#vulcan jason

[fuckyeahfanfictions]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Roy Harper Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, you don't need to have seen Star Trek to read this, I'm pretty sure, Vulcan!Jason, accompanying artwork, alternating tense Series: Part 3 of JayTim Week 2017- Valentines Edition Summary:

Then Jason’s face closes off completely. He turns blank, emotionless. And while this would be normal for any other Vulcan in the universe, it isn’t normal for Jason, and this is what pushes Tim from concerned to terrified. Like Jason was, just a second ago.

“Excuse me,” Jason says, and his flat tone creeps Tim the fuck out. He turns and walks away, leaving Tim sitting there, alone, shocked, with their unfinished breakfast.

[dv-kelp-face]

Rereading Heroes of Olympus -

I can't believe that there was a Star Trek reference in the Lost Hero and I am only catching it now

[iamdangerace]

Snake River Conspiracy, Vulcan from Sonic Jihad (2000).

[dclovesdanny]

Percy Jackson x Dead on Main

Jason, son of Athena, has been living in Camp Half Blood since he was 14. He had been through both of the wars as a soldier and strategist (though a lot of people assumed he was an Ares or Nemesis kid after his growth spurt.) He was now 19, and had been drafted as one of the representatives of the Athena Cabin in the camper exchange. He wasn’t expecting much from the trip, especially not a cute boy who introduced himself as one of the centurions of the fifth cohort.

Danny, legacy of Thanatos, Venus, and Vulcan, had fought in both wars. (though he wasn’t exactly involved much with Octavian outside of some misunderstandings that lead to a large portion of the monsters Octavian had hired being turned to dust) He was now eighteen, and part of the welcoming committee for the Greek transfer students.

Neither of them realized it, but both were quite well liked. More than half of Camp Halfblood had fought beside Jason, and at least two thirds of the camp had had Jason at their side as they mourned their fallen cabin members. More than 80% of New Rome owed one of the Fenton’s their lives.

Everyone watching them realized this relationship could make or break the relationships between the camps. Including the gods watching.

More facts for this au under the cut.

Every resident of New Rome had either interacted with Maddie Fenton (legacy of Venus, daughter of Thanatos, former centurion of the second cohort for five years), Jack Fenton (son of Vulcan, master engineer, inducted into the third cohort at 11), Jazz Fenton (served for a while in the fourth cohort, on track to be a therapist for demigods) or Danny.

Maddie was raised in New Rome. Her great grandmother was the daughter of Venus, and is famous for killing over fifty Cyclopes who attempted to kill a demigod (said demigod is the ancestor of Julia).

Jack was brought up by his uncle in Illinois and found out about his heritage after an incident with a hydra. He found his way to camp and ended up killing several monsters along the way.

Vlad is a descendant of Apollo and is Octavian’s second cousin (might be the wrong wording, Octavian’s mom is Vlad’s cousin).

Dick is a Hermes kid and is another representative that came along.

Sam is a descendant of Proserpine (idk how to spell it, Roman version of Persephone)

Bruce is an adult demigod who lives outside of camp and works with Chiron. He’s a grandson of Aphrodite (Thomas’s mom) and Athena (Martha’s mom).

Let me know if you want more of this au

[subwillsolace]

prev

-- -- --

Nico wakes up early, the next morning.

It shaves ten clean years off his life.

But he is on a mission.

He forces himself off of his pillow the second the sun rises, pausing curled up on the mattress, praying that he will be magically filled with a burst of energy great enough to drive him, triumphant, out the door and onto the tasks of the day. He is not, and he must crawl, weak-limbed and bleary-eyed, off of his bed, which he forgets is not on the floor and remembers when he is face down upon it, hands and knees aching, and just sits there for a moment, suffering.

"How the hell," he mutters to himself, fighting the urge to lie in prone position on the marble, "does he do this every morning --"

He supposes he has woken up early before. Although, on those occasions, he was either running for his life, which woke him up nicely, or pleasantly surprised by a hot, eager mouth on the side of his neck, on the dip of his clavicle; those mornings, frankly, are his favorite, and he mourns the loss of them with the same pain and grief he has mourned the deaths of close personal friends. What a life he has lived.

He drags himself to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He does not bother brushing his hair. He cannot even manage to force himself into anything but his boots, and stumbles, still half-delirious from sleep, to the barely-lit dining hall.

Will is there, dressed and humming, at his spot at the Apollo table. It is early enough that none of the other kids are up yet.

There is an extra plate, next to his.

Nico takes it for the hint that it is. It could be for Austin, or maybe Lou Ellen, since she likes to get up early, sometimes, but Will scoots over when Nico sits, and he has saved Nico the good green grapes.

"So here is the plan," he says, like there is nothing out of the ordinary. He links their hands together and swings his legs, humming.

Nico thinks: ??????

And then: Oh my gods don't push it lock in lock in lock in.

"The plan," Nico echoes, managing to eat one (1) grape and not choke. "Yes, the plan."

"Mhm. For tomorrow."

Nico looks at him, lost. He smiles, eyes twinkling and -- teasing, knowing, but says nothing. Only finishes the last of his breakfast, turns sideways on the bench, and starts playing with Nico's free hands. Nico shivers, letting him.

"You're not busy, right?"

"Nope," says Nico, even though he is. Sorry, Jason. He will be rescheduling. "Uh, I'm up for anything. Everything." He snaps his mouth shut before he can continue to embarrass himself. Will giggles, and it is worth the red cheeks.

Whoever is responsible for my forgiveness, he offers, to the Heavens at large, thank you, thank you, thank you.

He was genuinely kind of worried he was going to shrivel up and die. There's only so much abstinence a person can take.

"I just need you to be up before noon," Will says, pushing Nico's hair back. He squishes Nico's eyebrows in the process, a little, and seems to enjoy that, wiggling his fingers to bring forth weird expressions. Nico was not the only one a little lonely, it seems. Touch-hungry.

"I can do that," Nico says softly. He smiles when Will does, leaning up to kiss him, soft and gentle. Will sighs into his mouth, hand dropping limp between them. "Any reason?"

"Surprise."

"Oh?"

"Mhm. Eat your grapes. Be up by noon, and do what I tell you." "Aye, aye, cap'n," Nico says, doing a Vulcan salute instead of a normal one just to see the pleased little look on his nerd face. And then he turns, dutifully, to his grapes, and they taste better than they ever have before.

-- -- --

Because Nico is only allowed one blessing from the gods per business year, he doesn't get to see Will for the rest of the day. There schedules are different, which usually wouldn't stop them -- Nico is genuinely called 'Skip' by some of the older campers for the sheer amount of times per week that he plays hooky to go bother his boyfriend -- but someone has to go and fall on their own sword, or something, and Will spends half the day in surgery.

"You're such a leech," Austin says in fond exasperation, pushing him, for the third time, out the door. "You have, like, a job, dude. There are fifteen armed children currently destroying the amphitheater with swords. Go…handle that."

"It's an illness," Nico begs. "There is something wrong with me. I actually can't handle not being around him. I'm going to die."

Austin succeeds in shoving him over the threshold. Nico fights the urge to hit his knees and beg for mercy. He feels possessed.

"Austin -- no, wait, Austin, listen -- Austin -- Austin have you ever been dehydrated --"

"Oh my gods --"

It is probably a small mercy that Austin slams the door shut. There is only so much dignity left for Nico to grip onto, after all, and it was leaking out of him at speeds he does not want to consider. It takes strength, to drag himself away from the infirmary -- he keeps thinking, for no fucking reason, of the kind of knobbly shape of Will's knees, and how they are freckled, still, and always bruised -- and stumble over to the amphitheatre, where he is literally employed, as in, on pay roll, to teach children how to fight with swords. Soon as he hit eighteen and everything.

