#to the point that percy actually memorizes the whole thing

[superineffable]

imagining how in the future heroes of olympus series when the seven are on the ship and tensions are high, theres some argument happening, percy slowly starts clapping and annabeth starts to smile bc she's the only one who knows what's about to happen and everyone's staring confused at percy who begins to sing "oh golly, the road's getting bumpy cause i got me some friends who just can't get along~"

[quatregats]

Started rereading Midshipman and had the cursed thought that these are not too wildly different of a genre than the Railway Series (aka some offset of School Stories) and so you could definitely swap elements from either and still probably end up with a cohesive narrative

[witchhazelevesque]

“I can’t believe it,” [Percy] said. “Six months—” 

“I told you,” Leo said. “We tried sending more holographic scrolls. We tried Iris messages, dream visions, phone calls. Nothing worked… Anyway, we ran into one crisis after another.” (The Hidden Oracle p352)

Imagine if dream visions had worked because like. 

So far it seemed like something that was mostly done by Hypnos kids and other demigods who are magically inclined. 

Calypso lost her magic, which is a plot point I don’t like but that’s a different conversation. So like, she probably had some knowledge of how it’s done even if she could never do it on Ogygia, and Leo words it like they both tried. So imagine Leo actually does get through to Nico and Nico’s like how dare you if I ever see you again it’s on sight watch your back-

And Leo is just Over It in every capacity because he’s been questing for literal months- the war and the entire time since he came back to life and he’s tired because resurrection really takes it out of you, and he has to deal with nonsense on nonsense on nonsense all day everyday. Cause like, he and Calypso are this infamous duo to monsters and gods now because she broke out of her eternal magical prison and he literally cheated death and the universe is like. Hm. That doesn’t sound right we should do something about that and they did.

So Leo’s like. Hey yo slow your fucking roll, you don’t even know me like that, I know the besties Hazel and Frank explained everything like right away and I have been trying to get back, you wanna give this mess a whirl and see if you do any better?

And Nico’s like god fine if you’re gonna be like that damn fine okay

So he goes to the rest of the camp like “yeah okay so he did call, things are weird but he’s trying so like I guess we shouldn’t be so angry anymore I guess I guess” but he’s all petulant and reluctant and petty about it.

And Leo keeps showing up and they keep talking and actually get to know each other, swapping stories of trying to get through the European continent (which yeah if Nico had such a hard time then you’d think he’d be a little more understanding about this whole situation)

And Nico realizes eventually that oh he was so mad because he loves him and that’s. Okay fine. Embarrassing, whatever.

Bonus points if Leo ends up in Clovis’s dreams first because the Hypnos cabin is like the central hub of dream activity and Clovis is the one to languidly announce Leo making contact and Nico is fucking seething that Leo hadn’t shown up in his dreams.

Anyway the main reason for this is that I love the idea that Leo was a little off after he died, like, touched by death and more inclined towards shadows and the in-between and ghosts and magic and stuff and this was one of the manifestations of that. Which would explain why Leo couldn’t use dreams to tell Nico about his plan to resurrect himself before hand because Nico will of course bring that up at some point. 

Also I like to think that Leo and Cal broke into random places to make those phone calls- did Leo have numbers memorized? Maybe he could have looked up the strawberry farm that the camp poses as for their number or he must have Annabeth’s cell phone number memorized or maybe he looked up the Jackson’s or tried to call Piper or some random New Rome number- does New Rome have its own area code? That’d be funny if it did and he just went down all the possible sequences of numbers but every time he said who he was the person would just hang up. Okay maybe not funny funny but yeah.

Anyway yeah like them breaking into places and it playing out sort of like that scene from Buffy where she’s going through some villain’s  office and the person comes in and demands to know what she’s doing and Buffy’s all nonchalant like “I’m going through your files” and the evil person is like “I’m calling the police” so Buffy just rips the phone out of the wall.

I’d like to think that’s the sort of energy Calypso has because she’s still figuring out how the modern world works and how mortals do stuff. 

Or they just do the distraction and sneaking in thing at like a restaurant or office and then get told to stop doing that and buy something.

Or maybe Leo just whips up his own phone, who knows?

[erosjournal]

☆ h-o-t-t-o-g-o , you can take me hot to go !

~ leo valdez x jason grace , percy jackson x annabeth chase , piper mclean x reyna avila ramirez arellano if you look hard enough

~ synopsis : the cheer squad is missing a person ... so piper begs leo to help during their routine.

~ tw(s): cursing , the tiniest ever so suggestive

"Fuck no, Pipes." Leo yelped, glancing at the uniform she was holding. Piper let out a whine, pouting. She sighed.

"Please Leo! Today's the final game between New Rome High and Olympus High! And our flyer's gone!" She pleaded. "You and I have done all of the stunts at my house, you know how to do all of the flyer's moves." Piper argued, holding out the uniform. "You're flexible and light, you can do it!"

"It's not my fault Kelli's out sick! I'm not wearing that shit!" He argued. Piper sighed. She had one final argument to pull out.

"Jason told me he was really excited to watch the cheer squad, since he's playing today," Piper nonchalantly dropped. Leo hesitated, raising his eyebrows.

"...Jason... said that...?" Piper nodded. Well, technically she wasn't lying. Jason had transferred from New Rome High to Olympus High, and he had actually said he was excited to see their Olympus' cheer squad do a better routine than New Rome.

Leo seemed to ponder this, thinking it over in his head. Then he finally let out a defeated sound.

"Fine. Where should I go change?"

Jason was visibly upset. Their team was down by many points, losing extremely. The team sat in the bleachers, unsure how to feel. They usually won.

"Jase, what do we do?" Percy asked, sitting next to Jason. He shrugged, taking off his helmet. His hair was all wet, something Leo would probably tease him about.

"There's nothing we can do. Just gotta... suck it up." He sighed. Percy was unhappy with that answer, but didn't ask farther.

The next part of the day was one Jason was looking forward to, the cheer squad's routine. His best friend Piper was the captain, and she was amazingly talented. Percy's girlfriend was on the team too, so he knew they were both excited to see their friends cheering.

First was New Rome High, Jason's old high school. He missed it dearly, but tried to ignore the pang in his heart when he saw his past friends high fiving and chatting with one another. Percy placed a hand on Jason's shoulder.

Hazel was the cheer captain for their school, a routine that was great. Yet it had minor slip ups. Piper had drilled perfect routines into his head, so he could spot these when he watched them perform. Little things, like a beat off, or someone got in the wrong spot. It was still good overall, just not perfect. One of the people on the backsquad was one of his old friends, Reyna. She was someone Piper had always admired... maybe even liked. Her form was amazing, memorized down to the split seconds. Jason could tell she was upset after the act, muttering things under her breath about their mistakes.

Then it was Olympus High. Chappell Roan's "Hot To Go" came on, music blaring around the stadium. Jason felt his face melt into a smile and Percy started jumping up, screaming his girlfriends name. What Jason saw next, he definitely did not expect.

"Is that--"

"Leo?" Percy choked back a laugh as Jason's jaw dropped, his face flushing a bright red. He took off his glasses, tried to clean them, and put them back on.

Leo was next to Piper, his face tinted red. He obviously was embarrassed, but he also looked excited. Nervous. He was wearing their cheer uniform, a red and orange leotard, optionally with a skirt, which Leo was wearing. His messy curls were pulled back with an orange ribbon. Piper looked very happy with herself. She scanned the crowd, extremely confident. Her eyes landed on Jason and she waved. Leo looked and locked eyes with him for a second, before he broke away, face redder than his uniform.

"I bet your mood just got a lot better," Percy teased, watching this whole interaction go down. Jason elbowed his side, but he couldn't deny it. Leo was making him feel a lot better. Percy squealed as he saw Annabeth, waving happily like a madman. She grinned, and waved back. Who are the lovebirds now? Jason thought.

He drew his attention back to Leo, snapping back to his consciousness. Why was he there in the first place? Is he subbing? He looked around to see if there were any missing cheer leaders, and noticed Kelli wasn't there. That was good. Annabeth and Percy really didn't like her. He never found it appropriate to ask why.

Soon into the routine, Leo got very comfortable into the flow of the routine. Maybe too comfortable. Every once in a while, he'd tease Jason by lifting his skirt a little, or winking, which would cause Jason to have to look away and take a deep breath. He even pointed at Jason during the chorus, causing Percy to indefinitely make fun of him.

After the routine, Jason immediately ran down the bleachers, Percy in hot pursuit, to find Piper and Leo (Percy wanted to see Annabeth in her leotard). He found them almost immediately, laughing and giggling with the other cheer leaders. Once Leo caught Jason's gaze, he quickly excused himself. He ran over to Jason, grinning.

"Hey--" Jason pulled him into a kiss, grinning back into it. Leo broke it, gasping as he stood back, shocked and flushed. "Whoa, calm down, Wolf Boy." He teased. Jason giggled into his neck, squeezing him in a hug.

"You look amazing, and you did really well." Leo ruffled his hair, smirking.

"Make you feel better after your football loss?" He muttered, Jason nodding.

"Mhm." He sighed contently. "Exactly what I needed."

~ an : omg listening to chappell roan thinking abt my lesbian crush made me think of this idea , so i hope u guys liked it ! i just thought it'd be really silly if leo had to cheer and jason was just like o///o like it reminds me of that one scene from descendants , with ben and mal . anyways , hope u liked it !

[physalian]

Can I complain about modern fantasy book titles and covers for a second?

I don’t like these books anyway. Why doesn’t matter, they have their audience and I’m not part of it. But eight whole books, and I read seven of them (not Assassin’s Blade) a few years ago now, and I could not tell you in what order they should be read if someone handed me a blind pile, or even what cover belongs to each book because they’re so painfully generic (and missing numbers on their spines).

