#Kid!Emile

[j-liz]

HEADCANON: Becky 100% gets her first Tonitrus Bolt when she snaps and publicly cusses out a teacher for being a jerk.

You think so, huh?

[peanutseagle]

Guys please show more enthusiasm !!

[beelittle]

Trying out brushes on adobe fresco with sketches of the kids ^-^

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The art of Daniel Danger

[Image ID: Daniel Danger's art print, 'To all who home to this happy place,' depicting a ruined Disneyland castle in a post-apocalyptic landscape with a statue of Walt and Mickey in the rubble.]

There’s this behavioral economics study that completely changed the way i thought about art, teaching, and critique: it’s a 1993 study called “Introspecting about Reasons can Reduce Post-Choice Satisfaction” by Timothy D Wilson, Douglas J Lisle, Jonathan Schooler, Sara Hodges, Kristen Klaaren and Suzanne LaFleur:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240281868_Introspecting_about_Reasons_can_Reduce_Post-Choice_Satisfaction

The experimenters asked subjects to preference-rank some art posters; half the posters were cute cartoony posters, and the other half were fine art posters. One group of subjects assigned a simple numeric rank to the posters, and the other had to rank them and explain their ranking. Once they were done, they got to keep their posters.

There was a stark difference in the two groups’ preferences: the group that had to explain their choices picked the cartoony images, while the group that basically got to point at their favorite and say, “Ooh, I like that!” chose the fine art posters.

Then, months later, the experimenters followed up and asked the subjects what they’d done with the poster they got to take home. The ones who’d had to explain their choices and had brought home cartoony images had thrown those posters away. The ones who didn’t have to explain what they liked about their choice, who’d chosen fine art, had hung them up at home and kept them there.

The implication is that it’s hard to explain what makes art good, and the better art is, the harder it is to put your finger on what makes it so good. More: the obvious, easy-to-articulate virtues of art are the less important virtues. Art’s virtues are easy to spot and hard to explain.

The reason this stuck with me is that I learned to be a writer through writing workshops where we would go around in a circle and explain what we liked and didn’t like about someone’s story, and suggest ways to make it better. I started as a teenager in workshops organized by Judith Merril in Toronto, then through my high-school workshop (which Judy had actually founded a decade-plus earlier through a writer in the schools grant), and then at the Clarion workshop in 1992. I went on to teach many of these workshops: Clarion, Clarion West and Viable Paradise.

So I’ve spent a lot of time trying to explain what was and wasn’t good about other peoples’ art (and my own!), and how to make it better. There’s a kind of checklist to help with this: when a story is falling short in some way, writers roll out these “rules” for what makes for good and bad prose. There are a bunch of these rulesets (think of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style), including some genre-specific ones like the Turkey City Lexicon:

https://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/18/turkey-city-lexicon-a-primer-for-sf-workshops/

A few years ago, I was teaching on the Writing Excuses cruise and a student said something like, “Hey, I know all these rules for writing good stories, but I keep reading these stories I really like and they break the rules. When can I break the rules?”

There’s a stock answer a writing teacher is supposed to give here: “Well, first you have to master the rules, then you can break them. You can’t improvise a jazz solo without first learning your scales.”

But in that moment, I thought back to the study with the posters and I had a revelation. These weren’t “rules” at all — they were just things that are hard and therefore easy to screw up. No one really knows why a story isn’t working, but they absolutely know when it doesn’t, and so, like the experimental subject called upon to explain their preferences, they reach for simple answers: “there’s too much exposition,” or “you don’t foreshadow the ending enough.”

There are lots of amazing stories that are full of exposition (readers of mine will not be shocked to learn I hold this view). There are lots of twist endings that are incredible — and not despite coming out of left field, but because of it.

The thing is, if you can’t say what’s wrong, but you know something is wrong, it’s perfectly reasonable to say, “Well, why don’t you try to replace or polish the things that are hardest to do right. Whatever it is that isn’t working here, chances are it’s the thing that’s hardest to make work”:

https://locusmag.com/2020/05/cory-doctorow-rules-for-writers/

But if I could change one thing about how we talk about writing and its “rules,” it would be to draw this distinction, characterizing certain literary feats as easier to screw up than others, having the humility to admit that we just don’t know what’s wrong with a story, and then helping the writer create probabilistically ranked lists of the things they could tinker with to try and improve their execution.

Which is all a very, very long-winded way to explain why I bought a giant, gorgeous art-print at Comic-Con this weekend, even though I have nowhere to hang it and had sworn I would absolutely not buy any art at the con.

I was walking the floor, peeking into booths, when I happened on Daniel Danger’s booth (#5034, if you’re at the con today), and I was just fuckin’ poleaxed by his work.

http://www.tinymediaempire.com/

[Image ID: Daniel Danger’s ‘It stopped being about the panic,’ depicting a ruined mansion interwoven with the skeletal branches of a tree, with a weeping statue and two human figures]

Now, see above. I can’t tell you why I loved this work so much (and that’s OK!), but boy oh boy did it speak to me. I just kind of stood there with my mouth open, slowly moving from print to print, admiring works like “It stopped being about the panic.”

https://tinymediaempire.myshopify.com/products/2022-sdcc-it-stopped-being-about-the-panic-v4

[Image ID: Daniel Danger’s ‘headlight in the path of,’ depicting a ruined mall with a pair of stags standing at the top of the escalator.]

