#waking in pjo

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! /Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here! /

 Part 7 Here! / Part 8 Here! / Part 9 Here! / Part 10 Here! / Part 11 Here! / Part 12 Here! /

Part 13 Here! / Part 14 Here! / Part 15 Here! / Part 16 Here ! / Part 17 Here! / 

Part 18 Here! / Part 19 Here! / Part 20 here! / Part 21 Here! / Part 22 Here! / 

Part 23 Here! / Part 24 Here! / Part 25 Here! / Part 26 Here! / Part 27 Here! / 

<This is Part 28!>   / Part 29 Here! / Part 30 Here!

A/N: It's baaaaack! A few updates; I know we used to have an update every week, due to mental health and general constraints in time -- This series will no update every other week. In the weeks between you'll get the sneak peak. I know it's not ideal, but with the pace the series is being written at this is the best I can currently offer. Hope you enjoy this part!

* It’s hard to describe the exact sensation that plagued the days after Luke’s betrayal.

* At first it wasn’t terrible, you would rouse from your cabin and make your way to the big house where a comatose Percy slept, pale blue light pouring from your hands.

* While he was still unconscious you could maintain a steady rhythm for your days.

* You would wake up in the morning, drink some nectar, heal Percy, have a snack, and go back to sleep.

* But the second Percy woke up, back to swinging swords and beheading monsters, it felt like every ounce of responsibility left your body.

* Your glass of nectar started to be a bit more full every morning.

* The full breakfast with coffee Dionysus laid out felt less appetizing.

* And you started to find solace in the relief of sleep.

* You watched the three moons of the Underworld all aligned in a burning red sky.

* “Are you okay?” The boy with scars on his chest asks.

* “Of course! I’m fine!”

* A plump red strawberry nestled in your palm.

* “If you want, my mother might be able to help, I could bring you to her.” The woman with hair the color of rust whispers, the cow nestled in her lap snorts.

* “It’s fine, I’m fine.”

* You sit next to a hippie in a strawberry field, her bright hair held up by a tie dye headband.

* “You’ve got to let that stuff go man.”

* “What stuff? I’m fine.”

* You drift from reality to reality, never really sure of what you’re experiencing or what you’re looking for.

* You stand in cold water that comes up to your calves, so clear and blue it feels like liquid aquamarine.

* You can see white doves in the distance, soaring to the place where sky meets water.

* “I haven’t seen you in a while.” It’s the boy from earlier, the one with pure white hair, Zeus’s personal secretary.

* He seems more tan now though.

* “You look awful.”

* He still doesn’t seem to have much tact.

* Flustering under your apathetic gaze, his cheeks bloom a rosy hue, hand up in surrender.

* “N-not in a bad way, it’s just you usually…” his gaze softens, his freckles glinting like amber under the sunlight. “You usually seem as vibrant as a fresh rose.”

* Well, that’s quite a compliment.

* “I was betrayed by a friend recently,” you shrug and he gapes “but it’s fine, I’m—”

* “No you’re not fine! How could you be?” He grasps your shoulders in his hands, forcing you to face him entirely. “You were betrayed by your friend, how can you be okay?”

* “Because everyone expects me to be.”

* The words snap whatever feeble grip you have on your emotions.

* You feel the intense burn before you feel the heat of your tears as life down your face, cooling at the nape of your neck.

* Despair you’ve kept carefully contained begins to curl off your form

* Your hands move to cover your face, tears collecting on your wrist as your furiously move to wipe the remnants of your sadness away.

* The boy doesn’t let you feel bad for long, paying no mind to the physical pain of the despair that curls off of your form, tugging you to his chest.

* “You’re just a child, you’re allowed to feel sad.”

* The tears come harder now, sobs muffled by his broad chest, his warm hand on your back.

* You wake up sniffling, blurry eyes taking in the ceiling of your cabin, your alarm clock flashing three fourty-two in the morning.

* You clutch your heart, feeling tears slip down your face.

* You swallow hard and shuffle on an old sweatshirt and your slippers.

* You walk across camp in quick steps, past the training grounds where you see a flicker of his figure, past the porch of the Hermes Cabin where you would laugh with him, past Thalia’s tree where you sat and had picnics, each step punctuated with traces of your blue despair.

* You still for a moment at the Big House, but continue down the hills, Dionysus as kind as he is, isn’t who you need right now.

* You make your way down to the small hill, the place you first met him all those years ago.

* You feel that burning again.

* Despair curling off of your body like an aura, the grass at your feet withering away.

