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#Time in Ogygia is weird
aroaceleovaldez · 1 year
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Tumblr kept breaking when I tried to reply to the ask about this since the post is too long, so answering this here finally:
A non-comprehensive list of misc things I’d change in HoO, since apparently people wanted me to elaborate further (Re: [This post]). Semi-off the top of my head since I don’t feel like re-reading all of HoO with notations right now. Also this will be followed up by a Things I Would Change About TOA post as well at some point, since that was also requested and kept breaking, but my brain is exhausted from getting this post set up so that will wait. I will link it [here] when I complete it.
Going under a read-more cause it’s very long. Literally Tumblr crashed like three times while I was trying to answer the original ask:
As said before (and what is a given):
1. Goes without saying - fix all the distasteful offensive character descriptions/traits. Similarly, fix the whole "these characters inexplicably look down upon their cultures" cause that's stupid and it's really annoying every time one of the Argo 2 crew brings up something about their cultures only to immediately go "but THAT'S SILLY and WEIRD."
2. Remove Calypso from the active plot, rather than the current canon retconning that doesn’t work saying that she was never actually released from Ogygia like she was supposed to be. There's no excuse for why she wasn't, unless it's supposed to be the gods sent Leo to release her to fulfill that promise, but that's not really implied to be the case at all. There's no excuse for the Olympians to just go back on their promise, since Hephaestus is established to visit Calypso regularly and basically is her only friend. It isn’t the type of thing he’d let be overlooked given all the characterization we know about Hephaestus, and given they are explicitly friends it can’t be that Olympus just “forgot” either. Also Calypso doesn't actually add anything to the plot of HoO or TOA besides serving as a love interest for Leo (not even a motive, just a love interest that "fixes him,” because he already has motive in saving Jason from being the hero of the prophecy and helping save the Argo 2 crew/camp/etc from Gaea etc etc.  Leo's romance arc completely derails the established depressive spiral/destructive character arc that's been set up for him and it basically ruins Leo's entire character. He's a tragic character! Let him be tragic until he's done being tragic and then the end of BoO and TOA can be him starting his recovery arc! (I have some thoughts for how Calypso could work removed from HoO but an active character in TOA but that’ll be for the TOA post.)
If Leo still ends up on Ogygia, then have it be clear that Calypso's already left and the island is abandoned (which imo is WAY more narratively compelling for readers of the first series, because you already know the context of the island, but for readers who don't have that context it leads to this being an interesting mystery - who was Calypso? What was this island and why do all the signs/notes left by her imply she wasn't always alone but usually was and was desperate to leave?) and Leo has to collect the scraps left behind to build an escape for himself while he goes through a fun identity crisis. At some point maybe Hephaestus shows up and Leo gets an interaction with his dad that probably does not help his identity crisis and then he goes back to the Argo 2 to have a further identity crisis about how the rest of the crew got along in his absence (a good identity crisis or a bad identity crisis? depends on how they did without him! you decide! I personally like "they managed okay" and Leo feels Really Horrible About That Cause It Feels To Him Like They Don't Need Him. I like Leo's tragic arc, okay? It's compelling.) Iirc Leo’s also the only member of the Seven who doesn’t get to have some kind of direct conversation with their godly parent, at least in-person, so yknow. It’d be nice to have. Also if you want Aro/ace Leo Valdez this is the perfect spot to put it while he's having his identity crisis on Kiss Kiss Fall In Love Island, or when he gets back.
3. Jason's stab wound in BoO is not healed by the Power Of Friendship, and instead they use the Physician's Cure for that so it doesn't feel like they're literally deus ex machina-ing their way to cheating death like 3 times in the same book. It makes more sense to use Potion Of Don't Die on Wound Of Excruciatingly Painfully Slowly Killing You instead of Whoops You're Already Dead, Just Get Better. Ctrl+Z That Real Quick.
Given they already used the Physician’s Cure on Jason, Leo doesn’t die/get revived at the end of BoO. Instead he just almost dies, probably lands in CHB’s woods somewhere, and is found and patched up with the series ending on him being on the mend and starting on the path to healing and getting help for his Numerous Issues that he was putting off for The Entire Series. Which parallels nicely to Nico basically having the same thing (overexerting his powers to near death, ends series getting medical treatment/being on the mend and the indication that he’s moving on to a happier period of his life). Again, grand happy ending rather than aggravating fake-out.
Further notes: 
- Heavily tweak Ella's character cause I get what Rick was going for, but the execution is… not awesome! Please, there's already so much ableism in HoO just. hmm. We can do better.
- Jason and Piper break up in HoO, probably around MoA when they start seeing Percy and Annabeth interacting and after they’ve had time to hang out with each other and realize their arranged relationship is Kind Of Fucked Up, Actually. (Probably something something them having gotten to spend time actually getting to know each other between TLH and MOA while they’re both at camp.) They have no problems with each other specifically and do genuinely like each other, but it just gets really awkward given all the memory manipulation and being set up as a "picture perfect couple" - emphasizing stuff like them both being children of really famous movie stars in their universe, or Jason as a son of Jupiter/Jove (an "all-father" type god) [and Juno - mother figure goddess and goddess of marriage]/"son of Rome" and Piper as a daughter of Aphrodite (goddess of love, also Aphrodite/Venus indirectly is associated as a sort of "mother of Rome" due to Aeneas). They just feel like they have too many expectations being put on their relationship and even though they do both like each other it feels too forced for them, but they’re comfortable staying just friends. This just gives way more opportunity for low-stakes character conflict among the Argo II crew outside of Monster Of The Week Chapter so things don’t feel unreasonably busy and chaotic and we actually get some consistent development. Just a nice mini-arc to follow in the downtime. Also while we’re here, more directly establish Piper’s bisexuality earlier on. If she’s already having an arc where she’s contemplating her romantic life, throw in a couple of nods to like “Piper thinking about her old childhood crush on Shel, the kid of a family friend she’d see when her and her dad visited Oklahoma” or something. Literally anything just to establish some kind of set-up to her getting a girlfriend later. Just for consistency’s sake.
- Bunkernine has a very good post about wishing the Argo II didn't have the magic plates from CHB, which I agree with in concept. Like I was just saying, MoA through BoO lacks a lot of little moments where we get to really focus in on the characters, probably in part because Rick was struggling to juggle so many parties given this was his first foray into writing a major cast that size. We can definitely cut out a lot of the random unnecessary fights and dramatic moments that don't really do anything for the plot and instead replace them with little moments of casual life on the Argo II - the scenes like those that do exist in HoO are some of HoO's most memorable moments to me! And they'd help a lot with how the characters never felt fully and properly fleshed-out. Let them exist as a cohesive group without two-to-three of them being absent at any given time! I don't think we necessarily have to remove the magic plates entirely because they do solve a fundamental problem ("where are these kids getting food?") but like, there is nothing stopping them from still cooking and just using the plates to get ingredients! Let these kids bake or something! Even just for fun! Though also I have personal headcanons about the Argo II crew's cooking skills and I really like the concept of like, during HoH or something at like 3am everybody hears something and they all suspiciously shuffle into the mess hall. And it’s just half-dead Nico standing there in his PJs making food for himself because Dammit They're IN VENICE and he’s FROM VENICE and they DON’T HAVE TIME TO STOP AT HIS OLD FAVORITE RESTAURANTS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT STILL EXIST and he Hasn't Had A Proper Meal In Weeks so By The Gods He Will Make His Mom's Old Recipes At 3am before he keels over from this quest. He just stares at everybody and goes "What are you all looking at. go away." and the rest of the crew just shuffles away awkwardly and leaves him to it. (Is Nico’s 3am meal actually good? Who knows. It is left a mystery.)
- Tweak the god characterizations. Remove the "gods splitting" thing and maybe play more with different aspects of gods/verisons of gods across history/city-states/etc presenting themselves instead. The Roman gods are not wholly equivilent to the Greek gods and it's actually really interesting from a historical perspective, and I think there's a lot you could do with that but instead it gets flatted in HoO which is sad to me. Just generally though, with the god characterizations, like. [uncomfortable pagan noises]. Which is almost impressive because it is difficult to write the Greco-Roman pantheons poorly since a good portion of them are basically just very complicated metaphors turned into personifications and characters. So they work fine for narrative purposes when applied accordingly, and yet! and yet!! Rick managed it! He managed to really bungle it in HoO and TOA. Because instead of leaning into the aspects of metaphors and dynamic characters he just fell into 2D tropes, gimmicks, and stereotypes. Off the top of my head the only deities written Okay in HoO is like. Hades/Pluto and Thanatos. (even Chiron in TOA is extremely lackluster, it's sad.) In the first series it ranges from “okay” to “actually really interesting” so it’s sad to see that drop-off and I would like it to be fixed.
Some potential examples for this: Play with the historical ties combo of like, Athena, Minerva, Enyo, Bellona, and etc! Annabeth and Reyna parallels! if the first 2 books are about the trios, let MoA be about Annabeth and Reyna and both their connections to Athena(/Bellona). Let Reyna be a second half in the Athena prophecy! It'd be cool and fit with her thematically and would set-up the whole Getting-Blessed-By-Athena thing later in BoO and make that scene feel so much cooler!
- Also retcon the whole "Hestia appears as an 8 year old for no reason" thing. And maybe also Artemis only appearing as a teen, because while Artemis has a mythological excuse, Hestia doesn't, so it just feels weird and at worst comes off as a little aphobic (depicting a character who explicitly is uninterested in relationships/romantic love as a child despite them being an immortal god with no basis for appearing as a child or even being comparatively young to other gods) with how it relates to aphobic tropes about disinterest in romance being "childish".
