#hoo sorry this is so long yall

[jaxypaxyhaxy]

You said we don't want to hear your essay about the symbolism in this picture, and actually, I wanna hear it.

(Omg literally marry me 🥹 nobody ever cares or like wants to hear my symbolism rants🥹🫶)

After it wrote this: just letting yall know, I’m sorry, you asked for this, you’ve brought this on yourself. Much love, I apologize

Ok so I’m gunna break it down by the most obvious to least obvious (at least to me)

1) the “APPEAR”

Ok ok ok, so we all know this is something Tori does around Charlie often. Yk, “older sister magic”? Yeah so I think there could be like 2 things going on here. A) Micheal has been able to appear the whole time, Or B) Micheal has picked up this trait from Tori. If the former is true and Micheal has been able to appear the whole time, like how can you tell me they aren’t perfect for eachother. Not even necessarily romantically either but like they are soulmates. I think the original appear of Tori symbolizes how people don’t always notice when she enters a room. Like there are people who have all eyes on them, and then there’s Tori who you might not even know is there because of how she enters a room. Idk I just think it’s a good way to describe her, a silent entrance. BUT if the latter is true, and Micheal picked up this trait from Tori, hoo boy like I could literally talk abt this for an hour. Ok ok so I think I present a good argument abt how Tori and Micheal both kinda want what the other has (at least at the start) if that makes any sense. Like Tori is this “manically depressed psychopath” who doesn’t seem to give a single shit about what others think or feel or dislike about her ( granted it’s because she’s too busy struggling to keep herself alive and worrying about her siblings but still she just doesn’t seem to give a single flying fuck ). But as all my solitaire girlies know, Micheal gets extremely angry at times because of his performance on the ice and how he’s perceived by other people (like judges definitely). I think it almost seems like Micheal cares so much about how he’s perceived, and what others feel about him, or what other people have to say about him. I think (at least it feels a bit like this to me) that Micheal aspires to have Tori’s level of IDGAF and he kind of analyzes and watches her and how she is just herself. ( And like obviously we know Tori’s life is extremely fucked up and depressing and I think we can all agree we would just like to comfort her endlessly, so I’m not saying Micheal romanticizes her life and wants it and wishes it was his, but I think that’s part of what caught his eye abt her at the beginning. ) that took a really long time to get to my point but like yeah I think if he did pick it up from her is because he (not in a creepy way) watched her and how she moves through everyday life. Like HE PAYS ATTENTION! He pays attention to her and has continued to pay attention even more so after the events of the book because he cares about her and loves her.

2) the lines showing how he appears

Ok so we all know that Tori appears like this:

But Micheal is much more animated in his appearance, with longer lines and no asterisks. This is true and translates nicely into their individual personalities as well. 1 way is Tori appears like she wasn’t there but then she was, and Micheal appears like he popped up from the ground. I’m gunna break down my other point because it’s a lot.

Their emotions ( including breakdowns and general expression ): ok, so Tori often has an array of emotions and feelings and thoughts all spinning in her head at once (I could talk more abt this so just lmk if u want me to) and it makes it harder at least for me the reader to designer her feelings from time to time yk? But like Micheal, his emotions are intelligible in the book and you can usually put a name or two to what he’s feeling whether it’s hurt or anger yk? I kinda look at it like

Tori: small, silent symbol ( as she doesn’t often talk about her feelings with many ppl ) and many lines that represent her emotion soup. ( each line representing one emotion yk? )

Micheal: long, obvious, concise lines. ( he is emotionally intelligent enough to know what he’s feeling but not necessarily control or understand them ) like Tori each line represents one emotion but also Micheal’s are much larger and obvious. I believe live this can represent his struggle to control and maintain his feelings. I also just wanna say I believe the two long lines represent his anxiety about posing his question, and being angry or upset about the whether society puts on dating (as mentioned in he’s rant to Charlie’s gang) and I think the smaller lines are like part happy or excited almost because like hes at a super fun event with the girl he really likes, and people who are super nice to him; and the other small line I think is sadness because (as previously mentioned) Micheal doesn’t seem to handle rejection well but he also doesn’t have meant friends and he would be so so so sad if he messed it up with Tori the one girl who actually got him and cares about him yk? Idk that’s just my over analysis of the way he appeared.

3) his hair

His hair is scruffy and messy, and I’ve seen Alice draw hair like messier when someone is anxious or upset abt something so I just wanted to put that out there

4) Charlie and Tao

I WANAN FOCUS SPECIFICALLY ON TAO FOR A MINUTE THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Okay look at Taos face!! ( I know ur not gunna scroll all the way back up so I’ll help )

Alr anyways LOOK AT HIM. THE UTTER SKEPTICISM IN HIS EXPRESSION IS JUST SO AHHAHHAHAHHHHHHHH

(This is my head canons and over analyzing just kinda mushed into a pie abt why I think this has so much weight so bear with me) The reason I am absolutely feral about this is because Tao has known Charlie (and inevitably Tori) for years on years on years like he is THE childhood best friend and I have an array of pictures in my head what happened after solitaire. Charlie 100% had a panic attack, no question. I would too, I think anyone would if their older sister tried to kill themselves honestly. But anyways I think Nick helped but Tao helped much more in that certain scenario. I’m not sure exactly when Charlie talks to Tao after the events of solitaire but he definitely does and he blames himself for not noticing sooner she was depressed or suicidal. Tao kinda convinces him there’s not much you can do in those situations and sometimes we don’t recognize it in time if we recognize it at all. But basically long story short Tao knows about everything with Tori and Micheal on the roof. That’s what that was leading up to sry. Ok BUT where I’m going with this is that just like Tao was protective over Charlie with Nick, he is 1000% just as protective over Tori (bc she’s like his platonic older sister in law) so he will occasionally watch Micheal and make sure he’s being good like he did with Nick.

There’s also the very real possibility I’m reading much to far into this and he’s just confused because Micheal appeared and bumped into him BUT STILL, I’m gunna choose to live in delusion

Charlie: Hes visibly confused and I just know in my bones it’s because he doesn’t know why Micheal is with them instead of hanging with Tori and Ollie. That’s it, that’s all I wanted to say abt Charlie bc I just find that rly fucking cute

That’s all I think… for now at least. Much love, hope you enjoyed 🫶🫶

[zaradrawsyourmom]

So…gonna talk abt these designs…just a lil bit…just a tiny smudge of commentary….the teeniest tiiiineist bit….

-I’m not a big fan of Cure Sky’s cape. I can hear everyone in the replies right now….but hear me out. The red-on blue cape doesn’t really fit with her blue and pinkish purple color scheme. They could’ve made a white cape….or a warm pink? They could’ve even done a blue-pink two tone ombré cape…? Idk. Just a thought. Also the angel wing-thingies on each side of her head? Hate those with a passion. It literally made me say “OH COME ON..” they should’ve done those lil angel wing-hair clips for her hair (picture 2☝🏾) they’re adorbs!

-Cure Prism is probably one of my favorites out of the main cast! Her hair’s a bit too long tho, would’ve preferred a bit shorter hair. Also the little opening in her frilly skirt with the dark blue and yellow star kinda annoys me. Also also, what the heck were they thinking when they designed that bow on her head. I would’ve liked if she had the bow in the back of her hair and maybe it could’ve been a translucent white glittery bow (picture 1).

-Princess Ellie i have a love-hate feeling about. She reminds me of Hugtan (that’s her name right?) from Hugtto Precure. I like the purple hair she has but where is her neck lmafo. That’s really it lolol

-Cure Wing. CURE. 👏🏾 WING. Oh my sweet god almighty. Ok before i violently rip them apart I’ll discuss some things i like about the design. I like the little collar they have on and the hat looks ok. And…that’s basically it…lmfaoo. Im sorry but what the ding dong diggity damn is this color scheme. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it but it’s not my favorite. I think Wing is supposed to be the yellow cure but they absolutely missed with the color coding. orange with yellow is acceptable, but this orange is SO dark. Does not fit with the rest of the cures at all. I would’ve preferred a lighter orange.I also hate the rat tai-I mEAN ponytail. It’s so weird looking…. And the cape. OH MY GOD the cape. It is atrocious. Yellow and teal are ok colors but you decided the best way to use them was in a cape…?? Another thing, i dont like how this design is so…orange. Not really any other colors are being used here. With the other cures, they have all sorts of diff color combos that actually fit with their designs. Cure Sky has a blue magenta thing going on that i really enjoy. This is also kinda a problem with Cure Butterfly but it’s not too much of magenta. Whoo, got off track for a bit..anyways yeah, Cure Wing, least fav design period. Pretty bad, and, dare i say, overrated. *insert boo sound effects in the background* BOO HOO ALL YOU WANT YALL’ KNOW ITS TRUE! *in sing song voice* CURE WING’S OVERRATED! CURE WING’S OVERRATED! THEY LOOK LIKE A SWEET POTATO! THEY LOOK LIKE A SWEET POTATO! (I enjoyed writing this too much lmfaooo)

-WHEW! That was a long boi. Let’s slow it down and talk about my second fav cure Cure Butterfly. Mostly i have no problem with her, good design overall, maybe they should throw in some teal for a nice fresh look. Don’t like the belt tho. And the hair color. Would’ve preferred it shorter, and no weird orange hair fade-in.

And….that’s it! Hope you enjoyed baiiii :3

[gungambled]

drabble: separation

@the-taboo-king

     thick tendrils of smoke fill the air -- that smell to MASK the death in the room, the death that has invaded the underworld in a far more prominent manner in the time since she left it. UNPREDICTABLE, if it were not for the gun in her hand and the fact that it REFUSES to go off when pale finger pulls the trigger, she would not BELIEVE she was still capable of her title. celestia passes the gun around to the person beside her -- inherently SHIVERING at the look of madness in her eyes. the SANE and those steeped in despair, it seems they co-mingle here more than in other places, where people come to have everything taken or everything gained. beside her the gun goes off and she feels WARM liquid on her cheek. she does not need to see it to know what it is -- nor is there any DOUBT what the thudding sound beside her is.

       situated in her seat, she LOUNGES as if she has no worries in the world. taeko yasuhiro in the gambling underworld once again, there was no need to keep her identity hidden. they all KNEW. and if she were to lower herself to these games again, she knew she needed to use it to get her emotions out in the best way she knows HOW: that faceless aggression of the plain. arms cross before her chest a look of indifference upon her features as her arms untangle to swipe away that blood on her cheek with a swift motion.

       time has not TREATED her well in her loneliness. drawn in again, when she IS on the island she does her rounds with a certain lack of care -- unwilling to talk to anyone for long because she knows the questions that bubble beneath the surface. she has REFUSED to talk about what happened to cause this, to stay in place and talk for long even with her OWN classmates. she has no DOUBT that the whispers of taeko yasuhiro have reached their ears even in the fact that media is near non existent. or maybe she just WANTS them to know, a vindictive part of her hoping that words of his recklessness might cause them to MAKE her stop. maybe she NEEDS them to stop her because she ends up dead.

        because as she sits here, scarlet hues watching as the gun is reloaded -- a hole in her chest, celestia KNOWS she needs someone to stop her. addiction born anew, there are new games these days. far more DANGEROUS than russian roulette. without a doubt her odds were not good, and she often finds herself WONDERING once again if the only way it will stop is if the odds fall unfavorably on her side. she NEVER expected to break so spectacularly, to need THIS again to feel whole, or at least to convince herself as such.

     another gunshot rings out and suddenly it is only she and one of the FEW people here she had been familiar with before this all went to hell. an old rival she had continually destroyed. she watches as he fills the chamber -- a smirk on his lips that she DOES NOT like. celestia has seen it on him, the despair that clings to his skin. in a WAY is she not doing the world a SERVICE? helping to remove these people that taint the world even with enoshima gone. legs move from where they are propped up on the table and she leans in with her OWN grin -- a twisted thing of confidence on black lips, when she feels NONE of it.

      and then she feels SOMETHING unexpected -- a smoking barrel aimed at her instead of him followed by a FLASH of pain in her arm. she can feel the blood running before it completely registers what has happened. a gasp of pain leaves her lips as the other man throws the gun to the side and steps around the table a fist aimed to her face. another blinding pain and she falls out of the chair pale hand lifting to cover place where she has felt her lip split with the strike. seeing stars it takes a moment for her to pick herself up. a bloody scowl directed him to combat the MALICE in his gaze.

