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bookworlders · 5 years

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the wedding date - ch. 6

a/n: hope you enjoy! heads up the next chapter will be nsfw

part 6 of the percabeth fake dating!au

part 1

“Cheers!”

Piper and her bridesmaids clinked phallic shot glasses with “P GETS J’d” engraved on the sides, and each downed shots of tequila.

The interior of Cabin 10, Piper’s old cabin, had been completely redecorated by Drew and Leo that afternoon. The pink walls and vanities that littered the floor were decked out in various penius paraphernalia. The bridal party, all decked out in clubbing clothes and bridesmaid sashes, all gathered around a truly impressive array of alcohols and cocktail ingredients to pre-game Piper’s hen do.

Leo climbed on top of a pink velour ottoman, “Ahem, attention!” He clinked a hot pink penis-shaped straw against his shot glass, “Welcome to Beauty Queen’s Final Night Out—”

“Ah, ah, ah, no, Leo, that is not what we’re calling it,” Piper chimed, sucking on lime.

“Fine, Piper’s Penis Parade—”

“No.”

“Rest in Peace, Piper’s Innocen—”

“Leo.”

“Fine! Piper’s bachelorette party,” Leo grumbled, “Got an exciting night for you ladies planned. Argus is gonna drive you guys in-land to the club, you’ll dance the night away with an open bar, and he’ll drive you guys back here when you’re all thoroughly blacked out. Be mindful, though, for those in the wedding party, we have a dance lesson in the morning so go crazy, go stupid, but you have to have a functioning body in the morning.”

Even though they were just going to the one-and-only source of night life in Montauk, Annabeth looked at her friends, they looked amazing. She felt extremely good herself in a short, black bodycon dress that showed off her athletic build and her “man killer” heels from college — the alcohol in her system helped too.

As Leo rattled off the list of things to be mindful of during the night, Annabeth leaned over and began to make herself a martini.

Piper, in white jeans and a flowy, low-cut top under her sparkly white “Bride” sash, nudged Annabeth as she plopped an olive into her glass, “Hey, make me one too. A double if Leo is going to keep on talking.”

Annabeth chuckled, glancing over to Leo atop the footrest who had been joined by Drew in listing off the acceptable songs to request to the DJ. She handed Piper the martini glass.

“Thanks,” Piper muttered, throwing it back, “I am exhausted after today, but Leo insisted I have my bachelorette party tonight with everyone here.”

“Today was so fun, though,” Annabeth said, “I forgot how much I missed this place.”

“Percy looked like he was having a good time.”

“Oh? I’m glad, I was a little nervous about bringing him.”

“I could tell. But he’s great, ‘Beth, really. I’m glad you brought him,” Piper said, “I know I only met him this morning, but you guys are good together. I just sense this easiness with the two of you. He seems to make you happy”

Annabeth flushed. Percy did make her happy, “Yeah, he’s—Percy’s a good guy.”

Thalia, who was downing her second drink, piped into their conversation, “We’re talking about Percy? Yeah, Annabeth, Percy. I mean, wow. That is a hot piece of ass, right there. And I like men and women so it takes a lot to catch my eye.”

Annabeth nodded in agreement and grabbed a hard cider from the cooler just to keep from having to respond.

“I mean you always got the cute ones, didn’t you?” Thalia said, taking the cider from her and handing Annabeth her empty wine glass. “Percy, Luke...”

“Thalia—” Piper said.

“But then again, it took you years of pining after Luke for him to notice you. It’s funny how you and Percy, how long did you say, a month ago? Only? And you already brought him to us. I can see why though, he’s so goddamn attractive.

Annabeth’s face and anger flared, “Thalia—”

Thalia rambled on, “Perfect timing so you could have a wedding date because gods forbid perfect Annabeth with her perfect career and perfect life not have a perfect date, too. It was easy though, right, because all the guys fall for Annie! He’s no Luke, though.”

“Enough, Thals. She’s just drunk, ” Piper muttered to Annabeth, rolling her eyes. She could tell Piper was annoyed with her fiancé’s sister. Thankfully, Leo had finished explaining proper night club dance circle etiquette and Drew started blasting trashy pop.

Knock, knock.

“Was anyone missing?” Piper asked, counting heads around the room, “No, all five of you are here, Calypso wasn’t feeling well and Reyna’s down with the boys.”

“I’ll get it!” Thalia said, crossing the cabin to the door, a fresh glass of rosé in hand.

It was Percy.

With the tequila and wine already flowing through their veins, Piper’s bridesmaids erupted in squeals when they saw him — an expected reaction for any attractive man who happened to fall prey to a bachelorette party.

Annabeth stood from Piper’s side and met him at the door, “Hi,” she said, her eyes bright and cheeks flushed from the alcohol.

“Wow,” Percy said, seeing her short, black dress and stilettos, “You look amazing.”

“Thanks,” Annabeth smirked, this dress was a killer every time. “What are you doing here?” Annabeth was acutely aware of all the girls staring daggers at them.

“You forgot your wallet in our cabin,” Percy said, holding out her black leather wristlet.

“Oh, thank you, I didn’t even notice,” Annabeth said, taking it from him. Percy glanced over her shoulder and also noticed their audience. He waved.

“Sorry to intrude, ladies.”

“No, no!” Drew said, clambering over everyone to meet them at the door, “Have a drink with us!”

“Nah, it’s alright,” Percy said, brushing his dark curls out of his face, “I should head over, Jason invited me to join his stag night.”

“What are you guys doing?”

“Just some beers down by the lake.”

“Don’t forget board games,” Piper called from where she was lounging, “Jason will definitely insist on board games.”

“Are you heading down to the lake now, Percy?” Leo asked, “I’ll join you.”

“You’re not coming with us, Leo?” Annabeth asked.

“Please, I may be the Man of Honor, but I still want to hang with my boys. Shall we Percy?”

Percy nodded as Leo ran down the itinerary again with Drew, the acting party planner in his absence. Percy settled his hands on Annabeth’s waist, kissing her lightly on the cheek, “Be safe tonight, okay?”

Annabeth flushed from the kiss, but retorted, “I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can.”

“Ready, Perce?” Leo said, striding towards the door. Percy nodded.

“Bye,” Annabeth said, waving with the hand clutching her wallet, “Have fun.”

The door had barely shut before Annabeth was attacked with squeals about how attractive Percy was.

“Where the heck did you find him, Annie!” “Where can I get one?” “It’s like you bought him at a Build-a-Boy.”

“You have no idea,” Annabeth muttered.

____________

“I will trade you two ballistae for your war elephant,” Frank said, pushing a pile of chips towards Nico.

“Fat chance, Zhang,” Nico said, “We’re not letting Hannibal go for some ballistae.”

Frank and Percy and Jason had gotten on well during capture-the-flag today and invited him to come along to the bachelor party. Percy had felt a little weird crashing since he had met all these guys just this morning, but there was something about being at a summer camp that accelerated friendships — like how when you would meet a kid at the playground and be playing like you were best friends five minutes later.

They had set up a nice spread at the lake dock, beer, chips, cigars (just for show, Nico was the only one he held one in his mouth and it was unlit) and, as Piper had promised, board games. They were playing a game called Siege that Frank had brought over for Camp Jupiter. It was super complicated with lots of pieces and points and bonuses so Percy had teamed up with Frank for the first round.

Leo pulled up a folding chair to their table and handed out beers, “Who’s winning?”

Jason grinned, pushing up his glasses, “Me, who else.”

“My bad, I’m slowing Frank down,” said Percy, “I just can’t wrap my head around the objective of the ‘Octavian’ card.”

“No one ever does,” Leo chuckled, “Doesn’t matter though, Percy came by the girls’ cabin earlier. You’re winning no matter what. The ladies love you.”