- Remove the "no children of Minerva" thing. Also maybe emphasize the aro/ace vibes there cause Athena being implied to be the only ace character in the entire series who a.) isn't literally a child/teen nor appears as one, and/or b.) hasn't had an unfortunate relationship that makes them disinterested in romance, but also at the same time being the only one out of herself/Hestia/Artemis to have relationships of some sort (having kids, implied to possibly be romantic but unclear) issss bad! actually! Bad tropes, don't like that. (Again aphobic tropes of disinterest in romance being “childish” and something that can be grown out of, or a result of trauma. Also it feels weird that the only a-spec characters in the series are all women. Can we have a male a-spec character please.) Just let Athena be aro/ace and vibing and occasionally having brain children cause she can do what she wants and everyone is aware of this and chill with it (And being a-spec doesn’t mean she’d be disinterested in having kids). Also maybe make her feel less cold cause "a-spec character is cold and loveless" is also an aphobic trope that PJO!Athena falls into, actually.
- Speaking of aphobic tropes, fix the Hunters! Please. Please just redo the Hunters of Artemis entirely. Holy cow. I wrote up an entire alternate oath/rules set for the Hunt because it's just so weird and poorly done. There were male Hunters of Artemis in Greek Mythology! Multiple! And most of them were chill! The "swearing off all romance" thing is also questionable, because depending on what versions of myths you’re looking at it’s potentially implied the Hunters had romantic relationships among themselves. And in Greek Mythology all the Hunters were definitely not all pre-teens. And it feels especially bad that the only adult Hunters we ever see are explicitly ex-Hunters who are heavily implied to be not ace and definitely aren't aro and are also implied to have "grown out of" being disinterested in romance. (That gagging noise you hear is me being sick of how many aphobic tropes the Hunters are juggling).
The version of the Hunters i have written up is, and I quote (from my notes): "Hunters can be any age, species, and gender identity (so long as they are comfortable enough being occasionally referred to as “Huntresses,” “Sisters,” “Maidens,” and etc). Relationships between Hunters are allowed so long as it will not endanger/distract from the Hunt or endanger any other Huntresses. Having a child is not allowed within the Hunt and any Huntresses who wish to do so must leave (purely because having a pregnant person/young child on the Hunt is dangerous, and safety is the number one priority - especially as Artemis is a protector of youth and goddess of childbirth. Once they turn like, 12 they can join, that’s fine. Everyone knows middle schoolers are the optimal combination of bloodthirstiness and ability to wield a weapon)." Also, just as like, a side-thing, I wanna see a clear-sighted mortal Huntress, because we're told thats a thing but we never see them. Closest we get is like ancient semi-immortals and Technical Nymphs, or other Huntresses who are of unspecified mortal/demigod status.
- Similar deal - fix the Amazons. they're… better but still a little wonky.
- Some slight tweaks to the Cupid Scene - Nico still has a confrontation with Cupid cause that is a very compelling scene that works well for Nico's character and informs a lot about him (and serves a purpose in a very meta way - not so much for the plot but reflecting something the first series did occasionally which was a kind of showing an example of a situation, usually a negative situation that either mirrors or directly references a type of situation a kid may find themself in, and explains and shows sympathy for the character being hurt in that situation. Which is notable because the demographic for the series is young middle schoolers and particularly neurodivergent kids, who are probably approaching a lot of new social situations or may struggle with empathy. It acts as an introduction to “unfortunately this is a bad thing that happens sometimes, and it hurts people, which is why you should be nice to this kid. Look at beloved character. Here’s an elaboration on why they’re hurt so you can understand.” So for the purposes of that, the scene of Nico getting outed would likely remain, but it would still keep the very overt “WOW THIS SUCKS, THIS IS A BAD SITUATION.” stuff) Most of the tweaks are just slight adjustments to minor prelude dialogue and/or setting, like. Jason does not forget that being gay is a thing for a second. And etc. But Nico having a very literal metaphorical conflict about grappling with how he views the concept of love by LITERALLY GETTING KICKED AROUND BY THE GOD OF LOVE is actually kinda badass from a narrative analysis perspective. This is exactly what i meant in the previous bullet points about the gods in a lot of myths and classical stories playing the roles of personifications of metaphors and that being used well. Admittedly I'm 50/50 on tweaking Cupid's general attitude in the scene itself, because a more hostile Cupid lends itself better to the meta use of the scene as described before but a more sympathetic-to-Nico Cupid who is nonetheless still kicking the shit out of him is interesting from a metaphor standpoint (something something Nico overcoming internalized homophobia but in the very literal form of it’s the god that literally presides over protecting gay love [yes that is an actual thing Eros/Cupid is the god of] beating him up).
- Remove Reyna's “prophecy” entirely. It's stupid and pointless and doesn’t make sense with her character at all. Just say she's ace. There is not a single scene in any of the series that ever indicates that Reyna believes that she can only be happy if she’s in a relationship and that’s some kind of internal struggle she needs to overcome. The closest we ever get is Reyna being upset that her best friend disappeared and when he returns she finds out he had forgotten about her completely. Which does not apply to the “prophecy” at all. We just don’t need it.
- Absence of "a character" can work! Jason's lack of personality and backstory can work but it works best if it's absence is felt and properly explored. This works best if we get more information about Camp Jupiter from SoN and from the other Roman characters, especially Reyna (and maybe even Nico referencing his trips there!) because that inherently informs us about what Jason's life was like there. Have other characters note things about Jason and highlight the fact that this is absent from Jason's own POV! He's lost that part of his life! It was taken from him! That's such an interesting dynamic to have and explore! But we don't get any of that!
Side-note: Part of the problem with Jason's amnesia is that it feels so awkward especially compared to Percy's amnesia because we already know what Percy can't remember. We have the context that informs his character, even though he can't remember it, so that absence is felt and it feels really compelling! Also, Percy is unfamiliar with Camp Jupiter, and we're unfamiliar with Camp Jupiter, so it feels new and interesting (even though we don't actually get much about it so we never actually form any real attachment to it and that's a problem later on in every subsequent scene when we're supposed to care about what happens to Camp Jupiter but we. don't). The reason it doesn't work for Jason is because we don't know what's absent and we already know CHB. Jason also already knows about demigods and stuff, so if you're a new reader starting at HoO it just doesn't work. Because Jason already knows everything and we're being led from his POV primarily for that portion of TLH, and even Piper and Leo's backstories both heavily include being pushed around by Gaea/and or Hera/Juno, so if you aren't familiar with the universe you're just being hurried along and it ends up feeling weak. At least with Percy even if you don't know the contexts of his backstory, we can feel the implications of other characters referencing things about him extremely often, so you feel the weight of his memories being gone, and he doesn't know about the roman gods and you, the reader, aren't expected to know much if anything about it either. We don’t get the full demigod debriefing (but that's also the second book) but we at least get a Camp Jupiter debriefing. The first two books are a bit messy in those specific regards with setting up the camps for the series, and we don’t really see the camps much for the rest of HoO (except for CHB, of course).
This is personally why I stand by that if we ever get a roman series it should be a three-part series from Reyna's POV, because leading with Jason is basically like trying to lead PJatO with Annabeth - a demigod raised in camp and surrounded by the knowledge of this stuff their entire life. It doesn't work as a character who's acting as an introduction to this world for the reader. There's no real clean way to work that out for HoO unfortunately, since literally all our protagonists are given established pasts involving knowledge of Greco-Roman mythology being real and half of them are either already at camp or have been to a different camp. I'd say best solution would probably actually be leading from Piper for TLH and tweak her character set-up slightly in that she Does Not Know What's Going On At All re: Gaea and the Giants. She just knows Something Happened To Her Dad and she's the POV we follow into TLH, because that mirrors Percy in beginning of TLT well (with Sally being kidnapped)! It's a fun call-back for the old readers and a good lead-in for the new readers.
- Fix Nico backstory inconsistencies caused by Rick almost making his birthday in March and confusing himself over it. He's 12 in TLO, 13 in HoO. He was born January 28th, 1929, and got put in the Lotus Hotel and Casino in 1939 (If you wanna be cute, we can specifically say May 1st, 1939, to reference the musical). Hazel is one month older than him chronologically and one year older than him post-revival. Something something also smooth out the inconsistencies about Nico being raised in Italy and how Maria met Hades and stuff. Fill in the rest as you will.
- I do stand by that the entire PJO timeline is not one-to-one with the real world. That's always been a thing with the series. We're basically condensing everything from ~1998 to ~2020 into an 18 year timeline. We don't need to be exact with things. Don't get too bogged down with it.
- Make the whole "injuries caused by celestial bronze/imperial gold for demigods makes their souls self-destruct" thing specifically relating to cursed weapons/materials or feature some more volatile abomination combo weapons like Backbiter (with Backbiter being described as unstable due to being both celestial bronze and mortal steel). (Ex.: the spear used to stab Jason in BoO is just cursed, and maybe Octavian's catapult plan is a "well i put a bunch of mortal steel and imperial gold in a pot and melted them together a bit and now it really wants to explode so im gonna just chuck the entire thing and hope it kills everyone lots and lots <3" which is tbh significantly more dastardly and fucked-up, which makes Octavian a bit more compelling). Having it just be a plain trait of celestial bronze/imperial gold doesn’t make any sense and is only referenced like twice in HoO and never again in basically the entire three series. Again: consistency.
- Make a more prominent reference to the whole "btw there are retired adult Romans just living wherever but they're legally required to help any campers who request aid" thing, cause you could totally do something really fun and cool with that but idk what.
- PICK A THEME! First series theme was family! Second series theme is….. we don’t know! It felt like maybe a theme was intended at some point but we lost it. Forging a new life for one’s self/choosing your own path/etc could be a good theme, or something similar. or found family. or both. We’ve got a bunch of characters absolutely ripe for “I didn’t think i’d get this far and now I have to like, actually consider what i want to do in life. huh” arcs! (Frank! Leo! Hazel! Jason! Percy! Nico!) Do something with that!
- Lean more into the characters having aspects inspired by myths, or legends being mirrored in plot points: 7 against Thebes, the Argonauts, etc etc etc. The first series leaning into it heavily worked really well! More of that! HoO and TOA suffer a lot from lack of mythological basis to lean their plots on, despite there being plenty to work from. It instead just kind of messily mashes random misc myths (haha, alliteration) together into a very incoherent plot. Annabeth is known to be explicitly based off Atalanta, Percy is mostly based off Perseus and Theseus, Leo has loose connections based off of Demophon of Eleusis and possibly also his brother Triptolemus, etc etc. There’s stuff to work with! Poke around at the mythological figures of the original Argo and maybe match them up a bit (though most of the Argonaut myths were used in Sea of Monsters, so focus more on the figures/archetypes rather than just exact myths of what they did. For more plot-things, maybe consider Seven Against Thebes, though admittedly the plot of that is just Kinda Depressing.)
