Blizz

Camp Athens - Closed

Marlen Ross Child of Apollo * Bar

”My dad had a saying… a philosophy, if you will. You see… all of us are playing the same game, sitting at different tables with the same dealer. We get dealt our own cards. Some hands are good, some are bad, but you can’t change them out.”

”But the game always ends the same. You can play it safe, keep from taking risks. Bet the minimum, don’t get greedy. You might outlast a lot of players that way. But that’s not how the game was meant to be played.”

Marlen took a contemplative sip from their water bottle, while this guy startled rambling about life and poker hands. The longer they listened, the more a smirk grew on their face, which quickly became a full-on grin. This guy got it. Life was too damn short to hedge bets and sit on the fence. Marlen learned that a long time ago, back when they were a kid- Just fucking do the things that are worth doing. That's why they're never easy.

"Just looking to enjoy my night without ruffling any more feathers."

"Yeah... Reasonable, I think," They commented, without even reacting to the cigarette smoking being blown around. "I remember being... seventeen, scared of the world and not knowing which was was up. You'd think having a god hanging over your shoulder makes taking risks easier, turns out they don't really help much when they just want you to figure that stuff out yourself." One time, they nearly got kidnapped off the streets because a cop really didn't like that Marlen had said they didn't have a home, despite toting a guitar around. The only reason they weren't arrested then are there was because no one thought Marlen's gangly ass would have smacked the living shit out of the man with it, ran like hell and throw a pan flute in another direction to cause a noise that distracted the son of a bitch. What was the point of life if no one was going to live it?

"But..." They turned around, back to the bar, and looked over at Trinity who had chimed in. "How many people just got here, and are doing... That?" They nodded their head in the direction of Blair, who had just been getting busy as all fuck right in front of the gods and everybody. "I mean, Apollo sure never told me we were getting up to that on night number one. I was just telling some stiff fellow how I didn't know there were this many of us on the whole planet. You'd think they're trying to do something about that up on the mountain." Marlen wasn't convinced there wasn't something in the wine and vodka and whatever the fuck else was up on the shelves. Hell, maybe Dionysus was here tonight and had a bet with Aphrodite to see who could cause as many unintended pregnancies as possible or some shit.

It seemed a bit weird when the gods had siblings of their own. Zeus and Hades were brothers, weren't they? Were they all just going to segregate based on that, and wear badges or something to denote that?

Or maybe tomorrow, everyone would stop trying to fuck everything that moved. Maybe.

"It's not like we're in a crazy sex cult or anything, are we? That'd be pretty weird... Anyway, no hangovers for me, thank you very much. Name's Marlen, cool to meet you both."

^{interactions ....|.... Trinity, Nate | @xNocturnax, @webboysurf............... mentions ....| ....}

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

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Location: Hall of Ancients, Strange Academy
Grimoire:
Skills:
Current Outfit

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He and Connie weren't sharing a room like last year, it seemed. Or a coven for this year, in fact. Unfortunate, but it was a big school, there'd be plenty of chances for them to run into each other. Agatha Harkness was old, and in Rohan's experience, old things were dangerous and powerful. She wouldn't have lived as long as she had if she didn't know what she was doing, so he was willing to believe the idea of covens being important. A group of magicians, wizards and witches that shared your skills and gave the strength of numbers. It made sense, even if it seemed a bit much to call it "the truest form of sisterhood." It was just power, as far as he understood it. Better access to secrets Rohan didn't know about, people to depend on when a spell went wrong. Anything that bled could be killed, and Rohan liked being alive. Most people did.

He stuffed his knife away, and kept the key for now. A candle, And he didn't notice anyone else holding a key with a candle on it. Oh well, he'd find out later when he walked into the room made of candles, probably. Rohan walked over to them, giving Finely ample space and sticking mostly behind the others who gathered. Finely was the only one he actually recognized, the rest didn't seem familiar at all to him. Sariel seemed eager to get going, do something, and apparently bleed him dry in the process. Like that was happening.

"I'm here, I'm here," He said, taking his sweet time. "What are we up to first?"