Percy grabbed a handful of chips, “Shut up, Valdez.”

Jason shuffled his cards, “He’s right, Percy. You got Annabeth, that is quite the respectable feat.”

“Oh?” Percy said. He recalled Rachel always talking about her roommate during Romeo & Juliet rehearsals, and he remembered seeing her and thinking she was them most beautiful person he’d ever seen at opening night so getting to know Annabeth today had been a dream. He could tell right away she was not someone to be messed with, but it was interesting to hear about her from her childhood best friends.

The conversation had finally pulled Frank away from his card game strategizing, “Annabeth’s scary.”

Will piped up from the edge of the dock where he was strumming his guitar, “It’s true. I’ve known Annabeth since we were seven and one time she punched this one camper in the face when he tried to give her a flower.”

“She always wins capture the flag. One, because she’s an awesome battle strategist, but also because everyone’s too scared to find out what’s going to happen if she doesn’t win.”

At that moment, Reyna, Jason’s best woman, came over, “I started a bonfire if you guys want to roast hot dogs.”

“Oh, heck, yes,” Jason said, abandoning the game, “You’re the best, Rey.” Jason pecked her on the cheek. She lovingly shoved him.

Leo followed him, “Yeah, RA-RA, you are the best.” He also leaned to peck Reyna on the cheek, but she held up a hand.

“Don’t even think about it, Valdez.”

“You want to grab some hot dogs?” Percy asked Frank.

“Nah, I’m good. Still stuffed from dinner.”

“Same.”

Will and Nico also decided to stay behind at the dock with them. Nico was on his umpteenth beer and nicely settled in his chair, and Will leaned against him, still strumming a tune on his guitar.

Frank set down his cards, “How did you and Annabeth get together if I could ask?”

Percy cleared his throat, he and Annabeth had repeated the story many times today, but he still needed to be careful to keep things as vague and close to the truth as possible, “Rachel directed a show I was in, and we met at opening night.”

“I’m glad you made it past her hard exterior, not a lot of people do. She is scary, but it’s because she’s guarded.”

Percy nodded, he loved hearing more about Annabeth, “How old were you guys when you met?”

“I was sixteen, she was seventeen. Being a teenager really just is the worst, I felt all awkward and huge, but she helped me out. She cares a lot, and once she cares about you, well, let’s just say she’s a great person to have on your team. But you know that.”

“Right.” Percy had of course noticed right away that Annabeth was a guarded person, but they were so easy together. He felt a jolt of pride that he too got to experience the softer, caring side of Annabeth that really only her childhood friends experienced.

“Who’s a great person to have on your team?” Luke had wondered over from the bonfire.

Frank reddened. Percy cleared his throat, “Annabeth.”

Luke paused. “Oh, uh, yeah. She is.”

“I know,” Percy said, holding his gaze.

“Look man,” Luke said, “I’m sure someone filled you in, and I know it’s awkward—”

“Oh, I don’t feel awkward,” Percy said, “Sorry if having your ex’s new boyfriend around makes you feel awkward.”

Frank’s head ping-ponged between Luke and Percy.

Luke’s gaze hardened, “I don’t know what you’ve heard about us—”

“Yeah, man, fuck you for real,” Nico barged in, slurring his words, “You really messed up with Annabeth, that was such a dick move. Wasn’t it a dick move, babe?”

Will stood up with his guitar, and hoisted Nico up from the chair, “I think it’s time for us to go and put this one to bed before he says anything else. Come on, babe.”

Jason, Leo, and Reyna returned with a plate of roasted hot dogs and buns. “You two leaving?” Jason asked.

Will nodded, motioning to Nico slumped against his side, “It’s time.”

Percy stood, too, “I’ll go with you. Jason, thanks so much for letting me crash your party. Goodnight everyone.”

As Percy walked through camp back to Cabin 3, he let his thoughts wander to the blonde that had been on his mind since opening night of Romeo & Juliet. He was so surprised with himself when he received that call from her and immediately said yes. Truth was, he had already been planning on asking Rachel for her number. He honestly would’ve been her date to this wedding for free.

_____

Annabeth was so drunk.

She had been pissed at Thalia, and flustered by Percy so she coped by being Piper’s drinking buddy and took shots with the bride all night.

The lovely bride-to-be was currently weeping in her sister’s lap in the backseat of the car. “I just, hiccup, love Jason so much, Drew,” Piper wailed, “There’s just, like, so much love in me for that stupid, hiccup, dumb blonde.”

Drew had taken her sister-of-the-bride duties well and took care of them that night, including rounding them all up from the dance floor to bring them home at midnight. She smoothed Piper’s hair, “I know, sweetie, it’s because of mom. She really fucked us up in the love department.”

Everyone else was also in various stages of inebriation — Thalia was pouty, Hazel giggly and happily, and Annabeth was feeling brave and confident and was laser-focused on one thing — Percy. She wanted to see him and his stupid hair and stupid green eyes and stupid cute smile now. They say sober thoughts are drunken actions, and she needed some action with Percy.

The car dropped them off at the Big House, and they stumbled as a sloppy, bachelorette amoeba to Cabin 10. Drew did her best, passing out makeup wipes and finding everyone sweatshirts to trade for their alcohol and sweat soaked dresses. Soon, Piper and Hazel were snoozing and tucked into a bunk bed. Annabeth had thrown her hair into a ponytail and pulled on a camp shirt and yoga pants. She could always hold her liquor so her peak drunkenness manifested as a confident buzz.

Drew had already slipped on a matching silk pajama set, “Annie, you wanna sleep here? There’s room.”

“No thanks, I think I want to sleep in my own bed.”

Drew grinned, “Use protection, Annabeth!”

_______

Percy’s dreams always took him to the water. He was surfing. He was swimming. He was a kid splashing in the water with his mom. He was swimming with a beautiful mermaid with long, flowing blonde curls. She was getting dragged by the current and getting tangled the seaweed.

“Hey!” bubbles spewed under his mouth, “The seaweed, watch out! The seaweed—”

“Percy.”

Percy woke up to Annabeth sitting on the edge of their bed, gently nudging him awake, “Hey, Seaweed Brain.” He sat up.

��Is it time to start getting ready?” he mumbled, wiping away drool.

“No,” she grinned, “It’s like two in the morning. You were dreaming.”

“Oh, um,” Percy flushed.

Annabeth stood and held out her hand, “Come on a walk with me, I want to show you around camp.”

#mywriting #the wedding date #fake dating au #percabeth #percy jackson #annabeth #fanfiction

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percy-the-sorcerer · 6 years

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Christmas Spirit

a.ka. in which Piper enacts every cheesy Christmas movie ever.

Of course I couldn’t resist doing a Christmas fic. The idea just struck me for this. A little note: Piper and Jason are 21, and the rest of the heroes of olympus are not at Camp this Christmas. Also, I love our Camp Christmas headcanons just as much as the rest of you, but for the sake of this story, let’s imagine Camp has no actual Christmas traditions.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I wish you happy holidays! I hope you enjoy this fic :)

“Let me just confirm one more time,” the waiter’s voice came over the phone. “Table for two, nine-thirty pm, and you want a window view?”

Piper balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder as she pinned up the Christmas tinsel in the Aphrodite cabin. “Yeah, that’s great. Thank you so much.”

“Of course,” the waiter said flatly. “Please don’t be late. Fellini’s gets very busy.”

“I understand,” Piper said, rolling her eyes slightly at the waiter’s tone. “Have a good evening.” The line went dead.

Piper chucked the phone (one of the demigod-safe ones built by Leo) onto her bed. “Mandy, pass those decorations, won’t you?”

