#anti grace

[saintsir4n]

Can u do the scene with eden finding out about grace. Thank u and I am in love with ur writing, I've read Dark twisted fantasy about 3 times already and will read for a 4th time, I love how u write the black women in ur stories, how u show their emotions and how u portray them. ♥️♥️

love this and thank you.

BETRAYED

——

1919

“What is it? What’s wrong you had everythin’ fuckin’ planned.” Eden stressed, after being told they had been betrayed.

Ada had left the room, with baby Karl and an anxious Inara in tow, whilst Eden and Tommy stayed. The Dawkins woman watched as he paced, gulping and tugging at the roots of his hair, wanting to say something but couldn’t spit it out.

Black Star Day was their day. It was planned, everything was going according to plan, and Tommy said so. Prayers had been said, drinks had been poured, and Eden and her newfound friend Grace even chatted, buzzing about it all.

But it went to hell when Jeremiah informed Arthur that Billy Kimber was spotted, with an army full of fuckers rallying behind him. There was no God in Small Heath. With every War that ended, another started up.

“It was Grace,” Tommy finally blurted.

Eden froze, face full of confusion, “What was Grace?”

“We’ve been fuckin’ betrayed.”

Tommy had been so stuck on the why, he didn’t focus on the how, how the Irish Barmaid they befriended so quickly could accomplish all of this in such a small frame.

“No,” Eden, of course refused to believe it.

And just like that, she began to pace and he watched, observed with a pained expression as she struggled to come to terms with the truth.

“Eden,” Tommy exclaimed.

“No, she’s our friend remember,” Eden gesticulated. “She was in the Garrison, fuckin’ seconds ago, pouring pints, celebrating with us all.”

Tommy breathed out, more steadier than before, “She gave us away.”

His voice was calm but he was anything but. He had to keep it together, for her. For his Edie, who was on the verge of spiralling.

Eden gulped as her heels slammed against the floorboards, creaking and cracking.

“You said we could trust her,” she whispered, but he heard.

It was like shrapnel to his chest.

You were wrong Tom, was what she meant. You didn’t think.

“I know,” Tommy nodded, standing still, silently raging.

She turned to him, gritted her teeth, “You said we could trust her Thomas.”

He shut his eyes, “Don’t you think I don't fuckin’ know that.”

“You said we could fuckin’ trust her!”

Eden wrung out her numb hands as she choked back a sob. All that happened, all that has been going wrong since that fucking inspector came to their city, their town of Small Heath. She felt the work of a wretched soul at play but she didn’t expect to think it would come from such a nice girl like Grace.

Huh…

Nice, she certainly pulled the wool over their fucking eyes.

Eden had just felt so lonely, Tommy had returned home from the war and her best friends were either dead or in London. She needed someone other than her husband to speak to, preferably anyone without the last name Shelby. And there Grace was, singing her way into the Garrison with her soft and trusting voice.

Oh, how they were wrong.

Eden’s face scrunched up as Tommy’s eyes quickly opened having heard her shuddering breaths.

You said we could fuckin’ trust her. Tommy had his suspicions. He knew the barmaid lied about where she came from and why she moved. He didn’t trust her at first but his wife did. He too, missed the comfort of a friend. Freddie wasn’t one anymore, not after the war, they were on two different paths, racing like trains that wouldn’t come to a halt at any time soon. His other good friend was dead and had been for years. The war took more from him than he thought and his little ‘Nara was the light of his life, his Edie was his heart. But Grace… she was something new, something calm that settled both him and his wife. An outsider, a new friend.

Oh, how she played them for a fool.

“She’s the reason why ‘Nara was almost taken,” Eden’s glossy eyes darted to him, as he stood there in shock. “That fuckin’ inspector tried clawing our daughter out of our hands. For dirty dealin’ Moss said. He got the fuckin’ social on us, claimed that we were a pack of animals.” Eden remembered it all like it was just yesterday. “But they — they trashed our houses, turned it all into a tip, framin’ us like we did it all and they tried… oh Tom they scared us good they did. They scared our little girl even more.”

Tommy’s jaw clenched, recalling the day, hearing his daughter’s screeches and his wife’s wails… Christ, they were louder than the shovels against the wall. Pat. Pat. Pat. He almost wasn't there to stop it. They claimed that Eden was too erratic, too primitive to look after a child like theirs. Daddy! Inara’s shaken voice will always stay with them.

Being dragged and kicked back to that day, neither parent saw or heard Polly enter the room, full of grief and torment.

The Shelby Matriarch's stomach dropped once more, it scarred her brain just like it did when her children were taken from her.

Eden rasped, “I need to see her.”

