#Father Octavian

[cleowho]

“You trust this man?”

Flesh and Stone - series 05 - 2010

[timeagainreviews]

Moffat’s Great Gamble

Over its lifetime, Doctor Who has accumulated an ample and varied stable of villains, monsters, and baddies. Some are more successful than others. The Daleks were an overnight sensation spreading Dalek mania across the UK. The Cybermen were burned into every Whovian’s mind after proving too much for the Doctor, kickstarting the first regeneration. However, one of the more surprisingly successful baddies was the Weeping Angels. Having been introduced in one of the Doctor-light episodes most writers usually avoided, their overnight success must have been a pleasant surprise at the BBC. Overnight, the phrase “Don’t blink,” became as iconic as “Exterminate!” The next question, of course, was- can lightning strike twice?

It wouldn’t be until three years later that newly appointed showrunner Steven Moffat would put them to the test. A common practice within Doctor Who, when bringing back popular baddies, is to up the ante. Usually, this is done by establishing new abilities and/or technological advancements. Long gone are the days when Daleks were powered by static electricity. No longer can you escape their plunger’s grasp by ascending a flight of stairs. In a similar fashion, one of Moffat’s first steps was to address similar shortcomings of the angels. The next step was also a common one- going bigger.

Unlike the Doctor-light affair that was “Blink,” the return of the Weeping Angels demanded a bigger budget and lots more Doctor. So much so, that it actually required two whole episodes to tell the story. Adding to the grandeur was the exciting reappearance of River Song who had yet to return after her first story with the Tenth Doctor. It’s safe to assume that a lot was riding on the success of this story as it was the first they ever filmed with Matt Smith. An excerpt from the script was also used while auditioning for the role of Amy Pond. In many ways, this was the proof of concept for Moffat’s entire run on Doctor Who. Can the show continue outside the hulking shadow of Russell T Davies and David Tennant?

It’s important to me when revisiting older Doctor Who episodes to try and remember what we the audience knew at the time. When reviewing the First Doctor’s initial stories, I tried to imagine what it was like to walk into the TARDIS for the first time. We’re so used to that old phone box being bigger on the inside that we can forget its initial splendour. Knowing that River Song is Amy and Rory’s daughter and the Doctor’s wife can make us forget that at one point, she was a mystery. I find it important to remember these things because they can colour our memories with hindsight bias.

My initial reaction to River Song was one of frustration. In making the Doctor and her constantly meet in the opposite direction, much of the chemistry between River and the Doctor is merely implied. We’re told about these great adventures when being shown is far more interesting. It feels akin to falling out with a TV show only to jump back on two seasons later and discover a brand-new main character you know nothing about. There’s a sort of grudge against the new guy because they’re unfamiliar to you. In some ways, both Moffat and Alex Kingston lean into this frustration. This adds a bit of something to River as a character. She’s flirty, a bit of a mystery, and very possibly dangerous. It can also subtract from her character as it makes her feel less established and vague.

Something I have always admired about Steven Moffat’s era of Doctor Who is that he was one of the few writers to really play with the concept of time travel. It’s no wonder that “wibbly wobbly timey wimey,” is one of his lines. Even a Comic Relief short like “Time,” does more with the concept than a lot of other writers. It makes sense that Moffat would play with the concept of two time travellers always meeting out of sync. The problem is that while this gimmick is creative, it’s not incredibly interesting to hear about. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again- I don’t care about Jim the Fish. However, this time around, I found myself pleasantly surprised by River Song, and this is largely due to the fact that I know who she is now. If I were to think of her in the same vein as I did those initial First Doctor serials, I would probably still voice the same frustrations. But Alex Kingston is fun, and ultimately, so is River.

While I’m on the subject of River, I would like to mention one bit that still boils my blood, and those of you familiar with this story may already know what I am about to say. While watching River fly the TARDIS with her fuck me pumps hanging from the console is very cool, I can’t stand the joke about the parking brake. I’ve had people defend this joke as clearly being a gag, but I just can’t go there. My geek brain can’t divorce the joke from the history of the show. That would mean that every Time Lord in the history of the show is so bad at piloting a TARDIS that they too leave their parking brakes on. Furthermore, it’s shown to be more than a joke because as River lands the TARDIS, it doesn’t make that fantastic sound. I know this is incredibly pedantic, but I hate it. The only way forward is to ignore it like I would ignore the Doctor being half-human on his mother’s side or the majority of the Chibnall era.

After River’s iconic entrance, we’re given a glimpse into how this new era of Doctor Who will work. Much of this story functions in the same manner as a classic UNIT story. The Doctor is the difficult genius helping a team of soldiers and scientists, while Amy is the audience experiencing the danger on a human level. Much like Sally Sparrow, we experience the toll the Weeping Angels take through her dusty eyes. The fan reactions to the Weeping Angels are challenged here when Amy’s quick-witted idea of winking as opposed to blinking is undermined by an angel imprinting itself within Amy’s eye.

