#anyways first (?) time writing tlt and i kinda like it

[pasiphile]

Ficlet prompt! The Locked Tomb. Gideon gets away and joins the Cohort. But it's not exactly all she'd hoped it would be. She doesn't actually miss the taunts of the Reverend Daughter, does she? Gross.

The food’s good.

The food’s good, and having non-geriatric company makes for a nice change, and Gideon’s fucking ace at sword practice and she gets high-fives after training and people laugh at her puns and she’s pretty sure that cute Fourth-house blonde is gonna ask her out on a date any time soon and it’s great, it’s everything she’d hoped for and more, and –

And every day she feels deeply, staggeringly lonely.

Space blinks back at her, forlornly, her own face – oddly bare without the paint, even though she hated it, even though she avoided wearing it every opportunity she got – staring back at her.

There was a bit at the end of every fantasy, where she got mentioned in dispatches, or got some kind of medal, and Her Royal Boniness would be there and grudgingly nod, or shake her hand, or even – in Gideon’s wildest and yuckiest dreams – smile with some sort proprietary pride.

But Gideon’s been in the Cohort for two months and it’s clear now that’s never gonna happen. As soon as basic training’s done they’re gonna send her to one of the colonies, and she’ll be literal light years removed from the Ninth. Even if, somehow, she’d perform some glorious feat that set her apart from the thousands of other soldiers, she’d never get close to orbit again.

And fuck knows Harrow would never leave her precious planet alone unattended.

And that should be a good thing, fucking hell, why is she moping about this? The Reverend Daughter hates her guts. Being away from her should feel like a release.

But it’s a familiar hate. A hate she grew up with.

“Hey Nav, coming? We’ve got a beer pong competition to win.”

“Yeah, sure. In a minute.”

There’s a rumour going around, of all the House Scions and their Cavs being called to some special meeting thing, and wouldn’t that be a rub. On the one hand she was loyal to the bone – hah – to their Kindly Prince, but on the other hand, to leave her House alone…

And it would be with Ortus at her side. Yuck.

Gideon closed her eyes, rubbed her face, for a moment let her thoughts wander. Imagined what it would be like to go in at Harrow’s side instead of Ortus, be her cavalier, challenge people to duels in name of the Ninth. Maybe then the Reverend Daughter would begrudgingly show her something more than outright contempt. Gideon would absolutely trash some jumped-up little Fifth House pampered Cav and Harrow would look on from the shadows, ominious in her ceremonial robes, the tiniest smile pulling at that thin line of a mouth –

Yeah, as if.

“Nav!”

“Yeah, I’m there.”

Gideon threw one more look at the porthole and space outside, full of promises and adventures that had lost their allure, black as the Reverend Daugher’s eyes…

Yeah, no, this was good. This had been the normal, healthy choice. Fuck Harrow and fuck the Ninth, she had an ensign to flirt with and beer pong to win. Besides…

Only a madman would have believed Harrow to ever regard her with anything but hate.

She pushed off and strode down the hallway, her boots clanging on the metal floor that seemed almost obscenely shiny compared to the Ninth rusty squalor, leaving behind dreams of black eyes and bone-ringed hands and gritting her teeth against the sharp pang of loss.

[logarithmicpanda]

The Narrow Road Between Desires VS The Lightning Tree

I reread both simultaneously to be able to have a more objective opinion on them.

TL;DR the new version of the story adds, on top of the illustrations, several additional scenes and some very welcome revisions. It is a kinder, queerer, and more magical version of the same story. For me it is definitely worth the read!

Spoilers below:

First let's crunch the raw numbers. Based on the audiobook version TLT has an estimated 27,807 words and TNRBD is at 71,760 words, so almost three times at long. The sections in TLT are arranged a bit differently than in TNRBD but I will use them to do a more detailed breakdown below:

TLT:

Morning: The Narrow Road (29p)

TNRBD:

Dawn: Artistry (6p) Morning: Embril (18p) Mid morning: The Narrow Road (40p) Mid-day: Birds (8p)

Total: 72 pages

The same events are covered, but TNRBD expends on Bast and Kote's characterization. I think the story takes place before NOTW btw, because Bast looks intrigued when Kostrel jokingly tells him to write a book if he knows so much. I think that was was made Bast try to have Kote write his memoirs himself, a while before Chronicler ever sets foot in the Waystone Inn.

