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aroaceleovaldez · 1 year

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I really dislike the inherent main plots of TSATS and Chalice of the Gods as they’re being explained to us currently, mostly just cause I feel like they take away from already established lore of the series and other plot points.

There is no way TSATS can go that doesn’t make either Tartarus feel cheap and/or the entire book just feel like Percabeth In Mark Of Athena: 2 Electric Boogaloo. Unless the twist is that they don’t go to Tartarus it is physically impossible. Because either they go to Tartarus and breeze through it, which makes Tartarus as a setting feel cheap and ruins all prior instances of it being used as a landscape of suffering, or they suffer Lots and Lots and it just feels like we’re rehashing the same exact plot over again purely for the sake of treating solangelo the same as percabeth, which doesn’t work because they’re vastly different character dynamics and putting them in the same situation has nowhere near the same emotional weights. Also it makes Nico’s original foray into Tartarus feel null because it makes it feel like his trauma doesn’t have any actual meaning, because why would he jump right back into it? Even with Nico’s character being extremely self-sacrificial, we’re at a point where we’re being told he’s improving on that and this is possibly the one circumstance he would think twice about. AND it makes Tartarus feel overused - Nico surviving Tartarus once? Okay, makes sense, he’s the son of Hades, and it’s cool that he’s the first mortal to ever survive it. Percabeth too? Getting iffy (especially since we see their trip in detail and that inherently means it’s lost a lot of potential oomph, because when you’re going for horrifying a lot of the time less is more) but okay, sure, Nico probably gave Percy some Tartarus Tips after being rescued and they had a literal dues ex machina or two helping them out, and they fell in accidentally so it’s not like how Nico waltzed in there. Third time? And it being Nico AGAIN and Will Solace (who as far as we know has little to no quest experience and most of his experience is being a battlefield medic) and then purposefully going there? Nope. It’s just a poor set-up. Plus “the major gay couple goes on vacation to superhell” is a... questionable plot set-up to begin with, especially when it’s been heavily implied it will be traumatizing for them, and we have already been told explicitly that references are being made to things like Call Me By Your Name so there is a self-awareness about the themes there (also that alone raises questions about how we’re going to be taking the tone of things - again, there’s two ways it can go and both would be extremely difficult to get right). If Mark Oshiro were not co-authoring this I’d be a little horrified. I’m very glad Mark Oshiro is co-authoring this. I don’t believe it can’t be done tastefully, and yeah it’s a situation ripe for symbolism, but it is definitely the kind of subject that would be difficult for a non-queer author to handle appropriately.

As for Chalice of the Gods, we know two things: A.) It takes place prior to TOA, and B.) The chalice Percy has to retrieve has the power to make anyone who drinks from it immortal. ..... so basically, without the book even being out, we are told “If Percy had waited like 20 minutes, all of TOA would be null.” Admittedly, this does give justification for Percy specifically to be doing this quest outside of “college” reasons, and in my opinion, “The gods asked Percy specifically because they have verified he adamantly does NOT want to be immortal” is hilarious. However, adding yet another universe mechanic to the repertoire that nullifies death is annoying as hell, because death as a consequence in the series has been completely ruined since HoO. The more avoiding death options there are, the more every death scene feels completely pointless and avoidable.

#pjo #riordanverse #tsats #the sun and the star #chalice of the gods #forgive me for complaining this was in my drafts and i figured since i was talking about plot changes i'd make yesterday #might as well post this then yknow #while we're on the topic #i'll find something lighter/sillier in my drafts to post later #also my hesitancy about the overarching plot does not say anything regarding my expectations for the actual quality of the book(s)#just putting that as a footnote #could the plots be total shit but the books themselves end up lovely? sure. totally.#i am just personally grumbly about Tartarus' use as a narrative device and how it keeps getting overused #and also the growing lack of consequence in the riordanverse which tends to make any stakes feel automatically low and cheap #mind you i would LOVE if the twist in TSATS is that they end up not going to Tartarus at all #im currently 50/50 on reading it but if it turns out they dont go to Tartarus at all i'd be sold immediately #and i do think Percy being saddled with a quest because he's the only one who wouldn't be tempted with immortality is hilarious #tbh if we had a third plot concept rolling here and we condensed all three ideas down we could just do another 3-short-story book #like Demigod Files and Demigod Diaries #we have options #heck. yknow. if we're talking particularly long short-stories here we could probably roll with two #if demigod files is for the first series and demigod diaries is for HoO we need a TOA one anyways #cause CHB:C and CJ:C and those ones are their own category they're different