Rohan wasn't in any kind of hurry today. He just got here, he knew the place, and they had a whole year to do... Whatever abominable things he suspected this woman had in mind. Honestly, if it was just a little later into the year, he could take a damn nap on this floor right now.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Leah Jordan

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Location: The Kingston-Gray House
Gear:
Skills:

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”What the hell are you two saying?” Leah asked, as Percy and Dorian fell into a multilingual bitching contest. Man, they seemed like a married couple with the way they got heated. This game clearly made people lose their cools if it only took two or three rounds for all morale compunctions to fall to the wayside. Leah really didn’t see what the issue was. It was just a game, and Venom was way more fuckable than Loki or Mystique… Not that Leah would ever bring herself to say that exact combination of words out loud for any reason, but he was.

”Guys, we’re right he-“ And then they were gone.

Dorian wooshed them both through the floorboards and it sounded very much like they were fucking at this very moment, by what Dorian said when he switched back to English. They were just… Doing that? With their parents in the house? With them in the house? Leah was completely and utterly stunned for a moment.

April started cackling. And she wasn’t the only one.

The sheer absurdity of this night made Leah laugh.

It was loud, completely uninhibited,and an unserious grin was stuck on her face. It almost made her tip over, and she leaned slightly into Sabine with one arm, having been caught off guard by the that this stupid game elicited this reaction. She couldn’t remember one time she’d ever laughed at anything. Holy shit, she needed that.

”Fucking- what the fuck, Dorian?” She griped, greatly amused by things, as if he could hear her. ”Yeah, sure, just run off and start fucking. No, don’t worry about us- We’ll be fine. Is this what people do in sleepovers?!”

This wasn’t so bad, actually. She felt… Floaty? That was a word, maybe.

”Hm… Fuck Miles? Yeah. Why not. Marry Gwen because I’m not beating the allegations at this point, and kill Spider-Man because I am not fucking anyone She-Hulk is close to.”

And then Gideon finally pitched in. Truth or Dare?

Oh.

Leah’s head whipped around and gave Andy a supremely confused look. Didn’t she and Zari break up today? Unless Gideon didn’t care. Or… Maybe Andy didn’t.

”…I don’t know whether to regret what I said or not.”

X-Men: GenetiX

Here in front of them both, Ryder had a choice.

It wasn't so long ago that this was all there would ever be for her. She was destined to be hollowed up, bereft of everything that she was and would be. Her mutant abilities were pared down and built up, tweaked and twisted, to suit him. The ghost of a man that never truly lived a real life. Ryder never would have known the feeling of sun on her skin, the feeling of real food, if it weren't for the fact that she got astronomically lucky. And now she was back here, in the mind of the man behind it all. The fancy, idyllic head that was somehow meant to accommodate him. Whatever the old man was thinking, they weren't on the same page.

Every telepath had a unique "Feel" about their powers. Ryder's was oppressive, it felt like a person was being rent from the inside when she looked in their head, and it was anything but subtle. Even as Xavier made attempts to soothe Umbra, it felt forced. Not because of Xavier's skill, but because Ryder was in the psychic vicinity. Her unwillingness to relent radiated off of her, and it had a way of smothering the minds of others, as the X-men had learned lately.

At the mansion, Ryder had just enough time to understand a few things. Not so much internalize them, but she certainly understood certain principles. That most mutants, hated as they were, didn't experience what she had gone through. They couldn't relate to her. They didn't have it in them to really get how she felt, even though they tried. But the other half of that was the undeniable fact that Ryder couldn't relate to them.

It was so tempting to eradicate Umbra right now, in the most painful way possible. An agonizing death, a hurtful, spite-fueled one. He could feel every scrap of his mind being peeled away into nothingness. He could feel it over and over again. She had more power than that, she could do so much to him. But there lied the conundrum she was facing.

Ryder couldn't relate to people who lived something that resembled normalcy.

But she wanted to.

The astral form of Ryder raised a hand.

"You wanted me, you wanted to skin I'm in. You wanted to kill me so you could live."

YES, screamed the universe.

"You were going to hurt people to get to me. And when you were done, you'd hurt so many fucking more. I can feel it on you, you inhuman piece of shit. You never learned what it's like to be alive, you never learned what it's like to care. And thanks to you, neither did I."

