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[fantastic-nonsense]

I think people who genuinely wanted Percy to rebel against the gods and overthrow the system kind of...miss the whole point of the series

The question is not whether or not the gods deserve to rule; the books are kind of unambiguous that they don't! That the gods are generally undeserving of their children's loyalty is the one thing that Percy and Luke both agree on! But PJO is less about divine right to rule vs. ruling via consent of the governed and more about improving dysfunctional family systems. It's not about whether unfair rulers deserve to continue ruling; it's about forcing the gods to be better, fairer rulers and a better, fairer family given limited alternatives.

Because what are the alternatives, as presented to us within the scope of the original PJO series?

Option 1: allow Kronos to topple Olympus and take over. Clearly not a viable alternative for all of the reasons the books show us.

Option 2: the demigods overthrow the Olympians and rule the world themselves. Okay. How's that going to work out long-term, given demigods are mortal and cannot control or protect their parents' domains? Demigods will die out within a generation or two, so that's potentially a one-generation short-term solution, and then everyone's right back where they started. Except worse, because now the world has been out of divine balance for a century and the gods have a completely legitimate bone to pick with all demigods. Materially worse outcome.

Option 3: demigods ignore the gods and their will entirely. They integrate into the mortal world, refuse to participate in quests or talk to their parents, and pretend prophecies don't exist. Except that's clearly not a viable option, since we see that demigods usually can't safely exist in the mortal world without monsters coming after them, the gods are cruel enough to use blackmail and engage in hostage situations to get demigods to act as heroes, and prophecies have a way of coming true regardless of everyone's best attempts to circumvent them. Again: materially worse outcome.

And for Percy, for the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, for Luke and for everyone else who defected....for the most part, they don't actually have an inherent problem with the gods ruling them. They just want to be acknowledged, valued, and loved by their families, to be treated as more than a tool for their parents to wield whenever their services are needed. That was the core thesis of the demigod rebellion, which was wholly separate from Kronos' specific motivations for overthrowing the Olympians, and it's why Percy's asks at the end of TLO were what they were.

The point was always that had Percy grown up in a slightly more dysfunctional family environment...had he grown up with Frederick Chase's seemingly conditional love or May Castellan's madness instead of Sally Jackson's steady, quiet, unconditional love...he could have turned out like Luke. Like Ethan. Like the dozens of demigods who defected from camp to join Luke's cause. Percy could have turned out just as a bitter and angry and vengeful. Just as ready to tear down the system. Just as willing to betray and kill his own family for the sake of making a point.

But instead, Percy openly reprimands the gods for abandoning their families and using them as cannon fodder in their own petty disagreements. He forces them to acknowledge and claim their children. He demands that everyone who is part of the godly family be recognized and accepted, not just those related to the Twelve Olympians. He asks for those unjustly punished (like Calypso) to be set free and accepted back into the family. Because that's the point at the end of the day: not forcing bad rulers to step down, but changing an insanely dysfunctional family system that the gods and demigods are all members of into a better, safer, and more accepting environment for demigods to grow up and live in.

Overthrowing the gods wouldn't solve the problem at the heart of the series, which is the gods' shitty parenting and family management skills. It would only exacerbate the massive familial fault-lines that Kronos exploited and leave the demigods open to more godly manipulation. Which is why the series ends as it does, with Percy using his wish to tangibly improve the lives of his family instead of selfishly improving his own life (via accepting immortality/godhood) or overthrowing the gods. Because the conflict isn't about the gods as rulers. It's about the gods as parents.

PJO's core thesis is Percy, who grew up knowing unconditional familial love, looking at this whole world of children who didn't and saying "that's not fair. Gods should be better than this!" But instead of destroying them the way Luke wants to, instead of overthrowing them and putting himself on the throne, he instead challenges them to be better parents and family members. To be part of the solution instead of the problem. And Percy's demands don't solve everything, but they were necessary first steps! Without forcing the gods to acknowledge a bare minimum floor of inclusion, the cycle would simply begin all over again the next time a major conflict popped up.

So that's the problem Percy solves and how he successfully fulfills the prophecy: by believing that the gods had the capacity to change and forcing them to break the cycle of familial abandonment, he preserves Olympus and takes the first steps towards a new status quo, one that is objectively better for demigods than the one he grew up in. That's why he succeeds, and it's why Percy overthrowing the gods would have made for a much less satisfying ending than what actually happened.

[pjoxreader]

Hello! If that's okay with you, may I request headcanons of the PJO boys x reader BUT the reader is a mortal who loves Greek mythology and literature and is from our world (and somehow ends up in the Percy Jackson universe) AND she is the one who defeats Kronos and helps the demigods? Sorry if it's too weird. You don't have to add the part where the reader is from our world if it makes you uncomfortable, I just thought that through her knowledge it would explain why a mortal could defeat Kronos. 😅

Anyway. . . uhm. . . again sorry if it's far too weird. I hope you have a wonderful day/night!!💖

Modern World Reader Helps Beat Kronos

((I couldn't think of a way the reader would be able to kill Kronos as a mortal so I hope this is ok! Sense you didn't say which PJO boys I picked three so I hope you like it!))

Percy Jackson 

-Percy was sure things couldn’t get weirder, not that he’d say that outloud the last thing he wanted was to jinx himself. He had to deal with the war with Kronos and then you randomly showed up, saying you were from a different universe completely.

-It really wasn’t easy to believe but with all the crazy things he had both seen and done it wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen. Not only that, you were willing to help out in the war with the knowledge you had.

-And it was finally time to put that knowledge into practice. Percy helps adjust your armor and gives you the helmet. He was silent, a million thoughts going through his head. “Are you sure this will work?” he finally asks looking into your eyes. -You take a breath and adjust the helmet on your head. “Well if it worked before, it can work again.” you give him a reassuring smile, It was hard to believe that heroes and demigods were real. But here you were, getting ready to go into war to protect a world you didn’t even belong too.

-But you couldn’t turn your back on these people. You knew that deep down, you just hoped that your information was right… The war goes into full swing, you help evacuate the injured in order to get them care. 

-That’s when you see it, the blasts of light and energy coming from the fight between Percy and Luke. You could only watch as light after glittering light goes off. It was almost beautiful in a way… They had done it, they had managed to kill Kronos. Your plan to take his scythe and cut him into million pieces to be scattered once more in Tartarus had worked… 

Will Solace

-There really was no good explanation, well you had tried to explain it to him but it was a lot. Between the stress of the war and well, you suddenly arriving he just gave in and accepted it. 

-You had been working with Percy and the others to work out a plan. Though even though you had no fighting skills you wanted to help out in the war. And honestly Will both respected and understood that.

-Chaos started the second the war started, you had agreed to help Will out since you two had gotten along together the best. But he could quickly see you paling and faltering. Any sane person would, seeing the outcome of a war play out right in front of you…

-But they needed you, they had to have all the help they could. So he cups your cheeks and forces you to look at him. “Deep breaths. You can do this.” he says sternly but confidently. He had to insure that you knew you could, that you had someone believing in you.

-You take a deep shaky breath, calming yourself once more, closing your eyes and just focusing on the touch of Will’s hands. He was right, people needed your help, you couldn’t lose yourself to the panic.

-”Ok, we’ve got this.” You say with a smile. Will nods in relief and pats your shoulders getting back to work. “We’ve got this.” he agrees as you quickly follow after him to help in any way that you could.

Grover Underwood

-You had gotten to camp before the war and explained everything that you knew to whoever would listen. People at first thought you were crazy but there was one person who didn’t doubt you, Grover. 

-He could see how desperate you were trying to explain what had happened and seeing the pain on your face when people didn’t believe you was hard. He had no reason to believe or trust you but he did. He could feel it was the right choice in his gut.

-He talked with you and learned about all of the things you knew, from the monsters to the gods, whatever you could tell him he listened. He passed that knowledge onto Percy and the others, only able to hope you weren’t some spy.

-”Are you sure this is a good idea…?” Grover asks hesitantly as he looks around in his human disguise. You were both heading to Central Park in order to ask for support from the nature spirits there. It’d be a huge help in the war and they needed all the help they could get.

-”I hope it is… But if you do manage to convince them we’ll have help in the war. We need to be as prepared as possible.” you say taking a little breath for courage. Sure you had read about nature spirits and all sorts of monsters but it’d be different to see them in person.

-Grover takes a breath to help deal with the pressure giving you a reassuring but nervous smile. “I’ll do my best.” you can’t help but smile at that, he was pretty cute… Not only that, Grover was the only one who trusted you and he was nothing but kind to you. So you carefully took his hand as the two of you walked. “I’m sure you will.”

~Masterlist & Rules~

Like my writing? Please consider sending me a Ko-fi! ☕

[zwy01]

Noble OCs - Kravei

Making five OCs for every clan!

Adagio Riccardo Kravei: Pureblood. Entered eternal sleep, belonged to Gejutel’s generation.

Adagio was the father and predecessor of Roctis, and the older brother of Kronos Paradiso. He was a great Clan Leader but a terrible father. He was always on top of his duties and answered to his clan members’ needs. If the other Clan Leaders were involved, then he was committed. He was born for that role and his parents had high if not impossible expectations for him. And Adagio delivered flawlessly. He never complained, and viewed their unforgiving training regimen for him as his destiny. It was grueling, but he enjoyed every moment of it. He even reprimanded his parents at times because they didn’t give him enough work or discipline etc. Adagio managed to impress and pressure his predecessor with his extreme competence thus took over their Soul Weapon and title of Clan Leader at the young age of around 400 years old. He was more than ready and his predecessor saw no reason to delay his succession just because. Kravei clan members all agree that Adagio is their most excellent Clan Leader in the last who knows how many generations. He celebrated and smiled with his people for their success and milestones, and cried with them during their struggles. He was the strong, kind, and understanding leader and friend they needed. He could be Adagio the Magnificent or Adagio the down-to-earth fellow babysitter for the day depending on who he was with. The big Kravei family was glad that he wasn’t the Lord or something even if he had the qualities for one, because then he wouldn’t be their beloved Clan Leader. In their eyes, he was perfect. All but one were oblivious to his dark and cold side… his son and successor Roctis. Like how Adagio’s parents set near impossible expectations for him, he subjected Roctis to the same pressure.

Except Roctis was… average. He was diligent and hardworking but despite his honest efforts, he was lackluster in his father’s eyes. Adagio refused to believe that his heir had so-called limits because he himself was brilliant and unfortunately couldn’t relate to struggling. He accused Roctis for being “rebellious” and “lazy” and heavily punished him for it. After all, how could Roctis, the future Clan Leader, serve the Kravei well if he’s a failure? Adagio forced Roctis to kneel on spikes and whipped his hands, legs, and back. He wasn’t trying to be cruel out of malice, though. In fact, he dreaded each time he had to do such things to his son. He truly believed that he was doing the right thing to guide Roctis back “on the right track” and sobbed and wailed as he carried out the punishments. Roctis never showed much emotion as he endured said punishments and always apologized and promised how he’d work harder next time. Adagio himself applied healing potions on his son’s body after each time and again, wept as he did. Roctis comforted himself by convincing himself that this was just his father’s twisted love for him. And it was. Adagio was nice to Roctis in public, though. He only abused him behind closed doors so not even their closest servants had any idea. He didn’t do this because he was afraid of being branded as a cruel father, but because he was ashamed to let anyone know of Roctis’ incompetence. Plus, he believed he gave his son dignity by preventing witnesses. Roctis was determined that when he has children, he’ll never subject them to such torture and he’ll give them all the freedom they want. Well, we know how that goes. Adagio’s hobby was making and collecting fish hooks.

