alone.

While George was asking Y/N if she was alright, she heard a scuffle behind her and several of the boys running in that same direction. In the booth she was in moments before was Jack having the life punched out of him by Joe Toye. Guarnere and Buck clawed at Joe’s arms, desperate to pry him off a now bloody Williams.

Y/N was in shock, everything happened so fast. Before she could even think she was shouting for Joe to stop. “Joe get off him, let him go.” She wasn’t angry at Joe, angry wasn’t anywhere near the top of the list of words she would use to describe the situation. She was worried.

Thankfully, Buck and Guarnere held Toye back by the arms, but that didn’t stop him from cursing the man he was all but trying to kill out. Threats spilled from his lips while other men Y/N had never seen before carried a very hurt Williams out of the bar, and out of Toye’s sight. To be on the safe side, Bill didn’t let Toye go until his chest stopped heaving.

Not once did Joe’s eyes leave Y/N’s. Anger radiated off him and he was still shaking with the adrenaline from the hostility of beating a man in front of the woman he loved. His expression weakened slightly when he saw she was bewildered with confusion of what had just happened. Shrugging his friend off him, Joe stomped out of the bar, passed Y/N, who immediately followed him She needed to know why he did what he done and if he was alright.

“Joe, Joe” she called after him. He kept walking and at first, she though he hadn’t heard her over the loud bar. Once outside, she realised he had heard her and chose not to acknowledge it. “Joe Toye don’t you dare walk away from me” Y/N roared at him.

The roughness in her voice wasn’t expected and Joe partially lost his balance on the loose gravel. He thought about his options for a minute. Should he run away and pretend nothing happened, or should he talk to her in what would be their first proper conversation? He chose the latter, deciding to talk to her about his actions was better than not talking to her at all.

Offering her a smoke out of a beaten carton, she gasped. The state of his knuckles surprised her; he hadn’t even noticed until he held his hand out in front of him.

“Your hand” She grabbed it and he nearly winced from the tiny cuts, but her touch was so soft. While she inspected his bruised and bloody hand, he tried to memorise every detail about her face. The light from the pub the only thing illuminating her features.

“It's okay, most of it isn’t mine.” He whispered with an affiliative smile, almost afraid to speak in case he frightened her. He looked down at her through his eyelashes, noting how she was prettier up close.

A slightly disappointed look crossed her face, but that didn’t stop his breathe getting caught in his chest when she looked up at him. “Why did you do that?”

“How else was I going to get you to notice me?” The smirk was matched with his raspy voice. His hand was still in hers, and Joe had no intention of letting hers go.

A sweet smile plastered across her face and the reddening of her cheeks was obvious from the light pouring from the pub window. Y/N never noticed how sexy his voice was before, maybe it was because she never really paid much attention to him. “You didn’t have to get bloody knuckles for me to notice you”

“I’ll remember that for the next time.” He said with a playful, and slightly sarcastic tone.

“There will be no next time Joe Toye.” She warned. The way she said his name twisted something inside him. Yep, he thought, that was definitely a feeling of love.

A surge of confidence washed over him from God knows where, but he blamed it on the close proximity of them both. “Maybe you should have a drink with me instead of some asshole.”

He waited for her answer, hoping it she would have a positive reaction and wouldn’t think he was being too forward.

Y/N leaned on her tippy toes and kissed he cheek delicately, Joe’s eye fluttering closed at the contact. “Only if you swear not to beat anyone up”

“I'm not making any promises, sweetheart.”

#joe toye x reader #joe toye imagine #joe toye imagines #toye x reader #bob x reader #band of brothers x reader #band of brothers imagine #band of brothers imagines #toye imagine #toye imagines

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apprentice-maliya · 3 years

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From the ship questions: 2 and 4 for Mali’ya and both of her LIs. Thanks!

oh no, thank you for asking !! ♡ since i didn’t know which part i was supposed to do, i decided to answer to asks n. 2 and 4 for each of the four sections of the questionnaire. hope that’s okay! in that case please have a seat and a drink, if you want, ‘cause this is gonna be looong (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

ship questions can be found here!

asra

pre-relationship

2. what was their first impression of each other?

from the first moment they met, mali’ya thought asra was incredibly resourceful and somewhat looked up to him. i mean, he’d built a booth from scratch where he could sell his own wood carvings, knew a lot of magic tricks, didn’t fear authority, and was also independent and smart. but mali’ya thought he was also kind, since asra never mocked her for her poor language knowledge like the other kids did.

on the other hand, at first asra was simply amused by this shy little foreigner that watched him wide-eyed as though he’d done something amazing. he also thought she was too naive, foolishly so, but in getting to know her better asra realised mali’ya actually wasn’t but resilient and generous.

4. who felt romantic feelings at first?

mali’ya, though she didn’t know what to do with them! she knew she liked asra pretty early to be honest, but was afraid love would get in the way of their friendship. after all, she hadn’t yet warmed up to it (growing up in an abusive household, mali’ya wasn’t sure if that love, her parents’, was something she even wanted). something she also noticed when she started going out with a girl that had a crush on her, was that there was a nervousness there, a constant itch in her chest mali’ya had never felt with asra. and because she kept comparing that experience to her daily life with him at the shop, mali’ya was finally able to sort her feelings out!

more under the cut !

general

2. did they have an official first date? if so, what was it like?

asra would argue that every hangout with mali’ya is a date, though she would say that their first was actually the time they went to a travelling, open-air circus that had temporarily stopped in the city. it was a nice evening; there was singing and dancing and playing games, watching the artists perform... aside from the chaos, it was so much fun. they held hands and kissed and basically allowed themselves to be two teens in love (≧◡≦)

4. were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

for mali’ya, yes. for her, asra was the first of many things: her first friend, her first confidant, her first love (but not her first crush-crush)! as for asra, he’d already been in some reletionships before, though casual.

love

2. what are their primary love languages?

mali’ya manifests her affection through acts of service and physical touch (which is only reserved to the ones she’s close with), while appreciating words of affirmation in return. when receiving asra values quality time instead, but offers physical touch and words of affirmation as well (or at least, that’s my take on what his love language would be like!).