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karinyosa · 1 month

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okay the website of my local church w the pride flags out front actually really slaps they have like 5000000 choirs and a page on their specific beliefs that is pretty slay actually, unfortunately for the part of my brain that thinks choosing to do this is insane for me

#like to be honest it seems very tailored to the things i would like to get out of going to church if i were to actually follow through on #this #particularly their attitude toward doubt and sin #doubt is welcome and even an expression of faith? intriguing!#sin is a part of what makes us human? thats what i think!#i however relish in sin and this may make me incompatible with ANY church #perhaps their response would be that what i was taught was sin is not actually sin and we will see if that sticks to me or not #i dont really like the concept of sin regardless of whether god is forgiving about it or not but i guess that would lead me to the last tag #like if we can agree that certain things are bad then sure i guess theoretically i can get on board with the concept of sin #there are some reads of the bible that lean more leftist or queer that intrigue me but which i don't know much about #if anywhere's gonna be open to that it'd probably be this church #they've got a food pantry as well which is nice. like as a church you SHOULD be doing mutual aid i think but you know #i think i would always relish in being a little blasphemous though. thats the spice of life thats why im alive #im rereading this. who the fuck says relish #thank god for the industriously cautious part of my brain though because i'm doing so much fucking research before even daring to step foot #in there #on the sect and on the church itself #i think this would be very much a me reading the bible to shape it to my life and beliefs thing rather than the opposite #maybe the real reason i want to go to church is so i can dom god #karinyo.txt

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martyrbat · 2 years

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the man who falls – secret origins (1989)

[ID: Two cropped comic pages of Bruce Wayne as a child after falling into a cave and being ambushed by a swarm of bats. There's multiple narration boxes over the pages:

Page One: a three panel sequence of Bruce being rescued by his father. In the first panel, Bruce is screaming with his eyes squeezed shut in fear. He has his fists clenched in front of him and is wearing a reddish pink turtleneck sweater. The narration says, ‘Again, he shrieked — not in terror, but in despair...’ In the second panel, Thomas Wayne is shown from behind in a low angle. He's wearing a red sweater similar to Bruce and is holding a flashlight as he jerks Bruce into him. Above them is bats surrounding them and the broken wood floors that Bruce fell through. The narration continues, ‘The arm curled around him, muffling his voice, and his cheek rubbed against the rough wool of his father's jacket... He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to be away from here—’. In the third panel, they're standing outside. The narration reads, ‘When he opened them, he was in the area behind the mansion, in the pale light of the autumn afternoon, and his father's words pounded at him—’. Thomas is kneeling down in front of Bruce in front of the hole he fell in. He's gripping the child's shoulders as he scolds him, “Idiot! I told you never, never to go off alone. Didn't I? Didn't I?” Martha Wayne is behind them with her hand on the side of her face as she looks at them with relief that Bruce is okay.

Page Two: Martha is defending Bruce as Bruce has his head down. Thomas is still squeezing Bruce's shoulders as Martha tells him, “Thomas, he's frightened.” Thomas replies, “He damn well ought to be. He could have been killed.” Martha replaces Thomas's spot in front of Bruce, kneeling to gently place a hand on his upper arm and using a handkerchief to wipe his forehead. Bruce is standing with his fist still clenched and grimacing as Thomas angrily says, “He's got to learn.” Bruce is shown in a low angle, looking up at his mother with wide eyes. The narration continues, ‘He listened to his father's boots crushing the dead grass, and when he could no longer hear them, he dared to ask:’ “Mommy, was I in hell?” Martha soothes, “No, baby, that was just some old cave. You're safe now,” as she hugs him. His cheek is pressed against hers and she has her eyes closed as Bruce still looks uncertain. END ID]

#once again pushing my 'thomas wayne was a piece of shit' propaganda #tied in with the panel of him hitting bruce #and then the alt timeline where they live and martha expresses concern that her eight year old has an obsession with criminology now #and stopped being talkative or wanting to see some train (his special interest) and thomas says good and that it was worth the scare #and ! being autistic. for me when im emotional all sound is so much louder and more overwhelming #the fact that he waited until he couldnt hear his father walking away before asking his mother if he was in hell....#and being no older than 8 and still waiting. just tensed and taking the verbal lashing and them fighting before speaking up?? yeah.#also think it'll be interesting in the 'bruce is constantly seeing the best in people even shitty people that dont 'deserve' a second #chance or for someone to fully believe they can change. that you do bad things but aren't a bad person. that you can do good and not #be a good person. that its making a choice and that anyone can choose and decide to do better than they were yesterday'#sorta deal yknow?#just the conditioning of forgiveness for something theyre not sorry for and wanting to believe everyone is capable of being good #that traumatized 'mommy was i in hell' like god sorry brucie for the trauma but itll have a payoff in a decade or so trust me kid #also martha?? love her. hes the biggest mama's boy you cant change my mind.#bruce wayne #thomas wayne #martha wayne #baby brucie #crypt's panels #c: secret origins | the man who falls #bruce & martha #bruce's childhood

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softquietsteadylove · 5 months

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Hello! ✨

Something for the Thenamesh 10 Things AU!

