#I like thinking about TLT a normal amount

[katakaluptastrophy]

Masterpost of TLT metas

This is mostly for my own reference, as tagging doesn't seem to guarantee something being findable on Tumblr...but if you like wildly overthinking lesbian necromancers in space, enjoy!

Overthinking the Fifth House:

What is a "Speaker to the Dead"?

Actually, Magnus Quinn isn't terrible at sword fighting

Imperial complicity: Abigail the First

Pyschopomp: Abigail Pent and Hecate

Did Teacher conspire with Cytherea to kill the Fifth?

What does the Fifth House actually do?

The Fourth and the Fifth can never just be family

Cytherea's political observations at the anniversary dinner

Abigail Pent's affect: ghosts and autism

Were the Fourth wards of the Fifth?

Abigail probably knew most of the scions as children

Magnus Quinn's very understandable anger

Fifth House necromancy is not neat and tidy

Are Abigail and Magnus an exception to the exploitative nature of cavaliership?

"Abigail Pent literally brought her husband and look where that got her" (the Fifth in TUG)

The Fifth's relationship dynamic

The Fifth's relationship is unconventional in a number of ways

The queer-coding of Abigail and Magnus' relationship

Abigail and Palamedes, and knowing in the River

Was Isaac the ward of the Fifth?

Did Magnus manage to draw his sword before Cytherea killed him? (and why he probably had to watch his wife die)

How did Abigail know she was murdered by a Lyctor?

Fifth House necromancy is straight out of the Odyssey

The politics of the anniversary dinner

Was Magnus born outside of the Dominicus system?

Overthinking John Gaius:

The one time John was happy was playing Jesus

Is Alecto's body made from John's?

Are there atheists in the Nine Houses?

Why isn't John's daughter a necromancer?

The horrors of love go both ways: why John could have asked Alecto 'what have you done to me?'

Why M- may have really hoped John was on drugs

What is it with guys called Jo(h)n and getting disintegrated? (John and Dr Manhattan)

John's conference call with his CIA handlers

Watching your friend turn into an eldritch horror

Why does G1deon look so weird? (Jod regrew him from an arm)

When is a friendship bracelet not a friendship bracelet?

Why did John have G1deon hunt Harrow? (with bonus update)

The 'indelible' sin of Lyctorhood and John's shoddy plagiarism of Catholicism

Are John Gaius and Abigail Pent so different?

What was Jod's plan at Canaan House?

John and Ianthe tread the Eightfold path

The Mithraeum is more than a joke about cows

When was John Gaius born? (And another)

John Gaius and the tragic Orestes

John and Jesus writing sins in the sand

John and Nona's echoing chapters

John's motivations

Overthinking the Nine Houses:

'No retainers, no attendants, no domestics'

Funerary customs and the violence of John's silence

Juno Zeta and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad time

The horror of the River bubble

Every instance of 'is this how it happens' in HTN

Feudalism is still shitty even if you make it queer and sex positive

How do stele work?

Thought crime in the Nine Houses

The Houses have a population the size of Canada

What must it be like to fight the Houses?

You know what can't have been fun? Merv wing's megatruck on Varun day...

Augustine's very Catholic hobby (decorating skeletons)

Necromancers are not thin in a conventionally attractive way

Matching the Houses with the planets of the solar system

Why don't the Nine Houses have (consistent) vaccination or varifocals?

How would the Houses react to the deaths at Canaan House?

How does Wake understand her own name (languages over 10,000 years)

What pre-resurrection texts are known in the Houses?

Camilla and Palamedes very Platonic relationship

The horrors the Cohort found at Canaan House

Do the Houses understand the tech keeping them alive?

Overthinking House religion:

What do the Houses believe about death?

Was M's nun a Franciscan?

Cavaliership and arbitrary socio-religious structures

Ritual scarification

Sacraments and sacramentals

What did Silas think god wanted at Canaan House?

In defense of Silas

There's no such thing as a 'good' necro/cav relationship

Veiling and shaving in Ninth House cult practice

Tongue-in-cheek thoughts on Eighth and Sixth religion

A very long deep-dive on House belief and practice

Overthinking Harrowhark Nonagesimus:

'The meat of your meat...belonged to god' and 'that is how meat loves meat'

The horror of parental touch: Harrow, John Gaius, and Abigail Pent

Why is Harrow so obsessed with Abigail's hands?

Frontline Titties of the Fifth and transgressive necro/cav relationships

Harrow, Wake, and permeability of the soul in HTN

Bible studies for weird queer necromancers:

Epiphany: revealing god's child to the wider world

The Holy Innocents and the creche massacre

The Virgin Mary and Commander Wake

John Gaius and John the Baptist

Instantiating the Trinity and the Second Resurrection

What's the significance of Paul?

St Paul's theology of gender and sexuality and the House theology of cavaliership

Maundy Thursday: consuming another for eternal life

Harrow and the Harrowing of Hell

[nightmare-foundation]

PJO x DC/Batfamily AU idea

Bruce- Son of Zeus, legacy of Phobos, blessed by Nyx

Dick- Son of Poseidon, legacy of Apollo, blessed by Hermes

Jason- Favored Son of Ares, legacy of Apollo

Tim- Son of Athena

Damian- Legacy of Zeus

Barbara- Blessed by Athena

Duke- Son of Apollo

Stephanie- No idea who her godly parent would be, but it'd definitely be a Roman God

Details:

-Dick, by 2024, is 28 while Percy is 31. TLT took place in 2005, sooo Percy is Dicks older brother!

-Because Gotham actually wards off monsters due to how dangerous it is (you'd think it was the other way around but nope) and the sheer amount of curses, monsters aren't actually all that common in Gotham. It's both safe and unsafe for demigods, given they don't have to worry about monsters, but do have to worry about... literally everything else.

-The entire batfamily wasn't aware of their heritage for the very large majority of their lives. This is because of a mix of reasons- Gotham wards off monsters, they were being taught how to fight anyways, and the family being a bunch of Demigods that live in Gotham of all places mean anything weird is just considered entirely normal. Also, Bruce kept scooping up the kids before Satyrs could get to them. (If this still doesn't make sense, then just deal with it lol I prefer the drama of them all finding out VERY late)

-Hades highkey hates Ra's.

-Lazarus Pits actually come up from the Underworld.

-Duke was the only one who knew of his godly heritage prior to joining the batfamily. He's one of the very few Apollo kids who can manipulate light. He just lies and says he's a meta.

-Diana has had her suspicions for YEARS prior to the Demigod stuff being confirmed.

-The batfamily are actually known as demigods to the Demigod community, and they're all legends, especially Batman and Nightwing. The Wayne family, meanwhile, is known as a Demigod safe place because Bruce keeps scooping up Demigod children. Demigods make bets that Bruce will be the reason another Demigod camp is made lmao.

-When the batfamily find out about their heritage, and Dick finds out Percy is his older brother, he basically bluescreens. Dick has always been the older brother, so to find out he's now someone's younger brother?? It's an experience for him, lmao. Him and Percy are excited to find out about each other. Dick is very determined to be an annoying little bastard.

-Jason highkey hates Ares, and always finds ways to annoy his father. Unfortunately, this has the exact opposite effect- Ares likes that Jason is sticking it to the man. This makes Jason REALLY mad.

