#in what other world would i question grovers trust????

[artnerdsrule]

They are PLAYING at grover being a possible traitor. I've read the books. I know who the traitor is. But even I AM QUESTIONING. I'm sitting here genuinely puzzling. I'm over here like, ' idk man, is he????'

[notebookqueenofnarnia]

Okay Demigods

now that Season 2 has been confirmed (!!!!!!!!!!) I am here to make my official appeal that you ALL read the books. and yes...i mean ALL the books. Because here is what you are missing if you don't:

(mostly spoiler free. mostly vibes and chaotic no context)

OG PERCY JACKSON

Percy's INCREDIBLE sarcasm

Lots of chaotic Mr. D moments

Percy's unending absolute obliviousness when it comes to: his own abilities/powers, his own feelings towards a certain daughter of Athena, and EVERYONE'S feelings towards him

the full list of Percy's felonies (it's longer than you think!)

how much Percy thinks about Annabeth, especially in the third book

The Hunters of Artemis (everyone's like 'which godly parent would you have?' but im like ??? who cares??? I'm running off with the girls to immortal to hunt men i mean monsters)

soooooooooo much Sally Jackson is the Best Mom (to everyone who walks through her door) content

BLACKJACK. TRANS ICON BLACKJACK THE PEGASUS.

Rachel. Elizabeth. Dare. (this is how the audiobook says her name every single time)

Paul Blofis

Sally Jackson, author

Poseidon: Blowfish?

HEROES OF OLYMPUS

If you don't read these books you are missing out on some of the coolest female characters Rick has created: PIPER (an iconic), HAZEL (unintentionally hilarious), REYNA (beautiful character arc), and ANNABETH's point of view will have you loving her on a whole other level, trust me

Also: COACH HEDGE

Leo

All The Ladies Love Leo

the audiobooks are INSANE. It felt like a full cast read the book, but no. it was just one insanely talented narrator.

FESTUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS (im a dragon girlie)

Personally, I spent a lot of time reading the OG 5 wondering about how Roman mythology plays into Percy's world. Uncle Rick answered my questions and answered them SO WELL

Hazel the horse girl

Frank the horsebirddolphinman

Frank, gentle himbo, my beloved son

MY FAVORITE SCENE WHICH INVOLVES PERCY NOT KNOWING HOW TO DRIVE, A HARPY, FRANK, AND HAZEL AND THEYRE ALL SCREAMING AND IM PRETTY SURE STUFF IS ON FIRE

Forced Proximity for 7 teenagers and one chaotically violent satyr (that's Coach Hedge)

Eros/Cupid being one the most genius things Rick's ever written

Percy's hate of Ares transcending god magic

(also his love of Annabeth, but that's like obvious)

PercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabethPercabe

weird barely gnome things

this one giant whose name is definitely not pronounced like female anatomy

everyone thinking Percy and Annabeth are constantly getting up to the hanky panky

a statue made me cry

Gay Grumpy/Sunshine (or should that be Death/Sunshine) origins!!

TRIALS OF APOLLO

Apollo, vain himbo of godly proportions is forced to live as Lester Papadopoulos

Percy: why

a very chaotic twelve year old daughter of Demeter

she commands Apollo around

plant magic

terrible great haikus at the start of every chapter

Sally Jackson being the best mom to everyone who comes to her door

magic shoes

a sassy magic prophetic arrow that talks in Shakespearean English

so much gay grumpydeath/sunshine content

also yes sunshine's dad is Apollo

Apollo sings

Grover! Piper! Reyna! Hazel! All the friends! Everyone

Jason! (also im sorry)

what if there were some trees who were an elite squad of warriors who also answer to the chaotic twelve year old

gay moms of the midwest

unicorns

in the last book, chiron takes the campers on a 'field trip' to help take down the big baddie and he shows up dressed as a warrior soccer mom with granola bars, water bottles, and extra swords attached to his fanny pack

a different chaotic twelve year old while fighting to the death in a building that's on fire: "CAN WE GO ON FIELD TRIPS EVERY WEEK?"

chiron: "ROSE DEAR RAISE YOUR SWORD A LITTLE HIGHER!"

okay im not going to spoil it but in the last book there is also this extremely horrifyingly violent moment that Uncle Rick somehow turns into one of the most hilarious things i've ever read

Piper in the epilogue

CHALICE OF THE GODS

more insanely funny percy first person narration

Grover, Percy, Annabeth reunite ("the gang is back together!" "The three musketeers!" "Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey!" "Excuse me?")

have you met the god of himbos? (Percy has)

SO

MANY

EASTER

EGGS

for Season one. you can totally see how Uncle Rick worked on the script and chalice together

if you liked Annabeth shoving Percy into the water....this one is for you

Percy, supreme god of snakes

the cutest cutest cutest cutest Percabeth content you will ever read

hippie gods (yes more than one)

Percy is literally obsessed with Annabeth

Annabeth already being the Jackson daughter in law

Sally Jackson and Paul and

For the record: You CAN read Chalice of the Gods without reading the other series, but please please please read all these books. The audiobooks are phenomenal.

[geostelar5]

"Because your my friend, any other stupid questions?" - I feel like this moment really needs to be emphasized, because as much as we talk about how Annabeth had a shitty childhood, has abandonment issues, etc. I feel like we don't talk about Percy's as much because he doesn't really bring it up that much. But its really important to Emphasize that all his life, up until Yancy it has been Percy and his mom VS the world, and for someone who's fatal Flaw is Loyalty, this must have KILLED Percy more than anything else. Not having anyone to really connect to, to live your life giving everything for your friends that you manage to make, only for it to be thrown in your face as you are ratted out, as you are betrayed or you have to move schools again. Percy is a person who THRIVEs when he has a group around him, he is a natural Leader, someone who brings people together, a grounding presense because everyone can trust him. They know that they can trust him because betrayal would never cross his mind. So, imagine how powerful, how impactful it is to Percy when he FINALLY has not one, but two friends that he can throw his whole heart into loving and trusting and they return it with just as much frevor. To assure him that they WONT turn against him, to be on His side no matter what. Grover was the first person that Percy met who clung to him and bonded with him, wanting to be his friend first and foremost. His best friend, the first one who didn't give up on him when it got tough. And now we have Annabeth, the second one, this girl who used to seem to hate you for who your dad was is now assuring you that she would turn against her mom, who she clearly craves approval from because you are friends. Who makes it sound like its the most obvious thing in the world to her. That your the idiot for even bringing up the possiblity that she would turn against you. Imagine how powerful that is to Percy, to finally have your Loyalty Rewarded, to assure you that *NO* your feelings and wants to go to hell and back for those who love you aren't wrong! That you WILL find people who return that love like its second nature to them. To hear some validation for all your efforts in the form of two best friends who will ALWAYS be there for you.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Almighty (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Got sick again, world is falling apart, anyway have some fic -Danny Words: 1,900 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

XLIII: Hey, Pookie... What?

"You're lost."

"Am not!"

Ara raises her voice so they hear her from the back. "There is no shame in getting confused, G-Man, even I can't see the way around here..."

Grover stops at a bifurcation. "Well?" Meg demands, causing him to give a start and step away from her. Satyrs tend to be that way with children and gods of the wild, they put them on pedestals and fear them over everything else.

"I—I'm pretty sure Palm Springs is that way."

"Pretty sure?" Meg presses. "Like last time, when we walked into a bathroom and surprised a Cyclops on the toilet?"

"That wasn't my fault! Besides, this direction smells right. Like... cacti."

Meg turns up her nose and flares her nostrils. "I don't smell cacti."

"Meg, the satyr is supposed to be our guide. We don't have much choice but to trust him," Lester says resignedly.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Grover scoffs. "Your daily reminder: I didn't ask to be magically summoned halfway across the country and wake up in a rooftop tomato patch in Indianapolis!"

"And we appreciate you being here!" Ara says from the back.

"I just didn't think we'd be wandering around down here for two days," Meg huffs. "The new moon is in—"

"Three more days, we know," Lester laments. "We have to assume Leo and the Romans can handle whatever's coming in the north. We have our own task."

"And plenty of our own fires," Grover mumbles.

"Meaning what?" Meg questions.

"Best not to talk about it here."

Ara sighs. "I hope Leo's doing fine..."

"Hasn't called, then?" Lester looks at her over his shoulder, a hint of some strange eagerness in his voice.

The girl shakes her head. "I don't know, as soon as we entered the labyrinth, it stopped. It might be that this place keeps all my blessings dormant, which would explain Grover's trouble finding our way—Could be that the buzzing goes away when I'm not using my blessings."

Lester ponders. "I wonder what triggers you..."

"Let's not find out down here," Ara glares at him. "Let me stay perfectly average until we're out."

"I'll try to get us there fast, guys," Grover says. "But the Labyrinth has a mind of its own. Last time we were here, with Percy..."

"We know you're doing your best," Lester comforts him. He's getting better after Ara's harsh scolding when he attempted to comfort her. "Let's keep going. And, while you're sniffing for cacti, if you could keep your nostrils open for breakfast—perhaps coffee and lemon-maple cronuts—that would be great."

"We haven't gone that long without food, don't pressure him," Ara says.

"We haven't eaten since yesterday," he sighs, remembering she no longer remembers the human needs he's gotten used to. "It's been too long for us."

"Oh," she frowns. "Well, I'm sure we're close anyway." 

Ara is well aware she's forgetting things, but she doesn't know that Lester is also forgetting how it felt to be a god, his commodities as a deity, and the places in Olympus. He's trying to ignore it, but every time Ara acts too godly, he gets a bitter reminder.

"Back!" Grover tackles them.

A wave of heat pulls the oxygen out of their lungs, Ara feels a brief discomfort before it all ends, and they disentangle from each other. "Wh-what was that?" Lester pants.

"That means we're getting close. We need to hurry," Grover says anxiously.

"Like I've been saying," Meg complains. "Now get off."

Ara scowls at the hallway, the gust of wind felt almost alive and she's pretty sure that it was talking, carrying emotions that she perceived for a half second just before it went away. Something is hiding in the labyrinth.

"We'll have to go left," Grover announces.

"Um, left is the direction from which the fire came." Lester points out.

"It's also the quickest way."

"How about backwards?" Meg nudges Ara reluctantly.

"Guys, we're close, I can feel it! But we've wandered into his part of the maze. If we don't hurry—"

Screee! SCREEE! 

Ara draws out Almighty. "Listen to the satyr."

The group hurries down the pathway listening to the feral noises coming from behind. Ara gets a hundred reminders of all the creatures that could be chasing them, and she feels her skin tingle with power. She clears her mind, fearing her own energy and not wanting to make use of it if she can help it.

"There!" Grover reaches a circular chamber and points at the ramp ahead. "We gotta move up!"

"Then move up!" Ara urges him.

SCREEE!

"No, we won't make it," Lester looks back with terror. "We need to block this corridor."

"But—"

"Magic plant stuff! Hurry!" He instructs Meg. "Ara, if those things get any closer we won't be able to fight them!"

She hesitates. "What are they?"

Lester hits his forehead. "I can't remember! Some kind of birds—but they're bad, like, worse than ostriches."

Grover and Meg get the seeds growing, creating sturdy and thick tomato plants. The hall is almost entirely closed up, but one of the creatures manages to fly through and elevates above their heads screeching in anger. Lester hisses and touches his cheek, drops of blood staining his fingers.

The bird lands high and watches them as if waiting for their next move. Ara doesn't like it when creatures have sentient behaviours, and birds tend to be quite vicious either way. Lester crumbles suddenly, eyes losing focus and paling at an alarming speed.

"What the—" Ara catches him. "Lester!"

"Strix," he mumbles. "That thing is a Strix."

"How do we kill it?" Meg demands.

"Well, killing it could be a problem..."

Ara growls. "Is every monster protected under federal law nowadays?"

"Guys, we've got six or seven more trying to get in. These tomatoes aren't going to hold them!" Grover squeaks.

"K-killing the bird will curse you..."

Ara lets out a string of swear words in ancient Greek and then some more in Italian, just to finish up with a single Spanish bad word that sounded quite ugly when Leo used it. "I'm already cursed!"

"And if we don't kill it?" Meg asks.

"Oh, then it will d-disembowel you, drink your blood and eat your flesh—Also, don't let a Strix scratch you. It'll paralyse you!"

Ara grumbles, keeping him upright. "Why the Hades are you laughing?"

"Shock, most likely," Lester says, right before his head falls forward and he stops being able to speak.

Ara glows red, carrying Lester over her shoulder. "Up! Both of you!"

Meg looks at the single Strix above them. "What about that one?"

"Stop!" Grover talks to it. "We come in peace!"

The bird flies down sharply and Grover yelps, ducking just in time.  

"SCREE!"

"What do you mean 'you need to kill us'?"

"You can talk to it?" Meg huffs.

"Well, yes, it's an animal."

