#when percy and annabeth are here sipping coke and giggling about pizza

[crossdressingdeath]

Not to harp on about Rick's treatment of Percy's fatal flaw again, but I think the scene that annoys me the most in regards to this is actually the scene in MoA where he takes Annabeth on a date in Rome before she sets out on her quest.

...That might sound strange. Let me explain. The thing is, this is actually a really good example of his love for her being a flaw. Yes, yes, it's very sweet, Percabeth date, yay, but think about the circumstances. War is brewing between the camps and the Athena Parthenos is the only thing that can stop it, and even once Annabeth's freed it it's still in Rome, thousands of miles from camp, and they can't even fly it back aboard the Argo II because they need the ship to get to Greece, so they really need to get the actual getting of the statue done so they can figure out how to deal with it ASAP. More urgently, Nico only has until sundown before he dies, none of them know where in Rome he is, they have to get past the giants to free him, and Piper and Jason can't even start looking until Percy gets back to the ship. Starting to see the issue yet? Percy just walking Annabeth to the river was already selfish even if it was understandable. The two of them getting lunch and having their cute little date in Rome was wasting time that as far as they knew they did not have to waste. It's not quite sacrificing the world to save a friend, but it is Percy putting lives (although not his, which feels like a misstep here writing-wise if he's supposed to be so loyal) in danger because he can't bring himself to let Annabeth go do what she needs to. And that's good writing! It's his fatal flaw actually making an appearance! Percy's so loyal to Annabeth that he's putting Nico's life in danger just to put off saying goodbye to her, you can do something with that! It could've been really compelling!

And then Rick... doesn't do anything with that. It's treated as cute and sweet and correct. It's left at "Aw, look at the fan-favourite couple on a lunch date in Rome before they both go on dangerous quests"; the fact that while they're eating lunch and joking about Italian pizza Nico is suffocating to death and waiting helplessly for someone to rescue him is an afterthought at most. Certainly neither of them express any real guilt that they're leaving a friend who's consistently risked his neck for them to suffer so that they can get lunch. This could've come up later! Imagine Nico finding out that Percy risked finding him too late because he decided that getting lunch with his girlfriend was more important than Nico's life! Imagine Hazel, Frank and Leo finding out that while they were out risking their necks Percy was having a nice little date and holding up the search! Imagine Jason and Piper pacing the deck of the Argo II, wondering what's taking Percy so long when lives are on the line, maybe worrying that something's happened to slow him down! These characters could and should be furious about Percy making such a selfish choice in such a serious time crunch! But instead it's fine, apparently. They're all risking their necks with only hours left on the clock before Nico (reminder, Hazel's brother who she's already gotten angry at the Seven for even suggesting they not put their all into rescuing once) dies while Percy goes on a lunch date because he's decided he can't possibly say goodbye to his girlfriend yet and everyone thinks this is fine.

Which would've been enough of a problem if Percy's supposed fatal flaw of personal loyalty had been written into the story properly from the start, but... it's not. It just isn't, Percy doesn't struggle with sacrificing loved ones or letting them risk their lives any more than anyone else would. So we're left with the one instance where Percy's loyalty actively causes problems for the quest first not having any downsides for him personally and second being treated as Fine And Good Actually. I don't think I need to explain how badly this undermines personal loyalty supposedly being his fatal flaw!