* You kneel on the barren earth, tears sliding down your face.

* You place your hands out, flinching away at the last moment.

* ‘Asking for help is always the hardest part.’

* You take a quick breath, tears shaking from your eyes, pressing your hands against the earth twice and before you can fully think you say: “Aidoneus.”

* He wraps you in his arms before you can croak out a word.

* “He betrayed me…HE BETRAYED ME!” You shriek, collapsing in on yourself like a dying star.

* He holds you tight, a hand cradling your head.

* “It’s okay, I’m here now, you’re okay.” He takes your despair like it’s his own, a monster who’s lived in his shadow all his life, only offering a single tear in its face.

* The hill outside Canp Halfblood is dyed blue that night, the divine boundary the only thing saving a dozen campers from melancholy dreams.

* “I keep wondering if there was something I could have done, something I could have said,” you sniff after you’ve calmed down, your face pressed against the soaked cotton of his button down shirt.

* He doesn’t say anything for a long time.

* “That boy…” you look up, eyes red rimmed. “Just as you have something you want to do, something you think only you can do, that boy feels the same.”

* You can see it, Luke, so distraught and torn after being a plaything for the gods for so long reaching out to the hand of a Titan who promised him a different kind of future, for him and for every child who came after him.

* “If you care for him,” Hades cradles your face in both of his palms, “if you care for that mortal boy like you were split from the same star, and carved from the same flesh, then I promise you nothing on earth, the underworld, or Olympus will keep you from reaching him.” He presses his forehead against yours and you nod.

* There was never any doubt.

* ‘If Luke’s lost his way then it’s no big deal, he has friends to bring him back.’

* “Do you feel better?” He asks, and you nod, your worn sweatshirt cuffs dabbing at your eyes. “Good, now drink.”

* He holds the flask to your lips and the sweet taste of your fathers slightly burnt chocolate chip cookies floods your mouth.

* “I lost your flask,” you suddenly remember, before sheepishly adding: “sorry.”

* He grins.

* “I know, it’s okay. It’s a miracle you all made it out—in comparison a flask is inconsequential.”

* His hand strokes your hair bank, his eyes warm as he looks down at you.

* “We’re all on your side.”

* “I know.”

* And you do, the proof is littered on your arm, blessings from each of them and every god they could find, trading favors and secrets to make sure you were secure.

* “As a king and a god, there will be times where I can’t show you explicit favor,” like he already hasn’t or something. “But if you call for me, I will always answer.”

* “Me too.” You’re not sure why you say it, just that it feels right, a smile illuminating your face. “If you call for me, I’ll answer you too.”

* He smiles so wide you feel like you catch a glimpse of the boy he once was.

* “Go, they're waiting for you.” He nods to Thalia’s tree, and you begin the climb up the steep hill, turning back to wave goodbye before he dissipates into smoke.

* When you reach the top, gold hued dawn breaking over the skyline, you’re met with three figures.

* Percy and Annabeth rush towards you first:

* “We’re going to go find him next summer,” Annabeth starts.

* Percy nods beside her. “We’ll bring him back.”

* Clarisse approaches you behind them. “He’s just going through a bout of teenage rebellion, a slap upside the head will set him straight.

* Grover nods beside her, still dressed in his nightshirt. “He’s just a little confused.”

* Dionysus smiles, “With all of us working together it’s just a matter of time until we bring Luke back home!”

* You feel the warmth of hope bloom in your chest, tears of joy stinging the corners of your eyes.

* “How could be possibly refuse when all of you are waiting for him?”

* ‘Because no one who’s lost ever stays lost.’

* Summer comes to an end, and for once everyone’s going home, you wave to Percy, Clarisse, and Annabeth as you part at the boundary line, going to your respective families.

* You think you see Clarisse cry a little when her mother greets her with a hug.

* “Everytime I pick you up from here I get the strange urge to shove you in the car and never bring you back.” Your father says when you’re nestled in his passenger seat.

* “What a completely normal thing to say to your child, do you have any other normal sayings or is this your best one?”

* “Alright smartass, you’ve got your uniform fitting the day after tomorrow.” You groan, a new year meant a new uniform.

* “They’re always so uncomfortable.” You mumble, face in your hands.

* You think about Luke more than you’d like to admit in the coming week, even out of camp you can’t help wondering where he is.

* Is he eating well? You think while you try your fathers new and improved risotto.

* Is he somewhere safe? You think when rain hits the glass window outside of Barney’s as the tailors fuss over your form.