"Why didn't you tell us what it was saying before now?"

"Because it was just yelling scree! Now it's saying scree as in, it needs to kill us."

"If you can speed up the conversation I would appreciate it, Lester is pulling none of his weight—though that's nothing new," Ara pants, to which Lester replies with a throaty groan.

"Scree!" Grover says.

Ara's buzzing increases in the back of her mind and she struggles to ignore it, if she faints or heats up, they'll be left with two bodies to carry. "Meg, Octo—now," she turns so the girl can open her plushie bag.

Meg rummages swiftly. "Ambrosia, nectar, gauzes, band-aids—water bombs, sonic bombs, snack bombs—"

"The Strix says he's been sent to drink our blood, eat our flesh and disembowel us, not necessarily in that order. He says he's sorry, but it's a direct command from the emperor."

"Stupid emperors," Meg mutters, voicing Ara's exact thoughts. "Which one?"

"I don't know—The strix just calls him Scree."

"You can translate disembowel, but you can't translate the emperor's name?"

"It's the last one, it has to be," Ara balances Lester on her shoulder. "The western creep."

The Strix flies directly at Meg and she dodges it tackling Ara, causing the bird to crash against the brick wall and creating a gold dust explosion. "Meg!" Lester says hoarsely, the venom dissipating a little bit. "I told you not to kill it! You'll get cursed!"

"I didn't kill it. It committed suicide against that wall."

"I don't think the Fates will see it that way."

"They will if we do," Ara decides. "Now move!" She carries Lester once more, though he's gaining feeling in his arms now, so she hands him Almighty. "If you drop her I'll drop you."

"Fair enough."

"But what do we do with the ones coming?" Grover says as they hurry up the ramp.

"My snack bombs!" Ara pipes in. "Meg, they're corn!"

"Got it!" The girl pulls out one from the plushie bag.

Ara picks the bomb apart and holds one side, pouring the seeds into Grover and Meg's hands. "Let's make a maze within the maze!"

"They might not grow much," Meg warns her. "Only so much we can do without soil and sunlight."

Grover looks at Ara with a sort of helpless grimace. "We're nearly home. If we can just get to the top before the strixes get through—"

"We won't be fast enough," Ara says, stopping and dropping Lester beside her. "The plants will grow how we need them to. Drop them."

"But—"

"Now!" She demands when the beaks and talons start to rip through the tomatoes.

Meg and Grover toss the seeds, then Ara glows golden and clutches the satyr's shoulder, feeling her stomach tighten as she opens her mouth and together they scream, sending a wave of panic down the tunnel and causing the seeds to light up and burst into tall corn plants with Meg's help.

The young girl covers her ears, curling up against Lester, who presses his back against the wall and looks at the duo wide-eyed and terrified. The noises stop, and the birds start to sound further and further, as if retreating. "Guys," Lester says shakily. "Did you just summon Panic?"

"I didn't mean to," Grover glances at Ara in shock. "Haven't done that in years. You had never done that."

"P-panic?" Meg asks. "What do you mean?"

"The cry of the lost god Pan," Lester explains in disbelief, "I've never heard anyone but Pan use that power... How?"

Grover looks at her, waiting for an explanation. Ara gives it ruefully. "When we first visited the labyrinth, we found Pan. He gave me the lost chapter of Lily's book, the Children of Olympus one. When Georgie said I had..." She stops, her voice failing. 

Grover connects the dots. "He blessed all of us that day... that means you..."

"He was my first blessing," she confesses with a shaky voice, "and no one knew about it. I myself forgot I had it. When I became a daughter of Olympus, we miscounted my blessings."

Meg stares at her blankly. "So? It's good that you have another blessing, right? You have an advantage in nature like me."

"Meg, Hercules got too dangerous at eight blessings, Achilles died at five and he was a killing machine," Lester explains, looking at the older girl as if suddenly everything is making sense. "Ara has ten."

"Hephaestus gave me pantodýnamos," she says numbly, "so Pan could identify me, hand out the chapter, and implant the idea in my head..."

"That's crazy," Grover says, though he seems more shocked that Pan would participate in the schemes of the Olympians than of Ara's account. "So it wasn't just Apollo, all of them did their part to turn you into... this?"

Ara makes a face. "Zeus didn't know about Pan, or he would've mentioned it so I kept it in mind when asking for blessings... Pan said 'You have been waiting for me' as if he were serving me..."

The buzzing increases, and Ara presses her hands over her ears struggling to keep her eyes open and not slip out of consciousness... or slip into a higher state of it. 

The screeching comes back and Lester shakily gets to his feet, nudging them forward. "We have to get out of here—Sunlight," he says, remembering more about the Stixes, "they can't stand it."

Ara picks up Almighty and looks at it with less love than usual, putting it away in compass mode.

Next Chapter –>

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[sankta-starkova]

THE OUTSIDERS

010 | take a zebra to vegas

previous chapter | next chapter | masterlist

summary: the one where daisy returns to camp from college and is blinded by her love for him, even as the world ends

wordcount: 2.1k

The camp was getting bad. She had never seen this level of fighting before.

Every day, someone else was clashing. There were cabins turning against one another and all because of Clarisse and her gang.

They were spreading these rumours throughout camp that the war was going to get worse between the Gods and that at some point, the campers were going to have to fight with them.

This had cause tension and Daisy and Luke knew that they had to get some sort of help.

They went into the Big House. Chiron was out dealing with a fight and they needed to see what Mr D could do about it or if he was even back from his war council with the other Olympians.

They split out. Luke went into Chirons office and Daisy searched upstairs - although she steered clear of the attic.

"Luke?" Someone asked and he turned around, confused as he saw a rainbow beam on the wall.

"Annabeth? Percy?" He questioned, looking at the kids through the iris connection, "Are you okay?"

He turned around and the kids watched as he searched around for someone else.

"Hey, Daisy, come in here!" He called out before turning back to the message.

Annabeth and Percy looked at one another, "We're okay, Where's Chiron?"

Daisy ran into the room, slightly out of breath. She gasped when she saw the two on the screen. She had been so nervous about the trio and it was good to know they were there.

"You're okay? We've been worried sick," She said, stepping into frame so she was shoulder to shoulder with Luke..

"We need to talk to Chiron," Percy repeated.

"Chiron is holding the Fort down. The campers think we're going to war so the cabins are taking sides," he explained.

It had been a difficult couple of days. Everyone had been arguing and fighting. Some cabins had stopped talking to one another, couples had broken up.

That's when she heard a yell outside. "I should go sort that, I'll be right back kiddos,"

Luke watched as she ran out of the big house and he could hear her commanding some of the kids around, a smile on his face.

"We think we know who stole the bolt," Percy stated with upmost certainty

Luke tensed up. He was nervous and it was obvious.

"How do you know?" He asked, a shocked look on his face.

"We ran into Ares and Grover got him talking and realised Ares knew who the thief was and is covering for them," Annabeth explained, "So who would Ares cover for other than-"

"His favourite daughter, Clarisse," Luke stated, shaking his head. He relaxed as he realised who they thought it was, "She is the lightning thief,"

"Chiron has to arrest her. Find out what she knows. There's more to this than just the bolt. Don't ask me how. You just have to trust me," Percy continued, an ominous tone to his voice.

"We trust you, keep yourselves safe out there," Luke said, smiling at them.

"Sorry, I'm back. They weren't trying to hang that kid," she said, running back into the room.

Luke grabbed her hand and pulled her into his side, he seemed really relaxed all of a sudden.

"So, you met Ares? What was that like?" Luke asked, the conversation sounding more civil.

Percy shrugged, "Compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could've been a lot worse,"

"Medusa was Saturday," Annabeth said, giving him a look, "No monsters on Sunday. Monday you died in a river,"

Daisy's eyes went wide, they seemed to have just said that he died in a river. They glossed over it and she just stared at them in shock.

"Right. So Medusa on Saturday," the two preteens shared a look as they nodded at one another.

Her and Luke turned to one another. As they listened to Percy and Annabeth, it was like watching their past selves bicker.

"What is this?" Daisy asked, looking at the duo with an amused smile..

"What?" Annabeth questioned. She didn't know why the teenagers were looking at her like that.

"When did you turn into an old married couple?" She replied.

Luke chuckled to himself, "When did you turn into us?" He asked.

They had smiles on their faces but through the iris message, they could see the kids were not entertained and seemed almost embarrassed.

"Not to change the subject but, we could use your advise on something. We're heading to Las Vegas to talk to yo-" Percy started to say and it cut out

"You think they're okay?" She asked, turning to him.

He knew how much she cared about them. It was that caring instinct in him that he loved.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "They're fine baby, we have to make sure the campers here don't kill themselves first,"

"Did i miss anything? Did they have any news?" She asked.

He was silent for a second before he put a smile on his face, "They didn't say much, just that they're doing good," he explained.

She grabbed his hand, "There's a big fight happening out there, the Ares cabin are getting mad," she explained.

He nodded. This was the last thing he wanted, they didn't need the entire camp to be fighting against one another.

They walked outside of the big house and that's when she saw the first semblance of a fight.

"What's going on Travis?" She yelled out after him as she saw him running towards the amphitheatre.

He turned around, stopping in the middle of the path and looking at the couple, "Clarisse just challenged Lily to a fight,"

Lily was one of her best friends and she had just been elected as the Head of the Aphrodite cabin.

To have the Ares Cabin and Aphrodite cabin at war with one another would cause the biggest rift within the camp.

She looked at Luke, both of them sharing a worried expression on their faces before they chased after his younger brother Travis to the amphitheatre.

When they got there, they saw the true extent to the problem. Clarisse was in full battle gear, the remaining half of her father's spear tucked into her belt.

She was with some of the other Ares kids and in front of her was Silena and Lily, both of them weaponless.

She saw Clarisse pull her sword out, ready to strike. Daisy didn't even hesitate before she ran in between the two of them.

She felt the sword brush against her cheek but there was no pain, she must have missed.

"Get out of my way!" She yelled out and Daisy held her hand out, pushing her back.

Luke rushed over as soon as he saw Clarisse swing. He had to hide the anger bubbling up in his chest, "Lets all calm down,"

"There's a war that's going to happen out there," Clarisse spat out, taking a few steps back.

"We don't know who stole the bolt, we can't choose sides," Luke said.

Luke had been told about who the kids thought was the lightning theif but he couldn't tell anyone, not yet.

"You're naive both of you. it matters," she spat out, being cheered on by the other Ares kids, "You need to pick your side because when this happens, we will fight,"

"Percy can find a way to stop this," Daisy said, her hand resting on the sheath where her dagger lie.

It was a matching one. Luke had given it to her two years ago before their quest. It was a paired one to his and it had all kind of features - like glowing when the other person got near and dimming completley if they died.

She didn't think she would need the weapon right now but she didnr know where this fight would go.

Clarisse scoffed at the idea, "Percy? I doubt he's even alive," she stated.

"Can't we all just stop this, its not fair on anyone," Silena said as she took a step forward to stand next to Daisy.

Before the couple had gotten there, Silena thought that her best friend was going to try to fight her.

"If there is a war between our parents, they will be expecting us to fight alongside them," Clarisse replied, her voice softening as soon as she saw Silena.

"Our mother does not believe in war," Lily interjected. Everyone seemed to have forgotten she was there.

There was a crowd gathering around them as all the campers wondered if this was the official declaration of who's side they were on.

Everyone was on edge with the idea of war and as Daisy looked around, she could see how scared everyone was. Nobody wanted to fight.

"Come on guys, no need to keep arguing. The younger campers don't need all the heads of cabins arguing right now," Daisy said.

She looked around. They were all looking to their leaders for some sort of guidance.

"You want me to give you another nick on that pretty face of yours?" She questioned.

Daisy reached a hand up and that's when she realised that the blade had cut her. It was a tiny cut and she didn't know how she hadn't felt it.

Luke looked at her, a a hand going to her jaw so that he could get a good look at the cut on the other side of her face. He was furious now.

"You better watch your mouth Clarisse," Luke said, a hand going down to his sword.

The camp was silent as they realised that two of the strongest sword fighters may be duelling.

She went to lunge at Luke but Chris grabbed onto her, pulling her back before she could attack him. She let out a guttural yell as he held her back, struggling in his grasp.

Daisy reached down and grabbed Lukes hand. He was tense. She could feel him calm down at her touch and he looked at her, shaking his head.

He couldn't deal with this fighting. This was not the plan, the campers should not be having to fight against one another.

"Break it up children," a voice said and they all recognised it quickly.

They turned to see Chiron walking towards them and everyone knew that they were in trouble.

The groups of younger campers started to disperse and Clarisse just gave Luke one final glare before rushing away with her cronies.

"What happened here?" Chiron asked.

"She's trying to get campers to pick sides, you know the drill," Daisy said, trying to make it lighthearted.

