#percy: guess i’ll die ???

[lilislegacy]

So here’s the thing: Percy is my guy. I’ll defend him till the day I die. I adore everything about him, and you guys know that. So this post might shock you because I’m about to call the fuck out of him.

I am so SICK of receiving ask after ask after comment after ask about Annabeth being the only goddamn issue in their relationship, meanwhile Percy gets made out to be some saint. You want to call out Percabeth? You want to be all heroic and talk about bad behavior? Allow me to join you! Let’s fucking talk about it!

The number one thing people complain about in their relationship: Annabeth making jokes about his intelligence. But let’s actually talk about this: we all know Percy is extremely intelligent, but why are we so hellbent on denying it when he DOES act like an idiot most of the time? Like, why is Percy saying things like he can’t tie his shoes or phrasing stuff to Annabeth like an 8-year-old when he’s nearly a grown adult? And now tell me this. Why is it always on ANNABETH to translate and explain everything when we know Percy can figure stuff out for himself? Why is it always on ANNABETH to make the plan? Why is it always on ANNABETH to figure out how to fix things that Percy and Grover usually messed up? 

After Wrath of the Triple Goddess, I spent so much time being angry at how Rick wrote Annabeth bossing Percy around. But then I took a step back and realized: it’s because he also writes Percy as always being so heavily reliant on Annabeth when she’s there. Instead of asking, “Why is Annabeth acting like his mom?” why isn’t anyone ever fucking asking, “Why does Annabeth feel like she HAS to act like his mom?” Because she doesn’t act that way with people like Thalia, Jason, or Reyna. So why is her boyfriend putting her in a position where she feels like she has to explain everything to him and tell him what to do?

You know, in The Demigod Diaries, Annabeth says she’s always known Percy isn’t dumb and that he’s actually very intelligent—but that he just ACTS super dumb. Then she says she thinks Percy does it just to annoy her. Annabeth has called Percy smart on several occasions—including one of my favorite moments in MoA where she calls him brilliant and kisses him—and yet she still makes those comments about his intelligence. So considering all that, let's think about it. Have you ever met someone who’s super smart but acts so dumb that they actually convince themselves they’re dumb? It’s infuriating. So imagine how that must feel to a daughter of Athena. And don’t you dare go, “Well, it’s because of Percy’s childhood and his abuse…” because Annabeth is ALSO fucked up from her childhood and suffered from abuse, but that doesn’t ever excuse HER, I guess. So why does Percy get a pass? 

Oh right, I forgot: because we must always blame the woman for “nagging” and “being controlling.” Silly me for forgetting.

It’s ALWAYS “God Annabeth is so controlling all the time” and NEVER “how come Percy puts Annabeth in a position where she always HAS to take charge and keep things under control?” How come he low-key DOES act dumb and useless (and then complains about it) when they both know damn well he can be smart and resourceful when he wants to? Let me guess. “He’s insecure 😔😔.” YEAH, NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. So being insecure makes it all okay? Because Annabeth NEVER gets that benefit of the doubt. Or let me guess, “It’s Rick’s fault for writing him that way” okay cool, well then it’s ALSO Rick’s fault for writing Annabeth the way she is. You don’t get to pick and choose.

(Quick pause—does anyone else feel like Rick finally started writing Percy as a confident, secure, and assertive person in Heroes of Olympus—and found it so refreshing—only for Percy to regress back into his self-hating, insecure 12-year-old self again in the new books? Because it’s infuriating to me that he lost that character development. Anyway… resuming discussion.)

People are always so worried about Percy feeling inferior in their relationship, but never about Annabeth feeling frustrated when Percy doesn't act like the equally contributing partner that she knows he can be (and that he is a lot of the time). I mean, we know from her POV in MoA that Annabeth tends to feel like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders and has to figure things out for everyone else. And that she feels useless sometimes because everyone else, especially Percy, has all these amazing powers, and all Annabeth has to contribute is her knowledge. And yet, when she "shows off" with her intelligence, it's a "superiority complex?"

And another hot topic: Anti-Percabethers are always talking about Annabeth “bullying” and “physically abusing” Percy. (Despite him never feeling pain, flinching, or even expressing an ounce of discontent—in fact after she judo-flipped him, he laughed and smiled). And yet they never seem to want to talk about the fact that Percy has made Annabeth cry and been extremely insensitive to her on several occasions. And you wanna talk about physical violence? Let’s talk about how Sally, Paul, and Annabeth were all extremely nervous and tense when telling Percy that Sally was pregnant. You know why? It’s explained that they’re scared because his temper is brutal and they never know how he’s going to react—because he previously blew out the pipes of the entire apartment building when he got upset about something. How come everybody is SO worried about Annabeth playfully smacking his shoulder and him not caring, but NOBODY wants to talk about the fact that Annabeth is scared of making Percy mad because he can’t fucking control his temper or keep the world around him from blowing up? This is the guy who’s been kicked out of military schools for fighting. This is the guy who’s thrown his skateboard into a wall out of rage. This is the guy who got so mad at a goddess that he got pleasure out of torturing her. I’m not saying he’s wrong for any of that, but I am saying that Annabeth has never once done something like that.

Let’s talk about Piper’s perspective of him. I used to hate Piper because she was critical of Percy, but then I grew up. She is one of the few people who actually gives us an unbiased view of him, and you know what she says? She says she doesn’t know how Annabeth deals with Percy because Annabeth is constantly having to keep him under control. Annabeth keeps him from attacking/yelling at Leo after the canon incident. She has to diffuse his stupid, pointless “who’s is bigger” competition with Jason. She’s not there to keep him from pissing off Bacchus, and Percy rapidly escalates the situation and nearly screws them all over. I mean, in Wrath of the Triple Goddess, she had to tactfully handle him after Grover drank the strawberry potion because Percy was so angry that he was literally shaking (and btw Annabeth had to figure out the plan to fix everything that time, too). When she’s not there, Percy talks back to gods and superiors and gets everyone around him into bad situations with his temper and disobedience. Annabeth CONSTANTLY has to calm him down and keep him from losing his shit. Do you know how exhausting that must be??

So tell me—why is the blame ALWAYS on the woman here? Why is Percy made out to be some poor, abused wittle baby being picked on by big bad Annabeth? He’s a big boy. A grown man now, even. He is the most powerful demigod alive. He can fucking take care of himself, and so can Annabeth.

If you don’t want to like Percabeth? That’s fine. If you don’t want to like Annabeth? That’s fine. But STOP making it out as if Annabeth is the only one who causes problems in their relationship and Percy is completely innocent. Percy is just as bad—arguably worse, actually. Because despite everyone saying how bad Annabeth is to Percy, he never actually gets hurt, scared, or offended by her. Meanwhile, Annabeth HAS cried because of Percy’s words AND has been scared of him and his temper. So… what the FUCK?? How is Annabeth the one being villainized here??

Now, I can actively defend every single thing Percy has done. I love him for his flaws and they make him such a complex character. And I can do and say the same thing about Annabeth, but for some reason that’s “excusing bad behavior.” I love them both and think they are extraordinary people who’ve been dealt really crappy hands. They deal with things the best way that they can in the moment. But they BOTH mess up and hurt each other, and they BOTH have things to work on. They are very flawed characters, and we can point out and discuss those flaws while also being fond of those flaws because it makes them more realistic. 

Now, some of you might be thinking, “Lili, I thought you loved Percy and Percabeth.” I do. I love them so much that I pretty much have a whole blog dedicated to them. But I don’t love them because I think they’re perfect. I love them because, despite being extremely flawed, they make each other better. They love each other unconditionally. They build each other up and protect each other in the darkest of times.

They are best friends. They are battle partners. They are lovers. They are warriors. They are heroes. They are EQUALS. But they are NOT perfect. Not even a little. And their ability to overcome and work through those imperfections together is what makes them so extraordinary.

And yet, when Percy plays dumb, it’s blamed on Rick’s bad writing and excused as him being insecure because of his abuse. When Annabeth calls him out for it and jokes about it, she gets called an awful person who doesn’t value him. And when Percy loses his temper and acts out and gets everyone into bad situations, he’s excused because he inherited Poseidon’s temper and he can’t help it. But when Annabeth is extremely prideful and acts like she’s smarter than other people (which she inherited from Athena) she’s a selfish bitch who thinks she’s better than anyone else? 

How does that make any fucking sense? 

If you want to criticize Percabeth, criticize both of them. But don’t keep doing this “selective reading” bullshit so you can see Annabeth as the villain when she spends half her life cleaning up Percy’s messes and taking care of him. Percy is extraordinary and I adore him, but he is not a “saint” for “dealing with Annabeth.” He is damn lucky to have her, just like she's damn lucky to have him. 

Either be honest about both their flaws and cut it out with the double standards, or don’t bother pretending you care about the truth at all.

[valsverse]

⠀⠀(୨୧) BROUGHT THE HEAT BACK

. .⠀FEATURING⠀⟡⠀ percy jackson, leo valdez, jason grace, luke castellan (respectively) x gn!reader

﹙🏹﹚ in which ：they get jealous. (and it looks good on them) ── masterlist

percy jackson ; percy’s eyes track your every movement as you laugh at something someone else said—a sound that usually belongs to him.

he leans back against the tree, arms crossed, fingers drumming against his bicep in a rhythm too slow, too measured for the thoughts running through his head. across the campfire, you're caught in conversation with someone who seems a little too interested in every word you say, leaning in just a bit too close. the guy’s smile, belonging to a new camper he doesn't quite recognize, is bright, easy, but percy sees the intent in his eyes. it’s the way the his gaze lingers on you a moment too long, the way he leans in as if he’s trying to get just a little closer, as if he thinks he has a shot. percy pushes off the tree, his movements smooth and unhurried, but there’s a coiled tension in the set of his shoulders. he walks over to the group, slipping into the conversation with that casual air that comes so naturally to him, but there’s something different about the set of his jaw, the way his fingers twitch at his sides. “what’s so funny?” percy’s voice rings out, deceptively light but edged with a bite that makes the newcomer falter. the camper catches the tone and falters for just a second before recovering with a grin. “just telling them about the time i—” percy doesn’t wait for him to finish. he reaches for your hand, pulling you away before another word can leave the guy's mouth. as you move away from the fire’s warmth, the tension in his body begins to ease, though he remains silent until the murmurs of the campfire fade into the background. “everything okay?” you ask, even though the answer is already etched in the harsh set of his jaw and the tight grip of his hand in yours. percy shrugs, his attempt at nonchalance as he tries to mask his irritation. “yeah, i just—” he stops, running a hand through his tousled hair, the frustration evident in the way he looks back toward the campfire, his gaze a storm of irritation. “i don’t like it when people think they can just—” he trails off, the words left hanging, but you know exactly what he means.

a smile tugs at your lips.“percy jackson, are you jealous?”

he scoffs, rolling his eyes with an air of exaggerated nonchalance, but the embarrassed blush creeping up his neck betrays him. “of him? please.” still, you notice the way his grip on your hand tightens ever so slightly. leo valdez ; you realize he's the jealous type barely three days in. it’s subtle, the way he inches closer as you text a friend, not out of curiosity but a need for attention. “who’s got you so wrapped up?” he asks, draped lazily beside you, lips pulling into a soft pout.

“an old friend. we’re catching up—it’s been a while.” your eyes stay glued to your screen, your smile growing at the messages. his gaze lingers on you, a moment of quiet before he lets out a dramatic sigh and collapses onto the bed, voice heavy with faux despair.

“you’re abandoning me,” he laments, eyes fluttering shut like the thought alone is unbearable. “guess i’ll just have to die.”

“leo, stop,” you mutter, rolling your eyes but unable to fully hide the smirk creeping onto your lips.

“i'm not gonna make it.” he declares, sitting upright with wide eyes, his hand clutching at his chest as if wounded. "any final words for your dying lover?”

you laugh, finally setting your phone aside and leaning in. you cradle his face, your lips brushing against his as you whisper, “you’re impossible.”

jason grace ; you’re sprawled on jason’s bed, explaining your favorite character from a new show you’ve been devouring, your eyes bright with excitement. jason, on the other hand, is brooding in the far corner of the bed like a wet dog.

jason slumps on the far edge of the mattress, a moping shadow cast over his features as he listens to your praise. “so,” he interjects, the pout on his lips deepening as you lose yourself in the narrative, “you’re not still caught up on that guy, right?”

his gaze remains fixed on you, sighing in exasperation when you take a second to respond. “seriously, i can’t believe this,” he adds, the words coming out as a half-whine, half-plea.

you glance over at him, observing the childish distance he’s placed between you two, the slight frown tugging at his mouth. “jason, are you really jealous of a character who doesn't even exist?”

after he doesn't respond and attempts to escape your gaze in obvious embarrassment, you laugh and reach out, fingers tracing the line of his jaw with gentle affection, a contrast to his earlier mood. “c'mon, you know you’re my favorite,” you coo at him, your voice a soothing counterpoint to his frown.

jason’s pout gradually fades, replaced by a smile as he leans into your shoulder, his embrace warming. “yeah, yeah,” he mumbles, his voice muffled but sincere. “guess i need to hear that more often.” luke castellan ; luke’s been staring at you for a while now, stretched out on the bed with narrowed eyes, assessing you like you’ve committed some unforgivable crime. “you remember you’ve got a boyfriend, don't you?” his words are lazy, almost drawled out, but there’s a bite underneath that’s hard to miss.

you don’t even bother to look up, your mind drifting somewhere far from the edge in his voice. “what are you talking about?” your voice is absent, your attention elsewhere, which only fans the flames of his irritation.

he lets out an agitated sigh, one of those exaggerated, weight-of-the-world exhalations, and points an accusing finger at the source of his distress. “i don't know. just seems like you forgot.” the accusation lingers in the air like a challenge.

you follow the line of his gaze, your eyes settling on the supposed rival—curled up in utter contentment on your lap, blissfully unaware of the brewing conflict. you snort, the sound half amusement, half disbelief. “luke, he’s literally just a cat.”

“tip his stupid ass over."

you laugh as you shake your head. “are you seriously jealous of your own cat?” the question is more teasing than incredulous, though you can’t help but be a little entertained by his sulkiness.

i’s not really jealousy—more like the gnawing need for attention he’ll never fully admit. with a quick, decisive movement, he scoops up the cat, who wakes with a startled jolt, all sleepy confusion and disgruntled meows. luke unceremoniously deposits him on the couch, far from his coveted spot.

you gasp, half in mock outrage and half in genuine concern. “you woke him up!” but luke’s already sliding into the now-empty space, settling in peacefully. his head finds its way onto your lap, and he looks up at you with an eyebrow raised.

“what?” he says, voice dripping with mock innocence. “i’m the boyfriend here, remember?”

(luke is a certified cat owner idc.)

©valsverse— do not steal, edit, or repost my works. plagiarism is prohibited.

[breadbrobin]

the trees

clarisse la rue x reader — percy jackson and the olympians

[fem!daughter of apollo reader]

summary: you have a very specific skill set that helps your team with capture the flag, and clarisse thinks it’s fascinating. in fact, she thinks you’re as fascinating as you think she is.

warnings: swearing, arguments, fighting, PINING, heights i guess (reader is up a tree), possibly ooc clarisse but not too much i hope.

word count: 2.5k

(so the brainrot has (inevitably) spread to clarisse. there’s gonna be a part two to this as well, so lmk if y’all want it (tbh i’ll probably post it anyway but still). oh and also i love her and i am a clarisse apologist and lover until the day i die)

(sort-of-enemies to sort-of-lovers, but more like idiots to pining idiots (in a tree))

(part 2 here)

———————————————

archery wasn’t the only thing you were good at, but it was by far the best thing you were good at. a daughter of apollo: master of archery, mediocre of music and magical at making weird ass noises. bird calls, animal sounds, imitations—you name it, you could do it.

and those were useful tactics in capture the flag, for sure.

annabeth chase was a master strategist, and you had to give it to her: she remembered everyone’s strengths, weaknesses and alliances while you couldn’t even remember what you’d had for breakfast that day.

as always, you were tucked up in a tree, around halfway up. you weren’t too high, so that you could speak and people wouldn’t automatically know you were above them, but you weren’t too low so they couldn’t see you.

you kind of liked being in the trees now. after three years of capture the flag and around six months of freaking out every time you climbed above ten feet, you were finally used to it. it was almost calming; a way for you to relax after a stressful day and pretend that nothing around you existed.

until the red team came by, that is.

that’s what you were waiting for. the flag was around fifty feet to your right. your job was to be a lookout and a distraction.

it was your favourite part of the game, getting to trick people and shoot arrows at them when they came too close, allowing the blue team members around the bottom of your tree to pop out and disarm their opponents.

it wasn’t a trick you used every time—not even the ares cabin are that stupid—but when you did use it, you had the time of your life.

there was a snapping branch to your left. you straightened up from where you were leaning against the tree trunk behind you and peered through the leaves. you were perched on a thick bough, hidden by leaves and branches, but able to see enough through them that you could do your job.

you could hear voices, but you couldn’t see anyone.

you listened carefully. you knew that voice.

you realised with a start who it was.

clarisse la rue.

fucking clarisse, man. she drove you insane. and not for the reason she drove most of camp insane. no, unlike almost everyone else, you were attracted to her. in fact, you were, annoyingly, in love with her, you’d have to admit. it was infuriating.

you could hear her cutting through the forest. it was strange. she didn’t usually come for the flag. usually, she hunted in the woods and caught stragglers. she didn’t want the glory as much as she wanted the fight. to her, winning the battle seemed more important than winning the war.

regardless of why, you could hear her voice. she was talking to her siblings below you, creeping through the foliage.

the sun was warm on your face and you send up a brief prayer to your father.

from your lips slipped an almost perfect impression of your blue team guards. you’d used this trick last game, but clarisse hadn’t been there, so she wouldn’t know. “i can’t believe they put us on guard duty again.”

they all froze in their tracks, looking at each other, then ahead in the opposite direction from the flag.

you held in a snicker. “ugh, yeah, it’s the worst. i mean, why can’t we do anything fun? i wanna fight clarisse!”

you could see the smirk curling on her lips and you had to stop yourself from blushing.

you continued this cat and mouse game. the ares kids below you fanned out, aiming to surround you. it would have been a smart move, if there was actually a flag there and not just a tree.

slowly, they inched in, then leapt out.

