sheep_game | Counting Stars

[ was he talking about cooking, really? doesn't matter; he looks at the illusion, nods, and gets to measuring out butter and sugar, then melting the butter ]

[ like he hasn't filed that away to keep in mind now. Busying himself measuring out the different dry ingredients to sift together ]

Do your parents ban you from a lot of stuff?

[ a laugh ]

Nah, not really. I don't think no weapons around the breakables counts, especially after the fifth time I've broken something. My mom is really, like...gentle. She's never even gotten angry at me. And, trust me, she's had plenty of reason to.

Never? Even my mom's gotten mad at me, and she's basically the world's best mom.

[ slow eyebrow raise ]

Not even when I accidentally brought my hellhound home and wrecked half the apartment.

A hellhound? Shouldn't that be Kevin's thing?

[ a snort ]

Excuse you, he doesn't have the market cornered on everything Underworld-y. Mrs. O'Leary is my dog. I did kind of inherit her, but it was from a child of Athena.

Fair; it's just not what I expected.

My mom would've definitely killed me for wrecking the house though, even by accident. Yours sounds incredible.

Told you. She's the nicest person on the planet.

I'd believe it. I'm glad you've got someone like that on your side.

...Me too. I've just about always had my mom, you know? Even when things were bad at school, or with my ex-stepfather, or with the gods, or monsters. She's always tried really hard for me.

I'm kinda jealous. Mine...

[ Lets that hang in the air for a minute while he measures out the chocolate to melt ]

I mean, she is great. I've seen her look scarier than any villain I've ever faced when she's standing up for me, but...she really freaked out when I came home with Scarab for the first time. I had to leave the house before my dad could get her to come back.

[ listens, sympathetic, and doesn't seem surprised ]

Gods, that's rough. A lot of half-blood mortal parents are the same way. But she came around, right? You've made it sound like she's pretty okay with things now.

Yeah, once my dad talked to her. She even apologized about it, and she's been great since. It was just, y'know. A lot for her.

[ hums thoughtfully as they work ]

What about your dad? He wasn't freaked out?

He was definitely freaked out, but he was more glad to have me back. I think he'd have been happy to see me even if I told him I'd joined some super villains D-tier henchmen squad.

Wait, back it up. What do you mean back? And how old were you, anyway?

[ Immediately sobers, shoulders slumping and stuffing his hands in his pockets ]

I was 16. And, um...it's a long story, but I...ended up in a pocket dimension for a few minutes. But time worked differently in there and a whole year passed outside, so my family and everyone thought I'd died because I'd been missing for so long.

[ eyes widen but not, like, as shocked as he could be ]

No wonder they were worried. And that's where you met Scarab?

No, I picked Scarab up outta the dirt walking to school one day. I wound up in a pocket dimension because we found out the hard way that Scarab was programmed to turn tail and run if he ever encountered a Green Lantern.

[ Quieter, clearly aside to Scarab ]

...Well you did.

Edited 2024-05-14 02:10 (UTC)

You picked him up out of the dirt?

Yeah. He was just on the ground by the sidewalk.

Your parents never told you not to pick up strange space bugs?

Hey, I thought he was a paper weight! He didn't turn on til after I took him home.

I dunno if the paper weight defense is better or worse.

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