- Slightly related to that - lean into Piper presumably mirroring Orpheus! Or even if she isn’t supposed to, let her do that, because it fits with her thematically SUPER well. Her charmspeak is OP and that needs to be appreciated. In canon she brings Jason back from the brink of death in TLH and just straight up gives Festus a soul/free will/sentience. Let her go Orpheus-mode on everybody. You can even tie that in with the half-hearted snake theme that Rick tried to throw in there that didn’t work at all. We can make this work, just lean into it. It’ll be fun.
- Remove scene of Nico confessing to Percy at end of BoO. it’s just. random and feels sudden and OOC. Give Nico time. You could maybe replace it by having him come out to Reyna on his own terms while they’re on their quest discussing their adventures thus far and them having a very sweet little emotional moment rather than it being a weird out-of-place afterthought comical scene.
- Remove Bob and Damacus. They’re just half-literal dues ex machinas for Percabeth in Tartarus that don’t make sense. It feels extremely cheap and doesn’t fit with the established mythos of either figure (and Bob feels extra awkward without the context of knowing Sword of Hades). If they do run into a figure who helps them out in Tartarus, Arke could possibly be a good option - especially since in SoN Percy meets Iris. There’s a lot potentially you could do there with Percy mistaking her for her twin and stuff like that. If we want a figure to more-so take the role that Bob fills (Nico encouraging an immortal to be sympathetic to Percy and thus indirectly helping him later) that role could be filled by Nyx instead of making her a minor antagonist - imply Nico encountered Nyx in Tartarus or something and she took pity on him as someone who also understands the dark, and he told her about Percy and so Nyx is willing to help Percabeth escape. Plus imagine how COOL a Nyx & her children vs Tartarus/Titans/Giants fight would be. That’d be a significantly more memorable scene than the Tartarus fight scenes we did get. (“Why would Nyx help though?” One of Nyx’s kids is LITERALLY a goddess of friendship [Philotes], we have excuses.)
- On a similar note, this is more of a TSATS thing, but for goodness’ sake STOP THROWING CHARACTERS INTO TARTARUS. You’re overusing it! It only works when we use it sparingly! In fact, just in general Tartarus works better the less we see of it! Nico going through Tartarus once in SoN-MoA, yes, that works! Especially since we have almost no idea what happened to him down there, just that it was Terrifying and Horrible and he Barely Survived. Not going into much detail means we get more out of it. The only exception to that really was when Percy realized that Nico saw Tartarus as it truly was the entire time, because that’s one hell (ha) of a punch to the gut in terms of added information! Percabeth falling into Tartarus in MoA? Eh, fine, sure, because we’ve established that Nico (who is implied to be more resilient to that environment on virtue of being a child of Hades) talked about his experiences down there so they know what to expect and how to survive. Though it does kind of just feel like Rick went “Oh wait hey I can use this to make angst!” and then overused the hell out of it. It feels way weaker in general in HoH because of how much detail we get, because Tartarus has been built up so much until that point that literally anything we get will feel lackluster in comparison, especially with how it kind of feels like Percabeth just. breezed through it with little more difficulty than they’d usually face on their quests. Solangelo jumping into Tartarus in TSATS is honestly just a blatant “Oh boy we can make Solangelo into Percabeth 2!” and it doesn’t work at all because NICO HAS ALREADY BEEN TO TARTARUS.
The only way you could make Nico going into Tartarus two times work is if he fell into Tartarus a second time to replace Percabeth falling down there. Because we’ve established he knows what it’s like down there, he survived it once, and he is actively sparing someone else he cares about from suffering his same fate. And then he can return once again even closer to death and A Little Fucked Up and it turns into a rule of threes where we know “Oh, Nico can’t go back to Tartarus again because if he does he’ll Lose Himself Completely” which is way more interesting than romance angst for the sake of romance angst. Especially since again, we don’t see it, it’s all only implied. Also it then also turns Tartarus into even more of a “Nico is probably the only demigod who could ever even hope to survive Tartarus” which keeps Tartarus as an ominous thing. Percabeth falling into Tartarus lessens that by a lot because it implies that it doesn’t matter that Nico is a child of Hades; that had absolutely no bearing on his ability to survive down there. TL;DR: Stop throwing characters into Tartarus. Either throw Nico in twice in a row and no Percabeth or Nico and Percabeth once only and never touch it again.
- More heavily set up Percy’s emotions/mood/etc being influenced by water around him. If we keep most of Percabeth in Tartaurs, then this would really make the Achlys scene pack a bigger punch. Up until HoH everything is “oh how quirky” but the minute Percy’s surrounded by the rivers of the underworld and the acid/poision you get hit with the “oh shit” realization that Percy Is About To Get SCARY.
- Maybe have Annabeth keep her blindness from Tartarus, or trade Jason having glasses to her having glasses as a result of that, since vision is actually an aspect of Athena so it kind of fits her more, thematically-speaking.
- Change the judo flip percabeth scene in MoA to Annabeth picking Percy up and spinning him around in a hug/swinging him into a dip cause that’s cuter, makes more sense given Percy’s PTSD, and still highlights Annabeth being very strong and showing off in front of the Romans while they’re still being lovey-dovey.
But also, related to that, you could potentially make a sub-arc for Percabeth throughout HoO (so that they actually have like. some type of character development that fits them rather than them feeling stagnant the entire time) about Annabeth learning she doesn’t know as much about Percy as she thought (learning about Gabe [since as far as we know she actually doesn't know much if anything about that!], seeing his behavior change with different types of water, etc) kicked off by the judo flip scene, and possibly vice versa (Percy learning more about Annabeth’s time spent traveling with Thalia and Luke, growing up at CHB, her relationship with Athena and other campers at CHB, etc) so they gain a deeper understanding of one another. If Percy keeps his curse of Achilles, that could also factor in (contrasting Percy’s “perfect” image [relationship, near-immortality] against Annabeth realizing she doesn’t know as much about Percy as she thought [could also parallel that dynamic to Jaspiper, which opens opportunities for Annabeth/Piper and Jason/Percy bonding] [Or Annabeth/Jason and Piper/Percy bonding! I want more Annabeth/Jason and Piper/Percy parallels so bad. They’re almost there but we never get them. Please.]/ the Argo II crew learning about Percy’s past) with Percy being more prone to seek out conflict or solve problems with violence due to the Curse of Achilles and eventually recognizing that [possibly after Tartarus] and it scaring him just as much as it frightens Annabeth. Maybe at that point Percy tries to make some sort of deal to rid himself of the curse.)
- Maybe also explicitly parallel Percy getting the curse of Achilles with Nico’s help to Poseidon giving his lover Caeneus iron skin. There’s no really smooth way to do it, but maybe even just a during Nico’s pov him going “I heard about this myth once and got an idea. It didn’t work.” Just for that added through-line of connecting the series and further establishing “yeah, no, Nico’s been gay this whole time. this isn’t a new thing. we aren’t pulling this from thin air.”
- Give Piper a different weapon than the knife from the beginning cause she stops using it eventually anyways. Also just... no cornucopia. That part is just stupid and there’s no point for it. If we have to keep it as a plot object, give it to someone else - Nico could work because then there’s actually at least a valid relation there regarding his godly parent (yes, Pluto sometimes has cornucopia associations). Also Nico having a cornucopia would be kinda funny in a subversion of expectations thing. Maybe even have Nico go on a little exposition-y rant complaining about Hades/Pluto versus Plutus (the Greek god of plenty/wealth, later merged with Pluto).
- Similarly, either remove Diocletian’s scepter (if we have multiple characters who can boss around skeletons, why do we need an entire separate extra object whose sole purpose is to let them boss around skeletons?) or let Nico keep it but it loses its abilities, so it’s literally just “well now he has a cool bashing stick for bashing things.” Or let him use it as a cane to highlight him being disabled!
- As I slightly touched upon in a previous bullet point, give Piper more connections to her dad’s community in Oklahoma - where’s all her family friends? Tristan is a major pop culture figure in the Riordanverse, so it’d make sense that people from the community he grew up in would like. know him? But all we ever hear about is Piper’s Grandpa Tom. Even though apparently Piper is already good enough friends with Shel presumably before Piper moves to Oklahoma that the two start dating soon afterwards. Heck, again, have Piper reference Shel specifically. Just at any point. For any reason. Just to establish that she knows people her own age that exist outside of CHB.
Similarly, flesh out the background Romans in Camp Jupiter more in SoN and possibly also BoO, particularly the ones Jason references by name but we never see anything of, besides at most maybe more background references. Highlight them either through the SoN trio interacting with more characters while at camp (and we’re left to glean specific details of Jason’s past through others, which would make Jason more compelling and how these details are absent from himself but present to those around him, playing into his memory loss more) and possibly also through Reyna (and maybe Nico)’s POV(s) in BoO. (And maybe if we get a Reyna POV in MoA, then there as well).
- Let Reyna use magic! We establish that she studied under Circe and then never see anything come of that other than referencing her Tragic Backstory™. It could be a fun point for Reyna and Hazel to bond over, even!
- Remove the random “Hunters of Artemis death fodder” scene with Orion in BoO. There’s no reason for that. It’s just kinda dumb and feels bad given it’s basically just “We’re gonna kill a bunch of nondescript allegedly a-spec coded characters now for no reason. <3” like ???. That served no purpose. It just felt weird.
- Also just as a like, logistics thing - change the route Team Statue takes in BoO from the huge jump over the Atlantic into Peurto Rico into them traveling up into like the UK, then over to Iceland and Greenland and then Canada and down the east coast rather than the huge jump and up the east coast. The smaller jumps make more sense given the entire POINT of their quest taking as long as it does is that Nico can’t make extremely large shadow-travel jumps at that time. Plus if they’re traveling south then they could pass through Maine and we could maybe cameo Nico’s old school and that’d be fun. The pit-stop in Puerto Rico doesn’t really give us much that we couldn’t have just gotten from Reyna explaining it anyways. If they pause in Maine that can be where Nico and Reyna have a heart-to-heart about their tragic backstories and past experiences with horrible ghosts that they had to exorcise.
