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madrone33 · 4 months

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Ok, so heavy SPOILER WARNING for Pjo episode 6! And the rest of the show since I have read the book! Just, y’know, there’s your warning.

I’d also like to preface this by saying this post will be a rambling, not at all ordered, completely unscripted, kinda-rant kinda-essay of my thoughts on the episode, which means it is inherently biassed and completely composed of my thoughts, feelings, and opinions! None of this is fact, and I’m not trying to force my opinion on you. If you think differently or disagree, that’s completely fine! I would hate to live in a world full of clones of myself lol

With that out of the way, onto whatever this will turn out to be!

Ok, so I really liked the Hermes scene. That part was well written and acted. The family drama and guilt and blame is this show is really complex and everyone just needs multiple hugs tbh. Also, seeing a bit of Hermes’ powers was interesting.

I’m intrigued to know more about Percy’s flashback, while at the same time dreading it because I know it’ll be something heart wrenching and traumatic for poor Percy.

Hermes not agreeing to help them was a kinda foregone conclusion; it would be way too easy for them if he just let them into the Underworld, and we can’t make things easy for them now, can we :D

The Kronos stuff was cool to see, with Luke desperately covering his ass lmao, and Percy confiding in Annabeth. The slight change in Iris Messaging, with them not needing water and using a crystal instead was good. Both that it saved time and that it’s more believable. If your one communication tool is rainbows, of course you’d carry around a portable crystal to make ‘em.

It does make me wonder if they’re ever going to explain that technology - as in phones - makes it easier for monsters to find you. ‘Cause currently I… don’t think that’s been made clear to non-book audiences? Maybe I missed it in an earlier episode? Idk.

The scene where they released the trafficked animals was funny, and Grover completely overlooking if humans would get hurt and only thinking of the animals was a nice touch. I get why they didn’t show the animal abuse explicitly, even if I liked how in the books it was shown more clearly.

Them actually realising that the Lotus Hotel is connected to the Lotus Eaters from the Odyssey was good. I like how they’re identifying the threats faster in the show, whereas in the book they really fell for the monsters’ traps a lot. And the fact that they were on guard and were thinking that it was the food to watch out for added a different kind of danger than the books, where it was more just the readers sensing something wrong and hoping they’d not get trapped.

I like that the Lotus was actually being pumped into the air the whole time. And the fact that Percy and Annabeth being together helped them remember what they were actually there for vs Grover being alone and succumbing quicker was logical.

I didn’t like what they did with Grover so much. Him finding a fellow Satyr and trying to talk to him the way that he can’t to Percy and Annabeth was sad, but then, uh, idk he kinda just felt a bit useless? And the Satyr (who’s name I’ve completely forgotten oops) I think was supposed to be seen as funny? But he was… not. He wasn’t funny. And Grover was just very meh.

Like, this is one of those instances where I would’ve liked for them to change it from the books. In the books they all get split up become slowly addicted to the games in the Lotus Hotel and all that, and then Percy snaps out of it and he goes to wake up Annabeth and Grover, and they find Grover playing something like ‘Destroying Humanity’ and then drag him out of there. Which is basically what happens here, but it’s just-

They’ve changed so many other things for the better, turning moments from a randomness scene to a character beat. And I think they tried to do that by adding the Satyr and the ‘Finding Pan’ game, but it just. Didn’t work for me. He was just kinda there and did basically nothing and, like.

Ok ok so my main problem with this episode is the lack of tension.

First off, they were more meandering around looking for Hermes, it didn’t seem like they were that worried they might not find him. Like, they literally just wandered around and found him, without asking for any directions from strange people that might’ve given some insight into how sus this place is, or even having a quick montage cut of them jogging around peering into shady places. They just- walk around slowly and then there he is. Incredible.

Second, I know the Lotus is supposed to be like a drug, where you forget things and just focus on feeling good all the time, but I would’ve liked if Grover figured out that it was in the air, or that too much time has passed, and tries to fight it or smth?

Like, he starts to forget, and knows he’s forgetting something important, and tries to find- someone- the people he knows he came here with- not just so they can help him remember but to warn them that they were wrong, and it’s not just if you eat the food it’s everywhere and they need to go because the time- it’s all slipping away and he can’t let them be trapped here-

But something or someone stops him, hold him back, makes it so he can’t, and slowly he starts to forget why he’s fighting or what he’s fighting for and then he succumbs, and the switch you can see in him from scared-determined-panicked to dazed-confused-happy is terrifying.

And now we viewers are on the edges of our seats, because now we know that Percy and Annabeth are in so much more danger than we thought, and now there’s a time limit, and now Grover is trapped in his own mind slowly losing himself, and now we’re wondering when it’s going to start happening to Percy and Annabeth too, and now we really need them to realise and save Grover and get the fuck out of there before it’s too late-

But uh, yeah, we… didn’t get that. Instead it was almost- portrayed as comical? Like, there wasn’t a lot of weight put on it.

Old man Satyr keeps forgetting ha ha ha. Oh Grover’s forgetting too? Wow it’s gonna be super hard to get out of that one! Oh, no it’s super easy. Barely an inconvenience! Oh really? Yeah, Percy and Annabeth have barely started to forget anything important, and then they happen to look up and see the Satyr and get reminded of Grover. And then there’s a super short chase scene and then jump cut to them finding Grover playing video games and oh funny, he doesn’t remember them! But it’s fine, it actually doesn’t matter, they get him and go and he remembers on his own a few minutes later! 😀

Speaking of; I might have missed something but did Annabeth do anything at all during that chase scene? Like, I think she went another route to try and cut him off, but then she just kinda disappears, Percy tackles him, and she never shows up…? Idk, I’ll rewatch it sometime, but as of now it’s very strange in my mind.

The car scene was kinda funny, but again, not a lot of tension at all.

(Though as someone learning how to drive that scene made me cringe because of how relatable it was lmao. Honestly, Percy drove way too well for a first timer in a crowded parking lot, and the fact that he actually made that turn decently well? Yeah, someone give him a pat on the back lol.)

… Okay so I just thought of something that is unrealistic and wildly deviating from the books to the point that it’s basically just fanfic, but hey, they deviated anyway when they introduced Hermes this early and it’s my shitty tumblr post so - imagine if there was a car chase. There. I said it. If you’re going to make Percy drive a basically stolen taxi through Los Angeles, fucking commit and make him have to outrun the cops/some monster until they manage to activate whatever makes the car teleport!

Like, do an ‘IKEA after dark’ situation where things are all happy go lucky in the club at first, and then after they talk to Hermes and the Lotus starts effecting them, shit starts to get weird, and the patrons around them start becoming strange, and there’s a creeping sense of wrong wrong wrong as they rush to find Grover and then they find him but he’s wrong, and he looks at them like they’re strangers and they don’t know how to fix it, so all they can do is grab him and run, barely remembering where they’re going or why, but they’re holding themselves together, and when one starts to slip the others are there to haul them forward and remind them what they’re doing.

They have car keys in hand, and they might not know how to drive but fuck it they need to go, so bring on the dramatic dark lighting and wild driving and many bumpy, jerky, shit-we-almost-ran-over-something-important escapades, sirens closing in behind them and then he takes a wrong turn and stares wide eyed into the headlights of an incoming truck, flinches back, eyes slaming shut and-

Silence broken only by crashing waves. Insert Santa Monica scene after slightly hysterical laughter because holy fuck they survived.

… Um, yeah soz, idk where that came from lmao.

Moving on! So, I didn’t mind them getting Hermes’ car too much. Like, hell yes she pickpockets a god. But I didn’t like the way that Annabeth got the keys. Like, he’s the God of Thieves and she’s pretty smart. No way she wouldn’t realise that he let her take them.

A way to make it better would’ve been if he’d done some subtle shit, and she’d done some subtle shit, and then it was shown with some shots that here he puts his keys in this pocket, and then a few shots later maybe she brushes past him, or she “leaves” the room but you can fuzzily see pot plant leaves moving in the background if you know to look for it, and then boom, no more keys in his pocket, and when Percy catches up with her she reveals that Hermes let her take them, and we’re like “ahh, of course, can’t help directly but isn’t stopping them if they take initiative, cool cool.”

But nope. She got they keys, thinks she somehow stole them without his knowledge, and then it’s revealed that, duh, he knew, and they’re just like, welp, guess we should’ve known! Yeah. You should’ve. Annabeth is just- not? She’s just not? Like this? This isn’t how she would- do stuff. She’s smarter than that.

But see what I mean? No tension. Need to find Hermes, oh there he is. He won’t help them, but they got his keys. Lost Grover, but found him almost right away. Don’t know how to drive, but whatever lets go. Grover lost his memory, but nah he’s got it back just fine.

Yeahhh. Idk it just felt weirdly lacking.

What also felt weirdly lacking was the reveal that the Solstice has passed and the gods are going to war.

So, most of that underwater bit wasn’t how the books went, but I’m kinda withholding judgement on how I feel depending on how the next two episodes handle it.

The deadline being up and the gods already going to war? I don’t like it, but yeah, I can see how it might work with the themes laid out.

This isn’t just a war, it’s a family fighting, and instead of Percy just doing it because it’s The Quest, this - his father releasing him from the quest, and Ares telling him it doesn’t matter and they’d go to war regardless of it the Bolt is found, and everyone saying it’s not his place - it gives Percy agency because he’s choosing to forge ahead and save his mother, and find the bolt, and save this family he’s become a part of from itself. It’s his choice now. I can see why they made that change.

Though for some reason the pacing was weird, and the reveal that war was literally upon them was… eh? Like, “oh btw you’re too late and now we’re going to war.” “Huh, interesting, but I’m still going.” Like I said; lack of tension. There’s just no real urgency. It went really fast, or maybe too slow? Idk, there was just something missing.

The four pearls thing? I was very thrown by that, and I’m still pretty uncertain on if that’ll remove all the tension in the Underworld part. Because the whole conflict is if he’ll choose going after the Bolt and saving the Olympians? Or will he choose his mother and doom them to war?

If he has four pearls, then he can do both, which means zero stakes. But I’ve read some other people’s opinions, and I agree that one of those pearls is definitely getting lost/broken/used up before he can give it to her, which means this was done to raise hopes and then bring them crashing down, so I’m withholding judgement and hoping that it won’t be too contrived.

And I don’t like that Poseidon basically says he wants Percy to save Sally too, because a huge part of Percy’s dilemma was that the gods didn’t understand or agree with Percy wanting to save his mum.

Poseidon being on Percy’s side certainly serves the themes the episode set up, with Hermes wanting to be there for his family and failing, this time with Poseidon trying to be there for Percy and Sally, and hopefully succeeding. But it just feels like Percy isn’t as alone as he should be, which is good for him as a person, but bad from a writing standpoint because it makes it feel too easy.

In the books, it’s kinda an act of rebellion, that he would even think of choosing a mortal over the gods, but here he’s… not? Because the gods - or at least Hephestus, Hermes and Poseidon - are on his side. So he’s not choosing a mortal over the gods, he’s just saving his mum, and half the gods have given him the thumbs up to do it.

Not saying they weren’t secretly supporting him in the books too, but Percy didn’t think they were. He felt alone. He felt the pressure of the consequences that would come with whatever descision he made. In the show he’s not really going against the gods, because the gods are actively endorsing him. Which means, say it with me, no tension.

Anyway, like I said: withholding judgment. I'll see how the next ones go, and then come to a proper conclusion based on a complete picture.

Also, side note: When the nereid said, “What belongs to the sea can always return” all I was thinking was the musical and Poseidon’s goofy ass voice saying “It’s a SeAShElL” 😂

Oh and btw, the graphics/makeup/cgi of the nereid was well done to my untrained eye. I have no idea about how it’s done, or if it’s actually shitty in the professional sphere, but I thought it was pretty, so- thumbs up from me.

Though the whole scene at the beach and swimming to her was so dark I literally had to turn my tv’s brightness up to see what was happening, which I also had to do with the Theme Park last episode, and I almost did with the Minatour. Man, they really have a problem with lighting during the night scenes.

But just throughout the whole episode, there's just this feeling of non-urgency. Like, in the episode where time is the most important thing, it... doesn't really feel like it matters all that much.

Um, yeah. I think that was all I wanted to say…

In conclusion, I liked Hermes, aaand not much else. It was still a fun episode, but just all round pretty iffy plot wise. Rip.

I shall leave this with saying WE FINALLY GOT WISE GIRL!! 🥳

#pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo episode 6 #spoilers #essay #rambles #my posts #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #hermes #long post #poseidon #percabeth #writing #analysis #sorry for any typos

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introverting-rn · 4 months

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so percy does the floss and ares starts twitter fights. hate to ask but are we shifting the year pjo is set in? ik it wasn’t specified in the books, with the technology used being typical to the 2005-2009 period, but like. are we gonna see the demigods live through covid?

i’m imagining the hephaestus kids designing incredible face masks that an infected person could straight up cough on and the person wearing it would be fine, and working on getting them to people outside camp. they haven’t been interacting that much with the mortal population for a while but if they can help, they want to, so they work on it. i’m imagining percy social distancing even underwater because he doesn’t want to hurt his animal friends. i’m imagining how hard they grill the gods to check this wasn’t something they pulled, and annabeth pulling out a full essay on plague patterns each century to explain why this could absolutely be not within the gods’ realm.

i’m also imagining, like, quests? cause you know they wouldn’t let up on sending the heroes random bullshit. nobody’s stopped giving them dumbass quests for a long while and they’re probably gonna keep going and if it’s any of the heroes we know, they’ll probably respond, nope! pandemic! stfu and cry in your pillows you whiny fucks!

