#i love him looking to grover as if he would understand the reference

[alexlovesfanfics]

Part 2 of changes I would have made to Heros of Olympus.

Obligatory disclaimer: I do not think I am better than Rick Riordan and what he has created is amazing but that doesn't mean we should not criticise it and it's important to be able to step back and see the issues or missed potential of a piece of writing

There would be at least 1 year gap b/w the PJO and HOO and both Percy and Annabeth would be 17, making them significantly older than most of the cast who all (with the exception of Jason for reasons I will get into) would be 13-15. This means Percy and Annabeth would be mentoring them.

Also as a benefit of the gap I would love to see Nico and Percy's relationship be slightly better though that's just because I love them

Grover would take the place of Coach Hedge and help Percy and Annabeth with mentoring the others. Also he and Nico would talk about Bianca as he was in the quest with her and her friend. Grover would help Nico with accepting that Bianca's death was mainly the fault of Talos.

Jason would still be 16 along with Reyna and Octavian. The three would have been friends pre-HOO (I have a whole trilogy planned for them that I will Inshallah write in the summer) and Octavian would start dating Jason shortly before TLH. He would also assume that Reyna would have assassinated Jason for political reasons (credit to @percabeth4life for this entire arc idea)

Jiper would become canon shortly before Mark Of Athena in the months after The Lost Hero. Octavian would be extremely upset about this and this would probably cause issues.

Percy would be called Perseus among the Romans

Percy would help Octavian search for Jason and get all the water life and Pegasi to look for Jason which would bring the 2 close and create a point of tension between Percy and Jason as Percy would be upset on Octavian's behalf that Jason went and dated Piper without even breaking up with Octavian (BC he didn't remember their relationship at first)

Percy also wouldn't sleep for months and instead wake up at the owl house (it was supposed to be wolf house but it's funny so I'm'n keeping it) at the same time as Jason showed up on the bus and he would be Praetor for several months slowly regaining his memory

Instead of just remembering Annabeth, he would also remember Grover because of the empathy link

Nico and Hazel's relationship would receive more focus. In the Cupid Scene, Hazel is there instead of Jason and Cupid instead of out right outting would instead subtly hint at him to do so. He'd talk about queer ppl in the myths and how being gay is okay and how you should accept yourself and not hide it and make Nico promise to try before giving them the staff. Hazel would ask and Nico would admit his crush on Percy. While surprised (40s kid) she would accept him unconditionally because that's her brother

Frank would be 14 and they wouldn't get together until a few years after the books

Hazel and Frank would have more focus and would have interest they still took part in like Hazel still drawing (maybe doodling in the corners of pages during meetings)

Percy and Annabeth wouldn't be as interested in moving to CJ. Like yeah Annabeth would immediately use it as a reference for New Athens but Percy hates strict rules and CHB is both Percy and Annabeth's home. It's also close to where a majority of their support system (Sally, Paul, Chiron, Annabeth's siblings, Clarisse bc you pry her friendship with them out of my cold dead hands, e.t.c). Also Annabeth is v ambitious and seems like someone who would eventually want to go to a very prestigious university. Emphasis on eventually as I think both she and Percy would take a break from school to recover from their trauma and get in a better headspace for dealing with all that

Tartarus would be far worse but while Annabeth would freak out at the Akhlys thing, she certainly would understand why Percy did it and wouldn't make him promise not to use those powers again

Piper and Annabeth would not get along at first. Annabeth enjoys girlie things and was friends with Silena so Piper insulting the Aphrodite cabin and looking down on girls for being feminine would not fly with her. While I do think this would change as Piper accepts her femininity (see previous post ABT changes I would make to HOO) I think Annabeth would be closer to Hazel and be like an older sister to her

Also Hazel would have dark hair and dark eyes like a normal black girl. No exotic bs. Same with Piper.

Frank would have dyslexia too because I am living proof that Asians can have learning disabilities too.

These are all for now. Will probably add more

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

PJO TV SHOW (and book) SPOILERS beneath cut!!!!!

What follows is simply a bunch of my nonsensical responses to the first 2 episodes in no particular order; I really cannot explain that any other way I’m afraid

“Whose side are you on?” “Hers, always. She’s my little sister” JUST RIP OUT MY HEART WHY DON’T YOU

Mythomagic. Mythomagic. Mythomagic.

Sally saying not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster - THE FORESHADOWING??? THE REFERENCE TO BOOKS THAT ARENT EVEN BEING ADAPTED YET IM LOSING MY MIND - Also, the justice for Medusa in this was absolutely gorgeous and so well done because it didn’t black and white anyone as just a hero or just a villain but very well highlighted the woven and layered morality of a very complex web of stories, personally I’m mostly a Medusa defender but give me a good quality, well written Perseus retelling and you could probably convince me otherwise I think the point of many of these stories is that there is never a true victor and nothing is ever as easy to understand as a hero and a monster. I’m getting distracted now but hey let’s keep going, I really love Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes, which very strongly labels Perseus as the monster and Medusa as the victim, but I also think there is an argument that Danaë’s plight was diminished/overlooked in it and I would be open to hearing opposing views on that. Since I’m in this tangent I should add I don’t study classics I am just a fan, so I’m not the expert and would generally expect others to know more than me so get it out there I’m eager to learn. Anyway, Percy Jackson (sorry for the tangent)

Percy saying he thinks he’s made real friends I WANT TO CRY

They softened Gabe up quite a bit, or at least I thought they did maybe you guys think otherwise, but I wonder how his death will come across in this case(????)

I actually really like that they had Annabeth clock who Percy’s father was and push him into the water instead of it being Clarisse shoving him into the creek and stumbling upon it by accident, because it really heightened that idea of her being six steps ahead

I think the conflict between Grover and Percy was interesting and I’m intrigued as to how easily it’s resolved with the quest coming up, and on that point am I right that Sally making Grover swear to protect Percy was a new addition? Because I’m guessing that if the conflict between them is still heightened then that’s going to be the logical reason Grover uses to get into the quest, but also they made a big deal out of that and I kept expecting her to request he swear it on the Styx but she didn’t, I wonder if it was meant to be implied (?) or maybe I’m just reading into it

There was less Annabeth screen time than I was expecting but every second she was on screen was PERFECTION

The casting could literally l not have been better I love them all omg

I was kind of surprised they didn’t confirm Percy’s dyslexia and ADHD in the first episode and instead had Luke mention it because I always thought that Percy had already been diagnosed long beforw he call to camp but maybe I misremembered that (?)

THE D’ANGELO REFERENCE YES - like I know it wasn’t about them but it has to be intentional right?

The blink and you miss it Kane Chronicles reference amused me I haven’t actually read all of the Kane Chronicles yet but I really should

WAS THAT BLACKJACK!!!!!??????

I’m guessing that mechanical monster Percy saw out the window was reference to the bulls in book three sorry I can’t remember what they’re called, and with that the doodles in his notebook YES!!! I noticed a cyclops, Medusa, the minatour, and what I think might have been the hydra but I haven’t rewatched yet so stay tuned for possible correction on that lol

I love camp so much! The cabins are incredible and the interior of the Hermes is so much nicer than I imagined whilst still maintaining a kind of overcrowded atmosphere, I love it.

“You are Poseidon’s son” “I am Sally Jackson’s son” y’all don’t understand I almost screamed oh my good lord yes yes yes yes yes

Also, sassy Percy

[fandoomrants]

Sooo, just a small comment on some of the things I loved in the finale of PJO.

There are obviously gonna be spoilers here soo...

-The fight between Percy and Ares!!! I loved the wave and now it was a subtle way of showing Poseidon was indeed beside him.

-The scenes between Percy and Luke!!! "Look, you didn't want to be a half-blood...". I loved the addition of these flashbacks of Luke teaching Percy to fight.

-Olympus! Omg, it was so pretty!!!

-Percy immediately being a total little shit with Zeus, I loved that!

-Poseidon showing up to protect Percy!

-Percy understanding only the word for "father" in Ancient Greek. He knows it because of Sally!

-"Ares is a moron."

-Overall the whole exchange between Percy and Poseidon. It really is a big step from him being all bitter and it was a bit corny but I liked it still.

-When Percy reveals Luke is the Lightning thief!

-Luke not fighting Percy at first. I have thoughts about the whole thing but I'll put them later on.

-Luke snapping for a moment and attacking Percy only after he mentions his father.

-Annabeth and her dagger!

-"Wait, your name is Percy!" And later "I don't think so", This was sooo hilarious. Especially when you think about how he initially tried to lie to him he's his dad. I'm pretty sure Dionysus knows his and everyone's name very well, he just likes being a jerk.

-"Some place called Disneyland", tbh, I feel like Annabeth won't be thrilled. I certainly wasn't and I was still am pretty childish as a kid.

-Grover's license!

-Their pact! That was so cute!

-"What did you dream of?" "Grandpa.". For a moment there I was like "What!? Are they tring to make it look like it was all a dream or that they're trying to make it as if Sally doesn't remember!?" but a moment later I was like "Nope, that's Percy Jackson, of course he'd refer to Kronos as his grandpa even tho he's his biggest enemy rn"

-Blue pancakes!

-When Percy and Sally were leaving the apartment, Percy's last narrative and the rain outside!

-The devastating moment when I thought we're not seeing Gabe turned into a statue but juuuust in case skipping the credits (call it a feeling or sth) and...

-GABE TURNING INTO A STATUE!!!! I'm honestly so happy! I'm not even mad Sally didn't do it as it was implied in the books. But she was divorcing him! I know he wasn't portrayed as bad as he was in the books in the TV show but I still believe he was emotionally abusing and he was still a jerk even tho it was toned down. Also, he was such an annoying, whiny bit-$(#..

...

That's all I can think of rn, even tho I believe there were other things too.

Now, I gotta admit I've read the book a looong time ago so I don't remember everything in great details but I noticed lots of the changes in the episode and throughout the whole season. I still enjoyed the show a lot, tho. Most of the changes made sense and like... Come on, it's an adaptation! And Rick Riordan was involved in the process so I believe he knew what he was doing with all these changes.

Tbh, I liked the first two episodes a lot, then idk, the third, maybe fourth too, were a tiiny bit meh to me but overall, I loved it and loved the last couple of episodes! I have mixed feelings for some things like them knowing about Medusa, the Lotus casino and other stuff but again, I trusted the process and it worked! It's only 8 episodes and there was a lot to happen there so I can see why these changes were needed. Figuring all out would have taken them a lot of time. Also, it was as much for new fans as it was for new ones so of course some things had to be made differently. For example, how the whole thing about who would betray Percy was done.

I've been watching lots of videos and posts of new fans who haven't read the books and I was cackling like an old hag at their assumptions how it was gonna be Grover or sth. And you just can't convince me that episode 7 and Annabeth getting caught by one of the roots wasn't with the exact purpose of making people think "Oh, they are friends now, what if it's her?" It was really well-played. And let's not forget how everyone was like "Luke! Babyboy, so precious." Can't wait to see everyone's reactions now... (Luke is still these things, even though he is "bad guy")

Speaking of Luke, again, haven't read the books in a while but I somewhat don't remember him and Percy being that close and being such good buddies. Idk, might need to read them again but even though I didn't mind that dynamic too much, I really thought this is more like how Luke and Annabeth should have been. I feel like we needed more interactions between them. Also, Luke speaks randomly about her twice, first telling Percy about her and calling her "my little sister" and then last episode giving that example with the spiders (nopee, I don't believe itt, she won't crush it, she'll scream and run unless it's a huge spider, then she'll fight it because of her bf) but she barely (if not ever) mentioned him? Yeah, she mentioned Thalia but almost nothing of Luke?? How are you gonna convince me that was her hero!? She should have been broken by his betrayal much more than Percy! Also, they kinda made Luke somewhat of a big softie, I thought it was because then his betrayal would have been more devastating but nope, there wasn't some kind of a 180° turn in his behaviour. Wonder why, to make him more relatable or? I want to see how his further actions are going to play out in this scenario...

Anywayy, all in all, I enjoyed the show a lot and I hope there is a next season. I want to see how the story will proceed on the screen (and I hope the changes we keep getting aren't anything too essential).

[prometheys]

                PERCY JACKSON    &    PROMETHEUS

Before I say anything else, I would like to say that I love Percy Jackson. I don’t even have that big of an issue with Prometheus in PJO, but I felt like it might be worth it to discuss his appearance in the series and my thoughts.

