#his fatal flaw is grudges

[realredbanana]

One thing I’m discovering from watching Arcane is Percy “fatal flaw of personal loyalty” Jackson has nothing on Jayce “I only saved the world because I promised my partner that I’d destroy the hexcore” Talis.

100% if you put Jayce in Percy’s situation from The Lightning Thief and replaced Sally with Viktor, rip to the world I guess because I simply cannot imagine Jayce ever being able to leave Viktor behind.

[lukecastellanshandholder]

I’m sorry (I’m actually not sorry), but I still refuse to believe that Luke’s fatal flaw was ‘excessive wrath'.

What? You’re going to tell me that him seeing the gods for what they are , tyrants that will never change without being forced to, was him over reacting? That him being angry at the gods for all of the suffering that they inflicted on the demigods, was him going over board? That him being angry at his father for leaving him and his mother alone, is just him being immature?

I don’t think so.

Just because all of the other Demigods had become desensitized to what was really going on, or had been trained to believe that they should never go against their godly parents just because they’re their parents, doesn’t automatically mean that Luke was in the wrong. It also doesn’t mean that his anger or wrath was excessive.

Now, what Kronos wanted Luke to do and what he used his body to do, was excessive wrath. But, for that to be Luke’s fatal flaw, he would need to be a wrathful person to his core. Luke is not that. To his core he is a boy who just wants to protect his friends and family the best he can. His main "mistake" was seeing the world for what it really is, seeing the gods for who they really are (that along with his fate, and him being manipulated by one of the most sinister entities on the planet).

Now if you want to talk about someone who show’s signs of excessive wrath? I would point you over to our main protagonist, Mr. Percy Jackson himself. Now with his actual fatal flaw of excessive loyalty, that has also lead to him taking some actions that would seem excessive. Must I remind everyone that he literally made the goddess of Misery choke on her own poison to save Annabeth and then kept going because he was starting to have fun with it? Starting to have fun making her suffer? Having fun getting his revenge for all of the Misery she had caused him and others?

… yeah, I truly believe that the main reason they labeled Luke’s fatal flaw as "excessive wrath" is only because, in the eyes of the gods, any anger towards them is excessive. Because any act of rebellion makes them feel threatened and thus that person is seen as a "bad person". They feel as if no one should be mad at them simply because they’re the gods so obviously everything they do is right and just, even if it most definitely is not.

In this essay I will…

[mizmatched]

The way the pjo fandom treats nico diangelo makes me want to slam my face into a wall

[pensymbols]

if i had to give a ppe presentation on anything itd be about how nicos fatal flaw isnt holding grudges but being loyal and how percys isnt loyalty its holding grudges and in this essay

[insert-stupid-username]

For me that's second only to Percy literally only remembering Annabeth's name, and yet still HATING Mars on sight.

One of the underrated funny moments in The Son of Neptune for me will always be when Mars was asking for a pen and he was like "200 Romans and no one has a pen" because my mind was thinking about the fact that Percy did technically have a pen but he was a Greek and he fucking hated Ares too much either way lmao. Plus he didn't know the pen could write. He still wouldn't have given it to Mars though if he knew.

[belovedgyu]

VANILLA PASTOTTO || Lee Seokmin

⚬ pairing: boyfriend! seokmin x fem! reader ⚬ word count: 6.7k ⚬ warnings: heavy mentions of food, suggestive, oral (f. receiving), foodplay, nsfw content and smut, MDNI ⚬ genres: fluff, humor, smut, domesticated seokminnie.

a/n: - inspired by the comment from @coupsarchive and this fic request from @buzybeezies <3 - takes place in the same universe as fashion show because i refuse to move on - seokmin doesn't cum in this one AND BEFORE YOU PULL OUT YOUR PITCHFORKS, lemme know if you need a part 2 cause i'll write it asap! - unedited and raw cause i have no concept of shame or embarrassment and also because my current wip is kickin my ass!! a fluffy dokyeom fic is what i needed to be fixed so yea this is just veryyy self indulgent!

Last weekend was pivotal for your relationship with Seokmin for two reasons. 

One, because your parents finally got to meet him over dinner at your house. 

Two, because after months of him being your perfect, swoonworthy, cuddle-god, dishwashing-daddy, breakfast-in-bed-bringer, backhug-demon, human-shaped-serotonin-dispenser boyfriend, you had finally found his fatal flaw. 

Lee Seokmin wasn’t as loyal as he appeared to be. Your trust had wavered, trembling with shivers that emerged from the very foundation, when he did what he did that weekend. 

The gush of moisture behind his pursed lips the moment those tanned curves came into his view. 

The unfaithful oscillation of his eyes between you and those butyraceous hunks of delicate softness—unabashed and unapologetic, even as you spoke!

And the way his fingers dug into the plump flesh when you were too focused discussing soccer with your sister, like you wouldn’t notice his sated smirk after the debauchery he had just connivingly committed—

Well, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But you were convinced that if given the chance to, Seokmin would cheat on you and marry your mom’s garlic knots. 

Those golden, glossy, buttery garlic knots. 

When he finally got the chance to latch his teeth into them, there was a pause. A soft, sinful exhale. A near whimper, even. 

It made your fork slip from your fingers and land on the table with a loud clang. You gnashed your teeth, wishing it had stabbed the irresistibly veiny hands of the traitor next to you instead. 

You would have talked yourself out of it...forgiven him even, had it stopped there. 

But it didn’t. 

And as the evening matured, so did his audacity. 

He continued betraying you, one bite at a time. 

Eyes fluttering around the truffle risotto, reluctant lips wrapped around the dessert spoon—suckling on it until there wasn’t even an atomic trace of the tiramisu left on it. 

Lee Seokmin was shamelessly gutsy to be reacting to that three course meal in the same way he reacted to your lips. Both lips, in fact. 

He was flirting with the concept of beurre blanc profoundly, even calling it liquid gold. Yeah, right. As if that wasn’t the exact phrase he had used that morning after emerging breathless, wet-lipped and pink from between your legs. 

All men do is tell lies. Sourdough-scented lies. 

But he was also slashing off the only thing on your consolidated to-do list for the night effortlessly—-charming the hell out of your parents. 

So you just retouched your lip-tint and watched him chew with a look in your eyes that was only reserved for the sophomore couple who were always hogging up the seat next your favorite one and giggling way too loud in the library. 

When he caught you staring, you gave him a polite smile concealing your bruised heart under your tightened jaw. And then he drove you back with your fingers knotted in his lap, blissfully unaware that you had tucked that night in a silk lined pocket of your brain where petty grudges went to marinate. 

Now what were you if not an elaborate revenge-plot planner and executioner? 

You gave yourself two weeks tops—to strategize and handle logistics. Well, Mingyu’s assistance had to be recruited for that second part because you couldn’t trust anyone else, not even yourself, to get the right groceries. 

But for the rest, it was a one woman mission and you were nailing it flawlessly so far. 

Everything was laid out on the marble kitchen top—color coded. The bluetooth speaker that you had “borrowed” from Jun some seven months ago bumped Avril Lavigne in a corner while Tofu, your spooky smart shih tzu was plopped on his belly nestled between the warm kitchen towels—pretending to sleep but actually here for the drama. 

You monitored the dog closely as he sleepily rubbed his wet nose against his little paw, you swear you even saw his tail wag once. 

Sneaky bastard. He knew you never stepped into the kitchen and was here to witness this historic battle of Y/n versus the several similar buttons of a rice cooker. 

Hah, jokes on him! Because the feast you had planned didn’t even need a rice cooker. 

Your mission was simple: a three-course meal. Handmade. Artisanal. Romantic.

Risotto, like your mom’s, albeit you were going to substitute the rice for something way better. 

Garlic knots—your own version. 

And maybe a roasted veggie side dish because it felt fancy. You even considered dessert if time allowed you to. 

The clock struck three at noon. You had a total of four hours at hand as Soonyoung distracted your boyfriend with a DIY bookcase project at his place. 

“Let’s do this, Tofu. You’re gonna see mommy channelize Wolfgang Puck today.” You fused, tying your hair up in a tight bun. 

Tofu lifted his head up, impassive and aloof, then thumped his tail from side to side like he saw right through your cool girl facade—your grey sweater had turned black with sweat under your arms after all. 

You covered him with another fresh towel, not liking his judgemental brown eyes as you waited for your mom to pick up the phone. 

Yeah, you were too smart to fall for the trap of going through a billion recipes online and then ending up with an abominable amalgamation of lard and frosting. This was a quest which required one to seek the wisdom of the sensei of the highest order. 

She picked up right before the call could disconnect on its own. 

“Hey sweetie!” You were met by the image of her freakishly large nose balancing her spectacles. 

“Mom, I need you to step a little away from the phone.” 

“But I am on my iPad, dear.” she wondered and you could already see her fingers beginning to tap at the screen. 

Before she could accidentally end the call or put her device on airplane mode, you quipped. “Then step away from the iPad mom, I can’t see you.”

You heard some shuffling as your mom balanced her iPad against a stack of books and then took a few steps back. “Better?” She asked.

“Great!” You finally chirped, letting your shoulders slump. “Now, I got all the ingredients you asked me to buy but I don’t want my food to be exactly like yours…so just give me generic instructions as we go, kk?”

“Are you sure, dear? I mean you lumped up that mac’n cheese pretty ba—”

“Mom, the instructions were in German.” You defended before that lore could reach Tofu's suddenly erected ears peeking from under the towels.

“Alright, alright…” Your mom sighed, “just start with the basics. For the garlic bread, you need to prepare the dough first.”

“On it!” You picked up the half full bag of flour that you got from Mingyu’s pantry. “Do I just mix it with water?” you were already dumping it out in the steel bowl of the stand mixer. 

“No, no, my love!” Your mother nearly winced, this was going to be a long one. “You first need to bloom the yeast in warm water.”

That made you pause. “Oh…how do I do that?”

“Just put some warm water in a bowl. And then pour the yeast over it, cover it and let it sit while I tell you what to do next.”

