#i don’t even LIKE Jason and I’m ready to fight Rick for him about this

[sorryiwasasleep]

No no no, because I understand that it’s a camp to train demigods and everything, but why the FUCK did Jason at TWO YEARS OLD have to start training, to the point where he’s there to get an SPQR brand as a toddler! It’s not like Camp Half Blood where Annabeth arrived at 7 (also absurd but MUCH more understandable considering she was already being attacked by monsters AND that Chiron is the only real adult) Whereas New Rome HAS ADULTS!!! Married couples! Families!

I don’t care that he’s the son of Jupiter. You’re telling me NONE OF THEM took a look at a literal CHILD walking into camp and didn’t go ‘I will simply take him, this is my son now, you can have him back to train in a few years you crazies.’

[kermitthesog]

ok quick rant post.

*HUGE TOA SPOILERS BELOW*

i just saw somebody say jason’s death was poorly written.

i mean this in the most respect way to those people saying that jason’s death was meaningless and careless…did we read the same book?

first of all, it was not anticlimactic. It would’ve been unexpected for me if i wasn’t spoiled. he quite literally went out with a bang. he made a gigantic tornado/storm to pretty much single-handedly fight an emperor. i mean, no one around him was equipped or ready to fight. he was doing so good, but he knew he had to die anyway. he might’ve tried harder if he hadn’t heard the prophecy about him or piper dying. my point is, he did not seem “nerfed” or “not powerful”, apollo was really impressed by his skills in his narration.

i saw somebody say they didn’t it like it because he had so much potential. that’s the whole point though!!! many tragic deaths are brought to life by an unkept promise or something they couldn’t carry out before they died. all of jason’s storylines were going to lead him somewhere great, but of course it couldn’t go like that. rick riordan pretty much put in that whole part with apollo and jason talking about his promise to the minor gods to dangle that in front of us. to emphasize how tragic his death was.

people say his death was only for apollo/lester’s character development? i don’t agree. i mean, yeah, that was a huge thing that came from it. throughout the rest of the books, he tributes his growth and actions to jason. but i don’t think that was the only reason for it. i saw a great post by @a-cup-of-coffee-and-the-moon about this. go check it out here, but basically they say that was it inevitable (they go to say it was because he went against zeus, and the greek leaders had a history of their sons overthrowing them). even other than that, it developed the storyline and the whole trials of apollo series in general.

ok so maybe that wasn’t quick. but still. i hope i proved my point. i am a huge jason defender and i just hate when people comment on his death like this. he’s dead, guys!!! that’s just like pooping on his grave! ok, but seriously, we need to end the jason death slander. i feel like some people see something they don’t like and come up with reasons as to why it shouldn’t have happened and why it was weird that it did. i mean, yeah, i didn't want him to die, but i’m willing to accept it and respect him.

[celestial-cheese-being]

Here’s Why I think BOTH Will and Nico will live through this new book.

ok so this is going to be longer post so either buckle up or get out of the cab ok?

We don't know much background on Will

Okay so we all know how much Nico has been through and has lost.

We aren't as a aware of Wills backstory. i suspect that this alone will keep him alive for a good part of the book, since he's going to be an MC, we're going to need to get backstory.

But most of the story and all of the story are two very different concepts when talking about a solangelo death.

Its a stand alone

So back to us knowing Nico’s backstory, ill cut to chase: he cant lose will, especially right now. With his character, i Highly doubt that even the best writer could successfully pull that off in standalone, A series? possibly, A standalone, No. Killing off Will would be a weak ending used only for shock value. It would go against the already existing character development to wrap up the cause and effect of that in a single book.

What we do know about Will 

Okay, so going off what we do know about Will, with his personality and (little) background info we have, i doubt Nico would be killed off,

Why? Because the best character deaths are written through the way they affect other characters.

So whos the other main MC in this book? Will. Who will nico’s death effect most in this book, especially in a way that would drive the plot? Will.

So know we have to look at how that would affect Wills character. Well to be frank (yes slight pun), i think he’d move on. Would be heart broken? Of course. Would he carry grief and possibly survivors guilt for years? Most likey, but he’d work through it and keep going. 

You see, Will has lost people before, now so has nico. Why do I think Will would react differently? Because he already has. When will lost Michael Yew, he didn't run off after creating a giant gash in the ground or summoning/dispelling Zombies,  he became the Cabin Counselor (at about 11 too)

Now i'm not saying anything against nico, I'm just showing how they reacted differently. Now does it make sense that nico reacted the way he did at Bianca's death? Yes.Now before any one says biannca was closer to Nico than Will and Yew, Yew was head counselor and will was year rounder. Michael Yew was likely almost a father/big brother to Will, and taught him about how to heal and fight and everything luke did for percy when he first arrived at camp. A different dynamic, but Important to note.

Will is also like the head medic at camp. Pretty much he’s  with any camper who dies. Any one who had an injury ( so basically all of them) he knows. He's a healer, he's seen people at their weakest, hes watched fellow friends and campers die, when he and his cabin can’t do enough to save them.  pretty much i'm ready to bet survivors guilt is going to be major part of his backstory in this next book}

 HOWEVER, I think that Will really has a deep sense of purpose and belonging at CHB, and thats what will keep him going, even if nico would get killed off.

SO pretty much I don’t think killing Nico would be Rick’s style.

Now we move on to two fan theories 

Names

Nico is meant to always live:

this theroy is partly from from this post:

but what you need to know to from it, is these meanings of Nico and Brianna's Names:

Biannca is the white angel: meant to die

Nico is the dark angel: meant to live

Now we have Will’s Name:

Will full name is William Solance

William:  protector.

Solance;  comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.

( sol is also a prefix meaning sun).

make of that info what you will...

The Blonde Theory:

 **MAJOR SPOILER FOR TOA**

** spoiler for mark of athena**

okay so this book is going to basically makes or brake this theory. Its is a pretty well accepted theory in the pjo fandom, bit it goes likes this to those who havent heard o

Rick hate the blonde characters. As almost all the major blonde characters have been killed off. { re: jason, octavian, luke, } {Now magnus is a grey area, he died, but teachinally went to a norse version of the underworld but I'm going to take him as a death.}

EXECPT for the ones who go to the underworld. Think about it. What main characters who are blonde have lived?

Annabeth- went to tartarus w/ percy.

Apollo-  as a god is blonde, fights python in the underworld,also goes to the rivers at one point. 

And to some, if we take Hazel to be blonde/part blonde, she also went to the underworld.

Sadie also goes to part of an egyptian version of the underworld/afterlife.

SO my thought is this: If will is going to Tartarus, according to the blonde theory, that means his going to survive it.

~ END OF RANT ~

-Feel free to reblog and rip this apart if one of them ends up dieing

~ Feel free to add

~ If a fact is off book-wise, feel free to correct

~ thank  you for coming to my ted talk if you managed to read my whole rant~

(I also used Will’s Wiki Fandom page to fact check this which you can find here)

[crushing-on-nico-di-angelo]

This is kind of a random question but...

Do you know why people hate Rick Riordan?

I just have no information, and I’ve seen a lot of stuff lately talking about how he’s problematic.

hi!! yes, I've seen things about this as well. I can list the reasons I've seen. I don't agree with all the points made, but its just what I've seen and I think it may answer your question. I also recommend going through the tag #rr crit, as it will give you a lot more and detailed information regarding him (beware: there are quite a few buzzwords. I recommend taking the facts and forming your own conclusions). I also think it's important to note that many people don't hate him, but they acknowledge that since he's a cishet white man there's things he didn't handle well and he needs to listen to critisicm.

Completely mishandled Piper's native American heritage. From the feather in her hair, to her dad being from a reservation that doesn't exist in Oklahoma, to having kaleidoscope eyes (some say that it suggests brown eyes aren't beautiful enough for aphrodite, more on this in the next bullet), to being a kleptomaniac, her character is, ignorantly or purposefully, chock full of stereotypes. having a cornucopia being her weapon. when Rick was told that this isn't good he became defensive and didn't listen to any critisicm

not giving female characters chances to be young, or not have a boyfriend or be unconventionally attractive. if they do get to not have a boyfriend, they're thrown into the Hunters of Artemis. their eyes are anything but brown (I do disagree with the eye thing but it's important to note), suggesting that having brown eyes should be considered less than. Sadie got a 1000 year old boyfriend when she was 14. 13 year old Hazel had a 16 year old boyfriend-- that could be a seventh grader and a junior or a freshman and sophomore depending on how you look at it (and I LOVE frazel, don't get me wrong. the age gap is just,,). in fact, the only female non-hunter without a significant other I can name is Meg, and she's 12.

Sadie Kane and the fanart he boosts of her. he frequently shows her looking completely white, despite saying she "stood out in class for being mixed." It honestly wouldn't surprise me if a white girl were cast to play her in the Netflix movies.

treatment of characters with invisible disabilities. this can range from the coment of "You anemic loser" targeted at Octavian (as someone with an iron deficiency, I don't see anything wrong with it, but cmon. kids can see that, rick. you can't control anemia) to Clovis' chronic fatigue being treated as a joke. invisible disabilities are hard and just as painful as physical ones. it doesn't help if you treat them like that.

too much misogyny to list all of it, but we can start with young girls being expected to be, and acting, more mature than they are; the strong female characters portraying the "I'm not like other girls" trope; the entire way Hera was treated.

The way Nico's outing was handled (this is one I especially disagree with, and this post said it best, thanks ghost). A violent outing by the God of love taking place before Nico was ready, according to some, was not what younger gay people needed to see. he should have had a loving environment and, at the very least, it should have been from his own point of view and not Jason's.

anti-acne and fat phobia: Apollo having a deep hatred towards his acne and Frank's glow up including severe weight loss (not being a cuddly teddybear anymore, getting taller) isn't the best thing for kids who have acne or are fat to see.

Samirah al-Abbas: "reversing the stereotype (Rick's words)" of an arranged marriage by having her be in love with a distant cousin is... not reversing the stereotype at all actually. it just falls into it. Having her take off her hijab around floor 19 because they feel like family is also not great, because, to my understanding as a non-hijabi and non-muslim, that is not how being hijabi works. similar to the piper situation, when Rick was told that this isn't good he became defensive and didn't listen to any critisicm

ANTISEMITISM, ANTISEMETISM, ANTISEMITISM. this is one of the ones I agree with the most. Having Hades' children be Nazis, having a plot point revolve around one of the most traumatic events in world history, ignoring the fact of generational trauma and ignoring the fact that It Didn't Matter That It Took Place In World War Three, it could have not had any correlation to the death of over six million Jewish people. it legitimizes evilsurrounding Hades and death, and -- well, this one makes me so mad, I can't explain all of it so here is a post explaining more in depth

Slavery issues: similar to the holocaust, Rick Riordan made one of the most terrible issues in American History into a fight between demigods. this lowers the legitimacy of the issue, makes it seem fictional, makes Camp Jupiter seem terrible and awful, except it doesn't. because camp Jupiter isn't terrible. but the confederacy was. if children, especially white children, learn about the confederacy through camp Jupiter, it makes it seem way less bad than it was.

again, I don't agree with all of this, it's just reasoning as to why. in my eyes, Rick Riordan is a man who has grown in his telling of his stories. he started with a canonical all white, all straight, all cis cast. he has now a series featuring a latino genderfluid queer person. This Post said it better than I ever could.

I know that it's impact over intent in so many situations. and this isn't to say I disagree with all, or even most of his critisim. I just think that he has good intent, and I hate him for absolutely none of it.

I am gay, I am Latino, and I am trans. that is all I can speak on, and I think his rep for that was great. I hope this answered your question, dear anon. again, I encourage you to do your own research and form your own opinions. I only touched on a few issues that Rick has had and there's a lot more to be talked about. I would say to keep in mind his intent and his growth. thank you for the ask, thank you for directing it to me that made me feel happy lol. ily I hope you have a good day

if anyone else has anything to add, by all means please do!!

[peppersonironi]

Duke Thomas VS The "Good Child" Stereotype Chapter Three

Wooo! Chapter Two (not including the prologue) is up now for my @dukethomasbigbang fic! Today's art is by @a-sketchy-character and you can find the glorious piece HERE

thx again to my betas @queerbutstillhere & @theycallme-ook

Today has a special thanks to @batgirls-appreciation who dropped out as a beta, but this chapter couldn't exist without her!

Summary:

Duke pursed his lips, not quite sure why Cass had come down to the basement, only to look into his soul, shrug, and leave. But that didn’t matter right now. As Bruce would say, “The mission comes first.”

Read on Ao3

Duke frowned down at his empty pad of paper, trying to brainstorm. It had been a mere twelve hours since the failed Rick Roll (though, the Rick Roll itself wasn’t a fail. Duke would be daydreaming about the chaos for years to come), and the day shift bat was itching for a way to make up for it.

Alas, the creative juices were not flowing that day. Duke had tried everything - taking a walk, training, meditation, writer’s sprint, and even resorting to watching prank compilations on YouTube. But nothing worked. So, he found himself watching the target Bat - Bruce - in his “natural habitat.”

Also known as the living room, mid lecture.

“But I don’t know what I did!” Tim pleaded desperately, trying to convey to Bruce his confusion.

Bruce shook his head. “No, you do, Tim. Dick told me you all will appeal to my affection to get out of the consequences for your actions -” wow, Duke remembered Dick using that exact tactic just yesterday, and it worked - “So I will not allow you to shirk the punishment.”

Tim groaned. “This is tyranny! I’m an emancipated minor, I don’t need to deal with this.”

“Actually, yes you do. You will be doing chores for Alfred for the next two weeks, and you aren’t allowed to run off to Mount Justice.”

“Then at least tell me what I did wrong!” Tim cried, throwing his hands up in the air. Bruce rubbed his temples, then glanced briefly at Duke.

“You know what you did, and how it affected those around you. And you’re grounded because of it. No room for arguments. Now go work on the sprinklers, Alfred has mentioned they’ve been finicky.”

Tim scoffed and stalked out, soon after followed by Bruce.

Duke considered relocating as well - he couldn’t very well observe Bruce if said wild furry wasn’t present. But something about that conversation that sent a light shiver up Duke’s spine, some small spark of inspiration.

An idea began to form in his mind, and Duke smiled slowly.

*****

“For all Bruce’s waxing poetic on the merits of high tech stuff, this pipe organization is seriously ancient,” Duke muttered under his breath as he glanced from the blueprints he had secured to the mess of pipes and spigots and nozzles in front of him.

Though to be fair, this wasn’t the Batcave. Duke was in the basement of Wayne Manor - yes, he was just as surprised to find they actually had one of those that wasn’t dedicated to the dark and mystique training of Gotham’s Protectors. And impromptu Mario Kart challenges, because as Tim had once told Duke “We all know that’s the real reason Bruce got a giant computer setup.”

Duke cursed softly under his breath when he dropped a wrench that began to clang around in the messy cage of metal. He set the blueprints aside atop the gallons of paint he had chosen, and reached around and down to get the wrench. When he came back up, he found himself face to face with his sister Cassandra.

Oh shit, Duke thought, as he tried to figure out how to cover for what he was doing in the plumbing of the Manor.

Cass squinted at him and, not for the first time, Duke felt like he was an onion trapped beneath her gaze, slowly being peeled back layer by layer till the young woman before him knew every little detail about him. Every thought or plan he ever had.