4. how often do they cuddle, engage in pda?

boy. once these two confess, touching gets more straightforward and natural. even though mali’ya has a bit of a hard time at the beginning, asra’s patience helps her overcome her self-consciousness so that she will at least hold hands and maybe, maybe, indulge herself into little kisses too.

domestic life

2. what’s the wedding like? who attends?

truthfully, i don’t see either of them wanting to get married in a canon setting. as far as we know, marriage in vesuvia isn’t mandatory for housing, adopting and such things, so mali’ya and asra’s relationship wouldn’t change in that sense. this is one of the reasons why neither of them ever brings up the subject, the other (in mali’ya’s case) being that she can’t also shake the feeling of “marriage equals cage” off her. thank her parents.

in a modern au, though, things would be a bit different. if they were to marry, asra and mali’ya would totally organise an intimate, simple wedding. on the invitation list there would be aunt heralia, their closest friends and their partners, the ortega siblings because of course luz gets to be the flower child, asra’s parents and anichka (mali’ya’s older sister) with her husband and kids.

4. do they have any pets?

nope! not because they don’t like having animals around, but they’d just rather let them live free.

portia

pre-relationship

2. what was their first impression of each other?

meeting portia the day she had to get to the palace, mali’ya thought she was so easy-going and bright. maybe it was the glint of mischief in portia’s eyes, or the way she chatted animatedly as though they’d known each other for more than a morning; either way, mali’ya soon found herself to be fond of her already.

as for portia, well, she was struck by mali’ya’s aura–not because it was just a soothing feeling in the ruckus of the market, but for the secretive appeal it held. there was something to this young apothecary, portia thought, that didn’t sit right with her. mali’ya was calm, yet she seemed to be sealing away her true voice. so yeah, enthralling is how portia would have described her.

4. who felt romantic feelings at first?

portia, actually! mali’ya was very devoted to her duty to the countess, trying to wrap her head around lucio’s murder, that she would focus exclusively on the investigation and since portia couldn’t have that... she just found random escuses to spend some time with her. at first it was only to distract mali’ya from her hard work, but then she developed feelings.

general

2. did they have an official first date? if so, what was it like?

yes! portia suggested it as soon as mali’ya confirmed to be into her as well, so they decided to go for a picnic in portia’s garden as both a way to escape the frantic palace life and be by themselves. everything was going well: there were pies, cheese, lots of fruit. portia was telling mali’ya about her favourite book again when the rain started pouring down on them, so they quickly had to gather their things and take refuge in portia’s cottage. since she was disappointed that their date had been interrupted, mali’ya offered to re-arrange everything on the floor as though they were still picnicking. portia really appreciated that, and the night went on vivaciously with even more stories and cuddles! (๑˘︶˘๑)

4. were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

neither of them are inexperienced, since portia did have a relationship or two before mali’ya, who was in love with asra (pre-plague).

love

2. what are their primary love languages?

for mali’ya they’re the same as my previous answer, whereas portia offers words of affirmation and physical touch. she’s very happy to spend quality time in return, and also enjoys gift receiving. no, she loves it.

4. how often do they cuddle, engage in pda?

again, mali’ya isn’t strong on pda in this route either. luckily for her, we have our fellow extrovert to make her feel comfortable and at ease when being affectionate in public! in private, though, that’s another story; portia is pretty physical and mali’ya can’t help but return her care and attention as well, eheh.

domestic life

2. what’s the wedding like? who attends?

after portia’s upright ending, mali’ya never gets her memories back and this allows her, three or four years later, to marry portia :]

knowing our little devorak, the wedding would absolutely be a blast and everyone, from hestion to the satrivana siblings, is obviously invited. (fun fact: nadia would do her best to make it grand and elegant, but she would have to reconsider as to appease mali’ya’s modest tastes). because of that i can see it being held outside in a natural location, on a sunny day that matches the smiles on their faces. after the kiss, porta’s catchphrase would totally be “have you seen my wife??? well now you have!”

4. do they have any pets?

sure thing! the ladies are all in for adopting at least two cats, a good compromise in terms of self-reliance; with them being two busy women, taking care of more delicate animals would be quite the challenge. mali’ya also fancies birds, but since nadia owns her own aviary she’ll gladly take care of it herself when she can.

#asra alnazar #portia devorak #the arcana #ironically enough it took me longer to write abt mali'ya and asra?? even though i've been engaging with them since last year. h o w #also thank you! i was able to flash out the girls' relationship a bit more thanks to these questions #💌 : can’t stop you putting roots in my dreamland #[currently working on a ship tag for mali’ya and portia]#evarcana

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howling-harpy · 4 years

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Outsider POV fic: Spiers coming to easy and realizing that half of the company is queer but trying to hide it from him for fear that he is gonna kill them or something (if he were to low-key come out to put them at ease I would consider naming my firstborn after you) I love you and you work ❤️❤️

Word count: 1495

A/N: Lmao what a prompt! This speaks to my silly side. Thank you for the prompt and reading my stuff. <3

On the contrary to popular belief, Ron Speirs had excellent social skills. He wasn’t exactly what you’d call friendly, but he was quick to figure other people out and often used this to his advantage, and this was exactly what worried certain soldiers of Easy when he took command.

Sure, he was competent and they were glad to have him – professionally speaking. But as soon as he took command, he started evaluating his new subordinates with sharp, all-seeing eyes, and the experience was unnerving to say the least. There was no telling what he might do.

Harry just couldn’t make his mind about Speirs. He didn’t dislike him, he didn’t like him, and nothing in between fit either, solely because he couldn’t get a grasp of the man. He wasn’t the rule-abiding kind like Winters, but somehow managed to be less fun, and he was temperamental but not up to a play fight or a rousing conversation. Most often his face was blank, a cold mask that Harry couldn’t read, and sometimes he broke into a grin that somehow didn’t help the matter.

Most importantly, Harry couldn’t decide if the man was to be trusted or not. Harry was the kind who would take a bullet for his friends and take their secrets to the grave, but as much as Speirs was now a part of their group, Harry couldn’t tell if he would follow his lead on that one.

The thing was, Harry wasn’t sure if Nix and Dick knew that he knew. They certainly hadn’t talked about it, but there was a relaxed energy between the three of them, and Harry could sense an unspoken agreement they had all somehow formed. He didn’t make comments or tease them about women, and Nix and Dick sat very close to each other, sometimes with their arms resting on a backrest of a couch or a chair behind the other’s back, and all was well.

