#But Hera got him on that journey

[percyluvr]

heyyyy, so i was wondering if you were feeling up to it if you could write a jason grace x poseidon!reader. it’s basically like a scene from where they just began the journey on the argo and percy, being the slow and loveble older brother he is, finds out jason is dating his little sister and some silly chaos ensues at the dinner table

jason grace x daughter of poseidon!reader summary: your boyfriend and your brother have issues at first, but bond over the fact that they both love you with all their hearts wc: 1199

You and Jason had been dating since he'd appeared randomly at camp with Leo and Piper. You had been so devastated over the disappearance of your brother, and Jason had been struck by your beauty. He did everything in his power to help you feel better, and during the process, the two of you had fallen deeply in love. Every now and then you thought about Percy and what he would think of your new boyfriend, and you would be sad all over again, but Jason never failed to make you feel better. Jason Grace was the ideal boyfriend, you thought, and he proved it more and more every single day that the two of you were together.

When the Argo II was built, and the lost trio was ready to head off to New Rome, Jason was the one that suggested you come with to see if your brother was there. The suggestion just further proved what a wonderful person and boyfriend he was, and you accepted the offer. Your voyage to New Rome held lots of good memories and fun, but the closer the ship got to New Rome, the more worried you were that your brother wouldn't be there, even if it was almost 100% guaranteed that he would be. You didn't think you could handle it if you lost another person, especially your brother who'd been there for you your entire life. He protected you when the two of you first arrived to camp, even though he was scared out of his mind, and he protected you and comforted you when your mother had gotten turned into dust by the minotaur, even though he was just as devastated by the loss of her. The two of you shared so many memories together and thinking of them only made you sadder when you realized how long it had been since you last saw him.

The Argo II arrived in New Rome, and you all had a peculiar interaction with a certain talking limbless statue. Once the situation was handled, the Argo II hovered over Camp Jupiter, and everyone other than Coach Hedge warily got out of the ship, not quite sure what the Romans' reactions would be, even Jason who was a Roman himself.

When you reached the ground, your eyes searched the crowd for the familiar green eyes and black hair of your brother, and when you finally found him, you saw Annabeth rushing over to him. When she flipped him onto the ground, it brought a smile to your face. Their relationship was the most beautiful thing you'd seen in your life, and it made you so proud to see your brother happy. With Jason's arm around your waist, you waited until Annabeth and Percy parted, before sprinting over to Percy and jumping into his arms. To say he was surprised was an understatement. You and Annabeth had been the only people he remembered when Hera wiped his memories, and seeing you after so long made him beyond happy.

His arms gripped you tightly as he whispered in your ear. "I can't even explain how happy I am to see you. How is mom?" He asks almost immediately.

"Mom is good, she's really good. So is Paul. But how are you?"

"I'm good, now that I've got two of my favorite girls with me again," he jokes, earning a smack on each arm from you and Annabeth.

It felt good to be able to joke around with your older brother again, almost too good to be true. Apparently it was too good to be true, because after an attack is fired from the Argo II, all of you have to rush up the ladder and get out of there as quick as possible. You grab Percy's hand tightly, his gripping yours impossibly tighter. Neither of you could stand to lose each other again.

Aboard the ship, tensions were high. Even if you weren't Percy's sister and hadn't been around him your whole life, you would still be able to tell how pissed off he was that this happened. When Leo confessed to him firing the attack, you and Annabeth had to hold Percy from pouncing on Leo. You understood where he was coming from, though. Imagine working this hard to make the Romans see that the Greeks weren't so bad, and then some guy you don't even know fires an attack on the camp and you're back at zero. You'd be pissed off too.

When dinner time rolled around, Percy had been much calmer. The atmosphere had lightened up, at least until both your brother and your boyfriend went to sit in the same seat at the head of the table. They stared intensely at each other until everyone decided that Annabeth should sit at the head of the table.

You thought the problem had ended there, but both of them tried to sit on the chair to your left. Percy looked at him with a strange expression, probably a mix of confusion and annoyance at this point.

"Dude, really? What's your problem?" Percy asks, crossing his arms.

"I just want to sit here, not a big deal," Jason replies.

Percy raises his eyebrow. "Well, I want to sit next to my sister, and there's only one chair open next to her."

You looked at Piper, who was sitting to your right, and she took the hint. She got up and moved to the other side of the table.

"Guys, please. Just sit down already, it's not a big deal," you say exasperatedly.

Percy eyes you and Jason skeptically, but takes the chair to your right anyway. He seemed to lighten up due to the fact that he was now sitting between his girlfriend and his sister.

Dinner was going fine, until Percy spots your hand intertwined with Jason's under the table.

"Soo, anything new in your life you want to tell me about?" He asks you, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Um, no. I mean other than Jason, Leo, and Piper showing up, not really."

"So, no new guys that like you? No new crushes?"

You finally understand what he's trying to do, and sigh loudly.

"Yes, Percy. Jason and I are dating, is there a point to this?"

He just grins in response and moves his gaze to Jason. "You better treat her right man, or I'll have to whoop you," he semi-jokes.

Jason raises his eyebrow. "Yeah, sure. You could whoop me if we were on a beach, maybe," he jokes back.

"Nah, I could take you any day of the week, beach or no beach. I'd whoop your ass with just my fists."

This makes everyone at the table laugh.

"Nah, but seriously man. I'll take care of her. I really like her, and I'd never even think about treating her wrong," Jason says seriously.

Percy smiles at him. "I'll hold you to that."

Jason brings your hand to his lips and gently kisses it, making everyone at the table fake gag.

"Oh shut up, you're all just jealous," you say, smiling the widest you had in a while.

You finally had your brother back, and he seemed to like your boyfriend.

a/n: y'all i am so sorry for not posting anything in almost a week lmfao i got my tooth pulled and i've been suffering all week

[fellthemarvelous]

Not to be divisive in the SW fandom (like that's hard), but I love Sabine's journey as the next Mandalorian Jedi.

It doesn't matter that she doesn't have a high M-count. Not all of the Inquisitors had high M-counts either but they were still able to control the Force.

Sabine's M-count is under 7,000, which is 20,000+ less than Anakin Skywalker's was at the height of his power. And after he fell to the Dark Side and lost the duel with Obi-Wan, his M-count decreased significantly, but he was still powerful (he allowed his fear and his pain and his anger and his hatred to control his actions).

Sabine was able to wield the dark saber, and that's not an easy task. It took many frustrating hours of training with Kanan and Ezra, and she had to face her fears before she was able to connect with it.

Remember, Mando struggled with the dark saber and accidentally hurt himself pretty badly in the process. He couldn't connect with it and it's why he was not able to fight with it.

Sabine went back to Mandalore to try and reconnect with her family, to get them to join the Rebellion.

After Gar Saxon got hold of the dark saber, Sabine took him on (a man more than twice her age) with Ezra's lightsaber, and she defeated him.

At that moment, instead of choosing the Mandalorian way and killing him, she chose to follow the way of the Jedi and allowed him to live (be taken prisoner). Not surprisingly, he tried to shoot her instead of submitting but took a blaster shot to the heart from Sabine's mother for his troubles.

But this is the moment her family chose to follow her into battle to free her father from Imperial prison.

Sabine wasn't interested in ruling over Mandalore, and it's why she gave the dark saber to Bo-Katan in the end while she chose to return with the rebels to continue fighting against the Empire.

And when Ezra chose to surrender to the Empire on Lothal, he left his lightsaber with Chopper who gave it to Sabine the moment that Lothal was free. He left it behind for her to use because she already knew how to fight with it.

She fought alongside Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka during the Rebellion.

Hera even told her she was starting to sound like a Jedi at one point.

It doesn't matter that she's not naturally attuned to the Force the way the other Jedi are. George Lucas has said that anyone can be a Jedi because the Force resides in all living things. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been telling us this since 1977 when A New Hope came out.

Kanan emphasized this when he was training Sabine with the dark saber.

Sabine comes from a culture of highly skilled warriors who are the ancient enemy of the Jedi, but if one Mandalorian was able to find balance between his Mandalorian ways and the ways of the Jedi, then why can't Sabine?

Yes, it's a challenge for her, but she doesn't let it stop her from trying anyway. We should be cheering on the fact that she was finally able to use it instead of being annoyed that she was able to do it in the final episode of Ahsoka. We saw a fraction of her training and it wasn't like Ahsoka hadn't been working on training her years before that.

And now that Ahsoka has been able to face her own fears, she is finally able to be the master that Sabine needs.

Sabine is now stranded on a planet where the Mortis gods are carved into the mountainsides, in a different galaxy with Huyang and Ahsoka, the one who carries the life force of the Daughter inside of her.

Sabine cracked the code on the painting in the Jedi Temple on Lothal that allowed Ezra to open the portal to the World Between Worlds.

Maybe it's just me, but I think Star Wars Rebels was hinting at her following the path of the Jedi all along.

[moony-2001]

Lore Olympus ch. 257-262 critique pt. 2

Aaaand we're back

Ch. 260

Hermes, Hebe, and trauma dumping

Jumping right into it, Hermes pissed me right the fuck off. I don't know why Demeter didn't want to accept the aid from the underworld, but I'm sure pride must be some of it. But for Hermes to call it an "in-law tiffy-tiff" was beyond wrong. I don't know or remember what, if any, beef he has with Demeter but read the fucking room, man.

I'm so glad Demeter took Hebe in though, like the absolute Queen that she is. One thing that disturbed me a little when Hebe and Demeter got to talking is how Rachel tries to pass off Hera's trauma dumping on Hebe as if it's nothing.

First of all, 18-year-olds are still kids. I know (at least for the vast majority here in the US) that 18 is the legal age of adulthood, but the human brain doesn't finish developing until around age 25. Even if that's how the rules in LO work (I have a sneaking suspicion they're not though, seeing as Persephone is technically stuck at age 19 for the rest of time) Hebe is 7 years off from having a fully developed brain.

Additionally, I don't like how Rachel frames the idea that Hebe found out all of this information from her mother as a now 18-year-old. I don't know if Rachel is forgetting her own damn timeline (not that there was a cohesive one in the first place) but Hebe wouldn't have been 18 at the time of finding out this information.

Remember the 10-year time skip? Yeah, that whole thing? And how 5 of the 6 Traitors were in a coma? For 10 years? In case you haven't picked up what I'm trying to put down, Hebe was 8 years old when her mother went into that coma. Which means that Hera dumped all this information on a literal fucking child who was 8 or potentially even younger since we have no frame of reference for when Hebe was told this information.

Demeter is right. It is wrong to burden your kids with that. I don't know Rachel, but from this writing, I would venture a guess that she's never had a parent trauma dump on her.