“ahh!! you caught us! i’ve been impaled!”

they looked around in fear and confusion but clarisse looked straight up. she always did.

“hey, angel, nice voice,” she mocked. “wanna come on down?”

you shook your head. “no, thanks, i’m comfortable.”

she raised and eyebrow, seeing your arrow drawn and pointed directly at her. “that’s not necessary.”

“isn’t it?” your arrow flew and, though she hit it away, you teammates came pouring out of the foliage, having been waiting for your signal.

a fight ensued. it looked like it was going well for a short while, then the tides turned.

they weren’t as caught off guard as they usually were. hell, clarisse was even smiling!

with what looked like very little effort, the ares campers effectively destroyed your teammates. they were left disarmed and defeated, and you were stuck in a tree. typical.

as her siblings took their weapons, clarisse looked up at you. “you wanna come down now?”

you shook your head. “rather not. the view from up here is pretty good.”

she muttered something to herself, but you couldn’t hear her. then she spoke up. “what if we come up there?”

you drew your bow back immediately and an arrow pierced the dirt right in front of her foot.

she looked down at it, then back up at you, an amused smirk on her face. “right, silly me.”

that surprised you. she was usually cold and cruel in capture the flag, always taking no prisoners and leaving no survivors—in a technical sense. you’d seen people nursing their minor wounds after the games when your siblings forced you to help out in the infirmary (not that you’re much help in there, but regardless), and everyone heard the stories they’d tell of clarisse appearing out of the ferns and attacking ruthlessly. so why was she not being so ruthless today?

she was certainly cruel in her fight against your team members, but any other day, she would have thrown her spear at you or thrown one of your arrows back, or even climbed up anyway. instead, she just smirked up at you, content to wait.

“where’s the flag, bows?” she asked, using a nickname she’d only used a few times, one that referenced both the bows you used and the bows you sometimes put in your hair.

you shrugged. “dunno. they don’t tell me anything. i just get out here and told to be annoying.” your traitorous eyes flickered to the direction of the flag. you’d never been good at lying.

and curse her, clarisse noticed. she always noticed when it came to you, it seemed. whether it was catching you in a lie, catching you when you were admiring her or catching your every move when sparring, she always noticed.

she nodded at her siblings and they moved off. “i’ll wait here. try and flush our squirrel out.”

if they were confused or surprised, they didn’t show it.

once they were gone, clarisse plucked the arrow from the dirt and studied it. “this is new.”

“sam from hephaestus made them,” you said meekly. why would she stay behind? it didn’t make sense. you weren’t a threat, or even a good fight.

her face darkened. “oh. and where is your boyfriend now, then? hm?”

your cheeks flamed. “he’s not my boyfriend.” and it was true. he wasn’t. despite the fact that he liked you and made things for you all the time, your heart was decidedly with another. and she was right below you, tossing your prized arrow aside like an old tissue. “he’s on your team anyway. you should know where he is.”

she smirked again. “oh, yeah. i remember now. that’s right, i sent him to try and get our flag. he didn’t even make it five steps before he was attacked.”

her bitter laugh made your heart clench. was it pity for sam or your feelings for her, or both? you weren’t sure. either way, it was starting to get on your nerves.

it was silent for a long time. she looked up at you every few seconds, then at the tree, like she was gauging how hard she’d have to push you for you to die on impact. her eyes were sharp and her smile was sharper, and fuck you were attracted to her.

you cleared your throat and broke the silence, hearing fighting off in the near distance. you would go and help, but the only way for you to do so would be to tree-hop all the way to the flag, and while you could do it, it wasn’t the best idea. “why did you stay h—what are you doing?” you aimed an arrow at her.

“relax, angel, we both know you won’t actually shoot me.” she was climbing up the tree. fast. “and don’t worry, i’m not gonna push you out or attack you. i don’t like looking up at you.”

call you stupid or whipped or whatever, but you believed her. you lowered your bow but didn’t lessen the tension on your string. she’d almost reached your branch when you swivelled around to face her. you moved fast, your arrow returning to its holster and you body facing the trunk of the tree with your legs swung over each side of the wide bough. your dagger was swiftly removed from its holster and pressed under clarisse’s chin.

she laughed at you.

you faltered slightly. “what?”

“nothing,” she snickered. “i just saw it coming. now scoot back.”

you dropped your dagger and shifted backwards, glad the bough was strong.

she clambered onto your branch easily, sitting facing you with her back against the tree trunk, a smirk on her face.

you sighed bitterly. “you see everything coming.”

she shrugged. “pretty much. but so do you.”

“that’s the gift of divine premonition,” you grumbled. it could be useful sometimes, but all you really got was a sense, a feeling or, occasionally, a single frame of a moment. right now, though, your senses were so clogged with her vanilla-strawberry and leather scent, and with her, that you could hardly think, let alone experience a minor prophecy. not to mention the fact that if you did, you’d probably fall out of the tree.

she shrugged. “isn’t that useful?”

“yeah, when it actually works or doesn’t make me pass out.” you shrugged. “it’s temperamental.”

she hummed in thought, leaning back and crossing her arms. her knees were mere centimetres from yours.

“what are you doing up here, clarisse?” you asked.

she shrugged, but you could see a shift in her demeanour when she said your name. it was like the muscles in her shoulders relaxed for a moment, then tensed again. “didn’t want you to escape.”

“so you let your other prisoners escape?” you gestured to the ground, where your teammates were sitting around fifteen feet from the tree in a circle, plucking the grass.

clarisse raised her eyebrows at you in amusement. “oh, i think they’re fine. they’re too scared of me to do anything, anyway.”

you narrowed your eyes at her. “i don’t think you’re that scary.”

she rolled her eyes. “sure. but everyone else does. so you’re wrong.”

“it was my opinion. my opinion can’t be wrong if it’s my opinion.” that was another thing: you were never one to start an argument, but by god would you escalate it.

“your opinions wrong if i say it’s wrong,” she huffed, her jaw tight.

“not how opinions work, babe,” you said lightly, using your dagger point to carve away at the bark beneath you.

she smacked your hand to stop you. “you’re gonna dull it!”

“the point is already dull!” you protested, poking your finger to show her. it indented, but didn’t draw blood. “see?”

“so, what, you threatened me with a butter knife? i’m offended.”

“it’s the idea of it that cuts deeper anyway. the primal fear of being gutted by a dagger. in capture the flag at least.” you shrugged, carving a wonky flower in the bark. “it’s more about threats than action.”

clarisse rolled her eyes. “and what if a monster comes and attacks you, and all you’ve got is this blunt dagger?”

“you ever seen an archers muscles?” you turned slightly and flexed your shoulders. you could see her eyes follow the sharp lines of your shoulders and back. “i’ll use force. force is more effective than sharpness. you know that.”

“and yet, my weapons are all still sharp.” she snatched the dagger from you and pulled out a whetstone from a pocket in her cargo pants. she began sharpening your blade.

“hey, don’t—“

she smacked your hand with the flat of your own blade when you reached for it, and you withdrawn with a hiss, shaking your hand. she laughed. “i guess force is more important, huh, angel?”

your cheeks were hot. “don’t call me that.”

“why, you worried you might like it?” she looked up, teasing. her eyes narrowed at the look on your face and then she grinned. “you do like it.”

“no. shut up.”

she laughed again, but it was a little softer than usual. she looked back down at the dagger. “did sam make this for you?”

“yeah, w—clarisse!” you gasped as she dropped it off the bough. or, more accurately, threw it off the bough. “what was that for?”

she shrugged. “it’s not that good. i’ll get you a better one from the ares stash. don’t worry.”

you glared at her. “that was mine, though!”

“it was blunt and poorly made,” she protested. “it wasn’t good enough for you.”

the way she said it made you think there was a double meaning there.

“he’s not good enough for you,” she said, softer, proving you right.

your eyes were wide and your cheeks were flaming. “what?”

“you heard me.” her softness was staying, it seemed. if you weren’t mistaken, her hand was reaching for yours. “he’s not. you know he’s not. why do you like him?”

before you could respond, a horn blew in the distance and cheering erupted from around the forest. red team had won.

clarisse didn’t look happy. she leaned back—you hadn’t even realised she’d leaned forward—and glared at the bough between you both.

“congratulations,” you said softly. “you deserved the win.”

“yeah, we did.” her voice carried very little enthusiasm.

you studied her face for a minute, like you were committing every feature to memory. “clarisse…”

she didn’t respond. instead, she swung her leg over the bough and started climbing down. only when she got two branches down did you begin to follow her, hurrying in your attempt to catch up. you couldn’t. no matter how good you were at something, she was better.

she nodded at you as she walked off, your foot caught in a tight spot.

once you’d finally got down, your teammates were surrounding you. some asked you what had happened, some accused you of being a double agent for them, some asked if you were okay.

you answered them all absently as you all walked back towards the stream, but your heart wasn’t in it. what the hell was going on?

you’d reached the stream by the time you realised you’d left your dagger behind, and you were back at your cabin, trying to fall asleep, when you realised that it didn’t bother you at all.

(part 2)

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride ! PJO or Time Travel drarry if you please ? Thank you !!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5

Poseidon hadn’t known what to expect, when he’d found Sally near hysterical and their son’s empty room, when he’d gone to the armory and found a sword missing from the armory with comical IOU scratched in it’s place. He had thought Sally’s mortal mind simply did not have an appreciation for scale, that a teenage demigod was far enough from a seven year old one as to appear closer to a god than a mortal.

He'd underestimated Sally. Not the first time. Hopefully the last.

Percy, nearly fully grown, tips his head back and meets his gaze evenly. He understands why Sally mistook them at first glance.

He doesn’t know if he’s ever had a demigod child take after him quite this starkly before.

“Your mother is beside herself.”

Percy winces, pulling a knee to his chest. “Yeah. The Mist is taking care of the mortal stuff, right? No one’s blaming her for anything.”

Poseidon’s lips thin. “No. Your lack of presence is simply being – ignored.”

Demigod children die young all the time. It wouldn’t do for mortal law enforcement to look into it to closely.

“That’s good,” Percy says. “I should call her. I just don’t know what to say.”

“Why did you call me?” he asks, instead of any of the other questions he’s burning to know the answers to. Just meeting him has been enough to answer some of them.

Persephone’s influence lingers around him so powerfully that if he didn’t know better, he’d be questioning if Percy was his son rather than hers.

He resists the urge to ask after the child version of his son. Sally has already said that Percy doesn’t know, and besides, the difference is not as jarring for him as it was for Sally. He has very little to compare him to.

Percy shrugs. It’s insolent and leaves Poseidon wondering what type of relationship they have in the future that Percy is both this easy in his presence and that Poseidon allowed his son to do something this monumentally stupid in the first place.

Then again, with Persephone’s hand in this, it’s likely he had very little say in it.

“You and Mom are the only ones who know who I am,” he says. Percy couldn’t have known that he’d spoken to his mother before calling him, but he supposes that’s irrelevant. He knows his blood. Barring that, he knows his own eyes. “I guess I just – will you look out for them? If something happens to me?”

Poseidon looks over at the cliff’s edge, at the three sleeping children huddled around a dying flame. Athena, his enemy. Hermes, who he’s never called a friend. Zeus, who’s child shouldn’t even exist, although he acknowledges the irony there. “Is she the child of prophecy, then? Is that what all this is about?”

“She’s a child,” Percy says, voice suddenly hard. “They all are. Isn’t that enough?”

Ah. There’s Sally in him.

“Are you not also a child?” he asks gently.

He snorts. “No. Technically, barely, but not really. This isn’t about me.”

Poseidon thinks it is. He doesn’t see how Percy can be this impossible and this powerful and have this not be about him.

He thinks he knows exactly why Percy has traveled to the past. He doubts it was Persephone’s intention, because she knows better than to believe this is a plan that could work, but maybe it doesn’t have to. She’s clever enough to account for Percy’s choices.

Instead of saying any of that, he rests his hand on Percy’s shoulder. He’s gratified when he leans into it. He must not have been too terrible a father. “You are my child.”

“Dad,” he sighs.

Poseidon squeezes before letting go. “Alright. If something happens to you, I’ll look out for your strays.”

“They’re my friends,” he corrects, but Poseidon is already leaving.

Athena’s child is stirring. It would be just like her get to see something she shouldn’t and wreck his son’s plans, foolish as they may be.

[persevereforahappyending]

Maybe in Another Life |3|

Pairing: Clarisse La Rue x Hunter of Artemis!Reader

Summary: You are a Hunter of Artemis, but you start to question what you truly want when you meet Clarisse and get to know her.

Warnings: Slight Titans Curse Spoilers

Word Count: 2.5k

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

ch.1 | ch. 2 | ch. 3 | ch. 4 | ch. 5 | ch. 6 | ch. 7 | ch. 8 | ch. 9 | ch. 10 | ch. 11 | ch. 12 | ch. 13 | ch. 14 | ch. 15 | ch. 16 | ch. 17

You, Zoe, Percy, Thalia, Grover, Bianca, and the other head councilors were all seated around a table with Chiron and Dionysus. All of you were discussing the prophecy, what it meant, and more importantly who would go on the quest. Five people were meant to be going on the quest but since it was Zoe’s she got say in who should go on it. It was actually Percy who agreed that Zoe should be the one to decide and that the majority should be Hunters. Zoe would have preferred to have no campers, you agreed with her, but the prophecy indicated that it needed to include both Hunters and campers.

“Grover,” Zoe said, surprising the satyr. Zoe knew Grover would be helpful in tracking down where Artemis was.

“And Thalia,” Zoe said surprising the daughter of Zeus. Thalia hated Zoe but there was no way she’d turn down going on the quest when it meant she could save her friend.

“Phoebe,” Zoe said, flicking her eyes to you. You nodded, understanding Zoe’s thought processes. “She’s the best tracker we have.”

“And Bianca,” she finished.

You tensed up, your eyes snapping to Zoe. She didn’t pick you. You had nothing against Bianca, she was new and nice enough, but she had no experience, with a quest this dangerous you didn’t want someone inexperienced going with your sister. You clenched your jaw to keep yourself from speaking up. You knew your place; you questioned Zoe but never in front of a group like this. Zoe met your eyes with a glare, silently making sure you kept your mouth shut. At least she knew what your thoughts were, she wouldn’t be surprised when you confronted her after leaving the big house.

“Wait!” Percy didn’t keep his mouth shut. “What about me? I want to go too!”

“Oh,” Grover said, looking at his friend. “I’ll stay behind?” He looked at Chiron, you, and then Zoe.

“No.” Zoe smirked at the boy. “No boys allowed.” She flicked a glance at Grover, “He doesn’t count.” Grover frowned but didn’t say anything more.

You caught Clarisse’s mouth twitch up in a smile at Zoe’s words. The girl was the head councilor of the Ares cabin and had remained relatively silent for the most part, surprisingly. Ares kids were usually all about a fight and begging to go on quests but when they were talking about which campers would go on this quest she hadn’t volunteered. Clarisse agreed when the Stoll brothers said it sounded like two people were going to die based on the prophecy. A flicker of what you could only describe as surprise flashed across her face when Zoe chose Bianca to go on the quest. You would bet she had the same thoughts as you, bringing someone so new and untrained was crazy.

“But I need to be on this quest! I need to save Annabeth!” Percy tried to reason with Zoe. You knew it was no use, there was no way Zoe would budge on this, there was no way she’d ever let a boy come along on a quest.

