yours in demigodishness

[commandertoolbelt]

Leo Valdez

Comments

cackles into the abyss

[clearasil]

[commandertoolbelt]

[ In an alarmingly nice turn of events, when Leo asked this girl to be his date to the Yule Ball, she actually said yes. He's surprised, but genuinely excited; they'd always gotten along in their shared classes, once they got past the House rivalry, with her in Hufflepuff and him in Ravenclaw, but they were... friends. And tonight, she's especially pretty, with her hair done up pretty and the red dress - his favorite color looks great on her; shame she's not in Gryffindor - it's safe to say that he actually kind of likes her.

They've just finished a dance, and she's asking him if she might sit down. He agrees, no problem, but the night's not over yet, and Leo can't make himself sit still. So he opts for getting them something to drink or munch on instead. He's got far too much energy tonight to sit down and rest yet - and why shouldn't he? Everything's going great so far. ]

[clearasil]

[ Enter stage left, an indifferent Slytherin who didn't care to ask/forgot the ball was even happening/shut down any prospects, if any. She's a decent looking girl when she's had a few hours of sleep and she looks more than decent in her pale blue gown. The tail is a little bothersome but it was still a nice choice considering that she purchased it only a week ago and had done the tailoring charms herself.

She flicks her hair, now in loose waves, away from her face as she lingers by the punch because she doesn't quite know how to do this. This party thing. ]

[crazydolphin]

[likeamachine]

"C'mon, Zhang, pick up the pace!" Leona calls, glancing back over her shoulder. The melody to "Over the River and Through the Woods" goes through her head as they go further into the trees, and she has to resist humming the tune. And as luck would have it, there is a stream. Perfect.

A glance at the compass (GPS-enabled, but with the awesome aesthetic of the olden days) tells him they're headed in the right direction, but if she doesn't get on the ball, it'll take forever to get there. Leona stops to wait with a sigh of irritation, letting Fran catch up. Maybe she's just too eager to get there, to see what amazingly cool gadgets are waiting for them at the end of the line. And maybe another set of Chinese handcuffs for lizard girl back there.

[crazydolphin]

The worst part, at least to Fran, is that it's not like she isn't used to this kind of trekking. So the fact that Leona of all people is telling her to hurry up has the Roman rolling her eyes and fighting back the urge to just kind of push her into the stream. She grits her teeth when Leona slows down to wait for her, and she picks up her pace, trudging forward and past the other girl.

Maybe she can catch up for once.

Except, you know, Fran doesn't have the compass at all, so that edge doesn't last too long.

"My pace is fine. You're the one skipping through the woods."

So babies...

[always_right]

[commandertoolbelt]

[ Leo never thought he would make for a good dad. It's not like he had a good example to work from - sure, he had his mom up until he turned eight, but his dad? Never even knew who the guy was until age fifteen, and that was not exactly the type of guy he wanted to be.

So of course, what does he do? He overcompensates. As soon as he hears that Stiles is pregnant, he's stuck somewhere between elation and excitement and absolute terror. He doesn't know how to be a father; how is he supposed to make this work? How are they supposed to make this work? Everyone around them likes to comment on how dysfunctional they can both be, and even if Leo knows that isn't completely true from how they've lived together for the past however-long-it's-been, there's still worry lurking there in the back of his mind.

But they can make it work, and he starts with baby-proofing their place. Next comes the furniture, of course, and it's a real shame that this kid won't be able to appreciate just how awesome a crib they're going to have - not to mention the mobile, and all the toys.

Gods, the toys. That's one of the most fun parts of this whole thing, second only to the actual conception.

The worst is the birth. The very idea freaks him out - how does that even work, like, biologically? isn't the female body a tiny bit too small for that? - and the way Stiles squeezes his hand, he's wondering if even nectar or ambrosia will be able to fix it. There's nothing but panic at the forefront of his mind while it's happening and then suddenly - it's over, and the doctors are handing their baby to Stiles, and that is a sight Leo never thought he would see but he's so glad he has. And when she hands to baby to him - it sounds ridiculously cheesy, probably because it is, but it's like something changes in the world.

He, Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, is a father.

