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filmmakerdreamst · 5 months

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P.J.Hogan's 'Peter Pan' is still an underrated masterpiece 20 years later

Peter Pan is a live-action fantasy adventure film directed by P. J. Hogan that reimagines the classic story of Peter and Wendy. The screenplay was written by P. J. Hogan and Michael Goldenberg and was released in cinemas in December 2003. The screenplay is based on the 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Upand the classic novel Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie, which was originally published under the title Peter and Wendy.

The film tells the story of a young Edwardian girl, Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and her two younger brothers John and Michael. On the night she is told she must grow up, a wild, fairy-like boy called Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) flies into her room with his high-maintenance fairy Tinkerbell. When he learns that she tells stories, he whisks Wendy and her two brothers away to a magical Island called Neverland — where you supposedly don’t “grow up” — so that she can mother his henchmen, the Lost Boys. There she fights pirates led by the evil Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs), meets mermaids, dances with fairies, falls in love and grows up.

I have strong family connections tied to Peter and Wendy and J.M.Barrie. My great, great uncle Nico was one of the sons of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies'. He and his other brothers "the Lost Boys" were adopted by J.M.Barrie; which ultimately inspired him to write Peter Pan. Nico’s daughter Laura — my cousin — who I met for the first time a few years ago, told me that she was flown to Australia for the filming of P.J. Hogan’s Peter Pan because she was J.M.Barrie’s goddaughter. She told me that she was thrilled with the cast, especially Jason Isaacs, who played Captain Hook and Mr Darling. She also mentioned that Jeremy Sumpter, who played Peter Pan, was a lovely boy. However, she said she was very surprised and sad that the film wasn’t a big success as she really liked what they did with the story. I have loved the fairytale of Peter Pan from a young age, and learning that I am literally part of the family that inspired the story was very exciting and I’ve only begun to internalise it more as I’ve grown older.

When I was in my mid-twenties, I was diagnosed with a high level of Autism. One of my main symptoms was labelled “ageless”, which in simple terms means that one half of me is still a child that I can’t mentally leave behind. I can’t do many things that most adults can do, such as pay bills, drive a car, look after my own well being etc. I flap my hands when I get excited. I bounce. I sometimes speak in a baby voice. I overcommit to things I enjoy. I admit that it was hard to come to terms with the diagnosis when I first received it. But over time, I’ve come to believe that the two can coexist in a healthy way. I believe that I am an adult who is able to develop and grow while still carrying the child within me, and that this is not seen as a bad thing. I think Peter and Wendy can be seen as a reflection of that.

I was first introduced to P.J. Hogan’s Peter Pan a few years after it was released (I was maybe nine or ten years old), and I absolutely loved it. It wasn’t only one of my favourite film adaptations, but one of my favourite movies of all time. What surprised me most about the film at that age was how dark and gruesome it was, and full of this underlying sexual tension that I hadn’t expected at all from Peter Pan. Even today, this film still has a special place in my heart. It is made with so much passion and love for the original text that I can automatically put myself back into the story. After watching the film again as an adult, I almost immediately opened my copy of Peter and Wendy and started reading. I would even go so far as to say that I prefer the film to the book. However, part of me wishes that the age rating had been set much higher, as the dark and gruesome moments were some of the strongest parts of the film adaptation. This is possibly why some critics and viewers had difficulty categorising the film at the time.

However, I often consider P.J.Hogan’s Peter Pan to be the same equivalent as Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice. (which came out a few years later in 2005, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen). The film moves at the same dreamlike pace. It is light, dark, colourful and deeply romantic.

I also often prefer P.J.Hogan’s Peter Pan to the 1953 Disney Animation of the same name, even though it’s the version I grew up with and liked. I find it much less straightforward and innocent. Also, the 2003 film is much closer to the original source material, which I loved reading as a teenager, and to J.M.Barrie’s original vision. The film manages to reflect the same intellectual subtext and depth of the novel while retaining the whimsy and magic.

Magical Realism

Peter Pan was a perfect blend of fantasy and realism. A lot of media these days focus too much on “realism” and make their sets and CGI look bland and washed out. It’s a common myth these days that no one likes whimsy anymore; it’s somehow seen as too childish. As a result, much of the magic of fantasy is lost. But in this Peter Pan, a lot of colour was used in the set design and cinematography. Everything was so brightly and colourfully lit. Most fantasy films these days, including the new live-action adaptation of Peter Pan and Wendy on Disney+, are all so gloomy and dark. You almost have to light up the screen to make out the actors’ facial expressions or what’s happening in the scene. But this film understands that a viewer who watches fantasy wants to be swept away, but also wants a certain amount of believability. Although the film contained a good amount of darkness, it did not shy away from being cartoonish either (which I think was partly inspired by the Disney animation), i.e. characters blushing or bouncing on the clouds.

The design of Neverland was breathtaking. I think the CGI, although criticised by some, made the island and creatures look more dreamy and fairytale-like. It was a good combination of CGI for the landscapes and real backdrops for the jungle, so there was enough magic and believability to transport the viewer into the story. A bright colour palette was used for the landscapes, while down-to-earth colours such as browns and greens were used on the ground, such as in “The Lost Boys Hide” under the tree, to give a sense of realism. The costume department also reflected this, from the majestic reds and blacks of the pirates, to the earthly colours of blue and red for the Native Americans, to the natural greens and browns of the Lost boys. I noticed that the colours in Neverland were used as a contrast to the Edwardian London back home, which is realistic but dull compared to the island.

One aspect I liked was that the lighting on Neverland always changed depending on the mood of the scene- unlike the naturalistic lighting on Earth. It was almost as if the island was a living being. For example, when there was a fight on the ship, the lighting was red. When Peter took Wendy to the mermaids, who were scary and frightening, the lighting was dark and blue. This created a surrealistic atmosphere, almost like a fever dream or a kind of nightmare.

Sometimes the environment changed depending on Peter Pan’s mood in the respective scene. I particularly liked how Peter Pan influenced the weather on Neverland. Just his mere presence when he flew to the island changed the entire atmosphere in an instant. His feelings also determined whether it was summer or winter. In other words, its suggested in the film that the longer he has been there, the more the island has become a part of him, so that he can no longer leave it. It’s almost as if the island has transformed him into a magical being.

The exuberant musical score by James Newton Howard: I’ll never forget that. I think that was one of the first movies I saw where I actively noticed the music because it was so brilliant. Even today, the “Flying” soundtrack still gives me goosebumps. It perfectly encapsulates the whimsy, joy and imagination of Peter and Wendy. I loved that there were always different variations. One of my favourite pieces from the movie is ‘Fairy Dance’, which starts off cheerfully and moves up and down depending on the characters’ conflict/what they’re saying in the scene.

Cast

The cast of this film adaptation was magnificent. The look of all the actors not only matched the book description, but also the mood, especially with the Darling family. One of the standouts was Olivia Williams as Mrs Darling. She captured the gentleness of the character perfectly. I also loved the new addition of Aunt Millicent, played by Lynn Redgrave. She fitted into the story so well that I was surprised not to find her in the novel. She had the perfect amount of ridiculousness and hilarity that suited J.M.Barrie’s style.

One particular member of the cast we can probably all agree on that was perfect, was Jason Isaacs, who played both Wendy’s father Mr Darling and Captain Hook. He was certainly a star in this film for sure. I just can not think of anyone who could play him better, especially in a live-action film adaptation. He was particularly good in the role of Captain Hook. When I first saw the film as a child, I did not know that Captain Hook and Mr Darling were played by the same person until my dad pointed it out to me because he was so good. I loved how they portrayed Wendy’s dad as shy and reserved, as opposed to Captain Hook who was flamboyant and sinister. Mirror versions of each other in different realities — that’s a common theme throughout the film. As Captain Hook, Jason Isaacs perfectly captured the essence of viciousness, deviousness and brutality that was necessary for the character. But also the deep loneliness and frustration behind it all. I have seen a quote that was supposedly cut from the film (and never should have been) that provides so much context for his hatred of Peter Pan:

“Imagine a lion in a cage and into that cage flies a butterfly. If the lion was free, it would pay no heed to such creature. But the lion is not free…and so the butterfly drives him slowly insane.” — Captain Hook

They did a really good job of showing how Peter Pan and Captain Hook are mirror images of each other. Peter Pan is a child who secretly wants to be an adult, while Captain Hook is an adult who secretly wants to be a child. Both fight each other for different reasons, but the goal is the same. For example, there is a great scene towards the end where Captain Hook uses his wits to defeat Peter in a fight. Here it becomes clear that there is deep symbolism for the inevitability of adulthood and the loss of childhood. Jason Isaacs really showed off his acting talent here. I liked that he wasn’t portrayed as a “dumb villain”, which he easily could have been.

There were also some great performances among the adults. Most notable was Richard Briers as the ‘pirate’’ Smee. But the child actors, especially the lost boys, really held the movie together. Their solid performances made it so believable that the island was ruled by children. I loved Theodore Chester as Slightly. He was very charming and funny in that role.

Another member of the cast I thought was brilliant was Carsen Grey, an indigenous actress of Haida descent, who played Princess Tiger Lily. I liked that they let her speak her ancestral language, Mohican, in this film. Although this film came out in the early 2000s, it is the only version of Peter and Wendy in which Native Americans are neither erased nor white-washed even though the representation is far from great. Considering how they’re treated in the novel, it’s perhaps for the best overall that they limited some of their scenes. However, I liked how firey she was in this adaptation and not the damsel in distress she was portrayed as in the Disney animation. I think it was a wise decision to cut the infatuation she had with Peter Pan, as it was really just one line in the book that would have added unnecessary drama, and all in all, it would have fallen short if all the female characters were jealous of each other.

They also downplayed Tinkerbell’s jealousy in this regard, portraying it more as her trying to protect Peter Pan’s youth from romantic advances, as hinted at in the novel, and also being sad that Wendy is attracting all of Peter Pan’s attention. Ludivine Sagnier has, in my opinion, succeeded well in making Tinkerbell equally repulsive and endearing, as befits the character.

Wendy Darling

Rachel Hurd-Wood was the perfect cast for the role of Wendy Darling.I was actually surprised to learn that this was her first film role ever, because she was a natural. She effortlessly possessed the same caring nature and charm that makes Wendy so endearing. She is exactly how I imagine the character when I read the story. When people talk about Peter and Wendy, they always mention Tinkerbell, Pan or Hook, but personally I am always drawn to Wendy. She is the real heroine of the story. After all, she was the main reason for Peter to bring her and her brothers to Neverland.

What always amazes me about Wendy’s role in the story is the fact that Wendy literally doesn’t spend much time being a “child” in the time she spends in Neverland. When she’s not escaping death at the hands of mermaids or pirates, she acts as a mother to the ‘lost boys’ and her brothers. She asks herself what she really wants from life. In comparison, she was allowed to behave more like a child at home in Edwardian London. Neverland is not a place where you never grow up. It’s the place where she chooses to grow up. Many people have described Neverland as a manifestation of Wendy’s subconscious as a result of trauma, and I’ve never found that to be more true in this adaptation.

One of the reasons why I think P.J. Hogan’s Peter Pan is the best adaptation of the novel is the fact that the film revolves around Wendy’s coming of age. I loved that they expanded on her love of storytelling and also gave her a tomboyish streak. Instead of just being on the sidelines, she’s able to get involved and fight pirates while retaining many of her feminine traits such as her maternal instincts and romantic feelings for Peter. She makes mistakes and sometimes gets dragged into things she knows she shouldn’t do. But in the end, she triumphs.

In many film adaptations of Peter and Wendy that I have seen, Wendy is either only present in passing or not at all. Characters like Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Tinkerbell always take centre stage, which I think is a strange decision as they are part of Wendy’s story and not the other way around. Peter Pan is meant to metaphorically represent the childhood she does not want to give up (which is why the character is always played by a woman in the original play, as he is a mirror image of Wendy). And Captain Hook (J.M.Barrie also wanted him to be played by the same actor as Mr Darling) represents the dark side of her father, or rather what she imagines adulthood to be. This is particularly emphasised in this film adaptation because he is an important factor in her being told to grow up. The father, the concept of adulthood, and Peter Pan, her childhood, are at constant war with each other.

“You’re not supposed to be like Peter, who kept every good and bad aspect of being a child and can’t tell right from wrong. You’re not supposed to be Hook, either. He let go of everything childish and loving about him and became bitter and evil..You’re supposed to fall in the middle, to hold onto the things about childhood that make it beautiful — the wonder, the imagination, the innocence — while still growing up and learning morality and responsibility. You’re not supposed to be Hook. You’re not supposed to be Peter Pan. You’re supposed to be Wendy Darling.” — @maybe-this-time

The 2023 film Peter Pan and Wendy took a different approach, by making Wendy a kind of powerhouse who always saved the day and outshone Peter Pan overall. In my opinion, the 2003 film adaptation emphasised very well that Wendy really is the yin and yang. She's allowed to be romantic, be rescued by others and at the same time determine her own destiny and stand up for herself. Because that’s what her journey in the adaptation is all about. She is pressured by all the adults in her life to grow up. She allows herself to be seduced with the prospect of an eternal childhood by Peter Pan. Then she realises that it is not self-fulfilling. She is tempted by Captain Hook with the concept of adulthood. And finally, she finds a balance between these two extremes on her own terms. By the end of the film, Wendy has made her peace with growing up while still remaining a child at heart. That requires a certain mental strength that we should all strive for.

Peter Pan and Wendy Darling

In most adaptations of Peter and Wendy, such as Hook and Syfy’s Neverland, the focus is on the title character Peter. In the more recent film adaptation Peter Pan and Wendy, the focus is on Wendy. This film adaptation of Peter and Wendy, on the other hand, sticks more closely to the original source material, as the story focuses on Peter and Wendy’s relationship. This is perhaps the reason why I always hesitate when I watch other adaptations, because these two characters are supposed to go together. It’s definitely a relationship that can be portrayed in all sorts of ways because they are symbolically the same person.

Although there is no romance between Peter and Wendy in either the original novel or the play, Wendy quickly develops romantic feelings for Peter which, as a prepubescent child, he does not consciously reciprocate as he has no concept of love other than that of a mother’s. Although Peter cares deeply for her, he ultimately only longs for her to be the maternal figure that is missing in his life. One could go into the symbolism that Peter and Wendy are one and the same, and that this is an expression of Wendy learning to love herself. But in a literal sense, J.M.Barrie had unintentionally created this very strong potential between the two characters. And I personally feel if your'e going to make an adaptation of Peter and Wendy that potential needs to be explored in some way, even if it’s not necessarily romantic.

Hogan recognised this potential and developed the romantic elements, e.g. ‘the “thimble” from the novel, into a very real and tangible plot. In other adaptations, Peter and Wendy’s relationship is rather one-sided. But in P.J. Hogan’s film adaptation, however, it is not at all. Over the course of the film, Peter and Wendy fall deeply in love with each other.

Rachel Hurd-Wood and Jeremy Sumpter had a remarkable on-screen chemistry for young actors, which helped give the adaptation its own identity. Whenever they interacted on screen as Peter and Wendy, it was — like the glittering pixie dust of Tinkerbell — simply magical. The off-screen chemistry between the two definitely helped make the romance so believable as well. When I was younger, I didn’t like romantic subplots in family films. I personally found that they clogged up the main plot because the “romance” tended to be very one-dimensional- but Peter and Wendy in the 2003 film version were simply enchanting.

In the original novel, J.M.Barrie alludes to the possibility of a romance between the two. In the film adaptation, they go all out. Their love story was written so beautifully and profoundly, while staying true to the original text and J.M.Barrie’s themes. This made the conflict hinted at in the novel of “staying in Neverland with Peter or growing up on Earth with Wendy” even more poignant and relevant, because in reality there was only ever one option. They couldn’t find a way to have both. That made the ending even more “heartbreaking” for me as a child, because even though they had the chance to be happy together, she couldn’t give up on growing up to stay. And he couldn’t give up being a child to leave, even though it was a natural progression for him.

Peter Pan

Jeremy Sumpter delivered a fantastic performance as Peter Pan. Not only did he perfectly match the illustrations, but he also managed to perfectly capture the essence of the charismatic, mischievous little boy from the novel. What’s more, of all the versions I have seen so far, he is by far the most accurate, right down to the clothes made of skeleton leaves, the dirty fingernails, the feral mannerisms, the traumatised soul behind the charm and the downright creepy insinuations. By today’s standards, you could almost take Peter Pan for a grown man who consciously decides not to behave like this.