- If Team Statue travels a northern route we can make jokes about Nico learning specifically 1930s British English before he moved to America. The gang goes to London and Coach proceeds to incessantly make fun of Nico for not only using British slang, but using OUTDATED British slang (which is made weirder given he doesn’t have a British accent).
- Also extremely tiny detail but a specific acknowledgement that Piper was helping out Nico once they got back to the ship when Nico’s getting rescued from the jar. Since Piper just kind of drags him off-screen. Just any kind of follow-up to that. Like Nico doing his classic “You were vaguely nice to me. I would now Die For You.” Just them having basically any kind of interaction or acknowledgement of that scene, mostly cause I think it’s funny.
- Let Annabeth keep her laptop, and get rid of the sphere of Archimedes cause it just feels kinds pointless and random? We don’t really have any emotional connection to Annabeth’s laptop (and her hat gets replaced in Demigods & Magicians anyways) so her losing it doesn’t really feel impactful at all. Maybe have Leo use Annabeth’s laptop while she’s in Tartarus and that acts as the point of guilt for him rather than weird random curse stuff with a random new introduced object. Instead of “oh no fortune cookie thing or whatever” it’s him feeling guilty he saved Annabeth’s laptop but couldn’t help Annabeth herself. Especially since Leo would also have his Ogygia identity crisis in the same book so he can feel extra bad about himself for a bit, to lead up to his role in BoO nicely (sometimes a character negatively spiraling is more narratively compelling than them having positive development for the majority of the series and that’s okay! Let him be tragic but again he gets a happy ending and an implication post-BoO that he’ll begin a road of healing/recovery surrounded by loved ones. It works out.) AND there could be a very sweet moment once Annabeth gets back from Tartarus and Leo gives her the laptop back and it’s a huge relief to her that one of her prized possessions was in safe hands while she was gone and that she has it back when she thought she might have lost it.
- Further highlight Jason’s whole Greek/Roman/etc identity crisis. Bonus points if we go further into acknowledging Jupiter/Zeus’s epithets and roles and Jason having some epiphany that the Romans look to him with the expectations of Jupiter/Juno as king and queen of the gods making him some kind of perfect leader, but he’s not that at all. He’s the son of Jove and Juno, father and mother of the gods. He doesn’t want to be a general or praetor or anything like that, he wants to spend time with his friends and family at a summer camp where they’re safe. He wants to regain the childhood he lost being raised as a perfect soldier and get the chance to go to school and learn about his long-lost family and do cheesy summer camp activities. He is a wolf but he is not a creature built for the hunt - he is part of a pack.
- Touched upon it briefly in a previous bullet point but Curse of Achilles can stay/go, does not particularly matter to me either way. I do think it’d be funny though if Percy does keep the Curse of Achilles that he also randomly gets the Nemean Lion’s pelt back. Initially maybe as like a gift from Hera/Juno to help him cover his Achilles’ Heel while he’s running around with no memory just as insurance so he doesn’t die (with bonus points of the Romans being introduced to Percy either wearing the stupidest looking coat ever or wearing just a straight up bullet-proof lion’s pelt, which would even further solidify his “Are We Sure This Guy Isn’t A God In Disguise” vibes). But then later on into the series it’s just kind of part of his outfit or maybe even a running gag. The praetors have their magic bullet-proof cloaks, Percy has a very silly looking bullet-proof fur coat that is sometimes a whole lion.
- Keep Hazel’s blackouts. There’s not really a reason for them to disappear altogether for her? They’re somewhat tied to her powers and are a consequence of her coming back from the dead, which also helps keep the concept running in the series that death is a consequence that can’t just be easily evaded, even while we’re operating with the Doors of Death being open. That way future deaths in the series don’t feel like they could be as easily negated/avoided. Also, Hazel is disabled! This is a disability of hers! Why are we somehow magically getting rid of it without even an explanation as to why? Heck, if we’re getting rid of Piper’s knife, Hazel’s dreams when she has her blackouts could be used to supplement the dagger’s insight into the future, since we’ve already established that Hazel gets prophetic dreams sometimes anyways. Also fun thematic matching for the Death Sibs with them both having disabilities and random ways to glean the future (Hazel’s blackouts, Nico talking to ghosts). Her blackouts would probably improve slightly over the course of the series but never fully disappear, and it ends up mostly a thing of she can tell when they’re about to occur and prepare quickly for that or let someone know before she passes out.
- Get rid of Frank’s curse in SoN instead of waiting until The Tyrant’s Tomb. If we’re going to get rid of it eventually anyways, do it during the big scene of him freeing Thanatos. Let him have his cool big moment of embracing his destiny and that breaking the curse the first time he does it rather than him doing it twice but it only breaking the curse the second time? Also if the curse is broken earlier on then Frank’s entire arc gets to be about him realizing he has a life to live, since in SoN a major part of his character is that he’s not afraid of death because he’s used to the idea that his curse could kill him at any point. He’s actually pretty reckless for the beginning of HoO because of that. If he realizes that he no longer is at risk of dying at any given moment because he thought about candles too hard, then that opens the opportunity of him having a whole existential crisis about what he actually wants to do with his life and him looking to the future for once.
Bonus opportunity for this - maybe Frank actually gets fire powers as a result of his curse breaking. Ares/Mars has an association with fire so it would fit for him as a son of Mars. Plus, then we could also have an even more overt dynamic of Frank and Leo acting as each other’s parallels and foils and the two of them slowly growing more used to one another and actually becoming close friends. Lots of bonding over getting used to their fire powers and overcoming their mutual fears of fire and probably also solidarity in having lost their moms. Just - the boys are bonding! The boys are bonding. Fire boys hours.
- Related to Frank’s curse, give Hazel and Frank parallel narratives of them realizing they have a future ahead of them (Hazel re: getting a second chance at life and Frank re: realizing he’s no longer at risk of spontaneously combusting) and them grappling with trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives and how they want to live them after everything is said and done. And also being motivated for once to make it out the other side in one piece because they’re determined to not waste the opportunity they’ve been given. The two of them coming to terms with realizing they have a future if they can make it through this (which is also a fun contrast to Leo and Nico actively almost sacrificing their own lives for others and having essentially an opposite character arc for the majority of the series).
- Especially while Frank (and Hazel) are having these arcs, going back to the idea of Leo getting stuck on Ogygia alone for a bit - very strongly contrasting the arcs of Frank’s mental health improving over the series while Leo’s is very steadily decreasing (until BoO at which point again the series ends with Leo getting help and beginning to improve/heal).
- Also further emphasizing Leo and Nico’s parallels throughout HoO. They’re both autistic on top of the usual adhd/dyslexia and have issues with social interactions and care a lot about Hazel and are having a majorly bad time throughout the entire quest and are pretty depressed, etc etc etc. Again, parallel narratives at the end of BoO with them healing and things looking up for them - I think I’ve mentioned that like four times now you get the idea.
- Make Frank ADHD/dyslexic. There is literally no reason for him not to be and him being the outlier for being neurotypical feels weird and doesn’t fit with the literal entire worldbuilding we have for demigods. If it’s part of “demigod instincts” or whatever then Frank should be ADHD/dyslexic! And it’s not even a “the Romans aren’t ADHD/dyslexic” because we’re explicitly told they are! They are specifically also ADHD and dyslexic! So why isn’t Frank? There’s no reason. It annoys me.
- The Frank/Hazel/Leo “love triangle” can stay but it’s significantly more one-sided. Frank is mostly just intimidated by Leo for multiple reasons (mostly fire-related reasons) and Leo is mutually intimidated by Frank (because Frank is bigger than him and Leo is scared of everyone, really, but especially people who are bigger than him, because they could beat him up. Which is basically everyone). Hazel is not romantically interested in Leo and Leo is not romantically interested in her, though they are very close and do have a very confusing time trying to figure out the whole Sammy situation. Frank still misinterprets this as Hazel and Leo being romantic. Leo does not realize Frank is misinterpreting that as them being romantic and think Frank just hates him for the general reasons that Leo has found people usually hate him for no reason over. Leo wants nothing to do with that situation though. Eventually they all sort it out and become a very strong trio.
- Again as I briefly touched upon before, maybe give Reyna a protagonist role in MOA if not an outright POV. Probably an outright POV, with the main POVs of the book being her and Annabeth. Again, themes of historical associations between Athena and Bellona and playing with that, alongside making Reyna more of a prominent player earlier on in the series and letting us see more of the Romans. Use this opportunity to heavily parallel her with Annabeth (and also highlight her parallels with Percy, and Annabeth’s parallels with Jason).
- Really I just want more Annabeth/Jason and Percy/Reyna parallels. There’s so much you can do there. The blond(e) gifted kid/smart aleck raised at camp and their best friend, the former newbie raised with a difficult home life. Percy and Reyna both have dogs (Mrs. O’Leary / Aurum and Argentium) and pegasi (Blackjack and Skippy). And a sibling they don’t see often (Tyson / Hylla).  You could have notes about Jason and Thalia and Annabeth and the dynamics within that and how those internally parallel each other. Or more about when Reyna encountered Percy and Annabeth while on Circe’s Island. Really anything more about Reyna’s time on Circe’s Island. Heck maybe you could parallel that to Percy’s difficult time in school, since Circe’s whole thing was that she was training the sorceresses living there, so that’s kind of like a school environment. Paralleling first quests between Reyna and Jason with the events of the first series with Percy and Annabeth.  Etc. etc. etc.
- We are taking BoO and just. Throwing it out the window, really. We don’t have time to unpack all of that. Just start mostly from scratch, same extremely rough overarching elements are there.
- Also actually just. Rework the whole main prophecy too while we’re at it. It kinda sucks. It’s just kind of a weak prophecy. “To storm or fire the world will fall” or whatever; we can do better. I don’t have the brain power to write a better prophecy right now but just [see my recent post] for notes about what I think makes for a good prophecy in the series and why the main HoO one is kinda lame.
