#but rick seems to think luke is sympathetic

[wanderingmind867]

Listen. I'm not saying Rick Riordan is biased towards Luke Castellan (and biased against Octavian), but i'm not not saying that either. I mean...it seems clear that there's something going on here. Luke wanted to raise Kronos and destroy Olympus. He wanted to bring us all back to the dark ages! But his goals were always described in such a sympathetic way. Luke gets to go to Elysium in the end. Percy never managed to bring himself to hate Luke. Everyone acts like Luke's some poor baby, when he was definitely in control of most of his actions during those books. Age as going to forget how we treated his men? It wasn't great. And yet still, luke was treated like a sad and tragic figure (despite his clearly horrendous goals).

Now, let's compare this to rick's treatment of Octavian. Octavian is called so many different names throughout these books. Anemic Loser. Horrible Roman Child. That Creature. Barbarian. Dirt Wipe. He was even described as looking like a Scarecrow a few times, which feels a little insulting. Then Rick also has his protagonists say they want to launch him out of a catapult, and then he actually dies being launched out of a catapult! Octavian probably doesn't go to Elysium, because Rick Riordan doesn't like this kid, and he makes that painfully obvious.

So...you tell me. Is Rick Riordan biased towards Luke, or am I just misremembering things? Because it sure feels to me like he's biased towards Luke. And by proxy, biased towards the Greeks. Because with the exception of Reyna, Jason, Frank and Hazel, how many good romans do we really meet? In the books, there's pretty much 0. Which screams that Rick Riordan has some weird blind spot towards greece, and some huge hatred of rome. I don't get it, but his biases have only had the opposite effect on me. I hate Luke but love Octavian. So somehow i've drawn the exact opposite of the conclusions he seemed to want me to draw.

[my-pjo-stuff]

One of the things that hurt Luke as a character the MOST in a meta context is, in my opinion, Rick clearly not having had a plan for his books and where they should go. Like genuinely, you CANNOT look me into the eyes and tell me that that man had his entire story planned out when he wrote the books. TLT and SOM Luke was, frankly said, a cartoon villain. He did NOT act like someone who's supposed to be tragic and morally grey at all.

Annabeth did not act like someone who had a deep connection with him and wanted to save him- she reacted with aggression foremost, which simply doesn't line up with her behavior in the following books and the sort of relationship she's supposed to have with Luke!

And due to this being the first impression we get of Luke and Annabeth he seems a lot worse! All his backstory and motivations and sympathetic moments and goals are brought in far too late, same goes with his "nicer" actions. Which is why in my honest opinion the show so far has the best take on Luke there is, because the show DOES have that plan! They do have the ability to present Luke and have him act as the character he is supposed to be by the end. And they did! Luke is genuinely done so much better in the show than in the books imo. I honestly think it's a good call to already have brought May up and Hermes in, considering how integral they are to Luke's story and character. I also think that the confrontation in the woods was handled better, presenting Luke as someone genuinely doing what he thinks is best and less like some evil child killer. I'm really hoping they'll keep the good work up in S2!

[blownbybakugou]

Office Hours

Pairing: Shouto Todoroki x Reader

warnings: CEO!Shouto AU, FEM! Anatomy, breeding kink, hair pulling, oral (m! receiving), unprotected sex, praise kink, slight voyeurism. 

Word Count: 2.6k

A/n: Took me all day to write, I even pulled an all nighter because the ideas were swarming inside of my head. So I was just chilling at two am with Rick and Morty on, typing away. Probably disturbing my neighbors and my roommate, but whatever.

This day had been mildly annoying. Your new coworker had claimed to have been sleeping with your boss, saying she would have you fired by giving him a blowjob, and then continued to shred the paperwork you had worked on all week. You were in near tears from the stressful events of this week, and everyone, including the bitch could see that if anything else went wrong, you would snap. You could clearly hear the annoying pitter-patter of the horrid woman's shoes against the black marble heading towards your cubicle, making you groan in exasperation. "What do you want, Neca?" You sigh, your bloodshot eyes glaring at her smug face. "I have to leave early, so you'll have my work" Your eye twitched. The audacity this lady had was getting on your last nerve. "I'm not doing your work after you shredded mine, especially if you'll get the credit. Now leave. I'm trying to finish my work so I can go home." You look back down to your work, but your head is suddenly yanked back up by your hair. "Go home to what, exactly? You're single, you have no kids and no pets. You can put in the extra hours, and you don't need the extra money. So stop being a bitch, and get over it. I have a date with the boss, so I'll be leaving now" Neca slams down a fresh stack of papers for you to revise and categorize and walks over to the elevator, leaving you here to deal with her work. You looked at the clock on your desk, seeing that in only two hours it would be midnight. Era, too late for you to be at work. You yawn and take your pencil back in your hand to begin your reviewing, already dreading the outcome of this night.