The order in which Bast does his turns around the tree changes, the breaking way first, then the making way. I'm not sure yet how I interpret that lol.

One of the boys is changed to a girl, and the first secret she gives about a man sleeping with someone who is not his wife implies that it might be an open relationship in this version (everyone knows, including the wife).

A girl named Gretta in TLT is now Grett, and explicitly referred to using they/them.

New divination system introduced, with things called Embrils that Bast uses kinda like runes, to do tosses

Instead of a shepherdess, Bast charms a shepherd (Bi!Bast for the win) who very cutely embroiders stuff on Bast's pants while mending them

The bargain with Kostrel is more complex, touches on Fae magic and debts, and Bast gets tricked into accepting the gift of a penance coin...

When Kostrel asks Bast to describe Emberlee's breast to him, Bast says he will only do it if she gives her permission

When Bast takes his bath, both men and women are watching (in both versions, he very well knows they are there)

---

TLT:

Afternoon: Birds and Bees (32p)

TNRBD:

Mid-day: Birds (continued, 16p) Noon: Obligation (17p) Afternoon: Still (33p) Moonrise: Sweetness (11p) Evening: riddles (7p)

Total: 84 pages

I had forgotten, but TLT already had bits of queerness, namely the little girl who saw "mama kiss the maid", and when Bast goes watch Emberlee bathe, it is strongly implied she was among the women watching him earlier. In TNRBD, that is expended upon.

When the little girl wants to know if her kitten is a boy or a girl, there's this quote that I really liked: Bast would rather tell the bigger truth than the smaller one anyway. "Bows and dresses don't matter much," he said. "She decided she's a girl, so she's a girl."

The girl is also smarter in this version

Rike has a hold on Bast because of the penance coin, so there's a bit of additional plot around that

Rike's sister is named earlier instead of being an afterthought

Bast does some magic on Rike to get rid of his obligation

The description of the still is longer, and the alcohol has a different flavor (no opinion on that but some people might theorize about it lol)

There's a second Embril throw, and Kostrel admits Emberlee told him where she bathed expressly so Bast could find her

Bast, Emberlee, Kholi and Dax (the shepherd) seem to be a polycule and everyone knows haha

Grett is mentioned again, along with "harthan tea" which I assume is fantasy HRT xD

---

TLT:

Evening: Lessons (17p)

TNRBD:

Sunset: lies (17p) Twilight: carrots (1p) Night: demons (15p) Midnight: lessons (11p)

Total: 44 pages

The conclusion to the story has a long additional scene and a few more changes

Instead of Martin punching a tinker because he was assaulting a young girl, he punches the tinker because he had pushed down Old Cob

A scene where Rike washes his face and Bast notices the bruises he has from his father beating him have been moved later in TNRBD

There's a prediction from the Embrils that gets realized here, and the way the narration speaks of Bast and his desires impacting the world feel very reminiscent of TSROST, I wonder if Auri is using Grammarie? Is it just another name for Shaping?

Longer description that empathizes that Bast beat the shit out of Rike's father

There's an entirely new scene of Bast talking to Rike and helping him heal from his terror of becoming an abuser like his dad

I particularly liked that last bit, the story was always a commentary on the cycle of abuse, but this version makes it clear it can be broken. Overall, as I said in the intro, TNRBD is a lot kinder as a story. And meaner towards abusive fathers which is always a plus for me lmao. Bast is made very explicitly queer, as are some of the side characters, and the women are better treated as a whole, with more emphasis on consent. I have to say, in both versions Bast offers to take Kote to where Emberlee bathes, and there's no mention of her agreeing to that, so eh.