* Is he able to sleep at night? You think when you’re cozy in your bed.

* And each time you strengthen your resolve.

* ‘I’m going to get him back.’ You think with every hearty bite of risotto.

* ‘He’s going to come back.’ You reinforce, meeting the tailors suggestions head on.

* ‘I’m going to save Luke Castellan, and not even Kronos can stop me.’ You manifest, right before you drift into silky black unconsciousness.

* You’re in a pavilion, ivory white columns on either side and white marble under your feet.

* Before you is possibly the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen, skin the color of dark amber, golden eyes, and tawny tresses.

* A jagged scar runs over his right eye, but even that only seems to accentuate the symmetry of his features.

* “Is there something I can help you with, godling?” He doesn’t spare you a glance, his eyes fixed on the green trees in the distance.

* You immediately fluster.

* Normally you would apologize, but instead what comes out of your mouth is:

* “Just because you’re beautiful doesn’t mean you can be cold, you know.”

* ‘Now I’m really in for it.’

* He raises an eyebrow.

* “Do you jest Demi-god?”

* You take the quirk of his lips as an invitation to sit beside him, taking in the scenery.

* “Whatever, like you don’t know you’re stupid hot.”

* “Hot? I think I’m the correct temperature.” He touches his forehead and you laugh.

* “No like…you’re handsome.”

* He smiles at you, and when he turns to face you, you realize where his left arm should be in a hood mechanical device in the shape of a human hand.

* ‘That’s interesting.’

* “I can’t say I share your sentiment.”

* “How did it happen?”

* He shrugs.

* “My Father betrayed me.” He shrugs.

* “Wow, your dad is super shitty.” Somehow he’s even worse than a deadbeat like Poseidon or a serial womanizer like Zeus.

* “Do you also have an awful Father?”

* “No, my Dad is the best.” He visibly deflated when you tell him that, earning a laugh. “But I recently had a good friend show a display of extreme betrayal.” Your eyes widen, the corner of your mouth twitching.

* “We could be betrayal buddies!”

* You said it as a joke, still you weren’t expecting the handsome man to laugh as hard as he did. You find yourself laughing along, waking up in your bed with tears in the corners of your eyes and laughter spilling past your lips.

* “What a wonderful dream.”

* You walk to school that morning feeling a little lighter. Excited to see all your old friends and classmates. Maybe you’ll even learn something interesting.

* ‘This is going to be a good year.’

* So imagine your surprise when you see a certain ocean-eyes boy at the gate.his gaze widens when he meets your eyes.

* “Hey (Y/N), do you go to Saint Catherine’s too?” Percy asks with a grin.

Tag list :

@holybatflapexpert @atomicsophia @fadingunknowncoffee @hopeworldsupremacy @padsfirewhisky @magical-dreamland @kookiedesi @kiritokunuwu @bleepmorp @flickeringlizard @luckyzipperscissorsbat @jessiegerl @undecided-as-always @officiallydarkgeek

@marsbars09 @yizhoutv @alicesolengg @luxaryllis-primaryacc @time-shardz @cryinghotmess @crow-with-a-hoodie @the-nerdy-fangirl @crackedpumpkin @geekyandgay98

@lazydreamers @agentsofblinks @justsomestuffiguessman @elodietea @mxacegrey @angelic-simp @astrial @babypink224221 @weaponb33 @redactedhimbo @heart-charming  @psychomanias @aliinunderland

@karnellius @lunavixia @cerberus-the-cutie @bes2005 @girlcrafter408 @loser-keiji @shadowsmusical @hazeofeleven

[supine-ly]

three peas in a pod

[xx0yeet-everything0xx]

percy: i don't think nico's ever gone to sleep before 5am, and its really just concerning at this point

percy: let's not even talk about jason. he wakes up at 4:45am on the dot, every morning, without an alarm clock. that's terrifying.

[demigods-posts]

imagine a world where the heroes of olympus series was one big crossover. a world where we meet an eleven year old boy named jason, no last name because it reminds him of his mother — a drunk who literally threw him to the wolves as a toddler. jason, who's earliest memory is chewing on a stapler and his older sister tending to the wound on his bottom lip — but he hasn't seen or heard from her since they were separated years ago. jason, who grew up reaching for the sky like a purpose, desperate for a chance to prove himself. jason, who fought to save the world at fifteen years old. and jason, who finds himself in the grand canyon four months later with no memory of who he is or where he came from, feet away from some frantic sixteen year old girl in search of some dude named percy jackson. imagine what this could have been.

