#Which i think is hella sexist but what i can do...

[acgames]

Art pieces for my Dragon Age protagonists.

Yes I know you have seen them multiple times on my different blogs, yes I know you tired of seeing them, but I am still very proud of these and I love my boys.

So Deal. With. It.

[cherryredstars]

OMG I SAW YOUR REQUEST IS OPEN AND OMG I WANTED TO ASK IF YOU CAN MAKE AN demon!MIGUEL x but Innocent/cute/ werid/quirkFmAngel! Reader (like the demon CAN be also called the spider demon that all work under Miguel eyes😝💅😩)

Reader is a angel that believes that there goodness in any creature that mean Miguel.yea but she doesnt believed in some angel like her ex- boyfriend,reader finally caught her boyfriend cheating while hanging out with the group while eating there ice cream or looking in the heaven village or city idk ??😣😭 ( miles, gwen, and pav and his girlfriend )which when Gwen and hobie and miles was shocked and gasp loudly at something that pulled reader attention and when reader saw it, reader came running away in tear at the sight of it.

and ran away far away from it ,While pav girlfriend with hobie beating his as while gwen is telling hobie that " ENOUGH HOBBIE " while pav is trying to stop his girlfriend from cheering on hobie from SCREAMING at reader ex- boyfriend for making reader spend ALL her time with such a USELESS F ING ANGEL WHO doesnt work FOR SH%T

meanwhile Miguel, is some were in heaven and hell which is what I called is the void or the pocket of both lands and that where Miguel is doing his business(while wearing his spider logo LIKE imagine him wearing an tight suit with some sort of amor ) killing angel and entity\antomty (I forgot the name💀) in his way with Layla of course but only telling him how many are there but that where reader came running away and fall into and also hitting a large rock and managed to hurt one of her wings,badly, which cause her to stare around for any help or tried to see if she know what is this place she flew into, And Miguel was done doing assignments (ahem- killing) amd then see her in such a state that make his heart beat again,

Meanwhile reader is crying not of fear, but she not in fear of the man in front of him.. She finding it sexist (ok I want to make reader weird,or quirky💀😭) ok it not her problem OR FAULT OK it was his aura, big BOTTY OF A ASS that reader probably think she has seen in her life form a boy ✊😝 and his horns,

reader realized she still have tear in her eyes and started wipes her face and getting up from the floor but then the pain of her wings finally came. (And Layla being Layla teleport to Miguel to see if he done with work and see reader on the floor with a broken wing with blood and Layla making an deal or some thing idk to convince him to let her live while saying in a language Spanish but that a ancient towards reader)

NFSW PART THAT J COMPLETED SUCK AT

Let imagine Miguel heat or is just hella intoxicated with a sex drug from layla putting there (putting or idk someone LIKE PETER B ) and left it on his favorite desk( that he like to slam on A LOT JUST FROM THE RETARD THAT HE HAS TO DEAL with work💀 ✊ men got his on TABLET FOR THAT lol) and it crash on the floor and broke and some gas that Miguel was intoxication from of it and went to his own place while reader was petting an demonic cat in his house

Here is a some plot idea for the NFSw part

(Also THIS IDEA WAS INSPIRED BY MANY WEEBTOON STORY AND I WANTED TO mush ALL THESE IDEA INTO ONE SO pls 😭 if I suck AT EXPLAINING THE PART and I wanted to say this but I feel like Miguel be the grump bear person character or big puffy cat person like he wouldnt like anyone touch his horn but when reader ask he let her touch his horn with a pout sound as he lean down 🗣😭✊ also you can make this a fluff/smut any kink will do honestly! THANK YOU bye ❤

Hope you have a great day and time ! (Sorry if this made be a long request but I dont see many people making a demon Miguel like this one and reader as well so yea and I really wanted to people be inspired by this one !!!😇😌🗣

Pairing: Demon!Miguel O’Hara x Angel!fem reader

Warnings: 18+, NSFW, Smut with Plot, Virgin!Reader, Fluff, Mentions of Cheated on Reader, Slight Corruption Kink, Slight Fingering, Oral Sex, Praise, Penetrative Sex, Mentions of Blood

Summary: Even the devil has a soft spot. 

Word Count: 3.9K (Not Edited)

It had been a gloomy day. 

You had never expected to find your sweet, attentive boyfriend sucking faces with someone else. It had ruffled your delicate feathers and for your wings to curve in with despair. Your friends had tried to pull you away from the scene, the dejection clear on your face as you stared longingly at the man you had given your golden heart to. Their reassuring words floated past you, mind preoccupied on why this could have happened to you. Was it something you did? Were you not enough? Were you missing something?

Later into that day, after numbly reassuring your friends you were alright, you had wandered aimlessly across the angelic city. You were so lost in thought that you had not realized you had taken too many turns out of the city, finding yourself in the Void. So unused to the dark, unfamiliar land, you had stumbled your way around, catching your wings on things you couldn’t see clearly until your body was sore and you had wilted to the ground in a hopeless mess. You were unsure of how long you had laid there, a withering mess of innocent pain before he had sniffed you out. 

From his account of events, he had just been back from one of his sessions of…repentance as he calls it. Even though his suit and dulled armor was splattered with blood, he knew the lingering scent in the air was fresh, more innocent than the kind he had spilt. He had followed the sweet fragrance, finding your helpless form crowded to the ground. You had looked up at him with such shiny eyes, a puffed pout on your lips. Your appearance alone was angelic, his hand itching to reach out and taint your delicate skin. He swore a glowing aura shielded your body, setting you apart from the gloominess of the Void. If not the scent of your blood, the shininess of your glow would attract dark things like him to you. 

You had shrunk back in response to the strong presence he held, not realizing tears had flowed down your face until he commanded you to wipe them away. When he had told you to follow him, you had weakly pushed yourself up, using the sound of shifting armor as your guide through the dark. He had taken you back to the modest cabin, cold and nearly as empty as the world outside. He had left you by yourself, your wings fluttering nervously as you tried to see more than blurred darkness. When he had lit a dim light, you had instantly flocked towards it while he kept his distance. You had crowded around the greenish-yellow flame like a moth, staring at it as if it was as angelic as you were. 

His rough hand was firm around your shoulder blade, pushing you into a seat near the flame. He stood behind you, as if using you to shield him from the light as he bandaged the fracture in your wing quietly. You had sat still, watching the flame dance on the candle wick. The light illuminated your face in a ghastly light, creating intense shadows against the features of your face. When he had pulled away, you turned to look for him, only to be met with pure black. You reached your hand out tentatively, pulling it back when you had met the cold metal of his armor. HIs own hand reached out to you, centimeters away from your face so you could see it. 

Your delicate fingers brushed over the calluses on his hand and in a gravelly voice he had asked you, how pretty, innocent you, found yourself an injured bird in such a dark place. With his adapted eyes, he had seen the darkening of your cheeks and the wounded look in your eyes. You had looked away, a half-hearted excuse of getting lost leaving your plush lips before asking him for his name. 

He answers begrudgingly, a low grumble that you have to strain your ears to catch. You find it only fair to tell him yours in return, and Miguel lets the word circulate into his head until it's fully memorized. The name suits a gentle creature like you he thinks, a soft symphony of syllables that are yours to own. It sounds like church bells and birds chirping, something that's shunned in the Void. The natural greed that fuels his body wants to lock you up and keep you for himself. 

Instead, he shoves the lantern into your hands, a silent demand to follow him as he walks towards the cabin’s entrance again. You two walk through the barren land, your small form following him as you stare at the more clearly defined shapes of the land. When you begin to slow or stray too far, he lets out a slow rumbling noise from his chest that draws you back to him. He doesn’t seem particularly annoyed when he does it, but he isn’t exactly happy about it either.  

You follow him until he stops, your distracted mind almost causing you to crash into him. You peak out from behind him quizzically, holding your lantern up only to find it useless. Even though Migurl stopped a good distance away, the light of the holy city is visible. A delighted smile makes its way onto your face as you look up at him, a silence thanks for his kindness. He doesn't look visibly affected, but his unmoving heart stutters in a single kick. 

You wordlessly walk out from behind him, taking a few steps forward before stopping and running back. His eyebrow raises as you stop right in front of him,a shy smile on your face as you take his hand and wrap it around the lantern’s handle with a soft thank you. You had given his hand a lingering squeeze before turning away from him and walked towards home. You had turned once after crossing out of the Void, eyes searching for a figure and a green glow, but both seemed to have disappeared into the darkness.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿‿︵

Two weeks later, you were surprised to see that green glow in the distance. Based on the height of it, you knew it had to be Miguel. You took a hesitant step into the Void, then another and another until you were getting closer and closer to the light. You had stopped five feet away, close enough for the light to be an arm away, but far enough that you couldn’t see the face you’ve yet to see. It was silent for a long moment before that familiar rumble vibrated in the air. The softest of smiles came over your face as you walked closer, taking the lantern from him when he offered it to you. You lifted your arm up, letting the light travel up his form until you were looking into deep red eyes. 

A stifled gasp had left you, but it held more fascination than fear. Your eyes had drunk in his features, eyes mostly trained between his glowing orbs and the twisted points that spiraled from his soft hair. He had studied you too, eyes flashing at the delicate bow of your lips and the twinkling shine in your eyes. When you lowered the light, you kept your eyes trained to the place of his own eyes as you whispered a hello. He grunted back in response and turned to make way back to the cabin. You never hesitated to follow him back. 

It was in that very cabin that you spent most of your time together. Where the two of you bonded. You sat and talked, Miguel listening as he cleaned his armor or prepared you desserts made from sweet berries and cream that he bought from travelers in anticipation for your frequent visits. The first few visits acted as check ups, Miguel making sure your wing mended and had full capability. Those visits were quick and silent, but they made you anxious for the next one. 

Sometimes, after being too cramped in his cabin, you would ask Miguel to show you around the Void. He always grumbled about it, muttering how the Void was, well, void of anything besides plain terrain and the occasional hut or trading stand. But he had found that there was little he could deny you, something in his body against the idea of rejecting something so bright and lively. He had discovered this trait during an earlier visit where you had asked him in the sweetest tone he had ever heard if you could touch his horns. The disapproval was on the tip of his forked tongue, but seeing the way you had blinked so hopefully up at him only resulted in the bowing of his head as your gentle hands traced the grooves of the foreign keratin. 

On special days, the days where MIguel had no repentance to take care of, he would let you decorate his horns and hair with beads and accessories you had brought over and never took home. He would hold the lantern up for you so you could focus on your work, and he told you in a gruff voice about the more tamer quests he had been on. But those stories were rare and far between, Miguel finding someone as pure as yourself in no need to know about blood and death as he’s known them. But, they were fun to hear even with their heavy censorship and you absorbed every word like gospel. Honestly, you spend more time focusing on the sound of his voice rather than his words. You loved the deep calmness to his speech, wishing you had a way to record it so you could play it over and over in the hours you spent away from him. 

On the really bad days, the days where Miguel had come to fetch you at the border of the Void and the holy city in more blood than usual, he would take you back to the cabin in silence and wash up before pulling you to his sofa and cradling your innocent form to his chest. The both of you would be bathed in darkness, the lantern a far away glow on the dining table as he tried to absorb your good. He would hold your head gently, breathing in your sweet scent as he played with the ends of your hair or flattened the feathers of your wings. It helped calm him down, feeling the slight pleased purr vibrate against his chest as you beamed under his attentive care. He would rumble his chest slowly in response, showing his own content. Those days you knew you had to distract his mind, letting his mind fill with nothing but the events of your day or any days you were apart. When you ran out of events, you started telling him your own thoughts. Recalling a question you have about the universe, a flower you saw on your way to the Void’s edge, how you think maybe the next time you visit you’ll bring Miguel a nice piece of decoration to hang up so his cabin doesn’t look so sad. 

But no matter the type of day, no matter how many times you had visited him, he always walked you back to the edge of the Void at the same exact time. It was like clock work. It didn’t matter if you didn’t finish your story, it didn’t matter if you weren’t done removing the decorations from his hair, it didn’t matter if he hadn’t fully calmed down yet. When a small chime ran through his house, he would drop whatever he was doing, standing to give you your lantern before walking you out of his cabin. You had asked him about it a singular time, but he had ignored it. You waited, debated if you should ask again in case he didn’t hear you, but then that time happened and you dropped it. You had stayed curious about it, but you had come to terms with the fact that you’d possibly never know.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿‿︵

You don’t know what compelled you to come so late. It was far past the time you would usually come, proven by the fact no lantern glow greeted you at the edge of the Void. But something in you urged you to go, your feet basically dragging you through the darkness. Luckily, the frequency of your visits made you familiar with the path to Miguel’s cabin, hand stretched out until it hit the flat wood of a door. It only took you a few pats to find the doorknob, turning it and sliding it open. 

Instantly, a dark musk filled your senses. It makes your head dizzy and you grip tighter onto the knob to steady yourself. When you think you're stable enough to walk, you take a step forward only to almost trip on an overturned chair. A spike of alarm rings in your head and you can’t help the urgency powering your voice as you call Miguel’s name. In the darkness, there is a faint noise of shuffling before you yelp out in surprise. Large hands grab you and flip you on the couch, your hands shoved above your heads as the sound of deep breathing echoes in your ear. Your body instantly melts into the fabric at the sound of Miguel’s voice asking you what you’re doing here. 

You try to shift your hands, but Miguel tightens his hold on them. You huff out a pout but stop struggling as you ask him if he’s okay. He doesn’t reply, burying his head into the crook of your neck and inhaling deep. His breath tickles around your neck and you can’t help the soft squirms your body makes. 

“Smells s’good,” Miguel mumbles against your skin, his hips pinning yours down so you can’t try to escape. You try to stifle the gasp that builds in your throat at something hard pressing into you. When Miguel’s wet tongue glides up the length of your neck, a soft noise leaves you parted lips. Your hips buck up to push him off, but he only grounds and grounds his hips into you. 

Another sound leaves you, slightly louder than before as you feel something rush into your panties. The feeling of the wetness is uncomfortable and you try to shift to relieve it. Miguel’s hands find your waist and grip hard, holding you still as you pull away from your neck. His eyes are glowing so brightly that you can see the red tint in the darkness. “It’s witching hour, y'know.

Can’t be here, ángel.” 

Despite the gruffness of his appearance, the words are sweet and full of concern. If you could, you would have reached your hand up to cup his face. He looks and sounds pained. You don’t know why, but you want to help. “Are you okay, Miggy? You don’t sound so good, is there anything I can help you with?”

The honey dripping from your voice makes him grind his hips against you again. You just sound so sweet. His perfect little angel was so worried about him. Wanted to be helpful to him. So sweet and pure and innocent. So goddamn tempting. And, like he said before, he can never deny you. He can’t deny you. Who denies help from an angel anyways? Definitely not him. Definitely not when you can help. 

His hand reaches down and cups under your pretty white tunic, a gasp leaving you when he cups your clothed sex and the heel of his palm presses the wetness against your skin. A deep moan leaves Miguel at the dampness, his hand rubbing it eagerly. “Yeah, you can.”

Before you can ask him what it is he needs help with, you feel too long fingers slip under your panties. Your body instantly tenses as Miguel teases them along your entrance, more slick rushing from you to coat his fingers. He tries to push them in, absolute surprise coursing through him when your walls don’t instantly give to take them at the same time. He tries to ease the tips of them, but still gets nothing. It frustrates him. You’re so wet, he can see you glistening before him. Fuck, you hips are even pressing back into his hand. So why can’t you take his fingers? 

Then, it hits him. His sweet little angel is a virgin. 

He grows impossibly harder at the thought. You really are pure. His tiny little angel, untouched and pure. All for his taking. His eyes trail up your body, looking into your confused face. Poor thing doesn’t even understand what’s happening. But, it’s okay. Miguel, he isn’t mean. He may be a demon but he isn’t mean. He’ll take care of you. 

“Need you to spread your legs f’me, doll. Spread your legs and relax.”

You obey so beautifully. You don’t question or hesitate. You only do, only please. Your legs spread for him and he watches the way your tunic bunches around your waist. The sight of your drenched cunt is downright heavenly and he can’t help but lick his lips. His hands glide up your legs until he’s helping you keep your legs open. Gently, he bends down and places them over his shoulder until he’s face to face with your practically see-through panties. He licks a long strip up them, tongue swirling around your poked bud. Your lips instantly buck up in response and your hands find his horns for support. 

He chuckles at you, studying you as he pushes your panties to the side again. He licks another strip up you, your slick collecting on his taste buds. You taste as sweet as you smell and it’s driving him wild. The grip on you tightens as he prods at your entrance. His tongue is wet and warm and causes you to feel things you didn’t even know were possible. Your hips lift in response, and you cry out when Miguel slips his tongue into you. 

The buckling of your hips is instinctive as his tongue dives in and out of you, occasionally playing with your clit. Your eyes are threatening to roll back as your hands tighten around Miguel’s horns to aid your movements. “M-miguel…what are you..?”

Miguel’s own eyes roll back at your clueless question. You don’t even understand what’s going on, but here you are desperately trying to ride his face like a fucking succubus because you feel that good. A deep groan vibrates against you as he eats you out more desperately, drinking up everything you’re spilling out. In response, you keep letting out the prettiest of noises. If this is what it's like to go to church, Miguel just might consider being stricken down for the chance to hear your moans. 

Your legs begin to shake, trying to fight Miguel’s strong hold. Your body quivers and twists, head thrown back as you try to stop whatever it is building inside of you. “Miguel…stop, wait!”

Your begs and pleads are absolute music to him, He can feel the clenching of your walls, and he tries to ease a finger into you to hold them apart. His fingers slip in easier than before, but it still has resistance. But the moment he’s knuckle deep and curls, you’re crying out as you finish. Miguel’s eyes snap up to you, watching drunkenly as you twitch. He slurps everything up, moaning into you as he sucks your lips. He pulls away with a pop, placing a gentle kiss onto your sensitive clit as you try to breathe. Your chest rises and falls, sweat making your tunics stick to your body and become transparent in some places. You’re nipples peek through the fabric, and Miguel sucks them until they’re clearly seen under the garment. 

