#hazel tls

[ask-the-linked-systems]

So, I redesigned Hazelynn. This version is way more accurate to her real life counterpart(our neighbor's cat of the same name). Also more recognizable.

[apolaskiart]

A little jig in the dimwood to forget the horrors for a little!

[fideidefenswhore]

Despite [Margaret] being one of the most powerful figures in the vicinity of the Bisham Priory, Margaret's protest proved ineffective against the combined efforts of Cromwell and Anne Boleyn, and Barlow was duly appointed.

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury: Loyalty, Lineage, & Leadership, Hazel Pierce

[anivynyx]

I'm all for readers having their own interpretation of a story but what the fuck is the use of that when you ignore the narrative altogether? I've seen people point out that Percy never cared enough about Nico, like excuse me? Are we reading the same thing?

When Nico left the camp, I briefly remember reading how they searched the forest to find him to no avail, Percy wanted to find him. "He tried to kill Nico!" he almost choked him yes, but let's include a little context here (a) he just woke up from a dream/ nightmare (b) he's a demigod (c) from his pov Nico did kind of betray him. So I'd say I'd be more concerned if he wasn't atleast upset.

"But he left Nico to die in the jar!" No he didn't, he wasn't the one who was hesitant about saving him, instead he promised Hazel that they'll rescue him. He infact never gave up on Nico. I get Percy has his flaws, what about being not so good friends to some, like Bob and Nico but I also get why. Life as a demigod gets busy what with being constantly attacked and having to go on quests, he can't always check up on people when he has his hands full and he feels guilty of that.

Tl;dr:- Percy cares about Nico and if you think otherwise, please read the books again.

[imthepointe]

The design of armin’s titan is really important and we need to talk about it

Recently I’ve been thinking about how each detail of armin’s colossal design is intentional and… ow.

First, I see a lot of people on here saying that his titan doesn’t have any ears so he doesn’t hear the screams of his victims. Personally, I’ve never seen any evidence to actually substantiate this — I also don’t think that this would be very in-character for Armin. A primary feature of his development between the s3-s4 ts was that he became really almost consumed by guilt, including guilt for what he had to do in Liberio, so it makes more sense that he would force himself to hear every scream as a form of punishment. Armin definitely does not censor himself from any of the suffering he causes — in a way he’d probably think he deserves to be tormented by what he’s done.

Whew! Anyways, now that that is settled. Take a look at his titan:

As @1ceb3rg pointed out in a recent post, his titan largely resembles a skeleton!! Armin’s titan powers are inherently linked to death, given the way he acquired them (and the sacrifices other people had to make in order for Armin to live). And the skeleton is…well, it’s a universal symbol of death. Also worth pointing out here that armin figured out how to defeat the colossal through its bones — the muscles burn up in the steam but the bones don’t. His titan has much less muscle mass than bertolt’s, because that’s what killed him in the first place.

But let’s talk about his face.

His titan has no ears, no nose, and big sunken blue eyes. A skeleton also has no ears or nose.

There’s probably another reason his titan doesn’t have a nose, though. Think about Armin’s cute rosy button nose in human form. I don’t know exactly what interview it was but Isayama wrote that he “gave Armin a round nose to make him seem mild-mannered and weak while also giving him some kind of unique trait.” In other words, Armin’s nose is a physical representation of his weakness. By designing his titan without a nose, Isayama’s trying to convey that Armin is both physically no longer as fragile as he used to be and has psychologically toughened his resolve. After he was forced to strategize and think on his feet as he was in Shinganshina, Armin lived, ultimately, by developing that mental strength. He would not — he could not — give up. In season four, we really see this development in his tenacity , strategic thinking and leadership. His titan’s lack of a button nose signals this character development. He’s no longer mild-mannered or weak.

Oh! Another feature about his face is the sunken features. Doesn’t Armin look just sad? His large eyes, typically a distinguishing feature of his character, are ... lackluster at best. They’re small, sunken in and downturn. They’re a gray-blue, not his typical royal blue (or hazel, depending on who you ask). His wonder, his curiosity, has faded. He no longer has to speculate as to how Bertolt felt all those years ago in Shiganshina.