I have. Rachel has no idea how mentally taxing it is to have a parent trauma dump on you or have them drag you into the middle of their fights or vent about their spouse/your other parent to you behind their back. That is not something a parent should EVER do to a child and I'll be damned if I ever do that to mine.

And while there is a shred of truth to what Hebe is saying, about how that information helps her understand her mom, Hebe does not (and in fact should not) be part of her mother's journey to work on herself, especially at that young of an age. Your child is not your therapist.

Demophon, the not child of Demeter

I will say, I am glad that Demeter finally decided to open up to her somewhat adult daughter. Oh, what's this? Persephone looks upset and-

😀😐

of-fucking-course

Is this it?? Is this the moment when we finally find out what happened to Demeter in Attica all those years ago-

Anyway, what we find out is that while in Attica, Demeter supposedly fell in love with the King of Eleusis and had Demophon, a my little pony-looking abomination not worse than whatever the fuck the above pictures are supposed to be. But if you note my title for this portion of the chapter, you'll see it says "the not child of Demeter". And that, dear readers, is because Demophon is in fact not a child of Demeter in the original myths. And Rachel also spelled his name wrong. (You can read more about him here: Demophon of Eleusis)

It seems to me that Rachel is doing what most couples with a failing relationship do: throw a baby at it and hope it will fix the problems.

What technicality? Do you mean the "technicality" that Demeter was punished for insubordination (regardless of her intentions) and lived as a mortal for 10 years? And during that time as a mortal had a son who was born as and died as a mortal? Forgive me if I'm being slow here, but I don't see what this "technicality" is supposed to be. How is Demophon's death any different from the mortals that Persephone killed and asked if it was possible to bring back?

I'm gonna sound a little nitpicky here, but Hades is the god of the dead (and wealth) not the god of death. Believe it or not, there is a difference, and the brushing aside of that difference is the reason why people still get Hades and Thanatos mixed up to this day. Plus does no one remember what happened to Asclepius when he figured out how to raise the dead? tl;dr: not good things.

I have a feeling that all this is happening because Persephone and Hades are trying to buy off Demeter. They want brownie points with the woman who is rightfully upset about everything that is happening right now. And I'll be willing to bet that this smooths things right over with her.

Ch. 261

Off-topic, Demeter looked really pretty in this chapter #standemeter

The "technicality" and Hades' BS

I am glad Demeter gets this small bit of happiness but also:

Nice try, but that's not how that works. Get your smug, ugly-ass mug out of here. Once again, why is Demophon the exception? Because you're whipped for Persephone? Because you want a gold star from your MIL who has perfectly valid reasons to not like you?

Ah. I guess his name is Triptolemus now. Triptolemus who is the older brother of Demophon. Who is also not a son of Demeter. Sure.

NO DON'T FALL FOR IT DEMETER. IT'S A TRAP-

The sisters

It is nice for the most part to see Hera, Demeter, and Hestia interacting. I don't think that's something we've seen outside of flashbacks.

I don't, however, like this interaction between Demeter and Hera:

Yeah, no, that's not how that works. Demeter has every right to be mad at you for helping Hades and Persephone get around the fact that they "violated the laws of Xenia (hospitality)". It doesn't matter if Persephone was a "wild card". Hera had no right to marry them.

In fact, I had a conversation with anoldplace and something we discussed is how much Hera's responsibility/involvement in Persades is kinda just... brushed off. Especially if you look back at the way early chapters (I'm talking s1 early) when Hera changes her tune from "wtf, that's so gross, what is wrong with you" to "Let me get this whole ball rolling". Persephone wouldn't have even had half the interactions she did with Hades had Hera not put her in that internship for the underworld. And Demeter doesn't even know about the early stuff. Think about how livid she would be if she found out Hera was pulling the strings from the beginning. Yikes.

Different topic but the fact that both Demeter and Persephone love to swim is cute.

Ch. 262

Jfc, finally. I'm so tired lol.

Hera's prophecy

In honor of Hera's ugly highlighter-looking color, the sections shall, too, be in yellow.

I was pretty excited to see that Hera got a vision. I'm also sad that this isn't something we see utilized more often in the series. In fact, we don't really see any of the goddesses use their powers besides... oh, for Christ's sake. I don't even want to say it, it just adds to her Mary Sue-ness.

Place your bets on how long it takes for Rachel to dress Persephone in something similar, if not identical, to this.

Moving on, we see Kronos smush and kinda throw Hera away and she's left wondering:

That's cute and all, but no. Like I huffed and puffed with the whole "attempted murder" bullshit with Zeus, for one to die, they must be mortal. If gods could die, they wouldn't be gods. They would be human looking at you Demophon. I understand why the sentiment of dying is upsetting, but Hera, Zeus, whomever cannot die. I suppose similar to Egyptian mythology, they could be chopped up and have their parts scattered to the winds but from what I've seen, there's nothing in Greek mythology that details anything like that.

I did see a really funky theory that I agree with that Hera must be some kind of fertility goddess. In fact, I've seen a lot of people speculate that she was the fertility goddess on the wall of that cave that was destroyed. It would be really wonderful if that greyed-out goddess in Hera's vision was her and not Persephone. Kinda like the ultimate "taking back the power" moment. But tbh I'm not hopeful.

Persephone and Hades... yay/s

*gag* anyway-

Hades decided to give the MORTAL Demophon his whole stash of ambrosia but he doesn't really know if it will actually work and he's salty that Zeus is stingy with it.

Okay, first of all, if it's that damn important that you have ambrosia and you're going to be a salty mofo that the only person who has it is stingy with it, make your own damn ambrosia. You're telling me you've been alive for thousands of years yet the thought hadn't occurred to you once? Bffr. Watch this come back and bite them in the ass in the series finale.

Secondly, if you've never done this before, how do you know it's going to work for Demophon? I mean, it probably will because plot armor, but seriously? What would happen if Demophon just kicked the bucket all over again? Like congratulations, you re-traumatized your wife's mother who already doesn't like you.

Final thoughts

This is all just unraveling so quickly. Watch Demophon disappear and never be addressed again. I am really hoping that this series wraps up between March and May like genericpuff predicted because I am tired. I mean, I'll miss the ability to make content while the material is still piping hot, but also reading this comic is taking a toll on my health. I have never seen my blood pressure in such a state. And I'm not even the one writing the comic.

I can't imagine being in Rachel's shoes rn. I know this point has been beaten to death by everyone and their moms (myself included), but it's so clear that Rachel just doesn't give a shit about this comic anymore. And it's sad. But I also get it.

Rachel has talked about after LO she wants to do a comic along the lines of this but involving Egyptian or Norse mythology. I hope she doesn't for very obvious reasons, but if she decides she wants to step up to the plate for what will inevitably be LO pt. 2, I hope she takes the time to actually research the cultures and learn from the very egregious mistakes that she made here. I won't be there if she does.

[x-0ophelia0-x]

what if Ezra had an established relationship with reader-Chan and she was with Ezra when he did the whole kamikaze space whale thing, and when Sabin fines them they have a kid. I would like some thing fluffy please 🥺

that’s such a cute idea!!

a shared journey.

pairing: Fem!Reader x Ezra Bridger

warnings: none, just fluff

word count: 1,6k

summary: you knew that Ezra was about to do something really stupid, in order to make sure that your partner was okay, you joined him on his journey. You two were now stranded on some planet, but you weren’t alone, not with your mini bridger by your side. When the day arrived where Sabine found you, she also noticed the small legs hiding behind the both of you.

authors note: This request is just freaking cute ahh!! Not proofread yet, I‘ll do this at some time on Friday c:

anyway, enjoy <3

It’s strange how ten years already had passed.

How long it’s been since you last saw the stars of your own galaxy.

You knew that Ezra was up to something, it was a constant worry you had and when you catched a glimpse of him nodding towards Sabine and Chopper, you already knew that he was about to do something very stupid.

Which in fact, he did.

So you did what you thought was the best in that moment.

You ran to the hangar and jumped into a ship. Hoping that it was the one that Ezra would choose to sneak away from your friends.

There’s not much to say since it seemed like it was your lucky day.

He really chose the one in which you hid yourself, flying towards the Chimaera to hand himself over. 

All you could do was to wait for the right moment, not wanting to cause any more trouble or to lead the attention to you, and when you heard the first blaster shots being fired, the first thought that crossed your mind was to follow their sound, hoping that you’d find Ezra just in time. 

This is how you got yourself into this situation. When you finally reached the Chimaera‘s cockpit, it was too late.

Purrgils started to take the control over the ship, Ezra was talking to his comm before he noticed you standing right behind him.

Hera was yelling from the other side, asking if he at least knew where you were.

„what?.. what do you mean by y/n‘s not with you?!“

He then turned back, sensing that someone other then Thrawn was staring at him. 

„heyy..“

You nervously said, trying to act as relaxed as you could.

„What are you doing here?! You need to go now! They’re going to jump at any moment now!“

Ezra yelled, trying his best to hold Thrawn still, using the force with his one arm while he created a force bubble with the other.

„What I‘m doing here? I‘m making sure that you won’t do anything stupid! And guess what? I failed!“

„y/n I need you to go now. Please..!“

„I‘m not going anywhere Ezra, wherever you go I go“

„y/n“

„Ezra.“

He looked at you in disbelief, thinking that you lost your mind. 

„Listen.. the whales will jump and there won’t be a way back… are you sure?“

-

Ten years later and you’re still by his side, stranded on some unreachable planet while everything you could do was to watch the night sky with your significant other. 

His head rested on your thighs, his hand holding yours while you enjoyed the sight in front of you. There he was, lying down and watching the night sky, holding your biggest treasure close.

„where are the space whales now?“

Your little one asked. Looking up to both of you.

„oh love.. they continued their journey“

Not wanting to destroy your child’s hopes you decided to lie to him. 

He didn’t knew that Perridea was the place where the Purrgils went to die. 

Those whales were long gone by now, but try to explain this to a 6 years old without breaking his heart. 

„And they’re traveling right now as we speak.. somewhere up there“

Ezra added, lifting his arm to point at some stars.

„One day we’ll be the ones traveling up there..“

Your childs eyes lighted up, a sense of excitement overcoming him.

„Is he telling the truth? Mom??“

You chuckled at his question while Ezra faked to be hurt by his question?“

„What exactly does that mean now?“

He asked, still faking his hurt expression.

„That he’s smart“

You said without thinking, bursting into laughter when you realized what you just said.

„I‘m actually hurt. wow. Even my own son.. my wife“

Ezra looked away, noticing how your son actually believed his act.

„No don’t be hurt papa! You’re actually smart… I’m your own way!“

The lil one tried to make it better but he was just adding salt to the wound which made it even funnier.