Writers don’t always make characters more dangerous when reintroducing them. Adding more rules isn’t always as effective as creating more dangerous conditions. Too many rules can bog a story down. After years of changing hands between writers, Superman’s powers became so numerous that he bordered on stupidly overpowered. I am happy then that Steven Moffat did a little bit of both. While he does indeed give the Weeping Angels more powers, he also ups the ante by placing our heroes in a more dangerous situation. Instead of an old house full of a few angels, why not an ancient ruin full of hundreds of them? That will do it.

When I first watched this story, I had originally been quite turned off by the idea of the image of an angel becoming an angel, but now I feel a bit differently. You can tell that Steven Moffat thought about the ways these deadly hunters might adapt. If you can stop them by looking at them, then they’ll compel you to look them in the eye thus imprinting themselves. Steven Moffat’s bread and butter are these little areas where he can turn the mundane into danger. Stay out of shadows because they’ll clean your bones dry. Forget a monster the moment you look away. And whatever you do, don’t blink. These are the thoughts of a writer who sat around as a child thinking about Doctor Who. Every one of Moffat’s wibbly wobbly proclivities is the product of growing up a geeky little boy reading Target novels and pondering the implications of time travel.

While Matt Smith is one of my favourite Doctors, I do feel like it’s obvious this is his first outing as the Doctor. There’s a bit toward the end where I feel his Doctor comes across as too angry. Though this is hard to gauge as much of this adventure would be incredibly stressful. You do get an implication, however, of the type of Doctor we would see more of in the Capaldi era. In this story, the Doctor comes off as more authoritative and bossy than usual. By the time they got around to filming “The Eleventh Hour,” he seems much more comfortable in the role. It’s not hard to see how I was instantly endeared to him as the Doctor. He was able to get any stumbles out of the way by the end of filming “Flesh and Stone.”

A stand-out of this story would have to be Iain Glen as Father Octavian. In the future, the Catholic Church becomes more of a military than a religion. It’s a bit muddled how any of it operates, but this doesn’t detract from Glen’s performance. It wasn’t until researching for this review that I realised this role pre-dates his role as Ser Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones by about a year. I thought his role had been a cameo fresh off the buzz of his HBO fame. Mind you, I didn’t see this episode as it aired. It wasn’t until season six that I got to actually watch Doctor Who in real-time. I was still working my way through David Tennant at this point.

Another cameo I appreciated more than most was that of Mike Skinner as the soldier tripping balls on River’s psychedelic lipstick. In the early 2000’s I was a bit of a fan of the Streets, so it was cool to see him if even for a moment. He’s also a bit of perfect casting as seeing him whacked out like “darlings on Charlie,” was appropriate for his brand. It’s also a great reintroduction to River Song. It’s established that she goes around getting into danger and escaping it with relative ease. Whoever River Song is, she’s dangerous. However, I don’t exactly understand any of what I’m seeing on Byzantium leading up to her and the Doctor’s reunion. I love the idea that the Doctor keeps score by visiting museums. And I like the idea that this futuristic ship full of James Bond villains crashed 12,000 years ago. But I don’t understand why she’s there or much of anything else.

We know that the Byzantium is now crashlanded on Alfalva Metraxis, and its radioactive core is feeding a group of long-dormant Weeping Angels. And this is about as far as Steven Moffat wants us to think about it. River’s transition from spy thriller nightwear to military fatigues is about as fluid as the show’s shift in tone. A couple of throw-away lines of dialogue and suddenly River is GI Jane. It’s not a very elegant transition considering you might miss it altogether. But like I said, Moffat seems more interested in progressing the story. It’s less important how or why we’re in a giant ruin full of Weeping Angels. What’s important to know is that we’re in a giant ruin full of Weeping Angels.

The soldiers work much like they always do in UNIT-type stories- as fodder to be thrown into the gnashers of great evil. There’s some brilliant character work with the Doctor comforting Scared Bob. He also uses this opportunity to bring Father Octavian down a peg or two by implying that it would be stupid to underestimate the angels. This is driven home and amped up all the more by revealing the native species of Alfalva Metraxis had two heads, implying that every statue with only one head is actually a Weeping Angel, eroded by centuries of entropy. It’s nice to be reminded that all you need to do to illustrate the danger of a threat is to place the protagonists in a dangerous situation. I’m not exactly scared of a tiger at a zoo, but if it the jungle, that changes things a bit. You don’t need to give tigers lasers to make them scarier, you just need to place them in an environment advantageous to tigers. It also helps if there are a shitload of them.

