Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter
The Unrelenting Frozen Seas: Symphony of Tempering
Chapter Twenty Two: Bittersweet Fourth of July
Beta:
Standing in front of the six pyres for the Campers who had died in the Battle of Zeus' Fist, Rhode offered prayers on behalf of Castor, Lee Fletcher and the other four Campers who had died so that her Uncle Hades would have mercy on them and grant them a hasty processing into his kingdom. Especially for the two new Campers who had just found their way to Camp earlier this Summer who had lost their lives. One of them hadn't even been claimed yet and with one ten and the other eleven, they had both been preteens. A fact that was utterly heartbreaking. The loss of such young lives always were.
"Rhode," Su said, nudging her shoulder lightly, pulling the daughter of the seas from her morbid thoughts.
Rhode turned to her wife to see what was going on but the woman just nodded in the direction of Castor's pyre where Mr. D stood next to Pollux. Both father and son radiated palpable grief and had tears rolling down their faces. They were also besides Rhode and Su, among some of the last few people left as the other Campers filed away to rest or do whatever in the wake of everything that had happened.
Nodding to her wife that she understood, Rhode led the way as the two of them went to stand next to Mr. D and Pollux as they all stood vigil whilst Castor's pyre slowly burned away.
It took hours but as the sky began to brighten from the raising sun, the last of the pyre, of all the pyres, finished turning to ash and Mr. D at last broke the heavy grief laden silence that had wrapped around all four of them.
"Pollux, Rhode, Su," Dionysus said with a tired voice. "Enjoy your lives, children. Because it can end at any moment."
Leaving them with this sage advice, Mr. D put an arm around Pollux's shoulders and began guiding his son towards his Cabin where they would likely continue to grieve in private.
"Thank you, Lord Dionysus." Rhode said, bowing to the retreating god. "For your wise counsel. I am sorry for your loss."
If the god heard her, he made no sign. He just kept walking, his arm still on his son's shoulder. But that was okay. Rhode understood loss and grief, she didn't begrudge him ignoring her like that. She just hoped he and Pollux would feel better soon. For as heartless as it may sound, they were still at war and they needed them both.
"Give them some time, Rhode." Su said, pulling her into a one-armed hug. "They know what's at stake. They'll pull themselves together soon enough. They just need a little time."
Rhode wasn't even surprised that Su had seemingly read her mind again. Ever since Hera had married them, the daughter of Demeter had started getting scarily good at it.
"Yeah, I know." Rhode said with a sigh. "I just worry."
It was the third of July and as part of the Fourth of July celebrations, which were Camp's biggest end of summer celebration with its fireworks show in the evening of the fourth, the Campers were playing a traditional game of Capture the Flag. A game that was especially important this year as a means to raise morale after their costly victory against the Titan Army. And a chance to, at least for a moment, forget some of their worries by partaking in some innocent fun.
Officially, the game this time around was a match between Hephaestus and Athena Cabins. But as usual, the Cabins had all worked out alliances to strengthen their respective teams, thus transforming this particular game into one with the Athena, Ares, Apollo and Aphrodite Cabins on one side, whilst the Hermes, Dionysus, Demeter, Hephaestus, Zeus and Poseidon Cabins were on the other.
And to play their part in the game, Rhode, Thalia, Su and the rest of Demeter Cabin had chosen to play border guard by the creek that divided the play area in two and the crossing of which with the opposing team's flag meant victory. Percy meanwhile had gone off with Charlie to attempt to sneakily steal the opposing team's flag using Hephaestus Cabin's latest invention, chameleon stealth armor.
Though considering how everyone was giving Rhode and Su a wide berth, the daughter of Poseidon was thinking their part of the border was practically inviting the other team to just walk through.
It's like they expect us to make out or something. Rhode thought with some amusement as she caught Su's sister, Miranda Gardiner shooting them a disappointed yet expectant look. Silly kids.