However, when I watch the film again as an adult, I can now understand why he has reservations about growing up in Edwardian England and would rather remain a “child” in Neverland forever. As Peter says in the film, “Would they send me to school? And then to an office?” I feel like most of us today have so many choices as we get older, but back then it was much more limited. The choices were very restricted in that “heterosexist” environment. You could only be a certain thing, and it was much harder to hold on to the pleasures of life. I can now also understand the initial reactions of Michael and John to Peter: He must have seemed scandalous to people at the time. His bright colours, his inappropriate clothing and his behaviour are repulsive to the boys, but Wendy is immediately fascinated and attracted. I think it was a deliberate choice that he is the only character with an American accent to set him apart from the rest of the cast; to emphasise the wildness of the character and his non-conformity to the people of Edwardian London.

Another small aspect I liked was the suggestion that the Lost Boys, although they lived with Peter and obeyed his commands, lived in constant fear of him and did not worship him as in other adaptations. (A fear that is justified as Peter tries to kill them more than once in the film). What the 2003 film adaptation captured perfectly about Peter's character was: how terrible of a person he really is. Peter Pan is a hero when he goes on adventures and fights pirates. You could argue — via the quote “Leave Hook to me” (which Peter says to her in the film) — that Peter is Wendy’s split self who can fight her father (Captain Hook) for her, just like antibodies do with germs when we can’t handle them ourselves.

However, when it comes to understanding emotions, caring about others, even his henchmen, the Lost Boys, and doing anything that inconveniences him, Peter Pan is possibly as bad as Captain Hook. This makes Wendy’s decision to leave him all the more powerful. Although she was initially seduced by his adventurous life, she soon realises that his “life” of joy and adventure is not fulfilling at all. Because in reality, there is no real joy. There is no real adventure. In reality, his life is empty because it is not earned. In addition, she realises that she is gradually losing her memory of the outside world, including her parents - a sign that she is “slowly awakening from the dream”. This leads Wendy to realise that she wants more than what he can give her in Neverland (e.g. romantic love) and decides to leave. Being alive means feeling, accepting and growing. However, as long as Peter remains a boy, he can never truly be alive. Peter Pan conveyed this important message, whereas earlier film adaptations, including the Disney animation, did not.

One of the reasons why good adaptations of Peter and Wendy are so hard to come by, especially in this day and age, is not only because they adapt a performative story that exists in layers of subtext. They also work with a protagonist who doesn’t change. Who doesn’t develop in any way, neither negatively nor positively. Not even just physically, but also mentally. (Even Eli from Let the Right One In, the child vampire, changes in the course of the story). At the end of day, Peter Pan is ultimately there to serve someone else’s story. It works in a fairy tale format. But it doesn’t usually translate very well to the screen because it often leads to one-dimensional storytelling. Even if it seems so natural, it doesn’t come naturally.

However, this adaptation allows Peter Pan to grow. The writers expanded on the small aspect from the book, which is the moment when Wendy enters Peter’s life; he begins to feel emotions. Not just love. But anger. Fear. Sadness. Pain. Disgust. And above all: self-awareness. Almost like a version of puberty in condensed time, as if the change suddenly caught up with his body. When Wendy brings this up, Peter immediately rejects it out of fear. I think most of us can all relate to this when we were in the midst of growing into a young adult. We experience feelings that are scary and new, that we can’t yet fully understand or even want to. For Peter Pan, falling in love is exactly what he is afraid of: growing up and no longer being a child. This adds to an interesting conflict that arises between the two when she asks him to leave with her.

“The thing about Peter Pan is, he’s a coward. Had the chance of a lifetime and he bottled it. Just fucked off back to Neverland. All alone, forever he was, by his own hand. Poor old Wendy, she had to grow old without him.” — Skins, 6x07 “Alo”

In the original novel, the reason Wendy can’t take Peter Pan with her (apart from the fact that he refuses to grow up) is the same reason Lyra in His Dark Materials can’t take Pan — the animal manifestation of her soul — on the boat to the land of the dead. She has to split in order to grow up and leave a part of herself behind. She can’t keep both in order to move on. But that does not mean I always agree with the ending either. In which Peter remains a child and takes Wendy’s future descendants to Neverland and back to look after him. It leaves an icky aftertaste, but at least it fits in with the story J.M. Barrie wanted to tell.

Even though the adaptation conveys the same message, that Peter Pan is the manifestation of Wendy’s youth, even to the end. In this version of Peter Pan, that is no longer the case. By the end of the film, the way he holds himself is different. The way he looks wistfully through the open window and solemnly says, “To live would be an awfully big adventure,” : a sign of self-awareness, while Wendy happily reunites with her family. So much so that Tinkerbell has to pull him by the hair to stop him from joining them and reconsidering his decision. Peter is now old enough to know that he loves Wendy. Maybe he’s also mature enough to know what he’s missing, but he knows he can’t have her the way he wants, so he does the most selfless thing he’s ever done in the whole film by letting her go.

There is no such conflict at the end of the 1953 Disney animated film. Peter Pan is described by Wendy as “wonderful”. In reality, everyone else gets their happy ending, except him, because he deliberately chooses not to. Peter Pan very much turns himself into a tragic figure because he is afraid of the most natural thing in the world. He is afraid of life. And I feel like this version of the story knew that and expressed it strongly, which makes me conflicted now as an adult. I’ve seen endings like this before, where two people fall in love but do not end up together because they grow apart or they are both interested in different things, and it’s very important to reach those points in different ways. It very much reflects real life and is also reminiscent of first love. How that love never really fades. It reminds you of simple times, even when you’ve grown up and moved on. That a part of you is still at that age when you look back on it. These endings happen because people grow — which Peter Pan does not.

“Peter in the books lives in oblivious tragedy. He may suspect that he’s not fully happy, but he tends to forget about it… yet this Peter doesn’t… Wendy leaving him and growing up to be a wife of another man is his unhappy thought…It’s the loss of innocence since Peter could not forget this…It’s the process of growing up…all but confirms that Peter’s character arc in the film is one of accepting the fact he too must grow up to be happy.” — @rex-shadao

It was hard to say why I had a strange feeling at first, but I realised that a lot of my mixed feelings stemmed from having seen the film adaptation fresh after reading the novel. Since Peter Pan fully reciprocates Wendy’s love in this version, he ends up being a different character than in the book, which is why I now disagree with them keeping the original ending instead of having him grow up with Wendy. It would symbolise that childhood can co-exist with adulthood, that you don’t have to leave a part of yourself behind. That you can be your true and complete self if you find the balance between the two extremes.

The original ending still works however, in all its bittersweetness. I know what it means and understand what it stands for. Wendy basically says goodbye to her childhood and promises never to forget it. There’s a reason it made such an impression on me when I was younger. It could just be because I’m trying to pick up all the pieces of my broken heart from the floor. But personally, as an adult, I just find it weaker compared to the novel. Sometimes I like to imagine an ending to this version of the story where Peter Pan comes back, having quickly realised that he has outgrown Neverland, but doesn’t meet Wendy again until they are both much older, at a time when Wendy is coming to terms with womanhood and the idea of marriage. Or she even meets his real earth counterpart (if we were to delve into the psychology of Neverland being Wendy’s dream). And their relationship is subjected to the natural test of time and growth.

Peter Pan is an almost perfect adaptation. It matches the humour, the tone and the vision of J.M.Barrie. But I can certainly understand why the film didn’t do so well at the box office. In the month it was released, there was an unfair amount of competition, namely the film Lord of the Rings — The Return of the King. And as an adult, I can now understand why it’s not the film people think of or remember when it comes to Peter Pan adaptations. And it’s not just because it doesn’t fit the elfish, jolly trickster persona that Disney has created.

The film adaptation suffers more from what it doesn’t do — such as maintaining a stable tone and consistent editing — than from what it does. It’s one of those films that would have benefited from being much longer. That way, the inconsistent tone and some of the rushed parts of the adaptation would be much more balanced. It feels like it was missing an extra twenty minutes. For example, the film is narrated by an older version of Wendy, but without the deleted ending where it becomes properly clear that it’s her telling the story to tie everything together, the ending feels a little abrupt. Say what you will about Tim Burton’s adaptation of the Series of Unfortunate Events, but the audience could see where the film’s narration was coming from the whole time. I think if they knew the alternate ending wasn’t going to work (that scene is a classic example of something working well in the novel but not in the film), they should have removed the narrator altogether with the deleted ending and adjusted the film accordingly. They should have extended some scenes so that parts of the film weren’t rushed, such as the introduction, and the story would have been left more up to interpretation as there was no voiceover throughout.

Despite its weaknesses, P.J.Hogan’s Peter Pan is still an underrated masterpiece 20 years later. It is an irresistible film that captivates and warms the heart. The film adaptation has certainly stood the test of time, staying true to the original while adding its own flavour to the story. It is full of magic, wonder and heart. It was clearly made by people who loved the origins of the story and explored where they came from, while also digging deep into the text to reshape the character arcs in a fresh and meaningful way. They succeed in capturing J.M.Barrie’s original message, which is that growing up is a natural progression of life, but that doesn’t mean leaving childhood behind entirely. That it is important to maintain a healthy balance between the two: Taking responsibility while appreciating the joys of life. From the vibrant colour palette to the goosebump-inducing music to the solid performances and gorgeous chemistry between Jeremy Sumpter and Rachel Hurd-Wood, my love for this adaptation will never end, no matter how old I am.

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rxyhiraeth · 4 months

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thoughts on pjo ep 6

also SPOILERS FOR PJO

i’m just kinda getting all my thoughts out on this episode! it was very interesting and VERY different from the books but not in a terrible way! i trust uncle rick with this show and im more so just curious why some things were changed from the books so much, and im sure a lot of these are going to be answered themselves in these last 2 episodes.

i also love hearing everyone’s ideas about what is going to happen from this point on cause ik even book fans are LOST

no zebra moment! i can’t think of any other moments in TLT that would give us time to learn about percy being able to talk to them, so this is probably going to get brought up for the first time with the hippocampi in SOM which actually works out. i would have loved to see this scene, but i can get that it would have taken up a good chunk of time, and for production reasons probably had to be skipped for now or entirely cut from the season.

clarisse?? traitor?? *LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER NOISE* i have my thoughts on why they did this, but also not?? i figured they did this to balance out the conversation percy and annabeth have with hermes about luke in order to take some attention away from it as to not make it TOO obvious he is the real traitor, but also why even have that conversation about luke in the first place then?? idk. i’m not sure if this is something that will be explained or make more sense with the rest of the season, and if not, i hope uncle rick can explain why this choice was made. there are so many choices in this episode that i would love to hear explained as to why they decided on it!

going off the last point, i do feel like they are slightly forcing the luke is the traitor point for the audience. we never got this much about luke in the books while they were on their quest, and even when he was talked about, nothing really pointed in the direction of him being the traitor. maybe im just an idiot but i remember the luke reveal being pretty shocking! i hope they don’t force it too much and allow everyone to guess it before the reveal even happens! maybe this is just me wanting it to be just like the books, but i guess they do need to hint at it here and there in ways the books didn’t?

also am a little weary about the “old married couple” comment. i hope they don’t speedrun their relationship. this is a SLOWBURN i hope it stays this way!

i get not having poker face in the casino. rick HATES those movies and probably wants to make this as different as possible while still being accurate to the books. honestly tho, dua lipa was a good ass choice. i can’t complain about that.

HELLO I HEAR NICO!!!!

also CAMP JUPITER CAMPERS???? MAYBE???

besides being confused as to why the casino scene itself was pretty different from the books, it was a great event regardless. extremely well produced and was so fun to look at and watch for little details with everyone in the background. that being said, i was hoping for a bit more of a montage type scene. percy and annabeth didn’t get to have any real fun like in the books, it was mostly all grover. i don’t really know shit about production of tv shows and such, but i’m shocked the casino scene was changed this much from the book. but uncle rick i trust you wholeheartedly.

i did love them using the casino card to get a taxi to santa monica, but the hermes taxi in this was better. i was giggling the whole time. percy “i fought and killed a minotaur how hard can driving be” jackson my sweet child. and percy running the taxi into the damn wall because he was busy looking at annabeth??? love them so much

the only two things that REALLY confused me as they are changing major plot points:

1: 4 pearls?

2: the solstice is OVER??

the 4 pearls defeats the whole purpose of them arguing about who is going to stay in the underworld. either this plot point is going to change a lot, OR they are going to lose one of the pearls on the way, but if that is the case, what’s the point of giving them 4 if they are still going to end up with 3? i’m assuming it is going to be the former option, as getting 4 just to lose 1 for the sake of it doesn’t make much sense.

solstice??? over??? i’m very confused on this. this feels like it defeats the whole purpose of continuing the quest, but obviously percy is still determined to get sally (king), so we aren’t just ending the quest. i’m curious to see how these two plot points effect the rest of the season and why these were chosen instead of keeping the original plot!

overall i did really like this episode!! obviously it was very different from the book, but we can’t expect this entire show to be EXACTLY like the book. i would love to hear rick talk about a lot of the choices made throughout the season and why they were done. he has seemed very proud of this show and how it has played out, so i trust him with whatever he decides to do with it.

also if you have thoughts on the reasoning behind any of these changes PLS I WANNA KNOW

#percy jackson #pjo spoilers #percy jackon and the olympians #percy pjo #percybeth #pjo tv show #pjo fandom #clarisse pjo #luke castellan #annabeth chase #rick riordan

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yonemurishiroku · 9 months

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Do you think that the solangelo contains more of a forceful representation, and if so, what is your advice to authors who are trying to make lgbtq+ representation seem more a part of the story/flow with the story then the opposing option?

May 22nd. I'm so sorry, my mind has been going off track for a while. I'm really sorry for the delay. 😭😭

So, regarding Solangelo as a representation, well this is gonna be hard to say lol. This has been circling the fandom since the day of its emergence, and this is certainly not a good time but eh penny for my thought ig.

Now. I suppose I have a very varying definition of representation, but let's not dwell on that. As for now, I can say that I do consider Solangelo somewhat forcefully developed. As in, the term of writing, plot-wise, etc...

It's quite difficult to say. I have no problem with Solangelo as a couple - or their dynamic - per se. Rather, it's the pacing that throws me off. This has been addressed in many posts - Solangelo has a quite... abrupt (?) takeoff. I just felt like Rick did not mean to make them a thing but just a spur of a moment - something small and... promising that you left hanging at the end of the series for reader's interpretation, for whatever reason (This actually lines up with Boo's time of releash I think? The LGBTQ+ literature being unpopular I mean).

In fact, Solangelo's whole developing process happened behind the curtains - as in, we're told, not shown. Imagine. In BOO, their friendship just barely sprouts, and the next time we see them again in TOA, they're already a couple. For the longest time possible, it was left to the reader/fanfic writers to deduce wth happen for them to become a couple in like idk 6 months? (A pretty fast process for someone like Nico imo. but that's just me).

Something like that is bound to raise some doubts.

The full picture itself is only revealed - partly, and through second reminiscence, mind you - in TSATS. It's also the reason TSATS feels kinda off to me, ig - the fact that some parts actually misalign with the established canon events, or appear like a patch to cover a hole in the piece of fabric. And some others just straight up fall into the what-the-f-was-in-your-mind-rick category. I doubt it was even Rick's initial plan to come up with TSATS in the first place.

However, it's also worth acknowledging that, whilst it would certainly help, Rick hardly has the capacity to fully-build another 5-book romance for Solangelo. That's as far as it can go (I usually think this to placate myself at the thought of the ship being undeveloped). Nico is not the franchise's protagonist (more like deuteragonist I guess), no matter how far this story goes and how widely loved he is, let alone Will.

On to the advice part.

Please keep in mind that I am, in no way, a professional or good writer, nor do I study sexual orientation and/or identity theory (I barely know the flags). I've also grown up and received education in an Estern (somewhat conserative?) country, so please take whatever I say with a grant of salt.

Now. When it comes to "make it seem more a part of the story", I... actually don't know how to say this...

