baby nico!!!!

There's a lot going on throughout the whole Wolfwood-Chapel-Livio arc in Volumes 9-10 of Trigun Maximum, not the least of which is some pretty clear Biblical references and imagery. But there are some less obvious ones, too, so I'm gonna talk about one of them here and try to pull it a little closer to the surface.

This bit caught my attention in Volume 9, when Chapel has Wolfwood pinned to the ground and is reviling Vash to him, trying to tear away the hope that has only grown stronger in Wolfwood since he met Vash.

Wolfwood's not speaking out loud here, but still, his word choice seems strange. He's called Vash ignorant and an idiot, but calling him a child seems oddly out of place (especially in light of how young Wolfwood is himself).

Despite his seemingly insulting words, Wolfwood doesn't seem to intend insult here. He cares a great deal about Vash, and while he knows there's a logic to what Chapel is saying, it's Vash's "idiocy" and naiveté that Wolfwood has ultimately chosen to follow.

Then I got to thinking of another place where being called "like a child" isn't intended to be an insult.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. - Matthew 18:1-5, NSRVA Translation

It's inevitable that children would be a bit of a focus in an arc that takes place at a functioning orphanage. But the kids at Wolfwood's home orphanage aren't treated as ignorant or annoying or worthless. They're kids, yes, but they're full of infinite hope, love, and forgiveness.

At the beginning of the arc, they jump in front of Wolfwood's bike despite not recognizing him and having no way to know ahead of time that he's an ally. They're determined to help Miss Melanie and the hostages and desperate to be taken seriously. They understand the situation is bad and most likely beyond them, but they won't... can't... cower in fear and do nothing.

They are scared, but they are brave. In addition to confronting the weird stranger on a bike who is Wolfwood, one of them goes so far as to try and take on the mercenaries surrounding the orphanage himself.

It's a dumb move that nearly gets him killed, but the alternative at that time seemed to be to sit around and do nothing, so the kid decides instead to do his best.

Later, when Wolfwood is being torn apart by Chapel in front of the orphanage, Miss Melanie tries to protect the kids and save as many of them as she can, telling them all to scatter and do their best to escape. But the kids call her out on the stupidity of this suggestion.

Not only is it unlikely to work, but it practically guarantees her death, at the very least, and they can't allow that. She may be willing to sacrifice herself for them, but she's overlooked that they are just as willing to sacrifice for her.

Near the end of the story arc, Miss Melanie decides to trust them with the truth that most of them have already figured out. In defiance of Wolfwood's wishes, she tells them about his true nature, and then she presents them with a decision. They can turn their back on him if they want. After all, he looks nothing like the big brother they remember, and on top of that he's become a killer whose hands are drenched in blood. But just in case they feel differently, she's brought the bag of confetti they've been saving to use to celebrate his return... a return they had no way of knowing would ever happen.

They choose the confetti.

It didn't matter what he'd done in the past, or even what he'd done while they'd been trapped hiding in the orphanage. Their big brother Nico had home when they'd most needed him, and they were going to celebrate.

To be counted among children like these is not an insult. They are the same as Wolfwood was before Chapel took him in. They are hopeful and they care deeply about one another. They have all overcome some darkness or another, and yet at the orphanage they have not only found a family and some sense of belonging, but they have learned to turn around and extend that same love to others.

Wolfwood still has some part of that deep inside of him... and it's Vash who helps him find it again.

Vash isn't so different from these children. He hopes for better things even when he has no way of knowing. He tries to see the best in people, to give them as many chances as possible, to understand them and forgive them.

He does his best to help even when it puts him in danger because something has to be done. Often it seems all his kindness has gotten him is reviled and run out of towns and hunted for both bounty and revenge. But he keeps at it.

It's true he's lost sight of his goals here and there along the way, but at least in the part of his life that we're allowed to see, he's lucky enough to have Wolfwood to bring him back around.

In this way, they've both epitomized the verses above, both reflecting the hope and kindness that is displayed by children even when it comes at the sacrificing of their own bodies, their vengeance, and their egos. Vash has demonstrated this particular aspect of Christlike-ness for Wolfwood, and Wolfwood, in turn, grows to reflect those same traits himself.

But the Biblical parallel doesn't end there. Let me just pull up the verse immediately after the passage quoted above...

If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. - Matthew 18:7, NRSVA translation

Do we have anyone who fits this in the story? Maybe someone who preys on kids, specifically seeking out the most hopeful and protective of them so they can break them down and bend them to his will, drain them of the care they had for others, and turn the best of their traits to be nothing more than tools to be wielded for his own ends?

Anyone?

In conclusion, even God hates Chapel. Tie a giant fucking rock around this man's neck and throw him into the sea and, Biblically speaking, even that's far too good for him.

Nightow knew what he was doing.

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: My nephew helped me queue this one (he is a literal baby) -Danny Words: 2,379 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Goldrush' -by Stela Cole

X: Are You Serious? Right in Front of My Salad?

I wake up with a start. My mouth is dry as if I've been running for hours. I just had the weirdest dream about Janus in a forest and now my mind is racing, so I get up. I leave Annabeth in Geryon's old bedroom and make my way downstairs. 

Nico is seated on a tall chair in the kitchen aisle, he doesn't look up as I walk past him, but as I'm filling a glass with water, he speaks to me. "How's Lily?" He asks hoarsely. "And Michael?"

I want to ignore him, but his voice is so broken my heart can't bear it. We spoke to his sister's ghost today, and Bianca told him to stop trying to bring her back.

"You know, now that you're all grumpy, you and Lily would get along even better."

"I don't want friends," he cuts me off, voice quivering. "Just wanted my sister."

"Nico," I leave my glass on the counter and cross my arms. "I grew up in an orphanage—"

"What's that got to do with—"

"Shut up and listen," I scowl. "I didn't know how it felt to have a real family until recently, and sometimes Percy annoys me on purpose, but no one cares for me the way he and my mom do. If Bianca, your only sister, was asking you to trust us, you should've listened."

"Like how you listened to Percy when he asked you to stay put?"

I tense. "That's different. Geryon would've killed him if I hadn't—"

He interrupts me bitterly. "Percy's not your real brother, and you'll never know what a real family is. You get in everyone's way trying to be a hero."

I try not to pout, but I'm not succeeding. "That's mean."

If Nico is ashamed, I don't sense it. "It's the truth."

"You don't talk to your friends like that," I say, voice quivering. "Bianca—"

Nico gets up and exits the room hastily, speaking through gritted teeth. "We are not friends."

"...Gaea told me that she needed the blood of only two demigods—one female, one male. She—she asked me to choose which boy would die." Piper explains during the meeting.

"But neither of us died," Jason replies. "You saved us."

"I know. It's just... Why would she want that?"

"Guys, remember at the Wolf House? Our favorite ice princess, Khione?" Leo mentions. "She talked about spilling Jason's blood, how it would taint the place for generations. Maybe demigod blood has some kind of power." 

"Oh..." Percy leans back in his chair looking nauseous. "Oh, bad... Bad. Bad." He turns to Hazel and Frank. "You guys remember Polybotes?"

"The giant who invaded Camp Jupiter," Hazel replies. "The anti-Poseidon you whacked in the head with a Terminus statue. Yes, I think I remember."

"I had a dream, when we were flying to Alaska. Polybotes was talking to the gorgons, and he said—he said he wanted me taken prisoner, not killed. He said: 'I want that one chained at my feet, so I can kill him when the time is ripe. His blood shall water the stones of Mount Olympus and wake Earth Mother!'"

"Jolly way of dying..." Ara mutters.

Piper makes a face. "You think the giants would use our blood... the blood of two of us—"

"I don't know," Percy replies. "But until we figure it out, I suggest we all try to avoid getting captured."

"That I agree with," Jason sighs.

"But how do we figure it out? The Mark of Athena, the twins, Ella's prophecy... how does it all fit together?" Hazel questions.

Annabeth leans on the table. "Piper, you told Leo to set our course for Atlanta." 

"Right. Bacchus told us we should seek out... what was his name?"

"Phorcys," Percy responds.

"You know him?" Annabeth looks at him with surprise.

"I didn't recognize the name at first. Then Bacchus mentioned salt water, and it rang a bell. Phorcys is an old sea god from before my dad's time. Never met him, but supposedly he's a son of Gaea. I still don't understand what a sea god would be doing in Atlanta."

"What's a wine god doing in Kansas? Gods are weird," Leo points out with a shrug. "Anyway, we should reach Atlanta by noon tomorrow, unless something else goes wrong."

"Don't even say that," Annabeth shivers. "It's getting late. We should all get some sleep."

"Wait," Piper intervenes. "There's one last thing. The eidolons—the possessing spirits. They're still here, in this room." 

There is nothing but silence for a few seconds before Hazel sighs. "Piper is right."

"How can you be sure?" Annabeth questions.

"I've met eidolons. In the Underworld, when I was... you know."

"So..." Frank looks around anxiously. "You think these things are lurking on the ship, or—"

"Possibly lurking inside some of us," Piper replies. "We don't know."

"Okay," Ara fixes her posture tensely. "Do you have a plan to get rid of them?"

"Yes," Piper looks at her. "I think we can fix this."

Ironic, how the skills that have proven to be handy so far are the ones she had as an Aphrodite and not the ones she worked hard for. "Okay," Ara nods with confidence. "What do we do?"

"We talk, and everyone else has to listen," her sister explains. "Your voice is stronger than mine, so it'd be better if you call out to them first, and force them to stay put."

"You're a better negotiator, though," Ara reminds her, "so you'll do the talking after I've got them in place."

"Deal."

"Girls, what are you—"

Ara hushes Jason and lifts a finger. "Be quiet, I have to focus." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. The girl's skin glows pink, and the dark brown has been replaced with iridescent tints when she opens her eyes. "Eidolons, where are you?"

A ripple of warm air crosses the table. Leo, Jason, and Percy sit up stiffly, their gazes are the same golden color. "Here," they speak all at once.

Frank jumps out of his seat and presses his back against a wall. Hazel covers her mouth in horror.

"You are not allowed to leave your seats," Ara tells them.

"We won't move," they reply.

 Annabeth looks at the two daughters of Aphrodite with worry. "Oh, gods—Can you cure them?"

Piper raises her hand to ease her, and when she does, her palm trembles a little. Ara holds it as soon as she notices.

"Are there more of you on this ship?" Piper asks.

"No," Leo responds. "The Earth Mother sent three. The strongest, the best. We will live again."

"Not here, you won't," Piper's eyes blaze with anger. "All three of you, listen carefully. You will leave those bodies—"

"No."

"We must live."

"Then find another way," Ara glares at the Eidolon possessing Leo.

Leo's face twists into a smirk. "You are a spoiled child of Olympus. We do not answer to you."

"Mars Almighty, that's creepy!" Frank draws out his bow. "Get out of here, spirits! Leave our friends alone!"

Leo looks at him. "You cannot command us either, child of war. Your own life is fragile. Your soul could burn at any moment."

Frank manages to aim an arrow at Leo. "I—I've faced down worse things than you. If you want a fight—"

"Frank, don't," Hazel gets up, then turns to the others. "Listen to Piper."

"Daughter of Pluto, you may control gems and metals. You do not control the dead," Percy snarls.

"Listen, eidolons," Hazel spits out, "you do not belong here. I may not command you, but Piper and Ara do. Obey them."

Piper looks at Ara, the girl squeezes her palm and absorbs the fear her sister is feeling so she can speak. Piper takes a deep breath and tries again. "You will leave those bodies."

Jason grimaced. "We—we will leave these bodies."

"You will vow on the River Styx never to return to this ship, and never to possess any member of this crew."

Leo and Percy groan in protest, but their eyes are slowly changing colors.

"You will promise on the River Styx," Piper repeats, squeezing Ara's hand.

Ara shakes off the shivers she's getting from sponging Piper's anxiety, but she doesn't let go of her. "Promise!" The girl stomps her foot impatiently, and another ripple of hot air pushes out of her place on the table.

"We promise on the River Styx," the boys spit out in different levels of distress. 

"You are dead," Piper continues in a steady voice. 

"We are dead." 

"Now, leave."

The boys fall: Percy against the table, Jason over his chair, and Leo onto the floor. "Ow!"

"Leo!" Ara lets go of Piper and circles the table, she finds Leo sprawled next to his toppled chair.

"Are you all right?" Hazel asks the boys.

"Did it work?" Leo speaks groggily.

"It worked," Piper announces. "I don't think they'll be back."

"Does that mean I can stop getting head injuries now?" Jason groans.

Piper laughs. "Come on, Lightning Boy. Let's get you some fresh air. And Ara..." she tilts her body to see her over the table's surface. "Thank you."

Ara helps Leo to get back on his feet, she dusts off her jeans and looks at Piper. "You saved my brother and my boyfriend, I should be thanking you."

"What was that thing you did?" Hazel questions in shock. "You glowed pink!"

"Aphrodite's blessing," Ara replies. "I can use those from time to time, but not often and not one after the other, it tires me out too quickly."

"You have more than one blessing?" Frank asks in shock.

"She's got four," Leo replies hoarsely, rubbing the side of his face. "Gods, doll, you could've asked my ghost to land on his butt..."

Ara grins. "We should call it a day. Y'all go to sleep, I'll take the night shift."

Everyone starts to leave, but Percy stays behind to talk to Ara and Leo. "So..." He makes a face. "That sucked. I'm sorry for... you know..."

"It's alright, man," Leo shrugs. "I would've reacted the same way if some weirdo claimed to be my sister's sweetheart and then proceeded to bomb my house."

"A real fancy way to put it, Leo," Ara scowls.

"My point is—now we can start over, right?" Leo reaches out to take Percy's hand.

Percy shakes his hand with no hesitation. "Definitely." He glances at Ara. "I know Ara can take care of herself, but... just try to be careful."

Ara feels weird about the way he says it. Her mind goes to Hazel and Frank, and how they called Leo 'Sammy' the first time they spoke to him. She thinks Percy knows something about that.

Leo is checking the ship's status before ending the day. It could be done by just one of them, but he insisted and Ara refused to let go of him now that he's eidolon-free.

"Not that I'm complaining," he walks from one place to another with Ara hugging him from behind like a little kid. "But it wasn't that serious, doll. Getting possessed is kinda like the flu."

"It's not funny," Ara mumbles, squeezing his waist. "Last night he could've taken over while you were kissing me—"

"Yikes," Leo cringes. "Let's not go there."

"But it could've happened!"

"Nah," he taps the morse code for 'I love you' on the back of her hand. Leo does it without noticing, or at least that's what Ara thinks, she's never asked because she fears it'll make Leo self-conscious and then he'll stop doing it. "My Eidolon was scared of you—all bark and no bite. The reason why they felt brave enough to attack you in New Rome, was because you were caught off guard."

"Love your blind faith, but—"

Leo turns and wraps his arms around her. "No buts! You're strong, smart, and hot when you use your blessings."

Ara gets flustered and tries to step back. "Okay, I got it—"

The boy kisses her without warning. He hadn't kissed her like this in... well, probably never. When he ends it, Ara is speechless and light-headed, her soul-light glows as bright as gold. Sometimes he does things that make her doubt he's not a fidget of her imagination, the way he can make her forget everything that bothers her and all she can do is stay focused on him in just a matter of seconds.

"Talking about last night... you mentioned Hazel," he says quietly, paying close attention to how she reacts. "We're gonna talk about that, or..?"

Ara leans her forehead on his. "Do we have to?"

Leo frowns. "Yeah, think so. That girl and her boyfriend freak me out! I don't know what I did to them..."

"Percy knows, but I don't think he wants to tell me," she sighs. "You should ask them face to face."

Leo snorts. "And say what? 'Hey, are you two planning my murder?'—bet that would lighten the mood around here."

Ara rolls her eyes. "Obviously not like that! I'm sure there's a way to address this without making it awkward..." She holds his arms. "Do you think Hazel..."

Leo stares at her, and he doesn't know how, 'cause this has never come naturally to him, but he guesses what Ara's trying to ask him. "You think she likes me?" He squints. "I mean, I am more good-looking than Frank, but—"

"Leónidas!" She hisses under her breath. "I'm serious!"

"Me too!" Leo exclaims. "Okay fine, grown-up talk," his grip on her gets a little tighter. "I don't know. It's like she's scared of me or something... I'll try to talk to her if you want me to."

Ara's uncomfortable for a wide variety of reasons. Mostly jealousy, but she's having negative thoughts about a girl that she's supposed to look after, and to top it all she's Nico's half-sister. She tries hard not to antagonize Nico too much, but she's always finding ways to do so.

"I hate feeling this way." She makes a face. "When we got the celestial bronze, you guys had like... a moment. I'm still thinking about it."

"A moment?"

Ara blushes, knowing how ridiculous she's about to sound. Her eyes avoid his when she talks, they're no longer golden, but they still have power over her. "You locked eyes for a second. It looked intense."

Leo presses his lips together, stopping himself from laughing. "Hm."

"This is stupid, I don't know why I'm even—"

The girl turns to leave, but Leo pulls her close again, grinning from ear to ear. His soul-light brightens. "Arae Jackson, are you jealous?"