            “ fuck you, yasuhiro -- you don’t control this world anymore. you and your pretty rules and dresses and acting like you OWN us all. you’re done. “

        growled with unrestrained hatred she reaches downward to try to get her knife before another fist is thrown at her -- and she finds herself suddenly held against the wall. a reminder of her weakness, of the FACT that this was how she was always supposed to end. always something she had expected -- she spits in his FACE, blood upon his skin as she tries to IGNORE the feeling of tightness upon her cheek and lips -- the burning pain of the bullet wound. his hand finds her throat and that defiant expression DIES on her face, that expression of porcelain turning more into something of panic. is she ready to die?

       one hand reaches up to try to CLAW his hand away from her throat to no avail. his body crushing her own she finds herself giving into the feeling of breathlessness that takes over -- almost resigned to her silent fate: to die as NOTHING as she had expected so long ago. tears fill her eyes -- and the man takes no heed. there is a TWISTED pleasure in watching her crumble in his hands. his grip TIGHTENS. it is as her vision swims that her fighting spirit ignites again -- the ANGER filling her at the thought of going like this. she always wanted it to be by her own hand. not some DESPAIR infused freak. flight or fight instincts kick in and suddenly a KNEE is brought up to his groin and his grip loosens just enough for her to drop to the ground with a GASP.

      she manages to bring a hand down to grasp that trusty knife flashing out to CUT the achilles tendon without a second thought. her gaze is BLANK as he falls before her. hand lifts to bring the knife down upon him again before there is ANOTHER flash of pain that makes her cry out -- she pushes through it and slams it down upon him again and AGAIN. she has no idea of the extent of her own injuries but she can feel each slice of his flesh and the precise moment he stops moving but she doesn’t STOP -- feeling that swirl of despair flickering before she finds herself PUSHING herself away, eyes wide. she does not get far, a pain in her leg drawing her gaze to reveal that a knife had been lodged in her thigh.

      everything seems too CLEAR. she knows she is losing blood, that she might have a concussion. but at least she is ALONE in this room now. she was ALIVE. trembling hands grab her phone and send a message to naegi requesting immediate help -- knowing if she did not receive it she would never make it back, even if she did not KNOW if she wanted to make it back. the deed done she curls in on herself, trembling and in SHOCK. fingers find their way to her hair despite the pain in her arm in the reach. she is tempted to SCREAM but she does not because she knows the people in the other room. survival of the fittest.

      how lucky ( or unlucky ) it is that the pain manages to keep her conscious despite a swimming mind. knife is lifted as she hears approaches footsteps and an opening door. she only drops it into her lap when she recognizes who it is. she sees naegi’s expression and she KNOWS what she probably looks like. covered in blood, a split lip -- a black eye forming. but at least he doesn’t overreact. instead he comes up to her, kneeling in the blood that pools around her. instinctively she dips her gaze away, expecting him to reprimand her -- to tell her how DUMB her actions were. there were other people there too but she isn’t paying attention to them.

    “ celeste… we thought this might be what you were doing. but why? everyone has been so worried.“

     maybe he shouldn’t be asking these things when she’s bleeding in front of him, but she doesn’t mind. it’s better than him lecturing her for her stupidity. she feels vulnerable and she HATES it but after all of this it is what she deserves. she shakes her head, so light in the absence of her extensions and she still refuses to look up at him.

“ they didn’t need me there -- you know it as well as i. i had to find SOMETHING, somewhere i could feel whole. guess i chose wrong. it is… my bad. “

       unbidden, a tear falls from her eye and she leans forward to hide it. she WONDERS if gundham has been doing such dangerous things like her. if anyone has heard anything new since she had been gone left. everyone MUST know her reason for aimlessness -- as silly as it may seem. one person should never define a person that much and yet he did. suddenly she finds gentle arms around her and she leans into the touch -- the MOST open thing she has done with naegi outside of the very thing that started this all. the moment everything shattered. he remains silent and she takes a deep breath. finally she mumbles a question:

           “ any news on him… any a-at all? “

       a sigh from naegi before she feels him shake his head.

  “ no, but they’re looking for him. everyone’s been worried about you two and your disappearing acts. you’d think you thought no one liked you, even after all this time. “

       celestia knows this is PRECISELY how she has been feeling, no matter how illogical a thought it was. there were certain bonds formed even when things are strained. her classmates would always defend each other. it was simply difficult to comprehend sometimes. she winces in the pain and naegi moves away from her. finally she lifts her head to him. everything is so PAINFUL.

           “  i should have thought th-this through… my… apologies. “

      she can feel herself growing weaker in the moment her thoughts fluttering more as she looks at neagi with those tear streaks on her cheek, cutting through the blood. they need to get out of her and FAST. she watches as naegi gestures for one of the men with him to step forward, and she feels his arms beneath her. so she is to be CARRIED? nothing too difficult given her slight stature and lack of grandeur. still, as she is lifted naegi gives her a sad smile.

“ apology accepted. just stop scaring us. that’s really all we ask. “

       a small nod from celestia before she speaks again, softer than before -- as if it is a secret, even if the whole world KNOWS the truth already.

      “ …. i miss him. “

                                                            “ i know. “

     and then the world fades into a weird GRAYNESS, where she is aware of being carried but not much else. she was going HOME.

[ofcowardiceandkings]

Hi! I really like how you've put scars on Link + Zelda :) Do you have any pattern to them, or was it just random?

aah thank yoouu :'> 💙💙

well, like Many things, i put way too much thought into this

i kind of mapped them out in "layers" or the most part ?? Zelda has two layers and Link has three; Childhood/Pre-Calamity, day OF the Calamity, and for Link the course of the game. i already kind of talked about Zelda's scars so i'll try not to repeat myself but anyway

the first kind of reflects mostly incidental scars the average person would amass up to their teens anyway? accidents you have as a toddler, stupid stories you tell your friends, that kinda thing yano ... in Zel's case a lot are dumb science injury related as well but they both have just feral doofus ones. a few of these are based on ones i or my friends actually have lmfao, falling on stuff, standing on things, catching your fingers, burns, etc ... for example there's one on the side of Link's nose i got from falling on a table corner, and Zelda has one on her outside palm i got from a bread knife incident snrk

Link also has a few that would come from being a knight for a while, not many, but a few combat ones already present ... like that bonk to the head he took in the memory on Death Mountain for example

the second layer is pretty self explanatory, you dont run from the apocalypse without being bashed about [shrug] Link is clearly stated by Robbie to be covered in scars, and even before Fort Hateno he looked a bit rough. No matter how much he shielded Zelda from alla that too, you can bonk yourself without being zapped by an ancient laser tank,, debris gets sprayed, generic running-away-fast scrapes happen, she fell pretty dramatically so a mashed knee for sure, and so on ! Link looks like a mess though ... punctures from arrows and spears, a few gouges, blade swipes all over, blasts and burns from guardians, everything just all over the place

for Zelda, other than some funky time shenanigans, thats where i left it

Link's last layer is much less built up but also self explanatory lol ,, literally just what might have happened over the course of the game story itself. i would think these would mostly be restricted to big issues like the blights or the occasional narrow lynel escape, but mostly the final push through the castle to Calamity Stinkus itself ... there arent many, most injuries generally end up being temporary marks or bruises yano

i'll admit that some of them are partially just "thatd be cool" as well but the Aesthetic is always part of the equation lmfao

a few are more like, grounded though as opposed to the more haphazard stuff. interestingly, being an archaeologist type ran me into some reverse-survivors bias a bit because if you can SEE that kind of trauma on bones then it was probabaly the cause of death rather than something someone in a medieval style battle would have just coped with in life lmao, there ARE records of survived injuries though and like i said reverse engineering and magic thinking helps :L

other ones are based on more specifc phenomena, the one that comes to mind is the one on Link's left cheek that corresponds to where you'd find a duelling scar that was more common among people who practiced sword duels or fencing until very recently in history actually [shrug]

RIP for the long reply iM SO SORRY bdskdjdj

so tldr , NO it was not random !! i used a fun combo of personal stories and historical reference with the lore to help but there IS a reason to them :'>

💙💙💙💙💙

[catboy-steve]

my favorite pjo/hoo headcanons

- percy just isnt white cuz like he’s not

- he is also not straight he finds way to many guys attractive to be straight

- neither is annabeth like you’re telling me her gay awakening wasnt piper??? like obviously loves percy a lot and she would never leave him for anyone but still,,

-  annabeth runs on coffee 24/7 no one knows how much of her blood is blood and how much of it is coffee people wonder how she’s still alive

- they dont realize percy drinks just as much he just keeps it in a non-transparent water bottle thats just full of coffee

- the 7 x therapy

- reyna and nico x therapy

- coach hedge is so tired of dealing with the teenage bullshit thats why he’s in his room half the time like yea he has a sense of duty but if he has to hear jason and percy complain about each other one more time he’s gonna jump ship

- percy and jason lowkey hate each other like they work really well together but they are not that compatible as friends and have to work through their issues with each other before they become good friends

- leo has a secret ds that he brings into the hull of the shit when he wants down time and he has beat pokemon platinum at least 5 times since starting this quest

- he also quotes vines all the time and only percy understands him and they bond over that

- jason is weirdly obsessed with zodiac signs and he’s a fucking cancer so no shit him and percy dont get along they’re opposite signs 

- frank also throws knives because he’s tired of people underestimating him

- yea frank is nice and all but he’s gonna fuck someone up if one more person underestimates him

- he also has a strong canadian accent and its really funny 

- percy has a strong new york accent and hazel has a southern accent

- jason has a weird ass accent that no one knows what it is like he was raised by wolves probably spoke a lot of latin growing up and grew up around a bunch of accents so no one knows what his accent is

- also he has 0 understanding of social cues all he knows is wolves and fighting

- so someone will make a joke and hes j like ???