On the surface, this is moody, post-apocalyptic stuff, heavily influenced by classic monster/haunter tropes, but it’s shot through with hope and renewal and the sense of something beautiful growing out of the ashes of something that has toppled. There’s real “(Nothing But) Flowers” energy in “Headlight in the path of”:

https://tinymediaempire.myshopify.com/products/sdcc2023-headlight-in-the-path-of-v2

[Image ID: Daniel Danger’s ‘We are no longer able to protect you,’ depicting a ruined factory with a coming-apart sign reading ‘We can no longer protect you forever,’ and a statue of a sword-bearing angel.]

Danger isn’t just a

very

talented artist, he’s also an

extremely

talented craftsman. As a recovering pre-press geek, I was (nearly) as impressed by the wild use of spot color and foils as I was by the art, like in “We are no longer able to protect you”:

https://tinymediaempire.myshopify.com/products/sdcc-2022-we-can-no-longer-protect-you-forever-v3

[Image  ID: Daniel Danger’s ‘made of smoke and chains,’ depicting a ruined landscape with a pair of derelict subway trains at the foot of a hill on whose peak is a rotting mansion. A pair of human figures, holding hands, are approaching the mansion.]

Danger himself calls this work “weird sad hyper-detailed artwork of dreamy buildings of ghosts and trees,” which is a very apt description of this work, as you can see in “Made of smoke and chains”:

https://tinymediaempire.myshopify.com/products/made-of-smoke-and-chains-mist-preorder

So I looked at this stuff and sternly reminded myself that there was no way I was going to buy any art at the con. Then I walked away. I got about two aisles over when I realized I had to go back and ask permission to take some pictures so I could put a little link to Danger in my blog’s linkdump, which he graciously permitted:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=interestingness-desc&safe_search=1&tags=danieldanger&min_taken_date=1687478400&max_taken_date=1690156799&view_all=1

[Image ID: Daniel Danger’s art print, ‘To all who home to this happy place,’ depicting a ruined Disneyland castle in a post-apocalyptic landscape with a statue of Walt and Mickey in the rubble.]

But then I got all the way ass over to the other ass end of the convention center and I realized I had to go back and buy one of these prints. Which I did, “To all who come to this happy place,” because fuckin’ wow:

https://tinymediaempire.myshopify.com/products/sdcc2023-this-happy-place-v6-foil

This was unequivocally the best thing I saw at this year’s SDCC, but I also got some very good news while there, namely, that Emil Ferris’s long, long-awaited My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Vol 2 is finally on the schedule from Fantagraphics:

https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/emil-ferris/products/my-favorite-thing-is-monsters-book-two

It’s coming out in April, which gives you plenty of time to read volume one, which I called, “a haunting diary of a young girl as a dazzling graphic novel”:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/06/20/my-favorite-thing-is-monsters-a-haunting-diary-of-a-young-girl-as-a-dazzling-graphic-novel/

If you are or were a monster kid or a haunter, this is your goddamned must-read of the summer. It’s a fully queered, stunning memoir for anyone whose erotic imagination intersected with Famous Monsters of Filmland.

(Also, if you’re that kind of person and you’re in the region, you should know about Midsummer Scream, a giant haunter show in Long Beach; I’ll be there on Sunday, July 30, for a panel about the Ghost Post, the legendary Haunted Mansion puzzle-boxes I helped make:

https://midsummerscream.org/

Now Favorite Thing book two was the best news, but the best experience was watching Felicia Day get her Inkpot Award and give a moving speech:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkpot_Award

And then learning that Raina Telgemeier also got an Inkpot; I love Raina’s work so much:

https://memex.craphound.com/2016/10/04/ghosts-raina-telgemeiers-upbeat-tale-of-death-assimilation-and-cystic-fibrosis/

[Image ID: A photo of me with Chuck Tingle, who wears a pink bag over his head on which he has written ‘Love is Real.’]

To cap yesterday off, I also ran into @ChuckTingle, which is as fine a capstone to a successful con as anyone could ask for:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/53065500076/in/dateposted/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/23/but-i-know-what-i-like/#daniel-danger

[tare-anime]

SxF Mission 95

(Beware spoilers)

The Eden ball is heeereeee!!!

But we don't get any TwiYor dancing at all 😭😭😭

Darn it, Endo!! I just want to see TwiYor dancing!

Ahem. Anyway, we got a lovely Eden kids shenanigans.

Aside from the maximum DamiAnya content we have from this chapter ....