“Okay, okay…” the crease between your brows which was settled deep right now only occurred when you were trying to solve your physics worksheets on two hours of sleep. 

Your eyes bounced around on every ingredient that could be yeast. 

Too aware of your looming predicament, the woman who knew very well just what you were struggling with, spoke up from the other side of the screen. “Look for a packet, dear. Yeast powder comes in a packet.”

You perked up when you saw a hint of the purple sachet being warmed under Tofu’s belly. 

“Found it!” You snatched it from the little menace. 

Meticulously, you poured out some warm water from your kettle and sprinkled the activator on top of it. “What now, mom?”

“Okay so the yeast needs salt…” Your mom drawled, but got distracted with some pop up notification. 

You weren’t completely clueless, though, so you dunked a generous helping of salt into the mixture. 

“...but the yeast doesn’t like salt. So we’ll incorporate it in with the flour.”

Uh oh. 

A little salt wouldn’t hurt, right? You opened your mouth to ask, but your mom cut you off.

“Also, sweetie I hope you ensured that the water wasn’t too hot? Anything above 130 degrees kills the yeast.”

“Oh my God, mom! The last time I worried this much about yeast was when I spilled that milkshake over my crotch and had to sit in it for a three hour long road trip in high school.” You grumped, dumping out the nearly boiling water in which, apparently, yeast carcasses were floating now. 

There was a long pause on the other end which made you wonder if she was even there.

“Oh, oh…” Realisation hit your mom in delayed waves of amusement. “Oh you’re making a joke about yeast infection in your vagina—”

“Please don’t say that.” 

It seemed like your friend had anticipated you to fail because he got you not just one, but three packets of yeast. You prepared another bowl while your mother went off about the importance of maintaining the pH balance down there. 

It was moments like these—when your mom would go off on these tangents from her biker-girl days and her carnal adventures with a band of vagabonds—which made you wish your body parts were detachable. Because all you wanted to do right now was tug your ears off, shuck them in the washing machine and forget about them like Seokmin forgets about his grey socks. 

“Okay, what next?” You sighed once you were done chopping shallots and making the executive decision of holding back your opinions about whatever desecration you just heard until you were sitting in front of your journal in a safe space. Perhaps an asylum. 

“Cook the onion in some olive oil until translucent.”

Damn it, Kim Mingyu. He had gotten most of this stuff either from his own kitchen or from this one hippy, organic grocery store he swore by which, for some reason, didn't believe in putting a label on what they sold. 

Thus, it was hard for you to discern what glass bottle contained honey and which one had olive oil. 

It was only after you had poured the thicker liquid on the searing hot pan and it began sizzling into a burnt, sugary goo that you realized that you'll have to clean the pan then start again. 

In the meantime, your mother had begun boiling over into yet another bonus content about the freakshow that was her youth—this time, it were the words “mushroom cream” and “translucent” that triggered it. 

Chugging down the white wine which was meant for the risotto straight from the bottle, you came to a conclusion that this feast wasn’t worth brandishing whatever mental vision board you had of your mom with a dark taint just because she was menopausing. 

“Mom, I think I got it from here, I’ll call you later. Bye!” 

The aftertaste of the wine felt rancid in your mouth when you gulped down, doing an audit of your current position from the corner of the kitchen. Tofu, your assistant accountant, padded down the counter to snuggle next to you, barking at the things you missed. 

“So, we have a dough which might be too watered to be handled into knots and thanks to our friend’s measly ass, we don’t have enough flour to salvage it.”

‘Woof’ Tofu’s tongue darted out low. You had no choice but to nod sincerely at that, Tofu was speaking nothing but the truth.

“And here, I’m pretty sure there’s still a bit of honey coating that pan under all that olive oil.” You point the bottle to the pan sweltering on low heat on the burner. 

Tofu tilted his little head, beady assessing the arena for several seconds before he woofed again—this time, a wisp of white hair fell around his little belly from the vigor of that bark. 

This is what you respected the most about him, Tofu always thought before he spoke. And whenever he did, he was preaching gospel with zero filter. 

“That’s exactly what I thought too, buddy!” You beamed down at him. “You’re right…there’s a reason I was voted ‘Most likely to bounce back dramatically’ in my high school yearbook.”

Tofu stretched his little limbs, then flopped on his belly and rolled side to side before lolling his head into the sink and shutting his eyes off. He couldn’t bear himself to watch you melt another spatula. 

“Babe, I’m home!”

Seokmin’s voice echoed through the apartment like sunshine slipping under the door—leaking with love and too cheerful for someone walking straight into a domestic apocalypse. 

You froze, mid-sauce-stir, eyes wide and face streaked with flour like war paint. Your hands were trembling slightly—whether from the stress, embarrassment, or the sugar rush from a panic cookie you had inhaled ten minutes ago. 

The front door clicked shut. You could hear the distinct jangle of his keys landing in the ceramic bowl by the entryway—the one which the two of you had made together on your fifth date—-the low shuffle of his socks against the hardwood. 

“Where’s my sugarplu—” Seokmin stopped mid-sentence when he entered the kitchen, immediately freezing like he had walked right into the set of some cooking themed horror movie. 

There was no escaping it now. 

You turned around slowly, like some final boss from an old Italian action movie revealing herself as the master orchestrator of all the chaos. 

Face flushed red from the fumes of the pan that you had burnt thrice by this point, eyes rimming red from the sheer intensity of trying not to cry. Your bun was a barely held together tuft of remorse with a single sorry strand of pasta clinging off your claw-clip. The splatter on what remained of your apron resembled the abstract numbers of Giselle from her short lived depressed artist era. 

“Hey…” you gruffed, even the single syllable cracked as your voice deflated into something embarrassing and sheepish.  

Seokmin blinked twice as he took the total carnage—sauce streaked countertops, a cutting board hosting what appeared to be a mix of slimy vegetables and eggshells, a blackened skillet sizzling in the sink and what might have once been garlic fossilized like carbon in a pan which was fuming from every angle. 

The first thing he did was cross the kitchen, making sure not to step over the spoon that still had butter lumped on it, and turn that burner off. 

And then, impossibly sweet and relentlessly sincere, he just tilted his head at you and asked, “Is this…pasta?”

You stared up at him, eyes turning into little pools, “was supposed to be risotto…but then I thought I’d replace the rice with angel hair pasta cause, y’know, fusion is sexy?” 

“You wanted to fuse one Italian dish with another Italian dish?” There wasn’t a single trace of mockery in his voice when Seokmin asked you that. He seemed genuinely curious about the thought process, the ultimate agenda, behind this Michelin starred meltdown under progress was. 

You were tugging at your sleeve, still looking at him with pensive orbs when you mumbled, too innocently for him to not smile, “It was gonna be pastotto…”

A beat. From under his kitchen towel fortress somewhere, Tofu sighed. The overhead light flickered twice, like it was about to lose faith in this conundrum. 

But then it all came back to life when Seokmin began laughing—that full, hearty, golden laughter which invaded your chest like a virus and tugged at your lips too. Leaning back on the kitchen counter, he clutched his stomach like he was physically wounded by your outlandish originality. 

“I wanted to experiment a bit!” you protested, wringing your hands in the air. 

His shoulders couldn’t stop shaking as he struggled to speak without wheezing. “Baby, you should’ve started slow…like saffron, or lemon zest?”

“Fine…” you grumbled, untying your apron, “next time I will just microwave some lame ass plastic shit from trader joe’s.”

“No, no…” He reached out for you, still smiling that big toothy grin, and took your hands in his, “I will rather eat a hundred bowls of pastotto than see you give up like that. But, do you wanna tell me why this sudden interest in julienned onions instead of talking shit about Julienne from chemistry?”

He had pulled you in to stand much closer now, toe-to-toe, which he could feel you wiggling under your fuzzy sleepers like you often did when you were overwhelmed. His palms came up to rest under your jaw, thumbs brushing hearts over your flour dusted cheeks as he kissed the single leaf of parsley plastered on your nose.

“I just wanted to cook for you,” you sighed, your breath settling like morning dew over his stretched fingers. “Cause you loved mom’s cooking so much and I wanted to make something that you’d remember, too. So I asked mom to help me out but Gyu got me these unlabelled ingredients so it delayed and complicated everything—”

“Ugh, that knucklehead, he has dumbbells for brains.” Seokmin frowned, an obviously fake one. “Go on, baby.”

“I asked mom to help me out but then she got weird and I hung up. But then I had to call her again because the pan kept on sizzling and Tofu kept on barking—by the way, I think we need to put our son in therapy after the massacre he just witnessed today.”

Tofu’s astounding bark made you flinch. 

“Nah, he’ll be fine when he goes to college and meets a spiteful husky who will be his free trauma dump bucket.” Your boyfriend shrugged. 

Your hands came up to hold onto his wrists as you sniffled because the odor of the burnt garlic was starting to get to you, you continued your rant. “So I called mom again and then things were looking up for a while until she told me to put the truffle paste in the pan but I was panicking so I dumped in the first black paste I saw only to realize that it was actually vanilla…” 

Seokmin’s fingers twitched around your cheeks.

Only God knows how much he was trying not to laugh…but you standing here in your soft sweater with flour on your face and pasta in your hair, all domesticated and snotty, rambling about the happenings of your day was pulling out the deepest most innocent beams of joy from his chest. 

“Baby, are you saying there’s vanilla in our pastotto?” Seokmin lowered his head down to meet your eye level. 

You could feel his breath on them when you jutted out the wet lips you had been abusing with your teeth and nodded. 

“Fuck, I think I just fell more in love with you…”

Seokmin straightened up, parted his legs to tug you closer and once you were nestled in comfortably, he looped an arm around your waist to pull you up and angled your face with his free palm, kissing you deep. 

The movement of his lips against yours, a gentle symphony, seemed to refill your lungs with all the air that had been lost in your defeated sighs all afternoon.