- percy teaches hazel how to cuss and everyone is like -_-

- also everyone treats hazel like their little sister bc she is so small! she is 13! she is babey! and she is constantly tired of it

- her and franks relationship is very innocent because again she is 13 and anything else would be weird 

- their relationship is weird but this isnt the time or place for that

- jason is the token heterosexual

- nico is fucking rich as hell his dad is the god of wealth! so he just flexes on everyone constantly

- piper just buys people shit like oh you want that? here i’ll buy it for you

- her dad doesnt even care he’s just happy she’s making friends :’)

- frank and annabeth have a bookclub bc they both love reading

- leo and annabeth compare smart people notes and they just cant deal with some of the dumbassery the 7 is on

- but sometimes they do dumb shit in the name of “science”

- percy tries to teach everyone horse and fails miserably 

- they have movie nights to bond and have fun 

- percy roasts the fuck out of jason on a daily basis and jason has no idea what to do

- but percy has also fallen off the ship at least 3 times so far 

- but overall they all love eachother

- but they  also do dumb shit

[astrangertomykin]

just admit y'all don't know what filler episodes actually are & don't understand that major plot arcs aren't needed to deepen the overall story or characters. it can come from "filler" episodes in small changes or experiences but cause its not part of the main story y'all complain.

[ahatintimepieces]

The rough draft for EF chapter 33 is complete and officially the longest chapter I’ve written for any wip \o/

[soldrawss]

Shadows, Scars and Salted Lines

HisGrace: You find it ok?

WiseGirl: Yeah and just my luck, it's under the library.

HisGrace: Under?

WiseGirl: Yeah, like, in the basement of the building. Not creepy in the SLIGHTEST.

HisGrace: Really? That seems a little too extra

HisGrace: Like, they're trying too hard with the paranormal aesthetic

WiseGirl: Well, they are the Supernatural Activity Club. So... go big or go home I guess?

HisGrace: I guess, but, you sure you're ok? I can get off my shift early to come with you. I'd feel better about it at least.

HisGrace: What if they're like? A bunch of weirdos that only play pretend Ghostbusters but really just marathon The Shining and The Conjuring all day. The last thing you need is a couple of jerks pulling your chain around.

WiseGirl: I think I can handle a few horror fanatics, but thanks Jase. I'll be fine. I'll call you if I need any backup. PromiseX

HisGrace: Call me regardless. I'll pick you up and we can get pizza or something afterward. My treat~

Annabeth smiled at that and sent a thumbs up emoji before shoving her phone into her jacket pocket. Jason's mother hen worry was sweet, but Annabeth wouldn't dare bring herself to ask for any more help than what he'd already unquestionably given her. Which, after the last few weeks she's had, was a life time's worth.

Playing with the beads on her necklace, Annabeth steeled her nerves and made her way down the dark staircase that was located at the back of the large library. She had spent the better part of her Saturday tearing through the campus hunting for the mysterious paranormal society and as far as almost every person she asked, the club was practically nonexistent. It was only by sheer luck that one of the college's librarians happened upon a conversation she was having with another staff member and was kind enough to point her in the right direction.

And of course, it was located in the basement of one of the oldest buildings on campus. Down a dark and empty staircase leading to who knows where. She had to admit, choice place for a ghost club. Where else could you talk about creepy stuff other than a creepy location? The only things that probably could have beat it were an abandon mental hospital and an actual graveyard.

She'd rather take her chances with the underground library classroom.

But Annabeth has always been a bit wary of the dark. She wasn't afraid of it, per say; she'd long since outgrown her childhood fear of what goes bump in the night. But that didn't mean she couldn't have a fairly healthy respect and mindfulness to it. Of course, she never believed there was anything in the dark to be afraid of in the first place. Annabeth didn't believe in the paranormal.

But she still turned her hallway light on every night. Just in case there was ever a need to have a just in case protocol.

However, the last few weeks had changed her skeptic and rational mindset about the dark. So when she descended the concrete stairs to the bottom floor, she did so with one hand in her pocket with Jason's number on speed dial and the other resting on her furiously pounding heart.

Room B322. Room B322. Room B322. Annabeth muttered the classroom number under her breath like a practiced mantra as she scanned through the dimly lited hallways. Her footsteps echoed throughout the quiet mazelike basement, making every small sound ring deafeningly. The late September cold of underground New York seemed to cling to her skin in cold sweats as the musty, unused air filled her lungs.

Despite her urgency to find the clubroom as soon as she could, she couldn't deny herself the curiosity of the other classrooms that occupied the abandoned space. The ones that weren't locked, were filled with forgotten boxes of outdated textbooks and dusted over classroom supplies. None of the classroom lights worked, their bulbs have long since expired, so Annabeth never lingered long.

Finally, having almost given up twice because of some too close for comfort encounters with some rogue spiders, she spotted a soft yellow light coming from under the door of the last classroom down one of the hallways. As she briskly walked closer to the room, she could hear the faint sound of music playing, followed by some voices and laughs too muffled for her to make out.

It was only once she was right outside the door did she noticed the plated B322 hanging only slightly askew on the door. Annabeth held her breath for a few moments, before digging up whatever courage she had left in her and knocked on the door.

Almost immediately, the muffled voices stopped, and Annabeth forgot to breathe in the few seconds of silence that followed. The thought of running back towards the staircase raced through her mind, and she would have considered following through with the retreat if a strangled voice from behind the door hadn't interrupted her train of thought.

"Um, come in?"

Annabeth didn't wait for a second invitation and turned the old creaking handle.

At first, she was blinded by the sudden shift from darkness to light, but her focus quickly came back as she looked around the room.

And was surprised by what she saw.

Annabeth didn't really know what to expect from a club about ghosts, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she expected something a little more like a Halloween decoration shop.

With spider webs and skeletons and gory horror movie posters hanging on the walls. Some half melted candles strewn about with she didn't know, maybe a Ouija board on the table. A bloody handprint or two on the ceiling, accompanied by a soundtrack filled with evil laughter, thunder claps and bloodcurdling screams in the background?

You know, the spooky works.

She certainly didn't expect to be greeted with plenty of lights, warmth and soothing music. Fairy lights were hung in almost every corner, along with the regular light fixtures above, casting the classroom into multiple soft shades of whites, yellows, and pinks. The room smelled of lavender incense and faint jazz music was playing from somewhere unseen, turning the small classroom into something comfortable and inviting.

Pushed against the left wall was an array of low shelving units, each shelf holding a few dozen trinkets that caught Annabeth's attention. Bottles of different sizes and shapes holding liquid in almost every color imaginable. Multitudes of crystals and rocks were scattered on another, followed by a few more shelves that held some different dried out herbs.

The shelves continued, each holding various baubles and knickknacks until Annabeth's eyes widened to the sight of a large bookshelf that covered the entire expanse of the adjoining wall. It shouldn't have been surprising, they were under a college library after all, but the sheer number of literature crammed into the bookshelves was something awe-inspiring.

To the right of Annabeth was a large whiteboard and a giant map of New York City. A few colorful sticky notes decorated the map in different areas while the whiteboard held various writing passages that made no sense of Annabeth and a few doodles crowded in the bottom corners. There were two couches that formed an L shape pointing towards the whiteboard with a small coffee table in between. A large wooden table sat closest to the wall near Annabeth, with a few opened books and papers scattered on it.

And sitting at the table, were two college students around Annabeth's age, staring at her with the same confusion and awe that Annabeth felt.

"Oh my god is that an actual person or am I pulling a Jackson right now?" The one on the right said, more to himself than to the room in general. The girl next to him smacked him gently on the chest, not taking her multi-colored eyes off of Annabeth.

"Um, hi," the girl started as she smiled and raised an unsure brow at Annabeth. "You lost?"

"I sure hope not. It took me all day to find this place. I now know this campus like the back of my hand," Annabeth tried to joke, but her nervous laughter was met with nothing but blank and curious stares. Annabeth continuing to fiddle with the beads on her necklace out of nervous habit. "This, um, is the Supernatural Activity Club, right?"

The two students looked at each other, sharing what Annabeth could only assume was a swift mental debriefing before turning their attention back towards her.

"Oh, yeah, no, you're at the right place. Sorry, it's just, uh, we don't get very many visitors down here," the girl replied, flipping one of her twin braids over her shoulder. The guy leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head casually.

"More like we don't get any visitors down here. We're not a very well-known club, if you couldn't tell by our location."

"No kidding. I looked for you all over campus," Annabeth sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Your guy's club isn't on any of the official school rosters so no one knew how to help me find you."

This got a surprised look from the girl, but the boy just waved his hand in the air noncommittally.

"Ahhh yeah, we're technically not an actual registered club," the boy said, using his fingers to form quotation marks in the air above his head. "Apparently you gotta pay fees and fill out a bunch of paperwork and we're technically a club that's not up to snuff with the school's regulated code of conduct and professional demeanor, blah blah- OW!"

The boy had continued to use quotations marks around the emphasized words until the girl smacked one of his hands, harder than the first time, by the way the boy snatched his hand back and rubbed it, giving her an offended glare.

"Knock it off with the quotation marks, Leo." She said, ignoring his look of disapproval like a seasoned pro as she kept her focus solely on Annabeth. "How did you find us anyway? Since, you know, we're not on any of the school's registries."

"I found your website while I was searching fo- well, I saw it and I noticed you put a phone number to contact as well as an address, which was the school's address. I thought about calling you, but well, I figured it would just be easier to meet up with you in person instead since I have classes here too." Annabeth shifted uncomfortably in the doorway. Having yet to still close the door behind her, Annabeth was just now noticing the difference in temperature between the cozy classroom and the clammy, dark hallway against her back. They must have had a heater somewhere hidden in the room to make such a stark difference. "Anyway, you didn't specifically say which part of the campus you were in, so I had to go around to nearly every department asking for you. It was just my luck that some guy that worked upstairs heard that I was looking for you and told me you were down here in room B322. And uh, here I am."

Annabeth stuck her palms out openly in a humble shrug. The boy, Leo, leaned forward in his chair again and pointed a finger in Annabeth's direction.

"Was it Malcolm? Tall? Skinny? Blond hair that kinda sticks up funny in the back? Looks like he hasn't slept in days and is jacked up on coffee and Lara Bars?" Leo interrogated, acting out each description as he went. Annabeth could barely get out a clever, 'uhhh' before Leo was talking again. "I bet it was Malcolm. The guy apparently keeps secrets about as well as he controls that cowlick of his."

"Leo," the girl warned in a tired way that made it seem like she'd heard 'the Malcolm' rant before, but Leo wasn't apparently done from the way he threw his arms into the air in exasperation.

"I practically wrote his engineering thesis last semester and this is the thanks I get? I mean, he does keep our little secret hideaway away from any curious staff member. And ok sure, he does cover for us when the electricity and heating bills go up when school's in session so we don't get caught or fined," Leo began, listing off the different points on his fingers. To which Annabeth noticed were wrapped in multiple colorful band-aids.

"Leo," the girl warned again, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"And OK YEAH SURE, he did help us put all those protection signals and wardings up around the library where no one could see or get to them accidentally. Which I guess was cool of him. But that doesn't mean he can just give confidential information out all willy nilly like this! What if he told someone important! Like, the college president or campus security?" At that thought, Leo gasped and faced Annabeth with a wide-eyed expression. "You're not campus security, are you?"

"Protection signals?" Annabeth questioned, choosing to focus on that piece of information alone. She rubbed her left shoulder absentmindedly.

"Leo, enough!" The girl said and shoved what looked like a bulky version of a handheld radio half towards him. "Geez, and you think Malcolm is a loud mouth. Just fix the spirit-talkie, before Percy gets back."

