every time someone calls moirallegience just an alien qpr i wilt a lil like YEAH thats more or less the CLOSEST human thing but its also Literally Not That. like a qpr is fundanmentally not romantic and thats not even going into moirails whole Actual Purpose of calming ppl down. its just. aughhhhh pisses me off i see the confusion but, as aformentioned, aughhhhh
OH MY GOD THIS HAS BEEN BOTHERING ME TOO.... but i don't want to get petty at the people in my notes always saying "moirails are QPRs!" because in some ways that is the closest human thing so it's hard to be mad...
i think there's definitely some overlap in some ways. but NOT because moirallegiance and qprs are the same at all really, but INSTEAD because both relationships have unconventional boundaries defined by the people within them.
you know... like every relationship.
like the only reason the two have overlap is because they are both partnerships that emotionally care for each other but can choose to not bang (which is true for any romance anyway, even if it's considered abnormal). they're both just romances* that are unconventional to human norms, which makes people view them as the same thing when they're not.
i think the REAL issue here is that humans insist on using human words to understand things that are just, fundamentally, alien. can't we just appreciate alien romance for being... alien romance?
no, it's not platonic, it's romantic. it's just romantic in a way you aren't quite wired to understand, is all.
*in generalization, most QPRs are not romantic, because they are made up of aroaces who are life partners in a non-romantic way. however i want to disagree with you that none of them are romantic, because that is up to the partners in question.
323 notes
·
View notes
Why Jason Grace is The Most Tragic Character in the Riordanverse
*in no way is this trying to dial down Nico's own suffering, I'm just stating my case for Jason because godsdamn SOMEBODY needs to say it!*
@most-tragic-character-tournament here's propoganda i came out guns ablazing
List of why fans are saying Nico:
Lost his mother
lost years of his life
found out he was a demigod at age 10
lost sister at 10
rough relationship with his dad
closeted gay
crush is madly in love with somebody else
forced to come out
List of why Jason is more tragic:
Lost his mom to alcoholism/mental decline
Lost his ENTIRE FUCKING CHILDHOOD because Said Mom gave him up to Juno to be raised by a PACK OF WOLVES who would've EATEN HIM if he was WEAK FOR EVEN A SECOND - AS A FUCKING TWO YEAR OLD
Was a trained demigod FROM THE GET-GO (again, TWO YEARS OLD)
Because of previously stated separation, was TAKEN FROM HIS SISTER WHO LOVED HIM SO MUCH SHE RAN AWAY BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T TAKE THE GUILT AND FEAR AND RAGE THAT FILLED HER AT HIS ABSENCE
Was set up into a "perfect" relationship by Juno/Hera WHILE HAVING HIS MEMORIES TAKEN
Jason may not have had the awful forced outting Nico had to go through, but...that's not really his fault? Nobody has any control over their sexual identity, and Jason? Well. He never really got to explore it. Because that was taken from him too.
Thinks he LOST LEO VALDEZ, ONE OF HIS ACTUAL FIRST FRIENDS, WHO LIKED HIM FOR HIM AND NOT BECAUSE OF HIS STATUS
FORCED TO COMPLY TO A DEMANDING SOCIETY THAT EXALTED HIM FROM DAY 1 BECAUSE HIS DAD IS THE OH-SO-IMPORTANT JUPITER (*cough victim of nepotism cough*)
AND WHEN HE TRIES TO COMBAT THAT NEPOTISM HE KEEPS GETTING PUSHBACK UNTIL HE FALTERS
then. then his girlfriend breaks up with him - not because of any drama, or even a disagreement, but over a very valid point
their relationship didn't exactly start out very...honestly. Jason had been mind-wiped of all memories and Piper had fake ones implanted into her to make her think she liked Jason as more than a friend. sure. they had a pretty nice relationship, but when everything slowed down and they took a look at their lives?
Piper's the one who sees it first, and makes the decision. Jason is heartbroken, but understands - he even, dare I say, agrees that they should end the relationship. it was built on fake memories - you could say it was built on lies.
and now Jason has this opportunity to step back and analyze who he is and what he wants.
what he finds is depressing. everything he's had, everything's he's been up till now...
it's not him.
he never wanted to be raised by Lupa and her wolves.
he never wanted to be Jupiter's son
he never wanted to be the exalted leader Camp Jupiter praised him for
From day 1 his life was somebody else's. his first steps were under the tutelage of a wolf, not of the loving eyes of his sister
Camp Jupiter only ever saw him as the demigod to be praised and turn to above all others, even before he became praetor.