"No!" She exclaims indignantly. "Being jealous would mean I don't trust you and I do! I don't care if you talk to girls, I'm just—worried."

"Worried," Leo repeats tauntingly. "Sure. Whatever you say, sunshine."

Ara slips out of his grasp and hurries away. "I'm telling Frank you said he's ugly."

"Hey! I didn't—Ara—STOP!"

Next chapter →

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled @thepixiechicks

I think TSATS is making things harder for itself - A mediocre background analyse

See:

It's, supposedly, a novel for Young Adults.

A large part of its consumers, however, would be adults.

Instead of the familiar actions and mythology, its focus is a relationship - romance, if you will - and self-discovery.

The last point technically isn't its fault, but it plays in the never-ending loop of critique, so Imma count that in.

For the most part, we're forgetting TSATS is a part of TSATS is a part of an already firmly established franchise, which is built upon a no little amount of actions, fightings, and tension in general. PJO, HOO, and TOA all feature nearing apocalypses that require missions and sometimes a journey to stop. This is comepletely not TSATS' fault, but it has inadvertedly become the drawbacks for its approach as the later-born of the universe.

The audience's age.

I know we've established that TSATS is a YA novel, however, I doubt the number of adults who end up engaging is negligible. Where do they come from?

They're the fans of the previous books. AKA, fans of this series since the day it was born.

Remember. The Lightning Thief was published in 2005. The Titan's curse came out in 2007. The Blood of Olympus, in which Solangelo was first hinted at, was published in 2014. The time distance is 18 , 16 and 9 years respectively.

Assuming one read TTC at 12 years old - the minimum age to read an YA book, they would be 28 years old now. That's an adult. If one read BOO at 12 years out, they would be 21 years old. Again, an adult.

Furthermore, are there many of them? Yes. Definitely yes. The Riordanverse as a series has been expanding over 18 years as one of people's childhood memories. The number of fans it holds, has gains and is gaining, throughout the years can't possibly be little. Along with the universe, they grow, too.

But would they read the book? Some of them might not, provided they fall out of love with the series or aren't interested. But some will. As I have said and we all know: PJOverse is many's childhood series. We love it, of course we would want to keep up with it.

-> TSATS is a YA novel, but it would end up being consumed by adults as well. I'm not quite sure it would be majority or not, but the number would be undoubtedly a lot.

SPOILERS: Also? The Lil Nas X reference absolutely does not help. I honestly don't know why Rick thought putting it in would be a good idea...

Which brings us to the second point:

2. TSATS, as it turns out, focuses on relationships and self-discovery rather than the familiar world-saving tension. I can have a field day with this.

It might cause misdirection, which involves preferences.

Named "a Nico di Angelo adventure", you'd epxect the story about the greatness, the horrors, the scenes and things you encouter along the way and how it grows you... You know, an Adventure.

But instead, it leans more towards the emotional part, with a relationship in the center. It might not what you've expected.

I can't speak for the YA in USA since our tastes might vary, but I've seen someone who claimed that the young adults - or "Kids", in their words - prefer a little bit of physical scenes. If that's the case, my point stands.

which leads us to another main point:

Since I've established that TSATS has a large number of adult consumers, does that mean this new topic - self-discovery, relationship problems, etc... - might interest them?

I'm not saying it won't, but it might not, because:

It's unfamiliar to its loyal audience, and unfamiliarity grants at least a bit of apprehension and repulsion.

It's quite natural, actually. You'd be wary if you encounter something you're unaccustomed to.

I have seen some people claming the Tartarus in TSATS doesn't match its previously portraited impressive aura, along with some problems in the story's pace. This, I suggest, might be the result of the sudden change in the story's focus: It weighs more in emotions and everything feelings, thus clouding the actions, thrilling scenes, etc...

I'm not saying the emotional aspect and relationships have never contributed to the PJOverse. And YA read about romance and emotions too! In fact, we have seen beautiful friendships and romances alike. However, as a series that take place in a mythological world and started out in the Adventure category, the Adventure part makes up a great foundation.

Without it, it's only logical that the story itsself would appear somewhat foreign.

The introduction of a new, unfamiliar author might invoke some disturbance, as well.

Mark Oshiro's style is definitely different from the usual Rick Riordan's flow. In a way, it diminishes the latter's usual shounen-like, mythological, thrilling vibes.

You'd expect them to work well together and complete each other, each specializes in a facet of the story. However, it might come out as restricting once they go out of sync. TSATS might come out as shallow - in the department of characters' emotional and mental aspects and/or lame - when it comes to the actions.

-> With the new story target, TSATS runs the risk of failing to meet the psychological requirements, along with the unability to utilize its famous, widely-loved mythological, fiction vibes.

In conclusion: I cannot fault Rick's choice to choose a new purpose for this book - considering Solangelo was deemed to be its main character, but it's obvious that this decision has brought TSATS many challenges. Some of which might be too much, hence a wave of critiques aimed at it just a few days after release.

I just feel very sad for this book.

GUYS GUYS I CAN'T KSODKLSOSL!!!1!!1LKDKJ;;S !!!l1JK!::kKD;P SOSKSLSPSODS A;SDOKDLAD I CAN'T EVEN FORM WORDS

spoilers for ep 12 (and a bit for trigun in general) and my overexited ramblings under the cut

you know an episode will be good when where's no opening

so, the twins are meant to be characterized straightforward in every anime adaptation, ig. it's not bad, but the manga twists their personalities 180° and it adds SO MUCH nuance (I'll talk about this at length some day)

tbh I had to pause for laughter when knives was YEETED outta the gate (I have sense of humor of a five year old)

everybody already said everything, but still. OG HAIR COMEBACK OMG AHRAHAAKFJDlahjddjha!!!!!!!! ;!!! ;! and not only hair, but the whole characterization this episode was much closer to trimax vash, and not just sadboy depressive bbg

MERYL/REM PARALLELS LETS GOOOO!!! like, I guessed this would happen, but the visuals, the tension and pure GRATITUDE in vash's voice when he was able to break free from his mental prison... we're eating good

speaking of eating, I CAN'T get over that moment when vash deadass BIT KNIVES. that's peak sibling behavior, he's literally fighting tooth and nail over there

also mashwood is so real tonight!! love love love meryl&nico interactions in stampede, they barely spoke to each other in other versions! and the look of relief on vash's face when he sees nico skedaddling away with meryl!!! he's so glad that they're gonna be okay and that nico made the right choice and came back to help, if briefly. interstingly, he was able to remember everyone, but after the explosion at the end he still lost his memory.

and THE WINGS, DUDE!!!! it gives the finale of trimax, when they both had only one wing left..... still missing feathers, but I love the diversity with knives's, eh... knives, and vash's energy/void or whatever that is, I support it

he's so pathetic even when he looks cool, homeboy had NO control when he used his wing for the first time... cudos for learning new powers on the spot tho

ow ow ow that scene with the military hurt... and he couldn't even save them!

"why are you like that, vash?" "I'm vash the stampede" "IT'S BEEN OVER A CENTURY AND THIS IS THE BEST YOU COULD CAME UP WITH" same here, knives, he's hopeless. I anticipated that moment, but it probably hits even hard for stampede onlys

angel arm!!! tho it's not that angelic now... how are we gonna call it? I take suggestions. rip arm and coat, I feel like we'll actually get a more trimax leaning design next season!

to all the ppl (myself included) who wanted to see vash cry properly... are you happy? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY??? after the last episode, after all the mental torture knives put him through, vash still doesn't want to hurt him and, just like knives, can't handle the distance between them.......... I am inconsolable. and as much as knives wanted to break vash, it hurts him so much to see those tears irl....... but he just can't stop, because they're both SO FUCKING STUBBORN and it already took to much to get there and he just can't. stop. now.

"nai is dead, you killed him" first of all, *sounds of screaming crying throwing up*. second of all, his name is million knives, vash, stop deadnaming your brother/j

the death scene itself.... oh it's soo good and yummy. I know this mf isn't fully dead and conrad will fix him, but still. he can have a second death of self as a treat

btw, gotta adress my earlier theory about "happy birthday" being metaphorical. no, it is in fact July 21st, and tristamp lasted about two months in universe. still pretty hard for me to believe, it felt five times shorter due to the pacing. but it is what it is: I'm esht and I was wrong, I'm singing the esht wrong song

and just as I thought this would be the end of it, WE GOT A FLASH FORWARD THAT HAD BASICALLY EVERYTHING WE WERE HOPING FOR AND MORE

RAISED BOUNTY! MERYL GIRLBOSSIFICATION!! a hint at insurance society (tho that was more of a threat and she's still a journalist). MILLY CONFIRMATION!!! ERIKS' LACK OF ARM AND AMNESIA!!!! EARTH FLEET AND CHRONICA!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

IT'S GONNA BE GOOD SEASON 2 IS GONNA BE EVEN BETTER I CAN FEEL IT IN MY BONE MARROW

Passageway

"Yeah, if you guys don't like veggie, there's a pepperoni at the bottom." Alex broke the silence as he pointed at the pizza boxes. "There's a sausage under, and a pineapple, too."

"Or board games," Alex suggested again. Seojun quietly placed the box of Twister down beside him as he noticed the girl beside him breathing heavily. Alex noticed the Twister beside the girl. "Ooh, yes, Twister!"

The others glanced at him as he pointed at the slender box. "Remember that we would always...?"

"We're not 12 anymore," Gert spoke up.

"Not even me." Molly scrunched her face as she moved towards Hana to sit beside her. Alex nodded. "Good point. Okay, how about suggestions, then, just anything you guys..." He sat down on a chair until Molly spoke up. "What are you doing?" She scolded. "That was her chair."

Hana grabbed Molly's hand and held it tight, giving her a look. Nico shook her head. "Sit wherever you want." She stated. "She's gone." Alex gave her a sympathetic stare. Another awkward silence filled the air until Chase spoke up. "This is too weird." He sighed. Karolina nodded. "Maybe we just don't work without her."

Chase stood up with a slight scoff. "Yeah. I'm outta here. Alex stood up as well. "No, come on, guys!" He stopped Chase from leaving the guesthouse. "Listen, we can't blame Amy for the fact that we don't hang out anymore."

Chase shrugged. "Fine. I blame you." He scowled at Alex. "You didn't come to the funeral!"

"Everyone grieves in their own way." Karolina defended.

"At funerals with their friends." Chase retorted.

Hana decided to keep her mouth shut to not add more tension to the argument. Besides, there's nothing to say if she weren't part of their past.

"Right Hana?" Chase glanced at her, bringing the girl to the argument. Alex slightly widened his eyes, finally learning what her name was.

Gert didn't let her answer, though, since she spoke up. "Yeah, who would ever do that, not show up when a friend is expecting them?" She was looking directly at Chase.

"That wall was always coming down," Karolina responded. "We were friends because our parents were friends. We were just kids. We were always gonna grow apart."

"Plus, it's kind of hard to stay friends with someone when all they care about is being the perfect church girl," Gert complained, directly hinting at her statement towards Karolina.

"Better than the insufferable social justice warrior."

"Or a dumb jock," Alex added, looking at Chase.

"Yeah, or Molly." Chase glanced at Molly, who gave him a look of confusion while Hana raised her eyebrow, giving him a warning stare. "I've got nothing against you. You're really nice."

"What about me?" Nico asked.

Alex shook his head. "Nico..."

"Whatever I am now, it's not Amy." Nico bit her inner cheek as she took a moment to breathe. "Sorry to let you all down." She glanced at Hana who was playing with Seojuns’ rings . "And I know Hana can't replace Amy."

She looked down while Alex sighed. "No, come on. Nobody's thinking that."

"Great party, Alex." Chase scoffed as he sat back down. "Thanks for all the pizza and sadness."

"Perfect combo..." Hana mumbled which only Molly could hear.

"Yeah, for once, I agree with Chase," Gert stated. "What are we doing here? We'd all moved on." She told her former friends. "We were doing fine."

"No, none of us is fine," Karolina replied. "And I, for one, am sick for pretending that I am." She stood up and crossed her arms. "We need to sit together and talk this through."

Alex nodded while the others were quiet, agreeing in silence. Karolina looked down at Hana and gave her a friendly smile. "Sorry for all of this..." She hesitated for a bit. "Hana, was it?" she nodded. "If you're feeling uncomfortable, you don't have to stay—"

"No!" Molly exclaimed. "I want my best friend beside me." She told Karolina with a smile as she hooked her arm around hers. Karolina shrugged. "Okay, sure."

Chase huffed. "Fine. Then I'm gonna need some alcohol." He stood up headed to the exit.

Alex furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Hey..." He followed Chase out of the guesthouse. Hana watched as Nico followed Alex. "Where are you going?" Alex asked Chase.

"As I recall, your dad keeps a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle's in his study. I've been sipping on it since I was 13."

"Yeah, but they're in there now, having their meeting!"

Molly nudged her friend, turning her attention to the curly-haired girl and breaking her stare from Alex and Nico. "You gonna sip some alcohol? She asked excitingly. She gave her a smirk and rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not because I know you're going to sneak your way to take my drink all for yourself."

"How about you, Hana?" Gert asked, slightly massaging her head with her fingers. "What are you doing here?"

She glanced at Molly before looking at Gert. "Tina and Robert brought me here with them," she explained. Gert slowly nodded. "You don't call them Mom or Dad?"

She shook her head, so Gert nodded in understanding. "I guess you're their golden one now?”

"Hey, Alex!" Hana and the others heard Chase yell. "You can take the stick out of your ass now. They're gone."

Karolina got up and walked over to Geoffrey's office with Chase. Molly dragged Hana and Seojun out of the guesthouse and followed Gert out as well. She walked by Nico and Alex, feeling Nico walk away while Alex stayed back for a bit before joining her and his friends inside.

Once everyone was inside, Alex closed the door. "Don't touch anything, okay?"

"Too late!" Chase smiled when he started looking around for any liquor.

"Dad says there's no reason to be in here when he's not."

Nico approached a chair, and Hana was just behind her, spotting the same object she found. "Why is my mom's purse here?" She asked as she grabbed Tina's purse. "Where are they?" Hana asked.

"I don't know, and I don't care," Chase answered. He looked around and shrugged. "All right, he must've moved the good stuff." He took the random alcohol nearby. "This will do."

Molly sat on a chair nearby Chase. "Bourbon on the rocks, shaken, not stirred." Chase chuckled as he looked at the young girl. "I don't think so." And his answer brought a frown to Molly's face.

Hana’s fingers lightly touched the bookshelves as she peered around. She pressed her palm against a cabinet after noticing it. She quietly knocked on the wooden doors, leaning her head. 'Heavy...'

Suddenly, Alex unexpectedly unlocked the door she was just checking on. As the heavy doors opened, she took a step back, revealing a sliding bookcase that revealed a secret entrance. "Holy shit, what just happened?" Chase questioned, witnessing what happened along with the others.

"You mean other than a secret passageway opening?" Alex asked.

Nico turned to look at Alex. "Where does it go?"

"Bomb shelter?" Gert suggested.

"No, a kick-ass wine cellar, definitely." Chase grinned, glancing at Gert, and approached the entrance.

Hana frowned at him. "What is it with you and alcohol ?" Chase looked at you, quite surprised she even spoke to him.

"In the past, when religions were being persecuted, sometimes believers would build secret temples to worship," Karolina explained as she and her friends slowly approached the hidden entrance.

"Yeah, but this is Brentwood, not Bethlehem." Gert corrected.

Alex stepped in front, just inches away from the quiet girl. "This is some Narnia shit."

"There's only one way to find out," Molly told the others. She glared at her in protest while Alex nodded. "Let's do it." Hana watched as Molly eagerly entered the hidden entrance with the others, but she pulled her back. "Are you serious about this? What if there's something dangerous in there?"

"Something dangerous in the Wilder Mansion?" Molly smiled until she thought for a moment. "Maybe, but... this will be fun! I promise. Just stay close to me, and you'll be fine." Molly pulled her inside, and she gave up. "If something bad happens, don't say I didn't warn you."

tag list: @nekoannie-chan

Like the Back of My Hand

Chapter 12 of Solangelo Soulmate AU

[First] [<- Previous] [Next ->]

Read on Ao3

Word count: 7,532

Previously: Will turned to see Nico watching them and blinked. He looked utterly shocked and confused, not unlike how Nico felt, but he shook his head and he stuttered out an introduction.

"Oh, u-uh, this is Nico," He gestured to the boy standing in the doorway who awkwardly waved back.

"And, uh, Nico," Will said, meeting his eyes in a silent plea before finishing his statement, "this is my mother."

"Mama, what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were coming to visit, I would have taken time off of work." Will says, taking her coat from her.

"I just thought it'd make a nice surprise! You know, since we didn't get to spend Christmas together last year." She ran her fingers through her curls and smiled again at Nico, then, like she was just remembering, "How rude of me, I haven't even said hello to Kayla," She turned back to the front door and put out her arms for a hug, "How are you, darlin'?"

"I'm doing good, Ms. Solace," Kayla returned the hug, "It's nice to see you."

"Oh, lord, how many times do I gotta tell you, call me Naomi, hun!"