And the memories overhead quaked. Cracks formed in them, things unable to be perceived much like a nonexistent color. Fissures among thought, the gaps in knowing.

"I'm going to fucking unmake you. And then, I'm going to unmake everything you ever did to me."

She sounded so cold. Ryder had more rage than a hundred people, and she wasn't expressing any of it. Those aphotic lines between the bounds of cognition widened, until cracks began to form.

In the real world, Umbra screamed.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Leah Jordan

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Location: The Kingston-Gray House
Gear:
Skills:

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Leah was good at thinking things through, but clearly not that good. Of course April would ask about what she had just said.

”Well, I mean- That’s… We could- Maybe?” She finally managed, suddenly not making any eye contact with anyone. ”Really didn’t think that far ahead, honestly. I’d-“ God, would she do that? It didn’t have a whole lot of weight to Leah, but she knew some people cared about it. She might have been more sure about marrying people if it weren’t for the breakup they had with April… Leah would've married them both at the sane time, perhaps. The thought of it appealed to her a lot more than just one person, but it was complicated. Having more than one partner in a relationship, who were each actually dating each other felt better than only one person. Leah didn’t just feel love for people, she felt a lot of it.

But things didn’t work out. April had to take care of herself. That wasn’t her fault, but it left Leah in a weird place. Not bad, just weird.

”That- I’m not getting into that right now, actually,” Leah decided before pivoting like crazy into the next round of absolute degeneracy.

Venom, Mystique, Loki? Alright.

”Venom as in just him, or attached to someone?” She asked. Either way, symbiotes were pretty formless and, though she wouldn’t admit it, she agreed with April. A lot of… Flexibility in that one. ”Assuming he’s attached to someone who isn’t awful, yeah. Fuck Venom. Marry Loki. Because of his shapeshifter thing and because he’d probably have other things to worry about. Kill Mystique, I guess. She’d probably try to kill me first and I'm not taking the chance.”

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

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Location: Hall of Ancients, Strange Academy
Grimoire:
Skills:
Current Outfit

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Strange Academy was always a warm place. Not exactly warm physically, though it was that too. The lights and lanterns around the place, the general hum of people unafraid to talk to one another, and the shared reason for being here all made the grounds feel alive. All the ambient chatter and the musical number being played was more noise than Rohan was accustomed to. It had been some time since he'd been here, in a place as social as this. After the last semester ended, he'd gone back to the place he was most at home in, the forest. No forest in particular, but just the forest. One copse of trees here, one rolling field of moss there, he went wherever they weren't so immediately noticeable. And when they showed up, he just moved on like an animal did. Those woods were always quiet, and not like this.

He walked onto the school grounds loaded down with all his things. His sword, his staff, his mask, and all the usual magical bits and bobs a wizard of his ilk often carried. Rohan looked as if he hadn't even stopped to do more than the bare minimum to make himself presentable before coming back to civilization. And that was because he didn't. He stopped by a creek somewhere far off to wash the soot from a campfire from his face and hair, cut away sheets of moss from his clothes that were keeping him mostly dry since he didn't need them here, and smoked some cuts of unnatural from a dead beast or two before he set foot in New Orleans.

Here, people were keeping to themselves and interacting like there was a preconceived level of noise deemed acceptable. Rohan was used to dead silence, it was almost a surprise coming back, and it always was. Showing up to the hall he'd never been in before was interesting. The sheer size of the statues was impressive. The cursed wizard pondered them with a bite of rabbit, as he walked along.

Professor Croan's nose wrinkled as Rohan approached, a handkerchief quickly coming up to protect his nose. "Ah. The reason why I submitted resolutions on student hygiene."

"Croan! Don't be so closed minded! 27 billion light years away is a planet whose mystics let their natural oils build for several revolutions before using it as a fundamental resource in their castings. Perhaps young Rohan is experimenting!" Mikkail reprimanded enthusiastically.

"Ah! You're Rohan! I hadn't put a name to a face yet but I cannot wait to get my hands on you." Sariel shoved her colleagues away and madness glinted behind her eyes. "I have wanted to get your sap in my lab for ages and now that you’re my advisee, we'll see how far we can push the limits of your curse."