Gello Kravei: Non-pureblood. Alive in the present day, belongs to Gejutel’s generation.

Gello has done great deeds for humanity, especially women and children. She is passionate about it to this day and sees it as her life mission. She appreciates the ways of human life while simultaneously taken aback by the crimes humans commit. Generally, she has a neutral and positive-leaning opinion of them, but she’s aware of the horrors of human nature so she does her best to counter that on her part. Gello and her supernatural piranha friend Roti travel the world to perform safe and painless abortions for women in need. They’ve also built multiple hidden communities in different locations scattered throughout the world to take in women and children who have left their unsafe homes in search for a new place to stay. Gello’s many sisters run these communities and conceal them with their supernatural noble powers so they stay hidden from the rest of the world, especially from those who try to find the “missing persons”. Gello and Roti have helped countless individuals and families escape from abusive circumstances and will continue to do so for a long, long time. They may have even visited a certain snow werewolf matriarch in the mysterious snowy mountains for insight on how to run peaceful, tight-knit communities. One of Gello’s close childhood friends was her Clan Leader Adagio, who shed tears of overwhelming joy upon learning of her intentions to help humans. He offered to fund everything Gello and her sisters needed for running their communities and routinely asked them if they needed more despite always giving them way more than they can spend. Before Adagio entered eternal sleep, he left them a generous sum for their cause, and a public statement to his other clan members that they should all learn from Gello’s example and do good deeds for humanity. Gello’s hobby is shoemaking, if she has the time for that.

Sakina Nereida Kravei: Non-pureblood. Alive in the present day, belongs to Raskreia’s generation.

Sakina is the study buddy and playmate of Ignes. Her parents volunteered her for the position because they saw it as an opportunity for prestige. Sakina had no ambition for said prestige yet obliged to her parents’ wishes because they manipulated her into believing she was indebted to them for bringing her into existence. In reality, they had their daughter to satisfy their own desire to climb the social ladder. They did care for her, but any sort of superficial parental instinct would’ve gone out the window the moment she showed resistance towards their plans for her. Maybe her birth was even timed to match that of Ignes. Sakina’s parents pressured her into delivering a self-recommendation letter to Roctis. It was approved, and the two children were introduced to each other soon after. Sakina was neutral at first but gradually felt more uncanny as she caught glimpses of Ignes’ true nature from her abnormal behavior and remarks. Still, she stuck with Ignes because backing out wasn’t an option. More precisely, she didn’t have a home to return to and her parents probably would’ve strangled her if she called quits. Eventually, Sakina was won over. Perhaps Ignes helped her experience her first sense of purpose. Those rushes of excitement became an addiction and soon she was obsessed with Ignes. Her savior. Ignes could live without Sakina, but Sakina couldn’t live without Ignes.

Curiously, as unhinged as Ignes was, she treated her companion quite well. Sakina was set on repaying that “sincerity” and stepped in and offered herself when Ignes was being difficult. Although she detested pain, she willingly let Ignes experiment on her and was proud to be the Kravei heir’s first science project, in a sense. For a while, she was able to keep Ignes from hurting others by offering herself instead. Roctis’ response to Sakina’s efforts was thanking her, then telling her he looked forward to her future good work. This put immense pressure on her because she wasn’t sure about how long she could keep the ticking time bomb under control either. She did wonder why Roctis never put his foot down with his daughter for once and all but kept her mouth shut as she was in no position to comment on his parenting. As expected, Ignes eventually got bored of having her companion as her only test subject and went after other nobles. Sakina felt terrible witnessing it happen because she had promised Roctis she’d do her best to keep an eye on Ignes and prevent her from stepping out of line, yet it seemed like she could no longer deliver this promise. One day, Ignes asked her companion to join her. Sakina’s inner voice told her to refuse but her loyalty to Ignes was able to outweigh her morals, so she agreed to becoming an accomplice. When Roctis found out, he fired Sakina for “encouraging” Ignes to take the wrong path thus failing as a companion… even though the real guilty one was his own daughter, whom he did not punish. Sakina went into hiding after she was kicked out and a very nice Titus noticed and took in the distraught young woman and offered her a place to stay in his library tower. Titus continued to hide her from her clan’s sight and ignored Ignes when she went around looking to take back what’s hers. Otherwise, Ignes would’ve taken her ex-companion with her when she and Roctis left Lukedonia along with the other traitor nobles. Currently, Sakina is working in rehabilitation for troubled nobles, especially youngsters.

Jayashri Kravei: Pureblood. Alive in the present day, belongs to the Previous Lord’s generation.

Jayashri was born outside of Lukedonia as her parents loved to travel and their noble home was too small for them. Her parents found a deserted island, fell in love with it, and built their new home there… all far, far away from Lukedonia and its seemingly endless problems. The small family of three lived together happily and once Jayashri was a young adult, her parents started to travel again and asked if she’d like to come with them. She felt quite comfortable on their island and had no need to venture outside, so she said safe travels to her parents, hugged them tightly, waved, and went back inside. Jayashri’s time alone was happy and peaceful, and she befriended the local snake population, which was all she needed for company. Despite in a remote location, her deserted island was not completely out of reach from human explorers and whatnots. Every now and then, there’d be a shipwreck and Jayashri would rescue and nurse the humans back to health. She’d load their ships with food and water before they sail off. Interesting, some individuals decided to say goodbye to their exploration party in order to stay on the island with their savior. Perhaps they fell in love with her. Jayashri didn’t particularly care about humans, just that she’d like to not see any die in front of her. But, she was okay with pretending to love them back, for unknown reasons. The human lifespan is short after all. Maybe she thought she could be kind and help them experience a fulfilling life. They’d be dead in a few decades, so it wasn’t like a commitment of any sort to her and only a temporary effort. And so roughly every two or three centuries, Jayashri would act as a loving and caring partner to a human who genuinely loved her. Then, she’d bury them after they die and go back to living in solitude. Rinse and repeat. One day, her parents came back to their island and told her it was time for them to go home to Lukedonia for a while to visit their other family members, and they departed at once. Jayashri’s parents continued to travel after their family business was over while she herself decided to stay in Lukedonia because she liked it there. More importantly, she finds the love of her life. Jayashri is the partner of Eun Ru. Their kids are twins Dasik and Yakgwa Ru, and they are planning for a third. The deserted island is now their vacation home.

Casimir Kravei: Pureblood. Alive in the present day, belongs to the Previous Lord’s generation.

Casimir is quite an unusual fellow. He bears uncanny resemblance to Raizel’s brother, to the point where he actually looks more like him than Raizel who is his actual brother. In a nutshell, they’re kinda twins. He’s also Raizel’s brother’s friend, confidant, informant, and valet… and maybe even more. Who knows. Casimir is rather secretive about his personal life so people have little knowledge of him aside from his physical appearance, which in itself is a mystery. Mere coincidence? Good question. He isn’t remotely related to the noblesse yet they look identical and arguably indistinguishable if it weren’t for their different auras. That’s where it gets interesting. You see, Casimir is Raizel’s brother’s shadow. He follows him everywhere and tends to his needs. He can do paperwork and dirty work depending on what is needed of him. He is the first person Raizel’s brother sends to collect information on someone. Sometimes, he even presents himself as the noblesse and communicates and gives orders on his behalf, all possible thanks to a special noblesse aura imbued jewelry artifact given to him by none other than whom he serves. That’s how much trust the noblesse has in Casimir. The possible motives behind his loyalty are a mystery too. Casimir and Raizel’s brother have a daughter together named Crescentia Kravei who is just as mysterious as her fathers. Casimir’s fate is unclear after the noblesse’s execution, but he is alive and so is their daughter. In hindsight, the identity of the man Edian handed the bloodstone to back then is debatable. But, that can stay a mystery too because i don’t wanna keep writing this anymore

Thank you for reading! That is it! I’m finally done yay.

[xploshi]

Sonic Frontiers: The Review

I normally fucking hate sonic, in fact I have a sonic plushie that I regularly attack and shred with my many teeth when my wife gives me diarrhea from her shitass cooking. However, upon booting up Sonic Frontiers, it took approximately 4.3 seconds longer than usual before I snapped and lunged at my already heavily damaged plush sonic, delighting at the fear in his quivering little eyes as I gripped him around the neck with both hands until my knuckles turned white, breathing wetly through my gritted teeth until flecks of saliva were being propelled at his pitiful face, absorbing into the fabric like his many stockpiled traumas.

an additional delay of 4.3 seconds between booting up the game and attacking my Sonic introduces a very crucial concept: This game does something right.

After calming down and guzzling my many medicated calm-down-capsules, I sat back to drink in more of Sonic Team's """hard work""", revelling in the art team's bold decision to make the game look frighteningly like real life. The first area, Kronos island, with its almost disgusting resemblance to the grassy alpine plains of the planet we walk on, broke my perception of reality to such a degree that I tore the disc from the console with my bare hands and crushed it into dust from some sort of primal fear awoken in me.

After purchasing another copy of the game, I gradually grew to accept its visual style. Before long, I had trained myself to violently squeeze my sonic plush instead of destroying the game disc whenever the realism of the grass really started to upset me. The enormous robots Sonic has to fight to progress through the game almost pushed me to my breaking point, as my ceaseless nightmares about a robot uprising occurring within our near future immediately forced themselves to the forefront of my mind. 8 panic attacks and 79 bottles of hard liquor later, I was ready to continue playing.

The boss you will eventually run into, Andrew the Hedgehog, only appears after collecting all 446 eggman statues. (Eggman is absent in the game aside from these collectible statues.)

In order to damage him, you need to target each of his 4 large quills and yank them until he has a mental breakdown, weeping silently on the grass and begging to be left alone. This reminded me of all the times I've kicked people's dogs REALLY HARD with studded doc Martens on my peaceful afternoon walks whenever the smell of the breeze really begins to max out my anger stat. (video game reference)

After that, The credits began to roll.

This is the shortest Sonic the hedgehog game in recent memory, taking only 900 hours to beat. (7509 hours if you're going for all the collectibles). most of your time with this game will be spent gathering Eggman Statues, or watching the now iconic (and incredibly memeworthy ) 34 hour long cutscene where Sonic struggles to butter a piece of toast in his decaying apartment shortly after divorcing tails. I woulve managed to absorb the emotional weight of this scene, if at the 14 hour mark my wife hadn't brought me an abhorrent bowl of soup that caused me to vomit my guts out and weep on the carpet, semi-paralysed from the abdominal pain. I barely had the energy to throw our cat at her head like I normally do.

I was totally overloaded with emotions as the credits washed over me. I glanced over at my sonic plush, his stuffing spilling out onto the floor. He had a look in his eyes that seemed like "please... no more..." Which I of course took as an invitation to skewer his head on the iron fence outside and incinerate him with a blowtorch for all my neighbours to watch.

FINAL SCORE: 9.9/10

[cabinofimagines]

Chapter VI; Manhattan

Took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do here but I did it, after a long while.

Word count: 1.3k

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-Asnyox

A part of you wished that you only came to camp after this war. You were not prepared for the mental image of all your friends being hurt and the only way to escape this was to focus solely on the jobs you had. Your patients blurred together and you did everything in your capacity of helping. The world was no longer in direct risk, however that never brought you any calm.

