#Kronos' other siblings should also be here at this time

[restinslices]

Everything pt4 (FINALE)

PJO Show Ares x Child!Reader (no gender specified)

Word count: 6772

Summary: It’s been years since you’ve spoken with your father, but with Kronos’ armies marching and the final battle approaching, you have one question on your mind. If you survived this, would it be too late to mend what was broken? Unbeknownst to you, Ares is wondering the same thing. Warnings: Spoilers for The Last Olympian (not too big though), giving Hestia a power idk if she has for the plot, angst, OOC Ares but y’all know this already

You know what sucks more than daddy issues?

The world ending. 

Both are seriously draining but the world ending? It was a real bummer. Not only was it a bummer, but it was incredibly confusing. You expected to be actively in battle right now, not being made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich by Luke's mom. 

As shady as it sounded, you couldn't understand for the life of you how Hermes had fallen in love with her. She looked as if she had been electrocuted multiple times and the smile she wore reminded you of something you'd see in a horror movie. Looks aside, sandwiches and cookies were rotting in her house and it smelled like something had died. You couldn't see Hermes being here. 

“Ms. Castellan” you began as nicely as possible. “I'm not Luke. My friends aren't either. This is Percy, Nico and I'm Y/N. We're…” the people that want Luke dead. No. You couldn't say that. “We're friends of Luke. That's all”. She seemed to understand what you said, even if her eyes told a different story. 

“Friends… Friends? Friends with my precious boy…” you almost scoffed. “I'm so glad he has friends. I've always wanted to meet his friends”. She spoke like she was in a dream state and her eyes stayed on you, not blinking once. “You've come for a sleepover? I'd have to talk to your parents first. I need to know if you have allergies! Then your parents and I can also be friends and spend time together! I'm sure I'd like them”. 

You forced yourself to keep smiling at her, even if she unknowingly brought up something you were trying desperately not to think about. In 2007 you and your father Ares came to an agreement that it'd be best if you never saw each other again. The year was 2009 and you were still keeping up your side of the deal. You didn't burn offerings for him, you didn't go see him for that field trip, you haven't even uttered his name since then. When you heard about the gods fighting Typhon, you tried not to think about him getting hurt. 

You were the one that proposed the deal, yet you immediately regretted it. A part of you thought “good job! You're keeping your peace! Your relationship would've never gotten better anyway!”. The largest part of you kept thinking “but what if you were wrong? What if he changed?”. 

You shook your head. Curse your stupid loyalty. You could've turned Nico and Percy down, but Percy pleaded with you to come with him. The last time you become someone's adoptive older sibling… 

“Nah, you wouldn't like my dad Ms. Castellan. He's a real hardhead”. She chuckled, which looked insanely creepy because she still hadn't blinked. 

“Men tend to be. I'm sure he's still very lovely”. Yeah, if you enjoyed headaches. 

Nico took over the conversation and thankfully your familial issues were no longer a topic. Thankfully should be in quotations though, because the conversation quickly turned depressing. May Castellan spoke like she was floating and talked about her son and Hermes as if the last couple of years hadn't happened at all. In your heart, you knew that she either didn't know, or she forgot. You didn't know what happened to her and why she looked like she took a tumble in Wonderland and never escaped, but whatever happened caused her to never see reality the same. You pitied her. Poor woman. Forever making sandwiches for a boy that had grown into a man. An angel that snipped his own wings. 

Suddenly she stopped and screamed. You all jumped up and you pushed the two boys behind you. You doubted May Castellan would try to fight any of you, but you wouldn't take that chance. 

A glowing green filled her vision and she rasped “My child! Must protect him! Hermes! Help! Not my child! Not his fate! No!”. She grabbed at your shoulders and continued screaming about fates and you pushed her off. 

“Guys! Let's get out of here!” You yelled to the boys behind you. 

You were prepared to run out of there, but May collapsed and Percy ran to catch her before she could hit the floor. 

As quickly as she was screaming about fate and her eyes were glowing, it all stopped. She went back to her version of normal. 

“Normal” was a word that really sucked as a demigod because your version of normal would never be what you wanted. What you wished was normal for you was going to school, complaining about teachers, listening to music and playing video games. Your normal was fighting monsters, training, keeping the world from ending and nightmares. When other people's lives diverged from the norm, it was probably something small, like dyeing their hair a neon color. Your version of “well this doesn't always happen” was sitting across from Hestia and listening to her do that thing gods do, where they give you advice in riddles. 

The conversation was mainly on Percy, until it wasn’t anymore. Hestia looked over at you and you couldn’t help but feel small under her gaze (which was comical considering she looked like an 8 year old girl), like she was peering deep into your soul in search of something. 

In any other circumstance, you would’ve stayed silent. You didn’t have time for more mysteries right now, so you cleared your throat and said “my lady, is there something you want to say?”. 

“I just wonder…”

”Wonder? About what? Please, I wanna hear it” 

“I wonder whose side you’re on”. 

What?

Your brows furrowed. “The gods obviously”.

”Is it obvious though?”. You had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes. Making an enemy out of Hestia wasn’t on your to do list.

”My lady, may I speak bluntly?”. She nodded. You really wished she didn’t choose the form of a child so you wouldn’t feel so silly. “The world is ending and there’s still so much I haven’t done. I’m stressed out, wondering if I’ll survive the battle-” if your father would care if you didn’t, “-if our efforts will be enough, how many mortals will die, if the gods survive their battle with Typhon. Please don’t add ‘not understanding a riddle’ to my stress. Whatever you’re thinking, just say it”. You could feel Nico shooting you a ‘are you crazy?’ look. How else were you supposed to say it? You thought you were being extremely kind and respectful. The alternative was “English please”.

Hestia looked you over as she thought. “I’ve heard about your conversations with your father”. Yeah sure, let’s bring that up again. Perfect!

You shifted uneasily, not wanting to talk about this anymore. Hestia either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “I wonder why you didn’t side with Kronos”.

You couldn’t stop yourself from rolling your eyes this time. Did she truly think so little of you? “Why would I side with him?”.

”Many of the demigods on his side feel neglected. No doubt you do as well. I wonder what’s the difference between you and them” 

“Brains” you answered. “We all have parental issues. You don’t side with a guy like Kronos”

”You think little of those demigods? Think yourself above them?” 

“You know what I did when I was angry with Ares?” His name felt strange on your tongue. It’d been so long since you said his name. “I gave myself terrible bangs and wore all black. I stared outside car windows, listened to sad music and imagined myself in a music video. I wrote in a diary that said ‘do not touch or I’ll kill you!’, all in uppercase letters. I didn’t side with a crazy Titan that wants to destroy the world as we know it. Seems a bit extreme, don’t you think?”. She nodded.

“My lady I mean this with respect and love in my heart; what is the point of this conversation?”.

She poked at the fire a bit before answering. “This battle will be a hard one. Perhaps I am buying time and trying to memorize your face in case something goes wrong”. Gee, thanks for all the hope lady.

”If something goes wrong for me, I at least hope everyone else gets a happy ending”

”Your death does not frighten you?” She asked with a raised brow.

”Of course it does” you answered truthfully. “But I can’t let fear stop me from doing what I know is right. You’re the goddess of the home, so you should understand when I say I fight for my home. I don’t think home is just a place though. Home can be people. Percy, Annabeth, 

Grover, Nico…” you swallowed, “… my dad. They’re my home. I won’t let my home be hurt without a fight. I’m willing to fight, kill, and die for my home. That’s how much home means to me”.

She smiled. “Spoken like a true child of Ares”. You wish she’d just tell you why she was hassling you in simple words. “But homes can be hectic-“

”My relationship with Ares is hectic but it doesn’t matter”

”You have hope”

”Sounds more like a statement than a question” you mumbled.

You looked at the fire, not wanting to look at (what appeared to be) the child on your ass.

When looking at the flames, for whatever reason you thought of home.

Images flashed in your mind. Images of camp, of laughing campers, of you and Percy giving Sally multiple heart attacks.

Of you and Annabeth debating, you and Grover planting flowers, you and Clarisse training together.

Images of your life flashed quickly, yet it all made sense. You could see everything as if you were there again.

Then the images slowed.

You felt Ares arms as he caught you when you fell from multiple floors up in the mall.

You could smell burgers and fries in the diner and saw him sitting across from you.

You could hear the two of you arguing and your ears started to burn with rage when you suddenly felt his warm embrace. You leaned into him and sighed, feeling his beard against the top of your head. You probably looked ridiculous to everyone else in the diner, but you didn’t care. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt his warmth and you knew you never would again. 

“I love you dad” you said.

You couldn’t believe what you heard next. He said “I love you too” and he genuinely sounded like he meant it. At the time, you thought there was no possible way he could’ve been being genuine.

“He’s gotten good at lying” you thought. “That’s all. He doesn’t care. You’re making things up”.

But what if you were wrong? What if there was a chance?

”I have to have hope” you said out loud. You were too busy looking at memories in the fire and missed Hestia’s satisfied smile. 

Hope.

Home.

If you were still alive by the end of the war, you knew you’d have to break your end of the agreement.

You knew you had to go home.

***

Everyone knew war was coming.

The hope for everyone else was that Kronos would never get strong enough to challenge the gods. Hope wasn’t something you could depend on though. You had to actually work, and apparently the gods hadn't done enough. 

All the gods, besides one, was nervous. Of course Ares was more excited than nervous, like a child in a candy store. If he had the power to control time, he’d speed this whole thing up so he could be in battle already. The anticipation was killing him.

It was so grim and depressing in Olympus. Everyone was on edge and acting as if this would be their last time seeing each other. Complete and utter bullshit. They were the 12 Olympians for fucks sake! Anyone else there was there for a reason. They’d beat Kronos and his army, then drink to their victory and hug their children.

Hug their children? 

“Stop”, he thought. “Not that shit again”.

He didn’t wanna think about children.

He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance and made his way to a nearby fireplace.

”Ares” Hestia greeted without having to look at him.

“Hestia” he greeted back and sat down next to her on the ground. “Poking at the fire again?”

“What else is there to do?”

“You could be preparing for the battle”. She made a noise of disapproval, 

“You know I'm not one for fighting. I am where home is”. He couldn't say he understood it, but whatever kept her happy. Ares wasn't fond of all the gods, but he liked Hestia. She stayed to herself and overall was friendly with everyone. She didn't blab her mouth or make jokes about him and Aphrodite being caught by Hephaestus. She was a breath of fresh air honestly. 

Hestia looked over at him and cocked her head to the side. “No” he said before she could get anything out, “don't start asking me questions about feelings and try to dissect me”. Hestia was nice and all, but she always noticed when someone was off, and even if they weren't she'd find a way to make a conversation more deep than it needed to be. 

“Ares, the battle ahead will be a difficult one. There's a possibility that you could be destroyed or that your children-”

“Don't”. His voice came out harsh and he shot her a warning look. Unfortunately for him, Hestia was never intimidated by that. 

“They can die. Do you think they're keeping their feelings bottled? I doubt it. I hear them whisper their fears around the campfire at camp. They're terrified Ares.”

“How many are terrified?”

“All of them”. 

He wished he didn't ask. He should've stayed curious. 

Hestia was right. Any of his children could die. Maybe all of them. They all probably whispered to each other in their cabin, trying to comfort each other, and what was he doing? Sitting in Olympus. 

He hated that he cared. Ever since his last talk with a particular child, he had been trying to build those walls back up and go back to being his “normal” self. Unfortunately, those cracks seemed to remain and refused to go away. He tried to seal them, but even something as small as a talk with Hestia revealed those cracks again. “They'll be ok” he said although he knew the truth. The truth was that he had no idea what would happen. 

“I could deliver a message to them if you'd like”

“There's nothing I can think to say to them”

“Then perhaps you could say something to me. Whatever is on your mind, you can speak and I will listen”. 

Ares didn't wanna look at her so instead he looked at the fire in an attempt to ignore her. That proved to be an error when his nose filled with the familiar smell of rain and his ears filled his child's voice. 

“To me… to me you were everything. You are everything. “. Your tears mixed in with the rain and you wore a deep frown full of a child's repeated crushed dreams. His heart squeezed tightly for the first time in a while and he hated it. That's when it all started. 

Other memories flashed. Memories of him and the other Olympians fighting wars, sometimes with each other. 

He saw a time before strict rules and before he vowed to keep himself distant from his children. A time when he mourned them fully and intensely when their final breath passed their lips and their bodies became limp. 

He saw the time now and while it was full of distance and misery, he saw his other children. He saw them visiting him and talking about things he didn't care about but listened to anyway. Saw their sad faces and hung heads when they had to leave. 

It all went back to you though. 

“You want more from the child of Ares?!” You had puffed your chest when you said his name and held your sword tighter. “I have plenty to give!”. 

He heard your back and forth snarky comments to each other before the smell of food filled his nose and the conversation went from humorous to angry then sad. 

“I don't matter to you. Just admit it so we can move on”. You were so wrong but you said the words with such conviction. You genuinely thought you were right. Was that truly how neglectful he had become? All his children had become strangers and he couldn't blame anyone but himself. 

“Seeing you at all, it gives me hope” Was hope so bad to have though?

“You want this?”

“No” you said immediately. He remembers how he was surprised you had been that honest with him. He thought you'd make up a lie and pretend to be extremely confident, but your voice cracked and this time there was no rain to hide your tears. If earlier you wore a frown of repeated crushed dreams, that day your eyes filled with a child's final dream crushed. 

But then he felt the both of you hug and he couldn't help but think to himself “Does the dream have to be crushed? Does hope have to be lost?”. 

The fire continued to show him more memories of his children before it went back to you purposefully ignoring him. He had to admit that seeing you spend time with Hermes instead of him made his brows lower in frustration. But he agreed to a deal. 

“Ares?” Hestia questioned. Ares kept staring at the fire and hoped the images would return, but they slowly faded away. She said his name again. She had saw what he saw and felt the way his heart cried. It was a feeling she never wanted to experience again. 

He agreed to that deal… but what would happen to him if he broke it? Nothing that hasn't happened before. How could he see all of that and still want to keep his side of the deal?

“I think…” he whispered “I think I miss my children…”. 

His children. His family. His home. He had to believe that hope was possible. 

Hope.

Home.

He'd fight with his all while keeping everyone in the back of his mind. He knew he'd have to break his end of the deal. 

He knew he had to go home.

***

If someone were to ask how you felt in this exact moment, it'd be irritation. Because of some stupid disagreement between the Ares kids and the Apollo kids, Clarisse ordered that none of Ares' children were to attend the battle. When you reminded Clarisse that this battle was bigger than some stupid argument over a chariot and that campers have already died and more will, she simply puffed her chest and went on about how she's tired of Ares getting disrespected. Sure, ok. Maybe you got a point Clarisse. Couldn't this wait until after though?

You shared some harsh words, half of them being curse words, and joined the battle with everyone else. 

Manhattan as a whole was trapped in a deep sleep, yet somehow they seemed like the lucky ones. Sure, maybe a monster would step on them but at least they'd die in their sleep. If you died you'd be fully conscious and you knew it'd hurt. 

Only a fool feels no fear. A bigger fool lets fear paralyze them. You did your best to let your fear move you through your enemies and you cut and hacked at them, leaving a trail of dust in your wake. You tried at first to ignore how many old campers you were killing, but it was hard to when your sword was soaked and you stared in the eyes of people you used to call friends before you took their life. It didn't feel good but it was either you or them. None of them held their punches and those same kids came in camp and killed campers, so you wouldn't hold your punches either. 