You placed your palm on his upper thighs as a leverage to stretch on your toes, get closer to him. That attempt of yours made him smile against your lips and thoughtful as ever, he leaned his head lower.

Gentle, warm, delicate…his lips were like a balm on yours which had been bitten, scorched and forced to taste sixteen different variations of the same saline sauce. 

Tofu had survived the unnatural hissing of ginger, the screeching wails of the pasta stuck in the bottom of the pot as you attempted to scrape it with a metal spoon, but these smooching sounds were where he seemed to draw the line. 

His little steps as he left for his room under the stairs were cushioned, thanks to his pudgy paws. But his palpable contempt about this whole thing? Not so much. The poofy white demon pretended to retch when he brushed past your ankle. 

“Swear I hate that guy.” Seokmin muttered as the last wisp of shaggy white disappeared behind the corner. 

“You birthed him.” You smiled, licking his taste off your lips as you began pulling down the zipper of his hoodie. 

Something conked at Seokmin’s temple, a realization perhaps, because all of a sudden he dove into you…giving you that toe curling, mind numbing kiss like he was trying to distract you from something. 

Vain, because you had already caught the neon green peeking from his hoodie. You disentangled your tongue from his invading one at once. 

“Lee Seokmin, you’ve got to be kidding me.” You unzipped his hoodie with a single, smooth flick. 

Underneath it, lo and behold, the bedeviled ‘SUN’S OUT GUNS OUT’ tank top sat snug over his abs. 

Seokmin lips parted, then closed, then puckered, then closed back up. 

“I told you to burn this!” You exclaimed, poking a finger rather too aggressively at his neon clad chest. 

Seokmin cupped your fist in both his palms, featherlight, trying to use those galactic eyes to his advantage.

“Well, technically, you said we should burn it. I never agreed, just nodded aggressively.”

You gawked at him, mouth hanging low. Was he seriously roaming around the campus all day wearing what he called his sentimental piece from some gym cult?

Wordlessly, you wriggled out of his arms and marched down to your bedroom where your real reaction to this paraphernalia was stashed deep inside the closet. Naturally, he followed you.

“Come on, Y/N, this shirt is a legacy.” He argued, trying to reach for your hips as you bent down, searching for something in some drawer, only to be swatted away. 

“A legacy of what?” You looked over your shoulder for just a brief second, “Terrible decisions?” 

Seokmin tugged at the hem of the tank top like enough force would transform it into a tuxedo. “I was wearing this when I bench pressed a hundred pounds for the first time.”

Having gotten hold of what you were looking for, you squinted at him with your arms behind your back, “And I was wearing my duckies in fedora socks when I parallel parked without crying for the first time…do you see me parading around in those?”

You began looking for your phone to do what you wanted to do, only to realize that it was lying on the kitchen counter top. 

Again, you marched back to the kitchen, purposefully. Again, he followed you around, naturally. 

He waited for you, leaning against the island with his hands crossed over chest when you finally grabbed your phone and re-emerged like he had already read, through your very expressive eyes, what was about to come. 

A table tennis bat redecorated and repurposed into a score paddle—like one from those preplanned, trashy dance competition shows. You flashed him the one which said 9🤩❤️ (that was the lowest score on the range) with a womp-womp sound playing on your phone. 

“Really?” Seokmin looked as amused as a cat in a bathtub, “You really borrowed that from Mingyu and his girlfriend?” 

The aforementioned couple once used to do these elaborate fashion shows for each other and had even created these score paddles ranging from ‘9🤩❤️’, ‘10🥵💓’ or ‘10+1 for being so adorable🥰’. 

You had found it awfully cute when she told you about it and begged them to lend it to you since they didn’t use it anymore. 

“You deserve that. In fact,” You flipped the paddle upside down effectively turning the 9 into a 6, “here, the earlier score was too generous.”

“I am about to spank you with that paddle, I hope you’re aware of that.” he deadpanned. 

And just like that, all the air that his sweet little kisses had pumped into you was knocked out of your system with a single sentence uttered by the himbo with toned biceps. 

“I…I would love to see you try.” you gulped, lowering your proud hand back down. 

“Good, now come here.” He unfolded his arms and stretched them out for you. This time, when you walked back in his embrace, he did not hold you like a flower or press you to his heart as his lips brushed against yours reverently. 

No, he gripped your hips as soon as he could and jerked you in with force—not enough to make you stumble, but certainly enough to make you gasp open when his lips crashed down on yours. 

You responded slowly at first, like testing the temperature of something which could be flaming hot. 

Your eyes fluttered shut, little sparks dotting the colorless void behind your lids. But then, he bit your bottom lip and pushed his tongue to glide over yours, transforming those sparks into full blown fireworks. 

Seokmin slanted his mouth against yours, wedging deeper and drawing a muffled yet erotic mewl out of you. His hand was at the base of your neck, stilling your head from escaping any of this steamy force he was applying on your physicality. 

Your fingers slid over his scalp, smooth and thick strands tickling your fingertips. And then, you sharply tugged. Seokmin lost at that, fastening his grip around your spine and smushing you against his hard body until your front was exactly where he wanted it to be—gyrating against his hard on. 

When you parted, both of you were breathless and gone. 

“Feel it?” He raised a questioning brow at you, his eyes hooded opal. “That’s what you do to me…that’s what a single kiss of yours does to me.”

“Seokmin,” the breathiness of your voice against his harsh maneuvers of your hips with his own was a delirious contrast. 

His lips found a shrine to worship in the sensitive expanse of skin under your ear.

Your palms balled into little fists against his shoulders when he began nibbling, licking, sucking and repeating that exact order over and over again. Your lips mumbled incoherent pleas of his name, his body heat blazing against your front, chest to chest. 

Any moment now, the wetness from between your legs would begin soaking down the soft fabric of your pajamas—your underwear was already a done deal. 

He pushed the collar of your sweater to expose your smooth shoulder for him to place a chaste kiss upon before bunching it on both sides and pulling it over your head. 

You were topless and braless underneath. 

Still flushed against you, Seokmin gave you a single shake of his head before licking his lower lip accusingly. 

“I’m not letting that shirt see my tits for long.” One of your arms came up to shield your chest from his tanktop, which for some reason, seemed so cognizant under the bright kitchen lights. 

That single arm preventing him from ogling at your chest was far more efficient than any score paddles or judgements to have him discard that shirt like a burnt out matchstick.

Slow and coy, you removed your hand to return the favour as you cemented your attention on his abs. 

Your gazes danced over each other’s bodies. Though yours shifted, just for a moment, to look at the full moon hanging low right outside the kitchen window and tell her what all you would do to this man, this man who was more gasoline than honey when he was with you. 

By the way, you should shut the window. Even though you lived on the fifth floor of the apartment building, anyone across the street could easily see this sinister waltz if they stood at just the right angle. 

But your senses and shame were practically non-existent. Ash lost in the wind. Salt dissolved in the ocean. Stars buried underneath dawn. 

The only thing that was real was the heartbeat hammering between the hard contours of his chest pressed to yours—skin to skin, flesh to flesh—as he held you off the ground by the back of your thighs to settle you down on the marble island. 

You coiled around him until his hips were sunken between your thighs. Your body rose up off the counter as you tilted your head up, eager to catch every inch of his swollen lips. 

In an arguably much more aware state than you, he used that vulnerable position caught between a slew of heated moments to hook his fingers around the waistband of your panties and sweats and yanking them down together to your knees in one swift motion. 

You whined a little, giving him an unnecessarily hard time to shove them further down by squirming your legs around. 

Seokmin only pulled back a degree, rested his forehead against yours to sigh before he kissed you again, harder. You could almost hear the reprimand. Behave. 

You sucked on his bottom lip, not giving a damn about the drool which had begun dribbling down your chin. Sick and tired of all that you put it through during the day, your body betrayed your desire to play around a little and allowed him to remove your clothes seamlessly. 

Once he had you completely naked for himself, Seokmin’s hungry mouth began feasting at the swell of your breasts. Toying with your perked up buds through rapid flicks, flat strokes and eager bites, it was the fact that your skin there bruised so easily that fascinated him the most. 

Though he soon departed from his handiwork to travel down lower. Leaving patches of blooming skin under a coat of his spit all over your soft torso, he knelt down in front of your knees which were pressed tight on the counter. He placed little kisses all over them—the scar from that one bicycle incident in your childhood, the itchy inflation from when that bug bit you in the quad yesterday, the slight mishap from your waxing appointment last month—all while your fingers remained tracing his hair to the line of his jaw. 

And then…

“Seokmin!” You shouted, almost losing your balance off the counter when he gripped your knees hard, jerked them apart and pulled you forward until your thighs were cushioning his ears—-all in a flash. 

You toppled back, palms landing hard on the marble to stabilize yourself. If that failed you, Seokmin’s cinch around your legs would have saved you from tumbling down the island. 

“Bon appetite.” He smirked at the glistening folds and before the shiver elicited by his breath brushing your wetness could reach your spine, his tongue speared right through your heat. 

Your body convulsed—confused and caught incredibly off guard. He threw an arm over your stomach, holding you down for this torture while you squirmed for mercy, or maybe even a warning. 

But Lee Seokmin didn’t do warnings. 

And he made that evidently clear to you when he abruptly stopped lapping at your folds to capture that explosive bundle of nerves with a grin, sucking it, flicking it.

There was a stream of wetness trickling down from your cunt onto the white marble and you tried clenching to stop making that mess. Your fingers turned white at the edges of the counter. 

Apparently, he didn’t like the fact that your body wasn’t relaxing under his ministrations, and instead was going tauter and tighter. So he toiled harder by dragging your heat closer to his face through your thighs.

Your palms gave away, making you drop back on the counter. Your back lifted up impossibly when he redirected his lips from circling your clit to kissing your gaping hole. And then, you felt it—warm and soft, his tongue slithering past your entrance as his nose nudged against your nub. 

You were a blubbering mess on top of the counter with your back lifted in an impossible curve as you sobbed tearlessly into your palms. 