Duke began to sweat, unable to keep his panic under wraps. Cass was scarier than Bruce, that was just a fact.

Cass tilted her head a fraction of an inch, and Duke thought he was a dead man. But, much to his relief and confusion, Cass shrugged and turned. She walked lightheartedly out of the basement and to the stairs, whistling tunelessly as she went.

Duke pursed his lips, not quite sure why Cass had come down to the basement, only to look into his soul, shrug, and leave.

But that didn’t matter right now. As Bruce would say, “The mission comes first.”

*****

As all members of the Wayne family knew, the Library was one of the best places, period. Aside from the living room which was always a mess of pillows, bean bags, inflatable dinosaurs, spare semi-automatic weaponry and knives, the Library was the most personal room in the expansive home that was the Manor. Sure, it was cleaner and home to fewer surprise nerf gun fights, but It still had an air of warmth about it. It was the place that they would go to to rest after a difficult patrol. Where you could find Jason reading some book in a corner, Tim busy with WE work at the large table, Damian trying to teach Alfred the Cat and Titus to read picture books, Cass and Steph trying to be subtle about making out (though to be fair that was only half the time, other times Cass was working on reading with Steph helpfully giving her guidance). Dick would always be trying to decide what to read and but he would never actually succeed, Bruce would sit in his tall armchair in the corner overlooking every small detail of his children with a not-quick-smile-but-pretty-darn-close on his face.

Duke himself also had his own spot that he would work on writing poetry, or just surf Tumblr. It was a window seat at the far side of the library which was technically big enough for three people, but Duke had a strict policy that it was his and his alone and no he totally wasn’t bullied by Cass that one time to snuggle. Why on Earth would you ever consider such a thing?

It was in this spot now that Duke was situated, though he was not alone. Titus - yes, Damian’s dog - was draped across his lap. Now, Duke didn’t mean to steal his little brother’s pets, but it just happened. Titus was in need of snuggles or belly rubs when Damian was away with Jon or on patrol at night, and Duke just happened to be the only one that said canine could bully into granting him.

Thankfully, like all bats were, Duke was a multi-tasker. He wasn’t put off by having to scratch a dog behind the ears whilst simultaneously checking the twelve blinking dots on his laptop screen that represented his family members.

Duke stared intensely at the diagram of the Manor as all the dots slowed down and finally stayed in their predetermined positions. Huh, Tim was right. Stalking family members did pay off!

The dots suddenly stopped blinking, and Duke snapped out of his self congratulations. It was go time . He switched windows, then quickly pulled out his phone and pressed a button.

There were several screams that echoed throughout the ancient halls, those screams spoke of terror and surprise, and passed along the message that something was very, very wrong in the world. The status quo had been broken, and there was no returning from this.

Duke smirked down at his computer, where a dozen different squares displayed camera footage of the real time happenings of the Manor. Said footage was showing several members of Duke’s family drenched in paint. The same paint that Duke had meticulously divided and poured into the ceiling sprinkling system that the Manor had for some totally-not-plot-related reason. The same paint which had been primed and ready to be sprayed out of the spigots coating each bat with the perfectly calculated, even layer.

The paint had just finished being deployed, and yet several people were for some reason trying to fight it off like it was an attacker. Duke noticed that the swinging of bo staffs, AK-47’s and katanas were altogether unsuccessful. Honestly, the people who were standing completely still in shock, or who were trying to shake off the paint were having much better luck.

But then everyone finally realised that they weren’t being sprayed anymore, and a collective sigh spread out across the Manor. The onslaught was done, and they could finally gather together and grab the pitchforks to hunt down the responsible party.

It was then that the glitter was deployed.

The chaos immediately multiplied tenfold, and the screams sounded up again. The air was filled with the sparkly dust that was way too thin to swat away. (No, Duke totally didn’t spend extra time researching to find the world’s finest glitter)

Duke was outright laughing at this point, so hard that he almost fell off the window seat. Titus barked suddenly, and Duke sobered enough to get back upright and watch the finishing up of the chaos. He had to admit, this felt wonderful. If he had to describe his current state of thrill in two words, he would have admitted that he felt altogether too close to the Hellmo Meme.

Unfortunately, Duke was not Stephanie, and ran out of glitter eventually. The vents stopped blasting the film of fairy dust, and the bats were given a reprieve.

Though the break was short lived, as just then, Bruce’s loud bellow sounded throughout the giant house.

“ALL OF YOU GET IN HERE!”

Duke chuckled as he scooched Titus over and set his laptop to the side so he could get up. This was all working perfectly! He’d arrive at Bruce's interrogation completely free from all paint or glitter, which would immediately prove his guilt. And if that didn’t work, then he supposed he could outright confess. But that wasn’t the point of this. The point was for Bruce to come to the conclusion on his own.

He walked down the hall, completely carefree. So happy and confident in his own abilities that he never even noticed that Cassandra’s paint or glitter didn’t go off. That she wasn’t even present where the tracker he had subtly placed on her earlier that day said she was.

*****

Duke hummed to himself as he skipped along the carpet, past the antique vases and random finger paintings, past the drawing rooms and bathrooms, and towards Bruce. All was quiet.

Though that began to trouble Duke, as he got closer to one of the rooms which was very special. It was where Cass had been situated, playing with Selina’s cat Isis, for the past hour. Now, Cassandra was quiet, sure. But not that quiet. And besides, wouldn’t the cat be screeching right about now? Cass didn’t seem like the person to give a nerve hit to an animal just because it was being loud ( cough Jason cough ).

He slowly entered the room and looked around, but was surprised to find it completely empty. Not just of girl and cat, but of paint and glitter too.

“You were mistaken.”

Duke whirled around to find Cass sitting in an armchair, wrapped in shadows, and stroking Isis in a manner not altogether different from that of an Evil Mastermind™.

“Uh…” Duke replied, “about what?”

Cass smirked, and Duke felt a shiver run up his spine. “Actions have consequences. ”

Duke frowned. Wait, what? He glanced around again, trying to figure out what Cass meant. On a surface level he understood, but there was something about the way Cass was eyeing him that told him something else was up.

The only thing he could find that was out of the ordinary, however, was the camera he had placed just yesterday. Huh, now that he thought about it, he was at just the right angle to see it. Which meant he was in direct view of the camera itself. Pretty darn to close to where he had been planning Cass would stand, actually.

Then a faint spitting noise came from above him.

Oh.

*****

Duke trudged forlornly into the room where the rest of the bats - except Cassandra, who had disappeared after the glitter had deployed onto Duke - had gathered. He was one of the last to arrive, muttering curses under his breath, so all eyes were on him as he opened the door and joined them.

Though that also meant that Duke could see them. He had to admit, that as disappointed as he was, it was still hard to keep a grin from spreading across his face. Boy, he had done a great job with color coordination, hadn’t he?

Bruce was front and center, covered in a dark gray paint which had the sheen of yellow glitter. Dick had black paint completely covering him (much more than Duke planned. Did Dick roll in the stuff?) along with blue glitter. Jason had both red paint and glitter on him. Tim had started off with a lighter colored paint - this time red - and then the look was finished by black glitter. Damian looked like a small Christmas tree in his green paint and red glitter. Harper had blue paint then covered in purple glitter, both of which were the exact shades of her hair. Duke wasn’t a monster ; he knew how to match colors.

The cousins - both honorary and actually - had also been present. Bette had been appropriately targeted with a flaming orange and gold combination. Kate had black paint and, instead of red, Duke had picked a rainbow glitter for her. From the slight glint in her eye, Duke supposed he had chosen correctly. Jean-Paul had been doused in yellow paint and red glitter, and he honestly looked like a very large and human shaped version of his sword. Luke was covered in silver paint and an electric blue glitter.

Bruce, however, didn’t give Duke a second glance, covered in yellow paint and black glitter (which had been meant for Cass, but honestly, it fit Duke quite well), though he was.

“Good, now we just have to wait for Steph,” Tim remarked, rolling his eyes.

Duke frowned. “What about Cass? She’s here too.”

Everyone gave Duke a weird look. “Uh, no she isn’t. She’s been hanging out with Selina and Babs all weekend.”

“Then your intel is wrong,” Duke countered. “She was just here! I planned on her being here!”

The silence in the room was palpable. Before, where there had been bickering and accusations, the quiet had taken over. Everyone stared at Duke with suspicion in their eyes.

Finally, Duke thought, sighing in relief.

Bruce opened his mouth about to question Duke’s statement when the doors to the room banged open.

“What’s up, Bitches? The Waffle Queen has arrived and looks as fabulous as ever!”

Duke stared, completely amazed that she actually seemed to like the purple on purple combo Duke had picked for her. Oh, yeah, now that he thought about it made perfect sense that Steph was the only one to like this.

“Wow, whoever did this really got my colors right!" Steph continued as she waltzed in and posed in front of everyone, her hip cocked and arm thrown up dramatically.

Bruce’s eyes narrowed, and he began to growl at her. “This is not funny.”

Steph pouted. “What do you mean? I sure think it is!”

Oh boy, she didn’t notice she was digging her own grave, did she? From the looks of the other bats, they shared Duke’s sentiment.

“Stephanie Brown, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Stephanie smirked. “Yup! I look way better than you, you old fur- hey wait! Are you blaming me ?!”

Bruce glared even harder, and Stephanie started to protest, claiming that she was but an innocent victim of these pain-filled proceedings! It was not her fault! Nor was it her fault that she happened to get colors that she liked better than everyone else.

Bruce refused to hear what she said, and told her to go get changed. “You will be cleaning up this whole mess, and no patrolling until it’s done.”

Bruce turned and stalked out, and Steph was left speechless - for once - in the hall. She backed away, seeing the angry stares from the others. The only one who didn’t seem mad at her, was Duke himself. He opened his eyes wide, conveying pity. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed silently.

Instead of being reassuring, however, Steph squinted in suspicion. Oh shit, that probably hadn’t been the best move.

Just moments after Steph left, Jason threw up his hands. “Okay, who wants to have a water gun fight to clean off?”

There were several cheers of assent, but Duke quickly made his own escape at that time. He honestly wasn’t in the mood to get splashed in the face with water. Now was not the time for fun, as the failed prank still hung over him.

Now was the time for plotting.

*****

“Okay, but why on earth do you have a fully functioning sprinkler system in every room?”

“Yeah, Bruce, even for you that’s paranoid! What caused you to think that was necessary?”

“You.”

[winryofresembool]

Caleo one-shot: Back in Waystation

Warning: Tower of Nero spoilers! Do not read past this point if you don’t want to know anything that happens in the book!

Summary: Calypso returns from the band camp and she and Leo finally sort some things out (Post ToN).

A/N: Here’s the 'fix it' fic I promised. Like I said in one of the author's notes of TWLitF, I feel like Rick did these two very dirty in ToA, especially in the end when he left things so open ended. It would have been better for both characters if he had made them, you know, deal with their issues. I know this fic ended up being very sappy but it was something I myself would have liked to read so... I hope you guys enjoy it too.

Also, since this fic has taken a lot of my writing time for the past 2ish weeks, I'm not going to post a new chapter for TWLitF tomorrow. But worry not because I am hoping to post normally again next Thursday! Stay tuned!

Don't forget to let me know what you think of this fic!

Words: 4100+

genre: fluff, slight hurt/comfort (you know, the usual)

warnings: none

AO3

...

It was already late August. The weather had started getting slightly cooler in Indianapolis and people were getting prepared to go back to work and school after the summer vacation. Even Leo was preparing for the start of the new high school year; he had finished his community service teaching the homeless kids shop skills a week before and gone to buy some supplies for the school year. Now all that was left to do was waiting.

If the young demigod was totally honest to himself, he was getting a bit antsy. His girlfriend had been gone for pretty much the whole summer, counseling at a band camp and not telling him when exactly she would be back. If ever. Leo was worried that she’d meet someone way cooler than him at the camp and just leave some message that he shouldn’t be expecting her to return.

Before she had left, things had been complicated between them; they had been arguing quite a lot and Leo hadn’t exactly been his usual self after returning from his trip to California. He had found out about the death of his best friend Jason and accompanied the heartbroken Piper to her new home before flying back to Waystation where the information about Jason had fully sunk in. Unlike Leo himself, Jason would never be back.

Calypso had never known the son of Jupiter and she didn’t know how strongly his death had affected those who had known him. That’s why Leo felt like he couldn’t show his mourning to her and for a few weeks after his return he had been pretty withdrawn. Instead of going back to school with Calypso he had been tinkering in Jo’s workshop until Jo had dragged him out of there and forced him to take care of himself, to eat, to shower and so on. She had also been the one to suggest the community service for Leo, and after considering it he had finally decided it could be a good idea. Having something to do that forced Leo to leave the house had a positive impact on him and even though he still missed Jason, he also knew that Jason would be mad if he didn’t try to move forward, so he did. That led to Leo’s current issue, Calypso. He wished he would have had an opportunity to talk with her properly before she had left….

Loud clanking pulled Leo back from his thoughts. He was in the workshop again, this time with Jo and Georgie, trying to fix a part of Festus’ wing that had broken when one of Leo’s homeless pupils had accidentally thrown something at it, not knowing Festus was there. Jo was instructing Georgie with something that looked way too dangerous in the hands of a 7-year-old but Leo knew from experience that since she was a demigod (suspected to be Apollo’s daughter), she would have to learn to fight sooner rather than later. Waystation may have been a safe haven for demigods but Georgina wouldn’t be able to hide from the monsters forever.

Leo was going to ask Jo’s opinion on how to make the wing part more durable when the workshop door opened. Expecting it to be just Emmie who would tell them the dinner was ready, he didn’t even turn to look at the newcomer. But soon he felt weird tingling on his skin that had absolutely nothing to do with Emmie as he smelled the very familiar cinnamon scent and realized that the steps were lighter than the older woman’s.

“Hi,” he heard a soft voice say and he finally turned around to see his girlfriend standing right behind him. She was smiling at him, although slightly awkwardly, probably as unsure about their situation as he was. A hundred different emotions rushed through Leo as he took her in; happiness, nervousness, uncertainty… and how had he forgotten she was so damn pretty? When he didn’t say anything for a moment, she tilted her head slightly, looking at him expectantly. Finally the gears started moving again in Leo’s head and he spread his arms, leaping into a hug.

“You late, Sunshine,” he mumbled against her shoulder as he tightened his arms around her. Calypso recognized the reference to what she herself had said back on Ogygia and couldn’t stop her smile from widening a bit as she responded to Leo’s hug. He probably would have kissed her on the mouth too but Jo and Georgina’s presence made Leo a bit self conscious about showing affection and he ended up kissing her cheek instead. “Missed ya,” he whispered after that.

Eventually the couple pulled away from the hug. Calypso greeted the other two people in the room and turned her attention back to Leo again.

“So, I’m Sunshine now again? No more Mamacita?” Her tone was suspicious but Leo could tell that she was actually happy about the change.

“Yeah,” Leo shrugged. “Reyna had quite a talk with me about how ladies should be addressed and apparently Mamacita isn’t an appropriate way to do that,” he said sheepishly.

