#like chb is dangerous but this is TOO FAR

[demigod-shenanigans]

More next gen stuff since that’s apparently what we’re doing right now:

Veronica di Angelo, Will and Nico’s adopted demigod child from my shared custody universe with @queenjunothegreat

Backstory:

-Veronica’s dad died when they were a baby and they ended up in the foster system. They ran away from neglectful foster parents when they were six and were thankfully found by a satyr and brought to camp relatively quickly after that.

-By that point there’s an established foster program for what used to be the year rounders because the whole concept of “children that can’t return home because it’s too dangerous and/or because their families are dead and that are therefore left to just deal their trauma on their own with at most the care of a slightly older teenager” was always a terrible idea. There’s also some adult volunteer demigods at camp who provide much-needed supervision and support for the kids who haven’t found demigod foster parents yet.

-Especially Nico knows just how much of a difference it could have made to have a trusted adult looking out for him when he was terrified and grieving, so he was the one who initially suggested to Will that they volunteer to stick around and look after the kids. Will was down for it immediately, partially because that way he can take over being the main healer at camp again. He refuses to have that role go to another fourteen year old, that is way too much responsibility, these kids deserve to be actual kids.

-Will patches Veronica up when they get to camp and is able to calm them down a little after the initial Greek mythology freakout, but Nico is the first person to really get through to them. Veronica hasn’t had a trusted adult for so long and things are a lot at the beginning, but Nico is great at finding a balance between giving them space and being supportive at the same time. They grow very attached to him over the next few months.

-It also just in general means the world to this little enby kid to see happy queer adults in a healthy relationship.

-Eventually Nico and Will sit them down and ask if they’d like to be their kid officially. Veronica immediately says yes.

Additional details/fun facts under the cut:

-Veronica is a child of Nike. Go-to nickname is V, like the victory sign.

-Generally they’re a pretty chill person but the second there’s any kind of competition, things get heated very quickly. Even if it’s just a card game with no real stakes aside from winning, they will be a competitive gremlin about it.

-Due to their parentage, V is naturally athletic and a great strategist. They can also fly, though not nearly as well or as far as a child of Zeus/Jupiter could.

-They’ve had a very intense rivalry with Emilia McLean basically since they met because Em had the audacity to beat them in their first ever CHB capture the flag game. The two of them care about each other a great deal but refuse to admit it. They bicker constantly. They’re never on the same team for any of the activities, despite the fact that they’d be damn near unstoppable if they worked together.

-There’s an ongoing bet at CHB about whether or not they’re dating Em. The answer is secret third thing (the two of them are in the world’s most chaotic qpr but neither of them realizes this for the longest time)

-Aside from Em, the person Veronica is closest to is a Hypnos child named Poppy, who is the only calm, chill person in their chaotic little trio. Whenever Poppy gets tired of Em and V’s bickering, she puts them both to sleep.

-Veronica is very close with both of their dads, but especially with Nico.

-When they were little and crawled into their dads’ bed after a nightmare, Will always asked if they wanted him to go nightlight mode so they could sleep more easily (the answer was usually yes). Sometimes when they get upset when they’re older he’ll start glowing unprompted and it still helps.

-They hate getting injured because Will being the main camp healer means their dad is basically always one of the first people to know they did something stupid. It’s really embarrassing.

-They have a decently close relationship with both Hades and Apollo. Neither of them care that V is adopted, that is their grandkid regardless.

-They do not have a great relationship with their mom, who’s really only around when they win something. Veronica has two wonderful dads and two godly granddads who don’t make them put on a show to gain their attention, so at some point they just tell their mom not to bother anymore. They may like winning, especially against Em, but they’re not doing it for Nike’s sake.

-They really enjoy dyeing their hair.

-Veronica adores Frank and Hazel. Family game nights with V and the twins are terrifying (mostly for the adults. The kids usually have a great deal of fun, even though it does look like there’s about to be bloodshed at least half of the evening).

-Aside from Frank and Hazel, V’s favorite member of the Seven is probably Jason because he was really patient and helpful when it came to teaching Veronica to control their ability to fly. That was something they struggled with for a while (largely due to the fact that Nike’s flight works via wings, and Veronica inherited the ability to fly, but did not get the wings, so controlling said flight is… a problem.) Jason had to gently coax them/fly them down from the ceiling a few times because they couldn’t figure out how to get back down after they accidentally went antigravity mode while pacing.

-On Will’s side of the family, Kayla is their favorite, purely based on the fact that they managed to bait her into teaching them how to shoot arrows.

[my-pjo-stuff]

The most braindead take I ever must have seen in the PJO fandom is people giving Luke shit for "abandoning" Chris in the labyrinth.

Because Luke didn't abandon SHIT. Chris was out on a mission to get Ariadne's string in the Labyrinth! That mission went south when Minos drove the guy insane. We have every reason to believe that Chris went in there willingly. Because it was a MISSION. A mission Luke most definitely never went on himself, since he was sort of preoccupied with, yk- LEADING AND ORGANIZING THE ARMY AND PREPPING TO BECOME KRONOS' VESSLE. (For those getting mad at Luke for not going with Chris- bffr he has better stuff to do. He's not only the leader of the TA and also will be Kronos' vessle. You really thinking Kronos would allow his body to possibly get lost in some random labyrinth when someone else could do the job just as well? And that's ignoring Luke'd duties as a leader and top dog of the TA he also can't just abandon)

Luke would have abandoned Chris if he was on the mission too and just ditched him once he went insane, or if Chris sent out a distress signal and Luke decided to never go rescue him. Neither applies here. Everyone in the TA and CHB knew that a war was brewing! Chris was most CERTAINLY aware of the risks- for all the TA knows Chris was either still navigating the labyrinth while he was in CHB or dead. They never "abandoned" ANYONE.

Because by that logic that would mean that Chiron would also have abandoned all the campers who went on missions or quests and died from it 'cause something went wrong, BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO CHRIS. No one ever thought about or could have foreseen Chris going crazy. That was NEVER the plan! A mission went south and ended badly, that's just what happens sometimes in this world! And everyone knows it! Would CHB have abandoned Percy and Annabeth had their quest into the labyrinth gone wrong? Well if we go by the logic of some fans they would have. 'Cause nothing else happened to Chris. And now if people come here and say "yeah, well- Chris was still a child and shouldn't have been sent off into the labyrinth in the first place" First off, NO SHIT SHERLOCK! It's not like the fact that it's wrong for demigods to be used as child soldiers is a major reason for Luke to revolt in the first place! Not like IT'S CANONICALLY ADDRESSED THAT DEMIGOD LIVES ARE DANGEROUS AND ARE USED AS CANON FODDER BY GODS.

Luke frankly said doesn't have any other fucking choice! ALL demigods are young as fuck BECAUSE they die so young- there are no older people around to do it! The TA reasons that they have to change this now and have danger in their lives now so they can build a better future where that won't be a thing anymore! (If you try to go, "well he could have sent a monster-" bffr we all know that A) those guys are NOT smart enough to navigate the labyrinth on average and B) the few that are are not only very rare but generally also high ranking) Second off, please keep that energy up with everyone else! You're gonna judge Chiron and the gods too for sending even YOUNGER kids to do even more DANGEROUS stuff? Where are you talking about CHB making Luke go on his Ladon quest (all alone for all we know) at 17? Chris was 15 in BotL as far as I know, only 2 years younger? Where is the hate on the gods for forcing the Master Bolt quest onto Percy at the age of 12? That was equally (if not more) dangerous as the labyrinth!

Like, listen: If you dislike Luke, be my guest! As much as I love him I can easily see why people might not have the best of opinions on him. He did lots of fucked stuff- but for the love of GOD be reasonable if you want to give us reason why you dislike him! Which, by the way, isn't neccesary! You can just- dislike characters because you dislike them. No moral reasoning needed. All I ask of people is that they are fair and reasonable when they give moral reasons for not liking someone. Because the claim that "Luke abandoned Chris in the labyrinth" is just straight up garbage if you even think about it a little bit.

[eewtp]

Not a PJO Show Review*

Now I was so excited for a truthful adaptation of the books and I am left just disappointed with every new episode that comes out. First of all, why was this fourth episode not even 30 minutes long? ?

Anyway, one of my main issues so far includes pacing of the story. It’s very much stuck in a “rushed but at the same time slow” moving kind of pace, which is insanely weird. In one episode they spend all their time in one place but the writing tries to cram so much detail into that episode that everything rushes by with dialogue instead of action. It’s so weird I can’t even describe it well, but the point is that there is entirely too much of the characters walking you across the street with dialogue only readers could actually follow/understand.

(For example; Zeus is pissed that the bolt is missing and wants it back by the summer solstice or else he’ll start a war. The solstice is in a few days. This is mentioned once/twice and nobody has shown even an ounce of urgency to find the bolt. It’s just expected of you to remember that fact while the show does nothing to remind you of it- the sun is always out and it’s not stormy to show just how mad Zeus is, the characters calmly walk and chat and never once mention the bolt again, etc.)

The exposition dumping does not help at all; a sentence or two to describe something important only for the talking to drag on with the expectation that you know what they’re talking about. Grover absolutely running through what CHB is all about, the entire point of the kids’ quest, Annabeth being the daughter of wisdom (so far there has not been one instance where this is proven, just mentioned offhandedly). There’s hardly any personality attached to any one character because all they do is rapidly explain things.

Now, exactly why are they going to the Underworld? To save Sally, yes; but what does that have to do with the bolt? At this point their mission is Sally, not the quest- the Hellhound chase scene was cut from the show, so now there is no indication at all that Hades might have had something to do with the missing bolt. Poseidon and Zeus are pointing fingers at each other (which was either not mention or I missed it because of how off handed this detail was), so why in the world would Hades play a part in this? Because these three hate each other? Again, only readers would be inclined to think like this because their hatred was never emphasized or expanded upon.

(Are they hoping to just ask and receive some kind of news about the bolt? They have no lead as to where the bolt may be, so going to Sally’s aid first and then figuring out details with the bolt is so questionable. Again, this is far from showing the urgency of the situation)

Also, Luke’s betrayal is going to be interesting. He’s the one who let the Hellhound in, which put the entirety of camp in danger for his own goals. Without this, he’s just some guy who doesn’t agree with the situation they’re currently in- he’s not dangerous or evil, so far he’s just there.