To start off, I think this throwaway line from Sea of Monsters is hilarious:

“Yeah,” the jogger said. “Listen—I know, but . . . I don’t care if he is chained to a rock with vultures pecking at his liver, if he doesn’t have a tracking number, we can’t locate his package. . . . A gift to humankind, great . . . You know how many of those we deliver—Oh, never mind. Listen, just refer him to Eris in customer service. I gotta go.”

Now on to the actual canon stuff.

Context: All excerpts were taken from The Last Olympian. The demi-gods are the last line of defence. They’re protecting the entrance to Olympus from the titan army. Prometheus has come to negotiate with them, hoping that they will surrender.

Prometheus winced. He touched the scratches on his face. “Please, don’t mention the vultures. But yes, I stole fire from the gods and gave it to your ancestors. In return, the ever merciful Zeus had me chained to a rock and tortured for all eternity.”

“But—”

“How did I get free? Hercules did that, eons ago. So you see, I have a soft spot for heroes. Some of you can be quite civilized.”

—

Prometheus looked pained, like he really cared what happened to me. “Percy, I’m the Titan of forethought. I know what’s going to happen.”

“Also the Titan of crafty counsel,” Grover put in. “Emphasis on crafty.”

Prometheus shrugged. “True enough, satyr. But I supported the gods in the last war. I told Kronos: ‘You don’t have the strength. You’ll lose.’ And I was right. So you see, I know how to pick the winning side. This time, I’m backing Kronos.”

This, I do have a minor issue with. While I do not have an issue with Prometheus picking the winning side in the original Titanomachy, I do have an issue with him siding with Kronos in the Second Titan War. Let me explain.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus allegedly saw that the gods would win, and this convinced his brother Epimetheus to join him on the side of the gods. Fair enough. However, the times have changed quite radically.

(I ended up writing my BA thesis on how Percy Bysshe Shelley misinterpreted Aeschylus’ Prometheus Unbound. While this would be a perfect time to go on that tangent, let’s just say that both Prometheus and Zeus needed to become better people before Prometheus was released from the mountain. They both needed to atone and reconcile. Might write a short analysis on that later.)

In short: Prometheus and Zeus have reconciled. 

“Because Zeus chained you to a rock,” I guessed.

“Partly, yes. I won’t deny I want revenge. But that’s not the only reason I’m supporting Kronos. It’s the wisest choice. I’m here because I thought you might listen to reason.”

However, I would argue the main thing that has changed between the First and Second Titan War, is mankind. Mankind did not play a factor in the Titanomachy, while it does in the Second Titan War.

Prometheus says:

“... When Kronos destroys Olympus, the gods will fade. They will become so weak they will be easily defeated. Kronos would rather do this while Typhon has the Olympians distracted in the west. Much easier. Fewer lives lost. But make no mistake, the best you can do is slow us down. … The gods and Mount Olympus will still be destroyed, but it will be much messier. Much, much worse for you and your city. Either way, the Titans will rule.”

Thus implying that mankind will be safe.

Prometheus shook his head. “You don’t understand. I helped shape your nature.”

A wiggling lump of clay appeared in his hands. He fashioned it into a little doll with legs and arms. The lump man didn’t have any eyes, but it groped around the table, stumbling over Prometheus’s fingers. “I have been whispering in man’s ear since the beginning of your existence. I represent your curiosity, your sense of exploration, your inventiveness. Help me save you, Percy. Do this, and I will give mankind a new gift—a new revelation that will move you as far forward as fire did. You can’t make that kind of advance under the gods. They would never allow it. But this could be a new golden age for you. Or . . .” He made a fist and smashed the clay man into a pancake.

Not only that, he allegedly believes that mankind will thrive.

However, the book also mentioned this:

Within a week, Olympus might fall. If the Age of the Gods really did end, the world as we knew it would dissolve into chaos. Demigods would be hunted to extinction. There would be no more summers for us.

While you could argue that this is written from Percy’s perspective, we don’t get much reason to doubt this. The titans are explicitly written as the “villains.”

Thus, Riordan established Prometheus to be the “helper of mankind” and someone who likes demi-gods, yet is also under the impression that they will be spared in the aftermath of the war — despite being the god of forethought?

Prometheus should know that Kronos hates demi-gods. Even if mankind gets spared, demi-gods would not be. While Riordan’s Prometheus might be fine with this, mine would never be.

Moreover, Prometheus would not fight a war in order to give mankind this supposed “new gift.” Like Grover said before, he is the god of “crafty counsel.” If Prometheus had a new gift to give to mankind, he would have found a way to give it to them without the needless loss of life.

“At any rate,” the Titan said, “you need not be my enemy. I have always been a helper of mankind.”

“That’s a load of Minotaur dung,” Thalia said. “When mankind first sacrificed to the gods, you tricked them into giving you the best portion. You gave us fire to annoy the gods, not because you cared about us.”

Thalia, or Rick Riordan, is wrong here. Prometheus did not trick the gods into giving him the best portion. He tricked Zeus so that mankind would get to keep the meat for themselves. This, in turn, is the reason why Zeus denied mankind fire. Depending on the myth, he either took the fire from mankind as punishment for Prometheus’ trickery, or he decided that they would never receive it in the first place.

Regardless, Prometheus stole the fire so mankind would thrive. So that they would keep the bountiful fruits of their labour in the form of the meat, as well as receive fire anyway. Everything Prometheus did in both scenarios, he did because he believed it would benefit mankind.

He did not steal fire to “annoy the gods.” Prometheus was right here, he has “always been a helper of mankind.”

My stomach did a queasy somersault. “What about the other Titans?”

“In hiding,” Hermes said. “Prometheus sent Zeus a message with a bunch of excuses for supporting Kronos. ‘I was just trying to minimize the damage,’ blah, blah. He’ll keep his head low for a few centuries if he’s smart. Krios has fled, and Mount Othrys has crumbled into ruins. Oceanus slipped back into the deep ocean when it was clear Kronos had lost. Meanwhile, my son Luke is dead. He died believing I didn’t care about him. I will never forgive myself.”

I think this would have been a smarter, more crafty, idea than him siding with the titans fully. However, Riordan never shows this and thus we have to believe that Prometheus is just trying to cover for himself in this scenario. Even though Prometheus never really tried to cover for himself, outside of siding with the gods in the Titanomachy. 

And even then you could still argue that Prometheus chose to side with the gods because he knew he would be rewarded with the creation of mankind.

TL;DR: Riordan’s Prometheus thinks he’s helping mankind, but has no actual reason to think so. He should not have chosen the side of the titans, because he should have known it would lead to a needless loss of human lives.

[the-knight-of-the-stars]

Percy Jackson: The Last Olympian first reading thoughts:

-I didnt sleep reading this but it was totally worth it!!

-Danm this was soo good!

-From the start things get heavy, Backendorf's death hurt me way more than I expected.

-I loved the entire part in Poseidon's castle, very interesting (and Tyson is here!)

-Wow Nico has changed so much since the begining (also his powers are very cool)

-To see the story of Luke and his mother uncover was hard to read, so tragic, I was at the verge of tears in many parts.

-It all came full circle, now the things Luke said in the first books make so much sense, you can see what drove him to those extreme ideas.

-And I love how Percy starts to change his inicial perception of things too. That is I think a very admirable part of him. Even if he is a very stubborn boy, he is willing to try and change his mind.

-But even more so Annabeth, she is so empathic despite her critical thinking, and I love that of her. She is truly so wise, even so young she realizes that she needs both the power of the heart AND mind. To almost the last second she holds on to her heart and that doesn't meant she stops being smart.

-Amazing to see the Underworld again, and Hades, and Persephone!

-Achilles's ghost, nice.

-Percy thinking of Annabeth in the river to survive STOP I LOVE THEM (Also dont think I didn't notice him constantly getting distracted with how pretty Annabeth looked)

-Very funny that whole interaction with Demeter, Persephone and Hades, and it was interesting to see how Nico tries to fit in there.

- I really thought we wouldnt get the chance to see Hestia and we did! And I loved how she was represented, as the hope that comes from the concep of home and how that parallels the gods and Olympus being the source of their power.

-I would have liked to see more of the gods fighting Typhon but I I looved the full focus on the battle defending Olympus.

-No, really, that entire battle was soo fricking cool. It took so much of the book and I adored every second. I could feel them getting cornered by Kronos, the progressive tiredness every time a new attack happens.

-Wow so much happens!

-Ok, I think my favorite parts were:

-THALIA!! Gods I missed her, It was so exciting to have her back and fighting.

-The automatons??? How cool is that??

-Percy provoking the Minotaur in such a cocky way, damn my boy has grown.

-Prometheus. Loved everything, such a fun antagonic character.

-Grover and his cool powers with nature turning a titan into a tree, AMAZING

-Percy chasing a gigant flying pig around New York.

-The centaurs coming to the rescue

-Dionysus using a party to manifest, so interesting and cool (nice of him to ask about his son)

-Percy referring to both his mom and Paul as "his parents"

-The battle with the dragon, everything felt so epic. Silena's sacrifice was so tragic, and Clarisse using her anger to kill the dragon, epic.

-"I will kill you ALL! Where is Kronos? Bring him out! Is he a coward?" Damn Clarisse...

-Hades, Demeter and Persephone coming to the fight!!!

-I was kinda hoping Luke could survive, but I guess his death was necessary. It was equally hearbreaking and beautiful. His sacrifice just made everything circle back in a true greek tragedy tale style.

-Again, with the impecable development of Percy. "You are not the hero" *cheff kiss.

-And again, Annabeth understanding eveything before eveyone else.

-To see all the gods reunited again was amazing

-YES GROVER MY BRAVE BOY YOU DESERVE THE WORLD

-And Tyson! I'm so happy for him, (I just hope he never has to actually fight)

-And Annabeth!! My dear girl will be architect of Olympus, I was about to cry, I'm so happy for her.

-Percy, I was not expecting him to ask that to the gods and I love him even more now. I knew some day his ability to defy the gods with a straight face would be used for a greater good. And damn he deliver. Again, everything full circle, what a good ending.

-Rachel is the Oracle now, cool. And I loved to see Apollo there, amazing.

-Another prophecy????

-PERCABETH PERCABETH PERCABETH!!! OMG FINALLY

-I swear they are the most adorable thing ever, the underwater kiss... :')

-Well that was fricking beautiful

-I loved this book and this series with my soul, an aboslute beauty of a story, everything was like a dream come true and I'm so happy I got to read it while I wasnt busy.

-What a journey, loved every second, I felt like a little kid again. 100/10

-You bet I'm reading EVERYTHING else from this franchise.

[thepjoarchivist]

Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. 

In chapter two - titled Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death - we start off with Percy having a bad time. As fun as the chapter titles are, they appear to be lies because Percy is not having fun. 

Mrs. Kerr is brought up again. She’s a perky blond woman whom Percy has never seen in his life. The other students are convinced that she’s been their teacher since Christmas. I just want to know who this woman is. Is she actually a math teacher or is she a random woman off the street? Is she a monster? She’s got to have some relevance to Greek mythology because Grover keeps lying about her. I can’t decide if Grover is bad at lying or if Percy is extremely perceptive because of whatever bad thing happened to him. 

It kills me that they’re lying to him and he knows the truth. Or at least part of it. This is giving me Rosemary’s Baby vibes. The gaslighting! 

Oh no, Percy is having nightmares about Mrs. Dodds. This really scared him. It would have scared me too. 

Again, the weather is brought up. This time it seems to be attacking him directly. Since Zeus is the one who’s lightning bolt was stolen and he’s the god of thunder, it’s safe to assume that he’s the one who blew out Percy’s window. In the same paragraph, we find out that there’s record-breaking tornadoes near Percy’s school and sudden squalls that are bringing down small planes in the Atlantic. It sounds like a lot of people are dying because of the unexpected weather. 

I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. 

Percy is not having a good time. I guess his C- really was the best grade he got so if he’s normally a D student, I really don’t understand how he’s been pushed through to the next grade every time. When Percy says he’s getting into more fights, I wonder what kind of fights he’s referring to. Fist fights? Verbal fights? Is he trying to drown Nancy Bobofit and her friends again? 

Their English teacher is named Mr. Nicoll and wow, he’s a jerk for calling Percy lazy and stupid. I had to google what “sot” meant because this term seems to predate 2005 so much that Percy doesn’t even know what it means…but it means he called his teacher an old, stupid drunk. Is Mr. Nicoll secretly Dionysus? When do we get to see the gods? 

