#I'm like way too jaded for my age lol kinda always been like that

[rachymarie]

ngl kinda convinced that deinfluencing is just Influencing: reverse psychology edition

either that or a temporary front/damage control so as to not appear complicit in influencing practices of overconsumption despite being an influencer themselves (lol)

[rosesradio]

I've been having so many thoughts about Lukethan recently omg.... I don't even know who else to send this ask to because I've never seen anyone else really post about the ship, so I'll send it to you. xD Sorry if it's kinda spam mail.

Anyway, nonsensical headcanon time!

So, Ethan was in the Hermes Cabin for a while, right? Annabeth says at some point that she recognizes him as one of the unclaimed kids there.

I was thinking- because both Luke and Ethan clearly wanted to leave camp- they were probably scheming for a while against the gods before either of them had a concrete plan. I can imagine them sneaking upstairs while most of the other kids in the cabin are asleep and just venting to each other, talking about their issues with camp and with the higher ups and saying that they wished they could do something about it.

Perhaps they even start to become a team of sorts, helping the kids in the Hermes cabin together. Luke as the cabin leader and Ethan as a sort of intermediary whenever there are arguments or disagreements... because he knows what is fair and what is balanced. The kids love them- it feels good to have some sort of structure (even if it is annoying if one is trying to steal one's brother's socks. *ahem* Stoll brothers. *ahem*).

Maybe over time the two get closer and closer from just being two people who don't like the gods, and they start imagining something bigger. Something with substance. Something that would actually accomplish their wishes so they could be free at last. (Because as long as you're a half-blood you're only a plaything of the gods.)

But as the idea forms, Luke starts to get more and more radical. He starts talking about Kronos and getting contact with the titans, and then eventually about the plan for Kronos to take his body. This whole time, though, Ethan has been gradually falling for him. While Luke was imagining destroying the gods once and for all, Ethan was imagining the life after that. The life of peace where they could be together. But if Luke is taken by Kronos, they can't have that.

Still, what is he to do?

Ethan probably helped Luke sneak in the pit scorpion and the other monsters- probably helped along the way to try to confuse Percy and the others on the quest. The whole while, something inside him is saying that this is wrong (something about it is off-balance, but he isn't sure what). Still, Luke's dove head first in so Ethan has no choice to follow him.

When Luke's betrayal is revealed and he has to flee, Ethan finds out too late to follow. He knows where Luke is going next, though, at least in general. He knows about Kronos and about the plan for Luke to sacrifice his body.

He has to follow, too, because he has to protect Luke even if he knows the end goal isn't pretty. And then, in the middle of the night, he slips away. He's the first demigod other than Luke to desert in the Titan War, but no one pays any mind to it. He's just an unclaimed kid, a monster probably got him or something. It doesn't matter.

The Hermes Cabin remembers Luke and Ethan's closeness, though, and they can almost sense the war on the horizon.

Anyway yeah, something like that. Idk. Sorry for the long ask ToT

ughhh i love this so much, you're so eloquent in describing this concept & i'm just sitting here like 🧍 but i love this so much

i see an alternative in that ethan definitely crushed on luke during their camp days, though luke didn't really register ethan as a person (not to get into Age Gap Disk Horse, though i believe ethan's five years younger than luke? richard wouldn't know lol). just for my comfort level, i think luke would only start to see ethan as like a love interest potential once they're older in the TA, which goes along with what you're saying. he's so jaded, he only wants to bring down the gods, nothing more.

but ethan is always balanced. there's the Before, with the gods & their injustice & all the unclaimed kids. then there's the Middle, the war, justice being served. and then there's the After. & thought of the After is the only thing keeping ethan going sometimes, though he can't help but feel drained from luke's lack of interest. when asked, luke would say something along the lines of "let's worry about getting through the war first". he has no time to even envision the world of equality he's striving so hard to create.

i had this idea of ethan being just like every other unclaimed kid in the hermes cabin. he's like 14, no one glances towards him, no one cares that he's there. he's taking up space. and goddamnit, he just wants attention.

he's not sure if that's balanced. he's not sure if he deserves attention.