As to Armin’s character looking “sad,” we know that Armin’s first real experience with his titan powers was his dream while he was unconscious after transforming and eating Bert. This is what he sees:

Half of the colossal titan is crying. The other half is a skull — with a completely different bone structure. And no nose.

One, this reinforces/confirms the idea that the colossal titan is based on the skeleton and connected to death. But more importantly, it shows us the titan expressing deep sadness. It’s crying, from a sunken, grey-blue eye. If, in that moment, Armin’s titan was being formed in the Paths — he had just gotten the colossal, after all — then it’s possible that experience was emblematic of the shaping and reforming of the previous colossal to the next holder. Armin’s titan appears sad because he was literally crying as it was being formed.

TL;DR: armin’s titan is a physical manifestation of the character development he experienced post-midnight sun

[doevademe]

Hi! Been re-reading some of your future-fic oneshots. I'm just curious to ask: considering Nico as someone tired and settling for Will and canon Will (uhm, the fandom writes him well sometimes), what do you think would be the last straw (for either of them, or both) for a solangelo break-up? Is it possible even with only a very minor (or none at all) intervention from Percy?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Okay, let's do a deep dive into Will and Nico and their relationship, and how, as they are written, they are already doomed as a couple.

However, if you want the TL;DR: Nico and Will are incompatible from a fundamental level. Their personalities and hobbies require way too much compromise to work together. In my future fics, Percy just sped up the inevitable. There's is no one "last straw" as there is an ever increasing pressure that eventually becomes unsustainable.

First, let's look at the dynamic they develop from their first on-screen interaction in BoO: Will nags Nico, tells him he's wrong about his own feelings of isolation and loneliness, and proceeds to basically gaslight him that people never shunned him and he did it to himself. Nico, who has been alone for so long, takes this as a show of concern and affection, and develops an infatuation with Will.

Fast forward to ToA, and it's more of the same. Nico is gloomy, or sarcastic, or a bit morbid, and Will is bothered by it. He's bothered by who Nico is, and decides to "fix him". Nico, meanwhile has grown dependent on Will as his other relationships grow distant (Percy, Hazel, Reyna, and even Hades), and begins feeling jealous of Will even touching others. Needless to say, that's a very toxic basis for a romantic relationship.

When tsats comes around, we get the relationship at its worst. The very first scene is Nico saying he is into fictional bad boys, and Will being disappointed in him. We see that Nico is now watching his every word, glancing constantly at Will to make sure it doesn't displease him, and Will is happier that Nico is "better", though worried he might relapse, lose him to "the darkness" inside him.

Will in tsats is just the worst. He's useless on the quest, he tries to make Nico turn his back on the Underworld (the closest thing he has to a home), he whines, and he simps for Persephone while his boyfriend is right there. Some of it is an intentional flaw, but most of it we're meant to read as romantic and genuinely "sweet".

At the end, Will "learns" that he needs to accept that Nico will always have some darkness in him, and he just needs to "shine brighter" for them both. This doesn't really solve their problems as a couple: They have very little in common, Nico's too dependent on Will and has isolated himself from family and friends, and Will's newfound "acceptance" is tied to seeing Nico as inherently negative.

This relationship is simply not sustainable in the short or long-term, and eventually it will give. Either Will gets tired of having Nico around disrupting his sunny energy, or Nico lashes out over being "the problem" Will has so graciously decided to burden himself with.

A break-up is not only inevitable, it's the healthiest thing either of them can do. People would say to try couple's therapy, but therapy can't make people suddenly like hobbies or personality traits they find repellent. Will is in love with the idea of a "fixed" Nico, and Nico is in love with the idea of a boy that likes and fights for him.

The break-up catalyst can be anything: One nag too far from Will, Nico doing a morbid joke too many, just waking up one day and realizing they were never really in love. Either way, it's not a matter of how, of whether Percy is there or not, it's a matter of when. When does it become too much for them to keep pretending they want the same thing out of this relationship.