At around 11:30, you got up to go to the breakroom for a new cup of coffee, and you swore you could feel your eyebags darkening by the second. Everyone had left at about 11:00, which left you here completely by yourself. Even the janitor had checked out for the night, handing you the building keys and telling you to lock up when you go home. You take a big swig of the luke-warm beverage, praying to the gods that you would finish your work faster so you could get some sleep. You look out the break-room window at the 12-inch stack of documents you had to look over, realizing you'd be lucky if you got to leave at 3:00. You gulp down half of the coffee, toss the empty disposable cup into the trash bin, and tread back to your personal hellhole. You were concentrating as hard as you could, but even when you were zoned out, you could clearly hear the sound of the elevator going up, and stopping at your floor. Your eyes widen, looking over to the clock that read 1:00 am and then trying to think of who would be here this late but only came up with fear and panic. You shake wildly as you watch the polished silver doors slide open slowly, and then you see the expensive leather shoes step out. Your breath hitched. You were somehow more afraid than before, seeing your boss look over to you, and begin to walk over. He stopped in front of your chair, looking down on you with suspicion and confusion in his eyes. "What are you doing here so late, L/n?" Your throat quickly becomes dry, making it harder to speak. "I, um, p-paperwork." You attempt to explain, pointing to the now 10-inch tall pile with a quivering finger. "I didn't give you that much, who's work is that?" His deep voice asked. "Neca's, Mr. Todoroki. She said you guys had a date and asked me to finish up her paperwork. I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you." You explain, regaining your once lost composure. "We did not have a date. What happened here, is that she played you." Your brows furrow in frustration. So the hours you put in were for absolutely nothing? The fear of getting fired, the times she left because of the 'bosses demands', were all fake? "I...I'll finish it anyway, Mr. Todoroki. I promise I won't take too long." You mumble, turning back to the documents with clenched teeth. "No, I will call her right now. If she is going to rearrange your sleep schedule, I will rearrange hers." our heart warms at his kindness, as you thank him for his generosity. Todoroki pulls out an expensive-looking phone, scrolling for a while before holding it out, and putting it on speaker. On the second ring, Neca picks up. "Yes, Mr.Todoroki? Do you need me to come over or...?" She seemed insistent on wanting to come over to his home, but your boss shuts her down rapidly. "No. After many, many complaints and reports from the other employees, it has come to my attention that you have been passing your work onto Y/n L/n, as well as destroying the companies sacred files. I have called to confirm these suspicions." You both could hear shuffling on the other end on the line, and then you heard the buttered up voice speak. "Did Y/n tell you this? I didn't want you to find out this way, but Y/n has been skipping out on work and burning the company files. I didn't tell you because Y/n is such a dear friend to me and I didn't want her to get fired." Her obnoxiously fake sympathetic voice made you want to gag in disgust. The faux voice was way too sweet for her contrasting personality and the word 'friends' left a bitter taste in your mouth. "Oh? Well, if that's true then I have some interesting news. I'm at the office right now, looking at Y/n who has an 11-inch stack of papers that I certainly did not give to her. And by looking at one of the documents," Todoroki picks up one of the stapled worksheets and flips through it briefly before continuing. "These look like the oriented reference materials I asked you to finish before you left. Now, if you do not come to the office right now to complete your and Y/n's workload, I will fire you, and ruin all future opportunities for you to get a job. Am I clear?" The line goes silent, but then you hear a light sobbing sound accompanying a meek 'yes, boss'. He hung up and then gestured you into his workroom, silently closing the door behind him. "L/n, how long has this been going on for?" Todoroki asked calmly, sitting down in his exquisite black leather chair. "A week after she came here, sir." When you added the sir on the end, he seemed to flinch, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "I see. Why didn't you inform me of this?" You take notice of how he had crossed his legs. It was almost as if he were trying to hide something from you, and that fact made you internally grin. "She said she was your lover, sir, and I didn't want to be fired for claiming against her." The CEO glares at you, warning you to not step further into this. "I can happily say that we are not in a relationship, nor are we participating in any...fun, activities." A playful glint flashes in your captivating orbs, seizing the boss's attention. "I am glad to hear that sir. Shall I take my leave then?" Todoroki's jaw stiffens, and his eyes darken. "Only if you want to. But I believe it to be bad to drive when tired, you could always sleep here, for convenience reasons." You wanted to agree. But you knew that Neca would arrive here shortly, and if you slept here, she would surely do something to get back at your tattling. "I'm not very tired, sir." You remark, standing to make an emphasis. Todoroki stands as well, showing off his delicious-looking bulge forming in his black slacks. "Oh really?" He walks around his desk, eyeing you like a predator would its prey. "Is there a problem, sir?" You ask, a smirk present in your expression. "No, but I think that I'll have to make you tired. You know, for convenience reasons." His face was a mere inch from yours, his breath gently fanning your face. He finally took initiative and grabbed the back of your neck to bring you into an electrifying kiss that made every nerve in your body tingle. You were swiftly flipped around and sat on his desk, your legs wrapped around his torso as he hungrily forced his tongue onto