#you think they ever… like… think tartarus was easier?

[lilislegacy]

just imagine

percy and annabeth in their 40s having teenagers.

3 to 4 hyper, witty, extremely intelligent teenagers. with powers.

imagine them all stuffed into the car for long roads trips since they can’t fly. imagine them in a heated match of pool volleyball. imagine them on opposing sides of capture the flag at camp

oh gods…imagine family game night

[thestarstoasun]

Possibly a hot take, but I think the Tartarus trip actually helped Will a lot. Obviously I have my disappointments with the book, but we do not only see Nico healing from the copious amount of trauma Rick fit into him; we get to see Will come to terms with darker parts of himself.

It's canon/very heavily implied (I can't remember and don't feel like looking it up) he came to camp at a very young age, younger than campers that aren't deemed "powerful" or have a strong scent. Despite Will thinking he isn't strong, he is the best healer Camp Half Blood has seen in, what we can assume, at least a century. He's a year-rounder, so he hasn't experienced life on the outside in years. Hell, until Trials of Apollo, his godly parent hardly took notice of him.

His older brothers and other siblings were his biggest supporters and motivators. They looked out for him and took care of him in place of a parent, specifically the older kids (Lee and Michael.) And he lost them during the Dark Prophecy - less than 2 years apart from each other. He didn't even get to search for Michael because Percy took him for a joyride across Manhattan on a motorcycle to help Annabeth.

Even after all of that, its implied/seen that he's someone who is always looking on the bright side of things, never making anything about himself, always helping others, etc. He's a ray of sunshine in everyone's life, never allowing himself to show anyone that he's hurting or suffering because he feels like he just can't. After all, he's Will Solace. He is the head medic, the infirmary can't just stop running. He's the counselor for cabin, his siblings need him to be strong.

He represses his negative emotions, even admits to it in Trials of Apollo. I think he represses them to a point he can avoid/ignore them or pretend they aren't his. It's easier to be a ray of sunshine in people's lives if the negativity and darkness you feel are projected onto someone else.

These tendencies are also something that causes strain in Nico and Will's relationship, because Nico doesn't understand how Will can't see how hypocritical he is. When in reality, Will does know, but it's easier if he avoids it. Ignorance is bliss after all. This doesn't mean Will doesn't work on trying to let Nico in, because he does, sort of.

On bad days, the days when he wakes up and wants nothing more than to curl up in the arms of his older brothers, he would go to Nico's cabin. However, his only explanation would ever be, "im tired." It frustrated him just as much as it upset Nico. He wasn't even sure if his boyfriend could tell. (Nico could, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.)

In Persephone's garden, he was forced to face the fact that there is darkness/negativity/hurt inside of him. He can't deny it when it's right in front of him, so he finally has to stop repressing everything, stop running away, and face his pains.

[asolareclipses]

(Previous Part)

After passing through the miserable Manhattan traffic, the roads of rural New York began to calm as they began the long journey to Maine.

Beside Will, Jason was twisting a map around, the paper crinkling with each slight movement he made. “You’d think they would’ve made these easier to read.” He grumbled under his breath.

“Well they sort of did,” Will replied, “Google maps offers great convenience, unfortunately there’s no demigod Google or Apple…or any of the other companies.”

Jason blankly stared at Will for a moment, “I’m going to pretend I understood what any of that meant.”

Will held back a laugh, he had forgotten that Jason wasn’t exactly familiar with modern technology. He was like Nico in that way, maybe that’s one of the reasons they got along so well. “It’s phone stuff, i’m not really the expert on it because I was never allowed to have a phone. But my Mom had one, and the other campers keep me up to date with all that other stuff.”

Jason’s eyes widened for a split second, Will could tell it was because of the mention of his Mom. He was probably surprised because Will typically didn’t mention her. “So your Mom, she’s…” Jason’s voice died off.

“She’s alive, if that’s what you wanted to ask. Her name is Naomi Solace, though I doubt you’ve heard of her. She’s a pretty well known country singer, always busy with tours and concerts.” Will seemed to fall into the past as he spoke about his mother. “I used to go on tours with her, they were chaotic but honestly amazing. Staying up until the late hours eating fast food, traveling around the country. It was great.”

Jason seemed hesitant to speak, but he noticed Will’s smile fading. “Did something happen?”

“Well, turns out monsters aren’t great for tours.” Will sighed as he stared out across the endless roads. “As I got older, more and more attacks happened. Eventually my Mom had to send me to camp, she didn’t want to. I still think she regrets it, but there was nothing she could do. Guess that’s just how it is.”

“Do you still keep in contact?” Jason asked cautiously.

“Yeah,” Will nodded, “I send letters, and Iris messages. Sometimes I even visit, though she’s pretty busy so I never stay long. She would probably let me stay forever if she could, but I wouldn’t burden her like that.”

Jason opened his mouth to speak but he hesitated, unable to find the right thing to say. After a moment he finally spoke, “She sounds nice.”

Will smiled, “Oh yeah, she’s amazing.” He meant it completely, his Mom was truly one of the best people he’d ever known. “But enough about my Mom, what do you think this ‘dark presence’ or whatever it is we are facing?”

Jason frowned, his mind delving into thought, “I’m not sure. What dark creature or thing would be out to get Nico?”

Will paused, a revelation hitting him so hard he almost drove them off the road. “Oh my Gods…how did I not realize sooner?”

“What?” Jason said, his hand was now tightly latched onto the door from Wills lapse in good driving.

“It’s Nyx,” he said the name like it was poison in his mouth. “It has to be. She’s probably still pissed that he embarrassed her.”

“Nyx?” Jason asked, his voice almost incredulous.

“Yeah, we fought her back in tartarus. Guess she’s still holding a grudge.” Will shook his head with an unpleasant look displayed on his face.

“So Nico left to what? Go fight a goddess on his own?”

Will sighed in pure frustration, “Yep. It’s a classic Nico move, I mean he would’ve gone to tartarus alone, again, if I hadn’t forced him to take me.”

“I guess in that way he hasn’t changed, still trying to face things alone.” Jason frowned.

“Right.” Will’s face was now unreadable even to himself, “At least he’s not alone, he took your boyfriend with him remember?”

Jason almost choked, “Boyfriend?!”

Will failed to hold back his laughter, “I guess it’s not official yet?”

“We’re not-he’s not-“ Jason stumbled over his words before giving up at forming a coherent sentence.

“Okay, okay. I won’t push any further, just know, it’s pretty obvious.” Will smirked as Jason tried to regain his composure.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Jason finally spoke with a false look of confidence. “Me and Leo are just-“ He was cut off by a sudden thump against the roof of the car.

Will glanced up in shock, “What was that?”

“I don’t-“ Jason began, but before he could finish there was another thump and sharp claws pierced through the roof.

Will grit his teeth looking ahead, “Hold tight Jason, the rides about to get bumpy.”

—

Bumpy was an understatement. The second Will swerved off the main road, the normal car ride transformed into a death trip. Each turn was so sharp Jason had to cling to whatever he could just so he wouldn’t be thrown across the car. He was convinced that any second now they’d go barreling into a tree. Yet, Will somehow maintained control, his driving was insane but also impressive.

In a particularly harsh turn, whatever had latched onto the car had gone flying off and when Jason turned to see he got a clear view of their attacker—well attackers. Rapidly approaching behind them was a small group of harpies, hellbent on turning them into bird food.

“Uh Will? You might want to speed up,” Jason said as he gripped his sword. There wasn’t much use for it in the small space but it was a good plan b.

“On it.” Will said, as his knuckles latched around the wheel turned white, they began to pick up speed making any movement of the car even more jarring.

Jason kept his eyes on the harpies which were still hot on their trail, “How do we lose these guys?”

“No clue,” Will spoke through clenched teeth. “Maybe you could blow them away?”

Jason perked up, for a moment he’d forgotten about the whole wind powers thing. “Good idea.” He spoke quickly before focusing on the wind beneath the harpies wings. With a slight twist they spiraled away, losing control of the air around them.

Will seemed to relax for a moment, but that was cut short by the cars suddenly sputtering to a slow stop. The extra speed and turbulence appeared to be too much for the old camp be vehicle. “Aw hades!” The look on Will’s face was of pure and utter frustration.

As soon as the car wasn’t moving, Will slung open his door storming over to the hood of the car. With a frown he threw it open and was promptly engulfed in smoke. Jason hurriedly rushed over to him, urging the winds to dispel the clouds of smoke.

As the smoke dissipated it revealed Will who stood there coughing and muttering a range of curses—some Jason had never heard before but he was sure they weren’t positive. “Of course this happens!” Will threw his hands up in defeat.

Jason winced, not sure how to comfort him.

“The one time I go out on an important quest, everything goes wrong!” Will spoke, his anger seemed more directed at himself than the circumstances.

“Every quest has setbacks,” Jason tried his best to sound optimistic.

“Maybe, but we left camp hours ago and we’re already stranded on the side of the road. Who knows what Nico and Leo are doing, and if we’re too late.” Will rambled on as he began to pace alongside the car.

“Will, things happen, I don’t see how this could be your fault.” Jason continued with his reasoning, but it was as if Will had heard nothing.

“What a great idea to send a medic on some important quest, like I could actually be a hero.” Will spoke directly to himself almost unaware of Jason’s presence.

“Will stop.” Jason took cautious hold of Will’s shoulders, a firm look on his face.

Realization passed across Will’s expression as he now understood how he’d been acting. “Sorry..” His voice was almost too quiet to hear.

“This is only a temporary setback, we’ll find away to get to them in time.” Jason spoke with every ounce of reassurance he could gather.

Will looked away, now focused on the dirt beneath his shoes. “Right, you’re right.”

Jason watched as Will seemed to shrink in on himself, embarrassed for showing a slight piece of his troubles. He felt a sense of similarity between himself and Will, he knew all too well the pain of hiding your true feelings.

It was the first time he saw Will not as this bubbly guy who was happy to do whatever whenever, but as someone who faced the same harsh world that met every demigod. Will knew loss, he knew more than he’d ever tell. He would never show that side of himself willingly. Instead, he let himself be portrayed as a calm reliable person with no struggles despite his constant turmoil. It didn’t feel fair.

At that moment Jason knew Will was a true hero, whether he believed it or not. He just had no idea how to prove it to him. What he did know, was that they had to succeed. Not just for Leo and Nico, but for everyone else, including themselves.

Part Seven?

[snexy-the-snail]

Oop here we go

Percy really thought he had seen it all, heard it all. He had been at camp for years now and had no idea that this was a common thing. He stares at Annabeth who had gone back to reading her book as if she hadn’t said one of the most terrifying things to exist. “I’m sorry I don’t think I heard you, the Gods sometimes WHAT?” He asks slowly 

It was after he had asked where Pollux had gone as he hadn’t seen the for a decent amount of time only for Annabeth to calmly say- “Sometimes the Gods will swallow their kids. Is that really a hard concept to grasp?” She says looking up from her book with a light frown. She was giving him the standard, ‘really seaweed brain?’ look which made him wince slightly. “Yes? No one told me that! That’s like a crucial part- like what if dad tried to Kronos me and I like stabbed him or something?” He squeaks out glancing towards the shores anxiously as if he expected his father to do just that.  

“No one told you- oh I keep forgetting that you didn’t see the film.” Annabeth sighs chewing on her lip. She set her book aside and brushed her hair out of her face A twinge going through his chest when he notices the grey streak, the sun casting over the small scars she had gotten in their trip in Tartarus. She was beautiful as always, and he found himself getting lost in her stormy grey eyes. “I don’t think your father will, any of the elder Gods avoid it... The younger generation does it a lot actually.” She pulls her knees to her chest looking away from him.  