But I really appreciate the changes that have been made, and the extra magic. Plus the illustrations are lovely as the moon. I'm even more excited about Doors of Stone now (who knew it was possible lol) because I feel like Pat has grown a lot as a writer since WMF :D

[once-upon-an-animation]

So I recently got a GoodReads account, and just for fun, I decided to check out reviews for Percy Jackson. Many of the one star reviews mentioned PJO feeling like a ripoff of Harry Potter.

Now, I’ve never read Harry Potter in full before, but after seeing these reviews, and seeing that blog post where Rick addressed accusations of him ripping off Harry Potter, I decided to read the HP books for the first time (pirated, of course, because JK Rowling is not getting a dime of my money).

Anyways, after having finished a Sorcerer’s Stone, while I don’t agree that PJO is an HP-ripoff, I can sorta maybe kinda see why people are making that accusation? I’m currently rereading TLT as well for an Annabeth-centric fic I’m writing, and uh, yeah, the two stories feel eerily similar in certain details.

[autistic-katara]

thanks for the opportunity to talk abt this lmao

so i’ve noticed quite a few moments in the books where Percy’s been showing some insanely obvious signs of being suicidal and i probably haven’t caught them all and also i’m writing this literally like 5 minutes after i woke up but yk.

ok so first time i literally can’t remember what happened (srry it’s been a while since i reread the earlier books) but it was in tlt and i’m pretty sure he thought smthn abt wishing he would die (and like not in a haha kill me now kinda way like in a /srs in this moment i kinda do not wanna be alive kinda way) which yk maybe on its own isnt too bad (or maybe i’m just not sure what “bad” is atp) but there r other times aswell.

so second time was in SoM when after Tyson “died” in the explosion he was in the sea and his last thoughts before passing out was wishing he could drown and third time was in the next book after Bianca died and he was hardcore blaming himself for what happened and said smthn like “it should’ve been me, i should’ve been the one inside that [thingy]” (i forgot what exactly it was, like i said i woke up like 10 minutes ago cut me some slack lmao) and then Grover panicked and said smthn like “bro we just lost Bianca and Annabeth could be dead rn don’t say stuff like that!” which idk if that was the best response but yk i don’t think anyone knows what to say when their friend says smthn like that and dude was also super traumatised from what just happened so yk.

anyways there r probably other moments like that that i missed but yeah fourth moment we skip to BoO when Percy and Jason r under the water fighting the giant and Kym (and also talking to Kym) and Percy outright says to Jason that he felt insanely bad for what he did to Akhlys in the previous book to the point where he didn’t try to save himself at all when he was poisoned by the giant cause “a part of him felt like he deserved it” (“it” being an incredibly painful hours-long ordeal that ultimately kills him) which i’m sorry Jason seriously does not respond well to that cause like if u look at how Percy was saying stuff and how Percy was acting n all that bro seriously needed comfort or smthn or at least like a “dude r u ok?” but Jason responds with “no i get it” and literally nothing else and yk whether he rlly does get it is debatable cause like not saying Jason’s situation that he mentally compared it to isn’t horrible to go through or anything or even that Percy’s situation is worse cause it’s not but seriously this dude needs support rn or if ur gonna compare one of ur own situations to try and help yk actually say it instead of just no context “no, i get it” also it’s not even Jason not noticing the stuff since it’s from his pov so if he noticed Percy needed him to say more or whatever then yk anyways yeah srry for this mildly anti-Jason rant, i am like 90% projecting here (the other 10% is projecting onto Percy)

anyways yeah that’s all i can remember off the top of my head i was gonna include some small stuff abt other characters like Leo and Nico at the end but i don’t have time rn due to the fact that this is the one day i have to do stuff lmao so yeah i rlly like ur headcanons also don’t take the Jason stuff to seriously again it is 90% me projecting onto him anyways way yeah if u want me to talk abt some stuff w/ Leo and Nico tell me and i could c:

Nico: I'm not afraid of dying, because Death was my babysitter and the Underworld is my home.