Just look at the all the BL mangas (Japanese comics) and danmeis (Chinese BL literature) and BL manhwas (Korean comics). I have been reading BoyLove longggg before I even came to PJO, you know? The Eastern fandoms have surprisingly extensive LGBT content for a conservative culture, anw they have been telling and/or drawing stotries upon stories about same-sex couples since the dawn of internet. They don't even need to try. They have the image of a love, a story in their mind and just... go along with it.

You don't make it a part of the story. The story is either about it (much or little), or just nothing at all.

I'm saying making a story about it - rather than trying to incorporate it into the story. Give it background and enough development, it'd progress itself. You don't give it anything, of course it'd feel flat. This goes with any type of romance, not just LGBTQ+.

The problem with Solangelo itself, imo, is not the nature of their relationship (tho I do admit somtimes Rick makes me go wtf), but rather how they're portrayed. And furthermore, said portray in proportion to people's expectation. Solangelo, by all means, is a side-story at best (unless Rick manages to come up with a trilogy about their journey from start to finish idk 🤷‍♀️). People like it, so they tend to expect more from it, but the author's just a human.

I think this is everything... My thoughts are kinda in a jumble as I'm writing this, so feel free to ask if something doesn't make sense... This is also just my personal view lol don't take it too seriously if it differs from yours too much.

Lastly, I know my advice would probably not do much, however I hope for you to find your way to tell your stories the best you can!

#nico di angelo #pjo #hoo #toa #yone rambling #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #will solace #solangelo #solangelo crit #rick riordan #tsats #the sun and the star #the sun and the star: a nice di angelo adventure #yone writing #writing

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readingbythestreetlights · 6 months

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posting a short snippet of the princess cake wip as a gift for @thechocolatecoffeecollection @crimsonicarus !! thank you guys for all the support!! 💞💞

this is still an early, early draft, so excuse any mistakes/inconsistencies!!

To the credit of his agent, the shoot does actually fly by quickly. Filming wraps up what feels like half an hour sooner than what’s usual for this type of thing. Both Jenson and Nico are now left to twiddle their figurative thumbs while they wait for the media team to clean up. At least, Nico is twiddling his thumbs—Jenson somehow seems immune to the awkwardness that tends to linger in the brief interim period after the cameras are shut off. Nico would like to catch him in a situation where he isn’t one hundred percent comfortable in his body. Something in him tells him such a moment will be hard to come by. It’s not exactly envy that comes over Nico, but it is a what-if sort of feeling. What must it feel like to exist with that much ease? It’s sort of unfair.

“Enjoying the view?” Jenson breaks the silence.

Nico realizes he’s been staring, studying Jenson’s (admittedly well-structured) features as his mind has been mulling over the character of the brunet. His cheeks flush slightly, but he remains composed. His gaze meets Jenson’s, where the older man’s eyebrows are raised in self-righteous smugness.

“I could ask the same of you.” Nico is aware of how he looks. Many a so-called straight man has been quick to switch teams upon laying eyes on him. Causing sexuality crises has gotten boring at this point.

“Yes, then. I very much am.” Jenson smiles, lets any of the embarrassment Nico had perhaps tried to lay on him slide right off. Unfair.

Nico just rolls his eyes. He can’t even tell if Jenson’s joking, is the problem. He’s not in the mood for another man to fall in love with him simply because they think he’s basically a girl, right? He’s also not in the mood for Jenson to be saying it as some sick joke, as if it’s all one big gag and of course it is to Jenson because he lives in America, and southern America at that, and—

God, Nico needs to stop being so quick to judge. Take a compliment when he gets it.

“So, how are you liking New York?” Jenson continues kindly, apparently oblivious to Nico’s internal dilemma—or perhaps he can see it all play out on the blond’s face and finds it entertaining. “It’s not your first time here, is it?”

Nico shakes his head in answer. (If it shakes away some of the negative thoughts residing in his mind, that’s a pleasant byproduct.) “No, no. I was here for a gala a few years back. And yes, I enjoy New York, it has a very distinct identity.”

“A gala, wow, Formula 1 is exactly what everyone thinks it is, huh? Surprised you’re alright hanging out with someone who drives on dirty tracks.”

“I’ll have you know I’m an avid rallycross fan.” And to think, Jenson was doing so well only half an hour before. Now he’s throwing it all away to what? Rub the pretentiousness of F1 in Nico’s face? It’s hard to live the job without being aware of it.

“A man of culture.” Jenson nods in approval.

Okay, that’s one point toward his redemption in Nico’s book. Still a lot of work to do, though.

#i hope you enjoyed!!#not my favorite bit of the fic so far but that's because i'm hoarding my fave parts until the fic is published teehee #to not play my best cards already #anyway nearly 4k words strong in the wip so far 💪💪#shoot what did i have as my tag for this fic?#hmm i don't remember #fanfiction #writing #princess cake #nico rosberg #jenson button #622 #f1 #princess cake nascar!jense fic #<<found it #!!

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stellacadente · 8 days

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so like having memory issues sucks sooo bad

i lost 2 umbrellas in like. 2 or 3 weeks maybe a month (you guessed it i can't really remember. passage of time is so hard) bc it rains, i use this neat little umbrella.... put it down at the bus stop just for a second so i can get something from my backpack and completely forget i ever had it and hop on the bus without my neat little umbrella! fuck! my mum bought me this one (i didn't lose the previous one tbf.. it broke)! so then a couple of weeks later, still without an umbrella bc yeah, i keep forgetting to buy a new one, i have to be out all day, and it's raining hard and will all day, so my mum offers to give me her umbrella. she doesn't really need to walk or anything today anyway. i'll give it back later. yeah right. except i enter the place where i have to take my driving license quiz, i put down my umbrella, right there at the entrance, and when i walk out later it's not raining and i have completely forgotten i ever had an umbrella with me. my mum's umbrella. which i leave there. bye bye to another umbrella. i tell my mum a few hours after i realize... i was scared she'd get mad. she gets mad. how can you forget this stuff all the time. just think about these things a little more. just pay more attention. ah. right. as if that's easy. i tell her! it's not easy! i feel awful about this, i feel awful every time! i'm frustrated. i want her to understand i don't do this bc i don't care about my or other people's things or don't pay attention to them. i tell her look, every time i get to work i go upstairs to refill my water bottle. then i get coffee and/or chat with coworkers. i put my water bottle down, i need my hands to get coffee. and every time. every. time. i go downstairs and realize i left my water upstairs. i curse myself, i groan, i tell myself come one nico, you must remember later/tomorrow. i almost never do. my mum sighs and laughs awkwardly. yeah, mum, i know, i'm not even 30 and my memory's already fucked. i must have some problem, i say. it's only half a joke. i know i do. she half-jokes too, oh that's for sure, haha. i just don't know which one the many problems i do in fact have are to blame for this. is it the abuse and trauma? the bpd that was the result of it? the many meds i've taken for the bpd and all the rest? the times i've abused those meds? all of those, something else? i don't know. i just know it's hard to feel like everything, from memories to objects to knowledge, is a second away from being lost to me. always. few things feel like they last. and as a person who's obsessed with forever, as a person who loves to learn and know and watch and read and listen, as a person who cares even too deeply sometimes... i feel like i lost myself every day. if myself even exists. what am i when i don't remember most of my life? when i've forgotten almost everything about people who mean the world to me, bc they've been gone for so long? i forget birthdays, i forget ages, i forget umbrellas, i forget unloading the washing machine, i forget i already told you this, i forget smiles, i forget movies, i forget things i studied, i forget i had to call, i forget i needed to add something to the guidebook, i forget if i already took my med or not, i forget my favorite concert, i forget my favorite book, i forget. i forget again.

yesterday i went on a rant on the discord server i'm in with my friends, even if i knew it wasn't likely anyone would see it, bc the server's not very active now and that channel especially, no one looks at it. but i was so so scared i'd forget what happened the other day and even worse would start doubting whether it all happened for real or i made up half of it to make up for voids in my memory. that happens often with stuff like that. the therapist i had my first appointment with was very weird about me being trans and i kept thinking about it and feeling bad and the more i think something over, something i'm upset about, the more i get scared that i'm not recalling things right. so i had to write it all down somewhere other people could, even just potentially, see, and i could look back on. i mean yeah, i also did need to talk about it, so it would've been nice if someone read and replied too, but it's okay, i just at least needed to put it down in words as soon as possible.

i guess i'm just scared it'll get worse and worse the more i age and it's already pretty bad now and yeah

#i'm not back from my break but #i need to talk somewhere rn bc yeah #and also i need to stay awake long enough for digestion to like. happen. properly #and i'm soooo fucking tired i had the longest most tiring day ever and i'm literallyyyy hurting everywhere i just wanna lie down and sleep #but alas i ate 20 minutes ago #y'all don't have to read all that if you don't want to lmao <3

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bebepac · 2 years

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The Good Part

Series: The Rotten Apple 🍎 The Book: TRH and Beyond! The Pairings: Eleanor x Nico / Eleanor x M!OC) / Liam x Riley Word Count: 4940 Warnings and Ratings: Teen: Mentions of mental illness, mention of character deaths Song Inspiration: The Good Part by AJR Summary: Nico comes to visit Eleanor and unknowingly brings a stowaway. Eleanor leaves the hospital to begin a new life in Greece.

Original Post: 08/21/22 at 10:50PM EST.

A/N: We are finally here at the first installment of the finale of this series. Again, I am really content with the story I’ve presented to you all so far, and I hope that you have enjoyed it too, and look forward to the conclusion for this little family I have created for Eleanor.

“Eleanor you’re beaming.”

“I’ve never felt quite like this before.”

“Tell me about what you’re feeling. Is it Nicolas? I heard he had visited."

Ellie’s smile widened.

“Nico wants me to come home to him and our daughter, Doctor Stanley. I didn’t think I had a home anywhere anymore.”

“How does that make you feel, Eleanor?”

“Incredibly happy.” Her smile faded. “Also sad at the same time.”

“Why sad?”

“Because I wonder, why does he love me? Why do they love me?”

“Why shouldn’t he? Why wouldn't they?”

"My own mother doesn't even love me, and she was supposed to be that person I was supposed to have an unbreakable bond with. She was supposed to unconditionally love me and she doesn’t. My father loves me now, only because he got to know me, but if he had known I wasn't his genetic child, he wouldn't have wanted me either. Do you know how hard it has been for me to find my own path in the world, when I know my parents would have ended my life before it began, because of my true lineage? I wasn't supposed to be in this world at all, Doctor Stanley."

"But you are Eleanor, so what are you going to do with that?"

“Try to change, because I’ve done horrible things that I’m sure you’re aware of. I am a bad person. I want to be the person they deserve.”

“Eleanor, look at me.”

Elle’s downcast eyes slowly drifted up to meet the eyes of her therapist.

“You are the person they deserve. But, you’ve also had horrible things happen to you. You were fractured long before you committed those crimes, and that was not your fault. It wasn’t. Being fractured does not make you bad, evil, or unworthy of love. It just makes you… a person. People fracture in a lot of ways, some are just not as clear as what happened to you. You said you were ready?”

“Yes."

"Then let's continue on this path talking about this, you’re doing great. This is exactly what I want you to do, you need to address these thoughts and feelings you have. You have to understand and acknowledge them, all of it! Grieve for it if you must, and move past them, to get to a healthier place. I believe you can get to a healthier place. One of the things we have to do which I know that really upsets you, is we have to talk more about your mother; A lot more. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s something we have to do. You have to forgive her, and yourself.”

“I don’t know how….”

“It’s going to take time Eleanor.”

Doctor Stanley increased Elle’s therapy sessions as Elle was finally benefitting from them, and talking during her sessions. After a month they were really beginning to make headway. Doctor Stanley thought it would be a very positive thing for Elle’s recovery for Nico to come back and visit, but also bring Ana with him. Elle refused. Doctor Stanley had already spoken to Nico and when he called her that evening, he tried to convince Elle as well.

“Elle please.”

“No Nico.”

“Don’t make me tell her no.”

“It’s out of the question. NO.”

“Doctor Stanley promised me they can make a nice little area for us to visit. We could even have a little picnic together, by the lake. Why don’t you let them show you what they can do for us, and then you can make your decision?”

“Because I don’t want our daughter to ever be near a building like this. Not even if she is coming to see me. This is not the place where I want her to meet me for the first time.”

“Elle, she’s not meeting you for the first time.”

“Birth doesn’t count Nico. Those first three months of her life don’t count because she doesn’t remember me from that. I am the only one with memories of her.”

“Elle, she knows I’m coming to see you. She’s going to be so hurt when I tell her no.”

“It’s for the best. You understand why, right?"

"I do Elle, but you're not the one who has to tell her no and see the look on her face. She doesn't care where we are Elle, just so long as we're all together. She just wants to see you, Elle. You're all she talks about now."

"I care Nico, and she will see me, when I…."

"Come home. You can say it Elle. It's going to happen. You have to believe it too."

"When I come home."

"I don't agree with you doing this Elle, but I understand why you feel this way. I'll see you on Saturday."

After hanging up with Elle he walked into Ana's room where she was reading a book. Nico sat on the edge of her bed.

Since he didn't speak, Ana ignored him and continued reading. But Nico was trying to find the right words to gently break the news to Ana.

"Ana?"

With a little sigh first, Ana looked up from her book as if she had been interrupted. Nico was getting sass from both the main women in his life.

"Yes Papa?"

"I want to talk to you about Saturday."

Ana's face immediately brightened and excitement completely illuminated her face.

"We're going to see Mommy! I can't wait! Can I wear my pink dress with the green flowers?"

"Honeybee, Mommy thinks it's best for you to wait until she's able to come home so she can see you."

The look on Ana's face broke his heart, when her eyes filled with tears.

"Mommy doesn't want to see me?"

"No! That's not it at all. Mommy just wants to wait so we can all have fun together and eat ice cream, and swim in the ocean. Stuff we can do here together, that we can't do there. Mommy can't wait to see you."

"Then you don't want me to go?"

"Ana, I want you to see Mommy. I know you want to go with me."

"Then let me go with you Papa, and we can surprise Mommy."

"Not this time Honeybee, I'm sorry."

He went to gently rub Ana's arm, she pushed him away.

"Ana, please don't be like that with me."

Ana turned away from him, cuddling one of her teddy bears. Nico gently rubbed her back.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!" Ana screamed. Nico pulled his hand away and abruptly stood, walking towards the door, but he paused when he heard Ana's little sniffles.

"Honeybee…" He whispered softly.

"Go away Papa."

Nico softly closed the door behind him, leaning against it.

When Saturday morning rolled around, Ana didn't even want to eat breakfast with him before he left; Ana had plans of her own.

Elle

"Thank you for this, it's beautiful, Dr. Stanley."

"We had some clothes here for family visits, and this one looked like it would fit you. It's not much, I know you are used to garments made from finer materials than this.”

“That was a lifetime ago, it feels like, and to be honest a lot of it is overrated. Trust me when I say, I will never wear a corseted ball gown ever again. To be honest, I never felt very comfortable in that type of clothing anyway.”

Dr. Stanley smiled.

“We still want to give you access to the lake area for the afternoon, Since you and Nicolas look to be rekindling your relationship. It could be a nice little romantic afternoon for the two of you.”

Elle smiled. “I was thinking so too.”

“As long as you keep it PG.”

“Duly noted.”

Elle felt nervous getting ready. It was the first time she had seen Nico since his declaration of love…their declaration of love.

In the weeks that followed, she had been showered with calls from him and letters from both him, and Ana.

Ana.

Her little girl. The last time saw her in the flesh she could cradle her in her arms, and was dependent on her, for her very survival.

Now she was an independent child that could walk, talk, feed herself; she had grown up. Elle had missed so much.

She had spoken to Ana multiple occasions. When Nico gave Ana the phone to let her talk to Elle, he could barely get the phone back. Ana became a chatterbox and would recount for Elle everything she could remember from the last time they spoke. Elle loved every second of it, learning about Ana’s school, her cousins, the family, and every little thing her daughter thought was important enough to tell her. It was almost overwhelming for her to be showered with so much affection, but Nico and Ana were her family.

Staff had given Elle a little makeup which she used sparingly on her skin. It had been quite some time since Elle had worn her hair loose, she thought Nico might like that. Once Elle was ready she grabbed the little pink teddy bear before she left her room. It made her think of Ana, and she knew they would be talking about her a lot. She felt she needed that little extra comfort today.