-Jason is kind of a mini Ares in a lot of ways, but his Apollo heritage shines through a lot as well. It shows in his love of literature, guns, and mother henning. Appearance wise though? Yeah he's a mini Ares.

-The irony that Dick is a 'flying' Grayson and associated with birds while being a son of Poseidon is not lost on him. Shockingly, Zeus likes him. Percy is jealous.

-Dick isn't allowed to give any teams advice during CTF. Every time he does, that team wins. You'd think he was a son of Athena going off of how smart he is, but nope.

-Percy is really really protective of Dick. The second he hears anything about Spyral, or how Dick has been mistreated by Bruce, Dick has to actively hold Percy back from killing Bruce.

-Dick has a lot of feelings about the whole Demigod thing, especially about being related to Percy. He's compared to Percy a lot, and it really grates on his nerves, but he loves Percy. It's just irritating being compared to people after trying so hard to be your own independent person.

-Duke actually helps tour the batfamily through CHB when they visit. He's been there plenty of times of course :)

-The Ares cabin lowkey hates Jason for being the favorite. Jason also hates being the favorite. He does not want to be the favorite (something he'd never thought he'd think).

-Tim is easily the smartest in the Athena cabin. Him being a son of Athena explains his genius, though he would've been one regardless.

-Barbara is only allowed into CHB because of her blessing. She's suddenly very aware that she chose the name Oracle. Rachel thinks it's hilarious though, and they get along really well.

-Jason and Tim both already knew a ton about Greek mythology prior to finding out about their heritage.

-Dick and Jason are shocked to find out their related via Apollo. Dicks mother was a daughter of Apollo, and one of Jason's grandparents on his mom's side was a child of Apollo. Dick is ecstatic over this information, Jason has no idea what to think. Dick is also happy to find that he's related to Duke.

-Nyx is lady Gotham. She took a liking to Bruce when he became Batman, and gave him her blessing. She also likes the entire batfamily, and they all have more minor blessings from her. Only Batman's true heir will get her blessing. Dick would have gotten it had Bruce actually died. The one who will eventually get it is Cassandra.

[theriverbeyond]

what do theorems mean in tlt? that bit always confused me

a theorem is a (mathematical?) statement that has been proven as true (using a proof) and is often used to solve more complicated problems. i.e. the Pythagorean theorem being used to solve for various properties of a right triangle, and further than that, it can be used for useful IRL stuff like architecture and getting a plane off the ground.

the Locked Tomb treats necromancy like a science, with (unexplained) rules, methods, equations, theorems, etc. Harrowhark mentions the "theorem mathematics" of the creche massacre when she confesses to John in HtN, and later on in the same book Ianthe is mentioned as having a notebook filled with "substantial mathematics" related to her necromantic study.

THEREFORE when they say "theorem" in TLT I imagine how in order to get a plane off the ground you have to do a lot of math first to calculate stuff like interia and force and air resistance and friction, and then to keep it flying you have to do yet more math and think about things like how you will lose some amount of energy as heat.

following that, in order to get a skeleton to fold your laundry you have to do a lot of math first about the energy requierments of cell division (regarding building the skeletal frame up from a single bone chip), cell differentiation (building out ligaments as needed), etc necromantic verbage, and then to KEEP it folding that laundry you have to do yet more math about like, i dunno. Gravity and energy loss.

it seems like a lot of work, honestly. no wonder normal, non-Lyctoral necromancers are always bleeding and sweating all over the place

[hamlets-bootycheeks]

Hello! I'm Tesh! (My previous URL was phantomspren.) I'm an adult, aroace, American, use any pronouns, and am going to school for literally like five different things.

I crochet, do HEMA (smallsword mostly, though a bit of rapier and longsword too), and write! I'm also a Nerdfighter and involved with the TBFighters, as well as being a mod with the Podcast Book Club. And theoretically I'm learning Welsh and German.

I mostly reblog things I think are silly, but also plenty of serious stuff and fanart and things.

Media I am currently working my way through:

Books: Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Games: Slay the Princess, I'm always playing Hollow Knight on and off

Shows: Doctor Who (season two), Arcane (I will get around to season two eventually), Owl House (17th rewatch I think)

Audio dramas: Welcome to Night Vale, Hello From the Hallowoods

(Last updated 6/3/25) (In case I disappear or forget to keep this fairly up to date.)

DMs/asks: I really love talking to people. I'm kinda shit at asking good questions to facilitate conversations, but feel free to DM me or send me asks and tell me about your projects or to talk about media we both enjoy or anything like that. Or ask me what I think the meaning of life is, I do have an answer and like talking about it and hearing other people's thoughts. :) I will probably not DM you first because my social anxiety is quite bad with that, but that does not mean I do not want you to say hi.

Media I really enjoy and occasionally post about:

Books: The Cosmere (my first real fandom it is forever in my heart), The Locked Tomb, Lord of the Rings (also the movies), Phantom of the Opera (musical and other adaptations as well), Percy Jackson, Septimus Heap, The Raven Cycle, The Anthropocene Reviewed, The Wayfarers series, House of Leaves, The Dark is Rising Sequence

(My favorite genres are fantasy, gothic horror, older dystopian/sci fi/speculative fiction (I am a HUGE Ray Bradbury fan), history, and sociology. I have books recs. Ask me for book recs. Unless you want romance, I don't really read romance.)

Games: Hollow Knight, Outer Wilds, Slay the Princess

Shows/movies: The Owl House, Amphibia, Gravity Falls, Psych, Good Omens (fuck Gaiman), the 1996 Hamlet, Over the Garden Wall, The Muppet Christmas Carol (I kinda wish I was joking but I'm fucking obsessed with this movie), Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper (I am mostly joking but also it's so funny)

Audio dramas: The Magnus Archives, Welcome to Night Vale, Hymns for the Road, Camlann

Musicals: Les Miserables (also the book), Come From Away, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (I have not read the book yet), Hadestown, The Count of Monte Cristo (also the book), Wicked (not the book), Treason, The Clockmaker's Daughter (there is no relation between the book and the musical), Frankenstein (also the book), Jekyll and Hyde (only portions of the musical, but also the book), Epic (I haven't read the book since I was fifteen but I enjoyed it)

Other music: The Mechanisms, The Amazing Devil, The Mountain Goats, The Narcissist Cookbook, The Crane Wives, To Kill a King, Sparkbird, Fish in a Birdcage, Poor Man's Poison, Bug Hunter

Some things I know a weird amount about: Phantom of the Opera (a lot of the adaptations and the original book), tuberculosis, The Owl House lore, the Cosmere, Louis Le Prince (the guy who took the first video), and parrots

A note on tags: I tag all Locked Tomb stuff with "The Locked Tomb," not tlt (it's short for a different thing in a different community I'm in). My personal tag for when I talk about shit is "Tesh talks." Other than that I think I do pretty normal things when it comes to tagging, feel free to let me know if you'd like me to change how I do stuff to make it easier to avoid spoilers or anything like that.

[tehnakki]

Honestly, Jod (God John) fucking his way through the hot officers on his flag ship in post-I killed my best friends-breakup rebound sex is truly one of the funniest things to come out of tlt.

Especially from the officers perspectives.

