#hermes the ball python

[plutonianplaything2]

My #1

[travelingthief]

Lord Apollo Devotional Post

Divination

Tarot/Oracle decks

Pendulums

Rune stones

Charm casting supplies

Crystal balls

Scrying bowls

All divination tools

Cookie fortunes

Tea leaves

Art

Paint brushes/paints

Canvases

Colored pencils/markers/crayons

Collages

Journals

Art books

Art prints

Anything you made

Sculptures 

Zines

Stickers

Any art supplies

Music

Music boxes

Records/CDs/Cassettes

Record players/radios/MP3 etc.

Headphones

Music posters

Band merch

Instruments/String instruments

Dance shoes

Concert tickets

CD book holders

Sun and Light

Sun imagery

Sunscreen

Aloe for sunburns

Golden objects

Matches

Candles

Sunflowers/sunflower seeds

Health and Healing

First aid kits

Medicine

Pain relievers

Band-aids

Ice/heat packs

Rice socks 

Masks

Aloe

Ambulance toy cars

Adaptive aids

Archery 

Darts

Bow and arrows

Arrow quiver

Dart board

Targets 

Bullseye 

Myth Related

Snake skins

Snake imagery (Python)

Laurels

Bay leaves (Daphne)

Palm trees (Birth myth)

Ravens/Crows 

Crow feathers (Why the crow is black)

Cattle/turtles (Hermes birth myth)

Swans (Pulled His chariot)

Hyacinths (Hyacinthus)

Locks of hair 

Food

Vanilla

Honey

Sunny D

Lemons/lemon juice

Oranges/orange juice

Citrus

Water

Devotional Acts

Health

Take your meds

Go to therapy

Exercise

Wear a mask (We are still in a pandemic y’all)

Get vaccinated

Get STI tested

Self care

Learn first aid/CPR

Keep a first aid kit at home/in your car

Learn about alternative medicine

Advocate for accessible healthcare

Advocate for disability rights

Volunteer at a hospital

Give blood/plasma

Volunteer at a retirement home

Learn about anatomy/biology/nutrition

Learn about health conditions/rare disorders

Eat healthy for your body

Help fund surgeries if you can

Trip sit for someone

Listen to your body

Sunlight

Sunbathe

Wear sunscreen

Start a garden

Make sun water

Open all the windows on a sunny day

Music

Go to a concert/show

Listen to music

Make a playlist for someone you love

Make a playlist for Apollo

Learn an instrument/play and instrument

Dance

Sing

Support local bands

Explore new music

Burn CDs

Divination/Prophecy

Daily tarot card/rune stones

Make an oracle deck

Give divination readings

Shadow work

Colormancy

Art

Make something

Draw/paint/craft

Write a poem/story

Color

Make a zine

Go see a play

Get a tattoo

Archery

Throw darts

Use a slingshot

Take up archery

Go to a shooting range

[emiliarowan]

Hermes, my big boy, my first snake, such a pretty boy

[amiablenymph]

My snake Hermes chillin on @padthaivegan 's laptop 🐍

[antiloreolympus]

Okay, Zeus being 7 when he set his brothers free is not so crazy when you remember that in mythology Hermes was just a baby/newborn when he stole Apollo's cows and is also implied that Apollo killed the monster Python when he was really young (meybe a kid or a teenager). Even tough is said that Zeus was already an adult when he tricked his dad, is not so crazy to imagine that the gods age diferent from humans or at least some of them. I mean, for example Aphrodite and Athena are implied being born as adults, Athena was already full formed and in armor when she emerged from Zeus head and Aphrodite was born from Uranous balls and the sea being also an adult. Witch kinda makes the fact that RS make Persephone age like a normal human just..... More weird, i mean she was created as a baby and aged like a normal human until she stoped growing at 19, is just a weird choise, RS could make Persephone be born as an adult and meybe the age diference wouldn't be so weird. Also when did Hades stoped growing? Because in the flashback he still looks kinda old to me, i don't know, meybe RS could also have him stop growing at 20 and he wouldn't look so old compared to Persephone.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[vex-bittys]

Hey Vex! I'm the one that got Helios (The King), Hephaestus (The Chain), Hermes (The Honey Bo), and Asclepius (The Cherry Coral). They've all settled in well and enjoyed the company of a new housemate I got yesterday, Shi the Ball Python! But something's been off lately with Asclepius, he was missing someone! Turns out he had a Pygmy friend that helped him when the other three were gone. The Pygmy, he said would be more calmer than others. -Greek Anon.

*You come into the shop holding Asclepius the Cherry Coral in your arms. It’s very obvious that’s he’s been living in a happy home. He is as calm as he can be, the only sign of his nerves a subdued wringing of his little hands. He’s worried that his Pygmy friend may have been adopted already. He is truly happy in your home, but he misses his friend, something that would make his new life complete.

*You walk Asclepius through the Pygmy section, but he shakes his head at each Pygmy you pass. All of them are zooming or pouncing or building obstacle courses, very energetic and busy, not at all like the Pygmy Asclepius described. You visit other areas of the shop, beginning to worry yourself. You can see that Asclepius is on the verge of disappointed tears, and it breaks your heart.

*Finally, you ask Vex if she knows about a calm Pygmy, not quite as zoomy and all-over-the-place as the others. She smiles, and points across the shop to the one place you didn’t think to check... Asclepius’ old nest! You hurry over with your Cherry Coral leaning so far out of your arms that you’re afraid he might fall. There, in a small pile of blankets, is a Pygmy taking an uncharacteristic nap. 

*The Pygmy awakens at your approach. When he sees Asclepius, his entire face brightens, splitting into a huge grin. You swear that your Cherry Coral told you his Pygmy friend was calm, but when he sees his friend again, the Pygmy explodes into excited zooms. You chalk it up to the situation, and sure enough, the Pygmy soon slows to an only slightly faster than normal speed.

*You scoop up the Pygmy, and he and Asclepius chirp and hiss to each other as you walk to the front desk, as you sign the paperwork for the Pygmy’s adoption, the entire trip home, and long into the night.

(Artwork by redkammy)

[detective-with-one-arm]

RK800/RK900 Verse Headcanons

This one had a long time coming, so here we go

Pre-deviancy:

Wears her hair in a ponytail, the two big pieces on the sides of her head sideswept and clipped off to the side.

Doesn’t anger as easily/lose her patience as Connor would.

Her responses in many instances with Hank are very different in attitude.

Her priorities in terms of emotional responses are also very different.

She shows more concern towards Hank than is perhaps wise, but he is her partner for the case, so being amiable is ideal for their success. And showing concern and being actively involved in his queries is a way to ensure that.