The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy. 

Percy is very upset about having not been invited back for seventh grade even though he didn’t seem to like the school much. I think it’s because his mom will look at him with those sad eyes he mentioned in the last chapter. The fact that he immediately moves on from the ban to thinking about how much he wants his mom…Percy is clearly seeking comfort. 

Obnoxious stepdad who plays poker? Is he the one who hurts Percy? 

I love that the first thing Percy thinks of when he says he’d miss Yancy was the nature; the trees, the Hudson River in the distance. Grover is next, and then Mr. Brunner. Percy, don’t miss them, they’re lying to you. 

Aw, Percy just wants someone to believe in him. 

Do you think that RR read the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology? 

Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. 

One thing that I can say with certainty, since I have it, is that this is not how dyslexia works. This is, however, how magic mushrooms work. I double-checked the intended age for the series and RR says that they’re for ages 9-14 so I feel that my protagonist-on-drugs theory may not be correct, despite the evidence for it. 

Watching Percy’s anxiety as he struggles to study for this test that he really wants to pass is just making me so sad for him. He’s trying so hard. 

I’d never asked a teacher for help before. 

Oh my goodness. My heart. Even though he knows that Mr. Brunner is lying to him, Percy still wants to go to him for help and put the effort into passing his class. Percy spent most of chapter one plotting murder but he’s really a sweetheart. 

Mr. Brunner, what are you doing alone with Grover in the middle of the night? Why are these teachers spending so much time alone with children? They’re gossiping about Percy. Is this the first time or have they been talking about him before? Based on the conversation, it sounds like Percy is in some trouble and doesn’t know it yet…and also like they’ve talked about this before. 

Percy isn’t even there and Mr. Brunner is trying to convince Grover that Percy just imagined Mrs. Dodds. I had to google what a Kindly One was and it turns out to be a Fury. That must be what Mrs. Dodds was. Also, kind of surprised that Mr. Brunner couldn’t see through the Mist. He’s clearly involved somehow. 

Grover has duties? What does failing mean? 

Mr. Brunner says he’s worried about keeping Percy alive until next fall. It’s weird that he specified a time until which Percy can be dead. I wonder if there’s something happening next fall that he needs to be alive for. 

Percy’s book slipped out of his hand, alerting Mr. Brunner and Grover to the presence of a spy, and Percy backs into an empty room. Before he goes into this room, Percy sees the shadow of something big and armed with a bow and arrow. Later, he hears an animal snuffling right outside of the room he’s hiding in and then Mr. Brunner is talking. So Mr. Brunner is a monster but he’s trying to keep Percy alive. 

Percy hides in the room for “what feels like forever” and he’s sweating and scared. When he goes back to the dorm room, Grover is there acting like nothing happened. Again. This time with the added bonus of telling Percy that he looks like shit. lol Percy lies to Grover about how he’s feeling, clearly not trusting him anymore. I wouldn’t trust Grover either. 

A three hour Latin exam? 

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Mr. Brunner is trying to embarrass Percy in front of the class by telling him it’s for the best that he leaves the school. What kind of teacher worth their salt openly says that a student doesn’t belong when the whole class can hear? They’re taking a test, so it’s got to be dead silent in that classroom, the kind of silence where you can hear everyone shifting around in their seats. Mr. Brunner is really making Percy almost cry (my eyes stung) in front of the whole class. 

I just know that after that whole interaction, Percy went and cried in the bathroom. 

Apparently Yancy is a school for rich juvenile delinquents. If Percy needs to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, how did his family afford to send him there? 

It occurred to me that he’d always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. 

Percy talks about how Grover is nervous when they leave Yancy, however, we didn’t see that at all when they were at the museum. Also how often do the students leave the school? That aside, why would Grover behave nervously now when he was perfectly fine with having a Fury as a math teacher…and with whatever Mr. Brunner is? If my math is correct, Mrs. Dodds was there from December to May and Grover did tell Percy that she’s a monster. 

More gaslighting from Grover. 

Does Grover have a business card in cursive just to be a dick to Percy? Why does a child have a business card? What is Grover keeping aside from the truth from Percy? Why can’t Percy say Half-Blood Hill? 

All year long, I’d gotten into fights, keeping bullies away from him. I’d lost sleep worrying that he’d get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me. 

As Percy said moments before; why would Percy need Grover? It sounds like this is very much a relationship where Percy gives and Grover takes. Percy is a good friend.

Even I recognize the Fates when I see them. I’m not sure why they would be knitting a giant pair of socks. Socks aren’t that uncommon to knit, but a giant pair seems odd. At least the Fates have some taste by using electric-blue yarn. 

The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. 

Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I’d caught the flu. 

I’ve never heard of the Fates blatantly showing when someone was about to die, but I can only imagine that this is what RR meant to accomplish by showing it. The way that it seemed to physically affect Percy, makes me think that perhaps it was his lifestring. Does this mean that Percy is now a ghost haunting the narrative? 

Grover yet again refuses to talk to Percy about anything and only winds up his own (and Percy’s) anxiety. We once again see something about a ‘last time,’ which I assume means that someone died on Grover’s watch and that’s how he failed. This child being in charge of other people's lives does not sit well with me. 

“Grover - that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?”

Percy is very perceptive. He didn’t recognize the Fates but he still knows what it means based on how Grover reacts. The way that Grover looks at Percy at the end of this chapter tells me that he’s already decided Percy is a lost cause. Maybe there’s a reason that he failed his duties last time.

[basiccortez]

hi!! i have a few name suggestions for the baby series if you’ll allow me—

josh - would honestly gravitate towards something more nature-y i feel like,, even though he is super like Out There with his fashion choices (though, which of the boys Aren’t) i feel like he’d be into something cute that will fit them as a kid then into adulthood/something with good imagery so like maybe marigold, juniper, clementine, lavender or magnolia for a girl and for a boy something like elmore, cosmo, grover or forrest. (bonus points for film reference) also feel like he is such a nickname person not because he can’t remember names but because he likes giving the people he loves cute little names he remembers them by and honestly the mental image of him calling one of his little girls goldie, june/junebug, or maggie is enough to make death’s heart melt.

jake - if the baby is a boy you cannot tell me Jacob Thomas Kiszka (sir) would Not suggest him being named after himself. he is 100% most likely to have his kid named after him and would consistently talk about having “jake 2” running around the whole duration of your pregnancy. jake would want something simple and sweet as a name on paper and then literally never call them that because; like his twin brother, jake is also notorious for giving nicknames. he’d probably like hugo, max, jude, or finn for a boy and for a girl something like isabel, lucy, norah, or may.

sam - would absolutely love to name his daughter after someone he looks up to musically. knowing that his little girl has some badass woman to look up to that she’s named after would make him legitimately so happy. doesn’t matter first or middle name, but joni strikes me as something sam would Really love. or maybe something generally music related like harper, piper, or calliope. for a boy i can’t really pin anything specific down but it would definitely be more eccentric. i can imagine sam bringing up a baby name book and sitting next to you being like “no, babe, you don’t understand it’d be so cool like, “check it, my son: Blade” … why are you laughing” could definitely see him liking something like lennox (or if we’re going back to music theme then lennon), scout, or jasper.

danny - strikes me as a completely traditional guy. he’d consider something more out of the box if his partner liked it or suggested it, but genuinely i think this man is just into something simple, classic, timeless, all of it. if he isn’t carrying down a name like his fathers or grandfather’s name he’d gravitate towards names like theodore, arthur, wyatt, or luke for a boy and for a girl i’m thinking Definitely penelope, eleanor, sofia, or grace.

sorry that’s literally a whole novel, but i really like baby names/etymology so i thought i’d give suggestions! (also yes there are many subtle and less so subtle beatles references throughout this because they’re all into classic rock, you can’t tell me they wouldn’t wanna have a tribute to the biggest band on the planet via their kids)

i read this at like two AM last night and spent the whole night fantasizing about it. ITS TOO CUTE!!!! I bet you didn't except a novel back, but here it is

i had some names picked out cause… i know something y’all don’t… but i am rethinking choices now. so let’s break down my thought process a bit. also feel free to message me so we can talk more about names:)

Josh: i feel the same way about nature-y vibe names for this man. something very simple, but old fashioned. The way I have portrayed Y/N in his scenario is as an artist like him, and I feel like they would be on the same page about names. I looked up names from the early 20’s era all the way to the 60’s-ish. I tried to stay away from music/artist names because i didn’t want to feel like i was copying any writers. I have changed the name like 30 thousand times i had picked out for josh’s baby because i feel like that’s a very josh thing to do. I feel like Josh would be so conflicted on names and be that type of: “when i see them, that’s when i’ll know what to name them”. some names i’ve thought of for a boy are: Henry, Thomas (my personal favorite), Abel, Francis, Oliver. Some names for a girl i’ve thought of are: Olive, Ruth, Etta, Ora, and Clara

Jake: So for Jake I've gone back and forth on names for him. I do agree that he would 100% want to pass on his namesake to his son (hence why TJ is named TJ in A Song Unknown). I feel as though Jake would pick something for his son that is a bit older and kind of makes us go like "huh, not what I was expecting," but also something music based (I feel like out of all the boys, he would do a music reference name) for boys names I was leaning towards: George, Ezra, Wallace, Hendrix (my favorite), Harrison, Arlo, Dylan. For girls though, I can see Jake and Y/N picking out something super strong for a female name. Again with the same theme of the "that's not what I was expecting", it would be something that was unique. For girls names I was thinking of: Maverick, Lennon, Zeppelin, Hendrix (hehe, I said it was my fav), Viola.

Sam: For some reason with Sam, I am stumped when it comes to names. I feel like Sam would pick names that are just like "what? are you on drugs?" (I can't remember if it was this installment of the Baby Series or next week where Sam and Y/N have a conversation about names. . . anyway no spoilers). We know Sammy boy says whatever comes to mind, so I feel like he would say something random and Y/N's like "no." But all jokes aside, I feel like Sam would be very much like his older brothers, choosing something simple, but unique. I feel like for boys, Sam would be more towards the musical side like Jake: Deacon, Cash, Jude, Otis, Stephen. For girls I think Sammy Boy would be wanting the perfect name. I can see Sam, like Josh, fussing over the name. Y/N is definitely going to have to help him out with this one. For some reason, for a girl, I see Sam choosing something very simple, kind of free spirited: Willow, Lily, Celeste, Clementine, Kai

Danny: The way I have portrayed Danny and Y/N's story is one of heartbreak to happiness. They have been through the struggle of infertility, losing a baby, failed IVF, and are finally getting what they’ve fought hard to have. In my mind I have envisioned them picking names that have the same common theme(s). something along the lines of their rainbow baby being an ultimate gift, something strong, something powerful. For a boy, i feel like they would choose something like: Gabriel, Jonah, Arthur, Elliot, Theodore. For a girl, it would be something classic but beautiful: Hope, Grace, Freya, Harriet, Minerva

[theolympusfiles]

rereading the PJO and HoO - part one: the lightning thief

before i start, all italicized parts are from the lightning thief by rick riordan. they're not my words and these are not my characters. my thoughts are the only thing that are mine :)

• "mom, you're coming too." her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. "no!" i shouted, you are coming with me. help me carry grover". - the first(ish) appearance of percy's fatal flaw! i love the early establisment, especially because it helps foreshadow to the sea of monsters when fatal flaws are formally introduced.

• "that's -" "pasiphae's son," my mother said. "i wish i'd known how badly they wanted to kill you." - sally is underappreciated. she's smart as hell and clearly took the time to research demigods. yes, she was a little bit selfish with keeping percy out of the loop and not sending him to camp. but can you blame her? she lost all of her family and if she sent percy to CHB at an early age, that most nearly means she won't see him often (he'll attract monsters because he's aware of his status as a demigod and will most likely be at camp full-time). but sally ensured that she knew enough about the demigod world to protect percy because she knew that her selfishness would come with consequences. best mom.