[many-many-fresh-strawberries]

I am so frustrated that some people don't understand what it means that Hazel's issues are more internal. She is clearly an anxious, somewhat insecure and easily overwhelmed girl who overthinks stuff and stuff like having your sibling move away from home and you yourself having to move is hard for a child her age.

I always interpreted fairy godparents as being something akin to therapy pets. Which is also why I think Chester didn't really have any godparents for most of the show (except for the AU in It's a Wishful Life and then in Fairy Idol) - sure, his living situation is pretty shitty and I do feel bad for him because of that, but he seems to be relatively happy and well-adjusted in spite of that. By comparison, Timmy's state is clearly negatively affected by his stressors.

I think Chloe was the same way, even if I don't particularly think that she was handled the best. She was a somewhat neurotic and perfectionist girl who may have had something of an RSD. Honestly, as much as I hate Season 10, Chloe is the least of its problems, I actually kinda liked the idea behind her and I think Hazel is basically a better execution of those ideas.

tl;dr, I think Cosmo and Wanda are more akin to therapists rather than child services, haha.

[aroaceleovaldez]

Another thing re: Nico being autistic-coded, is that we know with his whole “people tend to ostracize me for things beyond my control” thing, only half of that is because he’s a son of Hades.

We know this for sure because of Hazel and other character’s POVs - other characters explicitly describe being inherently uncomfortable around children of Hades/Pluto but being able to ignore that feeling most of the time after hanging around with them awhile. However, most characters don’t describe the same thing with Nico. They’ll get past the spooky part and be perfectly fine with Hazel, or even Nico’s powers, but there’s a second thing about Nico that the other characters - including Hazel herself! - all still register as being unusual.

The interesting thing here is there is another autistic-coded character in the series who describes the exact same phenomenon. Leo. The only difference between Leo and Nico (besides powers) is that Leo is near-constantly masking. He specifically notes that he masks for the sole purpose of making others like him more, because he has difficulties with social situations and feels very strongly that he thinks people wouldn’t like him as much or outright be hostile towards him if he wasn’t masking.

And this lines up with how pre-Nico’s spooky powers other characters tried to avoid him, simply because he was a hyper 10 year old who speaks a completely different social language to them. They’re all ADHD, so it kind of makes sense if someone comes in with a completely different social language it’s gonna throw you off. You can also possibly do some analysis with how Reyna initially felt off-put by Nico until she went on her quest with him and explicitly noted how they have similar body language/habits and went “Oh.” and from then on was totally fine with him.

anyways tl;dr: Nico feeling ostracized isn’t just because he’s a son of Hades but possibly even more because he’s simply autistic and nobody else speaks his social language. Leo experiences the same thing, because he’s also autistic, but to a lesser degree because he’s constantly masking.

[14th-century-verona-queer]

Okay I love Percabeth with my whole entire heart

Like every single fiber of my fucking BEING loves them

I could never get enough of them FRRR

But can we please please PLEASE stop writing one shots and short stories and things where every time Percy and Annabeth are together in the same room, they stop paying attention to their friends?

Or that they NEED to be together at all times?

Of course, PLEASE keep writing stories where (even as background characters) they’re being silly, stupid, in love teenagers

But i also wanna see more of Percy just hanging out with Piper and Frank and Nico in a small group, playing video games, and just talking.

I wanna see Annabeth having a girl’s night with Thalia, Reyna, and Hazel where they just wreak absolute havoc.

I wanna see more just Percy doing things with his friends and having friendship moments with his friends, and Annabeth doing things with her friends, and of course both of them contributing and being active in their friend group as THEMSELVES. Not as a conjoined Percabeth. (If that dont make sense, keep reading)

I’ve seen and read too many stories where Percy and Annabeth will be in a ‘group hang-out’ but I never see them interact with anyone else or see them have an ACTUAL conversation with a different character, without bringing up the other. (Not that thats particularly a BAD thing, obviously its cute and stuff, but i know that Percy and Annabeth can and want to talk about more stuff with their friends than just being in love and being Percabeth)

They’re always connected at the hip, and don’t seem to have the meaningful, passionate friendships that they actually have with all the other characters, if that make sense. Whenever they’re “hanging out” with everyone else, they’re never really “hanging out” yk?