She shows more remorse for the fact that she’s incapable of understanding human emotions and tendencies than it also wise, but she doesn’t show it because she feels bad about it. It’s just a fact for her. But she shows remorse for that fact because of Hank’s desperation to see something human in her and the distress he feels at the failure to do so.

Which, ironically, makes him see something human in her.

She’s a lot more apologetic than Connor is as an RK800.

Her wording and language is a fair bit more flowery and her phrasing is much more delicate than Connor's and she takes more note of the quality of Hank’s character than his capability as an officer.

Her deviant disguise is a leather jacket overtop of a hoodie, of which she pulls over her head to hide her LED.

A couple examples of how different her responses are in certain situations are:

Hank: So, what’s your conclusion?

Connor: I think working with an officer with...personal issues is an added challenge. But adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features.

Rachel: I think you're a highly capable and decorated officer, and despite your more recent...decline, I welcome the challenge and opportunity to work with someone with your...tenure. And I'm pleased to inform you that adapting to human unpredictability is indeed one of my many features.

And at the bridge, when Hank has his gun on her, her “Defy” response is also very different:

Connor: You know you're not going to shoot me, lieutenant. You're just trying to provoke a reaction. I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you.

Rachel: You won't shoot me, lieutenant. You're only doing this to see even the slightest sign that I'm just as capable of emotional outbursts as you are. That I'm not just software and wires. It's not your fault that I'm incapable of understanding the human condition, nor is it mine. But I am sorry that that's an aspect neither of us will ever understand.

Post-deviancy:

Humans are very confusing.

There’s so much about humans that Rachel still doesn’t understand even as a deviant.

What frustrates her most is their self-destructive habits and their propensity to anger.

She’s disillusioned with humanity’s need to prioritize and assign unnecessary meaning to things that are neutral and their need to create conflicts over the most pointless things that could’ve been solved in a single sentence.

Instead of a coin, she has a pen she fiddles with.

She lived with Hank for a brief while before she got her own place. A small apartment with a view of the city.

She’s tends to be attracted to more niche pets. The kind that tend to be neglected or ignored by humans, such as rats.

She has a couple of rats named Loki and Hermes.

She also has a ball python named Kaa and a tarantula named Sheila.

Despite having her own place, she still likes to spend time with Hank and Sumo and checks up on his health and well-being. She encourages him to take better care of himself.

Overall, when she’s not working at the precinct as his partner, she’s out and about. Rachel cannot ever sit still and she’s always restless.

Despite being assured by Markus, North, Josh, and Simon, she still feels a tremendous guilt over her former role as the deviant hunter. She knows she’s redeemed herself in the eyes of her people, but some part of her still can’t believe it.

She’s afraid of Amanda taking control of her again. She’s never fully sure if she ever really escaped from her handler and it doesn’t bode well for her mental state.

Machine:

Entirely utilitarian.

She is not cruel or spiteful or anything.

Everything she does is strictly with the mission in mind and she will stop at nothing to accomplish it.

She seeks the most efficient and direct solutions to her obstacles and will dispatch whatever threat is in her way however she deems fit.

While she will avoid violence as a first response, she won’t hesitate to choose it if it suits her needs and feels no particular way towards or against it.

It is merely a tool to use. Like every facet of herself and everything around her.

RK900:

I’m not gonna make a separate verse page for this one, so I’m just gonna do this right here.

RK900 Rachel is a military android, 200,000 of which were ordered by the U.S. military.

However, after the revolution, the model line was distributed elsewhere, military, FBI, SWAT, police departments, anywhere of the sort.

RK900 Rachel’s more of a stiff than her RK800 counterpart.

While RK800 is a lot more mellow and pleasant and approachable, RK900 is cold, blunt, awkward, and not much for small talk. She’s a bit difficult to get along with and talk with. At least, at first.

Once you’re actually in her good graces, she opens up a little and shows that despite her purpose being to be a military android, she’s actually incredibly gentle and kindhearted. She just conceals it behind a stone face that might not really be so stone-faced.

Rachel prefers being called Nines or Nine Hundred. Especially if her RK800 counterpart is with her.

[writeyouin]

You're Jareth's very small child learning how to use magic. It's your birthday & he surprises you with your first trip to the Aboveground, but your powers go haywire. You conjure snakes at rude people when mad, teleport randomly when excited to explore, & accidentally offer a dream-inducing peach to a hungry child. Jareth can barely keep up as he counteracts everything with his own magic. When you get home, you ask to play in the Escher room, but Jareth says playtime's over & takes you to bed.

Labyrinth / Reader Insert – Little Bird

A/N – Dinner hours at work are apparently very productive.

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

Jareth watched you amusedly as you transformed from your original fae form to a bluebird then a goblin and back. At six years old, you were progressing much faster in your magical talents that he’d anticipated. Of course, being his child, it was no surprise you were gifted, but Jareth was still impressed with your control; most fae didn’t show such progress until they were at least thirteen, but you were different. In front of Jareth’s very eyes, you vanished, reappearing above him and giggling mischievously. With expert hands used to such tricks, Jareth caught you, swinging you around gracefully.

“Another successful teleportation. My, my, you are showing off today, little bird,” Jareth said proudly, using the pet name he’d given you since the moment he first held you.

You giggled but didn’t say anything, toying with your father in a rendition of your favourite game.

“Goblin got your tongue?”

You stuck your tongue out and Jareth mirrored the gesture playfully.

“Very well, if it’s not that, did a zephyr steal your voice?”

“No silly,” You laughed happily, “it’s my birthday.”

“My, is it really? No, I’m sure that birthdays stop after five years. Are you telling me there’s another one for turning six?”

You nodded enthusiastically.

“Well, in that case, I suppose you’ll be wanting a gift?” With a practiced hand, Jareth summoned a coat made up entirely of pockets, donning it proudly. He reached into a small-looking pocket, putting you into a fit of near-hysterics when it engulfed his entire arm. “It’s in here somewhere, I’m sure.”

He pulled out a handful of live snakes, dropping them carelessly on the floor where they quickly slithered away. You squealed elatedly, clapping small, pudgy hands.

“Oops, wrong pocket, hmm, what about this one?” He reached into another, pulling out a Firey’s eyeball. The eye turned around in Jareth’s fingers to look at you before jumping out of his hand and rolling out of the open door. In his game, Jareth emptied countless pockets, entertaining you with all manner of tricks, ranging from trained tapdancing fairies, which were removed before they could bite you, to your very own portal to the Escher room which you would be allowed to play in later.

Finally, Jareth kneeled down in front of you, taking on a serious yet loving air. “My darling little bird, I have saved the best for last.”

You bounced on the balls of your feet, scrunching your hands into excited fists. “What is it, daddy?”