Leo took the few pieces of tech that the girl had pushed towards him without debate, but eyed Annabeth suspiciously as he got up from his seat. "Find out if she's an undercover or not. If need be, the safe words are, Nico smells. Then I'll tackle her and you make a run for it." He whispered not at all quietly into the girl's ear before he stood up and walked over to one of the couches, where an assortment of gears and tools were laid out on the coffee table.

The girl rolled her eyes before smiling at Annabeth. "Sorry about him. He likes to watch a bunch of conspiracy theories while he tinkers. He's really a cool guy once he gets to know you. Still as talkative and hyper, but cool. Which reminds me," she said, standing up from her chair and walking over to where Annabeth stood. She held out her hand in greeting and gave Annabeth an award-winning smile.

"I'm Piper McLean. The gear head is Leo Valdez. What can we do for ya?"

Annabeth took Piper's hand and shook it, feeling the tension and apprehension before seep from her body as she fully entered the classroom, shutting the door behind her. Returning the smile, albeit, hers was probably a little more awkward, Annabeth sat in the chair that Leo had previously vacated.

"Annabeth Chase. Nice to meet you." Annabeth watched as Piper walked over to a small mini fridge she hadn't notice before and pull out a can of Arizona Tea.

"You want one?" Piper asked, opening the one in her hand and taking a drink.

"Uh, sure, thank you," Annabeth replied.

"Dr. Pepper for me," Leo called from his little work spot on the couch. Piper leaned back into the fridge and pulled out a water bottle, tossing it to him instead. He caught it effortlessly with one hand and gave her a disapproving look. Piper simply blew him a kiss as she walked back towards Annabeth and handed her the unopened can.

"He's on a caffeine break," Piper supplied, noticing the confused brow Annabeth had shot her as she retook her seat. "A month ago, he was rushed to the ER because of an ulcer in his stomach. It wasn't bad, thank God, but drinking nothing but energy drinks and taking Ibuprofen certainly helped cause it. Since then he's been on a strict, no caffeinated drink diet."

"Which I hate!" Leo called from the couch.

"Which he'll get used to." Piper smiled again sweetly, taking another sip of her tea, cueing Annabeth to do the same. Piper had gotten her the green tea flavored one, which happened to be her favorite, and Annabeth smiled back when Piper had sent her a little wink in return.

"So Annabeth Chase, what brings you to our humble little rebel basement?" Piper asked, crossing her legs while playing with one of her long braids.

Annabeth tapped the side of her can with her nails, making a soft tinging sound as she chewed her bottom lip anxiously. "You guys are a, um, paranormal club, right? Not the kind that just watches horror movies and speculates over fuzzy youtube videos, but like, actually knows something about ghosts and spirits and... and things like that? You're kinda like, real-life ghostbusters, right? At least, that's what your website made your club out to be."

"It better have, I designed it," Piper replied, twirling her braid around her finger. "And I mean, we do have movie night on Thursdays, but those aren't totally restricted to horror. We more often than not just watch Jackie Chan movies and Parks And Rec."

"And anime," Leo called again from the couch.

"And anime," Piper reassured, taking a drink from her tea. "But yeah, you're right. We do know a thing or two about the metaphysical. Well, I don't personally. I'm just the manager of sorts. And what you'd probably picture as ghostbusting isn't exactly what we do."

"It could be if you guys would ever just chill and let me create cooler things than just spirit walkies and EMF detectors. Can you imagine an actual Proton Pack gun? How'd sick that'd be?" Leo exclaimed, leaning over from his spot on the couch excitedly. Piper crumpled up a piece of paper next to her and tossed it at Leo's face with impeccable aim.

"You know exactly why you can't do that so that's enough from the peanut gallery," she responded back. Leo rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her, muttering something along the lines of 'says the manager of sorts,' before sitting back down on the couch. Piper returned the action and rolled her eyes at Annabeth animatedly, making Annabeth smother a chuckle.

"But, like I was saying, yes. We are a paranormal club. Dealing with ghosts is kinda what we do." Piper stopped twirling her braid and straightened her position in her chair, giving Annabeth a quizzical look. "You seem pretty easy going with the whole idea of the paranormal being real. Why is that? Don't tell me you actually want to join, do you?"

Annabeth noticed Leo stopped fidgeting with the talkie in his hand and turn to look at her, expression just as curious as Piper's and Annabeth hoped her cheeks weren't turning pink with embarrassment. Rubbing her left shoulder again, Annabeth looked down at her feet.

"Ahh no! Sorry, that's, that's not what I came here for-" was all Annabeth was able to say before the door beside her opened. A quick and cold breeze swept through the classroom for only a few moments before the door was shut again, but it was enough of a draft to make a cold shiver run up Annabeth's spine.

"Sorry it took me so long to get here. I sorta ran into a little trouble outside the library. And it took me forever to find the peanut butter cookies Hazel likes so much. By the by Pipes, the store didn't have any of that vegan chocolate you like, so I just got you some Kettle BBQ chips. The lady at the register said they're vegan so they'll have to do for now."

Annabeth's attention was immediately caught by the new presence in the room as the young man entered further into the classroom, taking no notice of Annabeth as he talked about a mile a minute. He had dark black hair, disheveled but in a way that was almost slightly fashionable and was carrying a skateboard in one hand and a few grocery bags in the other.

"Did you get the stuff I asked for?" Leo whirled around so that he was backwards on his seat, leaning over the back frame of the couch as he reached for one of the bags the new guy was holding.

"Yes, but Leo- God, stop. Leo!" The guy laughed, pulling the bag Leo was tugging on away as he sat his skateboard down against one of the lower shelving units. "Leo, listen. I got the stuff on the list, but you gotta promise me you won't use any of these items for evil. For example, putting super glue on the toilet seat or duct taping anything, and I mean anything, to anyone, by which I mean specifically Nico. Got it, Leo? I'm trusting you with this privilege."

"Ok, first of all, Nico almost definitely deserved every last inch of that duct tape and I regret nothing," Leo replied, but after noticing that the bags weren't going slack in his favor, put a hand on his chest and looked at the guy with a new found seriousness that Annabeth didn't think he was capable of holding. Even if she has only known him for less than a half hour. "But you have my word that I will only use my power of greatness for good, fearless leader. On my honor, I will not betray your trust. Cross my heart and hope to live a very long and happy life."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll believe it when I see it." The guy rolled his eyes as if he was annoyed, but a second later he was smiling fondly and tossing the bag over to Leo, who caught it easily and began digging through it as he slid back onto the couch. The guy slid his jacket off and folded it over the couch frame, rubbing a hand affectionately through Leo's curly brown hair as he passed, and began walking towards where Piper and Annabeth sat.

"Anyway Pipes, I hope you like the chips. They look pretty good, but if you don't like them I can always go back and-" The guy paused, finally noticing Annabeth and greeting her with the same wide-eyed curiosity as Leo and Piper had before. Annabeth couldn't help but stare right back at him just as curiously and noticed that she couldn't seem to look away from his startling green eyes.

For a second, it almost seemed like he was looking through her, too intense to just be looking at her but instead looking somewhere deeper than what was physical. The moment only seem to last for a second, even though it felt longer to Annabeth before he seemingly snapped back to reality and gave her the same fond smile he had just given Leo.

"Oh, uh, hey there," he smiled crookedly, handing Piper the other grocery bags. As soon as Piper took it, he crossed his arms and leaned against the back of her chair, only breaking eye contact with Annabeth to give Piper a little nudge to the back. "Aww, Pipes, I didn't know you had any friends outside the SAC. We wouldn't have pressured you to join if we'd known you wouldn't have been so lonely without us."

"Oh please. You guys don't know about my other friends because I don't want you to. I don't need your weirdness spreading any farther than it already has. And you know I only joined cause you and Leo can't be left alone together without something breaking or catching fire." Piper answered, digging through the bags and pulling out the BBQ chips.

"Lies and slander! You can't prove that those incidents were because of us! And even if they were, it only happened like, four times. Complete coincidence!" Leo voiced, a piece of jerky hanging from his mouth that he must have fished from the bag when Annabeth wasn't looking.

"Five if you include the time at the aquarium with the big squid," the guy added helpfully, smothering a grin behind a hand when Piper shot him an annoyed look.

"Oh, yeah, I definitely count the squid. Nevermind Beauty Queen, five times. And you can't prove a single one," Leo called back thoughtfully, earning him a laugh from the black haired kid as Piper ignored them expertly, turning her attention back to Annabeth.

"Anyway, Annabeth, this is Percy, our dorky club President. Percy this is Annabeth Chase." Percy stopped laughing and with a lingering grin, held out a hand towards Annabeth when Piper made the introductions.

"Nice to meet you Annabeth. I'm the SAC's dorky club president, Percy Jackson." Piper rolled her eyes at that, but his smile was infectious, and Annabeth couldn't help but smile back as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too Per- you're bleeding."

Percy's smile fell just as Annabeth stopped shaking his hand, and pointed to her own forehead, a little above her eyebrow. "You're bleeding, right here," Annabeth remarked, surprised by the sudden red that dripped into view under the wave of black. Piper turned to look at Percy just as a little trickle of blood, that was once unnoticeably hidden under his black bangs, crept down the side of his face.

Percy rubbed his cheek with the heel of his hand and pulled it away to inspect it. The only response he made towards the blood was an unsurprised 'huh' before he wiped his hand on his jeans.

"Oh my God, I seriously can't leave you alone for a second, can I?" Piper asked, sounding more mildly annoyed than actually worried as she got up and walked to one of the cubbies in the shelving units and pulled out a large first aid box. She walked back over and placed in on the table between Percy and Annabeth and began searching through it with practiced ease. Like this wasn't the first time Percy's walked into the clubroom bleeding. "What did you do this time."

"Uh, would you believe me if I told you nothing?" Percy answered back in a nonchalant tone, sitting in the chair Piper once occupied. Rummaging through his back jean pocket, he fished out a simple hair clip with a small flower on it and pulled his bangs back, clipping them into place and out of the way of his cut forehead. "Actually don't answer that. The truth is, I don't really know what happened."

Piper brought out some tissue wipes, Neosporin, and a box of colorful band-aids. Catching the half empty water bottle Leo had thrown back at her, Annabeth was silently impressed by how in sync they were despite their lack of communication, she wet some of the wipes and began cleaning the side of Percy's face. "I was coming back from the store when I noticed this sorta, presence, I guess you'd call it, outside the library. I was gonna ignore it, cause I've seen spirits hang out there before cause they're attached to someone inside the library but they can't cross the boundaries cause of the wardings Hazel put up."

Annabeth remembered Leo mention something about protective warding earlier, but when she turned towards Leo to get some further info about what that was, all he did was mouth the name Malcolm at her. He then made a disgusted face, rolling his eyes and then turning his attention back on to the role of duct tape he was using.

"They're confused, but usually perfectly harmless, so I just let them be. But this presence, I don't Pipes, there was something about this-sssst ow! Little warning next time, that stings."

"Sorry," Piper smiled like she wasn't sorry in the slightest as she continued to spread Neosporin on the cleaned cut on Percy's forehead. It wasn't huge, but it looked a little too deep for Percy to have not noticed till Annabeth pointed it out. "Continue."

"Something felt off about this presence, Piper. Like, I don't know how to explain it. It didn't feel like a usual spirit. It just felt... wrong. Heavy. Dark." Percy tried to supply, rubbing the back his neck in exhaustion.