"Alright, brats," he says, clapping his hands together. The screaming children cease immediately. Thank the gods. "Today we are going to do a fun thing called Hunt Jason."

"Hunt Jason?" questions a younger kid -- Farrah, as of yet unclaimed. She is Nico's favorite because she is the most shamelessly bloodthirsty. It's hilarious. She has trouble with her 'r' sounds but really enjoys screaming I will reap your soul! at the top of her lungs when she charges. Does things to Nico's proud heart.

"Yes," Nico confirms. "It is this special field trip activity where I release you into the camp to hunt a demigod called Jason with swords."

"What are you going to do?" asks John, who is a son of a Athena and a little snitch.

"I am going to sit on a lawn chair in the common and evaluate your vibes," Nico tells him. "There will be a winner."

That gets John on board. Excellent. The other children were already foaming at the mouth with the word 'hunt', so Nico goes ahead and shows them a particularly embarrassing photo of Jason he carries around wherein he is wine drunk and redfaced and dressed as Superman. Nico loves Halloween.

He releases the children, shrieking bloody murder, onto the camp, setting up in his beloved lawn chair and sighing up at the sun. Life is good. It is afternoon, which means he will see his beloved again by dinner. And, this time, Will is not mad at him. They will probably even play footsie under the table until Kayla and Austin start pelting things at them. But even that will be worth it, because he will be beside Will again.

Fuck, maybe Lou Ellen is right.

He hears high-pitched, terrified shrieking quickly followed by fifteen ravenous, bellowing voices of success, right on time. He twists in his chair to confirm -- yes, there is Jason, running for his life, and the baker's dozen hungry bloodhounds close on his heels -- and as the circus rounds the bend of the cabin the dinner horn blows.

"Alright!" Nico bellows. "Brats A through O! Disengage! Go bother your counsellors! Remember, moral demigods show mercy!"

They do remember, groaning, and peel of the son of Jupiter, who, bravely, has managed not to sob and only stands with his eyes squeezed shut, accepting his death. The children run off and as soon as it's safe, Jason straightens, looking around with murder in his eyes.

Nico makes himself scarce.

"You're a bad influence," Kayla sniffs when he sits down. "I don't know why my brother hangs around you."

Nico flicks a forkful of broccoli at her. Austin sighs, gets up, and forces himself between them before this can escalate.

"We love you, Austin," chime Nico and Kayla together, "we're sorry, Austin."

"Both of you are insufferable."

Nico and Kayla meet each other's eyes over his head and grin. Mission accomplished.

But both Apollo kids look pretty beat, as it is. And Jason finally gives up trying to find the criminal behind his attack and stomps into the dining hall, glaring, so Nico busies himself with stuffing his face and avoids all eye contact for a minimum of thirteen minutes.

"So," he says, when thirteen minutes have passed, trying for nonchalance. It fails. "Will on his way?"

"Will tied the last stitch, washed his hands, and damn near passed out on the floor," Kayla reports. "He will not be joining us." She looks over at Nico's crestfallen face. "Could your heart break a little quieter, please, I'm trying to ignore my balanced meal."

"That's a plate of chocolate cake, right there."

"Shut up, Austin."

Nico tunes out their bickering. He is a little embarrassed by the genuine despair he is feeling but he -- fuck, he was looking forward to this. To time with Will.

He used to, like…fight werewolves.

He used to fight gods.

"There, there," Austin says, patting his shoulder. "Uh, if it helps any, he cursed you a few times when he was mad. So." Austin pats him again. "Your suffering might just be the residual effects of Will praying that you would feel the hunger of ten thousand men for ten thousand eternities."

That does make Nico feel better, slightly. Will is actually pretty good at cursing people and has nailed Nico with a couplet hex on more than one occasion. He is also fond of sending everyone who ignores his medical advice away itching. It's very cute when it is not directed at Nico. He gets this sweet little murderous look in his eye and everything.

But that's not it.

Nico knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of Will's curses. They don't quite shock, like Lou Ellen's, but more burn -- like falling asleep in the sun and walking up so hot you're sure you've gone red. And there's none of that, anywhere, wasn't even when Will first stomped out of his cabin, several days ago now, half-naked and cussing him out to high heavens. Whatever furious prayers he offered went unanswered.

Nico is just desperate.

And a little blueballed, maybe.

"I'm gonna go check on him," he says, shoving the last of his pizza in his mouth. Kayla glares at him in warning -- "Wake him up and you die, di Angelo, I only pinkie-swore not to hurt you when Will made me, I never swore on the Styx." -- but Nico is let go with no serious threats, and he jogs to the Apollo cabin with more speed than is maybe necessary. It is dumb and stupid and he's bound to let himself down again, but he's half-hoping Will was implying something else, when he told his siblings he was sleeping. Something that hopefully does not involve his pants.

But he was not. Nico pokes his head in, hopeful, and sighs as the low evening light spills onto Will's sleeping form, blankets up over his head.

"You're gonna suffocate," Nico whispers, smiling, pulling back the covers so they rest at his chin. He leans down and kisses his newly exposed forehead, lingering, listening for the puff of his boyfriend's breathing, the half-coherent mumbling. Nico catches his own name and smiles wider. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

He presses one last kiss to his sleeping cheek and stands, tiptoeing out of the cabin and closing the door tightly behind him.

Another lonely night, he supposes. But he thinks of Will's instructions -- up by noon, be ready for something -- and smiles.

One more lonely night, he can handle.

-- -- --

next

[elysiality]

Hiya, I loved your Yandere!Athena HCs! Could you maybe write Yandere Percy and Jason x reader HCs, like in a poly situation? Thank you! ❤️

yandere PJO! Percy Jackson x demigod! darling X yandere HOO! Jason Grace 🌊☁️⚔️ - general hcs

!!WARNINGS!!: yandere, obsessive and stalkerish behavior, manipulation, mentions of vi0lence and murd3r, overprotectiveness, jealousy, etc etc you know the drill

pairing/s: yandere pjo!Percy and Jason x demigod!darling

a/n: sorry it took so long anonie, i kept losing motivation lol

So let's start this off strong, if this was pre-Blood of Olympus Percy and Jason, they definitely would've killed each other for you soooo...