“For you, I would gift the entire moon and stars, even this entire kingdom, though that will have to wait till you are millenniums older. For today, little bird, the best I can give you,” He summoned a viewing crystal, rolling it fluidly over his hand, “is a trip to the Aboveground.”

He floated the crystal over to you and you held onto it tightly, staring into it at one of the Aboveground’s small villages with eyes that wanted everything they saw.

Instantly, the room around you was filled with swirling glittery powder, as you transformed your outfit into something similar to the first person you saw in the crystal. Jareth grinned at your disguise of jeans, a shirt with sparrows on it, and dark trainers with wings built into the sides that were so fine they could rival those of the arrogant fae Hermes who’d pretended to be a God all those centuries ago.

“Such flair you have, little bird,” Jareth said, transforming his own outfit into dark green dress trousers with a white shirt and a waistcoat embroidered with green vines. Overall, it was about as understated an outfit as Jareth could bare to have; how he missed the old Victorian era of fashion with its intricate outfits and colourful ways.

“I expect you’ll behave, young one,” Jareth warned. “No magic in front of the humans, am I clear?”

“Yes. Let’s go, go, go!”

Jareth drew on his much stronger magic to teleport the two of you to the human village from the crystal. It was somewhere quiet and reasonably small, perfect for a first trip to the Aboveground. Once there, on the outskirts, hidden under the long curtains of a weeping willow, Jareth reached for your hand, but it was too late. In all your excitement you had teleported, finding yourself on the steeple of a church that overlooked the entire village.

While you took in the sights below, Jareth cursed in the ancient language, mildly displeased with your disappearing act, but not mad; after all, had he not done the exact same thing when his mother had brought him to the very same village, though she had waited till he was thirteen.

He followed your magic signature, prepared to reprimand you but by the time he reached the steeple, you were already gone again. He tried to trace your location which should have been a simple task, but evidently you were pushing your boundaries and teleporting every which way. He rolled his eyes in a ‘kids will be kids manner’, coming to the conclusion you were randomly teleporting from one spot to the another; that was something he hadn’t done, one teleport had been enough for him at thirteen.

He paused, opting to wait till you exhausted yourself, which was bound to happen eventually. Then the screaming began.

Jareth transformed into an owl, flying to the source in case he teleported in front of a hapless human. The screaming was coming from a young boy, not much older than you, as he was constricted by a large python. You were in front of him, stomping your feet angrily.

“Say sorry,” You shrieked in a tantrum.

From the boy’s purple face and rolling eyes, it was clear he couldn’t say anything; even the screaming had stopped. Ignoring any previous rules, Jareth transformed back to normal, using a complicated time reversal spell to fix the situation and save the boy’s life, whilst also removing any memory of the altercation.

“(Y/N)!” Jareth said sternly. “The humans aren’t like us, you could have killed him and-”

“He was rude!” You pouted.

“All humans are rude… Come now little bird, I think it’s time I explained a few things. This realm can exhaust our magic and we-”

You quickly grew bored of the lecture. If your father didn’t understand that you were only acting in a manner befitting royalty, then you didn’t want to hear it. Sensing a pull of magic, Jareth pointed at you commandingly, “No! Don’t even think about it, young-”

You vanished, leaving Jareth irked as he tracked you again. He now knew that he couldn’t wait for you to tire yourself out anymore; the time reversal had left him exhausted and he needed to use his reserve magic sparingly so the two of you could get back home to the Underground.

Silently, he sent an apology to his long-deceased mother in case he’d ever been as much trouble at a young age, then he felt you stop. He gritted his teeth as he felt yet another, much stronger pull of magic; whatever you were playing at was bound to be conspicuous. Wasting no time, he teleported to you, finding you stood with another child; a little girl with oversized clothes that accentuated her skinny limbs. Everything about her spoke of malnourishment, and maybe that was why she reached so eagerly for the dream-inducing peach you offered her.

Jareth snatched the peach from your hand, sending it back to the Underground and wondering all the while how you had managed to cast such a complex spell; you shouldn’t have been able to do magic like that till you were at least two hundred, which was still considered a juvenile age for the fae. Jareth never thought it possible that one so young would be able to do such a thing. He seriously considered whether or not he should craft some magic dampeners to temporarily limit your abilities once the two of you were back home, but that was a thought for another time; for now, all he had to do was get you back. He glanced almost boredly at the hungry child, disregarding her completely in favour of you.

“(Y/N), please,” Jareth grabbed your wrist tightly so you couldn’t go anywhere, “tell me what you think you’re doing.”

“She’s hungry daddy.”

“That is not a matter that concerns us. You know very well that peaches are…” He chose his words carefully, knowing the impact one human child could have once grown up, “bad for one’s digestion.”

“Please daddy… She really is hungry… Just one bite daddy, please.”

Jareth shook his head at your pleading tone, and reached into the back pocket of his trousers, summoning a wallet so he could hand the child some money. What currency were humans using these days? Jareth had long since forgotten, but he imagined gold was still valuable to the greedy race.  Carelessly, he handed the child a fistful of solid gold doubloons, which she stared at with wide eyes, too stunned to say anything.

“Take that home to your family for food. Go,” Jareth barked. “And tell them nothing of us, or I assure you, I will bring back that peach.”

Although the girl had no idea what he meant with that last remark, she did at told, bunching up the doubloons in her jumper to stop any from escaping.

“Yay,” You cheered, “now everyone will eat.”

Jareth sighed, knowing he couldn’t find it in himself to berate you, his one and only heir. He tugged your hand gently, “Come now little bird, it is time we returned home.”

“Okay daddy,” You beamed. “Can I play in the Escher room?”

“No, my darling, when we get home it’s straight to bed. It’s been a long day… and I have a story to tell you.”

“Is it about Sir Didymus again?”

“Not tonight little bird...” Jareth looked pensive. He was thinking about your powers, considering for the first time that you might be stronger than any fae ever born for one simple reason. “Tonight, I would like to tell you the story of your mother because she was born right here in this village… She was from the Aboveground.”

You smiled simply, not feeling the weight of your father’s words at such a young age. You’d never met your mother; as far as you were concerned, you didn’t really know what a mother was. “That sounds fun, does it have a happy ending?”

Jareth felt the familiar pang of despair that hadn’t waned over the years. He would indeed tell you the story of your mother, but not the entire thing. Bound by fae law, he couldn’t lie, but so long as he gave the story a different ending it wasn’t a lie when he answered. “Yes.”

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[sunriseverse]

How about the feed your snake prompt?

me while writing this: Newt…no…

“Please?” Newt begs him, voice thin and reedy. The connection is poor, despite the phone display showing three bars; Hermann should probably be used to that at this point, but.He sighs. He can practically see the pleading expression on the other’s face, visualize the slight tremble of his lip, the widening of his eyes. Damn it. He caves. “Fine,” he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can check in on…Frankenstein every other day while you’re gone.”