Percy sits there next to her before lying down on the sand. He guessed they should try to relax, that's why they were here after all. Normally he would sit at the bottom of the lake but. After certain events, being in the water too long made unpleasant memories taunt him. His throat closes to the memory of wet earth suffocating him and the stinging of poison. He puts his hand in his pocket when something touches him before relaxing when Annabeth squeezes his arm.  

“Will talks about it, there's a comfort about it because demigods are tied to their godly essence. It’s a sense of being complete.” Her voice soothed over any anxious feelings that had been building up. He could listen to her for hours, not sitting still but he could still listen to her. “Weird...they just...how do they even do it?” He whispers closing his eyes, grimacing at the thought.  

There was a beat of silence, and he turned to get a look at her stifling a smile when he saw her face scrunched up, her nose wrinkling in concentration, her eyes darting about as she obviously gave it some thought. “I... I don’t know. We both know they can adjust size or forms, but if Mr. D does it then..there’s a possibility they can shrink us down as well...or transform us into something that’s easier to swallow in general...” Her eyes slowly light up and he can’t help but laugh at her curiosity.  

“My mother’s never done it with me, she rarely does it with our siblings...It’s not that she doesn’t care, it’s just some Gods just enjoy it more I suppose.” she murmurs watching as the sun started to dip. The golden glow fading. She shifts to lay next to him, briefly closing her eyes. Peaceful...He hated it. Nothing was ever this peaceful. “It’s probably really gross too.” He supplies helpfully, smiling when Annabeth hits him on the arm and laughs.  

“Don’t insult my mother’s stomach.” 

“Why not? They’re all probably really gross! I’ve been in stomachs before they’re gross!” 

They both dissolve into laughter, their conversation slowly drifting from what each stomach might look like, to adventures, their shared hatred of Gods and finally silence. It was dark now, the time when the harpies would come out, but they had wisely learned to leave them both alone. Apparently getting constantly sent back to Tarturaus after trying to get a meal wasn’t a fun time.  

He smiles when he hears her breathing evening out, looking at her face. She was serious even when sleeping, her lips parted slightly as she dreamed.  

“Sleep tight wise girl.” 

Percy didn’t dare to try and move her, how could he? The sleep wouldn’t last long, he knew that. They both suffered from night terrors, and he was sure as much as her siblings loved her getting woken up by a knife wielding Annabeth was a bit much. Camp didn’t say much about them dozing off at weird places anymore.  

He lets a breath out gazing at the water gently lapping at the shore, his thoughts slowly straying back to their earlier conversation. Sure, Annabeth had mentioned that the elder Gods rarely if ever came to swallow their kids but the idea of Poseidon doing it? Somehow it made him feel a tad upset. Maybe it wasn’t protection for most but where else would be safe for a demigod, truly safe?  

The memory he never truly shared danced beside his eyes, a warm glow, a proud smile. The warmth of the memory soothed his nerves briefly. If his father ever changed his mind, would he have felt like that? A feeling of longing settled in his chest at the thought which he was quick to shake away. He wouldn’t need to worry about it, he could count the number of times he had seen his father in his hands.  

“S’not like I’ll have to worry about it...besides its gross.” he mumbles to himself. It was something that was normalized apparently which only made him feel..left out. He closes his eyes feeling his chest rise with his breath. Whatever, it wasn’t like, the feeling of being left out was unusual.

[happyk44]

Percy and Annabeth become a staple in Nico's life after Tartarus. Next to Hazel, they tie for second in "people checking in on him". It's not as suffocating as he feared. They know how to keep their space, hands to themselves, when to call it quits, not to chase when he heads off, or vanishes for a few days. They offer their assistance in his adventures. and don't complain when he doesn't take them up on it.

It's nice, if he's being honest. They fit into his life in a way he wasn't expecting. Percy is Percy and Annabeth is...

Well, she's loud and passionate when she talks and can argue until the cows come home. Percy begs off when she gets like that and she tries not to overstep his boundaries but she needs to rant and Nico doesn't mind filling in that gap. In fact, he likes it. Likes shouting all the ways she's wrong or laughing in all the ways she's right. Likes sitting up in her bed, back to the wall, while history spews between the two of them, until someone somewhere chucks a pillow and begs them to shut up and go to sleep.

She talks so fast sometimes she gets tongue tied and he knows he's in for a long haul when her eyes glint and her hair flies into a ponytail and her shoulders tighten.

But she gets into her head about things so easily, loses herself into narrow ways of thought. Where everyone else struggles, he doesn't. He can pull her out of the pit. She wakes up screaming sometimes and he holds her close as Percy watches with panicked eyes, trapped in his own suffocation. She settles easy under his tone and, after a while, her bed in her cabin becomes his bed too. It's just easier. So that her siblings aren't banging on his door when she cries out for him. Hearing her hiccup his name comforts him in a strange way. It upsets him when she gets like this - she doesn't cry, just pinches her face like she hates being alive, eyes far away like she's still stuck in her fears, but she calls for him and he comes and she melts into his grip and it's comforting to know she thinks he's safe.

She's warm. Her skin is soft but hands calloused. Muscles tough. She hits hard and bites with fierce words and she says things that cut when she's upset but Nico has battled monsters and misery and his own crippling self-loathing so nothing she says ever hurts as much as she wants and he just cocks his head and asks, "Are you done?" until she trembles and nods and falls into his arms with weary apologies.

And slowly it begins to dawn on him - he might not like girls that way, but Annabeth is pretty. She kisses Percy, quick and sweet, and a different kind of want blooms hot in Nico's stomach. She reaches out for his hand to pull her up, to walk along the sidewalk, to pull him away from danger.

He knows he should leave. He's still in love with Percy - Percy, who texts him "Good morning Death Breath" every morning, and hugs him tight to the chest every time they see each other, and swallows pills to soothe his mind because Nico asked him to. Percy, who screams when he's angry but quiets as soon as Nico presses a hand to his chest. Percy, who thrashes and cries in his sleep and clings to Nico like a lifeline, even when Annabeth is there, when his mom is there. Percy, who mutters that it's because Nico feels safer when he's stuck in Tartarus, and doesn't let him go, even after the tension fades and nightmares are just bad memories.

Percy, who reaches for his hand to pull him up, to walk along sidewalks, to pull Nico away from danger.

Percy kisses Annabeth and Annabeth kisses Percy and Nico isn't upset about it the way he used to be. But he's still wanting and longing and yearning and it scares him.

He doesn't run. Just grits his teeth and calls them gross in a cheerful tone. Annabeth laughs and it sounds like an angel's chorus and Percy just grins, and reaches out for Nico with teasing words. Sometimes he thinks they know and that scares him more than his feelings do.

"Can I try something?" he whispers hoarsely in the hotel bed. Their prize sits wrapped in cloth in Nico's bag. Weapons lay forgotten on the floor. Percy's downstairs waiting for their food. Annabeth is warm beside him. She keeps playing with his fingers, saying nothing.

Her hair is damp. His hair is damp. Percy washed them both clean of monster blood and mud earlier.

Nakedness doesn't scare him. He was a wild child, running nude up and down hallways, and the Underworld has a communal bath he gets dragged into frequently. But the proximity to the two of them wormed hot into his chest like a flame the water from the showerhead couldn't put out.

There was nothing sexy about it. They got clean, they got out, they got dry. More or less, they focused on making sure he was washing himself, fatigue and pain being what it was and what it will always be. More or less, they argued with each other - Annabeth uses too much soap and Percy takes up too much space.

More or less, this is what intimacy is to them. A domesticity. Being close to each other.

And Nico wants.

Annabeth rolls onto her side. Their hands are entwined now. She looks tired and sleepy but still with the bite of battle in her eyes. Sometimes he wonders what she sees in him. He knows what he sees - loud purple soul that feels like secret fistfights and blaring confidence. It burns bitter and gray when she's angry, genuinely angry, and tastes like candy at the back of his throat when she's enthralled - when she's met her match and can spiral for hours on end on any topic that the two of them share. It goes warm and gooey when Percy kisses her, like a brownie fresh from the oven. It goes soft and fluttery when Nico holds her hand.

"Sure," she murmurs.

She doesn't ask what he wants. He's pretty sure she already knows.

She rolls with him, onto her back while he presses into her side. He'll always been a thin scrawny thing - takes after his dad too much, and his mom wasn't guant but she was elegant, strong legs and thin arms in a dancer's frame. Even still, he's wary about lending his weight on her. Doesn't want it to be a push if she hates him.

She smiles at him and he thinks she won't.

She smiles at him and he thinks she loves him too.

Her hand cups his cheek when their lips meet. Her other hand squeezes his ass. His skin is foggy from tiredness but the stroke of her thumb against his cheek is comforting. She licks into his mouth. He shakes and kisses back. It's slow and wet and messy. He doesn't have much experience here, but she guides the way and doesn't complain when he pulls away to catch his breath. Just kisses his cheek. His chin. His throat.

Nips the skin there and laughs gently when he whimpers.

"Oh, I'm dreaming." Percy's voice should startle him, but it doesn't. Nico falls to his back and Annabeth turns to tuck herself into his side this time. Percy is holding food that he dumps on the table near the door. "I love this dream."

"Do you?" Annabeth asks.

Nico blinks as Percy hops onto the bed. He doesn't come any closer. Just tucks his knees to his chest and grins. "Favourite dream," he declares and Nico's stomach swoops.

When they met, Percy's soul was awash with raging confidence and a protectiveness that burned so bright Nico felt blinded, even when he stopped looking at it. Percy's soul is as blue-green as his eyes, quiet most of the time, screaming the rest. He's subdued, until he's not, lapping at sand until he's crashing at rocks. It goes a hot pink that tastes like gasoline and fire and feels like being boiled alive when he's frustrated.

When he's happy, content, a little excited? Turns bright blue, like the sky, the dolphin mobile above Estelle's bed. Feels like kept promises and a mother's kiss and warm hands holding onto yours.

This is a different shade of happiness. Muddied with gray. Tastes sour-sweet in Nico's mouth and chases heat to follow. His soul is twisting like a storm, but soft, comforting. It's the rain and wind you fall asleep to. Not the rain and wind you fear.

Annabeth's hand finds Nico's again and she kisses his throat. Nips at it. Kisses his chin and cheek and makes her way back over to his mouth. She hovers there. Gray eyes are questioning, the ever present "Are you okay?"

Beneath skin and bones, she wants.

Beneath skin and bones, Percy wants.

Beneath skin and bones, Nico wants.

It's like the last rising breath before endless sleep. The final stroke on a blueprint. The swell of the wave before it falls.

He wants. He longs. He yearns.

He gets.

[midnightmah07]

Voice claim: Ayane - Kimi ni Todoke

Character info:

Perse is a character whose story intertwines with Idia and Ortho; Perse and Idia's family go way back, ever since the first Shroud who got cursed. Basically, a descendent from Perse made a deal with this Shroud family member to help find a way to get their lover back safely from an overblot, and in exchange they swore that each generation of the Achillea family would serve and help each generation of the Shroud family to research about blot and to take care of Tartarus. In short, Perse is Idia's "servant", for lack of a better word. She doesn't like that, Idia doesn't like that, but it's their relationship and Perse is very insistant on the fact that they are not friends — though they both have been harboring feelings for one another ever since they were kids.

Perse has a very strong personality, she's very sassy and is a bit isolated despite what most people think given her appearance; given her position as an Achillea and the path that's already chosen for her, Perse has difficulty letting loose and actually bringing her walls down to have close friendships and relationships with people. However, she gets more comfortable with the students as her years in NRC go by and gets really close to Cater, weirdly enough; Perse is often seen as unapproachable, but she can be really nice and a good friend once you get to know her.

