#anyways INTO THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES!!!

[deadangelos]

THE FINAL BATTLE!

[manygeese]

@lost-trio-week day 3: home

When one is coming home to their significant others from a long and arduous quest, one does not like to find out that they’ve lost their key to the apartment. Or at least, that was Piper’s view on the matter.

You know the drill: everything’s normal, then Rachel started spitting prophecies, resulting in her and her half sisters Drew and Lacy going on some errand for whoever the fuck. She must have forgotten her keychain somewhere between the Garden of the Hesperides and the Waystation, she thought.

Groaning, she hit her head against the door out of frustration. Leo was probably at the garage he, Nyssa, and Jake ran, while Jason was most likely tied up in Pontifex Maximus shit. God, it was the worst having two successful boyfriends. Maybe she could talk Jason into being a housewife one of these days.

She turned her back to the door and let herself thump against the wood, sliding slowly down to the ugly carpeted floor. The door was all that was separating her from a nice, long, uninterrupted nap (at least two days in duration, if she had anything to say about it).

Leo wouldn’t get home until seven on a good night, and it was only four now. Jason would only start his fifteen minute walk home after five, so she was stuck soaking in her own misery for at least an hour. Was she sure she couldn’t just break the door open?

She rose to her feet and was about to use her shoulder as a battering ram when the door opened.

“Piper?” It was Jason. His eyes were suspiciously wide and his smile was oddly wobbly. “Oh, thank the gods you’re okay.”

“Jason, you have no idea how fucking glad I am to see you,” she breathed, collapsing into his outstretched arms. “Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why are you home right now? Shouldn’t you be at your Pope nine to five?”

Jason snorted and proceeded to hug the living daylights out of her. “Leo broke his leg in an accident at the garage, so they gave him the week off and I submitted a request to work from home temporarily.”

Piper looked up at him with wet eyes and a furrowed brow. “Is he alright?”

“He’s doing fine, just restless. The doctor said he shouldn’t be exerting himself too much. He can’t use his crutches because his good prosthetic got pretty much destroyed in the accident, and the old one isn’t really made for sole use, so it’s not like he could exert himself anyways. He’s been cranky all week, and I worry that he’s coming down with a cold, but he insists he’s too hot for one. I can’t tell if he means literally or figuratively, though.”

As if on cue, a whine came from their bedroom. “Jason, could you get me some water?” It was followed by a heavy sigh and the rustle of bedsheets.

Jason’s head automatically whipped towards the sound. “What’s the magic word, dear?”

There was another sigh, though it was more of a moan. “Please, Jason?”

“Of course,” Jason said with a smirk. He gave Piper a kiss on the forehead as he went towards the kitchen. “You should go rest with him. I’m sure Leo would love the company.”

She trudged towards the bedroom, not from lack of enthusiasm, but lack of any and all energy. The door was already open, thank god. She wasn’t sure she had the dexterity to turn the handle at the moment.

Leo was turned away from her on his side, small frame periodically snuggling into the blanket or collapsing under the weight of a breath. His curly hair was a mess, his shoulder was smushed into his face in a way that couldn’t be comfortable, and one of his legs was resting on a pile of books under the comforter. The other was missing from the mid thigh down, but that was nothing new.

“Leo,” she cooed, flopping down beside him, careful not to disturb his legs.

“Mmph.” He nuzzled into his pillow and made grabby hands towards her. “Water.”

“Jason’s getting it for you.”

He tossed his head over his shoulder with a scrunched up disgusted face. “Aren’t you- oh. Piper.” His eyes widened with recognition, positively lighting up. “Piper!” He lunged for her as aggressively as he could without irritating his injured leg. He still let out a little whimper when he landed wrong on it.

“You okay?” She asked.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “Now that you’re here.” She could hear the wink in his voice.

She giggled and pushed him onto his other side playfully, drawing a yelp out of him. She grabbed a pillow, placed it under his injured leg, and wrapped her arms around his torso like one would hug a teddy bear. He threw his head back in a giddy laugh, making his curls tickle her neck.

“How was the quest? Aside from bad, I mean.” Leo let out a puff of smoke accompanied by a content hum.

She proceeded to whisper about all the things she and her sisters had done into Leo’s ear, pulling him close and kissing his cheek every now and again. It wasn’t until she was halfway through the encounter with harpies at Lake Donner that she realized he was asleep.

After a moment of basking in the afternoon sun shining through the curtains, Jason walked in. Piper didn’t bother turning around because she knew it just from the cadence of his footsteps: heel to toe, like he was in marching band, a dull click and a sharp clack. Jason rounded the corner of the bed to come around to its left nightstand, blocking out Piper’s view in the process, but she didn’t mind. She couldn’t, not when he had gotten an extra glass of water (with ice! What a man) for her, complete with a curly straw. That was some good shit.

He set down the two waters on a couple miscellaneous coasters they had collected over the years and handed her a granola bar. God, this guy really knew the way to Piper’s heart.

She gave him a winning smile and tried to chow down on it as quietly as possible so she wouldn’t wake Leo. Which was a feat she need not be worried about- a truck could run him over in his sleep and he’d still be snoring away.

Jason carefully picked up the covers so he could slide under them, facing Piper from the other side of Leo. He pressed a kiss to the sleeping man’s forehead, which made her mumble in outrage. If she didn’t get one, too, she was reasonably sure she’d melt. Thankfully, Jason was a weak man, and conceded with little fight.

She let out a delighted little hum and buried her face further into Leo’s curls. “It’s good to be home.”

[sankta-starkova]

THE OUTSIDERS

009 | always watching

previous chapter | next chapter | masterlist

summary: the one where daisy returns to camp from college and is blinded by her love for him, even as the world ends

wordcount: 3k

Daisy hadn't had a bad nightmare in months. Not a bad one anyway.

Ever since Percy, Annabeth and Grover came, something had shifted in camp and it was like the doomsday clock had started ticking faster.

That's why she felt the need to protect the kids, to shelter them from whatever storm was coming her way.

What she didnt know was that there was a force out there more powerful than anyone could ever imagine and it had her eyes on her.

Daisy was too powerful. She had too much influence within camp, too many friends. And she was a distraction for their main target.

After the quest, she had been cursed with dreams that told her about all the awful things that the Gods did.

Then they started to fade and the memories of the quest would haunt her as she slept. She had been safe for a while, but as she fell asleep two nights after the kids left for their quest, she didn't know what would be waiting for her.

In her dream, she was back where it had all started to go wrong. They barely managed to escape the garden of Hesperides where they had been tasked to find one of three golden apples.

The dragon was more than they had expected and both her and Luke managed to stumble out, barely holding onto their lives.

His arm was around her shoulders, supporting her. He had seen her get hit by the dragon but so had he. They just had to keep moving.

She collapsed onto the sidewalk, dragging him down with her as she let out a scream of pain.

They had been running for so long and exhaustion and pain were starting to catch up with her.

"Get up Des, we have to go, come on," They couldn't afford to stop. He hitched his arm under hers and tried to get her to keep running.

"I can't move," she groaned out in pain, a hand flying down to her side.

He set her down gently onto the curb and watched as she pulled her hand away, sticky with blood.

Luke could feel the bile rising up in his throat as he touched the hem of her shirt, looking into her eyes.

She nodded and he lifted the shirt up slightly to reveal the wound. She had been scratched by the dragon earlier on their escape when she pushed Luke out of the way.

He ignored the pain blossoming on his face, the cut most likely to leave a scar as he realised how much trouble she was in.

Luke thought he was going to lose her.

"Fuck, let's go," he muttered before picking her up bridal style and rushing down the street.

The sun was setting and there was nobody around so Luke punched a hole through a cars window before starting it up.

He placed her in the passenger seat and finished hot wiring the car before the engine ignited and he started driving back to camp.

When he nearly hit a curb, she looked at him confused, "Do you even know how to drive?"

"No, but how can it be too hard," he said with a shrug and she just stared at him, horrified. If the dragon didnt kill her, Lukes driving certainly would, "You stay back there, you don't move,"

She let out a hiss of pain when he drove too fast over a speed bump, jolting her and he looked over at her with panic in his eyes.

"You're gonna be alright, just stay with me," he said, trying to keep his eyes on the road whilst also looking after her.

"I'm so tired Luke," she could feel how heavy her eyelids were, just begging to close.

His eyes went wide, "No Daisy, you stay away for me. Stay awake," his hand flew out, resting on her knee to try to rustle her awake, "Keep talking,"

"I wish I could see my mum again, I wish I spent more time with her before she died," her words were getting slurred and he knew she needed help.

Every bone in his body told him that he had to do this. That there was only one place that they could go to rest.

His heart and his head were having an internal battle but as he saw the familiar Conneticut signs and buildings, he knew exactly where to go.

He took a sharp turn, not noticing the way that Daisy's head slumped against the seat before he pulled into a suburban neighbour, looking for a specific house.

Quickly, he pulled up onto the drive and parked in front of some random house.

He turned to unbuckle Daisy and that's when he noticed that she was unconscious. His hand flew to her neck as he frantically tried to find her pulse.

"No, no, no," he wanted to scream out, cursing the Gods for doing this to him. His hands were shaking, unable to find her pulse, "Come on baby, I can't lose you too,"

When he felt that steady thump of her pulse, he let out a sigh of relief, head knocking against the passenger seat in relief.

He walked to the other side of the door, picking her up bridal style once again before pounding on the door.

An older woman opened up. Her hair was brown but turning grey and if Daisy was awake, she would have been able to spot the resemblance in an instant.

It was his mother.

"Luke. My boy, come on in," she said excitingly, ushering her son in.

She closed the door behind her and Luke looked around at the house he had grown up in. It was dark and there was stacks of sandwiches lined up on the tables. Just like he liked.

"Hi mum, please can you give me alone a moment to settle in," he couldn't deal with her insanity right now.

He looked down at Daisy, wondering if his mother could see her through thr mist of not but he didn't care. All that mattered was that she was okay.

"Sure, I'll bake a fresh batch of cookies for you," she said, patting her son on the cheek before walking into the kitchen.

He cringed internally. This was the last place he wanted to be. He couldn't stand to even look at his mother or his childhood house but he had to suck it up for Daisy.