Nor could I tell by the titles which are also painfully generic. Yeah they read like fantasy titles but there’s nothing distinct about them, they’re just fantasy buzzwords and they’re so vague that even Tower of Dawn leaves me vaguely recalling that kingdom with the giant birds, I think? Heir of Fire might be the romantic side quest that lasts an entire book, but that’s based more on my memory of the order of events than the title or cover would suggest.

Blank of X and Y she used for ACOTAR (which I did not read and know nothing about so I skipped them) is just so boring to me if the Mad Lib is nothing special. “Heir of Fire” could be a Game of Thrones fanfic for how unique and evocative the title is. A Court of Thorns and Roses literally stole the cadence of A Song of Ice and Fire but guess what?? Those aren't just nonsense words. Ice and Fire and how they're related are hugely thematic and relavent elements in those books. "Thorns and Roses" just ripped off a Poison song.

I assume these were the original covers since they’re not so manicured and actually have character. The titles are the same but the colors are so much bolder and the imagery isn’t a greyscale girl for 7 out of 8 titles. They’re distinct and memorable and while they’re still not evocative of the actual story, if I was a bigger fan of the books I’d probably have stronger associations. They do try. I have fuzzy memories coming back of EOS having the cool pirate with the map hands, KOA being the climactic battle book, QOS... might be the boring side quest with the dragons. This does not look like assembly line popcorn fantasy. This looks like it has heart, and an air of mystery. They draw you in and have you asking questions, they have you wanting to know more.

These books are, in my opinion, superior in many ways to anything SJM has written, but the covers? The exact same problem on steroids. And I only read four of them, there’s six total apparently. King’s Cage is the best title of the bunch. I know immediately from the title “that’s the one where the protagonist spent the whole book as a political prisoner in, you know, the king’s cage”.

But the covers, though they all share the same aesthetic and would look pretty on the book shelf, are absolutely devoid of any and all context within the book, save King's Cage. They’re all feminine crowns and tiaras, too. They could have at least given a man’s crown or at least something with harsher angles and thicker lines to evoke, idk, maybe the titular character the third book is about? It helps that the series (at one point) was only four books so it was less titles and ambiguous covers to juggle, but now there’s six so I guess that’s out the window.

Pretty, but purely window dressing. The best thing they have going for them is how distinctly minimalist they are that sets them apart from other fantasy.

I have incredibly mixed feelings about these books but the colors. Very much carrying on the PJO tradition of titles that actually fit the books and art to go along with it. There’s so much drama and movement to each one and they are, once again, scenes from each book, so many little details to look at. Festus was a huge part of TLH, then Percy's back in action, front and center in SON, then... uh, MOA... then Percy and Annabeth looking scared shitless in HOH and then... uh, BOO. Exists.

They all draw you in and I very much remember the cover drop for House of Hades and losing my mind over it. Much more face-focused than the reserved originals, much bolder, but still, mostly, Percy Jackson.

I looked this up on google images and couldn’t even read the titles there tiny at the bottom. The exact same color scheme for every single book. This is for the box set, I know that, so the spines all make one image when you line them up, but the spine doesn’t have to be the same image as the front cover.

That said, the cover images are still distinct and still hold true to the originals—showing actual elements from the books, like Blackjack and Polyphemus and the Labyrinth. Updated but a bit too sleek for my tastes (maybe that’s just nostalgia talking). The titles though, love the titles. At least they kept the series number on the covers (unlike TOG or RQ).

Now this. This here. These have everything. Bold, distinct colors on the spines, beautiful unique and very fantastical art, art that actually pertains to the book it’s about with an air of mystery every single time. You want to ask why there’s a kid floating in Long Island Sound, who that giant eye belongs to, who has that pegasus so frightened, what’s in the golden coffin, and… well the last one is just noire and I like it.

The titles, though. The. Titles. “Sea of Monsters” cannot in any way match up with the plot of the rest of the series. These covers are perfection.

Now I did not read these books, just saw the movies. These covers are dated, but there still wonderfully, charmingly whimsical, for an entire series about wizards and witches. The colors are distinct, the font choices reflect the vibes of each book, the art depicts the stories within the pages—Harry joining the Quidditch team, Fawkes coming to the rescue, Buckbeak, the mermaid egg thing and the other competitors in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the (I think?) prophecy room/Ministry of Magic, the Remembrall (I think??), and, you know, the last one is cool too. The style of the drawings are rather unique to Harry Potter. Harry also visibly ages across each one.

The titles themselves, like PJO (while predating PJO so setting the trend I’m aware) cannot be separated from their books. Order of the Phoenix? That’s the book about the Order of the Phoenix. Deathly Hallows is about, shocker, the Deathly Hallows.

Putting Twilight here at the bottom. I like these despite them being minimalist because, unlike every other cover on this list, they’re minimalist fantasy. Barely urban fantasy. The red and white motifs are evocative of the romance genre and vampire fiction and at least the covers of Twilight and Breaking Dawn do reference scenes in their books, with Edward catching the apple in the cafeteria and them playing chess on their honeymoon.

They also speak to a more adult, mature audience with the sleeker look. These are romance novels with vampires, *not* fantasy novels with romance. You see any of those covers among other adult romance in a bookstore and they’re going to catch your eye. The titles… eh. Not so much. Nothing to do with the story they just sounded pretty and evocative but this is romance, not fantasy, they’re supposed to be sensual and evocative and “Bella Swan and The Broody Vampire Boy” would not at all fit that vibe.

—

It’s not like these modern fantasy novels are devoid of creative terminology. I don’t like SJM at all but her books did have some really creative and wonderful moments in isolation. It’s like the publishers were afraid to be authentic and sincerely fantastical, so they went with something safe and clean and uninspired both in title and in art.

“Throne of Glass” means nothing to me and could be applicable to like, four of the books in that series. If I squint I can see it as a metaphor for the fragile state of the ruling house but there is quite literally glass everywhere so maybe it’s just one cool element—that should have then been on the cover—but like, the whole book is about the Assassin’s trial, right? So call it The Assassin’s Trial or Tournament of Assassins. You know. The plot of the book, not just one random ass element in the background.

Be authentically fantastical, or don't write fantasy.

[poseidons-getting-milk]

“Why do u like Percy Jackson so much? You’re a teenager, aren’t you a little old?”

To reference the song, i have actually been to 6 schools in 6 years. I’ve sucked at school my whole life. even in my best subjects with the best teachers the grades good enough to get hung on my houses fridge for me would be a B-. It’s not like i don’t try, i usually do, but not always because when you keep going school to school never learning a thing, barely memorizing enough to barely pass tests, you kinda lose hope.

Percy Jackson, especially Lighting Thief talks about this, so when i read it in 5th grade, i had only been to 3 schools at that point but i knew i was bad at school and had dyslexia and at the time undiagnosed autism. But the kids in pjo pushed through it.

So yeah, i know what Percy means when he gets hurt when Chiron says the school isn’t for him, because i get it. I’ve been there.

so yeah, i’m a little old for it, but as i’m scraping my way to Cs and B-s while others talk about how easy it is to get As, even though they’re fictional, it’s nice to know that Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, and a bunch of other half bloods are literally saving the world and getting bad grades.

Especially Annabeth, because she is so smart, but she’s bad at school, which is a thing! some of the stupidest people i know have good grades, but no common sense, and some of the smartest people out there were bad at school. I’m saying i’m that smart, just that my talents lie elsewhere.

so yeah, nothing can come between a neurodivergent teen and her books about amazing neurodivergent teens.

[burr-ell]

🔥 Critical Role c1, please ? or TLOVM ?

I really don't care for how TLOVM is adapting Keyleth and Vax. Their relationship doesn't do a whole lot for me in C1, but I respect it, and I actually find it more interesting as this sort of legendary star-crossed tragedy, written in fables and shrouded in myth. We know who these characters were in canon—Keyleth was fierce, compassionate, self-righteous, naive, courageous, and stubborn; Vax was loyal, fun-loving, snarky, possessive, reckless, and foolhardy. Like, the dramatic irony between what we know about Keyleth and Vax and what the world knows about the Tempest and the Champion is great!

So I really feel like TLOVM is fumbling the ball here. Keyleth hasn't exhibited a single flaw other than "doesn't believe in herself enough, hasn't memorized the druid 5e spell list", and it strips her of what made her relatable and interesting. Gone is her contentious-yet-loving relationship with Percy; gone is her distrust for the gods; gone is her preachiness and willingness to be the moral compass. What's left is a Disney Princess who says fuck, who's just so endearing and likable, and it feels so sanded-down. Her moments of triumph don't feel earned, because what did she have to overcome other than self-doubt?

She doesn't even have the agency to change her clothes! That could have been a great moment where she swaps out green for red to honor her fallen people, not to mention excellent setup for her conflict with Raishan later, but instead it just...happens because of her doing magick-y stuff in the Fire Plane. It's a small thing, but it adds up.

Vax is just...frustrating. There's not a single moment that really makes him look bad; even him being mean to Percy is completely understandable and justified by the narrative. (Like, Percy killed his sister, man. It was an accident, sure, but he killed her. Vax has every reason to be mean to him!) He doesn't do something like knocking Kynan unconscious in one hit in a misguided attempt at tough love or charging into a trap in Anders' office and nearly getting Cassandra killed. The reckless "but did you die" attitude he often has in that stage of the campaign is nonexistent, leaving in its place a very nice YA love interest who traded his life for his sister's and follows the Raven Queen now. He's completely palatable and sympathetic the entire time.