With the new reality of their situation in mind, our protagonists are reasonably terrified. Soldiers begin shooting wildly. It would be easy to let the story fall away into action schlock, but ever present is the grounding role that is Amy. Karen Gillan should really be commended for nailing her character so early. There is a vulnerability to her performance here that feels thoughtful. As a person who experiences infrequent eye problems, I can attest to how they can completely occupy your awareness. Much like her performance in “The Girl Who Waited,” Gillan uses her physicality and posture to a great degree. You never forget that something is going wrong with Amy, which creates a persistent unease. The audience is unable to relax because Amy is in trouble.

It’s this sense of dread that carries a lot of this story in sections where it drags. Like a lot of multi-part Doctor Who stories, they feel too long for one episode, and too short for two. A big chunk of the story is given to the Doctor’s conversations with the hijacked consciousness of Bob after the angels snapped his neck. Angel Bob chimes in intermittently to demoralise the lads and establish exposition. It’s an okay device, but out of all of the angels’ new powers, this one is my least favourite. I’m not sure the angels ever needed voices, and in some ways, it makes them less terrifying. This isn’t a Davros moment where the angels have suddenly established their own dictator. It’s closer to learning the inner thoughts of an unknowable horror. Eldritch abominations lose a bit of their edge when you learn they’re not above schoolboy taunts.

Being generous though, I’m going to chalk it up to the fact that the Angels aren’t at full strength. They would need to conserve energy by employing cruder forms of warfare. I suppose my main gripe is that it feels like when Eric Cartman has the power to have every power. I’ve griped about this in previous reviews about the Moffat era’s tendency toward giving villains new and perplexing powers. Like the Zygons turning people into big balls of hair. Or the Ice Warriors and their guns that fold people like beach towels. If this episode is the overture for the grand opus that is the Moffat era, then you can see why problems began to form. Oneupsmanship can be exciting, but it can also be a crutch. It is a form of sensationalism and it can also deflate actual dramatic tension by either elucidating too much or pushing things too far.

Regardless of how I feel about the inclusion of “every power” the Angel Bob segments are still creepy. David Atkins gives a strong interpretation of a naïve soldier being twisted into something cruel. The fact that he’s able to get so much out of voiceover work is impressive. I’m surprised he’s not had a bigger career. Hell, not even Big Finish has used him. Much like Amy’s story arc, Angel Bob gives to the horror movie element of the story. When comparing this story to “Blink,” you could draw parallels to the Alien franchise. The first story is a smaller-scale budget horror while the next installment was more of an action blockbuster. Where the comparison breaks down, however, is that this isn’t an action story after all. It’s more like the story of “Predator,” where a group of soldiers fresh off the set of a Canon film walk directly into a slasher movie. Doctor Who has never told a straight military story. Even when the Doctor worked for UNIT it was usually beside them than with them.

The fact that the military in this story is the Catholic church is an interesting choice, thematically. Angels vs the Church, very big brain Steven, bravo. I do have to scratch my head imagining the sequence of events that would cause the Catholic Church to pivot from systematic abuse toward forming a military… oh wait, I answered my own question. It does muddy the waters a bit with regard to certain characters’ motivations. Father Octavian feels like a man of deep conviction, but if the Catholic Church has pivoted toward becoming a military, does he pray with bullets? Is the G-Man upstairs still part of the equation? Are these priests one with the holy spirit or is that all balderdash in their time? Maybe nobody else gives a shit about these questions, but they’re things that nibble at the back of my mind, distracting me. I can’t be the only one.

Moffat has said in interviews that when he pens a two-part story, he endeavours to begin the second half of the story in a different location or circumstance. He was frustrated by the way “The Doctor Dances,” simply picked up where “An Empty Child,” left off. You can see this in the way “Silence in the Library,” ends in the library, whereas “Forest of the Dead,” begins with Donna living in a house under the care of Dr Moon. I’m not really sure why this is such a big deal for Moffat. It’s like how Simpsons episodes start in one place and end up in a drastically different location. There’s no rule that the second part of a story can’t pick up where the first left off any more than the guarantee that the opposite will be interesting. What’s interesting then is that this story does a bit of both.

Having ended with Matt Smith’s rather cool speech about being the last thing you want to put into a trap, it was a bit of a mystery as to where we would end up in the second half. Having shot a set of gravity stabilisers on the Byzantium, the Doctor and company were able to fall upward to the gravity of the ship’s surface. But this is only a stopgap from the onslaught of Angels growing evermore powerful from the ship’s radiation. The slick interior of the Byzantium stands in stark contrast to the eroding temple below, giving us that Moffat point of difference. On a horror level going from a broken temple to a polished spaceship is a bit of a downgrade. It’s not like the Nostromo with its hanging chains and dark corridors. But don’t you worry, the Byzantium has a forest inside it!

