The Moon Will Sing A Song For Me, I Loved You Like The Sun

I Wish I could be a ghost

Like, not to be scary or to haunt people, but to just hide peoples keys and move a couch across a room. I just want to fuck with people in a way that I’m currently unable to do at this moment.

So there’s this famous phrase in Genesis, “לא טוב היות האדם לבדו" (“lo tov heyot ha'adam l'vado”), which means “it is not good for man to be alone.” I was thinking today that it might make a nice Jewish friendship bracelet or wedding ring inscription or something. Problem is, if you try to split it up it becomes

לא טוב היות האדם לבדו

“Existence is not good.” “Man is alone.”

All the other ways of splitting them up are similarly awful. And on the one hand, I think this is really kind of beautiful—how this phrase, which is about togetherness, is so beautiful as a whole but cannot be broken into parts without itself becoming splintered and distorted. The language mirrors the very nature of humanity that it describes.

But on the other hand it totally ruined my friendship bracelet idea so @G-d this is a callout post

I’m again thinking about Nimona because why shouldn’t I and a detail about it that I love is that Institution always made it seem as if there’s more monsters outside the walls then there actually were. It was just Nimona and she was just living her life. This is something else that I think is a great example of how transphobic lawmakers talk about the trans community.

There always seems to be talk about how the trans community is constantly brainwashing kids into being trans and make it out to seem as if the trans community wants everyone to be trans when that’s not true.

Trans people are just people, not an army ready to attack the world.

Karlach ⚔️❤️‍🔥🔥

Percy Plays The Maury Game

A few days after the toilet incident things began calming down, except for Clarisse's murderous rage. The blue marks Clarisse had given me were only just beginning to fade but at least Percy was beginning to settle into camp.

The senior campers and counselors were all watching him like a hawk though, which couldn't have been helping. There were already rumors of him being a Big Three kid, but it had gotten out that his mother was human and so everyone was now trying to determine who his father was. The counselors especially. A few counselors were even making bets despite the fact no one really had a clue. He wasn't gifted with the raw physical power of the Ares kids. He was honestly kind of awful at archery, so definitely not an Apollo kid. He didn't have any special touch with metalwork or technology and the grape vines wanted nothing to do with him, so Hephaestus and Dionysus were off the table. Wings had told him he might be a Hermes kid but I think he was just trying to comfort him. 

It was three days after his arrival that Percy got his first taste of sword fighting. Cabin 11 gathered in the arena. The arena was an amphitheater that we used for duels and training with straw dummies dressed in Greek armor, along with other miscellaneous training devices strewn around.

Wings certainly the lesson so I decided to help out like usual, handing everyone their preferred swords from the armory and making sure everyone was ready. We began our warm-up with simple slashes and stabs at the training dummies. Percy was having a hard time though, all his swords were unbalanced and we couldn't find a sword that fit him. It certainly wasn't doing any good for his strikes. 

We moved on to dueling and Wings took Percy as his sparring partner, prompting some of us to tease him a little bit. 

"Good luck," an undetermined camper named Ethan said with a smirk," Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Maybe he'll go easy on me," Percy responded back.

The other kids snorted and I leaned over with a sympathetic smile to mask my smirk. 

"Don't count on it," I teased as well, but it wasn't just in mean spirit. Telling him that Wings wouldn't go easy on him was a genuine warning. 

I know from experience that Wings doesn't believe in going easy on newbies, he says that the best way to learn was through pain and mistakes; by that logic, Wings is a very good teacher. My cabinmate calling Luke the best swordsman in three hundred years wasn't an exaggeration, either. Even Chiron, who's been training heroes for thousands of years, is consistently impressed by his skill with a sword.

I partnered with a tall, older Hermes guy named Connor as my sparing partner. He usually partners with his brother, but every now and then they'd look for some diversity in their training. I didn't mind the height difference since we were just doing casual sparing. Plus it's good to practice against taller opponents every once in a while, especially when you're shorter than most other campers.