Her boyfriend scoffed, "This time she hit you. Chiron, do you mind if we discuss this later, I should get her a bit of salve for that wound?"

Chiron nodded. He had a suspicious look in his eyes as he watched the couple walk away.

"We forgot to tell him that Percy and Annabeth sent him an iris message," she said.

He led her towards the Hermes cabin and walked over to his bunk. The room was empty, everyone else doing activities and training.

Luke shook his head, "Worry about that later baby, you just sit there for a second," He said, gesturing for her to sit down.

She looked at his bunk, smiling to herself for a second. She traced her finger across the picture board at the head of his bed.

They were mostly pictures of her, one of her by the lake in a bikini, one of them before the quest (she could tell by the lack of his scar) of them laughing.

Her favourite one was the one that her and Annabeth both had a copy of. It was the two of them, her head leaning on Lukes shoulder. Annabeth was standing in front of them, looking up at them with a smile.

She felt the bed dip and looked to her side to see Luke. He had a ambrosia salve on his lap.

"I'm fine honey," she said and he shook his head.

"Let me help you," he said and she nodded.

He leaned up, swiping the salve across her cheek and she could feel it getting better already.

Luke leaned up and he pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Feel better?"

She hummed in response. She lay her head against his shoulder, "I don't want to go to war," she muttered.

He could feel her fear, her fear about what power the Gods hold. The whole point of this plan was that she would never feel that fear again. That she would be on control.

"We'll be fine," he mumbled, leaning his head down against hers.

Taglist:

@b3bybunny @inejghafawifesblog

[echoandreflections]

Behind The Scenes

Chapter 2:

One day before the start of filming, Los Angeles

-"So what happened to your hair exactly?" Jason asked, an arm thrown over Piper's shoulders as he leaned back in his seat, raising an eyebrow as a waiter put down their drinks on the table.

Annabeth looked up from her phone, eyes darting between Hazel and the couple sitting in front of her in the booth .

Unconsciously, she touched her newly cut bangs. The length slightly longer than she would've wished for.

-"You mean the bangs or..?" Annabeth cut herself off, realizing how dumb her question was. Of course he meant the bangs. "Well," she sighed, "I am mourning the loss of my vacation time." She answered as if it was the most reasonable of things and wouldn't be the talk of the internet for the next few days.

Honestly she didn't get it. Why was a simple haircut such a big deal to everyone around her? Sure, the internet would probably psycho-analyze this and come up with a crazy conclusion as always.

Last time she took out her hair from it's usual Iconic curly ponytail before a red carpet appearance, she had gossip website saying this was her way of admitting she was pregnant to the whole world (She doesn't even know how something this small led them to this conclusion and she has long given up on trying to understand).

Knowing that, Annabeth still decided to give herself bangs. A decision she doesn't regret because if she was honest for a second, these bangs looked damn good on her. The way it framed her face and made her eyes look bigger was definitely something she wasn't complaining about. The only thing is that she wished she thought of her hair before doing this. Because as it turns out, curly hair stays curly whether it's short or long. What she expected to be straight bangs (yes, she thought cutting her hair would change it's texture. Move on. The wine had fed into her delusion) turned out as curly as the rest of her hair. It made her look softer than she expected, not that she was complaining. It very much gave her a country girl look. Which gave her ideas for the concept of her next album. She had been on break for less than a month and she was already thinking of work again. She really needed to stop, she chastise herself in her head.

Hazel coughed next to her, catching everyone's attention.

-"Anyway, Annabeth?" Hazel turned toward the blond girl, her dark curly hair kept away from her face thanks to a white headband with flowers Piper had embroidered for her the year prior. A thank you gift for having let her and Jason have their wedding reception at her winery.

Piper had tried to pay her, she really had. But all Hazel accepted in the end was the handmade gift, finding it had way more value than any other things she had been offered.

Well she had also gladly accepted the horse Jason's family had gifted her, but that was beside the question. "Did Grover tell you who else would be on the show or is he still keeping it a secret?"

Grover, as it turned out, was pretty secretive about the whole making of "Baking with Olympus''s new season. She remembered seeing her friend pace around the room in stress a few days after accepting the offer to become the new director in chief of the franchise. The poor man was so stressed he could barely keep anything down. It was only after Annabeth had volunteered to be in the next season that he started relaxing slightly. "One less celebrity to find" he had said after she signed the contract.

At the time, nothing was really definitive. She hadn't even gotten the filming schedule before signing the contract. In other circumstances, she would've never signed something so sketchy, but this was Grover she was talking about. She trusted him with her life and if there was a way to take a bit of worry off of him, she had no choice but to do it.

But now, two years later, all she knew about the show was the filming schedule. She had no idea which other celebrity she would be co-starring with, nor which baker she would be assigned as teammates. Leaving her with nothing to do but wait patiently for the first day of filming. Usually, she would have done a chemistry reading with the rest of the cast ( or whatever they do on tv shows), to make sure everyone got along well. But this was a reality show first and foremost. Disagreements and conflicts were both wanted and needed to make it interesting.

Annabeth shook her head, glancing at Hazel "I still have no idea. I think he's scared someone might accidentally leak the cast before the premier. I don't see why else he would be so secretive about all of this." She answered with a shrug.

Piper pursed her lips, leaning forward, away from the arms of her husband. He pouted slightly, but kept his mouth shut.

-"Do you think it's because of what happened to 'Hearbeat' last year?" She asked, a suspicious glint in her eyes.

Annabeth thought about it for a second.

Heartbeat had been last year's most anticipated reality show. The whole premise had been that celebrities from all over North America would be paired with each other and put on blind dates while their heart rates were monitored. The goal was to make the other participant's heartbeat spike.

Unfortunately for everyone working on the show, the identities of multiple celebrities working on the project had been leaked before the official release date, leading to the discovery of many affairs happening in the behind the scenes of the show. It was no surprise the show was canceled before it was even able to air its first episode.

-"I don't think so," Hazel disagreed. "Heartbeat was doomed from the start with that concept. Grover is hosting a baking show, not a dating show."

-"And Baking with Olympus has consistently made numbers with each of its seasons. I think it's the only baking show everyone has watched at least once. I doubt leaking the identities of the cast would harm the show in any way." Jason added, tugging back his wife at his side by her waist. A smile tugged at Piper's lips as she laid back into her husband's shoulder.

Annabeth and Hazel couldn't help but smile too at the view of the happy couple. It was thanks to them that they had met after all.

Jason's family owned the ranch next to Hazel's winery. Meaning he would often come visit the winery on days he needed to walk off his worries. Hazel never really minded, especially since it meant he always let her pet the horses in exchange.

It was during their mutual agreement that while visiting, Annabeth saw Hazel's hot neighbor for the first time. She was surprised to see how much he fit the description of Piper's ideal man, a description she had discovered after hearing her drunk friend rave about her ideal other half.

It took less than five words to convince Hazel to help her set up Piper with her neighbor.

The next day, Annabeth was careful to lose Piper where vines were the tallest after catching a glimpse of Jason going on a walk. A very lost Piper was found by him and the rest was history.

Hazel and Annabeth had kept the secret of their secret arrangement until their speech at the couple's wedding years later.

"All I know right now is that filming starts tomorrow." Annabeth admitted, "If I am not wrong, it's also tomorrow that the cast will be revealed to the public." She finished.

-"On the same day?" The couple asked in unison.

-"Looks like everyone will discover who's casted in this at the same time" Piper mused.

"I just hope nothing is gonna go wrong," Hazel said solemnly.

Annabeth could only agree.

[til-f]

Episode 3 Thoughts

I was literally terrified that they weren't going to give us the whole prophecy. Breathed a sigh of relief when they did.

the prophecy scene with only gabe saying it felt super forced lol

I really missed the line "The real world is where the monsters are. that's where you learn if you're any good or not." Like, I wanted that. I also think it describes annabeth's character, and a lot of the reason why she wants to go on the quest.

some good angst when percy got mad on thalia's behalf. again, why do we have to change the tiniest lines to be different. JUST KEEP THEM THE SAME UGHHGHLJ

I don't mind that annabeth is like, a badass, but she isn't the leader of the quest. and i think her anal leader vibe is kinda not the best way to portray her. I don't know. This is percy's only quest. and I could see rick in the film studio being all like, "nah, we can't let percy be the star of the show. he needs to learn to relinquish control" and that is driving me CRAZY. the whole bit where alecto tells annabeth that she might be the most formidable demigod alive? WHY RICK. WHY. WHY MUST YOU NOT LET PERCY JUST BE THE FUCKING MAIN CHARACTER. WHY MUST YOU CHANGE THINGS. WHY WASN'T PERCY THE ONE TO KILL THE FURIES ON THE BUS AND WHY DOESN'T HE FEEL LIKE THE PROTAGONIST. WHYYYY

this book is so near and dear to my heart yall, I should not be making these posts LOL. But I love the show so please read on.

I loved grover's song, lmao. so cute. and when percy goes "our voting system's broken." i'm cracking up.

WHY WAS THE MEDUSA SCENE SO BAD AND SO WEIRD ??!!!!!???? WHAAT ???? WHAT THE FUCK. SERIOUSLY. WHAT?????????????? And again, why are the mosnters so fixated on annabeth? It's kinda weird?!!?!? Um. and I feel like just putting the invisible cap on medusa wouldn't have stopped her powers. also, the fight scene should have been more epic. whats with all the psychology. Just let the children eat burgers and kill medusa. jesus christ.

I don't quite get why percy is having trust issues in the show. in teh books, he's loyal to a fault. he doesn't even think to question that annabeth or grover would betray him. and that he only brought annabeth because he thought they wouldn't be friends? Sigh. Rick, if you're reading this, grrr

the last bit of the episode where percy ships the head to the gods (very impertinent!!!) (same font and same message as the book ahhhh!!!!!!!) and hermes delivering it to the 600th floor almost made up for the other nonsense. almost.

New York City babyyyyy I like it!

WHEW. overall, this episode drove me a little crazy, so I don't really know what to say. Hopefully next episode is better.

[writerbythewater-blog]

Percy Jackson

So I've heard a lot of people talking about how Percy and Thalia don't get along at first because of their parents. That children of Big Three must not like each other at first, but it's just Percy and Thalia who don't.

Percy and Nico didn't fight when they first met, and you can't even say: well Percy was annoyed with Nico so they didn't get along. No Percy was upset Annabeth was gone and he had just been stop from saving her, and now he has a child asking him a million questions. They don't fight at first. It's not until Bianca dies that their relationship changes.

Percy and Bianca didn't fight either. They got along quite well given everything that goes on that book.

Percy and Hazel don't fight. Sure he didn't know who he was but if the dislike was because of their parents than Hazel would have felt something around Percy that made her want to fight with him but nope nothing.

Percy and Jason. They were uneasy around each other but don't fight as much as Percy and Thalia. The uneasy isn't from their parents it's from Hera and how she stole them both. They both our like what about you made it a good idea for us the be switched. Over all they do get along.

So what is it about Percy and Thalia that they fought so much? Easy. Annabeth. When Thalia came back the world as she knew it was different. Annabeth had grown up and Luke was gone. Now I don't think Annabeth would have been the one to tell Thalia about Luke. I think when Thalia asked Annabeth would have gotten sad. Percy would have seen and told Thalia himself, because as much as he thought Luke was his friend Luke leaving didn't hurt him as much as it did Annabeth. So Percy tells Thalia about Luke, and now Thalia is upset because what do you mean my best friend one of the only people I trusted turned against the camp. Then there's Annabeth herself who wants to spend time with Percy and Thalia but Thalia doesn't want Percy around because she doesn't trust him. He more or less upset her whole world view, and now she has to share the last piece of her family with him. No thanks. So she lashes out tries to make sure about hangs out with her more, and Annabeth does.

Because Annabeth knows the prophecy and Thalia is almost sixteen. Annabeth thinks the sister she just got back is going to die soon and she wants to spend the rest of the time they have together. She can spend time with Percy later he no longer has a death threat over his head. Her sister does. Chiron sees the same thing and stops teaching Percy things because oh shit the deadline is so much closer now!

Percy feels like he's been pushed aside, because of Thalia. His best friend is no longer hanging out with him because of this new girl, and Grover isn't around because he has other things he needs to do. Chiron is teaching Thalia stuff Percy's never even heard of. Chiron had been pushing Percy to be ready to lead the camp in battle, but now shifts to having Thalia lead because she older.

Then after Annabeth is gone both think that the other doesn't care as much as they should. The fight at the lake was just all these bottled up emotions coming to play. Their dislike of each other had nothing to do with their parents and everything to do with the camp and the people around them. Too much pressure on children to young to carry it.