There’s something very Moffat about going from a ruin to a ship, to a dark forest. The forest is arguably the first place we found ourselves naked and afraid. If you’ve ever walked through a dark forest on a moonless night, you know a bit of the animal terror that preys on your brain. Your eyes begin to trick you as you peer in vain to distinguish shadows of trees from shadows of predators. Imagine then that those shadows may be a group of hungry statues with the power to send you back in time to live under Thatcher. Terrifying. I know for a fact that this situation would be scary as it was the most effective part of the walk-through section of the Doctor Who Experience. Even at 30, I didn’t want the Weeping Angels statues to touch me. I think that speaks truth to the lasting terror of Moffat’s most infamous creations.

Things get worse for our heroes when the crack in time and space from young Amy’s bedroom wall makes a cameo. However, this time instead of having the giant eye of the Atraxi inside, we’re greeted by a hungry force of broken spacetime eager to heal itself by feeding on people’s lives. It does so by enticing the priests into its light like an angler fish. As the men go one by one to inspect this phenomenon, it erases them from existence, with the only one seeming to remember being Amy. The Doctor later explains this by telling her she remembers the men because she’s a time traveller now. This makes enough sense in the moment, but falls apart when Amy can’t seem to remember Rory, a fellow time traveller to whom she’s been engaged for some time.

The Doctor, River, and Octavian work their way through the Byzantium while leaving Amy behind. The need arises after Amy’s condition has progressed to the point that she is started to see things that aren’t real. After she begins to think her body is turning to stone, only the sting of the Doctor’s bite can convince her that she is still flesh and blood. Even more worrying is that Amy has begun slowly counting down from ten and doesn’t even notice herself doing it. It’s genius then that the one way for Amy to survive this encounter with the Weeping Angels is by doing the one thing you’re not supposed to do- closing her eyes. Once again, it’s the type of situational intensification that works so much more for me than tiger lasers. The pinnacle of this story arc comes in the form of Amy having to navigate past a group of angels as though she were still able to see. If the angels think she can see them, they might behave as though she can see them.

At the time, I remember murmurs in the fandom from people who were upset to see the angels move in this scene. I can see their argument a bit. It’s a bit like knowing their thoughts in that seeing them move makes them feel a bit less scary. The fact that we never see how fast they move or what moving may look like gives them a monstrous feeling. Personally, I don’t really mind. It worked for me the first time around and I still find it rather fun. The stone-against-stone sound they make as their heads look toward Amy is cute. Does it break the fundamental rules of the Weeping Angels? A bit yeah. The fact that they kind of move here says that maybe the angels aren’t quantum-locked at that moment. It implies that maybe they’re standing still because they expect they can’t actually move. It’s a case where the unknown leads to interesting questions as opposed to distracting ones. Moffat is transferring the way he experienced Doctor Who as a boy into his writing.

One element that really bothers me is the way in which Father Octavian dies. With so many variables to now worry about, the Doctor is really feeling the pressure. Amy is close to death. The angels are progressing. The crack is getting bigger. And there are lives at stake. What bothers me is that the Doctor gets lost in thought about the crack’s ability to erase people out of existence. I find it annoying that the most they can find for the Doctor to do in this moment is flap his hands about while piecing together that time can be rewritten- a fact that the Doctor has stated on numerous occasions in the past. He gets so involved with this train of thought that he completely misses that Father Octavian is about to be outflanked by a Weeping Angel. It’s nice that Father Octavian has a brave and dignified death, but I am offended that it was because the Doctor was busy figuring out the blatantly obvious. It’s one of the moments I felt was a bit of a misstep for this new Doctor. Sure, the Doctor is prone to get lost in thought, and the Doctor does occasionally get people killed. But this was possibly one of the dumbest reasons ever. Octavian’s death is played like a sacrifice, but it was a very unnecessary one.

The answer to all of the Doctor’s problems is of course right in front of him. I sort of like the way the angels try to goad the Doctor into dying for them. It’s as if in their own sick manner, they are attempting to use the Doctor’s ethos of self-sacrifice to save even their rotten existence. The Doctor is having none of this though, as a group of Weeping Angels would be just as satisfying a meal to a time anomaly as would a Time Lord with years of time travel under his belt. The fact that the angels even tried this tactic makes them feel alien. Like they misunderstand compassion so much that they think of self-sacrifice as an exploitable weakness. I like that even in giving the angels the ability to speak, they do still retain a bit of their esoteric inscrutability. 