Taking them both home is one of the happier days in his life, and he instantly goes about acquainting the baby with her toys, though eventually the excitement abates a little - unless he thinks about it too much; he's a dad - and they settle into a routine. Stiles ends up going back to work, and though Leo has work to do as well - well, someone has to watch the baby, so they take turns. Thankfully, however, it's the weekend, so they can both chill for a while, and Leo's lying back with the baby on his chest, comfortable as can be. ]

[always_right]

{Stiles has always been terrified of actually using her womb. She's never felt particularly tough or strong and birth seemed like it needed someone who was tough and strong to survive it. She was so afraid that her body would betray her like her mother's and she'd leave her child alone without her. Of course, then she met Leo Valdez.

On the surface so many people thought they were too alike, that they'd forget the essential things, get too wrapped up in themselves or each other to actually participate in a life like adults. That wasn't the case, even a little bit to their own surprise. Leo created a handy thing that would take care of reminding them of their obligations and Stiles took care of them, or pestered and bribed Leo for the ones he needed to take care of. She didn't mind even a little sharing him with his creations.

Leo Valdez made her feel stronger. Her body hadn't changed except for age, but she looked at him and she saw a future filled with dark haired kids that needed a fire extinguisher in every room, extra bookshelves in the house, and an endless supply of safety gear. They'd mentioned it idly in passing that kids were cute, and then suddenly, Stiles doesn't know if she forgot a day with her pill or if a condom was faulty--she doesn't know what happened, but she's standing in their bathroom holding a stick that reads positive.

She can't tell Leo right away. She just can't. Her hands shake and the words stick in her throat whenever she's watching his back at his workbench and tries to get his attention. It takes her a whole week to leave the pregnancy test among his current project and hover in the doorway waiting for him to notice it.

His ensuing enthusiasm is catching and soothes the fear in her chest even if she catches him looking a little wild eyed and fearing himself. Her body changes Oh gods, how it changes. She's afraid of that too for a little while. Afraid she'll be the wrong shape forever and a Leo will change his mind, not because she doesn't have faith in him but because she sometimes doesn't think too highly of herself.

Then she starts reading about all the little changes, everything happening inside her body, and she realizes she didn't have to worry about this part. Her body is built for this, like Leo had designed it himself. Probably a blasphemous thought, but she didn't care. Everything about the changes in her body were made to make her stronger and carry their child safely. She relaxed more and more as her body bent itself into new shapes.

She ends up playing more than she'll admit with the toys Leo's making for the baby, and when it comes right down to it, she's pretty sure the damage she did to his hand is more lasting than what she's going through after the birth when they put their baby in her arms. She's exhausted, sweaty, and feeling lingering pains, but it's not so much different from a quest, and this is the best reward she's ever gotten for completion.

The baby is seamless part of their routine almost from the very beginning. And when Stiles goes back to teaching it's not hard to convince anyone to let her child ride around on her chest napping on the days that Leo needs to buckle down on a project, but the rest of the time Stiles is content to leave their beautiful creation with Leo.

The evenings and the weekends are her very favorite, though. They get to all be together, their little family unit, limbs tangled up in warmth and love protecting and caring for their child so small. Amazingly as Stiles watches their kid sleep on Leo's chest she's not afraid anymore. She knows her child will never be alone. Even if her body changes it's mind and turns on her like an enemy driving her to hallucinations and deteriorating her brain right out from on top of her, she knows without a doubt that Leo will still be the best parent and their child will be safe. She hopes that's the kind of faith her mom had in her dad when she left them behind.

Unable to resist any longer she crawls gently onto the couch and lays herself out along Leo's side.}

What are my two favorite people up to?

[clearasil]

“But she wasn’t around, and that’s the thing when your parents die,
you feel like instead of going in to every fight with backup,
you are going into every fight alone.”

[commandertoolbelt]

It happened every year on that night, and this one was no different. The nightmares always found him on that day, early in June, even if he'd lost track of the date, like he had this week. Since learning about the demigod thing, and their... special relationship with dreams, he'd started to wonder if it wasn't Gaea herself still trying to break him. He wondered why she apparently had such a personal interest in him - Leo may have the Blessing, but he was still just a mechanic, hardly her biggest threat.