„Thank you.. I guess?“

Ezra then said, looking down at his little Bridger.

„You didn’t answer the question.. Mom“

He teased, looking to your direction again. His eyes held so much love, it was almost impossible to resist them.

„Yes, he’s telling the truth dear“

The lil guy almost jumped as he got really excitement from the mere thought that he’d be flying up there one day.

„Does that mean that I‘ll get to meet aunti Hera and Sabine? And uncle Zeb?“

He added, looking at you with wide eyes.

You had told him about your adventures you both had before Perridea. 

About your experiences, the crew that grew to become somehow your new family and, of corse, you told him about Kanan.

He knew a lot about them just because he always wanted to listen to your stories and it’d be an understatement to say that he now knew nearly everything there was to know about your friends.

„Yes sweetie, and don’t forget Chopper“

You said, placing your hand to his, holding him close.

„That droid will shock you until you’re awake. Every. Morning. And he’ll do it just because it makes him happier“

Ezra said partly terrified, remembering how Chopper used to wake him up.

„I already like him“

„You’ll regret it“

„He’s still young  spaceboy, we should let him do his mistakes as long as they don’t cost him his life“

You joked, starting to feel tired yourself.

Soon the three of you laid in each others embrace, covered by a blanket, deep in your dreams.

Little did you know that a certain Someone was very close to you.

-

The crab people that gave you a place to stay seemed to be excited about something. Ezra and you were both worried, not knowing what was going to come.

„Why don’t you go inside and try to sleep? You’re still tired aren’t you?“

Ezra asked him, feeling a familiar presence as the small chat continued.

„It’s a great idea honey! common, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity“

You tried to make it sound like as if it was something unique.

This didn’t work on your son though and your time eventually ran out, but instead of a threat you two were completely dumbfounded by who stood right in front of you.

„Sabine..?“

You asked quietly, not believing seeing her after all those years.. 

She turned around, immediately locking gazes with you two. 

Your son was still hidden behind you. Not visible enough fernher to see him.

„It’s you.. it’s really you..“

Sabine said, not believing it herself.

„It sure took you long enough“

Ezra said, smiling widely at her, finally seeing his best friend after 10 long years.

„You didn’t really make it easy you know.. both of you, could have told us where you were going“

She said, walking closer to you.

„We didn’t know ourselves where we were going“

Ezra joked, getting tense when he suddenly seemed to struggle against something.

Sabine noticed it, and soon enough she also noticed the small legs that where hidden behind Ezra.

„No way..“

She said, her eyes widening with every passing second.

You two let out a chuckle, slowly going to the side to reveal your newest ,ember of the family.

„You became parents?!“

Sabine then asked, completely surprised from the happy news. 

„Mom.. Dad.. who is this?“

Your little one asked, clinging himself on Ezra.

„That’s Sabine“

You said proudly, looking over to Sabine who was still dumbfounded.

„Auntie Sabine? The Sabine??“

He asked, getting even more excited.

„Auntie ?“

Sabine asked, deeply touched at how you two raised him.

She then nodded.

„Yes, it’s me.. care to share your name?“

She then asked him back, smiling down at your little star.

„I‘m Caleb! It’s nice to finally meet you!!“

He happily said, running to her and putting her into a tight hug.

The mention of Kanans real name somehow warmed Sabines heart. 

It was a kind gesture to show justice for their Mentor and father figure by passing his name on to their first child.

„I like you already!“

„Me too“

„And I also think that I might know someone who’d be thrilled to be your friend“

Ezra looked at you and then to Sabine, Not believing what was happening right now. You did the same.

When Caleb was ready to let you two hug your best friend, it soon was time to get together, sit down and exchange your stories.

A lot had happened in the last 10 years and when Sabine finished her revision of what had happened intrastate your turn to update her on your life.

„I see that you both were quite busy.. didn’t expect to see a little bridger when I arrived here“

She said, smiling as she laid her eyes on him, watching while he tried to understand her helmet. 

Her statement left you two flustered but you eventually spoke up.

„Yeah.. well life wouldn’t be as exciting as it is if we wouldn’t take risks right?“

You looked at Ezra, your gaze telling him to somehow help you out since you didn’t find the right words.

„And sometimes those risks are hella ho-„

You punched him to the side, nearly choking on your own air when he said that.

„I mean.. sometimes those risks are the most beautiful and exciting things you’ll ever experience in your life.“

[kanansdume]

So, again, with the caveat that I am in no way saying Hayden Christensen doesn't deserve his time in the sun right now after all the shit he was put through, but I find it a tad frustrating that we got an ENTIRE EPISODE with Ahsoka meeting Anakin again in a Force vision/flashbacks in order to explore her feelings about him and the impact her relationship with him had on them both, but we've had one singular throw-away line mention of Kanan.

And I GET that it's the Ahsoka show, it's named after Ahsoka, not Sabine or Hera. But it's clearly also THEIR show, Sabine is the one going through the most obvious character journey on this show, to be perfectly honest, and we're getting almost as much of Hera as we are Ahsoka or Sabine.

Ahsoka spent 1.5-2 years with Anakin, AT MOST, before she left him and then spent like 15 years believing he was dead, 1 year trying to convince herself he was dead before he tried to kill her, and then another 7-8 years on her own before he ACTUALLY dies, and like 8ish years since then. Ahsoka spends SO MUCH of her life without Anakin around at all and building relationships with so many people OTHER than Anakin that her time with him feels so minuscule in comparison and yet it's all anybody ever looks at or wants to talk about.

Hera meets Kanan when she's a teenager, just off of Ryloth, and probably spends a good decade or more with him as partners in business and in life before he dies and she becomes the single mother of his child. Kanan is arguably the singular most important relationship in Hera's life for the majority the time that we've spent with her character and there is a very visible continued reminder of his impact on her life that will probably stay with her for even longer. And yet she hasn't even mentioned him ONCE. There's been no discussion of him with her son, no stories shared, no memories brought up. Even when Jacen is using the Force, neither of them brings up Kanan at all.

Sabine meets Kanan some time before Rebels starts, probably about a year or two prior, and so would've known him for about 5-6 years total before he dies. In that time, he becomes something of a father figure and mentor to her and helps train her every so often. It's KANAN who teaches her about mercy and patience, and it's KANAN who trains her in how to wield a blade, specifically a lightsaber. And yet, when we see Sabine training with a saber again on the Ahsoka show, Ahsoka attributes Sabine's skill to the fact that she's a Mandalorian rather than to her training with Kanan. Sabine is completely fucked up about the off-screen loss of her family and the desire to find Ezra, but never once is the loss of Kanan ever even mentioned. His impact on her life is nowhere to be found on this show. If you hadn't seen Rebels, you'd be forgiven for thinking Sabine had never even met Kanan in her life.

Ahsoka brings up Anakin several times before episode 5 and her ENTIRE ARC is about his impact on her life, but he's honestly such a small part of it. And in contrast, we've heard one person so far mention Kanan at all and it's Huyang, a character who never shared a scene with Kanan once, and Kanan's impact upon Hera, Sabine, and even Jacen is missing entirely. They never talk about missing him or how his loss continues to affect them and their relationships with other people. There's no mention of Sabine having trouble working with Ahsoka because she keeps comparing Ahsoka's methods to Kanan's or something like that. There's no flashbacks for Sabine or Hera about Kanan where we get to see Kanan in live action, too. Kanan is just left behind as completely unimportant to this plot or its characters, even though he was one of the MAIN CHARACTERS of Rebels.

And now that Ezra's back, Kanan's literal Padawan, hopefully we'll hear Kanan get mentioned at least once more, but I'm not holding my breath or counting on it at this point.

[isagrimorie]

I love that Ahsoka just doesn't like staying indoors on her own ship:

And I love how Sabine took down two tie fighters in a very Mandalorian way.

And then Sabine's unapologetic but very angry march back up and tells Ahsoka she got 'em.

Ezra points out that the ship being down puts a dent into their plans, and Ahsoka says: "Not with that attitude!"

AND THEY TAKE THE HOWLERS. In a way, that's very similar to Rex and Ahsoka being on Wolves too

Filoni finally got his image of Ahsoka on a wolf-like horse:

I love the long-awaited rematch with Morgan (Diana Lee Innosato), Innosato is really good martial artist, and to see her finally get to move the way she can it was great to watch her fight!

Also, she's half-Filipina! And I think it uses Kali in this fight!

But also love that Morgan was doing this for Dathomir because her people will once again live. Dathomir will once more thrive.

For some reason, Morgan doesn't blame the Empire for the genocide, possibly because it was Dooku and Separatists.

I've heard it said that when Sabine heard Ahsoka and reached back to her in the last episode, it was Sabine's Awakening.

It was also fitting. The more Sabine was in a fight, the better she was with both the lightsaber and the Jedi instincts. It was a very Mandalorian way into it.

She's like Nynaeve from Wheel of Time. She needed specific conditions to access the Force. There's no better way for a Mandalorian to do so than in the middle of battle.

And once Sabine knows she can do it, doing so again wasn't difficult.

She's been doing it in steps -- sensing someone, the way she's been dodging lightsabers and blasters and referring it back. And the final act, Force telekinesis.

Force pushing Ezra was now easy because she'd gotten over her block. Or at least, she knows now how to get around the block.

But also, Sabine fulfilled her mission. She got Ezra home. Of course, she would prefer to be on that journey home but getting him back to the main universe and Lothal, is what Sabine wanted.

Ahsoka and Sabine jumping off the cliff to be lifted back and parrying the blaster shots from the wing of T6 was chef's kiss. What I wanted from live action.

And then, of course, there's the Ezra and Hera reunion, with Chopper recognizing him first.

I got so emotional with that, but I WANTED A HUG DAMMIT. THAT'S HER SON TOO!

Unfortunately, for Ashoka and Sabine, despite their best efforts, Thrawn is too far ahead, and they're stranded in the new Galaxy.

BUT

MORAI IS THERE. So, Ahsoka's meant to be in this Galaxy, on Peridea.

Because apparently there is the statue of the Mortis gods! The Father, the Son, and the Daughter, whose head has been destroyed.

And in season 2, we will discover what this is all about.

I think Sabine saw Force Ghosts here, whose Force Ghost could be Kanan's, but also we know, Anakin is there.

FORCE GHOST ANAKIN. And I love that they're smiling at each other.

BRING ON SEASON 2!

But also, MOTHER AND SON MEET AGAIN

[kitcat22]

My Genderbent Percy Jackson Names ideas!