There is one exception to this, and it's completely unintentional: the grove in the Fey Realm. Percy tells the group they have to project positivity, and right as Vax is grumbling that it's stupid, he gets attacked. Vax...immediately blames Percy, and even Percy says it doesn't make sense. But it does. Vax was openly and loudly showing negative emotions. Why is no one pointing this out? Why is Vax allowed to have the last word in this scene? Why is this a "Percy doesn't get the Fey Realm" or "there's something weird about Vax" moment? From the scene as it's written, Percy gets the Fey Realm just fine; there's no reason to conclude from this that there's anything special about Vax other than that he's being surly, doing exactly the thing Percy told him not to do. Now I get what they were trying to do here; this is, to be clear, a flaw in the writing, not some ontological element of Vax as a character. The fact remains, however, that it's poorly done.

The romance itself suffers as a result of this, and honestly almost feels a little phoned-in, at least on the part of the writing and boarding teams. These characters aren't challenging each other; they aren't moving each other; they just blush a lot. It's just not very interesting.

I get it, adaptation is hard, but they gotta push these guys more, because as it stands, they're the weakest links in the show by far.

[litcityblues]

Doctor Whoquest Part Six: Whittaker 2, Electric Boogaloo

Ok, y'all. I have heard complaints about the Whittaker run. I have heard that the writing isn't all that good. I've heard that the stories aren't the best. I've heard the acting could be better and you know what? After watching this season I have but one question: what the hell are people talking about?

Was this the perfect season of Doctor Who? No, and I don't expect I'm going to find one- every season is going to have episodes that just don't quite land or episodes that are kind of 'meh' and that's fine. But this season is a really solid season of Doctor Who and some of it is very, very good indeed. When you've been around for as long as Doctor Who has, it's tempting to play the hits and that's fine from time to time, but the real interesting thing to me is when they can do the hits (Daleks, Cybermen, etc) for instance and play them in a new and interesting way. The Judoon are back this season and they're so much better than before-- crisper, deadlier, sharper, still space rhino cops though. The Daleks do show up, but they're getting sneakier and quicker and actually think a plan through for once, but this season gets mad props for me because, for the first time in all the Doctor Who I've ever watched, the Cybermen- especially the Lone Cyberman is menacing as all hell.

The Master is back as well and Sacha Dhawan's portrayal of the character is the best I've seen in Nu-Who. Don't get me wrong: Michelle Gomez was an interesting twist playing Missy and she has her charms in the role, but Dhawan just runs with it- maybe to the point of chewing the scenery a bit too much, but it's obvious he's having fun with it AND he is menacing, villainous and imbues his performance with just a hint of 'mad as a box of hares' to make it a unique and memorable turn in the role.

Introducing a previously unseen incarnation of The Doctor in Ruth? (Jo Martin) Brilliant and more importantly, interesting.

Three Episodes I Liked

'Fugitive of the Judoon': I liked the Judoon when they first popped up way back when in 'Smith and Jones' but then they seemed to be a little bit flat-footed and got confused when someone contradicted them. These Judoon have a bit more of a menacing edge and definitely know what they're doing. (In a nice callback to this episode, the Doctor gets snatched by them at the end of 'The Timeless Children' and taken to jail- presumably because her mystery incarnation/Ruth is on the run for doing something.) I loved the introduction of the mystery incarnation- because John Hurt set the precedent with The War Doctor, so there's no reason why they can't continue it and put a new twist on it that opens up new story possibilities. Plus, Captain Jack is back with a warning for the Doctor, though he doesn't actually get to interact with her, which is a nice twist- 'Beware the Lone Cyberman'

'Spyfall': What a fun season premiere. Loved the return of the Master, loved the whole spy technology thing and running around the world, trying to figure it out, and then, bam! The Master's back with a new, fun face. Also, Stephen Fry shows up and I always appreciate Stephen Fry in anything he's in.

'The Haunting of Villa Diodati': The historical episodes of Nu-Who can be a bit hit or miss sometimes, but this one was great, exploring the origins of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Now, they unravel the mystery and find out that it's a Lone Cyberman that is haunting Vila and what he's after. Unraveling the mystery is done well-- they don't lift the curtain too quickly which keeps the mystery firmly in the territory of 'period ghost story' until the very end. Plus, as a personal aside, somewhere buried back in my family tree, I'm related to Percy Bysshe Shelley somehow. So, props to my ancestor of some degree getting a shout-out in Nu-Who.

Two Episodes I Didn't Like

'Orphan 55': This episode just didn't work for me for whatever reason. It wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it just... was.

'Praxeus'/'Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror': 'Praxeus' was an interesting idea that tipped over into 'preachy' territory a little bit too much- on the one hand, there is a crisis of microplastics in the environment and not enough people are talking about it, so props to Doctor Who for at least trying, but at the same time, learning about the microplastics crisis isn't why I watch Doctor Who. (Though to be fair, you always forget it started life as a children's program, so educational aspects/notes popping up now and again shouldn't be that surprising.). 'Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror' was largely just okay. Didn't really impact me one way or the other and it sort of faded into the background, which probably isn't what they were hoping for.

One Episode To Consider

'Can You Hear Me?': The Gang (Ryan, Yaz and Graham) get some time off in Sheffield to spend time with family and the Doctor responds to an alert from Aleppo, Syria in the year 1380, where she saves Tahira, the last patient alive in the bimaristan. First of all: the setting immediately grabs you- Aleppo, 1380 isn't Doctor Who's usual fare, so it stood out. Plus, did you know what a bimaristan was? I didn't before I watched this episode. Back in the present in good old Sheffield, The Gang is having dark visions and contacts the Doctor at the same time and they all figure out that the visions are somehow connected to the creepy guy whose fingers fly off and seem to be haunting their nightmares. Turns out, he's an immortal who manipulates the Doctor into releasing his immortal ally, Rakaya and the two go off to feed on the nightmares of Earth the Doctor and the Gang have to figure out how to stop them through the ingenious use of the creepy guy's flying fingers. What stood out for me in this episode were the immortals. I don't think Nu-Who has ever trod into this territory before, so it's another interesting choice in a season full of them.

Overall: I loved this season. Spyfall was a fun way to kick things off, the return of The Master was excellent. We saw the return of the Cybermen in a fun way. The whole 'Timeless Child' might be the only aspect of the season that seemed slightly out of place. I know they were trying to do something big with the mythology and Gallifrey, but in the end, it was vaguely interesting but just didn't land with me. The end of the season saw first Ryan and then Graham exit the Tardis, leaving Yaz and the Doctor to travel on alone.

I have no complaints about this season. Jodie Whittaker is doing just fine in the role. The writing was solid. Some of the episodes were really genuinely good and the writers took some interesting swings at things- some of them worked, some of them didn't. All in all, I don't think you could ask for a better season of Nu-Who.

My Grade: 9/10

[blazenfire223]

[ID in undercut]

Happy 2024 everyone! I'm just gonna talk about the past of 2023 and how I'm feeling about this new year so apologies if this gets long.

Okay so first off, personally, my 2023 wasn't that bad. It was actually rather enjoyable. I started out 2023 doing art while talking with my friend Kate while drinking apple cider and I think also playing Hamtaro. It was fun. Also during that time, I had been in a school program called RISE which was basically hands-on learning and I got to create some very memorable projects that I am so fucking proud of and submitted a whole 3-page original comic for my school's zine and then later got to see the comic IN the zine. I messed around with traditional art so much more and had so much fun with it. Like, I swear that school year I was a monster of creativity and I was just having nothing but fun during those days. I was a neurodivergent POWERHOUSE. I also got to see a high school adaptation of the Percy Jackson Musical that my partner got to play a minor role in and that was very fun. I got to make a friend and hang out with said friend over the summer, I went out on an official date with my partner (outside of school dances) to see Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse, and also saw my partner during a homecoming dance where we left and went to Walmart instead. I got to watch Good Omens season 2, WWDITS season 5/6 (I forget what the newest season was), OFMD season 2, and go to see the FNAF movie!! And although all of them broke my heart (except FNAF) in different ways I was still so happy I got to see them! My cat also went to the vet to get neutered which helped with his spraying problem.

It wasn't all good though. I always had the usual problems but there was also me having to go to the doctor's a few times this year which sucked, but I also got a family doctor for the first time in YEARS and now I get to get treated for whatever it is my body is doing. There was also a big personal mess regarding my partner's family shortly after I got to see him a few times and some family issues of my own.

But overall? It's been a pretty good fucking year but, if I'm honest, I'm not very hopeful for the new year. These past few weeks have made me feel so much in so little time. Mainly, anger, sadness, and guilt. All not very "good" emotions but they've all been there. I'm also kinda tired. I've felt all these things not because of anything personal. As I've pointed out my 2023 has been fucking amazing for the most part. My anger is righteous. Livid fucking righteous anger. Anger over the fact that there are so many injustices and genocides happening in this world and the fact that the United States has a hand in pretty much all of them in some way or another. I have seen so many dead humans and my brain can barely comprehend them. I feel so much for these people literally dying at the hands of awful people with weapons and money funded by this disgusting country I live in and I can't help feeling guilt because I'm in my house, comfortable and relatively safe watching Good Omens Season 2 on repeat and I just wish I could do more or give them comfort in a meaningful way. But I know I can only do so much. I still am just a kid and only one person.