“Not everyone wants you crashing their quest fish boy,” Clarisse snarked.

Percy flicked a glare at her but didn’t say anything, moving his attention right back to Zoe. You figured there was a story behind Clarisse’s words. The idea of Percy Jackson worming his way onto other’s quests didn’t surprise you. You didn’t think he desired attention and glory like a lot of demigods, if you were to guess his reasons were probably honorable, as if he felt he had to be the one to save the day, like it was his responsibility.

You stayed silent, dutifully at Zoe’s side as she and Percy continued to argue. It didn’t stop until Chiron stepped in, saying that it was Zoe’s decision. Not that Chiron could force her anyway, he had no say in what the Hunters did. As you, Zoe, and Bianca left the big house Thalia, Percy, and Grover stayed behind to continue talking with Chiron, while the other councilors dispersed back to their cabins as well.

Before the three of you left the big house though Zoe was approached by the Stoll brothers. You narrowed your eyes as they talked with Zoe. They said how Phoebe had been interested in a shirt at the camp gift shop and they wanted to give it to her as a gift. Zoe didn’t question it though, she just took the shirt with a roll of her eyes and pushed past them, shoving her way outside. You followed, looking back as the Stoll brothers silently giggled to themselves before running off when they caught your stare.

“Say goodbye to your brother,” Zoe said, coming to a stop not too far from the big house, looking back at Bianca. “Then make sure you’re packed; we leave at first light.” Bianca nodded and ran off in search of her brother. “Speak,” she said without turning to face you.

“Why am I not on this quest?” You asked calmly.

“Phoebe is the best tracker out of all of us. Even you know that,” Zoe said plainly.

“But what about Bianca?” You crossed your arms. You didn’t want it to sound childish, but that’s probably exactly how it looked, you weren’t chosen to go on a quest and now you were whining but that wasn’t the case, not really. “She’s new to this, not just being a Hunter.” You raised your arms gesturing around camp, “But all of this, to being a demigod. She’s barely had training.”

“She needs to learn eventually.”

“This quest is too important to be a training session.”

“Do you trust me?” You kept your mouth shut as you sucked in a breath. “Do you?” She asked again, it wasn’t like she didn’t know the answer.

“Without question.”

“And yet you question me,” she mumbled.

You gave her an unamused glare. The only one you trusted more than Zoe was Artemis and she knew that because it was the same for her. After Artemis, there was no one Zoe trusted more than you. The two of you had been together for so long, you knew each other better than you knew yourselves at times. However, unwavering trust didn’t mean not questioning things and just blindly following orders.

“You are needed here,” Zoe said.

“Bullshit,” you scoffed.

“Language,” Zoe snapped, glaring at you.

You couldn’t help but smile, shaking your head at Zoe, she was really stuck in the past at times. Since you were the oldest you went into town or interacted with mortals more than most. You were also better at adapting and not drawing attention to yourself. If a mission involved going somewhere public a group of pre-teen girls tended to draw attention, but being seventeen most people didn’t question your presence. Since you got to interact with the world a bit more you were able to keep with the times and not speak as if you were born a thousand years ago, even if you were. There was plenty you didn’t know about the human world, things you never cared to know, you didn’t need to know them, you just needed to be able to pass as a regular member of society occasionally.

“How can you say I’m needed here,” you got back to the subject at hand. “I’m needed with you. Our goddess is in danger, and I need to be by your side as we try and rescue her.”

“No.”

“You heard the prophecy,” you whispered, glancing around to make sure no one else was around. “You know what it means.”

“We don’t know anything yet,” she brushed you off, but you saw the way her back straightened just a bit.

You gave her an unconvinced look. Even if prophecies could be misleading and weren’t always literal, you knew you both had your suspicions. You had both been demigods for so long, with Artemis for so long, you weren’t naive enough to not make an educated guess at certain lines of the prophecy.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” you admitted. You stared into Zoe’s eyes, silently begging her to change her mind. “Please, let me come with you, let me do what I’m meant for and protect you.”

Zoe’s gaze softened. It was rare for Zoe to not be a hundred percent serious and stoic, but she was capable of showing emotion, other than annoyance, most didn’t get to see that though. “You’re needed here,” she repeated kindly. “Without Artemis and with me going on this quest our sisters need someone to lead them.”

You knew what Zoe was trying to say but that didn’t stop you from trying to convince her. “We’re at camp, they’d be perfectly safe until our return.”

“You can’t guarantee that.”

“Then let me make sure it happens,” you pleaded. “Let me go on this quest, if a leader is needed here then it should be you not me. You know you’re better at this than me.”

“We both know I have to lead this quest, it’s my quest.”

You dropped your head in defeat. You knew there was no convincing Zoe to let you come and there was definitely no convincing her to stay behind. You felt Zoe rest a hand on your shoulder as she stepped closer to you. “I will not fail,” she said softly. You raised your head just enough to look her in the eye. “I will rescue our goddess, I swear it.”

“I know,” you said, giving her a sad smile. “Promise you’ll come home as well.” You knew she couldn’t do that; no demigod could promise that when they went on a quest, hell they couldn’t promise that if they just went for a walk, a demigod’s life had a habit of being short and tragic, happy endings being a rarity. “The Hunters need you. I need you.” A part of you hated to admit that, you weren’t one to get overly emotional but the dread you were feeling over this quest made you say it. It was true, you needed Zoe, she kept you from going off course, she kept you in line, you couldn’t imagine a life without her.

Zoe sighed and removed her hand from your shoulder. She didn’t say anything, just offering you a sad smile in return. Then she turned and left you there, heading back to the cabin to inform the rest of the Hunters about the quest and what the plan was. You knew the others wouldn’t be thrilled about staying at camp even longer knowing Artemis was missing and now that Zoe was leaving but none of them would question her like you did, they would just silently accept their orders to stay and wait for your goddesses return.

“Trouble in paradise?” a snarky voice came.

A smile appeared on your lips as you instantly recognized the voice already. You turned to see the daughter of Ares herself standing behind you, her arms crossed.

“Aww, you waited around just for me?” you gave it right back. Clarisse scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Zoe knows what she’s doing, and I trust her decision.”

“Yeah, that’s why you were begging her to go on the quest.”

“I wasn’t begging.” You tilted your head at the implication of her words. “Were you eavesdropping?”

Clarisse clenched her jaw, glaring at you. “No,” she said through gritted teeth. “Was just curious why your leader wouldn’t want her second who happens to be her best fighter at her side.”

“So, you admit I’m the best fighter,” you smirked, gesturing arrogantly at yourself.

Clarisse rolled her eyes again. “Of the Hunters maybe but definitely not at camp.”

“Yeah?” you stepped cockily towards her. “And who would be the best fighter in camp, you?” she gave a shrug and nod, but you could see the arrogance in her eyes, she definitely believed she was the best fighter in camp. You couldn’t help but scoff at the claim. “Is that why I kicked your ass in capture the flag?”

“That is not want happened.”

“Funny, I seem to remember you on your back, your own spear in my hands, pointed at your throat.”

Clarisse stepped forward as if she were ready to brawl with you right there. You couldn’t get rid of your smile, staring right back, seeing the fire in her eyes. Clarisse might have been right; she might have been the best fighter at camp, but she was no match for your centuries of experience.

You and Clarisse continued to stare into each other’s eyes, your competitive spirits mixing, adding to the tension in the air along with something you couldn’t place. You weren’t sure what it was about the daughter of Ares that drew you in, that made you want to mess with her. You two finally broke your stare down when someone cleared their throat.

Both of you quickly blinked, realizing how close the two of you had gotten as you each quickly stepped back. You turned to see Silena standing there, her eyes darting back and forth from you and Clarisse.

“You promised to hangout tonight,” Silena said to Clarisse, finally interrupting the awkward silence when it became clear neither you nor Clarisse would. Clarisse rolled her eyes but unlike every other time there was no annoyance behind it.

Your smile faltered as you watched as Clarisse allowed Silena to grab her arm and began to drag her back to the Aphrodite cabin or wherever they were going to hang out. “I expect a rematch,” Clarisse turned back as she continued to follow Silena.

You weren’t sure why your smile quickly appeared at the daughter of Ares’s words. “Can’t wait,” you said back with a smirk.

You did really want to fight the girl again. Capture the flag was fun and you had fun playing with her, but it was just that to you, a game. You wanted to really spar with her and see what she was actually capable of. Clarisse definitely had skills and you wanted to see just how good she was and see how well she could actually keep up with you. You knew she still wouldn’t win but it certainly would be fun beating her again.

You sighed and made for the journey back to the cabin. Zoe and them were leaving early and you might not have been going but you would be there to see them off. Until then you needed to help Zoe pack, making sure she had everything she would need for the quest. You also needed to make sure to talk to Bianca, the girl was young and inexperienced, and you wanted to give her as much advice and encouragement as you could before she left, you knew she was going to need it. The closer you got to the cabin the more the uneasiness and dread for this quest filled you, this quest wasn’t going to have a happy ending, you knew that, you were just afraid of what that would look like.

[once-upon-an-animation]

So I just finished reading Harry Potter for the very first time as an adult (pirated, of course, because screw JK Rowling). And uhh, I have some thoughts!

- I can definitely see how/why people fell in love with this series as children. So many different and interesting characters, Hogwarts seems like such a fun and interesting school, and the magic is essentially limitless, with so many different spell types, branches of magic, magical items, magical creatures, magical environments, so on and so forth. Had I read this series as a child, I could easily see myself becoming obsessed as well.

- I was actually pleasantly surprised with the diversity in these novels? For how discriminatory JK Rowling has demonstrated herself to be, and how long ago these books were written, there was actually quite a few characters of color and characters from foreign countries in there. Now, of course most of these characters were relegated as side characters, and some of their depictions seem kind of…questionable, but yeah, a pleasant surprise.

- I was a Percy Jackson kid growing up, and I’ve commonly seen accusations of Percy Jackson being a HP ripoff. Having read the HP books now in full, I don’t agree with that accusation, but I can kind of see why those comparisons were made. Some of the details in PJO feel eerily similar to certain details HP (alarm bells literally went off in my head when Harry received an invisibility cloak) and Rick also admitted on an FAQ on his blog that he wanted to replicate the likability of HP, so he took inspiration for certain elements from HP. Do with that what you will, I guess 🤷🏾‍♀️

- Continuing with the PJO/HP comparison, I do feel like the worldbuilding in PJO, while smaller, is a lot more solid than HP. I also feel like the child characters in PJO are more likable and relatable. However, there are some things that I think HP does better than PJO. For starters, I think HP does a far superior job of exploring emotions, and handling the emotional complexity and fallout of certain events, especially on the part of the protagonist. Rick’s decision to focus on constant action was a bit of a detriment to Percy’s character, as Percy’s emotional reactions to major events tended to be glossed over and/or made very brief. I’ll never forget in BoTL after the campers witnessed so many of their siblings and friends die in battle…and then everything just ‘went back to normal’, and their grief reactions were practically nonexistent. HP at least had wisdom to actually dwell on certain emotions and let them simmer for some time in the narrative. While I prefer Percy’s personality to Harry’s, I consider Harry to be a better written protagonist, because he actually gets to perform significant emotional reflection and introspection on the things that are happening around him. Harry’s emotions are presented in a far more complex and compelling manner, because of how layered and nuanced they are. I like that Harry had moments where he doubted his best friends. I like that Harry actually had changing love interests over time, and that his desires in a romantic partner evolved and became more mature over time. I like the Harry had a deeper emotional connection to the villain, a connection that he always had to grapple with the implications of. I like that each death was painful to Harry, and we actually got to hear him reflect on what each death meant to him for an extensive period of time. And oh, what a pleasant surprise it was to see Harry doubt Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows, to see Harry have such conflicted feelings about a character who had mostly been presented as being perfect and flawless up until this point. It was extremely sad, but it was very raw, and a far more realistic depiction of the messiness of teen emotions.

- Another thing that I think HP did better than PJO was the use of adult characters. I know that it’s a very intentional point for the demigods to feel neglected and abandoned by their godly parents and to have to suffer through the world alone, but at the same time, PJO makes weak use of both the gods and of mortal parents, and Chiron, as sweet as he is, isn’t exactly a complex character. Not only did HP strike a better balance between child-led adventures and parental involvement, but the adult characters presented to us are just miles more interesting and nuanced than any adult character presented to us in the original PJO series. The adults in HP had such intriguing backstories, secrets, and skeletons in their closets, all of which had a unique impact on the kids. And it’s not like having the adults present weakened the conflict, or downplayed the danger the kids were in.

- I’ve praised HP a lot, but there are some things about it that I also didn’t like. First of all, as a black woman, that slavery plotline with the house elves was absolutely insane to read, especially with the other students treating Hermione like she was nuts for wanting the house elves to gain freedom. On a related note, I also think the tense relationships between wizards and other creatures was underexplored in general. In Deathly Hallows, we clearly see that the discontent of these other creatures leads to some of them siding with Voldemort, but we’re never told what becomes of that or what becomes of the SPEW agenda after Voldemort dies. I’m assuming things didn’t just magically get better, did it?

- Another thing I definitely did not like is Romione being endgame. I am so sorry to the lovers of this ship, but Ron was so disrespectful towards Hermione throughout the series to an extent that I cannot, in good conscience, get on board with. I, for the life of me, cannot understand why Hermione is attracted to him or would want to spend the rest of her life with him, and she deserves so much better! In my world, she would have ended up with Krum or Neville, or just literally anyone else other than Ron.

- Harry and Ginny are more tolerable to me as an endgame couple, but I just wish that Ginny had a stronger presence in the story and/or more character development. Additionally, a small part of me feels like Harry had a stronger relationship with Luna than Ginny; Luna seemed to understand him even better. I almost feel like Harry and Luna would have made a stronger pair.

- As mentioned earlier, one aspect of HP that I had trouble with was worldbuilding. There are too many aspects of it to go over all my feelings in detail, but generally, I think that the books often fell prey to lots of lore-dumping (especially at the end of the novels when it was time to unveil the secrets and mysteries). I also think that because of how limitless the magic is, there were so many Deus-ex-machina moments that didn’t feel like they got the best set-up or foreshadowing. Along that same vein, I also feel like the magic is kind of ill-defined. Now, I understand that HP utilizes a very soft magic system in which the rules are pretty limited, but it’s hard to get a sense of where the magic starts and stops. As a result, if feels like the characters are so conveniently able to solve certain conflicts because a new magic object or concept can pop up whenever they need it.

I have a lot more thoughts than this, but this post is already long enough, and the rest of my thoughts are really just minor nitpicks. And again, please keep in mind that my first time reading this series was as an adult. I don’t have the same nostalgia or attachment for it that long-time fans would.

Anyhow, I’m off to watch the movies, and I’ll be continuing to read other childhood series that I never got a chance to enjoy. Next up: Artemis Fowl, and His Dark Materials!

[daphnebowen]

percy jackson and the olympians tv show episode 2 thoughts

again, just copying my original thoughts from last week 😭😭 lots of rambling, screaming, and general freaking out ahead!

Literally the whole first part of the episode I was sitting on the edge of my seat wondering “is annabeth going to say it? is she going to say percabeth’s iconic line?? I will be so incredibly disappointed if she doesn’t” and then SHE SAID IT SHE SAID IT OMG I LOVE HER and Percy’s reaction lol “huh?”

dude Dionysus is actually perfect “PETER JOHNSON IS HERE” man I am so looking forward to all of their banter

uhhh not me saying chiron’s name wrong for five plus years now and only now finding out it’s KYron and not CHEEron *sobs*

the whole thing with mr d saying he’s Percy’s dad was so funny I was cackling the whole time lol and not Percy ACTUALLY believing him and then Chiron shows up and it’s like “uh wait a minute hold on”

okay it is totally weird realizing that none of these people know who Percy’s dad is or what he can do but everyone watching (or mostly everyone I’ll say) does UGH I FEEL OLD

the music growing scarier as Luke approaches ACK FORESHADOWING he’s kinda cute tho I love his hair

i absolute adore how they made Percy mad about the injustice of the unclaimed at this young age not just as a fifteen year old and I freaking LOVE that for him

Clarisse is amazing, perfect, and gorgeous in every single way

DEMIGOD IN A WHEELCHAIR ALERT 🚨

“is there a greek god of disappointment? maybe someone should ask him if he’s missing a kid” dude I feel bad but the way I lost my mind - walker’s comedic timing and inflection was on point

AND THE FACT THIS GUY HAS AN ANSWER BAHAHAH

OMG WAIT THATS CHRIS AS IN… CHRIS CHRIS??? CLARISSE’S CHRIS??? CHRISTOPHER FREAKING RODRIGUEZ?? AHHHHH

percy is breaking my heart bro praying to his momma and everything it’s ok honey

YES THE BATHROOM SCENE that was lowkey kind of anticlimactic…

ANNABETH YAY

the fact that she just calmly admitted she’s stalking Percy and he’s just like “okay” onto the next thing lmao

was it just me pronouncing Thalia’s name like TAlka and not THAlia like how it’s spelled *sobs* I am really bad at this apparently

luke is making it really hard for me to remember he’s a bad guy, he’s so charming and sweet!

