#i have a lot of thoughts about those three and their friendships and also nico and his relationship to death and th ehunters and the under

[universalmofo]

okay i finished heroes of olympus a couple days ago and here are some of my thoughts :

-nico should’ve been a part of the seven. he was essential to the success of the quest in numerous capacities and one of the big three’s kids. it made NO sense to me that he wasn’t one of the seven. (on that note, i think it did make sense that thalia wasn’t one of the seven. she has been with the hunters for some time and she was presumed a tree for like a long time.)

-grover could’ve very very easily taken coach hedges part in hoo. grover was already out looking for percy, so if he was already looking for percy and if annabeth found out that a “clue” to where percy was, was at the wilderness school grover would’ve jumped at the opportunity to go and try and figure out what was going on at the school by acting as a student again. he would’ve been back at camp by the end of the lost hero and he would have, what, 6 (?) months to go spread a warning to the wilderness about gaia and get things in order before they took off on the argo ii. and he could’ve been trying to communicate with percy via empathy link the ENTIRE time he was doing other stuff.

-it was just lazy of rick to write out grover tbh. and even tyson who came all the way across the country for percy. only for them to have extremely limited amount of time spent together (which makes sense, but this would’ve been HUGE for percy).

-it has been stated over and over and over again that quests should only be taken on by three. this quest was the biggest task they had ever faced, with far too much at stake. therefore, the prophecy of the seven should’ve been a utter tragedy ( one could even say a modern greek tragedy ) where they all accepted that four of them would Not be finishing this quest alive. that they were all willing to give themselves up for the greater good.

which four should’ve lived, i think percy, nico, annabeth and leo. (this pickings are biased and based on the idea that nico should’ve been included in the seven prophecy, if nico is not included then frank or hazel could take his place, but also these choices are based on their importance to the quest and their strength/ability)

- there was no need for there to be so many couples in the group of seven. it caused a huge lack in my opinion of actual friendship development.

there was very little actual friendship development/ vibes even in the lost hero when piper and leo HAVE been friends for MONTHS??? also this continues to be an issue in the rest of the books where piper and jason literally leave leo out or there is a comment along the lines of “he knew to give them their space”.

rick constantly threw in comments about how hazel and piper had become closer, or piper and annabeth had become “best friends” while not actually showing that. same thing with the boys. the only example i can think of where there was some real development was that conversation leo and frank had when they were at the bottom of the ocean.

they never had moments of them all sitting and talking besides about strategy.

- and on THAT note piper and jason never should’ve started dating. it was forced. it just seemed like the thing they should do after hera forced these memories in pipers head. quite frankly, it was a huge missed opportunity for a storyline in which leo and piper had been dating and hera shoved jason in between those memories and leo piper and jason are all SUPER pissed about that, or a storyline about how jason and piper try to figure out if there’s something there the entirety of the lost hero but the reason it just doesn’t feel right to jason becomes more obvious to him as he slowly develops a crush on leo.

there were just a LOT more interesting ways to go about that trio and none of them happened which made that entire dynamic fall flat for me and i think a lot of people.

which makes sense why frank leo and hazel worked SO much better and were believably close and connected. (even if frank and hazel were mainly the audience being told they like one another and not shown)

-percy was slightly off throughout the books. i believe even rick admitted he had a hard time writing percy in these books since he hadn’t for a while.

-did we ever find out why leo and piper were totally fine out in the world even tho they were 15??? i don’t remember this being explained??

-i distinctly remember jason getting some memories back and remembering frank and hazel as his friends AND hazel or frank discussing jason as a friend in son but then in house of hades or maybe mark of athena or blood of olympus (i can’t remember), hazel thinks to herself that she was still not sure what to think of jason? like she couldn’t tell what was going on underneath the surface? as if they hadn’t been friends or ever met before the quest?

-nico and percy are friends at the end of the day. percy is on some level protective over nico and nico is connected to percy / cares about him even if he doesn’t have a crush on him. they have a very interesting dynamic but at the end of the day, if percy went missing for MONTHS, nico would’ve been looking for him. and he most definitely would’ve not just pretended to entirely not know him when he came to camp jupiter??? especially when percy asked if he knew nico. that was SO weird to me. i was expecting them to have a conversation, even if nico gave him very brief and vague info.

on that train of thought, percy WOULD NEVER doubt the idea of rescuing nico??? his fatal flaw is LOYALTY. no matter how pissed he was at nico he would never question if they should even save nico. even if NOT for nico, it was kinda established that percy felt like an older brother to hazel (even tho this dynamic was never again touched on or seen), which again, he is loyal to those he cares about so he would be willing to do it, if not for nico, then for sure for hazel.

-percy never says i love you or i love you back to annabeth until blood of olympus. which is CRAZY and sooo not percy in my opinion.

-why the hell were mark of athena and house of hades the hardest parts of the entire quest ??? fighting gaia should’ve taken up the the majority or better yet, the ENTIRETY of boo, similarly to the last olympian.

i think this came down to a poorly paced series. rick could’ve broken his formula in tlh and son and moved the stories along faster. have the annabeth reunion in son or make the books longer.

- leo and nico would’ve been an interesting dynamic and quite frankly, they could’ve been a very cute couple. both feel like they are always on the outskirts / like they don’t fit in, both have complicated and sad familial issues, both of their mothers died because of the gods in some regard, both have never had a stable home, both speak other languages, both don’t have any other family then their godly parents, both have constantly been running their whole lives and haven’t been able to make real connections and friends.

the fact that i could even come up with this many makes me even more mad cause my lord. what a missed opportunity.

-leo was the heart of the entire quest. he literally CARRIED for five books straight and he was paid DUST.

i hated his ending.

you’re telling me that he literally has spent a year, fighting alongside his friends, building a ship for them to be able to carry out this quest, living with them, caring about them, and then “sacrificing” himself and all that mattered to him was A GIRL??? his FIRST priority was calypso??? not even letting his friends know that he was ALIVE??

on that subject, why wouldn’t he tell them his entire plan? if he was gonna tell hazel and frank that he was going to die anyways?

-percy losing his heroes blessing or whatever it’s called?? 😐 it seems like rick just needed a reason to get rid of this? it honestly just made no sense.

- and last but very not least ( i can’t believe i almost forgot ) WHAT WAS RICK THINKING NOT HAVING PERCY OR ANNABETH’s POV’s in BOO????

i gotta be real y’all i did not know i had so many opinions/ issues with the books until i started doing this.

anyways, mark of athena and house of hades are by far the best books of this series and also the most gripping and well written. please remind me if i miss remembered something and am wrong.

[gayferrari]

we as a community need to get more rpf-y about the fact that charles' girlfriend's name is alex

I see your vision. However EYE am more interested in the fact that in a certain light she looks like she and Carlos could be related.

Long answer: this ask sent me down a bit of a thought spiral about how F1 fandom in general deals with IRL significant others, as opposed to other sports RPF fandoms I've lurked in, so you get an actual essay, sorry.

I think it's interesting how F1 fic writers tend to just ignore irl partners, way more than other sports fandoms. You know how the tag “AU: no girlfriend / no wives” gets A Lot of mileage elsewhere? In F1 it's hardly ever used, because wags are simply excluded by default. The only ships that sometimes remember partners exist (include them or deliberately write around them) are ships involving guys like Seb or Nico whose relationships are a big part of their lives and are probably harder to just push to the side.

By contrast, the younger crop of drivers have a big social media presence that's almost impossible to ignore BUT does not include their actual irl partners because it's all work mandated PR, so these men's F1 personas make it very easy to paint them as single. Even if their broader public personas (outside of F1) are very high profile and often includes very public relationships and friendships — it's not like they keep their relationships lowkey, you know? But people just choose not to dig into those layers of lore, probably simply because the stuff we get through team PR videos and grill the grid already gives us a lot to work with.

IDK, I just find it fascinating! I bet many people don't even notice, but TO ME it's kinda glaring how often everyone in fic is single because imo it's such a fundamental component of the elite athlete lifestyle how these guys always have someone to come home to (and do some emotional labour for them). It doesn't have to be their actual irl girlfriends — many people draw the RPF line at including semi-famous partners, and that's a totally understandable stance — but there aren't even that many OC girlfriends. It is something that stands out to me compared to, idk, hockey RPF to make the most obvious comparison.

HAVING SAID ALL THAT. Yeah, I'd actually be very interested in more fics where Charles has a girlfriend. Again, it doesn't have to be a fictional version of his actual rl girlfriend, it can just be an OC with a different name. BUT, Charles's whole serial monogamy thing is actually a really big part of his personality that I think fandom misses out on, because HE is the one who's assigned the role of girlfriend in most ships he's involved in. You know, the omegafication of Charles... I get why it's a popular trend, I've written it myself and enjoy reading it. But I think there are interesting things to be done, characterisation wise, drawing on the fact that irl he's very much A Dude, and also a serious relationship kinda guy, and a very basic kinda straight guy who yearns for three children by age 35. Like... I think taking THAT kind of man and giving him a sexuality crisis is an avenue full of potential that the fandom could explore more.

tldr: I fully respect people's decision NOT to engage with significant others in RPF but also I think it has potential if you're inclined to go that way! so yea I agree RPF fandom could and should do more with Charles having a girlfriend even if people choose not to RPF *this* specific girlfriend.

[wrongcaitlyn]

Do you have any headcanons for the canon pjoverse???

oh my GOD DO I?? I HAVE SO MANY it's hard to even keep track of them all bc tbh i forget which ones are canon or not canon

in general i've put a *lot* of my hc's into my fics, specifically my because i'm a mirrorball series which is basically my version of will's backstory (even though a large amount of it was disproved by tsats... i'm just ignoring that bc it's already engrained in my head even though i did enjoy tsats)

i also think i share quite a few of the popular hc's of the fandom, just because i'm actually pretty new to it (read the pjo series in like september of 2022 i think? and then hoo and toa immediately after) and i consume fandom content to an unhealthy extent

HOWEVER here are some things i feel very strongly about

will is a swiftie. i think this is canon bc rick mentioned it during the tsats book tour i think?? or maybe cotg?? not sure but i DO think he said it at some point

and also his favorite album is fearless like he's that album's number one stan im sorry there's no other answer

nico can cook like rlly well

LEO NICO AND WILL FRIENDSHIP i know that leo lives at the waystation now. but. BUT. i'd like to think that he'd visit chb every once in a while and they'd be pretty good friends

adding on to that, aroace leo. caleo what? nope. leo is aroace and he was in denial and i actually wrote a whole fic about it because i just feel very VERY strongly about this

i just love the idea that even before toa, apollo was more present in his kids' lives than other gods. like, showing up in dreams and stuff. even if it came from a different purpose, like wanting to show off his poetry or music or whatever, he wasn't completely absent from their lives

i very much like the idea of will and nico sort of stepping up to be the "leaders"-ish of chb once percabeth leave for new rome. i mean, will already sort of is one with him being the head medic and also having seniority over a lot of the campers, and nico being a child of the big three like percy

percabeth returning to chb to create a sort of new rome type place for older demigods to live!! so they do not feel like they're going to die young immediately when arriving!!! bc they are children!! and deserve to live long lives!!!

i have a *lot* of thoughts about will and his trauma, but one of the main things i believe about him is that his fatal flaw is putting others before him and overworking himself. i think that being pushed into the head medic position from such a young age sort of emphasized this, though i also think (from my ideas of his childhood) that he was kind of always taught to put other people and other jobs at a higher priority than himself

nico dies first. i know i was just talking about them living long lives and i think that ends up being true, but also nico is a demigod child of hades and i think around his 30s would already be way longer than anyone would expect. anyway, i think that he dies first, simply because i cannot put that boy through any more, and i know i could say the same thing about will after having lost so much as well, but i think that the idea of nico being right at the entrance of the underworld by the river styx to welcome will once he dies (bc nico's the ghost king/prince of the underworld and isn't confined to elysium) is a very comforting thought

those are the main things i can think of right now just off the top of my head, but if there's any specific parts of canonverse that you'd like my thoughts about, feel free to ask! this didn't really cover a lot of like the general pjo/hoo timeline and it was mainly solangelo centric but likeee these are just things i thought of first! thank u for the ask!!

