#Chris Knowles

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sebastian Murdock at HuffPost:

Internal company emails and a deposition obtained by HuffPost reveal how the right-wing network Newsmax dismissed accurate reports that a mass shooter was a white supremacist and shared an image of a man they incorrectly identified as the killer. Texas man Mauricio Garcia, 37, filed a libel lawsuit against Newsmax and other media organizations in March after an image of him was used in their coverage of a May 6, 2023, mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, that depicted him as the shooter. The real gunman was a 33-year-old white supremacist who shared the same first and last name as Garcia. The gunman killed eight people and wounded seven others before he was killed in a shootout with police. But it was the innocent Garcia’s image that was used to depict a neo-Nazi killer.

“This was a pretty obvious unforced error,” Newsmax News Director Chris Wallace wrote in an email after it became clear the network had connected an innocent man to a mass shooting, according to court records. Garcia is being represented by Houston attorney Mark Bankston of Farrar & Ball. Bankston previously represented the parents of a child who died in a 2012 school shooting who won a $45 million judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for lies he spread about it. Entertainment blog Hollywood Unlocked and TelevisaUnivision (the parent company of Spanish-language broadcaster Univision) are also listed as defendants. Fox News was previously listed as a defendant but was dropped from the lawsuit in June. News site Today News Africa and far-right commentators Tim Pool and Steven Crowder settled with Garcia, Bankston told HuffPost. Andrew Brown, the chief operating officer at Newsmax, gave a deposition as part of the lawsuit on Aug. 20. During it, Brown routinely acknowledged that Newsmax staff failed its internal journalistic practices when reporting on the shooting. [...] Two days after the shooting, on May 8, media reports began to trickle in about the shooter’s ties to the neo-Nazi movement, including his tattoos of a swastika and the SS lightning bolt of Hitler’s paramilitary forces. The shooter also had a Russian social media account “rife with hate-filled rants against women and Black people,” The New York Times reported. And Aric Toler, a former researcher at the open-source research outlet Bellingcat, independently verified the killer’s social media website and posted details on X, formerly Twitter. Following the new details from Toler, prominent right-wing voices — including that of billionaire and X owner Elon Musk — floated conspiracies denying the shooter’s neo-Nazi background. [...] Later that night, on Newsmax’s ”Greg Kelly Reports,” the host questioned the shooter’s white supremacist background. Kelly was wrong, as authorities would later clarify. Even worse, Kelly aired a photo of the wrong Garcia while making his incorrect point. “We didn’t know anything for a good long time, like a day and a half went by, no information whatsoever, until they told us this guy did it, Mauricio Garcia,” Kelly said on his show. Next to Kelly was a mugshot of the innocent Garcia with a large graphic titled “‘White’ Supremacy?” underneath the image. Below that, a title for the segment read “Here We Go Again With ‘White Supremacy.’” [...]

‘I Told Them Not To Run It’

Backlash to the Kelly segment was swift. Publications including Forbes, Mediaite and The Daily Beast all wrote stories pointing out that Kelly had shown a photo of the wrong man. And The Associated Press released a fact-check about the wrong image, but did not mention Newsmax. Kelly had also — along with Knowles, the vice president of programming at Newsmax — questioned whether the shooting had been motivated by white supremacy. On May 9, authorities made clear the shooter had a history of racial hatred. “We do know that he had neo-Nazi ideation. He had patches. He had tattoos. Even his signature verified that,” Hank Sibley, North Texas regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a press conference a day after Kelly’s segment. As the reports came in, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy forwarded executives an email that a Daily Beast reporter sent asking about the error. “[Newsmax Vice President] Elliot, let’s follow up on this right away he needs to if he did do the wrong photo,” Ruddy said of Kelly. “He needs to say that ... Their team needs to be very careful on this obviously ... I’ll speak to bill about some simple thing to get back once you confirm, they did make the wrong photo.”

HuffPost obtained emails from right-wing propaganda outlet Newsmax on how wrong they got their coverage on the white supremacist Allen mall shooter, with host Greg Kelly running a segment on his Greg Kelly Reports program criticizing reports about shooter’s affiliations with white supremacists (which were indeed confirmed).

Any reputable news outlet would have terminated Kelly at that point (or several before then).

[sofiaswaves]

shakersss.mov | dir. Solange Knowles (2025)

[pain-is-too-tired]

Will not telling others his birthday after BoM cause all he can think about is when he use to celebrate with a full cabin of siblings.

Austin and Kayla usually plan stuff, but Will always makes excuses.

First year Nico's there Austin and Kayla drag him into it. Nico ends up giving him something small, but it means the world to Will.

It still takes Austin, Kayla, Nico and Clarisse and Chris to make him take a break for the day and celebrate his birthday.

Also, making his birthday May 2nd in my head. 10% due to tsats 90% do to its my bday and I get to project it on my blorbo.

Heck. Michael and Will share bday now. I can't be stopped.

[theworldisyonces]

Beyoncé met with and took pictures backstage at the iHeartRadio awards with celebrities like, Jennifer Hudson, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Neicy Nash & her wife Jessica Betts , Katy Perry, Meghan Trainer, and Chris Olsen. She was there to receive the Innovator award. (4/1/24)

[thetimetraveler24]

It’s come to my attention that Keep Your Face Always Towards the Sun has reached over 200k words. Which I was not aware was a lot until I looked up how many pages in a book that was.

It’s 800.

So. That’s a lot. Uh, I’ve got the next chapter written, but I’m still working on the one after that. Otherwise I’d say, let me just update this and have a whole to do about it in the end notes.

Guys, I feel like I need to do something to celebrate this. And thank everyone for reading 200k words of my writing. So, what do y’all think I should do?

[t0p-1-sidecharacter--fan]

I love the Hermes Cabin so much 🥰❤ (also the Area Cabin and Apollo Cabin)

[thatgurlbey]

After party for Jay Z’s concert in London 11.27.06

[tsarisfanfiction]

Truth Comes Out of His Well (Chapter 23)

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Lee Fletcher, Kronos, Apollo, Apollo Cabin (and many more) RL has delayed this week’s podfic as well, unfortunately. I’ll update this and the previous affected chapters when they’re out! << Chapter 22

Clarisse recoiled as though she'd been struck, and behind her, Chris put his hand on her shoulder, bracing her. Tris squeezed Lee's hand, and the silence behind him, where Robyn and Kayla had still been fussing over their siblings, was heavy.