(on a side note DamiAnya will be canon even before TwiYor at this rate. Not that I'm complaining, but they are kids!! How can adults be any slower than these kids??? 😭😭😭 yea, I know it's because the kids are more honest with their feelings and all, but still???? Ok, let's get back to the chapter.)

... my most favorite parts of this chapter are this:

Anya has a real fanboys. The boys are here because they see Anya as herself. Not under the shadow of her parents' fame nor they try to gain any advantages.

This is very important to me. Anya gain recognizes that she so much deserves!!! Yes!! Way to go girl!! I am so proud of you 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Don't stop to always be yourself, Anya!

The other highlight of this chapter is:

Becky being the awesome BFF as always

And Ewen and Emile being the awesome friends with all boyish friend pranks

🤣🤣🤣🤣👏👏👏👏👏

I love this kids so much. Don't grow too fast kids. 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[mewnia]

Today’s Tales of Sunday character goes to Emil Castagnier from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World! Second to last Sunday, I figured I should draw the character that got me into this franchise in the first place :P

[punkeropercyjackson]

Lore of Lex de los Santos,my Pjo s/i

As asked by @comfortabletogether !!

Lex's full name is Alexandria and their chinese name is Xiá,they're blasian because i implemented so many asian aspects into their character it felt right

Specifically they're black-greek because Demeter is one of the many black gods and their godly parent and their mortal parent is Emil 'Xiaoyu' de los Santos,a chinese-dominican man who works at a boba shop chain called 'Bubble Buds'

Lex was born and raised in San Francisco but moved to El Barrio,New York in the beginning of Botl due to Emil's job transfering him and grew up taking guitar lessons

Lex is the same age as Percy,with a December 27th birthday,and got to Camp Half-Blood at 12 too.This is one of the many things they have in common:Lex and Percy also have the same sense of humor,poor social skills,merciless tendencies,emotional regulation issues,self-eestem problems,boundless kindness and uncorruptability.The difference is their attitudes-Lex is soft and shy with a hardcore inside,Percy is tough and mean with a soft inside.Their nicknames for eachother are 'Blue' and 'Bubbles'

Lex's powers are ultra chlorokinesis,geokinesis,built-in botany expertesee and eventual terraportation and they're the strongest mortal Demeter kid.They're as strong as Persephone herself

Lex's special interests are boba,dogs,video games,pastel things,kidcore,swords,the sea,nature and anarchy and they love fucking around with their friends and they're also a mom friend,a rollerblader and a guitarist because they took lessons and their colors are pink and green

Lex got to Camp Half-Blood a month before Percy,during The Gym Incident at Marigold Middle School when earlier that day Zach Matthews got rumors to spread about them by provoking them into punching him hard enough for him to bleed and a basilisk attacked at gym class later so Lex's powers activated to kill it on instinct,their eyes closed tightly as they did.They finally realized they have plant powers and Nona Peters,another bully of their's,started shrieking about how it's proof they were a freak all along so blinded by rage,they choked her with their vines until Coach Wilson snapped them out it and she sobbed in apology as they commanded for her to be released but didn't mean it.Teary eyed,Lex dashed to Principal Gonzalez's office to call Emil to pick them up and ask about their powers since they knew he'd know

Emil drove them to Camp Half-Blood as he exposition dumped about the greek mythos world and his past relathionship with Demeter,who did divine intervetion to get them there in just two hours instead of two days,and the first camper Lex met was Katie as they approached her asking for help.Katie guided them to Chiron then to Cabin 4 to meet their siblings:Konrad 'Kon' Henders,Luke's best friend,Billie Ng,a nonbinary grunge kid and Miranda Gardiner,who came in a bit late due to her hatred of demigodhood.Kon did a little joke about his and Lex's names which flashed them back to the gym and he profusely apologized but they refused to touch upon it again.Lex's things were brought to them in a box the next day in the morning by Hermes as Emil had been in such a rush he forgot to pack for them and Lex learned the daily routine of CHB

With an extra for them:Isolation.Lex was ignored by almost everyone at Camp Half-Blood due to their quiet nature and 'off' looks(read:blasian)so they settled into hanging out by themselves in the forest.It hurt them a lot but it wasn't like there was anything they could do and at least they had their siblings.Percy finally arrived once the month passed and they met at the strawberry fields,just the two of them,where he jokingly asked if the strawberries came in blue and Lex responded they could make them blue if he wanted and he was taken back and asked if they really could so they placed their hand on a large bunch and they slowy changed color.He asked what the difference was and they said they weren't sure as they hadn't eaten one before so they eat their first bluestrawberries together,them being mostly the same as regular strawberries except sweeter and juicier,and Percy asked Lex to hang out and spar with him later and they enthutiastically agreed and once he was out of line of sight as they waved goodbye,they squealed and jumped happily as they reached for their hair to stim,only to feel yellow roses in it that had bloomed-Another Demeter kid trait,symbolic flowers that meaned their strongest emotions.Yellow roses mean 'friendship'