Rohan gave the three a lackadaisical smirk. ”How about you say that a little louder, just in case someone didn’t catch that, miss?” He didn’t like flaunting that his soul was twisted and gnarled. Whoever knew it knew, whoever didn’t just didn’t. ”Don’t mind me…”

He walked up to the fish tank labelled “Catch one.”

Curiously, he withdrew an old hunting knife, made from bone and metal, sharpened to a wicked point. He flipped it around into a murder grip and leaned over the tank. Rohan watched the fish swirl around, waiting patiently for them to slow down. And eventually, one floated a little higher and then came to a near stop.

Thunk. He skewered one on the blade and promptly pulled it free. The fish distorted and blurred, until it wasn’t a fish any longer. It was a key, dangling off the blade by its ring. It looked like a candle, was that on purpose?

”Hmm.”

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Leah Jordan

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Location: The Kingston-Gray House
Gear:
Skills:

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"We are not playing Spin the Bottle," Leah said, agreeing with others. "If you want to kiss someone, just say so. And not me, by the way." She didn't know Gideon well enough for that, and there were two people in that room who were allowed to kiss her, one of which wasn't about to for any conceivable reason. The other probably would, despite all the people in the room. Hell, that would probably motivate her. And she definitely didn't want to kiss anyone else in this room. So that one was just not happening, thankfully. Leah didn't know what Mafia was, or Werewolf or most of those suggestions were. She had never done this sort of thing, being at someone else's house and playing games like there wasn't something important to do. It was hard to picture kids actually doing this regularly. Why? what was the fun in it? Just making each other cringe with embarrassment?

She had no idea how to play and of those.

And, unfortunately, she got the general premise of the one Sabine suggested. Fuck Marry Kill. Leah was sitting next to her, and gave the shorter girl one of her usual Confused Leah Expressions™️ that she often gave about this stuff. Captain Marvel, Vision and Doctor Strange?

She thought about it. She thought about it a lot.

”If I had to pick… I’d rather fuck Vision, because he’s a robot made of metal and least likely to die from it out of the three; Marry Captain Marvel, because then I can divorce her and marry Sabine instead. Maybe. And kill Strange, because I’m not losing a fight to a snobby wizard who runs around wearing a magic red bed sheet like a cheap Halloween look.”

Camp Athens - Closed

Azariah Willow Child of Hecate * Bar

Two people, one after another, making not so subtle moves on Azariah. That was fun, plenty of mischief between these two. Though, he had already had his fair share of physical exercise for one night. And with someone such as Chariselle, it was hard to top that. (Actually, it was very easy, but that’s neither here nor there.) He felt just a little bored by the advances. Did he mind them? Not remotely. But variety was spicy too. He needed something new and interesting. Was everyone just trying to fuck and be fucked right now? Indifferent, or perhaps apathetic to whatever the fuck else was hornily happening at this whoredom, Azariah swiped a fresh bottle from behind the counter, when no one was looking, and poured another shot. Then he sat it back down. "I don't know who anyone at this gathering is, dear thing, but I have to admit, there's a fine line between passion and whatever they're doing over there," He said. "There are more than enough rooms around this place, they could at least show a small amount of subtlety." And there was zero subtlety of any kind in his voice. He was bored of pleasures found in the flesh for the moment.

"Well, I for one am glad you did. It doesn't seem like it's going to be boring here, if that was any indication. I'm no prude, but I think fun times like that should be...intimate. Don't you think love?"

"Far be it from me to rebuke an expert." Azariah slid the bottle closer her way. "Careful, now. It's strong. You seem fun, Lily. I'm sure we'll see each other tomorrow." He half-expected them to run off, hands entwined, drinking every last drop of it on the way to whatever place they'd be fucking in for the next few hours.