I sparred with Conner for a while until Wings called break time. He threw his water over his head, like the total drama queen he is, and I noticed that Percy had copied him. What a couple of dorks.

Wings said he was going to use Percy as a demonstration, but I knew it was really just another hazing ritual. This sparring partnership is similar to Clarisse's toilet routine, the only difference is that Wings is just a bit more subtle about his tormenting of the newbies. We gathered around, most of us not even trying to hide our smiles knowing Luke was just going to show off his swordsmanship by embarrassing the poor new kid. 

I must admit, there is some purpose to this initiation of his, though. It was to make sure that newbies didn't get big heads about their sword fighting skills and go around challenging people to duels and getting themselves hurt. He may or may not have begun this initiation after I got my ass handed to me by Clarisse on my second day.

"This is difficult," Wings stressed to the group after showing us a move that flung Percy's sword out of his hand. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." 

Wings demonstrated the move a few more times, noting that you had to get the tip of your blade at the base of your opponent's sword, near the hilt, and twist your opponent's arm, forcing them to drop their sword. After he decided we understood the motions, he declared that he and Percy would be sparing until one of them used the move and disarmed their opponent. I expected Luke to do the move within the first thirty of the match but Percy was doing a good job at keeping Luke's blade away from the hilt of his sword.

Percy was keeping up quite well for a newbie, reminding me how natural battle reflexes came to demigods, but Percy's natural talent was still impressive. As the fight continued Percy seemed to get the hang of things. He even countered one of Luke's strikes and tried to thrust at him, not knowing how bad of an idea it was. An offensive move was like the green light Luke was waiting for to apply more force and intensity to the demonstration.

Percy started looking tired and just when I thought Luke was going to take him down, his blade hit the base of Luke's sword, sending it clattering to the ground with a loud clang. The tip of Percy's sword was now an inch away from Luke's chest. Both looked equally surprised, but not as nearly as stunned as us in the crowd.

 Nobody moved; nobody breathed. Everyone just stared at Percy and Wings in shock for a long moment. 

"Um, sorry," Percy interrupted our gawking, lowering his blade.

After a moment to recover from his shock, Wings grinned.

"Sorry? By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me again!" He enthused, retrieving his blade and hurrying back to stand in front of Percy again.

Wings hadn't had a real challenge in sparing another camper since before I'd come to camp, and his intrigue and excitement at Percy's apparent prodigy-Esque talent was obvious. 

They were going to try the maneuver again but this time the moment their swords touched, Wings sent Percy's sword flying and there was a long pause as it skidded across the arena.

"... Beginner's luck?" A Hermes kid said from next to me.

"Maybe," Wings replied while wiping the sweat off his brow. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."

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The next day was Friday, and all anyone could think about was Capture the Flag. For a children's game, the evening before looked a whole lot more like preparation to go to war; the only difference was that the atmosphere was light and full of excitement. People were sorting out what gear they were planning to use or sharpening their weapons during their free time, chattering about attack coordination and strategy mixed in with the usual gossip. Clarisse had spent every moment we were together trying not to brag about how bad the red team would crush us.

She may be my best friend but we both knew my loyalties still lay with Wings and the Hermes Cabin, who were on the blue team, opposing the Ares Cabin. Despite her best efforts, I did pick up on the fact she was definitely planning her revenge on Percy no matter how hard she tried to phrase it differently. 

I went straight to Annabeth with that information. I told her pretty much Clarisse had said about the game word for word. I knew she'd probably figured out that's what Clarisse would do, but I wasn't going to risk not communicating something as vital as Clarisse's position during the game. She indeed already had a suspicion it was confirmed when I told her pretty much everything Clarisse had said about the game word for word. Some of what I told her didn't seem like it meant anything but Annabeth was brilliant; she'd be sure to notice things in Clarisse's words that didn't. 