"Didn't Hazel say she put up all kinds of sigils to ward off anything and everything supernatural? What if it wasn't a spirit at all but something else?" Piper asked, putting the Neosporin away and grabbing the box of band-aids.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't happy about being warded against the building, but I couldn't just leave it lurking outside with that much negative energy. Someone could have gotten hurt or it could have attracted something worse. So I tried talking to it." Percy sighed, opening Piper's bag of BBQ chips and popping one in his mouth. "Operative word is tried. Turns out- give me one of the blue band-aids- he liked me even less than the building. He went right through me. Power blasted me so hard he knocked me back down the front steps. I must have cut my forehead sometime during then."

Piper finished putting on one of the bigger band-aids on Percy's forehead, a sweet baby blue color, before putting the supplies back in the first aid box and returning it to its respective cubbies. "You and I are gonna have a discussion about this later, Percy, cause you know how I feel about you putting yourself in positions like these without backup."

Percy raised a confused brow, pulling the flower pin out of his hair and letting his bangs fall wildly over his forehead again. Tosseling them just a bit so that they fell just above those piercing green eyes. "Aww but you love lecturing me. Why hold off what I'll ignore later when I can ignore it now."

Piper crossed her arms pointedly, cocking her hips to the side in annoyance. "I don't know if you've forgotten, stupid, but we kinda have a guest here who's not used to the whole paranormal stuff, and I think you may have just pushed her into the deep end before we could teach her how to swim first, if you know what I mean."

Percy must have forgotten by the way he whirled his attention back onto Annabeth, and his expression turned to something of a kicked puppy when he noticed just how hard Annabeth was gripping her now empty tea can. An embarrassed flush of pink shown on his cheeks and the tips of his ears as he ran a hand through his black hair.

"Oh, uh, geez, I'm sorry, I thought you knew. You're just, here at the SAC so I thought you, well, I assumed you knew about uuhhhh... that we, ummm," Percy floundered, trading glances between Annabeth and Piper nervously. "You probably think I'm just messing around, huh?"

Annabeth had expected the club she had searched all day for to be nothing more than a lazy excuse for a Ghostbusters fan club. She had hoped that maybe they had just a little bit of info, just a little something extra that could help her where Wikipedia had failed her. She prayed that, at least, something would point her in the right direction in solving her problem.

The last thing she expected was the answer to all her hopes and prayers, in the form of a dorky college kid, with a kind smile and wild green eyes.

"You... you can see ghosts? Like, actual, real, dead spirit ghosts?" She practically whispered, letting go of the tea can with one of her hands and resting it on her left shoulder. "Like, Jennifer Love-Hewitt level, see ghosts."

"I think he's more of an Amy Allen myself," Leo called unhelpfully from the couch, followed by the sound of a smack and an undignified "OW-WAH!" that Annabeth didn't see.

Percy just stared back at her, brow furrowed and green eyes intense enough to probably set Annabeth on fire if he really wanted to. "You believe me? Just like that?" He asked, and Annabeth's grip tightened on her shoulder.

"I have to. That's the whole reason why I'm here." Annabeth replied, and she could feel all eyes rest on her with caution. Taking a shaky breath and ignoring the silent buzzing come from her phone in her jacket pocket, Annabeth admitted what she so desperately wanted to deny for the past few weeks.

"I think there's something bad haunting my apartment. And I think you're the best chance I got at getting rid of it."

[ariyadaivaris]

ariya wants to be appreciated! ariya wants to be treated like someone special. ariya works so fucking hard, he always has, he works his ass off for everything he gets and he figures he’s more than earned some fucken luxury, something to fall back on. something to just...have. something that’s easy and that he doesn’t need to sacrifice part of him in equal value for. so he wants to dress nicely and to be safe and to be able to relax for once. is that so bad? is that so wrong? 

he can’t even enjoy whatever luxury he has, though. he tries to relax and in only minutes he’s already irritated and fidgeting and looking for something to do. he just can’t turn it off, he’s so tired and on edge constantly, he’s got a temper and he doesn’t know what to do about it and he’s exhausted!

ariya works so hard and he just wants to be treated with respect for it. that’s all he wants. you have to work to earn respect from ariya, because he has always had to do that for everyone he’s ever met. no one’s respected ariya at first sight, so if he works for it, you do, too. but. god. ariya just wants to be respected, yeah, but also he does kinda want to be seen as something special. something unique. something entirely irreplaceable. hasn’t he earned that much? to be Something? to start out with affluence and status and resources instead of needing to claw his way up from the ground and burn whatever he gets just to survive? 

(the quickest way to win ariya over, to curry favor with him, is really just earnestly treating him like royalty. he’ll be happy just sitting in the same hotel room reading together or researching with the simpsons playing in the background of course, but whenever you make it An Occasion to see him, an event, something rare and special and intimate and not all About ariya but all For ariya? that stays with him. he doesn’t take that lightly. at all.) 

ariya himself? he’s blunt and he tries to be honest, he’s pragmatic, he loves the idea of drama and luxury but he’s so uncomfortable and unsettled by the reality of it as it applies to him. ariya’s a fairly simple guy. he works for everything and he truly does believe he deserves what he earns, and sometimes he deserves more. he’s got a temper and he’s high-strung and fidgety and restless. but he’s honorable. he’ll treat you well if you treat him well. he tries not to lie or be a phony, unless you’ve already earned his ire, or unless he’s protecting himself. he wants to survive, and he DOES want to thrive, but he doesn’t think that’s unreasonable. he’s drawn to people who are dramatic, though. performers and leaders and characters, people he can prove indispensable to, people he can balance out, people he can linger back and watch. people with methods he sometimes hates, but people who make an impression, who make themselves irreplaceable. 

if you perform to mock him, or to wrong him, ariya’s gonna hate your fucken guts, but if you use that charm and grace and theatricality to treat him like someone more than worthy of such concepts, then, well. he might be suspicious and he might be distrusting of it, but he’ll certainly be drawn to it. 

[thebigqueer]

hiii! could you write a fic/headcanons of leo, nico and will. i had no idea that was a ship until recently and i love it!!! and i want to read how they get together. in my mind solangelo is already dating (bc leo is in no condition to date after canon) and after leo comes back (after toa5) they became friends and eventually they confess to leo (when he already got over calypso and is better emotionally y'know?). no pressure if you don't feel like writing this tho :)))

hhhh anon im sorry i absolutely would love to write this for you into like an actual fic but it takes me a long time to write fics :(

but! i can def give you headcanons! after all they’re like fics but in outline form and much less grammatically correct! but if i do make a fanfic, i’ll be sure to post it. maybe you’ll like it! can’t make any promises i’d write it anytime soon though cuz i have a few more projects on the line but you know... i’m def considering making one after everything i’ve written in this post...

okay exactly yes i totally agree that leo only gets with them after he’s emotionally stable & after toa5

this is straying from soldezangelo a little but i made a post here about what i personally think should have happened w/ leo’s ending in HoO, if you’re interested in reading it. i’m gonna make the following bullet points based on that

but tldr: i’m just basically saying that i wish caleo ended up leaving ogygia as friends so that leo didn’t get that forced romance on him

so he stays at the waystation for a while with calypso (only as friends; like they’re staying there and are really adorable friends) and all the while he’s really thinking only about himself and his well-being. he goes back to high school and keeps up with that project he’s doing w/ other kids and giving them opportunities to make things (GOD THAT WAS SO CUTE)

then leo decides that maybe for the winter, he’ll go back for a trip (i also hc that piper and percy and annabeth go to chb for the same winter so that some of the seven see each other!)

there, he meets will and nico, but i think mostly he’s interested in talking w/ nico. so they talk a lot. nico expresses how angry they were for leo dying like that and scaring everyone, and leo says he’s sorry but he had to. i think this also provides nico and leo the perfect opportunity to talk about jason, since they were both really good friends with him. and nico also understands that it was leo’s decision and his sacrifice. but they also talk about how leo’s sacrifice kind of... felt weird. since in the end, they still lost the storm but the fire lived on (ehehhehe idk if that made sense but i was tryna be smart lakjsdlfkj) 

i think that opportunity ultimately provides nico and leo to get along a LOT better with each other, and they both realize that they actually have been through a lot of similar feelings. by which i mean theyre both so fuckin mentally unstable and they relate to one another.

nico talks about how he’s been in a relationship with will for a while, and leo’s happy for him, really. but i think a small part of him is jealous, too. not because “oh god here’s another couple im supposed to worry about after ive just started getting over this ingrained idea of needing romance to solve all my issues and feeling like i belong,” but more because i think leo’s always been a little attracted to nico since they were on the argo II with each other. i don’t think he ever acted on those feelings, especially since a lot of the people on that ship were more judgmental towards nico and he probably felt like he had to be as well (by the way, none of this is an excuse to leo’s treatment of nico, or, by extension, an excuse for anyone’s treatment of nico on the argo II.)

leo apologizes to nico about how he treated him, and nico smiles and tells him it’s fine. like, nico has had his own bout of personal growth as well, especially in the past year. he doesn’t - and won’t - forget how people treated him, but now he’s learning to just let it go, in a sense. 

and i think this is when leo and nico kind of develop underlying feelings for each other. 

leo and nico probably hang out a lot, but will also joins becuase he’s nico’s boyfriend, and nico loves to have him tag along. so i think leo feels a little intimidated by will, like “damn my crush is really just bringing along their boyfriend huh??” 

and leo’s like. so jealous. like “ugh why does this hot golden ray of sunshine have to ruin everything. why is he always around. he’s so fucking distracting. like hello i’m trying to simp for nico but he’s so gorgeous for the both of us.” and then it hits leo that oh wait oh fuck he actually likes both of them and that “intimidation” he was feeling was mostly just him being attracted LMAO

leo and will get a bit closer through nico, and then i think the two of them are like very joke-y with each other, and they totally connect with each other about texas and being absolute fucking NERDS (since they are both canonically absolute dumbass nerds HSDHFSLFKDJ)

and leo’s struck with how cute he is omG 

and then nico’s like “wow they’re both so glowy aslkdjffdj HHHHH” 

and then will’s like “damn they’re both so dark and mysterious” 

and also not to mention they all totally relate about mental illnesses, abandonment issues, and the like. i mean, after everything that’s happened to all three of them (since will has been through like two wars, has lost two brothers, and has probably lost a lot of lives and feels guilty for it) they probably really relate to each other about always feeling... this dark uncomfortableness inside them. a void. they get really deep about mental health, and i think nico actually suggests to both of them that they should all talk to dionysus, just like he does (because, as we all fucking know, love cannot fix mental health and it doesn’t matter how much they’re all attracted to each other, they will not cure each other just because they’re in love) 

i think somewhere in the relationship between will and nico, a tension starts to build up a little. they’re not really sure how to exactly deal with teh fact that they like leo (and neither of them actually admits it to the other because they like the other as well and they really are not in the mood for a “”””love triangle”””)

but the funny thing is, they probably all talk about it with dionysus in their separate times. and Mr. D is just. he’s so done. 