Ana

Papa thought he was smart but so was she. Ana had an idea and she wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Ana had packed her little overnight bag the night before. She went to the closet and picked up her dress she wanted to wear for Mommy. She slipped it on and tied a little green ribbon in her hair the way her father had taught her to. She had one chance to get this right.

Ana waited until she heard the boat whistle to hop out of the window, to land on the porch, her foot falls masked by the loud whistle, and she ran as fast as her feet could carry her for her father's vehicle, using the spare key fob to unlock the vehicle. Papa always had a blanket in back, the perfect thing for her to hide under. She was great at hiding, and Papa wouldn't find her until it was too late. She was going to see Mommy today and nobody could stop her. Ana curled up into a tiny ball under the blanket, waiting for her father to leave.

Nico and Mama K

"Where is Ana? She's usually an early riser like you."

"She's still angry with me Mama. She wants to see Elle, but Elle doesn't want her to come to see her at the hospital."

"Children have funny memories sometimes. There are memories that you have of your father where you only remember the good parts. Or parts you remember of our family you remember the good parts. Do you remember that camping trip we had in the backyard? When we had flashlights and ate food we cooked by the fire?"

Nico smiled recollecting that time with his mother and sisters.

"Yes, it was one of my favorite weekends that we ever spent as a family."

"Nico, we had no electricity and barely any food. That's why we 'camped' outside. The temperature was cooler outside than it was in the house. You don't remember that part do you?"

"No…"

"I really don't think Ana would mind where she was or remember what you and Elle think are the big details if it was just you, Elle, and her, and she is spending time with her family."

Nico glanced at Ana's closed door.

"Are you going to say goodbye to her?"

Nico went up to her door and sheepishly knocked.

"Ana? I'm getting ready to leave. May I have a hug?"

There was silence on the other end.

"I know you're sad, and mad at me, and I'm sorry for that. I love you Honeybee."

There was still no response from Ana; He turned to face his mother.

"She's never been this angry with me that she just won't speak to me before. I'm just going to let her be. Give her a little space Mama. She was so upset. Can you make her favorite meal for me, and give her a kiss and a hug?"

"Of course Nico. She'll be fine. Talk to Elle. Tell her about your childhood. She will understand."

She glanced at the door, laughing softly.

"Wait until she's a teenager. All those emotions! And when she wants to start dating."

Mama K's laughter increased with the absolutely mortified look on Nico's face.

"She's not dating until she's thirty."

"But Elle will be there to help you with that part."

"I hope so, Mama."

Nico walked up to the vehicle, using his key fob to unlock the door.

The doors were already unlocked, which wasn't odd, but he was pretty sure the last time he had gotten out of his vehicle he locked it. Nico decided since his bag was small he decided to put it on the back seat, instead of in the trunk. In a few moments he was on his way.

The soft music and her father's singing lulled Ana to sleep in the back of the vehicle where she was hiding.

When Ana woke again, it was because her tummy was growling.

She had packed a snack and her favorite juice, eating silently as possible under the covers.

Nico's phone started ringing.

Nico slammed on the brakes, causing Ana to spill her juice.

"Mama, what do you mean Ana isn't there?!?" She has to be." Nico’s voice was panicked.

"She's not here, I have looked everywhere for her."

"Did you check her hiding place she likes to go and read?"

"Yes Nico, she's not there."

Nico cursed under his breath and sighed.

"I'm going to turn around and come back home. Elle will have to understand this is an emergency."

Nico smelled the strong scent of pineapple juice throughout the vehicle, Ana’s favorite juice that she loved to drink.

"Mama hold on a moment."

Nico had pulled his SUV over and got out walking back to the vehicle's trunk. Ana tried to stay as still as she could under the blanket.

"Ana?"

She didn't respond, but he noticed the blanket move a little. Nico yanked the blanket away.

"Ana!"

“Papa.”

"Mama! She's fine, she hid in my trunk! I'll call you back."

He looked down at Ana. His voice was stern when he spoke, but he truly wasn't angry with her, only angry for the fact she disobeyed him.

“Ana, I told you, it was for the best that you not come with me this time around.”

"I’m sorry, I just wanted to see her Papa, and I spilled my drink on my dress. I wanted to look pretty for Mommy, but I messed up.”

Ana burst into tears.

“Oh, Honeybee….”

Nico didn't hesitate for a moment and picked Ana up from the trunk, hugging her close to him, gently rubbing her back.

“Shhhh… it’s alright. We’ll get you cleaned up okay? It's not the dress that makes you pretty Honeybee. Mommy will think you're beautiful just as you are, just like I do. I promise.”

“Is Mommy going to be mad at me?”

“No Honeybee, she won't.”

If anything, Nico was pretty sure that she would be upset with him. He wiped Ana’s tears carrying her around to the back seat.

“Sit in your seat, I need to make a quick call.”

He stepped away from the vehicle, making a call to Elle’s doctor explaining the situation to Doctor Stanley.

“Nico, I believe Eleanor can handle it. She really wants to see Ana, but she is so afraid of Ana being close to the hospital. It’s almost like she has an irrational fear that the hospital is going to infect Ana with mental illness.”

“I know it’s short notice, but can you make up the area the way you all had planned for us?”

“Yes, and we'll add a few special things for Ana as well.”

“Thank you. I am so incredibly grateful for the things you are doing for us.”

“You’re welcome Nicolas. All these years, all the patients I’ve had, no one has made quite the impression on me that Eleanor has. I’ve met the deplorable that aren’t worth redemption, that shouldn’t be given a second chance in society. That’s never been Eleanor from the moment I met her, even though she tried to hide her true self all this time. I’ll be on standby just in case you all need me, but I don’t think you will. Eleanor wants to see her daughter desperately. I think it’s a good thing you had a little stowaway. This might be the push Eleanor needs to drive her over the threshold, seeing what she could truly have with the two of you, what it could be like, to really push herself that much harder towards healing herself.”

“Thank you again."

He went back to check on Ana. They stopped so that he could help Ana get cleaned up, and they drove to the ferry that would take them into Portavira. Both were nervous and excited, they were going to see Elle.

Elle

Elle sat at the small decorated picnic table facing the gate, waiting patiently for Nico to arrive, so she could see him the moment he walked through. She glanced around the area, there was an adorable little spot that was set up for a picnic, even a swing, and some games. She didn’t think she would be playing the games with Nico, but she remembered he liked to play chess. Elle was horrible at it.

Elle stood when she saw him walk through the gate, she smiled and waved when his eyes met hers. Nico smiled back at her. The gate remained open and Nico reached out his hand. Ana walked through the gate, taking his hand, and they proceeded towards Elle. The smile had faded from Elle’s face, replaced with a look of shock.

Nico’s heart was racing, Elle’s eyes were fixed on Ana.

“That’s my Mommy?” Ana asked him. Nico paused, kneeling down to her smiling in Elle’s direction.

“Yes, that’s your Mommy. She's beautiful isn't she?”

Ana nodded.

“She looks like a goddess Papa.”

Elle was beautiful in her simplicity. She was wearing a long flowing off the shoulder flower printed dress, and tan colored sandals. Her hair pinned up on one side by flowers and the rest cascaded over her shoulders and down her back.

“I always thought so too. Let's go say hi to her. She's waiting on us for once. Are you ready?”

Ana patted down her hair, and straightened her dress.

"I'm ready Papa."

They walked over to where Elle was standing.

"Nico…"

"Elle.."

"Please don't be mad at Papa. I didn't obey, because I wanted to see you."

"You wanted to see me?" Elle asked, her eyes filled with tears.

Ana nodded. "May I hug you Mommy?"

"I would really like that."

Ana let go of Nico's hand to throw her arms around Elle.

Finally the tears that filled her eyes rolled down her cheeks in rivers, as she hugged Ana. Nico stepped forward to wipe Elle's tears.

"I'm sorry… this is what I really wanted." She whispered to him. Ana’s grip around her tightened.

"Well good thing, your daughter is just as stubborn as you."

"Good thing." Elle directed her attention to Ana. “What would you like to do first? I don’t have much here, but we could eat lunch, we could play games, maybe swing for a little bit.”

“You can pick Honeybee, whatever you want us to do first.”

“Can we eat? I’m hungry.”

“I knew you’d say that. She didn’t eat breakfast.”

“I’m glad you said that, I’m hungry too. I didn’t eat breakfast either. And you’ll have to tell me how you got into your Papa’s car without him seeing you.”

Nico sat at the table thinking Ana would sit next to him, instead she sat close to Elle.

“Is she allergic to anything Nico?”

“No she isn’t, and she’s not a picky eater at all.”

“Giagiá is the best cook. Papa cooks okay.”

“Papa cooks just okay?!?!?! You always clean your plate when I cook for you!!!”

Elle laughed.

“Can you cook?” Ana asked her.

“Ana.” Nico’s voice was slightly stern when he saw the embarrassed blush on Elle’s cheeks.

“It’s okay, Nico. No Ana, I don’t know how, but I can learn.”

“That’s okay, I can help, so can Papa, and Giagiá won’t let us be hungry.”

Elle smiled and eyes widened as Ana told the story of how she had sneaked out of the house early that morning and hid in the back of Nico’s car.

Nico smiled as Ana continued talking to Elle.

He had never seen Ana open up so much to someone almost so immediately, or Elle for that manner.

She chuckled harder at Nico’s surprised face, and his slack jaw.

“You are quite the escape artist.”

Elle smiled. “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. That sounds like your Papa.”

Ana rested her head on Elle. Elle seemed surprised at first but embraced her.

“I’m so glad you’re here right now Ana.”

After they ate, they played checkers, then with the frisbee. Both Elle and Ana took off their sandals to run and play in the grass. As much as Nico had wanted to spend some time with Elle to figure out what all this was truly going to mean for them, he knew this time with them together rebonding was more important. He had Ana for years, Elle only had the afternoon getting to know their daughter. So Nico let go of the little twinges of jealousy he had with Ana choosing to be close to Elle, and he hung back and let Ana and Elle have that special time together.

“I have something for you. If you don’t like it, that's okay; I’ll understand. You might not even like them anymore.”

“Like what?” Ana inquired.

Elle held out the little pink teddy bear for Ana to take.

“It used to be yours when you were a baby, but you left it. So I kept it for you. It used to smell like you.”

“I love it! Thank you!” Ana hugged Elle again, then afterwards hugged the bear close breathing in the bear’s fur.

“Now it smells like you Mommy.”

Ana was the very best parts of the two of them. Nico had been a wonderful father to her. Elle could not be sad or upset that though her daughter had missed her, she had really flourished in Nico’s care. Nico had surrounded her with family and love.

“I think there’s a hammock swing calling our name.”

“Yes, that sounds perfect.”

They all got into the hammock, getting comfortable in the warm afternoon air. Ana cuddled closer to Elle, resting her head on Elle’s chest.

Ana in turn pulled Nico's arm to drape over her, and Elle, causing him to pull the two of them closer to him in an embrace. Ana was quite the little match maker. She always had been. Elle thought back to that night Nico held them both in his arms, so she could get some rest. Elle closed her eyes for a moment. They were her little family. They were hers. Elle felt safe, and content.

“Papa, tell me our story.”

“You’ve heard it a thousand times Honeybee.”

“Then we can hear it a thousand plus one times!”

“Fine fine fine. I’ll tell it only if you help me tell it. Will you help me, Honeybee?”

“Yes Papa I will!!!”

“Okay, we’ll take turns. I’ll start us off. Once upon a time there was a very beautiful princess, who lived in a castle, and she was the fairest of them all.”

“That’s you Mommy.”

Elle listened to both Nico and Ana take turns telling parts of the story, the story of the two of them, in a way that Ana could understand; He had even told her about Nicolai. He had been so very honest with Ana, over the years about everything.

"What happens next?” Elle asked during the pause.

“It’s your turn Honeybee.”

Ana was silent.

"Honeybee?" Nico whispered.

“I think she fell asleep, Nico, with her ear to my heart like she used to do when she was a baby. It’s like she remembers that.”

“Honestly, I think deep down she does. She’s shy around people, Elle and seeing the way she just opened up to you so immediately is very uncharacteristic of her. I know my daughter. I watch her very closely. She is only that open with people she knows. That part of her is you, Elle. She is very similar to you, and it runs deeper than just her features. I used to read a lot, and wondered what she would remember, if she could remember you. Everything I read said she would forget. But for the longest time, before she could talk, and even after she began speaking, she would just look around the room, almost frantic at times, like she was looking for something, for someone, and I firmly believe in my soul, she was looking for you Elle, and she looked heartbroken that she couldn’t find you.”

“Nico…”

“So, on her first birthday, I started telling her about you, in the form of a bedtime story.”

“Thank you for being the father to her that I knew you would be. I heard my father visits her.”

“He does.”

“Alone?”

“Yes.”

“I figured as much.”

“Elle… Queen Riley….”

Elle’s body tensed in his arms.

“I don’t want to talk about her, not here, not now.”

Ana woke up a little while later, and Elle knew they would be coming out soon to take her back inside. She made the best of the remaining time they had together, now that Ana was awake again. When the sun was starting to set, two orderlies headed in their direction. It was time. Elle glanced at Nico.

“Ana, it’s time for us to go.”

“But I don’t want to. I want to stay.”

Elle kneeled. “I know. I don’t want either of you to go. But we’ll be together again soon, I promise. Until then, Lady Cupcake can keep you company.”

“Lady Cupcake?”

“Yes, I gave Lady Cupcake lots of hugs, so when you hug her, she’ll give one of my hugs back to you. So it will be like you’re hugging me while you’re away. But for now, can I have one more hug before you go, one that I can hold on to?”

Nico stood back letting the two hug each other. When it was his turn, he embraced Elle once more.

“We’ll be back in a few weeks.”

“Alright.”

“Aren’t you going to kiss her Papa?”

“She’s a little matchmaker like her Aunt Liberty.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.” Nico whispered.

Both laughed for a moment before their eyes met.

Nico slipped his arms around her. “I mean look where we are right now.”

“You’re exactly right.”

Elle closed her eyes when Nico closed in for a kiss, setting her whole body on fire.

Elle didn’t want to let go of him when the kiss deepened, but was compelled to after a few moments when she heard one of the orderlies lightly clear their throat. Elle pulled away from him.

“I have to go.” She whispered.

Nico pulled her close, kissing her again for a few moments. He pulled away when he heard them call her name.

“We’ll see you in a few weeks.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Elle watched Nico and Ana until they were at the gate, before she headed inside.

Doctor Stanley was correct in her assumption, Elle seeing Ana and Nico and having that time together and subsequent times afterwards had emotionally propelled Elle to push herself in ways leading her towards a healthy lifestyle outside of the hospital.

“What if I can’t do it?”

“But what if you can, why are you afraid of that Eleanor?”

“Because she needs me, and I don’t want to disappoint her. I don’t want her to hate me, because I can’t give her what she needs. I don’t want to lose her. Lose them again.”

“You won’t. You are not your mother Eleanor. Do you realize, from the moment Ana was born, actually before she was born, you have put her first? You have been selfless, and you chose to be here when this was not where you wanted to be, because you wanted a life with your daughter someday. You can do this Eleanor. Greece is where you need to be, with your family. You said the happiest time of your life was when you spent time with Nico in Greece, and when the two of you were caring for Ana.”

“Yes.”

“You can have it all Eleanor, you’ll be home before your daughter’s eighth birthday.”

“I could make her a cake. I don’t know how, but I know I could do it.”

“You can do it. Nico will be here in the morning to pick you up.”

“He’s in Portavira already?”

“Yes he’s here. Here is the name of a therapist locally to you, that you will start weekly check ins with.”

“This is really happening isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, Eleanor you’re going home.”

Since Elle was leaving this part of her life behind, she decided to donate most of her clothes. She had come to the hospital with the clothes on her back, now she was leaving the same way.

“Ready to go home?” Nico asked.

“Yes. Let’s go home.”