He finally reaches up to your face, kissing your cheek to call you back to him. Your eyes are hazy as you turn to look at him, a small film of satisfaction coating them. The sight makes Miguel smile, nuzzling his nose against your skin to breathe in the lingering scent of sex and sweat on you. You smell absolutely divine and he can’t help but palace a slow kiss to your lips. Your own lips are clumsy, not really knowing what you’re doing. You just follow Miguel’s example and whatever your brain is telling you is right. But Miguel seems to be enjoying it, pressing his lips harder against you and humming. 

You’re the first to pull away, a gasp ripping from you as you feel his finger slide back into you. He wiggles it around, stretching your walls out in preparation for something bigger. You whine against his lips. Hips shifting when he pulls it out of you. But soon you feel the warmth of something larger poking at your opening. Your eyes meet Miguel’s glowing ones, a silent question in your eyes. 

Miguel presses a soft kiss to the corner of your eye as he begins to push in. His hand tilts your head to the side, his face looking down at you as your own twists in discomfort. “This is gonna hurt for a second, sweet angel.” 

Before you can ask what he means, his hips snap forward. A scream begins to leave your throat, but it dies once Miguel surges towards your neck and bites down. The pinch of something painful hits you before it all dies down into a euphoric numbness. A soft moan leaves you as Miguel slowly thrusts in and out. He pulls away from your neck, giving it a quick lick and kiss before taking your arms to wrap them around his neck loosely. He kisses your cheek again, moaning at the coppery smell of blood that begins to feel the air as he stretches your hymen. 

“That’s it. So fucking good for me, good girl.”

Even in your dazed state, your body glows under his praise. A slow hum leaves you, and you arch your back into him. Miguel’s hand slips to your lower back, pressing your skin into his body and he begins to speed up his thrusts. Each snap of his hips brings shockwaves of pleasure through you, and it isn’t long before you feel the familiar build up in your body again. Miguel groans as your walls tighten around his cock, teeth grinding together as he pushes through your tight walls. With another sharp thrust, you're moaning out again as you release. 

Miguel continues to work you through it, working at your clit to make it last longer. You whimper in appreciation, body pressing up into his fingers for more. He chuckles at the involuntary movement, working you even after your body jolts from oversensitivity. His fingers and his thrusts don’t stop until he feels his own pleasure beginning to form its peak. WIth a few sharp thrusts and you moaning his name, he spills his hot seed into you. The feel of it filling you makes you come again, hips lifting and pressing into his pelvis to keep it all into you. 

Miguel rubs soft circles into the skin of your hips to help you calm down, pressing kisses to your shoulders and muttering praise. He pulls out slowly, his cock an ombre of pink to creamy white cum as the same mix drips from you. His fingers fuck it back into you absentmindedly, only stopping when you cry out softly. He gives you time to rest, leaving to get a soft cloth to wipe you down. 

Midway through his cleaning, you hand lands to his arm. He looks up at you questionably, watching the dazed look beginning to leave your eyes. But he can’t help the wide smile that forms on his face as you ask: “Again?”

Teehee

[shannonsketches]

omg. i dislike how people say that the gerudo are obsessed with love and "finding the voe of their dreams". love is a hell of a thing. oxytocin is a hell of a hormone. and the protentional heartbreak. something that can render the greatest of warriors invalid, and these women KNOW it and they have to have classes for it. and those gerudo that do find husbands, they seem to be content and those men seem to be competent! Hudson had a job, he loves his wife and ADORES his little girl so much! And that one voe that got jailed for entering the town, he did it not to peep on the women, but because he missed his wife and daughter! not wise, but not malicious either!

i interpret that fascination with love the same way as the little mermaid is fascinated by the outside world. it's beautiful but it can absolutely crush you.

On the one hand, this is something I dismiss as Nintendo having the standard sexist amazon fantasy that a society of women would be obsessed with men.

On the other ‘justify the lore’ hand I think this is something that probably got romanticized in their culture overtime, since the Gerudo are sovereign but have to breed with Hylians as a necessity. The idea of love probably makes that a less daunting reality, and it’s easy to understand how it could evolve into a popular fantasy in Gerudo youth.

A lot of people do fantasize about love unrealistically, and adding a foreign element to it makes it all the more mysterious and whimsical. So it makes sense to me that people with NO experience would be weird about it. It also adds a touch of vulnerable human silliness to the Gerudo, instead of having them ALL hella militaristic and beefy warrior people. They have different tastes and different priorities and some of them are weirdos about hypothetical dudes who are a borderline mythical creature in the valley and it’s endearing imo.

I love the idea that the Gerudo have like ‘don’t scare the men, we need to reproduce’ classes, and I love the idea that the Gerudo who are interested in the outside world have this naive romanticization of what meeting a boy is like, and that some of these these 8’ warrior women think boys are scary.

It’s also in part because Nintendo can’t say ‘this is a class on how to fuck him and come home pregnant’ of course, but IMO it’s not unrealistic for a lot of young and ignorant Gerudo to be giddy and obsessive in context. You build up the fantasy and you go out and learn life isn’t actually like that, but sometimes you can still meet someone who makes you feel like you live in a fairy tale. Other times you try it out and learn you’re happier in a different kind of story, which many Gerudo you meet have!

Either way, more experienced Gerudo being like ‘Bruh relax it’s literally just a man’ and less experienced Gerudo treating the idea of a dude the way tumblr treats Mothman is very, very funny to me.

[nightmareinfloral]

knight terrors nightwing: i didn’t hate it!

compared to dicks writing in his solo as of late, i was very excited to see a fresh voice writing nightwing, even in a miniseries. becky cloonan delivered a story that to me was a mixed bag. structurally, especially compared to the other knight terrors titles, it was very solid (someone needs to show these bitches at least 1 psychorror film cause what even is this event 💀). but content wise it was a let down.

spoilers ahead!

cloonan’s transitions between dream and “reality” within the nightmare are very well done. she plays with surrealism and the concept of the mind in some entertaining ways. she has really grown as a writer in the past year or two and this issue shows off some of her more diverse skills.

now onto everyone’s favorite part aka me complaining 🥰🥰🥰

the whole drama is that oh no nightwing killed batman now he has to be sent to arkham 😱 but in the most boring way possible. you could’ve inserted any other batkid and it would’ve been the same story. what would’ve been more dick-esque is batman or anyone else dying because dick failed to save them. that’s dicks thing- he fears being a failure. some receipts ⬇️

that would’ve been a much more compelling conflict to me and an actual nightmare situation for dick. it also would’ve been a nice contrast with bruce’s knight terrors story (yes i know they probably weren’t able to communicate about the stories but bruce’s was hella predictable like cmon).

nightwing failed to save batman from dying and in the process is taken in because they think he killed him. dick pleads his innocence but he might as well killed bruce. he failed. it’s just as bad if not worse.

but instead we get dick getting sexually harassed within the first four pages which 😁👍 is just so great. it could’ve been a moment for some commentary on his history of sa and how dick fears objectification but it’s just brushed past and used as a cheap, tactless shot. especially by using zsasz. the issue would’ve been much better if it had just been left out.

then there’s all the other plot points where it’s like, this could be referencing dicks publication history or it could just be a coincidence ie: the choices of arkham experimentation and pyg as antagonists. you can’t tell which because they aren’t expounded upon. there’s an opportunity to do so but it’s wasted to use the same cards always used. like let john and mary rest godamm. pick any other moment of tragedy in dicks life. and the whole evil scary asylum bit is sooo dated in general and really overused in dc. like again, get another plot device. we’ve had numerous events surrounding this! i believe in you dc! it’s 2023 we can move on.

the bit at the end with babs was just another example of her being a prop in dicks story. boring and sexist.

but jonathan!! yippee!! look at him :)))

literally my favorite part. i love him in this artstyle.

[688199]

A Cheeky Angel: What does being a man mean?

exploring the theme and message of this underrated gem

okay so im not exactly new to this series, been about a year since i first watched the anime. i'm now just done with my second reread of the manga, so i would like to share whatever comes to mind.

i would like to start this off saying that i don't think many people see beyond what meets the eye. i've seen others say that this series is sexist and misogynistic, etc etc. but i don't think that's the case at all. in fact, it's the complete opposite. how so? let's start from the beginning (apologies for being messy i'm never good at organizing my thoughts lol) (contains spoilers)

cheeky angel revolves around our main character, megumi amatsuka, a beautiful angelic girl who believes she was once a boy. hence she is determined to return to her previous state with the help of her best friend, miki. she meets a thug who falls heads over heels with her after she's the first to beat him up, then save him when he was in a pinch. soon, a strange group forms around megumi, called the megu-dan, with a goal to protect her, as well as find the magic book.

this series is one of, if not the only series which i feel handles the shallow and cringe "gender swap" troupe very well by using it to explore important themes, such as: what is masculinity?

the reason megumi wants to become a boy in the first place, is because society around her constantly pushes that "boy = strong, girl = weak". she ends up hurting genzo (recap: he saves her from glass shards) and those around her because "she is a girl". not only that, megumi feels frustrated that she is unable to help miki escape her fate. this thought of "i am a girl, therefore i will never be able to do it" hence becomes the cause of her insecurity, and is whar holds her back from her true potential.

now the genie, what does he do? imo he's hella clever. by altering memories to make her believe she was once a boy, megumi is no longer bounded by this thought, and hence is able to do what she wants fearlessly. at the end she also says to the genie that her wish was granted. what wish? to be able to protect others. like how she managed to save her friends time and time again.

"being a man" represents courage, justice, and this wish. thus this becomes her ideal, as well as many of the other characters, in their own unique ways.

it is megumi's "manliness" which causes every character to be drawn towards her, people who need to learn this "manliness". genzo, who is the toxic, shallow personification of "being a man". kobayashi, whose hesitance stops him from achieving his dream. fujiki and yasuda, who believes they amount to nothing but the stereotypes they live by. throughout the series though, you can see them overcome these obstacles, with megumi serving as the catalyst.

then what is "being a woman"? this one is a bit more unclear, but from how i see it, megumi represents "being a woman", and "being a woman" represents freedom. the way megumi does things her own way and how she wants it, a stark contrast to miki and others around her who are bound to stereotypes and expectations. yet at the same time, it's ironic, because "being a woman" is what holds megumi down. thus this leads to her identity crisis. at first glance it might seem megumi is just worried about her physical appearance but in truth it is about whether she wants to have her wish, or remain free as she is.

however, at the end of the series, she learns to accept herself as who she is, no longer needing the idea that "she used to be a man" to spur her actions. thus the comment by miki: "she seems more manly now, and more feminine too". because the conflict she battled for so long is finally over, she is now both "a man" and "a woman", someone who can protect others, as they want to.

the overall message of the series is: you don't have to be a man, to "be a man", just be yourself

(i will go in depth with other characters in future posts and explain how they tie into this message and theme. also, just post whatever i think about the series.)

(ive seen some people say this is an lgbtq series about gender. though the similarities, i would like to disagree. it’s really just about “being you, as you are”. this is why i don’t enjoy people putting labels on the characters, like saying megumi is trans, miki is lesbian, kobayashi is bisexual, etc etc. headcanons are fine, sure, but claiming them canon like what some people do, nah. the whole point of the series is that people are not bound to words, ideas, stereotypes and traditions. assigning them a label, defeats the purpose)

[weaselle]

i'm playing a video game rn with some armor and the design of it is slowly making me go more and more crazy.

i'm not usually nit-picky about fantasy armor, i do acknowledge the problem of putting women characters in skimpy weird leather lingerie armor or some kind of metal bikini thing, preferring games that have addressed this issue ... but to me also putting all the men characters in weird leather lingerie armor is a totally valid fix, i don't get super bummed if armor isn't designed well enough to actually function as armor if you made it irl

i hold it to the same standards as i do video game aircraft, which is basically, i don't need every aircraft to be a flyable design if you want to make it look awesome instead that's great, but ideally i would like it to be plausible to a lay person. It should look plausible enough that i, as someone who knows only an average amount about aerodynamics (i.e. very little) can look at it without immediately thinking "oh that could definitely never achieve flight" Same standard for fantasy armor is my preference, but i don't get hung up on it unless it's also hella sexist.

ANYway this armor i'm wearing in this game has a breastplate that is actually just a small diamond shape on the chest not attached at all to the plating on the ribs and abdomen, because it's just, idk, random plating over what is basically a chainmail suit? idk the plating is dragon bone and the stuff that seems to function like chain mail is i think dragon scale armor or maybe dragon hide-

none of that is why i hate it.

the thing is, it's spiky armor and the dumb little breast plate has these three spikes coming out of it up under the chin... Like, a big spike in the middle of two slightly smaller spikes. And they are set so that if whoever is wearing this armor gets their head pushed down and forward, like if they were to duck, or fall, or you know, just, the kind of things that happen in a fight ...

basically if i was wearing it and my head got shoved forward and down, the big spike would go through my windpipe, and the two spikes on either side would get both sets of carotid arteries/jugular veins.

every time i look at my armor i wince and a tiny voice in my brain says like "oooo! hate that"

[reginarubie]

I respect that you didn't intend to have Rhea as a hypocrite. And I've tried to understand and it and I not saying she is a complete hypocrite or anything but I do see why she can come of as that.

There are some ways her situations is similar to r/l and there are different but there are parallels all the same. Parallels don't have to be exact and I thing that's where most people are getting the idea from?

She and lyanna ran away to marry the man they love both abandoning their "duties" as ladies of noble house. Now there are differences for sure but the motive remain the same. They ran away to marry for love. (Side note I saw someone comment that R was a man of prophecy and therefore Elia if unable to give him another child was allowed to marry and I just want to make it clear I do not stand with that statement. Elia is more than her womb and has provided two healthy children one of them is a male which is good by the realm standard since they're sexist but and way R was no "man of prophecy" what did he did exactly? Tear the realm apart? Insult his wife and children, let civilians suffer under his father's rule till he was forced to step out and even then the peace was being held by a string by the starks that bent the knee? Like what prophecy was he fulfilling? There is no Nk etc?)

And I think people think of her poorly because, she says she doesn't blame Jon for what his mother had done but she still looks down on him and feels threatened by him because of something he can't control. The schemes and whispers of others. Which is fine she is allowed to be paranoid and be spiteful since she clearly idolize her mother. To me that makes her more realistic.

Additionally she seems to blatantly ignore that house stark lost a lot and also was insulted by house trag. I can get her scorn for Lyanna but the hatred for starks when they too lost and have forgiven the lost of Ned stark brother and father caused by her grandfather. And he never met his nephew or sister again after the wars. And she sees no issue in that. Seeming to see it as a fitting punishment even. Which I enjoy since I'm hella petty and would probs be the same to someone who hurt my mother even if logically I know it's not completely their fault the human heart is not so easily convinced which is why I liked that she can be petty and hold her grievances since it's very rare that a person can be that forgiving. And I think this also highlights the difference between Sansa and Rhea really well. Sansa who is more mindful of the thoughts and effort of others as someone who was raised by a loving family and Rhea who was raised to believe by her trag family that she is above others and in the court of politics is untrusting. Given that her fam is pretty toxic it's no wonder she will point at others asides from her family. Her family is all she has in the court of snakes so could you blame her for being blind to some of their faults? For defending her family, maybe it's a trauma response or maybe it's the environment that forced her to placed her family above all else like her the starks put the pack first. Anyways my ask is spiraling and I bet most don't make sense since I'm still learning English as well. But I can't blame some readers for seeing the unintentional hypocrisy in this chapter although whether or not that changes as the story unfold remains to be seen since this is just her first chapter and we're only a couple chapters in. 😂 Look what you've done, you got people so emotional over your writing that they're making parallel and headcanons about them truly as skilled writer to invoke such a response from your readers

This actually made me feel much better, thank you nonny 😊 I hadn’t thought about it that way, and I do feel very much appreciated both for this sweet message and the fact, as you pointed out, that have invoked such a response from the readers.

Thank you, here’s to me giggling away after you put a smile on my face!

Also don’t worry about your English, I am not a native speaker and I know how confidence it takes to share a comment or say their own when one not yet sure about their language skills and makes me appreciate you and this message all the more — PS the message was perfectly understandable. So good for you! Good job! ❤️

Also, I am not denying the parallels, I am saying that all things considered it’s human that Rhaenys would not see the similarities as the circumstances and effects are much different. We as readers we have a better outlook to the whole picture and it doesn’t mean Rhaenys is an hypocrite that she doesn’t have the same big picture, because she’s not an outsider, she’s an insider. This is why I think it would be okay to point out the parallel us, as outsider can appreciate, and still don’t think an insider character should be held accountable of things she has no way to know.

That’s why I think describing her as hypocrite in my opinion is a bit too much. Especially because as a lawyer and training judge I know circumstances make the difference and the devil is in the detail. We can stay here and discuss the single detail it still doesn’t change that we can’t know for certain if Rhaenys would’ve done the same as Rhaegar and Lyanna did put in the same circumstances. Indeed we can almost guarantee that she would not, since she has idolised and is so protective of her mother, and it is improbable she would repeat the same behaviour that caused all of that, especially considering how she worries for her people and doesn’t take their loyalty for granted and actually takes care of them.

The parallels are there, but instead of being a parallel I think of Rhaenys more as a foil confronted both to R and L as well as E.

She’s not as not considering of duty as Rhaegar and Lyanna were and not as kind and over generous as Elia remained until her death.

Plus, she’s not guilt-tripping Jon about what the courtiers think, you all seem to assume that Jon did nothing to show interest in the Iron throne and I wonder what gave you the idea. Everything from Tyrion commenting on Jon’ stint in the black cells — we know Lyanna’ side, her son is innocent; we don’t know what actually happen and Jon is the same Jon who in canon said at a little younger age he would be lord of Winterfell and he himself admits he was ferocious at that time without minding the circumstances — and of how everyone has seen how skilled he is and that Jon shone despite his birth when Rhaegar pit him and Aegon against one another, to Jon himself saying in the summary he always hungered for the chance to have Aegon’s life and possibilities would lead us to believe that not everything as as easy as meets the eye. It is explicitly said that until the dragon were born and after Jon’ stint in the black cells Rhaegar showed much interest in Jon and that Jon proved his worth and that only the fact that no dragon bonded to Jon made the interest in him diminish somewhat.

