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bengiyo · 8 months

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The Knowing: Being Queer in BL

I’ve been talking about The Knowing a lot lately with @lurkingshan @waitmyturtles @ginnymoonbeam and @shortpplfedup and so I felt it was time to gather all those thoughts into one place.

I define The Knowing as “growing up and suffering with the knowledge that you are queer (specifically that you are not like other kids) and understanding that you must keep that knowledge to yourself.”

Part of what initially drew me to BL was how often many of these shows took place in what @absolutebl calls “The Bubble” where cultural and structural homophobia is less prevalent or nonexistent. Many of these stories are about guys learning something about themselves for the first time when it comes to being attracted to other men. However, I always find myself drawn to the characters that clearly Knew who they were a long time ago. What’s interesting about these characters is that many of them carry an intense sadness and loneliness that plagues them and their relationships.

I am in my mid-30s. I’ve had to unlearn a lot of language over the decades. When I first realized I was different from other kids I was eight years old. I was a lot like Chiron in Moonlight (2016) asking the question, “What’s a faggot?” I wish I’d had someone like Juan around to say, “A faggot is a word used to make gay people feel bad.” To which Chiron asked, “Am I a faggot?” and Juan quickly corrected. “Nah. You can be gay, but you ain’t gotta let nobody call you no faggot.” I know it’s hard for some of you to read slurs written out so plainly, but I grew up with them being part of the day-to-day language used by kids around me. If you instinctively recoiled at me typing the word four times, imagine experiencing that constantly for your entire adolescence while also fearing the consequences of being discovered by your peers. That’s what I survived. That’s what some of these boys survived.

Before I learned other words, I thought I was weird or broken. I knew I was drawn to boys before I even hit puberty, but I didn’t have language for existing on the ace-spectrum until I joined Tumblr in the early 2010s. Before that I just thought there was something wrong with me. When we see a character in BL who has clearly been gay for a long time, I find myself examining the environment around them to see if they suffered The Knowing.

The worst part of The Knowing is for the boys who can pass as straight if they try hard enough. I always talk about how I think femmes are stronger than those of us (like me) who can pass. They face the public scrutiny of being queer and the danger of that constantly. People like me often go unnoticed unless we’re amongst our peers or explicitly tell people who we are.

I’m writing this post as a love letter to the boys who suffered the Knowing. Sometimes these characters get a bad reputation in fandom for being boring or sad sacks, but they are the characters I love the most. I’d like to talk about some of my favorite boys who Knew. Unsurprisingly, the exact kind of melancholy Japan is willing to play with means they have strong presence on this list.

Korn (Until We Meet Again)

Korn is the character who began my discussion about this in a conversation with @wen-kexing-apologist about Kao’s acting. I pointed out that the saddest thing about Korn in Until We Meet Again is that he knew what he was going to do the entire time. The tragedy of UWMA is that Korn loved Intouch and let him in, and unfortunately learned that Intouch’s love couldn’t fix the horrors that plagued him. You can see it in Kao’s eyes for the entire show whenever we see the In and Korn flashbacks. He suffers under the weight of masculine expectation and crumbles.

The Entire Cast of What Did You Eat Yesterday?

WDYEY is all about characters who Knew. Kenji and Wataru may have been unable to pass and have chosen to accept who they are, but we know Wataru suffered for it because of his feelings about family. Shiro hid who he was for a very long time, and still hides it from most people. His trauma from The Knowing regularly threatens his relationship with Kenji. Kohinata also clearly knew who he was the entire time, and works diligently for the life he’s built for himself. So much of this show is about being gay in a world that does not value us.

Book, Christina, and Yok (Make It Right)

Book is actively victimized because of The Knowing. He left his previous school and doesn’t live with his family because he was outed by a past boyfriend, and is disowned after revenge porn of him is posted.

Both Chrstina and Yok are femme and cannot pass. Unlike many of the boys in this show figuring out who they are, they are trying to survive without losing themselves.

Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken)

Li Ming has a gay uncle and still suffers The Knowing. He is hiding his attraction from everyone until he develops feelings for Heart.

Itou Akira (Life: Love on the Line)

We experienced the entire arc of this man’s life and how much The Knowing crushed him. This is probably the most The Knowing character on the list.

Oumi Mitsuru (Eternal Yesterday)

Oumi has such a frank expression of The Knowing and how much it hurts that he likes Koichi but feels like he can’t express it.

Takahashi Satoru (Koisenu Futari)

The man literally blogs about The Knowing, and it’s how Sakuko began to understand herself. He has a questionnaire prepared to help you figure out how long you’ve Known.

Ren (Tokyo in April Is…)

I wrote multiple posts about Ren and his experience with The Knowing. So much of what goes wrong for them is because Ren couldn’t believe that Kazuma could like him, too, and he knowingly faced the consequences of being discovered to save Kazuma’s life.

Pete (Love by Chance)

Pete knows who he is and can’t change it. Trump uses this against him. Pete doesn’t want Ae to be gay like him and suffer with the realities of being a Known Gay. Pete has one of the first coming out scenes in BL that I really enjoyed.

Cairo (Gameboys)

Cairo was clearly struggling with Knowing, and his close friend took his coming out from him. Cairo is a brat, but goddamn do I appreciate some of his angst.

See-eiw (My Only 12%)

He watched The Love of Siam (2007) and had a complete emotional breakdown as he was finally able to name his feelings for Cake. Top-tier expression of The Knowing.

Shin (3 Will Be Free)

I mean, we don’t have to look much further than his entire sad existence and being pushed into sex with a prostitute in the first episode. Also there’s, “It wasn’t that you didn’t like boys. You just didn’t like me.” Shin is the only boy in BL-adjacent media to suffer a specific version of The Knowing: being rejected and discarded by your own people in a homophobic way so they could stay closeted.

Phupha (A Tale of Thousand Stars)

Phupha’s entire romantic angst is built around The Knowing and what others seeing him for who he is will do for him.

Pran (Bad Buddy)

Though Bad Buddy exists in The Bubble, Pran has one of the most painful versions of The Knowing I’ve ever experienced because his is wrapped up in family angst and an unrequited crush.

Lee Wan (Our Dating Sim)

Lee Wan suffered The Knowing and broke things with his best friend after confessing. The Knowing destroyed his ability to see a version of his life where he and Shin Kitae overcame the upcoming challenges together and so he takes that choice from Kitae. Crushing.

Ueda Minoru (Our Dining Table)

Minoru is so familiar with The Knowing that he preemptively breaks up with Yutaka after kissing him.

Kiyoi (My Beautiful Man)

The reveal that Kiyoi already knew who he was and noticed Hira the entire time? Beautiful. One of the best reveals in J-BL history.

Minato (Minato’s Laundromat)

This man is one of the sadder examples of The Knowing because he’s in a place where he understands who he is now, but the internalized homophobia cripples almost all of his romantic and closer relationships.

Han Baram (Sing My Crush)

This boy is suffering so much from The Knowing that his love confession song is literally titled “Letter of Apology.”

Oh-aew (I Told Sunset About You)

He Knew. “Are you proud of me?”

Noh Shinwoo and Shin Daon (Light On Me)

Noh Shinwoo clearly suffered The Knowing and was discovered. His bullies still plague him on the streets when they see him. Shin Daon was not surprised by his attraction to Woo Taekyung; he struggled with his parents expectations.

Nagisa (His: I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love)

Nagisa definitely Knew who he was and was probably going to stay quiet about it until Shun showed up in his life. What upsets me so much about Nagisa is that he is the one who leaves Shun later in the movie after pulling queerness out of Shun.

The Secret Crush on You Quartet

All four of them get a spot on this list for The Knowing. Toh, Kaojao, and Daisy clearly suffered The Knowing, and Som has clearly taken care of them for a long time.

Rocky and Judah (Quaranthings)

I love that these two explore The Knowing from a class perspective. Judah is wealthier and eventually comes out, but Rocky is poor and struggles with it a lot longer.

Han Tae Joo and Kang Gook (Where Your Eyes Linger)

The Knowing, bodyguard edition. The yearning between the two of these is palpable. It hurts that they can’t even talk to each other about it.

Mafuyu (Given)

He Knew and lost his boyfriend to The Knowing.

Kim Dong Hee (Unintentional Love Story)

He won’t acknowledge Go Ho Tae’s feelings because he feels a sense of loyalty to Ho Tae’s mom for taking care of him after his parents disowned him over the gay thing. Huge case of The Knowing.

Edit: New Additions October 7, 2023.

Nekoyashiki Mamoru (Kabe-Koji Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to be Recognized)

He describes a textbook case of the Knowing and finding community at the convention.

Zo (Hidden Agenda)

He definitely Knew, and got messed over by his friends badly for it.

Yuuki (Me, My Husband, and My Husband's Boyfriend)

We almost lost Yuuki to the Knowing.

All of the Eclipse Gays

Literally all of them. The entire show is about how fascism turns queer people into agents working against their own community.

Joe (The Warp Effect)

He clearly Knew before his encounter with Army, and he also suffered for being outed.

#Ben writes #The Knowing #too many shows to tag #what did you eat yesterday?#until we meet again #bl series #thai bl #japanese bl #korean bl #filipino bl

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godling-jesse · 8 days

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prompt #004 - a golden boy's plea

The concept wasn't foreign to him. Going to the temple, sitting down in front of his father's statue, that was almost a daily ritual to him. So when Chiron mentioned creating pathways, communicating with his father, the son of Apollo had to scoff. What the fuck had he been doing these past few weeks, and why wasn't he getting any answers? It had gotten to the point that he'd decided to avoid the situation all together. While he watched demigod after demigod go to the temple, throwing magical parties, making their prayers and feel heard, feel answered, all Jesse could do was watch. That familiar feeling began to settle in the pit of his stomach. As much as he tried to be good, to be there, to be perfect, that hollow feeling of inadequacy always seemed to pull him down. Why could he watch demigods connect with their parents so easily, and he constantly felt like he was being left on read with his father. Hell, it was story not unlike the one he'd shared with his mother.

It had taken Jesse a while to gather the nerve. It had gotten to the point that he very well might have been the only demigod at camp who hadn't made that 'pathway' yet. Part of him decided to just fuck it off all together, he didn't need his father, he'd gotten this far without him after all. There was another part, a louder part, that just wanted to know why? Why wasn't he good enough? What could he do to prove himself worthy? Was there even a way? Those were the waves of uncertainty, of longing to be the Golden Boy he'd always been expected to be. First as being Dianna Diaz's son, now being the son of Apollo. The weight to live up to that had been crushing, and the fear that he might not every live up to either roles was damn near devastating. He wouldn't leave it at that. He couldn't.

It had been just before sunrise when Jesse entered the amphitheater. It was early enough that he'd appeared to have been alone, the entire came was asleep. While that much wasn't on purpose, he was glad to have the privacy. With a guitar strapped around his back, he looked up toward his father's domain, regarding it warily at first. He wet his lips, "It's me again, Dad," he began with a heavy breath. He didn't know why he'd had such a big pit in his stomach. He'd started many a conversations with the damn statue, saying that same damn thing.

So what was different now? In the back of his head he knew, he knew that this was what would change everything. His final attempt at reaching out to his father. As far as he was concerned his father would either recognize his worth, or he would lose him for good. "I'm supposed to come here and pray to you, open up a connection with you to bring us closer," he let out a tut, "As if I haven't been trying to do just that for the past month. Either you don't care, or you haven't been listening," taking the guitar from around his back, he sat down cross legged and set the instrument in his lap. "I realize… I've been trying to get your attention, to prove to you that I am worthy to be here, that I am your son, and you didn't make a mistake in claiming me." He let his gaze drop for moment, contemplating. "So I figured this time, I'd say what I have to say a little louder."

He began to strum a chord from his guitar, a heavy, minor chord that reverberated gently across the theatre. The melody itself was a somber one at first. It illustrated where his head space had been in relation to his father. A melody of longing, with chords of fear, riffs of waning hope. The the tune lingered for just a moment, before he began to bring in words to it.

"i'll always be outshined by you, it never takes too long no matter what I say or do

i still see your glow till the moment I'm gone."

The notes came smooth, heavy. This wasn't an upbeat song, it was a song from his heart. His mother had always told him while words and speeches could touch a persons mind, nothing could bare your soul the way that music could. He continued to play, going into the second verse, demanding not to be seen as weak, how his own radiance was bright, how he didn't need to kept on the sidelines, that he was worth the faith he had in his father, but he needed to be free. The music seemed to grow louder now, the guitar being amplified by an unseen source, he the end of the song came, and the guitar and his voice seemed to grow louder, more confident.

"i come here bended knee as i try to make you see that i'm everything you think you need, fighting this fight.

"but you're neither friend nor foe and i won't let you let me go because, the one thing that you must know is that i'm my own sunlight"

The final chord rang through the amphitheaters as the sun began to rise over the hills. His voice melted with the guitar in an almost magical swell. His music filled every inch of the stadium just as the sunlight poured in. He wasn't sure if the camp could hear him, but at this point he didn't care. It wasn't about the camp, it wasn't about the expectations put on him by Chiron or Xanthe. It was about him pushing past his insecurities, that darkness, to reach his father. As the note finally faded into a hum, Jesse was left standing there, panting, eyes never once leaving the sky as the sun beamed down on him.

#godlingprompt004

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crystalelemental · 2 years

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It is with a heavy heart I must announce...I’ve started playing like three runs of Hades a day again.

I got it in my head that I wanted to try unlocking the additional story stuff for the gods and the various NPCs, and...I can’t say I’ve made a ton of progress. Some, sure, but not as much as I was hoping. It’s kinda drawn out. The only people I can give Ambrosia to so far are Dusa, Ares (why?), and Poseidon. This despite my constant efforts to get Artemis to be friends with me. One day...

So most of this has focused on the runs themselves, and oh god, am I...really not very good at this game. Like, I’m okay enough to get through it consistently on normal parameters, but adding Heat is a nightmare.

The easiest ones to take were the reduction in healing effects, and the extra hit you have to deal to enemies before their main HP bar appears. These were pretty simple conditions...until I started having to pile on up to 5-6 Heat. Then too much is being asked, because you have a bunch of other dangerous conditions in addition to limited healing, and if I don’t find my bro Dionysus, I can’t fix the healing issue. Eventually, I came to a realization. I can either keep bringing in a ton of detrimental effects that are a nuisance to get through, or I can put on the +20 move and attack speed of enemies condition and try to acclimate to the game playing faster, securing an easy +3 heat condition.

I cannot acclimate to this game playing faster.

I just attempted a run with the fists, with nothing but this condition. I didn’t get fantastic damage dealing skills, but I got some okay ones, combined with HP stacking skills that let me hit over 400. I lost all four lives on Hades’ fight. Because he’s just too fast for me to deal with, when using these shitty fist weapons at close range, with limited boons. To a degree, boons supplement and are what gets me through or not, but realistically my skill level just can’t handle that movement speed. I need range. I need range so bad.

On the plus side of things, I’ve gotten used to the bow. Aspect of Chiron, I think, is the one with the homing shots on Special? I adore that. I put a lot into that particular skill, and it’s been fantastic. If I can get a boon that stacks effects with Special, like stacks of Hangover or Chill with Burst, it’s ridiculous. I love it.

On the negative side, apparently my best is still the gun. This in spite of how much I fucking hate using the gun. My big issue is that, unless you get one of a handful of weapon upgrades for it, the Gun winds up being complete trash. The big one is Rocket Launcher. If I can just make my special less stupid, I feel better. But the other is the spread bomb. That one isn’t like...as useful, but it is really funny. The only other one that I’ve liked is one that gives +6 bullets and some extra attack damage. But really, the problem with the gun is just that it’s annoying, fairly RNG dependent, and also the only one I’ve beaten 6 Heat with. I think the next best is 4, and I have failed to do +3 with the fists. I don’t really know how to feel about this.

I’ve also realized a sort of priority order for things. Top of the list is weapon upgrades. I feel like those are actually gamechangers in how good they can be. Especially for the Gun and Bow. Artemis’ Aid remains my #1 boon pick, while I’ve grown pretty fond of aiming for Dionysus, Ares, and in some cases, Zeus. Though Zeus is very specific to piling on Jolted damage as well. I’ve also taken to Chaos Gates early in the run. Late in the run, the HP cost is a bit high, and I do not want to have detrimental effects in Elysium, but in early zones? The benefits can be really nice.

Still plugging away at it. I imagine one day I’ll even finish a sidequest! But for now, I’m still just grinding away, trying to get everyone capped out on Nectar, at least.

#hades game

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elvesofnoldor · 2 years

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#mae overshares #i went to bed at around 3am and woke up at 7am. and i thought abt t//soa and i got really sad and i couldn't fall back to sleep again #im not supposed to feel this restless and awake with only three hours of sleep to show for #it was like going to bed with a sniffle and running nose. hoping it'd go away and wake up with a throbbing sore throat instead #next time i read a sad story again im not doing it alone. i gotta get it out of the system before it festers like this #but since ive done it alone. now im on tumblr dot com again. acting like a depressed clown of very little talents with words #i just...i had hope it wasn't going to be this bad. like. i knew the story of achilles and patroclus. it was common knowledge #and while i was still early on the story. when they were still at chiron's rose quartz cave. i kept telling myself 'remember they had this'#not everyone gets to grow up and live the most content and simple life with the love of your life. and they had that. and thats enough #what happened after this. is just life. with the mistakes. regrets and losses it will inevitably bring to them. as it did to everyone else #and it STILL hurt like a motherfucker when i read to the end of the novel. i feel very silly. it's a YA novel. doesnt seem to be worth it #there is so much i want to talk about in regards to the story. in regards to achilles' pride and selfishness #and how he's the real culprit behind his love's death. and how it is that knowledge and the pain it produces that drove him to madness #no sane person can handle so much pain and so much anger. it had to go somewhere. so it went to hector. it was pitiful #sure. grief is love preserving. but it will never explode the way achilles' did had it not been mixed with guilt #but anyways. it's been said a thousands times over. by other people. probably. i wouldn't elaborate further. nobody is reading anyways #i actually started reading t//soa because i couldn't keep reading lotr trilogy. that's what ive come to say. actually #now that everybody's stopped reading i can say it. im more embarrassed by the fact that i was not enjoying lotr #than i am by the fact that im emotionally devastated over a YA novel. im supposed to be tolkien fan #but you know what i love most about the stories tolkien produced? the legends left only in sketches and few lines of words #the ones left only in few broken manuscripts. in verses of lays of beleriand. in few lines of scribbled words. the elder days #as a child i always loved high tales. when i got annoyed at greek gods' cruelty and selfishness that's around the time i turned tolkien #the hobbits and their quaint way of life are fine. but they live in a time where all the tales i cared about are in the distant past #i just picked up t//soa at a time when i wanted a story like it. taking the matter of ancient songs and legends and make it flesh and blood #there are several tolkien fics i had in the planning stage. but the reasons i wanted to write them is because i want stories like t//soa #sure reading t//soa also inspired me to make improvements to my own story idea. it always happened when i read a story i really like #i started daydreaming my own manuscript. i instinctually started to imitate the style and the voice of the author #idk. maybe this time something substantial will come out of it. eventually.