Why by Olympus would they make themselves a public spectacle and make out in public? Instead, Su and her were just just standing next to each other quietly keeping each other company as they waited for some action.
"They are so cute in wanting us to do something," Su said with a giggle as her brother Steve tried and failed to look discreet as he spied on them before shaking his head and whispering disappointedly to his siblings Douglas and Katie. "Maybe we should throw them a bone?"
"Sorry Su but I'm not an exhibitionist." Rhode shot back with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh pooie~!" Su said with an exaggerated sigh that had Rhode smiling at her antics. "There's the smile I was hoping for. You've been brooding for a good bit there Sweetie. Thinking about the situation in Camp?"
"Yeah," Rhode said with a sigh. "You know it's not great."
That was an understatement if there ever was one. Sure they'd survived the Battle of Zeus' Fist but it had come at a great cost. They'd lost six Campers! For them, who never numbered more than a little under a hundred Half-bloods at one time, and usually a lot less, that was a massive blow. And then there was all the damage done to Camp's defenses. Its fortifications had mostly been smashed in the attack. Combine that with how they'd basically almost run out of their stores of Greek Fire, Ambrosia and Nectar and it was highly unlikely they'd survive another attack. The only consolation was that since the Labyrinth entrance under Zeus' Fist was now closed - Thank Olympus! - and if Daedalus kept to his deal of remaining neutral there likely wouldn't be any others - There was no word from Lord Thanatos yet about his demise. -, that meant that Camp's magical defenses should be able to keep them safe.
But we can't take chances. Rhode thought with a frown. We've seen them fail twice. Once when Silena poisoned Thalia's Tree and then when the Titans bypassed them entirely using the Labyrinth. We'll still need to repair our fortifications and improve them if we can, just in case.
"Rhode, are you even listening?" Su asked, shaking Rhode's shoulder lightly and causing the daughter of Poseidon to blink at her in confusion.
"Oh, sorry. I got lost in thought. What did you say?" Rhode said apologetically, blushing at her lapse in concentration.
Su rolled her eyes and was about to repeat themselves when a loud shout cut her off.
"Incoming!" Thalia cried out, grabbing both Rhode and Su's attention as abandoning their conversation, they rushed to her sister's side.
It was just in the nick of time too as a brawl had started with Clarisse leading the charge. The daughter of war and her siblings along with elements of the Athena Cabin were rushing across the creek to strike the shield wall that a squad from Hermes Cabin - Where had they come from? - had set up on their side of the creek that divided the game's play area.
Even with Thalia using her Aegis to scare the Athena Campers, laughing all the while about how ironic it was to use their Mum's shield against them, their lines were buckling.
"Rhode, freeze the creek." Su shouted even as Rhode herself was already mid-way through doing just that and the watercourse froze around the feet of the Ares and Athena Campers still crossing it, trapping them.
"Eat bullet seeds!" Rhode's wife said as she had Helel unleash a storm of the aforementioned projectiles at the hapless trapped Ares and Athena Campers.
"Oh, I missed this." A beautiful and alluring voice said from above them and Rhode snapped her eyes upwards to find a harpy with beautiful white feathers peeking out of her t-shirt and shorts that accentuated her voluptuous figure and contrasted nicely with her long black hair and even darker wing feathers. "Really wish I could join in like old times."
"Hi Silena," Rhode greeted the former Counselor of Cabin Ten and Poisoner of Thalia's Tree. She honestly hated the girl and would rather see her dead for what she'd done, but the gods had decreed a different punishment instead and had transformed her into her current form in which she would serve as one of Camp's cleaning ladies forever more. Considering she had gotten her just desserts for her crimes, Rhode was woman enough to at least be polite with the harpy.
"Hello Rhode," Silena returned pleasantly. "Oh! Ten o'clock!"
Distractedly sending a tendril of water from her magically expanded canteen to lash out and knock back the brave son of Ares that had managed to not only rush through the hail of bullet seeds that Su sent his way and the Hermes kids' defensive line, Rhode nodded in thanks to the harpy.