So I ask again, all the evidence we have until now (from several POV) points in the direction that Jon might have been somewhat responsible about the fact that people keep considering him an alternative as he posed himself as such; thus who is to say Jon did nothing that would warrant Rhaenys’ distrust in his motives? And, as you said, it’s realistic that Rhaenys would be biased about Lyanna and Jon.

Is she right about them 100%? No. But she is entitled to think what she thinks without that making her an hypocrite, or a bad person.

Also I don’t stand by Rhaegar had reasons because prophecy in canon, let alone in this AU were there no WW e no NK. He humiliated and put in danger not only himself but also Elia, Lyanna, Aegon, Rhaenys and Jon with his behaviour.

On the top of that if you consider that Aegon seems to have idolised Rhaegar because he brought peace to the Realm and won the war, Rhaenys seems to have done the same for Elia and may feel like she’s the only one who defended her mother in the Targaryen family, as a woman myself, who literally took out a chunk of a boy’s hair because he called me “son of a bitch”, I emphasise with that and thinks it makes her behaviour much more tridimensional and realistic, and not hypocritical.

She doesn’t ignore the abuse House Stark suffered through, but as a member of House Targaryen who has lived clearly in a toxic environment she is lead to believe they are better than any other House, additionally Rhaenys felt the burn of Aerys’ hate almost as much as House Stark did, she isn’t ignoring what Aerys did to them, but since she’s defensive of her mother and brother — who she feels is too trusting in the name of peace — she is clearly suspicious of House Stark’ motives and we as readers know she’s not off mark there, because House Stark is not being honest with them and is using their cultural differences to ensure they will get independence instead of the peace of the realm Aegon is advocating for. It is human that she is petty and defensive of her family with all that happened, i don’t deny it. I characterised her especially that way.

And I agree with all the rest you analysed about the differences between Sansa and Rhae especially considering that I always said that the Starks have an enormous advantage to the others even in canon they were raised in a loving house by Ned Stark and that’s hella of an advantage, plus they have inherited Catelyn/Lyanna’ ferocity.

So above all I adore you analysation of Rhaenys as a character and I agree with almost everything beyond the parallel/foils matters on which I believe Rhaenys to be more of a positive foil against R and L and a neutral to negative foil against Elia.

And again thank you, I appreciate this message more than I can say, and it made me feel very seen and appreciated so thank you, lovely anon!

[moonjxsung]

uni classes officially finished yesterday! awh man sorry to hear you've been so busy and tired :( im sure the break from the phone was needed WHAAA SO EXCITING SO HAPPY FOR YOU THAT YOU GOT TO EXPERIENCE THAT OMG tbh I'm not doing too hot... on top of the stress and burn out from uni... I got cyberharrassed by people from my univeristy yesterday on our year's server ... :( basically people were being jerks and playing "jokes" on random people (NOT funny jokes ... like I mean tagging random people and harassing them for homework (which doesn't exist) and accusing their targets of lying when they say they aren't enrolled in the class even when they gave evidence - the poor souls were so confused and concerned) and like just saying shitty stuff about how certain faculties are "useless" and for stupid people ... so I step in and tell them to stop it cause its not funny cause they're all like "its just a joke" ... so when i said that they were like "nah its hella funny" (by they, I mean like 3-4 people are ganging up on me at this point and I couldn't report this to the server mods cause one of them WAS A FREAKING MOD) and then they were like "we should ban you" and were like "I'll bet ur in the stupid people faculty" (which I'm not, but I was so enranged that they kept calling arts a useless stupid faculty so I didn't deny it) and so I excused myself and said "I see I am a minority here [in thinking these things they are doing/saying are unkind and unfunny] so I will leave now" and then they were like "noooooooooo we love minorities" ... "even the bad ones" ... "lmao jk" and then they said "no one likes you go kys" ... so I left the server because I absolutely don't need fucking assholes and worthless losers telling me that :) like. I dont even know theses people. So what they say shouldnt matter. but fuck it hurt so bad :( like these are people MY age who go to MY uni who are probably in my classes or smth like idk I just wasnt expecting such blantant unkindness... I guess that's naive of me ... idk it just really sucked ... like I'm basically fine now cause those kinds of people literally don't matter to me, but it sucks that people like that exist, yknow? like fuck, what if they had said that to someone else who really took it to heart and really did do what they said... like wtf how are there people LIKE THIS :( also, I hate confrontation, so I got like a panic attack after the whole incident and couldnt sleep until 3 am and then woke up at 8 to go to work....... for an 8 hour shift......... and i was so freaking mad at myself for letting it affect me so much cause I WASTED SO MUCH STUDY TIME LIKE UGH idk im just alkdjflkjadklfjdkjfk jakfj my only condolance at this point about the whole thing is the people the jerks targeted/the victims messaged me privately to thank me for stepping in. so at least my actions were not in vain. also im sorry about all the cursing... I RAREly curse... im just so ajsfdkjak over this :( Sorry for dumping all that, do not feel pressured at all to respond to all of that ILY STAR pls continue to take care of urself 🫶💕 🌱

Oh my god??????? This is literally insane?????? What the actual hell is WRONG with people…. And doing that shit in a school server???? What the hell??????

Good on you for standing up for yourself and the others who were getting harassed and for leaving when you did! College students can be so weird bc I feel like they often forget that acting out of turn publicly in a server or online or wherever can absolutely have DIRE consequences for your future and it’s just playing with fire at that point. I remember there was a very famous case of students at Harvard who had a discord server where they sent all sorts of racist/sexist/ableist etc. memes and they legit got KICKED OUT of college when it was brought to light. As a college student you should be acting as though you’re being carefully monitored by your school or even a potential employer at all times, it’s literally so risky to be acting out of turn like that where people can easily report you. And on that note, I hope someone reports them and the server at least gets taken down bc sending death threats like that is absolutely vile, and to your own classmates???? What the hell

I hope you’re feeling better now angel ☹️ I’m so sorry you had to work a long shift after all that, I would’ve been panicking too! But at least know that you did the right thing and if they get in trouble for it, you can’t be blamed for being complicit in their trashy behavior. Your future isn’t at risk like theirs is!

Take some time to relax and try not to think about their words, they’re likely saying that to everybody and it’s not worth dwelling over insults they’re throwing around to every person who breathes in their direction. They’re just a bunch of LEWSERSSSSS 🤢🤢🤢🤢 I love you bby feel better soon ☹️💖💘💞💕💝🫶 here for you if you need anything at all !!

[ragnarssons]

at the end of the day fans will have to accept that the live action is going to be its own canon, separate from the animated series. The sooner they come to terms with that, the less fixated they'll be on changes and just judge based on what the show actually gives us.

I don't want to prioritize keeping the plot ctrl c + ctrl v because that would be extremely boring and no one wants to see a line for line shot for shot remake. What's most important to me is the characters. If they nail the characters and keep it entertaining then the general audience will enjoy it, paving the path for a Season 2 renewal.

I do think something marketing does wrong is address all these changes before the show has come out. And with still a whole month of people running around with their impression of what's going to happen and what's not going to happen. Maybe things will settle down now, idk, but what we end up with right now, is people being hella negative, and some spam accounts (ex on Youtube) constantly talking shit about the tv show even tho it's still not out yet. (like the tiniest snippet of the cast reacting to happy tweets got a shit ton of negativy like "oh you didn't show them the bad tweets huuuuh??!" like ugh, of course, what do you want? these children to feel miserable at the idea of realizing their dream??) 🤷‍♀️ People who are determined on hate-watching the show, it's just... a vibe I guess, but sure as hell not the vibe I want to experience when I'll watch the show. Because I will watch it, because no opinion I can forge for myself right now, can be accurate as long as I don't experience what they've done with it. At this point I'm hoping all the new viewers will bring a good mood cuz I'm apprehensive, not of the show itself, but how the mood around it will be. My bet is still that 85% of the people making a whole fuss about Sokka's sexism wouldn't have noticed it within the context of the show, had no one among the cast/crew/writers said anything about said "change" (even tho... again, there are Netflix execs out there saying Sokka's sexism is still in the show). And it's even more tiring when there are some channels, on Youtube, talking about this change while the person clearly has not seen the cartoon itself. At this point, there are a shit ton of people leeching on the whole drama, fanning the flames, and writing click-baity shit that does not reflect at all what was said to begin with by the writers, or the actors (hum hum, like Variety did to begin with). Not to mention the fragile crybabies screaming that no one can be portrayed as sexist anymore because of how wOkE everything is and wOkISm is killing everything and stop supporting WoKE shit, and Netflix is so WOKE, woke woke blah blah blah. Ugh. I don't think people are so much against the idea of some stuff being different, rather apprehensive on whether or not said changes will be worth it or as good or even better. Or if said changes will completely denature the show they are supposed to give us. Which I get, but... again, we'll never know until the show comes up, so automatically dooming the thing into oblivion is... hey, to each their own, but people will not have that from me. And I sure don't flow with this whole act of wanting to convince everyone that the show is gonna sUcK (like yeah, no thanks, @ some anons) and you should really not be excited about it or just you shouldn't want to even watch the thing.

[misssluggies]

Superman/Batman - Public Enemies thoughts.

There are aspects of this book I love. I love the inclusion of the Batfamily. I love that Cass, Tim, and Dick all show up at the end to help out (even if they are subdued by Luthor immediately LOL). It makes really solid usages of mythos, and I love how Batman/Superman both have sleeper agents on the teams. What I don't really get is how 'immature' both heroes seem. They seem headstrong, and Batman just is a little uhh.. 'JLU style sadboy' which for me, doesn't make hella sense at this point in the timeline. I also really don't like the misogynistic jokes that seem far too common already.

In a weird way, how 'young' both heroes seem in their interactions with each other and the world that they should know and do seem familar with reminds me of the New 52 almost with how compressed the Batman timeline was.

Overall, I think this was good though! 7/10. If you can get it cheap I'd read, just keep in mind Loeb just seems mildly sexist quite frankly.

[angelplummie]

FUCK BOY CLASS 1A

CLASS 1A X READER

masterlist

warnings: suggestive, tiny but angsty, mostly rage inducing crack

part 1 part 2

DENKI:

• does the whole trust worthy goofy guy thing :|

•he just a funny silly guy 🤣 you’ll think “omg is it just me that thinks he’s actually really cute ...?”

• No. it’s not just you. it’s every girl on campus alright?

• he fucks anything and everything that comes his way, indefinitely. girl, boy, non binary, he plays them all

• i mean #gayrights but he’s a man whore

• thing is he’s not the worst of the bunch he’s just a huge slut that’s too dumb to realise other people have feelings

•fucks who he wants, when he wants bc he can

•somehow he always has ten thousand poor sods in love with him even though there’s nothing behind those pretty eyes

•if u decide to fuck around with him... best night of your life tbh but it’s not worth the embarrassment of crying over the fact he made out with 3 people at YOUR birthday party even after he cuddled you after he nutted in u :( u thought it meant at least something!

•naw that’s just how he rolls, u were warm and nice so he went for it. meant less than nothing to him

•always smells a little. like not enough that u don’t fuck him, but enough that u notice

•girl don’t cry over him he can’t remember ur name i’m so sorry

KIRISHIMA:

•lord help us all

• typical gym bro pussy pounder, all he can think of is Sport™️ and Nut™️

•He’s the type to have a really rowdy friend group but so he pulls the “woah guys, you’re scaring the lady, are you ok 😅😘🥺”

•And then you’ll go, omg this guy is so sweet and so different and so hot, i should definitely have sex with him, he’s definitely a nice guy

• Aha! you’ve fallen for his trap! you fool!

•he’s like a fake feminist :/

•if his friends say something misogynistic around girls he’ll be like “woah woah woah! that’s uhhhh that’s a little sexist!”

• his friends roll their eyes at his stupid ploy “yeah whatever man” but they don’t expose him, bro code or whateva

•the second you lovely ladies leave he’s like 10x worse

• “naw bro that girl was ugly” “no tits, no ass, what’s the point?” “she would be hot if it wasn’t for her face” “she’s a slut but id still hit, it’d be loose tho”

•every horrible thing you can imagine he has said. I despise him

•if he’s got his sights on u, he’s having you, end of.

• hell do anything to get you to sleep with him if u turn him down the first time, he loves a challenge

• honestly he’s a bit too proud of himself, his strategy is just being really hot in ur vicinity and hoping u crack, all while keeping up his nice guy shtick

•credit to him it works a lot of the time

•if that fails, he’ll join whatever study group ur in and mansplain to you, which surprisingly doesn’t work either

• his last resort is to actually learn stuff about u and have a real conversation, which is so yawn, but works when he brings up the fact that he volunteers at the local orphanage and “those kids are like my little brothers you know?”

•suddenly he’s balls deep in you and he sticks a finger in ur butt? okay

• got to admit, he is a good fuck he’s just the worst person ever. he really sucks.

• honestly he probably won’t even talk degradingly about you to his friends, you weren’t particularly anything, he has sex with a lot of girls, ur not really special

• leaves hella hickeys bc he’s a dickhead

SERO:

• cunt

• blatant and obnoxious flirting

• wears chains religiously

• paints his nails black but he’s so shit at it

• smokes more than he shits, and he shits a lot

• makes tik tok thirst traps, and they’re annoyingly hot

• ur like omg cringe who does that lol but when he waddles his emo caboose up to u u fold immediately

• so annoying, so so so annoying

•like he’s just a little squirmy rat man, a little guy that makes u itch but u let him in ur pants anyway

• he’s so smug after the fact as well, always making sexual comments about u to ur face afterwards

•if u tell him ur uncomfortable he’ll just be like “what? you didn’t seem uncomfortable when i _____”

•he’s shit i want to hit him

• pukes at every party he goes to, fucking nerd

• says he’s a communist but he is most definitely not, he just likes leftist hoes

•got a stupid fucking tattoo of some dumb quote on his leg, something like “live fast die young” u know he gets that shit out every party

•takes way too long on his hair. no one cares that you got a mullet please stop talking about it

reblogs appreciated!! masterlist

[qqueenofhades]

I'd love to read your thoughts on powerful/badass/interesting medieval queens! I love the Queens of Infamy series on longreads. com, if you're familiar with it. Sending extra love and hugs. <3

Aha, thanks dear. It is much needed. I am sending you hugs in return.

As for badass medieval queens: they're obviously fun to read about, and most people with a passing acquaintance of history will know the most famous ones (Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Catherine de Medici, etc etc). However, as a historian who works on (among other things) medieval social and gender history, one of my chief focuses is getting people to think about all medieval women differently, not just the well-known royal ones. We all discard the "great men and European kings are the only people who played a role in medieval history and/or had influence in the world before modernity" hypothesis, and rightly so. But I feel as if the fetishizing of certain medieval queens, where the modern historiography and/or popular history points at them and goes, "LOOK HOW AWESOME THIS ONE WOMAN MANAGED TO BE IN A TERRIBLE RAPEY PATRIARCHAL WORLD!!!" is... to say the least, somewhat wrong-headed.

This is because it promotes the "exceptional woman" theory of history, where it is implied that one woman with superlative personal qualities managed to overcome the limits of patriarchal medieval society, and that all other women who weren't as "gifted" didn't do the same. You may recognize this as an offshoot of the "Extraordinary Negro" racist pseudoscience of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, wherein it was proposed that a few "superior" African-Americans could become almost (if not quite) culturally, intellectually, and socially white, overcoming the limits of their "inferior" race in these isolated special cases. If you can doubtless easily see why that is hella racist, you can also understand why applying the same framework to medieval women is equally ridiculous, reductive, and sexist.

Likewise, there is a lot of recent scholarship that strives to finally discredit this hypothesis once and for all, such as Medieval Elite Women and the Exercise of Power 1100--1400: Moving Beyond the Exceptionalist Debate. Likewise, somewhat appropriately given what has happened today and the mustering of informal female social networks to effectively counter an unfavorable legal climate (once again, if anyone tells me Things Were So Much Worse Back Then For Women, I will punch something), the study of medieval women in community shows that they had collective as well as individual agency. As Women and Community in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia puts it:

First, the emphasis on communities moves us firmly past any narrative of the exceptional woman who found ways to engage in independent political, social, or economic activity within otherwise constraining legal and social norms. Women, both as individuals and as groups, had the knowledge and skills to successfully interact with a variety of communities, and even create new ones when necessary. These communities also reveal the degree to which communities were structured around women's agency. [....] By moving beyond the binary of inclusion/exclusion, these authors acknowledge the ability of patriarchal norms to constrain women's activity and at the same time, for women to take action on behalf of themselves and their families.

This topic is likewise explored in Relations of Power: Women's Networks in the Middle Ages, and others that I can't think of right now. Anyway, this was a long-winded way of saying that while I love me a good badass medieval queen as much as anyone, that often comes with the prevailing stereotype that queens were the only medieval women able to wield any power at all (and then only if they were personally motivated to do so) and that therefore they're the only ones who are "interesting" or worth learning about. This obscures a lot of the important work that has been done on ordinary medieval women, their lives, and their networks of influence, and likewise props up other damaging myths about the Middle Ages that are continuing to be repeated today. So yes.

[yuzukult]

acquitted love || sjn & reader

title: acquitted love pairing: johnny suh x reader genre: fluff, angst, co-workers!au, lawyer!au, one-sided enemies to lovers word count: 8.7k warnings: some language/cursing, brief mentions of sex but there's no actual discussions or explicit conversations of the topic, but generally pg-13 prompt: you absolutely hate johnny suh. but when your boss pairs you two up together for one of the highest profile cases, you’re left working close with your enemy but he doesn’t seem to think that way of you. a/n: tada!! i wrote this for the @/ficscafe fic exchange event!! so @urlocalnctstan​ , hope you enjoy this !! i tried to write it according to what you put as your preferences, but honestly T_T it was so hard bc i was just not getting any ideas!! hopefully this is something you’d like :D enjoy !!

“God, isn’t he just… so attractive?”