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fearlessinger · 2 years

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reading @tsarinatorment‘s musings on Will made me want to gush abt Apollo and Will a bit more and before I knew it this had morphed into a whole essay whoops.

For me, a moment that always stuck out as defining of their relationship is this one:

I would have ignored Chiron’s warning and run into the forest except for Will’s panicked shout, “Apollo, I need you!”

At the far end of the field, he had set up an impromptu hospital where half a dozen campers lay injured on stretchers. He was frantically tending to Paolo Montes while Nico held down the screaming patient.

I ran to Will’s side and winced at what I saw. Paolo had managed to get one of his legs sawed off.

“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.

“Y-yes,” I said. “Yes, of course.”

which is impactful enough on first read: it happens at a time when we have been given so little reason to think of Apollo as anything other than a vacuous poser, the kind who doesn’t take well at all to being told he’s being unreasonable, or wrong, and here’s Will (a 15 year old child, although one who has tragically been forced to grow up far too early and quickly) literally scolding him in front of the whole camp… and Apollo’s not offended. He doesn’t even have a moment of knee-jerk defensiveness. His only thought is that Will is right, and he would do well to follow his example. And he does, immediately, hurries to obey his son’s command without another word.

Coming back to this after the end of the series, knowing all that we know about Apollo by then, Apollo’s reaction has even more significance.

And after this, something interesting happens in Apollo’s narration. Up until this moment, he’d been very committed to bragging any chance he got abt having discovered/encouraged/inspired this or that musician or actor or art piece, but from now on names of famous doctors and scientific discoveries start to crop up too. It’s like seeing Will at work has reminded him he has reason to take pride in being a patron of medicine. And yes, it all sounds like made up bullshit at the time, I myself absolutely believed it to be made up bullshit at first, because that IS how Apollo presents it, but the thing is… looking back on it with the hindsight provided by having gotten to the end of the story, having peeled back all the layers of the Apollo onion and seen the core truth of it… I am genuinely convinced now at least like 90% of the boasts he was making then can plausibly be, and probably are, actually true.

Seeing Will at work reminded Apollo of the good he had actually done, of the good he could, even now, still, actually do. It gave him back purpose, even though at the time he would not allow himself to admit it openly, directly, because this isn’t the kind of purpose that Apollo had been taught he should want to have, and he’d internalized the teaching so thoroughly he’d forgotten how happy it made him to be a healer.

But when he sees Will at work, Will who is kind, who is caring, who is so profoundly devoted to helping people, who is at heart everything Apollo had tried so, so very hard to stop being… he just cannot see it as a bad thing. He just can’t.

It’s by loving Will - and Kayla and Austin, and a lot of other people too, but Will especially because Will really embodies the part of Apollo that Apollo had wished to cut himself off from most fervently, and at the same time the part that he’d been less successful in eradicating too, because it is really the cornerstone of his whole being... it’s by loving Will that Apollo learns to embrace who he really is.

And so we get to their reunion in the last book, when Apollo finds the courage to say it explicitly

My beautiful son, with his kind eyes, his healer’s hands, his sun-warm demeanor. Somehow, he had inherited all my best qualities and none of the worst.

”My best qualities,” he calls them, finally, after he’d spent the first three books calling them weakness and a good portion of the third and fourth still denying to have ever been capable of kindness and selflessness.

But even as he acknowledges Will has inherited his good qualities from him, Apollo doesn’t take credit for them. They are his son’s. Will’s the one who made them grow and shine. Will’s the one who gave them back to him tenfold.

Apollo’s made clear his stance on parenthood very early on (so early on that this too sounded fake when he first said it, he’d made sure of it): “a father should give more to his children than he takes”. But Will gave him everything and he gave his son not even a fraction of what he deserves, and in Apollo's mind there’s no way Will doesn’t hold this against him on some level, bc Apollo absolutely does. He’s so proud of Will; he doesn’t think Will can possibly take any pride in being associated with him beyond the superficial connection to power that his name implies (“as if he could be mistaken as anything but a child of the sun god” he thinks of the literal sun tattoo Will got on his “left pectoral” because why would his son choose to tattoo his dad’s symbol over his heart if not to show off?). He does not expect to be welcomed back at camp. He’s moved to tears when Will gives him those clothes and tells him “I was hoping you’d come back”.

And Will is really pretty straightforward about his desire to have his father in his life, but that’s precisely the one thing Apollo cannot give or even promise to him, to any of his children who are all asking him the same thing even if none of them quite dares put it in words... because they know. They know he will not be able to say yes even if he wants to. And Apollo from his part does not say he wants to, because what good would expressing that sentiment do when he doesn’t have the power to back it up with his actions? Apollo doesn’t believe in words that aren’t backed up by actions.

This is the shame that weighs him down, still, too much to let him see that just his words of approval mean the world to his children. To Will in particular, who's always struggled with the feeling that doing anything less than everything isn't enough, that doing anything less than everything is a failure, much like his father does.

But they don't have the time to get to know each other enough to realize how similar they are in this too.

#rrverse #will solace #toa

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zodiacrant · 3 years

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💘Astro Notes💘

(All about Partners, Love, Marriage and Children, plus some Sex)

(These may or may not apply to you, please keep an open mind and take it as entertainment rather than life changing facts)

(This was highly requested so I took my time with it to gather as much information on romantic partners, children and possibly marriage)

A post by @4thouse to check the signs of your degrees

💘The degrees of Venus, the house our Venus resides in and the 7th house tells us alot about our perfect match or the “love of our life” if you will. (Ex. I have Gemini Venus in 25 degrees, so I am very attracted to Aries like people. My Venus is in the 5th house at 13 degrees, another Aries degree, which means I’ll meet this person in a social setting like a party, a club, a hangout, a show, a bar or a gathering. Finally, my 7th house at 3 degrees means I am very likely to be with another Gemini Venus.)

💘Moon Square Venus leaves a strain or a distance between the parent and their children.

💘Uranus in the 8th is very likely to be super chill about sex and might have no standards at all. They’re attracted to non conforming people.

💘The 4th and 10th house can give us an insight into how we act differently in a relationship. The 4th house is us in private, while the 10th in public. (Ex. Virgo 4th and Pisces 10th is like an “angel in streets and a devil in the sheets”.)

💘When it comes to sex, our 9th house tells us about our hookups and our stance on them. Having a Water or a Fire sign, Sun, Mars or Jupiter makes it easier for the person to “hit it and quit it”. While on the other hand, having an Earth or Air sign, Moon, Venus, or Saturn in the 9th makes it harder for the person to be fully open about one night stands. However, they’re very likely to have friends with benefits or a regular hookup buddy.

💘Although the 1st, 2nd, 7th and 8th have to do with the physical aspects of attraction and relationships but the 3rd and 6th is what people ultimately love us for. Our way of talking, interests, topics of discussion, humor, odd behaviors, and imperfections. They’re the things we try to hide or monitor to appear more appealing to people.

💘Chiron and the house it resides in is our baggage. The emotional landfill that comes with being in a relationship with you. The sign of the Chiron is what are we harboring and the house it resides in is about what. (Ex. I have Sagittarius Chiron in 10th house Scorpio. So my baggage is all about freedom, attachment, trust, communication and, thanks to the 10th, daddy issues. Yay!!)

💘Don’t hold too hard onto someone that has your Sun in their 12th. Their purpose is to teach you a karmic lesson.

💘Our Water houses tell us what will our kids inherit from us. 4th house is how we raise them, 8th our mental issues, habits and problems, 12th is what they will ultimately make out of it themselves and how will they end growing up to be.

💘Our first crushes and instant attractions have the sign of our Venus in their 1st, 2nd or 7th

💘People with Water in the 2nd would love a big wedding.

💘The degree of the Moon and Saturn, along with the houses they reside in give us insight to us as parents. (Ex. I have Moon in 0 degrees so I may never physically have a child of my own or if I do have a biological child, then I won’t have an emotional connection with them. It’s in 11th house at 13th degrees, which means being a parental figure or an inspiration rather than a conventional parent. Saturn in 7 degrees makes me diplomatic, fair and understanding when disciplining. I have Saturn in 3rd house at 18 degrees, making me either too tough or too easy on them.)

💘Aries in 7th house might be over it before it even starts.

💘Houses with Mutable signs tells you about your fetish and/or odd turn on’s. (Ex. Having a Mutable AS, 4th, 7th, 10th is very into daddy/mommy and boy/girl fantasy, Power dynamics, role play, rags to riches stories, boss and employee etc)

💘Adding on the previous point. That’s why people with reoccurring Mutable signs over the houses, having 6 at most, can be perceived as sexually adventurous and comfortable with their sexuality.

💘The degree of the 5th house can tell you about the sign of the person you’ll have your first child with.

💘Moon Trine MC is very likely to have children early on or yern for kids from a young age. (I am talking 18+ people, not kids)

💘Pluto and/or Uranus in 4th/5th/7th will despise the idea of marriage and having children. Uranus might look at it as a trap that will take away their freedom. They will likely agree to do it organically and naturally as they find someone they love and feel ready to settle. Pluto, however, that’ll be like turning the Earth upside down. Even when they get married and have children, they will always be their own priority. Pluto in this house requires them to transform and become content with themselves on the inside to be happy with the outside.

💘Venus conjunct Uranus and/or Neptune, as well as those who have it in th 9th, 11th or 12th are good with long distance relationships.

💘Venus Trine/Conjunct Jupiter are attractive to people. No matter how they look, act, talk, they could shit on your bed and people would still worship them.

💘Having your Sun in someone’s Moon and the other way around is complementary but not strong enough to form a true bond.

💘The degree of your 1st house will let you know how you should act to attract desired partners.

💘The degree of a Mother’s Saturn and Moon predicts their children’s Sun sign or dominant sign.

💘Lilith in the 5th may dreaded having kids or is not going to be happy with how they turned out.

💘Mutable Lilith in the 4th indicates losing family or leaving them behind. I find this to be also relevant to Mutable sign in the 4th but the presence of Lilith suggests it will happen negatively or out of need not want.

💘Gemini in the 7th is actually very picky about their partners.

💘Having an Earth sign over the 8th or the 8th in an Earth degree indicates marrying a rich person, because of the 8th house association with inheritance. (Or you could be the rich person in question.)

💘Because the 2nd house is the family life and home we were brought into, the 10th is the one we ultimately ended up creating. The sign over the 10th along with planets residing there (if there were) give us an insight of our future home life.

💘People with planets residing in the same houses have a longstanding relationship.

💘You’re very likely to date people with your Mars being their Sun and vice versa.

💘North Node in the 2nd, 5th, 7th or/and in Taurus, Leo or Libra will have a successful long lasting relationship. This will only come true if they work on turning from their South Node (past self) to the North Node (present self)

💘Libra and Cancer MC idea of success involves a romantic love story

💘Saturn and/or Neptune in 7th might stay in a relationship regardless of how horrible it gets. With Saturn, these relationships have a sense of familiarity and predictability, which gives them comfort. For Neptune, it’s the fear of never finding love, so they decide to stay with a bad certainty than a good maybe.

💘Pisces and Taurus Moons are prone to stick out a bad relationship. They will do everything until there’s nothing more to do.

💘Having opposing North Nodes could mean this person is your soulmate. (This doesn’t have to necessarily be romantic though)

💘It is stated that people with Uranus in 5th or the 7th will never truly settle.

(I hope enjoyed the post. I wanted to add what the 4th and 5th can tell us about marriage, kids and us as parents but because they’re 24 individual points then I’ll post them separately. Love you 💕)

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elminx · 3 years

Text

Energy Update: September 2021

Happy September!

Numerologically, September is a 5 universal month [9 (September) + 5 (2021) = 14 = 1+4 = 5] in a 5 universal year. In numerology, the number 5 represents the pivotal moment in the middle of it all. It holds the vastness of all futures – both good and ill. 5 represents freedom and adventure. A 5 month is, in general, a time to tap in and go with the flow – it’s not a time to make your lists and check them twice; instead, it’s a time to think big and say “yes”. We’ve been sitting in 5 energy all year so this may feel like a bit of a homecoming for some or very nerve-wracking for others. This will have a lot to do with your own personality and comfortability with 5 energy.

Astrologically, the month of September is a mismatch for our 5 universal energy. We spend most of the month in Virgo season and may have to spend quite a bit of time putting in the work to catch up on things that we fell behind on during summer vacation. Whether it’s back to school or back to work, Virgo season always has a feeling of settling into your routines again or perhaps finding a new and more healthful routine.

The Setup

The Sun is in Virgo for most of the month, Mercury spends the entirety of the month in Libra, Venus finishes her stint in Libra and moves ahead into Scorpio, and Mars enters Libra at the midway point in the month. As our planets transit through Virgo, they are squaring off with the lunar nodes, trining retrograde Uranus in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn, and opposing retrograde Neptune in Pisces. As they transit Libra, they are reactivating our Saturn-Uranus square through a trine to Saturn, trine to retrograde Jupiter, and opposing retrograde Chiron in Aries. Venus whose the head of our pack will be squaring off with Saturn and opposing Uranus once she enters Scorpio.

We are still under the effect of our Saturn in Aquarius square to Uranus in Taurus – this is our Unstoppable Force meets immovable object energy that is in effect throughout the rest of the year.

Additionally, we are deep into retrograde season with all of our outer and transpersonal planets in retrograde. Mercury will join these planets later this month for its third retrograde of the year in the sign of Libra.

For a sneak peek of October: Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto all station direct from 10/6-10/18 – this is the Green Light you’ve been waiting for. Now we just need to get there.

The Nitty Gritty

September is filled with contradictory vibes and may feel like a roller coaster. One day you may feel invincible and full of the highest highs but it is worth keeping in mind all month that what goes up must come down. We are all subject to gravity – plan accordingly. In particular, the first and third weeks of the month look fairly rocky while the third and fourth weeks have promise and moments of sweetness. This is a month to tidy up – to work smarter rather than harder. To pair down your responsibilities and make sure you are maintaining healthy boundaries around work, play, and excess.

The 5 energy may give the impression that it’s go time but it’s really not. Not yet. We will have six planets and Chiron retrograde by the end of the month which is always an indication that our energy is best expressed in an inward fashion.

Two of our personal planets (Venus and Mars) change signs this month which will personalize the energy with some emphasis on the relationships in our lives. While Mars is in Libra, we may be called to balance out the relationship energy we share with our others in some way – early on Mars will make an opposition to our wounded healer Chiron in Aries – there is pain to go through to get to the other side. Venus in Scorpio can be harsh and unyielding but also deep and seductive. These two energies do not sit well together, Venus may try to control (especially with emotions – using toxic tactics like the silent treatment or double binds) while Mars just wants everybody to find peace and get along. The more space you can give your others, the better off you will be.

Relationships may be especially tense around the new moon in Virgo on 9/5-9/6 as Venus in Libra squares of with retrograde Pluto in Capricorn while Mars in Virgo makes a trine. This year is all about transformations – first, we need to transform internally, but then this transformation needs to ripple outward and into our realities. There may be some break-ups and breakdowns during this time – it is likely that some long-term partners (Capricorn rules marriage, let’s not forget) are starting to realize that their connection has run its course.

In a year when it feels like we need to hold onto everything (influenced by our long-term Saturn-Uranus square in the fixed signs), this may feel catastrophic. Uranus in Taurus has a big lesson for us now: nothing lasts forever and retrograde Pluto in Capricorn is reinforcing this lesson. Now is the time to release what you have outgrown. It will likely feel very uncomfortable this month to continue to wear your mostly shed skin. As you navigate this energy, make the choices that are best suited for who you would most like to be, and you alone.

Herein lies the secret to navigating this month and really the energy of all of 2021: give up the illusion that you can control or “help” other people, and instead work controlling and “helping” yourself. As Anne Lamott says “Help is just the sunny side of control.” We are being pushed by our Saturn-Uranus square towards an ever-deepening understanding of this lesson and, since Virgo is a sign concerned with service and helping others, this will be especially accentuated as our sun transits the sign of the virgin. The lesson may come due on 9/14 as our Sun in Virgo opposed retrograde Neptune in Pisces – this is a day to give up the illusion (Neptune in Pisces) that we can control (Sun in Virgo) our Others.

Especially right now, our Others may be on an internal journey that is impossible for us to reach or understand. We’ve all had to make hard decisions and recalculations since the beginning of 2020 – beware of following your Others to a place that feels uncomfortable to be AND most especially of demanding your Others follow you to a place that feels uncomfortable for them. Be especially aware of projection and the illusionary stories that you tell yourself – especially as we approach our full moon in Pisces on 9/20 that is conjunct Neptune retrograde. As we enter our month to finally get shit done in October, we want to do so with our eyes wide open. See things as they really are, not as you would like them to be.