[nohuelii]

Strawhats as demigods (PJO ver.)

Jinbe: he would totally be roman cause he's more organised and calm. at first i thought he would be an amazing child of Poseidon, but then i realised that he's a fighter but also he's morally correct, so i think he would be a child of Bellona. yes, he's calm like Poseidon, so i think he would have his blessing just like Frank Zhang. In the end, Jinbe would be a child of Bellona, legion 1.

Brook: due to his connection to music i think it is really obvious which god would be his parent, still i kinda want to elaborate a little. he loooves music, he even fights with some instruments! he uses music as a weapon just like Apollo/Lester, but also he lives for the music. So, it's easy to say that Brook is a child of Apollo, cabin 7.

Franky: this one is easy due to Frank's ability to create, he's a carpenter, an engineer, a mechanic... he creates amazing things and it takes him little to no time. he's into technology (this even leads him to modifying his own body) and he repairs things. he even breathes fire! and if you tell me that's not a Hephaestus' child thing, you're wrong. So Franky is a child of Hephaestus, cabin 9.

Chopper: he's a ray of sunshine, of course, and his main ability/function is not fighting even when he's really good at it; he's a healer, someone who worries too much about everyone else's well being because he's a doctor. and even when he's good at one on one fights and does not rely on long distance weapons like bow and arrows as many kids of Apollo, he's got other traits that relate to him. and that's why i think Chopper would be a child of Apollo, cabin 7.

Robin: i wasn't sure if i should let her epithet influence my decision but i'm weak and so i let myself love "the devil child". i was thinking that because she's an archaeologist she must be Athena's kid, but... do you know who else would be super interested in the past and finding skeletons and wouldn't be scared of spiders (like Black Maria)? that's right, a child of Hades. she's gloomy, has a dark humor and is always saying macabre things, but she also has the trauma just as Nico and Hazel; she's surrounded by darkness and death, but she chooses to live thanks to friendship, and she even accepts her most terrifying and demonic look for the sake of those who she loves the most. So, Robin would be a daughter of Hades, cabin 13.

Usopp: look, he reminds me a lot of Leo Valdez not only for his silly personality, but because of his interest in crafts and creating various gadgets. Hephaestus' kids are not always the best fighters, so they compensate with creating things they could use in fights and they usually are very clever at doing so, and Usopp is just that type of guy. also, he likes to create things to help his friends just like Franky. That makes Usopp a child of Hephaestus, cabin 9.

Sanji: this one's a little tricky cause he has a lot of traits that makes him a child of Aphrodite (he's french according to Oda, a lover boy and chef, and that screams Aphrodite), but i choose to focus on other things. he hates his biological father, whose a king, and he can skywalk... do you remember who also does both of those things? right! Jason Grace. he's caring, he's blonde, he's kind, he's really tidy so he must be roman. yes, he lights his foot on blue fire, but my main proof is that he didn't die when Enel shot him with a lightning bolt. that's what makes Sanji a child of Jupiter, legion 5.

Nami: i was also debating on this one cause i feel three gods would be a perfect fit for her, but i will explain my choice. even if she's really beautiful like a child of Aphrodite, i think that's not the main point to her character; same goes to her being a child of Zeus, cause even when she can control the weather, it is due to the weapon she uses. so, the other characteristics we have about her is that she's not only clever but cunning, she's good at improvising when in need and she always achieves what she wants cause she's a really clever liar; and, of course, she's a great thief and a pretty good negotiator. All those things make Nami a daughter of Hermes, cabin 11.

Zoro: he's not only obsessed with being strong just for the sake of it, but because he feels like strength will give him control over things he doesn't have control such as "destiny". he uses his strength to protect those who he loves (that's what i mean by saying to have control over things: to protect and avoid having to experience the loss of someone important to him again). he's aggressive, yes, but he's also caring in his weird cold way, and if that's not screaming Clarisse La Rue, i don't know what it is. also, even if he's a mess and has a tendency to get lost, i think he's really devoted to being a swordsman and so he's really disciplined, and that makes Zoro a child of Mars, legion 5 (cause he's part of the worst generation).

Luffy: okay, yes... he technically is the sun god, but lemme tell you that i think it would be kinda like a blessing, not from Apollo, but from Zeus. Luffy's kind, but he also has a sense of justice and freedom, and he has saved a lot of people because of that sense of right and wrong even when he's not a hero because he also does questionable things and i think he would be a child of Nemesis, cause of course she would've loved a revolutionary like Dragon. so i think that after all that happened in Onigashima, Luffy would have won the Olympians favor and so Zeus' blessing, and that's how i would justify him being a minor god of the sun and king of pirates. and so, Luffy is a child of Nemesis, cabin 16.

Bonus:

Law: i kinda want to say that he's a child of Apollo cause it would be so funny, but no... he's gloomy, scary, has a dark humor, is surrounded by death (his epithet is "the surgeon of death"!) and has a tragic backstory, that's why Law is a child of Hades, cabin 13.

Vivi: she has a really great sense of good and bad, she's caring and has a strong sense of justice. she's great with animals and uses short-range and long-range weapons. she's also a fighter, and is linked with social movements, so i think Vivi would be a daughter of Nemesis, cabin 16, but also an Artemis hunter.

Ace: just because he hates his biological father and is technically the prince of pirates, he's strong, has this complex self-esteem and even has the physical characteristics that Thalia is described with, i think Ace would fit as a child of Zeus, cabin 1, and of course he would hate him.

Sabo: his father is a king and he fucking hates him, he's a revolutionary and gives steam punk Thalia Grace vives. he would be roman because he's blonde (like Jason) and he's part of an army. Sabo would totally be a child of Jupiter, legion 1, and he would hate him a lot just like everyone else.

[topguncortez]

Hello, sorry to be a bother I hope everything is going well with your graduation 💗💗

I just wanted to ask if you have any tips and/or thoughts for those starting out posting their fics and ect on tumblr

i meant to answer this the other day but things came up and i pushed it to the back burner.

anyway! my tips and tricks on getting involved in fandom writing (and it doesn’t just have to be this one. this goes for ALL fandoms)

1. use tags

tags are very helpful with organizing and getting your work out there. not only can people follow certain tags, but it’s also easier to search and find a certain fic. for example, if i wanted to read nico hischier fics im going to search “nico hischier imagines” i use the same 10-15 tags on all of my posts.

now ☝️ here’s one thing that butters my biscuit about tags, is when people misuse them. do not tag a fic about jake seresin with “bradley bradshaw imagine”.

2. headers & titles & synopsis

titles are hard. i’m pretty sure i have three fics all titled the same thing. however, titles are attention grabbers. titles are gonna make people want to stop and read your fic. my go to advice for titles, is find a song you like and use that. or maybe a line of dialogue. or in the TGM fandom, your characters callsign

headers also grab people’s attention. i almost always use a header image unless im writing a blurb or a one shot from an ask. pinterest is a great lovely tool that you can find amazing pictures to use as headers. and canva is a great free tool that’ll help you edit.

synopsis: also attention grabbers. a proper synopsis will give people a glimpse at what’s ahead. it can be as simple as “in this fic, jake is an asshole”

3. warnings

this is a big one. especially if you’re wanting to write smut or angst. yes, people are responsible for the media they consume, however it is the writers job to warn them about what they are going to consume.

i normally write “warnings: a…b…c…” in my angst and smut fics. however, if i’m writing about darker angst/realistic topics such as SA, abuse, gun violence, etc, i will put a “trigger warning” (tw) tag in my tags.

i can not stress this point enough. like i said, the reader is responsible for what they choose to read. but your duty as a writer is to make sure your warnings and tags are very, very clear. it does not matter if your warnings “give too much of the plot away”. that means your plot is probably very triggering for people and you need to tell them that.

be very clear with your warnings. crystal. clear.

4. the use of read more

please use the “read more” option when writing long pieces. the fandom will love you if you do.

5. reblog your work, reblog others work… build a network

reblogs are so so important especially on this app. tumblr is not tiktok. there’s no algorithm for what shows up first on your dash. the way to keep your fic and others fics alive is by REBLOGGING

also, reblogging of other peoples fics is what draws attention to your blog. and it’s how you start to create friendship networks.

i met most of my friends by reblogging their work or sneaking into their dms.

writers support writers around here.

6. make your blog personable.

no one likes a blank inpersonable blog. not saying you need to put your face as the icon. but make it look like you’re not just a bot blog.

find a cute color scheme and some headers. make it unique. make it you!