The change in tone is instantaneous. “Thanks, man, really,” Newt says, the relief palpable, and Hermann imagines the slump of his shoulders, the tenseness leaving his muscles as he breathes a sigh. “I’ll pay you back, dude, I swear—you’re a life-saver, Herms—” there’s a scuffle, before the connection re-establishes itself. “Crap,” Newt hisses. “Look, dude, I gotta go—”

The line cuts off, leaving Hermann with a question dying on his lips. With a sigh, he turns the phone off and returns to his notes. According to Newt, Frankenstein only needs to be fed once every few days, and he’ll be back before then. Hermann wonders what sort of pet the other has that it only needs to be fed every few days and can be kept in the Shatterdome.

Probably a plant of some sort; he seems the type.

It’s not a plant, as Hermann discovers with a nasty shock two days later.

It’s a four-foot-long ball-python.

“Newton!” Hermann barks into the phone, edging away from the snake flicking its tongue out to scent the air, and lets out a tiny yelp when it slithers marginally closer. “You—you! You didn’t tell me it was a snake!”

“She,” Newt corrects placidly. “Her name’s Frankenstein. She’s a sweetie, Herms, I swear—the mice are in the freezer, in case she gets hungry, but only give her one, okay, dude?”

Hermann sputters, trying to draw together a coherent sentence. “Newton—you—I can’t believe—you—” The snake slithers closer, and Hermann drops the phone in fright. There’s a staticky laugh, and Hermann glares at the phone, snatching it up off of the ground. “We’ll be having words about this,” he promises, and ends the call.

Frankenstein slithers closer, and, backed against the wall, Hermann gives into his fate.

Newt practically sprints to Hermann’s quarters when he gets back. Thousands of possibilities run through his mind—what if Hermann died of fear? Or what is he scared Frankenstein to death? Or—

He slams the door open, a shout on his lips, but it dies instantly at the scene before him.

Hermann’s sitting in his chair, a book in hand, Frankenstein’s black and green scales glinting slightly under the light of the lamp, curled over Hermann’s shoulders.

“…Hermann?” Newt asks, tentatively, and Hermann closes the book and turns to face him.

“Newton,” he greets.

Newt lets out a nervous laugh. “So—so I see you guys are getting along just fine. I, uh, I can just take her and—”

“Sit,” Hermann says, an unsettling smile on his face, and Newt suddenly understands what it feels like to be a bug under the scrutinizing lense of a microscope.

He gulps and sinks into the other chair, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him. “So,” Hermann says pleasantly, “what, exactly, where you thinking when you decided to run off to a kaiju auction halfway across the world and leave me to care for your pet without forewarning that she was a snake?”

“Um,” Newt pauses and clears his throat, growing increasingly more twitchy under the weight of Hermann’s gaze. “I—I don’t—sorry,” he stammers. “I mean, um. Sorry. For not telling you? It—”

“Slipped your mind?” Hermann fills in, still frighteningly calm and pleasant.

The room feels stifling, and, finally, Newt blurts, “I’m sorry, okay, can—can you just, like, yell at me or something? Just—just stop being so…”

The pleasant expression drops from Hermann’s face, all of a sudden, and Newt breathes a sigh of relief. “Apology accepted,” Hermann says, “but if a similar incident occurs, I shall be nice for a week.”

Newt shudders. “Gotcha,” he says weakly. Hermann smiles smugly.

[annabethwisegirl-chase]

250 Headcanons (Part 2)

Headcanons #51-100.  These cover Annabeth’s third year at camp through the events of The Titan’s Curse.

51.  It’s their third year when Luke gets his quest.  She’s half convinced that he’ll take her with him, and is devastated when he doesn’t.  Instead, he chooses one of his siblings, who’s older than he is and has more experience at camp, and one of Clarisse’s brothers.  They’re a good group, fighting wise, but Annabeth can’t help but feel that’s all they’ve got.  They’re all talented with their weapons, and Luke’s smart and cunning, but she’s afraid that it won’t be enough.  The night before he’s supposed to leave, Annabeth finds him getting in some last minute practice in the arena.  She makes him promise to come back to her and he does.  And because Luke’s never broken a promise to her before, she believes he’ll be safe and will make it back to camp.

52.  While Luke’s gone, things kind of fall apart for Annabeth.  Her and Malcolm get into a fight over the fact she has seniority over him, despite the fact that he’s a year older than she is.  It’s a dumb argument, but they’re both so stubborn that neither one of theme are willing to compromise and they go three weeks without speaking.  It makes the Athena cabin feel tense, to say the least.

53.  Annabeth doesn’t remember how it came up--maybe they were talking about places they wanted to visit, or maybe they were just talking about their family history--but she makes a passing comment to Clarisse about the fact that her mortal family is descended from Swedish royalty.  It gets the Ares camper to make a quip about that’s why she acts so high and mighty--like she’s a princess compared to the rest of the paupers.  It’s not meant to be mean, at least, no meaner than the other quips the girls share, but it rubs Annabeth the wrong way.  Especially when Clarisse takes to calling her “princess” whenever she does something in an attempt to make herself look better.  Eventually, Annabeth gets sick of it and something inside of her just snaps.  The girls end up fighting physically outside, near the canoe lake, and they have to be pulled apart by Chiron and one of the older satyrs.  The next few months, they communicate only through death glares.

54.  With the loss of her two closest friends, and Luke still gone on a quest, Annabeth finds herself looking for friendship in an old, slightly odd companion: Grover.  After Thalia’s death, she tried to distance herself from the satyr.  But, now that Luke’s gone, he seems a pleasant reminder of the good old days.  He’s awkward, has horrible taste in music, and can’t play the pipes to save his life, but he’s funny.  And he and Annabeth once more become fast friends.

55.  When Luke’s quest weighs heavy on her mind one day, Annabeth finds Chiron to ask why she can’t have one of her own.  He looks at her with an expression that shows he knows more than he lets on and promises that her day is coming.  After she asks when exactly that day will be here, he tells her to go up to the attic and take the leather pouch from around the Oracle’s neck.  It’s the first time Annabeth hears the Great Prophecy.  Her nightmares change from being about spiders, to being about the prophecy.  And suddenly, she’s convinced that every kid who comes across the border is a child of the Big Three.  But more importantly: they’re her chance to prove herself.