Muscle memory took him towards his childhood room and he nudged the door open with his knee before looking around.

He lay her down on what was now a twin sized bed. That's when he realised that everything else had stayed the same except his mother had bought him a new bed. It was almost like she knew he would come home one day.

"Luke," she mumbled, eyes blinking as they tried to adjust to the light.

Daisy had never felt this much pain before. Not after the car crash that killed her mum and stepdad, not when the monster attacked her on the way home from school.

She couldn't even hold her head up and if it wasn't for Luke having propped her up slightly in the bed, she wouldn't even be able to see him sitting there next to her.

He looked exhausted. She didn't know where she was or how they had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was collapsing in the little North Dakoga town.

Luke didn't seem too injured. All she could see was a large cut over his eye, the blood still slightly oozing from the wound.

He grabbed her hand, moving slightly closer to her. He had been so worried that she wouldn't wake up but now she was here. She was alive.

"I'm here, I'm here," he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

He fed her an ambrosia squarez hoping that he had given her the correct amount.

"I'm really cold," Daisy said, her voice already sounding more alert.

He nodded, knowing that with the amount of blood loss she had sustained, she wad probably struggling.

"You're gonna have to sew me up," she said and his eyes went wide at the idea.

Without hesitation, he searched his house for his mothers first aid kit before returning back.

She walked him through it, telling him what to do even when it really hurt. He cleaned the wound, apologising profusely every time she swore under her breath.

He even sowed her up again. It was haphazard but it would have to do until they got back to camp.

He fed her an ambrosia square - the last one that they had - and she took a second, tasting her mother's pasta on her tongue.

She felt better nearly instantly, not even flinching as he wrapped the bandage around her stomach.

When he was down, he pulled away, a blush on his face from how much he had touched her. Normally she would make fun of him but it didn't seem like an appropriate time.

As warmth flooded her system and she began to feel better, she realised how injured Luke was.

"Your face," her hand reached up and she brushed against the skin next to it, careful not to irritate the wound.

His face flushed at the touch, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I don't care about me all I need is for you to live,"

"You've got to be alright as well," she responded, eyebrows scrunched up.

Daisy knew that she couldn't live without him. Not now and not ever.

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "Nobody would care if I died," he said, almost like he had thought about it before. His legacy.

"Loads of people would. I would," her voice was soft as she grabbed his hand, "I need you luke,"

They were silent for a second, staring into one another's eyes. Who knows what would have happened if there hadn't been a knock on the door.

"Who's your friend?" A voice said and they both turned to look at the door.

Their adrenaline was still up after the quest and it was survival instincts that made them belive it was a threat.

The woman at the door was just Lukes mother and all she wanted was to make sure they were okay. She held a plate of cookies in her hands, setting them down on the table shakily.

Daisy tried to sit up, wanting to be more polite and actually meet Lukes mother but he stopped her from going too far, hand on top of hers.

When she saw that, his mothers eyes lit up, "Girlfriend? How wonderful,'

"Mom, no-" Luke started, eyes wide.

At that point, he had only just figured out his love for her. When he saw her bleeding out, that was the moment he knew he wouldn't survive without her.

Daisy just squeezed his hand, "Let her be happy Luke," she muttered to him.

She knew what it was like when people were not fully there. They couldn't explain their situation and she knew it would hurt less to just go along with it.

"It's lovely to meet you Mrs Castellan, I'm Daisy Valance," She said, sitting up.

May had the biggest grin on her face. This traumatised woman seemed happy to be able to be with her son for a little while.

"What a gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl," she said, hands shaking as she reached forward for her son who just pulled away, "You must stay for a while,"

"Maybe a few days. Thank you for your hospitality ma'am," Daisy could see how much she wanted them to stay and it pained her to know they would leave again.

"No problem. For my boys girlfriend, you can have anything," She stepped forward, patting her leg before walking out of the room.

It was silent for a little while after that. She didnt know just how troubled his mother was.

"I thought you said she could see through the mist," Daisy said. She knew they must look bad, bruised and bloody.

"She can. Just not very well anymore," he said, a sombre tone to his voice, almost like he was trying to remember how she was before she went insane, "We can't stay for long,"

"Just for a while. I can barely move Luke," she said, looking up at him.

He squeezed her hand, just like she had done earlier, "For you. Anything," he echoed his mother's sentiment.

They ate some of the edible food in the house before she fell asleep, exhausted after the day.

Her temperature had gone up and her wound looked okay and he hoped she was going to be okay. He didn't know what he'd do without her.

When he was sitting on the porch later that night, he heard a rustling in the bushes, pulling his sword out and looking at the figure.

"Son," the man said.

He shook his head, not in the mood to talk to him, "Go away Hermes,"

"I'm here to offer you help. I can get you back to camp tonight," he promised, "You should leave your mother alone, she is fragile,"

Luke stood up, pointing his finger at his father with an accusatory glare, "My girl is fragile. She needs help an-"

His father cut him off with a wave of his hand, "I'll get you a ride back to camp. They can fix her up there,"

"I won't accept anything from you," he said with a scoff.

"I know you stole money from your mother. You're my son after all, mischevious," luke could feel the money burning a hole in his pocket. He needed it to get back to camp.

"I'm not your son. I'm nobody's son," he spat out, turning back to look at his father.

He hadn't helped him at all during his life. He had gotten through life fine without him and he didn't need him now. Or ever.

"Olay. Whatever you want to say Luke," He held his hands up in surrender, knowing it was no use, "I've called a cab and it will be here tomorrow morning. 8 am sharp. It will take you both back to camp,"

"I failed the mission," he muttered, not sure if he was talking to Hermes or himself.

"Does it count as failing if you survived?" He asked cryptically.

Luke shook his head, furious still at his fathers appearance, "If she doesn't make it then it will be failure,"

"Luke," a voice called out and his heart sped up at the sound of her voice. She sounded so frail.

"She needs me," he said, eyes wide.

At that moment, Hermes saw the pure love in his sons eyes; it was the same look he used to have when looking at May.

He turned around, opening the door  to the house and getting ready to step inside.

"Good luck my boy," He heard Hermes say before the door closed.

He went in and sat by her side, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She had this frantic look on her face that he didn't recognise.

"I had a nightmare, I'm sorry, I don't know why I called for you," she said, a little ashamed.

"We all get them," he said.

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut like it would keep out the memory, "This one was worst. There was this cloaked man and-"

He grabbed her hand again, holdig her, "Shh, don't worry about it right now. You need your rest,"

She felt weak. She wasn't supposed to be so weak. She was one of the best in camp and here she was crying, bedridden.

"Luke. Can you stay with me?" She asked sheepishly like a little child.

He moved to the other side of the double bed, tucking himself under the covers and lying down beside her.

She lay her head on his chest, feeling safe for the first time in a while. She could feel his heart pounding and she just cuddled up closer to her.

"Always," He promised. He loved her more than life itself and that's what he realised on this quest, "I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again,"

Daisy didn't even hear the end of his sentence because she had fallen asleep, so exhausted from her wounds.

He would get the taxi the next morning that his father had provided. Whilst he didnt need his hospitality, he needed to make sure Daisy was okay and the best place for her was at camp.

He struggled to sleep that night, unable to stop worrying about her and whether she was going to be okay.

Daisy in the present day woke up with a jolt, her hands pressed against the bed as she sat up.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest at the memory, her palms sweaty.

Even though the dream was over, she could still hear some voice laughing at her, mocking her naivety like there was something going on that she wasn't privy to.

Right now, she didn't want to think about it. She didnt want to relive the nightmares.

Slowly, she climbed down from her top bunk bed and looked around at the cabin. They were all asleep and she was standing there, shaking and horrified.

Without thinking, she walked put of her cabin, almost in a trance. She wandered into the Hermes cabin and everyone was fast asleep.

She turned and muscle memory walked her towards Lukes bunk. He was on the bottom bunk and she tapped him on the shoulder like a little girl again.

He opened his eyes blearily and when he saw her standing there, he knew something was wrong.

He rubbed his eyes before sitting up in the bed and finally getting a good look at her. Her eyes were red and she looked scared, more scared than he had seen her in years.

It had been a while since she had come here after a nightmare, asking for him to just hold her for a minute - it was only the second time since they started dating.

Luke knew what was wrong in an instant and he pulled her in for a hug, head laying on her chest.

"I don't know why it came back," she muttered before pulling away.

The bed was small but he pulled the cover up, encouraging her to get in with him.

She snuggled up close to him, half on him and half on the bed. She lay her head on his chest just like she had done when they were on the mission and he brushed a hand over her hair soothingly.

"I'm gonna protect you remember. You're safe when you're with me," he promised.

She nodded. She knew it was true. They had gone through so much on that quest but they were both alive and that's what matters.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked, voice quiet.

She shook her head and he knew that it must have been bad. He wondered if she had been visited by the man in the desert yet.

Maybe this was the moment where he turned 100% to the cause, no hesitation.

"I'll be here when you want to talk," he promised. 

They spoke in hushed voices for a minute before she fell asleep against him.

He pressed a kiss to her head and this time, he managed to keep the nightmares away. He didn't let Kronos plague her with those dreams again.

Taglist:

@b3bybunny @inejghafawifesblog

A/N: I wanted to include some backstory for Luke and Daisy and I hope you liked the way it was formatted. Thank you everyone for reading this, your comments and your votes all mean a lot.

[twitchtips]

when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions

"Someday will come a time when Solovet does not hold such power over us." The mere mention of her name makes Mareth go cold. The day after Hamnet was confined, Judith made Mareth promise not to confront Solovet again. She said she wouldn't be able to bear it if he got locked up too. Mareth doesn't reply, but Judith goes on anyway. "She reigns at present because the war demands it of her, demands it of us." Judith puts a finger in Luxa's hand, and the baby squeezes it. "But lately I have been trying to imagine an Underland without need of her. An Underland in which my daughter may reign without relying on figures such as Solovet." Mareth isn't sure such a thing is even possible. It's hard to imagine—even harder to believe in. "We must have hope," Judith tells him. "We must allow ourselves to dream of a happy future." When Mareth finally speaks, he does so with a wry grin. "It is almost as if Vikus himself is in the room with us."