A squeal filled your ears and you winced as you looked up. The fighting stopped and you understood why when you saw a huge flying pig heading straight towards everyone. You scoffed and wanted to make some sort of joke, but figured now wasn't the time. 

“As far as I know, no hero has ever beaten it” you heard Annabeth say when you got closer to her and Percy. Your heart beat in a skittish panic but you forced yourself to hold your sword firmly and say the words “we will” as serious and brave as you could muster. 

Percy had some idea and while you were told to keep the enemies back, your eyes landed on a white Pegasus and you knew you couldn't. 

“Hey Annabeth” you grabbed her arm, making sure not to grab too tight because of her previous wound. 

“Yeah?” she asked. Annabeth looked terrible. She was covered in dirt, dust, blood, and her hair was so out of place that you thought May Castellan would take kindly to her. You didn't know how you looked but you knew that all of you would need showers if you survived. 

“I love you too”

No. When you survived. 

“I'm gonna try and help Percy. Stay here. I'll come back. I promise”. Before she could ask you what you meant or remind you that you couldn't promise such a thing, you ran off to the Pegasus. 

“Hey buddy” you waved and forced a smile. You knew Percy could understand them and vice versa, but you couldn't understand them and you didn't know if that could understand you. “Me” you pointed at yourself, “friendly” you raised a thumbs up. You pet its head and it didn't bite you, so you assumed it understood. 

“Me” you pointed at yourself. “You” you pointed at the Pegasus. “Follow Percy and pig” you pointed at Percy and the pig, who were quickly vanishing from view. It nodded its head and after a sigh of relief, you got on its back. 

If it wasn't for the war and death, you'd say you were really enjoying this. How many people could say they had done something like this? Not many, that's for sure. 

“Hey Sharkboy!” You yelled when you were within shouting distance. Percy thankfully was no longer hanging by a rope, but was on Blackjack. You didn't know if Blackjack recognized you as the one always giving him donuts, but he made a pleased sound when he saw you. “Uh, is this a part of your plan?” You motioned to the statue that took his place attached to the rope. “It's a pretty shit one”. 

The boy rolled his eyes and huffed at you. Whether it was because of the nickname or insulting his plan, you didn't know. It made you smile either way. “I gotta get close to it! I can activate the statue to fight the pig!”. 

Flying pigs, fighting statues, just another day as a demigod. You rubbed in between your brows to stop the migraine that was forming. How hadn't you gone insane yet?

“It sounds crazy but-” Percy kept talking but you stopped listening. You looked behind you at the battle and like a fool, you froze. 

Manhattan was a war zone. This you knew. Seeing it up high like you were a god though made it all seem so much worse. You could see family being forced to fight each other. You could hear screams and pleads and crying. You could see kids trying to dodge being stepped on. You saw so many people not being allowed to mourn. You saw death. You saw it everywhere. 

Then your shock and fear turned to anger. These were your friends and family killing each other! Sure, they were still responsible for their actions, but there wouldn't be any actions for them to take if Kronos hadn't got in the way. He used these people and he didn't care how many died. He just wanted his throne. Annabeth could die. Grover could die. Percy could die. 

Your father could be destroyed. 

You didn't know how you looked, but you must've looked terrifying because Percy “talks back to everyone” Jackson looked at you the way you expected him to look at the gods; with edge. 

“Hey-”

You pet the animal under you neck and pointed at the pig “closer!” You ordered. It obeyed. It beat its wings harder and you passed Blackjack and Percy with ease. The closer you got, the more you could smell its stench. Under normal circumstances you'd pinch your nose and walk the opposite way, but this time you kept going straight towards it. 

The animal under you whined and you assumed that meant it was having a hard time keeping up. Your eyes fell to the rope and you knew what you had to do. 

Your sword morphed back into a necklace when you brought it close to you and after so much practice, clasping it wasn't a problem for you anymore. 

“Good boy or girl. I'll get you some snacks when this is all over. You like donuts?” it made a pleased sound and you pet its neck. 

You moved so that instead of straddling the animal, your legs were hanging over one side. 

“Don't let me die” you whispered to no one in particular then you pushed yourself off. 

A mixture of luck and skill prevented you from becoming a mark on the concrete. 

The rope burned your bare hands but you held on anyway. You managed to grab on above the statue and started climbing upwards, using the beating in your chest to motivate you not to fall and die. The white Pegasus stayed beside you as you forced yourself up the rope and you gripped the pig's fur to pull yourself all the way up. Now, pigs don't have tons of fur, but a giant pig had plenty enough to grab onto. 

The wind blew through your hair so harshly that you were surprised it didn't snatch it all off. The pig was flying at an intense speed with its only goal being to destroy everything you loved. 

You pulled your necklace off and it turned back into the double edged sword your father gifted you so many years ago. 

It was only now that you realized something. 

When you killed this thing, it'd disintegrate. You wouldn't. In the mall you were high up but you were only up a couple floors. Now you were definitely above the mall and many other buildings. The white Pegasus was no longer keeping up with you and when you looked behind you, Percy and Blackjack were still a while away. 

Percy connected the dots a lot faster than you did and you saw his lips move and Blackjack's wings flap faster. 

What do you say when you know you're gonna die? Damn. You didn't have time to prepare and you didn't have time for a speech. 

You felt like you were looking back at the flames. At home. At hope. You were supposed to return home after the battle and things would be okay again. But in the same breath, this is why you were fighting. You were fighting for your home and so the people you love could live as peacefully as they could. 

The sword felt heavier in your hand. You smiled to yourself. You still had a piece of home with you and you'd use it to better the lives of the other people you call home. 

You screamed as loud as you could in hopes Percy would hear you. “IF EVERYTHING GOES OKAY, TELL MY DAD THAT…” tell him what? You had so much to say. What could wrap everything you wanted to say together?

“... TELL HIM I MISS HIM! AND THAT I LOVE HIM!”. 

Blackjack's wings beat harder, yet he was still far. Percy wore a look of determination and you laughed. You couldn't believe he was still the young scared boy that arrived at camp when he was 12. 

“I LOVE YOU GUYS TOO!”. You smiled at him to leave him with something nice to remember. “THIS WAS FUN!”. 

You turned away from him and with as much strength as you could muster you plunged the sword through the pig’s skin. 

You felt its body crumble away and then you felt yourself slipping through the air. 

***

As one could assume, war was Ares' element and where he felt the most comfortable. There wasn't much to say about the battle. Sure, it was a battle for humanity but honestly? Ares wasn't that worried. Call it an inflated sense of self. Was it really that though when you could back up how high you thought of yourself?

As corny as it sounded, the war in his mind was much more intense. As he fought, his mind kept slipping back to what he saw in the flames. His family. His children. His home. His hope. The reason he fought. Sure he liked a good fight but he fought this giant monster with the other Olympians for his family. 

Ares is a proud man, so naturally he had faith that his children would survive the battle, but an ego could only get you so far. He knew the truth. He knew that any of his children could be crushed at any second, or squeezed to death, or stabbed, or eaten, or whatever Kronos and his army had planned. He knew that he could return to whatever was left of Olympus and he could mourn children that he had forced to become strangers. He wanted to be better. He had to be. He just needed time and that meant he needed his children alive. Especially the one that started this. 

Besides the diner, Ares had only held you once. He didn't think he'd remember it well yet somehow he could smell the cookies your mother had baked and he could remember exactly how the furniture was. He could see blinds covering the windows and the white walls lined with family photos and art pieces. He could see the black couch that sat across from the TV which sat on a table. 

And he could feel your mother place you in his arms. 

“This is your child” she had said. He looked over at her and she smiled down at you with a sense of joy and pride, which was much different to how he saw her look at you recently, with hate and contempt. 

You were so small then. Only months old, still exploring the world and having no idea how life would beat you down. You cooed as you looked up at him and shifted in his arms. He wondered if somehow you knew he was your father and that he was no threat to you. 

So small. So curious. So innocent. Now you were a warrior seasoned by the battles you had been fighting since you were a small child. 

He kept thinking about what would happen next the entire time. He knew he'd have to break his end of the agreement, but it was up to you and any of his other children to accept him turning a new page. It absolutely did NOT frighten him more than the Titan he was battling. Absolutely not. 

As Ares suspected, the Olympians and their children won the war. Kronos was gone and his armies were slaughtered. That was the best part. He didn't get the chance to have a good look at the battle, but seeing the damage the demigods caused made him proud. He hadn't seen you though, which was something he noted. 

The worst part was looking at Percy Jackson's face. Sure, he started the fight but that didn't matter! When Ares said “enemy for life” he meant it! The fact that he had to listen to Percy be praised and he couldn't beat on him right then and there made him tap his finger against the arm of his chair in discontent. 

“Lord Ares” Percy said and he could tell he hated saying the “Lord” part. It made him grin. 

“Boy?”

Percy's fist balled and Ares continued smirking. 

“I have a message from your child”. 

His smirk fell when he heard your name. A message? Did that mean… 

“They said that they missed you and loved you. They were… They…” he paused and Ares leaned forward. “They were in trouble and out of everything they could've said, they said that. They’re-” 

Ares didn't let him finish. He jumped out his chair and his feet thundered against the ground as he sped walked to the elevator. 

This couldn't be. That boy was wrong. His child was fine! He wanted to be better for them and now…?

No. No no no no! This couldn't be! He pressed the floor button repeatedly hoping that the elevator would move faster, even if he knew that's not how elevators worked. 

He lied to you once and said that gods didn't feel fear. How wrong he was. His whole body felt warm and if he wasn't pressing the button then he was tapping his fingers against his legs and if he wasn't doing that then he was pacing and if he wasn't doing that then he was imagining your limp body covered in blood. Was it at least quick?

“I love you dad”

No… 

Not his baby… 

After what felt like hours the elevator dinged and the doors opened. 

He stepped into the hall of the building. 

***

Turns out you should give Blackjack a lot more credit. 

You closed your eyes and hoped that the fall wouldn't hurt as much as you suspected it would and then suddenly your crotch hit something hard. 

“Fuck!” You exclaimed. Your eyes flew open and that's when you realized Blackjack actually managed to catch you. Percy let out a breath you suspected he was holding the whole time. 

“You don't ever do that again!” he scolded. Ironic coming from the guy who always did stupid things. 

“I hope I won't have to”. He rolled his eyes and looked back ahead of him. 

“I just knew you were gonna do something stupid. I just couldn't tell what it was at first. And don't you ever look at me like that again”

“Like what?”

“Like you want to kill something”. Once again, ironic. Percy had that same look on his face more times than you could count, but instead of arguing you kept a hand on his shoulder and said “sure Sharkboy”. 

You tried to tune out the rest of the battle to keep yourself sane. One moment you and Percy joined everyone else, then Percy and Annabeth went to Olympus and now you were sitting in the Empire State building completely exhausted. You were slumped in a chair, covered in dirt and grime when the Stoll brothers came over. 

“Guess what we have” Connor said in a sing song voice and raised his brows.

“An Advil?”. The two laughed like what you said was funny. It wasn't funny to you. Your head was killing you. 

“Even better” Travis said. “Boom!”. You hadn't noticed the bag he had on him somehow, and when he opened it your eyes were filled with candy. You looked back up at their faces, both with an ear to ear smile. 

“I thought Percy said not to snatch anything when everyone was asleep”. 

“We didn't! How could you say something like that?” The two looked at each other with faux innocence but their devious smiles betrayed them. Whatever. You were too tired to scold them and it wasn't your business that got ransacked. 

“Listen, we'd typically charge for these but since you killed that pig, you can get something for free”

You raised a brow at them and looked at them disinterested. “Or I could report you and make you take all that back”

“You won't” Travis challenged. 

Little shit was right. 

You looked in the bag for what you wanted and chuckled when you saw it. 

When you and Ares talked in the rain that night, you debated on burning a fruit roll up as an offering. You decided that was a shit offering and didn't do it, but your father saw you in the rain and came over anyway. 

Now that same flavor of fruit roll up was sitting at the top of all of that candy. 

You took it and thanked the two. They were on their way after, probably about to scam some poor kid by overcharging it. They never tried that with you or any of the other older kids. 

You pocketed the candy and used your sword to help you stand. You were exhausted. Your shoulders sagged, your back ached and you smelled like everything unfortunate in the world. You needed a shower and new clothes desperately. 

You began walking then a ding filled your ears and out of curiosity you turned from the door and looked over. 

It was him. 

By the way his eyes softened you could tell he saw you. You were done lying to yourself and convincing yourself he didn't care. You knew you saw relief in his eyes. 

Maybe Ares should've listened to what else Percy was gonna say. Maybe he was gonna say “they're fine but you should really talk to them”. Something like that. 

Ares had seen you tear up multiple times. In sadness, in anger, in betrayal. This time though? You didn't look hurt. You looked relieved. You looked like how he felt. You looked like a huge pain had been lifted off your shoulders. If before you looked like a child whose dreams were crushed, now you looked like an adult who realized there was nothing crushed that couldn't be fixed. 

You had grown up more since he last saw you. He didn't wanna miss any more years. 

“And I hope the idea of me calling you Ares instead of dad terrifies you” 

The words rang in his ears. You were right. It terrified him. It paralyzed him. He had one question on his mind. 

What would you call him?

The two of you stood facing each other for seconds but it felt longer. Both your minds were racing. You were both thinking of the past, the fact that both of you were okay, and wondering what the future would be.

You felt like a kid again. You just stared at him with so many emotions coursing through you. The main ones being joy and relief. 

Without thinking, you threw your sword to the side and ran at him. “Daddy!” You shouted with the inner voice of a child who was finally getting everything they wanted. You jumped into his arms and he caught you. His grasp was firm and he kept you close. 

You both closed your eyes and focused on each other's warm embrace. You were both okay. You were both home. Neither of you held your tears and vulnerabilities from each other. 

“I heard you were missing me” he said. You knew it was a joke but you couldn't laugh. You nodded into his shoulder. 

“I did”. 

“I missed you too” he admitted. It felt so good to finally admit. 

It felt so good to finally hear. He missed you. He cared for you. He loved you. He was holding you. 

“I don't like our agreement anymore” you mumbled. “You gonna rearrange my fingers or-”

“No” he answered firmly. He set you down and his hands held your face. “No” he said again. 

“Not gonna turn me into an ant either?” You joked. He smiled at you and pulled you into another hug.

“I love you dad”

“I love you too”. 

Ares did something he hadn't done in a while and he kissed the top of your head like he saw other fathers do. It surprised him how much happiness it filled him with. You on the other hand thought this would only happen in dreams. You were so glad you were wrong. 

Then he did something else he hadn't done in a while. 

He apologized. 

“I'm sorry”

“I know” you answered simply.

“I'm gonna be better”. 

You smiled and closed your eyes, allowing yourself to melt in his embrace. 

“I believe you”. 

Hope. 

Home. 

You two managed to hold onto hope. What others would call delusional or stupid, you called a dream. You both managed to make that dream a reality. 

After years and years of complications, heartache and frustration, you two made it. 

You two made it home. 