7. do not be afraid to tag people

some people (including myself once) are afraid to tag the “big blogs” (which i find to be a stupid term. no one here is a “big blog”, sit down charlie d’melio) but tagging people again is what catches peoples attention.

do not be afraid to tag some of your favorite writers and be like “hey i’m new look at this”

8. utilize online resources for writing help

there’s so many free writing resources out there! i’m seeing more and more show up on my instagram feed, tiktok, youtube. they are great apps that’ll help you get started!

i know this was a lot but if you have ANY questions or need someone to look over your fics, you can reach out to me!

i hope this helps:)

[enobariasdistrict2]

okay friends sit down we're gonna talk about d4 female tribute and i'm going to make up a bunch of random headcanons as i go

so for NAME, i randomly found out that cecaelia is some kind of mythological mermaid thing and rolled with that. however i forgot there's already a hunger games character named cecelia from d8 lol oops? my bad? i can see d4 girl as a cecaelia, maria/marina, or raya

she's a really calm/logical girlie and has been told she's super mature for her age. this is an elder sister trait since she has a little brother back home. it's why she doesn't go to extreme lengths to display charisma like glimmer/marvel or succumb to her ego the way cato and clove do.

when cecaelia is stressed she needs complete quiet so she can think her way through a situation. obviously cato doesn't provide that what with his insane outbursts and the d1 tributes are super chatty so she gets frustrated with all of them for this. she doesn't want to pick an unnecessary fight so she keeps her annoyance to herself.

it's the reason she gravitates toward clove, they both respect each other because they both know how to shut the fuck up

she's just as trained as the others but d4 is just not as severe/militant about it as d2 which is why she's hesitant to pick a fight with cato even when he pisses her off with his stupid fixation on killing katniss.

in fact she keeps a lot of thoughts to herself because the other careers clearly have volatile egos and she doesn't want to provoke their tempers/waste her energy fracturing a useful alliance. just because she is rational/plans ahead doesn't mean she automatically defers to or fears them

clove especially understands what it's like to be underestimated and not be viewed as an equal which also helps them connect

she thinks marvel's jokes are funny. everyone does. (even peeta).

she also thinks it's sweet when glimmer offers to fix her messy hair for her.

honestly she likes all of them (her favorite is clove) but the arena is not the place to make friends/start to care and as an older sister she has a lot of practice controlling her emotions/protecting her brother by being careful with who she trusts.

a lot of d4 kids actually do subscribe to the career doctrine, just not to the extent that d1 and d2 do. cecaelia herself trained more out of practicality/necessity and happens to not be one of those kids that is into the glory or luxury lifestyle aspect.

she was reaped plain and simple, and the volunteer didn't step up. she doesn't care that much for her own life and knows that her training gives her a solid chance, but her main concern is that she doesn't want her brother to suffer through losing her.

as for pre-arena d4 girl, she trained during the weekdays and worked on weekends weaving rope. it's calm and relaxing and helped to support her family, and she doesn't want her brother nico to have to work.

her brother nico is three years younger than her, and she considers him her best friend.

books obviously aren't very accessible in panem (because duh, dictatorship) but she's fascinated by stories. she tells nico stories to soothe him to sleep and likes hearing old folk tales from her older coworkers

she has a beautiful singing voice but will literally only sing for nico

cecaelia is very polite but she's not friendly because she doesn't see the point in connecting with kids her own age. the careers were her first taste of friendship beyond her brother

her parents are actually pretty decent but they work long hours which was why she assumed a lot of responsibility

sometimes when she's feeling whimsical she puts seashells in her hair

one last angsty one: so if we blend movie and book canon, then she basically watched cato snap her district partner's neck. by movie canon he is really young - so young that even if she didn't know him personally she has this delirious moment where his corpse looks a little bit like nico. she doesn't have a grudge against cato for killing d4 boy since she didn't know the kid and she understands perfectly well how the games work, but it's still hard to be in an alliance with him after.

[thesungod]

No you're 100% right though literally what WAS the initial appeal of Solangelo if not the fact that Will isn't intimidated by/uncomfortable around Nico. It was his connection to the Underworld that made everyone else wary of him but Will didn't care. BoO even implied that it has NEVER been the case for Will to the extent that he can't really glean why everyone ELSE is so weird about Nico.

YEAH!

i used to have very negative feelings (kinda still do) about Will in BoO being like “nah nico you’re making up the fact that everyone treats you like dirt” after three books of the seven’s pov being like “nico was scary and creepy and he sucked”, but recently i’ve started to think it would make sense for will to say that and mean it, if he’s so genuinely un-scared and awestruck by Nico that he doesn’t get why others wouldn’t be.

not to mention that Nico has been burned so many times that it’s not too unrealistic for him to get mean and defensive to people who try to be his friends. He’s always polite and helpful to the Seven in HoO except for two moments: in the first one Jason asks him if they could be friends after the Cupid mess and Nico’s like L+ratio+mind your own business, in the other Percy tries to honestly thank him for getting Bob on their side and Nico tells him to fuck off.

all of this also adds layers to the idea that Will was never scared of Nico. Based on his HoO characterization, we can make the educated guess that Nico must have gotten nasty and attacked-first-as-a-defense-mechanism pretty often in the early stage of their tentative friendship, and he still decided to stick around.

he’s not even shown to be particularly impressed by nico’s powers in BoO. he’s like sure grandpa let’s get you to bed🙄 when Nico boasts that he will raise the dead to beat Will’s ass if he doesn’t get off or whatever, and it was surely an act, but it also indicated something important: Will was strong willed (lol) enough and liked Nico enough to not be deterred by Underworld stuff.

you’re telling me that a year and a half later, having won the hard battle for Nico’s heart, he suddenly would be not only terrified of everything Underworld, but even more so than we could have imagined?

i’ll admit that ToN was already setting this up by having Will be so disapproving of the Trogs, but i thought the main takeaway had been “okay, Will doesn’t always understand Nico, but he still thinks his boyfriend is supercool for what he does.” Will does end up learning they are pretty okay and shows a lot of bravery in the book.

i also feel like there’s an acceptable difference between will being personally not a fan of going underground and making friends with monsters and will thinking his boyfriend is the best🌈❤️ and so cool🤪💅🏻 for doing so. they can coexist. i personally hate doing sports but you know who i think is super great and wow? men and women who have those big biceps and go to the gym every day. marry me.

and i’m not even against him being a mean little bitch and going like “wow this place sucks🤨” (honestly apollo energy) in the Underworld, nor do i have problems with him being smart enough to be scared of Tartarus (if anything, it’s crazy that Nico is so chill) because it’s refreshing for fantasy heroes to be scared and losers, nor do i deny he’s been shown to be very anxious in ToA already.

i do however have a problem with him “not accepting Nico’s darkness” or shit because ? ? ? the idea could have worked, but i just can’t buy that they’ve been together for a year atp. how do you not know your boyfriend is part of The Horrors™️

i can’t believe i’m the one defending will solace of all people but give my man his balls back❗��

[daedalusdavinci]

24. with jasico

this was fucking targeted. anon how could you. god let me. dig into my repressed memories of toa and see what i can pull out of my ass like i dont spend my every waking moment obsessed with ghosts. im about to take so many fucking liberties with canon its ridiculous

edit: apparently this is one of those prompts i get carried away with. im sorry for my undying love for leo but im also not. ill stop pushing my agendas when i die. thanks for the ask!

24. Returned from the dead kiss

There were few people who could claim to know the dead better than Nico. He'd spent disturbingly large portions of his life around people that should have been dead decades ago, but continued anyway, out of time and lost, around vengeful ghosts who refused to rest, around those who had passed on, around those who were unable to die and spent ages in and out of hell, and occasionally- just occasionally- those who managed to come back. He knew every flavor of life and unlife because he'd survived on it, never quite able to make himself comfortable at the warmest end of that spectrum.

He'd gotten close, once. When he had a handful of friends to rely on, each with their own ghosts, and willing to understand his own, he'd thought maybe he could manage his own place in the sun. There was Will, who'd offered a stubbornly bright connection to a home he'd never known how to claim. There was Reyna, who seemed to understand how lost and unwanted he felt, and offered a friendship without complication, and without judgement. There was his sister- not the sister he'd lost, but one he'd found, who loved him as easily as breathing. And then there was Jason, who was just... there, every single time he needed him, trying even when he had no reason to.

But Camp Half-Blood inevitably began to grate again, and despite Will's reassurances, he could only stay for so long. His position in between the camps was complicated, and often disliked, now that everyone understood it, and when Reyna started talking about joining the Hunters of Artemis, he just... couldn't go back to New Rome. Hazel had a life to figure out, now that she understood it all, and while he loved her dearly, he couldn't cling to her for everything. So there was Jason. Until, suddenly, there wasn't.

Nico was not a stranger to people he loved dying. In the past, he had fought it and gotten nowhere. But somewhere in between Piper's crying and Leo's soft, broken laughter late at night, between Reyna leaving with Artemis as his sister had so long ago, and Percy trying to reach out for the first time in ages, like all of the sudden he cared- maybe he just needed something to do.

It was Leo's fault, really. "I'll just keep moving," he'd said, with that heartbreaking, helpless kind of shrug. He'd smiled, but his eyes had been like shattered glass. "What else can you do, right? He's not coming back. I wasn't there, and that's that. And it never hurts as much when I've got a project to focus on, y'know?"

It was a hopeless endeavor. But Nico had brought one person back before, even if it wasn't the person he meant to. Who else could say that? Maybe... just maybe, he could do it again.

What Nico saw, on that journey, he'd never tell anyone. He broke his bones against the unyielding forces of the Underworld and used them like hammers and chisels, always digging deeper, always pushing further. It was no easy task to learn things about the Underworld that mortal minds had never been meant to comprehend, but it wasn't the first time he had, and so he felt like he could do it again. His father was used to him lurking around in the dark, going places no one else would have been allowed to, and his friends were equally used to him coming and going without explanation.

Hazel had her suspicions, he thought. She didn't know the Underworld as well as him, but she knew it enough to know where he'd been when he showed up on her doorstep smelling like earth, his skin pale and sallow like his skeleton was beginning to show through. He didn't tell her much, and she didn't ask much, but she was always there when he came back with something warm and spicy to chase the chill out.

If he was honest with himself, he'd been avoiding Piper since Jason died. But Leo... Something about him was easier to approach. Maybe it was because like Nico, he shouldered it on his own, and like Nico, he always seemed to exist just on the outskirts of their friendgroup, either by nature or by self-fulfilling prophecy. He understood what it was like to live without Jason, to miss him like an ache, and without meaning to, Nico had grown to find comfort in that. There was a kind of camaraderie in misery he could share with Leo that he couldn't with Hazel, where Leo would laugh at things that would surely make Hazel cry. It was easier to let Leo see the things that made him broken, because Leo didn't worry. He just understood.

He'd thought Leo didn't know. He'd never told him. Then, after one of those late nights where Nico had stumbled in with wounds he didn't know how to bandage on his own, they'd stayed up for hours while Leo baked a kind of cookie that was chocolate and spicy and burned the whole way down, because Leo always needed something to do with his hands, and somehow the burn of spice had turned into Nico's best approximation of home, grounding him when nothing else could. They'd eaten them in the quiet of the kitchen, pulling them off the pan when they were still so warm that they fell apart in Nico's fingers, gooey and melt-in-your-mouth perfect. Leo had had a furrow in his brow that Nico didn't know how to comment on, and Nico had waited it out silently, knowing that when Leo was ready to, he would speak.

In the soft light of the kitchen, at four in the morning, Leo had said, so softly that Nico almost didn't hear it, "You know I miss him too. But don't give me someone else to miss, Neeks."

It was easy to forget, sometimes, how smart Leo really was.

Nico knew the dead better than anyone. He knew the things they left behind too.

It took him one year to find Jason. The things he did in that year were things no one else would ever know, because the only person he might have told had died one year ago.

His hair had gotten so long he needed to tie it back, strands slipping from his ponytail to hang in his eyes so that he left streaks of dirt on his forehead trying to push it out again. His heart was hammering in his chest, but he was almost there. At long, long last, he was almost there.

Jason's eyes weren't as bright as they'd once been. The color had dulled, just edging on grey instead of the sky blue he remembered. There was something wrong about the way his face moved, like he couldn't quite remember what he was supposed to do with it. His teeth seemed sharper, inhuman, dangerous. Something about his body seemed more hulking, but at the same time insubstantial, like if Nico pressed his fingers into it it would dissipate.