Percy had taken the lead- but Manhattan was big, and the amount of people at camp was small. Especially since the Ares cabin had refused to join the fight. You wished you knew what was happening, but you simply didn’t. You were still unclaimed- so you got appointed to go with the Hermes cabin, and with your healer kit on your back and an unpracticed sword hand at the ready you ventured out there. Firstly to take a stand, but mostly to find those hurt around Manhattan and get them to the Empire State building. Somehow you were in the zone- you ignored your feelings as you worked, removing any thoughts related to the consequences of what was happening- ignoring the blood staining your hands. 

Until the Manhattan bridge exploded. It was where the Apollo cabin had been situated, and for the first time you thought about your friends, how you cared for these demigods, how death was final. For the first time your heart dropped to your stomach, as you prayed to Apollo that his children were fine- that Will was fine. 

The hours dragged on and you caught no sight of any Apollo camper. You never entered the Empire State Building, leaving whoever was hurt in the hands of those stationed there. You were tired, you wanted a break but a break meant laying down and crying. You never wanted to be here and stopping meant facing the possibilities that people were dead. 

At some point someone told you the Ares cabin had joined the fight- you saw a glimpse of Will, but didn’t get further than a touch to the shoulder before you had to focus on another wounded, everything was fucked. Then, in another breath you heard from Travis the whisper that Silena had died- that she might’ve been the traitor. But maybe you misheard, and what did it matter. She died, for camp, for you and your friends. What did anything matter in this war?

The first breather you got was when Kronos showed his face. It was weird seeing Luke, a boy barely college age, leading an army. The horror that was the reality of his face and body carrying the titan Kronos was one you wouldn’t face. You were breathing heavily, clutching your kit close to you. At some point you had lost your sword, but a dagger was tugged into your belt. You couldn’t make out what the conversation was about- at some point you got caught near an explosion and although the ringing had stopped, the sound still sounded a bit muffled. 

But that didn’t matter- you stood at the ready, for either an attack or to drag someone out of the fight and keep them alive. You stood ready, as you noticed the enemy forces behind Kronos stir, as they parted uncomfortable as if forced to. You weren’t sure how to act, so you simply stood still as a loud bark sounded, and you saw Mrs. O’Leary ran towards Percy, ignoring the monsters around, and just a moment later you saw him. 

Nico, wearing a skull-shaped helmet. You slowly started making your way towards the front- if Nico was there you wanted to be near him in the fight- help him if he needed it. It wasn’t a rational thought, but you considered Nico your friend and that was reason enough. As you got closer you felt the ground rumble, and saw cracks appear underneath your feet. You jumped back as skeletal hands clawed their way out of the ground. The sky turned cold and you swore it got darker as a war horn sounded, and as the skeletons formed ranks. 

An enormous chariot raced down Fifth Avenue, pulled by horses that resembled living shadows. The chariot was inlaid with obsidian and gold, depicting scenes of death. You could not believe your eyes as you realised that the person holding the reins was the Lord of the Dead, Hades and that behind him were Demeter and Persephone. You couldn’t help but smile as you realised that Nico had managed to convince his father to help the fight- that finally it was no longer Camp Half-Blood versus Kronos and his army, but that the gods were on your side. 

Hades wore black armour and a cloak the colour of fresh blood. On top of his pale head was the helm of darkness: a crown that radiated pure terror. As you watched the crown changed shapes- monsters to bones to flames. Yet you looked away, fearing that if you got too close to the crown it might take your worst nightmares and change into the shape of those. Unlike the previous conversation, Hades’s voice reached far, and as you slowly inched closer- only stopped by the skeleton ranks- you could finally hear what was being said. 

"Hello, Father. You're looking . . . young." The Lord of the Dead spoke. 

"Hades," Kronos growled. "I hope you and the ladies have come to pledge your allegiance." 

"I'm afraid not." Hades sighed. "My son here convinced me that perhaps I should prioritise my list of enemies.As much as I dislike certain upstart demigods, it would not do 

for Olympus to fall. I would miss bickering with my siblings. And if there is one thing we agree on—it is that you were a TERRIBLE father." 

Hades drew his sword, a double-edged Stygian blade etched with silver. "Now fight me! For today the House of Hades will be called the saviours of Olympus." 

"I don't have time for this," Kronos snarled. Kronos struck the ground with his scythe. A crack spread in both directions, circling the Empire State Building. A wall of force shimmered along the fissure line, and you noticed that outside the barrier, car engines revved to life. Pedestrians woke up and stared uncomprehendingly at the monsters and zombies all around them. You saw that Nico took a turn towards the mortals and quickly followed, finally meeting up with him. 

“Good to see you here!” You greeted Nico, spotting no injury on him, and therefore moving to his side so you would have his back while you made your way forward together. Nico didn’t say anything in return, but he glanced over quickly and you saw that he was smiling. Whether it was from seeing you or the general adrenalin you weren’t sure- but you did know that somehow the smile fit him, he deserved to be elated. 

Suddenly a gun sounded, Nico’s sword was bigger than your dagger as he pushed you behind him and thrusted it out, right into the giant monster that was pushed your way. As it dissolved you saw a woman and man - both way too old to be from camp, and as Percy ran your way it became clear that the woman was his mother. 

"When did you learn to fire a shotgun?" Percy demanded of his mother. The woman blew the hair out of her face. "About two seconds ago. Percy, we'll be fine. Go!" she urged him, and from next of you Nico agreed. 

"Yes,we'll handle the army. You have to get Kronos!" 

"Come on, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth yelled from behind Percy, and he nodded as he looked at a pile of rubble . Before leaving Percy instructed Mrs. O’Leary to dig Chiron out. And then the hero ran off with his friends, to make the last stand in the war.

[mosquito-queen]

“And then?”

“And then there was a great earthquake that sank Atlantis and no one ever saw her again.”

“No, dad! You’re mixing up the stories again!”

“Oh? Am I? Do you think you could tell it then?”

“Yes, of course. Lay your head down,” She pats the purple pillow at the head of her bed and hands him her stuffed dog, “and here’s Hawkeye. Get tucked in, and it works best if your eyes are closed so you can see the story.”

“Right, thank you, Katie.” He plays along, pulling the extra blanket from the foot of the bed over his torso and settles into the pillows. His daughter sits criss-crossed next to him, her back against the wall as she holds open a book.

She clears her throat before beginning, “Dad, your eyes are still open.”

“Sorry, ok,” He squishes them shut, “I’m ready now.”

Kate adjusts so her knees are pulled up and she can rest the book against the tops of her legs. She turns the page, which is just a formality because she does not plan on reading from the children’s book.

Her father never does - only pretends while he makes up his daring tales of adventure. Kate is seven now and knows there isn’t a character named Pigsy Pie in the Magic Treehouse, but it’s too funny when her dad speaks his lines in a high pitched voice to tell him otherwise. It’s become their inside joke. Now it’s her turn.

She slides her finger down the page of Peter Pan, clicking her tongue like she’s just found where she had left off from the previous day, “Ah, yes, here we are. Our brave goddess isn’t in Atlantis, but she’s stuck in the Underworld!”

Kate frowns. The word ‘stuck’ doesn’t fit quite right. Feels funny in her mouth. “No, wait, dad. We have to start over and go back.”

“Just erase the page, Kate, and you can change the story.”

She nods very seriously, checks to make sure her dad’s eyes are still closed, and takes her hand to lightly swipe over the pages. Once satisfied with the course correction, she continues:

“A long time ago, before you and mom, and grandma, and the dinosaurs,” Her dad chuckles, “There were super powerful people, like Hawkeye, but not really people. They were made from the stars and outer space stuff probably, and it went something like this…”

***

The thundercloud over Olympus has not budged for forty nights. It had clawed its way from the underbelly of a rather calm sky until it made a black eye of Zeus’s realm. It was festering now like a rotted wound.

It started with a question, seemingly mild on the surface: “What do you mean she isn’t here?”

“I-I’m terribly sorry my lord, but no one has seen her.” And his servant had looked to the other, the smallest glance, and the sky had split open with a crack. The glance said: I know we have not yet discussed how we will speak our way out of this ordeal, but go along with this story for now.

And before Zeus seized Violence by the throat, he looked to Force and asked: “Is the other one still here?”

Force had her gaze lowered to the floor, “Yes. Yes, she remains.”

And then Zeus unleashed his wrath with a flash of red and the anger seemed to have turned into an overcast sky that every so often spit fire like venom.

He had lost one of his assets. He had lost. If Zeus was anything, it was a sore-loser. Demeter had fled and left her sister behind. Not a total loss. Still a loss.

The sisters had been captured as soon as Zeus defeated his father. They were born of something older, almost peers of Kronos, and Zeus feared them for it. He had to destroy them and remake them in his image. He had to.

Except Demeter escaped and now there was this obscene weather phenomenon seeping acid rain on his beautiful city. His subjects and lovers thought the powerful storm came from his own doing. They thought his mood so sour that it could conjure such a rage.

They were wrong. It was the abandoned sister’s anguish that drove the unrelenting storm. She mourned with the intensity of a thousand dying suns, and it was ruining Olympus.

So Zeus had done the next best thing: he had involved the Fates. Now he stalks towards the cell holding the remaining sister, his plan unfolding as Force and Violence follow in his shadow.

He opens the door that only responds to his electricity, and it reveals the thing he is most fearful of: a goddess born of death and life. She bares her teeth like a hound, but her hands and feet have been anchored together with old magic. She howls. He knows she would rip open his flesh and eat his heart. He worries she still might be able to.

That’s why he takes something wrapped in golden fleece from Force. That’s why Violence holds down the cursing goddess. She is too powerful to completely eradicate. He must recreate her in his image.

Zeus says to the goddess: “With these scissors forged from the flesh and bone of Kronos, I will cut you in two halves and you will never know your whole self.”

Her screams shake the room, rattle the entirety of Olympus.

And when he is done, and her new souls are wading away from the waters of the River Styx, he says: “From this time forth, you will be known as Persephone, the Goddess of Spring, and your shadow shall be Hades, King of the Underworld.”

***

“Hey kid, your nose is bleeding.” Derek Bishop had opened his eyes part way through his kid’s story. He had double checked the title on the upside down book in her hands, but it gave no insight to where his daughter was going with her tale. And now her nose was bleeding. She wasn’t moving though, just staring blankly at the pages of the book. The blood slowly spreading down her face.

“Kate?” Nothing. He reached out to squeeze her knee, “Hey, let’s go get that cleaned up before it gets on the blankets.”

Her eyes focused, “What?”

He’s frowning, rolling out of the bed and motioning for Kate to follow him, “Your nose. It’s bleeding. Come on, let’s get a move on.”

“Oh yeah, mom wouldn’t like it if it stains.”

“Yeah, don’t wanna make her mad, huh? You feeling okay?”

She shrugs in response and follows him to the bathroom just a little down the hall from her room. He says over his shoulder, “Put your head back, Kate, and pinch your nose.”

Now, in the bathroom her dad is tilting her head back to sneak a wad of tissue into her nose, “That was a heck of a story, kid. Where’d you hear it from?”

She waits for him to stop messing with the tissue, before answering: “I don’t know.”

“Was it your mom?”

“Mom doesn’t tell stories.”

“Something on TV?”

She tries to think, swings her legs from her perch on the toilet seat, but something hurts in the middle of her brain, so she stops trying to remember: “No, I don’t know.”