If y’all sexualize the reader calling Ares “daddy” I swear I will rewrite this and have the reader die a terrible death. Do NOT-

Anyway y’all IT’S HERE! We finally made it to the end! Y’all feeling as proud and emotional as I do? Originally Everything wasn’t gonna be a series. I made pt1 and was like “yeah. A simple one shot” but people wanted more and it became a series. I got 2 abandoned series for different fandoms so it’s an accomplishment I finished this one. I don’t have any new series planned right now but I wanted to say thank you for the support Everything has gotten and the nice comments I’ve received. This was really fun. Until next time! (Also I told y’all they’d get a happy ending. I know some of y’all didn’t believe me)

Taglist: @kyuupidwrites @chadmeeksmartinswifey @lebguardians @beansficreblogs @itzjustj-1000 @white-wolf-buckaroo @elsisenta @leathesimp @marshymallo @stickyfictioninwriting @asexualaromosafezone @arialikestea @1mawh0re @samoanroyalty @wolfgirl294 @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin @ohlookitsasinglepoeceofpopcorn

[butterr-bee]

WL!Winner Imagery Thoughts

Since the Wild Life finale was yesterday I thought I would share my thoughts on what the winner’s celestial symbolism should be in the form of a very long tumblr post, because what else do I have to do with my time?

Spoilers for the Wild Life SMP finale and winner + long post

Firstly a big congrats to Joel for winning!!! It's very deserved and he worked so hard for it, so GG!!

Like I said above, I’ve got some thoughts about what celestial body we should use to represent him as a winner and so I’m going to share them with whoever stumbles upon this.

[NOTE: Anything I say here is not meant to attack anyone who has different opinions or belittle anyone. I’m doing this for fun and to share my thoughts, not to hurt anyone's feelings. I love you all, do whatever you want forever.]

So far for each of the winners we have;

Sun - Grian

Stars - Scott

Moon - Pearl

Mars - Martyn (some people say Comet/Meteor but Mars is the most popular)

Earth - Scar

Pluto - Cleo (this depends on your personal headcanons as well but I like it, and this post isn’t about the intricacies of mine)

Now as funny as all of the “he should be car” jokes are (seriously they’re hilarious to me), I don't want to take away from his win by making it a joke, especially since we already have someone who isn’t fully accepted as a serious winner. (IDC if it was April Fools, Cleo you will always be a winner in my heart)

I’ve also seen a few people say Mars or Meteor, but this becomes confusing with Martyn’s symbolism and takes away from Joel’s win as well. I want to avoid that as much as possible because he deserves the same respect as the other winners.

Other ones I’ve seen are; Chariot, Supernova, White Dwarf, Shooting Star, Neutron Star, Jupiter, Mercury, and I’m sure there are more. None of these really stick for me so I’m going to go ahead and add to the list.

Usually, I’ve stayed out of discussions about winner symbolism in the past and left it up to the more brainy fans, but I have thought about what different players could be from time to time since I absolutely love space. When my older sibling said Venus it got my mental hamster going on its wheel.

Venus has been a popular planet in history for an incredibly long time and in many different cultures. It’s the second brightest object in the night sky (second to the Moon) and has a fascinating synodic cycle (how it moves through the sky). This movement causes it to get to a certain distance from the Sun to make it look like it’s disappearing from the sky for several days and then reappearing on the other side of it. Because of this, Venus can appear before sunrise in the morning or after sunset in the evening, but it never seems to reach the top of the sky. This has led to it being known by two other names, Morning Star and Evening Star. It also has many other names in different cultures and it wasn’t until the 13th century that it was given the name Venus, but I won't go into all of that today.

Venus has lots and lots of history around it mythologically, having been portrayed as both feminine and masculine and even as two figures at once. It’s known for representing love, war, beauty, and relationships—and it just isn’t quite right for Joel.

So after doing my extra research on Venus, I found that it wasn’t really the best fit (sorry Kat, not enough talk about family for it to cut it /hj). Even with the interesting parallel of Grian and Joel’s dynamic and how Venus goes from one side of the Sun and ends up on the other, it was too much of a stretch. I was going to stop here but then I got thinking about other planets and my mind wandered to the seventh planet from the sun.

You all know and love to make jokes about his name, Uranus! (a little pet peeve of mine, it’s pronounced your-un-us NOT your-anus)

Uranus is one of two Ice Giants and has the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System. It’s named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky, the father of Kronos, but it has been argued that it has more mythological relevance with my favorite boy Prometheus. You know, the Titan that ticked off the gods by stealing fire for mortals and now has to have his liver eaten by eagles for eternity? Yeah, my boy.

This planet is known for being the planet of freedom and revolutionary vision. It represents the urge for change, the ability to visualize new possibilities, and “breaking through”. Much like how Joel was trying a new tactic for winning this season, Uranus is known symbolically for defying tradition and embracing change and originality.

So, it’s known for breakthroughs, extremes, innovation, and rebellion. Sounds about right for Joel, but I didn’t want to stop there. Doing more digging I looked for other similarities between the two of them.

A lot of what I found fit Joel’s character pretty well, but mostly from past seasons; eccentric, strange, unique, unpredictable, and untamed (although Joel is always strange /lh) but I was looking for something more current, something that was all about family. I did find the word wild used and referred to a few times though which was great.

My search was getting repetitive, everyone had the same things to say about Uranus’s symbolism and I was looking for someone to go more in-depth. But eventually, I made a breakthrough (how fitting)—the word “reformation”, which Oxford defines as “the action or process of reforming an institution or practice”. Bingo baby!

I looked further into this side of Uranus, the sort of things that use the wild aspects of this sort of personality in meaningful and productive ways. Lots of people were saying that negative expressions of Uranus include irresponsibility and rebelliousness without a cause—things that kept Joel from winning in the past—but I found someone who said this;

“Uranus asks us to adopt a humanitarian spirit and global mindset, allowing us to live as one unified being.”

This implies that to reach the positive expressions of Uranus—things like progressiveness, ingenuity, and enlightenment—a person under this planet would need to start looking beyond themselves as a singular goal and to care for and support others. To “live as one unified being” the way one might say a family should work together as a unit for the benefit of everyone involved. In other words, to use their eccentric and wild personality to help others as well as themself.

And what was Joel’s entire Wild Life PoV about? Dom Toretto Flipping his previous tactic of being an insane loner /j on its head and making friends by helping everyone else as well as himself. He used his wild nature and ability to commit to the bit to his advantage and won the whole series as the last green name, last yellow name, and last man standing.

So that is why I propose that we start using the planet Uranus to symbolize Joel’s victory—an equally wild and unpredictable symbol that can step up and help others to help himself.

Now, I know it doesn't fit the rhyme that’s been going around, but I can’t think of anything else that fits better and there's always next season for more rhyming words. (Grian did say see you next season, if it doesn't happen IDK what to say about your rhyme, shrug)

Also, not important to characterization but a fun bit of trivia anyway, Uranus was the sixth planet discovered by the ancient Greeks and Romans and it’s the seventh planet from the Sun. So regardless of whether you consider Joel the sixth or seventh winner, there’s a fun number coincidence.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense or fit, I wrote it all on minimal sleep and without my glasses. Also, I haven't watched all of Joel’s life series PoV yet so maybe someone with better qualifications should do this. Anyway, if you made it this far I love you and I wish you well. Have a doodle that I also did without my glasses for your patience and to maybe sway you some more.

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

ToA Theory 1 - Apollo's Waking Visions

First official theory post, here we go! :D

Alright. So. After rereading The Dark Prophecy, I started wondering about something. In TDP, Apollo experiences waking visions, where he conks out for a bit and has prophetic visions.

I found this interesting because, well...isn't Apollo supposed to be cut off from prophecy? With Python back in control of Delphi?

Because think about it. Python controls Delphi, the root of all earthly prophecy. This would include Dodona, Trophonius, Herophile, and Sibyl - sure, they aren't strictly connected to Delphi, but it's pretty heavily stated that Delphi just straight-up Makes The Future. It's prophecies are The Big Deal and you Should Listen.

Meanwhile the other Oracles seem more guiding and "beware!" instead of "this is how it's gonna be".

(sidenote: found out there are MORE oracles and I wanna know WHERE THEY ARE IN RRVERSE CANON because I want my boy Branchus okay??? Okay. Branchus's oracle was second only to Delphi let's give Apollo's first boyfriend the attention he deserves!)

So of course, like all great members of this fandom, I started thinking.

Let's do a little family history first. ;)

Buckle up. We go down a deep rabbit hole 😎

Apollo and Artemis are twins, born to Leto and Zeus. Zeus's parents are Kronos and Rhea. Leto's are Koios and Phoebe.

Rhea has connections to Dodona, as we learn in-series, but she doesn't really seem to be all that involved with prophecy.

Her siblings, meanwhile...ho ho ho, they are a WHOLE NOTHER STORY!

Let's start with Phoebe. Phoebe, like all first generation Titans, is the daughter of Gaea and Ouranos. She married her brother Koios. Her children consist of Asteria, Lelantos, and Leto. As well as Artemis and Apollo, her other two grandchildren are Hecate (Asteria) and Aura (Lelantos).

Her name means "bright" and is the root of Apollo's most famous epithet - Phoebus. She is often described as "golden-crowned" and is the Titan of bright intellect, the overseer of Earthly Prophecies, and is the second guardian of Delphi, after her sister Themis. She gifted Delphi to Apollo for his birthday after he defeated Python.

Classic grandmother move.

Anyway. There's a bit of Phoebe lore. Time for her elusive husband :3

Koios. His names means "question" or "questioning", probably because he's the Titan of inquiring intellect. He's also the overseer of Heavenly Prophecies, and has an oracle up in the North Pole guarded by an earth-dragon - you'd know this serpent by the name of Draco, the constellation btw. Additionally, Hyperborea (where Apollo goes in the winter times) is part of his domain.

eyes

Unfortunately, we have very little mythological lore on these two, and even less in the RRverse (I cling to that one (1) Koios scene) which sucks because I love them already BUT it does give me lots of legroom to mess around with canon >:)

Back to the theory now. As you may have guessed, I'll be taking us in a direction concerning Apollo's mysterious grandparents. But what does this have to do with Apollo's visions?

Well. Remember when I mentioned that Delphi is the root of all earthly prophecies?

...look at Phoebe's paragraphs. She's the overseer of Earthly Prophecies, right? So it makes sense she's been affected by Python's takeover too.

(if you've read my fics you'd know this already lmao)

Asteria, Apollo's aunt, is a little trickier. She, too, has a hand in divination, but mainly through the night/stars and dreams. <-will come back to that later.

Koios, again, is overseer of Heavenly Prophecies, and is heavily implied to be able to commune with Ouranos's spirit. This is, apparently, a Big Deal because nobody else is mentioned to be able to do this.

...Except...remember this throwaway line in The Hidden Oracle?

^Apollo can see Ouranos too.

Within this theory is a sub-theory, so to speak - that immortals with the gift of prophecy can see Ouranos, since they can see what cannot be seen. This would include Phoebe, Asteria, Koios, and Apollo.

And it'll make sense why they'd keep it to themselves. Kronos wouldn't have been happy to hear his dad was still around. Neither would Zeus, for that matter.

So here I was. Contemplating. Wrote a few fics based around this idea. And one in particular got me thinking (fic in question being When The Stars Align), and a little ways down the road I realized something.

If Phoebe, the overseer of Earthly Prophecies, would have been affected by Python's takeover...was Koios? Could he even be affected?

Because here's the deal: Koios is the overseer of Heavenly Prophecies. Prophecies from the Sky.

Phoebe's are of the Earth - the Earth that Python has taken control of. And Delphi is the root of Earthly Prophecies - not Heavenly.

That would be Koios's oracle, up in the North Pole with Draco.

...So that means Heavenly Prophecy must have still been in business during ToA.

But then comes the question: If it was still within the gods' control, why didn't they use it?

Well...Draco's there, for one. He's probably the Python-equivalent of the North, and clearly he's still there since no myth has spoken of his death (that I know of).

If you ask me, I just think the gods are too nervous/afraid to try Koios's oracle. They were too scared to face Python, after all, until Apollo arrived. I think they'd be scared of a serpent who comes and goes from the stars as he pleases.

And as for why Apollo hasn't done anything about it...well, I think his fight with Python left him rather scarred, don't you think? He probably went "yeah grandma's oracle is enough" and the only time he ever got close to Koios's was during his time in Hyperborea.

So getting back to the main theory now. (So many rabbit holes to dive into with this post. The ADHD Urge is real)

Since Heavenly Prophecies is still active, but Earthly is in Python's control, I conclude Apollo's visions come from the Heavenly source.

Could they have come from the now-working Dodona? Maybe. But Dodona's all about those windchimes and trees. It doesn't have the Vibe, so to speak, for granting visions.

And remember. Trophonius, Herophile, and Sibyl aren't destroyed/freed yet. They have Zero connection to Apollo at this point because Python cut him off from them.

...but he didn't from the North. From Koios's divine power.

Because remember. Apollo is the god of prophecy.

Not of Earthly Prophecies, like Phoebe.

Not of Heavenly Prophecies, like Koios.

Not of nighttime divination and dreams like Asteria.

Of. Prophecy.

Prophecy as a whole. The entirety. The whole enchilada.

Every part of prophecy he's the god of, be it tarot cards to the Oracle of Delphi itself.

In my opinion, I think whatever Koios's Oracle is, it has just as must power as Delphi. The only problem was that...everybody just left it be. Nobody considered it because:

1) scary dragon

2) scary titan ruled the place

3) honestly at this point I think it's just straight-up forgotten about. Like Branchus's Oracle. I think at one point Apollo himself mentions there are other Oracles besides the ones in-series, but there's so many that his mortal brain cannot comprehend how many.

If the Grove of Dodona nearly faded into obscurity, then I think it's entirely possible Koios's Oracle was forgotten about (or so we think...I'm gonna be chewing on this for a while.)

Coming back round to TDP...I think this is a reasonable explanation about Apollo's visions. To summarize:

Apollo is cut off from Earthly Prophecy, his usual source of foresight that he gets from Phoebe

The unused, near-forgotten-about Heavenly Prophecy side of Apollo ignites to steer him on the right path

This is possible because Apollo is the god of prophecy itself, and not a single subset of prophecy, so he's not limited in the same way Phoebe is

Koios's Oracle is still out there and kicking and I will die on this hill

One problem. What about Asteria? She can interpret the future from the stars...aka the Sky. Like Koios. So couldn't she provide some insight to the future, since she, too, is connected to Heavenly Prophecy?

This is where things get a lil' tricky. And where I really slap on my tinfoil hat and start headcanoning my way through lmao

Basically, I think that since Asteria became the island of Delos (long story) a good chunk of her power is ingrained there. She's not as strong as she used to be, so her foresight isn't as strong.

This, in turn, I think could also serve as a reason why Koios's Oracle is "asleep" so to speak and nearly lost to memory in the RRverse - in fact, I think Asteria and Phoebe are the only ones who bother to remember its existence.

And Leto, of course. But I don't think she wants her son to know of another Oracle with a giant snake guarding it. She's had enough heart-attacks, thank you.

(Same with Lelantos, tbh.)

Canon is my sandbox and I am making some sweet sandcastles out of it XD

TL;DR

Apollo's visions in TDP stem from Koios's source of Heaven Prophecy because Phoebe's source of Earthly Prophecy (Delphi) has been taken over by Python. Koios's source firmly knocks on Apollo's mental doors and decides to kick back into gear to help its titular patron's grandson out. Because Apollo is the god of prophecy itself - every bit of it.