Friendships are just not there. They say Luke and Annabeth are like family but they’ve spoken once. They say Luke and Percy are tentative friends but all they did was have a tour around camp. They say Percy and Grover are best friends but their conversations mainly revolve around dumping exposition.

There’s more I have to say but I’ll just say I have hope the show will make up for this iffy start. It’s not too much, but it’s there-ish.

[bimyself06]

A PJO au that's currently biting the cage called my brain.

Poseidon decides that he can no longer stand by Zeus and his decisions at some point(this happens before WWII) without putting himself and his people in danger so he abdicates his place in the council and creates a new one with sea deities only, Aphrodite doesn't join him but does act as an informant of sorts.

Since Poseidon deffected before the Oath, he doesn't make it meaning he continues to have kids but since he deffected and isn't an Olympian anymore his children and their mortal parent get homes either in the sea or near it, same goes for other sea deities. They don't attend CHB or CJ, both Greeks and Romans intermingle, there are a few arranged marriages if thier godly parents are having disputes, they get trained/attend the underwater sea camp, and godly parent can visit the child.

When Percy is born Sally permanently moves to Montauk, and with help from the other mortal parents who live in Montauk manages to finish her education and start her writing career. Percy grows up getting weekly visits from his dad and half siblings and in environment where he doesn't feel like he stands out like a sore thumb despite everyone knowing he's basically their prince, his powers are trained at a much younger age too.

However kids do need to attend school and as smart as their mortal parents are they do deserve to experience normal child things like school, if things don't work out a personal tutor is hired for the child. This is how Percy met Grover and for the first time in over a century that a sea child not coming from Aphrodite's line goes CHB.

Hijinks happens, Percy takes in the camp and is a little disappointed (he's been raised as the youngest prince of the sea and has a countless of older siblings, and attends the sea camp he has high standards and is a little spoiled but still our lovable Percy) but immediately clicks with the Aphrodite kids, there's a bit more of friction between Percy and Annabeth and her cabin as a whole as opposed to canon as he was raised around a bunch of deities who still blame Athena for Pallas death, he's comfortable around the Hephaestus and Ares kids as they remind him of his father's forges and Kim and her kids(she canonically hates her husband, I would not be surprised if she has a kid somewhere as a way to spit on their marriage), the Demeter kids are the second cabin he near instant clicks with as they are family and as far as he knows their parents don't have beef. He befriended the Apollo kids when he went to them to ask if there's any procedure he should know about in case of a medical emergency when not underwater and revealed that he could help remove poison from the body. He's on the fence on the Hermes and Dionysus cabins as the latter keep to themselves and hasn't had time to properly meet the former.

[vvarvvon]

canon divergences.

last update: 09.09.24

the american civil war —

yeah... it having a greek vs roman aspect in hoo is super fucked up & disrespectful to what that war was actually about.

on this blog, the greek/roman aspects of the gods split simply because they are worshipped separately, so they grew apart. the gods are a reflection of how people envision them. much like how pan faded because people didn't know about him.

world war two —

again, giving it a "the big three's kids are fighting" aspect is disrespectful to what that war was actually about. not going to acknowledge it having a demigod aspect, because again, that was fucked up to put into the books.

the pact of the big three did happen around this time, but it's pure coincidence. the great prophecy was delivered at this time & that was the catalyst for the pact.

the gods only exist in "the heart of the west" —

...what?

genuinely, what?

this blog won't be doing that.

the gods exist wherever they are worshipped. their main home is still greece / rome. every other location mentioned in the series is simply a portal back to their actual location (ex: the empire's 600th floor is a portal to mount olympus in greece, doa records is a portal to the greek underworld).

alaska being a dark spot is more because no one lives there (sorry to the 700k alaskans out there), not it being too far away from the gods home base. other dark spots exist for this same reason.

technology attracting monsters —

no.

mostly because i can't wrap my head around how a phone / laptop / whatever can amplify a demigod's aura when monsters are specifically said to be able to SMELL demigods.

DEMIGOD DIARIES SPOILERS // i know that monster sense is due to a spell by lamia, but seriously... don't establish that monsters sense demigods by smell & then tack on that technology makes it easier for monsters to find them.

camp counselors —

"chb's counselors are the oldest child of that god that is in camp at the time." this reeks of someone who thinks that the older someone is the better when it comes to leading when we all know that's incorrect.

instead, the counselors are picked by each cabin (ex: cabin five chose sherman specifically after clarisse left for college, he wasn't just given it because he was the oldest).

pretty sure this is actually canon (see: drew vs piper being cabin 10 counselor; travis & connor co-counseling cabin 11)/a retcon added later, but i still wanted to include it because i remember the counselors being the oldest pissing me off as a kid.

hunter's oath —

since it was made canon that artemis doesn't accept any type of romance when it comes to her hunters, i have changed the wording of their oath. all i did was get rid of the "i turn my back on the company of men" line.

it now says "i pledge myself to the goddess artemis, accept eternal maidenhood and join the hunt.”

the twelfth legion fulminata —

i know that hoo is targeted towards children & teens, so having the army be in the age bracket of the audience makes sense... but since new rome is its own society with demigods who managed to LIVE INTO ADULTHOOD, it's super fucked up that the army is children.

i will keep the "demigods must serve ten years starting from when they arrive" aspect, but their service will be more like the training chb demigods receive. children will not be the leaders of either the army or of the city.

the romans have older demigods (20s-40s) who stayed after their ten years mixed into the legion & that's who they consider to be the army. it's those demigods who get sent on missions & do the actual dangerous stuff (as long as a god doesn't specifically ask for a younger demigod by name).

DEATH TW // it was not until the battle of mount othrys & most of these elder demigods were slaughtered fighting the titan army that the 12th legion was forced to pivot to having teenagers be in charge (which is why jason & reyna, aka CHILDREN, are in charge of the legion by the time hoo comes around).

new rome schooling —

along with their service to the legion being closer to "here's how to not die" training, the demigods also attend school.

it's one building, k12, that runs on a year-round calendar. the curriculum is based around what will actually be useful to them (though standard english & math classes must be taken).

it is also assumed that nearly every student will have some form of neurodivergence & quite a few will have dyscalculia. as such, there is help available & the curriculum is designed around these disabilities.

why big three kids are super powerful —

they're said to be the most powerful because they are "children of the eldest gods" as if demeter isn't also from that same generation & has kids?? as if zeus isn't the youngest of the six og olympians??? as if aphrodite is not the first of the gods??

"a child of the eldest gods shall reach sixteen against all odds" could very well refer to a demeter kid!

the reason i will be using for the big three's kids being the most powerful is that their fathers are kings of the three major domains—the sky, the sea, & the underworld. these demigods have the power of whole domains in their blood. that's what makes them the most powerful demigods, not their godly parent's age.

HOWEVER, that being said, i play jakke, luna, & rhis as on the same power level as children of the big three. and i play aeron as less powerful than other big three kids.

> jakke as mystiokinesis is the ability to change reality through spells & all other hecate kids are shown to be super powerful. don't worry, i still honor alabaster being hecate's most powerful son & never want jakke to be over-powered.

> luna as njörðr is king of the vanir & god of the ocean. i feel it would be wrong to not have her be able to compete with percy who is also a son of a king & ocean god. plus, she has the strength of being an einherji on her side.

> rhis as i am leaning into how some myths consider erebus & tartarus one & the same. as well as how erebus is a concept, meaning rhis has the power of the idea of darkness at her fingertips. plus, she has the blessing of artemis, which increases her power, and has been honing her strength over the centuries.

> aeron has far less power than nico (or bianca, though she died before we ever saw the full extent of her powers). aeron's power comes more from hades being the god of wealth than the king of the dead. he's closer to hazel's power level pre-hecate.

god problems —

i can not get behind dionysus hating demigods. i think it's more a general "heroes are uptight" & "i can't stand to see anyone else die on my watch" than an outright disdain. i get that it's because of theseus, but ehhhhhh.

artemis saying she gets hunters who are preteens because that's before they discover boys??? predator behavior. yes, most of the hunters are preteen girls, but that's more because that's just the general age of greek demigods since, you know, we're told they tend to die as teens.

most persephone rpers that i see follow the interpretation that she went willingly / wasn't kidnapped / actually loves hades / ate the pomegranate on purpose. & those w/ pjo verses have her a kind stepmother to hades's kids (whether or not she has her own). as such, i'll also be following this interpretation over the one laid out in the books.

hera's only mean in the myths because married women are one-dimensional thanks to sexism. i don't see her hating demigods unless they're children of zeus (& even then, i think it's more a hatred towards what they represent rather than anything about them specifically). she's actually a nice queen to those who don't do anything to piss her off.

legacies —

in the books legacies are... not well defined. they're the grandchildren & beyond of gods, but how powerful they are is inconsistent. i think this post put it best: riordan wanted to showcase how different the camps are & decided nepotism & discrimination was the best way to go about it?? weird as hell decision!!

on this blog, their power scale would be a diluted version of a demigod, if that makes any sense? example: a great-grandchild of poseidon might have mild hydrokinesis or be able to heal in salt water, while a grandchild of poseidon would have more powerful hydrokinesis and be able to heal in all water, while a child of poseidon is well... we see how powerful percy is in the books.

things like octavian's prophecy & frank's shapeshifting are a blessing from their godly relative (kind of like the blessing of artemis or the blessing of ares). they are something apollo chose to give octavian / something poseidon chose to give frank, not something they are inherently born with.

i just have a lot of thoughts about legacies.

pen pals —

this one is more just for fun, not a nit-pick with the book.

after the second giant war forced the camps to start getting along & jace got his quest from mercury, a pen pal system was established. iris/arcus & her cloud nymphs help expedite the process through iris messages.

i just adore the idea of demigods from the different camps being friends.

other havens —

other safe havens for demigods / other mythos folk exist. it's not just chb, new rome, the house of life, & the waystation. plenty exist in the americas & there are plenty on other continents.