Will slunk over to Nico's side and gently grabbed his wrist, whispering,

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't know she was coming, I swear."

"It's fine, Will," He turned his hand so he could hold his wrist in return, "Does she, uh- know about me?"

"I've definitely talked about you, but she's not... she can be a little all over the place, so..."

That didn't necessarily answer Nico's question, but it was clear Will was flustered, so he decided not to push.

Austin popped his head out over Nico's shoulder to see what was going on and let out a small gasp.

Will groaned and Nico looks between Austin and Will's mother who were now beaming at each other.

"Ohmygosh, hi American alt-country singer, Naomi Solace," Austin says, nudging his way past the two other boys and rushing the older woman.

"Well hi, my favorite Texan city, Austin," Naomi says, turning to catch the boy in a tight embrace, "Goodness, have you gotten taller?"

"Not that I've noticed. Maybe you're shrinking," He squeezes her as she laughs, the sound ringing out clear and beautiful as a bell.

Wait. Was Will's mom... famous? Nico turns her name over in his head, trying to figure out if he's heard it before, or maybe her music. But country was never his thing (the irony of the fact that, apparently, country might very well be his thing, is not lost on him) and he really can't say he recognizes her as a popular musician. Nevertheless, a wave of intimidation sweeps over him, as he is now aware that even though he doesn't know who she is, she is clearly worth knowing.

"Can we move a little further into the house," Will suggests, "this hallway is getting kind of crowded."

With that, everyone shuffles back toward the living room, and Nico wastes no time headed back toward the far end of the couch, trying to make himself small and as far away from the new player on the field as possible. Will is quick to follow, though, sitting next to him and resting their knees against one another. Besides that, though, there's no sign of his usual physical affection.

As everyone else settles back into their spots, Naomi sitting on the opposite end of the couch, she is re-introduced to Oasis who waves politely at her, and Nico quietly digs a pen out of his pocket and subtly uncaps it, turning over his hand to write.

i didn't know ur mom was famous

Will, sensing the tingling sensation, turns his own hand over to read the message. He looks at Nico and flashes him an apologetic grin. He really doesn't talk about himself very much, he realizes, being much more invested in what other people have to say than with sharing his own experience. Occupational hazard, maybe? He doesn't know.

He gestures for Nico to hand over the pen and starts writing a response while the rest of the room idly chats.

she's p popular on the country scene but nvr rlly went mainstream

While Nico is reading Will's reply, he can feel someone looking at him. He looks up to find Oasis staring at his hand, then Will's, then meeting his eyes. She smiles a faint, knowing smile, and he blushes slightly.

"So Nicky, how do you know everyone?" Naomi's question snaps Nico out of his embarrassment.

"Uh sorry, what?" He blinks.

"It's Nico, Mama," Will corrects immediately, "and we... met at Central Park. He was drawing me for a class, I think."

Nico nods, noting in stride that he didn't mention how they found each other.

"Oh, are you an artist?" She says.

"I'm an Art Therapy major at NYU," Nico answers, "and it was just a figure study. I like to ketch while I people watch."

She nodded, but her expression made it clear she wasn't fully following.

"That sounds wonderful," She smiles sweetly at him, then turns her gaze back toward her son, "Well honey, I think I ought to lie down, the flight has me just about plum tuckered out. May I use your room?"

Will stands reflexively to escort her and furrows his brow.

"Sure, but it's kind of a mess. How long are you stayin'? I thought you were on tour?"

Nico noticed that in the very short time his mother had been around, that Will had adopted just a hint of her southern drawl.

"Oh, darling, I don't have to be back until January, so I thought I'd stay for the holidays," She reached up and ruffled his hair, making it stick up in a goofy fashion that, despite him being a head taller than her, made him look younger. Like he was just her little boy again.

She turned and started walking toward the back of the house, where Nico assumed Will's room must be, and Will followed, only stopping for a second to shoot a glance at his siblings, and then Nico.

As they walked out, everyone in the rooms' eyes followed them. When they were out of earshot, Kayla leaned in, speaking quietly to Nico.

"Was that the first time you've met his mom?" She asked, and Nico nodded. Oasis chimed in.

"Yikes, super out of the blue. Sorry you had that sprung on you."

He tried to shrug it off.

"It's fine. I mean, he didn't know she would be here or he definitely would have warned me," Nico suddenly felt very self conscious about what he was wearing. He looked down at his sweatpants and mismatching black socks, "I wish I was dressed a little better though..." he murmured.

"Naw, man, you should have seen what I was wearing when I first met her,” Austin adds, “Straight up sleep shirt and boxers. And she's one of my heroes!" He buried his face in his hands at just the thought.

Nico smiled at their attempts to comfort him, and then his expression once again grew serious.

"Do you, uh,” he lowered his voice even more, “know if she's... cool with..." he didn't continue, but everyone knew what he was not saying.

"Will's definitely told her he's not straight, but I don't think they talk about it a lot. I think she grew up kind of conservative, but she's not, like, a bigot," Kayla offered.

"Yeah," Austin added, "If anything she's probably just confused more than anything."

It was then that Will returned, looking between the four of them with an apologetic expression.

"Y'all, I'm sorry my mom sorta crashed our game night. I really didn't know-"

"We know," Oasis cut him before he could continue.

"It's all good, dude, we love your mom," Austin says.

Everyone nods and murmurs their agreement, then Nico stands, swaying for just a moment before steadying himself.

"You leaving?" Oasis asks, standing after him.

"I think I'd better, yeah. It was great to hang out with you guys. And great to meet you, Oasis."

She nodded, stepping over her girlfriend and stopped in front of him.

"Are you a hug or a handshake kinda man?" She asked.

Nico was taken aback. He'd never been asked before, so he never considered offering up his preference. He was, what some would call, socially uncomfortable in most scenarios. Over the course of the evening, however, he'd found his walls had begun to come down, brick by brick.

Even so, he played it safe. He put out his hand and Oasis met it in a firm shake that ended in a squeeze. Her way, he imagined, of fitting a hug into the handshake anyway.

"It was nice to meet you, Nico. See you on New Years?"

"Uh," He smiled sheepishly, "yeah. See you then."

Then Kayla all but shoved Oasis out of the way and came in for a hug.

"I'm a hugger, so step aside," She embraced him in a grip that was stronger than he would have given her credit for. Although, considering how toned the arms sticking out from under her tank top were, perhaps he’d underestimated her. She released him from the hug, but held onto his arms, meeting his eyes.

"See you around, okay? Don't be a stranger."

She said it more like an instruction than a request. Her eyes held the same intensity Will's did when he scolded Nico for forgetting to eat during the day.

Nico chuckled nervously.

"Yes ma'am," he responded, his tone half-joking.

She nodded approvingly and let him go, retreating back to her spot on the floor.

Austin bid his farewell with a fist bump. Which only left...

"Walk me out?" Nico asked, brushing his hand lightly against Will's. The other boy smiled sweetly.

"Of course."

Nico gave one last wave to the room and headed toward the front hallway, Will following close behind.

Will leaned against the wall, watching Nico shrug on his coat, gloves and scarf. Nico stole glances at him, trying to read his expression. He could see worry there, and Will just started to open his mouth to say something before Nico cut him off.

"Don't say you're sorry again.”

Will looked at him in surprise, but closed his mouth obediently. Instead he smirked, pushing himself off the wall and stepping to the shorter boy, who now had to look up to meet his eye. He'd never say it out loud, but Will loved when Nico had to look up at him.

"Well then," Will purred, "can I at least say I'm really glad you stuck around?" He pretended to adjust the lapels of Nico's peacoat, just so he could hold onto him.

Nico's face heated up, and finally, when their eye contact was getting a little too intense for this corridor, he looked down at his feet, trying to coax his heart back into a steady rhythm.

"Only if you mean it," he mumbled, half-joking.

Will's hand moved, his fingers reaching up to tuck a loose hair behind Nico's ear, and following the movement through until he was holding his chin in a delicate touch.

He tilted Nico's head up so that they were once again looking at each other. His other hand drifted slowly down until it rested on Nico's waist. His breath hitched in his throat.

Will's eyes wandered the other boy's face momentarily before landing on his lips.

Slowly, deliberately, he leaned in and kissed him sweetly. Once, then again. He didn't let go of his face, and Nico breathed in his scent: the last traces of cinnamon cologne and sweat from all the heavy lifting earlier.

Nico leaned in closer now, rising up on his toes and planting his hands on Will's arms to steady himself. He kissed back, getting lost in the ebb and flow of the way their lips, their breath, their bodies moved against each other.

But then, just as soon as it had started, it stopped, Will pulling back to look at his face again.

"I mean it," he whispered.

It took a second for Nico to remember what he'd said. He was busy trying to remember how to breath.

He clears his throat, taking a moment to reconfigure his senses as he stepped toward the door, one hand reaching for the handle and the other hand in Will's. He opened it and a wall of frigid air hits both of them. A shiver ran up Will's spine, still only dressed for central heating. Nevertheless, he follows Nico out onto the porch anyway.

A car pulls up and Nico turns to face his companion, intertwining his and Will's other hand, unwilling to let go just yet. He watches the clouds of fog drift up and away with each breath they take.

"I'll call you tomorrow?" Will says and Nico nods, squeezing his hand, "I-" he stops himself.

He wants more than anything to tell him, but even with his heart this full, a whisper of fear keeps him from saying it. He settles with hiding it in different words.

"Thank you."

Nico just smiles. He doesn't have any words to say. He doesn't need any.

He squeezes Will's hand tightly one last time and heads down the front steps, both of them letting go at the last possible second.

Will watches Nico get into the cab and the car pulls away, waving as it disappears around a corner.

He lets out a wistful sigh, then turns, retreating back into the warmth of the house.

---

Nico closes the door to his apartment and stands there for a few moments, thinking back over the events of the evening.

Kayla was moving out of Will's house and in with her girlfriend,

He'd been invited to spend New Years with the sunshine siblings,

Will's mom had shown up out of the blue,

Will seemed nervous about it, but was grateful for Nico's company anyway.

He furrowed his brow, trying to decide whether or not to read in to the latter thought. He is snapped out of it by Pluto, weaving herself between his legs and looking up with wide, wanting eyes.

"Mrowr?" She chirps.

Nico smiles down at her and pulls off his gloves, reaching down to scratch just above her tail.

"You hungry little buddy?" He asks, shedding the rest of his layers and walking further into the house to feed her.

Ten minutes later, he is sat at his desk, laptop open, with a video of Naomi Solace pulled up, crooning sweetly at some country music event. He sketches absentmindedly as she sings. He doodles Oasis and Austin's faces, a cartoonish slice of ooey-gooey pizza, a pair of hands holding a pair of hands holding a switch controller.

He finds himself drawing images from the song. A bridge, the sun, a bus window reflecting a woman's crying face.

At one point he stops drawing to watch the video and listen to the slow, sad lyrics of the chorus. He can't help but wonder if she wrote these songs about her life. A few of them are upbeat, talking about dancing in a crowded hall as a young woman, or the first time a baby smiles, but plenty of them are melancholy ballads about lost love.

As he continues watching her assorted televised appearances, he notices how her look changes from year to year. A Dolly-esque hairdo with a fringe dress. Long straight hair with a tiny bikini top and high-waisted bell bottoms.

He searches for Will in her features and finds them in her wild blonde waves, the way her eyes crinkle when she smiles, singing into the microphone, her laugh as she cheers on her guitarist's solo.

The next video auto-plays and there she is again, sitting on a green leather chair in an all denim one-piece, being interviewed on a talk show in the 90s. Shes talking about her music and the new album that's coming out, and then the host asks about family, and how she balances work and home.

"Well, it all gets a bit wonky," she says, her accent thick in her youth, "especially this past year while I've been working on Solar Power. But, no matter how long the work days are or how many deadlines I'm starin' down, I know I get to come home to my beautiful baby's sweet face every night, and that just about makes it all worth it."

The audience 'aww's and applauds her answer, and the host settles them down again before continuing.

"That's wonderful, just wonderful, and uh I hear we actually have a special guest here in the studio with us tonight, is that right?"

Naomi beams and nods enthusiastically, standing and disappearing momentarily off-camera. Nico hears excited muttering, then exclamations, then Naomi Solace reemerges, holding the hand of a bleach-blond, curly-topped toddler, sucking his thumb and wearing an adorably tailored powder blue suit with a white ruffled shirt peaking out from beneath the jacket.

The audience is going wild now, and Nico has to pause the video to take it all in. He is reeling. His heart might actually explode at the sight of five-year-old William Solace in a tiny baby suit on national television. He actually clutches his chest and takes a deep breath, before resuming the video and watching as Will’s mother picks him up and sits him on her lap for the rest of the interview.

"This is my son, Will. Can you say hi, baby?" his mother bounces him encouragingly and he looks up at her, then out at the awaiting studio audience. He takes his finger out of his mouth and then speaks out in a very small toddler voice.

"Hi."

The audience loses it, cooing and applauding, and little Will laughs and claps along, clearly loving the energy in the room.

Nico pauses again. The still image of baby Will's smiling face while his mother looks dotingly down at him fills the computer screen. Nico realizes in that moment, that that smile hadn't changed since Will was young. It made his heart swell. He flipped to a fresh page in his sketchbook, and got to work on a new drawing.

---

The next day, as promised, Will calls Nico.

"Hey," He says, walking into one of the hospital break rooms and starting to make himself a cup of coffee.

"Hey," Nico said through the phone, "What are you doing right now?"

"I'm on my break," Will says, stirring in a packet of sugar with one of those tiny wooden stirrers, "Thinking about heading down to get one of those wraps from the place across the street."

"Mmm," Nico hums like he's not really listening, then, "I have a better idea."

Will stops, taken aback. He laugh a little.

"Excuse me?" he says.

"Come outside," Nico says and then the line goes dead. Will stares at his phone and then his coffee, then his phone again. Finally, he breaks through his stupor and turns, heading out toward the hospital entrance.

He steps outside and immediately sees Nico waving at him from across the street, pausing to look both ways before walking over to meet him.

"When- what are you doing here?" Will asks, unable to fight down the smile forming on his lips. Nico shrugged.

"I just thought you might like some company for your lunch today," He says, "Plus, I've never actually seen where you work." He looked up at the awning that donned the name of the facility.

Will laughed and then noticed the bag Nico had in his hand.

"Did you... bring me food?" The bag was label-less, reminding him of those paper bag lunches kids are given for school on TV.

"Yeah. I figured, maybe, homemade was probably better than whatever hospital food they served, so..." He held the bag out and Will took it, smiling all the while. Then, Will nodded his head toward the door.

"Shall we?"

Nico chuckled and followed Will’s lead out of the cold.

After a short tour of the check in-desk, hallways and waiting rooms, Will led them to the cafeteria.

They found a table in a relatively secluded corner and sat down.

"You look good in scrubs," Nico remarked nonchalantly, as Will unfurled the paper bag and looked inside. He quirked an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Thanks," he said. He pulled out a panini, still warm and wrapped in paper, "You said you made this yourself?"

"Most of it," he reached over and extracted a smaller whiter paper bag from within the big one, grease spots speckling the bottom, "these are the best fries this side of Midtown, courtesy of Katz's Deli. And this," he pulled out a small plastic container of a pale pink sauce, "is a homemade aioli. It's good with the sandwich and the fries, so I want you to try both."

Will didn't have to be told twice. He unwrapped the incredible smelling sandwich and dipped it into the aioli, taking a huge bite and chewing thoughtfully. Nico watched him expectantly.

After a few seconds of unremarked upon silence, Nico pressed.

"Well," he said, "how is it?"

Will chewed once, then twice more. Then face scrunched up like he'd tasted a lemon.

"Honestly? Not that good."

Nico's eager smile dropped.

"You're joking," he said, trying to think of what the missing element could be.

But then Will grinned and rolled his eyes.

"Of course I'm joking," he mumbled through a mouth full of food, "It's amazing, you dingus."

Nico glared at the other boy. He snatched a handful of fries, broke off the end of one, and chucked it squarely at Will's forehead.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," he pouted, nibbling on his consolation snack.

Will chuckled, making a show out of swallowing his bite before talking again.

"You're bossy, you know that?" He teased.

Nico watched him devour his food, occasionally stealing more fries to munch on. After he finished, Will dabbed his mouth with a napkin.

"Thank you for the lunch, Neeks. It was delicious."

Will rested his hand on top of Nico's. In turn, he interlaced their fingers together. He smiled down at their hands.

"Can I... come over later?" Nico asked, surprising Will with the trepidation in his voice.

"Yeah, of course," he answered, almost immediately, before remembering and adding, "Oh, my mom might be there..."

He didn't continue, letting Nico draw his own conclusions about that particular situation.

"Yeah, I know," Nico continued anyway, absentmindedly drawing shapes on the discarded bags with the leftover sauce, "I actually thought I could make you guys dinner. If you'd be okay with that?" He looked back up and found Will staring at him. He faltered, thinking for a moment that maybe he completely misread the situation, that that kind of world-clahing was not okay. But then, the corner of Will’s lips curled up and he replied.

"Sure. I'd love that."

Nico actually signed with relief, squeezing Will's hand gently.