• i was crying, calling for my mother, but i held on to grover - i wasn't going to let him go. - percy's first loss as a demigod and i am broken. honestly, so sad to think of, especially knowing all the losses he'll face in the future books. this line is also his fatal flaw showing once again (refer to first bulletpoint)

• "it (america) is the great power of the west. and so olympus is here. and we are here." - if olympus follows the west, where would the next location be? obviously, america is still a big powerhouse in terms of western civilization but that's not going to last. my bet is south korea but who knows? would love a fanfic on this tbh

• "the truth is, i can't be dead. you see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. i could continue the work i loved. i could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. i gained so much from that wish... and i gave up so much. but i'm still here, so i can only assume i'm still needed." - how will it be decided that he's not needed? honestly, can't imagine CHB without him but chiron also deserves retirement

• i started to understand luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, hermes so okay, maybe gods had important things to do. but couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder or something? - percy has always showed some hesitance when accepting the demigod world, so i wasn't really surprised to see doubts like this pop up, especially with luke's influence. i'd think most demigods feel this way, luke and percy are just the ones who exhibit it the most in the series. i'm really interested in the parallels between the two and i'm looking forward to reading more and examining them

• "during the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, zeus and poseidon had an argument. the usual nonsense: 'mother rhea always liked you best', 'air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters', etc. - despite the fact that the gods are all-powerful beings, i appreciate the petty sibling spats that are mentioned briefly

• "so let me get this straight," i said. "i'm supposed to go to the underworld and confront the world of the dead." "check," chiron said. "find the most powerful weapon in the universe." "check." "and get it back to olympus before the summer solstice in ten days." "that's about right." i looked at grover, who gulped down the ace of heaers. "did i mention that maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly. - this would be perfect for those 30 second trailers

• "gee," i said feigning surprise. "who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a q uest like this?" the air shimmered behind chiron. annabeth became visible, stuffing her yankees cap into her back pocket. - the way he knows her pretty well already, i-

• the truth was, i didn't care about retrieving zeus' lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble. - early on, we see from the get go that percy has a dislike for the gods. it's small mentions like this that really gets me thinking. he never really showed any dislike of the gods when he first arrived at camp (understandable) but he was hopeful for his father. it wasn't until luke planted the seed into his head that these thoughts came to light. i love this little detail, especially as we know that towards the end, luke does seem to think he can turn percy against the gods. his plan backfired a little bit on him in the end but like i said before, the parallels between luke and percy are so glaring. riordan definitely thought it out extensively

• do not be a pawn of the olympians, my dear. you would be better off as a statue - this is said to percy by medusa and again, feeds into his dislike of the gods. i wonder if monsters have some opinion on this. most would probably hate the gods but i wonder what their stance is on demigods. we know that they work with them (see kronos' army). the real enemy for monsters are the gods, the demigods killing them are just pawns to the gods so maybe that's how some monsters see them

• "so, what's your status?" luke asked me. "chiron will be sorry he missed you." i told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. it felt so good to see him, to feel like i was back at camp even for a few minutes, that i didn't even realize how long i had talked to him until the beeper went off on the spray machine. - there's no doubt that percy really considered luke a friend. he wasn't hesitant to tell luke about his dreams, something that he didn't share with annabeth or grover until later on the book. luke was a sort of mentor to percy and it was conveyed pretty well through their interactions, which makes his betrayal even more heartbreaking

• "you think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" she wouldn't meet my eyes. "please. i'm not into self-inflicted pain." - my heart breaks for annabeth and her relationship with her father. i've read most of the riordanverse books and the growth in annabeth's relationship with her family is definitely something i'm looking forward to watch grow as i make my way through the books again

• i looked over at the desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket - so i never paid the dreams any mind but now that i think about it, they're really good for analysis. for example, the straitjacket could mean something like the gods are keeping them restrained. maybe i'm overthinking it or have been analyzing text too much in AP english but i think that the dreams are worth some deeper thinking

• i pretended not to see annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening of cerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend - i need to see annabeth play with cerberus again D:

• i turned and faced my mother. i desperately wanted to sacrifice myself and the last pearl on her, but i knew what she would say. she would never allow it. i had to get the bolt back to olympus and tell zeus the truth. i had to stop the war. - percy's growth as a character really shines through here. the lightning thief is a pretty short book and the journey they took was less than 2 weeks but despite that percy's grown immensely as a character. his goal was always to save his mother but in the end, he sacrificed her because he knew it was his duty to save olympus and i respect that

• "you have made an enemy, godling," he told me. "you have sealed your fate. every time you raise your blade in battle, everytime you hope for success, you will feel my curse. beware, perseus jackson. beware." - ares cursed percy to be unsuccesful in battle but does his curse ever take effect? i don't recall any mention of this curse later on the series. obviously, percy is the main character and a really good swordfighter but the curse might have affected some battles right? but then again riordan has a lot of plotholes so i wouldn't put too much thought in it

• i knew dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong. - i've always accepted the fact that dionysus called the demigods by their wrong name for humor. but what if it's deeper? what if it's a way to put some space between him and the demigods, just as an extra precaution so he won't get attached. or it could be a ploy to showcase that he's more powerful than them and that they are beneath him, which is why he doesn't need to know their name. i like the former headcanon more though :P

• i opened my eyes. i was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the big house, my right hand bandaged like a club. argus stood guard in the corner. annabeth sat next to me, holding my nectar glass and dabbing a washcloth on my forehead. "here we are again," i said. - the parallel

well, that's everything i had notes on. overall, i liked rereading it. i really do miss this series and i'm finding my love for it be rekindled by rereading. i miss the humor of the early books (i could literally make a whole post of underrated lines). the last time i read the series in its whole was when i was 7 and now that i'm 16, i have more thoughts and can analyze the story better. also loved seeing baby percabeth as they're my OTP. i'm excited to continue with the series. to the sea of monsters!

[wint-er]

Percy Jackson Characters In New Zealand

Aka. Me self projecting my country and all of the Kiwi stereotypes into the web :) This is also mostly based in the North Island bc that's where I lived.

Percy:

Straight up disgusted by Fish and Chips

Liked chocolate fish

Loved the Natural hot springs

Quietly terrified that the Māori gods have children as well

Annabeth

Loves Auckland Art Gallery and the City

Thinks the Taupo Gondolas and Sky Tower is the best thing ever

Did a bunch of research into Māori Mythology

Is really confused by some of the foods

Grover

Thinks the different wild life is fascinating

Got a surprise when the Tui's starting attacking him for going under a tree they were nesting in

Loves all the hikes and bush areas

Thinks Tāne Mahuta (The tree) is the coolest fucking thing

Has mixed opinions on Pohutakawa trees

Thalia

Hates the Sky Tower

And the Gondolas

And the Luge

And the Red Woods Tree walk (Me too bro me too)

Loved the hikes though

Frank

Was lowkey intimidated the Haka the first time he saw it being performed

Didn't believe that Kiwis existed when he first heard about them

Dies the whole of summer bc its raining but its so hot and why the fuck is the rain warm

Doesn't understand the obsession with sheep

Hazel

Fucking loved pineapple lumps and L&P

Thinks that the Fantails are the cutest birds ever

Doesn't understand why people who live there call themselves Kiwis

Thinks it's hilarious that the white people get called Pakeha.

Thinks summer Christmases are so much fun

Piper

Loved the way that Waiata can be sung by anyone because they are so simple, she taught everyone a bunch

Thought the Glow worm caves where magical

Loved the scenic boat rides

Thinks it's hilarious how there are just deer and ostrich farms on the side of the road

Took so many photos of the sunsets over various harbours

Jason

Took it upon himself to learn different Māori phrases

Hated how his glasses would fog up everywhere during Thermal walks in Rotorua

Was confused at why there were little kids running around shouting words in Māori when they are very very white

Went to a school cause he was curious, smelt milk for schools, left again.

Leo

Thinks Māori fried bread was the BEST

Thinks the idea of a Hangi is kinda weird but he just went with it

Doesn't understand the weird mannerisms

Got freaked out by a Hongi the first time it happened

Thinks all the beaches were great, his friends not so much, apparently the sand was hot? he had no idea

Nico

Doesn't get the slang in the slightest

Thinks the accent is weird af

Doesn't understand how these little kids are just chilling on the beach in hats, togs and jandals, like where are their parents (Their parents are setting up dinner and the kids cousin wandered off)

Doesn't understand why these people are so obsessed with seafood

Does like the Mince pies though

Will

VIBES WITH THE FREE HEALTH CARE

Thinks the Pak 'n' Save is the best

Auckland Zoo? Motat? Loved those too, the trams are awesome

Hated Puzzling world with a passion did not like it, made his brain hurt.

Sausage Sizzles? We have to do that back at camp

M'kay so thats me projecting, clarification on things are below the cut:

Sausage Sizzles: A sausage in white bread, done all the time as fundraisers, and outside Bunnings, we share custody of this with Australia who refer to them as Bunnings Snags.

MOTAT: Museum of Transport and Technology

Togs and Jandals: Swimsuit and Flip Flops

Hangi: Māori meal, cooked underground (that is a fucking awful explaination Im so sorry)

Milk for Schools: It's pretty self explanatory, The bins where the rubbish are kept smell awful because its all sour/hot milk

Little, white kids knowing Māori: Some (most?) schools teach basic Māori words when you're in primary, such as greetings, counting to 10, colours, stand up, sit down etc.

Waiata: Māori songs

Pineapple Lumps: Pineapple (alledgedly) flavoured marshmallow in chocolate, better frozen.

L&P: Lemon and Paeroa, Lemonade, just slightly bitterer than Sprite

Fantails: Little birds who's tails look like fans, Māori word is Pīwakawaka

Haka: Māori war dance, you might have seen it before the NZ rugby team competes in a match

Pohutakawa Trees: Also known as New Zealand Christmas Tree's they have red flowers that bloom in the summer, their petals (?) dry, and turn into essentially massive prickles with hooks, they get absolutely everywhere. (I have alot of knowledge ab the prickles because I had a massive tree outside my childhood home)

Tāne Mahuta: Tāne Mahuta is the largest Kauri tree alive.

Tūī: Tūīs are a NZ native bird, they're very pretty but they do dive bomb you if they go near their nests (this has happened to me when I tried to get the mail one year)

Chocolate Fish: Pink marshmallow, coated in chocolate in a vague shape of a fish.

:)

[thejudgingtrash]

would you class percy as a morally grey character? i’m really interested to hear your input

Anon 2: Would u class percy as an Morally Gray character?

Hey there! Let me write that essay for you about morally gray Percy ^^

It’s not about whether Percy is a morally gray character or not, it’s about he has to be otherwise the story doesn’t make any sense. At least for me it wouldn’t.

Ashley (@gr33kg0ds) said in the tags of my dark!Percy post something along the line of people diminishing Percy’s character because they need him to be pure and fluffy and I wholeheartedly agree with that!

Just because Percy’s twelve doesn’t mean he’s pure and didn’t do unproblematic things. I’ll mostly refer to The Lightning Thief because that book is the Magnus Opus for Riordan and perfectly stands for Percy as a morally gray character from the very beginning of the saga. (Also the only book I’ve recently re-read)

As much as I love fanon with all the amazing artworks, debates, memes and jokes, analysis, cool edits and wonderful fanfics, projecting your version of Percy doesn’t make the image in your head real. Percy in canon is not the fun and fluffy boy you imagine him to be or which social media sites (Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and yes, also Tumblr) tend to make him to be. He’s a scrawny little sarcastic twerp that was the unpopular kid. He isn’t that cringy dude Tony Lopez doing that fucking weird TikTok dance (side note: I don’t even know who this person is and I don't care, I saw the video and immediately wanted to delete every social media app on my phone, so thanks Tony?), kissing his Yeezys goodnight, vibing to our lord and gay icon Taylord “T. Swizzle” Swift song and flexing them iPhone 11 Max Pros. Percy literally said that going to Burger King with his mother once in a while would be considered a luxury. He’s a poor bastard in literal sense.

Part of the problem with the distinction of Percy’s character and his motives stem from the fact that Percy is a sneaky unreliable narrator and we as the audience (especially if you’re younger) don’t question most of his behavior if you even question some (pretty sure that most of us only picked up weird stuff as adults). Everything seems plausible to you. But does it mean that his behavior is necessarily good? Something that would paint his character as good?

Like I’ve said, let’s take a look at TLT. The very beginning of everything and the wonderful line that gets quoted everywhere: “Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood”. 