YES CAPTURE THE FRICKIN FLAG LESGOOOO

”sunshine” IS SO CUTE I CANT IM FANGIRLING Annabeth is everything I ever imagined her to be

NOT PERCY FLOSSING OH MY

AND SINGING ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN RUNNIN THRU THE FOREST OR WTV HES PERFECT I CANT

percys battle instincts are JAW DROPPING that fight scene was perfect

dude that claiming! Honestly didn’t picture the trident being so big but I think it kind of fits, bc how else is everyone 20 feet away gonna see it?

percy being so confuzzled when Mr d tells him he stole the master bolt is so funny “wHaT?!”

WHERE IS THE ORACLE BRUH

final thoughts: okay, that episode was PHENOMENAL! Camp half blood is absolutely gorgeous, the capture the flag scenes were perfect. Walker is crushing it as Percy and that was genius casting and I will say that till the day I die. I cannot wait for the third episode! my only complaint is, where’s the Oracle?? I genuinely want to hear the prophecy! because if she’s not here now then how’s Rachel gonna become the next oracle? I will hyperventilate bc perachel was so good for percabeth’s growth hahaha. I really really hope she’s in the next episode! I guess we’ll see!

haha thanks for reading my chaotic notes

[newpercyjfan]

“I plunge to my death” Percy Jackson Au

Ok first, if you somehow came up with this exact thing already, i wouldn’t know, I don’t even follow the Percy Jackson tag yet, but just tell me and I’ll take it down or tag it as an alt universe of your au and credit it, but I have like three other ones I’ll be posting so we’ll see.

- This au is connected to both the tv show and the book because I like what both did in terms of the arch episode.

- This mostly goes how the tv show episode goes, Percy gets poisoned, they get to the top of the arch, he sacrifices himself. But this time, he does pray to his dad as he falls over 100 ft to his death.

- His dad doesn’t answer. He’s the one who somehow last second, controls the water to save himself. He sinks to the bottom of the lake and gets stuck. He feels the poison and his wounds get slightly better.

-In this au, the nereid doesn’t actually help him get out of the water, because in this version it’s inspired by how in the books, when he left the water the wounds came back. If he leaves the lake, he could die.

- So he stays stuck there for almost three days while the nereids bring him seaweed and shit to eat, but eventually he gets sick of it.

- he learns that Poseidon didn’t really want him to leave, at least not yet, mainly because he knew if he left he would continue to be chased by monsters or die in some way and believed a war would come either way. Basically, if the Poseidon that said “heroes always end badly, I regret getting your mom pregnant” actually did something about it

- but of course, he can’t keep Perseus ‘I don’t listen to anybody but myself’ Jackson down in a lake without him going a lil crazy and he breaks the root holding him down and swims to shore, but the poison instantly kicks back in, and gets back in the water

- his father gifts him a hydrai (a large vase/urn basically that carry’s water) that holds basically a portal to the ocean in it. GUYS LISTEN, I HEARD THIS MYTH SOMEWHERE BUT WHEN I TRIED TO FIND THE SOURCE IT DISAPPEARED. I was positive I heard that there was a vase that held the ocean in it somewhere so just take my word 😭

- the mist makes it look like a water bottle with no label 😭💀💀💀

- Percy accepts the gift because he wants to get out of there, but he suddenly does not have a very good idea of the gods or specifically his father. I don’t think the nereid actually told him that his father really did care, at least a little bit, all he saw it as was his dad not thinking he would succeed/ he saw it as Zeus turning Thalia into a tree because he didn’t want to idk disprespect the other gods? Cause it was easier than defending her? That’s how Percy sees it anyways

- Meanwhile, Grover and annabeth are convinced he died. They looked and called for him, but there was no proof of his survival, so instead annabeth took his place in a lot of missions to fulfill the quest cause she’s a girl boss like that.

- I think her main theory of what happened to him is straight up “I saw him fall and didn’t see him land, so maybe he turned into the lake or a tree or something too” 💀😭

- anyways Percy gets chased by another monster but has no more fucks to give. He’s scary. He’s pale, has dark eyes and a taste for vengeance.

- he tries to find annabeth and Grover but they’re pretty ahead of him.

- my main idea is that they meet again in the underworld with hades and they are little wary honestly.

- also omg I didn’t think of this before but what if they thought, hey, he’s in the underworld, guess he did die 💀.

-But anyways what I thought would happen was annabeth and Grover get there first and annabeth has the backpack with the bolt in it. Hades asks if they wanted a trade and that’s why they came. He bluffs and tells them if they give him the bolt and the helmet he’d let go Percy’s mom or “bring back” percy. (Hades knows percy is not dead and is kinda pissed that Percy is constantly on the edge of death but making it because of his dad technically, and he can’t take him to punishment field or whatever he calls it idk)

- I think annabeth chooses percy and is about to give the bag over, but realizes he was tricked and he was never dead. But idk. There are so many diff ways this could go and I’d love to hear how you guys would write it. I’d love some reblog a that add to this idea.

Also I need unhinged percy content

(Sorry if the art or wording is bad, it’s late and I’m tired)

[slugmilk69]

Well now that season one of the Percy Jackson show is over, I no longer have anything to look forward to so I guess I’ll die.

[clownboymcchucklefuck]

Zecharias Theory

Before I start rambling, I do want to say that surprisingly a song lyric was what inspired me to write this theory because it made me think of Zecharias and therefore my brain started going off the charts with theorizing. I’ve also wanted to do something with Zecharias for a while now so if this also ends up being a analysis and also a theory at the same time then yall gonna have to deal with it.

“But you made me want to plan out my last days on earth, eating you. The tips of your teeth fit perfect in me. You’re a shower of light I’d devour any day of the week.” -LIGHT SHOWER by Melanie Martinez.

Now you might be thinking how this made me go into full theory mode. So let me explain.

It’s been mentioned a few times/implied that Zecharias has had muses before MC and in the NSFW alphabet it has even mentioned somebody but I’ve only seen who ever this person is mentioned in this one part and hasn't even been asked about smh.

“He hasn't been able to meet a lot of other people, much less get the chance to do the deed with them. At most, he likely could have done it with one person, but they're as inexperienced as he is.

Who is this person? Well, you’ll find out in the game. :>”

But here’s my thing, if what we know about Zecharias not being human then he’s probably immortal especially that I’ve noticed a few implications that he might be a god or demi-god (Hell, bring Percy Jackson into this and say possibly half-blood.) with one part of Be My Muse and there was a few lines about MC being into greek mythology and he brought up the god Mnenmosyne. (HELP I JUST REALIZED THAT'S HIS LAST NAME WHY AM I ONLY PUTTING THIS TOGETHER WHILE I'M WRITING THIS) Well now that I just figured that out it just puts more evidence to back up my theory and of course with all of those powers he has and everything. Now I know that in the SFW alphabet did somewhat imply that he would die for MC if it was to protect them but I think that just might have been figurative language. .

Zecharias eats people too, but it’s also been said he just does this as a way to survive so I’m not about to bash him about that.

“He’s only interested in adults to be his muse or his meals.”

ANYWAYS, Finally to my main theory that made me write this. Zecharias is likely immortal or lives for a very long time. But (from what we know) all of his muses have been human including MC. It makes me wonder what happened to the old muses, I mean of course it’s very likely they died inside of the backrooms, maybe from old age or something else. BUT that also brings the question of what happened to their bodies so going back to the lyrics that made me think up of this theory. I think it’s very possible that Zecharias could have probably eaten the old muses? Since its for his survival to eat humans and him being obsessed with them could prove this. Or he might just have those fuckers stored somewhere in the backrooms lmao.

I don’t know what else to go on about without going into a full analysis of Zecharias which would include me going more into what we know about his backstory so far and me explaining his motives and all that good stuff but I guess I’ll see how this theory does before starting to write all of that jfnlaajan.

Also keep in mind that this is all a theory, A YANDERE VN THEORY- *gets hit with fridge*

Word count: 647.

Zecharias belongs to @letmeremindyouvn

_______________________________

Taggy tags:

@dont-wannadothis-anymore @mr-ritza @mysticnebula

[waitingandwishing]

The Clay Girl - Throne of Gold

(Cross posted on Wattpad and AO3)

Prev - Next Chapter

“I haven't seen a lot of horror movies, but this seems like exactly the kind of place they'd suggest to avoid,” Percy said as he saw the flickering sign of Water Land.

“Yeah… I’d say the same thing.” Odyssa muttered as they entered the haunted-looking water park, “Do you think monsters would be here? Y’know, considering that Ares left his shield here?”

“I dunno, I was gonna ask you that.” Percy shrugged, “What horror movie reminds you of this?”

“I dunno, something like Dark Ride, right?” Odyssa suggested.

“Dark Ride? Hm, never seen it.” Percy said and Odyssa nodded.

“Honestly, I kind of wish I never saw it in the first place.” She admitted, “But maybe after all of this is over and we’re alive, we could watch it together.”

“Like… The two of us?” Percy asked and Odyssa scrunched her face.

“No, the four of us, Perce.” Odyssa said, “Annabeth’s never seen a movie and Grover doesn’t like scary stuff so maybe we could watch something a bit less… Horror-like?”

“Sounds good to me.” Percy smiled as he pushed through the gate. Odyssa frowned before Percy got locked in and the sound of metal grinding echoed through the silence. “Um… Dessa?”

“That’s Celestial bronze?” Odyssa scrutinized the killing machine.

“Oh, fascinating. Dessa, what is happening right now!?” Percy started to panic.

“Don’t panic! It’ll only make things worse.” Odyssa said, “Celestial bronze is what your sword is made of. If you're a human, it won’t do anything. If you're a monster or a demigod…” Odyssa let Percy figure out the rest as his eyes widened.

“Well, what's it doing there?” He asked and Odyssa shrugged.

“I dunno but… This is not just some amusement park.” She thought out loud, “A god built this place…”

“What god builds a place like this?”

“Hephaestus.” She said.

“Why would Hephaestus build an amusement park?”

“I dunno, but considering Ares' shield is here, I’m assuming it’s for Ares,” Odyssa said as she scrutinized it.

“Okay, that’s great! Cool, cool, cool. Now how do I get out of here?” Percy asked.

Odyssa stayed silent as she watched the gears turn. “I think Hephaestus should try doing some haunted houses. He’d get a lot of money for that.” She said and Percy shook his head. “Okay, Percy, just push through it.”

“What?!”

“Push!” She encouraged him. Percy hesitated before looking back at Odyssa.

“Wasn’t Annabeth the one this morning who was all, ‘The Fates say one of us is gonna die and we should take it really seriously?’”

“Percy just push it!” She said and Percy sighed. He turned back to the gate before pushing it and entering the park. A sign above clicks and the 000 turns to 001.

Odyssa entered the park as well and the 001 turned to 002. “The machine isn't designed to hurt us. It's meant to scare us.” She explained, “Hephaestus wanted to know any time one of us came around his park. And… I guess now he knows.”

The duo walked through the park, lights flickered and a few sparks flew. “Hey, Dessa? I think that I’ll take you up on that offer for a horror movie night.” Percy said, “We could probably watch it after this whole quest thing.”

“Totally. I’ll make sure to ask for extra snacks from the kitchen.” Odyssa said and Percy chuckled softly, still slightly weary about the creepiness of Hephaestus’s amusement park.

“This is… Very well built. Annabeth would be impressed if she were here.” Odyssa smiled as she saw the broken-down amusement park rides. “Guess Hephaestus really was the god of craftsmen.”

“If it belongs to the god of craftsmen, what was the god of war doing here? Aren't they enemies?” Percy asked as they walked past the flickering lights of the Ferris wheel. “Then why'd he split without his shield?”

“Well, if Ares was here then… Aphrodite would be here too.” Odyssa frowned.

“You don’t seem to be happy about Aphrodite being here,” Percy said and Odyssa shrugged.

“I dunno, Artemis and Aphrodite never really got along, y’know?” Odyssa shrugged, “One thing Ares was telling the truth about is that this family is a mess…”

Suddenly, a flicker of lights blasted on it that read ‘Thrill Ride Of Love’. Odyssa frowned. Percy swallowed and looked at Odyssa, who seemed to scrutinize the boat. 

“I think the shield might be in there. It’s gotta be where Aphrodite and Ares got caught considering they were on a date and all that.” She said and Percy nodded with a tense smile.

“Yeah, sure, scary ghost ride into the unknown sounds great,” Percy said sarcastically.

“Calm down, Perce. It’s not like we’ll be stuck in there forever.” Odyssa held out her hand, “Are you coming or am I gonna have to hold your hand?” She smirked and Percy rolled his eyes with a slight smile before the two of them entered the boat.

As the boat waded in the water, the lights flickered softly before a loud pop song played, “♪ What is love? Baby, don't hurt me… ♪”

Odyssa couldn’t keep her composure and chuckled at the song, “Why do I feel like I’ve heard this before…” She muttered and Percy nodded.

“Probably from an orthodontist's office maybe?” Percy suggested and Odyssa nodded.

“This sounds like the kinda stuff they’d play.”

“♪ What is love? Yeah ♪”

“♪ Ooh, ooh I don't know… ♪”

A light show was then showcased on the wall. Holograms and figures danced across the tunnel as Odyssa watched in confusion. “Wait, I know this.” Percy realized, “It's Hephaestus's story…”

“Yeah, I figured that much…” Odyssa muttered, “Why did he create a Tunnel of Love if he wasn’t loved?”

“Rejected by Hera. Rejected by Aphrodite.” Percy turned to look at Odyssa, “My mom told me these stories all the time. I remember this. She said…” His voice trailed off and Odyssa frowned.

“What’d she say?”

“She said this is what the gods are like to each other. This is the kind of family they are.” Percy said.

“Why didn’t you say that then?”

“She was trying to keep me away from you guys.” Percy swallowed, “Maybe Annabeth was right. Maybe she should have been preparing me better.”

“Maybe she was preparing you so that you could be different from us,” Odyssa said and Percy nodded, though he wasn’t convinced. 

Suddenly, the machine powered down and the music came to a stop. Odyssa and Percy looked at each other in confusion before being lurched forward by the boat, which led them down a steep watery hill.

“YOU CAN BREATHE UNDERWATER, RIGHT?!” Odyssa yelled through the chaos as she was swung to the side and squished against Percy.

“I THINK SO!”

“YOU THINK SO?!” Odyssa screamed, latching into Percy’s hand as they flew down another level of water.

The boat came to a sudden stop as it floated as smoothly as it once was. Odyssa looked around, eyes widened and heart racing. “Are we underground? I feel like my ears popped a bit.” She panted.

“Yeah, I think we’re underground… You okay?” Percy asks after he catches his breath.

Odyssa let go of Percy’s hand, much to his dismay. “Yeah.” He’s about to say something to fill the awkward silence when your eyes widen. “There’s the shield!”

Percy turned to look at the golden statue in the center of the room, the shield between its hands. The boat doesn’t stop, though. He looks at Odyssa and then back at the statue. “We’re gonna have to jump,” He said, and she grimaced. The artificial waves were rocking the boat harder and harder.

“On three?” Odyssa asked.

Percy smiles in a way that he hopes is reassuring. “On three.”

“One… Two-!” Before Odyssa can say three, the boat lurches and they both topple over the edge.

As soon as the water closes over her head, she’s struggling and kicking. Somewhere in the haze, Odyssa could see Percy and reached out. All of a sudden, he disappears in a whirl of water.

Fuck.

Suddenly, something solid rushes to meet her, and Odyssa can’t stop coughing. Which was good, that meant she was breathing.

“Hey, hey! Are you okay?” Percy asked and Odyssa coughed, leaning over before breathing in the sweet release of air.

“I’m fine.” She said, stumbling as she stood up and wiped her wet hair out of her face.

Percy squinted at the chair. “This is Hephestasus’ park, right?” Odyssa nodded. “I think this is Hera’s throne…”

“She sat in it and couldn’t get up,” Odyssa remembered the story vaguely, “This seems to be a machine of it.”

“It was a trade,” Percy continues. “Aphrodite’s hand in marriage for Hera. The shield for…”

“I’ll do it.”

He caught her arm as Odyssa started to walk forward. “Wait a minute!”

“Whoever goes in there isn’t coming back,” Odyssa explained with a frown,

“I know, that’s why I said wait!”

Odyssa pulled her arm away from Percy, “You need to stay alive, Percy. You’re important!” Odyssa defended.