Extras:

I find it fascinating how magic and prophecy are both part of the same family tree (Hecate & Apollo).

and yes. You should expect a fic concerning Koios's Oracle at some point. but no promises on when :3

Thank you for coming to Insane Theory Time With Alder. I hope there will be more lmao

Websites you can look into:

Koios (Theoi)

Phoebe (Theoi)

Hyperborea (Theoi)

[cosmicourple]

Ah, hi, it’s me the anon who wants to write your time loop Ody. You can call me Voli to make things easier. Sorry, I’ve been trying to work out the ins and outs of the story and have been busy with other things too. I hope you’re doing well. I will be posting it on Ao3 if that’s alright and while I’m here I would like to ask a few questions since you are the creator of this au.

Without spoiling things, I have already outlined a plot line for the story and are currently arranging characters, seeing who fits and who needs to sit it out. Tiresias, Artemis, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hestia and Demeter are the ones still out on debate. What I’m wondering is if there’s any character you feel is important to include to the story or should be better off just mentioned or briefly touched on out of the six? Apollo didn’t fall into this because of his gift of prophecy and he and Aphrodite have cut it very close. Aphrodite is there too due to her connection to Ouranos, though she’s unfortunately not gonna have a big role. That whole thing is still being workshopped so I might update on that later.

Another question is one I’ve honestly been struggling with and that’s concerning Rhea. Since she’s still around on Olympus, she does stand a chance against Kronos even when he’s not really there so if it’s alright, how should I tackle this so that the story doesn’t get cut short without discrediting her? I feel like Kronos will find a loophole around her but I’m not sure how so if you or anyone have any suggestions please let me know.

And that’s all I have to share. I apologise for the wait and it’s going to take some time to create the story but I’m working hard on it and I’ll let you know once it’s out. Thank you so much, have a good day/night.

Edit: I’m so, so, SO SORRY this took so long to answer, I’ve been feeling extremely burnt out for the past few days, & probably should’ve waited just a bit longer before asking 4 an update 🥲 I rlly don’t wanna pressure u, I swear 🫶🫶 (I should be thanking YOU 4 ur wonderful contribution to this insanity, & I am sending virtual support 4 ur motivation ☺️)

OMG HIIIII THERE VOLI!1!111!!! Good to get a ‘name’ 4 asks hehe <333

Okay, first, I’m gonna get this out the way by saying I am not confident (atleast, in my opinion) in my ability to do & / or help ‘plan out’(???) / structure fic related things, like for example character placement, plot points / lining (if that’s the word :/), keeping said characters as in character as they should be, etc :’)

I just get way to nervous about it all, so I’m afraid I may not give good advice / feedback on this hhgfffddfdd I can barely believe I’m getting a fanfic on my ideas :”) !!

haha srry about that lil’ self-beating rant, I just never expected to get here :’D

*dramatic sigh* anyway *w*,,,,,,,,,,,

#1: I don’t rlly wanna make a firm imput on who goes where, who’s more valuable than who, because after all, it’s YOUR story at the end of the day, thoooough, if I had to decide importance….

2nd edit: lol watch my suggestions degrade as I run out of juice 😋

-Demeter is. There. Unfortunately, I can’t rlly see anyway 4 her to be,,,, important, which is a shame in my head :(. Ig u could involve her when maybe suspicions of Kronos’s presence is confirmed n like- the Six Siblings maybe get together to discuss n worry ‘bout it, but apart from that, I unfortunately don’t have rlly much to give about her placement 🥲 (hey ho, acknowledgment is good enough 4 me <333 and maybe badass Demeter/joking).

-hmmm, right off the bat, my first thoughts were that Dionysus also felt unimportant. Which also sucks. idk I just can’t rlly see a way that would fit him in w/ the main,,, THING of the story smoothly, I mean, u got his whole reincarnation aspect + his connection w/ Humanity thru him once being Mortal, so maybe that’s something that could be brought up w/ Odysseus, seeing as reincarnation + Timeloop = kinda similar, but more on that Dionysus could have major sympathy 4 Ody’s’ insane suffering, understanding that a mere Human can’t be put through this sort of thing without lasting consequences bc of his own understanding of Humanity :D.

uhhhhhhh— idk, I think he would work better as a minor character u see Odysseus interact w/ during Loop Moments or maybe as a supporting character helping in the back during some big moments lol I’m not sure, there is probably something that could be done with him either way, who knows :) (Demeter could also work as these 2 things as well <D).

-now Hestia. I can see something. It’s only a lil’ bit more than the previous but I can see. Something. Idk like I said, I’m useless at this most of the time lmaooooo- but not much :’). Maybe comfort related things or maybe a notable place during some big moment idk I’m not sure 😭😭.

-Artemis n Hephaestus r tied w/ each other bc they could both very much have spotlight moments but at the same time, could both easily fade into the background most of the time. I have a clearer image of Artemis’s moment, obviously something 2 do w/ Apollo (bc her bro def has some idea of what’s going on, causing maybe a interaction like: “hey Apollo wtf is going on???????”), Hephaestus is unfortunately blurry, but there is an idea mostly just him being grumpy w/ this bullshit hajdhs <D.

-Tiresias in my mind, is quite important, despite Apollo already being there bc I like to think he’s one of the first to notice the Timeloops thanks 2 Prophecy Powers. But he’s also important in my head bc I have this stupid idea of, during one of the Loops, Ody’ kidnapping him from The Underworld & abandoning ship 2 run off & talk w/ them bc they know what’s going on with him + at that point Ody’ needed someone to properly vent to & also. Comedy :) that was such a shitty explanation why.

and as 4 the second question,,,,,

#2: Rhea. Oh Rhea. Mother of The Six Olympians, Former Queen of The Universe & Kronos’s Wife.

What a fun yet frustrating thing u are to try and tackle.

In my mind for the fifth time this post everytime Ody’ resets, the thing she resets to is sitting in one of the gardens, staring at a massive fractured, rusted & black stained mirror, one of the very few things from Kronos’s rule that stubbornly remains. It looks cursed, & in Rhea’s opinion, yes. Yes it is fucked up on some level. And he can talk to her through it,,,,,

I think Rhea somehow knows that the Timeloops r happening but doesn’t actually remember any of them. All she knows is that Her Husband is up to no good &,,,, she doesn’t rlly want to deal w/ it. She can’t persuade him to stop, she can’t even physically stop him. He’s a ghost, floating invisibly through the air, watching their shattered reality & his champion grow, yet by some cruel joke, only Rhea can constantly see his glitching & writhing form, like oil mixed w/ electricity blobbing around, appearing on that unnerving mirror, grumbling about Olympus & their children’s terrible rule & bla bla bla bla—

Yeah, so her decision to not help is very, very selfish. Uncharacteristic. But she’s so tired. She just can’t bring herself to care about whatever nonsense Kronos is causing.

(On the other side, Kronos likes talking to her, it’s. Nice :). Even if she won’t listen to what he’s trying to get at. It’s annoying, but, at least they can converse. Lol, these two r so fucked in situation yet so funny to think about idk <333)

…

aaaaand, that’s all I have to add rn mwahaha. I hope this has been good enough feedback on ur fic & I hope you’re enjoying writing it <DD.

Again, I am ecstatic to see someone wanting to write using my weird ideas HTGJKIYEQDGVFGFRFGGR tho pls, pls, PLEASE—

don’t push urself if it gets to much or if u want a break.

don’t feel pressured into thinking u have to write / publish this 4 me or 4 anyone else. It’s ur creation, u can do or don’t do whatever u want.

and DON’T think that u have to follow my ideas. Trust me, the scenarios n shit in my head are as blended as this A.U’s title suggests. The fic might be inspired by my ideas, but it doesn’t have to follow them 🫶.

anyway, you to have a good day / night & Happy Holidays🎄✨✨✨✨✨🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

[tsarisfanfiction]

Truth Comes Out of His Well (Chapter 4)

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Lee Fletcher, Kronos, Apollo, Apollo Cabin (and many more) As always, @stereden is responsible for the accompanying podfic! Warning for some sensory overload in this chapter! << Chapter 3 Listen to chapter 4 on AO3

“Alana,” Kronos said.  “Your turn.”

Next to him, Aquila startled.  “He didn’t answer mine, Lord Saturn,” they protested, sounding put-out.  Kronos shot them a look and they recoiled slightly; even Kronos’ own demigods clearly feared him, Lee realised.

The daughter of Demeter, a couple of years older than Lee, stepped forwards as the girl with Reuben and Aquila dragged her friend back, out of Kronos’ immediate eyeline, for what little it mattered when the titan had returned his inspecting gaze to Lee.

For his part, Lee couldn’t help staring helplessly at the girl he’d once considered if not a friend, at least someone he’d got on with, and wondering when things had gone so wrong that she was staring at him so dispassionately, almost looking through him rather than at him.

“My favourite flowers are dahlias.”  Lie.  “I grew up in rural Ohio.”  Lee hadn’t known that about her, but that was probably the point.  “The only time my mother ever acknowledged my existence was when she claimed me.”  Lee knew other demigods had it bad, had heard sentiments to that degree scattered throughout camp across the years, but hearing it here and now, surrounded by demigods that had decided to throw their lot in with the titan best remembered for eating his children, vehemently against their own parents…

The weight hit so much harder.

“Well?” Kronos prompted when he didn’t react.

Lee shook his head, dragging out the stubbornness again because it was the only defence he had.

“This is not optional, Lee Fletcher,” the titan growled.  “One way or another, you will answer.  I suggest you take the easy route while it’s available.”

The sheer absence of a lie in his words should have been enough to get Lee to cave and save himself the torture, but he couldn’t do that, because surrendering and helping Kronos meant betraying his siblings, his father, and he couldn’t do that, no matter what was at stake.  Besides, truth wasn’t always what people thought it was.

Truth was finicky.  What was true for one person was a lie for the other, and it had taken Lee years to work out exactly how his sense worked (Apollo had helped with that, in his dreams, answering questions and explaining just enough for things to make sense).  Luke had known the basics, but if Kronos was trying to use it to intimidate him, he was missing one crucial detail.

Truth was personal.   It preyed on belief, powerful and unwavering.  If someone believed in something whole-heartedly enough, then it was their truth, and even if Lee knew it was a lie, it didn’t set the tingle going down his spine.

Just because Kronos believed he could break him didn’t mean he could.  It was admittedly a small sliver of hope, because Kronos was a titan that also apparently had access to everything Luke had ever known about Lee, and Luke knew quite a lot, but it was enough of one to matter.

Lee met Kronos’ eyes firmly.  “Go back to Tartarus,” he growled, words tumbling together in the back of his throat.

Gold eyes flashed in anger and the titan stepped forwards, kneeling down and gripping his shoulder again.  It hurt and Lee had the sudden flash of fear that if he kept not cooperating, then Kronos would break him physically, even if he couldn’t mould him mentally.

That was better than being used to hurt his loved ones.  Much, much better, even if the concept was terrifying.

“Claudia,” Kronos snapped.  “Your turn.”  The girl of the original trio stepped up, and Alana faded into the background again, making no indication on her thoughts of Lee, or the fact that he’d refused to answer her.  She’d always been smart.

Claudia was sending Lee silent daggers with her eyes, arms crossed and muscles bulging.  Where Reuben had a dove, she had two crossed spears tattooed on her arm, with the same letters.  “I am a daughter of Mars,” she proclaimed, spitting the god’s name as though she couldn’t think of a worse father to have.  From his interactions with cabin five over the years, that seemed bizarre to Lee.  Ares wasn’t close with his kids, not compared to Apollo, but he wasn’t often resented by them.

Then again, the fact that he gave them shiny new and dangerous weapons from time to time probably helped.  Clarisse had loved her first electric spear, and had become a lot more protective over the replacement when she’d received it, presumably after realising that even godly-given weapons weren’t infallible.

Claudia started to speak again, to either spit out her lie or throw another truth into the room, but Kronos held up his free hand with a sharp jerk that promised retribution to anyone that disobeyed the gesture and she instantly fell silent.

“Truth or lie?” the titan demanded.  Lee swallowed, not sure what to think of the change but figuring it was only going to mean bad things for him.

“What happened to two truths and a lie?” he asked.  The words came out slightly muffled, but Kronos’ dismissive hand wave – with entirely too many sharp gestures and wary looks from the closest demigods – proved that he’d understood Lee without any issues.

“The game has changed,” he growled, voice thick like gravel.  “Truth or lie?”  His hand slipped from Lee’s shoulder to wrap around his throat instead, pushing until he could feel the cool stone of the cavern wall against the back of his head.  “My patience is not infinite, demigod.”  That was quickly becoming apparent as the grip tightened and his windpipe began to fear being cut off from the air.

“No,” he strained.

Kronos scoffed and released him.  “Next statement,” he snapped, as Lee’s head sagged forwards, gasping slightly.

Claudia didn’t hesitate.  “I ran away from home when I was ten,” she said, and the prickle of a lie ran up Lee’s spine.

Calloused fingertips brushed against his ear before forming a fist in his hair, yanking his hair hard.  Lee was sure several hairs had just parted company with his scalp, and that more were on the verge of joining them.

“Truth or lie?” Kronos asked.

Lee grit his teeth and stayed silent.

He was a terrible liar.  That was common knowledge in camp, and not all that rare a trait for an Apollo kid to have – Joy physically couldn’t lie, after all – although Lee suspected it was a direct consequence of his own ability.  There was something poetic in being able to uncover everyone else’s lies while being unable to hide his own.  Most of the time, it didn’t bother Lee – he didn’t like lies, mostly for the way they made him feel, and always tried to be truthful – but sometimes it was annoying.

Either Kronos also knew that, from Luke – likely, because he knew Luke knew he was a terrible liar – or he’d already worked it out, because yes/no questions like this were his bane if he was trying to hide something.  If Lee was confident in his ability to lie, maybe he would have started to answer, mixing up truths and lies so Kronos couldn’t trust him.

Unfortunately, he knew that if he tried to claim she’d told the truth there, Kronos would see through it in an instant.  Luke had been one of the ones to first point out to him that he was a terrible liar, and Lee had always wondered if there was a possibility that a child of the god of thieves and liars could do something similar to him.  Apollo and Mr D had also told him, with drastically different words and ways, that his skills didn’t lie in deceit.

All Lee could do was stay silent.

He’d had years of practice of not calling out when people lied – living in a camp full of teenagers meant that lies seemed to float around near-constantly, mostly small and inconsequential white lies but sometimes bigger, more important things that made or broke relationships.  He could do it.

Even if he’d never tried to not do it during an interrogation that felt barely a step away from looming torture.

Kronos shook his head slightly, forcing him to meet those horrible golden irises of his again, and they bored into him as though the titan had his own truth-sensing ability.  Lee hadn’t even considered that he might do, too – he associated the truth with Apollo, lies with Hermes, and how the mind worked with Dionysus.  Kronos was the titan of time and agriculture – neither of those should lend themselves towards lies.

But also he was a titan.   Lee couldn’t tell when a god lied – his head hurt when gods spoke to him, a constant clash of lie-lie-lie, and Apollo had explained to him that it was because gods knew so much more than Lee could comprehend, so everything triggered as a lie because Lee could sense there was more, even if the god was actually telling the truth.

Apollo and Mr D both actively blocked his ability when they spoke to him, now, to save him the migraine.  He still wasn’t quite sure why Mr D did it, but he wasn’t complaining about it.