Hold on tight cause this could get long

Percy Jackson —> Penelope Jackson

Ive seen a lot of takes where persephone is used and while i could see sally or Poseidon naming him that as a way to appease hades and try and avoid his wrath, i like Sally choosing the name of someone who got a happy ending. Penelope in greek mythology faces a lot of hardships but in the end she did get her happy ending. I also feel like Penelope being married to one of Athena’s favourite champions goes well with Penny Jackson falling for one of Athena‘s favourite sons. Also this Penelope choosing to follow her boyfriend on his perilous journey (ie. Falling into Tartartus with him) than being separated from him like the original Penelope was.

Jason Grace —> Helen Grace

Doesn’t start with the same letter but i wanted a name relating to greek mythology that i could think of reasons for. Ican see multiple ways Helen would end up with her name

1. Beryl Grace names her that out of pride. She seduces the king of gods and now she has a daughter just as beautiful as the original Helen.

2. Helen Grace does actually look a lot like Helen of Troy and was named by zeus/Jupiter for the resemblance

3. Hera, the goddess of marriage and women, maybe not being as hateful of Helen of Troy because she’s one of Zeus’ demigod daughters and not a demigod son. Also the original Helen having tumultuous marriages (depending on which version you go by) just like Hera who’s husband is about as unfaithful as you get. I could see Helen becoming one of her fave demigods and wanting to honour her by naming this new child after her. Or again Zeus naming her for that reason.

4. Helen of Troy was used in an insult against Hera so Hera being like ‘fuck you this is the new Helen, she’s gonna turn out much better than the original and she’s all mine’.

Also Helen Grace ending up in a kind of forced relationship with a son of Aphrodite.

Nico Di Angelo —> Viviana Di angelo or Mirabella Di Angelo or Rosa Di angelo

This one I’m not as decisive on, but i tried to find some italian/latin names that could be shortened to a nick name

Viviana means lively. Can be shortened to Viv. I could see this as a sort of contrast to her being the daughter of god of the dead but also Nico going through a lot of shit but surviving.

Mirabella means wonderous beauty and admiral which i think Nico is. Could be shortened to Mira or Bella.

Rosa is just a name that was popular in 1930s italy.

Also Benedetto for Bianca

Annabeth Chase —> Anthony Chase

The chase family tends to go with long posh sounding names so i thought this went well. Means praise worthy. I could also see Alexander after Alexander the Great but i don’t like giving deep meanings to every single name.

Piper McClean —> Presley McClean

Chose this because it was one of the only male P names that i liked to be honest, but Piper’s dad is famous and famous people tend to give their kids stand outish, meaningful names so maybe Presley was named after Elvis or something like that.

Frank Zhang —> Freya Zhang

Also just liked this one. Could be Francesca (no clue if i spelled that name right lol).

Leo Valdez —> Leah Valdez

Closest name to Leo i could think of.

Hazel Levesque —> Henry Levesque

Just a popular 1920s boy name starting with H.

Thalia Grace —> Hector Grace

I chose Hector because Hector of Troy was the greatest warrior for Troy and i think Zeus would want his son named after a great warrior. Before you say ‘but Hector was defeated by Achilles so shouldn’t he be named after Achilles’ I think even Zeus might think twice about naming the possible child of the prophecy after someone that had to be shot down because he was getting out of control. I don’t know if it rolls of the tongue as easily as Thalia Grace but i also thought it went nicely with Helen.

[at1nys-blog]

Thunders leaving hints

Pairing: not much of a pairing to be honest

Summary: something out of the ordinary happens and Percy Jackson is furiously mad

A/N: I know I have WIPS piling up but shhhh. Also this was based on a post by @awesome-shoes-with-wings and I had to write this just for fun so is not as good as my other works but is something. For the requests, I’ll be finish them shortly I hope

They didn’t know where they were going, the only thing they knew was that wherever was safer than what it was supposed to be home.

New York had been chaotic the past couple of weeks both for the mortal world and the…immortal one.

They knew about the monster living among humans, knew about the gods and goddesses watching over them. The deities appeared in their dreams every now and then leaving cryptic messages that only made sense in dreamland.

The last one was the most weird message they received, talking about a camp in Long Island where they could stop by for a while before starting their journey back again.

It took them a couple of days, walking around the forest to finally see the entrance of the so called Camp Half Blood. Before stepping in, they looked around, making sure no monster were after them, if they were they didn’t want for the campers to be in danger.

Something, stroking their leg made them jump out of their skin but when they noticed it was just a cat, once again, they felt relieved.

“Why do you guys keep scaring me like that.” They started saying while getting down on the animal level. “Thank you for keeping me good company.” They added before taking out of their backpack a cookie to give the cat a piece of it. “Okay now…” standing up they took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.” And they stepped foot at camp.

Hestia was minding her business when she saw the kid getting inside, eyes still on the situation she called Zeus over.

“I think you need to claim them as soon as possible before Perseus pays us a visit.” The father of the Gods was caught unprepared for this, choking on his ambrosia.

“I don’t have kids to claim.” He said frenetically, looking around hoping his wife wasn't around, who knows what she might think of this.

“Are you sure?” The Goddess asked, she just wanted to make sure they were not going to get a visit from Percy anytime soon. She loves the kid, dearly, he is a sweet boy but she knows how scary he can be, just like his father’s domain.

“I’m 100% sure THAT is NOT my kid to claim. If anything they look like they could be Hera’s kid if she was anything like me.” Thunder, at the mention of Hera’s name, there were thunders which surprised both Zeus and Hestia.

“Are you so scared of her you can’t control your thunders?” Joked the Goddess but again, it wasn’t Zeus.

The two deities dropped the conversation there, if his brother claimed that wasn’t his kid after mentioning Percy Jackson than Hestia cpuld believe he was telling the truth. That was not his kid.

Percy Jackson was furious, it had been three hours since this kid got at camp at the Gods didn’t say a word yet. He made it clear, they were to claim their kids as soon as possible.

For the son of Poseidon it had been a struggle the first hour with the new camper, but everyone talked some sense into him, wait, maybe their godly parent is busy with something, but Percy was sure it wouldn’t be difficult to just send a little message even while busy. They didn’t had to drop at camp, looking at their kid and saying ‘yep that’s mine’ they just had to send a little glowing little symbol, nothing that would take literally a second.

“I’m going to talk to them. They are coming with me” He couldn’t wait longer.

“Whoah whoah whoah. Hold your horses man, Annabeth and Chiron asked you to wait until tonight. Maybe their parent is busy.” Stopped him Grover.

“Man, I love you, I do but I’m pretty sure is like sending a text message. You can do it everywhere you are, whatever you are doing.” It was a fair point, the satyr agreed.

“Okay, but what if…” the glance that Percy sent him scared his best friend, who just shut up. There was no way he would make him change his mind. “You are scary.” Grover commented under his breath, praying the Gods Percy didn't hear him.

“They only had one job. One hell of a job.” Another set of thunders and lighting rumbled on Earth. “Don’t get mad at me Zeus, fix that or else…” he shouted at the sky. “I’m going to take a shower since I have to wait. Keep them company.” He said pointing at the new kid, who was having something to eat with the Hermes’ kids.

Three hours and yet nothing. Zeus called a meeting 30 minutes after he noticed no one was going to claim the new camper but all the major Gods came with the same answer ‘is not mine’ but how was that even possible?

It wasn’t a kid of the minor deities either and he was going crazy about this.

“Can you guys tell me who is so stupid to go against Perseus?” It came out naturally, everyone looking at Zeus confused. “What? That kid is worst than Poseidon here.” The God of the sea was smirking, proud of his boy being feared by his “all mighty” brother.

“Not to be that Goddess but have you noticed they attract cats like they are catnip? Could that be used to find who between us is their parent?” Said Athena and, as if a lightbulb turned on in their little godly brains, everyone agreed, and the twelve gods turned their head to Artemis.

“You people have to be kidding me. I swore celibacy.” Her words did not affect the deities. “I would give up immortality than laying in bed with a man.” Disgust filled her tone at the use of that word.

“It was worth the shot.” Commented Apollo. “So who else here loves cats.” He added looking deep into Ares’ eyes.

“Stop staring at me.” If anything Apollo’s gaze on him intensified. “Oh for the love of me, just because I had a cat as a partner ONCE now that means every kid that like cats is mine?” The war God had to take a step away from Apollo, not standing the way he was looking at him so close and so deep. “Look if that weakly thing was mine I would send something else to keep them safe.” He added which only made the Sun God coo and teased him for being a softie. “I’ll show you how much of a softie I am…”

“Stop it. If you keep fighting between one another, we will never find out who between you created them. Now…” started Hera, who only wanted this day to be over.

“Maybe is one of the nymphs’ kid?” Suggested Dionysus.

“Man you should really shut your mouth. If that was the case we wouldn’t be here.” Iris interjected before anyone else could. “Listen, that one is not mine okay? Now I need to go.” And she left, just like this but she knew the others would believe in her words, she wasn’t one to lie. On the other hand… The pro liar between them did not say a word yet which Hecate had to point out.

“What if the cats are just a disguise? What do you think about that Hermes?” Oh Gods if she was having the time of her life at this exact moment. Knowing who the demigod belonged to was so much fun, she had to thank Freya for this. “Isn’t it weird that he didn’t say anything? Maybe they are yours? Or do you know something?”

“The only thing I know is that my wings are killing me right now. Good me, I never flew this much in ages.” He said.

“Why are you avoiding my questions? Am I right? Are they yours?” Of course she was mistaken but Gods if she was loving it. Now she understood why Eris loves to create dramas.

“That is not my kid. As Ares here, I take pride in my children’s talent and they are not good enough to be my kids.” Thunders once again. “Zeus you really need to check on your thunders. If the go ballistic once again I might start crying.” cried Hermes. While everyone was trying to figure out who was behind the kid’s creation Hecate was having so much fun, trying her best to not laugh at their faces.

It was at the end of the day, when Percy came to Mt. Olympus looking at the twelve Gods with eyes filled with rage that Hermes had an enlightment.

“Uhm guys, I think I might know why we couldn’t find out who is their parent.” Hestia and Hera rolled their eyes, while everyone else was so ready to jump him. “Is because their godly parent is from another pantheon.” Thunders started rumbling in the background, like a laugh.

“Dad stop this.” Zeus' kids said in unison.

“Is not me.”

“Is not him, that is Thor laughing at us. He had been sending them all day long, how could I not notice that sooner?” At the gods faces turning into a question mark, Hermes just sighed. “Didn't you noticed he would use thunders every time we belittled the kid? No one? Really? Wow.”

“So, you are saying that there are other Gods out there? And they still don’t claim their off spring? Alright, can you tell me where they are? I need to take it out on someone.” And Percy was ready, so ready to knock some good manners into the Gods, he didn't care if they are powerful being that could easily kill him.

