#ZZ answers stuff

[zz-chikorita]

How would the Jolly Rogers characters handle being temporarily transported to an alternate universe (perhaps via ultra wormhole) where they meet evil versions of themselves, and what would those evil versions be like?

Ok, so this is a super interesting question in terms of Guzma because, looking back, there was probably a time where Guzma genuinely would've considered himself "evil". It was for the sake of survival in a way, but I'm sure he's not proud looking back on those days. Of course, then there's the consideration that, well, petty crime isn't exactly Every Villain Is Lemons, which is a fair point. So what about in the even he went to a timeliness where he is through and through EVIL? So, I'm trying to imagine what that would look like and what would be the evil Guzma's motivations. I'm thinking an evil guzma would take the whole King of Destruction thing to a far more literal sense- I'm talking full on flattening of every town he comes across with zero disregard for human or pokemon life. Now THAT would be truly evil. And how would our dear Guzma react to such a person?

With horror. He'd immediately recognize that this is a version of himself that did not develop out of nothing. If he let himself just a little more room for the hate, anger, and spite inside him to grow... this would've been the result. And in this particular universe... it WAS the result. I think he would feel pity for his evil self. This man has been beaten down by the world so much for so long, he's lost all compassion and empathy in his heart. Nothing brings him joy nor peace. He's so far gone, he doesn't even realize he's suffering.

Leon on the other hand... on the surface level, he seems the same cheerful battle expert. However, every word out of his mouth is dripping with sickeningly saccharine platitudes and surreptitious prevarications. He learned it from the best at the craft, after all.

This evil version disgusts Leon, to say the very least. Unlike with Guzma, this scoundrel is not a version of himself he understands nor relates. Leon can't fathom what events would lead to his heart and mind being corrupted so thoroughly by greed and pride. Someome who lies, cheats, and tramples his way to the top and, once hes there, hes unsatisfied and only wants MORE. That's not him. That's not Leon. However... that is THIS Leon, and that is one hard pill for our lad to swallow

[toskarin]

Is Tomino an antisemite?

I assume you're referring to the section of PROJECT PROTOTYPE: Zeta Gundam Proposal that talks about Melanie Hue Carbine?

worth mentioning, this bit was also reprinted in the liner notes for the Zeta Memorial Box laserdisc release

to cut a long answer short and address the elephant in the room: the Carbine stuff, in those notes, is antisemitic. I also don't think that it necessarily reflects what Tomino currently believes, if he was even the one who wrote it, which is also unclear

the answer ends up being "there's not a clear answer one way or the other"

I'll elaborate a bit more on this below the courtesy break

for disclosure's sake, I could be misremembering some details here, but this is less of a "defence" and more of trying to sort out what's not included in that screencap which gets reposted every so often.

-

it's understandable that this comes up time and time again, given what a mess that writing is

the question of whether Tomino was antisemitic has been talked to death, which is why a lot of Gundam fans have just stopped entertaining it, but I still think it's worth clearing up periodically for people who haven't heard it talked about before, so it's not ground down into pop trivia

when you hear people talking about the Carbine lore in Zeta, it's usually presented as coming from a setting bible and being a direct quote from Tomino

that understanding comes from a long-running game of telephone that was probably significantly worsened by language barriers and 40 years of information rot

the infamous Carbine section not only has dubious authorship and canonicity, but was also written in the 80s in Japan (which was undergoing something of a Jewish conspiracy exploitation boom at the time) and first published in a fan-targeted magazine (not the setting bible, as it's usually presented) in a period of Gundam's history when there was a lot of outsourced filler lore being released to stopgap the inevitable decline of post-Zeta Gundam hype before the release of ZZ

that's not to say Tomino doesn't have a history of misstepping and saying incredibly strange (and sometimes reactionary) things, or even that this wasn't a concept in the original proposal for Zeta before it was heavily reworked. it wouldn't be that out of place, but it would still stick out

but, to be frank, Tomino is an 82 year old Japanese man who has been in the public eye for 60 out of those 82 years

even if we take it for granted that he was the one behind that off-screen lore, we then have to believe that he held those beliefs unchangingly for 40 years without (to my knowledge) repeating them, which is a bit of a stretch

there might be something especially damning that I haven't seen, but I feel like it would have emerged alongside the Carbine passage if that were the case

[accio-victuuri]

NOVEMBER 19 : The Full Story 📝

oh well sort of, cause this is what is known and shared publicly with tons of filling in the blanks by cpfs. someone made a side by side incidents during this day and time for the past years 2017 to now 2023 and it’s good to see it all laid out. it’s hilarious to see the realization among turtles that we could be wrong about their anniversary date. for years, we always talked about the month of June but now, November is making a great argument 😂

( these freakin masterminds are so naughty! I swear!!! 🤣🤣🤣 )

source of the compilation i’m using to outline is 圣衣雪琳 cause they perfectly summed up the key points very well. I already talked about some of these in my previous post but this is for the “11/19 lore” exclusively and so we can expand on other years.

I’m a sucker for timelines so let’s go 💪🏼

2017: At this time, they already know of each other and depending on who you ask might have already been low key stalking the other. LOL. WYB’s was about Just Dance and ZZ is a selfie and hotpot ; the latter post about going home.

I don’t think that this holds much significance in terms of an actual relationship and stuff happening behind the scenes. However, it feels like fate that they both posted on this day even without that significance being there. We cpfs love to talk about how they are fated and certain things, no matter how mundane, turned out to be a piece that completed the puzzle. There is some push back with some turtles saying this shouldn’t be included cause it seems like the start of this 11/19 is 2018 but again, just leaving this here. I could probably add 2015/2016 if we really wanna back track lol

2018: THIS IS THE KEY CPN IN ALL OF THIS. I have already explained it here. The infamous Japan trip. How both of them seemingly making references to their post from this year vs today (2023) especially XZ who even posted on the same time. There are so many rumors about this timeline, even going as far as saying the next day, they started living together. How this was WYB saying it’s WYB, not LWJ. So the relationship they have now is not between fictional characters but the real one.

I’m eating this candy whole. No one can tell me otherwise. I’m sold 🤣🤣🤣

Have we been wrong? did they officially become together 11/19/2018. Some are even pointing out that one of GG’s photos shared today appears to be him traveling back from IM to Beijing.

and who is in Beijing? His home. Yibo. 🏡

We love to think about them sharing photos to each other and i’m imagining this is ZZ sending something similar to WYB and saying that he is on his way back.

2019: Bazaar video was released, it’s message being a favorite among BXGs. Going by the assumption that this is their anniversary of sorts, it makes sense to have a message like that to be delivered.

how he met his love in a dream ( presumably that summer and playing wwx opposite wyb’s lwj ) and when he woke up, his love is still there. meaning even in reality, he still feels the same. no. it was not scripted, the one who shot it said it was xz’s answer and he was shocked too.

They posted some work related stuff on that day, with WYB’s being audi’s. the part of the caption we are clowning about is : Don’t blame me for not reminding you. Which in the original post and context is about the benefits you will get if you buy an Audi. but in cpn speak it could mean that ZZ probably forget, but he actually didn’t cause that bazaar love confession was clear.

2020: I already talked in detail over here #2 with was going on at the time.

It’s also the start of the whole Thursday is a good day to see you, in reference to WYB’s vogue post. Then it snowballed into a whole CPN of it’s own.

I forgot to add one important thing tho, around this time 11/18 there schedules were public and both are supposed to go back to Beijing. WYB was from Hangzhou and ZZ was from Nanjing. The incident of WYB changing his flight 3x so he can go back to Beijing is this time 11/18. We clowned that he was so eager to be in the same city with ZZ but with what we think now, it could be he wanted them to be together badly because it’s their anniversary the next day 11/19. 🤯

2021: Both of them posting a Douyin video that involves changing clothes. Which is a very common transition trend on the app but seeing it done on the same day was a treat and unusual. GG’s was posted 11/17 and WYB was 11/19.

I wanna remind people too that this is the same month we got the mysterious “voices” both in Shenzhen Vlog ( his husband wang yibo ) and talks of ZZ being at the Luoyang press conference filming. The same month the whole Ximalaya CPN started too. So they were definitely “acting up”.

2022: No actual posts but a parallel. 11/17, Guangdian appeared on the itunes chart because of fan’s effort. 11/18, WYB released a song ( government related ) called Light Chaser. So spotlight = light chaser has similar element and theme of light. Then on 11/20 WYB’s shared a douyin with 👀.

2023: Probably making up for how quiet last year was, they decided to give us a big hint/s of what 11/19 is all about. 😂😂😂

This is all fake and cpn talk. I do enjoy when candies go years back! This journey of trying to piece things together is a bxg’s strength so we’re really thriving today— with all the possibly unrelated events we have managed to stitch together into this! 🙃

[hypvalsqr]

Any recommendations for a newbie looking for more mecha genre stuff? The newbie (me) has played Lancer and secondhand absorbed Robot Alchemic Drive but that's it

If youre looking for anime theres like a whole pantheon. Off the top of my head, in order, I'd reccomend Mazinger Z > Getter Robo > Gunbuster (love Gunbuster) > Maybe Patlabor > Neon Genesis Evangelion course > Gurren Lagann. Theres plenty of other shows and plenty of non-Gainax shows in there I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Then of course theres all the Gundams. Theres plenty of alternate timelines and individual shows (I reccomend Gundam 00 or Iron Blooded Orphans!) but the core timeline is the "Universal Century". This starts with Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 of which there's plenty of recap movies and reanimations. Then MSG Zeta and then Char's Counterattack which is a super core mecha movie at this point. There's also Gundam ZZ (double Zeta) which some fans don't like but I think its very fun. Everything else in Gundam kinda builds off of those shows which is admittedly a lot but it just means you have plenty of mobile suits to learn about if you find you really like the Gundam mecha schtick.

For games of course the best are going to be Titanfall 2 (RIP TF1) and Armored Core. There are plenty of other action mecha games out there but few will have the amount of budget and notoriety of these two. You may have heard that Armored Core 6 came out and was a huge hit recently. Its actually the 16th AC game lol. Theres different generations of the AC games all with different gameplay.

Gen 1 is AC1, AC Project Phantasma, AC Master of Arena

Gen 2 is AC2 and AC2: Another Age

Gen 3 is a highlight with AC3, AC Silent Line, AC Nexus, and AC Last Raven all being incredible and all having save transfer features a-la Mass Effect.

Gen 4 is AC4 and For Answer and they are incredibly fucking high octane games.

Gen 5 is AC5 and Verdict Day, theyre hard to get your hands on but are super fun.

And AC6 is incredible.

Theres also the handheld ones. Idk theres so fucking many but theyre all good.

If you want something more strategy based theres Into the Breach or the 30-something Super Robot Wars games.

Theres plenty more I could reccomend but I'd be typing till the end of time :P

Hope this helps :3

[kedreeva]

Hello! This is probably a strange question, but I have an oc who is... harpy? furry? well, half human half peafowl, and she is trans. She started HRT as an adult, so... what would happen to her fethers as she molts? And I know it's a made-up stuff anyway, but I'm kinda curious about your thoughts on this :)

Well, that's tough to say. Humans have completely different sex hormones than birds, so it would depend which side your OC takes after genetically. In birds, the ovary produces a hormone that suppresses male plumage. If their ovary stops functioning (through age, disease malfunction, removal), then they just feather in with male plumage. This actually can and does happen, there are many instances where this occurs naturally in peafowl (and commonly in chickens and ducks) in captivity, particularly to older hens. However, reports indicate that peafowl behavior doesn't change- transitioned hens don't begin to court or become territorial the way males do.

I would imagine the same would happen to their feathers the other way around, though I've never heard of a natural instance of that happening (though that could be a lack of investigation rather than a lack of occurrence). But if a male were to receive the right chemical to suppress the male plumage, then with their next molt they would likely start to feather in female plumage. With hens, the process takes minimum 3 years to swap, because it follows the yearly interstitial feather changes of baby peafowl. It could go faster from male plumage to female plumage, or it could still follow the yearly process in reverse.

I would also guess the time scale would have some dependence on when the next-molt feathers actually begin to form under the skin relative to when the chemical(s) get introduced; if the new feathers are already forming or the molt has begun then it would probably add time, or possibly complicate a molt. The best bet for a healthy transition would likely be after the blood has receded from the growing feathers.