When Speirs joined them, Harry had to put a stop to that. He wasn’t sure if his friends were as careful as he felt they should be, and they certainly couldn’t talk about it either, so Harry found himself feigning off many close calls by jamming himself between Nix and Dick and loudly interrupting their word games when they threatened to take a flirtatious tone. Nix and Dick both gave him weird looks about it, but again, unspoken agreement, and Harry was busy staring Speirs down to really pay attention.

I dare you to try and hurt them, Harry said with his stare, but all he got back was one of those blank stares.

The legacy of Bill Guarnere lived on, and even if Martin approved of Speirs as their new commander and respected him as a combat leader, he couldn’t ignore the stories about him killing one of his own. Martin wasn’t so gullible as to believe every piece of gossip that came his way, but this one was just plausible enough to be a reason for concern.

“Take care of Babe for me, will ya?” had been one of the last things Guarnere had said to him before he was evacuated for good. “Keep him out of trouble he can’t handle.”

In Martin’s opinion Bill babied his best buddy way too much, but he had to admit that Speirs was trouble barely anyone could handle, let alone a chipper red-headed Philly boy who talked way too much and wore his heart on his sleeve.

Martin didn’t know what to do about it. His position didn’t hold much influence and he couldn’t exactly keep the sharp gaze of their new C.O. off one of the loudest soldiers of the company, but he could put himself between them. He tried to think what Bill had always done when Babe threatened to take things too far or give himself away with his sputtering and bright blush, but all he came up were things that were way too Guarnere for him. So what Martin was left with was his own stare and herding anyone who might be Babe’s type away from him.

After only a few weeks Martin knew he had failed. Speirs’ eyes followed Babe far too long, and Martin just knew that he had figured him out. All he could do at that point was to cross his arms and meet the captain’s stare head on, trying to communicate that to get to the beloved charge of his friend, anyone would have to go through him first. Speirs just looked back.

After getting divorced Lipton had been strangely composed. Luz had always imagined that being abandoned like that would be an experience that stopped the world on its tracks and shattered a person, or at least hurt them for a long time.

Lipton however had shrugged it off rather easily, but Luz wrote it off as a strange form of combat stress. The man had seemed almost relieved in some way, and then entered something of a workaholic phase. When Lipton recovered from pneumonia, his mother-henning found an entirely new gear as if he was trying to make up for the few weeks he had been down.

Luz was good with people. He loved people, and in his opinion the best thing in the army was that he got to meet all sorts of people he wouldn’t have otherwise ever crossed paths with, and Lipton was certainly one of those he was grateful for. The man had a strange streak to him, Luz had realized when they had become close, something private and hidden that only showed itself briefly in twilight hours, and his divorce had amplified that. Luz didn’t have the energy to judge, doubted he even wanted to, but rather thought it interesting. The army really called all sorts.

But his dear mother hen of a friend didn’t look after himself much, and Speirs was the fox that had sneaked into the henhouse.

What Luz had feared the most was that someone unkind would find out about Lipton, but that had already happened. He could tell it from Speirs’ keen, cold eyes that inspected Lipton, following him around, and Luz was discovering whole new depths of fear. What would happen now? Military police? But there was no proof. Some sort of a vigilante punishment? Would Speirs do that? He might. There was no telling what he could do.

Luz found himself staring at Speirs filled with anxiety. He didn’t know what to do, how he could help his friend or how to even warn him. Luz tried to figure out some sort of a battleplan, but all he could do was frown and stare and frown some more.

One day when Easy was loading the trucks and preparing to get on the road again, Speirs looked back. Luz jumped at the sudden eye contact but held it. Speirs’ eyes were stern and cold, and Luz couldn’t begin to tell what he was thinking.

To his surprise, Speirs seemed to sigh to himself and rolled his eyes. Luz hadn’t recovered from his confusion when Speirs turned away and gestured to someone in the crowd, and Luz found out who when Lipton jogged to him like responding to his beckoning gesture was the best thing he did today.

Speirs patted the pockets of his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, put one between his lips and said something to Lipton that Luz couldn’t hear. Lipton started to go through his own pockets, and after a moment fished out a lighter from the pocket of his trousers, then leaned in to give Speirs light.

The cigarette bounced between Speirs’ lips and forced Lipton to concentrate harder as the flame wouldn’t take. Without realizing it, Lipton leaned in closer, angling his body towards Speirs and bringing his hands closer to his face.

Speirs waited while obviously teasing, then leaned closer himself and suddenly took a hold of Lipton’s hand to steady it. He let the flame kiss the tip of his cigarette far longer than was necessary, his eyes looking at Lipton instead of their hands, and Lipton looked back, a smile rising to his face.

The moment took place right there in broad daylight in the middle of the entire company, and then it ended. Speirs let go of Lipton’s hand, Lipton took a step back, and the men regarded each other from a decent distance again.

Then someone called Lipton, he jolted awake from what had entranced him, and he threw one last look at Speirs before hurrying off. Speirs took a long inhale from his cigarette, truly savoured it, then suddenly looked back at Luz who had stared at the exchange as if hypnotized.

Speirs’ eyes were still cold, but now Luz detected something almost bored in them. Speirs lifted the cigarette to his lips again, quirked a brow and shrugged at Luz as if saying make of that what you will.

Luz did. He sighed in relief.

#band of brothers #band of brothers fanfic #Speirs #winnix #speirton #and a whole bunch of protective friends #mun ficci

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years

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What I thought about every episode of The Owl House Season 1 (Part 1/2)

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Hey, do you miss Gravity Falls?

...

Yeah, I know, dumb question. Which is why I have good news! Not only is there a new series that is just as good as Gravity Falls, but in some ways, it's even better. That new series would be none other than Disney Channel's latest hit: The Owl House.

The Owl House, slowly but surely, became my new obsession since Eda reacted to decapitation with an unconcerned, "I hate when that happens." I wrote fan-fiction, made fan-art, and even began to separately review new episodes. Unfortunately, I got in a little late in the reviewing game and only managed to analyze the last four episodes of season one. And like an idiot, I promised that I'll review the rest when they came out on Disney+. Seeing that all of the first season has finally come on a legal streaming service (which means WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!), it's time I finally saw through to that promise. However, I'm not going to over-analyze each episode because that would be insane. So instead, we're going to lightning round these suckers. Because it's my Tumblr, and I get to decide what I review and how the hell I review it...hooah.