Nico: Percy's not afraid of dying, because he is suicidal.

Percy: What? No, I'm not.

Nico: And Jason's not afraid of dying because I geniunely don't think he knows what fear is.

Jason: I know what fear is. Fear is a wolf coming at you with sharp teeth and even sharper claws and the best way to defeat fear is to take your little baby fists and start wailing on it with all the power and lightning and determination that you have until someone drags you away and the other wolves commend you for your fight and lick the blood off your face.

Percy:

Percy: I'm not suicidal!

[sendme-2hell]

Ranking the books I read in April

aka just ranting about the books I read in april pls ignore me

1. The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson 

I cannot believe this book wasn’t nominated for a Hugo! I like the Hugo list (of the books I’ve read) but cmon. This book is like if you combined the social commentary in The City We Became and the queerness of Harrow the Ninth. Seriously this book had everything I wanted: parallel universes, great character development, social commentary, woc sapphic slow burn, satisfying ending. Also I feel like the title is paying homage to W. E. Dubois which is cool. “Between me and the other world, there is ever an unasked question: How does it feel to be a problem?” Like there is just this very cool idea of talking about other worlds as in literally other universes but also different worlds due to social and racial hierarchies. 

2. Plain Bad Heroines - Emily m. Danforth 

Horror, Hollywood, boarding school, everyone is gay, the narrator talks directly to the reader and it is hilarious, copious footnotes, have I mentioned how many sapphics there are? It’s hard to keep track. Plus polyamory. I just really loved this book and I felt it all came together in a way that was worth it. 

3. Steel Crow Saga - Paul Krueger 

This godamn book. I loved this book so much. I was so ready to yell about it on tumblr and tell people to read it. But apparently the author is someone who has harassed a lot of women so...uh...yeah. Nevermind I guess.

 I do want to say it is the most accurate depicition of a Sherlock Holmes superfan that I have ever seen in media. 

4. The Tiger’s Daughter - K. Arsenault Rivera

What if we went on a long trip on horseback and we were both lesbian warriors...jk unless…

Yeah so I loved this book so much. A lot of it is about navigating familial responsibility, fighting literal and metaphorical demons, fighting the patriarchy, fighting your anger, fighting tigers, etc...and yet I kept thinking to myself “this is the most romantic book I have ever read” and honestly I am gonna stick by that. It also has the “you think me a monster so I will become one” trope which is great. It is set in an Asian-based fantasy world and I did read a goodreads review that said it was as accurate to the countries it draws inspiration from as Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse is to the Russian and Scandinavian cultures it takes from. So that’s not great. 

5. Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Speaking of! A few months ago I tried to read Shadow and Bone in preparation for the tv show and I could not finish it. The writing was...bad. Anyway I really liked Six of Crows and even though, yeah it’s tropey (I’m looking at you, Helnik backstory), there’s a reason those tropes work. Plus you cannot go wrong with a heist. About halfway through I did realize that there are six mcs and three couples so its kinda just like a giant triple date, which really changed how I read the whole story.

I’m very glad I did read it before seeing the tv show because I was able to be appropriately excited for the Crows and catch the Wylan reference and everything, but I also got to see the Alina stuff without having to read about it. 

6. Crooked  Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo 

I think I somehow liked this even more than Six of Crows, but for narrative simplicity I’ll put it after. I really like it when you put people in an impossible situation and see how they figure it out. Especially if they get out in a clever and reasonably possible way that ties together many different plot threads and has a few good fake-outs. This did all of that, and also developed every character in a way I found satisfying (except [redacted] *cry emoji*). 

Kaz pulls a Baru Cormorant with some money stuff and now I wonder if they would be friends. 

I read this after watching the show which was good because I knew who Zoya and Genya were but bad because there is a point where Nina is like “here is how shadow and bone ends.” She’s just talking to Mattias and casually spoiling everything for me. So there goes my dreams of living spoiler free until the end of the show. 

