#no finale book did it like tlo | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sayoneee · 3 months

Text

☆ AND I KNOW IT’S OVER (STILL I CLING)

percy jackson, who never seems to know when to quit, keeps coming back. (2.9k)

contains: percy jackson x daughter of minor god! reader. post tlo (alt universe - everyone lives). book percy descriptions. apollo (derogatory).

kashaf’s note: book percy descriptions bc that was my first love. (sry if i get some of the words wrong, english isnt my first language pls be patient!!)

SUMMER BURNS. at camp half-blood, the scorching heat has dwindled to soft caresses, from the heat of the fire during sing-alongs where your cabin joins hands and toasts marshmallows to the cool breeze balming the sun’s glare at its zenith in the sprawling strawberry fields. at home, the scorching heat leaves marks — the biker with flames for pupils who clutched an openly bleeding wound as he thrust a first-aid kit at you, and the girl not much older than yourself with tears marring her face as she handed you a pregnancy test to ring up, avoiding your curious (sympathetic) gaze.

however, despite it all — you stand infallible, much like your grandfather’s part convenience store and part pharmacy, a poor man’s family heirloom.

you stand idly, flipping through an edition of seventeen when the rusty door swings open to admit a familiar face — with unruly black hair and an equally reckless grin (you know exactly who it is from the ba-dum of your heartbeat), the infamous son of poseidon (with the same smile as shawn hunter from boy meets world) is easily recognizable.

you glance at the crimson blooming around the crevices of his knuckles, tightly gripping a faded and worn-out skateboard, his scruffy converse squeaking across the tiled floor, raising an eyebrow as you coolly say, “band-aids are in the back, on the right.”

jackson laughs, an all-consuming sound (the wind-blown half-blood hill where apollo seemed to smile down at you, the laughter, like the memory, evanescent), “thanks, doc.”

you discreetly watch him perusing the aisles, before stopping in front of the ancient fridge — your grandfather’s store was something of an 80s pompeii with the peeling posters of back to the future and motley crue and the antiquated maroon and cream color scheme — and pulling out an arizona green tea.

when he finally goes to look for band-aids, you attempt to fix your attention back on the magazine in your hands, but like a moth driven to a flame, percy jackson was unbelievably hard to look away from (a magnet among mortals and immortals alike).

jackson’s hands are on his hips, his tupac t-shirt creasing, thick brows furrowed as he decides between different types of candy with the same intensity as a single mother with two children and a nine-to-five (even in the mortal world, there is something else entirely about him, something that made it so that you could never truly write him off).

when he approaches the register again, it’s hard not to look up and watch his ascent. when he finally does come to a stop in front of you, he looks the same as he did the last summer, though the tiny silver trident earring is new, the camp beads resting peacefully atop his collarbones aren’t.

you ring up his items: a box of band-aids, the arizona green tea, and a pack of blue gummy sharks, looking away from him all the while.

“good to see ya, doc,” jackson says, a wry grin on his face, and his eyes are so green — as green as they were at twelve.

“it’s never good to see you, jackson,” you snark back, reciting his total, “four ninety-five, by the way.”

he laughs again (your heart goes ba-dum again), and hands you a five dollar bill, shoving his things into the seemingly bottomless pockets of his baggy jeans, with a salute on his way out (his turning back was a sight far more innocuous than the last time).

the next time jackson breaks whatever tacit agreement lies between the two of you, your hands are similarly stained. reds and purples line your palms, much like the burgundy seemingly permanently staining your grandmother’s fingertips; the culprit (the bowl of pomegranate seeds) sits innocently beside you.

“back again?” you say, glancing at the familiar scarlet stains adorning jackson’s hands (a familiar blue friendship bracelet sits on his wrist, edges frayed with five years of wear, and there’s a lump in your throat).

“why, did you miss me?” jackson asks, again with that wry grin of his, skateboard in hand.

“you’re the one who came back,” you say, crossing your arms across your chest, willing the constricting feeling to disappear.

“doc, i’m sorry to have to be the one that has to break this to you,” he sighs sympathetically, putting a bleeding hand over his heart, “but the sun doesn’t revolve around you.”

“actually, jackson, the sun kind of does revolve around me, ‘cause y’know apollo, the sun god apollo? my grandpa apollo? my grandpa, the sun god, apollo?”

“going by your logic, that would mean time revolves around me, ‘cause y’know kronos, the time titan kronos? my grandpa kronos? my grandpa, the time titan, kronos?” jackson says, a shit-eating grin on his face as he sets down another band-aid box, an arizona green tea, and a pack of blue gummy sharks on the counter.

“y’know, if you cared this much, you might’ve passed greek,” you say, referring to the progress report cards you were handed at the end of summer.

he shrugged, handing you another five dollar bill, and proceeding to shove everything into his black holes of jean pockets, “yeah, well — wait, are those pomegranates?”

“yeah,” you say, “i peeled them myself — do you want some?”

(your father liked these, your grandmother had said earlier this afternoon, your mother liked to peel them for him, as i peeled them for her, and your grandfather.)

jackson suddenly looked bashful, fidgeting with the hem of his a tribe called quest t-shirt, “i’ve never had pomegranates before,” he confessed.

you blinked, taken aback, “you’re seventeen years old and you’ve never eaten a pomegranate before?” you pushed the china bowl toward him, “now you have to eat it.”

“my mom liked telling me the myths when i was younger,” he begins, setting down his skateboard, and reaching for the spoon before halting, like he was shocked, “she told me about persephone —”

“jackson,” you say, sardonically, leaning over the register to look him in the eye (there was always a storm brewing in his eyes), “i promise you, hades won’t come out of the ground and drag you to the underworld if you eat the pomegranate seeds i peeled.”

“i know what my next sleep paralysis demon is gonna be — thanks to you,” jackson says, looking down at the bowl and its floral blue pattern around the edges, playing with the spoon, and shifting the seeds from side to side.

“percy jackson, i swear to asclepius, you’re missing out on pomegranates,” you say, coming out from behind the register, and looking percy in the eye again, and there is something so earnest, so raw about your next sentence that his breath catches, “and, i swear on the styx, if hades does somehow come out of the ground to drag you down to the underworld, i’ll come down myself to drag you out, even if it’s tartarus.”

a rumble of thunder can be heard overhead despite the clear sky and scalding sun; percy blinks, before breaking out into a slow grin (your stomach seems to grow wings of its own, on the verge of flight.)

“invoking your dad, huh, doc? these pomegranates must be serious,” percy says, finally taking a bite — stepping around the bomb you just dropped.

you watch him intently, studying him as you studied tennyson and homer, “they are that serious.” there is something innocent about the way he eats, starved like every other teenage boy with black holes for stomachs.

“y’know, i can put that into a tupperware container and you can take it with you, right?” you offer.

“really?” percy asks through a mouthful of seeds, looking up from the bowl at you, “won’t you think i’ll steal it or something?”

“not really,” you shrugged, “i trust ms. jackson.”

percy nods solemnly — sally jackson is sally jackson after all, a queen among women, and an achilles of sorts, with her soft smile and steely eyes.

steeling your nerves, this is already the longest conversation you’ve had (ignoring the forever-ago late-night debriefs under a firmament of stars), you step up to the plate and take a swing, “how is she, by the way, haven’t seen her in a while.”

percy swallowed, eyebrows furrowing, “great — oh, wait, did i tell you she was seeing someone new now?”

“no way, really? good for her, honestly. i know, poseidon’s a god and all, but like, she’s always deserved just, so much more.” (you manage to make contact with the change-up thrown your way.)

there is something so sincere about your words, that percy can’t help but grin back, finally reaching the depths of his sea-green eyes, and there is something still so boyish about him, that you can hardly believe any time has passed at all, and that somewhere within this demigod who successfully defeated kronos, while saving luke, there is still a semblance of your percy.

“yeah, the guy, paul blofis, he’s an english teacher — absolutely worships the ground she walks on.”

“sounds perfect for her.”

“you should come over some time — see her, meet paul, y’know,” percy offers, still funneling spoonfuls of pomegranates, meeting your gaze head-on (this is the home run you were waiting on).

you grinned, a slow smile overtaking your face, pushing your hands in the pockets of your jeans, “might just take you up on that, before you change your mind.” (you’re leaving the ball in his hands now; it’s up to him to tag you out or let you reach home base safely.)

“nah, i won’t change my mind, unlike someone else i know.”

you ignore the jab (a smaller, suppressed part of you itches to shoot a reply back), instead choosing to focus on the hesitant hand of friendship being offered — as your father liked to say, keep moving forward.

you shrugged, and you swear, for a second you think the intensity of his gaze has lessened, almost as if disappointed. almost as if mentally shaking it off, percy hands you the china bowl back, empty, running a hand through his shaggy hair with a sheepish grin.

you smiled wryly, glancing down at the bowl and back to his face. “fatass,” you say, affectionately, and then almost freezing, wondering if you somehow overstepped the invisible lines constricting you.

percy laughs — a green light.

“lucky for you, though,” you say, disappearing behind the register for a moment before reappearing with a tupperware container filled with peeled pomegranates, “i peeled more.”

you hold it out to him, and he glances down at your outstretched hand, then at your face, before seemingly making up his mind, and accepting the olive branch, “you’re really committed to seeing my mom, huh?”

“well, obviously — the other alternative would be seeing you, wouldn’t it?”

“aw, c’mon, doc, i know you missed me,” percy says, a bit smug, picking up his skateboard, the tupperware container in his other hand (the one he still wears your bracelet on).

“in your dreams, jackson.” there is a peal of odd laughter in your voice as if you were unused to this kind of jocularity when fumbling over his name.

“in my dreams, we do more than just argue,” percy says, with one last smug smile and salute, before walking out the door, leaving you behind in the worst state of confusion you’ve possibly suffered (percy jackson: 1, you: 0).

(your grandmother admonishes you later that evening as you stand beside her stooped figure at your kitchen counter, peeling pomegranates, you gave the rest of it to that boy, didn’t you? her voice is not scolding, but you feel like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar once more. your immortal grandfather, the nuisance that he is, stands in the doorway, hands in an 80s leather jacket and matching sunglasses, waiting to be welcomed in. in contrast, his son — your father — brushes past him, grumbling, and takes on your grandmother’s burden.)

the analog clock reads ten fifty-five as you start mopping the floor, yawning when the front door swings open with a jingling bell, and a sharp metallic smell wafts into the store.

you whirl around, gripping the mop in your hand as a baseball bat, immediately alert as your demigod reflexes come into play. you physically relax at the sight of percy clutching his side, crimson pooling on the edges of his white t-shirt.