Footnotes:
Again, I will be following this up with part 2 electric boogaloo: Things I Would Change About TOA* (*That I can say without spoiling Deadangelos too much) at some point and I will link that when I make it. If you made it this far, gold star.
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beacedocrime · 7 months
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AU where Percy reaches his 16th birthday but the prophecy doesn't come to fruiton. Why, you may ask?
Well, in how many places that fuck with time has Percy been on?
In the Lotus Hotel a week goes by but to them it was just a couple hours at most.
The first taste of the labyrinth we get is Percy and Annabeth being in there for what felt was a couple minutes but was a actually a couple hours, and so it's pretty obvious that time isn't working right in there for the rest of the book, too.
In Ogygia, Calypso straight up tells Percy that time is weird on her island, and idk about you but to me it felt like Percy was in Ogygia for longer than two weeks.
And the prophecy says "will reach sixteen all odds" not "will reach his 16th birthday against all odds". Cause that's still his 16th birthday even if he doesn't turn 16 then, because a birthday is, well, the day of his birth. He can't exactly change that.
Anyway I imagine everyone waiting with bated breath and. Nothing happens. Does it happen before his birthday? Does it happen after? Who knows! Certainly not the characters
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scironeskyper · 2 years
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What if Leo never landed in Ogygia but instead woke up in an abandoned house and each compartment is the exact image of a room that played an important role in Leo's life, except there are no windows. And the arrangement of the rooms just keep on changing, so Leo would always find himself lost trying to find the front door to escape.
What's weird is that he can hear familiar voices (mostly his friends) talking in the distant discouraging him from leaving. There was even a time when he saw Jason's reflection on the mirror but when he turns back no one is there. Everytime he wakes up there's always new clothes and food prepared for him which makes him believe he is not alone.
Nico found a way to contact Leo through his dreams which is the only way Leo knows he is not going insane. So while he is dreaming Nico helps him plan and figure out an escape. Leo and Nico friendship anyone?
After a few days, Leo finally reaches the front door. As he turns the knob, a voice calls out for him. A voice he hasn't heard for years but he remembers it clearly..the tranquil call of his mother..
Mijo?
Leo turns around and all of a sudden he's in his old home again his real home and there was his mother running towards him, spreading her arms to embrace him just like before..
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Hello Rotomblr!
The name's Leo Valdez (He/him pronouns), and welcome to my blog!
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I found this weird app on this phone I found along with Gliscord and a few others, and decided to join, though I've never been allowed to use a phone before.
Looking forward to having a great time here!
Did I do this right?
[[OOC under the readmore!]]
[[ WARNING FOR THIS BLOG: Heavy unreality
[[ Hello! mod here
[[ You may call me Mod Anon or Mod Mythos and I use she/they
[[ I am a minor, so please take note of that
[[ I'm in Philipine Standard time
[[ This is my first rp blog, and first blog that I actually will post on, so please be nice!
[[ Just be a decent person, alright?
{{Now about the blog and Faller Leo
{{ Pfp picrew link: Nuggts character maker!|Picrew
{{ Festus's photo in Leo's trainer card is from the wiki
{{ This Leo got isekaied to the crater, then got out after the fight with Gaia, when he was supposed to land on Ogygia
{{ He is in the closet to himself and others, but he is bisexual.
{{ Mostly sticking to canon, with some HCs and exceptions
{{ Also I am currently reading Trials of Apollo, so no spoilers please!
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ask-seedship-cosmos · 10 months
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the seedship COSMOS! We hope you enjoy your one-time trip to the planet OGYGIA, as you're about 300 light years away from Earth by now, and invite you to watch this gnome-like engineer fumble her way through finding a way back home!
RULES OF CONDUCT
You agree to not be a dick. Some level of abrasiveness may be accepted for the sake of interesting asks and interactions, but you must understand: This is fiction. Treat your fellow askers and the writer of the blog with respect. Don't unnecessarily cause harm.
You agree to not be sexual. Don't be weird.
You agree to not be bigoted. Don't be weird.
You acknowledge that the writer has control over the story in the end. Whether or not your ask is accepted depends on many factors, but if you try to entirely derail the plot by solving every problem instantly you're not going to get a response. Sit and wait. Things will turn out okay.
You acknowledge that your powers as askers are limited. While you might be able to have some small impact on the story, you aren't going to be able to summon water inside someone's lungs. Feel free to conjure trinkets, though, as long as they aren't too critically important...
You acknowledge that the story does not revolve around you. Sometimes, what you say won't be accepted. Sometimes, the characters in the story will act outside of your input, or believe things that aren't true. Sometimes, the characters in the story will be compromised in some way that prevents them from responding to you. The story won't always go the way you want it to, even if you try your hardest.
You acknowledge that even still, the things you say matter. Your actions still matter, even if they may not change anything in the end. Even small actions of kindness or malice will shape the way the narrative flows, and your voice may be a rallying force or a tool of despair if you only speak up and let it be heard.
INFORMATION
The writer of the story will occasionally make posts and answer asks out of character. These will be tagged with #OOC.
Fully text posts with no asks will be tagged with #CUTSCENE POST.
Posts with one or more answered asks will be tagged with #ANSWER POST.
If you want to formulate your ask as a sort-of-character response - an example being "[x] crouches near [y] and speaks" - you can do that. You're definitely not gonna be visible though, at least for a long while.
Chrysos is a little silly sometimes. But she isn't stupid.
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simpingforpjo · 3 years
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Piper: Let me get this straight. In the half hour? day? week? you have been in Ogygia, you already found a girlfriend?
Leo: What can I say? I guess I’m just irresistible.
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xijura · 2 years
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Sooooo I'm re-reading Heroes of Olympus and just finished House of Hades. If you've been around here you've probably guessed that Nico Di Angelo is my favourite character.
This book annoyed me to Tartarus and back.
I want to rant a little so let's take a look at these together.
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Every time someone is around Nico they think about how disturbed or freaked out they are in his presence. And we know this because we are literary IN THEIR HEADS.
The only person who thinks about him with compassion or understanding is Hazel. (Because she's the best).
She relates to his experience through hers. Which makes sense because they are similar in so many ways yet different. And I guess you could argue that it's easier for her because she is his sister and he is her only living relative, but every one of the seven has some kind of trauma in their past, they are on this epic quest together knowing that their failure would mean the end of the world. They have to trust each other if they want to survive but at no point are they like "what if we got to know this dude in case he was my only way of getting out of a sticky situation?" or you know "what if I tried to understand his powers better so if needed we could devise strategies combining our strengths to make an effective team?". This is baffling to me.
I guess the series is more focused on the action and monster fighting than team bonding and friendship. Which is a loss. Especially since they still find time somehow to all end up in romantic pairs. (I can't believe we were told that Hazel and Piper bonded over their power and swordfight training but never got to see any of it)
And what the fuck with Percy going around telling people that Nico is a traitor and whatnot? #NotMyPercy
So to get back on track, can someone explain this to me?
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First of all, this is pure hypocrisy on Jason's part since it took him a very long time to decide which side he was on. He knows how hard it is to struggle between who you are and the ways others see you, what they expect of you. So why would he say this as if not only is Nico being a coward (makes me mad just writing this) but also a stubborn child? Especially after he had a small yet very powerful front seat view to Nico's pain?
And Will... Not only was he the equivalent of Thalia joining the hunters, Calypso staying on Ogygia and Rachel becoming Oracle (as if percabeth is so fragile a ship anyone being single could break it. Shows how unfit for each other they really are but whatever) he also dropped out of nowhere to completely invalidate Nico's very canonical experience. Hate this guy.
Nico can see people's reactions to his presence, he is not blind nor is he stupid. So why do we have this? If just being in the room while it is absolutely required makes people on edge why would Nico think that it's okay to sit by their side and make small talk and laugh about stupid stuff. Did logic jump off the Argo II when the seven boarded?
Why would Nico be unjustified to think this?
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Yes, sometimes reality is warped by our own self loathing, and I'm not saying that it is not partly the case here, but this is all just ridiculous. It's like Riordan forgets stuff as soon as it's written down.
Oh, and this:
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I love how they both find it weird that someone has Nico's back for once. As if it's not something a friend or even a teammate would be expected to do.
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shippy-pjo-shipper · 3 years
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what are some of your favourite ships and why?
Oh thanks for the ask! I wanted to wait to see if my top had changed since this ask, but I don't think it really has actually (weird, my tops usually don't remain the same for more than a week😂). But I feel like talking about my faves so let's see for those ten and one or two others 😁 :
Perachel : Do I...need to develop ? It's Perachel. Come on, we're in 2021, every person with a little common sense recognizes how good they are for each other. They help each other through their personal problems, they can confide in each other, the have fun together, trust the other with their life and the fate of the world! They have such a good chemistry! (Let's be honest, without Annabeth in the picture, Rick would have put them together, to a point where it's "almost" ooc to not have done it).
Thaloe : Ennemis to lovers but with two of the most badass girls there ever was ? Yes!! I wanted more of them, I needed more of them!!
Percalypso : To quote myself : "Percalypso has at the same time the most interesting/mature/morally ambiguous potential and most adorable and fluffy potential for an au/fic" I just have so many ideas coming into my head at the same time when I think about them. They're a neverending source of inspiration.
Jeyna : most powerful couple ever, that's why Rick didn't make them canon, he was scared. But in all honesty, I'm kinda glad he didn't, this way Jeyna will forever belong to its shippers who make SUCH good works with them. Rick could never reach the level of perfection of some jeyna fics I read.
Ethalypso : The one that could stay. I wouldn't have mind a little epilogue to TLO about Ethan reaching Ogygia's beach... Him finding peace, Calypso finding someone who needs her as much as she needs him, both sharing the same hatred for the gods but healing together! Just thinking about them brings me inner peace.
Perzoe : Just...read Altered Destinies. Trust me, it's one of the best things ever made.