[ashyjingles]

hi i see all your points and they're all valid but i disagree with some of them but also agree with some (regardless of how much i agree with them though your points all absolutely have an undeniable foundation)

disclaimer i haven't watched the show or read the books in a while

1) the pacing was ABSOLUTELY off. nowadays companies don't want to 'waste' money on anything that could be filler episodes, but those filler episodes are crucial to us getting to know a character both under times of extreme stress, but also maybe some more relaxed moments (as relaxed as a quest to get back your dead mom back can be at least)

each chapter in the books had something unique to it. when you mash them up into that few episodes, it gets loud and muddled. stuff happening ALL the time tired a viewer out. it also makes them so focused on the big plot points that they don't get the chance to notice the finer details, thus removing the ability for good world building via show not tell. you're right, everything feels too explicitly given to us. we're supposed to be learning the world with the characters! it's part of the struggle. but instead their struggles and characters are undermined by making it too easy

2) i actually don't think percy trusted poseidon at ALL at that point. they've had no contact until that point, but the fact that poseidon was his father alone got sally killed. percy resents him for that, and for not once showing up throughout his childhood years. i like the fall rather than the jump because it shows an apprehension to trust him (which is a large part of his character! he doesn't trust authority figures right away! not after all his shit teachers! not after gabe!) and a pleasant surprise that poseidon is actually so strongly advocating for percy

i like percy as a parallel to luke. angry at the gods and their treatment of their kids, and of opinion that things need to CHANGE. because that's part of what makes him fighting against the titans so significant. he's not fighting AGAINST the gods, he's fighting **for the demigods**. that requires him to fight for the lesser evil

i also like percy and annabeth as a sort of foil. annabeth had a terrible experience with her mortal family, so she turns to her godly side. and they've been there for her since a very young age!

percy meanwhile has had only good experiences with his mom. the problem is that those good experiences are ONLY with his mom. it's them two against the world to him at first. they're both suffering gabe's abuse, and his dad, who's supposed to be a god with insane powers, just lets it happen? the sally dies because of her association with poseidon. percy's angry at him for not protecting her.

3)

a) GROVER I LOVE YOU. you're supposed seem lowkey pathetic at first BUT THEN PROVE YOURSELF. my shayla 🥺😔

sorry anyways

b) we never got to see annabeth prove how smart she was! we never got to see her just be a normal annoying 12 year old! we never got to see her just be a softie! or a kid!

and i cannot express how much i agree with what you say about her being there at luke's fight. her realization that he can't be saved... doesn't really happen until the very end for her. why is happening here?

however, i think that her crush on him can be nuanced. i don't care for the crush one way or another. i think it works with or without. an infatuation with an older brother figure makes sense! i'm not a younger sibling so i don't know it first hand, but my little sister adored me and would follow my every word or action without question. i like that representation of luke and annabeth's relationship because i adore familial ones. but kids getting 'crushes' on people they look up too also makes sense i think. i'm aroace tho so. take that with a grain of salt lmao bc idk how that works

c) abuse is abuse, and none should be "better/worse than the other." BUT. different types of abuse lead to different trauma responses. that changes their character. what i'm trying to say is that i agree with you lol

d) i think that it was reasonable for sally to get frustrated in difficult moments. i think the issue they had was they lacked any moments that showed her true character. we only see her worst moments, not her best. based on pattern recognition alone, she does come off as a bad mother. badly treating percy, badly treating percy, oh the museum scene is cute! badly treating percy... you see how that reads

you're also right about how it was too much for her character. even in her frustration, i find it hard to believe she would treat her child that way. you could of course argue that percy sees her through a lense because she's the only thing he has (and he routinely has to deal with gabe) but routinely throughout the books she is shown to be a great mother, even with any possible lense removed. it's jsut. bad writing

okay i'm done

please don't think any of this is disrespecting your opinion!! i think your opinions are all valid even if im technically disagreeing with them. i'm just sharing my own thoughts :)

UNPOPULAR (?) OPINION

(pls don't attack me for this 😭😭)

THE PERCY JACKSON SERIES WAS A PISS POOR ADAPTATION!!!

I would like to start by saying absolutely no hate on the actors!! They were perfect for their roles <3

I'm not just gonna be complaining the whole time, there were some things I did like and I do mention them as well.

1) the pacing was all off. I get that they only had 8 episodes to cram all that info and action into, but it really was WAYY too fast paced. The fight scenes didn't feel like fight scenes coz they were over in seconds, and just a lot of the info you're supposed to find out gradually or just know from context clues is outright said instead of shown and spaced out.

Also, just some of the dialogue was really cluncky and weird/unnecessary and made it very awkward to watch at times.

And then the only two long fight scenes dragged on and ended in ways that just completely disregarded a major character moment. Which leads me to no. 2

2) The arch scene. I actually really liked how they changed it to a shrine of Athena's in the show, it really showed how much Annabeth trusted her mother, and when Echidna was able to pass through anyway, the betrayal was a nice touch which really showed how much trouble they were really in.

HOWEVER!!! What I DIDN'T like, was that last fight scene with Echidna and the Chimera, which actually really upsets me coz it was our first decently lengthed fight scene. I didn't mind the fight overall, but the ending was a cop-out.

The scene in the book where he jumps out of the arch is supposed to show how much trust/faith he has in the gods and his father. He trusts that Poseidon will catch him. And yes, ik, Uncle Rick "thought it was closer" and didn't realise the river didn't go directly under the arch, but surely the fact that it wasn't closer holds that much more weight if he had jumped?

3) They completely butchered Grover, Annabeth, Sally and Gabe's characters.

Grover is supposed to be this scared but BRAVE and LOYAL satyr who loves nature and whose entire purpose is to PROTECT young demigods and find Pan (the god of the wild).

Instead, we get this guy who rats out his friend for doing something he didn't even do, AGREES WITH ARES about fucking WAR of all things (I get it was a ploy to get information but I'm still not really vibing coz it was just so out of character), and WAITS OUTSIDE till the fight is finished before running in and asking if it was over yet. And if all that wasn't bad enough, they've turned him into the exposition guy. Uncle Rick, does show don't tell mean nothing to you?? He deserved a lot better than what he got.

Annabeth in the books had so much depth and character dimension; she wanted to break free from her stereotypes (dumb blonde, girls can't fight/are weak etc); she had a lot of faith in the gods (especially her mother - I'm really glad this was shown in the show); she wanted a way to prove herself to the gods.

Instead her character is moulded down into a singular trait. 'Mean'. I personally think it's a step up from her movie counterpart's singular trait of 'girl', but they could also just do her one better and give her an actually fully fleshed out personality.

I understand that, due to her appearance, they obviously can't do the whole dumb blonde thing (which I really don't mind), but they could throw in some struggles about her race and the 'girls are weak' thing too. Obviously they'd have to be careful to handle it respectfully but it's definitely doable. Like, there are so many thing they can do with her character and all they did was make her mean.

I would have liked it to have been more obvious that she wanted to prove herself to the gods, because it's such a big reason why she chose to be part of the quest. Like, the bathroom scene should've made it more obvious that she was scoping him out to see if he was the leader of the quest she was prophesied to be in, instead of that stupid janky line about capture the flag.

I did, however, like that they got rid of her little crush on Luke, because the fandom ruined their sibling relationship because of that. (I can already see the arguments THATS gonna bring up lol). I interpreted her little crush on Luke as something similar to like when you'd have a teacher crush on primary school. A silly little crush because "they're pretty and were nice to me" kinda vibes. A platonic crush if you will ?

ANYWAYS, I'm glad they fixed that up, but I really would've liked to see her and Luke act more like siblings before he left. Like, half the confusion the first time round was coz we didn't get any proper sibling moments before (or after really) Percy came to the conclusion that Annabeth liked Luke. It just would've been a nice touch.

I also really didn't like the fight with Luke at the end (they changed WAYYYY too much) but the thing I dislike the most was that Annabeth was there. She wasn't supposed to be there. Half her struggle through the rest of the books was that she couldn't come to terms with the fact that Luke was on the Titan's side, and tried to hurt/kill them multiple times when they got in his way. It's supposed to be a slow process for her, but having her there would (realistically) speed up that process, and undermine her feelings and struggles from the books.

On another note, I didn't like how they dealt with Cerberus. It felt so unfeeling, when it was supposed to be a more emotional interaction. Annabeth loves dogs, and that was supposed to be one of the moments you learn more about her. It was supposed to be sad when they parted, but instead it was more of a "that thing is going to kill us, we need to get the fuck outta here" kind of situation.

One last thing for Annabeth coz this is getting long. The Fields of Asphodel scene was rubbish. If there had to be one of them stuck there, it should've been Grover. I truly believe he'd have the most regrets out of the three (eg. Thalia dying under his care, losing the teleportation pearl, trusting Luke, regret for ratting Percy out perhaps? Etc). But realistically they all would've planned roots. They each have regrets weighing them down. Anyways, I just thought it was stupid

Gabe is meant to be the absolute worst. He's meant to be an abusive asshole who couldn't give two shits about Sally and Percy. He's meant to be demanding and messy.

Instead we get this somewhat likeable guy whose worst crime is sitting in his chair for hours at a time. We're supposed to hate this guy, so why am I finding him kinda funny? Like yes, he's still kind of a dick, but he's not so irredeemable as he once was, and this version of him DEFINITELY doesn't deserve to be turned into a statue 😭😭

Like, miss ma'am, just divorce him, move out, turning him into a statue was so unnecessary in the show 😭😭

And I hate to say it, but the movies actually got him right.

And that leads me into Sally's character. In the books she's this brilliant woman with a heart of gold who loves her son more than anything. She married an abuser to protect her son from worse things, so he could grow up with a relatively normal childhood without fear of being hunted by monsters 24/7.

She's supposed to be a bit timid, a bit scared of Gabe because HES AN ABUSER. Sally isn't supposed to have her girlbossness yet! She hasn't gotten to the point where she can leave him (both because she's staying to protect Percy, and also because after being with someone like that for a prolonged period of time, it starts to get to you)

Side note - she's also not supposed to keep contact with Poseidon?? It kinda defeats the purpose of keeping Percy underwraps?? (I'm talking about that one flashback in the diner, it doesn't really make sense)

ANYWAYS!! Instead of some quality character development/growth, we get a character who unrealistically doesn't need it coz she isn't really a victim in the first place. They took away part of her character by taking away her trauma. The way that Sally and Gabe are portrayed really takes away from Sally, and the point that her character is at in the show doesn't make sense to her situation in the show's current timeline.

Also, the way Sally treats Percy in some of the flashbacks is fucking disgusting. THAT is NOT my Sally Jackson. My mother is emotionally/vocally abusive and neglectful, and that is exactly how she treats my neurodivergent younger brother. Maybe I'm projecting or looking into it too much, but seeing that in the show from one of my favourite characters in the books was so jarring, I almost started crying.

Because Sally is supposed to be the best mum, everyone loves her coz she's such a wonderful human being, and that's how she's been treating her son. It just makes me second guess how bad my own mum really is. Obviously everyone has their flaws, but getting angry and yelling at a child because he's scared/upset/doesn't want to do something has never been one of hers.

Alrighty, I'm gonna stop yabbering on coz I feel like this is WAYY too long, but I have a lotta thoughts and feelings about this coz PJO is my comfort fandom lol.

Please gimme any thoughts/opinions you like to share <33

[thebonggirll]

chapter eleven

< previous: chapter ten

Y/N got down from the vehicle and stood a little far away, away from Ares to be precise. She was still thinking about Percy's words. She wanted to believe in whatever he was saying but she couldn't hope for something more when in fact it was only one-sided all along. If anything, she wanted to avoid saying something that would give away the fact that she still has a crush on him.

Still. Expectations.

Harris made her blush and heart beat faster but there was something about Percy. She didn't know what it was, maybe the fact that whatever they went through, he never abandoned anyone. She spent more time with him than Harris. Sure, she felt something for him but...the real question was...if given a choice, would she pick Harris?

After a while, Ares opened the car door and grabbed Percy's shoulder, pulling him out of the car and back into the desert night.

The audience with the goddess of love was over.

"You're lucky, punk." Ares pushed him away from the limo. "Be grateful."

"For what?"

"That we're being so nice. If it was up to me—"

"So why haven't you killed me?" Percy shot back. It was a stupid thing to say to the god of war, but being around him always made him feel angry and reckless.

Y/N sighed and walked towards him, holding his arm, "The others are waiting. We should leave."

Ares nodded like she'd finally said something intelligent.

"I'd love to kill you, seriously," he said turning to Percy, "But see, I got a situation. Word on Olympus is that you might start the biggest war in history. I can't risk messing that up. Besides, Aphrodite thinks you're some kinda soap-opera star or something. I kill you, that makes me look bad with her. But don't worry. I haven't forgotten my promise. Some day soon, kid—real soon— you're going to raise your sword to fight, and you're going to remember the wrath of Ares."

Percy balled his fists. "Why wait? I beat you once. How's that ankle healing up?"

Uh oh. There it was. Exactly what she feared. She didn't want him to bring it up. But thankfully, Ares didn't show much anger.