“of course you would attack a man when he’s injured,” percy says with a grin, blood dripping from a gash over his eye (luke had returned to camp some years ago, with a similar scar), and a split lip, collecting like rust on his t-shirt collar.

you scowled, dropping the mop and immediately rushing toward him, your healing instincts kicking in. lifting one of his arms and letting it curl around you, you shouldered him to the register, cringing with every audible wince percy let out.

“what the fuck is wrong with you?” you asked, as you sat him on your stool, reaching for the ambrosia and nectar you kept hidden under the counter for emergencies (one could never be too careful).

percy grinned — it came out more of a grimace, “what isn’t wrong with me — that’s the question you should be asking, doc.” he nodded to himself, and then immediately cringed at the action.

you glared at him, shoving an ambrosia square in his mouth, before turning away from him to put antiseptic on cotton pads. “does ms. jackson know you’re here?”

“no?” percy says. you walk over to the fridge, grab a water bottle, unscrew the cap, and drench the part of his t-shirt covered in blood.

“ow? in case you forgot, i’m still injured here, doc?” percy clutches at his side.

“you dumbfuck, your mom is probably worried out of her mind right now,” you say, scowling, stepping closer to percy (he still towers over you, even when sitting down).

“i iris messaged her,” he shrugs, looking at you as you shift even closer to him, cotton pad in your hand, “she just knows i’m with you — pretty relieved at that, dunno why.”

reaching out to grasp his jaw in your hand, you begin dabbing at the bruises on his cheekbones, his eyes fluttering shut as you try to ignore the way his hot breath is fanning across your face right now. “you didn’t tell her what happened?”

percy opened his eyes, staring at you. “no, how could i?” he says, slowly, “you were her favorite — still are, by the way.”

you don’t say anything for a moment — after all, how could you? (sally jackson’s homemade cookies drift to the front of your treacherous mind — the sunny afternoons with her kind voice, and percy’s loutish laughter.)

“you didn’t come to see her,” percy says, the statement not accusatory, his eyes fluttering shut again (you try not to let the way his eyelashes sit so prettily distract you) as you dab at the gash over his eye.

“i didn’t think i was welcome,” you say gruffly, turning away to grab bandages. “after everything.”

while the deeper wounds have eased into far easier, superficial ones, you still make sure to wrap and bandage everything — percy had a penchant for getting into trouble (one that you knew all too well), so it was the least you could do.

“i just told you that you were welcome, last time i was here, didn’t i?” percy says, an accusation.

“yeah, well, it was hardly an invitation was it?” you say, turning away from him, packing your supplies up.

“doc, you didn’t even come to take your tupperware back.”

you ignore him, moving to walk away when his hand is enclosed around your wrist (the hand that wears your blue friendship bracelet), tugging you around to face him.

percy’s standing up now, his green eyes looking more like a swirling storm with each passing second — he still hasn’t let your wrist go.

“what do you want from me?” you ask, trying to snatch your hand back from him, to no avail — his grip is ironclad.

“i can’t let you walk away with your back turned to me again,” he says (the dim, lantern-lit night comes back into focus, and you wonder if you were too consumed by your own pride, if you had just turned around, if you had just stayed).

you realize too late that tears are pricking in the corners of your eyes, and you manage to successfully wrench your hand out of his grasp, a watery, sarcastic laugh escaping, “you’re a couple years too late, asshole.”

“i know that,” percy says, earnest, reaching out to cup your cheek, and wipe a stray tear (the action stuns you into paralysis), “but i miss you, and my mom misses you, and she hasn’t gotten off my case about you, yet.”

the thought of tender-hearted sally jackson scolding percy is an amusing one, and draws a laugh out of you against your will (percy’s smile grows a little brighter, and asclepius knows you’ve never been able to resist that smile of his), “i’ll come over for ms. jackson, not you.”

percy’s smile is even wider now (his hand is still ghosting your cheek), “same thing.”

“shut up,” you say swatting at his shoulder, trying to duck out from under his arms.

percy avoids your attempts to escape him, instead latching onto your hand, and pulling you out of the store. “c’mon, she’s expecting us for dinner.”

you let out an incredulous laugh, and let yourself be dragged out anyway (you would follow this boy anywhere, even to the depths of tartarus).

(your grandmother watches from the apartment window above the store, a soft smile gracing her lined features.)

#percy jackson x reader #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo x reader #percy jackson imagines #percy jackson fluff #percy jackson and the olympians #woc friendly #percy jackson x you #percy jackson x yn #percy jackson x y/n #percy jackson oneshot #percy jackson one-shot #percy jackson imagine #percy jackson series #percy jackson x fem! reader #percy jackson oneshots #kashaf ki likhai

969 notes · View notes

sturniclos · 1 month

Text

Eternal sunshine has me so fucked upppp rn like thinking ab Luke Castellan and reader that never got their happy ending together.

Pairing: Luke Castellan x reader

Notes/warnings: Angst, eternal sunshine is sooo good go listen, spoilers for the books, looks are described as Charlie Bushnell's Luke Castellan, not really happy ending LMFAOOO, set before and after tlt and tlo, kind of really rushed I was typing this up as I was listening to the album again. unediteddd

track vi. Supernatural

don't want nobody else around me. just need you right here you're like the only thing that I see. it's crystal clear and I I want you to come claim it, I do

When you first arrived at Camp Half-Blood, you hadn’t talked to anyone for a week.

Not intentionally, of course. You did say hi and bye to people in passing, but for some reason you couldn’t muster up the courage to strike a conversation and make some friends. You felt so out of place, and the anxiety of being in such a new place without for family didn’t make it any better.

It didn’t deter 14 year old Luke, who was determined to make sure you felt like you had a place at camp, like many others had for him. He was a little awkward, still not yet realizing the desire to make you happy was a crush.

“No one here’s going to bite, but I’d stay away from the Ares cabin.” Luke lightly jokes, nudging your shoulder as you smile shyly and nod.

“I think I just miss my mom. I’m not used to really being separated from her.” Your eyes threaten to water, knowing you probably wouldn’t be able to see her in order to keep her safe.

Luke’s lip pull into a thin frown, scooting in to rub his hand on your shoulder. His eyes flicker around awkwardly, unable to figure out what to say when you look so pretty, hair flowing while the scent of pine and vanilla fills his senses. “I miss my mom too,” he starts, licking his dry lips as he figured out what to say. “You’re not in this alone, though. We all go through the same things and are all here to support each other…” he trails off, leaning down to look at your face as you lift your head. “…if they let us.”

You smile and look back out to the lake, hiding your blush with your hair as you avoid eye contact, uttering only a small “Thank you.” In response.

Luke doesn’t need anything else out of you, he only smiles triumphantly as he looks out as well, pink dusting his cheeks as he sits in comfortable silence with you.

After a couple weeks of clinging around you, he finally got you to warm up. Not only to him, but to everyone at camp. It wasn’t long until you were happily chatting with other campers, older and younger- beaming at everyone like the sun.

You still find yourself attaching to Luke, opting to spar and continue your never-ending banter. Luke found himself doing the same, ditching cabin checks with Chris to swim with you in the lake, (which he would make up for later by sneaking him an extra dessert).

When you were tasked to start training younger campers, you were 16 and Luke was 17, both of you on your way to become Camp counselors for the year-rounders.

Luke always looks to pick you as an example while training, cheekily smiling as you both demonstrate a hand-to-hand match, his breath hitching at how gracefully you move as you fight. Fluid, calm, quick, you deal blow after blow while effortlessly blocking and evading attacks, maneuvering around him to knock him to the ground in one swift movement.

He knows he’s done for as he stares up at you, chest heaving up and down as you sit on his back, looking down at him teasingly. The sun shines on your face, a sheen of sweat covering your forehead as you bring out your hand to help him back up.

Your lips are moving, slightly chapped from your heavy breathing, but he’s not listening- absorbed in the way your lashes flutter and how your cheeks are a bit rosy from sparring.

“…Castellan?” You ask confused, waving your hand in front of his face as you try to bring him back to earth.

He blinks once, twice, before shaking his head, “Huh?”

“The kids… they’re waiting to be instructed, they paired up already.” You say, gesturing to the campers surrounding you.

He nods and chuckles awkwardly as he turns to everyone, instructing what to do and circles each pair, correcting stances and giving advice. You watch on the sideline, enjoying the way his brows furrow in focus and how his arms look when he slightly flexes (which you suspect he might’ve caught on to.), warmth blossoming across your chest as he happily high fives one of the younger boys.

Luke makes his way back to you, like he always does, picking out a stray pine needle from your hair as you put away your sword. You turn and help him unbuckle the shoulders of his armor, smiling at him as you switch to the other.

His heartbeat quickens as he continues to watch you fiddling with the buckle, fighting the consuming urge to kiss you, instead settling for placing his hand casually on your hip. He doesn’t miss the way your eyes flicker to his, your lips twitching into a small smile at the intimacy.

You take off his helmet, ruffling his hair and pulling sections out to fluff it out, “I don’t know if we can save the helmet hair today, Castellan.”

He laughs and pulls you in to roughly ruffle your hair, “Guess you’ll have to have it with me then.”

track xii. imperfect for you

and usually, I’m fucked up, anxious, too much but I’ll love you like you need me to imperfect for you

Luke wasn’t the same after his quest.

It was evident the second he came back, barely speaking to anyone, sparring with more aggression, and sleeping in more as the days go by. The stinging scar on his face was a painful, physical reminder of his failure- the pitiful gazes that would follow him humiliated him even further.

You, however, remained the same as ever. A constant in Luke’s life, always lingering and always ahead to encourage him to do better.

“I brought you food, they let me borrow the kitchen and make strawberry tarts.” You gently sit the plate on the small stool that Luke used as a bedside table, sitting next to his laying body, his back facing away from you.

He doesn’t respond, attempting to continue pretending to be asleep. You roll your eyes and lightly shake his shoulder, squeezing him softly as if to reassure him. With no response, you sigh and leave the cabin, uttering a small “love you.” As you close the door.