[teen-bxtch-movie]

god i literally hate the idea of the lava wall at chb. it brings up so many questions too. is there an active volcano at chb??? there’s apparently different difficulties so they can also control the flow of lava too. there’s also boulders??? at the same time?? what do they do if the boulders keep falling in the lava?? how many boulders do they have??? why do they use real lava??? why not use a replica or something that isn’t leathal ??? and we know it’s real lava bc percy once got his arm hair singed off from it. like i know chb is pretty lax about safety but what the fuck???also the amount of injuries it would cause . not just your average burns but smoke inhalation too??? like dam maybe it’s a good thing demigods die early bc if they didn’t the smoke inhalation would. i feel like will solace would be against the wall bc of how much injuries it causes. like he petitions chiron to at least change the lava bc of how dangerous it is

[aroaceleovaldez]

Can I hear more about your roadtrip au? I dont have a specific question I'm just absolutely *Delighted* by this idea and would adore more!

YES YOU MAY ANON

the au is essentially: In the beginning of TTC, instead of the gang getting picked up by Apollo to go back to CHB, they wait for Sally to turn her car around and come back to pick them up like she said she would if they needed and Thalia, Percy, Grover, Bianca, Nico, and Zoë all end up piled in the car for the eight hour road trip from Maine back to Long Island.

It’s basically the quest character arcs speedrun but also Nico and Sally are there. Why are Bianca and Zoë in the car instead of traveling with the Hunters back to CHB? Idk, reasons. Probably Bianca and Nico insisted on traveling together and Zoë volunteered to chaperone. Whatever the reason, it ends up basically eight hours of these kids absolutely at each other’s throats. Bianca and Nico are fighting. Zoë and Thalia are fighting. Thalia and Percy are fighting. Percy is two seconds away from throwing Nico out of the car. Zoë is pretty close to doing the same to Grover. Thalia, Percy, and Grover are also all extremely upset about Annabeth being kidnapped by the Titan Army and are worrying themselves sick the entire time. Nobody’s slept, least of all Sally. It’s a mess. But in this chaos, they can all agree on one singular thing: Do Not Piss Off Sally. Despite them trying their hardest to kill each other in the back seats, they are also trying so hard to not disturb Sally, because she is wonderful and is being nice enough to drive them back home.

(More under the cut cause the extended explanation got long):

There are of course dangers besides the teenagers trying to kill each other - other things want to kill them too. They’re a car absolutely packed full of demigods that’s stuck on the road for eight hours, with as far as they know two children of the Big Three on top of that (and later, they will learn, actually four children of the Big Three). So they have to book it back to CHB, which means stopping as little as possible. But conversely, that means this car full of upset ADHD teenagers are not allowed to stretch their legs for several hours, which only makes things worse. There is seat kicking. Nico has spent literally every hour since the school dance trying to get anyone to play Mythomagic with him. The CDs in Sally’s car are voted not to be played and Thalia is denied the aux cord. There is ipod kidnapping. Nico is introduced to the entire MCR discography in an attempt to get him to shut up. The batteries of both Thalia and Percy’s ipods die. Thalia claims she cannot charge batteries with her powers. Twenty minutes later her lie is caught. Thalia refuses to charge Percy’s ipod. They end up agreeing to listen to a random CD of swing music Bianca finds at a rest stop for an hour. This is one of many arguments they get into.

They get like four hours into the drive before Sally goes “It is like, 10am, I have not slept, I need to sleep or I will crash this car.” and pulls over and tells the kids to not kill each other. The kids try to kill each other quietly but out of concern of being too loud and disturbing Sally they all finally decide to get out and stretch their legs. Then they find out Nico and Bianca are children of Hades and Nico intimidates everyone into finally playing Mythomagic with him. This is one of the first ceasefires of the entire drive, entirely out of fear that the ten year old is gonna sic the undead on them if they don’t play his silly card game. So they just sit there outside the car playing the Tensest Mythomagic Game Ever. Nico is ecstatic about this development. Grover has moved on to eating his second deck of cards out of fear.

By the time they actually get back to CHB they’ve stopped trying to kill each other and share a mutual respect in a way you can only achieve from being trapped in a hellish roadtrip with someone for eight hours. Minus Nico, who everyone is just Slightly More Afraid Of, because they’re still not sure he’s not above using his powers to make people play Mythomagic with him. Nico does not care and is still delighted that people actually played Mythomagic with him.

As a bonus, here is a doodle i made while initially discussing this au, featuring The Great Mythomagic Truce Of Hour 4:

[tsarisfanfiction]

Order-Bound

Fandom: Trials of Apollo Rating: Gen Genre: Family/Angst Characters: Apollo, Will Solace

Apollo didn’t want to endanger any more demigods, so the obvious thing to do was to sneak out while his Master was asleep.

Day twenty-nine of TOApril organised by @ferodactyl, “A Futile Hope”.   This is a dabble in an AU idea I tossed around in the toa discord today, where Apollo fell directly into CHB, rather than Manhattan, and subsequently has a very different demigod master.  I have far too many other things to write to make a full story out of this AU at the moment, but who knows, maybe one day I’ll play in this sandbox properly.

There’s now a discord server for all my fics, including this one!  If you wanna chat with me or with other readers about stuff I write (or just be social in general), hop on over and say hi!

Apollo felt it before he heard it, a tug with no physical tether but a tug nonetheless, yanking him backwards.  It wasn’t the first time he’d felt the sensation, but he’d hoped he’d put enough distance between himself and Camp Half-Blood that it wouldn’t happen again.

How had Will realised he’d gone so soon?  He’d snuck out at midnight (yes, with a wistful look up at the moon and the sister he couldn’t contact), when his children were all fast asleep.  Children of the sun didn’t stir at night, they just didn’t.  And yet, here Apollo was, being reeled in on the end of a very long, invisible fishing line as his son’s voice went ultrasonic from somewhere back the way he’d come.

“APOLLO, COME BACK HERE NOW!”

He fought it, because he really, really did not want to go back.  Going back meant dragging other demigods into his quest, dragging his children out onto a dangerous quest, and there was a reason Apollo had snuck out without letting on any intentions to anyone.  Not even Chiron had known, let alone his children.

The Order could not be denied, however, and he was forced to stumble backwards, falling over more than once as he tried to scrabble away from the echoes of his son’s command.

He ended up a dishevelled mess at Will’s feet.  His hair no doubt looked like he’d been dragged through several hedges backwards – not totally inaccurate, although an entire woodland would be more precise – there were several rips in his t-shirt, and several scratches (bleeding red, and no, Apollo was still very much not okay with that), criss-crossing his arms.

Will did not look happy.  There was no anger on his face, or even in his stance.  The same resigned determination from earlier was present, when he’d forced Apollo not to immediately run into the forest to find Austin and Kayla but rather help with the medical triage first and plan accordingly before they went in, but primarily he looked tired and upset.

“Why, Dad?” he asked, shoulders slumping as he held out a hand to help Apollo to his feet.  Apollo didn’t want to accept it, but he didn’t want to upset his son any more, either, and hesitated with indecision.  “We’re supposed to be handling this together.” He’d clearly rolled out of bed in a hurry; his feet were bare, his tank top was oversized and rumpled, and old and worn boxers clearly nearing the end of their lifespan peaked out from beneath the too-long hem.  He was in no state to be wandering frantically through the woods outside of the camp’s border, and Apollo fought the urge to cry.

This was exactly what he didn’t want.

“Why are you awake?” he replied, dodging the question and hoping Will wouldn’t Order him to answer. When he’d claimed his services – against Apollo’s will, but of course his children knew the stories – he’d promised he wouldn’t abuse it, and while he clearly was unafraid of using it from time to time (now being a blatantly obvious example), Apollo liked to think he knew Will well enough to know he wasn’t the sort to renegade on that reassurance entirely.

Will’s fingers, warm but shaking slightly, wrapped around his wrist when he didn’t accept the hand fast enough and pulled him to his feet.  Eyes that looked more grey than blue in the light of Artemis’ chariot looked him up and down, and Apollo wondered if he was assessing him.

If he was still a god, he’d be able to tell if Will was using his vitakinesis.

If he was still a god, he wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.

“You left,” the teenager said, and oh, Olympus, did he have to sound quite so heartbroken about it? Apollo left the demigods behind to protect them, he didn’t need to start feeling like a villain for upsetting them.  “Someone had to catch you.”

Someone being his son-slash-demigod master, and that still didn’t add up because Will was not supposed to be awake this far into Artemis’ shift.  He was obviously tired, powered by adrenaline that was starting to fade away and causing his eyelids to droop again, but he was refusing to give into it. Still, if Will wasn’t pushing him for more of an explanation, then Apollo realised he couldn’t push Will for one, either.

“Let’s go back to Camp,” Will continued.  “We’ll work out what to do in the morning.”  Apollo tried to surreptitiously reclaim his wrist but his son held on tighter.  “And, Dad, I’m sorry, but you can’t leave my side until I say so.”

The Order settled over Apollo like a constricting blanket, suffocating him as Will turned and took a step back towards Camp, tugging him along in his wake.

“You can’t do that!” he complained.  “Will Solace, undo that order!”

Moonlight-greyed eyes met his.  “I’m sorry,” Will apologised, and the worst thing was that Apollo could tell he meant it.  He was genuinely sorry for using the power he had over him to imprison him until further notice, and how was Apollo supposed to stay angry in the face of such sincerity from his son?  “Dad, I want you to be safe, but I can’t protect you if you run off.”

That hurt.  It wasn’t Will’s job to protect him, he was Will’s father.  He was a god.  It should be the other way around; Apollo should be protecting Will and his other children.  The fact that he was reduced to this, the fact that Will had run out of the protective barrier of the camp with no shoes and no weapons to find him because he felt the responsibility to keep him safe, stung.

Things weren’t supposed to be like this.  Apollo was supposed to be the protector – even now, it should have been him, and he tried to make it him – but with six words the day he woke up, mortal, in Camp Half-Blood, more mortal than he’d ever been before, Will had flipped the dynamic on its head and apparently nothing Apollo could do could revert it to the way it should be.

I, Will Solace, claim your service.