Along with a click on your tongue, you feign a hit in Hyeri’s direction, whose reflexes have gotten so much faster in the past couple years of knowing you and it shows when she cowers underneath your arm. She gifts you that not-so-apologetic smile, full of mischievousness because she knows no matter how annoying she can be, you’ll still love her nonetheless.

“Why do you keep talking about Johnny? You know he’s banned as a topic of our conversations.”

Hyeri rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her white frilled blouse. You know that she doesn’t actually inhabit any romantic feelings for Johnny, but she has a problem of thinking without the usage of her brain when she sees a hot guy.

Not that you think Johnny is hot.

No.

“Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t think he’s at least an ounce of smokin’ hot.” She’s unraveled her arms by now, poking your shoulder incessantly to grasp onto your attention as you're tapping on the buttons of the copier machine. “I bet if you asked him out, he’d say yes.”

You briefly glare at Hyeri. “You realize that he and I don’t get along, right? He keeps finding stupid loopholes in the system to win his cases. He thinks with his heart, not his head, and sometimes, with whatever that thing was in his pants.” And, not to mention that he walks out the court with that big grin stretched from cheek to cheek, giving the ‘good news’ to your well-respected boss (who you desperately seek the approval of but that’s a different story for another time). And every single time, she gives him that nod of appreciation, that ‘nod of approval’ if you will, when it should be given to you and not to some asshole who fucks his way to victory.

“But he’s so hot—”

You narrow your eyes at your friend, and with a stern voice, you call out, “Hyeri.”

She shrugs. “Honestly, though, he’s hella smart. He’s got a job here, and works under your boss. It’s Park, Kim & Associates—notice how Park is first, because she’s a fucking genius. She only picks the intelligent ones to work under her. Why do you think I’m still working for Mr. Kim?”

Park Seohyun and Kim Gonghyun—one of the biggest lawyers in the region, decided to join together to build their own law firm from the ground up. They were both highly respected in their field; Kim Gonghyun spent years of his life being mentored by one of the most famous judges, and as for Park Seohyun, she was, simply put, admirable because of the obstacles she has overcome to make her dreams of working in law to be real. Being a woman, young, and beautiful, she’s had her fair share of encounters with people who disregard her potential, that is until she met Gonghyun—who, admittingly is an old man who seems like he’d be traditional, sexist, even, but he proves to also make people realize how wrong they are with their impression of him.

But, as Mr. Kim is getting older, he’s gotten a bit… lazy.

In fact, he’s been slacking so much that he’s gotten a new rep in the office—if he was your direct supervisor, or your supervisor was under him, you were on the side of the office where all the easier, uncomplicated cases were assigned. Which meant that there was a slight possibility that your talents and skills weren’t as sharp and exceptional as you thought they were.

And well, Hyeri works directly underneath Mr. Kim.

Hyeri doesn’t want a heavy workload, despite the fact that there’s a plethora of files on her desk, stacked up one onto another as tall as her PC tower, and they were all open and closed cases—needless to say that she didn’t mind it.

“Okay, but you got offered a position under Seohyun. Do you really think you’re not wasting your potential?”

Hyeri scoffs. “Never. At least, not now. I’m still in my twenties, I’d like to enjoy my youth while I can, for your information.”

You quirk a brow. “And does any of that pertain fucking Johnny? The hot guy, so you claim?”

She immediately has her hand covering your mouth and you scowl. “Shhhhh, he works here!”

You bite the flesh of her hand and Hyeri instantly retracts. “You think I don’t know my archenemy works here? He sits directly across from my office—I get the best view of the guy and I’m not even one of his fangirls.”

“You’re not gonna be one of those girls who claim they’re different because they don’t like him but then end up falling for him anyway… are you?”

Your hand goes up and Hyeri crouches down.

“Stop it.”

“Seriously though! It’s the classic e2l love story,” she has her hands gesturing in front of her like she’s making an imaginary rainbow, “Two lawyers, constantly butting heads, accept each other’s differences and learn to love—“

“The fuck is an ‘e2l’?”

“Enemies to lovers.”

“Are you high? Stop spitting nonsense.” This time, you’re waving the stack of papers that finish printing in front of her face. “Meet me for lunch later. But if you keep talking about my archenemy and I falling in love, you can kiss a free meal goodbye.”

Hyeri gasps.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Maybe. Just maybe, Hyeri might be a tiny smidge right when she says Johnny is handsome. Just a bit though, because she can’t get credit for something like that.

He’s dyed his hair this shade of brunette that sort of reminds you of roasted chestnuts on a cold, winter day, sitting inside of a cooker outside of your childhood home, baking along with some sweet potatoes your mom had gotten from a farmer’s market nearby. Johnny has this focused gaze attached to the screen of his monitor; there’s a dip in the fronts of his brows, lips tightened into a straight line, and constant switching back and forth from the computer while taking notes down in a book that’s laid open in front of him.

You wonder what’s running through his mind, or well, you’re more interested in what files he has sprawled out on top of his desk.

Truthfully, if it hadn’t been obvious enough, you weren’t quite a fan of Johnny Suh and it’s mostly due to his work ethic. He’d been notorious for his reputation of sleeping around—especially with the opposing side—so it’s hard to convince yourself that he didn’t win the case because of his actual capabilities, but it’s because he pulled some strings.

And Johnny doesn’t put much effort into denying it either.

Albeit deep down, you were a teeny bit envious of his confidence. He struts around the courtroom with ease, and when he presents his position, there’s no staggering in his voice—it’s always crisp and clean, weighted with nothing but credence, and never straying from his initial perspective. It’s never a lack of poise, it’s consistently the look he goes for; from the hand gestures and the furrowed brows, to the rhetorical questions in the end of certain statements that has the speculators and jury sitting at the edge of their seat, Johnny had a talent for performing in the courtroom, but that doesn’t mean anything when the way he gets to the success isn’t ethical.

Just at that moment, his eyes lift from the screen and meet yours.

There isn’t any hesitation when you scramble to grab the remote controller, and the shades drop over the windows instantaneously.

“Fuck,” you mutter underneath your breath, tossing the remote onto your desk and shaking your hands after. What if he thought you were admiring him? Maybe he didn’t see. Yeah. It was for a brief second, and with how close your offices were to each other, it would be common to accidentally lock eyes… right?

Interrupting your thoughts, the office phone rings and it nearly startles the living soul out of you. But before you reach for it, your head tilts to the side curiously because the extension number is familiar—it’s Park Seohyun’s, your boss.

What could she be calling for?

You don’t remember fucking something up—but to be fair, half the times, you never really know if you’ve actually fucked up until someone with steaming ears and a crimson face comes storming in. So… did you do something good? Again, you don’t think that’s right either, because other people would’ve made comments about it.

Deciding to swallow your nerves, you pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey!” Seohyun never fails to be bubbly, and you could never mimic her energy. You definitely had to be born with that kind of enthusiasm. “I have a favor. Hop into my office.”

Leaned back in her leather swivel chair, she had her fingers laced with each other while resting over her stomach. Johnny stands beside you (and you do your best to not look directly at him, especially after that weird staring thing), and you both feel like kids being lectured by parents from how still you are. Her office is huge, probably the size of both yours and Johnny’s combined; with ceiling to floor windows, cases of books that line the perimeter, not to mention the humongous ass couch that practically covers the other half of the room, and her desk was so wide, you estimate about four monitors would fit on there with still additional space for work. That wasn’t even the best part—the view of the city looks almost like a generic lockscreen of a Windows computer, and you’re not even sure why she goes home at night when she basically has a penthouse here.

“As you know, I have a favor.”

“Right,” Johnny retorts, mostly as a filler in the awkward silence. “So… what’s the favor?”

She pulls a box from her purse; square, black and made from a leather material with a lock pad stitched into it, something you’ve never seen before, and she slides the passcode in, then it pops the lid open. A key (a… very small one) sits in the velvety cushion, with nothing else occupying the space with it, and it looks comical. She uses this to open the very top drawer of her desk, and as she pulls using the handle, there’s another box inside, but this time, metal instead of leather, but still black.

What the fuck?

It seems Johnny shares the same thoughts, because he sneaks a glance over at you.

“You see,” Seohyun begins, pressing on the digital keys of the box until there’s a beep at the end and the case hisses open. “There’s a lot of security for this. Which means you understand the importance of it.”

Then, she picks up four manila envelopes and lies on the surface of her wooden top desk. “I have a family emergency to attend to this upcoming week. I’m boarding a flight tonight. So I’m leaving the Hwang v. Yoon case to the two of you.”

“Fuck—”

“The what?”

You and Johnny are sputtering out of shock. The Hwang v. Yoon case is the biggest case that the firm is involved in currently, and the only people involved in it have been Seohyun and Gonghyun. It’s been on every social media platform you could think of; from Facebook to Twitter, TikTok to Instagram—there’s even this weird website for emo/grunge teens or strange kids that like writing fanfic called Tumblr, and whatever that is, it’s discussed on there too.

“What about Gonghyun?”

Seohyun scoffs, closing the drawer and dropping the key back into her special box. Where do you even get a box like that? “He can’t handle this alone. So I’m kicking him off until I come back. I thought about letting the two of you work with him, but his ego is so inflated, it’ll get in the way of our chances of winning. It’s easier if it was just me and him, but seeing that things at home aren’t well, I’m going to need you two to step up to the plate.”

The room goes quiet. The only sounds you hear are the muffled noises of a typical bustling office outside the thick walls of Seohyun’s office, and at first, excitement rushes through your blood because Seohyun thought of you taking over a special, high profile case.

Albeit, another realization gets soaked up, and it’s that Johnny also came to mind, and that because it’s such an important case, the two of you would be… working… many… hours… together.

Maybe you should back out of it—but then again, this is such a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Imagine winning this— it wouldn’t be good for just the law firm, it’d be good for you too. Your name, in articles on these big fancy news websites, perhaps even on new channels, talking about how you, this amazing lawyer, won the Hwang v. Yoon case.

But then you’re snapped back into reality when Johnny leans over to take the envelopes from Seohyun.

If your name is on those platforms, so is Johnny’s.

God, this guy just ruins everything, doesn’t he?

“We’ll take care of it, Seohyun. You can trust us,” he says assuringly, a smile tugging on each corner of his lips with that dazzling gaze. “We’ll be at our best.”

Kiss ass.

If you had the option, you wouldn’t be spending your Saturday night here at work, in one of those conference rooms with a long table in the middle, a big projector that displays on the wall, and a random black leather loveseat couch that lines the one corner in case there’s too many occupants.

Especially since the person who’s accompanying you is Johnny Suh.

There’s probably a lot of people who would kill to be in your position (Hyeri being one of them), but you dread it. Not to be that person, but what’s so special about him anyway? What? He’s tall, has some muscles, long luscious hair that he can slick back with that sultry stare—wait, what?

“Alright, moving on…” From what? You guys just started? It’d been clear with Seohyun that the mornings would be dedicated to other cases, but nights would be considered overtime and where you’d zoom in your focus on Ms. Hwang’s justice. “Let’s take a look at the facts here.”

Johnny slips off his blazer, hanging it on the back of one of the chairs as you’re seated in another, leaning back comfortably with an arm resting on the table. He loosens the first few buttons of his dress shirt before folding up the sleeves, and that’s when you notice a little thing in the inner crook of his elbow—is that a fucking sunflower? Is that what he uses to reel girls in? That he’s soft enough to have a pretty little flower etched onto his gentle, silky and supple—

“Okay,” he says, interjecting into your thoughts with a laser pointer in his hand. He taps on the space bar of his laptop that mirrors what’s on his screen, but then, that’s when you realize what’s on the slides.

There’s a collage of pictures, mostly street, casually walking themed ones, but the common factor was that they were of Yoon Changmin, the man you guys were up against. They were all paparazzi-like photos, which begs the question, how did he get pics like this, and why did he get them?

“What’s the point of this?” you ask, voice laced with nothing but suspicion.

“We gotta get into the mind of the enemy.” You wanna get into the mind of your enemy, too.

You gesture to the one image of Changmin with an arm around his girlfriend and a finger up his nose. “Seems like he’s trying to reach inside of his head instead of us. These are just everyday pictures, Johnny. What’s that going to do for us?”

“Well,” he begins, turning to look at the wall of ‘evidence’. “You see—wait, holy shit.”

Freezing in the midst of reaching for your coffee, your head jolts in the direction of your partner. “What? What is it?”

“Holy shit,” he exclaims, “Hoooooooooly shit. Why didn’t I see this before? This changes everything.”

Furrowing your brows, you’ve given up getting your drink and dropped your hands onto the table. “Tell me, what is it?”

“This is a game changer.”

“Johnny,” you call out sternly, and his eyes link with yours before he instantly points to a particular picture with his red laser pointer.

“Look at that.” There’s pride saturated in his words, but when you look at what he’s indicating, your body slouches in disappointment.

Why the hell was he directing your attention onto Changmin’s thighs? Surely, there’s no denying that they were attractive—you recall that his alibi was at the gym that very night of the crime.

“What? He’s guilty for showing off his toothpick legs?” They were lean, you never said they were muscular.

“No,” he retorts, slightly irritated by your response as he rolls his eyes. “Look at his pants.”

“Okay…”

“They’re jean shorts.”

There’s a pregnant pause, but the expression on your face is so loud it can’t be hidden.

Johnny continues, “That’s a fashion crime.” He says it as if it’s an obvious fact known by many. “Not to mention that it’s fucking raw hem. He should be arrested.”

Suddenly, your opinion of him thinking too much with his heart dissipates because it seems like he’s thinking out of his ass instead. Did he win those cases out of pity? How did this guy even pass the bar? How about law school? How the hell did he even get into law school?

“I don’t think—”

“Listen, alright, just hear me out,” he’s got the palms of his hands resting flat on the surface of the table, doing his best to gain your full undivided attention. “Only assholes wear jean shorts. They flaunt that shit around like they own the place, but they’re horrendous pieces of clothing that should not be on a male’s body. I don’t care what you say, what your opinion is, because that is a fact.”

Puffing your cheeks, you feel at a loss. If Johnny is who you had to get this done, it feels like you’re not going to be finding much evidence any time soon.

“Okay, if… if that’s how you want to play it, then show me the evidence—other than those 2012 cut off denim shorts.”

He reaches over to hit his space bar again, then with a wink and a slide change, he leans closer to you and says with that deep, honeyed voice, “Gladly.”

You hate admitting when you’re wrong.

Ironically, you concede and will confess when you actually are, but it doesn’t mean that you enjoy it. For example, when Hyeri claims that the intern Mark had a crush on you, you quickly waved her off, stating something along the lines of, “I’m too intimidating; there’s better chances of him being scared of me than ever finding me attractive.” And then a week later, you owed Hyeri free lunch at that hip ramen place downtown because Mark had approached your desk that very morning with a bouquet of red roses flowers for you, a cheeky grin glued to his face with pools of hearts in his eyes, and ready to ask you on a date because it was the day after his internship had ended. Naturally, it wasn’t fun rejecting that poor college boy.

But, you won’t say you find Johnny interesting or handsome. Or that there’s potential when it came to possibly (just barely the slightest smidge) that you’d ever consider asking Johnny out. He’s your enemy here, you’ve mentioned that a multitude of times, and you stand firm on that very declaration, despite the fact that sometimes when he gets too close, your breath gets caught in your throat and you feel like you can’t get whatever’s lodged in out.

Albeit it’s not the whole “you guys are gonna end up together” comment that Hyeri makes and resulting in you denying it afterwards, it’s that Johnny might… be a decent lawyer.

He’s not the best one you’ve seen; the stupid revelation he had on the first day working on the case about the jean shorts is evidence for it, but it’s the days following that were slowly changing your perspective on him.

When you said, “He thinks too much with his heart more than with his head,” it was 100% correct.

When meeting with potential witnesses, you recognized that Johnny empathizes with people often; when they cry and start panicking from being overwhelmed, he's quick on his feet to put an arm around them, share reassuring words, and have them back to normal in record’s time.

And, well… you? You’re the one making them cry in the first place.

You don’t want to fully take the blame for being the cause of their tears, but people need to hear what’s happening, and the very detail that they can’t even handle this information probably means they’re not worthwhile as a key witness.

Johnny, of course, thinks otherwise.

He believes that these people should have a voice (although you’ve alluded that they might be more useless than helpful), and putting them on the stand with Yoon Changmin there would change the view of the jury to supporting Hwang Naeri.

“Listen, if we get these people to sign the form, we’d get witnesses and it’ll help Naeri,” Johnny claims, frantically moving his arms annoyingly as he talks, trying his best to express the gravity of the situation, “and maybe, maybe, money wouldn’t be how Changmin wins, but how he loses. We can’t have another person with jean shorts walking on the streets of our city like this—they deserve to go to prison.”

You scrunch up your nose. “Why does this always revert back to the jean shorts?”

“It always has to do with jean shorts,” he snaps back matter-of-factly. “Any straight guy wearing jean shorts with that much goddamn confidence has done some wrong in their lives.”

“Right, but I’m pretty sure that the crimes he did are mainly the reason why he’s being prosecuted against.”

“Jean shorts are the windows to the soul.”

“I’m almost 100% sure that eyes are the windows to the soul, but whatever. If you genuinely believe that the women we met today would benefit our case, then… okay. Let’s bring them to the stand.”

On the contrary to you, Johnny doesn’t have a hard time convincing witnesses to testify. You see the way that he works; those kind eyes directed at the participants, the pools of chocolate were sweet, saturated in nothing but tenderness and warmth, then he does that weird thing where he reaches for their hands and cups them before the words that escapes from his lips are enough to swoon them to stand in front of a courtroom.

Maybe, just maybe, there’s a method to his so-called madness.

Aggression and bluntness don’t work, it seems, because when you’re the one attempting to convince these people to go against the man that had done them wrong, they’re less willing to do it. Something about ‘moving on,’ and ‘not wanting to relive those memories again,’ but if it was you, you’d want justice. Then again, not everyone is like you, and not everyone thinks like you, and spending this abundance of time with Johnny is slowly getting you to ease into that perspective.

So… the initial impression you had of him may have been wrong.