[honeysmoonn]

luke castellan who has a big fat crush on you. luke castellan who knows about your big fat crush on him. knowingly, he’ll always make sure to stare at you across the room. luke castellan who says stuff like “starry-eyes can’t get enough, can she?” causing you to go red hearing the nickname. luke castellan who is a huge flirt, constantly making jokes a little too mature for the younger kids to understand, always tracing his hands along your thighs or neck just to see you squirm. luke castellan who can stop looking at you, who always makes sure to have his hands somewhere on you; either that be you thighs, shoulders, anywhere. luke castellan who never confessed, just built up enough courage to finally kiss you. luke castellan who says, “girl, you got me starry-eyed” whenever you kiss.

[aterfish]

I'm not ever careful and I can be rude, yeah

[littlebaby-bonnet]

i do not consume media. the media consumes me.

[wild-flowerhoney]

"i dont understand how you can ship-" you're no fun.

"they're the blueprint! canon! why would you-" you're boring. shush. go back to playing with your sad beige toys.

[ukelele-boy]

Zeus just yeeting chunks of Apollo the god of prophecy's memory to prevent him from realizing somethings up.

man's wiping Apollo's brain faster than a car windshield wiper.

[twinsarekeepers]

This fandom does such a disservice to percabeth and Percy as a character when y’all make him out to be some clueless simpleton that doesn’t know she has feelings for him.

HE KNOWS!

He just doesn’t want to do anything about it, especially after Titan’s Curse, because if he does, he’ll start imagining a future for himself.

Percy forced himself to be the child of the prophecy so that Nico wouldn’t be, because he was trying to save Nico. Which means he had to get real comfortable with the idea of dying at the ripe old age of sixteen. And acting on his feelings for his best friend was not the way to do that.

That boy was hardcore yearning for her because he wanted to be with her so badly but he also couldn’t.

[huntingrays]

the valgrace nation doesn’t talk enough about leo and jason’s powers

specifically leo’s fire and jason’s control over air

because air (or rather oxygen) is something that can either feed or snuff out fire

like i just think we should use and talk about this more

like i want to see them using their powers in a fight and seeing them mix and meld together

i want to hear this shit romanticize

i want to read about how poetic it could be

i just want to see it in fics, whether it’s utilized or simply talked about

[demigods-posts]

say what you want but annabeth is 100% the big spoon. and it definitely stems from the fact that everything she loves seems to leave her in some way. at least it feels like that for a long time. but cradling percy reassures her that's he's here and here to stay.

[pthalomars]

Jason is knocked out again, what a surprise🙄

[losersolace]

nico di angelo can sleep ANYWHERE. he’s like the kid at weddings who puts 2 chairs together and curls up under the speakers with his shoes on and all and sleeps like its nothing. in contrast, will solace (being a son of apollo) has amplified hearing and has to spend like 3 hours tossing and turning bc a dog barking a mile away is keeping him awake + once the sun is up there’s no way he’s falling back asleep.

this also reflects on their appearance the morning after. will has the worst bedhead ever, he tries everything to fix it but it kinda stays there the whole day. nico wakes up with weird hair on the side he slept on but he shakes it out and it immediately falls perfectly like he’s a disney princess. BUT he does get puffy eyes + dark circles while will looks well rested even though he got 4hrs of sleep.

[seagull9111]

nico with heterochromia but the first time he tells will about it will has a minor panic attack because he says "heterophobia"

[aroaceleovaldez]

I HAVE BEEN REMINDED OF SOMETHING i think i've made a post about it before but maybe it's just sitting in my drafts. idk, whatever, I will ramble again. Said thing that reminded me was a tiktok by madison_murrah about how the PJO TV show doesn't get the balance between mundanity and magical correct for pjo and I want to expand on that cause while a.) it totally is a problem in the show and i take issue with it, b.) it is also a problem in later books and i ALSO take issue with that too and i would like to elaborate on it

this got long so ramble of the day below the cut:

so the thing is that PJO is actually pretty unique in it's approach to hidden world modern fantasy. like, hidden world modern fantasy is a decently established genre with a ton of examples, but there's a reason why PJO stands out so much, and that's because technically it's NOT "hidden world." There is very intentionally no distinction between the mundane world and the mythological, at least in first series. They 100% overlap. And you do not necessarily need to be "special" to see the "mythological world-" some mortals are totally naturally clear-sighted, a lot of kids are clear-sighted, and it's like 50/50 for if mortals can become clear-sighted. In fact, most demigods aren't immune to the effects of the Mist, all that really matters is if you're actually thinking about being able to see through it. And there's a reason for that!