Percy and Lex became official sparring partners and after a week of best friendship,Percy asked about everybody's treatment of them to try to help them show everybody how great they are and Lex melted down and a huge wall of flowers appeared inbetween them to seperate them.Percy managed to talk them down after they revealed the Gym Incident and comparing it to his own problems with bullies did the trick and their feelings turned romantic after that convo.During the week,Lex was also sent a celestial bronze heart shaped hairclip transforming sword called Rhodon and they always wear it or as they got older,have it cuffed to their battle jacket,and they got Miranda to chill out by talking things out with her and it's revealed she's just upset at being away from her stepmom and dad and dosen't want to be a half-blood so they help her get along with their siblings and Miranda in thanks shares an Erika and Annalise from Barbie Princess and The Pauper dolls set with them

Post-Tlt Som Lex is a lot happier than the Lex before and Emil notices it and chalks it up to their demigod experiences,which is very true in a way but not entierly.Kon however is the reverse and is majorly depressed because of Luke's betrayal and private reveal of what he was actually like the whole time i.e His grooming of Silena and brewing plans to destroy everything out of his own selfishness.He refuses to say what happened but turns out he didn't need to as Luke puts Percy on blast and Kon blacks out in emotional distress,Lex screaming out his name in terror for him.Earlier that summer,they'd been helping Percy care for Tyson as the only people at camp who liked him(wtf was Rick thinking with having Percy not like Tyson,it makes zero sense??????)and later,they become Thalia's best friend,giving her a tour around camp with Clarisse's help and approaching her at the Zeus Cabin specifically to befriend her out of hating seeing her so dehumanized by the campers into a paragon instead of a teenage girl

Thalia had instantly assumed Lex was a perfect prissy popular girl because of their aesthetic,Lex always dressing in pinks and greens with feminine hairstyles and tween makeup,but after actually talking to them,knew they were just a weird black girly girl so as a weird black trans tomboy,she decided to open up her time to them and they nicknamed eachother 'Thunder' and 'Petal'.Campers were afraid to be mean to Lex now with her and Percy constantly at their side but did ask them invasive questions about her they informed her about and so they stopped.Lex's egg was cracked by Thalia and they'd been going by they/them for years but never thought to research their gender and as it turns out,they're transmasc genderfluid and bigender and they came out to her and Percy as they hung out by the creek and once to him,Emil hit up Demeter to ask Aphrodite to give Lex their ideal voice for the one thing they wanted for a physical transition with the rest staying intact(Lex's original voice was Stephanie Sheh but now it's Nika Futterman for that rocker girl vibe)

Lex stayed over for winter break in TTC and stayed in touch with Percy and Thalia over the phone,the former also true for inbetween Tlt and Som,but all of them were flip phones because 2000s LMAO(Lex's was a Barbie one,Percy's was blue and seathemed and Thalia's was black and all convered in edgy stickers).Kon wasn't able to properly lead Cabin 4 so Katie took over and this summer is when Drew had arrived so the heads of Cabin 4 and Cabin 10 had a flirtatious pretend hate rivalry going on that flew over the heads of most campers but not Lex,who instantly clocked them upon witnessing extended interactions between them pretty easily.Drew latched onto Lex after finding out they're trans like her and Lex offered to be Nico's new big sister after briefly meeting him and growing some lavenders for him and handing them to him as they sweetly asked him to be nice to Percy and he happily agreed to and finding him sobbing his heart out at the kitchen to comfort him.They also made him strawberry milk tea and they chugged several cups together

Him running away and Thalia joining the Hunters broke their heart and they felt like a failure and unloved and had a hard time enjoying their birthday party but did manage to,it being helped by Thalia sneaking in that night to leave them a gift:A bag of stolen junk they'd said they wanted but couldn't afford and a sticky note that says 'I still love you,Lex.Always will but right now,i need to be away from what could give me power.Please understand and i didn't say it to your face because it hurt too much to - Your girl best friend forever,Thalia'.We finally get to the moving to NY part and Lex arrives a month early to the core plot once again,reuniting with Percy and the de los Santos and Jacksons become close as a whole and Lex helps Percy fight and later save the empousi and befriends Rachel instantly and there's a running gag of Lex and Percy talking on their Barbie flip phone and sea flip phone throught the Labyrinth quest and Lex actually lends a hand on it twice as they also and the rest of the camp help Kon put himself back together.Nico asks 'Is that...blue birthday cake?A-And.....Is Lex here?' in the last Botl chapter so Percy tells him to come in and says it looks like the three of them have a lot to talk about and Lex bolts into a now taller than them Nico's arms the second they saw him again and Nico hugs them back just as fiercely,laughing as they pepper his face all over in big sisterly/motherly kisses