It was just her and Mandy in the cabin. Piper had only flown in to New York hours ago, and made her way through the Christmas Eve traffic to get to Camp Half-Blood. The Camp wasn’t very busy, most people at home for the holidays. Piper had been spending time with her father, but he had to go on a planned trip. She hadn’t minded, because Jason was at Camp. It would be only their second Christmas spent together, so she had decided to book a reservation at the nicest Italian restaurant in New York.

Mandy passed her more tinsel. Piper smiled at her. The girl was fourteen, seven years younger than her, with bushy red hair and a lopsided smile. They were putting up last minute Christmas decorations.

“It’s looking really good already,” Mandy said sincerely.

Piper grinned. “By the time we’re done this cabin is going to be the most Christmassy-cabin in Camp, just you see.” Mandy helped her pinning the paper decorations up. “What are your Christmas plans tonight?” Piper asked, realising she didn’t know.

Mandy blushed. “Uh, well...I guess I’ll go the campfire, and...well, I don’t really have any plans.”

Piper stopped putting up her decorations. “No plans?” she asked. “No Christmas plans? Doesn’t Chiron do anything…”

“I don’t think he celebrates Christmas,” Mandy pointed out. “We tell Christmas stories at the campfire sometimes, and he occasionally lets the older Campers go into New York.”

“Yeah, but--what do you usually do when you’re not at Camp?” Piper asked.

“Nothing, really,” Mandy admitted. “I used to watch TV with my mom but we never had the money to have a proper lunch.”

Piper’s father hadn’t always been there for Christmas, but Piper had always done something. On Christmas Eve she loved to eat so much she felt like she was burst, and then wake up late on Christmas day and open presents. She felt ashamed she hadn’t thought about what anyone else in Camp was doing.

“Hey, Mandy, I’ll be right back,” Piper told her. She left the Cabin and was immediately hit with the chilly air. She crossed over to the Zeus cabin and knocked on the door.

Jason opened it, his smile widening when he saw Piper. “Hey, Pipes, did you book the restaurant?”

“Yeah, I did,” Piper responded.

“I spoke to Percy and Annabeth, they said we’re free to visit them tomorrow at Sally’s, and I’ve sent gifts to Leo and Calypso, and to Frank and Hazel at Camp Jupiter--”

“Hey, Jason,” Piper interrupted, before he went off completely. “I have an idea.”

“Yeah?” Jason asked, confused.

“How fixed were you on our Christmas plans?”

“You want to do what?” Chiron asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Look, it’s only just past lunch,” Piper said. “I still have to set something up for the Campers here. They should get to do something.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Piper, honestly I do,” Chiron said. “But are you sure you’ll actually be able to do this?”

“Trust me, Chiron,” Piper said firmly.

“I would just let her, Chiron,” Jason said. “She can do a lot of things when she’s this determined.”

Chiron paused, before finally smiling. “Then, tell me how I can help.”

Piper scribbled down everything they would need on the shopping list. Christmas tree, check, decorations, check…

“Chiron, the spirits will be able to provide a Christmas lunch, right?” Piper asked hopefully. Chiron nodded. “Great, okay, what else…”

“Presents?” Jason asked.

“Presents!” Piper remembered. “Chiron, how many kids do we have at Camp tomorrow?” When Chiron told her, Piper turned to Jason and handed him the list. “Jason, you need to get a bunch of presents. Go to a toy store, a game store, whatever, I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

“You want me to buy all of this?” Jason asked.

“Get Argus to drive you,” Piper said, before handing him her credit card. “And take this, you can use it to pay for everything.”

Jason hesitated. “Piper--”

“Jason, it’s fine,” Piper said firmly. “I want to do this. You go buy everything, I’ll start setting up here. I want to keep it a surprise, so I’ll have to do it without anyone noticing. Chiron, can you distract them?”

Chiron smiled. “Leave it to me,” he said, before moving away in his wheelchair.

Jason looked at Piper curiously. “You’ve really gotten into this,” he commented.

Piper shrugged. “They deserve a good Christmas.” She paused. “We probably won’t make our reservation though. I know we had plans--”

Jason kissed her, cutting her off. “Piper, I think what you’re doing is amazing. Much better than any reservation.”

Piper looked at her checklist. She had done the tinsel and baubles and just had to put up the stars, and then the Big House was finished. Just then, Jason, looking flustered, rushed through the door.

“I’ve got all of them,” he announced proudly. He looked at his watch. “Only took six hours.” He pulled a sack off of his back. “I feel sorry for Santa now. I have three more sacks like this in the car.”

“Perfect,” Piper said, thinking about how to get them down to the tree without anyone noticing. “I just need to put these stars up and then--”

“And then you need to eat something,” Jason interrupted sternly. She relented, admitting she was hungry.

“Alright, help me put these stars up and then we can have something.” He grabbed two stars from her hand, glowing softly in the light. “How on earth are we going to sneak the tree into the middle of camp without anyone noticing?”

“Let’s just do that once the sun goes down. We can get all the presents near there first. Anything else?”

“I don’t think so. I think I’ve decorated everything else. So we have everything covered?” Piper suggested.

Jason’s lips teased out into a smile. “Well, I did have one more idea...I got you a costume when I was out.”

“A costume..?”

“Santa Claus!” Jason said proudly, pulling out the costume from his sack once he’d finished putting up his last star.

“I’m not wearing that!” Piper protested loudly.

“Sure you are. C’mon, let’s go get some food. Then we can finish the tree and the presents. Oh, and d’you think we can get it to snow?”

“I’ll sort it out with Chiron.” Piper said.

“Merry Christmas!” Jason exclaimed to Piper, waking her up. They had had to sleep in the Big House to avoid rousing any suspicion as to why they were going to bed at 3am.

Piper opened her eyes slowly, realising what time it was. “Jason… it’s 7am! Why are we… oh!” Suddenly she remembered everything from last night, including why she was so tired. “We need to go!” she hissed to Jason.

Jason laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ve even got your clothes ready.” He held up her costume from yesterday. Piper groaned. She didn’t seem to have any other choice.

“Fine.” She grumbled.

“You can’t be unhappy, Pipes, it’s Christmas! It’s even snowing--look!” Piper grinned despite herself as she looked outside and saw the soft coating of snow over the Christmas tree they’d put up and decorated last night.

“I knew Chiron would pull through!” she said happily.

“Glad to know you had faith in me,” a voice came from behind them. Chiron trotted into the room, a broad smile on his face. “Piper, Jason, I have to say, it all looks wonderful. I didn’t think it was possible, but you’ve really done it.”

“I just wish the rest of the seven were here to see it,” Piper admitted.

“Maybe we can do it again next year,” Jason suggested. “You know, start a Camp Christmas tradition.”

PIper rolled her eyes. “You’re already thinking about next year, Sparky? Come on, let's go outside.”

The scene truly was beautiful. The tables had Christmas decorations, as did the whole dining area. The tree was tall and sparkly, with presents beneath it, and the grass was blanketed in soft snow.

They didn’t have to wait long before campers started to file into the area, as they woke up. Each one of them gasped or looked surprised. A few ran to inspect the wrapped presents, shaking them like Piper used to do when she wanted a clue as to what the present was. Some ran into the snow in their pajamas and started making snow angels until Chiron warned them they would get a cold, though he had a fond expression on his face.

Others started eating straight away, and soon all the demigods were there. They all chattered excitedly, grins on their faces.

“Wait until till they see the Christmas lunch,” Piper laughed to Jason.

Mandy came up to Piper, a blush on her face. “Piper, did you do this?”

“It was all her,” Jason told Mandy before Piper could say anything.

“It’s amazing,” Mandy breathed. “I never thought--it’s just--it’s just like in the movies, and the tree and the presents and the snow and--thank you, thank you, thank you.”