Calypso cocked her eyebrow a bit at that piece of information. Even though she hadn’t met Reyna personally because she had left for her band camp before Reyna and the other hunters of Artemis had visited Waystation, she did remember hearing the name before. “Reyna? Isn’t she that girl who you saw in that vision back on Ogygia? The one with dark hair and…”

“Yes, that’s her,” Leo said cautiously. “She’s a Hunter now so she and her group visit here pretty often.” Before Calypso had time to say anything to that, he added: “She’s acting like a sister figure towards me and she’s scolded me a lot for… well, a lot of things.” He decided to not reveal that a lot of their talks had revolved around Calypso.

Calypso’s expression softened at his comment. “I’m glad someone has been keeping you in check while I was gone. Maybe I should let her do that more often.”

Worry flashed briefly in Leo’s eyes because he thought she was implying that she would be leaving Waystation so she decided to calm him down. “Relax, Repair Boy. I didn’t mean it that way. I wanted to stay here with you and that hasn’t changed. Besides, high school is pretty great, you know? I want to get through that. But, um… I’ve been thinking. About what was going on between us before I left.”

“Oh? Yeah, me too,” Leo replied, combing his messy hair with his hand.

Suddenly they remembered that there were two extra pairs of ears in the room listening to them, ending the conversation there.

“Ahem,” Jo cleared her throat, understanding the situation all too well. “Leo, how about you take Calypso’s bag into her room? I can see the wing meanwhile. I promise Festus will be better than new soon.” “Sure, I can do that, mom,” Leo said with slight reservation in his voice.

Calypso gave Jo a thankful look, exchanging a couple of words with her and Georgina before pulling Leo out of the workshop.

The two occupied the room Calypso used to sleep in before the band camp. Leo didn’t hang out there that often, but he was reminded of one particular time earlier that spring when he had been there. That night Calypso had had some nightmares and she had found out Leo was awake as well. They had stayed up talking for a long while in Calypso’s room until falling asleep next to each other. Even though they had been fully clothed when Emmie had come to wake Calypso up for some morning gardening (Leo felt like bursting into flames even at the thought of having done something that involved taking their clothes off. It wasn’t that he had never thought of it - he was a 17-year-old boy who was very much in love with his girlfriend after all - but he didn’t think they were quite there yet. And he highly doubted that Calypso would appreciate him even requesting that), the mother hens of Waystation had still pulled them apart and had some very embarrassing talks with them. Comparing it to the time when Percy and Annabeth had fallen asleep at the stables of Argo II, Leo felt like those two had gotten off easy.

“So… How was the camp?” Leo started awkwardly after setting Calypso’s bag down in her room, snapping out of his memories.

“It was good,” Calypso said simply, sitting down on her couch, Leo following her. “I am impressed by how talented these kids with no special powers can be.”

“Don’t underestimate the regular mortals,” Leo noted. “In my homeless kid group there were a few that were really good at the shop skills even though I’m pretty certain they couldn’t see Festus.”

“What do you mean with that?” Calypso asked. Before she had left for her camp, she had heard about Leo’s plans for the community service, but what she didn’t know was that Leo had used Festus as the place to teach the kids. Leo explained the situation to her.

“But isn’t that kind of risky?” she wanted to know then. “I mean, I know he’s your friend, and all, but what if he had accidentally started blowing fire at them or something?”

“C’mon, of course I had safety precautions for that,” Leo protested. “I may be an idiot but I do know my way around mechanical dragons.”

“Right. Of course.” Calypso said. Before their break she might have started a debate about Leo’s safety precautions but given the circumstances she decided that it would be better to not question it. A silence fell between the two as both wondered how to approach the topics they really wanted to talk about.

“So how have you been doing, really?” they asked almost simultaneously.

“Um, you go first,” Leo said, attempting to be polite.

“Like I said, I did enjoy the camp,” Calypso answered, getting a dreamy look on her face. “It’s… still so fascinating to me to see how the regular mortals – I guess I’m one of them now – live, having no idea what’s going on behind their backs… And I learned a lot of things about modern music that Apollo didn’t teach me. I know how to play the guitar now! But…” she hesitated a bit. “What about you?”

Leo got a strong feeling that she was actually going to say something else after that ‘but’. Her face told him that she was debating in her mind about something. Maybe she was even going to say she had missed him? But instead of asking about that, he answered Calypso's question.

“Decent, I guess, all things considered… Who would have thought that I enjoy teaching? But I guess it helped me that I could relate to those kids’ situations… and it’s kept me distracted from what happened with Jason…” He was looking down at his hands, hoping it would manage to keep him calm enough.

“Yeah…” Calypso seemed to be thinking about something for a while. Eventually she asked: “Hey, would you like to tell me more about him? I mean, what was he like?”

Leo was surprised by the request but he did what he was told to do.

“Jason… He always put the others’ happiness before his own. On the day we met, Piper was about to fall in a canyon but he jumped after her without knowing that he could fly. Crazy, I know, but that’s the kind of guy he was” He noticed that even though it hurt, he was now able to smile at the memory.

“I don’t remember if I’ve told this to you but Hera had messed with his memory; he didn’t remember almost anything about his past, but I think he took it all like a boss. If I had been in his boots I would have probably punched her in the face. Jason also accepted me as his friend even though…” Leo’s lip started trembling but he bit it and managed to continue: “Even though I had never had real friends before Piper and Jason and didn’t really know how to act around other people. That’s why the jokes. He was probably everything I wished I was - strong, smart, etc. - but never made a big deal out of it. He was so humble. After what happened with Dirt Face he probably thought he’d get to live a normal life and be a regular high school student, but...

“The Triumvirate…” Calypso said for him, having heard that part of the story before.

“Yeah,” Leo nodded sadly. “From what I’ve heard, Jason knew he would have to die in order to let Piper and the others survive and Apollo to succeed in his mission. He wasn’t like me, though. I hadn’t really accepted death when I decided to sacrifice myself against Potty Sludge so I used the Physician’s Cure. Jason, though… he had accepted his fate and he died knowing that Apollo would make things right. I’ve heard from Apollo that his last wishes were that no minor god would be forgotten again, and that Apollo would remember what it was like to be a human even after he becomes a god again. And to me it seems Apollo is holding to that promise. I know things won’t probably ever be perfect for us, but… if even one god is on our side… I feel like some things might improve at least for the next generation of demigods and… Jason didn’t die in vain.” He sighed, fiddling with his hands like always when he was dealing with difficult topics.

“So you think that Jason was the reason why Apollo was able to change?” Calypso asked.

“No, probably not the only reason, but… a reason nevertheless.” Leo said absentmindedly.

“Jason and you were willing to die for your cases. Sometimes I wonder… if giving up my immortality was the right choice, but hearing these stories makes me feel more peace with it. Life is short when you are a mortal and that’s why we should live it the fullest every day… and that’s why…” Calypso leaned towards Leo until their lips touched. It was a short and gentle kiss but it made Leo flustered and worried he might accidentally burn something.

“W-what was that for?” he stuttered when they broke apart.

“Stupid. You thought I found some hot clarinet guys from the camp and forgot about you?”

“You still… love me?” Leo asked in return. Even though he technically knew it (how else would he have gotten out of Ogygia in the first place?), it wasn’t something Calypso said aloud often and especially after the events of the past couple of months Leo had had a lot of doubt in his mind. Hearing it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he felt a smile spread on his face automatically.

“We may argue sometimes and you may be kind of insufferable when you’re in that mood but after taking some time to think I recognize that I am at fault too for the issues we’ve had and I am willing to admit that. Sometimes I’ve blamed you for things that were not your fault and I’m sorry about that. Besides, I see that you have learned a thing or two while I was gone. Not calling me Mamacita is a good start. So, yes, Leo Valdez. Se filo.

Even though Leo hadn’t spent a lot of time learning Ancient Greek at Camp Half-Blood, he still knew what Calypso’s line meant. His heart suddenly feeling full, he had to admit that the line felt more powerful when said in your first language. But there was a language even more near and dear to him than Spanish; one that his mother had taught him when he had been very young, one that he had repeated countless and countless times when missing her. During their flight from Ogygia back to the States he had taught a certain rhythm to Calypso so she knew the meaning too. When he started tapping against the back of her hand, a small sniffle came out of Calypso’s mouth.

“You haven’t done that in a long while,” she said quietly, her voice slightly cracked. “Gods, I feel I’ve been pretty selfish lately… All this time I have been thinking about my own struggles and have forgotten you have your own… yet your feelings towards me haven’t changed… You know, Apollo was right to get mad at me that one time.”

“What?” Leo asked, not understanding what Calypso was talking about.

“When we were on our way to that zoo…” she referred to the time when they had just arrived at Waystation. “Oh, never mind. What matters is that I see more clearly now. I’m not sure if I’m much better than those men who left me in Ogygia.”

“Of course you are!” Leo exclaimed. “You were stuck there for thousands of years! I… can’t even imagine… being forced to fall in love that many times and having to watch all of them go… I would have gone nuts. Thinking about it, I find it crazy that you didn’t just throw me out of your island. You deserved something better.”

“Leo…” Calypso said, turning his face towards her gently. “I think the fact that you weren’t exactly the type of hero that I was hoping for back then was the reason why things ended up going differently with you. I did not fall for you because of the curse. I fell for you despite that. And… after spending so much time together without having any time off from each other, I… started taking things for granted and forgot to be grateful. I owe you a lot. But I want to make it clear that that’s not why I want to be with you. I want to be with you for you. Sarcasm and bad puns included. And that’s what I remembered while I was gone.”

“Hey, Cal…” Leo removed Calypso’s hand from his jaw and took it into his. “I think we’ve both been faulty for these issues. The others here have made me realize that I haven’t exactly been the best boyfriend material either. I don’t talk about my issues. I make jokes at moments when I shouldn’t and probably make you think I don’t take our relationship seriously. Like that one time when I compared it to machines. I… I think I can see now why that annoyed you but that’s just how I roll. A machine geek and a clown. Those will probably always be a part of who I am so I’m not gonna promise that I’m just gonna magically change. But what I can promise is that I will try to make you see that I do take this seriously. Because I do.”

Calypso gave him a small, genuine smile and squeezed Leo’s hand slightly.

“I believe you. And… maybe we’re just one of those couples who enjoy bickering. What’s a life without challenge?”

Leo chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t have said it better myself, Sunshine.”

“I haven’t given my permission for the nickname ‘Sunshine’…” Calypso gave Leo a pointed look, which however quickly melted into a mischievous smile. “But we’ll see about that. More seriously speaking, though… I should try to keep my temper in check more as well. That doesn’t mean that I won’t call you out, though, when you deserve it.” She nudged him playfully.

“That’s fair enough,” Leo admitted too, giving her a lopsided smile.

“Yeah… Listen,” Calypso said suddenly. “In case you still doubt my commitment… I have something to show you.”

She went to her desk and took some papers out of the drawer.

“Here. Something I found on Ogygia after you left. Thought you might want to see it again.”

Leo took a closer look at the drawings and his mouth opened in surprise.

“You… these…” he said, dumbfounded.

“I just made Leo Valdez quiet? Miracles do happen.” Calypso teased but then turned her focus on the papers as well. It was a blueprint of a garage building Leo had drawn while stuck on Ogygia with Calypso. Besides Leo’s own workshop, there was a space for Calypso to do her work as well. For something that had been sketched in only a few hours, it seemed that he had still put a lot of thought into it. Even Annabeth Chase would have been proud of it.

“I… I wasn’t expecting to see these anymore,” Leo said with a hoarse voice, his eyes gleaming in the dim light of the room.

“But it was something you dreamed about, right?” Calypso asked, worried she had done something wrong.

“Yeah… still do.” Leo nodded, the papers shaking in his hands. “I didn’t think you’d remember…”

“I remember a lot more than you think I do,” Calypso said. “I used to be a titaness, remember? But… when I saw it I knew it was important to you and I kept it because it was my way to hold onto the hope that…” She swallowed. “That you would come back to me.”

Leo leaned in to give Calypso a kiss on her forehead. “And I did. Hey, wanna hear a secret? I took something from Ogygia to guide me back there. I think I still have it…”

He started fiddling with his toolbelt for a while before he found what he was looking for. It was a tiny piece of crystal from Calypso’s old cave.

“It was thanks to this that I got the astrolabe to work and managed to find back… You can have it.”

“But I…”

“It has done its job. It brought me to you. So, who is more suitable to carry it?”

“Thank you.” Calypso looked at the crystal with teary eyes. “It… may have been my prison but it was also a home… This… means a lot to me.”

“I hope it’ll remind you of the good things you experienced there. Not the bad," Leo said quietly.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, it… it will.”

“Good.”

Calypso leaned against Leo’s chest to calm herself down, getting his shirt wet but he didn’t complain. She didn’t move from there for a long time, and Leo was starting to get a bit worried before she finally lifted her head and swiped her nose on a tissue Leo dug for her from his toolbelt. Then she looked at him with her puffy eyes, somehow still looking good in Leo’s opinion.

“I don’t know what just happened there…” She mumbled. “I guess… this whole past year… or more… has been a lot. Yet I haven’t been able to cry even once… Somehow it just all flooded out of me now.” “’s OK.” Leo said, stroking Calypso’s long hair. “Trust me, I’ve been feeling that way… well, probably since I was 8.”

“When your mom…”

“Yeah,” Leo nodded. “But wanna hear a weird thing? Even though things haven’t exactly been easy for us… Right now I’m feeling more balanced than in a long time.”

“And why is that?” Calypso asked.

“This is gonna sound cheesy as hell but I think it’s because I’ve finally found a home. No, I don’t mean Waystation as a place, although I admit it’s cool as heck and the only place about as safe as Camp Half-Blood. But I mean the people here. You guys make it home.”

Even though Leo didn’t say it aloud, his eyes told Calypso that he wanted to say ‘especially you’. She understood.

“I think… I feel the same way,” she said.

Leo brushed a strand of her hair aside from her face and leaned in to kiss her. The gesture made Calypso happy because so far Leo hadn’t been the one to initiate the more romantic displays of affection, even though she sometimes wished he would. It might have been a bit sloppy, but neither minded, just enjoying the warmth of the kiss.

After they finally separated, they continued talking for a long time, occasionally bickering, but it cleared the air between them. Calypso wanted to teach Leo to play the guitar (“But what if it makes me too irresistible? You’ll have to drive all the ladies away!” “You have a bit too high expectations on yourself, Leonidas.”). Leo told her about his pupils’ and Georgina’s most recent shenanigans. They also ended up speculating about Apollo’s plans now that he was a god again and reminiscing the times on Ogygia. At some point Leo dug the Valdezinator from his toolbelt and got Calypso to sing along to the music, making both a bit emotional again but in a good way. They fell asleep huddled in each other’s arms on the couch and didn’t even care when Jo and Emmie found them there the next morning, giving them quite a scolding again.

[hellswolfie]

The Mark of Athena Review

Ok so once again i continue reading “The Heroes of Olympus” and once again i need to vent so Tadaaaaa !!

So before I start, here is a  more general Review : I really REALLY liked this book. Favorite of the serie so far. Also, obviously, SPOILERS !!

THINGS I DIDNT LIKE : 

- The role of Frank : I can maybe forgive that, because with 7 main characters i  understand it’s difficult to give them all an important role in one single book. But I really loved him in “The Son of Neptune” and I really wanted to see more of him, and the most of what we got was him being the Jealous Boyfriend. It was kind of disappointing so I hope it’ll change in the next books. 