And I don’t mean you can’t write them being absolutely infatuated with each other (cause, yk, they are), or that you can’t write them in a group setting where they just kinda of only have eyes for each other in that moment, or that they can’t write them not contributing to the conversation as much and having their own little lovey-dovey conversations. Of COURSE you can do that, and I encourage you to! I love that shit.

But when it’s all the time, in every story, every, well, everything, it just feels like Percy and Annabeth are reduced to those couples that will only hang out with you if you’re also doing couple activities, if that makes sense. Like, it’s giving the whole “jaladdin” thing from Descendants: rise of red. (Which really bothered me btw, bc Aladdin and Jasmine are fantastic characters that deserved their own character and personality that didn't just rely on their relationship) (PS. I HAVE NEVER WATCHED THE MOVIE. BUT. THOSE ARE THE VIBES I GOT JUST FROM THAT ONE SCENE. I COULD BE WRONG. I HOPE IM WRONG.)

Like it’s okay to be completely in love with your partner, but when thats all you talk about and hang out with, it makes the characters meaningless and boring (IN MY OPINONNNNN.) (not to mention that irl, thats quite unhealthy. Too much time with anyone, even someone you love a lot, will start to create resentment and anger between you)

Even in the books, we see Annabeth and Percy that just hang out one-on-one with other characters or in little groups separately. Do they love each other? Of fucking course, literally nothing could change that. But they still have lives and relationships OUTSIDE of each other.

TL;DR: Can we please start writing more interactions with Percy and Annabeth where they have strong, independent personalities that don’t just rely on and talk about Percabeth and their relationship? It’s great that they’re in love and its adorable, yes, but i also want to see them, yk, being Percy, or being Annabeth, and having their own lives and friends and relationships BESIDES just Percabeth.

(I’ll probably update this with new thoughts/make it make more sense because I just needed to get this off my chest and voice my opinion)

[eulaliasims]

Howdy (or, as my cat would say, meowdy)! tl;dw: I've got some gameplay posts for you. 👋

Julian: Autumn, look, look! Straight As!

Autumn: Atta boy! Should we have pizza and ice cream tonight to celebrate?

Julian: Yes, please!

It's the rest of the Fletcher round! Only six months later! In the whopping single day I posted, Wren moved out to uni (where they are rooming with Lina Blanch and have already gotten into shenanigans ofc) and Tegan aged into a gorgeous elder.

Hazel, do you not have enough cats to pet at home?

Hazel: Never!

[riddledeep]

@zachbrightside and I added all the FOP: A New Wish episodes to our full FOP episode timeline, which places all episodes across the 50 years of frozen time (and beyond). This timeline is what I base all my Cloudlands AU content on.

A New Wish isn't canon with Cloudlands AU, but I have a separate series - City Lights AU - that branches off from Cloudlands after Season 10.

As always, it was a pleasure working with you on these A New Wish episode placements, Zach! Thanks for your insights. Check out what we put together!

FOP Episode Timelines

Google Docs links

- Full Timeline Doc - 140 pages -> A New Wish begins on Page 123 - tl;dr Timeline Doc - 40 pages -> A New Wish begins on Page 38

Related

- Birthdays and Annual Events (Post) - Fairy School Schedule (Post) - Zodiac Years in Timmy & Hazel's Time (Doc) - Cloudlands AU 'Fic Chronology (Blog page)

Click HERE for my worldbuilding sideblog masterpost

Reference image - Fairly OddParents: A New Wish - "A New Development"

[ask-the-linked-systems]

Hazel

So here is a random scene where Kiki returns home to find that Hazel has thrown a house party....in his house. I drew a few blurred out anthrimals in the background bc I'm too lazy to draw the rest of the people.