“Katie, the other side of your nose is bleeding.”

[qwerty-between-the-lines]

Percy Jackson/Kingdom Hearts crossover continued

Frank: Wow, Jason. Sounds like you had quite a dream last night. Are you sure that this whole thing about a parallel universe wasn't just a dream?

Jason: Of course not! I told you that Saturn showed it to me.

Annabeth: ...but that's not good Jason. Saturn is the other half of Kronos, and from what you told us - he's already planning to cash in a favor with a descendent of yours.

Frank: That's far in the future though, Annabeth. It doesn't really concern us. At the end of the day, we have to live our lives in the present, just like everybody else. Make the most of the present, like Epicurus said.

Annabeth: I don't need you to quote Greek wisdom to me, Frank. Point taken.

Frank: Moving on then. I'd like to see this parallel universe and these other 'selves' Jason talked about.

Annabeth: ...but Frank, not if it means getting help from Kronos!

???: She's right, you know.

Jason: That voice...

Annabeth: (turns) Lady Hekate!

Hekate: You want to see what Jason saw, Frank Zhang? In a way you should be glad that you cannot. Crossing between parallel existences can have unpredictable consequences.

Frank: You won't help us?

Hekate: I advise against it, of course, but as your girlfriend Hazel would tell you - I never try to prevent people from choosing the course that they decide.

Hekate: (holds out an orange-red gemstone) That other world exists in twilight. If you want to go there, go to the beach in the hour before sunset and hold up the stone toward the sun.

Frank: (accepts stone) Gee, thanks a lot Lady Hekate.

Hekate: I'm only helping you because I worry you might reach out to Saturn if I don't. I could just turn you all into dolphins, which is undoubtedly what Dionysus would do if he knew about this. Again though - that isn't my way. This is your path.

The three of them spent the afternoon debating about who they should tell, but ultimately it was decided that word might somehow get to Dionysus if they told.

In the end, it was decided that even Percy should be excluded. Annabeth didn't like what Jason had said about Percy's parallel counterpart Roxas being two halves.

The hour before sunset came, and the three of them stood on the beach of Long Island Sound.

Frank tried raising the stone, but nothing happened.

Frank: That's odd...

Annabeth: You must be doing something wrong. Hekate's magic doesn't fail. We just need to think about her instructions more.

Annabeth pondered over it for several moments, and then it dawned on her. Getting the stone to work was a riddle of sorts!

Annabeth: Hey Frank, when Hekate said hold the stone up to the sun, I think that means you can't just hold it up to the sky. You have to envision holding the stone up to the sun. It isn't enough just to raise the stone up.

Frank: I'll try it.

Frank raised the stone, envisioning the sun as the god Helios, ready to take the stone from him.

There was no doubt about the magic this time...

The very air around them seemed to come apart. They found themselves suddenly pummeled by a mighty gale force wind.

When the wind blew over and everything came into focus, they were standing in an open sandlot, under a twilight sky.

Jason knew immediately that this wasn't like the last time, when Saturn had merely shown him shadows and images. Hekate's magic had really brought them to that other place.

From the looks of it, the sandlot was in the center of a rather large city. It looked a lot like the city from Jason's dream.

The three demigods could hear a train moving over tracks in the distance.

???: What are you three doing here?

Annabeth, Jason, and Frank almost jumped out of their skins at the unexpected intrusion. They turned and found themselves facing three teenagers - probably not much younger than themselves.

One of the teens was a muscular guy with spiky black hair, wearing a red tank top and baggy sports pants. He was flanked by a girl with silver hair, and a less muscular guy with a black beanie.

The silver-haired girl pointed at them.

???: Strangers!

Black beanie boy: (chuckles) Fuu likes to state the obvious. She isn't one for many words. The dude with the spiky hair is Rai, and I'm Seifer. We're the Twilight Town Discipline Committee.

Rai: Yeah! The Twilight Town Discipline Committee! Ya know?

Fuu: (points at Frank) Trouble!

Seifer: You hear that? I think Fuu probably has you pegged about right. You're troublemakers.

Jason: Wait! We're troublemakers? You just met us.

Rai: Yeah, but you're outsiders. Ya know?

???: Aw, leave 'em alone Rai!

Jason recognized the guy who said that from his dream. It was that Roxas guy, and he was flanked by Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

Seifer: (assumes fighting stance) Were you planning to interrupt our disciplinary measures? Not wise, Roxas.

Hayner: (raising fists) We're ready for ya, Seifer. We won't back down!

Seifer: (smirks) Whatever. We've got bigger fish to fry anyway. These outsiders seem hardly worth the effort.

Fuu: Losers!

Seifer laughed heartily as he and his friends departed.

Roxas: Don't mind them. They're mostly hot air. Seifer thinks he has some unexplained right to rule this town and tell other kids what to do.

Frank: That's weird. Wonder what his problem is...

Hayner: Don't sweat over it. I'm Hayner by the way. He's Roxas... Pence... and the cute one is Olette.

Jason: I kind of already knew that. It'll sound strange to you, but I saw all of you in a dream.

Hayner raised his eyebrow skeptically.

Hayner: (smirks) Well, I suppose that's not as weird as some of the stuff that Roxas comes up with. You're in good company. You want to see our special place?

Pence: Follow us!

-To be continued?-

[ghostg1rl1111]

1/6/2023

Full Wolf Moon in Cancer

Black Moon Astrology

This full moon joins forces with Uranus the Seventh Planet from the Sun. Uranus is the father of Titan (Cronus- Kronos- God of Time. Planet Saturn. Divine Descendant of Primordial Gaia) He is grandfather of Zues (King of the Gods of Mount Olympus- respected allfather; Cheif of the Gods) and Great Grandfather of Ares (God of War, courage, brutality & bloodlust. Planet Mars)

His Roman counterpart is Caelus, a primordial god of the sky. He is a Divine Masculine archetypal energy generative force. The name Caelum in Latin translates to "sky" or "the heaven" & in English translates to "celestial".

Uranus is the father of electricity. He rules surprise and all things unexpected. He also rules the future and all new technology including all that is newly invented and all yet imagined to come.

Uranus works in sudden ways called the great awakener and can even bring on sudden even radical change on both the internal world, external projection, and soul level manifestation into the physical reality as well as collective manifestations at large.

Uranus energy can be impulsively rebellious independent and even liberatingly shocking. He overturns anything traditional conventional or orthodox that he deems have outlived its usefulness or amplifies and expands it in a way that forces it to hit its fullest potential.

Uranus is the higher octave of intellectual Mercury and is strongly objective and brainy balancing the emotional state and emotional waters. Uranus holds sway over social change, regulates global brotherhood of humankind and all humanitarian concerns including environmental issues. Uranus rule Aquarius and Astrology.

Uranus stays in a sign for 7 years and takes 84 years to circle the Zodiac.

Expect the unexpected.

Are you ready and prepared to embrace these big changes in your life now? This full moon is a good time to reflect on releasing ways that you paint your communications in words and verbal imagery so it always creates the most harmonious and beautiful masterpiece you have the change to create in this and every future moment.

This full moon brings a massive wave of ascension energy to the healing of the cosmic unified heart chakra we are all connected to and never separated from that keeps us connected to one another.

Feel the electricity of the universe rise in vibration and move through you as you remember the connection you have to the infinite self and lives around you. You've all gone through trials by fire you've all carried the torches and you've had them all along if you didn't see the fires inside of you and you are an exploding sun inside, a cosmic reactor, nuclear; you're about to know and understand that worth with the coming wave of moon light transmitting secrets withheld from you that will disrupt your course and stop you in your tracks, but in a very positive way if you allow it to move that direction.

it is through the element of water we are connected to the consciousness of the moon.

Black Moon Astrology Cards

40. WATER ELEMENT~ SENSING

Let matters flow.

Water represents our emotions & our imaginative talents. When we open the realms of vision it can take us into the quintessential depths of feeling where intuition is more appropriate than acquired wisdom and knowledge. Water “carries us away” or can have us feeling “adrift” like and floating. When we look to see the bottom of a pool of water we can not see through its shimmering surface, but we know what is there- deep things too obtuse or transitory to explain, fathoms of moods & insight. Water is the signs of Cancer Scorpio and Pisces & the water planets are the Moon Pluto and Neptune. 

When the water element car presents itself in a spread you can trust what you feel as best course to follow. What you are sensing right now may not be based on any logic its just that what you are sensing right now is correct. Right now is the best time to go with the flow and depending on any other cards that may be drawn at this time or other intuitions brought to your front and center attention to trust that specific movement although these changes may seem gentle and gradual.

Sometimes the Water Element card indicates a need to withdraw and fight another day and that it is time to gather resources and gain strength before moving ahead. This can at times indicate trusting too soon or the passive acceptance of other peoples shortcomings when you shouldn't accept them. You may have the tendency to want to allow things to pass you by without fighting for them. To let go of something that is rightfully yours. Water is the element of compassion and understanding. But avoid being a doormat. It is possible people or forces may take advantage of your benign and accepting nature.

This is a good time to imagine, write, paint, play, or create anything, since water is the element of the imagination. It is the ability to quiet your conscious mind an essentially stop using words as weapons and to know the power behind what you speak out into the cosmos. It is also to allow yourself to be taken over by an idea or dream. Water is painting, poetry, and music.

This card represents being connected to the flow of all things. It is also the ability to keep a secret or to work alone in privacy. It is probably best to now allow people or circumstances to not pin you down or hem you in. Water feeds to grow all that is wild. Frankly, now you have the ability to flow or drift out of any situation in the way water is able to move around obstacles very gently and easily.

Currently you may have the feeling of floating or being adrift. in a sense, it is a type of surrender. Maybe it is the surrender to a dream. At this time you may presently have little energy and want to withdraw. You are in fact doing a lot of inner processing which will take you where you want to go. There are deeper levels working and developing inside you, but the work is not seen on the outside. Expect a pause but forward motion soon.

Look inward. Don't worry about the drama that surrounds you. Avoid the commotion, sit still, float, trust you inner wisdom. It will not steer you wrong.

Right now you will have surety of what is felt to be known to be true through the emotions and keenly sharpened sense of intuition. It is a good time to allow yourself to be led by your feelings and inner spirits calling. You are being called into one of the highest manifested alignments for your growth and expansion and destiny.

Though you may feel some extreme sensitivity at this time it may be heightened for the purpose of energy healing into resonance with your dreams and intentions outcomes in real time. You'll want to feel shy due to feeling out of place because of how new a transformations may move you out of your comfort zone. It is just the nature of the quiet and introverted but the subtle changes in circumstance you can trust to keep your eye on the prize and know that it is yours and you are being put directly into it being in the palm of your hands.

You may find yourself dreaming through currents of emotions that don't serve you on this path forward and they will shed from you like an old skin or through the endless awe of possibility your wildest dreams can return to you thus sparking a fire into creation mode for something to reflect and express the deepest most inner most souls passion and desires.

This may be time of confronting a problem directly that has been being avoided for a long time but is inevitable to act upon doing or having done in your favor giving you any clarity you have been asking for.

You will find yourself walking your own path for a time without help.

You may soon find yourself travelling near bodies of water or lakes rivers, oceans or even taking beach vacations connecting to the air of sea life.

You may also find a heightened sense of each other and others around you nurturing and giving nourishment to others and communities.

This card corresponding in Tarot is the Ace of Cups.