Fun facts: she has been a fan of Vil ever since she was young and he inspired her to take care of her appearance from a young age — and deep down she aspires to be an actress like him; despite that she is easily annoyed with people who tell her she can't be an Ignihyde student and should be a Pomefiore student instead; she's extremely book and street smart and is a closed gamer, Idia joking he's gonna tell the entire school her little secret one day.

Basic info:

Height: 175cm

Age: 18 years old

Grade: junior (3rd year)

Nicknames: lil' oyster (by Floyd), mademoiselle cachée (apparently means "hidden"; by Rook)

Birthday: March 3rd

Dominant hand: right

Homeland: Island of Woe

Favorite food: pomegranates

Least favorite food: any kind of meat or animal based food (she's vegan)

Best subject: astrology

Club: film research club

Hobby: gaming, gardening

Unique magic: Goddess of Spring - allows Perse to create any sort of plant from her body, but in small quantity only as she can get tired and hungry if she uses this spell too much

Nicknames to the cast.

Character dynamics:

Idia Shroud: since most of their background was already explained I'll focus more on their actual dynamic. They know a lot about each other, but Perse has always been very insistant on keeping her distance from Idia and Ortho, so before book 6 their relationship was very heavily defined by their family's relationship; after book 6 Perse realizes how easy it would be to lose both Idia and Ortho and decided to be finally honest with her feelings. After that book she becomes more friendly with him, flirting too. Idia has no idea how to handle this shift, often saying how it was way easier when she put that wall between them, but he's somewhat grateful for this change because now he can finally get close to her without remorse; they're gaming buddies, have been ever since they were kids but people at school have no idea of Perse's passion for gaming and she intends to keep it this way, which makes things easy for Idia when he wants to ask her for a favor since he can just threaten to tell the entire school — he would never, but she doesn't need to know that.

Ortho Shroud: both real and humanoid Ortho have always viewed Perse as an older sister, often clinging to her for everything and asking her to play games with him. After book 6, when Perse finally lets down her walls, Ortho feels ecstatic to finally be able to get close to her and to not worry about calling her "big sister" since now she admits she also has always viewed him quite fondly. Simultaneously, Perse is extremely pleased to finally be able to get to know Ortho as a person and not as just a robot his brother created.

Vil Schoenheit: ever since she was young she has admired Vil. As a devoted fan she knows how hard he works for his roles and for his appearance, and he inspired her to work hard to help Idia and Ortho as much as she could by studying and understanding more about magic and blot, — since despite saying the contrary she always cared about them — and obviously, to take care of her appearance. Vil didn't realize she was a fan until Rook put her on the spot once, and she had to admit she at first got into the Film Research Club because of him, but grew to love the world of movies and now aspires to be an actress. He was very pleased when he heard that he had such a good influence on someone and now they're somewhat friends.

Cater Diamond: Cater and Perse are kind of alike, both put walls around themselves to keep people away in order to protect themselves, which only ends up harming them; they got to know each other on their first day at NRC, they saw each other a lot on campus and happened to get closer and become friends. Perse and Cater became really close and were one of the first people to open up to the other, because of that they're basically best friends and know every single thing about the other.

Character references:

Character cards:

Dorm card (Ignihyde)

Lab wear card

Glorious Masquerade card

Platinum Jacket

[fandom-monium]

Sweet Poison - Part 2

Summary: In which Zagreus gives you your first nectar. Along with a gift. “If it’s not to your liking, I can exchange—”

WC: 1k

TW: Zagreus (Hades Video game) x Succubus!Reader, GN!Reader, a succubus AND an artist bc sex is just work and food, au where in game Zag commissions the paintings using gems, what if boons actually affected Zagreus, slow build, strangers to friends to lovers trope, sex work, fluff, fluff and humor, mutual pining, idiots in love, mild angst, pheromones, technically it’s succubi magic aura, Zagreus is at least 6 ft convince me otherwise, eventual smut

AN: I imagine even in the Underworld and Olympus there's disparities between gods, demons, nymphs, etc

—

If there’s one constant about the Underworld, it’s that time works differently than on the surface, so you’ve learned when you first came into existence. It could be days, weeks—or whatever’s the Underworld equivalent to such a concept—before you see the peculiar man again. Which is why you already resign yourself to the fact you’ll never see your food again.

Maybe you should be more disappointed, you think, alone save for the green flames crackling at your hearth, melodic as it echoes across your humble chamber. After all, you did lose a meal, a rarity mind you. But if what he said is true, that Tartarus led him to you, not one of your bosses, then perhaps he doesn’t deserve to be consumed like the others.

Shame. He would’ve been delicious, you sigh, remembering lean muscle and genuine eyes with embarrassing clarity.

You shake yourself. Next time, if there is to be, you’ll get him.

You step back to glance over your piece. The same work in progress you had up when you met the man now stands before you, set on your easel just about finished. In your hand, you fiddle with a small brush, still soaked in gray paint as you ponder whether more final touches are needed. Tartarus stares back at you, layers of stone chambers and tombs descending down and deep into the canvas in black, white, and green in first person: the view from your balcony. You take the canvas in your hands, drinking in every detail as you hold it to the firelight.

With finality, you nod.

And toss it into the fireplace.

“What are you doing?“

Well—try to.

You jump, a flash passing you in a gust of wind as the air crackles around you like thunder. The hairs on your arms and back of your neck stand on end.

Shadows sharply contour his face as he stands before the fireplace, your painting softly clutched in his hands. Red and green eyes gaze at you, incredulous, as if the Goddess of Insanity herself has touched you.

You return his stare, just as baffled, “What am I doing? What are you doing?”

“Saving a masterpiece, apparently,” Brow knitted, he turns the canvas over a few times, checking for any scorch marks, any bits that might have touched the flames. None. It’s unharmed.

You snort, “Please. How long have you been here?”

“I just arrived. Right on time too,” He sighs, setting it back on the easel with something akin to pride before turning back to you. He smirks. You want to smack it right off him.

“What?”

He points to his hair. You bring a hand up to your own, feeling strands sticking up like gravity no longer exists.

And your horns.

You gasp, turning away, but that only further displays your wings and tail as you smooth your hair down, fingers barely grazing your horns before they all disappear in the blink of an eye.

Once you right yourself, you face him again and shoot him a withering glare, vertical slit pupils thinned into twin needles. He only grins back.

"Are you not… bothered?” You grimace, crossing your arms over your chest.

He tilts his head at the question. “What? That you’re a demon? Of course not.”

Demon, not succubus. Still unaware as ever.

You’re not sure why, but you breathe easier.

In the harsh light of the fire, there’s a glow to his form, one that hadn’t been there the first time you met. The atmosphere seems charged around him, almost electric as he stands poise—regal—his posture near perfect, and you faintly wonder if he was a prince in his past life. You can definitely see it; him in a castle, dressed in the best refinery humans could offer. With subjects that’d swoon if he graced them with the same boyish grin he’s giving you now.

You blink, quiet realization rolling over you like a thick fog.

Zeus’s blessing. He’s got boons from the King of the Olympians.

Your eyes narrow. Who the hell is this guy?

… Meh, not your business.

“While I have you here, there’s something I’ve been meaning to give you,” Breaking your train of thought, he offers his hand.

In his calloused palm, a bottle of nectar gleams in the firelight.

Without thinking, you take it in your hands, blinking dumbly as he scratches the back of his neck, abashed. “I know it’s not much of a gift, but I realized how insensitive it was to have barged into your home as I did. Consider it my formal apology and repayment for allowing me to use your fountain.”

When you only stare into your hands, he adds, voice audibly dejected, “If it’s not to your liking, I can exchange—”

“No!” He raises an eyebrow and you flush, cradling the bottle to your chest. “It-it’s not that. I…” Your thumb brushes against the smooth fabric of the ribbon, and you wonder if he’s actually an Elysian warrior who somehow wound up in Tartarus, because no denizen of the lowest rung of the Underworld would just give nectar. It may be contraband, but it’s also a luxury, only meant for the Elysium-bound, for gods, for… people unlike you. Wretches, demons; you’re the last to even think of consuming this liquid gold.

And despite all that, he just hands it to you like a tradeoff between friends.

Your heart expands. Friends.

Or maybe he really is just that unaware and naive.

Still, your voice comes soft as you grin, wide enough that your canines gleam, “Thank you for the gift. Truly.” He grins back, and your eyes dart around the chamber. “But I don’t have anything of value to give in return.”

He shakes his head, the laurels on his crown flickering with the movement. “No, no, gifts aren’t a mutual exchange.”

“I insist.”

He meets your gaze, and in the seconds it takes for him to realize you have no intention of letting him leave empty handed, his shoulders slump in defeat.

You smile, knowing you’ve won as he glances around before his eyes stop. “Then how about your painting?”

You tense, turning to the canvas you tried to burn not even ten minutes ago. “That thing?”

“That thing is a masterpiece,” He shoots you a pointed look before he studies your work. “I don’t understand why you’d try to rid the world of such beauty.”

“It’s not… accurate enough, perfect. It’s still missing something,” You gesture lamely around you, to the works-in-progress to near finished pieces. “Most of my works are.”

“Well, if you still intend to burn such a fine piece, I’ll take it off your hands. Hang it up in my gallery, perhaps.”

You can’t tell if he’s joking.

But you consider him anyway, then sigh, “Fine. Give it here.” When you reach for the painting, he takes a slight step between you and the easel. Protective. You scoff, “Oh, calm down. I promise not to throw it to the fire.”

“Swear on the gods?”

You roll your eyes, “May Lord Hades himself strike me down.”

That seems to satisfy him because he backs off, though he hovers over your shoulder, as if you’ll go back on your word and chuck it into the flames. He’s at least a head taller than you, enough for him to comfortably rest his chin on your shoulder if he felt like it. Despite the sliver of space between you, he’s a furnace, and you ignore the warmth emanating from him, fighting back a shiver and letting him watch as your fine-tip brush curves and loops with your signature lilt. A moment later, you step back with a content nod.

He moves beside you, sounding out the letters slowly. “’(Yo-ur Na-me)’?”

“My name.” When he looks at you, red and green eyes big with wonder, like you’d just unlocked a hidden treasure trove, you raise a brow, “What? I figured if we’re going to see each other more, the least I could do is give you my name. Besides, I’d much rather have my work burnt to ashes than give someone the chance to take credit for it.”

For a split second, he stares at you blankly, but it’s long enough that your stomach drops. Maybe you read him wrong. Maybe he wasn’t looking for a new friend, and he really was simply apologizing for intruding before. Your lips part, an apology on the tip of your tongue—

“Zagreus.”

You blink at him. He’d spoken too fast, not even your sharp hearing caught it. “Huh?”

“My-my name. It’s Zagreus. But my friends call me Zag,” He says, though he glances away, hesitant. When he looks back at you, he studies your expression, almost… afraid. Or perhaps concerned?

You can’t fathom why as you offer him a genuine smile, not a flicker of recognition on your face. “Nice to meet you, Zagreus.”

—

AN: The painting you give Zagreus is the Tartarus painting from the game, if that wasn't obvious 💁🏽

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Warnings: overhaul x reader drabble, involves heavy topics like suicide, death, vomit, self loathing, character asking to be killed and among other mental health issues since this is Chisaki, so be aware of this before you read it. Not recommended to minors to be honest.

"So many years wasted... throw inside a trashcan...." he murmured to himself as he stared at the image that appeared on the mirror in front of him.

He shouldn't be felling sorry for himself.... after all he has done. After all he did to the boss... he didn't deserve it. The pain on his chest and soul wouldn't go away. Ever. Not even if he was allowed to apology to the man in coma and begrudgingly to the little girl he had taken advantage of.

None of this would have happened if he just listened to the old man. None of this would have happen if he had put his pride aside... None of this would be real if he wasn't welcome in inside the yakuza.