Fucking God has been living on your ship for the last x amount of decades. Y'all work your whole adolescence to get good enough at sword or bones so you'll end up on the flag ship. Every bit of your life is starched and pressed and exactly to the military manual. And for months all you hear of God is morning instructions passed through your platoon leaders or being called to attention when he passes through your work zone, but you're always just out of sight of God.

And then one day you are running and errand between decks and get caught in a hallway was High Command and God sweep by and it's everything you hoped. You look on the face of God and only years of military bearing keep you from bursting into tears. And then they are gone and you're trying to catch your breadth and remember what the fuck you were even doing in this hallway.

And shit's good. You've seen the glowing rings of His eyes and it affirms everything you've learned over your lifetime in His Houses. And it's almost like it opens the floodgates because days later you have the honor of standing at attention while the Saint of Patience chews out your commander for what felt like forever over someone misplacing his stash of cigarettes. And then the next week you're Blessed by the Saint of Joy's rant about never being able to figure out where the Goddamned meeting rooms are.

And that becomes you life until suddenly there are whispers that the Flagship is heading home, back to Dominicus even though God has not been back to the home system in a myriad and everyone is worried what this could mean. Then the rumors begin about First House, that God has called on the Houses to send their best to the First that they may become his newest Saints. And for a moment you find yourself breathless with frustration that maybe you should have stayed home after all, that maybe you could have served God at his side for the next myriad. But that feeling is fleeting as you're to sensible to think for long that you were the best. One of the best sure, that's how you had earned your home on the flagship, but not THE Best. And to think that you'd never have seen God laugh, or Patience rant or Joy rage if you'd stayed at home and vied for the top slot... no. This was your place in Gods realm if anything.

Week pass and everything continues as normal until the next set of rumors erupt. A call from First House, they've succeeded and they've died. And suddenly the slow meandering path the ship has been taking ends and we are at the gates to Home. The saints depart, Patience to the River and Joy to the First House.

And Joy returns. The first two new Saints in a myriad are brought aboard, and the bodies of the rest of the houses, those that could be found. Your platoon was commanded to ready the caskets to receive them so y'all were the first to hear of the fallen Saint of __, and to witness the tears of God when He visited her body.

God should never cry, you wept openly at His pain and wished their was anything within yourself that could absolve Him of it.

And then God left. He left the flagship, His home, His people. And disappeared into the River with His saints. The entire ship is in mourning. The long journey back to the Cohort Fleet is begun, but no enthusiasm is felt by anyone. It feels like being trapped in limbo.

[[A/N: I made the mistake of starting at GtN when really I wanted to talk about Fuckking, so I'm skipping to the bit I wanted to talk about]]

God's return was portentous after the preceding days news of Resurrection Beast sightings. One moment we were just another ship in the Fleet, and the next we were the Seat of God again. It was like the return of sunlight, or color, or taste! God stepped from the River alone to the Bridge of the Flagship and High Command was in ecstasy of His arrival! Every inch of the ship whispered with news of sightings. How God looked--tired, sad; How God smelled--like the paint thinner that was being misplaced at a surprising regularity and quantity; How God sounded--dull, heartbroken.

And oh how that last hurt you to think of. His oldest saints had been destroyed, only one of the newest Saints remained. And she could be found huddled with High Command, or prying God out of an officers bunk escorting Him to the closest shower then to the war room or Bridge, until God found a way around her and back into the nearest warm body.

And one of those days, oh one of those days you were honored to be that warm body. Surprised in a narrow junction room as you struggled with a power relay, the scorching warmth of God suddenly between you and the closing door. He pressed so close that all you could see were the black depths of his eyes, sorrow shining through every inch of him and your heart ached for Him. Your tears welled and spilled for Him. Your voice choked for Him as you prayed "oh Lord, please let me ease your pain." And He answered your prayer with one of His own. His tongue tracing His blessings across your lips, your tongue. His hands slipping inside your uniform pants and bearing your cock to the air. God slips to his knees and chokes on your cock, your hands flail and he grabs them and holds them to his head. You gasp out the lords prayer as he chokes and drools on your pants, eyes squinting up at you and dripping tears. And then the air hits your wet cock like a slap and God is standing, back to you as He drops his trousers and all but backs onto your cock. You can hear His soft pants of "fuck me, fuck me" as He presses your hands to His hips, His fingernails digging in to hold yours in place.

And so you do, sinking into the tight, feverish, grasping hole of God. Pressing kisses and prayers to the back of His neck. Worshipping Him with your entire being as His hands draw your blood and His voice urges you to move faster and faster. And somewhere between frantic beats of your hearts His body spasm and clenches oh so tightly on yours that your bodies seem to meld and for one endless moment you think you can see the universe as he sees it. Spinning thenergy and thalergy entertwined forever chasing in one anothers trails.... and then you are just you again, panting on the neck of your Lord, the Necrolord Prime and God who became Emperor Emperero who became God.

And reality returns with the banging of the sliding door being forced open by Gods remaining Saint. Who takes one look at the sweaty trembling mess of God and makes a face of disgust, pulling God toward her before yanking up his pants with rough movements as she started to berate him--

"Oh for fucks sake John, really? This room is nasty, you couldn't atleast drag them back to a bunk room? Can you please stop finding cocks to shove up your bum everytime I turn my back for more than a --" God and His Saint marched out of my sight as the door rumbled shut less quietly than it had before. You'll have to submit a repair ticket for it later.

You slump against the wall as you stare at the glittering drops of Gods expulsion. Without thought you fall to your knees and shuffle close enough that you can lean forward and clean it from the wall with your tongue. Salty and bitter with a touch of dusty paint, smears of grease add an additional note as you wrap your tongue around a pipe trying to clean every drop of His sacrament. You lick the grates and the walls and the pipes clean of Him and your eyes are caught by the shine of your dick, still wet with the moisture of His mouth. And with trembling hand you skim the fluid off your limp cock and bring it to your mouth to savour. You can taste your cum but next to that is the scent/taste of God. Fuck. You can never wash your penis ever again.

[moraleimprovebeatings]

Also,as someone who really loves Luke's character,I feel like this is also a tragedy for him,in a way. TL;DR - Hurt people hurt people,and Luke probably learned to excuse and/or normalize fucked up shit due to living in a bunch of different clusterfucks.

Disclaimer:this isn't to excuse Luke's actions or to diminish their severity,it's just that his terrible deeds are a fundamental part of his character as a sympathetic villiain when it comes to both words,not just the latter one.

Luke's life was extremely turbulent. First,he was raised by a mother who not only couldn't properly raise her kid,but she also yelled about his terrible fate while her eyes had a supernatural glow. To top it all,Hermes didn't give any sign,no matter how much Luke prayed. An unpleasant way to get introduced to the divine,I'd say.

Because of May's "crises",Luke ran away from home. There,he had to deal with all of the crazy stuff homeless kids/teens have to,besides the monsters wanting him as breakfast. Perhaps it was during this time he learned about how dangerous the demigod life was,plus desensitization to violence - at least,the beginning of it. Another amount of time Luke prayed for help,but none came until he was 14. To top it all,Hermes said growing up in the streets "builds character".