The very first line that quoted everywhere or used as in moodboard and edits but its meaning and significance get brushed off for the most part. It immediately sets the tone and the atmosphere for the book and for Percy as a character. A(n in my opinion) morally gray character. The very first thing we hear from Percy is that he doesn’t want to be in this world. He’s an involuntary participant who has been (upon further reading) blackmailed and forced into this world and is only cooperating to get his mother back and said in regards to his father (who also stands for the Greek pantheon) ”well yeah, would be nice to know about my dad but I’ve survived without him the past twelve years so I don’t know, he wouldn’t be missed necessarily I guess?“ That pretty much tells you, it foreshadows, that we will be dealing with someone with grit, someone that fights back, someone that went through shit, someone that isn’t a goody two-shoed character. Does it mean he’s a terrible (in the sense of evil or bad) character from the get go? Not really, but it tells you in nuances that he won’t be the white shining knight you might expect from a fairy tale.

There is so much that little Perseus Jackson has to offer you directly in the first book. So much that paints him as a morally gray character. From the illegal candy stash all the way to tricking Procrustes into his own trap. He knows right from wrong and isn’t innocent by any means. He wants you to think he’s innocent. Yes, he hunts monsters and the book also tells you that some adults (Gabe) can also be monsters, but Percy’s personality is so interesting and full of facets which I love! He’s misleading you on purpose. Deflects, plays events down. He lies in front of you to others but you don’t really doubt it. Instead of questioning it, you understand it.

What distinguishes Percy from other male protagonists in that notion that the author doesn’t try to paint him as particularly good (the reader connects the dots, in reality) is pretty much that. Percy is neither inherently good or bad. He’s in the middle. He does lots of questionable things and his personality adds to it. Something that immediately comes to my mind is his lack of fear of consequences. He thinks in the short term and not in the long term. Of course, he’s caring about those that are close and important to him (Grover, Annabeth and his mother of course. And well. The world not getting destroyed by his weird father and fucking crazy uncle would be a plus). But Percy isn’t really a strategist (yet). Look at the Medusa head thingy. Annabeth and Grover warn him, that he’s gonna get his ass beat and he doesn’t care. That these gods could squish him in the end didn’t matter to him.

The Olympian gods are painted as these unpenetrable huge mighty force and some fuzzy annoyed twelve year old dipshit sends them the severed head of a monster - but not any monster, the monster his father had a role in creating (well, Athena for the most part, but you know what I mean). (Also, I know this kinda reckless behavior gets sorta rewarded but at first, everyone was like ‘NO, NO, NO!’ before Percy was glorious with his attempt). Percy essentially tells these ancient forces that drive the way of his new cosmos how shit‘s gonna work from now on.

Percy isn’t fear riddled and doesn’t think about the possible outcome. He manipulates, he lies, he persuades and all of this as soon as he hits twelve. But probably earlier. Pretty sure he had to become a believable lier in order to trick (survive being around) Gabe. Perseus is angry, he’s agitated. Had Riordan written Percy as a soft spoken, frightened, goody two-shoed kid, almost nothing in TLT and the follow-ups would have made sense. He’s the outcast, but slowly blossoms into the strength and muscles of the group. Of the entire camp. Someone that outsmarts opponents and wins battles. But he didn’t do that by playing nice and being a bootlicker.

TLT would’ve been a perfect standalone book that would have emphasized that Percy is an involuntary person sive) if you skip Kronos, leave a little bit foreshadowing with the prophecy out, tweak the talks with the gods and Annabeth’s first meeting and skip Luke and the scorpion at the end. The ending would’ve been “and so Percy had a first awesome summer vacation and found a group of friends for life” or so (aka PJO movie 1 in less shitty and more cohesive).

The morally gray character shrinks a little bit in the SOM because there lie straighter dangers ahead which dive more into the bigger picture and Percy grows more into the character who takes care of friends and but he does come back with TTC, and definitely BOTL and the St. Helens explosion.

Consequences of Percy’s interactions had people partially dying. There is doubt, there is guilt. But the show must go on. There are battles that have to be won. There is no big giving up, no big overturn for the bad guys.

Also... isn’t it interesting that we start with Percy saying ”look, I don’t want to be in this world“ in TLT and it ends with TLO where he says ”for once I didn’t look back“? The full circle? The way that accepting his fate took five books? To change Percy from being an involuntary participant to becoming voluntary? He didn’t want to be a half-blood, he didn’t want to be the kid in the prophecy, but he actively chose to be in the end. He went from a darker shade of gray to a mayhaps lighter, if you want to say so.

To conclude, I repeat myself again: it’s not about whether Percy is a morally gray character or not, it’s that he has to be.

Thanks for asking me about some meta stuff I really do like diving into these things here and there. Tumblr’s sorta glitchy, I do get notifications but I really don’t see asks, so I’m sorry if my response is mad late ^^

[sapphicambitions]

like when I say I think Luke Castellan is gay I don’t mean it as a cutesy “don’t u wish ur fave was gay” kind of way I mean textually and seriously I believe he was gay. 

I could cite the petty stuff like “he only had female friends growing up” and “he clearly never showed interest in women even though many women were interested in him” or “he is one of the few people in the series who didn’t actually have a serious love interest / partner” or whatever but i feel like it’s actually much deeper than that. Luke was a young person who had a difficult and strained relationship with his parents. He saw how flawed the system was and how it was treating people like him, and sought to change the system, give power to people like him, and start it all over. (Yeah, he fell victim to people who influenced him to the dark side but that had nothing to do with his gayness, imo.) He just reminds me a lot of characters like Nico and Catra from She-Ra: repressed gay with a strained relationship with parental figures, angry and willing to take down the world. In this essay I will-

.......like no but seriously

Luke had a very troubled childhood because of his mother’s damaged mind, and the fact that she was constantly having fits and telling him how terrible things were going to be for him. When Luke is (angrily) describing his childhood to Hermes he says: “You could’ve helped me when she was having one of her fits, shaking me and saying crazy things about my fate. When I used to hide in the closet so she wouldn’t find me with those glowing eyes,” like!!! he even mentions hiding in a closet (let me find the subtext where i want it)  but seriously, you know what’s one of the first things my mother said to me when I came out to her? “You know how much harder your life is going to be, don’t you?” So then Luke ran away from his home and found a new family, one that looked out for each other and loved each other more than their blood family ever did. This is a queer narrative!!

And with Hermes, it was all sorts of fucked up. His father kept him at a distance. Made Luke feel like there was something wrong with him, like he didn’t love him. His dad made it very clear to him what his expectations were of him, tried to encourage him to be a great hero, like all the heroes before him (when he was talking to him about sending him on a quest and Hermes said “You will get a change to be a great hero before…”) but Luke didn’t want to be the person his father expected him to be. He wanted to be something new, something true to himself. Luke was always burdened down with the weight of his parent’s expectations, both the expectation that he should strive to be a perfect hero and the knowledge that his future was doomed. 

So one time i was at a bar with friends and me and the only other queer person there were talking and he was like “gay men and their dads, you know what i mean?” and I was like “yeah also gay women and their moms” and we had a whole discussion about growing up with a certain set of expectations of who you’ll be from your parents and the gendered expectations they have for you and having to crush all of that when you come out to them and navigating the difficulties that come with that when you want to be your own person so like there’s your real world comparison / evidence for that argument

ALSO Luke ran away from home but then kind of immediately went to Camp Half-Blood where he was shoved into the Hermes cabin with all of his siblings and undetermined kids and then still expected to scrape part of his food in the fire and be thankful to his deadbeat dad. That would suck! He was already harboring all of this rage inside of him, and then he went on his quest. Saw the world. Was exposed to other schools of thought. He understood that he was just being used as a pawn. He came back a different person, he didn’t quite fit in at camp anymore now that he’d seen the world. Kind of like when I went off to be gay at college and then came back to my childhood home and had to be straight around all my high school friends. just saying.

Luke saw the flaws in the system, the way the gods ruled the world. The way the gods treated their children and how much it hurt them. He felt so betrayed and hurt and abandoned by his dad and all the gods, so instead of sitting with it, he thought “I can do better.” Luke sought to rebuild the world, scrap it all and start new. Start with new leaders who took better care of everyone, who did things completely differently than the way it was done before, and raze anything before it. We’re going to ignore the fact that he was influenced to the dark side for a moment because it’s not related to this essay, but I also feel like this is a very queer narrative. (how many times can i say that phrase in this essay) Seeing the flaws in the way the world is treating people like you and wanting to do better. Luke said (this not an actual book quote more of a dramatic sentiment): “I won’t be used and I won’t be who you want me to be. I will become my own person and there’s nothing you can fucking do to stop me. I will make a new world, better than before, without you, for people like me, and I will tear down the walls of the previous world if I fucking have to” and i just think that’s very gay rights of him.

A thing that I’m a big fan of is seeing specific character types and relating them to each other. For example: our fave Nico di Angelo and Catra from She-Ra. (If you haven’t seen She-Ra, she’s the DEFINITION of an angry repressing gay) We can see from Nico’s narrative and from Catra’s narrative and also just straight up my own personal narrative that sometimes when you’re gay and repressing and afraid of becoming the person you are warned against, while also knowing that you were meant for more but maybe not quite understanding what that more is yet, and overall just want to feel accepted and loved as who you truly are but not receiving that, it can tend to make one lash out in angry and irresponsible ways. It can make one isolate themselves from those they previously were close to. It can lead to irrational and impulsive choices for all the wrong reasons because you don’t feel right and you don’t know why. Not at all saying this is the same across the board for queer people, it’s just something that honestly happens to some people and I can relate to when i see it in characters. 

I see that in Luke. He is weighed down by everything his parents want him to be, both good and bad, and is trying to scrap the world and make a new one for people like him. He wants to take his turn, pushing aside anyone who’s hurt him. Luke was someone who was constantly being torn apart by the world and just wanted to feel safe and secure in who he was and the world he was in. He was acting in anger and fear and hurt and revenge for his childhood and because he still felt like there wasn’t a place in the world for him. He lashed out against his father and his family and his friends and pushed them all away. Sure, he had some friends at Camp Half-Blood, but Annabeth’s devotion to him was not enough to make up for like, all of his childhood trauma. First everything with his mom and then being on the run for so long and then meeting his dad and then losing Thalia (which also fueled his anger and hatred of the gods but like we knew that) and his quest and just everything. He was dealt a cruel hand and he didn’t handle it well. Not that that has anything to do with him being gay but I’m just lamenting over the tragedy of his life. Anyway.

Also not to quote the Lighting Thief because it’s not technically in Rick’s canon but i still think they perfectly understood the characters so I’m including it, but the idea that Luke has tried to be a good kid, he’s tried to do what was expected of him, he’s done everything they ever asked of him, but it didn’t pay off. It didn’t matter. It still wasn’t a world he belonged in. “you know this world will never be ours as long as our parents rule over the stars” and “it’s time to make the world our own” strikes me very much to the tune of LGBT activism. once again ringing in that idea of “if you won’t make the world better than i will do it with my bare hands” he also sings “the gods were never on our side, so i think it’s time we watched them fall” which gets to me every time because like he was just a kid! he was just a kid who had so much hurt and anger inside of him and he went about everything the wrong way but he was just a fucking kid! 

also YES to be petty and shallow but while Annabeth and Thalia refer to luke romantically, he never mentioned the same for him. Kelli the sexy monster hits on him during Battle of the Labyrinth and was clearly interested in him and he pushes her away without any hesitation. IN FACT the only demigods referenced on Luke’s ship are Chris and Ethan (why we didn’t see any of that trio, I’ll never understand), with Ethan working much closer with Luke and being a major player in the Titan War. (also I think Ethan is queer too but that’s a battle for another day.) And Rick LOVES romances. pretty much every character gets paired up with someone in the original series (percy and annabeth, grover and juniper, even Clarisse and Chris) which is fab thank u rick for my percabeth rights but Luke is the only character who does not get a girlfriend!! because he’s a homosexual!!!! you know what other character didn’t get paired off in the original series??? NICO, a known homo!!!  i do think that luke is a case of “accidentally written homo” because this was before rick saved the world and gave us nico’s coming out and really started pushing for queer rep in the books (thank u again rick!!!!), so I’m allowed to find my gay subtext in the original series, thank u very much!

listen all im saying is that my favorite character narrative is “angry gay coded villain who is repressing and lashing out at the world because of it” and i truly believe luke fits into that narrative and I stand by my argument.

Thank u for attending my TED Talk

[solangelover]

AUctober: Day 2 - Pirates

Mermaid/Pirate AU

For @solangeloweek AUctober and to continue my AU!