And what pisses me off more is that these politicians that are supposed to represent the people don't. listen. There have been thousands of citizens shouting for the liberation of these countries and for the end of these genocides and yet politicians do the exact opposite of what the majority of people are in obvious support for. All for what? Money? A sense of superiority? It has made me feel so much that I end up shaking from anger at the thought. But I shouldn't be surprised. This is the same country that was founded on the genocide of natives and black people. Founded on slavery, racism, and white supremacy. The same country that wishes to control the rights of AFAB bodies and wants to ban any and all books that they don't agree with and that, deep down, wants to eradicate trans people and other LGBTQ+ people from social life and existence. I shouldn't be surprised that they are helping with genocide and continue to help in the killing of human beings again and again. I shouldn't be surprised. Land of the Free, my ass.

This, with the fact that the whole world is basically on fire and literally was at MULTIPLE times this year, I can't say I'm feeling very good about this new year. But I know what I WANT this new year to be. I want it to be a year that is filled with good memories, good art, and good experiences, but also a year where I can say that there is a Free Palestine, Congo, Sudan, and any other country experiencing oppression and harm and there are choices made to help to stabilize these countries and people. Where they have autonomy over their own land. I want a year where the oppressed get just one step closer to the equality they deserve. A year where this country isn't trying to make leaps back in time where no one but cis-het neurotypical abled-bodied white men could exist happily. I want a year where the individualistic Western mindset is burned to ash and we all actually treat each other as human fucking beings that deserve respect and not just as stepping stones for "success" (THE BARE FUCKING MINIMUM BTW.) I just wish for a year where I can say that, in every aspect, it was a good year. But we'll just have to see what the future holds now, don't we?

[ID: A digital illustration of Storm (irl) and Storm (OC) sitting together on the ground. Storm has their knees up to their chest and is holding a bottle of sparkling cider while OC Storm holds them close, cradling their head with both hands. Above them both are floating heads of all of irl Storm's hyperfixations of the year. Going from right to left there is Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens), Dante (Ineffable Family AU by chibiq122), Azra and David (Bun and Dove AU by chibiq122), Raphael and Zi (Star Weaver AU |Gone Wrong| by chibiq122 and Storm), Ana and Raph (Star Weaver AU by chibiq122), Nandor and Guillermo (What We Do in the Shadows), Anna and Crawley (Happy Demon AU by chibiq122 and Storm), Raziel and Westley (Lawyer Bois AU by chibiq122), Ario and Unas and Zaraphim (Reverse AU by Storm), Sariel and Damien + their kids Eden, Calysta, and Dakota (Blind Bear AU by Storm), and finally Izzy, Stede and Ed (Our Flag Means Death). Above all the little heads are the words 'Happy New Year 2024' and they are glowing. /End ID]

[julia-drusilla-xii]

How would Caligula react if he found a demigod Girl who is a spitting image of Julia Drusilla.

Hello anon! Sorry I haven’t responded earlier, tumblr didn’t send me a notif and I didn’t notice till a post was liked a few days later 😔

To answer your question, I suppose it depends 🤔 This is about to be lengthy bc I tend to get off track 😅

Rick looks like he was aiming to have him similar to his ancient counterpart with giving nods towards his sister. Like with the whole naming 50 cruise ships after her despite him living a millennia after that time. My Roman Empire history may be a little rusty atm, but he had other siblings. Older brothers along with another sister besides Julia Drusilla but his brothers died and he favored one of his sisters more than the other. So in summary, he def still cares enough within this century.

But he also leans towards practical. Controversial as this take may sound, Rick finally goes and adds death in the series with TBM. HoO could even been more high stakes but everyone either dodges death or died and comes back. Like technically, Jason could’ve had a much shorter character arc bc he saw Hera’s true form early in the series, if I remember correctly, Piper’s charmspeak stopped that. And we thought that either him or Leo could’ve been the one. There’s also Percy & Annabeth coming back from Tartarus which I know people would rioted if they were the ones to die.

He could’ve introduced another character along with Meg starting in Book 1 and there would have been impactful meaning still bc there would still be time to get and attached and watch them interact. Crest was introduced in that same book and he had a particularly sad end imo. I’m not saying Jason’s death was the perfect solution but no one liked him in a lot of fics I read before that point and if it were anyone else, it wouldn’t end well. I wish Jason got the chance to live for himself. Not just being the perfect Roman soldier for the camp, but something more. I would say I want background for the Roman camp if it weren’t for the camp they tend to get done dirty.

Anyways, Caligula is practical to a fault bc of how after he was unconscious during his life in the ancient era, he thought a lot of people were going to betray him. So that poses the question, after all the years, would he have enough emotional attachment to be drawn towards someone who isn’t his actual sister?

The hypothetical demigod and his sister could share a look but unless they’re like a reincarnation and have the same mannerisms as well, I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve made this account and read the series tbh (and I have yet to read tsats). Maybe he could be effected. Had it been Commodus, the answer is pretty easy bc he was still bitter about being betrayed and what used to he. But historical Caligula and book Caligula aren’t quite the same. I think Rick took the angle of everything he did that was out of ordinary was intentional and done to piss the senate off. Julia, Incitatus, the whole bridge out of cruise ships are the three most memorable things that relate to his past self. But as he is portrayed in the book, he sounded respectful enough to Medea and despite being betrayed by someone, they appear early in the book to deal with Apollo (forgive me for not remembering who it was atm).

So I’d say he could be helpful. Maybe pull a Nero and adopt the demigod. Caligula is technically his uncle. And he adopted a daughter in Roman history that he would’ve likely given the title too. Maybe Nero has some learned mannerisms from him? That demigod has the possibility of living a lavish life on the sole condition of them never betraying him or giving any signs to. After all, looks don’t mean two people are the same but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss his sister.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

In Search of Antigone’s Plot structure (the fake one.)

Assertion that Antigone’s plot structure was conflict: Sophocles' Ajax and Sophoclean Plot Construction James Tyler The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 95, No. 1 (Spring, 1974), pp. 24-42 (19 pages)https://doi.org/10.2307/293816 p 40

He’s focused on conflict, as we established came from Percy Lubbock, 1921, though amplified, but not given credit by Barthes in the 1960′s, translated in the 1970′s-1980′s into English. (lol I’ve memorized it) William G. McCollom College English, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Nov., 1957), pp. 51-56 (6 pages)https://doi.org/10.2307/372701 The whole paper manages to misunderstand Sophocles by putting it towards character being the most important, and that’s second to last on Aristotle’s list. He gets one part right.

He gets part 3 right, that Aristotle said everything was left up to fate, But four on tragic flaw isn’t something that existed in that time period in the same way. The whole point wasn’t character-led. It was events create character. Fate informs who the character is and the chorus is the most important part. The action comes directly from the fate of the characters according to Aristotle and there should be a singular long plot that’s continuous. The whole point was negative reinforcement to make people feel bad about themselves so they would morally behave. Layered plots are later in history from what I dug up, mainly coming in Elizabethan plays for Europe.

Not all hope is lost: Someone who actually paid attention to the original story structure: "Why Should I Dance?": Choral Self-Referentiality in Greek Tragedy Albert Henrichs Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, Third Series, Vol. 3, No. 1, The Chorus in Greek Tragedy and Culture, One (Fall, 1994 - Winter, 1995), pp. 56-111 (56 pages) And says things like Chorus and Stasimon. Someone who actually read Poetics through. OMG. This is 1995, though, and looks like someone is trying to do a correction to the literature, but failed. I went through most of JSTOR and still couldn’t find the diagram. I also asked archive if there was a way to search their database by images or if they would invent one for the system and they said no. (flat no, wouldn’t even consider it). The NYPL could only find an earlier one through google books. So I’m down to limiting the date range and then plundering the Library of Congress or NYC library, since the large local library doesn’t have books before 1990′s, I think. Really trying to find the origin of the bad diagram is hard with no name, but an approximate date. But I think in combination with the whole false diagramming from the 1920′s-1930′s, I’m getting closer. I still think it’s the 1970′s-1980′s that the understanding of the plot structure turned and changed to the wrong diagram that was drawn on the board for me because academics didn’t check their work before being published and went with the grapevine error instead of reading the full original source.

I think this shows problems in academia very well--because of the time pressure people often rely on other academics, who then cite other academics, but if they never read the original source material and tangle with it and find the errors within the larger context, then it causes issues with wrong information being diluted and passed down. Because no one has paused to ask if Gustav Freytag was a pre-Nazi by celebrating The Ring before and rather say things like, “it was the times.” and in putting down PoCs and women what that implies about later structuralists. But I think academia needs to do this work and not just conveniently cut out 95% of the work and focus only on the diagram. There’s clear context to what Freytag is saying. And so it’s true with everyone else I’ve read so far. Stop cherry picking. You might miss something.

[annabethy]

under the mistletoe, watching the fire glow day 12: café

Character A is stuck working in coffee shop on Christmas Day and Character B is the lonely soul spending their whole day there,, percabeth

Annabeth never thought she’d be the type of person to end up working on Christmas, thousands of miles away from home. She imagined herself at this point in her live with her friends and family, huddled near a fire on Christmas Day.

Instead, this is what she gets.

She gets an uncomfortable table in the corner of a coffee shop, stuck in the middle of a New York winter.

It’s the first time in her life that she didn’t get a warm Christmas, and it’s... different. Not bad, but she misses home. So she supposes this is her attempt to make herself feel better, sitting in a cafe by herself typing away at her computer.

Annabeth sighs, fingers pausing. She honestly doesn’t even know what she’s typing at this point. She’s too distracted by the absence of people around her and wishing that she were anywhere but here.

She doesn’t notice the person behind the counter staring at her until there’s a drink sliding in front of her face. Annabeth looks up in confusion, unaware that they had been so close to her, and is met with a kind smile.

“A drink,” he says, pushing it towards her a little bit more.

She still doesn’t say anything, instead looking back to the drink. It’s a pretty drink, almost too perfect to actually consume. It’s peppermint, no doubt, with the flawless white and red swirls inside the clear cup and steaming out the top.