Let's just assume this is pre-Trials of Apollo Percy and Jason

You were one of the half-blood campers who went to New Rome for college

And by some stroke of luck (or not) you managed to catch the eye of two of the most powerful demigods ever known, Percy Jackson and Jason Grace

I'd assume that both of them would already be in a relationship with each other when you showed up

Jason would be the first one who would notice you

He had noticed Frank showing you around the campus while he was in one of the cafes and he was immediately intrigued by the reserved air you held about you

How you shyly thanked Frank for showing you around and how you looked around the campus like it made was straight out of Mount Olympus

In Jason's eyes, anyone who can appreciate the beauty of Rome is gorgeous to him

So naturally he developed an interest in you

Jason is a very communicative boyfriend and the second he realised he might have developed feelings for you, he immediately told Percy

Of course, it wasn't like he wasn't in love with Percy, it's just that you had caught his eye too

At first, Percy was pissed. Percy is a rather overprotective boyfriend to have and he immediately began digging up on you, to find out who had been attracting his boyfriend

However, when he started learning more about you, he couldn't stop himself from liking you

For some reason, you had the same effect on him that Jason did and he immediately understood why you had caught Jason's eye

The two of them had a long conversation and agreed to try to win you over

So they would start reading into you, finding out what you like, what your hobbies are, things like that

They didn't realise it but they developed quite the obsession with you, observing you late into the night, thinking about you constantly

Finally they approached you, on the pretense of wanting to welcome the new blood

You were quite flattered to have such important demigods willingly offer to be your guides and immediately took up their offer of friendship, starting to hang around with them more

I feel like Percy and Jason would genuinely want to be your boyfriends instead of kidnapping you or just making you fall in love with them so it would be easier to get you

They want a healthy, normal relationship with you but they don't realise that their love for you goes far too deep for a normal relationship

Your friendship would start off really simple, just things like picnics in the gardens of Rome, late night study sessions, the occasionally fighting monsters outside camp

Slowly they'd become more bold, starting to bring you gifts, surprising you with things that they had handmade from the Vulcan campers, just for you

They'd finally offer the option of joining their relationship to you one late night and they'd be absolutely over the moon when you shyly accepted

Once they're officially your boyfriends, you'd notice them competing with each other for your affection

It'd start off with small things, like if Percy took you out to a gorgeous beach on a weekend as a little relaxing surprise for you, you'd notice Jason eyeing him a little challengingly

Then Jason would take you on a surprise flying trip to wherever you wanted and and would have a lovely time with you, only to come back home to a rather grumpy Percy

Of course they still love each other, but they can't help but feel a little more competitive when it comes towards you

Honestly, it's one of the things that keeps their relationships going and it's rather interesting to watch at times too

I have this headcanon that Jason cooks really well so he'd learn your favourite food and make it for you <3 (just don't ask HOW he knows your favourite food since you never told him)

Percy is insistent that you learn how to swim so he'll drag you to the beach at random and try to teach you how to swim if you don't already know

If you DO know, he'll try teaching you tricks and will show off his own stunts underwater to general applause (although Jason keeps berating him for it since it makes Percy dizzy, he's usually on a lounge chair, watching you two)

Percy isn't very happy if you wear a revealing swimsuit but let's it go when Jason reminds him that not only can they both fight, so can you

He still glares at everyone who looks at you in even a slightly admiring way but usually Jason is there to restrain him from dousing them in sea water

I think they probably wouldn't punish you or such, since they didn't have to kidnap you to get you and since they don't like hurting you

I'd say the most they'd do as a 'punishment' is ignore you for a few days, essentially isolating you but just from them

And of course, since you love them so much, it's pure torture to you so you do everything you can to make up to them

Both of them looooove reminding you how gorgeous you are

Percy totally takes photos of you all the time with a Polaroid, no matter whether you're eating, studying, sleeping

When you stay up late to study at night, Jason is right by your side, providing you with an unlimited supply of coffee or hot chocolate, whichever you prefer

Percy would probably study with you since he isn't very good at studies either but he'd probably get really easily distracted by how pretty you were which results in Jason having to smack him on the head (and then kiss his forehead because he felt bad about it)

They NEVER forget important dates

Anniversaries, birthdays, special holidays you like, they will ALWAYS remember

Both of them spend hours with each other while pondering your gifts (and each other's but neither one of them tells each other that)

It's always a thoughtful, sweet gift whether valuable in sentiment or use

They spoil you as much as they can with what money they have

Jason leaves little notes for you all over your dorm, some reminders and some just sweet compliments <33

Percy definitely brings you random trinkets from his father's palace when he goes to visit <3

Both of them LOVE showing off their horses, offering rides to you at random odd hours of the day

If anyone dared to ask you out, usually Percy would pull them into his cabin to talk to them, with Jason by his side as he calmly tries to explain that you were already dating them

Usually, the demigods of two of the most powerful Olympians confronting them regarding a loved one, would have any demigod with any common sense immediately apologizing and promising not to do it again

If some idiot, however, ignores their (Percy's) warnings, neither Percy or even Jason can guarantee their safety next time they're in the air or the sea

They may not have as many powers over their respective domains but they have enough to cause 'accidents', small things that confuse, weaken or hurt the unfortunate fool who chose you to have a crush on

They wouldn't go as far as to kill anyone though, unless it's in a fit of rage (Percy) or they decide it's well deserved (Jason)

Overall, they're amazing boyfriends and the chances of you ever finding out about their obsession is almost zero since they're so sweet and loving that it distracts you from all the red flags <3

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

a/n: the ending was lazy but kindly forgive me for that, it was like 3 am, I'm so sorry ☠️☠️

[leoruby-draws]

Decided to dump a bunch of drawings, mostly just random characters I've drawn. Most of these are the young heroes the batkids hang out with, like with Lorena and Cass up in the left corner. Wonder what their talking about, maybe roast Jason and Koryak off-screen perhaps.

Couple of doodles of Carrie as a sweetie-pie and then in her warbird form, I like to think she got some help with this and is able to control it to an extent (she mostly transforms when super angry). Random doodle of Jessica Cruz, I've said this before but she used to be my favorite before I got into Jason Todd. Sorry Jess lmao!

Up in the right corner is Jenni excitedly telling Cass about the Legion in the far future, its her dream to join them. I guess they started out much younger, also I made Imra resemble her cartoon design, loved how alien but pretty she was. Bottom corner is Danny acting like a spy and exchanging the latest titans gossip to Jason. They were friends in canon, so they' be friends in my au. I thought about making Danny join the kiddie outlaws but I kinda like the thought of him being more of an ally to all the kid hero teams.

Some drawing of Steph and friends, her and Kara hang out all the time, we also see Kara with her cat Streaky. Also there's Steph meeting Prism aka Audrey Spears, I don't think she'll join Steph's team fully but she'll probably be like an auxiliary member of sorts.

There's other members of Steph's team Eliza Harmon, Bobby Barnes and Miri Raim. Look at Miri bothering poor Carol Ferris, she just loves her mentor a lot, Carol just want's some peace and quiet lol.

Also I already posted the Cyclone and Stargirl drawings in other posts while back, just putting the full drawing her.

More doodles, there's Tefe and her plant friend 'playing' with Eddie, Jason doesn't approve lol. Below is Lori Zechlin showing off to Owen Mercer and Jack Moore, seems like the 2 oldest members like to indulge Lori, the baby of the team, in her antics.

Top right corner are 3 random heroes being friendly, Courtney Mason, Miguel Devante and Anita Fite. Miguel Devante is also known as Vulcan, a suuuuper obscure hero who's also a legacy character of Son of Vulcan. He's have very few appearances, I thought his mini was ok I did like his costume a bit even if it was kinda over-designed. Hope DC gives this character a chance someday.

Also check out the Batkids playing some card games, looks like Jason's a bit of a sore loser (also Steph did cheat, she's loves causing trouble.)

Back to Miguel, part of his backstory involves the White Martians, its part of his mission to fight against him. This gives me the idea to have Miguel be an ally or auxiliary member to Steph's team actually. The reason is to create comedic drama with M'gann, who's also on the team, try to make sure Miguel never finds out that she's actually a white martian herself. A pretty funny scenario I think.

Anyways, hope you liked all that.

[mediumgayitalian]

prev

———

Hand tight around the handle of his sword. Shadows pulled close, close, closer; cloak, hood, shroud. Still as a stone, hardly moving, barely breathing, waiting, waiting, tensing.

