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iatrophilosophos · 2 months ago

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@thesiltverses, have you read against his-tory, against leviathan by Freddy pearlman? Honestly I'd be shocked if you hadn't since it is very literally about the consumption of gods as tools in human hierarchy (among other things).

I've been thinking about the wound tree camp in reference to these passages:

"The once-free human being increasingly becomes what Hobbes will think he is. The armor once worn on the outside wraps itself around the individual’s insides. The mask becomes the individual’s face. Or as we will say, the constraint is internalized. The ecstatic life, the freedom, shrinks to a mere potentiality. And potentiality, Sartre will point out, is nothing."

"We do not learn of the revulsion or of the expectation of human renewal from the dancers themselves because ignorant armies, Cyrus’s foremost among them, break up the circles.

We learn from the children and grandchildren who have not themselves danced, but who have heard.

In China the visions of Zarathustra’s equally shadowy contemporary Lao Tze are gathered up in books and come to be known as The Way.

In India the visions of one called Gautama are collected and come to be considered by masked and armored as techniques for removing the mask and armor.

In Greece, echoes of the hopes stay with the women who continue to dance and who remember having seen a new Dionysus emerge from ashes. Echoes stay with musicians who gather with Pythagoras of Samos in order to renew the hopes.

The main outlines of what Turner will call “the crisis cult,” Christianity, precede it by twenty-five or thirty generations. And the main outlines of the inversion of the crisis cult also precede it, and by at least as many generations. The Persian Cyrus who wears the mantle of Zarathustra and the later Indian Ashoka who wears the mantle of Buddha are both forerunners of Constantine and the Popes."

"Now, in the days of Potifex Maximus Octavian, there is an even greater movement, both abroad and at home. What Turner calls “the crisis cult” is only one among many parts of this movement. Unfortunately for humanity and for nature, the crisis cult that will eventually father the Western Spirit takes root in a dark corner where light is expected to shine forth from Optimus Maximus, from the lightless abstraction of Leviathan itself.

The “crisis cult” does not spring out of the air but out of the attempts of human beings to disencumber themselves of the integument that dehydrates them. And it is not a “cult.” It is a living way that becomes da cult only when it is re-encased in the artifice’s integument."

If you have read it, I applaud the application of the concepts--but if not, then that's even more impressive.

Pearlman presents anti-civilization anarchy as the logical conclusion of criticisms of *gestures* all this shit; and as an explanation of why reformist political movements are so co-optable. In the bookclub we're currently reading AHAL in, we're asking the questions: is anti-civilization legitimately a less co-optable frame of critique? (Could we kill every god? Can we remove the armor, can we refuse to foster new gods?) What lessons can we take from the crisis cults? The silt verses and especially the wound tree camp is a really fantastic thought experiment as to how pearlmans concepts are lived through in the imperial core and splinter movements.

I don't have any answers or a neat question to tie it all together with, and I have to go work on the garden. I just wanted to say that the silt verses was really relatable and lovely to me and a lot of my friends who are trying to walk away from omelas, and that if it offered a spark to anyone else, pearlman is a pretty nice next step to dream and start moving. Here in the US, hurricane helene (very proximate to me) is viscerally introducing yet another wave of people to the fact that the grid is already collapsing under its own weight, and expectably a lot of the response is prioritizing buisness as usual for those at the top of the hill and sacrificing a lot of human beings to the foundations. I think in a time of disasters, art can--at least hopefully, sometimes--help us fight against the knee-jerk urge to reaffirm the system when it is in crisis by helping us to feel the horror of buisness-as-usual moreso than the fear of something else; and take those opportunities when we are forced to function outside of the grid to take more steps further away (community water catchment and filtration, composting toilets, continuing to build medical cohorts that can function as much as possible independently of global infrastructure and all the precarity and violence that entails) instead of clawing back in and throwing more bodies in the mud behind us. Dreaming through art also gives us--albeit imperfect--opportunities to iterate. As the world is rapidly deteriorating and we--as pearlman puts it--are trapped with the armor of internalized civility, the need to rapidly try on idea after idea to retain resilience (at least, i think so). I don't read much utopian fiction but Woman On The Edge of Time, a pulpy mad liberationist utopian sci-fi from the 70s (with some unfortunate 2nd wave feminist baggage :/) was a great exercise in this for me, because it provided a scattershot of ideas from "blindingly improbable considering the climate crisis" to "that seems decent" to "i would hate this immensely and would like to make intentional decisions about how I relate to people for whom this represents utopia." The silt verses also provided this to me (and, if it's not too much to say-- i enjoy and respect your work immensely, but I doubt we'd be great friends in an isolated compound :p)

But, art, philosophy, even just posting, whatever is a tool--it's up to us as an audience to engage with it as such, not only exercising media literacy (e.g. wondering if perhaps, when a work seems very heavy handed about a basic theme such as "capitalism bad", it may actually be taking that as a given to make deeper statements within the canon of works that all agree on "capitalism bad" 🙃) but deriving experimental lenses with which to view the world and bouncing ideas through the people around us to find affinity and tensions. As creators-- we have infuriatingly, beautifully limited control over if that actually happens. Wahooo

Woah that got long, sry lol!

Hello! Writing first to thank you for such an extraordinary creation - as a piece of writing and even more so in performance. Every episode manages to somehow build on and outdo the last; you navigated that transition from a smaller scale story of grisly mysteries and personal crises of faith to a grand scale of war, revolution and political satire with absolute aplomb, and never lost that throughline of exceptional characterisation and sharp writing, always steering to the most interesting conflicts. You are always very humble in your public comments, but I hope you allow yourself a little pride, because this is absolutely top notch stuff.

I was struck by Paige's final words, that she hopes what they left would be found 'flawed, inadequate, yearning'. As the show went on, I was surprised - in a good way - that the show's politics gradually crystalised into a full-on nihilist anarchism, something perhaps even along the lines of Monsieur Dupont. (Muna used the 'a' word in one of the Q&As but it was pretty evident even before that). Taking these gods as a metaphor for ideologies and social systems, the scope of it becomes pretty universal - and unsparing. And, equally, hard to answer.

I wondered when the Many Below/Wound Tree was introduced what answers they would find: what political movement could truly resist cooption or becoming its own horrible self-sustaining egregore. And in the end the answer you express I suppose is a negative one: that even Paige's god of victims is a tool, one that must eventually be discarded to go into some unknown place beyond it all (to walk away from Omelas), towards something that narrative fiction - as a form of the 'endless words' that are derided so much in the third season - can no longer address. Which I respect - to pose the question is vital, even if the tools can't reach any answers if they even exist.

I think this struggle exists in many stories that address themes of making a break from the rapacious society that created them (and take it seriously) - your Baru Cormorants and Mononoke-himes. We can describe the problem vividly, but since we do not have a counterexample to hand, any story we tell about ~what is to be done~ and what it will look like when it is feels like it will be just as hollow as the spins and angles and parasitic fantasies that so many characters advance in the Silt Verses. (How could there possibly be a time where it finally works out, after we have seen all this? But then, what are we living for?)

To try to make this a question and not a ramble, I wanted to ask - what do you see as the role of fiction in addressing the horrible machinery of this world? Is it enough to pose the question particularly sharply, skewer the bad and inadequate answers, and leave the readers/listeners to figure out how to make the killing of gods concrete? How do we punch through the bounds of it all being Content, another product to be bought and sold? What does it mean to sit here and fantasise about people making that revolutionary break when there is no revolution to be had?

I don't know what answer I'm hoping for here, but given the themes of the show, I feel like this must be a kind of thing you've thought about, and probably have a far more developed line of thought than I do. And if this is a bit too much to drop in your inbox on a Saturday morning, I will say again thank you for writing this story and all the actors for making it so strikingly concrete - it truly means a lot, and I will treasure it.

Hi, and thank you for listening and for a beautifully written and thoughtful ask! ('Horrible machinery of the world' stopped me dead in my tracks.) And I am very proud, genuinely.

I don't have a good enough answer to your questions, and for me a lot of TSV is very much about trying to figure those answers out, but let me try and sum up my perspective bit by bit.

Is it enough for fiction to pose the question, without also proposing the answer?

I don't think it's enough for fiction as a collective body of work.

I'd argue there's probably a tendency towards open-endedness and irresolution in these individual narratives simply because it feels like a more honest acknowledgement that in real life, the foe has yet to take a real body blow and will not go down easy; that the foe, in fact, is the marketplace for the work itself and ironically profits from the popularity of stories with easy heroic victories over villains who represent capitalism. That these stories inevitably become a pleasant consumable that serves our complacency within the belly of the beast, a kind of daily tonic to reassure us that good always triumphs and regular people always come out on top.

I also think that the sheer scale and scope of the topic creates its own challenges; you probably can't engage thoroughly enough with both the dystopian question and your ideas for a utopian answer all in a single story, without ultimately turning the latter into that false reassurance, a quick handwave of a happy ending.

You mention Omelas, and I think we could illustrate the problem by looking at how LeGuin handles her two successive masterpieces:

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, which gives us the titular resource-rich u(dys)topia built on invisible suffering, and the dissidents who turn their backs on that world and walk out into the inhospitable wilderness in search of something better.

The Dispossessed, which as its premise gives us Anarres, an imperfect but sympathetic anarchist society whose adherents turned their backs on a neighbouring world of capitalist plenty to live out in the inhospitable wilderness in search of something better.

Anarres can very reasonably be viewed as LeGuin's direct answer to the question posed by Omelas, and she would have likely had it in her mind already as she wrote Omelas. But if the short story had ended with 'I hear that against all odds, the ones who walk away have successfully founded an anarchist utopia where hardship is everywhere but it's shared as equitably as possible. THE END', the amount of lazy shorthand and empty comfort involved in that happier ending would inevitably make it a dishonest and unserious offering.