That all being said. With the discrepancy of sex chromosomes between birds and humans (birds being ZZ for males and ZW for females, and humans being XX for females and XY for males, so literally not even the same kind of sex chromosomes and the opposite orientation), I would imagine any human-bird combination (or mammal-bird) would actually feather in opposite to the bird version. In the case of a harpy (not your OC, but just a random harpy) I would think a harpy humans might consider male (for example a cis male with a penis organ and a simple XY chromosome arrangement) could have peahen feathers. Then AGAIN you'd have to decide if they have human sex organs or cloaca, and what their society/community says about organs vs plumage vs mentality vs Other Criteria. There's a LOT of room to play and make up whatever you want, honestly. It's so complex that you could pretty much have anything happen, and then come up with an explanation. Or don't! People can come to their own conclusions.

If you want a simple answer, your OC would likely just switch plumage to whatever the hormones she's taking command her body to have.

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

😊🥰👽

👽 a fic that isn’t prose (poetry, text fic, etc.)

woahg what a cool question 0:

rhymesswith‘s WOH modern setting Cat!ZZS AU comic strips

rhymesswith's WOH Ladyhawke AU specifically this part of it! (masterpost with context in chronogical order)

you already know this but annannjay's iwtw WOH republican era shanghai AU that still has me be wildly insane

bardorable's WOH canon compliant introspective wen kexing poem Entropic Notions

megafaunatic's modern TYK setting comic of zzs throwing a birthday party!

😊 a fic that made you smile on a bad day

this wouldve been much harder to answer but fOrtUnaTely [at the time of writing this] im having a bad mental health month .. phase ,, time! (laughcrysob) [it's been a few i'm fine now!]

i‘d always been rigid before you by thehoundisdead. The Untamed modern au, wangxian, gender changes, wlw, identity shenanigans, texting, food as a gateway for love, university, light angst, misunderstandings, G. wei ying flirts with the driver who delivers her food orders via text, not knowing who they are, and it has no connection at all to lan zhan, her classmate! i love this little fic. its fun and silly and sweet and makes me go all warm inside, its exactly what i need when im down. i remember that u dont prefer school fics but maybe u like this??? there is not much serious school stuff happening there aside from the opportunity for wei ying to flirt with lan zhan since theyre classmates

no one understands the chemistry we have by livinginaworldofnoise. WOH, wenzhou, modern au, story told in posts, G. wen kexing tries to woe the most handsome man in the world. zhou zishu needs advice to get rid of a weird creep. these things are not at all related, why would u think that! its been a few weeks but i read this when i was having an extremely bad night and it lifted my spirits!!!!!! livinginaworldofnoise is one of my fav fandom authors, theyre so good at balancing rawness with humour. and i like how this fic transplants wkx from canon to a modern setting and shifts into an outsider‘s pov (the reddit community, this is told in posts), which automatically removes any context that would explain his Behaviour and Attitudes. i mean, wkx is actually disturbing! if u dont know why he is the way he is agdgdgdg

🥰 a fic that gives you warm fuzzy feelings!!

hey girl (you are what i've been looking for) by detectorist. The Untamed, MDZS, modern au, wangxian, background niehuan. gender changes (EVERYONE is a lesbian except for jiang cheng, who is the token gay man), wlw, house parties, drunk kissing, chaotic friend groups, casual queerness, T. wei ying and lan zhan meet on a house party the jins are hosting. sparks fly. highly recommend to read this together with its sequel!

the only place you wanna be by aiyexayen. WOH canon divergence/fix-it, gu xiang/wen kexing/zhou zishu, background wenzhou, four seasons manor arc, multiple pov, gu xiang-centric, introspection, non-sexual intimacy, hurt/comfort, angst, found family, rarepairings, polyships, M. zhou zishu has a problem, and its just as annoying and confusing as wen kexing. gu xiang realizes that the lao bing gui her zhuren keeps following around might be a little bit good-looking. wen kexing rearranges his perspective of what it means to him to care for his silly little girl. while they all live at four seasons manor, things develop. this fic single-handledly changed my brain chemistry! and the dynamics are so warm and so gah!!!! also aiyex shared a little of the bts process of working on it here!!!!!

ask me for a fic rec meme <3

[charaznablespeteevee]

Would you share your thoughts on the Gundam you've seen? I added the first one to my list based on your posting about it (mostly the transition Char posting, he sounds like a fascinating character) and am not on Twitter to see your liveposting

Good question!! It seems like you want to know if I'd rec them so I'll answer based on that.

The original Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) absolutely I would rec to literally any anime fan. Both because it is a genuinely good anime, but equally because it's like. You know how people say you have to read the Bible to get all the references to the Bible in literature? It's like that. Gundam is one of the Bibles for anime. It's in everything. And you won't realize this until you watch it.

It's also a very good science fiction show just in general. The major characters are all great, the drama is compelling, and while some of the animation has not aged well, the newtype stuff has some super neat effects that are gorgeous to see on a big screen to this day.

It's also super accessible, the full show is available on Crunchyroll or if you don't want to commit watching a 43 episode show the three compilation movies are on Netflix and are a very solid alternative.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985) - they got a big budget upgrade so everything is Bigger and More. More robots, more character drama, more romance, better music, and some bizarre segues into how men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Absolutely worth a watch if you liked the original Gundam because it continues to follow a lot of the original characters.

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986) - technically "skippable" if you consider 0079, Zeta, and Char's Counterattack a trilogy, which it kind of is. ZZ focuses on an almost entirely new cast of characters and the first half of the show is VERY heavy on the comedy before jumping directly into some of the best anime I've ever seen for the second half. The mood whiplash is kind of divisive among fans. Personally I like it and the characters are great. Worth a watch if you like what you've seen so far.

Char's Counterattack (1988) - caps off the gayass Amuro/Char rivalry and is just an amazing movie in general. Gorgeous visuals, and the final 15 minutes or so are a series of emotional gut-punches the likes of which I've rarely experienced in media. Must watch IMO.

War in the Pocket (1989) - six episode OVA featuring entirely new characters. This is a truly fantastic little series that lets you into the lives of a small handful of likeable characters and how their lives are affected by war. It's Gundam so guess how that goes. I liked it a LOT and recommend it. BONUS: This is a GREAT "starter" Gundam. It's short, it's very good, and you don't need to know anything about Gundam going in. There's a few references to prior lore, but they aren't anything major and a newcomer could easily figure it all out from context.

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991) - this is a movie that was originally going to be made into a TV show and it shows, they stuffed far too much into too little time and it suffers for it. So unfortunately this is the first thing on this list I probably wouldn't rec. That said the characters are pretty fun and the ending is very good, so you can do a lot worse if you're bored or a completionist.

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993) - this is what I'm watching right now! I'm a little over halfway done with it. This is all new characters and there are some interesting new concepts. For example the first twenty or so episodes were set on Earth so you got some really gorgeous scenery during mobile suit battles that made those scenes really visually distinctive compared to say, a battle in space. That said it's yet to really "pull me in" the way most other Gundam series did. For now I'm still waiting to see if it will do that or not.

Witch From Mercury - I'm assuming everyone knows what this is. It's gay as fuck, what can I say, and it's the entire reason I fell down into this Hell to begin with. 10/10

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 29: (PIPER XXVIII)- CAPTAIN MCLEAN SAVES THE DAY

Already half way through this booooooook! Oh how time flies, it’s such an amazing feeling to see all the numbers on this fic constantly spiking because of all of you on this journey with meeeeeeee! 

HOOPJOHOOPJO

Percy saw the beginning of Piper’s name and the string of random letters and his brain automatically tried to reprogram that into a word for some reason. “Piper, zz-ziv-zivie? Oh, shit, wait, never mind.”

It at least got a surprised laugh out of his friends for his brain messing with him, so that felt worth it.

PIPER XXVIII

PIPER CORNERED THE PRINCESS as Jason and Leo went off to check out the living fur coats.

“Bet mine is more endangered than yours,” Leo grinned.

“Psht, bet I’ve killed more monsters than a few dangerous coats,” Jason tried to say with far more confidence than he actually felt. Then again, he wasn’t sure how much of a brag that really was if he did get killed with his brain messed up for the umptheenth time.

“You want them shopping for their deaths?” Piper demanded.

“Mmm.” The princess blew dust off a display case of swords. “I’m a seer, my dear. I know your little secret. But we don’t want to dwell on that, do we? The boys are having such fun.”

Leo laughed as he tried on a hat that seemed to be made from enchanted raccoon fur. Its ringed tail twitched, and its little legs wiggled frantically as Leo walked.

“Well, I know what souvenir I’m grabbing when we get there,” Leo smirked.

“Why?” Annabeth asked in actual concern. “Even if it’s not cursed, I feel like you’d just be better off putting a real racoon on your head.”

“Those things poop! This just sounds cool,” Leo sniffed, brushing a curl impatiently out of his face.

 Jason was ogling the men’s sportswear. Boys interested in shopping for clothes? A definite sign they were under an evil spell.

“I don’t know, under other circumstances I’d almost believe they were having fun,” Hazel frowned as she imagined a raccoon on Leo’s head with ease.

“I give it five minutes before they get bored and insist they already have three good shirts at home,” Percy said, speaking from experience. “Then it’s down to the evil spell.”

Piper glared at the princess. “Who are you?”

“I told you, my dear. I’m the Princess of Colchis.”

“Where’s Colchis?”

The princess’s expression turned a little sad. “Where was Colchis, you mean. My father ruled the far shores of the Black Sea, as far to the east as a Greek ship could sail in those days. But Colchis is no more—lost eons ago.”

Will honestly would have felt bad for her under better circumstances. To wake up in a land so far removed from your own time, for everything you’d ever known to be gone or just plain different. He glanced over pitifully to Hazel and wished he could offer her condolences or something. She hadn’t exactly thanked Nico for bringing her back from the dead, but she’d also probably been crazy overwhelmed by everything so far. He truly hoped she hadn't regretted being pulled out of there.

“Eons?” Piper asked. The princess looked no more than fifty, but a bad feeling started settling over Piper—something King Boreas had mentioned back in Quebec. “How old are you?”

“Bet you she says it’s not polite to ask a lady her age,” Percy snorted.

“Oldest line in the book, invented back when she was born,” Thalia agreed.

Annabeth was looking slowly around the room as it dawned on her the others knew exactly what was going on, she was just the only one entirely not okay with this.  Was this how her cousin had felt at all hours?

The princess laughed. “A lady should avoid asking or answering that question. Let’s just say the, ah, immigration process to enter your country took quite a while. My patron finally brought me through. She made all this possible.” The princess swept her hand around the department store.

“Hell of a loan she must have gotten for all that stuff,” Nico muttered, knowing how many souls ended up in the fields of punishment for coercing people to sign those.

Piper’s mouth tasted like metal. “Your patron …”

“Oh, yes. She doesn’t bring just anyone through, mind you —only those who have special talents, such as me.

“I’m going to jot that one down for next time I hear this Patron brings out some idiot who’s only world goal is to make a cheese fountain or something only to discover it’s already been done,” Leo said with his usual wild grin as his imagination started getting away from him. “Only to then change his goal to being the most evil dude in America by, like, poisoning all the nacho cheese in the country or something!”

“That is truly evil,” Percy nodded, “something I’d certainly never forgive. We must stop this treachery at all costs.”

Leo’s point kind of got away from him somewhere in there, but the others agreed this Patron was causing untold trouble with all of it falling down on them.

 And really, she insists on so little—a store entrance that must be underground so she can, ah, monitor my clientele; and a favor now and then. In exchange for a new life? Really, it was the best bargain I’d made in centuries.”

“Freedom in exchange for Big Sister always keeping one eye on you doesn’t sound like the great thing she’s making it,” Thalia scowled, half convinced at this rate even if Madea didn’t flay them Gaea was going to make another appearance to try and seal them underground now in her domain.

“It’s that salesman tactic, they can try and make anything sound great,” Hazel grimaced in disgust.

Run, Piper thought. We have to get out of here.

But before she could even turn her thoughts into words, Jason called, “Hey, check it out!”

From a rack labeled distressed clothing, he held up a purple T-shirt like the one he’d worn on the school field trip —except this shirt looked as if it had been clawed by tigers.

“I consider that shirt pretty distressed, yeah,” Nico said with interest, kind of wondering if Jason would take it as an insult if he wore a purple shirt like that. Sounded cool with orange fur and blood stains.

“I bet she charges full price for clothes that are half-not even there,” Leo sniffed.

Jason frowned. “Why does this look so familiar?”

“Jason, it’s like yours,” Piper said.

Jason’s skin crawled in distress, he already needed Piper to remind him of that underneath this spell. If his mind got twisted around any more he might just have zero sense of identity and should just be replaced with a mannequin for all the good he’d do.

 “Now we really have to leave.” But she wasn’t sure he could even hear her anymore through the princess’s enchantment.

“Nonsense,” the princess said. “The boys aren’t done, are they? And yes, my dear. Those shirts are very popular —trade ins from previous customers.