- Piper : it costs me a lot to put her there because I really really loved her in “The Lost Hero” but I have to admit I didn’t like one single chapter of hers in “The Mark of Athena”. Or at least not completely. In the first book there was the relationship with her dad, her culture, her dealing with the fact she was an Aphrodite children, the begining of a friendship with Annabeth and Leo... But in this book ? It’s only about Jason. Endlessly. And it’s so tiring and eyeroll worthy, especially when we compare her “issues” over JASON with the others’. And even without that, she was really not a great person in this book and not in the interesting way : she was ready to put the whole World in danger just so Jason wouldnt stay in New Rome, kept Charming Up her friends just for convenience (like srsly i know thats not supposed to be a Big Deal but thats still mind control so yikes), and when it came down to it, no matter what she said about how Leo is like her little brother or Annabeth is her BFF, she only gave a crap about Jason Jason Jason...There was barely a scene of her with the other two. And I find it frustrasting that it didn’t even feel like the plot during her chapters were about her, but more about Jason and her being a support for him, even though they were HER chapters !!

- Jasiper : Well I guess that’s not really a surprise lol. I never liked this pairing and this book didn’t change my mind on that at all. Piper keeps clinging to the three months THAT NEVER HAPPENED (and that apparently weren’t faithful to Jason’s character like srsly is she even really in love with HIM or the idea of him she had in her mind ?) instead of the 8 real months they spent together, thinks it’s a miracle when Jason appologizes (he’s a real catch huh ?) and is so so sure he’ll leave her to go to New Rome which first : wow you really have faith in this relationship huh ? But also second : why is this such a Big Deal ?? Even if he did go to New Rome she could still follow him (she made it pretty clear she’d leave all of her friends in Camp Half Blood to be with him), it’s not like he’s a whole new different person when he’s there !! And my baby Reyna was so hurt by that, like Jason was a reall asshole here, even if he was oblivious and didn’t realize her feelings for him she’s still supposed to be his friend and the first thing he asks after 8 months of disappearing is if he can spend alone time with his gf ? And I found it kind of frustrating that in the end, all the others left on their own to do their own things (yk, to save the fucking world ?) while literaly risking their life and Jasiper just...went on a date. Like seriously ? So yeah. Not a fan. 

- The whole Frank x Leo “rivalery” : Why make another older character be attracted to 13 years old ?? Can you stop that ??? Leo could also be a real ass sometimes, even tho I still love him and Frank well...I already talked about that. This book had enough pissing contests between guys as it is. 

- Percy apparently forgetting all the Hercules stuff  he learned in “The Titan Curse”. I know it might not seem like THAT much of a deal but it was a really important thing for his character ? That he learned how Heroes, especially Hercules, were real assholes too and that he had to learn to not be like them ? That Zoe, his friend who sacrificiced herself to save the world, was treated like shit by this guy but now he was still like “omg this is Hercules I SO want to meet this guy he seems great !!” ???. It was just one sentence but I hated it. 

- The focus on the Romantic relationships. Look I have nothing against romance and ships. I love romantic love in stories !! But I also love friendships and I really wish this book would have given us more of that instead of spending so much time on romantic relationships. I mean it is pretty well illustrated in the end of the book when they all separate : all the groups are romantic pairings. Percabeth, Jiper, and Frazel with Leo who has kind of a crush on Hazel. And as much as I love Frazel and Percabeth, where are the friendships ?? Percy and Jason’s relationship was supposed to be very important in this book so why didn’t we see more of that ?? What about the friendships that were already established like Percy with Frank and Hazel, Leo with Piper and Jason, Piper and Anabeth,...And all the new friendships that could have had more screen time like Annabeth and Frank or something !! So yeah that was disappointing. 

THINGS I LOVED : 

- the River God scene. Ok so yes I kind of lied : I enjoyed this chapter of Piper. Well this scene at least. And only kind off, because it is still a Jasiper moment but anyway. In my last review of “the Son of Neptune”, I mentionned how it always annoyed me that the heroes have a habit of always making the Good Moral Decision, without any hesitation, even if the fate of the world is in the balance. I was like “Give me morally conflicted characters damn it” !! And that’s what I got here. Piper having to lie to the God, taking his horn that was so important to him, even tho he was just a very tragic dude, to save Jason and the World, realizing that even if it is bad and she feels like shit after doing it, she still had to do it...YES !!! THANK YOU !! I LOVED THAT !!!

- The LEO X NICO INTERACTIONS !!!!!! After spending 2 books shipping them (they’d fit so well together i will die on this hill) they finally talked !!! Well once, and about the fact that Percabeth just fell into fucking Tartarus but like !!! TALKING !!!! And the first thing Nico tell him is to reassure him <3 (look I know it won’t be canon but the POTIENTIAL!!!)

- Annabeth’s chapters. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t like them like we finally got her point of view people !!! And it was awesome !!! I loved seeing her on a quest, the way she thinks and sees the world, how she uses her intelligence,... Like she’s so brave and smart but also so sentimental even tho she’d never admit it (like getting emo about having lost the white hair because it was a connection with Percy ? My baby is so fucking precious). And obviously we already knew that but to actually be in her head ??? It was so fucking good !! And it really succeeded to make me feel so much for her, like she’s just a kid and her mother literaly sent her to her death and she was so scared but she still kept going (only to end up in Tartarus WHYYYYYY) and I’m so proud of her. I love this character so much !!

- Percabeth : The reunion !!!! FINALLY !!!! That’s my first ever OTP right there and they’re so in love !! They’re such a badass power couple and they love eachother so fucking much !! God i missed them X( I loved every Percabeth scenes, they were so adorable and beautiful. I loved how even tho they are differents and are not always in the same page, they still know eachother so well and the communication was just so cheff’s kiss. And omg their lasts scenes together ?? Chills !! Like when Percy almost begged the (kind of?) gods to let him stay just a few more moments with her because he was so scared of never seeing her again almost brought tears to my eyes and then of course their final scene when they fall together into Tartarus, because all that matter is that they’re together...MY HEART !!!

- Percy’s and Leo’s chapters. I put them together because I don’t have much  to say except that I love them so much and that I would literaly lay down my life for this two. Their chapters are always such joy to read, and after one whole book without him, I was really glad to get back with Leo. Probably the funniest chapters too. 

- The Crazy Dolphins scene. This scene was fucking hilarious. Pic comedy ^^

- The crumb of friendhips dynamics we got. So much potential I want to see more !! Like Percy x Jason, Annabeth x Frank (so much Hermione x Neville vibes), Leo x Frank, Hazel x Annabeth, Percy x Frank, Annabeth x Leo (Leo who is so scared of and impressed by her as he should lol),...That’s probably one of the reasons I was so bitter about the romantic relationships getting so much more time, like ALL the friendhships that were so interestings like come on !!

- Percy thinking about LUKE !!! hjfgjehgfjhsegf !!! The fact that he still considers Luke as his fighting teacher, still thinks about his training and his advices !!! Even going as far as thinking he totally understood where he came from for doing all this horrible things !!! That was so awesome !! And such a character development !!! And that makes Percy even more of an interesting character !!! Anyway I loved that ^^

- All the mythological aspect like Rick can be such a genius sometimes with how he uses them, managing to stay faithful to them while sill adapting them to a more modern setting and that works so well !! Well its there in every single one of the PJO series book, but I just wanted to put it out there so here. 

- Hazel story. Look I didn’t like the whole weird kind off “love triangle” thing with Leo and Frank. But I love Hazel and I LOVED knowing more about her and also knowing more about Leo’s ancestor (who was awesome btw). That was such an interesting story, how she discovered that her only friend back then and first love spent his whole life thinking her disappearence was his fault.  And the flackback was so cute too ^^ Also Loved her being so desperate finding her brother because that’s what Nico deserves and that was adorable. I really hope we’ll get to see more of their bond. 

- The end. Such an amazing cliffhanger. I could feel the tension in the scene, I could’t stop reading and then the last chapter were everyone was just so in chock but Nico still believed that Percy would come back out of it alive because he admires him so much. It was SO !!! FUCKING !!! GREAT !!! Amazing way to end this book.

And that’s also how I will end this review ^^ Feel free to comment on it (respectfully) in the comments if you want. 

[haec-est-fides]

Octavian in The Tyrant’s Tomb

Or rather, the lack thereof. You all know I’m salty about this, so here’s the official rant. 

First, let’s look at where he was mentioned. Exactly twice. 

“The legion had no high priest, no pontifex maximus. Their former augur, my descendant Octavian, had died in the battle against Gaia. (Which I had a hard time feeling sad about, but that’s another story.)” 

This one really hit me because it’s primarily just another instance of Apollo’s unnecessary sass. In The Hidden Oracle, he seemed to at least recognize his own fault in the matter for a split second: “A voice whispered in the back of my mind. This time I thought it might be my conscience: Who was the stupid boy? It wasn’t Octavian.” What happened to that? I get it, Rick knows that most fans hate Octavian. Ha ha. What’s important is that Apollo also thinks this way about Gaius Caligula and Nero, who are also his descendants. For all his character development, and for all the similarities between himself and these people he despises, Apollo can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that yeah, they all got this from him. It’s one of the last bastions of Apollo’s ego and hypocrisy, and I don’t think it’s ever going to be addressed. 

It’s half-heartedly joked that there are no “adults in the room” in New Rome anymore. Reyna notices a difference in the dynamic of the Senate. Apollo is expected to do all the ceremonial duties regarding Jason’s funeral. Beyond this, the book never once directly admits that Octavian’s absence has otherwise impacted New Rome. Or how his family reacted to his death. Sure the chaotic state of the community may play a role in this, but more on it later.

Apollo has mentioned in ToA that, of all his godly memories, he specifically remembers his talks with Octavian. I for one am very interested in this “other story” that Rick refuses to explore. 

““Praetors often partner up. In power. But also romantically, I mean. I thought Jason. Then for a hot minute, Percy Jackson. Gods help me, I even considered Octavian.” [Reyna] shuddered.”

This mention is purely throwaway; it’s meant to show how truly desperate Reyna was feeling. For the record, I respect Reyna’s subplot, for all I care about it at all. I think it’s hilarious how clearly repulsed she sounds at herself for even considering dating Octavian. Let’s be clear: this isn’t her admitting she ever liked him, or - gods forbid - had a crush. This is Reyna commenting on how oppressive the expectations of society are on single women. What’s funnier to me is that Octavian would have 100% turned her down, and her self esteem would have been toast. Good for her for sticking to her heart and not letting the world tell her what to do. 

Moving on, what’s more important is how Octavian wasn’t mentioned. I've said before that Riordan’s decision to flat out ignore Octavian has led to some minor but annoying continuity issues.

On a purely practical note, Octavian was a prominent, active member of a religion, a government, and a military. New Rome doesn’t have an augur. As Jason’s funeral shows, Apollo had to take up the associated religious duties. But how did New Rome handle honoring those who died in the war with Gaia? Or those who were more recently lost, in the fighting with Tarquin? How has the operation of the legion and senate shifted? Who replaced him as centurion of the first? What is it like to not be able to seek the gods’ approval via augury? Who approves new recruits, checks their credentials and assigns them to cohorts, and eventually gives them their tattoos? Who awards mural crowns and other military distinctions? New Rome has been without an augur before, as it’s a rare gift, but these questions still need to be answered for the community to operate. 

Back to Octavian’s family! His family is said to have been the oldest, richest, and most influential family in New Rome. Octavian is at least a 3rd generation camper, his family going back a hundred years or more. This is stressed in HoO because it’s used to show just how “entitled” and stuck up he is, but now? It’s not mentioned at all. No mourning, no help in Rome’s time of crisis, nothing. Unless by Octavian’s “family” Riordan was solely referring to the Triumvirate and Octavian was a member of an Imperial Household the whole time, this is ridiculous. I need to write a whole post about this, because Octavian’s life is fascinating when you consider what implications this has. 

As Gaius and Commodus are attacking New Rome with their fleet of yachts, New Rome’s navy gets brought up. I know Apollo isn’t the best narrator on this point, but all that’s mentioned is the sad boat Percy used for the Alaska quest. That small fleet of very nice speedboats that Octavian funded for the attack on Camp Half-Blood? Nope. Is this just Apollo being out of the loop? What happened to New Rome’s fleet?

With New Rome in chaos, this last point is really more of a nit pick, but can we please remember that Octavian led a very willing camp to war? Even before the Argo II disaster, even before Octavian spoke out at the Senate, the lares and legionnaires in the streets showed anti-Greek sentiment. The 5th cohort was “Greeks and geeks.” When Octavian proposed war, he had the legion on his side. As soon as Reyna left to go help with the Athena Parthenos, the centurions were ready to disobey her and follow Octavian. Even in the final battle of HoO, only the 4th and 5th cohorts really start to turn against him. All of this backs a very important, but largely ignored, point: you can lead a horse to the Senate, but you can’t make it vote. We see none of that tension in New Rome now. I get that most of the legion is dead, and that’s a huge part of it, but no one spoke out at all. We don’t see anyone with the opinion that Octavian did save Rome and defeat Gaia. We don’t see him get any funerary honors (which makes the book’s message concerning death all the more hypocritical). When Gaius confronts Frank - “Praetor Zhang, you are duty-bound to recognize Roman authority, and we are it! Together, we can rebuild this camp and raise your legion to glory!” - he’s right. But we don’t see a single legionnaire hesitate. 

I get that New Rome isn’t Riordan’s favorite, and that to develop the Romans would require a whole series of its own, but the sheer shallowness of New Rome just felt lazy. Even mentioning Octavian’s legacy would have done so much to show us more about Camp Jupiter. How is he remembered? A hero? A tyrant? A martyr? A fraud?

[ohnohetaliasues]

Stones to Abbigale {Ch.5}

(Kat)

I still wanna die.

I sat alone in my room thinking about all that happened in the last day. As I slid deeper into thought a knock sounded at my door.

“Dinner’s ready James” my mom said.

I responded “Lentils again?”

This is also still not how you write or format dialogue.

She opened the door and looked at me with a blank facial expression “We have to talk, come to the table.”

As I left my room, I saw a man sitting at the table next to my sister. Trying not to be rude I said hello and he smiled responding loudly “Hello! Nice to meet you James!”

I asked my mom “So who is this gentleman?”

No teenager talks like this. At least no teenager I’ve met.

My mom responded, “Go ahead and sit down James.”

I slid out the old-fashioned second-hand store chair I always sat in at the table and waited for my mom to explain.

I don’t give a shit where you bought the chair or what style it is. Just say chair. Those details are unnecessary.

“This is Rick, the reason you haven’t seen much of him is because he lives on the other side of the mountains all the way in Spokane,” my mom said.

I smiled feeling slightly awkward and replied, “Oh, alright, cool.”

My sister immediately mocked me “Oh, cool mom duh! You’re such a dweeb James.”

There was no point in being that rude, Lisa.

Despite her bratty insult, I could see she too felt awkward about Rick being so spontaneously introduced to us and was just trying to distract.

Yeah, I agree, this is strange.

“Rick and I have been dating for quite a few months now and are starting to become quite serious” my mom said, clearly seeking our approval.

Rick added “So yeah, it’s really cool to finally meet you, your mom talks a lot about you”.

This...

This is the first this woman is telling her kids of this? She hasn’t told them she’s going to probably Spokane or somewhere in between for dates? They just don’t question it? This is bullshit.

I smiled and nodded while thinking about how odd it was my mom had never mentioned him.