And maybe, just maybe, you’re developing some feelings for him, just as Hyeri predicted.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

His abrupt personal question is enough to have the coffee spill into your mouth to slide down the ‘wrong throat’ because you’re choking, hand on your chest as you’re tackling to regain your breath again and Johnny only stares in disbelief, blinking blankly. “Are… are you okay?”

You glare at him through a hooded gaze. “Well,” you clear your throat once more. “Now, I am.”

“Cool.” He nods, retracting his hand so he could rub your back soothingly, deciding it’s best to stay away. “Are you going to answer my question?”

Quirking a brow, your head tilts slightly in puzzlement. “Why are you asking this?”

Johnny shrugs. “Isn’t it weird that we’ve hung out with each other for a whole week—stayed here for nights and we both don’t know anything about each other?”

Tapping your fingers against the wooden top table, you sigh. Maybe he’s got a point; after all, “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer,” right?

“No, I’m single.”

Johnny’s face suddenly brightens, ears perked, and his body straightens its posture in his seat at this revelation. “Oh, uh, I didn’t know that. You seemed busy in your personal life, so I, uh… was just wondering.” He looked anxious, but you couldn’t pinpoint why. “I, um, I’m single too, by the way, in case you’re wondering.” You weren’t.

The plethora of cardboard and plastic boxes scattered across the table was a representation of the night. It’s been long, exhausting, and messy, mostly because it’s a Friday night, the hearing was on Monday, and the two of you were nowhere near close to having enough to present to the court. In fear of disappointing Seohyun, the two of you agreed to stay over the office for the weekend to cram work for the case. There’s no denying that the atmosphere is weirder on the weekends, especially since, well, no one really comes here on the weekends. Johnny had to use the bathroom earlier and ran into the cleaning lady and she nearly shit her pants because she didn’t think anyone was here, so she had music blasting in her headphones.

Johnny is… interesting. He makes you laugh—or well, want to laugh, but you don’t give him that sense of satisfaction—and he’s smart but in his own weird way. He’s not like the other lawyers you’ve met, or any of the law students you attended University with because he’s more lighthearted and free-spirited than the rest, taking life in strides instead of just overwhelming himself in the abundance of stress that work brings.

He’s entirely the opposite of you.

And maybe you could learn something from the guy, but there’s something in you that brews hatred toward him. Possibility that you resent how easy he makes being a lawyer seem when you’re struggling in your day-to-day life to make things work.

But it’s way too fucking hard when he’s just… like that.

Despite all of that, he’s very generous and kind toward you. On rough days, he delivers your coffee order, the one you always get because he remembers what you asked the intern to get for you the last time, and he’s good at identifying when you’re just having that kind of day. You eventually learn he has a photographic memory (fucking show off), so when he saw that crumpled napkin with scribbles of what you want in that dumb intern’s hand, it wasn’t hard to remember. Which, by the way, is how he’s able to get into the most prestigious school for undergrad, manage to pass the bar so easily, and get into law school effortlessly.

And knowing this information sort of angers you more.

You know this isn’t his fault—he’s been blessed with a trait that people desire, one that you also yearn for, but the lucky ones get handed a lot of things in life. You wonder if he’s the type of guy who wins girls easily after matching with them on dating sites because of this stupid ass ‘photographic memory.’ Does he sleep with them right after? Does it ever get serious?

You shrug your shoulders and shake your head. You shouldn’t even let these strange thoughts haunt you, especially when you don’t even like him.

He’s a spoiled brat who gets everything handed to him on a silver platter.

So you’re left counting the remaining days until the trial so you don’t ever have to work with Johnny Suh this closely again.

Okay, well, it’s evident that bad luck is glued to your side because after you win the Hwang v. Yoon case for your law firm with that asshole, Seohyun is so impressed. So goddamn impressed that she insists that all the high profile cases are to be given to both you and Johnny.

To work as a team.

Together.

Jesus, this is Hell for you.

Surely, the promotion and raise that came along with it was definitely a plus, but it has you wondering if it’s even worth it. He’s been your unspoken enemy since the first day, and although you think you’re pretty forthright about your hatred for this guy, he can’t seem to read social cues.

When you’re pushing the double doors into the conference room the two of you often spend working on cases in, you expect Johnny to be ready for another day. But strangely enough, Johnny doesn’t have his laptop out or any of the notebooks sprawled across the table.

“Um,” you slide the strap of your bag off your shoulder and onto the spare chair. “Did you come late or something?”

He takes in a deep breath like he’s been holding back something. “We need to talk.”

There’s worry inscribed into his features; from the crease in between his brows, to his pursed lips, and eyes soaked in concern, almost like he’s got bad news to share and it has your stomach in knots. Was it that the case was thrown out? It couldn’t be, right? You both worked hard, presented your stance to the point that the jury and the judge were in awe with your findings. Sure, you had to cover Johnny’s mouth right before he was about to go off in a tangent about jean shorts, but overall, it was a good win, a hard one to go back on and pull out the wrongs of it. So what was it?

“I’m quitting our partnership.”

You blink. “What?”

He gestures to the room with his hands as if there’s anything out to reference. “This thing. Our work. The big profile cases. The famous stuff. I told Seohyun that I won’t be doing it anymore and she can revoke the promotion and the raise.”

You’re still not catching on. “… Why?” Was it something you did? Yeah, you weren’t a big fan of Johnny either, but were you so bad that he decided to not go through with the raise because of you?

“Because,” he pushes his blazer back, hands sliding into the front pockets of his navy blue trousers. “There’s a policy put into place. Those who are on the same cases cannot have any personal relations with each other that extend past friendships.”

“We’re not even friends?” With confusion written across your face, your head tilts to the side. “I’m not… I’m not catching on here.”

“I like you.”

Startled, the words you want to say are stolen out of your mouth. You’re left with a mixture of perturbation and bewilderment, uncertain where to go from there because Johnny asked for the removal of both a promotion and additional money that could be so good for his career… and it’s all because he has a crush on you?

“You quit the best thing that could’ve happened to you because you like me?”

“Yeah,” Johnny states calmly, sucking in his cheeks for a brief moment. “Ain’t that romantic?”

You scoff. “No. Absolutely not. You’re insane! Why would you do yourself dirty like that? Use your head, Johnny, you’re constantly thinking with that stupid heart of yours, and hate to break it to you, but it won’t get you anywhere.” Combing your hair with your fingers, you let out a sigh. “Go ask Seohyun for the position back. Say you made a mistake and—”

“I’m not asking her for the position back.”

Johnny doesn’t make any sense to you. “What? Why wouldn’t you do that?

“Because,” he laughs in disbelief, not because he thinks you’re funny. “I’m not going to force myself to work with a girl that I keep falling for. That’s self-inflicting, you realize that, right? You’re amazing, but you can seriously be so dense sometimes.”

“I’m dense? You just told one of the best law firms in the city that you don’t want to work on the important cases anymore because you have a stupid crush on your partner!”

“If we were on a team with more people, maybe it’d be different. But it’s just us two. You think I won’t fall any harder? That’s not easy. Every time I see you working, I swear I could be hopelessly in love with you one day.”

Your heart stops for a second.

This is Johnny Suh you were talking about here. One of the claimed best lawyers in your office, one of the most intelligent people that Hyeri has ever met, and Seohyun evidently backs this up because she’s given him so much recognition for his work. He’s the guy who worked with you to win the Hwang v. Yoon case, he’s the one who brought up the stupid jean shorts that seemed so far-fetched at the time, but they were a crucial detail everyone missed—it so happened that when Changmin bought those dumb shorts, there was evidence of at least one of his crimes in that store from the security cameras.

Any cis-gendered male who wears jean shorts can’t be trusted, according to Johnny.

And candidly speaking? You couldn’t even deny that. Your past two ex-boyfriends both wore jean shorts and the one cheated on you and the other one was caught money laundering.

“Listen,” he begins, interrupting your foggy thoughts. “I’m not asking you to tell me you like me back. I’m telling you because you should know, and that I can’t go on any further without letting you know. I’ll, uh, be in my office. Seohyun said she’d find a replacement for me.”

Hyeri is his replacement.

She’s great company and does a good job of helping you with whatever you need, but that was just it. Hyeri followed you, she never led with you, just as Johnny does. Agreeing with everything you say, mindlessly trailing behind everything you do—Hyeri was smart, but she couldn’t figure out how to think for herself when it came to these bigger cases because she’s never been given such a responsibility. But you couldn’t even blame her because it’s what she was told to do under Gonghyun.

“You said that you think Maeri snatched the bracelet?”

“No, I said if you watched the security video that the jewelry store submitted, it clearly shows that Maeri snatched the bracelet. Not that I ‘think.’ The proof is right there, Hyeri.”

She nods, resuming back to her work on the computer. Truthfully, Hyeri felt more like an assistant than a co-worker, someone to bounce ideas off of and to see from a different perspective. And as much as you hated Johnny, he had decent points. He had ways of making you put yourself into the shoes of people you never thought you were; although the guy was obnoxious, at least he actually was… good at his job.

Deciding you can’t take it anymore when Hyeri asks for the tenth time that hour about your beliefs rather than her own, you abruptly stand from your seat.

“Where are you going?”

“Out,” you reply shortly. “I’ll be back.”

It was just a spontaneous thought. It’s after hours, and although there are some people who stay behind to get some work done, you had your doubts that Johnny would still be here. He seems to have a better grip on that work/life balance thing people talked about (unlike yourself), but it didn’t hurt to check his office, right?

It’s a good thing you went with it. Because right across from yours, there’s Johnny.

There’s one single lamp that shines over the tabletop of his desk, and the other sources of light in his office are from his computer screen and the ones from the city skyline from behind him. It has him seemingly angelic like this, so serene, calm, and collected, only focused on what’s laid out in front of him. The sun has gone down, people have gone home, but Johnny remains, hardworking as always, despite your previous observations that he’s a lazy, unprofessional guy who gets everything handed down to him.

With a knock on his glass door, he flinches, head raising up and eyes meeting yours.

Were his eyes always this sparkly?

Opening the door, Johnny drops the pen in his hand and crosses his arms before leaning back in his seat. “What’s up?”

“You’re here late,” you state the obvious, and Johnny only nods in return, without a rebuttal in sight. “You aren’t normally here late. At least, before the Hwang v. Yoon case.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But Seohyun dropped something on my desk this morning. Wanted to work on it. What brings you here?”

Inhaling in a deep breath of courage, your hands bundle up into a fist by your side. “Please come back.”

Johnny raises a brow. “What?”

“Come back,” you reiterate, this time, it’s less tense and releases with ease. Caving in isn’t usually this effortless to you, but something about Johnny makes you feel… comfortable enough.“Come back and work with me again. Yes, I’m not supportive of how you do things—”

“Then let’s go out on a date.”

You freeze. Legs rooted into the floors of Johnny’s office, you’re left immobile and diffident on how to react next. It wasn’t what you were expecting, although you weren’t quite sure what you were hoping to anticipate, but it most definitely was not this.

“I—”

“I said my terms,” he retorts, shutting the book in front of him before shuffling up from his seat. He’s leaving, you realize, and Johnny’s ready to head home for the night and you’re not sure if you could handle an entire weekend with Hyeri here. “And, I meant what I said. One date, and if it really doesn’t work out, I’ll stay on the case.”

Chewing on your bottom lip anxiously, the next words that come out are out of character for you. “And… what if it does?”

A soft smile tugs from each corner of his mouth. “Then we’ll figure it out from there. Promise.”

This is… awkward. It shouldn’t be, but yet somehow, it remains awkward.

You’ve spent weeks with Johnny before, and those moments were in a room, in the middle of the night, and alone. Hours and hours were dedicated to work, yes, but it was just the two of you and nobody else.

So why is it so weird being in a five Michelin star restaurant with him?

Maybe it’s the atmosphere. The dim lights, the white clothed tables in lieu of the scratched up wooden one back at the law firm, and instead of leather seats, there’s a neutral beige chaise cushion for the dining chair, slightly less comfortable because it doesn’t recline like the one in your office. Instead of an array of photos and evidence disseminated in front of you, there’s a laminated menu with a multitude of options of what to have for dinner.

Johnny gets the steak with mashed potatoes and string beans, and you order something similar but seared salmon for the main protein. The waitress offers wine, babbling on about the age of the red, where the vineyard is located, and the dryness to sweetness—to be honest, you could care less; you’d rather have gin and sprite with a squirt of lime. A couple glasses of that and you can almost guarantee that the night would end with a deep slumber.

Oddly enough, Johnny seems nervous. Ever since he pulled up in his midnight black Audi in front of your apartment complex, he’s been acting strange. He keeps wiping his sweaty palms off the material of his trousers, occasionally swiping off the droplets that fall on the side of his face.

“Are you… okay?” you suddenly ask, adjusting your dress in your seat. Deciding to go with a black silk dress with a slit up the leg and your hair let down, it’s not a look you often sport but since you’re going on a date (one you haven’t been on in quite some time), you figured it would be nice to at least play the part.

“I’m, uh, honestly, I’ve never really asked a girl out before.”

You quirk a brow curiously. “What? You’re telling me you never asked a girl out before?”

He lets out a bashful laugh with a faint nod, making an attempt to swallow his nerves after. “Honestly, I’ve always been asked out and not the other way around. Not to sound like that guy, but I never really had to put effort into trying for girls. They kind of just…”

“—Throw themselves at you?”

He beams. “Yeah! Like that. I don’t really know how to react half the time, but it makes the whole dating scene a little bit easier.” Geez, he called you dense, but he’s over here acting clueless.

Either way, it feels like whatever opinion you had about Johnny remained true. He never had to try when it came to the dating scene, and you could only imagine what that means for work and the relationships he has with the women in your career field.

“Mm, does that usually happen with work too?”

Befuddled, Johnny leans back in his chair. “What do you mean by that?”

With a shrug of your shoulders, you’re poking the meat of your salmon that falls off easily. After the first initial bite, the fish practically melts on impact when it touches the tip of your tongue, smooth like butter and bursting with flavor that couldn’t be described by any common person because it wouldn’t do the salmon justice. Johnny seemed to put a lot into this date, and you’re left pondering what the point of this was. Did he actually like you, or was he trying to get into your head? “Just seems like you get a lot of special treatment.”

“Are you jealous?”

“In what way?” you snap back.

“Are you jealous of me because I’m getting this so-called special treatment that you think I’ve always had, or were you jealous of the girls that seemingly got my attention?”

You’re left without anything to say.

It was a good observation he made because truthfully, you never saw it like that.

In actuality, you often saw Johnny as your rival. He climbed the ladder in the field with ease, and it wasn’t hard to quickly blame his success on the fact that he was a guy in a male dominated industry, but the fact that there’s a possible interpretation for your hatred may be from these feelings you might’ve been harboring for him this entire time… that can’t be it… right?

“I mean, look at where you are now,” you begin, trying to defend yourself. It can’t be true that the reason you’ve been bitter about Johnny was because of the girls that got his attention, and one of them not being you. “You got a high position from—”

“—From hard work,” Johnny interjects with his brows furrowed. “I didn’t get to where I was because I slept around, if that’s what you’re insinuating. I knew you sort of always hated me, but I’ve always admired you. I like your work ethic, I like your style, even though we’re both on opposite spectrums, I like the way you think and I wanted to know what it was like being partners with you. Getting to be on that case with you showed me more than just who you were as a lawyer, but who you were as a person. I like you, but I’m trying to put my finger on why you hate me so much.”

“So you noticed.” Sucking in your cheeks, your eyes trail elsewhere—from the fork that lays beside your plate, to the glass filled halfway with wine, to the little candle that sits in between the two of you that flickers the way he has your heart when he expresses once more how he feels about you.

“Yeah, of course I noticed. If you like someone, it’s kind to miss details like that about them. So… you really hated me because you thought I slept my way to the top, huh?”

“I mean…” shoulders dropping in exasperation, you run your fingers through your disheveled hair. “All those rumors—”

“Again, they’re just rumors. I worked hard to get here, you know. And I’m kind of offended that you thought of me that way.”

You scoff. “They’re rumors, Johnny, it’s kind of hard to ignore all the office gossip when that’s all you hear. Plus, it wasn’t hard to believe either, with the whole flirtatious act whenever you encounter anyone who’s breathing and has a vagina.”

“I wasn’t flirting.”

“You need a book for dummies that elaborates on what’s flirting or not, because Johnny Suh, whatever it is you do with your body language in front of that chick who sits by the front door.”

“You mean Siwoo? The pregnant one who’s married to her highschool sweetheart? Also, how do you not know our receptionist’s name?”

You throw your arms into the air. “How am I supposed to know her name?”

He tilts his head to the side, genuinely baffled. “Do you… not talk to anyone outside of Hyeri?”

Your silence answers his question.

“I… honestly, I don’t know if I should be offended or if I should be honored. You think I didn’t earn anything that I have now, you think that everything I have was handed to me. On one hand, it’s flattering that you think my looks and my bedroom skills could do that but at the same time… I’m offended because you think I’m incapable.”

“I never said you were incapable—”

“But you implied it.”

Hands falling onto your lap, it’s your turn to gulp. His words come shooting at you, but you’re without a shield to protect yourself, and with the new experience of working with Johnny, there comes the realization at times that Johnny is a hard worker. There are some things that he says and does that aren’t like the people you’ve encountered, and being put on new cases with Hyeri only proved it. He’s thoughtful in the sense that whenever you’d bring up your stance on something, he challenges you with what the defense might counter.

Johnny makes you want to be better. Not just against him, but to brush off the dust on your skills and enter into the battlefield of a courtroom to showcase them.

“Well, if you’re staying silent, I just want to say that I tried,” the crinkle in between your brows makes another appearance because Johnny is great at leaving you stunned and confused. “I really like you. I love how your head works, and I wanna be with someone like that but I also can’t be with someone who doesn’t respect me.”

Why is it that when you’re in that conference room with him, you’re not afraid and never running out of things to say, but now you’re empty handed?

“I’ll pay for dinner. Grab you an Uber. I honestly thought I could overlook those things, and maybe your perspective for me has changed, but I could see it on your face. It’s the same.”

After that date with Johnny, his life turns back to normal.

Yours? Not so much.

Candidly speaking, part of you missed working with Johnny. You were wrong about him, so wrong, and even when you wanted to apologize at the dinner for what you thought of him, the pride in you was like a vicious plague that blackened your insides, preventing you from ever saying those words.