“I really hope they posted their reviews online somewhere, I’d love to see that satisfaction rate,” Annabeth scowled.

“At this rate I’d give her one star just for the pleasant attitude,” Leo muttered, it was more than he and Piper got going into a store most days.

 It suits you.”

Leo picked up an orange Camp Half-Blood tee with a hole through the middle, as if it had been hit by a javelin. Next to that was a dented bronze breastplate pitted with corrosion—acid, maybe?—and a Roman toga slashed to pieces and stained with something that looked disturbingly like dried blood.

Jason was morbidly fascinated at how all of that stuff had ended up there, the clothes of so many Greeks and Roman’s who had died. He vaguely wondered at the Underworld as his eyes flitted to Hazel and how many learned about discoveries only in death.

“Your Highness,” Piper said, trying to control her nerves. “Why don’t you tell the boys how you betrayed your family? I’m sure they’d like to hear that story.”

Her words didn’t have any effect on the princess, but the boys turned, suddenly interested.

“More story?” Leo asked.

“I like more story!” Jason agreed.

The princess flashed Piper an irritated look.

“Oh I see, only the boys are allowed to have a good time here, Piper trying to talk about history is the weird one,” Annabeth grinned at how well Piper was handling this situation, nerves and all.

 “Oh, one will do strange things for love, Piper. You should know that. I fell for that young hero, in fact, because your mother Aphrodite had me under a spell. 

Thalia couldn’t help but wonder just how many people used to blame all their misgivings on gods who didn’t even know some of these mortals existed and honestly couldn’t blame them if some of the gods were relieved to be out of the light nowadays for this. 

If it wasn’t for her—but I can’t hold a grudge against a goddess, can I?”

The princess’s tone made her meaning clear: I can take it out on you.

“That’s like, a mildly annoyed tone at best,” Will shrugged. “I bet it’s worse if their meaning is, I can hold a grudge against a god. Gods can take more of a punch than us.”

“Not over here looking to psychoanalyze the different tones of people who want to kill us, but thanks,” Jason sighed. It was mostly a lie anyways, that sounded really useful if they could actually hear it.

“But that hero took you with him when he fled Colchis,” Piper remembered. “Didn’t he, Your Highness? He married you just as he promised.”

The look in the princess’s eyes made Piper want to apologize, but she didn’t back down.

“I’ve heard people say never apologize for telling the truth and those people are usually jerks,” Will said with interest for this conundrum where Piper in fact was not being a jerk for not backing down from this monster putting all her problems on every other person but herself. He didn’t believe anymore that history was just the one version they were told, not after all this.

“At first,” Her Highness admitted, “it seemed he would keep his word. But even after I helped him steal my father’s treasure, he still needed my help. As we fled, my brother’s fleet came after us. His warships overtook us. He would have destroyed us, but I convinced my brother to come aboard our ship first and talk under a flag of truce. He trusted me.”

“And you killed your own brother,” Piper said, the horrible story all coming back to her, along with a name—an infamous name that began with the letter M.

“How much did she study a bunch of myths for one movie?” Percy asked in fascination, he sure didn’t know who this was supposed to be from all that. This story would forever stick out in his mind just for the sheer horror of that betrayal now though. 

“Pipes knows a ton of crazy things from studying with her dad, it’s their bonding time so she remembers it well,” Leo said nervously for sharing something like that about her, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t put together for themselves if they were paying attention as the little nod Annabeth gave proved.

“What?” Jason stirred. For a moment he looked almost like himself. “Killed your own—”

“Really hoping that didn’t stir a memory or something,” Thalia frowned in concern. 

“No, more the principle of how wrong that felt,” Jason frowned, tapping his temple. “Fratricide, the killing of your own family, it just sounds,” he shuddered in disgust like he’d said something taboo.

“Well, whatever helps you out. Next time I’ll just threaten to stab Thalia, I’m sure that’ll help a ton,” Percy chuckled.

“You let me know when you want to finish that fight,” Thalia nodded eagerly while Jason laughed and hoped he’d get to watch that in action.

“No,” the princess snapped. “Those stories are lies. It was my new husband and his men who killed my brother, though they couldn’t have done it without my deception. They threw his body into the sea, and the pursuing fleet had to stop and search for it so they could give my brother a proper burial. This gave us time to get away. All this, I did for my husband. And he forgot our bargain. He betrayed me in the end.”

“Medea,” Annabeth finally said grimly without a trace of hesitation. How were they even going to defeat her? Even if Piper did stab her, it’s not as if Celestial bronze would work! This was insane, a mortal! A human flesh and blood woman had just casually made her return. Her eyes landed on Nico with frustration on how much he knew about these happenings already.

Nico well recognized that sense of burning anger and resentment being placed on him and met her eyes wearily. His hand  ached to grab Hazel and make a run for it, though he knew that was ridiculous. For all the grief they’d given him about his involvement in getting Percy trapped in his fathers palace, he knew they’d never actually take it out on his sister if they no longer trusted him because of this.

“I almost hope Tantalus comes back next, so I can personally punch him in the face.” Will muttered into the awkward silence, causing Nico to laugh in surprise.

“You do know what’s going on, with this, don’t you Nico?” Annabeth forced herself to ask in as kindly a voice as she could as she kept firmly reminding herself the little brat probably had good intentions for not sharing what he knew.

“I was recently looking into the doors of death before, all this started,” Nico agreed, his tone evasive and unwelcoming as he expected a barrage of questions and accusations he didn’t want to answer, but he was speaking in a steady enough way. “I’ve been hearing some very bad rumors, Thanatos has been investigating it all personally.”

Hazel gazed at her brother in admiration for how openly he spoke about that. She couldn’t imagine all he’d been through in regards to being the only child of Pluto handling this alone for so long.

“Don’t suppose you have an itinerary or something of all the whack-o’s we’ll be getting to look forward to meeting in person?” Jason asked pleasantly. 

“If I did, Thanatos wouldn’t be having so much trouble, but it’s a nice idea,” Nico grinned back.

Annabeth wasn’t satisfied that was all there was to it, but she took a deep breath and told herself to let the matter go as Hazel wrapped her arms tight around her knees and watched them all with a tense face as if expecting to get kicked down the stairs any moment.

Jason still looked uncomfortable. “What did he do?”

The princess held the sliced-up toga against Jason’s chest, as if measuring him for an assassination.

“Which frankly makes her a poor assassin, those guys are supposed to be professionals who aren’t caught at what they’re doing,”  Percy sniffed in outrage.

“Remember lazer tag seaweed brain,” Annabeth smirked. 

“I’m telling you, that was a strategic battle cry and it got us the win!” Percy huffed.

 “Don’t you know the story, my boy? You of all people should. You were named for him.”

“Jason,” Piper said. “The original Jason. But then you’re —you should be dead!”

“Honestly the collective amount of times a half-blood’s probably said that would fill several books,” Thalia said from experience.

“Yet another book I have no intentions of reading,” Percy tried not to shiver at the amount of times he’d personally known people who should have been dead, including his own mom.

The princess smiled. “As I said, a new life in a new country. Certainly I made mistakes. I turned my back on my own people. I was called a traitor, a thief, a liar, a murderess.

“Well if the shoe fits, Madea can obviously give you a great bargain on that enchantment,” Leo said snidely. “I don’t think that cursed-dress will even disappear at midnight!”

 But I acted out of love.” 

Will did not appreciate how much he genuinely kind of understood her tale and couldn’t in good faith call her being in the right or wrong on that. It made him weary how often he’d been subject to charmspeak and might not have even realized.

She turned to the boys and gave them a pitiful look, batting her eyelashes. Piper could feel the sorcery washing over them, taking control more firmly than ever.

“Wouldn’t you do the same for someone you loved, my dears?”

Percy had felt like a train wreck back when Annabeth had loathed Tyson. He was now newly grateful she’d never do something as stir crazy as ask him to betray anyone for her.

“Oh, sure,” Jason said.

“Okay,” Leo said.

“You’re saying the right words but your tone is all wrong here guys,” Hazel offered like she was constructing a theater troupe, her arms loosening around her knees as she grinned at them.

“What we’re all truly striving for,” Leo agreed in a mock grim voice. “Surely no quest is complete without the right mood music!  I’ll begin construction at once on a boom-box that anticipates the correct soundtrack to get us all pumped.”

He even flipped to a new page of paper.

“It starts with smart-music and it escalates into taking over the world,” Percy said with a true grim expression as he remembered Apollo’s crazy angel singers. 

“Guys!” Piper ground her teeth in frustration. “Don’t you see who she is? Don’t you—”

“Let’s continue, shall we?” the princess said breezily.

“Really don’t think it would make a difference at this point beauty queen,” Leo sighed, very aware he was talking to someone who wasn’t here. “Piper  could tell me that was Richard Trevithick and I wouldn’t bat an eye at this point.”

Nobody bothered to ask Leo who that was, they all just assumed the answer would still go over their heads.

 “I believe you wanted to talk about a price for the storm spirits —and your satyr.”

Leo got distracted on the second floor with the appliances.

“No way,” he said. “Is that an armored forge?”

“As opposed to a stick forge?” Percy asked blankly. Beckendorf had banned him from going  in there when he’d brought fireworks once and he hadn’t tried to undo that decision.

Leo’s grin would have sent braver demigods cowering in their seats as he casually promised to show Percy all the fun one could have with different forges. Literally nobody wanted these two to get along any better. “Now see, it’s a hard choice between that and the racoon hat, but man am I willing to make some sacrifices here!”

Annabeth had to elbow Percy hard to get him to keep going and cut that craziness off.

Before Piper could stop him, he hopped off the escalator and ran over to a big oval oven that looked like a barbecue on steroids.

When they caught up with him, the princess said, “You have good taste. This is the H-2000, designed by Hephaestus himself. Hot enough to melt Celestial bronze or Imperial gold.”

Jason jolted, a zap straight from his brain he certainly wasn’t immune to. “My coin’s made out of that!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Leo rubbed his ear, having the misfortune of having been sitting right next to him, and gave him an interested look. “I’m just now getting a handle on the properties of celestial bronze, but I’d love to get my hands on a demigod-periodic table of all our elements.”

“So would I,” Jason assured.

“How have I never heard of that, in all my studies!” Annabeth huffed in frustration, resisting the urge to pick-pocket Jason’s coin back away. She’d already inspected it once and didn’t know if she’d really glean any more knowledge from it from a second viewing, though she’d love to try.

“I think instead of figuring out a way to defeat her we should be finding out a way to take this lady captive alive, she’s apparently full of helpful information for Jason,” Nico offered.

“Really Nico? You’re pitching kidnapping?” Hazel frowned in disapproval. Nico felt instantly guilty, he’d hated being held hostage by Kelli and it hadn’t been pleasant in the slightest.

“Don’t underestimate a good kidnapping tactic,” Jason said sardonically. He had a feeling it was a method of war he was familiar with. 

He got a vaguely concerned look from his sister for that he was blatantly ignoring.

Jason flinched as if he recognized that term. “Imperial gold?”

“Why does it sound, snooty,” Percy rolled his eyes. “It’s not just gold, it’s not just better than bronze, it’s imperial gold!”

“I didn’t name it,” Jason chuckled. “Next time I’ll let you name the precious metal whatever you like.”

Percy nodded in appreciation and wondered how fast Annabethite would catch on. 

The princess nodded. “Yes, my dear. Like that weapon so cleverly concealed in your pocket. To be properly forged, Imperial gold had to be consecrated in the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill in Rome.

Jason felt very much as if someone were shouting the answers in his face to a puzzle he had no hope of solving, his mind slamming together the wrong puzzle pieces to make them fit as fractured images flew across his mind of Half-Blood Hill, Zeus’s cabin, and someone who vaguely resembled Will in a very disturbing pattern. 

Thalia watched that display of emotions splash across Jason’s face, elation at just knowing he knew those words, desperation to understand what they meant, frustration at himself he couldn’t put it together, and imagined every terrible thing that had ever been done to demigods in history all pelting Hera.

 Quite a powerful and rare metal, but like the Roman emperors, quite volatile. Be sure never to break that blade…” She smiled pleasantly.

“Is that what foreshadowing is?” Hazle asked. She’d called herself a witch, she might be getting a hint of the future there. “I don’t like it.”

“I, really hope not,” Nico agreed as he watched Jason curl his hand into a fist around his coin protectively, his one link to his past.

 “Rome was after my time, of course, but I do hear stories. And now over here —this golden throne is one of my finest luxury items. Hephaestus made it as a punishment for his mother, Hera. Sit in it and you’ll be immediately trapped.”

“And we’re all still asking ourselves if the deal was good enough he let her go,” Will muttered under his breath. Nico snorted softly in delightful agreement.