"Silena?" Clarisse demanded, and she sounded furious. Lee braced himself for the accusations, because Silena was Clarisse's friend, the two of them had always been close, much to the surprise of most of the camp, who couldn't work out where their friendship came from, the beautiful horse girl and the rough and ready warrior, as different as chalk and cheese. Of course Clarisse wouldn't just accept Silena had betrayed her.

Tris bundled himself more closely against Lee's side, changing his one-handed grip to a two-handed cling, and Lee glanced down at him to see him glaring at Clarisse, daring her to call Lee a liar. The glare of a skinny twelve year old was never going to affect Clarisse, though, and when Lee looked back at her, she was barely giving Tris a glance at all. Her eyes were locked on him.

"If Silena is the spy, what the fuck happened to Beckendorf?" she demanded, and Lee couldn't help the flinch, remembering the flash of a falling scythe, the blood splattering onto his feet, Silena's scream-

"Lee?" Tris asked, his voice small, and oh gods, Tris hadn't been there – thank the gods, because Lee couldn't handle his little brother seeing that – and that meant he didn't know.

A blink and Clarisse was in his face, her spear shoved in Chris' hand behind her. "With me," she said, and when Tris started to protest, she turned a fierce look on him. "Just Lee," she said, and Tris didn't want to let go, but Lee didn't want Tris to hear the rest so he gently extracted his hand, to quiet sobs.

Robyn appeared in his periphery, taking Tris and guiding him away, despite the boy's protests.

Lee didn't fight as Clarisse led him away from the rest, past still-burning vehicles that looked far less dramatic in the daylight, until they were out of earshot and almost out of sight of the other demigods.

"Talk," she ordered.

He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling more tears welling up, and reached blindly for the railings, gripping onto them tightly. He didn't look at Clarisse. He couldn't.

"She lied to Kronos," he said, and it was a battle to keep his voice steady. "Twice. Three times. There was- it was a coach, of monsters. She said she didn't know which reinforcements were going to be targeted."

"That was Beckendorf," Clarisse said, her voice low. "Him and the Stolls."

Lee had suspected as much. He nodded. "Kronos was furious," he said, and he was shaking a little. "She didn't- she thought she'd got away with it. She did it again. Said there would be an ambush. Just your cabin. It wasn't. He didn't like that, either. Reuben wanted Michael dead. He shot him."

"Reuben?"

"Demigod," Lee said. "Never ours. One of the leaders. Don't know where he was deployed."

It was getting harder to breathe. He tightened his grip on the railing, feeling the cool metal biting into his skin.

"Then it was the boat," he said, "but that lie didn't- Kronos had already decided. He told Silena whoever went with Percy- He'd spare them. He lied, and I couldn't-"

"Kronos had Tris by then," Clarisse said, and it wasn't a question. Lee wasn't quite sure how she'd made the connection, but it meant he didn't have to say it, so he didn't question it.

"Yeah," he said, with a sob. "Tris wasn't there, when-" He swallowed. "They took Tris away, before they brought Beckendorf-" his voice broke on the name "-in. He didn't see. Silena did. Kronos-" Lee tried to take another breath but it was getting harder. Clarisse didn't stop him, though, didn't interrupt him with mercies like that's enough, so he pushed on. "He told her. If she lied again- He'd kill everyone."

Silence hung between them, or what could have been silence, if Lee's breathing wasn't so loud, if he wasn't crying.

Then a solid, warm hand rested on his shoulder, grip firm but not squeezing. Supportive, not restraining.

"Stupid, stupid girl," Clarisse snarled. She didn't bring up anything else Lee had said, and Lee was grateful for it, because he didn't want to delve deeper into any of it. "Naïve, to think Kronos wouldn't have ways of making you give her up when you didn't do it willingly." Her hand flexed slightly. "You're a shit liar. Everyone knows that. Luke knew that. Silena should have bloody remembered it would only take the right damn question out of Kronos and he'd have you read like a book."

Lee crumpled. Clarisse was right, he knew she was right, but it still hurt to hear it. Hurt, but also helped a little, because in her own way, she was saying that it wasn't his fault. That he wasn't to blame – that she still trusted him.

The daughter of Ares didn't do hugs, but the grip on his shoulder stayed, and she crouched down in front of him, staying at eye level even when Lee found himself kneeling on the asphalt, trying to remember how to breathe. The touch was grounding, and he focused on it, trying to get his breathing back under a mental count. It was hard, but the war wasn't over yet and Lee forced himself back under control.

He could have the full breakdown later, once Kronos was back in Tartarus and he knew all his siblings were going to survive the war.

"You said I'm needed here," Clarisse said, once his breathing was somewhat even again. "What do you know, Lee?"

He wiped his eyes with his forearm and took a deep breath, looking at her. "About whatever is going on between you and my siblings? Just about nothing. About this battle? Kronos knows your cabin isn't here, and it's no secret that cabin five is our best warriors. He didn't keep me in the loop on everything, but I don't think he's expecting you."

"You need fresh reinforcements," Clarisse summarised. "And you called me, not anyone officially in charge here." She looked around at the carnage. "What do you know of the situation? Why was there a battle here? Olympus is still further in."

Lee forced himself to think back to Silena's last report, the one where every word had been a truth. "One cabin per bridge or tunnel," he said. "The Hermes cabin split across two, and the Hunters are here, too. Pollux is with the Demeter cabin."

Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "Are they trying to hold the whole fucking city? " she demanded. "Who the fuck cares about Manhattan? They don't have the numbers for that. They barely have the numbers to just hold the block around the Empire State Building! What the fuck was Wise Girl thinking?"

Lee shrugged. "That was the report to Kronos," he said. "Tris and I didn't get out until after he left."