His fingers trailed around your thighs to settle at the back of them, mortifyingly near your ass. And then, he ripped your legs further apart, like he was tearing open the wrapping off his biggest christmas present. 

So open, so vulnerable. 

Your cunt turned red as he continued eating you out like that—tongue probing against the tightening walls as more and more wetness flooded past it. He would suck it sometimes, and let it flow down to drench your bottom the others. 

He pulled back for a moment to admire his doing by bringing his fingers up to stretch your folds further. You squirmed under his inspection but he rewarded you for it with a searing, open mouthed kiss on your clit and two fingers massaging the velvety walls of your entrance. 

"Good girl..." He exhaled. resting his cheek on your left thigh and watching you hungrily swallow his fingers in your tight heat, "such a good, good girl."

By this point, there was no rhythm or rhyme, just good old fucking. Holding you down as you thrashed around while those longs fingers rammed in and fucked out.

Your hands were clutching his hair like they would clutch the sheets, confused and bewildered about whether to shove him away or pull him closer. So you just held him there and prayed that at least a single bone remained working in your body after he was done with you. 

When he coiled his fingers by just the right degree and tickled that particular spot on your left all while making out with your cunt with his eyes closed, you lost it. 

There was nothing divine or picturesque about the way you orgasmed. It was a release accompanied by an animalistic growl eliciting from your throat—one which only came out when he was toying with you like that. One of your hands was fondling with your breast—lewd and unabashed, while the other kept on yanking at his hair. 

He guided you back down to Earth from your high with reassuring kisses all over your thighs and hips. When he emerged back up, nose and lips drenched with your juices, chest heaving and a sheen of thick gloss smearing his fingers, you fluttered your eyes shut…unbelieving that you could render him in a state like that. 

A kiss should have followed next, but it didn’t. What you heard instead was the sound of him scuffling for something from what remained of the fruit basket you had nearly knocked down the counter. 

You could still feel him hovering above you…what the hell was he doing? So you opened your eyes and, without a moment's delay, wished you had never done that when you saw what you saw. 

Seokmin had plucked out one of the giant strawberries you had brought at the farmer’s market and was about to take a bite of it. The bizarre part? He had smeared what remained of your cum on his fingers around the poor red fruit and was now savoring it like a dessert. 

You gasped when he took that first bite of the succulent fruit which was now drenched with the taste of you. The strawberry was too fresh, too big and too abundantly wet—with its own and your added juices—so when some of that syrup trickled past his lips and dripped down on the valley between your breasts, it was like molten iron dropping beads on your skin. 

“Pervert, freak, sicko!” Each of those insults were landed on his pecs with a weak smack of your fist. 

You would have accused more, scolded him more about this debauched perversion had he not hooked the remaining half of the strawberry between his teeth and fed it to you, mouth to mouth. The entire time, his cowled eyes remained on yours...daring and pleading at the same time.

You chewed slowly, swallowing the sweet fruit with hints of the tanginess, which didn’t belong, curling around it all while his lips lingered over your cheeks in a soft dance. 

“All good?” He asked you, pulling apart and giving you enough space to recover. The support of his hands around your waist as he helped you get up remained there, though. 

“Yes…yes,” you hum, sitting up. 

The air felt too overwhelming and cold without him hogging up your space. You wanted to call him back….needed him to be pressed hard against your chest, feel his sweat mingle with yours and heartbeats thrumming as one. 

But Seokmin was already trying to calm you down. 

He tucked your hair behind your ears to make your blushing face more visible to him. And then, he smiled like he was looking at his most profound dream bat its eyelashes at him, breathing shallow. You wanted to bring your hands up, trace that hard line between his abs, but they remained listless by your sides. The unforgiving labor of the entire day was starting to catch up with you. 

Exhaustion wrapped around you like an impenetrable fog. It was everywhere—weighing down your lids, twitching in your fingertips, pooling around your lower back which crackled even with the slightest of shifts.

But you didn’t want to fail at adhering with your promise to the moon, so you fought back. 

You gathered all the strength you could muster in your humble body and shifted nearer to his body. His hand came down, restricting you right there and then he shook his head, eyes kind and soft. 

“Love, you had a long day…we shouldn’t.”

His fingertips were trailing the faintest of traces all over your arms like he was touching some ancient sculpture of a Goddess in a restricted Roman museum as he cajoled you to relax. 

There was a rose colored sheath between you and the world at that moment which blurred everything else and smothered you with the desire to pleasure him back until there were actual tears brimming under your lashes. 

“No no no…I am fine,” You begged, “Please, can we do it on the floor?”

He chuckled, placing a feathered peck on your forehead.

“Your knees would hurt.” He reasoned. “They were bruised for two days the last time we did it.”

“Then take me to the bed.” You argued. 

Your spirits soared high as he hooked one arm under your knees and the other over your waist to carry you up from the cold slab digging at your curves.

“I am taking you for a bath.” He explained, splashing cold water on your newfound excitement. 

“But I am fine!” Your rebuttal fell flat when you tried craning up your neck to kiss his neck but gave up when you couldn’t find the energy to. Your arms dangling lifeless over his shoulders didn’t help your case either. 

“You smell like scorched ambition.” He stared down steel in your eyes when you puckered your bottom lip out in a pout. 

“Okay so after bath we’ll do it in the shower, right?” You yawned, letting your head laze on his chest, hopeful eyes staring at the curve of his jaw as he smiled. The rhythmic thrumming reverberating from his skin lulled you deeper into the state that every active neuron in your brain was fighting against. 

“Nope.” He stated, leaving no room for further arguments, “After bath, I am ordering takeout and we’re gonna watch some sitcom until you fall asleep.”

“But we have the food I cooked, let’s eat it and then you can fuck me to sleep as a token of gratitude.” 

He gawked at you, grin spreading. “Food? That’s a sentient sauce blob babe.” 

He had settled you down over the toilet seat as he began preparing the bath for you. Half lidded, your irises followed him around as he meticulously poured just the right amount of epsom salts, soap and generous drops of peppermint scented essential oil in the bubbling warmth in the alcove tub. He checked if it was the right temperature by dipping the back of his hand in and once satisfied, he held his hand out for you. 

You got up on your wobbly knees, deciding that you weren’t prolonging this stubborn debate anymore—your body did need some rest. A lot of it, you realized, when your back slumped loose like it had been dragging a block of concrete all day when it hit the divine bath he had drawn.  

His fingers, tranquil and reverent, undid whatever remained of your bun and began massaging shampoo on your scalp—lilies and chamomile, the classic. Seokmin thrummed his fingertips against your temples, like that would make you forget your sinister demand. 

He told another joke about your garlic knots lying burnt and busted in the oven. You faux glared at him even though you found his wordplay amusing. Afterall, you weren’t gonna let him think he could laugh or joke after denying your several requests to dick you down, not on your watch. Like a man who very much wanted to live, he rubbed and caressed all the parts that could have been aching, each stroke a sincere apology.

You smirked when he began working on the kinks in your shoulders. “If you don’t fuck me the first thing tomorrow morning, there’s gonna be a Seokmin shaped hole on the roof.” 

“Noted, chef.” 

a/n: justice for dk's dk! lemme know if we want a part 2? MASTERLIST

[anxious-witch]

I know, I know we talked about the forest scene with Monty, Edwin and the Cat King to death. But, but. Hear me out.

Edwin was ready to both forgive Monty and thank the Cat King right then and there if they didn't push him, aka crossed a line in the sand for him.

When the Cat King initially informs him of Monty's betrayal, this is Edwin's reaction:

He looks confused, he looks hurt. But he doesn't look angry. Not yet. When he says "Were you just pretending to be my friend" he sounds hurt, but when he sees how Monty is affected, he still looks oddly touched. Especially when Monty says: "At first, yes! Then...no."

I know we joke about Edwin being awful at reading people, but Monty is obviously distressed and Edwin reacts to it. Besides, Monty is his friend. He wants to believe it wasn't all a ploy. But then, Monty makes a fatal mistake and brings up Charles. Immediately, Edwin's expression falls and then it turns angry and says: "Even if it were true, you are a bloody crow!"

We see Edwin forgive Simon, his killer, the person who was responsible for sending him to Hell, in mere minutes, once he finds out why Simon did it. I don't believe for a second he wouldn't have forgiven Monty in a heartbeat if Monty properly explained himself, instead of falling back to his hurt feelings and in turn, trying to hurt Edwin the same way by bringing up Charles. Which is a shame, because they really could have used each other's help.

As for the Cat King, I think it's a very similar story too!

Immediately after Monty walks away, Edwin closes his eyes and says: "I am such an idiot." And the Cat King nods, but you can already see most of the anger Edwin held towards Monty dispersing.

When the Cat King stops him from leaving and says: "I came all the way into this ridiculous forest to save you, I think I am at least owed a thank you," Edwin doesn't seem mad. I'd even go as far as to describe his expression as soft surprise. I think he is thankful, in that moment. And why wouldn't he be? The Cat King did save him from a trap.

It's only when the Cat King brings up a second kiss, implying he should thank him by kissing him, does Edwin grow angry again.

Also, importantly, the way Edwin pushes the Cat King away is almost gentle. Bitchy, and pissed off, for sure, but also gentle. Like, if it was someone who I genuinely didn't want anwhere near me, I'd shove them away by the shoulders, and with much more force. And sure! Edwin isn't a type for violence, but c'mon. We know he is capable if pressed, as seen when Esther hurt Charles.

Edwin keeps his anger tightly locked, only letting it out through his words. He practically spits out "I am not your toy to yank around." But even so, the only tense action we see from his is the way he cocks his head and demingly looks thr Cat King up and down.

Only after the Cat King threatens him, does Edwin get up in his personal space and almost violently(by his standards) shows him the bracelet, saying "This is all that you are. Do you understand?"

My point is, if both the Cat King and Monty essentially told/showed Edwin their actions are somehow tied into his reciprocation of his feelings. Funnily, enough, I feel like if either of them didn't base this interaction on that, and instead rather connected with Edwin emotionally, they would have had a shot at getting exactly what they wanted that night. Monty, Edwin's forgivness and the Cat King, Edwin's thankfulness, perhaps even a sense that he owes him, next time they see each other.