But Jason's hands were so warm.

"Nico?" he asked, soft with wonder. There was something off about his voice, like it didn't quite register right to the ears, but it was him. The way he reached for Nico's face, his thumbs so fucking gentle as they brushed over his cheeks- the way he frowned, that adorable little furrow between his brows. "Your hair is so long."

Relief washed through Nico and ached. The sound that clawed its way from his throat was raw emotion and nothing else, half laugh, half sob. He clung to one of Jason's wrists, reaching with the other hand to touch Jason's face, to trace the curve of his brow, the scar on his lip. "You're back."

"I'm sorry I left." The corner of Jason's mouth twitched upward, sheepish and shy and warm, just the way Nico remembered it. He brushed tears from Nico's cheek, wrapping one arm around him to pull him closer.

Jason was so warm, solid and alive, and Nico couldn't help but grin through his tears, cupping the back of his head and pulling him in and down.

It was a bad kiss. They were both in desperate need of a shower, and it was hard to kiss Jason through a smile, but Jason squeezed him closer and Nico didn't even care. He kissed Jason the way he'd wanted to all year, channeling every bit of desperation and heartbreak and relief he had into it.

When he pulled back, Jason followed him, pressing their foreheads together and holding him tight, reassuring and sturdy in that way that chased out all Nico's fears every time. "You have so much to catch me up on."

Nico laughed, his hands squeezing Jason's biceps, following his arms to his shoulders, his back, his collar, taking reassurance in the fact that he was here. He was alive. He couldn't touch him enough. He couldn't kiss him enough. "I will. I promise, I will," he said, kissing the corner of Jason's mouth. "We have all the time in the world."

[semperama]

7 8 9!

7. What do you love most about being a fic writer for your fandom?

This is hard actually. I know why I like being a fic writer generally, and it's because of the community feeling and being able to screech about the blorbos alongside others. But for F1 specifically? I mean, I do like that it's a bigger fandom than some of my previous ones. There are pros and cons to bigger and smaller fandoms, but one of the major drawbacks of small ones is that it IS hard to motivate myself to write something when I feel like only three people are going to read it, lol. As much as I try not to care how much attention something gets, I am a mere mortal, and 100 kudos will always feel better than 10, and 20 comments will always feel better than 5. That's just math!

I also love the sheer AMOUNT of content this fandom has. It's just never-ending. One of the main reasons one of my last fandoms kinda died out was because the content stopped coming. I feel like F1 has a kind of security to it that a lot of fandoms don't have, because the franchise will eventually end. As a person with abandonment issues, I am happy to know that F1 will be there for me until I'm done with it, lol. Even if certain drivers retire (I'm NOT thinking about it), there's a decent chance I'll find new faves (or that said retired drivers will still remain in the F1 sphere, a la Nico, Jenson, etc).

8. Talk about any friends/connections you’ve made as a fic writer.

So many! Not all of them have lasted until now--sometimes when fandoms die the friendships fizzle too--but I still appreciate that they were there at the time. To me, the best thing about fandom is the friendships. I could read fanfic or look at fanart or whatever without being on tumblr, but it's not the same! I love interactions!

@trailsofpaper and I have been through many fandoms together, and it's been such a joy to be able to read her writing and to come up with ideas together! So many things I've written wouldn't have been as good if not for spit-balling with her and getting her feedback.

Also another relationship I really treasure is with @psicygni. I have gotten to see her dive into publishing original fiction after befriending her on here, and she has helped me so much with my own writing as well (even though I suck and have owed her an email for months and have been so unproductive and depressed re: my own writing lately, sdkfjdklsfls).

I love all the friends I've made through fandom, but writer friends hold a particularly special place in my heart, because I would not be the writer I am today without them! I firmly believe writing is not a solo task! Writers need community and writer friends!!

9. What inspired you to write your first fic?

Oh God. Well, my first fic was for S*pernatural, lolol. This was back in the Livejournal days. I lurked for like years before finally writing something, but I'd always wanted to. The thing that pushed me over the edge was honestly just...having a good idea? That I thought I could pull off? It wasn't a bolt of lightning or something. It was just watching an episode, having an idea, and knowing that I actually could write it. I've always been writing from a young age though, so it wasn't really much of a leap to go to writing fanfic. And I didn't even worry about how it would be received in those days, because I honestly didn't think anyone would read it, lmao. (Almost no one did, to be fair.)

[seattlesea]

✨My (maybe) Unpopular Heroes of Olympus Opinions✨

(maybe part one??? idk)

-I don’t really ship any of the main canon ships in HoO. None of them had any chemistry and most of them are either pedophilic, forced and rushed, or toxic in some way

-Most of the characters that were shoved into relationships (Leo, Nico, and Hazel especially) really did not need a love interest to complete their character arcs and their relationships ended up boring and flat cause Riordan just wanted everyone to have a love interest and it never went deeper than the skin

-Piper took advantage over Jason’s amnesiac state and manipulated him. She really went ‘But what if he has a girlfriend he can’t remember 👉👈 it would be wrong to start a relationship with him while he still has amnesia 👉👈 and cause it was based off lies and fake memories 👉👈 lmao imma just jump all over him and make him fall for me while he’s still amnesiac 🤪’ as if that’s not taking advantage over someone’s mental state

-And then she blamed her relationship being forced on Aphrodite and Hera saying they ‘forced her into a relationship’ and ‘arranged their relationship’ even though Aphrodite never said anything about or did anything to them and Hera gave Piper fake memories of them being a couple but it was Piper’s conscious choice to act out on those memories she knew were fake and her relationship was in no way influenced by anyone (especially Hera and Aphrodite) other than herself

-Shelper and Solangelo were way too rushed and forced (inside and outside of the books) and were only added for publicity, plus it seems like most of the fandom only like them cause they’re LGBTQ+ ships

-I hate Pipeyna and Pipabeth. My girls (especially Reyna) deserve better than some manipulative little girl who went ‘we were friends? no weren’t ❤️’

-The fandom portrays the characters really inaccurately (tweaking them a bit for humor is fine, but changing their entire personality is a different thing)

-The movies actually aren’t that bad when not compared to the books (I mean, you gotta admit- it’s pretty good effects for 2010)

-And speaking of the movies, they did a better job at portraying Thalia and Annabeth’s relationship in one movie than Riordan did in 5+ books

-Speaking of which, Riordan wrote pretty much every platonic friendship that weren’t Thalia/Nico and Reyna horribly and most of them shouldn’t have been friends and wasted all the potential for the good friendships

-Calypso should’ve joined the Hunters, not Reyna

-Annabeth and Piper are horrible friends lmao (separately and together)

-Silena is a hero and deserves redemption, but Luke doesn’t despite most of the fandom agreeing he does (he was a pedophile y’all)

-The fandom over-exaggerated the Tartarus fall, it wasn’t really that bad tbh

-Reyna is stronger and a better leader than Annabeth

-Annabeth’s intelligence is more tell than show (and quite a few characters including Leo, Reyna, and Octavian have shown more intelligence than her)

-Riordan over-glorifies and overpowers Percy way too much. Just cause he’s the main character doesn’t mean he has to be the best of the best after barely 8 months of training (four years at CHB only in the summers is 8 months total)

-Speaking of which, Jason can beat Percy (8 months versus Jason’s twelve years) and so can Annabeth, Reyna, Thalia, Hylla, Luke, Hazel and maybe Frank and Nico. Percy’s skill is overrated and unrealistic

-And I feel like most of the fandom knows that Jason can beat Percy but just doesn’t want to admit it cause they like Percy more

-Same thing with the Greeks and Romans- the majority know the Romans are stronger and can easily beat the Greeks but they don’t want to believe it cause they favor the Greeks more

-Percy and Annabeth shouldn’t have been part of the Seven, they already had their chance to shine. Riordan should’ve brought minor characters into light instead

-And Piper shouldn’t have been part of the Seven either. Riordan really expects me to believe that she’s stronger, more powerful, and a greater/better hero and deserved to be part of the Seven more than Reyna, Nico, Clarisse, Thalia, etc.?

-Riordan’s women line-up of Reyna, Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper was really cheap and boring (Avengers: Endgame women line-up who?)

-Percy (in HoO) and Piper are easily some of the worst, most underdeveloped characters Riordan has ever written

-Annabeth got really bland and weak in HoO and couldn’t do shit for herself without others (especially newbies) having to help and/or save her. She pretty much became exclusively Percy fangirl

-As much as I like them, Frank and Hazel don’t have what it takes to be Praetors and Reyna and Jason should’ve stayed as them

-Jason’s whole ‘am I more Greek or Roman’ arc was dumb af

-Riordan’s bias towards the Romans is also dumb af (the Romans could beat the Greeks in an instant)

-Jeyna is and always will be 1000x better than Jiper

-Hazel is the most powerful demigod (way more than Percy and even Jason)

-My hot take on who should’ve been the Seven: Reyna, Nico, Thalia, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Clovis (son of the god of sleep puts Gaea back to sleep who?)

-Riordan confirming Piper bi was a cheap move to make her more likable. It didn’t even make any sense. A character is confirmed LGBT only after they become a minor character despite being a main character before and kisses some random unnamed girl only three months after her ex-boyfriend whom she still loved dies??? girl what??? Kinda obvious it was just for publicity. Like- Riordan, honey, the LGBTQ+ community is not a circus you can plop your characters into to make them more entertaining❤️

-The PJ series as a whole isn’t that creative. It’s legit just a copy of exactly what past mythological figures have already done and a bunch of character tropes and clichés shoved into one book

-And in general it’s not even that well-written (like HP, it’s over-exaggerated a lot)

-All of the romantic relationships and platonic friendships are extremely unrealistic. Like they never argue/fight, disagree, etc. (then grow stronger from those fights) at all??? Even if they’re complete opposites???

-Reyna is the best-written character in the whole series and a queen she deserved better and y’all sit on her too much

-Theyna is ✨amazing✨ their dynamic and chemistry was just *mwah Pansexual Muslim blessings to you* and people are allowed to ship them even though they’re Hunters and swore off love

-Rachel doesn’t deserve all the hate she gets. Y’all hate on her cause she crushed on Percy when half of you are doing the same thing and then y’all go and ship Percy with Nico, Jason, Artemis, Athena, etc. 