ethan would sneak out of the overcrowded cabin one night, making his way to the lake. he heard the new kid, percy, only had a talent for rowing a canoe on the lake. that probably meant he was going to take up space in the hermes cabin as Unclaimed Numero Uno Million, though ethan was too jaded to care at this point. he just wanted some space and open air to think.

when the cleaning harpies would inevitably find him, ethan wouldn't care. he would ponder the balance of them killing him for sneaking out. he would ponder the balance of his death in relation to the new kid staying.

then luke would approach, telling the harpies to stand down. luke is the only camper they actually take a moment to listen to. he tells them he's going to take a moment with ethan before getting him back to the cabin (ethan didn't think luke knew his name). he tells them that if they try to attack, luke will send them back to tartarus in moments.

the harpies, surprisingly, listen, though not without their fair share of squaking. they tell them luke has a few minutes, no more.

luke comes to sit down next to ethan. he slides off his sandals and dips his feet in the lake, just the same as ethan.

and he asks ethan what's going on, voice gentle as if he knows ethan. but he doesn't. he knows nothing besides ethan's name. he's just another body in head count before dinner. another duck to keep in line.

shattering the balance of composure, of dignity, ethan breaks down. he becomes putty in luke's hands, a child in need of comfort, forcing luke into that role if he wants it or not.

but luke takes it well. he wrapps his arms around ethan, running his fingers through ethan's hair as he sobs into luke's chest.

ethan's shaking. he wants to explode. he doesn't want to exist anymore. his whole life throws things off the balance for the things he wants.

he tells luke this, all of this and so much more. the things he's saying are treason, though he doesn't care. he rambles on as if decending into madness, grasping luke's arms to an almost painful extent, as if that would get him to understand.

but he does. thank the gods—thank something more honest—he does. he tells ethan that he knows, and he feels the same. but he has to stay in line for everyone. he loves them too much to do anything about it. he loves them so much, he has to let them suffer instead of risk them being killed.

he tells them that they have to keep their views a secret. it was the only way to keep them both safe.

ethan's sense of balance is skewed as the tears dry on his cheeks. everything is in tangled knots, and nothing makes sense. but still, in the name of order, he nods. he thanks luke for comforting him. he wants him to stay and care for him more. the moment is too fleeting before luke comes to a stand. he offers ethan his hand, and the two head back to the hermes cabin.

ethan tries to approach luke again, though nothing comes of it. he's always busy, which may or may not be true. he seems to make time for each and every other individual in his cabin and others.

he's avoiding him.

ethan's pissed about it, of course. the one time he's shown someone gives a shit about him, and they avoid him. perhaps he was too much, flying too close to the sun, to the epiphany.

still, he can't help but think of luke's low, comforting voice. the way his touch felt. he smelled nice, too, and when he looked at him...his gaze was gentle. caring.

ethan wants to punch him for giving him the cold shoulder. he wants to be allowed to expand upon his ideas, because gods-literally-forbid he think his own thoughts.

he wants to kiss luke. he wants to form the future alongside him.

as soon as ethan can even notice this pattern within luke, he's gone.

he left a note in ethan's sleeping bag. ethan didn't know luke even registered where he slept.

come with me if you really want to make a change. tell no one, unless you trust they will be useful to the cause.

he left a few drachmas with the note for iris-messaging. that's probably the eqivalent of a boy giving you his phone number, right?

of course, ethan goes after him, with a little time to enjoy the freedom of the mortal world first (as he doesn't officially join up until botl). he wouldn't want luke to think he was too desperate for his affections, of course.

[coolfire333]

I'm not a Jane Crocker expert at all (so if you happen to be then please jump in with your input especially if you also like problem sleuth) but as a canonical problem sleuth enjoyer I find her very interesting as I am also a big fan of the comic so here are some thoughts I have about her in relation to how I think she might interpret problem sleuth as a comic

I think she would relate a lot to Hysterical Dame upon first reading the comic but would vehemently deny this and says to others that the character she relates to most is Problem Sleuth himself.