Instead, he grinned crookedly. "Not bad, punk. But you got nothing on the master of taunts. I'll start the fight when I'm good and ready. Until then... Get lost."

He snapped his fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. They fell to the ground.

Percy stood up as he helped Y/N get up, holding her hand, and realized that the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. All of them who were out on the quest were now standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction.

Maybe it was the fact that it was just the two of them away from their friends, but they were still holding hands. Or maybe it was the small conversation they had with Aphrodite.

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked once they'd told them about Aphrodite. Needless to say, omitting all the parts involving their own feelings and...love life.

"Oh, uh, not sure," he lied. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."

Although Y/N stayed quiet, her curiosity wasn't leaving anytime soon. She wanted to know about the conversation that took place after she left the car.

She wanted to know if she was in any part of it.

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."

"For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."

Grover was looking at both of them funny. Being empathic and all, he could usually read my emotions, and maybe he knew exactly what Aphrodite had talked to them about.

"Well, I for one know what went down in that car," Thalia chuckled looking at their hands. Y/N blushed and snatched her arm away quickly.

Percy seemed to understand the context but, strangely...he didn't mind holding her hand for once.

"So," he said, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoe said. "That is west."

"How can you tell?"

"Ursa Major is in the north," she said, "which means that must be west."

She pointed west, then at the northern constellation, which was hard to make out because there were so many other stars.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "The bear thing."

Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."

"You act like it was real."

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

They'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff... some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!"

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

It seemed to catch Y/N's attention too. And she wondered when exactly her special bow and arrow would start to act special. So far it had been nothing but ordinary. Although she didn't want to admit it, it was becoming hard to trust its "specialty" knowing after so many dangerous fights, it didn't work once.

Bianca yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

Zoe's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down.

"I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear. This made Y/N realize the pull in her stomach. Some kind of fear. Something felt wrong.

Something was about to go extremely wrong.

"You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked.

She gave him a hard look. "Zoe is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard."

"That's the second time you've agreed with Zoe," he muttered, but Thalia ignored him.

"No," she tugged his sleeves and said, "they're right." Percy noticed how her demeanor visibly became cautious. He wouldn't believe anyone in this case, but if it is Y/N, he knew how her words of caution that often they disregarded back in the earlier missions, were all right. It wasn't something that they should've ignored. It would be careless of them if they didn't look out for trouble.

They started picking their way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, they would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

Finally, they saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between them and the road...

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of them was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned. "They look like—"

"Toes," Grover said.

Y/N's heartbeat fastened. This wasn't a good sign. Her feeling of something 'troubling' was gradually becoming stronger.

Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes."

Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks.

"Let's go around," Thalia said. "Far around."

"But the road is right over there," he protested. "Quicker to climb over."

"Just listen to her Percy," Y/N sighed in annoyance. He was making it harder. She couldn't understand why he still continued to be stubborn in every step when all of them were not feeling good about the whole situation. At the very least, he should trust her. Right?

After several minutes of walking, they finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt.

"We made it out," Zoe said. "Thank the gods."

But apparently, the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, they heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal.

Behind, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and they realized why they looked like toes. They were toes.

"Talos!" Zoe gasped.

"Who—who's Talos?" Percy stuttered.

"One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said. "But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype, maybe. A defective model."

The metal giant didn't like the word defective. He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship.

"Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?"

She stared accusingly at Percy.

He shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."

"Honestly, we are in a life-threatening situation, just drop it!" Y/N said, "Greed is a part of being human. It's natural, no one cares. We would care though if it ends up being the cause of someone's death!"

The giant defective Talos took one step toward them, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Grover yelped.

The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. When they reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Bianca's name. They crawled around in the vast hollow pieces and the legs and the head, searched until the sun started to rise, but no luck.

Zoe sat down and wept.

"I should've...should've seen this coming," Y/N's eyes started glistening, "I shouldn't have said those things. What..what did I do."

Bianca took a figurine from the junkyard and later went inside the machine in an attempt to put an end to the fight. In the end, blue flickers of electricity shot up his body due to the power lines. It was hopeless to find her. She stood in her place and knelt down. "This is what I meant," she said, "I felt something was about to go wrong."

Thalia yelled in rage taking her sword and pointing it at her neck. "Why didn't you tell us!"

"I couldn't! I didn't know for sure!" Y/N shouted, "You think I kept away the information on purpose?"

"Well, I don't know! How would I know if Percy doesn't believe in your warning either?!" Thalia withdrew her sword and walked towards the giant's body again.

It hurt.

She knew Percy for quite some time now. Y/N knew he didn't trust her words or take them seriously. He never did. She couldn't understand how after spending all this time, this was still a problem between them. What was it about her so untrustworthy? Why?

Why?

Why?

The question bothered her for as long as she remembered. The only people who were supposed to understand and trust her didn't care about her. It felt awful. She only came to the quest for Annabeth. Just for her.

But who really knows.

Did Annabeth even expect her to be there? Would it disappoint her to see her with Percy knowing how she feels about him?

No one took her words of warning seriously. And now it was her fault that Bianca was gone?

"We can keep searching," Percy said, "It's light now. We'll find her."

"No we won't," Grover said miserably. "It happened just as it was supposed to."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

He looked up at him with big watery eyes, "The prophecy. One shall be lost in the land without rain."

The group stood, trying to wrap the situation around their heads. The silence would've been deafening if it wasn't for Y/N.

The only thing keeping them from breaking down completely was the sound of Y/N's voice as she tried her best to sing a hymn in a shaky voice. A beautiful hymn for healing their bruised bodies.

She can't heal their minds, but the least she can do is heal their body.  Percy slowly put his hand on her shoulder as an assurance. For support.

Support? Now?

Y/N shook his hand off her shoulder and started singing properly, trying her best to block him out. He never stood in her support whenever anyone spoke ill of her. She knew it was selfish of her to even think about herself when someone is dead. But she couldn't help it. He surely knew how much it hurt her every time. But he always stayed out of it whenever such quarrels took place.

She didn't need him. They were originally just someone belonging to the same camp of half-bloods.

And that's how she's going to treat him from now on. 

next: chapter twelve >

book three: the titan’s curse

percy jackson x reader series

MASTERLIST

Tags: @the-natureofme @sly-prince @kookiedesi @instabull @jumpingtrainsandflyingskies @idk-bye-no @your-typical-giggle @fjschl​ @imuziawi​ @iamparou​ @marshmallow12435​

[barbarianprncess]

of these rushing waves

(you’ll be the oxygen i breathe)

A week after the Titan War, Annabeth is drafting a temple to Hestia when the weight of being the only person in the world that knows Percy's weak spot hits her.

Like. Really hits her.

(or 2k words of annabeth discovering what she means to percy)

(the biggest of shout outs to @timelesslords for helping me make this coherent, and to @colorguardfreak97 for encouraging me every step of the way. enjoy <3)

read on ao3

A week after the Titan War, Annabeth is drafting a temple to Hestia when the weight of being the only person in the world that knows Percy's weak spot hits her.

Like. Really hits her.

And after about a day and a half freaking out about what it means and what she should do about it, she decides to go talk to him.

(Because not talking to him about what was bothering her led to the worst year of her life. Progress.)

They’re sitting on the beach, sharing Percy’s too small blanket- they both know he has bigger ones, but it’s an excuse to be almost on top of each other. She’s curled up resting on his chest, and he has one hand secured on her waist tracing patterns on her thigh, the other tangled in her curls. They watch the sunset and Annabeth is almost perfectly content.

Almost.

“How did you know?” The words tumble out of her without context.

He shifts to face her and raises an eyebrow. Annabeth finds it unfairly attractive.

“Know what?”

“When you told me your weak spot. How’d you know I could handle it?” The unspoken ‘because I don’t think I can handle it ’ must be apparent enough because Percy’s expression softens.

“Have you been worrying about this?”

Annabeth’s first impulse is to brush it off and change the subject. But then she hears Silena’s voice in her head: tell him how you feel. So she ducks her chin and forces the words out.

“Well yeah, I mean it kinda freaks me out that I just have this power over you. I don’t trust myself.”

Percy tilts her chin with featherlight fingers and an unadulterated fondness her seven year old self would kill to be on the receiving end of.

“I trust you enough for the both of us,” he said.

“How are you so sure about this?” ‘How are you so sure about me?’

He gives her a ‘duh’ look that she’s so used to giving him, it's a bit shocking to be on the opposite end of it. She decides immediately she doesn’t like it.

“You know why.”

“No, I don’t, hence me asking you why.”

She's watched Percy's face morph to pure amusement. He chuckles, and hesitates. “Well, because...”

He trails off clearly thinking about how to word his answer. As he thinks it over she allows herself to look at him properly.

He’s beautiful. Sharp jawline, defined cheekbones, devastatingly symmetrical features. His eyes are deep and content, looking out at the sea as if it has the answer he’s looking for. He can’t seem to find what he wants amongst the waves, but his eyes meet hers and the words seem to come to him.

“It’s you, Annabeth.”

He says it like it answers not only her question but thousands of others. It does neither.

“What’s me, Annabeth?” She attempts at light-hearted sarcasm despite her impatience.

He looks at her with a glint of mischief in his eyes and she knows that look. She hates that look. That look means she’s not getting an answer anytime soon.  

“Oh my gods, you really don't know?”

She glares daggers.

He smiles winningly. “Oh, this is going to be fun.” She bites at his shoulder in retaliation.

“You’re the smartest person I know-” Percy starts.

“True, but flattery will get you nowhere-” Annabeth cut him off.

“So figure-’ He presses a kiss to her temple.

“It-’ A kiss to her left cheek.

“Out.”

She opens her mouth to argue, but he kisses her before she can get out the words. And His knuckles are gentle under her chin, and he smells like ocean breeze, and his lips are chapped yet achingly soft, and he tastes like home. Annabeth resigns herself to find out what he means later, and allows herself to get lost in him and saltwater and home.

...

She digs up every legend about the curse of Achilles she can find. She scours Daedales’s laptop until it runs out of battery. She didn’t even know that was possible.

She researches.

And researches.

And nothing.

She has no idea what he means. Annabeth famously hates not knowing.

And. Percy. Won’t. Budge.

She has tried every trick in the book. She tried baking blue cookies (she burned them), refusing to kiss him till he tells (she caves), and asking Grover to get it out of him (something about the bro-code).

Everytime she asks him he just looks at her with his dopey, baby-seal love eyes and says those same two words.

“It’s you.”

She hates him.

...

It’s three more days before she figures it out.

Nico is looking at her skeptically. His all black get-up makes it so he almost blends in with shadows of the Big House’s basement.

“You need my help?” He deadpans, leaning against the wall looking almost bored.

“Sort-of,” Annabeth shifts on her feet,  “So, I know you were the one who took Percy to the River Styx, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well he’s explained to me bits and pieces about how the curse works, and told me where his… you know… spot is.”

“Ok.”

“So my question is-” Annabeth stopped short. “Wait doesn’t that surprise you at all?”

He shrugs noncommittally, “Not really, no. You were saying?”

Annabeth clears her throat and soldiers on.

“Uh yeah. Right, well it sorta freaked me out how readily he told me about it and I asked how he knew I could handle it and he just said ‘it’s me’. And he refuses to elaborate, and it’s kind of killing me so, do you know what that means? And if you do, could you please explain?”

She’s been staring at her shoes while she rambles on and when she looks up she sees…

Is that humor in his eyes?  

“So, I'm guessing you've done your research on the curse?” She nods. “So you know that when Achilles mother dipped him in the Styx, she held him up by his ankle, which then became his mortal point.”

“Like a sort of anchor.”

“Exactly. Now what the legends don’t mention is that the mortal point wasn’t just the ankle. When his mother pulled him out she became part of his mortal point. Still with me?”

“Not really.”

“Perfect. Going in on your own is no different. You still need someone to help you out of the river, just not physically. You need to picture someone pulling you out, someone to motivate you, someone to bring you back to earth.”

He looks up at her, silently asking permission to continue. Annabeth nods with urgence.  

“It's not just someone who can keep you mortal, but the one person that makes you want to stay mortal. That person and your weak spot become intertwined.” He looks up at her and must still see traces of confusion.

“Your mortal point isn’t just the point of your body that’s unaffected by the River Styx, It’s the person in your life that you saw that gave you the strength to survive the Styx at all.”

Oh.

Oh.

“So when he says ‘it’s...He literally means…” She trails off and looks up at Nico. His smirk is patronizing, but she can’t bring herself to care.

“It’s you.”

…

She vaguely recalls thanking Nico for his help, but how she ended up in her bunk staring at the wall is a mystery. Annabeth has never truly understood the word dumbfounded until now.

...

It’s her.

...

By the time she comes to, it's dark out. Annabeth is already grabbing her invisibility cap and pulling on her shoes. She should probably change out of her pajamas, but her urgency to get to Percy outweighs the little vanity she has left in her. Percy has seen her in far worse conditions than messy hair and sleep wear.

