#girlie's a little paranoid but like. just comparatively to their other parents

[canyourlawnmowerdothis]

nerve pain is nothing in the face of. what if i drew kity

[daisyychainssj]

Absolutely nobody was wondering my opinion on this but I wrote this out in my drafts last night at like 4am so here is my order of the eggs heights! It’s very real and canon and I will not be taking any criticism (I’m kidding please tell me your thoughts and opinions if you’d like to! 🤲🏻🩷)

First of all, to me, the eggs are still young so when I’m saying any of them are “tall” I mean tall in comparison to their siblings not in comparison to the adult islanders. I think at best the taller of the bunch reach a bit above their parents waists. They’re still babies to me 🤏🏻

🎩 Dapper - T A L L for his age. I like to think this is because of the hc that bad, being a demon, is intimidatingly tall but is able to change how tall he appears like in front of the eggs for example as to not scare them. Also the hc that the eggs take on physical attributes of their parents so I like to think dapper has taken on bad’s height

🥀 Tallulah - This may be controversial to some people but she’s a Tall Girlie™️ to me. She was VERY small when Wilbur found her in the attic due to being malnourished. However, when she began being cared for properly, eating and sleeping correctly she began to grow pretty fast! Also spending all of her first couple of days out of the attic around Wilbur and becoming quickly attached to him she took on a lot of his attributes, noticeably his height

🐼 Leonarda - Kinda on the tall side but is pretty much the expected height for her age. Had a growth spurt earlier than most of her siblings so was the tallest for a while but when her first growth spurt ended her siblings’ began and now she’s happily average height wise which she doesn’t mind because she likes being small enough to be her pa’s (ONLY) baby but also she likes being tall enough that the younger ones remember that she is older and was here first!

⚙️ Ramon - Baby boy made in heaven by god himself has always been a little shorty among the original eggs. He’s never minded and still doesn’t. Fit assures him that he’s still got plenty of time to grow! Which is true! they’re all still young but he’s not stressed about it either way. Being smaller means he can sneak into places others can’t to have a snoop around and get into the smaller areas of his machines and projects

🐥 Chayanne - WAS the tallest of the original eggs and Tallulah, Richas and Pomme when they showed up but eventually his siblings hit growth spurts faster than he did. He’s not super upset about it and still feels like he needs to and is still able to fulfil his role of big brother even if he is smaller than them now. Apart from Richas who he is still taller than and he will absolutely happily point it out to him every opportunity he can

🍎 Pomme - Small but mighty! Pomme hasn’t really had any noticeable growth spurts yet. She’s petite but boy can she wield ANY weapon with confidence no matter how big or heavy. She puts on the front that she doesn’t like being on the smaller end of the scale compared to her siblings but truthfully she kinda likes that her parents can pick her up and hold her like they were able to when they first found her. When times were simpler and she didn’t have to constantly be paranoid and anticipating the next bad thing that’s going to happen and carry the weight of the world on her little shoulders and feeling like she has to protect everyone she loves. So yeah she’s short but she doesn’t really mind at all

🐮 Richas - Wants to be tall SO bad but the poor little eggy just isn’t. Shortest of all his older siblings and absolutely furious about it. If anyone brings up the fact that he’s short he WILL throw a tantrum about it and will probably kick you in the shin but that’s what you get for saying he’s small when he so clearly isn’t!!! (he is)

~ The New Babies ~

💎 Sunny - Small lil baby compared to the older eggs but taller than both of the newer eggs. They just give me the energy of being tall for their age but not by a lot ya know just like a bit above average for her age bracket

🥞 Em - Tiny baby, little baby with pancakes on her head. So small but will slap you upside the head with her frying pan so don’t be deceived by her littleness. She’s hoping she’ll grow a bit soon because she’s tired of having to ask her mum’s to pick her up to reach hard to reach places in her room whilst decorating

🍿 Pepito - Just the absolutely tiniest baby. Could fit in the palm of my hand, the tip of my finger even. No Pepito has ever been as small as this Pepito

[seattlesea]

The Wasted Potential of Piper McLean’s Backstory

I think it’s safe to say that Piper’s backstory was easily the weakest, most boring, and worst-written one of all the characters in Heroes of Olympus, but it didn’t have to be. Riordan wasted a lot of potential for her backstory that could’ve added much more to her character just for ‘My dad doesn’t pay attention to me!!11!!!11!’ and then showing multiple flashbacks of Piper and Tristan spending quality father-daughter time alone together and completely invalidating all of Piper’s annoying complaining. Not only that, but Piper’s backstory is just a boring copy of Rachel’s. 