I think she sees a lot of herself in male characters, particularly "hardboiled" detective types (her wearing of fake mustaches and masculine hats, her chumhandle itself referring to her as a gumshoe) and will deny comparisons to female characters because 1. she has always found the more masculine side of herself to be more interesting and 2. comparing herself to men lets her ignore the more unflattering sides of herself, while if she compared herself to a woman she'd kinda have to face that head on

Point 2 is something I myself did with Jane back when I was her age and reading post-scratch homestuck for the first time...if asked which (human) character I related to most back then I'd instinctually say John (or Jade but imo Jade is a much "neater" female character to relate to compared to Jane), but when the alpha kids were introduced I found myself really hating Jane, in retrospect because she reminded me too much of myself in a way that felt uncomfortable to read about. She was messy and flawed in similar ways as me but as I grew older I realized we actually had a lot in common that was positive, and in part I was overly harsh on her because of my own internalized sexism.

If Jane was male and has all the same traits I'd probably have been like "wow such a good character this is literally me" but because she was also a girl the whole "disconnect with the ugly sides of self recognition through the other" was not there, and I had a strong "oh no" reaction to what felt at the time like a caricature of myself at my worst. But now that I'm older (especially since I'm no longer Jane's age when I read about her in homestuck lol) I'm definitely owning up to the fact that I do relate to her a whole lot

Point being, Jane herself absolutely does the same thing with Problem Sleuth/Hysterical Dame, where she initially idolizes PS because of his maleness and the comfort that identifying with that brings her in comparison to HD's femaleness (and hyper-femininity in particular). HD is shown to have a hot temper and she disregards authority and directions similarly to how Jane does in homestuck, so I'd say they're more similar than Jane is to PS, and that makes Jane VERY uncomfortable

Jane wants to play the brooding, clever noir Sleuth, and here she goes identifying with the helpless, quick-to-anger Dame, a woman fueled by her irrational, strong emotions. However stereotypical HD is portrayed in the comic, she is equally as powerful, and I think Jane eventually realizes that when she gets into her 20s and is finally done with being a hormonal, overly emotional teenager and owns up to enjoying HD and also relating a lot to her as a character

Like yeah HD is a hotheaded stereotype at surface level but she also cares deeply about her closest female friend, NB, and she and NB deal some of the most powerful blows in the comic to their enemies (and they aren't total idiots or goof off half the time like the men of team sleuth)

Sidenote but something can be said about Jane and Roxy being analogous to HD and NB, with reference to NB's relationship as PI's mirror. PI has a high imagination, which requires alcohol to boost, and if the problem sleuth women have the same vim/pulchritude/imagination stats as their male counterparts, this means NB also has a high imagination, and perhaps a high tolerance or even a fondness for alcohol, which could mirror Roxy's alcoholism in homestuck. The imaginary world's abilities also kinda give me void vibes with the way you have to think imaginatively to conjure up things vs Roxy "appearing" up the matriorb with her void powers, among other things, but I am also not a Roxy expert so take that with a grain of salt.

Jane and Roxy are also probably the closest friends out of all the alpha kids, and HD is almost always seen with NB and the two are implied to be good friends, at the least, so I think they both form a neat pair of "really close female friends who also are really overpowered tbh"

Anyway yeah that's my (slightly-delayed because I forgot my original points trying to write this yesterday) Jane/problem sleuth essay :)

[marciabrady]

your thoughts on the unofficial princess girls ! (ex; esmeralda, meg, jane, kida) even the younger ones like melody, jane from peter pan II, eilonwy, wendy darling you can pick any ones you’d like to talk about !

I'll mention all the ones that you did!

Esmeralda- I love her. As is the case with every other female character on this list, the actual production of her film was never one I took to as a child because of the fact that she was the only female character/existed in a largely male universe, but after rewatching her movie as a teenager, I did grow in love with her. It lasted for a few years, and then moods of Esmeralda would come and go- so she isn't a consistent favorite- but I do think she has such a unique voice and song and design and I ADORE how mature she is. It's so refreshing, for how silly and childish the 3d girls are, to see an animated character that is really meant for adults. I love how she brushes on deeper topics of religion and kindness and social equality. I think she was ahead of her time and it always astounds me that she was written in an age before the internet, but has seemed to reflect so many ideals and sensibilities that have only been able to be apparent through all the different voices the forum of the internet enabled in the years after this film's release. I love that they didn't whitewash her, too, and I wish we'd get to see more of her culture.