What about some drama with Arishem. He heard a stupid rumor that his daughter Thena had some dirty time with a "bad boy" at a gas station or a workshop. Arishem was storming out of the house when Thena an Sersi came home and he yelled at her and grabbed her, trying to drag her into the house. And then, of course, Gilgamesh shows up and makes it even worse, because Arishem thinks he's this, in the rumor mentioned, "bad boy".

🖤✨Hugs and Love✨🖤

"Thena!"

Thena and Sersi both jumped as their father's voice rattled the air around them. Sersi stood from where she and Thena were sitting on the front step together. "F-Father, what-"

"Silence," the monstrous man stepped closer to them, forcing Thena to her feet with the pressure of his presence. He loomed over them. "Thena, I have heard rumours of you."

"What rumours?" she asked outright. It wouldn't do her any good to play stupid with her father. "Whatever it is, I'm certain it's false."

"Is that so?" he queried, leaning over his eldest daughter more. "I was told you went looking for...transportation."

Thena bristled.

"It is my understanding that you have formed an associative attachment with someone," Arishem paused, "less than reputable."

"Please say who you mean, Father," Thena asked, which was as good as wagging her finger and sassing him.

"Gilgamesh," Arishem spat out the name with distaste. "A young delinquent who will be lucky to graduate school, let alone attend a secondary education befitting of this family."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"You know the rules," he spoke deeply and evenly, eyes bearing down on Thena with her head directed at her shoes. "You do not let the common animals bed you, especially not the likes of unlawfuls."

"Father!" Sersi spoke up in a surprising bout of rebellion. "I don't know what you're talking about but Thena-"

"Was seen with this young man several times," Arishem concluded for his second daughter. And favourite, if Thena needed any more proof than this very conversation. "Including, entering and exiting his vehicle."

"I did not realise asking for a ride was strictly forbidden," Thena spoke up for herself again, which she had never done as much of in the past. But she managed to drag her eyes up to glare at her father, "truly I must be the whore of Babylon, then."

Arishem's eyes flared, only making his dark, devilish appearance even worse. "Enough."

"Father!" Sersi gasped.

"Inside," he snarled, gripping Thena's arm and dragging her up the rest of the stairs and towards the door.

"Hey!"

All three heads turned as a figure walked up the sidewalk and towards the house. "I don't know what the hell's happening, but let go of her."

Arishem stared down the young man walking towards him so brazenly. "You."

"Me," Gil made a face at him. Arishem's height didn't bother him, nor the sheer size of his figure, wide shoulders and monstrous limbs. Gil shrugged at him, moving his jacket with his hands inside the pockets.

Arishem looked down at Thena, in his clutches like a bird being shoved into a cage, "truly? This is with whom you wish to associate?"

"Father, please!" Sersi pleaded, tugging at his other sleeve in an effort to help her sister.

"Father?" he an even more sneering face at him. He walked up a few steps towards them. "You're their asshole of a dad?"

Arishem's spine straightened, each vertebra locking into place so he could glare down at the boy. "You have the audacity to address me so improperly?"

His eyes dashed down to the hand around Thena's arm. "I have a problem with anyone who handles their own kid like this."

"Gil, don't-!" Thena bit her lip as her father pulled her upwards, forcing her to stretch up with the impossible angle of her arm within his frighteningly high grasp.

"Gilgamesh," Arishem addressed, still holding onto Thena like an escaped convict. "I will say this only once: whatever claim to my daughter you think you possess, put it from your mind."

"Put it from my mind?" he repeated back as if he hadn't heard it the first time at all. "The fuck is wrong with you?"

Arishem brought his shoulders forward. "You-"

"No, you!" Gil belted back at him, jabbing his finger up in his face despite the difference in their height. Gil didn't back down in the least in the face of the monster of a man. "You listen to me, fuck-face! I don't care if you're their dad, I don't care if you spoon feed them from gold plates every single day! You don't handle them like this!"