56.   Luke comes back from his quest not long after, but it’s immediately obvious he’s not the same.  Technically speaking, he was successful.  But, to look at him, it sounded like a stretch.  For one thing, Luke was the only one to return from the quest, but he refused to talk about what happened to the other two guys who left with him.  He comes back clutching the arm of a dragon and the nasty cut on his face is still healing when he stumbles across the camp borders.  Even though he’s bloody and beaten, Annabeth still runs to him the second she finds out he’s back and he still picks her up just like he used to when they were on the run.  He tells her that he made good on his promise, but something about the smile on his face is different now.  It doesn’t quite reach his eyes.  It’s reminiscent of the time right after Thalia died, so she thinks it’s only a matter of time before it comes back again.  It never does.

57.   There are other things that change about Luke after he returns from his quest.  His and Annabeth’s sparring sessions, once an everyday thing, become less frequent.  At first, he misses it only once in a while.  But soon, once in a while becomes once a month, which becomes a week, which becomes every other day, until he finally just stops coming.  She asked him once why he stopped coming, and he just seemed kind of surprised by the question.  He gave some lame excuse about her not needing it anymore, or just forgetting, but he doesn’t meet her eyes when he says it.

58.   That’s the first year the Aphrodite cabin convinces Chiron to hold a prom for the campers.  After all, there are several of them that are year round and will never have a real “prom” experience, which they claim to be completely unfair.  Even though she’s too young to go, Annabeth gets wrapped up in the whole idea of prom.  She helps the Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins set up for it, and gets a little flustered when she sees Luke in a tuxedo with his Converse sneakers.  It’s totally inappropriate, but it works on him.  And they both laugh when he pulls her up on his feet to teach her how to dance.  It’s one of the few times since he’s been back that she’s heard it.  That night is a bit of a mess.  One of the Hermes campers spikes the punch and a satyr drank too much of it.  It ended with him passing out and getting a complete prom makeover: dress, hair done around his horns, and makeup slathered on his face.  It made the bead for that summer.

59.   The next year passes relatively uneventfully.  There’s an epic prank war between all the cabins, which ends when the Hermes cabin had a python put into it by the Demeter kids.  No one’s really sure how they even managed to get it in there.  But, it’s one of the most amazing things Annabeth ever saw when she watched Luke catch it and release it back into the woods.

60.  She’s eleven when she becomes head counselor for the Athena cabin, and like always, she’s the youngest.  Most of her older siblings don’t always take direction from her because she is so young, but she does have seniority.  Still, Annabeth has always been strategic and is quick to make friends with one of her sisters that is about four years older than she is.  It’s her that most of the Athena kids listen to, but Annabeth doesn’t care.  As long as they’re following her orders, then that’s what matters.

61.   That’s also the year she gets to lead her first Capture the Flag team.  It’s what finally gets her to talk to Clarisse again--an actual conversation instead of the one word ones they’d been having.  They talk battle strategy, and recruit the Hermes and Demeter kids to be on their team.  It’s almost too easy to take the flag away from the Apollo campers and she can’t help but smirk at how overwhelmed that new kid, Will seems when she disarms him in one swift move.  Luke’s the one carrying the flag across the border, but he pats her on the shoulder after the celebration and tells her just how proud of her he is.

62.   But it’s also one of the last conversations the two of them have.  After that Capture the Flag game, Luke starts to pull away more.  There are bags under his eyes that were never there before and he always seems to be deep in conversation with Silena Beauregard whenever he’s walking around camp.  He’s not rude to her.  Whenever he sees her, Luke still smiles and waves, but there’s rarely a time where it’s just the two of them again.

63. Grover leaves a week after the start of the year round term.  Before he left, he’d told Annabeth that this seemed like the perfect chance to redeem himself to get his searcher’s license, so he was looking forward to the assignment.  It wasn’t supposed to be hard.  He was just supposed to go to some New York boarding school, meet this kid, and bring him back to camp safe.  At least he wasn’t having to chase him all across the east coast, he had joked and Annabeth had smiled before hugging him goodbye and tucking a few extra tin cans in his backpack.

64.   With Grover gone, and Clarisse and her navigating the waters of acquaintances again, Annabeth takes the time to make amends with Malcolm.  It doesn’t take much for the two siblings to fall back into their old ways and soon, they’re pouring over old maps and blueprints, trying to design a world all their own.

65.   Hackeysack becomes very popular at camp during this year.  It’s not uncommon for a camper to randomly pull out a little beanbag or ball at dinner, training, or a campfire, and a game to start up.  Because of the fact she’s still always playing pick up games of soccer (and volleyball, but more on that later), Annabeth’s pretty good at the game and gets mad at people when they let it drop.

66.   That’s the year Annabeth has any real contact with her mother.  On her birthday that year, there’s a box on her bed with the Hermes Express logo, her name and a birthday ‘best wishes’ from Athena.  When she opens it, there’s a brand spanking new Yankees cap.  At first, Annabeth thinks it’s an odd gift.  After all, she’s not really that into baseball.  But, when she puts it on, she’s stunned to see her body vanish, and it’s pretty much the coolest birthday present ever.  For the next week, Annabeth constantly wears it, trying to find ways to prank people with it.  She has the Stoll brothers convinced that the third stall in the boys’ bathroom is haunted before Chiron figures it out and makes her stop.

67.   Grover’s gone all of two months when Chiron announces at dinner one night that he must leave as well.  It’s the first time that Annabeth has ever known the centaur to leave camp, and she approaches him after dinner to ask why.  The simple answer is that there’s been a problem with one of the satyrs at one of the schools, and he needs back up.  Annabeth asked if it was Grover, and Chiron’s lack of an answer gave her the same truth that words would have.

68.   The next time he comes back is a week before Christmas, and he takes the group of year round campers up to Olympus for the winter solstice.  It’s the third time Annabeth’s been to Olympus, and each time she’s more blown away by the design of it all.  However, she can’t help but think about different ways she would improve upon it--different statues, a reflecting pool, changes to the style of the Athena temple.  But, this is the first time they’ve been there while the gods are in session.  It’s the first time she meets her mother, who does little to acknowledge Annabeth’s presence, which leaves the young girl anxious and upset.  It makes her wonder whether the Yankees hat wasn’t a mistake and her mother really doesn’t care about her anyway.  It’s Thalia’s birthday, so she doesn’t think much of it when Luke slips away from the group to go off on his own.  After all, she thinks that being alone on a day like today is a pretty good idea too.

69.   Chiron leaves again immediately after the New Year to rejoin Grover in the city.  The satyr didn’t come back to camp over the holidays, thinking it might be better to stay closer to his demigod in case something were to happen.  It’s then that things at camp start getting weird.  The sky seems darker, and the storms--which have always passed around camp--seem to take longer and longer to part.  The sea’s starting to act up, too and the campers start to suspect that something went wrong.  Soon, there’s talk of deadlines and things being stolen, though no one can seem to expand on the details.  They all just seem to be information taken from snippets of dreams.  Once, Annabeth managed to catch Luke in a rare moment where he was alone and asked him what he thought of it all.  He said that it was ridiculous and nothing was stolen.  That it was just Zeus and Poseidon making a show and things would go back to normal soon.  It was strange how he almost seemed happier, after years of pulling away.  But Annabeth didn’t care about the sudden change.  She was just happy to have her Luke back.