Camp Half-Blood itself. It surely beats living in the streets(being protected from monsters,training,regular meals),but it's far from flawless. The place has a blasé attitude towards violence and death. Besides many demigods(especially unclaimed ones) going on suicidal missions just to get claimed and/or a smidge of the godly parent's affection,people get slaps on the wrists as punishments for maiming and killing other demigod campers during Capture The Flag(no desserts). If Luke wasn't indifferent towards murder before CHB,he surely became. Now that I think of it,Sally is the only one who deserves credit for Percy's moral code when it comes to authority figures. After all that happened,Kronos appeared and decided to manipulate Luke. TBH,I think the failed quest was just the last drop. Luke had way too many reasons to get angry at the system,two decades of trauma(he was 19 in TLT,but I'll round it up). Kronos was a bad influence to Luke,using his ressentment to make Luke undego several kinds of decay - including moral.

Using seduction as a weapon on young teens isn't such a dealbreaker for me,as a Luke fan,and even that is part of the tragedy of Luke Castellan. Not only he had to grow up early and his ideas of youth are warped,but there's also the infamously small demigod lifespam. Besides,Luke's exposure to the good parts of the mortal USA moral code might very well be limited(not to mention he himself was unprotected by society). On a tangent,him falling for Annabeth is stupid - whether it's canon or not (I don't want to debate it). Rick wrote them as having a sibling relationship,makes a big deal about a "family promise",then decides to make a love triangle? Way to trash an emotional arc. Now,back to the main topic. Luke being a manipulator and victim of manipulation at the same time is a great way to show how "hurt people hurt people".

hey not so friendly reminder that silena was 18 at MOST in tlo (she was friends with annabeth, and percy mentions that beckendorf, who was logically around her age, was leaving for college). luke was around 18 when he was still at camp, and silena implied that he dragged her into the spy mess in that time frame. it’s also IMPLIED that he was in some sort of relationship with her that wasn’t necessarily platonic: 

“Before…before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so…charming. Handsome.”

this is a direct quote from the book, and, doing the math, silena was at least four years younger than luke. she could’ve even be five, but four is…bad enough. which means luke, not only manipulated her into becoming a spy with the pretense that this way, she could protect her loved ones but was also hitting on her so that she’d go along with said plan more easily. he was a literal eighteen-year-old dude while silena was like, an eight-grader or a freshman in high school. let that sink in. silena, as a likely fourteen-year-old, was in a relationship with a legal adult. 

Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised…he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told he wouldn’t hurt…Charlie. He lied to me.”

not so friendly reminder that she was a child victim of gaslighting. please think of this before accusing her of being selfish just because she found luke hot. like, no. no please stop. she was a scared teenage girl who wanted approval and grasped for the first sign of it. she was a scared teenage girl who wanted to protect her siblings, her friends, and eventually, her boyfriend—but didn’t know how. until luke. but because she trusted luke, she later found herself trapped in a cage. please, this shit is no joke. luke knew exactly what he was doing—which is disgusting.

not so friendly reminder that drew tanaka was also a young, teenage girl when her sister died. she suffered through the trauma of not only loosing a sister, but also realizing that the one person she looked up to the most was the spy. that silena had been the one who ultimately killed many by giving away nearly everything that camp half-blood had planned. not so friendly reminder that she dealt with her trauma in the only way she knew how: anger. she was angry at silena, at the world. she’s suddenly faced with the responsibility of becoming camp counselor. and all because of what? because in the end silena decided to be a martyr after everything she’d done? after all this time, her sister had been a fraud as well? how can someone so young deal with that, honestly? she was a child and was forced to act like an adult, be everything her older sister couldn’t. most important of all, she couldn’t let aphrodite or her siblings down.

okay? 

neither of these girls where shallow. they weren’t selfish. they were just doing what they thought best. and i’m still so so so angry that the existence of drew is canon but was only left as a vain, self-centered, tyrannical antagonist that stood in piper’s way as camp counselor. she is literally There and rick decided to…idk what type of misogynist fuckery he decided to do. and then there’s silena. what happened to her is messed up, complicated, and something that is common in abusive relationships. yes, luke was literally abusive. yes, he literally took advantage of her. 

like. no one can blame these two sisters, so please, for the love of all that is holy, stop reducing them to something they’re not. please. they were both traumatized. they both went through shit. and they both deserved so much more.

[ssparksflyy]

dating jason grace hcs! (ᴗ͈ ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ.ﾟ

pairing jason grace x child of hermes!reader summary based off this request !! an lin manuel as hermes no matter how much i pretend to hate youre iconic and i actually love you

"okokokok" and "lalalala" who ???

people were so surprised when you started dating since youre literal opposites ?!?!

youre so chill and laid back and fun

jason straightens up so quick and salutes if somebody yells attention

but since he's met you, he's definitely relaxed a little more

he's learnt to accept the fact that he can actually relax at times and just enjoy himself ?!?!?!? (shocking, right)

and you were the one who taught him that !!

it honestly started when your first met

cause he was training by himself after lessons had finsihed

you were walking around with your siblings, just passing by and decided to ask him if he wanted to go to the fireworks show that was being held that night ♡

cause like youd seen him around camp before, always helping someone out with someone, and youd be lying if you said you didnt think he was cute 😋 (i sound like a nine year old omg bye)

so what better time to ask than now !

i could lie and say he was super chill about it but lets be honest he was already smitten before you could even finish the question

dropped his sword, face all red and everythinggg 😵‍💫

(you tease him about this now, but he just fights it with a corny "guess you stole my heart" that makes you cringe and roll your eyes yet still smile)

he tried to act all cool and say he'd think about it when in reality he was already getting ready to run to the aphrodite cabin and ask piper for help

i love tlh trio so much i just know jason would be panicking about the whole thing and piper's trying to reassure him + give genuine advice while leo is just messing around 😭

he did manage to get some tips and you ended spending the whole nights talking and laughing instead of actually watching the fireworks ♡♡

he walked you back to your cabin and by then you both established big ol' crushes on each other (aw ya cuties)

the amount of teasing you got from your cabin that night was actually crazy though

you were last to get in that night and entered to a whole chorus of 'oooooo's

a few thrown pillows and 'connor i swear to the gods i will push you off the lava wall-'s later and you were finally able to go to sleep though ♡

the teasing and jokes never stop

even when you (finally) started dating

its your cabin's love language honestly

your younger siblings are OBSESSED with jason

hes actually so good with kids bye

he just 'treats them the way he wished he was treated as a kid :(

his words not mine i dont talk like im giving an anti-bullying assembly

but like he loves playing with them

instant besties !

he even helped them prank you one time :o

he felt so devious doing it good lord

real i was a bad girl i did some bad things yaknow

literally all he did was distract you as your siblings taped a balloon full of water and got a dart pin ready to pop it when you walked into the door

but he was all giggly when the prank succeeded

only for like 5 seconds cause then he was helping you dry off and apologizing

you didnt minddddd, it was fun seeing him act like a "rebel"

okay call me crazy but like trackstar power couple

hermes kids are fast, known fact, evidence? tlt musical said so

and i feel like jupiter/zeus kids would be too!! like moving at the speed of lightning hyperbole... please tell me you see the vision

but like being able to use that as an excuse to get some time away from people... the scandal.