Leo apparently took this as an order. He began walking toward it in a trance.

“Someone please just order me to kill myself already,” Leo groaned.

“Don’t go giving her ideas!” Jason huffed.

“Leo, don’t!” Piper warned.

He blinked. “How much for both?”

“Oh, the seat I could let you have for five great deeds. The forge, seven years of servitude. And for only a bit of your strength—” She led Leo into the appliance section, giving him prices on various items.

Jason blinked spastically in fascination for that range. “Is the charmspeak getting to me through osmosis or do those actually seem like reasonable prices?”

Thalia swatted him on the back of the head hard. “You will not be indenturing your life to witches!”

“It would piss off Hera though if she found out?” He grinned, riling her up clearly on purpose now. “And like, we both know that chair would come in handy at minimum! Just a few great deeds, I’m sure I’ve got that in me.”

Thalia sighed, almost as if she were considering it. She decided to put a pin in this idea of using her little brother’s great deeds for a price on getting this chair depending on how Madea turned out, but she wasn’t sold on the idea this could go in any way good to their advantage. 

Piper didn’t want to leave him alone with her, but she had to try reasoning with Jason. She pulled him aside and slapped him across the face.

“That, was, reasonable?” Jason asked in concern.

Leo shrugged. “I’ve heard of her doing less reasonable things to people.” He was grateful Jason was the one taking the hit here though. Maybe he should do something nice for him. He flipped back a few pages and added some lightning mechanics to a possible project and vaguely wondered if that was too on the nose as his hand flew across the page of its own free will. Better than dwelling on the idea by the time the two of them came to find him he’d be Madea’s slave or something.

“Ow,” he muttered sleepily. “What was that for?”

“Snap out of it!” Piper hissed.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s charmspeaking you. Can’t you feel it?”

He knit his eyebrows. “She seems okay.”

“She’s not okay! She shouldn’t even be alive!

Hazel winced, her stomach clenching tight enough she’d probably heave up a diamond later. She’d been watching them all carefully and clearly nobody in here thought coming back from the dead after so long was something to be celebrated, Annabeth had made that very clear. She glanced at Jason and her brother, still unsure why exactly she’d even been resurrected. She had nothing special to offer the poor lost Roman kid, and Nico clearly had all the friends he could want. What was she doing here?

 She was married to Jason—the other Jason—three thousand years ago. Remember what Boreas said—something about the souls no longer being confined to Hades? It’s not just monsters who can’t stay dead. She’s come back from the Underworld!”

Jason shook his head uneasily. “She’s not a ghost.”

“No, she’s worse! She’s—”

“Children.” The princess was back with Leo in tow. 

“Well that’s a relief she didn’t sell my soul or convince me to buy lingerie while you two were busy,” Leo huffed.

“I mean, she might have and it’ll just bite you guys in the butt later,” Percy offered oh so helpfully.

“I can hold your soul hostage if you like if you’re so worried before your quest,” Nico offered with some actual intent to help.

Leo just seemed to find that equally unhelpful and nuts though, for some reason.

“If you please, we will now see what you came for. That is what you want, yes?”

Annabeth grit her teeth in fear why she’d been stalling all this time. Just to really envelope those boys as tight around her charmspeak as possible? Biding time to try and cloy Piper in and finally realizing it wasn’t working? Was her control on Jason slipping from the combined lingering memories Madea kept instigating and Piper’s interference? 

Her foot was tapping impatiently on the floor as her nerves stayed taught listening and knowing nothing she said or did could help and it was driving her actively nuts.

Piper had to choke back a scream. She was tempted to pull out her dagger and take on this witch herself, but she didn’t like her chances—not in the middle of Her Highness’s department store while her friends were under a spell. Piper couldn’t even be sure they’d take her side in a fight. She had to figure out a better plan.

Yep! Annabeth was twisting her old college ring on her necklace so hard the string was digging into her neck now as she nodded that was entirely the current residing problem.

They took the escalator down to the base of the fountain.

For the first time, Piper noticed two large bronze sundials —each about the size of a trampoline—inlaid on the marble tile floor to the north and south of the fountain. The gilded oversize canary cages stood to the east and west, and the farthest one held the storm spirits. They were so densely packed, spinning around like a super-concentrated tornado, that Piper couldn’t tell how many there were—dozens, at least.

“Hey,” Leo said, “Coach Hedge looks okay!”

“Well he’s not screaming at you guys to do push ups so I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say okay,” Leo rolled his eyes at himself. Maybe Piper should have at least tried to slap some sense back into him too.

They ran to the nearest canary cage. The old satyr seemed to have been petrified at the moment he was sucked into the sky above the Grand Canyon. He was frozen mid-shout, his club raised over his head like he was ordering the gym class to drop and give him fifty. His curly hair stuck up at odd angles. If Piper just concentrated on certain details—the bright orange polo shirt, the wispy goatee, the whistle around his neck—she could imagine Coach Hedge as his good old annoying self. But it was hard to ignore the stubby horns on his head, and the fact that he had furry goat legs and hooves instead of workout pants and Nikes.

“I forget that’s supposed to be strange to new kids now,” Percy admitted.

“Well after Grover ripped off that bandaid I guess we shouldn’t be surprised you developed an immunity to all the other strangeness,” Thalia shrugged.

“Yes,” the princess said. “I always keep my wares in good condition. We can certainly barter for the storm spirits and the satyr. A package deal. If we come to terms, I’ll even throw in the vial of healing potion, and you can go in peace.” She gave Piper a shrewd look. “That’s better than starting unpleasantness, isn’t it, dear?”

“Depends on the unpleasantness,” Hazel scowled.

“Reign it in there just a scooch Hazel until we find out what her deal is,” Thalia grinned with nothing but encouragement for what kind of untold unpleasantness awaited.

Don’t trust her, warned a voice in her head. If Piper was right about this lady’s identity, nobody would be leaving in peace. A fair deal wasn’t possible. It was all a trick. But her friends were looking at her, nodding urgently and mouthing, Say yes! Piper needed moretime to think.

“We can negotiate,” she said.

“Totally!” Leo agreed. “Name your price.”

He got a lot of sad little looks for that, but nobody had the heart to call him an idiot when he was speaking under charmspeak.

“I’ve never had to negotiate for anything,” Leo said, “is that not how it starts?”

“You name a price much lower than you’re willing to pay and haggle from there,” Jason offered just in case Leo ever ran into this situation again.

“Leo!” Piper snapped.

The princess chuckled. “Name my price? Perhaps not the best haggling strategy, my boy, but at least you know a thing’s value. Freedom is very valuable indeed.

“Isn’t freedom supposed to be priceless or something? Isn’t that in the Declaration of Independence?” Percy smirked like he’d just made some great triumphant point.

Annabeth patted his hand absently and resisted the urge to remind him they weren’t personally trying to distract her right now otherwise she’d be happy to see where he was going with that.

 You would ask me to release this satyr, who attacked my storm winds—”

“Who attacked us,” Piper interjected.

Her Highness shrugged.

“Yeah, that's usually a minor detail to them for some reason,” Nico rolled his eyes. The fire glowed blackish-green as he spoke as if trying to help highlight the grim comment said in such a light tone.

“Honestly,” Leo sighed in agreement, the fire staying the exact same color as memories flashed across his mind too.

 “As I said, my patron asks me for small favors from time to time. Sending the storm spirits to abduct you—that was one. 

“She controls the storm spirits?” Thalia demanded in confusion, her mind on Calypso and her strange helpful invisible wind spirits too. Just who did those things answer to before Madea took them under her command? She would have assumed her father, but none of this was tracking with Zeus.

“Better than that Aeolus guy trying a hit strike early,” Percy scowled, causing the others to fidget in frustration at the amount of enemies closing in from all sides already before Jason was even halfway across the country.

“Does charmspeak work on monsters?” Hazel asked, thinking Piper’s talent could come in real handy if she ever got a stronger hold on it and just walked them out of any bad situations in the future. It had almost worked on those cyclops, but not fully.

“Yes and no, it depends on how powerful the user is and the monsters will, same as mortals,” Nico frowned.

I assure you it was nothing personal. And no harm done, as you came here, in the end, of your own free will!

“That’s not what no harm done means!” Will protested.

“Pretty sure Hedge would agree with you,” Annabeth nodded. “Typical of her taking all the credit too.”

 At any rate, you want the satyr freed, and you want my storm spirits—who are very valuable servants, by the way—so you can hand them over to that tyrant Aeolus. Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? The price will be high.”

Piper could see that her friends were ready to offer anything, promise anything. Before they could speak, she played her last card.

“You’re Medea,” she said. “You helped the original Jason steal the Golden Fleece. 

“Why was someone stealing sheep wool?” Hazel asked blankly.

“Steal it from who,” Percy asked just as blankly. “Not Polyphemus?” He was pretty confident of that, but Annabeth had never said where Cadmus had sacrificed that flying ram. How many times did that thing exchange hands before landing there?

Nico very briefly explained the magic fleece while Annabeth sighed and the other’s couldn’t even blame her for the ‘he’s hopeless’ face. 

You’re one of the most evil villains in Greek mythology. 

“Ehhh, that’s pushing the limit,” Annabeth smiled, the glitter of debate in her eyes. Jason flopped over in defeat he couldn’t join as she began listing off several that pinged random bells in his head. This truly was torture. Thankfully Percy had one of his rare moments where he chose to ignore her lecturing herself.

Jason, Leo—don’t trust her.”

Piper put all the intensity she could gather into those words. She was utterly sincere, and it seemed to have some effect. Jason stepped away from the sorceress.

Leo scratched his head and looked around like he was coming out of a dream.

“What are we doing, again?”

“Sincerity trumps power!” Percy cheered, nearly throwing the book from his hands as he fist pumped. Annabeth giggled and leaned into his side as she knew he was imagining doing that to Zeus’s face.

“Boys!” The princess spread her hands in a welcoming gesture. Her diamond jewelry glittered, and her painted fingers curled like blood-tipped claws. “It’s true, I’m Medea. But I’m so misunderstood. 

“No, black cats are misunderstood!” Hazel said stiffly. The amount of kids who’d caught them and shoved them in her locker was heartbreaking. “This lady needs to have her butt set on fire!” She concluded fiercely. Getting her own brother killed for a guy and it sounded like she’d made out with plenty of power to boot!

 “Love the energy,” Jason laughed. “Really hope you don’t have personal experience with that.”

Hazel frowned and decided against admitting her mom had once lit her dress on fire. That had been a bad night.

Oh, Piper, my dear, you don’t know what it was like for women in the old days. We had no power, no leverage. Often we couldn’t even choose our own husbands. But I was different. I chose my own destiny by becoming a sorceress. Is that so wrong?

“Out of context, no,” Leo grinned.

“That context where she’s using that evil sorceress magic to try and kill us doesn't exactly put her high on the good list,” Jason agreed.

 I made a pact with Jason: my help to win the fleece, in exchange for his love. A fair deal.

Percy went cross-eyed at that deal with a devil. If you had to make a pact to get hitched, that probably meant she couldn’t find any other suitors.

 He became a famous hero! Without me, he would’ve died unknown on the shores of Colchis.”

Jason—Piper’s Jason—scowled. 

Jason tried very hard not to make a face at the distinction. He really wanted to know how their mother had gone from such a cool unique name like Thalia’s to his. There was a whole better world of actually interesting names out there!

“Then … you really did die three thousand years ago? You came back from the Underworld?”

“Death no longer holds me, young hero,” Medea said. “Thanks to my patron, I am flesh and blood again.”

“Dang, that was actually a cool sentence,” Percy said in dismay.

“I can say all kinds of cool things about death too,” Nico said, looking at him with interest.

Percy nodded and said, “yeah, sometimes. Let me know how to summon you next time we need an epic battle of this.” Nico laughed hard in surprised appreciation.

“You … re-formed?” Leo blinked. “Like a monster?”

Medea spread her fingers, and steam hissed from her nails, like water splashed on hot iron. 

“That sound means yes,” Hazel said with a very upside down smile.

“Thank you for your expert opinion on the matter,” Leo rolled his eyes.

“You have no idea what’s happening, do you, my dears? It is so much worse than a stirring of monsters from Tartarus. My patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants. I am mortal. I learn from my mistakes. And now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. Now, here is my price for what you ask.”

“Guys,” Piper said. “The original Jason left Medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty.”

“Lies!” Medea said.

“On the way back from Colchis, Jason’s ship landed at another kingdom, and Jason agreed to dump Medea and marry the king’s daughter.”

“After I bore him two children!” Medea said. “Still he broke his promise! I ask you, was that right?”