70.   It’s a week after the summer session starts that Chiron returned, but Grover was still MIA, which is more than cause for concern normally.  But, Chiron promised that things were okay and that the satyr and his charge would be at camp soon.  At least, he hoped.  There’s a half-hearted joke made on her part about how terrible he is at directions and that maybe they just got side tracked.  But there’s an easy look shared between the two of them, as though they both know that things are about to change.

71.   As though on cue, she has a nightmare about the Great Prophecy that night.  But, she’s not sure whether or not it’s the nightmare or the storm outside that wakes her up.  Technically, it’s not raining in the camp, but they can still hear the wind and the waves going insane outside.  Even though it’s past curfew, Annabeth puts on her Yankees hat and sneaks outside to the Big House.  There, she sees Chiron watching some struggle happening up on the hill, illuminated only by lightning strikes.  She asks for answers that he doesn’t give and she has no choice but to watch the scene on the hill unfold.  Someone goes down and there’s a terrible moment where Annabeth is afraid she’s about to witness another half-blood get turned into a tree.  But the tree never comes.  Instead, there’s a boy that comes down the hill, dragging an unconscious Grover with him.  There’s something strange about this boy.  And that is that people don’t meet Percy Jackson.  Percy Jackson happens to people.  Annabeth is the first person in camp to become aware of this fact, and becomes aware of it immediately after his arrival.  Because right after arriving on the porch of the Big House, the kid passes out.  Chiron manages to get Grover onto his back, so Annabeth is left trying to haul an unconscious boy up off the floor, wrap his arms around her neck, and essentially half drag/half carry him on her back into the infirmary.  

72.  When Chiron tells her to keep an eye on the boy and make sure he lives to the next day, Annabeth is pretty sure that it’s actually her punishment for being out after curfew.  She’s up the rest of the night, and the few times she does doze off in the chair next to him, he wakes her up by talking in his sleep.  It becomes a pretty consistent cycle.  She’ll doze, he’ll start talking, she’ll wake up, wipe the drool off his face to keep him from drowning in it (she’ll only recognize the irony later), and wait for him to wake up.  She wants to talk to him before Chiron comes back down in the morning so she can find out if he knows anything about what’s going on.  After all, Annabeth has to hope that this is the kid she’s been waiting for.  The one that’ll get her a ticket out of this place.  Even if he is kind of scrawny and doesn’t look like he’ll amount to much.  It’s the black hair and the lightning bolt that struck as soon as he was over the hill that makes her certain this kid is another child of Zeus.  Besides, he was the one who sired Thalia, and she doubted that any of the other gods were dumb enough to break their pact.

73.  Grover comes to about two hours before Percy does.  Annabeth had just finished spooning ambrosia into Percy’s mouth and was trying to ask him questions, but he seemed entirely too groggy for such a thing.  Besides, by the time he would have actually been able to give her any real information, Chiron had come back down to the infirmary to check on how Percy was coming.  He had brought Argus, who relieved Annabeth from her post and she went off with Grover, who told her the basics of who Percy was.  Together, they walked up the hill to retrieve the Minotaur horn as Grover tried to recollect what had happened the night before.  It was certainly choppy and there were pieces where he couldn’t quite remember what was going on, but he managed to get the gist of all that had happened.  And the idea of the kid, drooling in the infirmary, being smart and skillful enough to destroy the Minotaur with its own horn seemed pretty far fetched.  At the same time though, it kind of reinforced her idea that this kid was going to be a pretty big deal.

74.  Like most other days when a new camper arrives, Annabeth is excused from her activities and stays on the porch until the kid’s ready for a tour.  There is a slight exception in the fact that she’s sent on to get a spot ready for him in the Hermes cabin while Chiron takes him around the first part, which she does not complain about.  It means she gets to see Luke again.  She catches the Hermes cabin at the rock climbing wall, where she tells him all about how she saw Percy coming over the camp border and how she’s pretty sure that he’s the next Zeus kid.  Then again, she said the same thing about Will Solace and about half a dozen other campers, and each time, they were claimed by someone else, so Luke just smiles and nods.  He looks better now, far happier than he seemed to have been in a long time and it automatically puts Annabeth in a better mood.  She hangs out with him for the rest of the activity and grabs a book on the way back, before waiting outside of the Hermes cabin for Chiron and Percy to show up.

75.  After Percy makes the plumbing explode in the one girl’s bathroom, Annabeth refuses to go in there for a solid week.  Instead, she showers and does everything else in the bathroom across camp.  Logically, she knows what happened was because of something Percy did, but the feeling of being doused with toilet water is still too fresh in her mind to be comfortable.

76.  The first night that Percy’s at camp, Chiron mentions that it might be a good idea if she tutors him in Ancient Greek.  Personally, Annabeth can think of about twelve things she’d rather do than teach a newbie how to stumble through Homer, but she agrees anyway.  It’s totally a strategic move.  She figured that by doing something Chiron wanted her to, it’ll convince him she’s not too young for a quest.  And, if this Percy kid gets a quest before her, he might feel like he has to take her along since she spent time tutoring him.

77.  During their tutoring sessions, Annabeth has a hard time whether Percy’s an idiot or if he’s just trying to make her frustrated when he gets stuck reading something.  It took them two days to get through the alphabet, and the next five to get through the first few lines of the Odyssey.  It’s also during these sessions that she tries to teach Percy about the actual stories that happened that inspired some of the Greek myths.  But, since their sessions typically aren’t that long and it’s more important he learn to read Greek, they only get through a handful, and most of them deal more with who the gods are and what they represent than anything else.

78.  When Percy gets claimed, Annabeth supposed that it made sense.  Granted, she was hoping for a Zeus kid, because she had gotten on so well with Thalia.  But, the fact that Percy started irritating her from the moment he showed up was some underlying animosity because of who their parents were.  As she knelt with the rest of the campers, there was a comical mental image that flashed through her mind of Poseidon staring smugly at Athena like, ‘check out your daughter bowing before my son,’ but it was one that Annabeth really didn’t appreciate all that much.

79.  She tries to bribe Malcolm to take over Percy’s Ancient Greek lessons, but he seems just as put off by the idea of working with a Poseidon kid as she does.  Whenever she has the chance, she tries to make sure that she picks stories that she feels shows Percy’s dad in a not so flattering light.  Somehow, it makes her feel better.  Those days don’t last long though before Percy’s being granted a quest and Annabeth pretty much invites herself along.  After all, if Percy is the kid that’s supposed to help her make her mark on the world, she can’t let him get killed so soon after coming to camp.