Normally she would climb in through his window, but tonight is strictly business. Percy is still up waiting for her like he has been every night since the war ended. His face brightens when his eyes land on her face then immediately scrunch in concern when he sees what must be a manic look in her eye.

“You ok?”

“It’s me.” A whisper- she says it like she can't fully comprehend the words.

“It’s me?” A question- not necessarily for him just unsure.

“It’s me!” An accusation- this time it’s directed at Percy, who smiles with unnecessary pride.

He tugs at her hand and pulls her to sit on the bunk.“You figured it out.”

She’s briefly tempted to explain the whole visit with Nico, but she has other things on her mind.

“That’s how I knew on the bridge. That feeling that you were in danger, even though you hadn’t told me where the spot was, I knew.”

He shrugs, “It would make sense, but to be honest, I actually have no idea.”

She entwines their fingers and he lifts her hand up to press kisses to her knuckles.

“You saved me.” Percy says it soft and reverent, like a prayer.

“On the bridge?”

“No. Well yeah you saved me on the bridge, but I’m talking about the Styx. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I was burning alive. It was like I was back at Mt. St. Helen’s all over again.”

She feels a swift wave of guilt that she quickly pushes down so she can pay attention to the rest of his words.

“Except instead of the lava being thrown at me, I was dunked in it. And it was ten times hotter. I was drowning.” He laughs mirthlessly, and she squeezes his hand. “I was in so much pain I couldn't remember who I was.”

She knocks her forehead against his, partly to bring him back to reality, partly to remind herself that he did in fact survive to tell her this story.

He looks up at her, green eyes wide with a wonder and reverence she doesn’t believe she deserves.

“Then I heard you. Your voice. I heard your voice and I saw your face and you held out your hand. You didn’t just pull me back. You put me back together. The thought of you put me back together. I took your hand and I survived because of you. You saved me Annabeth.”

Annabeth is stunned into silence.

She has no doubt in her mind that if it were her in the Styx, she would've seen Percy and he would’ve saved her in the same way she saved him. But, it's different hearing it from him. It’s a rare feeling to know that this full-bodied, utter devotion (the kind she feels for him), is mutual. To hear it spoken out loud is almost unheard of.

She doesn’t have the words to articulate the supernova of emotions exploding her chest, so she kisses him. She kisses him with everything she has. Percy kisses her back with the same intensity. Percy’s kisses are safety and contentment and light. He’s so good with words (better with them than she is), and she thinks it translated into the way he kissed. He kisses her like he’s trying to say something--typically some shy declaration of the love that they both know is between them but tiptoe around speaking into existence.

He kisses with his whole body. He clutches at her waist like he couldn’t bear to let go, and she arches her back because she doesn't think she could bear it either. He occupies all five of her senses, the only thing she knows is him. Her hands are buried in his hair. He’s the sun, and kissing him is sunshine personified.

When she finally pulls back, he removes one of the hands gripping at her waist to slip into the junction between her collarbone and her jaw to keep their foreheads together. He keeps pulling her in his orbit, freckles like constellations, breaths mingled like they could survive on kisses and shared oxygen alone.

She thinks she’d like that.

Percy ends up curled on top of her, his head resting in the crook of her neck. One of her hands in his hair, the other on the small of his back like she can protect him with force of will alone.  They fall asleep the way they survive- anchored to each other.

...

[darealsaltysam]

what your paladins main says about you

a comprehensive essay by a paladins player of right around 4 years

this is like really long so i’ll make it under the cut so my followers don’t have to scroll through this if they don’t wanna

(for context i’m a current maeve main, i used to main skye and sha lin and played tyra a long while ago)

.

Androxus

it’s not a phase, mum

“i don’t care we don’t have healer, i’m really good at him i swear”

you ult every time it loads in and you die before the final shot

your favorite mode is siege because you can fly up and shoot the whole point on ult

you’re usually really stand-offish and don’t communicate much and/or a 13 year old boy with anger issues

.

Ash

you are level-headed but in a scary way

you will hold the point solo even if it costs you your streak

“get on the point” “guys get on the point” “attack the objective”

you’ll ult to save yourself 99% of the time

good leader

.

Atlas

you probably used to main lex or androxus before he came out

“he’s like a flank, but a tank, he’s great!”

you chase after solo kills instead of sticking to the point

healers hate you, flanks and damages fear you

your favorite mode is death match

.

Barik

you’re a former/current tf2 player looking for something fresh

you don’t like working too hard so you spam turrets on the point and hope for the best

“healer stick to me i’m boutta ult”

actually really nice between rounds

but you don’t communicate much mid-game and kind of do your thing

.

Bomb King

you’re a really old player. you have the beta makoa skin and you were there when lex was first released. veteran’s discount.

your favorite maps are the old ones and they barely show up any more

the team always underestimates you

“who plays bomb king in 2021 lol?”

you need a hug

.

Buck

“wait, he’s a flank? i thought he was a tank??”

you’re also a veteran in the game

you’re a dying breed. i like never see you. do you even exist?

you’ve been here since like the first day of the game

buck gets so many skins and you want all of them but the best you have is a random recolor

.

Cassie

sweetest person alive

“we can do it guys! let’s try to all rush the point this time!”

you are the bane of every flank

the opposing team hates you, your own team kind of doesn’t notice you’re there

*casually gets a pentakill*

.

Corvus

you know those weirdly political kids who like ww2 and know the details of every tank to ever exist? yeah that’s you

but like that’s corvus. as a character.

but no one ever plays him.

like i never even see him do you exist???

you are a cryptid.

.

Dredge

yo ho you’re a hoe

no seriously the other team views you and they FEAR you

“yeah i just got a penta kill” “YOU WHAT?” “eyes on the point mate don’t get distracted”

hella good at the game and hella casual about it

you like onslaught on the one sea map the most

.

Drogoz

another veteran, are we?

you’re either useless or can wipe out a whole team in seconds. there is no in-between.

you always have a really cool skin.

dovahkiin, dovahkiin...

“i don’t care about the point i gotta get them trips”

.

Evie

you bought her because you thought she was cute, admit it

*turns into ice right before dying* *turns into ice right before dying* *turns into ice right be

your personality type is identical to her. no question about that.

always buys faster reload and better speed

strangely good communication with the team

.

Fernando

gay gay homosexual gay

“he’s kinda hot if you look at him the right way”

fernando is the tank for gay people

you are gay people

i don’t have much more to say

.

Furia

mum energy. not as much as inara mains, but still, mum energy.

will protect every member of the team with your life, even the flanks

you’ve been maining her since she was first added

i bet you didn’t even know she’s canonically seris’ sister

“we’ve literally failed to capture the point the last 3 times we might as well give up and go to another game”

.

Grohk

“yeah i have a gremlincore tumblr blog, how could you tell?”

i honestly have no words

you’re kind of like a catboy but a racoon

do you even heal the team or do you just pretend

you were there when lex got announced and thought he was cringe, now everyone finally agrees with you

.

Grover

he was your first purchased character and he’s stuck around ever since

he’s the only healer you can play well

“i am groot lmao”

you would never say a word to your team

would give your life for the tank but that’s about it

.

Imani

daenerys targaryen on drugs

your favorite anime is my hero academia

your husbando is todoroki

you see where i am going with this

“team protect me i’m gonna ult” *dies 5 seconds into ult*

.

Inara

BIG MUM ENERGY

your team is your family. you will protect them with your life.

can only hold your own with a good healer so you have good teamwork going for you

*cutely places wall in front of your ult*

useless in tdm so you stick to onslaught, siege and koth

.

Io

are you a furry, furry, or a furry?

“victow! dont ult on my tweam pwease! uwu!”

you 100% find her attractive in some way shape or form

you are either a 30 year old redditor who enjoys loli content or a 16 year old teen who is playing a shooter for the first time

she’s kind of cute, i guess

.

Jenos

i can never tell if i’m going to absolutely destroy you or if you’re gonna kick my ass

*cutely holds you up so the whole team can shoot you to death*

kamehameha

you’re a healer??? i guess???

your character has such deep lore and i bet you don’t even know half of it

.

Khan

one day you were playing and your team desperately needed a tank. you picked the first one you saw. suddenly, you’re lian’s foot stool

despite 2 layers of heavy armor, you’d still let this man walk all over you

“this skin is really cool, wish it wasn’t behind a pay wall...”

YEET

you actually know the game’s lore, for some reason

.

Kinessa

i never trust people who are good at a sniper. if you’re bad that’s natural and you’re 99% of the population. if you’re good you are definitely up to something

you’d sell your sister for 5 pennies if you could

you’re missing from the team all game and somehow have the most kills

“we have a kinessa???”

you are an urban legend to your team

.

Koga

someone’s been watching naruto

you are so shit at the game. like i’m sorry. no one’s good at koga i’m so sorry

how do you have so many skins for one character???

you’re always missing from the point

healers hate you. so does the enemy kinessa.

.

Lex

quit the game /nm

“who mains lex in 2021??? lmao???”

wall hacks, aimbot, and it’s all legal for you as an ability. you are a hacker in a world of puny vanillas. you like it easy so you go for the easy min max character. have fun getting hated

you think he’s hot and press on his loading abilities just so he can scold you and you can hear him being mad at you

*bonk* go to horny jail

.

Lian

"she could step on me”

you used to main some sort of healer but switched over when you got sick of everyone being needy

you can hold a point all on your own for a really really long time but the moment your team gets there you start flunking

you wish you had more skins for her

you don’t

.

Maeve

so imagine this. it was like 2018 and you were just chilling playing the game. you kept getting killed by maeve. in every game. she was in every game you went to and she kept killing you over and over and over again. you got frustrated, snapped, and bought her to see if you could do the same to others. you are now the maeve in every game. the cycle repeats.

your whole team doubts you but then you casually get a quad kill and they just sort of look away

you die a total of two times each round and 99% of the time it’s because you go too fast and fall off the map

you repeat everything she says in her accent because you think it’s cute

“welcome to ze meant streets, kitten!” “can you shut the fuck up” “i hate to cut and run, he-he!”

.

Makoa

you have the plushie skin or the beta skin, otherwise you don’t main and only play casually stop lying to yourself

“attack turtle go brrr”

you’re really good if you get paired with a good healer

otherwise you’re useless

you wish you could get better teammates because you could really thrive with an organized group. but on paladins you won’t get that, i’m sorry-

.

Mal’Damba

i always forget this guy is even in the game

you’re definitely under 6 foot IRL

you have an older sibling you always fight with

you’d love to have a snake irl

you’re really chill outside of the game, but when playing you hella rage

.

Moji

you are so precious

but also such a little shit

you annoy me but i also want to give you a hug

“let’s go guys!! to the point!! wheee!!”

please never change but also get out of my sight

.

Octavia

you always main the new character until the new person drops

somehow always have enough credits to buy the new champion whenever they come out

you don’t like having a stable main cuz you get bored

you like hanging out at the training rage

hate siege and love team death match, you like your games quick

.

Pip

you are the worst and best thing to ever happen to this game

you only pick him to heal yourself and hardly ever heal your team

no one notices you there until you ult

then you get focused

honestly you just seem like you wanna do your thing and i can respect that

.

Raum

you probably go to therapy or desperately need it

“BIG MAN BIG. HE IS BIG. BRRRR”

you always love the demons in media

you like being in charge of the team and wreck the point any time you are there, you like fighting on your own but having a healer nearby is nice too

you probably have daddy issues

.

Ruckus

you think ruckus’ and bolt’s dynamic is cool and that’s one of the main reasons you started playing him

he’s the only tank you can play

you used to main either inara or ying at some point but chose violence instead

really short irl. you physically relate to ruckus and spiritually to bolt.

“funny goblin man :)”

.

Seris

certified girlboss

you can hold an objective all on your own or heal your whole team no problem. either way you are SLAYING

“alright. who’s ass am i kicking today?”

mum energy is inferior to inara but still kind of there

i’m like 50% sure you have a foot fetish

.

Sha Lin

*pointing and chanting* incel, incel, ince-

whether that’s about you or the character you can decide

you like minecraft bedwars on the side

“if i don’t get this headshot i am literally going to spontaneously combust”

really useful when there’s no other long distance people - otherwise a nuisance

.

Skye

AWOOGA *jaw drops to ground, eyes roll out of head* BOOBA BOOBA BOOBA

you bought her for the tiddies, didn’t you?

she’s actually really satisfying to play once you get the hang of her, but can be real tough on rough days

you need a break i think - maybe play some other game for a bit?

*casually gets team kill with ult*

.

Strix

you own at least one pretty knife

you played him when he was unlocked on rotation, fell in love, and spent a whole evening collecting credits to buy him fully

“haha bird man”

i’ve said what i said about snipers. if you’re actually good at him you are hiding a body somewhere. i fear you.

why does everyone ship him with viktor????