Instead, Anarres is a starting premise to be interrogated at length over the course of a separate story, rather than a happy ending to simply reassure the reader that better things are possible - and even at the end of the novel LeGuin's unresolved questions are still very similar to the ones that we're left with in Omelas (and the same questions that I feel like we were knocking about in The Silt Verses, and which I guess you could argue are all lingering concerns at the end of Mononoke, as well): how and where can we find space to create and sustain a genuine alternative when the narrative environment of capitalism is so powerfully all-subsuming and constantly growing to fill the space? Do we need to disconnect entirely, vanishing as if dead? If we disconnect, how can we possibly survive and what inhumanities or ethical compromises will be required of us? If we do survive, is our isolationism a dereliction of human responsibility to those left behind?

All of which is to say that I think present-day fiction absolutely can make the attempt to meaningfully explore potential alternative-utopian solutions in more depth and with far more tangibility than we attempted with TSV - but that dystopian fiction like ours which concludes with the unexplored promise of a revolutionary utopia and the vague reassurance that the irrepressible human spirit will figure things out from here on out (Chewbacca gets a medal, everyone's in the streets wearing a Guy Fawkes mask) doesn't do much more than dramatically undermine its own goal of disrupting the audience's comfort.

That said, one of my big regrets this season was that we didn't succeed in more engagingly exploring and articulating the Woundtree camp's development into a flawed but functioning society in Dispossessed fashion ahead of the ending. That was my intention, but what quickly became clear was that in a dramatic format, with a limited cast, it was just endless static meeting-room scenes with Paige and Elgin discussing difficult responses to impossible challenges, while everyone else was out having dynamic and exciting adventures with lots of fun and exciting gods. Dystopias remain too entertaining for utopias' own good.

What do you see as the role of fiction in addressing the horrible machinery of this world?

I believe that absurdist horror fiction specifically, founded on the principle of 'people in a world that makes no sense, deluding themselves that it definitely does make sense' can play a very powerful role in that stated purpose.

Many horror traditions carry the baggage of inbuilt or inadvertent conservatism - the concept of a peaceable, passive, safe, middle-class Normality which is then disrupted by a terrifying outside threat (alien, ultra-foreign, ultra-low-class, underworldly, wild, etc). But absurdist horror very directly identifies Normality as the true source of our terror and very directly confronts our human response to it. It creates the right environment for us to ask all of the good questions. Isn't this an unsustainable nightmare we're living in? Why are we expending so much energy pretending it isn't? How do we get out and what do we do if we can't?

Probably the only listener reaction that's genuinely frustrated me about both of our shows is the folks who come away turning their noses up at the bluntness of that approach and acting like they've Solved The Art simply for figuring out where our broad sympathies lie. "Hm, just listened to The Silt Verses and I understood it at once; it's clearly trying to say that capitalism is bad. A little heavy-handed in its messaging for my liking, hm-hm!"

Not to go full Garth Marenghi, but for me the directness of the provocation and the obvious outrageousness of the nightmare is the point; it then allows us to go to places that other genres (or more understated critiques) generally can't.

How do we punch through the bounds of it all being Content, another product to be bought and sold? What does it mean to sit here and fantasise about people making that revolutionary break when there is no revolution to be had?

God, I don't know.

Maybe it means nothing; maybe we can't punch through; maybe there is no story unruly enough to be truly unco-optable, and therefore even the most radical fiction ultimately serves as a distraction, a placebo, a reassurance (that we are not alone, that better things are possible) which will impact the wider world more by keeping us subscribed to the Kindle app than by any action we might feel inspired to take.

Amazon is paying Boots Riley to make TV shows. Disney won much praise for delivering a revolutionary fantasy in a Star Wars shell. Apple is funding excellent, discomfiting and furious corporate satires about how we happily ignore invisible worker abuses for the sake of our own lifestyles, but they also cannot be considered accountable for the deaths of Congolese child-labourers in the global cobalt supply chain. The Dispossessed is in development as a limited series and the LeGuin estate are closely involved.

The master doesn't just own the tools, he's been buying up the guillotines as well.

What if, as with the unknowable nothingness outside of Omelas, the only art that cannot be reduced to product in net service of the status quo is the art that's so invisible and inaccessible and disconnected as to not exist at all? Does being relatively small and ramshackle really lend us any ideological purity, any genuine detachment? You can listen to The Silt Verses on Apple and Spotify and Amazon Music. Brought to you by Acast.

Chapter 36 with Dev and Seb was to a large extent intended as an articulation of that worry. To what extent can we still trust in the integrity of a sincere love story (one that we want to believe in) it if takes place in an insincere and predatory environment? Can any meaningful story be told honestly within such a space?

This stuff really worries me. I think it's probably right to worry. I don't know the answer. I do know that there are some folks for whom the show has made a tangible difference in terms of their life's direction, and that's a huge comfort to me.

There was someone who said it helped them find their faith, strangely and wonderfully. Someone else who said it contributed to their decision not to go down a more lucrative career path within what they view as an exploitative industry. (I hope they don't regret that decision; I hope it makes them happy.)

So there's something there. Maybe.

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moongirl-and-her-thoughts · 3 years ago

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Feminism/Diversity in YA literature

Okay, so like, I’m a 110% feminist, but like, there is a lot messed up about it in books.

Like, guys have 40% more upper body strength, so when a girl who’s like... skinny and petite manages to floor him (AHEM, Celaena, AHEM) it just seems slightly wrong. I get that like Celaena is fae, or whatever, so that is helpful, but there are so many more books where the ‘badass’ heroine manages to kill a dude with no training whatsoever. And like, Clary in TMI, kills a demon with no training and the excuse used is (this is an actual quote from the book) ‘it’s in your blood’. Like, the hell? That’s like saying ‘I’m gonna get braces so my kids have straight teeth’, your genetics do not matter. (If someone’s going to reply with ‘but she’s Nephilim’, can you imagine Tavvy (Octavian Blackthorn) trying to stab a demon at age 7 with no training at all? no. Same with Clary)

Then there’s the whole thing with guys being like ‘You’re not like other girls, you’re different, that’s why I like you’, like wtf it’d bad enough when the girl says it herself and be like ‘I’m different’, but when the guy has to point it out for us like... it is mildly infuriating. And you know why the main chick is different? cause she doesn’t party or wear girly clothing and isn’t a shallow, pathetic, dumb weirdo, but you know who the other girls are? US. They really are calling us shallow and dumb and pathetic.

Then there’s the whole part where you cannot make ‘being feminist’ or ‘being diverse’ their whole personality like, no, make your mc feminist, but make her a real person, give her weaknesses and strengths and hopes and dreams and fears and flaws like a REAL PERSON and don’t turn her into an annoying Mary Sue of a character. Make your main character someone relatable, but not in the annoying ‘quirky’ manner.

e.g.(I do not want to get attacked so for the sake of this rant I’m going to use Belle from Beauty and the Beast) Belle’s entire personality was that she liked to read, that she was weird because she liked books and that she was smart. That was literally it. Where were the hopes and dreams and actual bits of her character (so, I never saw the original film, so if I got the story wrong, correct me).

While I’m on the topic of Disney issues, FOR THE LOVE OF LUCIFER SOMEONE TELL CINDERELLA TO SEE A DOCTER, SHE SPEAKS TO RATS BECAUSE SHE IS LONELY and like, we’re supposed to feel sorry for the girl but like she is the epitome of stereotypical perfection (other than the mental issues) with bright blonde hair and clear blue eyes and an hourglass figure and rich family-

(k, back onto literature, sorry bout that)

And we’ve really just got to get more authors to write more non-white or non-straight or just non-perfect characters without that being their whole personality. For example, Harry Cameron (7 husbands of Evelyn Hugo) was literally amazing, with a life outside of being a gay producer. He was kind, brilliant, tortured, just (I could go on but distractions aren’t currently welcome).

Also, this might be just me, but why do we always love the love interest more than we like the mc? Like, I was on some website the other day and saw girls as young as nine saying that Sebastien Morgenstern is the perfect book boyfriend because he would do anything for Clary. That’s right. They said that the mc’s psychotic brother who beat her bloody and then tried to rape her was really sweet. What the hell? Sebastien was romanticized, even though he was terrible. It is twisting young girls into thinking that a relationship isn’t a proper one without angst and drama. (I love Will and Jem and Tessa though).

And don’t even get me started on the whole ‘I can fix him’ trope. I’ve seen relationships where the girl thinks she can fix the bad boy, she can heal him, but it never turns out well. Just look at It Ends with Us, it shows you what happens when you get with him. Blissful at first but ended painfully. Some books, like The Infernal Devices, the character had an honest reason (Will, the curse) so they did what they did. But the entire trope is messed up, with the whole 50 shades of Grey/Beauty and the Beast style overlook.

Overall, there are so many harmful and anti-feminist parts of Young Adult literature, which could potentially be a bad impact on younger readers who have never had experiences in love. It is also rude at times. I wish to say, not all YA/A books are bad, but there are so many that are that they overshadow the beautiful content that is sometimes found.

I don’t care if no one reads this, I will definitely make a part 2.

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haec-est-fides · 3 years ago

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I was wondering, how does New Rome function? Where did they get all the marble and stone and other supplies to build it? Do they build more of it as the years go by? Was it built when the legion first came to America however long ago that was? Are there farms, or do they all import their food? Or does it just magically appear? Where are the headwaters for the aqueduct? Do they pay taxes, are there politcal parties/factions? Does the outside world recognize New Rome University? Do they have a mint for denarii? How aware is the outside world of this because all of this could be possibly noticeable? I know that this will never be answered in canon but it is interesting to think about so I wanted to hear your opinion too.

Anon, found your previous ask! Touched on most of this in the last ask, but political factions!!! The politics of CJ / NR are very complex, even just from what Riordan hints with Octavian (before he trashes it in ToA). And again, in my mind where all of this makes more sense, the city does have leadership apart from the camp senate (though they probably work very closely together) because those kids are not the schoolboard, or in charge of fixing the city's streets, or deciding what the minimum wage is, etc.