Thank you.

Happy Full Moon <3

Namaste

~Madam_Mystics

[kronosfm]

JANUARY 8, 2040 — MIDNIGHT

( tw: violence, gore )

the gala of the year was in full swing; champagne showers under hung artifacts from the world’s most powerful fallen empires and crystalline chandeliers, shared laughter and the clinking of glasses toasting to new beginnings, the dawn of a new era is upon the citizens of novus now that kronos’ super serum had been brought to light. despite the whispers of the opposition, those who own the power in novus seem to be at an agreement — this is how the truly powerful will stay powerful.

it all happened in a blink of an eye; first started with a pained scream, accompanied soon after, the crash of the last surviving aztec sun stone, following suit, queen victoria’s most prized chandelier broken into indiscernible diamond specks and hurled into the unlucky few who were standing far too close. panic ran rampant across the packed halls with many rushing towards the double doors — until they slammed shut, and kept everyone inside.

it was the villains, it must be! they must have infiltrated! who else would do such a thing?

the heroes sprung into action, though their efforts deemed fruitless as … no one knew who to attack, and who to even defend. for once, they felt distraught. even.. powerless.

a few went to work on opening the double doors, eager to at least pave an exit path — until the newly appointed senator and his legislative aide are lifted off the ground, their bodies as if possessed by a force much greater than their own. 

one that can only be done if they carry the power of the mind.

the twins’ eyes trailed blood down their cheeks as if their tears were sacrilegious — as if even they couldn’t control the power they possessed. they had been taken over by something much more carnal, much more sinister, a surge their will couldn’t overtake.

the senator and aide screamed and begged for mercy, words hinting at struggle despite their strained bodies. blood trickled down their eyes similar to the twins’ until their heads mimicked victoria’s prized diamonds — split to millions, scattered viscera across the hall.

as the two bodies fell, so did the twins, over-exhausted by whatever overtook them.

ACTA DEOS NUMQUAM MORTALIA FALLUNT

this unfortunate incident was the result of unpredictable elements, says the official statement. the twins are the culprits; the blame lies not on kronos. any mention of the super serum is erased, and all recordings of buchanan’s speech replaced with the unveiling of a different way to the future. 

THE NOVUS TIMES REPORTS: MUSEUM RESTORED IN RECORD TIME DUE TO KRONOS’ NEW POWER ENHANCEMENT SERUM. 

the aztec sun stone was repaired without a single crack, diamonds once again whole — if you weren’t there, you’d think you were dreaming.

yet those who were remember. even as many found their chance to escape or to save a helpless few — no one quite got the answer to the one question on the tip of everyone’s tongue: is this the start of a new era, or a new evil?

ooc information: 

so.. the serum wasn’t all that great, huh? not to mention kronos’ covering it up, their PR machine out in full force! even if the team’s little experiment ended horribly — we would like to thank everyone for participating in our first event! we were really happy with how everything turned out and everyone’s participation was very much appreciated.

this concludes the end of the event — you may continue to wrap up current threads, and write new interactions with the present day dating at least one hour after the disastrous gala. flashback threads may also be written, as long as they date at least one month before the gala. you may also have your character suffering from injuries sustained in the disaster. if you have questions, please feel free to let us know in the server. get ready, this is just the beginning!

[litcityblues]

'The Sea of Monsters' --A Review

Look, I'm going to end up reading every last one of these books, okay? I'm not a huge YA person and I haven't really been back to that particular genre since The Hunger Games, but I said it after reading The Lightning Thief, I know for a fact that these books would have been my jam as a kid because I loved mythology. But then I thought, you know what? I'm a grown-ass adult and I still love mythology furthermore, I can read whatever I damn well please, genre be damned.

So, The Sea of Monsters.

Sequels are hard (I speak from experience-- my second book was a sequel to my first and god damn was that hard to write! Had to keep going back over and over again to make I was keeping everything straight.) but I can't imagine the challenge of plotting out entire series-- but happily for me, Rick Riordan seems to know what he's doing, because The Sea of Monsters doesn't miss a beat- there's no sophomore slump here.

The novel begins with Percy dreaming about Grover (who goes off to search for the god Pan at the end of the last book) being hunted by a monster. He wakes up for his last day of 7th Grade happy and even a little optimistic, as he has made it through a school year without any chaos following him in his wake, but of course, he speaks to soon and in gym class along with Tyson, a homeless kid that attends the school, he is attacked by a gang of Laestrygonians, but is saved by the sudden appearance of Annabeth and, strangely enough, Tyson.

Percy learns that Annabeth was on her way back to Camp Half-Blood having been tormented by dreams that the camp is in danger together with Tyson, the two of them catch a magical taxi back to Camp Half-Blood and find it under attack from the Colchis Bulls- there, they find out the truth: someone has poisoned Thalia's tree and the protection around the camp is weakening. Chiron has left, being accused of poisoning the tree, and has been replaced by Tantalus. Only the Golden Fleece, it is found, could save the camps. Oh, and Tyson is Percy's brother and a baby Cyclops to boot.

The quest this time is given to Clarisse and Tantalus forbids anyone else to accompany her, but naturally, Tyson, Percy, and Annabeth- wanting to rescue Grover and save the camp, go anyway-- reaching the first Ghost Ship, Princess Andromeda where they think they're safe only to find their old nemesis Luke, waiting for them. After a confrontation with Luke, they're forced back ashore again and take shelter in an emergency shelter built by Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke during their flight to the Camp- this time, it's Clarisse and her ship that rescue them and this time, they make it to the Sea of Monsters.

(As established in the first book, the Gods of Olympus have moved westward with the heart of civilization and so too, did the Sea of Monsters-- which is now where the Bermuda Triangle currently sits.)

They make it through Scylla and Charybdis, outmaneuver the witch Circe (who turns Percy not into a pig, but a guinea pig, in a nice touch/update to the myth), and eventually reach the island where the cyclops Polyphemus hold Grover (and the Fleece) captive-- only this time, he's managed to pick up Clarisse as well. Eventually, they make it back to the camp and bring back Chiron (who explains that he's distrusted because the Titan Kronos is, in fact his father) and they place the Fleece over the tree and it starts to work.

Only it works a little too well and brings Thalia back to life-giving Kronos another chance to manipulate the Prophecy for his own ends.

Overall: It's YA, so it's a quick read-- but even aside from that, Riordan doesn't piss about- he gets right into the thick of things and the results are entertaining, and his contemporary twists on ancient mythology are refreshing, smart and most of all-- fun! I'm ready for more! My Grade: **** out of **** (Those are stars, not curse words.)

[oditeksolutionsyaass]

Kronos, a leading workforce management solution, offers cloud-based tools for time and attendance tracking, schedule management, and payroll automation. OdiTek Solutions specializes in implementing and optimizing Kronos modules, providing services for Kronos Workforce Ready, Dimensions, Central, Analytics, TeleStaff, and more.

Services offered by OdiTek include customized implementation, seamless integration with existing systems, compliance and reporting configuration, and continuous support and optimization. The team's expertise extends to cloud integration with tools like Boomi, Celigo, and Workato.

OdiTek ensures precise configuration of Kronos solutions, compliance with labor laws, and ongoing support for long-term efficiency. As a strategic consulting partner, they aim to enhance workforce management and offer expertise in Kronos Workforce Ready and Kronos Workforce Dimensions.

Kronos Integration, Kronos UKG, Kronos Work Force Ready, Kronos Scheduling, Kronos Workday

[smellslikemultifandomimagines]

hi! could i request an angsty percy jackson smut with a fluffyish ending- percy and a daughter of hecate. both have a class together at nyu. in this au, they're around 20, annabeth died in the last olympian, and percy is recovering from his grief. the daughter of hecate fought on kronos's side, and she recognizes percy immediately. they have to partner up together on a project, percy realizes who she is, they fight, yadda yadda ;) thank you<33

pairing: percy jackson x fem!reader (daughter of hecate!reader) - college!AU

warnings: smut → oral (fem receiving), fingering, rough smut.

word count: 1.3k

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

requests are closed

smut night masterlist

this day couldn't get any worse. First you woke up late, next your train got delayed, and now you're being paired with the one student you wished to avoid. Percy. Percy bloody Jackson.

You noticed him almost immediately on your first day of class a few week ago. With you being on the other side of the battle of the gods/demi-gods, it was obviously awkward when he was taking the same class as you. So you did what any normal person would do - you chose to ignore him.

"great, just great," he hear percy mumble as he slumps down next to you.

The two of you spent the rest of the class working silently until the class was over. everyone began packing their things and got ready to leave for their next classes.

"hey, uh, I was thinking you could come to mine so we can just get this thing over and done with?" percy suggests. Swinging your bag over your shoulder, you shoot him a glare.

"really? you think that's a good idea?" you snicker at him. "what about the part where we're on the opposite side of the team? or did you forget that already with the size of your pea-brain?"

percy rolls his eyes.

"look, do you wanna get this done or what?"

"fine, but don't expect me to be staying up late."

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

it hadn't even been a full hour and you and percy were already bickering.

"look, this isn't the most ideal situation for me either. so if you could stop being a bitch for 5 minutes so we could actually work together, that'll be great," percy snaps.

"a bitch? woah that's big coming from you, mr.my-ego's-too-big," you snicker.

A moment passed of just you both staring at each other, and before you knew it, you had your lips crashed onto Percy’s. The kiss was rough and rushed, and Percy tugged at your shirt. Breaking the kiss for a second to pull your shirt off, your lips collided with his again. He has on hands on the back of your neck while the other rested on your lower back, pulling your further into him. For the second time, Percy broke the kiss and kissed down your neck, nibbling and sucking at your sweet spot, making your legs weak.

“On the bed,” Percy mumbled as he detached himself from your neck. In a desperate hurry, you rushed to the bed and laid down, and gripping the back of Percy’s neck as he hovered over you.

Finally, you both rid yourselves of your clothes before continuing. You flip him over so he was underneath you, and began kissing up and down his neck while simultaneously grinding your hips into his, feeling him become hard. Percy breathes out a soft “fuck” while gripping your ass, giving them it tight squeeze. Biting down on his soft spot on his neck, he drew out a soft groan. You chuckled slightly and rocked your hips slightly faster, making his hands grip tighter. His eyes closed and his moans grew slightly louder than before, his hands now grasping at your hips in a desperate need to speed your movements up.

You stop for a second in an attempt to tease him, but you were almost immediately flipped over by Percy who was now shuffling down the bed so his face was in front of your dripping wet pussy. His tongue licked a stripe up your folds; teasing you.

“Percy,” you moan and tangle your fingers in his hair, pulling at it tightly. He groans against your clit, sending vibrations through you as he began to suck harshly at the bundle of nerves.

“Holy fuck,” you breathe and lift your hips towards him, feeling his fingers teasing your entrance. Percy slowly pushes his middle and index fingers into you, chuckling softly against you as you whine and gasp at the feeling. The pit of your stomach begins to tighten and you knew you weren’t going to last much longer.

“Percy,” you whimper, grinding against his face. However, your movements came to a forced stop as Percy pressed his free hand down onto your hips. He breaks away from your clit, looking up at you as he continues to thrust his fingers hard inside you, biting his bottom lip as he curled his fingers up. “Fuck, Percy,” you moan loudly, feeling a strong sensation pass through your body.