"Thanks," Rhode said as she turned away from Silena. "And enjoy the show."
"I will," Silena assured her and Rhode dismissed the harpy from her mind to focus on the fight at hand.
It was a grueling ten minutes of bitter fighting and their team was just starting to push back the determined Ares and Athena Cabins when suddenly there was a loud mechanical roar from the side of their melee and as the Campers all turned as one, they saw a frenzied Celestial Bronze dragon automaton bulldoze its way into the area around the creek they were fighting in whilst chased by a swarm of Myrmekes.
"Campers! Defense line, now!" Rhode called out, rallying the Campers. Regardless of prior teams, the demigods fell into a Phalanx to face the coming foes.
As they did so, Rhode asked. "What the Hades is with that automaton? Anyone know about it?"
It was one of the children of Athena that swiftly answered her as some stray Myrmekes assailed their defensive line and were cut down by a dozen spears and swords. "It's one of the old automatons that used to protect Camp before Thalia's Tree and the wards it gave us. It's been living in the woods sorta peacefully since it wasn't needed anymore!"
"It's going buck wild over here. How is that peaceful?" Rhode couldn't help but comment.
"I think we can blame the Myrmekes for that, Rhode." Su informed her as she pointed to the giant ants who were attacking the dragon, using their mandibles and acid to cut chunks of its great metal body off. They'd already did quite a number on its wings, leaving them broken skeletal stumps.
"We should have burned that nest with Greek Fire." Rhode grumbled. If only they could ever find the damable thing.
It was as if Rhode's words had jinxed them or perhaps the Myrmekes just had exceptional hearing, because no sooner had she finished her threat against their nest did a whole dozen of them peel off from where they were swarming the automaton and skittered towards the Campers.
Using the creek, Rhode formed a line of watery pikes that impaled the entire first wave of Myrmekes. "Okay, I admit that I may have jinxed us. Maybe."
Su just gave her a bemused look that made her ears burn in embarrassment.
"Maybe, but Rhode has the right idea." Clarisse shouted as she fished out something from the pouch she wore at her waist. "Cabin Five, toss your firebombs!"
As one, the Ares Campers started throwing Greek Fire bombs at the Myrmeke swarm, setting the giant insects on fire and scurrying away from the green flames.
"Why did you have firebombs?!" Miranda asked in shock.
"Because plants." All of Ares Cabin chimed in.
"Have you seen what your Counselor can do with them!?" Clarisse shot back when Miranda arched an eyebrow at her.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Su said with a giggle. "But what do we do with the automaton?"
Said badly damaged dragon, now coated in Greek Fire, was thrashing about in pain.
"I don't think we can just let it loose. I mean-"
Su's ponderings were cut short when the dragon, perhaps crazed by its injuries, suddenly snapped its neck forward and tried to bite an Ares Camper in half. Only one of Su's siblings hastily pulling him out of the way saved the boy from the thing's razor sharp jaws.
"Thalia!" Rhode shouted, turning to her sister. "Scrap it!"
"Gotcha!" Thalia said as electricity arced all around her, but in a display of her formidable control did not harm anyone.
"Wait! Don't do it!" The familiar voice of Charlie shouted from a short distance behind the square of Campers facing off against the automaton.
The desperate plea was far too late as Thalia aimed her arm towards the rampaging automaton and in a burst of arcing electricity fired the magnetically charged drachma she used as ammo. The coin created a beam of superheated gas to mark its passage that resembled a laser before it collided with the bronze dragon. In the face of Thalia's railgun, the automaton's armored hull buckled like a hot knife through butter and it was torn apart by the daughter of Zeus' attack.
One of the children of Hephaestus let out a painful wail of artistic agony from the destruction. The rest weren't much better as Charlie looked like he was ready to cry, a few of his siblings actually doing so.