The entirety of September and October will be overshadowed by our Mercury retrograde in Libra cycle. Mercury enters its shadow on 9/6, officially retrogrades 9/27, stations direct again on 10/28, and doesn’t exit its post-shadow until November. The standard Mercury retrograde things apply: get your car fixed before the retrograde (change your oil, too!), double-check your work, save often, and watch out for miscommunication and upsets involving technology and travel. Because Mercury Chthonia is transversing backward through the Venus-ruled sign of Libra, this is another indication that this time will be spent re-thinking, re-imagining, re-editing things that have to do within our most personal relationships.

Mercury Chthonia’s path spans from 10° to 25° of Libra which means that it will trine retrograde Jupiter, just barely miss an exact trine with retrograde Saturn, square retrograde Pluto, and opposed retrograde Chiron not once but thrice through its retrograde journey. This will likely be the densest retrograde cycle of the year but potentially the most rewarding. If the message seems murky and unclear, write out your experiences for review after Mercury stations direct – you may find that there were hints of your lesson that you were too “in it” to see.

The lower energy of Libra is prone to emotional entanglements and codependency so it’s likely we will be revisiting these themes in our own lives during this time. Watch out for where you are not allowing your Others to differentiate or be themselves. Watch out for where you are stifling yourself to please your Others as well. Chiron in Aries is always a lesson in putting on your own mask first BEFORE you step up help an/Other put their mask on. Again, see above about maintaining strong boundaries this month – do less but make what you do count for more.

Balance truly is the way through this month but it may be hard to find. Practice your very best self-care and make sure that when you say “yes” to things, you really mean it. This is a month that could easier run away from you if you’re checking out on yourself or trying to do all of the things with no hand on the brake petal. Breath and put one foot in front of the other – slow and steady will get you to the finish line. Once our planets station direct in October, we will be able to move faster.

Below, I’ve broken down the important daily aspects of the month. Please keep in mind that the days listed are just the days that these aspects go exact in EST – strong aspects can be felt anywhere from 2-7 days (or more!) in advance of their completion and for a number of days afterward. I have bolded the most important aspects.

The Aspects

9/2 – Mars in Virgo opposed Neptune retrograde in Pisces, Moon in Cancer square Venus in Libra – this could spell relationship troubles. Mars is off in daydream land while Venus is feeling triggered. Lie low and try not to put undue pressure on your Others during these transits.

9/3 – Mercury in Libra trine N. Node in Gemini – watch out for Ah-Ha moments and signs that show you a way forward on this day.

9/4 – Moon in Leo squares retrograde Uranus in Taurus – here we see one of our four monthly days where the moon reactivates our Saturn-Uranus square. Lie low. Stay aware. Caution.

9/5 – Mercury in Libra trine retrograde Saturn in Aquarius – the energy is volatile – expect breakdowns and breakthroughs especially involving communication about long term things

9/6 – New moon at 14° Virgo, Mercury enters their shadow, Venus in Libra trine Jupiter retrograde in Aquarius, Venus in Libra square Pluto retrograde in Capricorn, Mars in Virgo trine Pluto retrograde in Capricorn – Pluto’s influence on this new moon (through both Venus and Mars) is unmistakeable – something has got to transform. With both and Venus and Mars involved, it may be a change within your relationships. Remember to reach for balance (Venus in Libra) and compromise if it is available.

9/7 – Sun in Virgo trine retrograde Uranus in Taurus – expect (and embrace) the unexpected during this time. What you hold onto too tightly may break. Stay away from the illusion of control during this time.

9/8 – Moon conjunct Mercury in Libra, Moon in Libra trine retrograde Saturn in Aquarius, Moon and Mercury opposed retrograde Chiron in Aries – this is an air grand trine which means that we are supporting in learning something during this transit. This re-activates our Saturn-Uranus square and Chiron – the lesson is likely to be heavy. Avoid using your emotions as a copout to understanding.

9/10 – Venus enters Scorpio, Moon in Scorpio square retrograde Saturn in Aquarius – this is our first hint as to what it is going to feel like to revisit our Saturn-Uranus square during Scorpio season. Take note.

9/13 – Moon in Sagittarius square retrograde Neptune in Pisces – something may be revealed today and it may feel like a major setback. Pivot your attention and focus on things that you CAN change.

9/14 – Sun in Virgo opposed retrograde Neptune in Pisces, Mars enters Libra – a repeat on 9/13 – you may not have all of the information. All that glitters is not gold. Watch out for “helper” behavior that isn’t helpful and victim/savior complexes.

9/16 – Moon conjunct retrograde Saturn in Aquarius – this is another of our four lunar activation points to our Saturn-Uranus square. Make sure the weight of the responsibility you are carrying is actually yours.

9/17 – Sun in Virgo trine retrograde Pluto in Capricorn, Venus in Scorpio square Saturn retrograde in Aquarius – in a month that begs for transformation, this is one of our powerhouse days – level up. Change may be uncomfortable but it will be even more uncomfortable to stay in your too-tight skin. Watch out for the control through emotional manipulation because this again activates our Saturn-Uranus square and Uranus is not having any of that shit.

9/20 – Full moon at 28° Pisces, Moon conjunct retrograde Neptune, Mercury in Libra trine Jupiter retrograde in Aquarius, Mars in Libra trine N. Node in Gemini – where are you going? do you have a path forward? Things may seem foggy and immutable at this time. Watch out for your boundaries and projection. The Mercury-Jupiter trine repeats during Mercury retrograde on 10/3.

9/22 – The Sun enters Libra, Mercury in Libra square retrograde Pluto in Capricorn, Venus in Scorpio opposed retrograde Uranus in Taurus – Happy Autumnal Equinox! The seasons are shifting but there’s a metric fuckton of tension in the air. Tamper down the emotional volatility – not everything needs to be a struggle. Tap into the Libra ideal of peace and balance for all. The Mercury-Pluto square repeats during Mercury retrograde on 10/01.

9/24 – Moon conjunct retrograde Uranus in Taurus, Moon in Taurus opposed Venus in

Scorpio – there’s a lesson here in letting go of control. This reactivates our Saturn-Uranus square…again. Step away from the Venus in Scorpio impulse for revenge.

9/25 – Mars in Libra trine retrograde Saturn in Aquarius – this is a good day to put in the work.

9/26 – Moon in Gemini trine Sun and Mars in Libra and retrograde Saturn in Aquarius. – another air grand trine. Show up for your own life – what you focus on grows.

9/27 – Mercury retrograde at 25° Libra – go slow. check your work. save often. Mercury retrograde 3-4x every year since this is normal Astrological Weather but still important to pay attention to. In the sign of Libra, Mercury will likely help you to rebalance something about your relationships.

9/29 – Sun in Libra trine Saturn retrograde in Aquarius, Venus in Scorpio trine retrograde Neptune in Pisces – you may want to work but it’s likely that your head will be in the clouds. Watch out for emotional dysregulation. The Sun activates our Saturn-Uranus square so caution would be advised.

9/30 – Moon in Cancer square Mercury retrograde in Libra, Moon in Cancer opposed retrograde Pluto in Capricorn, Venus in Scorpio square retrograde Jupiter in Aquarius – go slow, emotions are high. Misunderstandings will have a lasting impact during this time.

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#witchblr #words #mine #astrology #transits #energy update #September 2021 #Virgo season #Libra season #Saturn square Uranus #Mercury retrograde #Mercury RX #Mercury retrograde in Pluto

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michaels-blackhat · 3 years

Note

thoughts on evil Forrest 😈

We are going to start out by apologizing. This is very very late. I’m sure when you sent this ask, you meant it to be in the same joking tone that I approach all of my other propaganda posts. Sadly, this is actually going to be a deep dive into a few Evil Forrest related things, including the moment I feel they changed directions, the perfect wasted build-up, and the implications of the change/how it then negatively impacted the story. As I’m sure you already know, by being on my blog at all, I don’t think the story was good to begin with, so we are going to focus on the weird hoops they made themselves jump through to make that story still work. Additionally, I am only going to mention once, right now, how much of a waste it was to not have Forrest ‘fall for his mark’ and complete one of my absolute favorite tropes. Honestly, I think “because I want it” is a completely valid reason to like Evil Forrest. But, the question was “Thoughts on Evil Forrest” and these thoughts have been developing for over a year and a half. So, I apologize in advance.

The majority of this is under a cut, with highlights in the abstract. If no one wants to read this, I understand completely. Go ahead, skip it.

Note: it pains me greatly to not actually have full sources for this essay. Just know that in my heart I am using proper APA citations, I just absolutely do not feel like digging through tweets to find sources to properly cite.

Abstract:

Previous research indicates that Roswell New Mexico has a history of repeating excuses to explain mid-season changes to plots. This essay explores how those excuses are not only loads of crap, but how they hinder the show’s ability to tell a coherent story, misuse the multiple-plot structure to enhance the themes being explored, and lead to decisions that mean the show continuously goes over budget. This also means that characters are not used to their full potential and has led to what some fans consider to be “out of character” behaviors. While these behaviors are not universally agreed on, evidence can be shown that these behaviors directly contradict emotionally important character arc/plot points in the show.

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitment because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

The concept of Evil Forrest has been with the fandom as early as New York Comic Con (NYCC) in 2019, when it was revealed that Alex had a new “blue-haired love interest”. Speculation abounded within the fandom, with some people, including the author, going “yeah, he’s evil” while others rejoiced in the concept of Alex having a loving partner. Speculation increased as fans discussed Tyler Blackburn’s seeming disinterest in his new love interest, prompting some once again to scream “EVIL” at the top of their lungs to anyone who would listen. Very little was revealed, beyond the fact that the new character would show up somewhere around episode 3 of the second season.

Episode 2.04 aired with some commenting on how he barely interacted with Alex- prompting more evil speculation- and others excited to see the characters interact more. The character appears again in 2.06, where he invites Alex to dubious spoken word poetry (which Alex attends); 2.08, where they have a paintball date and go to The Wild Pony; 2.10, where the two are seen writing together briefly at the beginning of the episode; and 2.13, where Alex performs his song at open mic night, tells Forrest his relationship with the person in the song was long over, and they kiss. Forrest was not revealed to be evil during season 2.

Amidst the season airing, Word of God via Twitter post announced that yes, Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, though not the main villain, but it was changed as filming progressed.

The Word of God Twitter post revealed that Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, but they decided that they could not make their “blue-haired gay man” a villain. This mirrors a similar situation and excuse used the previous season, where the character of Jenna Cameron was originally planned to work with Jesse Manes against the aliens, before it was changed because they just “loved Riley [the actress] too much”. Both of these examples occurred while already filming and reflect on a larger problem with the show. Though not the topic of this essay, it is important to note that both characters are white, both in the show and by virtue of being played by white actors. The fact that they couldn’t be villains for one reason or another is not a courtesy extended to the male villains who are all the most visibly brown, and thus ‘other’, members of the cast.

This also highlights the fact that, via Twitter, it has been revealed two other times that occurrences that were reported in season 1 also occurred in season 2. During the airing of episode 1.02, it was revealed that the single best build-up of tension in the show- when Alex walks to the Airstream not saying a word to Michael after a dramatic declaration- happened because one actor was sick at the time and they had to go back and film the kisses later. At the point of airing for episode 2.08, it was revealed that one of the actors were sick and unable to film a kissing scene. Allegedly, this caused the writers to retool the entire scene and deviate from the plan to make that subplot about Coming Out. The execution of this subplot will be explored later in this essay.

The last occurrence revealed via Twitter also revealed larger issues within the show: lack of planning and poor budgeting. During the airing of season 1, Tyler Blackburn was needed for an extra episode beyond his contracted 10. A full explanation was never given, but speculation about poor planning and to fill in because Heather Hemmens had to miss one of her 10 episodes due to scheduling conflicts for another project. During the airing of season 2, yet another tweet came out saying they made a mistake and Tyler would once again be in an additional episode. No explanations beyond “a mistake” were given, though once again speculation occurred. It is the opinion of the author that this was due to changing plot points over halfway through writing, while episodes were already in production. It has been speculated by some that these changes occurred during the writing of 2.08, which was being finished/pre-production was occurring roughly around the time of NYCC 2019.

Previous Literature:

A brief look at different theories of plots and subplots

Many people have written on the subject of plotting, for novels and screen alike. The author is more familiar with film writing than tv, but a lot of the concepts carry over. Largely, the B- and C- (and D- and E-… etc) plots should reinforce the theme of the A-plot. This can be through the use of a negative example, where the antithesis of the theme is explored to reinforce the theme presented by the A plot, or through other examples of the theme, generally on a small scale.

A movie example of this would be Hidden Figures (2016), where the A-plot explores how race and gender impact the main character (Katherine Johnson) in her new job. The B-plots explore the other characters navigating the same concepts in different settings and ways- learning a new skill as to not become obsolete and breaking boundaries there (Dorothy Vaugn) and being the first black woman to complete a specific degree program and the fight it took to get there (Mary Jackson). A TV example that utilizes this concept of plot and theme is the 911 shows. Each of the rescues in a given episode will directly relate to the overall theme of the episode and the overall plot for the focus character. This example is extremely blunt. It does not use any tools to hide the connection, to the point you can often guess the outcome for that A-plot fairly quickly.

This is not the only way to explore themes within visual media. Moonlight (2016) looks at three timestamps in the life of Chiron. Each timestamp has a plot even if they feel more like individual scenes or moments rather than plots as some are more used to in films. Each time stamp deals with rejection, isolation, connection, and acceptance in different ways. So while there is no clear A-, B-, or C-Plot, each time stamp works as their own A-Plot to explore the themes in a variety of ways, particularly by starting out in a place of rejection and moving to acceptance or a place of connection to isolation.

Please note that there are many ways to write multiple plots, there are just two examples.

While there are flaws within season 1 of RNM, overall the themes stayed consistent throughout the season, mainly the theme of alienation. The theme threads through the Alien’s isolation/alienation from humanity which is particularly seen through Michael’s unwillingness to participate and Isobel’s over participation. There is Rosa’s isolation from others, how her friendship with “Isobel” ended up compounding her existing alienation from her support system due to her mental illness and coping mechanisms. We see how Max and Liz couldn’t make connections. This theme presented itself over and over in season 1. While this essay is not an exploration of the breakdown of themes in season 2, it should be noted that there were some threads that followed throughout the season. The theme of mothers/motherhood was woven throughout season 2, with some elements more effective than others. Please contact the author for additional thoughts on Helena Ortecho and revenge plots.

One of the largest problems within season 2 was the sheer number of plots jammed into the season. These plot threads often ended up hindering the effectiveness of the themes and made the coherence of the season suffer. Additionally, a lot of them were convoluted and difficult to follow.

Thesis:

Essentially, season 2 was a mess. To look at it holistically is almost an exercise in futility. Either you grow angry about the dropped plots and premises, you hand wave them off, or you fill them in for yourself. Instead, this essay proposes to look at individual elements to explain why Forrest should have stayed evil.

We first meet Forrest in 2.04 when he is introduced on the Long Family Farm, which we later learn was the location where our past alien protagonists had their final standoff. He’s introduced. He’s largely just there. The audience learns he has more of a history with Michael. In 2.06, we meet him again with his dog Buffy (note: poor Buffy has not been seen again and we miss a chunky queen). There’s mild flirting, Alex is invited to an open mic night, which he attends. For the purpose of this essay, the author’s thoughts on the poetry will not be expressed. Readers can take a guess.

It is after this point that the author speculates the Decision was made. This choice to make Forrest not evil- paired with the aforementioned ‘can’t kiss, someone’s sick’- impacted the plot. We have Alex have a scene with his father- which the author believes could have been pushed to a different episode- and then have Alex go on a date and then not kiss Forrest at the end of the night. Here, the audience sees Forrest hit Alex in the leg, allegedly not knowing he had lost his leg despite ‘looking him up’, which parallels the shot to the leg that happens to Charlie. Besides wasting this ABSOLUTELY TEXTBOOK SET UP WTF, it also takes Alex away from the main plot and then forces a new plot for him. Up to this point, Alex’s plot was discovering more about the crash and his family’s involvement. Turning Alex’s date from a setup for evil Forrest to a Coming Out story adds yet another plot thread to a packed season. It is also the author’s thought that this is where the convoluted kidnapping plot comes in. With Forrest already in 2.10 for a moment, a plot where Alex is evil has Forrest attack him for Deep Sky rather than Jesse abduct him for a piece of alien glass Alex was going to give him anyway and then for Flint to abduct Alex from Jesse. It’s messy. In a bad way. Evil Forrest would have been a cleaner set up: no taking back a piece of alien glass Alex gave to Michael in a touching moment. No double abduction. Instead, there is only Forrest, who Alex trusts, breaking that trust to take him as leverage over Michael.

Implications:

Now, Alex has two plots (Tripp & Coming Out). The Coming Out plot is largely ineffective, as they are only relevant to scenes with Forrest and have the undercurrent of there only being a certain acceptable way to be out. This could have been used for Alex to discover his comfort levels, mirroring Isobel’s self discovery, but there was not enough screen time for that. Additionally, Isobel’s coming out story was about her allowing herself the freedom to explore. Alex’s story was about the freedom to… act like this dude wanted him to. Alex’s internalized homophobia played out often in the series but it was also informed by the violence he experienced at Jesse’s hands and the literal hate crime he and his high school boyfriend experienced. With that in mind, the “kissing to piss off bigots” line comes off poorly. This is a character who experienced what a pissed off bigot could do- reluctance to kiss in public is not the same as not being out. There is more to be said on this topic, but as it is not actually the focus of the essay, it will be put on hold. To surmise: Alex’s coming out is attempted to be framed as being himself, but it is actually the conformity to someone else’s ideals. It does not work as an antithetical to Isobel’s story, as the framing indicates that the conformity/right was to be out contradicts Isobel’s theme.

Further Research:

MAKE FORREST EVIL YOU COWARDS

Author Acknowledgements:

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitement because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

#anti forrest long #i guess #evil forrest propaganda #I asked and no one said don't post it so...#here it is #I started writing this roughly 7 months ago

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chironshorseass · 3 years

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part 1 read on ao3

“So you’re telling me that you haven’t Iris Messaged Annabeth in a month?”