Meg- So Meg is definitely someone who's always been an internet favorite and, while she does venture into 'not like other girls' territory, there is a charm to her, her design, and voice acting that I can't help but love. Ultimately, I do appreciate that she's morally grey but it does make me want to protect Hercules from her lol I think most people like Meg because of the whole sassy, jaded thing though, which is fine, but I think it's the same as when people only like Tiana for her toxic grind personality pre character arc. Meg's only that way because of trauma and she does it to cover up who she truly is, as a shield, so I prefer the sensitive underbelly of who she is and how she's actually the most basic person in the room. I find the parts where she's candid about her fear of heights and her back and forth with Phil more entertaining than her composed, cool edge. Although I will say, her action of giving her life in exchange for her boyfriend's was one of the most confusing actions I've ever seen a Disney character take and I think they kinda made her entirely storyline about men (she's enslaved by Hades, her objective is to trap Hercules because that's what Hades told her to do to regain her freedom, which she lost because of her ex boyfriend which made her jaded) and I wish they let her have friends who were girls or at least female characters to interact with.

Jane- Okay my answer is going to sound confusing so I'm going to preface with this: I do like Jane and I would want more representation for her. I think she has some of the best fans and she is enjoyable/generally delightful. However, I will say she made me wish we didn't get any more white women in animation for a while lol we'd already had a lot of white leading ladies before this (and she broke a successful women of color streak with Jasmine and Pocahontas and Mulan), and she still abides to an eurocentric beauty standard, so to appease that quotient of the audience but still make her stick out they just over-emphasized her even more than the 10 or more white women that came out before her had been? Her eyes were EVEN more buggish, she was EVEN skinnier, she had even more prominent cheekbones, etc, and i just wanted a more diverse design and a breath of fresh air. I also think it's irritating how obsessed American audiences are with English/Australian accents (but not other cultures' accents which...smh) so like...that makes me sigh HOWEVER I do love the fact that she studies animals and I think she is unique and lovely

Kida- Again, love how mature and intelligent and athletic she is. I kind of wish that Moana was written more like Kida, in that sense, instead of being on the Rapunzel end of things. But I love Kida's design and her personality and her doll and crystal necklace from Mcdonald's was iconic in my household lol I even cut triangles into my bangs when I was in preschool because I was going for the textured layers she had in the animation but didn't know how to mentally translate that into the real world lol her movie is pretty good, I just haven't seen it too many times and she isn't someone I connect with personally but I love her fans and do think she's incredible and admire her and the people who love her more intimately

Melody- I never took to Melody because I was an Ariel fan so I always felt that we were shortchanged by her being the main character of the sequel. Since I loved Ariel, she's the one I sided with in disagreements and still kind of do? Their dynamic is so much weaker compared to Ariel/Triton because Triton was an active bigot and shut Ariel down, time and time again, silencing her and infusing their dynamic with so many layers and nuances. Ariel and Melody's relationship is kinda predicated on interruptions and bad timing? Just as Melody opens up to her mother, Eric comes on screen and interrupts everything. Ariel decides it's time to tell Melody of her mermaid heritage, only for Melody to have escaped a few minutes prior. Also, even though Triton was blatantly abusive (even though unintentional), Ariel still had so much love for him and attacked Ursula physically when she saw her Father reduced to a polyp. Even after Triton screams at her and destroys her Grotto, she openly says, "Daddy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Where, Ariel is literally trying to explain things to Melody and is being openly apologetic and Melody just mean mugs her and says "too late mom" lol plus she's super young which, again, I take to more mature characters. That being said, I do know there's been a large community of Melody lovers in recent years and I do think they're all great! I also think most of the people who think they're Ariel's are more Melody's because Ariel fans tend to be fixated on the ocean, which Ariel herself would never be- that's more Melody. Plus a lot of Ariel fans just tend to seem more like Melody in general, energy wise, and she is a more rare character and any rare character getting more love is something I'm here for