"Good. Great..." he smiled, "Grool."

They both stood and made their way back to the building's entrance, chatting quietly along the way.

"I'll see you tonight then," Nico said, walking backward down the sidewalk toward the subway station.

 Will nodded and smiled,

"Not if I see you first."

He waved as Nico turned and pulled his coat a little tighter, shaking his head smiling to himself, feeling an odd sense of giddy optomism about how the afternoon was shaping up.

---

Knock, knock, knock

Nico waited at the front door of Will's house with two arms full of grocery bags. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and letting the frozen air collect in his lungs before exhaling a cloud of condensation. A moment later, the door opened and there stood Naomi Solace in a blouse and jeans.

"Oh, goodness! Hello, you! Here, come in, come in, let's get you out of the cold-" She stepped aside and ushered him in, closing the door behind him, "the boys aren't home, you should know."

"Uh, yes, I do know actually," He kicked off his shoes and headed into the house toward the kitchen, where he took off his jacket and began unloading his bags, "I told Will I'd make you all dinner tonight. I'm a... uh-" he smirked to himself, "I love to cook for people."

"Well, be still my southern little heart, ain't you just sweeter than a chocolate pie. Makes me wanna go to the dentist for a toothache," she said, following him into the room and leaning against the counter, "And, I am so sorry, honey, you're gonna have to remind me of your name one more time."

"Nico," he smiled, "Nico di Angelo."

"Right, yes, Nico. I knew it was something like that, but I kept getting hung up on 'Nick'."

They stood in silence while he arranged the groceries on the counter. Eventually she cleared her throat.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, hon. Holler if you need anything-" she paused and made a face, looking around, "although I'm sure you know this place better than I do."

She started to retreat but Nico stopped her.

"Oh, actually, hold on," he said, walking over to his backpack, "I, um, I brought you something..."

He noted the surprise on her face as she turned back to look at him expectantly. He rifled around a bit until his hand closed around a small, black portfolio. He pulled it out and retrieved form within it a piece of thick watercolor paper. He gave it a nervous once over before offering it to Naomi.

"I was, uh," he cleared his throat, realizing that the story behind it maybe sounded a touch stalker-y, "I saw an interview you had when Will was really young and just thought it was, uh, kind of picturesque so I, uh..." he trailed off, watching her face change as she took it.

Her mouth fell open as she studied it in stunned silence.

It was a line-art and watercolor drawing of a four-year-old Will, laughing at the talk-show host sitting just out of frame, sitting on his mother's lap. The twenty-something Naomi smiled down at him with a heart-meltingly fond expression. Looking closely, you could just make out some of the sketch lines: stray hairs, freckles. It wasn't by any means the most complex piece he'd ever made in terms of composition, or even the best, but after finishing it the night before, he had felt a sort of proud squeeze in his chest usually indicating he's made something special.

When she finally looked back up at him, Nico realized she was crying. Her eyes were wet with tears, two of which already escaped and ran silently down her cheeks as she gazed at him. Before he knew what was happening, she surged forward and wrapped him in the textbook definition of a bear hug.

She squeezed him tightly, and he heard a soft sniffle. Then, pulling away, she held him at arms-length and reached a hand out towards his face.

He would have expected himself to flinch away from the gesture, he barely moved when she cradled his cheek.

"Oh honey... thank you," she said.

He relaxed. Something about the way she was looking at him just felt... familiar.

All his childhood memories feel less like memories and more like home movies that were taken before he was born. Logically, he knows they happened- that he was there, because he can see it, but he also can't help but feel like it's all the intricate workings of his imagination... trying to take him back to a time where there was no pain or anger or sadness in the world. It is a Sunday afternoon, and your mother has taken you and your sister over to the neighbors' house for lunch, as she occasionally does, to gossip about everything that had happened at church. You sit outside while your sister and the neighbor's kids try to scrounge up a semi-thrilling game of hop-scotch. And you are so hot in your wool suit, sitting on the curb of their patio in the shining Venetian sun, but you don't take off your jacket. Because you know that when the neighbors cup your face in their hands and tell you what a handsome young man you are in your Sunday best, your Momma looks at you with so much pride in her eyes.

He returns from his thoughts, back to the New York kitchen he's standing in, with someone else's mother holding his face in her hands.

He smiled down at her, but, starting to feel the uncomfortable edge of a vulnerable situation, he turned to casually break the contact and start preparing the kitchen.

He sees the blonde woman wipe her eyes. She looks again at the painting and places a hand over her heart, nodding at him and repeating,

"Thank you."

He nods, not sure what else to say. She must have taken that a her cue to leave, because she excused herself then to let him do his thing. He watched her go, then glanced around the kitchen, taking a breath and noting how, even in such a short time, this place felt like a kind of sanctuary to him.

Not 20 minutes later, Nico heard the front door open and shut, and a frigid exclamation.

"My gods, it is cold out there..." the voice murmured, then after a long pause, "Something smells good."

A few seconds later, Will appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, his somewhat puzzled expression brightening when he saw the other boy standing over the stove.

"You're already here! I was going to try and straighten things up a little before you came by..." he glanced past Nico to the sink full of dishes.

"It's fine, your mom let me in," Nico said, noticing how Will's smile faltered.

"Right," he said, "... she didn't say anything weird, did she?"

Nico had to fight down a smile as he answered dead-panned and without looking up.

"No, she just went ahead and showed me all the pictures from your many baby bathtime photoshoots."

"She WHAT?"

Nico busted out laughing at the mortified look on Will's face, chalking it up as revenge for lunch. But before he knew it, Will's expression turned smug and he descended upon him.

"Oh, you think you're real funny, huh? I'll show you funny."

He trapped Nico against the counter and began viciously tickling his sides. Nico's shaudenfeudian laughter turned into desprate deranged giggling as he tried to squirm away from the taller boy, any and all escape attempt being thwarted and met with more volleys of ticklish assaults. The laughter was contagous, and soon both boys were giggling like school children.

Then, Naomi's voice rang out from down the hall.

"Sounds like y'all are having fun in there," she said, her voice approaching. Will immediately dropped what he was doing and stepped to the side, making their position less incriminating.

She entered the kitchen, crossing to her son and putting a hand on his shoulder as she peeked into the pot Nico was stirring.

"That smells delicious, sweetheart," she offered, then, to Will, "why don't you go change out of your work clothes, honey, and then we can get the table set."

He nodded, swaying subtly to bump his shoulder against Nico's before pushing away from the counter and heading without a word back toward his room. Naomi nodded approvingly, and moved in the opposite direction toward the table in the adjourning room, leaving Nico once again alone, but this time, feeling the absence of that summery warmth by his side.

Will returned a few minutes later in a Batman t-shirt and cargo shorts, stopping through the kitchen to grab some dishes, running his fingers across Nico's back as he passed, then joining his mother at the dining table.

Nico listened in to the conversation happening the next room over. Naomi asked about Will's day at work and he told her about a case he was working on. He asked her if there was anything specific she wanted to do while she was here and she mentioned a few of the museums and tourist traps she wanted to re-visit. She asked about when Austin would be getting back.

"Oh he, um, he actually texted me earlier and told me he had a date, and not to wait up. So I guess..." Will cleared his throat anxiously, "I guess it's just us three tonight."

"Food's ready!" Nico said loudly, deciding then was the right time to insert himself. He turned off the heat and searched the nearby drawers for potholders. Will reentered the kitchen to help him carry things, and Nico caught his wrist before he could pass by again, forcing him to take a second to look at him.

"Hey," Nico said in a low voice, "you okay?"

Will smiled weakly.

"Yeah, yeah, just... you know, a little on edge I guess..." he trailed off, not wanted to explicitly state that the idea of sharing a meal with only his mother and his- uh... Nico, made him unusually anxious, "Yeah. I'll be fine. The food looks really good."

Nico searched his face one more time, giving him an extra second to get anything off his chest before releasing his wrist and nodding toward the glass dish of greens.

The boys placed the food on the table, and Will pulled out the chair next to him, indicating for Nico to sit.

They sat, both facing Will's mom across the table, and Naomi spoke up.

"Do you boys usually say grace?"

"Uh-" Will looked at Nico.

"It's been a while, but if you'd like to." Nico answered in stride. They all grabbed hands and Naomi hung her head and led a short and sweet grace toward food, family and friends. When it was over, the hands that held Naomi's fell, but under the table, the two boys remained connected. Nico's hand squeezed Will's as he introduced the meal.

"It's a butter and beef broth risotto with a sauteed garlic spinach."

"My goodness, it looks absolutely delectable, don't mind if I do," Naomi said.

As his mother tucked in, Will squeezed Nico's hand back, and gave him a look of gratitude, mouthing a 'thank you'. Whether it was for the food or the solidarity, Nico didn't know, but he smiled back at him anyway before they finally disconnected and helped themselves.

Over the course of dinner, the conversation topics remained cordial but bland at best. Naomi and Nico took turns asking about each other's work, where they're from, their likes, their dislikes. Nico kept noticing how Will's ocassional laughter sounded forced, or how his leg never stopped bouncing under the table.

Determined to be an anchor, Nico made it his secret mission to make Will laugh for real. He pulled out one of the trusty pens that he always kept in his pocket and wrote little quips along with what the table discussion was. Those only earned him a few minuscule twitches of the lip, so he moved on to his extensive artillery of stupid puns that Leo and Percy and Jason loved to text him for no reason other than to annoy him. These did slightly better, a few exhales from the nose and stolen glances, but still no genuine laughter.

Nico watched his partner as casually as possible between eating and talking, but, as soon as Naomi launched into another story about when Will was a kid, Nico took his chance. He scribbled a quick 'don't look yet' on the back of his hand, and after ensuring Will saw the message, he started doodling furiously, nodding and "uh-huh"ing his way through the anecdote, until at last he'd finished his masterpiece. It was a goofy little caricature of a dog winking and giving a big thumbs up, grinning with creepily human teeth. Just as he finished, Will reached for his drink, so Nico waited until he'd taken a sip to nudge his foot, giving him the all clear to peak.

Will glanced down and, seeing the drawing, snorted his water up and all over his face and the table. Nico tried to contain himself, but he his laughter bubbled over as Will coughed a few times, a helpless smile spreading across his face, assuring his concerned mother that he was fine and that he'd just swallowed down the wrong pipe. He smacked his knee against the dark haired boy's, and Nico counted that as a win.

---

"Glory be," Naomi said, dabbing her mouth with her napkin and discarding it atop her clean plate, "I haven't had a home-cooked meal that good in... I can't even tell you how long. You have a real culinary gift, Nico."

He smiled warily.

"It really is my pleasure," he said, then after a moment of consideration, "I always remember my mother cooking for me and my sister when we were little. I can never remember what it is she actually made, but I like to try and recreate classic Italian dishes you know. To feel close to her."

"Oh honey," Naomi, sensing the passed tense, "is she..."

He looked at his plate.

"She passed, yeah. When I was pretty young."

"Oh darling, that's just terrible, I am so sorry to hear that," Her voice and tender, motherly expression exuded nothing but sincerity, "But what a wonderful way to honor her. I'm sure if she could be here now, she'd be just about as proud as a mama can be."

Nico smiled a small, melancholy smile.

"I'd hope so," he answered quietly. Just then, Will scooped up his hand beneath the table, lacing their fingers together and rubbing reassuring circles into his thumb.

"You know, Willy," Naomi said, pulling his attention, "you just don't find friends like this every day," she nodded at Nico. The circles stopped and Nico felt Will tense up. He looked over and saw the blond boy's brows furrow.

"Yeah... I know-" he started to answer.

"I expect you to add him to the rotation of folks you bring around for the holidays and such. I know it's been a while since we've had a big shindig with with all you ol' pals from back home, but it could be fun to-"

"Actually, Mama," Will interrupted, "Nico's... not just a friend."

His mother looked confused. Nico looked suprised. He brought their intertwined hands up and placed them on the table between them all.

"We're together. He's..." he glanced at Nico, who was looking on with awed anticipation, "...my boyfriend."

They stared at each other for another intoxicating second before turning to see Naomi's reaction.

She looked at their hands. Then between them.

"Oh," she said, unable to hide her own surprise in her tone. She glanced back down again, this time noticing the copy of Nico's doodle decorating the back of Will's hand, "Oh."

The silence that fell seemed to last six eternities. Nico couldn't tell if the tightening of their grip on one another was initiated by Will or himself, but either way neither of them let go. Not even when the southern belle baffled them with what she said next.

"Boy, if I told y'all about the amount of people who have tried to pull that trick over on me," she gestured toward the drawing, "we'd be here all night."

Nico looked at Will, who looked at him, his face a mask of confusion not unlike his own.

"These men in bars loved to come up to me and show me their arms covered in drunken chicken-scratch and declare that 'I must have been writing a new song about my soulmate because this just appeared outta nowhere.'"

She actually snorted a laugh.

"I knew they were all bogus," she said, reaching up to her collar and pulling it down just far enough to reveal a small, stick-and-poke of a heart with an infinity sign woven through it, just below her left collarbone, "I had a test. I'd always ask them what tattoo they had on their chest. And, boys, some of the answers they gave..." she closed her eyes and shook her head, "I tell ya. But not one of 'em ever got it right. Some got close, and if they did," she shrugged, "maybe I'd take 'em home-"

"Mama," Will broke his silence to groan, which only made her laugh again.

"Sorry, sorry," she chuckled, "but like I was sayin', not one of them could tell me- or show me- this tattoo," she tapped a finger over her heart, "So I always was keepin' an eye out in case I spotted it out in the wild somewhere. Until," her eyes went a little misty and she sighed, "until the day I gave birth to Will."

Nico blinked, totally enraptured in her story. His death grip on Will's hand had relaxed, and he was listening intently. The way she told it, he suddenly knew what it must have felt like to be in the booth with her when she was recording songs.

"I'd been in labor for 10 hours, and all the while I could not reach that good-for-nothing father of his for the life of me. It was 4 in the morning, I was damn near hysterical, and THEN the doctor told me it was time to push. So I'm crying, Will's Nana is there holding my hand and telling me everything was going to be alright and then, before I knew it, I heard the loudest cry I'd ever heard in my life. The nurses all said it was just about the healthiest pair of lungs they'd ever heard. So they clean 'im off, wrap 'im up, and hand me this... perfect little boy, just absolutely screaming his little head off," she smiled wistfully, "But all I could hear was music. Because right there over his heart was a birthmark that looked just like my tattoo."

Nico couldn't help it. He gasped.

"Wait-" Will said before pulling down his own collar. Sure enough, a birthmark in the wobbly shape of a heart sat just below his left collarbone, adorned by six freckles that could almost be the rings of an infinity sign.

"No way..." Nico whispered in awed amazement.

"Mhm," Naomi hummed, sitting back in her chair. "From that day forward I stopped looking for my soulmate on the streets," she looked lovingly at her boy, "Because I knew he'd be right in front of me for the rest of my life."

Nico leaned back, running a hand through his hair and blowing out a breath.

"How come you've never told me that story?" Will asked her in utter disbelief.

"Well, baby, I guess I was just waiting for you to meet someone who gave you the same kind of clarity that you gave me." She looked between them, this time with a gentle, knowing smile that made them both blush.

Nico looked at their clasped hands, and his drawing on Will's skin, before sneaking a glance up at him. He found Will looking back at him softly, and a slow smile spreading across his lips.

Naomi cleared her throat, interrupting the tenderest staring contest of all time.

"All I mean to say is," she looked at Nico, her expression becoming serious, but not somber, "from one soulmate to another: you take good care of him. Because he's the best damn thing that's ever gonna happen to you."

A beat of quiet fell as all three of them let her words sink in.

"Yes, ma'am," Nico found himself answering, "I will."

She excused herself shortly thereafter, taking her empty plate and heading toward the kitchen, but not before stopping to give Will a quick squeeze around the shoulders and kiss on the top of his head.

They sat in stunned silence. It took a full minute and a half for either of them to think of something approprite to say. And even still, Nico somehow managed to find the most peculiar option.

"I can't believe you boyfriend-zoned me in front of your mom," Nico said. Will looked at him, dumbfounded, and then chuckled, put his head down on the table. He sighed. Then laughed again. Then groaned.

"Uuuugh, I can't believe she went on a soulmate soliloquy immediately after finding out," he said into his napkin.

Nico chuckled, reaching up to run his hands through Will's curls soothingly.

"...She did say soulmate so many time-"

"-Like SO many times, right?!" Will exclaimed, his head popping back up.

They both snickered at the absurdity of the whole ordeal before again settling into a loaded silence.

"So..." Nico began, tracing the edges of Will's hand doodle with his thumb, "Is that... what you think we are?"

Nico dared to peak up at him, just as Will's gaze fell on the table. He could see the nervousness in his face, the freckles on his forehead shifting as his eyebrows cinched and he blew out a shaky breath.

"I..." Will started slowly, stopping to take another breath, "don't like... saying things out loud that I don't... know for certain."

Nico felt his stomach drop. His grip on Will's hand eased, and he started to pull away but Will's grip tightened suddenly.

"B-but one thing... I can say for certain," Will said, sensing the miscommunication, "is that..." he looked him right in the eye, "I love you."