jason telling the group he's with (not necessarily close friends, he knows he can just tell them that he's going out with you) that he's going out for a run

youll be flushed when you return-

when really he's ditching them to go hang out with you

cause this man can NOT say no. he's a people pleaser man it's hardwired into our brains

and they'll think it's normal cause like jasons weird

why question the kid who likes musicals and history

do you see where this is going.

jason taking you to watch opening night of hamilton cause he's been bouncing off the walls for it and really wanted to show you so he'd have someone to talk to about it after :)

it started off fun!!

you were both really enjoying the beginning! well, the first minute and twenty seconds of it at least

cause after that you lost your shit :D

your dad was literally on stage, a few hundred feet away from you, acting as a founding father

the rest of the show you were internally freaking out, questioning everything

jason had no clue, not until you told him during intermission

had the AUDACITY to say "...and thats how you were born" after the traumatizing experience of say no to this

after the show you chased you dad down on the street as he was trying to get 'home'

jason was lowkey giggling the whole time like he was not taking this serious at alllll

but hey he got to meet your dad !!

hermes likes jason, thinks he's a very distinguished gentleman

jason likes hermes, thinks he's pretty good at rapping

at least one of you gained something from that experience

not proofread !

[aldercaps]

given that i feel just as weirdly manic and full of energy as i did when i first got into the lost boys, expect some Lost Tomb posting as i run headfirst into a new hyperfixation

[iviarelleblr]

A Locked Tomb theory I don't think I've seen, though my tag browsing has been by no means comprehensive:

As a preface, @onefleshonepod made this reply-post recently about the population attrition in TLT possibly being because resurrection requires a ten-to-one soul loss. This does track with the fact that everyone is VERY clear that resurrection has a great and terrible cost, but I have a counterpoint. I just don't want to keep hijacking the original post they leapt off from because it's good and not at all related to this, so I'm making this its own thing.

So, after John's interludes in Harrow-Nona's dreams, I had a truly cursed thought: this wasn't the first time he resurrected them. He talks openly of modifying their memories, and what is history except the memory we choose to keep?

The objects Palamedes scries in Gideon chapter 12 are several thousand years apart in readings, despite appearing that they should be the same age. We know John's power is pretty incredible. We know he resurrected his friends at least once. But what if he kept altering the molecular age signature on the House so that they wouldn't get suspicious, but occasionally missed a spot, or got incomplete coverage every time?

Sure, we know that this set has existed for ten thousand years since the last Resurrection. We are given here the fact that Pal can't scry anything older than that ten thousand year limit accurately, under normal circumstances. But what if John put Canaan House, or the whole of Earth, into necromantic stasis after the RBs started to attack? Right around the time, say, that Alecto was put in stasis herself?

The deciding factor, for me, is that one of the things Pal scries is just fifty years old. We've already been told that nobody's been here in that time frame to the present except maybe the constructs like Teacher. They wouldn't have been leaving random young objects around in corners near the hatch to the testing area.

But that doesn't explain why some objects there might be three and nine thousand years old, when supposedly the place was only opened up after the Resurrection and closed up within about a thousand years and has sat unoccupied for the nine thousand years since.

So it is that I propose that John required at least 8000 years of resurrecting the system, losing some to attrition as the cost of the repeated efforts, perhaps 10% of the total each time. I don't know what circumstances might have led to their repeated failure, but I can't help but feel this is a viable possibility, from the way he talks about the first Resurrection, and how the events leading up to it differ from what the Lyctors told us in Harrow.

The primary evidence I can find against this amounts to "Pyrrha remembers G-'s deadname in Nona" which isn't even necessarily against my theory, if John isn't as good at memory wiping as he thinks he is, just like he's not as good at changing the age signature of Canaan House as he thinks he is.

Then, nine thousand years of stasis threw off the dating again, like if you had an object from a thousand years ago and brought it forward in a time machine, the carbon dating would be all wrong and show it to be brand new. But I feel like the population loss is down to both repeated resurrections and possibly that necromancy poisons the people in contact with it, so that all the Houses are slowly withering in population, which concentrates the necromantic power in those still living.

I think, though, that to John, the greatest cost of the Resurrection isn't the souls themselves, exactly. In part, I think it's the feeling of power as he channels it through himself and then has to let it go. In part, he still loves the Earth in his own toxic way, and burning her up slowly may, figuratively or literally, cause him pain. It's also possible that he's had a reduction in his capabilities since the first time, since he's burned off so many souls and so many of his resources. Maybe the cost of using power is realizing it's finite, and his gig is 90% done.

[icereader12]

I can't do a fic, but can do an analysis.

I don't think satyrs had rules against being close to demigods, because we learn that Coach Hedge brought Clarisse to camp BP (Before Percy), and that she has a close enough relationship with him to be the godparent of his first kid.

I also don't think they had rules about being friends with demigods either, but most Searchers are older that Grover, by a significant amount. We learn in TLT, that Grover is very young for a searcher. Chiron wanted him to have at least another decade under his belt (to be 18 equivalent.) In HoO, Hedge is the equivalent of a 50 year old, who has been an searcher for about 10-15 years, which means he started when he was in his forties (satyr equivalent). He wouldn't be a friend with a teenager, he'd be a mentor, an adult. They didn't have rules because they didn't need them. It simply wasn't normal, because most Searchers were in their 20s or older, and most demigods were in their early teens.

So while they could have relationships with their charges, I don't think that satyrs were expected to keep them up though, not as a rule but as a matter of reality. Searchers had to search. That meant being out of camp often.

I do believe that Grover was the first to normalize going on quests. Everyone in TLT was weirded out by Grover being on the quest. Including Grover. If not for the quest being so political no one wanted to touch it, Grover wouldn't have gone on that quest, but once he did, the gate was open. In TLT it's almost unthinkable. In HoO, Hedge being a supervisor is considered reasonable.

Both Grover and Hedge reformed the way the community saw a satyr's role. Specifically, it broadened acceptable jobs a satyr could do.

Lastly, I am sure everyone warned Grover about getting attached to Percy. Just like everyone warned Annabeth, and Chiron kept it in mind.

do you ever think grover was breaking the rules by being friends with percy and annabeth? like, no one else in the series has such an intimate friendship with their satyrs like they do. do you think grover felt bad when he actually started liking percy as a friend? do you think the other satyrs warned grover against getting too attached since he would never see them again after death and also because percy was the prophecy child? did their friendship reform the way satyrs see their demigods, as more of a friend than a job. the relationship between a demigod and their satyr needs to be studied more and I need to write/read a fic about this.