“Found it,” Percy smirks to himself while hitting the same spot over and over again. The sight of you turned him on — your head is thrown back, mouth agape as loud moans and whimpers escaped, hands twisted around the sheets and tugging tightly — he felt himself grow even harder.

“You gonna cum for me, baby?” Percy’s low voice asked. You nodded and almost screamed when he leaned down to suck your clit again.

“Percy!” A high pitched moan released from you as you came all over his fingers. He rides out your high before demanding you to go on all fours. Percy reaches into the draws for a condom and rolls it on before entering you. It surprised you at how painfully slow he was moving, and you backed your hips into him.

“Did I say you could move?” His voice low with dominance, making you moan at the sound of it. Finally, his hips slam into yours, causing your body to jolt forward slightly. You yelp at the sudden movement and grip the sheets in front of you; your upper body dropping down into the mattress. His hips worked harder and faster against yours, the wall taking it from the bed frame with each thrust. Your whines were in sync with his skin slapping against yours. Percy’s hand wraps around your hair, pulling you up against his chest. You turn your head and smash your lips onto his, and moan into his mouth as he brings a hand down to circle your wet clit.

“fuck,” Percy groans into your mouth, pulling away to kiss down your neck. Without warning, Percy stops his movements and pulls out, flipping you over on the bed so you’re on your back. Hooking your legs around his waist, he enters you again and thrusts into you slowly.

“Percy, please don’t tease me,” you whine. “I need you.” Complying to your pleads, Percy thrusts harder into you. His moans into the crook of your neck, sending shivers down your spine.

“Fuck baby, I’m gonna cum.” Percy whimpers, reaching between you to circle your clit again. With a few more rocks of his hips, he pulls out and cums on your stomach, moaning and grasping at the headboard above you. It was honestly the hottest tight you’ve ever seen. He calms down from his high and kisses you passionately on the lips before pulling away and winking at you as he shuffles down the bed. His tongue comes into contact with your swollen clit for the second time this night, and your hands immediately tug at his hair. This time, he lets you grind your hips against his mouth as his tongue works circles on your clit.

“Percy!” You shriek as you tug his hair while you cum on his tongue; your legs shaking between his head from the strong sensation rushing through you. You giggle as he detaches himself from your overworked heat and with one final kiss, he got up and grabbed a towel from the bathroom to clean you both up.

Once you were both clean enough, Percy lays down next to you and pulls you into his chest.

“I’m sorry for being a dick earlier,” he apologies with genuine remorse straining his voice.

“no, I’m sorry. I-“ before you could say anything further, Percy kisses you.

“How about a proposal: we drop all the tension and hatred toward each other and call a truce?”

“I think we’ve already called a truce.”

[mayclair]

percabeth + prompt 99 pls pls pls

this sort of spiraled out of control fjdjkfhkjdf oops

The sun rises as she closes her eyes for the last time.

Percy thinks it’s the most unfair thing in the world—being forced to watch her struggle to hang on to life, blood dripping from under the knife wound her hands, under both their hands, as they try to stop the bleeding. Seeing her slowly slip away in each passing second, like a thread unraveling between his fingers until there’s nothing left to hold on to.

It’s the beginning of a new day, and the end of her life.

Every ending has a new beginning, she’d quoted to him just a few hours ago, when they were getting ready for battle at the Plaza hotel. Marianne Williamson. It was a poor attempt at making him feel better about the whole dying thing—she’s never been the best with her words, and honestly, neither has he—but it got him thinking. That if he sacrificed himself, he’d be building a new future, a better life, for thousands of other demigods. He almost laughs at the irony.

He stares down at her lifeless body. Brushes a blonde curl out of her sweat ridden forehead gently, as if he’s afraid he’s going to wake her if he lingers too long. Her face is white, and she looks like one of those porcelain figures he’s seen at the pawn shops near his apartment. Her lips quirk upward slightly to form a small smile, and for a second, he thinks she looks peaceful—happy, even—for the first time in months. The thought makes him feel even worse.

Dimly, he registers footsteps pounding on the marble floor behind him as Thalia enters the throne room. She appears in front of him, stares at the body in his arms, and covers her mouth with her hands. A loud, guttural scream rips from her throat and she’s crying, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sinks to her knees, whispering nonopleasenopleasewakeupplease desperately. It’s not enough to drown out the blood pounding in his head, the small voice whispering in his ear.

It should’ve been you.

There’s a hand he recognizes as Grover’s on his shoulder, squeezing it gently, reassuringly, reminding him that they’re alive, they’re okay, that Luke is dead and Kronos is gone and neither of them will be able to harm anyone ever again.

None of that matters, he wants to scream, because she’ll never be able to see the future she so desperately wanted.

He stands up. Stumbles a little, but Grover’s grip on his shoulder is tight and steadies him. By some miracle, he’s able to stand up without his legs turning to jello, and Grover lets go of him. He holds out a hand to Thalia, who still has silent tears making their way across her face. After a moment’s contemplation, she wipes her eyes and takes it.

Percy glances back once, at the three bodies on the floor. A child of Hermes, a child of Nemesis, and a child of Athena. They look so out of place there—in the middle of the large room, godly thrones towering over them. This is how it’s always been, he realizes; demigods, sacrificing themselves over and over again, for the gods, fighting their battles for them, working towards what they think is a better future—but what is the point of fighting for a better future if history keeps repeating itself?

.

Grover finds him inside the cabin.

He’s sitting on the floor just like a few days ago, except he’s clean—on the outside, that is. There’s still blood on his hands, on his clothes, all over him. Blood of the hundreds, maybe thousands of people who've died so that he’d live. Her blood, never to be washed away, because it simply cannot.

Her camp necklace is clutched in his hands. He runs a thumb over the eight beads, staring, transfixed, on the drawings on them, but looks up when he hears Grover enter. Tries to control whatever maelstrom of emotions he’s feeling right now so Grover won’t be able to pick up on them through their empathy link and shoots him a tired smile.

“Hi,” Grover says carefully. Sits across him, and suddenly they’re twelve again, playing rock paper scissors on the classroom floor while waiting for break to end. “How’re you feeling?”

“M’alright,” he lies.

Grover stares at him, unconvinced. “Nobody expects you to be, y’know.”

He doesn’t get an answer.

“I’m sorry,” he says after a while. “About Annabeth, I mean.”

Percy almost flinches at the use of her name. The last time he heard it, it came from his own lips, screaming as Luke’s knife went through her armor and into flesh. No one’s said it since then—at least, not around him. He swallows, struggling to keep his expression level, fingers twisting in the hem of his shirt nervously.

“Not your fault,” his voice cracks a little, and he clears his throat, shrugging. “Besides, it could’ve been worse. We could’ve been in love.”

There’s a beat, then, “You loved her.”

It’s not a question.

“I…” Percy falters. He and Annabeth put themselves through the kind of reckless passions he thought only existed in stories—joy and jealousy, desire and despair, happiness and hatred. He honestly can’t remember how it felt like to be around her without it hurting a little, without them toeing the line between friendship and something more, pushing it back and forward until one of them broke. And when she kissed him… sometimes he wonders if he had done something different after, would everything be different? Would they still be where they are today?

“I don’t know. Maybe. Possibly,” he says softly. “Yes. No. Fuck. I mean, we’re sixteen, G. And yeah, the way I felt with her was definitely different from what I’ve ever felt before, but I just… I don’t know,” he blows out a breath. “I think I did, though. Do, not did.”

Grover's quiet for a while, and Percy can hear the thoughts racing around his brain, trying to make sense of the reality that was their life. He sighs. “Okay.” He notices the look on Percy’s face and nudges his foot. “Anything else you wanna say?”

Yes. “No.”

“You sure?”

Percy nods. “Yeah. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“I always do, Perce,” Grover says, a little sadly. He stands up to leave. Percy doesn’t meet his eyes. “Take care of yourself, okay? Don’t forget to eat. Or drink. Or sleep. I’ll be back soon.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” Grover smiles at him as he moves to walk out the door. “Go to sleep. For me.”

That actually makes him smile. “That doesn't work with you!” he calls out.

Grover laughs and shuts the door, leaving Percy by himself in complete darkness.

[chironshorseass]

hello yes i’m OBSESSED with your writing so if you’re still taking prompts maybe “please look at me” bc i also have an unhealthy relationship with pre-tlo percabeth angst and live for pining percy

SYD U GAVE ME THIS AND I JUST HAD TO PUT ALL MY PROMPTS ASIDE!!! because how could i not!!!

for what i wrote, i kind of mention this clarisse one-shot.

anyway enjoy <3, since I sort of went crazy with percy being powerful :) like i always do :) and of course, pre-tlo percabeth :)

read on ao3

The waves had grown restless these past few days. Violent, brutal. The night was quiet, the moon hidden beneath darkened clouds, drenching the camp in heavy ink. Percy knew many demigods proclaimed it as the quiet before the storm. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

All he heard was noise.

He’d been like this—unsteady, overwhelmed—for some time, now. Everywhere he went, he felt like a ship sailing into giant waves, water crashing against his deck, threatening to bring him under.

Grover would’ve understood, maybe. But Grover, like the moon, had vanished. That only left a few of his other friends—and of course—Annabeth.

Percy couldn’t avoid her gaze, no matter how much he wanted to. She was always there, watching. Maybe she awaited the day when he’d sink to the power of those waves that plagued the beach, that plagued him. Maybe she anticipated with bated breath on the day when he’d turn sixteen and he’d have to make one decision that would change everything.

Nevertheless, she’d drift away from him. Then come back, again and again.

It drove him crazy, how much their relationship had changed with the times and circumstances. Only now, Annabeth wasn’t what bothered him.

His gut was.

It tightened and loosened, the same way the currents flowed to the rhythm of his rushing blood. He could hear that now, too.

His blood. The sea. The clashes against rock.

Everything was beating to a powerful symphony of drums.

But worst of all was his gut.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

Percy knew there was a war. He had nightmares about it, in fact. Nightmares leading to frantic waking-ups from the feeling of lava burning into his skin. But he hadn’t sensed the war’s presence so strongly in all his three years of attending camp as he did now—and he felt it, because the source of conflict had to do with the sea.

The shadows of cabin three clung to his skin in a comfortable blanket, but he couldn’t ignore this dread. It had trickled patiently into his system for a week now, culminating to this exact moment. He couldn’t sit still. He had to leave. Now.

Not long after stumbling outside while shoving his armor on did he hear the conch horn ringing as a warning. The lookouts had seen something. His legs moved faster.

Doors of other cabins began to smash open, and with it came the spilling of panicked campers. He was already way ahead of them, though.

“To the beach!” someone cried.

Percy arrived just in time to see Chiron assemble with Michael Yew and Austin Lake. The sons of Apollo. They’d apparently been the ones on night duty. The centaur saw Percy before the others made out his heavy footfalls.

“Percy,” Chiron said. “Thank the gods you’re here.”

“There’s something,” he gasped, doubling over once he’d reached them. “There’s something out there,” he finally managed to say, gulping mouthfuls of air. “The sea.”

They already knew, however. The conchorns were signal enough. But what was more obvious was the glimpse of the giant tail, jutting out of the water like a spear cutting through flesh.

The breath he’d managed to find from his mad dash was stolen away at the sight of the monster.

“Yeah,” Austin said, swallowing. “There’s something out there, alright.”

Chiron eyed Percy warily. “My boy. We are dealing here with something I fear that you are only capable of stopping.”