Rating: Mature

Relationship: Hamnet/Mareth

Characters: Mareth, Hamnet, Andromeda, Perdita, Solovet, Vikus, Hamnet's Bond, Perdita's Bond, Judith, Luxa's Father, Nerissa, Hazard, Background & Cameo Characters, Original Characters

Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Pre-Canon, Mareth POV, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, The Jungle, The Dungeon, The Garden of the Hesperides, Abusive Parents, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Character Death, Angst, Secret Relationship

Summary: Thirteen years before Gregor arrives in the Underland, Mareth joins the Regalian army.

Read on AO3: Part 2 / The Dungeon / Chapter 6 (Words: 5,575)

[asmodeusstahl]

So, I have a lot of problems with the latest (sixth) episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I’m just going to start from the beginning and work my way through the episode to the end.

Firstly, the episode title is “We Take A Zebra to Vegas.” Do we *see* a Zebra? For all of two seconds. That’s it. So much for a plot-relevant episode title. It’s a nitpick, sure, but if you’re going to make something an episode title, it should have SOME relevance to the plot. I understand that that’s the only chapter where we see the Lotus Casino, so it makes sense to use that chapter title as the episode title. But is it *really* that much more effort to add a scene featuring Percy and/or Grover chatting with the Zebra? There’s certainly run time and almost certainly budget for it.

Then we get to the casino itself and, as loathe as I am to admit it, the movie did it better without question. Even the smallest of details — like the look and vibe of the casino are done so much better in the movie. The casino is designed to trap children, so it’s filled with water parks, roller coasters, and all that makes a kid lose their mind. We see that in the movie. In the show, it’s just a regular old casino filled with a bunch of adults of all ages. There’s only like 2 or 3 shots where you really see groups of children. And that’s not even mentioning the exterior architecture of it. It’s a nitpick, but the show version doesn’t even look Greek-inspired. In the movie, it’s basically a knock-off Caesar’s Palace with Greek Columns and everything. It’s great. The giant Lotus Blossom with a roller coaster coming out of the side just… isn’t.

Much like with Medusa, all the suspense was just thrown out the window. Once they enter, Grover does the whole “wait, Percy, did your mom read you the Odyssey?” shtick and the trio figures out it’s the Lotus Eaters that Odysseus faced. Consequently, Percy and Annabeth do not lose themselves in the casino. They stay sane the whole bloody time. What annoys me even more about this is that Percy even says as they enter the casino “what if we just chilled here and played some games for a bit.” It got my hopes up that we’d actually see a competent drug trip scene — I was wrong. Annabeth immediately shuts him down and he’s like “yeah, no, I was joking.”

Anyway, they go to look for Hermes. I’m not sure why the fuck Hermes loves hanging out in this casino. The show’s explanation is that he just likes chilling there and nothing more is said on the matter. It feels weird to be that an Olympian would just be chilling in a casino run by monsters without a care in the world. Whatever.

Once they enter, Annabeth decides Grover should split off so they can cover more ground. Um, hello, if you’re trying to cover more ground why not have EVERYONE split off, not just Grover? So Grover goes off on his own, finds a Satyr that used to know his Uncle Ferdinand and starts talking to him about the Search for Pan. The Satyr is like “oh, yeah, Pan. I think I found him here. Come follow me.” Grover follows and eventually forgets who he is (and ends up playing VR). Sure, great, one of the trio lost it, but that doesn’t account for the other two and we really didn’t need to shoehorn more Pan stuff in just for the sake of getting Grover to split off from Percabeth.

Meanwhile, Percabeth have found Hermes and he takes them aside to chat after they mention they’re friends of Luke’s. There’s a few things here that annoy me. Firstly, Hermes lore dumps all of the trauma that is May Castellan — something which doesn’t appear until the 5th book. We could have — and should have, imo — gotten the backstory behind Luke’s failed quest to the Garden of the Hesperides to steal a Golden Apple. The quest he failed when Landon gave him the scar on his face. The quest *Hermes himself* assigned to him. There’s plenty of resentment for Hermes that comes for that — we didn’t need May Castellan. Not yet.

Turns out, Hermes is just stalling them because he doesn’t want to help. Fucking dick. So, Annabeth goes invisible and steals his car keys — which Hermes absolutely knew about. They rescue Grover after a brief spell of forgetfulness. Annabeth reasons that they didn’t lose it like Grover because they were together and it’s harder to forget when you’re with someone. Sure, great. How do you explain the DiAngelos? I highly doubt that Bianca would willingly let Nico wander off on his own. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

I really hate that the movie casino somehow managed to include Disco Darrin — the kid from the 70s that triggers Percy realizing something is fucked up — and that the show doesn’t. Darrin really helps reinforce the idea that the casino is full of kids out of time, which helps set up the reveal that the DiAngelos were in the casino for 70ish years and didn’t age at all. I hate that the movie did something better, I really do. But it’s just unavoidable when comparing these two scenes.

The trio then “steal” Hermes’ cab, which just so happens to have a letter addressed to the trio that supposedly tells them a back way into the Underworld. We’ll see how that turns out next episode, but I will be UPSET if we don’t get DOA Recording Studious and all that jazz. As soon as Percy (shoddily) drives the trio out of the parking garage, Hermes’ travel magic transports them to the beach in Santa Monica. That’s the one redeeming thing about this episode for me. That’s actually a really cool application of Hermes’ powers as the God of Travelers.

What I do have a problem with, however, is Percy’s experience in the ocean. Instead of meeting Poseidon, as was promised to us, we meet the Nereid from St. Louis. She tells Percy that “surprise, the summer solstice already happened. Poseidon waited for you as long as you could, but now he has to go marshal his forces for war. Go home now, your quest is done.” Um, what? The summer solstice passing makes no sense to me as a creative decision. The solstice is the reason that all the gods were on Olympus when Percy returned the bolt. You can’t expect the gods to just be chilling on Olympus 24/7 especially when war is about to break out.

Plus, you cannot tell me that Zeus wouldn’t have immediately started fucking shit up. His symbol of power was stolen — allegedly — by Poseidon. He’d want that back ASAP. In the book, it’s stated in no uncertain terms that, if Percy+Co. failed, Zeus and Poseidon would be fucking up the weather. Massive storms and natural disasters everywhere. The sky and the sea would be at war with each other. It would be like Armageddon. There’s 0 sign of that. At all.

Then, before Percy leaves, the Nereid gives him *four* pearls. Not three. Four. This takes away Percy having to sacrifice Sally for the sake of the world (even if she comes back eventually). This change just doesn’t make any sense to me. The explanation in the show is that Poseidon cares about Sally. But that makes 0 sense because there’s been an overarching narrative that All Gods Are Bastards. Additionally, even in this episode, Hermes mentioned that it was Poseidon’s advice to stay away from the lives of demigods/their mortal parents. That it’s awful watching them struggle and feel powerless to stop it. Why does Poseidon suddenly have the power to help Sally now? It just… doesn’t make any sense to me.

Another issue I have with this is that if the Nereid is telling Percy to go back to camp, why is she giving him *four* pearls? Assuming a retcon that the pearls transport the user to CHB, there’s no need for four. If Percy is supposed to return to CHB immediately, he doesn’t go to the Underworld to rescue Sally and therefore does not need a fourth pearl. If that isn’t a plot hole, I don’t know what is.

The episode ends with Percy being like “no, I’m seeing this quest through to the end.” Which is great and all, but the teaser for next episode worries me with how much it includes. We’re going to see Crusty’s Water Bed Palace, the Underworld, AND the fight on the beach with Ares. I don’t know how they’re going to fit that all into like 35 minutes of show time (accounting for the “previously on” segment and credits taking up 5 minutes of the 40 minute runtime). Crusty was the obvious cut from this episode so that it doesn’t feel rushed, but it *wasn’t* cut and that worries me.

And, furthermore, I think Crusty is going to have to be heavily modified for the screen. I see no way Disney allows Percy to go full medieval torture and stretch Crusty to death. Which is disappointing, if I’m being honest. It’s really the first indication of how Percy acts when he’s snapped/in the zone. Stuff like summoning hurricanes while fighting or overwhelming the weather barrier at Camp also falls into this category. That’s a nitpick, sure, but whatever.

Look, I didn’t want to be a hater. And I still don’t. I would love to love this show, but the problem with it is the marketing and the writing. It was marketed by Rick and the critics as a “faithful adaptation.” This is not that. This is a rewrite of the book that’s honestly worse than some fanfics I’ve read. Which says a lot because the PJO fanfic community is not known for having well-written works.

And the trio themselves just aren’t clicking as their book counterparts for the most part. Percy, especially, just doesn’t act like Percy. We’re missing his sarcasm and biting humor. It’s not Walker’s fault — anyone who’s watched The Adam Project” knows he can pull it off. Annabeth has lost most of her character development and had that screen time given to Grover. I was alright with it last episode with Ares, but it just did not work with Augustus this episode. The trio just doesn’t feel like the trio and I don’t think it’s the actors’ faults.

Like I said earlier, Walker can absolutely pull off Persass. The script just isn’t letting him do that and that disappoints me. I watched Leah in Beast and absolutely could see the Annabeth in her, but all of her moments and character traits are either being given to Percy and Grover or cut entirely. Taking away our knowledge from the books, we know the least about Annabeth’s character out of the trio. The script just isn’t making her click in my mind as Annabeth like the script in Beast did. I can’t really say much about Aryan, since I haven’t seen him in other works, but I do like that he’s being elevated above comedic relief. So… that’s a good thing, I guess.

Overall, I have a lot of issues with the show. Especially with this episode. I also have a lot of fears with the direction this show is going for the final two episodes and I’m nervous to see where Rick and the writers take this. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[nemaliwrites]

🕯Trick or treat?🕯

(The event)

Happy Halloween! A treat for you today <3 (which is actually a treat for me bc i get to talk about my writing hehe)

An explanation of the choice behind the title for Drop One at a TIme - mostly bc i was waiting for someone to ask about it but no one did </3

Tldr: the entire piece is a comparison of Melinoë to a golden apple! I was like 'how can i say this without outright saying it yknow', so that's mainly the focus of this passage at the end:

She shines like in the moonlight, but different. Gold instead of silver. Surrounded by the sprouts she’s coaxed from the earth, he’s reminded, suddenly, of the Garden of the Hesperides. The dragon Ladon — his role, maybe. And hers: the fruit of the single tree, growing in the center. Worth holding up the entire sky for.

idk why but something about heracles specifically makes me throw in as many references to mythology as i can. a lil bit of background for those who don't know: out of the twelve labors of heracles, this one refers specifically to the eleventh.