Marlen Ross Child of Apollo * Bar

Marlen cracked open the water bottle, and without noticing the look of blatant unamusement on the bartender's face. Or, if they did happen to notice it... They didn't seem to care. Marlen stuck their thumb over the hole where the lid just was, and gave the whole bottle a swirl. A vigorous one, at that, and then they tipped it upside down, into their mouth. Rather than just take a drink from it like an ordinary, sane and normal person, a tiny whirlpool formed in the bottle, keeping it from sloshing out as water usually did. They didn't even seem to swallow a gulp of it, it just went down their throat with all the ease of water going down the side of a fucking gutter. The amount of time it took to pick up the water bottle and unscrew the lid was about as much time as it took Marlen to empty the damn thing.

"I needed that. Thanks," They said, before turning around and launching the bottle like a basketball perfectly into a trash can from a distance.

Marlen was about to consider talking Mister Scruff's ear off, then the guy next to him decided to shoot a shot. At least... It seemed like he was with the look on his face. And, of course, most of the bar was about like that. Man, was Marlen the only one sober here? Crazy.

"Say.... is this a regular thing? Big parties like this?"

"This is a party?" Marlen asked, as if they had any business inserting themselves into a conversation. "Thought this was just a bar. Do people drink like this every day, here? I wouldn't know, since I just showed up."

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

what

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Leah Jordan

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Location: The Kingston-Gray House
Gear:
Skills:

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”I got…” Leah held up hers. All infinity of them, in one glass. ”This fucking thing. Told one of them I never had one, since I don’t really drink stuff like. Then he snapped his fingers and left this for me. It’s everything. I dunno how. Magic or something.” Leah took another sip from it, and it tasted like… Rocks on a road? Yeah, that was tolerable.

Leah noticed that look Vicky gave her. Except she didn’t register why. Given the fact that she was a little busy ensuring someone hadn’t been killed, actually calling for Miss Robot wasn’t immediately feasible. Besides, it turned out to been a fluke caused by magic. Which could kill her, if Leah remembered right.

”Nemo? I knew he wasn’t actually dead. But… What happened up there?” She asked her girlfriend. Stepping a little closer to Sabine, she put an arm around her and kept it there. ”I figured you’d all be busy for an hour. That was barely ten minutes. And what was that shouting about? I don’t really know how necromancy stuff works.” They were all looking pretty rough.

And then Sabine explained it. She used her powers on one of them, and it went poorly. Shit.

They probably hated her? Oh, hell no. If they had a problem with Sabine, they had a problem with Leah. She could probably blow the door off and get Sabine to the hotel and alert Vision quick enough that they couldn't hurt her. Or what if they could teleport? No, she could just do that thing where she-

Sabine pulled away again, and was back upstairs before Leah could shut her damn brain off.

Several seconds passed where she was just standing there, around the rest of them, gears turning in her head.

"...What in the fuck?" Leah didn't even know she could have bad moments like that. Shit, she had them too, but... Fuck. Shit. Damn, she was feeling real jittery all of a sudden, and she already felt jittery in some way or another tonight by just being in this house. What were they gonna do with her? Or... What would they do to her?!

Okay. Okay. Calm the fuck down. You're doing it again.

She'll be fucking fine. They wouldn't hurt one of us. And if they tried, she could kill them faster than you could punch them.

You're overthinking. It'll be okay. Stop acting jumpy.

Leah took in a deep, deep breath as quietly as she could. Then she held it and let it go.

And then someone scared the fucking shit out of her.

When Max and Sabine teleported in with a black hole, it almost made Leah jump out of her skin. The glass she had miraculously didn't get flung across the room, and she froze up for half a second before realizing who they were.

"Whatinthegoddamnfucking- Oh. It's just you." Sabine seemed okay. That was great. That didn't last nearly as long as Leah's hyperactive brain had expected. She held the glass up, that she was still consuming copious amounts of shaken milk from. "You gave me... What, a thousand? They're all pretty okay, mostly- Thanks, by the way. Sabine, look at this thing. It's magic. I'm drinking magic, he put everything in it, and somehow none of it's blurred together. It's different every time."

She took another sip from it, and that time, her eyes widened. It tasted like vanilla.

She glanced down at the glass, then back at Max. Then at Sabine. Then at Max, then the glass.

And then, she sloooowly turned her head around and looked at Ben. "That's not worth $100."