Jane (from Peter Pan 2)- I think they did a good job with not being afraid to make her unlikable but because she's such a tomboy AND younger, there's nothing really here for me to latch on to. I was so sad they cut the mermaids, and Wendy's character (they kept her but to a minor extent) because they really only had a dying Tinker Bell for female representation and then a Jane that was "one of the guys" and the first Lost Girl ever but with nothing else for us that loved Wendy and Mrs. Darling and the mermaids of the original film. So, again, it's fine but just not for me personally

Eilonwy- Okay, this is an answer that surprises even myself but I don't really like her? As a child, I took her VHS from Blockbuster because the cover had a princess in a pink dress lol but I never really rewatched the movie after that or thought about it. I revisited it when I was a teenager and ADORED it. I wrote Eilonwy and read the books and was obsessed, but I guess it was short-lived because I didn't visit the movie for a decade afterwards and, when I did, I found her unlikable? I felt like she was very abrupt, prone to having unnecessary fits and kinda rude and didn't have the charm to balance it out BUT I'm convinced I'll warm up to her again in due time. I don't think she'll ever be a top favorite though

Wendy- 10/10 LOML there is so much warmth to her and I LOVE how she's at that age where she babbles you know why because it shows she's PASSIONATE and she's so forgiving and lovely and kind and imaginative and I love that she's the "supreme authority on Peter Pan" just as most of us on Tumblr have taken it upon ourselves to educate ourselves on whatever we're fascinated by. I also love that she has an edge and isn't a doormat and she's the one calling the shots and moving the story forward. I think writers are the most intellectually stunning people in the world and this movie acknowledges that by how prized she is for her storytelling ability. Also, how could you NOT love a character voiced by Kathryn Beaumont? Perfection, chef's kiss, one of my favorites ever!!

[bigskydreaming]

This is probably random, but what would you say are your favorite Silvia Moreno-Garcia books? You're one of the few people I know who also knows about her and loves her work

Oh no worries, I love her stuff and it always feels like there's too few avenues for talking about books we love in general, unless they're central to an established fandom. Like I literally do love everything she's written and its hard to rank them because aside from just really enjoying her prose and world-building in general, she has this really neat tendency to write books that are wildly different from each other and somehow manage to each cater to really specific trope/thematic preferences I have. LOL, it makes me feel very special.

I'd say Gods of Jade and Shadow is for sure my favorite though, but that has a lot to do with the specific myths and legends she pulled from as the basis of her world-building for this one. I'm a total mythology and folklore nerd, have been since I was a kid, like I would legit spend most of my lunch periods chilling in the school library reading every mythology or folktales book I could find. And so of course, I've always been pretty quick to pick up sf/f or magical realism books based off myths or legends I'm familiar with, and the fairly recent uptick in books inspired by Mesoamerican myths is actually what led me to her work in the first place. I was reading Aliette de Bodard's Servants of the Underworld series (which I got onto after first finding her through her Dominion of the Fallen series, which is also fantastic), and then someone brought up GoJaS a couple years ago as a comparison point, and I was like omg you had me at the Hero Twins references. Like, I always loved those stories in particular, so I was a shoo-in for this novel and then like, read everything else in her bibliography the second I was done with it.

But yeah, the world-building in this one is just exquisite, and the setting and time period is rendered so vividly, and I adore how she weaves in tropes from all parts of the world so you end up with like a coming of age story revolving around Mayan mythology but with the framework of a Cinderella story and so on and so on, and it all just is woven together so naturally and seamless, I love it. Fave book is fave.

Veeeeery close behind it though would have to be Mexican Gothic.....another fave trope of mine is maybe pretty niche but like.....dynastic stories about squabbling families of immortals has been a go-to fave of mine ever since I got hooked on The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny as a kid. Again, this one is a very different book from Gods of Jade and Shadow, but the world-building is great here and the whole basis for the family's longevity, and I LOVED how she tied all that back into giving not just the family but the house they lived in its own kinda almost magical properties, with the whole thing with 'the gloom' and the way the house retained memories.

And again, she does such a great job bringing together totally disparate elements from different genres and regions, to make something really new and unique. Like, the gothic in the title isn't kidding, lol, at times this one really feels like...a fantasy version of something like Rebecca.