Clarisse scowled. "I wondered why Michael was down when he shouldn't have been on the fucking front lines at all," she said. "But he fucking was, wasn't he? Front lines between Kronos and the rest of your cabin."

Lee's mouth twisted into something he couldn't even identify. "Yeah."

"I saw Nathan was down, too," she added. "That's the camp's two best archers – Kayla's not there yet, she's too new, but it won't take her long – out for the rest of the war, and it's only been one fucking night. Kronos came here?"

He nodded. "Baited Percy with the Minotaur, then came himself. Annabeth thinks he-"

"-was hitting the fucking healers," Clarisse interrupted. "Of course he was."

It's what I would've done, if I was him, Lee heard.

"Any fatalities?" she asked, and Lee shook his head.

"Michael and Nathan are the worst," he said. "Everyone else is still fit to keep fighting, if they have to." He hated that it would even be necessary , but Clarisse was right. There would be more fighting, before the war was over.

"You and Tris aren't," she rebuked. "I get you probably haven't looked at yourself in a fucking mirror, but you're dead on your feet. You don't even have weapons, or armour. Or even fucking shoes." She glared at his feet like they'd personally offended her. "You're getting back behind the fucking front line and staying there."

"I-"

"If I have my way," she started, in a tone that said she was going to have her way and no-one was going to be able to stop her, "you're all sitting back. We have archers. I have archers, the other cabins have archers, even if they're not as good as yours. We don't have healers, and if Kronos is-"

She was interrupted by the shimmering of an Iris Message opening up in front of her, and snapped her head towards it.

It was Ellis, one of her brothers.

"What?" she demanded. "And where's Sherman?" Sherman would be in charge without her there, Lee realised. It would make sense for Sherman to call. But Ellis?

"Silena's here," Ellis said, and his voice was strangely hushed, as though he was trying not to be overheard. "She's trying to persuade us to come and fight. Sherman's distracting her – your orders? Are we coming?"

He was looking at his older sister, but Lee didn't miss the glances that came his way.

Clarisse growled. "Don't trust her," she said. "She's the fucking spy."

Ellis' face paled. "Silena is?"

Clarisse set her jaw, and Lee recognised her thinking face, because strategy wasn't limited to the Athena cabin, and Clarisse had a good head for it, too. It was a necessity, in the leader of a war cabin, even if they usually only had to deploy it in Capture the Flag, rather than in real war.

"Go along with her," she said. "Or pretend to. Get your asses to Manhattan. They need reinforcements." She turned to Lee. "Where's the command centre?"

"Last I heard, Plaza Hotel," Lee said. "That's where Annabeth and the rest of my siblings are, at least."

She nodded sharply and turned back to Ellis. "You hear that? I want your asses at Plaza Hotel, or Olympus if that's not friendly territory by the time you arrive. If Silena tries to take you anywhere else, ignore her. Take her down if you have to."

"There's a ceasefire until tonight," Lee added, dredging out the other information he'd heard. "I don't know exactly what constitutes as 'tonight', or where Kronos is in the meantime."

Clarisse nodded again. "Get here before nightfall if you can," she said. "If you can't, be prepared to fight the fuck through; they don't need a pincer, they need a fucking front line. Don't let Silena stop you."

Lee felt bad for Ellis – he was one of the sharper Ares kids, one that could have been mistaken for Athena, by people who thought that intelligence was an Athena trait and never an Ares trait, and that was no doubt why Sherman had chosen him to call Clarisse, but he was young, too, around Will's age. This wasn't the sort of bad news he should be put in the position to carry. Still, he was an Ares kid, too, and the Ares cabin were all good at fighting.

He nodded. "Understood," he said. "Will you be there?"

"I'll be there," Clarisse said, and it sounded as much a threat as a promise. "Sherman stays in charge unless you deem him compromised, in which case give it to Louisa, until you make contact with me. Then command is mine. And one more thing – if she hasn't been told already, don't tell her I'm already here. And don't mention Lee."

Ellis gave her a quick salute, although his eyes flickered over to Lee again, curious and assessing. "Understood," he repeated. "We'll see you there." At a gesture from him, the IM faded away.

Clarisse turned back to Lee, thunder on her face. "She's dragging my cabin into something," she said, and she wasn't happy about it. "What are the chances she's doing it for Kronos?"

Lee wanted to think she wouldn't do that, but…

"If Kronos wanted her to, she would," he said. "After-" he choked. "After Beckendorf, she's cowed. But, she swore she's trying to protect everyone, and that wasn't a lie either."

"So either she's his puppet, or she's finally grown a fucking spine because she's realised Kronos isn't going to spare anyone she asks," Clarisse summarised. "And we have no way of knowing." Her voice was flat, and unimpressed. "Ellis will have everyone on alert."

"Your cabin are strong, and smarter than they get credit for," Lee said. "Silena won't catch them unawares."

"As long as she doesn't use that fucking charmspeak of hers," Clarisse growled. "It won't get everyone, but it might get Sherman."

"Won't get Louisa, though," Lee reminded her, needlessly. "They'll manage."

That got a snort out of her. "Louisa'll punch her in the face if she fucking tries," she said. Lee didn't doubt it for a moment. The girl would probably be searching for an excuse, once she heard Silena was spying for Kronos.

Clarisse pulled herself to her feet, and held out a hand for Lee to take. He clasped it with his own and she pulled him up, bracing him with another hand on his elbow. Lee's wrist appreciated not taking the strain.

"First things first, we're getting the rest of you to Plaza Hotel," she said. "This is too close to the front lines and you need to regroup. Why did you leave Michael and Nathan here when everyone else went?"

Lee gestured at the road carnage behind them. "Don't have any way of transporting them," he said. "It's too far to carry and stealing a car doesn't do anything when the roads are blocked."

Clarisse nodded curtly, accepting the reason and starting to walk back, to where the others were waiting. "What injuries are we talking about?"

"Flesh wounds for Nathan," Lee said. "He's lost an arm and it's not recoverable, but he's stable enough to move; they carried him up here already, on a blanket. Michael's chest got caved in. His lungs aren't punctured anymore but his ribs are still badly broken."