The golden apples are in the garden of the Hesperides, nymphs who were daughters of Atlus. it was their job to safeguard the apples - along with a sleeping, hundred headed dragon named Ladon.

there are multiple versions of this myth, but the one i chose to go with is that when he arrives at the garden, heracles tricks atlus into getting the golden apples for him by promising to hold up the sky for him until he returned.

going back to the title, it comes from a different myth, the one of hippomenes and atalanta. she promises to marry anyone who can beat her in a race, but girl runs fast as hell, so hippomenes prays to aphrodite for help. she gives him three golden apples and tells him to 'drop them one at a time' in order to distract atalanta.

so that's where the title comes from! there's actually more to this comparison that i've been thinking about exploring....something about the golden apple being the thing that started the trojan war and tore everyone apart but here melinoë (another golden apple in her own right) being the one to end the war and bring everyone together......choices choices

but anyway thank you very much for the ask and for letting me ramble! <3

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

Life!Reader Bio

Birthday: ? (Player can give her a birthday) Age: as old as Teyvat itself Affiliation: None Element: Pyro Constellation: Gaudium Vitae

The primordial one known as Life. A kind yet sensitive soul who would prefer her creations choose to lead peaceful lives. Referred to as Saleos by those affiliated with Celestia. (5* Catalyst)

Talents: Combat

Normal Attackー Kiss of Life: Releases up to 4 flaming blossoms that deal Pyro DMG.

Elemental Skillー The Hymn of Respite: Deals AOE Pyro DMG and places the Field of Vita that regenerates a large amount of HP and increases resistance to interruption while in the field. Life!Reader worries for workaholics and the overworked. How can they maintain their strength if they don’t seek even a moment of respite? She hopes this field can remedy your fatigue.

Dance of the Roses: Alternate sprint. Life!Reader discards her constructed avatar in favor of morphing into flaming petals. Applies Pyro to nearby enemies. As flame removes diseases pests and disease from the crop, Life!Reader does the same in her movements.

Elemental Burstー Rejoice, Rejoice: Life draws back her curtain to give a glimpse of the Garden of Hesperides, revitalizing the lucky few able to see such beauty with their own eyes. What are the two most important days in your life? The day you are born and the day you find out why.

Talents: Passives

Life Finds Away: When a Perfect Cooking is achieved on a dish with restorative effects, there is a 12% chance to obtain double the product.

Primordial One: When in the party and not the last to fall, Life!Reader automatically revives herself with full HP. This effect can only occur once every 10 minutes. (*Can be reduced to 5 minutes with constellations.)

Sharing is Caring: After Life!Reader's Field of Vita expires, all party member’s (excluding Life!Reader’s) speed and defense for 10s.

Bonus Trivia:

Signature weapon is a hot pink catalyst with gold and green accents in the design of a rose that opens and closes depending on if it is being used or on standby while sprinting. Signature weapon is called Rose-Hued Flame

She loves her creations equally but Life!Reader sometimes wonders if creating the Archons was a mistake due to the ensuing wars that followed

Being life itself, Life!Reader is immortal and cannot be killed. The oldest being in Teyvat, as old as the world itself and as such Life!Reader never tracked their age or birthday

Life!Reader spends most of her time living among humans, loving them despite their silly and sometimes cruel ways. Her favorite nation to live in changes on a whim and she will move depending on her mood

Is a terrible singer but enjoys singing anyway

Life, Death and Time have the same voice and face despite being separate entities created in the same instant

[bldrdsh]

Normally when people asked him questions about mythology, it was in the context of when he was TRYING to give a tour himself or simply because he tended to be the FOREMOST expert on the matter.

"Doesn't matter, it's not important anyway, and the average person wouldn't notice it unless they were looking for it."

HAVING GROWN UP with mythologies the way he had it forever was ingrained in his very soul, not unlike his siblings & cousins, but it went without saying that he tried his best to uphold the KNOWLEDGE, he'd even been teaching Maddy as of late, to keep the legacy going. The comments he's met with cause the curator to glance over at the other man for a second as he continues forth through the winding halls of the museum.

"You have the basics of Hesiod's Theogony. The story predating the original twelve Olymoians and their myths. That is the baseline for most people interested in studying myth."

When the comment about Hercules is made he shakes his head, gesturing quietly to pause him before correcting the statement.

"Heracles. He was a son of Zeus and scorned Hera. In many mythologies he's something of a prominent figure, even featuring in the stories about Jason & the argonauts. Mythology is much more than just stories–it is the foundation of our culture. The Greeks lived & breathed by these myths in the ancient times, and even today have them deeply entrenched in their culture."

He pauses before a STATUE brought in for a temporary exhibit, depicting the Golden Apple Tree in the Garden of the Hesperides.

"I've been teaching it to my daughter...to help her understand what it means to be PART of my family."

Oliver knows he’s borderline obsessive with his work. in fact, he wouldn’t be himself if he wasn’t. he tends to work best when he’s obsessed- it gets the juices flowing a lot better and he sticks to his guns, not allowing himself to get distracted by other things. it is partially the reason why he came to the museum. he was obsessed and he wanted to learn as much as he could with someone who could present the myths in a new and exciting way. just reading about them was difficult for Oliver- he didn’t feel like he was holding onto any information, and it was starting to drive him crazy. it’s hard to write a book when you’re not retaining information about the thing you’re writing about. so therefore, that’s why he’s here, with his pen and paper in hand and ready to explore the intricacies of mythology.

his lips perk upwards a little at the mention of christianity, shrugging his shoulders a little. “i wouldn’t know. we stopped going to church after my mom died. her funeral was the last time i set foot in church and my stepfather wasn’t very big on reading the bible. he preferred to read me horror stories.” it’s probably part of the reason why Oliver writes what he writes- write what you know, as they say . . . and he’s known a lot of horror in his short time on this earth. Karter was basically explaining a situation to him that he had no knowledge in- he knew as much about christianity as he knew about mythology- which was little to none.

Oliver considers the question as he follows after Karter, holding onto his pen and paper like his life depended on it. “i know that Kronos ate his children because he didn’t want to be overthrown,” he says, licking his lips. “and i know that the gods themselves overthrew him and others like him- those were the titans, i believe ?? i’ve been doing as much research as i can, but unfortunately, i haven’t been retaining much information. that’s why i’m here. i’m hoping that being taught something, i won’t struggle nearly as much with remembering. that’s also why i brought my pen and paper- so i can write everything down.” he explains easy enough, but he seems frustrated that he can’t seem to retain anything, his brain clearly working in overdrive with the amount of writing he’s been doing. “i know about Hercules and his trials- definitely not as fun as disney explained it, though. then again, disney mucked up the whole lot of that myth so, can’t really rely on that at all.”  

[punkylilwitch]

Medusa

Myth vs. Modern

In mythology, the story of medusa has a couple translations that you’ll be sorry to hear aren't great. Specifically, the version that we hear today about Medusa being the victim is a lot more iffy than what’s been accepted by society. First, I’ll share the most widely recognized (and debated) stories, while I do this I’ll compare them to each other by sharing the history in the similar parts of Medusa’s story, and second I’ll share the modern reclaiming of the symbolism medusa has come to be.

The Beginnings

Medusa was born to Phorcys and Ceto, a minor sea god and water goddess/mother of sea monsters. Her siblings include Graeae (The sisters who share one eye and were forced into telling Perseus where Medusa laid so he could slay her. This was done by Perseus holding their eye hostage), Stheno and euryale the gorgons, Echidna the snake woman, Thoosa the sea nymph, Ladon the dragon (guardian of the Golden Apples in the Garden of the Hesperides), and the nymphs of the evening - the Hesperides. Medusa was the only one of her gorgon siblings who was born mortal. She was also the most human of all her siblings, even being beautiful amongst humans. She lived amongst the mortals because of this, becoming a priestess of Athena in Athens. She was incredibly popular out of the priestesses, gaining the attention of the god of the sea and storms Poseidon. 

The Controversy 

A Tragedy 

Sympathetic - a curse given as a blessing

Some believe that Medusa’s curse was given to her as a blessing. In this variation, Medusa did not consent to Poseidon and Athena knew this, so she gave medusa the supposed power to keep away anyone else who may want to do this to Medusa again. This merely had the unfortunate side affect of afflicing literally everyone (sort of how the blessing of King Midas’ touch became a curse)

Cruel - a curse given out of malice

Others believe that Medusa did not consent to having intercourse with Poseidon, but was punished by Athena anyway. In this iteration, Athena blames Medusa for being too flamboyant and vain. Thus, the curse was given as just that - a curse.

Fairness in Justice

Justice - Medusa was cursed for being gross in a sacred place

A number believe that Medusa and Poseidon mutually had intercourse within Athena’s temple. Thus, Athena cursed her to more closely resemble her siblings so Medusa was forced to flee Athens and her life there. 

Freeing - a curse given along with freedom

A few believe that Medusa and Poseidon willingly had intercourse in the temple, but that Athena was forgiving about it. They believe that this curse was given in order to free Medusa of her duties as priestess, freeing her from the burdens of humans and elevating Medusa to a divine form.

Misfortunate - Medusa tricked the gods into sympathizing with her

The remainder believe that Medusa maliciously tricked Athena into sympathizing with her this group is similar to the group seen in the  “Sympathetic” section when it comes to the reason in which medusa was given the curse, but they believe that Athena purposely made it so that the power cannot be misused by making it affect medusa, ending in a sort of bittersweet power as a result. One thing I would like to note is that I could not find proof in this theory, but given the other theories, I decided to add it because some may believe it. Therefore, this theory is the only one without a source. If you have one, please feel free to reblog this and add it

But in every variation, a few things remain. Firstly, Poseidon left the moment they were caught in every variation. Secondly, what medusa became remains the same. Her long hair turned to snakes, her skin turned green, and her face was cursed so that anyone who looked upon it turned into stone. Thirdly, Medusa, once being transformed, no longer wanted to remain in Athens and instead fled to an island far away to be closer to her family. 