Jason and Leo dutifully shook their heads, but Piper wasn’t through.

“It may not have been right,” she said, “but neither was Medea’s revenge. She murdered her own children to get back at Jason. She poisoned his new wife and fled the kingdom.”

“Now that makes her a monster more than any resurrection crap going on,” Will scowled.

Hazel couldn’t help but smile at the hatred in his words, even as her thoughts still tugged at the idea she’d killed her own mother too. She wasn’t completely blameless. 

Medea snarled. “An invention to ruin my reputation! The people of the Corinth—that unruly mob—killed my children and drove me out. Jason did nothing to protect me. He robbed me of everything. So yes, I sneaked back into the palace and poisoned his lovely new bride. It was only fair—a suitable price.”

“You’re insane,” Piper said.

“I am the victim!” Medea wailed. “I died with my dreams shattered, but no longer. I know now not to trust heroes. When they come asking for treasures, they will pay a heavy price. Especially when the one asking has the name of Jason!”

“Pretty sure that’s illegal,” Will sniffed in disdain for such a prejudice, “and if it’s not it would be nice if it was!”

“Yeah, pretty sure I can’t get my dad in on that ancient law, but it would be nice to try,” Thalia sighed.

The fountain turned bright red. Piper drew her dagger, but her hand was shaking almost too badly to hold it. “Jason, Leo—it’s time to go. Now.”

It was time to go the moment they’d arrived, but they’d hung on this long to try and find a weakness, a way out, anything more they could of this mysterious mistress. Now, they’d learned all they could. 

Time to go usually commenced everything going to hell though, so it wasn’t anything to look forward to.

“Before you’ve closed the deal?” Medea asked. “What of your quest, boys? And my price is so easy. Did you know this fountain is magic? If a dead man were to be thrown into it, even if he was chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed—stronger and more powerful than ever.”

“Cursed,” Percy said instantly. 

“Oh yeah, if that actually did happen, it would poison the rest of your life somehow,” Jason instantly agreed.

“Seriously?” Leo asked.

“Leo, she’s lying,” Piper said. “She did that trick with somebody before—a king, I think. She convinced his daughters to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the water young and healthy again, but it just killed him!”

“Or just lying, yeah that one tracks too,” Thalia nodded.

“Ridiculous,” Medea said, and Piper could hear the power charged in every syllable. “Leo, Jason—my price is so simple. Why don’t you two fight? If you get injured, or even killed, no problem. We’ll just throw you into the fountain and you’ll be better than ever. You do want to fight, don’t you? You resent each other!”

“Oh no,” Leo face palmed. “Hey, Jason, buddy, you remember when I said that thing earlier-”

“I’m like, 75% certain I’m not going to kill you just because a crazy sorceress told me to,” Jason shrugged.

“That’s an excellent grade, better than my average,” Leo nodded in mild relief. It would major league suck to be killed now, he didn’t trust any of these guys to look after Festus.

“Guys, no!” Piper said. But they were already glaring at each other, as if it was just dawning on them how they really felt.

“That’s better than it having been there all along,” Thalia said with a nervous smile as she glanced at Percy. She was not used to being a bystander in these kinds of situations, but it truly bothered her she probably wouldn’t have been much help at this point either. She had an inherent disposition to hold a grudge against Piper and Leo.

Piper had never felt more helpless. Now she understood what real sorcery looked like. She’d always thought magic meant wands and fireballs, but this was worse. Medea didn’t just rely on poisons and potions. Her most potent weapon was her voice.

And it could be Piper’s too, if she used it, Jason well knew. However, if this whole experience somehow convinced her to never speak again, he honestly couldn’t blame her. This kind of power was a gift that would drive a mortal mad with power, as it clearly had to Madea. He’d hate to see Piper fall down that path.

Leo scowled. “Jason’s always the star. He always gets the attention and takes me for granted.”

Leo couldn't help but laugh at the face Jason made as he said that. True though that may have seemed to him at one point, it was pretty clear up in this attic Jason in fact was constantly a second fiddle to someone.

“You’re annoying, Leo,” Jason said. “You never take anything seriously. You can’t even fix a dragon.”

“Stop!” Piper pleaded, but both drew weapons—

“When does someone demand we play tic-tac-toe to the death, I’m great at that,” Hazel frowned.

“I’ll let you know when the next tournament is,” Percy promised, honestly pretty convinced there was one out there.

Jason his gold sword, and Leo a hammer from his tool belt.

“I would bring a hammer to the sword fight,” Leo sighed.

“Maybe not the best time to make a joke, you know, in case you wanted to fight that whole ‘don’t take anything seriously’ allegation?” Annabeth suggested.

“Why would I do that? I own that branding!” Leo sniffed. “Now the dragon thing, yeah, Jason had better take that back before I ever speak to him again.”

“Good thing I wasn’t stupid enough to actually say it then,” Jason wiped his brow in relief.

“Let them go, Piper,” Medea urged. “I’m doing you a favor. Let it happen now, and it will make your choice so much easier. Enceladus will be pleased. You could have your father back today!”

Medea’s charmspeak didn’t work on her, but the sorceress still had a persuasive voice. Her father back today?

“Oof,” they all couldn’t help but wince at that being dangled right in her face. Yeah, if there was one sure fire way she’d be ready and willing to sell the boys out, that would do it. All she’d have to sacrifice was two people who didn’t mean half as much to her as her own father, that’s something any of them would have to call a bargain worthy of Madea.

Despite her best intentions, Piper wanted that. She wanted her father back so much, it hurt.

Percy’s heart hurt with her, he knew that pain so well. He worried about her out alone, having her father back but not really. Just sitting by his bedside next to someone who wouldn’t even recognize her. His heart thrashed in his chest for this poor girl, he wanted to help her so badly but was sitting in the worst situation where he’d already done everything he could.

“You work for Enceladus,” she said.

Medea laughed. “Serve a giant? No. But we all serve the same greater cause—a patron you cannot begin to challenge. Walk away, child of Aphrodite. This does not have to be your death, too. Save yourself, and your father can go free.”

Leo and Jason were still facing off, ready to fight, but they looked unsteady and confused—waiting for another order. Part of them had to be resisting, 

“Please let this be the second and last time I get possessed,” Leo groaned. Not that the first was all bad, having Jason as a best friend in memory was probably buying them precious seconds right here, but even then it was starting to feel like a recurring problem around here he wasn’t sure he’d be able to build something to fix. Tin-hats and a few good magnets probably wouldn't stave off this.

Piper hoped. This went completely against their nature.

“Well that’s a relief,” Jason muttered. It had taken the entire freaking day, but hey, he finally got some kind of confirmation on a fact about himself straight from this book! His nature wouldn’t be to lunge into a fight against his friends! What a glorious revelation!

“Listen to me, girl.” Medea plucked a diamond off her bracelet and threw it into a spray of water from the fountain. As it passed through the multicolored light, Medea said, “O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me the office of Tristan McLean.”

Percy did a double take and held the book at an angle against the flames to make sure he was seeing that random input right. “Did I miss something?”

“No,” Annabeth promised, peeking over his shoulder to see for herself. “That was so random and concerning why she’s calling on an empty office where a mortal would be.”

The mist shimmered, and Piper saw her father’s study.

Sitting behind his desk, talking on the phone, was her dad’s assistant, Jane, in her dark business suit, her hair swirled in a tight bun.

“Hello, Jane,” Medea said.

Jane hung up the phone calmly. “How can I help you, ma’am? Hello, Piper.”

All eight of them, at nearly the exact same time, sat there with their mouths open. This was stranger to them than the dead woman currently trying to ruin their life!

“Jane’s not human,” Thalia tried to say with confidence. “She’s a monster in disguise-” but she stopped and bit her lip as she remembered Atlas. The human mercenaries working for him. It was rare but no longer out of the realm of possibilities what a mortals mind would work with. 

“We need to tell Piper,” Leo said fiercely. “We’ve got to warn her this lady’s more than just the worst to her, she’s actively working with the enemy!” He got up as if to go do this right now, then hesitated as he realized, “erm, she’s never given me her phone number even if there was one here. Do any of you guys know how to send one of those things? Would Piper get it?”

Annabeth licked her lips nervously as she imagined how not swell that conversation would go. They were already under the impression Piper didn’t particularly like and or trust them because they had just showed up on the roof one day and said, ‘you’re dad’s back but maybe not all there.’ Piper might not even believe them if they did send her the message.

“We can get a message to her,” Thalia said with confidence. “Chiron always knows how to get a hold of satyrs out on protection detail. She should be as aware of this situation as possible. But Leo-”

“Yeah, I know,” Leo sighed, sinking back into his spot with the most mild of relief. He was well aware of Piper’s bumpy situation. He just wanted to do something about it, and no amount of inventions he scribbled out on paper was doing that.

“You—” Piper was so angry she could hardly talk.

“Yes, child,” Medea said. “Your father’s assistant. Quite easy to manipulate. An organized mind for a mortal, but incredibly weak.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Jane said.

Will snorted fantastically, then covered his mouth as if embarrassed to be laughing at a mortal for thanking someone for insulting her. Nico reached up absently and patted his leg in agreement some things were worth laughing about at others expense. This woman had made Piper’s life miserable! Exactly how much it was voluntary was now even arguable!

“Don’t mention it,” Medea said. “I just wanted to congratulate you, Jane. Getting Mr. McLean to leave town so suddenly, take his jet to Oakland without alerting the press or the police—well done! No one seems to know where he’s gone. And telling him his daughter’s life was on the line—that was a nice touch to get his cooperation.”

“Yes,” Jane agreed in a bland tone, as if she were sleepwalking. “He was quite cooperative when he believed Piper was in danger.”

Percy read that with deepest rage in his voice, but there were grains of pity in him for this mortal. The back of his mind was a sizzling horror if anybody ever tried to do this kind of thing to his mom.

Piper looked down at her dagger. The blade trembled in her hand. She couldn’t use it for a weapon any better than Helen of Troy could, but it was still a looking glass, and what she saw in it was a scared girl with no chance of winning.

Hazel’s heart throbbed for this poor girl. She knew that situation intimately. The helpless feeling of gritting your teeth and forcing yourself to live through another day because there was no alternative. 

“I may have new orders for you, Jane,” Medea said. “If the girl cooperates, it may be time for Mr. McLean to come home. Would you arrange a suitable cover story for his absence, just in case? And I imagine the poor man will need some time in a psychiatric hospital.”

“I hate it most when they act nice,” Thalia groused. “Nobody’s buying that she really cares what happens to him!”

“I’ll write a sticky note for Piper and leave it somewhere I’m sure she’ll find it to let her know the difference,” Percy told her mildly even if he did fully agree.

“Yes, ma’am. I will stand by.”

The image faded, and Medea turned to Piper. 

Percy��s eye twitched in frustration, he still couldn’t get the idea out of his head of his mom being on the other side of that image, she was the only mortal he regularly used the Mist for.

“There, you see?”

“You lured my dad into a trap,” Piper said. “You helped the giant—”

“Oh, please, dear. You’ll work yourself into a fit!

“Gods forbid she get stress lines from this!” Will scowled.

 I’ve been preparing for this war for years, even before I was brought back to life. I’m a seer, as I said. I can tell the future as well as your little oracle. Years ago, still suffering in the Fields of Punishment, I had a vision of the seven in your so-called Great Prophecy. I saw your friend Leo here, and saw that he would be an important enemy someday. I stirred the consciousness of my patron, gave her this information, and she managed to wake just a little—just enough to visit him.”

“She- she-” Leo was so angry he couldn’t even splutter on the words. Heat rose in him, so high and fast he wondered if he was going to burn the entire camp to ashes by the time he could get his eyes to focus. But they wouldn’t, they stayed blurred and hot and his throat was the one on fire. This woman, this entirely crazy lady, had messed with, screwed with his life from the Underworld- was it possible to burn the entire surface of the Earth because he was sure going to try!

He would not run away though, not again. As much as he wanted to, every instinct was screaming at him to, his mother was no coward, and nor was he. He would feel every bit of the fire he escaped and use it to mold himself into something that would detonate Madea, that filthy dirt goddess, and anybody else who had something to say about Esperanza Valdez!

“Leo’s mother,” Piper said. “Leo, listen to this! She helped get your mother killed!”

“Uh-huh,” Leo mumbled, in a daze. He frowned at his hammer. “So … I just attack Jason? That’s okay?”

Well if anything would get the blood-lust in him going to do it, that would be the trick! Now Piper was pouring on the acid!

“Perfectly safe,” Medea promised. “And Jason, strike him hard. Show me you are worthy of your namesake.”

“That’s a big ol’ nope from me,” Jason muttered. He couldn’t really recall any stories about his namesake off the top of his head, and sure didn’t care enough to impress her at this moment.