She clicked her tongue, irritated. "The chariot isn't big enough to take everyone at once," she said. "At a push, we could do it in two trips."

"I'm going with Nathan," Robyn said, alerting Lee to the fact they'd got back in earshot. "Tris also goes first."

"I'm going with Lee!" Tris protested.

"No, you're going first," Clarisse dismissed, looking him over. "I'd send Lee first if I thought I could make him."

She could. They both knew she could push him onto the chariot and he wouldn't be able to stop her, not in his current condition, but he appreciated that she was acting as though she couldn't, telling him that she wouldn't.

"Robyn, you, Nathan, and the kids are going with Chris," she decided, and Tris and Kayla both started making loud complaints at the order, until she rounded on them with a glare. "Not negotiable."

"You're not the boss of me!" Kayla snapped back, and before Lee could say anything, she glared at him, too, "and nor are you! Michael is my head counsellor! I'm staying with him!"

"Kayla, we don't have time for this," Robyn told her. "Their injuries mean Michael needs more space than Nathan in the chariot. The longer you argue this, the longer it'll take us to get back with everyone else, and the longer before we can get Michael set up in a proper field hospital, rather than here."

While the girls argued, Lee saw Chris slip around them and carefully pull Nathan into his arms, carrying him over to the chariot and stepping into it, setting the unconscious blond down carefully, where he wouldn't fall out once it started moving.

Seeing no reason to delay, Lee guided Tris over as well. His brother was crying again, clinging to his arms, and Lee wrapped him in a hug. "It won't be long," he said. "We'll follow on as soon as the chariot comes back."

"You should come now and let Kayla go with Michael," Tris pouted, but Lee shook his head.

"It's a big brother thing," he admitted. "Youngest first. I need you safe, Tris, so please?"

"I need you safe, too," Tris protested, but he was wavering. Lee smiled at him weakly.

"I'll be with Clarisse," he said. "I'll be safe." Tris eyed the girl over his shoulder, but even he couldn't argue that Clarisse wasn't as good a protector as Lee could ask for. His shoulders sagged.

"Be quick," he said, and hugged him again.

"We will," Lee said, and glanced up at Chris as Tris reluctantly left him and boarded the chariot. "Look after him."

"I will," the older demigod promised.

Lee walked away slowly, knowing he needed to talk to Chris at some point, but that now wasn't the time. Robyn passed him, jumping into the chariot as well and crouching next to Nathan, while a red-faced and fuming Kayla was deposited none-too-gently by Clarisse, and then grabbed by the back of her armour by Chris.

Lee winced at the sight, but the sooner the kids were away, the better, so he stepped further away, rejoined by Clarisse, as Chris single-handedly grabbed the reins and coaxed the pegasi into the air.

tbc...

[rnbria]

Binder files: 2007

[insidemymessymentalmind]

I swear the writers hated letting characters that have struggled actually be happy. The relationship up and downs between Mickey and Mia are quite something. Mickey of course struggling to open up about what happened with Delaney, finally doing it and then Heaton and Mia having a fling behind Mickey's back. Why? No disrespect to Heaton's actor, but if I had to choose between Heaton and Mickey it'd be Mickey every day of the week despite the obvious flaws. Rewatching it a second time properly it really is something and I really wished Mickey and Mia had been allowed to just be.

Jack's support through the whole plot line and him clearly wanting to see Mickey happy too was really sweet, even if he did overstep a boundary mentioning Mickey's ex fiancee. There are really so many other moments from this plot line I could ramble and make gifs of, but lets be honest, Mickey punching Heaton over the desk is just SUCH a satisfying gif it needed making.

Overall I guess I'm also glad that once it was done it was done. Mia left a few eps later, Heaton refused Mickey's resignation, and he wisely had Mickey keep an eye on Jack during 'The Prodigal Son' and 'Judgement Call' plots.

[1000-celebrities]

100+ PORTRAITS THE MOST POPULAR CELEBRITY IN THE WORLD

[ifreakingloveroyals]

18 April 2017 | Prince William, Duke of Cambridge attends a reception where he meets TV presenter Nick Knowles, runners who feature in the documentary and the production team involved in the filming ahead of the screening of the BBC documentary 'Mind over Marathon' at BBC Radio Theatre in London, England. The screening also launches the BBC season on mental health. (c) Chris Jackson - WPA Pool/Getty Images

[scribe-of-maat]

Ranking EVERY Demigod PJatO Introduced

We know literally nothing about this kid except Percy thinks he's one of the most troublesome Ares kids. Would've been interested to see him actually do anything but since that never happens, at the very bottom of the list he sits.

We know slightly more about Castor than Mark, which is why he's only slightly higher than him. I really think Castor had potential to be interesting; Percy describes him and his brother as pretty capable fighters but we don't even find out this dude's name until AFTER he dies.

Phoebe actually gets characterization - she's pretty tough but a poor judge of character. If she'd actually gotten to go on the joint campers and Hunters quest she'd easily have ranked higher, but she basically disappears from the narrative until it's time for Rick to kill her off, and since we don't care about her, she gets this spot.

I doubt this'll be TOO controversial, but even though Jake seems like a pretty standup guy, he's just SO. BORING. He's Charles Beckendorf's replacement once that mainstay gets hit by the Black Dude Dies First trope but he's just kind of here to be shown up by every other Hephaestus kid who gets introduced. The only particularly interesting thing about him is that he's recently been Dumbledore'd.

This guy only recently got the barest amount of characterization in The Tower of Nero. He seems to be your typical Athena kid, so he's only really here because he still exists in the narrative and could potentially be more interesting in the future now that's he's been Dumbledore'd in The Sun and the Star.

Compared to everyone else so far, we know QUITE a lot about Sherman, surprisingly. He's incredibly rowdy, probably the meanest Ares kid now that Mark and Clarisse are gone and he's got a girlfriend so clearly he's not all bad. But still, the only actual pagetime Sherman's makes him out to be a typical Ares kid, so we'll have to see if there's anything more interesting there.