Similarities

There are a couple ways in which Medusa’s story connects with itself. These are parts of the story historians are much less divided on. 

One such connection is the known belief that in the story of Medusa, she is in the end killed by Perseus, who had been sent by Polydectes in the hopes that Perseus would be killed by the interaction. Instead, Perseus is aided by the gods by being given a sword and winged sandals from Hermes, and a mirror shield from Athena. He was also gifted just before this a cap of invisibility and a magical bag used to hold Medusa’s head safely once the deed had been done. 

Notably, it was Athena’s temple in which Medusa was caught in, so take from that what you will. Medusa’s head is chopped off in her sleep, and that ends that. 

Once Medusa was dead, Pegasus and Chrysaor were born of the wound, popping out of her neck and waking her two gorgon sisters who she was sleeping by in the cave. However, Perseus got away, delivering the head first to Polydectes and turning him to stone by showing the head to him and second delivering it to Athena.  Also notable, Athena was then presented with this head as evidence of Perseus’ worthiness, which Athena then wore on her shield.

Modern Reclaiming

https://www.inkedmag.com/original-news/medusatattoos

Nowadays, most have accepted the theory that Medusa was taken against her will, though those who say she was a willing participant are still in the many. But Medusa’s story has evolved into much more than that. Now, She is a symbol of strength and being a survivor of SA (sexual assault) and is used in tattoos, stickers, art, and much more. Specifically, a medusa tattoo can be a protection from the evil, and/or a symbol of the victims. The most common interpretation of Medusa suggests she is an apotropaic symbol similar to the modern evil eye. She is said to represent a dangerous threat; and is meant to deter other dangerous threats. An image of evil to repel evil so to speak. 

(I hope this doesn’t get taken down for nudity but it’s art soooo..?)

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/arts/design/medusa-statue-manhattan.html

According to this article called How a Medusa Sculpture From a Decade Ago Became #MeToo Art by The New York Times, A statue made by Luciano Garbati sparked quite some controversy. The art, called “Medusa With the Head of Perseus” is a riff on the previously mentioned tale in which Perseus takes the head of Medusa. Accoridng to the article, “On Tuesday[The article came out on October 13th of 2020], Mr. Garbati’s sculpture — “Medusa With the Head of Perseus” — was reimagined as a symbol of triumph for victims of sexual assault, when it was unveiled in Lower Manhattan, just across the street from the criminal courthouse on Centre Street.” (Julia Jacobs). 

Sources:

Medusa and Poseidon did it willingly (discusses theories of Freeing and Justice)  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrmjcQuG-Gg

Perseus’ story summary (comical and over simplified) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4h8vzK60yk

Lineage source and also they thought that Medusa and Poseidon had an affair and she was punished (discusses theory of Justice) - https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-mythology-medusa-1524415#:~:text=One%20of%20three%20Gorgon%20sisters,she%20was%20born%20at%20sea.

General story and also they believe that Medusa and Poseidon had intercourse willingly and Athena punished Medusa (though notably specifically because Medusa was impregnated and Athena was the goddess of virginity) - https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Creatures/Medusa/medusa.html

They believe that Medusa was a victim. (discusses theory of Cruel) TW: mentions of SA. - https://eportfolios.roehampton.ac.uk/hsa020c132h/2018/06/29/medusa-as-a-victim/#:~:text=Medusa%20was%20so%20beautiful%20that,Gorgon%20instead%20of%20helping%20her. 

They believe that Athena had to protect her former priestess by cursing her. (discusses theory of sympathetic) TW: mentions of SA. - https://www.parlia.com/a/athena-helped-medusa-by-transforming-her-into (The source’s source -http://diaryoftheblackdog.blogspot.com/2017/10/medusa-was-defending-herself.html#:~:text=Athena%20did%20not%20punish%20Medusa,Medusa%20was%20never%20touched%20again.)

[bakedbananners]

(This post was from a month ago but idc lol) I just found your post about Zoe Nightshade being Persian and thank you! You are one of the only people who has acknowledged that. She’s canonically Middle Eastern and people keep fan casting her with white actresses and it’s annoying. Everyone forgot that she’s Persian and it’s sad because she’s probably not gonna be actually played by an Iranian or Middle Eastern actress, but one could dream right?

I’m glad you brought this up because I did more (amateur) research on it and I meant to make a post about it. I’m explaining this stuff mostly as a correction/addendum to my earlier post and absolutely don’t mean this to be a drag or anything. It’s entirely meant to be educational. It’s a really interesting part of history to me :7

Link to original post I only said she was SWANA and I assumed she looked Arabic based off her description, just to be entirely clear lol

Zoë Nightshade would have been North African, not Persian or Middle Eastern or Arabic in the way that it’s described today as alluding to Iran, based on the history/geography of the Antiquity period. The Garden of Hesperides as described by Ancient Greeks was located in Lixus (now Larache), Morocco. It’s on the very tip near the Iberian Peninsula. She lived over 2,000 years ago, before Muslim and Roman conquest of the area. I believe it would have been under Phoenician control at the time, but since she is from the Garden itself it makes far more sense for her to be FROM the area and not Phoenician or from the Levant I guess. So I envision her as being Amazigh (aka “Berber” or “Moorish” but these aren’t very respectful terms despite being used constantly 😭) As you can see Iran/ Persia is very far away from Morocco lol.

Unfortunately there aren’t many artistic renditions of Imazighen people and photos are from French colonization of Morocco and onward 😢 but she would look something like this probably? (Actually I’d like to add that there are many current Imazighen artists on Twitter and suggest ppl browse through the “Artmazigh” tag bc everyone there’s very talented :3 )

I’m putting a disclaimer here: Yes, I know Percy says she looks like a “Persian princess” but that just leads me personally to believe Rick was just saying she looks vaguely SWANA, which Imazighen fall into as far as I know. A lot of art of the nymphs make them white, but Rick specifically didn’t do that with her. She has black hair and bronze skin, so I feel like he was at least aware she’s not European. Also, I am by no means an expert on history especially in Europe, Asia, and Africa. My timeline might be a bit confused because of everything happening during late BC-early AD lol. I’m also acknowledging here that I understand it might be a bit, idk weird? to place an Indigenous Amazigh character into a more Greek mythology context WRT being a nymph and hunter of Artemis. I am trying to tread with respect and caution 😭 I’d love to look into it more honestly because I just love history and anthropology lol.

But anyways she’s not Persian, she’s technically North African/Moroccan but she was alive before present Morocco ever existed (it was called Mauretania I believe? It was near Carthage). The Persian Achaemenid Empire stretched into North Africa but not to Morocco as far as I know. But I mean if you wanna make faceclaims with any SWANA actress including Iranian then go ahead I guess. idk. I agree that people in pjo fandom love whitewashing non-white characters and it’s incredibly infuriating! 😔

[nerdy-sessions]

Pokemon of the Week! #841: Flapple!

Welcome, nerds, to Pokémon of the Week!

Where I, Sesh, generate a random Pokémon to highlight each week!

Last week, we highlighted the OG water pupper good boi Dewgong. That post can be found down below:

This week, we are highlighting a...very unique Pokémon. An adorable, yet powerful, apple-based Dragon-type, Flapple!

I mean, he's a flappin' apple! FLAPPLE!

HE'S A FLAPPIN' DAD JOKE, GUYS!

So let's dive in!

~ORIGINS~

Flapple debuted in 2019's Sword & Shield versions for the Nintendo Switch. Thus far, these are the only games Flapple has appeared in.

Besides a handful of Mega Evolutions (as far as I know), Flapple and it's other evolutions are the only Pokémon dual-typed at Dragon and Grass.

I feel like Flapple is overlooked quite a bit. I mean, Sword & Shield has another dragon type that kind of overshadows our appley friend here.

And it's Ghost and Dragon type.

But this is a Flapple highlight post, not a Dragapult post...

Flapple hasn't had much media attention in the anime, either, which might contribute to it taking a back seat to Dragauplt.

BUT DRAGAPULT DOESN'T HAVE A GIGANTAMAX FORM

For those out of the know, Dynamax and Gigantamax are gimmicks from Sword & Shield that allow Pokémon to grow to massive sizes for 3 turns in certain locations, changing their moves into HUGE DEATH MOVES THAT SWALLOW ENEMY POKEMON WHOLE.

Dynamax just increases size, but some Pokémon have Gigantamax forms, which increase size and change their appearance as well.

So Flapple appears to turn into a massive, gooey apple worm when it Gigantamaxes. Go figure. It's divergent evolution, Appletun, shares this G-Max form with Flapple, which is unique.

Which segues quite nicely into my next point...

Clearly, Flapple is inspired by worms that burrow into apples to feed on their cores. Geometer moth larvae in particular, according to Bulbapedia.

Why geometer moths? Well, according to the Pokedex in Sword version, Flapple keeps "an acid capable of causing chemical burns" in its cheeks. Geometer moth larvae feed on apple cores to ingest a chemical compound called 'amygdalin', which releases CYANIDE into the body when digested.

bruh

The fact it's a dragon may be a pun on the old English way of referring to dragons as "wyrms".

So...yeah. A flappin' apple wyrm.

Flapple may also be inspired by the tale of Ladon, a mythical Greek dragon that guards golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides, nymphs that supposedly controlled the sunsets. Below is a statue of Hercules fighting it:

In a more Biblical idea, Flapple may also be inspired by Satan, in the form of a serpent, persuading Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the book of Genesis. That might be a bit of a stretch, but it still works.

This next idea of it's inspiration, though, is freakin' metal.

Flapple's signature move, Grav Apple (which causes giant apples of draconic death to fall on your opponent), may imply an inspiration from the discovery of gravity by Sir Isaac Newton in England when an apple supposedly fell on his head. As Galar is based on England, that isn't too much of a stretch at all.

SO MUCH FLAPPIN' APPLE-BASED LORE TO EXPLORE

One more fun apple fact for ya'll...

When it's in it's G-Max form, the Shield Pokedex entry states that when it stretches out it's neck, "the strong aroma of its nectar pours out. The scent is so sickeningly sweet that one whiff makes other Pokémon faint."

MOTHER OF

This flappin' dragon wants to make you faint with it's honey-smellin' neck farts.