“And you’re not?!”

Odyssa swallowed, “It’s like Annabeth said, ‘Too selfless for my own good’. People need you, Percy!”

He opened his mouth, then shut it again. I need you, he wanted to say. But, of course, he didn’t. He couldn’t.

“The gods chose you, Percy. This is your quest.” Odyssa smiled, “I’m perfectly fine with-”

“Well, I’m not!” He protested, though he knew he couldn't beat her. She’d burn the world to protect the people she cared about. “Annabeth needs you, Grover needs you! Luke’s still back there waiting for you to come back too!”

“Zontanós,” Odyssa said, and this time her dagger was facing Percy. “It’s supposed to be like this. The Oracle said you’d live, and the Fates said one of us would die.”

Odyssa blinked back her tears, she couldn’t cry. Not in front of him during this moment. Not in front of anyone. Percy uncapped his sword as he pointed it at her.

With a powerful swing, he brought the sword down in a heavy arc, aiming for a decisive blow. The dagger fighter sidestepped with ease, slipping out of the sword’s path just as the blade clattered to the floor.

“You’re not gonna win this fight, Percy.” Odyssa’s voice trembled along with her hands as she held the dagger to Percy’s face.

Percy walked up to her slowly before pulling her into a hug. “I can’t let you go,” Percy said and Odyssa dropped her dagger to the ground as Percy held onto her.

“It’ll be okay, maybe you could swing by and ask my mom if she could let me out.” Odyssa said quietly, “It’ll be alright…”

Percy’s hands shook as he eventually let Odyssa go, although his whole soul told him not to, he did. There was no changing her mind. Odyssa walked over to the chair, heart pounding in her chest.

“Tell Grover that he’s still a good friend. And tell Annabeth that I love her.” Odyssa smiled, eyes welling up as her voice cracked and she sat down in the chair. “Tell Chiron that I won’t be able to finish my chores in the kitchen and tell Luke that we won’t be having that archery re-match anytime soon.”

“I’ll get Annabeth… She’ll know how to reverse it…” Percy said, his voice dying as golden tendrils coiled around Odyssa’s arms and wrapped around her feet.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t be friends for long, Percy.” Odyssa smiled bittersweetly, tears finally falling. “I was looking forward to it, y’know?”

“This is a bad idea,” Percy said, “Stand up.”

“I can’t,” Odyssa said. She’s already accepted her fate. “I’m afraid that I’ll feel like clay again… Inanimate and alone, but I know I-I'm not alone. I’m human. I’ve got you, I’ve got friends. I’ve had a good run…”

“I… You can’t go.” Percy said, choking on his words as tears threatened to pour.

“But I am, and I will.” She said. Whatever was seeping onto her face was warm and brittle. “Goodbye, Percy. And good luck.”

Percy watched as Odyssa turned into gold, her face contorted into a permanent smile staring back at him. If he could picture it, her crying face was engraved into his mind.

“I’m not leaving you.” He placed his hand on hers. ‘It’s a machine… So I might be able to break it…’

[artist-issues]

what’s a piece of media that you really wish you could like but can’t and why?

This is a hard question!

Because I’m so stubborn and control-freakish that it’s hard for me to ever like or dislike something without carefully ferreting out the reasons why. So then I always feel equipped with good reasons for liking and disliking, which keeps me from blurring the lines and wishing I could like things.

I guess I’ll say, there’s some stuff I wish I could approve of because the media is so well made, but I can’t because they use their powers for evil or foolishness instead of good. Like Turning Red. I���d be about the main character’s age, I think. I had a tomagotchi, unironically. I had burnt CDs. I had a gaggle of friends in middle school that were ride-or-die. And I also love kittens, wished I could turn into an animal when I was in middle school, and adored the color palette of the movie. But ew, that movie is all about self-love and self-celebration and ‘there’s no wrong or right, only whatever you feel,’ and ‘your fulfillment of responsibility should earn you the right to do whatever you feel like doing,’ and the child leads the adult by the hand and teaches the adult that “lesson” which is actually garbage?

I actually feel this way about Percy Jackson, the new tv show, too. Like, out of homage and nostalgia for the books, I really want to like the show. There’s also some moments of good writing in there, and glimpses of “character accuracy” even if it’s in new settings. And Percy’s such a good character that glimpses of the real him go a long way. But all in all, the show takes itself way too seriously in all the wrong moments, the kids aren’t being directed well when they act, the writers are picking a “new direction” to go in with the characters, but that direction is all wrong for what Percy Jackson fans like. You can’t turn Percy Jackson into The Hunger Games. It doesn’t work like that. You might succeed in turning Percy Jackson into Outer Banks, but even that would be a stretch.

So I guess those are my answers!

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 16: (PIPER XV)- HEARTBREAKS ARE RATED E FOR EVERYONE

Thalia eyed Piper’s name at the top with a bit of trepidation. She was not looking forward to hearing anymore nightmares from the poor girl and wished she knew how a phone worked to give her a call.

PIPER XV

PIPER WOKE UP AND IMMEDIATELY GRABBED a mirror. 

“Awww, no dragon reaction?” Leo groaned, though he did realize the book was clearly rewinding on the timeline. Now he’d have to wait for Piper to catch up!

Nobody seemed to have much sympathy for him except Jason also grumbling at this book taking forever.

“Less than twelve hours and she’s already been converted?” Thalia sighed. “At least it took Nico some terror in the Labyrinth to die on that aesthetic.”

“Hey!” Nico scowled, “watch where you gutter stomp in your own puddle! And if you must know, it helps me move through the shadows better!”*

“Right, and I should get a nose ring to help me be a better conductor,” Thalia grinned as she snapped, fully prepared to continue he was actually stealing her look and that she’d need proof of that claim, when-

“You would too if Aprhoidte cursed you,” Percy reminded, derailing the both of them.

Thalia huffed in agreement to keep reading.

Everyone else sat in awed silence the children of the big three just had a lovely quarrel and then managed to break it off without world war three happening.

What were the gods so worried about again?

There were plenty of those in the Aphrodite cabin. She sat on her bunk, looked at her reflection and groaned.

She was still gorgeous.

“An honest horror. Did she even try rubbing mud on her face- no wait, that’s a beauty thing too,” Annabeth frowned.

“This is one of those unique experiences I can’t even pray I’ll never get or Aphrodite will curse me next,” Percy shivered at the idea. Yeah it might be cool to not wake up looking like a train wreck once, but the oddity of it wouldn’t last past the broken mirror for him.

Last night after the campfire, she’d tried everything. She messed up her hair, washed the makeup off her face, cried to make her eyes red. Nothing worked. Her hair popped back to perfection. 

“Did she try hacking it off more?” Leo asked in complete sorrow for her. “She’s never minded it before.” He was suddenly miserable at the idea of Piper all alone, freaking out her body had been hijacked by her mom, and he’d just waltzed off without a care. Some friend he was.

“Not sure who I’d trust in this camp with scissors to be honest,” Jason winced at where she’d go to get them. He couldn’t even hope he’d offered her any comfort, it would just stay labeled in the awkward category from now until forever with his stupid mouth.

“More than half of us run around with swords,” Percy looked at him strangely.

“Exactly! Ask for some trimmers and you pull out Riptide! It wouldn’t go well,” Jason huffed.

The magic makeup reapplied itself. Her eyes refused to get puffy or bloodshot.

“That is easily one of the rudest thing I’ve heard these gods do to someone,” Percy frowned.

“That’s because you don’t read the rest of the myths you're supposed to,” but Annabeth agreed this was pretty dang rude. She really couldn’t even guess how long the curse was going to last for the poor girl, she’d never paid attention to their traditions. She’d never had much to do with them, though in later years that had been on purpose as she avoided the lot, less her brain wander to people it shouldn’t. Silena had been the exception, because she never brought up Luke or Percy unless invited.

She would’ve changed clothes, but she had nothing to change into. The other Aphrodite campers offered her some (laughing behind her back, she was sure), but each outfit was even more fashionable and ridiculous than what she had on.

“Seriously?” Leo scowled. “Not one of them had an old pair of comfy PJ’s? They all sleep in designer lace and chiffon!?”

“I’m grateful for the first time poor Piper didn’t come with us,” Jason agreed. He’d offer her all of his built up camp shirts to sleep in at minimum.

Now, after a horrible night’s sleep, still no change. Piper normally looked like a zombie in the morning, but her hair was styled like a supermodel’s and her skin was perfect. Even that horrible zit at the base of her nose, which she’d had for so many days she’d started to call it Bob, had disappeared.

“What is wrong with this mess when we can’t even be grateful a zit’s been vanquished?” Will sighed.

“Just like every gift from the gods,” Nico agreed. He found it personally amusing that Piper had chosen that particular name as he glanced at Percy, but he was just chuckling without a care in the world…and then he was left to his own devices wondering at the strange habits of naming zits instead of just making them vanish from your face with enough concentration and very careful shadow manipulation?

She growled in frustration and raked her fingers through her hair. No use. The do just popped back into place. She looked like Cherokee Barbie.

Thalia’s laugh managed to sound wounded and amused all at once for her long standing joke in this cabin having a horrible sting on Piper. She wished she’d make a visit to camp soon, just to update Annabeth, and maybe kidnap this girl out of pity.

From across the cabin, Drew called, “Oh, honey, it won’t go away.” Her voice dripped with false sympathy. “Mom’s blessing will last at least another day. Maybe a week if you’re lucky.”

Piper gritted her teeth. “A week?”

The other Aphrodite kids—about a dozen girls and five guys —smirked and snickered at her discomfort. 

“Really feeling the comradery,” Hazel muttered, tucking her hands into Nico’s jacket in relief. 

“They’re not all bad,” Will said instantly, but they could tell it was a practiced reflex as he winced at how bad this was coming off. **“Melanie Martinez hangs out with one of my brothers a lot and she seems nice.” It wasn’t the greatest defense, since he hadn’t really spent any time around her, but Melanie was a great singer and offered free piano lessons to anyone who asked which was how she and Jerry started hanging out.

Where the piano had come from, he had a feeling Chiron didn’t know and hadn’t wanted to ask as it took up residence in the amphitheater and would probably be harder to get rid of now than was worth it.

Piper knew she should play cool, not let them get under her skin. She’d dealt with shallow, popular kids plenty of times. But this was different. These were her brothers and sisters, even if she had nothing in common with them, and how Aphrodite had managed to have so many kids so close in age … Never mind. She didn’t want to know.

“I swear she has a stopwatch or something,” Thalia rolled her eyes and prattled off with an old smirk. “Oops, been more than a year, better pop back down to Earth and make sure my cabin’s flooded with more kids!”

“We really should find a way to separate you from your sisters from time to time,” Jason sighed. “They’re a bad influence.”

Thalia scoffed. “You think I need Phoebe to come up with that idea!” She was the one with the book, this could turn into a full on thing before Annabeth intervened, “quest? Saving the world and other vaguely important things? Lets see if Piper lives through this before we worry about how her siblings take her in?” It wasn’t even a problem she knew how to handle going forward, and that frustrated her to no end. The rest of them could hardly make Drew act better towards any new Aphrodite kids coming in.

“Don’t worry, hon.” Drew blotted her fluorescent lipstick. “You’re thinking you don’t belong here? We couldn’t agree more. Isn’t that right, Mitchell ?”

One of the guys flinched. “Um, yeah. Sure.”

Thalia’s scowl deepened past frustration as she imagined Drew waking up with gum in her hair, in her makeup, and all her clothes for the foreseeable future until she decided to act like a human being with a heart. Maybe she’d even get creative and transport some worms in too.

“Mmm-hmm.” Drew took out her mascara and checked her lashes. Everyone else watched, not daring to speak.

“Is it too soon to offer beheading as a solution?” Thalia asked.

“Little bit,” Percy said, but not as if he really meant it.

 “So anyways, people, fifteen minutes until breakfast. The cabin’s not going to clean itself! And Mitchell, I think you’ve learned your lesson. Right, sweetie? So you’re on garbage patrol just for today, mm-kay? Show Piper how it’s done, ’cause I have a feeling she’ll have that job soon—if she survives her quest. Now, get to work, everybody! It’s my bathroom time!”

Everybody started rushing around, making beds and folding clothes, while Drew scooped up her makeup kit, hair dryer, and brush and marched into the bathroom.

Someone inside yelped, and a girl about eleven was kicked out, hastily wrapped in towels with shampoo still in her hair.

Thalia was seething with anger, but she kept reading through gritted teeth among the growing grumbles and snide comments.

The door slammed shut, and the girl started to cry. A couple of older campers comforted her and wiped the bubbles out of her hair.

Thalia sighed in relief as she focused her anger on not launching a missile arrow into that cabin right now. That’s all she’d wanted to see, just a few decent ones in there.

“Seriously?” Piper said to no one in particular. “You let Drew treat you like this?”

A few kids shot Piper nervous looks, like they might actually agree, but they said nothing.

The campers kept working, though Piper couldn’t see why the cabin needed much cleaning. It was a life-size dollhouse, with pink walls and white window trim. The lace curtains were pastel blue and green, which of course matched the sheets and feather comforters on all the beds.

The guys had one row of bunks separated by a curtain, but their section of the cabin was just as neat and orderly as the girls’. Something was definitely unnatural about that.

“Can’t believe Drew doesn't have sheep painted into the wall, she’s not subtle enough to explain it any other way,” Annabeth grumbled.

 Every camper had a wooden camp chest at the foot of their bunk with their name painted on it, and Piper guessed that the clothes in each chest were neatly folded and color coordinated. The only bit of individualism was how the campers decorated their private bunk spaces. Each had slightly different pictures tacked up of whatever celebrities they thought were hot. A few had personal photos, too, but most were actors or singers or whatever.

Piper hoped she might not see The Poster. 

“Oh, no,” but at least now Thalia sounded indulgent and a little sorry. Piper was clearly no more fond of her dads infamy than she was of her own.

It had been almost a year since the movie, and she thought by now surely everyone had torn down those old tattered advertisements and tacked up something newer. But no such luck. She spotted one on the wall by the storage closet, in the middle of a collage of famous heartthrobs.

The title was lurid red: King of Sparta. Under that, the poster showed the leading man—a three-quarters shot of bare-chested bronze flesh, with ripped pectorals and six-pack abs. He was clad in only a Greek war kilt and a purple cape, sword in hand. He looked like he’d just been rubbed in oil, his short black hair gleaming and rivulets of sweat pouring off his rugged face, those dark sad eyes facing the camera as if to say, I will kill your men and steal your women! Ha-ha!

“A role he played quite well,” Annabeth chuckled.

“We need to have a movie night to watch it,” Thalia grinned.

“I’d, wait, until Piper’s there to throw popcorn at the screen with you,” Leo said hastily. She would have been thrilled to come in here and meet a whole group of people who were too out of touch to care about her famous dad. Now that was still mostly true, but Leo knew she’d still rather be in on that particular narrative.

It was the most ridiculous poster of all time. Piper and her dad had had a good laugh over it the first time they saw it.

Then the movie made a bajillion dollars. The poster graphic popped up everywhere. Piper couldn’t get away from it at school, walking down the street, even online. It became The Poster, the most embarrassing thing in her life. And yeah, it was a picture of her dad.

She turned away so no one would think she was staring at it. Maybe when everyone went to breakfast she could tear it down and they wouldn’t notice.

She tried to look busy, but she didn’t have any extra clothes to fold. She straightened her bed, then realized the top blanket was the one Jason had wrapped around her shoulders last night. She picked it up and pressed it to her face. It smelled of wood smoke, but unfortunately not of Jason. He was the only person who’d been genuinely nice to her after the claiming, like he cared about how she felt, not just about her stupid new clothes. God, she’d wanted to kiss him, but he’d seemed so uncomfortable, almost scared of her. She couldn’t really blame him. She’d been glowing pink.

Jason’s ratcheting unease at her fondness quickly fell off into his own affectionate laughter. “Let’s hope her mom doesn't make a habit of making her glow like a rainbow.”

“I don’t know, can’t say I wouldn’t at least enjoy that power for personal entertainment if I had to pick,” Hazel chuckled. Piper’s curse sounded dreadful to her, but even calling it a curse felt laughably under-selling what a real curse was like.

“I’d kiss you no matter what color you glowed,” Percy grinned at Annabeth.

“You’re such a dork,” she chuckled as she kissed his cheek.

“’Scuse me,” said a voice by her feet. The garbage patrol guy, Mitchell, was crawling around on all fours, picking up chocolate wrappers and crumpled notes from under the bunk beds. Apparently the Aphrodite kids weren’t one hundred percent neat freaks after all.

She moved out of his way. “What’d you do to make Drew mad?”

He glanced over at the bathroom door to make sure it was still closed. “Last night, after you were claimed, I said you might not be so bad.”

“I say we pitch Drew into the fire and put Mitchell in charge,” Percy sighed.