Which is great! Because it shows us sm about the characters, their flaws, and their priorities! But yeah. Talking about shooting themselves in the foot.

I also think that, for all we joke around Edwin holding grudges, he is actually incredible in how quickly he forgives people, as soon as they show the skightest initative for change/goodwill. Part of me hopes he and Monty meet again, just so Edwin can understand his pov, the same way he understood Simon and thr Cat King's but alas. I suppose we'll see

[modawg]

it low-key pisses me off that nico can’t get over this like hero complex pedestal he has percy on like even after his crush is over and done with he’s still over here “maybe bob didn’t call y’all bc he thought you wouldn’t answer” or whatever tf like boy be so fr we talking abt the boy who’s fatal flaw is literally loyalty?? the boy who literally took on the great prophecy once he found out someone might die so YOUR dumbass wouldn’t be the one to do so??

why is every mistake that percy makes suddenly inexcusable

i get it the lack of trust prolly comes from the trauma of losing bianca but he didn’t even promise that he’d actually bring her back he said he would TRY and he DID bro was 14 and on a quest he wasn’t even supposed to be on why not be pissed at artemis or the hunters who actually put bianca on the fucking mission or thalia who was also on the mission or annabeth who caused the whole mission to begin with

like i genuinely just never understood that like i understand nico is a kid and there are reasons to look up to percy yes but bro has known him for going on 3-4 years when are we gonna realise he is infact also a kid who is also in a shitty situation with also shitty odds who has also lost people and just wants to live his life

it’s even better bc i believe nicos fatal flaw is holding grudges ? it’s so good i hate it like please just be friends i beg you

[aroaceleovaldez]

I feel like Nico's fatal flaw should've had a bigger role in the series than it did, or at least been mentioned after BotL. It did play a good part in BotL, but it's just never mentioned again after that. Like, where's Nico struggling not to hold a grudge against Apollo after Jason dies?

I would agree, except for the fact that Nico's fatal flaw... kind of isn't holding grudges.

We're told that by Bianca, but she's clearly kind of incorrect that holding grudges is a shared flaw between all children of Hades. Nico pretty much doesn't hold grudges at all, even when he tries - something I've discussed before. Honestly Hazel holds more grudges about things than Nico does (such as being upset with Jason for multiple chapters about his suggestion to leave Nico in the jar) but even then she moves past it pretty easily. At most it seems more so that Hades' own fatal flaw might be holding grudges. As for what the Hades kids' fatal flaws might actually be, I believe I've suggested before that a better communal fatal flaw for them could potentially be just the concept of "holding on to things too tightly" - Bianca holding on to grudges and negative emotions, Hazel holding on to the past, and Nico holding on to others/his loved ones.

In terms of potential fatal flaws that Nico might actually have, those do come up very often and are frequently plot-relevant in stuff that involves him! Obviously we only see so much because Nico is largely not a major character for the majority of the franchise, but stuff like him frequently being far too self-sacrificial, or putting his loved ones far before his own well-being and getting caught in grief over various people in his life for various reasons comes up pretty often! And in those cases it does do the fatal flaw things you'd expect like with Percy's loyalty or Annabeth's hubris.

[justaz]

thinking of percy jackson who is a natural leader even though he doesn't want to be which makes him an even better leader who commands the skies and brings down storms that blot out the sun and make the ground tremble with it's force being mistaken for a son of Zeus

thinking of percy jackson whose fatal flaw is loyalty who is completely and utterly devoted to his wife annabeth and who protects his family above all other's, honoring Hera almost like a follower of hers

thinking of percy jackson who commands the seas and shakes the earth, who wrestles sea monsters and helps mermaids with their hangnails, freeing sea creatures from pollution before dragging it from the depths like the son of Poseidon that he is

thinking of percy jackson who recognizes cabin 4 as his cousins where everyone else underestimates them as gardeners but percy sees kronos and rhea's daughter, a powerful ancient goddess’s children who command the earth itself, training with them and watching them grow the plants of the earth and subconsciously mimicking the motions of their hands and accidentally latching onto the water in the plants and making them move like a son of Demeter

thinking of percy jackson who spars with clarisse as one of the only other campers who can keep up with him in a one v one, fighting ruthlessly with constant simmering rage under his skin like a son of Ares

thinking of percy jackson spending years at annabeth's side and being one of the only people who can keep up with her and catch onto her plans and understand her mind inside and out, percy making his own plans, his battle iq severely overlooked until the war itself comes to his door and he has to voice his plans to his comrades and his mind shines like a son of Athena

thinking of percy jackson who dreams of the past, present, and future, who has feelings and premonitions and is more in tune with fate and prophecies like a son of Apollo

thinking of percy jackson who never goes easy on an opponent because they're a woman, percy jackson who respects the hunters and is never condescending to them, percy jackson who achieves the approval of not just artemis herself but also zoë nightshade, a hurt girl who held a grudge for millennia, one of the only boys to earn the approval and respect of Artemis

thinking of percy jackson who worked in the forges with beckendorf then down in the forges with tyson and his other cyclops brothers, percy who blows up mt st helens and impresses the god himself despite the destruction of his forge, his own (limited) immunity to fire like a son of Hephaestus

thinking of percy jackson who doesn't buy into the idea of cabin 10 being full of shallow kids of a vapid love goddess, but instead sees children of one of the oldest gods born of the sea and ouranos, the sky itself, one of the only gods percy genuinely fears. percy spending time with cabin 10 almost as if they're his own siblings, all descendants of the sea, being taught by drew how to use his looks to his advantage even if he can't recognize his own beauty, using the tactics in california to charm free food from restaurant workers or to distract cashiers as he steals from the store, being so heartachingly beautiful that he's mistaken as a son of Aphrodite

thinking of percy jackson who spent a few weeks as an unclaimed kid, training with a demigod he looked up to, luke, son of hermes, knowing how to run and steal and gamble and how to use his words to get in and out of trouble, cunning and mischievous like a son of Hermes

thinking of percy jackson who knows madness intimately, who toed the line of falling too far as he choked and poisoned a goddess and reveled in it, who can control the vines of grapes, whose blood is too watery to get properly drunk (even if he never drinks) seeming like a more wild and chaotic son of Dionysus

thinking of percy jackson who commands the rivers of the underworld, rivers that aren't even water, but that he controls as if they are, percy who has swam in three of them but never succumbs to death while in them, always reaching the other shore. percy who takes death seriously and tries not to kill enemy demigods even in the midst of war when it slows him down, but he refuses. percy who was a commander in war time and time again and knows the weight of death intimately and treats it with the respect it deserves, handing the dagger to luke because he knows that sometimes you can't avoid it, you have to just let go. percy who welcomes death time and time again and doesn't fear it, almost longs for it as release. percy who commands the earth, shaking and splitting it as son of the earthshaker being mistaken for a son of Hades

thinking of percy jackson who values his family above all others, who opens the hearth to welcome all, not just children of the twelve olympians but even the children of the minor gods, treating them as family rather than lesser. percy who plays the sacrificial lamb time and time again to protect his loved ones, percy jackson who seems like a follower and devotee of Hestia

thinking of percy jackson, son of the sea, whose nature is water - adaptable and easy to change, water as the basis of life and encompasses all things from animals to humans to plants, percy who values all not on some system of glory and kleos and power, but off of one's own character, their own choices not their parents. percy jackson who is a son of poseidon but who is a child of olympus, a child of all, a hero who all the young demigods can look up to because they can all see themselves in him on some level, percy who learns from all and finds strength in each demigod and their domain that he protects and wields as his own

[perseas-wellyboots]

The Luke Castellan problem in PJO books and Fandom

I just finished rereading the pjo series for the dozenth time and I have so many thoughts about Luke and how the fandom woobified him.

Like no Luke did not have the right idea and executed it in the wrong way. He wasn't a misguided victim, although there is no doubt Kronos manipulated him. But him being manipulated does not absolve him of his wrongdoings. Hurt people can still hurt people, you can be abused and still become an abuser.

Most of Fandom's idea of Luke being a 'hero' because he did the right thing in the end is extremely doozy like ok he killed himself to stop Kronos but that does not absolve him the blame of killing innocent people.

While Luke's main goal was the destruction of Gods, that was not because he wanted the demigods to have better lives. He actively killed demigods.

In the Sea of Monsters, when Percy, Annabeth and Tyson snuck into Princess Andromeda; they saw 12 year olds being trained how to kill a 'dummy in camp half blood tshirts'. He was actively exploiting children and manipulating them into killing other children and saw nothing wrong with it.

He only considered deflecting from Kronos when he found out that he was going to be possessed by him.

He only worked and cared for him, he was so lost into power and revenge that HE became a monster.

"Oh but he cared for Thalia and Annabeth!!" I'll get into that later too

I think Luke's fatal flaw contrary to the opinion of fandom is The Urge to Prove Himself.

He had one conversation with Hermes which made him angry and bitter and Thalia even notes that after that conversation Luke got into more and more fights with monsters like he had something to prove which Annabeth didnt seem to see as a problem since he was her hero. They got into more skirmishes because of his recklessness, fighting more monsters since Luke wanted to pick a fight with each one he came across.

(Conversation from PJO, The Last Olympian)

His fatal flaw being to Prove Himself would explain why he took the failure of his quest so hard that the night he returned from the quest was the same night Kronos started speaking to him for the first time. It didn't help that when he returned from his failed quest, the campers treated him with pity.

He wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone because He failed his quest that he didn't want to do because it was already done by Hercules once. 🥴

His endgame has nothing to do with wanting to help ANYBODY. He wanted to take down gods because he had a grudge against them and wanted to Prove that he could do it. Everything else comes secondary if it fits his agenda.

This is one of the reasons why it bothers me so much when people say that Luke had the right idea or that Percy would have joined Kronos if Sally had died like you fundamentally misunderstood the character of Percy if you think he would have joined Kronos.