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | --

Read on AO3 or FF.Net

A/N: You all loved this fic so much (and tbh I read it back and impressed myself lol), so I’ve been wanting to continue for a while! I had like half of this in MerMay, so I finally finished lol. I have a rough chaptered plan buuuut we’ll see!

Will could practically feel the nervous energy of his fellow shipmates right outside the infirmary door. They all tried looking casual, but he saw many people try to peek in through the tiny door window to get a glimpse of what was going on inside.

After all, no one ever thought they’d meet a mermaid.

Well, merman was the proper term (merboy?), but still. Merpeople existed. They’d seen a lot of crazy things out at sea, but they never actively sought out mythical creatures—those things usually came to them anyway. So, no one was surprised, per say, but everyone was definitely curious.

“Grover, Will,” Captain Percy began as he entered the room. “Talk to me.”

Will was finishing his preliminary check of the merboy—Nico, Will reminded himself—though his limited knowledge of merpeople anatomy and physiology was not enough to fully assess Nico’s condition. Grover had come to help at the captain’s request. He had a way with all kinds of creatures, animal or mythical, though usually the non-humanoid kind. He had not done much so far besides smile, but Nico seemed to be more at ease with significantly less people crowding around him.

“Captain,” Will began, still looking at his clipboard as he finished writing notes down. “I’ve just completed assessing Nico’s condition. I don’t know much about his kind, but Nico agreed to receiving more assistance and that he could help fill in knowledge gaps.”

“Oh!” Percy was pleasantly surprised at the merboy’s cooperation. He looked past Will toward the boy on the cot, no longer cooped up in a cage. He smiled at him, earning him a scowl in return.

Nothing fazed the fearless captain, however, as he addressed the merboy. “That’s great news! I hope our doctor here can heal most of your wounds. He’s pretty good at it.” Percy smirked as he cast his eyes toward his best friend. “I also hope Grover did something helpful. He’s probably the nicest person aboard this ship.”

Grover sputtered at the compliment, spitting out, “I didn’t do anything! I mean—I just—I’m just, here to help.” He rubbed his neck, slightly embarrassed as he smiled bashfully at Nico.

Nico nodded at the human. He did seem kind, in a different way from the golden-haired boy that was helping him. The first boy had darker-colored eyes, though not as dark as Nico’s own. But the second boy, the “doctor,” apparently, had bright eyes—the color of the ocean as light filtered in from above. They seemed to sparkle in the same way, too. That actually comforted Nico the most. Before, he would have lashed out and quickly made his escape back into the sea, just as he’d imagined doing on the other ship. But here, the boy with ocean-blue eyes made him feel… not safe, not yet, but safer than he’s felt in a while.

And, now that Nico was looking at the captain of this new ship, he noticed that his eyes were similar. If the doctor, Will, had eyes blue like the deeper parts of the ocean, the captain’s eyes were the color of shallower areas, with green hues mixed in with the blue. Again, it made him feel safe in a way that the cruel, pale blue eyes of his captor had not.

Still, Nico didn’t plan on staying for long. He believed these humans had good intentions, at least as far as healing him went. But beyond that… Nico wouldn’t stick around to find out what they planned to do with him.

Will was going on to say some things about Nico’s condition that Nico himself didn’t fully understand. While he had always been curious about the human language and hung around ships to understand some things, his vocabulary was limited.

“… Anyway, I think I should keep him here for a few days to be sure he heals up okay.” Nico’s head whipped up to stare at the back of Will’s head. A few days was… more than he had anticipated.

Percy nodded, glancing up when he saw Nico move. The bandages on Will’s arm were noticeable, especially considering that Will himself didn’t get hurt very often. Percy was wary of leaving him alone with the merboy. Though the scumbag they rescued him from was vile and cowardly, he might have had the creature locked up for a reason. But after his initial strike, Nico hadn’t moved to hurt anyone outside of scowling and glaring viciously. Plus, he trusted Will’s judgement.

Percy took a step toward the cot, not venturing too close but showing that he wasn’t afraid of the kid. “Nico, right?” The merboy nodded once. “Nico, I’m truly sorry that you were captured and hurt on that other ship, but on my ship, we’re all friendly. I’m sure you don’t trust us yet, and that’s totally fine and understandable. But please know that we will do whatever we can to help you out. After Will gives the ‘okay’ on your health, we’ll take you where you need to go. Got me?” Percy had no idea if Nico was fluent in their language or not, but he hoped his message got across properly.

Nico sat there for a moment, both surprised and suspicious at the man’s words. He stared into those sea-green eyes, coming to the conclusion that, at least for now, his words were genuine. Nico nodded once more, then cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he sounded out carefully, hoping that was the proper usage.

Percy smiled immediately, big and bright. “Okay!” He turned and clapped Grover and Will on the shoulder. “Will, I’m trusting you to fix up our friend, alright?”

“Aye, captain.”

“Grover, I could use your help relaying our situation to the rest of the crew. Tell Kayla and Austin to come in and give Will a hand as needed.”

“Aye Aye, captain.”

“And Nico,” Percy glanced back over his shoulder before heading out, locking eyes with the merboy once more. “Please be nice to the good doctor. He’s the best we’ve got.” And with that, the two friends stepped out and shut the door behind them.

Will swallowed nervously, glancing at Nico, who was still staring at the closed door. Though Grover had not done much, his presence did ease Will’s nerves and allowed him to focus on assessing Nico’s condition. Now that they were alone, however, Will really had time to process the fact that he was here, with a mermaid, acting as his healer. He just shook his head. What a life I have, is all he could think.

He cleared his throat, effectively gaining Nico’s attention as he whipped back towards him, dark eyes boring into Will’s own. “Um, so, your condition is… not great,” he began oh so eloquently. Nico nodded seriously anyway. “You appear to be malnourished, physically injured though not critically, and sleep-deprived. Um,” he glanced nervously at the merboy’s tail. “I also think you’re probably dehydrated if merpeople need more water than humans to survive. The overall condition of your tail doesn’t seem good, though obviously I don’t exactly have a frame of reference for that.”

Will waited as Nico processed his words. His understanding of English was pretty amazing since it obviously was not his native language, but he probably didn’t get to practice it much.

Nico spoke up, voice a bit rough due to disuse and dehydration. “I understand,” he said. “You are correct. My tail should be… lighter? Less… dark.” His face twisted in confusion, and maybe a bit of frustration, at his limited vocabulary.

The doctor hummed as he tried to understand what Nico meant. “Do you mean shiny? Like,” he tapped his chin in thought. “Kind of how the ocean looks when sunlight hits it?”

“Yes!” Nico exclaimed. He wasn’t quite smiling yet, but his eyes lit up at learning a new word. “Shiny,” he said experimentally, tasting the word on his tongue. Will did his best to tamp down his own grin at how pleased Nico looked in this moment.

“Okay,” Will said, making a note on his clipboard. “So, with all of that, I think it’s best if you stay with us for at least three days. There’s a lot of healing that needs to be done for me to feel comfortable sending you home. Octavian really did a number on you.” He frowned down at his notes, upset at how awfully his cousin treated this poor merboy. It was almost amazing that he could become even more disgraceful in Will’s eyes than he already was.

Nico took note of the way Will looked angry when discussing his treatment on the other ship. He did not think the anger was directed at him since Will had been nothing but helpful the entire time he had been here. But he couldn’t quite grasp why Will seemed so upset on Nico’s behalf. They didn’t even know each other—they weren’t even of the same species! Yet, somehow, the way that both the captain and doctor of this ship seemed to care for Nico’s wellbeing brought him a bit of comfort. Not that he trusted them—yet—but he knew genuine actions when he saw them.

Even with all of that, though…

“Three days?” Will’s head snapped up at Nico’s voice, like he had been lost in thought previously. “Is that needed? I can heal on my own.”

The blonde took in the stubborn pout that graced his patient’s face. On the other crew members, Will would have been annoyed. But with Nico… well, he couldn’t help but think it was kind of cute. “Three days is the minimum.” Cute or no, Will always drew the line at someone’s health. “Really, I’d rather keep you for longer, just in terms of your wellbeing. However,” his eyes softened, “I also want to be able to get you home as soon as possible. I’m not sure how long you’ve been away, but I’m sure you must at least miss being in the water.”

Nico glanced away from the kind eyes of the healer. He had not been home in some time, not just due to his capture. But that wasn’t for this human to know.

The merboy didn’t know what to say, but luckily, Will continued on. “So, if it’s okay with you, I would like to keep watch over you for three days to monitor your health so that you can make a full recovery. Is this acceptable?” He desperately hoped that Nico could trust him enough for that to happen. Honestly, the fact that Nico hadn’t put up much of a fight aside from the very beginning shocked Will completely. Perhaps Nico had had good experiences with humans prior to Octavian. That would explain his knowledge of the English language.

Will was also bursting with questions about Nico’s species, which he hoped to get answered over the course of the three days. Because how could he not?

After what felt like an hour of silence, Nico finally seemed to find what he was looking for in Will’s eyes. He nodded, more to himself than the doctor, and said, “Okay, I agree. One condition.” Nico pointed to the door without taking his eyes off Will. “Keep this door locked.”

“What?” Will cocked his head to the side in confusion. That’s probably the opposite of what he would have expected the merboy to want.

“Locked,” he said again, like Will didn’t understand. “I do not think you will harm me. But I do not know the other humans.”

Ah, that makes sense and is actually pretty smart thinking, Will thought as he nodded in understanding. “Understood. I’ll clear that with Percy and make sure it is always locked. I can leave a key in here as well, if that makes you more comfortable. I don’t want you to feel,” caged, he nearly said, “held against your will.”

This earned Will a tiny smile and a nod, which he counted as a major win for the day. “Okay then. That’s settled, so let’s continue on…”

 A/N: I’m going to cut this here. Next chapter will be the next day, or day one of the three days. (Who knows when that’ll be up—)

[ibizase80]

Chiron the Centaur: PJO meets mythology

I was thinking about that scene of The Lost Hero when Jason describes the picture of Percy, Annabeth and Grover which Chiron has in the Big House. Chiron is depicted as really worried about what happened to Percy.

 It made me think about Chiron between mythology and Percy Jackson world. (Please, forgive my bad writing...)

 So, let’s start!

- Chiron is, basically, the main trainer of Greek Heroes: gods and mortal parents decide to send their sons to his “camp” to educate them. Firstly, Chiron teaches them how to fight, but that’s not all: what made Chiron’s education programme different was his aim to raise wise, prudent, sensible and educated men. Some of his pupils were Achilles, Heracles, Jason. 

- Except Perseus (fun fact: Chiron didn't train him), really few Greek Heroes lived happily after succeeding their quests: they usually die complaining about their mistakes or after losing control, especially because of their determined Fate (I’d say “men with special powers can’t live normal lives”, and this is what Parche and Gods would have said too). Chiron probabily knew it, and he simply tries to save heroes physically and mentally as long as he can, but he can’t control their hybris, rage or their “human” feelings - or fatal flaw. And heroes always fall because of their fatal flaws.*

- Then we have PJO, starting with Luke Castellan. Luke is probably one of the most powerful demigods Chiron educated in a long time: when Chiron faces Kronos, Kronos thanks the Centaur for Luke’s perfect body and athletic training.  Personally, I fully understand Chiron’s grieving when he comes to know Luke has joined Kronos (at the end of TLT): it seems he has failed, as a parental figure and as a trainer. Did Chiron know about what was going to happen? Probabily not, but he educated Luke such as he did with Heracles or Achilles. And we know how it ended.

- Annabeth Chase: she’s the hero Chiron always tries to create. She’s smart; she’s not so keen on fighting but she learns how to deal with it. She’s also human - her fatal flaw just reminds it (and Chiron can’t resolve everyone’s personal issues), but she embraces her humanity (especially after meeting Percy). And Chiron looks at her with respect and admiration.

- Percy Jackson: Chiron always says Percy is not ready to fight and that he would have been more trained to join his quests, but I feel like Chiron reached his aim: especially because of Sally’s education, Percy can learn the best from Chiron and ends up being a wise, prudent, sensible and educated men. He is also an unconventional hero, maybe the best hero mythology could had. No doubt about why Chiron is attached to him and fears what is going to happen to Percy.