“He does mean the magical fire that only burns marshmallows,” Annabeth promised.

“He does?” Percy asked in surprise. Drew was starting to remind him of Kelly and it was hard to keep his monsters straight sometimes.

“Let’s hold off on immolation to see if someone else wants to volunteer and dethrone Drew,” Nico offered peaceably.

Percy rolled his eyes and muttered something that vaguely sounded like agreement.

It wasn’t much of a compliment, but Piper was stunned. An Aphrodite kid had actually stood up for her?

“Thanks,” she said.

Mitchell shrugged. “Yeah, well. See where it got me. But for what it’s worth, welcome to Cabin Ten.”

A girl with blond pigtails and braces raced up with a pile of clothes in her arms. She looked around furtively like she was delivering nuclear materials.

“I brought you these,” she whispered.

“Piper, meet Lacy,” Mitchell said, still crawling around on the floor.

“I didn’t even know Lacy could be a name, who would curse their child like that?” Thalia said crosseyed.***

“I’ve heard kids mispronounce your name three different ways, don’t even start Thals,” Percy rolled his eyes.

“I wasn’t mocking her, I was honestly surprised,” she insisted. 

“You’re also just as stunned she didn’t just go by her middle name when she grew the slightest bit of independence,” Annabeth rolled her eyes too.

“Fair,” she acknowledged.

“Hi,” Lacy said breathlessly. “You can change clothes. The blessing won’t stop you. This is just, you know, a backpack, some rations, ambrosia and nectar for emergencies, some jeans, a few extra shirts, and a warm jacket. The boots might be a little snug. But—well—we took up a collection. Good luck on your quest!”

Thalia sounded genuinely touched, nobody had ever done something like that for her before…not since Luke. The Hunters looked out for each other, but they were very independent too in Camp. They were always happy to help each other out, but being the Lieutenant left her with the often uneasy task of being in charge and offering support more often than she was comfortable giving it, rather than just handling things on her own. She was honestly happy Piper was getting this kind of sibling experience.

Lacy dumped the things on the bed and started to hurry away, but Piper caught her arm. “Hold on. At least let me thank you! Why are you rushing off?”

Lacy looked like she might shake apart from nervousness. “Oh, well—”

“Drew might find out,” Mitchell explained.

“I might have to wear the shoes of shame!” Lacy gulped.

“The what?” Piper asked.

Lacy and Mitchell both pointed to a black shelf mounted in the corner of the room, like an altar. Displayed on it were a hideous pair of orthopedic nurse’s shoes, bright white with thick soles.

“Errr, are the shoes hiding, in them, or?” Percy asked.

“My first thought was giant clown shoes. Plain white seems mild in comparison?” Annabeth agreed, studying the book. 

“Bet it's hell to get monster dust out of those things?” Thalia shrugged.

“Pffft, like those kids get monster dust on them on a regular basis,” Nico scoffed.

“None of you guys are funny,” but Will sighed and sounded more exhausted than like he was really reprimanding them. They really did seem confused.

“I had to wear them for a week once,” Lacy whimpered. “They don’t go with anything!”

“Doesn’t white, go with, everything?” Leo asked.

“You couldn't own a piece of white clothing for an hour,” Jason smirked as he looked up from his own drawing.

“Guilty,” Leo agreed, turning back to the smudge marks and stains on his paper he was somehow insisting were improvements on Festus’s power core.

Jason smiled in triumph and turned back to doodle a few more lines onto his paper. They’d just been a lot of stick figures at first, ruler straight and oddly placed, but once he started shading in the back work and etched a few curves, he realized he’d been drawing columns. Rows and rows of supports, holding nothing but the edges of the pages, but he liked it all the same.

“And there’re worse punishments,” Mitchell warned. “Drew can charmspeak, see? Not many Aphrodite kids have that power; but if she tries hard enough, she can get you to do some pretty embarrassing things.

“Okay, now that’s got to be against the rules! No way Chiron lets her get away with that, personal cabin blah blah whatever aside,” Hazel frowned.

“It is,” Annabeth agreed. “But good luck getting anyone to prove it.” She was already coming up blank on how to bring Drew’s reign to a halt without basically just grounding her in the basement of the Big House. People, aside from Percy, were really hard to factor into strategies.

 Piper, you’re the first person I’ve seen in a long time who is able to resist her.”

“Charmspeak …” Piper remembered last night, the way the crowd at the campfire had swayed back and forth between Drew’s opinion and hers. “You mean, like, you could talk someone into doing things. Or … giving you things. Like a car?”

“Oh, don’t give Drew any ideas!” Lacy gasped.

“But yeah,” Mitchell said. “She could do that.”

“So that’s why she’s head counselor,” Piper said. “She convinced you all?”

Mitchell picked a nasty wad of gum from under Piper’s bed. “Nah, she inherited the post when Silena Beauregard died in the war. Drew was second oldest. Oldest camper automatically gets the post, unless somebody with more years or more completed quests wants to challenge, in which case there’s a duel, but that hardly ever happens. Anyway, we’ve been stuck with Drew in charge since August. She decided to make some, ah, changes in the way the cabin is run.”

“Yes, I did!” Suddenly Drew was there, leaning against the bunk. Lacy squeaked like a guinea pig and tried to run, but Drew put an arm out to stop her. She looked down at Mitchell.

“I think you missed some trash, sweetie. You’d better make another pass.”

“Yeah, he clearly forgot to throw out Drew’s wardrobe,” Nico rolled his eyes.

Piper glanced toward the bathroom and saw that Drew had dumped everything from the bathroom waste bin—some pretty nasty things—all over the floor.

“A hat!” Thalia popped the side of her head. “Her outfit is clearly missing a hat!”

“With the trash as like, a rim, or just plaster that over her clothes?” Percy asked conversationally.

Annabeth really wanted to take the book away to distract these two, but she was kind of worried that would just leave them with more free time as she cleared her throat and vaguely mentioned saving the world again. Thalia was clearly only mildly convinced to keep going.

Mitchell sat up on his haunches. He glared at Drew like he was about to attack (which Piper would’ve paid money to see), but finally he snapped, “Fine.”

“She should have offered him the money,” Percy sighed.

“I don’t think she kept her wallet on her,” Thalia said in regret.

Drew smiled. “See, Piper, hon, we’re a good cabin here. A good family!

“Maybe if you're comparing it to Hera’s version,” Will said snidely.

 Silena Beauregard, though … you could take a warning from her. She was secretly passing information to Kronos in the Titan War, helping the enemy.”

Thalia froze with a gobsmacked look on her face. It hadn’t really registered until this moment that was in fact true. Yet another child of Aphrodite was already being manipulated, being forced to spy, playing as a pawn. It wasn’t a line of succession she thought Silena would be proud to brag about.

But Silena had been wrong to trust in Luke, to keep spying for him instead of forcing some other path. There had been no easy options regardless. Drew was a tyrannical little shit who should have all the souls of her shoes ripped out for being like this, but that didn’t make her wholly wrong…these situations were uncomfortably similar…

And Drew didn’t even know it! She was tormenting this poor girl completely blind!

The subdued way she kept reading surprised them. She was still angry, but nine times less so. Now she was just, sad.

Drew smiled all sweet and innocent, with her glittery pink makeup and her blow-dried hair lush and smelling like nutmeg. She looked like any popular teenage girl from any high school. But her eyes were as cold as steel. Piper got the feeling Drew was looking straight into her soul, pulling out her secrets.

Helping the enemy.

“Oh, none of the other cabins talk about it,” Drew confided. “They act like Silena Beauregard was a hero.”

Drew was lucky she wasn’t up here now, or Percy would have punted her to the lake from where she was from that alone. “I know the perfect punishment,” Percy smirked in a way that really should have scared Drew senseless. “Let’s sick Clarisse on her.”

“You wouldn’t live without your dessert privileges Perce, let’s set aside drastic measures for now,” Annabeth placated.

“She sacrificed her life to make things right,” Mitchell grumbled. “She was a hero.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Drew said. “Another day on garbage patrol, Mitchell.

Percy’s jaw was aching with the urge to spit acid in this girl's face, maybe not as literally as had once been done to Silena, but he had a few choice words about what being a hero meant and who got to say what about it!

 But anyways, Silena lost track of what this cabin is about. We match up cute couples at camp! Then we break them apart and start over!

Annabeth was stunned into silence, her face flushed with such a deep anger Percy scooted away a bit in terror. She vividly remembered Drew always making jokes about winning Percy over and hating her for it, but the sudden realization she may not have even liked him at all, but was treating him as part of this sick game!? Oh, Drew had better watch that fat head of hers when Annabeth could bother to spare her a thought again!

 It’s the best fun ever. 

“Is ripping someone’s tongue out one of those things ambrosia and nectar can heal? Thought just popped into my mind for no reason, new here,” Leo asked almost casually. Jason felt eyes on him though and looked up from his drawing to see Leo watching the book and him alternatively, and he felt a warm flash at clearly having taken that as a threat against him and Piper, when he didn’t particularly have any strong feelings on the matter. He’d even play along with the act if it helped Piper to cope with her siblings better.

“Yes, nectar actually has fixed that,” Will sounded a little too enthusiastic explaining this. “It’s a pretty complicated process stitching the tongue back in, depending on the kind of damage that removed it, but swish a bit around in their mouth after and it can heal if you manage to apply it fast enough.”

“How many people-” Percy began in concern.

“Oh I only heard Chiron managed to do it once,” Will sighed. “It would be so cool to see in person though and study how the nerves mend themselves back together, in what order, how quickly speech can be accomplished after the procedure!”

Nico was looking at him with interest, and then said something that might have been in English if they understood nerd words about whatever Mythomagic card that reminded him of. Will grinned in delight and said he hadn’t found that one yet and they were all seriously concerned this was about to spiral out of control. ****

It was moments like this where Percy kind of understood his odd friendship with Nico as he turned away to Thalia before that escalated into other gross procedures he wanted to know nothing about.

We don’t have any business getting involved in other stuff like wars and quests. I certainly haven’t been on any quests. They’re a waste of time!”

“I finally figured out how to spell hypocrite! It’s only got four letters!” Percy grinned.

“Do me a favor and let me check your next English assignment you hand in,” Annabeth said, more as if she’d read that chaos and hand it back than go at it with a  red marker.

“I feel like next time I see Piper I should hug her and thank her just for existing,” Jason sighed.

Lacy raised her hand nervously. “But last night you said you wanted to go on a—”

Drew glared at her, and Lacy’s voice died.

“Awwww,” Thalia said again, laughing right through her pity for the poor girl. She’d teach Lacy a few basic skills with a  throwing knife and hopefully help boost her confidence.

“Most of all,” Drew continued, “we certainly don’t need our image tarnished by spies, do we, Piper?”

Piper tried to answer, but she couldn’t. There was no way Drew could know about her dreams or her dad’s kidnapping, was there?

It didn’t seem likely, but Annabeth grimaced it could be a possibility. She might not be acting like it right now, but Drew was a demigod same as any of them. Anyone in this camp could have dreams that connected them all together. Drew very well could have seen Piper’s dad being kidnapped, heard that awful voice threatening Piper, or even this Mistress herself could be whispering to her to sow dissent among the place.

“It’s too bad you won’t be around,” Drew sighed. “But if you survive your little quest, don’t worry, I’ll find somebody to match up with you. Maybe one of those gross Hephaestus guys.

“Hey?” Leo frowned. “We’ve got the best showers in the whole camp!”

“I knew it,” Annabeth frowned.

 Or Clovis? He’s pretty repulsive.”

“Rude,” Jason frowned, oddly defensive of the guy who had made an effort to get out of bed and made an attempt to sort out his memories.

“Jace, buddy, hope you’ve been keeping up better than that,” Percy rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t make Drew date Drew right now.”

 Drew looked her over with a mix of pity and disgust. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible for Aphrodite to have an ugly child, but … who was your father? Was he some sort of mutant, or—”

“Tristan McLean,” Piper snapped.

As soon as she said it, she hated herself. She never, ever played the “famous dad” card. But Drew had driven her over the edge. “My dad’s Tristan McLean.”

“Well that ought to shut her up for a minute,” Thalia said in relief, wondering if she’d be lucky enough to finish her whole chapter without that nags voice.

“I’ve never seen Piper mad enough to use the famous dad card,” Leo said in a bit of awe.

“How long were you two at the Wilderness School together?” Jason asked with interest.

“Pushing six months,” Leo said, it was getting close to the longest time he’d been anywhere. Piper had been a big reason as to why, they’d instantly clicked. Though a part of him now suspected his court mandated sentence there, and Piper just so happening to get this place in the vast options available to Jane The Witch might have had some godly nudging.

The stunned silence was gratifying for a few seconds, but Piper felt ashamed of herself. Everybody turned and looked at The Poster, her dad flexing his muscles for the whole world to see.

“Oh my god!” half the girls screamed at once.

“Sweet!” a guy said. “The dude with the sword who killed that other dude in that movie?”

“He is so hot for an old guy,” a girl said, and then she blushed. “I mean I’m sorry. I know he’s your dad. That’s so weird!”

“It’s weird, all right,” Piper agreed.

“Can you imagine hearing that every day, for any length of time?” Annabeth rubbed her ear in disgust, and Thalia really wasn't reading that obnoxiously.

“Yes,” Will muttered with a wince. 

Thalia gave him a vaguely apologetic smile for once saying the same about his dad.

“It gets old, we actually spent some fun times making up names for each other at one point,” Leo grinned. “If she ever introduces herself as Shania Twang, just know you’re being had.”

“And what was yours?” Jason asked.

“I, erm, never settled on one I liked,” Leo said quickly. He’d never want to change the name his mom gave him, even as a joke.

“Do you think you could get me his autograph?” another girl asked.

Piper forced a smile. She couldn’t say, If my dad survives....

“Sure she could, it would just be awkward as hell,” Percy grinned, that kind of way that was hoping Piper would laugh along for knowing that wasn’t funny but he was trying to make her laugh anyways.

“That girl didn’t even offer anything for that! Piper shouldn’t promise something for nothing anyways,” Leo sniffed.

“Sure she can, if she’s being nice,” Will frowned.

“Or an idiot,” Thalia smirked at the potential way to get Piper into being head of this cabin was just some easy bribery.

“Knock it off Thals,” Jason sighed. Which made her keep reading rather quickly, Annabeth noted.

“Yeah, no problem,” she managed.

The girl squealed in excitement, and more kids surged forward, asking a dozen questions at once.

“Have you ever been on the set?”

“Do you live in a mansion?”

“Do you have lunch with movie stars?”

“That’s actually a good question,” Percy admitted. There were at least a few it might be cool to meet just to ask how some certain scenes had worked.

“Had to happen eventually, probability and all that,” Annabeth grinned.

“She has,” Leo agreed, “but she won’t tell me which ones, which means they must have been super lame.”

“Have you had your rite of passage?”

That one caught Piper off guard. “Rite of what?” she asked.

The girls and guys giggled and shoved each other around like this was an embarrassing topic.

“The rite of passage for an Aphrodite child,” one explained. “You get someone to fall in love with you. Then you break their heart. Dump them. Once you do that, you’ve proven yourself worthy of Aphrodite.”

Thalia looked like a vole had just tried to burrow into her mouth. “That was foul! What did I just say?”

“Wow these guys are the worst. This is a, thing around here?” Nico asked in concern.

“Not one they announce to the world, but,” Will sighed. He’d heard about it in passing and hoped they were just baseless rumors.

“Can we please bail Piper out of this place before she has to move in?” Leo frowned.

“Can we please build Hestia a cabin for kids who don’t want to sleep in their parents cabin?�� Jason sighed.

Annabeth looked at him like he’d just switched to Latin, and she’d understood all of it. “That’s, actually not the worst idea.”

“Thanks,” Jason said, she really knew how to say a compliment like an insult.

Annabeth shook herself and really smiled at him. “No, seriously, we’ve got it all built, but it’s just honorary. We’ll have to talk to Chiron about circumstances though and how it would work around the rest of camp.”

Piper stared at the crowd to see if they were joking. “Break someone’s heart on purpose? That’s terrible!”

The others looked confused.

“Why?” a guy asked.

“I’m going to break his nose and ask him if that hurt. That’s how stupid that sounded,” Percy rolled his eyes.

“I mean, I guess, when you grew up in that environment, some things are just normal to you and not to others,” Hazel offered half-heartedly.

Percy just frowned at her but didn’t argue the point. Her horse picture was really good, even upside down. 

“Oh my god!” a girl said. “I bet Aphrodite broke your dad’s heart! I bet he never loved anyone again, did he? That’s so romantic!

They all vividly remembered that was actually exactly true, the sadness lingering in Tristan McLean’s eyes. Did all of Aphrodite's mortal lovers go through the same? How did her own kids seem so unphased by this? It really was one of those mysteries none of them had a clue about in their own backyard.