"Such... a waste... of human garbage." he hissed the last words in disgust as he dropped his head... if he still had his hands, probably they would be gripping the sides of his hair by now.

Oh, right. He would still have fucking arms and hands if he wasn't such a idiotic asshole.

He couldn't even bring back the man he had as a father figure. What the hell was he even worth for now? The shie hassaikai was ruined, because of him. He had.... nothing.

"Hey.." he widened his eyes at the sound before slowly lifting his head to see your figurine leaning on the doorway, a small and tired smile plastered on your face... as usual. "I was thinking of maybe karekatsu for dinner, what do you think?"

... another thing he wasn't worth for...

You.

"... do whatever you want." He whispered harshly and tried to ignore the pain in his chest at hearing your sigh.... which he couldn't tell if it was from annoyance or just plenty up tired with his bullshit.

Despite everything he made you go through, you had somehow manage to convince the heroes that his condition in tartarus was impossible to live. Convincing the authorities that despite being his fiance, you would keep him at house arrest all of the time until his sentence was done.

He had this metal black thing on his right ankle that was a painfull reminder on the day you finally saw him out of tartarus...

You had those... eyes. Disappointed yet worried ones. He does know how much you loved children, so hearing of his abouts must be horrific for you.

Yet you were still there... still with him...

How...? But mostly important... why?

He let himself fall on his back on the bed he was sitting on previously... staring at the ceiling in numbness as his ears capted the backroom noise.

After a few minutes or so, he could hear you approaching and then softly knocking on the door frame.

"Is done. Do you want to eat here or..?"

"... to be honest, I am not hungry." He spoke nonchantly while he could tell by his peripheral vision that you had crossed your arms over your chest.

"You're not hungry or you don't want to be fed?"

Shit. You knew him well.

Being spoon feed made him feel like a newborn... made him feel worthless and vulnerable... he didn't liked one bit.

"... perhaps... both."

"Kai, you need to eat something... I don't want you to become skin and bones only..." You pleaded and he finally had the courage to turn his head in your direction.

"....wouldn't it be easier...? Wouldn't be easier if you let me die...? Or if that shigaraki had killed me instead of-"

"Stop." He closed his mouth at your sharp tone "Stop depreciating yourself. You're alive and will be alive for a long time." You stormed out and he inhaled sharply before returning his gaze to the ceiling.

Being alive sounded more like a punishment nowadays....

He almost flinched when the bed suddenly stopped a bit with your weight as he stared up at you with wide eyes.

Despite wanting to end it all, he still flinched at sudden movements or even the smallest brushes of skin to skin contact... he had fallen so hard... from a powerfull and fearfull yazuka to a mere quirkless, disable, worthless and a scared cat man...

Such a shame...

"Sit up." You ordered gently and he couldn't help to just follow your orders for once... in the past it would be a bit of resistance, but who was he now to decline a order if he couldn't do absolute nothing for himself?

With your help, as always, he managed to sit up with his back resting on the mattress of the bed as he eyed the bowl of karekatsu you had brought.

"You-"

"I did cut it so you wouldn't choke. Yeah. Besides a I brought a spoon this time instead of the hashis." You smiled sheepish as you shaked the utensil in your hand between two fingers.

He was jealous for a second...

"Ready to be my taste tester?" You stopped up some food and held it to his face as his nose scrunched up...

The humiliation...

He hesitantly opened his mouth to allow the food to enter.... he hated being taken care of, but you were right... he was famished...

The flavors almost exploded on his tongue as soon as his taste buds registered that it wasn't the usualbarley rice and miso soup he was obligated to choke down as the guards madenhim swallow it... no. It was yours doing. He missed the familiarity of your cooking all times he had to eat the tartarus meals... it was so rich in flavors that he almost let a moan escape...

"Good? Was my first time doing it..." You asked after he had swallowed it.

"... is... " usually this time his pride would make him say stupid things like: 'is alright' or 'is food'

But now, he let it slip the silent word perfect in the quiet room...

"I'm so happy to hear that!" You smiled... how long has it been since you had smiled at him like that?

.... wait. No.

No he didn't deserve to miss that freacking smile. He didn't deserve you treating him like glass. He didn't deserve to be breathing the same air as you are.

Such a gentle and sweet soul like yours shouldn't be with him.

He suddenly threw himself out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom, kneeling harshly on the ground as vomit traveled from his stomach to all the way out of his mouth as he coughed violently.

"Kai!" He heard your voice from afar and cringed when he felt your soft hand rubbing gentle circles on his back as he spilled his guts out... "Is alright... don't force yourself, let it all out..."

Your gentle murmurs only seemed to worse his state of mind and body... he noticed how he started to tremble, his jaw seemed like it was going to fall apart, his stomach hurted like a bitvh along with his chest... he was hot... so hot in his head that it felt suffocating...

The disgusting taste of the bile of his stomach, the way he had harshly threw up hurted.... as soon as he had finished, he felt something burbling on his chest as he furrowed his eyebrows at the feeling before slamming his forehead against the toilet and shouting in the loudest volume he could... just to see if the pain lessened for a bit.

It did not.

He felt your fingers brushing his hair back and he couldn't help but to let out the loudest sob he had ever heard as you picked a wet napkin and wiped the corners of his mouth while suushing him.

"Calm down you just need to breath love..." You spoke and he inhaled sharply at the way the nickname you gave to him slipped so easily and smoothly from your lips... he gagged at the horrific smell of vomit as you helped him up the best you before leading him out of the bathroom from his sake.

He was brought to the bedroom once again as he could tell you were internally panicking at his state...

"O-ok... take a big breath in and out, I'm going to get some water and-"

"Kill.. me..." You froze and looked at him like he had grew another head.

".. what?"

"Kill me... please...." his shoulder shook and soon enough you were embracing him so strongly he let himself fall apartly completely "P-Please-! I don't deserve to live!"

"No lov-"

"DONT CALL ME THAT!" He wailed before lowering his face on the crook of your neck "I'M A WASTE OF HUMAN BEING! LOOK AT ALL I HAVE DONE! NOT ONLY I AM USELESS BUT I AM A FREACKING MONSTER! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN HERE STILL?! YOU DONT DESERVE THAT!" He wailed loudly on your neck as he felt you carrying the hair on the nape of his neck as you stayed in silence.

"I-If I die... than it would be better. Pops and erj would have their revenge for what I did to to both of them, the ex members of the hassaikai would feel revenge as well... you won't have to deal with a disable and worthless husband any longer... "

"Kai dont-"

"Don't lie... I know you have no feelings for me... you're here out of pity... I don't deserve it... I don't deserve none of it..." he hiccups as tears traveled down from his face to your shirt "not your pity and specially not your kindness..."

It was silent for a bit as he tried to recover himself form the sudden attack before he felt you cupping both cheeks and making him look at you..

You had tears of your own on those eyes... your lips were chapped due to constantly biting them and your hair was a mess.

Yet you looked... so beautiful.

"I'm not gonna lie, what you did was extremely fucked up and I don't feel a single hit of pity towards you for it." He didn't wanted to but he flinched at that.

"But I'm not lying when I say everything is going to turn out OK sooner or later. I am not lying each morning when I check of you are alright and check how are your arms.... I don't lie when it comes to me worrying about you 24 hours at day and certainly not about my love for you."

"... how? How could you still love a man like me after everything I done..?" He asked, his voice rough due to him throwing up and shouting a few minutes ago...

You brushed a tear away with your thumb before placing a gentle kiss to his lips, not caring if he had brushed them or not.

"I just do... no one is 100% bad or good.... and your beauty never really scared me..."

He blinked and stared at you like you were the craziest person he had ever met.

Or maybe you were...

"What beauty...? I am no longer the man you married.. I am no longer a boss that had the confidence and power .... I don't even get to pick something for myself due to my arms being ripped off of me..."

"First, you still are the man I married. Different? Sure, but him no less.... second, power surely does not mean beauty... don't you remember I found you the hottest man alive by only wearing boxers?"

"Pervert-" you shush him with a skile when you got the glimpse of small one growing on those lips of his.

"Third and final... your arms. Kai it will take longer for you to get used to this new life-style and probably much longer when we get those prostheses... I can't promise you it will be easy, but what I can assure you is that I will not leave your side. I promised that on the altar, didn't I?"

"It means nothing if you no longer hold feeling-"

"Kai I love you." You grabbed his face and made his golden eyes lock with yours "I love you, and I will say it as much times you need me to convince your stubborn ass that."

He blinked a drop pf tear away as he almost whispered the question.

".. how?... why?"

And you answered once again

"Your beauty never really scared me..."

.

.

(A/n): this... turned out like shit. I am sorry.

[lesbian-empress-nero]

Two words.

Two horrible, awful words that had somehow landed them here, with a gun in his hand and dread in his stomach.

Castor had long since evolved, and Shinjiro had long since gotten control over his new Persona, but that didn’t stop the dreadful feeling in his gut. He hadn’t had to summon his Persona in ages, ever since Nyx was defeated.

He forced that out of his mind. He couldn’t think about that right now. Not with everyone looking at him, not with Aki waiting for his cue.

So Shinjiro took a breath and brought the gun to his head. “HEPHAESTUS!”

He pulled the trigger, and the kids screamed. Yu stepped back, eyes wide. Yosuke almost fell (Yukiko caught him), and the brown-haired girl, Chie, jumped about a foot in the air.

Floating behind him was a ghostly figure. It had a spiked halo behind its head, a fiery orb for a heart, and an axe in its hand, ready to strike.

“This is my Persona. Aki, if you would?” He looked over at Aki, who nodded and brought his own Evoker to his forehead.

“CAESAR!” He cried, firing.

Caesar, with its burning heart to match Hephaestus’, world in hand, seemed almost scarier than Hephaestus. Ironic, Shinjiro decided.

The kids stared at them both in shock and horror, until Chie spoke up. “You have to shoot yourselves to summon your Personas!? We have tarot cards!”

Aki glanced at him. “Huh. That seems... Infinitely easier than shooting yourself in the head.”

Shinjiro rolled his eyes. “Obviously, dumbass. It’s hard to shoot yourself, whether there are bullets in it or not. But, that isn’t the point of doing this. The point is, we-” Shinjiro gestured to Aki and himself, “-are coming with you to rescue your friend. We’ve had more experience with this stuff than you, so we know what we’re doing more than you. We’re helping.”

Yu folded his arms, regarding them for a moment. And for a moment, he reminded Shinjiro of Makoto, calm and collected, constantly changing teammates when crawling through Tartarus, constantly making sure everyone (Aki) wasn’t pushing themselves too hard.

“Okay. They seem capable. Besides, having adults with us could help when we investigate,” he decided. Shinjiro had to hand it to him- he knew what he was doing with this.

Aki smiled, warm and fatherly and- Shinjiro really needed to stop fawning over his husband. Like, badly.

“We won’t let you down, I promise,” he said, and Yosuke relaxed a bit. Shinjiro liked Yosuke. He was a good kid, a friend of Goro’s (and heaven knew Goro could use some friends).

“Then let’s go. Yosuke, Sanada-san- no, the other Sanada-san-, and Yukiko. We’re going in first. Don’t give me that look, Chie.”

Shinjiro looked at Aki. “Time to see if I’m still in shape, huh?” He joked, feeling a smile tug at his lips.

While the kids were bickering, Aki pressed a kiss to his cheek, grinning. “You’ll do great. Now go kick some ass and save that kid, okay? I’ll be here waiting for you.”

Shinjiro knew that. Aki always waited for him. Aki had waited for him in the hospital, had waited at his side to rejoin SEES, had waited for him after the incident on October the 4th.

Aki would always wait for him. And Shinjiro would always come back to him.