The whispers outside his cabin door grow louder.

He shot awake half an hour ago. A shift, under the cracked-open window, rustling, turning. Fabric, maybe, or fur brushing across the polished stone of the wall. Not a hellhound — he’d feel the bent shadows of its presence — nor any other creature from the Underworld, but clearly something dark, foreboding. Some heavy, stifling presence. And many of them, too, or perhaps one thing that is growing. It shouldn’t be possible within camp borders, but he can — feel it. A sense of ambush, of impending attack.

Every few minutes there’s a shake at his door handle. A wiggling of the Stygian iron metal, a whisper of sound as it’s jiggled, fruitlessly, a hiss as something draws away. The sound of quiet, throaty murmurs, muffled through the obsidian door. Escalating. Louder, louder; angrier, frantic.

Something is waiting for him.

It’s some comfort that it can’t get in. The handle was his design — not that most monsters would try to use it, but the burn as it touched their flesh, the threat of the Pit, would certainly would deter them. The obsidian doorway he insisted upon, regardless of skeletal complaints, was for practicality as much as pageantry. He has spent enough time in the well-run Land of the Dead to take notes from his father, paranoid he may be.

The noises, though, still grow stronger. Whatever is waiting for him has not been deterred by his fortifications, nor frightened by his aura of death. The handle jiggles again, and this time, the intruder is smarter — the lock turns, clicking as it is overcome, handle turning to follow it slowly, slowly. Nico holds his breath, gliding along the shadow, hovering in the doorway.

The door swings silently open. A clumsy lump of something steps hesitantly forward, huge and cumbersome; bulbous. At the front of it is a single long, glowing talon. The intruder pauses, contemplating, in the flood of low light, the cabin’s twisting shadows, turning slowly, carefully around. Nico glides along the floor, guessing at its blindspot, holding close to himself, waiting, waiting.

One.

The creature pauses.

Two.

The talon twitches to the left, following the creak of the settling bed springs.

Three.

Nico surges forward, bringing down his sword. It clangs against the talon, reverberating outwards, echoing the screams of the monster and tear of fabric —

“Nico! Nico! It’s us! Cool it! Watch the sword! Watch the sword!”

A burst of fire shoots upward, enveloping the cabin in a burst of white light. Nico hisses, nearly dropping his sword in his hassle to clamp his hand on top of his eyes, hunching protectively forward.

“Leo! Fucksake, you tryna blind us?!”

“Sorry! Sorry! He freaked me out, I flamed too hard!”

“Just fuckin’ — scream, next time! Jesus! I’ve gone blind!”

“What the fuck,” hisses Nico, blinking the spots out of his eyes, “are you idiots doing?”

In front of him stands not a monster but five infuriatingly familiar faces, each holding — for some reason — a mattress. Percy’s sword is still held loosely in front of him, and Jason’s jacket has been singed. Piper and Annabeth blink spots out of their eyes. Leo stands, in the charred ruins of his mattress, wringing his hands.

He glances up at the ceiling. Nico follows his gaze, noting where the black rock has been re-vulcanized into glass from the heat of the flames. He looks back down.

“From the bottom of my heart,” Leo says, solemnly, “my bad.”

Nico sinks to the floor with his head in his hands.

His friends, for some reason, take this as a cue. The heavy door is pushed back closed, cutting off the last of the low light from the Greek fire torches outside and the whistling of light wind. Someone feels around for a light switch, and, upon finding none, shrugs and pokes Leo until his nose catches fire, guiding him around until all the lamps and fairy lights have been located and turned on. Someone else — Annabeth, he guesses — begins instructing mattress placement, directing a crew to dig through his closet for linens. A comment about how spacious it is now that he’s not in it pops into his mind and he shoved it back down. He will not make light of the situation. He won’t.

“What the fuck,” he reiterates, louder this time.

Nobody answers. A faucet starts running in his background, and he hears the flip of a drachma.

“If nobody answers me in the next ten seconds I’m going to reanimate Andre the Giant and have him bodily throw y’all out. He will not be gentle. He will —”

“Y’all count,” they all say at once. Percy, gleefully from the bathroom’s running faucet, calls, “I’ll keep track! Remember if it goes over twelve I win!”

Nico snaps his mouth shut, ears burning.

Why has he remained at camp, again? He trained with Achilles and Patroclus. He learned how to read with Literal Shakespeare. Alan Turing taught him math. Not successfully, or anything, but still. He has no bearing here. He could be anywhere he wants to be, and for some reason he is putting up with unrepentant disrespect.

Nico four months ago would smite them. Nico five months ago would turn them to shadows for their insolence. Nico a few weeks ago, even, would have at least sulked off into the forest to cool of for several days.

Here he stands, Nico of tonight.

Unmoving in the centre of his sieged cabin.

No Andre the Giant raised.

No terrors inflicted.

Hardly even a threat.

What the shit.

“What love does to a young lad, eh?” Piper says, patting him condescendingly on the head. He aims a kick for her knees, which she unfortunately dodges, cackling and scampering away. He surges after her.

“I am several decades older than you, you little snot, what are you even talking about —”

“Older and uglier, you wrinkly ass bitch —”

“Guess who’s gonna be ugly when I remove the flesh from her body —”

“Ha! Catch me first, shrimp arms —”

“It’s working! I got it!” Walking very carefully, not unlike a toddler holding a too-full open cup for the first time, Percy steps out of the bathroom, faucet finally off. In his cupped hands is a quickly spinning vortex of sink water, letting off a fine mist. A prism taped to the side of his forehead refracts a rainbow into it. “Say hi, Hazel!”

“Hi,” says Hazel, waving from her surprisingly solid connection. She meets Nico’s eyes, grinning. He matches it immediately, dropping Piper out of the headlock he had her in.

“Hey,” he says, ignoring Piper’s dark muttering and promises for revenge. “You look eager.”

“I am eager. I heard we’re having a sleepover and talking about boys!”

“…You heard what.”

Percy shucks off his shoes, stepping gingerly over Jason and plopping right in the middle of the mattress pile, legs crossed. Nico realises for the first time that he is wearing pattered Superman pajamas, which is frustratingly endearing. He shifts the water vortex so that Hazel’s projection faces him.

“I’m so pumped,” he says earnestly. “I’ve never done this before. I’m so intrigued. Do we talk shit? Is that how it’s done? Is there swooning? I have a plan if there’s swooning.”

“We’ll get there, Seaweed Brain.” Annabeth brushes a hand through Percy’s hair as she walks by — somehow dignified, which is impressive, Nico has never seen anyone wobble over a mattress elegantly before — and presses a kiss to his forehead. He leans into it. “Ease into it.”

“Yeah,” Hazel snickers. She sticks her tongue out at Nico’s glare. “Don’t spook him.”

Nico throws his hands up. “Don’t spook me, she says. Heaven forbid anyone tell me what’s going on.”

“Well, you’re trying to court that boy, right? The cute one with the motormouth?”

Crazy how two sentences can reach down your throat, grip onto your beating heart, squeeze out your soul, drag it from your body, still pulsing, and leave it to actively shrivel on the floor next to your withered, fetal-positioned body to the audience of your cackling friends. Genuinely wild.

There’s a woman who wanders around the poplar fields of his father’s kingdom and has for tens of thousands of years — longer than even his father. Legend says she is the first user of language as it is understood in modernity. Nico may have to beat her up the next time he sees her. Or, well, try, ‘cause she’s jacked, but her crime cannot go unpunished. How dare she introduce the curse of language upon the human race.