Percy,Lex and Rachel attend Goode High together and it's widely know how close they are so they get dubbed 'The Loser Trio' and they reclaim it for themselves as a friendship name.They do charity events,go to riots/protests,on beach trips both for fun and cleaning,to the skatepark,to Bubble Buds,to the arcade,to thrift stores,to underground parties and shows,on petty crime sprees,on platonic study dates,on aquarium visits,have cartoon/movie marathons and do meme challenges.There's always a romantic edge to Perlex's moments together that dosen't exist with Rachel and she's more than happy with that because she's out there having lesbian adventures and ironically enough Annabeth makes the same mistake she did in canon only Lex is the object of Percy's affections and she's oblivious to Perlex out of her own cisheteronormativity and internalized lesbophobia hence why she dosen't bully Lex ever.Rachel is also how they found out about solarpunk although Thalia was Percy and Lex's introduction to punk culture as a whole but Rachel is who got them to GO punk and The Loser Trio is an afrosolarpunk friends trio too

They have a shared instagram account they use both for personal posts and activism and The Loser Summer™️ included Percy posting him piggybacking Lex and them grinning and Lex doing a peace sign and a plain pink heart emoji in the caption,them at Dairy Queen sharing food captioned 'at Dairy Queen with my Dairy King' and even a slideshow of them swapping clothes and hugging.There's even more of all three of them together and Nico gueststars sometimes as him,Percy and Lex spent the year between Botl and Tlo reconnecting and some of their fans even think he's their kid because they didn't reveal their ages for online safety and Rachel posts her girlsaga and girlbossing and girlfailures all around.Zach and Nona reappear,now a couple,at a Goode High and their school Lex refuses to remember the name of vs basketball game and apologize to them and they respond they'll never forgive them but can let them go.Tlo had Lex,Katie,Miranda,Billie,Kon,Drew and a-just-quit-the-Hunters-Thalia working as a team against the Titans Army in Manhattan with Lex as the leader and earning the reputation across Camp Half-Blood as Percy's righthand and equal in strength as they worked together too and they near biblically unleashed their Demeter powers,getting to meet their mom face to face at the end too and were given a gift in the form of Demeter blessing Rhodon as they kissed Lex's forehead,calling them 'The Heroine of Olympus' and Luke had been slayed by Percy briefly beforehand as Percy was the actual hero of the prophecy

Lex is bubbling with happiness until they see Percy and Annabeth are together now and it shatters them for a long while as their insecurities spill over.They pretend to be okay for Percy's and their other loved ones sake but they really aren't and are kinda worse than ever in fact and wilted flowers bloom where they step.They try to appreciate what they do have though and that includes Percy himself,still best friends til the end with him.Post-Tlo but pre-Percy dissaperance,Lex and Kon are sent on a quest by Demeter for Persephone's sake and it's to travel to Greece to retrive their Roots i.e Unlock their powers to their full potential and calm their agitated and hurt minds.The quest is succesful and includes all your usual Percyverse quest beats,the humor,the mythos shout outs,the aesthetics,etc and Persephone starts visiting CHB in the summer thanks to developing real siblinghood with the other eldest child of Demeter and the daughter of Demeter most similar to her and this is it's own solo book titled 'Lex de los Santos and the Persephone Times'.Once Percy is kidnapped by Hera,Lex resorts to an Animal Crossing addiction to distract themself at the same time them and Annabeth take over camp as co-leaders

This is when Lex learns the full details of her and Percy's relathionship and realizes she's abusive to him and is shocked to say the least.They don't tell anyone because Percy should be the first to know and make sure to keep their guard up around her and Tlh comes along so Lex forms friendships with The Lost Trio:Piper(onsight click and Lex helps her embrace butchness and Piper admires Lex's self-confidence),Leo(silly4silly weird4weird latino4latino but platonically and Lex is Leo's hypemanwoman while Leo is super appriciative of Lex)and Jason(had a crush on them that was extremely awkward for everyone involved and Lex didn't have to reject him outright because he got over them as he saw how much they love Percy and moved onto Leo).The Second Great Prophecy said 'Eight Half-Bloods Shall Awnser The Call' and those eight half-bloods are Percy,Lex,Annabeth,Jason,Piper,Leo,Frank and Hazel and Lex hops onto the Argo || without anybody knowing who The Eight are officially.Drew got her redemption-healing arc completed in Tlh and the quest for Buford has Buford running into her and Katie on their first date and Clarisse and Thalia lead CHB while Lex and Annabeth are gonna but follow the praetor route iykwim(they end up together at last since they'd been flirting since TTC)

Percy didn't remember anything except Sally at the beginning of Son but Lex slowly came back to them,once they bit into a strawberry at Camp Jupiter and it didn't taste quiet the same,a sadness she didn't yet understand washing over her.Hazel instantly went to talk to Lex when she spotted them in Moa due to Percy's talks of them and brought her over to Camp Jupiter's cat cafe for coffee and kitty playing and chatting.Once the whole gang borded the Argo || was when Percy and Lex reuinited,at night as Percy took care of the stables and Lex went out looking for her because not getting to talk to her all day and she ran up to them,squeezing them up into a hug and they yelped but hugged back in surprise.'Hey Bubbles!!' 'H-Hey Blue!*Laughs*Together again!' 'And not apart again.Wassup?'so they flopped down onto the hay and caught up.Nobody caught them because they woke up before anybody else and Annabeth got mad at Percy and scolded him for not staying the night with her and almost everyone found it funny except Lex,cringing to themself the whole time in silent panic at what she'd do after.Percy is jealous of Jason's attraction to Lex as a turned tables moment for the Lex and Annabeth situation and his insecurities come how he's darkskin and Jason is lightskin and how Percy's always branded a troublemaker to the point of convincement while Jason's a lifelong golden boy