-If y’all want to hate on Jason for ‘not having a personality’ you’d also have to hate on most of the main HoO characters except Reyna, Nico, and Leo (and maybe Hazel) for the same reason cause they have the exact same problem tbh

-Zoë and Bianca’s deaths weren’t actually that sad. We didn’t get to see them enough nor did they have enough development for their deaths to have a real impact. The only sad thing about them was Zoë’s last words and Nico’s reaction

-Thalia needed more time in the books

-Reyna was the only main female character in HoO that wasn’t a boring, bland Mary Sue that all the other characters automatically loved. She was the only one with real flaws and distinct personality traits she’s my queen

-Piper, Annabeth, and Calypso did have flaws but the fact that they weren’t called out by other characters or even noticed are what makes them Mary Sues. It doesn’t matter how many flaws a character has, if they’re not called out by other characters (more specifically, other protagonists who actually like them) they don’t count as real character flaws

-Riordan can’t write female characters for shit

-Clarisse, Drew, and Octavian deserved better than being completely antagonized for no explained reason other than to make the protagonists seem better and to make the readers root for them. Those three had more potential than most of the Seven combined

-The whole ‘Aphrodite kids don’t train’ thing is bs. It’s specifically stated that all the demigods follow a strict schedule and have to follow it or they’ll be on stable duty or smth and the Aphrodite kids shouldn’t (and can’t) be excused from that

-Therefore, Drew should be way more powerful and skilled than Piper, at least enough to not back down automatically from a duel by a newbie who hasn’t even learned how to fight (Drew can control an entire cabin of people at once and Piper can barely control one person at a time, who’s more powerful again??)

-Also I have no idea why Riordan portrays all the Aphrodite kids as weak and girly in the first place. ‘Femininity’ and ‘weakness’ are not synonymous and ‘love’ and ‘beauty’ don’t equal ‘feminine’

-Speaking of which, love is actually really powerful but Piper doesn’t stand for love or ‘inner beauty’ and all her ‘thoughtful/insightful’ quotes in ToA/TBM about love were complete bs

-Riordan using the LGBTQ+ community for the sole purpose of making Piper seem more likable and ‘special’ was disgusting and proves he thinks that straight is the default- “...Or Hera’s ideas of what a perfect couple looked like. Piper finding her own way, not the one people expected of her” my ass. In other words, he’s saying ‘The expectations for love and the idea of a perfect couple are a heterosexual relationship, and anyone who 'finds their own way instead of the ones people expect’ are different’. ‘Different’ and ‘default’ are antonyms, so if you think LGBT people are different, then you think that straight is the default. Aphrodite is the goddess of love not heteronormative bullshit. Like Riordan, honey, you’re the one who thinks that the expectations for love and the idea of a perfect couple are heterosexual couples, not fictional gods from a fictional mythology. Remember kiddos- an author writes their own beliefs

If you don’t agree with some of these that’s fine sis it doesn’t matter if you have different opinions than me❤️

[elliepassmore]

The Atlas Six review

5/5 stars Recommended to people who like: dark academia, multiple POVs, magic, morally gray characters, competition, high stakes, mystery, LGBTQ+ characters, characters of color I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into with this book and I was actually pleasantly surprised by it. I was expecting something that was a bit more akin to a competition than to a scholarly fellowship, which was essentially what the Alexandrian Society is. I really liked the dark academia aspect of the book. It isn’t really a genre I’ve read much of, but I found it to be very enjoyable and I liked both the mystery of the society and the research that went on with the characters. I also liked that Blake made it obvious there were secrets, but kept most of the focus on what the characters were doing more so than the actual mystery aspect of it so that it (and some answers) slowly creep up on you as you read. There were a good number of twists in the book, some I was more easily able to figure out than others, and there was a pretty big twist at the end that I’m eager to see play out. For the characters themselves, I like pretty much all of them but Callum, but I think that might be by design. Callum is not someone anyone in the book seems to like either, so it’s not really a surprise that I didn’t like him either. At points I struggled to like Tristan as well, but overall I think he’s at least an interesting character, even if he’s somewhat lost and not always the best person. Libby is, I believe, the first POV we get in the book. I liked her from the beginning and it annoyed me what most of the other characters said and thought about her, though admittedly the more I thought about it the more I realized those traits would also annoy me, so it’s a fair characterization. Like the other characters, she’s ridiculously powerful, but she has had to fight for her place in the world a little more than some of the other characters, which has left its trace. She grows a lot over the course of the book and seems to come into herself a good deal by the end, though she’s definitely still a pretty anxious and self-conscious character. Nico is the next POV character we get and, from Libby’s eyes, he’s an obnoxious ass, but like most people, he has more going on than is initially assumed. Nico was a fun character. Despite a somewhat devil-may-care attitude, he does care about other people, particularly his roommate and best friend Gideon. In trying to protect his friend, he can sometimes be secretive and a bit mean, but he seems like a good character at heart. Nico is pretty easily able to ingratiate himself with the others, despite the older three not seeming to like him too much. Reina is the third character who works in the physical realm, but I believe she’s the character we also get the least narration from. I liked Reina and thought she had an interesting background and arc. She has a massive well of power that controls plants and lets them talk to her, but she’s not interested in growing that power or learning to do new things with it. Rather, she’s interested in the Alexandrian Society because it means she has access to rare and lost books and manuscripts. I thought Blake brought a nice balance into the story by having a character less concerned with her powers and more interested in other things the Society might be able to provide her. I’m hoping we’ll get to see more of Reina in the next book since I think she does have a pretty big role to play. These first three characters and the next three kind of come in groupings of people whose powers are physical vs. incorporeal. Likewise, they tend to stick in their groupings fairly well. Libby and Nico already knew one another from university. They have a natural rivalry, though they do decide to team up. I liked seeing the kinds of things they could do with their powers when they willingly worked together, and I enjoyed reading their budding friendship. While it was kind of annoying at first the ‘unwilling twins’ suits them. Reina and Nico also team up, and by default Reina and Libby, but they have a different relationship. While Nico and Libby focus on their powers together, Reina and Nico seem to focus on keeping in physical and mental shape, sparring and discussing philosophical or mysterious questions. This triad interests me a bit more than the other one, partially because the people in this one are more pleasant, but also because Libby, Nico, and Reina are younger and are still exploring their powers more so than I feel the other triad is. Of the group of people with incorporeal powers, Parisa is my favorite. She’s a mind-reader and extremely confident in and of herself. She’s a major schemer, which I like in a character, and I found it interesting to read how she was manipulating people and pieces on the board before her. Of the whole group of six, I think she’s the one who figures the most out about the Society and the things going on in the background. A lot of her time in this book was spent investigating what’s going on with the Society and so I’m curious to see if she’s going to continue that track in the next book or if we’ll see her playing around with her powers and researching a bit more. Tristan is the one I like second best of this second triad. He’s very apathetic about just about everything, but he has an interesting case. For one, even he isn’t entirely sure what his power is, which makes him both interesting and dangerous. While he can be needlessly cruel at times, he also is willing to experiment with his powers to cross new grounds and understand things about himself and the world around him. By the end of the book, perhaps even more so than at the beginning, Tristan is a wildcard and it’s hard to predict what he’s going to do. Callum is the final character and I like him the least. He’s a psychopathic empath, which is funny considering when I initially read the synopsis for this book I thought it said he was a sociopath, not an empath. Like Parisa, Callum is a schemer and manipulator. Unlike Parisa, he has none of the charm or subtlety. Callum is a dick to be a dick and he plays with people just to play with them. With Parisa I definitely feel like she at least has an end goal when she’s manipulating things, but with Callum I don’t get that impression at all. Sure, he wants to come out on top and not get eliminated from the Society, but I don’t think he ever truly doubts himself for more than five minutes and, thus, most of his manipulating is juts for fun. Of this triad, Tristan and Callum interact with one another the most, though not in good ways. It’s kind of hard to puzzle out their relationship with one another since Callum is definitely manipulating him. The lines are a bit blurry between what’s real and not, which does make for an interesting read. Parisa and Tristan, unlike Callum, also interact a good deal with the other triad (mostly with Libby, but also Nico to some extent). Tristan’s role in some of the other triad’s experiments was interesting and I’d like to see more of that kind of experimentation in the next book. I’m also interested to see where Parisa’s role and relationship in regards to the other triad and her own end up in the next book. The ending was definitely shocking but also not entirely unexpected. There’s not a lot that can be said about it without spoilers, but I’m absolutely dying to find out what happened and what’s going to happen. I have a sinking feeling about something, but I hope I’m wrong somehow. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one. Even though there were a lot of POVs, I think it was necessary in order to get the full picture. Each of the characters changed in some way during their time with the Society and I’m interested to see where they all go next.

[overheard-at-camp-half-blood]

A Rant About Heroes of Olympus Character Arcs.

Just as a warning most of this is negative, but I put the names in big bold letters, in case you want to skip. I do have some controversial opinions in here, specifically towards Percy and Annabeth, and their relationship, but I don’t think I’m negative towards their actual characters... I more so critique how it could have been written better.

I do still love the series, and even though I poke fun at Rick a bit, I still like him as a writer (though I recognize the problematic elements in this story). These are my own opinions on the books, and I’m sorry if I criticize your character in ways you don’t like.

Also, I may do another post about some other problematic elements, so be on the lookout for that.

Percy

Let’s start with Percy, shall we? After all, he is the one who started it all, and he was the one who introduced us to this world. If I’m being extremely honest, and I know I’m going to get hate for this, but I think Percy’s arc should have ended in the first series. He could have still remained a major character in this series, but I think as far as his main arc went, it wrapped up better in the first series, because I feel like this series added nothing to his arc.

I mean, he and Annabeth went through some majorly traumatic shit in The House of Hades, and then nothing was done about it, and I feel like it would just be better had it not happened. Besides I have some major issues with how his relationship with Annabeth played out.

Annabeth

I was really excited for Annabeth, and I did like her arc in MoA. It seemed like a good continuation of her arc in the first series, where Annabeth wanted to prove herself to everyone else, and now she wanted to prove herself to... well, herself. The arc had potential, and I really enjoyed seeing her arc in MoA, but as I said, I didn’t like how her and Percy’s relationship ship played out.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I am NOT anti-Percabeth, in fact, I do post a lot about it on this blog, but I am critical of how Rick writes established relationships. Perhaps it is because I’m older, so therefore my mind is more critical of these sorts of things.

I love Percabeth, but I really dislike their codependency.... I mean Annabeth’s arc in MoA was great because there was a focus on her relationship with Percy, but it was still about her. And yeah, I understand they’ve been through a lot together, but I really don’t like how their development was dependent on each other.

The reason why I put this under Annabeth and not Percy is because for me, it was much worse for Annabeth, because this was our first time getting this from her perspective. We got to see Percy develop through his own eyes, but we never really got the same for Annabeth. Most of Annabeth’s development was through Percy’s eyes, which was why I was so excited that Annabeth was getting her own POV.

And it was great in MoA! But after that, it honestly felt to me that her story was more about her relationship with Percy, than Annabeth herself.

Jason

Jason was doomed from the beginning.

That’s the main issue, is in the beginning, he was literally a blank slate, and while we were worried about the mystery of his character, there was really no way for us to know who he was as a person, because HE didn’t even know. So, as he was introduced at the same time as Piper and Leo, he didn’t get the same development as Piper and Leo. As we learned the other two’s backstories, and how those backstories represent who they are in the current story.

And the thing is, when we finally DID find out who he was, it was too late to do anything with it, because the story ended. I think by the time Blood of Olympus rolled around, and we did learn more about him... a lot of people had no interest in him.

That being said, I love fanon Jason, and I didn’t like how he was treated in the Trials of Apollo series.