#bebepac writes #the rotten apple 🍎#elle x nico #evil ellie rys #evil drake #choices fanfiction #fic of the week #choices fic writers creations #choices fanfic #choices fandon #crown princess ellie

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pls-let-me-out · 9 months

Text

Chapter 2 - the Selection AU

The Selection goes on calmly. Prince Will meets every contestant for a thirty-minute conversation, which Nico chooses to spend in silence contemplating his shoes. He’s sure he’ll be kicked out after the first week by doing that, and he feels no regret. He has a life in Aita, one he’d like to get back to. However, contrary to his hope and beliefs, he’s not kicked out. There are three weeks left, and twenty people to fight for the crown and the Prince. Good Lord, what has Hades signed him up for?

So Nico waits for Prince Will outside his quarters, just around a corner. He stands in the dark for almost two hours, but his anger doesn’t boil down. When Prince Will finally passes by there, Nico shoots out an arm to grab him.

“What game are you playing?” Nico hisses, yanking the Prince closer.

Prince Will smiles, and the freckles on his cheeks stretch. Nico hates it. “Hello. Fancy seeing you here.”

Nico bites his cheek to avoid going into a tantrum. “Don’t play around. Why am I not out yet?”

“It brings me such joy to see you so bent on not marrying me, truly. But see, I have a plan.”

And he does. As he explains, Prince Will plans to use Nico to get to know the people in his Selection better, so Nico has to play the insider. And damn him, he kind of likes the plan. He’s always wanted to be a spy, and it’s exciting to think that he might influence the outcome of the Selection. It’s not that Nico is obsessed with power, but he’s grown to be used to it.

“My father would be extremely angry if I left so soon,” Nico says, more to himself than to the Prince.

Prince Will nods. “See? We both win!”

And so, stupidly, Nico agrees.

The first girl Nico approaches is Annabeth Chase. She doesn’t seem much interested in becoming princess, so that might be good, as in she might be interested in Prince Will as a person. She’s two years older than the Prince, and she’s very clever, that much is clear.

Annabeth’s reading a book about architecture when Nico sits next to her in the Tea Room. She doesn’t seem interested in making friends, either. Many have approached Nico in the past week, trying to get closer to a Prince no doubt.

“Hi,” Nico says.

Annabeth barely looks up from her book. She hums.

“What do you think of the current taxation?”

At that, Annabeth looks up, a bit startled. Nico smiles.

“She’s so smart it’s scary,” Nico tells Prince Will later on, as they stroll together through the gardens.

The Prince has come to get him in his room, attracting attention from every other contestant. Nico can read it in their eyes, they’re jealous of him. Only Nico and the Prince know the truth, that Nico would never marry him even if held at gunpoint. Still, he’s the only one for now who’s had not one but two outings with the Prince. And maybe, Nico kind of likes it when people are jealous of him. Just a bit.

The Prince hums. “I know. She made me feel really dumb when we talked.”

Nico chuckles. “Is that so hard?”

The Prince stops in his tracks, but there’s a smile on his face. “Excuse you.”

Nico laughs again. For once, he doesn’t feel as homesick. He doesn’t feel the pull to Aita, the need to go back and see what his sisters are doing, how his father is handling the crown.

After they go out together for the second time, Nico doesn’t even have to try. It’s the other contestants that come looking for him, asking him all sorts of questions.

Drew Tanaka is the fiercest. She sits next to Nico at breakfast, and helps herself to a small bowl of yogurt, just as Nico gobbles down two pieces of beacon at a time. She gives him a disgusted look.

“And I thought you were royalty,” she says.

Nico decides to ignore the jab. It’s too early in the morning for fighting. He repeats mentally the things he knows about Drew Tanaka: she’s a talented singer who’s toured the world more than once, she’s at the top of stardom, she has a long string of famous ex boyfriends and a large amount of fans. She’s also considered one of the most dangerous contestant, as Prince Will has already taken her on a very long date. Distractedly, Nico wonders what she would be like as Queen. Would she be like his own mother was? A singer turned Queen, although his mother never really made it to Queen.

“I went to one of your concerts,” Nico says, without thinking much of it.

She awws. Right in Nico’s face, like he’s a funny baby. “You want an autograph?”

Nico smiles, but his blood is boiling. “It’s funny, how you think you can talk to me this way. You do know who I am, don’t you? There’s a reason they call me the Ghost King.”

And with that he stands and leaves.

“And she was so rude, you wouldn’t believe it!” Nico exclaims.

Prince Will hums. “She was very kind with me.”

Nico snorts. “Right, maybe because she’s trying to become your Queen? Be for real.”

The Prince stops in his tracks, but unlike the usual smile, there’s a frown on his face. “How can you, of all people, complain about someone being rude? You’ve done nothing but yell in my face and poke jabs at me the whole time you’ve been here. You know, I thought we could help each other out, but I’m starting to doubt that.”

Nico crosses his arms. Again, his blood is boiling. He’s also scared, he’s not sure he wants to go home so soon, he’s just not sure. “If I’m so rude, then let me go home to my family.”

The Prince shrugs. “Maybe I’ll do just that.”

“Fine.”

Nico turns on his heels and leaves the Prince behind. His blood is boiling, and he can’t believe what’s just happened. And to think he was just starting to like this Prince Will dude. Unbelievable.

It takes about two hours for what he’s done to kick in. Mostly, it happens because he receives a text from Reyna, his personal assistant.

Just been told you’ve had a fight with the Prince and he’s thinking of letting you go home. Apologise before word of it reaches your father. I promised him you would make it to the third week.

Nico snorts. Of course that’s what worries her, for all they talk about being friends she still works for his father. Also, she knows how his father would handle it if Nico were to be kicked out so soon, letting the whole of Aita down. The people were so happy, waving red and white banners at Nico as he left on the hover. Startled, Nico realises he needs to apologise.

Face to face? That’s not something he can do. It’s too embarrassing, and when he’s embarrassed, Nico does a lot of stupid things. The sole thought of facing Prince Will and opening up to him, makes him want to dig a hole in the ground and hide there for the rest of his life, or the Selection. So Nico takes a pen and rips a page off his journal.

Hello it’s Prince Nico

No that won’t do. Nico crosses it out. It’s too formal, too weird.

Hello, this is Nico. I just want to apologise for being an ass

No again. A Prince doesn’t curse, especially not as he’s talking to another Prince. Nico sighs. It won’t be easy.

At the end, he comes up with:

Hi, it’s Nico. I want to apologise for my behaviour towards you. It was really disrespectful, and I understand it, if you want to send me home. However, I hope we can still be friends.

Yes, this will do. All Nico needs to do is intercept Prince Will’s butler and give him the letter. So he goes in the kitchen, because a lifetime in the palace has taught him that’s where everybody is. He doesn’t find the butler, but he finds the trail that will go up to the Prince’s room, and he slips the note there. Then, silently as he got in, he leaves.

He’s too nervous to go back to his room, so he stops in the Tea Room. Everybody’s giving him strange looks, he tries to ignore it as he takes a book from the library and sits down.

First, Drew Tanaka plops down next to him. She’s smiling ear to ear.

“I see you’re still here,” she says.

Nico hums.

“You know, I’m so sorry I caused a fight between you and the Prince. How horrible, really.”

At that, Nico completely freezes. He raises his eyes, but before he can say anything, she’s gone, and she’s replaced by Annabeth Chase and a boy Nico has only ever seen in passing. Leo something.

“I’m guessing it’s true, then,” Annabeth says.

Nico closes the book and straightens. A dark feeling pools in his belly. “What is?”

“That you and the Prince had a fight about Drew in the gardens,” Leo replies. “You know, it’s all everybody’s talking about. I think Lacy’s the one who heard you two.”

Nico sighs, relaxing against the soft armchair. He looks around the pink room, and sure enough, people are pointing and whispering. Everybody’s gossiping about his failure of a life, then. Good.

“So they sent you two forward to ask for more info?” He asks.

Annabeth snorts. “As if. We just like you enough. Well, I like you enough, Leo was just with me and I told him to come.”

Nico’s lips are pulled in a smile, despite his mood. He looks over at Leo. “Nice to meet you, by the way. I’m Nico.”

Leo nods, mirroring the smile. “Leo Valdez. You know, from what I heard from Drew, I really thought you were an ass.”

“Thank you,” Nico replies. “You should totally believe it.”

“God, I hate her,” Annabeth says. “She just brings so much negativity. It’s insane. And I can’t believe she’s ruined what you and the Prince had.”

Nico shakes his head, but his cheeks are red. Just then, an old man appears next to Nico, who almost jumps out of his skin. God, does nobody around here have heavy footsteps?

“Your Royal Highness,” he says. “His Royal Highness Prince Will wishes to see you. He’s out in the gardens.”

Nico grimaces. So this is the famous butler he was trying to intercept. Good to know.

Annabeth puts her hand on Nico’s knee to stop him from standing. “He can’t go in the gardens at this time.”

Nico shakes his head. “They’ll let me through. I have a permit.”

Leo huffs. “Rich people.”

Despite his even worsened mood, Nico smiles. He goes looking for Prince Will on shaky legs. What will the Prince tell him? God, what if he’s found his note ridiculous and wants to humiliate Nico? No, that’s just his anxiety talking. Nico forces himself to calm down, but he can feel his mental health slipping through his fingers.

And there Prince Will is, sitting on the bench where Nico first shouted at him. He looks soft. His blond hair has no gel for once, so it’s a light, cloud-like mop. He doesn’t wear the usual suit, but what must be his loungewear.

“Hi,” the Prince says when he sees Nico, standing. He sits again immediately, and pats the spot next to him for Nico.

Nico sits. They are close enough that Nico can feel his body heat in the chilly night.

“I’m really sorry for what I yelled at you,” Nico says.

The Prince shrugs. “I’ll get over it.”

Nico’s lips pull in a small smile. “Still.”

“We’re Princes. If we can’t yell at each other, who will?”

Nico laughed. He put a hand on his mouth, but the laughter bubbled out.

“I’d like to be friends, by the way,” the Prince continued. “It’s kind of what I wanted since the beginning.”

Nico’s smile widened, if possible. He was finding himself smiling a lot that night. “Friends. We can do that.”

The Prince mirrored Nico’s smile. “We can. Also, if you want to talk to me, just come to my room. When they noticed the note, they thought somebody wanted to poison me.”

Nico laughed again. “Ooops.”

“Yeah. Ops.” The Prince laughed. “By the way, I’d really like it if you stayed. I think we could be great friends, and I’d really like your insight. Although I won’t take what you say as a rule.”

“I mean, as a prince I’m kind of used to what I say being taken as a rule. But yeah, I can try not being an as- stubborn about it.”

The Prince nodded, the smile still stretching out his freckles. Nico knew that even without enough light to actually see it. “Good.”

And so they shook hands.

Everybody thought Nico would go home, so for them it must have been a surprise to see him still there in the morning, eating his bacon as he would every other day. Annabeth and Leo sit with him, one on each side.

“Still here, then,” Annabeth says.

“Yup,” Nico replies.

Annabeth just smiles.

On Tuesday, a disaster happens. Actually, it’s not much of a disaster, but Nico doesn’t like it. Percy Jackson, one of his guards, appears as a guard in the Palace.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Nico hisses as soon as they meet.

Percy looks around, but Nico already knows there’s nobody. He made sure of that. They are completely alone in the gardens.

Percy puts a hand on Nico’s shoulder. Nico brushes it off, but his skin is burning.

“I was watching the show, and you felt lonely,” Percy says. “So I thought I should come help you out. I asked your Father for his permission, and he arranged the rest.”

Nico’s cheeks burn. Of course there’s his father behind this stunt. “Well, I don’t want you here. So go home!”

Percy puts his hands on Nico’s arms again. “No.”

Nico takes a step back to get free of the contact. God, how he hates his father right now.

“I’m here to help you out,” Percy says.

Nico opens his mouth to reply, when, of all people, Prince Will and Drew Tanaka reach them. She’s wrapped around his arm like a cobra. Nico wants to yank her off. He shakes his head. He can’t think of that right now.

“I see you two have met,” the Prince says, a bright smile on his face. “You know, I was really happy when your father reached out to me about bringing one of your personal guards here. I hope it makes you feel more at home.”

Nico tries for a smile, but it’s more of a grimace. “Yes. My father always has these good ideas.”

The Prince’s smile dims. Apparently Nico’s emotions are all written on his face. Fantastic.

Nico shakes it off and tries for a real smile.

“Thank you again for having me, Your Highness,” Percy says.

Nico is still angry by the time he goes to sleep. The following day, somehow, is even worse. The Tea Room, where they have their breakfast each morning, is on the second floor, and there’s a balcony that watches over the gardens. He finds every single contestant there, when he walks in.

“What are you all watching?” Nico asks, a second before the answer comes to him through a whistle.

Nico follows the sound, and sure enough there are at least thirty guards there, training in the chilly morning hair. They aren’t wearing their shirts. Nico blushes when he catches sight of Percy.

“Good for you that you have that kind of guards in Aita,” Lacy sighs.

Nico blushes even harder. “They aren’t all like that.”

Even Paolo, who doesn’t speak much English, chimes in. “What about the girl with the braid? Is she Aitan, too?”

Nico follows Paolo’s gaze, to a girl standing alone where the guards are. She looks like she’d rather be training with them. It takes Nico an embarrassing amount of time to recognise the girl he’s known since childhood.

“Reyna!” He shouts.

She looks up, but she doesn’t seem to see him. Before he knows it, Nico is running down the stairs to get to her. He almost runs over the Prince.

“Thank you!” Nico exclaims, before the Prince can say a word. “I can’t believe Reyna’s here.”

The Prince smiles. “You’re welcome, I guess? But I’m not sure who this Reyna is.”

“My personal assistant, she’s here! Wait, didn’t you call her here?”

“Oh!” The Prince slaps a hand over his forehead. “That Reyna. No, I understand who. But she’s not here to stay, she’s here to organise your sister’s arrival for the Sunlight Ball next week.”

Nico is too happy to care that his sister - Melikoe, whom he’s never gotten along with - is coming. “Still, thank you. It means a lot to me.”

The Prince smiles. “I’m happy, then.”

God, how can he be so comfortable around his emotions? It would make Nico shrink, just saying he’s happy about something. But also, if he’s honest, there’s a new, warm feeling blooming about the Prince.

“I have to go now,” the Prince says. “I’m having breakfast with Paolo.”

And just like that, the warm feeling dies.

Reyna tells him that Melikoe is coming to the Ball, which Nico already suspected. She’s coming with her fiancé, Lady Hecate. Their engagement isn’t well-seen in Aita, as Lady Hecate is just a few years younger than King Hades, and already has a daughter. Nico shouldn’t say it, but it makes him a bit happy to see his older sister, who’s always been perfect in their father’s eyes, face a bit of backlash.

“How is it fair that everybody from your home country is here?” Drew asks, when Nico goes back to the Tea Room for dinner.

Nico blinks. “You think that Aita’s just me, Reyna and Percy? How sweet of you.”

Annabeth laughs out-loud, earning a glare from Drew.

On Thursday they go live. The whole day people buzz with anticipation, as they did the previous week. Nico himself has to admit he feels a bit fuzzy about the show - presented by Piper McLean, Drew’s half-sister. It’s not that he’s nervous about the people watching him, he’s been watched since his father brought him out of the hospital as a baby, but he doesn’t want to talk about this week. It makes him feel like a failure, how he almost went home.

Still, at eight pm exactly, Nico is sitting among the other contestants on the benches, as Piper McLean introduces the show.

“As you must know, we are here to talk about this week on the Selection,” she says. Then, turning to Prince Will, who sits beside her on an armchair, she continues. “There are quite a few less people than there were last week, aren’t there?”

Prince Will nods. “Yes, I had to let go ten contestants. It was a hard decision, but it had to be done. It’s the spirit of the Selection, after all.”

Piper claps her hands together. “Well said, Your Highness. And also, I heard there was quite a fuss with one of the contestants, right? We almost lost Prince Nico, people!”

Nico blushes hard, as Drew Tanaka, sitting on the front row, turns to give him a smile. How he hates her.

“I wouldn’t say we almost lost him,” Prince Will says. “He was just a bit homesick.”

Piper oohs. “So it was him who wanted to go?”

Prince Will sends Nico a desperate glance. “It’s hard to describe.”

Piper follows the Prince’s gaze. “Why don’t we ask His Highness himself what happened?”

So Nico stands on shaky legs to grab a microphone. His palms are clammy.