The gods had to block him there before he went on doing something stupid.

“Kid, that is so nice of you but they are already claimed, pretty much since birth.” said Hermes, knowing about you from Loki.

“The cats.” The other said in unison.

“This is why Loki called me last week and asked me so many questions about Camp Half Blood.” Oh, that God was in for a good group jump.

Leaving Mt. Olympus Percy was content with the outcome: the new kid was already claimed, the Greek gods had nothing to do with it and another pantheon was revealed to exist. ANOTHER PANTHEON EXISTS?! He wished those Gods didn’t like him very much but with his luck? He was ready to get a quest the second he walked back into camp.

“I just hope it is local and I don’t have to go to Canada once again.” If only he knew what the Fates had in store for him.

[clonerightsagenda]

I've talked about this on discord, but an interesting wrinkle in Jacobi and Maxwell's relationship for me is that Jacobi does not seem to view AIs as people.

Maxwell does, or claims to, although she's perfectly willing to betray and manipulate AIs if she needs to. She's willing to betray, manipulate, and kill humans too, after all! I honestly feel like she thinks her respect for AIs gives her more leeway - she understands them! She appreciates them! She knows what's best for them, so won't you hold still and let her fix your brain already.

Jacobi, on the other hand, does not. He's the first to suggest replacing Hera with a dummy program and seems entirely unfazed about the implications. He's betting against Hera keeping it together, again with no sense that he is wagering on someone's death. The Jacobis in "Time to Kill" should be functionally identical, but the outside one - who is under a lot more stress and might not choose his words as carefully - refers to the AI Maxwell asks about as "it" rather than "he". He lashes out at Hera over how Maxwell "wouldn't shut up" about her "talking toys" and says Hera isn't a real person.

As I mentioned, I get the impression he watched his words around Maxwell, and we only see them clash over this briefly in "Limbo" before he backs her surgery attempt because even if he doesn't agree with her perspective, he supports her as a colleague. But it is an interesting tension. This post is not about Kepler because I don't feel like talking about him, but I think key moments indicate he also doesn't view AIs as having equal personhood and agency as humans, but your boss not sharing your perspective and politics is par for the course. Your ride or die work friend who promises to always have your back thinking your entire professional philosophy is bullshit... that has to sting a little, right? Even if they mostly seem to steer around it.

And of course what's funny is in the end Maxwell stabs Hera in the back and leaves her wondering how much of her claims of caring were true, and Jacobi.... well, he and Hera have that tense conversation about dummy programs that doesn't get a verbal resolution, but when the station is 15 minutes from falling into the star and he's got a bunch of unconscious bodies and amnesiacs to wrangle, he takes the time to transfer her to the Urania. He didn't have to. The Urania flies fine without a mother program. But he does. Is this because his journey in the final season involves realizing when he's wrong and taking moral responsibility for his choices? Or is it because he mostly assigns value to people by whether they're on his team? Debatable. However I like to think Maxwell would be a little smug about it.

[oz-posts]

Almost certainly unnecessary, A!smp is probably completely separate, but when has that stopped us?

So I've been thinking about what Hera's nickname for asmp! Sunship would be. And have thought of a few possibilities. (Conclusion at the end feel free to skip)

If we go by a more leocoptera style of naming it could be anything but that seems to be the exception not the rule and so I shall focus on Greek/Roman heroes for now.

The traits I am using to narrow this down for asmp! Aimsey are:

. Royalty (preferably princehood)

. An association with space or the moon

. Possibly violence as an associated trait

. Association with knowledge and/or insanity

3. Theseus (Θησέυς)

This is not a particularly good one if only for how damp!Tommy has already claimed it.

However it does work a bit.

He is a prince, and a lost one at that. His father abandoned him in an attempt to protect him and (depending on how things go down at those coordinates this could really fit or really not) his father nearly had him murdered. Similarly, if in the future his relationship to Asmp!guqqie devolves it could perhaps mirror his relationship to Ariadne (who I may go over as a possiblity for Guqqie in a later part)

Sadly, after this it falls apart. He is typically considered quite noble,retains his sanity (I think) and his nature as more of a trickster contradicts A! Aimsey's more desperate panicked violence. Similarly, there is no association with space whatsoever.

2. Odysseus (Οδυσσευς)

By far the most famous on this list, I quite like Odysseus for the ways their stories mirror each other. The Odyssey is typically agreed to mainly symbolize thought and the nature of humanity, which to me feels similar to Aimsey's nature as a seeming human ending -however I understand this is a stretch. Similarly, their stories are both about a desperate struggle to either find or establish a home.

Odysseus was also royalty, the king of Ithica and had a connection to knowledge himself. Being originally allied with Athena before pissing her off. And had several moments where he struggled with the isolation her experienced on his journey. However, he has no major association with space and was mainly sane and if not peaceful his violence was carefully considered and controlled.

1. Asterion (Αστεριον)

While this will get all the bg3 nerds confused I think it really fits. Asterion means "starry" ( space association check) and is the name used by the citizens of Crete for the minotaur. As the step son of Minos he would have been considered a prince ( royalty, check) although not technically in line for the throne.

Immediately, the minotaur is associated with senseless violence and insanity as it was said to have a craving for blood and was locked in a maze by his stepfather to "protect his people". Similarly, even if sane at the beginning, all those years in darkness and solitude would have lead to desperation and insanity anyways.

However, even in the contemporary period this was understood to be not entirely accurate. Asterion was demonized by his father as a bastard - with a literal bull no less-and used as his own personal monster to threaten his enemies with. The famous labyrinth and human sacrifices were used as a punishment for Athens after their king killed Minos's son. This to me could perhaps mirror how humans are automatically assumed to be evil and how this has become a self fulfilling prophecy as they kill and steal out of fear

Anyways, this is my opinion and may not be entirely accurate. If you disagree or I got anything wrong please correct me and don't get mad please.

[jessicas-pi]

The Moment of Impact

You know me, always coming up with new AU ideas.

When Caleb Dume is fourteen, he is a freshly traumatized mess who just felt the destruction of everything he held dear.

And to top it all off, he is hit with nineteen years' worth of future memories, from that second up until the moment he dies.

Understandably, Caleb panics.

It takes a while for him to get his head together, and in the end, he decides the best, maybe the only, thing to do is to follow the path already laid.

Maybe he makes a few changes.

Saves a few lives.

Doesn't stray quite so far, because he already knows the way home.

Quite a while later, he meets Hera on Gorse. He's been looking forward to this for a long, long time.

And so has Hera.

For Hera, the moment she can never forget—the moment she lost her mother—is also the moment she Remembered.

Kanan develops a theory, and does a bit of mental math.

These... moments of impact. Assuming it's the whole crew, assuming they will all remember... when? He can guess. The massacre of Lasan. The Duchess. Ezra's parents.

Ezra's parents. Force, that was a year ago. Does he already remember?

As much as Kanan and Hera both want to drop everything and run grab the kid... they don't know what it will change; if the ripple effect will ruin everything. They can't.

Two years later, with Lasan reduced to rubble, Zeb has no such worries.

He couldn't save Lasan. He was too late for that. But he has knowledge now and he is going to use it.

His first stop is Lothal.

Ezra's Remembered for three years. On the sly, he's been experimenting with Force powers and mind tricks and he's got a pretty good hustle going.

He's also desperately lonely.

He never met Kanan or Hera or Chopper or Zeb or Sabine, not yet, but he still misses them so much.

So much that when he bumps into Zeb on the street, he accidentally blurts out his name in sheer joy.

Zeb has acquired a ship at this point, and he and Ezra make a journey out into the wide galaxy, on their way to find Kanan and Hera.

Kanan and Hera are very hard to find.

Zeb and Ezra make a detour.

This time around, Sabine erases everything on the Duchess. Every scrap of information, every last little thing. There is no trace it even existed. It will never be rebuilt.

But she takes longer this time, being extra ever-so-careful, and gets caught, and locked up.

She's plotting her escape when a face she's never seen but would still know anywhere peeks out from the ventilation shaft in the ceiling.

Kanan and Hera, like the worried parents they are, have been monitoring Imperial communications from the Mandalore Academy when they hear a report of a Lasat and a Jedi breaking out a student who was just arrested for treason. It's accompanied by a holo of a very large, very colorful explosion.

"So much for leaving the timeline alone," Kanan remarks dryly. Hera is already on her way to the cockpit, instructing Chopper to set a course for Mandalore.

It's time for a family reunion.

[rughydrangea]

I can't hold it in any longer. I'm so deeply confused by Ahsoka. I just really don't understand who this show is for. Is it for regular people who watch The Mandalorian but have never seen the animated shows? Then the fact that all the main characters have years of history that those people know nothing amount basically guarantees that they will not find any aspect of this story compelling. If you don't know who Ezra is, why would you care if he's saved or not? If you don't know anything about Hera and Sabine's relationship, would you be interested in Hera's continuing presence in this show? If you've never seen Thrawn, how could you think of him as a genuine threat that everyone should be worried about? And if your only exposure to Ahsoka is in the live-action shows, then I'm sorry, but why would you want to watch a show about that character, who is very cold and appears to have no real emotions or inner life and whom you have been given no reason to be invested in?

On the flip side, as someone who has seen Rebels and The Clone Wars, speaking for myself I can say that this show is giving me nothing I want because it's simultaneously dependent on the backstory of those shows but is trying to be accessible. Ahsoka has a long, complicated, very fraught history with the Jedi order--something you'd have no idea about from what this show is giving us (the opening crawl called her an ex-Jedi knight! which she isn't! what is going on!). The intense bonds of love and family that tie together the Ghost crew members are alluded to here, but the actors can't really sell them, through no fault of their own, but because those bonds were so thoroughly established by separate versions of the character. I miss the warm, deeply intimate, sometimes fractious relationship that Hera and Sabine had, a weird cross between mother/daughter and older sister/younger sister that was such a lovely part of Rebels and that isn't really being recreated here. Most of all, I think Filoni's desire to keep the animated references down to a minimum has, in these first three episodes, resulted in the erasure of my personal favorite Ghost crew member! And to me it makes no sense! Ahsoka was never the main Jedi in Sabine's life--Ezra and Kanan were. The people who first taught Sabine to use a light(dark)saber were Kanan and Ezra. We got a Jacen appearance this episode, and he even says that he wants to be a Jedi, but a casual viewer would have no idea that Hera's pained reaction to this is because his father was a Jedi! Star Wars is all about legacies and the pain they cause and the ways that stories repeat themselves and the groundwork for that is all here, but we can't tap into it because this show is being made for people who neither know nor care who these characters are and where they are coming from!