Putting his big Time Lord brain to work, the Doctor comes to another obvious conclusion- if messing with gravity worked the first time, why not a second time? In the spirit of Indiana Jones chopping a rope bridge, the Doctor cuts the gravity long enough to feed the Weeping Angels to the crack in the wall, satiating its hunger enough to seal the crack once more. This moment is also a nice call back to the scene where the Doctor jumps down into the Byzantium which changes his centre of gravity. What seemed like a cute little moment of sci-fi fun with perspective and physics was actually the loaded gun ready to go off in the third act. I love it when Doctor Who does that. It’s like how throughout all of season four you hear about planets disappearing, a trope almost as old as the science fiction genre, and discovering that it’s actually a huge plot element in the finale.

While the Doctor still doesn’t trust River, it's interesting then that she returns to the Storm Cage. Whoever it is that she murdered, it was someone she respected enough to believe she belongs in prison. With nobody around to physically take River back to her cell, she still makes no attempt to escape the smokey teleportation beam. If they were ever trying to make us think River had murdered anyone other than the Doctor, I would be surprised. It seems pretty easy to imagine that it’s the Doctor. I think the only way they could have subverted expectations is for it to have not been the Doctor. You can even tell in the way the Doctor asks River who it was that she killed that he already knows the answer. There’s an interesting dichotomy set in motion where River knows she killed the Doctor, and the Doctor knows River died to save his life. It’s one aspect where the concept of two people meeting in two different directions can be very fulfilling.

As a proof of concept for the Moffat era goes, I would say this was a success. Steven Moffat wasn’t just working to establish his brand of Doctor Who, he was working to keep the show afloat. This was a Patrick Troughton moment in that much of the show’s future hinged on its success. I know I make it sound as though I am treating this like it was the actual first story that aired, but as I said before, it was the first story they filmed. They needed to nail this one in order to move forward. And it wasn’t just about whether stories about the Eleventh Doctor or River could replace the Tenth Doctor or Captain Jack. It was about whether the era could maintain the momentum of the Russell T Davies era. If everything were to all change from what came before, would it make or break the show? I think we can proclaim that yes, lightning can strike twice.

[jgracie]

guys do we think octavian lives w his parents in new rome

[emiliotheemu]

Octism vs Octavian

Octism ^^^

Octavian ^^^

Bonus Minitavian/Tinytavian

@pjo-hoo-toa-freakazoid @anaemic-loser

[odysseus-crewmate-number38]

oh no i redesigned octavian into oblivion!!!

micheal kahale’s design is from @intergalactic-garbage :D

+ close ups

[rhaenin-time]

Seeing the bigoted discourse around HotD as an Indigenous woman from an interracial extended family, one full of 'illegitimate' circumstances of births that the Canadian government has always been SO eager to weaponize, and especially as the daughter of a 60s scoop survivor who found his way back to his birth family which means we navigate belonging to two families, of two different races, in two different ways... it's actually hurtful and a little scary to see all the vitriol levelled against fictional 'illegitimate' children by a MODERN audience.

This is a weird example but it's also the most famous. You know that saying about how you shouldn't insult Trump for his body because he'll never hear or be hurt by it, but the people around you who might share those traits will? How when you insult a powerful or abstract figure in a really low way, that insult is not just for them?

Well, when you express bigotry over fictional characters, obviously said fictional character isn't going to receive it. But real people who share those traits will.

I swear, I know I'm basically setting myself up for a never ending 'to write' list at the moment, but I do intend to someday dive into the subject and SHAME the bigots.

[spockvarietyhour]

[nepobabyeurydice]

In a sick twisted way if Hazel stayed dead Alcyoneus would've been the only thing left to preserve her memory

[giantkillerjack]

I HAVE BEEN LEARNING ABOUT MISTER AUGUSTUS OCTAVIAN/OCTAVIUS GAIUS CAESAR SINCE 8TH GRADE. HOW AM I STILL LEARNING MORE THINGS ABOUT HIM THAT MAKE ME GO "octavius babe holy shit what the fuck what the FUCK dude"

[catos-wound]

just thought id let you know marcus antonius is literally have extramarital affairs with a foreigner.

[leatherbookmark]

ooooh apparently the pjo show is out? or is it just the first episode? i'm not sure but. hm!!

[alganenif]

Painting: Apollo and Daphne (1908), by John William Waterhouse

Hello again! What I have in store for you today is an update to the "Other Characters" information page. Under the line, you will find some characters of note that you might meet during the game. While they will not appear in this first chapter, it's good to have their basic information laid out. After all, the ROs aren't the only ones who can have secrets, and some might have much more to hide than others.