Ethachel : Again, they both deserve the other. Someone who sees the world with a clear and different sight, able to open new horizons to them. I love imagining them leading CHB after the departure of the Seven, trying to hold the camp together. A human and a traitor, two people who naturally feel excluded from those around them but who fight for them nonetheless. (Here's my HCs for them and their meeting, pretty old but I like them ❤)
Preyna : The ship that made of me a multi-shipper! It was reading about an AU where Percy forgot Annabeth and fell in love with Reyna which made me think "hey, that's interesting! I want to read more of that!" (Then I discovered that people had insulted this AU's author for ruining percabeth, as if a fanfic could change your viewing of the main canon pairing but ANYWAY). Reyna would bring stability to Percy while he would bring light and support to her, being the first person to ever make of her his number one priority.
Litpollo : It has a more mature vibe to it. I don't know. They both deserve happiness and have a similar experience with their fathers and the emperors they could bond other by healing together. Lityerses is a traumatized and exploited child and having him going with Apollo and Meg and trying to make amend by saving the world with them would have been so cool! (I mean...Lityerses is Meg's half brother...come on that would have been the funniest thing ever!)
Valdangelo : My boys who never interacted and should have because it was just so EVIDENT that they had to be friends but noooo Rick had to let Nico suffer in his own corner to make the ending more "satisfying" even if it means making it unrealistic and (a little) hurtful! They could have brought so much to each other. And yes I do believe Nico would love Leo from the get go, he just wouldn't admit it because he'd be jealous of the easiness with which he goes through life and its troubles even if he would see the pain he is trying to hide.
Percethan : Give it a little more development and they could have been the perfect ennemis to friends to lovers ! I love them both and I can see how good they could be to each other, especially on their view on the world and how it would help them grow up and be more at ease with themselves! (and...don't mind me...just giving the link to a post where I talk about my AU for them...it took me time!)
Racheleo : ...Could a funnier couple ever exist !?!? No, let me rephrase it : does a better couple about two people hiding their pain, insecurities and traumas behind humor and selflessness exist ?!?! Of course not ! Rachel and Leo aren't really similar, but I can see them work so easily! Rachel needs someone goofy to help her carry her burden but who always knows how to find the words to help in serious situations! Leo needs someone who knows where to put limits to fun and how to read him, so he can let his walls fall. I love them (how many times have I written that in this post again ? Probably not enough. I love them!)
That's it! I'm letting you go, the ranting is over ^^ Thanks for the ask!
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Okay, but instead of all that stupid thing about Nico going through Tartarus alone imagine him getting trapped in Ogygia somehow and meeting Calypso.
The confusion. The weirdness. Nico being gay and Calypso being fed up with everything. They starting a friendship.
“I got trapped in the Lotus Hotel for 80 years. It kinda sucked”
“I been trapped in this island for centuries, so I understand you”
“My sister left me and joined the hunters of Artemis and died in a mission”
“My half-sister, Zoë Nightshade, did the same”
“Wait, I think it was the same mission”
“Percy promised to protect my sister but he didn’t”
“Percy promised to get me out of this isle after the Kronos War, but he forgot”
“...I had a crush on Percy”
“Oh my Gods me too!”
“He is so annoying”
“YES!”
Then at the end they somehow get out of the island together in time to help the seven in the battle against Gaia and the romans versus Greeks thing.
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thegraystreaks · 4 years
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i just read your fics on ao3 and they were so good, i love missing moments from canon! Idk if you ever take prompts but if you do i would really love to read a different way for percabeth to get together in canon?
anon, the way you got me to write something for the first time in ages….
anyway this is super self indulgent but I had a lot of fun writing it!! thank u for your kinds words I would die for you probably!!
this takes place during botl, the day Percy comes back from Ogygia, sometime after Annabeth storms out of the Big House.
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“Annabeth glared at me. You are the single most annoying person I’ve ever met!” And she stormed out of the room.
I stared at the doorway. I felt like hitting something. “So much for being the bravest friend she’s ever had.”
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He finds Annabeth in the arena. It’s empty save for her — everyone knows by now that sparring with her while she’s like this never leads to anything good. So she’s taking on a dummy, her anger apparent in the rigid lines of her body, fury in the force behind her blows. She rolls and kicks, dodging imaginary attacks, and Percy could swear that the air is thick, charged, like the feeling before a thunderstorm. Which is stupid — it’s camp, and the magical borders keep the sky cloudless as always. 
As he approaches, the only acknowledgement of his presence is her intensified rage, the way her blade slashes and hacks with renewed vigor. They’re gonna need to replace that dummy, he thinks.
“Can we talk?”
She wheels to face him, thunder in her eyes. For a moment, he’s scared he’ll need to pull out Riptide. She turns to the dummy one last time and stabs it straight through the heart. “You wanna talk? Then go ahead.”
He swallows nervously. Now that he’s got her attention, he doesn’t quite know where to start. His mind flashes to last winter, and how distraught he was when she had been kidnapped. How he’d have done anything to get her back. How he just knew that she couldn’t be dead. He reaches out hesitantly, but pulls his arm back when he glances at the hilt of the blade, still sticking out of the dummy. 
“I was thinking about how upset I was last winter, when you were kidnapped. That, um — well, ‘sucked’ doesn’t really cover it. That was awful. I really am sorry that I worried you.”
Something shifts in her eyes, and he can see the hurt dripping through the cracks of her anger.  “You couldn’t send an Iris Message? I thought you were dead, Percy.”
He scratches the back of his neck. “Drachmas were a bit hard to come by on the island.”
“Ha,” she laughs drily. She pauses to wipe at the sweat on her brow. “What was she like?” The words drip with contempt.
“I don’t — who?”
“Don’t play dumb,” she scoffs. “Calypso. What was she like?”
Air rushes out of Percy’s lungs. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t that. Chiron was right, then. She had figured out where he’d been. 
“Does it matter?”
“Well, you spent two full weeks there, so I can’t imagine she looks like the ancient hag she is. How old is she again? Two-thousand? Or is it three?”
“Annabeth—”
“Two weeks, Percy!” she cries.
“I’m sorry, okay? Time was weird there!” 
“Oh, time was weird, that’s your excuse?”
“Yeah, that’s my excuse!” he shoots back.  “And I wasn’t just laying on a beach being fed grapes or something, I was recovering! From being blown up!”
That seems to drain some of the fight from her. She looks away, and her voice shrinks down: “I’m sorry you were hurt. I—I hate seeing you hurt.” 
In the silence that follows, he thinks inexplicably of Aphrodite coming to visit him last winter, the limo so out of place in the desert. The way that she had appeared, if only for a second, like the girl in front of him. How she had promised she wouldn’t let his love life be “easy and boring”. Gods, why couldn’t it be? The rest of his life is crazy enough. 
He had hoped, briefly, that Aphrodite might’ve forgotten about her promise when they’d returned to Olympus. He remembers a slow, sad song, and his hands on Annabeth’s waist as they had swayed. How it had felt like the pieces were maybe finally starting to fall into place. The memory seems worlds away.
“Annabeth, listen. I’m sorry I was gone so long. But I didn’t choose to be sent there. And—and I came back.”
“Duh, Percy,” she rolls her eyes. “That’s her curse.”
“Okay, you’re right.” She turns away. He reaches out, more confident now, and takes hold of her arm. “But curse or not, I chose to come back.”
She pulls her arm out of his grip. “Yeah, so that you could tell me I have to bring some mortal girl to lead my quest!”
“What does Rachel have to do with this?”
“Are you fucking serious?” she shouts. He can see the walls building back up, the storm returning in her eyes. She whips around and yanks her dagger out of the sparring dummy, kicking up dirt as she begins to stalk away.
This was not how he wanted this to go, not his intent when he came to find her. Of all the ways returning to camp might’ve gone, he had never imagined it like this. He tries to reconcile the girl that kissed him in the mountain with this one, who can’t go more than a minute without yelling at him, that won’t stop running off. Why is this so complicated? She kissed him, right? Isn’t that supposed to be it? The happy ending? If movies told him anything, it was that the kiss means you get the girl. It shouldn’t be this hard. It wouldn’t be, he thinks bitterly, if she would quit storming off.
“Gods, would you stop running away when we’re talking?” he shouts after her. “Would it kill you to stick around and listen to me?”
He’s taken aback when she actually turns around, arms crossed and foot tapping. “Well?” 
Percy blinks. He hadn’t thought this far ahead. Shit, what is he trying to say? “You know, Calypso offered me immortality. I could’ve escaped the prophecy, I could’ve lived in paradise forever—”
That probably wasn’t what he should’ve led with. “If you want me to ‘stick around and listen’, you’re off to a terrible start,” she seethes.
He steamrolls on anyway: “—but I didn’t, I didn’t take her offer, because — well, because of Grover and Tyson, and the quest isn’t over yet, but also because—” he stops. He’s rambling. Focus. How can he say this? “Did you really kiss me back there, or did I make that up in my head?” 
She freezes. Silence stretches out between them, and Percy kind of wants the ground to swallow him whole. But it’s out there, now. Might as well go all in. “I really hope you did, because I’m gonna feel insanely stupid if it was just some volcanic-explosion-induced fever dream.” 
Slowly, she unfreezes. Nods. “Uh. Yeah, I did.”
He takes a step closer. “I don’t care about ‘some mortal girl’. At least, not the way I care about….about you.” He can feel the blood rushing in his ears, can feel his heart beating painfully fast. She’s still just standing there, staring and staring but not moving. She’s not saying anything, why isn’t she saying anything?
“Gods, can you throw me a bone, Annabeth? I feel like I’m dying here—”
He’s cut off when she lunges forward and kisses him. It’s like their first kiss in two ways: it’s over before he can even react, and it leaves him staring, dumbfounded. How is it that she’s caught him off-guard with this not once, but twice now?
“Think you’ll remember that one was real?” she asks, still only inches from his face. Her breath smells of strawberries, and her eyes are puffy from his almost-funeral, but the storm in them begins to clear. 
He laughs, bright and full. “You should probably kiss me one more time, just to be safe.”
“Hmm,” she considers, arms coming up around his neck. “Should I count down so that you can be ready this time?”