#percy jackson #annabeth chase

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chironshorseass · 2 years

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mari where is the essay about annabeth not being cursed where is the essay

she’s an interesting one alright. so actually annabeth is the savior. i mean. u think abt it and she rly is. she’s elpis in pandora’s jar she’s the anchor she’s the olive branch she’s the daughter of wisdom!!! leo and piper and jason all go on a quest to free hera and coincidentally jason is the lost hero, but so is piper and leo bc they were old enough to have been claimed years before but they weren’t. they’re just as misplaced as jason and blah blah blah they find their purpose and their true selves thru tlh. then there’s percy (in this version he’s keeping the curse of achilles) and hazel and frank. three people with curses. one was raised from the death and is haunted by it + she summons cursed jewels that eventually take those she loves away (they die lol), and the other 2 interestingly have their mortality tied to one thing. the difference is that one fears death (frank) bc he feels it so incredibly close and the other (percy) has lost sight of his mortality—which is what makes the curse of achilles a curse rly. and ANNABETH is the only one who can ground him. ANNABETH was the only one who could ground luke as well. in hoo she is now the seven’s only hope. like there’s the group who has an identity crisis 24/7 (is jason roman/greek? does piper want to embrace her mother’s side of herself/does she embrace her father’s heritage? what is leo’s place as a member of the seven?) and the other group is quite literally cursed and in some way it has to do with death and while one half of the seven is on a path of discovery the other half is on a path to freedom of their binds. annabeth stands in the crossfire since the very beginning. she plays the role of the mediator since pjo and she didn’t realize this until tlo—when she broke thru luke’s shield when she convinced percy to give him the knife. annabeth understands perfectly who she is. she knows her place as a leader and she isn’t held back by death. there isn’t anything like that stopping her per se….even if she doesn’t have any flashy powers at her disposal. all she depends on r her wits and intelligence but there’s something else that people forget:

annabeth’s so good at understanding people. she’s very in-tune with her emotions, despite what others say. she has this impact on people, this mark of wisdom that rly makes her stand out, and maybe that’s part of why luke and percy saw her in the river styx. bc she’s so so human and one of the best examples of a moral compass they can see and touch. like all she does is see the good in things and she follows her heart and she understands herself so deeply that she wasn’t even surprised when the sirens revealed to her that her fatal flaw is pride. she’s the true hero of pjo, and arguably of hoo, bc she saved everyone’s asses tbh. i mean without her they wouldn’t have gotten the athena parthenos and without the athena parthenos there was no hope, AT ALL, that gaia would be defeated. same with luke and a single choice shall end his days. some could say that she is “the seventh wheel” but truly what she is is the one who has to rise even higher than the rest of the seven. there’s a reason why she had to look for the mark of athena alone. there’s a reason why the seven would always look to her immediately for help. while percy and jason have an alpha male conflict annabeth is the one who mediates and annabeth is the one who can steer the ship besides leo and annabeth is the one to help frank figure out the chinese handcuffs and annabeth is the one to make hazel and piper feel right at home. and while she can be the seven’s biggest strength, given she doesn’t fit into the two trios of demigods, she can still be their downfall. bc if percy still has the curse and if she holds his life in her hands and if she is his anchor to his mortality and if percy loses sight of that too late and if she carries the actual weight of what they must do to succeed on her shoulders and if she fails….the pillars can all fall apart very very quickly. in a way, they all depend ENTIRELY on her.

#the seven #annabeth chase #she is nobody’s sidekick indeed #idk what this is and i have a 2 day long headache but i couldn’t help thinking of this AHHHHHG #melissa tag #ask tag🤠#mari’s ted talks

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tsarinatorment · 2 years

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Pspsppspspspss tsari can you give us the essay :tm: as to why Apollo is instrumental in solangelo :)?

Oh boy, here we go. So, anyone who speaks to me regularly about TOA/RRverse knows that I have opinions on all things Will (and a few on Solangelo, and Apollo) and you've just invited me to dive into a real rabbit hole here. (Warning, this is long. Approx. 3k words long.) I’ve done my best to stick with canon facts rather than go too far down the spiral of headcanons and extrapolations (otherwise this would be at least twice as long again), but as always I can’t claim complete unbias in my interpretations of the canon material.

For general context, to me this subject is relevant and important because of the upcoming Solangelo book, and there are fears in the TOA discord about how badly Apollo's characterisation is going to be butchered and his entire character development retconned in order to actually make the Tartarus Quest a feasible plotline for the boys. The epilogue of TON in particular has some glaring red flags for this, where Apollo talks Will (and Nico) about their upcoming quest.

I frowned. I still didn't like the idea of my sunshiny son skipping off into the land of monster nightmares. My recent tumble to the edge of Chaos had reminded me what a terrible travel destination it was. Then again, it wasn't my place to tell demigods what to do, especially those I loved the most. I didn't want to be that kind of god any more.

"I wish I could offer you help," I said, "but I'm afraid Tartarus is outside my jurisdiction."

Now, that sounds... vaguely reasonable, I suppose, although even this bit I don't like because it sounds a lot like Apollo's already falling back on making excuses for not being able to interfere considering he spent the last couple of books, no, not telling demigods what to do, but definitely not sitting back and letting them throw themselves headfirst into danger, either. But then, right at the very end, we get this:

"Did you hear it?" Nico asked me. "The prophecy she whispered?"

"I - I didn't," I admitted. "Probably better if... if I let you two figure this one out."

This? This, from the perspective of someone who loves both Apollo's character development throughout the series, and his relationship with his children (especially Will, because yes, I admit my bias), is terrifying. This isn't him reluctantly admitting that there's limits to the help he can offer like he was pre-prophecy, this is him willingly stepping back and washing his hands of the whole situation. This line goes directly against the last five books' worth of character development (and even his baseline self during PJO/HOO, to say nothing of THO where Meg has to physically Order him not to throw away his life trying to blindly save Austin and Kayla).

Anyway, I'm going to get seriously off-track if I continue diving down that line because that's not actually what's being asked here, so I'll leave it there for general context of where this is coming from and get started on answering the question proper now.

Why is Apollo so important to Solangelo’s relationship?

The answer is, mostly but not exclusively, his relationship with Will. He also has an interesting, although far more minor, relationship with Nico which does not entirely revolve around their mutual love of Will, but it is predominantly Will, yes, and that’s what I’ll talk about here (I can poke more at Nico’s relationship with Apollo later, if there’s interest). And this brings me to my first point, which underlines my entire opinion on this thing:

Relationships do not exist in a vacuum. They just don’t. People are shaped by their relationships with various people, both good and bad, and the situations that arise from each of these situations - Nico is very shaped by his relationship with Bianca, her (in his eyes, not that I don’t agree) abandonment of him, and her death, to name the obvious example. It wasn’t being a son of Hades that made him stop being the bubbly kid we saw and loved in TTC, it was Bianca’s death and then Minos’ manipulation that jaded him. Likewise, Will is certainly influenced by other people in his life. Apollo makes specific mention of his mother, Naomi, in TON:

Will hadn’t inherited his thoughtfulness from me. That was all his mother, Naomi, bless her kind heart.

(I personally think that Apollo is selling himself very short here, considering how he’s been acting in the entire series himself, but regardless, if Apollo says Naomi was thoughtful, then we can probably trust him on that. I have a lot to say about how I think Will&Naomi’s relationship is, too, but that’s an essay for another time if anyone’s interested.)

However, Apollo is a god, and we’ve spent the first ten books looking at how much gods fail at being parents, especially the first five books where that was basically Luke’s entire original motivation (albeit later hijacked and twisted by Kronos), as well as the reason so many demigods defected to follow Luke, so how does this fit in with Apollo&Will?

Primarily, we’re looking at the fact that Apollo is, canonically, one of the best godly parents. It’s a very low bar, I admit, but we get a hint of this during Clovis’ recounting of the war council in BOO:

‘We don’t know what’s going on at Delphi,’ Will continued. ‘My dad hasn’t answered any prayers, or appeared in any dreams ... I mean, all the gods have been silent, but this isn’t like Apollo. Something’s wrong.’

This isn’t like Apollo, Will says, making specific mention of the fact that, yeah, the gods are all silent and that’s pretty normal overall, but that’s not like Apollo. Apollo is, usually, present in Will’s life to some extent. He answers prayers, he pops into their dreams. Admittedly we don’t know exactly what he does in those dreams (and yes, it’s a high chance he’s just reciting new poems at them that they may or may not actually want to hear), but it’s confirmed, repeated, canonical interaction with his kids. That’s a lot more than we hear about or see from most of the Olympians.

This passage, to me, also reads like he’s worried about Apollo to at least some degree. Nothing like the levels we see later on, in TOA, no, but there’s some concern going on there and it’s not purely at their general situation.

Will also has an unwavering faith in Apollo, as evidenced very plainly in his well-known interaction with Octavian:

‘No!’ Will Solace shoved Nico out of the way and got in Octavian’s face. ‘I am a son of Apollo, you anaemic loser. My father hasn’t shown anyone the future, because the power of prophecy isn’t working. But this –’ He waved loosely at the assembled legion, the hordes of monstrous armies spread across the hillside. ‘This is not what Apollo would want!’

He has no doubt at all that Octavian is at the very least mistaken, if not outright lying using his dad’s name, and that Apollo would not, ever, want the Romans to wipe out CHB - wipe out several of his own children, not to mention the camp he prodded Chiron into starting up in the first place (Apollo is, effectively, the patron god of CHB, after all, and there are a few tell-tale lines in TOA that let slip more than I think Apollo meant to on the subject). He doesn’t hesitate, he gets properly angry (and we don’t see Will angry much, usually just stubborn and refusing to roll over as he sticks to his beliefs and morals) at the insinuation that anyone could believe Apollo would do that. He’s not just protesting to Octavian here, he’s also proclaiming his faith in his father to his peers - to Nico, Lou Ellen, and Cecil, who are also his audience there.

Will truly believes in Apollo, and he’s never shown to be ashamed of that fact, not even - or rather, especially - when Apollo is being held up as the reason for the Greco-Roman war. That level of faith is incredibly solid and deep for a demigod, especially in the aftermath of the PJO books, where there’s shown to be very little faith in the gods’ morality or actions. Even Apollo projects himself as being self-centred (even though, when you read between the lines and look past his words to his actual actions, he’s never done anything but help the demigods).

“Tsari, this has nothing to do with Solangelo,” but it does, not just because, again, relationships don’t exist in a vacuum and Will is undeniably shaped by his relationship with his father anyway, but because of the timing of their relationship.

We don’t know, exactly, when Will and Nico became friends, let alone when they became boyfriends. It’s somewhere in the timeskip between BOO (early August) and THO (mid-January), but we have no exact timeline for it. I’d say from how they interact that they do seem settled enough in the relationship that’s it’s likely to have been at least a month from the ease of the banter that they share, and the way Nico is clearly not at all threatened by Paolo:

“You’re staring,” Nico noted.

“I am not,” Will said. “I am merely assessing how well Paolo’s arms are functioning after surgery.”

“Hmph.”

(He points this out as a statement of fact, not an accusation; we know what Nico’s like when he gets defensive or worried and “hmph” is not it.)

But we don’t know for sure exactly when they first became friends, rather than a doctor-patient dynamic (it’s heavily implied canon that they didn’t meet until at least BOTL, judging by the fact that there are no Apollo kids in camp during TTC and while I acknowledge the potential is there for Will to have been unclaimed at the time, that doesn’t fit with what we know of Apollo’s personality - he likes showing things off, he likes showing his kids off (look at how much he waxes poetic about Will, Kayla and Austin in THO, even before we start with the character development, look at how much he likes bragging about what previous kids have gone on to do). If he had any unclaimed kids in camp while he was dropping by in TTC, it would be very out of character for him to not claim them and show them off, but he doesn’t, so Will was almost certainly not in camp then).

What we do know is that the entirety of the canonical Solangelo relationship, from the ambiguous “when exactly did they get together after BOO” to the events of TOA, has one, consistent backdrop to it.

Apollo.

Or, more specifically, Apollo in trouble.

We’re not told if Jason or anyone else from the Seven ever recounts to the rest of the camp about Zeus blaming Apollo for the rise of Gaia and threatening punishment, although considering Jason’s clear sense of duty, I feel like he would have at last sought out Will, as the head counsellor of cabin seven, to tell him what’s going on with his dad, but even if Will doesn’t know that Apollo is actively in trouble, he does know two things.

Thing one - prophecy is still down, Python alone of the Gaia-era resurgence enemies has not been defeated.

Thing two - Apollo is still not answering prayers, dropping in on dreams, or doing any of those other things we’re told he did pre-HOO.

That adds up pretty conclusively to something is still wrong, even though the general air is that the war is over, everything can go back to normal now.

Now, I’m not saying that Will has spent the entire time he’s been in a relationship thinking solely about Apollo and worrying about what’s going on with him, but I am saying that it will have been something in the back of his mind, resurfacing at times, even during the time gap before he gets confirmation of what’s going on with Apollo. That’s approximately four months, at most, of Will navigating a new relationship with Nico (both platonic and romantic) with the lurking knowledge that something’s not right with his father.

Nico has only known the Will who’s always worrying in the background about a literal god. He knows Will trusts Apollo - he was there for the Octavian speech - and that Will seems to have at least a decent view of his father (which is more than most campers can say), and he knows that Will is worrying (maybe not to start with, but certainly by the time THO rolls around, Nico knows Will well enough to recognise it).

So even during the timeskip when they’re getting together, Apollo has a degree of relevance. This only increases once we reach TOA and Will is reunited with his father for the first time in a year.

TOA spans six months. Will (and Nico) are only actively present in THO and TON, but that’s enough to show us that Will isn’t at all reassured by his father’s presence in his life again. On the one hand, at least the uncertainty of not knowing is lessened (not gone entirely, because most of the time, Will isn’t with Apollo and doesn’t know exactly what he’s going through, but he knows it’s a dangerous quest), but on the other, his father is very, very, mortal and very, very fragile.

Will learns this the hard way, we’re told.

“Whoa, there.” Will steadied me. “I tried to heal you, but honestly, I don’t understand what’s wrong. You’ve got blood, not ichor. You’re recovering quickly from your injuries, but your vital signs are completely human.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Yeah, well...” He put his hand on my forehead and frowned in concentration. His fingers trembled slightly. “I didn’t know any of that until I tried to give you nectar. Your lips started steaming. I almost killed you.”

And, honestly, things don’t get any better. Apollo’s a mess, Nico himself is the one to point out later on in THO that Will, especially, is worried:

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

Seeing them together, supporting each other, made my heart feel even heavier.

(I also love this scene because Apollo explicitly points out that Nico is supporting Will just as much as Will is supporting Nico - this relationship is not one-sided, or uneven. It’s not an unhealthy doctor-patient dynamic disguised as romance; Nico is aware that Will is struggling, and he’s being there for him. In fact, it reminds Apollo of his best romantic relationship.)

And while we don’t see Will in person for the next three books (although he crops up in Apollo’s thoughts from time to time), when we do meet him again in TON, this is his first encounter:

‘Dad!’ Will shot to his feet. He ran down the steps and tackled me in a hug.

That’s when I lost it. I wept openly.

My beautiful son, with his kind eyes, his healer’s hands, his sun-warm demeanour. Somehow, he had inherited all my best qualities and none of the worst. He guided me up the steps and insisted I take his seat. He pressed a cold glass of lemonade into my hands, then started fussing over my wounded head. ‘I’m fine,’ I murmured, though clearly I wasn’t.

His boyfriend, Nico di Angelo, hovered at the edge of our reunion – observing, keeping to the shadows, as children of Hades tend to do.