Hazel(Her actual name is Hazelynn, but most refer to her as Hazel) lives next door to Kiki, and they are good friends. She is pretty wild, and can get Kiki, someone usually calm, riled up.

Kiki: I go out for groceries and I return to this?!

Hazel: Yup. Want a drink? *offers beer*

Kiki: Well, can't turn that down. *takes the drink and plops down in his recliner*

[greensaplinggrace]

🔥 I’m so curious any unpopular opinions you might have about Nikolai….

do you want me crucified? please nikolai is this fandom's baby 😭😭

I'm alksjdflks- neutral on Nikolai at the best of times and I dislike him at the worst of times.

as a character, I find him fun, but I also find the 'charming rogue' archetype tired when it comes to him. I don't necessarily hate the archetype, but for some reason the way bardugo leans on it so much to make nikolai appealing rubs me the wrong way. I think it's a cheap imitation of what could have been a better crafted character. the times I have found nikolai most appealing are when he's cunning, political, and practical - especially after he's infected by the merzost. I also really like how similar he actually is to the darkling in a lot of ways, that's compelling to me. but all of that just makes me neutral towards him.

what makes me often swing into dislike is his function within the narrative. he essentially serves as the White Savior, and even when he gives zoya power (which in itself is handled unrealistically), it is with the same functional plot power and armor of a White Savior. I don't like the way bardugo handled the grisha and the monarchy, and unfortunately nikolai is just too tied into it all.

but actually the biggest unpopular opinion about him for me is that I think he should have also been an antagonist. not only would it have actually given bardugo's message about 'men in power' a lot of weight, but it would have been a brilliant study in how being outcast and othered doesn't automatically make you bad, and how being loved and accepted (and actually charming lol - he would serve as a much better 'charming abuser in hiding' than the darkling) doesn't necessarily make you good.

because this scene -

“I’m telling you that if you want to be a leader, it’s time you started thinking and acting like one.”

“I’ve heard this before, you know, from the Darkling and his supporters. Be brutal. Be cruel. More lives will be saved in the long run.”

“Do you think I’m like the Darkling?” I studied him—the golden hair, the sharp uniform, those too-clever hazel eyes.

“No,” I said slowly. “I don’t think you are.” I rose to go join Mal. “But I’ve been wrong before.”

-is the perfect setup to such a plot, and it would have given actual weight to what bardugo was trying to convey about men and power. it also would have gotten rid of the white savior trope, cast a more realistic light on the vilification of her only activist for the oppressed minority, and added more complexity to all of the characters.

tl;dr - unpopular opinion: nikolai would have served better as another antagonist, and I think his narrative function was unpleasant

send me a 🔥 for an unpopular opinion (x)

[ihazyourkitty]

Why John Hargrove is full of it p.1

Multiple people have expressed interest in the detailed Blackfish rebuttal I am working on. The plan is to put it in video essay format on Youtube. This not only has the potential to reach a larger audience, but it also gives me more creative/expressive flexibility that would otherwise be difficult to get across in just written text.

This project will not be completed for quite some time, as there are a lot of things to cover. However, I did want to provide a short glimpse into some things I've uncovered thus far.

You see, I plan on not only refuting the movie itself, but also covering the consequences of Blackfish, and major figures like Naomi Rose, Ingrid Visser, etc. So as part of this project, I am listening to the eBook version of John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface for the second time. It's..... so.... much..... fun.....

*sigh* Warning, there's a long rant ahead. TL;DR John Hargrove comes off as very full of himself in this book, and it's annoying.

______

Now, on a purely emotional, literary level I guess, the book is certainly very gripping. It's difficult to put down, even when you know that much of what is alleged therein is utter bullcrap. However, I don't think this is just because the whole "little-guy turns against evil corporation" trope makes for good storytelling across the board. I think it's also because, unlike Mark Simmons' Killing Keiko, or Hazel McBride's I Still Believe, John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface has the luxury of both professional editing, and a co-author (Howard Chia-Eoan).

To be clear, I'm not saying this as dig against Hazel McBride or Mark Simmons. I bring this up merely to illustrate the stark contrast here. As far as I know, their works were self published, or at least lacking the same polish and publicity from big name publishers, or sensationalist documentaries.