He groans. “You are so not making this easy.”
“I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it.”
“Gods, you’re insufferable. It shouldn’t be this cute.”
“Three, two—”
He’s on her before she reaches one, one hand pulling her closer at the waist and the other finding her cheek. When their lips meet, it feels like everything he’s been waiting for. Like the clouds parting, like sunshine, like warmth, like happiness.
It may not be their first kiss, but it’s their best yet.
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stanning-reyna · 3 years
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Valgrace Headcanons!
- Even though Jason and Piper broke up almost immediately in TLH, it still took valgrace till HoH to get together
- Jason didn’t have a clue what his feelings were and Leo didn’t have the self esteem to realize that Jason might actually like him back so he never made a move
- But when Leo was missing on Ogygia, Jason was worried sick about him and when they finally reunited Jason kissed him
- This of course was a little weird because Leo had just met Calypso and he had a hard time believing Jason would like him like that anyway
- But Piper talked to Leo and convinced him to try a relationship with Jason because she could tell they belonged together
- And cue a romcom worthy declaration of love followed by another kiss
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prompromthepompom · 3 years
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Some Headcanons about Gods and Goddesses we don’t meet in Hades
I’ve been absolutely LOVING Hades, and I got to thinking about gods and goddesses we don’t see and the boons they’d offer or potential enemies or allies that also could be in the game.
Hera: Nyx probably heard that comment Zeus made about her and decided not to get Hera in on this for her own safety. BUT if Hera were offering boons, I imagine that they’d revolve around confusing or bewitching enemies. I could see for example a dash boon that when Zag dashes, a flurry of peacock feathers take his place and they daze enemies for a few seconds allowing him to get to cover. Alternatively a flurry of feathers that shoot out towards enemies as an attack boon.
Iris: When Nyx dialed Iris up on the godly cell phones, her reply was “There are no rainbows in the underworld Nyx, what do you want me to do?” If Iris could somehow reach Zag deep down in the Underworld, PLEASE let her give the railgun a giant rainbow laser beam of death and destruction. Just obliterate your enemies with rainbow laser beam. A cool zigzaggy rainbow that follows you as you dash around? Um yes please!
Hebe: The goddess of youth? She can turn enemies into babies. Congratulations the new looming threat is the responsibility of adulthood. No but seriously, her boons allow you to woobify enemies until they can’t do anything to you anymore.
Apollo: The god of light helps stun enemies. A bright flare to momentarily blind them so you can swoop in and strike or get away. He also provides nice advantages to your long-ranged weapons and attacks.
Hephaestus: He was so mad over you choosing Daedalus things over his that he refused to help and needed additional convincing. What does Hephaestus do? He sups up your weapons. You want a chainsaw sword? He will make your sword into a chain saw sword.
Hestia: The ONLY reason she hasn’t helped you is that someone needs to stay home on Mt. Olympus while everyone else runs around like idiots, there is one braincell in the collective god brain cell trust found- Hestia guards it. BUT when she can help you out, get ready for some fiery attacks. Imagine a boon that if you get an opponent on fire, they can’t put it out.
Eris: Oh man this could go so many ways. Since she’s the goddess of discord, her boons would definitely revolve around turning your enemies against each other – watch out Theseus and Asterius. But for a more chaotic element I feel like she’d be running the double god rooms and she’d either boost the boons you already have or replace them all and since she’s discord you don’t know what you’re going to get. It’s a gamble, do I risk upgrading everything I have and potentially get it all replaced? Either way, she’d definitely have a lot of duo boons with Ares.
Morpheus: Okay so what if Hades didn’t realize Hypnos and Morpheus are twins, and they use this to their advantage to tag team in and out. One of them is always reporting to Hades while the other gets some sleep? Either that or he provides boons that puts enemies to sleep or slows them down.
Also just on the topic of Nyx’ children there’s also Nemesis (wonder what she’s the goddess of), and then Apate (deceit) and Neikea (feuds) BUT there’s also Philotes the goddess of friendship. And I want Thanatos and Hypnos to talk about how all their siblings are cranky goths except for their one weird pastel preppy sister. “For some reason everyone kept asking if I was Persephone’s child when I was little” and Than in the background “That’s because of all the PINK!”
Hecate: let’s get the girl who witnessed the whole kidnapping of Persephone in on this. What if she has a bunch of cutesy stories to give to Zag about his mom. Also, I just want to give Zag that annoying ass spell the witch enemies use and I hate.
Plutus: my man, plz. Show up and make me rich. Pretty plz. Plutus makes it rain money from the sky, you now attack like Meowth and hurl money you can pick up at the end of a fight.
Calypso: Ogygia is one of the rest rooms you can duck into. Calypso is not very happy to help a god at first, but darn Zag is just so polite and nice she eventually warms up to him and explains how she’s trapped on this island and doomed to help whatever heroes show up. She offers gifts like Sisyphus for Zag to collect some health or resources to aid his journey. (Also asks if Zag can tell Odysseus to start paying child support)
Prometheus: also, in one of the rest rooms. Like Eurydice he offers to help improve the boons you have by imparting wisdom onto Zag. He probably also asks after Hestia to make sure she didn’t get into trouble for helping him with the whole giving humans fire thing.
Psyche: Alright we need couples in distress that need to get put back together. In Roman tellings of Psyche’s love with Eros/Cupid, she needs to deliver a package from the Goddess of Love to the Goddess of the Underworld.  I can only imagine Zag stumbling upon her as she’s desperately trying to find her way in/out so she can be reunited with Eros (and stop having his mom be mad at her).
Penelope and Odysseus: speaking of couples that have been separated in the Underworld, what if Odysseus becomes a mentor, and just goes on and on and on about Penelope to Zag. So, Zag just looses his mind and gets so excited when he meets Penelope for the first time because he has ALL these stories about her.
Pan: the BIG BAD. I’m just saying there’s a crazy satyr cult. And Cerberus isn’t a pupper anymore he’s doggo. There are several mentions of a looming threat to the underworld. What if Pan’s about to wake back up and he’d going to go full Sun WuKong on the underworld? I don’t really know why he’d be mad at the underworld per se. But the crazy satyr cult made my brain go there.
Tartarus: alternatively, since the underworld is slowly falling apart, what if it’s because good old Tartarus is waking back up and Zag is going to have to stop him for the sake of his fam?
Some interesting minibosses that could be trying to stop Zag could be Deimos and Phobos, gods of terror and panic, who seem like the kind of guys Hades would employ.
If we run with the whole idea of demigods reconciling with the creatures they slayed. Can we get Perseus meeting Medusa and being like “sorry for the whole chopping your head off thing, I guess.” “Sorry you killed your granddad playing frisbee I GUESS”
Also, can we have father son reunions for Peleus and Achilles and Priam and Hector???
Last thing for now, can you imagine if there was a Minthe cameo?
“Oh hey there attempted homewrecker of my parent’s marriage, how’s it going?”
��Now THIS is a homewrecker Theseus! Please stop calling me one!”
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A Percabeth AU where they keep their relationship secret in fear of what their parents might think. (Warning: this goes over both PJO and HoO so it's very long):
The beginning of TLT goes as it should but after Percy is claimed, Annabeth is suddenly meaner and colder.
He remembers the Poseidon/Athena rivalry but doesn't see why they have to hate each other bcuz of their parents.
But Annabeth doesnt relent.
They still go on the quest together bcuz "you are so going to fail without a daughter of Athena."
But they still argue a lot and give poor Grover a satyr migraine.
When they have that bonding moment on the truck, Percy thinks maybe they're sorta friends, but Annabeth proves that wrong later by calling him a "Seaweed Brain" bcuz he's so stupid.
Percy fires back with "Wise Girl" but Annabeth seems to take that as more of a compliment than an insult.
(He doesn't stop calling her that tho)
After Luke betrays Percy, Annabeth's the one that found him after the dryads and she drags him to the infirmary but completely denies caring about him afterwards.
By SoM, Percy is so done with this and goes over to her asking if they could be friends.
Annabeth, who actually would like to be his friend, agrees with reluctancy, saying, "We have to keep it a secret though, or who knows what our parents might do."
Percy agrees.
Grover knows they're friends now cuz of the empathy link, but doesn't say anything.
In TTC, when Annabeth falls off the cliff, he blames himself more than ever, bcuz if they hadn't been fake arguing she might not have been distracted and fallen.
Thalia blames him even more too, and he has to keep his cover and can't tell her he knows it's all his fault.
Nico asks if Annabeth is Percy's girlfriend.
He says no, but he has a funny feeling in his heart.
He goes to the attic to ask the Oracle about Annabeth.
It doesn't answer.
When he thinks Artemis is about to ask Annabeth to join the Hunters, he knows he has to tell her something, even if it meant blowing their cover.
He breathes a sigh of relief when Artemis asks Thalia, and Annabeth is waiting for him to talk with narrowed eyes as if trying to figure out what he wants to say.
He chokes. (~Like doesn't say his feelings, not actually choke lol~)
In BotL, they are totally going out on a secret unofficial movie date but ofc the fiasco with Kelli at Goode happens.
Annabeth gets really jealous when Rachel appears. (Especially since Rachel has more opportunity to go out with Percy bcuz Annabeth and Percy have to pretend to hate each other.)
Percy, ofc, does not realize why in Hades she's acting like she really hates him even though they're in private.
At camp, they're playing Capture the Flag when they stumble on an entrance to the Labyrinth.
They go down to hide from monsters and end up stuck.
It's so dark Annabeth grabs his hand to keep from being separating. (~this is canon, they were holding hands I checked~)
When they find their way back out, it appears almost an hour had gone by when they were sure they were down for a couple minutes.
The campers were searching for the two of them and are immediately suspicious when they find the two alone. Together.
But they forget about that when Clarisse comes and asks about the "hole" they fell into and Annabeth suggests they continue talking in private.
It is then that Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Tyson go on their quest.
When Annabeth and Percy reach Mount St. Helens they are quickly found out.