yours. They slid across each other in unison, sending hot flashes throughout both of your bodies at the amazing contact. "Mr.Todoroki, Neca will-" "What happened to sir?" Todoroki purred, sliding his warm hands up your blouse and playing with the hem of your bra. You start softly panting as they glide to your back, fiddling with the clasp. "S-Sir, Neca will be here any min-" "Stop being a brat, I'll deal with her when she gets here. But I think you should deal with the problem you made." Todoroki unbuttons his trousers, stripping himself of them before placing your hand on his clothed cock. "Why don't you get to work, and I might reward you with a bonus." You pushed down his black boxers, almost drooling when you see the length and girth of his dick. It was almost unreal, it couldn't be. He was huge and heavy. Even with him being fully erect his cock drooped and hung right above your mouth. You were starting to even wonder if he could fit inside of you. Todoroki was staring at you expectantly, so you carefully lifted your chin to take the head into your mouth and looked up at him with big, doe eyes. A subtle grunt is produced from your actions and you decide to take it a step further. You guide his dick down your throat, feeling his width stretch out the walls of your windpipe and block your source of oxygen. You pull back, watching as strings of your salvia extend from his cock to your mouth, a low groan emitting from your boss at the sight. You take him back in, this time moaning around him for added effect and enjoying how his hands thread their way into your hair a glide you along his impressive dick. It was then that you began to hear the familiar sound of the elevator opening, and the annoying pitter-patter of shoes you have learned to hate. It seemed that Todoroki heard it too, but he only pushed you down deeper and leered at the way you gagged and squirmed. The clicking of Neca's shoes came to a halt as she shoved the door open with such haste you were surprised it didn't break. "Mr. Todoroki, please forgive me, I promise it won't happen again-" Your watery eyes open to give her a petty glare, releasing another moan around your boss so she could watch the way his eyes roll back in pure and utter pleasure at the vibrations you gave off. Neca's face turned a bright red at your bold decision and let out a high-pitched huff of anger. The irony of this situation was so satisfying. You flipped her off, making her storm out of the room, still enraged. That was until your boss yelled something to her "Neca, you still have to finish the documents you passed onto Y/n." You got no response, but you honestly didn't care at this point. She could hear you guys going at it like animals if she wanted to, but as far as you're concerned, she doesn't exist. You were yanked up and you look down to see that his cock was completely covered in your spit. "I think you deserve a reward, baby."  You were forced onto the desk chest first, your skirt flipping up making your panties on display for him to see. "I bet you have the cutest little cunt under these thin panties." He pressed two fingers against the damp fabric, swiping against your clothed slit before getting fed up and tearing them off. Todoroki kneeled, blowing cool air onto your soaked pussy and watching as you try to push your hips back onto his face. Your hole was clenching around nothing and it was practically driving Shouto against the wall. He got back up, stroking himself a few times before poking at your hole with his tip. He leaned his head into your ear with his chest pressed against your back, his breath making your heart race faster. "I'm going to fucking ruin you." He pushed himself in halfway, rocking his hips in a steady motion and chuckling at your small pathetic moans. "I'm not even all the way in and you're whining. Do you even want my dick?" You nod vigorously, trying to move backward to sheath the rest into your weeping cunt. "You want it all in? Use your words, pretty girl." He prolongs his movements and observes that way you try to fuck yourself on his cock, your orbs starting to form more tears from the lack of stimulation. "Please sir, I want to be stuffed full by your big cock." You whimper, letting his hand grasp at your strands of hair once more. Growling, he shoves the rest of his awaiting member inside of you, basking in the way your walls fluttered and twitched from the intrusion. "Good girl. Now let me use you the way I want to, little thing." He starts rapidly pounding into you, with your poor cervix being mercilessly rammed against in the process. "How's it feel getting railed like this, huh? You know, I could really use an heir to the company." Your pants began to mix with your moans, and you could tell your orgasm was coming on strong. You couldn't even warn Todoroki because right as you were about to tell him, you felt him nudge that special spot that made you see stars. And after that, you had no choice but to release. You expected Shouto to pause and let you rest after that intense orgasm, but he fucked you through your release and yanked on your hair harder, overstimulating you easily. "S-S-Shouto." You stammered, feeling his dick pulsate inside of you. Todoroki started pistoning his hips into yours at a more brutal pace, seeing you come undone for the second time. "I'm gonna fuck you full of my cum, and you're gonna be my pretty little girlfriend. How's that sound?" A gurgled yes left your mouth, too far gone to even properly validate his question. A loud groan echoed through the room as spurts of your boss's hot semen shot into your unprotected womb with full intention of getting you pregnant. You lie there, panting for a while before he picks you up, and sets you on the small leather couch in the corner. "I promise that Neca will no longer bother you. And that you and our child will have the best luxuries in the world." He murmurs, lying down in front of you and petting your moist hair. "I'm glad this happened, Shouto." He chuckled. "Yeah. Me too." The dreaded sound of the elevator returned, and this time, you could hear many voices chatting. You look over at your newfound lover's desk to read the time. 5:00 am. Also known as, office hours.