For some reason, though, Lee wasn’t getting the same incessant feedback from Kronos.  Maybe titans were less complex, or maybe it was because he was in Luke’s body, rather than his own.

Maybe that made him functionally closer to a demigod, or demititan, than he should be.

Lee wasn’t going to ask.

“You will answer,” Kronos promised him, voice low and gravelly.  The weight of a truth fell from his tongue.  “Third statement.”

Golden eyes pinned Lee in place, a metaphorical restraint to go with the physicality of manacles and a hand balled in his hair, as Claudia dropped another truth.  “I left the legion when I was fifteen.”

These demigods with tattoos on their arms and their strange words had Lee wanting to ask questions.  Legion, and legacy, and Lord Saturn, Mars, Vulcan.  The Latin for Greek, used as a clear slur.

There was something going on there, something that niggled at him as being big and also very concerning, but he couldn’t ask questions, because Kronos would use that against him.

It would also reveal which things they’d said were truths.

“Well?” Kronos asked him, raising Luke’s eyebrow again.  Just one, in a look that would be inquisitive if the eyes below it weren’t burning with unmasked fury.

It was foolish to keep antagonising that fury, Lee knew, and he liked to think he had a reasonable degree of self-preservation.  Being a demigod at risk of being attacked every time he stepped out of camp did a lot to nurture one of those.

His self-preservation did not outweigh his need to protect his siblings, and he knew they were safer as long as he didn’t answer, so he set his jaw defiantly and stayed silent.

“This stubbornness of yours is pathetic,” Kronos sighed.  He let go of Lee’s hair and stood up, turning away from him and striding across the room.  Lee sensed the other demigods also tracking the titan as he found his way to an outcropping and sat himself down on it as though it was a lavishly decorated throne, and not simply a chunk of rock at odds with the rest of the cavern.

The sight put Lee on edge, for reasons he couldn’t pinpoint.

Kronos waved a hand loosely in their direction.

“Lie,” he said.  “All of you.  Now.” 

Lee’s breath caught in his throat.

For a moment, there was silence, the demigods looking at each other.  It was difficult to lie on demand – for all of Kronos’ talk of Lee being good at two truths and a lie, he’d always actually lost because he was both a terrible liar and also couldn’t think of one, ever – and for a heartbeat, Lee had the faint hope that they wouldn’t manage it.

Then Reuben spoke.  “I like you,” he said, and the zing of a lie down his back was potent.

It was the single pebble that sparked an avalanche.

Lee could handle lies.  He lived in a camp full of teenagers, which all but forced him to have a high tolerance to lies setting off his senses more often than not.  Usually, though, they weren’t all aimed at him, and they weren’t in such quick succession, either.

And he had his limits.  Most people didn’t know that his headphones were noise-cancelling, or that they didn’t actually play music.  Hades, most people didn’t even know that they were a gift from Apollo, specifically designed to cut him off from voices whenever it got too much for him.  Lee could still have a conversation with them on – he’d learnt lipreading fast – and it had left most of camp none the wiser.

Those headphones were long gone, maybe still in his bunk where he’d left them before the battle, maybe burnt with Marcus’ body, maybe tidied away along with the rest of his things.  That would have been his siblings’ decision – and Michael knew, so he might have treated them specially.

Reuben led the charge, not even bothering to be creative but repeating the same words over and over again – I like you – each one stacking on top of the last one, but for whatever reason, likely fear of Kronos (Lee hoped it was fear of Kronos more than a desire to hurt him, tried to persuade himself it was that), the entire crowd joined in.

The words overlapped with each other, a building cacophony the same way an orchestra slowly crescendoed to a fortissimo finale with more and more instruments joining in and filling the area with sound until there were no gaps to be found, nowhere for silence to find a home and wait it out.  Lee counted his breathing, trying to hone his focus away from the lies bombarding him and keep his body under control at the same time.

He could only stave it off for so long.

Despite his best efforts, his breathing started to hitch as lies thrummed through his body, crawling out from just his spine and dancing across all of his nerves, leaving its localised, normal, area and branching out desperately for any space it could find to express itself.  It took over his back first, the trapezius first to fall, followed by the latissimus dorsi, before it sprawled out further, down past his glutes and up across his deltoids.  His limbs were second, creeping down the backs of them before it started to wrap around his torso, setting sparks that burst into flame over his pectorals and obliques.

Breathing got harder still as his chest tightened involuntarily, trying to protect itself from the sensation that wasn’t supposed to be there.  It had only got so bad once before, an occasion back when he was seven that ended up being the inciting incident for the gifted headphones.  Lee had forgotten how bad it had been, trapped with no way out.

His wrists tugged uselessly at the metal that held them in place, hands desperately reaching out to try and cover his ears, to try and block it all out, but they were too secure, and too far away.  The best Lee could manage was awkwardly straining his neck far enough to reach one, and attempting to raise his other shoulder high enough to block his still-exposed ear.

It didn’t work.  His knees drew up, trying to curl into some sort of protective ball as his breathing turned to wet gasps and moisture flooded down his cheeks, completely out of control with no way of reining it in, but that didn’t work, either.

The lies had long since turned into an indistinguishable sound, one that his truth sense could still identify as lies, somehow, despite not being able to hear the particular words.  It echoed around in his ears, bouncing off the inside of his skull as the prickling closed in on the crown of his head.

Hands grabbed his legs, forcing them to unfurl and pinning them mercilessly back to the floor.  Lee thrashed, trying to kick out and force his freedom, but they were too strong.  Another hand grabbed his hair, yanking his head upright and away from any attempts at muffling the noises.  Through watery vision, Lee could just about make out Reuben’s sneer, so close to his own face that it was almost impossible to focus on.

It was too much.

It was too much.

Lee thrashed harder, but both the metal and the hands overpowered him, forcing him to stay still as more lies were poured upon him, turning his entire being into a single, overcharged lie detector that had hit its limit a long time ago but had been pushed over the line with no regard for whether or not it could handle it.

The pleas started to fall from his lips with no conscious thought, sobs and moans.  “Please,” he begged, barely able to even feel the cold stone and even colder metal that surrounded him.  “Stop, please, stop, please, please, please.”

He couldn’t even think any more, his whole being a single raw nerve that got ignited over and over and over again.  If he was even still breathing, no air was getting into his lungs, and his vision was dark.  He didn’t remember closing his eyes, but there was a tightness to his face that had to be him screwing them as tightly shut as he could.  His raw voice echoed in his ears, gasping and begging.

Distantly, he heard a voice cut over the others, felt the restraining hands disappear, and somehow ended up with his knees up, face buried in them again.  His heartbeat was too high and showing no signs of slowing as he trembled and shook in his restraints.

Lee had no idea how long it took before the ignited nerves burnt out, leaving him a raw husk trembling and sobbing against the wall.  His eyes cracked open to show an almost empty room, the demigods all gone but Kronos still sitting on his throne of stony outcrop, golden eyes boring into him like he could see past Lee’s skin and into his soul.

Maybe he could.

Something must have alerted him to the fact that Lee was aware of his surroundings again, because he suddenly moved, fluidly finding his feet and striding across to squat in front of Lee.  A sword-calloused hand grabbed his hair, yanking yet more poor strands out from his scalp, and tilted his head back.

“I will break you,” the titan said, the absoluteness of truth blanketing Lee and sheering a swathe through the residual traces of lies that still wracked his body.  “Truth or lie.”

Even if Lee wanted to answer, he was still too wrecked to even consider trying to wake his voice.  It didn’t seem to matter, though, because Kronos ruffled his hair with a grin that was far more evil than anything Lee had ever seen on Luke’s face before, twisting the scar until it was almost unrecognisable.  “Good boy,” he said.

Then he stood and left, leaving Lee alone in the cave, still shaking and filled with an indomitable sense of dread.

Chapter 5>>>

[godsofhumanity]

I loved the latest hera hc you posted and you said you will write pure Zeus x hera hc if requested, please please write one, I am loving your hc series please please please🥺

hii thanks so much for the support!! i've gotten two asks for Zeus x Hera, and frankly i have a bit to write, so i'm going to split this into TWO PARTS-- this set will be Zeus x Hera: before marriage, and the next ask i answer will be during marriage.

here ya go, PART I (largely Zeus' perspective):

so i guess i should probably start off by explaining one of the previous hc's i've already written before which is that i don't think Zeus and Hera saw each other and it was love at first sight.

i think Hera emerged from Kronos' stomach, and like her other eaten siblings, was a bit reserved... a bit tense. it's hard to suddenly assimilate into a world that you literally just popped into.

i do like the idea that all of Zeus' siblings were quite awkward at first- i mean, they look grown up but they don't have "grown up" experiences. not immediately-- it takes time.

so i think they all just kinda stood with each other. Hera and Demeter, i think, are especially close. they bond with Metis, Hesione, and Asteria particularly- they have a sort of "girls club".

i do think Leto may have flitted in and out of this group, her main link being that Asteria was her elder sister... but i think she has a bit of a rougher, wilder side. ((i'm talking about Leto here because she's relevant to my Zeus x Hera hc's btw))

but throughout this whole period, i think Zeus and Hera are strictly siblings. friends. nothing more, nothing less. i think Hera would find Zeus quite cocky. Zeus i think would respect Hera's fierceness but that's it. also, during this time, i do believe that Zeus was fully devoted to Metis-- i mean, they were supposed to be the end goal, the king and queen of Olympus.

UNTIL. Metis dies. and that's a tragic accident that really breaks Zeus into a million tiny irreparable parts. or so he thinks.

i think after Metis, Zeus keeps his distance from EVERYONE. he can only see Kronos' terror when he sees his own reflection and that scares him. so he thinks it'd be best to isolate. never get attached.

and that works for a long time until Leto, who i think has always been close to Zeus, starts becoming more than a friend. she's sort of the only one who's been there with Zeus right from Metis' time. and so Zeus falls in love again. but i do think it's short lived, because there's a part of Zeus that just can't let go of the thing he did to Metis. and to his unborn daughter.

i think somewhere throughout all of this, Zeus and Hera and all their siblings actually start growing closer. a lot closer. they start functioning like a proper family and all of a sudden, it seems like they've all known each other right from the start. i think this is important because part of the reason why Kronos fails is because he starts thinking that everything depends on HIM... he stops trusting his family. so Zeus intends to avoid that mindset by knowing his family better so he'll be less inclined to "give up" on them.

truthfully, i think right from the start, Zeus and Hera have gotten along like a house on fire. even before their courtship... they were "attuned"... they knew each other's thoughts in one glance. they have similar fighting styles-- i think in their youth, Zeus and Hera would team up against Hades and Demeter against Hestia and Poseidon-- that's how they practiced.

no one recognises the blossoming romance between Zeus and Hera more than Rhea i think. and that worries her. in the myths, Zeus and Hera have a secret relationship because Rhea disapproved of it, and i think it's because she thought Zeus wasn't ready for it. because Zeus and Hera were so in sync it reminded her so much of herself and Kronos and she didn't want a repeat. so i think Rhea might've encouraged Zeus and Leto to be together; maybe she thought they'd end differently.

but i hc Leto to have prophetic abilities like her mother Phoebe (hence how Apollo has them too), and so i think Leto sees the future. not clearly. not all of it. but she does see very clearly that there is a woman by Zeus' side as his Queen and it isn't her. i don't believe that Hera and Leto have ever been especially close, and i do think it would have broken Leto's heart into a million pieces to learn that it wasn't her fate to be with Zeus because i do think she loved him completely; i think he was her end goal but she wasn't his... but i think even feeling all of this, she knew that that was Hera's destiny, so she tells Zeus.

i think while Zeus and Leto are together, he's already started seeing Hera in a different light, and he feels guilty about it until Leto tells him that she really is the one. and i think Leto's the one to call things off with Zeus.

and so Zeus finally lets go and pursues Hera. and that doesn't go smoothly at ALL-- compared to all the other goddesses Zeus has chased, Hera takes "playing hard to get" to a new level. but Zeus tries. he tries and he tries and he tries because he does love Hera.

from Hera's perspective, Hera never planned to like Zeus back. when he first start courting her i think she would have been incredibly bored of him... she'd have thought him to be superficial and that he'd leave her after a week, so she'd have just ignored him.

i don't think that Hera knows why Leto left Zeus. everyone thinks Zeus just bored or scared of commitment and ran away- no one knows the truth besides Zeus and Leto. so that wouldn't have helped Zeus' case.

y'know how in fiction (and actually in reality too lol i've seen it too many times), the guy the girl says "i'll never like him" ends up being the guy she gets with? that's Zeus x Hera in a nutshell.

now i have more, but this post has become lengthy i think, so i will stop there and post PART II later today.

edit: part ii here

[the-pjo-analyst]

Chapter 21 - I Settle My Tab

Theme of the day: Family

Kind of the perfect theme for this chapter, because there’s so many layers and different versions of family that appears (I can already tell this will be a long post lol). There’s the gods’ version of family, found family between the trio, Sally and Percy, and the Jackson household as a whole. Since it was very brief, I’ll start with the trio and how close-knit the three became. Percy says a line about how hard it was to send them away to CHB after all they had gone through together and it makes me so soft,,,, they’ve been through so much in those ten days, arguments, monster battles, traumatic experiences, but they ALWAYS had each other’s backs. They formed an unbreakable bond that carries over this series and beyond 🥺

The gods are a bit strange to analyze in terms of family, because it’s such a loose concept for them, but they also understand it in different ways than mortals. Like Zeus and Hera are siblings but they’re married. Kronos ate his children so they wouldn’t usurp him. Hades is exiled from Olympus just bc he got the short end of the stick. Gods and demigods call each other cousin and uncle and such but it’s really just a title. It’s strictly blood relations and obligations and not really about bonds between two people. Zeus says “for the sake of peace in the family, I shall let you live” like ok Zeus. You just accused a child of stealing your stuff, sent him on a dangerous quest to get it back, and then you say you did me a favor ig so I’ll let you live 🙄For the sake of peace in the family. The definition of someone who cares less about family and more about appearances.

I think the only god who truly has a holistic sense of family is Hestia, and interestingly the hearth is mentioned a few times in the chapter. There’s a huge hearth in the gods’ throne room and Percy talks about how he can hear the fire crackle and feel the warmth from it. I could probably go on a whole rant about Hestia and her representing the concept of home and her leaving the Olympians but that’s a talk for another book lol. In this instance, I’d like to think that Hestia is quietly supporting Percy here, and not out of some sense of duty or obligation as a “family” member, but because she actually cares.

It’s interesting how Percy knows exactly how to handle Zeus and Poseidon. He respectfully walks up to Poseidon and greets him first, and remains silent for most of the scene unless he’s addressed. When Zeus grumbles about not being greeted first, Percy doesn’t react, likely as a learned trait from all the strict adults and bullies he’s dealt with all his life. Percy specifically says he kept his head down and waited. He knows that this is either Zeus egging him on or just him complaining to complain. Reacting would make the situation worse. Like Poseidon said, obedience doesn’t come naturally to him, so this would be something Percy has learned, but part of it is probably also self preservation lmao. It’s a little sad that Percy knows what he should do in this situation, and it’s also a little jarring considering how much attitude he’s shown other gods.