Anyone at camp could tell you how moody Luke was after he got back, flipping from being his normal self to being distant, snippy and irritable. It was hard to be able to go back to how it was before, not without the guilt of failing his quest hovering over him.

You still stand by his side, holding out your hand to delicately hold his as you tell him it’s okay, that you’re there for him.

He hasn’t been kind to you either- trying his best to push you away whether it’s through ignoring you or snapping at you like he does with the other campers. Despite his behavior, you stick by him, uttering words of reassurance as he cries into your shoulder, arms wrapped around your middle as you stand next to where he sits on the log. You play with his curls, massaging his scalp as you calm him down.

“I’m sorry I-" Luke stutters as he inhales several times, struggling to breathe through his tears, “I’m sorry I can’t figure myself out. I don’t mean to-.”

You take his chin and lift his head to face you, wiping away his tears as you look into his eyes. He takes in more sharp, jagged breaths, blinking away the rest of his tears as you rub your thumbs along his jaw.

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m not going anywhere, I have patience.” You giggle as you kiss him on the forehead. “You could never hurt me, Luke."

Luke hiccups as you ghost your hand over his scar, clutching your shirt as you rest your forehead against his.

track x. we can't be friends (wait for your love)

cause' I don't wanna argue, but I don't wanna bite my tongue, yeah I think I'd rather die

The gravel crunches behind you, but you don't turn to look to see who it is. There's only one other person that would know where you were.

Luke sits by you, resting his elbows on his knees as he looks at you avoid his gaze.

Your eyes are glued onto the lake, knowing that if you look at Luke you won't be able to stand your ground. You should've attacked him for even coming back to camp, for having the audacity to even show his face at your spot.

The moonlight illuminates the water beautifully, the reflections of light giving a starry glow. You turn to the right to see Luke, eyes as adoring as you've known them. His scar catches the light perfectly, softly highlighted on the tip of his cheekbone. Luke gives you a soft smile, eyes flickering down to your lips before looking at you again.

"I had to do it for us. Kronos has a vision- a golden age where we won't need to be controlled by our parents. We'd be free from our parents." Luke talks eagerly, leaning in and eyes begging for you to hear him out.

You shake your head firmly, getting up while waving your hands in the air in dismissal, "Kronos, doesn't care about us Luke, we shouldn't need some golden age to be happy."

"Helping Kronos gives us immunity- we'll be protected, safe, together."

"I don't want immunity or a new age, Luke. No one is going to be protected, especially not by Kronos."

Luke gets up to grab your wrist, turning you to face him, and you curse yourself for the familiar warmth in your chest spreading at the sight of his eyes. He knows there's no convincing you about the morals- he knew a loss when he saw one.

He pleads softly, voice breaking as he holds your waist. "I'm leaving tomorrow. Come with me, please." His fingers clutch at your shirt, reminding you of the night you comforted him after his quest.

You shake your head in response, tears spilling over as you wrap your arms around his neck, sobbing into his chest. Luke delicately wraps his arms around your waist, hands ghosting underneath your shirt so he could rub your back as you sniffled.

"You know I can't." You wipe your tears away as you look up at him one last time, sinking in every detail. The moles on his face, his kind eyes, the scar that reaches from his cheekbone to jaw, and his lips.

Luke kisses you deeply, grasping your hair and holding you close to him by your waist with the other hand. You cup his face in return, slowly moving your hands to his shoulders as you break the kiss.

He smiles at you again before grabbing his necklace in his pocket and putting it in your hand, closing your fingers over it before taking step back. Subconsciously, you lean towards him, still not ready to say goodbye.

Luke picks up Backbiter, swiftly slashing in front of him to open a portal. He looks back at you once before walking through, leaving you alone at the lake.

track i. intro (end of the world)

if the sun refused to shine baby, would I still be your lover? would you want me there? if the moon went dark tonight and if it all ended tomorow would I be the one on your mind?

Your piercing scream is all Luke can hear as he stabs himself.

There was truly no other option, and you knew that, but it didn't hurt any less as Luke drops to his knees with a fucking smile.

You run towards him, stumbling over your feet as you land next to him, grabbing him as you sobbed, cradling his face and stroking his hair.

Luke can't find himself to be sad, not when you still look so gorgeous, cheeks tearstained and covered in sweat and grime from battle. Even in death- you're the only thing that he sees.

"Don't cry, don't cry." Luke weakly smiles at you as he lifts up his hand to hold your face. "Just smile for me one more time sunshine."

You laugh at him, unsurprised at his ability to remain serious even in the most tragic of moments. Tears spill over and stream down to your neck, but you smile softly at him, nonetheless. Luke closes his eyes and takes his last breath in your arms, engulfed by your warmth.

#Percy Jackson and the Lightning thief #Luke Castellan #Luke Castellan x reader

65 notes · View notes

once-upon-an-animation · 11 months

Text

Some thoughts on Annabeth’s Character Arc

Before I begin, just want to say sorry about not being online much. I’m in a very busy period of my life and haven’t had the mental capacity to address all the responses I’ve gotten on posts and such. Will do that in the future.

That being said, I still enjoy writing, so today, I’m going to write a post sharing my thoughts on Annabeth’s character arc in the original PJO series.

For context, someone posted on Reddit that TTC was their favourite book in the original series because of Annabeth’s absence. The comment resulted in a discussion about why people didn’t like Annabeth’s character. I shared the extremely unpopular opinion that Annabeth’s character peaked in Sea of Monsters for me, and I didn’t really love what was done with her character from TTC onwards. Here’s why:

In general:

• ⁠I feel like her perspective towards Luke lacked a lot of nuance. I’m fine with her not thinking he’s completely evil, but it would have been nice to see her also consider all the harmful things Luke had done before the incident with Silena in TLO. It just felt like her POV was sweeping a lot of those things under the rug even though I know that wasn’t necessarily the intent.

• ⁠The Perachel thing would have been fine if there was an on-page apology. But the fact that there is none and it seemingly took Rachel becoming the Oracle and not being allowed to date Percy for Annabeth to finally stop hating her seems like a missed opportunity to have Annabeth address her pride and the way she acts towards others.

• ⁠On that same note, I have mixed feelings about Annabeth’s overall character arc in PJO. While I feel like her relationships with other characters in the story changed over time, I don’t always feel like she truly changed as a person. I mean, she ended up being right about Luke in the end, so it’s not like she had any major motivation to shift her perspective of the world, change her way of thinking, or work on her personality flaws. Given that her fatal flaw is hubris, I would have loved to see a character arc where her pride gets her in deep trouble and she has to confront it head-on by actively learning humility in different ways. She did that well in the first two books, which is why she peaked for me as a character in SoM, but it feels like TTC lost the rhythm and never picked it back up. I would have liked to see her acknowledge being wrong about the way she treated Rachel, and walking away from the war with a different perspective on Luke other than just “I was right all along”. It would have also been nice to see more people actually call Annabeth out on her BS. Someone other than Percy should have said something to her about her behavior. I feel like Chiron could have done it in a “loving dad who wants the best for you” kind of way. Thalia could have also done it.

Or maybe Annabeth gets a visit from Athena after BoTL, where they talk about the quest, the battle, and the stuff on Daedalus’ laptop, but Athena also expresses disappointment in Annabeth for acting petty and not recognizing Rachel as a useful addition to the quest. Maybe Athena reiterates that she doesn’t approve of Percabeth’s friendship, especially because it seems like Annabeth is letting her feelings cloud her judgement. Annabeth’s arc could have been about learning what true wisdom is. Wisdom and knowledge aren’t the same thing, and wisdom is so much more than just knowing facts and battle plans. Wisdom is about maturity, exercising well-informed judgement, and recognizing the truth about things, including yourself. Humility is a huge aspect of gaining wisdom and I think it could have been a great arc for Annabeth, given her fatal flaw. Her overall arc in HoO could have been a continuation of this, especially with what happens in BoO with Piper in that temple.

• ⁠I don’t really like the way her arc with her dad was resolved. The way the story is written in TTC, it seems to imply that Annabeth was to blame for assuming the worst of her dad/stepmom (which I know was probably not the intent, but it has that vibe). I think there was a better way to acknowledge that Annabeth’s parents do in fact care about her, but didn’t do the best job of showing it when she really needed it and made her feel like she needed to run away.

• ⁠There are tiny things that Rick adds into the way he writes Annabeth that make Annabeth seem kind of inconsiderate, like all the little moments of aggression , the fact that she keeps teasing Percy about Rachel even after everyone else has moved on, or in Crown of Ptolemy where Percy said that he “has a healthy fear of Annabeth because she’s kicked his butt plenty of times” and doesn’t feel like he’s allowed to disagree with her. I know it’s mostly supposed to be amusing, but it’s a little uncomfortable to read at times. It sucks because Annabeth is obviously supposed to be a kind person and in many ways, she is, but these moments don’t always make her look nice.

Whew. Sorry that this was long.

I chalk much of my complaints with Annabeth up to not having much of her POV in the original series. Then again, even if Rick decides to delve deeper into Annabeth’s story in the Disney series, I feel like he’s just generally not that great at writing female characters, so I don’t know how much he’ll be able to improve this. In addition, it feels like Rick has generally been losing sight of his characters and they feel less and less like themselves with every addition to his franchise. I’m genuinely nervous for Chalice of the Gods because I don’t know what he’s going to do with Annabeth’s character and I don’t know how much I trust him, lol.

#PJO #annabeth chase #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #heroes of olympus #rick riordan #pjo hoo toa #HoO #anti PJO #anti annabeth chase #anti percabeth

222 notes · View notes

4ce-of-2pades · 3 months

Note

Hey I'm that anon from the first ask of this : pick one of your favourite mutals and go into detail why you like them/became mutals with them (has to be different from the last mutual you picked)

One of my favorite mutuals is @cupid-shortcake!!! She is SO SO SO AMAZING!!!

I first met them when we both joined the Better Casino AU, and they immediately struck me as a super interesting and funny person! They seemed to click instantly with @cups-and-pentacles, who is also super awesome, and watching them banter with each other and get really excited over things and build EPIC character lore together in the discord chat was energizing! The way they showed such enthusiasm for the things they cared about made me want to do the same thing! They always made me smile. (They still do all of these things. I’m not sure why I used past tense.)