Yeah, good to know I’m not the only one who thinks this is weird.

Rick proceeded to tell us stories about him hunting animals, his upper-level position at a construction company based out of Spokane and continued to remind us how happy he was to be meeting us. As far as I could see he wasn’t a bad guy but as usual, I didn’t expect much knowing most everyone puts on their friendliest mask for first impressions. I’m sure my sister was thinking pretty much the same thing I was, he wasn’t my mom’s first post-dad boyfriend.

My mom inquired, “So how’s your life going James?”

I replied “Fine.”

Rick asked, “Got a girlfriend?” I didn’t respond.

Why in the fresh hell is this the topic of conversation?

I just kept my head down, looking at my plate. My mom looked at me with a proud smile, “James is more of the mysterious type Rick, he doesn’t talk about his relationships.”

Oh, give me a goddamn break.

Rick then said “Oh yeah? Well if you find a lady half as good as your mom, I’d say you’re set.”

My sister interrupted “Aren’t you seeing that messed up emo chick James?”

There is no point in being that rude.

Looking over at my sister with a blank face I said, “Aren’t you seeing every guy at school Lisa?”

Oh my god. Why are you slut-shaming your sister?

Lisa looked horrified and my mom responded “James!”

Not knowing what else to say. Rick was the only one still smiling at the table at that point. Moderately upset by what Lisa said I asked to be excused and went to bed.

As I climbed on the bus the next day Davis hollered “Praise be to James! Our hero has arrived” I smiled as I always did. I hated loving his hilarious lines;

They aren’t hilarious. They’re just... Annoying.

they were kind of a tradition for Davis. Every time I stepped on the bus, he would yell them. Even when I wanted to be upset he always found a way past the walls I had built, knowing exactly what to say every time.

As I sat next to him he said, “I’ve been missing your face a lot Mr. James, I’m trying to figure out ways to compete with your skates.”

Compete?

What?

I smiled and said “You’re one of the only reasons I ride the bus Davis, you’re doing just fine.”

Davis then jumped up and yelled, “You hear that everyone, my best buddy thinks I’m pretty fantastic!”

I laughed, wishing to myself I had more friends like him.

Davis makes me want to die.

Also, that interaction was very stale, but moving on.

As I approached my history class, I could see Mr. Hanson waiting in the hall. I tried to walk by him unnoticed but he said, “Not so fast, you need to go see the guidance counselor.”

???

I asked why and he replied, “It’s about that fight you got in. Ms. Robertson is waiting.”

Okay fair.

I proceeded to the office where there was a line of three people ahead of me.

That isn’t a big line, bro.

It wasn’t due to bad scheduling, Ms. Robertson was just outmatched by the school population and considering she was the only person most students knew to get free condoms and/or advice from she was regularly seeing visitors.

Why does she give out condoms and not the nurse?

“James Patrick!” she said aggressively as I approached the old wood and glass door. I smiled out of politeness as she turned to the others and tossed a bundle of condoms in their direction.

“These are a last resort, abstinence first!” she said as she stood by the door waiting for me to enter.

One of the boys standing at the door said “I actually need advi...” but she slammed the door before he could finish speaking.

Okay. Don’t do your job I guess.

“Have a seat James,” she said. I sat down and the room filled with a few awkward seconds of silence.

She continued, “So it looks to me that you’re healing up ok.”

I replied confirming I was fine.

She then said “I’ve heard both sides of the story and have concluded that your friend Jason is destined for not so great things if he keeps up his attitude.”

My face remained still, emotionless really. I just sat silently listening. She asked, “What direction do you want to go with your future?”

I replied, “I’ve heard really great things about up.” It was like my joke hit a brick wall.

She seemed only sarcastically amused and continued speaking, “But seriously, I was told you turned down a TA position which I personally recommended to Mr. Hanson.”

I replied, “I just wanted to stay in art class.”

She replied “With Mrs. Stanley?”

I nodded and she laughed. “So who’s the girl?” she asked.

I was surprised that she concluded so quickly it was even about a girl. But then again I was just one of thousands of students, we like to think romance is unique, but we’re most all playing the same game.

Shut your mouth.

Also, I hate how Onion is trying so hard to make this a John Green novel.

It isn’t working.

Ms. Robertson had years dealing with people like me, no wonder she could see right through me.

For a brief moment, Ms. Robertson nearly spoke my mind, she said with a smirk, “Oh come on, lots of us like to think we’re special but that just of shows you how we really aren’t. Especially the brats walking these halls.”

Knowing Ms. Robertson had to keep our conversations private, I replied, “There’s this girl... Abbi. I really like her, and it’s the only class I have with her.”

Ms. Robertson was no longer smirking now that I told her who I was interested in. She sat up and looked down at her desk.

Oh no.

She moved some items around and stopped suddenly, she then looked me in the eyes and said  “Listen to me carefully, I can’t tell you anything about Abbi but I can give you advice, think twice about getting involved with her. I want to see you succeed and some people being a significant part of your life can make that difficult for you.”

I didn’t say anything, in that moment I was lost in thought wondering why she would become so serious over Abbi.

This should be good.

Ms. Robertson then asked, “So, I’m not going to try and change your heart, in my experience that’s more often than not a lost cause, but I can change your schedule to something that fits. Abbi has PE during third period, how about you just stick with Mr. Hanson after your first class of the day. Doing so will replace your art class, and your third period will now be PE, where you can see your precious Abbi.”

It said she asked, but nothing in that paragraph was a question.

While her attitude towards Abbi continued to concern me, I also was curious as to why both Ms. Robertson and Mr. Hanson were so adamant about having me be a TA, but I was grateful they were at least trying to work with me regarding my preferences, so I accepted the schedule change.

It’s so bizarre to me that Ms. Robertson told James to stay away from Abbi and then helped him rearrange his schedule to have more classes with her.

I returned to Mr. Hanson’s class and requested I attend art class one last time before the schedule change. Mr. Hanson agreed and I made my way over to the art trailer once more. As I walked in the trailer door I was happy to see Abbi once again sitting in the same seat she always did.

When I approached her to sit down she pulled out my backpack and shook it, “You’re backpack has a lot of interesting things in it.”

I replied “Oh really, you went through it?”

That’s really weird.

She responded “Yep! And by interesting things I mean nothing, just school junk.” I laughed and asked “Life’s got enough burdens for us to carry, why add physical weight?”

Oh my god my eyes are glazing the fuck over.

She raised her eyebrows and said “Ok smarty, did you like our bear?”

I smiled and replied, “I love it!” She threw her arms up and hugged me.

Why?

Physical contact?

Mrs. Stanley walked in, immediately seeing our hug and said, “If you’re going to suck or eat go find an alleyway. This is a trailer we have god damn dignity!”

s this...

A reference to oral sex?

It’s so poorly executed that I literally just thought of food and was confused.

Not knowing how to react, I looked over at Abbi silently mouthing “Oh my god” to me.

I smiled and sat down with Abbi. Alex walked in the room and gave me a glare, probably because his art partner was still suspended for the fight we had, which meant he had to do it alone. I tried to ignore Alex, all I could think of is that pee jar when I looked at him which still freaked me out.

I hate that that’s what you associate this douchebag with. Or that that is a part of this stupid book.

As class came to a close we gathered our things and began to walk out. “Bye Mrs. Stanley I’ll miss you.” Mrs. Stanley responded calling me the F word,

in her natural offensive fashion and gave the class an awkward, semi-shocked laugh.

Walking outside, Abbi asked, “Why do you think Mrs. Stanley still has a job?”

I replied “Pretty sure everyone feels they’ll guarantee themselves an eternity of torment in the afterlife if they were to fire someone as old as her.”

Abbi replied “Yeah, I guess it would be hard getting a job when you’re resume lists World War I nurse in your work history.”

:/

I laughed so hard I had to stop till I could control it, “Are you ok?” Abbi asked with a nervous smile on her face.

Still laughing, I said “Sorry, sorry.” and continued walking as Abbi looked at me, bewildered by how funny I thought she was. My reaction wasn’t really just about what she said, but the fact that she said it to me. I felt so important and excited when she gave me her attention.

I hate everything.

As we got closer to the gym Abbi was giving me a funny look, as I normally didn’t walk her that far, I said, “Don’t worry, I’m not stalking you, we have the same class now.”

She replied, “Manipulating your schedule to be with someone sounds like stalking Mr. Patrick.”

I said, “Not if you drop Mrs. Stanley.”

She pushed me playfully saying “Jealous!”

???

Jealous about what?

The boys split off to dress in their locker room and the girls did the same. I didn’t have gym clothes with me yet so I just sat down at the bleachers and waited for everyone else to get done putting on their uniforms.

It’s a thing at my school that if you don’t have gym clothes you will be provided with some, but maybe that’s just me.

A deep voice sounded off “What are you doing here kid?” I looked over to see a very tall man in the baggiest gym suit I’d ever seen.

“Hi, I’m James Patrick, I think I have your class now. You can clear it with Ms. Robertson.”

He smiled and said, “Well James Patrick, I’m your gym teacher Mr. Mack.”

I nodded and smiled as he bluntly asked, “You’re that kid who got beat up by Jason?”

I hate having to format this fucking story just to make it easier to read.

Onion, learn to format your own work.

I replied, “Yeah I pushed him after he pushed me and then he started throwing punches.”

He smiled and said “Well, that’s my nephew for you.”

Yikes.

I froze up and blankly stared at Mr. Mack as his words sank in. I swear I could feel my heart skip when I acknowledged his connection to Jason. Seeing the look on my face Mr. Mack continued

“Don’t worry, between you and me, kid’s a prick. Just like his dad.” Mr. Mack chuckled and walked away.

Also, another thing, Onion thinks that if you write a word that might extend onto the next page, you have to write a hyphen in the middle of the word to make it fit. While this is sometimes the case, it’s usually fine unless the word when put onto a new line leaves a large dent in the side of the paragraph. When this isn’t so, it’s just annoying to read.

I felt relief and awkwardly smiled only to see Abbi in the corner of my eye bursting out of the girls’ locker room. She was in her PT uniform

You said you needed gym clothes, but whatever, be inconsistent. Also, that says ‘PT’ uniform, not PE. Did Onion even edit this at all?

and carried a beautiful smile on her face. Running over to me, Abbi sat down and gave me a big hug.

“I’m so glad you’re still in a class with me,” she said. The gym shirt was hiked up her arms so I could feel her skin connect with my neck. The sensation was glorious.

Why... Why?

They’re arms.

My face was beaming from feeling her warmth around me.

I replied, “You will be the one reason I look forward to gym.”

Mr. Mack overheard and interrupted as he stood a short distance away “Hey kid, and I thought we were becoming friends!”

I laughed awkwardly feeling a little weird about him eavesdropping. But then again, it’s much easier to close your eyes than it is to turn off your ears.

Yikes.

Everyone gathered on the gym floor, excluding me. Mr. Mack immediately noticed I was not participating and said “Hey, if you don’t have gear, go in my office and pick out an outfit.”

Like I said earlier, clothes will be provided for you.

I reluctantly got up and walked over to his office where all I realized I would have to sift through a huge pile of mismatching jerseys and sweatpants to get a half-decent outfit.

After changing in the bathroom I walked out to everyone taking part in dodge ball. I could feel the focus of the room shift on my outfit and, just as I expected, I was greeted with laughter.

And it doesn’t tell me what that looks like, so I’m just imagining a metallic 1980′s tracksuit.

“Hey, at least you won’t get your normal clothes sweaty from dodge ball!” Mr. Mack said tossing me a ball as the game was already in play.

Before I could even catch it, Raymon, one of the jocks in the class, smacked me in the side of the head.

Raymon is out.

That’s also not a name I have ever heard of. So there’s that.

Everyone but a few people bust out laughing again as Mr. Mack lurched up and pointed at Raymon screaming

“You’re out Raymon, can’t hit above the shoulders!” Raymon replied with a discouraged snap of his fingers, scowling as he sat on the sidelines.

I’m just imagining him like.

‘aw darn!’

Because nobody snaps their fucking fingers in discouragement unless they’re joking.

It was odd how he broke the rules and hit another person in the head yet pretended to be the victim.

He didn’t pretend to be the victim, though.

I never really understood the human tendency to feel sorry for yourself when you’re being punished for breaking rules you were well aware of.

Oh, because you’re so high and mighty.

Abbi was on my team and we were down to just a few people, I very quickly found out I was quite good at the game, better than I thought at least. I kind of used Abbi as my motivation to do well.

A girl you’ve spoken to only this week. And to add to this, you can count the number of times you’ve spoken to her on one hand.

I imagine it was some kind of evolutionary thing, a man trying to impress his mate with physical performances to demonstrate his superiority over other members of the tribe.

That gif is the only one I can use to express how much that line alone pisses me the fuck off.

That is so sexist?

Primitive?

It’s creepy?

It’s really fucking weird?

Like, Onion, honestly, what the fuck was going through your head that made you think it was a good idea to write that shit? ‘Evolutionary thing’ my ass, if I liked a girl or a guy I’d also want to impress them.

You aren’t special and neither is your shitty pretentious main character.

Okay, moving on.

I kept catching every other ball thrown at me only to return it, hitting a student approximately one out of every three attempts.

‘Approximately.’

Stop trying to make yourself impressive.

I always threw low to decrease the chance of anyone catching my ball. After a while my consistent efforts paid off, our entire team was back in play. Raymon had made his way back in the game on their side but only a small nerdy kid remained in play with him. Raymon would try to catch what we threw but was always a few inches short of reaching the ball as it flew by. A ball smacked the nerdy kid in his ankles and only Raymon was left. He tried to throw a ball at my head again but this time I was ready. Just as the ball flew past me every person with a ball on my side threw theirs at him. In an almost comedic fashion every other ball impacted his chest and below. We were all cracking up over it but Mr. Mack interrupted us letting us know class was over.

Okay so that was hard to imagine as a sequence of events.

Before Abbi ran back to the locker room, she walked up to me and said “Can you call me tonight?” I nodded smiling and she kissed me on the cheek. My mind exploded with excitement. From that single kiss on my cheek my whole body felt light and warm the rest of the day.

After doing my chores later that night I called Abbi like she asked and she answered “Hey you!”

I want to die.

I replied “Not a lot of callers huh?”

She said “Actually I just embarrassed myself on the last call hoping it was you. My grandma felt pretty special for about ten seconds.”

Okay, so there’s another thing I have to keep fixing. When you write dialogue, you put the period at the end of the sentence inside the quotations. Onion keeps putting it outside and it’s driving me crazy.

Also these jokes just make me want to die even more than I already do.

She and I talked for hours; we discussed the plausible absurdity of horoscopes, “The Secret,” the legitimacy of souls, the afterlife and even leprechauns. Very few topics were off-limits.

Wow, you’re making yourself even more pretentious.

Being free to talk about whatever was on my mind felt liberating. Having these conversations with her served as just another reminder that there was someone out there who could really understand me with just as much kindness and acceptance as I did them.

YOU HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER PERSONALLY FOR LESS THAN A GODDAMN WEEK.

STOP.

Before I hung up I said “Abbi, thank you for making my imperfect life feel perfect.”

FUCK YOU.

She laughed at how cheesy the line was only to respond, “Well thank you for being so perfectly imperfect.” I felt a warm smile come across my face and said goodnight.