“No, no you won’t.” Polly shook her head, “I'll deal with Grace. If either one of you set eyes on her again, you might kill her.”

Eden hung onto that blissful thought.

When Polly left, Tommy turned to his wife, sighing when she gripped her Black Madonna.

“I thought we could trust her,” Eden wanted to cry.

She wanted to scream, stab, shoot, fuck anything.

“I know love. I know,” Tommy slowly nodded.

The two exchanged a dark look, one that read, that they’ll talk later.

“Tommy?”

“Yeah.”

“Please be safe.”

And with that Tommy raced out of the house, needing to end this all one and for all.

——

a/n:

If I ever wrote the canon plot, Tommy wouldn’t cheat on Eden, but because of who he is he would do other things to fuck up their relationship.

In this though both trusted Grace as a friend because of how they lost friends in my headcanon

[sinnbaddie]

It’s funny Grace dies because the necklace she’s wearing is cursed by Romani because we all know she wouldn’t respect Tommy’s roots. Like even if he explained why she should take off the necklace she would’ve thought it was stupid bc she’s a dumb racist lol

[massiveladycat]

leo shouldve learned how to cope with his trauma and his need for validation instead of rick slapping a girlfriend on him and calling it a day. in this essay i will-

[poppitron360]

Jason Grace, consistently telling Leo he is awesome.

Name one other character that does that. I dare you.

[lavenderfairiez]

I just finished ToA last night and here are some things I don't see nearly enough people talking about, specifically about the end of ToA so if you haven't read it this is your spoiler warning!!!

• Apollo not feeling right in his godly form and uncomfortable around the other olympians (not including Artemis)

• LEO CALLING JO "MOM" 🥺 (and Emmie and Jo in general) BUT HE HAS TWO MOMS NOW I LITERALLY STARTED CRYING ABOUT THIS LAST NIGHT

• Apollo visiting Percy and Annabeth in New Rome!!!

• AND they talk about Jason!!!!!! Annabeth cried herself to sleep

• honestly Apollo's whole battle with Python that shit was so cool

• obligatory fuck Calypso

• REYNA CALLING LEO "HERMANO" 🥹

• Meg standing up to Nero in his throne room!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH

• Rick's infallible ability to put EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. CHARACTER. in a relationship 💀 PEACHES HAS A LOVE INTEREST NOW???????? LET CHARACTERS BE SINGLEEEEE

• HAZEL'S CURSE IS GONE AND SHE CAN JUST LIKE USE HER JEWELS NOW!!! and Frank wants an engraved diamond necklace that says "H+F Forever" I love him so much...

• while we're on the topic of Frank!! WHY DOES NO ONE EVER TALK ABOUT HIS SACRIFICE AT THE END OF THE TYRANTS TOMB??? Like I knew that he would be fine but I still started like tearing up

• THE ARROW OF DODONA!!!

• how completely unaffected Zeus is by Jason's death??? Fuck you Zeus.

• Apollo's new kids at camp!!!

[astraeajackson]

leo deserved better. he deserved so, so much BETTER. i mean, he fucking sacrificed his LIFE to save the world, and yes, even though he was always meant to come back, there was always that lingering chance the plan WOULDN'T work out.

but what did he get when he finally made his way back home? hugs? maybe a huge welcome home party? NO. instead, everyone got into a fucking LINE and proceeded to hit him, WITH FULL FORCE, immediately upon his arrival back home.

and then there's the issue with calypso. i just HATED the way she treated him in the dark prophecy. like, he was the only dude who BOTHERED to come back for her. he gave her the chance for a new life. but instead, she COMPLAINS about how leo "treats every problem like a machine" when he's working SO hard to fix things.

then later, at the end of the series, we find calypso has become counsellor for a band camp pretty far away, and we learn that part of the reason was "so she could take some time away from him". i mean, what the hell is up with THAT?!

leo's done so many amazing things for so many people, but just how many times do you hear him praised? like honestly, he deserves someone who loves him unconditionally, someone who showers him with love, someone who can fill up the gaps his mother's death left in him. and that someone is NOT calypso.

[what-you-like-about-the-moon]

rip jason grace you would’ve loved shitting on calypso with piper

[po1sonous-l0ve]

Headcannons!

Nico does gymnastics- he's super flexible.

Will is the complete opposite-stiff as wood but strong.

Jason (who is definitely not dead) loves teamwork games- football (soccer for the americans) basketball, rugby, volleyball, cricket, etc.

Sally and Paul legally adopt Jason and Thalia, and Jason stays in Percy's room when he goes to college.

Annabeth used to read Artemis Fowl and got a lot of tricks from the books.

Nico likes to play DnD, and is always pestering Hades to play with him.