Finally, we had dinner and sacrificed the best parts of our meals to the gods. Now it was time for our friendly, age-appropriate fight to the death. The cheering of campers practically shook the dining pavilion as the councilors of the Ares and Athena Cabins brought out the flags. The flags were giant silk banners, about ten feet high and six feet wide. The Athena Cabin's flag was a glistening sliver with a clean painting of a barn owl sitting above an olive tree. The Ares flag was bright crimson with a bloody spear and a boar's head painted on with violent, sporadic strokes. 

Percy was asking Wings a ton of questions but I ignored him in favor of cheering and getting hyped with the rest of the cabin. I'd babysat Percy for a considerable chunk of the day when Luke had other counselor duties to handle, so I didn't have any desire to answer more of his questions.

They announced the teams: Apollo and Hermes would be on the Athena team while Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus on the Ares team. That might sound a bit unfair but the Hermes and Apollo Cabins both had maybe triple the number of kids in some cabins like Dionysus or Demeter, so the teams were fairly even in number. 

Chiron Hammered his hoof on the marble to quiet the roaring demigods and began his usual announcement before the game. 

"Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gaged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" Chiron finished his speech and raised his hands, summoning gear to appear over the white cloth of our tables. 

The gear was sorted on different tables. Some of the placement of gear was based on the table's cabin, like the Ares cabin having all the community weapons for half-bloods who didn't have their own, while some gear was randomly sorted onto a table.

I already knew what gear I'd need but I walked over to Wings to confirm my role in the game, hearing that Percy would be on border patrol.

"Sorry to hear that, Percy, my dearest condolences," I teased him, knowing he didn't know what plan Luke and the Athena kids had cooked up yet. "I assume I'm on my usual duty?" I turned to Wings with a brow raised.

He nodded and replied, "Yes, but you're also gonna be moving with me and a few others. Annabeth will fill you in on the rest of the plan we discussed." Wings' reply was vague and I knew it was because he didn't want Percy to have too much of an idea of what we were going to do. 

I turned headed grabbed some leather forearm and shin guards from the Demeter table and a small shield from the Dyonisus table. The shield only barely had a radius bigger than a dinner plate, but I wasn't really planning to use it.

I would have grabbed a chest plate and helmet too, but they were too heavy and would definitely get snagged while I was trying to move. I didn't need to grab a sword either since I had Copper hanging from my neck. I did have to grab a blue bandana to tie around my head so that people would know which team I'm on the blue team since I wasn't wearing a helmet, which has colored plumes on top to identify us.

The reason I wanted to gear up in a way that would allow me to have mobility and not get caught on anything is because my "usual duty" is recon. It's pretty much my job every game because of one skill that gave me a huge advantage that only the Apollo Cabin and a few others can combat: I'm incredible at climbing trees.

Yeah, it doesn't sound all that cool or important but since most campers use melee weapons, being up high was a huge advantage even if I'm found. People also have a hard time seeing if I'm even there since the trees cast shadows in the evening, meaning sometimes I can be right above people without them knowing. If I'm lucky, I'll even catch strategy or important positions of the opposite team members, which I can relay to Annabeth faster than any other messenger; since I could cut right through the woods without having to worry about running into enemy campers getting in my way. 

Plus, somehow that energy I feel up there allows me to cross the entire forest before most kids on foot could even reach the creek that flows through the middle. Sufficed to say, I'm the best reconnaissance option- with maybe the only exception being Annabeth herself since she's got that invisibility cap. Either way, it's no surprise I had the same job almost every game. 

"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth interrupted my internal boasting, prompting the blue team to shake our swords in the air and cheer as she lead us toward the south side of the forest. Threats and trash talk were thrown between the opposing teams and I wasn't going to join in, but then I saw Clarisse.