Now, I have thoughts on why Will was hanging around the Big House, sipping lemonade and apparently being taught pinochle rather than helping new campers settle in as is both his duty as the head of cabin seven, and very much his personality (remember how he happily and thoroughly introduced Leo to CHB back in TLH even though he wasn’t Leo’s head counsellor?), and they mostly boil down to Will being overwhelmed with worry, but there isn’t any real explicit canon evidence for that so I’ll skip over that for now. However, Will is clearly absolutely ecstatic to see Apollo again, and Nico steps back and lets Will have that without any sort of interference (in fact, he specifically turns to help Meg, leaving Will to handle Apollo by himself without needing to also slip into Camp Healer Mode and treat Meg as well, which again shows his keen awareness, even under the weight of Jason’s death, of what Will needs right then - and Will needs his father, not his boyfriend).

This scene ends rather abruptly with Apollo passing out, much to Will’s distress, and then we’re back in the throes of obviously worried Will again:

I tipped sideways in my chair as Will’s voice receded down a long dark tunnel. ‘Dad! Guys, help me!’

(Note that throughout this scene, he explicitly calls Apollo Dad, despite generally tossing up between the two throughout the story.)

And if we want canon proof that Will was actively thinking about Apollo during the time between THO and TON, it’s right here, in one of my favourite little exchanges because they’re both so adorable (and yet, both so insecure in each others’ feelings):

Here’s all you need to know about Will Solace: he had clothes waiting for me. On his last trip into town, he’d gone shopping specifically for things that might fit me.

‘I figured you’d come back to camp eventually,’ he said. ‘I hoped you would, anyway. I wanted you to feel at home.’

It’s not even a passive, back-of-the-mind, worry. Will actively did something for Apollo, in the hopes that he’d come back - and feel welcome when he did - while he was away. The specification that it was his “last” trip into town, not his first, also shows that this wasn’t Will wandering down into NY a few days after the events of THO, picking up some clothes, and then forgetting about them until Apollo popped back up again six months later - this was Will mulling over what he could do to help Apollo for some time, before finally making a decision and acting upon it.

So, to answer the question of why Apollo cannot be ignored or dismissed in regards to Solangelo:

For the entire time Will and Nico have been friends (let alone boyfriends), the uncertainty of Apollo’s condition has been hanging over Will. Will is worried about Apollo in BOO (and likely HOO as a whole, but BOO is where the canon evidence begins), he is worried about him in TOA. He’s arguably more worried in TOA, which spans six months and is the majority of the time Solangelo have been together in canon so far, to the point where he’s actively acting on this worry even when Apollo isn’t around. Apollo’s disappearance and subsequent trials are a key influence on Will’s life, and have impacted his relationship and dynamic with Nico, purely because that’s how relationships work. One relationship causes ripples that then affect another, and so on.

It’s also important because it gives a clear view into how their relationship is healthy and balanced. Nico is spending a lot of time being Will’s support, just as Will is also supporting Nico, and the main reason we’re being shown that Will needs support at this point in his life is, yes, Apollo.

So yes, Apollo is an integral part of how their relationship has developed so far, both platonically and romantically, and I really wish more people were talking about this.

I’ll stop waffling for now, but as always if people want my takes on things, my askbox is always open!

#ferodactyl #solangelo #will solace #pjo apollo #nico di angelo #trials of apollo #toa #riordanverse #rrverse #tsari analyses things

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miikkkkkkkka · 4 years

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okay so since its annabeth's birthday today, i'm gonna make a whole ass essay about her and how perfectly imperfect she is.

okay first off, all characters had great character development. but i think annabeth is the one the fans can relate to the most in terms of this. annabeth went from 'immature 12 year old who judges everyone for everything they do and all she thinks about is winning' to someone who is way more open with her emotions and whom the seven look up to and depend on. this is just like how every one of us grew up to be more open-minded, mature, and empathetic. we all grew up and got to learn more about the world, just like how annabeth got to explore the outside world when percy came to camp and she finally got to go on a quest. (btw! imagine how Annabeth ‘constantly waiting for a quest’ Chase felt when this scrawny kid with zero training and insanely green eyes, who's been there for like, 2 weeks, got a quest so damn fast. no wonder she was kinda rude i mean, annabeth must’ve been like “WHAT DOES HE HAVE THAT I DON’T????” her pride was going crazyyyy)

thinking about it now, we aren't so sure about annabeth's 'legit' personality in pjo, she seemed so scary and unapproachable, but when you look at other books, she actually makes friends pretty fast, and people seem to really like her.

percy once said something along the lines of "we all love annabeth" in botl. when sadie and annabeth met, they became INSTANT BFFS, i remember piper saying she's never had a friend as great as annabeth, frank went to her for help with the chinese handcuffs because he KNOWS she will drop everything to help him, reyna and annabeth would definitely, without a doubt become best friends, i also think reyna had like, a really small crush on annabeth but lets not talk about that now. leo and annabeth are definitely dorky best friends who intimidate everyone with their intelligence, nico literally said "he wanted to hate annabeth, but he just couldn't. she'd gone out of her way to thank him at epirus. she was genuine and sincere. she never overlooked him or avoided him like most people did". jason definitely respects her, it's pretty obvious, and hazel was so relieved to see annabeth safe and alive after she got out of tartarus. grover and thalia love her and are basically her parents in a way, and PERCY, percy is someone who values personality, he obviously wouldn't be as in love with her as he is if she wasn't a good person. and i'm sure there are so much more examples but i'm not gonna put them all here, and plus, i can't remember them all aksjaksj.

it's honestly so disappointing how some in the fandom give annabeth shit for how she acted when she was 12-13 years old because she's matured so much since then. she's much more open-minded and empathetic towards her friends. and anyway, in defense of botl annabeth, you would be irrationally overprotective and jealous too if everyone you thought loved you (luke and her father) ended up leaving you and making you feel unloved and inadequate. annabeth thought that percy was gonna die at 16, she obviously wanted to spend his last days on earth WITH HIM. rachel made annabeth feel the way she did because she thought percy would do what luke did, and leave her for 'something better' and that 'something better' is a world away from the gods, which rachel (who is mortal), could provide him.

i honestly think that the people who don't like annabeth think what they do about her because of fanon. fanon annabeth is so far from canon annabeth. fanon annabeth (in a nutshell) is: 'a bitch' 'scary' 'unapproachable' 'cold-hearted' and so much more things that she simply ISN'T. canon annabeth on the other hand is super sweet, she cares so much about her friends and she would sacrifice herself for their happiness, she cries a lot because she has a lot of emotions (she literally cried when she left cerberus, and hugged a kitten in tartarus), she absolutely adores her boyfriend and thinks very very very highly of him, she is so in love and is not at all 'cold-hearted'.

i have so much more to say, but this is getting too long, i might make a part 2 when i feel like it but who knows? anyway, happy birthday to annabeth chase, the loml.

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stanning-reyna · 3 years

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Bro help??? some Luke simp said that even if you think luke is crap he is a hero still??? and "you can still dislike him for manipulating Annabeth and Selena but He still is a hero" this is word for word ok? They are ok with a frat boy grooming a 6th grader because he's a hero because of a prophecy. and I can't find it but they said "With his upbringing and past, he is a hero" girl he killed people to frick a donkey vampire. YOU cannot call ME a clown. If you think he is a hero after that I just

Pls help your like the anti luke god, and you honestly carry most of the fandom for me because boy are some people toxic found said post > (I put commentery in blue because I'm very salty today) "Why are we depriving Luke of his title as a hero again? 😐🤡

Thinking he’s a piece of shit ≠ he’s not a hero (op, what?) Yes, we can debate on how and why he did what he did, what wrongs he has committed and how his background shaped him. But you disliking him for manipulating Annabeth (, Silena and others) doesn’t stripe his title away. (he is a acutal pedo why is he even in a kids book? He was like 20 she was 12. in my book it does. even after you take away the pedo he still killed campers and helped the evil titan.) Erasing Kronos from this equation makes absolutely no sense as this is vital information for the entire premise of the later series. Also Percy literally acknowledged that Luke’s the hero of the prophecy and completely understood how Kronos got a hold of him and why Luke proceeded forward (BRUH. Y’all really did put the entire passage with May aside). (you stan kylo ren don't you) Alright y’all really force me into writing an Luke is the most basic hero in classical terms out here, reading comprehension is piss poor on this website and for people interested seemingly in Greek myth you really don’t care how any of this works essay (he is a basic bitch, he is not the hero at all, you really be insulting the entire fandom out here huh?)

(really? you stan a canon pedo. you can't call a ME, a person that gets in troble for rereading pjo in class, someone with pisss poor reading skills)

I just saw the original post and hot dam people try me sometimes

This is what I’m talking about when I say you shouldn’t attack others for their opinions on a character. Telling people they have “piss poor” reading comprehension because they disagree with you? That’s plain rude

Give me a minute and I’m gonna make a whole post responding to this

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herminie · 2 years

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formatting on level -70 but it’s fine i’m mobile with a headache. anyway thinkin of character parallels with herm: sophie hatter (howl’s moving castle), whitney (slocg, WHY WON’T GOOGLE TELL ME HER SURNAME I CAN ONLY REMEMBER BELA’S), nadia (elite), michelle jones-watson (mcu), annabeth chase (pjo), mj (rebelde remake), jude duarte (cruel prince—this is my wildcard, but i do fink post-war hermione is better at manipulation u know? in the ministry despite being a war hero i imagine her as a small fish in a big pond & she’s viewed tht way because she cares about certain magical creatures’ rights & nobody really… listens to her, a la jude in faerie. in this essay i will)

i feel like the general Vibes with hermione are well-meaning, honest, and simultaneously unlikeable—bc i do think people forget she’s not always very kind! ron is the heart of the trio i fear! & she’s trying to be better, especially in the work environment she’s in, and because she wants people to like her, not this idea of her they have in her mind, be that good or bad. post-hogwarts, post-war, she’s in a state where she’s not quiiite sure what she’s doing: like, who is she when she’s not helping harry & the others, when she doesn’t have a cause to fight for (there is, ofc, spew and other magical creature laws she wants passed—but those are relatively low stakes compared to what she’s been through)? what does hermione like? what does hermione want, selfishly, for herself? she’s not sure she could answer that. she’s not sure she knows.

not 2 bring in the other muse i apped for into my mock blog AGAIN, but this directly parallels blaise having perhaps too much of an idea who he is, to the point where he’s convinced his fate is to follow in his mother’s footsteps & be known as a monster by his peers. hermione lacks social grace—blaise has it in abundance. hermione, for all her booksmarts, is impulsive when she’s not sure what to do—blaise is calculating in every situation. hermione is painfully genuine, even if she doesn’t want to be—blaise is like a wall and equally unbreakable. but at their core they share the same problem: a distinct lack of confidence over themselves. hermione wants to break expectations without knowing who she is—blaise doesn’t realize breaking expectations is an option at all.

(i also have character parallels for blaise teehee: simon basset (bridgerton), fitzwilliam darcy (pride & prejudice), lorcan salvaterre (throne of glass), dixon (rebelde remake). he’s a very…. mysterious brooding vaguely terrifying byronic romance hero type. i imagine he has a lot of ppl going “I Can Fix Him” and an equal amount going “wow, this guy SUCKS” and both are valid)

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madrone33 · 3 months

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I'm so glad the PJO show stuck the landing. I've seen a lot of shows lately that have a habit of, uh, not doing that, so I'm really happy I liked the finale episode!

(Also because I watched it with my mum, and she hasn't seen anything but the first two episodes and my rambling recaps, so I'm glad my show didn't disappoint me in front of her lol)

MAJOR SPOILERS for the PJO finale past this point!

There are only two things I can think of that I didn't really like, and that Gabe's- whole thing, basically, soz. I get why they toned him down for the visual format, and I'm not trying to undercut the actual abuse that is still happening, I just personally like Sally turning her piece of shit abusive husband to stone and then selling his statue to get money for a degree lol.

And then also the dropped police plot line is a bit iffy. They probs cut it for time or smth, but it just felt weirdly unresolved. Like, they set it up so well, and then they don't follow through at all, just straight up don't mention it again. Idk, maybe they'll bring it back for the 2nd season? Not sure how that'd work tho. It's a minor issue, but it did feel strange to me.

The rest of it was very well done though, imo!

It starts with Luke saying The Thing but different?? Giving The Last Day of Summer from The Lightning Thief musical vibes fr fr.

The fight with Ares was hella cool, with the awesome wave, and the choreography was pretty well done to my completely inexperienced eye. The ichor looked cool, very handy that it's gold so they can show 'blood' on screen and still keep it PG lol. I was cheering Percy on so hard.

They did the flashbacks so well. Honestly, every episode's done the flashbacks well, but Luke? Oh yeah. As soon as he showed up on screen, helping Percy, preparing him, I knew the end of the episode was gonna hit so hard.

The trio is still amazing. They play off of each other so well, and all their actors are so talented!

The necklace!!

Ok, Percy had zero chill on Olympus. He straight up said his shit to Zeus, knowing he'd probably be killed for it and not giving a single fuck because that was his world and his friends and his mum that were going to be hurt if this stupid war continued, and he was going to make Zeus listen even if it killed him.

And then Poseidon steps in and surrenders and when I tell you I audibly gasped I'm not kidding. Like- The gods don't just back down when they're fighting, that's not how their power dynamic works, how the glory system works, how their pride and respect and status works. I'm probs not explaining it very well 'cause it's like 1:30 am rn, (I really should stop writing these essays at midnight lol) but yeah. Poseidon was giving up a lot. And he didn't care. Because that was his son, and his son was worth more than any glory could give him.

Also, funny side note: after they started speaking what I assume is greek, and then switched back to english, my brain for some reason decided to completely forgot my native language and just- didn't process english anymore. I kid you not, it just registered as sounds without meaning. Completely alien. I sat there without understanding the next four sentences they said until my brain clicked back in and I was like, ohhh, they're speaking english. And then I had to rewind and listen to it again lol.

Zeus smugly saying he'll announce his "swift and crushing victory" and Poseidon rolling his eyes was so sibling energy lol.

... So, does Poseidon yeeting Percy back to camp without answering mean he's too overcome by emotion to say 'yes' or that he's too guilty to admit 'no'?

I like how all the cheering and clapping is muffled out by the music at first, because Percy's still shocked that he's actually alive. It's only when Annabeth hugs him that he fully processes the fact that he's safe.

Gonna be honest, I'd completely forgotten that they thought Clarisse was the Lightning Thief. They did a good job of reminding me though.

Yeah, Luke's betrayal was executed better here than the books imo. First of all, the lighting is immaculate. The past episodes had an issue with night scenes and being super dark, but the fireworks lighting up selective scenes really works.