Nico's heart leapt into his throat. He stared at Will who stared back at him, letting his words land before continuing on.

"And you don't have to say it back, because I know that saying that kind of thing isn't something you might want take lightly, which is also why it... took me so long to say it to you. But I do, love you. A-and I've known... for a while."

Nico couldn't speak. He was so overwhelmed, it felt like a hundred rivers of emotion were racing to try and burst through all the walls he'd spent his whole life building around his heart. But it didn't feel bad, because instead of feeling like Will was swimming downstream trying to be the thing that does the wall in, he found him on the other side, placing buckets underneath the places where the cracks were leaking.

Finally, he manaed a head nod, and a breathless whisper.

"Okay."

It wasn't much, but it was all he could say.

He might have had the wherewithal to worry about how it sounded, were it not for the fact that he couldn't wipe the smile form his face- or deny the relief on Will's, when they both understood what that meant.

"Okay?" Will said, he eyes getting misty.

"Yeah, okay." Nico repeated, a sound somewhere between a cry a laugh escaping him.

Hola Dani 👋🏼 ¿cómo estás? That place looks beautiful 😍💚 I hope you're enjoying yourself!!

OMG Dani on Wednesday I had a LBAF IV related nightmare, it was BAD I actually woke up crying (well there were tears in my eyes) and I never get nightmares or dreams really, so yeah... your story has reached the deepest parts of my subconscious 🤷🏻‍♀️

The One with the Goodbye

Her fingers gripped the blanket tightly. “I’m scared for him.”

I'm scared for him too 🥺

“Mallory,” the man chuckled bitterly at the name. “Who knew, huh?”

David!! He knew!! 😒

“Then I will have a word with Gabriel,” her father promised. “With my sword.”

🤣🤣🤣

The woman’s hair was not as long as Selena’s. But it was just as short as Selena’s now.

OMG that is so sweet!!!!! 🥺🥺

“It’s not silly,” Gabriel shook their head. “Selena, you just went through something horrible and traumatic. Again. Your feelings are valid.”

Gabriel is the bestest best I am love them so much!!! 🥰😍🥰😍🥰

Gabriel opened their eyes. They smiled too. “Sirenita. What does it feel like?”

Ay!! I can't... 😍 😍

Her hair was growing.

Literally.

O mai gaaaa!!!!

David, who was painting Nico’s cane with blue paint, looked up. “Nico said it’s okay.”

David with my son is the cutest thing to ever cute!!! 😍🥰😍🥰

“I will be fine,” David told her.

Of course you will... my twin won't let anything happen to you and is not like Dani can kill you twice... right?? Right??

“You can play with Nico,” David suggested. “He is nice.”

He is... he is still grounded tho 😒

Something inside the room crackled. Like it always did.

Something??? Like glass???

It was heavy. It was red. It was perfect.

I need to redo my Nico moodboard ASAP 😯

“No,” Nico said. “I just saw darkness. Like I always do.”

But why???? Why???? I need answers!!!

Goodbye, David.

That sounds final and I don't like it!

See... David doesn't like it either!!!!

“Then I’ll come to you,” Max said simply. “You and I. We always find our way back to each other, remember?”

Daniela you're making me cry

“This is all your fault, by the way,” Max glared at his parents. “This is what happens when the two of you have kids. I’m too hot for this world and now everyone wants me.”

MAXWELL!!!! 🤣🤣

“Goodbye, Max.”

No no no... I don't like it!!!!

“I’m not sure what is going on, but I don’t like it.”

Same!!!! So much same!!!

"Not yet," Anjali cut him off. "Keep looking. Nobody can find out about this."

Excusez moi!! But I think I have the right to know!! I granted it myself!! 😌 SPEAK!!

She hated it when she had more questions than answers.

Ok now you’re just writing my reactions for me!! 🤣

Or am I becoming one with the story? 😮

“David can come home,” Max whispered tiredly. “Fucking fine. I’ll go on the fucking date.”

That's not gonna work!!

“Although the older man with the blue eyes looked familiar.”

Why??? Why do they look familiar to each other???

“He won’t complain to anyone again,” Marcus promised. “Let me take care of it.”

No no no no!!! I don't like it!!!

“I’ll handle him,” Mallory said. “Logan, summon the arrow from my room.”

Don't you DARE!!!!!!!! STAY AWAY FROM MY TWIN!!!!!!!!!

Wait!!! They're going to activate BOTH jammers at the same time?!?!?!

Dani...no!

Marcus looked at his sister. “Find Alec Lightwood’s parabatai.”

Well fuck everything!!!

The suspense is killing me!!!! I want to know everything but I also want this story to last forever and ever!!! 😫😫

Thank you Dani!!! I AM LOVE YOU!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

I am begging for tumblr to post this ask I’ve been trying since Saturday omg 😭😭

THIS IS ALEX DISCRIMINATION AND I WILL NOT APPROVE

the way hazel and jason's friendship ended, that's a thing i will hate forever.

the first form of interaction that we have between these two is that the name hazel was one of the five names that jason remembers, isn't that adorable?. a book later we meet hazel and she tells us that jason was the one who integrated her, the one who showed her new rome, the one who made her feel comfortable in this new world completely unknown to her, he was the first person who could consider someone trustworthy (besides nico obviously).

she admired jason and he considers hazel his friend. all of this could have ended in one of the most beautiful and healthy friendships between two teenagers in media. this all changed when jason and percy were swap.

while camp half-blood spent three days without their hero, camp jupiter spent SIX months without theirs. in this time hazel was just with nico, just because nobody wants to be close to a daughter of pluto obviously. then frank arrived, hazel became someone that jason had once been for her, someone friendly. a while later percy arrived, hazel also was friendly with him, this ending of the three went on a mission together. thus making a very strong connection (which ngl was quite ignored by rick in the next books) but still not forgetting about jason, because this girl mentions several times how good jason was.

some time later the seven got together and began their trip, their quest, after many events we arrived at this famous discussion, the said debate between leaving or rescuing nico from that jar.

to refresh your memory, i'll tell you that the person who suggested that nico should be left there to die was not jason, as you all erroneously always mention, it was actually leo, leo fucking valdez, everyone's favorite but frank and piper's hello kitty top's aka me :) when he mentioned this, hazel asked him what the hell he was thinking.

jason, knowing that leo would not know how to explain himself in a good way, decided to speak and take the subject through logic, which actually makes a lot of sense. nico being supposedly part of percy's search team always knew where he was, this boy had previously tried to kill percy before, he asks if he can really trust him knowing this.

honestly, i think they are both right, hazel's reaction was valid, they are accusing the person who rescued her from eternal boredom, her brother, of being a traitor. but on the other hand jason's point is good, are you really going to put in danger the fate of the world for someone you can't trust? nahh he's not going to risk the lives of his friends for someone he doesn't even know. both sides of the argument are valid, that's a fact, so much that everyone thinks about it, even percy himself who has known nico since he was 10 years old god.

all this caused a break in the relationship between hazel and jason. for her he was no longer that kind boy she once knew, no, she sees him as everyone does, as a perfect hero, so perfect that it gives mistrust. he realizes this and is the whole series trying to fix this. which we know very well that he could not do because these two were never like before. this is something very realistic, due to arguments, friendships never return to the way they were before, due to thinking differently than someone else, relationships are broken.

it's very sad, isn't it? i always imagined that these two would have an inej and matthias from soc type relationship, like "you are actually not that bad, i'm your number one fan :)". i always felt like we needed a friendship between the romans, also i always felt that jason would have been very good friends with frank and hazel (i'll talk about frank and jason's relationship in a future post).

the last thing we have of these two is hazel touching his coffin, saying that they and especially piper needed him. i like to think that hazel said this actually because those 6 months he was in new york, thinking she really needed someone like jason in her life.

Polaris Bibliothéque Masterlist

Last Updated: December, 16th, 2021

"... And I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was." - Me, a Titanic fangirl, knowing every single line of the movie when watching it, even using it for meme purposes.

Just in case you ever wondered how the rest of this scene goes.

But hey, demons and humans, we have a Masterlist AT LAST! Here you can find all works I have already posted - if you can't find something you swear you read, shoot me a DM and we'll find it together.

Also, I don't take requests, but feel free to suggest me some themes if you'd like to see here. I can't promise I will do them, but it might go to my "list of ideas to write" ^^

I just noticed how MUCH I've already posted, I'm sorry I didn't organize a Masterlist before T-T

Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry Normal Scenarios

Dante & Vergil falling asleep on their s/o lap

Dante & Vergil with an s/o suffering from being hit on without their consent

Dante & Vergil finally having a relaxing bathtub time with their s/o

Nero training Kyrie

Vergil training his s/o

Dante training his s/o

Dante & Vergil shamelessly flirting with their s/o (feat. Nero + Kyrie)

Dante & Vergil with an s/o who's emotionally tired and needing support

Dante & Vergil with an s/o who internalizes their feelings like hell when they are going though rough times

Devil May Cry - Random Scenarios

The Fairy And The Demon, a Tale By Nero - Nero x Kyrie

Pairing: Nero x Kyrie

Summary: Kyrie is running errands and Nico is going crazy while in charge of the kids at the orphanage. When Nero arrives, she puts this task on his shoulders - and all he can think of is to entertain the children with a made up tale of fairies and demons. It turns out the so called “tale” is not that made up after all.

A Rose By Any Other Name - Vergil x Reader

Pairing: Vergil x Reader

Summary: Under a shimmering moonlight on a secret garden, Vergil thinks if he could ever start again had he not his own name - a name that inspired such loathing. And under the moonlight, his s/o takes the time to remember him how adored he is while using the poetic words of Shakespeare.

Devil May Dance: Golden Dreams Were Shiny Days - Dante x Reader

Pairing: Dante x Reader

Summary: Dante thinks about his life with brand new company at the DMC, but the jukebox plays songs that are too good to be ignored

Devil May Halloween - Halloween Scenarios

Halloween Scenario - V Version (the one where you go full Phantom of the Opéra)

Pairing: V x Reader (+ Vergil x Reader. In this household, Vergil is V and he’s able to separate sometimes - there will be a fic with Vergil’s s/o meeting V for the first time)

Summary: Kyrie decided to take the kids from the Orphanage on a field trip to the Opéra during Halloween - with your and Nero’s help - but now, they don’t want to leave: they expect to meet the infamous Phantom of the Opéra. While you wait, though, another figure emerges from the darkness - someone you really weren’t expecting.

Halloween Scenario - Vergil Version (the one where he dresses full Dracula on a masquerade night at the Opéra)

Pairing: Vergil x Reader

Summary: Vergil wasn’t the easiest of people to convince to have fun - but a masquerade ball at the city’s Opéra during Halloween might change that. Even if demons decide to pay a visit.

Halloween Scenario - Dante Version (the one with two parts where Dante, his s/o and Patty get yeeted to another dimension by a demonic top hat. Don't ask, just go with it)

Dante - Part 1

Dante - Part 2

Pairing: Dante x Reader

Summary: Patty never really had a full Halloween experience - so you decided to go trick or treating with her, costumes and all. What you didn’t plan, though, was that she’d find a funny top hat among Dante’s devil arms - and be swallowed by it right in front of you. It was up to you and Dante to bring her back now.

Halloween Scenario - Nero Version (the one where you, Nico and Kyrie dress up as the Sanderson Sisters and you dance the night away with Nero)

Pairings: Nero x Kyrie, as always. In this one, reader is Nero’s best friend (he calls her his sister)

Summary: The theme for this Halloween was Hocus Pocus, the movie you all watched as kids. All dressed up, Nero runs to the orphanage just in time to watch the Sanderson Sisters’ show.

Devil May Cry Incorrect Quotes

Vergil, the butter barbarian

Nero and y/n, bffs and partners in crime

How to summon Nero

Dante, Lady, Nero and the "you can't eat a full cheeseburger in 4 bites" bet

DMC Crew and their least favourite animals (feat. Vergil going full Shakespeare on his s/o)

Devil May Cry Random Headcanons

Trish's Eyes

Sparda Family and Foreign Languages

DMC OC Week

Day 1: Introduction

Summary: “After 10 years, Dante goes back to the city of Remény, a place where he left much more than dead demons and thankful humans. He’d finally meet her again.”

Day 2: Their connection to the cast/ship

Follow up of Day 1

Day 3: Past

Follow up of Day 1 and Day 2

Day 4: Likes/Dislikes

Day 5: Weapon | Abilities | Job | Hobbies

Day 6: Family/Background

Day 7: Free (Devil May Dance first iteration, pairing is Dante x OC)