And then there's the one bit of backstory that we're missing that makes me feel like I'm losing my mind. Multiple times in each of the three episodes that have aired so far, I have found myself thinking back through Rebels--was there a scene were it was suggested that Sabine was force-sensitive? The answer, of course, is no. So, given Ahsoka's kind of traumatic history with the Jedi order, why would she see a young woman with no kind of force sensitivity and think, oh, yeah, she should be a padawan? I just don't buy it. Ahsoka's ties to her Jedi life weren't severed when she was expelled from the order, or when she declined to rejoin it, obviously; we saw in s7 as well as in Tales of the Jedi that a lot of her journey is about coming to understand the value of the Jedi and the role that they played in the galaxy and how that legacy lives in her. But her path was different. She's a product of the Jedi order, but she's not one of them. Why she would think the only way to help Sabine to develop is to force her into a mold that a) isn't right for her, and b) ultimately wasn't even right for Ahsoka herself just makes no sense to me. And because we have no access to that first, unsuccessful attempt to teach Sabine, we have no idea why any of this is going on or what anybody is hoping to get out of this arrangement.

I should be done, but if I'm griping, one more thing. In TCW, Ahsoka is an endlessly compelling character. We see her grow from cute little brat to a thoughtful, compassionate young woman of deep conviction and principle, always questioning the world around her, always grounded by deep relationships. Her appearances in Rebels feel like the natural maturation of that character--she's older, calmer, more sure of herself, her personality that before was so bubbly having subsided into deep, flowing waters. But she's still animated by curiosity, kindness, and a sense of justice. She's obviously changed from who she was as a child, but she's still Ahsoka.

I personally see no continuity between this character I love in her animated form and the live-action version. It's not really a performance problem, it's that this Ahsoka just doesn't feel like Ahsoka, because she's missing the quality that I most associate with her: warmth. Ahsoka cares. Everything she does is out of a desire to help people. No matter how much she went through, how much she was hurt, she always came back to that. And that's just gone here. Here, she doesn't seem to have any kind of a personality (bizarre, given that she's nominally the main character). What drives her, what she cares about, the importance of her relationships in her life... I just can't see any of it. And it bums me out, because I love Ahsoka, and I want to watch more stories about her, but I want them to actually be about her, not this imposter.

So, uh, in conclusion, I really wanted a Rebels sequel and I really wanted more Ahsoka but this show is, for me, the absolute worst fulfillment of those wishes. And I'm sad about it!

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "Trials of the Darksaber"

Delicious. Finally some good kriffing Sabine backstory. :)

Really love the unique design of Atollon, the coral reef type plantlife, like the ocean floor drained of water. Love that we get lots of establishing shots this season just looking at and admiring the coral formations. <3

From this look Sabine gives as Rau heads up the ramp into the Ghost's cargo hold I think she already suspects and/or dreads why he's there.

Rau looks at the darksaber with reverence and awe and disbelief like it's Excalibur.

"Liberated" is an awfully nice way of saying y'all stole it, Rau. And oh boy the ink I could spill on that.

Long story short, the thing never should have become a cultural icon for the Mandalorians in the first place, Tarre left it with the Temple, if he wanted the Mandos to have it he would have instructed the Jedi Order to give it to them. Actually kind of sick that a Jedi lightsaber--representative of peace and diplomacy--got used instead for warfare, conquest, and dominance.

Side note though, the 2D animation sequence of the darksaber's backstory is gorgeous.

"I imagine Sabine was excited to recover it." Yeeeeeeeah you don't know her at all, Rau. Sabine has too many family trauma-shaped issues for that. She thought for one second about the implications of finding the darksaber and was like, "Nope! Not dealing with that." straight into denial and avoidance.

Which is not the last time her character journey in this episode will mirror Ezra's from all the way back in "Empire Day/Gathering Forces".

This is so cute. <3

From how Sabine has painted herself this particular wall art must have been added sometime in Season Two, probably earlier in the season. Her depiction of Ezra here is a little bit more flattering than the one she painted in Season One... but still kind of poking fun at him. XD

(Really kind of amazing to contrast this portrait with the one she did in the finale, where Ezra is centered instead of her, and finally looks serene and grown up.)

Sabine is kind of curled up, clutching her helmet a bit self-protectively.

Be honest, you thought the purr Chopper gives when Sabine pets him as she passes was cute too.

The score is already heavily reliant on clarinet and harp, a combination that makes this cue sound vaguely exotic.

Hmm, does this collective family confrontation seem familar?

It does!

Ezra points out the obvious: It's a lot harder for someone non-Force Sensitive to wield and be proficient in a lightsaber. Something that the Ahsoka show will hopefully delve into.

Maybe?

Perhaps?

Please?

Kanan agrees that Sabine "can't fight like a Jedi" (more evidence that she's not actually Force Sensitive) but she can become proficient with the blade, to which Sabine objects because "[...]that is a lightsaber." and there is this raw look of actual fear in her eyes.

This is the first time we hear her theme, by the way, faint in the background.

Sabine has such a defeatist attitude about reconciling with her family. :(

Tiya's voice acting is amazing this episode, Sabine already sounds like she's about to cry.

(Also note she curls her arms around herself self-protectively here, juuuuust like a little Season One Loth-rat we could name. :) )

Hera is being SO very gentle about the fact that she has to, as Rebellion leader, ask Sabine to try and make a strategic alliance with a prominent Mandalorian clan. Sabine feels a little bit betrayed by this, obviously, but Kanan emphasizes she can still walk away if that's her choice, which I really wish the people who trauma-coddle Sabine would remember as a thing he and Hera did.

Does Sabine relent because she feels a sense of pressure? Probably. But also she was not healing ducking and avoiding the issue.

Even though she agrees she's not really committed to her actions yet, and Ezra points out that getting her head right about that is going to be the first step. (Hera kind of gives him stinkeye for this but Hera, this is Jedi Training 101, let the padawan who's already wrestled with this have a say. He's not even that mean about it.)

Sabine gets angry, which is the opposite of what she needs to be in order to do this. (Also, "Give me the lightsaber and I'll make the connection!"/"Gimme the sword, I'm gonna learn how to kick your--") At Kanan's urging she calms herself, though, and it's only then that he lets her hold the darksaber.

AND THUS WE GET ROAD TRIP AND JEDI BOOTCAMP WITH KANAN. :D

Ezra doesn't often get the chance to poke Sabine back so you know he's enjoying this.

Sabine is actually being way pricklier at the teasing than she normally would be, and that's one of our clues of just how emotionally unbalanced and rattled she is this episode.

They start setting up camp and Sabine immediately begins questioning Kanan's training methods, to which Ezra assures her this kind of thing is normal.

Something I really like and appreciate about this episode? Ezra never once acts jealous or bratty about the fact that Kanan's training Sabine too. He's actually very eager and helpful to walk her through the forms.

The only two times he complains it's because Kanan made him unload the supplies Fenn brought instead of taking a break to rest--which isn't really about Sabine at all, more like a typical teenager griping about the chores--and when Sabine uses her new gauntlet arsenal on him. Because you know, that's cheating.

There is nooooooo particular reason I'm including this screencap, nope. None at all.

I said like a liar.

Look at him, he's so proud for her. <3

I love watching the choreography in this episode. Sabine lunges, almost off balance from the very-start, movement heavily telegraphed, and slashes with very little thought or strategy, and none of the elegance or precision she's going to need with an actual lightsaber. So obviously, Kanan easily deflects and overpowers her.

This first clash is punctuated with some lovely drum percussion in the score. Possibly some wood blocks too? That or the drums are Japanese Taiko or something.

He's so excited to teach her, look at him. <3

Fun note from the closed captions: "Hey, slow down, all right? You're not gonna learn this in one day." Ezra being encouraging when she's frustrated about her progress.

After the commercial cut we're back with Ezra and Sabine again and she's almost gotten herself perfectly synced to him.

Hera: "Were you careful with Ezra?" Ah, that would be a NO, Hera. He was not. Lol.

Both Hera and Kanan have points here. Kanan, understandably, doesn't want Sabine to get hurt (his "I'm trying things differently" line) and Hera accuses him of doubting in her abilities because she doesn't have the Force. And it's not that it's that her emotional blockage is going to completely screw up her ability to hold a lightsaber, because to use the Force properly in any fashion, even just enough to hold a lightsaber without dismembering yourself you have to be at peace.

You can't be channeling your emotions because that feedback loops through the Force and amplifies whatever you're feeling and amps it up to dangerous levels you can't always control, especially if you aren't trained.

Kanan is the Jedi, he knows this. But Hera is the mom, and she knows Sabine. By not letting her actually confront herself via the real blade, Kanan isn't helping her work through her issues.

Mostly because he doesn't know how to even begin to approach those issues because Sabine's got everything so battened down and bottled up under stubborn layers of denial and anger and hurt. (So he's going to have to throw her in the deep end like he did with Ezra, and it seems like he doesn't want to.)

Like, this episode is an almost perfect encapsulation of why the Jedi practice mindfulness and why the Jedi way can't be for everyone who shows Force potential.

Though on those lines, again, please note that the show completely supports the premise that Sabine is not Force Sensitive, even with Kanan's line about how the Force resides in all things but you have to be open to it. We'll put a bookmark on this and hopefully we won't have to come back to it for reference with the Ahsoka show. *narrow stare at Filoni*

"I'll be sending out supplies, is there anything specific that you need?" "Patience, understanding..." SUCH a #married line lol.

Back to the boot camp and Sabine is doing marginally better, her movements sharper, more controlled, kept closer to her chest. She's still pressing forward too much, too eager to just attack and overwhelm; Ezra barely expends any effort dodging and blocking her. His form is polished, casual. You can spot several of the established canon block positions. Sabine's is erratic and stiff, her strikes all over the place.

She smacks him for his chipper encouraging compliment but also--

She smiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiing. ^_^

There's a move here Ezra does where he spins around Sabine's strike that gif-makers have noticed she uses later in her fight with Saxon.

Sabine is SO ANNOYED that Rau is adding to the chorus of critical voices lolol.

Rau spoiling Sabine like a doting uncle, aww.

The gifts provide Sabine with a temporary, artificial confidence, which leads to a bit of arrogance on her part. She's too caught up in getting one over her opponent that she forgets all respect and decorum and attacks Kanan out of turn.

Kanan gets a little pissy in return, quickly turning things around and emphasizing that her bullish attitude is going to get her killed.

Oh, something else I love? Sabine doesn't ever target Ezra with her anger, even here where she's yelling at Kanan, all her bitterness is directed squarely at him and she only mentions Ezra because she incredulous he's learned so well when he has such a "lousy" teacher.

But oof, Kanan and Ezra's expressions, ow.