I like how Percy figures it out first, and almost challenges Luke to deny it. And Luke is- not prepared. He had a plan. He was going to ease into this. And it hurts all the more because Percy is scared and angry and betrayed and Luke never wanted to hurt him.

What's done so well is that you can see how Luke didn't want to fight- and then Percy mentioned Hermes and Luke just snapped. Trigger button. Wrong thing to say. Now, suddenly Percy wasn't the 12 year old kid Luke was trying to save and help, he was just someone who'd said the name of That Man and now Luke was just bitter pain and rage.

Also, Percy accidentally cutting Luke - with a sword that can't even harm him anyway - and immediately apologising, and then Luke only seeing a weakness to exploit and going in for the kill. That hurt.

Ok wait imma copy paste a small ramble I posted earlier to here because it stands true. Here we go:

A bit rambling, a might not make much sense, but had a thought about that scene when Annabeth saves Percy and reveals herself. There's two things that stuck out to me; she didn't let herself show any emotion but anger, and she'd been there the whole time but only interfered just then.

She'd been suspicious enough of something to go against the plan and follow them. She heard Luke confess his betrayal while invisible and alone. She heard his true feelings about the gods, about their parents, and now after everything - after Athena. After Percy - she understood him so much more and so much less at the same time. She'd been locked in shocked grief that froze her, and the only thing that snapped her out of it was seeing Percy beneath the blade of the person they'd both trusted, and the need to protect burnt away the numbness long enough for her to compartmentalise and lock away everything but anger so she could move.

Luke's face though. Oof. All I could think was "She's like a little sister to me." (Don't crucify me if that's not his exact wording, it's almost 2am now, I'm tiiiired.) But yeah, the fact that he probably could've taken them both if he truly wanted, but the moment he saw her and her betrayed, furious face, and then looked down and saw the kid he'd been about to kill- He just ran.

The parting of ways, with the trio at Thalia's tree, bright plans for the future, hugging and smiling and making a pact to come back to each other, no matter what- that was so toothrottingly sweet.

And then the cabin scene? Heartwarming af. The mother and son duo is just. You can feel their desperate relief and love for each other. It's so good.

A bit wary when Kronos showed up, wasn't sure if the whole prior stuff was 'just a dream' but I'm guessing Percy was just remembering how they reunited, and Kronos hijacked his nice memory. That was well done, too. Percy was just so Done with this guy, like c'mon, give the kid a break. And then him waking up with his mum again - like I said; they're so sweet. The fact that this happens often enough for them to have a dedicated book lmao. Also, him calling Kronos grandpa was on point.

It exits out of the window Sally was sitting on! And it's raining!! (Also, another side note, but whenever something exits with a window I just think of The Last of Us episode 3).

Ok so they have to make a second season. It's the law. They gotta.

Hmm. Think that's everything I can think of saying now lol.

(Thank you for everyone who worked hard on this! Even if I don't like some stuff, I know that so many hours of work was poured into this and I appreciate it so much!)

EDIT: OH WAIT I almost forgot Ares completely out of pocket line about Percy's mum, and yeah, no way was he getting out of that now, asshole. Also, the way Percy and Luke's parents are a trigger. The character similarities are similying~

#pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #long post #my posts #reaction #essay #rambles

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thejudgingtrash · 4 years

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@aph-usa-is-my-dad Thank you, thank you! 🙇🏽‍♀️

Alright lads, looks like it’s time for hot takes part III!

Here’s Part 1//Here‘s Part 2

Apollo won’t get Zeus position. Why is everyone wishing for that? And why should he? All of you really want to romanticize/project yourself onto him, huh?

Casual Reyna >>> praetor Reyna

Grover has the fattest ass in the Riordanverse, I don’t make the rules

People lack of basic reading skills part III

The fact that adults in New Rome let kids rule the fucking place is still mindblowing

Rick apologists are lame. People calling out shit isn’t an attack on you. Stop defending a product‘s/public figure‘s honor. Defending Rick Riordan is the equivalent of you defending the honor of a snickers bar. Dude doesn’t know you and dude doesn’t give a fuck about you. You are a walking dollar bill at best

Romans are still fucking wacky and despite Camp Jupiter being superior allegedly it’s a whole damn chaotic mess. Where are the supposed civilized Romans because I don’t see them?

Camp Half-Blood >>>> Camp Jupiter, especially when Percy trains in his summer vacations and beats praetor Jason’s goddamn ass who’s been training for 12 years

Why did Riordan even try to make Jason appear to come close to Percy’s level? The imbalance of power is so abundantly clear and makes Jason seem even smaller in that regard. Riordan is truly Percy’s biggest hater

The fact that CHB also glamorizes child soldiers in a more fun and relaxed way. Yikes

Nico is a white™ (again, he is European)

Rachel was annoying but didn’t deserve the blatant hate.

Annabeth should’ve had another possible love interest to spark some pissed Percy. Luke doesn’t count. Percy’s jealously revolves around (the possibility of) her not being around him (e.g. the hunters), not him ”losing“ her to someone else romantically speaking

Silena is the OG Aphrodite kid, fuck the rest

Amazons >> hunters by a slight margin. They’re also an awful bunch

The execution of the hunters is so bad omg, just let me revamp them, Ricardo

If a different take on a headcanon/characters really offends you/paint that much of a different picture of op, then I’m not sorry (only exception if the headcanon is based on discriminatory means. Someone saying they don’t like A and someone using slurs and being a douche are two different things)

The entire Aphrodite cabin is pan FYI

Team demigods who receive periods would probably be extra fucked when it comes to monsters and stuff. Let’s address this

Why exactly couldn’t the gods handle their own shit? Hunting monsters in your area makes sense as a demigod job. But stuff like retrieving Hermes‘ staff (especially when the dude is the speedy traveler guy) makes no goddamn sense

Let’s face it: Annabeth is the only good female character that Riordan pulled off. Also wasn’t she based off his wife? If so, that’s why.

The lack of irl examples for his POC and other women is abundantly clear as he can’t lure everyone from his environment into the stories especially because he has no irl connection to minorities. So he fabricated stuff/did his 5 mins of wiki and got it severely wrong. Clock that tea!

Camp Half-Blood t-shirts belong to the trash. Orange is Yellow‘s cousin and both are ugly to the max. Let’s just switch colors of both camps. Let the Romans deal with the hideous shit

Chiron and Paul are Riordan‘s self-inserts

Tbh giving Hazel super mist powers and tying Frank to Poseidon was stupid

Skater!Percy is pretty much canon but I just can’t envision it? The thought of it is cute and so 2000s but my brain goes fjfldlsöwlwbvd (and tbh gymnast!/dancer!/Parcours!Percy >>>>> skater!basketball!Percy)

People are forgetting that Percy is the unpopular kid both in the mortal realm and at camp and partially chose to be so? Let me remind you of the truth real quick

Beckendorf and Silena are the horny bastards of the Camp Half-Blood. Issa fact

The gods not really immortalizing Chiron and simply saying that he’ll live as long as he’s needed turned him into the cryptic fuck we all know. That’s why he barely helps out (On that note a tiny Chiron essay)

A headcanon, regardless of how popular it is, isn’t factual/reality. So fighting over different takes of the exact same issue is rather pointless but you do you. Some popular blog having an opinion with a large following doesn’t automatically negate your sentiment

Piper being ”unconventional“ as in hating make-up and being dressed up is in itself more than fine but the execution was lacking and her coming off as pretentious and annoying was the result

Piper also has no taste in men if she thinks that amnesia brick boy Grace > Percy. Just no. Lesbians claim haaa

If I see another Amandla or Zendaya or another biracial/lightskinned face claim for Hazel I will lose it

Everyone and their mother having a crush on Percy fuels them Gary Stu feelings, just saying

The fact that Riordan casually drops the abuse that Percy has suffered from like some fucking tic tacs just to never be spoken about should be a reason enough to whoop his ass

Not maturing and darkening HOO (there were good thoughts but also many whacky executions) was the biggest mistake Riordan had made. He should’ve went the Rowling route and transitioned from kids books to YA

The whole fire stick thing that Riordan ripped off from Meleager and slapped onto Frank was terribly executed

A lot of you people should open up more to jokes and not take everything all too seriously

The fact that people seriously ship/ped Reyna x Apollo is proof enough that this fandom should burn

Why do Luke discussions at this point still exist? You’re essentially glossing over the same four things

Hyping up fanfics to the max is a terrible idea. Also don’t shy away from giving writers constructive criticism

Stoner headcanons are here to stay and slay!

On one hand seeing discussions from the science side of PJO talking about the biology, physics etc. is super interesting but on the other hand getting heated over the illogical basis of ”magic“ is pretty much a waste of time

Riordan‘s world building is truly awful

Frazel is a crime against humanity

If you don’t get someone‘s post actually look op up and read the tags? No need to spam the exact question to everything

Fat Frank stays. I get it, Greek gods are hot, they are conceited and choose to fuck people that they perceive as attractive, so their offspring also has some higher levels in the beauty realm. But why not explore the opposite? Why does every character need a makeover or a blessing that gives them enhanced looks?

Clarisse‘s thigh can break ya neck

Also Riordan is Annabeth’s biggest hater. Let’s throw all of her most important possessions away to proof that the smart one can survive without any of it. Sure, but the emotional attachment to the stuff still remains especially when everyone else is walking out of Annabeth’s life

Making Leo another horny bastard was an accurate portrayal of your casual 16 year old boy. Annoying, but realistic

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sparkingstoryinspiration · 4 years

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Outlining and plot development

Wherever you fall on the spectrum of pantser to plotter to throwing pens at your computer and hoping your story will write itself (that’s a self callout) here is a guide (that no one asked for!) to plotting your story!

Is this going to be an exhaustive list of everything you have to do to write the next NYT bestseller? no. This is, like everything else on this blog, a summary of ideas. They won’t all apply, they won’t all work for everyone, they won’t cover everything, but it’s a start. That’s the best part of the writing prompt business, you supply the inspiration and other people do the hard work!

Okay, let’s get into it

1. What story are you telling?

Now, I’m going to be really honest with you here. If you don’t know this, you have a lot of work to do. And that’s okay!

Take some time to flesh out your idea. Wherever you start, I promise you there’s more in your head waiting to be discovered. Take out a piece of paper, open up a new document, write it on your walls! (we will NOT be covering lost security deposits!) and do some brainstorming.

The basic elements of a story are

- characters

- conflict

- resolution

- plot twist(s)

- setting/background (think physical setting where the story takes place and informational setting, worldbuilding, context, etc)

We have a post on developing characters here and posts on the other elements are in the works! I wish I could say they’ll be posted in a timely manner but . . . they won’t, they just won’t lmao I’m sorry

You don’t have to have all of these points completely figured out before you move onto plotting! In fact, you shouldn’t! Or, if you think you do, be open to change because it’s important to remember that all these points, especially characters, are heavily affected by the plot!

2. How are you telling this story?

This is for the technical stuff.

What does the formatting look like? Are you breaking it up into chapters? Parts? Not everyone writes drafts like this so that’s okay, maybe you’re going to write out of order, maybe you’ll break it up after, whatever works for you though I highly encourage you to switch it up every now and then and see if anything works better for you than what you’ve been doing.

3. Consider the usual structure of a story

There are a lot of these, try not to get overwhelmed or too snagged on any of them but here are two interesting ones!

The first is the three act structure, we’re all pretty familiar with this.

Think of an action movie, it starts with a small introduction, it introduces a main character, side characters, stakes, a setting. Then the conflict happens!

BAM! the beloved spy is thought to be a traitor, their family is being held hostage and they have to betray everyone they work with to save them, they have a horrible secret that’s coming back to bite them in the ass. Whatever it is, this moves us into the second act, the journey, the trials, whatever you want to call them.

This is the largest part of the story and the tension continues to build until we reach the climax of the story. They save they world, or their family, or themselves, or they don’t. Whatever it is, this results in the final act where the action falls, everything is resolved, and the story is over (unless a sequel is set up but that’s a whole other issue), you get the idea.

(image found here)

Another popular structure is the hero cycle which echoes the three act structure but focuses particularly on, you guessed it! Heroes!

(image found here)

Let’s take a popular storybook hero as an example here, Percy Jackson. (Needless to say, there will be spoilers if you, for some terrible reason, have not read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief)

All of these milestones are a little debatable but I’ll pick a few to use as examples.

Percy begins his story, he is introduced as a character, I could write a whole essay on Percy’s development and the incredible writing of Rick Riordan (lmao, I have) but I’ll try to keep this brief.

When his mother is kidnapped, he has a call to action, a goal: to save his mother.

He crosses a very literal threshold into Camp Half Blood and his story begins.

He goes through many trials and tests, Medusa, St. Louis, Waterland, the Lotus Hotel, and so on.

It’s called abyss here but I learned it as the final battle, in PJO Percy faces Ares. This is very similar to the climax and falling action of the three act structure. Following this, loose ends are tied up, characters complete their journeys and their arcs, and the hero returns.

It’s very fascinating, I highly recommend reading up on it. Again, you’ll find many many stories you read follow this structure.

There are literally so many of these and if you’re interested, here’s a link to some more. Keep in mind, your story doesn’t have to fit these perfectly but even if you’ve planned out a story without these in mind, you’ll probably find most, if not all of it, fits pretty well within these lines. They can also help with pacing, if your first act is most of your story, you may need to move your conflict and stakes up earlier in the story to maintain interest.

4. Now you outline

Obviously not everyone outlines. Personally, I cannot understand this at all. Now, since this entire post is about plotting and outlining, we’re not really going to talk about pantsing because . . . that kind of defeats the point of this post. But! If you have anything to say about pantsing, tips, tricks, personal experiences, by all means, reblog this and add them! I don’t have any experience with pantsing so I really don’t have much to say on the topic.

There are lots of different ways to outline a story. Personally, I recommend starting big. Think acts and parts, find your conflict and your stakes, you know you have to introduce your character and the world, how are you going to do that? That goes first, then stakes, so we care and then conflict, so the thing we care about is, well, at stake.

Chronologically, you have the journey now, but let’s take a minute to talk about the end.

4.5. How does it end?

Even if you’re a pantser, I really, really recommend that you know how your story ends. Having a point you want to get to can make a world of difference in the process of planning and writing a story. Sure, you can run a marathon without setting an end point, but it’ll slow you down if you’re always checking to see what mile you’re on.

So how does it end? Happy? Sad? Who is there? Logically speaking, your antagonist and protagonist should usually be present, supporting characters? How does it end, does the protagonist prevail and save the day? Is it a cliff hanger? If it’s a race to an end, who gets there first and what does it mean?