7. The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily m Danforth

My expectations for this book were....very different than it turned out, and I’m glad for it. After reading Plain Bad Heroines I shouldn’t have been surprised at how well written it is. I really appreciated how nuanced it is. It doesn’t spell out its ideas or themes and therefore lets you really sit with them. I would rank it higher but I don’t really enjoy reading about high school. 

8. Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett

I love a good found family, especially if at the beginning of the book they are on opposing sides. Enemies to friends = best trope! Also it’s sapphic that’s always good. But the best part of this book was the worldbuilding which was so cool. 

9. Malice - Heather Walter

Remember what I was saying about “you think me a monster so I will become one”? This book is the definition of that trope. Women becoming unhinged after being treated like shit, we love to see it! Especially if it’s gay. I do have to say, authors who write duologies where the first book ends on a cliffhanger, I see what you’re doing but yes, I will be preordering the next book. 

10. Fugitive Telemetry - Martha Wells

I don’t have much to say because Murderbot is so consistently excellent.  uh why is it so cathartic when xenophobes disrespect Murderbot and it’s humans step in and shut that shit down. Gets me every single time. 

11. Queen of Coins and Whispers - Helen Corcoran 

This book was like half romance half politics and unfortunately I did not find the politics that interesting or well written. But the romance was A+. It reminded me of Priory of the Orange Tree a LOT. Though significantly less dragons and I’m taking many points off for that. 

12. The First Sister - Linden A. Lewis

I wanted to like this book a little more than I did. There was just maybe too much body horror for me. Interesting characters and world though. There was  a location named Cytherea that they mentioned a lot and it was very distracting. I guess I still have tlt brainrot. 

13. Shorefall - Robert Jackson Bennett 

I think this book was well plotted out but it didn’t quite have my attention like Foundryside did. Also yet another book where a woman’s girlfriend ends up in her head. This time no one had to die so that’s nice. TM and SD take notes! 

14. The Deathless Girls - Kiran Milwood Hargrave 

Ok I LOVED the Mercies by KMH so I was a little disappointed in this Dracula retelling. It got interesting in the last 50 pages, but unfortunately that is not enough for me.

proud of myself for not reading a single straight book this April 

[yanak324]

I'm literally screaming. I loved chap 11 of TLT. It was more than I expected and I fucking love you for it. But can I ask something? Like I'm interested in dumb details (and if you're not up to it I TOTALLY GET IT PLEASE IGNORE THIS ASK) like who reached out to whom first? Was it by text or a call? Was it casual like heeey whatupp? I'm sorry if this is annoying to you. I just love the way you write them and how the story is going. Thank you so much for this fic ❤️

Oh my gosh, hello anon! it is i who is screaming. Thank you *so* much for my very first ask about my absolute labor of love. I am beyond glad you liked the last chapter and that I could exceed expectations!

I *live* for details so I am absolutely happy to answer this. If you’re asking who initiated their impromptu hangout in this last chapter, it was definitely Arya. In the previous chapter, she was going to ask Gendry to hang out, maybe not like a date but definitely as something more. He preempted her plans by saying nothing had to change, because well, our boy is a little bit traumatized and little bit scared despite having zero impulse control when it comes to Arya lol.

So after much over analysis in her head, she decides to just bite the bullet and hit him up anyway to see if he’d like to grab a beer sometime, and I can picture the text convo being something along the lines of...

Arya: hey, how��s it going?

(within ten seconds)

Gendry: Hi! it’s going well, how about you?

Arya: good, kinda bored. Want to hang out this weekend? Or maybe earlier than that?

(grey dots pop signaling typing...then they stop...then they start again...then they stop...then they start...this continues for several minutes)

Gendry: sure, what did you have in mind?

Arya: let’s go to that bar downtown, the one with all the games. It’s been a long time since I beat you at pool.

Gendry: *insert side eye emoji* you’re on, Stark. 

--

You absolutely did not annoy me. I super appreciate any and all interests in this story and my writing in general, so please ask away when you feel like it. Thank you!

Catch up on The Last Time here.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

...squints at roleplay reply I just posted.