I think it'd be interesting to see how someone's political career in the legion / junior senate plays into their chances at the city level, because that'd be very cursus honorum of them. At either level, I think the broadest thing we can say is that, like most political systems, there's a conservative / traditional element and a liberal / progressive one. Here we have Ancient Roman Values TM facing off against distinctly outside (even literally Greek) views, with a lot of support for tradition -- especially among legacies. What we actually see play out in HoO and ToA is the injection of new blood into the camp system and the mass killing off of the old order imo. This is what allows Hazel and Frank and Lavinia and their bunch to kind of be a new guard, a new era? Tch. Remind me to yell about the literal yet so heavily symbolic passing of the eagle sometime.

Interestingly, if you like to think that citizens of NR can also vote as U.S. citizens, given that they do live in the U.S. and presumably use infrastructure outside of NR and are affected by U.S. policies, you could ponder how those mainstream political opinions influence or complicate purely Roman concerns.

Oh, also: There are definitely taxes to NR itself, but I'm assuming there are also some kind of taxes paid to the U.S. (maybe just re. exports or whatever business outsiders think is happening there).

#heroes of olympus #hoo #camp jupiter #new rome #filodox!#asks

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sodamnbored · 4 years ago

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I so badly want a Roman prequel series. More than a Solangelo book. There could be so many great things in it.

Ideally, we’d get a series, basically original PJO but on the Roman side, presumably then following Jason in the same way we originally followed Percy.

But that would just be rehashing what we’ve already seen! Jason’s story would be too similar to Percy’s! - I hear you cry. But bear with me.

Yes: there would be some big similarities - following a son of one of the big three as he grows up and masters his powers and all that. And yes it would also conclude with him fighting a titan. But! I also think they’re different enough that it would read more as parallels than just copy and paste. It could be really interesting.

For one thing: Jason is starting way earlier than Percy. And I am desperate to know about the wolves thing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but all the info we have thus far is pretty vague, no? We know he went to the wolves when he was about two years old. But we don’t really know how long he stayed with them.

There’s the idea that he was raised by wolves (which don’t get me wrong I love that) and only went to the Legion when he was older - for parallels sake say about twelve. But we don’t know that’s the case for sure. He might’ve just spent the more or less normal time period with the wolves, or even if he were there longer than most - a year, two years even - he might’ve toddled off to camp still pretty young.

Cause this is another thing: we know very little about Camp Jupiter. In CHB you see for a fact that there are plenty of young demigods there, talking ten and under. Unless I’m mistaken, we never really heard mention of any little kids in the Legion right? Hazel was what, thirteen, in SoN, which is fairly young, but I don’t think there was any mention of anyone much younger than that. There was the little girl helping Terminus, but she was from New Rome not the Legion. And the Legion isn’t a summer camp of course, that’s a crucial difference.

They are quite literally an army, preparing for war should one ever arise. So do they have a minimum age requirement? Would not be unreasonable to assume they would. We know the majority of Legionaries are legacies from New Rome as opposed to actual half bloods, so it’s not unreasonable to think these kids live normal lives in New Rome until they hit a certain age and get conscripted/have the option to join the Legion for training.

If this is the case, then Jason might not’ve been with the wolves for years at all. He could’ve done his time and then been passed along to the care of New Rome. Set up somewhere to go to school and grow up and have something of a life to prepare him for his future in the Legion. That would be an interesting difference from Percy who had grown up not knowing about his heritage, for Jason to be fully aware of his godly parentage and to grow up knowing he was heading to the Legion as soon as he was old enough. I’m not sure about timings because in The Lost Hero pretty sure he’s fifteen and has twelve lines on his tattoo “for twelve years of service in the Legion” according to the wiki; but the wiki for the tattoos alone says the lines can be for years at Camp Jupiter or for completed quests and such, so it could mean he was toddling about CJ at three years old in mini Legionnaire armour like Caligula (oh the irony), or just that he crammed a crap load of cool stuff into just a few years when he was older.

So the series could quite happily start with him joining the Legion and maybe just summarise his life before that, have the important parts explained as relevant to the plot, I dunno. But it would give us more info on how Camp Jupiter actually works because personally I am clamouring for more info on the Romans.

Presuming that Jason is at least a Probatio by the time he’s about twelve (and it’d be cool to see him earn his full place in the legion too), that also means we’d get to see other people’s stories happening alongside his.

We know he fought the Trojan Sea Monster at some point, so that would be a cool quest to see play out. We don’t know a lot of other things he’s done, but we can assume he’d have been in the Legion when Reyna turned up, which would also be a really interesting story to follow.

We know from tSoM that Reyna and Hylla were on Circe’s island, when Percy was about 12/13, and it seems in SoN that he and Reyna were both around the same age, 16 or so. We know Reyna and Hylla spent some time after tSoM on Blackbeard’s ship before she made it to Camp Jupiter. So somewhere between ages 12-16, she would pop up at camp and I firmly believe she would’ve been Jason’s friend before they both became Praetors. And I would kill to see it. I wanna see them go on a quest together so badly. They would be an awesome team.

But we’d get to see Jason go through the steps, Probatio to Centurion to Praetor. We’d see him improving the Fifth Cohort’s standing in the Legion. We’d see Reyna become Praetor. (We’d ideally see Jason and Octavian gently bitch at each other like with Percy, but that’s just for me.) We’d get to see Jason and Reyna being Praetors together for a bit hopefully. That would be cool. And no doubt the series would conclude with their side of the Titan War, with Krios’ defeat - which would be so cool to see!

Being able to see more of their side of the war would also be really interesting as well. Because surely, there was more to it for them than just that one battle out of nowhere right? They must’ve been aware of the war and enlisted by the gods to help out right? Maybe there were some other titans for them to fight, maybe they had defectors too? Perhaps they were under the impression Kronos was still chopped up in little bits and Krios was running the show, either wanting to take Kronos’ place as the big cheese, or thinking the titans were working to reform Kronos, but they were kept out of Luke’s side of things so they didn’t realise that he already had been? Who knows. Certainly not me, cause we don’t have any books on it.

And there would be opportunities to have almost crossovers. Particularly regarding the war. They might just overhear things that don’t necessarily make sense to them but that we get, stuff like that. See some aftermath from one of Percy’s visits to the area. So many options.

Oh also actually, just for added angst and a different view than Percy’s, there was that freaking tragic bit in HoH I think where Jason thinks about his mother. The part about following orders and rules bothered him, but he insisted on doing so and keeping his promises because his mother had abandoned him and broken her promise. That would be an interesting aspect for the narration and his point of view because it’s the exact opposite of Percy. Percy doesn’t mind pushing the limits with the gods and exploiting loopholes or calling them on their faults, focused on surviving till the end of the day when he can go home to his mother and forget the gods and their stupid rules. Jason, on the other hand, doesn’t have anywhere to go back to. Camp Jupiter and the roles he’s given there are quite literally it for him, so even though he may resent it as much as Percy, he feels the need to bite his tongue and do everything in his power meet expectations and stay in line, etc. And yes, it’s for the benefit of others like he said in HoH, but maybe also the threat that if he makes too much trouble, where else is he gonna go and who else outside the Legion does he have?

Unfortunately we wouldn’t get to see Frank and Hazel come into it as newbies because that would’ve only happened after the war, so unlikely the series would continue after they beat Krios. But it’d still be a good set up to lead back into HoO alongside original PJO.

Also, I wanna know if Jason would’ve been particularly aware of his dad handing him off to Juno, or if she took a back seat until yoinking his memories out his head and dumping him on a dusty bus. I quite like the idea of him knowing, that she wouldn’t have been shy about popping up now and again as his patron, maybe sending him quests, offering occasional assistance like Poseidon did for Percy. Juno cared about her little champion, you can’t tell me different. I’d like to see her drop by from time to time. Or if he just accepted he was Jupiter’s and his dad basically never wanted to talk to him, and was a bit blindsided when Juno popped up after his hit on Krios.

Maybe he was just heading to bed after a long day of Titan slaying, thinking what he’d have for breakfast tomorrow and poof - Juno staring at him in his PJs, doesn’t he feel underdressed. Barely gets out an “um-?” before she’s like “got a quest for you. Surprise!”

(Since we got The Fall Of Jason Grace from Apollo in ToA, this series could be called something silly like The Rise Of Jason Grace to mirror it. I dunno.)

Either way, I need this. We deserve this. I will literally pay like 20$ per book if we could get this.

Wrote this hella sleep deprived and without sources and I’m still in ToA and haven’t read the extra books yet like demigod files and the Probatio one, so anything I’ve missed, had been answered, or is just plain wrong, let me know.

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zazzander · 6 months ago

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Okay so I've thought about this way too much lol. Your take is fun and interesting but I think it's missing a couple things. Not necessarily eliminating the issue, as Riordan did not write a clear and cohesive system. But I think it's important to clarify a few things.

So Octavian couldn't make himself a praetor. The rules are clear. There are two conditions: an election on the Feast of Fortuna or post battle the legion raises up a person on a shield, proclaiming them as the new praetor. Since the Feast literally just passed the only way Octavian could make himself praetor is by staging a battle and winning it. His popularity right now is meaningless.

In the interim, as the augur (a priest) he's in charge (this is established in the previous book). He's effectively the legion's commander if they lose all/both praetors. You might call that... emergency powers.

Reyna actually contradicts herself in this scene because Riordan wanted to retcon previous information/actions. Her orders weren't what she says they are (up until the actual battle Octavian isn't going against her orders). Which means we have to be sceptical of anything she says – she's being manipulated by Gaea! (That is the point of this dream after all. Gaea wants the Romans to hate each other).

Remember, it's Octavian who tried to make her stay! He thought she'd die in "the ancient lands" and told her point blank if she leaves, he's in charge (as a way to convince her to stay and stay in power).