Pollux is another low-scoring character we know quite a bit about. He feels bad about his brother's death, he's a good fighter and he's got to be pretty capable all around to have survived to adulthood as a demigod (he's 18 in The Last Olympian). But Pollux seems to only exist as a way to humanize Dionysus. There's substance here, but as he hasn't reappeared, and in the canon of the series he's pretty much aged out of godly camping, he'll likely never return to the limelight to get any more love.

Here it is. The nuclear hot take. The Sun and the Star was the death knell for Will's character in my eyes. If Oshiro had opted to make Will the deuteragonist a la Sadie, he'd be much, much higher as we'd have been forced to see things from his perspective for longer than a few paragraphs every chapter and thusly they would have had to actually make him interesting. As it stands, Will has thousands more words dedicated to him than anyone else this low... but it's regarding his relationship, NOT him as a character. 400 pages later and we barely know anything about him other than he likes kissing Nico and enjoys being a living accessory to his boyfriend. He's just not interesting.

Next up is the second of the four named Apollo campers introduced to us in TLO. Austin is pretty interchangeable with the next rank on the list, but we know exactly as much about Austin as we do about Will (you KNOW it's true) but Austin is younger and thusly might actually get to be interesting in a future book if Will ever ages out.

The third named Apollo camper TLO gave us. Kayla outranks Will and Austin because we know exactly as much about each of them but she was the first one to canonize the long-held fanon that gods can obviously have children with mortals of the same sex because duh. I LOVED this development because it blows the doors off of what we know about the world. Imagine having two dads in 1890s Camp Half-Blood? Also she's younger than Will and has a longer time to potentially become interesting in her own right.

What little we see of Katie is - say it with me now - interesting. Extremely so. She's got a rivalry against the Stolls (for a very stupid reason, but hey) and she isn't afraid of voicing her opinions even if it may be the cause of discord. You get the feeling that she's a victim of Rick's laissez-faire attitude toward his canon since she's shown up since Miranda took over the Head Counselorship so who knows what's going on with our girl.

Michael is the fourth Apollo kid introduced in The Last Olympian. Obviously we know he amounts to another Cabin Seven camper offered up on the pyre of Rick wanting there to be stakes. We know very little about Michael canonically. We know he's short, which is kind of cool because that's rarely seen in YA guys his age, we know he's pretty mature, willing to give up his spoils so Clarisse will actually fight in the war with them, and dude is about that life to the end.

Lee quite literally came out of nowhere in The Battle of the Labyrinth, and the guy had so much potential to be an incredibly fun character. He's shown to be courageous enough to lead his own missions and isn't even afraid of dragons, can stand side-by-side with Clarisse of all people and is, obviously, an amazing archer. But of course he's only introduced to be killed off and give BotL some stakes. We may have been robbed, but for a glorious moment we were rich.

Chris is a minor character but is easily one of the most fleshed-out and developed characters in the entire PJatO series, and we barely see him! Doomed to madness by investigating the Labyrinth, he's rescued and eventually becomes Clarisse's beau. There's so much potential for intriguing exploration of this guy but even though he's definitely left godly camping behind there's plenty of depth here.

We're roughly halfway through the list, and here's Luke nearly bringing up the rear. I think Luke's biggest minus in my eyes is that he feels perfunctory as an antagonist. The coolest thing about him is his betrayal of Percy at the end of TLT for the prophecy twist. Luke fails on so many levels for me: he's not menacing, because he never beats Percy in combat when it matters and it's revealed he's actually afraid of Percy. He's not an obstacle to Percabeth because he's a literal adult the entire series and a bunch of people have to die before he learns one of the biggest evildoers in Greek myths is... a bad guy. Backbiter's awesome, though.

If Bianca hadn't been fridged, she could've gone to so many more places as a character. After being parentified since she was Elementary School-aged, her making an incredibly selfish decision for her own sake was sooo delicious. Ultimately, and sadly, she was the prototype for Jason in that her only real lasting impression on the story was the effect her death had on other characters.

Nico's powerful. He's traumatized. But for me, it was his friendship with Percy and his finding his own way as a young, untrained half-blood that was his most interesting point in time. Nico was Percy who turned his back on Camp Half-Blood at a time when it was most crucial to him, and as Nico became more and more open and bonded more and more, his character has been in this sort of weird position, where sometimes the narrative treats him like he's edgy and other times he's got a Damian Wayne coming-out-of-his-shell sort of rapport with whoever he happens to be speaking with at the time.

Silena's biggest downside is that we barely get any time between the reveal that she's a traitor and her death. The whole time she's pretty much a nice Aphrodite kid we know her as and basically nothing else. Still, there's a very interesting story there if we ever get to have it explored. She had to have been tortured on the inside for years. I do dislike how it's implied she was attracted to Luke, though.

One half of the most fun duo in the original series. Connor loses points for me because he acts like his funny bone broke the moment his brother went off to college in the sequel series. If Rick wanted to pass the torch to Alice and Julia he could've been a bit less blatant about it. But still, Connor is a quintessential Hermes kid and oozes personality.

Rick's adherence to a seasonal timetable is easily why Thalia loses out for me. We jump from her being resurrected in the final pages of SoM to her simply being One Of The Gang by the opening of TC. Obviously she gets a whole book to have her character shown off to us, and she's pretty cool, but Thalia's character is frozen as Lieutenant of Artemis for the foreseeable future.

His death hits the hardest in the series. He was a heroic character the entire time who didn't die in the same book he was introduced, and even though he was a victim of Black Dude Dies First AND The Worf Effect, everyone remembers his sacrifice. Plus, if you read the companion books, it's obvious Percy and Beckendorf are much closer than the limited timeframe of the books show. After all, Beckendorf knew about Percy's crush on Annabeth; the ONLY person aside from maybe Grover up until the end of TLO.

Travis is one of the most fully-realized demigods we're introduced to in the series. Like his brother, he's an incredibly capable half-blood, skilled with the gifts his godly parentage imbues him with, a good fighter in his own right, an amazing sense of humor with being the life of the party AND he was no doubt all of that in his personal life on top of being smart enough to get into college.