He’d hated it at the time, hated the target his son had painted on his own back by tying their lives together for the foreseeable future, and he hated it now, as he reluctantly trudged back past Peleus and the golden fleece, back into Camp Half-Blood where harpies screeched angrily and what appeared to be the entire occupancy of the camp were far from pleased where they were poking out of their various cabins.

“You found him, then,” Nico commented, materialising at Will’s other side.  Apollo half wondered if he’d shadow-travelled, or if he was just used to sneaking around in the dark.

“Did you have to wake the whole camp up with that screech?” Sherman yelled from the doorway of Cabin Five. “Apollo kids are supposed to be dead to the world right now!”

The use of the word dead had Apollo flinching.

“Sorry,” Will apologised, sounding genuinely contrite as he led Apollo straight back into Cabin Seven. “It was an emergency.”  It was impressive, was what it was, and even though it meant Apollo’s attempt to keep the demigods out of his dangerous quest had spectacularly failed, he was still proud of what Will could and would do, if needed.

Sherman grumbled, but the door closed behind them, leaving Nico outside and shutting out the rest of the camp.

“Dad!”  Kayla and Austin looked even worse than Will, but they still stumbled from their bunks to greet him.  “Where did you go?”

Apollo winced, and Will intervened.  “In the morning,” he yawned.  “Dad’s back for now.  Apollo, you don’t have to stick by me anymore” – Apollo relaxed as the Order released him – “but you can’t leave the cabin until I say so.”

“Will,” he complained.  His son trudged back to his own bunk.

“We’ll talk in the morning, Dad,” Will insisted.  “I know you have to go on that quest, I do, even if I hate it, but-” he yawned again “-you’re not going alone and we’ll work that out when I’m awake enough to think.”

Apollo watched him all but face-plant the bunk and fall asleep instantly.  Austin and Kayla, bleary-eyed, followed suit – his children really shouldn’t be stirring in the middle of the night – and left him standing in the middle of the cabin, cursing whatever it was that had woken Will, and by extension the rest of the camp.

He pushed at the door and it swung open, but the Order held firm and he couldn’t take a step out.  The harpies were shrieking unhappily, aggressively divebombing any camper that had dared leave their cabin – he saw Nico duck away from one and sprint the rest of the way to Cabin Thirteen – and Apollo begrudgingly pulled the door closed again, not wanting to disturb his sleeping children any more than they already had been.

Olympus, why had it ended up like this?  Come morning, there’d be a meeting about his quest and Will definitely wouldn’t let him go without him, which meant he’d be dragging his son and almost certainly Nico into the mess.

Apollo poked at a window, but the moment he tried to wriggle out through it the Order made itself known again.  Even half asleep, Will had managed not to leave any loopholes, and it was with no small amount of frustration that Apollo eventually slumped back to his own designated cot, defeated.

There had to be some way out of this.  Some way to leave alone, without a demigod entourage, without putting anyone else in danger.

Apollo ignored the little logical voice in the back of his head that said Will wasn’t going to let him out of his sight again.

There had to be a way out.

He didn’t find it.

[gatesofember]

can you expand on the canon and fanon ableism in solangelo? I sort of picked up on the infantilisation of nico (hes dealing with ptsd and i guess chronic fatigue, hes not a baby) but i always thought that was handled better in canon than in fanon? But then i havent read ToN i admit

Sure! I don’t know that I’m the best person to ask this because while I am disabled, I’m still unlearning a lot of ableism myself. But I’ll try my best to explain! Maybe some people could recommend some good posts about this if they know any?

Infantilizing—like you mentioned, this is one of the biggest problems with ableism in the fandom. There isn’t much of this in canon, but in fanon Nico’s often characterized as helpless and he’s not taken seriously. Will often plays the role of caretaker rather than boyfriend to an infantilized Nico, which creates an inherent and unhealthy power imbalance.

Will being portrayed as a savior—a common and dangerous trope in romance is that one character is saved by the love of another. It’s especially damaging when the character being saved has mental health problems or physical disabilities. I think most people realize nowadays that this isn’t okay, but you’ll still occasionally see things that portray Will as a savior. Nico entering a relationship because he’s healing and accepting himself is great! But Nico being saved by a relationship? Bad.

Victim blaming—honestly most characters who interact with Nico in canon engage in some level of victim blaming, but by far the worst one was Will (aside from like. Hades and Minos.) In BoO, Will went on an entire rant telling Nico that he was responsible for his own problems and that he manufactured his own abandonment by pushing people away, when really, Nico was the victim of bullying, rejection, abuse, and serious mental health problems—and he already blamed himself for all that so Will’s rant only would have made him feel more invalidated. Later books definitely pulled back on the victim blaming, but it was such a prevalent part of the foundation of their relationship that it’s been ingrained in the ship. It shows a severe and dangerous misunderstanding of mental health on the part of both Riordan and the fandom.

Will being Nico’s healthcare provider—What makes Will being portrayed as a savior even worse is the fact that Will is a healer. Doctors shouldn’t date their patients. Much like the caretaker issue I mentioned above, it creates a power imbalance which is usually satisfied because the doctor is paid for doing their job, but things get messy when any kind of personal relationship is involved. Will should not be in charge of Nico’s medical care. Of course he can act as Nico’s healer in emergencies, but Nico’s primary medical care provider should be someone else. If Will acts as Nico’s medical care provider out of necessity (eg, because he’s the only healer at camp halfblood), then they need to set up clear boundaries and rules. Will being Nico’s doctor should never be spun as a good thing.

Will abusing his authority as a medical care provider—most notably the “doctor’s orders” and “doctor’s note” scenes. Will was extremely overbearing in BoO, from forbidding Nico from using his powers to ordering him to stay in the infirmary, and that kind of pushiness isn’t okay. He was abusing his power, doubting Nico’s judgement and capabilities, and denying Nico’s right to make his own decisions (again, infantilizing). Disabled people’s agency is often denied and autonomy is so important. Nico should have been allowed to make the choice to stay in the infirmary on his own (or not to stay, or to follow through with his plan to leave chb; he should have had the freedom to make those choices, too), and frankly, it would have been a much more powerful ending to Nico’s pov if he had. He should have chosen to go to the infirmary because he decided he wanted to get better, not because he wanted to be around Will (see previous point about Will being portrayed as a savior) (although it would have been fine if Nico thought of Will as an added bonus). I said in the previous post that Will writing a doctor’s note to allow Nico to sit at the Apollo table doesn’t bother me, but that’s because I imagine that situation being like, Nico was denied accommodations so Will and Nico hatched a plan together to use what little leverage they have to get adults to listen to Nico’s needs and take him seriously, but both of them fully understood that Will should not act as Nico’s doctor again unless there were serious medical reasons. Other people interpret that scene as Will abusing his power as the head medic to sit next to his boyfriend. And I’m not saying that my interpretation of that scene is necessarily the correct one, just that I don’t interpret it as Will being ableist.

Nico faking his disability to get things—I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone bring this point up, but it’s something that really bothers me. The ableism regarding the “doctor’s note” for me isn’t the scene itself, but when the fandom portrays Will and Nico constantly using the doctor’s note excuse to get what they want, often having Nico fake some sort of symptom. Besides the abuse of power I mentioned before, promoting the idea that disabled people fake disabilities to get certain privileges is not okay. This is the sort of thinking that leads to stereotyping disabled people as lazy and it’s so prevalent that it makes a lot of disabled people wonder if they’re really disabled or if they’re making it all up (which ties in with the victim blaming point again).

Sometimes I agree that canon Solanagelo is less ableist than fanon, but sometimes fans do a better job than Riordan. It really just depends. I definitely think that both Riordan and the fandom have gotten better though! Will’s character and his relationship with Nico was very different in ToN than it was in previous books (different for the better but also to the point of inconsistency, but that’s a different critique). There were a lot of things in ToN that made it clear that Riordan was listening to the responses of disabled people. Some fans seem to be listening, too. There’s still rampant ableism in the fandom, but people are getting better at responding to criticism and realizing that a lot of tropes that used to be popular just aren’t ok.

Thank you for your ask! I’m glad you reached out to learn more. Again, if anyone knows good posts to read or blogs to visit for further information, please reply with them!

[thejudgingtrash]

Can you explain to me how Rachel was annoying in the series?

Well, I’ll try to keep myself short for this one (lol no, this took an hour to write). Also, let’s not forget that they’re all kids, but I’m basing this off from when I read the series as a fourteen year old because my opinions haven’t changed much (for better or for worse).

I’m not the biggest fan of Rachel. I have to admit that portrayals of her by Simi, Kit, Logan, Apollo and all the others helped to shape her into something cooler than what she had been in my foggy memories but I actually went back to take a look in the books (well, TTC + BOTL so far) to refreshen my mind about events that have happened.

Also, you should browse through @blackjacktheboss's blog as she’s a) hilarious and b) says whatever I say in like a single sentence lol. But your ask is about me and my opinions so here we go:

What I didn’t like about Rachel was that she’s rude and bold (DON’T GET ME WRONG, I love that in female characters!!!), but she doesn’t have Annabeth’s excuse of survival of the fittest (literally running off as a traumatized seven year old) and introducing us into the world of the Riordanverse.

Percy was on his way, had shit to deal with and Rachel pretty much interrupted him from the get-go and thought getting her answers was more important than letting Percy just rush forward. Yes, this is Rachel’s entrance into the series and the net Riordan threw into the sea, to make us little fish adapt to her. But it still didn’t sit right with me, probably because I would never interact that way.

I get why she did that, but it’s the way how she did it that’s just making me go ???

Even if I was seeing weird things, I wouldn’t set out to distract/interrupt someone who is incredibly busy to get my way. Rachel’s dick move seems like a Karen boomer type of thing to pull off, but guess that’s up to you.

If I were her, I’d either film/try to photograph the monsters via phone (if that’s possible) or internet stalk enough to find the other person (note: despite Riordan’s stupid rule of not being able to use phones, demigods still can use computers/the internet, I guess). Percy was national news like a year or two ago in the timeline, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to find more stuff out about him, even in like 2008 or so. Let him have a spot on Perez Hilton's shitty gossip blog, for the OGs reading this.