On the point of Pontifex Maximus. Octavian is the only priest in New Rome until Jason agrees to become one. He's an augur, not a pontifex (as far as we know), but literally becoming a pontifex at any point makes him the Pontifex Maximus because there are no others. Reyna has no way of knowing who appointed him. Naturally, because she hates him, she assumed this.

They have no emperor so being "above an emperor" is a moot point. It does sound very serious though! It's interesting that the last person who was called Pontifex Maximus did so outside of living memory. Now, assuming Roman demigods live a long time until Greek ones, we could say that was about 100 years ago or more. What happened a hundred years before? The old location for the legion was destroyed and they were forced to move. That also seems like an emergency to me! So even if the emergency powers come from the PM title not the augur one, it's still likely this is a fundamental part of the established system.

My point is, the way things are written, it's like the Pontifex Maximus only has these powers if and when the legion is in an emergency (New Rome has been attacked or destroyed) and no other leaders are around to take control. It's a failsafe. Otherwise the legion could splinter under the command of many leaders (the centurions).

Anyway that's my take on it. Feel free to disagree! I enjoy talking about the New Romans so thanks for posting!

rick riordan having octavian dismantle the new rome political system so he could be a central authoritarian (pontifex). and then after octavian died, instead of having them go back to the slightly more democratic system from before or a new one, having jason be like “don’t worry i’ll be the dictator now because you all love me so much”

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the-ghost-king · 4 years ago

Note

Let’s!! Play!! A!! Game!!

I have developed a new personality typing system— are you a Piles Person, or do you live with someone who makes piles of their stuff?

Now, sort the PJO characters into Piles Persons or Lives With a Piles Person and Genuinely Hates It.

I'm a pile maker, I feel like this is a callout (I only pile clothes and art supplies, and everything has its place, but I still do it sometimes); also sorry I took some time on this I was thinking and it was a decent bit to write out

Percy -> He's a pile maker; he mostly only makes piles when it's school work and clothes. His school work goes in 2 piles, "done" and "not done" and whenever he has to move his pile for some reason, the piles get stacked together with a piece of paper in between so he can keep them separate and return them to their place on his desk or the dining room table when needed.

His mom doesn't really think much of it, sometimes she gets after him about his clothes piles but usually those are kept in baskets of "clean" and "not clean" so she doesn't worry too much. Paul just kind of got used to the piles (he's a bit of a pile maker too), Paul doesn't think the piles are too bad since Percy is a good kid and he's not dirty just a bit cluttery at times; if a kid who has saved the world multiple times is a little cluttery, so be it. Annabeth isn't bothered at all by it, she's a pile maker too; she'll sometimes fold Percy's clothes when it bothers her but only because he hates that part of the chore and she likes it.

Annabeth -> she's a pile maker; Annabeth also just makes piles of clothes and work, again she sorts into "clean" and "not clean" and she sorts by "done" and "not done" as well. Unlike Percy, her clothes piles are usually folded, but she hates washing clothes (Percy does that part because he doesn't mind). Her work is significantly messier though, her piles are all over the house, on the kitchen island, her desk, and the coffee table.

Her dad and her step mom don't have many thoughts on the situation since whenever Annabeth lived at home she spent her time trying to make herself as small of a nuisance as possible and therefore didn't make piles in order to avoid arguements. Percy doesn't mind except for when her architecture papers are all over the kitchen and he's trying to cook; then Percy just sorts her stuff into smaller piles on the dining table or something so she can just move them back to the kitchen and resume her work later.

Jason -> Not a pile maker, typically; Jason only really makes piles during his work time. Whenever he's working on something he'll move things in and out of various piles during his work, there's no organization system as an outsider looking in but he says there's some sort of process everytime.

His organization process doesn't affect anyone and even when making piles he's very neat, he's probably got file cabinets for literally every aspect of his work; and since he cleans up after he's done there's no reason to be bothered by anything he does. Thalia appreciated Jason's cleanliness when she was raising him, and Reyna appreciated how quickly it made the Senate run.

Piper -> She only makes small piles; Piper doesn't make piles to any large extent and there's no things that she constantly keeps in piles. For example if she's wearing jewelry and takes it off she might leave it in a pile on her dresser or nightstand for a few days but it does get cleaned up within a week or two depending on the items and her stress level.

Her dad doesn't care much because overall Piper is a good kid and little messes aren't really a big deal, sometimes if it's a large quantity of stuff in a shared space he'll ask her to clean it up but if it's in her room he doesn't care much. He's never really upset with her over the situation because after one or two reminders the stuff gets cleaned up.

Hazel -> She's not a pile maker; if Hazel makes piles it's just because she's cleaning something out and putting it somewhere else, or it's art supplies she's currently in the process of using. She's fairly cleanly overall, and she only occasionally makes piles, whenever she does it's similar to how Piper does so people aren't really bothered by it.

Hazel is known for being pretty organized and on top of things, she's very good at color coordinating, she keeps nicely organized binders with information she needs to hold onto, and she's really cleanly as well; that's honestly probably her downfall if anyone is bothered by her, she's a bit too clean about things sometimes. Anything she gets out is put away before she goes to bed at night.

Nico -> He makes some piles; his pile making process and extent is heavily dependent on his mental health, the worse of a place Nico is at mentally means the more piles he makes, but when he's in a good place mentally he doesn't make hardly any piles. When he's in a worse place mentally his pile process resembles Percy's, "clean/not clean" for clothes and "done/not done" for work and it tends to just make Nico's mental space worse since he generally dislikes clutter. When he's in a good place mentally he falls somewhere on the scale between Piper and Hazel, he leaves small piles of hodge-podge stuff for short periods of time but typically he's known for his organization and cleanliness as well, is he has any piles they're going to collect on his nightstand.

Whenever he's not doing so well and starting to make more bigger piles, Hazel, Reyna, and Will often step in to give him a helping hand with stuff so he doesn't get overwhelmed because having a cluttered space only tends to stress Nico out more and make him feel worse. When he's in a good place his piles only ever really bother Hazel, and that's really only because she is so on top of things, they form some sort of agreement that Nico's small piles on his nightstand and desk are acceptable.

Frank -> Doesn't make piles; Frank's pile style works pretty much like Jason, he only keeps piles whenever he's in the process of doing anything. Sometimes when he's being casual he'll make small piles like Piper, just little things here or there that aren't a huge deal.

Just through spending time with Hazel, Frank eventually stops making piles, she doesn't really make him or anything he just finds her level of cleanliness contagious in some manner. They end up developing really similar organization styles which means over time they tend to help one another clean up, it's one of those small acts of care that people show each other overtime, kind of like splitting an orange.

Leo -> He makes piles in certain situations; in his cabin/house he has some small piles of projects he's working on, it's a mixture of tutorials, research papers, and blue prints... Sometimes he stacks tool boxes or the little knick-nacks he owns, but for the most part he's very kept up. He especially keeps a close eye and is very organized when working in the forges, being messy in the forges could be dangerous so you've got to keep a close eye on all of your stuff (kind of like a chemistry classroom) in order to make sure nothing bad happens and goes wrong.

Overall Leo doesn't make piles and is generally well kept in comparison to most of the people around him, so nobody gives him a hard time over it. Calypso finds his small piles endearing because she spent so much time alone and his little collections of things and his piles of work remind him that she's not along anymore; sometimes if he makes a pile that happens to be in her way (this rarely happens) she can get a little bit annoyed but he's very good about cleaning up quickly when asked.

Reyna -> small piles are her guilty pleasure; sure, Reyna is super organized and very on top of her things and she takes good care of her stuff, but sometimes it's late and sue decides to take the easy route and be a little lazy. Perhaps instead of hanging her cape on a hook or folding it neatly she just throws it over the back of a chair for a few, she might set a dagger and her bracelets on her nightstand table instead of putting them in their appropriate drawers. Overall she's neat and organized, but she can sometimes have an attitude of "I'll deal with it in the morning".

Most people don't really know she's like this, she tends to have space to herself where people aren't normally at so there's no reason for them to know, she doesn't try to hide this aspect of herself it's just one of those things there's no reason for anyone to know. Nico knows about it only because they spend so much time together, but it doesn't bother him because Reyna is almost always neater than he is. Her and Hazel have spent a good amount of time together via Nico over the years, and her habits don't really bother Hazel either. Hazel is usually asleep before she makes her small messes, and if Hazel is up before her then her little messes are cleaned up before the day is over so it's chill. Jason wasn't ever really aware of Reyna's little messes, Octavian was but only because he was extra nosey.

Will -> (I'm adding him to the A-list fight me) he's not really a pile maker; Will doesn't make many piles, he's worked in the infirmary so many years... In medical situations even just a small mess can be a matter of life or death, so it's very important to him that things are kept neat and orderly. Although he tends to be fairly laid back about piles he can sometimes rival even Hazel in his need for cleanliness, he doesn't make a pile for anything.

He could probably bother some people with how neat he is, but most people try to cut him q little slack on the situation since it's a trauma response for him (the idea that he always needs to be doing more and doing better). The only person who Will doesn't mind being a little messy is Nico, Nico helps will relax a little bit on his cleanliness in a positive way where he's not stressed about everything being perfect constantly. The only time Will can get a little stressed with Nico's messes is when they get bad, but he's always really understanding and helpful of it because he knows Nico doesn't let things get messy unless he's not in such a great place so Will is capable of picking up the slack if Nico needs a few days, they're a good parallel for one another in that way.