SLKDJFKLSDHFLJSDKFSDKJFSFDLJK - Mr. D falling asleep at night thinking about this soldezangelo thing because he thinks it’s really funny that they all like each other but don’t wanna admit it

he totally suggests that nico and will talk about it together, and after lots of hesitation, will is probably the first one to come outright and say that he likes leo as well. and nico’s like “OMG WHAT ME TOO. like i really like you but i also really like leo...”

so they’re both actually really relieved, because they didn’t really want to break up with each other but they didn’t really want to keep lying to each other, either. 

and they tell leo, and then leo’s so happy because lKJSDFJLSLDFK YALL I LIKED YOU FOR THE LONGEST TIME

and bada-bing, bada-boom, ya got yourself a little soldezangelo!!!! 

i hope you liked that!!! i’m actually tempted to make this into a fic now, but since it’s already in headcanon form is there a point? hmm... imma think on this though. thank you SO MUCH for the ask!!!

[lassieposting]

Hi i havent read the books post-resurrection so im kinda lost on why you dont like phase 2 val? She was easily one of my favourite characters ever, she was flawed (and the books took time to acknowledge them) and relatable and still really admirable (intelligent, brave, loyal) and i really liked her and really appreciated that she wasn’t perfect unlike every other young adult heroines. What went wrong😢😢😢😢

Okay I'm gonna put this under a cut because I very strongly dislike phase 2 val and I know it bugs people who don't feel the same, so. Dead dove dont eat

Okay so first off, phase 1 val and phase 2 val are completely different people. literally. phase 1 val was based on an ex-friend of lardo's who used to apparently be involved pretty heavily in like, editing the books and "she'd react like this" or "val wouldn't say that", and that val she was one of my favourite fictional characters from when book one came out to the release of resurrection. phase 2 val is based on his whiny little girlfriend who likes to start shit with 14yos on twitter, and you can absolutely tell she is no longer the same person. so the long story short of "what went wrong" is "the original irl val's friendship with dirty laundry ended for whatever reason and he decided to retcon her entire personality to suit his gf"

Phase 2 Val, in my opinion:

Weak, like won't even fight back when she gets jumped bc boo fucking hoo she's so awful, bitch get up already, nobody signed up for ur pity party

Whiny. So fucking whiny. All the time. And she's the POV character so it's inescapable.

"Pacifist" but in a really pathetic virtue-signalling kind of way like "Oh, I've done such terrible thiiiiiiiiiiings I'm so awfulllllllllllll look how good I'm trying to be nowwwwwwww pay attention to meeeeeeee" kind of way, it was both boring and a massive eye roll. It's a book about magic and asskicking. Kick some ass. We're here for escapism not "realistic" whining. Yes, irl she'd be a mess. As an author it's his job to strike a balance between the "realism" he wants to portray and making his readers so depressed and done with his heroine that they quit reading, and in my case, he absolutely failed.

Everything must be about her at all times. Skug is having personal problems? Fuck him, they're about her now. Everything is about how it affects her, and her feelings, and be damned to the person actually having the problem. Fucks phase 2 val cain gives about anyone except herself: 0

Bitter and jaded. Which yeah I get why but it's like jesus christ what do we get out of reading about this? It's not even good bitter and jaded where it makes you empathise or admire her strength in adversity or whatever, she's just become a really nasty person with no redeeming features that I could see. Which? Landy outright said she's based on his gf? If your boyfriend is gonna drag ur entire personality through the dirt like that and write "you" as just a collection of incredibly negative traits...yikes.

Really ungrateful about the awesome life she leads? Which bugs me bc I fucking hate mundanity and knowing that all there is to life is fucking working and bad mental health. I would kill to live her life. All she does is moan about it. Like? Quit then. Fuck off back to being a mortal if it's that bad and live the shitty life you wanted to get away from in the first place. That way we'd get no more books, and quite honestly, thank fuck for that. But anyway, she needs to pick one, stick with it, and stop complaining about whatever she chose.

The girl wallows in self pity. And if someone else isn't indulging her enough, she'll wallow harder and louder and more obviously. Yawn.

Her POV is now so depressing to read that Resurrection literally tanked my mental health. I'm not kidding. I fell off the self-harm wagon, the suicidal thoughts came back, reading her dissociating would make me dissociate, I just did not cope whatsoever. Being in her head was just like being in my head during my worst points, and I hate myself, so naturally, I hate her too. Like I get why some people like phase two val. I get that her depression is "realistic" and that trauma does just make some people completely dislikeable and self-pitying, and if people want to read about that, then...sure. you do you, my dudes. But I live that reality, I am that person whose trauma made her a dysfunctional, isolated bitch, and I hate, passionately, having it infest the media I consume to escape.

Essentially if I wanted to engage with a bitter, spiteful, depressed piece of shit in her 20s who pushes everyone away and sucks at everything, I'd live my gd life. Yall see me tryna engage with my real life? Hell nah I'm on tumblr dot com burying my head up the ass of whatever fandom will force my brain to produce some s e r o t o n i n and that is what I need this series for

Also? The dynamic she had with skug in phase one? "Until the end"? "You save me, I save you, that's how we work"? Forget that, it doesn't exist anymore. I stopped reading after Midnight, because she was written like he was a coworker she could barely tolerate. They went from "Lardo confirms on twitter that they talked on the phone a bunch while she was in america and he'd always ask her to come home" to "she comes home and proceeds to blank him for five months while she sits in her fuckin multimillionaire's mansion feeling sorry for herself". Their friendship completely disintegrated, they were totally separated for most of the book, she's written as not giving a single shit about him. She treated him like dirt, and their dynamic basically felt like it was becoming "Local Man With History Of Gravitating Towards Abusive Women Makes Same Terrible Choices For Fifth Time" and? that was the point of no return to me. he supports her unconditionally, no matter what he's going through at the time, he's walked on broken bones to try and get to her when she was in danger, she can tell him anything and he'd never use it against her. I did not, for one second in phase two, believe she felt the same about him. tbh it felt like she could - and wanted to - drop him at the first opportunity and not even feel bad about it, and that's not the dynamic that made me so emotionally attached to phase one. i signed up for "until the end", not whatever bullshit phase two has going on.

Apparently she's "less depressed" now and their relationship is "better" in the books published since midnight, which! might well be true. but I haven't read them and don't intend to, and she's gone from one of my favourite fictional characters ever (which! was impressive! because i almost never bond with the female lead - i normally get attached exclusively to the character i crush on, which would be skug here. val was the first female lead i actually cared about since xena! so im deeply salty about losing her!) to a character i? honestly prefer to pretend doesn't exist. i live in war era dead men/generals crackship land because that way, i don't have to acknowledge her or the fuckin character assassination phase 2 pulled on her.

so yeah, no hate towards phase one val at all. phase one val was awesome and flawed and gave me something to aspire to despite my shitty mental health and trauma, and if she'd kept her original personality she might still have been those things. but the original "real life" val is no longer involved (and doesn't talk to landy at all anymore, apparently), and the val based on landy's insufferable gf? i cannot get behind her at all ever, four for skug and none for phase two val cain bye

(tldr; you're not missing anything by quitting after spx)

[rickriordanfandam]

opinions on riordanverse ; my edition

a lot of people have been doing this so i decided why not right. probably gna lose some followers or smth but anyways. pls respect my opinions! if u disagree, thats fine, but please be polite. unless any of my opinions strikes u as morally wrong then pls point it out to me respectfully. thanks!

- i actually liked drew. im so sorry to everyone who hates her but full offence, why. think about it this way ok, first of all drew became hc because silena died. silena was the traitor, the one who betrayed chb, yet after she died campers celebrated her as a hero? and then drew suddenly has to replace her and live up to idk that legacy she left behind,, when all of a sudden this girl named piper swoops in and takes her place. idk abt u but i wld be salty abt that too. not only that, but as an asian, the chances of drew having faced racism/bullying as a child is pretty high (she studies at brooklyn academy). which means that when she finds out shes a demigod, and arrives at chb where most of the campers are white (this is an assumption btw), she’d obviously be scared of being bullied for her skin color right?? so the first thing she wld do before the campers get to bully her is to bully them before they can do so. (sentence structure here is wack i apologize) ofc this might not even have happened, drew could have had a perfect childhood && was a b1tch for no reason, BUT EVEN THEN HER ROLE AS A BULLY WAS PRETTY VITAL BECAUSE THAT FURTHER SHOWED THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HER AND PIPER,, HIGHLIGHTING PIPER AS A HERO//GOOD CHARACTER,, AND THEREFORE MAKING READERS LIKE PIPER MORE. anyway stop hating on drew please. ALSO WHY IS THIS SO LONGA SDFJHG

- jason isnt bland, the fandom just kinda erased his backstory (thanks to @pjohoo-memes for the phrasing lol)

- reynabeth wouldnt have lasted/would have broken up several times. idk i just see them as two extremely powerful characters who have firm opinions and will definitely clash at some point. in a platonic relationship,, i can see them as really good friends but as lovers? idk i just think theyll break up

- PIPABETH

- i dont really like jercy,, i see them as better friends than lovers. also idt jason and percy were that close..?

- the dam and not my type jokes are srsly cringey and were never funny. ik that seems hypocritical since my username literally makes use of the dam joke but honestly i dont actually like the joke. its not funny to me and has never been funny

- the seven were not best friends. they definitely argued,, and honestly probably werent as close as the fandom makes them seem. like ure dumped with 6 other people, out of which u only know a few. my introverted ass would have jumped off the argo 2 quicker than leo valdez could bomb camp jupiter up. also leo was a dick to frank. so what if frank is bigger sized?? thats not a valid reason to tease him

- the fandom needs to stop hating on octavian while worshipping luke. if u hate luke and u say u hate octavian too, then okay. but if u tell me ure a luke stan but u despise octavian?? imma disagree w u. luke was worse than octavian im sorry. first of all, octavian being a dick was kinda justified. hes been after the praetor position for so long, and everyone keeps saying to “wait for jason” when suddenly this dude, whos a son of NEPTUNE (neptune wasnt liked much by romans), and the camp decides to make him praetor?? dude i would be pissed off big time. and then afterwards, he finds out that greek demigods are real and the dude they made praetor is greek. AND THEN GREEK DEMIGODS COME TO CJ AND ONE OF THEM BOMB IT UP?? octavian has been told all his life that greeks are scum and this dude called leo valdez attacks cj. sure it was an accident, but did octavian know that? no. so it was honestly justified that he was such a salty prick im just saying. also some of yall be hating on octavian for cutting a teddy bear open and thats the funniest shit ive ever heard i swear 

- luke didnt go to elysium

- travis and connor stoll r way too underrated. the two have been head counselors of the hermes cabin since luke was revealed as a traitor, can u imagine the stress? luke, the person they probably looked up to as a brother, betrayed them. and they didnt even have time to process this when they were  thrown the roles of being hcs. that would have been so stressful and i would probably have broken down if i were them. the stoll brothers taking turns to wake up at ungodly hours because a new camper is crying and homesick and terrified, the stoll brothers having to comfort and take care of new campers, having to deal with the amount of people in that cramped space because not enough campers are being claimed fast enough. having to resolve issues between campers in the hermes cabin all the time. the stolls arent just comedic relief, and we need to stop treating them as such

- tratie shldve been canon idc idc

- demigods of the demeter cabin arent talked about enough and i love the fact that meg was demeters kid. like she isnt the child of one of the big three yet shes so powerful.