“She was with her cousin, Ma.”

His mother stopped the car right next to Goode—the high school he would (hopefully) be attending in August.

She turned to look at him, that motherly stern look that always came up when she knew he wasn’t telling her everything.

“What?”

She shrugged. “Whatever you say. But physically, you haven’t seen her since last January! I’m just worried that—”

“We emailed each other, though—”

“Yes, but it’s not the same.” At Percy’s roll of the eyes, she held her hands up in surrender. “All I’m saying is to…see if there’s anything wrong. I have a feeling she didn’t want to IM you for some other reason. And I know you, Perce. You have the same feeling as I do.”

He did, but that wasn’t the point. So he kissed his mom on the cheek and stepped out of the car.

“Good luck on your date! And with, um, school!”

He threw her a thumbs up and shouldered his backpack.

Too bad that luck wasn’t on his side that day.

She saw him before he saw her.

He’s grown, was the first thing that came to Annabeth’s mind.

His clothing peppered in burn holes, the smoke wafting further back, and the pretty girl chasing him was registered later.

She saw him before he saw her, and so Percy bumped into her in the alleyway. Her hands went to his shoulders, steadying him.

“Whoah!” she said, laughing. “Watch where you’re going, Seaweed Brain!”

Maybe he thought he’d be late for our date. That’s why he’s in such a hurry.

It didn’t matter. Because he was here, and he was just a bit taller than her—his hair was longer than she remembered, but his green eyes were the same, beautiful color, and...

Then she caught his panicked look. Then she caught the girl behind him and the smoke and his burnt clothing.

“What happened?”

Before he could reply, the redhead called out, “Percy! Wait up!”

Her flip-flops echoed across the relatively quiet street, interrupting Annabeth’s thought process.

“And who‘s she?”

Percy turned to the other girl and waited until she arrived next to them. He glanced at Annabeth, wincing. “It’s uh…it’s a long story.”

“You promised to explain,” the girl insisted, breathless. “About the monsters and the gods and everything.”

“Wait,” Annabeth said. “She’s a demigod?”

“No.”

At the same time, the girl tilted her head and said, “So you’re one of them, too, huh?”

Annabeth felt her mouth fall open in disbelief. She met Percy’s eyes. “You told some mortal about us?”

“My name’s Rachel.”

And my name’s I-don’t-give-a-fuck.

“She can see through the mist,” is all he said.

She shook her head. Out of everything that could happen today…and this was what Fate had decided on.

“Come on.” She tugged on Percy’s arm. “We’re leaving before whatever attacked you comes back.”

He followed her, but not without gazing back at Rachel as though he wanted to stay with her. As though it were easier than being with Annabeth. There was something bubbling in her stomach at that, something that boiled her insides.

“Wait!” Rachel shouted. “You promised to explain!”

She sprinted toward them and took out a sharpie marker she’d sprung out from thin air. Annabeth rolled her eyes. Rachel grasped Percy’s arm and began writing something that looked like numbers.

She wasn’t rolling her eyes anymore.

“My phone number,” Rachel explained. Then she winked at him. “Whenever you can, call me.”

“What was all that about?” Annabeth said. She’d already stormed ahead, taking the lead.

He tried to explain. He’d gone to Goode’s orientation tour, just like she knew he would. There, he’d been attacked by empousa cheerleaders, and thanks to Rachel’s Sight, he’d survived.

“I’d be dead if it weren’t for her,” he said, eyeing his marked arm. “I have to repay her in some way.”

“So now you have her phone number,” she said lightly.

“Uh…yeah.”

“She’s really cute.”

Percy stopped in his tracks. She stopped as well and looked back, realizing that he was staring at her exasperatedly.

“Aw, come on, Annabeth. You and I are literally dating, and I just saw her today—well, except for last year—”

“You’ve met her before?”

He scratched his head, shifting from one foot to the other. “I, uh…yeah. Last year at Hoover Dam.”

Right. When he was looking for me.

She kept walking again.

“Are you seriously upset because of her?” He tried to grab her hand, but she pulled away. “‘Beth, I never—”

“Anyway, I don’t think we can go on our date anymore.” Her tone was scathing, like sharp, twisted knives. But she didn’t care. The gods hated her, apparently, because she and Percy could never be a normal teenage couple.

“Oh, so now you can get all angry with me when we couldn’t even call properly because of your cousin? Not even a single call?”

“That empousai said that the camp would go up in flames, we need to—”

“Don’t change the subject.” He ran up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her halt. The few baby fat he’d still preserved back in winter was gone, replaced with the hints of someone older; with a harshness akin to his father, the Sea God. “How much time did you actually spend with your cousin? Honestly. He couldn’t have been with you all the time, and I tried to be nice and understanding, but did you really—”

“If what that empousa warned you about is true, then we need to head to camp. Right now.”

She left before he could talk about anything else involving her pathetic lies. Left before he could see her blinking back tears. She ran directly into Argus’ van, and once Percy had closed the door, she told the bodyguard to drive directly to camp. No detours.

They didn’t talk on the way there. She stared out the window, watching the passing farms and the cotton sky.

Her first meeting with Percy after months apart and it couldn’t have gone better.

The thing is: Annabeth had changed her mind about camp. In her plans, she’d stay in San Francisco for longer than usual, just to be as far away from Camp Half-Blood as possible. Then, she’d go to New York City, and her and Percy would be taken to camp by Argus.

But plans changed.

Her mother had come, weeks before Annabeth would leave as initially intended. For some strange reason, she’d knocked on her door like Luke all those months ago.

A spluttering Frederick had answered this time. Annabeth trailed behind him, cautious for anything.

Cautious for anything didn’t mean she’d thought Athena would ever consider stopping by.

“Mom?” she’d said, eyes wide.

After greetings were made, Athena had insisted she go to camp immediately. “They are counting on you to be there, Annabeth. You must go. Before it’s too late.”

Annabeth recalled what she’d told Luke:

“People are counting on you—on me”

But hearing it from her mother, seeing her so insistent—enough so that she’d come, personally, to her porch steps—made Annabeth reconsider.

Anyway, this was Athena. Her mother. Who was she to displease her?

So she buried all her worries about Luke and Percy and followed her; in the blink of an eye, she’d arrived at camp, Athena nowhere to be seen. Annabeth hadn’t even had the chance to ask her about why she’d decided to help, out of the blue.

But Athena was right; camp needed her. Apparently, Clarisse’s top-secret quest from last winter had to do with venturing into the Labyrinth. She and Chiron had rescued Chris Rodriguez, an ex-camper who was scouting it in the hopes of finding an entrance to camp for Luke’s army. He’d fallen victim to madness in those dark, underground walls. No one knew why—only that he needed help.

Not only that, but throughout those few weeks, she’d felt as if her mother’s face was implanted in her mind like a brand; she swore she saw those grey eyes everywhere. While she got familiar with Quintus and Mrs. O’Leary. While planning with Clarisse and Chiron. While hanging out with Silena. While scouring the forest with Grover and his new girlfriend, Juniper—searching for an entrance to the Labyrinth.

It got to the point where she lit a match and watched as dozens of olives burst into flames, in the hopes that Athena would respond.

“What do you want from me?”

“Please answer.”

“What do you know that we don’t?”

Everything.

That’s what she’d say, probably. But Annabeth would never know, because Athena never answered. She nearly burned down cabin seven because of this. In her frustration, she scooped up the remaining olives, stomped across camp, and threw them into the sea.

“Thanks for everything,” she muttered, watching the waves greedily drag the olives away.

She didn’t feel eyes burning into her neck after that, but coming back with Percy restarted the process all over again.

An owl was perched on Thalia’s tree. She ignored it, only for it to come back while her and Percy both sat to hear what the Council of Cloven Elders had to say about Grover’s search for Pan.

“Mom. What do you want?”

“Lovely way of greeting your visiting mother, I see.”

Annabeth sighed.

After reasurances to Grover that, ‘Everything will be alright. Don’t worry. I know you’ll find Pan before the Council’s deadline,’ she’d taken to the trees. To where that grey owl was perched.

The owl disappeared, however. Replaced by the goddess of wisdom. So now both mother and daughter stood, a few feet apart, while everyone else gathered on the other side. No one noticed the secret meeting.

“You prayed to me,” Athena said. “Of course I would answer. Even if you did throw the offerings away.”

To where Annabeth threw them away was left unsaid; Athena knew. She knew, and she’d likely come because of it.

Annabeth shrugged.

“You’re angry with me,” Athena observed. “Anger must be controlled, or else unwise decisions happen. Like throwing a prized possession into the sea.”

“Well, Mother,” Annabeth said, jaw tense. “You haven’t exactly been clear about why you’re following me around. Or about why you wanted me to go to camp early in the first place.”

Athena was rarely quick to anger. She calculated everything, patient and firm, just like now.

“Knowing the intentions of the divine can either be a blessing or a curse.”

“But you’re about to tell me something. About to answer me. Am I cursed, then?”

Athena cocked her head, considering.

“No,” she finally said.

There was a glint in her eyes, something that told Annabeth that she was holding back.

“Well, then...I am asking again: why are you here?”

“Because I foresee that you shall lead a quest.”

A pause. Her comment was precise, abrupt as a frigid wind. Annabeth felt herself gaping like a fish. Quickly, she clamped her mouth shut. That was all she wanted, wasn’t it? To lead a quest? But then why did she feel such a profound sense of dread?

“I came to warn you. It won’t be easy.”

She restrained the urge to roll her eyes. “Quests aren’t meant to be easy.”

“Never stray from the plan,” Athena said, ignoring her comment. Her eyes were grey as granite, face hard as marble. “I know that you can…manage your hubris, but this time, it’ll be the ultimate trial for what you can or can’t do. If you can yield or not. You and Perseus both. Hubris can be controlled, but if control itself is the problem...that is very dire, indeed.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I may have made a mistake in assuming Perseus’ fatal flaw. Maybe not. In any case...you must be careful.”

“You assumed what his fatal flaw is?”

Athena regarded her carefully, like one does when studying an ancient scroll. “You can ask him about it. Since you two are...close.”

She said close as if it was a foregin word on her tongue, something she wanted to get rid of.

Of course she knew.

“About that, I don’t care what you—”

“I give you the benefit of the doubt,” Athena said, an eyebrow raised. “My children are known to make wise, rational decisions. I can only hope that you won’t become an exception to that rule. I do not approve, but it is your life. Your choice.”

Annabeth’s mouth felt like sand. Choices. She’d begun to hate them, now.

“What’s Percy’s fatal flaw?”

“Even to me, it’s uncertain.”

“But you have some idea.”

“As do you, my daughter.”

“I thought knowledge is power.”

“Yes. Knowledge is power. But how do you know that the knowledge you possess is true? How do you know if it’s not? Fate, however, is already decided; all we can do is prepare for the worst.”

“What’s going to happen, then?” Annabeth felt like she was barely able to grasp for something to hold on to, waiting— begging —for the ground to steady itself. “What will happen to Luke? What’s my role in all of this?”

Athena only shook her head. “Knowing something and having the wits to use it are two separate things.” Then she turned around, her time at camp over as well as her vague and unreliable warnings. “I must go. Good luck, Annabeth, on your quest.”

“A quest no one has even mentioned —”

“And watch for Percy Jackson.”

She vanished into the canopy, morphing into that same, grey owl. A single feather fell from the sky and settled quietly into the ground next to Annabeth’s sneakers. It mocked her, that feather. She kicked it away, then thought better of it and rubbed it into the dirt with her heel, destroying every single trace.

Your choice.

Neither her nor Percy mentioned their earlier fight. It became a discarded page, ripped off and torn into pieces like an old math textbook. It gave her space to breathe, to start over. A part of her knew that it wasn’t right, and that eventually, they’d have to talk about it—but that was eventually. This was now.

During the “now,” she filled Percy in on the Labyrinth.

(The Labyrinth will be the quest your mom mentioned. It can’t be about anything else)

He listened to everything she had to say and stayed even while Clarisse was there, too.

(Probably because they’re friends. They just hate to admit it.)

They ignored the catcalls and the teasing. She expected it, anyway.

(“So the rumors are true,” Malcolm said, wiggling his eyebrows and making her roll her eyes. “You and Percy are a thing, now.”

“Uh…yeah.”

“And you never thought to tell me? Like, I’m not surprised or anything, but—hey! Don’t hit me! Okay, fine, everyone knew since you two held hands and made gooey eyes at each other and stuff last January—stop hitting me!”)

Later, her and Percy sat together by the warmth of the campfire, roasting s’mores. She enjoyed laying her head on his shoulder and kissing his cheek. She laughed at his horrible singing and held his hand later that night, swinging their arms up and down as they walked toward cabin three.

Joking around and taking comfort in the sound of the crickets, Annabeth understood what it was like to love someone. It was a different kind of love than that of Luke. She watched him smile wide, watched the way his eyes crinkled as she rolled her eyes about Clarisse and Silena. That’s when it crossed her mind: their friendship hadn’t changed. Not really.

Even though they hadn’t seen each other for six months or so, and even though their newest step to their relationship had started weeks before that, their esense stayed the same. He was still Percy and she was still Annabeth. And that would never change.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Percy said, squeezing her hand.

“Oh, um. Just...thinking.”

“Well duh.”

“Shut up.”

He grinned at her, even as she shoved him off.

“No but seriously,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

She sighed. Her meeting with Athena had slipped into her mind like passing sticky notes and secret messages. “I want to talk about fatal flaws.”

She felt his hand tense. “What about them?”

“Just, I dunno, like...do you know yours?”

He was looking straight ahead when he said, “Your, uh, mom told me. Is personal loyalty even considered a flaw?”

“That’s what she said? That your fatal flaw is personal loyalty?”

He shrugged. “Guess so.”

So it’s true. She thinks she’s wrong.

“I mean, personal loyalty is considered a flaw, but...do you think it could be something else? Maybe?”

They locked eyes. The faraway hearth lit up his face, sharpening his features.

“Do you think it’s something else?”

“I don’t know.”

Another lie. Or was it? Could personal loyalty be his fatal flaw or could it be something else? Was Athena right? Was she wrong?

Percy raised his eyebrows. “You know something. You have that planning face look.”

“I don’t have a—”

“Uh, yeah you do. But whatever. It’s not like you know what my fatal flaw is.”

“I’m...yeah. I was just wondering since, well, I know about mine. And we’re so close to the Great Prophecy, and if you don’t know by now what your fatal flaw is, well—”

“It’s good that I know, then,” he cut in. “Good that I know my fatal flaw by now.” His eyes flicked to her. “Right?”

“Yeah. Right. Good.”

Nothing else was said after that. He stopped by the porch steps of cabin three and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes, comforted like she had throughout the singalong. Comforted by Percy.

Until he closed his door and left her in the dark.

The next day, Quintus’ strange game involving scorpions and ribbons began with her being paired up with Percy. It was just their luck that they’d stumbled into the Labyrinth, of all places .

“So we’re stuck here.”

“Yep,” Percy confirmed.

“You’re not helping.”

“I’m only here for moral support. You’re the brains of the relationship.”

“Am not,” she grumbled. “You’re smart; stop pretending you aren’t.”

It was no use, anyway. She couldn’t find the mark of Daedalus in the darkness. They took a break from searching and calling for help to sit down, bunching up against a wall and leaning against the other.

“I never apologized.”

Percy’s voice in the hollow chambers nearly made her jump. She lifted her chin and tucked it into his collarbone.

“For what?” she said.

“The Rachel thing.”

“To be fair, I’d nearly forgotten.”

“Exactly. So I just…want to clear the air before it comes up again. And to say sorry for doubting you about your cousin.”

She shut her eyes tight. The truth was coming like undigested food; she was ready to spill it all out. But she swallowed the words instead—hating herself and loving this beautiful, selfless boy all at the same time. Round and round. Round and round it went.

“I’m sorry, too.”

“What are you sorry for? You were right to be angry with me. Like, all this time apart and suddenly a girl writes down her phone number on my arm , and then we can’t even have a normal date because I seem to mess that up, too.”

You’re perfect, she wanted to say. You’re perfect and I’m the one who messed everything up. Not you.

“We both reacted in stupid ways,” she said instead. “And anyway, I should’ve found the time to IM with you.”

He kissed the top of her head and mumbled into her hair, “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Yeah. I know.”

He pulled away from her. She could feel his gaze but couldn’t see him clearly. “Something’s bothering you, Annabeth. What’s wrong? What’s actually wrong?”

She pursed her lips.

“What if…what if we don’t make it?”

Her voice came out barely above a whisper, but in the drifting silence, it sounded like ringing bells, there for everyone to hear.

( “What if you don’t make it?” She could never dare to say that out loud, however. )

She felt Percy lace his fingers through hers. “We’ll be together. That’s something I know for sure.”

They chose silence after that. Annabeth rested her head against his shoulder once more, listening to the constant creaking and shifting of the Labyrinth.

“Hey,” Percy murmured.

She glanced at him. “Hmm?”

Suddenly, she was aware of his hand resting on her arm, of his breath warm against her cheek. She froze, just for a second.

“Can I kiss you?”

Now that she thought about it, they’d never kissed properly—just a quick peck here and there. She nearly laughed at how nervous Percy sounded, at how this was just like last winter as they asked permission for a simple kiss like the awkward teenagers that they were.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

He tucked a stray curl behind her ear and leaned in. He didn’t need to look far, not even in the darkness; she was already inches apart, closing her eyes and feeling their breaths slip by.

When their lips met, she decided that surrender tasted sweet and pure, something she’d willingly do over and over again. He kissed her and nothing else mattered, not Time or the dark or choices.

He was the first to pull away.

“We’ve, um, we’ve been in here for too long,” he said. “Let’s keep trying to find a way out.”

It wasn’t long until they did.

By the time they’d managed to slip out of the Labyrinth, hours had passed. Night had fallen like autumn leaves, though she swore that they’d been in the maze for thirty minutes at most.

