#rick wants to go home but he's gonna get roped into a war anyway

[buttertheflame]

Rick, Pearl, and Donald: CRM’s Alliance of Three

1x01 Analysis of Donald Okafor

Secrecy is the main theme for the CRM. Major General Beale is its commander. Lieutenant Colonel Okafor is its prime visionary. We see it in his confession of bombing LA, Atlanta and a stadium in Philly. We see it in his quest to recruit Rick Grimes and Pearl Thorne, and in his quest to 'quietly' dissolve the military's As and Bs system of culling and control. Although Beale and Okafor disagree on something major, they signed off on the construction of Omaha and Portland, secretly destroyed the former and passed it off as an accident. Why would they do this? The CRM seems set to rule the Civic Republic forever, but that's not the case. This secret is the most important one, a card I think Okafor was holding onto until the best time to reveal it it to Rick. The purpose is not to implement a liberation of the people, but to implement a soft coup so the Civic Republic would not learn about the monstrous people they're ruled by or be able to do anything about it.

It begins with the main walking dead theme and its sudden flip. It begins with secrets and Okafor's vision: “Monsters that kill the monsters—that’ll be over soon.”

To start, let's remember our hero Rick Grimes. In The Ones Who Live, personal freedom is one of his themes. When Rick refused to back down, this is what Okafor did:

a) The CRM already revoked his freedom of movement, his freedom of association and they continued to pressure him into joining the military even after he took his own hand in his attempt to escape. b) The writers even had Rick acknowledge that, “People here can’t leave. They aren’t free.” c) When Rick said, “If I’m an A and I think for myself…” Okafor shrugged it off. d) When Rick held him at knife point, Okafor pulled out the ace card and threatened his wife and child to prevent him from leaving, once and for all.

Donald Okafor is a villain. He does not care about what Rick Grimes wants and what he believes. He cares that the man has inherent power, that he is a juggernaut. This is Palpatine seducing Anakin Skywalker to the dark side to get ultimate power. And like Anakin, Rick has to metaphorically die to 'survive' this fraught partnership. Pearl accepted it, and eventually Rick understood it.

Thankfully, our other hero Michonne interrupted Okafor's moment in the sun. But Rick still has to know what he wanted, because he and Pearl are poised to inherit his plan and will disagree on what to do with it.

So what does Okafor want? He wants the CRM to keep its sovereign power over the Civic Republic. World Beyond viewers know a timed shift of power was included the CRM's founding. This is their Death Star’s fatal flaw. But the CRM is not the kind of group to accept being scrutinized, interfered with, and audited. They are not the kind of group to accept the possibility of being dissolved due to the atrocities they committed. They are the kind of group to manufacture their value and necessity to the Civic Republic’s government through degrees of obfuscation. Any and all other threats to their absolute power (see Michonne's group) would also be vanquished. That's their average Monday.

This leaves us with two versions of one final question.

What if Okafor had survived? (Secrets, secrets, secrets.)

1) If Okafor had lived to execute his soft coup within the military, once Rick and Pearl were in place, he would “tell them one more secret” and reveal the Civic Republic’s threat via the oncoming oversight. He would explain that the CRM was founded as an emergency protocol. He would ask Rick and Pearl, what happens if the emergency continues? There would be no more As or Bs within the military. They would not need to do this to prevent the Civic Republic from learning what kind of monstrous people are out there in the waste. They would no longer need to hide the fact that the Civic Republic is being ruled by them. These layers of secrets would make it near impossible for Rick to approach the general population and Pearl's already drunk the koolaid; Okafor would strongarm Rick into fighting for this evil cause, and Rick would run the risk of dying to avoid engaging in it.

Since Okafor hasn't survived, what then? (Secrets, secrets, secrets.)

2) Since Michonne did interrupt Okafor’s moment in the sun, in the fallout, Rick has an even more compelling decision to make. He will want to run away with Michonne. He’ll try to get home. With Rick’s escape, obviously Jadis will try to save her own skin. And Beale will bring down the hammer. But I think Rick will find out about the secret threat to the CRM. I think he will see he almost got roped into a hard coup masquerading as a soft coup, and that he would have committed atrocities like the others the CRM had done before, or he’d have rather died. It’s kind of amazing. After choosing to live by dying metaphorically inside, he will realize how much worse CRM was all along. That and Michonne’s encouragement will be enough to convince Rick Grimes to be the leader of a liberation, whereas before Okafor’s death there would have been literally no one available to take on such a daunting task.