“Which one of you,” he croaks, voice cracking more than Jason’s old man joints when he sneezes, “you — fuckers, told my sister about — about.”

If he says his name he’ll die. Like Voldemort except not stupid.

When he looks up, all five of them hold their hands proudly in the air.

“It was more of a conference call,” Jason explains. “And it was less ‘us telling’ and more us calling to say hey, Hazel, Nico keeps shutting down every time this particular person smiles at him, and then Hazel went oh, is it the medic boy he keeps rambling about when he calls me, and we went yeah, totally, can you elaborate on the rambling —”

“Cool.” Nico scrambles to his feet, brushing off his sweatpants, tucking his sword under his arm. “I’m going to go drown myself, if y’all will excuse me.”

He barely makes it one quarter step away from the stupid fucking mattress pile.

“Initiate part two of the plan!” Annabeth hollers.

“Y’all count!” Percy yells.

Without waiting to be chased, Nico sprints for the door. Immediately a fireball is launched at the handle before he can reach, melting it. He veers for the window, but a gust of air slams it shut, and a shining dagger pins the lock in place. In his final desperate dive for the nearest shadow, Piper sprints over — curse her long legs — and tackles him to the ground, rolling them both towards the nearest light source.

“Every single one of you —”

“Ow! Teeth away! Teeth away! Don’t make me muzzle you!”

“—except you, Hazel, never you —”

“Jason! He’s fuckin’ — his nails are clawed into the doorframe, help me!”

“—will be facing me in judgement day! And I shall not be lenient!”

“Quit trying to bite me or I’ll beat you up again!”

“No! Suffer!”

Conveniently, a spot on the uncomfortable floor has been left free of mattresses and pillows and beddings so that Nico and Piper can claw the shit out of each other properly. He lands a good hit on his collarbone, but she jams her heel into his ribs when he foolishly leaves his left side open. He manages to pin her arms to her sides with his legs, but she mirrors the move and squeezes her thighs around his neck.

“Do you usually just let them kill each other?”

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about it. They didn’t get to spar yesterday so they’re a bit pent up, they’ll be fine soon.”

“…Must be a Greek thing.”

“Don’t you guys have Violence Fridays?”

“Uh, not quite.”

“We have war games,” Jason explains, “but there are generally repercussions for aiming for one’s jugular.”

Annabeth frowns. “Well, that seems flawed. How do you children ever learn to defend themselves?”

“If I recall correctly, by surviving to adulthood.”

“Touché.”

Knowing the scolding he’s about to get is going to be fierce, Nico rolls them both towards his (thankfully untouched) bed, sinking them into the shadows under it and popping up on top of Jason’s reclining body. As he planned, the combined chaos of Jason’s screech and Piper’s nausea gives him just enough leeway to kick himself free and scramble away behind Annabeth. Not that she’ll usually protect him, but he has a feeling that she has an itinerary and is therefore invested in keeping them on task.

“Okay,” she says, holding Piper back by the forehead — success. “Piper, put the nails away. Nico, quit making faces at her or I’m gonna let her claw you. Go sit on opposite ends of the mattress pile.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” they both say, immediately cowering and Annabeth’s glare and scampering to do as asked.

“Thank you. Alright, everybody grab a blanket and gather around. Nico, is there a — thermostat in here, or something?” She tightens the skull-patterned blanket (that she stole from his closet like the thief that she is) around her shoulders. “It’s freezing.”

Nico sniffs haughtily. “I prefer to have my external environment the internal temperature of my soul.”

He smiles smugly to himself at the chorus of boos that echo around him. That was a good one. He feels no shame.

“You should,” Percy tells him seriously.

“Stick your finger in a socket.”

Annabeth tosses an overflowing binder into the centre of the mattress pile before they can really start to go at it.

“Be quiet and behold,” she says grandly, “the plan.”

Nico stares at it dubiously. “The plan.”

“Yes, the plan.”

“Say plan one more time and I’m chewing the floor.”

“You’re such an odd person.”

“Having your fucked up ghost mentor put you in a labyrinth to be hunted for sport by his monster friends for ‘training’ will do that to you.”

Will once told him that he reverts to making people uncomfortable via depressing personal anecdotes when he is nervous. Startlingly perceptive for someone who, in the same breath, asked Nico if he could bring his siblings to the picnic Nico had planned in the strawberry fields for them, alone, at sunset.

“Just — open the binder, oh my gods.”

Huffing, Nico does.

It’s less intimidating than it looks. The heavily doodled title page reads OPERATION: WOOING WILL, which is embarrassing, but the rest of it is as cleanly professional. Several sub chapters including plans A-L, gathered information, outside input, sources, and hand-drawn diagrams are neatly organized and typed out. It’s even in dyslexia-friendly font. Truly a work of art. Too bad Nico is considering incinerating it.

“It’s not even gonna work,” he mumbles, pointedly avoiding the six pairs of eyes watching him. Well, five, Leo walked in the cabin and immediately got distracted by something else. He’s been poking at a pile of bronze for the past forty minutes at least. “He’s — unplannable.”

“Nothing’s unplannable.”

“He is. He doesn’t — think about things. In the same way.” Nico traces his fingers over a page titled Dropping Hints — How Begging Someone To Go Out With You Has Changed In Seventy Years. “You and me’ll see someone go out of their way to make life easier on somebody and know they’re — crushing, or whatever. But Will goes out of his way for everybody, all the time. It’s not odd for him.”

“Can’t you just tell him? Outright?” Hazel asks. “I mean, he told you, didn’t he?”

“That’s different.”

It isn’t, really. Nico could tell him. He could walk up to breakfast tomorrow and just blurt it out. Same words, even. I think you’re gorgeous.

He wants to. He wants Will to know, wants his bright eyes to go wide and his nose to go red and his voice to go quiet as he says, really? And Nico wants to feel the goosebumps that cover his arms when he rubs his thumb over the inside of his wrist and says, yes. Wants to watch him shiver as he says, you make me feel safe, you know. Watch his golden eyelashes flutter as he adds, wanted. Safe and wanted.

“It has to feel right.”

———

next

[reallyleonardovaldez]

headcannon that since Piper and Leo spent a lot of time with Jason when they first found out they were demigods, and Jason kept roman-naming everything, they roman-name everything

“Your father, Hephaestus-“

“Who?”

Annabeth stared at Leo like he was crazy and furrowed her eyebrows. “Hephaestus. God of machines and fire. Your dad, Leo.”

“Oh! Vulcan!”

… “Sure, Leo, Vulcan. Eventhough we’re Greek you’re using the Roman name. Ok.”

[via-rant]

Thinking of if Leo was Roman instead of Greek.

You think it would take the same amount of time for Vulcan to get him to Camp? Do you think he'd get him there sooner? You think the Wolves would approve of his fire? You think, if they did approve of it, when the camp tries to burn the sigil on his arm and it doesn't work, they'd all treat him the way they treated Hazel? You think Jason would still be his first friend?

Its so interesting to me.

[demigodpolls]

feel free to explain your answer, and follow for daily pjo polls + fandom creator content!

[nyxdreamweaver]

Now introducing...Cyra de la Mort!! Jason's older sister, Octavian's dear friend, daughter of Vulcan, and Legacy of Orcus

(Rip my girl. She needs to clock in and haunt the narrative)

[groverapologist]

valgrace kids hcs:

(art credir: Makowka on Picrew)

Mateo and Sofia

Mateo is the older sibling and a legacy of aphrodite. they go by they/he.