There's this painful little pinch of guilt. Wonder if he's remembering Kanan's doubts about being a good teacher for him, about how when things were at their worst he was the one lashing out at Kanan and claiming he didn't need him.

Sabine goes off to be by herself and after a moment Ezra follows, attempting another of his infamous impromptu therapy sessions no doubt lol.

I love this scene so much. The soft lighting, the quiet rendition of Sabine's theme in harp. Ezra trying to be encouraging and understanding and Sabine just bursting at the seams with all the hurt and pain she's trying to hide because if she gives voice to the reason she left she has to confront it all over again.

Thematically it's all the same beats as their conversation back in "Gathering Forces" where Sabine was urging him to reconcile with and resolve the trauma in his past, reconnect with his former family, only now with the roles reversed, now he's the one urging her.

Gif-makers have not failed to notice the shot-for-shot blocking, the parallels are so strong and clearly deliberate. Ezra's trying to be there for Sabine the way she was for him, with the same results, Sabine shuts down and shuts him out. Ezra withdraws respectfully, though not before pointing out that she still has a chance, because her parents are still alive to reconcile with. (I hear a snatch of his theme right here, very nice.)

Boy fandom gave him so much unnecessary grief for that line. It made... zero sense. Then and now.

Sabine tries to call after him, a bit too late, and just stays alone with her thoughts some more.

Hi Bendu!

See what I said above, Kanan's thinking about the practicality of letting a volatile emotionally-compromised teenager swing around a Force weapon and Hera knows she's not going to get past her issues if she's given an out to avoid things. (Hera also alludes to her issues with Cham, which is probably what got Sabine to start trusting her in the first place.)

Ezra voicing some worry about how long she's been gone. <3 And complete faith in her abilities, feeling like Kanan's maybe pushing her too hard. <3

He's so happy to see her back, too. <3

Oooh this track, relying on those unique instruments again, some kind of flute and that might be an erhu but I'm not sure. This is "Sabine's Catharsis", a cue which takes her leitmotif through an emotional wringer, bending it around different percussion harmonies and giving the theme to different parts of the orchestra. (I counted at least four or five shifts, from the flute, to the erhu and violins, to a cello and some horns, to the full string section and back around again.)

Sabine looks trepidacious at finally being handed the darksaber.

Ezra with an expression of, "Oh this 'bout to get good."

And his anxious glance at Rau when he realizes Kanan isn't dialing down his saber to training mode lol.

Ho man this overhead shot.

This whole sequence. *chef's kiss* The lighting, the score, the character drama... Kanan pushing Sabine to her limit, physically and emotionally, to break past the walls that are preventing her from healing, from accessing that place of catharsis she needs.

Sabine's choreography starts fraying as the duel goes on, Kanan still easily able to knock her down or push her about. At one point the darksaber glances off her right vambrace, singing it, which is probably what Kanan was worried about when he hesitated to actually give her the sword.

(Ezra almost rushes in, because she's hurt, but Fenn holds him back. People holding Ezra back from trying to protect Sabine will almost become a running gag in this arc lol.)

Again, I would love to point out those sweet sweet parallels in the dialogue here.

"You're blocked!"/"You're not committed to this. You should quit."

"I'm not afraid of them!" "Then what?"/"You did run, didn't you?" "No!"

"Ezra, what are you afraid of?"/"Then what's the truth?"

And... it works.

"I'm... I'm afraid of knowing. I'm afraid of the truth!"/"The truth... is that... I left to save everyone!"

Frick, the emotion in Tiya's performance here, it's so raw. :(((((

And finally that juicy juicy Sabine backstory they've been sprinkling out a trickle at a time, lol.

:(((((

All of them pledging to support her as we close out on this powerful image.

Oh man I love this episode. Something that becomes apparent in Season Three is that Sabine is being moved forward into narrative prominence, to wind up ultimately as a co-protagonist to Ezra. That spot had previously been taken up by Kanan, who has been sort of stepping back, the writers very slowly shifting him out of focus and allowing Sabine to grow, and also allowing her and Ezra to grow up together. (I think at this point they already knew that Kanan's days were numbered as Ezra's mentor, and were making sure he still had someone who was always going to be in his corner.)

In the end the show is about them, the children who become adults too soon in a world at war. "A boy who was lost" and "a girl who was broken" as Hera's trailer voiceovers would say, later.

Sabine's backstory confession is heartbreaking. Slightly confusing in places, @seleneisrising has an attempt at a coherent timeline of events, but nothing that dampens the emotional resonance of the scene. So many things about Sabine make sense now, and boy I hurt for her.

Great music, great character work... This episode is on people's top fives for a reason.

[heliads]

Can you write Jason x Daughter of Hecate? Both of them are on the Argo 2 btw. Jason is dating Piper but he starts to fall in love with the reader who already likes him? She also has a bestie who is a daughter of Hermes. Reader is a recrenation of Helen of Troy, who is put into an endless cycle of heartbreak but when she meets Jason the cycle gets broken. But she is really afraid of falling in love. Sorry if I am being to specific 😭😭

there is no such thing as too specific!! in fact the more details i see in a request the more excited i get.

masterlist

You wouldn’t expect a massive celestial bronze trireme to feel quite as cramped as it does. That’s no insult to Leo Valdez, chief engineer and designer extraordinaire, of course— this would happen to any ship, any vessel, that happened to be host to eight demigods on a constant blend of nerves and adrenaline.

 Leo did his best to make the Argo II roomy, but when you’re cruising at cloud level, even a floating mansion would seem like cramped quarters. Were it not for the fact that most of you are best friends with at least one other person on the ship, you’re certain fights would break out more often. That, and the fact that the fate of the world literally depends on all of you staying alive. 

So the stakes are high, what of it? They’ve been high before. You, daughter of Hecate, have been around your fair share of fights. You bled in the Battle of Manhattan. You held off a line of Titans and monsters so Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase could kill Kronos. This is not your first life-or-death scenario, nor will it be the last.

It just happens to be different, that’s all. At least the danger is obvious on a battlefield, all you have to do is look for who’s trying to kill you and go from there. Up in the air, though, everything is a tense battle of waiting for something to go wrong, for the destination to come, for your journey to end.

Waiting is hard, especially for a bunch of demigods who were all hardwired to never sit still. This forces the lot of you to get some better hobbies than punching the occasional wall or talking each other senseless. For some of you, that involves sparring practice, attempts at reading books, or fixing the ship.

For others, attempts to pass the time end up more complex than you’d originally hoped. There is someone on this ship who might mean the world to you if you’d only let him, someone who you think might even have feelings for you. That person is also currently in a relationship with one Piper McLean, and that person is Jason Grace.

Jason is somewhat of an enigma to you. He has no past that makes sense, no future he can understand. Jason grew up in the Roman camp, then was dragged away from it by Hera. Unlike Percy, though, Jason doesn’t seem to be as immediately called back to his homeland upon regaining his memories.

Jason also has a girlfriend who believed they were dating due to false memories given to her by that same meddlesome goddess of marriage. Piper is a good friend of hers, you hold no resentment with her, but you do have to wonder if she’s ever thought about how little of the start of her relationship was real. To Piper, she was dating Jason for weeks before the incident at the Grand Canyon that brought both of them to Camp Half-Blood. To Jason, none of that existed at all.

It would confuse anyone, to say the least. All appeared to be well, though, and Jason and Piper got together again for real not long after that. You’d believe that was a sign they were meant to be were it not for one thing and one thing only:  Jason does not appear to be in love with her.

This, of course, is a horrible thing to say, but it’s true. Jason likes Piper. You all do. She’s a wonderful person to be around. That being said, you’ve seen what love looks like in many other demigods and many other friends, and whatever is racing through Jason’s heart is not that. He has more chemistry with– well, with you, and that’s something else entirely.

It started happening a few weeks before the Argo II set sail. You were at Camp Half-Blood a couple of years before Jason, Piper, and Leo arrived, one of the dozens of unclaimed kids stuffed in the Hermes cabin. Once Percy extracted his promise from the gods, you were claimed by Hecate, and the numbers in your godly mother’s cabin are now growing by the day. You met Jason when he first showed up, but you only got to talking once he came back from his quest to save Hera. Those few months during the construction of the Argo II were some of the best in your life, and not just because you were finally in a cabin of your true godly half-siblings.

No, that was because of Jason. At first, you had brushed him off as a typical blond boy in search of rules to follow, but you were quickly proven wrong. Jason is funny, making jokes you wouldn’t expect from someone of his leadership prowess. He’s quick to defend anyone in need of assistance, but more than willing to stand back and watch people grow by themselves. He’s kind of sort of perfect, actually, and you can understand why Piper would fall in love with him.

This makes it sound as if you were in love with Jason yourself, and no matter what he might feel about you, this will not be the case. If it were not enough for you to be the daughter of the witch goddess, you’re also on the receiving end of a rather nasty curse. Reincarnation, to be precise. The reincarnation of Helen of Troy. What a wonderful fate to receive.

Helen, as it may be obvious, did not exactly have the best fate regarding love. The prize of Paris’ decision of a contest between three goddesses, Helen was carted from Sparta to Troy, thus causing the Trojan War. As a result, you were condemned to face an endless cycle of heartbreak after heartbreak. Your mother even told you about that the one time you met her. She appeared to you in a vision, told you about your status as someone destined for ruin in love, then left just as quickly. Hecate is not exactly kind, but neither is magic. It is merely a tool to help or hurt when the time is right.

Still, it was enough information to let you know that nothing could ever happen with Jason. Even if he stayed loving you the way he does know, even if you allowed yourself to fall in love with him, heartbreak would follow just as surely as the Achaeans followed the Trojans to win back Helen. There is no path here that results in anything but devastation for you.

Jason knows of your reincarnation. Everyone at camp does. That hasn’t stopped him from developing feelings, however. You’ve seen the way he looks at you, how his eyes soften every time you smile, how you’re always the first one he searches for in a crowd when he wins a sword fight in the training yard. It’s you then Piper, and surely there must be a reason for that.

There was a night, once, when you thought he might finally confess. Two days after he came back from his quest, Jason found you after the sun set and sat with you on the beach. No one was around, no one dared come close. The night breeze made you shiver, and he gave you his jacket without a single second of hesitation. 

The two of you had been complacent in pleasant quiet for a while before Jason dared to speak. He told you something important, something about how he had thought of you every day he was gone from camp. He said that even though he had no memories left, he knew what it was to want someone when they were gone. He paused, waited for you to say something, and was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming your way.

You both had to head to your cabins after that; it was after curfew, after all, and Jason Grace would never bode well with breaking a rule. It was good that you hurried, then, as there was nobody around for miles. You had summoned up the sound of approaching people, it’s an easy spell to do. So easy that Jason might have guessed at your intent. Maybe that was why he sighed the way he did when you parted ways that night.