Anyway...

~DESIGN~

Here's Flapple's official artwork:

Quoted from Flapple's biology section on Bulbapedia:

"Flapple is a green, worm-like dragon Pokémon with a light green underside and yellow eyes. It uses parts of an apple to form its body. The top part of the apple sits on the top of its head, with a single horn sticking out; the bottom of the apple is attached to its tail; and the sides are attached to its limbs, which have three-clawed hands, allowing them to act as wings.

Its cheeks store acid strong enough to induce chemical burns. It can attack by spitting this acid at its targets. It is also able to disguise itself as an apple by folding its wings."

Below is the official art for G-Max Flapple:

Next, the biology section on it's G-Max form:

"When exposed to Gigantamax energy, Flapple changes into the shape of a giant apple with a green dragon-like Pokémon inside. Its leaf-like eyestalks stand up straight and it has the top of the apple on its head with yellow carvings on the apple resembling nostrils. Its tail is elongated and wraps around the base of the apple. The Pokémon has rounded cheeks and hangs its mouth open letting a red tongue hang out of its mouth. Three red clouds float around the neck.

The sweet nectar that covers its body increases in thickness, allowing it to absorb more damage than normal. It can shoot out nectar, enough to be able drown its opponents in the blast of nectar. Flapple can produce significantly sweeter nectar in Gigantamax form. An intensely sweet aroma of nectar pours out when it stretches its neck, and this aroma is so sweet it can cause other Pokémon to faint by merely taking a sniff of the scent."

~ADVANTAGES~

Flapple is best fielded type-wise against Water-types, as it's grass typing makes for a huge advantage against them.

Flapple is highly resistant against Ground and Electric-types as well.

Flapple has an exceptionally high base Attack stat at 110. Teach it physical attacks that hit hard. It's Special Attack state is not that far behind at 95.

Your Flapple may have the signature ability "Ripen". If so, this doubles the effect of berries used on it in battle.

If your Flapple has the "Gluttony" ability, HP-restoring berries will take effect at 50% HP rather than 25% HP.

Further making Flapple a really heavy-hitter, if your Flapple has the hidden ability "Hustle", upon entering battle, your Flapple's Attack state will automatically skyrocket by 50%.

It's G-Max form HITS EVEN HARDER.

~DISADVANTAGES~

Dragon-types hate Ice-types normally. But DO NOT field Flapple against Ice-types AT ALL. It's added Grass-typing makes it QUADRUPPLY WEAK to Ice.

Like other Dragons, it is weak to other Dragon moves, as well as Ice.

It's Grass-typing makes this Dragon-type weak to more things than normal Dragon-types. Be cautious when fielding against Flying, Poison, and Bug-types.

It's kind of a glass cannon. It's lowest base state is Special Defense, and can't take hard hits very well.

Going back to the "Hustle" hidden ability; though your Attack skyrockets 50%, the accuracy of your physical moves goes down by 20%. Make sure to use moves with high base Accuracy if your Flapple has "Hustle", or you'll be missing your target a lot.

Flapple is capable of learning the hard-hitting move "Heavy Slam". However, it is the lightest Pokémon capable of doing so. As a result, the damage it deals out using "Heavy Slam" is actually quite low. I wouldn't recommend teaching it "Heavy Slam."

~HOW TO OBTAIN~

As stated earlier, the only games Flapple are obtainable in as of the writing of this post are the Sword & Shield versions, where it debuted.

Catch it's base form, Applin, and evolve it. Applin can be found it quite a bit of locations; Route 5, and in possible Max Raid battles in the Wild Area at Dusty Bowl, Giant's Mirror, Axew's Eye, Bridge Field, Dappled Grove, Giant's Mirror, Rolling Fields, and the Stony Wilderness. It can also be found in multiple locations in the expansion pass zones which I won't list.

Evolve Applin into Flapple by giving it a Tart Apple. Tart Apples are only available in Sword version, and cannot be purchased or found in Shield, making Flapple somewhat of a version exclusive Pokémon. If you have Sword version, you can by a Tart Apple from the Pokemart in Hammerlocke. Otherwise, you'll have to try your luck finding a Tart Apple in the Wild Area at Axew's Eye.

If you'd rather skip the drama of tracking down a flappin' Tart Apple for evolution, you can obtain a Flapple directly exclusively in Sword version. You'll need to battle and capture it in possible Max Raid battles in Axew's Eye, Bridge Field, Dappled Grove, Giant's Mirror, and Stony Wilderness. If you want to find one with the ability to G-Max, you'll need to narrow your search to the Dappled Grove.

~COOL FLAPPLE FANART~

Does Flapple have cool fanart, you may ask yourself? IT SURE AS FLAP DOES!

D'aww...it's cute. I get a Looney Tunes vibe from this design.

Getting ready to spew some hazardous apple-based cyanide at ya!

Hanging out with it's Shield exclusive brother/sister, Appletun!

The Pokémon Apple family!

Oh no! I don't think it knows it's also throwing anxiety-apples, too!

~CONCLUSION~

Maybe one day the Pokémon of the Week will be one I've actively had on my team. As much as I enjoyed learning all the flappin' apple-based lore about Flapple, I haven't ever used one. I do really like the idea behind it, even if it is a little silly. Overall, a solid Attack 'mon with a unique typing I like a lot!

Have you guys ever used a Flapple? What are your thoughts? Let me know!

Until next time! Join me next week for a real short-fused pre-evolution 'mon with a temper!

[skeletal-kitt]

I am so tired of people who clearly do not understand Luke’s character one bit hate on him so much. Like did they forget everything he went through?

Did they forget about Luke being abused by his insane mother and homeless and running from monsters his entire childhood?

Did they forget how none of the gods ever helped him not even a tiny bit no matter how much he prayed for help?

Did they forget how Luke saw the truth about how bad the gods are and how little they cared for demigods-they’re own children-and he tried to do something about it?

Did they forget that Luke had to witness Thalia, Annabeth, and countless other children in the Hermès cabin struggle to stay alive just because they’re parents didn’t care about them enough to help more?

Did they forget how Luke a cabin counselor had to deal with a tiny overcrowded cabin where some kids were sleeping on the floor just because their paresnts were too lazy to claim them? (Percy slept on the floor of the Hermès cabin his first week at camp. )

Did they forget how Luke had to see his best friend almost die and get turned into a stupid pine tree when Zeus could have easily brought her back?

Did they forget how Luke prayed for two years for a quest to prove himself and the Hermes his father sends him on a little field trip to the Garden of Hesperides for some stupid unimportant to the gods golden apple?

Did they forget that Luke had to fight freaking Ladon-a gaint dragon with 100 heads sharp fangs spits poison and razor sharp claws that permanently scarred his face-all by himself?

Did they forget that Garden of Hesperides is on top of Mt. Tamapais? Did they forget that’s also the location of Mt. Otheysis? AKA the location of the Titans head quarters?

Did people forget that this is most likely where Luke was corrupted by Kronos?

Did they forget how Hermès-and the other gods-already knew about the Titans setting up camp around Mt Tam and Hermès choose to send Luke up there anyway for a stupid golden apple that didn’t mean anything to the gods?

Did they forget that Luke was just a possibly mentally ill 16 year old that had been screwed over and over again by the gods-and had to watch other demigods be screwed over by the gods too- and hated the gods with a passion for a good reason?

Did they forget how broken and lost Luke was by the age of 16?

Did they forget how Kronos slipped his voice into Luke’s head and saw exactly how he felt and told him he could make things better for demigods and get revenge on the gods?

Did they forget Kronos was the one to groom a mentally ill teenage boy who was desperate for a better world into accepting Kronos and all his evil plans?

Did they forget how Kronos instructed Luke on every little thing he did? Like having contact with Silena and giving her the spy bracelet, people understand that was Kronos idea that he forced Luke to do right?

Did they forget when Luke realized what Kronos was planning is evil it was already too late for him to escape?

Did they forget all the years of mental verbal and sometimes physical abuse Luke went through all by the people/entities that were supposed to take care of him or said they would take care of him?

Did they forget how Luke tried to get help multiple times from Annabeth and Thalia cause those were the only people he truly trusted before Kronos possess him but every time his former best freinds turned him down or Kronos stopped him?

(Thalia and Annabeth did the right thing turning him down though. Luke was already too far gone and practically possessed by Kronos already. I knew there was no possibility of saving him after that scene in Titans Curse.)

Also what is it people calling Luke a pedo? You took that one scene in The Last Olympian WAY out of context. (I’m not counting the Luke/Silena thing cause that was Kronos’s idea he forced Luke to do).

Luke meant “did you love me like family? Were we a family? Are we still family or have you disowned me? But he’s literally dying right now and in a lot of pain so “did you love me” was probably all he could get out.

Annabeth took that out of context thinking about her childhood admiring/hero worshiping crush on Luke so she said “you were like a brother to me but I didn’t love you”. Luke probably assumed that meant yes they were a family but she disowned him

Luke had been screwed over his entire life by by his mom, dad, the gods, and later on his best freinds but he was a good kid who could have grown up into a decent man. If only an evil Titan lord didn’t corrupt and groom him as a mentally ill teenager.

Luke made a mistake. But if you were in his shoes you probably would have made the same mistake.

And if you read the entire pjo series, and you read all the way through this post, and you still think Luke Castellan is the bad guy......Don’t interact with this post at all. In fact go ahead and block me.

[arts-dance]

[Art: Eleanor Antin’s “Judgment of Paris”]

Eris In Myth

OK, so the myth goes something like this:

There was once a wedding banquet thrown by Zeus, a huge ceremonial convention of great pomp and significance, where all the gods and goddesses would be invited. However, due to her wild, unruly nature, Eris was not snubbed from attending, assumedly because her presence might just foul up the entire party.

Spurned by this rude unwelcomeness and true to her scornful nature, Eris decided to crash the event anyway, if only to throw in a highly-prized golden apple from the blissful Garden of Hesperides. On the inscription was “to the hottest goddess of them all”.

This created a scramble for position and great commotion amongst the contenders, turning the affair into a veritable bitchfight, especially between Aphrodite (📷), Hera (Juno) and Athena (Pallas) who each made insistent claims to the apple for their beauty. Asked to adjudicate on who was the “hottest”, Zeus respectfully refrained, since his interests in goddesses were wide and varied and he did not want to cause waves for himself. Instead, he called on local Trojan boy, Paris to make the call – a man praised and renowned for his fair judgement.