- we need to hype clarisse up more her character arc was phucking amazing 

- rachel is overhated. sis found out greek gods exist and regularly come down to earth to fuck around and went “ok cool”. queen shit behavior methinks

- the floor 19 crew of mcga is srsly underrated. like do u even remember halfborn gunderson, mallory keen, tj, etc??? bc i feel like we only remember samirah, magnus, alex, and sometimes blitz and hearthstone

- sadie (tkc) was kinda annoying at first. i like her more now tho but i rmb not liking her for a phat while

- tkc and mcga need more love

- carter kane and jason grace arent boring. theyre just really sweet boys who are too good for this world and yes yes yes 

- hazel and frank (especially frank) need to be hyped up more. i hardly ever see anything about them. also yall seem to forget that frank was literally made praetor and that even hecate admired hazel and was willing to fight beside her because of how powerful she was

- frazels age gap is kinda sketch but i still think theyre really cute

- nico definitely had trauma from going to tartarus on his own

- GROVER IS PERCYS BEST FRIEND

- annabeth isnt smarter than leo but neither is leo smarter than annabeth. ive seen a lot of discussions about who is smarter and heres my hot take on it: neither. theyre equally smart, just in different ways. leos a genius mathematically speaking. he has no issues solving math problems meant for people much, much older than him. annabeth on the otherhand, is great at strategies etc. she can make an army of 1000 more powerful than the enemy, even if theyre outnumbered. so in my opinion, both are equally as smart//u cant compare their intelligence, because their talents lie in two different areas.

- while i do agree rick riordan isnt a god and that hes bound to make mistakes,, AND that hes given us a lot of representation,, if the representation offends the people its sposed to represent, then theres a problem. im talking about piper as a poc and wearing feathers in her hair. im not a poc, so i cant speak for them on whether or not its wrong, because i dont know either. HOWEVER, i have seen multiple posts BY pocs talking about how they didnt really like rick’s representation of piper, and thats an issue. pocs have been and are still oppressed and discriminated against by many. as a white cis man, we cant really blame him for not knowing (tho he could have done a research,, asked some pocs,, idk), but by representing pocs in that manner, hes influencing impressionable kids/teens into thinking “oh pocs wear feathers in their hair all the time” etc, which isnt true. the pjo/hoo series is extremely successful, and kids who read the books will probably start forming inaccurate opinions on pocs. the amount of fan art that depicts piper with feathers in her hair dont help either. “but rick said so in the books, so its canon” yeah well rick isnt a god and he can get some things wrong at times. im not saying we should cancel him, im saying we should start educating ourselves and not spread false info like pocs wearing feathers in their hair all the time. also that snake song shit where she sang Summertime was just- yeah. bc heres the thing you can be racist, and still include minorities, but portray them in a racist way. And even then, ignorance isn't a thing to admire. Getting those facts wrong still has a major impact. It continues to perpetuate racist stereotypes.

“ With the feather thing, I looked it up myself; it takes less than five minutes to figure out that Cherokees don't braid feathers into their hair. I didn't grow up in the country where my parents are from. I have many other first/second generation American friends who have also been through that, with a bit of a disconnect from their culture. But something that most of us have in common is that when we didn't know something, and when our parents weren't that big of a help, we looked it up. We sought out resources online and through other people from our culture to be able to connect more with where we came from. Some of that took a Google search. So I find it hard to believe that Piper, a girl who Rick's trying to portray as someone who is attempting to connect with her culture and is totally against racist stereotypes, wouldn't know that eagle feathers aren't supposed to be braided into your hair casually. She may be disconnected from her culture, but she's also shown to want to connect back to it. Piper wouldn't be casually braiding feathers into her hair while also telling off people for being racist. It makes no sense.” - reddit thread (down below) 

for those of yall who wanna know more please please read this, it has a lot of things i wanna add in here : https://www.reddit.com/r/camphalfblood/comments/gy3gl2/piper_mcleans_portrayal_is_innacurate/ 

as well as https://finding-my-culture.tumblr.com/post/189422373260/maxie-ratties-and-cattie-finding-my-culture 

i will be posting screenshots of these in future posts so if ure viewing this on ig and u dont have tumblr,, dont worry 

- the fact that most of the strong female characters in the series refuse to be “girly”, and ngl i dont really like that. just because ure girly doesnt mean u cant be strong. 

- piper would have been a great way for him to start making the strong characters act girlier, but instead he went with the “I’m not like other girls” trope which is quite obnoxious to hear constantly, and I don’t think it’s necessarily great for younger girls to read that idea growing up.  the closest we've ever had to a strong female character who was also into "girly" things was Silena. when I was younger I admired Piper's "I'm not like other girls" thing, but then I got older and realized that the whole mentality of "not like other girls" is super obnoxious, and a little bit toxic

i have a heck load more that i cant rmb rn but yeah feel free to add more 

[strawberry-metal]

You're both amazing at what you do and we DO appreciate your work. and I'm so, so sorry that circumstances have kept you from feeling the full extent of that.

Thank you... also I just want to say, another reason Kaz and I brought this up in the first place because...

That vocaloid Menhera video I shared? The one I didn't even make but just wanted to give yall a song I thought was relatable? 20+ notes.

Dio in between frame screenshot I posted that has him shittly drawn? 60+ notes.

T-Rex animatronic video that is only 10 seconds long I posted today? 13 notes and counting.

Videos I've made, drawings I've made, models I've made, MMD pictures I've made, all taking me hours or days, some I even suffer a breakdown from working so hard on: All 1 or 2 notes.

For Kaz?

Her riders of Rohan shitpost for Lord of The Rings where she plastered Rohan's face on everyone? 200+ notes and counting.

A hee hee hoo hoo funny ms paint drawing of Dio 6 notes

Her serious art that takes her even longer than me, traditional art work that looks so similar to Araki's part 1-3 art style, MMD pictures she makes, MMD models she makes: 1 or 2 notes, just like me.

It hurts, ALOT, and essentially tells us the stuff we actually work on, the stuff we actually put effort into means nothing.

[starrrmann]

LET'S TALK ABOUT CALEO

this is long srry

Okay so I know Caleo is quite contreversial in this fandom and I get why. On pjo percabeth was developed for 4 books before they even kissed. It was so satisfying to read. Even in HoO Frazel and Jiper are not together for one book. So I get why Caleo feels so rushed, they basically fall in love within a week or so. BUT here is why I think they work and are actually a really good fit.

1. the PARALLELS of their life

Calypso is imprisoned in an island and cursed to fall in love with a boy who can never love her back. She is cursed to fall in love with a boy who is already in love with someone else. Calypso specifically says to Percy in Battle of the labyrinth "there's always a Penelope or Anabeth". There is always some other girl the hero she falls in love with has to go back to. She is never the first choice.

Leo has spent his life not only always being rejected by girls (Hazel and Echo or even Thalia and Khione) but even his friends constantly treat him as the annoying one, wish he weren't there at times, he is constantly the third wheel or SEVENTH WHEEL. Piper says something like Leo knows to keep his distance so Jason and I can be together. His friends love him. I'm not blaming anyone but He is never the first choice.

DO YOU SEE THE PARALLELS. two people who in their entire life have never been someone first choice find each other.

Because of this they can be what they need most. They will only have eyes for eachother and Gods know it's what they need most. We read about Leo being desperate for affection to the point where he says he constantly cuddles with his pillow or even the Nike statue on the argo. Calypso basically never had anyone love her and was literally alone. The love two people who have been denied it their entire life will give eachother is more than anyone could give them.

1.1. the PARALLELS of their life 2

Calypso is forgoten about by every hero that comes to her island. You probably forgot about Calypso's existence till she and Leo met. I know I kinda did. She's never mentioned since TLO and even there it's twice in the entire book. Even Percy forgot about her until he rememberes in Tartarus how the God's didn't keep their promise from TLO.

Leo is also constantly forgotten in the argo II. His friends love him ik but They do forget he's even there sometimes cuz he works all day. Even at Camp he didn't play Capture the flag with everyone but stayed in bunker 9 (yes it's his fault, but it just goes to show there was not someone who REALLY wanted him around enough to get him out of the bunker sometimes)

2. The timing and development- we all kinda hate

Was their relationship a little rushed? yeah kinda. But they WERE alone in an island for around a week I think. irl if there's chemistry that would make you like someone.

Plus let's not forget that Calypso is CURSED to love anyone that lands on her island. So OF COURSE SHE FELL FOR LEO.

And leo is LEO. If anyone would fall fast it would be him. It is totally in character. yall had no problem shipping him with Echo when they talked for like an hour.

However I will say their relationship has like 0 development. They hate eachother, like eachother, get together and that's it. (I still hav not read the last two Trials of Apollo so maybe they develop there so sorry if I'm wrong about that)

3. I have seen people say Leo likes Calypso for her looks?! THEY HATE EACHOTHER ON FIRST SIGHT and fall later.

4. They were also together with Festus roaming around for a long time. idk maybe they bonded ot whatever.

IN CONCLUSION- Caleo doesn't hold a candle to the majority of the ships in HoO and could definitely have been written better BUT i think Rick made a really good choice with getting them together BUT maybe that should have happened latter in ToA. add and correct me :)

[robotic-traveling-circus]

Story Fragment - Promise

It was inevitable. There was no reason for the body to continue thus it shut itself down. The emotions that used to vibrate and dance within Bellamy’s being slipped out of existence.

And it broke their hearts.

Fredrick sat before them, his paws hovering over the open cavity of Bellamy’s chest. “Bunny Bell.” He whispered, voice dipping low in a sorrowful tone. This was wrong. It was horrifically wrong.

When the day came that they were distorted and locked in, Bellamy was their optimistic companion. Even when the magnets were torn from their face, they were still able to express themselves happily. He remembers the way Bellamy spoke of new beginnings, that the humans needed a break from the circus but they wouldn’t be forgotten.

That was four years ago. Four years of being unable to help their partner as he drifted away.

It began the day Bellamy did not react to Redd’s pestering like he used to.

“You’re hair is so dumb. It’s like you got a tail on your head. You’re a butt head!” Bellamy declared on several occasions.

“At least me ‘ead isn’t bald!” Redd would snap back with a snarl.

“Better bold than being a butt head.” The teasing would continue and insults would turn from childish to creative.

But the last insult Redd ever threw to Bellamy was, “‘Ey seat face! Why are you walkin’ so prem and prahper? Are you a stoeck oep poodle?”

It took a moment for the words to register, probably analyzing Redd’s accent. “Is the way I walk troublesome? If so, how would you suggest I modify my walk?” The words lacked Bellamy’s childish nature. There was no comeback or further insults.

“..why are you talkin like dat? Ded you 'it yooehr 'ead ahr sahmethin?” Redd took a step closer to examine his partner. They did not appear visually different since they had gotten locked in.

There was another processing period before Bellamy said, “If you have no suggestions for my improvement, I will ask my superiors for readjustment.”

It was the default language. The sentences and phrases they were given through programming rather than personality.

“Bellamy, are you feelin ahkay? I can stahp if you're naht feelin well.” The playful act was dropped. Instead, the rabbit’s actions created concern that fell on massively deaf ears.

“My apologies. I will go and rest.” It was simple and dull. Nothing any of the three were used to.

Yet, after a short period of rest, Bellamy was his usual self. He acted as though he had no memory of the interaction; perhaps that was true.

Another moment that was considered odd was during a game of Clown Mash. They would get a piece of paper and draw a body part before passing it along to the next person. Anyone who played with Bellamy received pretty horrific looking characters. They were not gorey but they definitely fell into the realm of body horror.