However, this contrast wouldn't be so noteworthy to me were it not for these two things I'm increasingly noticing in this reread of Beneath the Surface:

It is never clearly stated which parts were written by Hargrove, and which were ghost written by Chia-Eoan... but the amount of contradictions and shoehorned information in here gives me some serious suspicions.

John Hargrove... seems incredibly full of himself!

I don't have the time to elaborate on #1 right now, so we'll just talk about #2 today. John Hargrove is almost never in the wrong. He is always painted as the hero, the true advocate for these animals. You don't hear much about the other trainers he worked with or learned from. Mostly, it's just about him. He bemoans the allegedly poor conditions SeaWorld's animals are kept in, while simultaneously boasting about all his accomplishments with them. He speaks of differing perspectives between him and some of the other trainers, but seldom elaborates on what exactly those differences were. Instead, he usually just frames it in a sanctimonious "me vs. them" way.

The closest he gets to admitting any mistakes he had to learn from is when he recounted an aggressive incident with Freya at Marineland Antibes, and even then.... the whole reason why that incident (allegedly) happened was because Hargrove overestimated his training/waterworks abilities with a whale he didn't have a relationship with. His admission of that mistake is then overshadowed by the rather self-righteous tone he frames the resolution with. All the success was about him. You don't hear anything about how he worked with the other trainers there, what they brought to the table, and certainly not the stronger, lasting relationships they had with Freya. It's not that he had to mention them by name, but he didn't even mention them at all!

To be fair, this interpretation is partly subjective on my part. Still, as someone who is personally working in animal husbandry right now (albeit not with marine mammals), the gaping holes in this narrative raises some red flags.

Here's some free advice to anyone interested in working in the zoo/aquarium industry: I have been told by multiple hiring managers that they don't want someone who "just wants to work with the animals, and not deal with people." That's not how this works. You still have to work with people in some form or another.

It doesn't matter which animals you are working with. When you're on an animal husbandry/training team, you gotta ask for/provide help, seek/give feedback, communicate with other departments, etc. Complaints, conflict and disagreements will inevitably happen, but you gotta be mature about it.

And yes, in that process... you are going to make mistakes, and you're going to have to own up to them! It's part of how you learn. You're also going to inevitably work with people who don't see things the same way.

The people who can't do this tend to not only get stuck in their own way, but are more likely to start resenting coworkers and/or management whenever disagreements happen. They'll constantly complain about how other people do things, but then can't/won't take constructive feedback themselves. It's worse when it's someone with more experience under their belt because of the massive ego. Let me be clear: this kind of mindset does not help your animals! It only creates a toxic work environment that's resistant to change!

DO. NOT. BE. THIS. PERSON!!!!

No, this does not mean you can't vent frustrations. No this does not mean that you can't take pride in your work. It means that you gotta be able to swallow your pride, and not alienate other people.

So, what does all that have to do with the contrast mentioned earlier?

Like Hargrove, McBride details her career journey, but doesn't just paint it all in glamour. She talks about her setbacks, how she grew, things she learned from other people, the internships she did, the grunt work she was willing to do, etc.

Killing Keiko has less to do with the details of Mark Simmons' career path, but he does give credit to other people where it is due, even at times towards those he fundamentally disagreed with. I can remember one part where he explicitly admitted that he made a mistake too, and tellingly, it was in an instance where he played the "I've been doing this for years" card. In the very next sentence he admitted it was the wrong thing to say in that situation, and highlighted the perspective he was missing in that moment.

These things are conspicuously absent in Beneath the Surface. I don't remember anything of the sort that stood out when I first read the book, and thus far it's certainly not there in my second time around. The first third of the book is dedicated to how he dreamed of becoming a trainer as a kid, and the path he took to get there. Most of this path, though, is painted in glamor, when the reality is.... the path to getting into animal husbandry isn't particularly glamorous. Not only do you have go to college, but you also have to settle for various unpaid internships or volunteer gigs, and then apply for multiple jobs only to get several no's before it works out (to say nothing of how underpaid zookeepers/aquarists/trainers are).