So, this is what Riordan did with Piper’s backstory:

1. ‘Neglectful’ dad. Piper spends 50% of The Lost Hero complaining about how little time her dad spends with her (and 49% thinking about Jason) instead of focusing on actually helping him. And while neglectful parenting can be very dangerous to a child’s happiness and social skills, Piper clearly wasn’t neglected or ‘ignored’. How do I know? Well for one, there are multiple flashbacks in The Mark of Athena of Piper and her dad hanging out- surfing, researching Greek mythology stories, watching Tristan’s movies and laughing over them, Tristan telling Piper Cherokee stories, etc.- and two, Piper isn’t unhappy nor unsocial and doesn’t show any symptoms of child neglect besides being clingy and possessive (but remember that the McLeans weren’t always rich, and were actually quite poor before, so Piper didn’t learn that behavior from her father). Besides, for someone who is claimed to be ‘smarter than all her other siblings’, Piper clearly doesn’t know that it’s her father’s agent that controls his schedule, not Tristan.

2. Rich and pretty= bad. In a lot of different circumstances, being rich and pretty has its cons, but Piper’s complaints about it are completely offbeat. Why? Cause we don’t know why she’s complaining about it. She complains about being rich, but why? She complains about being ‘too pretty’ (as if that’s something people legitimately complain about), but why? There’s no backstory or reasoning given to this. If there was, Piper’s constant complaining might have been valid, but Riordan just threw it into her story to give the readers a reason to take pity on and feel sympathy for her, and because he didn’t give Piper an actual reason for her complaining, it made it unbearable. If he had written it in smaller doses (much smaller) and wrote it realistically, it could’ve been really awesome. Because if you’re going to complain about something, make sure you’re complaining for a reason. Why does Piper hate being rich? Why does Piper hate having a bunch of awesome things most people would kill for? Why does Piper hate being attractive? And how Riordan tried to validate her complaining with ‘She wants to be normal’- NO ONE WANTS TO BE NORMAL. What teenager wouldn’t want a private airplane and giant mansion after living in a shitty wood house most of their life? Cause yes, Riordan, write your character complaining about her private chef making her a gold-wrapped sandwich while most of the other characters were worrying about where their next meal was going to come from and have her complain about having things while most people didn’t have 5% of what she had. That’ll totally make her a likable character. There’s a difference between being modest and being ungrateful.

3. Bullies. Being bullied sucks, and Piper has every right to complain about it. But...she didn’t. She didn’t complain at all. She didn’t even care about it. So she’s perfectly fine with being bullied and pushed around for her ethnicity, but her dad working a little overtime is the end of the world? How??? Besides that, Riordan didn’t write in bullies to shine a light on racism towards First Nations people, but for one reason only- to degrade femininity. Piper is described as a ‘tomboy’ (even though she doesn’t actually dress tomboyish, but that’s for another mini-rant) and the only bullies towards her we have been introduced to are girly-girls- Isabel and her group of friends who wore ‘matching pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween party’, Drew Tanaka, Khione, etc. That’s not progressive, it’s sexist. ‘Femininity’ and ‘weakness’ are not synonymous, and nor are ‘masculinity’ and ‘strength’. Also, how did Isabel and her friends not know who Piper’s dad was? I’m pretty sure Tristan didn’t hide her from the entire world (though that would’ve been a way cooler backstory). 

4. Stealing. Anyone else out there who also knows that Piper isn’t actually a rebellious trouble-maker? Cause she isn’t. She got kicked out of four schools for being accused of stealing, but she never actually canonically broke any rules. As for the stealing part of her backstory, it was really, really lame. It was just a bad, invalid excuse to make Piper look like the badass and cool trouble-maker when in reality, all she did was politely ask for things. Not exactly ‘badass and rebellious’, and it was completely unnecessary. Piper wanted attention from her dad, but she got it multiple times and could’ve gotten it in many other different ways that didn’t enforce the racist ‘kleptomaniac First Nation’ stereotype. 