Now onto Poseidon and Percy. There’s a moment when they meet where they size each other up, not knowing what to think of the other, bc although they’re father and son they don’t actually know each other. Poseidon has been watching Percy all his life, but Percy also represents a broken pact for Poseidon, something unforgivable. He calls Percy is wrongdoing and a mistake. Well he doesn’t specifically call Percy that, just the very act of the affair with Sally, but it still insinuates how Percy shouldn’t have been born. Not a great thing to hear whether you’re a child or not. I get the sense that Poseidon doesn’t regret the affair, but feels bad for the consequences it caused, i.e. Percy being the demigod of the Great Prophecy and what that entails for both Percy and Olympus. And for Percy, Poseidon is his non-present father, someone he thought had died up until a month ago, only to learn that he chose not to be part of his life. But Poseidon also helped Percy on his quest when he asked for it. His very voice stirred warm memories in Percy he associated with his father. And in the end Percy is also glad to have a frank father who doesn’t give empty apologies or promises, Poseidon doesn’t pretend if he cares about Percy or not. Which in the long run is so much better for their relationship, because it gives a more solid base for them to become acquainted with one another. In a sense, it’s kind of a clean slate; they’re not letting their past, indirect experiences form their opinions.

I think children of Zeus and Poseidon especially have it rough in terms of parental..... guidance and interaction. With other gods, they are much more free with their gifts and visits. Being the two gods with joint rulership over the cosmos, they tend to be more aloof and distant, maybe bc they need to be. Idk how to properly convey this, but being the top two gods, there’s bad implications with showing favoritism? And their domains are so large that it’s hard to always keep tabs with their children? I think this is also addressed in later books so maybe I’ll hold off on this. Hades doesn’t really have this problem since he rules over a realm separate from humanity and he’s also separate from Olympus itself, so he’s also a bit more free to have a greater presence in his children’s lives. It seems like Poseidon wants to this too but can’t, otherwise he wouldn’t have looked sad when Percy almost asked him to see Sally with him.

Circling bad to Poseidon’s comments on his “wrongdoing,” I can’t help but think about how this really wrenches a knife into Percy’s insecurities. Percy already struggles with feeling wanted and being good enough, and then in his first interaction with his father, he’s told how he shouldn’t have been born because of the potential trouble he’ll cause. BUT Poseidon also reiterates that he’s proud of him and claims him as his own. We don’t get Percy’s immediate reaction to this, but I think it’s due to him having mixed feelings, just like after he was claimed at camp. He’s bitter from Poseidon’s words of remorse, but also can’t help but feel happy from being acknowledged.

Lord I’ve written so much and I haven’t even gotten to Sally and Gabe sdfjdhdf. Tbh I don’t need to talk about Sally and Percy since I’ve already talked extensively on that, but their reunion!!! It makes my heart clench. In every sense, Sally and Percy are a family. Gabe is just a sorry excuse for a human being who’s only role was to help Percy hide from monsters. Percy’s interview with the media will never be not funny bc not only do the journalists eat up his sob story, he also managed to get a jab at Gabe with offering everything free appliances 😂 It’s really sad how many journalists don’t really care about the truth and more about what will sell. They love drama, which is why they easily accepted Gabe’s story of Percy being a delinquent, and also Percy’s seemingly heartfelt story. But the fantasy Jacksons the media ate up and regurgitated is far from the real Jackson household. I honestly forgot that it was confirmed that Gabe physically abused Sally. I think by the way Percy reacted, Sally managed to protect him from that, although you could still infer it. But this is also Percy we’re talking about lmao, he’d never mention it. I want to think that Sally would’ve drawn the line, like you can hurt me but stay the fuck away from my child. Sally and Percy are really two of a kind huh. What a fucking bastard though, for making Sally go to work to “makeup a month’s worth of rent” right after she returned and treating her like his housemaid, among other much worse things. He really deserved getting his head chopped off by Riptide. But it really shows how much Percy has grown as a person when he hesitates sending Gabe to an early grave. He thinks about how it would fit into a hero’s story, how it always ends in tragedy, and how he’d seen the terrors of the Underworld and how he wouldn’t wish that on anyone. And yet, he would still do it for his mom. Because he’s incredibly loyal to a fault and would do anything for her.

I love how Sally has this conversation with Percy as an equal. She doesn’t treat him like a child and tell him “I’m the parent I can’t let you take care of me,” she gives him the same answer she told Poseidon when he basically offered her the world: you can’t solve all my problems for me, I have to do that for myself and find my own strength. Sally gives a life lesson to Percy here, how one can’t rely on the gods for everything and blame them for everything. It’s dangerous to believe one can solve every problem with a wave of their hand because they have the power to. And this is the very reason why Percy is never tempted to join Kronos, because unlike Luke, he doesn’t form a resentment towards the gods have and haven’t done and leaves it at that. Percy looks at a problem and think how do I fix this for the better, in a way that looks at the long term and not the immediate satisfaction. It’s from Sally’s influence and especially this talk that Percy doesn’t form a superiority complex; in the end he recognizes that Sally is strong enough to take care of herself, in the same way he recognizes other people’s strengths and validates them both in this book, and future books. It’s part of why he makes such a great leader, why he could give Luke the knife in book 5, why he’s a good foil for Annabeth as her friend and partner.

Small things:

Percy being like oh that kid is cool to fictional media Percy ahaha

I wonder if Percy’s fear of flying is specifically bc of Zeus or bc he just naturally is freaked out by it. Maybe it’s a child of Poseidon thing, like they’re hardwired to hate flying.

Percy’s interaction with the Empire State desk clerk 😂 Like yes I think Zeus will want to see me immediately *shows off Zeus’ weapon*

Also Zeus is so fucking pretentious, “I have to remove the human taint from my weapon.” Ok Zeus. whatever.

Someday I would love to make a full post on the symbolism of Sally using Medusa’s head to break free from an abusive relationship

Previous: Chapter 20 - I Battle My Jerk Relative

Next: Chapter 22 - The Prophecy Comes True

[jflashandclash]

Is it limiting to write TFMO after already posting TOO, is there any struggle to build the characters up to how they were in the beginning of The Whispers of a Snake?

I've been loving the younger Pax brothers and newer characters like Lou Ellen and Mercedes. It's also cool to see small differences like Pax playing more with gender which wasn't as present in TOO.

(Hi btw, glad to see you back after so long.)

HI JACE! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE ASKS! you have no idea how much they mean to me and how much they encourage me to keep at this!

*rolls up my sleeves*

*puts on my nonprescription glasses for effect*

Let's fucking GO--

Yes.

Yes there is.

Because of this-->

stoic piece of--

(I know. this is an old picture. He should have a combo of dreads, braids, and quarter shave in the old school version. And WAY less facial scars. I told myself to make drawings. one d a y.)

In my main series, you might notice that Axel....

Can be comically useless. Don't get me wrong. He's meant to be a bad ass and have so much complicated turmoil to work through. But, keep a counter on how many times he gets taken out of a final fight before he actually gets to fight. Or gets his ass kicked.

Book 1: Aphrodite kneecaps him. On a sinking ship he didn't want shipped.

Book 2: Brothers being Brothers, blasting Axel's bluster with a bullet

Book 3: he gets to fight. But. Almost dies by praetor. Almost drowns by human fire hose.

Book 4: Almost dies by childhood fear of water puppy. Almost dies by half-brother's mom's parental skills.

Most of Riordon's plots revolve around a Hero's Journey, often times. His characters are normally rising bad asses. Axel already had his hero's journey when you meet him in Traitors of Olympus. It is well established and agreed upon by the other characters that Axel is a bad ass, even though you rarely see him win a fight outright. I get a certain amount of pleasure from the "oooOoooo, he's a bad asssss, when he's fighting oversized pidgeonnnnns with a frying pannnnn--"

My secret with Axel is he spends more time In Need of Rescuing than doing the rescuing. This works (oh gods--it does work? Right? Right guys? He seems cool--please--) because he has the presence, both in how he acts and how others react, of someone who is used to being in command and can command well. People respect him because of past heroics, even if you're not seeing him kick ass here. (How many of his fights has he won against Reyna, hrm?) Otherwise, I spend four books emotionally had physically kicking the cho out of him.

..... then comes the prequel

"Oh, fuck, I need to make Axel ACTUALLY cool--"

Axel is meant to be many things. In the first four books, he was meant to be

I wanted to take figure that looked like he would embody everything of toxic Hispanic Machismo, and then make them a hyper-feminist, social justice warrior that super supports their nonbinary little siblings, someone to fight a nasty stereotype from when I was growing up

Worthy of Reyna. Yes. Axel was made for Reyna, and they STILL SCREWED IT UP--GSDI REYEL, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO--

But in the prequel, he's meant to be the parallel to the Greek's Percy and Rome's Jason. Lord knows (hail Kronos) that Riordan didn't set Luke up well for that. (I can do a different deep dive into this.) That means, not only does Axel need to progress, but he needs to rise above those around him. And he's surrounded by titans, mythical monsters, and serial killers like Jack and Flynn that can alter people's wills and health with words and songs. I'm going to end up truncating Axel's character development more than I want to, but, by all rights, he should have his own series-worth of adventures, and I believe he does.

It's just freaking HARD to go from humiliating and crushing someone for four books and then be like, "oh.... you need to... win here..."

Otherwise, Pax is relatively easy. Oh, except the Lamia thing. I might be, um, skipping over the Lamia thing. That is the one thing I just can't fit (we'll see) but the Trauma from--ehem, I mean the Massacre of Mount Othrys is more important to his character development. He has more pivot points, whereas Axel has long progression.

Jack was always meant to be a sweetie church boy that's got just a smidge of serial killer problem. Just a lil.

I'm SO freaking happy you like Mercedes and Lou Ellen. Mercedes is one of my favorite characters in Tales From Mount Othrys. <3 Her dialogue and scenes are tricky to write, but she's SO much fun to bring to life!

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ASKS!

[evilminji]

Oh... oh this is MAGNIFICENT? Danny "commit to the bit" Fenton? With Klarion? You KNOW he's pulling his brand of The Classics(TM). With a stolen and then perfectly timed to tipped over, so it spills all it's cargo JUST at your feet, flower delivery of roses? Blasting that "baby, come back~" song? With a comicly over sized nasa bear? Gotta win back the "love of his LIFE~♡".

Probably been having FUN tormenting ally and enemy alike for ideas.

While Danny is out shopping. Having JUST been confront by the Young Justice Nerds. Who are trying desperately to convince him he can Do Better(tm). Please Sto- They mean, think of the household you are raising your kids in!

Only for Klarion too dive in, for a suprise "win back my Ex with a whirlwind Date in Paris, oh? Is that where his cousin, Wonder Woman, is? We had NO ideeeeaaaa~~☆!" Thank GOODNESS Danny's go-to babysitters are here! Thanks, guys! He's SO glad he can TRUST you!

If ANYTHING were to happen to his lil munchkins, he'd probably snap and go full Supervillian! Again! And he didn't fight his evil future self in the future that never was just to lose it all NOW, right guys? Right. Well'p see you in a bit~!

And what's WORSE? Is Danny is actually a MITIGATING FORCE. There is legitimately a divide on whether they WANT this relationship to work out or NOT. Whether they should be trying to... to like give them? Couples counseling? Or advice on why this is toxic and they need to let go.

Because if it blows up, only God knows how many people would die. Specifically Kronos. He might be counting on it. Laughing. But on the OTHER hand? If it DOESNT blow up? "Danny", which is probably short for something, unquestionably leans towards "Chaotic Good" as opposed to Klarion's "Chaotic Destructive". He also seems more? Humanity tolerant.

And if HE raises Klarion's kids? Fewer future "I destroyed your island for the LOLs" types.

Needless to say, they fightin' about it. Dr. Fate hate both of um. Constantine is calling him a biased prick. Diana is just worried what Plots(TM) Kronos might be weaving for those two children. Wants to take the little girl and hide her back home on the island. Is trying to think of an equally safe place for the girl's brother and father.

EVERYBODY is trying to figure out a timeline or at least how this all went down.

The best they can deduce? Kronos had ANOTHER child, long AFTER Zeus and his sibling defeated him, likely as part of some plot to free himself. Klarion, a trickster known to wander when bored, eventually came across this hidden child. Possibly when trying to contact Kronos, possibly by accident.

Klarion befriended the hidden child. Fell in love.

Some method divine baby creation occurred, out of the countless methods known to exsist.

Kronos was likely either not pleased or TOO pleased. As "Danny" did NOT stay with his father, as is traditional, dispite being a young father and having no spouse to rely on. Him and Klarion were divided on what to do. A fight occurred? One of them left, taking one of the two children.

Present day.

*slams the door open* I am? Once again a GENIUS!

Give that Witchboy a baby!

Klarion! Lord of Chaos, good looking young man of FABULOUS hairstyles, partner in crime of the MAGNIFICENT Teekle... is? In a bit of a pickle. Tiny bit of a problem. Itty, bitty, theoretically possible touch of a CONCERN, if you will. Might even have done goofed.

See, and he knows this is out of character for him, he THOUGHT? It would be funny? To play a... a LITTLE, tiiiiny, harmless bitty joke on the Lord of Time. Ha ha... funny right? We're all joking around~! H-having a LAUGH?

....please don't unwind me into unexistence! We're too hilarious and gorgeous to die!

You wouldn't kill a kid with a cat, would you!?

And, yeah, maybe he and Teekle start monologing. Dramatically lamenting how Teekles care routine is going to RUINED and they are going to DIE, how no one can take a JOKE, trying to bargin their way out of their impending demise. Etc etc. But?

Then? The Lord Of Time muses that Teekle IS very well cared for? And?

Look, buddy, kill him or don't kill him! You're not gonna get Teekle! Keep your filthy cat molesting hands to yourself! No one touches his baby!

That's apparently the "right answer".

He suddenly has a God Toddler in his other arm, cradled against his chest, right next to Teekle. W-What? The Price(TM) for Sparing His Life(TM) is raising and protecting his... WAIT, WHAT!?

Klarion become a Teen Dad. Teekle become a Cat Parent. Both are baffled and highly alarmed. What has happen to their eternal Hot Chaos Summer!? Fast cars and the country side filled with frogs that are on fire? Milk shakes and rattlesnakes down peoples shirts?

Parenthood?!?! This is going to RUIN ALL THEIR FUN PLANS!

..........or......or IS it? Teekle, hear him out, what if? We take the glow potato? WITH us? It's a baby! They don't do much. Probably good enrichment or something! Yeah! We'll get one of those baby carriers and just? Rain on the Justice Dorks parade, WITH A BABY! That's EXTRA embarrassing for them!

We could have matching outfits!

Nevermind! I saved it! Teekle, we're geniuses. Let's go rob some baby stores! Come on, Jr.! Time to learn Daddy's favorite past time! CHAOS.

@the-witchhunter @hypewinter @dcxdpdabbles @mutable-manifestation @nerdpoe @hdgnj

[nymphsupremacy]

Made an edit of my redesign of Kronos and Rhea which you can find HERE. Rhea was a free spirit while Kronos was very cautious, especially during the time he lead to usurp Ouranus. I actually remembered a piece of lore I came up with during this time, Ouranus could see anything above since he’s the personification sky so Gaia grew massive trees(?) to cover them and so that they can have some sort of shelter.

[incorrectgreekgods]

My Friend’s Opinions On Various Greek Gods From Greek Mythology

Let me preface this by saying- I’m the one into mythology. My friends are going off of a two month unit three years ago and whatever mythology they’ve read/absorbed from modern media. None of this is taken to be offensive, and it is all based off of Ancient Greek Mythology and not hellenic polytheism. 