 When you have your rite of passage, you can be just like Mom!”

“Forget it!” Piper yelled, a little louder than she’d intended. The other kids backed away. “I’m not breaking somebody’s heart just for a stupid rite of passage!”

Which of course gave Drew a chance to take back control.

“Ugh,” Thalia groaned, smashing the book against her forehead. Her choice was now to go back hoping they’d keep interrogating the poor girl and loading Artemis with extra ammunition or Drew talking again, and they were pretty equally bad choices! How was Piper’s chapters somehow worse than Leo and Jason’s combined?!

“Well, there you go!” she cut in. “Silena said the same thing. She broke the tradition, fell in love with that Beckendorf boy, and stayed in love. If you ask me, that’s why things ended tragically for her.”

“She can’t honestly be claiming no other Aphrodite kid has refused to play along with that tradition and started a curse?” Will frowned.

“You know Will, add it to the list of things we need to discuss with her,” Thalia said in a violently pleasant tone of voice. It made him want to cringe behind Nico, but he resisted.

“That’s not true!” Lacy squeaked, but Drew glared at her, and she immediately melted back into the crowd.

“Hardly matters,” Drew continued, “because, Piper, hon, you couldn’t break anyone’s heart anyway. 

“She can break something much more important with that knife,” but Percy had a strange expression on his face. He’d accidentally broken Annabeth’s heart more than once, and that wasn’t the kind of thing you could heal with godly food and drink. 

Drew had apparently never learned one of the most important things Silena or Aphrodite had never had to teach him. Love was the strongest thing a demigod could use to get where you needed to go. Breaking it apart was never something to brag about.

And this nonsense about your dad being Tristan McLean—that’s so begging for attention.”

Several of the kids blinked uncertainly.

“She really does just sound desperate right there,” Thalia sneered.

“I want to see someone shove those nurse shoes into her mouth so bad right now,” Leo huffed.

“That’s not, what, that saying, means,” but Annabeth was clearly only reluctantly correcting him.

“What saying?” Leo asked, and she couldn't tell if he was being serious.

“You mean he’s not her dad?” one asked.

Drew rolled her eyes. “Please. Now, it’s time for breakfast, people, and Piper here has to start that little quest. So let’s get her packed and get her out of here!”

“I think she’s afraid of Piper,” Jason smirked. Drew seemed oddly eager to end this conversation all of a sudden, and he doubted it was to get to her eggs and bacon.

“I’m not sure she’s smart enough for that,” Nico rolled his eyes.

Drew broke up the crowd and got everyone moving. She called them “hon” and “dear,” but her tone made it clear she expected to be obeyed. 

“Ugh,” Leo made a face. He’d been around a lot of people like that. There had been one disturbing dude who called all the foster kids in the house baby no matter their age. He hadn’t stuck around long enough to figure out if it was some kind of recurring demeaning insult or if the guy was just a weirdo.

Mitchell and Lacy helped Piper pack. They even guarded the bathroom while Piper went in and changed into a better traveling outfit. The hand-me-downs weren’t fancy—thank god—just well-worn jeans, a T-shirt, a comfortable winter coat, and hiking boots that fit perfectly. She strapped her dagger, Katoptris, to her belt.

When Piper came out, she felt almost normal again. The other campers were standing at their bunks while Drew came around and inspected. Piper turned to Mitchell and Lacy and mouthed, Thank you. Mitchell nodded grimly. Lacy flashed a full-braces smile. Piper doubted Drew had ever thanked them for anything. 

Will frowned if anyone ever thanked the Aphrodite cabin for anything around here. They weren’t exactly the cabin anyone ran to for, anything. Except maybe the odd desperate kid for relationship advice, and they learned fast why that wasn’t the best idea.

She also noticed that the King of Sparta poster had been wadded up and thrown in the trash. Drew’s orders, no doubt. Even though Piper had wanted to take the poster down herself, now she was totally steamed.

Leo grinned at the idea of asking Piper for a few dozen signed ones. The horrified look on her face would be worth a laugh until he showed her the gorilla glue and offered a few fun suggestions of where Drew could find them for the rest of her life.

When Drew spotted her, she clapped in mock applause.

“Very nice! Our little quest girl all dressed in Dumpster clothes again. Now, off you go! No need to eat breakfast with us. Good luck with … whatever. Bye!”

Piper shouldered her bag. She could feel everyone else’s eyes on her as she walked to the door. She could just leave and forget about it. That would’ve been the easy thing. What did she care about this cabin, these shallow kids?

Except that some of them had tried to help her. Some of them had even stood up to Drew for her.

She turned at the door. 

Thalia smiled, a little surprised but mostly relieved. If she went in there and ever tried to have words with these kids, it would never end well, too much inherited bad blood. Artemis didn’t usually go around advocating not to join her group though, so it was really vitalizing to see a child of Aphrodite doing it!

“You know, you all don’t have to follow Drew’s orders.”

The other kids shifted. Several glanced at Drew, but she looked too stunned to respond.

“Umm,” one managed, “she’s our head counselor.”

“And that’s what they invented anarchy for,” Percy grinned.

“Percy, no,” Annabeth sighed.

“Percy yes!” Thalia cackled.

“I really should find a way to separate them,” Jason groaned.

“Mmm, maybe save that for when we don’t need all the help we can get saving the world,” Leo shrugged.

Hazel was on Jason’s side, those two together scared her.

“She’s a tyrant,” Piper corrected. “You can think for yourselves. There’s got to be more to Aphrodite than this.”

“More than this,” one kid echoed.

“Think for ourselves,” a second muttered.

“People!” Drew screeched. “Don’t be stupid! She’s charm-speaking you.”

Thalia grimaced that made sense with them echoing her.

“Poor thing is being shipped off before she even has an idea of how to get a handle on that,” Will frowned.

“It’s not like it works on everyone all the time,” Leo protested, these guys just sounded dense to him. “She asks me to go get her extra ketchup packets and I throw them down her shirt, it’s not what she asked me to do at all.”

“Not sure about that defense man, but I see your point,” Jason chuckled.

“No,” Piper said. “I’m just telling the truth.”

At least, Piper thought that was the case. She didn’t understand exactly how this charmspeaking business worked, but she didn’t feel like she was putting any special power into her words. She didn’t want to win an argument by tricking people. That would make her no better than Drew. Piper simply meant what she said. Besides, even if she tried charmspeaking, she had a feeling it wouldn’t work very well on another charmspeaker like Drew.

“She learns fast,” Thalia already knew this but was nodding in approval again anyways. Even not here to hear it, Piper deserved the praise.

Drew sneered at her. “You may have a little power, Miss Movie Star. But you don’t know the first thing about Aphrodite. You have such great ideas? What do you think this cabin is about, then? Tell them. Then maybe I’ll tell them a few things about you, huh?”

Piper wanted to make a withering retort, but her anger turned to panic. She was a spy for the enemy, just like Silena Beauregard. An Aphrodite traitor. Did Drew know about that, or was she bluffing? Under Drew’s glare, her confidence began to crumble.

They all sighed and slumped in their seats, but really, none of them could have stood behind Piper and rooted for her in that moment either, not really. Whether Drew was just going to keep spitting nasty retorts around, really had some inkling about the fate of this quest and was choosing not to warn Jason, or just the general dislikable nature of this entire scene, they were more than happy it seemed to be coming to a close more than anything.

“Not this,” Piper managed. “Aphrodite is not about this.”

Then she turned and stormed out before the others could see her blushing.

Behind her, Drew started laughing. “Not this? Hear that, people? She doesn’t have a clue!”

Piper promised herself she would never ever go back to that cabin. She blinked away her tears and stormed across the green, not sure where she was going—until she saw the dragon swooping down from the sky.

“Festus really does know how to cut into a mood, doesn't he?” Thalia said in appreciation.

“My boy takes after me! I’m so proud!” Leo beamed, giving Hazel a moment to laugh as she wriggled out of her spot to get up and take the book again.

HOOPJOHOOPJOHOOPJO

*Head cannon shared by SpringScrollFairy, and I ask you, how can you not love this?

** The song Doll House by Melanie Martinez was too appropriate not to make a reference to, but I, unlike RR, don’t like making random references that don’t make sense to the specific date/era of this story. Song recommended to me by marivictal. It’s not just my beta and bestie’s on here guys, do please offer your own suggestions of fun to come!

***This is not shade on anyone named Lacy. This is actually a hysterical personal moment because my mom has confided in me she considered naming me Lacy-Dawn before settling on my name. Like, that’s the equivalent of naming Percy, Lucky. I would have cut out any and all evidence of my life to the word before that hyphen and gone by Dawn, but this is beside the point and just personal contention.

****Inspired by a conversation I once had with SpringScrollFairy and has been living rent free in my head and I’ve been looking for an excuse to use it ever since.

[poseidonsdaughterthesiren]

The Daughter of Poseidon: Chapter Five

Chiron dismisses everyone to their cabins for the night. Piper looks like a hostage as she follows the Aphrodite cabin. 

Soon it is just Della and Jason. Della glances up at Jason whose eyes are examining her. 

“You sure you’re okay?” he asks. “You were pretty out of it earlier.”

Della smiles at him. “Yeah, I’m alright. I see I wasn’t far off with the Hercules bit…”

Jason laughs and runs a hand through her hair. Gods his laugh was a rich melody similar to the sea on a summer’s day. “Yeah, I suppose so…I guess that's what makes you Ariel?” 

Della lets loose a cackle. “I’m surprised that made its way through the amnesia.”

Jason scratches the back of his head but his smile gets bigger. 

“But I’ll let that nickname slide,” she giggles. 

“And I’ll let Hercules slide,” Jason says. He holds a hand out to her. 

“Deal,” They say in unison. Holy sea cows his eyes are spectacular. 

Someone clears their throat in the distance. Annabeth stands with her arms across her chest and just a hint of a smirk across her features. 

“Coming Beth!” she calls. She glances at Jason one more time. “Sorry, girl's night especially now that I’m leaving.”

“I get it,” he says, “have a good night.” 

“You too Wonder Boy.” Della smiles and rushes off toward Annabeth.

Annabeth reaches a hand out to Della. The girls make their way towards the cabins. They reach Cabin Three and make their way inside. Della plops down on her bed and buries herself in her blankets. She lets out a content sigh. 

Annabeth settles herself in Percy’s bunk across from her.  She nestles in Percy’s blankets and takes a deep breath in. “So…how’re you feeling?” Annabeth asks. 

“I told you I’m fine.” Della sighs. “I’m more worried about you.” 

“I didn’t have a vision and almost die today.”

“Beth–”

“No, don’t even. Del, you slipped out of my grasp and smacked your head–and then Will said if he didn’t catch you, you might’ve actually drowned, you were so out of it.” 

“I know–”

“And then,” Annabeth sucks in a breath, “and then if that weren’t enough, you said you could see Percy…what’d you mean by that?” 

Della stills in her bed. What did she mean by that? “I don’t–I don’t really know. I don’t know if it was real or all in my head.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“It felt so real Beth, I could see him Riptide in hand and he was running, running by what looked like a freeway. Then–then…”

Annabeth seems to ponder her words for a moment. “Then what?”

“I-I had a “dream” of sorts. It started as a memory. A memory of the summer before Percy and I came to camp. Then Hera showed up–”

“Hera?” 

“Yeah, she told me to “free her” again.” Della thinks about telling her that Hera revealed she took Percy. No, she won’t take that well. Besides she’s probably already put that together. 

“Hmmm…and you’re sure you saw Percy?” Annabeth looks over at her. Concern glimmers in her eyes. 

“I don’t know. I think so, but how is that possible?” Della feels tears prick her eyes. 

Annabeth slips out of Percy’s bed and dips into Della’s and wraps her arms around her. 

This is usually Percy’s job before they go on a quest. But Percy isn’t here to comfort her this time. 

And just like that, Della can’t hold it in anymore and just sobs into Annabeth. She sobs for her missing brother. Sobs that she has to do this damned quest. Her first quest without Percy anywhere near her. She sobs because she’s terrified to do it by herself. And to make matters worse these three demigods will depend on her knowledge to survive. 

“We’ll find him Del,” Annabeth whispers, “We have to.” 

Della sniffles and begins to drift off to a (hopefully) nightmare-free sleep. 

⬳

Voices and images swish around Della. 

“Now, now guys. That’s what we’re here for. Welcome Percy, Della. Percy, you can have that spot on the floor over here, and Della you can take that corner.”

Luke? Gods, Della nearly forgot what he sounded like back then. He was handsome back then in her twelve-year-old mind. She’s whisked away from Luke. 

“Not bad Heroes,” called Annabeth. She removed her Yankee’s cap and became visible again. 

“Were you here the whole time?” asked Percy. His voice was so squeaky back then. Still sassy but squeaky. 

“You were here the whole time and didn’t help us?” Past Della said. Disbelief is laced in her tone. 

“Yes,” Beth said like it should be obvious. 

Ah, yes the moments before Dad claimed them, moments before their lives changed forever. 

Annabeth shoved them both into the lake. Her and Percy’s shouts are inaudible, but the symbol of Poseidon was clear. 

Then Della is thrown forward once again. 

“Peter and Danny Johson are here!” Mr. D? 

Della warps once again. 

“You shall be betrayed by one that calls you call friend,” Percy said, “The reason Clarisse is still here is because you never said anything to Chiron about her, did you?” 

Della’s eyes widened in shock. It was Luke. Luke had stolen the masterbolt. “Luke….” 

A ringing overtakes her senses. It’s a dream, Della, wake up. Della–

“You shall serve as their guide Daughter of Poseidon. Beware Eros’s sting for it might just be your undoing.” Hera…

The ringing fades away and is replaced with squawks. Seagulls. Della moves a hand to feel damp sand. She’s drifting in the ocean. 

Where the hell is she? She sits up and glances around she’s–she’s at their cabin again. 

“Hey,” says an all too familiar voice, “Hey, are you alright?” A sandy-haired boy emerges from the cabin. He rushes toward her. 

“Percy?” she groans. 

“Do I–I know you?” He tries to hide his bewilderment. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m your–Della. My name is Della. We knew each other.” She tries to hold in the tears that he doesn’t recognize her. 

“Della?” He rubs his chin for a moment, “I feel like I should know that name…do you know an Annabeth?” 

He remembers–he remembers Annabeth? Now Della really tries not to cry. “Ummm…” 

“Never mind,” he says. He clicks his pen revealing Riptide. “We gotta move.” Percy holds a hand out to her she reaches for it but her hand doesn’t actually make contact. 

“Okay…that’s weird…are you like a ghost or something?” Percy says. 

“Last time I checked, no. If I’m dead that’s news to me,” she quips back. 

Della?!? Del, you need to wake up!

“Annabeth…” Della whispers. 

“Annabeth, you know–”

Della’s vision spins until darkness takes over, and just like that Percy and the beach house are gone. 

⬳

“Della! Wake up!” 

Della sits up her hands grip at the blankets around her. Someone is screaming. Who’s screaming? Oh…oh it’s her, she’s screaming. Della slaps a hand over her mouth. 

Silence spills in the cabin. 

Annabeth is right next to her. Her eyes were wide and her chest heaving. “Was it–”

“No, it wasn’t my usual nightmare. What happened?” Della croaks. Her eyes are super dry and gross. She’s been crying…weird.

“You were talking in your sleep,” Annabeth says. 

Okay, at least that’s normal. Percy drools in his sleep, and Della talks in hers. 

“I woke up and you were thrashing around. Then…” 

“Then?”

“You called out for Luke.” 

Luke? Oh right, she was being thrown around like a ragdoll in her dream. 

“It was a dream or a memory, I don’t know. It was when Percy and I realized that he stole the bolt.” 

Annabeth nods, “Then you started crying and called out for Percy.”

Della nods. Should she tell Annabeth that she saw Percy for real? Well, maybe real, like she was in his vicinity and talked to him. Was that real? Regardless, he doesn’t remember Della but he remembers Beth. No, she’ll wait to see if this is a recurring thing or not. 

“Are you sure you’re okay to go on this quest?” Annabeth asks. She places a hand on Della’s shoulder. 

“I don’t have a choice,” Della sighs. She rubs at her crusty eyes. “The prophecy called for me to be the guide.” 

Annabeth doesn’t say anything. She sighs. “You should get ready, it’s early, but you should pack and make sure you have everything.” Annabeth rises out of Della’s bunk. “Beth–”

“I also, need to get moving. Don’t worry I won’t leave until you do,” she calls. She’s at the door now. “See you in a bit.” With that, she exits and closes the door behind her. 

Della sighs and rubs a hand down her face. What did Hera mean by “Beware Eros sting, it may just be your undoing?” What does the assistant to Aphrodite have anything to do with this damn quest? 