#pjo #hoo #nico di angelo #hazel levesque #percy jackson #piper mclean #jason grace #will solace #frank zhang #reyna avila ramirez arellano #leo valdez #annabeth chase #asks #Headcanon #rethinkthesituation

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shadow-travel · 4 years ago

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people that say nico overreacts or has no reason to leave camp are so clearly neurotypical

will said something like that in blood of olympus, yes, but it was more “we actually do like you, everything is in your head” (a little more angrier because he’s like in the middle of battle and literally arguing with octavian) instead of “you dont have a single reason to feel that way and you’re too sensitive”

a little lesson for you all on adhd: rejection sensitivity disorder is a symptom (that cannot exist outside of other mental disorders) that makes it hard for us to read other people. we are extremely sensitive any time an interaction doesn’t go exactly like we thought it would, we’re always suspicious of hidden motives, and social rejection in any shape or form, no matter how small, hits us hard and shuts us down. nico canonly has adhd. put the pieces together

will told nico there were people at camp who like him and who want to get to know him (he could literally be talking about himself if you put that with the clueless “i just delivered a baby” flirting and lou ellen’s “you’re nico right? we’ve heard a lot about you”). this is not will being mean. will knows nico will not listen unless he is stubborn and aggravating and direct. there is no telling nico to do things nicely and expecting him to listen. wills also already been direct with him before that line- from stopping him from shadow-travel and offering alternatives to giving him that gum so nico regains strength. learning how to listen to people and how to get out that “dark brooding cloud” of his is how he grows as a character.

will telling nico he’s misreading people is not him being mean. he is being direct because of the situation at hand (his home is deadass being destroyed come on) and because if he isn’t nico won’t listen. and he wants nico to start connecting with other people. nico’s rsd from his adhd is severe and he is not overreacting, his brain legitimately is making him believe the worst.

#sometimes in order to understand mentally ill characters you have to read about mental illnesses #just because most of the pjo/hoo characters are mentally ill does Not mean we can ignore that they are all neurodivergent #rsd and a tendency to be emotionally distant is one of my prevalent traits from my adhd im working on too #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians

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perseusjackson-jasongrace · 4 years ago

Text

Empires on the Horizon V

Jason is a CEO: Part V

Here’s my masterlist for the next part and my other stuff

But the most beautiful things in life are just not things.

They’re people and places, memories and pictures.

They’re feeling and moments and smiles and laughter.

-unknown

“Charles Beckendorf,” Jason answered the phone with a smile, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hello Grace, how are you?”

“Absolutely wonderful,” And he was, he hadn’t felt so calm in a long time. “What can I do for you my friend?”

“I need your help with the wedding. I’m planning an outdoor structure with video screenings of all our favourite memories and you have two things that’ll make my dreams come true.”

“Anything for you Charlie.”

“The gorgeous meadow on the far side of town, you own that right?”

“Yep, you want to set up shop there?”

“Yes please,” His eagerness carried through the phone, “And can you send me any pictures or videos you have of us so I can add it to the slideshow.”

“Of course, is that all?”

He could hear the excitement in his friend’s voice, “That’s it, unless you know anyone who’s willing to look after the shop while we’re on honeymoon?”

“I can’t say I do but I can ask Hazel to hire a temp if you want?”

“I’ll suggest it to the ladies and tell them to get back to you.”

“Sounds great, and good-luck with the project. I’m excited for the wedding.”

“Me too man, me too. It’s still surreal to me that I’m getting married to my best friends.”

“You deserve the world Charlie.”

“No way, I am crazy emotional these days.” He sniffled.

Jason laughed, “You’re always emotional Beckendorf.”

“Screw you,” He snorted, “See you soon, and thank you again.”

“Bye man, have a good one.”

He ended the call with a smile. It was unbelievable to think he would be going to his friends’ wedding in a couple months. Just the other day he was sitting in a lecture hall laughing at Beckendorf’s impersonation of their business lecturer. Just the other day he was helping Silena and Drew paint the walls of their boutique. It was strange to face the reality that they were all grown up now– moving on with their lives, living them.

“Ready to go Boss?” Hazel’s head popped around the door.

“Yep, you have the files?”

“All in the room already, anything else we need?”

“Maybe some coffee and a miracle?”

“Unfortunately I can only provide one of those things, and it’s not the helpful one.” She gave him an apologetic look.

“Well I guess wish me luck then,”

“You don’t need it Boss, you’re gonna kill it today.”

“What would I do without you Miss Levesque?” He sighed gratefully, walking to the elevator.

“Forget which day of the week it is, and which shoe goes on which foot,” She grinned.

“Hey, the shoe thing was one time.”

“That only works if you’re a toddler, not a grown man.”

“No excuse for the elderly then?”

She shook her head solemnly, “None I’m afraid.”

The elevator doors slid open.

“Meeting Room A5.”

“Let’s do this.” He took a deep breath and pushed the glass door.

“Hello Jason Grace,”

“Hello Octavian.”

Jason always felt some level of life seep out the room when he me with the head of Titan Industries. The man felt…synthetic; chalk white hair gelled down flat and calculating pale blue eyes that missed nothing. Gods even his skin looked unnatural, pasty and veined.

He reached out a small, bony hand in greeting.

“You look as incredible as ever Miss Levesque,” He lifted her hand to his mouth.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile, “Octavian.”

He didn’t seem to notice, or care for her discomfort and simply turned to Jason.

“So,” They sat down, “Have we come to some agreement?”

“With all due respect Octavian I don’t feel this contract is justified.” He glanced between the man and the folder.

There was silence, as if he were waiting for Jason to continue but two could play at this game. He was not willing to be taken for a fool, fumbling over himself to bow to this man’s whims. So he met those cunning eyes, a smile playing at his lips. The only sound was the scratch of Hazel’s pencil as she set up her notes for the meeting.

Moments passed, frozen in time, and then a sigh, “What can I do to ease your concerns?”

He struggled to reel in a smug expression. “Let’s start with the supply times.”

And they went back and forth, pulling and pushing, cunning and stead-fast, a fox and a wolf. Two hours later the contract had been amended to both their liking and they were once again shaking hands.

“I will ask my assistant to send over the revised contract, once my lawyer has looked over it.”

“I will do the same. Thanks for the meeting.” He guided the door open and waited for his guest to move through it.

“Until then, Grace.”

Without waiting for a reply Octavian snapped at his bodyguard and they disappeared down the passage.

“How do you feel about this?”

“There’s something not quite right Hazel, I just can’t figure out his angle.”

“Fully agree,” She shuddered, “He gives me the creeps.”

“Have you managed to find anyone else that could potentially take over this project?”

“Not yet Boss but you will be the first to know when I do.”

“Thanks Levesque, you truly are my saviour.” He gave her a grateful smile.

“Better put that on my gravestone,” She raised a brow.

“Done,” He laughed, “Any other requests?”

“Let’s get subs for lunch. I could do with some bread.”

He shook his head in amusement, “You drive a hard bargain but I’m willing to sacrifice for you.”

“Oh what was your plan Mr big-shot?” She pushed open the door to their offices.

“Today is burrito-bowl day and you know it.”

“I did forget,” She scrunched her nose, “But I’m extra grateful now.”

He snorted at her, ready to give a snarky remark before he was cut off by the shrill ring of his cell phone.

“Talk to me.”

“What’s up Grace, how’s your lunch hour looking?” Leo Valdez greeted.

“Levesque and I are going to get subs at Garden Girl, want to join?”

“I’ll meet you there.” And then he was gone.

“Ever the efficient caller isn’t he,” Hazel chuckled.

“Most days, which is weird since he’s a rambler face-to-face.”

They got to the contemporary restaurant on eighty-fifth avenue, spotting Leo outside.

“Hello,” His smile was wide as he hugged them.

“Who decided to give you a break? Don’t you have lectures right now?”

“Nah,” He grinned, “Guest lecturer teaching my slot this week, so I got two hours free.”

“The beauty of teaching postgrad, I assume?” Hazel asked.

“You know it Levesque!”

“What are we getting?”

“Don’t know about you but I’m getting the ‘Jazz It Up’ sub, got to stick to my New Orleans heritage.”

“Good afternoon my favourite customers? Where’s the rest of the crew?”

Jason smiled brightly, “Hello Katie.”

“Annabeth is at work, she has some big contract finally closing up,” Leo said by way of greeting.

“Frank is doing the security rounds at the office,” Hazel offered.

“Thalia isn’t even in the country right now.” He shrugged

“There’s still someone missing,” She frowned, scanning their faces, “Piper! Where’s the pretty lady?”

“Oh,” Leo winced, “Yea that is a touchy subject.”

Katie gave them a sympathetic look, “Well what can I help you with today? The usual for you Haze?”

They all rattled off their orders and chatted with the owner of Garden Girl while they waited. Jason had met Katie when he was doing business courses for his urban and regional planning degree. Her forest green eyes and bright smile struck him stupid the first time he saw her in their Entrepreneurship and Business Management lecture. He never had the guts to make a move, but it didn’t matter because she had just entered a relationship with Travis Stoll. Now they’re married and expecting a child, as is the latest update.

“How’s Project Hestia going Grace?” Leo asked, pulling out a chair.

“Ugh I’m having a hard time with the outdoor center. I’m not gelling with the contractor, and I don’t know what to do,” He scrubbed a hand down his face.

“I know I can’t ask what exactly is wrong because of legal reasons but what do you need done?”

He motioned to Hazel to explain as he bit into his sub.

“Basically we want to create an outdoor recreation center for the community which includes a gym area, a kids’ area, movies, a park and picnic area, rock climbing, you know the usual.”

“Right that shouldn’t be too hard to draft up,” Dark eyebrows scrunched, “But this guy is what? Trying to fuck you over?”

“Essentially,” Jason nodded, “The problem is we don’t know how?”

“Okay give me the weekend and let me call up some people. I think I know someone who can help.”

His eyes widened, “You are literally the best friend in the entire world. We’ve been looking for weeks, and we haven’t found anyone else who specialises in this.”

Leo squeezed his hand, “I’m not letting you get screwed over, and my buddy would be more than happy to do it.”

“What’s his name?” Hazel had her phone out, the notes app open.

“Harley, he’s was the youngest kid in our engineering course. I think he graduated with his masters when he was like twenty,”

Jason choked, “What?”

“The kid is incredible. He beat us regularly in our weekly electrotech competitions.”