Hargrove, on the other hand, kept pestering lead marine mammal trainers at SeaWorld since he was a kid, practiced his swimming/diving abilities, and started his degree in psychology. Then, as luck would have it, an apprentice trainer position opened up at SW San Antonio, and when he got the job, he jubilantly quit college. Not much is said about what kind of volunteer work he did before that. I think he did some stuff with marine mammal rescue in Texas, but I'll have to go back and reread to be sure... in any event, I wish I'd heard more about the experience he got besides swimming and pestering the SW animal training department.

And like.... great, he got the job, but it seemed more by luck than by the sweat of his brow. Then he balked that he was put in the SeaLion Stadium, and/or that he had to spend a lot of time washing dishes and spotting before even being allowed to work directly with a whale, which like..... yeah? I don't know what you were expecting dude.

(Btw, this part isn't just me being nit-picky, Duncan Versteegh from ML Antibes corroborates Hargrove's resistance to doing grunt work like cleaning)

Whenever mentioning people at SW who didn't want to work at Shamu Stadium, Hargrove couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't want that.... because heaven forbid other people have different preferences? To be fair, from what I've heard of SW work culture in general, Shamu Stadium is kind of painted as the glamorous A-team, but DANG does Hargrove really lean into that attitude!

Later on, he detailed some of the conflicts he had with SW's entertainment department. At one point his manager explicitly told him he needed learn to get along better with other departments. And like... yeah... yeah you do!

Look, I'm not interested in doing blanket apologia for SeaWorld. I'm sure Hargrove was in the right more than once when he'd argue with people, but I'm also not convinced that the whole of the entertainment department, management, et al., were just a bunch of unfeeling jerks who didn't care about the animals.

This part actually ground my gears quite a bit. Before I became an aquarist, I was an educator, and sometimes I would overhear certain husbandry staff gossip about us in a really patronizing way whenever there were miscommunications. Not that they never had valid reasons to complain, they did, but to be treated like you're just a dumb educator/guest services person is not pleasant, and certainly not professional. I don't know how common this is at other places, but I bring this up to illustrate the importance of being able to work with other departments, especially in the face of disagreements or miscommunication.

That Beneath the Surface paints Hargrove's inability to do this as a virtue rather than as the character flaw that it is... well.... it's um... it's a choice. And it's telling.

Again, some of this interpretation is subjective on my part. Ultimately, none of us can know for sure what is in someone else's heart. Hargrove does seem to sincerely care about the animals, despite the narcissism. However, the vast majority of people who are going to be reading his book are not people who have spent much if any time working in the zoo industry, and thus may not pick up on some of these things. I'm not the only one to point these things out either.

So even if one is against keeping orcas in captivity, I think being aware of the egos behind figures like Hargrove is important. When you get to the end of his book, you would think that all his former colleagues are, at best, just timid little clogs in a corporate machine, brainwashed to do as SW says. This is just not true. These people are dedicated to their animals, and have worked very hard to get where they are at. Some have gone on to get their masters, or PhD's, provide expertise to other facilities, or take part in rescues, etc., and they did it without chasing clout.

SW Corporate should absolutely treat their employees better, but their treatment of them pales in comparison to how people like Hargrove basically erase their accomplishments altogether. In this way, he tries to have it both ways... his time at SW proves how much of an expert he is, you know, because he was a senior trainer with two decades of experience after all! Oh, but when someone else from the field speaks up to refute what he says, nope.... their accomplishments don't matter, they're just brainwashed. If that doesn't scream "massive ego", then I don't know what does.

I'm only halfway through the book on this second round, so there is a chance I'll come back to correct some things here. I do encourage people to try to read this book themselves and come to their own conclusions. You don't have to buy it either, check your local library (it's how I got a hold of this eBook).