Piper

Piper... I have a very complicated relationship with Piper. I kind of wrote this several times, because I couldn’t quite pinpoint my issues with Piper, and she is such a controversial character for whatever reason, and whatever I say will be perceived as me hating on her. That is not the case. I like the idea of Piper’s character, though I can agree she, as well as the other Aphrodite children, are written with sexist tropes, which is another post.

My main issue with Piper is that most of her development happens off the page. In the first few books, she her charmspeak is shown getting her in a lot of trouble, and she often lacks confidence when using it. My issue is the resolution for this happens mainly off the page.

A huge internal conflict with Piper is her lack of self confidence, which is something that I personally can relate to, but we never see her develop that confidence, we’re just told that it happened. Like she worked with Hazel and Annabeth on xyz, so suddenly she is much better and confident in her abilities of xyz. This kind of made her hard for me to connect with her in general, because it seems like most of her struggles happened off page.

This isn’t even just with her overall character; it’s with her relationship with other characters. We do see her friendship with Leo develop to some extent, but that’s because they already had an established friendship before the series started. Her other relationships? Jason and Piper went from barely knowing each other to dating between books. We never saw her friendship with Annabeth develop. She apparently was friends with Hazel, but that happened off the page.

Now, this happened to each character to some degree, but I think Piper got hit the hardest with the “tell, don’t show,” thing. I do think that because a lot of people didn’t like Piper, and imo, most of the criticisms were bullshit, Rick tried to overcompensate by trying to force development on her, without doing the work of showing us her development.

Leo

To be honest, his wasn’t as bad as others, but I feel like more people were disappointed, because he was a relatable fan-favorite. His arc went wrong for the exact opposite reasons as Piper’s, as there was legitimately a lot of development on the page, and he had a good arc set up, but Rick literally forgot everything that initially made his character so likeable to the audience.

So, here’s my thing with Leo’s arc; it was really good for the first three books, as Rick did develop him while leaving room for more development in new books. He also had a consistent arc; in The Lost Hero his arc was about his inferiority complex, which was directly connected to his trauma. He never felt like he had a home, and never felt like he belonged.

This was the direction I was hoping they would go with the “seventh wheel” storyline; meaning, yeah, he’s the only one in the seven who’s not in a relationship, but why does this bother him so much? Because, I don’t think it was the fact that he was in a relationship, I think it was trauma.

I so badly wanted the seventh wheel plot line to be an extension of what happened in TLH, but it became ignored, and it just seemed like a reason to put him in a relationship.

I’m not going to sit here and say that Leo shouldn’t have been in a relationship (though I will say I had an issue with Caleo), but I will say that I hate how a relationship was supposed to solve his feelings of inferiority- when it’s clearly indicated that Leo had those feelings because of trauma. A relationship can’t reverse years of trauma.

I also thought it would be so much more impactful if Leo made his sacrifice because of his feelings of inferiority, then perhaps the resurrection happens through one of his friends.

Hazel

I fucking hate how little Hazel (and Frank) were written into the series, especially considering she was one of my favorite new characters introduced in HoO. I also think she had the most potential, and her backstory was the most intriguing of the seven.

Why the hell was she not in the books more? Rick literally wrote a whole ass book in the series that mostly centered around the two already developed characters of the series, but he couldn’t give Hazel and Frank more POVs?

I don’t have anything to say about Hazel’s arc, because she barely HAD one, at least not after her initial one in SoN. The Sammy arc was made about Leo, which I get to some extent, as they sort of have a connection through Sammy. That being said, Leo never actually knew Sammy, and I feel like the flashback scene would have been so much more impactful from Hazel’s POV.

The biggest issue with that is it didn’t really feel like a way to develop any of the characters, but it was used as a way to justify a love triangle... that was barely even a love triangle.

In conclusion, Hazel was screwed over.

Frank

Frank, oh I have some things to say about the writing of Frank’s character, because my issue with Frank’s writing is a combination of the off-the-page development that happened with Piper, and the lack of POVs issue with Hazel, but to different degrees. Most of my issues with this comes from between Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo

See, I do think his lack of POVs contributing to his lack of character development, you know what pisses me off?

The fire stick thing was a HUGE part of his character arc. It caused him legitimate fear and partially affected his relationship to some of the others (coughLeocough). And the resolution? Happened between series, and it’s literally mentioned in passing. What the fuck, Rick?

I don’t know, to me, it just seemed like a betrayal to his whole character arc, because we saw him struggle so much because of this, and the resolution just happened off page? I can just rant about how annoyed I am by that, because it just felt like Rick realized he forgot about Frank, and resolved his whole internal conflict off the page.

Nico

I love Nico! But, of course, I do have my criticisms of his character.

First of all, I really enjoyed how we got his point of view in Heroes of Olympus, but I really just wish he was part of the seven to begin with, for a number of reasons. First of all, it just makes sense- it’s indicated that he is the only demigod who knows about both camps... so wouldn’t it make sense that he would be part of the plan to reunite them? Don’t get me wrong, he does play a big role in this anyways, but it’s kind of weird that he just knows, and nobody thinks, “Hey, maybe we should include Nico!”

Another huge issue I had, was Nico’s coming out scene was in Jason’s point of view... which I get, because I’m reality, he wasn’t one of the seven... but it just seems fucked up? I mean I like headcanons of Nico and Jason’s friendship, but the unfortunate truth is... they didn’t actually know each other.

In fact, Nico wasn’t really that close to any of the seven- he was probably closest to Percy, and even he didn’t know that much about him at times. It just felt weird, not only seeing Nico come out in someone else’s POV, but in a POV of someone he barely even knew.

Also the fact he was forced to come out... I see the intentions, but it’s just not a good look.

Reyna

Reyna... don’t have any issues against Reyna, other than I wish we had more time with her before the last book. She was such an interesting character and I needed more of her.

[jazy3]

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 17X7

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

They did it! I can’t believe it! They actually killed DeLuca off! I’m so happy right now! As long time readers will know I have never been a Andrew DeLuca fan and I speculated back in the summer that they might be planning to write his character off after it was revealed that the planned finale for Season 16 included an explosion that was supposed to claim the life of one of the characters. I speculated that DeLuca was the most likely candidate with Tom and Jackson being the most likely runners up because I felt that they had gone as far as they could with DeLuca’s character and there wasn’t much left for him to do on the show.

Add that to the fact that the actor who plays DeLuca said a bunch of stuff to the press last year where he spoiled some pretty major plot points and stated that he knew things about where the show was going when he hadn’t even read a single script for the season yet and I was pretty sure his days were numbered. That being said, the show had teased us a bunch of times about firing, killing, or writing off the character during seasons 15 and 16 and they never went through with it so a big part of me was skeptical that they ever would.

But it turns out I was right! His days were numbered and they wound up killing him off in the Mid-Season Premiere! I’m still in shock. It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest. This episode honestly made me wish we’d gotten to see the remaining episodes and finale of Season 16 as planned. Based on what we know it looks like the plan was for Richard, Bailey, Meredith, and Carina to stage an intervention, DeLuca was to go away and get treatment and return to the hospital only to die tragically in an explosion.

Season 17 would have opened with the characters finding out about that and mourning his death and I think it would have been interesting to see Meredith navigate that as in the Finale Hayes asked her out and she said yes. It seems likely that if the COVID-19 Pandemic had not hit when it did and shut down production and altered filming for this season we would have seen Meredith and Hayes go out for a drink and start dating.

Seeing Meredith navigate the loss of her ex-boyfriend who she was no longer close to while in the beginning stages of her relationship with Hayes would have been very interesting and I’m sorry we didn’t get to see that. I’m also sorry that due to safety restrictions Meredith and Hayes haven’t had much screen time this season, but it looks like that’s about to change as I’ll get into a bit later.

Back to the episode at hand. I never liked DeLuca as a character and I hated him with Meredith so I’m glad that they killed him off and that we never have to deal with that nonsense again. I’m glad that they caught the human trafficker Opal and took those people down. I was never super invested in that storyline so I’m glad they wrapped that up. I feel so bad for Carina though. She’s a great character and is wonderfully acted by Stefania Spampinato.

My heart broke for her in this episode because while I won’t miss her brother I know that she will and will be absolutely gutted when she finds out that he’s died especially after she worked so hard to get him help and treatment for his Bipolar Disorder. I’m glad she has Maya there to support her.

LOL at Bailey sleeping through the whole damn episode! What did I miss indeed! That poor woman slept through DeLuca getting stabbed, almost dying, not dying, having surgery twice, and then actually dying as well as the other shenanigans going on at the hospital. I loved that she was asleep at Meredith’s bedside especially after they spent a good chunk of Season 16 fighting.

I also feel really bad for Richard in that he’s obviously grateful that DeLuca helped save his life and wanted to help and when Owen turned him down because it wasn’t a good idea for him to scrub in Richard lurked in the background in the OR gallery the whole time to make sure that everything was okay. Plus he can’t talk to Meredith about it right now because she’s in a coma which must be so difficult for him. The extra stress also puts his sobriety at risk and that worries me.

I got to be honest I am struggling to understand Teddy’s point of view this season. She’s being really awful! She’s being cruel to Tom. She was cruel to Owen. I don't know what Teddy expected to have happen. Both Cristina and Amelia walked away from their marriages to Owen and moved on with their lives in large part because they realized Owen was in love with Teddy and always would be.

And then she finally gets what she’s wanted all these years and the minute she realizes Amelia’s baby might be Owen’s and not Link’s she runs back to Tom and has a several months long affair with him and then drops him like a hot potato as soon as she realizes that the baby is Link’s and after Owen finds out about the affair she refuses to talk to Tom for months and then comes crawling back to him and wants to be his friend after Owen makes it clear he wants nothing to do with her. WTF?

I feel bad for Tom. I really like his character. He’s super interesting and complex and he deserves better than someone who treats him like that. Tom is a good man at heart and he treated Teddy like gold and in return she’s done nothing but break his heart and stomp all over him when he’s already down. He deserves someone better. I’ve never been an Owen fan, but honestly Teddy is behaving so horribly I’m on his side on this one.

They had some great scenes in the OR together, but Teddy clearly read too much into it. Every time he gives her a crumb she’s convinced he’s forgiven her and wants to give her a second chance and that’s not it at all. Owen has been clear. He doesn’t forgive her and he doesn’t want to get back together with her. All he wants is to co-parent peacefully and work together as colleagues because he values her skills as a surgeon. That’s it.

It was cute to see Teddy Face Timing with Leo. I’m glad they are finding safe ways to incorporate the kids into the story. Speaking of which, the scene where Amelia and Maggie tell Zola that her Mom has been placed on a vent and she might not come off it was heartbreaking. That kid has grown into her own as an actress and really holds her own in that scene.

Her line about how she didn’t want them to tell Bailey or Ellis yet because they’re too young to understand broke me heart. Zola’s only a few years older than them but she’s old enough to understand the impact of what’s happening in a way that they can’t. And she remembers how hard it was when Derek died. When Cristina left. When Alex left. She doesn’t want to put her siblings though the same thing especially when Alex’s departure is still so fresh for them and they never got a chance to really know their Dad. The fact that Zola can recognize that at such a young age is raw and heart breaking.