By the time the campers and Chiron found them, she already knew that a quest would have to be made.

Just like her mother had promised, she was chosen to lead.

From what the oracle told her, she wished she could hide in her cabin and never come out. She wished that all of this was a dream and that absolutely nothing would happen—to anyone.

“The child of Athena’s final stand,” she’d said, repeating nearly all of her prophecy once Chiron asked her about it.

She paused and didn’t say the last line. The worst line. That line had cut to her bones. A rusted knife against her throat.

“And lose a love worse than death.”

She gazed at Percy. Innocent green eyes gazed right back at her, unwavering. What a terrible person she was, that she’d lead him to this fate because she couldn’t leave without him. How weak.

“Will you come?” she breathed.

He agreed without a second thought.

He found her in her cabin. They were alone, for once. And when he asked her what was wrong, when he looked at her like that, she couldn’t take it anymore. She surged to him, wrapping her arms around him tightly and secure, so he could never go away.

She breathed in his scent, feeling tears already trickling into his shirt.

“Hey, it’s—it’s okay. We’ll survive.”

“But what if we don’t?”

His hands drifted up to her back, steadying her.

She lifted her eyes, pulling away slightly, if only to see him clearly. A varying amount of emotions crossed his face. Concern, fear, love. Until he settled on concern and flicked away her stray tears with the pad of his thumb ever so gently. His eyebrows were pinched together.

“I just…” she said, looking away. “I just don’t want anything happening to yo—to any of you.”

“I’ll be here,” he said softly, cupping her cheek and moving it in his direction so that she could understand. “We’ll be okay.”

She wished she could believe that. Wished she could believe it with the same amount of heart that she poured into the kiss that followed. Her hands tugged at his hair, lips moving along with his like they never had before. They were warm and sure, his lips. But they could easily turn blue and cold, as easily as a flame could cease to exist. So she kissed him with everything she had so that his lips would stay warm like this, forever—passed her oxygen to him until there was nothing left to give.

Annabeth also chose Grover and Tyson to join her quest. With two more people, the quest team turned up as four instead of three; a feeling told her that she needed them all.

But three is a sacred number. Not four. This is why Zoë and Bianca passed on.

Three, not four.

And lose a love to worse than—

She strolled past the moving walls, the footfalls of the rest echoing behind her. Until she stopped. They were in a lavish room with a muraled painting of the gods, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the two doorways, the two paths.

“So?” Grover asked. “Which one do we uh…which one do we pick?”

Before she could answer, a man formed—or rather, a man with two faces. They stood in between the pathways, leering at her.

“Yes, Annabeth,” said one face.

“Which one do you pick?” said the other.

She kept mulling it over, what Hera had said. They’d encountered Janus, the god of doorways and beginnings and endings. And choices.

“Choose,” they’d said.

Instantly, images had painted themselves in her mind. In one, she was looking for Daedalus alongside Percy and Grover and Tyson. In the other, she was looking for Luke. “He can be saved,” her imaginary self muttered as she trudged through the Labyrinth alone, on the brink of madness. “If I save him, there will be no more death.”

But then more flashed through her mind. Choose one pathway, and she’d lose Percy, and soon after that, she’d lose Grover and Tyson. Choose the other, and she’d lose Luke instead.

“Choose.”

Everything had come to a pause when Hera arrived. She wanted to help them, apparently—only that that wasn’t true. Gods didn’t help. They only left you confused and disoriented, spinning around with no control.

She hadn’t helped, not that it surprised her.

None of them had any clue how to navigate the Labyrinth, only that supposedly Percy knew the answer. And also that they had to search for Hephaestus if they wanted to find Daedalus.

As a parting gift, she’d said, “I delayed Janus’ visit, but be careful, Annabeth. Your choice will come soon enough.”

“Let’s rest here,” Percy said, sensing her waning steps.

Despite her exhaustion, she insisted on taking first watch. She had to think. Pray. Slowly, everyone else fell into a slumber, but her mind was wide awake, gazing at Percy’s motionless form.

Prophecies had double meanings, didn’t they?

Her world was turned upside-down once she heard the explosion, once she went airborne for a few seconds only to hit her shoulder on a jagged rock. Immediately, she felt the sharp sting of pain. She clutched her shoulder, biting her lip. Her hand came back slick with blood.

“You chose this,” the two-faced god taunted her.

Then she heard a strangled scream. Percy’s scream. She inhaled sharply and scrambled to stand up, ignoring the scuttling spider that was getting farther and farther away and the stabbing pain traveling from her shoulder to the rest of her body.

“Percy!”

She ran in the direction from which she’d come from. Too late. Searing heat slapped her in the face before she understood what was happening. Another explosion came, and this time, she wasn’t so lucky.

Her body stumbled back, rocks caving in on her.

The sky. This is like the sky—

And everything went dark.

The darkness formed into a memory:

“No! I can’t leave you!”

“I’ve got a plan—promise!” he insisted. “You follow that metal spider to Hephaestus' lair, tell him about what’s going on.”

“But you’ll be killed!”

This was the choice; leave him or stay. Stay or leave.

“I’ll be fine,” he said. From the look in his eyes, Annabeth knew that she couldn’t convince him. He was decided. “Besides, we’ve got no choice.”

Yes, they did have a choice.

No.

Yes.

She kissed him instead. A quick kiss, a promise.

“Come back to me,” she said, fighting back tears. She pulled on her Yankees cap and left, then ran.

Her sobs escaped from her rib cage by then, finally free.

She woke to that memory and nothing else, head pounding like drums. The spider was long gone, and she stumbled around, drunk with grief. It was a miracle she found Hephaestus at all.

Hephaestus, thank the gods, understood her unintelligible blabbering. He took pity on her, perhaps, because he healed her physical wounds and dropped her off at camp. Never mind that Grover and Tyson were gone, on their own path looking for Pan. Never mind that Percy…

She broke down crying for the thousandth time that day when Chiron asked her what had happened. Why she’d staggered into camp all alone. Her heart, her entire being, spilled to the floor like water from an overfilled cup.

“Four went in and one came back. Only Annabeth came back,” the campers whispered among themselves. She saw their faces, saw their horror at realizing that Percy was likely dead, Grover and Tyson gone as well without much of a trace.

It drove her to hide. She stayed in bed for the next three days, not daring to close her eyes in the fear of what she may find there.

She thought that she’d run out of tears long ago, but they came anyway. She clamped her mouth shut so as not to alert any of her siblings who were asleep.

Your choice.

For the first time in the past two days, her eyes fluttered closed. She didn’t dream of anything at all.

Clarisse came barging into cabin seven the next morning.

“Come on, Princess,” she said, staring down at her. “You’ve gotta eat.”

Malcolm stood behind her, likely the one who had told Clarisse to come in the first place, since Annabeth hadn’t listened to any of her siblings about eating.

She tried to protest, to fight. But Clarisse was strong and had a purpose; Annabeth had nothing at all. So she sat in the dining pavilion, taking her time with her breakfast and ignoring everyone’s eyes on her.

Clarisse sat next to her, making sure she finished her food.

“Slowly, okay?” she said, then murmured, “Gods, when was the last time you ate something?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Annabeth snapped.

A few minutes passed in relative silence before Silena came to their table, offering solace.

“Hey, girlie,” she said. “How are you?”

Annabeth didn’t respond. Silena softly laid a hand on her shoulder, then decided better of it and pulled her in for a hug.

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” she said gently.

But it was.

Annabeth chose to leave him.

It took everything in her not to break down in Silena’s arms. Annabeth gave her a weak smile once she proposed to do something to pass the time. Like weaving, something she knew Annabeth enjoyed, being Athena’s daughter and all that.

So they did. Silena was good at it—good at making beautiful things. In the arts and crafts station, they spent most of the afternoon knitting and sewing as well, with Clarisse begrudgingly accompanying them.

She felt herself forget, her hands the only thing working. Not her mind. Not her subconscious or her guilt or her worry and fear.

It lasted only a moment. Because then she saw what she’d been working on for the past hour. Subconsciously, Annabeth had created a shroud. A beautiful one at that, with different hues of blue and green—just like his eyes. Just like the sea.

As if sensing her distress, the two girls looked up from what they were doing.

Clarisse said, “Is something wro—”

She didn’t need to say the rest, because Annabeth found her legs already moving, racing out the door.

“Let her,” she heard Silena say. “Give her space.”

She didn’t look back, sprinting to the one place where she knew Percy’s presence still thrived. Where she could be reminded that he would come back, just like he promised.

“I’ll be here.”

Cabin three didn’t look like much. Granted, she could barely focus on anything but her breathing—which was rapidly increasing its pace—but even so, she was reminded of how simple yet welcoming cabin three was in comparison to Zeus’.

It smelled like him. Like walking down the beach on a sunny day. Everything was as it always had been—clothes splayed haphazardly on the ground, bed unmade, stray papers adorning his nightstand.

She crumpled to her knees on the worn wooden planks. A great sob escaped her, and she covered her face with shaking hands

“He’s gone, Poseidon,” she cried. “He’s gone, and—and I’m so sorry.”

That night, she threw up everything she’d eaten.

“It is time,” Chiron said, his eyes dim with pity.

He preferred demigods dead, it seemed, than to try and look for them. She’d begged. Pleaded. Fallen to her knees until they bled. But it was no use; her teacher was convinced he was dead, and by the time the second week passed without Percy showing up, he was declared as such.

“He’s powerful,” Clarisse had told her. “I trust your instincts. He’s not dead. Can’t be, or else I’d have to beat him up.”

She helped Annabeth try to talk Chiron out of the funeral but to no avail.

And he wasn’t. Annabeth knew, in her heart, that Percy wasn’t dead. Barely anyone believed her, however. She didn’t blame them; no one knew about the last line of the prophecy for her quest.

But a pestering voice reminded her of something else: Percy was not, by any means, her only loved one. That voice sounded eerily like Janus.

What if it’s Luke?

He was nothing to her, now. She swore that he wasn’t.

What if Percy is dead?

That’s when Silena squeezed her shoulder, repeating what Chiron had told her the day prior.

“It’s time.”

Everyone who had gathered by the Amphitheatre waited for her to give out her statement, grim-faced. Chiron stood at the center of it all, the shroud she’d made at the arts and crafts cabin in his hands.

She hated that shroud with all her being, but she took it anyway once she stepped the last of the stairs. The fire next to her kissed her cheeks like the warmth of the sun. But inside, all she felt was cold. His body hadn’t been found…yet the shroud that she clutched in her hands would burn with Percy’s life.

“He…” Her eyes drifted to the shimmering cloth. How could she ever describe Percy Jackson? How could she ever put him into words? “He was kind,” she began. Her voice was unrecognizable, even to her. “He was probably the bravest friend I’ve ever had, and…”

And then she saw him, grinning like an idiot behind everyone else.

“Bravest friend you ever had?” was the first thing he said, after their bone-crushing hug.

She wiped her tears away and laughed. For the moment, she didn’t care that he hadn't answered her frantic questions.

“Where have you been?”

“What happened?”

He was here and he was alive. Her arms still clung to his neck; she wasn’t sure she’d ever manage to fully let go.

“You’re my friend above everything else, Seaweed Brain. And yeah, I guess you’re pretty brave.”

A question formed at the tip of her tongue—the one asking once more about what had happened in that explosion, where he’d been all this time; she knew that Percy could tell.

He was about to say something when Chiron interrupted them.

“My boy,” he said, mainly addressing Percy. “We need to talk.”

Percy’s demeanor changed like the shock of icy water to the face.

“Uh, yeah.” Something passed through his eyes; he glanced at her, then at their teacher. “I know how to navigate Labyrinth.”

Her relief became a ghost of the past once he explained himself. He told them the plan for the next part of the quest—for finding Grover and Tyson and finally Daedalus—but all she could hear was her ears ringing.

“I was marooned on an island.”

“I uh…I stayed there for some time, healing from the explosion.”

She was almost certain about where he’d been. And then he’d mentioned his plan to find Rachel, the pretty redhead who wrote her phone number on his arm. Supposedly, she could help them.

“A clear-sighted mortal,” Chiron had said. “Clever, indeed.”

Only it wasn’t. It was her quest. Her choice. Not his.

Annabeth stood from her chair. The screeching noise made Percy wince. “I can’t believe you! You’re asking me to go to that mortal for help?”

Chiron’s eyes were soft when he said, “Annabeth, calm down—”

“No, I’m not calming down, because Percy here wants—”

“It’s the only way,” Percy said, hands wrung together.

“Ohh don’t tell me what’s ‘the only way’ and what isn’t when you could’ve easily come back sooner.”

Percy opened his mouth, but she talked over him.

“You think I’m stupid? You think I’m dumb?”

“No, ‘Beth, I—”

“You were with that goddess,” she said, her voice taking a hard edge. “Calypso, isn’t it? Was she nice company for you? Did you have a good time while I sat here, waiting for you, as my life spiraled out of control because one of the most important people in my life was gone?”

Percy stammered, “‘Beth, please…just—just let me explain.”

She laughed bitterly, shaking her head. “You’re not denying it, either. That’s why you didn’t recount the entire story of your fun little vacation in a beautiful island with a beautiful goddess who was probably all over yo—”

He stood up then, leaning over the table, face inches apart from hers. “Don’t act so high and mighty with me when I know you lied to me about your cousin.”

“Percy, this isn’t even about—”

“No, no. You’re hearing me out. Okay? Hey, stop. Look me in the eyes. Nothing happened between us. Okay, nothing. She liked me, yes, but that is literally her curse! I knew you’d react that way because I’m realizing that you don’t fucking trust me!”

“What? Percy, I trust you with my life—”

“Then how come you never told me what was bothering you?”

“Because I don’t know what was bothering me!”

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from you! You know exactly what bothers you. But guess what? You won’t tell me! So like, don’t even dare accuse me of not revealing where I was when you do the exact same thing, ‘Beth!”

Annabeth felt like falling, but this time, she found no branch to hold onto and crashed to the ground, bleeding out and breathless.

Meanwhile, Percy kept talking, throwing javelins her way. “When you didn’t want to communicate via IM last semester, I agreed because I wanted to give you space to whatever the fuck was going on with you—and something is still going on, but you won’t tell me—and like, all that time while I was with her on that island, I wanted to go!

“I wanted to be with you! Shit, I don’t even know what I’d do without you, but I couldn’t fucking leave because that place is cursed! And when I did, it’s because she’d…she’d fallen in love with me! But I…but all I wanted was you!”

Silence fell over them with the remnants of Percy’s hard breathing. She blinked a few times, telling herself that she would not cry.

Chiron saved her before that could happen. “Now, children. Settle down. Percy. Give Annabeth some space to think about this.”

He obliged, much to her relief.

“This time, it’ll be the ultimate trial for what you can or can’t do. If you can yield or not.”

It all came down to that, to her mother’s words. She understood what they meant, now.

With just enough drachmas in her bag and a bluster assuring her that she would not fail, she grabbed Percy by the hand and crossed the camp border. Argus was waiting down below.

#pjo fic #percabeth #percabeth fic #pjo au #the battle of the labyrinth #look mom i can write #omg me updating?? so soon?? unheard of

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

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7 Anti LO Asks

1. tbh the fact rachel purposely didnt let persephone have any romantic relationships before hades gives the impression that had persephone had any other experience, she'd see right through him and not want him because she had better. not having any other point of reference isnt good. its setting up that hades can get away with whatever he wants because she doesnt know anything else. thats really not a healthy dynamic to have even while dating, much less eternal marriage.

2. You know what’s weird? How Hades is a 2000+ year old being and still has not gone through his trauma. We know that he was eaten by Kronos when he was around 8 and stayed there for like 13 years if i’m correct (in the LO version), so we can assume that when he got out he was in his early to mid twenties. And then he fought in the war which we don’t know how long it was in LO bc there’s no info on that at all but let’s assume that that lasted 100 years.. he’s still pretty young there. So how is it that he’s only now getting help for his traumas? Which we don’t even see actually, it’s just a sentence said by him when he adopts the little dog. We don’t even know how old he actually is bc it’s always assumed it’s 2000+ but 2000+ years old could mean 2030 years old or 2999 years old or even 3000 and more and he has just lost track of time. All of these years and he still has not processed or made any progress?? At all?! Unless therapists are a new thing in the Underworld but we have Chiron who says that she was a physician in the old world but got tired of it so she decided to study the human mind. And that must have been quite some time ago. So why exactly is Hades a 2000+ broken man who needs to be fixed by a 19 year old going through her own trauma?

3. The underworld being an infertile world doesn’t make sense at all. If we compare the underworld with the underground it’s a fact that where there’s decay if is more fertile. Not to mention that in the myths the underworld is in fact considered a fertile land. We know that the underworld is full of souls, and souls are considered what give life to a body or place, so the underworld being a desert still doesn’t make sense at all.

4.If I may also add, just because LO is a “retelling” doesn’t mean it doesn’t harm Greece or Greek people. They still exist, funnily enough, they didn’t all die once Alexander the Great stop conquering. They’re a country full of strong, passionate people who have gone and are still going through massive problems and hardships. They are also a country who are still, at best, ignored, or at worst, mocked for the suffering they must endure by nations that are far from economic instability and from actual war zones like Greece is. Despite all that, their mythos are seen with great reverence to this day, and they don’t “gatekeep” it, you can ask any Greek in here and they’ll tell you they enjoy stuff like the Disney version or PJO just fine, but you have to stop and wonder why LO is a Greek myth product that is almost universally despised to Greeks who know it exists.

It’s pretty obvious why, RS not only butchers the myths completely to where they don’t even resemble what they once were, but her constantly silencing and badmouthing actual Greeks who want to help her make it more accurate is not a great look. She’s acting as if she, a white woman from an island made of literal England reject descendants, somehow not only knows more about Greek myth than actual Greeks, but that she OWNS the mythology and she can do whatever she wants with it, and only those who agree to her biases know what they’re talking about while everyone else is wrong, so obviously Greeks don’t know Greek mythology! Even media products in the same, non-Greek realm as her get her ire. Case in point, we know she’s hostile to PJO, she badmouths the Disney movie all the time, she complained about Blood of Zeus (emphasize on ZEUS) didn’t revolve around HxP, and despite them being heavily promoted by her own employers, she never speaks of Punderworld or HxP ficlets, even when her fans harass them and in Ficlets case purposely got them kicked off Canvas for “copying” LO, meanwhile she will happily promote OSP because they confirm her biases and kissed her butt in their HxP video. What does this tell us? Because it doesn’t seem very nice.