He talks about "driving humanity back into caves, all except the strongest - who would serve him" THIS IS LITERALLY FASCISM???

(According to Merriam-Webster, Fascism is a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression)

Now onto the topic of Thalia, Annabeth and Luke

First of all, I absolutely hate that 'Thalia and Luke had a thing before she got turned into a tree bit' because Thalia was 12 and Luke was 14 when they met and Thalia was 15 and Luke was 20-21ish when they meet again in TTC ugh hate that.

Now TTC, where to begin, here I used to believe Luke had already bathed in river Styx as there are some narrations where Percy notes that Luke looked worse and like his scar was reopened and would certainly explain how he survived the cliff fall but on my rereading I realised that Thalia and Luke fought when Percy was holding the sky and Thalia injured Luke so nvm then.

It is however in this book that Luke began to realise Kronos's plan for him as it is implied by the General and he starts to fear for his life.

Mind you, what did Luke think would happen if Thalia did agree to join Kronos when he knew Kronos was looking for a host of body...

Luke is many things, he is cunning, manipulative, a great swordsman but what he is not is stupid. If Thalia would have agreed then Kronos would have used Thalia as a vessel 😬

And oh boy the can of worms that is Luke and Annabeth. I've seen many Luke fans/apologists deny that there is no canon evidence of Luke being romantically interested in Annabeth BUT THERE IS?? they refuse to believe and call Annabeth an unreliable narrator because otherwise their uwu white boy would be a Pedophile. Even if he wasn't a Pedo, he manipulated Annabeth so many times to make her sympathise with her and use her emotions against her.

(excerpts from various books: TLO, TLO, BoTL, MoA annabeth's pov)

^ Annabeth was 15 almost 16 or already 16 I believe when Luke asked her to run away with him in a romantic sense and he was 21-22.

also another evidence adding to the theory of his fatal flaw having proving himself.

Now, onto the topic of CHB and Luke:

Luke being hesitant to attack camp half blood in BotL has less to do with him suddenly growing a spine (as some fans suggest) and more to do with the inevitable possession.

When Kronos informs that he will himself lead the attack, Luke advises to use Hyperion instead because he knows for Kronos to attack it in person, he would finally possess Luke.

(first one is from TTC, the other two from BoTL)

One of the last things I wanna talk about is Silena Beauregard & Luke and Luke's portrayal in the new Percy Jackson series:

Luke was 17 when Kronos started speaking to him and 19 when he left the camp. Silena was 17-18 when she died which makes her 13-14 when Luke left the camp in TLT and 11-12 when Kronos first started talking to him. Adult Luke charmed an underage girl, and promised her that she was helping the demigods and then when she tried to stop, he started blackmailing her. [excerpts from TLO]

According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children UK, Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. The relationship a groomer builds can take different forms. This could be: a romantic relationship, as a mentor, an authority figure, a dominant and persistent figure. They might use blackmail to make a child feel guilt and shame or introduce the idea of 'secrets' to control, frighten and intimidate.

So canonically, Book!Luke is a fascist groomer pedophile.

Now on the new Disney+ Percy Jackson show, it seems that Rick Riordan is subtly rewriting the character of Luke and removing the more problematic aspect of him (pedophile and grooming). Let me explain why I think that:

Even though in TLT the book, Luke describes Annabeth as his little sister we know how well that lasted but I don't think they are keeping Annabeth's crush on him on the show from what I've seen (though I could be wrong).

Secondly, the casting of Dior Goodjohn as Clarisse puts Clarisse on the same age range as Luke, maybe a year or two younger but in the first book Clarisse was 13-14 and she was 17 in TLO, so they have aged her up. It is my assumption that they will also age Silena by casting a 17-19 yr old actress as her.

And they have made Luke far more sympathetic in the show than the books (him not calling a hellhound during capture the flag and no pit scorpions in the finale), but we wouldn't know how sympathetic or villainous they are making him until season 2 comes out. Charlie Bushnell gives an excellent performance imo

Though this again reflects the double standards it comes to PJO, they have given much grace and praise for the changes made to Luke's character and little to no complaint for ageing up Clarisse but the hate Walker and especially Leah are given is so cruel. Leah has been so much racially targeted though I think she's an excellent Annabeth, just something to think about.

Also, before I forget-

We don't give enough flack to Rick Riordan for writing two weird age dynamics without recognising as grooming and pedophilic nature. (Lukabeth and Caleo/Capercy)

The characters are never made to realise (especially Annabeth) that an older person having feelings for them as a minor is not a normal behaviour.

Especially in regards to Calypso who may take the form of a 15 year old but is actually more than 4612 (according to the riordan wiki) and her having a crush on 14 year old Percy and 15-16 yr old Leo Valdez, not to mention how rudely she treated Leo. Also her cursing Annabeth because Percy left her. Not only is it plain nasty but she's never called out. Its actually so disgusting🤕.

Anyways this turned into a long rant but I would love to read your opinions, especially on Luke's fatal flaw.

I know for some people it may seem like I'm too hard on him but this is just my opinion.

IMO I have no problem if you like a morally bad or gray person, an antihero or a villain as long as their bad deeds aren't swept under the rug and pretend they never happened or glorify their good deeds.

I actually think villian's bad things make them more interesting.

Luke is an antagonist and a villain of the PJO series and a part of being a villain is that some people are going to hate you and that's ok.

Me personally, I was never a fan of his and that's ok.

I know some people are going to bring up the fact that Percy in MoA sympathises but the PJO characters are complicated and Luke was very skilled at making others think of his reason to destroy the Gods the way they would sympathise the most and we see that multiple times.

[lynsstrange]

I have some issues with how the action scenes and tension were done in this episode, but if there’s one thing I can say is how WELL this script truly understands these characters, their fatal flaws, and the underlying themes of the entire series.

They understand that Percy is so trusting of Luke immediately that he doesn’t want to bring him on the quest. The quick glimmer of resentment in Luke’s eyes that would go unnoticeable to someone who’s never heard this story before when he mentions that the shoes are a gift from his father. Percy choosing someone who he knew would never betray him, and someone he thought he’d keep at arm’s length to go on the quest, instead. The differences between his goals and Annabeth’s goals, the small secrets they’ve already kept from each other, and how it’d inevitably drive distrust and suspicion between them immediately.

Annabeth’s anger and denial of the gods’ often self-serving and shitty ways because she wants approval from a parental figure so badly. Her arrogance and pride towards her heritage. Percy’s willingness to trust in people, and already brewing anger towards the gods making him more willing to hear Medusa out, because deep down, he knows there’s part of him that is already resentful. Medusa getting into both of their heads by telling them they’re doomed to repeat their parents’ mistakes, doomed to repeat the cycle.

But Percy still deciding he’d rather risk death than betray Annabeth and Grover to Medusa, even as she preys on his loyalty, and Annabeth being unwilling to give up Percy to Alecto when she had the chance, even as she has her own pride used against her. It causing both of them to realize that maybe they’re not who they initially who they thought each other were. The unspoken knowledge that this quest is so much bigger than their own desires and grudges, at the end of the day.

I’m just so excited about the way Rick is clearly able to go back and edit and incorporate themes that are introduced later on in the books, expand on character beats that he feels are important, etc. It’s been so cool to watch so far.

[bueckers2fudd]

fluff alphabet |clarisse la rue

author's note: Hi lovelies, please send me requests! I don't know what gave me the confidence to think I can write, probably delusion. Also, this is according to my personal views of Clarisse so don't be mad if it's different from what you've imagined. Leave a comment, I love interacting with people, xx.

warnings: I tried my best to keep it gender/race/cabin neutral for the most part but there are still some feminine coded things here and there. English is not my first language so excuse any grammar mistakes.

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

Starting off strong because with Clarisse sparring is a must. Although she doesn't like to think there will ever come a time in which she won't be there to protect you, it's still an essential part of life as a half-blood. And who better to train you than the daughter of war herself? And in case the apprentice becomes the master and you happen to beat her or pin her to the ground or even hold your dagger to her neck? Oh boy, she's done for. Actual heart eyes.

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

She pretty much loves everything about you, she can't really just choose one aspect. Though, if she had to, she'd probably say she loves you for being supportive, understanding, and patient with her. You understand her better than anyone. That's what made her know you were the one for her. You can control her anger issues and calm her down when she's on the verge of exploding and she thinks that's beautiful.

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc?

The art of intimacy or comfort never came easy to Clarisse. Her relationship with her mother isn't the best and hasn't been for a while now and her father is a grade A asshole. Her first instinct when you're feeling down is to fix it, to ask you who or what happened and give them a physical piece of her mind, but that's not always how it works. She'll pull you to her lap and hold you through the night or for as long as you need, wiping your tears and kissing your cheeks. She'll let you vent your heart out. You can tell her anything. Or nothing, if you prefer. She's not the best with words but her actions speak much louder.

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

She's never thought that much ahead if she's being honest. Never allowed herself to daydream too much into the future, choosing to live off the present for now. Sometimes, however, she pictures what could be only described as an utopia; to go on such a fantastical quest that the gods can't help but grant the both of you immortality, that way you'd bask in the glory of your love forever and ever.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

On the outside looking in it would seem Clarisse is the dominant one for sure. And in some ways she is; she likes that you can rely on her, she wants to provide for you, yearns to prove herself capable of such. Still, you're the one in charge. Clarisse is completely devoted to you, and your relationship means more to her than anything she's ever felt before. She cherishes it like no other, always at your beck and call.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

Clarisse is intense, that much we know. Her anger runs deep and her passion burns red. She's not perfect, and doesn't try to hide it either. She's hot-tempered, arrogant, she's got a short fuse and she holds grudges. Her fatal flaw is pride, which sometimes gets in the way of her good senses, so you'll most likely be the one apologizing first. Despite all that, she can't bear the thought of you being mad at her and absolutely hates fighting with you. It's like it's tearing her apart, especially if you're sad over something she said or did in the heat of the moment. Truth is, she is a fighter at heart so when all is said and done she'll try and make it up to you in some way, somehow.