[haec-est-fides]

Omg thanks for listening to my random ramblings I am feeling so validated right now. To answer your tags I have only watched bits and pieces of Rome, mostly Octavian stuff. I enjoy watching /the/ Machiavellian paragon, I may actually sit down and watch it all one day. I am not going to lie, my main interest in ToA lies with the Olympian dynamics, although from what I've seen I will have to adjust some pre existing headcanons based off what I've read especially the Hermes bit at the end of ToN, which is so disappointing from what we've read about Mr. "cant give up on family" (yes I am a bit of an Hermes apologist. Was he a terrible father to Luke? Yes absolutely by mortal standards but he did care and he has bound by fate and you cant change fate without making things worse and he doesnt seem to have a problem with the unclaimed living in his cabin unlike idk Hera would probably so as far as Olympians go he is not the worse. Not good but not the worse and damn is he an intersting character to think about.) Also something I noticed while reading through your blog is Nero said souls escape all the time from the Underworld? Which is super stupid. What kind of leaky ship is Hades, who so far has been portrayed as one of the most responsible and serious gods running down there. And it directly contradicts all of the myths that show how hard and impossible it is to escape- I just really hate that detail it feels like Rick makes all of these throwaway lines and doesnt think about how it affects the canon at large. The closest thing I can think of to justify this is Melinoe from the sword of hades story where she is supposed to take souls who didnt receive proper burial rites and terrify mortals on the surface in myth but that is not what it sounded like. Octavian is the hero of his own story and it is so tragic like from his pov he is totally in the right. Some random amnesiac son of Neptune rolles up to town and is elected praetor over you a vet in a respected position entirely devoted to the camp after one week where he mostly wasnt even in camp and showing no administrative skills and he wasnt even leader of the quest that was Frank. And then he brings a literal warship of your historical enemies, who attack your city and then dip. Yeah, he is totally justified in declaring war. And then he dies and is hailed as the hero he thought of himself in life. Rick I am begging for some depth to Octavian to show how he is an anti hero or well intentioned extremist. The manipulated by gaea angle later on was lazy and if anything makes him more sympathetic rather than him doing it all of his own will and most likely revisionist by Apollo. I also noticed how you dont seem to like the seven and nico and reyna could you expand on that? Is it the carte blanche on killing? Because I never really thought about it but, Michael Yew was Percy's fault huh? I dont remember if he ever told them to evacuate the bridge before he brought it down, which would muddy the waters, but either way it was a reckless disregard of lives, especially his for all intents and purposes subordinates as he is basically the commander of this army. I understand that these are middle grade books, which is why I try not to hold all of these thoughts against Rick too much but I cant help but think of what ifs. Especially since he brings these topics up and then brushes them under the rug, like the demigods on the Andromeda. They are fighting a war, and there will be casualties, demigod on demigod killings. Obviously he is not going to delve into the ethics of child soldiers killing each other directly but he still brings it up. And the whole Bryce thing went well beyond self defense. And yeah I get that this whole series requires serious suspense of disbelief, but that is easier with the Mist/deliberately hiding from mortals. But three immortal roman emperors with the largest company ever and fingers in every mortal pie have been able to hide for centuries? I didnt realize I had this many thoughts on the series huh. Sorry for the word vomit.