Annabeth was used as a tool of exposition to introduce us to CHB, the demigod life and how things roll around there. She barged into Percy’s mission as a nuisance first but a necessity second in TLT.

However, in comparison to Rachel, Annabeth was transformed into a fully-fledged protagonist within a span of a chapter or two. Rachel needed another separate book after her first appearance, so we don’t just know Annabeth better, we know that she’s an important constant throughout the story as of Rachel seems… almost random? Is she truly necessary as a character?

This doesn’t come from a shipper perspective, this is coming from a character design perspective and adds to the feeling that the way she has been introduced to me as a reader just seems off.

Yes, BOTL makes sense with her as a reborn Ariadne, but technically Sally could’ve done the job as she’s a clear-sighted mortal as well lol. Then again, Sally is an adult, went to college, had a job, was unfortunately probably working it up with Paul, did the cha cha slide with him and had overall better shit to do.

Then Rachel as the oracle, which is just super weird in general. Wasn’t Apollo himself responsible for issuing prophecies in the OG myths? Or did he both, have the oracle of Delphi as his spokesperson and issue important stuff to Team Olympus? Am I mixing things up? I’m getting sidetracked, my bad.

Either way, this oracle gig might be the only time I’d say Rachel might be important in the future (badum tzz), but Riordan fumbled the bag in the follow ups series so there’s that. Did she even appear in HOO? Can’t remember and also don’t care.

Rachel is used as one out of three choices in regard to his love life that Percy can make. Calypso literally got introduced into BOTL and was admittedly Percy’s biggest what if… But the general gist doesn’t sit right with me. We have three possible routes with Percy and the others:

Rachel: somewhat normality in the mortal realm

Annabeth: the danger and thrill of the demigod life

Calypso: ambrosia and nectar. a hint of immortality

(On one hand, literally why but on the other hand, mad props for Percy who has literally three romantic leads in the same book.) I’d cancel one of them at least out and since Annabeth isn’t going anywhere, I’m taking Rachel. Sally could literally been Percy’s anchor to a normal mortal life as she had intended until it didn’t work out anymore when he became twelve and his monster alerting scent grew stronger.

Calypso and Annabeth would’ve been the perfect opposites where each of them had a strong case. The demigod life within the realms or mortal or the demigod life ascending to Olympus/immortality. Sounds cooler and is way simpler. Three people is way too much, this truly feels like a shonen anime harem thing and it’s defo not my cup of tea (and while some Annabeth sideships aren’t my thing (Lukabeth go cry in the corner, no one likes you, WTF, Connabeth you fugly), it’s super unfair that Annabeth solely has Percy (fuck off Luke) to rely on in regards of romantic endeavors).

Rachel almost feels redundant? The option to walk away from all of that… which isn’t really true as Rachel really tries to push and insert herself into the story the very first time we meet her? But that’s just me, I’m certain that others are saying they’d kill off Annabeth or kick Calypso (I mean yeah) into the curb.

Big ALSO:

Why does Percy need another white and uber-rich love interest?

I semi-joked on Dez’ post (@sawasawako) with this response about Annabeth needing to keep up with powerful Rachel, but the core still stands.

We already have an affluent Annabeth (granted, we don’t know exactly how the Chase’s riches are divided, whereas it’s clear that Rachel can just make anyone drop dead by saying who she is. Annabeth needed that weird lotus casino credit card to make that happen, so Miss Harvard Legacy doesn’t wield that Dare schmoney. Also don’t think Annabeth can just up papa’s money and go…? Idk).

Why do we need another person needing to upstage this?

Like Rachel has to triumph in regards to standard and prestige as if it were a badly written Jane Austen AU. For what reason…? Why not make Percy friends and acquaintances with someone who comes from a normal household for once, not super rich brats (Piper, Annabeth, Rachel, technically the Graces with their TV starlet mother amongst others).

Moreover…

Important question: why should Percy actually be impressed/attracted to that? He’s dirt poor and has been sent to (boarding) schools filled with stupid rich people since he’s been twelve, probably even younger than that. As if that’s the very first thing Percy would look out for or be wowed or something. He’s used to rich douchebags. I think he’s more surprised that someone used their money for his benefit for once and not to crash daddy’s new Mercedes again.

Like seriously… Rachel did that weird art project thing in BOTL with her covered in gold and posing like it’s a super normal thing to do? Even for rich snobbish kids standards? That sounds weird to me. I don’t know, maybe Riordan’s been streaming the new Gossip Girl reboot on HBO Max on repeat and thought this girl is on fiyah (performed by Alicia Keys).

Rachel trying to separate herself from her money just comes off as super hypocritical when she’s using the very same funds to finance her lifestyle. I get it, trying to make amends and make a difference with the damage you have done but... your father still doesn't give a shit about the environment or YOU, sweetie. Kick him in the balls for once! Then you can go out about your art projects.

The concept of Percy having friends in the mortal realm is cool, but why does Rachel almost have to compete with Annabeth with her wealth and art stuff?

No seriously, the comparisons are constantly there, out and about. Roaming freely on the finest grass, needing to be feed delicious locally sourced carrots and stuff.

Annabeth is Athena’s kid. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, weaving, justice, warfare yada yada and arts and crafts. So definitely something which would affect Rachel, right (someone write that Athena messing with Rachel because she can AU and tag me please!)?

Annabeth wants to become an architect which translates to fancy building designer who is driving engineers like Leonardo Eugenio Valdez Cortes insane irl because the maths and physics don't work like that in the working field trust me I'm an engineer, which could/should be considered an art form.

They even shared some common ground while talking about architecture and design in BOTL!

Furthermore, they both share broken homes with absent parents (granted that all demigods go through that). Wealthy families at that as well. Shitty fathers that don’t care about their daughters well-being. Rachel however, is super powerful and influential in an unseen level in the mortal world. She isn’t like Matt Sloan (?) who truly messes up by destroying shit to get his father's attention, but she’s still in that circle and can easily demonstrate that. Making deals with her father and what not. We rarely see Annabeth doing that. Did y’all forget the fucking helicopter Rachel brought along in TLO?

Pan saying Rachel is just as important as her father has multiple meanings to me…

(Sidenote: I do think it’s hilarious that Annabeth is jealous/annoyed of Rachel that her remarks were she’s cute right and Percy went??? Or when Tyson said Rachel’s pretty? Or that time when Annabeth actually defended Luke and his weird behavior (because Kronos was slowly taking over, don’t forget that kids!), because f that rich artist nepotism kid that Rachel seems to be, right?)

Another note: Percy thinks Rachel is annoying in BOTL for a while and it took a while for him to admit that and he spent way more time being annoyed/jealous (for once, Lordy) at Luke for him to even notice lol.

I guess it’s really hard for me to exactly pinpoint what’s bothering me. I believe Rachel's persona just doesn’t seem to hit right, because it feels like a knock-off Annabeth who just simply isn’t a demigod, yet has two cool powers, but in even richer who still needs to be part of the story for exactly what reason?

The jumping around from the richest in the series to the poorest in the series is kinda bothering me as if the middle class doesn’t exist, like I’ve stated earlier. Why didn’t Riordan mix it up with Rachel, giving her more nuance the minute they met, not towards the end? Have her be Percy’s platonic friend from the get go. No weird oh wait she is kinda cute in the middle bullshit.

This kinda drifted more into a Perachel vs Percabeth essay, which really wasn’t my intention. Don’t worry kids, I’m criticizing Annabeth (and her stans) enough already.

And I do think that others in the fandom have softened my views on Rachel as a person like I’ve stated in the beginning. So friendship!Perachel is popping! But I do think that there are some valid points that I’ve made.

Also not gonna lie, Rachel issuing the new prophecy in TLO kinda dampened the end of PJO series but that’s more Riordan’s fault than hers.

TLDR: I’m just not a huge fan of this overbearing, uber-rich, excessively flaunting being that Rachel sometimes displays. She’s flawed, she’s broken at times, has a semi-interesting background story (although it has been done over and over again throughout the series and should be changed up for once) which is great, but it is still annoying.

We don’t need an anti-Annabeth who feels like a weird caricature of the real Annabeth.

Also if this seems super incoherent, repetitive, or whatever, I'm sorry, massive headaches + mental health going down the goo lagoon does this to ya, I hope I made somewhat sense!

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

Hi! How do you think Luke's personality would be if he survived, and how would it change during the years? I'm not talking about the campers' reactions,but how Luke would think and act.

hello hello!

oh man, that’s an interesting question and i LOVE IT

so by the wording of your question, it sounds like if the titan war still happened, but luke somehow survived after getting rid of kronos, how he might change in the yrs following

and so, hcs!! in bullet-form!! as always under a cut

so he luke miraculously survives hitting his achilles’ heel

and let’s pretend the gods are a sliver decent and actually fulfill percy’s wish/reward, which now includes luke since he’s alive, and did help save the gods in the end

so he’s not exactly punished, but he is being monitored heavily, almost like he’s on parole or smth

i know it’s hard to believe they’d completely let him off, even in this au, so i’ll throw in a magical ankle bracelet that monitors him–he can’t take it off (without the gods being alerted), or go outside of nyc’s five boroughs, which includes into any magical realms (like the underworld, since there’s an entrance in central park)

if he heads into areas that have high demigod activity/magical auras, with chb as the exception, it alerts whoever now has the task of monitoring him to keep a closer eye on him for that time he’s there

suspicious activity is flagged, and they can recall him to mt olympus and detain him at any time if they think that he’s becoming a danger to the gods again

speaking of chb, i don’t think he’d be able to stay there after the titan war, too many painful memories–too many ppl who hate him, or don’t trust him, etc.