Jason's life...was never his own.
and now that he's away from all that pressure and expectation...he doesn't know who he is.
Son of Jupiter?
Champion of Juno?
Praetor of the Twelfth Legion?
Member of the Prophesized Seven?
Hero of Olympus?
no. he was never himself under these names.
he was never...Jason.
but maybe now he could start navigating his own life. without some god intervening for once. this would be good for him, and for Piper, to find their own way.
but then. then they talk to Herophile...and find out one of them will die. And Jason? Well, he's not going to let Piper be taken from the life she deserves. he may not be her boyfriend, her knight in shining armor, but he sure as HELL loves her - especially as a friend. And if there's one thing you should know about Jason? It's that he loves his friends.
so what does he do? He sacrifices himself. He duels Caligula himself, and urges Piper, Meg, and Apollo to Go, save yourselves! and -
he's stabbed. through the chest. the only thing he can do? Look to Apollo, to the blue gaze so much like his own drenched in horror, and ask; Remember. because he didn't get to live the life he wished, but maybe Apollo could - no, Apollo can, he can make the difference Jason wanted. Because he trusts Apollo.
Jason doesn't regret his sacrifice. he saved Piper from the prophecy, after all. He saved Apollo & Meg's lives too.
in fact, Jason didn't really mind dying. Because he didn't have much of a life either. And a life like that? shrug It's worth sacrificing for those who deserve theirs.
and as icing on the cake, remember who Jason's father is? The almighty, all-powerful Jupiter himself, King of the Gods?
he doesn't do a damn thing to help Jason. Not a single. Thing.
because Jupiter/Zeus doesn't care about his children. Especially his sons.
Zeus saved Thalia. But he didn't even try to save Jason.
Trying would have at least lessened the pain...
People like to claim Jason is a bland, boring character who's never suffered a minute in his life. That he's a golden retriever with no flaws.
Well.
Take a look up there and ask yourself - it that the life of a boy who knows no suffering?
Because it sure as hell don't look that way to me.
To me, it looks like Jason was a used, depressed young man who never got to choose his own path. Who's father abandoned him first to his wife's mercy, then to a cruel emperor's.
Jason Grace suffered.
and he never got to live that happy life he saw within the Fates.
Never got to get that family, those grandchildren he saw himself telling the story of the Argo II to.
Because The Fall of Jason Grace is a true, utter tragedy.
196 notes
·
View notes
“when you play go, you pursue your desires in silence. you seduce, and you fall. you strip each other bare. and if your partner doesn't reciprocate, then it's just a game of go.”
go as an overarching symbol throughout the glory, both figuratively as a representation of dongeun’s revenge, and also as a metaphor for class and relations (between her and the men in her life, i.e. yeojeong and doyeong).
on a relational level, go is a game of seduction. it’s a mental sword dance, so to speak. dongeun learns it with revenge in mind - she plans to catch the interest of doyeong, the husband of the girl who destroyed her life. she uses go to approach him - she seduces him the very first time he sees her play, so much that he can’t get her out of his head. she uses go to entice him; she wins before he even knows that he’s playing.
dongeun learns go for the purposes of ensnaring doyeong, but it’s yeojeong who first teaches her go at all. and it’s go that becomes a cornerstone of their burgeoning relationship as well. throughout the seasons, go helps both of them, as something that centers them, tethers them to current life. for yeojeong, his sessions mentoring dongeun in go were the only thing that created a schedule for him in his most turbulent time (after his father died, etc.). it becomes their mode of communication - he asks her to make a play so that he can know she came by. a silent way of saying i’m alive.
and then there’s dongeun approaching doyeong to play go, then them meeting again at the park he designed. yeojeong also approaches doyeong to play go, also purposefully - the man who taught dongeun vs the man she learned to play for.
but for dongeun, go is never about the men so much as it is about herself. go becomes something she loves for what it is, a game that builds territories, a game where the enemy can be slowly and methodically destroyed as you take all their territories, like how she plans to take everything from yeonjin. it reminds her of the dreams of being an architect she had before she had to drop out of school from the bullying/assault.
doyeong says that one of his go teachers tells him that he was born holding the black stones. when dongeun plays with yeojeong for the first time, she says she has to start with the white stones, since she’s the beginner. that’s how they play, for months. when doyeong meets dongeun after finding out the beginnings of the truth, he says that this game is more difficult than the ones he’s played in the past (and she beats him, the first time they play prior to that meeting).
the black stones represent the upper hand, the wealthy. it’s a class metaphor, especially when related to doyeong. yeojeong also starts out with the black stones, maybe because of wealth, maybe because he’s learned it for far longer. maybe because life was kinder to him. dongeun starts at the bottom, with the white stones, because she has nothing and knows nothing.
but when she places her first stones on the go board, she plays with the black.