Which means this is your last chance to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen The Owl House yet. Seriously, it's a great show, and you can catch up right now on Disney+. A week-long trial is more than enough time to watch the series, so DO IT! With that out of the way, let's get started with:

“A Lying Witch and a Warden”: This episode gets a lot of flack for having poor pacing and being too preachy with its message. And to that, I say...you're not wrong. Yeah, I wish I could be that person who can defend this episode against criticism like that, but these are understandable problems that just left this icky feeling in my tum-tum when watching. But that's only when looking at it as a regular old episode when in reality, people need to see it as a first episode. The first episode in any show needs to get viewers interested enough to continue watching by answering these five essential questions: What's the plot of the show? What's the tone? Who are the main characters? What's the world they live in? And what are the rules of the same world? "A Lying Witch and a Warden" does a great job of answering all of these questions. And if you stuck around until the season finale, then that means it did a great job of keeping you interested in sticking around as well. So seeing how it got its job done, albeit, with mixed results, I give this episode a B-.

“Witches Before Wizards”: Don't mind me. Just reveling in the fact that Luz escaped to a fantasy world to avoid Reality Check Camp, only to get a reality check anyway. Because that's what this episode is in a nutshell. Through the "quest" that Luz goes on, she learns two important lessons: One, don't trust strangers who offer you something nice and shiny (bonus points for Eda warning Luz to avoid men with sandals and then have Ategast wear sandals). And two, there is no such thing as having a predetermined destiny. I love the idea that Luz coming to the Isles was just a twist of fate, and everything that happens afterward is pure dumb luck. And that moment when Eda gave a speech about making your own path instead of waiting to become something special? That was the moment when I went from thinking this was going to be a fun show to thinking it's going to be a great show. So consider this episode a solid A in my book.

“I Was a Teenage Abomination”: How is it possible for an episode to get better and worse with time? Because here's the thing: This episode does a great job of showing how perfect Amity's development is. After one single season, it already feels jarring, seeing the way she acts in certain scenes. However, in that same respect, it's the same reason why this episode got worse. I didn't mind that Willow practically got away with cheating and vandalizing the school with her magic because she and Luz were basically trying to show up a two-dimensional bully. But knowing what we know in the future, it does seem unfair that Amity gets punished for their bad behavior and Willow got little consequences for it. Sure, Luz got banned and had to work at gaining Amity's trust, but what about Willow? Although, despite this complaint, I don't really hate this episode. It builds a believable connection between Luz and her friends, and the B-plot King and Eda show off their budding friendship. So while this episode is a C-, it's a somewhat enjoyable C-.

“The Intruder”: Is it weird for anyone else that King gets most of the blame in this episode? Yes, he took the potion, but Luz was the one who kept pushing him. This is why it never sat right with me seeing how everyone, including himself, blames King for this episode's incident. That being said, "The Intruder" is fantastic. Eda, as the Owl Beast, is legitimately threatening, and the way the episode treats Eda's curse like a chronic illness is actually kind of sweet. It teaches kids how this is something that just happens to people, and they're not any weaker because of it, as long as they take the right steps. Which is cool, and it's why this is another solid A episode for me. Sure King getting the blame bothers me, but it pales in comparison to everything else “The Intruder” does right.

“Covention”: If you want my personal opinion (obviously, seeing how you're reading this), "Covention" is the perfect episode to show a friend to get them into watching the The Owl House. Everything there is to love about the show is seen in just these twenty-two minutes. Eda being a chaotic good, Luz being a sweet and understanding character, some incredible/natural world-building, an actually decent B-plot, an epic fight scene, great comedy, and, my personal favorite, the building of Luz and Amity's relationship. In fact, this episode has the most quintessential moment between these two, that Dana Terrace herself took charge of making the animatic for it. A scene that is so perfect that you can do an analysis of these few minutes alone...which is what I did. Click here to read it! "Covention" gets an A+ in my book and might possibly be the best episode of the season. Maybe even the series!

“Hooty’s Moving Hassle”: There's not really a lot I can say about this episode. I don't hate it, but I'm not exactly in love with it. The interactions between Luz and her friends are adorable, and there are a few good jokes that kept me laughing. But the story is kind of bland, and I just find Eda's sudden obsession with Hexes Hold'em kind of odd. Especially since a card game is what nearly defeated the "undefeatable" Owl Lady. If it wasn't for the nice reveal of Willow's and Amity's friendship (which comes into play in a far better episode), I'd say that you could skip this one on future rewatches. Because this is a C grade episode that just doesn't grab me as well as others.

“Lost in Language”: Ah, yes. The episode that made dozens of fans jump aboard the Lumity ship...unless you're like me, and you've been shipping these two since the show's theme song (And I don't know why, either. It's just the second I saw Amity my first thought was, "Oh, honey. You're gonna fall in love with the main character, aren't you?" AND I WAS F**KING RIGHT!). But jokes about shipping aside, "Lost in Language" is a fantastic episode. It has a great lesson about how people are more complex than their first impressions (Or to not judge a book by its cover, if you wanna stay on theme). Edric and Emira seem like a chaotic duo who cause mischief all for good fun. But Luz, as well as the audience, learns that Ed and Em are kinda the worst (they get better in future episodes, but still). Then there's Amity, who hasn't had the best first impressions in the last few episodes. We got glimpses of a good person here and there, but for the most part, that's all they were. Glimpses. Then there's this episode, which gives us more than a small look, but some actual insight into who Amity really is. Better yet, who she wants to be. It's something that I appreciate about The Owl House in that it wastes no time in developing Amity's character. So much so that I can forgive this episode for shoehorning a "Two idiots and a baby" plotline that does nothing but add maybe two minutes of padding. So yeah, it's an A+ for sure.