No Hazel love triangles and Sammy and her didn't know eachother so Lex accompanies them on their Echo quest and thinks 'Super Sized Mcshizzle' is peak comedy and actually gave themself a stomach cramp from holding back their laughter.Percy is determinated to save Nico as there were no useless retcons between them and Lex and Hazel feel the same so the three of them sneak off to save him and they succeed and the four of them are an official certified quartet by the end of Boo with how close they are,them being 'The Outcast Godlings'.Lex gets the chance to tell Percy what's going on between her and Annabeth in the pre-climax of Moa and Percy's first reaction is denial until Lex points out in explicit detail how abusive she is to her and he can't deny any of their questions to any of the non-existent improvement in how she treats her and this also leads to Lex confessing their own feelings on pure accident('You don't have to choose someone you DON'T want to!I'm happy you chose me as your best friend though.......That you chose me,even if it's not how i wanted you too')and Percy is shocked beyond words as her brain switches and connects the dots on her own Lex feelings.Hazel and Lex fall into Tartarus right after though so they don't have time to resolve things just yet

Lex does their best to protect and take care of themself and more importantly Hazel in Tartarus and Hazel is able to unlock her powers to the fullest as The Princess of The Underworld and The Unknown down there.Back on earth,Percy got the Hecate Mist storyline and is stressing out over Lex,over Hazel,over Annabeth,but does her best to lead and the Percabeth breakup comes when Annabeth insults Lex out of jealousy over how important they are to Percy as she realizes they're an actual threat the whole time to their relathionship and Percy is so infuriated she breaks up with her on the spot and stomps away(black and blue demonias gifted to her by Beckendorf pre-death btw).'I'm not letting anybody else tell me what path i should take anymore.I get to choose my own present and my owm future even if it'll never change the past.I was never meant to be restrained and now i know what really means'-Percy Jackson,House of Hades

Hazel and Lex get out of Tartarus and are instantly fussed over by Nico and Percy but also all the other Eight and Reyna except Annabeth,who keeps her distance.Percy and Lex spend Boo as a battle couple who flirt nonstop,subconciously on Lex's end and very intentionally on Percy's end,and after the final fight with Gaea,Lex dyes their bangs forest green as symbolism for their completed self-love arc and it's topped off by Percy asking them out right before lunch time as they sit at a unique table-The Poseidon table but with them,Nico,Hazel,Tyson,Grover,Rachel,Katie,Jason,Leo,Frank,Piper and Clarisse.Everyone can tell his intentions except Lex as they sideeye eachother as they follow him to the forest and they flop down on the grass together to eat the picnic he made and once they finish it all,Percy confesses to Lex and they're too stunned to interrupt him as he turns into a rambling mess of all he loves about them until they snap out of it and flop down on top of him,craddling his face and confessing back just as tenderly so they both grin and he initiates their first as they kiss back.Pink and blue roses bloombed around them

Sally adopted Nico and Hazel and Percy,Lex and Rachel went back to Goode High for their senior year together.A year passes and they manage to graduate but Percy and Lex also decide college isn't for them and Lex and Emil move into La Residencia Jackson due to Sally's eldest son dating Emil's only child and what good friends Emil and Sally already are.Instead of T.oa,we get Tales of Dead Seas aka Tods,a one year later Hoo sequel that's four books and takes place over four years for that og Pjo feel including the return of the chapter titles and has the Outcast Godlings as the mcs and the books are in order called:Elysium on Earth,Petallic,Arcane Rot and Unmythologizable.Nico and Hazel attend a Special ED school,Sally opens up a family bussiness called 'Familia Jackson Beach Shack',Rachel attends college but appears pretty often,Emil is the same as ever but in regular contact with Demeter and Persephone and Lex accidentally cracked Percy's egg as a transfem bigender he/she/they/neos femme and helps her transition.Eoe has it's plot with Percy killing Zeus in a fit of rage and kickstarting a greco-roman mythos world revolution,Petallic focuses on Lex's earthy bringings and self and heritage on both ends,Arcane Rot is central on the Underworld Siblings and exploring them even further,Hazel-Blood is a side bonus book that's a Hazel character study and full on kids horror with an ancient roman coating and Unmythologizable is the grand Percyverse finale and we're told in the future Percy and Lex have a daughter they name after Sally who goes by Sal.The Outcast Godlings' titles are 'Hero and Destroyer of Olympus','Prophecy Breaker','The Ghost King' and 'Princess of The Underworld and The Unknown'

Lex in the official Pjo art!!

Lex in the Pjo picrew!

An outfit Lex has canonically worn /srs

And Lexcore images!!