I swear to Azar, if that reply came out the way it did because I read GtN and HtN four times in a row.......

(I’m about to overanalyze three paragraphs of my impromptu totally-just-for-fun writing.)

The sentence structure. I do a thing where, whenever I read a book that Really Emotionally Impacts Me, I tend to “adopt” some of the same syntax as the book in my own writings. TM’s style, at least in TLT, is very sensory-descriptive, which my writing can also be, but TM’s tends to have more formulaic syntax than I usually use. And that reply, which is the first New Thing I’ve written since reading those books (which is painful to realize because Holy Hell How Long Has My Muse Been Dead), it contains an awful lot of sentences beginning with “She”.

Specifically, I used a lot of syntax that was like, “She [verb] [object] [detail].” Kind of more standard English than I usually use? Like, I generally stick to active voice too, but usually my sentence structure varies more than that...

And also the allusions to Dove’s past, without detailing Specific Examples? Dove wanted to focus on the other character’s statement rather than reminisce (she often tries to avoid thinking about painful things in her past, that’s just Default Dove Mode). But TM does a lot of “[x] happened” without saying “and it happened Exactly Like This.” Vague references to the general Vibes^tm of the past.

And then Hard-Hitting Dialogue without much preamble, and like... Dove kinda Got Deep. (Which, again, is a staple trait of Dove’s Dialogue. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t talk much, but generally has either a lot of insight or a lot of emotion in what she DOES say.) But it compares to TLT in the way that it was Heavy Thought Stuff in a Seemingly Innocuous Moment.

(It wasn’t a literary reference, though. Or a meme. ;P )

To be fair, it’s definitely not a carbon copy. TM definitely uses more dialogue tags than I used in that reply. A Big Thing about my writing is that I describe voices in Words Besides Verbs pretty often, because “she muttered” doesn’t have the same Heft nor Expressiveness to me as “her voice was breathy, almost too weak to hear”. (Unless I’m going for Quick Intense Rhythm, in which case “she muttered” suits just fine. But statistically, I Describe Voices with Full Phrases a LOT. And I like it that way so don’t come at me about ~trimming the fat~ or whatever.)

But anyways, it was mostly the heavy use of “She [did x]” format and the part that was like, simply, briefly, “She had seen enough endings to last a lifetime. A thousand lifetimes.” That felt kinda Dark and Deep and Emotional in a TLT kinda way.

(Also, it was Hidden Lore because when Trigon destroyed Azarath and killed its inhabitants, which were said in the comics to number “a thousand”, it was alluding to the fact that she’d seen/felt A Thousand Lifetimes Ending. Dove didn’t dwell on it and so I didn’t narrate it, but I’m proud of Slipping That In There.)

[12x19thefuture]

Not to overburden you with a huge post, but the Seven Halfbloods (who must answer the call)? Specifically Percy/Jason/Nico. I am prepared to fight you if you are certain enough in your opinion if it differs from mine.

haha sure! (sorry this is a few days late) here are the seven + nico:

(as poseidon told percy, BRACE YOURSELF: long post)

ANNABETH CHASEhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS 

Annabeth, my favorite, my childhood hero, my current hero, is such a Slytherin (as am I. no wonder I love her so much). She’s smart, yes, but the way she is described is more cunning/clever. Her plans 99% of the time involve manipulating the adversary through trickery. Also, she’s ambitious: in TLT, she wants so badly to prove herself to everyone. And if we delve into the musical canon, her song ‘my grand plan’ tells about how legacy is important to her, and her ambition, etc: “my grand plan is thaT I WILL BE REMEMBERED…I’LL RISE UP…MY FRIENDS/THE WORLD/MY MOM WILL NOTICE ME”

JASON GRACEhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS

I try to choose just one house for each character, but for jason I’m torn. I don’t particularly think he has the passion and recklessness of a gryffindor or the ambition of a slytherin (no way a slytherin would give up his praetor position so easily!) One of the reasons he feels more Greek than Roman is that he doesn’t value power as much, he seems more like a thoughtful ravenclaw to me. At the same time, his leadership style and peacemaking point to hufflepuff.