"Damn you Thalia and your cool laser!" One shouted, admitting the cool use of electricity that some of his siblings nodded to in agreement. They received awkward back pats from the other Campers as they moved to retrieve the automaton's wrecked parts, muttering about seeing what could be done with it.
"Uh, what do you guys plan to do with those?" Percy, who had arrived with Cabin Nine, asked.
"Rebuild him of course." Charlie said as he picked up the automaton's head, almost as big as he was, like it was nothing. Though Silena fluttering down to help her boyfriend - And the continuation of their relationship despite the girl's change in species spoke volumes about Charlie's preferences. - lift it with her talons certainly helped. Despite their own scrawny frames, harpies could lift great weights. "We could use a little more firepower to help protect Camp."
"Can't argue with that." Rhode agreed, thinking on how much better the Battle of Zeus' Fist would've gone if they'd had the automaton on their side.
"Uh, dumb question, all things considered." Clarisse said, as she and her siblings began putting out the Greek Fire fires they'd started with the potions that Su and Rhode had brewed for this very purpose. "But who won the game?"
Everyone paused at this and exchanged looks of confusion.
"We did," Annabeth said as she pulled off her invisibility granting Yankees hat and stepped across the creek with the Hephaestus Cabin flag which promptly transformed into one dedicated to Athena instead. "Never forget the prize, guys."
The next evening, Su and Rhode were cuddled together in a private spot along Camp's Long Island Sound beach and waited for its traditional Fourth of July fireworks display to begin.
"You think the brats will be able to find us?" Rhode asked with a chuckle as she leaned into Su and allowed her to run her hands through her hair. "Betcha they're looking for where we ran off to."
"Calling your siblings and best friends brats isn't very nice, Rhode." Su chided her wife lightly. "Even if they can be at times."
"See," Rhode said with a chuckle, nuzzling closer to leech off the warmth of Su's body. "Even you, in your infinite patience, get fed up with them for always trying to play third wheel with us when we try to make out."
"A little," Su agreed with a giggle of her own, her chest all fuzzy at being able to finally get some alone time with her wife. "But at least we can do what we want in Cabin Two."
"That's true," Rhode allowed. "But I want to be able to show you how much I love you outside of our apartment too~!"
"I don't think they are objecting to that." Su said, blushing as she recalled what exactly her in-laws and friends were mostly trying to prevent. "It's more that I get overboard."
"Well, you do have years of unresolved sexual frustration to make up for." Rhode said with a shrug, her strong shoulders moving in a truly alluring way in the tight Camp tee-shirt she was wearing.
I mean, it's not like I'm a deviant or anything. I just have a bit of a mental list. That isn't wrong, right? The daughter of Demeter argued with herself
"I guess." Su hedged. "But you have so much of a better handle on it. How do you manage it?"
"I, uh, just do." Rhode said, blushing and looking away in an adorable way that lit up her tanned complexion.
Su loved seeing her normally confident wife looking all embarrassed and feminine so she was about to amp up the teasing when suddenly their little private haven was trespassed into.
"Rhode~! Su~! Are you around here?" Grover's voice shouted out from nearby.
Now, don't get her wrong, Grover was one of her biggest allies when she had been trying to get Rhode as her, ehem, lady love, when she was younger.
It was difficult to remember all that though as it seemed he was about to blue bean her.
"Told you Grover would be able to sniff us out even under those privacy spells." Rhode teased before turning towards the direction their satyr friend was coming from.
Su wasn't about to let him ruin the plans she'd had for the night though.
"It's a little early. But-" Su said with a sigh, before wrapping her arms around her wife and pulling them to their feet. "Rhode, shall we go somewhere even more private?"
Rhode blinked in confusion for a moment before offering her a smile. "I'd go anywhere with you, Honey."
Smiling at that easy trust, Su spun them on the spot and apparated them out of Camp altogether.
They rematerialized on a rooftop garden overlooking the Hudson River in New York City, one whose plants, ranging from various flowers to cherry blossoms, were all in full bloom, and whose footpaths were covered in flower petals in every conceivable color thus creating a wonderful rainbow effect.