Resident Evil

Resident Evil Random Headcanons

Carlos Oliveira's Brazilian Mixtape: Resposta, by Skank

Janis & Jimmy

Janis: where are you? Janis: put my coat away and everything Jimmy: weren't allowed in Jimmy: face don't fit Jimmy: 💔🎻💔 Janis: serious Janis: thought you said you could get in clubs Janis: hang on then, I'll queue up again 😑 Jimmy: it ain't my fault the door bloke's a dickhead Jimmy: fancies his chances better without me in the way Jimmy: might as well go for it now Jimmy: catch you in a bit 👍 Janis: sure, he's got it in for you, boy 😏 Janis: whatever Jimmy: he wants to put it in you Jimmy: understandable when he's going off how well you scrub up Jimmy: keep it off the snap & it is whatever, girl Janis: gross Janis: he's easily 42 Jimmy: don't knock it til you've tried it Jimmy: we ain't in the north so that ain't death's door Jimmy: & you ain't got me there to buy your drinks now, play it smart, rich girl Jimmy: that's how you stay rich, yeah Janis: well I actually got in so I can check out the talent beyond the door 👍 Janis: but tah for the tips Janis: what are you gonna do then Jimmy: big town full of Leprechauns Jimmy: maybe I'll find the pot of gold, gay clubs are the rainbow I assume Jimmy: start there Jimmy: find my own 👴💕 Janis: 🍀 Janis: funny now but when I end up dead in the river you'll be suspect no.1 Jimmy: like anyone's gonna believe I could take you out Jimmy: too 💪 you Jimmy: worry more about everyone chatting that you turned me 🌈 honestly Janis: ha Janis: like you said, keep it off the snap Janis: anyone sees you in there they'll have to out themselves first so Jimmy: 👌 Janis: laters bae Jimmy: 😘 Janis: [finds him, the kiss, walking away] Jimmy: [follows her out leaving this girl like ??!! as she also follows for the awks] Jimmy: [says 'keeping it short & sweet all across town tonight then?' because now is not the time for bants so obvs he's banting] Janis: [is just looking at the girl like bitch what are you doing and ain't gonna talk to him whilst she's there] Jimmy: [lights a 🚬 for an excuse to be still standing there when he's being blanked, sharing with the random girl just to make it worse, introduces Janis to her by one of her fake names cos actual dickhead] Janis: [completely blanks the girl like it would be obvious you were not welcome; 'how do you know no one saw you?'] Jimmy: [the girl be like UM I'm going back in, are you coming boy & he shrugs like in a bit cos still smoking obvs to prolong this & let's her go before he answers cos not trying to explain fake dating to this random] Jimmy: ['you've been in, it's well dead 'cause of being well shit'] Janis: ['so you don't then, in other words. great.'] Jimmy: ['nobody saw me. Calm down.'] Janis: ['fuck off. if you can't do this properly then why suggest it?'] Jimmy: ['I am doing it properly, I told you, it's alright'] Janis: ['for you maybe but that ain't the only part of the deal so sort it out. fucking amatuer'] Jimmy: ['piss off am I. It is sorted. She ain't from around here & nobody who matters saw us.' Janis: [shakes head 'yeah, you are. fuck sake, how old are you, 12?'] Jimmy: [is clearly fuming but trying to act not bothered. 'You'll be the one who fucks this if you don't trust what I'm telling you, girl'] Janis: ['nah, get why they didn't let you in now; what is this, under 18s night? check how old she was, did you?'] Jimmy: [just gives her a fuck you kind of look but that's a mistake cos she's really hot so has to look away] Jimmy: you got in, what did you follow me to this shithole for? Janis: [is laughing at him but it's obvs fake, then shrugs like, why not?] Jimmy: nah go on, you're such a #pro Jimmy: reasons for everything you do, all part of the plan all the time with you Jimmy: so what Janis: well no shit Janis: I didn't want to come out but it's on socials now so we need at least one decent picture together so they know it's #real Jimmy: come on then Jimmy: [poses in a really fake piss taking way] Janis: are you this shit or what Janis: I said, do it properly or I ain't bothering Jimmy: [does that sexy blowing smoke thing at her so it's basically a kiss like that gif I have of Nico doing it in MMFD & snaps a pic of it] Janis: [nods like that'll work 'cos what's she gonna say] Jimmy: 👍 Jimmy: [then actually kisses her & again taking pics being all like don't say I don't do shit properly but like we both know he just wants to & its a moment] Janis: [pushes him back 'cos can't deal] Janis: that'll do Janis: keep it softcore, no one needs that much convincing Jimmy: 👌 Jimmy: in a bit then Janis: you're seriously going back in there Jimmy: [does the why not shrug she gave him earlier like its so obvious that you want her to tell you not to, boy please] Janis: [scoffs and shrugs back] Janis: have fun Jimmy: try not to fall or get pushed in the river, Joanne Jimmy: it'd be a crying shame that Janis: no one's pushing me away Janis: trust Jimmy: not in that outfit Jimmy: or out of it Jimmy: I get it Jimmy: you've done your snap bragging now, shut up Janis: can't make me Jimmy: 💪🏆 you Jimmy: get that too Janis: good Janis: don't get it twisted Jimmy: 👑 of the #flex Jimmy: nowt twisted here Janis: flexing makes it sound like it ain't true Jimmy: [sends her the pics so she can post them cos ultimate shade for rn that he won't] Jimmy: none of this is Jimmy: what did you say, don't get it twisted, Janet Jimmy: have fun with your #s Jimmy: [goes back inside] Janis: piss off Janis: I can get into places that ain't this dump, remember? Jimmy: you ain't let me forget Jimmy: enjoy being a hot girl then Jimmy: 👍 Janis: 🤞 you can find one yourself Jimmy: tah Janis: so welcome Jimmy: 💕 Janis: 🖕 Jimmy: lovely you Jimmy: [leaves again because it actually is shit in there & obvs not feeling it] Janis: don't take it personal Jimmy: weren't & won't Janis: how unlike you Jimmy: you reckon you know what I'm like Janis: I reckon you love thinking you're special Jimmy: if I loved that we wouldn't be doing this Jimmy: I'd just let 'em all fawn over me like its their job while I do mine Janis: better in theory and bullshit than in practice Janis: 🤷 Jimmy: say the same for this fake girlfriend bollocks Janis: 💔 for you Janis: naturally Jimmy: 🎻🎻 Jimmy: I'll live Janis: shame Jimmy: 💔 for you then Janis: yeah, should be Janis: inconsiderate Jimmy: reckon you've got that covered, my dear Jimmy: but I'll do my best Janis: excuse me? Jimmy: you heard Jimmy: & I bet you understood, smart girl Janis: are you drunk? Jimmy: you calling me a lightweight Jimmy: I weren't in there that long Janis: long enough Janis: 👍 Jimmy: for you maybe Janis: soz you didn't get stinky fingers? Janis: 🎻 Jimmy: yeah you looked proper sorry about it Janis: was I meant to be? Jimmy: don't bother saying it now then Janis: 🙄 Janis: did you a favour anyway Jimmy: 🙄 Janis: please Janis: even you could do better Janis: not doing this so you can throw all my good work away already Jimmy: than a girl who's not from around here, ain't gonna say shit & I don't need to see again Jimmy: not really Jimmy: but go on Janis: whatever, if that's your type Janis: then you may as well make your choice of the basics now and be done with it Jimmy: I don't have a type Jimmy: she did the job for tonight Jimmy: or would've until you turned up Jimmy: if you've got someone better in mind, I'm heading home, send 'em over Janis: lovely you Jimmy: I know Jimmy: tah though Janis: no, thank you for proving my point Jimmy: so welcome Janis: gone, was she Jimmy: or 💀 from the 🔪🔪🔪s you were throwing Jimmy: could've easily bled out while you were having your strop Janis: just playing the part Janis: like you were meant to Janis: or you want your fake gf to be that cool girl Janis: 🙄 figures Jimmy: I only clock in when there's actually an audience, babe Jimmy: like you're meant to Jimmy: & as I told you, there weren't Janis: sure Janis: you did a whole sweep of the club to doublecheck Janis: idiot Jimmy: yeah Jimmy: it ain't big or packed Jimmy: & anyway if you were playing a role you'd have kicked off in front of the everyone you're so sure was about Jimmy: not outside to me Janis: not my style Janis: but you did your part by following me out like a puppy so we're fine Jimmy: 'cause I ain't no amateur Jimmy: weren't gonna let you fuck it up by fucking off without a word Jimmy: thought you paddy's loved a bar fight Jimmy: actually 💔💔 Janis: and I know boys love bitch fights, don't mean you're gonna get one from me Jimmy: gutted me Jimmy: of all the fake girlfriends I could've had Jimmy: lumbered with a dud like Julie over here Janis: find another one then Janis: save me the hassle Jimmy: bit late for that Jimmy: deal's done Jimmy: posts are posted Janis: people break up Janis: ain't even that deep Jimmy: 1 day in? Jimmy: that's the rep you want Jimmy: alright then Janis: why ain't it your rep Jimmy: I'm the lad I'm always gonna come off better Jimmy: either I dumped you this fast 'cause you wouldn't fuck me or 'cause you did Jimmy: It don't matter to me Jimmy: & It don't look bad for me whichever way Janis: that's bullshit Janis: when's the soonest I can get out of this then Jimmy: yeah but it's the way it'll look Jimmy: I don't know Jimmy: not had to stage a fake break up before Janis: fuck sake Jimmy: 🎻🎻🎻 Janis: fuck off with that Janis: all you've done this whole time is whine you didn't get laid Janis: like I stopped you Jimmy: I ain't said shit about it even though you did stop me Jimmy: you're the one with so much chat on the subject Janis: bullshit, you're moaning on and on like I'm gonna feel sorry for you Janis: you could've gone back in, she clearly didn't care you've got a fake girlfriend Jimmy: bollocks Jimmy: & you clearly scared her off Jimmy: she didn't know about you, I don't lead with that chat up line Janis: yeah she's that fucking stupid Janis: just 'cos you're oblivious don't reckon everyone else is Jimmy: oblivious to what Jimmy: you weren't there & I didn't give her anything real Jimmy: she can't stalk my socials to check my fake relationship status without my name Janis: when I showed up Janis: to me, playing my part Janis: if you reckon she didn't clock that then you're literally braindead Jimmy: like I said, you scared her off Jimmy: & stopped me Jimmy: why am I repeating myself, are you the drunk one now Janis: bullshit Janis: don't use me as an excuse for whyever you pussied out Jimmy: piss off Jimmy: I went back in, I don't need excuses it's literally what happened Jimmy: you fucked it up for me Jimmy: I'm good but nobody's that good Janis: 👌 Janis: whatever makes you feel better about your fuck up Jimmy: whatever makes you feel better about putting on a show for nobody but me & her Janis: you wish Jimmy: if this is your coming out, sure you could track her down & crack on, you did me easy enough Janis: hilarious Janis: even if I was gay, I'd have standards Jimmy: I've got standards but I've also got a nightmare of a fake girlfriend so Jimmy: well paranoid about getting rumbled she is Janis: 1. clearly not Janis: 2. well yeah, 'cos I ain't doing this for my fucking health Janis: like you said, you're gonna fuck up my rep when you've promised the opposite Jimmy: 1. I've already told you, needs must Jimmy: 2. fuck knows why you're doing it when you're so up yourself & convinced you can get anyone else you want Jimmy: like I said & yeah, promised, a deal's a deal Jimmy: I ain't gonna do nowt of the sort Jimmy: just calm down Janis: yeah, this is 100% about getting boys to wanna ride me Janis: boys are easy, no one needs to try to impress yous Janis: and don't tell me to calm down, seriously Janis: 'less you wanna see the opposite Jimmy: I don't give a shit what it's about for you Jimmy: you agreed to do this that's all that matters to me Jimmy: but I knew that's how you 🍀 welcomed the tourists Jimmy: better late than never Janis: stop chatting like you know then, twat Jimmy: only a rule for you that? Jimmy: you've been chatting like you know me this whole night Jimmy: leave it out or show up to my door for the brawl you want & tick off another nightmare girlfriend cliche before tomorrow Janis: you reckon you can propose it and come off all mysterious Janis: nah 😂 Janis: don't worry, sure everyone else is still wondering, new boy Jimmy: 👍 Janis: we're probably good now for a few days anyway yeah Janis: so enjoy Jimmy: will do Jimmy: have a good one Jimmy: 💕 Janis: say you too but you're going home? Jimmy: like I said, I'll live Jimmy: got work tomorrow anyway Janis: best to face them not-hungover I guess Jimmy: we can say that's the reason Janis: oh my GOD Janis: give it up Jimmy: already have Jimmy: that's why I'm on my way home Janis: I mean, sadsack, I ain't apologizing Jimmy: 💔💔💔 Janis: so much effort, you Jimmy: you too, babe Jimmy: must be #fated Janis: eurgh Janis: shut up 😂 Jimmy: alright Jimmy: night then Janis: now he listens Jimmy: not on the 🕒 girl, soz Jimmy: soon enough Janis: you hear me asking for a latte Jimmy: I mean your fake boyfriend one Jimmy: & you'd never ask for a latte, piss off Jimmy: I don't have to know you to know that Janis: MY 🕒? Janis: YOUR fake girlfriend one, own it at least Janis: alright, you can 'know' that much Janis: 'cos I'd have to throw it in your face before I drank it so Jimmy: iced it is then Jimmy: burn scars ain't the sexy sort Janis: rude but true Janis: not giving them the satisfaction of a wet t-shirt moment 🤢 Jimmy: shame Janis: like romcoms too do you Janis: seriously, give in to your pride and date fucking Janis: samantha, whatever her name is Jimmy: I watched some before I suggested this 'cause I take this shit seriously, alright, shut up Janis: 😂 Janis: that bodes well Janis: did you not make the end of any, boy Jimmy: fuck that Jimmy: I was skimming Jimmy: you ain't paying me nowt for this Janis: well I've been forced through enough to know that it never works because the people are idiots Janis: so try not to be one, eh Janis: just this once Jimmy: same to you, girl Jimmy: I get it, I'm really 💪😎 & the accent's 🔥 but don't get carried away, yeah Janis: 🙄 Janis: we're safe Janis: don't worry Jimmy: not if you keep dressing like that Jimmy: sort it out, Jasmine Jimmy: uglier the better 👌 Janis: dickhead Janis: what you want an ugly fake gf for Jimmy: be more #goals Jimmy: #Iloveheranyway Jimmy: #itaintjustskindeepladies Janis: 😒 Janis: well thanks for the insult but too bad 'cos I ain't ever Jimmy: It was literally the opposite of an insult, dickhead Jimmy: I'm saying I'm still a lad alright Jimmy: & when you look like that it's just Janis: it obviously ain't if until now you reckoned I was #ugenough to get the job done so 🖕 Janis: don't take the piss Jimmy: that ain't what I reckoned or what I said Janis: mhmm Janis: ⛏ Jimmy: you're such a knob Jimmy: what kind of fake girlfriend can't take a compliment Janis: what kind of fake boyfriend can't give one Janis: that's the real question, babe Jimmy: I literally just told you how hot you looked, babe Jimmy: try & stay with me here Janis: go on then Janis: what's the punchline Jimmy: shut up Jimmy: the joke is that I'm back home this early Jimmy: my dad's still up Jimmy: & he ain't the type to wait Janis: that's tragic Janis: poor baby Janis: could be worse, he could still be out Janis: then you'd be a real loser Jimmy: I see that & raise you he's got his girlfriend here Jimmy: might genuinely throw up in the kitchen sink Janis: oh dear Janis: least he might think you're at least drunk, sadsack Jimmy: might get drunk now to deal Jimmy: one sec Janis: honestly Janis: shoulda stayed at the nappy night Janis: weren't that bad Jimmy: if I'd known I was coming home to Michael Bublé & two sets of red wine teeth Jimmy: if you still want that fight come & 💀💀 me Janis: You'll get no mercy from me Janis: even if that's the worst thing I've ever heard Jimmy: come on Jimmy: if that's not truce worthy nowt is Jimmy: end my life & be a hot widow what could be more #goals Janis: 😂 Janis: there's no way I like you that much after a day, even faking it Janis: and no chance we've cashed in any sort of life insurance so Jimmy: actually if I 💀 myself you'll get A's in your exams Jimmy: hang on Jimmy: just leaving you a 💕 note Janis: that's definitely a myth Janis: whole school of scabs turning up at cambo like eyy someone topped themselves so now I'm a professor of theology Janis: I think not Jimmy: bit rude Jimmy: & you could've said before I blew my brains out all over my dad & the love of his week but Janis: 🤷 Janis: maybe if you hadn't left it 'til the 💕💀 note to be nice to me Jimmy: when that girl finds out she's gonna think it's because she's a shit kisser Jimmy: that's awkward Jimmy: might have to go haunt her for a bit Jimmy: make sure she knows Jimmy: play some Bublé tunes Janis: again Janis: saving it for the afterlife to be considerate Janis: dickhead Jimmy: 🎻🎻🎻 Jimmy: tell 'em none of his songs at my funeral & I won't haunt you too hard Janis: come on, sure he's murdered my way Janis: just your speed Janis: basic white boy Jimmy: It ain't my fault my parents are both too northern to branch out Janis: save it for when your Swayze'ing that bitch Janis: sure she thinks you're dead exotic Jimmy: 👍 idea Jimmy: tah babe Janis: whatever Janis: we've established you've only got 👎 ones so Jimmy: piss off Jimmy: this fake dating one is working out top Jimmy: deny it Jimmy: I saw how everyone reacted to the posts I gave you Janis: you can take a picture Jimmy: & pose for one Jimmy: this basic white boy is working for you Janis: my ancestors will be thrilled Janis: #reparationsbitch Jimmy: mine too, I bet Janis: I mean, anything beats dying down a mine, I suppose Janis: probs racists though, even if the blackface weren't intentional Jimmy: I'd take it over my present right now Jimmy: pretty sure my dad's a racist still, even if he also likes Seal Janis: lovely Janis: remind me to not come over for tea Jimmy: invite's in the post, my love Janis: 👍 Janis: give us all the chance to 'lose' it Jimmy: 'course Jimmy: but I'm giving you the chance to lose it when you come over too so Jimmy: love a fight you Jimmy: & my dad's got a very smackable face Jimmy: & personality Janis: begin to sound more and more like you've got a fetish Jimmy: shit's kicking off right now & I haven't asked you to tag team Jimmy: got me all wrong Janis: bummer Janis: he pick a minger too? Janis: should've left her at the club like you did Jimmy: he'd have to leave her in the office & that don't work for long Jimmy: perils of 😍 over the water cooler Janis: eurgh Janis: is your whole fam just one big cliche or Jimmy: piss off Janis: just saying Janis: that's two no-nos ticked off Jimmy: well don't say it Jimmy: I'm living it, that's enough Janis: alright Jimmy: alright Jimmy: don't fuck anyone I wouldn't Jimmy: saves us comparing notes Janis: the basic white girls and you are safe Janis: I'll never find out how disappointing you are 💕 Jimmy: You've misunderstood this entire thing, you're my fake girlfriend 'cause I don't wanna fuck basic white girls Jimmy: but 👌 Janis: I thought so too but you must be the confused one Janis: strobe lights were not going that hard Jimmy: she weren't top of my list Jimmy: I told you, needs must Janis: keep protesting, it's so convincing Janis: least it's just me who caught you out 😂 could've been worse Jimmy: alright shut up Jimmy: you've never had a shit night, have you Janis: obviously not Janis: have you seen me Jimmy: you ain't getting no more compliments I'm still holding onto the last one since you wouldn't take it Janis: 1. it was not a compliment Janis: 2. not like I need it Jimmy: 1. yeah it was Jimmy: 2. nah you just want it Janis: 1. no Janis: 2. and no Jimmy: Obviously you're fit that's why I asked you so leave it out Jimmy: 🙄 Janis: p sure you told me to leave it 'cos you were losing but Jimmy: need more chatting up than a real girlfriend you Janis: that's just a tragic insight into your dating history I didn't need, really Jimmy: you wish, baby Janis: ew cease and desist Janis: we definitely no'd that one Jimmy: 😂 Janis: so annoying Jimmy: I told you, #fated Janis: you call it #fated, I call it #doomed Jimmy: it's all still bollocks Jimmy: no # needed Jimmy: 💕 Janis: so poetic Jimmy: wait til you read the 💀 note Janis: I look forward to it Janis: how long 'fore I can move on with the actual hot barista though Jimmy: a day for a day Jimmy: only fair Jimmy: I get it, you couldn't score him first time round so get him with the sympathy Jimmy: well played Janis: you gave me no time Janis: not like it's my usual haunt Jimmy: it's still your home town Jimmy: get a better excuse Janis: I don't make it my business to know everyone else's Jimmy: if he's that hot no need for him to be just a rebound off my demise Jimmy: sort yourself out, girl Janis: sort yourself out for doubting