Sorry for taking longer to get back to this ask than the last ones!

I cannot recommend HBO's Rome enough. I've watched it so many times! While it does of course have its issues, it's really fun in a political intrigue way imo. I think I keep going back to it because Octavian / Augustus "wins" in the end, the show being focused on the establishment of the empire, and that's not an ending I see a lot in media?

Riordan definitely wrote a lot of "throwaway" lines without thinking about the consequences for the broader world he was creating. Octavian is sort of that same concept -- a throwaway line -- but a whole character, seeing how little he was explored and, more, how little his role in the world seemed to affect anything else.

Hm, I suppose I don't like the Seven, Nico, Reyna, etc. But honestly? It's almost wholly personal, and I will admit that. I definitely respect them as people, for what they've accomplished and been through, but,,,I doubt I'd get along with them, largely because they don't seem to even try to understand Octavian / the Roman viewpoint. Even the "Romans" -- Reyna, Jason, Frank, Hazel -- are explicitly juxtaposed with traditional Romanness at large, and that's written as a "good" thing. I probably actively dislike Nico the most, as well as Michael Kahale, because of the roles they played in Octavian's death. Nico plays a big protagonist role in ToA too, so,,,I consider him my enemy on narrative grounds.

Regarding the way death is so,,,casual? Not addressed very well, if at all? Yeah, it's sometimes hard to swallow. The Andromeda explosion and Octavian's death are great examples, but it comes up in ToA as well and makes me angry every time.

[wanderingmind867]

I realize i'm being overly harsh when I write all this stuff, but Alex Fierro is a character with very few redeeming qualities to me. It's like they live to be obnoxious and rude. They annoy Magnus. They tease Magnus. They only help him while teasing him. I can't think of a scene where they haven't been ready and willing to tease and drop pointed words. It's hard for me to like them. They're like a combination of Leo Valdez and Frank Zhang, only both those characters were way better than Alex (in my personal opinion).

In some ways, I think this is Rick Riordan's curse of writing. Everytime he tries to make a character overly sympathetic or likeable, he shoots too far and makes them obnoxious or horrible. See Luke Castellan and Alex Fierro. They're very different characters, but they're both characters Rick tries to get us to like and appreciate via inserting dialogue and narration to paper over their obnoxious and/or evil actual behavior. Rick does it for both of them, and it makes me find neither of them very good characters.

Then there's the antithesis. Octavian was a character designed to be hated. Rick made him the most imperious and puffed up authority figure he could, all so people could root along with the heroes when Octavian finally gets taken out, once and for all. Octavian was clearly meant to be hated. But because he was meant to be disliked, the writing begins to feel like an unnecessary pile-up of mean-spirited energy. It gets so bad that Octavian wraps back around to being sympathetic and relatable. Because it's kind of hard to hear a character bad mouthed 250 times without feeling like it's getting excessive.

So I think this is just Rick Riordan's backwards curse with me. Whenever he tries to make me see a character as likeable or sympathetic, he makes me dislike them. Whenever he tries to make me hate them, he seems to make me like them. It's only when he shows characters who're more multifaceted that this rule doesn't apply. Like with his protagonists, for instance. I don't know if what i wrote here actually makes sense anymore. But i'd like to think i'm onto something here.

[kitsunekat9]

Okay, so I know this is mostly focused on Jason’s death and how Zeus is a horrible parent and how Apollo is becoming more humane, but can I just say that it’s extremely touching that Hera is also mourning for Jason? Like yeah, Rick definitely made her pretty unlikable, but like, tbh I have a lot of sympathy for her both in classic mythology and in the series. Yeah, she messes with demigods’ lives a lot and she sure as hell isn’t the world’s greatest mom considering what she did to Hephaestus, but, she genuinely is sad about Jason’s death and seems to actually care about him? Way more than Zeus at least and Zeus is Jason’s own father. Okay to be fair, perhaps some of her grief comes from the fact that she’s lost her chosen hero and thereby her only player on the board, but I also like to think that she truly does care about Jason.