"Hey Classy, see ya soon! And don't forget to look up!" I knew she hated that nickname, so of course, I made sure to always use it when I teased her. My taunt was more than just a cocky declaration that I'd find her, I was also referencing the time she'd chased an Apollo kid named Lake through the forest after they retrieved the flag. Lake and I were on the same team during that game and Clarisse was on the opposing team. Lake had made it to the border but Clarisse was catching up and nearly grabbed them and I'd stopped her by dropping down from where I was in the trees and fell right on top of her so Lake could make it over the boundary and win the game. Clarisse got a few scrapes and bruises and I'd broken my wrist in the fall but it was worth it in the end. Clarisse still hated it when I brought it up.

After we reached our side of the woods I went over to Annabeth to discuss the details of the plan Wings hadn't told me and to establish where I'd be meeting her this game. Whenever we were on the same team we'd establish a sort of intelligence headquarters where I'd meet her if I blew my whistle to tell her I had urgent information to give her. It was always a place near the boundary line that felt secure enough for me to tell her important intel so she and her cabinmates could form strategies accordingly. We even made this map of the woods with its own specified coordinates that I used to tell her the exact locations if they were needed.

We established the Intel HQ a little ways away from where Percy was positioned and I left my shield there for if I needed to come back and get it later in the game. Annabeth said she wanted to be nearby Percy's post to make sure everything went according to plan. Said plan was basically just to use Percy as bait to have Clarisse and her cabin mates distracted in their revenge so Wings could sneak around the other team's flank and capture the flag.

I decided to go over to Percy before the game started and give him a few tips for "Border Patrol." I was actually trying to give him advice on how not to get killed when Clarisse came after him, but I couldn't tell him that so I settled on just giving him defense tips and what parts of the body would give him the highest chance of survival if stabbed. 

I heard a horn blow in the distance, signaling that the game had begun so I decided it was time for me to get off the ground. I took a running start and practically flew up into a tree above where Percy stood and started traversing into enemy territory. My first priority was making sure Clarisse went after Percy as Annabeth had planned. 

Before I got too far from where Percy was, I thought I heard a familiar growl. I stopped dead, hanging awkwardly from a branch as I'd been busy reaching for another one. My blood ran cold as I was reminded of the painful experiences I'd had with the creatures that made that sound. I hung there listening for a few minutes, but I didn't hear anything else so I began moving again, hoping it had been my imagination.

I loved being up in the trees. Something about the ground being so far below was empowering to see people on the ground, looking smaller in the distance. When I was up high, it felt like all my senses worked perfectly and I could calculate every route between the branches and every move the people below me were going to make. I sometimes wished I was better at archery so I could just sit up in the trees without ever needing to come down to fight.

After a few minutes of searching, I heard heavy footsteps somewhere a few yards ahead so I stopped moving forward and climbed higher into the trees to be harder to see or hear from the ground. Sure enough, it was Clarisse and four of her cabinmates were heading straight for Percy's location. They walked right past the spot below me and I grinned to myself; Clarisse hadn't heeded my warning and really did forget to look up.  

Perfect, this meant things were going well for the plan and there was no need to blow my whistle. I rounded back to where Annabeth had told me to meet with Wings and kept track of the positions of red team campers as I went. Once I got there I threw a stick at Wings to get his attention and then we selected one of the faster Hermes kids to get the positions I'd seen on my way back to the Athena kids while I began scouting ahead for the group.

I weaved through the branches a few yards ahead of the group. Every now and then I'd see campers with red helmet plumes and I'd go back to Luke's and say something along the lines of, "Three reds on your eleven, 25 feet ahead." 

Then, Wings would say something like, "Thanks, we'll fall back ten yards. Scout out a route around them on our two."

Then, if that new direction was clear we'd adjust and move around the other team undetected. We did this procedure all the way to the North side of the forest, where I saw the Ares Cabin's flag on top of Zeus's Fist (a formation of boulders that served as a landmark in the forest) and scouted out the area around it. I went back to the group and reported the position of the two guards assigned to the flag and the scattered campers that were hanging around nearby. We decided that we'd split the group up to distract the other campers surrounding the area so we'd have a clear exit once we grabbed the flag.