However, today’s character looked obscenely normal. There wasn't a clutter of additional limbs or eyes far too large for one’s head. There weren't obnoxious neon colors or glitter. They were normal and legitimate.

Even Sprinkles took offense to the dull creation. “What’s this? Is yawl messin’ with me?” She crossed her wings and gave Bellamy the look.

Yet, they hardly reacted under her gaze. “I am playing according to the rules. Have I misunderstood?”

“The rules?” She squawked, “ Yawl nevur play by the rules! Whut the heck is yawl on ‘bout?” Her feathers stood tall, and the gaze only worsened.

Yet again, Bellamy was unbothered. “Are the rules of the game to break the rules? I am afraid I do not understand your predicament, miss.”

Miss. When they called her miss, the trio suddenly had to deal with a puffed up chicken clucking words that were obviously against programming. At least, they were originally.

The next time there was a notable issue was when Bellamy sat Fredrick down to talk. The other two had been in rest mode, allowing them a momentary privacy.

“Fredrick! Did you miss me? I know you miss our little chats.” Bellamy grins as much as they could without a face. “But I’ll be frank, my head has been screaming. I feel like I’m vanishing. It’s terrible!”

Despite the serious nature of the conversation, it eased Fredrick to interact with a Bellamy that sounded like himself. “Would this happen to have anything to do with how you have been acting?”

Any cheerful energy from the bunny was dropped. “Freddy. I don’t think Imma last.” He raised his single hand to hold one of his partner’s paws. “I haven’t felt this way in like, forever. Everything feels frazzled, and I know you’re afraid. You are all afraid.”

It caused the bear to frown, “We have noticed several changes in your behavior, but you always bounce back. It is concerning; do you remember what happened?”

His ears drooped, further than they already were. “Yeah. I rather forget! But boo hoo me, I can’t make the memories go away and now I feel like scrap.” They shook their head, refocusing themself. “Right. Get to the point, Bellamy!”

Fredrick watched his partner fumble with themself, and gently squeezed his paw. He hoped to provide reassurance. “It is okay, Bell. You can take your time when talking to me.”

He received silence for a while, having watched Bellamy pull themselves together. “It’s like whatever makes me, me, is vanishing. I’m getting tired and my head is screaming. I have to fight with myself! Can’t always say the words I want to. Can’t do the fun stuff that I want to do. It is like...like being torn apart.” They paused momentarily, head casted away from Fredrick. “But I know you are afraid. You won’t want me to go. You believed in my hope, my lies! And now I got yall livin’ a fantasy!”

Emotionally, the bunny broke down, allowing himself to be pulled into a hug and wither against his partner. “I-I’m sorry Freddy. It was unacceptable for me to drag you into my false hopes. I just wanted to be funny - to be cheerful - to be someone y’all could look to when ya needed a lift.” Their body shuddered, “but Imma fool. I steal faces and now I cannot even steal my own! All my functions are becoming pointless.”

There was a long pause, and the bear was about to speak when he heard Bellamy mumble, “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry… I’m sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” His voice repeated like a broken record.

“There is nothing to apologize for, Bell.” Fredrick says softly, pressing his nuzzle to the top of his bunny’s head. “You have been through a lot, possibly more than the rest of us. You deserve moments of vulnerability.

“Additionally, your hope is not false. If you believe in it, then I do too. I think, if my parents were here, they would promote and encourage your hope. It is a wonderful quality to have.” He carefully adjusts their position before having Bellamy lift his head. “You are not pointless, Bellamy. We love you. I love you. Your worth is not limited to your ability to perform tasks, we love you for who you are and who you have grown to be. And, in the event that you lose yourself, I assure you that we will still love you.”

“H-how can you love someone without any emotion?”

“Do you believe that is what it is coming to?” Bellamy nods in response to Fredrick’s question. “Then I believe it is an error. We may have emotions, but we have programming that can get damaged or corrupt. I will look into it. We will find a solution.”

“Even if I’m lost by them?”

“Especially if you are lost by then. We save our memories, I am positive there will always be a way to get you back. And, if we cannot, I am happy to start anew with you. We can create new memories.” He says, wanting to chase away any thoughts of despair.

“You..would go through the effort..of trying again?”

“Of course I would. I already told you. I, we, love you.” He rubs a thumb along what remains of Bell’s face. “We will do everything we possibly can. I promise.”

Bellamy offers a look of disbelief, and it was astonishing how expressive a faceless animatronics could be. But, Fredrick had to chase away the dark. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes, but -“

“No buts. Do you trust me, Bellamy?”

The bunny nods slightly, “Yeahh, I trust you. But a promise? How can ya promise something like that?”

“Because I have a good feeling. It may or may not take awhile, but I have a feeling this is fixable. Now, I will ask again. Do you, my silly Bunny Bell, trust me to figure this out?”

The other huffs a laugh in response, “Yeah. I trust ya, my cuddle teddy.”

“Perfect. And please, if you need to talk to us, any of us, do not be afraid. We are here for you.”

Another nod and Bellamy fixes themself to be in a comfortable cuddling position, using the bear’s chest as a pillow. “Can we rest now?”

“Of course. Hope you feel recharged in no time.” He cuddles Bell closer to him, wanting to protect him however he could. He wasn't a confrontational fellow, nor an outgoing one, but darn was he going to find a solution someday.

Someday.

That someday brought him to the present. His paws had just left his partner’s chest cavity. He was attempting to repair his silly bunny but it was not enough to restore them. Thus, Bellamy’s body shut down.

Without emotion there was no drive. And, without a drive, there was no purpose. The magnets that allowed Bellamy to wear his face or swap with others were torn out. There was no face to attempt to put back on because..the humans took it away. They did this on purpose, didn’t they? They broke Bellamy with no intention of fixing him.

They broke them. It made the situation worse because Bellamy believed the humans would come back for them.

Soon Fredrick broke down, a dreadful sorrow overtaking his voice. “Bunny Bell, B-bunny Bell, please. You cannot - we need you here. With us. Please turn back on.” Although he could not express tears the way a human does, he was certainly grieving the loss of his partner.

The bear’s paws finally moved from the open cavity to pull the functionless animatronic close to him. “I-I am sorry, Bunny-Bell. I - I will find a way to turn you back on, I promise. I swear, I promise.” He did not know what to do, but he’ll do anything.

Redd knelt down beside them, wrapping his arms around Fredrick. They were partners, the three of them. And it took the fox every ounce of his energy to not break down along with Fredrick.

It hurt. They weren’t supposed to feel pain but it hurt so bad. He had to helplessly watch one of his partners attempt to safe the other to no avail and it fucking hurt. “Fred, I - what do we do?” His ears were low, practically pressed into his body. “Can we really toehrn 'im back ahn?”

He felt torn. He didn’t want Fredrick to gain false hopes, but he didn’t want to dismiss this either.

“We - we have to get out of here… There has to..there has to be a way to repair him. Redd, he could have stayed with us for so much longer.” Fredrick clutches the bunny’s body harder. “I did..I did not try hard enough -they should have been functional, like us, and I - I promised.” He kept stuttering, his body struggling to adjust to their current happenings.

“Dahn't say shoeht stupid shet, mate. We all know you tried. You spahke to oehs abooeht it whenever you 'ad a new idea. You were doin yooehr best.” Redd offers, gently nudging against Fredrick and wrapping his tail around him. “I know you prahmised 'im boeht can we really fex 'im?”

“I want to think so. It’s..an issue with his face being gone, right? If - if we can get him a new face then maybe.” He pauses, “maybe we can at least get him functioning again.”

“So what? We can't ahpen de door. Dey are lahcked frahm de ooehtside. Sprinkles is naht 'elp, 'er beak is brahken. We can't fet throoehgh de wendows. What’s de plan?" Redd decides it was worth it to encourage Fredrick’s hope. If he promised Bellamy there was a solution to this, then Redd inherently made the same promise.

“I may have an idea.” Fredrick tries to compose himself, but would not let go of Bellamy. “You remember those outside voices?”

“The teenagers?” Sprinkles was quick to inquire.

“Yeah. They come by sometimes. I think they draw on the train? Regardless, maybe we can trick them into opening the door?” He offers the idea, lifting his head.

Redd could sense he was searching for some sort of confirmation. “Sooehnds trecky. Boeht I believe we can do it.”

Sprinkles seemed more reluctant on their success, but she caves. “Yeah, way can do it. Fahwar Bellamy.”

The combination of their support earns them a weak smile from their leader. “Do you hear that, Bunny Bell? We will get you out of here and fix you. We will not be afraid of the outside. I promised I would find a solution, and we will.”

“We love you, Bellamy.” Said both the bear and the fox at the same time.

[leotssukinaga]

so... your tanaka daydream?

bruh okay so I'm friends w kinoshita but I never go to practice or anything bc I got my own shit to do yk? but he leaves his homework behind in our last class so I go to the gym to give it to him and tanaka is the first person to see me and he's like "!! noya look!" bc I'm cute and yall may fite me on that anyway I see him and noya staring at me and I shyly wave and they're like :000 and then kinoshita comes over n i give him his homework and he's like "wait aren't you gonna miss your bus?" and I say it's fine I'll just walk home but he's not gonna let me walk home alone bc I've been having a bad day and I'll probably fall over or something. I'm pouty abt this bc I'm crippled, not useless, and I don't need nor want to be babysat but I stay for practice anyway and tanaka takes his shirt off at least twice and I am Looking Respectfully 👀 but so it turns out I live quite close to Tanaka and not so close to kinoshita so we get a certain way and I'm like "Hey why doesn't... why doesn't tanaka just walk me home so you don't have to backtrack 🥺👉👈"with no ulterior motive whatsoever haha and he Eventually agrees and tanaka and I do not talk At All so I'm a little :( abt that but! I start finding excuses to come to practice more and tanaka always walks me home after and the excuses are always so dumb like "oh I was tying my shoe and I missed the bus" 10 minutes before the bus is due to leave etc but he's too busy simping for me (and showing off) to notice that but after a little while Kinoshita stays behind because he's got "stuff to do" (stuff being hopefully leave us alone for the whole walk so we actually talk to each other? please?) (everyone's a little confused on why he doesn't talk to me? he's never had an issue before? he'll tell noya at one point that he's noticed I'm too nice to tell him off when he crosses a line and he doesn't wanna upset me so he just doesn't talk. anyway that's off topic) at some point I trip and tanaka catches me and if I'm blushing the whole way home then what are you gonna do about it, huh? but when we get to my house I kiss his cheek as a thank you before running inside and just losing my mind bc why did I do that?????? I ring kinoshita abt it and tanaka rings noya abt it and we r out here just losing it and they're both texting each other like "they're such fucking messes why can't they just date." the next day I do not show up to practice bc I think he definitely thinks I'm a freak now but kinoshita practically b e g s me to come the day after bc tanaka was a big ole grump monster all day when he realised I wouldn't be there and I'm dumb and I don't understand why I affected his mood like that? but I go anyway and he's way better and on the walk home I sorta... brush his hand with mine and he's already losing it (king of the fuckin simps baby) and I look up at him and ask if I can maybe hold his hand 🥺👉👈 and he says yes bc why the hell would he say no to that???? and when we get to my place i ask him if he wants to date which also gets a yes 🥳 n that's where we are rn hoo boy this was long sorry to everyone who isn't interested in my daydreams sjfnsf