"Whoa. Su, it, it's gorgeous." Her wife breathed out, looking over the garden in awe. Her sea green eyes sparkling in a way that made Su giddy inside.
"Thanks, Sweetie. I'm glad you like it." Su said honestly. Rhode's appreciation made the hours she'd spent coaxing the garden's various plants into out-of-season bloom after sneaking from their bed last night more than worth it.
"So where are we? NYC wise?"
"Just a private garden I scheduled for the night. All night." Su said with pride at what she'd achieved as her soil black eyes looked to her wife with a half lidded gaze. "It's just for us. Us and nary a soul save our own, Sweetie."
"Oh, and why did you set up something so special? And what about the fireworks display?"
As if to answer the latter question, the air above the garden was suddenly lit up by a massive sized I.M. of Camp's fireworks display. Su hadn't arranged it and it was likely the work of some god or the other, she suspected either her Mum or maybe Lady Hera, but she wasn't about to begrudge the convenient help. Nor that it meant they had an audience. Making their peace with gods spying on them even in their most private and intimate moments was one of the first things any Half-blood worth their salt did.
As such, playing it cool and ignoring the fireworks display and Rhode's impressed gasp at its appearance, Su fell to one knee in front of her wife and pulled the chain around her neck that held the twin rings she'd won as spoils from defeating Gerana all those years ago out from under her Camp tee.
"Rhode," she said as she slipped one of the rings free from the cord and presented it to her wife. "Would you marry me?"
Rhode gasped and turned away from the fireworks display overhead to look at one of the twin rings decorated with filigree shaped like the beautiful feathers of the monstrous crane that Su was offering her.
"These rings," Su continued as Rhode looked away from the ring to shoot her a questioning look. "Are gifts from Lady Hera. Once we put them on we'd doubly solidify our marriage. There are all kinds of curses and blessings etched into the inside of these white platinum bands to ensure such."
"Uh, not to sound dumb," Rhode said nodding in understanding. "But weren't they bracelets at first?"
Su shrugged, it wasn't dumb at all. "They resized themselves into rings after I started wearing them around my neck on a chain. Now stop dodging the question, Rhode, if you'd please?"
With a teasing roll of her soulful green eyes, her lady love replied. "As if there was any doubt?"
She plucked the band offered her and slipped it onto her ring finger, turning her hand around to wiggle her fingers at her to show it off, pulling a deliriously happy smile from Su.
"Now it's your turn," she said a moment later, before quick as a viper she snatched the other ring from Su. "Give me your left hand."
This wasn't quite how she'd planned things to play out but trust Rhode to derail the best laid plans. So it was with an amused grin, Su did as her wife bid and offered her left hand to the other woman.
Without hesitation, Rhode slipped the Ring of Gerana onto Su's ring finger.
"With this we're wholly and truly married." Rhode said as she leaned forward to kiss the back of Su's hand.
As if in congratulations, the various trees and flowers of the garden began to sway all on their own, sending a rain of fresh petals to fall around them.
Not that Su really noticed, she was overwhelmed by the explosion of happiness that erupted in her heart at Rhode's words and a delirious smile blossomed across her face as she pounced on the other woman, tackling Rhode to the ground in a hug and whilst the daughter of Poseidon was still trying to make sense of being suddenly on the ground, giggling all the while, she crawled up so they were face to face.
"I love you, Rhode." Su told her wife as she cupped her face and leaned down to latch her sweet lips to the familiar salty ones of her bride, her wife and her joy.
Rhode returned the kiss happily but soon pulled away to offer her a smile. "I love you too, Su."
Her wife probably would've said more but Su was feeling hungry for more so before the daughter of Poseidon would say anything else, she'd pulled her into another deep kiss. This time she wasn't as restrained as their first kiss of the night and her tongue swiftly pushed its way into Rhode's mouth.