We decided that I would be the one to signal the attack to take out the guards from their flank and after they were down Wings would take the flag back across the border with me leading the way above and some others covering his retreat. I got as close to the guards as I could in the trees and quietly unclipped Copper from its chain. I felt a tug in my gut as it soundlessly grew into its sword form, a beautiful bronze xiphos with an azure blue hilt. I took and deep breath and held it for a moment before breathing out.

I dropped right on top of the first guard, forcing his face into the dust below us. Before the other one could even turn around to see the commotion, I dashed over and hit her in the back of the head with the hilt of my sword, knocking her helmet straight off and exposing her red hair. 

"Wings! Now!" I yelled into the forest. The guard I'd landed on was already on his feet again and swung at me. I stopped his strike with Copper and kicked him away from the flag as Wings bounded into the clearing with a blonde Apollo kid. He grabbed the flag and made a mad dash back to the border. I ran after them, feeling much slower now that I was on the ground again, but once I made it to the tree line I jumped straight up into the branches and managed to start traversing ahead of Wings and his group.

The others that had split up to distract the other reds had caught up with us how and were helping to cover our flanks as more of the red team realized their flag had been stolen and chased after us like a pack of hungry dogs. Whenever a red managed to get in front of us I had to jump down and use the momentum to throw them out of the way of Wings, almost getting stabbed a few times in the process. A lot of people on both teams were screaming as we reached the border, some of them elated and some full of outrage and stress. 

I heard a familiar voice shouting ahead, "A trick! It was a trick." I could see the creek ahead and knew I wasn't needed anymore, so I decided to break from the group to pour some salt in Clarisse’s wounds.

Wings ran through the creek and the blue team roared with cheer and applause as the Ares Cabin banner slowly turned to silver and the spear and boar were replaced with Cabin 11's caduceus. Some blue team kids had emerged from the woods and thrown Wings onto their shoulders in celebration. Chiron came out of the woods and blew the conch horn to tell everyone who was still spread around the forest that the game had ended.

I found Clarisse sulking on the ground across the creek from where Annabeth was explaining to Percy that he'd been the bait. I shrunk Copper back into its whistle form and clipped it to my chain.

"Hey, Classy. How's it hanging?" Of course, that was a pun since I was now hanging upside down from a tree branch next to her; my camp necklace and Copper hanging in my face and my arms dangling below me. She glanced- more like glared- at me before looking back at the ground, but not before I saw the bruise developing in the middle of her forehead. Her reaction worried me since I was expecting more yelling in outrage and stomping around so I gave up on my original plan to tease her. I sighed and slid off the tree branch.

"You feeling alright? I expected you to be... I dunno, angrier? It's not like you to get all mopey like this just from losing..." Clarisse looked at me with a slight glare again, but this time it melted after a second and she opened her mouth and I heard that very familiar growl again. My blood froze and I looked up to the top of a formation of rocks.

Whatever Clarisse had been about to say was interrupted and a howl echoed throughout the forest. The second noise had flipped a switch somewhere in my head. Suddenly I was a 10-year-old girl sitting against the wall of an empty house again. Hands over my mouth and unscarred nose while a few tears streamed down my face, staring at the shadow of an impossibly large dog that was cast through the window in front of me. The memory faded as quickly as it'd appeared and where the shadow had been was now a different Hellhound standing on the rocks above us, and the fear that I had when in the memory was warped into hatred. 