.

Talus

little furry child

he reminds me of tommyinnit because he is small and annoying

if you play him you are tall and intimidating 

i’m friends with a tall scary talus main

i can’t say bad things please spare me

.

Terminus

you always ult at the worst time and just get killed again 5 seconds after

“hey losers watch this” *goes on the point, dies, revives, kills one person and dies again*

you’re only a good tank if you cooperate

you don’t

on your own you’re a pretty good player

.

Tiberius

*sigh*

you think the cat is hot, don’t you?

“his accent is kinda cute tho hehe”

you saw that one ending scene in zootopia with the dancing tigers and it CHANGED you

you are probably a furry. if not your awakening is coming. be ready.

.

Torvald

you’ve been playing this game for too long

you’ve seen skins rise and fall. you’ve seen nerfs and buffs. you’ve seen reworks and remakes. you are ancient. older than the dragons and wiser than makoa. respect.

people see you on the opposing team and get really annoyed

“the point is really crowded, we can’t move in” “don’t worry guys, my ult is charged up”

you’re really good at all the characters but you like this guy a lot because you think he’s funky fresh

.

Tyra

you’re either new to the game or have been playing for too long

either way you can KICK ASS but you need to keep behind your team to do the most damage

flanks are the bane of you, especially the fast jumpy ones

you really want one of the cooler skins but you can only ever get the basic ones. such is the curse of maining one of the OG characters.

“bite me”

.

Viktor

you are level 100+ guaranteed, and everyone fears you

“oh shit they got a victor. flank focus him”

you probably play COD and CS:GO normally and wanted to go with something familiar and easy. your skill from the other more advanced games DWARFS everyone else

but why are you playing “guy with gun 132″ in a game with magical elves and fairies. like come on bro.

you don’t have any in-game friends because paladins is your guilty pleasure game you would never admit to

.

Vivian

“step on me” syndrome cranked up to 100%

this woman could spit on you and you’d still respect her more than your own mother. good for you

“i’m not a simp. i’m just tier 3 subbed to pokimane ironically”

you sweat the game hardcore. former victor main or he’s your secondary.

you’ve got her on level 50+ at least

.

Vora

like the maeve mains but somehow worse

bought her out of spite or played her while she was on rotation, now here you are grinding credits for her a day after she became unavailable

honestly you’re really good at the game i have nothing else to say

you enjoy the newer characters more than the OGs - you’re either a former vivian or lian main

you miss the play of the game feature in the game because you’d get all of them with this girl

.

Willo

you seem like the moji mains at first but show your true colors soon after

“fuck you” x50

you are a trash talker on max overdrive. you need to sit down, do some breathing exercises and have a drink.

you hate your own team more than the opposing guys

when you see a willow on the opposing team you make it your sole goal to eliminate her as many times as humanely possible

.

Yagorath

i bet you didn’t know she was canonically female until you read this

you don’t like sweating too much so you pick the tank that leaves you heavily relying on your healers and damages

you can hold a point really well so you like siege and onslaught

“are vora and yagorath connected in the lore somehow and do i really care?”

you have a friend who you always party up with to be your healer, otherwise you might switch to another character

.

Ying

“tanks love me, flanks hate me”

you are too powerful. literally. how are you so strong

you’ve mastered the most difficult healer in the game. the others are really easy for you to play but you have trouble with seris

motivate your team a lot but start shading and trash talking if they don’t cooperate

you’ll gladly play someone else for a long while and like taking breaks from her

.

Zhin

this is your first main after switching over from overwatch. we can smell it on you.

you’re really annoyed with his personality and voice lines but the character is too good to play for you to pass him up for that. you respond to his voice lines aloud very aggressively to let him know he’s an ass

“YES ZHIN HEALERS AREN’T USELESS YOU SELFISH PRICK”

you try your best but you’re not a great team player

infinite trips on a good day, die repeatedly without kills on a bad one and you switch over to vora or skye for a bit.

.

this took me hours to write out pls leave reblog and note thanks uwu

[muiltifandomnerd]

That’s why I want to explore the possibility of demigods overthrowing the gods in my fanfic. This is still a book series, Rick is ultimately teaching children to not question or change a harmful system.

That’s why I find Heros of Olympus, Trails of Apollo, etc utterly so pointless. It shows percy and other demigods just being done with the gods shit. What’s the point of Apollo being human, only to not do anything to help the demigods change the system. Why did Rick made Gaia for ultimately just wanting to free her kids. It would have been interesting if Gaia picked Demigods to letting them ruled her domain for they are much more compassionate than the gods. Gaia helped Cronus and Zeus to be in power, imagine she helped demigods to overthrow the system. Just imagine she consider humans and demigod her ‘children’ for they live on her. Hell just think of Grover and Gaia conserving with each other and he trusts her to help made the world place again.

All Riordan just show though his works with how the system is broken but he discourages his characters to not change the system. Unfortunately many works like Naruto, Harry Potter, My Hero Academia, etc made the same mistake as well.

To bad Rick Riordan and the fans only care about shipping and romance aka percabeth and other dumb pairings.

I have incredibly mixed feelings on how much I enjoy the way the show writes Percy and his perception of the world.

Because episode 3 and the way they handled Medusa proved that it's all lip-service and there won't be an actual change. And that is going to be devastating.

Percy's perception of the gods and of what is going on, his anger - and the way he articulates that anger - feel so real, so refreshing and so reasonable.

This show perfectly sets up a better version of Percy Jackson. One where Percy actually rebels against the gods. Every single thing he says makes him sound like the future leader of the Demigod Rebellion. But they wouldn't stray this damn far from canon, so we get to hear Percy say all these things... just to end up defending the status quo, and that's going to feel even more unrewarding than it did in the books now.

Because the thing is, and I've had this thought on my mind for a couple of days when I came across a post comparing Percy Jackson and Harry Potter in a "JKR sucks and there are so many more superior children's book series out there" manner - which, in itself, is very true, and I do think PJO is a good book series and there are many things about it that I love. However, inexplicably, the OP of that post managed to pick the one angle in which PJO and HP are the exact same thing actually, but they still claimed PJO did something that HP didn't. That Harry fell back and defended a shitty system while Percy rebelled.

Percy Jackson in the books did not in fact rebel. He fell in line and he spent the entire damn series defending the shitty system. In-universe, the author explains this away with Percy's fatal flaw and him defending his friends and 'not the gods'. But that doesn't change that he ends up defending the gods and working on keeping them in power.

And the sequel series serves as a proof of that point. Because absolutely nothing changed. The children are still cannon fodder in the war of the gods. And still, the children fight for the gods, die for the gods.

Someone, some people in this fandom really deluded themselves into thinking of Percy Jackson as a great rebel against the gods, just because he... snarks at them and sasses them. But in the greater scheme of things, he always does what the gods want, he always saves their asses, he does not rebel or rise against them, he does not break down an oppressive system.

If this series were about actually rebelling against the oppressive force and breaking the broken system, then Percy Jackson would be part of the rebel army. Then he would be fighting against the gods.

But even the notion of "actually, these children who are rising against the gods who used and abused and neglected them all their lives might... have a... point" is stomped down with the fact that no actually Luke was influenced and corrupted by Kronos' force!!

In the version of Percy Jackson where it's about rebellion, Luke would not have been influenced by Kronos, because damn his mother's insanity caused by his father, his own homelessness, Thalia's death, the scarring he received during an entirely unnecessary quest in the name of his father, and literally every single demigod he has seen suffer and die because of the whims of the gods would have been motivation enough to start a rebel army against the gods.

And in that version about rebellion, Percy's friendship with Luke, and Annabeth's friendship with Luke, and Grover's ties to Luke from having been his satyr partner too, paired with all of the personal suffering endured by them all, would have lead to the Golden Trio joining that rebellion.

And we would have seen demigods rise up against the gods and, as in Greek mythology where the titans rose and took over from Uranus and Gaia and then the gods rose and took over from the titans, the next generation would have come into power, and actually changed the system.

But none of that happened. What happens is that children die, so the gods can stay in power because ~Kronos~ is actually behind the rebellion and hey, now the gods have to claim their kids and we will build more cabins and that's totally change, right? ...Right?

No. Because the kids are still cannon fodder. And the gods still don't give a damn about them, as proven by Hera just memory-wiping the greatest heroes and playing with them like dolls in the sequel, where the gods don't even have the basic respect for the heroes to... simply sit them down and tell them what the hell is going on.

And! That's not even necessarily a criticism of the books! Plenty of books are about keeping the status quo, especially children's books, especially books written by middle-aged white men. A broad variety of stories have a right to exist. This is a criticism of people who look at the books and pretend that they are about something they are not.

And this is a statement of personal disappointment in how much the show is setting up a potential to be something more, while I know very well it will never deliver on that.

The show is giving Percy so many good lines about what is wrong about this system, about the way the world works, is giving him so many doubts about it.

Just like it gave him doubts about monsters. And then it allowed Medusa her speech about being a victim. but never mind, she still asked something bad of Percy, so it's okay to behead her, because at the very core of this series... it's still about keeping the status quo.

The gods are in charge. The monsters get killed.

[plus-size-reader]

Surprise

Percy Jackson x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 1585 words

Warnings: none 

Summary: Aphrodite’s youngest daughter makes friends with Percy, only for him to be shocked when he finds out who she is.

——————————————————————————————————

Sending you to bond with Percy alongside Grover made the most sense of all the demigods. You were the most gentle, the sweetest, and there wasn’t a being in all the cosmos you couldn’t charm. 

You wouldn’t be in any serious danger outside the walls of the camp, and besides, you had Grover to keep you out of too much trouble. 

It just made the most sense to surround Percy with as many allies as he could have in the mortal world, and you agreed to be a part of it without question.

If you could make the whole transition easier for him, you had to do your best. 

It was what campers did for each other, though it didn’t really seem to be a traditional sort of quest. It was more of a countermeasure than anything else, and you were okay with that. 

You had never been the hunting monsters kind anyway. 

...And of everything, that was the first thing Percy took in about you. 

Grover introduced you to him as a friend, and that was all he needed to know. In truth, Percy didn’t have all that many so he couldn’t be picky and if Grover was going to voche for you, you had to be pretty cool. 

It was simple, for a few days. 

However, as most things did in your life, it eventually came crashing down around you. In this particular instance, it was because every monster for a thousand meters thought Percy had Zeus’ lightning bolt...Something they were willing to kill for. 

Which could only mean one thing. 

It was time to take Percy Jackson to Camp Halfblood. 

“Look, it doesn’t make any sense, but you just gotta trust me” Grover assured, rushing him along the sidewalk as quickly as he could with you following close behind. 

If the fury's knew he was here, it was only a matter of time before every other horror from the depths of tartarus found its way to him. Percy’s life was in danger, and nothing could change that now. 

Not even his father. 

“Grover’s right Perc, we have to get out of here” you huffed, trying to keep up with the two of them while also dodging the oblivious civilians just on their way to a nine-to-five. 

If only they knew what else the world had to offer, and what dangers it beheld right beneath their noses. They probably would never sleep again and at this rate, you couldn’t blame them. 

Still, you kept on because it was your destiny as a demigod. You had been born to do this, and there was no choice in the matter. Percy would come to terms with that same reality soon enough. 

He had to.

“We’re gonna take you somewhere safe” 

~ 

It was safe to say that the news of Percy Jackson arriving at Camp Halfblood shocked everyone. However, by that point, all you could think about was the way he had taken out the Minotaur without any formal combat training. 

It should have been impossible. 

No one should have been able to survive that with such little preparation and it surprised you that he was still breathing. Even still, no one had visited Percy as much as you had since he’d gotten there. 

“Is he awake yet?” you wondered, peeking your head in toward where Grover was sitting, at the end of Percy’s bed. You had been checking on him constantly, but nothing had happened quite yet. 

There had been no new development in the last day, and you were getting tired of it. 

“Right on time” Grover allowed, gesturing you over to where he was, not even bothering to answer your question. He knew what you were here for, and what you had been here for. 

That wasn’t going to change. 

The secret reason for your visits wasn’t lost on your shared friend, but Grover didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, no one would be better suited for Percy anyway. 

There was no point in outing your crush right now. 

Luckily though before Grover had to worry about that, he got to inform you that Percy was waking up, you would be able to bother him in the flesh, instead of through the satyr. 

“Y/N?” Percy muttered, his words a little slurred, likely do to the multiple days he’d been asleep. He knew that it was you, of course, but there was something different about you. 

You were almost glowing in the light streaming in from the tent. 

...He must have really hit his head. 

“What do you remember, Perc?” you tried, letting your hand fall lightly on his face to brush his dark hair from where it was sticking to his forehead. He had worked up quite a bit of a sweat in all this time. 

Not that you could really blame him. 

Anyone else wouldn’t have survived what he did. 