Oftentimes, you’d still be able to sneak a glimpse of him in his office with that same look on his face—full of concentration and nothing else in his mind other than the task at hand.

The cases you have with Hyeri entail a head like Johnny’s. Someone who could question you, to protest against your stance when there could be flaws in it. It feels like deja vu each time you think about it, each time you open a new case file and Hyeri sits there, perched in that seat beside yours, eyes sparkling with what you have in mind next, instead of what she has going on in hers.

Although you’ve tried convincing yourself that maybe, just maybe, what you feel for Johnny is purely professional but when you see him standing by the water cooler with a couple of your coworkers, eyes mimicking the moon crescents in the skies, replicating the ways his lips curl in elation—it was beginning hard to believe that it was all platonic feelings.

So maybe you should be bold for once. Pull off that exterior that displays you as someone who isn’t just independent and assiduous, but someone who’s stubborn and aggressive in getting what they want—and not in a good way.

This time, you’ll show it in a good way.

Or at least, you’ll try.

Johnny is a routine kind-of-guy—he grabs an iced americano every morning at the coffee shop downstairs at the edge of the street, he does his daily 11:00AM drop-by at the water cooler to refill his Hydroflask (which was his prized possession, by the way), and parked in the same exact spot in the parking garage of your building, despite there being an abundance of places he could choose.

That’s why you decide to stand by his car after work that day. Bouncing on the balls of your feet, hands shaking because it’s your turn to feel anxious. That blazer that once fit so comfortably in the morning suddenly feels tight and hot in the afternoon, and the weather hasn’t even changed. Your bag slung over your shoulder weighs ten times heavier than an hour ago, and you can’t stop your jaw from tightening.

Before your thoughts could spiral off all the possibilities of what the outcome may be when you tell Johnny how you feel, he’s already standing there, feet away from you with that dip in the fronts of his brows that you want to smoothen out the crinkles of with the pad of your thumb.

“Hi,” you greet, faint and peculiarly different from your other approaches. “Um, I just… was waiting for you.”

“Hey,” Johnny says back, the first few buttons of his shirt already unraveled, his blazer hung over his forearm and the sleeves are rolled up. “I see that. What’s up with you?”

“Um,” your leg was jittery, hard to control so you spat everything you had to say out as fast as you could before he could see right through you. “I just wanted to apologize. For everything. You’re admirable, kind, and I wish I inhabited those same characteristics you have. I think professionally, you’ve got great ideas, one that could be implemented into mine and what we did together for that case was just… yeah. We could do something big if we put our heads together.”

Johnny nods in agreement. The relationship between you two work-wise was obvious, he knew that much. “And what about… outside of that?”

“I like you,” you choked, barely getting the words out. “More than just coworkers, um, I guess, more than friends but I’m not really sure since you walked out on our first date,” inhaling in a deep breath of courage, you continue on, “and I don’t know how you feel now after I’m standing before you like this, asking for another chance and that I’m sorry.”

He stares at you blankly, and it leaves you unsure whether or not he accepts your apology. “You know why we ended that date early.”

“Well,” you start again, “can we… start over and try again? I promise I won’t tempt you to end the date early this time.”

And with that, there’s the signature smile that Johnny sports that swoons girls, makes their knees weak, and heart clench but this time… it’s just for you.

“I’d really like that.”

[rynnaaurelius]

Character Continuity, #MenWritingWomen, & Healthy Relationships: The Tragedy of Annabeth Chase

[Tagging @evergardenwall and @thein273 real quick because they wanted to see this meta. Lord knows why]

I saw Annabeth Chase discourse on my dashboard, so, well. . .

This will be me breaking down Annabeth Chase's characterization and Rick Riordan's continued nonsense, in an attempt to square my many thoughts on her, for both my reference and maybe others'.

Also, bear in mind that a lot of this meta is less about Annabeth Chase as it is my breaking down what makes Annabeth Chase, because I do believe that she really stands out in how her background does and should shape who she is—and how often that gets ignored, both in canon and in fandom.

Disclaimer/Warnings: Extensive, non-graphic discussion of emotional/physical abuse and neglect, extensive discussion of sexism/internalized misogyny.

If you think I owe credit/should link to someone else, message me/leave me an ask.

In addition: My apologies in advance, but I cite directly from the books multiple times in this post, and the PDFs I use lack page numbers, so I do it by chapter.

Also, this post is long. Ridiculously long and hopefully thorough.

NOTE: Same rodeo rules as my Solangelo post:

I don't like bashing. Everyone can and should leave each other alone if they've got nothing nice to say. Block who you need to for a nice time on this fair hellsite.

While I'm not about to beat up on a ship/characters themselves—because they're hardly writing themselves—I'm about to take their characterization and Rick Riordan to the cleaners.

If that's not what you want to see, blacklist the tags 'anti percabeth', 'rr crit', 'riordan critical', and get on with your day, please.

Fandom isn't activism, but it can be hella racist, sexist, ableist, and queerphobic. We need to fight that.

Now, on with the show—

I. Fandom Context

I'm queer, got a small list of mental illnesses, and write Riordanverse fanfiction. I write a lot of Annabeth Chase's character/POV, too.

The character in question, Annabeth Chase, is a deuteragonist in Percy Jackson and the Olympians (PJO), and co-protagonist in its sequel series, Heroes of Olympus (HoO). She's popular in fandom, too.

As of 08/25/2021, she's in the third highest number of fanfictions in the Archive of Our Own (AO3) Percy Jackson and the Olympians - All Media Types fandom tag, behind only Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo.

[Click on image details in the corner for description]

Of course, it's worth mentioning that this probably has a lot to do with:

A. Her long-time major presence in canon. Annabeth was introduced in The Lightning Thief (TLT), the first book of the original PJO series.

B. The dominance of the Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase ship, AKA Percabeth, within the fandom, which was formally canonized in The Last Olympian (TLO).

The latter is backed up by both anecdotal accounts and when looking at relationship rankings by fic number in AO3:

[Click on image details in the corner for description]

Annabeth and Percy's romantic relationship wins out at 8,412, with Nico di Angelo/Will Solace (AKA Solangelo) handily coming in second at 7,936. But Annabeth doesn't appear again, romantic or platonic, until the last placement, where her and Percy's platonic dynamic makes an appearance.

(Congrats on achieving Satan's favorite number for Percy and Annabeth's gen dynamic, by the way)

Anyway. Just to look at romantic rankings for thoroughness, I excluded Annabeth & Percy, and what d'you know:

[Click on image details in the corner for description]

Congrats to the Nico/Leo shippers, I remember when that ship was huge in the Riordanverse fandom.

But from this, I think it's safe to say that Annabeth's popularity, is at least partly wrapped up in the popularity of shipping her with Percy Jackson, despite her long-time tenure as a leading hero in the Riordanverse, particularly considering characters in her stratosphere of popularity (Percy, Nico), and those one step below (Jason Grace, Leo Valdez), feature multiple times within the most written-about romantic relationships.

So this is also a Percabeth analysis, which I'm sure will piss absolutely no one off. Wonderful.

(But we'll get there)

II. The Retconned, Pathetic, Half-Dead Clusterfuck We Call Annabeth's Timeline And Backstory

Rick Riordan can't do math or continuity with a gun to his head and it drives me insane, so that's what we're calling this section lmao

To keep me from going insane and keep confusion to a minimum, we'll be recounting what I call hard canon: Confirmed events, dates, and actions.

We're ignoring for a second the emotional and psychological fallout of choices, or soft canon, since—particularly for pre-canon events, which form the goddamn backbone of Annabeth's original series arc—there's a lot more there to interpret and argue over. Especially with regards to Annabeth's family and personal trauma, which gets Jossed repeatedly.

We're also ignoring my personal headcanons/fixed timeline that I use for writing fanfiction for a second, so if you read my shit. . .this ain't that Annabeth. Or the other one.

This is going to be pretty spare, since a lot of important things are left up for debate, and Riordan is fundamentally uninterested in the psychology of the mortal parents in his books.

1. When Annabeth is "born", her father asks Athena to take her back. She discusses this with Percy in TLT, Ch. 13: I Plunge To My Death:

"My dad’s resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn’t happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

2. In the same canon conversation, she tells Percy that she "took the hint. [She] wasn't wanted. . ." and ran away when she was seven, after what she recounts as inadvertent neglect due to her demigod status at best, and purposeful emotional neglect/abuse at worse.

She reaches camp before she turned eight with Grover Underwood, Thalia Grace, and Luke Castellan, with an army of monsters trying to kill them.

2A. Two summers before Percy Jackson arrives at Camp Half-Blood, when Annabeth is ten, she receives a letter from her father, asking for her to come home so they can try again. He gives her his Harvard college ring, which she still keeps.

"My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. . .Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."

This ends horribly, because of course.

"I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn’t want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn’t even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."

[Both quotes above from TLT, Ch. 16: We Take A Zebra To Vegas]

3. With Thalia turned into a tree by her father, Zeus, to save her life, Annabeth remained at Camp Half-Blood for the next five years, as proven by the five beads on her camp necklace that she shows to Percy in TLT, Ch. 7: My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke:

Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke’s, except Annabeth’s also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.

"I’ve been here since I was seven," she said.

3A. Worth noting this makes Annabeth and Percy's official birth year of 1993 wrong. Percy is already twelve years old in June 2005, and Annabeth, while never stated outright to also be already twelve, they are heavily implied to be the same age multiple times throughout the original series.

We also get this in MoA, Ch. II: Annabeth:

She’d secretly had a crush on him since they were twelve years old.

So, they're born in 1992. This isn't all that important but I am petty and this has driven me batshit while working out timelines in the past.

4. At the end of the summer of TLT, Annabeth writes her father and asks to come home for the year (TLT, Ch. 22: The Prophecy Comes True):

"I wrote him a letter when we got back,’ Annabeth said. ‘Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. I’d come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided... we’d give it another try."

5. So, towards this point, we, as readers figures that Annabeth's family has been. . .not great, towards her, at minimum. A lot of things are left ambiguous, but it's clear that there's been a lot of misunderstandings and A+ Parenting going on. Which makes it very interesting when we reach The Titan's Curse (TTC), finally meet Frederick Chase, Annabeth's dad, and Helen Chase, her stepmother, and this is what we see (TTC, Ch. 16: We Meet The Dragon Of Eternal Bad Breath):

After hearing Annabeth gripe about her dad for two years, I was expecting him to have devil horns and fangs. I was not expecting him to be wearing an old-fashioned aviator’s cap and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that we all took a step back on the front porch.

"Hello," he said in a friendly voice. "Are you delivering my aeroplanes?"

Thalia, Zoë and I looked at each other warily.

"Um, no, sir," I said.

"Drat," he said. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."

"Right," I said, though I had no clue what he was talking about. "We’re friends of Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" He straightened as if I’d just given him an electric shock. "Is she all right? Has something happened?"

Followed up shortly by Helen's—who Annabeth has expressed a lot of vitriol towards—first on-page appearance:

We introduced ourselves a little uneasily, but Mrs Chase seemed really nice. She asked if we were hungry. We admitted we were, and she told us she’d bring us some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.

"Dear," Dr Chase said. "They came about Annabeth."

I half expected Mrs Chase to turn into a raving lunatic at the mention of her stepdaughter, but she just pursed her lips and looked concerned.

"All right. Go on up to the study and I’ll bring you some food." She smiled at me. "Nice meeting you, Percy. I’ve heard a lot about you."

Effectively, after two books and change's worth of talking up Annabeth's difficult childhood and past and the borderline hate she's expressed for her father's choices and stepmother's treatment of her, both when she was seven and when she was ten, they're de-fanged within the narrative pretty quickly, with Percy repeatedly wondering if these are actually Annabeth's relatives.

6. This, of course, not to say that people can't change or improve for the better. It would be more than easy enough to mention how Annabeth's parents have read Parenting A Demigod For Dummies or similar since she's last seen them.

Instead, we get this conversation as our follow-up in TTC, Ch. 18: A Friend Says Goodbye:

Annabeth and I flew along side by side.

"Your dad seems cool," I told her.

It was too dark to see her expression. She looked back, even though California was far behind us now.

"I guess so," she said. "We’ve been arguing for so many years."

"Yeah, you said."

"You think I was lying about that?" It sounded like a challenge, but a pretty half-hearted one, like she was asking it of herself.

"I didn’t say you were lying. It’s just... he seems okay. Your stepmom, too. Maybe they’ve, uh, got cooler since you saw them last."

She hesitated.

And. . .there are interesting implications here, about Annabeth's perception of her parents when she was younger. I'm going to put a pin in this for the next section. They're not, necessarily, bad implications, considering Annabeth's character and how much is left ambiguous as of TTC about what exactly happened to make her run away beyond monsters and arguing with her parents.

7. For now, Annabeth's relationship with her mortal relatives seems fixed. Battle of the Labyrinth (BotL) and TLO happen, her mortal family remains off-screen, and we don't hear about them until the third book of HoO: The Mark of Athena (MoA), Ch. XX: Annabeth:

[This is a long passage, but I think it's important to include it in full]

Terror plunged her into memories. She was seven years old again, alone in her bedroom in Richmond, Virginia. The spiders came at night. They crawled in waves from her closet and waited in the shadows. She yelled for her father, but her father was away for work. He always seemed to be away for work.

Her stepmother came instead.

I don’t mind being the bad cop, she had once told Annabeth’s father, when she didn’t think Annabeth could hear.

It’s only your imagination, her stepmother said about the spiders. You’re scaring your baby brothers.

They’re not my brothers, Annabeth argued, which made her stepmother’s expression harden. Her eyes were almost as scary as the spiders.

Eventually she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. She woke up in the morning, freckled with bites, cobwebs covering her eyes, her mouth, and nose. The bites faded before she even got dressed, so she had nothing to show her stepmother except cobwebs, which her stepmother thought was some sort of clever trick.

No more talk of spiders, her stepmother said firmly. You’re a big girl now. The second night, the spiders came again. Her stepmother continued to be the bad cop. Annabeth wasn’t allowed to call her father and bother him with this nonsense. No, he would not come home early.

The third night, Annabeth ran away from home.

It's worth remembering that A) Annabeth is still seven years old and a child, B) Night terrors are not unheard-of in children, and C) A child screaming their head off every night and begging just to call their father is not something that you ignore and tell them to grow up with.

So. We now have two relationships for Annabeth and her mortal parents, because for as much as we get of her POV in HoO, we don't actually get very many details about what was, at minimum, a very messy complicated relationship. Either:

A. Despite being unprepared for a demigod child to raise, Annabeth's mortal parents did their best and Annabeth tricked herself into think they were both awful and gaslighted herself into believing they hated her and she had plenty of cause to run away from home.

B. Annabeth's mortal parents were woefully unprepared for a demigod child to raise, blamed the child for the monsters brought down upon them, and gaslighted the child about part of their godly heritage until said child—a daughter of Athena, who presumably is good at risk-reward calculations—decided they would rather take their chances on the run then stay home.

Pick your lane, Riordan.

III. Bringing Up Daisy A Demigod

Please note: This section is about to get into speculation and headcanon. I do my best to clearly delineate the line between my theories, insulting Riordan, and confirmed canon. Sorry if I fuck it up.

So, the case of Annabeth's father and stepmother is actually pretty curious in canon. Obviously, it's incredibly difficult to raise a demigod child, and I think sometimes that non-Sally Jackson parents don't get enough credit for the jobs they do.

Riordan tends to divide parents into two categories: parents that do such a wonderful job they're borderline canonized as saints (Sally Jackson, Esperanza Valdez, Maria di Angelo), and parents who utterly fail at parenting (Beryl Grace, May Castellan, Marie Levesque).

Mind you, this is also how he and the narrative paint them and their actions. I could write whole essays on Riordan's treatment of mothers and my feelings about that, but we're focusing on Annabeth's mortal parents here.

And they're. . .weird. I think the closest parent to them is Tristan McLean, but he nopes out of facing Piper's demigod heritage in canon for his own mental health.

Frederick—because ultimately, this all comes down to Frederick—is, ultimately, given a "passing" grade in demigod parenting in canon, with the giant asterisk of Annabeth running away because she believed he and Helen didn't care about her.

But—still just going off of what's confirmed in canon—I'm disinclined to disagree with this (Bear in mind I love Frederick's mad scientist/historian schtick; I like him. I don't think he's a great parent).

So, he and Athena have a whole whirlwind romance. Athena gives him their brainchild as a symbol of their intellectual love. Frederick doesn't want said child, knowing who Athena is.

But obviously, he gets with the program and raises Annabeth, clearly informing Annabeth of who her mother is and what she is from a young age. Which works, to a point.

The problem is the monsters. And the spiders. And the godly heritage. And—look, integrating families is difficult enough when all the children involved are mortal.

Telling Annabeth Chase that her mother is a freaking goddess, but also, her father is in love again and re-marrying, is not going to go over well. Not when Annabeth's a small child and, admittedly, a prideful little shit on the best of days.

But regardless of how difficult she's being, she's still a child and Frederick's responsibility, since he either owned up, or is still refusing responsibility (Which would be a huge yikes).

I think to not inform her stepmother, the person taking care of her while Frederick is away, traveling wherever he is for his job, that Annabeth's a demigod and there may be consequences from that, is parental malpractice.

Because. . .look. Pre-MoA, it's very easy to make a case that Annabeth was determined to think the worst of her mortal parents, and any and all mistakes/arguments they had were magnified tenfold in her mind—and then once she meets Thalia, Luke, and their parental horrorshows, it's very easy to put together something in her mind that matches what her new family went through.

But the spiders happened. The supernatural night terrors happened.

And her parents not only did nothing, but those two nights of night terrors left Annabeth Chase, daughter of the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, convinced that she was better off running away from home, alone.

She was also clearly still of the belief that her father could fix everything, and judging from the state of Frederick and Helen's marriage in TTC as well as Bad Cop conversation, "don't let Annabeth call her father for 'attention' while he's on a work trip" is likely a mutual decision between the two of them.