his hotness Jimmy: I ain't Jimmy: I'm doubting your ability to close that deal Janis: fuck you Janis: never had an off day, remember Jimmy: only got your word for that Jimmy: & what's that worth with how much shit you chat Janis: whatever Janis: you already said you think I'm hot Janis: can't change your mind now Jimmy: you are Jimmy: don't mean that basic white lad wants you Janis: why wouldn't he Jimmy: I'll let you know when I've chatted to him on shift tomorrow Jimmy: maybe he likes his missus' more humble for a start Janis: no you won't Janis: and humble is just code for no self-esteem which you only want to cover up your own failings Jimmy: yeah I will Jimmy: & yeah maybe he's into that Jimmy: loads of lads are Janis: um he's #special and #different Janis: so don't ruin it for me with your chatter Jimmy: you're blinded by your 😍 Jimmy: & you ruined tonight for me so why shouldn't I Jimmy: makes us even Janis: no it don't Janis: she weren't no barista boy, get real Jimmy: don't matter to me Jimmy: nowt in the rules about keeping things fair Jimmy: we didn't even come up with any so Janis: even=fair so you don't get to get even by that logic, fool Janis: and pretty self-explanatory, just real relationship rules but make them fake Jimmy: even as I call it, fair as I call it Janis: fuck that Janis: you don't get to call everything Jimmy: watch me Janis: nah, you need me Janis: remember Janis: that's why it's a deal Jimmy: maybe I don't need you as much as I reckoned Jimmy: the basic white girl tonight weren't that bad Janis: like I said, call it off then Janis: in what world do I need to do what you tell me Jimmy: in the same world where you think I would do anything you tell me Jimmy: so the one we're in Janis: I ain't told you to do shit Jimmy: you are now Jimmy: call it off yourself, don't try & make me do it for you Janis: I'm saying don't act like you've got something over me Janis: at least something that I don't also have over you Janis: it ain't that deep, God Jimmy: deep enough for you to keep saying it ain't Jimmy: so convincing, babe Janis: 😑 Janis: you're the most annoying person I've had the misfortune of meeting Jimmy: nah 🥇 you Janis: well I love myself Janis: so obviously not Jimmy: let's ask about Jimmy: I reckon you'll win easy Janis: only if we were asking only the girls Janis: and you're new, you're basically anything they want you to be 'til your personality ruins it Jimmy: you're so popular with the lads, alright I heard you the first 100 times you said it Jimmy: get one of them to fake date you Janis: nah, this is the first sincere offer of fake dating I've ever Janis: so you can still feel special Jimmy: 😍😍😍 Jimmy: I can go to bed feeling like this is better than anything I could dream Jimmy: tah so much Janis: welcome Janis: do what I can Jimmy: yeah Jimmy: so far it's piss me off but let's see what tomorrow brings Janis: ain't on the ⏲ Janis: you didn't do all the convincing yourself though Jimmy: you ain't the one who needs to be convinced of owt Jimmy: thank fuck Jimmy: easy targets Janis: ain't saying I am Janis: saying give me the credit I'm owed and you'll get yours Jimmy: bollocks Janis: ? Jimmy: you were ready to slag me off earlier & loving it when you could give me credit for getting off with someone who ain't gonna ruin this Janis: it ain't the who it's the where, twat Janis: it ain't your hometown, you ain't got a clue who was or wasn't there, lbr Janis: give a fuck if you took her home but you can't be doing it in public 'til this is done Janis: simple as Jimmy: fuck's sake Jimmy: trust me Janis: why? Janis: I don't know you, you don't know me Jimmy: we're in this together or we're fucking not Jimmy: if I weren't as bothered as you I wouldn't be wasting my time Janis: fine Janis: don't be stupid about it then Jimmy: I weren't & I won't Janis: then there's no problem here Jimmy: 👍 Janis: night then Jimmy: 💕 Janis: remember to ❤ the pics Jimmy: already did Jimmy: try & keep up with me, girl Janis: 👌 Janis: keen as always, boy Jimmy: serious Jimmy: remember that next time Janis: yeah, I was the one taking it not serious Janis: 👍 Jimmy: just do better tomorrow Janis: are you actually taking the piss Jimmy: maybe Jimmy: one for the road, like Janis: mm Janis: as I said Janis: most annoying Jimmy: as I said, SUCH a good match Janis: just convince them and we're both free Jimmy: already did that too Jimmy: so say the word Jimmy: any time or place Janis: and you already said if we leave it at a fuck, I look bad so Janis: sorry, not yet Jimmy: I'm just saying Jimmy: whenever Janis: alright, I know Janis: not like it's a legally binding contract Jimmy: so I shouldn't have opened a vein to sign something in my blood Jimmy: now she tells me Jimmy: always too late you Janis: 😏 Janis: earlier it was brains, now it's veins Janis: should I call the samaritans Janis: starting to sound like a cry for help, idk 🤔 Jimmy: you heard me say what's happening in my house tonight Jimmy: it is & you should Janis: 😂 Jimmy: glad you find MB on a loop such a laugh Janis: as long as it's drowning out worse Janis: be thankful Jimmy: do you actually want me to 💀💀💀 Janis: awh babe, no Janis: I don't care whether you live or die either way Jimmy: 💕 Janis: that's the type of service you get for free, kid Jimmy: 👍 Janis: [ze next morning] Janis: I've got to come in later Jimmy: really need to throw that latte on me? Janis: ha, obviously Janis: tell me when my sister and that get there, yeah Janis: remember what they look like Jimmy: it was only a handful of kisses, you gotta get over your jealousy about last night, Jill Jimmy: & yeah Jimmy: my best customers that's the type of service you get here at the CG Janis: strangely enough, not about you or my fake jealousy Janis: just lay off the charm offensive for five when I get there, that's all I need you to do Jimmy: alright Janis: 👍 Janis: see you then Jimmy: in a bit Janis: it'll be easy, no drama Jimmy: no fake break up then Jimmy: 👌 Janis: sorry to disappoint Jimmy: yeah I'm well 💔💔💔 Janis: make it up to you Janis: you'll get tons more #lad points Jimmy: clearly my top priority tah Jimmy: what's going on? Janis: I know you're just as 😍 for him Janis: nah, nothing, my sister's just being more of a bitch than usual Jimmy: you can't know I've been so careful with my 💘 & 😍 around him so there Jimmy: & what you wanna shut her up Janis: oh babes 🙊 Janis: yep Janis: need to, actually, but that's the gist Jimmy: don't she believe we're madly in love? Jimmy: bit rude Janis: appaz, you have no control over your 😍 at all 'cos she #knows you're into her so Janis: 👌 tah Jimmy: 1. she can piss off 'cause I've never Jimmy: 2. I know exactly what to do Janis: yeah, she's full of shit Janis: well so do I but open to ideas Jimmy: you get to do what you want, she's your sister & they weren't my 😍 Janis: 👍 stick to the plan then Janis: she's an idiot, you have to be blatant or she won't get it Jimmy: you gonna tell me the plan or nah Jimmy: & I get paid not to be blatant, gutted as I am about it Janis: you won't get in trouble Janis: not gonna go that hard Jimmy: not what I asked Janis: like you're as dumb as her? Janis: just gotta come be really #goals in their faces Janis: 5 minutes, tops Janis: easy Jimmy: double it if you wanna be #convincing Jimmy: never given a girl so little time in my life Janis: #swoon 😏 Janis: like I said, not gonna go that hard 'cos it has to be in front of them Janis: that's the whole point Janis: just look like you're having fun, yeah? Jimmy: you have to go hard in front of them, that's the whole point Jimmy: not as dumb as her tah Janis: 10 minutes is a bit much for making out Janis: could get it done in that time Jimmy: who have you been making out with? Jimmy: actually gutted for you Jimmy: can't even add the piss taking emojis right now Janis: shut up Janis: I'm not gonna suck face with you for 10 minutes Jimmy: if you can't hack it, call it off now Janis: 😑 Janis: just tell me when they're there Jimmy: said I would Janis: saving the enthusiasm, I get it Jimmy: that & drying my eyes over your real dating history Janis: what are you chatting now Jimmy: nowt Jimmy: just making ☕ Jimmy: you're the one giving away your shit kissing secrets Janis: piss off Janis: there's nothing wrong with my kissing Janis: it's just the boring bit, everyone knows that Janis: may as well skip it Jimmy: if you're doing it wrong, yeah Janis: you aren't an expert Janis: people like different shit, alright Jimmy: calm down Jimmy: you ain't meant to be coming in swinging Janis: stop being a dick then Janis: it's off-putting Jimmy: if you're that easy to put off this fake relationship is properly doomed Janis: I told you Jimmy: get it together or don't come Janis: I'm fine Janis: you're the one chatting shit Janis: you've got one job Jimmy: two Jimmy: get it right, rich girl Janis: yeah, so drop the relationship therapist bit Janis: no one's buying Jimmy: I get it, you're rich 'cause you're tight with every penny Janis: You're just full of shit, and I get that for free Janis: 🍀 me Jimmy: you wish I were Jimmy: but we ain't making 'em come true until the girls get here so Janis: why would I want that Jimmy: my therapist bit's been dropped Jimmy: at your request Janis: we'll talk about this comedian bit later Janis: I've got things to do Jimmy: 👍 Jimmy: me too Janis: things that require more than one braincell but Janis: happy for you Jimmy: soz I'm not performing brain surgery right now Jimmy: well patronizing you Janis: whatever Janis: unlikely to catch my sister or obs so suits my purpose Janis: on* Jimmy: happy for you Janis: suits yours too Janis: or were you looking for someone to be really into you slobbering all over them Janis: shoulda been clearer Jimmy: there's nowt about kissing you for exactly 5 minutes mid shift at my job which suits me Jimmy: but go on Janis: I said 5, tops Janis: get it done in less if you're gonna be so moody Janis: yes or no, can I come in or what Jimmy: do what you want it's your masterplan Janis: well not if you're actually gonna get in trouble Jimmy: like you give a shit about my job security Jimmy: plenty of places to make a latte in this town Janis: I ain't that much of a bitch Jimmy: who knows maybe you'll do me a favor & force me into a job that requires two braincells next Janis: shut up Janis: it was a joke Janis: and you started it Jimmy: really funny you Janis: backatcha Jimmy: 💕 Janis: forget about it Jimmy: alright Janis: nothing lost, yeah Jimmy: nowt gained either but Jimmy: whatever Janis: well despite what you reckon, my secondary goal wasn't to get you sacked so Janis: sorta outweighs the need to get back at them Jimmy: you couldn't get me sacked if you tried Jimmy: you've got one foot out the door before you're even in Janis: you want me hanging about all day Jimmy: not what I said or meant Jimmy: I've had more of a connection with a customer whose order got fucked up than what you're planning to give me Jimmy: who the fuck is that meant to convince Jimmy: but I'm the one not doing this properly Janis: maybe we should fake hang out some more after this Janis: alright Janis: but all you've gotta convince 'em rn is that you wanna fuck me Janis: that's all they care about Jimmy: then I'll let you know when they show up Jimmy: like I said Janis: yeah? Janis: alright Janis: thanks Jimmy: nowt to thank me for Jimmy: blue balls is easy to fake when my dad's getting fucked more often than me Janis: 🎻 then Jimmy: 💔 but I got all those MB jams from last night in my head to mend it Janis: come through for you after-all Jimmy: he'll come to me forever now with those words of wisdom Jimmy: I'll never be free Jimmy: mind numbing job combined with mind numbing family life Jimmy: so few braincells Janis: what was it you said at the start of this convo Janis: need to let it go Jimmy: I can say what I like Jimmy: who are you Jimmy: let go of your fake being bothered Janis: fine Janis: have fun chatting shit to your customers then Jimmy: I survive on tips so I very much will Janis: don't know if sob story is the way you wanna go but Janis: you do you Jimmy: if you're sobbing, you do you Jimmy: probably get out of the mansion a bit more though Jimmy: it's fairly common out here Janis: boohoo? Janis: lemme dry my tears on a 50 Janis: what do you expect me to say Jimmy: don't say nowt Jimmy: shut up Janis: erm, say what I like Janis: who are you Jimmy: the one you're chatting shit to Jimmy: fuck knows why Janis: fucking hell Janis: what is wrong with you this morning Jimmy: the same thing that's wrong with me every morning Jimmy: but since you don't know me Jimmy: 1. it's news to you and 2. we don't need to go into it Janis: 👍 Janis: later Jimmy: 👌 Jimmy: [skip to lunch time when they'd show up & so would loads of other people lol] Jimmy: head's up, Juliet, your time to shine Janis: right Janis: okay, be there in 10 Jimmy: take as long as you need Jimmy: they ain't even ordered yet Jimmy: it'll look weird if you come through the door too soon after them Jimmy: like we planned it Janis: ha Janis: true enough Janis: they can kill a fair while, I imagine Janis: clean up properly then Jimmy: they can when they're too busy talking about us to pick up a menu Janis: ugh Janis: fun Jimmy: I'd forgotten Mia was still capable of speech Jimmy: I thought all the throwing up had destroyed her throat entirely Jimmy: she usually just communicates via 💀 stares Jimmy: I see why you two get on so well Janis: if you keep making me tell you I'm special and universally loved, you can't get mad at me for it, like Janis: and it's you that she's made the impression on Janis: that's Janis: nice Jimmy: getting mad at you for not taking a real compliment from your fake boyfriend ain't the same as not patting you on the back for being a dickhead Jimmy: yeah obviously hurry up or I'll run away with her Jimmy: won't be able to help myself & you've been warned Janis: highly doubt she can run Janis: bit cold to give her heart failure but I'm not crying here so Jimmy: I'll carry her then, more #goals anyway Janis: how Janis: she weighs sod all Jimmy: still get the rom com visual Jimmy: all that matters Janis: nah Janis: try and shift the big one Janis: that'd be something Jimmy: 😂 Jimmy: easy 💪🏆 Janis: can't just promise her free pastries Janis: that's cheating Jimmy: you can't just start imposing rules now Jimmy: too little too late Jimmy: & shamelessly cheating Janis: 🙄 she'd go with anyone for a cream cake Janis: even the least hot one Jimmy: like I said, easy Janis: ugh okay Janis: guess it counts as a win Janis: not happy about it though Jimmy: I'm not happy about doing my back in for her but Janis: needs must? Jimmy: you know Jimmy: how cute that we're finishing each other's sentences though 😍😍 Janis: 😂 Janis: if you could find a subtle way to let 'em know how goals we're being Jimmy: I've been 😍 at my phone since they came in, don't worry Jimmy: not an amateur Janis: good thing I stopped chatting or it'd be more like 😒 Janis: kinda cute but not really painting me in the best light Jimmy: like you said, only got one job Jimmy: I'll paint you in the best light you've ever Janis: 👍 Janis: you want me to leave it in the tip jar or bit too obvious Jimmy: where'd your sense of humor spring from? Jimmy: MIA a bit ago Janis: that was you Janis: cheek! Jimmy: can't be a comedian which you called me & a moody cunt which you may as well have Jimmy: make your mind up, Jenna Janis: if you can't do what I want and don't do what I don't, without any helpful direction, what kind of boyfriend are you Janis: tbh Jimmy: the fake kind Jimmy: & I'll fake owt you need me to Jimmy: starting as soon as Janis: 😍 Janis: you know the drill, yeah? Janis: swear I'll piss off long before they've even asked for extra sprinkles, probably Jimmy: not my first girlfriend or barista job Jimmy: but that is an offer I can't refuse Janis: spare us both the debrief then 👌 Jimmy: 👍 Jimmy: actually do hurry up though they're doing my head in Janis: you know they ain't gonna leave with me, yeah Janis: stunned into silence is a big ask, can try but Jimmy: I don't have to try Jimmy: it'll happen Jimmy: & I'll take it Janis: let the 💋 do the talking Jimmy: it will do Jimmy: louder than the bollocks they're chatting Jimmy: I told you, I know what I'm doing Janis: they do that, a lot Janis: should know better than me now Janis: I can try and avoid them out of school Jimmy: best customers remember, I do know Jimmy: & we're doing this 'cause I can't avoid them here Janis: exactly Janis: not forgot Janis: nor am I as dumb as them, tah Jimmy: skip the 'on the previous episode of the CG' bit then Jimmy: nowt you can tell me about any of 'em Jimmy: & even less I'd wanna know Janis: I ain't telling you anything Janis: it's all bullshit anyway Janis: whatever they're saying, that's a guarantee Jimmy: way ahead of you on that, sweetheart Janis: hope that's not the patronizing tone you settled on for your punters Janis: 😬 Jimmy: so you are worried about my job security Jimmy: well romantic 💕 Janis: I told you I weren't that bitch Janis: am leaving though Janis: be there in a few Jimmy: good Janis: what happened to take the time you need, boy Janis: only took a shower Janis: be grateful Jimmy: I said they're doing my head in Jimmy: & you already called me moody so Jimmy: tah for the romantic gesture of showering though Jimmy: 😍😍 Janis: so you gotta take every opportunity to be as sulky as? Janis: come on, I'll call you lots of better things if that's how it works Jimmy: do you want me to react to you kissing me like 😒 Jimmy: if the answer is yeah, take your time Janis: I thought you had this Janis: was your last gf a glutton for punishment or something 'cos no Jimmy: she weren't fake Jimmy: didn't have to pretend to be into it Jimmy: puts you at 👎 before you've kicked things off Janis: you said it weren't hard Janis: so which is it Jimmy: when did I ever say kissing you wasn't the bane of my life Jimmy: must've been drunk Jimmy: if I did Janis: grow up Janis: kiss's a kiss Janis: unless there's some unsexy scalding issue or similar Jimmy: not part of the deal, baby Jimmy: & no it ain't Jimmy: there's a whole scale of good & shit if you want me to rate you in a bit Janis: oh yeah! Janis: what girl doesn't want that Jimmy: if a kiss is a kiss what do you care Jimmy: don't matter, does it Janis: we don't trust each other, remember Janis: you'll just say I'm shit to be that dickhead Janis: and I know I ain't so who needs to hear more of your nonsense Jimmy: you don't trust me, I never said nowt about you Jimmy: I ain't that dickhead & I don't lie Jimmy: you're just shitting yourself about what the truth is Jimmy: that ain't my fault or problem Janis: sure Janis: your opinion ain't fact Jimmy: never said it were Jimmy: or that I give a fuck if you want it or don't Jimmy: I'm not 💔 that you don't like me Janis: you just called it the truth Janis: and you 100% said you don't trust me last night too so shut up, casual gaslighting here Janis: I wouldn't be Janis: don't like anyone, nothing to get upset about, ain't that deep, ain't that personal Jimmy: 🎻🎻🎻 Jimmy: how many times are you gonna try & tell me it ain't that deep like you don't have shit to lose if this fucks up Jimmy: you shut up, girl Jimmy: focus Janis: oh no, they'll bitch about me in cafes harder Janis: whatever will I do Janis: 🙄 Jimmy: end it then Jimmy: stop wasting my time Janis: as far as foreplay goes Janis: this is topnotch Janis: truly Jimmy: if I cared about you being turned on, we'd have bigger problems Jimmy: be in or get out Janis: don't worry, makes you the same as the rest of the lads Janis: I'm literally walking Jimmy: that ain't what I mean Jimmy: don't be a dickhead Jimmy: it matters to you or it don't so which is it Janis: come on Janis: ain't doing this for my health Janis: or a laugh, thankfully Jimmy: stop taking the piss then Jimmy: save your 🙄 for them on your way in & out Janis: alright, whatever Janis: I ain't asked you why you're really that arsed so you don't need to ask me Janis: it don't matter Jimmy: I ain't asking Jimmy: I'm telling you I ain't gonna keep threatening to pull the plug every time you have a strop Jimmy: & I'm the one who's acting 12, yeah alright Jimmy: sort your shit or leave me & it out Janis: oh my God Janis: who's told you to Janis: if emojis count as strops then you're fucked Jimmy: piss off Janis: literally just got here Jimmy: you're so fucking Janis: save it Janis: [comes in] Jimmy: [intense eye contact cos we know] Janis: [we know what happens not giving much chance for chat here] Jimmy: [just like we know he shamelessly ain't that good at faking anything] Janis: [when you have to bounce 'cos what was that] Jimmy: [the levels of hot it would be, I literally can't. It's a miracle they ever speak again]