Of course she’s allowed as a creator to play with the mythology as she wants, but even then there are still limits to adhere to, and she never does it because obviously her half-baked concept of the “mythology” is way better than the 3000+ years of texts and interpretations out there. Sure she has people flinging themselves at her to offer her help for free, especially Greeks and academics, but what would they know over her, the self proclaimed master of mythology itself? Obviously she created it all in 2016 when she decided to draw a sexy pink girl and that’s it. Greece and everyone else was just using a fake version this whole time!

It seems from her POV, Greece ands its citizens are, in her own words “haters” who apparently know less about Greece and its own mythology than her, a white woman who uses a fanfic-writing white supremacist as a main source. The ego on this woman is astonishing.

5. May I also add to the age discourse, something like Edward and Bella can get away with it because Edward stopped aging physically, mentally, and emotionally at 17, and even in story there is a logic to them still going to HighSchool after all this time. He may be 117 age wise, but he’s at the same exact level as Bella in every other regard. That doesn’t excuse his creepy actions, of course, but there is in canon logic to it to justify it and make sense.

I’d say LO could use this too, but tbh it wouldn’t work. Either it’d involve making a CEO king as immature and childish as a 19 year old (not great) or it’d have a 19 year old suddenly be way wiser beyond her years which wouldn’t make much narrative sense, but also has some really creepy implications to it. Anyway RS dug herself into a stupid hole and doesn’t know how to get out of it.

6. im in the same boat 😭 i was watching one of those LO critique videos you posted and they were showing panels from early on and i just thought "they photoshopped this, right? theres no way it looked this bad. they're just goofing around with this" and nope, that's exactly how they looked the video didnt change a thing. the bright colors really were distracting your eyes from seeing how bad it looked.

7. Correct me if i’m wrong but in one of the first few episodes wasn’t Hades annoyed with Persephone? Especially at the panel where she wanted to drive his car? Like nothing has really changed in her behaviour with him apart from her being more flirty, but the only change is that Hades started viewing her more sexually. Always thinking about her breasts and butt, and nothing else. Half the time he was thinking about her, he wouldn’t even think of her face. So how exactly is their relationship a romantic and lovely one?

#anti lo art #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lo

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fbfh · 4 years

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hey, sailor - leo x daughter of poseidon

genre: a little bit of angst, a little bit of fluff, a lot of mermaids lol

word count: 2.4k

au: none really, you have mermaid powers as a daughter of poseidon if that counts lmao

pairing: Leo x Daughter of Poseidon

requested: yeeyee !! hope u enjoy xoxo

warnings: uh brief mention of your step dad leaving when you were younger, an interaction with your best friend doesn’t go as planned, percy’s grappling with rlly complicated feelings towards his dad and new sister

summary: Percy, Annabeth, and Leo all get a little more than they bargained for when they bring Percy’s half sister back to camp Halfblood, and Leo remembers why he had such a huge crush on Ariel growing up.

reccomended songs: hurricane drunk - florence + the machine, sinkin’ in - cody simpson, deep sea ambiance

a/n: as soon as i got this request my dormant mermaid phase woke up from a sound sleep

requests r open uwu

"...And you know what he said to me? He says, 'kid, I think it's time you met your sister'. I have a freaking sister, and that two timing piece harpy sh-"

"Okay, Percy, why don't you cool off a little before we leave. Come on, we'll grab a drink or something while Leo finishes getting ready."

Annabeth takes her boyfriend's hand, and leads him to the nearest drink cooler. Leo turns back to the car they're going to take, and continues loading in the rest of the supplies. He, for one, is excited to meet Percy’s sister. His first thought was ‘hope she’s hot’, which he blurted out before he could stop himself, and was met with a killer glare from both of them. He’s not trying to be insensitive, finding out you have siblings you didn’t know about is kind of traumatic. I mean, hey, Leo’s family went from zero to sixty in one day - literally. Okay, not quite sixty, but only child to one of eight is still a pretty big jump.

A little while later, they’re ready to go. Leo offers to drive, so Percy and Annabeth can sit in back and try to sort out Percy’s feelings. After a couple hours of driving and emotional conversations, most of which Leo just listened to - Annabeth seemed to have a good hold on this, and Leo didn’t want to overstep his bounds again - they arrived in Cape Cod. At this point, the gist seems to be that Percy knows if he should be mad at anyone, it’s his dad. They park in the driveway of the address Chiron gave them. They get out of the car, and look up at the house. It’s gray with white trimming, two or three stories, with a balcony porch on the upper floor - a normal, small town New England house, as far as they could tell. They seemed to take a collective breath, and approached the door.

You’re breathing fast, trying to hold back the floodgates of emotion, when your bare feet hit the sand. You drop your bag, taking in the familiar, secluded stretch of the Cape. A big wall of jagged rocks to your left separates this part of the beach from the others. The old wooden stairs and their faded white paint that connected the low cliff to the sand below are hidden by plant life, so most people don’t even know this area existes. You’ve been coming here regularly since you were nine or ten. So many important parts of your life happened on these shores. You could just tell your mom ‘I’m going to my beach’, and she’d know right where you are. You finish pulling off your shorts and rush towards the water in your swimsuit. You’re met with immediate relief as soon as the water touches your skin. If it was possible to have an emotional support location, you did.

You feel it happen as soon as you’re waist deep. Bubbles and sea foam collect around you from the hips down and your legs get tingly and numb. A moment later, it dissipates, leaving behind a life sized mermaid tail. It changes slightly with most transformations, usually based on your mood and desired appearance, and you’ve noticed over the years you can change how it looks more easily. You don’t care today, you just need to be in the water. This time it’s a big tropical fish tail, its purple, blue, and shimmery gray tones reflecting both your mood and the impending storm clouds rolling in. You dip below the surface, and let the tide carry you a little ways. You don’t worry about getting lost, you somehow always know where you are at sea. You don’t have gills that you can find, but you can definitely breathe underwater.

You finally sink to the bottom, and stare up at the surface of the water. The patterns of light remind you of the night light you had as a child.

Your mom had ensured you were comfortable with water and ocean life for as long as you could remember. She must know other people like you, because sometimes she would have long phone conversations with someone called the Director. You were pretty sure he had a weird name that started with a K or C, but you could never remember. He’s apparently sending someone to bring you to a ‘safe place’ today. It sounds like bullshit to you, but you trust your mom, and your mom trusts the Director. Since you might not be back for a while, she said you could finally tell your best friend Wes the truth.

‘Oh god,’ you think, wishing the salt water would erase your memories of what happened today, but you can’t stop the onslaught of memories. Wes has been your best friend for years. You helped him when he realized he’s bi, he helped you when your step dad left, you could trust him with anything. Or so you thought. ‘It’s not his fault,’ you remind yourself, trying futilely to stop reliving what happened hours earlier.

You brought him to your part of the beach to go swimming so you could show him. You can still hear his voice, asking if you’re sure you want to go in the ocean, you’ve always been afraid of water. Once you’d worked up the nerves to get in the water and transform, you showed him your tail. Your heart broke again every time you remembered what he had said.

“That is... incredible,” your heart had soared, there was hope, “I can’t believe you got one of those silicone swimming tails just to prank me!” Ah, there it was. The other shoe. You tried to tell him it was real, but he said he could see the mold lines, and there the scales don’t quite line up, and there’s the edge of the zipper. You wanted to cry.

“I’m not gonna lie, you almost had me for a second. I can’t believe you learned to swim just to prank me, but whatever works, dude,” he laughed like you were having a good time together. It was too much.

You let out a huge underwater scream, and thunder rumbles in the distance. You sink further down, wishing once again that the salt and algae would erode your memories from today.

Annabeth knocks on the door for the third time. Thankfully, it opens to a middle aged woman in a shirt that said Brooklyn Nine Nine.

“Hello, what can I help you with?” she asks. She has a strong presence, and none of them want to be on her bad side. Percy is still too nervous, and Leo seems to be analyzing wires poking out of the doorbell, so Annabeth introduces themselves, and asks where you are.

“Who wants to know?” she asks.

“We’re her internet friends, we’re surprising her by visiting a day early.” Annabeth replies. The woman doesn’t seem convinced. She smiles, seeming to see right through them.

“Are you from camp?” The shock on their faces gives her all the answer she needs. She smiles, and continues, “She’s down at the Cape, the quiet part past the rocks.” They thank her, but before they can leave she says, “Hey.” She looks at each of them intensely.

“Make sure she gets there safely. Take care of her.” They agree solemnly, and head down the sidewalk.

“And tell Chiron I say hi.” she says with a smile. They smile back, agreeing again.

They get to the Cape, and it’s full of people.

“Shouldn’t be any harder than a Where’s Waldo,” Leo says. Percy’s head snaps to the right, and thunder rumbles.

“Did you hear that?” he asks.

“The thunder? Yeah,” Annabeth says.

“No, no.. someone screaming.”

“I don’t-”

“This way,” he takes off towards a pile of jagged rocks. They manage to get over with only a few scrapes and Percy surveys the empty beach.

“She’s here… She’s here somewhere,” he mutters to himself. The dark clouds part for a moment, and Annabeth points out to the water. Someone was there, pretty far out to sea. She could just make out their shoulders and head above the water.

“Gods, Percy, can you get her to shore?”

“Ah ah ah, uncle Leo’s got this one,” Leo pulls something out of his backpack. It’s bronze, and the size and shape of a deflated soccer ball. He throws it into the water. It starts to sink, then expands into a small bronze and wood speed boat. Percy and Annabeth’s jaws drop. He hops in, revving the engine to life. They sail out over the water, Percy directing them around currents and waves. They can see the figure clearly now, and they’re sure it’s you. You’re looking away from them, out towards the darkening sky. The boat starts to slow down, and makes a whining noise. Their eyes dart to Leo.

“It’s probably just a sticky piston,” white smoke leaks from the engine, “... and I should check the coolant, too.” He opens up a panel, and starts to tweak a couple things. He sits on the edge of the boat to get a better angle, and reaches into his tool belt. He pulls out a wrench, and almost in slow motion, feels it slip between his finger tips, and into the water with a light plip.

“Shit!” He covers his mouth, worried he scared you off. Three heads turn to where you were a moment ago. Gone. He feels that familiar shameful heat creep into his stomach and cheeks.

“Sorry guys, I-”

“You dropped this,” He looks into the water, and you’re right next to the boat, handing him the wrench.

“...Thanks,” he says, his heart speeding up. Your hair is wet and beads of water glisten on your skin. Your red bikini top sure isn’t doing anything to slow his racing pulse, either. Your hands brush as he takes the tool from you. You smile, and the clouds part - literally. A beam of golden sun shines behind you, making you glow. His heart is in his throat, and he knows he’s probably grinning and blushing like an idiot.

Percy stares at your head, poking up over the side of the boat. Your hair is dyed shades of blue and teal and seafoam that blend right in with the water, but your roots are dark. He takes in your freckles, your tan lines, and your eyes… they look like part of the sea - shells, or waves, or something. He watches as Leo takes the tool, and a smile appears at the side of your mouth - the same smile he’s seen in the mirror, the same smile he’s seen on his dad. He sees all these familiar traits and knows it’s true, you’re his sister. The realization hits him like a truck, and he’s suddenly choked up. Annabeth sees this, and places a hand on his shoulder. She looks between Percy and an infatuated Leo, and takes the reins for the whole ‘the gods are real’ speech.

“Hi,” she says, giving Percy’s hand a squeeze, “I’m Annabeth, this is Percy, and Leo. We were sent here to take you to a safe place for kids like us-”

“Ohmygod, finally,” the tension leaves your shoulders and you sigh in relief, “you have no idea how hard it’s been keeping all of this a secret, trying to be normal…” You push yourself up the side of the boat Ariel style, and pull yourself in, the edge of your tail draped slightly off the boat as you continue, “I seriously thought I was losing it for a while…” you trail off, watching them stare at your tail.

“You’re not… you’re not merfolk, are you?” The confusion on their faces says it all. Panic rises in your chest as you start to dive off the boat. Before you can, Leo grabs your hand.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay. We all have weird powers, it’s part of being a demigod.” He shows you his free hand, and flames suddenly dance across his palm. Part of your fear is replaced with confusion.

“A what?” you ask.

“A demigod.” you look over at Percy, who’s speaking since the first time since you’ve met him, “Our dad is Poseidon, god of the sea.” You scrunch your eyebrows, processing what he said. Annabeth smiles at the gesture, having seen her boyfriend do it a thousand times.

“Wait… our?” He takes in a breath.

“I’m Percy, your brother.”

The ride back to shore is a little awkward, to say the least. They had finished explaining about camp and the gods and monsters a few minutes ago, and it’s been pretty much silent since. Annabeth sits next to you, and hands you a water bottle.

“He just needs some time,” she tells you quietly, “Poseidon’s not really supposed to have children, and Percy got a hard time for it when he was younger. He also… he thought his dad was really in love with his mom, so finding out he has a sister so close in age…” You nod in understanding. She pats you on the shoulder, and sits next to Percy at the back of the boat. You scooch up a little closer to Leo as gracefully as you can, which isn’t much, considering you have to drag along an almost 60 pound fish tail. Leo looks over at you from the controls.

“Weird day, huh?” he asks.

“Yeah…”

“So how long does it take to, uh,” he nods down and you flick your tail, “de-fishify?”

You laugh.

“Once I’m dry,” you look up at the summer sun reemerging, a little surprised that it hadn’t stormed. Then again, if children of Poseidon really could make sea storms, it made sense that it had died down now that you and Percy were feeling better.

“which shouldn’t take long.” you finish. You look over at Percy, who’s having a quiet intense conversation with Annabeth.

“He knows I didn’t ask for this, right?” Leo looks back at them.

“He does,” he replies.

“It’s so surreal finding out I have a sibling I knew nothing about,” you mutter, mostly to yourself.

“Try finding out you have seven,” he laughs, shaking his head at the memory.

“Seven?!” your head snaps up to him.

“Oh yeah,” he tells you the story of when he first came to camp, and you feel so much better already. Leo has such a comforting presence, the pain from all your problems softens a little just hearing him talk. You have a feeling you’re going to get a lot closer.

Little did you know, the feeling was mutual - and correct.

#leo x reader #heroes of olympus x reader #Heroes of Olympus #Leo Valdez #percy jackson #leo valdez x reader #daughter of poseidon #child of poseidon

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stina-is-a-punk-rocker · 3 years

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madeline miller’s ‘the song of achilles’

Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus (1855) by Nikolai Ge

What I loved about The Song of Achilles: this and this and this.

My interest in classics began circa 2005, with Disney’s animated series based off of their rendition of Hercules. Fast forward to several years later, to when I stumbled across one of my grandad’s books; several of my rose-tinted childhood memories would be tainted by the knowledge that the actual Heracles had very little in common with Disney’s adaptation of him.

The historical period that I was really invested in for most of my preteen and early teenage years were the Dark Ages, and Medieval Europe in general; so my Greek mythology phase was short-lived, and my knowledge of it is… well, I know Dionysus fucked himself with a wooden dildo to fulfil a promise he made, and that he’s perhaps the only decent bloke up there on Olympus (I’d tell Zeus to go fuck himself but he’d probably go through with it), and also that Dionysus is BTS’s best song since Boy Meets Evil, and that Stray Kids did a bangin’ cover of it late last year.

In other words: vague and superficial.

But I know enough to tell you that Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is one of the best books I’ve ever read, hands down.

The story of Achilles and Patroclus and the Trojan War is pretty common knowledge, I’ll warrant, but just in case: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Retelling a story almost everyone knows isn’t easy; you’ve got the plot down and how to get there, but you’ve got to write it in a way that doesn’t read like a middle school book report you scrapped together a night before the assignment was due (… not that I know what that’s like, haha). And Miller does an excellent job of it; her diction? Brilliant. Her prose? Incredible. Her characterizations? Completely not ever been done before.

The Song of Achilles is told in Patroclus’s first-person point of view; most of it is about his early years with Achilles; Patroclus’s banishment to Phthia, meeting Achilles, befriending Achilles, and then both of them being tutored by Chiron (a far cry from Disney’s funny little goat man). The Trojan War takes up less of the book than I thought it would, at first (which, of course, I’m infinitely grateful for- since we all know how THAT ends) (#RIP).

Which brings me to one of the biggest questions I had up to the last few chapters before the end of the book: how will the story go on after Patroclus dies, since it’s in the first person? (The first-person POV threw me off at first; it’s been a while outside of contemporary YA that I’ve read anything in that POV, and it was a bit jarring- but the further I read, I realized that it was the best option for the book; it gave the story a depth, a level of emotion you couldn’t’ve achieved in the third person.)

And call me a masochist, but Patroclus’s death and the aftermath ended up being my favorite parts of the book. I’ve read stories that have given me actual, physical pain (one of my top two Harry Potter ships is Wolfstar, go figure), but this is the first time I’ve actually read something that made me cry (despite the numerous Ao3 comments I’ve left that are variants of ‘omg I’m crying’). Like, actual, physical tears welling up in my eyes.

There’s this particular scene, in the ninth chapter, where Chiron is telling Patroclus and Achilles about Heracles, and how he, unlike Disney’s well-intentioned, bumbling himbo, goes insane and kills his family. Achilles, my sweet summer child, is quite reasonably agitated by this; how it was unfair, how Heracles’ wife and children paid for the gods’ tiff with Heracles with their own lives. And Chiron says:

“… Perhaps it is he greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.”

Go ahead, Miller; twist the goddamn knife. It’s not like I needed my heart, anyway.