(It's also worth questioning the consequences of how Frederick is implied to be clear-sighted, since he's able to see the Pegasi Blackjack, Guido, and Porkpie in TTC without problems, but Helen is not)

She meets Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan and things get. . .even more fascinating, frankly. Because those two very angry, very violent teenagers—not without reason, don't get me wrong—essentially then spend a pretty important time in Annabeth's life acting as the closest thing to parents she has.

So, believing her parents either can't or won't acknowledge what's happening to her, and, like her parents, blaming herself for the monsters said to have been attacking their home in Richmond, VA, Annabeth runs away from home.

[Edit, 12/5/2021: I dunno how many people will ever actually see this, but I think an oversight I made in this post is mentioning that abusers appearing perfectly charming and normal and nothing like their victims mentioned is really common in real life, and Riordan playing it straight via Percy's POV is, uh, really fucked up? It's increasingly my suspicion that this also really contributes to fandom perception of Annabeth's trauma, too.

Anyway. As you were.]

She's assuming her demigod heritage and modeling herself after her heroes, by her own admission: Luke and Thalia.

Then Annabeth loses Thalia. She then only has Luke and Camp Half-Blood to take care of her through a pretty formative time in her life, where she's taught the only possible way she can hold onto anything is being smarter and better at violence then anyone else.

Which, well. Annabeth Chase is pretty good at that.

IV. Character Construction: Growth and Flaws

One of my most red-hot takes in Riordanverse fandom coming right up. Ready?

Annabeth Chase has no character arc in the original PJO series or HoO.

(Percy doesn't have much of one either, but that's for another essay)

It's really obvious and depressing with Annabeth, however, because she is perfectly set up for some really fascinating characterization. And Riordan draws attention to it! Attachment issues, hubris, just generally. . .Annabeth learning how to healthily deal with people outside of immediate life-or-death situations, because my god, she's got hang-ups.

(Not unreasonably so, all things considered. But still)

But nothing is ever meaningfully done with this. In TLT, there are signs of growth—Annabeth looks like she's coming to respect Percy and view him as a friend (Wanting him on her team for Capture The Flag, talking about her family with him, looking after him when he's attacked by the pit scorpion, etc), we see her both put her own intelligence to work and work with Grover and Percy (fighting the Furies, Medusa, dog-training Cerberus, fighting Ares, etc).

There are still flaws and signals of recurring issues over the rest of the series (Annabeth's attachment issues acting up with Rachel) along with signs of Annabeth's own inherent strengths and abilities (Such as fighting the Hydra), and her ability to still learn from mistakes when faced with them (Tellingly, they usually require her to face physical consequences because of her own belief in her intelligence).

But nothing's ever made of it. There's no culminating moment.

Things get. . .weird. Repeatedly weird, throughout the original series. In Sea of Monsters (SoM), we have the fatal flaw discussion (Ch. 13: Annabeth Tries To Swim Home):

"You feel that way?"

She looked down. "Don’t you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework."

And this is genuinely interesting stuff! You can see how Luke would try to exploit that to try and get her on his side in the future! This is what Kronos is claiming he offers to the demigods.

Annabeth's belief in her ideals, combined with her conviction in her intelligence and ability to get this right, can make for a dangerous combination.

This also combines pretty beautifully with her relationship with Luke, which is. . .a mess.

(We're going to ignore any romantic overtones from that scene in TLO from Luke towards Annabeth. He loved her like a little sister/daughter, she adored him and had a helluva crush on him for a while. End. Of. Story.

. . .Riordan really doesn't remember what age differences as a teenager were like, huh)

Anyway. With Thalia as a pine tree and her relationship with her mortal parents still up in the air, Luke was the only family Annabeth had and the person she had convinced herself that she could depend on for anything. Luke, in turn, kept losing family to the gods and their apparent whims: First his mother to the Oracle, then Thalia to the Great Prophecy, and now he has watch his siblings and Annabeth grow up and wait for them to die.

They absolutely bring out the worst and most irrationally emotional parts in each other and it's been established many—

"Travelling with a Cyclops," Luke chided. "Talk about dishonouring Thalia’s memory! I’m surprised at you, Annabeth. You of all people—"

"Stop it!" she shouted.

I didn’t know what Luke was talking about, but Annabeth buried her head in her hands like she was about to cry.

[SoM, Ch. 9: I Have The Worst Family Reunion Ever]

—many—

I knew immediately that Annabeth had designed it all. She was the architect for a whole new world. She had reunited her parents. She had saved Luke. She had done everything she’d ever wanted.

[SoM, Ch. 13: Annabeth Tries To Swim Home]

—many—

“Luke!” Annabeth yelled. “Stop this. Let us go!”

[BotL, Ch. 14: My Brother Duels Me To The Death]

—many—

He did just what I expected. He said, “Antaeus is dead. His oath dies with him. But since I’m feeling merciful today, I’ll have you killed quickly.”

[BotL, Ch. 14: My Brother Duels Me To The Death]

—many—

"YOU!" Annabeth turned on Luke. "To think that I—that I thought—"

She drew her knife.

"Annabeth, don’t." I tried to take her arm, but she shook me off.

She attacked Kronos, and his smug smile faded. Perhaps some part of Luke remembered that he used to like this girl, used to take care of her when she was little. . .I yanked her back as Kronos swung his scythe, slicing the air where she’d been standing.

She fought me and screamed, "I HATE you!" I wasn’t sure who she was talking to—me or Luke or Kronos.

[TLO, Ch. 18: My Parents Go Commando]

—many times.

Yes, my other red-hot take is that Annabeth should've had a corruption arc at some point. Nobody will convince me otherwise.

But back to the point, which is not what I think should've happened with Annabeth, but rather how we never really see her struggle with actual weak points in her personality and/or past.

In BotL, when she's in a rather one-sided pissing match with Rachel Elizabeth Dare over Percy's affections because. . .girls, I guess, it's pretty obvious that it's not—or, at least, shouldn't be—over Percy's romantic affections.

It's over the fact that Rachel offers Percy something that Annabeth never can, and in doing so, threatens Annabeth's place in Percy's life as his Most Important Friend.

(Rachel de facto also threatens Grover's place in Percy's life as his best friend, but Grover, to the best of our knowledge, doesn't have endless attachment issues.)

Rachel, while being clear-sighted, is still a mortal. She—pre-becoming the Oracle of Delphi—leads a pretty normal life. When she and Percy hang out, it's outside demigod things. It's Percy, for the first time in a long while that he gets to experience normal things that are good things. It's not having to cope with Smelly Gabe, or try and not fail out of mortal high school, or worry over his mom.

When he hangs out with Rachel, he's completely himself, not fighting for his life, and gets to hang out with some he likes. This is really fucking rare in Percy's life.

Hell, in TLO (Ch. 1: I Go Cruising With Explosives):

Technically I wasn't supposed to be driving because I wouldn't turn sixteen for another week, but my mom and my stepdad, Paul, took my friend Rachel and me to this private stretch of beach on the South Shore, and Paul let us borrow his Prius for a short spin.

You could switch out names of people and places, and this could be just about any summer coming-of-age teen romcom. Percy "my life as a half-blood sucks shit beyond even the normal half-blood experience" Jackson never gets this.

Rachel even knows and respects the fact that he's a demigod and will always be sucked back into that. Bonus points.

(. . .I might be spreading the Rachel/Percy agenda here. Maybe)

Anyway. Annabeth knows this. She really knows this. Annabeth, who has, at some point or another, lost nearly everyone in her life because of either too much demigod or too much mortal, who has survived by fully assuming her demigod identity year-round, can't offer Percy something like this.

We should see Annabeth struggling with this. Struggling with the idea that Percy can go, have nice things in the mortal world, still do demigods things, and not completely lose him like she has Thalia, Luke, or her father.

But nope.

So, Rachel,” Annabeth said, “where are you from, exactly?”

[BotL, Ch. 14: My Brother Duels Me To The Death]

Bearing Annabeth's attachment, abandonment, and losing-people issues in mind, i think this also puts quite a different spin on this moment from BotL, Ch. 13: We Hire A New Guide:

Annabeth glared at me. “You are the single most annoying person I have ever met!” And she stormed out of the room.

Less "jealousy" and more "I spent two weeks convinced you were dead and just realized you are not only not dead, but instead spent two weeks with a beautiful immortal goddess who asked you to stay with her and because of my unprocessed relationship issues and the number of emotions I'm dealing with right now, I can't really process that properly."

If I'm allowed to fully editorialize for a second: I find jealousy subplots, ninety percent of the time, to be extremely tedious and pointless, including here. Percy doesn't fully clue into the fact that Annabeth's jealous of Rachel for whatever reason, Annabeth doesn't learn how to let go of her friends and not be so possessive, and nothing is learned by anyone.

All that's achieved is Annabeth looks much worse as a person than before, and is eventually rewarded with a kiss on Percy's sixteenth birthday and her "romantic competition" being sworn to eternal celibacy.

No growth. No change. Nothing.

And there could've been, I repeat, something, a lot of something, to be learned here, especially with Annabeth fully and completely losing Luke to Kronos in the same book, as he takes on the Titan's spirit. With her learning to emotionally let go and move on in healthy ways.

And it's really emblematic of Annabeth's problems growing as a character, at the end of the day. She has enough truly great traits and strengths to remain a protagonist—Annabeth, for all that Riordan rarely gives her a chance to shine, is still brilliant as hell, doesn't know how to surrender without stabbing her enemy in the back, is stubborn as a pig, and sticks to her guns, and I love her for it—but the flaws. . .man, her flaws.

Riordan never actually picks at her true flaws beyond waving vaguely in their general direction, and instead chooses weaknesses that have either never been particularly relevant to her as a character, or things that, if anything, were shored up in the original series.

Case in point:

What did Annabeth have? A bronze dagger that did nothing special, and a cursed silver coin. She had her backpack with Daedalus’s laptop, a water bottle, a few pieces of ambrosia for emergencies, and a box of matches—probably useless, but her dad had drilled into her head that she should always have a way to make fire. She had no amazing powers. Even her one true magic item, her New York Yankees cap of invisibility, had stopped working, and was still back in her cabin on the Argo II.

[MoA, Ch. XXXIII: Annabeth]

Two perceived weaknesses for her to overcome here: The lack of her divine mother helping her out, and no big shiny weapons or special powers.

Two weaknesses that Annabeth has been dealing with her entire life. Hell, Annabeth is the one who gives Percy the "your godly parents aren't ever around" speech in TLT. She knows this.

And the lack of special powers isn't new. If we were to salvage that, it would be the fact that for a rare time in her life, Annabeth is alone.

(Cue: My angry speech about how MoA is where we should have gotten what went down in TTC while Annabeth was kidnapped, and how that should've been interesting as fuck.

And even then, she had Luke and Artemis)

Annabeth gets less character development than Percy in HoO and that is saying something.

But what do I know, compared to the guy who makes his stand-in for any sexism less blatant than a literal ancient dude ghost thinking women shouldn't be warriors to be blonde hair?

V. Notes on Demigod Children and Inherited Traits

Okay, this section is going to be short and sweet due to obvious reasons, but I feel that I should include it for the sake of completeness. It wouldn't be a meta essay about Annabeth Chase if I didn't address The Blonde ThingTM.

*Clears Throat* Ahem.

The Blonde Thing is beyond stupid and peak #MenWritingWomen. I have spoken.

I am blond. The only people I have ever met who even made blond jokes even semi-seriously were preteen boys, who knew that it would get a rise out of their female blonde agemates with short tempers.

. . .which lines right up with Rick Riordan, now that I think about it.

I do suspect the blonde hair was meant to function as a stand-in for the systematic misogyny Annabeth would face as a female genius in a male-dominated field, when her social skills are already not fantastic.

And, like, that's interesting, but it also requires you to have a more nuanced understanding of feminism than the late aughts-celebrity tabloids. Or any idea of how to actually write women and girls.

Lastly: Having the godly inherited traits of the goddess of wisdom being blonde hair and grey eyes is racist as hell and I despise it. Fuck off, Riordan. I get you want a resemblance of some kind, but THIS:

Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her grey eyes and honey-blonde hair.

[TLT, Ch. 7: My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke]

This isn't it.

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blonde hair curled like Cinderella’s.

[TLT, Ch. 4: My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting]

Tell me you don't understand how white women's hair normally works without telling me you don't understand how white women's hair normally works.

Either Annabeth's hair is a thick rat's nest and Percy's just being poetic, which is absolutely fair, knowing that boy, or Annabeth actually enjoys curling her hair and taking excellent care of it. You can't have her Not Like Other Girls it and give her fabulous loose curls, Riordan.

*For reference, here's what the infamous and oft-used "princess blond curls", a descriptor used by multiple characters, actually look like IRL:

VI. Perseus Jackson

This section is going to make everyone angry. I apologize in advance.

So, Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson. Probably one of the more iconic canon romantic relationships of fantasy of the last twenty years. There's a reason for that.

Before I tear it apart, let's get a couple things straight:

A. They do have chemistry for days. There's a reason, beyond the relatively young age of the Riordanverse fandom, that they're so pervasively shipped.

B. They can, in the right hands, do a pretty good opposites complement each other, instead of opposites attract.

C. They hit a lot of the tropes in canon that people really enjoy, and, for the most part the story (if not the writing), is a good one; you've got friends to lovers, mild Romeo & Juliet vibes due to their parents, they're pretty badass together, lots of genuine attraction that isn't just the usual compulsory heteronormativity, etc.

D. They genuinely possess a lot of legwork and time put into their relationship, with plenty nice moments. I believe they have a strong relationship with romantic potential/realized romance.

E. Annabeth Chase is not Satan. She is a traumatized, brilliant demigod with attachment issues, who has been repeatedly failed by the adults and people acting in loco parentis around her. This doesn't rob her of all agency or blame for what we're about to discuss.

F. (Those attachment and mistrust issues are part of the reason she and Percy "I never met a friend I wouldn't burn the world for" Jackson work, but that doesn't excuse. . .well)

There is, however, one and a half problems. Very big ones. I say half because I'm of the opinion that one feeds off the half, but not entirely, so it still counts.

1. So, remember how we just finished discussing all of Annabeth's many issues, that Riordan never really addresses in any meaningful capacity? As well as how he so drastically missed the point with Annabeth's jealousy towards Rachel? I sort of lied in saying Riordan never really addresses them.

He does. He romanticizes a lot of Annabeth's more trauma-related and problematic traits where Percy/Annabeth is concerned.

We're going to largely study the big one, because it's the infamous one, and also. . .it really sort of encapsulates Annabeth's issues, how they're channeled into her and Percy's relationship, proves Riordan is aware of them, but then. . .nothing is ever done about it.

[PLEASE NOTE: If discussion/breakdown of an abusive action/patterns of potential abusive or toxic actions are triggering for you, skip to 1.5, marked with asterisks and in bigger text.]

From MoA, Ch. II, Annabeth:

Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, “Hold! Stand down!”

Annabeth put her knee on Percy’s chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. She didn’t care what the Romans thought. A white-hot lump of anger expanded in her chest—a tumor of worry and bitterness that she’d been carrying around since last autumn.

“If you ever leave me again,” she said, her eyes stinging, “I swear to all the gods—”

There's a lot going down here. We're going to break it down.

-First off, we've got the immediate violence. This isn't something I'm going to excuse because you shouldn't judo flip your boyfriends, no matter how terrifying the last couple weeks have been for you, but it's certainly. . .explainable (re: Annabeth has been repeatedly taught via traumatic experience that the best way to handle losing people and re-assert control over the situation is action of some kind, usually violent).

-I'm also going to say it outright, because I think it's only responsible of me to say: It is an abusive action. Men can be abused by their partners, including if said partner is a woman.

-It's not an inherently bad place for the narrative to go, but it, like many other places in these books, is an excellent time for Annabeth to realize that her trauma is hurting others, including her boyfriend.

-So. Next up. Obviously, we have the reaction of the Romans, Reyna telling them to stand down until they get a better idea of what just happened, since presumably, Percy has been singing Annabeth's praises since he got his memory back.

-Then we have the next big thing, which tells me that Annabeth's. . .lack of self-awareness, at times, when she lacks a degree of separation from the situation at hand, is in place, when she says, "If you ever leave me again. . ."

-Obviously, Percy didn't have a choice in the matter, which leaves me inclined to believe this is the shitty writing acting up again, because for whatever reasons, Riordan decided in the back half of HoO that he had it out for Percy (But that's another essay), or—it is, once again, after what's probably been an awful couple months for Annabeth, a lot of very old, scarring stuff is acting up in victim-blaming Percy for his kidnapping in that moment.

-The thing that kills me is this isn't a bad moment, but a very good one, if we treat it for what it is: a wake-up call that Annabeth's trauma has exaggerated her worst personality traits until she's now hurting the people she loves.

*1.5*

A lot of Problem #1 featured my making sense of the canon given us, so I think I've earned the right to quickly go off on a few things out of diegesis real quick, so here we go:

Richard Riordan sucks at writing female characters and I will fucking fight him in a Denny's parking lot at 3AM over it.

Annabeth Chase, in the original series, suffers from a lot of tropes of late aughts/early teens pop culture feminism: She's aggressive, SmartTM, dismissive of boys, Pretty Without Trying, suffers from the ever-infamous I'm Not Like Other Girls Syndrome, in which Annabeth seems to almost actively avoid or even hate being perceived as a normal girl her age—something that, interestingly, Riordan almost seems to try and rectify with writing Annabeth and Piper into a close friendship off-page between The Lost Hero (TLH) and MoA.

Admittedly, while I like the idea of Annabeth and Piper bonding, there's certainly something to be said for Riordan choosing Piper, who gets a narrative where she gets to prove to her half-sister, Drew Tanaka, an embodiment of "what Aphrodite stands for" and extremely traditionally feminine, that she is That Much Better than Drew.

In addition to be extremely annoying to sift through for a real character, it also betrays a real lack of thought of Riordan into what Annabeth's non-Percy life looks like, which carries over into HoO in the form of a fairly popular complaint: Annabeth and Percy spend way too much time being a cutesy endgame couple.

If Annabeth's closest friend pre-Percy's arrival is Luke, who's much older than her and pre-occupied with trying to bring down Olympus, and Grover, who by all accounts hasn't been that close to her since the loss of Thalia, that's going to leave a mark.