Always.

the gay fathers... they live...

i love seeing shinji live. grow up and mature. live with aki. evolve his persona. its so theraputic as a shinji fan. as much as i love a good death to move plot forward but SHINJI LIVEEEEEE AHHHH SHINJI GROWS UP!!!!

[demons-and-demigods]

Demons and Demigods Part Six: Tartarus

Edit 4/12/24: okay so I might come back to this part and rewrite it at some point. I'll make a second post for that just to keep this one around bc i do like it, i just think it could be More lol

Alright, so this part is gonna be part hand-wavey transitions part written scene. I didn't want to split it up, so you'll just have to bear with me here for this one. This part also features dark!percy and, you know, The Horrors. Let me know if you want any warnings added to this one and I'll add them.

They get to Rome, split up to do their things, find Nico, fight the twins, Annabeth finds the Athena Parthenos, etc. Sam and Dean are stuck in Mystery Spot the same day Percabeth falls into Tartarus. And because demigods are ~weird~ they can all sense that something is off each repeat (especially because Percy and Annabeth seem Extra Off), and the Wednesday that Dean dies and then stays dead for four months is really fucking weird bc the demigods are just like, they know that nothing they do now is gonna stick they can feel it and Gaea and the Giants have like, stopped pulling shit so they’re just like wtf is going on. Then the world resets again and Percabeth has just fallen into Tartarus and off we go to continue the story. The demigods can sense that whatever was going on is over now and they hustle to get back to work.  

Percabeth did not get reset because Tartarus works different and is beyond the reach and powers of a trickster (even if said trickster is actually the archangel Gabriel in disguise) so they were falling for longer than is canon and then spent a lot longer down there than in canon bc I’m a sadist <3 so the Percy and Annabeth that the rest of the seven interacted with on each reset were just illusions repeating canned lines.

(I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is my au and I can fuck with the timelines if I want to, so I am. Does it make sense? No. Do I care? Also no. I'm just having fun, don't think about any of it too hard.)

Now begins The Horrors.

Percabeth is in Tartarus dealing with The Horrors for like, a year. Between the topside Mystery Spot resets not affecting the Pit and time working differently down there anyway, it’s a long ass time for them. Tartarus is Large, it takes a long time to traverse its expanse. They suffer through drinking the fire water and trying desperately to stay alive to make it to the Doors. It’s been months and they’ve both started to lose themselves a little to the nature of the Pit. Percy is a little more vicious when cutting down monsters, Annabeth is a little slower to reign him in. It’s . . . almost easier down there. It’s all cut a dry. It’s just kill or be killed. It’s us or them. There is nothing but fight and kill and stay alive and always keep moving. It’s simple.  

Bob shows up and it’s a reminder that there’s more out there, a reminder of who they were and what they’re fighting for when they had begun to forget that there had ever been anything other than Hell. They regain a little bit of who they were before the Fall.  

The arai fuck shit up real bad lmao. They fight and get cursed and then Annabeth is blinded and she can’t find Percy and Percy is enraged. He stops caring about anything but getting to her, he doesn’t care about all the curses he is taking on, he can’t feel the pain of them anymore. The arai fall all around him with every swing of his sword. The curses pile up and still he doesn’t stop. They mean nothing in the face of his rage and desperation to get back to Annabeth’s side.  

And then it happens. He cuts down an arai and then he’s on the ground. Annabeth is still calling for him and the arai are laughing at him. The curse of Phineas, they cackle. A slow, painful death for the son of Poseidon who has caused so much suffering and pain; it is fitting.  

Percy is in unbearable pain; his blood is boiling in his veins and his skin is sloughing off his bones. His head is pounding and throbbing and he thinks it might explode. His muscles are burning and tearing themselves apart as his bones liquify. He knows that he is dying and fears that he won’t. Still he tries to get up, tries to stand and continue fighting. He refuses to go out without a fight, and he refuses to leave Annabeth to suffer the nightmares of this place alone.  

He manages to get back to his feet, although he has no idea how, and he has not the strength to lift his sword, barely the strength to grip it. And so he lunges, ripping the arai apart with hands and teeth as he burns, everything burning burning burning. But Annabeth is always just out of reach and his strength cannot last forever. He goes down. His vision is fading and he can’t tell if he’s breathing, he’s not even sure he has lungs to breathe with anymore. With the last of his strength he turns his gaze to the vaguely silver outline of where Bob is standing off to the side and prays. He begs with the shredded remains of his deteriorating mind for Bob to keep Annabeth safe. He apologizes for never visiting, for being a bad friend.  

And then the lights go out and Percy knows that this is it. He has a moment to wonder if his soul will remain trapped in Tartarus for all eternity or if it will manage to escape. With his luck, he doubts it.  

Bob moves, then. He clears away the arai and grabs Annabeth before she walks off the cliff. He heals her and carries her over to where Percy is lying still on the ground. Annabeth begs Bob to help him, cradles him in her arms and tells him that he can’t die, he can’t leave her to find the Doors alone, she needs him. Bob tries to heal him.  

Percy is a gruesome sight. He’s bleeding from a hundred different wounds, one of his legs looks broken and there is bone sticking out of his arm. He’s covered in blood and bruises and burns and he’s far too cold.  

Bob manages to fix most of the wounds and heals the broken bones. But the gorgon’s blood poison is beyond his abilities to take care of. They head to Damasen’s.  

Annabeth is wary, but desperate, and Bob is holding Percy so she had no choice but to follow.  

Damasen helps them, albeit reluctantly. Percy slowly gets better. Annabeth is thankful for the weeks of rest they get at Damasen’s hut while Percy recovers. Eventually, however, Percy is as healed as he is going to get in Tartarus, where the very air they breathe is slowly killing them, and they need to move on.  

It’s slow progress, heading towards the lady Bob says can help them with the death mist stuff, but they make it. Bob couldn’t come with them all the way, but he promised to meet them afterwards.  

And then Misery herself shows up and she is going to kill them. After everything else they’ve been through, after everything else they’ve done to get this far, they’re going to die at the hands of a sniveling, whining old hag? No.  

Percy is angry. He is furious. He wrests control of the poison from her and reverses its flow. He grabs hold of her tears and snot and saliva and forces it back, making her sob harder and it only gives him more to work with. Annabeth stands back and watches.  

Percy sees just how much misery Misery can take. She is begging him to let her go and he can’t help but laugh. It’s pitiful, how quickly she’s given in, given up. That cracked glass orb somewhere in the core of him shatters. And all of a sudden, he can feel. He can sense the congestion rattling in her lungs and the ichor pumping through her veins.  

He wants to grab hold of it, grab hold of everything in her and make her scream. He wants to make her feel even a fraction of the pain that he and Annabeth have had to endure down here.  

But then Annabeth’s ghoulish hand is on his arm and he turns to look at her and her eyes are sharp, even from beneath the guise of the death mist, and she shakes her head. He tilts his, asking, are you sure? He can kill this goddess, he is suddenly certain of this fact, and he would, if Annabeth told him to. She shakes her head again.  

He clears a path and lets Misery go.  

Nyx is frightening, yes, but Percy can feel the ichor in her veins just as easily as he could in Misery’s. He is not as afraid as he knows he should be.  

They survive the House of Night and make it to the other side intact.  

Percy can sense Annabeth’s heart pounding as they run, can feel her blood pumping and it makes his head throb, but they don’t have time for him to think about it, so he shoves it to the back of his mind and carries on.  

They meet up with Bob. Percy can almost hear the ichor in his veins and he can sense every movement Bob is about to make, can feel his muscles tense and stretch.  

They make it to the Doors and Percy can hardly think over the sound of all the blood pumping within the horde of monsters before them. It echoes in his head, gallons of blood and ichor roaring in his ears. He stumbles and Annabeth catches him. He can’t hear her worried questions over the pounding in his head.  

He gets it under control.  

They make it to the Doors and cut one chain. They fight. Tartarus himself appears.  

Percy drops his sword. He claps his hands over his ears and screams. He can feel it now, the body of Tartarus coming to life beneath their feet; the rivers of the Underworld flow through his veins, monsters writhe around in pustules on his skin. They stand atop the thunderous beating of his massive heart.  

Percy can feel it all and he can feel his mind begin to fray at the immensity of it, at the truth of the Pit. Mortal minds were not meant to bear this reality.  

Annabeth is kneeling in front of him (he doesn’t remember hitting the ground) and her hands are covering his over his ears and she’s trying to talk to him but all he can hear is the rushing of the rivers beneath Tartarus’ skin. Bob is fighting off monsters and his brothers as the manifestation of Tartarus watches from the sidelines. Damasen is there (when did he get here? Percy’s mind is fracturing, he can’t think straight, he can’t keep track of what’s going on) and Percy blinks and Damasen has thrown himself at Tartarus and Annabeth is trying to haul him into the Doors.  

Percy tries to speak but he can’t seem to make his voice work. They need to stay, to help their friends. They can’t leave Bob and Damasen behind.  

Annabeth is crying.  

Percy reaches up to wipe the tears from her cheeks and tries to focus only on her, tries to block out the body of Tartarus and the horde of monsters.  

Suddenly, Bob is there, scooping them up and depositing them in the elevator. “The button must be held for twelve minutes or else the Doors will open and you will die, trapped within whatever lies between here and the surface.”  

Annabeth tries to protest. Percy can barely make out what Bob is saying.  

“I will hold the button,” Bob says. “Thank you, friends, for giving us hope.” He glances over his shoulder at where Damasen and his drakon are holding off the tide of monsters and trying to keep Tartarus at bay. “We will do this for you, and we are honored to. You must hold the Doors closed on your side. They do not like the living and will try to spit you out.”  

Bob presses the button and the Doors begin to slide closed. “Please tell the sun and stars I say hello,” he says with a soft smile, and the Doors shut.  

It’s a long, long ride back to the surface. Annabeth and Percy throw their shoulders into the Doors, fighting to keep them closed. Annabeth sobs, but Percy still isn’t quite all there.  

The longer they’re in the elevator and the farther they get from the Pit, the more Percy begins to come back to himself. Annabeth watches the awareness slowly return to his eyes and his face crumple with despair as he regains his mind and can finally make sense of what just happened.  

They mourn, but they keep the Doors closed.  

Above, the whole thing with Pasiphae and Clytius is happening. The Doors ding. Leo throws a screwdriver to hit the button.  

The Doors slide open.  

Percy and Annabeth tumble out, still clinging to each other even as they collapse.  

They look dead.  

Clytius uses them to speak and everyone is pissed off, then Hazel and Hecate kill him <3  

Percy and Annabeth are alive, but only just. And they’re out. Nico and Hazel kneel on either side of them. Nico reaches out to clutch at the tattered remains of Percy’s shirt and Hazel grabs hold of Annabeth’s wrist.  

The others gather around and hold hands. Nico and Hazel shadow travel them all out of there.  

In the light, it’s worse.  

Reyna and Coach Hedge meet them on the hilltop and freeze. Hedge starts cursing up a storm and Reyna chokes back bile. Leo turns around and throws up. Frank gags. Hazel sobs and Nico feels like he can’t breathe. Piper turns and buries her head in Jason’s chest. He wraps his arms around her tightly but can’t bring himself to look away from Percy and Annabeth.  

They’re horrifyingly thin, emaciated. The tattered remnants of their clothes hang off their skeletal frames. Their skin was pale and sallow, their cheeks sunken. Their chests rattled with each shallow, labored breath. They were covered in cuts and bruises, weeping lacerations and half-healed scabs littering their skin beneath layers of dirt and grime and other nasty substances.  

The others wondered just how long Percy and Annabeth had been down there.  

Jason gently lifts Percy into his arms and flies him to the ship, Frank right behind him as a dragon with Annabeth carefully cradled in his claws.  