Also, unrelated, but I find it interesting how countries that are continents apart end up having quite similar legends. My roots are from an entirely different continent than Greece, but we have a folktale quite similar to the legend of Aesclepius.

But I digress.

Character-wise: Achilles; half-mortal, hero of the Trojan war, the greatest warrior among men. And despite his demigod status, he remains so human. And this might be controversial, but… he comes off a lot more fleshed-out than Patroclus himself. Which is perhaps my sole gripe with this book.

Patroclus is… well, he exists. He’s the son his father never wanted. He kills a boy. Falls in love with Achilles. Spends a concerning amount of time describing Achilles’ feet.

Honestly, up until the chapters in Troy, he doesn’t have much of a personality. And maybe it’s because Miller wanted to remain as true to the Iliad and Odyssey, and, if my memory serves me correct, neither of them give a lot to Patroclus in the way of character development; but still, he comes off a bit- bland. Of course, towards the end, his character gets a bigger role than ‘loves Achilles’; especially seen in how he defies Achilles to spare Briseis, and then dons the armor and subsequently gets himself killed (#ApolloIsOverParty), but up till then, he’s pretty meh.

Briseis is another one of my favorite characters; it was a bit difficult for me to divorce my perception of her from Emily Hauser’s For the Most Beautiful. Her friendship with Patroclus (and, by extension, Achilles; even if he did screw her over afterwards) was perhaps the only good to come out of the war.

And then we have the obligatory: fuck Thetis and FUCK Agamemnon (thank you, Clytemnestra).

Achilles and Patroclus’ love was wonderfully written, and I love how them being queer wasn’t the central focus of the story (admittedly, the ancient Greeks were markedly more casual about homosexuality than the bible-belt world we live in today). A lot of the (non-fanfiction) queer lit I’ve read tends to make everything revolve around, “bUt I aM bOy,,, aNd I LiKe bOy,,, bUT hOW???”, and homophobia is the biggest obstacle to their relationship. And those stories are realistic and need to be told- but we need literature with more variety.

My final verdict: a work of art. I’m going to read Circe and Galatea.

#achilles #patroclus #the song of achilles #madeline miller #greek poetry #iliad #homer's iliad #odysseus #homer's odyssey #odyssey #lgbt #LGBT literature #lgbt fiction #lgbtq #book review #historical fiction #greek myth #greek myth retellings

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greekgrad12 · 4 years

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It Takes Two: percabeth!au

chapter two :)

Mattie Jackson and Hayley Chase meet at the start of summer and discover that they are each other's identical clone. With a little more investigating, the two girls discover that they are, in fact, twins. Things only get crazier when they find out that their adoptive parents were once in love. Now, they have to work together to reunite Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase before Mattie’s dad ends up dating the new camp counselor and Hayley’s mom gets married to a kid hating, gold digger.

And what better way to do that than to switch places?

i rewatched It Takes Two and decided to make it percabeth :)

read on ao3

chapter one here!

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The faded white stone was the first thing Annabeth Chase noticed when she and her daughter pulled into the driveway of their summer house. Well, summer house was a loose term now. Annabeth had been living here all year while working on a new project. One that was very near and dear to her heart. When Chiron called and asked if she would be willing to redesign the old camp, she was more than happy to. She even threw in a family discount, because that's exactly what he was. Family.

Annabeth Chase was a very famous name in the architecture world. She graduated top of her class at Berkeley and quickly got a job at Medusa & Co. Architecture. Her coworkers were somber, but the work was good. Working for a big company like Medusa & Co. brought on a lot of challenges, but that's what drew her in. Annabeth loved a challenge. What she didn't love were the rumors and scandals constantly going around about faulty cement, old metals, and rickety wires being used to create their buildings in an attempt to make more money. When she decided to investigate and learned that the rumors were true, Annabeth just had to leave. Creating her own Architecture Company took some time, but the exposure and resources she acquired while at Medusa & Co. helped her along the way. And the money she got from her tip to the media about what was really going on at her old job didn't hurt either.

Now, she was the proud owner and head architect at Parthenon Architecture. Having expanded her company to five different states all over America, Annabeth was a busy woman. So busy that she never really had time to think about her life outside of work. She knew she wanted to get married and have a family. Something permanent. But even with the casual dates, her friends insisted she go on, Annabeth never felt that spark that she knew made something worth pursuing. She knew what that felt like. She'd experienced it before, with-

"Woah," The sweet voice of her daughter broke Annabeth from her thoughts, "Remind me why we don't stay here more often?"

Annabeth didn't have time for romance, but she wanted a family. Thanks to adoption agencies, she could have that. But honestly, Annabeth wasn't even sure if she was ready to be a mother when she went in for a consultation with the agency. Her parents divorced when she was young, and due to her mother's career in government at D.C., Annabeth was left with her father. Eventually, her stepmother came into the picture and the blonde little girl was pushed into the background. The woman wanted absolutely nothing to do with Annabeth and her father did nothing to help. Things only got worse when her little twin brothers came into the picture.

Annabeth's mother would come back every other month and the two would spend the day together, but she couldn't be there every time the girl needed her. The best thing her mother did for her was sign Annabeth up for Camp Half-Blood when she was a seven. That first year at camp changed her life. She made friends who became family and finally found a place that felt like home. People who felt like home. A boy who felt like home.

"Remind me how often we come to Rhode Island?" she teased the ten-year-old.

The girl turned back to her mother and responded with a straight face, "Ha-ha."

Annabeth laughed at that, "Come on, Hayley, let's unpack. I wanna show you something in the house."

Despite her estranged relationship with motherhood, Annabeth never had to think twice about adopting Hayley. Before adopting the girl, she did her research. Apparently, Hayley's birth mother moved to California a week after she was born, hoping for a fresh start with her new child. Unfortunately, her new life didn't have room for a baby. The woman tried for about two months before abandoning the little girl at an adoption agency. Annabeth knew what it was like to feel abandoned, so she was happy to claim the two month old as her own.

She tried her best to be an attentive and caring mother, and being her own boss helped make that possible. Still, with Annabeth being so busy with the camp reconstruction plans, she and her daughter hadn't been able to spend as much time together this year. Hayley had spent the greater part of last year begging her mom to let her join them in Rhode Island, and as much as Annabeth wanted her around, she wasn't about to pull her daughter out of school for a whole year. Especially with everything they've gone through at past schools.

Much like Annabeth, Hayley Chase is a famous name. Hayley wasn't a problem child. She is a good kid. A good kid with bad luck. Getting her daughter into schools was the easy part. As the granddaughter to a Congresswoman, an American and Military History professor at West Point, and the daughter of the third most famous Architect in the United States, schools were eager to have Hayley in their programs. And having an eleventh-grade reading level didn't hurt either. It was when the school year began that things usually went south.

Wrong place, wrong time basically sums up Hayley's life. Nothing too crazy happened, but it was usually enough to ensure that the girl wouldn't be getting an invitation back. So far, she had been kicked out of three schools. Once for getting too many detentions due to 'continuous disrespect,' which is just a fancy way of saying, "You're child pointed out too many of my teaching mistakes and I'm sick of being contradicted."

Another time was when a nasty girl in her class tripped Hayley in the lunchroom. The girl's tray went flying, and the food fight that ensued was blamed on her. The last incident was the result of a classroom fire, but there's really no time to unpack that. Hayley never meant for these things to happen. She knew how hard her mother worked, and she admired her greatly for that. The last thing she wants is to add stress to her life.

What Hayley didn't realize, however, was that she made Annabeth's life anything but stressful. The woman couldn't be prouder to have a daughter as clever, kind, and patient as Hayley. Annabeth spent her whole life wanting to build something permanent, but when she finally did, she looked around and realized that it's wasn't worth much without someone permanent beside her. She wants to do right by her daughter, and that's one of the reasons why she was so excited to finally have Hayley over at the summer house with her. Not only would she get to spend time with her daughter again, but Annabeth would get to show Hayley where she grew up. Her home.

Camp Half-Blood.

Hayley was now carrying a backpack over her shoulders and tugging a suitcase behind her as she walked up the steps to the giant house, "What is it?"

"It's a surprise," The woman answered, simply. Annabeth had just dropped her bag onto the porch and was currently scrummaging in her bag for the door keys.

"What kind of surprise?" Hayley pressed while admiring the exterior of the house. The two story mansion had once belonged to her great-grandmother, but it hadn't been used in years. The green-eyed girl suddenly found herself hoping that the surprise wasn't spiderwebs and dust. Then again, her mother had been living here on and off again for the past six months. If there was even a hint of spiders, the house would have already been hosed down by exterminators, "Surprise like, 'I'm doubling your allowance for not causing trouble this year!' or surprise like, 'Grandma's coming to visit'?"

Annabeth had unlocked the door but held it ajar, "Actually, yes, your grandma is coming in a few days to visit."

A grim look overtook Hayley's face. It's not that she didn't like Grandma Athena, it's just that she was very... controlled. Hayley always assumed that it was the Congresswoman in her that made the old lady so uptight. Every time she came to visit, her mom would get anxious and start to stress work. The little girl knew all about her mother's upbringing. The mother-daughter pair were very close, and Hayley was protective of the people she loved, so she never enjoyed seeing the effect her grandmother had on Annabeth.

"Why is she coming here?" The young girl asked, trying her best to hide her disapproving tone, "The only thing she does when she comes over is stress you out and give me passive-aggressive looks for not indulging myself in nonfiction books."

"Hayley, if you want to read Agatha Christie, read Agatha Christie. If you want to read Marvel Comics, read Marvel Comics. Don't let her make you feel bad about your interests," If there was one thing Annabeth was willing to face her mother for, it was her daughter. It pissed the woman off to no end when her mother, the one who had basically abandoned her as a child, tried to tell Annabeth how to raise her daughter.

That's another thing Hayley loved about her mom. No matter what she did, her mom was right behind her with unconditional support. When Hayley entered the Spelling Bee, her mother stayed up the night before and helped her practice, even though she had scheduled an early meeting the next morning to ensure she would be off on time to attend the contest. When the girl wanted to join an art class, Annabeth went out and bought her a whole new art supply kit. When, at the age of four, she decided that blue and yellow were magic colors, and her mom decided to make blue cookies for her. She only made them once, and Hayley was young when she did, but the girl still could have sworn she remembers her mother tearing up when her daughter took her first bite of the blue food.

And there was the time when she was three, and Hayley had her first asthma attack.

Annabeth had been a wreck for the entire process. Of course, Hayley had recovered quickly, and thanks to her Flovent medication, she hasn't had a major attack in years. All thanks to her mom. If Annabeth Chase was anything, it was a planner. Hayley was on a strict schedule when it came to taking her medication. Even though her daughter's asthma hadn't acted up in years, she wasn't going to chance losing her ever again.

"Rebel against Grandma?" Hayley joked, "Sounds like a plan."

Annabeth huffed out a laugh, but Hayley could tell something was off. She just now noticed that her mother hadn't been looking her in the eyes and that she was still standing in front of the cracked open door, blocking the girl from what's inside. She also noticed that her mother didn't answer her question about why Grandma Athena would be visiting.

"Why don't we go inside? I may have lied about the surprise- or rather, the extent of it. There is actually more than one."

Hayley's confusion must have been very noticeable, because right as she was about to ask more questions, Annabeth opened the front door to reveal two people waiting inside.

"Piper! Leo!" Hayley dropped her bags onto the porch and ran to her godmother and honorary uncle. The two dropped down and hugged the little girl with just as tightly as she did them.

"Hey, Hay!" Leo teased the girl as her arm wrapped around his neck.

"Oh my goodness, there is no way you got this big over one school year!" Piper exclaimed as she pulled back from the girl's other side, "You get any taller and you're gonna outgrow Leo."

While that was definitely an exaggeration, Leo still scoffed at the girl. Watching as the three got reacquainted, Annabeth picked up her daughter's bags that were abandoned on the porch and laid them inside. After she placed her own bags on the floor, Piper's dark eyes shot up and reached Annabeth's gray ones.

The woman smiled down at Hayley before walking over to give her mom a big hug. Piper McLean and Annabeth had been friends for years. The two met in the third grade. They bonded over daddy issues and a mutual love for Skittles. You know, normal kid stuff. After decades of sleepovers, secret handshakes, bad haircuts, and One Direction phases, the girls were still inseparable. If anyone could read Annabeth like a book, it was Piper. They were a fantastic duo. So much so, that Piper was her personal assistant. Technically, she was here for work, but Annabeth was just grateful to have her best friend here for the occasion.

Annabeth met Leo Valdez in college. He was the smartest person on the robotics team and the two shared many classes together throughout the years. They became fast friends, bonding over conspiracy theories and arguing over who was the better Property Brother. When Annabeth needed a Head of Construction at her firm, she knew exactly who she wanted by her side. Leo was more than happy to accept.

Leo and Piper were great employees and even better friends. They were supportive when she told them she wanted to adopt. They were always there to remind her that it's okay to take a break. And whenever one of them decided to take her out and let her live a little, the other would watch Hayley. And they both loved Hayley.

"Glad to see you're still alive," Piper's tone was flat and quiet against Annabeth's ear. She knew her friend didn't want Hayley hearing what she had to say, and honestly, neither did Piper, "Oh, and look at that. Is that a phone sticking out of your back pocket? A phone that I have been trying to reach you on for the past hour?"

Annabeth pulled back from the hug and Piper could finally see the guilt written on her face, "I know. Look, I'm sorry I didn't answer, but I knew what you would be calling about. I couldn't exactly have you yelling at me with my ten-year-old in the passenger seat."

"So, she doesn't know then?" The black-haired woman knew the answer, but the way she was now staring Annabeth down -arms crossed, eyebrow raised- made her realize the real question she was asking went along the lines of, what the hell is your plan here?

"No," Annabeth sighed out, "I was going to tell her on the drive over from the airport, but there was just so much to catch up on-"

"Yeah, Annabeth!" Piper whisper-yelled as an exasperated look took over her face, "There is so much to catch her up on. Starting with-!"

"Hey, you two," Leo coughed out, loudly. As the girls turned their attention back to him and the little girl, they saw Leo motioning to Hayley. Annabeth's daughter sent confused glances to the three adults, "Annabeth, why don't you show Hayls what's outback?"

Annabeth clasped her hands together and moved past Piper, who was now giving Leo the death stare, "That's a great idea, Leo. Come on, Hayley, there's another surprise waiting for you."

Hayley loved a good surprise as much as the next girl, but she was very aware of the mumbled bickering going on between Piper and Leo as she and her mom walked to the back of the house. That kind of put a damper on things. There was definitely something being kept from the little girl, and she had an idea that whatever it was wouldn't be found outback.

"Come on, kiddo," Annabeth said as they reached a little study. Hayley almost missed the door as they walked up to it. The wood of the door matched the wall around it, and a few strayed out plant decorations hid it even more. It was like the room was intentionally being hidden away. Once her mother opened the door, Hayley could see why. It appeared to be a private study- a homey, little room. There was a desk that sat in the middle, surrounded by comfortable looking chairs and giant bookshelves. To the side, there was a giant bay window that let the sun in and overlooked the coastline. A telescope stood off to the right of the window and a globe of the world to the left.

"Wow," The girl breathed out. Hayley stepped into the room and heard her mother chuckle from behind her.

"Just wait," Annabeth took her daughter's hand and lead her to the giant bay window. Annabeth sat down on the cushion while placing the little girl in her lap. She pointed out towards past the water and to an open area that was covered by what looked like to be a camp.

"Is that the camp you've been working on up here?" Hayley asked, eyes still set towards the campground, "It looks beautiful."

From what she could see, the cabins were beautifully designed with different symbols on each building, "What do the different symbols mean?"

"Each camper is placed in a certain cabin based on what you designed your schedule to look like. For example, if you wanted to spend the majority of your summer in the gardens, you could request to be placed in the Grain cabin. It's just to help to keep campers organized," The woman explained, "Obviously you could still participate in the camp singalong with the Lyre cabin, or go swimming with the Triton cabin, but this way you could be focused more on your interests and be surrounded by people who shared them."

"You said you went there, right?" Hayley turned to look back at her mother, "What cabin were you in?"

"I was always in the Owl cabin," Annabeth grinned at the memory, "We spent a lot of our time in the arts and crafts department. We also held the highest number of wins in Capture the Flag."

"Capture the Flag?" The girl stared at her mother with an amused expression, "What's that like?"

Annabeth grinned down at Hayley, "Well, I guess we'll have to go over there one day and let you find out for yourself."

Her daughter's green eyes widened as she jumped from her mother's lap, "Wait, really? I get to go?"

"Well, since we won't be here the whole summer you're not an official camper, but yes. I talked to the activities director and he said they would be happy to have you come down and join in on the fun," she explained, "My only condition is that you aren't allowed to ditch me when your grandma get here. THAT, and I want a ceramic mug."

Hayley wrapped her arms around her mom's neck, "I will, I promise! It'll say Worlds Best Mom and everything."

There were many surprises in store for Hayley Chase this summer, but her daughter finally getting to experience Camp Half-Blood was Annabeth's favorite. With the architect's demanding schedule and her daughter's extracurriculars, the two didn't have a lot of extra time for just them. Summer was when they could be together the most, and no matter how much she wanted her daughter to experience the same joys she did at camp, Annabeth didn't want to send Hayley to the other side of the country without her. And there was no place for Annabeth at camp now.

However, due to her new project being Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth had the perfect excuse to bring her daughter to the place most special to her. She wanted to share her experiences with her daughter. Show her the giant pine tree right at the camp entrance where she would sit under the shade and read. Tell her about the firework show that the camp would have every year. Share every strategy she helped come up with to win almost every game of Capture the Flag. Bring her to the dock where she spent almost every day with a boy. A boy with messy hair and sea-green eyes. Green eyes that Hayley's own resembled. Annabeth wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse. Looking into those eyes remained her of the boy she loved. The boy she wanted to build something permanent with. The boy who teased her, encouraged her, and stuck by her no matter what. Her best friend.