I’d talk about Chiron and Mythology for hours, but I’ll end up saying this: Riordan gave life to Chiron in a gorgeus way. Homer, poems or greek litterature barely mention Chiron - they only describe how heroes come out from his training. But Chiron is a mentor, and he’s worried about what happens to all the demigods he is educating. He also knows he can’t do anything against Fates, except training demigods and help them finding theirselves and their strenghts. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, Chiron loves you.

Let me know what you think about it!

*I’m referring especially to authors of tragedies (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides).

[greatneedtotakeanap]

i binge read

the finale, episode 15 - the tower of nero

!!!SPOILER ALERT FOR THE TOWER OF NERO!!! this post under the cut will be completely riddled with spoilers, as it is a personal account of my views on the book as a whole. 

it will be spoiled!!

(obviously.)

I’m almost too heartsick to write this omg. It’s been such a long, heartwarming journey, and it came to such an electrifying ending.

I’m quite proud of Apollo. I knew I was going to be, but the way he realized it, the way he realized everything... how Nero’s abuse mirrored Zeus’ and affected him just the same, how much of an asshole he’d been because of it. He made the conscious choice to change, and he decided he could love. He was capable of true love, he was capable of moving forward and being better. And he was. I was just,,, I was so proud of him. Seeing him mature was a really eye-opening experience, especially in this book, when he talked so much about the small complexities of Nero’s abuse, how every move was calculated and how it affected Meg. We’d seen wisps of discussions of abuse before, mostly in the lightning thief (smelly gabe) but we’ve never before gone into the complexities of emotional abuse. The way it was described was fantastically clear, in a way that undoubtedly painted Nero as the true villain, but also gave us the chance to see him try and convince his children that he was good. Apollo breaking down his every move was good for the audience to distinguish the meaning behind his words. Fantastically portrayed. The way it helped him realize his own abuse, too, was good.

And Meg. My sweet darling Meg. What an absolute baddie, I swear. She made the same decision - she went back to Nero to fight him, to test her own strength and power of will. Her decision to drop her rings and refuse to dual wield anymore was strange to me at the very beginning, but I understood it later. It was her refusing to use the weapons he forced her to use, to even defend herself against him. It was her turning her back on the methods he’d armed her with and deciding to take her own path. “The Beast is dead” is the rawest f-ing line in this entire novel, the Beast representing Nero’s psychological abuse. “I killed him” - she liberated herself by believing she was better. I’m so insanely proud of that girl, too. She’s come a long way as well.

Okay. After that analysis, let me just say:

THE GAYS WON.

I spent this entire book terrified that Will Solace was doomed. There was a line in the prophecy about the terrible ending of ‘Apollo’s flesh and blood’, and I figured that meant his offspring - his son, rather than his human form. I kept muttering to myself ‘Will’s gonna die Will’s gonna die and it’s gonna BREAK Nico’. I was just so worried. I didn’t think anyone, even William Andrew Solace, could survive Rick Riordan’s patented Blond Boy Curse.

But he was fine in the end! As fine as you can be. Solangelo boyfriends lived to fight another day. And their development as a couple was also quite nice. I loved their dynamic. We only saw a little of it in the hidden oracle. Though it was great there too, we were able to go more in depth and explore how they truly function. Nico’s dry sense of humor combined with his whole lord-of-the-darkness aesthetic x Will’s genuine compassion and joking nature combined with his glow-in-the-dark-ness was fantastic to see.

Speaking of Solangelo - they not only got stronger as a couple, but as individual people as well. To be completely honest, we really haven’t seen much in the way of Will Solace. He healed, he was nice, yeah, sure, but what about him? What was his personality like outside from other people? In this book we find out. He’s kind, compassionate, easily flustered, overly protective. He craves parental approval, hence him repeatedly referring to Apollo as ‘dad’ and being so watchful over him. He gets embarrassed when asked to glow on command and upset when people mistake him for a lamp. He’s impulsive and a little hypocritical - he follows his instincts (being led off into the tunnels by a random voice) but gets very worried when Nico pulls the same thing. He’s a fantastic character, and his contrasts to Nico and the rest of the ton crew were great.

Nico - he seriously was the hero of this book. Or at least the secondary hero. He saved them all so many times over - he took everyone through shadow travel away from the bulls, he met the troglodytes, saw an opportunity, prepared an offering to said troglodytes because he saw an opportunity, became an underground ambassador, later saved Apollo’s life again by turning a germanus into a skeleton. He led this quest, and you can pry that from my cold dead hands. And that one paragraph about him enduring all this shit?? MASTERFUL. He’s had such a boatload of trauma and still he stands. One of my very favorite consistent Nico traits is this: no matter where he is or what he’s doing or how he feels, he ALWAYS takes the chance to talk with those who feel alone, because he knows what it’s like to be truly fighting one’s battles alone and he’d never wish that on anyone. It’s consistent, too: him being the only one to talk to Hestia at the hearth in Camp Half Blood, him talking to and befriending Bob the Titan, him talking to the troglodytes. And I have really gotten to see his progression firsthand, sped up - I read the Titan’s Curse in my binge read series maybe two weeks ago, back when he was this hyperactive ten-year-old with a Mythomagic obsession and now he’s this prince of darkness saving people with an adorable glowstick boyfriend and man. I love this kid. If he wasn’t my favorite character in this universe, he is now.

Also, even though with this book Rick has closed the gateway to this world (sad), the end alluded to a possible journey through Tartarus again to look for what’s been calling him, but this time he’ll have Will. Rachel Dare even whispered a prophecy at the end, probably pointing to it (but we’ll never know for sure). Will and Nico through the depths of Tartarus - now that’s a series I’d want to read for sure. It’s really too bad we’ll never get to see it in canon. Sigh.

SPEAKING OF CANON.

Another way the gays have won: Piper Mclean.

She has a canon girlfriend!! We really struck gold. I figured she was aro//ace when reading the Burning Maze - her whole monologue about being forced into love - but it turns out she’s just wlw!! I love this, I love this. We seriously won with this book.

Other noteworthy thoughts I had while reading below:

- The scene with Apollo defeating Python and hanging on the edge of Chaos was great. Especially when the goddess Styx came out. I was wondering how all of his broken oaths would serve him and come back to haunt him. It was quite well portrayed. A serious rip to the Arrow of Dodona though. I always loved it,,, a lot. It made me laugh and sometimes grind my teeth in frustration, but it was always a nice presence.

- Apollo’s return to Olympus was better than anything I ever could have hoped for. I was really hoping that returning would give him a new insight, not just of being mortal, but of Zeus as well. And it did. It did! I’ve said it before but I am quite proud of him. His new perspective on the Olympians was refreshing. You can really see the change in narrative if you go back to the Hidden Oracle.

- It is always always always nice to see Sally Jackson. Woman of many talents, including novel writing, blue chocolate chip cookies, and excellent seven-layer dip. She was my favorite character at the beginning of this binge-reading frenzy (as stated in the first post). Now she is still very up there. Definitely top 5.

- Why does Estelle have Percy’s green eyes?? I thought Percy had his father’s eyes????

- Grover knew about Jason dying. If Grover was on the cross-country field trip with Percy and Annabeth, and they didn’t realize Jason was dead until they got to New Rome, then was he just sitting on Jason’s death this whole time??? Rip to Grover, he must have been seriously traumatized for THAT to have happened.

- The last two chapters were basically just Apollo making his rounds and wrapping everything up, so Percabeth isn’t just in a perpetual cross-country ride and Piper doesn’t live out her life forever in a grief-stricken taxi. I’m glad those chapters were there, though. Nice to see everybody again in their element.

Okay but you don’t understand the fear in my heart. I seriously thought Will Solace was a goner. I cried out of relief because he DIDN’T die. It just makes me love the two of them all the more.

This post has been way too long already, but I gotta add an obligatory outro - I read these books once as a little kid, and the past two weeks has been amazing getting back into them. It’s been magical and wonderful, falling in love with these characters, and I’m so sad to leave it.

[sonofsallyjackson]

A World Not Quite Her Own (pt 1/3) - The Estelle Fic

So here it is, my first foray into the Percy Jackson fandom despite being obsessed with the books when I was in elementary/middle school.  This started as my take on Estelle’s childhood, but morphed into something more with a Percabeth wedding scene in chapter 2.  AO3 Link Here.

Estelle Blofis had never lived in a world without monsters.  Many people in this world would have been driven mad by this knowledge. But for Estelle, it was a simple fact of the universe like humans need air to survive, or blue chocolate chip cookies are the best dessert.  Maybe knowing about monsters should have made her scared, but all it did was show her the heroes who would always come in and save the day.

Many of those heroes made the best babysitters.  

Sally always let out a sigh of relief when Grover was in town.  The Lord of the Wild didn’t even grumble good-naturedly as he took on his excitable charge for the day.  Grover didn’t need the promise of Sally’s seven-layer bean dip or the collection of recycling curated for maximum crunch to make it through their outings.  He had always wanted to teach humans to appreciate the wild, treasure it, and protect it.  Grover might not be able to teach all humans, but he certainly could teach Estelle.   They sat in an isolated corner of Central Park together, occasionally bothered by druids, but mostly it was just the two of them.  They would sit directly in the grass, Estelle’s orange tutu and rainboots regardless of the weather stretched out next to hairy legs that Grover mostly didn’t bother to cover anymore.  While Estelle likely fidgeted just as much as she listened (spinning breaks were deemed a necessity after a single outing), she did listen to him.  Grover was the best at answering questions and like any small child, Estelle had a lot of questions.  So as she grew,  Estelle sang hi to the individual trees on walks with her parents and proclaimed solemnly in pre-school that “Pan was dead”  (a reference that thankfully her teacher didn’t understand but had resulted in a headache-inducing conversation for Paul).   

In comparison, babysitting with Rachel was essentially one long arts and crafts session.  Finger paintings completely covered the fridge by the time Estelle was three.  They’d repainted the mural on Estelle’s bedroom wall about four times by the time she was ten, with each rendition more fantastical than the last.  Occasionally Sally regretted the afternoons spent writing with Rachel over once she discovered the paint covered mess that once had been her daughter, but overall with the sound of laughter echoing through the house (and only one minor prophecy), she supposed things could be a lot worse.  

On days where snow piled up outside their window, but Estelle adamantly refused to wear anything but a swimsuit and a feather boa,  Paul frantically phoned Piper.   She was at the top of a very short list of people who could make Estelle dress appropriately for the weather.  No one was sure if it was a form of diluted charmspeak or just Piper’s knack for finding outfits that technically could be worn in public but still fit the (unfashionable) vibe Estelle was going for.  

Tyson was never allowed to babysit Estelle by himself, but he made up for his clumsiness and general lack of knowledge of human safety measures with an excess of enthusiasm.  He took to having a baby sister so well that no one really bothered to explain that technically the two of them weren’t related.  Still Tyson’s one eye seemed just as normal to Estelle as his hugs or extremely calloused hands.  

Nico really wasn’t her babysitter.  He would stop by the apartment looking for Percy or Sally, but would end up staying because Estelle had him wrapped around her finger.  The first time they’d met Nico had come over with bad news regarding Apollo’s quest.  Estelle couldn’t actually remember what had happened since she was so young, but Sally liked telling the story, complete with pictures, so Estelle knew it by heart anyway.  Percy hadn’t been home yet and since he was with mortals working on a group project, Iris messages would have been a no-go even if the cosmos weren’t trying to prevent demi-god communication.  So Nico had sat on the couch in the living room occasionally pestered by Sally’s “Are you sure I can’t get you anything to eat?” and “You look tired, sweetheart.  You have time for a nap if you want one.”  

In the end, Nico hadn’t gotten that nap because he’d been greeted by tiny hands pulling themselves upright on the couch cushion next to him.  Estelle’s face had been alight with mischief that Nico would have previously sworn was only possible from a child of Hermes.  Her black curls swung wildly around her as she wiggled her way onto the couch and into Nico’s lap.  Estelle made herself comfortable while Nico looked ready to throw up.  At fourteen, he’d fought in two different wars, but one crawling 10-month-old seemed to be enough to break him.  As Estelle grew older, her little chants of “Nico! Nico! Nico!” had so much power over the boy who wanted a family more than anything else in the world.