We saw Winston and Maggie reconnect this episode which would have been super hot and enjoyable if Meredith hadn’t just been put on a ventilator! The scene where Jackson showed up looking for Maggie was too funny! I loved the scenes with Jackson, Link, and Winston in the backyard having beers! Winston has a great sense of humour and seems to be a calming presence. I like the idea of those three being friends.

Link’s face when he realized that Winston doesn’t know that Maggie and Jackson used to date and are also step-siblings. I’ll be interested to see Winston’s reaction when that comes out. I loved Link’s rant about how worried he was about Meredith and what her declining health and potential death was doing and would do to Amelia. Did anyone else catch that he called Amelia his wife? I’m calling it. They’re foreshadowing an Amelink wedding!

I liked hearing Jackson talk about how Meredith is family and they’re all worried and Winston’s comments about how all they can do is just keeping moving physically and metaphorically. I’m also loving Amelia and Maggie’s wardrobes this season. Their sweaters in this episode were gorgeous! Hats off to the wardrobe department! They’re looking good!

I loved seeing Jo and Hayes work together again because I love their friendship, but to be honest I was expecting more of the friendly teasing and banter of last season where she egged him on about Meredith and they traded barbs. Their scenes in this episode were a lot more intense and agitated. She totally played him with that line about Meredith.

He kept saying no to taking Luna to see her Mom and so Jo made it personal for him. If Meredith asked to see her kids Hayes would never say no and he would move heaven and earth for her. By making that connection Jo got him to agree to her plan. I also love that the reason he kept saying no in the beginning was because of what happened to Meredith.

She went from laughing and joking to being put on a vent and he doesn’t want to run the risk with any other patient and it’s obviously eating him up inside. He misses her. He cares about her and he’s clearly terrified about the possibility of her not waking up. That being said, Jo’s line where she compared Alex leaving her for Izzie because he found out he had kids he didn’t know he had and sending her a heartfelt letter to Hayes spending years watching his wife and the mother of his two boys die of cancer was way out of line. Super not okay. I really think that Jo is going to adopt that baby. I think that’s why they are setting up her interest in OBGYN.

In other news, Nico is still a terrible boyfriend to Levi. I honestly don’t know why Levi puts up with him. Levi really shone in this episode I think. He felt responsible for what happened, but instead of bungling things and making things worse like he might have done in the past he got out of his own way and asked Dr. Khan who was a vascular surgeon in Pakistan prior to immigrating to the U.S. to take his place.

I feel like this episode implies that the Beach is limbo now as I don’t know how else DeLuca could have ended up there as he wasn’t someone who was close to Meredith the way that Derek, George, Richard, and Bailey are. Not sure how I feel about that as I was kind of liking the is it a COVID dream is it the afterlife ambiguity.

Onto next week’s promo! I’m not excited that they appear to be setting up an episode in which the other characters mourn DeLuca’s passing as none of the other characters apart from Carina were really that close to him. They spent the last two seasons establishing that everyone hated his guts, considered him a nuisance, and only put up with him because they had to. So to me the other characters mourning him doesn’t feel authentic or real. It just feels forced.

There are several things I am excited about though. Seeing Maggie’s reaction to his death I think will be interesting. She was visibly upset and ran to his side when Alex beat him up in Season 13 and mourning the loss of your ex-boyfriend who you were no longer close to while being in a committed relationship with someone new I think is an interesting dynamic. She’s kinda standing in for Meredith here because she’s on a vent.

I’d like to see Catherine support Richard and make up for her horrible behaviour last season. And the best thing of all: Hayes!!! In the promo trailer we see Hayes sitting at Meredith’s bedside talking to her about how she needs to fight and how they all need her to fight. Bring it on! It’s about damn time! And Derek’s back and he’s … fishing? I’m excited to see what happens there and if they actually get to talk and have a real conversation this time. It has also been announced that Sarah Drew will be returning for a cameo as Dr. April Kepner this season so I’m excited for that!

Until next time!

[scarlet--wiccan]

You can ignore this if you don’t have any thoughts but what your ideal new young avengers run look like? Who would be on the team, what would you even call it now that they’re all adults (except Cassie I guess?)

One of my favorite things about Young Avengers, which I think is often underplayed to the detriment of the characters, is that the team is routinely forced to operate outside of the law and against the wishes of their elders. In the core YA books, the kids are more often working in opposition to the Avengers rather than in cooperation. These are characters whose methods and motives are not usually aligned with those of the established superhero organizations, which is also reflected in many of their appearances beyond YA-- Strikeforce and Empyre are great examples, as are Cassie's adventures in Astonishing Ant-Man. This rebel element is often at odds with the fact that many of the characters admire the Avengers, or have close personal relationships with individual Avengers members. The dissonance becomes especially strong when Billy and Teddy, who have the most reason to distrust and resent them following Children's Crusade, are consistently characterized as Avengers fanboys.

That's not to say that I think the Young Avengers should, like, hate the old Avengers, but I do think that this tension is a key part of the series. The 2005 run was about a group of kids who stepped up, at a very young age, to do a job that wasn't getting done because the previous generation had failed, only to get shot down by the people who had failed them in the first place. It's about a group of kids grappling with complex and painful family histories, and, in many ways, they're foils to the Runaways, which is why I don't really like it when they play junior Avengers or emulate the traditional superhero team structure-- WCA was really fun, but I'm not going to pitch a second volume, you know? I much prefer them operating as an ad hoc group, mainly because they each come from different backgrounds, have different goals, and work in different fields. They're not people who work together because they're part of an organization, they're people who show up for each other because they're friends and they care about one another. That is, in my mind, a more effective approach to a team book with such disparate characters than what the typical Avengers title tries to do.

So, anyways, that's what I think makes Young Avengers special and it's why I think the book still has a place in the Marvel world. Pitching actual story ideas is hard now because Teddy and Billy are, apparently, living off-world and very busy being royalty. In my previous post, I outlined an older idea for a BillyTeddy ongoing series that could have easily functioned as a third volume of Young Avengers, but would require some editing to work in a post-Empyre world. The idea was for Billy and Teddy's apartment in New York to act as a base of operations for a revolving cast of their friends, who come and go over the course of various story arcs. The two of them are presumably living full-time in space now, but it's also been established that they're magically anchored to each other in a way that makes it easy for Billy to warp between New York and the throneship-- anywhere Teddy goes, Billy can instantly follow, and vice-versa, which means that the series could still use Earth as a main setting without pulling the royal couple out of their other storyline.

I'd love a Young Avengers/Runaways crossover set in space-- their previous crossovers mostly have to do with alien drama, after all, and I've been itching to get Xavin back on page. I'm very serious when I say that I want Xavin, Teddy and Noh to be best friends, and I think they'd be fun leads for a miniseries, or even the opening arc of a limited run that eventually folds in the other YA and Runaways characters. I'm imagining an extended version of the interstellar road trip from YA (2013). Maybe Teddy will recruit his two closest alien friends to go on a sensitive diplomatic mission where he can only bring a small party, but it turns out to be some kind of trap and they end up stranded somewhere and have to, like fight their way out of hostile territory and make their way back to the Alliance with no ship. Billy can reach Teddy, obviously, but he can't just warp the whole party home because the distance is too great or they're in an alternate dimension or something, so he rounds up a rescue party and Karolina insists on coming along because, I don't know, the Light Brigade is mixed up in this and she feels like it's her responsibility to help Xavin even though they haven't seen each other in years. Nico obviously comes along with her, and can help Billy with tracking spells.

I'd also like to see a YA book led by the series' most under-served characters-- Tommy, Eli, and Cassie. Building off of Cassie's capers in Ant-Man, I'd be very into a heist or espionage story about the three of them, probably joined by Kate because she'd add a lot of cohesion to the cast and is so well suited to this type of adventure. Maybe they're undercover, and they have to, like, fake-fight some of the other Young Avengers, but they all join forces once the misunderstanding is cleared up. I'm picturing a cold open where the whole first issue is made up of, like, security camera footage of three masked figures breaking into a high-tech vault at AIM or Roxxon, and they steal a bunch of weaponry and fight their way out through a bunch of goons, but then it's revealed that the whole thing was a distraction to cover up a fourth intruder who moves too fast for the cameras to track. At the end of the issue, it's revealed to the reader that the intruders are the Young Avengers, and the real prize was a computer holding the last backup of Jonas's AI. The rest of the first arc is about them trying to rebuild Jonas with help from Vee, but they have to keep it a secret from the Avengers because they're planning an even bigger heist against, like Kate's dad, and they need to keep the whole operation under wraps because he's got eyes and ears all over.

I'm not particularly eager for another fantasy story after CC and YA(2013), but I'd be into a cosmic-fantasy arc about America solving some sort of inter-dimensional crisis or chasing a villain across worlds with Tommy and Billy's help. I really want more development between America and Billy, but I also think that she'd be really funny friends with Tommy and I want to see more of him playing off of magic characters. Maybe Leah (the one from Earth-15513 that's living on Earth-616 now) receives a mysterious message from Loki and asks the Young Avengers to help her track them down. America and Billy volunteer and Tommy tags along. Along the way they end up discovering some sort of evil curse or spell and go on a quest through various dimensions in order to break it. In the end it turns out the whole thing was set up by Loki to manipulate them into defeating an evil alternate-universe Loki-- maybe the one from Leah's native dimension-- because Evil Loki had used an enchantment that made it impossible for 616-Loki to harm them, which includes allies who are knowingly fighting on Loki's behalf. Better yet, it's a proxy war, and Evil Loki has recruited pawns of their own-- including Sylvie and Lisa from the Young Masters! 616-Loki does come clean when the dust is settled and finally reconnects with the Young Avengers. Loki is glad that Leah found a way to escape her destiny, but they admit that they don't feel they've succeeded in breaking out of their own cycle, to which America and Billy are like "we've seen how far you've come, but you need to remember that people care about you and stop bailing on us when we actually want to talk it out with you," which Tommy backs up because, like, he's been that person. Friendship! Character arcs that don’t fizzle out when a book wraps in under twenty issue!

Anyways, if we got a third Young Avengers volume, I'd prefer a limited run with a cohesive story, but all of the ideas I just outlined would probably work better as smaller arcs in an ongoing series. I have a lot of ideas about tying up loose threads and continuing arcs that are already in motion, but I'm hesitant to plot out what the next big step in these characters' lives should be. I definitely think it's time to give Tommy and Cassie another shot at the spotlight, and I want Eli to come back with a new costume and codename.

At this phase, it's just really hard for me to land on any larger, deeper stories because I'm so unsure of what the next few years will look like for Billy and Teddy. There's also an America title that's been in production limbo since the pandemic started, and I feel like there's some kind of drama on the horizon between the Maximoffs and Krakoa which would theoretically impact the twins as well. I also anticipate editorial pushing for Kate in a Hawkeye book when the tv show comes out.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: I'm Still Standing (17x16)

Going to rapid-fire this review!