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

She is so appreciative of everything you do and are. As previously stated, Clarisse didn't get much love growing up so any semblance of that is something she clings hard to. She notices everything, every little thing you do for her and the underlying of your words. How you treat her and others is always stored in the back of her mind and she loves to be loved by you.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

Clarisse is a very closed off person in general, she doesn't like feeling exposed and being possibly seen as weak. She'll tell you things but there's still some matters you have to pick up on your own and know how to approach them, especially regarding her feelings and personal struggles. She's very honest though, she feels like she owns you that much and appreciates you if you do the same for her. The more your relationship progresses you'll notice being able to read her like an open book because although she does her very best to hide it there's an underlying vulnerability to her behavior in certain moments you'll take proper notice of the more you know her.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

Clarisse has definitely become more gentle since you. It still doesn't extend to your friends and family but more so how she behaves around you and knowing she doesn't have to put up that though front all the time. Her sense of self worth has improved as well, especially when you reassure her through her insecurities and doubts (never being the son her father wanted etc.)

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

Oh, boy. Clarisse’s jealousy is very fuelled by… Well, anything really. She doesn't necessarily need a motive to go toe to toe with someone, just staring at you for a second longer than she deems them worthy of and she's ready for a fight. It's hard for anyone to get close enough to flirt with you because she's always there, by your side, kind of like a guard dog. But only because she knows how amazing you are and her insecurities do blurry some lines on what's acceptable. She's working on it though.

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Clarisse is definitely a good kisser. She doesn't have much experience, if any, but she's a natural. It sounds cheesy but the first time she kisses you was like butterflies and church bells dancing loudly in the wind. The way she cups your face so uncharacteristically soft and how she breaks off the kiss with a series of small pecks only to smile one of her beautiful smiles so close to each other's faces… Magical. It could be at the fireworks on the fourth of July or it could be in your favorite spot in the woods, soaked in lake water during a midnight swim or after a heated argument. No matter how many times Clarisse kisses you, she'll never not feel electricity similar to her spear’s sharp edge digging into her body and soul.

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Clarisse does not have a clue what she's doing. I feel like she'd say something in the heat of the moment; either confessing her true feelings or masking them by saying something hurtful she doesn't actually mean. In the latter scenario she'd storm off and berate herself over it but her pride and fear that you'd never look at her again made her put off her apology for some time and let it all sink in to talk to you when she's ready. That is until you start properly ignoring her and she nearly goes crazy with longing, just missing your overall presence and having her stomach turn to knots at the way things were left between you two. That's one of the few times Clarisse sucks it up and reaches for you. The apology is awkward but overwhelmingly honest and she tells you she's an idiot but you're content in forgiving her and giving her a second (actual first) chance.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

Again, Clarisse never thought she'd live to see the day she'd actually have a marriage prospect. Her life just doesn't seem complete without you anymore and the moment she realizes that she's done for. It would probably be while you're laying in bed together, your head on her chest while you play with her fingers. Your eyes are heavy with sleep but hers are wide open, thinking. “Will you marry me?” said while staring into the distance and you probably think she's joking except Clarisse is not one to joke about that sort of thing. “Not now. But eventually.” and whether you ask if she's serious or just accept it right away, she'd look at you seriously for a beat and then tackle you into a bear hug, crushing you underneath her. She doesn't see the point in a big wedding, but if that's what you're into, she won't mind.

N icknames - What do they call their s/o?

She is not immune to babe or baby but would still like to keep some variety. Things like sunshine, gorgeous, angel or others (I'm looking at you, person who created the “mama/s” HC). She does like your name very much, or probably a shortened version of it. Don't expect her to not tease you if any of these make you flustered.

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

Clarisse likes to think she's good at hiding it when she's absolutely not. As Taylor Swift once said, you can hear it in the silence. Just the way her eyes soften when she's looking at you speaks millions, but people also get whiplash at how fast her mean attitude changes whenever you're around. Her love giving languages are probably acts of service and physical touch. She loves to do things for you, feeling all big and mighty whenever she can make your life just a little easier. Touching is also a must but we'll get to that in a second.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

Clarisse is not very comfortable with public displays of affection, because she is afraid of being judged or mocked by others for being weak or soft. She prefers to keep her relationship with you private and intimate, but doesn't mind the little things. She does gloat about being with you as well as showing you off, so that everyone on camp knows you're hers. She brags about you all the time and I mean, seriously, all the time. She's not a big hand holder but she almost over compensates by grabbing at your hips and thighs, throwing an arm over your shoulder or hiding her face in your neck. She especially loves bonfires when you sit on her lap and she can hold firmly onto your waist while she's talking to her siblings or just press her forehead against yours when her social battery is low.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

She's very perceptive. She may not know what has changed right away but she's also persistent so she'll figure it out in an instant. If it's the way you did your hair or something that happened along your day, even if you change your usual greeting. She notices and she'll definitely ask you about it.

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

Clarisse wants to be loved, that's all she’s ever wanted, and she has so much love to give, therefore I believe she'll do just about anything to make you happy. That includes being an absolute sap. She honestly doesn't mind how cliche it is, if it works on you, you bet she's using it. If anyone cares to say anything remotely negative about you or your relationship she will promptly glare them into oblivion or give them something to really worry about.

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

She is your absolute biggest supporter. Especially if you don't believe in yourself, then she's trying even harder for you to see just how well you can do something if you put your mind to it. With something like sword training she is more than willing to help you, rewarding you with kisses and cursing you for distracting her with your pretty face.

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

Clarisse doesn't mind change, she rolls with it. If you have a certain way of doing things, a routine you like to follow, that's fine by her. If you're unpredictable, even better. She just loves to see what comes next in terms of your relationship, not necessarily needing anything to amplify her love for you. It's already hardwired into her.

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

She knows you like the back of her hand. Even the slightest furrow of your eyebrows or tilt of your head and she'll be there in a second asking what's wrong. She does learn to be more empathetic towards your own struggles, which was hard at first because she wasn't sure how to see things from someone else's point of view. Though road but you make it work.

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

She doesn't have much to look forward to so Clarisse values her relationship with you very highly, as you are one of the few people who can see past her tough and aggressive exterior and appreciate her softer and more vulnerable side. She is fiercely loyal and protective of you, and would do anything to keep you safe and happy.

W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

I actually read this one on a Wattpad story a while ago so credit to the original creator but, Clarisse has a teddy bear named Mr. Muscles she's had since she was like, nine and she cherishes it like it's her most prized possession. When she introduced this piece of information to you, you just found her so incredibly adorable you couldn't contain the giggles and she gets so hot in the face she pushes you off her bed and it's honestly one of the most memorable moments in your relationship.

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

I headcanon Clarisse as your personal furnace as well as a koala bear so kisses and cuddles are a must, especially if it's cold outside. She loves to take naps with you, it gets to the point where she has trouble sleeping without you (so you give her a vial of your perfume to spray on Mr. Muscles for when you're away).

Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

Clarisse with you: 🥰

Clarisse without you: 😡

She gets snappier than usual and easily annoyed but she'll also get really sad because she's never had to deal with being away from you. Her siblings try to cheer her up by shoving some kid's head into the toilet but she's so disinterested in anything that does not involve you she just goes about her days training until she can see you again and show off her muscles.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lenghts for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

The answer is yes, one hundred percent. “Touch her and you die” trope goes so hard. Not only that but she would willingly sacrifice the world and herself for you and your relationship. She would go out of her way to make sure you are okay, that you are fed and hydrated and well rested, even messing up her own sleeping schedule in order to take better care of you.

[princessofghosts-posts]

Grudges

It's been a while since I've done a long post,but finally here it is. I'm going to talk about Nico's fatal flaw and why Riordan misused it (coming from a girl that hold a lot of grudges,even for the stupidest thing ever from when she was a child-).

So,first off,having grudges means holding onto feelings of resentment,bitterness,or anger towards someone (usually because you feel they have wronged you in the past). These feelings are persistent and can last a long time,causing ongoing negative emotions and potentially impacting relationships and mental well-being. In some cases,they can also lead to a desire of revenge.

Now,a great part of Nico's development is the growth he had during BotL,where he decided to stop holding Percy accountable for his sister's death. His character arc in this book is basically him starting from having a grudge,towards Percy,to accept reality how it is. It's not bad,especially considering that we are taking about his fatal flaw (and Nico himself has a big golden heart),but the way it got solved is totally wrong.

Nico's grudge towards Percy start at the end of TTC because of Bianca. It's uncalled for because Percy wasn't a fault here but Nico wasn't thinking this logically,he was a kid that got to know that his only living relative is now dead and he is now alone in a world he doesn't know well enough. Blaming Percy,another kid that actually felt responsable for her death (also uncalled because Bianca knew what she was doing and could happens)for this was also extremely horrible but from Nico's point of view that's the only thing he can do.

When people are hurt,because of something out of their control,they usually tend to blame someone for their suffering. Percy was the only one Nico could blame at the time for this,grieving his way through it. Was it ok? No. Was it right? Also no. Was it fucked up? Extremely. Was it a child natural respond to a tragic event? Yes. Am I justifying him with this? Nah.

Anyway. Nico's feelings about Bianca's end are pretty strong from the start,he literally opened the ground to the Underworld and used his powers out of grief and rage for her (there are still a fear factor,about him thinking the skeletons where going to kill him,and a feeling of betrayal,towards Percy and their "promise",that also play here). And that was only after he just found out.

The months prior to BotL and the halfway through it,Nico turned into almost a murder,while also being suicidal. I saw few people pointing it out,but we actually needs to talk more about this because this is an eleven years old that already tried multiple times to exchange his soul for his sister's,at fucking 11. And the same child almost become a murderer because he wanted his said sister back (while being also manipulated by Minos). Nico lost his morality there for a good part of the book before the arc could end in "let go of your grudges because they are our fatal flaws". Which is stupid.