Wise Girl herself. You may be surprised that she isn't number one or two on this list, but I still like her a lot. Annabeth is a unparalleled in her resourcefulness and ingenuity even if she's one of the least powerful demigods that we follow. She gets to shine so effectively because we can count on her to carve out things for herself rather than needing contrived reasons for someone who can hit harder to get out of her way first.

Percy is an amazing character. Funny, strong, friendly, you couldn't find a better hero than him. We spend so much time in his head, feeling things the way he does, seeing things the he does, you can't dislike this guy. But yeah, he's not my favorite. Honestly, it may be overexposure. As more and more novels, our plot armored, untouchable ultimate good guy shows up more and more often. With there being fewer and fewer places for his character to go, it becomes less and less interesting to see him.

Number Two is Clarisse. I'll never forget being in Middle School and reading The Lightning Thief and seeing that Percy's bully was a girl. As a young teen non-reader, this was mind-blowing. Clarisse was COOL. And my favorite, most unexpected part of The Sea of Monsters was the quest actually being hers. She was such a well-rounded character, even if her choice to let Kronos take over the world over unseen "disrespect" felt INCREDIBLY contrived, I still love her.

My favorite demigod introduced in the PJatO era is Ethan Nakamura. Everything I loved about Chris I adore in Ethan. This guy had so much story to him and is one of the only characters who you could write a book series parallel to Percy's series about and have it be gripping. Ethan's never presented as a serious challenge martially to Percy so he avoids that particular pitfall of Luke, and he's a sharper example of the gods' being uncaring causing their kids to turn against them. He's just another demigod with no grander purpose fighting on the wrong side.

[theworldisyonces]

Beyoncé in custom Schiaparelli, styled by kj moody, for her Grammy’s after party with family and friends (2/5/23). 📸: Mason Poole

[moss-the-irishman]

It had to take Chiron promising that he’d give Ellis a firm talk that the Apollo kids would agree to finally heal him.

“So you’re ok with the fact that he stuck an arrow in my dick?! What if he had hit me in the balls?!”

“I do not pretend that Mr. Yew does not act… rather extreme sometimes, but he takes such subjects seriously, and I believe that you should too, young man.”

i was thinking about that taboo around menstruation and how fucking sick i am of it here u have headcanons of the chb boys actively trying to make it easier for the girls when they're on their period bc lmfao who the fuck is gonna stop me

the apollo cabin always gives free pads and tampons to whoever needs them. no matter the day. no matter the hour

percy recalls sally once told him exercise and movement helps w cramps, so whenever annabeth's on her period and they go to swim in the ocean, he makes calm waves just trying to soothe the pain

when piper's on her period leo makes a cup of infusion tea for her he learnt from his momma

thalia rarely visits camp but jason still keeps a kit of pads and tampons for her in their cabin's bathroom, just in case

will asked lou ellen from the hecate cabin to teach him some herbal infusions for his patients' and sisters' period cramps

he came back w plenty recipes of infusions after spending evenings w her

hazel, being freshly out from the 40's, was horrified when she first got hers

she woke up in a stain of blood on her pajamas and sheets in the middle of the night

nico got woken up by the muffled sound of his sis crying while aggressively cleaning her sheets

"...hazel?" "gods, nico! u scared me!" "why are u crying?"

when he tried to get close she rapidly covered the spot on the sheet w a pillow, and what was going on dawned on him

nico knocked on to the apollo cabin's door at 2am

a sleepy will opens up

"she got hers?" "yeah" "let me get u some"

nico comes back to cabin 13 w a little kit of pads w cute lilac flower design in his hands

he calmly got closer to her, hugged her and kissed her forehead

"i'm so sorry" "you've got nothing to be sorry about"

the next morning annabeth and piper calmly explained everything to her. warm hugs and cheek kisses included

no more disgust, no more discomfort, no more shame

the first time nico finally saw a pack of pads unapologetically just existing on hazel's night stand, he smiled

and left a little chocolate bar on her pillow

percy still bickers w clarisse. a lot

still that never stopped him from lending her a sweater to cover the back of her stained jeans when she needed it

leo knows piper has a irregular cycle so he always carries a bunch of tampons for piper in his bag whenever they go on long quests

"fuck i need a tampon" "got'cha"

grover learned to sew and started to make reusable pads

he made a pair for annabeth w little dagger designs on them

and then left a bunch in the apollo cabin, so there's a lovely bunch of handmade washable pads in the period kit for anyone to claim

bonus

percy often went to the store to get sally pads when he was younger

and also used to sterilize menstrual cups in the kitchen

so when estelle reached puberty boy already knew what to do

[tsarisfanfiction]

Truth Comes Out of His Well (Chapter 22)

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Lee Fletcher, Kronos, Apollo, Apollo Cabin (and many more) RL has delayed this week’s podfic as well, unfortunately. I’ll update this and chapter 21 when they're out! << Chapter 21

The sun was higher in the sky when the first of his siblings pulled back, far enough across that Lee could estimate with a certainty he'd missed that it had been somewhere between half an hour and an hour since they'd all dogpiled him.

Well, that wasn't strictly true. Kayla had floated between the hug and poking at Michael with muted desperation, and Robyn had kept peeling off to check on both their unconscious siblings, but barring those, no-one had released him for a long, long time. Long enough for his latest bout of tears to expire and the evidence dry from his face. Tris' hair was still damp, as was Lee's own, but they were both drying off at a fair speed now that the sun was in the sky and shining down on them.

Sally was the one to brandish a hair tie in his face. "Your hair's long," she said, and always had a supply wrapped around her wrist, so it was with no effort on her part, and no resistance on Lee's, that she tied his long and messy hair back into something that doubtless wasn't neat, but at least stopped hair falling in his eyes inconveniently. With everything else going on, Lee had hardly noticed it, but he certainly noticed the lack when the hair was pulled back, out of the way.

"Thanks," he said warmly, and she stole another hug, worming her way between him and a vaguely disgruntled Tris to get it. Tris seemed determined to stay glued to Lee's side, and while Lee was glad for the constant reminder that his little brother was with him, the fact that he knew it was mostly triggered by trauma hurt.