Find your ending, and then work on your middle.

5. The smaller picture

If you have the main points (a beginning and an ending, the conflict and the stakes, your characters), now you can start thinking about the smaller details.

You have an ending so what needs to happen to get your character(s) there? Consider your minor characters, where do they come in? Make sure they have a purpose!

Keep in mind, in the first draft and even the second and for as long as you need it to be, your outline is fluid. You may very well be writing your project and realize the pacing isn’t right, or that something needs to happen later in the story, or that you need to add a scene. Then, when it comes to editing and redrafting, it’s likely that you’ll change it even more.

Try not to get caught up in it being perfect, that’s not what first drafts are for. Make it workable and approach it with an open mind, things are going to change, that’s a given.

6. Write your story!

A few notes on this. As one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman says, “the process of doing your second draft is the process of making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.”

So once you’re done with your first draft and the time comes to redraft it and you’re working on your outline, now is the perfect time to add your foreshadowing and rework your plot twists. This isn’t to say they don’t have a place in your first draft, they do, give it your best shot! But your story is fluid and your outline and plans are bound to have changed and your editing stages are the best stages to really make sure foreshadowing, plot twists, and all or acts or hero cycle, or whatever you want to call it, works together.

And this concludes another guide that no one asked for. I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any suggestions for ones you’d like to see we currently have plot twists, endings, motivation, and more in the works!

Happy writing!

- Mod S

p.s. these can be found on our blog under the tag story development series!

#writing #ideas #inspiration #writing ideas #writing inspiration #stories #story ideas #story inspiration #plot development #outlining #the hero cycle #three act story #story structure #story development series #plot bunnies #story starters #story sparks

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panda-noosh · 4 years

Note

Would you do another pjo crossover? Idk what character but I just love your other pjo fic so much❤️

george watches you closely. you can feel it.

you don’t know why he’s asked you to look over his Transfiguration essay; you’re not a wizard. you barely understand a single thing scribbled on the piece of parchment, let alone whether it’s right or not. from what you’ve heard, however, professor mcgonagall is a pretty strict teacher, and so, when george stumbled up to you earlier and asked you - begged you - to look over his essay just one more time, you couldn’t say no.

plus, being the child of Athena kind of helps.

george knows this, of course - neither of you are oblivious to the forbidden aspects of your relationship. for years, demigods and wizards have been at each others throats, hating one another for reasons that have been lost and ignored as time goes by. for a while, both you and george held the same beliefs - for you, wizards were nothing but scum, thinking they were better than every other race in the world. for george, he thought you were weird, unnatural, a product of something so difficult to wrap his head around.

but then he’d met you, and you’d met him, and those beliefs no longer mattered. he looked at you like you were the world, and you looked at him in the exact same way. keeping away from one another was the most difficult task you had ever been dealt, and soon, it became downright impossible.

and now, here you are, sat on a crumbling wall in the middle of some field, reading his homework for him as he sits beside you, watching your eyes move over the parchment.

“you don’t really need this proofread, do you?” you ask, not even looking up.

“what makes you say that?” george replies. “you know how prone i am to spelling mistakes, y/n. i can’t be handing rubbish into professor mcgonagall.”

“oh no, of course not.”

he leans forward, chin very nearly bumping against your shoulder as he joins you in reading the final few sentences of his essay. when you finish, you roll up the parchment and slap it against his chest without a word.

he pulls back, raising a brow. “so? how was it?”

“good.”

“just good? i’m gonna need more than that, love.”

“very good. fantastic, even.”

george pauses.

“you have no idea what any of it means, do you?”

“absolutely none.”

george groans, throwing his head back. “y/n!”

“i told you i would be useless when you asked me!” you shoot back. “listen, georgie, i love helping you out when i can, but you asking me to proofread your work is like me asking you to summon zeus so i can have a chat with him - it just doesn’t work like that.”

george opens his mouth but freezes before he makes a sentence. “wait. are you telling me you could summon zeus here right now if you wanted to?”

“yes. but i don’t want to.”

“zeus just listens to you?”

you shrug. “depends on the day; if my mum’s being nice to him up in Olympus, he’ll typically respond within two to three business days.”

george glares at you. “you’re taking the mick out of me, aren’t you?”

you giggle, unable to help it. you lean forward, placing a swift kiss to the tip of his nose. “you’re adorable when you get excited like that.”

george scoffs, folding his arms across his chest. “i wasn’t excited. i was curious. there’s a difference.”

“oh yes, of course.”

“oh shut up. do i have to remind you of that time you nearly wet yourself when i disarmed ron in front of you for the first time?”

you gasp, slapping his arm playfully. “i did not nearly wet myself! i just wasn’t expecting it!”

“mhm. that’s literally not what anyone believes.”

“you’re impossible. i don’t even know why i put up with you.”

george grins, and it’s that very grin that makes the butterflies erupt in your stomach, that very grin that should annoy the hell out of you, but does nothing besides make you swoon.

he leans forward, pressing his forehead to your temple as he says, “because you looooove me.”

you fold your arms over your chest. “i suppose,” you grumble.

george chuckles, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “good, because i love you too.”

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talltree-writes · 4 years

Text

We’re Going on a Trip

Fandom: PJO and MCU

Summary: The annual school trip has rolled around and the teachers have been keeping it oddly quiet. When they finally announce it, Peter’s heart sinks— just once, could he have a normal field trip? Coupled with the stress of having Percy Jackson, a relatively recent addition to the Avengers, on the trip, Peter is dreading Friday.

Genre: fluff, irondad and spiderson, avengers fam, someone give Percy a break

Pairing: Percabeth is there

Warnings: Cursing, Character typical injuries, Nightmares

Author’s Note: I keep forgetting this account exists, so I forgot to cross-post from my Ao3. Anyway, I’ve had this done for months, but haven’t been fully happy with it. It’s part of a series of one shots that I’m apparently only updating once a year... oops. Anyway, here’s this

“Class, as you know, the science department takes one field trip together every year. This year, I am excited to announce, Mrs. Pruta’s marine biology class, Mr. Looves Physics class, and our Chemistry class will be the first group to tour the newly reinstated Stark Tower this Friday. Now, Stark Tower was intended to close around this time last year, but Mr. Stark…” Peter tuned out whatever Mr. Gray was saying.

Stark Industries? Really? The big annual field trip that he looked forward to every year was to the building he spent most of his time in anyway? He’d been on that tour already, given to him by the head intern herself once his Stark Internship turned from a cover story to fact.

****

After Peter was shot, the Baby Monitor Protocol automatically called Mr. Stark, who demanded that Peter come straight to the tower to get patched up.

Unable to use the medbay that was still under construction, Colonel Rhodes set up his makeshift OR in Mr. Stark’s lab. With no anesthetic, as they did not have any of the stuff that could knock out a super soldier or enhanced human, Peter allowed his eyes to wander as Rhodey pulled the bullet from his leg and stitched him up. His eyes caught on an unsolved problem scribbled on a chalkboard.

Once Rhodey had finished patching him up, Peter hopped off of the table and limped over to the chalkboard. He scanned his eyes over it, looking for the issue, for why it was unsolvable to the smartest man Peter knew. Finally, his eyes caught on it. “Hey, Mr. Stark?”

“Yeah, kid?” Mr. Stark came to stand behind Peter.

“You forgot to balance the chemicals. Just redo it from there and your answer should be… this.” Peter picked up a piece of chalk and finished the problem after doing the calculation in his head, writing the answer on the bottom.

Mr. Stark double-checked his work, marking his own calculations to the side. When he came up with the same answer, he turned to stare, astounded, at Peter. “Kid, that was a graduate-level problem, and you just solved it.”

Peter shrugged, “You just needed a fresh set of eyes. Besides, I’ve studied ahead. How else could I have created my web fluid?”

“Yo-wha- studied ahead?” He sputtered.

Peter shrugged again, as if he hadn’t just admitted to knowing graduate level science and math at a high school age. “I was bored, so I read ahead and looked stuff up. When I finished our book, I moved on to the next, and then the next, and suddenly I found myself reading research essays and then I guess I could do this stuff. I didn’t know it was that advanced…” He blushed at the end.

Mr. Stark stared at him again for a minute before speaking. “How’d you like to help me in the lab sometimes? Let’s say once or twice a week for now, and then we’ll see where it goes.”

Eyes round as saucers, Peter met Mr. Stark’s gaze “Work in your lab… with you?” A pause as it sunk in. “Yes! Mr. Stark, yes! I’d love to!”

“Great! You start Monday. You’ll be getting your first paycheck from Stark Industries in no time!” Mr. Stark clapped Peter on the shoulder.

If possible, Peter’s eyes got bigger. “P-paycheck? You’re going to pay me for working here?”

Mr. Stark chuckled. “Of course, Underoos! Stark Industries doesn’t have unpaid interns anymore. I recently realized that minimum wage isn’t even a viable income, so why should I expect my hard-working interns to live off even less. I need them to be focusing on their work, and if they don’t know where their next meal is coming from, they can’t do that. You’ll be a fully realized intern, with higher access, of course, so you’ll receive the same treatment. Of course, school must come first, or else your Aunt will kill me. But I expect that will be no problem.”

“Th-thank you, Mr. Stark! Thank you so much!”

Mr. Stark smiled fondly at Peter and said, “It’s no problem, kid, now go on home before your aunt gets worried.”

Peter nodded and headed towards the window, pulling his mask down as he did so. He opened the window and waved as he jumped out, nearly giving his mentor a heart attack, as that move always does.

As soon as he knew Peter was out of earshot, Mr. Stark said, “Hey, FRIDAY? Remind me to tell Pepper we’re paying all of our interns now.”

When Rhodey just stared at him, Tony shrugged. “The kid and his aunt can barely make ends meet, but they won’t let me help them. If I can give the kid a little extra change and gain an employee, I should do it. I mean, it’s not like it’s going to put a huge dent in my wallet, anyway.”

****

“Get these permission slips signed and returned to me by the time we load the bus on Friday.” Mr. Gray shouted as the bell rang and all the students filed out of the classroom.

Ned caught up with Peter after grabbing a permission slip. “Woah, dude! This is awesome! We’re going to Stark Towers! Well I guess it’s not as awesome for you, since you work there and all.”

Before Peter could remind his best friend that he worked there as well, Flash cut in. “Ha! How lame do you have to be to lie to your own best friend, Penis?” He jeered as he passed. “We all know you don’t actually have a job at Stark Industries. They don’t even accept applications until you’re a grad student, and even then, only, like, seven get it. No way that you, Penis Parker, have a job with Stark Industries!”

Peter glowered at Flash but didn’t deign to answer. Ned on the other hand, shot back “He’s not lying, Flash! And he’ll prove it to you on the tour! Peter knows Tony Stark personally!”

Turning away, Flash scoffed, “Yeah, right. You’re fooling yourself if you think he’s not lying to you. We’ll all see on Friday how much of a liar he is.”

As Flash walked away, Peter and Ned turned back to their lockers. “God, I hate that guy. I can’t wait for you to show him he’s wrong. Hey! Do you think you can get Mr. Stark to show up? That’ll really give him a kick in the ass!”

Peter shot a look at his friend. “No! You don’t understand, I can’t let Mr. Stark know I’m going to be there. He’s going to embarrass me! It’s one thing for people to know I’m an intern, it’s another thing for people to know Tony Stark is basically my father.”

Ned’s demeanor shifted. “Oh, yeah.” He perked up again. “At least you’ll have Percy! Mr. Gray said his class is in our group.”

Upon hearing this, Peter slammed his head into his now-closed locker. “Shit. Percy. At least I have an internship. How are we going to explain him and his clearance? He’s not been released to the public as an Avenger yet. This is going to be an absolute disaster.”

“Hey, maybe it won’t be that bad. It’s not like there’s any guarantee that all of the Avengers will be there.”

Peter brightened up. “Yeah, why would any of them be there? They don’t live there. And it’s not like Mr. Stark knows about the field trip. Why would he? He’s got a billion dollar company to watch Pepper run. And he’s an Avenger. He’s super busy, like, all the time, and he never knows what’s going on in his building.” Maybe this field trip wouldn’t be so bad after all.

***

The day of the field trip arrived and Peter was up well before his alarm went off. “Aunt May? Is there any way I can not go on this field trip?” He called from his bed.

“Peter, this is the biggest field trip of the year, and you always look forward to it. Don’t let the minor possibility that Tony Stark will be there ruin your day.” She said as she stood in his doorway. “Besides, you’ve missed too many days while Spider-manning to miss another.”

Having risen into a seated position, Peter collapsed onto his pillows with a groan. “But May, Mr. Stark is going to embarrass me!”

May chuckled. “Tony probably won’t even be there. You know how many meetings he has. He’s a busy man. He most likely doesn’t even know about the tour today.”

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m just nervous. I’m scared about my identity getting let out of the bag, not to mention Percy’s. God, if Percy’s gets out we’re going to have serious problems.”

Walking back into the kitchen, Aunt May called over her shoulder. “None of that is going to happen!”

Peter groaned again, but got up and started getting dressed for school. He brushed his teeth, and tried to brush his hair, before looking at the clock and realizing he was going to be late if he didn’t leave now.

He grabbed a Poptart from his aunt’s waiting hands, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and was out the door a second later, calling back “Love you, Aunt May!”

Despite everything, Peter was kind of excited about the field trip. Sure, embarrassment was inevitable, but he was about to see a bunch of floors of the tower he never saw when he was working there. Plus, the look on Flash’s face when he realized the internship was real would be priceless.

He made it to the school just in time to see the kids start loading the buses. Peter jogged forward and moved into the back of the line he saw Mr. Gray marking roll for. Just as he was about to board the bus, Mr. Gray pulled him aside.

“Peter, you and I need to talk for a second.” He said.

Confused, Peter went along. “Mr. Gray if this is about being tardy, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, honestly.”

Mr. Gray shook his head. “No, Peter, this is about the rumors you’ve been spreading around about you being an intern at Stark Industries. Now, we’re very lucky that we got this opportunity, but I don’t want you, or Mr. Thompson, to embarrass us with talks of this internship. And if the talk continues, I’m going to have to have a conversation with the principal about it.”

Near tears, Peter couldn’t muster any words to counter his teacher’s disbelief. So he just nodded and got on the bus.

***

Meanwhile, at the Jackson-Blofis residence, Percy sat snoring through his alarm clock, Annabeth curled beside him. Annabeth, who was visiting both camp and her boyfriend while on break, had started the night alone on the bed, but when a nightmare woke Percy up, she allowed him to crawl off the floor and into the bed.

“Percy… Percy… Percy!” He startled awake to the sound of both his alarm and his mother saying his name. “Percy, it’s almost time for you to go. Remember you have your field trip today.”