My breathing picked up and adrenaline started to fill my veins. The hound jumped right over Annabeth, who had drawn her blade and landed on Percy, jaws open and going in for the kill. Suddenly the world had stopped moving and it was like I could see everything frozen in the middle of the action. Leaves were hanging in the air instead of floating to the ground, the water flowing around some campers' feet had stopped dead in its tracks, I saw Chiron about to draw several arrows in his bow, and I saw Clarisse next to me staring up at the Hellhound with wide eyes. Annabeth was beginning to turn around to face Percy and the hound, Wings was staring at the dog attacking Percy with a blank look on his face, and the hellhound across the creek just was barely beginning to sink its claws into Percy's armor. In the next moment, Copper was in sword form and in the hellhound's throat.

The hound fell to the ground and I stood over it breathing heavily. I didn't even realize where I was or what I'd just done. I'd never moved that fast in my life and my brain was still trying to catch up. The electric feeling in my nerves and skin was stronger than it'd ever been before and honestly, I was surprised I was still standing since I couldn't feel my legs. Percy looked like he wanted to say something to me but closed his mouth when he met my gaze. I realized I had been glaring at the hound's corpse and when he'd tried to speak to me I'd glared at him too.

I closed my eyes and took a breath, "Sorry. I uh. Hate these things?" I explained though it sounded more like a question. "Wait no- ugh, I should have said that I've got a bone to pick with them." I made the pun with a forced smile to try and defuse the tension while I backed up from him since I'd basically been standing over him with a sword in my hand and murder in my eyes.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said while I gave Percy a hand to help him up. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron concluded what Annabeth was likely trying to say. "Someone inside the camp."

"It's Percy's fault! I bet the dumbass summoned it on accident!" Clarisse suddenly shouted from the other side of the creek.

"Be quiet, child," Chiron shushed her.

I slung Percy’s arm over my shoulder to help support him while I stared at the hellhound’s body disappearing into the shadows.

Annabeth suddenly spoke up with urgency. "Quick, Percy, get in the water." 

"What?" Percy and I said in unison.

The reason this was weird to me is that I figured Annabeth would be more concerned about the fact that Percy was bleeding from the hound's claws that had pierced his breastplate. After a small protest, Percy agreed and I helped him to the water. He stopped leaning on me and stepped in on his own.

His wounds began healing in the water but no one cared about that because there was a hologram floating above his head, he was being claimed. Just being claimed wouldn't even have been so shocking if it wasn't for the specific symbol floating above his head causing all our gawking. Hanging in the air above the apologizing Percy was a green trident, claiming him as very, very bad news.

"Your father..." Annabeth said in a low voice, "This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced to the campers, bending his two front legs in a kneel.

I followed and dropped down into a kneel as well, nudging Clarisse who did the same begrudgingly. Slowly others around us started kneeling too until everyone was kneeling to Percy. 

"My father?" Percy's voice gave away his bewilderment.

"Poseidon," Chiron declared. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

I no longer wish to produce milk

Oh to be a lonely village girl stolen away by a cruel pirate captain but she spares your life and you end up joining her crew and slowly earning her trust over the years and eventually becoming her first mate and lover

My gender-mobile is making funny sounds, does anyone know a mechanic who works on them?

gender to me is like a car i dont really want one and society would be much better if it was not structured around it. but i got one because it helps me get around and sometimes its fun to make it go fast

On my second play through of the Wayhaven Chronicles and does anyone else find it aggravatingly easy to accidentally get a really high technology/science stat or am I just such a big nerd that I keep picking the “science” options without realizing it?

Same character different fonts ✨arcane edition✨

(Part 1)

Caitlyn / Mizu

- blue theme

- experts at their fighting style

- deadly

- Determined, hardworking, cunning

- similar character design

- hot

Vi / Karlach

- red theme

- talks with their fists

- funny, kind and caring

- tough as nails

- muscles ✨

- choppy cool hair

- hot

Cassandra / Hettie

- dead (rip)

- milf

- powerful women who care deeply about their family and reputation

- updo

- impecably dressed

- wielding great political power

- hot

———————

All these characters have some significant differences from one another (especially Caitlyn/Mizu). However, it’s pretty fun to point out their similarities. 👀

What arcane characters should I do next? 💙