“As His Highness said, I was a bit homesick,” Nico explain. “So I behaved badly, and we got into a small fight. However, it was all solved.”

God, his father will have his head after this one. And to think Reyna worked so hard to keep it under wraps! She’ll have his head, too. They’ll have to fight for his head, then.

Piper hums. “So it was all for the better in the end? Good, because we have our surveys here. And look at that! Prince Nico is one of the favourites, going head to head with Drew Tanaka and Paolo Montes.”

Nico doesn’t listen to the rest of the show. He’s still thinking about being one of the favourites, when his presence at the Selection is a farce.

Another ten people are sent home at the end of the week. Among them, there’s Lacy, who went around with the rumour about Prince Will and Nico’s fight, and also Leo Valdez and Calipso, a girl Nico didn’t have much time with.

“They liked each other, Leo and Calipso,” Annabeth whispers to Nico in his room. “Leo told the Prince, that’s why he let go of both of them.”

Nico nods. In his mind, he thinks there are seventeen more people to fight for a spot in the Elite. In three days, Prince Will is going to let go another ten people.

I don’t want a spot in the Elite, Nico reminds himself. But truth be told, he’s not so sure about anything anymore.

#solangelo #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo fic #riordanverse #solangelo au #riordanuniverse #rick riordan #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #the selection au

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sly-fox · 1 year

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This is honestly going to suck but-

Okay, I don’t see enough people talking about this so- here we are. This will contain spoilers for the analog horror series, Guilty Tears Au of Sanders Sides. If you haven’t seen it or if any of the following triggers you, please skip: (I am listing the triggers from all the episodes just in case you want to watch it as well so some won’t make sense on a tumblr post, but just in case-) Disturbing Imagery, Loud Sounds, Body Horror, Blood, Gore, Death, Violence, Food (more like implied cannibalism, but ok-), Flashing Lights, Spiders, Ladybugs.

Now if any of that bugs you, I would say that this isn’t for you. This is just my personal opinion and analysis on this series! So let’s get started:

Episode 1: Teachers PowerPoint

So, we’re starting off with a very simple format; a PowerPoint presentation called “Dreams, a Manageable Analysis by Logan Sanders”.

Like omg Logan is so cute in this 🥺. He keeps talking about sleep and the benefits and downsides of it. But something is… off about it. The monitor keeps glitching out and skipping parts of the presentation. It skipped over the definition of Non-REM sleep, and it just is a bit strange. Then this happens:

And then it gets closer T-T. I kinda jumped when I saw it ngl- Then he gives us the definition of a nightmare. It kinda was normal at first but then-

Like wth-? This was honestly just weird to me me, cause he looked like a fucking demon- this isn’t even the weirdest part (and therefore not the most interesting).

Now, the first one is obviously a reference to everything going on with the wedding arc and… other things. Missing Important Events? The callback. Loneliness. More so up to interpretation, or is it? I’ll come back to it later. Rejection? Again, back to it later. Confusing Emotions? All that Thomas has been dealing with for a WHILE. Broken promises, WTIT, anyone?

The second photo:

Morse Code Translated (not by me): WHY DON’T YOU LISTEN TO ME? AM I A JOKE TO YOU? I TRY SO HARD TO BE PATIENT AND GIVE YOU TIME, BUT YOU CHOSE TO MAKE A STUPID PROMISE INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING

Wow.. well what I say about this, is that Logan is snapping at Thomas again, cause as we have seen, he tends to distract himself rather than actually solving his problems. Logan is trying to communicate with Thomas again and he. Won’t. Listen.

After that we got a number sequence:

19/20/15/16/9/7/14/15/18/9/14/7/18/5

If you line it up with the letters in the alphabet, you get “Stop Ignoring Re”. I thought I heard it wrong but I didn’t-. So there had to be a reason for it to say “Re” instead of “Me”, right? Right. I’ll be tying it together, I swear. Just bear with me here. I also find it interesting that a YELLOW GLOVED HAND turned off the monitor and put an out of order note on the screen (I mean it was pretty glitchy so I mean-).

(Also there is a sticky note on the bottom left corner that reads “DONT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN” keep that in the back of your mind c:)

Episode 2: Forgotten Fairytale

So it starts with Janus opening a story book titled “The Young Prince”.

This is interesting- I see a little crown charm on the bookmark- Erin focus- okay so the cover already grabbed my attention. At first cause I thought of beauty and the beast and

H O L Y S H I T the parallels. We have a mirror with a green gem on the handle (I don’t think it’s important but I could be mistaken-). In it, a black wilting rose. Black roses itself mean death, while the wilting flower by itself means “Term used to supress desire when it would otherwise be impossible to fornicate.” Roman wanted to go to the callback (and ask out Nico), but it seemed just out of reach, so he ended up with choosing an option that goes against himself (Virgil helped him with Nico but still-).

To the actual story, it talks about how lonely Roman feels (Loneliness huh?) and that he wants to meet his true love. He searches and searches but can’t find them. One night, a witch pays a visit. He says that he wants to make a deal: he will give Roman his “one true love” in exchange for half of his kingdom. Roman didn’t want to risk it, and told him no.. the witch did not like that.

He cursed Roman, and his face had melted off. Overwhelmed by heartbreak, he locked himself in his tower. The people eventually forgot about him and he died alone, holding the wilted black rose..

And then Janus literally closes the book on that tale-. So Roman’s I feel is more metaphorical, he feels like his world is falling apart, trying to use love to distract him from the pain of his decision to go to the wedding, and the moment he was attacked, no one helped him.. (Janus I love you but you’re a bitch-)

Episode 3: Cookie Mistake

(Yes I’m sure it’s a pun off of Rookie Mistake, it’s Patton what did you expect?)

So this an actual person acting out Patton this time.

The puns 😭. But yeah, it’s a simple baking tutorial! And it’s a mime kinda thing, so we have dialogue on the screen. It seemed normal, but this is Guilty Tears.

He dumped the flour into the bowl and made a little bit of a mess- it’s baking what are you going to do about it? But Patton started shaking slightly saying “That wasn’t supposed to happen…” It’s okay I know you said you were feeling “crumby” but damn- it’s just flour.

Ok then, laying it on thick. So Patton is freaking out over the little things and these little messages pop up. “Do you feel guilt consuming your every thought?” No I don’t think so- but this is maybe reference to POF, where he caused Thomas pain without realizing. The “Nobody is free of sin” seems like a twisted version of their new concept, “Not everything is black and white.” Patton is trying to distract himself from what happened and is only stressing himself out more.

HOLY FUCK, PATTON- Okay. So there’s obviously SOMETHING going on. Why did he have blood in the first place? Why’d he think it was a good idea? Patton are you a cannibal now-?

This gave me an idea.. this could be both figurative or literal but, the blood is on his hands.. Let’s take a look at Virgil’s episode.

Episode 4: Wake Up Call

According to (assumedly) Thomas’ phone, it is 3:23 pm. April 23rd. Almost his birthday, hmm.

Holy shit- no✨ Dolls are creepy enough-. Anyway, it’s starts off by (I assume) Virgil asking Thomas:

So one answer is normal, one is more normal for Thomas and the other sounds more Anxiety related. He chooses to brush his teeth, but they fall out. In dreams, teeth falling out are associated with loss and important life changes. Thomas has been struggling to coming to terms with the fact that he isn’t a complete pure good, and his life has changed drastically. This series started from a silly blog and now it’s a series dealing with complex and controversial issues, while he’s struggling to show the world who he is.

With the answers, they’re the same type. He chooses to make breakfast, but in the fridge with Virgil Doll, is a fucking skeleton/corpse and the fridge is all bloody. The “blood on his hands” thing might be more literal than we MAY have thought. Did Thomas kill someone? If so, who did he kill? I’ll get us there (hopefully-).

Okay- Hi Virgil- so, here I want to point out c. “I promise tomorrow I will change I will be a good person I will clean”. As soon as it had showed up on the screen, Virgil appeared. Thomas is making promises he can’t keep.

(“WHY DON’T YOU LISTEN TO ME? AM I A JOKE TO YOU? I TRY SO HARD TO BE PATIENT AND GIVE YOU TIME, BUT YOU CHOSE TO MAKE A STUPID PROMISE INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING”)

Seems like Logan had another good point- Thomas keeps trying to say tomorrow this and tomorrow that, but Virgil knows. He wants Thomas to get up and be productive, but with Logan “out of service” you have anxiety based motivation. Virgil, being his anxiety, is also reminding him what he did.

At the end, Virgil doll is hanging by a thread (literally) and we see a gloved hand cut the thread. Setting Virgil free for now..

Episode 5: Important Reminder

Thomas is upstairs, and is going down to his living room to answer a knock at his door, and it is a WRECK. But worse than before. There’s blood on the walls and all that. He picks up “The Young Prince” something he apparently used to like during childhood, and finds this drawing between the pages:

“Have you ever imagined killing your brother?” “This is me electrifying my brother!”

Could this imply that Remus was actually the supposed witch? It was (possibly) the drawing mentioned in the Moving On episodes within the pages of a book where Princey died. This could be implying that ever since Remus appeared, Roman has been hurting. Maybe because he blames his dear twin for the murder?

…

THIS IS WHY WE SAID DONT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN-!?

Okay- I’m okay. If you can’t tell, the word “unhelpful” was written in blood, and there is some behind the curtain. I can’t tell who it is tho- Patton? Nightmare Nico?

Speaking of Nico, ✨R E J E C T I O N✨

But really, Thomas is obviously having issues. He tried to get out the house, but Nico was busy that whole week. (Including his birthday 😢)

When he finally answered the door..:

As we’ve seen in WTIT, Thomas is scared of getting older, so I think it’s interesting that Remus called him that. “I can show you how bad things can truly get” I think this is his twisted way of saying “Get over it, you didn’t do as much harm think you did.”

(“Stop Ignoring Re”)

But of course, Janus closes the door on him, shutting him away from Thomas.

Episode 6: Blinding Denial

>No no no.

>I’m fine, I’m alright.

>I’m just…

>I’m just tired.

>I’ll fix it tomorrow, okay?

>I promise.

Thomas have still not learned? 🤨

I feel when Janus leaves the baby crying, he’s not talking about a literal baby, but Thomas. Janus has been sheltering him from the sides trying to confront him (Turning off the PC, Closing the Book, Editing the Video + cleaning the blood, etc.) but has had enough of Thomas prolonging the inevitable.

“You’ve been walking in circles”

“You’re running away from yourself”

He squished the Ladybug. Whilst crushing the hope that good luck will suddenly make things better.

“It’s time to move on and forgive yourself”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holy crap I did it. Well hopefully you enjoyed! See you later!

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #guilty tears

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takaraphoenix · 2 years

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In the wake of the casting announcement, I’ve come across this and I just gotta say a few things about one particular section in it. Because while on the overall, this is a rare occasion on which I agree with Riordan - finding the right actors isn’t so much about physical traits as it is about their acting ability to convey characteristics, personality and also the right kind of chemistry with the right other cast members (casting two people as best friends or lovers when the actors give off an energy that they would rather not be in the same room as the other person? Doesn’t work) - I’m baffled about the way he went in delivering that point.

Are we going to make Walker dye his hair black? Answer: We have had zero conversations about this. Personally, I think this is a non-issue. For me, finding the right actors has never been about hair color, eye color, skin color, or any other single physical trait, even if they were described a certain way in the books. As many of you know, I flubbed such details myself several times in the series. Thalia’s eyes changed from green to blue. Oops! Annabeth’s hair was curly and then it was straight. Nico was described as olive-skinned, then later as pale. Blackjack even changed from a mare to a stallion over the course of two books. Whelp, not sure what happened there, but too late now!

He really said the quiet part out loud. He really said the part he shouldn’t say out loud.

What I’m reading here isn’t “racebending the characters doesn’t matter because the important thing is the essence and energy the actors bring”, what I’m reading here is “racebending doesn’t matter because I’m a shitty writer lol” (and yes, I am also reading that “lol”, in that “Whelp, not sure what happened there, but too late now!”). Because that’s what he’s saying. He’s saying that the actors’ physical appearance doesn’t matter because he never cared enough to remember what his own characters look like to begin with. And that’s a sign of a bad writer, because a good writer actually cares.

We all know he sucks at keeping his own canon straight, but I somewhat assumed that he himself... elects to not shine a light onto that fact?

These are his characters, he created these characters, but he can’t be bothered to remember what they look like?

And the characters he lists there aren’t even side or background characters. They’re all main characters. I have a margin of understanding for not remembering the exact shade of eye color on some random background character who only appeared twice or so. But Annabeth, Nico and Thalia are main characters.

That... I’m sorry, but to me this just shows a severe lack of care. He doesn’t even care to remember what his main characters look like. How do you go about writing entire books about these characters without having a clear visualization of them in your inner mind?

And! Even if you have the shittiest memory possible, there are ways to keep the details of your writing straight. Heaven knows I have created more characters than I could ever keep track of, so I have charts, where I note down important details about them, including the visual key-notes. Art is also a great way for that, even if you aren’t the best artist yourself.

I just truly, fiercely hate the dismissive nature with which he lists these easy to avoid mistakes that he made and how he just shrugs it off like it doesn’t matter.

Sure, in its very essence, what eye-color Thalia has doesn’t matter all that much, but it’s about what this represents. This represents that he doesn’t even care enough to know his characters, when every die-hard Percy Jackson fan has greedily soaked up and memorized every tiny little detail of description that he has given us because we actually love these characters.

#PJOverse #Percy Jackson #Riordan Critical

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filmmakerdreamst · 4 months

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Peter Pan (2003) officially turns 20!

Peter Pan is a live-action fantasy adventure film directed by P.J.Hogan that reimagines the classic story of Peter and Wendy. The screenplay was written by P. J. Hogan and Michael Goldenberg and was released in cinemas in December 2003. The screenplay is based on the 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up and the classic novel Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie, which was originally published under the title Peter and Wendy.

I have strong family connections tied to Peter and Wendy and J.M.Barrie. My great, great uncle Nico was one of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies’ sons — who was adopted by the writer J.M.Barrie (on whom Peter Pan is based). Nico’s daughter Laura — my cousin — who I first met a few years ago, told me that she was flown to Australia for the filming of P.J. Hogan’s Peter Pan because she was J.M.Barrie’s goddaughter. She told me that she was thrilled with the cast, especially Jason Isaacs, who played Captain Hook and Mr Darling. She also mentioned that Jeremy Sumpter, who played Peter Pan, was a lovely boy. However, she said she was very surprised and sad that the film wasn’t a big success as she really liked what they did with the story. I have loved the fairytale of Peter Pan from a young age, and learning that I am literally part of the family that inspired the story was very exciting and I’ve only begun to internalise it more as I’ve grown older.

Magical Realism

The exuberant score by James Newton Howard: I’ll never forget that. I think that was one of the first movies I saw where I actively noticed the music because it was so brilliant. Even today, the “Flying” soundtrack still gives me goosebumps. It perfectly encapsulates the whimsy, joy and imagination of Peter and Wendy. I loved that there were always different variations. One of my favourite pieces from the movie is ‘Fairy Dance’, which starts off cheerfully and moves up and down depending on the characters’ conflict/what they’re saying in the scene.

Cast

Wendy Darling

Rachel Hurd-Wood was the perfect cast for the role of Wendy Darling. I was actually surprised to learn that this was her first film role ever, because she was a natural. She effortlessly possessed the same caring nature and charm that makes Wendy so endearing. She is exactly how I imagine the character when I read the story. When people talk about Peter and Wendy, they always mention Tinkerbell, Pan or Hook, but personally I am always drawn to Wendy. She is the real heroine of the story. After all, she was the main reason for Peter to bring her and her brothers to Neverland.

One of the reasons why I think P.J. Hogan’s Peter Pan is the best film adaptation of the novel is the fact that the film revolves around Wendy’s coming of age. I loved that they expanded on her love of storytelling and also gave her a tomboyish streak. Instead of just being on the sidelines, she’s able to get involved and fight pirates while retaining many of her feminine traits such as her maternal instincts and romantic feelings for Peter. She makes mistakes and sometimes gets dragged into things she knows she shouldn’t do. But in the end, she triumphs.