"I missed you," Sally told him, and Lee gave her an honest smile.

"I missed you, too," he said.

"So what's the plan now?" Robyn asked, squatting down next to Michael with a hand over his broken ribs. Next to her, Kayla once again had one of Michael's hands in a white-knuckled grip, and unlike Lee, she didn't seem to be completely out of tears yet, although they were far less prevalent than they had been earlier. The red rimming her eyes was just as stark, though. "Percy said something about a ceasefire until tonight, but what are we doing in the meantime?"

Lee had missed the ceasefire thing – either Percy hadn't mentioned it, or he hadn't been listening when the son of Poseidon had said it. If it had come out of Kronos' mouth, he'd certainly missed it, far more interested in saving his brother's life instead.

Still, a daytime ceasefire would help them. All of them needed rest – they'd been up all night and had to be exhausted. Will was hopefully already asleep, as long as the rest of the campers weren't overworking him.

If they were, Lee would take great delight in siccing Michael on them the moment his brother was conscious again. Michael didn't need to be uninjured to verbally tear someone apart, and wouldn't wait to be, either.

"Does anyone know where the current headquarters is?" Lee asked, and all eyes went to Joy. After Michael and Will, she held the most seniority, after all.

She shook her head. "There isn't one," she signed, the jerk of her thumb from beneath her chin harsh. "Percy spread us out across Manhattan."

So they had no idea where Will was. Great.

That hadn't been something Lee had considered when he'd let Percy take his younger brother away. They also didn't have transport to go anywhere, not that would take the thirteen of them, including two unconscious bodies that had to be transported with care. All they could do was walk, but without a target to aim for, that wouldn't do them any good.

"Someone call Annabeth," Robyn ordered. "Either she'll know, or whoever's got her phone will know. There's got to be a phone around here somewhere."

They were using cell phones to communicate? Lee had seen Percy with one, but Percy tended to be a law unto himself and could also take care of himself when monsters tracked him down. Then again, he supposed that monsters finding them was probably the least of their worries, especially with Kronos already knowing their movements – oh gods, he hadn't mentioned Silena yet.

He didn't know how.

"I'm on it!" Alice called, scrambling to her feet and running over to the nearest mortal, ransacking their pockets until she pulled out a flip phone. "What's the number, again?"

Robyn rattled it off, and with more ease than Lee usually saw with demigods, Alice punched them in, not even hesitating before finding the call button and holding it up to her ear.

Alice did live in the mortal world for most of the year. Lee supposed she'd had to learn to blend in, even if she didn't own one herself – unless she did, and just didn't bring it to camp. Lee wouldn't be overly surprised, even if the idea of his younger sister carrying around a personal monster beacon terrified him.

The conversation was quick.

"Plaza Hotel," she reported, snapping it shut and stuffing it back in its owner's pocket. "I don't know where that is."

"I do," Sam said, their resident New Yorker. Lee didn't remember whereabouts, exactly, in New York his mom lived, but the paleness of his brother's face probably had something to do with the battle being far too close to her for his comfort. "It's on the south east corner of Central Park."

Ordinarily, that wouldn't be too far to walk, but with Michael and Nathan unconscious, that became a tall order – and with the streets jammed with cars, Lee couldn't conveniently borrow one to transport them.

Maybe Clarisse would have a solution, when she arrived.

"Some of you need to head over there and keep Will company," he said. "Make sure he's not being overworked."

"I have patients here," Robyn said immediately, and Lee nodded at her, expecting nothing else. Joy raised a hand, volunteering herself, and Alice followed suit, quickly followed by Elias and Sally.

Lee turned to Sam. "Can you lead the way?" he asked, and his brother nodded. A glance at Austin and Kayla made it abundantly clear that Kayla was going nowhere without Michael, and Austin was sticking closely to her, so Lee didn't bother trying to persuade them.

"What about the rest of you?" Alice asked.

"Clarisse should be on her way here," Lee said, and immediately the cabin erupted into multiple tirades, none of them complimentary. He raised a hand for silence, and after a few moments, they unwillingly gave it to him, still simmering. "I don't know what, exactly, went down between her and Michael, but Kronos knows the Ares cabin isn't here and they're our best melee fighters. We need them."

"Tell that to Clarisse," Alice muttered darkly. "Stupid bitch."

"I intend to," Lee said. He gave the rest of his siblings a look. "Anyone who thinks they can't be civil when she turns up, go with Sam and the others to the Plaza Hotel. I need a civil conversation with her."

"I'm staying," Tris piped up stubbornly. He still hadn't completely let go of Lee, still clinging to his arm, and Lee hadn't expected anything else. Tris clearly didn't know any more about the latest, massive, Clarisse and Michael argument – one that seemed to have spread to at least most of their cabin, this time – than he did and Lee rather thought it might take a crowbar to separate his littlest brother from his side any time soon.

"I'm not leaving Michael," Kayla said stubbornly, and Robyn repeated the sentiments with both their unconscious brothers. Austin hesitated, looking at Kayla but then at Lee, and clearly he didn't think he could be civil with Clarisse. Lee made a simple gesture for him to join Sam, and with dragging feet, he did.

In the end, most of the cabin went, leaving Lee with his unconscious brothers, Tris, Robyn and Kayla. That lifted a weight off of Lee's shoulders; he loved his siblings, but all of them together was a lot after a year of isolation, and being put back in charge because their new head counsellor was down for the count was a familiar feeling, but also somewhat overwhelming.

Kayla and Robyn mostly kept to their self-appointed charges; Kayla clearly hadn't been at camp long enough to be trained, and wasn't a natural healer, but she was trying her best, checking Michael's pulse and talking to him, while Robyn mostly fussed over Nathan's ragged stump, with occasional visits to Michael's side instead to make sure his healing was going in the right direction.

Lee had tried to flit between the two as well, only for Robyn to tell him if he tried she would sit on him, then moments later change her mind and ordered Tris to sit on him anyway. Tris had, of course, been more than willing, and Lee once again had a lap full of little brother.