In general, this format of the "hidden world" modern fantasy serves two purposes: One, as the series is meant to introduce people to Greek mythology and explain why it is relevant and how it can be relatable in modern contexts, it intentionally juxtaposes myths against modern concepts: Medusa runs an apparently average garden statue store. Procrustes runs a mattress store. The entrance to the Underworld is in LA at a record store. Circe lives on an island paradise that's secretly dangerous. Hydras are like chain donut stores that seem to pop up on every corner. Perseus and his mother struggle in Perseus' childhood but get a happy ending. Calypso has an island paradise where the challenge for the hero of our story is being tempted to leave behind his goals. The plot of Sea of Monsters is blatantly the Odyssey, and it's about Percy trying to get to his best friend (who he shares a literal psychic link to) who is in danger of getting married to someone awful (a literal monster) to help you understand Odysseus trying to get back to Penelope and how important to each other and in sync they are. Battle of the Labyrinth is Theseus and the Labyrinth and it's Percy/Theseus trying to protect his home and his people and fellow kids (like Nico) from the dangers in the maze. These are all supposed to help us understand what is actually going on in those stories.

We also still see how Greek mythology influence shapes and influences western culture in general in their world (which is supposed to be our own and so uses real-world examples) - in government, in architecture, in pop culture - Mythomagic is clearly supposed to be your standard TCG like Magic The Gathering. And in general there is no distinction between where the mythological ends and mundane begins - Camp Half-Blood is both a magical training space for demigods and your run of the mill underfunded summer camp, complete with cheesy camp songs and t-shirts and crafts. Olympus is located on top of the Empire State Building which is operating completely as normal except for when a demigod asks to go to a non-existent floor. Your best friend with a muscular disease in his legs is secretly a satyr. Your brother with down syndrome is a cyclops. Your teacher in a wheelchair is secretly an immortal centaur. Your crappy algebra substitute is a literal fury. But also they're still your teachers. The satyr is still your best friend, the cyclops is still your brother. And that brings me to the second aspect of all of this (which i have talked about before [here] and [here]) - the other purpose it serves is that it is an extension of the overarching disability themes that form the core of the series.

The entire reason that meshing of mundanity and magical is so intertwined is entirely because it's part of the disability metaphor, specifically inspired by early 2000s parenting/teaching concepts for children with disabilities, particularly learning disabilities, as trying to reframe disabilities as "superpowers" to empower kids (and still exists in some more modern forms - like referring to disabilities as "being differently-abled") (I talk about it in my previous post on the subject but this generally fell out of favor due to many kids/students finding it belittling of their struggles) - this is why we get the description of ADHD and Dyslexia being framed as "demigod superpowers." In the series this structure is intentionally made to encourage kids to reframe how they view disabilities in general as not something negative but something interesting and fantastical that they may be more open to engage with - and PJO does this in a really nice way where a lot of the disability struggles are still acknowledged and treated sympathetically. Kids still get bullied, Percy and Annabeth struggle in school or with reading/spelling, they grapple with both internal and external ableism. The entire reason for the titan war in the first series, at least from the demigod perspective, is criticizing flawed systems meant to support disabled people that don't do their job effectively or let too many people fall through the cracks. The Mist "hiding" the "mythological world" from mortals (and even some demigods) is about how most abled people (and some undiagnosed people) don't recognize disability struggles until it affects them personally. None of these things are glossed over! It's handled with nuance and care! The series says "you can be disabled and you can be like these fantastical heroes - not in spite of your disability, but alongside it. Neither negates the other." The series was explicitly made so Rick's disabled son could see himself in a hero and learn about mythology for school. Those are the two pillars of the entire franchise: Disability and learning about mythology.