PIper just hugged Mandy. “I’m glad you liked it,” she said affectionately. “I thought some Christmas spirit couldn’t go wrong.”

As Mandy returned to eating with her friends, Piper beamed at Jason. “Well, that just made it all worth it.”

Jason looked at PIper softly, a strange expression on his face. “You’re amazing,” he told her. “I love you so much.”

Piper raised her eyebrows. “You did just as much as me, remember? You��re pretty amazing too.”

“Ok, so we’re both amazing,” Jason amended. “That’s great, we’re a perfect match.”

“We are a perfect match,” Piper agreed. She grabbed his hand and they continued looking at the happiness on the younger kids’ faces. “Most of them haven’t even experienced a proper Christmas before, or any festival,” she said. “I’m glad we could help.”

“Maybe one day this will be us with kids of our own,” Jason said thoughtfully, almost to himself. “They’ll be so happy. We’ll have our family Christmas traditions each year and then take them to Camp to join in on the fun.”

“Maybe one day soon?” Piper asked. Jason nodded.

“Yeah,” he said, a smile spreading on his face. “I’d like that.”

“Yeah,” PIper repeated. “Me too.”

And they continued holding hands and watching the scenes before them, with a snowball fight breaking out over the food and a few kids trying to sneak open some presents before Chiron scolded them, and PIper couldn’t remember ever having such a good Christmas.

#percy jackson #pjo #piper mclean #jason grace #jasper #chiron #chb #demigod chrsitmas #riptide #rg #creatus #writing #os #this is so cheesy sorry #and i'm not as good at writing jasper #but hopefully you liked it!

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sussex-nature-lover · 3 years

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Sunday 3rd January 2021

Review of the Year Q3. July, August, September 2020

The weather stayed good and we were very glad to be able to get outdoors and to see so many visitors to the garden, even if some of them were rather naughty.

Question: when are squirrels well behaved?

Answer: let me know when you find out.

2020 was a huge year for Deer in the garden and they hardly seemed bothered by us at all. Sometimes they come alone and sometimes in a group. So called Hooves of Fire wrecked the seed tray and kept churning up the grass. If we can get that sorted this year, just a year behind schedule, we will. Given all the Pheasants and the Deer, it seems a bit of a forlorn hope but we’ll see.

Forlorn. Hah!

17th July saw Captain Tom Moore knighted at Windsor Castle in a socially distanced, outdoor ceremony (scene portrayed by models)

23rd July was my birthday

As a rule the family would gather and we’d have a nice social time. This year we sat at one side of our front porch and Ms NW tY stopped by after work for a drink and some nibbles. She was seated at the opposite side of the porch like we’d sent her to Coventry.

The origins of this phrase aren't known beyond doubt, although it is quite probable that events in Coventry in the English Civil War in the 1640s are the source.

For those not familiar with the UK, Coventry is an industrial city in Warwickshire, England. It is well-known for its two cathedrals; the modern cathedral being built in 1962 to replace the old cathedral, which was destroyed during an intense German bombing raid in 1940.

In the 17th century, when this phrase is supposed to have originated, Coventry was a small town. It has been suggested that the phrase, which we now use figuratively, originated from people being actually sent there.

The story is that Cromwell sent a group of Royalist soldiers to be imprisoned in Coventry, around 1648. The locals, who were parliamentary supporters, shunned them and refused to consort with them.

Over the year I took a few photos that formed a kind of series. One was Birds on the Line - very popular locations, as shown by these Starlings. I did capture rather a lot of Wood Pigeons and Crows though despite my best efforts to find something a little more exotic.

Male Common Darter at Bateman’s NT

There were plenty of posers around for me including Dragon and Damselflies on a bench at Bateman’s. Seeing the new Cheviots up at the farm was a surprise and below, the young Kestrels were comical, striding up and down the barn roof.

Blue Tit on the Christmas Tree

It’s always quite lovely to see the fledglings thrive and 2020 was a good year for Tits and Robins.

Juvenile Robin

We probably made a lot more use of the garden last Summer, as we couldn’t go anywhere else much and the conditions became quite like being away-away.

I also learnt quite a lot about nature in 2020, it was a combination of having a Guru on Twitter to run all my queries by and doing a lot of internet research. One of my discoveries was about Great Spotted Woodpecker (amongst others) having an extra protective eyelid, which makes perfect sense actually if you think about it. I’d never spotted it before though.

Aliums on a hot day

Like Goldfinch (below) the Common Buzzards were plentiful in the skies above and their call could be heard across the valley multiple times a day. Photographing them was quite another matter.

The photo above caused a lot of debate with local ornithologists who debated long and hard before settling on a Honey Buzzard

They’re known to frequent the Reservoir over Summer months.

The days were long and peaceful, sunsets almost Mediterranean. I lost track of how many times we were sat out saying it was just like being on holiday, just without the fight to reserve a lounger or the sounds of the sea. Sometimes when the breeze rippled through The Apostles though, if you closed your eyes you could more or less imagine it.

‘The Apostles’ as seen from ‘Goldfinch Alley’

Our garden at sunset looking exotic

One of my favourite birds, the Nuthatch, did really well and there were lots of young, so we had loads of visitors of varying sizes enjoying both the food and the water.

We spent a lot of time looking at the skies, admiring the clouds and learning a bit about the formations. It was so, so clear and a bit of a revelation to us.

Throughout the year the mystery cat kept visiting. Boy or girl? No idea (still) Nicknamed by us Monsieur Flambeau after a character in the Father Brown books, I always greet them with a cryptic ‘We meet again Monsieur Flambeau’ I’ve heard it said that about 80% of ginger cats are male but this one’s so pretty who knows.

In August,on our walks, we were finding lots of Horse Chestnuts hiding conkers and green acorns falling already.

And in August, two lots of new fencing and new gates - all done on Ms NW tE’s birthday, not that she’s seen in yet, but it certainly tidied the boundary and we were very pleased with it.

I haven’t written about all the National Trust visits we went on through the year. They were mostly for the chance to walk in different territory and gardens. If I started to list them we’d be here for ever, but I did get some nice nature pictures for my collection. The ones below were taken at Standen House, East Grinstead.

I’ve put a tab at the top of the Blog with links to all our usual haunts.

Small Copper Butterfly

Small White Butterfly

White Tailed Bumblebees

We were still enjoying the clear skies and glorious sunsets but Mid September brought the harvest across the lane

and all the leaves started to turn

Sheffield Park

Scotney Castle

Late September brought about a change in the weather. The rolling Sussex skies moved in and the garden took on a totally different look.

Photo taken between 3 and 4pm

Below, pond up at the farm - with added sheep

But it wasn’t all gloom. We got sighting of a Spa Day. Remember them?

and everyone wanted IN.

NOTES FROM THE GARDEN AND KITCHEN:

Direct quote from Crow ‘they can’t be far away, as soon as I went out (with the fat balls and seed) they came’ ...Re The Girls

The last couple of days I’ve noticed quite a lot of activity amongst the Wood Pigeons and the Blackbirds in particular. We seem to have a lot more of both in the garden all day long and the males and females are being quite friendly. Watch this space.

Because we didn’t have a turkey this year we’re not one of those households furiously thinking what can be done with seemingly endless left-overs. We did get quite a good selection of cheese though and have enjoyed some rather nice warm croissants filled with cheese and ham, they keep you going most of the day and we’ve had a couple of meals with salmon, which is a nice, light change.

Decoration of the Day:

A lovely sparkly star for the 10th Day of Christmas because I don’t have Ten Lords a-leaping. I don’t have the Pipers piping or the Drummers drumming come to that.

MUSIC OF THE DAY:

Relaxing piano and birdsong by Peder B Helland

youtube

#review of the year #nature #birdwatching #piano music #naturephotography

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jflashandclash · 7 years

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Attrition of Peace

Twenty- Eight: Percy

I Fall Over. Epically, Of Course.