Sofia is the younger sister and a daughter of vulcan. she goes by she/her.

They have a two year age gap.

Mateo:

he was adopted when he was 1-2.

they are of Afrolatino Puerto Rican heritage.

Mateo, unlike their papa, is very gentle and soft, and unlike their dad, doesn't know how to fight. not unlike dad, Mateo's very accident prone since childhood. Jason makes sure to remove any staplers in the house.

they're a grandchild of Aphrodite, so their powers are limited. surprisingly strong amokinesis for a legacy, almost to the same level as their demigod counterparts.

sometimes jason and leo can't believe they raised someone so soft and gentle when they're so messed up from all the fighting. both argue that Mateo gets their gentleness from the other.

Sofia:

adopted when she was 3-4.

she is of mexican heritage.

leo and jason were just as nervous adopting her as they were mateo because they were aware there would be differences with raising a girl.

she takes after leo a lot. she's very loud and hyperactive but also incredibly smart and experiences really strong hyperfocus.

Jason jokes that Sofia is all Leo's work due to how much she resembles him in demeanor. To a lot of people's surprise, she tended to spend more time with Jason growing up.

[manygeese]

okay i wrote the valgrace star trek angst fic based off of this post i made

here’s my bbg the ugly little ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65110459

~*~

They were safe. That was all Jason could think about as he watched the viewscreen in wonder. The Argo had made it out in one piece, Gaea’s ship had been destroyed, and a new planet was being created before their very eyes. Annabeth grinned at him, relaxing in the Captain’s chair for the first time since they had entered the battle had started.

His combadge beeped, interrupting the otherwise quiet on the bridge. “Commander Grace speaking, what—”

“Jason… I think you’d better get down here.” It was Piper. She had volunteered to help Will with the injured in Engineering, where the damage had been the worst.

“Piper? What happened?”

Jason had seen her go toe to toe with a Klingon, and her voice hadn’t so much as broken then. But now—now it shook like a leaf in the wind. “Get down here. Now.”

He shared a quick glance with Annabeth, waiting for the short nod she always gave as permission. When it came, he didn’t waste any time. He was in the turbolift before she had even had the chance to blink.

Jason stood stiffly in the turbolift as it descended to the Engineering deck, but when the doors opened, he lost what little composure he had left. He ran through the halls as fast as he could, pushing his way through ensigns on the upper level of Engineering. He didn’t bother with the ladder rungs, sliding down with impulsive ease.

And then, he stopped.

He was frozen in the blue light of the warp core. Every instinct, every function that had gotten him this far had shut down. All he could do was stand, holding onto the railing like a lifeline with one hand and the other going up to cover his dropped jaw. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He didn’t want to believe his eyes.

Please, he thought, anyone but you.

Logically, Jason knew somebody had to have gone into the dilithium chamber to repair the warp drive so they could get away. He knew whoever had done it would ultimately die from the sheer amount of radiation they had been exposed to in the process.

Most of all, he knew Leo. He prided himself on it, in fact—knowing that he constantly had to replicate new hair ties because he kept losing the old ones while working, that he would preen and blush whenever Jason gave him a Vulcan kiss (or a human one, Leo wasn’t picky), that he could spend hours on a pet project and not even notice the time passing until somebody told him it was 0400 hours.

He knew Leo’s first instinct would be to repair the warp drive himself. He knew Leo would never let anyone else sacrifice themselves in place of him. He knew that, once Leo had set his mind to something, he wouldn’t let anyone stop him.

Jason should have anticipated this. Maybe if he had, it would have hurt less, seeing Leo in there doubled over next to the warp drive.

It wouldn’t have; it probably would have made it worse, and it was already pretty damn bad in the first place.

He hadn’t stood there for more than four seconds when everything in his brain decided to turn back on. He was running again, if only for a little while before Piper and Will caught him by the arms, holding him back. He struggled like a targ in quicksand, only half-hearing the words being shouted at him.

“No! Jason—Jason, you’ll flood all of Engineering with radiation! You’d kill us all!” Piper grunted, tightening her grip around his shoulder and forearm.

“He’ll die,” Jason panted.

Will looked up at him, brow pinched with something like pity. “He’s already good as dead.”

Jason stilled, looking to Piper for some sort of comfort, whatever she could summon at the moment.

She just shook her head. “It’s too late,” she breathed.

They stared at each other for an instant before Jason surrendered, working his way out of their now loosened grasps. He walked. He walked down the stairs and across the white floor. He walked up to the glass walls of the dilithium chamber.

With both of his shaking hands pressed to the glass, he waited.

It quickly became too much for him. Looking in, separated by a laughable amount of glass, yet unable to cross the gap. Leo deserved more than this.

There was one night that (however fleetingly) came back to Jason in that moment, one where both of them were lying in bed and watching the stars crawl past like little luminescent bugs. “If you had to choose,” Leo had said out of nowhere, sitting up and fiddling with the sheets between his fingers, “how would you die?”

Jason had furrowed his brow in mild concern. Leo had given him a pout in return. With a sigh, Jason had answered old age.

“That’s cheating,” Leo had huffed. “Choose something more interesting.”

Jason had stared incredulously at Leo before relenting. “A diplomatic mission gone wrong could be fun,” he had shrugged, knowing that wouldn’t be the word he’d use to describe it in any other situation.

Leo had laughed. It wasn’t an uncommon noise to hear coming out of the engineer’s mouth, yet Jason savored every time he got to hear it. “You’re such a dork.”

“Says the Vulcan,” Jason had pointed out.

“Half! I’m only half-Vulcan. But you act like a full one,” Leo had teased. “You wanna hear mine?”

“Your death?” Jason’s face had scrunched up in distaste. “Not particularly.”

“Well, too bad. You’re gonna hear it anyways,” Leo insisted, and proceeded to list off several increasingly unlikely ways to die. Fried alive by the sonic showers, speared through the chest by a terran rhinoceros, executed by Orion pirates. Jason had rolled his eyes and smiled like the cat that caught the canary. Once Leo was done, he’d settled back into the familiar place he had claimed on Jason’s chest. “But in all seriousness, yeah, you had it right with the old age thing.”

Jason had smiled into Leo’s hair and ducked down for a kiss. “I know.”

“I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, I think.”

“You just think?”

“On occasion, yes.”

Jason snorted.

“It’s always gonna be you and me, though,” Leo had sighed, tracing his hand lightly up and down Jason’s chest. “Together forever, t’hy’la.”

Jason had smiled. How could he not have? “Together forever.”

He had to drag himself back to the present, back to the sterile walls of Engineering. He had to be strong, just for the moment. For Leo.

“Leo,” he called. The sound came out strangled and foreign in the broken silence.

Leo sluggishly raised his head, curly hair loose and hanging limp. His brown eyes were sunken, his skin paler and pockmarked. The ghost of a smile passed across his chapped lips when he saw Jason. Straightening himself and leaning on whatever he could for balance, he stumbled up to where Jason was waiting.

Jason rested his forehead against the glass. His hands tightened into fists around a nonexistent body that should have been cradled by them.

The words Leo forced out of his mouth were barely above a whisper. “We’re safe?” He coughed up.

“Yes,” Jason stated louder than he needed to, nodding, even smiling slightly, whatever he could do to tell Leo it was okay.