NICO DI ANGELOhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS

Hadn’t really thought about nico before. He strikes me as someone who doesn’t necessarily fight for a cause, he doesn’t particularly strive to be a hero, eliminating gryffindor. He doesn’t seem slytherin, either: he doesn’t manipulate others or want power (his ghost king powers weren’t a goal of his, he just claimed them for the sake of good). I say ravenclaw because he seems to be motivated more by logic and reason, doing what he does to help the heroes for the sake of saving the world (and eventually because they’re his friends of course). He also gains a decent knowledge of Greek mythology and uses it to help - Achilles curse anyone?

FRANK ZHANGhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS

Frank’s laid-back, friendly hufflepuff nature kinda makes him stick out at Camp Jupiter and in his heroic pursuits. Everyone sees him as just a nice (clumsy) guy, but as he learns to control his powers and become a leader, he doesn’t lose his hufflepuff nature. He’s naturally a peacemaker, somewhat like Jason (maybe that’s why he so easily replaces him as praetor), but is better at talking to people (think about when jason could’ve been more tactful when he was being suspicious of nico in MoA - I think it was MoA anyway)

HAZEL LEVESQUEhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS

Hazel’s pretty quiet and kind, like Frank, but I think she’s more of a hero type - one who is brave because that’s their nature, not for the sake of duty or protecting others (though that’s a motivation for her too). She’s daring when she doesn’t have to be - remember her telling Hecate how she’ll create her own path? Hazel definitely strikes me as a naturally heroic demigod.

PIPER MCLEANhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS

ahh I’m stuck between gryfindor and slytherinPiper’s definitely daring and aggressive in the way gryffindor and slytherin are. She stands up for herself and others, and isn’t afraid to be in the spotlight (by the end of TLH) - as in when she took the counselor position from drew. I get more ‘fight me’ vibes from her than slytherins would usually have, but then again, she plays the charming diplomat in many situations (with Boreas, Aeolus, the Romans, the Kekropes). This could be read either as a gryffindor having to hold their tongue to keep the peace or a slytherin doing what comes naturally to them. Altogether I don’t know which one I’d go with.

LEO VALDEZhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS

hmm Leo is an interesting character because he comes off as very gryffindor, or possibly hufflepuff? from his dialogue, but internally, he is pretty guarded and more logical/mechanical? I could see him as any of the houses, but ravenclaw seems like the best fit because of his wit combined with his reliance on his brain and tools to fix problems.

PERCY JACKSONhouse: gryffindor | hufflepuff | ravenclaw | slytherinsurety: ehhh could be anything | don’t know the character well enough | not 100% | my mind might be changed | I’m certain | FIGHT ME ON THIS

I saved this for last because I know there is Discourse and I wasn’t even really sure where I stood on the topic?But I’m pretty solidly on the hufflepuff percy train nowyes, percy is heroic and brave and daring, but he is really motivated by his friends. there’s a reason his fatal flaw is loyalty: he might risk the world to save a friend. literally, the reason he goes on his first three quests are: to save his mom (and not be turned into a dolphin), to find grover, and to rescue annabeth. And his motivations for other things, while they might be less direct, usually relate to him wanting to save his friends and the world at large. I see the case for slytherin percy - he does use trickery just as much as annabeth, but also just as much as any other character, that’s just how greek mythology/rick riordan’s writing is. And the moments where percy goes dark, esp in tartarus, do show cold/calculating tendencies. But each time he’s like that, it’s because a friend of his is in danger. Percy has NO ambition. He didn’t WANT to be a half-blood, particularly a child of the Big Three, he didn’t want that power. He was devastated when he found out in TLT and had to go to the poseidon cabin. Percy is the glue in the 7. He’s for sure a hufflepuff, FIGHT ME.

hopefully this isn’t too incoherent! feel free to talk to me about any of these! :)