 She slips out of her sweat-stained covers. The cold floors meet her bare feet. Luckily, her shark slippers are right by her bunk. She slips her feet into the plush shoes and walks to her little dresser. Her backpack leans against it. She packs three days' worth of clothes, some leftover ambrosia, and an extra pair of sneakers (after Santa Monica she can never be too careful). 

She pulls on a pair of light-washed Levi’s and a Little Mermaid crewneck. She swaps her slippers for her navy blue Converse and pulls on her tan Carhartt jacket. Della makes sure to pin her duck pin on her jacket. Backpack in hand she steps towards the door and pauses in the doorframe. She looks around the cabin, gods she hopes she survives this quest. She has to see her brother for real again. 

The cool morning air hits Della’s face. She takes a deep breath in. Annabeth makes her way to Cabin Six. Weird she’d left a while ago. 

Two Cabins down, a door opens. It’s Jason he looks over and sees her. He gives a little wave and walks towards her. 

Della meets him halfway. “Morning Wonder Boy.” She shoots him a half smile. 

“Morning Mermaid,” he says. He looks her up and down. “Even got the sweater and everything,” Jason laughs, “You ready?” 

“No but it could be worse,” she jokes. 

“How–” His words are cut off by a metallic screech. 

The mechanical dragon they’d been trying to capture the last few days. It hovers above the cabins. The most startling bit, Leo. Leo sits atop it with a maniac’s smile. 

“Leo?” calls Piper. She emerges with the rest of her cabin. 

Older campers rush out of their cabins. The Apollo cabin has their arrows nocked pointing straight at the dragon. Some of the Aries Cabin have their swords and spears out. 

Della unpins her duck brooch. She taps the beak and unleashes Leda, her double-ended sword, which like Jason’s weapon can be a sword or a spear. Though her weapon is not nearly as grand as Jason’s. It is an artifact of the hero Theseus. She calls it Leda because the duck head on the hilt reminds her of the legend of Leda and Swan. 

Surprise paints Jason’s features at how her brooch just turned into a sword. Interesting coming from the guy who flips a coin and it is either a sword or projectile weapon. 

“It’s cool don’t shoot,” Leo shouts. 

The warriors back away, keeping their swords or spears at the ready. Hesitantly, the Apollo Cabin lowers their bows. Half the camp runs out in a mixture of pajamas and armor. Others hide behind the doors and windows of their cabins. No one is too anxious to get too close. 

Della lowers her Water Bird just a tad. 

“It’s beautiful,” Piper mutters. Everyone stares at her like she’s nuts. Della does agree with Piper but she’s still weary of it. She’s seen some of the creature's damage around camp. 

The dragon rears its head and shoots a column of fire into the sky. Della jumps a bit and once again points Leda at it. She’s not alone. Other campers were on high alert again. 

Leo calmly slides off the dragon’s back. He holds his hands up like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face. 

“People of Earth, I come in peace!” he shouts. 

He looks like he spent the night rolling in the remains of the campfire. His army coat and face are smeared in soot. His hands were grease-stained, and he now wears a toolbelt around his waist. His eyes are bloodshot, his curly hair resembles porcupine quills. And–and he smells strongly of Tobasco sauce. 

But he looks absolutely delighted, “Festus is saying hello.”

“Stand down,” Jason says behind her. He shakes his head in amazement. “Leo, what have you done?” 

“Found a ride! You said I could come if I found a ride. Well, I found a class-A flying bad boy!” Leo grins even wider. 

Nyssa and Annabeth appear out of the crowd. Nyssa stares up at it in awe. 

“It–it has wings.” Her jaw looks like it might drop off her face. 

“Yeah! I found them and reattached them.” 

“But it never had wings. Where did you find them?” 

Leo hesitates, “In the woods.” 

Della taps Leda’s beak again. She pins him back in place. That was not the whole story. He continues talking before anyone can question it. 

“Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more going haywire.”

“Mostly?” Nyssa asks. 

The dragon’s head twitches. It lurches to one side, and a stream of black liquid, maybe oil–pours out of his ear, all over Leo. 

“Just a few kinks to work out.” 

“How did you survive? I mean, the fire breath…”

“I’m quick and lucky. Now am I on this quest or not?” 

Jason still in shock, scratches the back of his head. “You named him Festus? You know in Latin that means ‘happy’?” 

“Mmm, kind of cute actually,” Della admits. 

“You want us to ride on the back of Happy the Dragon?” 

The dragon twitches and shudders and flaps its wings. 

“That’s a yes bro!” Leo exclaims. “Now I suggest we get going guys. I already picked up some supplies in the–um woods. And the welcoming committee is making Festus nervous.” 

Jason frowns. “But we haven’t planned anything yet. We can’t just–” 

“Go,” says Annabeth. She doesn’t look nervous. Not a bit. Her smile is sad, wistful. She, like Della, is thinking about old times. 

“Yeah,” Della says, “This is certainly a good omen. Besides we’ve only got three days until the solstice. Let’s go.” 

Jason smiles at her, Piper, and Leo. “You ready partners?” 

“Absolutely,” Della smiles, “We’re burning daylight Wonder Boy.” 

Piper’s smile falters at the nickname. 

“Della,” Annabeth calls. She wraps her arms around her and whispers, “Good luck, be safe.” 

“You too,” Della whispers back. She lets go and heads toward the others. 

Jason, Piper, and Leo were all abroad Festus. Jason extends a hand out to her,

“Time to trade those gills for wings Jackson.”

[trolliworms]

My thoughts on pjo episode four!! These always seem to do well so I think I’ll just keep doing them for every episode until I eventually forget one time and then just never do it again lol so anyway PJO SPOILERS if you haven’t seen episode four

- first thing I noticed in the episode was young Percy having brown eyes. I can’t remember if it was like that in the first scene with young Percy, but I feel like it made it canon that his eyes change color and I’m so here for it. It’s interesting that when he was younger (and I guess farther away from Poseidon) his eyes were brown, and then as he grew into a demigod (arguably closer to Poseidon) they turned blue but idk that’s just me

- Annabeth opening up to Percy about her dad was everything to me and that scene was so perfect (plus grouchy Grover)

- Echidna was so good!!??? Like that actress did so well, her presence was so intimidating and creepy, her line delivery was so interesting to me in a good way

- Annabeth’s reaction to being called a little girl was exactly how I would imagine

- Percy: can I ask a stupid question? *proceeds to ask a very reasonable question* Percy my boy you must be protected at all costs

- “so we’re just waiting to find out this guy’s like a werewolf, right?” 😭

- the part where you saw the arch in the puddle was so good I loved that little detail so much, and then Annabeth geeking out about it was chefs kiss

- I know this has already been pointed out, but the parallels between Athena punishing Annabeth for something Percy did, mirroring Athena punishing Medusa for Poseidon’s actions. A+ writing right there good job

- “careful, you almost called me a friend” Percy then proceeds to collapse into her arms 😭😭😭

- the way that Percy started to get darker under the eyes and paler skin the longer he had the venom, just a detail I noticed that was really good

- he sacrificed himself of course of course he did to save his friends that’s his fatal flaw it’s showing Percy your fatal flaw is showing my dear

- “just breathe” just shows how much Percy completely distrusts Poseidon so much, so much to the point where he refused to listen and breath and not die until he was reminded of his mom

- it was so short!!! too short!!!!! Agehdbdbdjdhjd

[waterlilyvioletfog]

Andor Season 2 Act 1

The opening three-episode arc of season 2 spans roughly three days, one year after the events of the previous season. I’ll split my discussion into four sections, each focusing on what I would call a distinct plot, generally defined by setting and characters. The four sections are Cassian, Mina-Rau, Chandrila, and Dedra & Syril.

Cassian - Rebel Wrangling

Season 2 of Andor opens on Niya, a technician at an Imperial testing base on Sienar who is secretly working for the Rebellion. Niya is Cassian’s contact at the base. She’s nervous, but essentially competent at her job, creating bits of story to help sell the part. Cassian gives her an encouraging speech, our first monologue of the season.

The plan is for Niya to give Cassian access to one of the new ships, Cassian to fly the new TIE (… sorry to any Star Wars nerds who care about ship classifications. As far as I know or care, that’s a TIE.) out of the base to another planet where he’ll meet Porko, another Rebel, who is stationed in Cassian’s ship, and the two of them will get the TIE to the Rebellion. Unfortunately, past getting access to the TIE, nothing goes to plan. Cassian has to use trial and error to figure out the ship’s controls, has to evade Imperial fighters to get off Sienar, and when he gets to his rendezvous point, he finds his ship wrecked, Porko already killed, and himself taken hostage by a rather hostile Rebel cell.

The cell is loyal to Maya Pei (she came up frequently in season 1). But Maya appears to have died in a fire fight a few days ago, along with any other soldiers who could have taken over for her, leaving the group leaderless, armed, scared, and rather hungry. They’re staggeringly bad at the basics of being a military unit— or even just being a regular group of people in bad straits. Cassian notes all the things they fail to do: establish perimeters (especially important because there’s large animals lurking); find and secure food, water, and shelter; and most importantly, figure out who’s in charge and stick to it. The group devolves quickly into infighting, with Rika, the one member of the group who seems to have any hope of flying Cassian’s stolen TIE, being killed in a quarrel the first night. From the moment Rika dies, it’s clear there’s no hope for these rebels. It’s a question of when, not if, they’ll all die.

It’s embarrassing. They’re incredibly juvenile. They squabble constantly about absolutely everything, quickly fall into taunts and dares, demonstrate a rather cavalier relationship with violence, and then quite literally resolve their issues via official rock-paper-scissor duels. They act and talk (and think!) like a bunch of eleven year olds. When they were split into their two camps, I felt strongly reminded of the capture the flag games in Percy Jackson.

Cassian manages to escape (the group is dangerous, but not actually competent, after all), at which point it is revealed to the audience that the planet they’ve been on, which has smelly melons and dinosaur-like creatures, is Yavin IV, the main base of Rebel operations in Rogue One and A New Hope.

After escaping, Cassian contacts Kleya to complain about all the many, many ways the plan didn’t work and try to coordinate next steps. Kleya warns Cassian away from heading to Mina-Rau, where Bix, Brasso, and Wil are waiting, because there’s an Imperial blockade on off-world transmission. Cassian, in no mood for any of this, returns to Mina-Rau in time to save Bix and Wil, but not Brasso. As the three fly away in the TIE, Cassian and his companions are shattered by the loss of Brasso.

Mina-Rau - Back At the Ranch

Bix, Wil, Brasso, and B2emo have been stashed away on Mina-Rau, an agricultural planet. It looks a lot like Kansas to me, only with more hills— I keep expecting Clark Kent to show up. I guess Brasso’s about as close as it gets. They’re working as “toolies,” repairing equipment necessary for crop irrigation, grain storage, etc. Brasso is in a relationship with another worker, Talia, and Wil is developing a big teenage romance with Beela, the daughter of their boss, Kellen. Bix has nightmares still about Dr. Gorst, but tries to focus on work and teasing Wil about his love life.

Interrupting this is the arrival of Imperials, who arrive on Mina-Rau to complete a census/audit. This might not be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that they don’t have legal immigration status. (Of course, getting legal status would probably be all but impossible given the events on Ferrix in season 1.)

While the whole group is in trouble, it’s Bix who bears the brunt of it. The lieutenant in charge of the Imperial inspecting unit hones in on her as an undocumented immigrant, contrives to enter the house when she’s there alone, tries to pressure her into sex by threatening her through her illegal status, and finally attempts to force himself on her. Bix fights back and finally kills him, with Wil running to her defense, but the fight between her and her attacker gets the attention of the other soldiers.

Meanwhile, Brasso is killed by Stormtroopers as he tries to get back to Bix and Wil after going to their boss, Kellen, to try and give him an alibi in front of the Imperials. Cassian arrives in time to kill the Imperial soldiers and troopers and so stop them from hurting Bix and Wil, but he is about 5 seconds too late to save Brasso. The three of them have to leave, now, without Brasso’s body, or Bee, who’s left behind with Talia, and definitely without any further goodbyes.

Chandrila - Misery! At the Wedding

Mon Mothma’s fourteen year old daughter, Leida, is getting married, in verrrryyyyyy traditional fashion, to Stekan Sculdun, Davo Sculdun’s fifteen year old son, on Chandrila. The wedding, taking place over three days, is big and fancy and very stressful for Mon. Surprisingly, none of it is Perrin’s fault! I enjoyed his speech in “Sagrona Teema.”

Anyways, here’s all that Mon’s got going on: first, there’s her complicated relationships with her daughter, the family of the groom (Leida is unaware that Mon basically arranged this marriage), and the whole practice of traditional Chandrilan weddings; second, Luthen and Kleya are here (!!!); and third, Tay Kolma is whining.

Tay’s investments are not doing well, apparently due to Rebel activity, and his wife has left him. Tay blames his support of Mon for his current problems. He’s increasingly asshole-ish as the wedding goes on, freaking Mon out pretty badly. Still, she’s hopeful that things can work out until the day of the wedding ceremony, when Tay’s words and actions indicate he might expose Mon’s Rebel activity to Davo Sculdun. Luthen decides to cut their losses and protect Mon by having Cinta assassinate Tay on his way home from the party. Vel, who hasn’t been able to see Cinta in quite a while, catches a glimpse of her— there’s lots of drama here but not currently much plot.

Mon drinks to forget and dances to distract— from her childhood friend’s impending assassination, her daughter’s doomed marriage, her guilt and betrayal, and the danger they’re all in.

Dedra & Syril - Love and Fascism

Rounding out the interweaving plots of Andor, we have Syril Karn and Dedra Meero.

Dedra continues to act as our primary camera on Imperial activity. This is her primary function in the first episode, where she attends a Top Secret Super Classified meeting of Imperial officials to discuss strategic action for the planet Ghorman. Dedra observes quietly, only speaking at the end of the meeting when Director Krennic (Johnson gives a performance very similar in intensity and general line delivery to what he did in Rogue One) directly asks for her opinion.

Here’s the Ghorman situation: Ghorman is not really under Imperial control. They produce quality textiles and they have some political influence and they don’t really want the Empire if they can help it. The Empire, on the other hand, wants to get its hands on a mineral found on Ghorman, which can be used for the Death Star. In order to do this, they plan to rapidly occupy the capital city of Palmo and extract as much of this mineral as possible, which could render the planet’s core unstable. Basically, Ghorman would go the way of Krypton. How to deal with this?

The lovely bunch at the propaganda department propose going heavy on the anti-Ghorman propaganda; their language and rhetoric is very similar to anti-Semitic rhetoric to my ear, an impression that’s helped along by the distinctly 1930s/40s tenor of the Ghorman infomercial, as well as the obvious Nazi influences on the Empire as a whole. My mother, who I was watching this scene with, also compared it to the Opium Wars.

Dedra, however, thinks that for Ghorman to really work the way the Empire needs it to, there need to be Ghorman rebels who can be counted on to “do the wrong thing”, that is, strengthen anti-Rebel sentiment among the Ghormans themselves and heighten anti-Ghorman sentiment elsewhere. (…Yavin IV has just one such group of Rebels!) For her ruthless straightforwardness, Krennic is giving Dedra control of Ghorman. I must say, I do not envy the people of Ghorman life under Dedra Meero.

Meanwhile, Syril’s had a few promotions, he and Dedra are together, and he has to have dinner with his mom (😱). At dinner, Dedra very calmly and menacingly explains to Eedy that if she annoys them too much, Dedra will at the least take Syril away (and actually probably she’ll get Uncle Harlo locked up). Eedy is, much to her chagrin, successfully intimidated, because Dedra is terrifying.

Final Notes

- Costuming has been top-notch throughout. Chandrila gets the most impressive costumes of course, but it’s so delightful how competently costuming is handled. Each plot has its own palette, fabrics, and silhouettes. Music also great!

- Cassian’s plot serves to help ground the story: things aren’t perfect, Cassian can’t fly a ship with a wholly new interface, some of the Rebels are fucking idiots, and securing fresh water and food should take precedence over all other concerns.

- Immigration crackdowns harm businesses and make people vulnerable to exploitation, especially sexual exploitation. Wow. How shocking!

- Bee!!! :(

- Dedra plot very high on the banality of evil. I look forward to watching her horrible crimes (and hopefully also her failures). Syril remains Such a character. His welcome speech in the first episode is a thing of beauty. And revulsion. Eedy is also a horror. Good God.

- Vel turned down Kleya propositioning her. rip.

- 3 + 1 overall formula: Rebellion side has Mon/Vel/Luthen/Kleya as the big plotting behind-the-scenes people, Cassian as the actions of rebel agents, and Bix/Wil/Brasso as the common people affected every day by the Empire; then to counterbalance, we have Dedra and Syril as the Empire’s side, with Dedra in administration and Syril as support. This frame provides us with a very broad view of events across the galaxy.