“Well tell him to give us a call and I’ll set up a meeting with Jason next week. We have until next Friday before we sign contracts with Titan.”

“Sounds good,” Leo plucked a pen he kept behind his ear and scribbled something on his hand, “So Jase,” His grin was trouble.

The blonde narrowed his eyes, preparing himself for trouble.

“What happened with you and Percy? Last I heard you were going on a date on Tuesday and then getting married.”

It was Hazel’s turn to choke, and after she recovered smacked her boss on the shoulder, glaring as if to say what the hell did you not tell me?

He rolled his eyes at his best friend, “I didn’t even get his number because I left so abruptly. And anyway I hear he’s dating Reyna now.”

Leo’s hickory eyes widened, “He’s what?”

“Yea I went by the school about a month ago and Nico told me they were dating.”

“How do they even know each other?”

“They met at the school. She was visiting Nico and he was wanted to become a sponsor cause he used to go there.”

“Yea sounds about right, he’s crazy nice.” Leo nodded

“How have I never met him before the dinner?”

“He moves around a lot,” Leo shrugged, “I’ve only met him a handful of times because whenever he’s here he makes a point to visit Annabeth.”

“Well he sounds like an angel,” His assistant mused.

“Looks like one too,” He muttered, “It’s okay anyway cause I uh–“ He scratched the back of his neck.

“Oh my gods,” Hazel’s earthy eyes glittered, “You met someone!”

Leo clapped his hands, a smile as bright as the sun on his face, “Who are they?”

“We’ve been on one date so no making a big deal about it.” He gave them a pointed look, “But Thalia set us up and she’s… wow.”

“Oh you are real caught up, aren’t you?” They raised twin brows at him.

“She’s just indescribable. She’s gorgeous and that’s the least impressive thing about her.”

“Well tell us everything.” Hazel prodded.

“Okay she’s a vet. She has four sisters, but she doesn’t talk to them much. She believes in order, oh it’s glorious. Everything in its space and a plan for everything.” He looked at Leo then, to which his friend flipped him off and then motioned for him to continue.

“She eventually wants to open her own animal clinic. And most importantly she gets along with Thalia.”

“She sounds like a dream Jase,” Hazel squeezed his shoulder, “I’m really happy for you.”

Leo nodded, eyes bright with love, “You deserve some happiness bud.”

“Thank you guys,” He found it hard to breathe as the overwhelming gratitude he felt for his friends swept through his body.

“Valdez, you’re going to the lake cabins in a couple weeks, right?”

“Oh yep,” Leo wiggled his eyebrows, “And guess what?”

“You are not!” He yelled, and then lowered his voice, “You are lying to me right now.”

“Oh gods,” Hazel caught on, “Are you ready? No wait of course you’re ready! When, how, what?”

“I bought the ring a couple weeks ago. We’ve been talking about it for a few months and this just feels like the right time.”

Jason whistled, “My best friends are finally getting married.”

“Oh gods I hope she says yes,” Leo looked a little sick all of a sudden.

“Of course she’s going to say yes. You guys have been inseparable since that first maths lecture when we all went to the wrong class.”

“There’s no way she turns you down, I’ve seen the way you look at each other.” Hazel agreed.

“The way we look at each other?” Leo frowned at her, confusion evident in his face.

“Like you’re the only ones in the room. Like she is the match and you are the striker.”

Jason nodded, “The moment you two locked eyes at the bonfire it was like the universe threaded two strands through the same needle.”

“Well now I’m emotional and feeling much more confident about it.”

They laughed then, getting up to hug each other. Jason felt the world settle, still, slow. The wind whispered softly, and beams of sun caught between them. If nothing else he had this, and he would hold onto it until his bones were dust and his soul was a star once more.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So many weddings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tags (if you want to be added to/ taken off the tag list just let me know, all my channels of communication are open): @lesbian-peanuts

@leydiangelo

@queen-of-demons-and-hell

@msdrpreist

@sparkythunderstorm

@nishlicious-01

@lucyisblue

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writing-and-teatime · 5 years ago

Text

Ghosts

Just a angsty little fluff short I wrote before I do any real writing over my Christmas break. Please enjoy!

Summary: Nico has a panic attack, one that’s worse than normal. Angsty but also fluffy.

Triggers: Homophobic slur use (once), panic attack, kissing

Words: 1146

——————

Nico was sitting in fetal position on the floor of the Hades cabin, next to his bunk. He was struggling to breathe. He was crying. His muscles were stiff. He was having a panic attack.

You’re a murderer.

The voices echoed like always. Memories that haunted the camp, like the Lares at Camp Jupiter only evil. No other campers could see them, which was good. They held grudges. Voices he recognized spoke alongside those he didn’t. People he couldn’t save. People he didn’t know. People that knew him.

You’re a traitor.

Silena Beauregard.

Charles Beckendorf.

Zoe Nightshade.

You brought us death.

Some spirits were just in his memories, in his mind. Calling out to him.

Couldn’t help us.

His mother.

Bianca.

You’re a failure.

Nico tried to steady his breathing. He wiped his eyes. He couldn’t waste any more of the day, someone would come looking for him soon.

No one will come looking.

Octavian.

Everyone hates you.

Nico tried to stand. He tried to push the thoughts from his mind but he just couldn’t. They were too strong.

You’re broken.

Jason.

You’re a f*ggot.

Nico fell back to the floor. He couldn’t bear the thought of his best friend, his brother, with a spear in his chest. He couldn’t deal with his death. The tears he had tried so hard to wipe away were falling again. Plopping disappointingly against the leather of his jacket.

You’re faulty.

He pulled his knees close to his chest and buried his face in them. Shadows and figures danced just outside his vision. He heard the laughter of a few campers as they walked past the cabin. He tried to call out, to ask for help. He couldn’t breathe.

You’re alone.

His head throbbed and his heart was beating in his ears and he couldn’t hear and everything was so loud and why did it have to be so loud and he was light headed and he couldn’t breathe and he just couldn’t-

“Nico?” A voice said. It echoed in his ears and he could barely hear it.

No one cares.

The voice called for help. Called for a doctor. No. Will couldn’t see him like this.

He’ll abandon you.

The voice got louder and Nico flinched because it hurt his head, somehow. Hands were on his arms now, touching him. His throat constricted even more and he threw out his arms to push them away.

“Nico?” The voice was louder this time. It echoed in his skull and kept getting louder. He couldn’t tell if it was still saying his name or if it was just him. Other voices. Loud. Too loud. Too much. Overwhelming. He was crying. Pain. Pain. Pain. He was suffocating. He couldn’t breathe. He needed to breathe. He needed to-

“I’m sorry.” A new voice said. Will’s voice. Nico felt a pinprick of pain in his arm. What had happened? Strong arms pulled Nico into a hug and he fought against the affection. He opened his eyes to see, through blurry tear obstructed vision, a concerned and grim looking Will and another worried form leaning over his shoulder. He couldn’t quite tell who it was through the tears and his darkening vision. Why was his vision getting darker? What was happening?

Nico passed out.

——————

Will looked down sadly at the boy in his arms. He looked so much more peaceful than he had seconds before, he was breathing now too. He picked up Nico’s small form bridal style and turned to Annabeth.

“You and Percy keep people away. Don’t tell them what happened.” Annabeth nodded and left the cabin first, slipping past her boyfriend who was guarding the door frame.

“Speaking of,” Percy cleared his throat, “what happened?” Will adjusted Nico in his arms with a sigh.

“I’ll tell you when we get to the Big House.” He murmured, following Annabeth out the door, Percy following him.

——————

Light slipped into his vision and Nico groaned. His face scrunched up as he tried to see where he was. He felt a hand on his arm, a cast iron grip. He turned in bed, expecting to see his boyfriend, but instead found Annabeth in a chair next to him. Percy was leaning against her on the floor. Nico tried to pull his arm from her grip but she only squeezed tighter, her eyes shot open.

“Nico!” She cried. She threw herself at him and hugged him. She then gasped, kicked her boyfriend in the leg, and then ran out of the room. Percy groaned and opened his eyes, he looked up at Nico.

“Hey, you’re awake.” He mumbled. He then rubbed his eyes and looked at Nico again, gauging his confusion. “I’ll let Will explain everything. I don’t do medical stuff.” The two sat in silence for a bit. Percy got up and sat in the chair instead, both waiting for their partner. After a while footsteps were coming this way and Nico braced himself for one of Will’s intense scoldings and a big hug. When the door burst open Will literally lunged at the bed. Nico tensed and Will hit him with a football tackle, pinning him to the bed and pulling him close.

“Nico, you’re okay. I was so worried.” Will said, pulling back. He cupped Nico’s face and looked into his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine, Will.” Nico croaked. “What happened?” Will looked concerned as he began checking Nico’s vitals.

“How much do you remember?” He asked as he checked Nico’s pulse.

“I remember having a panic attack and then you holding me and then passing out. Now what happened?” Will bit his lip and looked away guiltily.

“Well.” He began. He shifted his gaze to Annabeth, once again avoiding Nico. “Well, Annabeth went into the cabin to talk to you and you were on the floor. She realized it was a panic attack and tried to talk to you, but you couldn’t hear her so she called for a medic. I came and tried to calm you down but you couldn’t hear me and you weren’t breathing so I did the best I could and…”

“And?” Nico asked. Will finally looked at him.

“And so I used a sedative to knock you out so your body could recuperate naturally and you would start breathing again.” Will looked like he was searching for something in Nico’s face as he spoke. Anger? Sadness? Something that Nico clearly wasn’t feeling.

“Thank you.” Nico said. Will’s face slackened with surprise.

“What?”

“Thanks for saving me.” Nico repeated. He reached up and brushed some hair out of Will’s face before kissing him. Will leaned in and the two had a moment before he pulled back again.

“Don’t ever do that again. Got it?” Will scolded. Nico laughed and leaned back onto the bed. This was going to take a while, but it was worth it because it meant that he was safe and everything was okay and that the ghosts couldn’t get him here.