Reyna, Hedge, and Nico leave with the Athena Parthenos.  

Percy and Annabeth are settled in two beds in the small infirmary on the Argo II to rest. No one knows when (if) they’ll wake up. Someone is always with them, though. Be it Hazel gently wiping the grime from their skin or Piper carefully cleaning their wounds, Jason dribbling nectar between their cracked lips or Frank doing some physical therapy exercises to try and keep their muscles from atrophying any further.  

The boat was quiet and tense, everyone waiting with bated breath for Percy and Annabeth to wake up.  

And eventually, they did. 

[aroaceleovaldez]

i think i’ve pinned down one of the things that’s bugged me about the recent series/books - over time there’s been a slow over-saturation of the mythological aspects, at least in how they’re presented to us. The first series and TKC balance the mundane and mythological really well, but as things go on there’s more and more emphasis on mythological things as separate rather than merged with the mortal world. The best two examples I can think of for this are Tartarus (We’ll ignore Tartarus in mythology versus how it is in PJO for now, that’s a topic for another day) and MCGA -

[Under cut for length]

in the first series, Tartarus is scary and ominous because we don’t know anything about it, we’re just told it’s bad and the only things down there are Kronos and reforming monsters (who can actually relatively easily escape Tartarus, it just takes them a minute), essentially. All we ever see of it is glimpses in the first book of the edge of it and a little bit later in the Labyrinth when there’s some cracks that lead to it. In the beginning of HoO it’s still scary because we still haven’t seen it, but we know Nico went down there and it was extremely bad for him. We still know nothing else! This also adds something special - Nico now has the unique trait of being the only mortal to have passed through Tartarus and survived. All of that then immediately falls apart when Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus and... it’s not that impressive. They actually get through it relatively fine. They run into a friendly giant who gives them soup and we get a literal deus ex machina as Iapetus/Bob shows up out of nowhere to help them out too. So now we’ve revoked the fact that it’s a special trait to have been able to survive Tartarus, that apparently means nothing, and apparently there’s enough friendly/useful things in Tartarus to make your life easier while you’re there AND now with TSATS we’re revisiting it again and now Will gets to have survived Tartarus too, I guess, because just anybody can do that now. Not to mention the whole “Oh, btw, Nico actually also has Super Special Tartarus Vision but Percy also temporarily got that too so that’s also not special.”

With MCGA, the series is supposed to be set in Boston, right? Except, it’s not, really. It’s set in the Nine Worlds. And it’s set in the Nine Worlds in such a way that we the reader are essentially just on a convenient guided tour of the Nine Worlds for some reason. We didn’t need to see a guided tour of the Nine Worlds! It’s just shoehorning in mythology for the sake of showing it off. PJO and TKC being set in New York worked because we actually see New York and New York is important to how the story functions. The mythology stuff is in New York! Camp Half-Blood is on Long Island Sound! Olympus is in the Empire State Building! The Grey Sisters drive a taxi! Camp Jupiter works because it’s in California. TLH and SoN work because we are in different real-world locations, but mythology stuff is happening in those spots. That’s what made PJO unique! And that’s what starts falling apart later in the books - Team Statue’s trip is memorable because we get some details about the places they end up. That one scene where Hazel, Frank, and Nico are wandering through Venice is memorable because we see Venice! Most of the rest of HoO we don’t get that same description. In TOA we lose it even more - yes, we’re in these different spots, but they feel disconnected because it’s less “We’re in this location! and there’s mythology stuff here too!” and more “OMG MYTHOLOGY STUFF and we’re like, vaguely in this location, I guess.” You could essentially interchange the mundane location of those scenes in HoO or TOA or MCGA without disrupting the story at all because it doesn’t play into it at all. In the first series it matters that we’re at the Gateway Arch and the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas and Manhattan. In TKC it matters that we’re in London and Brooklyn. In TLH it matters that we’re at the Grand Canyon! In SoN it matters that we’re in California or Alaska! Heck, it matters that the Princess Andromeda was a normal cruise ship with mortal passengers still on it! But in MOA-BoO and TOA and MCGA it doesn’t! You can interchange any random place with Greco-Roman ruins because we’re just apparently on a tour of Europe anyways. You can interchange the setting of TOA because for the most part between Camp Half-Blood, Camp Jupiter, and the Labyrinth, we’re either just vaguely somewhere or some new randomly introduced demigod-or-mythological-related place. You can interchange the setting of MCGA to any large North American city because we barely see the city, it’s just a backdrop for Hotel Valhalla and spots are chosen at complete random as access points to the Nine Worlds.

It takes away some of the meaning, to me, to over-emphasize the mythological aspects of the universe when it’s supposed to be this big special thing. The entire first series emphasizes how the mythological world has merged with modern mundane life, and especially that demigods struggle to locate and interact with a lot of these mythological locations. Trips to Olympus are rare and special occasions.Trips to the Underworld are difficult and extremely uncommon unless you have specific access or are summoned there, so every time we do go there it’s exciting! In TKC it takes effort and difficulty and specific circumstances to gain access to many mythological-related things and places in the first place, which in turns makes it rewarding when we do see it. There are absolutely some mythological locations we see in the series that it makes sense to repeatedly visit or have easier access to - the camps and nomes, obviously, are safe havens we expect to return to. The Labyrinth has access points everywhere. But the cool part of the Labyrinth in the first series versus TOA is that in PJO, where the Labyrinth was entered and exited was important and created interesting scenarios - such as fighting Kampe in Alcatraz, or having to guard the entrance into CHB because it was dangerous. In TOA it’s always just kind of... somewhere?

There’s also a lot of rehashing of places and monsters and beings we’ve met before - it doesn’t make sense to return to Ogygia a whole two times after Percy’s trip (which is supposed to be, yknow, impossible to reach unless you get hopelessly lost) or for Calypso to even show up again after the first series since part of Percy’s deal at the end of TLO was supposed to be for Calypso to be freed. Returning to Ogygia’s island and reintroducing Calypso there feels like a retcon more than anything at that point, when if you wanted to reintroduce her you could have just had her show up somewhere else, having been freed from her island and gone traveling to see the sights of the world. Why revisit Ogygia? Or Tartarus? These places that are supposed to be impossible to reach or survive? Every time you go back it just invalidates the intended feeling and structure of those settings. Why not revisit like, Triple-G Ranch? Which is just kind of there and a perfectly open spot with a known location that’s not difficult to find at all? Or the Amazon headquarters, which is also a known and easy to access building. Neither of those were totally explored when we were introduced to them! And we haven’t seen them again! Heck, we could even revisit the ruins of Circe’s Island, see if anything’s going on there now! What happened to all the sorceresses and pirates? Did the sorceresses become pirates and take back the island? That’d be cool to see! That’s an interesting revisitation of past mythological-based locations, not going back again and again to these impossible-to-reach places. It’s why we never went back to the Garden of Hesperides - we know where it is and under what circumstances to gain access it, but we only went there once and saw it maybe twice and that’s good! Because the less we see the mythological places the more special they are! And the more we see the mundane places and how mythological things have taken root in these modern mortal spaces, then the more grounded the universe feels! Not a random private building entirely occupied by Nero’s forces or magic grottos hidden in already magic summer camps, but furies and centaurs hiding as teachers and satyrs disguised as students. That was what made the universe feel so unique. And I’d like to see more of that instead of things feeling so disjointed like they have recently.

[sage-nebula]

I finally finished Persona 3! Thoughts below the cut.

First — I have only played the female protagonist (Kotone's) story. Something like ten years ago I started FES which only has the male protagonist (Minato's) story, but I got stuck on the October boss because I was super underleveled and the Fortune shadow's cheating made it so that I was doing too much damage to my party to be able to keep up with the healing. As a result, I never finished it. I don't really remember Minato's story too much, aside from remembering that it felt different than Kotone's did, so I can't comment on the story from Minato's point of view. I'm also not very interested in playing his story, though I might someday. But for right now, it's not a priority. So any comments I make on the story, I'm making solely on Kotone's version of events.

All of that out of the way . . . while I'm not counting this as a formal review because this game originally came out in 2009 and so it's a bit late for that, it'll still be easier for me to break my thoughts down the way I usually do for a formal review. So that being said:

Overall Score: 7/10.

The Pros:

— For the most part, the gameplay is pretty smooth. Apparently being able to change party member's equipment from a menu instead of talking to them in Tartarus was a Portable edition, as is the ability to buy equipment at night. Both of these things are huge quality of life upgrades. I also liked the option of being able to take direct control of my party member's actions in battle; although I only did this near the end, it helped a lot in cases where I knew the enemy was invulnerable to magic or physical attacks, and they kept using them anyway. I also only ever ran into the issue of having to leave Tartarus because of the Reaper once, though I don't know if that was just because I was better at managing my time there this time around or not.

— I really enjoyed just about all of the characters. I remember not really liking Yukari back in the day, and I don't know if that's because her interactions are different with Minato than they are with Kotone or what, but I really liked her this time around. (And in fact it was Junpei I didn't really like at first, but he grew on me.) I like the fact that they're all nuanced; oh sure, there are definitely anime tropes present in them, but they're also allowed to be flawed and are written to be a little more realistic, particularly with regards to things like the traumatic events they experience / are still healing from. I think Yukari's relationship with Mitsuru was probably my favorite in the game; I really loved seeing how they grew over the course of the plot, including how they grew closer.

— The social link aspect is really fun. My favorite part of any story is the characters, so getting to build relationships over the course of the game and see how the characters change in relation to the protagonist was pretty delightful. Even though the protagonist is mostly just a vessel for you, the player, to experience the story through, it was still fun to see.

— The fact that there's a social link with each of the SEES members is apparently exclusive to Kotone's route, but I really liked that, too. I didn't manage to max all of them (I only got Akihiko, Koromaru, Mitsuru, Shinjiro, and Fuuka to max), but I got them all pretty close. (Junpei and Yukari were at 9, I think Ken was at 7 or 8, and Aigis was at 6 or 7.) To me this really added to the feeling of camaraderie between the main characters; I could believe that they cared about Kotone because their relationships with her had been significantly developed.

— The side characters were all pretty great as well! Special shout-outs to Maiko and the old couple at the bookstore; they were probably my favorite non-school social links. I also really care about Rio and Saori as well, though. (Hidetoshi . . . not so much. But he did redeem himself near the end.) Hoping one day Rio wakes up and realizes that she deserves so much better than Kenji's ugly ass, though. Same goes for Yuko and Kazushi.

— The ending is pretty ambiguous as to whether or not Kotone survived the ordeal. On the one hand, she comes back at the end and you have that whole segment at the school leading up to the moment on the rooftop. On the other, Aigis keeps breaking down in tears, and there's the implication that none of that is really happening, that it's all in Kotone's mind, or something of the sort. I kind of like the fact that it can go either way; either Kotone magically came back somehow, or she really did sacrifice herself to save everyone. I understand that FES has an epilogue called The Answer that confirms that Minato is truly dead, but since The Answer isn't included in Portable, I think the paths in Portable could go either way and that's fine by me.

— Koromaru. Everything about Koromaru is a gigantic pro. I love him so much ♥♥♥♥♥

The Neutrals:

— On the one hand, it's nice that you can put the characters in casual clothes or special costumes. On the other, it sucks that this is tied to armor. You're stuck with mid armor if you want to see characters fighting in something other than their school uniforms, which honestly kind of sucks. I wish that it was done like it is in Tales games, where the costume the character wears has no bearing on their defense stats.