Rhode was clearly startled and didn't kiss back with as much fervour but Su didn't mind. She didn't mind taking the lead. She was too thirsty to care anyways. So she kissed Rhode relentlessly even as she threaded her hands through Rhode's silky locks, her tongue going as deep into the other woman's mouth as was physically possible as she tasted every inch of her bride's mouth.
Finally though, she needed to take a breath and so she sat up and found that in their frantic kissing, she'd somehow ended up straddling Rhode's waist. A situation that Su found entirely fitting. Sitting up, Su, her pale cheeks flush with excitement and raw sexual desire, looked down at Rhode, her own divinely beautiful face looking uncharacteristically flustered as well and found herself overcome with the urge to ravage her wife.
But she remembered herself and so she looked her wife firmly in the eyes as she said, "Rhode, can I make love to you?"
"Bwah?" Rhode answered with a dumbstruck look.
In another situation, Su would've found Rhode's confusion adorable but right now she was too horny to appreciate it.
"Rhode! Can I fuck you?" She asked again, much more bluntly this time.
Her forwardness finally seemed to get through to the other woman and she blushed prettily before replying. "Yes, Su. Fuck me silly. B-But, um, cast the Birth Control Charm on me first. I'm not on the Pill and you remember what your Mum said about us being able to get each other pregnant."
"R-rIght." Su said, blushing at the mention of being able to impregnate Rhode and the mental images it conjured up. She thankfully managed to hold herself together though and calmly, or mostly so, pulled out her wand from where she'd been using it as a hairpin, a trick she'd learned from one of her juniors back in Ravenclaw by the name of Luna back in her Hogwarts years, and waved it over Rhode. "Graviditatis Praeventionis."
Rhode's body glowed blue for a moment as the charm settled, effectively protecting her from the possibility of a pregnancy for the next 24 hours. Rhode would need to be thorough in cleaning up after tonight just in case whatever vector that made it possible for them to impregnate each other had a longer shelf life than that.
Have to remind her to take some Contraceptive Potion too. Just in case. Su noted and mentally ran through whether she still had stock of the Contraceptive Potion in her private stash. I should have enough to give Rhode a dose but then we'll need to brew a new batch, which means I'll need to go harvest some silphium. Thank Mum that I had the foresight to start growing some in the garden at Camp. It's so bloody expensive!
"Y-You don't need it?" Rhode asked curiously.
"No, I'm on the Contraceptive Potion. Have been since Mum told us about you know. I don't think we want another baby right now." Su confessed as she shook her head to stop her wandering thoughts. She couldn't be getting distracted like this! She had a wife to ravish!
Rhode nodded with relief at Su's answer.
"Now that we have all our prerequisites covered." Su said, in what she hoped was a playfully sultry voice as she tried to steer things back on track. "I think we're overdressed for things, no?"
Rhode nodded, looking just a little nervous.
"So," Su continued, smiling encouragingly. "Should I change that?"
"G-Go right ahead."
That was all the urging Su needed to finally get this show on the road.
Thirteen rounds of intense sex later, only made possible by bottles of Nectar that Su had thoughtfully prepared beforehand, Rhode watched a sleeping Su cuddle into her naked body and couldn't help but frown.
The sex had been fantastic. Loads better than what she'd had with Jack. But there was something about it that felt off… Like there was something missing. No, that wasn't quite right either.
It was vexing and she wasn't sure why.
"Rhode, why are you frowning?" Su asked, revealing she'd been awake all along. "Was it something I did? D-Did I hurt yo-"
"No," Rhode hastily answered. "It wasn't you. It wasn't the sex either. It's just… I feel weird."
"How so?" Su asked worriedly as she sat up so they could look into each other's eyes and have a serious conversation.
Rhode frowned for a moment as she struggled to put her strange feelings into words before sighing and deciding to just wing it.
"I dunno how to describe it," she admitted. "But basically, I didn't get turned on by what we did."
"But you got wet?" Su said, blinking in confusion. "And you came. A lot."