Annabeth was one of her most frequent babysitters.  She practically lived at their apartment when she wasn’t at school, or helping her cousins or the camp.   She did keep Percy from giving into Estelle’s every whim which wasn’t ideal, but Estelle could deal with eating a full plate of vegetables if it meant hanging out with Annabeth.  Unfortunately,  Annabeth did not share Estelle’s undying love for all things Little Mermaid and often muttered “Seaweed Brain, I don’t know how but this is your fault.  If I have to hear Under the Sea one more time, I’ll-“ under her breath whenever just watching Disney movies was suggested.  So spending time with Annabeth often meant playing with Legos, creating a disjointed collection of buildings. Mini replicas of New York landmarks would be dwarfed by uneven towers because Estelle cared more about height than stability, aesthetics or really any other architectural principle.  When Annabeth entered school, she was less inclined to spend any bit of free time still thinking about architecture.  So she gave Estelle a little potholder loom and taught her the basics of weaving.  Sally had ended up with more neon-colored monstrosities than she knew what to do with, but the girls could spend hours in relative quiet, so it seemed a small price to pay.  

And then there was Percy, the biggest hero in Estelle’s eyes.  Her love wasn’t like the hero-worship of new demigods, who idolized him for defeating the Titans, surviving Tartarus, or going on countless quests.  Estelle believed more than anything else in the world that her brother would be there to catch her whenever she fell and there was no monster he couldn’t beat.  

Even before she could walk, Estelle had seen her brother’s powers.  Some things were easy to miss, like the way Percy could wash the dishes without getting wet at all, but others stood out to her. The waves at Montauk had calmed so he could teach her how to swim but were quick to come back to life if anyone stared too openly at Annabeth or his mom.   While Annabeth built elaborate sandcastles, Percy added fantastical moats and laughed as Estelle roared like a minotaur to tear it down.   He could hold his breath forever, which seemed awfully unfair the first time Estelle had tried to swim underwater and ended up with a mouthful of saltwater.  Percy was always willing to translate for the fish at the aquarium, although Estelle was pretty sure he did the funny voices for her benefit.  When Percy had landed Blackjack on their apartment’s roof after being called back to camp for an emergency, he had translated for his old friend too. Estelle loved those translations the most, even if they weren’t entirely accurate.  

“Seriously, Blackjack, can you cool the language around my little sister?”  

By age five, her older brother had bought wooden swords for the two of them to practice in the living room.  Percy kept the moves simple, demonstrating before lightly wrapping his fingers around her tiny wrists and guiding her through the movements.  Estelle would copy them intently with her nose scrunched up and her tongue stuck slightly to the side in concentration.   They focused primarily on defensive strategies, but still had practice fights where Percy pretended to die dramatically.  

“I don’t think this is a good idea Percy,” Sally had said after they broke their second lamp.

“Mom she can see them. And as long as I’m around Stella will always be a target.”  

There was an unspoken promise in his words.  I’m always going to be here Mom.  I’m still alive, but I can’t lose anyone else, especially not my baby sister.  

Estelle hugged her mother’s leg tightly, looking up with pleading eyes.   “Please Mom I’ll be careful.”    

Eventually, Paul signed Estelle up for fencing lessons because there had to be a better way to teach her to fight that didn’t involve the two of them wrecking the living room every time Percy visited.  And if the way, allowed Paul to share his old fencing passion with his daughter, all the better.  The living room still ended up with the furniture pushed to the side on a regular basis though because Estelle needed to demonstrate everything she’d learned for her big brother.  

When Tyson had come to her sixth birthday party, his present had been a small bronze sword that transformed into a charm bracelet so Estelle could always be prepared.  He’d look so proud and Estelle kept touching it reverently, but Sally had not been amused.  She had wanted her daughter to grow up safe from this madness, even if she knew that wasn’t entirely a possibility.   It was bad enough to have one child constantly in mortal peril and disappearing on dangerous quests.  

“It can’t even hurt her; it’s celestial bronze.  The first time I met Rachel I ran her through with Riptide and she’s still fine.”  

Rachel flicked her red curls over her shoulder.  “Worried for your sanity, but physically fine.”  

Neither of them was as reassuring as they thought, but Estelle did get to keep the sword for emergency use only.  This was after all a world full of monsters as well as heroes.

[elliot-elliot]

Things i forgot about in PJO/HOO

TLT:

Percy accidentally fired a war cannon into a school bus

He also accidentally made his entire class fall into an aquarium tank thing

Grover cries when he’s frustrated

Grover has a note excusing him from PE “for the rest of his life”

Halfway though the school year their old math teacher had a nervous breakdown

Once, Percy told Grover that he didn’t think mrs Dodds was human and Grover was deadass just like “yes. You’re right” completely seriously

Chiron has tournament days where he would dress up in Roman armor

Percy assumed all the weird weather was because of global warming

Percy called his English teacher an old sot

Grover is a terrible liar

MASSIVE BLUE SOCK

Grover’s bladder acts up when he gets upset

Sally’s parents died in a plane crash when she was 5, and was raised by her uncle who didn’t really care about her

Sally wanted to be a novelist

She had to quit school her senior year to take care of said uncle, who got cancer

Gabe made Percy provide his gambling funds, and Percy said that if he didn’t, Gabe would “punch his lights out”

Percy has nightmares about Mrs Dodds

Percy genuinely liked Yancy Academy

Percy did the warding off evil gesture towards Gabe, and the screen door shut so hard “it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stairs as if he’d been shot from a cannon”

Percy was stalked by a cyclops in 3rd grade

In preschool, he strangled a snake with his bare hands, and his mom found him playing with it like a rope

At the cabin, grover cursed in Ancient Greek, and Percy understood it perfectly

Percy thought Grover was a donkey from the waist down

Percy tried to get the Minotaurs attention by waving his red rain coat

Percy said he would rather live on the streets or pretend he was 17 and join the army if it meant not living with Gabe

Percy said that Mr D looked like a Cherub

They have satyrs at most schools

There was a different Latin teacher for the first week of the school, but Chiron convinced him to take a leave of absence

Mr D plays pinochle with the satyrs

There’s an orientation film

Grover eats mr D’s Diet Coke cans

Probation in the 1900s was Zeus’s punishment to Mr D

Percy likes basketball

Percy tripped when coming into the Hermes cabin for the first time

Most teachers are literally monsters

For a mortal, nectar and ambrosia turns their blood to fire and their skin to sand

Clarisse calls Annabeth “wise girl”

Percy accidentally sprayed Annabeth with toilet water

Chiron told Percy that he might be considered a myth in 2000 years

Luke pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and Percy thought Luke was gonna gut him

Percy is really good at canoeing

Luke’s the best swordsman they’d had in 300 years

Percy was able to disarm Luke on his first try after he poured water on his head

Hitler was a son of hades, since WW11 was the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of hades on the other

Houdini went on a quest to the underworld

In capture the flag, clarisse tried to cut Percy’s hair

Percy apologized for the water healing his Injuries

Someone left a newspaper about Percy and his mom going missing inside his doorway

Mr D wanted to Spontaneous Combust Percy

It’s illegal to make copies of Zeus’s lightning bolt

CHB has a hydra head from Woodstock

The oracle told Percy the prophecy through the image of Gabe and his friends

Grover eats pinochle cards “like potato chips”

Luke made Percy blush almost as much as Annabeth blushes when she’s around Luke

Chiron told Percy only to use his sword in emergencies

Mortals aren’t important enough to be killed by celestial bronze

Percy was famous for loosing pens at school

Annabeth was explaining the Athens rivalry thing to Percy, and he was like “they must have really liked olives” and Annabeth got mad and then he was like “Now, if she’d invited pizza—*that* i could understand” which made her even more mad, and Argus then winked at Percy

Annabeth gave Percy her hat so he could escape off the bus

Grover was gonna defend himself from the furies with a tin can

Grover ties Mrs Dodds’s legs up with her own whip

Percy told Mrs Dodds to eat his pants in Latin

Medusa turned Grover’s uncle to stone

Medusa is/sounds middle eastern

Percy told Medusa that they were from a traveling circus, and when they were alone Annabeth told Percy “your head is full of kelp”

Grover told Medusa that he takes vitamins for his ears

Satyrs can’t get migraines

Percy fucking mailed Medusa’s head to mount Olympus, and he signed the package “with best wishes”

GLADIOLA THE FUCKING PINK POODLE

Annabeth appeared on her dads doorstep in a golden cradle

Annabeth calls Grover “goat boy”

Percy hates confined spaces

I JUST REALIZED THIS HIS FIRST OUT OF 2 (i think 2?? Maybe there’s more??) TRAUMATIC ELEVATOR EXPERIENCES

The chimera has a rhinestone collar that says “Chimera— rabid, fire-breathing, poisonous— if found, please call Tartarus—ext. 954”

Echidna told Percy what she is— the mother of all monsters, and Percy was like “isn’t that a type of anteater”

The chimera poisoned Percy

Percy jumped from the arch assuming that it would kill him, in order to protect the mortals that were on the arch

Percy fucking lit a lighter at the bottom of the Mississippi

The campers were taking sides— Zeus or Poseidon

Gods can’t steal each other’s items directly

Percy said the leather on ares’s motercycle looked like “Caucasian human skin”

Percy said that ares’s was handsome

Percy said he broke clarisse’s spear and ares was like “oh dope”

Ares threatened to turn Percy into a prairie dog

Ares gave them a bag of double stuffed Oreos

Percy thought that the reason he could talk to zebras but not lions was because of another learning disability

They released a zebra into Las Vegas

Percy snapped Annabeth out of the lotus haze by looking her in the eyes and saying “spiders. Large, hairy spiders”

Percy threw away ares’s backpack, but once they left the lotus hotel, it reappeared on his shoulders

THE WATER BEDS

The lotus card had infinite money, and the cab driver referred to her as “your highness”, which Annabeth likes

They let the cab driver keep the (infinite) change

When at santa monica, percy looked out at the ocean, thought about how 2/3rds of the world is covered in water, and wondered how he could be the son of someone so powerful

Percy just. Fucking walks into the water and annabeth is like “percy what the fuck are you doing” and headass just keeps walking until he’s fully submerged

A mako shark nuzzled him like a dog

Percy used to see sea spirits smiling at him in the waves at Montauk beach

Houdini could “escape even the depths of tartarus… damn, talk about foreshadowing

Percy told the bus driver he was a stunt double for a bunch of child actors

Percy said L.A. reminded him of Ares

They got attacked by a gang

CRUSTY

Percy tricked crusty into getting into his own beds, and percy then cut his head off

Grover told Charon that all 3 of them drowned in a bathtub, and Charon looked mildly impressed

Percy bribed Charon into letting them in

Percy’s Traumatic Elevator Experience count so far: 2

The river Styx is polluted

Annabeth held percy’s hand on the boat

Thomas Jefferson is a judge of the underworld

Grover compared Asphodel to standing in a wheat field in Kansas forever

Cerberus is a purebred Rottweiler

Annabeth played fetch with Cerberus

Annabeth promised Cerberus that she would come back and play fetch with him again

Cerberus considers Annabeth a friend

Percy saw things in the Fields Of Punishment that he “didnt want to describe”

Percy said he wanted to go to the Isles of The Blest when he dies

THEY ALMOST FALL INTO TARTARUS.

Percy said that Hades’s eyes reminded him of Hitler’s

Percy wondered if Hades’s underwear was made of trapped souls like his robe was

Percy interrupted Hades to tell him that Charon wanted a raise

Hades threatened to “stop death”

PERCY TOLD HADES TO PLAY WITH CERBERUS MORE

Annabeth gave percy her necklace to wear for good luck (with fighting ares)

Percy jumped over ares on a 6-foot wave

Percy fucking told the entire city of LA that they could get a free appliance, and he gave them Gabe’s phone number. Fucking love this kid.

Finally, a non-traumatic elevator experience

Zeus went to purify his bolt in the waters of Lemnos

Podeiden told percy that his rebelliousness was because “the sea does not like to be restrained”

Poseidon said that sally is a goddess among women

Gabe fucking made Sally go to work when she got back

Percy didnt know that Gabe had been hitting sally, until he saw her flinch when Gabe raised his hand

Poseiden sent him Medusa’s head back to use against gabe

The ares cabin made Percy’s laurel and painted “loser” on it

Sally sold her “sculpture” to an art collector in Soho, got a new apartment, and started going to college

The Soho gallery called the sculpture “a huge step forward in super-ugly neorealism”

Percy told luke he misses being on the quest

Ares caught luke with the bolt and helm

Grover “confused the (flying shoe) curse”