— The Persona fusion system is nice, and I like that you can put Personas into the compendium so you can buy them back later if you need them. But also, it would be nice if you could have a storage box for Personas like in Pokemon, because I wanted to keep Orpheus around for sentimental reasons, and just honestly didn't have the space to do that. =/ RIP Orpheus, you are missed. (But missed much less once I got Hell Biker, my friend Hell Biker ♥)

— The requests system is cool and gives you a reason to go after certain goals in Tartarus, and similarly rescuing the people that wander in there gives a sense of accomplishment, too. However, both of these things are tempered by the fact that the quests do get repetitive after a while, and the dumb-dumbs who wander into Tartarus had a bad habit of doing so right after I had just been in there and didn't feel like going back. Like, I still did! But it was annoying. Especially when they did so right before a full moon so you either went that night or you couldn't save them.

— The story is okay. It's possible that I would feel differently about it if I was younger, but at this point I'm pretty used to the themes of the Power of Friendship and Defying Fate in JRPGs—or even accepting that you will die in less cheerful games like Zero Escape. So to me, the themes that you have limited time to do what you want and that everything will come to an end didn't really hit very hard, or feel very groundbreaking. Similarly, things like Ikutsuki being a traitor are things I saw coming from a mile away, so they weren't twists that were really shocking to me as they might have been if I'd played this game as a teenager. I still enjoyed it well enough! But it's not a story that will leave a lasting impact on me.

The Cons:

— The game isn't balanced very well, in that in both of my attempts at Portable (it took me so long because I restarted near the end of the game because I realized that I fucked up something I wanted to do and couldn't bring myself to keep going on that file) I ended up with basically nothing to do by the end of the game. All of my stats were maxed out, so I had no reason to go to the arcade, karaoke, or anything else. I finished my non-school social links, and you can't do SEES social links outside of school for whatever reason. It made it so that I was just going to bed early every night to progress the story. It feels like a letdown, and is especially frustrating when I did have SEES social links I wanted to max out, but literally couldn't because there weren't enough days at school to be able to do it.

— The second semester school music is annoying as fuck, I hated having to listen to it so much.

— The conditions needed to save certain characters, or to romance other ones, are just ridiculous in some cases and I'm not sure how anyone does it without a guide. In my first attempt at Portable, I missed out on saving Shinjiro because I started his social link one day too late. I also missed out on romancing Akihiko because I picked the wrong option in the fourth social link event, so even though I agreed to have Kotone date him in the ninth one, it didn't count as a romance. Like, what?? I understand making a game challenging, but this shit's ridiculous.

— Some of the story beats, both optional and not, are either uncomfortable or just distasteful Specifically: I hate that there's even the option for Kotone to return Ken's feelings. Him having a precocious crush on her? Adorable! Her returning those feelings? Disgusting! Of course, it is optional so that's good at least, but the fact that it's in there at all is just gross. Literally, why. Why would you do that, Atlus. There's no reason to do that.

Similarly, the idea of romancing Aigis as either Minato or Kotone is uncomfortable to me, because she very much falls into the Born Sexy Yesterday trope. Akihiko and Junpei both find her very attractive, but, because she's a robot, she has no concept of what it means to be human and her entire story arc is about her learning what it means to live. She already has a predisposition toward the protagonist due to sealing Death inside them, and while initially her desire to be close to them is because she wants to monitor Death, that changes pretty quickly. I'm not knocking people who do like shipping Aigis with either Kotone or Minato, because it's not like it's inappropriate from an age standpoint like the potential romance with Ken is, but it's still uncomfortable to me. Born Sexy Yesterday almost always is.

Lastly, there's the fact that Chidori was fridged for Junpei. Granted, it is possible to save her, something I had literally no clue about and honestly I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to figure that out, but it is possible to save her in a similar way to Shinjiro. However, the original story (and the one most people are likely to experience if they don't know beforehand) has her fridged for Junpei's sake. Which—it's not surprising. Women in Refrigerators is a trope for a reason. But it's still not something I'm ever jazzed to see. Junpei should have been able to grow and evolve as a person without having a female character sacrificed to make that happen.

— There are smaller, optional story beats that also aren't great. Bunkichi hitting on Yukari, for instance, with his "if I was fifty years younger" bit; Maiko's dad hitting on Kotone; Maiko herself being hit by her father and called annoying by her mother and the story treating that as if it's not a big deal, etc. This game was written over ten years ago, and these kinds of things crop up a lot in anime, but still. They're just not ideal.

I feel like there were other things that bugged me, or that I liked, but these are the main points of my experience overall. Again, overall I liked it! And I'm going to start Persona 4 Golden soon (I already have it downloaded on my Switch lol). But these are just my thoughts, now that I'm done with the game. Also:

Koromaru is best boy. That is all.

[marunalu]

If AFO wasn't planning on using AFOmura as his new body then why give him his original AFO quirk? Why only leave himself with a copy and AFOmura with the original? Especially since the copy makes him weaker. At this point, AFOmura is a lot stronger than AFO, so if AFO wasn't planning on using AFOmura as his new body why allow AFOmura to get stronger than him? Why allow him to take OFA in the first place if he was only meant to be a mere puppet? Even Garaki said that they've been looking for "vessels" that were twisted for AFO. Vessel is an interesting word choice he used. Not trying to bash you, just curious about your thoughts.

Shigaraki was always simply just a backup body for afo nothing more. Afo ALWAYS intended his original body to be healed again. Remember when he once told garaki "then hurry and fix me up, doctor!"? Does that sound like someone who gave his body up? The problem was, that they werent able to find a quirk to restore him back. Afo stole regeneration quirks, but non of them could give him his past power and appearance back, because his head wounds were already completly healed and scarred.

Shigaraki was always just meant to be a vessel for the afo QUIRK not the man himself. I mean, HOW was afo supposed to transfer his soul into tomura? A soul and a quirk are two different things! The quirk carries afos dreams and his personality. Afo wanted a backup body to fullfill his dreams IF his original body should ever die! So someone else would finish his work and fullfill his life dream! Also remember how many backup children afo and garaki stored in orphanages should something happen to tomura. For afo it was never about tomura, he only choose him as a FUCK YOU to all might and nana!

The reason why I think afo gave tomura the original quirk is, because the original afo vestige is way more dominant then a copy/fake vestige would be, making it easier for the afo quirk to take full control over tomuras body. We dont know if there is a huge difference power wise. In kamino gran torino only mentioned that afos fighting style changed. Because he was using a different set of quirks and not the ones he had back then in his prime. Afo also knew the possebility of him ending up in tartarus and I think his conection with his original quirk is simply stronger then with a copy. So tomura having the original afo made it easier to get the real man out of tartarus.

The thing is also that afo is arrogant to a default and underestimates others. He doesnt believe that tomura will ever be able to free himself from the control. So even IF shigaraAFO is stronger then him right now, afo believes he has him under full control. And now that afo has rewinded himself back to his prime, I seriously dont think shigarAFO is stronger then him. He ALWAYS intended his crippled body to be healed, he was just still searching for the right quirk to do it. And now that he is back in his prime, its very likely that he has ALL his old quirks back he lost due to his brain damage. Who knows, maybe now he will even come to the conclusion that he doesnt need shigarAFO any longer. At least that wouldnt surprise me.

[interdimensional-lore]

Introducing Finlay Heran, the Arv'hein of Talki, Tartarus - better known as my other favorite oc

Fin is, when counting all iterations of him, my oldest character out of the entire cast of the entire Broken Dimensions project. He came to life when I was 11 or 12 and I created a side character for a homeschool writing project (yes I was homeschooled for two years, don't ask me about it), and has pretty much been around ever since.

I adore him.

He is also a little shit. ( Read below the cut for why lol )

So some background on who Fin is as a character:

Arv'hein of Talki from 1906 E-10 onwards, inherited the title from his mother Syne when she abdicated the throne to him, cut her hair, and disappeared off the face of Tartarus to go run a freedom trail because running Talki was, at the time, incredibly stressful. She did not prepare Fin for this at all. Him learning to deal with that - and with her - is it's own continuous story within Coalition Collection, and he doesn't like her very much. (His dad, on the other hand, is Viridian Eagriss Heran, who is a sweetheart even if he's had to temper Syne's impulsive tendencies for over two thousand years. We love Viridian. he does also leave tho in order to chase down Syne.)

Botany nerd. Closeted botany nerd until the 1990s E-10, but a botany nerd nonetheless. He loves Tartarus's weird flora (and fauna, but it's easier to fight the plants). He loves it so much that it does, in fact, almost kill him several times and eventually gets him cursed. But y'know, that's just how it is.

Book nerd. I like to think he'd enjoy adventure novels, like Indian Jones in book form, or action/mysteries, if those are a thing (maybe they're a thing in his universe, idk). But he'd also read romance, erotica, and like, monster fucker erotica, which totally exists in abundance in Tartarus, a world of horrific beasts, megaflora, and magical demon people. And I think he'd be super secretive about it - like "hide the real cover with a book jacket from a botany book" secretive about it.

Starts out very "punch (stab) first, talk later," then slowly tempers that. A little. The reverts after getting cursed and goes a little crazy for a bit, but it wasn't his fault (that he got cursed. the stuff he did is pretty much his fault and he makes up for it)

MASSIVE flirt. Also bi, even though they don't use most terminology of that sort in the BrDim universe.

Bilingual - Talkian and Common Tongue, though he does know some conversational vocabulary in Mercishan, some words in Trivaalian, and most swears and endearments in Aetherian (eventually). (Does all that technically make him a polyglot?)

Is transmasc!! Uses he/him pronouns exclusively and can and has fought people for misgendering people on purpose. Not stealth, but also doesn't usually tell people. Like his close friends know - Hiro and the Chirrells knew him pre-transition, Alkaline Aviligne knew him during his transition, Ev finds out naturally - but it's not something he broadcasts. Though he does walk around and spar shirtless often enough that I'm sure everyone knows and it's like, fun background knowledge the entire North Tartarun Coalition uses to gauge the trustworthiness of outsiders lol

His chest scars are actually scarification not surgery scars. Transitioning in Tartarus (whether it's transfeminine, transmasculine, or tweaking until you reach your desired level of adrogeny) is as easy as a potion or potion regimen, accompanied by some medical magic (literally) to help the process along. (Other places in the BrDim universe have advanced technological ways to do this, should one so desire to medically transition. Tartarus is just partial to magic)

Adept fighter in multiple styles of combat, including several BrDim swordforms, whatever combined style of martial arts the Talkian military teaches, and others. Natural fire magic user, and should be a natural at Shadow magic because of his dad, but doesn't use it frequently enough until the 2040s E-10.

Can be an snarky and overly sarcastic and loves to poke fun at his friends, but isn't actually an asshole. He cares very deeply about his friends and those he trusts, so much so that the people who turned against his mother eventually grow to respect him once he settles in and takes over. He's fiercely protective of his people (those under his rule as well as those he identifies with and loves) and tries to do what's best for them by listening to his advisors when he can, and handing it back to them when they're full of shit (in the years right after his mom abdicates, they are often full of shit. He gets in some fights).

Very tactile with his friends and with his partners. So much so that you often can't tell who he's fucking vs who he's just really good friends with. He flirts with both parties, he hangs off of both parties, the biggest difference is that the person he's dating with usually react differently, or occasionally they'll both disappear for a bit and come back looking like they just shagged in a closet (which, yk, they might have). That all changes slightly after the 1960s E-10, by which he's learned what the loss of very close friends is like and cherishes time with them more - and presses romantic ventures with them much, much less (which is sad). Still very tactile though. Lots of hugs here.

Served three years in the Talkian Armed Forces before becoming Arv'hein (joined at 18 after completing a general education, was crowned at 21). He should have served until he was 25, which is when Tartaruns consider people fully grown (13 is a teenager, 18 is a young adult, 25 is a new adult, 100 is a true adult. Tartarun life expectancy is around 500 years, unless you're Syne Heran and took an anti-aging spell as a 130 smth).

He also has several tattoos!