Now! Here are five of my friend’s impressions:

Isadora

Zeus - whore Poseidon - water Hades - meanie Persephone - gets caught by meanie Demeter - no fuckign idea Hera - i think she's a mommy? Hestia - also no fucking idea Athena - big brains Hermes - hehe that's my bestie Apollo - golden hourrrr Artemis - baddie asf Hephaestus - big muscle blacksmith Aphrodite - pretty Ares - meanier meanie Dionysus - naked drunkard

Santana

Zeus - needs to keep it in his pants Poseidon - water guy Hades - vibes=immaculate minus him being like a killer Persephone - she’s chill funny Demeter - idk this man Hera - a little jelly of her mans but she’s chill Hestia - idk this girl Athena - thriving Hermes - speedy man with funny shoes Apollo - bow and arrow guy i think Artemis - baddie Hephaestus - who is this man Aphrodite - pretty one i think Ares - needs anger management Dionysus - drunk uncle

Sasha (who popped off???)

Zeus ⁃god sky, lightning, etc. ⁃sleeps with literally anything that breathes ⁃Terrible husband to Hera but they somehow make it work ⁃Last son to be barfed up by Kronos ⁃Leader of the gods (but like super bad at his job because the gods are always fighting?)

Poseidon ⁃Water ⁃Likes his angry, drunk cyclops children ⁃Sleeps with a lot of things too but is overshadowed by Zeus

Hades ⁃Death ⁃Hella depressed ⁃Honestly a pretty chill dude until her abducts women ⁃Husband to persephone ⁃The third wheel of him, Zeus, and Poseidon

Persephone ⁃Purple, flowers ⁃Demeter’s daughter ⁃Hot as fuck ⁃Pretty chill after being kidnapped ⁃Married Hades - lil bit of a shady situation but whatever they seem happy

Demeter ⁃Agriculture, growing ⁃Carries a scythe around and honestly that’s so badass ⁃“What sort of women doesn’t have an axe?” vibes ⁃idk what else I mean got super mad when her daughter was abducted but Id be concerned if she wasn’t

Hera ⁃Marriage, family ⁃Kinda ironic seeing as her husband is cheating on her 24/7 ⁃But also their marriage has stayed together so maybe she does have the secret to making a successful partnership ⁃Anyways she is jealous of zeus ⁃OH also she turns the lovers of his she catches into animals which sucks for the lovers but DAMN I love her

Hestia ⁃hearth, home ⁃SO sweet ⁃Nobody on Olympus deserves her ⁃Poseidon tried to marry her which in my opinion was a terrible idea

Athena ⁃Wisdom, strategy, cunning, war ⁃Thriving hard ⁃Big brain moment ⁃Um owl? ⁃Makes fun of other gods while they make fun of her but she always wins

Hermes ⁃Traveling, messages (LMAO originally I wrote massages and now I can totally see it) ⁃Sneaky little shit ⁃Has little shoes with wings and two snakes ⁃Makes stupid mistakes but manages to get out of punishment ⁃Gay ⁃Gay for Apollo  

Apollo ⁃Sun, music, arts ⁃Muses (I think he’s slept with all of them right?) ⁃Would 100% be the most followed person on Insta just for his golden hour shots ⁃Pan ⁃Gay for Hermes

Artemis ⁃Hunting, forrest, femininity ⁃Fucking awesome ⁃Sleeps with all her huntresses but it just hits different than Zeus ⁃Bow and arrow and other cool stuff to kill people  

Hephaestus ⁃Forge, metal work, armory, blacksmith ⁃Chucked from mount Olympus when he was a baby ⁃Serious daddy and mommy issues ⁃Loves Aphrodite but she is just not on the same level

Aphrodite ⁃Love, beauty ⁃Doesn’t seem to give two shits about anyone but she’s honestly thriving ⁃She and ares are in a thing but she’s definitely owning that relationship

Ares ⁃War ⁃Stupid? idk he seems to loose every war he starts ⁃Loves of Aphrodite but he knows he’s about to lose her

Dionysus ⁃Drunk all the time ⁃Um I literally have no idea what he does other than party and get drunk ⁃Respect for his lack of goals in life

Emily

Zeus - wanna lightning bolt your small dick off Poseidon - cool water guy who made Odysseus’ life bad lol TEAM POSEIDON Hades - underworld dude with a weird ass dog. kidnapped then married Persephone. Reminds me of creepy old men on the internet your parents warn you about.   Persephone - fucking hot and should be more appreciative that hades wants her that badly (jealousy) Demeter - seriously please hack my face off w your scythe my agricultural top Hera - milf. that’s all. AND WAY TOO GOOD FOR SMALL DICK MAN Hestia - hearth? Huh? Athena - baddest bitch around. intelligent, owl, blood kink, probably. Hermes - mailman with shoe game. GAY Apollo - music, the sun, def part of the lgbtq+ community. Artemis - BADDEST BITCH AROUND. Huntress, cool weapons, and i would pay so much money to have her rail me dominatrix style ( bring the bow please) Hephaestus - blacksmith right? simps for Aphrodite (as he should). mommy AND daddy issues. Aphrodite - beauty, love, hot asf Ares - war, and has serious anger issues. I’ll give you my therapists card babe Dionysus - drunk all the time, reminds me of moms who have the wine glasses that say “it’s moms turn to wine”.

Norie

Zeus - shitty husband, couldn’t keep it in his pants Poseidon - water guy, hate this mf cause of Medusa, def least fav god Hades - underworld ruler, people who like him think their quirky (Ik cause it used to be me) Persephone - so hot, pls rail me, sry she got stockholm syndrome but like I would be flattered if anyone cared enough to kidnap me Demeter - top, grain mf, could fuck me with her scythe Hera - could top me, needed a good divorce lawyer Hestia - goddess of hearth? Don’t rly know much abt her but like I think she’s the oldest of her siblings Athena - smart one, owl bitch, also a whore for war Hermes - idk remember much, mischief, wings? Apollo - bisexual disaster, music bitch Artemis - hunter, could shoot me with her bow and I would say thank you Hephaestus - no thoughts at all, wait is this the guy who was with Pandora? Idk but like I think he was a blacksmith Aphrodite - hot Ares - war, a little over the top Dionysus - drunk, alcohol addiction rivals isadora’s

[scuotitrice-di-parole]

If you search "Percy Jackson analysis" on tumblr, one of the first post to appear will be about a very interesting topic. They say that with Hereos of Olympus, instead of creating a new conflict Rick Riordan undid the Last Olympian ending (the gods becoming better). Also I've always preferred the first series, because HOO has many problem. I also love the new characters, so what could Riordan possibly have wrote instead?

Then I got an Idea. STAY WITH ME PLEASE

While I was still reading the first five books, Mark of Athena was published. Being not bothered by spoilers when I was little (I don't know how) I used to go to the bookshop and read the plot written on the cover. Just from the summery and the cover art I had imagined the plot. I was sure it was gonna be something all about the two camps facing each other, having actual beef and fights. From an art cover I had also imagined some sort of games between the camp to decided who had the best demigods. BUT NOW I GOT A EVEN BETTER IDEA.

The plot in my opinion should have started with someone from camp halfblood finding camp jupiter or the romans (I like to imagine it was the Stoll brothers. It would also make sense since Herms is the good of travel and messages). During that time for some reasons Chiron is away from camp.

The demigods comes back to camp and tell everyone what they found. Here we have two options.

1. Hera makes the change BUT between Jason and Annabeth. (Not my favourite one).

2. Hera, who hates Annabeth, kidnapps Annabeth and sends her to Camp Jupiter (I don't know what to do about her memories). Meanwhile the Romans now know too about the Greeks, and they send some demigod to find CHB. Jason is on the quest, and gets kidnapped by the greeks, because they think Annabeth also got kidnapped by the romans.

Now Jason has still his memories and it's stuck at camp as an hostage (inserts funny scenes about chaotic demigods not knowing what to do with him because "they never had and hostage before". Also Jason being outraged because "You don't know who I am, I'm the preator..") . Chiron comes back and get angry at everyone, and insists to treat Jason as an human being. Jason at the beginning can't stand anyone ESPECIALLY Percy, but in the end of the book they have formed a delicate and difficult to acknowledge bond.

Know I don't know exactly how the story would proceed, but for sure Leo, Piper, Frank and Hazel stay as characters.

Changes:

1. Leo stays himself expect he doesn't fall for every girl he sees, and isn't obsessed about finding love too. Actually he doesn't really care, it's more interested in his passion as a mechanic. (Or you can make him mlm, I think it would suit him)

2. Piper has not all of that "I'm not feminine and dumb like my siblings going on". Instead she grows confidence thanks to her powers, and learns to appreciate her beauty not like something that other people sexualize her for (which is a problem that POC women ACTUALLY HAVE, WHY RIORDAN DIDN'T YOU DO THIS INSTEAD), but like a gift from her mother and a good part of her.

3. Frank doesn't get the random glow up, because in this version we teach kids that you can be a great person, having a girlfriend, and being a powerful hero even if you don't have an ideal body. (Litterally what was the point)

4. Nico is actually around and at the begging he likes to make fun of Jason with Percy (or in a second moment he appears at camp and gets what probably it's going on in reality). He's not appreciated by everyone but he learns how to not care. Also solangelo actually has a relationship building here.

5. I don't know if I would age up Hazel, or make her stay just friends with Frank, but many people would like that. For sure she would get more space because she's amazing.

6. JEYNA ACTUALLY EXISTS HERE. I don't care in what form. They can be together and being a power couples, or eventually break up and create drama. I just need this plot point to not be wasted.

7. No one falld into tartarus. Because Tartarus is a mysterious and scary element in the series. Discovering what's the big mistery ruins everything. (Or if someone like a secondary character fall in it, they die that way, end of discussion). The danger of someone falling into Tartarus is still there tho.

For the plot I don't know. I just know that at some point it would be cool to see where the demigods of Krono's army are now. Actually seeing demigods of the minor gods would be cool. The prophecy is still there but it takes more time to start. (ALSO. I don't think the seven are actually the greatest demigods around. So I think that maybe they end up being the seven after accidentally winning a sort of competition like I said before)

I would cut out the part of the statue of Athena. I don't know how but I would love to still see tha quest to Alaska (maybe with Hazel, Frank, and Jason and Percy?) and the House of Hades.

There would actually be a fight between camps, but the book ends with them team up to have the goods mentally sane again. The moral is that basically they learn to understand theri cultural differences

Basically having Gaeia as the villain isn't necessary, the villain instead should be the gods who are tied to Tarturus and the danger of the door's of death would still be there. And this would give more space for Nico in the plot

I wrote this at 3:00 AM. There are probably so many mistakes. But in my mind it was too cool to not write it down.

[incorrect-titan-army]

any hc on how the titan army would play among us?

I didn't before, but now I do:

Normally Chris is a total idiot but he's a gamer and amazing at among us

When they first played they all assumed he would suck but he completely destroyed them as the imposter

He knows where all the vents lead and all the best tricks for winning

His favorite map is the Skeld because it's the original and you just can't beat the original. He like Polus and airship too but thinks the airship is a little big. He hates MIRA HQ because you can go anywhere trough any vent

He's that one person in the group who's just like "where was everyone" and then proceeds to completely expose the imposter easily while everyone else is just like "how do you know this???"

He always knows what tasks are common, short, and, long so he knows if someone is lying about tasks super easily which the person who's imposter hates

Luke: I was doing download data

Chris: bullshit! Long tasks are off

Luke: Can you please stop knowing everything for like 10 seconds?

He totally has the mini crewmate and a bunch of skin

His favorite color to play is purple

Luke is awful at among us

He's totally the imposter who tries to fake asteroids and immediately gets caught

If it comes to sounding like he isn't the imposter he's a great liar but he can never remember the necessary information to back up his lies

At this point he just tries to say the truth as much as he can

The first time he got imposter he literally asked why task weren't working and why his name was red since he hadn't been paying attention to the part that told you 'imposter' or 'creamate'

He always seems to think Chris is sus because that's what siblings do (also he hates how Chris always catches him)

Luke: guys I think Chris is the imposter

Ethan: the game started like 10 seconds ago what could he have possibly done?

Luke: I don't know, but he's sus and we should vote him out

His favorite map is MIRA HQ because he can go anywhere in the vents when he plays imposter

His favorite color to play is cyan

Silena is surprisingly good at among us

She's really nice and good at acting innocent so no one ever thinks it's her

Children of Aphrodite are definitely great liars and Silena is no exception even if she avoids lying normally

She is great at fix comms and Can get it lined up in seconds

Her favorite map is Polus because she likes the snowy look and think it's better then the Skeld since it's bigger but not too big like airship

She never uses vents but still almost always gets away from bodies

He favorite colors to play are white and blue because she likes the color blue and she thinks most of the hats go well with white

Ethan is great at among us until he gets mad at someone

He normally stays pretty chill but the someone will kill him while he's downloading data and he'll make it his goal to get revenge rather the to win

Alabaster: why would you kill me in front of Silena?

Ethan: I don't care who sees you die! You stopped my download so I had to stop yours!

Other then that he's great at it and is almost always one of the first to finish tasks

He is that one player that always kills in electrical.

Ethan's favorite map is Skeld because he thinks the others are too big and the layout of MIRA is weird

His favorite color to play is black

Alabaster is very mediocre at among us

He's not amazing but he doesn't suck either

He loves sabotaging especially the reactor

After the reactor gets fixed he shuts all the doors so pretty much everyone gets trapped by reactor and can't do tasks

Sometimes when he's annoyed at Chris he'll do something stupid like fake swiping card when he's a crewmate so Chris will call him out while he insists Chris is wrong and he didn't so Chris looks like an idiot for calling him out

Chris doesn't not find this amusing because as he like to say "he has a reputation to uphold as the god of among us"

Alabaster frequently does stack kills and normally doesn't get caught

His favorite map is Skeld because it's the original

His favorite color to play is green and he wears the witch hat every time

Here are a few for the whole group:

Chris using the April first hack where you set the date on your device to April 1st so the Skeld is backward

He tells everyone accept Luke and they all pretend it's normal and Luke is crazy

Luke: guys the map is backwards!

Ethan: no it's not

Chris: yeah it's fine for me too. Are you sure you're getting enough sleep?

When they play just them (and sometimes other demigods from the army) they don't use the chat they just sit in the same room and don't talk unless it's a meeting

Silena and Chris are the best among us imposter duo when they play with two imposters. They win every time

Chris is always the host and Luke keeps trying to convince everyone to let him host, but no one does

They all start just using sus instead of suspicious in casual conversation since they use it among us

Luke accidentally saying sus when he's talking to Kronos

Wow that was a lot. I did not expect to write that many but it was fun! Thanks anon

[your-sovereign-ruler]

Nike

I had fun doing the last deity highlight, so I have decided to turn it into a little series. Feel free to suggest what I do next!

Next up is Nike, goddess of victory. I don’t know why, I just felt like doing her next. This series won’t just be goddesses, just to be clear, or just Hellenic deities either, I’m just doing what feels best and will be the most fun for me.