“Just a crazy dream. There was this camp, and Grover had goat legs or something...there was this monster” he rambled on, doing his best to recall the strangest details of the odd vision. 

This was going to be good. 

“Um, Perc?” you laughed, stopping him with a glance over your shoulder at the satyr. The big, brave protector had some explaining to do if this was going to go over well. 

It was quite the transition but Percy was about to learn that nothing in the world he knew was how it seemed...least of all, you. 

All things considered though, you decided to just let Grover take over from this point, knowing he would do much better at it than you would. After all, you had only signed up for companionship, not full guardian duties. 

“So you’re telling me this is all real?” Percy repeated, thinking it over. He had only been up for a few minutes, enough to comprehend what was going on, but not long enough to start panicking.

It was the perfect time to introduce this whole new world to him. 

“Wait, so if my mom couldn’t pass through the gate, but Y/N can, that means-” he connected, looking at you with narrowed, but gentle eyes as if you were hiding something he couldn’t see. 

...But Grover was quick to pick up the slack. 

“Percy, Y/N is like you” he laughed, speaking slowly as he talked to the other male. It should have sunk in by now but Grover couldn’t blame him after the spill he’d taken. 

Anyone would be a little mixed up over that. 

“This ray of sunshine is Aphrodite's youngest daughter, and the greatest archer I’ve ever seen” Grover started, smiling at you as he spoke. 

You two had been friends for a long time, but you never got tired of being around the satyr. He respected you, and you never once felt anything but loved around him. 

There was silence in the room for a moment. 

Percy knew all about Aphrodite of course, but he hadn’t made that connection in all the time that he’d been around you. Sure, he’d always found you compelling, but he didn’t give it much thought until now. 

...Had that been the only reason? 

Perhaps the feelings he thought he had for you were just the work of some cosmic magical crap that he couldn’t hope to understand. However, a part of him hoped not. 

He wanted it to be real. 

“Wait seriously? Are you sure?” he asked, staring between the two of you with wide eyes as if he was somehow being tricked. It made sense, given everything he was taking in right now, but there was something else. 

Something about the way he asked hurt you, as if he didn’t believe that you were who you said you were. 

Perhaps it stemmed back to years and years of being told that you should have looked different than you did given your parentage, but you couldn’t hold it back. 

You felt like he was insulting you, even if maybe he wasn’t. 

“Yeah, pretty sure...why? Were you expecting something different?” you wondered, not even bothering to cover up the hurt tone in your voice. After everything you two had done together, this was really what was getting him? 

It didn’t make any sense. 

“No, I just wouldn't have guessed that is all” he shrugged, clearly missing the fact that he had seriously hurt you just now. 

Normally, you would have just let it go but you had been hearing that forever and to hear those words from Percy’s lips was too much. Maybe the others you could get over, but not him. 

Percy was important to you, and you cared about him...but he was just like everyone else. 

He was going to reject you simply because he thought you should be different, that you should be like your sisters. 

Your mother had more demigod children than nearly every other God, and every one of your sisters was a perfect, spitting image of your mother, except for you. 

It was bound to weigh on you eventually. 

“Sure, I get it” you sighed, leaving quickly before you could let either of them see you cry. Percy hadn’t meant to hurt you, but knowing that wasn’t enough to stop the hot tears leaking from your ducts. 

It stung to think that even Percy couldn’t see past your appearance, just like everyone else. 

After all, what could you expect from him? Clearly, Percy Jackson was just like every other half blood in the camp. 

[greekgrad12]

there’s no time to unpack all of that

remember now i said i wanted to write my hc

lol guess what i did?

********

"So, Annabeth, are there any cute boys at your school in San Francisco?"

Percy was choking on his drink before Annabeth even had the chance to consider his mother's question. He felt the hand of Sally Jackson patting him on the back as he practically coughed up a lung. The only sound louder than himself would be the obnoxious laughter of Grover from right beside him. Percy managed a glare at his best friend, but he didn’t dare look towards Annabeth.

Annabeth finished school a week before Percy, so she was able to come to New York and spend some extra time with him before camp started. She had arrived that morning and spent the whole day with Sally while Percy was in class. He would have assumed that all the girl talk would be over by now. He would be wrong.

“Percy! Sweetie, are you okay?”

What’s more embarrassing? Surviving hundreds of monsters only to let a sip of Coke choke you to death, or having your mom call you sweetie in front of her boyfriend and your two best friends?

With one final clearing of his throat, Percy was able to answer, “Yeah, I’m fine. I uh, think it just went down the wrong pipe s’all.”

Much to his annoyance, Grover was still laughing, “Bhahaha! Sure, buddy. Can you imagine? The son of the sea- ow!”

Percy kicked his friend’s shin -do satyrs even technically have shin’s?- to shut him up. Grover looked back at him with soft bewildered eyes that could make even the cutest of puppies pity him. Still, Percy stared back with a hard look and subtly moved his gaze in the direction of Paul who was sitting on the other side of his mom. Grover seemed to understand where he’d messed up when he noticed everyone but the man in question staring back at him with nervous anticipation. Paul himself just looked confused, obviously waiting for Grover to elaborate on his last comment.

The relationship between Paul and Sally was still a new one, but from the very beginning, the mother-son duo thought it would be best to keep everything demigod related on the down-low. Percy was hesitant to invite the man over for dinner tonight, not because he didn’t like Paul, or that he was scared the truth would come out -although, that was definitely a rational fear now. No, Percy was just nervous about introducing Paul to his friends. Somehow that made things seem more real. Percy didn’t know if he was ready for real yet. He didn’t know if he could trust real with his mom yet.

Percy wasn't even sure whose idea it was. He remembers a vague conversation between himself and his mother. Sally had been planning for Annabeth to arrive for weeks. Some things in the woman's schedule had to be tweaked a bit, including her date night with Paul. Date night was usually on Thursdays, but the two teenagers had made plans to spend that Monday together after Percy was let out of school. Grover had even agreed to take the night off from his search for Pan to get dinner with them. Percy remembers suggesting they change their date to Monday this week so that Sally wouldn’t be stuck home alone all afternoon. However, it seemed that his words gave the woman a different idea. Maybe if he hadn't mentioned that they would all be together, then her eyes wouldn't have perked up, and the thought to have them all over for dinner wouldn't have occurred to her. Then maybe they wouldn’t be in this mess.

“I mean, the uh-” The satyr stammered out, “Y-you know, I meant s-son of the sea as in… as in like uh, figuratively! Cause, he swims- on the uh, swim team, that is! Of course, I mean where else would he-?”

“Grover, honey,” Sally came to the rescue, pitcher of water in hand, “Would you like some more water?”

“Yes, please,” The boy practically begged as he held out his cup.

“You didn’t tell me you were on the swim team, Percy,” Paul spoke up after Grover regained his composure.

“That’s because I’m not,” He muttered sharply, all the bitterness aimed towards the goat sitting beside him who was currently wearing a sheepish look.

“He isn’t, but it’s all he’s been talking about over the summer,” Annabeth’s voice broke him out of his bitter state. Had it not been for the pink shade on the blonde girl’s cheeks, Percy would have forgotten all about his mother’s previous comment. It was obvious that she was just as flustered by the question as he was. And yet, here she is now, acting as calmly as ever, getting the two boys out of their -Grover’s- mess. Although, that was nothing new for the trio, “I think he wants to join the swim team at… what’s it called again? Goode High School?”

Paul nodded at Annabeth, as both an answer and encouragement to go on, “You should really talk to whoever the swim coach is at the school, Mr. Blofis. Percy is a talented swimmer, I’m sure they’d be lucky to have him.”

“Oh, Annabeth, that’s a wonderful idea!” Sally gushed over the girl, causing her blush to return.

“Well, I’d love to introduce you to the coach at orientation,” Paul offered, eyes bright as he talked about the school. It was obvious the man was passionate about his job. That was something Percy liked about the man. He didn’t spend his life laying around and complaining about the world around him. Paul actually had a life, a career, hobbies- things that he was excited to share with Percy, and anyone willing to listen, really, “Goode has an incredible athletic program, I know you’ll enjoy it.”

And maybe Percy would enjoy it, but he was barely listening as his mom’s boyfriend went on about the school. His sea-green eyes were too busy staring at Annabeth, who was now wearing a soft smile as she listened attentively to the man. Like most days, Percy dreaded being at school, but that morning he was even more anxious to get out of class. Right when he got home, the boy was greeted with blue cookies and a pair of sparkling gray eyes looking back at him. At the time, Percy wasn’t sure which of the two he was more excited to see. Looking back now, he realized that the hug Annabeth gave him made Percy feel warmer than any plate of fresh cookies ever could.

read more on ao3 :)

[schmergo]

This is not a hot take on the current President’s health situation (social media is full of that and I really doubt I could contribute anything unique), but I have an interest in historical presidential trivia, so I thought you might be interested in hearing some anecdotes about other Presidents who were hospitalized or otherwise ill during their presidencies— especially in light of the news that the current President has chosen to “work from the hospital” instead of passing duties to the VP.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Presidents tend to be older dudes, and I’m sure their stressful jobs don’t help their personal health. But this is definitely not the first time that a current President dealt with a compromised health situation- and it’s perhaps not the only time the White House staff downplayed the risk level involved.

* This is probably the most interesting example to me: Grover Cleveland had a sizable tumor (and five teeth and part of his jaw) removed from his mouth during his presidency. The highly secretive procedure took place on a yacht when he was on a so-called “fishing trip.” The President was MIA for 4 days. His signature bushy mustache hid any scarring or facial differences from the procedure. Rumors that the President had cancer were viciously dismissed and the truth didn’t come out until over 20 years later, when Cleveland was already dead (from unrelated causes). There was a MAJOR stigma against cancer back then, and this could have undermined public trust in his ability to do his job.

* Ronald Reagan was quite elderly during his presidency and had several severe health problems- including the early signs of what would develop into Alzheimer’s. He had several surgeries during his presidency, most famously after his attempted assassination by John Hinckley Jr. His witty remarks after being shot are famous; the fact that he lost a huge amount of blood and was close to death is not. Much less-known than his assassination attempt was his bout of colon cancer. He had surgery to remove a cancerous polyp and two feet of his intestines in 1985 but did NOT invoke the clause in the 25th Amendment temporarily transferring Presidential powers to the VP. He resumed his full presidential duties a week after the surgery. I guess we’ll never know what would have happened if he experienced complications. Reagan also had skin cancer removed while in office, which he was pretty open about discussing.

* James Garfield: Another assassination attempt here, this one more dramatic. This was also before the aforementioned 25th Amendment. Poor President Garfield spent 11 weeks in intensive care after he was shot by Charles Guiteau. Massive infection and medical malpractice played major roles in his death. He served as President for only 200 days- and a sizable portion of that time slowly dying. There were no official guidelines in place about Presidential succession at the time- and the Senate had recently adjourned without choosing a president pro tempore. Vice President Chester A. Arthur did not want to assume Presidential powers in those months before he officially became President (and wouldn’t even move into DC), and Garfield was too unwell to do much work, so we basically had no real President during that time.

* Dwight D. Eisenhower: Eisenhower suffered from quite a litany of health problems, but most famously, he suffered a heart attack during an otherwise prosperous time for the country in 1955. The news of his heart attack caused the Dow Jones to lose over $14 billion- the worst day for the stock market since World War II! During the 6 weeks he spent in the hospital in Denver, Americans waited breathlessly for updates on the President’s condition and the media was as saturated with the story as it is today. Vice President Nixon did handle Eisenhower’s duties during this time, unlike Chester A. Arthur. Eisenhower was later elected for a second term, but his health struggles continued. Doctors believe that after that infamous first heart attack, he experienced at least 14 cardiac arrests and 7 myocardial infarctions before his death in 1969, as well as spending 5 days in the hospital for a surgery on his intestines. None of them, however, proved as expensive as the first.

* Woodrow Wilson: This brings us to the unusual story of America’s first unofficial female President. Another pandemic President, Wilson fell seriously ill from influenza in 1919 and never seemed to fully recover health. On October 2, 1919- Yes, exactly 101 years ago, isn’t that spooky?- Wilson suffered a severe stroke. The warning signs of mini strokes had gone on for some time, but now he had become paralyzed and partially blinded. (No, contrary to popular belief, FDR was not the first sitting President to live with paralysis.) Wilson’s wife Edith helped him carry out Presidential duties, hiding the full extent of his illness from even his own cabinet. Wilson was unwilling to resign, Vice President Thomas Marshall unwilling to resume to office, and Congress unsure what to do. Although Edith Wilson claimed that she merely helped her husband with physical tasks like signing papers, most historians now believe that she actually had taken on many important decisions and duties between late 1919 and the end of her husband’s time in office in 1921.

These are the major ones that I’d like to profile today- but I thought this was an interesting variety of cases involving the question of “who’s in charge while the President is sick?”