The armor ref sheet (aka the most polished full-body peice I have of him that's also up-to-date) doesn't show any of them, but the sketches I included above show his double arm bands. Haven't decided 100% what they mean, but I like the idea of them having originally read something in Basic Tartarun (a conlang script alphabet I made a few years ago) that he then covered up with two blackout bands.

His mother's stylized crest on his back shoulder (because he thought she was dead for a few years)

Half a dozen little tattoos his squadmates gave him in the TAF or his friends on city night excursions

"Bite me" in BT on the inside of his right thigh

culturally-significant tail tattoos (in gold)

He gets Ev's "Razienne" sigil tattooed on his lower back as a joke, but turns out it gives them both a little shock when Ev touches it. So naturally they do the two-finger taser thing to him all the time.

He has a rose tattoo on the back of his neck/down his spine that's twined with magic and runes and activates the Arv'hein's crowns above his head (Syne has a similar one)

- Fin undergoes a lot of change over the course of Coalition Collection, though most of it is internal. His friends don't see it as clearly until he or someone else points out how he's changed and matured. That said. He's 163 in Book 2 (2040s E-10) and that's roughly the equivalent of being 25, mentally. Which means we've got this interesting dynamic where he's developmentally in his late twenties, but he's also been through 125+ years of war, politics, and emotional rollercoasters. Which is! Complicated!

But yes, I adore Fin. I'd love to meet him and ask him to teach me how to throw a punch if he was real lol

- As always, questions (here or in the ask box) are more than welcome!

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 270, Replies Part 2

1) “We- We`re inside Shigaraki`s mind or something? It must be, since he`s there and there`s a, quite frankly, concerning number of disembodied hands floating around.

we`re about to go down a fucking weird trip, aren`t we?”- We’re going on an inception trip into shiggy-boy’s braincase….in fact, we’re not even the first ones taking up residence inside his cracked mindspace…

2) “Fuck if I know Shigaraki, you have quite the interesting imagination, I wish my dreams were half that abstract. Then again, I was never comatose, as far as I know.”- And as a side-effect of his awakened/ascended mentality, Tomura’s ‘ethereal’ white hair has become almost negative space around his head, almost looking like Horikoshi simply didn’t draw the pages around him. 3) “OH OKAY FUCK FUCK FUCK I KNEW THINGS WERE GOING TO GET WEIRD

WE`RE GONNA DEAL WITH A BIT OF THAT LINGERING TRAUMA FROM THE PAST, AREN`T WE?

I AM NOT READY FOR IT

NOT AT ALL”- Hard to call it ‘lingering’ when AFO actively cultivated Tomura’s mentality to keep it first and foremost inside his emotional core, always pushing him forwards even when he’d repressed the hell out of it. His mind is nothing but trauma, and he’s only now recently started to mature enough to start owing that damage as being what he thinks of himself as. He sees himself through the broken mirror of his mind, each piece a cracked reflection of the boy he started as and what he could have been. 4) “OH IT`S STILL HER, AND SHE`S REMINDING US AND SHIGARAKI OF THAT PARTICULAR MOMENT”- If this broken landscape is what makes up his mind, then tragically, the pieces of it that allow him to hold his ‘self’ together and avoid floating away in the chaos are the very ones that relate to his childhood trauma- the thing that breaks him inside paradoxically holds him together even beyond what other people could endure. 5) “I wonder, do Shigaraki even remembered that she apologized for what she had done? He wasn`t paying much attention at the time, but did he ever recalled that she regretted making him suffer like that?”- Being that this seems to almost be like Shigaraki’s memories of his family overlapping with that night and what he’d think they would say to him now, it sorta implies that he does remember – like, this whole sequence is a little unclear if it’s all in his head, or if him being technically dead means that he’s communing with his family’s lingering ghosts, or if he’s using the memories of his family to talk to himself through their images, putting the words in their mouths to converse with himself as he processes his current situation. Nana herself seems to be the anomaly here, but that itself might also be because of her lingering vestige preserved within OFA…which itself has some undefined link to AFO, as shown by him likewise sensing the changes to the twin Quirk within Tartarus when the additional Quirks started awakening. 6) “AGAIN, DID SHIGARAKI EVER THOUGHT ABOUT HIS DREAM SINCE THEN? EVEN IF ONLY TO SAY “FUCK THAT, HEROES SUCK”?”- I think he’s thought about it by not thinking about it – like the answer is one he already known deep down on an emotional, instinctual level, but it’s all wrapped up underneath the layers of trauma and pain involved with that night, and he finds it easier to think about the hurt that motivates him more than the uncomfortable answer lurking underneath all that sorrow and lashing out. Eventually, he will have to give a voice to that answer, but at present, his current situation means he can focus on attacking the heroes rather than wasting time navel-gazing and considering whether it’s even a possibility to turn back anymore. 7) “SOMETHING TELLS ME HE DIDN`T, CONSIDERING HIS EXPRESSION TOWARDS THE GIANT IMAGINARY MILF. OH GOD, EITHER THIS WHOLE SHIT IS GOING TO GO REALLY BAD, OR IT WILL GO REALLY, REALLY BAD”-Considering that the ‘itchiness’ is tied thematically to Tomura’s apparent longing to ‘destroy’ things, she’s as good as telling him that his revenge on the world that denied him will only lead to him wanting to destroy more and more until he has nothing left, but AFO has groomed Tomura so thoroughly that he’s convinced himself that existing in this miserable situation of his own violation is what makes him ‘him’ now, like he’s felt this pain for so long, it’s warped around to being comforting. Like Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Tomura has immersed himself in the role of the villain, even if it’s in opposition to his childhood dream, because he feels like he has nothing else left outside of it, and can only make the best of his situation by embracing the perks it provides him, even if he’s unsatisfied with it all at his core.

8) “FUCK FUCK FUCK IT`S BABYGARAKI AGAIN

OH GOD OH FUCK THIS IS REALLY SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL”-He says he’s ok, but only because he’s gotten so used to the misery of his current existence that he can’t imagine a life where he’s not the villain anymore, where he’s not the outsider rejected by society who can only destroy. His body reverts back to the child he was when he first found the photograph, showing that the desire to be a hero is still deeply wrapped up in his core identity, even if he’s convinced himself it’s impossible, and his eyes aren’t quite focused and full of emotions like they were when he was idolising nana’s image. He claims he’s fine, but it’s clearly deflection on how he really feels- and given this may be part of his own mind speaking to him through his memories, it could also be seen as him burying the last shreds of his conscience before he awakens to bring misery to all, reaffirming that this is what he wants to himself.

9) “OH OKAY IT SEEMS LIKE WE HAVE REACHED A CONCLUSION TO THIS WHOLE SPIRITUAL TRIP TO THE PAST, AND THE RESULTS ARE IN:

EVERYBODY RUN THE FUCK AWAY, SHIT`S GONNA OBLITERATE THE FAN”- As he affirms that he’s fine with being the destructive villain, the memory of his father attacking him surfaces- the first time he used his power maliciously, and thus the first time he experienced the pleasant joy and satisfaction that came with using his powers to hurt those who oppressed him, essentially the part of his mind that  revels in the joy of being a villain reminding him of the origin of that desire.

10) “WELP, THE TRAUMA PUT HIM ON THIS TRIAL, AND SHIGARAKI DECIDED ON HOW TO DEAL WITH IT. THE ONLY WAY HE EVER KNEW OF DEALING WITH IT”- It’s tragic, but Tenko’s confidence and fearlessness in facing what would normally be a traumatic memory that repressed him and destroying it with his own willpower and the strength he now possesses is somewhat inspiring as well. You can’t help but wonder how he’d have turned out if he was given some positive learning experiences instead of a troubled upbringing before he massacred his family.

11) “OH, NOW IT`S YOU. RIGHT. YEAH IF WE`RE TALKING ABOUT TRAUMA OF COURSE YOU WOULD SHOW UP IN HIS HEAD. THE FUCK YOU`RE GONNA SHOW HIM AS WELL?”-Well, he did help plant the bad thoughts of Tomura being an inherently destructive monster in his head in the first place- it gave him an easy way in in more ways than one… 12) “WAIT WAIT THEFUVKX THAT IS NOT AN HALLUCINATIOLN

THAT IS NOT

FUCK

THAT`S THE REAL ONME ISN`T IT

OH GOD WHAT THWE FUCK

HE`S TALKING TO HIM

AND HE`S TELLING HIM TO COME TAKE HIM OUT OF HIS CELL”- Not quite- the devil can’t take your soul entirely unless you willingly sign the contract of your own free will…. (MHA ch 246)

13) “Now, the doctor just wants some clarification before he gets started, and I’m wondering how many quirks he’s gonna shove inside his twink frame. He still needs to leave some room for the cherry on top of the cake, the quirk of All for One, that one is still behind bars, but soon he’ll be back…

Soon™”- Or he’s prepping him for All For one’s quirk all along, because it’s better long term for him to just finalise his body right from the start and have the ability to stockpile unlimited power already in him, rather than building up to it gradually by adapting his vessel pieces by piece to handle multiple quirks. All For One does seem to have some kind of innate resistance against the natural devastation that would result from containing multiple quirks at once, a trait shared with its twin, much to Deku’s benefit, so rather than toughen Tomura’s body up by adding increasing numbers of quirks into his modified frame one by one, it’s easier for Ujiko to just prep him to handle the entirely of All For One all at once and let the quirk’s natural abilities handle the blowback of gaining so much power in one go. Granted, the process isn’t pretty by a long shot, but Tomura’s made it quite clear he doesn’t give a damn about winning any beauty competitions, which is good, because he was looking worse off than even Dabi on that operating table. @thelreads

[askortho]

For the human Orthos: do you ever wish you were a robot like the other Orthos? (Re the power fantasy of not having human limitations from the lens of disability (I’m also disabled! Important to note bc it makes a difference))

Conversely for the robot Orthos: do you ever wish you were human?

So sorry about the long wait time! I had started responding to this and completely forgot about it

(I'm also disabled, I gave most of the Orthos the same condition as me lol)

I wasn't really sure what to do with Tartarus Ortho, so I just left him out

For ease of reading, I separated them

Human Orthos:

Switched:

If I was a robot, I wouldn't be able to use my magic, and that's how I'm going to bring Idia back.

So no. I would not like to be a robot, regardless of any sort of pain I have as a human. It's all going to be worth it in the end.

Human:

Sometimes, yes. As an amputee, it's rather annoying to deal with my robotic parts every single day, and making sure they're functioning well and there's no danger with my biology just sometimes feels like it isn't worth it.

On my good days, when there's much less pain, I'm happy to be alive and be able to spend time with people in my own body, not some mechanical shell, but when I have a bad day, with either the affects of the incident or my preexisting conditions from birth I just want something to make the pain die down a bit.

Rsa:

Not really, I'm happy how I am. Sure, there's ups and downs dealing with trauma and physical affects of almost dying, but I don't think losing that pain that has shaped how I am is worth being trapped in a robot body, at the whims of Idia and what random shit he decides to put in my body.

Robot Orthos:

Post Chapter 6:

That's a hard one... I really enjoy being the way I am because it's really fun to be able to hover (and beat people to class) and also having all of my attachments like the ones I can use for medical assistances is very handy.

But yes, I do find myself wondering what it would be like to be human pretty often, and sometimes I do think it would be easier if I was

Pre Chapter 6:

I like the way I'm made! I think it's very fun to experience anything, but especially as a robot because I can do things other people can't, especially in helping Idia!

Being human would be... an experience, but it's just not one for me

Dorm Leader:

For me it's kinda both. While I loved looking like a robot a few years ago, now it's nice to be able to blend in so I don't scare any freshies. I definitely have to say having multiple bodies to choose from makes it a lot easier, especially as a trans guy!