“Once Upon a Swap”: "Ugh! It's the body swap episode! How cliche and-" SHUT UP! Shut your mouth, and listen: Something being cliche does not always make it bad. Only when the cliche fails to tell an entertaining story does it have the right to work as a complaint. "Once Upon a Swap" may have a cliche premise, but it's still an enjoyable story (or stories) with great laughs and even some ok lessons. I can understand if you hate the episode because its premise is something you've seen a dozen times to the point where your sick of it. My most hated story idea is the "Character A saves Character B, and Character B becomes a life slave." If you have seen this story once, you've seen it a thousand times, and it's the same case with a "body swap" episode. But guess what: The Owl House is a kids' show. Kids'. Show. You can complain all you want about predictability, but kids are the type of viewers who will be new to this experience, despite if it's one that is done to death. Which is why this is solid B of an episode if you ask me.

“Something Ventured, Someone Framed”: Can people please stop shipping Gus with Mattholomule? Because that slimy, greasy, weaselly little son of A BASTARD BITCH WEASEL DOES NOT DESERVE LOVE IN WAY POSSIBLE!

...

But enough about how Mattholomule is the worst character ever, because "Something Ventured, Someone Framed" is a B+ in my opinion. Sure it shows the worst side of Gus and lets Satan's little herpe win in the end, but there is still quality to be had. We get insight into who Gus is as a character, on top of Eda swallowing her pride and cleaning the school so Luz can get into Hexide. Also, Eda's permanent record was the first time this show brought me to tears due to laughing so hard. So while I have to take points off for the inclusion of Mattholomule (I don't make the rules. I just live by them), this is still an episode I wouldn't mind revisiting.

“Escape of the Palisman”: I subscribe to this theory that Luz will one day have Eda's staff as her own. And episodes like this that strengthen the bond between Luz and Owlbert help confirm that theory. Luz's dedication to trying to make things right could just be part of her kind nature, but I like to believe that this is Dana and the crew trying to set up this possible outcome. As for what I think about the episode itself...it's ok. Again, Luz's dedication is nice to see, and King's adventure with Owl Beast Eda is somehow insanely adorable, but there's not really much to say other than that. So it's another B episode for me.

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And that’s the end of part one! Part two has probably already been posted by the time you finish this, so you can go ahead and find that if you’re interested.

#the owl house #the owl house review #what i thought about

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years

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01/13/2020 DAB Transcript

Genesis 28:1-29:35, Matthew 9:18-38, Psalms 11:1-7, Proverbs 3:11-12

Today is the 13th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it's great to be here with you as we get ready and come in and out of the cold and the chaos that life can bring and just come around the Global Campfire where everyone has a seat and we just let this fire burn and warm us and it's this other place, this safe space we have, to allow God's Word to speak into our day and into our week and for that matter into our lives, transforming us from within. So, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday which will take us back into the book of Genesis. And there's a bunch of drama going on in this third kinda generation. So, Abraham's grandchildren, Jacob and Esau, brothers, they’ve had…well…there’s been some deception, some significant deception on the part of Jacob and his mom, Rebekah. So, Jacob took the blessing and the birth right from his brother Esau. His brother Esau is not happy. In fact, so upset about it that he's willing to kill his brother Jacob. So, Jacobs got to go. And that's where we pick up the story. Genesis chapters 28 and 29 and we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay. Oh…there's a lot for us to…to look at today. Let's go into the book of Genesis. There's just a lot of things that are happening right now and they're really important to the story that is unfolding. We can begin to read the Bible and read about different people's lives like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and know that they’re important figures in the Bible, but not necessarily know how they're all connected. And, yet, once we met Abram the story has been a cohesive story of Abram who became Abraham, his family, right? So, we are at the grandchildren level at this point, Jacob and Esau and we read the story of what happens. So, Jacob is on the run and he's going back to Abraham's family where he's been sent. This is the same way that Abraham's servant went and to the same people that Abraham's servant went to get a wife for Isaac, right, Rebekah. So, this is where Jacob's going and when he gets there, he meets Laban who is Rebekah’s brother. We already met him. He was much younger, when Abraham's servant came but he would have been roughly the same general age as his sister Rebekah. So, now he's grown up and in charge of things and Rebekah’s son Jacob comes to him and lives with him. But let’s not get ahead of the story. Jacob’s on the run and the sun sets so he finds place to sleep and it's in this city that was known as Luz that became known as Bethel, which is biblical Bethel, a place that we’ll see many times on our journey through the Old Testament. And he is a dream and God appears to him. So, the third generation. God appeared to Abraham with a promise. God appeared to Isaac in Beersheba with a promise. And now He is communicating with Isaacs's son and Abraham's grandson, Jacob, reaffirming the promise. So, Esau gets up and says, surely God is here, and I was just unaware of it. Can I just tell you that that phrase out of the book of Genesis, that phrase right there much describes our whole lives? So often we live our lives as if we need to go through a certain set of rituals, kind of get ourselves into a certain state of organization or whatever within or without in order to approach God who is separate and apart from and distant and separated from us and then we can come into His presence and then…and then commune with Him and ask for the things that we need and offer our worship. When the truth is, as we are going to find out explicitly in the Bible that God is within us and never absent. We aren't separated from Him. We have just become unaware of His presence. And, so, when we do become aware of His presence, which we can do at any point in time, we too, Like Jacob would say, “surely the Lord is here, and I was just unaware of it.” So, fold that up, put that in your purse or in your wallet and carry it around with you for the rest of this year. It can be a rescue when things get pretty crazy. And this place that Jacob spent the night, he's got another night to spend in that place, but that is a story for another day. So, Jacob wakes up, you know, he's realizing the presence of the Lord. And then he does something interesting and it's something that we've already mentioned. So, he…he gets this rock and he…he stands it up and…and then he pours oil on top of it and he sets that stone as a standing stone. It's…it’s a marker the Bible says. And he does this, and we see this tradition throughout the Scriptures, he does this so that what happened there will not be forgotten. And one of the ways that we’ve brought that specific tradition into our rhythm of life in the Daily Audio Bible community is to encourage journaling. Write down the things that the Lord reveals to you in your heart as you move your way through His word. You don't want to forget that. You want to be able to go back to that place and remember what happened there. So, then Jacob eventually does get to Laban as we mentioned a few minutes ago and he does become a part of Laban's household and he begins to work as a shepherd because he's fallen in love with Laban's daughter Rachel. So, he does his work. He asks for his wife. He gets married. He has a wedding night he wakes up and finds out his bride is not the one he loves. It's her sister. And, so, now he's married to Leah but in love with Rachel. And a week goes by and then he marries Rachel. So, now he is the husband of two sisters and that, you just can't imagine that’s gonna be a harmonious home, but I want to point out something here. Jacob had been a bit of a deceitful person all along. And in a very real way, the trickery that he used to deal with his father and his brother is the same kind of trickery that's being used on him. And, so, we could say Jacob is one of the patriarchs, he is, you know, one of the pillars of the story that were telling and God used him, but the Bible goes to great lengths to show us the way that Jacob was a conniver. And we’ll see that it…it doesn't ever really smooth out for Jacob until he learns that lesson and ceases that activity. And we will see that his…his trickery and deception, and his, you know, kind of trying to play the game, these things haunt him well into his adulthood, well into the establishment of his own household. So, we end our reading today with Jacob having married the two sisters and the sister that Jacob loves, Rachel, she’s not able to have children and meanwhile, the sister that Jacob doesn't love, Leah, she has already given birth to four sons. Her firstborn was Ruben and then came Simeon and then Levi and then Judah. And those names, depending on how much you've ever been around the Bible, those names may sound familiar, and they should. These little children who are babies at the moment in our reading will one day grow up to have households of their own and we’ve met four of them, but there are more that we will meet. And these people will one day grow up and become tribes, 12 tribes making up one whole people called Israel. That’s the story we’re telling, the origin story of the Hebrew people who, for the most part populate the rest of the Bible