80.  Between Grover’s snoring and Percy talking in his sleep, there were very few nights that Annabeth had a decent night’s sleep.  There are some nights when she stays up well after her watch has ended and that’s when she teaches Percy about the constellations, the way Luke once taught her when they were first on the run.  It’s during these nights that Annabeth starts to think that maybe the son of Poseidon isn’t completely hopeless, and it’s with horror that she realizes she actually has a crush on the idiot.  She chalks it up to the fact that it’s nostalgia and she’s projecting her feelings for Luke onto him and she becomes a little snarkier for the next several days.

81.  It’s only after that they work together--without Grover pulling their teeth to get them to cooperate--on the Thrill Ride-o-Love that Annabeth realizes for the first time what a good team the two of them make.  And it’s then she thinks that maybe her mother was wrong for holding a grudge for so long.  So, she decides to become his friend.

82.  When they make it to the Underworld, Annabeth wonders how many people down here that she knows, and whether or not any of them would recognize her.  There have been old campers and former counselors, her cousins, her aunt, and she half wonders if Thalia’s spirit might be roaming around as well.  But, they don’t have time to really “explore,” since they do need to get in, get the bolt, get Percy’s mom, and get out.

83.  There are other, little things that make Annabeth decide that going home after summer session is a good idea.  She realizes that maybe her mother held grudges too long and didn’t want to face the same fate.  Seeing Cerberus makes her miss the dog that she used to have when she lived with her dad and, even though he ran away years before, it still brings back good memories of days before Emily or Matthew and Bobby.  When she gets back to camp, Annabeth has a letter waiting for her from her dad.  Apparently, Chiron had written to him to tell Frederick where exactly his daughter was headed should anything go wrong.  The letter invites her back to try one last time living with him and it includes another apology and the promise to do better.  She writes him back at the end of July, after Grover’s left for his quest and the counselors are picking out the bead designs, telling him to get her room ready for her return.

84.  When people tell her that it’s Luke’s fault that Percy was stung by the pit scorpion, she doesn’t want to believe them.  Annabeth tells them that it has to have been some mistake and that he would never do anything that cruel.  But, after searching the camp in an attempt to find Luke and explain what’s going on, Annabeth has to accept that people were telling her the truth about him.  That he was the reason that Percy was put back into the infirmary.  And while she’s mad at Luke for hurting her new friend, part of Annabeth still wants to find out why he did what he did and how she can fix it.  Because the Luke she knew would never do that.  There’s a brief moment where she considers running away and going off to find him and join him.  But then, Percy wakes up and Annabeth realizes that Luke’s not the only person she has in her life anymore.

85.  School proves to be complicated, to say the least.  There are kids that she knew from the last time she lived with her dad in her classes, and it’s hard explaining where exactly she went for the last few years.  The ones who have younger siblings the same age as Matthew and Bobby are even harder to convince that she just went to live “with her mom’s family” for awhile.  Her grades are great, but Annabeth kept getting kicked out of class for correcting her teachers.  For the most part, life with her dad, brothers, and step mom is fine.  They still argue, but it’s not as bad, and Annabeth firmly believes that there is some progress made.  Still, civilian life is exhausting in a different way than her demigod one and finding new excuses to get out of classes and soccer practice to fight a monster becomes increasingly more difficult.  She’s glad when the school year ends and she’s able to go back to New York.

86.  Her oath to Chiron when she swore on the River Styx to protect Percy is still binding.

87.  It took Luke poisoning Thalia’s tree for Annabeth to finally admit that something might be wrong with Luke.  If he could hurt the one other person in their family without a second thought, then he couldn’t be the same person she knew.  She spends the next week willing to tear him limb from limb for finally killing Thalia and threatening their home and she doesn’t believe him for a second when he mentions that Thalia would have been on his side.  

88.  Her family used to spend a week during the summer at Virginia Beach.  Annabeth’s step mother found that the beaches in North and South Carolina were quieter and had more to do.  But, the air force base near the beach was what kept drawing Frederick back year after year.  There were so many things about the aviation history of Virginia, so it was hard for him to leave that particular place.

89.  When they reach Circe’s island, Annabeth almost hates to admit that she really likes the way the makeover makes her look.  After all, she spent years growing up with girls that were just drop dead gorgeous.  Being a normal thirteen year old definitely comes with self-esteem issues to begin with.  Being a thirteen year old who grew up watching guys fawn all over daughters of the other cabins gives one a whole other batch of insecurities.  On the island, her typically knotted, curly hair is finally tamed into a braid, the makeup she has on is just enough to make her features stand out, and the dress is surprisingly comfortable and well fitted.  It’s one of the few times in her life that Annabeth has felt truly beautiful.  And, even though the rational part of her knows that those things shouldn’t matter, she still wants that.

90.  The summer that they do go to get the fleece feels more like a transitional time in Annabeth’s life than any she’s ever known.  The people who are thrown together on the quest, both new and old friends from Annabeth’s life almost seems like a shift.  But that’s always how her life has seemed: constantly changing, constantly evolving, never permanent.  So, when Thalia comes back and looks exactly the same, it’s enough to bring tears to Annabeth’s eyes.  Part of it is from the sheer joy of having someone so special back in her life.  But, when the one person who thought would never let her down has turned her back on her, and the people she had sworn would be her enemies turn out to be her closest friends, it’s nice that Thalia’s still the same.

91.  Even though Thalia’s a year older than Annabeth when she comes back, she manipulates the mist so they put the two of them in nearly all the same classes.  Nearly because Thalia threatened to stab herself in the eye if she took the 3-D Architectural Design course Annabeth was so excited about.  With the two of them rooming together and being in (almost) all the same classes, it just almost becomes second nature for one of them to start talking and the other one to finish that person’s sentence.  They become so in sync that it’s almost frightening, especially for the other students.  Especially when they decide to pull some elaborate prank on their classmates or start up a new game among all the students.  Once, they started up an intense game of assassin, where students were constantly on a mission to “kill” each other, taking various bandanas away from their victims.  Thalia and Annabeth allied immediately, designing elaborate plans to “off” their classmates using various strategic plans Annabeth had learned during her time at camp.  They finally got detention for it when both girls ran a teacher over in the hall in pursuit of their victim.  Thankfully, due to her power to manipulate the mist, Thalia got them out of it.  She just didn’t want to do it, and Annabeth had soccer practice that her coach would kill her if she missed.  Once a month, their school holds a dance and Annabeth lives for these evenings.  She’s likes being able to put on a little bit of makeup and spend the night just dancing with Thalia and her other friends at school.

