berrybore

[berrybore]

Percy wasn't a good leader because he didn't want to be a leader. Percy was a good leader because no matter how much he didn't want to be the figurehead in the crosshairs, he wanted it to be someone else even less.

[berrybore]

No but I think we all moved on too quickly from the "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend" line in Percy's OG prophecy. Because- like, what do you mean with "by one who calls you a friend"??? Not who you call a friend, but who calls you a friend.

Litteraly, the prophecy states that Luke specifically called Percy a friend. They were friends. By Luke's own (indirect and prophetic) admission, he saw Percy as a friend. He wasn't some evil mastermind bidding his time and secretly hating him; Luke liked Percy. They had a connection, a relationship. And it specifically also stemmed from Luke.

It would have been so easy for Rick to write "by one who you call a friend" but he didn't. It was very specifically a person who considered Percy a friend and it is so tragic. The boy whose fatal flaw is loyalty is betrayed by someone who considered him a friend. And I am going insane over this.

Luke was genuine when he was nice and kind and there for Percy. He saw a scared young boy and he took him under his wing not planning anything. And if only Kronos hadn't been they would have kept that relationship up.

They were friends and they could have continued to be.

[berrybore]

I can think of so many reasons why son of neptune is a top 5 pjo book but a big one is just that the stakes are so fucking high for the entire trio. ALL of them have good reason to believe they won't survive the quest. percy just lost his achilles curse and ella's prophecy foretells that a son of neptune will drown. iris personally told frank that he'll die holding his firewood and then the quest demands that he burns it in order to melt thanatos' ice chains (+he's worried that thanatos will take his life regardless because of his firewood). hazel isn't even supposed to be alive in the first place and the main conceit of the quest asks her to fight to free the god whose very purpose is to kill her. son of neptune is a story about death and the terror of its inevitability. the gang was in a state of highly personalized abject mortal peril for most of that book and there is a very feasible alternate universe in which the quest to alaska "succeeds" and not a single one of them makes it back alive

[berrybore]

since percy in-universe is a published author and sally is finally getting her first book published I think it would be really funny if he just like. out sells her. like she took writing classes for years and based on the title is writing poseidon smut and her book does Fine but percy and his stupid chapter titles and insane life plots are constantly keeping her off the bestsellers list lmao

[berrybore]

and bless the daughter but fuck the family

it lingers for your whole life - katie maria/the sun is also a star - nicola yoon/the lost girls: a poetry collection on girlhood, grief, and growing up - lyra wren/crush - richard siken/unknown/on earth we're briefly gorgeous - ocean vuong/ @emmajadepaige/stick season - noah kahan/promises of gold - josé olivarez/matilda - harry styles/susan smith - wych elm/tangerine - nolune/#6 - aroara/right now - gracie abrams/love & a loaded gun - emily rose cole/someday I'll love - ocean vuong/ @parentless-suggestions/unknown/the burning - venetta octavia/you can love him but you can't keep him - @pencap/a poem from the adult daughter to the narcissistic mother: not your fault, not mine, just is - katherine fabrizio/courtney love prays to oregon - clementine von radics

[berrybore]

was talking to my mom about how white people ignore the contributions of poc to academia and I found myself saying the words "I bet those idiots think Louis Pasteur was the first to discover germ theory"

which admittedly sounded pretentious as fuck but I'm just so angry that so few people know about the academic advancements during the golden age of Islam.

Islamic doctors were washing their hands and equipment when Europeans were still shoving dirty ass hands into bullet wounds. ancient Indians were describing tiny organisms worsening illness that could travel from person to person before Greece and Rome even started theorizing that some illnesses could be transmitted

also, not related to germ theory, but during the golden age of Islam, they developed an early version of surgery on the cornea. as in the fucking eye. and they were successful

and what have white people contributed exactly?

please go research the golden age of Islamic academia. so many of us wouldn't be alive today if not for their discoveries

people ask sometimes how I can be proud to be Muslim. this is just one of many reasons

some sources to get you started:

but keep in mind, it wasn't just science and medicine! we contributed to literature and philosophy and mathematics and political theory and more!

maybe show us some damn respect

[berrybore]

i was just thinking about how much i LOVE the journey that percy had to go through when tyson went from being his kinda "weird" friend at school that he was completely down for protecting because that was The Right Thing To Do but it became a whole different ball game temporarily at camp

because like. he was then dealing with the opinions of people whose opinions he CARED ABOUT! because it's one thing to say fuck the haters when they're people you don't like, but it's another thing to figure out how to say fuck the haters when the haters are your best friends who you want to fit in with. and then of course there was the additional layer of It's One Thing When It's Your Friend Who's Like Partially A Charity Case That You Know Is Less Cool Than You And You Being Nice Makes You Feel Like A Good Person and a whole different thing once that person becomes your brother. because suddenly it's not a You Being Nice Makes You A Good Person thing, it becomes an obligation. and obligations paired with the relationship difficulties this is causing with your friends that you want to like you and think you are cool are now not even seeing you as Nice Person Helping Charity Case but GUY WITH CHARITY CASE FOR A BROTHER!