it’s hard to say what his and annabeth’s relationship would be. as i’ve said in a previous ask, i think luke was asking if annabeth still considered him family, and she does. but i think luke would be too guilt-ridden to interact with her at first

not to mention that percy is v protective, and while they may have had a tender moment abt not letting all that happen again, i think percy would have a hard time trusting him

thalia’s now with the hunters, and has clearly shown what she thinks of luke’s betrayal, so that’s no good either

i think grover would be more open to luke, but luke would probably avoid him like he avoid annabeth bc of the guilt. and grover’s a busy satyr now, so that doesn’t help

so basically anyone he considered close to him in childhood is on shaky ground and he’s not sure what to do abt that, bc demigods are only taught abt fighting and battle, instead of that and emotional and psychological health wheeeeeee

since he can’t leave nyc, he finds like a hostel or smth to stay in while he figures shit out and tries to get back on his feet

he’s suffering p heavily from ptsd and still has terrible nightmares abt kronos and being possessed by kronos, which doesn’t help

he can’t hold a steady job bc he only knows how to fight and has no social skills whatsoever, so he becomes some low-level conman to make some income

he still hates his father, so it’s hard to acknowledge that his father’s skills are helping hi survive right now, as much as he’d like to believe that he’s surviving all on his own

at some point, he tries to con one of the demigods who’ve made it without chb (a demigod whose parent is a minor god). thankfully, they’re nice abt it and introduce him to a demigod underworld, so to speak

i wouldn’t say it’s as sinister as our criminal underworld–it’s really more of a society of demigods who were forgotten (unclaimed kids) or never made it to camp (children of minor gods), but found a way to survive with little to no training from camp, despite the monsters and technology

luke is suddently introduced to a whole new world, and that’s when his life really starts moving forward again

these demigods are angry and bitter, yeah, but they take that and turn it into motivation to live and thrive–basically living bc of spite. fuck the gods, fuck my parents, i’ll show them i don’t need them or chb

(like rick has this weird thing abt writing kids who say that, but then talk abt how much they want their godly parent’s approval. or to prove that they’re worth of their godly parent’s attention. and like i get why, but that’s not true for everyone??? having been adopted, i come from a perspective of, yeah, i am a little curious abt who my biological parents are, but i’m not dying to reunite with them or anything bc i don’t need to??? i have everything i need right here–a loving mom, and awesome friends, who i would consider family. even if i did want to know who they were, their approval of who i am now doesn’t matter to me. i don’t need to prove anything to them, nor should i need to for their attention. like that’s shitty to expect that from your child, and a horribly mindset to instill in a child)

and so i imagine it’s the same for a lot of demigods, too /tangent

anyway, so i’d like to think that this society is pretty structured–it’s a mish-mash of kids of major gods who were never claimed and of minor gods. some do resort to criminal activity, others work minimum wage jobs, and still others who are making higher than minimum wage, with some even making six figures ya know. basically they still function within the larger mortal society, but they’re also part of this hidden demigod society, you feel?

but they always take in demigods who could use some help out in the real world, regardless of who their parents are and whether or not they’ve been claimed/lived at chb

hephaestus kids have built a closed-circuit network that makes tech safer for them to use, and it also helps them communicate with each other as well as any mortal they make friends with, etc.

and their secret society is hidden within a company (kinda like how the three roman emperors hid themselves within a company, except without the evil part), and it’s v socialist–so they do what they can to help those who don’t have anything, until they can get back on their feet, and then put back into the society and help others

so luke is introduced to this hidden world within the mortal one of new york

i’d like to think he’s p instantly recognizable (to most, not all), but they don’t hold any grudges or bitterness like those at chb to bc they understand that he was fighting for them, even if he was going abt it the wrong way

some put him on a pedestal (he’s the face of our hidden society or he could take up the company or smth), but another kid of hermes comes along and shows him the ropes, not expecting anything from him

they get him therapy to work on his anger issues as well as his ptsd, and he slowly learns social skills

there are two large apt buildings that the company owns that only house demigods (but not all the demigods who are part of this society), and they find him a small one bed/one bath apartment to live in

as he gets better, he stops resorting to criminal activity and finds a steady job working at a tech company, bc he doesn’t have to interact with ppl like in retail, and when he does, its coworkers who think the same as he does

i also like to think he starts mend those relationships he lost with annabeth and grover. thalia’s a little harder to reach, but once he starts communicating with annabeth more, annabeth tells thalia abt his progress, and thalia sneaks away to visit him on occasion

it’s rough at first, as it always is, bc he did a lot of bad things and hurt a lot of ppl

but he apologizes to all of them–annabeth, grover, thalia, and even percy

they start to hang out occasionally, and luke almost become a mentor to percy again

(we’re kinda ignoring hoo rn for luke’s mental health, but percy most definitely talks to luke abt how he can see where luke was coming from during the second titan war after that whole prophecy nightmare)

eventually, they become friends, even family

he’s happy to hear that the camp is expanding, allowing minor demigods; the hermes cabin is far less crowded

but luke still holds a lot of anger and bitterness. even living within this secret society, it’s yet another symptom of the gods’ lack of caring (like the crowded hermes cabin)

even with percy’s request and the expanding camp, luke still hears of demigods joining their society, which is a little disheartening if only bc it still represents the gods’ lack of caring

with the help of therapy, tho, he’s learning to channel is anger into smth productive

instead of trying to raise evil entities, he throws himself into the business that their society is hidden in. he wants to know all the inner workings of both the demigod and mortal side bc he wants to help as many demigods he can

bc in the end, he’s still a scared, lost little nine year old boy who just wants someone to be there for other demigods since no one was there for him

oh and speaking of, he finds the courage to visit him mom again! annabeth goes with him, since he’s still working through all that shit with his therapist (and lbr, that’s smth that someone might never work through, just learn to cope with)

i wouldn’t say he visits her often, but he spends some of his income and hires a caregiver to help around the house, but also to take care of may. since the prophecy has been fulfilled, her visions aren’t as bad, and she doesn’t have so many spells, but her mind is still quite lost bc the curse is still there

eventually, luke works his way up the ranks of the company bc he sees the good that this society is doing, and wants to be a part of that. he can finally help these demigods that doesn’t involve destroying the world

he starts to visit camp a little, but usually only talks with chiron abt the changes that they could make to the camp to better help the kids there. the whole place, tho, still holds a lot of painful memories that luke would just rather forget. so he doesn’t go often

it’s a long, long process and luke stays in therapy indefinitely, but the work he’s doing with the company, and the demigods he interacts with on a daily basis help him a lot

he slowly heals, and mends fences, as well as makes new friends and bonds

he never truly lets go of his anger and bitterness, and for the most part he just kinda ignores the gods. remembering what he did during the titan war still haunts him, but he uses those memories as a reminder and promises to never do anything like that again

and this time he keeps his promise!

*sniffles* look at my bby boy growing up and healing. 

despite liking white collar!luke (which i could see this so easily sprouting from your initial question), i wanted to take this in a different route and really delve into his healing process bc it’s like a salve to my soul. it’s so easy to ignore emotional and psychological health, but for anyone it’s so, so important to address those issues and work through them ya know?

like i advocate for mental health and stability! as well as emotional healing, esp for men bc it breaks down that toxic masculinity. and toxic masculinity often does lead to expressions of anger and violence in men in our society

i could probably say more, but i’ll leave it there for now. it feels like a good stopping point. hmu if you’d like to hear more specifics abt anything within this au!! i’d be happy to write more abt this au :D

thanks for sending this in, anon!!

[fandomsentertainment]

So I went off on a tangent sorry about that lol

Percy can warm his hot chocolate when it gets cold and make insta Popsicles for Estelle

He’s always the last to take a shower in the morning because the cold water doesn’t bother him.

Winter is the Jackson-Blofis kids favorite time of year. After watching Frozen Estelle begs Percy to “Do the magic! Do the magic!” At first he’s not sure he knows how but they go to Central Park after a snowfall and find a private space all to themselves for him to practice.

He learns how to control snow and ice much better. He creates slides and ice they can skate on in the meadows. He learns how to control the temperature of water to the extent that he can keep the air warm with steam while he and Estelle skate on their makeshift rinks.

He becomes a little obsessed with controlling the phasing of water more. He learns to hold all three phases of water in a single glass. He learns to make miniature hurricanes and thunderstorms in the palm of his hand. He learns to mold little figurines for Estelle out of water and freeze them as gifts for her.

One day she asks him to make her mermaid dance and he is thrilled to discover he can make the little ice figure around in the air to make it look likes she’s swimming.

One day they watch Avatar the last Airbender and Percy is enchanted by Katara. He learns that he can use water as a literal weapon and shield. He started off using it like a whip, a living coil of water that could reach as far as he wanted and do exactly as he commands. Then he learn he can fashion weapons out of ice. Monsters quickly learn that as long as there is water around, Percy Jackson is armed.

But Percy takes it a step further when he sees Katara and Toph escape the wooden prison by water ending sweat. He learns to manifest water. At first he is simply absorbing moisture from the air but soon he learns to create water from nothing. With a wave of his hand he can manifest the water and then form a dagger from it in seconds. Monsters quickly learn, Percy Jackson is Always armed.

The first time he created a sentient being he killed it. Estelle and him were playing with her ice mermaid as usual. Percy was focused on making it as realistic as possible when suddenly it began to glow a light blue. Estelle was delighted but Percy had his eyes closed in concentration. It wasn’t until the mermaid dropped out of the air and into his lap, gasping and withering around that he realized it had come to life. But like real mermaids of the sea she could not survive out of water. By the time he shook out of his shock and got her submerged in water she had already passed in what he knew was extricating pain.

He went to his father for advice after that, carrying the tiny creature in some satin his mother gave him for her. His father was shocked when he found out the extent of Percy’s powers. He was so proud of the accomplishment he didn’t realize how devastated Percy was about unintentionally killing his little creation. Poseidon brought the mermaid back to life for him along with some advice on the art of creation.

Before Percy left he warned him to not let all his abilities be public knowledge, it was better to be underestimated. What he didn’t tell Percy that the ability to fashion and create life was something only the gods could do. The fact a demigod had that ability without the restrictions of being a deity would not sit well with the other Gods, especially Zeus.

Percy went to buy a large tank and some friendly fish from his local pet store and had it all ready for when Estelle arrived from school. They named her Elsa and took very good care of her.