This whole romance between James and Abbi is really unrealistic and corny and forced.

But the chapter is over, so whatever. I’ll see you guys next time.

~Kat

[tessatechaitea]

Teen Titans Spotlight #9: Changeling

I feel like this is the first appearance of the Changeling logo.

It's as if General Immortus knew that one day Niles Caulder would be just a head! Or, more probably, Grant Morrison fucking remembered this one panel and thought, "I'll turn The Chief into a disembodied head!" Unless it was Rachel Pollack who did that. What am I? The Doom Patrol wiki?

Cliff Steele has just been on another adventure where his body was torn apart. At least I'm assuming it was because whenever he or Red Tornado are in a super hero battle, they usually get torn to pieces. Somebody's got to be and you can't do it to Batman. But Cliff is tired of it and he's ready to retire to a ranch in California. I wonder why Grant Morrison's run didn't take place there? Cliff and Garfield wind up at the New York Zoo because Garfield wants to fuck the lioness and Cliff wants to buy hot dogs that he can't eat.

Based on the repartee between Robotman and Changeling, I don't think the crowd are the only people to mistake Cliff for Cyborg.

The previous caption was a criticism of the writer, Paul Kupperberg. Was it too subtle? I know it wasn't on the level of Ann Nocenti criticism where I once questioned how she survived the surgery that replaced her brain with Jello pudding but sometimes you need a little subtlety in your life. Like when you want to masturbate but all you have on hand are your sandpaper masturbation gloves. I don't know if that final sentence had anything to do with subtlety. I think it had more to do with me introducing the public to my new invention! It, um, needs some work.

I first read Changeling's line as "You're obviously a fat." Not because I often misread the fuzzy text of old comic books but because I saw the kid in the first panel and my brain began thinking, "How do I make a hilarious and inoffensive fat joke about this kid?"

I just realized I should mention the writers and artists of these old issues since they're not on the cover. The artist is Dan Jurgens and I already mentioned the writer. I don't know what inkers do so I don't remember who the inker was. And the one thing I've always refused to do in my comic book reviews over the last eight years is to mention the letterer! Mostly because I always hated reading letters from fans who praise the writing and drawing and then offer a throw away line about how easy the typeface was to read thanks to Costanza or whoever! Oh, and I actually really forgot about the colorist until just now! That was Adrienne Roy! Who better to color some kid green than good old Adrienne! Cliff walks off in a huff when people begin to actually recognize him. He should have thrown in a few "Booyahs" and offered to show off his white noise cannon. Um, wink, wink! I'm not proficient at flirting. Before Robotman can find a quiet bathroom stall to wish he could cry in, Mister 104 attacks! I know. You're thinking the same thing I'm thinking, right? What happened to Misters 1-103? Oh, and probably, who the fuck is Mister 104?! But then I'd be disappointed if a Doom Patrol villain showed up and I recognized that villain. Their villains should get a "What the fuck?!" reaction at least ninety percent of the time. That's another thing the television show got right! How many scenes have Crazy Jane shouting "What the fuck?" and then Cliff responds with "What the fuck?" and then Crazy Jane is all "No, fucking seriously! What the fuck?" and then Cliff is all "What the fucking fuck fuck fucking fuck?!" The show uses the F-word a lot! Luckily Changeling remembers who Mister 104 is and thinks through Mister 104's entire origin for us. It turns out Mister 104 can turn into every known element on the periodic table. He's only Mister 104 because that's how many elements were on the periodic table in 1965 when he first appeared in Doom Patrol #98. Except when he appeared in that issue, he was Mister 103. So either he hadn't looked at a periodic table since 1961 when he first attacked the Doom Patrol in 1965 or Arnold Drake, the original Doom Patrol writer and co-creator, fucked up. Or maybe there was a plot reason for it in the story, like Mister 103 just despised Helium or maybe Superman paid him to never turn into krypton(ite)? Still, this is 1987! He should be Mister 109! I didn't learn all of that from Changeling's thought bubbles! Some of it I learned because Mister 104 mentions that when he last encountered the Doom Patrol, he was left as "a mass of free floating destabilized atoms" and the editor helpfully noted that took place in Doom Patrol #106. In 1987, I would have just thought, "Oh, okay. Whatever." But in 2019, I can use the Internet to find out all about that issue! Suck it, me in 1987 who didn't learn anything new or helpful in any way and who couldn't pretend like you were super smart and knew all about the periodic table because you didn't have Wikipedia like a stupid idiot! Ha ha! Apparently Mister 104 appeared in other comic books I've read (like The Doom Patrol vs. Suicide Squad Special) but it's understandable that I don't remember him. Partly because he may have been going by Atomic Man or Atomic Master and also because he's just kind of stupid. But stupid in just the right way that Doom Patrol villains should be stupid!

Don't read this text if you're trying to avoid spoilers for Teen Titans Spotlight #9: Changeling!

It looks like Mister 103 first takes on the name Mister 104 here. But what's odd is that he tells Cliff, "You might remember me: Mister 104!" And Changeling thinks, "That's Mister 104!" I guess Paul Kupperberg couldn't abide the fact that Arnold Drake fucked up and he had to correct him. I bet he was fuming for over twenty years! He probably got a job as a comic book writer simply to fix this mistake from his childhood! But then, I suppose everything can be explained away by simply invoking Crisis on Infinite Earths. That probably changed things somehow.

That's your argument for why you'r going to win this fight?

During the battle, Mister 104 turns into a lot of different chemical compounds, proving that he was indeed a molecular engineer. But Robotman manages to thwart each of his different shapes with punches, proving that nerds just can't win in physical combat. Eventually, Mister 104 sets a fire that traps the fat kid from earlier who didn't have enough sense to get the fuck out of the way. Interrupting the battle is a scene where Mento plots the downfall of the Teen Titans with the help of his captive, the star of the next issue of Spotlight, Aqualad! Back to the fight, Changeling saves the kid and drops him off by the hot dog stand. He sees some canisters and the fat kid says, "Those? But that's just soda gas!" Who the fuck calls it soda gas? I lived through 1987 and I don't remember ever saying, "The soda gas in this soda really hits the spot!" Maybe calling it carbonated water or carbon dioxide or carbonation would have given the game away too early! Changeling appears as a giant ape wielding cans of carbon dioxide to smother Mister 104's flaming fury. And this time instead of transforming into some other element, he's knocked out cold! Way to go, soda gas! Teen Titans Spotlight #9: Changeling Rating: C+. The entire point of the story was to show that Robotman's estimation of Garfield Logan has grown and that he now sees him as a real hero. I guess the reader is suppose to think, "Yeah! If Robotman can admit that Garfield is now a real hero and not some jerk off jokester who causes more problems than he solves, I should probably think that too!" And since I'm a totally average comic book reader, I'm totally a Garfield Logan fan now! He isn't obnoxious and annoying at all in the way I thought! He's a real hero! Not as big a hero as soda gas but still pretty great!

[sometimesrosy]

It's not dread as in 'if this happens I'm out, how dare Jason, I hate that guy', but more as in... it'll be painful for me to watch it, but I want it to happen. If it doesnt, it'll be dissapointing to me and season 6 won't have the same effect season 5 had, for instance. They had the opportunity to reboot everything and make everyone return to action trauma-free, but thankfully they didn't and were able to START the nice story about healing. Like, in 'Buffy the vampire slayer' 1

I wanted Clarke to have the same moment Buffy had in Once More With Feeling, just a ‘yo, I’m not mad you guys did it, but I kind of am, and also, sad’ with maybe less singing, but that was before the season aired and now they have to confront each other or else there’ll always be that thing stopping them from being bffs. E/cho fighting her didn’t mean that much to me bc they were framed as nemesis in s4, but imagine when it’s R? I’m all ready for the water works. 2

here’s what I’m saying.

I think with this show we have to accept the certain level of angst. That certain level is HIGH. That’s just the show it is.

In Buffy, they worked through the drama with a little bit of a cop out. The music curse forced them to expose their feelings through song. No one had to get brave. No one had to be unable to bear it. No one had just be like, okay that’s enough, we need to get it out. 

They were spelled into revealing the things they had been keeping hidden.

THIS show is a different kind of show, and the things they keep hidden come out through action, drama and angst. 

Now understand that when Marti Noxon came on board buffy and made it more mature and darker, I loved it even more. I never had the problem other fans did with “ruining” the show. I enjoyed the deeper level and the more mature characters and the more morally gray problems. So here you have me, with a “type” for my tv shows. 

I ENJOY the angst. I enjoy the human struggle. I LOOK for the characters facing down their character flaws. 

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But whatever it is, fits this kind of drama. It helps me process my own life. It makes me feel like if they can make it through THEIR troubles, I can make it through mine. It makes me exponentially more happy when they fight through and conquer their demons and win through.

I had a moment like that in TWD a couple of seasons ago, when it seemed like all was lost and there was nothing but tragedy and betrayal and I posted, “WHY DO I WATCH THIS KIND OF SHOW I HATE IT!!”  then from out of nowhere, in came the tiger, and Maggie, and Carol and everybody and Carl jumped into action and negan was like??? and I went “OH YEAH THAT’S WHY I WATCH THIS KIND OF SHOW THAT WAS GREAT!!!!”

You’ve got to PAY IN with the angst and trauma on this show. IF you want to get the victory and heroism. 

Buffy never would have been so great, if she hadn’t had to kill Angel. When he was Angel again.

TWD would never even BE a show, if Rick didn’t have to face how being the good guy was going to get his people killed. 

The 100 wouldn’t be the show it is if Clarke, and Bellamy, and Octavia, and Raven and all of them didn’t suffer because OF THE CHOICES THEY MADE. Because there are no good choices. Because Clarke needs to run away and this separates her from her people. Because she sacrifices herself for them and this leaves her alone. Because she’s alone so she CONTINUES to choose to be alone because it hurts to much to be left behind, and forgotten and betrayed. So she regresses to her old coping strategies, and leave Bellamy at the gates, to his fate. 

Notice though, that Bellamy did this, regressing, in season 3. And it was the trigger for him to face up to his choices, and to how his people, his sister, clarke, felt betrayed, and make the decision to do the right thing.

We already saw that with Clarke. Bellamy didn’t stay on the outside of Clarke or Raven or Miller or Harper. He did with Octavia, because that was a separate story. 

For Clarke, we have Bellamy as the separate story now, and Clarke needing to come back to her family, the delinquents. 

And in order to GET the feeling of completion and victory when she is, once again, the leader of her people, loved, and supported and trusted and believed, we need to see the real risk and pain of her NOT getting that.

So you SEE what’s happening, but you’re not trusting that it will come out, or you’re not able to see past the pain part to the payoff. 

This show is such a slow burn story. Not just Bellarke, but also the character development and the long term post apocalyptic salvation and redemption stories. They develop them so much, so slowly, in little bits and piece, interweaving them to tell each season’s battle story, that well…. it’s easy to get lost. 

But you know it’s there. You can see it. You just have to trust it and be patient. 

[itsanelizathing]

Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze Review

May 28,2018

WHAT UP MY PEEPS? 

Oh Gods that was terrible! ANYHOW it has been nearly a month since the Burning Maze was released and thusly, I shall post my review on it. I wrote this as soon as I finished the book so everything was fresh in my mind.

 SPOILERS AHEAD.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

 You have been warned. 

_____________________________

Today I am writing a review for The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze. I’m writing this on May 2nd, 2018 but I will be posting the review later because this will contains spoilers. You have been warned!

We all know how much I love Rick Riordan’s books and this one is absolutely no exception. The first thing I HAVE to talk about it Apollo’s character. Since this is written in Apollo’s point of view, we have a biased narrator. We see everything in Apollo’s eyes alone, much like how we only had Percy’s views in the first series. This first person point of view helps Riordan sneak up on you. For example, in Percy’s story we heard Annabeth’s view on Luke’s betrayal but we felt Percy’s feelings. I sided with Percy through the entire series, like I am sure most readers did. At the end, we get surprised with Luke’s final act of heroism.

In the first Apollo book we can see that Apollo has major ego problems due to being an all powerful god. It wasn’t his fault; Zeus is being unreasonable. Apollo spends a lot of time reflecting on how everything happens to him and how he has no responsibility for the things that happen.Through the books we are watching Apollo grow up and learn more about mortality. Apollo understands sacrifice, friendship, and loyalty better.

I’m about to dive into SPOILERS, so if you don’t want to see it, I suggest reading the book and returning.

By this point, we should all know what terrible thing happens to one of our heroes. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. This isn’t about that, not yet, but how Apollo reacts. Apollo tried to save both Piper and Jason, he was ready to sacrifice himself to save two mortal demigods. When Jason dies, Apollo feels guilty.

Apollo is willing to die to protect his friends and the world. In the first book, I would have never saw that coming. Apollo was a god; he expected heroes to do the hard stuff. Now, he is a hero. I adore watching Apollo learn more about mortality and our favorite demigods.

ONCE AGAIN I AM GOING TO BE WRITING ABOUT MAJOR SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK AND PLAN TO, DO NOT GET MAD AT ME IF YOU CONTINUE READING MY POST.

Now then, I have to talk about the breakup and the death. I was never a fan of Piper and Jason together. Their relationship was faked and then forced. In life or death situations, you will lean on the people closest to you and you will feel something for them. Since Piper and Jason had memories of being together, they felt as if they were together. They felt as if they were supposed to be together. I don’t doubt that they feel love towards each other, I just don’t think it was relationship love.

I honestly don’t get why fans are upset over the spilt. Two people of opposite genders can be friends without being in a relationship. They can still love each other without have romantic love for each other. I love my friends but I don’t want to date them.

Now, onto the major shock that hit everyone who didn’t read the spoilers: Jason Grace and his final act of heroism. We heard the prophecy. We know that you can’t fight fate. So by going to battle Caligula, they were signing their death certificate.

I think Jason’s death was brilliant. It wasn’t just a shock factor. His death brought Apollo even closer to understanding mortality. Jason had Apollo promise to continue his work on honoring all of the gods and building them temples. He accepted his fate and still went down fighting to protect Piper and the others. Jason helps humanize Apollo.

Okay, I’m stepping away from Jason, Piper, and Apollo. We learn a lot more about Meg in this book. We know where she’s from and how her father caught Demeter’s attention. Also, Meg and Grover’s constant nature talk was adorable. I still don’t understand Meg though. She knows that Nero/The Beast is bad but still suffers from a form of stockholms syndrome or something. Please girl, get with the program. She feels bad for her hate and anger towards him and still views him as a step-father at some points. It’s just depressing girl.

Meg is powerful. Throughout the series we never really see any powerful children of Demeter. I know Katie Gardner is a child of Demeter, but I don’t think we were ever shown her powers. We focus on the stronger gods and goddess. The ones that first come to mind when you think of Greek Gods. Meg also thinks outside of the box. Flowers in ears as earplugs is definitely an idea I wouldn’t have thought of, but it’s definitely Meg.

So overall this book was simply amazing. I love how everything comes together in all of Riordan’s books. He hints at things that are happening at the same time, around the clock. He created a world for us fans and he keeps bringing more content, more entertainment, into that world. I cannot wait for the next book!

~Eliza

[melyaliz]

Fandom: DC

Summary: Tea and Roy were just having a bad day

Notes: Based off the fact @speedypan and I were having bad days and wanted to beat someone up. Also, she wanted some Tea x Roy friendship. And OF COURSE, I had to add her Maia because I love her. So not my best writing but I just needed to blow off some steam.