Nico learns how to braid afro hair for Hazel, and does cute braids for her whenever she visits camp.

Leo and Calypso break up and part as friends (manifesting for a future book)

Jason and Leo get together (more manifesting)

Rachel is pan or ace.

Nico and Rachel are beasties, and he goes over to her house to listen to Olivia Rodrigo and MGK

[rosabell14]

The fact that in house of hades Annabeth is like "Nooo Percy 😭 what you did wasn't good some powers should never be used like that 😰" and then the narrative actively decides to prove her wrong in Blood of Olympus? By having Percy listen to Annabeth's ideology and nearly get killed for it in his fight against Polybotes? He doesn't use his control over poison and nearly dies from it. Had Jason not convinced Kymopoleia to help them, Percy would have died. Listening to Annabeth would have killed Percy.

(and then Percy says that he deserved to die for what happened to Akhlys and Jason is like mood bro and it's never brought up again 😑)

And THEN, in the same damn book Nico literally turns Bryce Lawrence into a ghost and Reyna who has trauma associated with ghosts goes: yeah it was scary and reminded me of my dead abusive dad, but Nico we all have darkness inside of us and we should get to release it. Plus you saved us soooo ☺️

[babe-a-yaga]

What was done to Isseya is one of my personal biggest upsets with this game. I loved her in Last Flight. She's a genuinely interesting, complex character, and given the themes of mistakes and regret present through Veilguard, it makes TOTAL sense for her to make an appearance! What makes no sense at all is for her to be reduced to a two dimensional villain with no clear motivation who's just...doing exactly the thing she fucked up in life? Except worse? I'm gonna summarize the events of last flight for the folks who haven't read it;

The first griffin Isseya put through the joining was already blighted in battle, and dying from it. Quickly. Griffins are extra sensitive to the Blight and any attempts made to join them resulted in the animals going berserk and tearing themselves, and anyone else in range, to pieces to get away from what was now in their veins.

In a well meaning, but misguided effort to save one of the animals she loved, she used blood magic to alter the griffon's mind, to convince it the Blight in it's system was just a regular cold, and it didn't need to fight it, then put it through the joining.

It worked, but it changed the griffon. Made it stronger, fight harder. More difficult to handle. The griffon ultimately went out in a spectacular blaze of glory, and people didn't know what she did, just that she did SOMETHING, and that griffon did ten griffons worth of damage on it's way out.

The fourth blight was far worse, far longer than any of the blights we have witnessed first hand. I think it lasted like 15 years? And it was going badly for Thedas. They ordered Isseya to do what she had done to the first griffon again as a last ditch to stand a chance at I *think* Starkhaven (it's been a little bit since I read last flight, so I'm sketchy on dates and what battles were fought specifically when). She hated doing this, but it was orders, and it was exploit this handful of griffons or watch the world die. She's a warden, she signed up to stop the blight at any cost. In war, victory. In death, sacrifice.

By the time her brother Garahel slays Andoral, she's had to blight a number of griffons, and the constant blood magic use has massively accelerated the blight in her own body. Her brother garahel is this golden haired pretty boy beloved by everyone who looks upon him, and Isseya looks so much like a ghoul at this point people are uncomfortable being in the same room as her. Even though this is completely due to her service to the wardens.

Then, the remaining joined griffons start going mad. And then it starts to spread to the other, non-joined griffons. In using blood magic to convince the griffons the blight was just a disease, she had caused it to become one. A contagious one.

It's one of the most interesting examples of how dangerous blood magic actually is we ever see. We're just told over and over "blood magic bad, slippery slope to killing people. Bad. Even if you use your own." And we never really see explicitly why it's an inherently dangerous form of magic until this.

Back to Isseya though. Garahel's lover's Griffon had a clutch of eggs sired by Garahel's Crookytail. Isseya, knowing there was no stopping what was now in motion with the griffons, set out to do her one last act of penance. She took, and purified those eggs, hid them in a ward that kept them in stasis, so that they might only hatch once the griffons were gone, and this disease had died with them, so they might have a chance. And then she hid the clues to their location, and begged that whoever find them not let them be used by the wardens again.

And then she went on her calling.

These are not the actions of a villain. Isseya EMBODIES the warden principal of sacrifice. But it isn't glorious battle rewarded by a quick death alongside an archdemon for her. It's death by inches, by blight, knowingly and willingly accelerated in her own body to stop it from consuming the world. Sacrificing her ideals, the animals she loves, her brother, Garahel. Isseya gives it all for the wardens, to end the blight, and is not thanked for it or remembered kindly.