Author note: Sorry this is late guys! The last week and a half has been insane. It’s not like I left you waiting for a major battle—oh… ah—well, I hope you enjoy!

To say Percy was having a bad day would be a grievous understatement. He’d had worse days: he wasn’t in Tartarus right now, nor was he in that awful demigod prep course that Annabeth and his mom had signed him up for to do New Rome’s entrance exams.

But, his girlfriend had broken up with him today for a weasel she couldn’t catch. And this was the third counselor of Cabin Seven that Percy would see moments before his death—though maybe not. Maybe Will was okay. Percy tried not to focus on Will, or Nico’s disappearance, or the headless corpse.

When he first ran up to the scene, Percy feared the worst on the body’s identity, except that Nico hadn’t been wearing such a fashionable pink pajama set. Percy was pretty sure, if someone tried to redress Nico in that post-mortem, even Hades would break the rules of the dead and allow Nico ten seconds of undeadly massacring to destroy such a sleepwear atrocity.

However, when Percy saw Annabeth and Piper lying on the ground and that crimson-and-black unicorn-jerk keeping vigilance over them, everything else vanished. He sprinted to her side, dropped to his knees, and cradled her.

With the way the unicorn had its gold and silver, broken horn to Piper’s neck, Percy may have feared some Diomedes’ level of flesh-eating-horse, except he could hear the unicorn grumbling about healing her.

But nothing about healing Annabeth.

When Percy pulled Annabeth into his lap, he was relieved to hear her soft breath. She was okay, but looked exhausted. There were dark circles under her eyes, like she hadn’t slept in days. He knew that look well during her exam times.

“Wise Girl…” he whispered and kissed her forehead. Despite the cold, her forehead was coated with sweat.

What happened? He demanded mentally.

The unicorn huffed, its black mouth puttering. He raised his horn from Piper to scowl one eye at Percy. At the sight of Piper’s neck, Percy winced. Pus and blood stained Piper’s camo jacket from some sore the unicorn was fixing. She was also breathing, though each breath rattled.

Eat bit, mate, the unicorn snapped. Other than Arion, Percy was so used to unquestioned respect from equestrians, the unicorn’s tone startled him. I just got back from fightin’ your little bird, went for a bit of grass, heard a crack, and came to check on my pet—

Jason and Leo appeared on either side of Piper.

When Leo knelt down, he landed in something squishy.

“How’s our Beauty Queen?” he asked, his voice cracking. Leo looked pale and he kept glancing back to Will.

Frank knelt beside Will. The big Canadian took off his praetorian cloak and gently laid it over Will in a way Percy really didn’t like. The movement was too final, too telling, especially how Frank covered Will’s smashed face, like that was all that was left to do.

Beside Frank, Hazel stood with her spatha drawn. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her empty fist was clenched and shaking.

Calypso sank down beside the decapitated body, looking stunned.

When Percy returned his gaze, his eyes locked with Jason. A moment of understanding passed between them, and Percy knew he had seen the final moments of another deceased Cabin Seven counselor. He wondered how many friends Jason had seen die in battle.

Anger wretched at his gut. This was supposed to be a peace party.

These other demigods weren’t great at the whole “peace party” thing. They’d need to be taught a thing or two about peace.

Er, well, about keeping the peace. Or—whatever. They needed to be taught a lesson.

“Guys? Earth to Percy, what did Sergeant Horn say about Pipes?” Leo asked.

Judging from his expression, Leo hadn’t realized what had happened to Will yet.

The unicorn snapped its teeth near Leo’s head. The name is Vinyl, Meat Sack.

“I wouldn’t call him that,” Percy said. He’d meant it for Leo, but realized it work for both parties.

“She should be okay,” Jason said, almost stubbornly. Percy watched Jason gently take Piper’s arm, two fingers pressed to her vitals. “Her heartbeat is strong though I think she’s running a slight fever.”

Behind them, Percy could see Hazel wipe away her tears. “We’re not letting them get away, not—not with what’s happened here. I’m going to bring down that barrier.”

Percy might have asked “What barrier?” but Hazel turned towards the woods, where they’d seen Pax dart off as they arrived.

As she raised her empty hand, a circle of green runes glowed around the forested lot.

Calypso stood up, away from the body. She rubbed her fingers on her work pants, then flipped her braid back over her shoulder. She stepped beside Hazel. “I can help you.”

Leo frowned and shifted. “Sunshine, I thought you didn’t have magic—wait—if you do, shouldn’t you be focusing on healing Will?”

Jason winced. “Leo—”

But Calypso beat him to it. While lifting her hands beside Hazel, Calypso hissed, “What good would that do?” Her voice was so much harsher than he remembered.

That did make Percy realize she could be healing Annabeth or Piper. Thinking about the curses and death wishes Calypso had given Annabeth in Tartarus, should he let her heal Annabeth?

The barrier’s circle emblazed with a more brilliant green. It expanded, like a bubble ready to pop.

Leo’s mouth dropped open. He glanced back over to Will and the decapitated body. “…oh… oh gods—does that mean the other body is Nic—”

“No, it’s Jack,” Calypso said. She gritted her teeth. Hazel made a soft grumble. Something small and sparkly sprang up by their feet—a diamond.

“Jack, your ex-boyfriend Jack? You can recognize him without a head?!”

“Not the time, Leo,” Percy pointed out. Though he wasn’t sure it was ever the time to discuss headless body recognition. “Jason.” Percy locked eyes with the son of Jupiter. “Do you wanna find out if that barrier is wind resistant?”

“On it,” Jason said. He gently kissed Piper’s forehead, took off his jacket, and propped her head under it. Then he went to join Hazel and Calypso. When he raised his arms, a deafening whistle blasted into the air as wind thundered into the trees.

Leo fumbled with his tool belt. “Lemme alert Felix and Festus. Maybe we can smoke them out.”

Frank stepped over to them, looking sick. “My stick could be in there.”

“Right. Maybe Felix can annoy them out,” Leo corrected and walked off, calling on the metal friends they’d parked further down the street.

Annabeth murmured softly. Percy dropped his face close to hers, trying to tune out the others. She was so quiet; he was scared Jason’s wind would drown her out.

What she said made his skin crawl. “Eris... has… your sis...ter…”

Percy felt his jaw drop. “My sister? They took my sister?!”

She inhaled leisurely and her eyes fluttered. She seemed like she might pass out again, but managed, “Don’t... kill… Ajax… Not… Fault…”

None of that made sense. But Annabeth’s grey eyes rolled back into her head before Percy could ask her what any of it meant. Although she’d barely managed to move at all, what little she had done spent the last of her energy. Annabeth collapsed into a deep sleep.

Percy trembled as he mimicked what Jason had done for Piper. He took off his swim captain sweater to put under Annabeth’s head. He couldn’t tell if his shakes were more from fear or anger.

You could mess with him. You could mess with the gods. You could even mess with Camp Half-Blood.

But no one touched Annabeth.

And no one touched his little sister or the rest of his family.

“Your sister?! Gods, Percy, are—are you okay?” Frank’s voice brought him to the present.

Frank hovered nearby, looking like he felt dumb for asking the question. But Percy was glad for it. The question made him focus.

“You.” Percy pointed at the unicorn who had continued to heal Piper. “You keep an eye out on these two, else I’ll hunt you down and turn you into glue.”

The unicorn huffed at him. Yea, the unicorn had attacked them, but he figured—had Vinyl wanted to kill Annabeth and Piper—he would have been using them for horn goring practice instead of sprinkling them with fairy dust.