The boy who she tried to keep. The boy who she couldn't keep. Annabeth thought fate was a cruel being. For years, the blonde girl just wanted someone who would stay. Someone who wouldn't leave. And when she finally found that someone, life forced the two apart. Although she hadn't seen him in years, Annabeth would still think of that boy and wonder about the man he became. While working at camp, the woman was reminded of him more than ever. The memories -and feelings- they shared.

Yes, Annabeth wanted to share her experiences with her daughter, but she could not share him. Annabeth could not tell Hayley about the boy who was shorter than her for a majority of their youth together, and how he would glare at her when she teased him about it. She could not tell her daughter about the boy who would sit through every one of her architecture rants with a smile. She could not tell her daughter about how he could coax the truth out of her with a single look, and hold her when it hurt too much to talk about.

Annabeth could not tell her daughter about her first love, P-

"Annabeth!" A voice shook the woman from her thoughts. As Annabeth's daughter pulled away from her, she noticed that her once ecstatic expression was now replaced with a look of confusion. And it wasn't hard to figure out why.

When she turned her head towards the voice, Annabeth came face to face with Luke Castellan, her fiancé.

#i decided to edit and post this instead of doing my school work lol #percabeth #percabeth au #percabeth fic #percabeth fanfiction #percy jackson au #percy jackson #annabeth chase #pjo au #pjo #pjo/hoo #pjo/hoo au

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ohmyhera · 4 years

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Headcanon #7

Imagine these two’s first real Halloween together as a couple

•Okay I feel like the one who surprisingly goes all out for Halloween is Will

•Actually it’s the entire Apollo cabin + some of the Hecate kids, it all starts on October 1st

•Nico walks into the Apollo cabin to greet Will and is very confused by the sound of spooky scary skeletons playing

•There’s only a few of them there, why must it be so loud?

•Will just laughs at his boyfriends confused face and the other campers beg him to summon some skeletons

•Nico does and is even more confused when the Hecate kids make the skeletons start dancing

•A few days later Will realizes that Nico was genuinely confused about the whole thing and starts talking about how Halloween is coming up

•Now Nico doesn’t really know what Halloween is—the boy was raised in 1930’s Italy he was catholic for Pete’s sake—but he kinda just nods along anyways

•No one is better at picking out a liar than an Apollo kid so Will keeps pressing him about it until Nico fesses up to having no idea what the holiday is

•When it finally clicks Will has never felt more stupid in his life, of course Nico wouldn’t know about Halloween

•This sends Will on a frenzy to make sure Nico has the best Halloween ever

•While Nico is out on a mini quest he spends time decorating the Apollo Cabin with fake cobwebs and spiders—he’s already given Annabeth the warning to stay away—and by the time Nico comes back it’s completely Halloweenifed

• “So the orange and black are traditional colors?”

• “Exactly”

•He practically begs Chiron to let them use the tv so he can show Nico the joy of Disney channel original Halloween movies

• “So they’re twin witches, and they just so happen to meet on their birthday?”

• “Don’t judge Disney!”

•And Nico falls in love, they sit there all day swaddled up in blankets and Nico thinks he can actually get behind this holiday

•Until the ugly sweaters

•That is where he draws the line

• “Nico just wear the damn sweater!”

• “You’ll have to kill me first!”

• “Me and Thanatos are good buddies so that can be arranged!”

•Will works something out with Chiron and the other campers so that him and Nico’s duties can be covered because he has something special in mind

• “Must we visit Naomi for every holiday tesoro?”

• “We’re not visiting my mama this time baby, you’ll see”

•Of course they go to visit Naomi first. Whenever Will is in town it’s like her mom senses start tingling and she just knows he’s there. Call it a gift from Apollo.

•Now it’s all fun and games until Naomi and Nico start talking because the two are obsessed with each other and making fun of Will

•They sit on the couch and drink pumpkin spice coffee that Nico just had to try while looking over Will’s old Halloween photos

• “And this is the year he was the sun from the Teletubbies-“

• “Mama stop it!”

•Eventually Will makes up some bs excuse about being in town on demigod business and practically drags Nico from the house

•The two walk for an almost unorthodox amount of time until Nico spots a Ferris Wheel coming into view

• “Is this the reason why I’m not training our kids to rip each other’s heads off?”

• “I-I-yes? Do you like it?”

• “Oh Will, I love it!”

•Then Will has a different problem on his hands

•Nico is an absolute child when he’s left to free range

•He’s never seen the boy have so much energy and it’s actually mind boggling

•He also seems to be an adrenaline Junkie which would be all well and good if Will wasn’t a healer.

• “Baby I don’t think this ride is safe-“

• “I can’t hear you, I’m already in line”

•They finish out the afternoon early because he promised Chiron they’d be back by midnight and Nico needed to rest before they shadowtraveled back

•They ended up back at Naomi’s who’s already waiting with cups of apple cider ready to hear about their demigod business

•Will tried to lie, he really did. But Naomi knew and he immediately cracked under the pressure

•He instead took this as an opportunity to make fun of Nico

• “Mama you should’ve seen him-“

• “Will-“

•“He was off faster than a shotgun at the Kentucky derby!“

•Nico wanted to laugh but he couldn’t help but recognize how similar the two honestly were. They both clapped their hands and stomped their feet as they laughed, it was freaky. He thought Will favored Apollo but maybe it was actually Naomi?

•Once the laugh fest was through and the apple cider was gone, Will gave Nico a few Ambrosia tablets—invention curtesy of the Apollo cabin—and sent him straight upstairs to take a nap

•Naomi immediately grills him on the dark haired boy

• “You love this boy don’t you?”

•“I...Of course I do mama, he’s my boyfriend-“

• “You know what I mean Will”

• “...I’ll tell him when I’m ready”

•The two say their goodbye to Naomi and Will’s heart was pounding the entire way back—or maybe he still wasn’t used to shadow travel—but he would tell Nico

•Halloween finally rolled around and Will surprised Nico with matching skeleton onesies

• “I could make you a skeleton for free”

• “...Is that a threat?”

•The whole camp had gone to the extremes of calling activities off and handing out candy to the younger campers

•Nico was in awe at that

• “You mean I get to eat as much as I want?”

• “As much as you want baby, that’s the beauty in the holiday”

•Once the day was through they decided to go back to the the hades Cabin to turn in for the night

•He had planned to tell Nico but the dark haired beat him too

• “Will I um...I’ve been wanting to tell you that I...I feel very strongly about y-“

• “I love you too Nico, so much”

• “Oh thank gods”

•They spend the rest of the night eating candy and sharing scary stories. will wasn’t sure what he was getting into with this because Nico had stories

•Later in the night when Will was fast asleep Nico couldn’t help but think over the last month and smile

•“Will?”

• “Mmyeah baby?”

• “I love Halloween”

A/n Hey guys I hope you liked this one! Sorry for the long wait, I’ve been real busy with school. If you guys want this in the form of a oneshot I’d actually love to write that because I had a lot of fun writing this one.

#Solangelo #solangelo headcanon #Nico Di Angelo #Will Solace #Naomi Solace #Percy jackson and the olympians #Apollo #good ‘ol texas similies #Halloween #Our favorite couple tho

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atamascolily · 3 years

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Unicorn Chronicles, Book 3: “Dark Whispers,” by Bruce Coville

Whenever people grumble about how long it's been since their favorite fanfic updated, I can't help but smile a little in sympathy. As someone who's read a lot of CLAMP manga, I've grown used to the stutter-stop of hiatuses and discontinued stories that will never be finished. To quote the Princess Bride, "Get used to disappointment". It's just an occupational hazard.

I know people who only read completed stories, but I would have missed out on a lot of great material and works that really matter to me if I followed their example. It also meant that I got really good at imagining what happens next.

So it was a delight to discover that Bruce Coville had actually finished the Unicorn Chronicles when I was busy with other stuff (i.e., life) and there were two more volumes. Coville specifically thanks readers for nagging him about finishing, which is simultaneously #hilarious and #relatable.

Song of the Wanderer came out in 1999, right on the cusp of the Harry Potter boom that shook up the juvenile fantasy genre. (Both series are published by Scholastic.) Dark Whispers came out in 2008, and you can see how much the genre has shifted in the cover art alone:

This is gorgeous art by Petar Mesedlzija, but it only tangentially fits the descriptions in the books: Cara doesn't really wear anything like this outfit, and the story emphasizes she keeps braiding her hair to keep it from tangling. She has a sword, but she doesn’t really ever use it?

Furthermore, the layout, design, and chapter headings of Dark Whispers are clearly meant to capitalize on Harry Potter: Grimmwold has a looping signature reminiscent of Dumbeldore's in the opening prologue, for instance. It's a very different feel from the way the first two volumes were presented, and tbh, I miss the old way that has gone the way of the dinosaurs now.

Inevitably, with such a long gap between volumes, Dark Whispers ended up with a very different style and tone than its predecessors. The most obvious difference is that it's REALLY LONG--464 pages in hardcover. Some of this increase in length is attributable to Harry Potter proving that giant fantasy tomes can sell like hotcakes, and some of it is the fact that the storyline is now really big, with a lot of different players moving in different directions.

Inevitably, this means that instead of following Cara's POV for the entire book, as we did in the first two volumes, we are constantly shifting narrators. It's completely understandable, but as a reader, I find it really annoying--like I am suddenly reading an entirely different series with overlapping plot and characters. It's not that this new series is bad, per se, it's just... not what I imagined when I was making up the ending in my head in the early 2000s. I do not know if this disjunct would be so obvious or unsettling to someone who was reading all four volumes together for the first time.

Anyway, so since it's been literally a decade, Coville makes the sensible decision to open with a recap from Grimmwold, in his role as the keeper of the Unicorn Chronicles: unicorns and human hunters are at war; the latter are lead by an immortal woman named Beloved with a personal grudge against the unicorns, and she just got an amulet so she can invade Luster.

In Cara's plotline, she is still coming to terms with the fact that her grandmother, Ivy Morris, was a unicorn in disguise, and is now Queen Amalia Flickerfoot. Her grandfather Jaques is super depressed (because literary references, yo) and also because this is super-weird for him, too. As they prepare for Beloved's assault on Luster, Grimmwold reveals that pages from the Unicorn Chronicles are missing, and that others reveal an unsettling prophecy about unicorns confronting their own darkness and a mysterious figure called the Whisperer.

Another human, Alma Leonetti, comes forth and suggests that the centaurs might know more details. The Queen sends Cara and her friends to investigate, while Jaques and Thomas the Tinker go on separate missions. Thomas does give her a watch that marks the days and also explodes, so you know right away she's gonna need both on her trip. M'Gama the geomancer is trying to determine where and when the Hunters will invade: the date is the forthcoming Blood Moon, but she's still working out the details on the place.

Grimmwold tells the group a story about Alma Leonetti, and how she tracked down the wizard Bellenmore, who opened the gate to Luster for the unicorns. Bellenmore has a snarky talking lizard and great tastes in decorating:

On the mantel above the fireplace stood a row of earthenware mugs with hideous faces. One of them winked at me; another leered and rolled its eyes; a third stuck out its tongue and made a rude noise. Then they began to sing a bawdy song until Bellenmore waved a hand to silence them.

Alma bluffs her way to Luster and eventually persuades the unicorns to keep one of their kind on Earth so humans don't forget true beauty and goodness and the spark is kept alive. The hunters keep trying to kill the Guardian, but they always replace the fallen with a new one and the cycle repeats.

We also learn that Ivy summoned Moonheart to heal Cara as a child, which is what alerted Beloved to her presence, forcing her to kidnap Cara and flee because Beloved wanted the child, too. Ian Hunter was a first grade teacher who had no idea about any of this until Cara disappeared and he was radicalized by Beloved and went through an intensive training camp she's built up for her army.

Meanwhile, Ian is in India, tracking down the Rainbow Prison where Beloved has imprisoned his wife. He makes a deal with a mysterious entity, the Blind Man, trading occasional use of his sight for the knowledge he needs. Beloved's men attack Ian, but he is saved by a street urchin named Rajiv who is eager for adventure, and the mysterious Fallon, who is trying to find a doorway to Luster. The three of them team up and head for the Himalayas to find the doorway to the Rainbow Prison while Beloved's forces pursue them. We learn that Fallon is super-hot and also seeking his best bro Elihu, in a relationship that I'm pretty sure was sexual although it's never stated directly.

There's also a plotline involving the delvers - the evil dwarves we mostly forgot about in Book 2. The King keeps talking to the Whisperer, and sending his subjects to do Evil Things as the alliance with Beloved continues. (The delvers do not love humans, but they hate unicorns and so the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" at least temporarily).

The plotlines converge when the delvers attack M'Gama the earthmancer's house and steal a macguffin and kill Flensa, M'Gama's servant. Cara's party splits up, with Finder and Belle hunting the macguffin while Cara and Lightfoot continue on. Finder is killed (sob) and Belle regrets being a jerk to him. Cara's group is attacked by delvers and she is captured and taken underground. (The delvers either don't know Beloved has an amulet already/don't care/want one for their own purposes.) Cara tosses the amulet into an abyss when it fails to transport her to earth, and she is imprisoned in the dungeons with a delver dissident who has had his name ritually stripped from him for defiance.

Cara renames the delver "Rocky" and the Squijum shows up with the amulet and steals the key. They meet up with Grimmwold, and escape. They also encounter the gryphon Medafil, who is lost below ground, only to wake a monster known as the schwartz, a Terminator-like blind dragon that never gives up pursuit. Cara defeats it using the expanding light sphere from Medafil's nest, and they emerge in the centaur's valley, where Belle is waiting for them with the news of Finder's death.

The centaurs are standoffish, but eventually Cara persuades their leader Chiron to spill the beans: after the war with Beloved began, the unicorns decided to expunge all the darkness from their souls with the aid of a magician named Elihu (hi!), which gained sentience and has been egging Beloved on ever since. It's also corrupted the delvers,which is why they hate unicorns so much. In exchange for the info, Cara agrees to mercy-kill Chiron, which none of the centaurs can do for personal reasons. Cara reports this story to the unicorns, who are all :shrug emoji: about it.

Meanwhile Ian and company are stuck in the Rainbow Prison, the Dimblethum is being tormented by the Whisperer, and ends up taking the macguffin the delvers stole and placing it at the Axis Mundi, the world-tree of Luster, so that Beloved and her forces can enter there. Lightfoot tries to stop the Dimblethum but isn't in time. And the book ends on the seriously metal note of Beloved opening the portal beneath the blood moon and invading Luster with her army. *cue 'Bad Moon Rising'*

[Which, I may note, is pretty much where the LAST BOOK also ended.]

SO. That was a lot.

Once again, the core group of characters from Book One gets broken up. Thomas the Tinker gets sidetracked pretty quickly and isn't seen again; the Dimblethum gets a few brief sequences, but doesn't do much until the end. Lightfoot and Cara are separated fairly early on and don't have much time together, though their musings about their sudden familial connections at the beginning are nice, even though Cara also keeps shipping Belle with Lightfoot. Lightfoot himself doesn't get to do much, Finder dies, and Belle is likewise sidelined by the narrative for a decent chunk of the story. Coville also keeps emphasizing that Lightfoot is a Prince, which just grates on me, too.

I would also like to see more of Cara? She has plenty of scenes, but after two books of focusing solely on her, it's so strange to suddenly be jerked in different directions and it makes me grumpy.

It's great to see Medafil again, but I found the whole delvers/underground plot to drag on too long for my tastes. I'm glad Coville brings back that one delver from the first book who let Cara go because he thinks (rightly) his king is batshit crazy.

I like Alma Leonetti's story, but it feels unrelated to the plot, so I'm not entirely sure why it's there. I think it was originally a stand-alone short story, and I think it's better suited as one, because I can't figure out what its narrative purpose is. Or is it just that Grimmwold is contractually obligated to tell at least one story per book?? Or maybe this is something that will pay off in Book 4.

Ian Hunter's story basically bores me, and I found that whole subplot extremely tedious. He's been more or less retconned to be sympathetic and a victim, and I just don't know how I feel about that.

I HAVE SUCH MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THE BIG REVEAL. On the one hand, it's a great twist to see the psychological shadow as the literal villain; on the other hand, it takes away some of the delvers' and Beloved's agency as villains in their own right because they're now Pawns of a Bigger Bad. It also just seems like such a weird thing for the unicorns to do--and maybe that's a way of making them more alien, but I don't know.

Coville explicitly uses the word 'hubris,' so it also feels weirdly victim-blaming to me because the unicorns are doing it to themselves (and this isn't just a war, but genocide we're talking about here!). For better or worse, this twist muddies the black and white/good vs. evil paradigm into shades of gray: the unicorns are beautiful and good but also arrogant assholes; Beloved is homicidal but also in terrible pain; the delvers are misunderstood and need to be embraced rather than ignored.

Alma Leonetti consistently delivers the best lines - I guess she's taken over the role Ivy Morris used to play, since Ivy is now a unicorn:

"Perhaps the unicorns need to try to recover some of what they have lost?... You face a dedicated enemy who has shown no mercy, one who will stop at nothing to destroy you. And what have you done? Gathered together, which is good. Prepared to defend yourselves, which is good, too. But is it enough? How fiercely are you willing to fight to save your lives? How strong can unicorns be? ... Maybe you need to take in some of that darkness you once released."

I remember feeling oddly disappointed on my first reading, which unfortunately persists on re-read. This story has now moved in a very different direction from the one I expected, and while that's not necessarily bad, it is unsettling and strange. As I mentioned earlier, some of that might just be that the final result doesn't match the story I made up in my head; or it could just be the inevitable result of such a long gap between books and the changes in the fantasy market post-Harry Potter. I don't know.

(I wish I had written down my thoughts about an ending--aka fanfic--because while I could write one now, it’d be reacting to canon, rather than creating it.)

Either way, major kudos to Coville for writing this book, because I had assumed the series was dead and would never be completed, and he fucking did it. That’s such an inspiration, honestly.

#book reviews #unicorn chronicles #dark whispers #childhood influences

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