“Yeah, well...it looks like a pretty big fish. I—”

A howl punctured the atmosphere—probably the same sea monster he’d seen earlier. Percy gasped, feeling a stabbing jolt in his stomach. He didn’t know why this sudden change of the sea was affecting him so, but he had to stay strong. So he stood up straight and concentrated on his breathing.

“Are you alright?” Austin asked, studying him.

Percy looked at Chiron, who met his eyes as well. You have to be, his teacher seemed to say.

“I...I think so.”

Michael chose the moment to turn his back on the sea, blowing the conchorn once more. He shouted at the incoming campers, “Greek fire! We need Greek fire!”

The rest of the multitude showed up right away, Hephaestus kids priming canons while others exchanged weaponry. Through all of it, Percy’s gut became a pressure cooker, a fist closing around glass, about to break. He cried out in agony just as a tidal wave shook the world. Falling to his knees, his arms encircled his middle, muffling that pain. He wanted nothing but to make it stop.

He vaguely heard a sound of surprise, coming from someone nearby, then the rush of hands holding onto his shoulders. They helped somewhat, a comfort to the madness.

The hands were warm and soothing. The voice of the person became clearer. He knew that voice. He knew those hands.

Annabeth appeared in his vision, all worry lines and pinched eyebrows. She said something to him again, but the words might’ve been ghosts; the stampeding blood behind his ears was too thunderous to make out anything else.

He closed his eyes and concentrated like he had earlier.

Sharp as a blade, his senses switched to the outside world.

“Are—are you okay?” Annabeth was saying. “You doubled over, and I…”

“No.” He opened his eyes to meet hers. They matched the storm that raged across the sea. “I—I’m not okay. I need to stop this, I need—”

“We were just discussing strategy,” she said. He was glad for the distraction she’d offered. “The Scolopendra isn’t just any ordinary sea monster.”

“The Scolo what?”

She helped him stand up, steadying him with her arms.

“The Scolopendra,” she repeated. “A child of Keto. It’s one of the biggest sea monsters in existence, and it won’t leave the camp border.”

“No shit.”

Annabeth ignored him, glancing backwards at where the monster had last been seen. “There’s no telling what it can do. There’s barely any recordings of it.” She swiveled back to him. “Chiron says that it can control the tide. It might be capable of drowning the camp if we don’t kill it.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“I told Chiron that we needed to try my strategy first. As in, bombing it with Greek fire before we go with the last approach.”

“And what would that last approach be?”

He had some idea, but before Annabeth could speak, the creature shot out of the water, faster than lightning. He only caught a glimpse of the crayfish-like tail and rows of webbed feet before it disappeared again.

“That looks like a giant shrimp,” he declared.

A giant shrimp that was probably capable of crushing a decently-sized trireme. Shrimpzilla, he was about to call it, as a way to lighten the mood. But he thought better of it, once he saw the hard line of Annabeth’s lips as she watched the campers rev up the Greek fire.

The Scolopendra dared to peek out of the waves for the third time, giving the chance for Beckendorf to yell out an order. Instantly, canyons discharged the green substance directly towards the monster.

It roared defiantly, maybe in pain, maybe in anger. No one was sure, because as soon as the night sky lit up with green flames, the Scolopendra crashed against the water like a wrecking ball. For a moment, all was silent.

No one dared breathe.

Annabeth squeezed Percy’s shoulder. She looked hopeful, as if relieved that she didn’t have to go with the second plan.

Chiron’s tail twitched. Beckendorf held out a hand, urging the campers to wait. Some stood anticipatedly, swords ready. He saw Clarisse in the front line, her electric spear aimed at the sea and crackling with energy.

Percy sensed what was about to happen next before he heard it.

“Annabeth,” he said frantically. “Annabeth, we have to go. Now.”

“What? But—”

“NOW!”

He’d already separated himself from her, yelling at the rest of the campers to leave. They didn’t have the chance; milliseconds later, the Scolopendra appeared. It bellowed with the power of a thousand hurricanes. Many campers covered their ears.

To everyone’s horror, it had closed in on the shore, its back legs likely reaching the sand floor as it rose to its full, terrifying height. Lightning crackled, and with it, came another roar.

“No,” he muttered. “No, everyone get out!”

Too late. The monster had already spit out a million gallons’ worth of salt water.

Instinctively, Percy let out a yell and threw his hands out.

The water halted in midair, rippling like a broken mirror. It was as if time had slowed down, as if Kronos himself had been the one to interfere. But Kronos wasn’t interfering. It was all Percy—with nothing but his willpower. A bead of sweat rolled down from his temple.

Annabeth reached him just as he cried out and threw the water back to the sea with everything he had, forcing the giant shrimp to hide as well.

He caught his breath while Annabeth looked back and forth. From him to the sea, from the sea to him.

She shook her head at no one in particular. “The plan didn’t work.”

“No shit.”

Then she gazed at him again. “Thank you for doing that, Perce.”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “No problem.”

“About the second plan...”

“I have to kill it, don’t I?”

“I...maybe. But we can help—”

“It isn’t a maybe. It is a certainty,” a voice said, strong and firm.

They both turned around.

“Chiron,” Annabeth said. “How can he possibly—”

“He’s the only one capable,” the horseman said. “You know that better than most.”

Her eyes flicked to Percy. Memories flashed through his mind. A quick, burning kiss. A promise. Then, the way fire engulfed him. The call of the sea. An explosion, strong enough to wake one of the most dangerous monsters of all.

When the bombard was over, he understood. He had to face this monster alone, like he had with the telkhines.

“Okay,” he finally said.

“Okay, what?”

Chiron nodded at him, ignoring Annabeth’s question. Without glancing back, he retreated to where the rest of the demigods were watching by the sand dunes as a precaution.

“I need to face him alone,” Percy told her, once Chiron was gone.

“No! Percy, that thing is bigger than—”

“I’m the only one that can’t drown, Annabeth!” He grasped her shoulders so that she was looking directly at him. “If anyone can do it, it’s me.”

“Don’t think I can’t see what’s going on with you,” she said, voice bitter and rough. “You’re distant, like, like the ocean is—”

“We’re both growing distant, ‘Beth. That’s not the problem right now.”

She pushed his hands away. “And that’s not what I’m talking about, and you fucking know that!”

Before he could reply, the monster's call came again. A reminder that this night wasn’t over.

“Please. Just trust me on this, Annabeth. I have to try. It’s our last option. You said so yourself: it may be capable of drowning the entire camp.”

She said nothing, not even sparing him a glance.

“And—and I don’t know why I’m like this! Maybe it’s because I can feel the ocean getting agitated, or because the war is getting worse, or—”

He realized it, then. Annabeth's tears. They were silent rivers, flowing gently down her cheeks and into her mouth. Flowing down to where everything ended up, to the sea.

“Hey,” he said, approaching her slowly. He took both of her hands in his, but she repelled away from his touch. “Please, ‘Beth.”

This time, he cupped her damp cheek, moving it in his direction. “Please look at me.”

And when she finally obliged, her gaze was fractured with glistening tears, like diamonds.

“I can’t lose you again,” she whispered.

Percy had yearned for too long; he let go of that rope tugging him in the opposite direction and instead let Annabeth in. They melted into each other, both shamelessly giving away the little warmth they preserved. It was the kind of hug that felt like a lifeline, the kind that made them both sway like the tide.

“I missed you,” he mumbled into her curls.

She held him tighter. “I missed you, too.”

“But I have to fight this one myself.”

Annabeth pulled away slightly—and when he saw the look on her face—he knew that she knew.

-

“HEY, SHRIMPZILLA!”

The Scolopendra reared its head, even uglier up close. Its nostrils flared with hairs, beady eyes staring down at him. When he charged, the monster bellowed and threw itself in the water, sending sprays taller than a house.

But none of it touched Percy.

He didn’t stop running, a plan in mind. Meanwhile, the sea churned around him in one giant mass of power, but it parted with each step he took, forming a trail of now exposed ocean floor. Water collided with the sky, flying with the salt in the air.

Hello, friend, it seemed to say. Or rather, hum. The sea was a song, and he was just there to dance to its melody.

The Scolopendra had disappeared again.

He didn’t look back, though he knew the entire camp was there, watching—maybe in awe, but he didn’t care enough to find out. He kept walking, alone, surrounded by a pool of green and blue. Was this how Moses felt, In those stories he’d heard? Bricks of ocean water, flinging up into the sky, just so that Percy could pass. The feeling distracted him from the objective.

That’s what he’d argue later, because Percy can’t explain how the monster managed to sneak up to him that easily.

The pool of green seemed endless. There was a moment where nothing moved, not even the water. But then something did tug him violently, up, up into the sky.

For a second, he couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t scream out, the breath stolen from his lungs and the icy rush of air when flung into the sky nauseating. The only feeling he knew was of the Scolopendra and its death grip on his entire body.

With each second, the roiling waters grew farther and farther away. The Scolopendra’s growl, however, couldn’t have sounded closer. Sharp claws sank into his chest and arms. If he didn’t react now, he’d be eaten before the next flash of lightning struck the sea.

Somehow, he managed to uncap Riptide.

And with a scream, he stabbed, as hard as he could.

-

“Hey. Want company?” A soft voice said.

He craned his neck around.

Annabeth subconsciously made the world easier to look at. Especially now, as she stood behind him in the pier with the last vestiges of harsh sun striking her back. Her stance was stiff, hesitant. He understood why.

So instead his eyes bored into his lap. He shrugged.

That was a sign enough for her. She crouched next to him, pulling her legs under herself and then flinging them out to where the wooden planks ended and the open air began, toes nearly kissing the placid lake.

She sat next to him, quiet as the wind. It took a few seconds or minutes or hours before she decided to speak.

“I’m sorry.”

From his peripheral vision, he could tell that she’d been studying him instead of watching the reflection of herons flying above the water. Something he’d thought she’d been doing. Apparently not.

It also took him seconds or minutes or hours before he could respond.

“What for?”

She exhaled, “Letting you go alone. Being a part of the campers who…”

She didn’t finish that sentence. He knew why.

Being a part of the campers who abandoned you alone after what you did.

“S’okay. I get it.”

A lie. He didn’t get it.

“Doesn’t make it right.”

He stared at his hands. “Guess not.”

The details of the fight were yet to go away. The memories were still fresh—like his mother’s batch of cookies whenever he came home from camp. Teeth were ever-present in his mind. And those webbed hands. Those twisted sounds as a monster choked on its own blood.

Afterward, everyone had taken a step back. Even Annabeth and Chiron seemed to contemplate him as though he were doomed. Maybe he was.

“I wish Grover were here.”

“Yeah,” Annabeth sighed. She kicked her leg up, swatting at some mosquitos. “Me too.”

“He’d pull our shit together, fix everything.” He found himself sounding wistful, longing for a missing piece of himself all of a sudden.

She didn’t reply to that. They both missed their best friend. Now, more than ever. Percy tried to not dwell too much on the fact that Grover hadn’t responded to his Iris Messages or to his calls from their shared empathy link.

“I’m sorry.”

“You already said that.”

“No, Percy. I’m serious.”

“I know.”

“Just look at me.”

He did the opposite, gazing at the trees to his left. They were a deep, mystical green. The colors looked like the ocean, where he’d displayed his powers for everyone to see. Worst mistake of his life. He realized that tears had begun to form in his eyes; he quickly blinked them away.

“Percy,” Annabeth insisted.