Maybe you can even start to put together some small pieces of the puzzle ;)

Queen Jumanah (F)

The woman King Estevan married after you and your mother were taken out of the picture. It was a political union arranged with a kingdom from the south when both sides were weakened. She is in charge until the heirs get married and the succession is sorted out. Even if she seems tired, the queen remains resolute in her beliefs and never wavers when people doubt her decisions. Being both a great player in the court game and the one whose blessing you’re looking for, it’d be better if you didn’t displease her too much.

Prince Octavian (M) & Prince Estevan (M)

The two younger siblings, also known as “Tavy and Tevy”. This will be their first social season and only one of them is excited about it. While Prince Octavian (Tavy) is letting it all go to his head, flirting and brawling right and left even before the official opening, Prince Estevan II (Tevy) would rather pretend he's dead and never leave his room. Right now, they are being closely evaluated by the court, which highlights every one of their actions. 

General Sanghoon (M)

Alganen's main general, the late king's best friend and father of Captain Bernart. He's one of the youngest children of a noble family from the eastern border. With no hope of inheriting, he traveled to Alganen's capital to offer his military services. Because of his skill and loyalty, he quickly rose in the ranks and earned Estevan's trust before he came to power. He commanded the battle against the mages and supervised many captures under the king's orders, including your mother and yours. Nowadays, he's the widowed queen's right hand.

Lord Manseok (M)

One of the heirs of the march General Sanghoon comes from. It's a well-known fact that the late king wished to unite the families somehow to symbolize their cooperation, and Manseok looks very eager to make this a reality — through his own union with Princess Johanne. He's been showing interest in the youngest princess since his first social season, and now that she is of marriageable age and he is eligible for engagement, he won't stop until he's the one Johanne gets betrothed to.

Maid Elsa (F)

The head maid of the guests' area and the one Nesteri will have to report to. Elsa got her position at such a young age because of her efficiency, always finishing her tasks before everyone else. Since she is responsible for where you will stay, it would be intelligent not to be on her bad side. Maybe it would help Nesteri to get her trust too.

King Estevan (M)

Your self-proclaimed stepfather. After capturing your land and people, he took your mother and you in as personal prisoners. He believed she was a mage princess since your grandmother was a very influential council member. It was love at first sight - at least on his part. Even though he ended up marrying Jumanah, thus securing an alliance and keeping his dynasty line alive, he never moved on. His sudden death came as a surprise to everybody.

Your father (M)

????

[lukecastellanshandholder]

Another thing to add to the list of “things that Rick dropped the ball on” is…

You mean to tell me that throughout the entirety of The Trials of Apollo, the 5 book long series from Apollo’s POV, that Hal wasn’t referenced ONCE?

Ya know, Hal, the son of Apollo who was imprisoned and tortured for at least 90% of his life because he used the powers inherited from his father to save someone? The one who was the main catalyst in the start of Luke’s rebellion that almost destroyed Olympus? The son who sacrificed himself in Apollo’s name just to save other demigods so that they could hopefully live happy, long lives?

Because I’m not just gonna simplify it down to, “well Apollo probably didn’t know what they did to Hal so he wouldn’t think about it that much.” No way, with how Zeus is, AND how he blamed Apollo for what Octavian did? Apollo definitely knew about it, and if he wasn’t someone that helped set up that trap that Hal was in, he at very least got an earful from Zeus about it.

So… why didn’t Rick include even just one scene of Apollo thinking about Hal, especially near the end of the series when he’s beginning to understand that the lives of the demigods matter too. When he learns how it is to truly feel human? It would’ve been a perfect addition and an even further showing on just how much Hal’s ghost haunts the narrative of everything in the Percy Jackson Universe.

In this essay I will…

[theamazingmaddyas]

Apollo Cabin Camper headcanons

Lee was an avid writer, and was planning to go for a Creative Writing before he, you know, kicked the bucket. Michael and Will ended up posthumously publishing his diary as a fiction story (because monsters and all) so that he could have his dream of being a published author. Nico brought Lee a copy in the Underworld.

Michael would only ever call his younger siblings his "little siblings" despite the fact that most of them passed him in height at like 9 or 10.

Will has Michael and Lee's names tattooed on his wrist in their handwriting, as well as a quote from one of Lee's poems on his forearm.

Kayla's known she was a demigod since she was really young, since her father had to explain why she has no mother. Darren could see through the mist, and would just shoot the monsters that came because of Kayla's stronger sent.

Kayla was brought to camp by Hedge when he was in Toronto in TLO (is this a common hc? I feel like it should be)

Austin could play any instrument, except the kazoo. For some reason, he sucked at playing the kazoo.

Jerry's accent was so strong his first summer at camp no one could understand him except for the other internationals.