(Also, apparently there's an adaptation of Mexican Gothic in the works at Hulu. Fingers crossed. Also, kinda random but I've been seeing trailers for the upcoming vampire movie The Invitation, and its had me thinking of this book again a lot just because I get similar vibes from it).

Signal to Noise is also a really fun one - its a little less....mmm, polished, I wanna say.....than her later works? Like you can tell its her first novel, but at the same time, she's talked about it being a lot more personal for her, and based on her parents and their relationship, and that emotional grounding really shines through as well. So although this book doesn't have the same expansive world-building or intricate plotting of some of her later books, its very immersive and just feels more intimate, like the literary equivalent of being right there in the room with these characters, watching their more slice-of-life adventures unfold, as opposed to the more distanced 'sitting back and watching this cinematically unfold on the screen' feel of books like MG and GoJaS.

Plus, I loooooove magic systems or powers that are based off music or listening to music - one of my fave obscure X-Men characters is a mutant called DJ who manifests different superpowers depending on what genre of music he's listening to, so everything about Mercedes' magic and casting spells based off of songs she was listening to was like, mmmm no longer just vibing with this book, am full on vibrating, actually.

The Beautiful Ones is another fave for its worldbuilding, and the way it treats things like telekinesis as commonplace in a historical setting, similar to Mary Robinette Kowal's magical Regency series, The Glamourist Histories. And just the love story and betrayals in this one are so well-crafted and its like a historical telenovela with superpowers and really how could it POSSIBLY be more up my alley, y'know? But even with all that, its the characters that really sell this one for me. Antonina's so adorably awkward and Hector may quite literally be 'three mysterious enigmatic love interest' tropes standing on each other's shoulders and wearing a trench coat but damn if he doesn't pull that look off well.

Velvet Was the Night is just a few hundred pages of what the fuck what the fuck what the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Like seriously, what even IS this book, but I say that with alllll the adoration. She really just swung for the fences with this one, but it works, its just.....unabashedly noir with a comic book nerd in 1970s Mexico becoming an amateur sleuth trying to Nancy Drew her way to the bottom of mysterious disappearances and thus getting entangled with a hitman who becomes obsessed with her and omg this book is ridiculous but in the best way. The one gripe I had with it was I kept waiting for Maite's emphasized but then mysteriously disappearing kleptomaniac tendencies to be plot-relevant, but it never happened and so at the end of the book I was like....well that was certainly A Character Quirk but I mean the other main character kills people so, y'know, all things are relative I guess fhalsfhklafhaklfhla.

Certain Dark Things - I mean, she had me at vampires. By the time I got to this one I was like, its Silvia Moreno-Garcia, its vampires, what more do I need to know. But honestly, this one has some of my favorite world-building on top of that, and Domingo's a funky little sweetheart. Atl's like I am MYSTERIOUS and JADED and occasionally HOMICIDAL and I shall NOT be undone by your scrappy pluck and sweet charming naivete and cut to ten pages later OH NO I AM UNDONE BY YOUR SCRAPPY PLUCK AND SWEET CHARMING NAIVETE OH UNFORESEEABLE FATE, MUCH UNEXPECTED OUTCOME, HOW DARE.

Untamed Shore is probably the one and only book of hers thus far that's not like....been a miss for me, exactly, so much as it was just....fine? Like I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, I just don't have particularly strong thoughts or feelings about it one way or another. It didn't linger. Again, not a knock against it, and I'd still rate it a worthwhile read, its just comparatively speaking, juxtaposed with the rest of her bibliography I don't have much to say about it.

I still haven't managed to track down and read most of her novellas yet, though she's got a good half-dozen of those that look interesting and I plan to get to. But first I gotta get my grubby little hands on The Daughter of Doctor Moreau which I literally only found out about yesterday and just came out last month, because I fucking LOVE Doctor Moreau retellings in general, so am definitely eager to see her take.

Seriously, how does this author keep tailoring whole novels to my PRECISE niche interests, its driving me crazy but also omg never stop please and thank you, falkfhaklfhaklfhaf.