The first time he bloodbended was accidental too. They were at the park on a warm summer day eating Popsicle sticks Percy had made out of a carton of orange juice. Percy ran into an old friend and was chatting while Estelle played. Neither of them noticed the dog. Estelle was rather fond of animals so naturally she tried to pet the animal not noticing all the warning signs. When it mauled her Percy felt as if the very blood in his vines had boiled and busted. The dog had Estelle’s arm in its jaw for all of five seconds before it became a soup of blood, fur and bone on the forest floor. Estelle was okay and bandaged and cleaned up at home

Sally sat Percy down to have a Long talk about the weight and responsibilities of his powers. He completely understood and agreed that bloodbending was an Off Menu power.

But he was still intrigued by bloodbending on a smaller level. He started off practicing on himself. He could make his skin move around and wiggle his ears using his powers, soon he learned that he could change certain things about his body. He fixed his teeth himself, he toned his tan lines and made his hair instantly as long or as short as he wanted.

It came as a surprised to no one in the Jackson-Blofis household that he later figured out how to shape shift. But he still kept it small. A few pounds of muscle here, take off a few pound of fat there. He could quicken and lower his own metabolism with ease. He could control how much adrenaline was coursing through his body as he pleased. He began actually reading up on biology to see how much he was able to control.

It was one night when he went out looking for Estelle - who had stormed off angry about something -  that he was nearly killed. He had been looking for an hour unaware she had already come home when the mortal approached him with a gun demanding all his money. Of course he didn’t bring any money out to look for his sister but the guy didn’t believe him. Honestly Percy didn’t expect the guy to Actually shoot and when he did Percy was more upset at the fact that he was actually shot then the fact that he was in danger.

The man had run off and Percy not liking hospitals went back home for ambrosia. But the bullet had hit an artery and he was bleeding heavily. He collapsed halfway home panicked and not sure how to stop the bleeding. That’s when he remembered his mermaid and how Estelle said she glowed before coming to life. He manifested some water in his hand and willed it to glow. He put it to his chest and the water latched to him, stopping the bleeding and numbing the pain. By the time he got home he wound had nearly finished healing. Sally watched in awe as the last few bits of water fused and merged with his skin.

After that he started keeping jugs of this strange glowing life giving water in his house. He carried a water bottle of it around with him all the time. It was a safer alternative to ambrosia and mortals could use it too. He would go to CHB and CJ and fill large barrels with this water which he named katara (cause he’s a HUGE nerd at the end of the day)

Pretty soon katara became more popular than ambrosia among demigods and mortal in the know. They found that if they added regular water to katara it would gain the properties of katara. Pretty soon a pool was built at both camps to house katara. Percy was glad to see his creation helping so many people but he had unfortunately caught the gods attention.

He was called to Olympus and questioned about what he was trying to do with this “katara”. He told it how it was. He had accidently created it so he gave it to other people as well. He wasn’t even making a profit off of it which he easily could if he wanted too.

The gods in reality didn’t have a problem with katara, they knew it was helpful and did nothing but benefit people. The underlying message in calling upon Perseus Jackson was to let him know he was being observed and to warn him to watch himself.

Percy understand that message loud and clear, but he really didn’t give a fuck. He especially didn’t give a fuck when he made his own island in the Gulf of Mexico. Grover actually helped him with that. Grover created a list of endangered species that needed a safe haven from human intervention and would coexist well. Hazel helped them create a barrier similar to the barriers at the camps around the island. Percy set to work with making the water surrounding the island rich with katara. And in a few months they had a lush and beautiful island that Percy dubbed the Garden of Me.

Poseidon actually came to visit Percy’s island and he was surprised when he saw his son, asleep in a field of rare flowers glowing with dormant power. Of course only a god could see that glow from within. Poseidon began to realize his son was unintentionally becoming an immortal at the least, a powerful god at the most. That’s when he decided to train Percy.

He taught him how to mold and shape lifeforms that already existed to help with Grover’s cause of saving the Wild. He taught him the limits and devastating abilities Percy contained. He showed him how to properly shapeshift into anything he wanted without having to alter his original form. He taught him how to materialize not only water but other liquids and water based materials.

Percy reveled in his new found powers. He not only got to spend time with his father but being TAUGHT was sooo much better than just figuring it out on his own. He found that he and his father are actually pretty similar and get along really well.

As for Annabeth at first she was worried about the path Percy was going down with his powers but she is realized to see him focus his powers on the creation of his little island. Well, not so little anymore. Percy continued to expand the island to accommodate the now hundreds of endangered species of plants and animals residing there. As far as the outside world was concerned some of these animals had gone extinct, but they lived peacefully on Garden of Me. Now the island was nearly 200,000 sq miles and took up most of the Gulf of Mexico. Annabeth could only guess how Hermes managed to explain that to the mortals.

Annabeth and Percy spend a lot of their free time on the island. In fact the whole Jackson-Blofis household do. Afterall the island is big enough to house a small nation. But Percy and Annabeth still love the idea of having an entire island to themselves to do whatever they want. When Annabeth gets pregnant Percy nearly erupts one of his rivers with joy. Although marriage had never been on their minds (they kind of just assumed they would just always be together regardless) they decide to get married on their private island.

It was a wedding that rivaled even the gods weddings. Mortals, demigods, gods, nymphs, satyrs, dryads, cyclopes and more all came to the celebration that lasted nearly an entire week. At first Percy was nervous about inviting so many people. Afterall it wasn’t just an island but a sanctuary for plants and animals that didn’t exist anywhere else on Earth. But Grover ensured Percy he and his helpers would take care of crowd control. Annabeth and Percy honeymooned in one of the beautiful underwater caves on the island while their wedding raged on for days. Clean up was a bitch but the next few weeks were the happiest of their lives.

That was of course, until the war began. Oddly enough it was a war between mortals but it had devastating implications. The threat of nuclear war had never been so real between the US and Korea. Percy and Annabeth (now 5 months pregnant) anxiously moved their mortal families to the island and offered sanctuary to their friends as well. Percy strengthened the barrier to his island and discussed with Grover about making a pop up second island to house other animal species that would be devastated by the event of nuclear war. In the end He, Grover and Annabeth decided a second island was a necessity.

It was enormous. Nearly 600,000 sq miles and hugged the shared coast of California and Mexico. The plan was to evacuate the camps. A third of the island would be used as a third camp safe from the war of mortals. This part of the island would have everyday animals and plants. Cows, pigs, horses, dogs, foxes, bats, vegetables, fruits, grains etc. It would serve as a human sanctuary while the other ⅔  of the island would be reserved for other endangered species. The planning was intense. They had to be careful to keep species that would compete to extinction seperate, they had to avoid invasive plants and animals or at the least keep them contained. And they had to explain to people why they’re pet cats were Absolutely NOT allowed on the island. (Cats are one of the deadliest animals of earth accounting for the majority of extinctions among small animals).

The gods were helpful too. They could see the danger the mortal war posed to the demigods and knew they needed demigods. The only god that as far as Percy was concerned was not being helpful was his father. Poseidon insisted Perceus took up godhood, but Percy had a family on the way and he couldn’t imagine a life where he continued to exist without them. Poseidon tried to convince him to just make Annabeth immortal as well, after all that's what he did to his wife. But Percy didn’t want to think about it. He just wanted to focus on keeping everyone alive.

That’s when the boats began to arrive. People in California fleeing the conflict but with no funds for now overpriced flight began to take boats and try to cross the borders of Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. But Percy’s island was only a few hundred miles off shore. The boat that got lost on the way down the coast ended up on the second island. Percy couldn’t turn them away.

Despite all their preparation they weren’t ready for when the first missile struck. In fact no one was ready. Everyone expected the obvious targets. Major cities, military bases, maybe even the white house. No one could have guessed their target was the top left corner of Wyoming, where the Yellowstone National Park sat unassuming. No one could have guessed anyone would be that crazy.

The explosion was deafening. Even from the second island they could see as the cloud of sulfuric ash umbrellaed out in all directions. They could hear the continued explosions from the volcano itself. The gods did nothing. They would not interfere with mortal activity unless it directly threatened them. All the inhabitants of the island could do was sit and listen to the sounds of millions dying, and watch the cloud of ash choke the sky.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Okay a darling hun has brought to my attention some canonical reasons why they lost their memories that were mentioned at some point in the books but I'm not convinced Rick just didn't want to think further than "get the story going" so I got some points to make. I just feel like it was "lazy writing" (no writing can actually be lazy because writing is hard as hell but to the point) that Rick decided to take away their memories:

Jason and Percy were too powerful and therefore could be seen as dangers to the camp: As far as I understand the reason the seven were chosen was because they were the most powerful demigods in the world and therefore the only ones who could fulfill the prophecy? But anyway not the actual point: because they didn't know about their camps i don't think it would have made a difference how powerful they were because their personalities work in a way that they would help whoever needed it. Canonically Percy defends all the kids being picked on (he uses his power for good) and obviously we see him help people who aren't even in the same mythology brand as Greek (see Kane Chronicles, see MCGA) so this idea that Percy wouldn't be willing to help the Romans because they're a different camp and they do things differently and they believe in "different gods" does not make sense to me. And I know we don't know much about Jason but the Boi really chose the lowest ranking cohort and made it his mission to get them to the top. He is right there with Percy ready to help anyway he can.

Do y'all get what I'm saying?? Like so what if they're powerful? It's not like either have ever used their power in a way that made them immediate enemies to anyone who shouldn't have otherwise considered them enemies??

Rick wanted them to establish this new camp as a home (Jason for CHB and Percy for New Rome): okay my thing here is Jason already didn't feel like he belonged in New Rome. Like him losing his memories didn't trigger that idea. (and lowkey it would have been so cool to see him with his full memories and still battling the idea that he's just as much Greek as he is Roman) the idea that he didn't belong in the Roman camp came from his long standing history of abandonment (which we don't have time to get into) and probably the fact that he had leadership thrown upon him whereas at CHB he was important but he wasn't a leader (they already had a leader). And Percy didn't want to go to New Rome because he felt more Roman or he connected with them better he wanted to go to New Rome because he recognized that demigods were safe there. Basically if demigods were safe (and could live to the ripe old age of 80) at CHB he wouldn't have needed or wanted New Rome.