"I know." Rhode agreed. "I didn't mean physically. Physically everything was wonderful. Better than wonderful. I really, really enjoyed the sex itself. But-"
"But?" Su urged as Rhode trailed off.
"But I didn't want it so much as I went along with it." Rhode said, causing Su to blanch and her to hastily continue. "Not that I was against it. Not at all! I wanted it! To have sex with you!"
Su was mollified by this but still looked confused, so Rhode continued.
"It's just… Well to me, it was more about satisfying you and using it to show my love to you than about the pleasure. In fact, I don't think my own pleasure even crossed my mind."
Su had a worried frown on her face and she snuggled deeper into her side. She took Rhode's left hand into her own, so that their ringed hands were clasped and gave it a squeeze in comfort. "I think you might be asexual or something close to it, Rhode."
Su saying it was like lifting the blinders off the issue. Like she was pointing out something that Rhode already knew but was just refusing to accept.
A realization that brought a scowl to her face.
"I wasn't like this before I held up the sky!" She spat angrily. "I don't want to be like this, Su! I want to be normal, I want to have a normal relationship with you!"
Her fit of anger caused the roof to chill a bit and the water vapor in the air froze into snow that drifted down in a light shower. Su didn't mind though and just snuggled more into her side as she wrapped her arms tight around Rhode until she calmed down.
"I promise, Sweetie, I promise I'll do my best to help." Her loving wife swore to her.
And Rhode believed her as her arms wound tighter around the petite woman.
For a long moment, they just stayed there. Naked and holding each other. Until Rhode decided that enough was enough. Asexual or not, she wanted to show her wife that she loved her.
Grasping her wife's chin, she tilted it up to give her the most smoldering look she could and addressed her in a husky tone. "I want to make love to you again."
"Huh?" Su blinked in confusion.
"I want to show you how much I love you. Adore you. No matter what."
"Oh, but Rhode, I know how much you love me. I really, really know. I mean-"
Rhode silenced her with an intense kiss as she pinned Su to the ground. Su gave a cute little squeak at that, but that quickly transformed into a sexy mewl as Rhode's knee slipped between her wife's slim thighs and she got to work showering her Su with all the love she could muster.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And so Fourth of July comes and with it, fireworks, fighting and mechanical dragons. And yes, Festus has been wrecked. Badly. I'm sure something will be done with the remains! XP As for those who wondered, yes Silena was punished, but at least her mom left her a pretty harpy and not one of the hag ones. So there's that for those left pondering wtf happened to her.
Nameless: We kinda forgot to address what happened to her so here's us belatedly doing so. On another note, a good chunk of this chapter is available only on AO3 since it's a long sex scene, so if you find this chapter too short I recommend jumping over there to give it a read.
And man did we make it long, but I won't lie, it was pretty fun to write some spiciness!
Nameless: Okay, so we had a few reviews dating back to Chapter 18, which is the most recently published chapter as of writing, and I think one for Chapter 17 that basically said that we're taking the story in WTF directions. Similar reviews have also recently popped up for our other fics. And I'll admit that it's a fair assessment. The entire philosophy behind our writing is to stick to the skeleton of canon for familiarity and 'cos we love it whilst going wild on worldbuilding and/or changing things beyond that. All our fics fit that mold. So if that's not to any of our readers' tastes then all I can say is thank you for reading thus far but if we no longer entertain you, feel free to read something else. We write for our own enjoyment, all other concerns like readers' entertainment is honestly secondary.
I have to agree with my co-writer Nameless. We have gotten a few reviews going on about how our fics break the reviewers' suspension of disbelief, but really you need to think on it. Each of our stories go into different things in their setting. Alkaid explores the other pantheons and the mingling between them. Andi explores the creation of a new pantheon and godhood. Rhode however goes into the concept of how mortals really can affect the gods. So yeah, each story has their own little or massive expansion we took from canon and ran with, but that's the fun of worldbuilding, you know?
Anyways~! You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!