And this is what he should’ve done with her backstory:

1. Rich and pretty= distrust. Piper was reluctant to tell Annabeth about her famous father in The Lost Hero, but for the wrong reason. She didn’t want Annabeth to know about her movie-star dad because she didn’t want the ‘attention’, but she should’ve not wanted Annabeth to know out of distrust. And by ‘distrust’, I mean ‘not knowing if they want to know you for you or for your money’. This is a common con for rich and famous people, and they often turn paranoid and distrusting because they can never be certain if someone wants to be their friend because they think that they’re a cool person or if they want to be their friend because they’re rich and famous. That would’ve been a perfect reason for Piper to be reluctant to make new friends (especially after announcing to her whole cabin that her father was Tristan McLean), but she didn’t care. She even said that she ‘hated using the famous dad card’ but never showed signs of being dubious of new people who knew who she was. As for being pretty, a lot of attractive people are also distrustful because they never know if someone wants to date them for their personality or for their looks (and in Jason’s case, it was definitely the latter. No one wants to kiss someone a few minutes after knowing them and never actually talking to them one-on-one and it be anything but sexual attraction). Piper should’ve been very reluctant to get into a relationship (especially after Jason embarrassed and sexualized her in front of the entire camp calling her a ‘knock-out’) and it would’ve added a valid reason for her to complain about her looks. Cause again- why does she hate being attractive? Cause she’s tired of being stereotyped? No, cause she stereotypes other people. Cause she doesn’t want to be attractive? No, cause she never said anything about that. There was no reason for it, so it was a huge waste of many chapters and made for a horrible character arc. 

2. Alone in a big house. Piper complained about her dad being ‘too busy’ despite him being a very loving, caring, and inclusive father, but why didn’t she even mention the other part of it- being alone? Sure she had personal chefs, assistants, etc. with her, but no one related to her and no one who wasn’t being paid to be around her. Being alone sucks, but being alone in a giant house with a bunch of games and other stuff you’d love to share with another person but can’t? Damn. Speaking of which, what about Piper’s past schools? Five schools and no confirmed friends? It’s not like Piper has a hard time making friends since she was able to become friends with Leo (and only after being at the Wilderness School for a few months versus full school years at the others). Riordan could’ve written a very interesting backstory that didn’t have to relate to monsters (like Leo’s) but focused on the wrong parts. 

3. Impossible (and toxic) beauty standards and pressure. While being unattractive (or thinking you’re unattractive, cause you’re not ugly, you’re just not your type) sucks, being attractive (and extremely attractive) has multiple cons. Not only is there- racism in the beauty industry, society’s toxic and even deadly standards of beauty, not being open to relationships out of fear of only being liked for your looks, fear of not being taken seriously and being stereotyped, being cat-called and even the fear of rape, being compared to others, etc., but there’s the constant pressure (especially from family members, friends, and peers) of showing off your looks even if you don’t want to or are not comfortable doing so. I have an ‘hour-glass’ shaped body, and at first I loved my body and was very confident about it, but after the constant urging from my family members to wear tight (almost revealing) clothes to show off my body starting at only twelve years old despite me not being comfortable wearing those types of clothes, I hated my body and wore exclusively baggy and layered clothes for nearly 3+ years. This would’ve been perfect for Piper’s backstory, especially since her mother literally sexualized her by putting her in an ‘embarrassingly low v-neck dress’ in front of tons of campers. She wore basic, simple clothes, but she only wore them to avoid being labelled a ‘girly-girl’. It’s not even canon if she actually likes those clothes or are actually comfortable wearing them or not, she only wore them to avoid being something else she didn’t like. It could’ve led to an awesome character arc- going from insecure about your looks because people keep pressuring you into showing them off to only wearing and doing what you like. Piper tried to hide her looks, but for what reason? To avoid being stereotyped as ‘girly’? Yes, Piper, because girly-girls are the only type of girls that are pretty. Obviously.  

4. Charity. Rachel rocked this one. If Piper wanted to be kind and modest, why didn’t she give any of the things she had to people who actually needed it? Instead of moping about how rich you are, give the things you don’t want to those who need it. It’s a lot more effective and moral than spending all your days complaining and sulking, and it’s much more likely to gain readers’ favor than constant whining. 

5. Stereotypes. Riordan tried so hard to avoid the ‘snobby rich girl’ stereotype, but in my opinion- he should’ve utilized it. Piper went from ‘I don’t care about what I have’...to the exact same thing. She didn’t grow at all regarding her fortune and riches. Even in The Trials of Apollo, she lost everything and didn’t even care. Who wouldn’t care if they lost everything they had? Piper could’ve been grateful that she still had her dad and humanity while still being upset she lost everything. Back on topic- Piper could’ve gone from spoiled, obnoxious, and money-obsessed to ‘It doesn’t matter what I have or what I am but who I am’. She should’ve started off as the basic, stereotypical rich girl- a greedy, selfish, idealistic, spoiled, rude, dramatic, and overly ambitious primadonna diva who tried to buy her happiness and relationships but realized she couldn’t fill the hole in her heart with money and lipstick. Or how about the reckless homewrecker who broke hearts just for fun before realizing she actually wanted a real relationship, so started letting people in? Riordan avoiding the rich girl stereotype to make Piper more likable is what helped make her dislikable, because it ruined the chances of a good character arc. Besides, while not showing it on the surface, Riordan did actually sink into the rich girl stereotype by making Piper a selfish, ungrateful, and attention-seeking whiny brat, but she never grew from that or even realized she was doing it. 