That night brought the worst nightmare he'd had in a while. Maybe it was because of the encounter with Melinoe, but this time, he didn't just relive what happened through his own perspective of that night, as usual. No, tonight, Leo was treated to watching his mother suffer, banging on the door for help, desperately calling his name even while choking on fumes from his own fire. He saw the flames billow up around her, corner her, peeling her skin and burning her hair and clothes. Still, she cried his name, even when the worst happened. Her skin bubbled, broke, charred, all that had happened in the vision the Underworld goddess had given him in the woods, made infinitely worse by the sound of her screams.

He woke with a jolt, blanketed in flames.

Leo chose not to go back to sleep after that. It would only invite more nightmares. The forge was a better place for him - at least there, if he lost it, the flames would be contained, and work was a good distraction. He loved his mother, but he didn't want to think about her - not like that. So he worked until the sun came up, until the rest of the camp stirred and awoke. Dany tried to speak to him, having helped him extinguish the flames in the night, but he couldn't do it - wouldn't do it. Finally, Leo got fed up with the pretense of work and... left. Dany may be safe from his power, and so was Kevin, but Leo found that right now, he was a little too on edge, a little too unstable to contain the Blessing entirely, even with distractions. He didn't trust himself around people, and there was only one place in camp where he could really be alone.

To Bunker 9 it was. Of course, he had to be careful even there. There were too many precious things there that could be lost. But he was tired of playing at being okay, hiding how he felt with jokes and projects and idle chatting. And if he was really going to have problems today, well... he didn't want to hurt anyone. So he ran away yet again.

The back room, the one with the bed, was his best chance at not destroying anything important, so that's where he went. He was careful in clearing out a space, and once he did, Leo settled on the floor, arms resting loosely on his knees and forehead laid down on his arms. There, he sat for a while, his fingers tapping a half-hearted pattern on the side of his leg. He couldn't help but think about her, regret everything, replay the stupid nightmare and that October morning in the woods and everything else that had gone wrong, completely heedless of the flames that rippled over his body with each passing thought. It felt like he would burst, if he couldn't get his mind onto something else.

[clearasil]

It wasn't unusual for the two of them, as a couple, to spend time apart from each other; it's perfectly healthy, giving each other space when necessary. They're both attuned to the other's coping mechanisms, with Natalie's tendency to hide and push, and Leo's penchant for running away. If only she could shut out the world for them both, for him, at least for a moment.

At least, Natalie knows where to find him when she can't locate him in the other usual places. She has a sour feeling, like a drop in her stomach, and she never knows how to approach him when she realizes the date. After asking one of his siblings to let her into the bunker, she steps in, hands shoved into the pockets of her denim shorts to keep herself from fussing and fidgeting. She hopes he will let her in, though she always thought he was more open to company than she had ever been during difficult times such as this one.

Slowly, because she does not want to startle him, she makes her way around the work tables, lightly touching various tools and projects once she pulls her hands out of her pockets. Once she reaches the back room, instead of speaking, she lightly taps her greeting on the door: 'Hi, Leo. Missed you earlier.'

[reallywicked]

[commandertoolbelt]

i just want you to know that i've never actually WANTED to do my homework until now

[reallywicked]

That's the idea. When you end up on the honor roll, you'll know who to thank.

[The text is quickly followed by a photo of her standing in front of a full length mirror in a matching set of red and black bra and underwear.]

How motivated are you Leo?

[eyeofthebeholder]

The road trip had technically started off fine.

Having decided that they deserved a summer vacation without monsters or curses or prophecies or anything of the sort, she, Jason and Leo had put their heads together and concluded that they were old enough (and certainly responsible enough after saving the world gods knew how many times) to take a cross-country road trip.

Well, to be fair, Leo and Piper concluded it would be a great idea and only told Jason once they were a good hour outside of New York City.

Despite Jason's protests, the road trip had started out fantastically. They ran into no monsters (always a plus), they had enough snacks to put any nearby rest stop to shame (although Piper didn't quite know how Leo could stomach so many bags of Flamin' Hots in one afternoon), and the fight over the radio had yet to turn into a bloody battle (Jason claimed ownership of the radio for the first two days and since she and Leo had technically kidnapped him, they conceded the argument).

And then Alabama happened.

Piper still wasn't sure how they misplaced Jason. With only three people in the car, it wasn't actually feasible to forget that one person was missing. But somehow, while having made a very southern detour on Leo's request to stop and gawk at the Elberta dinosaurs, they had somehow lost Jason in the middle of the dinosaur-strewn woods.

She crossed her arms and gave Leo a look from where she sat on the hood of the car.