Leo’s eyes glistened. Jason was easily pinned by his gaze. “Don’t grieve, t’hy’la,” Leo commanded. “It is logical. The needs of the many… outweigh—”

Jason wanted to scream. He wanted to scream and shout that no, it wasn’t logical, actually, fuck the needs of the many. He wanted to cry and beat the glass to dust and bring Gaea back to life just so he could kill her again for making Leo do this. He wanted to hold Leo in his arms and run his fingers through his hair and fix it, fix everything. He wanted to strut into the radioactive dilithium chamber so he wouldn’t have to spend so much as a day without Leo. He wanted none of this to have ever happened, but here he was, unable to do anything but watch the man he loved die.

“—the needs of the few,” Jason finished with gritted teeth.

“Or the one,” Leo added hoarsely. A shudder hit him like a wave. He began slipping, getting closer and closer to the ground. “You know I always have a plan. This time isn’t any different.”

“Leo,” Jason whispered helplessly. He trailed after Leo, following him on the way down to the floor. His heart broke a little more when he noticed the Vulcan’s hand reaching up towards him, even as Leo struggled to stay upright.

Leo was leaning heavily against the glass, face distorting painfully. He shut his eyes tight for a moment before opening them half-lidded. He looked right through Jason. His hand fell from the wall separating them, but then it returned, now gloveless and in the shape of a Vulcan salute. “By the way—I love you,” he managed, breathing labored and shallow.

“I love you too.” Jason didn’t have to think as to move his hand to cover Leo’s on the glass, it had done so with a mind of its own. “More than anything.”

Leo smiled up at him one last time. His hand slid off of the glass slowly as his eyes fluttered shut and his muscles went slack, falling to the floor like a ragdoll. Jason moved instinctually to catch him.

Jason didn’t know how long he kneeled there, staring in half-horror, half-disbelief at the body. It could have been anywhere from two seconds to two millennia that would have been better spent with Leo in them. “No,” he begged. He didn’t know who he was talking to—himself or everybody else or Leo or whatever Gods were real. What difference would it have made, anyhow? There was nothing he nor any other person could do, and if a God had been cruel enough to take Leo away, Jason highly doubted they’d bring him back just because he asked. He didn’t know if there were tears running down his face or not. His throat was tight and his eyes were watery, but he hadn’t blinked in ages.

All he knew was Leo, and all he knew was “together forever,” and all he knew was that Leo and forever were gone now. So really, he didn’t know anything.

[thegeminisage]

done w five discovery episodes & these are some brief thoughts so far

my first and biggest thought is that i would like this show a lot better if it was not a star trek show. space shows about war are fine, and there are some scenes and concepts here i find genuinely intriguing - saru being bred to sense danger and death, michael as a mutineer trying to redeem herself, stamets injecting himself because his conscience could not live with what he was doing to the tardigrade, etcetc. however, where is our utopian future? the attitude that prisons are cruel and outdated? the federation would never force anyone into manual labor. they specifically prohibit planets who do that shit from joining their little gang. they wouldn't authorize, let alone ENCOURAGE, the capture of a potentially sentient species to be used as a navigational tool without ten miles of red tape. they don't even kill and eat cows for meat anymore, people on earth think that's barbaric, but this is fine? hello??? we haven't done any exploring. even on ent and ds9 we did exploring. i don't think we've been planetside once is dis

(HARRY MUDD CAMEO DOES NOT COUNT THAT WAS VILE. i absolutely REVILE that mfer and even i think that's character assassination)

it's made doubly frustrating by all the pains they've taken to make small references to other trek shows - the list of famous starfleet captains, the old-school sound effects. but it's all just set dressing. there's no TREK in this.

i don't actually think michael did anything that bad. if aos kirk had done that exact same thing he'd get a handshake and a metal. hell, if ANY of the captains, even janeway, had done such a thing, they'd have wiggled out of longterm consequences somehow. spock beat the shit out of kirk one time and nobody cared, but michael does one little vulcan nerve pinch (which i'm not sure she should be able to do but w/e)

this klingon stuff is so dry. ten tons of prosthetic + having to deliver 95% of lines in a fake language makes it even drier. it was a bad redesign and the subtitles are hard to read especially when i get bored and start playing solitaire on my phone. i'm having trouble following some of it because the prosthetics make so many of them look so similar. which sucks, because it feels important

also, they ATE michelle yeoh? this is not the capacity in which i wanted cannibalism to be talked about in star trek

gay people NOT clickbait. bonkers. i like how they can say fuck and make dick jokes and allude to cannibalism and rape (which is apparently less alluded to later? nobody tell me anything) which means we can also now do that other nsfw thing, which is showing gay people brushing their teeth together before bed. i know they kiss later i googled it but jesus christ. it's not andor lesbian handtouch bad but come onnnn. it's 2017 now, we have no more "it was just how it was back then" excuses.

it is cool that they're doing a male rape survivor with a female rapist though and like played straight so far. you don't see that often, even though i certainly think tos kirk fit that bill

again, this would be a perfectly fine show if it was not set in the trek universe. and what's insane is it would take SO little work to file off the serial numbers. michael in particular seems like a fantastic character stuck in a bad show.

because of the OA, every time jason isaacs with his american accent does something problematic for the greater good and then makes his excuses about it, i want to kill him with hammers. this isn't his fault, except for how it kind of is. he's a good actor. too good. he gives me hives.

[ashyjingles]

The Kings Of Rome

I've just read Chapter 3 of SPQR by Mary Beard which means its time for another post with my comments on it and how I plan/want to use it for my Camp Jupiter fic from Riordan's Heroes of Olympus Series. (Oh, the things I do for you Jason Grace) Why? Because I can. Also this makes it easier so I don't have to go flipping through pages every time I want to find something lol

Before there were the Emperors of Rome, there were the Kings of Rome. Roman literature names around six from the time Romulus, the original founder in some myths, died, to when the Roman Republic started.

The first was Romulus, who isn't counted in the six kings; then there was Numa Pompilius, who played a large part in the religion of Ancient Rome; Tullus Hostilius, a 'renowned warmonger'; Ancus Marcius, founder of Rome's seaport at Ostia; Tarquinius Priscus, who I remembered as the Tarquin Prior to his son (I got confused a lot lmao) and who developed the Roman Forum; Servius Tullius, who created the Roman census; and Tarquinius Superbus who I remembered as the Tarquin that superseded his father and was such a terrible king that he ended the regal era in Rome.

Beard talks about how there was little evidence to support these kings existing, up until the the black stone in the Forum mentioned in chapter 2 was discovered

There was also a set of black stone slabs in the pavement of the Forum, making it distinct from the rest of the flooring in the area. When the stone below it was excavated, an early shrine, possibly to the god Vulcan was found, along with Athenian pottery, early Latin written in stone, and every day trinkets such as cups and jewelry. Some Romans at the time believed it to be an unlucky spot, others believed it to be Romulus’ grave.

with text written in archaic Latin that includes the word rex, or king ("RECEI as it appears in the early form of language used there"). The text is nearly incomprehensible -- much of it missing, making it incomplete and impossible to fully understand like much archeological evidence from so far back. It does, however, provide evidence that Rome was in fact a monarchy of sorts at some point.

Beard mentions how the use of the term "King" might not mean what we expect it to, considering how Rome most likely was still a small community at the time and we don't have the full context of the text. She suggests that Rome may not have been as developed as accounts suggest, and that the kings may have been more chief-like than king-like.