“No!” Piper ordered. She knew it was her last chance. “Jason, Leo—she’s tricking you. Put down your weapons.” 

The sorceress rolled her eyes. “Please, girl. You’re no match for me. I trained with my aunt, the immortal Circe. I can drive men mad or heal them with my voice. What hope do these puny young heroes have against me? 

Will shivered with the utmost horror for what she was going through, essentially alone. Madea might as well be a goddess, the one perfectly constructed to make Piper’s life hell.

Now, boys, kill each other!”

“Jason, Leo, listen to me.” Piper put all of her emotion into her voice. For years she’d been trying to control herself and not show weakness, but now she poured everything into her words —her fear, her desperation, her anger. 

Nico probably knew best how magic worked, and Piper was very much on the right track. Magic was all about intent, summoning the dead could feasibly be done by a mortal if they got their hands on the wrong spell, but unless they put the emotional punch into every word, those raised dead were going to run wild.

She knew she might be signing her dad’s death warrant, but she cared too much about her friends to let them hurt each other. 

“Oh,” Percy murmured, shocked at how much those words from his own mouth hit him, though he shouldn’t be. This was the exact same choice he’d once made too. His heart thrummed with new life, a strangely protective feeling for someone he’d never met as he considered Piper a friend now.

“Medea is charming you. It’s part of her magic. You are best friends. Don’t fight each other. Fight her!”

Jason and Leo hesitated to look at each other for that. They were only best friends in that Hera made them be. It was a miserable thought really, that this spell put on them was only as real as a statement could make it. 

Still, the comforting idea was in Piper’s words too. That they could be, if given the real chance.

They hesitated, and Piper could feel the spell shatter.

Leo had to clear his throat for an extra moment, but when he was done with that he rummaged through his tool belt and pulled out a nice looking plate with an oddly designed, cheerfully colored skull on it. Most likely a copy from his aunt’s collection, but it did the job as he pulled his arm back and then launched it at the ground as hard as he could, just to hear that nice, glass shattering sound effect he’d been longing for.

Jason brushed a chunk of plate that had an eye on it off his knee casually.

Jason blinked. “Leo, was I just about to stab you?”

“You were going to try,” Leo sniffed.

“Hopefully not very hard,” Jason sighed. He would really love to go minutes without his head being messed with in some shape sometime soon!

“Something about my mother … ?” Leo frowned, then turned toward Medea. “You … you’re working for Dirt Woman. You sent her to the machine shop.” He lifted his arm. “Lady, I got a three-pound hammer with your name on it.”

“There it is,” Leo sighed in relief all seemed right with the world again. 

“Leo, now is not the time to stop and inscribe your enemies names on your hammer,” Thalia mock scolded. “At least make it simpler and use her initials or a check mark or something.”

Leo laughed in delight and determined that was something he would do when they set out to defeat Madea in person.

“Bah!” Medea sneered. “I’ll simply collect payment another way.”

“Doesn't surprise me she’s a bloody huntsman for a bill, gods forbid someone that rich do pro bono work,” Thalia rolled her eyes. 

“Thals, your Zeus is showing,” Percy chuckled. He’d never heard anyone else say pro bono except someone entirely too invested in cheating out of taxes.

“And I’m going to steal his bolt again so you can see it up close and personal if you don’t watch it,” Thalia scowled, ignoring the unpleasant, tingling sensation washing over her at the insolence in her words to her father. It was only a joke Styx!

She pressed one of the mosaic tiles on the floor, and the building rumbled. Jason swung his sword at Medea, but she dissolved into smoke and reappeared at the base of the escalator.

“Of course she can teleport too! Because this day just wasn’t going swell enough already!” Annabeth ground out through her teeth. Gods she’d never wanted to hurl her dagger in someone’s face so bad. Then she blinked in shock and asked, “hey, does imperial gold work on mortals?”

“I, have no idea,” Jason recalled with a scowl. “It was probably just impulse more than anything.”

“Right,” she grudgingly nodded in agreement, and it wasn’t even a theory they could lightly test later unless Rachel was willing to get her palm sliced for the sake of curiosity.

“You’re slow, hero!” She laughed. “Take your frustration out on my pets!”

“That’s rude,” Will frowned. “I hope nobody ever uses her kennel’s if this is how she treats animals.”

“Cowardly,” Percy agreed, imagining leaving Mrs. O’Leary to deal with his fight made him sick. “Everything about her is.”

Before Jason could go after her, the giant bronze sundials at either end of the fountain swung open. Two snarling gold beasts—flesh-and-blood winged dragons—crawled out from the pits below. Each was the size of a camper van, maybe not large compared to Festus, but large enough.

“Ooh, yeah that’s bad,” Percy frowned with personal experience. He missed Magnus freaking out about these things, but he was more than happy to remind everyone that they’d so far never meant any good.

“Thanks for the update Perce, really hope I come to that conclusion on my own,” Jason sighed, though he’d always had the distinct feeling he’d faced these monsters before and at least wouldn’t freeze when confronted with the real things…and it might have been Laydon?! As usual though the more he tried to ruminate and figure out the strange idea, the more it melted away.

“So that’s what’s in the kennels,” Leo said meekly.

“Definitely preferred the idea of Babycakes being down there personally,” Will groaned, though he got a lot of strange looks for half of them not knowing who that was supposed to be. Honestly Will didn’t even know either, it just sounded like a nicer name than screaming dragon while running for your life.

The dragons spread their wings and hissed. Piper could feel the heat coming off their glittering skin. One turned his angry orange eyes on her.

Thalia kept the comment to herself that gods if these things weren’t bent on murdering them they’d be so freaking pretty. 

“Don’t look them in the eye!” Jason warned. “They’ll paralyze you.”

Jason felt like actually thanking his mind, for once. At least it retained some useful information on impulse if nothing else.

“Can someone please stop inventing monsters that are just, extra!” Hazel scowled. “I’m already sick of hearing of them all being able to kill us plus extra torture! Don’t we get enough of that from everywhere else!” There was a dangling piece of plate caught in her frizzy cinnamon hair that jangled around as she spoke.

“Preaching to the choir sweet sister,” Nico promised with pure amusement for her little huff.

“Indeed!” Medea was leisurely riding the escalator up, leaning against the handrail as she watched the fun.

“She’s not even fleeing! She’s just lazily getting pulled up to safety!” Percy sounded wounded he’d never been allowed to ride an escalator away from dragons more than anything.

“Next time we go to the mall I can pay someone in a dragon suite to politely roar at the bottom,” Thalia grinned.

“I only accept that if it’s you in the dragon suite,” Percy sniffed.

“Not so different future of Percy and Thalia getting kicked out of a mall,” Jason sighed in exhaustion.

“Piper would be so proud they’re carrying on her legacy,” Leo smirked.

 “These two dears have been with me a long time—sun dragons, you know, gifts from my grandfather Helios. 

“Of course her grandfather is also a freaking god, gods forbid- wait, sun? Isn’t that Apollo’s thing?” Leo had doodled himself a little chart to keep track of all this nonsense and was rummaging around for it, but Will being up here constantly lounging all day was a good reminder.

“It’s a whole thing,” Will said, casual as ever, but a hint of long suffering in his voice. This was not the first time he’d had to explain this. “My dad currently is the god of the sun, there have been past gods of the sun. The important thing is I’m right here with you at the injustice of this freaking chick being so over powered it’s unfair.”

They pulled my chariot when I left Corinth, and now they will be your destruction. Ta-ta!”

The dragons lunged. Leo and Jason charged to intercept.

Piper was amazed how fearlessly the boys attacked—working like a team who had trained together for years.

“You stare down Festus, you’ve stared down them all,” Leo shrugged.

“Eh, you stare down one fire breathing lunatic you’ve seen um all,” Jason shrugged with a little smirk as he non so subtly gestured at Leo.

“Ah, buddy, no one’s ever called me scarier than a dragon before!” Leo laughed at the absurd statement, but the sentiment was truly felt.

Medea was almost to the second floor, where she’d be able to choose from a wide assortment of deadly appliances.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Piper growled, and took off after her.

“Smart,” Annabeth agreed, she was the only one who could resist not falling right back under her spell.

“Honestly the more dangerous of the two options here,” Jason said with a huff, as if personally offended he was being barred from such a task and was just stuck dealing with the dragon.

When Medea spotted Piper, she started climbing in earnest. She was quick for a three-thousand-year-old lady.

“She has to have gotten a hip replacement surgery at some point, even the magical bone repairing kind,” Hazel frowned. It wasn’t hard to wrap her mind around the idea, but it also kind of disturbed her as she poked her hip.

“I can pitch her out of that stained glass and see how well she’s walking after that,” Leo sneered.

Piper climbed at top speed, taking the steps three at a time, and still she couldn’t catch her. Medea didn’t stop at floor two. She hopped the next escalator and continued to ascend.

The potions, Piper thought. Of course that’s what she would go for. She was famous for potions.

Down below, Piper heard the battle raging. Leo was blowing his safety whistle, and Jason was yelling to keep the dragons’ attention. Piper didn’t dare look—not while she was running with a dagger in her hand. She could just see herself tripping and stabbing herself in the nose. That would be super heroic.

All of them laughed with Piper though because on any given occasion, none of them felt heroic in the middle of almost dying. Percy could personally attest to many times he’d almost stabbed himself if he grabbed the wrong pen. It was just another part of their life.

She grabbed a shield from an armored manikin on floor three and continued to climb. She imagined Coach Hedge yelling in her mind, just like back in gym class at Wilderness School: Move it, McLean! You call that escalator-climbing?

“Man, who do we yell at to change rope climbing to that?” Percy agreed.

“Don’t bring it up with Hedge, he’d probably invent a way for us to do both,” Leo sighed, vividly imagining sprinting up an escalator to a rope ladder to a set of monkey bars and dropping into a ball pit or something and forced to do it again on repeat. That was probably someone’s Underworld punishment.

She reached the top floor, breathing hard, but she was too late. Medea had reached the potions counter.

The sorceress grabbed a swan-shaped vial—the blue one that caused painful death—and Piper did the only thing that came to mind. She threw her shield.

“Whelp, we know who to dress up Piper as this Halloween,” Percy smirked.

“Honestly she’d probably love that,” Leo agreed. Captain Cherokee/McLean had a nice ring to it.

Medea turned triumphantly just in time to get hit in the chest by a fifty-pound metal Frisbee. 

There was joyous, uproarious laughter for that mental image, enough so it made Jason honestly consider the merits of fighting with a shield. He actually had a pretty good feeling it was a tactic he’d done in the past.

She stumbled backward, crashing over the counter, breaking vials and knocking down shelves. When the sorceress stood from the wreckage, her dress was stained a dozen different colors. Many of the stains were smoldering and glowing.

“Is that all it did!” Nico protested. “I would have thought the place would instantly go up in flames-”

“Classic Percy,” Thalia smirked.

“But all those potions just changed her dress!” Nico said in disbelief.

“Wait for it,” Thalia shook her head with confidence. Just because the place hadn’t instantly gone classic Percy didn’t mean it wasn’t coming. Percy was just the poster child, but it was an inevitable part of a demigod leaving a scene.

“Fool!” Medea wailed. “Do you have any idea what so many potions will do when mixed?”

“Kill you?” Piper said hopefully.

“I mean,” Will struggled not to nod fervently in agreement. “There weren’t a whole lot of other options going on here to send her back where she came from, but wholly Apollo, I am not looking forward to this being our only answer going in.”

“I’m okay with just feeding her to her own dragons,” Leo sniffed. He was clearly taking that personally.

“We’ll start a poll on options later to work all this out in detail,” Jason assured him, his mind spinning different stealth tactics to sneak in and pin her down and tie her up that would all go to hell anyways.

The carpet began to steam around Medea’s feet. She coughed, and her face contorted in pain—or was she faking?

Below, Leo called, “Jason, help!”

Leo groaned and dragged his hand down his face. He couldn’t even brain a dragon, what hope did he have against bashing in some crazy ladies?! 

“I’m sure he just caught you off guard hotshot,” Jason offered, easily imagining the dragon spewing fire and pouncing on Leo through the flames or some equally crazy hunting tactic.

“Living up to your name boyscout,” Leo gave him a smile for Jason never letting him have a moment to pity himself anymore, it was unnerving! His pity-parties were going to go stale!

Piper risked a quick look, and almost sobbed in despair.

One of the dragons had Leo pinned to the floor. It was baring its fangs, ready to snap. 

“I’m sure that whole ‘not looking it in the eye’ thing is going great for me right now,” Leo groaned. “I’m too busy looking past all those teeth down its throat!”