And then we get into the book of Matthew and we’re very, very quickly seeing the ministry of Jesus and the stories in the gospel of Jesus are just fantastic to read, but if we actually want to get to know Jesus and not just know the stories about Him then we need to look under the surface of these stories because we find such interesting things there, things that challenge…challenge what we think we know. So, we begin our reading today and one of the leaders of the village that Jesus was in, he comes and he’s like my…my daughter just died. So, you can only imagine that, He didn’t just come up to Jesus and wait his turn and kind of, you know, “my daughter just died but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.” Like, nobody does that if their daughter just died. So, you can imagine the situation but it's an urgent situation. So, Jesus and the disciples they get up and they follow this guy and on their way…so Jesus is on His way to this urgent situation when He gets interrupted because there’s this woman who’s been kind of following Him around and she's…she's been bleeding for 12 years, right? So…so…the thing is, as we will learn when we go through the Mosaic law, we will understand that this woman who is a Hebrew woman, she is ritually impure, okay, because of the bleeding for 12…so that means for 12 years she's been ritually impure and kept outside of God's presence. She thinks to herself, “if I can just get to Him. If I can just touch…touch his robe, I’ll be healed.” And, so, we know this super famous story and that happens, but what we…what we usually walk away from is that we look at this story as Jesus, the miracle worker, the proof we’re looking for to believe upon him. Ironically, it doesn't appear that Jesus ever was angling to be perceived of as a miracle worker. Obviously, if miracles are being performed in your presence word is going to spread so He couldn't keep a lid on that but that does not seem to be in any way what he was after. And if you don't believe me, then just keep watching Jesus as we go through the Gospels over the next several months and watch what He does when the stuff happens. Let's just take the story that we’re telling right now. This woman, she has touched Jesus and Jesus realized He was touched, and according to Matthew, Jesus turned and saw her and I'm quoting Jesus, “have courage daughter, your faith has saved you” and the woman was made well from that moment. So, unless Jesus has been misquoted here and that's not what He meant to say at all then we would have to deduce from what He said that this woman's healing was not simply something that happened to her, but rather something that she also collaborated in. “Have courage daughter, your faith has saved you.” And the woman was made well from that moment. That's what the Bible says. Okay. So, then that scene gets over and Jesus does finally make it to this leader’s house whose daughter has just died, and there are a bunch of people there because he was a leader, and this was the common practice of the timHe ge. When there's a loss of life then, you know, mourner’s friends and people…people will come to mourn. A lot of times outside, even…even they would be hired at times to come and professionally mourn just to let everyone know around that there's been this loss. So, Jesus comes into that kind of situation where there's a lot of crying and weeping and noise. And He says, “leave.” Like, that’s what the Bible says. Verse 24 “leave”, He said. Okay. Because the girl isn't dead but she's asleep. And all of a sudden, their mourning turned into laughing, which is something that is a rich metaphor in the Scriptures, but this is not the kind of joy that we’re talking about, they start laughing at Him sarcastically. They are unaware of the situation. They have accepted the reality, this person, this girl is dead. And, so, now they begin all of the rituals of death when a completely different reality is available, and Jesus gets everybody out and after they’re out he goes and gets the girl and she wakes up. So, in this scene we see Jesus describing, depicting, engaging with a reality or the opportunity of a reality that everybody else can't see and has dismissed. And when they’re presented with this reality, the idea that the girl isn't dead, they dismiss that. Like, hope doesn't rise. They laugh at Him instead. Okay friends. We’re looking at ourselves here in the Scriptures because this is what's intended to happen, that we look into these stories we feel all of the different elements of these stories and we find our heart in these stories. We locate where we are, and we find our orientation and the reality is that all too often the presence of Jesus is with us, just like Jacob, completely unaware of it and then we do become aware of it, but the situation seems impossible. We can't wrap our minds around any other kind of reality besides what we seem to be crushed by and instead of reaching out, right, for the hem of His garment, instead of just reaching out we hear him say it doesn't have to be this way son, it doesn't have to be this way daughter and we laugh at him. And do you see the parallels here? So, you remember the story of the promise in the beginning with Abraham and Sarah, she laughed too. And we begin to realize, this is a pattern, this is a theme, these things keep happening over and over. They keep happening over and over in the Bible because they keep happening over and over in my life and they keep happening over and over in my life because they're happening everywhere in the world. And then we become aware of the fact that maybe we are living blinded to the fact that there's another way, that there's a way to be in this world, continually in the presence of God because His presence is never taken from us. We are simply unaware of it. And we are watching a person when we watch Jesus. We are watching a person totally dialed in. Jesus is modeling for us who we are and how we’re supposed to be. So, this girl is raised up. Everyone obviously doesn't laugh anymore. The news spreads all over the place and the next scene we see is two blind men asking for mercy. And Jesus gets them aside and he simply asks them a question…like He doesn't heal them, He asks them a question, “do you believe that I can do this?” And they say, “yes. I do believe.” And then...and then…here's…and I'm quoting Jesus again, “let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Right? You see, again, this isn't something that Jesus did to them, it's something that was collaborative. Faith arose within them. Their awareness of the presence of God rose up and they experienced God. And then…and then the miracle worker, Jesus has some words. I'm quoting Jesus here, “be sure that no one finds out.” That’s what Jesus said after He opened the eyes of the blind. But according the Scriptures they didn’t listen to Jesus, they went and spread the news about Him everywhere. And then we are taken immediately to a scene in which Jesus is dealing with a person possessed by a demon and was mute because of it. And Jesus throws the demon out, the man begins to speak, the crowds are amazed. Alright. So, now we are about to encounter the two different reactions that happen and swirl around just about everything Jesus does. So, this person who couldn't speak is now speaking and the crowds are amazed and they say, according to the Bible, “nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” So, they are effectively saying, “we are seeing a new thing.” God is doing a new thing and they believe that it's God doing this thing because the Scriptures tell us that they are in awe and worshiping God about it. Jesus is definitely gaining momentum. But the Pharisees, right? So, the religious leaders, the people who are charged with guarding the souls of God's people, their response isn't, “nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” Their response is, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons.” Those are two very different reactions to the presence of God in these stories and they reveal the different ways that we respond when we find ourselves encountering God. On the one hand, we could say, “I don't know how to explain this. I do not know how to put this into language or words, but something has shifted, an awareness in me has changed. Something…something that wasn't here is now here”, right? Like, maybe “my anxiety has fled, and I feel a presence of comfort with in me.” I mean…if we just begin to describe examples, we could go all day, but we realize that as much as we try to articulate this doesn’t need to be articulated, it's something deep, it's something true, it's something that has shifted in us, and no one can take it away from us because it has been real to us, right? So, then we could say, “nothing like this has ever happened before.” Or we can have the same kind of experience and then immediately lose our body and soul and just go into our mind trying to figure out what the theology of our experience might have been, go deeply into our religion and go like, “do the rules say that this can happen?” And then we can easily find ourselves in the seat of the Pharisees. “This is an of God, this is of the devil.” Stuff happens all the time and we need to know what we’re seeing in the New Testament when it comes to Jesus. It's religion and the keepers of God's rules that are attempting to diminish and denigrate God and eventually to kill Him. Yikes! Like, that’s scary stuff and disruptive stuff and, like I’ve said, we need to get used to disruption because the Bible’s gonna shake us. So, after this encounter with the Pharisees where they’re like, “He drives out demons by the ruler of demons” Jesus continues to just move on doing what He…He does. Quoting from Matthew, “Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness”, right? That’s what we would expect to find Jesus doing and that's what we actually continue to pray that Jesus will do in this world. But what's interesting is that Jesus comments on it. When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dejected. They were like sheep without a shepherd.” So, He felt…He felt bad about that. In another words He sees the plight of humans trying to navigate life, and yet Jesus is operating and navigating in and among these people and awakening something in them. He’s telling them about a kingdom that is within them. They are awakening to this and He sees…He sees this happening, but he realizes it's not gonna happen with just one person with just Him alone. So, He said to His disciples, “the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” So, Jesus was seeing a human harvest, and He was in the harvest reaping the harvest. And we can look at Jesus as a wisdom teacher and miracle worker and prophet, and yes, divine son of the living most-high God, who was operating as a human being in some sort of special other nonhuman way, when Jesus continually is just operating as a human should be operating. And when we get to the writings of the apostle Paul this will become explicit. And in our reading today Jesus is saying, “I need…I…pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest…I need help. So, brothers and sisters. The harvest is still ripe. It…it will never not be. Humanity is asleep. We are still living backward, and help is still needed and that's you and we’re gonna find what we usually lack is awareness. And that's what we see in the Old and New Testaments today, and that's what we need to begin to live into.