The jacket is still in your trunk somewhere back at camp. You were always too afraid of facing him again to give it back. Jason might have considered that a sign of something you couldn’t say. You might, too.

It’s getting to you, you can admit that freely. Trying to run from Jason isn’t a fate you can pursue forever, especially not when the two of you are both on the same ship in the same sky. There are too many chances for hands to brush, gazes to meet, words to be whispered.

When you feel like you might give in, you turn to the only resource you’ve ever needed:  your best friend. Stella Rodriguez is a daughter of Hermes, someone you’ve grown to consider a sister. You met her when you were first placed in the Hermes cabin before your claiming, and the two of you have stayed thick as thieves even after you moved out.

Finding an empty room on the Argo II can be difficult, so you make do with a broom closet of an armory. Sliding down to the floor, you lean your back up against the wall and grab a spray bottle of water you’d brought for just this purpose. You’ve become a pro at summoning up Iris messages, and you do so now with a flourish.

Stella answers almost immediately. “Is that my favorite demigod?”

You grin. “You’re not supposed to have favorites, you know. You have too many half-siblings for that to work out.”

Stella rolls her eyes. “We’re best friends, we get to be favorites. How’s the quest going? Saved any lives yet?”

“Oh, always,” you laugh, “but that’s not what I’m here to discuss.”

Stella arches a brow. “What’s gone wrong?”

You frown. “I don’t like that tone, but you’re right to have your doubts.”

You open your mouth to tell her about the situation with Jason, but you recognize footsteps at the door. “Actually, scratch that, I’m going to have to tell you later. Someone’s coming.”

Stella starts to complain about you gatekeeping obvious demigod drama from her, but you wave your hand through the mist and her arguments are cut off halfway through. Sure enough, your suspicions are correct:  mere moments after Stella’s face disappears from in front of you, Jason opens the door and peers inside.

“I thought I heard voices,” he says, “I’ve been looking for Leo, is he in here?”

You shake your head. “Just an Iris message, sorry. You might want to try the engine room.”

Jason’s brow furrows at the thought. “Actually, I think I’m good. He wanted me for some kind of ship-fixing chore, maybe it’s for the best that I hide up here for a while. Do you mind if I stay a little longer?”

You shake your head, gesturing at the empty space next to you. “No problem.”

Jason slumps to the floor, head back against the wall. “Who were you talking to, if you don’t mind me asking? Someone special back at camp?”

He tries to play it off as joking, but something deep in his tone makes you think otherwise. “My best friend,” you clarify, “you remember Stella from Hermes, right?”

Jason does his best not to seem impossibly relieved, but he doesn’t do a perfect job of it. “I do. No special someones, then?”

“No one,” you say, “It just doesn’t work out well for me, I’ve learned that the hard way. The love thing is– complicated.” That’s putting it lightly. The last time a version of you was caught in between two men, she caused the fall of Troy and the deaths of hundreds of warriors. It’s not great, to say the least.

Jason exhales in a hiss through his teeth. “Yeah, I can see that. I get complicated, though. Something about waking up with no memories and finding out not one but two different girls think they have the right to date me gets pretty confusing.”

You laugh. “Not the worst problem in the world.”

Jason grimaces, shaking his head slightly as he tries to clarify. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just weird, you know? Piper had all these memories of us being in a relationship that ended up being fake. And Reyna–”

His voice trails off slightly, but he manages to regain his rhythm a moment or two later. “Reyna knew a version of me I don’t think exists anymore. Same thing with the one Piper was dating. I don’t think either of them know who I am.”

“Do you know?” You ask gently.

Jason shrugs, staring out into space. “Some days I know more than others. It’s just frustrating because I have these memories of being at the Roman camp, and I have these expectations of who I should be, I don’t think they’re me anymore. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be at all.”

You reach over to put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to know. We’ve got our whole lives ahead of us to decide. Try to stay alive long enough to figure that out, huh?”

Jason chokes out a surprised laugh. “What, you think I’ll manage to sort out my whole personality in the limited lifespan of a demigod?”

You crack a grin. “Hey, we’re already past sixteen, I’d consider that beating the odds fairly well. Maybe we’ll live to die of old age.”

Jason whistles under his breath. “Wouldn’t that be something? I feel like I wouldn’t know what to do with myself, though. You spend all that time running around, trying not to die, and when you finally get a quiet life, you feel useless.”

“Quiet’s not so bad,” you muse, “it doesn’t mean you have to be alone, just that you’re not in grave danger anymore.”

“Being with someone wouldn’t be the worst,” Jason agrees.

He looks over at you out of the corner of his eye, a quiet, unguarded look that makes your stomach tie itself in knots. You realize your hand is still on his shoulder; Jason must have known it too, but he clearly hasn’t moved a muscle lest he remind you of it. All of a sudden, the walls of the armory feel far too close, the ceiling curving down to trap you inside a bronze cage. This is getting too similar a situation to what you’ve been afraid of all along. Your heart has been broken many, many times before, so you’re used to the sensation, but you get the feeling that this rough closure with Jason will cut deeper than any other if you let it develop any further.

You all but snatch your hand from him. Jason’s face falls, but he manages to cover up the slip in his expression with true neutral in a flash. That’s the sign of the praetor in him, you suppose, but it doesn’t stop either of you from hurting for it.

Jason stands up abruptly, a shoot of legs and quick steps. “I think I hear someone calling me,” he says awkwardly, “I’d better go.”

It’s a lie, but it gets both of you out of a terrible situation, so you let it be. You raise one hand in a halfhearted farewell and pretend like you can’t see the fact that Jason wants to stay. The armory is far more cold and quiet when Jason is gone, and you wonder what it is about the son of Zeus that makes you want to learn your reincarnation’s lesson one more treacherous time.

Stella has a lot to say on the matter when you finally get around to calling her back. Most of her tirade has to do with the fact that you need to stop worrying about stupid curses and just see what happens. Even if you get your heart broken, dragging this out even longer is just going to make this worse. So she claims, at least.

You were going to ignore that and go on suffering through the reincarnation versus the appeal of Jason nonsense when something happened to make you feel otherwise. You’re talking late with Annabeth one night when she casually mentions that Piper and Jason broke up. A few weeks ago, actually. Mutual agreement, no hearts broken. They both agreed that they were basically just friends anyway.

You did your best to seem casual about asking more, but you’re certain that Annabeth saw through it anyway. No matter; this is important news, and sometimes that has to be reacted to appropriately. There’s nothing you can do about it right now, though, not until later. Not until you’re certain that what you hope could happen will happen.

You find Jason a couple of days later. Maybe he finds you. The method doesn’t really matter, only the end result. 

He says:  Would you love me? If I swore to never break your heart?

You say:  You can’t make that promise. 

He says:  I can try. 

Every time your Helen of Troy-ordained cycle of heartbreak starts, you can physically feel something in your heart change. It’s a snapping sensation, like a broken bone or tripped wire. When Jason kisses you, you wait for the gods-awful mechanism to be engaged. It never happens. 

requested by @sakuraazharuno, i hope you enjoy!!

pjo tag list: @w1shes43, @fadedver, @anxiety-werewolf

[anoray]

Ahsoka Episode 5

Okay, so my favorite things in this episode were anything to do with Jacen, Huyang, Chopper, and the purrgil. Oh, and a pat on the back to Captain Teva for being sensible when no one else seemed to be up to the task ;)

Hooray for a shout out to Kanan Jarrus at long last, especially because it was used in context with him being Jacen's Jedi father. Bless you, Huyang, for confirming "Jacen has abilities" (sorry Sabine, I know you're doing your best). And kudos to Jacen for helping save his Auntie Ahsoka, following in the footsteps of his DUME daddy back when he guided Ezra to the Lothal Temple to rescue her in the WBW.

Nice job, Ahsoka, you pulled an Ezra out of your hood and got the Purrgil King to take you aboard, but I did notice that one of the purrgils kept staring at Jacen through the Ghost's viewport :) The whole scene with the space whales was so much fun, but I am disappointed Hera, Jacen, and Chop won't be making the journey as well. Then again, I'm not surprised since this is the Ahsoka show after all.

Speaking of, I know most folks will be all excited about the Snips and Skyguy shenanigans in this episode, but I actually found that element somewhat emotionally underwhelming. It was all visually interesting and the young Ahsoka gave an excellent performance, but the interactions between Ahsoka and Anakin...I don't know...their bits of conversation seemed to be lacking something deeper for me.

I really wish Rex would have been featured more significantly, and it would've been meaningful to include Plo Kloon in some way. In the end, I'm feeling puzzled in how these particular, rather superficial memories/visions that were primarily focused on another lightsaber duel with Anakin/Vader resulted in her becoming Ahsoka the White. I hope that changes as the story progresses.

Anyway, I definitely got a kick out of the interactions between Jacen and sassy Huyang. And I am glad Hera trusted her son just like she used to trust his father, plus that we now know for sure that she's told oodles of stories about Ezra and Kanan to Jacen over the years.

I look forward to the next episode and wonder if we'll ever see Zeb (and Kallus and Hondo) before this season ends...

[ahsoka-its-all-of-us]

Sneak peek of my Kalluzeb series because it's three in the morning now and I'm trying to write an exam for my students to take tomorrow but I can't focus anymore so I'll do that early tomorrow I guess rip

Anyway, have a little jump back in time!

As he left, Zeb took the abandoned co-pilot chair, turning his gaze towards the window. He didn’t say anything, simply staring at the lights of hyperspace flashing by them. Hera leant in to catch a glimpse of his expression.

And her blood turned to ice in her veins.

The look on Zeb’s face… she recognised it. She’d seen it before, in Kanan, in Rex, in her parents back on Ryloth. Something had definitely happened on Bahryn, something that affected Zeb deeply.

But she had gravely misjudged in what way.

“What were you looking for?” she asked, fighting to keep her voice calm when all she wanted to do was scream some sense into her friend.

Zeb startled. “Just, er… I thought my bo-rifle was missing a piece.”

Hera raised her eyebrows at him. It felt like an excuse, and she wanted to get to the bottom of this.

“It got damaged in the fight with Kallus” Zeb said quickly. “I had to check.”

Check on what, precisely?

Hera took a deep breath. Clearly he wasn’t going to tell her voluntarily. She was going to have to drag it out of him.

“So…” she started, choosing her words carefully. “Was he still there?”

“What?” Zeb said, confusion on his face.

“Kallus?” Hera clarified, working to get the name past her lips without contempt. “Was he still where you left him?”

Zeb let out a long, slow breath, his ears drooping and his face going through somewhat of a journey. “No” he mumbled. “I guess the Empire came for him.”