Her tone wasn’t hash or demanding—but rather, a light pink sky. A hand brushing his, sweet and tender. He noticed that it wasn’t just his imagination; glancing down, he found her fingers ghosting against his knuckles.

“Please look at me.”

This was eerily familiar. It hit him, then, that he’d said those exact words when she’d panicked about him going alone to fight the Scolopendra.

Hesitantly, his eyes focused on her face. Her freckles were there, golden like the rest of her. Only now, her eyes were rimmed with tears.

Something changed inside them both. She stared at him, he stared at her. Her face contorted, and the both broke down, crumbling like ruins with the slightest gust.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, clinging to his shirt.

“Me too,” he murmured back.

He held unto her as if she were a life force, breathing in her lemony scent. Tears were exchanged, mingling in the other’s hair. They held each other, an embrace that didn’t deserve to end. It only made him cry harder, while Annabeth held him closer.

“Why are you sorry?”

He couldn’t say it out loud.

I’m sorry for why we’re like this. I’m sorry for scaring you. I’m sorry for leaving.

Instead, he pulled away. He studied her, every single feature, from those grey eyes and that upturned nose to those curls that no longer appeared to look like a princess.’ They were just Annabeth’s.

“I scared you,” he said.

His arms loosened around her, just now realizing how long they’d hugged, but their hands stayed interlocked—like some sort of middle ground.

She regarded him, eyebrows furrowed. “I can’t ever be scared of you,” she said matter-of-factly. “You’re my best friend, Perce.”

He looked away. “Everyone else was.”

“I should have gone to you after—I just...I thought you were angry at me.”

Their hands separated. “Why would I be angry at you?”

“Because I let you handle all of it alone. The monster, the campers—”

“‘Beth.” He took her hands again, cupping them with his. “I couldn’t ever be angry at you.”

“That’s not true,” she said wryly.

An observation, not an accusation. Still, that didn’t make it hurt any less. He recalled the shouting, the fights. The only thing they looked for in those moments was to hurt the other, twist and pull at any chink in the armor they could find.

She winced, remembering that, too. “Sorry.”

His mouth twitched. “You’ve said ‘sorry’ too many times. It’s getting repetitive.”

She hit his shoulder playfully. “Well, I mean it.”

He didn’t retort anything back. They found peace in this lake, once again gazing at the horizon.

“It’s not true what you said, either,” he said, his mind lingering on what she’d told him earlier. “You’re scared, as well.”

The sound of the incoming crickets carried on in Annabeth’s hesitation.

That is, until she said, “I am. Scared. I’m scared.” He glanced over. She was staring in his direction, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Neither did I.”

She laughed, breathless. “See that’s what scares me. What else can you do? Honestly?”

He shrugged, turning away from her.

“How’d you do that, anyway?”

“I defeated it, didn’t I?” It was better to deflect than to answer her question.

Defeating the monster should’ve been what mattered, anyway.

“Percy.”

“Annabeth,” he said, in the same condescending tone.

“All I’m saying is that you could hurt yourself. You don’t know what you’re capable of. And then when your birthday happens—”

“You think I’m going to destroy Olympus or something?” He shook his head. “I should’ve known that you’d side with the gods on that, too. You think that they should kill me?”

“What? Percy, I’d never—”

He whirled, facing her, and finally let go of all those pent-up thoughts that just like the sea, wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Just admit it, Annabeth! Admit that it freaked you out that I blood bended or whatever the fuck Chiron called it! Admit, that it freaked you out how I killed that monster! That I’m fucking cursed!”

“Percy Jackson, you are not—”

“Yes, I am. Why would my dad give me powers like that? Huh? Just say it with me: you’re scared—of me.”

Her eyes were red, face hard as stone. Just like her voice when she said, “Look. I just wanted to help. But if you want to sit in your self pity, then go for it! You clearly don’t need me.”

She made no move to leave, however.

Their eyes held, until the anger from both of them melted. He huffed out a breath, shoulders hunching. “We can’t ever stop fighting, can we?”

She sighed.

“Guess not.”

“I won’t do that again.”

She lifted her chin. “Why?”

“Like you said. Scared you.”

That made her purse her lips.

“You’re not cursed, Percy. You know that, right?”

She reached for his hand. It was becoming a strange routine. Finding comfort in hand holding and then dismantling it as if it never happened.

“You’re mostly right all the time, so.” He squeezed her hand. “I s’pose I’m not cursed, then.”

“I’m right most of the time?” she said, eyes twinkling.

“Okay, fine,” he conceded. “You’re right only sometimes.”

She opened her mouth in mock-offense. “Percy Jackson—”

He cut her off with his laugh, a laugh that fit with the music of the crickets. She rolled her eyes, something that he’d missed achingly, now that he saw her do it for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Scooting closer, she nudged him. “I could help you. Alongside Clarisse.”

His eyes widened. “You knew about that?”

“She’s my friend, too.”

“Of course she is,” he muttered.

Him and Clarisse...they might’ve had a rocky relationship when he’d first arrived at camp, but now, he didn’t know what he’d do without her help—without her friendship. They both understood the other in a bizzare, not very common way. She’d helped him hone in his powers, but it had yet to be something he’d wanted to admit to Annabeth. To everyone else, for that matter.

“I get why you didn’t want to tell me,” she said. “But...I do want to help. You’re my best friend, and, and I also want to spend time with you. If...that’s alright.”

“It’s alright by me.”

Annabeth gave him a look.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” He tried for a smile. “I guess you could come along, then.”

His grin was shared with her, though her eyes were serious. “You’ll see. We’ll figure out your powers. What you can do, why you can do it, why the sea is affecting you…”

“All of it?”

She nodded. “All of it.”

They left it at that, though what they didn’t leave was the canoe pier. Not until the sun hid under the trees, spilling its ink of reds and oranges across the horizon.

The golden of the sun was replaced by the silver of the moon for the night, then it rose again for the day.

And in between, the waves lapped against the shore, constant and content. The ocean had calmed. For now.

[dysfunctional-amateur-writer]

Ares is an abusive parent for Clarisse, everyone knows, they are also fanfics. But one of the things that no one seems to be interested in is that children raised by abusive parents tend to have abusive relationships in the future, honestly it seems a little unlikely that Clarisse was not in one

I think, regarding specifically Chris and Clarisse’s relationship (bc it’s canon), it might be a little bit abusive on both sides. Yes, it’s common for children who grew up in abusive household to later find partners with red flags, but they also carry some red flags of their own. After all, the cycle of abuse is a thing.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Clarisse is bad, and, well, Chris is a little on the grey side. I think they try to avoid anything obviously bad, but sometimes it just comes through.

But here are a list of things that the two of them do that might be a little questionable at times. 

Potential TW: Potential mentions of abuse.

This, ended up being a longer list than I thought. I guess their relationship is not exactly abusive, just, not the most healthy?

I’d like to clarify that neither is physically abusive. After two wars and three bagful of trauma, both of them decide in the beginning of their relationship that no matter what happens, neither will get physical with the other. 

But that being said, during heated arguments, you can still see the clenched fists and jaws, stances taken to ready themselves.

It’s a force of habit, really. Clarisse had to deal with her brothers who were ever more arrogant, boisterous and violent; and a fist fight was the norm in Cabin 5. 

Chris too, in Cabin 11. The overwhelming amount of unclaims meant that you needed to stand your ground. Later in Krono’s army, this was intensified because the weak would be fed to the monsters.

They don’t ever get physical with each other, but sometimes (the amount decreases over the years) a plate or something would be sacrificed to their anger.

They stop fighting the second something is broken. 

Its the one rule they made that hasn’t been broken.

The ‘cold wars’ are arguably just as bad as getting physical. Sometimes hours, sometimes days where they ignore the other. Neither of them making the first move to apologise after a fight.

C + C fights, a lot. Over the littlest things too. 

“I thought we were having pizza tonight?” “No, we agreed on pasta.”

It’s the sibling rivalry and lack of attention for the both of them. Clarisse grew up with Ares always favouring his sons, while Chris grew up unclaimed. So they’re always trying to one up the other because they’re still seeking for approval subconsciously. Neither will compromise for each other, which is what leads to fights escalating from the tiniest things.

Like, seriously, a ‘cold war’ once lasted 3 days because they disagreed on what order to wash the dishes.

Then there are all the times where the two of them accidentally ignore each other’s triggers.

Clarisse is loud. In everything. This is again, most likely something subconscious because she’s used to that. Because otherwise she wouldn’t be heard between all her brothers. 

And besides, I hc that all Ares children have echo-ey, commanding voices because those worked best to give orders in battlefields.

But here’s the catch.

Chris can’t handle those kind of commanding voices. 

Why? Because he was tortured to insanity in the bloody maze. 

Echoes? The maze was echoey and whatever screams, cries of help, or the roars of monsters would be amplified. Loud, commanding voices? That was what it was like in Krono’s army and he was pretty much always on the receiving end of dangerous, potentially lethal orders.

Clarisse mostly doesn’t notice because Chris is good at masking. But every time in a fight, Clarisse doesn’t seem to notice the way Chris freezes and stays silent. 

But Chris has things that subconsciously triggers Clarisse’s trauma too.

They’re both young (obviously) and they often do the ‘Kobe!’ thing with bins. But on the occasions that Clarisse does miss, Chris’ scoffs always made her think of her mortal father. 

Chris often couldn’t sleep. Sporadic insomnia, a part of the maze that stayed with him. That forces him to stay alert, pacing just outside the bedroom thinking there might be dangers. Chris thinks that pacing outside the bedroom meant he won’t wake up Clarisse. 

But the truth is, the second footsteps can be heard, Clarisse is fully awake but forces herself to stay still while she pretends to sleep. 

They don’t sort this out until two years into their relationship.

All those are small things though. The one big thing that Clarisse can’t handle are the lies.

Children of Hermes often inherit their father’s deceptiveness, and Chris does indeed inherit his deception and fleetingness. Always a little flighty, and the way he responds always makes you question whether he’s being genuine or not. 

It’s the little lies for them.

“Hey, did you do the dishes?” “I thought you were supposed to do it.”

(He forgot. He went to brush his teeth, then remembered he needed to take his meds, which then made him go get a coffee. But then with a coffee, he started doing his emails and forgot to take the meds until he reorganised his entire email system. But then by that time, Clarisse had came back and he hasn’t washed the three or four dishes left in the sink from last night. He deflects the responsibility.)

“Where were you?” “Oh, just catching up with a friend.” (He ran into his father while he was out one a morning run. Didn’t want to tell Clarisse the full story of him taking like, 20 turns to try and avoid Hermes)

“Hey Chris, I’m just- was that someone out on the balcony?” “Nah, I’m just having a smoke.”

(That last one, when Clarisse comes back after 20 minutes or so, she notices the distinct lack of cigarette smells on Chris’ shirt. But in reality, it was one of the rogue demigods who came back to check up on Chris. He just lied out of habit.)

Clarisse can’t handle lies anymore. Not after the amount of defected demigods in the first war, or the constant being on edge when they realised there was a spy among them. 

Not lies like these where it was so similar to the ones Silena used to tell when Luke came to visit, or when she needed to IM him.

I’d like to think that the two of them eventually sorts things out and compromises or changes to better accommodate the other. They go to Will, and he suggests couple’s therapy. It takes them a while to find a legacy of Apollo who is a therapist, but they eventually get there.

Years of being stuck in emotional abuse, but I hope the two of them breaks out of it.