[mcshizzle-the-fire-boy]

OH AND HAZELS PAN AND FRANKS A TRANS GUY SND NO THEY ARENT DSTING BECAUSE THAT KINDA FEELS ICKY TL ME

I personally love frazel just the age difference isn't great

personally think Hazel's a straight asexual and Frank's pan and a transguy

[xxemxlxserxx]

Hades is one of the best dads in Percy Jackson. (From the point of view of someone who has read up to The Lost Oracle)(Basically just an Underworld kid timeline)---(Go to the end for a TL;DR)---

(I don't have a great memory so some of this could be fanon or just completely false information. Be aware! This is a super long post. I am also less aware of Hazels story so feel free to add on/disagree!)

Aside from his actual parenting, he is the only of the big three to keep the oath. He has three children in the series so far which is more than the rest of the big three. All of those children were born before the oath was made. Nico and Bianca Di Angelo and Hazel Levesque. The timeline of Nico, Bianca, and Hazel is hazy at best. What we do know is that they were all born sometime between 1924-1938.

When Nico was 8 and Bianca was 12 Zeus killed their mother with a bolt of lightning. Many of the gods would have let the children fend for themselves but Hades put the children into a magic casino where time was altered and no one could find the kids.

He was admittedly not as good to Hazel when she was young. Hazel's mother was a fortune teller in 1920's-1940's New Orleans. She summoned Pluto, the roman equivalent of Hades, and they had Hazel. After, he did almost nothing for her. She died when she was a preteen. She was given a chance at Elysium but refused for the sake of her mother. She was sent to the Fields of Asphodel but granted memory of her previous life.

Year's later there more kids of the big three. There is a prophesy foretelling that one of the big three children will save or destroy the world when they turn 16. Hades finally retrieves the Di Angelo's from the casino and sends them to boarding school to be found by Camp Half-Blood. He intends for one of them to be the child of the prophesy.

Bianca joined the immortal hunters of Artemis and then dies on a quest. Hades is upset but does not cast aside Nico and give up on him. He says that it would have been easier with Bianca but he will just have to train Nico more. When Bianca dies Nico leaves CHB and travels the country. It is assumed that he spends time with his father in the Underworld. He also has a connection with Persephone, Hades' godly wife and her mother Demeter. Most demi-gods do not spend time with their godly parent, let alone there godly step-parent.

Nico has a personal room in his father's palace. He is able to freely talk to his father, even negatively. When they fight Hades sends Nico to his room, like a regular parent. Him wanting Nico to have a "normal life" becomes important later.

When the Doors of Death are opened Nico looks for Bianca in the Fields of Asphodel. Instead, he finds his other sister, Hazel. He brings her to Hades and Hades tells him to take her to Camp Jupiter. Nico becomes the first "modern" demigod to know of both camps. Nico is told to say he is the Ambassador of Pluto. He then joins in on important matters within Camp Jupiter.

Sometime during this Hades gives Nico a personal zombie-driver. He does this after finding out that mortal parents drive their children around. As established, Nico has no mortal parent.

Ok so I'm going a bit off-format for this but I swear some time in Hero's of Olympus Pluto appears to Hazel but I forgot when and could not find it on the wiki. So this part is kinda an unfinished thought. Hazel assumes Pluto does not talk to her because if he acknowledged her life, he would have to send her back to the Underworld.

So to recap my points. (TL;DR)

-Followed the no-kids oath

-Protected his children from the other gods

-Didn't underestimate his kids

-Gave Hazel special death-privileges

-Took Nico into the palace and truly made him part of his family

-Treated him like a mostly normal kid

-Gave him his own space in the palace where he was always welcome

-Entrusted him with the knowledge of both camps

-Gave Nico a zombie-driver because Hades couldn't always be there and he wanted Nico to be able to live a normal life

Now, what about other godly parents? I will admit that it is easier for Hades because he has so little kids. Despite this, Zeus is still able to be a bad parent. Poseidon is also a good example of a good godly parent. Apollo gets a bit better in trails of Apollo I think but I'm not done with the series yet.

Once again feel free to disagree or discuss. If your mean I'll probably cry tbh but do what you wanna do man.