6. Looks don’t matter. The fandom thinks that Piper is the one who stands for ‘looks don’t matter/it’s what’s on the inside that matters’, but she’s the opposite. She: -dismissed Percy and stereotyped him based off how he looked -hated her entire cabin and mother just because they were girly -hated and stereotyped Drew just cause she was wearing jewelry and makeup -constantly fussed over her looks and looked at herself more times in one chapter than all the other characters did combined -commented on Jason’s appearance multiple times, etc. So no, she isn’t the one who stands for that. The character who doesn’t think about their appearance at all is the one who stands for that, not the character who thinks about their looks 24/7. She should’ve been the character to stand for that, cause who better than the daughter of beauty and a famous, attractive movie-star? She should’ve been the one to scream to the mortal world that ‘Hey, I’m attractive but I’m not my attractiveness’. 

7. Racism. If Riordan wanted to expand on Piper’s character, why not write about the number one thing she should’ve been struggling with before being introduced to the mythological world- racism? She’s Cherokee, and there are multiple things against First Nations people nowadays like horrible living in reservations, living in the land she knows was stolen from her people and watching her father pay taxes to the very people who stole it, etc. Bullies suck, but bullies are common. The struggles of First Nations people is not, and it should’ve been added to Piper’s backstory not only to make her more realistic and better-written, but to shine a light on the racism and oppression against First Nation tribes. 

8. Monster attacks. So Piper is the daughter of a rich and famous movie star, most likely used multiple different pieces of technology, was out in the open only a few hours away from Camp Jupiter, and was out in the mortal world her whole life, but didn’t experience any monster attacks whatsoever, even at fifteen years old? That’s extremely unrealistic and dumb. Monster attacks should’ve been used to make her backstory more interesting and realistic. 

9. ADHD and dyslexia. Was I the only one bothered that Piper didn’t show any signs of ADHD or dyslexia? Every demigod has them and Frank is the only one confirmed not to, but Piper had no trouble focusing, staying still, reading, concentrating, forgetfulness, short attention spans, etc. She was even able to read the directory at Medea’s Department Store, the writing on the wall at the Cyclops-infiltrated warehouse, Greek stories with her dad, etc. In canon, she doesn’t even have ADHD or dyslexia, but showing her struggling with it (especially as the daughter of a famous movie star who’s pressured into being perfect and poised at all times) would’ve added so much to her backstory and character.  

10. Abandonment issues. So Piper’s mother literally leaves her before she was even born...and she didn’t care? It’s understandable that she would accept her mother’s choice after finding out that her mother was a goddess who couldn’t stay with her, but what about before? She didn’t even comment on it. She showed signs of abandonment issues (insecurity over her relationships, the inability to trust her partner’s intentions, constant jealousy, difficulty with feeling actual intimacy, possessive and controlling behavior, clinginess, constant need for attention, etc.) but they were never expanded on or even called out. She was portrayed as the perfect one without any faults or need for help cause she was (in Riordan’s eyes) supposed to be the ‘strong one’ who didn’t need others to help or save her, but that just led to a dull character and flat arc. 

11. Standards of perfection. Piper is the daughter of a rich and famous movie star, is extremely attractive, etc., so writing her backstory as being constantly pressured, raised, and even demanded into always being poised, presentable, and perfect her whole life would’ve been way better than whatever the hell Riordan was doing. Piper should’ve rebelled against society, not her dad who didn’t even do anything wrong. Basically- What Piper did: My dad wants to bring me to a nice salon cause he loves and cares about me? NO! I’m going to cut my own hair even though cutting your hair in First Nations culture is literally taboo without even bothering to tell my dad that I don’t want to get a haircut to see if he’ll agree! What Piper should’ve done: Society wants me to always be perfect and presentable? NO! I’ll show them that I’ll be whatever I want to be without their input!