The 2023 live-action film Peter Pan and Wendy took a different approach, making Wendy a kind of powerhouse who always saved the day and outshone Peter Pan overall. In my opinion, the 2003 film adaptation emphasised very well that Wendy really is the yin and yang. She’s allowed to be romantic, be rescued by others and at the same time determine her own destiny and stand up for herself. Because that’s what her journey in the adaptation is all about. She is pressured by all the adults in her life to grow up. She allows herself to be seduced with the prospect of an eternal childhood by Peter Pan. Then she realises that it is not self-fulfilling. She is tempted by Captain Hook with the concept of adulthood. And finally, she finds a balance between these two extremes on her own terms. By the end of the film, Wendy has made her peace with growing up while still remaining a child at heart. That requires a certain mental strength that we should all strive for.

Peter Pan and Wendy Darling

Although there is no romance between Peter and Wendy in either the original novel or the play, Wendy quickly develops romantic feelings for Peter which, as a prepubescent child, he does not consciously reciprocate as he has no concept of love other than that of a mother’s. Although Peter cares deeply for her, he ultimately only longs for her to be the maternal figure that is missing in his life. One could go into the symbolism that Peter and Wendy are one and the same, and that this is an expression of Wendy learning to love herself. But in a literal sense, J.M.Barrie had unintentionally created this very strong potential between the two characters. And I personally feel if you’re going to make an adaptation of Peter and Wendy that potential needs to be explored in some way, even if it’s not necessarily romantic.

Peter Pan

By today’s standards, you could almost take Peter Pan for a grown man who consciously decides not to behave like this. However, when I watch the film again as an adult, I can now understand why he has reservations about growing up in Edwardian England and would rather remain a “child” in Neverland forever. As Peter says in the film, “Would they send me to school? And then to an office?” I feel like most of us today have so many choices as we get older, but back then it was much more limited. The choices were very restricted in that “heterosexist” environment. You could only be a certain thing, and it was much harder to hold on to the pleasures of life. I can now also understand the initial reactions of Michael and John to Peter: He must have seemed scandalous to people at the time. His bright colours, his inappropriate clothing and his behaviour are repulsive to the boys, but Wendy is immediately fascinated and attracted. I think it was a deliberate choice that he is the only character with an American accent to set him apart from the rest of the cast; to emphasise the wildness of the character and his non-conformity to the people of Edwardian London.

Another small aspect I liked was the suggestion that the Lost Boys, although they lived with Peter and obeyed his commands, lived in constant fear of him and did not worship him as in other adaptations. (A fear that is justified as Peter tries to kill them more than once in the film). What the 2003 film adaptation perfectly captured about Peter’s character was: how terrible of a person he really is. Peter Pan is a hero when he goes on adventures and fights pirates. You could argue — via the quote “Leave Hook to me” (which Peter says to her in the film) — that Peter is Wendy’s split self who can fight her father (Captain Hook) for her, just like antibodies do with germs when we can’t handle them ourselves.

However, when it comes to understanding emotions, caring about others, even his henchmen, the Lost Boys, and doing anything that inconveniences him, Peter Pan is possibly as bad as Captain Hook. This makes Wendy’s decision to leave him all the more powerful. Although she was initially seduced by his adventurous life, she soon realises that his “life” of joy and adventure is not fulfilling at all. Because in reality, there is no real joy. There is no real adventure. In reality, his life is empty because it is not earned. In addition, she realises that she is gradually losing her memory of the outside world, including her parents (a sign that she is “slowly awakening from the dream”)”. This leads Wendy to realise that she wants more than what he can give her in Neverland (e.g. romantic love) and decides to leave. Being alive means feeling, accepting and growing. However, as long as Peter remains a boy, he can never truly be alive. Peter Pan conveyed this important message, whereas earlier film adaptations, including the Disney animation, did not.

One of the reasons why good adaptations of Peter and Wendy are so hard to find, especially in this day and age, is not only because they adapt a performative story that exists in layers of subtext. They also work with a protagonist who doesn’t change. Who doesn’t develop in any way, neither negatively nor positively. Not even just physically, but also mentally. (Even Eli from Let the Right One In, the child vampire, changes in the course of the story). Peter Pan is ultimately there to serve someone else’s story. It works in a fairy tale format. But it doesn’t usually translate very well to the screen because it often leads to one-dimensional storytelling. Even if it seems so natural, it doesn’t come naturally.

In the original novel, the reason Wendy can’t take Peter Pan with her (apart from the fact that he refuses to grow up) is the same reason Lyra in His Dark Materials can’t take Pan — the animal manifestation of her soul — on the boat to the land of the dead. She has to split in order to grow up and leave a part of herself behind. She can’t keep both in order to move on. But that does not mean I always agree with the ending either. In which Peter remains a child and takes Wendy’s descendants to Neverland and back to look after him. It leaves an icky aftertaste, but at least it fits in with the story J.M.Barrie wanted to tell.

And I think that’s the real reason why his character is both the strongest and the weakest part of the adaptation. The writers didn’t make it clear enough that Peter Pan forgets in their version of the character. In the novel, Peter Pan forgets everything automatically, which is why he can exist in this limbo of childhood and not go mad. However, as mentioned earlier, this version of Peter Pan is old enough to remember and, more importantly, to feel. Even though he is the closest to J.M. Barrie’s original vision, unlike his counterpart in the book, he is capable of evolving. That’s why the ending sometimes feels strange to me as an adult. It was hard to say why I had a strange feeling at first, but I realised that a lot of my mixed feelings stemmed from having seen the film adaptation fresh after reading the novel. Since Peter Pan fully reciprocates Wendy’s love in this version, he ends up being a different character than in the book, which is why I now disagree with them keeping the original ending instead of having him grow up with Wendy. It would symbolise that childhood can co-exist with adulthood, that you don’t have to leave a part of yourself behind. That you can be your true and complete self if you find the balance between the two extremes.

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elliepassmore · 1 year

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Threads That Bind review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, magic, mythology, threads of fate, mystery Big thanks to Netgalley, Penguin, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I really liked the magic in this book. The premise is that some people are descended from gods, but only the gods who come in sibling sets. There are a bunch of different city-states in the book, each with their own culture, but the one Io lives in is a Greek-esque city-state called Alante. For Alantians, their "other-born" pairs are things like the Fates, the Muses, descendants of Hypnos, and the Phobos-Deimos twin pair, etc. We do get to see some people who are from outside the city and thus are descended from a different set of gods, but for the most part the focus is Greek. I liked the way each person in a sibling set had a power associated with one of the gods, and that each of the different god powers worked in different ways. I also liked the worldbuilding in the book. It's a dystopian fantasy, so the world we're exposed to is post-collapse, and it's implied that the world was similar to (if not the same as) our own. Then the collapse happened in a mix of environmental and magical events that resulted in the world we see in the book. I liked the bits of history that are brought into the book, like the Iceberg Wars, and the little things that make the world seem more real, like the roof bridges and flood screens for storefronts. Io is the moirae-born who can cut people's threads of fate, but she tends to use her ability to see the Quilt (i.e., the threads connecting everyone) to be a PI. She's a little rough around the edges, but it's clear she does care about people, and over the course of the book her drive to fight for the people no one else will becomes stronger. At the same time, she's pretty wary of opening up to other people as a result of her eldest sister, Thais', treatment of her when they were younger, before Thais walked out on Io and their other sister, Ava. Part of Io's arc over the course of the book is reconciling everything that happened with Thais and growing into someone who's at least a bit more open to others. It was surprisingly easy to like Edei. Based on the synopsis and the very first scene we see him in, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about him, but he's actually a pretty good guy. Edei is someone who is easy to get along with and who has a relatively gentle demeanor about him. Despite the fact that he's the second of the Fortuna gang, the gang that runs the Silts, he's not that rough around the edges, probably the result of the fact that he had a very different upbringing. I liked the side characters in the story and enjoyed how they opened up different sides of the characters. For all her wariness of opening up to other people, Io actually makes friends pretty easily, and it was nice to see her joking around with Nico and Chimdi from the Fortuna gang just as easily as she joked around with Ava and Rosa, her best friend. I hope we get to see more of Rosa, Nico, and Chimdi in the next book, and am curious to see where things go with Ava. Bianca Rossi, the Mob Queen, is definitely someone to be reckoned with and I had a hard time getting a feel for her. There were times when I liked her and times when I didn't, so I'm looking forward to getting a better of understanding of her in the sequel. I did guess what the motive was pretty much from the get-go, but it was definitely a weird kind of predictability because even though I knew the why, I couldn't settle on the who, lol. There were actually a number of pretty viable suspects presented throughout the book, which I think helped obfuscate things in a way that still kept the story going without requiring weird twists. One thing I will say is that Io jumps to conclusions way too much for someone who's a professional private detective. Her second suspect was really the only one with any solid evidence pointing toward them, but Io treated all three as equally viable, which I thought was a mistake. The mystery is solved by the end of the book and it worked in a way that I didn't see coming, which I loved! I love how this book mixes fantasy, dystopian, and noir, and am dying to see what happens next as Io follows up on the loose threads (haha) from the end of this book.

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toriasimmons · 1 year

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entertainment journalism and content farming

If it wasn’t apparent by now, I’ve parted ways with Comic Book Resources. There are no hard feelings, and it’s mostly just because I got a full-time job and the payoff wasn’t worth squeezing it into my busy schedule (and, quite frankly, said full-time job has been… taxing on my mental health for reasons I’d rather not get into yet). I kept thinking maybe I’d have the spoons to do more, but I didn’t, and that’s probably okay in the long run.

Now that I’m not part of the company, though, I wanted to say something about something. It’s not particularly original, and it can apply to media beyond specifically entertainment-focused news/features websites, but, I dunno, I wanted to talk about it.

Content farming.

That’s what I’m talking about.

So much of the focus in media production (particularly websites and videos) is on SEO (search engine optimization) and getting clicks and staying relevant. This can be good if you’re interested in trending topics, because you’ll definitely be able to find what you’re looking for, but it also means a lot of rehashing, keyword-stuffing, appealing to the lowest common denominator, and disinterest in weird or niche or obscure topics.

This isn’t just a CBR problem. I’ve seen it across entertainment journalism sites and trending pages on Instagram and YouTube. I’m sure it’s prevalent elsewhere, too.

If your goal is to produce content to get money, then I guess this is effective enough. You get clicks, you get hits, you get money. (And when I say “you,” I mean the site owners/higher-ups: make no mistake, the people producing the content are making laughably little money. More on this in a second.) But it harms the quality of the content you produce, in my opinion.

Some of my favorite articles that I wrote for CBR got laughably little attention. I’m not sure if this is because they weren’t actually interesting to a lot of people or because of algorithms or because the higher-ups thought they wouldn’t perform well and didn’t promote them as much or what, but it’s very frustrating.

The article I wrote about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the MCU’s motherhood problem was genuinely something I was really proud of, and I thought it was pretty relevant and important, but for whatever reason it got a fraction of the reach or hits. The article I wrote about the Dark Willow trope (also pertaining to Multiverse of Madness, but also discussing Daenerys, Willow herself, Nico from Runaways, and how they tried to tease that they were doing this with Rey from Star Wars) got a big bunch of hits, but for some reason they went in really hard on parts of what I was discussing (Buffy, Star Wars) and underplayed Multiverse of Madness itself in the headline/image/etc. and when I dared to read comments on a repost link all of them were from dudebros who said that I was desperate to be persecuted and called me an infant for not understanding that stories have conflicts. Am I saying that CBR framed it the way they did because they knew it would make people mad and in doing so underplayed the actual point I was trying to make? Not definitively, but in conjunction with the other half of that point (the other article) performing so poorly, it does kind of feel like they prioritize controversy over content or trying to actually take interesting stances.

Now the money thing.

When I started for CBR they paid per word (fractions of pennies) and per hit (fractions of pennies). They moved to a purely per hit model (still paying fractions of pennies) and offered incentives for posting dozens of articles in a short period of time. I don’t know if you know this about entertainment journalism, but if you want to write 30+ things a month, even short things, you would basically have to spend all of the hours you weren’t writing watching things. And watching current things, and watching things you could make a lot of points about.

It’s basically impossible to write for a site like this and make more than pocket change (unless, again, you’re literally just consuming media and cranking out articles and doing Nothing Else). That’s my point. And per the above, even if you were really proud about, say, an article you wrote about a female character deserving better, it might (would probably) still perform drastically less well than an article about whether Iron Man or Thanos would win in a farting contest.

Freelance rates in general aren’t great; creators in general are undervalued and underpaid. I’ve done some cursory research, though, and it’s considered pretty standard to charge between .20-.30 cents per word… for a 1000+ word article. That means that even the low end of that would net you $200 per piece.

In my time at CBR, I made a paycheck that went into the triple digits once.

I wasn’t writing a ton of articles. I was doing a couple a week for a while, and it was during that period that I hit the triple digits. But using industry standards, that would be an okay job. Maybe like $200-400 a week, $800-1600 a month. I don’t think I made $1600 the entire 2+ years I wrote for them.

This isn’t a secret. The pay rates are in the job ads and stuff. (Standard industry pay rates are not, but those also aren’t a secret.)

Once I had a real job, the motivation to crank out articles and make roughly per two-week paycheck what I make in an hour or two at said job dwindled. The push to focus on Trending Topics (some of which, frankly, I don’t give a shit about) and stuff headings/articles with keywords and pointless backlinks and social media embeds didn’t help.

And yeah, I admit I didn’t directly quit for a while. But I’ve had some shit going on and it honestly hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind. We parted amicably enough, so I’m not too worried. (And it’s not like I’m going to use anyone at the company as a reference, since I didn’t actually work with anyone enough to know more than their names, pronouns, and job title, if that.)

I am grateful for the opportunity at CBR. It’s super cool that I got an official byline and that I got paid at least pennies for doing something I like. But the way that they produce content and the way I want to produce content don’t really mesh. Maybe (hopefully) I’ll find a freelancing/writing gig that’s a little more in line with my creative process and interests, and now I have a clearer idea of what those are.

And maybe let’s start paying artists better and prioritizing the content of the content. That too.

(For the record, this wasn’t edited or thought out. It’s just some thoughts I’ve been thinking.)

#IRL #creativity #entertainment journalism

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twistednuns · 8 months

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March 2023

The moon during sunrise as seen from a plane window. Warm pastel hues against the blue night sky.

A flea market date with Nico. I found a lot of cool stuff (interesting blazer, a pullover with an ice-cream coloured stripey pattern, a swirly plate and a dark green bag, a leather jacket) and he got a yellow metal table I pointed out to him. We shared two dishes we both wanted for lunch. Took a walk up to the castle.

Dripping semi-solid Panna Cotta on my lips. Oddly sensual.

Satisfying my need for completion: finishing a jar of jam that had been sitting in the fridge for weeks.

Talking to Doris on the phone. I felt better afterwards but realised how lonely and depressed I am at the moment. I'm grateful for the few friends I have. And I actually managed to get out of bed soon after. Had a shower. Got motivated to make some decisions. Booked a silent retreat in France because that's basically the only idea a had. I'm still not sure it was the right move but I've been interested in Vipassana for months now so... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, eh?

Waking up still stuck in my dream. I was aware of where I was (where my physical body was located) but in my head I was still somewhere completely different. Was that a lucid dream? I woke up hopeful and confident. Where is this coming from? / A few days later I realised in my dream that I was in an episode of my life. All my family members - including me - were played by actors and I was involved in the story but witnessing everything from a distance at the same time. Parallel universe? A fake biopic like The Crown? My dreams keep getting more and more obscure.

Cuddling with Do in one of the huge double seats at the cinema, watching Tár. On my way home, the moon looked huge and golden.

The next day, I saw Frank for the first time since December. We told each other what'd been going on in our lives, had breakfast the next day and I assisted in booking a therapy appointment for him by being my usual annoying and persistent self. In the evening I met Raphael - for the first time since July! We had a lot to catch up on over pizza and wine and he told me about a recent autism diagnosis (I immediately self-diagnosed too, what is wrong with me).

Spending these three days with close friends showed me how much I'm currently missing being stuck in that haunted house with my brother. It reminded me that my life isn't usually like that and that I actually have people in my life who I feel comfortable with, people who care about me. I actually have a good life. It's hard to describe but the longer I stay there the more miserable I feel, the more I keep forgetting what life can actually look like. It sucks me in, I feel stuck - both physically and mentally. I need to get out of there asap. And why is that on my list of things I love? Well, because it's a realisation that this too shall pass. That I shouldn't identify too much with my current situation because I'm not the problem even though it feels that way.