I've fallen behind... what the heck is going in with twenty one pilots?? Did something new happen? I know about the tower and basically all about the first update whenever that happened, can't remember, but I know nothing about the newest stuff

okay you need to catch up on a lot, let me tell you and link you everthing you need to know

so, first thing you need to know is that the eye closed in 7 pictures, and that in each update there is something corallating to the lyrics in those pictures.

we have now had 6 updates. the pictures of the eye closing were published on the 6th of july last year, and since music releases by fueled by ramen tend to be on fridays (and would you look at that this friday is the 6th of july what a coincidence right) i just went ahead and assumed that we’re gonna get the seventh update this friday.

the first was finding the site : you’ll have to come and find me

the second was the clancy letter “you’re still sleeping” : my pretty sleeper

the third was a cheetah gif: the eye pic was a slowtown lyric, and the song also has the lyrics “we’re going too fast” i mean you see where im going with this

the forth clue was the title of the photo of 21 men “not my only friend”: the lyrics were from truce

the fifth one was the gif of a vulture (not actually blinking): nobody dreams when they blink

the sixth is associated with the first sentence in clancys double-sided poem “a lifeless light surrounds us each night” : remember the morning is when night it dead

the seventh being and now i just sit in silence, i assume silence is gonna be the name for a single or the album itself because of the reasons i wrote on my post.

I’m gonna put the keep reading thing here because this post will be a bitch to scroll past. so many things to talk about, so buckle tf up.

so yeah, this is the basic structure of these hints and updates. between these main hints we got a lot of cryptic clues, huge dog-bones and reward-treats.

you already know about the first clue which was finding the site.

after that we got an update on the site with the letter from clancy. some words had letters that were missing, which spelled out “you’re still sleeping”, hence the my pretty sleeper lyric. this basically means the eyes still closed i guess, no biggie.

the third was this wonderful cheetah gif code-named 3lurr

people have found that in 2012 the TOP twitter posted this:

so obviously the cheetah has a meaning here. as people tried to find out what this gif was about they also figured out where its from. It’s from a movie called “Duma”. Yeah, Duma, like Dema. mind. blown. i know.  and it’s about this boy that finds a baby cheetah. Turns out Duma is also a Russian council set up by Nicholas II. (*ahem* Nico). Isn’t it amazing when things fit in like a pre-planned puzzle?

names are very central here since you probably know the 9 names in the middle of the dema map from the first update. the next person we’ll talk about is andré weil.

André Weil is the guy cropped out of the photo of the little kid. He’s a french  mathematician. He basically invented the Ø with 9 people. 9 bishops, 9 circles, 9 mathematicians.. you see what I’m digging into here? Also, the null sign (null means Zero) means absence, empty (aka silence? no?)

P.S: this dude also claimed that he “mathematically proved that God is real”. and as if all of this was planned for years, he worked on the concept of uniform space (SILENCE GIVES YOU SPACE) and stuff with a dude named Nicholas Bourbaki. yep, another Nico.

Something about this guy named Nico, (which then turned out to also be in a song title: Nico and the Niners - remember those 9 guys i just mentioned?) keeps appearing everywhere. In the cheetah gif 3lurr we talked about there have been letters literally moving too fast. when someone slowed it down they found it said “You still don’t know his name do you?” and “Nico Nico” (Nicholas II. remember?). Idk what other people think but i think this might be about the narrator of this album (clancy) and his adversary (nico) maybe? Like tyler and blurry where Nico is our winner and Clancy the dying man? Or maybe Nico is the leader of the nine and Clancy is an ally? not enough hints to understand it yet, at least for me. maybe Clancy is not his only friend? idk

Quick side-note: Nico (Niko) means victory of the people, basically a war hero in greek. Thats very interesting isn’t it. I thought so too.

The other song title leaked is Jumpsuit. Nico and The Niners and Jumpsuit were both found on the PPL Repertoire List, which lists all copyrighted songs for artists. (It’s been removed now, probably to protect song leaks.) The new Panic! at the Disco song titles had also been on here i think abt 2 weeks before the Say Amen video got posted. So in our case it would mean that we get a new Single around the 13th of July. Since they are both Fueled by Ramen bands, it could be that they have this protocol with every single they release.

Then we got 2 major updates, major because we finally literally heard from Tyler.

The thing is now it seems we are going back to where it all started, to the play, the war in it, 1939 (also the number of likes on their twitter, just saying). in the site dmaorg.info we now have a new picture of 21 people (who look a lot like those textbook soldiers looking over graves in the trenches that you see in WW2 might i add) in the same position the vultures are. it really feels like this is gonna be a going back to the origins, to the slow and deep self-titled times. to remember where the name came from, and to honor it. there are so many nodds to the play its impossible not to think about self-titled.

i saw an interview where tyler said he wanted to focus more on lyrics and make something less fun and dancey, and more like the self-titled album. with much better production of course. maybe thats why i have all of this in my mind.

Now, since we know that even image names are important clues, and that the photo has the title“__n_ot_myo_nly_fri_en d” under it, we took the image name of this photo of 21 men and entered it into the website just like we did with the violation code. and jackpot. bulls-eye. it led to a video. it doesn’t sound like anything remotely transcribable. i know. so, of course, it needs to be sped up and reversed.

some people heard “we are perdidos” which means “we are lost”, but in a minute you’ll see why this is not the case.

PS: the code, 2018_514_3_8 also spells out TRENCH which ties in with the whole war theme that I mentioned above.

next two updates are the vulture gif (named i as in eye -  look at it not blinking)

and the second clancy letter (named reverse in reverse i mean come on)

clancy’s letter is scarily depressing and sad. but more importantly it starts with the line “a lifeless light surrounds us each night”. like the sixth clue suggests, ‘remember the morning is when night is dead.’ dead light, and dead night.

if you obey tyler and reverse the letter sentence by sentence, it still makes absolute sense and changes its meaning. and its kinda insane that they actually did this.

Another thing we got was this image with just a yellow strip and some numbers.

If you put that yellow strip over the double-sided poem you get the words “we are banditos”, portuguese for ‘we are bandits’. now the reverse message actually makes some fucking sense because its exactly what tyler said. told you you’d get it in a minute.

the numbers create 2018_514_3_8, meaning tylers message was in fact this sentence.

the sixth being lyrics from message man, i have a feeling clancy is the message man. the message man being the messanger between dema and the people outside? and nico is maybe a name for silence? the nine bishops maybe being 9 helpers of blurry and silence being an ally for blurry? blurry being dema? i really have no idea i really dont know.

this is it as far as i remember. i hope you are fully uodated now. welcome back to hiatus hell!

Can I just say something, Hazel is not v. realistic. Like I'm 13 and i can't say the same for all 13yolds but neither me nor my friends dream of growing old w/ a husband and like rick makes her and sammy to be soulmates and that's not how a 13yo's mind functions. Also, she shouldn't be completely dependant on her. And as someone who has experienced racism its v wierd that she only experiences in her schooling rather than also w/ her mum and even in new rome. 1/2

2/2 : And Rick just randomly makes the chracters diverse but then he forgets that race is a part of character. I mean Hazel was living in the 40s as an African American and now when she’s resurrected we hardly hear anything about her experiences w/ racism. It’s not realistic. I’d expect her to maybe have some centering as a character on that. I just think that Rick cannot display characters out of his perspecitve at all and im just very annoyed. idk what do u think on this all

When I was thirteen, we all didn’t quite think past the point of high school graduation - our life was in the now. We definitely did not think about growing old and picket fences.

But yeah, I said it in a post before - many posts by now - but Riordan writes only what he himself experiences. And that is the life of a fifty year old white CIS het man. And while I can’t attest for the CIS part because I’m not reading that one series that features the genderfluid character, you can feel every other aspect of that list very strongly.

You can feel the “fifty year old” when you read about literally every single teenager dreaming about the white picket fence.

You fan feel the “white” when you read Hazel, Reyna, Piper and Leo.

You can feel the “hetero” when you read the clumsy coming out of Nico at the end of Heroes of Olympus. And actually also in Will’s flippant attitude when talking to Nico about it, because in my experience as a fledgling lesbian, older and more experienced gays and lesbians were being very gentle and welcoming and not like “LOL that’s why I was trying to talk to you for so long because I’m gay too!”. That was just to retcon in that Will was also gay; had Riordan actually cared about the gay sub-plot before, then we would have had interactions between Will and Nico in PJatO.

You can feel the “man” at every female POV in the Heroes of Olympus series. Every. Single. One.

Gotta admit, as a white girl from Germany, I do not know how things are for black people in the US (you know, beyond the generic news coverage online and the police propaganda in cop shows), but nowadays with things like Black Panther, Black Lightning, Dear White People, Timeless (seriously, the part that I adore most about that show is how it dives into the female and black history, the kind that’s brushed under the rug), also gotta mention One Day at a Time here for the Latinx representation, I realized just how very… white-author the Heroes of Olympus characters feel.

Especially with Hazel it infuriates me because she comes from a different time and to include how her experience is, how things have changed - and worse yet, how things haven’t changed - would be so incredibly interesting. How she experiences everything.

I mean, seriously, Percy got shunned for being a son of Neptune because Neptune was feared - but so was Pluto. Just how awful must it have been for the black daughter of Pluto in New Rome…?

But oh no, worry not, the black girl from the 40s with no knowledge of the modern world perfectly integrated into New Rome in 2010. No issues here at all.

We live in a time and age where not everyone can be straight and white.

We live in a time and age where representation isn’t just asked for, we demand it, because the world isn’t straight and white.

So the author of the book series where every single major character was white started sweating. (Beckendorf and Ethan were the only non-white characters and oh look, both got killed off.)

So he… he literally just looked around what there is to represent and just slapped a label on each of his characters, like a check-list.

We need A Black Character - Hazel, check.

We need An Asian Character - Frank, check.

We need A Gay Character - Nico, check.

We need A Native American Character - Piper, check.

We need A Latinx Character - oh, let’s be generous on that one; Leo and Reyna, double check.

I didn’t notice that back then, when I first read the books. But by now…?

I’m not saying I could do better - heck, unlike Riordan I also have the disadvantage of living in Europe and thus not even second-hand witnessing what the American Experience might be like for people of color - but if you decide to write a major book series and represent something you are not familiar with - may it be being gay, or from a different cultural background, or being a woman - then you should at the very least put the research into it to back it up.

Or, the easier cop-out, stick to what you did before.

And I don’t mean that as “just write whites”.

It really would be less of an issue if Heroes of Olympus had still been only from Percy’s perspective. Because we would have only gotten to meet the characters through Percy’s eyes - and not their own.

Because then we wouldn’t have had those flashbacks to Hazel’s past, we wouldn’t have to question how it came that those characters didn’t think about certain things or complain how they all seemed to think about other things collectively. And literally no one would have complained about a lack of POV changes, because PJatO didn’t have those - it was all Percy, so no one would have questioned if the sequel had also all been Percy.

It’s one thing writing about characters, but it’s different writing as characters. And in my personal opinion, Riordan shot himself in the foot by making HoO a POV split between this very diverse cast of characters, without having the actual background knowledge to flesh them fully out.

Not to mention the part where I generally think that going from one POV up to three and then to seven and nine different POVs had already been too much of a jump, but if you do that with so many different characters, who should also all have a different feeling to them, that only makes a difficult task that much more difficult.

Now, obviously, having the Seven all be white males would have been a disaster and also the wrong choice.

There are different things that could have been done though.

Like I mentioned, keeping it Percy’s POV, which we all would have been used to and no one would have questioned (heck, even if he had just done it a Jason and Percy POV due to Lost Hero).

Doing actual research for the things you write about. Also an option.

Or dialing down on the unknown. Let’s not forget, he wasn’t just juggling seven characters who represented something he wasn’t personally familiar with (also including Annabeth, because girl), out of the total of nine main characters all but three were completely new and had to be introduced.

In my personal opinion, he should have carried more characters than just Percy and Annabeth (and then later on also Nico, but not important enough to be one of the Seven) over into this book-series.

Clarisse, for example - she is over twenty, she is an experienced fighter and hero. That’d be a female character to be fully explored, but who has already been introduced (and would have made more sense than Frank, Hazel, Leo and Piper on terms of them literally having been introduced to the demigod world barely months prior with a total of one quest of experience before going to war).

Chris Rodriguez, who while never explicitely stated to be Latino as far as I remember, the name does imply and Riordan could have doubled down on that and included him. Hermes is a very diverse god, considering how much Riordan played with the powers of not overly powerful gods like Bellona or Aphrodite or Hephaestus, he could have done the same with Chris. It’d also have been fascinating to see the former traitor work hard to earn back his place at camp and to explore the mental strain put on him in the Labyrinth.

You would not have to start from scratch if you take characters you already have established. It makes everything easier, both for you as the writer and also for the readers, who don’t have to familiarize themselves with half a dozen completely new main characters.

And it takes away that edge of it being utterly ridiculous that, despite both camps having veteran heroes who fought in the Titan War and are around 20 years of age, they decided to send four kids who are essentially total newbies and of whom one is 13 and two are 15.

But yeah, those are just… personal picks on how he could have handled it better. Me, I simply wouldn’t have written about a prophecy of seven because this is a damn war. Seriously, the quest for Atlas, a minor stepping-stone on the way to the Titan War, already featured five main players with Percy, Thalia, Grover, Bianca and Zoe, only two less than this entire freaking war needed according to the prophecy.

Have it be the Giant War. Feature all of those new characters, but also your already established ones. Keep it first person Percy POV and show them fighting together, instead of singling only seven demigods out in something that is supposed to be an all out war against Mother Earth.

Neither of those are be all end all kind of answers to the problem, but suggestions on how it could have been handled differently.

The important thing would be growth and as someone for whom HoO was just too much, I can not judge that. Because everyone makes mistakes and everyone grows as a writer. So if Riordan saw what he did and learned from it - I know one of the Magnus Chase mains is a Muslima, another is mute, I think, and one is genderfluid, so if all of those are handled with more respect, research and dedication and it shows that he learned from the past, then that’s good and okay, because nobody is perfect and it’s all a learning curve, but if those are also just cardboard cut-outs put in place to be Representation, then that’d be… sad, I guess. And disappointing.

But, well, due to not having read that - and not planning on reading that - I can’t attest to it. I can just hope for the best for the readers who seek representation and got giddy about the prospect. I hope they didn’t get disappointed in that.

And I hope he will continue to learn from mistakes and grow as a writer, because yeah I generally don’t wish anyone anything bad and I truly, truly loved Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He hurt himself by trying too many new things in the sequels and if he learns to handle that and return the writing to the quality of PJatO, that’d be pretty amazing.