92.  Annabeth reaches out to the Hunters of Artemis the day after her dad announces he’s moving to San Francisco.  He promises that there’s room for her, and that he’ll send her on a plane to camp every summer.  But that’s not the point.  California is a place where Greek demigods just aren’t supposed to go.  Sure, the Underworld’s down there, and Mount Tam, but Chiron always acted as though there was another reason Greeks shouldn’t be there.  Later, she’ll learn about Camp Jupiter, and think that’s a ridiculous secret and reason to stay away from California.  But, the fact that her dad is willing to uproot the Chase family on a whim for a book, right when Annabeth is starting to feel at home in Virginia again, means that that’s not the permanent place she expected.  At least with the Hunters of Artemis, there’s permanence in immortality.  Permanence in companionship.  And then the fact that the one guy Annabeth’s convinced herself she will ever love has gone rogue and tried to kill their mutual best friend definitely doesn’t help.

93.  Thalia met the Hunters after she joined up with Luke, but before they found Annabeth.  She hadn’t gotten along with Zoe then.  So, naturally, Thalia spent most of her time talking about the Hunters--when she would talk about the Hunters--dissing them and their lieutenant.  During her time at camp, Annabeth finally comes in contact with this infamous band of girls and thinks they’re okay.  They only meet twice, but she can definitely see the appeal of staying young and adventuring forever.

94.  It never occurs to her what might happen when she jumps on that manticore’s back.  Sure, she figures she’ll fall to her death, but it’s worth it.  She’ll have saved her friends and two new demigods, and go out a hero.  It’s what Annabeth has been convinced will happen since she was seven.  She never expects to end up in San Francisco.  She hasn’t been to her dad’s new house yet, and Annabeth can’t help but wonder how far it is away from her new prison.  But it’s not just a prison.  The instant she sees Luke, suffering under the weight of the sky, all her former resentment of him completely breaks.  He looks so scared and so much like the Luke she knew and loved, and there’s not even a second thought as she takes the sky from him.

95.  Every moment is pure agony, but it’s Luke that keeps her going.  He feeds her ambrosia when the others aren’t looking.  And, when they do catch him once, he says that Annabeth has to keep her strength up in order to catch their real target.  She figures he means Thalia, and Annabeth seriously considers letting the sky crush her--crush all of them.  It’d end her agony, as well as the idiots up on the mountain with her.  But, no doubt it would keep falling and crush the rest of the world with it.  So, she eats the ambrosia, and even though the hairs on her forearms end up getting singed off, it keeps her going long enough before Artemis gets there and takes it.

96.  Her execution is scheduled for the winter solstice, and Annabeth finds it strangely ironic.  That was when Luke first stole the bolt and their whole world shifted, and it seems fitting for her life to end that same day as well.  Luke spends some evenings talking to her, trying to convince her that he’s doing the right thing, and for her to join him.  He speaks of the old days, and how Thalia will decide to join him once she arrives.  She ends up spitting on him, which only makes him madder and he has her death pushed up a day.  He does offer her the chance to repent and join Kronos--join him.  But Annabeth can tell that, even before he’s possessed, that he’s not her Luke anymore.  He’s under the influence of a Titan and it’s only through defeating Kronos that she might be able to save Luke.

97.  The first time Annabeth sees her dad’s Sopwith Camel is when he comes in, shooting up the place with his bronze bullets.  If he wasn’t swooping in to save their life, she’s pretty sure he would be winning the ‘Dorkiest Dad’ award for his latest purchase.

98.  Annabeth realizes that she’s starting to feel more than just a crush towards Percy when he shows up with Thalia and Zoe on Mt. Tam.  After all, it’s kind of hard to deny that someone’s pretty incredible when they travel cross country to save you from being pinned underneath the sky.  Still, she thinks it’s the stupidest thing he’s ever done, traveling that far without her and risking his life on some half-brained quest.  When she would see the gray streak in his hair though, she always felt bad.  He held up the sky for her, and he suffered because of her, and that gray in their hair was a constant reminder of that.  Annabeth was glad when it finally grew out.

99.  Olympic parties hold nothing to the dances her boarding school held.  There’s constant dancing and the minor gods are much better on their feet than any of the other guys at her school.  If she had had it her way, the party would have gone on a week longer so Annabeth could have danced with all of them.  The food also proves to be a step above the stale cookies and fruit punch, but that seems to be a given.  When Percy finally asks her to dance--without Annabeth having to punch him first--she hears the same song he does: sad and slow, but a little hopeful.

100.  Two things happen when Annabeth goes back to stay with her dad instead of going back to New York.  First, her brothers get copies of every single Harry Potter movie up to that point.  One day (and night) while she’s babysitting them, the three of them marathon the first four.  It was the first time Annabeth had ever seen them--being at camp does have its disadvantages--and she instantly is drawn to the Draco character.  The blonde hair, blue eyes, and the boy who wants so desperately to win the approval of his father reminds her so much of another boy that she knows.  One that’s about to lose the very essence of who he is.  The second thing that happens is around the first few weeks of March.  She’s home alone, working on some homework, while her dad and Emily are at one of Matthew and Bobby’s basketball games.  A knock on the door and Luke’s there.  Scared and unsure, and pleading with her to come with him.  She wants to believe him that something’s wrong, that together they can fight it, but when she suggests asking for help, he shuts down and shuts her out.  Annabeth begged him to come in, to let her call Chiron because it couldn’t be too late, but she refused to go with him.  The memories of what happened at Christmas were still too fresh for her to trust him like that again, and she thinks that he can sense it.  Thinks that that might be part of the reason he ends up telling her to kill him then.  But she can’t do it.  Because, no matter what, he’s still Luke.  He’s still the boy who saved her all those years ago and who she’s still in love with and the thought of him dying breaks her heart.  It’s this day that will forever be one of Annabeth’s biggest ‘what ifs.’  What if she had gone with him?  What if she had killed him then?  What if he had agreed to come inside?  What if she had found another way to save him?  What if he was still around?  What if...?

[lotagani]

srry not srry im just rlly getting into snakes bc unlike my other "exotic" pet goals I could actually be 100% comfortable owning a ball python (unlike insects, or some other reptiles. Im even a bit weary of hamsters, ferrets, etc for various reasons) if it bothers u just blacklist snakes and ur good 2 go

[emiliarowan]

Snek in a Blanket

[emiliarowan]

Hermes went outside to explore

[emiliarowan]

Who needs a lap dog when you can have a lap snake?

(Awkward hand placement lol 😳 I had to block him from trying to hide under me, not very safe)

[emiliarowan]

Hermes adventure of the night: exploring the sofa. I think he likes fuzzy blankets.

[emiliarowan]

Nose boops and forehead kisses from Hermes.

Also: do y’all SEE the purple hair?!?!?