Gilgamesh reached forward, taking advantage of the surprise on Arishem's face and grasped Thena's hand in his. He pulled faintly, but Arishem's grip hadn't loosened any.

His eyes looked as black as coal. "Unhand her."

"Stop hurting her," Gil barked right back at him. "I don't know what happened here, and I don't give a shit. She doesn't deserve this."

"Gil."

He looked at her, grief stricken by the whimper in her voice.

"Enough!" Arishem bellowed, his voice once again seeming like it could rustle the leaves in the trees. He let go of Thena, who stumbled like a fawn into Gil's offered support. "It seems I was right to deem you a lost cause."

"Who the hell talks about their own kid like that?"

"You," Arishem turned his attention back to Gilgamesh, whose hold on Thena's shoulders tightened. "If I ever lay my eyes on you again, your life in this town will cease to exist. Do you understand?"

Gilgamesh didn't even blink, holding Thena against his chest, "I understand that you're a prick who's lucky his daughters didn't turn out to be psychos too."

Perhaps with nothing more he could do to exercise control over the situation, Arishem turned and walked back into the house. The door slammed closed and Sersi's somewhat panicked breathing became more audible.

"Hey," Gil said gently, tipping Thena's chin his way, "are you okay?"

Thena just blinked, somewhat stunned by the past minutes.

"Thena!" Sersi rushed over to her, practically in tears. "I-I-I can't believe Father would-!"

Gil moved aside as Sersi threw her arms around her sister. Thena would never call herself a 'hugger' by nature, but Sersi was always the more emotional of the two of them. She patted her sister's back, "I'm okay."

Her eyes met Gil's, who still had quite a snarly look on his face. "Are you?"

Thena blinked before nodding, "I am."

Gil shifted on his feet, nodding his head in the direction of the front door, "are you gonna be okay going in there?"

Thena had her reservations, but their Father, at the very least, never dwelt on them for long. "I have no concern with what his opinion is of me. But don't worry, he would never expend the effort it would take to hurt me."

Gil eyed her arm--the one that had been wrenched upward in her father's grasp. "You sure about that?"

Sersi pulled herself away from Thena to offer a positively furious expression, no matter how tearful. "I cannot believe Father would act this way. I'm going to tell him that I will never forgive him for this!"

Thena nearly laughed, watching Sersi stomp her way into the house to give 'daddy' a piece of her mind. She rubbed her hands over her arms, "if it comes from Sersi, he is more apt to listen."

"Hey."

Thena looked at him as he placed his hands over hers, letting her guide his hands over her arms as well. She immediately thought of the hoodie that was inside, sitting on her bed waiting for her.

"Are you really okay?" he whispered, as if her father were lying in wait, listening. He ducked his head closer to hers, "you don't have to go in there. My Uncle would have no problem with you staying with us. He has a guest room!--and my room in the basement is-"

Thena smiled, tapping just the tip of her finger to his lips. She had never had the privilege of seeing Gilgamesh ramble on and on. It was endearing. "I am not afraid of my father, Gil, nor will I be afraid of walking into my own home."

"But-" he tried to protest, but she sealed his lips shut again.

"It is a sweet offer," she conceded. She never would have anticipated it, and it was almost humorous to imagine Gil just...showing up with her, like some stray he wanted to keep. "And I appreciate it. But I promise I will be fine here."

He sighed, obviously not in favour of leaving her here to whatever her father had in store for her. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," she echoed back to him, just to see a smile on his face. It was small, but it was there. "I'll come find you tomorrow--prove my living status to you."

He chuckled, stepping back from her with a roll of his eyes, "okay Princess, whatever makes you feel better."

This was very literally for his benefit. But she didn't mind that so much, "very well. Tomorrow, then."

Gil took the steps backwards, staring at her as he made his way back across the street, "looking forward to it."

#Thenamesh 10 Things AU #the drama!!!#Gil is here to say unhand my princess!#Arishem: ???#Gil really looked at this utter monster of a man #seven feet tall dressed in a black three piece suit in the middle of the day #and said you go to hell sir unhand the girl who refuses to be my girlfriend!#and I love that for him #Sersi here watching like oh my god there's so much going on #but she does go inside and tell Arishem that he has gone too far #that she will never forgive him for handling her sister the way he did #Arishem says something about Thena's mother and Sersi says no I don't wanna hear it #you are dead to me father!!!#Arishem just thinks well teenagers what can you do #also Gil really did offer to let Thena come home with him #boy shows up with Thena like hey gramps this is that girl I'm talking about all the time #Karun here like well...welcome young madame I have a guest room

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