and i dunno. i still think that this is one of the most effective relationships that rr has ever written. because it is SO accurate to kids whose only disability is something like ADHD or dyslexia. because yeah, sure, it's still disabling. it makes you Different from your neurotypical peers. and it's generally easier to standup for people with More Obvious And Disabling Disabilities against the people that already view YOU as the weirdo than with your friends, who are Similar Disabled To You but still Ableist Toward The People Who Are More Disabled Than Us. it's a dynamic that i lived as a kid who was A Little Off and it's a dynamic that i've seen a lot as an educator too.

and the fact that percy embraces tyson fully is so important! that's the stuff that kids need to see. Cool Hero Character That We Also Relate To being willing to maybe lose social status with his friends that he wants to like him for his brother with less of it is an important thing to show to middle grade readers. we are kin. we are ALL disabled and we shouldn't leave anyone out

[berrybore]

[berrybore]

Godnip Percy Jackson you'll always be true and dear to my heart

[berrybore]

it's interesting that the whole "____ was just a teenage girl" who was "rightfully crashing out" line of thinking is so prevalent in some of the current pjo discourse, but people will get genuinely mad at you when you point out that, well -- percy was also just a teenager who watched his friend die a couple hours ago and then learned about (what was thought to be) his own impending death soon after. this isn't even the first time where, in a percy vs other character dispute, the other party in question gets the luxury of the "they're just a child" defense. so was percy. why was it okay for every other character in the books to crash out (especially when percy was the target of their ire), but he was painted as the bad guy by the narrative for not being perfectly selfless and forbearant at all times? why did he always have to be the adult in the room and take responsibility for other people and their feelings? why was everyone else, during their lowest moments, given grace for being a child, for being traumatized, for whatever, but never percy himself? like actually let's talk about it.

[berrybore]

Sometimes it feels like you've lived your whole life in a house that's always a little bit on fire. Like it's usually just in one room and you make sure to wet the walls around it so it doesn't spread and that usually works. You were expected to take more responsibility over fire containment when you were like seven because it's not like you can expect your parents to always be 100% on guard about making sure the whole house doesn't catch fire, and you figure that's just how things are like.

And sometimes as a kid you visit your friends' homes and some of then whisper to you - grimacing with embarrassment - about how they're not supposed to tell anyone this, but there's a whole room in their house that's currently on fire. And you're like yeah it's ok I'm not supposed to tell people about the way our house is a little bit on fire all the time, too. And then you visit some other friend's house and there's no trace of fire anywhere, and you think "wow, these people are really good at hiding their house fire."

And one day you show up to work like "hey sorry I'm late, I forgot to wet the walls before going to bed last night and my whole house burned down", and you're startled by the way people react, acting like that must be the worst thing that has ever happened to you. And you're just like "chill, it's been years since the last time this happened, and it wasn't even that bad this time", and that just makes people more shocked, acting like that's the weirdest and most concerning thing they've ever heard anyone say, which only confuses you more.

And then someone tries to explain to you that people aren't supposed to have an ongoing house fire. Most people actually never experience a house fire in their lives. Like not even once. Not even a little bit. The normal amount of having your house be currently on fire is zero.

[berrybore]

[berrybore]

Was rereading pjo and found these lines:

And then in hoo: Jason Grace was the first friend Nico had ever had (or something like that I don't quite remember the exact words).

Me:

[berrybore]

yk the argument about Thalia not joining Luke because of what he did to Annabeth is incredibly valid, but Luke could've easily spun the story for it, and Thalia had bigger things to consider.

What I support is Thalia Grace spending the entire quest battling with herself on whether or not to join Luke but then everytime she sees Percy Jackson and his anger and loyalty and his mind and his heart, and she knew every single time she could know bear dooming him.

[berrybore]

rereading the Sword of Hades and–

the duality of Perseus Jackson lmao

[berrybore]

Before the sunrise of Eid… I need a small miracle.

Tomorrow is Eid, and my daughter Rajaa dreams only of being happy in a new dress, just like she used to before the war.

This is the fourth Eid we’ve spent without clothes or sweets for my children...

I’m not asking for much — I just want to surprise her today with a dress, shoes, and a small bag before the morning of Eid.

If anyone can help, even with a little, please don’t delay her joy.

Time is critical: before Eid morning.

Donation link

✅️Vetted by @90-ghost and @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #245 )✅️

[berrybore]

this scene is so underrated. he claimed a prophecy foretelling his death so that nico wouldn't die. a prophecy that thalia knowingly passed onto him mere pages before (for a good reason, yes).

this scene is the absolute pinnacle of his character. he just watched so many failures of their world. nico losing his sister and being left alone. luke hurting everyone he loved because of the gods' terrible treatment. zoë's death at her father's hand. everything that happened to bianca. he watched all of this knowing how wrong it was and said to the girl who was left by everyone who was supposed to care about her, "no. i will not let this happen again unless i am the last one this happens to," and then spent the next year and a half expecting to die on his 16th birthday. wtf.