“You don’t have to pay for it;” he assures her. She drags her eyes back to his, sees him leaning on the counter in patience, a subtle smile still on his face. His eyes surprise her, a vibrant green. “It’s on me.”

She lets herself break. “Thank you,” she says, pulling it towards her. She brings the cup to her lips and takes the runway sip. The second the taste hits her tongue, she is in love. A small, disbelieving laugh bubbles out of her throat in astonishment.

“Secret recipe,” he tells her, winking. She decides then that she really likes his smile that’s warm and welcoming. His eyes light up brighter than the lights strewn around the cafe, and his body language screams that he’s truly a beautiful soul. There’s a Christmas apron tied around his waist, and his name tag that reads Percy has a reindeer haphazardly drawn on it. It’s cute, and it doesn’t look like he’s the one that drew it.

“Thank you, Percy.”

“Aw, that’s a bit unfair, don’t you think?”

She pauses. “What is?”

“You’re calling me by my name, yet I don’t even know yours.”

She wouldn’t normally tell a stranger her name. She’s careful about those types of things as a girl living alone in a big city, so she doesn’t know what prompts her to answer.

“I’m Annabeth.”

“Annabeth. Huh. That’s a cute name.”

“So is Percy.”

“Please. Percy is the weirdest name you’ve ever heard.”

She laughs, lifting and pinching her fingers close together. “Only a little bit.”

“I blame my mom.” Percy moves to put a few of the things around him away. He’s not looking at her as he asks, “What are you doing here on Christmas, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“What are you doing working here on Christmas?” she counters, but not unkindly.

“You answer a question with a question?”

“You just did the same thing.”

Percy’s hand shoot playfully in surrender. “You got me there.”

Annabeth glances down to get away from his eyes that feel as though they bore down into her soul. “I didn’t have anywhere to go,” she says truthfully.

“No family?”

“California. Couldn’t afford to go this year.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. Nothing I can do now.”

He pauses in front of her again. “I’ll be your Christmas buddy then, so you’re not all alone.”

Annabeth looks around. Not a single other person is in the shop. She looks back at him, doubtful. “You’re obligated to do that. You work here.”

“I am being one-hundred percent honest when I say I would not care if I got fired from this job,” he says, making her choke slightly. “But you’re wrong. I would have talked to you anyways, even if I was another customer. You looked like you could use someone to talk to.”

“I look lonely,” she summarizes.

“Lonely isn’t a bad thing.”

“It’s getting me your pity points.”

“It really isn’t a bad thing,” he insists. “I want to be talking to you. If I didn’t want to talk, then I wouldn’t have. Besides, I’m in the same boat as you. Family’s a bit far, and I had to work.”

“I’m sorry for making you work then.”

“I’m talking to you at work, not for work. There’s a difference,” he says, eyes gleaming.

She leans forwards. She’s caught onto his game, and she chooses to play along. “So tell me then, Percy, why are you talking to me at work?”

“No one should be alone on Christmas.”

“You wanted to be my special person?”

“Something like that,” he agrees.

“So you made me a drink to win me over, yeah?”

“You got it.”

It’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for her. She wonders if she’s imaging it all. There’s no way someone like this exists. He’s too pure for the world, and she can see it from a mile away with the way he smiles, laughs, and pushes festive drinks in front of strangers because he thinks they deserve so much more than sitting in a lonely coffee shop.

“Do you think you have to work right now?” Annabeth asks, hoping he’ll sit beside her.

Percy looks around the shop. “I don’t know. It’s pretty busy in here.”

She rolls her eyes fondly, patting the stool next to her. “Come. If you’re going to be my Christmas buddy, you have to sit next to me while I work.”

“Not working and sitting next to a pretty girl? Sounds like a win to me.” He comes around the counter and sits next to her. He peers at her computer, and she can tell that he expects her to start typing away. Instead, she shuts the top and rests her hand on her curled-up fist, choosing to talk to him instead.

“Do you have a kid?” she asks, now focused on his nametag again, and the terribly drawn Rudolph.

Percy snorts. “I’m sorry?”

“Your nametag,” she says. “It looks like a toddler did it.”

“Oh. I don’t like you anymore. You insulted my art skills.”

“You actually drew that?”

“No, but what if I did? You could have just destroyed the aspiring artist in me.”

“If you had drawn that, it would’ve stayed as an aspiring artist.”

“That one was good,” he praises, humored. “But in my defense, a toddler did draw it. It just wasn’t my kid because I am twenty-one and have no interest in being a father.”

“No kids?”

“I mean, not now. In the future maybe, with the right person. But not now.”

Annabeth’s heart stutters. She feels like there’s static in the air, thrumming inside her body. “And you haven’t met that right person?”

Percy locks eyes with her and tilts his head earnestly. “I’m still trying to find out.”

And, oh, it makes her feel warm. This isn’t her, but she’s so far in that she doesn’t care. She doesn’t know him, but she is determined to change that because there is just something about him that she needs to figure out. She likes logic and clues, and he is littered with them. There is an equation, and she thinks that just maybe, together they are the solution.

“You’re trying to figure it out about who?” she asks.

Percy must catch her lie because he smirks at her, and she is compelled to kiss the smirk away. “It’s this girl. I haven’t known her long, but she really likes coffee. She’s also so determined, wanting to build a future. I mean, she works on Christmas alone in a café. A lot of people would find it weird, but she’s lucky I find it cute.”

“She sounds familiar. Do I know her?”

Percy hums. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Bummer.” A silence settles between them, but it’s not awkward. She uses the time to look over him shamelessly. He lets her, and returns the favor himself, making her feel beautiful with every agonizing trace of his eyes against her. “What would the girl need to do to get a chance with you?” “Here’s the thing. I like this girl very much. She’d probably think it was weird how much I liked her, but I’ve actually seen her in the shop a million times before, which is probably weirder now that I think about it. But I have her order memorized and have been trying to figure out how to ask her out for the past few weeks. I didn’t get to ask her out until recently though.”

“What did she say?”

Percy bites his bottom lip, a teasing smile, and hands the reigns to her. “You tell me.”

“But her answer would depend on where you want to take her!”

“I thought a cute first date would be on Christmas, actually. I have a small group of friends coming over, maybe two or three, and we’re going to watch movies all night and eat candy. Everyone will be in sweaters and sweatpants, and there will be lots of snuggles. There’s just one thing.”

Annabeth has to force her breathing to calm because this game is going to drive her insane. “And what is that?”

“Do you think she’ll think that’s coming on too strong?”

“Not at all,” she whispers. “She’ll probably say that sounds like the best date she could ever dream of.”

“Then I guess I have to take this girl on a date,” he says.

“I guess you do.”

“Do you think it would be okay if I kissed this girl too? Even if I’ve only known her for around half an hour?”

“That depends on if she believes in love at first sight.” “Does she?”

“She didn’t,” she answers honestly, “until now.”

“So she believes in love at first sight?”

“Let’s call it a Christmas miracle.”

“And she wants me to kiss her?”

“She’ll be upset if you don’t.”

Percy’s eyes are full of every emotion, gorgeous and loving. “Then I guess I have to fulfil.”

And when he pulls her closer to him, settling his lips on hers, she feels content. He’s warm and soft and beautiful and perfect, and she could linger in this moment forever. He pulls away but she follows, desperate to prolong the moment, and he complies.

By the time he pulls away, they’re both breathless. Percy’s breaths hit her lips with every inhale. His eyes are closed, his forehead against hers, and she can’t help the smile that spreads across her face.

“When can they go on that date?” she whispers.

“Why not now?”

Her heart flutters. “Now’s good.”

It takes a few minutes for him to close before they’re finally walking out of the store. She thinks he’s going to take her to his apartment but surprises her instead when they end up inside of a cheesy Christmas store. The shelves are lined with Christmas pajamas and socks, and he makes her pick some out.

“It’s not Christmas if you don’t look like a candy cane!”

“I don’t like candy canes.”

Percy frowns before spotting a matching pair of socks and pulling them up. “These are perfect! You’d look so cute!”

And yeah, Annabeth thinks she’s falling in love.

There’s something in the air that tells her she’s going to marry this man.

It’s not until three Christmases later that Annabeth is back inside that shop, and Percy is behind the counter. He slides the peppermint mocha in front of her face, and she looks up from her computer long enough to give him a quick kiss. When he comes around the counter, she expects him to sit on the stool next to her.

Instead, he gets down on one knee.

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 110: The Hogwarts High Inquisitor

After all the general crashing, smashing, and cursing wore off, it was nice to find themselves in a normal part of the castle such as the staff room. A game of chess had been interrupted by Frank, and all the pieces were yelling at him for it, cloaks were hung over the back of a few chairs, a stack of books anyone would peg to be McGonagall's had been overturned, and Professor Sprout had apparently been in the middle of grading a few assignments upon their entrance. Someone had even been reading the paper, Frank noticed as Alice picked up the copy with today's date. He shooed away a pawn that was still berating him and went over to see it had been covering the book, but as he picked it up he looked sharply at her instead as she gasped loud enough to drown out everybody else's mutterings.

Without prompting she read out Umbridge's new position as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, and just what exactly that was. By the end all of them had a nasty pit in their stomach, and Frank was gripping the book like it had toad slime covering it. She'd only been there one week and already had equal power to the Headmaster? What madness was this?

Sirius watched in disgust as Longbottom read the chapter title as repeat of that stupid self-imposed ruling from the toad, but announced the article was read by Harry himself and was forced to reread it, as they all knew the book wouldn't let them skip. It sounded no better the second time, like a worm digging in one ear and down the throat, but sadly gave Sirius's mind a chance to wander and go back to watching Regulus with deep contemplation.