To finish with more poetry: Donald Okafor help set up Omaha and Portland, but between him, Rick and Pearl, he's the first to die. That would make him a foil, or opposition, to that community’s role in the story. I'd bet that Pearl is a foil to Portland and Rick is a foil to the Hidden City, hopefully indicating his survival. I’d like to see that, anyway.

There are only 6 episodes so let's see how far they get. I think this is a compelling run down of what's possible. One villain set it up, but he's dead now. The others will take us other places. We'll see.

[carlgrimeschandlerriggsimagines]

I’m sorry he is gone..(EnidxCarl grimes)

Word count:1644

Carnid One shot for you!

Warnings: Death, Sadness, Cursing, Fluff

Wishlist

Masterlist

The gates of hilltop opened Clyde and Jason standing at the top, as usual, taking gaurd Araon drove through the gates and drove up the hill and parked behind the barington house I got out of the car I notice a new grave next to Abraham’s and Glenn’s I shrugged it off and I ran over to the trailer I opened the door shocked when I saw Rick,Michonne,Daryl,Judith,Maggie and Jesus “Hey”I say Maggie pulls me in for a tight hug “Are you ok are you hurt!?”She asks worriedly “I’m ok I’m fine.”I say a smile on my face I glance behind her to see Carl’s hat on the table “Where’s Carl?”I ask Rick he looks down my smile turns into a frown when I realize..That grave was his My legs begin to weaken but Maggie holds me up tears form in my eyes “No..No..No You’re lying no!”I cry out Michonne stands up and walks to me pulls me into a hug and cradles my head “It’s ok It’s ok” She soothes I let my tears fall “You’re lying...You’re lying”I cry She pulls me closer Rick has tears in his eyes that he wipes away Jesus hugs Maggie as she sees me cry..I’ve lost one the boy I’ve ever loved Michonne helps me to Maggie’s bed “Shhh its ok its ok let it out”Michonne says Then I feel a wet towel on my head Michonne cleans the walker blood from my forehead “It’s gonna be ok I promise everything will be ok”She soothes “Let’s get you in the house we can talk”She says gently she helps me up and walks me to the door “Let’s get you cleaned up and get you some rest”She says she guides me to the house passing Araon he gives me a sympathetic look we walk into the house and she guides me upstairs and into a bedroom a crib lays in the corner with multiple duffle bags all over the place she sits me on the bed she sits next to me “It’s gonna be ok” She soothes “I’ve lost everything”I cry quietly She sighs “Let’s go back in forth ok we share who we’ve lost one at a time”She says gently I nod slowly “You wanna go first?”She asks gently I nod slowly “My Mom”I say quietly “My boyfriend Mike”She says “My Dad”I reply “My son”She says I look up at her at her words “Jessie”I say quietly “A man named Hershel”She says “Sam”I say “A woman named Andrea”She says “Ron”I say “A Man named Tyreese”She says “Glenn”I say “Glenn” She says “Abraham” She says “Olivia” I say “Sasha” She says “Sasha” I say “Last one on the count of three..1..2..3″She says “Carl” We both say in unison “Who did you live with back at alexandria?”She asks “Olivia”I say quietly She pulls me in for another hug “Carl told me that he loves you”She says I let out another sob “I love him too”I say “I wasn’t there when he needed me”I cry she strokes my hair lightly “Why don’t you go get in shower get cleaned up”She says I nod 

1 hour later

After I get in the shower, I wrap myself in a towel and I walk back into the room new clothes and new shoes are lying on the bed, my knife and gun missing I sigh and I change and put on my shoes I walk outside the cold air, sending shivers down my spine I walk back into the trailer Maggie, Rick, Michonne, Jesus, Aaron and Judith Eating dinner Gracie in her crib in the corner “How ya feeling?”Rick asks I just sit down and I put some meat on my plate “I made your favorite”Maggie says “Thanks” I mumble I eat my food slowly taking more bites than usual “Tomorrow Daryl and I are gonna go search for supplies head home to try and scavage anything”Rick says “Can I come?”I ask Rick gives maggie a look and she nods “Alright”Rick says “I’m gonna need my gun back”I say “You can have your knife back tomorrow”He says I roll my eyes “Ok I’ll just wait around for you to get me killed”I say as I put another piece of meat on my fork I put it in my mouth and chew it slowly Judith climbs out of Rick’s lap and walks over to me “Eny”She babbles I pick her up and I place her on my lap she wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me I kiss her head Rick smiles “Why don’t you sleep you sleep in the house Enid”Maggie says I nod “Ok” I say 