"Are you okay?" Tris asked him quietly, resting his head on Lee's shoulder.

Lee hummed lightly, considering his answer. No, he wasn't, not really, but he had several of his siblings back, they were all still alive – even if two of them had been scarily close calls – and they still loved him, despite the secret he'd kept from them for as long as they'd known him.

"It's the right direction," he eventually replied, which probably wasn't the answer Tris was hoping for, but it was an honest answer, and Lee was done lying to his siblings. He was done with lies in general, if he thought about it, and part of him wondered if his siblings were going to start getting more creative with the truth rather than outright lying, now they knew he could catch the latter.

He thought he'd prefer it if they did; he didn't mind teenage white lies, and if they could tell him those without actually lying, that would be much, much better. But that was a problem for later, once the war was over and Kronos back in Tartarus where he certainly deserved to be.

For now, Lee's biggest concern was getting Clarisse on side, and movement in the sky indicated something drawing close.

"Stupid chariot," Robyn muttered under her breath, and Lee remembered reports of a flying chariot being stolen, remembered Michael's indignancy that he'd given Clarisse 'the chariot' – sans expletives – and put the pieces of the puzzle together just in time for the pegasi to glide to a stop in front of him.

Clarisse hadn't brought any of her siblings with her, but despite that she wasn't alone, either. A tall guy, easily Lee's height, stepped out, shuffling sideways and out of Clarisse's way as the daughter of Ares dismounted and stalked straight over to Lee.

He stood up, shuffling Tris away because Tris didn't need to be involved in this particular conversation, and watched her approach.

Much like Silena had been, in that last call he'd witnessed as Kronos' prisoner, Clarisse was dressed for war. Both wore gleaming armour that was well cared-for and wouldn't fail them in the heat of battle, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Silena had been grace and beauty, Clarisse was strength and brawn. Her spear crackled loudly, electricity coursing through it and promising immediate pain in Lee's future if Clarisse so chose.

She wouldn't hurt him, not once she knew it was him. Lee was sincerely hoping they'd get the identity proving out of the way before the violence started.

The boar's head shaped helmet glared at him menacingly, and from the eye slits Clarisse's own brown eyes duplicated the effect. She didn't look impressed at all, a twisted scowl on her face doing nothing to make her look attractive, but attractiveness had never been part of Clarisse's charm. That was in her strength, her personality, the way she fiercely protected anything that she saw as hers.

"Fletcher!" she barked, back to surnames again, and the sharp point of her spear whistled through the air, coming to a halt just under Lee's chin, far enough from his skin that he wouldn't accidentally cut himself on it if he moved, but close enough that she would have his head in an instant if he put a step wrong. "After the Labyrinth, which wound did you tell me would leave the worst scar?"

Lee remembered that clearly, patching up the girl that was more interested in Chris' welfare than her own, spitting and cursing at him as he patched her up, because someone had to, and Will might have been the better healer, but there were secrets at stake, too, and Lee wasn't letting Will carry so much weight on his shoulders. He'd been twelve.

Clarisse had barely cooperated with him, not even when he'd told her that her wounds would scar, and not nicely, if she didn't behave. He'd worn her down in the end, and while there were several scars hidden beneath her armour that he hadn't been able to completely eliminate, the one that he'd thought at the time would be the worst had actually healed up nicely, once he got hold of it. The scar that had actually ended up the worst had been one across her left hip, deep enough to scour bone but thankfully not break it.

But at the time… "Your lower back," he said. "A telekhine caught you from behind." It had been one of the worst wounds, and certainly one of her biggest blood loss contributors, but once she'd finally let Lee at it, he'd managed to reduce the scarring far more significantly than he'd expected, to his relief.

She eyed him for a few more moments, searching his face for what he could only assume would be some sort of falsehood, before the electricity faded from her spear and she tilted her helmet back.

"You didn't die," she said. "What the fuck happened?"

Lee told her, pausing whenever her eyes drifted over to where Kayla was still kneeling beside an unconscious Michael, and more than once trailing off himself as he looked at the boy behind her, one he'd never dared hope would be safe and sane again. Still, despite the interruptions, he got enough of the story out to give Clarisse the footnotes.

She barely blinked at the revelation of his truth sensing, seemingly more incensed with Luke for spilling the knowledge than Lee for hiding it in the first place. Then again, Clarisse had always been a straight-forward girl, with no time for falsehoods. Lee had only very rarely heard her tell a lie.

There was a moment of silence once Lee finished his recap, and at some point Tris' fingers had found Lee's, twisting between them and gripping them tightly. Clarisse studied him intently, her brain clearly digesting the new information and compartmentalising it, before she asked the question his siblings had all missed, either because they hadn't known or because they'd been too scared to ask.

"Kronos had a spy in camp," she said bluntly. "The idiots didn't tell me directly-" she glared at Michael again, and Lee knew it would be a long time before he got this particular feud of theirs detangled, if he ever managed it "-but too many of our plans kept going wrong. Kronos was using you to check their reports."

Behind him, he heard Robyn take a sharp intake of breath, although he didn't dare turn away from Clarisse to check on her.

"He was," Lee admitted, and the weight of it almost forced him to sit, because Kronos had been using him for that, and at some point or other he'd actually got Lee to work for him, in a strained capacity. Silena might have given the information, but Lee was the reason Kronos had been able to retaliate so hard whenever she tried to keep something from him.

"So who was it?" Clarisse demanded, still as blunt as ever. Who do I need to kill echoed into Lee's mind, even though she hadn't said it in so many words.

Lee didn't want to tell her. Saying it out loud felt like a finality, even though he'd been watching Silena betray camp for over a year. He didn't know where she was now, whether she'd finally joined Kronos' forces properly, or was still pretending to fight for the gods, alongside the Aphrodite cabin.

But he couldn't keep it to himself, and Clarisse wouldn't thank him for trying to protect her from the truth, so he met her eyes squarely and cursed his eyes for somehow finding more tears to fall from somewhere.

"Silena," he said. "It's Silena."

Chapter 23>>>