He was chasing the lost chess pieces around, and finally came up with all the white ones, offering Peter a game, who instantly agreed. He watched the two walk away, that pit in his stomach growing.

Some instinct still wanted to go over there and stop this before it went any farther. Logic told him that these two had ended up being Death Eaters without the others' influence, wouldn't them hanging out just fast forward that process?

Then he watched Regulus laugh again, and Peter actually smiled with a kind of pride Sirius couldn't claim to have ever seen.

This whole experience had gone from weird, to kind of cool, to horrifying, to traumatizing, to now just kind of, common place. The last time he'd thought about dealing with Regulus in any capacity had been ages ago now, the Marauders' own business being blown up and finally settling into an uneasy agreement had pushed his brother far from his mind, but now watching the two, he was kicking himself more than ever for it all.

Even being forced into his company Sirius had never properly reached a hand out to Regulus, as Peter himself had once so eloquently put it. He'd begun thinking of his dorm mates as his brothers by the end of second year, and third year had all but confirmed it by the time Regulus walked into school. Peter had even sort of absently replaced Regulus in his mind, the kid brother he could give shit to but nobody else in the world could. James was his equal now, the first to turn to when he had a problem and always had a good solution. Remus even had Regulus' biting sarcasm that he wouldn't let anyone see but his real friends, otherwise he was the face of cool and calm. He'd finally admit to himself watching them now he could have two baby brothers, right?

"Padfoot?" James hopped up on the table beside him where he'd landed and never moved, watching his line of sight. He tried to hide his unease Sirius was scrutinizing the pair again. If Sirius went off again about trying to get them to stay apart, James had no idea how he could step in and stop any of it. He still found it weird himself, but neither was doing any real harm. If anything, James would have to admit the two always seemed in a better mood hanging out with each other.

"It's not too late for us, right James?" He asked quietly, eyes on Moony now as he went over to the cupboard and rubbed his hand thoughtfully along it. Harry and Ron had once hid inside it and listened to the devastating news of Ginny's death and had saved her life in impossible odds.

"No," James said instantly, even if he still wasn't entirely sure what Sirius was getting at. He, as usual, was watching Evans, sitting by Longbottom's feet with Alice and the two whispering suspiciously as Harry's lessons went through without Umbridge, yet, in History of Magic and Potions, though the later of which was still a miserable experience for all.

She hadn't defended Snivellus in some time now, he'd very pleasantly noted, and in fact as talk turned to OWL grades she hadn't even glanced up at the book through the whole class. Maybe she was finally starting to see the git he was?

Then, as the twins arrived, her eyes flickered to him and away so fast, he'd swear his eyes were playing tricks on him. She still thought he was like them, only a troublemaker and nothing more.

He didn't want to open up his own prank shop though. While a worthy cause he'd invest in, he had other goals and aspirations for his life. He'd walked away from his career advice even nurturing the idea of being an Auror. Surely she'd see that as a good thing?

"We've always made our own future," James said practically, now grinning at Moony who was hovering as close to the three as he dared, clearly very invested in this whole teacher grading outcome. None of them acknowledged him, which in itself was a kindness to the fear-filled looks he was probably expecting. "I say we keep doing that."

"Yeah?" Sirius sounded a bit hopeful now. James grinned as he shook his shoulder for emphasis.

"Yeah. You're a bloody impulsive idiot, and I'd never change that, but maybe next time you lay into them, just, think about how bad you felt last time?" He felt stupid putting it as a question, but it was more than obvious Sirius felt bad for something regarding those two in particular. The list of reasons that could be wasn't exactly short, but when James tore his eyes back away to see Sirius honestly considering his words and eyes back on Regulus and Peter, he put it together with Sirius's reaction to Percy's letter.

Sirius wanted to make amends to the two, and he didn't want it to get ripped up in his face.

He tore his eyes away from their game, Peter was winning, and grinned at him. "And you Prongs? Going to put all that practice of annoying Evans finally sink in and try something else?"

"I might," he said honestly, going in vivid detail in his mind over all the times he'd interacted with her, specifically the ones where she hadn't started calling him an arrogant birk. The ones that stuck out were when he'd stopped trying to make her laugh, oddly enough, but had just talked to her. How strange. "Worth a shot."

The two were interrupted by the book, as Umbridge entered Trelawney's class.

"Bet you a galleon someone's going to walk away from this dead," James said uneasily.

Sirius wasn't taking that bet, this was definitely going to be a horror show. It started out memorable enough for sure, Harry giving Ron the task to analyze his dream about drowning Snape gave everyone a grim laugh, even if Lily would deny any such thing. Then Umbridge started asking some routine questions that quickly devolved into Trelawney's shriek of insolence that she could not See upon command. The spectacle finally ended with Trelawney's dour announcement that Harry was to die, again, and honestly it hadn't been as bad as they thought.

"Can I still get that galleon?" Sirius asked.

"No," James huffed.

Umbridge's own lesson in fact ended up being worse, as it ended with Harry in another detention! James snarled in disgust, his hand itching to go for his wand and suspend this woman up by her ankle and leave her there for eternity if she kept doing this to his kid! Sirius was so outraged he stood up on the desk and began shouting several expletives, while Lily let her face fall into her hands. She couldn't stop herself hearing this, but she couldn't keep watching.

"I can't help but be rather impressed with him," Peter said quietly to Regulus as he watched Sirius's face start turning colors. "A lesser man would have backed down after what Harry went through, this kid's still pushing her."

"Being an idiot about it though," Regulus corrected, also frowning in concern at his brother. "You really think getting detentions would change anything but make her happier? Harry would be better off finding some other way to fight back than bowing down." He preferred the idea of getting in her good graces and destabilizing her from the inside.

"It's not as if the Order is exactly sharing how to do that," Peter disagreed, but he could definitely see Regulus's point. Both of them were very aware that if Umbridge were here now, it would be Sirius and James in those detentions and not them.

"Hopefully someone will come up with a better answer for Harry then," Regulus muttered, or the people listening to this were probably going to break the sound barrier first.

Their game forgotten, the two cringed into their seats until Remus finally came over and convinced Sirius to stop threatening for a few breaths or they'd never hear the end of it. Harry's new Quidditch captain and even McGonagall adding insult to injury was improving no one's mood though.

Still, it was nice to see Sirius's temper lash out at someone else for a change, Peter and Regulus even found themselves smiling a bit as the three's not so quiet mutters of what kind of pranks they'd be doing to that Umbridge filtered in the room.

Lily found herself listening grimly to the lot rather than Umbridge and McGonagall's back and forth. It deeply bothered her she found no ill will for listening in detail to their horrible pranking, but was she any better when she'd just been imagining slipping in a slow-acting poison into her next meal?

At least she'd only been imagining it...right? She warred with herself just how far she'd go to put a stop to this, if her own hand was being cut open, if some little first-year's was. The idea of having children was still above her, but she wouldn't deny she felt protective of Harry enough she wasn't going to stop the Marauders if they got the chance of meeting her any time when they got back.

It didn't make their vile ways of doing these kinds of things to anyone that annoyed them any better, especially Sev, but this was also not the first time she understood why they did it. It scared her just as much as her own wavering answer she realized she was actually starting to understand those idiots.

Frank found that things only continued to get worse as Umbridge followed Harry to his next class, Care of Magical Creatures. When Harry was given yet another detention for defending Hagrid from Malfoy's past stupid mistake, he had to fight the urge to join in with Lily this time as she cursed vividly, though not as loudly as Black started doing all over again.

This was beyond disgusting, his Mum would never stand for this happening in Hogwarts! Then Frank looked miserably at Lily, and glanced sadly at the godfather, and reminded himself Harry didn't have anyone to really go to this with.

When Hermione brought up the subject of them just learning Defense Against the Dark Arts straight from Harry, he and Alice exchanged another terrified look. It was such a singular moment to them, they didn't even register anyone else's reaction, this was their own bubble of worry.

Neither had spoken of it because the book itself hadn't, but what if Neville started getting these detentions as well? Was Harry the only one here? Doing this to him was bad enough they already wished someone would step in, but it seemed a disaster waiting to happen if Neville, Ron, Hermione, those twins, and a host of other students were to join Harry.

Frank still remembered Luna Lovegood and Ernie Macmillan declaring themselves publicly believing Harry, and he fidgeted with unease if Harry would still think he was in the right if those around him started suffering his same punishment.

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 18

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Leo's life is hard (but maybe there's some hope left).

A/N: Yay, time for a new chapter! I decided to make Friday my new posting day so that’s when the future updates will (hopefully) happen.

It's not time to resolve the previous drama quite yet but dw, that's coming! Meanwhile, I hope you'll enjoy this Leo centered chapter. It’s also time to bring Frank in!

Don't forget to let me know what you think! :)

Characters in this ch: Leo, Frank, Georgina, Jo, Emmie

Words: 1700+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“Maldita sea!” Leo yelled at himself as his wrench flew at the wall, thankfully not causing damage to it. Nothing he tried to fix or build that day seemed to go right. He hadn’t been able to figure out a pretty basic seeming issue in someone’s phone, one of his own inventions had broken and even solving a physics problem that would usually have managed to distract him only felt frustrating.

There was a lot going on in Leo’s head. Well, he’d argue that he always had a lot going on there due to his ADHD, but this time his usual methods to calm himself down didn’t seem to work. He would probably have to quit studying the only field he was truly interested in. He couldn’t do his work. His flatmate for whom he may or may not have started slowly developing some very not flatmate appropriate feelings had apparently had a thing for his friend, which not only complicated Leo’s situation with Calypso but also with Percy. And his mother’s death anniversary was coming, which was always a hard time for him. Leo imagined she’d probably be so disappointed if she saw him now. ‘My son, a failure in every aspect of life’. No, Leo’s real mother had been way too nice to actually say something like that out loud, but he just knew she’d at least think that. And Jo, Emmie and Georgina were counting on him too.