#Nico di Angelo #Will solace #solangelo fanfiction #solangelo #annabeth chase #percy jackson #panic attack #angst #fluff #fanfiction #fanfic #writing #solangelo fanfic

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thelittlesttimelord · 5 years ago

Text

The Littlest Timelord: Cracks in Time Chapter 13

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: Cracks in Time Chapter 13 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 13/? SUMMARY: A little girl escapes the Time War when the Timelord’s return in “End of Time Part 2″. The newly regenerated Doctor must now raise the little girl while trying to find out why cracks in time keep following them around.

Night fell as the clerics finished setting up their camp.

“The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship. Our mission is to get inside and neutralize it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this, behind the cliff face there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up”, Octavian told them.

“Oh, good”, the Doctor said.

“Good, sir?”

“Catacombs. Probably dark ones. Dark catacombs. Great”. The Doctor’s tone was dripping with sarcasm.

“Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead”.

“You can stop any time you like”.

“Father Octavian?” a cleric called.

“Excuse me, sir”. Father Octavian walked off, leaving the Doctor, Amy, and Elise.

“You're letting people call you sir. You never do that. So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?” Amy asked the Doctor.

“Now that's interesting. You're still here. Which part of wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe was so confusing?”

“Ooo, you are all Mister Grumpy Face today. And how come Elise gets to be here and I don’t?”

“Because she’s attached to me, that’s why. A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and right now one of them is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation long enough and assuming the whole ship doesn't explode in my face, do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day. That's what I'm up to. Any questions?”

“Is River Song your wife? Because she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. She's kind of like, you know, heel, boy. And she’s good with Elise and she knows things about her. She's Mrs. Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she going to be your wife one day?”

“Yes, you're right. I am definitely Mister Grumpy Face today”.

“Doctor! Doctor?” River called from the drop ship. She was now dressed in camo like the rest of the clerics.

“Oops. Her indoors”, Amy teased.

“Father Octavian!”

“Why do they call him Father?”

“He's their Bishop, they're his Clerics. It's the fifty first Century. The Church has moved on”, the Doctor told her.

They entered the drop ship and there was a video of a Weeping Angel with its back to them.

“What do you think?” River asked, “It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop”.

“Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face”.

Elise looked at the angel and covered her eyes with her hands.

River laughed and smiled at the small Timelord.

“You've encountered the Angels before?” Octavian asked.

“Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving”, the Doctor told him.

“But it's just a statue”, Amy said.

“It's a statue when you see it”, River explained.

“Where did it come from?” the Doctor asked.

“Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since. Dormant all that time”.

“There's a difference between dormant and patient”.

“What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?” Amy asked.

“The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen. So legend has it”, River told her.

The Doctor corrected her. “No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock. In the sight of any living creature the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defense mechanism”.

“What, being a stone?” Amy asked.

“Being a stone until you turn your back”. The Doctor and Elise still left the drop ship with River and Father Octavian following.

“The hyper drive would've split on impact. That whole ship's going to be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms. Deadly to almost any living thing”, the Doctor said.

“Deadly to an Angel?” Octavian asked.

“Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it there, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?”

“The Aplans. Indigenous life form. They died out four hundred years ago”, River told him.

“Two hundred years later, the planet was terraformed. Currently there are six billion human colonists”, Octavian added.

“Whoo! You lot, you're everywhere. You're like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you”, the Doctor said.

“Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population…”

“Oh, there is. Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load”.

“Verger, how are we doing with those explosives? Doctor Song, with me”.

“Two minutes. Sweetie, I need you!” River called to the Doctor. He ran over to River and she handed him a book. “I found this. Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman. It's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages”.

The Doctor flipped through the pages of the book. “Not bad. Bit slow in the middle. Didn't you hate his girlfriend? No. No, hang on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait”. The Doctor sniffed the book.

“Doctor Song? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?” Amy asked, popping out of the drop ship.

“No, just the four seconds”, River told her.

“This book is wrong. What's wrong with this book? It's wrong” the Doctor said.

“It's so strange when you go all baby face. How early is this for you?” River asked.

“Very early”.

“So you don't know who I am yet?”

“How do you know who I am? I don't always look the same”.

“I've got pictures of all your faces. You never show up in the right order, though. I need the spotter's guide”.

“Pictures. Why aren't there pictures? This whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels, so why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?”

“There was a bit about images. What was that?”

“Yes. Hang on. That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel”.

“What does that mean? An image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel”.

“Doctor! It's in the room!” Amy screamed from the drop ship.

“Amy!”

“Doctor!”

“Are you all right? What's happening?”

“Doctor? Doctor, it's coming out of the television”.

“The Angel is here”.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and tried sonicing the keypad. “Don't take your eyes off it. Keep looking. It can't move if you're looking”.

“What's wrong?” River asked him.

“Deadlocked”.

“There is no deadlock”.

“Don't blink, Amy. Don't even blink”.

“Doctor!” Amy yelled.

The Doctor ran over to a control panel and started messing with cords.

“What are you doing?” River asked.

“Cutting the power. It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off. No good, it's deadlocked the whole system”.

“There's no deadlock”.

“There is now”.

“Help me!” Amy screamed.

“A…A…A…” Elise squeaked, wiggling around in the harness.

“Elise stop moving. I can’t concentrate”, the Doctor told her.

Elise slammed her head into his.

“Ow!” He ran back over to the door. “Can you turn it off?” he asked Amy.

“Doctor”.

“The screen. Can you turn it off?”

“I tried”.

“Try again. But don't take your eyes off the Angel”.

“I'm not”.

“Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink”.

River pulled out a mini blow torch and tried to cut through the door.

“I'm not blinking”, Amy told him, “Have you ever tried not blinking? It just keeps switching back on”.

“Yeah, it's the Angel”.

“But it's just a recording”.

“No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel. What are you doing?” the Doctor asked River.

“I'm trying to cut through. It's not even warm”.

“There is no way in. It's not physically possible”.

“Doctor, what's it going to do to me?” Amy asked.

“Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking”.

“Just tell me”.

The Doctor ran and grabbed the book they were looking at earlier.

“Tell me. Tell me!” Amy yelled.

“Amy, not the eyes. Look at the Angel but don't look at the eyes”.

“Why?”

“What is it?” River asked him.

“The eyes are not the windows of the soul. They are the doors. Beware what may enter there”.

“Doctor, what did you say?” Amy asked.

“Don't look at the eyes!”

“No, about images. What did you say about images?”

“Whatever holds the image of an Angel, is an Angel”, River said.

The door finally opened and the Doctor and River ran in.

“I froze it. There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip”, Amy told them, “It wasn't the image of an Angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good”.

“That was amazing”, River complimented her.

The Doctor ran towards the screen and pulled the plug out, sonicing it. “River, hug Amy”.

“Why?” Amy asked.

“Because I'm busy”.

“I'm fine”.

“You're brilliant”, River told her.

“Thanks. Yeah, I kind of creamed it, didn't I?”

“So it was here? That was the Angel?”

“That was a projection of the Angel. It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant”, the Doctor said.

There was an explosion outside.

Much like in Churchill’s bunker, Elise screamed.

The Doctor shushed her and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his mouth and kissing the back of it. He poked his head out of the drop ship.

“Doctor? We're through”, Octavian told him.

“Okay, now it starts”. He left the drop ship and followed Octavian.

#eleventh doctor fanfiction #eleventh doctor imagine #eleventh doctor #doctor who #Doctor Who fanfiction #doctor who imagine #amy pond #amy pond imagine #river song #river song imagine

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jasiper · 6 years ago

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war is hard. it’s even harder for demigods. it’s hard when the whole world is on the brink of destruction and the fate of humanity is in the hands of teenagers. but even after the victory, there is still fear, fear that will never go away because war always leaves scars.

percy is afraid of losing control. after nearly drowning akhyls in tartarus, and seeing annabeth truly fear him, he’s scared. the gods have told him time and time again that he is a danger, that he can be the reason the world falls. he was such a risk even as a kid that the gods put his life to a vote. he knows that he has proven everyone wrong by saving the world time and time again, but he still is scared. the older he gets, the more he has to lose, which means he has so much more to lose control over. his hands shake and he has nightmares where he loses control and kills people. when he dreams that he accidentally kills annabeth, he can’t sleep for two days straight. he’s scared to be around his family, to be at camp, to hold his baby sister, to be alone with annabeth. he’s scared of himself. he tries to keep his emotions under control because if he were ever to explode, things would go to hell.

annabeth is afraid of being alone. it happened when she was merely seven years old— she felt unloved by her own family, so she ran away. she thought she got it right when she made a new family, but it was ripped apart when thalia died and again when luke betrayed her. she’s alone when she’s fourteen and she’s trapped under the sky, tricked by the person she used to call her family. it happens again when percy disappears. one day he was there, the next he was gone. when she finds him, she vows to herself that he was never leaving her. never again. and in tartarus, with the curse from polyphemus that leaves her blind, thinking that percy had left again, she is awoken to find her boyfriend on the brink of death. even though they make it through hell and they survive the war, annabeth still wakes up sometimes with a feeling in her chest that she is completely and utterly alone.

jason is afraid of dying. sure, most people are, but he keeps having encounters that are too close for comfort. he died once when he saw juno in her divine form; charon asked him for a coin and then he was back in piper’s arms. then he’s drowning, and he hears piper whisper i love you as he’s inhaling water, and he thinks he’s going to die again, but suddenly piper is hugging him and percy is crouched beside them. and then michael varus stabs him, and he’s yanked back and forth between life and death, greek and roman. it takes him so long to recover from that. leo dies right before his eyes, and for a while he’s not sure which is worse— someone else dying for him or dying himself. even the news that leo is alive doesn’t help the tremors and the nightmares. he gets the news that either he or piper will die, and then when caligula stabs him and he’s back in front of charon, who’s asking him for a coin, jason realizes that death is a whole lot scarier than he could ever anticipate because he wasn’t ready to die.