Percy shut his eyes and breathed “Shit.”

“Language!” His mom bopped his head and left him to get ready.

Through everything, Annabeth slept on. Suddenly, Percy had a brilliant idea. “Wisegirl?” He gently shook his girlfriend. “How would you like to tour Stark Towers with me today?”

Her eyes blinked open. “Will Pepper Potts and/or Tony Stark be there?” She mumbled, sleep still heavy in her voice.

“Probably. I can introduce you if you’d like.” Percy smiled at the girl next to him. His Wisegirl.

She glanced at his smile curiously, more awake now. “You’re very smiley for this early in the morning.”

“Just thinking about how lucky I am to have a girl like you”

She smiled back and a light pink dusted her cheeks, as if Percy didn’t say something like it every time they saw each other. “You sap. Now, c’mon, if we don’t leave soon, you’ll miss the bus and I’ll miss the train.

“The train?” Percy said curiously.

Sitting up, Annabeth tied her hair back. “Yes, the train. You didn’t think I’d be able to just join your field trip did you?”

Percy pouted. “I thought maybe you could use your Yankees cap and sit on the bus with me.”

“And what if someone else needs to sit next to you? I can’t just stand or perch or something.”

A devious smile crossed Percy’s face. “You could always sit in my lap.”

A sharp intake of breath, a shove, and a thud later, and Percy was back on the floor, Annabeth laughing above him. “So I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then?” He asked.

“I’ll see you at Stark Towers. After I take the subway there.” She stepped over him and grabbed her clothes. “Get up, Seaweed Brain, before we’re late.”

Just then, Sally popped her head in the door. “Percy, what are you doing on the floor? You need to leave in 10 minutes!”

Percy just groaned, but got up and started to get dressed.

****

When Percy got to the school, he barely made it in time to catch the bus. His teacher shot him a sour look, but let him on nonetheless. He found a seat next to someone he didn’t know, and took out his phone to text Ned and Peter.

From: Sea dude

To: Man in Chair, Geeker Parker

What’s the plan, gents

From: Geeker Parker

To: Sea dude, Man in Chair

Hope and pray we get out of this unnoticed. No chance your dad can help?

From: Sea dude

To: Geeker Parker, Man in Chair

No… That’s not really how that works…

From: Geeker Parker

To: Sea dude, Man in Chair

From: Man in Chair

To: Geeker Parker, Sea dude

How does that work, anyway?

Before Percy could answer, he felt the eyes of someone on him, and looked up to see his teacher giving him another stink eye. He swiftly put his phone away. The ride was almost over anyway, so he just relaxed and focused on seeing his girlfriend again soon.

Upon arrival, it took the teachers several attempts to calm the students down. Finally, when they did, they went over last minute rules. “Turn your phones off and be attentive, we’re very lucky to have this opportunity, and you’re a representative of the school. Please be on your best behavior, but don’t forget to have fun and enjoy the experience!” Mr. Loove said.

It took forever to get everyone off the bus, as people kept stopping to stare at the top of the building. Percy didn’t know why, they saw it from their school every day, but he guessed one of the tallest buildings in New York was quite the sight up close.

Inside, Percy caught Annabeth’s eye as she talked to the receptionist, trying to get a visitor’s pass. She shot him a smile before returning to her conversation. Percy turned his attention to Peter and Ned as they came over.

“Dude, isn’t that Annabeth?” Ned asked as soon as he was close enough.

Percy smiled. “Yeah, that’s her. She’s in town for a few days and I thought I’d invite her. I’m going to help her get her guest pass really quick, ‘scuse me, boys.”

He slid past the two towards the desk. Slapping an easy grin on his face, he approached the receptionist who was currently fighting with Annabeth. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you aren’t registered for a tour today, so I canno- Oh! Hi, Percy!” She smiled and blushed.

“Hey, Erin. I see you’ve met Annabeth, my girlfriend. I was hoping I could get here first so I could request a pass for her, but she beat me to it. Do you think you could-“

Before he could finish, he was interrupted, once again, by Mrs. Pruta. “Percy Jackson, please stop flirting with these two fine young ladies and return to the group so we can check in.”

“Oh, you mean this lovely young lady, here? Annabeth, this is my marine science teacher, Mrs. Pruta. Mrs. Pruta, this is my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. She’ll be joining us on our tour today.” Percy grinned.

Flaring her nostrils, as she always does when she gets mad, Mrs. Pruta said “I’m afraid we only have enough badges for the class and she hasn’t registered in order to get one.”

Erin piped into the conversation “Oh, that’s quite alright. Percy’s clearance is permission enough to give her a badge. She’s fine to join you.”

“P-Percy’s what?” She spluttered, but quickly recovered. “We will discuss this later, young man. Now return to the group.” She stiffly stuck one arm out in the direction of the congregated students.

As soon as they got to Peter and Ned, they burst out laughing. “Did you see her face? I thought she’d seen a ghost!” Percy said.

“‘P-Percy’s what?’” Annabeth mocked. Normally, Annabeth respected teachers, but this one put a thorn in her side.

Annabeth’s face suddenly sobered up as she glanced down at her phone. “What’s wrong, Wisegirl?” Percy stopped laughing.

“I just got a text from a certain messenger friend of ours with a specific message to give you.” She pulled out her phone and showed it to him.

Mist falling today. Time to tell the world everything.- H

“Fuck.” He muttered. “I had definitely planned on having a few more months without people knowing.”

Ned and Peter craned their necks to see the message, but Percy handed Annabeth’s phone back to her. “What’s up?” Peter asked, concerned for his friend.

“The Mist is going to fall much sooner than we anticipated, and as usual, the gods have no explanation for us.” Percy explained. “I’ve got to get an emergency press conference together by the end of the school day.”

Peter grimaced. He had never experienced the stress of a press conference, and hoped he didn’t have to. Ever. “Just tell FRIDAY after we go through security. She’ll notify Dad and set it all up.”

Percy nodded silently. Then, they both came to the same conclusion at the same time. “FRIDAY is about to let the cat out of the bag, isn’t she?” He groaned.

Solemnly nodding his head, he patted Percy’s shoulder. They were screwed.

Resigned to their fate, the boys looked to the approaching figures. And groaned.

****

‘Crap.’ Peter thought, as he recognized the two women coming towards them. Lacy and… Shuri. He’s in for it now.

“Welcome, students!” Lacy shouted to get their attention. “My name is Lacy Ames, and I will be your tour guide for the day. If you will turn your attention to me, I have a few announcements, some rules, and then some guest badges to hand out.” The group quieted, especially when they noticed the intern’s companion.

Lacy continued. “First of all, Princess Shuri of Wakanda will be joining you on your tour today. Any words, Princess?”

Catching Peter’s eye, Shuri smiled wide. “I just heard there was a tour, and I was bored. So I thought I’d tag along and learn a little bit more about where I’m staying for the next few weeks.” She subtly winked at Peter.

‘Hell yeah two weeks of lab time with Shuri!” Peter thought. He and Shuri had met at an otherwise boring meeting and bonded over their love of science. After her show of force in the battle for Wakanda, she had been established as a Junior Avenger.

Peter briefly thought he would escape the embarrassment of seeing his best friend in front of his classmates, but he was mistaken. Once Shuri had caught his attention, she called out to him. “Hey Peter?”

He sighed, but answered. He knew what was coming. “Yes, Shuri?”

“Toss me my keys!”

Peter, without a printer in sight, chose the next best thing. He threw his backpack at the Princess of Wakanda.

“I said my keys.” She said, deadpan as the backpack flew past her.

“I thought you said printer.” Peter shrugged.

“Why the fuck would I say printer?” She disregarded the teachers’ looks.

The two came together in the middle of the space and did an intricate handshake that involved feet, hands, and hips. They had developed it when they were bored after they had both been kicked out of an Avengers meeting because they were ‘only Junior Avengers’. As they concluded their handshake, they burst into giggles together, until Lacy cleared her throat and shot a pointed glance at the shocked class behind them. She, who had retrieved Peter’s backpack, handed the bag back to him and gestured for them both to rejoin the group.

With the class still sitting in stunned silence, it was easy for Lacy to regain their attention. “Now, for some rules. No touching, no yelling, no pushing, always wear these badges I’m about to give you in a visible spot, or you will be escorted from the premises, and, biggest of all, no bullying.” Peter shot a glance to Flash, or, well, the back of Flash’s head, since he was front and center and Peter was in the back again, doing his best to hide.

“Now, as I call your name, please come forward and get the badge I hand you. Cindy Moon.” Cindy went forward and grabbed the white badge. “Eugene Thompson”

“It’s Flash, actually.” He said, and winked at the Princess. Shuri looked like she might puke.

On and on the list went until there were no more badges. Mr. Gray, who had been checking off his sheet as the list went on, spoke up. “Um, ma’am, I’m afraid a few of the students didn’t get one. Mr. Parker, Mr. Leeds and Mr. Jackson seemed to be missing badges.”

With a bright grin on her face, Lacy said “Oh, they can just use their own. Happy, our head of security, has a thing about not giving one person two badges at the same time. Boys, do you have your badges?”

They all pulled them out, Peter and Percy’s a shimmering gold, Ned’s a bright red, much different from any of the guest badges, and even the badge hanging from Lacy’s lapel.

Flash, upon seeing the difference, threw his hand into the air. “Miss, why are theirs different?”

“Good question, Eugene. It has to do with the ranking system. We have five levels here at Stark Towers, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. Alpha is the lowest ranking, and Epsilon is the highest. You all have Alpha clearance, which is clearance for guests and the press. Beta is for interns on the lower levels. These are usually our graduate interns, Gamma is for our R&D department and marketing, Delta is for our top scientists, who often get to work with Doctor Banner plus accounting and department heads, and Epsilon is for the Starks, their close friends or family, and the Avengers. Now, if you’ll follow me, I need you all to scan your badges here. Please make sure to remove anything from your pockets and put them in this bucket.”

Peter, Percy, Ned and Annabeth filed to the back of the line. Lacy went first. “Lacy Green, Gamma clearance.” Everyone except the three boys, Shuri, and Lacy jumped.

“Oh, don’t mind FRIDAY, she does that with everyone. She’s the building’s AI. She is the eyes and ears here and will detect anything that happens.” Lacy explained.

Each time someone went through the scanner, FRIDAY announced their name and clearance, and each time, it spooked them. Peter wanted to laugh, but then he remembered how he reacted when he first spoke to FRIDAY. He was like a child on Christmas morning every time she spoke.

Finally, it was their turn. When Peter went through the scanner, FRIDAY’s voice suddenly had a familiar Irish lilt. “Peter Parker, Epsilon clearance. Welcome back, Petey, I will alert Boss to your arrival.”

Resigned to Mr. Stark finding out anyway, Peter calmly replied “Thank you, Fri. Will you remind him that I am here on a school trip, though?”

“Yes, Petey. Mr. Stark said to have fun.”

As he tried to ignore the stares of his classmates, Peter heard Friday say “Percy Jackson, Epsilon clearance. Welcome back, Mr. Jackson. I assume you’re on this field trip as well?”

“Yeah, FRIDAY. Quick question, where are Tony and Pepper?”

FRIDAY responded immediately. “Miss Potts is in a meeting until 1 and Mr. Stark is in his lab. Should I alert them to your presence?”

“Please. Could you also organize an emergency press conference for 3:45 this afternoon?”

“Yes.” A second of silence. “Boss has asked for an explanation.” She informed him.

Percy thought for a second. He wanted to remain under the radar, even if this information was coming out later that afternoon. “Tell him everything is going public today.” When she didn’t respond again, Percy assumed he got the message.

Peter was thankful that most of the attention was off of him as everyone shifted to the bigger mystery.

Percy looked around at the crowd of teenagers and smirked. “What, never seen someone talk to an AI before?” He confidently crossed to stand beside Annabeth, one arm around her waist, the other stuffed in his pocket. Peter was pretty sure only he and Annabeth knew how anxious Percy really was. He did well to cover up, but his smile was just too tense, his posture just too alert, he was nervous.

Lacy smiled brighter and raised her voice slightly to grab everyone’s attention. “If you’ll follow me, we’ll begin our tour in the Avengers’ museum.

As they walked forward, Shuri dropped back to walk with Peter. “I take it Percy is the new addition I’ve been hearing so much about.” She said quietly.

“Yeah, that’s him. His girlfriend, Annabeth, probably isn’t far behind, honestly. I’ve met her a few times and she’s brilliant, not to mention awesome at fighting. She reminds me of you, actually.”

The princess studied the back of the blonde’s head. “I think she and I could learn a lot from each other.”

At Peter’s look of surprise, she laughed. “I’m not a man, you ass. I know that even with all of Wakanda’s advancements, technology, and knowledge, there are still things I don’t know. Annabeth and I have different backgrounds, so we’d obviously be familiar with different areas.”

“So… you know about… them?” Peter hesitated to say anything incriminating around his classmates.

She chuckled again. “Yes Peter, I know about ‘them’” she mocked. “I’m here to develop a new suit for Percy. He can’t battle evil forces in the world without some sort of protection.”

Peter nodded. The two fell into companionable silence as they listened to Lacy’s speech, following behind the students and occasionally whispering dumb comments or jokes until they stopped in front of an open doorway. “-and here we have our first stop, the Avengers museum. You will have 45 minutes to explore. Just remember the rules and we shouldn’t have a problem.” Lacy stepped aside to allow the students forward into the exhibit.

The duo followed Peter’s friends as they wandered through the exhibit, the three young Avengers having already seen most of it. They stopped at each one so Annabeth, MJ, and Ned could get the information. “How long exactly are you in town?”

“My brother plans to leave in two weeks, but I think I will stay longer. I will be finished with the gear Tony commissioned in little time, but I want to work with Percy and Annabeth on developing more weaponry, perhaps incorporating Vibranium. I have brought all of the materials I need and I suppose I can work with your rudimentary technology for a little while.” Shuri shot him a mirthful glance.

Before he could respond, Ned called him over to see one of the new exhibit. “Dude, come over here! They’ve got a Spider-man exhibit!”

Peter rushed over with a giggling Shuri close behind. What he found made his jaw drop. Behind a glass case stood two mannequins; one wearing a replica of his current suit, the other clad in his old pajama suit. To the side were facts about Spider-man and a small screen showing him in the middle of a fight. “Woah…”

“Dude, does this mean Spider-man is officially an Avenger?” Ned asked.

Peter kind of shook his head. “I guess. I wonder if Mr. Stark was ever going to tell me.” He trailed off in thought.

“Once you had graduated and were ready to publicly become an Avenger is what he said when he told the rest of us.” Came a voice from behind them.