After throwing the wrench, Leo decided to take a break because his hands had started shaking too much to continue working. Taking a deep breath, he leaned against his worktable, closed his eyes and started tapping a rhythm that he had memorized years ago. His mother had taught him Morse code when he was a kid, and this particular phrase was one she had used a lot when he had needed calming down. Written down, the code looked like this:

.. .-.. --- ...- . -.-- --- ..-

I l o v e y o u

He whispered it very quietly a couple of times before looking out from the window and saying aloud:

“Mom. I’m trying to be strong. I really am. But sometimes it just gets too fucking hard. Everything seemed to be fine. Really. My other family is great. I was studying something I actually cared about. My new flatmate… uh, she’s an interesting force of nature. But if she likes someone like Percy… I’d never have a chance. And all my career plans are about to run down to the sewers because I can’t use fire, in any way. Not because of what happened to you. Because of what I... I just feel lost.”

He took a deep breath and rubbed the corner of his eye dry quickly. Saying his thoughts aloud seemed to make him feel a little bit better, and he decided that maybe getting out of the flat and getting some exercise would help with the shakiness. To his relief Calypso wasn’t home either so he didn’t have to answer any awkward questions about why he looked like such a mess. Leo found himself jogging all the way to Waystation, which was several miles from his flat. As he reached the yard, he noticed Georgina with Festus, but even with her back to him he could sense something was wrong. Of course. There was always some way the day could get even worse.

“Hi, hermanita!” he started, trying to sound cheerful even though he didn’t think he was a very good actor. Georgie could probably see right through him. His suspicions were confirmed when Festus didn’t even run to greet him as he usually did. “What’s going on?”

“I tried to call you,” she said, hiding her worry badly. “Moms went to run some errands and something… something happened to him…”

“What do you mean? What exactly happened?” Leo insisted on knowing.

Georgina seemed to grow more and more upset each moment. “I… I gave him a bully stick… but I forgot to put it in a holder even though moms always say you should do that when you give him one because he always tries to swallow them so fast… And then he started feeling sick...”

To prove her point, Festus, who was laying on the ground, made a loud gagging sound. After that he tried to whine but even that didn’t sound like it usually did.

Leo’s ADHD kicked immediately in, in the form of him wanting to act fast.

“We’ll discuss this later, I need to borrow Jo’s car now that I can take him to the vet,” he exclaimed and ran inside the house to get the keys to the car from the spot Jo usually kept them. He picked them and Festus’ leash and ran back, telling Georgina to stay home to tell Jo and Emmie what happened when they’d return.

At least one thing went right that day: the emergency vet clinic was fairly quiet when Leo arrived there. Not long after that, the vet took Festus in. He had an intern with him; a young man who Leo suspected had his roots somewhere in East Asia. He had black, short hair, a bulky body and kind of child like face even though the intern was probably older than Leo. As the vet asked Leo some questions about what exactly had happened to Festus, the student wrote down some notes and occasionally added a short comment as well. When Leo was about to explain why exactly Festus had gotten issues with the bully stick, he heard the intern mutter something to himself.

“What was that?” Leo asked a bit more aggressively than he had planned, having already been stressed even before the issue with Festus had come up. He had to admit, though, that it had distracted him from the other issues.

“Nothing,” the intern quickly said, pretending to focus on his papers again.

Leo didn’t give up that easily. “I heard you, though. You were implying that I had somehow caused this.”

“Well, you did give him the bully stick, didn’t you?” the young man asked.

“I wasn’t even there when he got one!” Leo growled, starting to feel the frustrations from earlier that day flooding out of his system. “My… uh, little sister gave him one when our parents left to run some errands and he kept whining and wanted something to chew! It wasn’t her fault either, she’s a child and she didn’t know that could happen!”

“Mister Valdez, please calm down a bit,” the vet interrupted him, and Leo immediately shut up. “There’s no need to yell. Festus is going to be just fine; I’m going to give him some medicine and fluids to help with digesting the stick and we can watch how he’s doing overnight. And Frank, please don’t make assumptions like that about clients.”

“Yes, sir,” Frank said, to Leo’s surprise actually looking regretful. Then he turned to Leo. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Nah, I kinda lost my cool there too…” Leo said, the frustration leaving when he saw Frank’s face.

“Kinda,” the intern said, attempting to joke about the situation.

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that;” Leo rubbed the back of his neck.

After that the vet asked Leo a couple of more questions and did some more examinations on Festus while Frank helped him.

“Other than this stick issue, he seems like a healthy dog,” the vet complimented after the check up. “His fur and teeth look good. I think you’ve been taking good care of him.”

“Well, to be honest he lives more with my parents than me because they have a lot more space…” Leo said, “But yeah, we all try our best. Even Georgina, my sister.”

“I’m glad to hear that. It’s a good thing you got him here that fast so he’ll get the best possible treatment,” The vet said.

After that he wrote some notes on the computer and then dismissed Leo who scratched Festus from behind his ear and promised to come back soon to get him. As he was putting his jean jacket on in the lobby, the intern, Frank, approached him.

“About what happened earlier, I really am sorry. It isn’t like me to attack clients; you can even ask my boss about that. I just…”

“Chill, man,” Leo said. “I’ve heard this story before. People assume things about me because I look like a problem teenager. Truth to be told? You’re not entirely wrong. But things have changed. And trust me, Festus is my best friend and I’d do anything for him. I’m sure Georgie has learned her lesson too now.”

“Good to hear that,” Frank said and extended his arm to Leo. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow when you’re coming to get Festus.”

Leo nodded. “Yep, I have a feeling my whole family will want to join me. Anyway, I’m off now. Thanks for the help!”

“I’m glad we could help!” Frank told him before he started walking towards his car.

...

Jo and Emmie had already returned to Waystation when Leo got there.

“Is everything OK?” Emmie asked immediately. “We didn’t really get much out of Georgina… Just that something had happened to Festus and you took him to the vet.”

“Nah, it’s gonna be fine!” Leo reassured her. “He got some digestion issues because he gobbled a bully stick too fast but that’s being taken care of now. Georgie sure remembers to be more careful from now on, won’t ya, hermanita?” he addressed the young girl then.

“I will…” she promised, not even protesting about the nickname this time.

Once Leo had explained with more details what had happened at the vet and it became clear that Festus would be fine soon, the family moved to other matters. Unlike usually, Leo was happy with mostly listening to the others. The incident had reminded him that there were bigger matters than girl issues or his studies and he realized that those things didn’t feel quite as hard to overcome now as a few hours ago. Yes, he still needed to deal with them, and yes, his past would probably never stop entirely haunting him, but when he had people like this around him? It wouldn’t be impossible.

[chika-the-terrible]

First Goodbyes

“I still find this a little suspicious.”

“Dad, you find everything suspicious.”

“I’m a government agent, what did you expect?”

“A suspension of disbelief, actually.” Leon had to give a snort at that.

“Sorry, buddy, but I can’t do that.” He gave Harry’s shoulder a pat. Being in the middle of a busy train station in the heart of London both relaxed him and gave tension. It was nice to be around so many normal people, but if an outbreak occurred, Harry would be in the crossfire. Leon wouldn’t forgive the person behind it if something like that happened. It didn’t help that Hagrid, the giant of a man, had fucked off somewhere after guiding them through this whole ‘Wizarding World‘ shit. Leon still had a hard time believing it, even though he had seen Harry do things that, previously, were only signs of a B.O.W. He was glad his son was not actually a Bio-Organic Weapon but the fact that Harry would be an ocean away, learning to be a wizard, did not ease Leon’s nerves. And now they were searching for a platform that didn’t exist. This day was just getting better and better.

“Why do wizards have to be so confusing?” Leon murmured, “I mean, I can understand the logic of keeping non-magic people away, but for those of us who are technically wizards but live in the non-magic world, you could at least give us a better guide.”

“Hagrid’s a good guide. He’s just got stuff to do.” Harry pointed out.

“Mmm.” was all Leon said. They continued to walk, side-by-side, looking for any kind of sign that indicated a place called ‘Platform 9 3/4.‘ The more they searched, getting closer to the deadline, the more worried Harry became.

“What if we don’t make the train in time?” he asked, “How will I get to Hogwarts? Will they even let me in?”

“Hey, hey.” Leon soothed, “I’m sure they’d let you in and make sure you got there. They wouldn’t be a good school if they didn’t.” At least, Leon hoped this was true. He’d been distrustful of these guys from the start, even though Hagrid was friendly enough. After all the hell he’d been through, trust was hard to come by, especially with first impressions. And once Harry was calmed, they continued on their way. It would make sense that, if they couldn’t find it themselves, then maybe they could spot some wizards or someone who could guide them to the right place.

Leon was a bit glad he was wearing a jacket. While it was getting closer to Fall, it was still pretty summer-like. At least, it was in the States. England was colder and the jacket was being put to good use. Was it a crime if he loved those fuzzy jackets? Especially since the last one he’d had had been stolen on that mission to Spain a year ago? Leon deserved this jacket. Harry, though, didn’t mind the cold as much. At least he was enjoying himself.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours of walking (which it, of course, was not), Harry finally spotted someone he thought could help. Leon had noticed them before, but it wasn’t until Harry pointed them out that Leon got a good look. It seemed to be a family composed entirely of redheads. While that wasn’t exactly a highly unusual sight, it was still a bit strange. Leon and Harry hesitantly ventured closer.