Percy got to his feet and drew Riptide. “Alright, Frank. No more horsing around. We gotta make a plan to catch these bastards.” Especially if his sister and Nico were on the line. Especially if they had to find out what bastard did this to Will.

Something exploded beside them.

Shards of what looked like glowing green glass puffed into the moonbeams before dissolving into dust. As Jason’s air swept the particles away, an entire townhouse came into view in place of the forest, with a full driveway, a van parked out front, and a confused looking metal donkey beside it.

The Pax brother’s van.

There was also a stumbling silver worktable on the lawn. Leo must have sent Felix in while Percy was attending to Annabeth. The table looked crippled, one leg bent to the point of nonfunctioning. Now, it might make a better piece of angry, modern art.

“Barrier is down!” Hazel announced.

From their position in the neighbor’s adjacent lawn, Percy could see the back porch, where seven demigods were making a run for the forest behind the house.

“They’re leaving out the back!” Percy shouted.

Jason was on it. As he stepped rapidly along the side of the house, he raised one hand. A lightning bolt blasted into the tree line ahead of the retreating demigods.

Everything went white.

Percy’s ears rang with the pop.

Despite temporary deaf and blindness, Percy and Frank rushed over to join where Jason and Hazel were converging.

When Percy blinked the white dots out of his vision, he could see their attempted escapees were still trying to get to their feet. Before the Pax brothers and their allies could regroup, Hazel lifted her hands and shoved them down, hard, like she was about to hop over an invisible fence.

The ground by the tree line collapsed in a semicircle trench, cutting off any escape to the woods, unless one of them had a grappling hook or were an Olympic level pole vaulter,[1] they’d have to get through the five of them instead. Percy hoped they’d try to get through them.

“Nice,” Frank complimented Hazel.

“Thanks,” Hazel said, but her eyes were narrowed at their opponents. Percy understood. He could feel their collective rage. While Percy didn’t know the full story, these jerks had messed with him, his friends, and his family too much. They were going to find out who did this to Annabeth, Piper, and Will, where Nico was, and what they’d done with Percy’s little sister.

“Annabeth said not to kill them,” Percy growled.

Jason cracked his knuckles. “Did she say anything about beating them senseless?”

“Nope. She left that out.”

“Good,” Hazel said, clutching her spatha.

A rush of air puffed out behind them as something thumped onto the ground. Leo laughed crazily beside what Percy assumed was Festus. “Ha—ha! Dragon cavalry has arrived! Let’s show them that our back up is cooler than theirs!”

“No fire,” Hazel called over her shoulder.

Frank gave her an appreciative smile.

“Right! No fire!” Leo assured.

Festus creaked in confirmation.

“Hey, Sunshine, see if you can heal the girls while we take care of this.”

Percy was thinking how to politely inform Leo that his girlfriend might want to kill Annabeth when a cry went up from Hazel’s makeshift trench.

By now, Percy and his friends were walking past the back porch. He could see where Axel, Pax, Euna, and another boy that Percy didn’t recognize were standing

The tall, gangly brunette stranger tossed something onto the ground.

Smoke exploded into the moonlight, twisting out in three different colors: black in the center, and gold and green on either side. The screen completely coated their opponents, the back yard, and the trench. Then, it snaked upward into three separate shapes. The gold warped into a lion; the green, a serpentine head; the black, one of a goat.

As though in sync with the swirling smoke, a hiss and a snarl thundered from within.

Although Percy desperately hoped the goat would go baaaa, instead, a column of fire spat out of the smoke goat’s mouth. Not nearly as funny as the baaah, would have been.

Percy immediately recognized the shape as something he’d fought as a child. Some part of him felt small again.

Frank put it to words. “That is the Triple A Chimera,” he warned.

“AAA? Do they sell insurance?” Percy asked, trying to sound confident. Why was his voice shaking still? He was trying not to think about his sister, or Annabeth, or what could have happened to either of them. He was trying to focus on the battle, but his mind kept twisting to panic, like his battle mode ADHD had gone haywire.

Someone chanted in a language Percy didn’t understand. The barometric pressure dropped, like it had when Jason summoned lightning. A flash of turquoise flames fluttered to life within the golden smoke, tinting it a sickly green.

Another chill went down Percy’s spine. Some part deep inside of him said he should nope right out of this. But he and his friends had defeated the giants together and other way scarier things. Some renegade demigods? No problem, right?

“Reyna said they use fear magic—at least the Leonis Caput does. Ares said he already killed two praetors.”

“Right. Fear magic. That’s what it is,” Leo said behind them.

Jason put a hand out to stop any of them from approaching the smoke. “Frank, you didn’t say Axel was the Leonis Caput!”

“You know them?” Hazel asked. The fear magic must have been getting to her too. She looked queasy.

“I fought him and the Silver-Tongued Snake during the Battle of Mount Othrys. That’s the bastard playing with Reyna’s emotions?”

The way Jason said it made Percy think Annabeth’s wishes about no-killing wouldn’t be honored.

“They have nicknames?” Percy asked, trying to stop shaking. “It’s like a boy band.”

“I assure you, they’re nothing like a boy band.”

As though to confirm, through the smoke, a figure stepped out. Percy wondered if the bronze dragon behind them might discourage an attack and encourage making a sign that said We surrender. Sorry for being jerks.

Instead, the creature he saw didn’t look human, but also didn’t appear to be anything he knew from Greek mythology.

It had a ram’s skull for a head, with horns jutting several feet out to the sides. Green mist poured from its empty eye sockets. Pouches with glowing runes dangled from its wrists, its exposed spinal column, and its two-pronged black staff. Its limbs looked built out of tree twigs. Although humanoid, its gait was off, like each cloven step forward required it to rip roots out of the earth.

From the golden smoke beside it, another stalked forward. This one had golden skin that sagged into folds. Where the skin was torn, Percy could see a rotting skeleton. The face was feline, with a bloodied, crimson mane encasing the neck. Its jaws were permanently stretched into a snarl, too far for a living creature. Inside the blackness of the throat, Percy could see the reflection of two predatory golden eyes, like this thing had swallowed someone that wanted out.

The way it moved reminded Percy of how Leo’s flames flickered—too abrupt and jerky to look real.

Lastly, something rolled from the green smoke. It hissed out a laugh and crept closer, keeping low to the ground, though Percy could have sworn he saw the reptilian flicker of a tail.

Percy was not digging this fear magic. He was shivering like the first time he’d seen Polybotes.

“I’ve seen the real thing… They’re more like a… discount Chimera,” Percy said, swallowing.

The others looked as stunned.

“Jason.” Frank seemed to come to first. “Can you blow their cover?”

Jason shook his head, like he was warding off a bad memory. “Gladly.”

As Jason raised his arms to blast away the smoke, the serpentine figure and the feline crouched low, like an Olympic sprinter about to dash at them. Mr. Ramhead in the center slammed his staff down.

“Incanteare: Gelu Semati!” he snarled.

The serpent and the feline disappeared. Something else swirled out from the smoke: a blast of wintery hail. Tiny ice bullets pelted into Percy’s skin, making him wince and raise a hand to block his face.

Although the smoke dissipated under Jason’s wind, the hail blew into the wind, unlike anything Percy had ever seen. Percy couldn’t sense the water in that ice. He never thought there would be a storm he and Jason couldn’t stop, but this hail didn’t seem to care about the powers of the children of the sky and storm.

“So you wanna play with magic? You should know what you’re falling for,” the voice echoed from where Mr. Ramhead had been standing. The hailstorm increased; Percy could no longer see him. He could barely even see Frank, only a few feet away from him.

But he could sense something coming, something bad.

“I can’t control any of this!” Jason said, “Hazel?”

“It’s an illusion—but I can conjure Mist, not see through it,” Hazel said, “Listen for them!”