“That’s the opposite of keeping your eye on the prize, snap out of it Leo,” Jason said in mock horror, then the two burst out in laughter. Well at least someone was having fun.

Jason was all the way across the room battling the other dragon, much too far away to assist.

“Festus is going to be pissed if he smells you smooching with another dragon,” Annabeth chuckled.

“Hey, hey, hey, no kissing was mentioned in any way!” Leo yelped.

“Eh, same difference to them,” she grinned. “There’s a whole section on it in our dragon classes how to get them fighting over a meal so you can potentially escape.” She winced at the end though. Beckendorf used to host that class and nobody had reinstated it since his death. 

“You’ve doomed us all!” Medea screamed. 

“Piper’s truly picking up my mantle,” Percy snickered. “I use that word right, wise girl?”

“You did, yes,” she nodded, running her fingers lovingly through his hair.

Smoke was rolling across the carpet as the stain spread, throwing sparks and setting fires in the clothing racks. “You have only seconds before this concoction consumes everything and destroys the building. There’s no time—”

CRASH! The stained glass ceiling splintered in a rain of multicolored shards, and Festus the bronze dragon dropped into the department store.

“Aw!” Leo pressed both hands to his heart as if about to give himself the heimlich maneuver. “My baby came crashing out! As dramatically as possible!”

“Just like you would,” Jason agreed, imagining Leo setting off fireworks.

Nico was looking at the pair of them like they were completely nuts. Festus was crashing into the place, not out of somewhere.

He hurtled into the fray, snatching up a sun dragon in each claw. Only now did Piper appreciate just how big and strong their metal friend was.

Leo sniffed and humphed as dramatically as possible. His majestic friend should have been admired like that from the very beginning! 

“Some people just need a while to take all that splendor in,” Hazel told him with a friendly pat on his shoulder to help ease that pain.

“At least she got there in the end,” Leo managed on a mock choked up voice. He’d keep this information away from Festus to save him like a good friend.

“That’s my boy!” Leo yelled.

Festus flew halfway up the atrium, then hurled the sun dragons into the pits they’d come from. Leo raced to the fountain and pressed the marble tile, closing the sundials. They shuddered as the dragons banged against them, trying to get out, but for the moment they were contained.

“That’s how a real dragon do, sucker!” Leo was preeing like a peacock. It was an honest miracle he hadn’t run off to try and hug Festus and bring him back up to the attic to celebrate. Possibly the only thing keeping him in containment was the fact that there was smoke coming out of his shoes, but the idea that running without socks would stop him wasn’t convincing many.

Medea cursed in some ancient language. The whole fourth floor was on fire now. The air filled with noxious gas. Even with the roof open, Piper could feel the heat intensifying. She backed up to the edge of the railing, keeping her dagger pointed toward Medea.

“I will not be abandoned again!” The sorceress knelt and snatched up the red healing potion, which had somehow survived the crash. 

Jason jolted, a deep feeling of empathy bursting out of him that had nothing to do with charmspeak messing with his head. He immediately scolded himself for that, she’d just tried to have him and Leo kill each other with no remorse, gods only knew what she would have done with Piper and the winner afterwards. That he had some deep rooted abandonment issues didn’t surprise him in the slightest, that this potion of all of them had somehow survived and could grant her freedom if Piper felt the same moment of pity could be a problem centered around him; but still his breath shook with a horrible combination of longing and understanding for this woman as her image flickered in his mind with that ghost of Beryl Grace once more Thalia had once faced. 

“You want your boyfriend’s memory restored? Take me with you!”

“I wouldn’t even grace her with an answer,” Jason smirked. “I’d just pelt her in the face with another potion.”

“Jason, no,” Thalia told him tragically,  but it was too late, the others were already drowning her out with laughter, Will loudest of all.

Piper glanced behind her. Leo and Jason were on board Festus’s back. The bronze dragon flapped his mighty wings, snatched the two cages with the satyr and the storm spirits in his claws, and began to ascend.

“Hopefully not assuming he’s picking up a snack,” Percy muttered.

The building rumbled. Fire and the smoke curled up the walls, melting the railings, turning the air to acid.

“You’ll never survive your quest without me!” Medea growled. “Your boy hero will stay ignorant forever, and your father will die. Take me with you!”

Percy winced as he read that, having a feeling he would have been persuaded by that, charmspeak or not. He couldn’t blame Jason’s shifty face for clearly thinking the same. The obvious part of them knew it was a trap, but Percy still saw Calypso in his mind's eye as he remembered leaving someone behind now who might not wholly deserve it.

For one heartbeat, Piper was tempted. Then she saw Medea’s grim smile. 

“Note to self, don’t ever smile when asking for help,” Nico said with a twisted grin.

“It’s one of those  moments nobody thinks about in life or death situations,” Will agreed with interest. “If she were weeping or something Piper might have said yes, Medea probably would have killed them, but like, it at least would have been a nice gesture to push her off of Festus when they got out of the building or something.”

“So that the rest of Chicago could deal with her? Honestly better to just leave her to her own mess, die by her own sword, like in ye old times.” Thalia shrugged without too much remorse. She had zero love for sorceresses, they tempted too many women to find the wrong kind of power.

The sorceress was confident in her powers of persuasion, confident that she could always make a deal, always escape and win in the end.

“And we all know Piper hates confident pretty girls,” Leo snorted.

“It is a good thing more and more Drew didn’t come along or she would have dove into those clothes and never resurfaced,” Annabeth smirked.

“Not today, witch.” Piper jumped over the side. She plummeted for only a second before Leo and Jason caught her, hauling her aboard the dragon.

Jason and Leo high-fived without looking. It was much cornier than they thought it was for congratulating each other for catching her.

She heard Medea screaming in rage as they soared through the broken roof and over downtown Chicago. Then the department store exploded behind them.

“Classic,” Percy nodded in a mild form of congratulations. “I’m so happy to see my legacy being carried on.”

Jason crumpled up a blank page to chuck it at him. “What legacy! I’m burning my own path!”

“You’re on the same prophecy-induced path as me and I started this train!” Percy smirked.

“And you’ll be the one to crash it I’m sure,” Annabeth smirked as she plucked the book out of his hands.

[mtkay13]

Hi ! what is your twt I would like to follow u!

also I saw u talk about a TYK translation and was wondering, which one you would recommend for new readers of the story ? 🥹 I've already read a good amount but I saw u say one of them portrays ZZS more serious and wanted to know which translation u think portrays his character better(?) , and if it's one that's still available for me to read as well !

also wanted to say yr art is really cool from what I've seen and and and your portrayals of the characters are so lovely I love them ♡

AH omg first of all thank you!!! Thank you sm!!!!!! My twitters are: @mtkay13 (for basically the same stuff as here but more art and less words) and @mtkay714 for nsfw! hahaha Re:translations, now!!! So to answer your question directly first, I think that Lianzi's translation is undeniably the most faithful to the original in terms of meaning and tone. It is only 40% done however, as Lianzi has translated up to chapter 30 so far. Here is the link: -> https://tyklianzi.carrd.co/#tl Overall, I do think that most of the existing translations have made the dialogs quite stiff and have quite altered the personalities of the characters, removing a certain deal of the quirkiness that they display in the original! Thank you for your interest and your question!!! And thank you so much for your comment 😭💗💗💗💗

[joylinda-hawks]

I wasn't hot. But when I heard your voice I boiled with anger. WOH, episode 17, part 3. GXL is still being held by an elderly couple in the shed. The woman approaches GC's unconscious-looking daughter and throws her something to eat, saying it's time to eat. When the girl doesn't react, the woman wonders if she's deaf or dead. She kneels down next to GXL and asks her if she wants to starve herself to death. She adds that she won't let that happen because if the girl dies, all their efforts will be in vain. When she doesn't see any reaction, she tells GXL to open her mouth. However, GXL doesn't do anything, so the woman tries to forcefully stuff a bun into her mouth, telling the girl to eat. Seeing this, the man tells her to stop. He stands up and asks his wife to stop tormenting the girl and says that he'll try to convince her. The woman throws the bun and wishes him good luck. The woman wonders what HH is planning, calling him a scoundrel. He adds that since GC paid off his debt, he should take care of SS or ZJ. He wonders why they have to imprison GXL. GXL slowly opens her eyes. The woman looks at GXL and states that she doesn't know anything, so they'll either kill her or release her. She wonders what the purpose of holding the girl is. The man firmly states that they can't release her. His wife looks at him in surprise, and the man adds that they put a lot of effort into capturing GXL and now they can't back out. Both the woman and the man look at the girl sitting in the corner. The man tells GXL to tell them everything she knows. He adds that her father is no longer among the living. He asks her not to be stubborn because only she will suffer. The man explains that they won't abuse her. The woman interrupts him abruptly and adds that others can abuse her. GXL doesn't answer, she's still in huge shock and can't understand why her father is dead. Meanwhile, ZZS and WKX are riding horses through the forest, and YBY is riding in a carriage. ZZS is holding ZCL on the line, who is running with a load on his body and doing exercises. WKX is fanning himself, and ZZS is staying calm. WKX asks ZZS if he's not hot and tells him to look at himself because he's sweating all over, so WKX offers to fan him. WKX is fanning ZZS. ZZS replies that he wasn't hot, but when he heard WKX's voice, he got very angry. ZCL, who had stopped for a moment, tells WKX that ZZS is feeling great, but he should probably worry about ZCL. ZZS stops his cognac for a moment and looks back at the boy. WKX just smiles. Both men turn their horses back, and ZCL sits down on the ground. ZZS tells the boy that he's slacking off again and adds that now he'll have an extra hour of exercise. ZCL states that he's practiced Swift Moving Steps a few thousand times and is really quite good at it. An older couple has a problem with a kidnapped girl. After meeting HH, they know that she is of no value to them. GXL is terrified by what happened and cannot understand why her father died. She is unable to oppose her kidnappers. ZZS, on the other hand, returns to the traditional tormenting of WKX and keeps him at a distance from herself. However, this does not discourage WKX. When ZCL agreed to become ZZS's student, he did not expect his master to be so decisive. ZZS has no mercy for the boy, but believes that this is the only way he can learn something. Here we have another scene where this huge thread of understanding between ZZH and GJ is clearly visible. Here, there is a lot of emotion.

[zz-chikorita]

🎨🎬💥 :)

I want to know

🎨 - in all fairness, I've never gotten fan art of any of my fics so literally anything would make me go absolutely feral with happiness. But, if I think of a specific scene I would love to see... I think it would be from ch 12 in JR. Guzma and Kukui are kids and they climb high in Lush Jungle to look up over the canopy. It's a scene I've imagined so vividly in my head again and again and again... I just think itd be awesome.

🎬 - Bro, this is a lot of pressure lmao. I really dont know all that much about actors and stuff... at least not those who would be in the correct age ranges for these charcters. I mean, putting all that aside, if I just base it on aesthetics and overall vibes, I think the cast would be Cooper Andrews (Guzma), Janelle Monáe (Plumeria), uhhhhhhhh......ok I really dont know who'd play Leon. I know that there are some dark skinned actors making waves in Bollywood, since darker skin is considered undesirable and avoided when casting (it's just discrimination, idk why I worded it like that). Anyways I think it'd be fitting for one of those young men to play Leon. I just don't know enough about any of them or their movies to give an educated opinion of who it should be.... anyways those are the only characters in my story, right? Right! Moving on....

💥 - I feel like my cop out answer would be to give Guzma naturally white hair. I like it aesthetically and have created an entire lore reason just for it to be there lol. Oh wait, actually I forgot another ask I got actually had this one too, so I'll just leave this cop out answer here and say what I was gonna say next when I answer that one!

[rattkween86]

Yes its me 😁 ive sorta been on and off a lot and not been the best at keeping in contact with everyone, lotta shit in my personal life, I'm on a writing Hiatus at the moment, but planning to come back soon hopefully.

I probably need to do another playlist clean out as well... after i make one for Billy and add all the songs we have discussed so far haha

Pour some sugar on me is so clichè for a sex song, but its hot and it works and Def Leppard is one of my favourite 80s bands by far, i think Billy would definitely be a Def Leppard fan, so many of their songs have a sexy vibe and thats Billy lol

That mirror scene where he shoves the colonge down his jeans lives rent free in my head 🤣 i think anything in the adult entertainment industry would suit Billy because he loves female attention and what better way to get it and the added bonus of money lol

Loverboy is such a good band, i definitely need to add more of their stuff to my existing 80s playlist.

Even though this one is a bit older than the 80s, i think Billy still would have heard it, I cant quit you baby by Led Zepplin.