[bbyannabeth]

I kept seeing all the Rachel stuff on my tl, and some I agree with some I don't. But personally I've always liked Rachel (as a 14yo originally reading pjo). I understand that she was normal and Percy liked that. I never understood why people hate on her for the crime of liking Percy. Like I seriously cannot blame her. The dude was a perfectly tanned, 12 pack, half god... How could she possibly look at him and be like "nah I'm good". I like romantic or platonic perachel cus I genuinely believe that they would be close. Percy had only her for company 8 months of the year. It makes sense to me that they would be close. And I think Percy would like her a bit to cus he's a hormonal teen constantly spending time with a pretty, freckled, redhead lol. Don't get me wrong the Percabeth is legit my main otp and I would riot in the street if they didn't end up together.

i liked her when i read the books as a kid too, I thought she was cool. it wasn’t until i was older and realized rick did her so dirty that i stopped liking her. she was just a love interest, until that plot line expired and rick was like “oh no what do we do with her now” and made her the oracle. and tbh, i still don’t hate rachel, i just don’t like her because of ricks writing. she’s fictional and much too boring for me to feel strongly enough about her to hate her on her own lol

percy def liked her bc she’s pretty and that’s about it but that was just super inconsistent writing on ricks part. he made it clear percy hated Rich Kids in tlt so once learning rachel had insane amounts of money and people who tended to her every need and summer homes and everything, he shouldn’t have liked her as much as he did. not her fault for being rich, yeah, but it’s just the truth

also she can look at percy and say “nah im good” bc she is a lesbian<3 (/j ik she isnt one canonically but she is in my heart)

[pastabrand]

Unpopular PJO/HOO/TOA opinions

This is gonna be wordy but I’m not sorry for it.

Percabeth is hella overrated. It’s nice, but I would prefer other ships over it and some of y’all Percabeth shippers are scary as hell

I love TOA. A lot people don’t like it because it doesn’t include the main 7 and another topic that I’ll mention later but honestly, I could care less. I’m glad that the others aren’t there other than cameos. It means they’re getting a chance to heal after everything and honestly, good for them. People like to cast TOA as an unnecessary spinoff that didn’t need to be included yet it gives y’all the type of character development you scream and beg for in other books. It’s literally the perfect character development trope you crave, yet puts a good spin on it.

Some of you haven’t even READ toa and say you hate it. Like what? How is that supposed to work.

PJO was way better than HOO. TOA sits in the middle of the two.

I love TOA because it shows Apollo’s character growth from one of the most arrogant, cocky, and prideful gods. And even then, he doesn’t go from that to a helpless mortal loving fool, he stays arrogant and prideful but less so. Not to mention more understanding of mortals and demigods live and what they go through. He doesn’t go from one extreme to the other, but one extreme to more of a center balance. It’s more natural that way.

While Jason’s death in TOA was sorta cheap, it goes to show demigods can die at the least expected times. If Jason had died during the war, then it would be “oh, well, that’s what war does. It kills people. Nothing new.” Compared to Jason going about life as normal and one small mission is his end. It’s more impactful and realistic that way. It goes to show that life as a demigod is always dangerous, fighting or not.

Jason’s anger to Percy for not noticing Nico’s feelings towards him is absolute bullshit. Fuck that as a whole. Nico acting cold and hateful towards Percy doesn’t and shouldn’t equal “I like you, notice me please”. The internalized homophobia should be Jason’s focus, not Percy’s lack of attention at Nico’s feelings.

Same for Leo about Calypso. Not to mention they both shove the blame onto Percy like its his fault when it really isn’t. Having your memory forcefully wiped mere months after a war isn’t gonna help when remembering stuff like that. Not to mention the Gods are bums who will try to do as little as possible and leave the rest to demigods. It leads to one sided anger and unnecessary confusion and guilt on the other side. Bad writing on Rick’s part tbh.

People need to stop acting like Jason didn’t die. That’s clinging into a ghost and not letting it move on. I hate to be the one who says it, but Jason is canonically dead and acting like he isn’t won’t change shit. It’s gonna lead to unhealthy habits in the future, trust me. You can’t write a fic post TOA then be like “oh yeah, Jason’s alive because I want him to :)))” because that isn’t how life works sweetheart.

People also need to stop pretending TOA doesn’t exist. You might not like it but you have to acknowledge that it is actually there and it follows the PJO/HOO timeline.

Paul was just a card to give Sally a nice man to lean on when it wasn’t necessary.

Percy should’ve been wayyyy more suspicious of Paul when he was first introduced. 6 years of abuse from a “father figure” isn’t just gonna go away because “oh he’s nice.” Guess what? Gabe was nice at first canoncially (even if it was for a very short amount of time).

Percy. Has. Serious. Anger. Issues. He’s sassy and stuff, sure, but he’s also got some severe anger problems that he both inherited from Poseidon and developed and festered over time from living with Gabe for 6 years.

Percy is the type to act like Hades or Apollo, attack a lesser being(s) because he can’t go after the big shot without fear of punishment. I wouldn’t be surprised if some his expulsions were from beating up various kids and/or teachers.

For the first half of TLT, Percy did not like Camp Half-Blood or consider it his “home” other than Grover and Luke. The camp treated him like shit because he was a noobie at first and then because he was a son of the Big Three. He hated Poseidon for his lack of care and lack of help when he and his mom were abused under Gabe. Had Luke talked to him during that time period and/or Kronos spoke to him in dreams, he would’ve joined the Titans. His loyalty for the camp didn’t form until near the end of TLT.

Nico and Percy basically had somewhat personality switches. Nico was an excitable, happy, laid back, and naive kid while Percy was a quiet, angry, and irritable kid. Nico’s switch came from Bianca’s death while Percy’s was more gradual. In the end, Nico became the quiet, irritable kid and Percy became the more happy, laid back kid.

Stop ignoring the fact that Nico, a literal 14-year-old, traversed into Tartarus. Alone. There’s always fics of Percy and Annabeth recovering or suffering from the after affects of the fall and war while Nico is relatively normal. The boy is not and has not been okay. His life has been one shitshow to the next ever since he was ten.

Both Percy and Nico have incredibly dark sides to their powers that they seemingly enjoyed that was fueled by anger. Percy with Achlys and Nico with Bryce. Percy admitted to liking torturing the goddess and Nico, though more subtly, seemed amused by Bryce and his attempts to justify his crimes and then frantic attempts to stay alive. Bryce literally says “I’m Bryce Lawrence! I am alive!” And Nico casually responds with “Who are you?” as he turns Bryce into a souless husk of a person. You cannot tell me that he wouldn’t have tilted his head innocently and cracked a small smile at that.

Piper’s portrayal as a Native American. Do I even need to go into that?

Percy. Liked. Luke. The boy knew the son of Hermes for what? 1 week? 2? Yet considered him to be a friend, possibly a close one at that. It probably went the same route Nico’s crush did. Hero adoration to actual romantic feelings but godspeed. Not because he just wanted to like a boy, but because, other than Chiron, Luke treated him with kindness, patience, and understanding as a male figure, something Percy didn’t really have growing up. Not to mention Luke helped Percy when no one else would. As a 12 year old, those type of feelings were bound to develop.

People who make the characters treat Percy and Leo as dumb, oblivious, or one dimensional sassy bois™️. Percy and Leo would be offended and/or defensive of such a thing because of childhood trauma. How many years do you think they can to endure that when they were younger from people they were supposed to trust or respect? You seriously can’t think they would be fine with it because their friends. Maybe a reference once or twice, but constantly? Absolutely not. Old habits die hard.

Solangelo seemed forced to me. I dunno, Nico’s whole confession felt like a ruse to get him set up with Will right away. I felt as though there wasn’t any real “connection” between the two prior to them getting together. It all felt rushed and out of place for the setting they were in. I’ve never understood it nor liked it and usually try to avoid it. That and Caleo seemed like a way to put all the characters in relationships so that they were “happy”, portraying that they needed to be with someone to achieve their happiness. Leo and Nico would’ve been better off single and learning to love themselves before loving someone else. Same applies to Sally.