Percy desperately wished Rachel was here. Or Annabeth and Piper were conscious. Rachel could have seen through. Annabeth might have thought of a plan around it, and Piper could have talked Mr. Ramshead down.

“Jason and I will take to the air, see if we can get a better idea of what’s going on or where this ends,” Frank said, getting a hold of himself. “Hazel, see if you can trip up our opponents and make it hard to sneak around. Percy, Leo, Festus, make sure no one gets past you.”

“Will do, Praetor Man. Time for the Leomeister and Festus to—”

Something scurried past Percy’s leg. He pivoted to follow the movement, but the small creatures weren’t after him. The storm was less intense behind him, allowing Percy to catch a glimpse of what happened.

Leo stood a few feet back. Festus crouched behind him, making the townhouse look like a toy model. Both were ready to fight.

Then a weasel the size of a tractor slammed into the side of Festus. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Two smaller creatures hopped off the first, scampering up onto Festus’s wings.

While Festus tried to gain his footing, the monster-sized weasel twisted to chomp down on Festus’s neck. Percy hoped it would wretch back in pain from a toothache, but the black teeth sank right into the bronze.

The dragon creaked in alarm. The weasel was smaller than him, but those teeth must have hurt.

“Festus!” Leo shouted.

Festus stumbled, smashing into the side of the house. Percy took a step towards them in horror—Festus was close to Annabeth, Percy, Calypso, and Vinyl. The structure groaned, siding ripping off and onto his wings. The weasel disengaged, darted to the side, and dashed at him again. That thing was fast.[2]

“No fire!” Leo shouted when Festus’s mouth began to glow, withdrawing a sledgehammer from his tool belt.

It creaked again in anger. Then went to unfurl its wings, when one made an uncomfortable cracking sound.

One of the other tiny weasels phased out of Festus’s half-folded wing, a strip of wires dangling from its mouth.

Something exploded on Festus’s other wing.

They couldn’t use fire, but no one had said anything about water. Percy was about to give that giant rodent a hose down and get Festus clear of the girls, when he realized something horrible.

The weasels had been a distraction.

“Eyes forward!” Frank shouted.

Percy’s gut tugged when he felt for the water in the plumps under the house. He pulled, forcing the pipes to burst, flooding the water towards the surface.

As the water surged up, Jason shouted in alarm. The air and hail whirled around Jason as he went to take off, and follow Frank’s orders. Something anchored his ascent.

Vines erupted from the ground, wrapping tightly around the son of Jupiter’s ankles. The vines shooting from the earth became thicker—tree roots—and dragged Jason back down. Jason slashed furiously at the plants, but a new one would snag out of the ground each time he cut one down. Soon, the tree roots had crawled up his leg and sank him back to the grass.

A hissing laugh cackled out of the hail beside Jason. “I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going.”

When the vines snatched at Frank, he dispersed into a swarm of wasps—or something like that, since Percy just saw the large Canadian disappear into the hail.

Before Hazel could help him or Festus or before Percy could blast them with water, something rolled from the same direction of that taunting hiss.

Percy expected to have to destroy the soccer ball-like object, but felt his stomach pitch when the head started talking in an announcer voice.

“Oh! Our eagle boy is out for the count! Can the gracious Jason Grace manage to fight Euna Song’s godly grip! Stay tuned to find out folks—”

“Is that a talking head?!” Hazel demanded, being closest to the… thing.

No one could answer.

The Triple A Chimera reappeared.

Percy didn’t see the other two members, but something flickered out of the hail, directly beside him. One moment, Percy was concentrating on the up flow of sewer water and hoping Hazel and Frank could help Jason, when a skeletal humanoid appeared out of the hail and rolled into the splits beside Percy.

He hadn’t expected it to be so close, or so low to the ground. The movement completely exposed the Leonis Caput’s golden fur back and red maned head. It had no weapons drawn, and—for that instant—Percy could see it give him a ghastly grin.

A second set of golden, glistening eyes winked at Percy from inside the creature’s massive jaws.

As Percy pivoted to redirect Riptide, the monster slammed its palm into the side of Percy’s knee.

Percy felt air escape his mouth in the form of a scream.

Something snapped in his knee. The joint bent inward, towards his other leg.

Percy focused to keep his concentration on the scene around him: the hail, the gleam of the monster’s fur, the sewage water, his friends’ shouts, the talking head announcing his fall. He refused to let the world white out, like his body wanted it to.

In the same instance, Percy slammed Riptide’s blade into the Leonis Caput’s shoulder.

The blade deflected off the monster’s hide.

The Nemean Lion fur, he realized. He should have recognized it. This person—Axel?—must have killed it after him. If it was the same, no weapon could pierce that hide.

There was nothing Percy could do to regain his footing. His knee wouldn’t respond when he tried to stumble. He was going to fall.

But his little sister and Nico were on the line. He wasn’t about to let this monster win. After all, he was Percy Jackson.

Footnotes:

[1] Pax would like to clarify, that as he and Axel are circus performers, they probably could have made it. But they didn’t want to leave the others behind. You’re welcome, Pax.

[2] Look up videos of weasels vs. snakes. Weasels are AWESOME!

7 notes · View notes

templeofgeek · 4 years

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Whether you have been into cosplay for years or are just starting out, we all have learned one thing: it can get expensive! However, I am here to remind you that it does not have to cost an arm and a leg to create a cosplay. Doctor Who is my favorite television show, and I have created so many cosplays from it. Here, I will show you a break down of my cosplays, where I got certain pieces, and how I made and put together others.

Print on demand

Finding screen accurate pieces for cosplay can be difficult. It can also get expensive. However, print on demand websites are wonderful. Redubble is a print on demand website where artists’ renderings are applied to shirt, sweaters, dresses, etc. These might not be totally accurate, but they will be extremely close and way less expensive. For example, the striped shirt for the Thirteenth Doctor that I own came from Redbubble.

Thirteenth Doctor cosplay shirt

Ace cosplay shirt from Redbubble

Also, my Ace McShane (companion of the seventh Doctor) cosplay shirt came from Redbubble. The “Ace” patch was found on Etsy, but it does not seem to be available at the moment. This cosplay as a whole was a labor of love.

Ace McShane, played by Sophie Aldred,companion to the 7th Doctor

Maddie’s Ace Cosplay. Photo taken by Monica Duarte

Ace cosplay fabric from Spoonflower, cut into the individual patch pieces

Spoonflower is another great print on demand website. This website is more geared toward specialized fabric designed by artists. Since a lot of the patches couldn’t be found for Ace’s jacket, I checked Spoonflower just for fun. Not expecting anything, I was pleasantly surprised to see there was fabric made by an artist of a few of the patches that cannot be found. On Spoonflower, you can order sample sizes of fabric. This was the perfect size to get the “patches” I needed for Ace.

Redbubble replica shirt based on the Tshirt worn by the 12th Doctor

Redbubble replica shirts based on the Tshirts worn by the 12th Doctor and Rose Tyler

More options for print on demand websites include teepublic and society6. Both of these websites have designs made by different artists that are printed directly onto apparel.

Thrift Store and online consignment stores

Tweed jacket from thrift store for Eleventh Doctor

Thrift stores, secondhand stores, and online consignment stores are a gold mine for cosplay! Most of the coats from the different Doctors can be a bit pricey, but finding an alternate at a thrift store or website works perfectly. My very first cosplay was the Eleventh Doctor, and I found a wonderful tweed jacket there for $7. It was a bit big, but having it fixed (or fixing it yourself!) will still cost you less than buying a screen accurate coat/jacket.

Eleventh Doctor cosplay

Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith

eBay, Depop, and Poshmark are some of my favorite places to find secondhand outfits and pieces that you may not be able to find in a regular store.