"Alright, Human Torch - now what?"

[commandertoolbelt]

"Well, obviously, we find him before he's discovered by a pack of velociraptors," Leo replied with a roll of his eyes. 'You saw the movies. That never works out well, and Jason's no Chris Pratt."

That would be pretty hilarious, but Percy was more likely to make that happen than Jason. Or Nico, maybe, considering they're all technically dead. Leo stared out into the woods, hands on his hips as he tried to spot a speck of blond among the trees. No dice.

"Alright, what's his favorite dinosaur? I say we look there first."

[eyeofthebeholder]

Piper snorted. "Obviously that was a good idea an hour ago." She waved over in the general direction of the woods where they had last seen her boyfriend before both she and Leo had gotten distracted by the triceratops. "And didn't someone say that, 'oh no, the dinosaurs will be fine, it'll be just a quick detour and then we'll be on the road again' before you know it? Because I could've sworn someone said that."

She jumped off the hood of the car, brushing at her shorts. Leave it up to them to lose their travel companion - and to dinosaurs, of all things.

"If we don't find him before it gets dark, I'm lighting your hair on fire and sending smoke signals."

[commandertoolbelt]

[ cont.

Leo is sitting with his back against the oven, obviously defeated, with one of his legs stretched out before him. It's his right hand, his good hand, that's trapped, and he's tried a few different things already to get loose, but judging by the mangled handcuff attaching his wrist to the oven's handle, nothing's worked. The look he gives Faye is tired and even a little petulant, eyes narrowed irritably. ]

This would be a cinch if they weren't some kind of magical trick handcuffs, [ he tells her, feeling absolutely done with the morning already. Stupid Hermes kids. ] All fire does is warp them, and the mechanism is totally melted. I'll thank you if you can think of something that'll actually help.

[reallywicked]

[She hums thoughtfully, head tipped to one side as she mulls the problem over.]

I wonder...

[For as much as Faye favors the fire element, she has access to the others. But maybe whoever made this little trick didn't know that. She moves to the sink and fills a bowl with water. Kneeling on the floor beside him, she gives him an incredibly smug look as she whispers a spell that causes the water in the bowl to wind around the handcuffs and freeze the metal. Your wrist might be chilly for a minute, but she's hoping that the key to the trick here is the opposite of fire.]

[commandertoolbelt]

[ His breath comes in a startled hiss as the water freezes around his wrist. Reflexively, he tries to yank his hand away from the cold, but it gets him nowhere. ]

Gods, do you have to do it this way? [ Leo complains, looking wistfully at the handcuff. ] I hate the cold.

Old Teleios setting?

[schemerfreak]

*Mal had grown to accept she had to play by a certain level of rules. She thought about her debt and what Ben would say to it. He'd still love her, she knew that. For whatever reason he saw good in her. But the idea she was making her debt worse instead of better would probably get a look.*

*On the other hand she didn't see the big deal in graffiti, and it made her feel better. So this building, whatever it is, was getting her twin dragon mark painted on the side. Carefully placing up her stencil page, spraying a section, then moving onto the next part of the emblem.*

It isn't 'Long live evil!' but I've definitely made a mark on this city. Also if the others find it, they can know I was here, even if I find my way somewhere else...

[commandertoolbelt]

And how are you planning to do that, exactly? [ Leo asks, watching with amusement from a few feet back. He'd been happy to help her find the materials she wanted, always ready to help a fellow delinquent feel better when he feels pretty awful about his own situation. He still doesn't know how things worked out back home after the battle, whether Natalie is okay, or how Sojourner or any of the others had fared at all...

It's been nearly a year, and still he thinks about it almost daily. But that's what things like this are for - to distract him, to keep his mind moving onto something else instead of what's bringing him down. ]

I mean, if you have any ideas, I'm all for it. It's not like we have a working TARDIS or anything here. [ He pauses before adding, ] And why do you use a stencil, anyway? You can't just free-hand it?

[commandertoolbelt]

[ cont. ]

[ Leo beams right back at her, pretty sure she’s already got an idea of what he means. It’s not like he’s ever really been all that subtle, anyway. ]

Easy! You have to kiss me.

[ciderandstew]

Oh that's all?

[Calypso laughed, her smile growing as she leaned nearer to him.]

I can probably manage that.