The camps didn't trust each other from the beginning: I don't know if I'm remembering wrong (and plleeeaasssee correct me if I am) but the camps only started distrusting each other after one Octavian (gods I haaatteee him so much. He boils my blood like noone else) got his stupid claws into the minds of the campers at SPQR (which was probably in SON when he was trying to be praetor). The giants didn't actually do any damage to the idea of Greek and Roman's until MOA. And shit only hit the fan when Leo was possessed and started attacking SPQR. The war started because of that attack. If Rick had let them keep their memories a probable much stronger relationship between Percy and New Rome and Jason and CHB if they had the opportunity to explain about their lives and how they fit in?

Am I making sense? Or am I crazy?

Also everything would have been so much deeper if they could remember?? I just don't understand how it made sense for them to lose their memories??

Percy who would have woken up somewhere near New Rome half dead and Hazel and Frank see he's injured and they help him and then they ask if he can go on a quest with them and Percy (who's fatal flaw is literally loyalty) would have been like oh shit these people who saved my life are asking for help obviously I'm there.

And Jason wakes up on the bus to whereever the fuck and hes confused as hell because he doesn't know these people but they don't know him either??? And everyone is just blue screening but it's too late to head back now so guess hes going to the grand canyon with these strangers. And then everything happens and Annabeth takes them back and explains how Percy is missing and Jason explains that Percy is probably in SPQR and before he can take Annabeth there he has to go on the quest to rescue Hera and then the books all happen the same way but we've actually established connections and shit instead of whatever the fuck actually happened.

Annabeth will be asking Jason all kinds of questions about SPQR??? And Percy would be regalling a very nervous Frank and an innocent just back from the dead Hazel with all his adventures???

Like there was so much opportunity for this shit?!?!

Feel free to tell me I'm insane! (but remember we do things nicely on this blog)

Okay here's another thing I don't know and want to know very badly:

What was the actual reason Hera erased Jason and Percy's memories???????

Because if she thought erasing everything they knew would make them like more likely to help then what the fuck??? Jason and Percy may be the only two characters who would have helped total strangers. No questions asked. They would be like oh shit you're in trouble hold up I got you.

And if they actually remembered their camps half the bullshit could have been avoided in the first place????

And if she erased it because the Roman and Greeks were "enemies" or whatever the fuck then that's dumb as doornails because they didn't even know about each other???? Percy and Jason would have been like ohhh shiiitttt we got Roman/Greek counterparts too? That's sick as fuck. Bet let's go to them?!?!?

Like I just don't see the necessity for erasing their memories??? All it did was cause unnecessary drama and irritate me endlessly

[bigthoughtsinthevernacular-blog]

Hestia Headcannon

Okay guys I have to type this out this is giving me insomnia. I REALLY want Hestia to have campers in the PJO universe. Of course, Hestia can never have actual children, but maybe she just picks out humans in the normal world and is like, “Yes. You are mine okay?” And those are the people who always make you feel like you’re loved and at home. Of course, these people would never, NEVER actually end up at Camp Jupiter or Camp Half Blood, right? Because they would just attract full, loving families of friends and relatives alike. Plus, they aren’t technically half-bloods, so they don’t get attacked by monsters very often. Even if a parent/guardian of a Hestian does die, they have a big enough family that SOMEONE will take them in. But what if something went wrong? What if, either through freak accident or through the vengeful action of a deity, all of a Hestian’s family died out? She/he is left completely and utterly alone in the world with no friends or relatives left. Eventually some satyr or another picks up the scent of a godly connection and leads the Hestian back to CHB, but the Hestian is still left devastated. That night at the campfire, everyone is waiting for the new kid to be claimed. Odd whispers have been flying around camp all day, and everyone is curious about the girl who should’ve been claimed four years ago, who seemingly had two mortal parents, and who has yet to be attacked by a monster. The satyr who picked her up is especially antsy, worried that his latest rescue might not even BE a half-blood. The girl spends the entire night staring emptily into the multi-colored flames, still numb from grief.

After the last song is over, the fire dies to a dim purple. Suddenly the embers shoot into a golden column of flames fifteen feet tall. The nearest campers scramble back, shrieking and swatting their clothes. The rest are stunned, and a few grab their weapons, wary of an attack. The flames settle to reveal a woman, wearing a humble brown dress and with loose, dark hair. Her regal face could be anywhere from eighteen to fifty, but is softened by kind features. She steps out of the firepit softly, but emanates a power that even makes Chiron take a step back.

With that special kind of quietness that holds an audience spellbound, she explains the situation to the campers and claims the new recruit as her own. She simultaneously grants the Hestian powers similar to those of a demigod, which, among other things, include both the ability to ingest nectar and ambrosia and the increased danger of discovery by monsters.

At the end of her speech, the campers slowly turn their eyes to the Hestian, who rose to her feet at The goddess’ entrance, but whose expression has gradually hardened from shock into a fierce stare.

The camp waits for a moment, watching the tension between the goddess and her chosen in a silence that exaggerates every snap of the fire into a deafening pop. Finally, the Hestian speaks.

“Take it back.” Her voice is low and raw from pain. “Take it all back. Take this day, this camp, this week, this month, and take them all back with you.”

“My dear-” the goddess begins.

“NO! YOU claimed me? YOU are giving me powers? YOU? The goddess of home? Of FAMILY?? No. You take it, TAKE IT ALL BACK, YOU HEAR ME??” Her voice breaks, and she crumples into a ball, sobbing.

A wave of grief washes over the campers. Not mere sympathy either, but actual, personal heartbreak. Each demigod squeezes their eyes shut and turns away, reliving his or her loss of friends and family in painfully vivid detail. Some begin to weep, and a few curl into balls, trying to drown out the Hestian’s cry.

Hestia looks over the crowd with eyes filled with pity. “Loss of family,” she begins, “is even more grievous for one of my chosen. Their grief has the potential to manifest itself in others and run its course as it will.” The goddess kneels down to comfort the Hestian, but the girl backs off quick as lighting, staring at the goddess as if she were poison.

“Take it back,” she whispers in a shaking voice, “just as you took everything from me.”

^^^OF COURSE this is all just me getting carried away, but THINK ABOUT IT

The Hestian might have initial trouble fitting in (hey, how would YOU feel about someone making you relive your worst nightmare?), but would be SO FLIPPING KIND to every single new kid to arrive. -“You’re one of Hades’ new children? Oh my gosh man that’s so cool we’re gonna make Halloween lit this year.” -“Nemesis is your mom? Dude, you’re going to be like the boss-level judge when we play Apples to Apples.” -“You got claimed by Athena but never got higher than a C+ in school? OH MY GOSH WE FINALLY HAVE A KID WHO IS AN ARTS-AND-CRAFTS CHILD OF ATHENA LETS GO RAID PINTEREST.”

And over time the Hestian just becomes more and more integral in the CHB community and is so loved by everyone that one morning she finally wakes up and realizes that the hole in her heart that her family left has been filled to the brim with her new half-blood family.

But AHHH SO MANY IDEAS FOR A HESTIAN -She rarely leaves for quests or even trips -She knows a bajillion recipes that are somehow just better whenever she makes them -She’s freaking AMAZING at settling fights/squabbles -She stays in the Big House and refuses to have a cabin built for her, insisting that the entire camp is her home. -She sits wherever she wants to at dinner on the same principle -She’s one of those people who just calms you down whenever you’re angry and gives you really good advice after you blow off steam -She’s absolutely on TOP OF THE WORLD after meeting The Seven, because you can’t get a much tighter family than that and she loves family so deeply that the vibe she gets from seeing them all together makes her totally warm and fuzzy inside.

But she’s usually so kind and fun and moderately clean-spoken but then the camp gets attacked. And all. The crap. Hits. The fan.

The camp is surrounded from all sides. Bunker 9 has been blocked off by the monsters, and the campers are scrambling to establish a perimeter. The attack was a total surprise, and most of the campers aren’t even completely dressed out for battle, missing various shields and breastplates. The Hestian stands in shock at the edge of the firepit, watching the panic. She’s thrown back to that one night, the night she lost her first family. She feels paralyzed, suffocating in her own grief.

Then she sees him. William. Son of Hades. All red-haired-four-feet-nine-inches of stubborn eight year old that he is. (He’ll have you know that he’ll be nine in two months and seventeen days). He’s fumbling with his “sword belt” trying to strap a dagger to his waist. He’s the same age her little sister was. And she snaps.

The edges of her vision are tinted with orange and gold. She stretches her neck out to see the extent of the enemy force and finds herself rising in the air, supported by ten feet, twenty feet, of the campfire’s fierce golden flames. She sees the hordes of monsters, itching to attack the camp. Her camp. Her family. She is a good forty feet in the air by now, and the eye of every monster and camper alike is on her and on her tower of fire. She shouts to them all in a voice that seems to amplify and echo throughout the valley, “Not. My. Family.”

She closes her eyes, remembering all of the tears, the hugs, and the laughter. Remembering the first time the new Ares kid smiled after he arrived. The time the eleven-year old girl in Aphrodite finally got her winged eyeliner perfect. The time the Hecate cabin beat the Athena cabin in monopoly. The times the camp had helped her through her own grief and the times when she had been granted opportunities to extend that same care and love to others. She remembers her family. Her vision goes red.

Vaguely, she can see her column of flame collapsing and washing out over the monsters. She can hear their screams and vaguely sees clouds of gray dust rising as they disintegrate. Finally, she lands on her feet, and all the flame is gone. Exhausted and dizzy, she sees blurs running towards her. Are they her friends? She can’t tell, she’s too drained. As black creeps into the edges of her vision, she turns back to where the line of monsters once stood. “Take that, bitches.” She mumbles. She sways on her feet, then passes out.

-BUT THEN (of course she’s fine give her a week of some ice cream and r&r) she kinda like becomes the unofficial camp mom and takes care of everyone so heaven help you if you hurt one of her babies

-you know and let’s say one day she falls in love and she decides to check up with Hestia you know just to clear up on whether or not she’s supposed to be a Vestal Virgin or whatever and Hestia is like heck no!! You go have a bajillion kids and a loving happy family don’t screw up making an oath to stay single like I did I mean honestly I’m the goddess of home and family why did I even promise not to have a family like what

Anyway good job if you actually read this far my insomnia should be over now so I’m going to go to sleep have fun with my Headcannon okay bye. :)