Nico "letting go" of his grudge because Bianca asked him to do so,was only a demostration of how much he cared about her (not like it's reciprocated) and how big his heart is. While it's a good way to show Nico's kindness and willingness to forgive someone once he let go of his anger (and isn't being manipulated by a very scheming ghost),it's also....not how grudges works in general???

It doesn't take a "stop it before it destroy you" type of talk to stop holding grudges –especially if they are linked to something deep. I hate Bianca,but her death was an important part for Nico development (and a good wake up call because things were starting to get actually real) and Nico obviously cared about her. His reaction to the news was devasting and so is his grief (not to talk about how much Bianca answering for Percy,instead of the little brother "she raised" made it worst). But he still ended up forgiving himself (and her).

Now,one of the few thing that is a bit misleading about this subplot is "Nico blamed Percy for Bianca's death". AT THE START it was like that,Nico was hurt and needed to put the blame on something or someone,and unfortunately that person was Percy since he was the one to tell him the news (he also probably felt hurt about their "promise" and how it was "broken"). But that's a distraction for what the real deal was here: Nico was projecting his own feelings on Percy. Nico blamed himself for her death because he wasn't good or strong enough to do something,but since he couldn't accept that,his mind made sure to project those insecurities and his view of the situation on Percy. He was angry at himself because he wasn't enough (something that Bianca and Hades both amplified),he was angry at Bianca because she left him,and he was angry at the world for taking his sister away from him. The "It's your fault that my sister died" to Percy is just a facade for all the other things unsaid. Still,doesn't excuse his behavior towards the guy,since Percy was in a similar position. Bianca truly traumatized both of them in the same way.

Got a bit sidetracked here,sorry. Anyway! Going back to the main topic-

The way Nico's grudge got "solved" that way was extremely lazy writing. You go on about how grudges are Hades's kids fatal flaw,then you have a character that hold one and puff,it vanish because another character he cares about said to do so. I'm sorry,but as someone that is a very resentful person,this isn't how "solving" your grudges work.

First off,when you hold a grudge against someone you actually take time to hate their guts (it's sound extremely petty and immature but it is how it is). You don't let go of them in the span of a conversation or 2 because you built the resentment for that person for a lot of times,it could be weeks,months even years. The time-skip between TTC and BotL is of 6 months –of which Nico had all the time in the world to build said resentment (especially with Minos around). And you are going to tell me that 6 MONTHS of resentment are wiped out like nothing? I'm sorry but that's is impossible. You don't spend so much time building negative feelings towards someone or something only to change your mind last minute,because someone told you to do so (it wasn't even from him this realization,but from Bianca???). There are so many negative emotions to unpack there that it will takes time,like,a lot of time. Ence why it doesn't work.

Having Nico slowly realizing that his own fatal flaw was destroying him and the few connections he tried to build (Percy,CHB,the campers,etc...) would have be much better,because it was something that would have begun from him. Because Nico himself realized it was wrong. Also,having him try to change his attitude towards the people he was holding grudges against would have be good,starting with Percy especially. Learning also how to forgive himself and letting go of his guilt and fatal flaw,without being rushed,would have been actually healing for him. But nope,one book he is all "It's your fault!" (with all the hidden feelings) and the next one he and Percy are pretty fine with each other.

Listen,I love BotL and TLO because of their strange friendship development,but it's still lacking when it cames to Nico's fatal flaw. It's impossible that after so many months projecting on him and "hating" Percy,Nico wouldn't feel awkward with him or trying to not involve himself much at the start. Not to talk about the whole fiasco with Hades's plan (fuck him for that). And even after that,he tried so hard to make Percy see he could still trust him,because he changed from before and was different from his dad,but Percy was still hurt from what happened before (which was misleaded because Nico didn't knew shit and Hades even said so). Those two are a mess,when Nico isn't holding a grudge against Percy,Percy doesn't trust him enough and viceversa. While I liked how Nico wanted to show that he is trustworthy because he is that stubborn,be taking into account the fatal flaw that should be at play......meh.

Again,Nico here should be still trying to let go of his resentment,which is very effective because he and Percy are ok now (keyword: should). But he should definitely feel resentment towards Hades because of what he pulled and said (but he doesn't,and if he did we never knew about it) and Percy too,because the guy first tried to kill him and then didn't trust him anymore even tho Nico got him out of the palace and helped him to get to the Styx. Realistically,Nico's past feelings towards Percy (the negative ones-) should have resurfaced but they didn't. Another thing about working through grudges is that,sometimes,even a single thing can tackle you off. Especially if you spent so much time disliking them. That's why it isn't simple and it takes time. But here? 0,nada,nothing,Nico is the one that is acting like he did something wrong,which he didn't because he didn't knew. He should be angry and have every right to leash out,especially with his fatal flaw,but he didn't (idk how to feel about that-). Hades and Percy on the other hand...

I feel like Rick totally missed the shot with Nico (what's new at this point) when it cames to his fatal flaw. It got said multiple times that grudges are children of Hades fatal flaw,but then you have Hazel that doesn't hold any (idk if for children of Pluto it's different) and everytime Nico does it's not even permanent like a grudge should be,it's just there for a while and then goes away.

I'm not saying that Nico needs to be a resentful person and have grudges forever,just that we should actually see him struggling with his fatal flaw. But that's something that's not only about Nico,because in general everyone fatal flaw is kinda just there in the background without weights (looking at you Percy in BoO),expect Annabeth's because hers actually had consequences in the narrative multiple times (and Thalia's when she almost gave up and killed Bessy).

[sapphiresaphics]

VI’s fatal flaw is that she has a good heart and she sees the good in those she’s closest to.

It’s why she’s able to see the good in Caitlyn, an Enforcer. It’s why she doesn’t hold a grudge about their breakup. It’s why she’s able to see Vander in Warwick. It’s why she’s able to forgive Jinx.

But like I said, this is her fatal flaw. She’ll see the good in people, even if it’s not there anymore. Or even if they’ve changed.

Vi tries to rescue Jinx from her prison cell, and Jinx realizes this flaw in her sister. “You’re never going to give up on me, are you?” She says it so sadly, because she’s realizing in this moment that Vi will never truly appreciate Jinx for who she is. Jinx doesn’t believe there’s good in her in this moment. This is why she punches her and locks her in the cell and tells her to be happy. She thinks that if Vi keeps coming after what doesn’t exist in her, Vi will never be happy.

But that changes after they fight Hextech Warwick in the final scene. Viktor and all his legions are gone. Vi and Warwick are on a dangerous ledge. She should be going to get to safety… but Vi still lingers over Warwick’s body. Because Vi sees the good in everyone. Even Warwick. She sees Vander. She can’t NOT stop loving those who leave her.

And this is why Jinx lets Vi go. Because even if it’s painful, no matter what happens, Vi will ALWAYS love Jinx. She can’t choose to love only Jinx. She loves Warwick Vander too. Even if it’ll get then all killed. So Jinx “sacrifices” herself to get rid of Warwick and save her sister.

And this is why it’s okay that Jinx leaves too. Because no matter where she goes and what she does, she knows deep down in her heart that Vi loves her. And that’s the ONE thing she’s been craving this entire series. Vi loves to a fault.

[lucius-i-ran]

Nico had higher chances than anybody else to follow Luke and they were all so damn lucky he didn't

This one is going to be a long one y'all; I could name so many reasons why Nico might have sided with Luke it's not even funny.

1. first and foremost, Nico learns about the injustice of the demigod world at a dreadfully young age. His sister dies in a quest, learing that not only gods but also heroes are unreliable since he placed trust in one and it was broken. All of that while being 10, do you know how impressionable you are at that age? And Percy was so foolish not to search for him harder because if Luke had found Nico in that state, it would have been the fall of society as we know it.

2. about that: Nico hates Percy, with all his might in fact; and who is the no.1 enemy for Luke's? Percy. This sounds kinda silly but I really don't think we should underestimate the power that a shared enemy has. I know it's mentioned in the books but I really don't think it's discussed enough how lucky the whole WORLD was that Luke didn't find out about the common feud and Nico's powerful heritage or he would have had him on his side in a matter of minutes.

3. Hades mistreats him as soon as he is aware of his presence. I'm 100% convinced that the scene where he belittles him in front of Percy in tlo is not the only time his father made this kind of comments. And even if that wasn't the case, this just means Hades let his 11 year old grieving kid run around with a vengeful and manipulative ghost, completely ignoring him and his wellbeing. And if being literally bullied and neglected by your father isn't enough, he gets mistreated by his peers. Even after tbol, everyone is wary of Nico and basically the whole campa avoids him; everyone has prejudices against him just because of his heritage. Now tell me that is not just revenge fuel.

4. Nico's support system sucks buttcheeks. He literally has nobody to rely on, no one to talk to that isn't dead, no one to vent and give him reassurance or advice (actual, good advice). He was a child!! a 10 year old that suddenly found himself without a family, without a home, without a friend. And Luke, because of his manipulative tactics and because I believe he actually wants to "house" the disappointed demigods, would have had Nico in a heartbeat!!

5. Nico lost his mother to Zeus himself in an attempt on his and his sister's life (as I've said before). This would already have been reason no.1 for anybody else to join Luke, but if that wasn't enough imagine how pissed Nico was when he found that Zeus, after attempting to his life and drastically changing it forever (for the worst) had children, well past the moment when the big three vowed. Nico is a better person than me bcs I would have been like "yk what? y'all deal with this mess by yourselves, I'm going to hang out with my helldog and this corpse I found"

6. Let's not forget!! Nico is a child of Hades!! His fatal flaw is holding grudges and I'm kinda pissed that Rick didn't make the most out of this part of the character to give us some moral conflict. Because of this characteristic mixed with all of the reasons above, I'm 100% convinced that if Luke had proposed Nico to join him when he was at a ever so slightly lower mental point, Nico would have joined, no second thoughts.

In conclusion, everyone should've kept two eyes open when sleeping, after the titan's curse.