Yan would hide in the armory with their book so that they didn't have to do sword-fighting or archery practice

Gracie would make rainbow loom bracelets for literally everyone. Even though she came to camp after the Battle of Manhattan and the Battle of the Labrynth, she still made bracelets for her deceased siblings based on Will, Kayla, and Austin's description of them.

Will was protective of the chariot in TLH not because he cared about it, but because Michael cared about it

Lee was born in Connecticut, but lived practically his whole life in NYC, and Michael was from Maine.

The cabin has a world map with push pins indicating where everyone is from. Every camper has also signed the wall around it on the day they were claimed, so there's well over a thousand names by the time PJO takes place.

Cabin 7 has a music room in it's basement, that has every single instrument you can imagine. (Austin is banned from playing the kazoo of course)

The only way the cabin can be cleaned is if It's A Hard Knock Life (Broadway version) (and the reprise as well) are playing. The youngest kid sings at Molly, and they play rock paper scissor to figure out who jumps in the laundry basket like Annie (one time Michael accidently fell asleep and was brought to the laundry room by the harpies. He did not let Lee hear the end of it) (The same thing almost happened to Gracie, but Will found her before the harpies could)

It's tradition that the last day of camp the younger campers write a song for their counselor and play it before bed. There's a binder of all the lyrics of every song dated back to the 1940s on the shelf, when the tradition was started

I'm not even sorry about how many there are, I'm just a tad bit obsessed with Cabin 7 (as indicative of my ao3 fics dedicated to them all)

(Octavian's a legacy and I'm only 150 pages into my reread of Son of Neptune, I can't remember if there are any canon Apollo kids barring Octavian's ancestors.)

[historical-kitten]

Ancient Roman Politicians on a Modern Date

Gaius Julius Caesar: He invites you to a dinner party at his house and is a fairly witty and engaging host, but all of his stories seem to be about himself. However, friends assure you he's "every woman's man and every man's woman," so stick around for the nightcap he offers you if that makes you curious.

Marcus Licinius Crassus: For a man who is absolutely the wealthiest you've ever met, it seems a little convenient that he 'forgot his wallet' on your date to that expensive gastropub, so you couldn't go halfsies and had to pay for both your meals. The gold flake dessert shines bright, but you sort of wish he'd choke on it.

Gnaeus Pompeius Maximus: It's kind of weird how he takes you around to show you his art collection since it mainly consists of statues of himself, but hey, at least he's interested in art? He also tells a lot of stories about himself. However, he has a reputation for being a devoted husband and he's in between spouses, so if you're ready for that, give him a chance.

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus aka Augustus: He literally wrote out a plan for your entire date, how it would go, and what he would say to the most commonly asked smalltalk questions. Do not deviate from his script. He takes you somewhere like a museum or a fancy restaurant where they barely feed you, but although he is polished, his romantic delivery seems a little flat until you run into his best friend Agrippa... They are just besties, right?

Marcus Antonius aka Mark Antony: Ok, there are a couple ways this could go. He is either an absolutely fantastic date who takes you to see a hilarious play and finishes off with a fun night on the town, or he takes you to a bar in a seedy part of town where you dance and drink and party all night. Either way he gives you nice gifts and is charming and funny. On a later date he may take you on the most expensive, romantic, fancy date ever. Most likely a good time date, just don't expect things to get serious unless you're the Queen of Egypt.

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus: He never showed up for your date. Completely ghosted you. You track down his coworkers Mark Antony and Octavian and they say they have no idea where he is either. Weird.

Marcus Agrippa: He takes you on a tour of the city, pointing out all the architecture and finishes this off with dinner. He seems nice, intelligent, and is very attentive to your needs. So why isn't he off the market yet? His attachment to his slightly creepy best friend and roommate Octavian, maybe? They were roommates.

Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius: A much better date than his father, he takes you to his private boat and gives you a seaside tour. He valiantly fights off pirates during your date, but did you catch one of them winking at him? Regardless, it's an unforgettable adventure.

Who would you rather date? And again, I'm sorry, Lepidus.

As always, thanks to @just-late-roman-republic-things for inspiring these posts.

[mediumgayitalian]

Hiiiiii

Okay so I am absolutely obsessed with your writing .

Every day I check Tumblr to see if you've uploaded anything

When they move in together how do you think they will spilt the chores ?

And do you think their aesthetic would change as they grow older ?