Her background:

Nike’s parents are the Titans Pallas, the Titan of war-craft and strategy, and Styx, the personification of the river Styx. She has three siblings; Zelus (God of zeal or emulation) Bia (goddess of force) and Kratos (god of strength). Bia was the one who bound Prometheus to the rock for the vultures to peck at!

Nike herself is the goddess of victory in both competition and battle. She is a maiden goddess, and is often associated most closely with Athena and Zeus.

Mythology:

Back at the beginning of the Titan War, Zeus was looking for allies to help the Gods defeat their father, Kronos. Styx agreed to help, and brought her four children with her. The four of them became the sentinels of Zeus’ throne, and Nike had the added job of being Zeus’ charioteer. 

When all the other gods fled from Typhon, Nike, disguised as Leto, stayed with Zeus to offer him support and advice. 

Nike is also often around Athena, as she is the goddess of strategy in war.

Symbols:

Wing imagery

Laurel crowns

Palm branch

Golden sandals

Shield (On which she transcribes the names of all victors)

Her color is gold

Offerings:

*Devote a workout to her

Rose incense

Sandalwood incense

Feathers

Cordage (rope) jewelry (Preferably handmade)

Gold items

*Take a walk or run and devote it to her

*Devote a competition, game, or meet to her

Candle offerings

*When I have make offerings like this, I tend to wear something specific to show that I am devoting the act to them. For Loki, I had a particular necklace. For Nike, some recommendations could be:

A laurel or palm leaf patterned headband

A metal or gold-colored headband

A particular item of gold jewelry

Something with wings on it

Good things for an altar:

Trophies you’ve won

Homemade offering bowl (She likes personal victories, not just ones in competition.)

Gold things, like jewelry

The color gold should be a bit of a theme, but she likes most metals

Idol ideas:

Idols are objects representative of your deity on the altar. This one may be a bit hard to find, so I’m doing a list of suggestions. However, as I’ve never worked with this goddess, take everything with a grain of salt, and do what feels right, rather than adhering to a list.

A mock-laurel wreath (While the real thing may be difficult to find, and dies quickly, a fake one may be a decent substitute. I’ve seen them painted gold, too)

A Greek-style sandal (If you thrift it, be sure to clean it as best you can, and ask if it’s alright)

A nice, cleaned feather (If you don’t know how to properly clean one yourself, you can find instructions here.)

A statue of her, of course (However, they can be difficult to find, especially in a reasonable price range)

A gold medal you’ve won

I would avoid using the Nike brand for anything unless she expressly states that she wants it or would appreciate it. While my former patron, Loki, had a sense of humor, and delighted in my little MCU statuettes, in particular the gold Loki Pop figure my sister gave me, he’s well known for being unconventional. I cannot say how she, or any other god would react to modern interpretations or uses of their image.

Feel free to contact me with suggestions for things to add, or to suggest a deity to cover next time. Until then, blessed be!

[scarletarosa]

Pluto

Greek god of death; King of the Underworld

Pluto (also Pluton or Hades) is the king of the Greek Underworld (which is called Hades) and is the lord of death. He presides over funeral rites and defends the right of the dead to their due burial. Pluto is also the god of the hidden wealth of the earth, from the fertile soil which nourishes the seed-grain, to the mined wealth of gold, silver, and other metals. One of the gods who works alongside him is Thanatos, who holds power over gentle deaths (while Pluto is death in general). In one myth, Pluto was said to have brought a plague to inflict Thebes after the king refused to give proper burials to warriors, which depicts Pluto’s harsher aspect of delivering death and justice. Pluto was also usually regarded as an infertile god, for a god of death should, by his very nature, be incapable of siring any children.

Pluto was depicted as a dark-bearded, regal god. He was depicted as either enthroned in Hades, holding a bird-tipped sceptre, or as the giver of wealth, pouring fertility from a cornucopia. The Romans named him Dis, or Pluto, the Latin form of his Greek title Plouton, "the Lord of Riches."

Myths: According to Hesiod, Pluto’s parentage is said to be of Kronos (god of time) and Rhea (goddess of earth and motherhood). He was said to have been devoured by Kronos along with four of his siblings while the infant Zeus was secretly hidden away by Rhea after his birth. When Zeus later returned and fought Kronos, his siblings were spat out and together they drove the titan gods from the heavens and locked them away in the pit of Tartaros. When the three victorious brothers then drew lots for the division of the cosmos, Hades received the third portion, the dark gloomy realm of the Underworld, as his domain. However, in another version of Pluto’s parentage, it is said by the Orphics that he is actually the son of Nyx (goddess of night) and Olethros (god of doom). In my workings with Pluto and Nyx, they have said the latter myth to be the true version, which makes Pluto the half-brother of deities such as Eris (strife), Philotes (unity), Hemera (daylight), Aether (god of the aether and upper light), etc.

In another myth, Pluto had desired a bride and petitioned Zeus to grant him one of his daughters. The god offered him the young Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. However, knowing that Persephone would resist the marriage, he assented to the forceful abduction of the girl and carried her away on his chariot as she cried out for help. When Demeter learned of this, she was furious and in great despair, causing a great dearth to fall upon the Earth until her daughter was safely returned. Zeus was eventually forced to concede lest mankind perish, and the girl was fetched forth from the Underworld. However, since she had eaten the pomegranate seed after being deceived by Pluto, she was forced to return to him for a portion of each year.

Apollodorus in the following passage summarizes the contents of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (quoted here in the following section). Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 29-33 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.):  

“Plouton [Haides] fell in love with Persephone, and with Zeus' help secretly kidnapped her. I begin to sing of rich-haired Demeter Semne Thea (Reverend goddess) - of her and her trim-ankled daughter [Persephone] whom Aidoneus rapt away, given to him by all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer. Apart from Demeter Lady of the golden sword (khrysaoros), Giver of glorious fruits (aglaokarpos), she was playing with the deep-bosomed daughters of Okeanos and gathering flowers over a soft meadow, roses and crocuses and beautiful violets, irises also and hyacinths and the narcissus, which Ge (Earth) made to grow at the will of Zeus and to please the Host of Many [Haides], to be a snare for the bloom-like girl...The girl was amazed and reached out with both hands to take the lovely toy; but the wide-pathed earth yawned there in the Nysion plain, and the lord, Host of Many, with his immortal horses sprang out upon her...

He caught her up reluctant on his golden car and bare her away lamenting. Then she cried out shrilly with her voice, calling upon her father, the Son of Kronos [Zeus], who is most high and excellent. But no one, either of the deathless gods or of mortal men, heard her voice, nor yet the olive-trees bearing rich fruit: only tender-hearted Hekate, bright-coiffed, the daughter of Persaios, heard the girl from her cave, and the lord Helios (the Sun), Hyperion's bright son, as she cried to her father, the Son of Kronos [Zeus]. But he was sitting aloof, apart from the gods, in his temple where many pray, and receiving sweet offerings from mortal men. So he, that Son of Kronos [Haides], of many names...was bearing her away by leave of Zeus on his immortal chariot--his own brother's child and all unwilling. And so long as she, the goddess, yet beheld earth and starry heaven and the strong flowing sea, and still hoped to see her dear mother [Demeter] and the tribes of the eternal gods, so long hope calmed her great heart for all her trouble; and the heights of the mountains and the depths of the sea rang with her immortal voice: and her queenly mother heard her.”

Appearance: A man in his 40’s with tanned skin, black hair, a short black beard, and black eyes (only the irises). He wears a black toga and often has a solemn expression.  

Personality: Pluto is very solitary, withdrawn, just, fair, serious, aloof, brooding, and compassionate. He requires his followers to respect the resting places of the dead, to show humility, and to overcome their toxic ways. He is one who understands that we all must go through the depths of suffering if we wish to gain wisdom and become better people. Yet this is something very difficult to do, so he is glad to assist along this path if one politely requests him to do so. Pluto is also a healer, but only in regards to mental sufferings due to loss and regrets; other things are not specialties of his. Pluto is a highly respectable deity and will be the guardian of many of us once we die (unless we enter a different kingdom). One should not speak cruelly of him or disrespect him due to his role as a divine king, lest they seek to invoke his wrath.  

Personal experiences: Pluto embodies a feeling of immense loneliness, and had even bound himself to the Underworld as he felt that he could belong nowhere else. But in doing this, he is unable to leave this realm for very long and has made it very difficult for him to find a companion. So, in an act of desperation, he kidnapped Persephone when he saw her in a meadow one day and carried her off to his realm as she raged against him. He pleaded with her to listen and be understanding, but of course, someone who has been kidnapped does not respond well to this. So Pluto kept her locked up in his palace hoping that she would eventually calm down and come to want to understand him, but instead, Persephone became angrier and even more desperate to escape. This soon led Pluto to force himself upon her, and he continued this for ages. After a very long time of being kept prisoner, Persephone finally managed to be rescued by other deities, but she was not the same and had lost her connection to flowers due to her stay in the Underworld. She has been traumatized ever since and harbours great anger towards Pluto and any who change the myths about what had occurred. Pluto, however, is not the same as he was before and is repenting for his actions.  

Nowadays, Pluto is a better version of his old self but still pains over his solitude. However, he does receive some company from some visiting family members such as Nyx and a few of his siblings, like Philotes. However, one is not advised to enter the Underworld through astral travel unless they are highly experienced and are granted permission to enter since this realm is not a pleasant place and some areas can even cause insanity. Despite this dark, abysmal domain, Pluto is a very understanding and patient god who is not quick to judge others and helps us to overcome our past evils in order to be reborn. Pluto also has a very strong understanding of pain and solitude, and what these emotions can turn a person into, so he can assist in healing these burdening emotions from our hearts.  

He has explained that Pluto is his true name while Hades is simply the name of the portion of the Underworld which he rules over (as the Underworld is immensely vast and has multiple kingdoms such as Kur, Duat, Helheim, etc). His role as king of Hades is to watch over the spirits of the dead who enter his domain; where they are then tormented in order to overcome their wrong-doings, negative habits/emotions, and harmful obsessions. It is not like Hell, since only evil spirits go there and they are tortured for eternity in far worse ways; the Underworld is moreso a place of harsh lessons and rebirth before one is allowed entrance to Elysium. The torments of the Underworld are also all symbolic and assist the spirit in realizing what they must change about themselves before they can become anew, yet this process usually takes many years (sometimes decades or centuries). Pluto also has power over death itself (since he embodies it) and has explained that the god Thanatos is an aspect of himself, representing a small portion of his own power. Pluto also has the power of illusion, which makes him able to cause spirits and humans alike to see whatever he wants them to see (even able to manipulate one’s astral senses).  

Some of Pluto’s Epithets:

Adámastos (Unconquerable)  

Adesius (The Grave)

Agelastus (Melancholic)

Aidis (The Unseen)

Amænthis (The One who Gives and Receives)

Ánax (King)

Eubulius (The Consoler of Sorrow)

Feralis Deus (The Dismal God)

Larthy Tytiral (Sovereign of Tartaros)

Moiragetes (Guide of the Fates)

Nekrôn Sôtêr (Saviour of the Dead)

Opertus (The Concealed)

Polydegmôn (Host of Many)

Pluton (Lord of Riches)

Offerings: ginger ale, spiced rum, well water, ginger root, plums, mushrooms, eggplant, beetroot, parsnips, black peppercorns, bones, ash, scorpions, vipers, clay pots, black candles, styrax incense, chalk powder, black or grey rags, sceptres, scythes, black or dark purple cloaks, ebony wood, black leather moccasins, moleskin, old silver coins, bronze, silver, ivory, rust, obsidian, onyx, jet, charcoal

The Underworld

[strvberryjam]

the olympians! (sims 4 challenge)

hey there! it's me, some loser on the internet, aka jam. i mean, if you like sims 4 challenges, and interesting ones with lots of family drama, and possibly murder, come on down!

this challenge focuses on greek mythology and is a legacy challenge for the most part. the point of this challenge is for you to really get creative, and have an interesting experience with the sims. so, i'll just give a quick run-down on basic knowledge on greek mythology (if you don't already know.)

According to Classical-era mythology, after the overthrow of the Titans, the new pantheon of gods and goddesses was confirmed. Among the principal Greek gods were the Olympians, residing on Mount Olympus under the eye of Zeus. (The limitation of their number to twelve seems to have been a comparatively modern idea.) Besides the Olympians, the Greeks worshipped various gods of the countryside, the satyr-god Pan, Nymphs (spirits of rivers), Naiads (who dwelled in springs), Dryads (who were spirits of the trees), Nereids (who inhabited the sea), river gods, Satyrs, and others. In addition, there were the dark powers of the underworld, such as the Erinyes (or Furies), said to pursue those guilty of crimes against blood-relatives. (From Wikipedia, not the best source but it'll do.)

So, the titans are overthrown by the gods and goddesses, or Hera, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, and Demeter who are all the children of the king of titans, or Kronos and Rhea a titaness. Zeus chopped up his father and sort of tossed him into tartarus? Don't really know how that part works, but okay. In the end the gods win in the end and rise to Mount Olympus, which is the time I'd like this challenge to sort of take place. I'll quickly explain how it works.

There is 1 household which all of the siblings live in. I suggest making any of the females in the family (Hestia, Hera, and Demeter) NOT related to the others, just because a lot of them have kids with each other and that's pretty disgusting, so, yeah.

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Generation 1: Hera.

Hera is the queen of the gods, and the goddess of marriage, family, women, childbirth, and some other stuff related to that. She's obsessed with having a picture perfect family, and with Zeus cheating all the time it gets pretty interesting. Plus she's done some pretty... mean stuff to her children. She should have a family aspirations, specifically big happy family. For her traits, she's a perfectionist, and jealous. You can add any other traits that relate to her personality, such as family-oriented, snob, ect. but she must have those two traits. She should have black hair, that's curled and tied into a bun. She also has brown eyes, and you can add anything else.

Zeus is the king of gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. Honestly, if you want him looking like an old man with gray hair, that's fine, but I'd suggest black hair for him since all of them should be young adults or adults. He has a neatly trimmed beard, that's curly. He has electric blue eyes, and has a very muscular build. His aspiration should be friend of the world. He should be hot-headed, a foodie, and ambitious.

For the rest of the siblings if you want to look into their appearances and personalities, go right ahead but I'm not forcing you to do anything special for them. Most of them have black, or dark brown hair. If you want a vibe of their feel then here you go:

Hades is the king of the underworld, and he's the god of death and souls. He's a social outcast and he has some sort of sibling rivalry with his brothers.

Hestia is the virgin goddess of the hearth, the family, and the home. She has a very warm vibe, unlike Hades who's rather cold. She has dark brown hair, I think- and has olive green eyes.

Poseidon is the god of the sea, and the ocean. He's basically like a boho beach dad version of Zeus. Tan skin, long, curly, dark brown hair and an overgrown beard. Sea green eyes.

Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, and agriculture. She has VERY long, curly, golden hair and honestly gives me plant mom vibes.

And that's pretty much it for their appearances and personality/vibes. For the challenge there are several rules

-Zeus and Hera are to be married preferably in the start of the challenge.

-Aging should be turned off (optional)

-If you're going down the no money issues route, they all have to live in one very huge mansion that represents mount olympus. If you can't build or find anything just go on the gallery and look for a mansion that's primarily white and gray, and has a very elegant and royal feel to it.

-Mods are optional, but you can use them as much as you want for this challenge!

-Each heir are supposed to complete their career, and aspiration.

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Generation 2: WIP am hungry and I'm taking a day break from this-🤷‍♀️