It's certainly a reasonable enough scenario: Annabeth's terrified of opening up again after bonding to the point of co-dependency with Thalia and Luke, while Percy befriends her against her will.

But we don't get that. We don't get tales of Annabeth actively avoiding becoming too close with her siblings, or telling Clarisse and Silena and her other age-mates to go away, she doesn't need them. Or her learning to open up again.

Annabeth Chase, for all that she gets a lot of time on-screen, never gets clear turning points of growth in her character because she's too busy struggling for the purpose of the men in her life.

She's never afforded the complexity necessary for growth, unless it's in service of the plot, or furthering the character of Percy Jackson or Luke Castellan.

She explains her background and fatal flaws to Percy so he can learn. She struggles with her relationship with Luke so that Luke can have angst over being the bad guy—or because making Luke/Thalia canon is too much moral ambiguity for Rick Riordan.

Hell, even in TLT, when she's struggling with returning to her family, Percy Jackson is encouraging her to return to the family she tells him didn't want her, and is very eager to make excuses for them:

. . .He got a “regular” mortal wife, and had two “regular” mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn’t exist."

I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but I didn’t know how.

"My mom married a really awful guy," I told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that’s what your dad was thinking."

[TLT, Ch. 13: I Plunge To My Death]

As well as this wonderfully uncomfortable bit, after Annabeth informs Percy that whenever she visits her family, monsters attack, she's blamed for everything, and she gets into endless arguments until she decides it's better off at camp:

"You think you’ll ever try living with your dad again?"

She wouldn’t meet my eyes. "Please. I’m not into self-inflicted pain."

"You shouldn’t give up," I told her. ‘You should write him a letter or something."

"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father’s made his choice about who he wants to live with."

[TLT, Ch. 16: We Take A Zebra To Vegas]

Of course, as we've previously well-established, Riordan either can't quite decide the narrative that he wants for Annabeth's backstory, or he has a very complicated one in mind that he refuses to devote the needed legwork to. So the veracity of some of what Percy is told can be left up in the air.

And Percy is, of course, still pretty optimistic, seeing as far as he's concerned, Sally is nothing but wonderful—to say nothing of how weird Riordan can get with biological relatives and the need to have them in your life.

But all things considered, with Percy is able to push that with an ease that I find mildly discomforting. Annabeth's life is given a simplicity and ease that I find discomforting, all things considered.

She's held in captivity and what amounts to torture as she's tricked by her oldest living friend into holding up the sky during TTC, with few apparent consequences. Assuming she's gained friends at some point, we don't see much of her grief or worry in BotL or TLO.

Percy is a limited narrator, but very little is given of Annabeth that revolves around Annabeth. Even Annabeth lashing out after Percy's return about Ogygia is back to Percy. Not her own emotions or mental state after the immediate fact.

In TLO, the closest Annabeth gets past Love-Interest-In-Waiting (re: Rachel) and Plot-Device-For-Percy's-Badassery-And-Manpain (Being Percy's anchor and taking Ethan's knife for him), is her moments with Luke as they struggle towards the finale, when we finally get, "Family, Luke. You promised."

It's about Annabeth and Luke's relationship and Annabeth finally letting him go! It's great!

But even that is turned back around in service of Luke and Percy with this:

"Did you . . ." Luke coughed and his lips glistened red. "Did you love me?"

[TLO, Ch. 19: We Trash The Eternal City]

(We're ignoring any romantic overtones that aren't between Annabeth and Percy in this scene or about Annabeth's one-sided crush on Luke. Ignoring them, damn it}

It's all in service of Luke and Percy's angst in completing the Final Prophecy. Which I would possibly give a pass for because adrenaline and final battle and story pacing if Luke were brought up at all in HoO.

Beyond Percy's thinking about him for 0.5 seconds in MoA, of course.

For all that Annabeth has a lot of POV time in The Mark of Athena and The House of Hades (HoO), she's not afforded much depth in her narrative.

We don't learn anything new about her, we don't hear much about her mortal family, whom she is presumably at least on speaking terms with these days, and—most infuriatingly enough, in my opinion—she doesn't spend much time thinking about her own life beyond, well, her boyfriend.

And. . .look. In a lot of ways, the original PJO series really reflect the environment and time they were written in. Including and perhaps especially in the treatment of Annabeth.

There are a lot of things in there can be forgiven, however, with good writing in HoO that's reflective of greater attention in writing female characters and affording them complex inner lives that don't either revolve around the plot at hand or their love interest.

This. . .doesn't happen. TLH!Annabeth Chase being singularly obsessed with finding her missing boyfriend speaks for itself, I've already discussed MoA quite a lot, and I think HoH really speaks for itself with this:

"I can’t see!" She touched her face, looking around wildly. Her eyes were pure white.

[HoH, Ch. XXIX: Percy]

This is all good and cool; it's a sweet callback to both SoM and THe Odyssey, actually centered around Annabeth's own deeds.

"Percy!" Annabeth’s voice cracked. "Why did you leave me?"

[HoH, CH. XXX: Percy]

This isn't inherently bad, per se, but considering Percy's already coping with Bob/Iapetus finding out he's responsible for the memory wipe and didn't tell him, combined with both past and future events in the Tartarus sequence, it's really. . .low, I think.

To have Annabeth's pain still be centered around Percy and her relationship with him (As well, I think, to be equally low for Calypso, who portrayed no visible bitterness in BotL, to curse Annabeth anyway, then add in the pointless feud between Percy and Leo over Calypso in the next book).

This entire scene isn't about Annabeth's abandonment issues, or it would have been in her POV. It's about torturing Percy and furthering the manpain.

And then Blood of Olympus (BoO) happens, neither Percy or Annabeth are meaningfully involved at all, Annabeth has to be rescued multiple times, Percy has to be rescued by the son of Jupiter from Percy's own half-sister in the sea, and Riordan writes Percy and Annabeth's dynamic like they're thirteen years old again and still trying to figure out how to be friends.

So. . .why was Annabeth in the Seven? If the Mark of Athena was purposefully a solo quest with the line of "Wisdom's daughter stands alone" and she gives no meaningful contribution to defeating Gaea in BoO that another demigod handy with a sword could've filled.

If anything, to be frank, she could've seen a much more interesting and meaningful story if Reyna had been in the Seven and Annabeth had accompanied the Athena Parthenos back home with Nico, forcing the Romans to confront their crimes again Athena/Minerva in the form of the statue and the goddess's favored living daughter.

Percy/Annabeth is a fun ship and, to a certain extent, deserves it's large fandom, thanks to the character chemistry and nice canon moments on their own.

But the shoddy writing around Annabeth's personality, trauma, personal story, and Riordan's inability to write mature romantic relationships with fierce partners that don't feature genuine threats of violence issues that need to be acknowledged and critiqued in work.

The misogyny in being incapable of writing a complex, brilliant, and flawed female character without writing abusive tendencies and romanticizing that bullshit is truly breathtaking.

(And yes. I've seen what he's done with Magnus Chase and Alex Fierro)

VII. Fandom Treatment

I figure, as always, it's worth making a note about the two treatments of Annabeth that I've seen in how fandom and fanon treat her because as always, none of us are off the hook:

1. The people who romanticize Percy/Annabeth in its full canon form to within an inch of its life, think Annabeth has done nothing wrong ever, and think the judo flip is the peak of romance. This is the majority of y'all and I can't say I wasn't once one of you and really annoying about it, because we were all young and stupid, but we all have to grow up at some point.

(And listen, listen. If you want ships that aren't necessarily that healthy because you want that fantasy or you want Percy/Annabeth as a not-fully-healthy ship in a fic, I have both suggestions and fully encourage you.

Just tag properly and be aware of what you're writing. Abuse and toxicity are no joke, including and especially if a woman is an abuser)

2. This is much more the minority, but they exist because I've seen y'all on my dash: People who despise Percy/Annabeth because they can't take the shit in canon, which is absolutely more than fair and I love you all, and think that Annabeth, is, well. . .Satan.

Also I swear if I see one more person sexualizing Annabeth by claiming that she's, I dunno, "fucking her way to the top," I will. . .probably block you and get on with my life. Because I am an adult. Despite certain appearances. But still. Stop it.

Annabeth's twelve and that's a goddamn misogynistic trope used in the workplace against women and in media. It's gross.

She's a flawed character. You can dislike her. She's certainly not the most likeable girl in the world.

I think learning to realize and remember that there's always an author behind your favorite character or least favorite character's actions, and that you can disagree with the writing choice (before getting on with your life and leaving the creator the fuck alone), is an important lesson in fandom. Allows for some clear-headedness.

VIII. Conclusions

I gotta be honest: Annabeth's my girl.

At least within the original series, she's coded pretty hard as autistic and actually ADHD, in a way I find intensely relatable. She's smart as hell, not afraid of it, and has a thing for competency. She's so, so brave.

When she's not got the abusive tendencies creeping in, she also fiercely adores her friends, knows how to make her enemies regret it, and doesn't say die. She met the one person in the world who should've been her enemy and decided yes, this is my new friend. I'm going to get hurt again with him.

She's also got abandonment issues, a possessive streak, a desperate need for therapy, and a nasty temper. Again, I. . .well, I relate to a lot of that.

It's buried under a lot of shit, but Annabeth is unapologetically flawed in a way that's refreshing and rare for female characters, still. I latched on hard when I was young and never quite let go.

I wrote this meta because, despite it all, I love Annabeth Chase, I hate what Riordan warps her into, and I hate the indifference she's treated with when Percy's romance with her isn't being furthered.

I. . .I dunno, what I'm trying to convince y'all of, with this meta. I just hope it's coherent, at this point.

"So if the gods fight," I said, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"

She put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"

[TLT, Ch. 16: We Take A Zebra To Vegas]

If you or someone you know is in an abusive situation, HERE is a link to resources for victims and survivors of domestic violence. It includes a phone number to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Dating Abuse Hotline, National Child Abuse Hotline, and other relevant resources (If in the USA).

Please, please get the help you need and deserve.

[kataravimes-of-the-shire]

Gwyn Origins

Having a little bit of fun thinking about who Gwyn's father could be, and how this could impact on relationships throughout the series...

We know a High Fae male from Autumn is her father, I feel like this depth of knowledge about her background was unnecessary *unless* that fae male is a character of significance in the series already. In comparison, we don't get that much specific detail about Emerie's family.

Initially, I thought, ooh what if Gwyn's mother was Lucien's former love, but we know she was killed in front of him so I doubt that. (Although, the potential for this absolutely sends me. Gwynriel would mean protective dad Lucien all the while him being relieved that Elriel was no long a thing)

My personal fave choices for who it could be are Beron or Eris.

I'm thinking that Beron disappearing to take part in a Calanmai at a temple would be a little bit too noticeable... Eris however??

I find the idea of Eris being her father HILARIOUS, like Gwyn being able to say "eww you danced and flirted with my dad" is something I enjoy. It also gives the classic trope of "problematic guy realises he has a daughter and becomes a good dude" vibes - which could be fun.

If Beron is Gwyn's father, then that would make her half-siblings with both Lucien and Eris - since the Cauldron is hella sexist and doesn't pick female heirs Eris could actually have a good relationship with his half-sister. Potential angst with that when she finds out what he did to Mor, and the possibility of revealing more of what Eris has hinted at earlier in the series - he would have something to lose by not telling Gwyn the truth that he hasn't with any of the IC (they already hate him and he doesn't care about their opinions - his new sister, though??).

This leads me to my next point. Gwyn's relationship with Azriel. Now, whether you take that as friendship or romance Azriel clearly has some respect for her. The discovery that she is related to two of the people who have been at the root of a massive amount of pain in his life would be so ANGSTY. I think it would also lead to him addressing his own beliefs about himself - he views himself as a piece of shit because he's an Illyrian, and his dad was a piece of shit. But if he can view Gwyn as a friend or a lover then he would have to accept that his beliefs about himself might not be true (i.e. you're not a bad person just because of your blood). Again: ANGST.

Basically, I love how much this could stir the pot.

EDIT:

I just realised that Gwyn might be too young, if Autumn Court were all Under the Mountain? Do we know her age?? Although, Rhys was allowed to leave on Calanmai - perhaps other fae were too. Especially if it's seen as a ceremony to renew magic?

[rayshippouuchiha]

hello, I’m uh, here to vent? warning, there is…a lot of swearing. a few months ago i was taking a nap after a solid 24 hours of being awake and my brothers were in the same room laughing and yelling and generally being loud as fuck, and after asking for the fourth time to please be quiet because can’t you see im trying to sleep here, i finally snapped and said “can you two shut the fuck up please? it’s good that you’re enjoying yourself but can you maybe do it elsewhere?” and my older brother said to my younger laughing, “it’s so funny when people tell me off for laughing, like sorry im not depressed” I KNOW YOURE DEPRESSED. SO AM I. DEPRESSION ISNT AN EXCUSE TO BE AN INSENSITIVE DICKHEAD. god every time I think about it im filled with such a frothing rage. those two…i love them but they’re fucking assholes. who do they think they are??? they ain’t SHIT. not to mention that my older brother (who is 20) and my younger (who is 11) have been spending more time together, and my older brother has some hella toxic traits that i don’t want anywhere NEAR my impressionable younger brother. despite my best efforts to get my older brother to tone down (I say tone down because because I’ve TRIED to get him to stop, and he fucking WONT. the best I can hope for is that he doesnt say that shit in public) the rape jokes and blatant misogyny and racism and…fuck he’s got a lot of issues.

at a certain point in life you became responsible for your own development, and i can’t get him to change if he doesn’t want to, which, fine, i can accept that, but my baby brother??? he don’t need that shit. he’s been picking up shitty behaviour from him since we’ve been cooped up together at home. he’s been swearing a fuckload (fine, i can understand that one, since I do it too, although not nearly like how I do when I’m venting online) and he’s rude to our mom (what the FUCK. WHY. HOW. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. IM SHAKING THINKING ABOUT IT. THIS WOMAN HAS RAISED THREE CHILDREN ALONE FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS WITH NO SUPPORT FROM OUR SHIT DAD AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO BE RUDE???) and he now thinks that raging and screaming and banging the table and kicking shit around is acceptable when the wifi is slow is completely normal and safe behaviour because our brother does it too. they think it’s funny! there’s so much shit i don’t want him picking up but for the love of god, how the hell do i do that when nobody in this goddamn household listens to me??? my brother made a shitty sexist joke the other day and i snapped and got pissed off at him (for the nth time, fuck) and he, what, called me a snowflake?? “it’s just a joke, you’re such a snowflake.” “what’s a snowflake?” “someone boring” and he had the GALL to look at me with this judgemental look on his face and say “are you a snowflake?” in a drawling voice. sorry if you think I’m BORING because I don’t support your shitty misogynistic views. you’re on your own, you asshole. I’d rather be a fucking snowflake than take that shitty behaviour near our brother. if it was just us two, me and my older brother, i might not have cared anymore after trying to help him the first few times, but there’s a fucking child in this house. you want him to grow up like you? and these two, they raise their voices ALL THE FUCKING TIME. me?? the only time I yell is when I’m calling someone from the other room, or online when I’m demonstrating my fROTHING FUCKING RAGE, such as right NOW. wanna know why? because yelling and shouting scares the fuck outta me, and i don’t want anyone feeling like i do. the reason im so goddamn angry online is because i refuse to be like them and take it out on other people. there’s venting, and there is hurting other people because what, your fucking minecraft won’t load? I’ve literally tried so hard to the point of actual tears to get my brother to stop raging but he just looks at me and says shit like “you wouldn’t understand, you never get angry”. uh actUALLY I CAN MOTHERFUCKING UNDERSTAND. BECAUSE YOU. YOU TWO GRATE ON MY FUCKING NERVES. HOW DARE YOU SAY I DONT UNDERSTAND. THE REASON YOU NEVER SEE ME ANGRY IS BECAUSE IM NOT LIKE YOU TWO. god im so sick of their shit. they’re my brothers and they’re precious, but I want to beat them up sometimes. I’m so tired. pretentious little shits UGH who do they think they ARE.

ray, the amount of time I’ve spent thinking about how to beat some goddamn respect into them is uncountable. every possible conversation that goes through my head i cannot continue because I can hear their responses, and they just fuel my anger even more, and I’m not even going to attempt to hold myself back in my mind. i have daydreams about ripping those two a new one and making them drink their respect women juice. osdjedlsdnkendkdn this is so long and im sorry about that but these two make my blood pressure skyrocket and I’m positive one day I’ll die from sheer fucking rage

Oh baby it really sounds like you needed to let all of that out and I don't blame you. Sounds like you're dealing with a lot from a lot of different directions and the anger, fear, and frustration you're feeling right now is perfectly understandable.

Honestly yeah your older brother sounds like a dick and, in my opinion, I'd be willing to put money on the fact that a lot of the things he's doing? He's probably doing them specifically to get a rise out of you, up to and including bringing your little brother into the mess. Because he knows what buttons to push and what things to say to get you to give him a reaction.

Obviously, I'm speaking from an outside perspective so I don't know all the finer details, but I say start stonewalling him.

Look to your safety first (especially since he seems to think that physical outbursts are acceptable and that kind of thing has a habit of escalating in many cases) but otherwise show him and his bullshit a solid stone wall.

You've tried talking to him, you've tried the emotional appeal. It's not working and it's not because he doesn't know he's doing wrong but because he doesn't want to stop. So don't give him that validation by showing him your outrage or your anger anymore. People who act out to provoke a reaction feed on that kind of thing and it traps you in this never-ending loop.

If he starts acting up then leave the room if possible. If you can't leave the room then scroll on your phone, read a book, stare into the goddamn abyss, just do not feed him that attention he so obviously wants.

If talking to your mom hasn't worked/isn't an option/etc I'd say you could try pulling the little brother aside and trying to calmly explain to him why what's happening is wrong if you haven't done that already. Just make sure you get him alone so he doesn't think he has to perform for your older brother.

It might work, it might not, but at least you will have tried.

Either way darling I'm sending good vibes in your direction and I'm here if you need to vent again.