Thank youuu

Love youuu

OH i love this. okay.

when they move in together, how do you think they will split the chores?

they do not.

they are in an interesting situation: nico has never had to do chores in his life. as a kid, he was the son of Literal Hades and an aristocrat, he for sure had people doing that shit for him. in the lotus, they presumably had room service. he may have had to do a few chores at the military school, but a) they weren't there for long and b) as an older sister with a younger brother, bianca was doing that shit for him. she ordered him to make his bed, he did a horrible job, she huffed and did it herself because it's more of a pain in the ass to make your brother do it again than it is to do it yourself. bianca i get you. after that he was homeless, so there was obviously no cleaning there, and then he lived in his father's palace. he has never so much as done a load of laundry except maybe hastily with a public washroom sink and a bar of soap. he barely knows what a mop is.

will, on the other hand, has been in charge of both a cabin and a literal infirmary since he was 13 years old. on top of that, if i am not mistaken (i'm so sorry i still havent read toa and tsats im getting there i swear), he grew up on a farm. his ass knows how chores work, in fact i would bet money that he gets a little obsessive when it comes to cleaning. he is acutely aware of how many germs are on every single surface ever. he cleans and he does it a lot.

this could go really badly, because habit would indicate that will would be doing all of the housework and nico none, which is Bad For Relationships.

however:

nico really likes will.

will is a massive hypocrite who overworks himself. he also is a bit of a control freak.

nico is also very, very observant.

i think, in the beginning of their friendship, even, nico noticed that will, like bianca, would let the onus of cleaning and tidying fall to him because 'no one else does it right', and also, maybe, it's just easier not to fight people about it. i think this would bother him. i think he would, in his inability to, like, be normal, impulsively challenge will to a cleaning contest.

and. like. will is a competitive person, okay. maybe not about things he knows he can't win, but when he knows he's good at something? he is not letting that shit slide. look at how fast he was to dunk on octavian, how prickly he got when nico doubted his ability to outrun the romans. if nico, who will knows damn well has done like four chores in his life, tries to challenge will, mr. antiseptic is my closest friend solace, to a cleaning contest?

he is going to sweep the floor with him.

pun absolutely intended.

from there things kind of spiral. at first it's a dorky ass learning curve, because nico loses every cleaning competition so so badly and quit fucking laughing, solace, you dickead, the windows are not that streaked and also watch me spray you in the goddamn eyes, huh, how do you like that and it's just kind of...fun. for the first time in a long time cleaning up doesn't make will quietly bitter.

plus, as an added bonus, nico helping will clean up makes it less invisible when he does it. now people are starting to notice that, no, the infirmary does not magically clean and organise itself, someone does that. and maybe a few more people pitch in to help. and maybe will realises, and maybe he smiles gratefully at nico when, for the first time in years, he has two entire days off, back to back, in the summer, for the first time in years. and maybe nico thinks he is going to collapse into dust because gods will has a nice smile. not that he cares or notices or anything.

do they need to keep having competitive chores forever?

no.

but does it make both of them kind of shyly pleased and happy to remember how they started? to remember how much their friendship means to them, first and foremost, and not just their relationship?

yes.

(also, by the gods, nico is going to beat will at laundry one day. he is. as soon as he learns to fold without creasing the whole stupid shirt it's over.)

how do you think their aesthetic would change as they get older?

not much tbh.

will is pretty happy in his cargo shorts, which, mood. and nico is very committed to his Prince of Darkness look.

they are gonna have to get used to like...regular weather when they leave camp tho. i think will might begrudgingly have to get used to pants. he hates jeans with a fiery passion and any kind of slacks, but he will accept track pants.

he is also into shirts with horrible horrible puns on them. especially medical puns. he and nico frequently fight over who gets to buy shirts with bone puns on them, because they both find it funny. their closet (lol) is quickly morphing into one monster.

will complains about wearing shoes every single time he has to wear something that isn't flip-flops (again, understandable). he likes buying off-brand white converse and customizing them, though, so those are acceptable.

he refuses to wear boots under literally any circumstances. there could be three feet of snow on the ground and dumbass will be wearing chucks.

while their t-shirt situation is pretty similar, nico literally doesn't wear pants that aren't jeans. sometimes he sleeps in jeans. (not to make will's eye twitch, noooo, of course not, sometimes he just Reasonably Forgets or is Reasonably Too Lazy to get changed)

nico does also, on occasion, wear button ups, sleeves folded to just above the elbow.

will likes these very much.

especially the green one.

the green one is Very Very nice.

as for hair, nico grows his out to shoulder length so he can tie it back. he doesnt keep it much longer than that, because too long and he looks like bianca -- he always looks like her, and he never forgets that, but its important to him to remember her while still being able to think of himself as a separate person. he cuts it when it goes past his shoulders.

wills hair is literally untamable. it grows where it pleases. he hasnt had a haircut since he was six years old and somehow his hair doesnt grow down to his waist. he has no idea how long it actually is. they tried to measure it once but it changed every two minutes. the literal only time it resembles anything close to maintained is when he wears it in two french braid pigtails :) nico likes to buy him elastics with little charms on them. he wears them to suit his mood, he has a whole collection.