A very spontaneous concert visit - my friends had an extra ticket for Bloodywood. I love the idea of combining metal and traditional Indian music.

A little marzipan obsession. Which is why I'm so happy about the zero sugar almond milk I found that tastes exactly like marzipan! / Arriving in Amsterdam. Lying down, biting into a cookie I'd just bought (Picolientje). Realising it's filled with marzipan. What a win. Sometimes my natural tendency to expect the worst pays off in form of a positive surprise.

A low calorie drink with fermented cassis. Warm stroopwaffels with caramel. Cappuccinos and matcha lattes covered in thick milk foam. Dutch cherry coke - which has a stronger cherry flavour than the German version. Pick and mix candy stores.

All the cats hanging out on Amsterdam's window sills. What a great alternative to potted plants. Meeting friendly felines wherever we go. Communicating.

The single bell sound from a nearby church tower while walking though a narrow alley made my mind travel to the setting of a Gothic novel. Industrial times, Victorianism. Walking through Edinburgh at night in a slight drizzle.

Irregularities in the sidewalk. White inlays that often look like exaggerated white crescent moons.

Sitting down at one of the canals. Observing the perfect swirly pattern in the soft waves. A hypnotising mirror image of the bare tree branches. A coot keeping me company. Honking at me.

Those typical narrow Amsterdam city houses. Rooms with high ceilings on the ground floor. Black walls and window crosses with a white frame around the window panes.

Cyclists thanking me for waiting, letting them pass. Just a raised hand - a tiny gesture. Somehow it meant a lot that day.

Glitter on the floor.

Fun surprises at Westergasfabriek. We walked through a fair and I kinda enjoyed being surrounded by all the rides, bright lights, happy people. And the we found an arcade and played a few games there!

Frank really did his best to cheer me up. And he put up with me despite my depressed grumpiness. One night he just hugged me tightly and told me how important I am to him. He put his hand on my chest and said that there's so much more awesome inside of me that will want to come out soon. That he knows I could be so much happier. I was moved by his openness and vulnerability. I felt loved. And incomplete, defective. Because I can't even get myself to say one positive word at the moment. Any expression of joy, love, gratitude, a compliment... I don't have it in me. My theory is that my negativity is supposed to protect me in some way and showing positive emotions makes me vulnerable.

A photo challenge. Walking through Amsterdam on a mission. Frank gave me five assignments for photo motifs.

Watching a movie at the beautiful old Tuschinski cinema.

My new Yin&Yang hair clip from Kookaï.

Sharing a cab to Hridaya with four strangers who turned out to be lovely people.

I went to Hridaya Yoga at Château Longeval near Lyon for a 10-day silent meditation retreat and basically what I expected to happen actually did: my mind calmed down without all the distractions (reading, speaking, internet, all kinds of human interaction) and I started appreciating the small things: exchanging the buttery Dutch almond cookies for apples and pears / abdominal massage (a spontaneous discovery after Shavasana) / the lovely handwritten note from Frédérique - my roommate for 3 days; it was in French but I understood everything! / And then: having the room to myself / an afternoon walk despite the drizzle: forest soil, primroses, saying hello to the cows / beautiful visions during meditation (adventures with my inner child, imagining to befriend all my friends' inner children and forming a loving little gang) / daily affirmations like "I make a difference in other people's lives" or "More than survive I want to thrive" / how easily I got into shoulder stand and plough pose / seeing shapes like feathers or little animals in the wooden floor boards and some sort of smiling kolibri in a fold of my pear / seeing the remnants of my shimmering lilac and blue nail polish on my fingers and smelling the sweet lotion on my hands after meditation, freshly washed hair (sorry but the non-biodegradable shampoo is just so much nicer - I can't stand tea tree oil) / drawing shapes with an electric blue Sakura Moonlight gel pen while listening to an interesting lecture, drawing insects, leaves and flowers, shading with a soft pencil //

In hindsight, I feel so much gratitude for myself for following that vague hunch. Just trusting it, giving it a chance. Bias towards action. It turned out to be one of the most heart-opening and mind-expanding things I've done so far.

#things i love #present perfect #march 2023 #personal #march #2023

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pjotvshownews · 2 years

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April 16th blog update from Rick Riordan:

“[...] I also don’t have to be on Twitter to anticipate what questions you are probably asking.

Like for instance: When are we announcing Annabeth and Grover, and can it be right now? Answer: Soon. And no, it cannot be right now. As I said before, I think we’re very close to having everything wrapped up for our main trio, but there are numerous levels of approvals to get and deals to close before we can announce anything. Things are starting to move into high gear, though, since we begin filming in June, so we are probably talking weeks, not months, before we can share more news. As always, I need to warn you that this is ONLY my personal guess. What I can say is that the production team is united and excited about where the casting decisions are heading, and we are receiving excellent support from our studio and network partners.

Other questions I bet you are asking: Are we going to make Walker dye his hair black? Answer: We have had zero conversations about this. Personally, I think this is a non-issue. For me, finding the right actors has never been about hair color, eye color, skin color, or any other single physical trait, even if they were described a certain way in the books. As many of you know, I flubbed such details myself several times in the series. Thalia’s eyes changed from green to blue. Oops! Annabeth’s hair was curly and then it was straight. Nico was described as olive-skinned, then later as pale. Blackjack even changed from a mare to a stallion over the course of two books. Whelp, not sure what happened there, but too late now! If I may invoke the Movies That Shall Not Be Watched, I know a lot of you cared deeply and were unhappy when Annabeth turned out to be a brunette rather than blonde, but for me, that was never the main issue. What mattered were that those actors, as talented and wonderful as they are, were WAY too old for the parts as I wrote them, and their age was central to the plot. What I want to see are age-appropriate actors who can embody the personalities of the characters, nail their voices and their sense of humor, and make you believe: “Yes, that is Percy. That is Grover. That is Annabeth,” even if they’re not exactly how the characters were described physically in the books. Again, that’s just my personal opinion and my approach. So blond Percy? Hey, why not? IMO Walker is awesome just as he is. He is perfect for the role. The same will be true for our other characters when I can announce them.

You are asking: What about the other casting choices? Those are well underway. We are reviewing a flood of audition tapes as we speak for all parts. And yes, I am involved in every decision. I have seen dozens of Sally Jacksons at this point, and even more Mrs. Dodds . . . all wonderfully sinister. In fact, I may or may not have had nightmares about math teacher Furies last night….

Will there be open casting calls for (fill in the character you wish you could be)? As I’ve said before, I very much doubt it. There are so many great actors out there who are looking for work and who have already made the commitment to devote their lives to acting, have put in years of training, have struggled to get agents and get parts — we have no shortage of great, diverse options. Acting is hard. Getting good at it takes time, patience and tons of unglamorous difficult work. Also, it’s simply not practical or economically feasible to do open calls for every character, especially extras. There are also many laws in place . . . for instance, to work as an extra in Vancouver, where we are filming, it’s my understanding that you have to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, in order to support the local economy. So can we fly you halfway across the world so you can appear on set as “Tree #3” for a day? Alas, no, although I agree it sounds like fun!

In addition to all the excitement about Walker last week, we were working hard in the writers room to outline the remainder of the first season scripts. I’m very pleased with how that’s going. This will be The Lightning Thief — the story you know and love, but with added depth and layers of nuance that many of you have been yearning to know about, judging from the fan letters I have received over the past fifteen years.

Have a great weekend, and Happy Easter to those celebrating. I will get back to you with more news as soon as I can!”

#rick riordan #percy jackson tv show #percy jackson #pjo #pjo tv show #percy jackson and the olympians

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myopinionhi · 4 years

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A Will Solace Character Analysis: the Underappreciated Soft Side

I've noticed many fanfictions have Will Solace OOC. So I’ve been thinking about aspects of Will’s personality fans seem to either gloss over or exaggerate. Here, this post is me doing an in-depth analysis explaining Will Solace’s canon personality in the books, and how it can sometimes differ from fanfictions. Sprinkled in this analysis are tips to fanfiction writers on how they write Will as more in-character.

There is one major aspect of Will that people seem to ignore or underemphasize. Nico best explains it when describing Will in this quote

Jason was a fighter. You could tell from the intensity of his stare, his constant alertness, the coiled-up energy in his frame. Will Solace was more like a lanky cat stretched out in sunshine. His movements were relaxed and nonthreatening, his gaze soft and far away. In his faded SURF BARBADOS T-shirt, his cutoff shorts and flip-flops, he looked about as aggressive as a demigod could get, but Nico knew he was brave under fire. During the Battle of Manhattan, Nico had seen him in action - the camp's best combat medic, risking his life to save wounded campers.

To sum it up, Will Solace is a very chill and calm character. A lot of writers make Will more irrational, impulsive, overbearing, and emotional than he actually is. Will is not the type of character to create drama unless he's, as Nico puts it, "under fire." In other words, the intense side of his personality doesn't come out unless the situation is urgent or dire.

Fans remember during the Second Giant War how he gets angry and argues with Nico over Nico's health and shadow-traveling, so many assume Will is going to be this fiery over a lot of other things regarding their relationship. For example, fanfic writers may make Will controlling or overly sensitive with Nico. However, keep in mind, Will gets heated with Nico during the Second Giant War because Nico's shadow-traveling is killing him. This is how Will describes Nico's dire state.

"Coach Hedge told me all about your shadow-travel. You can’t try that again."

"I just did try it again, Solace. I’m fine."

"No, you’re not. I’m a healer. I could feel the darkness in your hand as soon as I touched it. Even if you made it to that tent, you’d be in no shape to fight. But you wouldn’t make it. One more slip, and you won’t come back. You are not shadow-travelling. Doctor’s orders."

Will is a healer. When he touches Nico's hand, he can sense how little sleep and food Nico has been getting and how Nico's being taken over by darkness. Nico is on the verge of death and hasn't cared about his health for a long time. Nico is also stubborn about it, so Will has to be aggressive in order to save Nico's life. This aggressive behavior is not the norm for Will, but it can sometimes come out when he has to assert control in a life-or-death situation.

Will is a calming prescence. He's a diplomat. He stops violence on multiple occassions.

He's one of the few people who's able to calm Clarisse's violent rage, and he does so in a gentle manner.

Clarisse pointed her dagger at Rachel. "What about their allies, huh? Did you see that tribe of two-headed men that arrived yesterday? Or the glowing red dog-headed guys with the big poleaxes? They look pretty barbaric to me. It would’ve been nice if you’d foreseen any of that, if your Oracle power didn’t break down when we needed it most!"

Rachel’s face turned as red as her hair. "That’s hardly my fault. Something is wrong with Apollo’s gifts of prophecy. If I knew how to fix it –"

"She’s right." Will Solace, head counsellor for the Apollo cabin, put his hand gently on Clarisse’s wrist. Not many campers could’ve done that without getting stabbed, but Will had a way of defusing people’s anger. He got her to lower her dagger. "Everyone in our cabin has been affected. It’s not just Rachel."

One of the most underrated Will Solace moments is when he stops a bloody battle from happening between Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter.

But he knew it wouldn’t do any good. After weeks of waiting, agonizing and steaming, the Greeks and Romans wanted blood. Trying to stop the battle now would be like trying to push back a flood after the dam broke.

Will Solace saved the day.

He put his fingers in his mouth and did a taxicab whistle even more horrible than the last. Several Greeks dropped their swords. A ripple went through the Roman line like the entire First Cohort was shuddering.

"DON’T BE STUPID!" Will yelled. "LOOK!"

People are so used to seeing demigods, especially male demigods, being aggressive fighters that they can't wrap their heads around a brave and strong demigod who actively tries to avoid unnecessary conflict and destruction as much as he can.

And that's Will Solace's strength: he has the ability to prevent as much harm as possible.

Will is a difficult character to write. There's a lot of dueling factors with his personality. He's calm and pacifying while also being brave and assertive. He's fun and lighthearted while also being intelligent, logical, and grounded. He's laidback while also being responsible and hardworking. He's insecure but not melodramatic. He's very caring and protective but not pushy.

Will's personality confuses Nico sometimes too.

He’d always thought of Will as easygoing and laid back. Apparently he could also be stubborn and aggravating.

The trick to writing Will is to keep in mind his default personality is a soft and lighthearted character. Writers tend to overemphasize the hard side of his personality when his default personality is actually the soft side.

Think of the relaxing, lanky cat metaphor Nico uses for him. He and Nico bicker often, and it works for Will because he rolls with everything and doesn't take things too seriously. He's able to alleviate Nico's moodiness with humor, wittiness, groundedness, and patience. Nico affectionately calls Will a "dork" because Will usually keeps things light. Interestingly enough, he's able to be lighthearted without coming across as insensitive or an airheaded goofball, the latter of which is something Nico dislikes about Percy's personality. On a related sidenote, another way writers make Will OOC is they make him too dumb or too immature. I know I mentioned to focus on Will's soft side, but be careful to avoid that too. He's a SENSIBLE, lanky cat.

The way Will keeps his composure during a stressful situation by using laughter while still being mature is expressed well in this exchange with Apollo. (Yes, Will has a lot to manage.)

It was difficult to think of this young man as my son. He was so poised, so unassuming, so free of acne. He also didn’t appear to be awestruck in my presence. In fact, the corner of his mouth had started twitching.

“Are—are you amused?” I demanded.

Will shrugged. “Well, it’s either find this funny or freak out. My dad, the god Apollo, is a fifteen-year-old—”

“Sixteen,” I corrected. “Let’s go with sixteen.”

“A sixteen-year-old mortal, lying in a cot in my cabin, and with all my healing arts—which I got from you—I still can’t figure out how to fix you.”

“There is no fixing this,” I said miserably. “I am cast out of Olympus. My fate is tied to a girl named Meg. It could not be worse!”

Will laughed, which I thought took a great deal of gall. “Meg seems cool. She’s already poked Connor Stoll in the eyes and kicked Sherman Yang in the crotch.”

The fiercer side of Will's personality comes out only when the situation calls for it; this happens sometimes when he has to be a caring family member, a responsible healer, or a warrior in a dire situation. Even when he gets more forceful, he doesn't get more forceful than he has to.

Since Will has such a balanced and lighthearted personality, what are his flaws? What are the dark sides of his personality? There are four main things that stick out.

1. He's insecure about his self-perceived lack of abilities.

"I agree," Will said. "I wish I was a better archer … I wouldn’t mind shooting my Roman relative off his high horse. Actually, I wish I could use any of my father’s gifts to stop this war." He looked down at his own hands with distaste. "Unfortunately, I’m just a healer."

2. He sometimes struggles to endure the heavy responsibilities he has as a healer and as a protector to his family.

“I got it reattached,” Will told me, his voice shaky with exhaustion. His scrubs were speckled with blood. “I need somebody to keep him stable.”

I pointed to the woods. “But—”

“I know!” Will snapped. “Don’t you think I want to be out there searching too? We’re shorthanded for healers. There’s some salve and nectar in that pack. Go!”

I was stunned by his tone. I realized he was just as concerned about Kayla and Austin as I was. The only difference: Will knew his duty. He had to heal the injured first. And he needed my help.

3. He forces himself to bottle his emotions to keep his composure.

Will laughed under his breath. “I’m terrified. But one thing you learn as head counselor: you have to keep it together for everyone else. Let’s get you on your feet."

Here's a second example.

I rested my hand on Will’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll be back by dawn.”

His mouth trembled ever so slightly. “How can you be sure?”

4. He constantly worries about his loved ones.

Nico rested his hand on Will’s shoulder. “Apollo, we were worried. Will was especially.”

In conclusion, Will Solace's personality is difficult to get correct. But don't worry, if you write Will as a laidback, witty cat in your fanfics, I guarantee he'll be more in-character than many other fanfics with Will Solace.

(Note: I am only human. If you believe I'm misinterpreting some aspects of Will's personality, feel free to express it. What I say isn't 100 percent the right interpretation.)

#pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #will solace #nico di angelo #solangelo #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #spoilers #meta #character analysis #fanfic #fanfiction #blood of olympus #hidden oracle #long post #toa #hoo #apollo

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