[hythlodaes]

junelezen day four - departure

[eurazba]

A belated b-day gift for @thosetrollkids and their Monster Kids Au, the whole Jlaireby family goes on a autumn walk

[nonokoko13]

SPOILERS SXF CHAPTER 93 ❗❗❗

So, chapter 93. Starting with Anya scores...

THAT'S MY GIRL!!!! CONGRATULATIONS BABY!!! 🎉🎊🥳

(Let's take a moment to appreciate what a good and supportive friend Becky is too 💖)

As I expected Anya passed classical language (with a huge improvement!) but in the large, tedious walk on Hell that is school not everyone can get exceptional grades in every subject unless you're a Desmond apparently and Anya, as many people who preceded her and will come after her, failed math.

I have seen many people make theories about how certain older student who we shall discuss next could be her tutor. However, my theory is that she will receive help from Bill in the future

It makes more sense: both already know each other, Anya has more chances of Bill accepting or suggesting to help her than the-one-I-shall-name-later and overall Bill seems more communicative and better at socialising and explaining himself. Let's not forget he received a stella in math after all. So for me Bill seems like the most plausible option (maybe we will get jealous Damian with this friendship?)

Back at the Forgers residence the Authens pay a visit to congratulate Anya as well. When I read Sigmund's sentence about how rewarding is to have a payment for your hard work my mind automatically thought "But sometimes no matter how hard you try you don't get a reward. Sometimes the result is just not worth the effort" (I think many people has a canon event that reveals them that, specially when you're in highschool, middle school or college)

And right after thinking that he agreed with me lol. My mind really anticipates things before finishing a panel

Speaking of hard work and grades, I'm taking this chance to give my opinion: a system based on giving stars to those who have the highest grades while those who fail face the possibility of being expelled is awful. Not getting a star and comparing yourself to your peers already make horrors to your self esteem, imagine a child getting expelled for repeatedly fail a exam that may not be adapted to their needs (or getting many tonitrus for things your teachers disapprove of you but you didn't know it was wrong or for something about yourself you cannot control. For example a kid with ADHD unintentionally interrupting someone, disconnecting in the middle of a conversation or making noise with their leg when they stay still for too long. No need to go as far as talking about neurodivergent kids, look at that chapter where Anya got a tonitrus for not having a handkerchief. Who the fuck is punished for that when you're an adult anyway)

Enough of that, back to the chapter. Let's talk about what hyped me the most: Demetrius finally appearing on screen!

We already had crumbs of him before. Given Damian inferiority complex when comparing himself to him when he had talked about school and Twilight noticing his exams barely had any mistakes back in the chapter where Daybreak was welcomed to this world, him being a exceptional student when it comes to academics isn't surprising in the least.

Many say he's ugly and exactly like his father but I disagree. Donovan looks like a goddamn Frankenstein if Frankenstein was ugly, Demetrius take after his dead eyes look but he's pretty like Melinda. Not conventionally pretty like Damian or Melinda but kinda pretty. Like a zombie with sleep deprivation but in an endearing way. It's not his fault he's built like a Tim Burton or Don't Starve Together character... anyway I'm sure his appearance can grow up on you, hopefully (;´ ▾ `)

About the theories regarding this panel

It may be true something's going on, maybe he was really experimented on... But I can't stop thinking he was in that very moment "No thoughts, head empty" mode

I mean, he looks like a walking corpse in dire need of a proper nap, can you blame him if his thoughts are mainly focused on studies when Donovan probably spent time with him only for the sake of producing a good grades, not independent thinking machine as his heir? "He watch him study all the time."

I don't think it was necessary for a tragic incident to change Donovan and made him distant from his family. I suspect he has always been like that, perhaps even before having Demetrius, so it was less a traumatic big event and more the exhausting everyday life Demetrius has been having as far as he remembers of being supervised by his father in order to be the best at school and everything that turned him into the probably burnt out teenager he is.

Same with Melinda, being married to somebody you might not have even loved when you first got together, a man who doesn't try to understand others or seem capable of caring for anyone, a man who is not precisely publicly known for his kindness (remember Millie and Yor's boss when Donovan was brought up?)... Being married to that kind of person for years and then having kids with that person and have to keep being related to them for at least until your kids graduate sound like a miserable life indeed

The Desmond have a common theme going around that is understanding the world around them, or rather the lack of it. I can say for sure that Demetrius feeling overwhelmed simply with a bunch of kids and thinking he can't understand people have its roots in Donovan

• For Donovan is his narrow minded belief that nobody can't understand — therefore neither trust — each other because people is different; and as long as that phrase of "two people can't think the same" lives to the reality it finds itself in reaching a common ground is impossible.

• Donovan influenced Demetrius. Perhaps Demetrius doesn't share his father belief and that's not why he can't understand others, maybe it is because he was possibly deprived of a normal childhood where he could socialise with others of his age without his father expectations onto him.