So, when you mess with that "hidden world" structure, the entire thing falls apart and it immediately doesn't feel right, because it's no longer serving either of those two purposes when it needs to be fulfilling both. Late-series Riordanverse has a tendency to compartmentalize the mythological and keep it entirely sectioned off from the mundane. Think about first series and even TKC versus later series - how many mortal characters are there? what do they do? are they just in the background or do they interact with the main cast frequently? are they more than just family or an extension to the main cast? First series we see Percy's classmates frequently, Percy talks about his mundane experiences at school, multiple mortal parent characters (and other mortal characters like Rachel) are active participants in and vital to the plot. We even see a lot of background mortal characters. In TKC, not only are all the magicians technically mortal, but also Sadie's completely mundane best friends help her out. Now think about HoO, or ToA, or even MCGA. Think about the mortal characters in those series. How important are they? Out of the important ones, how much are they in mundane situations versus being almost entirely involved in something mythological? How many aren't related to any of the main cast? How many aren't actively working for a god? The answer is basically zero! Why is that? Because Rick stopped letting the mundane exist. The entire draw of the main series is that Percy does continue to live this mundane life and that adds to his mythological life and makes the balance and meshing between them interesting, but basically all mundanity ceases to exist by HoO. Camp Jupiter is an isolated entirely magic town. Percy and Jason's schools are full of mythological beings as basically the only people they interact with. The Tri's headquarters is an entire giant building in New York City that they completely control that just so happens to ALSO be directly across the street from the local Oracle's house, because even where Rachel lives isn't allowed to be mundane anymore. Why is Olympus just at the top of the Empire State Building versus the Tri having an ENTIRE building? That feels weird and unbalanced, particularly given the difference in importance between those two! Because one is playing into that balance of the meshing of mundane and magical and the other isn't! The show continues this trend. It doesn't allow any of the mythological to exist within mundanity like it functions in the books, which creates a completely different atmosphere and doesn't allow those spaces or scenes or characters to serve their actual narrative purposes, either making it easier to understand mythology contextually or what disability metaphor or representation is occurring there.

It's part of the problem with show!Percy being too mythologically-savvy - Percy is supposed to be the mundane lens unfamiliar with mythology that the audience is learning by proxy through. That's the entire point of the series! If you have Percy already know everything because he's already too ingrained into this mythological environment from the start, and he just exists in this entirely magical world where he understands everything immediately then the literal target audience of the entire franchise (students being introduced to mythology) is left behind! That's part of why the pacing of the show feels so bad! It's rushing through every scene that's more or less the same as the books, particularly anything mythological, because the show is assuming you've already read the books and already know enough mythology to know what it is and what happens and that you don't want to see it again, so it rushes through. The show doesn't explain things that it presumes you already know - worldbuilding, character decisions, basically any mythology, etc, so it doesn't even bother with it.

Later books in the franchise do this too - as long as it's tangentially Greco-Roman mythology, or if it's anything to do with the main series like a reference in TKC or MCGA or etc, it's not going to elaborate much if at all. HoO speeds through Jason's introduction to CHB, and the only reason we get much introduction to Camp Jupiter is because it's actually new. We're no longer trying to contextualize or learn about mythology, it just all becomes set-dressing and references thrown at you rapid-fire as filler. By late HoO and into TOA and TSATS and such, we're not longer even within the realm of pretending like we're adhering to mythology at all. Why is Iris a vegan? Why is Rhea a hippie? Dunno, don't care! Literally doesn't matter! Why are the pandai panda/elephant-monsters and the troglodytes frog-monsters when that's not part of their actual history at all? Well a.) literally just word associations and b.) possibly a little bit of racism (they're supposed to be humans from India and northern Africa, and you made them monsters. cool. okay. and their plotlines totally aren't horrible within those contexts. awesome. please try thinking literally at all next time, thanks). We're not even bothering to look at mythological instances anymore for a basis, a lot of it's written like we're just going based on the first results on google (hi Menoetes and the cacodaemons - the latter of which is not even spelt correctly once in the entire book - which is weird because they do say "daemon" so they know the word. Not that the cacodaemons are mythologically accurate at all because then they would be humanoid. Instead they seem to just be inspired by the things from Doom). None of it serves the purpose of the narrative at all; we're literally just making random choices, some of them quite distasteful! In large part due to refusing to acknowledge the actual contexts of the myths and how that might translate into something similar or equivalent a modern setting to help conceptualize it - something the first series did inherently by design. And we need this! A.) So that you're less likely to make bad decisions because you are inherently thinking about the historical and cultural contexts of these things and how to compare/explain it, and b.) because the audience for later books/the other series and the show is going to be the same as the first series! Those nonsensical references may be at best cameos to people who are already familiar with them, but if your intended audience is new to mythology then making references like that is just going to leave people out of the loop! You don't shift your target audience in the middle of a franchise!

Later books in the series and the show are failing to understand what the first series was actually doing narratively and how it was approaching these subjects and its audience. When you fail to do that, it completely messes up the general worldbuilding and the core themes and intentions of the franchise as a whole. Once you lose touch with that you might as well just be writing a completely different franchise. You need to approach it from the same lens or else it will feel completely off, because otherwise you've lost all base touchstones that make the series what it is.