664 notes
·
View notes
any luca/pecco thoughts??? AU or non au... maybe like marriage related lmao
thank you for asking! I am trying so hard to have pecco/luca thoughts and feelings lol. obviously like all of this is deeply inspired by all the scholars who have come before! ❤️
On the day of his wedding, Pecco lets Luca dress him.
It's weakness covered by tradition. Luca is Vale's brother; Pecco's oldest friend. He'll be the one, later, to give Pecco to Vale; to wrap rope and lace around their hands.
Pecco's throat floods wet and sick whenever he thinks about it. His arm laced into leathers so thick he won't be able to feel Luca’s hand on him. Luca saying the last words of the ceremony; binding Pecco to his brother.
Now, Luca is silent, and Pecco is standing stiff and naked next to the wash basin, his arm, his whole body, bared to Luca, to the unbearable way his hands feel, gentle and familiar.
Pecco had thought, as he lay awake last night dreading and dreaming of this, that maybe Luca wouldn't even look at him. Instead, he doesn't look away. His eyes steady and flat and heavy every time Pecco manages to meet them. His rough hands sliding slow and soft around the angle of Pecco's elbows, into the crease under his arms, down his sides, as he washes him. As he prepares him, like a gift.
They've done, together, almost everything. As a boy, Pecco spent summers in Luca's family's keep, shared rooms with him. At first, for years, they'd lay on different sides of the bed and talk until sunup, sleep half of the next day, force themselves out of bed just in time for lunch. Their bodies on a different clock to anyone else in the castle, the two of them together day and night. Pecco still thinks about it, every morning and night, in an empty bed, getting up with the sun pale and sharp.
When they got older, one night in the middle of talking, Luca reached over, and picked up one of Pecco's curls, ran it between his fingers, and then looked at him, heavy with wanting Pecco recognized easily, from how he'd been feeling all winter.
They'd spent the summer rutting together under Luca’s sheets, going on long rides deep into the woods and finding a creek or tree or patch of grass. Luca's mouth wide and hot on Pecco's neck, his hands tucked tight under half-laced leathers.
Now, it's been two years since they touched. Since Pecco's father offered Vale a dowry, and Vale got down on a knee in a courtyard, in the middle of so many people Pecco knew, but most of all Luca, a few paces behind his shoulder, so Pecco could feel but not see him.
Two years Luca had to ask his brother, if he had wanted Pecco. His dowry would come to their house either way. The alliance between their families would be strengthened either way. The whole kingdom knows Vale loves his brother, would give him anything.
And yet this is where they are; in Pecco's chambers, on a wedding day that's not theirs, like Pecco used to stupidly dream about. Luca kneeling before him and wrapping fingers around his ankles to guide his feet into his leathers. Tightening the laces from his hips to his chest with strong, steady fingers.
Pecco feels nauseous, watched, touched, unwanted. Ask, he wants to beg, pathetic, to get to hear Luca tell him no. To be sure, to hear it for real, instead of just years of not talking about it. Ask for me and he'll give me to you.
Vale is kind and handsome and the most powerful man in the kingdoms. Pecco likes him more than he ever thought he would like whatever match his father found for him. When he was young, and Vale would ride to his family's keep fresh from battle, seeking food and shelter for his men, Pecco looked up at him on his horse, and wished for something like this.
With Luca in front of him, his cool steady eyes and thick, light hair, his mind Pecco loves more than anything in the realm, Pecco can't think past wanting him.
He lets his head fall back on his neck. Luca is meticulous, thoughtful, smart. He would've asked already, if he wanted too.
So he makes himself stop thinking about that; wishing for something stupid, too-good.
He focuses on the tightness Luca works up his stomach, his chest, his neck. Lies to himself that with each tug at the laces, Luca is thinking about making it harder for Vale to undress him tonight. About keeping Pecco his for a little longer.
50 notes
·
View notes