In a sense, this becomes the first-ever ‘Miss Universe’ contest, with all three goddesses putting it on for their young judge. Stripped naked, each quite beautiful in their own unique way, they also put out certain worldly goodies that might persuade their judge to choose them.

Hera, the mother of all goddesses, and wife of presidential god Zeus, is powerful enough to promise to make Paris King of the world if he chooses her.

Athena, goddess of law and order, whose beauty is not sexualised but holds her femininity secondary to her wisdom, offers Paris a glorious and respected career as a military ruler.

Aphrodite (Venus), goddess of the allure and sexuality, promises to fix Paris up with the most gorgeous mortal woman on earth – Helen of Sparta (who incidentally happens to be married to King Menelaus).

After some thoughtful deliberation, but mostly ignited by his loins, Paris chooses to prize Eris’ golden apple to Aphrodite. This causes all sorts of troubles, especially when Paris steals his prized Spartan queen away to Troy, sparking off the Trojan War – a 10-year epic saga, which involved much decisive interference from the scorned and enraged other two goddesses.

MORAL: It doesn’t take much to start long-lasting strife and discord.

Eris (/ˈɪərɪs, ˈɛrɪs/; Greek: Ἔρις Éris, "Strife") is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia, which means the same. Eris's Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Roman counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona. The dwarf planet Eris is named after the goddess.

She had no temples in ancient Greece and functions essentially as a personification, as which she appears in Homer and many later works.

The story of Eris being snubbed and indirectly starting the Trojan War is recorded in the Principia, and is referred to as the Original Snub. The Principia Discordia states that her parents may be as described in Greek legend, or that she may be the daughter of Void. She is the Goddess of Disorder and Being, whereas her sister Aneris (called the equivalent of Harmonia by the Mythics of Harmonia) is the goddess of Order and Non-Being. Their brother is Spirituality.

Discordian Eris is looked upon as a foil to the preoccupation of western philosophy in attempting find order in the chaos of reality, in prescribing order to be synonymous with truth. Discordian Eris teaches us that the only truth is chaos, and that order and disorder are simply temporary filters applied to the lenses we view the chaos through. This is known as the Aneristic Illusion.

In this telling, Eris becomes something of a patron saint of chaotic creation:

I am chaos. I am the substance from which your artists and scientists build rhythms. I am the spirit with which your children and clowns laugh in happy anarchy. I am chaos. I am alive, and I tell you that you are free.

The concept of Eris as developed by the Principia Discordia is used and expanded upon in the science fiction work The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson (in which characters from Principia Discordia appear). In this work, Eris is a major character.

The classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty is partly inspired by Eris's role in the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Like Eris, a malevolent fairy curses a princess after not being invited to the princess's christening.

The New Zealand moth species Ichneutica eris was named in honour of Eris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(mythology)

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

The Life Of Luke Castellan

This is a timeline of Luke’s entire life, written because a lot of you have really really bad takes on who he was, what he wanted, and what he actually did. Everything written here is a fact taken directly from the books. 

Luke was with a mother who inadequately took care of him from the age of one year old onward. Hermes left May and Luke shortly after May tried to host the oracle and went insane. 

May Castellan scared Luke so much that he hid in closets so that she wouldn’t find him.

When he was nine years old, Luke ran away from home.

Luke spent two years of homelessness alone. 

Luke taught himself to fight monsters and survive on the streets.

Luke tried to share his godly heritage with mortals but they didn’t understand why being a demigod was bad and Luke eventually moved on. 

Luke was in a dragon’s cave when he found Thalia (it had been Thalia’s first night of homelessness). 

Thalia held back a lot of information from Luke (her family, the goat, etc…) 

Luke is easily manipulated by affection and compliments. He will immediately do whatever someone wants him to if they praise him. 

Luke and Thalia are homeless together for three years. 

Luke and Thalia meet Halcyon Green when they’re 14 and 12 respectively by running into a trap. They’ve never met an old demigod. Hal kills himself so that they can escape the trap. 

That very same night, Luke and Thalia meet Annabeth (who has been homeless for a couple of months and looked after by Athena). Luke is the one who senses another demigod nearby. Luke loves Annabeth immediately and decides that he’s going to be her dad. They make safe houses everywhere with emergency supplies. 

A short while later, Thalia is injured and they go to May Castellan’s house for refuge, where Luke meets his father, Hermes, for the first time. 

Hermes tells Luke that he should not have come home and that he’s getting too old to be on the run without help. He says that he will arrange a quest for Luke so that Luke can do one great thing before his life turns sour. 

Hermes points Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth in the direction of Camp Half-Blood. 

They leave May Castellan’s house that same night. Luke is angry and upset. He’s convinced that his dad doesn’t love him. 

Sometime after this, they meet Grover, who has been sent to escort ONLY Thalia to Camp Half-Blood. Grover and Thalia didn’t want to leave Annabeth and Luke behind. 

Luke challenges every monster they come across. 

However, they’re being hunted down by a lot more monsters than usual because Hades is sending monsters after Thalia. Hades is doing this because Zeus killed Maria Di Angelo, a mortal whom Hades loved and had two kids with. 

Grover got nervous and got lost, they took a wrong turn and wound up in a Cyclops lair. The cyclops used his voice mimicry to confuse Thalia, Luke, and Grover, and then tied them up. Annabeth untied Thalia and Thalia saved them. But that gave the monsters enough time to catch up to them. 

There’s a final confrontation between Luke, Thalia, Annabeth, Grover, and the monsters on Half-Blood Hill just outside of Camp’s boundaries. Thalia stays to hold off the monsters and is slain. 

Zeus appears and turns Thalia into a pine tree as she’s dying. To prevent this from happening again, he decides to erect a magical border at the Camp, which will protect the demigods inside. 

Luke moves into the Hermes Cabin, which is overcrowded with the unclaimed demigods and the children of minor gods. 

When Luke turns 17, he’s given a quest by Hermes to seek a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides. He’s honored until he realizes that his quest isn’t important and has already been done before. While he fails to get the golden apple and is physically scarred from the ordeal, Luke does manage to take one of Landon’s claws as a trophy. 

The campers treated Luke with pity after he failed his quest. Luke’s anger and bitterness grew. Annabeth notes that he was never the same. 

Shortly after this, Kronos began to appear in Luke’s dreams and persuaded Luke to join his cause in bringing down the Gods. 

During the winter solstice, when Luke is 18 or 19, the year-rounders go on a field trip to Olympus. Luke steals the master bolt and the helm of darkness from the throne room.  Luke is caught by Ares because he got overconfident. Kronos was the one who gave Luke the words to say to convince Ares not to kill him and to start a war between the gods. 

After being caught by Ares, Kronos punishes Luke with nightmares. He eventually tells Luke that a hero who can be easily tricked will arrive at Camp and they’ll be able to deliver the bolt and helm to Tartarus for Kronos. 

When Luke is 19 years old, Percy Jackson, 12-year-old son of Poseidon, comes to Camp Half-Blood. Luke is kind to Percy and takes him under his wing. 

During Capture The Flag, Luke summoned a Hellhound to make Chiron think that Hades was after Percy and that the Camp wasn’t safe for Percy. 

Luke wins Capture The Flag (this win is later revealed to be something Annabeth set up).

After the hellhound attack, Luke teaches Percy sword-fighting one-on-one. None of the other campers want to be around Percy. 

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are set to go on a Quest. Luke almost misses them leaving, but just catches them to give Percy a pair of winged sneakers. 

Luke hugged Annabeth goodbye, patted Grover on the head, and shook Percy’s hand. 

While the three are gone on their Quest, Luke is at Camp and asks about Grover and Annabeth. He says that the Campers are dividing and breaking out into fights. He calls the person who summoned the hellhound a scumbag (he’s calling himself a scumbag) and says that they leaked information which started the fights. Luke plants seeds of doubt in Percy’s head about Annabeth stealing the Master Bolt. He calls Annabeth his little sister. 

During the summer, Kronos gifts Luke with Backbiter, a sword that can dismember Gods and Titans. Luke is the one who named it Backbiter because he’s biting back against the gods. 

After the Quest, Luke announces the bead for the summer and gifts Percy with his leather necklace. 

Two months after that, Luke hacks the training dummies to pieces. He lures Percy into the woods with the promise of coca-cola and asks him if he missed being out in the real world. 

Luke admits that he feels like his Quest was for nothing, that his dad doesn’t care about him now that his one Quest failed, and that if he can’t have a normal life, then he doesn’t want to be left in obscurity. Luke is tired of being a pawn of the gods, who are only able to hold on to power because of their demigod children. He says that he brought Percy down to say goodbye and summons a pit scorpion. He admits that he wants to explain to Percy but he doesn’t have time to. 

Luke tells Percy that Kronos seduced him via flattery and sympathy and talked him into stealing something worthwhile to show off what a good thief he is.

Luke tells Percy that things will be set right and Percy will be killed. He also says that he isn’t as easily baited as Ares. Luke slashes the air with Backbiter and disappears into a ripple of darkness. 

During the winter, Luke has been convincing demigods to join their cause and has been training them.

Kronos convinces Luke to poison Thalia’s tree to get the Gods to send the campers on a quest for the Golden Fleece. Kronos needs the Golden Fleece to reform quicker. He promises Luke that after Kronos has been reformed, Luke can use the Fleece to heal Thalia’s tree. So Luke poisoned the tree.

Luke bought a yacht called the Princess Andromeda. He’s cleaned up his appearance and is enjoying the luxury of the cruise ship. He can now use telekinesis though it’s unclear if this is a power he had before or if he gained it from Kronos. 

Luke knew that Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson spent the night on his ship and left them alone until they went snooping. When he does catch them, Luke calls Annabeth and Percy his favorite cousins. He tries and fails to convince them that they’re on the wrong side of the war. 

When they refuse to join him, Luke sends them away with the incompetent giant brother, Oreius (rather than the more competent giant brother, Agrius) to be fed to the drakon. Doing this makes him nervous enough to glance at the golden casket that holds Kronos’ body. Later, Percy and Annabeth agree that he let them get away. 