But THEN I also got to build character lore with Cupid!!! We’ve collaborated a lot actually, and it’s always a blast, because she always has such great ideas, and she’s so encouraging of my own ideas, and the excitement builds as stories go bouncing back and forth with increasing speed as details accumulate and solidify and connect! We collaborated on our TADC OCs, for instance, making them siblings and revising their designs and starting to build their lore, and it was so much more fun than just working on my own OC alone. And of course, in the Better Casino AU we’ve figured out that [PLOT SPOILERS REDACTED] because [PLOT SPOILERS REDACTED] which makes a clever parallel to [PLOT SPOILERS REDACTED]. Ooooh, I’m so PROUD of all that lore you’re not allowed to know yet!!! And it was so much more fun to collaborate on it!!!

And also I will always be ETERNALLY GRATEFUL to Cupid for being the first of my friends that I have managed to convince to read The League of Seven! One of my absolute favorite obscure book series!!! It’s not just a favor to me, they seem to be very invested in the plot by now. Muhahahaha I have trapped her. It’s so amazing that I finally have someone to fangirl over these books with! It makes me happier than I can coherently express!!!

OH, and I almost forgot to talk about Cupid’s actual, y’know, ARTWORK! I LOVE Cupid’s art so freaking much!!! The way she draws all her characters just feels friendly somehow. It’s cute without overdoing it, a gently approachable sort of whimsy. It’s spunky without feeling sharp, and is soft while retaining a reliable solidity. The colors are somehow both bright and pastel simultaneously. It is charming and sweet and I love it so much!!! :) It’s the sort of art style where you instinctively smile when you see it, especially when the character is waving right at you and smiling back.

From their amazing art to their sugary pink aesthetic to the enthusiastic and genuine way they interact with their friends and others, Cupid is just a really wonderful person to know and to create stories with! I feel so so lucky that I’ve gotten to become her friend and make art with her!!!

Also I made her some fanart! Teacup as TLOS Archie:

ALSO FUN FACT DID YOU KNOW CUPID IS BRITISH??? 😮

#ask #…#what am I supposed to tag this with?#cddwtd #tlos #I guess

17 notes · View notes

duskwillow · 3 months

Text

Lingering Questions

{a short tlos fic about alex returning to the fairy palace after the events of book six}

⚘═≖≖═˖✾°•∘❀∘•°✾˖═≖≖═⚘

The sight was devastating.

Her heart slowed in time with her gentle steps. Alex had to mindfully place one foot in front of the other as she navigated through the rubble and remains of the Fairy Palace. What was once a gleaming, proud, and bright structure was now gray, crumbled, and desolate. Despite recently coming back to her senses, Alex managed to put on a brave face as she led the members of the Fairy Council back into what was left of their home.

No words were said. The only sounds were the crunching of pebbles underfoot, the gentle buzzing of bees, a soft flow of water, and the crackling of low flames. All they did was walk for now. The planning would soon follow, and then the salvaging. Memories, items...

Lives.

They didn't know how much they could save from the remnants of this destruction.

The first thing Alex thought of once she returned to the Land of Stories was the destroyed Fairy Palace. It was a brief flicker in her mind before she focused on bigger matters. Alex was a leader. Their leader. Even after all that happened, she knew they expected her to get to work immediately.

Just like her grandmother would.

Alex wasn't surprised when she followed a set path through the palace. Once upon a time, she had taken this exact route multiple times daily. She climbed the stairs, adjusting her steps to avoid the chunks and boulders that had fallen and peppered them with dangerous holes. The fairies knew better than to stop her due to the clear hazards presented. They were nothing compared to what Alex had faced in the past. She climbed those steps with aching legs and an aching heart as the parade behind her slowed their procession. Unspoken acknowledgment of her task led them to leave her be. She deserved to be the first to witness what remained of her grandmother.

The double doors that led to her grandmother's office used to feel so imposingly professional. Alex remembered feeling a warmth within her chest whenever she was allowed to enter through them. However, only one door remained standing, and Alex greeted the bottom half of the reared unicorn with a stare. Anyone looking at her face would have said she looked empty, that there was no emotion in her eyes, but that couldn't have been further from the case. She was feeling so many things at once that her face couldn't accurately express it. All she could do was stare.

Pushing herself to move beyond the first hurdle, Alex finally focused on the state of her grandmother's old office. Shattered glass covered the floor and made for dangerous terrain, but Alex took care of that with a wave of her hand. Her powers were still heightened and magic came far too easily. She pushed down that disdain for herself as quickly as possible before it overtook her analytical senses. Alex was there to assess the damage, make plans on how to fix it, and eventually get to work. But as she looked around the single half of her grandmother's office that remained, Alex could feel the heat and tension of tears threatening to spill from her eyes and stain her face.

There was a breeze from the nearby cliffside, as her grandmother's office overlooked the sea, and it plastered Alex's hair to her now wet face. She had to push it back and trap it under her headband just so she could focus. The wind rustled rogue papers and flipped through the wrinkled pages of open books. Smashed potion bottles were left with very little liquid in them, most of their substances having washed away with the rain or elements over time while exposed. From her small glimpse of things, she determined that nothing had been left untouched or intact. Almost as if her office had been one of the primary targets, it was completely and utterly unsalvageable.

Alex had to steady herself, her hands wrapping around her arms in some gesture that should have given her comfort but only made her more ill at ease. If only Conner wasn't off helping the others with his own section of the Land of Stories World Repair tasklist. She could have used her brother there beside her. While he didn't have half the memories she did regarding that office, Alex knew he'd share in her pain. It was more than paper and glass. More than bubbles and breathtaking views. The memories that used to be embedded within the now cracked and crumbled walls would need to be replaced alongside the golden foundations.

Physical devastation was such a small part of it to Alex. What mattered to her were the times when she had smiled and learned within those walls. Where she had felt like she finally belonged. How could they take this from her? Why did her pain have to continue even after these terrible events? It felt like a scar she had to look at in the mirror. It felt like a wound she would always be reminded of no matter how much time passed or how lovely the new Fairy Palace looked.

Would it ever go away? Would that feeling ever truly leave her be?

As she stepped further inside, Alex could feel her conscience answer her questions for her.

No.

Answers came so easily to Alex when she stood before the remnants of the fireplace. Bubbles attempted to manifest as she stood by, their comforting visage struggling to help bring her peace. How many times had her grandmother stared into that fireplace feeling the exact same way she did? Alex had no reason to feel hopeless. They were repairing the Land of Stories at that very moment, and yet her sadness would not leave her be. Had her grandmother ever felt this way? How had she overcome it?

As if the room held the answers to her plight, Alex continued to look around. While only half of it still stood, she searched it desperately for traces of her grandmother. She always had the answers. She always provided support when Alex needed it most. Even if she returned to magic, her grandmother had continued to be there for her.

So where was she now? Was this not prominent enough of a situation to warrant her guidance? What were the qualifications she needed to meet to receive assistance?

Alex would never get over the dissatisfaction of being left without an answer. Even if she could speak with her grandmother once more, Alex would have far too much to say and far too little time to say it. 'Goodbye's and 'I love you's would have to suffice, but she still regretted so many things. She regretted not asking to speak with her grandmother more. She regretted not sending her letter after letter every single chance she got. She regretted all of those times when they were apart. While, logically, Alex couldn't blame herself, she still did. She hated that she had never grasped the possibility of someone leaving her so suddenly. Her father had left her feeling so many regrets simply because his passing was so sudden, but her grandmother had taken more time with it. There was something Alex could have done to make their time together count more.

A scoff left her mouth, the first sound she had made verbally since arriving, at the thought of that. Her grandmother wasn't the type to really reprimand her for things, but something told her that she would have been severely disappointed to hear her granddaughter's thoughts. She would tell her that the memories they had made together counted. She would tell her that she enjoyed every single moment with her, her brother, and her family. Each second had been precious, and Alex knew that.

She would tell Alex that even though the palace was destroyed, and even though the physical remnants of their memories were gone, they would never leave her. Alex would never truly forget about them, even if she continued living without expressing her grief over it. Her grandmother would tell her how proud she was of Alex no matter what she chose to do. She would have faith in her granddaughter. Always and forever.

Even if it was difficult for her to admit it to herself, Alex knew her grandmother was there watching over her. She didn't need her hand to guide her at every hard turn, because she had enough confidence in Alex to know she would do it herself. She was the Fairy Godmother. She had all the tools she needed:

Courage.

Grace.

Kindness.

Heart.

She could do this.

Giving herself one more squeeze, Alex imagined her grandmother embracing her in one of her trademark tight hugs. Alex took a deep breath, wiped away her tears, and lifted her head. She could feel her grandmother's pride in her through those memories. She could remember her love, lessons, and everything she had done to prepare Alex to keep going. Even through the pain and the sadness. The young Fairy Godmother knew those things would be part of her life until she inevitably returned to magic as well. But she could find happiness. Her grandmother had taught her how to find it.

And with that, Alex turned to the doorway. She left the office behind with its shattered bottles, crumbled gold, and broken walls. However, she had salvaged so much from that room of rubble. She had found the glue to repair her resolve. She had gathered the spackle to patch up her confidence. Alex left with her grandmother's answers to her lingering questions, finding herself much more comforted by what remained of her grandmother's office than she had expected. She felt no more worry about the state of the Fairy Palace. Even if the walls were cracked, the floor was fissured, and the pillars had fallen, Alex made her way back to the council with the determination she had lacked upon her arrival. She now knew they had not lost anything truly valuable.

After all...

Memories could never be physically destroyed.

⚘═≖≖═˖✾°•∘❀∘•°✾˖═≖≖═⚘

#the land of stories #tlos #alex bailey #the fairy godmother #the fairy council #short writing #fic writing

15 notes · View notes

pianapplez · 3 months

Note

Hello there 👋👀,

So I just found your blog and had a lot of fun scrolling through all the pjo show crit😂 I couldn't help but notice that one tag you left on a post where you said you had some beef with Annabeth's portrayal in the books 👀 Would you mind elaborating on that if you're comfortable with it🙈? Because I absolutely share that sentiment, but it's sooo veeeery rare that I see other people express anything like it... I've found that trying to be a part of the fandom can be pretty alienating most of the time, if you're not exactly the biggest most devoted Percabeth shipper...😅 And often any criticism leveled at Annabeth just gets you a smack with the "internalized-misogyny" hammer... it's even worse in the tv show now due to... obvious reasons...