I have never heard anyone call Aussie slang beautiful before, that's definitely a first haha

I'll have to make a post some day with some Aussie slang and tag you in it 😁

Here's one for the day:

We call a liquor store a bottlo pronounced bottle-o kinda like Jello haha

-🇦🇺 anon

Ahhh, yeah I totally understand. 💗 I took a pretty long break for a while and just recently came back, but the writing part is imaginary at the moment lol. I sometimes take a bit to post/answer asks because I'm usually scrolling in between schoolwork as a procrastination tactic, and it's bad lol. But I always love reading your work though, and I'm excited to see what comes next, but definitely take all the time you need! A break can be really nice. I know my brain always cooperates better after one 😅

I'm so excited for this playlist. I've been slowly adding things over the past few days as I listen to music while doing schoolwork, and it's a whole vibe. Billy would totally be into Def Leppard. I know he's into the heavier stuff too, but I always envision him also loving the glam rock/sexy summer songs. And he has to be into Led Zeppelin, that is a perfect idea. I've been listening to Cover Queen by Tesla, and I think it's something he would add to his tapes. I also hc that he's into ZZ Top even though it's a bit different from his usual vibe lol. BUT - I don't think he's a Poison fan. I'm not sure why, but that has never meshed in my mind.

The cologne asjdfl; and the stupid little face he makes when he does it is just....yeah, I hate that it does something for me, but it's real 😂 That man would have a lucrative adult entertainment career. He could be changing a lightbulb onstage, and I'd throw my money at him lmao.

A BOTTLO, I LOVE IT. I just think it's creative. All the other slang people have are usually just shortened versions of words or words that mean something totally different and just have a metaphorical context. Aussie slang says "we're just gonna make up a whole new series of sounds for this and go with it," and it's really the best.

If you do make that post, please do tag me, I would love to see all of it lol.

[accio-victuuri]

year-end sugar rush round up 🍭

it’s time for the last round up of 2023. we have made it through another year filled with clownery and love for the boys! as per my tradition in posting year end candy recaps, i am releasing early 31st cause i am gonna be busy with nye shows. i hope you enjoy looking through all the happiness the final month gave us. have a great new year’s eve everyone!!!

if you wanna look through the past months or year/s then go to this link. 🔗

i’m adding a little exercise to this post tho and ask you, what are your top 5 cpns of the year? please comment or reblog with your answers!

• The tattoo rumor resurfaces ( new clue? )

• Bowing to the crowd as thank you

• 13 fake rumors - from the vault

• potential wedding photoshoot and “superman can’t fly”

• not really cpn but a media account on tiktok posted a video of xz’s appearance in MBS. they used the tags related to xiao zhan for more views, but they included one that has wang yibo’s name on it. 😂 i know that they might have just chosen an already existing tag with xz and wyb name on it and forgot to edit it. but it’s still a funny incident.

• 12/3 ZSWW Fake Rumor ( pre singapore timeline )

• 12/4 fake story contribution ( wolf mates for life )

• Washing candies only make it sweeter

• An example of bjyx being an open secret ( sort of )

photos were going around of a yibo vcr played in a chanel annual meeting in china. we were all happy to see wyb lookin so good and fresh faced, but what we noticed is his top.

the style of top he was wearing (p1) is very similar to that of GG’s (p2) at the airport when he was flying back to Beijing. it’s probably because the weather is getting colder so they wear this instead of their usual esspensive t-shirts?

the point is it’s kind of like the same-style in a close timeframe from each other. so it seems like their tastes in casual clothes are still very close.

• 12/7/23 Candies ( GQ MOTY + XZS Singapore vlog)

• The GQ MOTY hat was a gift from XZ 🤍 // Part two : I have to say that this has become a favorite one among cpns and has become notorious since so/os from both sides are trying so desperately to wash it. those on xz’s side using rocco’s 227 kadian to dispute everything even if it was their fault they were called out while xz was busy working his ass of shooting LOCH. this is just a reminder that the celebrity is not equal to their fans. whatever drama both sides do to each other, has nothing to do with us and does not reflect the boy’s relationship. 🤍

• Coffee from Singapore CPN ☕️

• All the things that happened Monday Morning of 12/11 which includes the magazine covers, pants, xz going online for a moment etc.

• xiao zhan’s snowman ⛄️

• The fact that WYB was wearing the bone necklace tho hidden during his BAZAAR photoshoot. The ones in focus were of course Chanel, but those who pay attention will see it. A proof of how special it is. Imagine WYB being bare faced and only had stuff that he actually needs, and he decided to keep the necklace on.

• Not exactly CPN but more of a similarity i love to see. cause Shandong Satellite TV decided to air BAH right after SBMS! We love to see their works not only be shown in online platforms, but also in satellite TV stations.

• Candy Throwback : Alexander Mcqueen shoes, Nike off white & WYB’s missing mole

• 12/15 double attack of stock photos from XZS and YBO. The black and white theme! Anytime these two decide to give us some update is a happy day!

• Du Hua describes WYB’s looks as that of a rabbit

• Tencent Video All Star Night CPNs 💛

• 12/19 they both went back to Beijing. ZZ was in Shanghai to film and WYB also filmed CCTV stage. The thing is WYB started filming at 2:00 AM and then he was back at the airport to leave at 10:00 AM. They both arrived to BJ so close to each other. CPN is they tried really hard to be back home & be together that day ♥️

• throwback cpn : wyb prepares xz’s room in hengdian (2021)

• their studios posting so close together for winter solstice! tho wyb’s is a preview for his new single, ybo still greeted people.

• Winter solstice CPNs ( WYB’s song preview and GG’s photoset )

• Clowning about a possible secret message from a 9key code

• “Everything is lovely” similarity from xzs caption and yibo’s new single and more clues like a possible connection to an lrlg post & what looks like a rabbit and character for ox.

• black and yellow similarity!

• 12/26 WYB EP cpn post ( teaser lyrics )

• FAE : Free and Easy sweater

• Same style of editing between XZS and YBO who we all know are dating ☺️☺️☺️

• 12/28 candies

• Marie Claire x Xiao Zhan issue 🍭🍬

• Yibo’s new singles : Bystander & Everything is Lovely

• LRLG 12/30 translation and short commentaries

• LRLG responding to cpf comments

• Wang Wang Xianbei 😂😂😂😂

• Similar clothes and Participating in the same single for a nye song

That’s all for now, See you next year!!!! ❤️💛💚

[doctor-orbagels]

ONE SENTENCE REVIEW FOR EVERY GUNDAM PROPERTY I HAVE EXPERIENCED

Like i said in a previous post, it’s basically everything that you can watch on a screen from 0079 up to IBO. A few manga here and there and one light novel.

NOTE: Don’t take this too seriously, most of these are meme answers. Most of my strong negativity is said in jest. (My positivity is genuine tho)

Starting with UC:

•0079

Absolute classic but i prefer The Origin manga

•Zeta

Well done dark tone but kinda boring at times

•ZZ

Fuck you, the goofball stuff was great and a welcome change of pace

•08th MS Team

Probably the best down-to-earth mecha war story ever

•0080: War in the Pocket

*weeps profusely*

•Sentinel

Really compelling with a great cast, plus the idea of “other ways to emulate being a newtype” is still kinda unexplored both at the time this was written and to this day

•0083: Stardust Memory

Pretty damn good all things considered

•IgLoo

Zudah was a cool idea, too bad the tallgeese did it first and everything else about the show is boring af

•IgLoo Apocalypse

The best of the IgLoo trilogy but still around a 6.5/10

•IgLoo 2

Shinigami are canon to the universal century, 0/10

•Thunderbolt

Amazing in almost every way, plus the most effective usage of a sociopathic fed vs a well meaning zeon

•Twilight Axis

Meh

•Char’s Counterattack

The Resurrection F of UC

•Unicorn

Best anime i’ve ever watched

•Narrative

I just like that Unicorn got a direct sequel goddamn it

•F91

I so badly wish this was a series and not a movie

•Crossbone

Completely validates my opinion on F91

•Victory

Phenomenal use of character death, and I remember nothing else

•Reconguista in G

My favorite anime that i cannot recommend to anyone else on earth

Now for pre-2000’s au timelines:

•G Fighter

You cannot get more funny-bad in the entire Gundam franchise, it’s awesome

•Wing

I didn’t get the hype, but i still had a great time at points

•Endless Waltz

Much better mecha, slightly cooler plot

•X

I’m so sad this was rushed bc it’s by far my fave 90’s Gundam

Post 2000’s au timelines:

•SEED

Very cool pseudo-shounen remake of 0079

•SEED Destiny

Something good almost could have happened here, but no

•SEED Astray/R

Love all these goobers, really good

•Astray X

Worst official localization for any manga i’ve ever read, but there was still some cool stuff

•SEED Stargazer

*weeps profusely, but in the Cosmic Era this time*

•00

Behind the fujoshi bait is one of the smartest and well done mecha stories this side of Code Geass

•00 Awakening of the Trailblazer

… why aliens?

•AGE

I know that it’s my fault but I couldn’t even bring myself to get past the first generation

•Iron Blooded Orphans

I have never cried this many times or this hard over anime characters dying

•Build Fighters

Legit a 5Ds tier Toy Battle anime

•Build Fighters Try

A bit generic but still palatable

•Build Divers

Didn’t go far enough

•Build Divers: Re;Rise

Went way too far in the best way possible

And if it wasn’t clear already, Unicorn is by far my favorite Gundam and favorite anime overall, while IgLoo 2 is both my least favorite Gundam and my least favorite anime i’ve ever seen.

[atranswomansdiary]

Day 83

August 27, 2020

I screwed things up once again, as I always seem to do.

Remember what I confessed to you in Day 61 about J.N.? And how I said I was going to respect what we had and in absolutely no way betray or insinuate my feelings for her?

Well, of course I did exactly the opposite of that.

Luckily it wasn’t that big… I think. I apologized and committed to not express any other comments like that in the future—and I swear that this time I’ll maintain my promise, come hell or high water.

Still, I feel like something has broken between us. I feel a distance that wasn’t there before. She hardly answers my messages anymore and, when she does, it just feels like courtesies—and nothing more.

We still have plenty of stuff we do together, and I hope we can keep doing those things. I really enjoy her company and I’d hate to lose her support, especially now.

In a way, J.N. has come to represent everything new about me, including my dreams of transitioning. I’d hate to lose her but, in another sense, it presents me with another conundrum. Would I transition if she wasn't supporting me? Will I be strong enough without her support and that of my other friends?

I don't know, and that tortures me. I'm afraid and I don't know who to trust. I’m like 57% certain that my family will support me if I decide to go ahead and transition and, if they’re with me (especially my mum), I think I'd have enough help and support to follow through.

Still, I really wish I had listened to my wiser side, the one that was smart enough to see what was going on within me, write about it here, and even make some promises to avoid getting in a messy situation such as the one that I feel I’m in right now.

I don’t feel so good about myself or anything today. Hopefully things will work themselves out and I’ll feel better about all of this in the future.

Until then, with love,

ZZ

[heat--end]

hi hi o/ i've actually been thinking about getting into gundham bc of lurking on your blog for a while lol, is there any specific order i should watch the different series in for lore/Optimum Vibes or does it not really matter?

HELL YEAH i am glad to help 🫡🫡🫡

as for gundam watch order, the answer is KIND of complicated. theres the universal century timeline of gundam stuff, which is like, the "main" gundam timeline so to speak. if you genuinely truly cant find a starting point, id say you start there, and there is a watch order you could do there, but even going by release order is fine.

for UC, itd be:

original mobile suit gundam anime or movie trilogy > mobile suit zeta gundam anime (trilogy has a non-canon ending) > mobile suit ZZ gundam > mobile suit gundam char's counterattack > mobile suit gundam unicorn > mobile suit victory gundam > gundam f91. this isnt counting the side story stuff like war in the pocket

a little long but you get the general idea.

BUT. there are also the AUs, and that's where stuff gets a bit looser. there are like. several gundam AUs.

and honestly, id reccomend just looking at the various gundam AUs (mobile suit gundam seed, mobile figher G gundam, witch from mercury, etc.) and just kinda looking at them and if you find one you think is cool? fuck yeah. start with that. thats what i did. i just started with G gundam because Me Shonen Brained and now here we are. the AUs arent connected so tbh you could hop in anywhere and enjoy yourself. even if its as simple as "that mecha looks cool" or "i like that character design" you can hop in there and be perfectly fine. (in a similar case of not having a good idea, id maybe reccomend mobile suit 00 gundam. its cool)

of course, this is to say in general, hop in wherever you want. if you end up where you wanna start on CCA and work your way through everything else then fuck yeah do that. whatever works baby. but yeah, you can essentially follow that kind of philosophy and be alright