Nico and Thalia would never get along because Thalia would be a reminder of what Nico lost (Bianca) and how easily how she could be replaced.

Demeter kids need more respect. I feel like that’s what Meg is for. To show that they can also technically be considered “Big Three” material because, if you forgot, Demeter is a child of Kronos as well. That means Demeter’s kids are cousins with the Big Three kids as well.

Aphrodite’s kids also need more respect. Aphrodite in the PJO universe is literally older than all gods, as she was born from Uranus’ gentials in the ocean and arose from there. Their powers could be exapanded wayyy more if they were focused on more.

Not to mention Poseidon kids could possibly gain attibutes of what would be considered Aphrodite’s powers since she was born from the ocean and vice versa. The possibilities are endless there.

That’s all I could think of for now! Lemme know what you guys think though.

[melancholyicedtea]

Rick Riordan could totally make Percy the villain in a future book series

Think about it, if he spent more time acknowledging that Percy is really big on revenge and likes to inflict inhumane amounts of pain to anyone who slightly threatens the people he loves, and in some instance LAUGHS as he watches them suffer.

It was first mentioned in SoM that his fatal flaw is fatal loyalty and that’s what lands him in Tartarus.It gets to points when he goes overboard and genuinely scares the people he is fighting for (annabeth taking a step back from him when Percy chokes a monstress with her own poison in HoH). Or how when him and his mom literally KILL his abusive step dad in TLT, he is really happy about it but he regrets not being the one to have given the final blow to finish Gabe off for good.

Or how during SoN when he’s traveling with Frank and Hazel through the north west to get to Canada, Rick made the point that they weren’t bothered by gangs while going through those rough neighborhoods because Percy was just THAT threatening.

The reason why Percy fights for camp half blood is because it’s his found family there. He could care less about saving the world if it didn’t really affect him, even though he would most likely not admit it. He could care less about quarrels between the Gods, but him and his friends keep on getting wrapped up in it.

With the people he trusts it's easy to see him in his happier, goofier, joker side. But with strangers and people he doesn’t know, he has this blank almost angry expression. You know how cold and intimidating Percy was to like Leo, Piper, and Jason until he understood that Annabeth trusted them and he decided their his friends in MoA?

He’s a little overpowered being the son of The Big 3 as well and keeps on pushing himself to unlock new abilities that get more frightening as he grows into his powers. When he says “why” when Apollo shows up at his door isn’t really meant to be played for laughs, it's just that he’s so DONE and so ANGRY at the gods.

As he grows up, he starts to align more and more with the radical ideologies that Luke had. Luke and Percy aren’t that different after all with what they think about the Gods. Luke was just willing to betray everyone who trusted him and kill his own found-family to achieve his revenge. If Percy wasn’t doing all he could to protect what he loved, nothing would stop him from being able to rip apart Olympus with his bare hands.

I’m just saying all it really would take for Percy to completely snap is to go overboard and accidentally scare away/hurt someone he loves, or have one of them die and have him be unable to save him, the most impactful examples being; annabeth, sally, his little sister, and possibly Grover (a lot of people overlook their friendship :c ) So yes, Percy just needs a little push to send him over to him embracing his dark side.

I predict that when he finds about Jason’s death he’ll be really upset and blame Apollo, one of the Gods who keep on ruining their chances of a normal life (remember Jason was just trying to pass his classes and stuff until Apollo came and asked for his help.) Jason is similar to Percy in power and leadership, but Jason agreed to help because he believed it was the right thing to do and he was raised at camp Jupiter with the values of honor, duty, and serving the Gods. Percy would have said no, and he DID say no in TOA book one.

Because he doesn’t do what he does because it’s the right thing to, but because in saving everyone he gets to save the ones he loves as well. He made the decision he would rather to let the world be taken over by the giants instead of letting annabeth fall to Tartarus on her own. He didn’t think they would survive. He just wouldn’t leave her. This has been my dark!percy analysis, thank you for coming to my ted talk

[blackcoffeeandblankpagess]

things

I feel like I’ve been MIA on here lately and want to post many backlogged pics but also feel like I should do a lil brain dump

Been home for like...3 weeks now? honestly, we’re dealing with it. I’ve actually been really busy and once I decided I wasn’t going to be able to run away any time soon I kinda committed to just doing my best to make it work and it hasn’t been terrible

But on that note, I basically live at our neighbors’ house. They’re essentially my second family, I realize that breaks ~quarantine~ rules and I’ll admit to that, but my family was also already in contact with them before I got home and they are basically the only people I ever see and tbh if I had to pick between coming back to NJ to stay with my family or them, I’d pick them SO... yeah. It’s been really nice spending so much time with them though, dylan (22) and sage (20) have basically been my pseudo siblings my whole life and I pretty much grew up at their house but ever since college it’s rare that we are all home at once and after this time period we will never all be here together again because my fam is moving SO trying to really soak it up- hiking, cooking, playing catan, drinking beer, watching movies, etc. very nostalgic

To my last point- my family (well my mom and ed) is moving! my mom has had a plan to retire and move to costa rica (it’s literally the ONLY thing she talks about ugh) for awhile and they officially put our house up for sale last week so THAT has been a little hectic (I’m honestly so glad they are moving tbh I really don’t like coming to my childhood home that has now been flipped upside down to accommodate a new marriage and does not feel like my home)

not much to report on the running front, have been running less days and doing more biking/swimming here. I took a glance at the site for the marathon I was eyeing for the fall and they seemed pretty adamant that they were gonna hold it which honestly shocked me but I guess it’s in a place that hasn’t been hit too hard?? idk though I basically assumed all 2020 races were off the table. I’d also have to start training in like...2 weeks and I’m not sure if my body is really in the place for that

^to go off of that (TW ED) I need to like...get my fucking shit together. Over the course of the past year I’ve lost x pounds, unintentionally, literally due to anxiety, but once I started thinking about it more I realized my period has really petered out since the winter (like...january I guess?), plus it was never like...FULL force normal to begin with even though I was getting it to some extent for basically all of 2019. so anyway red! flag! I actually weighed myself yesterday which is something I haven’t done in like 5 years (only at doctor’s visits where I usually don’t even look at the weight until weeks later), but I KNEW it was going to have gone down and I thought maybe I could knock some sense into myself and tbh it kinda worked. The disconnect in my brain truly astounds me sometimes. But after I type this up I’m sitting down to have a chat with myself and journal and figure out a plan because this is not healthy and I need to get a grip. (again, like I said, not intentionally undereating, in fact I’ve eaten more on a daily basis over the past year than ever before, but my output is high and whenever I’m anxious my appetite is zero which makes for a very confusing disastrous time) 

In other news! headed down to NC to visit jared next week and I am excited 4 that. tbh I am looking forward to the 10 hour drive I find it really meditative and gives me time to think, catch up on podcasts, etc.

in the process of figuring out my living situation for the fall which is causing me STRESS. but it’s looking like we will be at least to some extent having in person classes. Also it looks like jared might not have to be on campus after thanksgiving in which case maybe he would come stay with me for a few weeks in OR which makes me very very happy

Also in jared news, feeling very very grateful for that boy, he is truly astounding