Again just if you're comfortable with answering of course🙈 There is a reason I stayed on anon after all...😅😂

Really glad you asked because i finally get to ramble about this heheheh (going forward, know that i skimmed over The Last Olympian to have a clearer sense of what I meant because that's the book where Rick fumbles her character more than the others)

i'm gonna try to make as much sense as possible but short answer would be, she's underdeveloped. Long answer:

She really got on my nerves in the last two books, with the whole Rachel debacle and then the Battle of New York. I can't really remember a single moment in those books where she and Percy aren't bickering or having heated discussions, which really made me question their friendship status. Of course, it's not like friends can't fight and it obviously builds up the (romantic) tension between them, but it got unbearable at one point.

I understand she's a teenager in an incredibly stressful situation that didn't even get to have a normal upbringing- she grew up way too fast (run away at 7, head counselor at 12) while also not really maturing, which is not a problem for a character, if it is handled properly. Given the fact that I am writing this, Riordan did not.

On the surface, my biggest beef is that Annabeth is not exactly held accountable for her actions (ie. treating Rachel a bit like shit and going off on Percy for a bunch of stuff.) I know Percy is to blame a bit here: as far as we know, in TLO he basically cuts the greek world out of his life as much as he can as a coping mechanism. And while yes, he never apologizes either, he doesn't give her nearly half the hard time she gives him: always either giving him the cold shoulder (there must be at least one example of this in the entire series but i cant be bothered to look it up sorry) or starting an argument only to then storm off (see the "you're a coward, Percy Jackson!" scene, which is not the fairest example since she was confronting Percy about ignoring camp but also was a bit too harsh about it) (especially after finally reading the prophecy and being under the impression that he was absolutely going to die when he turned 16 lmao) or just straight up storming off (see, Annabeth reacting when Rachel shows up for the first time during the battle of new york). While most of these feel, at least to some degree, fairly justified given how the entire situation does an absolute number on her emotions, she comes off a bit brattish and like she's trying to rile Percy up, especially when it comes to Rachel, which in the context of a battle that could mean the destruction of the world.... Well, it reads as a bit childish to me, and i wouldn't exactly have that much of a problem with it if it was dealt with in some way (a two-way apology would be nice).

After that first impression, i realized that Annabeth is barely ever anything else other than a plot device (when relating to Luke) or a love interest (when relating to Percy). This might be because the books are on Percy's POV. Hell, on the third book he's even conflicted when Annabeth is considering joining the Hunters of Artemis, aka, when making a choice for herself would mean he loses her (which is fine and dandy but it feels like Percy is more upset about her choosing her own path rather than being sad about not seeing her as often); we really only get a few glimpses of her, as in, actually her when she's on her own.

Obviously it's impossible to talk about Annabeth without touching on percabeth, which also is, in my opinion, what hinders Annabeth's character the most. On paper they sound great. The guy whose fatal flaw is loyalty falls in love with a girl whose been let down by people over and over, and she decides to never give up on the boy whose always had people give up on him (can't find one of the million posts that talks about this right now but it always goes something like that) And yeah, the bickering is really well written! But that's literally as far as it ever goes: they don't ever seem to have fun together, because 8 times out of 10 the bickering ends up being passive aggressive, and mostly done by Annabeth. My biggest gripe about percabeth is that their friendship seems to be based off... shared trauma. Literally. Other than going on quests together we are given no examples of them hanging out, nor a reason why they would want to spend time together in the first place, not even a shared hobby. Yes, in the fourth book they had a movie "date" planned but of course they didn't even get to it, and surprise surprise, they had a minor discussion, and surprise surprise, Annabeth was passive aggressive again. It's hard to picture them having fun together when even the author doesn't write in any scenes in which they get along smoothly (and before you say anything, a scene in which they get along where neither of them is about to die, and they're not talking about previous adventures. Gets a bit hard then, doesn't it?) It's even harder to picture them as a couple when the moment she gets upset about something, she starts coming off as emotionally manipulative (see, again, literally any conversation with Rachel or about Rachel)

To be fair, the books are relatively short and don't allow many "filler" chapters, if you will; there's always something happening to keep the main plot or a minor plot point moving forward, but it's not like there is no room to develop the characters' relationships, especially when we're talking about the main char and what is essentially his endgame. As an example we have Percy and Clarisse, or Percy and Beckendorf. Their interactions are brief but still hold so much weight.

Worst of all, Annabeth could be one hell of a character; what's most interesting of all is how being a daughter of Athena she is still incredibly emotionally driven, which is displayed very clearly with her fatal flaw being pride: her telling the Sphynx that her questions were too easy was not smart nor strategic: it was completely impulsive. I seriously think she wasn't far from being the best character in the series had she been given more time.

I guess i have as much beef with Annabeth as i have with Rick for doing her dirty. I really could sum this up with: while her emotions are justified, she acts upon them quite poorly. And this is what i mean when i say she's underdeveloped, because it would've been nice to see her come to her senses a bit.

Would love to read anyone's opinions on her character though, feel free to comment, even (or especially) if you don't agree with me!

#pjo crit #anti percabeth #annabeth chase #percy jackson #tbotl #pjo tlo #the last olympian #percy jackson and the olympians #congrats anon on being my first ask!!!#sorry if it's too long or rambly i just have so many thoughts about her.#i dont hate her i dont even dislike her im just conflicted about her. sad that half of her conflict was being jealous over a boy #like yeah i guess said boy was the first real friend she ever had but also rick wrote it in a very “girls fighting over boy” kind of way #didn't really write it to make it seem like annabeth's reasons were anything more than just a hormonal teen acting out. there were no layer #sometimes i feel like im being unfair to annabeth and that maybe her being emotional and mean sometimes is her character and #she's actually written well and i just don't like her? but then i think over it and im not ready to give rick that kind of credit lmao #i truly believe he wrote her beef with rachel to entertain middle graders without really thinking twice about it #annabeth adds to the drama with her passive aggressive comments but at what cost.... maybe im reading too much into it idk #maybe i just find boy drama annoying..#but making it so that rachel is bound to maidenhood was such a lazy way to get rid of her as a romantic interest #the way rick butchered her character and any char dev for any of them in the tv show by rushing so many things... god. that's another story #if there are any typos i'll edit them later but my eyes are dry af right now and its late jdsjdfh anyway i hope my takes were interesting?#maybe i don't have that much beef with annabeth herself but the fact that percabeth is seen as the best endgame couple when i don't see it

15 notes · View notes

nicoappreciation · 1 year

Text

thots on tsats

okay this is gonna be very long and extremely rambly and not very planned out ok? ok. spoilers under the cut

FINE. I LIKED IT. WHATEVER. hit me with a car.

obviously there were parts of it that i didn't like. obviously there were moments that i felt were out of character. nevertheless, i had a lot of fucking fun while reading it. i love nico and overall i'd say i'm happy with where the story leaves him. yes, this book's existence is extremely unnecessary. but i appreciate it for what it is.

okay let's get the main things i didn't like out of the way:

nico would NOT know who lil nas x is. also why was the montero music video mentioned in a book for middle schoolers.

i understand the role that nyx is meant to play in the story and the message of it but idk i kinda wish they did her character a bit differently. she really reminded me of white diamond from steven universe i'm so sorry.

speaking of nyx that WHOOOLE weird "our children" thing with nico and the cacodemons. that made me very uncomfortable.

last nyx complaint the final confrontation with her ended pretty anticlimactically. kinda like with gaea, it felt like the way to defeat her was a little too simple. but y'know i haven't really been satisfied by a final battle since tlo so. that's just how it is.

it felt like will was kiiiiinda useless for a lot of it. obviously he was important for the story but i wish they had let him do some more cool stuff besides occasionally shooting some light lasers. i get he's a healer but why didn't he bring a WEAPON??? like at the very least he could have had a bow or a knife. y'know we haven't really had a character who uses a blunt force weapon as their main one besides hedge. i would've liked to see will with just a baseball bat or something LMAO.

kind of an add-on to the last one i think that will was nerfed wayyy too much. it makes sense that the underworld would weaken him, but it sometimes felt like they were stopping every five minutes to let him rest. we've seen before that he's quite strong and athletic, i just feel like he should've had a bit more stamina.

there were a few dialogue moments that sounded like they came from some extremely online gay teenager and not nico and will. "bisexual chaos" haunts me. he would not fucking say that.

NO HAZEL APPEARANCE and NO REYNA MENTION. this is the worst one.

i feel like tartarus should've been more physically dangerous. like they fought some monsters here and there and the terrain was hard to navigate but most of the dangers that they dealt with were more mental/emotional. you could argue that we got the physical danger from percy and annabeth's journey so that's why this one focuses more on the mental danger and i could see why you'd think that. but idk sometimes it felt like it was a little toooo easy y'know.

there were some parts of the backstories and flashbacks that were inconsistent with the previous books, like nico saying he spent weeks at camp half blood when he first arrived when he was actually there for only one. but continuity errors are just par for the course with these books at this point so it honestly doesn't bother me too much. we make our own canon.

i'm not a fan of the name cocoa puffs. i feel like they could've come up with something better.

i'm sure there are more that i'm forgetting, but those are my main gripes. okay now onto the things that i liked!!!!

the book was fun. it was just fun. there were some jokes that i genuinely laughed at and there weren't really any points that felt like a slog to read through. i was pretty consistently entertained the whole time.

WILL AND NICO WERE CUTE OKAY. THEY WERE CUTE. maybe this is just 12-year-old me talking but i sincerely found their relationship very sweet. it's abundantly clear how much they both care about each other and what they're willing to do to protect each other. they mean a lot to me okay.

i want to specifically draw attention to the part where it was revealed that nico gave will his skull ring and now he wears it on a necklace. absolutely devastated me. changed my life. people died. in a good way.

I LOVEDDDD the tension and conflict that will and nico had between them for most of the book. it made their relationship so much more believable to me! they haven't even been together for a year! they're complete opposites! they had very different upbringings! they're in an INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL AND DANGEROUS SITUATION in an environment that is literally designed to dig up their biggest frustrations and insecurities! they're going to clash and have fights and have very different worldviews that they need to work through. that doesn't make them a bad couple like i've seen some people say. tell me you've never had a loved one say something hurtful or ignorant to you. tell me you've never said something hurtful or ignorant to a loved one. you can't! because you have! but if you love each other you talk about it and work through it and try your best to understand each other!!!!!!

adding to the last one i like how the conflict got resolved by will realizing he needs to put in more effort to understand nico and nico realizing he needs to open up more to allow will to understand him. open and honest communication and a willingness to be vulnerable babey!!! if you want to be loved you have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known!!!!!!!