And she did everything she could to seed the slightest bit of hope, that both in spite of her and because of her, griffons might return to the world, as free creatures.

Her Veilguard arc feels like really egregious character assassination, and I wish she had been given an ounce of the sympathy that other characters had been given. It made sense for her to be here, thematically, mistakes and regret, and good intentions still leading to bad ends, but she deserved the same opportunity for forgiveness and/or redemption that Solas, Mythal, Cyrian, even Illario got.

Isseya was done dirty by Veilguard.

[sweetnnaivete]

rip jason and piper you would've loved side eyeing each other regarding caleo

[cheerfullycatholic]

From studentsforlife on Instagram

[sunfyrisms]

i am truly so sick of people—both outside and inside the star wars universe—remembering anakin fondly. this man, though not wholly responsible, played a major hand in the destruction of the jedi order and the death of democracy itself. he slaughtered children, brutally executed his peers and superiors, and continued to hunt them down throughout the years. he is remembered as a good master, as a good leader, but… was he? was he a good master when he led the execution, the genocide, of ahsoka’s people? their people? yes, it would have happened with or without him. yes, he was groomed and manipulated by palpatine. but he, in the end, choose to commit those heinous crimes. he chose to forsake the galaxy, forsake his community, all for a person who genuinely did not want that. it is the very thing the jedi order so deeply tried to teach him, to not let your love blind you, and to not forsake everyone else for your love. he chose his path, and to free him of any blame while putting that blame on the very people who tried to help him (the jedi) is a disservice not only to the tragedy of his character, but the tragedy of the jedi order’s fate itself.

[massiveladycat]

they could never make me hate you annabeth chase

[cynicalclairvoyantcadaver]

The thing about HOO is that it's either egregious, or amazing, or just......really plain and boring.

It retcons and ruins Nico and Percy's relationship. It ruins Percy's characterisation in PJO. Piper and Leo are 15 and haven't been attacked by monsters or brought to camp yet.

It depicts Piper and Hazel in a racist way (light hair and eyes to make them more attractive, both Hazel's parents have dark hair and eyes and no one else in the Aphrodite cabin has Piper's kaleidescope eyes)

It has a 14 year old date a 16 year old (Frazel).

Reyna calls Percy dumb in front of a whole group and Annabeth laughs and agrees with her.

It has Nico's acceptance arc be smashed to pieces. It has Nico be forcibly outed.

It has Frank's fatness magically disappear after being given the blessing of Ares.

It has Percabeth be abusive (Annabeth making Percy promise not to use his poison powers again when it could save them, not accepting them even though they're a part of Percy, her laughing at his trauma when he says Tartarus smells like Gabe, her bringing up Rachel to make Percy nervous, her agreeing with Reyna in front of an entire damn crowd that Percy is dumb and couldn't find his way out of a paper bag without her apparently).

It doesn't release Calypso from her island when in TLO the gods swore on the Styx to do so.

And it puts a millenia old goddess in a relationship with a teenager, and Rick even depicts Calypso herself as a teenager while saying that she romanced adult men.

It has a wolf goddes who eats children who aren't good enough according to her standards, when those children could be amazing at something else instead of just physical training and survival.

And I do NOT know how HOO wasn't a YA series based on the last one alone.

But there are also those moments with characters where they really accept themselves, like Piper growing out of her internalised misogyny, or with Jason and Leo, or with Frank learning about and using his abilities to be a badass magical warrior, or having a nice moment with Reyna and Nico. Or how it shows Clarisse and Coach Hedge's relationship and Hedge's backstory and his understandable fear and concern for his wife.

And then it's just kind of boring at times. Jason is an underdeveloped character (with SO MUCH POTENTIAL MIGHT I ADD!!!) He should've been able to wipe the floor with Percy, Nico, Hazel and Thalia. And then his relationship with Reyna was barely expanded on. And Octavian, while initially set up to be an interesting character, was reduced to an absolute clown. Gaia could have been such an interesting, morally gray character, possibly the most complex in the Riordanverse, and Rick could've sent a message about environmental pollution and how we need to do something about it, which would definitely impact a lot of people, seeing as PJO is one of the most if not THE MOST popular book series globally. But she was just made into a cartoon villain instead. And Jason and Thalia's meet up was........dryer than the Sahara Desert, if I dare say so.

This series had so much potential-since the millenia long abusive systems are broken, why not have the camps discover each other after the Titan war? I will always mourn what HOO could have been.

[thaliasthunder]

the entire camp half blood is literally just fucking lucky nico has a problem with sacrificing himself for the people he loves because if he was actually vengeful and grunge holder as rr claimed him to be, they all would not have lasted a fucking day in the battle of manhattan after he had decided to join luke