After dinner

I pull the comforter back and I climb in I hear a knock at the door “Come in”I say Rick opens the door holding Judith “Look, there she is”Rick says Judith giggle reaching for me “She wanted you���He says and chuckles..How? How is he acting like nothing has happened..I can barely crack a smile and he is laughing...How does he do it? Judith crawls on my bed to me throwing her arms around me “She can sleep in here with me if you want”I say “You sure?”Rick asks I nod “Yeah, Won’t be a problem”I say “Ok I’ll wake up at around 7:30 tomorrow we are gonna leave at 8:30″He says “Ok”I say He stands kisses both of our heads and walks out of the room “Come on Judy lets go Night night”I say she giggles and flops down on the bed next to me I lay down and I turn off the lamp I close my eyes and fall into a nightmare filled sleep 

The Next day

We pull up to the broken gates of Alexandria the smoke is still clearing We get out of the car “Enid and I will go check the Left side you go the Right”Rick says Daryl nods I follow Rick to the Left side of Alexandria, which so happens to be where Rick house was Rick’s house is in perfect condition except for a broken window I walk inside looking at everything there is a mess on the floor and the table looks like hell I slowly walk up the stairs Having my knife ready in case of any walkers I walk into a room I think its Rick and Michonnes room Their is a picture on the dresser of Carl and Judith I smile I grab the pictures and I stuff it in my backpack knowing Judith will want to Remeber Her brother I walk over to the nightstand seeing a box I quickly turn around when I read the first letter which was C I walked out of the room quickly not wanting that image in my head I walk into a another room My knees weaken when I remember its Carl’s Tears form in my eyes I walk around his room when I pass his bookshelf Suddenly A light shined in my eye from the corner I turn towards it to see a metal object between a piece of paper I slowly walk to it and I pick it up a necklace falling out of it I unfold the paper and it reads

Dear Enid,

If you are reading this I love you. I love you so much no words can explain it, I love your beautiful eyes and Your smile your bravery and Laugh. Yes, I am dead I, tried I really did, but walkers suck don’t they. Take care of Judith and my hat don’t forget about me and I found you a necklace while on a run I’m sorry I can’t give it to you in person I’m sorta..You know. Anyways, when I saw it, I thought of you because, well it’s Beautiful just like you I couldn’t find a picture of you to put in it, but I did find a flower petal..But I lost it..Sorry. Hopefully Maggie can take a picture of you, oh and take care of her baby. Tell Judith about me and Remeber Just Survive Somehow.

Love, 

Carl

Ps I love you to the end of the milky way and back 

My tears fall as I am finishing reading the note I slowly reach down and pick up the necklace is a heart locket with a Ring on the chain as well, I smile Then suddenly something touches my shoulder and snarls I scream and I turn around A Walker! I drop the locket and grab its neck it pushes against the wall trying to bite me I let out a scream as The walker gets closer and closer than before its teeth make it to my neck A arrow goes through its head it falls to the ground dead along with me in pure panic I sob uncontrollably on the floor Daryl kneels down next to me “It’s ok Enid It’s alright”He says He straps his crossbow to his back and picks me up bridal style grabbing the locket and note he walks out of the house with me and down the streets as I sob I sob about everything Carl,Glenn,My parents the war and, Olivia Daryl carries me to the car and places me in it he hands me the note and the locket Rick is walking back with a bag of stuff he puts it in the back seat and gets in the driver’s seat Daryl gets on his Motercycle and drives away Rick starts the car and follows “You alright?”Rick asks I wipe my tears away “I’m fine” I say 

Back at hilltop

I walk into my bedroom holding Carl’s hat I place it on my bed, I take my hair out of the ponytail and I grab the hat and look in the mirror, I slowly place the hat on slowly I run my fingers tips over the gold rope and I fix my hair and I walk out of the room and I walk outside A crowd of people outside holding guns and weapons Rick and michonne smile at me Rick then Announces

“Let go win this war!”