The five jumped and turned around, coming face to face with a casually dressed Wanda. Peter’s face paled. “W-wanda, what are you doing here? I thought everyone was at the compound.”

She gave him a sympathetic smile. “They were, and then Stark told them about your field trip and they all came back into the city to pop in. Even Steve was on board after he found out what that Eugene kid had been doing to you.”

Eyes shutting, Peter groaned. “I’m done for. This is it, I’m going to die.” Okay, maybe he was being a tad dramatic, but can you blame him?

“I’m sorry, Peter, but I thought I’d give you a heads up. Stark is definitely making an appearance at some point, and it’s going to be big.”

Before Peter could say anything, maybe a prayer to one of the many gods, Flash rushed over to get a glimpse of the Spider-man display, not noticing the civilian-clothes-clad superhero. He shoved Peter and Ned out of the way. “Out of my way Penis. You too, Dead. I need a picture with the Spider-man suit.”

Peter shot Wanda a glance, and caught the tell-tale red cloud of her magic in her eye. He subtly shook his head at her. She didn’t need an assault, or, gods forbid, a murder charge on her hands. Instead, she took a deep breath and said, “I’m pretty sure bullying is not allowed in any building Stark Industries owns.”

Flash turned, a haughty sneer already slipping onto his face, until he realized who spoke. Expression melting away, he gulped and started to back away. “Y-yes ma’am.” He scampered off before anything else happened.

She sighed and looked back at the group. “I should probably go. But good luck today, you’ll need it. Especially after that little scene: Friday has orders to send any alarming footage straight to Tony.”

At Peter’s swear, she gave him one last sympathetic look and ruffled his hair before turning to weave her way back through the exhibit to the private elevator.

Running his hand through his hair, Peter turned to Percy, “Well… we’re fucked.”

Percy laughed. “No, man, you’re fucked. They aren’t targeting me-- I’m not the one who lied about a bully. The only thing I have to deal with is a press conference at the end of the day and maybe some weird looks.”

Annabeth snorted. “Only thing? Seaweed Brain, you don’t explain the whole gods thing well to new demigods, how are you going to explain it to the entire world?”

“It’s a good thing I’ve got you here then, Wise Girl.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and tucked her into his side. “What better way to introduce the world to demigods than by introducing them to the children of prophecy.”

”You ass, you didn’t even ask.” She playfully shoved him. He widened his eyes and stuck out his bottom lip. She rolled her eyes. “But I guess I’ll help you.” He pulled her back into his side and kissed her head.

Suddenly, the class heard from the end of the room “It’s time to move to our next section, so if you would please all follow me.” Lacy led the group towards the public elevator. “We’re going to have to split into a few different groups. So I’ll go with the first group. Princess? Would you and Peter mind going with the second? And Percy could go with the third?”

Peter nodded, uncertain, his Spidey-Sense already tingling. He traded a glance with Percy; Lacy was definitely in on Mr. Stark’s plan.

The first group filed into the elevator, while the other two waited patiently. As soon as the doors closed, Peter heard a heavy scurrying in the vent, undetectable to anyone else. He shot Percy another look, this time glancing up to warn him of what was to come.

Just as the vent opened and a leather-clad figure dove through it, Peter sidestepped. The man hit the floor with a “shit” and rolled over to reveal his face. The children around them murmured in amazement as they realized that the lump in front of them was the one and only Hawkeye.

“Aw, Pete, how do you always hear me coming?” Clint moaned as he sat up.

Peter froze. Was Clint trying to out him as Spider-Man? Percy stepped in “It’s because you’re loud, bird brains. It’s a wonder that you made it this far as a super spy.”

Eyes going comically wide when he spotted the source of the voice, Clint feigned surprise at Percy’s presence. “What do we have here, folks? Could this be my favorite junior Avenger?”

Amidst gasps of shock, Percy grinned and held his hand out to help Clint up. “Are you saying I’m your favorite because Spider-Man kicked your ass in that accuracy competition?”

“You can’t prove that.” Clint said, folding his arms. “Speaking of, though, you need to work on your accuracy. Didn’t they teach you how to shoot a bow and arrow at that camp of yours?”

Annabeth laughed. “Oh, they tried to teach Seaweed Brain. He managed to nearly shoot Chiron, who was standing behind everyone. They haven’t let him near a bow since.”

Pouting, Percy mumbled, “I’m still better than both of you at hand-to-hand.

Eyebrows raised, Annabeth turned to Percy. “Really? You think you’re better than me at hand-to-hand combat?” She whirled back around to face the acclaimed archer. “Is there anywhere that I can prove him wrong before the end of this trip?”

Clint grinned a Cheshire-cat grin while the blood drained from Percy’s face. “I do believe there is, Miss…?”

“Annabeth Chase” She stuck her hand out.

Clint shook it, the evil glint still in his eyes. “Well, Miss Chase, I do believe that there is a stop on your little tour here that will take you to the Avengers training room. In fact, I’ll make sure of it. And I certainly want to be there when our dearest Avenger gets taken down.”

“I really don’t think there’s any need for that, really. Wisegirl, you know I don’t think I’m better than you at hand-to-hand combat. In fact I know I’m not as good. There’s really no need to show everybody.” Percy panicked.

At this point, the elevator returned and the second group loaded in, including Peter and Shuri, who had stayed quiet for most of the encounter. As Peter passed, though, he clapped his hand on Percy’s shoulder, “Good luck, dude.” Accompanied by a grimace. He’d only met Annabeth a few times, but he’s pretty sure she isn’t one to let a challenge like that go by.

The doors slid shut on the group. Even though it was only a ten second ride (Stark tech did have its perks), everyone shifted uncomfortably in the barely-big-enough elevator. No one uttered a word until the doors opened again and spit them out onto one of the research and development floors.

All of the students, and even Mr. Gray, were fighting for a position at the observation window to see what the lab ahead of them was working on. Peter and Ned hung out in the back, having already seen this floor, and occasionally worked on it themselves when the scientists needed some help on new tech.

Moments later, the last group joined them, sans Clint. One look from Percy told Peter they had not seen the last of the archer, though. Upon the arrival of the rest of the group, Lacy continued her monologue. “Here we have one of our research and development labs. This is where we work on lower clearance tech, like new Stark phones, and interns work on solo projects. Mostly this lab is populated by the lower level interns who each have one or two scientists or higher level interns that they check in with.”

Peter froze, again. He forgot about check in leaders. Which wouldn’t be important, except that he himself is a check in leader, and his team works on this floor. In this lab. Not even Percy could get the attention off of him now.

“Hey, Pete! Can you come check something out for me?” He heard a voice. Looking over, he saw Mikey, one of his team members.

Looking to his teachers for permission, and taking it from their stunned expressions, Peter nodded once and silently followed Mikey through to the lab. On Mikey’s workstation was a little robot, designed to help people with arthritis in their hands do small tasks, like shoe tying or, hypothetically, writing and typing.

Mikey pressed the On button, and they both waited for something to happen. Nothing did. “I can’t figure out what’s wrong. It was working fine yesterday.” He said, helplessly.

“Calm down, let me take a look at the inside.” Peter grabbed a nearby screwdriver and unscrewed the back panel. Inside was a cross of different colored wires and motherboards and circuits and-- there. “There’s a tiny disconnected wire in the back.” Peter fixed Mikey with a look. “This is a simple mistake that you usually catch. What’s up?” He narrowed his eyes and asked “How much sleep have you gotten recently?”

“Eight hours!” Mikey responded defensively. Another look from Peter and he amended his statement “In the last three days…”

Peter placed a hand on his intern’s shoulder and began leading him toward the door on the other side of the lab from the elevator. “You know I can’t condone that as both your friend and your check in leader. For both the safety of this lab and your health, I need you to hit the barracks. There is no way that you can safely operate any equipment in this state, much less conduct experiments.”

They reached the door, and Peter opened it. Inside there were three sets of bunk beds. Mikey nodded and headed for one of the beds, and Peter shut the door behind him. Turning back to Lacy, he said “Please continue the tour, I have something I need to do. I’ll catch up when I’m through.”

Mr. Gray started to object. “Mr. Parker, this is highly against the rules, and how could you possibly find us or get around the building--” Peter cut her off.

“Mr. Gray, it’s obvious you don’t believe me about my internship, but I have to call a group meeting right now for the safety of this lab. As for how I will know where you are, FRIDAY will tell me. I practically live in this building and I have a higher access level than our lovely tour guide. Now, if you’ll please excuse me…” Peter no longer seemed like the excitable and cheerful .

He turned around and called his interns’ attention. “Alright. I know not all of you are in my unit, but I think it’s time we do a lab wide check in. So, keep working, but I’m going to check on everyone.”

Clapping her hands, Lacy called everyone’s attention back to her. “While Peter does his job, we are going to continue on. Next, we’re getting a rare treat. We are going to go to the Avenger’s floors and get an exclusive look into the life of an Avenger.” Her eyes sparked with excitement, obviously she was just as excited for this as the children.

As the words left Lacy’s mouth, Percy’s hand tightened around Annabeth’s. Concerned, she looked at her Seaweed Brain. His face was grim and he leaned down. “A lot of secrets aren’t going to be so secret by the end of this, I guarantee.”

Annabeth’s stomach dropped. She knew he wasn’t just referring to their secret. That was coming out today anyway. He was talking about Peter’s. Percy and Shuri exchanged concerned looks. Poor Peter.

As they filed back into their groups, Percy was approached by Flash. “Hey! Jackson!” Percy turned to Flash with an unimpressed gaze. “Uh, I mean, Percy,” He amended. “What the hell is going on with Penis? What did he do to get all of this stuff?” Flash still didn’t believe Peter? Gods almighty, this boy was dumb.

Percy sighed. “Eugene, Peter works here and he works closely with the Avengers. He got all of that by working hard and studying harder. Get over your jealous bullshit before it bites you in the ass.”

His teacher snapped “Language, Mr. Jackson. We are guests here and you will not be the reason we get thrown out.” She turned away, making no comment on Flash’s behavior.

Incredulous, he turned to Annabeth. “I hope she realizes that they aren’t going to kick me out. And that, technically, I could kick her out… right?”

Annabeth just shrugged. “For all the knowledge your school claims to have, your teachers are pretty stupid.”

The second group, chaperoned by Shuri, entered the elevator, which left Percy with his class. “FRI, you’re getting all of this footage of Eugene Thompson on film and voice recording, right?” Percy asked, once the doors had closed on Flash’s group.

The Irish A.I. responded. “Yes, Mr. Jackson. I have already sent the footage to Boss. A Code Spider-Baby has been set in place.

Percy sighed, once again. Code Spider-Baby meant that the Avengers were mad. And when they were mad, it didn’t end well. “Remind the Avengers that murder is not only immoral, but also illegal.”

A moment passed. “Boss says that intimidation is not.”

Percy had no answer. Intimidation of a minor was probably immoral, but there was no stopping protective-father Tony Stark.

The elevator door dinged as it opened, allowing the third group in. They closed once the last person had filed in, and automatically took them to their destination. Floor 47. Fuck.

Floor 47 was the Avengers training floor. The door opened and the group rushed out when they saw the set of adults standing there waiting for them.

None other than Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, and a smirking Clint Barton stood waiting. “Now that everyone is here, let’s begin. Today we’re going to teach you some self defense skills. We’re going to split into groups and cycle through stations. But first, how about a few demonstrations?”

The class cheered, drowning out the ding of Peter’s arrival. They did not, however, drown out Natasha. “Glad you could join us ребенок пауk.” The class turned around as he entered.

Peter’s stomach dropped when he saw the glint in every super adults’ eyes. The Captain’s voice boomed as he exclaimed, “Peter! Percy! Why don’t you come help us?” He phrased it in a way that was definitely not a question.

Resigned to their fate, the two trudged forward. Steve had a shit-eating grin on his face as they made their way to the front. “Why don’t you two choose your own partners?”

Clint spoke up at this moment. “How about Steve, Annabeth, and Peter, versus Percy, Bucky and Natasha?”

“What about you?” Annabeth questioned, walking up to join the group, grinning widely.

Clint grinned innocently. “There’s six of you and that perfectly matches up. Adding me into the mix would only complicate matters.”

A cough that suspiciously sounded like the word coward came from Bucky’s general direction.

Rolling his eyes, Peter asked “Full capacity?” with the hint of a grin on his face. The whole class faded from his consciousness.

Smirking, Natasha replied “Full capacity.”

Steve called out to FRIDAY “Please activate operations PH2O and PW.” Part of the floor opened up to reveal a large salt-water pool. Parts of the wall and roof came outward.

The five Avengers and Annabeth squared off. Natasha and Peter faced each other, Percy and Annabeth shared grins across from each other, and Bucky and Steve shook hands before stepping a few feet back from each other.

“Fight!” Clint called from his place amongst the crowd of children, a place he knew he wouldn’t get dragged into the fight. The group converged at the same time.

Despite the clash of super soldiers on the far end of the room, the Midtown high group focused on their classmates. Percy and Annabeth were blurs that no one could tell apart as they produced weapons from seemingly nowhere. As the two whirled around in a deadly waltz, Percy’s energy seemed to be flagging. The students watched as he stepped into the pool and seemed to gain his strength back. Slash. Jab. Clang. Their weapons moved with renewed vigor. As they watched, a tidal wave encased both of their legs and lifted them into the air.

Peter, meanwhile, jumped into action, facing off against the deadly assassin with calm grace. He flipped over her as she struck a low blow to his legs, missing him by half an inch. He whirled around when he landed to face her and brought his leg up in a high kick. Natasha grabbed his standing leg and flipped him on his back. Before she could do anything else, he shot a web at the roof and pulled himself up to stick to the protruding piece of ceiling. He smirked as Natasha looked up at him. “Come down here, ребенок паук” She said in a sing-song voice.

“You said full capacity, I’m just using my full capacity.” He teased.

She rolled her eyes and pushed a button on her wrists. The class gasped as the Black Widow fired at their classmate. “Hey!” Peter cried as he leaped from the ceiling to the floor, where Natasha was ready to intercept him with her widow’s bites. She started to swipe at him and he double tapped his watch face. “Karen, activate gauntlets.” Instantly, the nano-tech of his suit wrapped around his forearms. He intercepted the Widow’s Bites with his suit covered arms. He didn’t hear the gasp of his classmates.

They continued their fight until Natasha had him twisted with his back to her and a knife she grabbed out of nowhere to his throat. They both panted from the exertion of their fight, before grinning. Natasha released him from her hold and he twisted around. “Where did those come from?” She asked.