Cons:

I don't want more Amelia and Link drama! I hope the kid thing is resolved quickly and without too much angst. Maybe the compromise is Amelia and Link continuing to be involved with Meredith's kids, so Link can be a father-like presence in the lives of a whole gaggle of children. The thing is, I've so enjoyed this lighter, more fun story for Amelia, during her relationship with Link. They bring out this really lovely, happy side in one another and I don't want to abandon that for more angst.

I hesitate to say what I'm about to say because I think people are going to yell at me!!! I've been so wobbly on Nico and Levi because I think Levi is a really fun character, and we just haven't spent as much time with Nico, and he was honestly pretty horrible to Levi, and narratively, yes, he's made amends and I'm not like... mad at the thought of them being together or whatever, but I have to admit a potentially sacrilegious truth that is becoming harder and harder to deny! The actors just don't have that much chemistry with one another! Don't get me wrong, they're perfectly fine and their scenes do the job and aren't like... painful to watch or anything, but I don't have the warm fuzzies about them the way I should when a relationship reaches a milestone like this. So that whole scene with Nico and the candles and the "I think about you all day" should have been a really squee-worthy moment and instead I kind of vaguely thought... "oh, I guess that's nice."

I also thought Maggie and Winston's little relationship drama was annoying, although I'm glad it was resolved quickly. I guess mostly I just thought Winston was being really childish, because it makes sense that Maggie would be bummed out at the thought of having her wedding during the pandemic. And then Winston was very petulant at the very idea of waiting a bit longer to get married, so they could have the wedding they wanted. Why was it such a rush, for him? It bothered me a bit that in this story, Maggie was represented as the one in the wrong, the one who needed to do a grand gesture to make amends, when all she did was express her true feelings of reluctance to rush the wedding in such a stressful time where they couldn't have the day of their dreams. I was on Maggie's side for this! (But still, the end of the episode was super cute and I do still like them together.)

Pros:

Meredith is nervous and already impatient about her long recovery post-COVID, and Bailey comes by to chat with her and try and cheer her up. She also comes with an offer, for Meredith to be the head of the residency program. I like this for Meredith! I like the idea of her taking on this fun leadership role. It will be a nice way for her career to shift and grow into something new that we haven't seen for her before. I also just like seeing Bailey and Meredith hang out and have such a good friendship. They are two of the only three remaining original cast members left on the show! Crazy.

I'm going to put Jo's story-line under "pros" even though it's really freakin' tragic... I hope somehow she gets custody of Luna anyway? I hope Cormac finds a way to put in a good word for her? Because otherwise what's the point? That moment when Jo is talking to Link and Link says it out loud for the first time, that Jo should adopt Luna, and then you have Jo watching as Luna is on the brink of death, crying in relief when she pulls through, and saying "I'm her mother..." Oh, Jo. I only want good things for her and she hasn't gotten to have many of those recently, has she?

I'm going to ignore the inherent insanity of Levi inviting Helm to move in without clearing it with Jo first, because I actually like the idea of Jo's place just being overrun by these other doctors. It just tickles my fancy. And maybe Levi will move in with Nico now, and it'll be Helm and Jo together? That would be a good chance to give Taryn more of a presence on the show. I really like her, but she's always been kind of on the periphery.

I liked Amelia's cool brain scan thing! I got emotional when the dad was able to communicate with his girl who's basically in a coma! This show will casually present medical breakthroughs in a hilariously simple way, but I'm not even mad about it.

The old woman whose husband had recently died, and whose dog was missing, seriously broke my heart. I teared up when she was caught in a lie about a headache and confessed that she has friends at the hospital and nobody to talk to at home... jeez, that really got to me! And then in the end she gets her dog back... yay for contrived moments of joy in a world otherwise full of desolation!

I also can't believe I'm saying this but... the one moment in the whole "Link wants more babies" plot thread that I liked was Owen and Amelia talking! The actors actually have good natural chemistry when they're not forced into story-lines that play up the passion and angst. They're exes who are friends and who share a long history, and Owen offering to go to a meeting with Amelia was really sweet! See, I can say nice things about Owen... I'm not that biased against him...

I'll stop there for now! As always with this show, I rambled on more than I meant to. A perfectly solid installment, lots of checking in on everyone. And next week is the finale!

7.5/10

[lifeofroos]

ToN Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Part 1 of another three-part arc in Nico’s therapy journey. 

This Might Be Crazy: Vanilla Milkshake

Don’t you see?

Stop it, there is nothing to see. 

You hurt all of your friends.

Shut up.

Just face the truth. You belong with us more than we do. 

My eyes flew open. I looked up at the ceiling above my bed. At first it was a bit of a blur, but it quickly got clearer. This was not the first time it had happened, so I knew what to do. 

I rolled out of bed and walked to my closet, where I kept a small stash of Demeters’ Divine Orange Juice Boxes. With one in my hand, I walked to the most shadowy place of my cabin. You’ve asked for help way too often. He is fed up with it by now. Shush. I clenched my fist around the juice box and stepped into the shadows. 

I stepped out behind the potted plant that stood in front of Dionysus’ bedroom. ‘Dionysus? I need help,’ I asked, while knocking on the door. The first time I had been here, I had been terrified. Terrified because of the voices in my head that wouldn’t let me sleep and terrified because I was about to bother the god of madness in his sleep. By now, I was used to it. 

I heard Dionysus stumble around behind the door. A few seconds later, he stuck his head out of the room. ‘Do you want to go straight to Denny’s?’

‘Yes, please.’ Denny’s radiated weird energy, even more so around two thirty A.M. Still, I had come to associate the place with therapy sessions. It just worked better there. 

‘Then we’ll go.’ 

A blinding light, and the next moment we were at Denny’s. The usual server, Mary, was standing behind the counter. She looked up from her novel for a moment. ‘Hey.’ She slightly bowed her head to Dionysus, before she disappeared into the kitchen. Dionysus walked over to our regular booth. I quickly followed. 

‘So. I am assuming the voices have been whispering to you in your sleep again.’

Whispering? They screamed. ‘Yes. But that is not really what I want to talk about. You’ve taught me how to silence them, so that I can go back to sleep after they wake me up. Right now I want to talk about what they are saying, because they keep going on about a real fear of mine.’

‘Alright. We’ll do that.’ Even though it is two A.M. and tomorrow I have to take care of a camp full of brats again, his eyes were saying. Yet, he did not say it out loud. ‘What is this fear?’

‘That I hurt the people around me.’ So, the easy, surface-level part was out. Now I needed to gain enough courage to talk about the second part. 

I was quiet for so long that Dionysus felt the need to ask another question: ‘Are you afraid they will walk away because you hurt them?’

I shrugged. ‘I think… that is only a small part of it. A larger part of it is that… I’ll hurt them, but they will still stick around…’ I shrugged for a moment, while trying to find the words that seemed correct, ‘...even though I am a toxic influence on them.’ I looked down at the table. 

‘What makes you think you are a toxic influence on people?’

Before I could answer, Mary came towards us, with a Vanilla milkshake. ‘With extra ice-cream.’ 

I smiled. ‘Thanks, Mary.’ 

‘My experience is that ice-cream helps wtth curing stuff.’ She got a serious expression in her eyes and nodded a couple of times (Mary was a daughter of Aphrodite. I assumed ice-cream had helped with quite a bit of heartbreak). ‘I’ve never seen anybody who didn’t feel better after eating ice-cream,’ I told her.

She smiled and walked back to the counter, to read her novel and be bored again. 

I took a sip of my milkshake. It was cold and sweet and creamy. ‘Well I… Sometimes I lock people out when I am upset, even Will.’

‘Don’t you think that Solace knows that about you, respects your wishes when it happens and loves you regardless?’

I shrugged. ‘I try to tell myself that, but that’s so difficult.’ I shrugged again and took another sip of my milkshake. Yum. 

Dionysus kept looking at me. ‘You have a natural talent for friendship, Nico,’ he said after a bit of thinking. I raised my eyebrows. ‘I have what? I am a son of Hades.’

‘So? I thought you did not judge yourself on who your parent is.’

‘Still!’

‘You managed to make friends with the troglodytes, I heard…’ how did he know that? ‘...That is quite impressive, even to me. I don’t know how you did that…’ he let the sentence linger in the air. I assumed he was thinking about how he would make friends with the troglodytes. ‘...and you managed to make most campers a lot less distrustful of children of Hades. You did not hear it from me, but the same goes for a lot of gods. And for Lester. Even they trust you.’

‘Including Zeus?’

‘We don't go around picking the rotten apples and presenting those as if it is the whole crop.’ I wondered how many extra punishment years as a camp director he gained from saying those words. ‘Well, if you are certain…’

Glass shattered. I heard growling. I jumped out of my chair and turned around. I could see a few shapes by the door. Mary came running from behind the counter, armed with a gun. Dionysus stayed in the background, seemingly debating whether destroying the creatures was against the ancient laws or not. 

And the creatures… What were they? I could not tell. They had big, slimy beaks and bulging eyes. Whatever they were, It did not look like they could be reasoned with. 

Mary aimed her gun at one of them. She fired, and one of the things went down. She fired again, and managed to take down the other one as well. The third one, however, dodged her bullets and got further into the Denny’s at a freakishly high speed. 

Mary took a few steps back while grinding her teeth. I took a step forward, not really sure what to do without a weapon. Just as it was about to bite me, I stuck out my hand - stupid? Yes. Did it work? Also yes, because as soon as I touched the creature its hide and soft tissue began to melt away, until only its bones remained. 

It took a few seconds until the horror dawned on me. By that time, Dionysus had gotten closer to me. ‘Nico…’

‘What…’

‘Nico…’

‘What did I just…’

‘Come, it’s…’

‘I just…’ I sunk to the ground. I heard Mary gasp in the background. My eyes darted over to the bones of the creature. They were still standing, like the creature was still there. I could swear I saw them move. 

Until Dionysus made it disappear, I could not tear my eyes away from the bones. ‘Come, Nico. The monsters are gone.’

The monster is never gone. For you are still here. You turned a living creature into a pile of bones! Isn’t that something only a true monstrosity would do?

I did not have the strength to reason with the voice. They were right. They were so, so right. I was a monster and I was a danger to my friends. Imagine if I… if I would… tear their skin away… 

I couldn’t even breath. From the corner of my eye, I could see Mary coming closer. ‘Nico…’

‘Stay away. Stay far, far away. I might…’ She stopped walking, seemingly unsure of what to do. 

‘Nico di Angelo. You are having a panic attack,’ I heard Dionysus say in a calm voice. ‘Try to breath, deeply…’  I did not. Why would I? ‘Come on.’ You can’t make me. He came closer. ‘Get away.’

‘What are you going to do, kill me?’ 

I might not. But perhaps you will have to live further as nothing but a pile of bones. 

The world will turn to bones around you. 

‘The… the world will…’

‘Nico di Angelo. I am giving you one last chance. Try to take a deep, deep breath. Try to get calmer.’

My entire body was shaking. Dionysus’ face appeared in front of mine. I could only focus on his eyes. Soon, my entire field of vision was a pool of swirling purple. It got darker, little by little, until the world was black.