“C’mon now! Pick up the pace!” said the eldest, a woman with bushy red hair much older than the rest. Leon assumed her to be their mother, or at least a family member. She continued, “We don’t need to miss the train!” There had to be at least five kids with her, and the majority of them were pushing carts similar to Harry’s. It looked like they might’ve finally found their ticket to the train.

“Excuse me.” Leon jogged to catch up. The group stopped, turning to him, with Harry quickly trailing behind. Leon asked, “Are you all heading to Platform 9 3/4 too?”

“Yes dear.” The woman gave a smile, “I suppose both of you are new to this?” Leon hated the embarrassment that flooded his cheeks at the admission, despite the fact that he had been in much worse situations. He still didn’t like people knowing something he didn’t. He nodded regardless.

“Yeah. I’m Leon and this is my son, Harry.”

“Nice to meet you.” Harry chirped.

“We don’t have much time for introductions, I’m afraid, but follow us and we’ll show you the way.” said the woman. The redheaded group then rushed off and Leon and Harry tried to keep up. As they got closer to the entrance to the platform, Leon tried to memorize where they were, so they would be able to figure this out next time. Eventually they came to one of the pillars settled between platforms.

“Remember, get a running start!” said the woman, “Percy, you go first.” The eldest man of the redheads, who appeared of the prim and proper sort, nodded and positioned his cart in front of the wall. Then, alarming Leon, he charged right at it. Leon’s first instinct was to interfere, but he stopped. In seconds, Percy was gone. It was like the wall had swallowed him up. So maybe these wizards really did know what they were doing. He watched as the identical twins Fred and George went, then it was Ron’s turn. Apparently the young girl wouldn’t be going, but it would be Ron’s first time at Hogwarts as well. Leon hoped Ron would show Harry the ropes, then, and maybe even become his friend. With Leon not at home all the time, Harry really needed some friends.

“Are you ready?” he asked his son, after Ron had run through.

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. He seemed a little nervous, but that was natural. For non-magical people, running straight at a wall was bound to give you a broken nose and/or bruises. Wizards had to have trained the instinct out of their system for this to work, Leon reasoned.

“I can come with you. We can do this together.” Leon said. He gave his son a smile, “On three, we run. Okay?” Harry gave another nod. He appeared more at ease, now knowing his father would do this with him. Leon caught the woman smiling in the corner of his eye. He ignored her for now, instead beginning to count, “One, two, three!” They rushed the wall. Leon’s instincts screamed at him to stop, but this wouldn’t be the first time he’d ignored them. The wall came closer and closer, but then it faded away and a wave of something washed over them. They were finally here.

Leon helped Harry bring the cart to a stop and they looked around. A train stood waiting and whistling for its passengers and people of all kinds were moseying around, similar to Diagon Alley (Leon still snorted at the name. Seriously?). He couldn’t help but feel a bit amazed, however. While he may still not trust this new world, he had to admit there were some advantages. Like hiding an entire station inside of a wall. But then the train screeched and Leon knew it was time to go.

“Here.” He pulled off his jacket, “I doubt Scotland’s gonna be warm so you’ll need some comfort.”

“But isn’t this your favorite jacket?” Harry asked.

“I’d rather you have warmth and a part of me with you instead of going into the cold alone.” Leon gave it to his son. Then they shared a hug, “Promise me you’ll keep in touch. I wanna see letters often, got it? Just, I’m gonna miss you, buddy.”

“I know.” Harry’s hug was strong, “I promise.” The train screeched again. Harry had to clamber aboard as porters grabbed his luggage for him. He soon found a window, where he waved out of it, and Leon waved back. He hoped the jacket would truly keep Harry warm and give him a semblance of home, maybe even keep him out of trouble. Soon, however, the train began charging off and Leon was alone with dozens of people he didn’t know. All except for the redheaded woman and her daughter, that is.

“Molly Weasley.” she greeted, giving his hand a shake, “And this is Ginny. She’ll start school next year.”

“Good for you.” He nodded to the girl, “Leon Kennedy. Sorry to trouble you about the train, but we just couldn’t find it.”

“That’s quite alright, dear. Many newcomers need a hand or three.” said Molly, “And don’t worry about your lad. I went to Hogwarts myself and I can tell you, he’ll have a lot of fun and friends to make.”

“Thanks. It’s just,” Leon gave a sigh, “I’ve not been at home much, but he’s always been there. This is the first time he’s gone off on his own.”

“Yes, leaving the nest is always tough.” she agreed, “If you want, we could keep in touch? I don’t mind giving you a helping hand about magic if you might need it. And I would love to meet up for tea sometime!”

“Maybe.” he said, “I live in the United States, so I don’t know if I’d be able to make any engagements.”

“That’s alright, we can always come to you instead!” Molly was very friendly and motherly. While Leon didn’t give trust easily, he felt that he wouldn’t mind being friends with this woman. Her warmth, while pretty strong, reminded him a little of Sherry or Claire.

“Well, do you have a phone that I could call? Or an address?” He still wasn’t sure how communication worked, if they still had phones or not, but he was willing to adapt. Adaptation had always helped him in the past, especially against shambling hordes of zombies. And when Molly gave him an address for letters, Leon knew his new normal was just getting started. He just hoped Harry was having a good time.

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

Next Drabble

[firebird963]

Stuff I’d Change about Class of the Titans pt 1/?

Introduction:

So it’s 5am, I can’t sleep, I’m 4 episodes deep in this show thanks to a mix of a Greek Mythology phase I’m going through and nostalgia. The show is, rough, and yet there is obvious good here that’s keeping me around.

I think a lot like Chaotic, another early 2000s show that lives in my head rent free, a reboot wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world.

So here are just a handful of ideas of changes I’d make if I were to reboot the show.

Think of this as more of a thought exercise, I’d love to hear y’alls thoughts on these changes, if you have any ideas of your own.

Now without further adieu,

Art Style

The art style is... Fine... It works, it’s just, something about it feels almost painfully generic, it’s not very memorable and I feel that some stylization would do the show some good.

That said I have seen worse in a show and still enjoyed it, transformers Beast Wars is an excellent example of this. So at this point I’d say just, I wouldn’t be mad if they went a new artistic direction in a reboot.

Character Design

Throw the whole thing out! I’m serious just start from scratch, some of these designs range from, bad, to painfully generic, not helped by the for mentioned art style.

We live in a world where Percy Jackson and Hades 2018 exist and have really cool and interesting interpretations of the Greek myths. I’d also recommend the book Gods Behaving Badly if you can get a hold of it, it’s definitely for adults and has some rather graphic (sexual) moments but it is a fun comedy.

Hell even Disney’s Hercules did some really cool things with the Gods designs, it’s so easy with that movie to tell who is who from just a glance.

The only characters I find acceptable are the seven children, even then they’d need updating. I’ll go into more detail about them later on.

Plot Stuff

Ya, the first three episodes are paced like a humming bird on meth, not gonna lie.

There are some really good ideas for character growth and it’s all just, fucking wasted almost as soon as it’s introduced. I’ll go into more detail on the character pages.

So what to do about it? For starters slow, the fuck, down.

The show also seems confused about its identity, it wants to be a monster of the week type show while also being about a cool secret high school of Greek myth stuff.

The stakes are also, ironically, way too high. It’s hard to be worried about any of the children's safety since we know if any one of them is taken out the world is doomed. So I find myself not concerned whenever there is an encounter. I do appreciate how willing they are to run away from conflicts though.

A lot of these problems have really simple solutions.

For one, their secret school, Olympus High, make is an actual secret school. Place it on the outskirts of a city rather then slab dab in the middle or even in the middle of the woods or something.

Then have this school just filled with demigods and other various monster children. Have other would be hero’s training with and around our main seven protagonists. You could have a lot of more personal rivalrys/antagonists, along with friends outside the main group that can provide other prospectives on problems.

They already live on campus on the show so it’s not that much of a stretch plus you could do something more akin to My Hero Achedemia where the characters are introduced to elements of Greek Mythology and their own abilities over time.

You can even still do a monster of the week style thing with having part of their training take place off school grounds and go on monster hunts like in the show.

What matters most is things slow down and the characters are aloud to just, breath, and exist in their world rather then be carried by the momentum of the plot.

Villains

Kronos is actually a really good idea for a main antagonist. I can appreciate they didn’t just go with, idk, Ares (who actually isn’t that popular on Olympus), Hades or Thanatos (who frankly gets more then enough shit while just trying to do his job, love you boo).

However, having Kronos show up right away like that is just, no, he’s not some mustache twirling schemer, if he somehow got out it would be all hands on deck. Every God, every hero, everyone who knew what was going on would be stopping at nothing to get him back. And he would know this.

So he has to be more, final boss, what the show is building up to. Rather then just, around, causing problems. But it’s cool. I’m not mad (she said, mad)

Here are some ideas for villains I have off the top of my head:

1. Some outside religious group, Christian cults are a thing, especially in the USA. Have them be systematically hunting down demigods/bloodlines/monster children

2. Agamemnon, if you’ve read/know the plot of the Iliad you know what this bastard did. Child murdering fuck

3. Follow up for 2 but have a bunch of classic Greek villains and other historical baddies escape from Tartarus and need to be rounded up again

4. Don’t have a villain, just do a monster of the week style show with the character drama be the driving force. Greek mythology is filled with stories about shit just happening and hero’s having to deal with it.

To quote Lindsey Ellis, Odysseus didn’t go Odyssying for the greater good (he wanted to go home.)

Tune in Next time when I rant about the children and how much I love them and am frustrated by them!