Prayer:

Father, we invite Your Holy Spirit because on our own we are blind, and we can't see and we are like sheep without a shepherd, and we are floundering in life. We know that. We've experienced that. It's…it’s not a theory, we’ve lived it. And, so we come to You, You've rescued us, You’ve changed everything but so often we fall back into the patterns that we know and we look at the world in the way that it seems like everybody else is looking at the world and so we find ourselves at times even at odds with You because we’ll consult all the rules and all the regulations and all the things we think that we know and we miss when You do something new. And yet the Scriptures tell us it is the same Spirit that raised You from the dead, the same Spirit that You were operating in on this planet, the same, not a similar, the same one that lives within us. And, so, this idea of being Christ like isn't a metaphor. This idea of being one body, the hands and feet, the physical representation of Christ on earth inside of us, this isn’t a metaphor. This is something we’re supposed to collaborate in. And, so, as we continue this journey that has just begun this year, we invite Your Holy Spirit to fully transform us from within, day by day, step-by-step so that the person that we see in the mirror at the end of this voyage is a different person, so that we are awake and aware in our lives. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its the website, its where you find out what's going on around here. I have highlighted some different resources that are in the Daily Audio Bible shop because they are…well…they….they’ve been created for the journey that we’re on. And one…one resource that I haven't mentioned yet this year, but this is a good day to mention it, is…is a DVD…double DVD and digital download series called “Promise Land.” And we spent, I think six seasons in Israel filming so many of the biblical archaeological locations in all their beauty in an attempt to bring the biblical places closer to home. So, like we we're talking about Luz today, Bethel, right, Bethel and this place where…where Jacob spent the night and a place where he's going to come back to. So, we’ve…we’ve filmed that. So, like to get an idea of what he saw, what that looks like, you can see this. And so many of the different places around Jesus ministry, these villages and these places we’re Jesus ministered, they’re all filmed. And, so, it makes a fantastic resource to just be able to look in and actually see. And before I ever went Israel I never even wanted to go. It was like not the thing I thought it would be. I just kinda…I don’t know what I thought. I thought it would maybe ruin the Bible for me but it didn't, it actually made it a real, like these things happened in real places. And I realized while all I've been looking at is, you know, pictures like static photographs on the Internet of these places, what it would it be like to try to provide a 360° view, like a real honest look at a place from the air and we using drones and from the ground and all of this. So, that's Promise Land and it will serve as a fantastic resource throughout the year to refer to. It’s like, there’s over 70 different locations that we’ve filmed and are just, they’re short, like only 2 to 3 minutes in a place. So, real easy to access. Like, “okay. We were reading about Bethel today. Let me see that.” And in just a couple minutes you can see it and find out the significance biblically of what happened there. So, that is a resource that is available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning family this is Bee from Ireland, three years listener, a couple of times caller, I’m not that regular but today this call is specifically for Valerie who called to ask for prayer for her mom Shirley and her brother Anthony who got into an altercation and Anthony I think jumped on the car and they got into an accident. And she prayed, she asked for us to pray for compassion because she really is finding it hard to feel any compassion for her brother who’s an addict and also an alcoholic and also to pray for her mom. So, today I played according to Colossians 3:113 that the compassion that you need will come into your heart, that the Lord will flood your heart with love, that the love of God will be __ your hearts today and that you begin to love your brother anew. I pray for your mom. I pray that she has healing in her heart, that she forgives herself. If there’s anything she thinks she did wrong that she does not take on the guilt and condemnation which comes from the enemy but instead she embraces the love and the peace of God. I pray lastly for your brother Anthony. I pray in the name of Jesus just like the prodigal son he will come back to his senses, he will come back to his right mind, supernatural healing will come upon him, that the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and gives us resurrection power will be upon him in the name of Jesus. That he will be resurrected not just in his body but in his mind as well in the mighty name of Jesus. That this incident that the enemy thought would be for evil will turn around for his own good. As the Bible says, all things work together for those that love…that love God and are called according to his purpose. I pray that as he gets healing from this brain situation that has put him in the ICU he will be resurrected back to his…himself the way God intended in Jesus’ name. Amen.