Warning: A Lot of cursing Mostly Because Tea is my little sailor mouth.

Facecast-

Roy: AJ Apa

Tea: Chanel Iman

Jason:

Maia: Kaya Scodelario

Tea was having a bad day

One of those days where everything kept going wrong and you just have that unstable anger that you can’t seem to control.

Alcohol didn’t help.

But the guy who grabbed her ass did.

Or more like his face as she pounded him into the cement.

“I would ask but I feel like he deserved it.” Tea looked up to see Roy.

Dressed like he had just walked out of a Peter Pan porno.

“What the actual FUCK are you wearing?” The dark haired girl asked standing, knuckled bloody from the pounding she had just handed out.

“What? You don’t think I look hot?”

“Lost a bet?”

“This time.”

Tea laughed letting the man fall to the ground. “I’m having a shit day, wanna blow something up?”

“Rick? What the hell!?!” another jacked up biker dude said 'coming out of the bar. Tea recognized him as the ass graber’s friend.

“You’re dickass friend here thought he could grab 'em by the pussy so I beat his face in.” Tea said flashing him a toothy grin. Just daring him to come at her. Or begging.

Ok, she was begging him to.

“BITCH! You and your Fairy Dust friend are going to pay!”

“What did you call me?” Roy asked Tea took a step to the side giving Roy a clear path toward the gangster.

“Be my guest Neverland.”

“You’re right, this does feel better,” Roy told Tea standing over the groning leather clad gangster. Tea was about to respond when some bright lights cut her off. They both turned to find themselves face to face with several bikers.

“Well, what do we have here?”

“My night just getting a whole fucking lot better.”

Roy laughed cracking his knuckles, “You can say that again.”

Their fight leads them to a warehouse. Apparently, the ring was supposed to meet to do a huge drop off weapons to one of Gotham’s many crime lords.

“I think it’s the Penguin.”

“Not enough bird related things.”

“What about Two-Face?”

“Isn’t he in Arkem?”

“You would know hero. Who do you think it is?”

"Nice costume Peter Pan.”

Roy and Tea turned to see the Red Hood standing with several of his men. Arms folded. Roy could almost see that annoying smirk from under the helmet. Laugh it up, Jason. Laugh it up.

“Wait for Red? You have got to be kidding me!?!”

“You know this fucker?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, his name is Red and he has a dumbass red helmet? Does Gotham have any normal villains or does everything have to be a God damn gimmick?”

“The names Red Hood and watch what you say about our boss” one of the henchmen snarled. Tea looked unfazed, maybe even a little bored.

“If I call him Red condom will you come over here and fight me?”

The Red Hood laughed, “I like her”

“You didn’t say you were bringing friends” They turned to see the bikers ride in.

“Trust me, they aren't friends.”

“That’s them!” one of the guys, the ass grabber snarled pointing to Tea and Roy. Their leader sighed.

“You mean to tell me that you were beaten up by a little girl and a man in a gay Peter Pan outfit?”

“I always saw him as a Robin Hood myself.” Tea said turning to face the gang.

“Are these people with you Red Hood?” the biker leader asked ignoring Tea as Roy slowly reached for his arrows. Oh man, he was so ready for another fight.

“Not really… but I was about to deal with them.”

“Well allow me.”

Red Hood looked over at his men who just shrugged. “Sure why not.”

They fight.

Fists to faces.

Roy could have used his arrows but honestly, he was enjoying just beating people. Venting out all his frustrations of the week on the weak-willed men. I mean only the scum of the earth ride in packs and defend a man who molests a young woman.

Tea could have forced the men to her will, using her empathic powers to chase them away. But there was something about just breaking a guys nose with the heel of her shoe that made all the shit of the day just a little more bearable.

“Watch out PAN!” Roy turned almost too late as a huge thug lunged at him. However, an arrow flew through the air exploding into some rope wrapping itself around him. As the thug fell Roy couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Willow standing a few feet away bow raised.

“Maid Marian! What’s up sexy?”

“Tea! How are you?”

“Fucking great now that I’m bashing in some heads.”

Maia punched a Thug laughing. “Good to see you found my lost boy.”

“This is your fault I’m dressed like this”

“But you're ass looks so good,” the female archer said winking at her partner. Roy just laughed making sure to lean just a little deeper into his punch showing off those beautiful glutes. Feeling Maia’s eyes on him.  

Soon there was nothing left but the leader. He turned toward Red Hood snarling.

“You didn’t even try to help us!” he yelled.

“Why should I?” Red Hood asked, “If you can’t even take down three small heroes why should I sell my guns to you?” The leader snarled again, basically foaming at the mouth. Taking a few steps toward him but Red Hood pulled out his gun cocking it. “Now should I finish you off or do you want to run away like your men?”

The leader spit at him before turning and jumping on his bike riding away.

“Now, what should I do with you three?” Red Hood asked eyeing his friends, “You just cost me a lot of money.” his henchmen lifted their guns. Tea smiled cracking her neck ready to take on a few more, even if she was slowly starting to run low of stamina

“Buy us drinks? We just saved your street cred?” Maia asked winking at Jason who laughed waving his men down.

“For now I’ll let it go, just get out of here.”

“Till next time,” Roy said slinging his bow over his shoulder.

“I look forward to it Pixi dust.”

“Drinks?” Maia asked throwing her arms over Roy and Tea. Both nodded.

“Desperately.”

“Oh my GOD! You guys look like hell!” Jennifer gasped as her three friends walked into the bar.

“Yeah but I feel fucking great!” Tea said plopping down on next to her. “Bartender! Your top shelf tequila please!”

“Make that three!” Roy said scooting next to her.

“And charge it to Roy’s tab!” Maia sang taking the seat next to Jennifer who shook her head as Roy rolled his eyes.

“Trust me Maia, your cute but not THAT cute”

“Awww but Roy I saved your ass from getting kicked all the way to Neverland.”

Notes:

Tagging: @royslittleharper  @the-shadow-of-atlantis @coffee-randomness @daisyboobear @werewitchling @nightwing-rules @jayne-writes  @guns-n-lilies @pinkwitch21

[takaraphoenix]

Phoe’s Advent Calendar: Day 2

@3littlemieces - I wish you and everyone reading this a happy pre-holidays-phase ;)

Title: Advent Calendar Project – Charming Christmas Carols

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, fluff, cuddles, singing, love spell (kinda)

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Piper McLean

Summary: Percy discovers a new power he has during Christmas-time. He can charm-sing – like a siren. That's a problem, until it isn't.

Links: FFNet | AO3

Charming Christmas Carols

Nico was startled out of his trance by a sudden yelp.

Camp Half-Blood was having a Christmas party and during that, they were also singing Christmas carols together. Or rather, individually. A bit like karaoke night. Most of it had been rather painful for Nico's ears. Will had kicked it off and Nico was fond of Will's voice – Cecil screeched his way through it and Annabeth had made Nico's ears bleed – but then Percy started singing.

And Percy sounded like an angel.

He also looked like an angel, but that was nothing new. To Nico, Percy had always been perfection. Now, he could hear that Percy even had the voice of an angel. And he looked so serene while singing. Or at least, he had been looking so serene, until he suddenly screeched, right in the middle of a beautiful, soft Christmas song. Nico's eyes snapped open and he noticed he was the only one left on the seats. Everyone else had stormed the stage.

Everyone else had stormed the stage and was now trying to kiss Percy.

Nico blinked in slow-motion as he watched in silent mortification how Clarisse and Reyna were actually in a fist-fight over Percy, while Will was trying to pull Percy into a kiss, at least until Jason started pulling Will away by his hair. Everyone was spurting declarations of love and lust.

Something had gone horribly wrong and Nico had no idea what, but he knew he hated it.

Hastily, he got up from his seat and rushed forward, receiving an elbow to the side from Leo and a screeched curse from Drew. Everyone was suddenly addicted to Percy. Wide-eyed, Nico looked at the terrified son of Poseidon. Percy looked downright frightened as he was being cornered by some camper Nico didn't even know by name, who was trying to kiss him.

"N—No", pleaded Percy, clearly overwhelmed by everything.

After all, there were literally dozens of demigods suddenly storming in on him, trying to touch and kiss him. Anger rose in Nico and the Earth beneath him started shaking and splitting. The other demigods lost their balance and Nico finally had a clear path to reach the startled Sea Prince. He gritted his teeth as Katie summoned vines to hold Nico back. With his powers, he easily let them die so he could reach Percy. Percy looked at him with tears in his eyes, frightened.

"It's okay, Perce. Let's get you out of here", whispered Nico gently. "Come."

Percy basically threw himself at Nico, clinging onto the son of Hades and just as the nearest demigods reached out for Percy again, Nico opened the shadows and brought Percy to safety. Safety, in this case, being the first safe place Nico could think of – the underworld.

"H—Holy Hades, what just happened?", grunted Nico, still cradling Percy very close. "You okay?"

Percy in his arms was shaking a little, trying to catch his breath. "I... I... Yeah. It was just... too much. I felt claustrophobic. Overwhelmed. Everyone going after me like that. It was... scary."

"It's alright, Percy, you're safe", assured Nico gently, smoothing Percy's hair down. "I would never let anyone hurt you. I don't know what just happened, but... you're safe now."

Percy grunted and kept clinging onto Nico, relieved that he was now safe. Safest place he could imagine – in Nico's arms. All the craziness just gone right now. All there was was Nico.

/break\

It took Percy two days before he felt ready to return to Camp Half-Blood, but only after Nico went and checked it out to see if everyone was back to normal. Still, as they entered camp again, Percy kind of hid behind Nico. No one dared to even look at Percy. Everyone had their eyes averted in embarrassment. Some came up to him and apologized, blushed and ran off.

"Perce", started Piper as she approached and rested a gentle hand on Percy's arm. "Are you okay?"

"Y—Yeah. I mean. I have no idea what happened? I was just singing Christmas carols and suddenly everyone went batshit crazy. Was this your mom messing with people?", asked Percy.

"Oh, that one was on you", chuckled Piper before pausing. "Not that I am putting blame on you. You didn't know you could do that. No, but... Chiron and Annabeth put their heads together and figured it out. It seems you have some siren-powers. It's like charmspeak, but... only singing. Turns out Aphrodite only has the power of charmspeak because she was born to the sea. Just like the sirens. So, your singing, it... charmed everyone. Made everyone go mad with love for you."

"That's not true", argued Percy with a frown, pointing at Nico. "Nico was unaffected!"

"...You're adorable", chuckled Piper fondly and shook her head before walking away.

Percy frowned confused as he turned toward Nico. "I know how love-potions work. So this can't be. The only way a love-spell fails is... But it's been... You said I'm not your type..."

"Well. I lie. What else is new?", grunted Nico and averted his eyes with a glare.

"So... you... still like me?", asked Percy unsure, trying to look him in the eyes.

"No. I still love you", sighed Nico as he finally looked up to lock eyes with Percy. "That's why your beautiful singing was just that. Beautiful singing. You couldn't make me fall hopelessly in love with you because I already am hopelessly in love with you."

"Why lie?", asked Percy confused, frowning. "You just blurted out that you liked me but that you're over it. That I'm not your type. And you left me confused, contemplating my sexuality for months!"

"I did what now?", asked Nico stunned, staring at Percy in confusion.

"I've never really thought about... sexuality", grunted Percy slightly frustrated. "I was just always shoved into it head first. And the girl's normally the first one telling me she likes me! Annabeth, Rachel, Calypso. I just... I don't really think about romantic... options, until they literally present themselves to me. And... And I've been thinking about you a lot, since you... told me. Argh."

Frustrated by it all, Percy grabbed Nico's face and slowly brought it closer. He kept eye-contact with Nico, making sure the son of Hades knew what was going on. Nico didn't back out. He just leaned in too until they finally kissed. It was sweet – Nico tasted like pomegranates and Percy was going to tease him about that until kingdom come – and soft. Percy really liked kissing Nico. He might like it a little too much, because he was pretty sure he could hear a choir of angels in his head. No. Wait. Not in his head. When Nico and Percy parted, they realized some campers had gathered around them and were actually singing gentle Christmas love songs. Percy blushed.

"Let's get out of here?", asked Nico softly. "Maybe... a first date?"

"Yes. Get us out of here", nodded Percy flustered, fingers linked with Nico.

~*~ The End ~*~

[pjoplusmore]

Child of Hera

Pairing: None

Warnings: None, to my knowledge

A/N: First chapter of my little fic idea here. May continue to post here based on response.

A special thank-you goes out to @perseusjackson-sonoftheseagod for reading through the first few rough drafts.

Disclaimer: I own none of the content in this fic minus a few OC’s. Everything else belongs to its own respective culture, and Rick Riordan

My name is Scarlet Corvus, and welcome to Camp Half-Blood! Yay! Note the sarcasm. Though, that might just be my bitterness shining through. I’ve got good reasons for it too. Been in the foster care system since I could remember. Been in Camp Half-Blood a little longer than that. That makes for 18 years of missing parents. Most everyone here, including the ‘batch’ I came with is missing at least one parent. You’ve got my two friends Aron, living alone with his dad, son of Aphrodite, and Eliza, living with her two moms, daughter of Ares. How did Ares knock up a couple of lesbians? Not something I actually wanna know. Bi? Probably. Anyways, I found them when a Satyr dragged me out of bed at 2 in the freaking morning to run for my life as some weird dogs wrecked everything they could. We ran and ran, stole a car, and drove, slept, ate, and drove some more, until we got here. And I haven’t left since.

“Scarlet!” Eliza tends to get into more trouble than most.

“What’s up?” She’s running up the hill to me, panting, and out of breath. I brace myself for the less than stellar idea.

“Let’s break into the Big House.” Whoop. There it is.

“Are you insane? Chiron will have your head!” I’m just about to drive my book through her skull when Aron runs up behind her.

“We’re doing it whether you come with us or not. The Oracle is here, talking to the 7, and we wanna go see if we get some kind of prophecy!” His grin is almost irresistible. Almost.

“Why do you want a quest? You leave for home every summer. You spend time outside, why risk your lives?” I can see the wheels turning. My friends aren’t dumb, not by a long shot, but they’re not the brightest kids on the block either.

“Fame.”

“Fortune.”

Their responses are simultaneous. It’s all I can do not to groan in pain.

“Fine. I’ll come along. Just to make sure the two of you don’t get hurt.” They both jump up and down. I swear, it’s like looking after 6-year-olds. Aren’t they 17 now? “But first…” I let them register it, and they suddenly freeze. “I’m gonna go talk to Percy.” They look a little scared. Fine by me. Maybe they’ll listen to me next time. And anyways, I am more than a little curious about why Rachel, of all people would visit camp. It's moments like this that I’m really glad I did my best to help Percy and Annabeth when they needed it. The 7 formed a very exclusive club after the war against Gaea. They interact with other campers, from both camps, but their best kept secrets don’t leave their cabins. I’ve managed to get both Percy and Annabeth to talk to me, even if it's not quite to the same extent. Still, it’s not a long walk before I’m at cabin 3’s door. I knock gently.

“Percy?” There’s a small groan, some shuffling, a thud, and the door creaks open. Of course he’s not wearing a damn shirt. I’m not trying to peek in, but… was that my little Annie?