Food things- I was honestly having like....a slight identity crisis about eating meat. Normally I never buy meat, I only really eat it if there is a very particular circumstance and it’s so infrequent that it usually doesn’t cause me too much angst when it happens, but being home I told myself I’d eat dinner with my fam to make my life easier but I honestly started to get real freaked out about the amount of animal products going on (from an ethical side, not health). I’ve appreciated the eye opening-ness of it from my perspective in a lot of ways. Idk, too many thoughts to type. Probably sounds hypocritical anyway but the thought of being entirely vegan is incredibly stressful to me given my ED (plus, I eat mostly plant-based in general). BUT I have started to try to cook vegan meals for my family which makes me feel good and like I’m promoting good things. I made my mom a TLT for lunch the other day. On Tuesday I made homemade veggie burgers for the first time and they were super good. Making vegan stuffed shells tomorrow. And! And! After talking to my neighbor about veg cooking she also made very very similar veggie burgers this week, she actually made them the day before me so we got to taste test eachother’s. And then jared sent me a pic of vegan bolognese that his sister made which I know was inspired by him making that and I know he was inspired by my plant-based nudges and that stuff makes me feel good. Like I’m spreading a positive influence.

This is super long as per usual and I need to go have my meeting with myself lol thx 4 reading 🐢

[rickjsposts]

Markets off over 2.5%, Short Put Trades Analysis, Flynn, Grenell, special elections, House pork bill, updated political odds. My thoughts for a Wedn morning.

New Post has been published on https://www.rickjshandicappingpicks.com/markets-off-over-2-5-short-put-trades-analysis-flynn-grenell-special-elections-house-pork-bill-updated-political-odds-my-thoughts-for-a-wedn-morning/

Markets off over 2.5%, Short Put Trades Analysis, Flynn, Grenell, special elections, House pork bill, updated political odds. My thoughts for a Wedn morning.

The markets reversed to the downside on Tuesday and this morning we are going to get a sharp gap down of a bit over 2.5% in the SPY, DIA and QQQ while IWM is gaping down 4.5+%.

@CL is up 5% TLT +1% Vix.x is -20%

This has the makings of a panic move to the downside today. The only positive numbers you can glean from these is that TLT is not up bigger and Crude is positive. That may make a difference. But today is a day to be very careful entering the markets in the morning.

I have no swing trades on at the moment and am concentrating only on my short put sales that I make on Thursday with a 2-day expiration. I had my first losing week two weeks ago. Last week there was not much to choose from in my morning scans however I did find 1 trade that was an easy winner.

So far I have had 97 trades with a win rate of 89.69% and a profit factor of 5.62.  Now on the losing week two weeks ago two options were exercise which I sold the next Monday at a loss.

So gross gain after commissions on the short puts were $20,304.00. The two stocks I sold on Monday had a loss of 1764.50.  Adding the two up I have a net gain after commissions of $18539.50.

The profit factor with both is 4.01. Anything over 2.5 is exceptional.

The updated graph is above with the net results from the trades.

The one thing to note is the absence of much of a drawdown on these trades!

One thing I am doing differently now is I am sending these trades out via Slack.

You can get these trades along with any swing trades I make for free until baseball season starts. Right now that is shaping up to be around 7/1. At that time I will be activating all subscriptions that are on pause.

To get these trades for free until then all you need to do is :

Go to my website: rickjshandicappingpicks.com

Use the PayPal dropdown menu and sign up for the monthly subscription

These all come with a 3-day free trial

I will immediately suspend your subscription so you do not get charged

I will then send you an invitation to join my slack channel where I send the trades.

In addition, you are free to ask any questions on slack at any time on any subject.

As far as the geopolitical landscape since I last posted its been more of the same. Some of the highlights have been,

The DOJ has moved to dismiss all charges against Gen.Flynn. But in an unprecedented move, the Judge is allowing Amicus Curiae briefs by outside parties. This is not only unprecedented but contrary to the Federal rule of criminal procedure.

How this turns out will be at least more delays, with an appeal if the judge jumps the shark on this. I do not expect that, however in this charged political environment who knows with any certainty.

2. Grenell has released transcripts that have shown the Russian proceedings were a hoax from day 1. The news is more is coming regarding the unmasking and other subjects.

The Obamagate conspirators have been caught and we will see if there is accountability. Durham reported is ready to drop the hammer soon.

  3. In two special elections yesterday for the House congressional seat a Republican has won Wisconsin and leads by 12 pts in Ca 25. That is an ominous sign for the Democrats in November. At this point logically I see no way they keep the House.  I have already taken 4 to 1 on the Republicans regaining the House, and plan on fading each one of the dirty 30 once lines are out.

4. The House has proposed a 3rd three trillion-dollar stimulus bill that should be dead in the water in the Senate. In normal times not 1 item would be approved by the Senate or the President. It is filled with pork and ideological liberal wishlists. In other words a complete waste of time. I suspect that is the reason we are seeing the sell off this morning.

Leave it to Congress to cause as much damage as humanly possible on the American people.

Now let’s look at the political odds:

  Dem Nominee:

Biden 80/20  -2 Pts Sanders  2/82  +2 Pts Clinton 7/93  +2 Pts Cuomo 3/97  No Change

Looks about right. I still have some doubts Biden is going to be the nominee:) Make no mistake the Dems still can choose whoever they want.

Dem VP Nomination:

Harris 37/63   +8 Pts Klobuchar 18/82 -4 Pts Abrams 8/92  +2 Pts Warren 13/87  No Change Masto 8/92   No Change Whitmer: 7/83 -1 Pts

I have no opinion on who is going to get the VP nod. Although I see no one on the list that can help Biden.

Presidential winner:

Trump 49/51 No Change I have a small amount of equity on my wager getting 45/55 Biden 44/56  -1  Pts

Clinton 5/95  +5 Pts

  Getting back close to even money right now.

Control of the Presidency: Dems 53/47 +3 Pts

Again I believe the value is on the Republicans

Control of the House:

78/22 Democrats: No change( I took 3 to 1)

I like the Republicans here. I rate it a tossup whether they regain the House. Although the better wager is to bet against each of the “dirty 30”

Control of the Senate:

51/49 in favor of the Republicans -7 Pts

I actually think the Republicans could lose the Senate. Collins has self-destructed, although they will pick up Alabama. But in Georgia establishment, Republicans are making the same mistake they made in Alabama in 2018. Loeffler is damaged goods with insider trading. Collins, however, is a cinch if he gets the nomination. But the establishment is pulling out all stops to defeat him in the primary.

Add that to some of the policy-making decisions of the Republican Senate and they are not very popular. They only have a 3 person advantage in the Senate. So, I view the Senate race right now as a tossup, only because the establishment Republicans are making bad decisions.

I would still bet on the Republicans but the much better wager is taking the odds in the House for value.

Odds of a recession during Trump’s first term: 95/5+5 Pts my wager taking 4 to 1 Right now it is all going to depend on the reporting numbers as its a very technical definition.

The best wager of the year will be fading the dirty 30 in the House. They are all incumbents, and all will most likely be +odds. So you only need to go 50% to make money. I cannot imagine not hitting 60%+ on these.

That’s it for today,

RickJ RickJ’s Handicapping Picks rickjshandicappingpicks.com/investing Skype:riccja