piper is afraid of falling. physically and figuratively. she almost fell to her death at the grand canyon, and she had spent her time falling thinking about how much she messed up her life. she only gets a shot at redemption when jason saves her. and then as the months go on, she’s afraid to fall in love. how could she trust her relationship when it was fabricated by the mist? she takes a chance, lets herself fall, and she tries. she really tries. it’s so much easier to fight a war when there’s someone to support you, to validate you. but when she’s falling out of the sky and she’s screaming leo’s name and everything explodes in golden light and she wakes up to find out that her best friend is gone, she realizes that she needs to stay on solid ground. she can hardly board the plane back to california because she is so afraid she is going to fall. leo’s disappearance makes her question everything, and she realizes that she doesn’t know herself. she breaks up with jason, and for the first time in a long time, she feels like her life is becoming stable again. but when she sees jason’s dead body and this time there is no bringing him back, she’s falling all over again— falling apart.

leo is afraid of missing out. he felt like he was missing out on the whole romance thing for months; first his best friends start dating, which is cool, because they love each other, but then he’s on his way to europe surrounded by happy couples and feels ridiculously alone. he tries to tell himself that he doesn’t need anyone to make him feel whole, but the universe and the gods and everyone else seem to tell him that without a significant other, he’s worthless. and then when he died, he is focused only on ogygia and calypso. he didn’t realize it at the time, that’s when he starts missing out. when he returns, the world is in danger again. he’s too busy trying to help apollo get his god status back and be a good boyfriend to see his best friends, and he doesn’t even know they broke up until piper’s collapsing in his arms, sobbing about how jason’s gone. leo didn’t even get to say goodbye to one of his best friends. he missed out on his last opportunity to see jason and he didn’t even realize it. he begins to overthink how he prioritized things, and he’s haunted by the fact that he was so desperate to find love that he missed out on months of his life.

hazel is afraid of manipulation. before she died, her mother manipulated her into creating a body for a giant, and because it was her mother, she couldn’t say no. this was her family. everyone else hated her, and she was called a witch, so she couldn’t let her mom down. she gave life to a giant, and although she managed to stop him from rising to keep gaea asleep for another seventy years, she lost her life in the process. when hecate introduces her to her ability to control the mist, she doesn’t even realize it’s manipulation until after she arrives back at camp jupiter. she can make people see things that weren’t there just for her own benefit. she can make people do what she wanted them to just because she has the ability to. she’s reminded of the boat and holding onto her mother as she was crushed to death and she vows to never manipulate people the way her mother manipulated her.

frank is afraid of never growing up. from the time he was a baby, juno foreshadowed that he was too powerful to live a long life. while demigods were constantly dying at young ages, he thinks that he could be the exception. he saw people raising their children in new rome, and he had hope for the future. his stick could burn up at any moment, but he thought if he could survive the war, he could handle anything. even while freeing thanatos, he knows he’s going to live to make it back to new rome. leo definitely made him lose hope, but he’s presented with the fireproof material and gods, he could actually survive this thing. but then leo dies and octavian is dead too and frank realizes that even with his fireproof material, he is never truly safe. all he wants is to grow up and retire from the legion and go to college and have children and die peacefully, but now he has nightmares of watching his stick burn up in his own hands, and he’s terrified.

nico is afraid of the darkness. it used to be his friend— it welcomed him when bianca died, and it kept him hidden from percy. the darkness hid his shame, hid the self-hatred. if he could melt into the shadows, nobody would know that he loved the person he should have hated. after the titan war, he’s trying to rebuild his life but it’s hard. he may have the support of his father but he still feels like an outsider. he discovers hazel and he grows to love her, but the darkness still makes him feel more safe than any camp can. but then he’s in tartarus and he’s being told that he’s perfect because he’s suffered so much, and all of the pain is thrown back in his face. he’s still recovering from hell when the athena parthenos becomes his responsibility, and he can feel his literal soul being stripped away from his body, and he can feel the very thing that he trusted so much tearing him apart. he’s about to fade away and he’s yanked back to life, and even when they arrive back at camp he’s told that he’s still on brink of being claimed by the darkness. his boyfriend may be the very opposite of the dark, but he still dreams of entering the shadows and never coming back.

reyna is afraid of losing her home. it happened in puerto rico, when she accidentally vaporized her father’s mania. although it had been an abusive household, it was the only thing she ever knew. and then she found a safe haven with hylla at circe’s spa. she lived there, free from war and from abuse until blackbeard was released. her second home was destroyed, and she had to fight to escape. her sister, her only family, went her own way, leaving reyna to find refuge at camp jupiter. she makes friends and the legion becomes her family, and she’s praetor and life is great until jason disappears. new rome is on the brink of destruction constantly, and reyna finds herself unable to stop the threats. she has worked so hard to create a family for herself, and after nearly losing everything, she finds that she has two homes— camp jupiter and camp half-blood. yet she notices how she’s still extra weary, making sure there are extra guards and that no one loses their edge, because if reyna loses this home, she’ll have nothing left.

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olivescreech · 6 years ago

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an in depth summary of how caesar got so FUCKING POWERFUL

so for those who don’t know, here’s why the senate wanted caesar to die.

but before that, you’ve gotta know how the roman republic was basically run. it goes like this; the senators are rich old guys who will give clients money in exchange for their vote. clients have clients that THEY pay to support them AND their patron. the line continues until it reaches slaves, who have no legal rights and can’t vote. so, the more clients you get, the more votes you get! but you can’t get cha-ching from just clients - you have to go to war (if one of two consuls allows you to). you do the typical roman thing: ransack and pillage, babey! and when you get back, you show off what you’ve earned in a sick procession and you build a victory temple, which literally doesn’t do anything but show off how rich and powerful you are. so that’s the system: get clients, go to war, get more clients, et cetera. so why do you want all this power, besides the money that comes with it? because if you’re the coolest, most powerful motherfucker you get to be PRINCEPS! what the hell is that you ask? it’s the senator with the most clients (how do you tell if one has clients? well if they walk into the forum with a crowd behind them, that’s how. the romans had lots of weird flexes) and guess what? the princeps speaks first, which means you get the most attention (which is good, sometimes, in politics). now you know the drill.

then everything changed when Appius Claudis Caecus broke the damn system.

homeboy caecus gets back from war as roman senators do, and so everyone asks him “hey dude where do you want your victory temple?” and caecus is like “victory temples are bullshit i’m gonna build a main road through the city and a brand new aqueduct.”

and the people LOVE HIM FOR IT.

who wouldn’t want clean water and a brand new road that everyone can use? money (well, at least the money of commoners) can’t buy that. so now caecus has basically the majority of rome’s votes in his favor. and, naturally he starts a trend.

public works projects and actually sustaining the people instead of just giving them money is the new way to get votes, which is actually really great because people are getting off of the streets since they have food and pretty much every need at their disposal, provided by the government. two parties form: optimates (those for continuing the old system) and populists (those for the new system). one of the major things populists did was expand citizenship outside of rome (which, at this time, is basically just the seven hills). anyone who is not a roman citizen has no legal rights in the roman system: if you don’t have citizenship and are killed/robbed/whatever by a roman, you have no right to a trial. so this is a big move: if you give citizenship to an area, they all technically owe you their lives, and thus you get them as clients. so senators give citizenship to little areas surrounding the city.

then caius iulius caesar (stabbed caesar’s dad) decides to fuck with the system.

caesar passes as bill that makes everyone in italy and sicily a roman citizen.

SO NOW HE HAS BASICALLY THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF ITALY AS CLIENTELE.

and then he dies, and passes it off to his son (also called c. iulius caesar, but we’ll just refer to him a julius caesar).

mind you, as per the custom caesar still has to pay all of his clients.

so the senators are like “lmao you may be princeps but how tf are you gonna pay up all these people?” so the senators don’t give a fuck and just sorta sit back, expecting this to completely crumble. caesar gets a fuck ton of loans from the bank to sustain his clients and goes through the floor in debt. but he has so much political power that he won’t get voted out of office.

thus, caesar, the dastardly motherfucker, goes to war in gaul. and he promises his clients that if they go to war with him, they get some of the stuff. so he has a SHIT TON OF SOLDIERS. he fucks gaul up like nobody’s goddamn business; he killed more people in gaul than hitler did in the holocaust in half the fucking time.

so he can pay off those debts over and over and over again. caesar has such much power he becomes consul twice. oh yeah and there’s a civil war, pompey gets in his way so caesar says “fuck off” crosses the rubicon river and he wins, then declares himself dictator for life.

ever wondered why everyone uses “dictator for life” instead of just dictator? well, dictator was a legitimate position in the roman government that lasted up to six months or until the threat was over. most dictators did as they were told (which is sort of ironic becauze dictator comes from the word “dictō, dixere” which means “to speak”. the english equivalent to the concept of a dictator would be “teller-what-to-do-er”) or they’d have the whole senate and every one of their clients against them which is never good.

so caesar fucking PARDONS ALL OF THEM, MAKING THE SENATORS HIS OWN CLIENTS.

aaaaand they just flat out kill him.

so many of the senators plunged knives into his body and whatnot, but not every senator sticks a knife into caesar so they gang up against everyone who has, because leave it to a roman to be that sick.

anyways, caesar did have an heir; octavian. but octavian didn’t die because he promised to restore the republic on the condition he would be imperator (general), princeps, and pontifex maximus (great high priest). so octavian can’t be killed by legal or religious law, and to the romans, if you fuck with the gods you basically doom yourself to a fate possibly worse than death. so that’s how the roman republic ended.

fun fact: caesar mostly spoke greek, so his words to brutus were not “et tu, brute?” but “kai su, teknon?” which meant “you too, my child?”

all of this info is from my latin IV teacher, correct if you wish.

#ides of march #classical #classics #roman history #history #julius caesar #caesar

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