Many academic gifted children reach a part of their lives where their habit is to think inside the box of "Good grades is all I'm good at or all I should care about; good grades = doing fine; it's all about what you can prove to those who expect something from you, not what you can prove to yourself to make you feel satisfied and happy".

When people who raised you condition you to act, live and think the way they wanted you to do is difficult to break and separate yourself from that. Plus he's going through the middle school phase, from personal experience that makes you x10 times angsty and complicated to understand yourself, much less everyone else.

• With Damian it is less discussed and pointed out because he's been able to have a relatively normal —if anything very neglected — childhood up to this point. He has friends, he acts like a kid of his age, his life doesn't revolve around his grades all the time... But that's the bare minimum of what a good childhood should be like.

It may be because of his age, but he doesn't see the bigger picture of his family. He can't see what is wrong with them (yet) because in his eyes nothing is wrong. Sure, he feels lonely and works hard for his dad to notice him, but that happens in many families right? He's not even in denial, he doesn't phantom the idea that what his family is, how they behave towards each other or towards him, isn't normal.

Don't make me start with how his future plans is following Donovan's footsteps in politics because he's trying that hard to approach him. He works hard at school because in his mind being like Demetrius or how he believes Donovan wants him to be would bring them closer, receive an understanding relationship from his dad when we know there might not be genuine affection between them from Donovan's side to start with.

He's teaching himself that love is conditioned by your "worth" or by whether you get to the expectations your loved ones have. That reminds me of what Sigmund told Anya because it sounds like a foretelling of Damian's life: [...] And one day you'll experience the frustration of realizing that hard work is not always rewarded. He doesn't many things and his age may explain it but it doesn't justify, if he continues thinking like that he'll have his hopes crushed and may turn out like Demetrius.

• As for Melinda, is difficult to talk about the point she stands in the understanding theme. Unlike her family she does seem able to understand people, perhaps because she wasn't raised like her kids have been. She's aware that her husband party made a lot of damage to their country, she seems aware and attentive to what surrounds her.

I don't think she cannot be understanding or perceptive, I think it's the other way around: the people she's surrounded by cannot understand her. Neither Yor, Anya, Damian, surely Demetrius and Donovan neither, her "friends" of the association she's in... Not even us can't understand the reason why she's so conflictive about Damian yet.

In just one appearance Donovan made his belief clear, thus giving us an idea of what type of feelings he has towards Damian. We can get so much of his character as a person with one chapter, but Melinda has appeared more than him and her true self is unknown. Donovan is reserved in a physical way, he isolates himself by not going outside and socialising, but he's not against the idea of explaining a stranger his stance in life. Melinda surrounds herself of people and listens to them but she keeps to herself.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see more of Demetrius and the Desmonds. Hope we get more screen time of them, unless Endo has decided to drop such episode only to give us a one-shot chapter next and not elaborate further before introducing a complete different arc 💦

Although with what we have I'm already bought and entertained enough. Our favorite family is great but hooray for secondary characters being given depth and spotlight in this manga 🥳

See you next chapter reaction! If I made another one after other 25 full moons. I'm probably forgetting to talk about something...Oh well

[thosetrollkids]

One of these days I'll make a proper post about my nextgen Monster Kids AU.....

[peanutjinan]

I really appreciate moments like these where we can see the Eden kids act like genuine little kids. Not only Anya and Becky, but also background characters that typically don't get much of the spotlight like Emile and Ewen.

Endo really captures childlike excitement and enthusiasm in small moments like this one.

Also, I think it is a good thing that Damian has friends like them, who look at the world with childlike excitement and wonder. The boy needs this kind of influence.

[wavesofstatic07]

And the little green frog wept and wept for his poor mother’s body.

[the-scooby-gang]

Wait scrappy is bonded to one of the gang right?

Which one is it? Or is it all of them. Personally I hoping it's Fred.

This is a fun story actually!

Back before the gang were all romantically together the entire Rogers clan was keeping an eye on Scrapy to see who he would bond with. There were no Rogers of bonding age for him to pair with so they all thought he was destined to be a Doo by adoption (when someone gains a Doo by being adopted into the Rogers clan) or a Doo by Marriage (where a Doo bonds with a non-Roger that is destined to marry into the family).

When I tell you Shaggy was Struggling™ because it looked like he was going to bond with Fred (he even started coping his speech patterns and saying “treasure” like that) only to turn around and attach his tiny puppy self to Daphne for months only to turn around again and go with Velma to her NASA internship as emotional support…

Let’s say Shaggy was very confused and just a bit frustrated.

But it turned out to be just the curiosity and friendliness of young puppies. Scrappy has found his Rogers not that long ago in 2011 when they found Cousin Steve on that iceberg.

[keepscrollinghun]

[marauderstiltheend]

My stomach hurts from laughing.

This is by far, the most hilarious chapter for Eden setting.

From the way Endo draw the panels, the kids' facial expressions, the dialogues and the gags. Its by far, the most action-packed shoujofied shonen chapter in all of Jump's history.

Tatsuya Endo needs to be protected. That goes for his works too.