I LOVED. THE DREAM SEQUENCES. they all went so hard. some of them were downright disturbing. good shit.

even if they had some continuity errors, i enjoyed the flashback scenes and the backstories. we got quite a lot more than i thought we would. i was not expecting to see the entirety of nico's first journey through tartarus. it hurt me a lot.

i think it's cute they're making it canon that nico and will knew of each other since pjo. they were in each other's orbit before they even knew it. it actually got me thinking about some of my own relationships. i have a friend i knew back when i was 4 who i completely forgot about for years, only for us to reconnect by chance when we were 12 and be best friends ever since. i have a friend who was a vague acquaintance of mine for years, but then one day we somehow started talking more and now they're one of the closest friends i've ever had. idk. something about meeting someone once at the wrong time and then again at the right one.

nico was very cool. he was also a massive dweeb. he can do both. i love him.

i like the cacodemons as a very literal metaphor for learning to live with your trauma and the "worst" parts of yourself. celeste vibes dare i say. also nico just has a bunch of lil guys following him around now and i think that's neat.

fuck man. i like seeing nico be happy. i like seeing him in a happy relationship with someone he loves and who loves him just as much. i like that he's still learning to let go of his grief and move on. i like that he's hopeful at the end of the book that he can actually find happiness. he's always been one of the most tragic characters in the pjo-verse and it's so nice to see him just being HAPPY.

despite how hard to believe it was i did really like the little dream scene with the whole di angelo family. nico got to talk to bianca and maria one last time, he got to hug his dad, he finally got to rest for a bit. it was very cathartic and i maybe cried.

this book's message was very clearly for young queer kids who don't have everything figured out yet. you're allowed to change. you don't have to always be one thing. your past doesn't define you. you can find love. you can have hope. no matter how badly written you believe the story is, no matter how inconsistent you believe the characterization is, it's hard to deny how important these messages are and how badly some kids need to hear them. if the book has one redeeming quality, it's this.

so. yeah. i liked it. i had a good time. there's more that i could say but i would honestly just end up adding onto this forever. people who don't like the book have plenty of valid reasons to feel that way, even if i may not agree with some of them. at the end of the day, this story and these characters are not real. please be nice to each other and try not to take things too seriously. we're all just a bunch of late teens and young adults reading a book series for middle schoolers, and i think that's beautiful. thank you for reading if you actually made it this far, i know it was a lot. peace and love on planet earth.

#THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT #the sun and the star #tsats #tsats spoilers #the sun and the star spoilers #nico book spoilers #text #my post

42 notes · View notes

aroaceleovaldez · 1 year

Text

one of the issues i’ve had with the series since like mid-HoO is how there suddenly became like, no consequences the characters faced that felt actually lasting or impactful.

Like, the first time i read Blood of Olympus I can’t emphasize enough how genuinely angry I was at the ending. Cause genuinely if you cut off BoO before the final chapter it’s a decently narratively satisfying ending! the fight was lame but it at least felt like there was a weight to it with Leo’s death. And then it’s completely nullified and it ruins the entire thing. And that’s consistent throughout the latter half of HoO and TOA! Because you can feel that they’re constantly trying to hit that same weight the first series had but they can’t quite reach it. At least with Hazel returning from the dead it felt like she genuinely had a struggle to overcome as a price to pay for that. When Percy and Annabeth go through Tartarus, they leave behind two characters that to most people (unless they read Sword of Hades) they’ve only just been introduced to and thus have zero reason to care about, and basically recover immediately with no lasting effects from their journey. Jason gets healed in BoO through the power of friendship and there’s no lasting consequences from it. Leo completely returns from the dead with a magic potion and gets a girlfriend and flies off into the sunset. There was already a happy ending to BoO, it was just a happy ending where you felt like the characters actually went through hardship to get to where they were. Which mirrored TLO nicely! But the weight is wiped away immediately and it feels like Rick didn’t trust his audience to be able to handle that. And that completely ruins TOA in turn because you can feel the over-correction and it makes every time a character dies feel completely cheap and worthless to the narrative. Throughout HoO and TOA we have these repetitive moments where we’re basically just directly told “Oh no! This character died! These whole bunch of characters died! You should feel sad about that!” but with absolutely no narrative weight to back it up. Jason’s death in TOA feels cheap because in HoO every time a major character came close to dying or died they were just magically fine by the end of it, so it feels like there is no good reason for him to stay dead because you know there’s so many excuses in-series for why he could come back. Frank’s fight in TOA feels boring as hell because you know he’ll be magically fine. The only exception to any of that is Nico, who actually got a lasting consequence to him nearly dying multiple times that is addressed multiple times across both HoO and TOA.

Every loss in HoO and TOA feels cheap and empty. The audience has no actual attachment to Bob or Damasen because unless you have context for Bob you literally only meet them halfway through the book and then leave them again. We are just directly told to be sad about it. Bryce Lawrence’s death was a victory, as was Octavian’s. There was never any risk to Jason in HoO. The random assortment of nameless Hunters and campers we’re told who died in HoO just literally do not exist. Leo’s death was impactful until you hit the final chapter of “jk, lol!” Frank was never in any risk in TOA. We knew that every first series character in TOA was going to survive, that was never even a question. Every random death in Camp Jupiter had no weight because they were just random names we had only just been introduced to, with absolutely no character behind them. Even Dakota, who we did have some character to, was still a husk we barely saw and had no attachment to. None of the characters around them have lasting mournful reactions to any of those events. Jason is literally the only character in TOA who’s loss did anything and it feels narratively cheap because it feels like there is no reason for his death or for him to stay dead. And Jason was one of the most underdeveloped protagonists in HoO! He is the only one of the Argo II crew who literally does not have a backstory. It does not exist. I mean, fuck, the final fight in TOA literally features young campers PLAYING and we’re basically told we’re supposed to be treating it with the same weight of the Battle for Manhattan?

And it makes me upset especially looking at upcoming TSATS and Chalice of the Gods because we’re beyond the point of exhaustion! We’re being told there will be consequences but we know the series narratively cannot sustain that anymore because HoO and TOA dropped the ball so thoroughly! There is no reason for us to care! We know whatever new stuff gets thrown at the protagonists will not stick!!! And it sucks because there are routes you could go with new books that would be compelling plots! That would get literally any sliver of actual weight of consequence even if we know what the eventual outcome will be! Where’s Jason’s backstory and giving us literally any reason to care about him and the Roman camp? Where’s something like Clarisse’s quest in TTC where we know she faced horrible things and came back with the same weariness and emotional exhaustion that Percy faced after his quest in the same book? There is space in the series for this! But we keep being given the cheapest, least impactful routes possible! It’s just exhausting at this point!

#pjo #toa #hoo #heroes of olympus #riordanverse #trials of apollo #meta #im in a mood. that mood is me being mad at TOA again #i can talk a lot about how absolutely lacking every loss post- like. MoA is. if people want i will absolutely go into it more #and this is something i think about a lot when writing for my askblog #cause like. it genuinely is not *that* difficult to introduce a character / get the audience attatched / and then kill them off #the difficult part is when you have like 20 mechanics in-universe to excuse them being brought back #and you need to have any sort of justification for why that's not possible #and sometimes that justification is ''this is more narratively satisfying''#but you need to back up every time you do that in a story or else it just feels cheap

47 notes · View notes

spaceagebachelormann · 1 year

Note

psst you should totally write me some connor bailey dating headcanons because im super special and u love me

DATING CONNOR BAILEY

ੈ✩‧₊˚ FANDOM: the land of stories

ੈ✩‧₊˚ FORMAT: headcanons

ੈ✩‧₊˚ WARNINGS: the enchantress returns & a grimm warning spoilers, like a tiny drop of angst if you squint

tlos masterlist || masterlist || navigation

you were probably just like

minding your own business

and this kid comes up to you and starts rambling

you’re like “okay…..”

he finally introduces himself and you become friends!!!!

connor seems like he gravitates toward readers…… so you were probably rlly into reading

okay um anyway!!

you become rlly close with him!! to the point where your inseparable

one day he blurts out he likes you without thinking

you return his feelings!!

okay now that i’m done explaining how you got together i can explain the other fun stuff

you’re also rlly good friends with alex

also his love language is physical touch <33 subconsciously has a hand on you at all times

like youll be sitting down minding your own business and you’ll feel a hand in your hair

don’t push him away he’ll keep doing it to be a bastard 😭😭

probably have that funny kid x bookworm trope

HE THINKS YOURE THE SMARTEST PERSON EVER!!!

you could have -17 IQ and he’d come to you for advice with anything

sleepovers with him are a must

he drools in his sleep. i don’t make the rules

at these beloved sleepovers he says something like “put on a horror movie i won’t be scared”

yeah he’s shaking super hard afterwards

CHARLOTTE LOVES YOU

connor “my mom loves you more than she loves me” bailey

she asks him how you are every day

you get sneak peeks at whatever he’s writing <3

always asks for constructive criticism

you never have any to give (yes he’s that good)

he’s the type of bf to be completely head over heels obsessed with his s/o

like if someone is rude to you in any way whatsoever he will destroy them

he seems like he’d doodle you on his work

like the teacher will be grading it and they glance at the corner and it just has a lil drawing of you and “y/n <3”

also also also he has that “anything for you <3” mindset

he loves you sm

comforting him after alex stays with their grandma in the land of stories

OH AND COMING WITH HIM ON THE TRIP TO GERMANY

talks the whole plane ride

also he falls asleep on your shoulder but pretends he didn’t

100% tells you bad pick up lines

is super proud of himself when you blush or are slightly affected by them

also he’s a terrible flirt

he starts out confident and ends up rambling about how pretty he thinks you are

the one time he flirted successfully you flirted back and it threw him off guard

in the 3rd book during his calls???? calls 😭 with alex using the glass/mirror he tells her all about you

she’s like “that’s nice :)”

she internally DOES NOT CARE but thinks it’s nice to see connor so excited about someone

on weekends you have to drag him out of bed and outside so you can go on walks and eat flowers and stuff

ALSO IF YOU CAN BAKE/COOK HED LOVE YOU FORVER

LOVES YOU ALSO IF YOU CANT COOK

you could give him something so burnt it’s just a black rock and hed eat it like it’s the best shit he’s ever tasted

this ones for you liz <33 because your great at fashion (and he is not) he purposely wears atrocious outfits just so you fix them for him

“did you do this on purpose?” “now why would you think that”

side eyes you without knowing it

it’s actually really funny

you look over and hes unsubtly side eyeing you

doesn’t know he’s doing it until you make eye contact or start laughing

so um he can’t bake but he can cook basic foods

and always brings you something he made a few times a week

overall he’s a jerk but he’s a sweet jerk <33

#mars writing 🧈#the land of stories #tlos #connor bailey #connor bailey x reader #x reader #liz 🌹#mars silly little mutuals <3

22 notes · View notes

happyk44 · 1 year

Text

I love the sweet and thoughtful responses I've gotten on my "the seven but with minor demigods" post and I'm gonna reblog it very soon with a couple people's additions that caught my eye, but I did also want to say (and I just woke up so lmao ignore me if this turns out weird), but TLO set up so many different avenues for what a future series would be like. In fact, just based on what I'm gonna say further, I'd like to argue that the whole PJO series was leading up to the point I'm gonna make.