Luke and his army have been tailing Percy and co. He captures them and brings them aboard the Princess Andromeda to question them about the Golden Fleece. He’s genuinely upset when he realizes that they don’t have it. 

Luke and Percy fight but despite having many chances to kill him, Luke only grazes Percy. The only serious wound Percy gets is a cut on his leg. Before striking a killing blow, Luke stops and tells Oreius that he can eat the others. Because of this pause, the party ponies bust in and Percy, Tyson, Annabeth, and Grover are able to escape. 

Sometime after this, Luke is no longer in charge of Kronos’ army. He’s been demoted and Atlas takes over. 

Luke holds up the sky to free Atlas. His face is scratched, his clothes are in tatters. 

Thorn brings Annabeth to him and Luke begs her for help. He tells Annabeth that she shouldn’t trust him because he’s been terrible to her, but he’s going to die if she doesn’t help him. It is later revealed that Annabeth wasn’t supposed to be the one brought to him (it was supposed to be a child of the Big Three) but Luke came up with a plan to make it work out anyway. 

Annabeth takes the weight of the sky. Luke thanks her, then tells her that her help is on the way and to try not to die in the meantime. 

It’s sometime later that Luke returns to Annabeth and sees that she’s in bad shape. He urges them to hurry the plan along because Annabeth is going to die soon. Artemis takes Annabeth’s place. Luke does not want to kill Annabeth, making excuses to keep her alive. Luke carries Annabeth away to take care of her injuries. 

Luke looks like he’s aged ten years. His skin is pale and his hair is gray. The scar on his face had been reopened. He seems to be able to sense when Percy is near, as he’s looking straight at the spot Percy is hiding and he says it’s Percy Jackson who is interrupting. 

Luke tries to get assigned to taking out the Hunters and Thalia. His request is denied. 

Luke doesn’t like that Atlas calls his army on the Princess Andromeda insignificant. Atlas admits that they’ll make a good Honor Guard for Kronos and brings up that Luke will become Kronos’ host. Luke is scared of becoming Kronos’ host. 

Luke is trying to get Thalia to join their side. He is terribly weak and speaks as though every word is painful. Luke is trying to get Thalia to agree because he wants his family together and also because if Luke fails at persuading her, Kronos will use Luke’s body as his host (which will kill Luke). 

Thalia immediately attacks Luke. Despite how fragile he is, he can still hold his own against her. The shield Thalia wields scares him and this annoys Luke. Luke has a bloody slash across his chest from Thalia. Thalia disarms Luke and wants to kill him.

Luke is afraid that she’s going to kill him. Thalia kicks Luke over the edge of a cliff. He’s afraid when he goes over the edge of the cliff. Until that very moment, Luke truly believed in his friends. Afterwards, he realizes that there’s no one he can count on. 

It is unknown if Luke died and was resurrected or if he lived through the fall. 

During the winter, Luke goes to visit Annabeth under a flag of truce. He told her that Kronos was going to use him to take over the world and he wanted to run away, like the old days. He was very scared and when she refused to run away, Luke tells her that she had better fight (kill) him right there because it would be the last chance anyone would get. 

Luke is forced by Kronos to bathe in the River Styx. It is said that Luke had to be pressured in many ways before he would do it. Before he does, he visits May one more time to get her blessing. It’s been 7 years since he last saw her. 

Between then, and the next summer, Luke turns 21. He starts paying good money for demigods. Geryon is helping to get him demigods. 

Luke no longer has Backbiter with him. The sword is being remade into a scythe. 

There is a plan to attack Camp Half-Blood. Luke is reluctant to do it. He is still afraid of becoming Kronos’ host but he shows no weaknesses in front of his army. 

It is heavily implied that he and Kelli, an empousa, are having sex. 

Luke finds Quintus (Daedalus) and they speak several times. Luke tries to persuade him to join Kronos. Luke asks him how to get through the Labyrinth. Quintus tells him that a mortal with clear sight can do it. Luke doesn’t like that answer and tries to find other ways. 

Luke sends solo explorers through the Labyrinth because the larger the group, the easier it is to get lost. As far as we can tell, none of them returned. Luke has a map but it isn’t working. He goes to Quintus and gets the String of Ariadne to help navigate the Labyrinth. 

Although Luke was previously buying demigods and accepting defects before that, they must now fight to join the army. 

When Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel stumble upon Luke in the Labyrinth, Luke is so busy staring at Percy that he doesn’t notice Annabeth until she shouts his name. 

Luke arranges it so that Percy and Antaeus fight to the death. He knows that Percy will win, killing Antaeus and allowing his army free passage through the territory.

Luke orders his monsters to kill everyone (quickly) except Annabeth. He wants to speak to her before the upcoming battle. He doesn’t even rise from his seat to relay the order and Kelli is thrown into his lap when Mrs. O’Leary is summoned by Percy. 

Annabeth notes that Luke looked nervous. 

Luke turns on Quintus, sending Minos directly to him. 

One day after the fight in the Labyrinth, Luke becomes the host for Kronos. Percy finds him lying in the golden coffin, looking very dead. There’s a hole in his chest, black and right where his heart should have been. 

Kronos awakens in Luke’s body. His chest is mended and his eyes are gold. He says that Luke feared Percy, that his jealousy and hatred have kept Luke obedient. 

When Rachel Elizabeth Dare threw a hairbrush at Kronos/Luke, it was Luke’s voice that said ow. 

Kronos/Luke do not lead the attack against Camp Half-Blood. 

Luke continuously fights against Kronos in his body. It’s noted by Ethan Nakamura that Kronos should be fully settled into Luke’s body by the following summer. 

Kronos leads the first wave against the demigods in Manhattan. Luke is not mentioned. 

At the bottom of the Empire State Building, Kronos leads his army. Chiron and Kronos/Luke fight. Chiron says that Luke was a good hero before Kronos corrupted him. Kronos says that Chiron filled Luke’s head with empty promises and then Luke broke through and said “you said the gods cared about me!” 

Annabeth attacks Kronos and says that she hates him. Kronos admires Annabeth’s spirit and says he sees why Luke wanted to spare her. 

Kronos destroys Olympus with the scythe Backbiter as he travels to the throne room. He does this because he promised Luke that he would tear down Olympus brick by brick. 

Kronos looks just like Luke, offering up the same sweet smile to Percy and Annabeth that he did while welcoming Percy to Camp. 

Kronos doesn’t hesitate to fight Percy. He touches Zeus’ throne and gets electrocuted, face covered in burns and hair smoldering. 

Kronos opens a fissure in the ground and Ethan falls through the sky. 

Kronos announces that Luke Castellan is dead and his body will burn away as Kronos assumes his true form. Annabeth knows that Luke has been fighting Kronos the entire time. Kronos/Luke is disarmed and Backbiter falls into the hearth fire.

When Luke sees the blood on Annabeth’s face, he regains control of his body. Kronos is ready to shed Luke’s body like a chrysalis but Luke pleads for Percy to give him Annabeth’s dagger and so that he can kill himself. Kronos burns his hands trying to pick up Backbiter. 

Luke begs until Percy gives him Annabeth’s dagger. He stabs himself in the armpit, which is where his mortal spot is. Kronos is banished from Luke’s body.

Luke’s entire left side is bloody. His eyes are blue again. He’s dying. Luke is in a lot of pain. He tells them that he’s going to go for rebirth and try for Elysium three times so that he can reach the Isles of the Blest.

Luke asks Annabeth if she loved him. She says like a brother. Luke is satisfied with this answer. He tells Grover that he’s the bravest Satyr ever. Luke grasps Percy with a hand still hot and burnt and begs him not to let it happen again. Percy promises that he won’t let this happen again.

At age 22, Luke Castellan dies.  

[maivalkov]

Hi! Well, like everyone is talking about names and their meanings I wanted to share what I read once XD

So the old (old) Greece called it "Hesperia", the land of the Garden of Hesperides. They used to think that some places like Hades, Elysian Fields, or the Garden of Hesperides were there. At that time, they thought it was the end of the world, the place where the sun was set, so the underworld (Hades) was placed there.

Also, there was a paradisiac place to embrace the souls of heroes and pure men: Elysian fields (where the weather was nice and the land green and flowery, with short winter and scarce rain), some historians think it could be the actual Seville or Cadiz.

But the mythological belief that lasted more was the Garden of Hesperides (and so the name Hesperia). The Garden of the Hesperides is Hera's orchard, where either a single apple tree or a grove grows, producing golden apples which give you immortality (some people think these golden apples could be actually oranges, but dunno) and the Hesperides (nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides from their reputed father, the Titan Atlas) had the task of tending to the grove, but occasionally picked apples for themselves (Not trusting them, Hera also placed in the garden an immortal, never-sleeping dragon to watch them, btw XD). Anyway, some people think or thought or whatever that the story of Atlantis places it near Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar (where Greek people said were the Pillars of Hercules, the end of the known world) and from there would come the names of the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlas Mountains.

This has nothing to do with it, but later the Romans thought that the end of the known world was in the present-day Galicia, hence the name of Cape Finisterre (end of the earth). However, the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar) remained for the Romans the limit between the exterior and the interior of the Mediterranean basin since the existence of a continent further west of this sea was unknown, so the Pillars have been related to the Latin phrase "Non terrae plus ultra" ("There is no land beyond").

(okay, this got so loooong omg sorry)

Another fascinating addition to the pile, thank you very much anon! 

[astronomical-bagel]

Do you have a favorite constellation?

My favorite is Draco the dragon, also called Ladon! It’s my favorite because of the placement (right up in the north, curled around the Little Dipper and drinking from the Big Dipper), the story (which I’ll go more into), but mostly because I’m a huge dragon nerd lol.

basically, the story of Ladon changes a bunch, his identity itself doesn’t. He was the dragon that guarded the golden apples in the garden of Hesperides, son of Typhon and Echidna. The most common story of his death is that Hercules killed him in his eleventh Labor with a poisoned arrow, but there’s others saying that he tricked Atlas into doing it somehow, or that Minerva (Roman athena) did it and threw him into the sky?? Idk those last two ones aren’t as common lol

Anyways, thanks for asking ! I love talking about Greek myths lol.