The community, based on archeological evidence and surrounding towns' development, would have been around 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. In contrast, one claim was that Rome had 80,000 adult male citizens alone in 200BCE, making the total population around 200,000 which is unlikely for a relatively new community in it's time. Given the smaller community, a more chief-like leader like the one Beard suggested could be more appropriate.

Numa Pompilius and Servius Tullius were two of the listen kings credited with some of Rome's greatest defining qualities, such as the structure of the official Roman religion and the Roman census respectively.

Roman religion was not "particularly concerned with personal salvation or morality" (page 103). Instead, they performed rituals to earn the gods' favour and ensure they aided Rome. They boasted how their devotion brought them good fortune and explained misfortune away as ignoring a bad omen or messing up a ritual.

Numa was credited with establishing a series of priesthoods to take charge of major rituals. One of these priesthoods was the Vestal Virgins, whose job was to keep the flame in the sacred hearth of the Forum burning.

Another feat accredited to Numa was making a twelve month calendar, each with 29 days. It's essentially made up of twelve lunar months, with an extra month added occasionally to keep up with the solar year in a similar fashion to the extra day we add in leap year.

Servius Tullius was credited with the census. Every citizen in the city would have their wealth recorded and would be assigned to a certain classification on the principle of 'the richer you are the more substantial and expensive equipment you can provide for yourself'. The highest class would have a full set of heavy bronze armour, and each lower class would have progressively lighter armour all the way down to the 5th class who would fight with slings and stones. The poorest were exempt from military service entirely. They were put into groups called "centuries".

Despite their name the groups would not be made up of 100 people. Because people in higher classes had more gear, they would be put into smaller centuries. The richest class was split into 80 centuries, the poorest would make 1 large one, and the middle 3 classes in between would each have 20-30 centuries with an additional 18 centuries of elite calvary and some special groups of engineers and musicians to make 193 total centuries.

Each century had 1 vote. So all the poorest class all together would only have 1 vote despite making a large percentage of the population, while the richest would have 80 votes put together. This gives the rich more voting power than the poor and, when combined with the 18 elite calvary, enough weight to outnumber all the lower classes combined in votes. (...I think. The centuries part really confused me and I had to draw a little diagram thing lmao)

Beard comments on how unlikely it would be for such an early period of Rome to come up with this system. She says it fits in with Romans' tendencies to make more modern achievements seem like they happened further in the past to make themselves seem more 'grand.'

"Whether or not anyone called Numa Pompilius ever existed is impossible to know; still less whether he did any of the things described ... But no matter how legendary or, at best, shadowy Numa was, one thing seems certain: some form of the calendar ascribed to him is the product of an early period in Rome's history" (page 104). So while we don't know for certain if these accomplishments credited to the kings were in fact a result of people named Numa Pompilius or Servius Tullius, they did occur due to someone in the regal era.

Tarquinius Priscus, another king of Rome, was murdered by the sons of his predecessor, Servius. Servius was placed on the throne due to being a favourite of Pricsus' wife and was murdered by Superbus. The violent history of the last three kings set them apart from the rest, but so did their history with Etruria.

Some accounts say that Etruscans held Rome for a short time, but there's no archeological evidence to suggest a takeover of the city at any point. Instead, there's lots of evidence of Etruscan towns being well versed in trade.

Lots of Etruscan sites had Athenian pottery and other imports. Natural minerals, especially bronze, was a large export for them and can be found in nearby places and cities.

*TW for mention of rape/sexual assault and suicide in the next set of paragraphs

The last king, Tarquinus Superbus, reinged with tyranny. He exploited the poor citizens of Rome, forcing them to build various projects of his to the point that several committed suicide. One of his sons raped Lucretia, the wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus after the son, Sextus Tarquinius, threatened to kill her and a slave and make it look like a case of infidelity. Lucretia agreed to do what he wanted, and after told her husband and father what happened, and killer herself.

A wife's chastity/infidelity was a defining part of a wife and husband's relationship, making this a powerful story for Romans. Lucius Junius Brutus, who was at the scene of her death, vowed in that moment to rid Rome of kings forever.

Between the labour and the rape, Brutus was able to gain the support of many people and send Tarquin and his sons into exile. Brutus and Lucretia's husband, Collatinus, became the first two consuls of Rome. This was the birth of "the Republic" and several new founding myths were created, such as this was when the Island in the middle of the River Tiber was created, and the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill was dedicated to this first year.

Long summary. Oops. Anyways, as for my own commentary, I don't have any overarching connections, but I did take a lot of small notes.

Would Jason know archaic Latin? Would Roman demigods in general know archaic Latin? I think considering it's their history and they've brought a lot of it with them to New Rome, I'd go with yes. As someone who doesn't know Latin, I'm wondering what the difference is now though lol.

Having large names in myths/history led to a lot of people in Rome claiming descent from them. (The Brutus involved with Julius Caesar claimed descent from the Brutus in this chapter.) In Camp Jupiter they have legacies descended from other demigods, and the letters tied to their legacy. I can't quite remember it right now and I don't have the book, but it was like a certification of their lineage. I'm wondering if it would be interesting to make some related to certain figures of the past or if I should avoid it.

Part of Rome's historians recording a history far beyond what the city was probably capable of for the time period were many "great battles" between Rome's fighting force and unknown opponents. I think it could be a way to tie mysteries in Rome's history to the Riordanverse by explaining it as fighting monsters.

The civil conflict comes back in this chapter with the Kings and the fight for the throne between the last three kings. I know there's a civil conflict by the time we reach Heroes of Olympus with Octavian and Reyna, but I'm wondering how likely it is that there would be another issue even before Jason disappears, and how much of an interesting storyline/drawn out parallel it would be.

Would New Rome still have the census? Other governments today have adopted it in sorts, and now I'm wondering how similar to the original New Rome would have theirs, if one at all. I'm wondering about the political body in New Rome entirely, if I'm being honest. I know teenagers run Camp Jupiter, but do the praetors also run New Rome? Or do they have their own governing system?? Rick Riordan, I have questions. Like, LOTS.

Would priesthoods like the ones Numa invented still be around? Or are things more personalized and/or run by the praetors and augur. Given the small population, I wouldn't be surprised if that was something the latter were in charge of. Regardless, their devotion is still a large part of their lives.

Speaking of Numa, he's the one who founded the idea of a pontifex, which is what Jason becomes. I think it would be an interesting idea to reference his name at least a few times almost as a way to foreshadow it.

There's lots of bronze found in the Estrucan sites. My first thought, becomes the Riordanverse is ever present in the back of my mind, was celestial bronze. It could be, but given their proximity to the Romans who primarily use imperial gold, I'm not sure. Is there a potential the Romans used both at one point, but in their effort to separate the two parties their minds were wiped of celestial bronze? Either way, I think Jason and Reyna talking about wanting to visit these sites, partly for their history, but also because they wonder about the weapons, would be interesting, especially once they start running out. (In HoO they talk about wanting to visit the founding lands despite it being forbidden. I think it's a wonderful part of their relationship that I want to include.)

I will admit this chapter has me thinking about what the politics of New Rome would look like, but the next chapter is on the creation of Rome's political system during the time of the Republic so I'm saving my thoughts until I get through that section.

Sorry for the underwhelming notes lmao some chapters really are more of a history lesson for me than a way to tie Ancient Rome to the Riordanverse.

Jason Grace & Cicero Parallels || Chapter 1 on Cicero (and Catiline) Lupa || Chapter 2 on Roman Founding Myths Kings Of Rome || Chapter 3 on the Regal Period