[pjoplusmore]

Child of Hera

Pairing: None

Warnings: None, to my knowledge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Fame.”

“Fortune.”

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

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

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

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

“What?”

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

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

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

“So she hasn’t talked to you?” I ask.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What’s up?”

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

“What?”

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

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

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

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

“Whatcha got there?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Who goes?” Aron seems to say.

“Take a guess.” Eliza seems to answer.

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

The power of Gods once Returned

To command the Youth who once yearned

Forbidden daughter to choose

To the old or new, the Gods must Lose

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Masterlist

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

[txmquamalteridem]

Wonder Woman: Movie Review

Hi, hey, I just saw Wonder Woman, so now I am going to write a review on it! (Yay!!!)

Synopsis:  Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, Diana meets an American pilot who tells her about the massive conflict that's raging in the outside world. Convinced that she can stop the threat, Diana leaves her home for the first time. Fighting alongside men in a war to end all wars, she finally discovers her full powers and true destiny. (taken from the one and only google)

Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSB4wGIdDwo

Rating: 4.5/5 stars, around 90% and an A-

No spoilers review: I mean, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it and I will talk more specifically about the things that enjoyed in the spoiler section, but I will say that I enjoyed the fact that the main character was a woman and I enjoyed the way that they portrayed the way society looks at women and the way the movie shows the expectations we have for women and how it shows that these expectations are not right and not just. I loved most of the fight scenes (I’ll get to that later). I think the main reason that I wasn’t able to enjoy this movie as much as I would have liked is because I don’t enjoy plots that are as fast paced as this movie, and I am not trying to blame the movie for this, because I understand that you need to fit a complete story arch into 2 hours, which is difficult to manage, so I don’t blame them if it was fast paced, because it is a very tight schedule and it does feel fast at some points and I wasn’t able to enjoy that. I think I would have enjoyed it more, if it were a TV show. I did love the story line and the way it portrays the problems in our society and the way it shows us what is wrong. I as sitting there in the theater and I was feeling what they wanted me to feel: I was feeling embarrassed for this woman, strong, courageous woman, for standing up for what she believed in, I wanted her to fit in and go along with what everyone else said and blend into society, instead of doing what she wanted to do. I feel like this is slowly moving into the spoiler section, so I am going to conclude this by saying that while I did not enjoy the movie as much as I would have liked to, it was not for the story line and the message, it was more about my personal preferences like faster pacing and excessive amounts of action sequences, but that is just because I don’t typically enjoy that sorta thing, so yeah.

To conclude this section, if you are wondering whether to go see the movie, PLEASE DO, I will say that I was blinking tears out of my eyes by the end of it and I am really proud of what DC did with this story, so do yourself a favor and go get a ticket. 

Gonna go into spoilers now, so if you have seen the movie, feel free to read on!

Spoiler review: So, as I said before, I enjoyed most of the fight scenes that we got in this movie, which is saying a lot, as I usually don’t enjoy that kind of thing in general. Now, the one fight scene that I didn’t enjoy was the one at the very end of the film, when she is fighting Ares, like the full on wearing-armo(u)r-and-can-mold-anything-into-a-weapon Ares, because I felt like it was too much, the CGI, the special effects, the armor... I think what tipped it over the edge for me was the whole molding-anything-into-a-weapon thing and I just found that with this much editing going on, it wasn’t as “organic” as I would have liked it to be (which is ironic since none of the scenes in the film really are “organic”, but most of them aren’t as full on with special effects as this one was and I found that I wasn’t able to feel for them as much, and I felt disconnected from it all. With that said, I loved the other action sequences we got in this film,  like the No Man’s Land one. I loved how it showed Diana standing up for what she believed, instead of listening to what everyone else was telling her to do, it felt so empowering to watch her take down the Germans. And when she jumped into the church and took down the last German, it felt so wonderful and great and I was full of adrenaline. Also the fight scene at the start of the movie, when Diana saves Steven and the Germans discover their island. I enjoyed that one so much, because it showed women in and entirely new light (this makes me sound like a feminist), but I loved the way they Amazons were portrayed and how they were shown as these warriors who could stand up for themselves by themselves. It was very empowering to watch. Now let us talk about the romance... This is probably the only reason that I had problem with the pacing - the whole romance felt a bit insta-lovey - how they just met and barely know each other and suddenly he is telling her he loves her and giving her his fathers watch (which I would guess means a lot to him)... And it felt so very fast to me, maybe because I am used to seeing romantic feelings develop over multiple books, but this was like a skip-through-all-the-boring-stuff-and-get-to-the-cheesy-and-sweet-bit. It felt like they tried to mush too much into 2 hours with the romance and action and everything in-between and they may have done better to leave some of it out. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me...Now, another reason why I didn’t enjoy this movie as much as I wanted to was the mixed and crooked mythology... The thing is, I am such Rick Riordan trash and one of the many reasons that i enjoy his books is because of the way mythology is layed out very clearly and clear lines are drawn between the Greek and Roman mythology and I like it, because I get a clear understanding and a good history lesson. The mythology in WW was confusing and mixed and inaccurate with all their talk of Zeus dying and Ares living on and the Amazons, which aren’t even a part of Greek mythology, being creating to save the day, which is not how it is supposed to go. Since I knew the original stories (sorta knew the original stories anyways) I found it difficult to put that aside and focus on the ore important parts of the film, especially as this is mentioned multiple times during the movie. With that said, I did really enjoy the movie. So, now, that I have complained about the stuff that I didn’t enjoy, let me get into the things that I liked about this:

1. Bad-ass, kick-ass warrior women - THANK YOU WE NEED MORE OF THIS IN MODERN DAY MEDIA PLEASE!

2. The humor: OMFG the humor in this was so amazing - good enough to make me laugh out loud, which isn’t something that happens often, and, of course, all the dirty jokes you could ever need. Some of my favorites were the bath scene where he(Steve) explains what a watch is, the scene on the boat where they talk about sleeping together and the “doesn’t go with the outfit”, there are more, but these are the highlights

3. “It is not about deserve, it is about what you believe” I THANK YOU FOR YET ANOTHER CHEESY QUOTE THAT I WILL PUT ON MY WALL AND ALLOW PEOPLE TO JUDGE ME FOR

4. The fact that this doesn’t have a happy ending. To be honest, I’ve had it with the happy endings in these action movies, where it seems so unrealistic that everyone that matters to the viewer will survive and be fine by the end of it, because that is not how war works in real life - people die, there are casualties, there are sacrifices made - and I enjoyed this film’s portrayal of a not happy ending and a not-so-happily-ever-after-but-moving-somewhere-in-that-direction-and-making-the-world-a-better-place-because-i-have-nothing-else-left-but-also-because-i-kinda-want-to, that is why I loved that movie so much.

5. how you kind of felt attached to all the characters, even the minor ones, due to the great acting. The actors DELIVERED and thank god for that! Of course, Remus Lupin was my personal favorite, but.. the other ones where good too, not sure about that Gal Gadot, though (I AM BEING SARCASTIC)

To round up, I enjoyed the movie and the things that I didn’t enjoy were mostly just my own preference and not a problem with the story line and the portrayal of any ideas/concepts in the film, yeah.

Below this cut (sorta cut) are some references that I thought of, while watching the movie, if you want you can read it, as long as you have finished all the books that are set in the Shadowhunter world and all the SJM books. I don’t want to spoil anyone... Oh, and also Star Wars (and obviously finished the movie)

So, references:

1. Diana, just in general reminds me a lot of Izzy from TMI, with them both being such wonderfully bad-ass warriors

2. But also, the truth-rope-thingy Diana uses reminded me of Izzy’s whip way too much, so I just started thinking of them as one being

3. The cuffs that Diana uses at the end to absorb Ares’ power reminded me of Cortana (Emma’s sword) from TDA, with how both the sword and the cuffs absorb the power of that which they destroy. So Diana is sorta a mix between Emma and Izzy.. following me, yeah?

4. when Diana was caught in those iron/rock thing and Ares was taunting her, how much did it remind you of that ending scene in EoS with Maeve taunting Aelin and cuffing her and laughing at her.... So now she’s a mix of Aelin, Emma and Izzy in my head, which is very confusing, because she is also just Diana

5. The way Ares was trying to get Diana to use her anger about Steve’s death to get her to kill humans reminded me of the way Sith was trying to being Luke to the dark side in one of the Star Wars movies.. Anyone else? No?  Just me?

please let me know what you thought about the movie, I would love to talk about it with you!