First, I just want to say that I am so thankful for the Daily Audio Bible app. I just discovered it yesterday. My pastor shared it with us and I’m just like, “why have I not known about this before?” But I am super excited. So, I started at day one even though today is day six. I’m gonna catch up. But I just wanted to submit a prayer request, just for my heart, for my health as I am…have been going through some health issues. I’m just asking for continued prayer as I really just rebuild or discover and hold onto the foundation of the Lord has already laid before me and just rebuild a new mindset, new mentalities, new focuses in my health. And just literally I feel like I’m entering in a new decade and completely re-creating my life. And, so, I’m just asking for a partner in prayer and faith and support in that. And also, just pray for my marriage and my daughter and our home as we start these…these new things together that are going to shape the rest of our lives. And, so, I could just appreciate and really use the prayer and agreeing and standing with me and our family as we start this…this new season, this new lifelong season together. Thank you.

Hi Audio Daily Bible this is Keisha I wanted to…I’m calling asking for prayer for my children. I owe these two children. I believe my son is doing something illegal. I don’t know. I’m so scared for him. I’m so scared for him. And he doesn’t talk to me like that. We talk but they won’t talk to me. And I came from that lifestyle and I just don’t want him to go down that road. Please pray for my child. Please. And my daughter, my daughter, she wound up not completing college and I believe she’s in a state of depression and I just need your help. I just need your prayers. I am so at my wits end right now. They’re grown but there’s still my babies. So, please pray for me. Thank you. Bye.

This is Candace from Oregon please join me in this prayer. Our Father who is in heaven holy is Your name. May Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give each of us on this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us and lead us away from temptation, deliver us from evil for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Thanks for praying with me. May the Lord bless you and keep you today. May He make his face to shine upon you and give you peace.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Dawn from California and I’m excited to start my 14th year with this great family. And today’s prayer requests really just touched my heart to call in to cover the two wives, the one that is possibly getting a divorce after 40 years and the other one who is dealing with a possible infidelity of her husband. I lift you both up to the hand of the Lord and I know that He as you so in His heart and He will protect you both, I promise you that. I promise you His love is faithful. I lift up our sister who also called in about the suicide of her sister. Oh baby, our hearts are with you. We love you. We ask God to strengthen you and comfort you. And then to all of our new family members to this DAB family, we thank God for you joining this journey. This process is yours. Remember make your time with the Daily Audio Bible a set and sacred and protected time and listen to the word, almost see it as a movie. Visualize what you hear Brian reading in your heart so that your mind doesn’t stray, and you don’t get distracted. Be sure to enjoy the five minutes or so of teaching that he has on most days to explain the word in a deeper depth and way. And by listening to the prayer requests at the end it will connect you to this great community and allow you to feel a Campfire that we all enjoy. We love you. We thank God for starting this year with you and continue to call in with your prayer requests. This shows your connection to the family. We love you DAB. Have a great year.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Duane from Wisconsin all praise and glory to our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ. I’m calling in today for Anonymous who called in and unfortunately had to give us the bad news that her sister took her own life and that their father is struggling with this because of the words he might have said to his daughter. Just to let you know that I know what that’s like. My son’s, I haven’t seen in a few years. One spent some time in jail twice. But I know what that’s like. We feel as a father that when they go astray that it is something that we have said and done. So, I definitely lift up your father and we pray that the Lord’s comfort and peace will come into him and give him understanding and direction in this time of struggle that the Lord will be with you as well and He will lay a hand of peace upon you and give you understanding in this time of struggle. There was also a lady who called in and said that her husband, I believe it was a fair number of years in marriage, that she has caught him kissing another lady and that he is lying to her with bullying. I want you to know that we are lifting you up. We pray for the Lord’s hedge of protection around you. We pray that your husband will realize what he is doing, will repent and come to you for forgiveness. We want to live this all up to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Brian and Jill and all those who behind the scenes, we want to give you praise and glory for this great podcast…

Hey family this is Malisa from Albertville Alabama. I wanted to welcome all the new listeners. I’ve been listening for nine years now and you will never be the same. You’ll love it. It’s…it has helped me so much. And one of the new listeners called in…I got a little bit behind…but he sang, and I think his name was Kingdom. I couldn’t write it down because I was at work. Brother, you can sing. I thoroughly enjoyed that. And I also want to welcome my church family, Compassion City Church of Albertville Alabama. My Pastor, Pastor John Henderson said last night that he listens to the DAB and I was so excited because I didn’t know. So, I want to welcome my church family, Compassion City Church of Albertville Alabama. I love you Brian, I love you Jill, I love you family. We’ll talk to you all later. Bye-bye.

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