Underworld vs Olympus.

I have a few original works that are kind of in this mindset of a Pantheon with two separate factions and one faction is belittled by the other because it's dark and people don't like it, whatever, whatever, but from the first book where for whatever reason because I can't quite remember why but they automatically assumed that somehow Hades got the lightning bolt and went there to steal it back, from the Titans curse where Bianca f****** died and Percy realized that Nico was a son of Hades as well as the fact that at some point in the book they realize that Nico and Bianca are not from this time. And then in the battle of the labyrinth where they find pan and pan excludes Niko when he's talking to him and you know the fact that at the end of the other book

(sorry I'm just I've been so tired and I just woke up so this is going to get weird and then I'm going to do some brief editing and send it out and you guys are going to get what you see and maybe I'll make sense later)

But anyway, basically you know remember Percy also said that he didn't want to tell anyone that Nico was a son of Hades because he knew that it would drop unnecessary attention and even then he still looked for him and the next book he still knows that it's better for Nico to go home to his dad and train in the Underworld than it is for him to stay at camp.

An in the book after that, he finds out Nico's whole sad past and why his brain got washed and you have Morpheus who is a child of the underworld who is on the Titan's side and in the Sword of Hades short story you have the exact same thing where Hades's daughter is on the Titan side, or at least she doesn't stop them from trying to escape with the sword, and I think there was also the thing with Hecate, and she's not necessarily a child of the underworld but she does live there.

We also have Ethan who is the son of Nemesis who is the daughter of Nyxx who guess again lives in the Underworld, specifically Tartarus (which is just the underworld's basement, but also used to be an area of punishment not just for Titans but also for really really bad people before the fields of punishment became a thing it used to be Elysium asphidos Tartarus and when you play the Hades game it shows you this exact same thing I don't remember when the fields of punishment came into a thing it might have just been another term for Tartarus? and Rick wrote around that for some reason, I don't really know, but you get my point).

In the Sword of Hades as well you have Persephone stating that outside of Kronos, they have other enemies to protect themselves against, and it's never actually stated what those enemies are or who those enemies are but just based on everything up until that point (plus, you know, my own personal headcanons about Hades relationship with his Olympian family), you kind of get the sense that it's the people living on that mountain that are causing some problems.

And then the end of The last Olympian is great Hades comes into the final battle his Wi-Fi side his sister by his side he's proud of Nico he gets the recognition he deserves from Zeus but it's very fleeting. And it's really weird because based on everything that we know about what has happened between Hades and Zeus whenever I remember that scene I always remember him being the one that pushes Zeus to say a compliment rather than Poseidon and when I rewrote that scene recently for My Underworld Jason fanfic it actually took me a little bit by surprise because I didn't remember it playing out that way.

It actually is kind of another show and tell about how Rick will take the most upsetting traumatizing thing to occur and then very quietly and neatly packaged it up into two sentences and then act like it never happened.

The way that scene should have gone was Zeus very quickly pushing past the fact that out of all the other gods, Hades was the one who is actually on the front lines helping their children fight against the enemy. Percy should have noticed, Hades should have been disgruntled but I think Persephone or the fact that Nico was in the room should have kept him from responding to the very quick blow off of his efforts but Percy should have noticed that there was a difference between the way Zeus treated his older brother versus the way he treated everyone else

Also Nico doesn't receive a gift even though everyone else does despite everything he had done up until that point (literally being the only reason Percy didn't die during the final battle because no one else suggested jumping into the Styx), and despite being the fact that he is the reason his father ended up helping them in the first place and I would have loved in Percy's quest to get them to acknowledge their kids and acknowledge the minor gods point that out. Something in his occasional seaweed brain "I spoke too much without thinking" fashion like "oh also Nico probably should have gotten something too and I think that just goes into blah blah whatever" like just using it as an example of kind of ticking off his uncle a bit more, but again showing the clear divide especially if Zeus sort of hand waves the thing and gives Nico like a sword or something and it's just sort of like a pity gift.

Also be really funny if in that scene where he's pointing out how Nico was overlooked as a side eye to how his father was overlooked if he also kind of alluded to the fact that he knows that it was Zeus's fault that Maria died and Nico and Bianca ended up in the Lotus casino and that it was technically Zeus's fault that the Oracle was cursed by Hades in the first place (because if he didn't try to kill Hades' kids, Hades wouldn't have been so angry about the prophecy).

And then that unspoken tension would have been a really nice way to segue into a sequel series.

Anyway okay I'm still really tired but I have to get ready for work so I'm just going to, like ,make sure these paragraphs are broken up properly and that there are punctuation marks so that it's not just a rambling blah blah blah and I will maybe write a better version of this after work. Or during lunch, idk.

#happy talks pjo #nico di angelo #hades (pjo)#percy jackson

41 notes · View notes

freddie-77-ao3 · 4 months

Note

hi!! is your fic where annabeth joins Kronos army posted?? i'm dying to read it

... honestly I did not expect any interest in it whatsoever-- so, tbh, it is. barely started. like, this is my outline rn:

Series name: Is It Blasphemy To Say I Still Love You? (As Long As You Remember Me)

Book one: My Grand Plan (Is That I Will Be REMEMBERED)

3 chapter fic in TLT based on annabeth joining luke

Chapter 1: luke trying to convince her- hesitant at first– she loves camp, it’s her home, doesn’t want to leave thalia behind

Chapter 2: Annabeth agreeing/leaving

Chapter 3: percy/camp finding out– percy ims her– hear it pick up and fade to black.

Book two: It’s Better To Burn Out Than Fade Away

SOM

Every other chapter is SOM w/o Annabeth

Evens are what Annabeth is doing as part of the titan army

Book three: Burn Our Skin, Forget Our Mothers, (Tell Ourselves We Don’t Know Each Other)

Every other chapter is TTC w/o Annabeth

Evens are what Annabeth is doing as part of the titan army

Annabeth still holds up the sky– still is what gets Percy to come

Book four: Pride Is The Truth And The Dare (and baby i'm falling in love with you)

Every other chapter is BoTL w/o Annabeth

Evens are what Annabeth is doing as part of the titan army

Annabeth meets up and joins the quest with them

Book five: Thousands Of Lifetimes (And Still, I Love You So)

Annabeth finally rejoins camp– deals with trust issues

TLO

Book Six: Coming Home (Maybe I Don’t Want To Be Remembered)

Aftermath of TLO

So, as you can see, there is work to be done. The first chapter will probably be posted mid feb if you're still interested?

#annabeth chase #my fanfiction #Blasphemy/Remember #My Grand Plan

2 notes · View notes

bookishjules · 8 months

Note

Now what about your rankings for PJO? My order would be TLO, TLT, TBL, TTC, SOM (5,1,4,3,2)

ahh i love this okay so mine is actually

the last olympian

battle of the labyrinth

the lightning thief

the titan's curse

sea of monsters

which is so close to your ranking!! honestly it's saying something about the strength of tlo as a finale that it's always been above botl for me, considering botl is the designated annabeth book of the series hehe. like, my ranking ttc so low has a lot to do with the fact that she isn't there for the majority of it (this is more observation and pattern recognition than conscious choice btw i just.. annabeth yk?).. so you would think that would imply botl would be my favorite lol

i do feel bad for som being so low, but something has to sit at the bottom.. maybe i have something against second books idk bc my least favorite in the mortal instruments is the second book too, and if hoo had ended with the strength that pjo did.. son probably would have slid to the bottom of that ranking. idk that's really interesting actually.

#asks #anon <3 #pjo

2 notes · View notes

seavoice · 2 years

Note

tbh i need the director’s commentary of that particular Apollo-Will scene where they talk about Hal’s diary in BBTTS because YEAH but any scene is fine. gimme the director’s commentary of your fave Apollo-ish glory💃💃

HIIII! Yessss, Build It Bigger Than The Sun. Thank you for asking about this scene, it includes one of my most favourite and underutilized backstories in the RRverse: Halcyon Green’s.

Honestly, I debated a lot about what to do with the diary–if I had to include it at all, how would it come into Apollo’s hands, who should it be passed onto finally (I thought of having it stay with Apollo in Olympus as a reminder, or perhaps Thalia, or Annabeth, even Percy before ultimately settling on Will), what would be the logical emotional fallout from reading it, what could be done to honor Hal’s memory.

In the end the solutions to the first two questions seemed pretty straightforward – Hal’s punishment mirrors Apollo’s punishment in a strikingly parallel way. Both punished by their fathers for revealing visions/a prophecy (in part), both by being made less. In a story about fathers and sons it seemed just fitting to call back to it. BIBTTS was a way to reconcile the thesis of PJO with the thesis of TOA, and try to offer some sort of payoff for the conflict building from book one: the gods being the most awful parents. Hestia tells Percy and Nico about Luke in TLO, and is the keeper of the hearth of the family. Luke makes his promise to be a family in that very diary and meeting Hal was his first major turning point in what would be a month or so of so many quick turning points (rip Luke’s mental health). It made sense for her to have it.