“They came from adaptation. Last time we fought, you electrocuted me with those things. I adapted my suit to cover only parts of my body, just like Mr. Stark’s.” He grinned that grin that made the Avengers all fall in love with him in the first place.

Natasha rumpled his hair and pulled him into a hug. “Brilliant job, ребенок паук.”

Around them, the other duos came to a stop as well. Annabeth had her drakon-bone sword poised at Percy’s heart, his sword clattering to the floor far below them. Steve and Bucky both stilled with a shield at one throat and a dagger on another.

The room was still and quiet; a pin could drop and everyone could hear it. Percy and Annabeth’s critiques of their fight as they descended from the water column broke the silence. The students gaped as it lowered them to the floor before calmly splashing back into the pool.

“Ok, what the fuck?” Flash yelled, a small amount of pure terror glimmering as he looked back and forth between the two students. No teacher reprimanded his language.

Steve traded a look with the rest of the Avengers. “Now would be a good time to remind you about the non-disclosure agreements you all signed.” He said. “I think we might have to allot a little bit more time to the question and answer portion of this tour.”

The other Avengers in the room, including Peter and Percy, nodded their heads and they led the group back toward the elevator. The ride in each group was tense and awkward. No one knew how to process the information. Percy and Peter? That girl, Annabeth? What were they? Even Flash was silent.

Finally all three groups had been corralled into the very same room Percy’s press conference would be held in only a couple of hours later. Silently, the group of Avengers in the tower filed onto the stage, minus Percy and Peter. Nat led the pack, followed by Clint, Steve, Bucky, Tony, Bruce, T’Challa, and Shuri brought up the rear.

The room sat in silence until Tony said “So who has questions?” Every hand went into the air.

Tony pointed at one hand in the crowd, and Betty stood up. “Are Percy and Peter Avengers?”

A pause, before “Is everyone’s question about Percy and Peter?” Tony asked with an exasperated sigh. Everyone but Annabeth nodded their heads.

Another sigh. “Alright, lets get those two up here, then, to answer your questions.”

Peter and Percy both made their way up to the small stage. The other Avengers gave them space up front. Only Tony remained, acting as a mediator for the two teens.

Every hand shook with earnest, trying to get called on, but Tony gestured for Betty to ask her question again. “A-are you two Avengers?” She stuttered.

The two looked at each other, and Percy saw the anxious look on Peter’s face, so he spoke for them. “Yes.” He said simply, not expanding on the matter until he had to.

Tony pointed to another hand. Abe stood up. “Uh, Percy, how could you do that stuff with the water? An-and fight like that?”

Percy took a deep breath. Now was the time. “I fight like that thanks to five years of training with swordsmen far more experienced than I, and obviously, my beautiful girlfriend. I could do that stuff with the water because…” He took a deep breath . “Because I am a demigod. I am half god, half mortal, and my godly parent is Poseidon.” He smiled bravely as the group burst into disbelieving chatter.

Tony whistled loudly to draw their attention back. Immediately, hands flew back into the air. Peter’s stomach sank when Tony gestured to someone within Flash’s vicinity, and Flash spoke up. “How come you let Penis Parker and Pussy Jackson into the Avengers? Just because Jackson is supposedly some freak hybrid doesn’t mean he should be in the Avengers. He’s probably never done anything. Not to mention, Penis is some wimp loser. You need someone like me. I’m brilliant and I kick major ass.” He finished smugly, not aware of the glares from the stage, and the single pair of eyes being restrained behind him by a pretty pissed Ned.

Not letting either boy try to de-escalate the situation, Tony Stark leaned forward, and said in a deadly quiet voice “What did you say about my sons?”

The grin dropped off of Flash’s face. “S-sons?”

Tony took on a manic grin. “Oh, yes. Sons. Not only do I know what you just said, we know everything you’ve said within this tower. Now, usually I’m above threatening minors. Usually. But due to your actions today, I think you deserve it. If you ever, and I mean ever, insult, ridicule or diminish in any way my sons, I will personally call every notable university in the world and get you blackballed from admission. And I promise Eugene, you will never, ever have a job at Stark Industries, or any worthwhile company in New York.”

Flash, much to Peter’s surprise, did not back down. “But what’s so special about them? Penis, especially. He’s not worth anything.”

Tony went red in the face, and Clint had to hold Natasha back, her weapons drawn already. The other Avengers seemed to be stifling anger as well. “Not worth anything? Buddy, let’s get something straight: Peter Parker is worth everything. Far more than you will ever be. He is the kindest, smartest, most humble and giving person I’ve ever met. This kid is smarter than you, smarter than me, hell, this kid is smarter than Bruce Banner. Not only that, but he would also give anyone the shirt off of his back if they asked him for it. But he’d never brag about it to anyone. You know how I know this kid is the best of his generation? Because not only is he brilliant, he could also boast about his position on the Avengers, but he doesn’t. He could have been like me, and told the whole world who he is, but he didn’t. Now, I think it’s time he does.” Tony finished, leaning back and gesturing to Peter, who stood a little taller after hearing everything Mr. Stark said about him.

He took a deep breath and tapped his watch face twice. “Karen, activate Iron Spider.” The nano-tech creeped swiftly over his skin until the full Iron Spider suit encased him. The class gasped as they realized who their classmate was.

“No!” Flash cried, outraged. “There is no way Puny Parker is Spider-Man! This has to be some kind of trick! Penis could never do what Spider-Man does!”

The marine biology teacher crossed her arms. “Mr. Jackson, Mr. Parker, I think enough is enough. Please apologize for this silly prank and get down off the stage. I don’t know how you pulled this off, but I will be having words with Principal Morita when we return. Now get down.”

In a flash, Tony’s wrath turned on the teachers, who had clumped together. “And you lousy lot call yourselves teachers? Are you so dense that even after everything you’ve seen today, you still don’t believe them? Percy Jackson and his girlfriend have saved this world more times than me! Peter Parker has saved my ass too many times to count.” Tony looked over the disbelieving eyes of Flash and the teacher. “Alright, you know what? You all signed a non-disclosure agreement, so if you leak anything you’ve seen or heard here, we’ll know it was one of you, and our lawyers will bury you in so many lawsuits, you won’t be getting out of them for decades. Now get out of my tower.” He said sharply. No one moved. “Now!” He shouted.

Everyone jumped up and filed out of the room as quickly as possible. The last person was Mr. Gray. “Percy, Peter, you heard the man, come along.”

“I will be keeping them with me. You’ll find I’ve been listed as a guardian for both of them.” Tony said with narrowed eyes.

Mr. Gray nodded and scampered from the room, leaving only a single, blonde-haired girl sitting in her chair. Percy hopped off the stage to go talk to her. He pulled her to a standing position and into a hug. “Think that was good practice?” He asked.

She chuckled. “I think most of the attention was on Peter, but yeah, good practice.”

Tony Stark approached. “And who do we have here?” He asked.

Percy straightened and grabbed Annabeth’s left hand. “Tony Stark, I’d like for you to meet my amazing girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. Annabeth, this is Tony Stark.”

Tony smiled and extended his hand. “We’ve heard a lot about you, Miss Chase.”

“All good things, I hope. I’d love to get you opinions on some of my designs.” Annabeth shook his hand.

Natasha approached. “You must be Annabeth. Percy never stops talking about you. You’re a spectacular fighter. We should train together sometime.” She winked before walking off again.

One by one, each of the Avengers introduced themselves. “After what I saw today, I think you would be a valuable member of our team.” Steve said with his Mr. America smile.

“Ok, but first, the cat’s got to come out of the bag. That goes for a couple of things, I think.” Tony’s face was steeled in determination.

Curious, Peter turned to Mr. Stark. “What’s the other thing?” He asked.

“That’s a surprise. Peter, go put on the suit that’s in your room. Percy, the same goes for you. Annabeth--”

Natasha cut Tony off. “Annabeth can borrow something of mine.” She smiled. Annabeth lit up at the opportunity to talk to the superspy more.

Tony nodded. “Then that’s settled. We’ll tell the world what it needs to know in an hour and a half.”

****

The crowd of reporters talked animatedly. The Starks were about to announce something big, and no one had an inkling what it was.

In the antechamber off to the side, Percy paced nervously while Peter sat with his knee bouncing. Percy felt bad for him; at least Percy knew what he was about to announce. Peter had no idea what he was doing here. Mr. Stark hadn’t told him anything.

Annabeth grabbed Percy’s hand and squeezed it comfortingly. “Percy, we’re going to be fine. It’s just like telling a group of new campers.”

“You’re right. They’re just a bunch of unclaimed new campers who don’t know what they are. With cameras. And a lot of questions. Oh gods, I can’t do this on my own.” Percy’s eyes started looking panicky.

Annabeth grabbed his face and turned it towards her own. “That’s why you’re not alone, Seaweed Brain. You have Peter over here, you have Tony, and you have me. And if we have to, we can Iris Message Chiron and he can help explain. It’s okay.”

Percy nodded and took deep breaths. Then Tony walked into the room in a tailored suit and his signature glasses. In his hands were two small boxes.

Tony went immediately over to Peter, who had his head in his hands, covering his ears from all the noise of the reporters. “Kid, I got some things to help you.” He opened the smaller of two boxes. Inside sat two earpieces, like the ones singers and performers wear onstage. They were smaller, though, less perceptible. “They block out all of the useless noise and help you focus on the noise you want to. And these,” He opened the second box, revealing identical glasses to the ones he wore, “just look cool.” When Peter just stared, he thrust the boxes into Peter’s hands. “Take them. They’re yours to keep. Use them whenever you need them.”

Peter gingerly took the boxes. “Thank you, Dad.” He hadn’t meant to say it , but he paid no attention to Tony’s reaction as he fit the earpieces into his ears and put on the glasses. Immediately, he sighed with relief, quickly followed by a gasp of surprise as the glasses turned on. Analytics scanned across his eyes. He realized that Karen had been programmed into the glasses, and that he now had her at any time he wanted. He got up and hugged and a still-stunned Tony, who slowly hugged him back.

They embraced for a moment before Tony’s watch beeped. “It’s go-time, kids. You guys wait here until I announce you. Peter, you’ll know when to come out.” He winked at Peter.

Tony opened the door and stepped out and up onto the stage. “Welcome, everybody, to this press conference. Today we have a few announcements from a few different people, including one from me. So without further ado, allow me to introduce our newest Avengers, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.”

The pair traded glances. When did Annabeth officially become an Avenger? They stepped out the door and into the hoard of flashing lights and screaming reporters. They walked up to the podium set up with a dozen microphones, ready to capture their truths.

Percy cleared his throat and everyone settled. “Hi, everyone, my name is Percy Jackson and this is my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, and we are demigods.” The crowd jumped into a frenzy, shouting questions and snapping pictures.

Tony came back to the microphone. “Everyone calm down and raise your hands like civilized people. Thank you.” the crowd calmed slightly.

Annabeth pointed to a blonde haired reporter. “What do you mean by demigod?”

“We are the product of relations between gods and mortals. We are half god or goddess and half mortal.” She answered.

Pointing to another sandy-haired reporter. “Who are your godly parents?”

Percy answered. “I am the son of Poseidon and Annabeth is the daughter of Athena.”

A dark hair reporter stood up with no prompt. “What good do you bring to humanity? Why shouldn’t you be subject to tests or wiped out completely? Do you pose a danger to us?”

Percy took a deep, calming breath, then launched into their story. “Our kind has spent centuries fighting monsters and wars. In the past few years, myself, Annabeth, and several other brave demigods fought multiple primordial beings that tried to take over the world, resulting in tolling wars. We’ve been key characters in those wars and history in general, and you would be amazed to find out how many historical figures were demigods. We don’t pose any kind of direct threat to the mortal world, we’ve been saving it for centuries. Next question.”

A curly haired reporter stood. “What benefit do you bring to the Avengers?”

Annabeth took this question. “We are skilled fighters who train from the time we discover our identity to now. We have demigods who have been training constantly for ten or more years. We also have knowledge of and weapons that can kill monsters”

The next question came from a raven-haired reporter. “How many of your kind are there?”

“Fewer now, thanks to the last couple of wars, but our numbers grow every time a new demigod child is born. There are many kinds of demigod, Roman, Greek, Norse, and probably more that we don’t know about yet. Annabeth and I are Greek, but we have friends and family from other pantheons.”

Annabeth leaned forward to speak. “This will be the last question, thank you.”

The final question came from a reporter up front. “Why tell us now? You’ve kept the secret for so long, why now?”

Annabeth answered. “We’ve kept our secret for so long thanks to something called the Mist. It’s a veil between the mortal world and our own. Unfortunately, I received word today that the Mist will finally fall at any moment, and we wanted to make the world aware on our terms.”

There was a flurry of movement as the reporters tried to ask more questions, but Tony, once again, stepped forward. “That will be all for this segment of the press conference.” The two filed off, disappearing back to the antechamber. They both breathed a sigh a relief that it was over, even if the effects of everything they just announced would last for the rest of their lives.

Onstage, they heard Tony calming down the crowd. “Now, I have an announcement, myself. For this, I’d like to bring out my personal intern, Peter Parker.”

Peter braced himself and stepped into the room, hesitant smile on his face. Mr. Stark was standing at the podium and gestured for Peter to join him. “Ladies and gentlemen, and those who identify as neither, I give you my heir to Stark Industries!”

Whipping his head around, Peter came face to face with a beaming Tony Stark. Him? Heir to Stark Industries? Surely Mr. Stark didn’t mean it… He glanced back toward the crowd of reporters and gave them a brave smile.

“Peter will not be taking questions at this time. I’m afraid he just received this news as well. Thank you everyone for coming today, this now concludes our press conference.” Tony led the dazed teenager off the stage.

They entered the antechamber and Percy clapped him on the back to congratulate him. Tony didn’t stop in the antechamber, he led Peter all the way to the elevator and then into their lab before either of them talked.

“You ok, Pete?” Mr. Stark finally asked.

“Ok? Mr. Stark, I’m in shock, I’m overwhelmed, but yes, I’m ok. I was just given the most prestigious honor I could ever imagine. Your heir? I mean… wow. Although this means I’m going to have to triple major or something. I was already going to double major in chemical and mechanical engineering and now I’ll probably need to add business so I can run the other side of things… Unless you’re leaving that half to someone else, of course, then please disregard everything I’ve said--”

Mr. Stark cut him off. “Pete! You’re rambling. It’s just you, but don’t worry about anything just yet. You’re not taking over tomorrow. You’ve got time.”

Peter took another deep breath to calm down, then turned to Mr. Stark and pulled him into another hug. They both melted into each other. “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

Mr. Stark buried his head in his kids shoulder and smiled. “You’re welcome, kid, you’re welcome.”

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