12. Rich and famous ≠ a perfect life. People are often mistaken that rich and famous people have the best, perfect life, but they don’t. With society’s impossible standards, controversy in the fame department, tons of hate for a bunch of different reasons, and more, Piper could’ve been the one to show that more money doesn’t equal more happiness, cause who in the world would constantly want flashing cameras in their faces, the inability to go out without being followed and/or harassed, fake friends, constant judging, the inability to have any privacy or being able to do anything normal people can, etc.? 

So, yeah. Piper’s backstory was just a steaming-hot mess, a pile of wasted potential, and flat-out bad writing. Riordan could’ve written an awesome character with a great character development, but it was trashed only because he couldn’t focus on the right aspects of her backstory. 

[letswritefanfiction]

Headcanons for all the pokeani characters’ preferred drinks.

Ash: Doesn’t. And we thank god for it every day.

Misty: Beers socially and in the fridge at home. Occasionally wine, but just for atmosphere at dinner parties and the like. She drinks old fashioneds if she’s out. (Ash thinks that her drinks are by far the worst when he tries a sip.)

Brock: Beers when he’s out, because they look manlier to the ladies but he knows how to make the fruity cocktails. And he’s ashamed how much he likes them.

Gary: If he’s drinking it’s usually just to feel the effects, so usually either cheap beer that does the job or shots. The proudest day of his life was when he got Ash to try a shot of fireball. That is part of the reason why Ash doesn’t drink.

Delia: Never really has. Did when she was younger, regrettably, and it was usually whatever people gave her. Now it’s just champagne for special occasions and there’s always a bottle of red in the house…But it’s dusty.

Prof. Oak: Has hardly ever drunk because he knows that alcohol is a depressant and he doesn’t want that in his brain. He did begin drinking more and more in the years following the deaths of Gary’s parents, but then realized that the last thing he wanted was to drink away their memory and he’s been sober ever since.

May: It’s a few years before she can really handle anything beyond a hard lemonade or something comparable.

Drew: Isn’t afraid of drinking ‘girly’ cocktails.

Max: At first, it was important to him to drink, because it made him feel like he fit in more with the older kids, but after a couple talks with Ash, he realized that he didn’t need to and now he’s all about protecting his brain. Sidenote: Ash has no idea what conversations Max is referring to here and didn’t realize they had any effect on the boy whatsoever.

Solidad: She and Harley do drinks at brunch. It was ‘their thing’ for a long time, because, well, Harley wanted to and it was something that they did without May and Drew. (Because Solidad doesn’t like bars.) But she does like margaritas and bloody marys have grown on her.

Harley: Um, anything. Usually whatever the most over the top drink is just because it looks the best. By the time he’s drinking a cocktail, he’s always a few shots in, so taste doesn’t matter so much. Also: body shots.

Dawn: Surprisingly doesn’t like wine, but wishes she does. Likes most all else. She grows to quite like tequila and eventually has to make a policy for herself that she has to be able to strongly taste the alcohol in whatever she drinks, otherwise she’ll drink it like juice.

Paul: Embarrassingly can only really stomach mild things like hard lemonades and margaritas. With plenty of ice. Dawn revels in this and enjoys shoving her own drinks on him and laughing as he tries not to react to the taste. May has some sympathy and shares her own drinks with him, but he almost always gruffly turns her away.

Barry: Everyone kind of hates when he drinks and kind of loves it. But he’ll drink anything you throw at him. Literally anything.

Iris: Doesn’t drink, but still calls Ash a little kid for not drinking.

Cilan: Can’t stand getting drunk because he’s paranoid about embarrassing himself. Loves wine, but harshly limits himself.

Burgundy: Wishes that she liked wine, because she wants to be able to teach Cilan a thing or two, but she doesn’t. She usually just lets Georgia give her a few shots and then she drinks water for the rest of the night. Until Georgia gives her more shots.

Georgia: Shots. Fireball in particular.

Serena: Drank wine with her mother at dinner from a relatively young age. Also champagne at new years and other special occasions. Everyone’s surprised by how much of a heavy weight she is and if everyone’s out drinking she has to take shots just to keep up, but she does not like them.

Clemont: Similar to Serena—it’s a Kalos thing—but he makes no effort to ‘keep up’ when other people are drinking. He sips his wine and resigns to his fate.

Bonnie: She evens Clemont out. Alcohol doesn’t hold the novelty for her that it held for, say, Max, but she loves being the life of the party nevertheless. And she’ll drink whatever to get the job done. But outside of social occasions she never bothers.

Sorry I left some people out! Either I didn’t know (Tracey) or I explicitly forgot them (everyone else.) Whoops.