Having WILL end up with it however…that was something I really had to think over. If it made sense for him to even read it, if it would unnecessarily cause irreconcilable conflict between Apollo and him (how would he come back from that you know?) but ultimately I thought it had to end up with him. For Apollo as much as for him, but also in a way, for Hal.

After their conversation in chapter 2 where Will goes “Sometimes I have trouble not feeling shame about what YOU’VE done” (paraphrase), it's clear that Apollo’s history is something he really grapples with. Even in canon, he keeps books about his father for newbies. He clearly takes his position as a counsellor–a representative, basically–quite seriously. Apollo giving him this diary was a way to come clean, and also allowing Will the space to choose to forgive his father. A choice Apollo doesn’t truly get to make for himself on Olympus when he meets (uh, for lack of a better term) Zeus. He puts the ball in Will’s court, even if it costs him his son, because Truth is important to him.

It’s important for the memory of Hal too. With Percy, or Annabeth or Thalia, it would mean more about that last page–about Luke. Will is just another demigod in the war, but he is also Hal’s brother; he lost his elder siblings to the war started by the boy who Hal made his final prediction about. Will will share the story of Hal with his siblings, and they can mourn together. It’s a cautionary tale–it’s a promise from their father to be better than he was.

“You read the diary?” Apollo asks Will, who hasn’t moved an inch or breathed a word.

Will exhales, slow and deliberate. “Yeah. I did.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Will looks at the ground for the longest time. Apollo waits. Will screws laughs, a little breathlessly. “Well, it’s not—it’s not okay. Not really. I just don’t get why—”

“I know,” Apollo says. “There is nothing in my actions that makes sense. I…am so incredibly sorry, Will.”

“It feels like all those other stories,” Will says. He sounds a little weepy. “About Cassandra, and Niobe and all those other horrible stories…and I thought I could compartmentalize it as ancient history, as mythology. But I knew Luke Castellan. I know Thalia and Annabeth. It was now. ” Will doesn’t look up. After a long beat, he amends: “I guess…not now now. You said you’re trying.”

“I understand if that’s not enough. I won’t make it up to Hal, ever. It doesn’t have to be enough for you.”

Will doesn’t say anything for a while. He looks split. “The thing is,” he says, “I think we’ll be okay. I don't know how to feel about it yet, but we will be okay. I just—-need a minute. To process it all.”

“I’ll be there,” Apollo says. “If you need me, want me. I will.”

“I do,” Will says. “I don’t know if it makes me selfish, ignoring everything…but I really want a Dad, you know? And I want things between us to be okay.”

And how can Apollo refuse an offer like that? He holds out an arm and Will nods, still teary, before accepting the hug and settling into his side.

The scene AFTER Will reads it now…that was a gamble I’ll admit. How would someone react to that? How should someone react to that–honorably–which is what Will is concerned with? Will is mad at Apollo, and he wants to hold him accountable for Hal’s sake, the demigods’ sake…but in the end, it has been a long time since all that. Will has been sacrificial, selfless for the sake of his younger siblings, a parent-stand in, he’s grown up too soon. His dad, who he loves, who loves him, who has tried in a way no one else has, is here. And even if he feels a twisted grief and guilt about forgiving Apollo too easily, in the end it is his one chance to be selfish. To be a kid. To not protect, but be protected. He takes that leap of faith.

Logically, the Hal plotline could have been earlier in the story– that would have given more narrative space to Will to digest it. But in the end, I decided it worked better towards the end of the story. Apollo’s whole shtick has been about earning the capacity for growth–there may still be more to atone for in his immortal life. It’s not a linear journey. It will be hard, but it can be worth it if you have good intentions like he did here. It’s a process which has no clear end.

Also, it was an unexpected kindness for Apollo. He’s just had the most horrible, triggering encounter with his father, and had to forgive him despite it all (with some power in the situation, but still bittersweet). So to receive forgiveness in return…it soothes a balm. After having ended one terrible cycle of vengeance, it means a lot to him to have some other better type of cycle for him to be a part of.

Quite simply, in the three lessons he had to learn it was the final one–to remember what it means to be a mortal, to be a god, and to be a parent.

#thank you this was a lot of fun!!#apollo #will solace #luke castellan #halcyon green #trials of apollo #pjo #percy jackson #toa #director's commentary #build it bigger than the sun #bibtts #asks #thesungod

16 notes · View notes

once-upon-an-animation · 1 year

Text

A rant about Reyna’s love life situation in ToA…

So I just read the Tyrant’s Tomb and uhhh…I see why people have such mixed feelings about what happened with Reyna. Here are my thoughts (w/ spoilers of course).

- First of all, that whole Lester/Reyna pseudo love story thing was so…weird? Like, I understood the point of getting Reyna to reflect on dating, but like, did she really need a bizarre romantic subplot with Lester to achieve that? The whole incident w/ Venus felt like it only existed solely for the sake of this moment with Reyna, seeing as it was first introduced in this same book, and will likely be forgotten about afterwards. As a result, the whole thing seems so random with no buildup whatsoever. I think there are better ways to introduce Reyna’s interest in taking on celibacy and joining the Hunters than this pile of weirdness with Lester/Apollo.

- Second of all, a lot of Reyna’s dialogue concerning her love life sounded like Rick Riordan just inserting himself into the story, and it was extremely cringey. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it was OOC for Reyna to say these things, but the language choices made it clear that RR was just using the character to voice his own thoughts (I literally cringed when he used the word “ship” unironically in her speech to Lester/Apollo near the end of the book. Nobody talks like this.) We have never seen any of the kids at New Rome actually mention Reyna’s love life in any of the books as far as I remember (let me know if I’m wrong). So this problem she has with other people “shipping” her doesn’t seem real in-universe and feels like it’s being brought up to address the fandom specifically and sort of…scold(?) them for shipping Reyna with other characters.

In addition, I don’t like it when authors use their characters as a disguise for their own thoughts. It ruins the integrity of the character and the story. If you have something to say to the fandom, just say it instead of hiding behind your character.

- Third, I find the line where Reyna says “Why do healthy friendships have to progress into romance” (or something like that) in response to Lester/Apollo asking her if she’s dating Thalia to be really hypocritical. Romance is a very major theme in RR’s books and he has a knack for pairing up as many characters as possible, even characters who don’t really need to be a relationship/whose romances could have worked just as well as a friendship. This line Reyna says about not every friendship needing to be a romance could apply to almost every couple in this franchise.

I give Percabeth, Frazel, SilenaxBeckendorf, and EmmiexJo a pass, because romance genuinely complements their stories, but as far as other ships goes, I actually think their romances were unnecessary/poorly executed/could’ve worked just as well as a friendship. ChrisxClarisse definitely didn’t need to be a thing; Clarisse doesn’t even give off romance vibes anyway and Chris stops existing after TLO. Grover and Juniper are cute, but nothing would change if their relationship didn’t exist. Jasper/Jiper might have genuinely been better as friends. Caleo ABSOLUTELY didn’t need to happen; I personally believe romance was NOT the best resolution for Leo’s arc. I give props to Nico and Will for being the first gay ship, but again, RR should not be using romance as a bandaid for emotional conflicts. Nico should learn to maintain healthy friendships first before jumping into romance. TysonxElla did not need to happen for any reason at all. A lot of the hinted pairings in The Hidden Oracle (Miranda & Sherman, Chiara x Damien, Valentina x Paolo) didn’t need to exist either. These are all side characters whose romances have little to no impact, and who would lose nothing if they were all just friends. Same for Lavinia x Poison Oak.

As you can see, RR loves to pair people up together. And most of these pairings are straight/straight-passing. But Reyna maybe liking girls is where he finally draws the line, and decides that romance doesn’t need to happen all the time? Seriously? Like don’t get me wrong, it’s cool to finally have a character in this franchise who chooses to be happily single, and I know that Thalia has not expressed any interest in women (neither has Reyna, tbh), but like…still. RR has been gung-ho about romance everywhere else, even with characters where it literally didn’t matter. Why did he draw the line here?

All of this also makes me wonder if Piper/Shel became a thing just to placate disappointed fans who wanted to see a major character in a wlw relationship. I remember RR’s tweet where he was like “I didn’t want to make Reyna like girls because it would seem like girls only like girls if things don’t work out with boys”. This is a nice sentiment, but it becomes questionable when you realize that what he tried to avoid with Reyna is basically what he did with Piper? And to make matters worse, Shel is such a non-character. She exists for a few pages at the very end of the final series, has no canon personality or physical appearance (as far as I remember), and she’s so unimportant, she doesn’t even have a last name! Her only purpose in the story is to show us that Piper likes girls, which is so lame! Why not give a wlw between two fully fleshed out characters instead of this last-minute romance between a major character and a character who’s just a device?

- Lastly, I’m really tired of RR shoving the female characters that he doesn’t want to pair up into vows of celibacy (Rachel, Thalia, and now Reyna). In fact, this happens with the male characters too, where they are either dating (Percy, Grover, Tyson, Leo, Nico, Will, Frank, Jason) or they’re dead (Luke, Octavian, Jason).

Reyna was so close to being the first major character who didn’t fall into this pattern and then it was ruined. There are many options that people can have for their love lives beyond dating or mandatory celibacy, Richard Riordan, and these options are not that hard to write/explore even in a book aimed at preteens. The characters could easily say that they’re not interested in romance at the moment and may become interested at a later point, that they’re interested but are waiting for a person that they truly want to date, that they’re working on friendships right now, that they’re focused on other things right now, etc. Not everyone needs to be paired up, but not everyone needs to take on a vow of celibacy either. Characters are allowed to just be single, no explanations given. There are so many things Reyna could do besides being a Hunter. She could go to school, travel the world, do something similar to Emmie and Jo where she creates a safe haven for others, maybe even a safe haven for abused girls such as a herself. Becoming a Hunter is not the only option here.

Sorry for the length of this rant, and sorry if this post sounds hyper-critical of Rick. I’m just not impressed with the way Reyna’s love life was handled, and how she explained it using dialogue that was essentially just Rick Riordan talking. Very weird.

#trials of apollo #reyna ramirez arellano #rick riordan #rr crit #anti rr #lester papadopoulos #apollo #toa #pjo hoo toa

91 notes · View notes