Looking back at Jason’s life, it’s true that Hera intervened a lot and definitely made his life way different, but can we honestly say that her interference is bad? Like, her taking Jason away as a kid was horrible and traumatic for Thalia and Mrs. Grace but tbh I think Jason was better off being raised by wolves than by his mother. Even Thalia agrees that their mom wasn’t a great parent and she ended up running away. If Hera hadn’t demanded Jason be sent to Lupa and the wolves when he was little, he very well could’ve died young. Idk the extent of Mrs. Grace’s parental neglect and if she was abusive or not, but if Jason had stayed with her, there’s no telling what could’ve happened. Thalia says Jason’s disappearance was one of the last straws for her, so if he didn’t disappear, the siblings might’ve stayed longer and put up with more of Mrs. Grace’s craziness/parental failures and that could’ve had serious impacts on their character/personalities. On the other hand, if Thalia had decided “screw it” and ran away around the same time and took Jason with her, he might’ve been killed at any point during that period considering the dangers Annabeth recalls happening during that time, especially after Luke’s daddy issues rear their ugly head and he starts picking fights with more monsters. By taking him away from his family, Hera may have saved Jason’s life.

If that’s giving her too much credit, then at least consider that yeah she may have cooked up the whole switcheroo plan with Percy and Jason and it definitely caused emotional pain on all ends for all the mortals involved, but her plan led to the kids saving the entire world (again) from Gaea. She was literally the only immortal who was actively making the demigods aware of the threat, unlike Zeus who locked down Olympus and cut off all godly communication. Honestly, I think Hera gets a bad rep that she doesn’t really deserve. She may have terrible ideas about family and love (considering the whole Jason + Piper forced hetero thing was also her idea), but I like to think that it’s because she just wants the demigods, Jason especially, to be happy, or at least find the happiness in a loving relationship that she never got and never will have the chance to get since she’s shackled to Zeus for all eternity. And I’m so glad Rick included this little scene with Hera crying over Jason because it shows a more motherly, sympathetic side to her that we don’t really see in media. Too many people make Hera the villain because she canonically acts jealous and spiteful towards demigods in classical mythology but I am so tired of that narrative. It’s not very feminist to make the wife the evil one when she and the mistress are both victims of the unfaithful husband. And I think Rick here in this scene is finally realizing that he fell into that mindset and is trying to redeem Hera from all the negative flack he gave her in previous books because the real villain in all of these stories is Zeus. Zeus is the one in power, he’s the one upholding the toxic patriarchal misogynistic system, and he’s the one who does whatever he wants without thinking of the consequences. He doesn’t care about the world as long as he can be his hedonistic self and enjoy whatever pleasures he wants. And through Apollo’s journey, we see almost all of the characters through different lenses as he realizes that Zeus is a terrible father not only to the demigods but also to him and the rest of the Olympian family.

Sorry for rambling, I just super appreciate this scene and I needed to get my feelings out lol. Hope you don’t mind my ranting! Feel free to comment, whether it’s agreement or disagreement, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[bugwolfsstuff]

Alright i've met Loki again in the book, and this time he has been named and eating poptarts.

I am still not retracting my statement. Loki is a fucking delight and i love how he's attempting to teach Magnus how to pronounce....Odin's throne that i am not gonna spell.

I would have a poptart if Loki offered! And I don't even like Poptarts

Huh i find it interesting how his smile fades when Samirah getting kicked out and he compliments her.

Also is it just me or does the tone of the scene shift slightly here? Loki gets slightly less jokey. He gets into explaining whats going on.

The only thing that i really care about on this page is this line:

"Yes, but that was the gods' choice, not mine."

There's an emphasis on the gods for that part and i know that Loki is apparently the big bad in this series (god dam it Rick, you did this with Gaia, stop villanising gods that could be really good symphathetic characters) but that line makes me think.

Does he —or did he, like at this point i feel like they have it coming— not want to kill the gods? Was it a self fufilling prophecy like i think in the actual mythos?

One part of me is hopeful he ends up like Luke in Pjo and is a...slightly sympathetic villain who you could understand his motives but not excuse the actions (well i can excuse Loki wanting to kill these gods)

But on one hand its Rick Riordian.

Gods i hope they address just what—or more who the ropes/chains are made of.

Also again Loki is giving him a choice here? Seriously how is that dude evil? Loki has genuine reasons that he'd want Ragnorok to come because in Ragnorok most if not all of his children are free (except Nafi/Nari, it seems him and Loki are very close right now lol)

Also SAM'S MOM!

--------

And skip to page 192 with my girl Sam and Blitz and Hearth.

Also i kinda wanna know what jokes people tell her about that lol

I am on page 192 currently so we shall see if my thoughts on Loki will persist by the end of this book.