Ebay is where I found the bomber jacket for my Ace outfit as well as most of the patches and pins. This is the image I used to identify what was on her jacket. To be honest, a lot of these were either impossible to find or were not in circulation anymore. It was still a fun treasure hunt!

River Song, played by Alex Kingston

River Song Cosplay. Photo taken by Katie York, Gallifrey One 2019

Also, once in a while, eBay (or Depop or Poshmark) will have screen accurate or close to accurate Doctor Who items. I was lucky enough to find Mels/River Song’s Ecote Urban Outfitters screen accurate dress for way less than it was in the stores. However, be mindful of shipping. If you are in the United States and you found something in the U.K., then shipping may bring the price back up.

Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie. Companion to the 12th Doctor season 10

Knock-off Bill Potts bomber jacket (front)

Knock-off Bill Potts bomber jacket (back)

There is also an alternate Bill Potts jacket that was circulating eBay that works perfectly. It isn’t TopShop, but who can tell? (See above images)

Clara Oswald, aka “Souffle Girl” from Doctor Who episode “Assylum of the Daleks”

Alternate “Souffle Girl” wedged sneakers from Depop

Depop is an app purely for secondhand clothing items. You can type into the search bar “Clara Doctor Who cosplay,” filter the results to international or national, and find great options. I found Souffle Girl alternate shoes on this app for $12.

DIY Cosplay Projects

Sometimes, making props or pieces for a cosplay can be a little intimidating. It doesn’t have to be, and it does not have to be expensive. Find things at your local discount store that can easily be painted or even cut/molded into what you are looking for. Craft stores have a lot of options for materials that do not cost much at all.

The TARDIS. The time and space ship the Doctor uses to travel.

The TARDIS is one of the most fun “characters” in Doctor Who to cosplay. There is so much you can do with her!

Ballerina TARDIS cosplay. Photo taken by Katie York.

My very first TARDIS cosplay was a ballerina version. I used a blue corset that I had purchased from eBay for a Snow White variant I made a while back. The black Forever21 leggings were in my closet already, and I threw on some black flats. Now, the tutu is an Amazon find. I made the windows out of felt pieces I already had, but felt in general is quite inexpensive, and you do not need much for this. The “St. John’s Ambulance” and “Pull to Open” patches were printed onto iron-on fabric paper and ironed on to more felt. I attached them with sticky pins since safety pins do not work well with the bones of the corset.

Punk Rock TARDIS. Gallifrey One, 2019. Photo taken by Monica Duarte

This is my punk rock TARDIS. Rather than purchase ripped leggings (which are so expensive!) I cut a pair of my own I hadn’t worn in a while. The patches are actually printed out images using iron-on printer paper. Way less expensive and less of a hassle than trying to find or create patches. The flannel and the spike jewelry are from Amazon. Since I did not need to wear the flannel as an actual sweater, the size did not matter to me. Sometimes, sizing on Amazon changes the prices, so I went bigger in order to spend less money. The temporary tattoo that says “Gallifrey” in Circular Gallifreyan was made at home. Amazon also has temporary tattoo printer paper available, so I found the Gallifreyan image on Google and printed it out. (I actually printed several in case it didn’t go on right the first time.)

My 5 year old son was also the TARDIS. His costume is much more simple since it can be hard to keep a small child in cosplay. I used a blue t-shirt from a craft store and iron-on paper to attach the windows and signs. The headband light is a clear plastic cup. By request of my little guy, I used blue sparkly pipe cleaner around the bottom of the cup (top of the light). Then, I used blue felt for the strips down the side. In order to get the cup to stay on the headband, I Gorilla glued a piece of cardboard from an Amazon box to the cup and then to the headband.

Dalek. Evil alien from Doctor Who, first appeared in 1963.

Ravenclaw Dalek cosplay. Photo from Gallifrey One 2018

This Dalek DIY Ravenclaw dress was part of a group at Gallifrey One where we were Hogwarts Houses versions of Daleks. Now, there are a couple of ways out there to make a Dalek dress, but I chose the easiest way possible. The bulbs are Styrofoam spheres cut in half and painted with acrylic paint. I glued them on with Gorilla glue. DISCLAIMER: If you are using Gorilla glue on fabric like this, put a piece of parchment paper in between the front and the back. Otherwise, the dress or shirt will be glue together…I learned this from experience. The belt was an inexpensive Amazon find, and the Ravenclaw patch came from Etsy. The “lights” in my hair were made with plastic jello shot cups glued to a couple of bobby pins. That plunger was from the Dollar Tree, and I painted the handle silver to match my house. See that wand? It’s a chopstick painted black!

Gallifrey One Hogwarts House Dalek group. Photo taken by Katie York

Ace cosplay picture taken by Monica Duarte

The patchwork and pins for my Ace cosplay were all attached by hand. She is by far my most favorite cosplay that I have ever created and pieced together. Sewing patches onto a bomber jacket was not something I was going to attempt, so I used Gorilla glue for most of the patches. Also, Ace does use safety pins to attach quite a few of the patches to the jacket. This made application of a lot of them pretty easy.

Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper. Companion to the 9th and 10th Doctors until season 3.

This Rose Tyler “Tooth and Claw” outfit uses iron-on patchwork for the shirt. A lot of these designs can be found online, printed out, and then ironed onto your shirt. Iron-on transfer paper can be found at just about an craft store. When in doubt, Amazon!

Download the image below for your own cosplay DIY!

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Closet Cosplay

A lot of Doctor Who costumes can be created by clothing you already have in your closet. You can absolutely create a whole look from “regular” clothes or piece your clothes with purchased and/or created pieces. For example, with my Ace cosplay, I already had the leggings and boots, and I found the skater skirt on clearance from Hot Topic.

9th Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston

9th Doctor cosplay

The Ninth Doctor is a wonderfully easy closet cosplay. Grab yourself a black jacket, a solid, dark colored shirt (olive, dark red, or dark purple will work), black jeans, and black boots. Will it be perfect? No, but every Doctor Who fan will recognize you!

Purchasing licensed pieces

Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor – Doctor Who _ Season 12, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Ben Blackall/BBC Studios/BBC America

Photo taken by Monica Duarte, Gallifrey One 2020

Her Universe currently holds the license for current Thirteenth Doctor products. Within this brand, there are pretty-close-to-accurate Thirteenth Doctor pieces. Her blue and pink shirts are both available. You can also find her coat and culottes. Do not be afraid to treat yourself and purchase these pieces! They are high quality and as close to accurate, I believe, that you will get other than spending a fortune on the legitimate pieces. Side note: the culottes and coat from Her Universe do run a little big. The coat is fine, but I did have to alter the culottes so they were a little shorter.

Her Universe coat, culottes, and 13th Doctor top (pink)

The BBC Doctor Who Shop also has so much to choose from. From sonic screwdrivers to socks, this is where a lot of the licensed products can be found. Lovarzi currently holds the license for the Fifth Doctor’s (played by Peter Davidson) official Cricket Sweater.

Ultimately, just have fun! Cosplay is meant to be fun. The word “play” is in the name! Do what works for you. This fun hobby does not need to cost you a fortune. When it comes to Doctor Who cosplay, there is always a way!

For more cosplay guides:

Temple of Geek Chic: Her Universe 13th Doctor Collection

How To Cosplay Grunge & Air Force Captain Marvel

How to Cosplay Allison (The Rumor- #3) from The Umbrella Academy

Corinna’s Chilling Closet Cosplay: Cosplaying Sabrina on a budget

How to Cosplay MJ from Spider-Man: Far From Home

Cosplay on a budget: how to create Doctor Who cosplays #DoctorWho #DoctorWhoCosplay Whether you have been into cosplay for years or are just starting out, we all have learned one thing: it can get expensive!

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