“Scarlet? What’s up?” It seems almost like… if he’s in nothing but the sheets, and that was Annabeth… Okay. I’m not judging. Apparently, though, I am one to space out as Percy snaps his fingers in my face. “Helloooo? Earth to Scarlet? Scarlet, come in Scarlet?” I jerk back up to face him.

“What?”

“There you are.” He chuckles, and the one grey streak of hair falls over one of his eyes. “What’s up?”

“Oh! Oh! Well, I’ve heard that Rachel is in town… and here to talk to you.” His eyes turn hard for a second.

“If she is, and it's from Olympus…” There’s a hard edge to his voice. Sometimes, I wonder why he hasn’t overthrown them at this point. I know I would. Been here eleven years, and I still can’t be claimed? I can’t even guess at which parent is mine!

“So she hasn’t talked to you?” I ask.

“No, she hasn’t. Is she here?” This time, I gulp.

“Yeah. Grapevines move fast. There’s already three plots to find where she is, two to break in, and one that has a remote chance of succeeding.” I laugh, hopefully not nervously. Even if I’m on good terms, breaking into the Big House is kinda taboo, and even with Percy’s tendency to break the rules more than enforce them, if Annabeth is in the room behind him…. Well… best not get caught. His laughter breaks the tension I hadn’t realised that I’d been holding in.

“Right. I’ll let Wise Girl know. Maybe she’ll do something, maybe she won’t. See ya.” I don’t even have time to say goodbye as the door slams in my face. I wait a bit in shock, but vacate the premises, as groans and moans begin to sound from the other side of the door. Perfect. Now I get to dodge both Annabeth and Chiron, keep two children safe and out of trouble, speak with the Oracle, and be in bed before morning cabin checks. Easy. I hope. Finding my way back to the kids was easy. They hadn’t moved an inch.

“Percy didn’t know she was here. Beware Annabeth and Chiron tonight.” Aron looks slightly deterred, but Eliza just looks ready for a fight.

“Fine. Just a bit more planning! Come on Aron!” Before asking for any second opinion, she dashes off.

“Wait! Eliza! This doesn’t sound good! Slow down!” Eliza, of course, is long gone when Aron takes off after her. All I can do is sigh. Prep time. They’ve pulled stunts like this before. Too often. I have a patented kit, they do it so much.

“Scarlet!” I turn at my name. Nobody talks much to the nobody from cabin 11. Yet, Jason, child of Zeus, comes running. Friends in high places, I suppose.

“Jason! You okay?” Few people worry me as much as he does. Well, him and Percy. Chaos incarnate the two of them.

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. But I need your help anyways.” Now he’s got my attention.

“What’s up?”

“How do I ask Piper out?” It takes me a moment to process.

“What?”

He sighs and grabs me by the shoulder, pulling me behind the nearest tree. “I need to ask her out soon. She’s a daughter of Aphrodite, and half the camp falls in love whenever she walks by, so I need to make a move now. But I don’t know how.”

“Okay. Give me about a day to process, and I’ll have a solution for you, okay?” I feel bad for brushing him off, but I’ve got to prep for tonight. He nods solemnly, and almost trudges off like a hurt puppy. It’s almost impossible to walk away. Almost. The walk back to the cabin is quiet and unsettling. Tension courses through me, as I do my usual and run through all the ways tonights little expedition can go wrong. Before I get through the 25th scenarion, pretty early in the process, I’m at the cabin, opening the door. It’s a large cabin, with sleeping bags and air mattresses everywhere. I shuffle over to my little corner that I’ve cleared of other campers.I sift through the bagts piled under my cot. Theres duffle bags of writing, drawings, poetry and all my other attempts to figure out who my godly parent is. I dive through the plethora of baghs until I reach what I’m looking for. Its a small black backpack, with the zippers locked shut. Slinging the damn thing on my shoulders, I slip out of the cabin. I scramble around, looking for my favourite cliff in the woods. As usual, it’s empty, the one tree overlooking the rest of camp. Nobody but me knows about this place. Well, maybe the 7. Nobody know where they go most of the time.

“Scarlet.” I jump out of my shoes and almost off the cliff. I whip around, dagger in my hand before I register it.

“Jesus Piper, you scared me!” I put the dagger away, and sit on the edge, letting my legs hand. I take the bag and open it up.

“Whatcha got there?”

“Emergency maternity kit.” I answer. It seems to intruigue her, so she sits next to me. I search through the bag. Bandages, salve, ambrosia, nectar, spare weapons, flares, flashlight, flask of liquor, rope, grappling hook, it’s got everything.

“What kind of kids are you herding?” I almost laugh as piper asks.

“The demigod kind.” I can hear her sigh, and turn to her. “What’s up?” It’s as though I threw a switch in her mind. Suddenly she’s a blushing mess, uttering nothing but a mixture of ums, and uhs, and any other space-filling words word you can imagine.

“Well, you see, uh, it’s uh, you know, um, maybe this can wait.” She stands up, and I grab her wrist.

“Piper McLean. You’d think you’d be a better actor knowing who your father is. What is it you need advice with?” She takes a deep breath.

“WellyouseetheproblemisthatIlikeJasonandIalsolikePercyandnicoiscutetooandhowdoyoudistinguishlovefromfriendship?” It takes me the span of about a minute to understand what it took her 3 seconds to say.

“Well…” I think for another minute, trying to come up with a solution. “Let’s see, if your feelings for the three of them are the same, talk to them individually. Start with Nico, end with Jason. You’ll find things will work out well.” Am I going to tell her that, aside from the obvious Percy and Annabeth dating, that Nico is gay, and that I’m purposefully stacking the odds in Jason’s favour? No. Am I doing just that? Hell yes. All the same, she seems grateful.

“Thanks Scar. I’ll see you soon.” This time as she left, I let her go. No sense in letting her see the rest of my equipment check. I rummage through the bag again. Lock picks, check, crowbar, check, ski masks, check. It’s not the first time they’ve broken in somewhere, and it won’t be the last. Seems like I’ve got everything. I head back down to the cabin to get some rest. It’s going to be a very, very long night.

By the time I wake up, I’ve gone and missed dinner. And the campfire song. I’m slipping out of my little cot and out the door. Most people are at the campfire. If we’re gonna break in, its now. The dark night sky makes it difficult, but not impossible to find my way to our little rendezvous spot. The little tree behind the Big House is a risky place to meet considering our upcoming adventure.

“You two ready?” Of course they beat me here. They’re usually more excited for our outings than I am. Aron nods his head shakily, and Eliza looks ready to jump the gun.

“You bet.” She whipers. I slip my bag from my shoulders, and pull out the rope and the hook. I toss them at Eliza.

“Get knotting.” A snort escapes her before I galre her into silence. I pull out a flashlight and toss it to Aron. “Lookout.” He nods and marches off. I pull out a flashlight for myself, and start searching for some indication of the right room. A though occurs to me. “She’ll probably know we’re coming.”

“Let her know. We’ll get in all the same.” Eliza’s cocky as ever. I grunt, and keep looking. There’s movement in a window, and I shut off my flashlight. This time, it’s Eliza who tosses me something. “Night vision. Less likely to see you.” I don’t even want to know where she got them

“Thanks.” I slip them over my eyes and go back to searching. I guess whoever was in the window didn’t see the beam from my flashlight. Either way, there’s an open window. Easy way in, and then we search. Plan: Formulated. I nudge Eliza. “Open window, left corner.” She nods, and I hand her the goggles. I run off searching for the beam of light that tells me where Aron is. I nearly die of a subsequent heart attack as he appears out of thin air. “I swear your ability to change your appearance is more freaky every day. Come on, we’ve found a way in. I’m off running back to Eliza. She’s just winding up with the hook.

“You two ready?” She hisses. I shake my head.

“Let’s do it.” Aron answers. I don’t even need to be told to know that I’m going up the rope first. Without further ado, she trowsh the hook. It clanks loudly and harmlessly against the side of the Big House. We all flinch and dive to the floor. We wait for a minute. Two. Three. This is the longest Eliza has held still in a long time. Eventually, we all stand up.

“Get it in the window this time.” I grit out between my teeth. I almost lose a hand in reply. Never forget that Eliza is a daughter of the god of war. Mental note made. She goes for the same window, eyes invisible behind the night vision goggles. This time, she throws and it goes in. Now its a race against time. Eliza pulls the rope taut, and then lets it drop to the side of the big house. I run up it, hand over hand, I’m at the second story window in seconds. I take a glance around, nobody seems to be coming. I motion with my hand through the window, and both Aron and Eliza scramble up the rope after me. I pull the rope into my bag as they keep watch. Once we’re all set, we move on, gently opening doors where we can, and picking locks where we can’t. Room by room, we search, until we find the room we want. If she knew we were coming, she didn’t care. The door is unlocked as we all slip in, silently trailing one after the other. She’s sleeping silently in her bed as the three of us huddle under the window. We exchange a few glances.

“Who goes?” Aron seems to say.

“Take a guess.” Eliza seems to answer.

“Me.” I say. There’s no surprise at this point. I never set the plans in motion, but I’m the firs one into the fray, and the last one to request treatment. It’s who I am. I tiptoe silently to the side of Rachel’s bed. I reach out a hand, and shake her shoulder. She seems to sit up, but its the spirit of the Oracle that controls her.

The power of Gods once Returned

To command the Youth who once yearned

Forbidden daughter to choose

To the old or new, the Gods must Lose

The oracle slowly seems to vacate the body of Rachel, and three things happen simultaneously. Rachel wakes up and almost screams. But whatever noise she makes is drowned out by the Camp alarm going off, deafening everybody in the Big House, and waking everybody not here. And the third thing to happen is Aron’s sneeze.

I have seconds at best to get us out of here. The window. I toss Eliza the crowbar. “Window!” She seems to understand, and smashes the glass. “Jump!” I dont have time to see if she follows me out of the window, as the door to Rachel’s room slams open, and Annabeth stands there, dagger at the ready. I fall for less than a second, before slamming into the ground. Two accompanying thuds tell me that both Aron and Eliza made it out alive. The three of us take off running into the nearest forest available. Well, at least Eliza and me. Aron has done his thing and rendered himself invisible. I toss a bottle of water to Eliza, and we pour them out on the ground behind us, as a sort of bribe for the nymphs. We both run for as long as we can. The alarms are distant at this point, and we both lean against the nearest tree.

“Step 2.” Eliza stands back up, and begins to strip. I reach into the bag, and toss her a change of clothes. I change as well, and draw out the spare weapons. I pick the telescopic trident, and Eliza, as usual uses a spear. We both face off, and begin to spar. Its about this time that I hear Annabeth running up the hill.

“Scarlet!” She sounds angrier than I expected her to be.

“Halt!” I call out to Eliza, and she stands relaxed, spear as a crutch. “Annie. What’s up?” Seeing her grimmace at the nickname is worth the rant I’m about to weather.

“You know damn well what’s up!” She tries to make the last two words sound menacing. But honestly? Annabeth is much more terrifying if she’s not visibly shaking with rage.

“I have no idea. I mean, I’m not exactly sprinting towards the sirens, but… you know, not exactly anxious to die.” Annabeth looks as red as a tomato.

“If I find out you had something to do with this…” She leaves the threat hanging in the air as she charges off further into the forest. I turn back to Eliza.

“I’m done for the night. I’m exhausted.” I pack everything back up, and Eliza gives me a wink as we both begin to walk back to the cabins. Whatever set off the alarm, if it was us, they wont find a trace. If it was something else, they’ve caught it already. I get back to cabin 11, and almost slam into my cot. It’s been a really long night. I close my eyes and wait for sleep to take me into its welcoming arms.

Masterlist

Tags: @thehalfdoctor @mrs-jjamespotter @hik5 @perseusjackson-sonoftheseagod @wearepjocrazy

[makotoshoe]

You know what they need to make the PJO/HOO books? Not a cartoon. No no no. An anime. Think about it. •A cute anime kid (Percy) grows up and stuff into this sexy anime boy lol. •Then percabeth.. oh I’m in love already.. •All these cool animated monsters and stuff. •And Aphrodite showing up as a different looking female every time she appears. •SalLY JACKSON AS THE HOT ANIME MOM! (WHO DOESN’T DIE THIS TIME!) {Like fairy tail, it’s long but there’s actually romance and stuffs.} •Piper as the rebellious teenager who’s so hot every guy drools over her. •Jason’s just lucky enough to have her haha. •Calypso with her stunning beauty and cute angry face. •Leo always having the blushing lines when he’s around her. Even if there’s only two on each cheek hehe. •Paul Blofis looking like Rick Riordan. Just yes. • Awesome fighting scenes. Like the sword scene where Percy wins in dueling in camp the first time Luke teaches him how to sword fight. •Reyna kicking butt and looking hot but also intimidating. • Nico as the smol emo son who grows into a man who smiles occasionally. Known for his talent with swords in the battle field. •Percy’s better at swords than Nico tho. •All the girls at camp swooning over Percy making him red. •Angry intimidating Annabeth who’s ready to murder anyone who touches her man. •Sad crying from Annabeth when Percy goes missing. Also Piper crying in Rachel’s cave when they first arrive to CHB. •RACHEL’S CURLY RED HAIR EVERYWHERE YES PLEASE. •Hazel’s golden eyes glinting and sparkling around the sunlight and fires. Pretty jewels popping up everywhere she goes. •Frank as the innocent cute bub. What we need more of in anime 😂 • Leo acting like Natsu Dragneel occasionally. (“I’m fired up now!”) •Getting to see Percy’s sea green eyes up close during intense scenes. •Piper’s eyes changing color every time the screen switches back to her. •THE FALLING INTO TARTARUS SCENE!! HAZEL CRYING HER GOLDEN EYES DIMMING NICO CRYING AS HE REACHES FOR PERCY AND ANNABETH. DRAMATIC FALLING AND INTENSE/SAD MUSIC AS THEY FALL INTO HELL BASICALLY. Then the season ends as they fall into the abyss and the ending song comes on. •The fandom would go crazy I assure you. •Luke literally shifting between himself and Kronos. The constant battle of trying to take control of his body again. •PERCY DIPPING INTO THE RIVER STYX AND SEEING ANNABETH YAAAAAS. •Zooming in on characters as the character who is narrating describes them. The scene shows what the character is describing. •PERCABETH REUNION!! •PERCABETH KISSING SCENES!!! •Festus the dragon awesomeness. •Percy not remembering anything except for Annabeth. And not wanting to take off his faded orange shirt. •GROVER IN A WEDDING DRESS!!! •Annabeth disappearing once she puts her cap on. •Watching Reyna literally lose strength and hope as she sends confidence and strength to her teammates. Since she receives their doubts and all. •ZOÉ NIGHTSHADE GETTING A CONSTELLATION IN THE SKY!!! •"The dam snack bar.“ •Thalia finally seeing Jason again and crying and hugging him. (I’m crying right now btw😂) •"WE DON’T HAVE ANYMORE GAS! …oh that came out wrong.- I MEAN-!“ •Percabeth getting thrown into the lake scene. As the camp Carries them to the lake they hold hands and look at each other with dreamy eyes. Blue and green “bubble” thing around them so that it looks like they’re the only people in the world. •BLACKJACK KICKING BUTT YAAAS MY FAV PEGASUS!! •This is one of those animes that doesn’t ever end.. like ever.

•But it takes forever for the new season to come out.