Percy tells Annabeth to escape saying he has a plan. (He really doesn't)
She kisses him. (~whaaaaaaaat~)
When she leaves, Percy apparently decides to cause a volcano to erupt. (~ya he doez~)
He lands on Ogygia, while Annabeth, thinking he is dead, goes back to camp, alone.
When she returns, they ask where Percy, Grover, and Tyson are but she refuses to say anything.
They realize what happened.
They have a burning of the shroud ceremony where she doesn't say anything, sitting, her face emotionless, but her heart in turmoil as she listens to Chiron.
That's when Percy crashes the funeral.
Annabeth is outraged.
She pretends it's because "THE WHOLE QUEST IS BEING HELD UP BECAUSE OF YOU! AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING, ENJOYING A VACATION AT PARADISE ISLAND?!?!"
It's really because she was head over heels with worry and grief (while he's off with sOmE imMorTal gOdDeSs) but she can't let anyone know that.
She is certainly not happy when Rachel joins their quest.
(Percy still doesn't get it.)
Before TLO, they are playing Capture the Flag, and the two are on opposite sides. (~in The Demigod Files, the story they find Festus for the first time in~)
Annabeth and Silena capture Percy and Beckendorf and the boys suffer an utter loss. (Were the myrmekes part of the plan? They'll never know.)
Beckendorf and Silena totally know they like each other no matter how much Percy and Annabeth fake it and try to get one of them to ask each other to the Independence Day firework show.
Annabeth does end up asking Percy and they watch the fireworks secretly next to the woods so no one sees them.
They hold hands or something else just as cute idk.
In TLO, when the Battle of Manhattan starts, everyone is surprised when Annabeth let's Percy take the lead.
When she takes the blade for Percy she says it was bcuz "I didn't know it was him!"
"So you would take a blade for anyone if it wasn't Percy?"
"...yes."
But by this time everyone secretly ships Percabeth so no one questions it.
After the war, Percy gives up immortality mostly for her but only those two know it. (And maybe Grover).
Annabeth asks him to meet her in the woods and when he does, she brings him a lumpy blue-colored cake which Tyson helped make. (Bcuz of course Tyson knows that they're secretly friends but Grover told him not to tell anyone).
They kiss, duh.
But then a monster comes out from the woods and they don't want to fight it after they just had a war so they run.
They end up by the lake and Percy pulls Annabeth in to get away from the monster.
Cue best underwater kiss ever.
They date in secret for two months but Percy's mom knows.
When Percy goes missing, Annabeth freaks.
She searches for him everywhere and if anyone asks why she's searching so hard for someone she doesn't even like, she just replies, "He probably just disappeared bcuz it's his turn to do the camp chores and I will not let him slack off," or "Who else am I supposed to use for target practice???"
(None of the campers who'd been in the Titan war buy it.)
In SoN, the only thing Percy remembers is Annabeth, but for some reason, he has this instinct to not tell anyone about her so he doesn't.
In MoA she still judo flips him and acts all mad (which she is) but he still laughs it off and says all sarcastic, "Oh, did the smartass daughter of Athena miss me?"
But he missed her too.
When they go to eat lunch Annabeth and Percy excuse themselves to "go to the bathroom" but they really snuck off to have their own private reunion.
"I missed you so much, Seaweed Brain. Don't ever disappear like that again."
"I'm sorry, Wise Girl. I missed you too."
*kissing*
Later, when Annabeth and Percy sneak off to the Pegasi stables on the Argo II and sleep next to each other.
Frank finds them.
They swear they didn't do anything and threaten Frank into silence.
He can never look at them the same way again though.
When Annabeth has to get the Athena Parthenos, Percy paces the deck of the Argo but says he's not worried about a daughter of Athena.
When she finally gets the statue, he goes down to meet her but she trips and falls into the Pit.
He catches her, but now he's hanging on a ledge.
"Percy, let me go. You can't pull us both up." She whispers, knowing they're too low for the others to hear.
"We're staying together. You're not getting away from me. Never again." He whispers back.
"As long as we're together."
At least in Tartarus, they don't have to pretend they don't absolutely, utterly love each other.
In Blood of Olympus, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper are walking underground to the monster's base in the Parthenon when they see a trident mark in the ground.
Annabeth says it's the place where Poseidon struck the ground.
At this point, Percy turns to Piper and asks, "Can you keep a secret?"
Piper nods.
That's when Percy kisses Annabeth.
When he pulls away, he says, "This is where the rivalry ends….for us, at least."
Piper acts surprised but on the inside she is rAGING bcuz now Leo owes her ten bucks but she can't tell him.
After the Giant war they consider telling their friends, but they're not sure…
Idk how to end this just keep going
Sort of a bonus:
The Hephaestus and Athena cabins worked together to make everyone monster-proof phones (which also correct their dyslexia) and Annabeth and Percy use them all the time to text each other and no one knows.
Jason asks Percy to come to a cafe with some of the others, and Annabeth and Percy are texting the whole time.
Their convo goes something like this:
'hey Annabeth, me, Jason, Frank and some of the others r going to that cafe on 31st street'
'*Jason, Frank, some of the others and I' 'Really? Piper, Hazel, and I are going there too. They mentioned Jason, Frank, and Leo might be there, but not you.'
'weird, they didn't say anything about u either' 'hey wait a sec, Jason's texting on some gc called Operation Get Them Together' 'the other guys' phones r ringing everytime he sends something…'
'What? Operation Get Them Together???'
'yeah'
'....'
'what'
'Oh no.'
'what??? Annabeth????'
'They're trying to set us up.'
'wdym set us up'
'I MEAN, they're TRYING to get us TO GET TOGETHER'
'huh?'
'THEY WANT US TO GO OUT PERCY! YOU KNOW, TO BE A COUPLE???'
'ok okkk u don't have to yell'
'🤦‍♀️'
'so what do we do'
'I think we should go along with it.'
'wait hold on, Jason's asking me who im texting'
'Wait, tell him it's your girlfriend. Just to screw with them.'
'haha yes ur a genius'
'I know.'
Percy tells Jason that he is texting his girlfriend, to which Jason replies by "What?!" and frantically starts typing on the group chat to tell everyone that 'YOU GUYS PERCY SAYS HE HAS A GF ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION!!!'
To which Piper is the first to reply, saying, 'Nah, trust me, keep going with it'
At this point, they reach the cafe, and the boys and girls meet up at a table.
Annabeth, immediately going into acting mode, says, "What is he doing here?"
Percy fires back with a scowl and says, "You didn't tell me she was going to be here. I'm leaving."
Jason stops him tho
Percy and Annabeth sit down at the table, but everyone is still standing.
Piper and Hazel say they have to go to the bathroom and leave.
Jason and Leo say they're going to go order (even tho it's a sit down with a menu and order type of cafe???)
Everyone seems to have some kind of excuse to leave until Percy and Annabeth are left alone.
The two pull out their phones again.
'Seriously? This is their plan? Say we're all going out to eat and then leave the two of us alone?'
'ig' 'what do we do now'
'I don't know.' They're probably spying on us…'
'um is that Reyna, Hazel, and Calypso in the bushes with mud and green war paint on their faces?'
Reyna, Hazel, and Calypso were indeed hiding in the bushes (with binoculars) with mud and green war paint on their faces.
'Wtf?? How'd they do that so fast???' 'And is that Leo and Piper holding newspapers with eyeholes cut through???'
'lol yea...then that eagle flying above us is prolly Frank'
'Jason is hiding in the clouds to your six.'
'where r Nico and Will?'
'I think that's them making out in the bushes.'
'lmaoo im so gonna tease them for that' 'so what do we do now Wise Girl'
'...' 'Follow my lead.'
'k'
Annabeth puts away her phone and stands up.
Percy follows her lead.
She says, "We know you guys are there, just come out. It's not going to work. And we see you too, Nico and Will."
The other demigods come out of their hiding spots (the two who had been called out looking especially sheepish).
"Why not?" Piper says, knowing perfectly well why not.
Percy looks between Annabeth and Piper, and seems to come to a decision.
"Because," he says and goes over to Annabeth and kisses her, "we're already together."
The responses were very diverse.
"What?!"
"I knew it!"
"Leo! My ten bucks. Now."
"Yeah, I walked in on them sleeping together…"
"So we did all this for nothing???"
"Wait, did you say sleeping together?"
They arguing stops as two flashes of light almost blind everyone and two gods appear.
Poseidon and Athena.
For several seconds, the two gods just stare at Percy and Annabeth (who are now holding hands just bcuz)
Then, finally, after what seemed and EXCRUCIATINGLY long time, Poseidon turns to Athena and says:
"I was right, you were wrong, I was RIGHT, you were WRONG, I WAS RIGHT, YOU WERE WRONG, YOU OWE ME FIFTY DRACHMAS BIRD BRAIN"
This was not the reaction the demigods was expecting if you couldn't tell
Athena just scowls and makes a pouch filled with drachmas appear, and throws it at Poseidon.
Poseidon catches it, bringing out what appears to be a phone and starts calling someone.
Athena goes over to Percy and Annabeth.
She looks mad, and Annabeth tries to let go of Percy's hand, panicking, trying to think of a lie, but Percy doesn't let go.
"My daughter is the smartest and best of my children, and as much as I don't approve of this, if she chose you, sea-spawn, she must have a good reason. But if you step one foot out of line, I will have you punished, understood?"
Athena addresses this to Percy, who nods fearfully.
"Good."
Suddenly there are a bunch more flashes of light as more gods appear bcuz apparently, Poseidon wanted everyone to see that he was right and Athena was wrong.
Ofc chaos ensues.
But Percy and Annabeth are still holding hands and look at each other and feel overwhelmingly happy for the first time in a long time because now they don't have to keep their relationship a secret anymore.
THE END~
WTF HAVE I WRITTEN.
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thebigqueer · 3 years
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hiii! could you write a fic/headcanons of leo, nico and will. i had no idea that was a ship until recently and i love it!!! and i want to read how they get together. in my mind solangelo is already dating (bc leo is in no condition to date after canon) and after leo comes back (after toa5) they became friends and eventually they confess to leo (when he already got over calypso and is better emotionally y'know?). no pressure if you don't feel like writing this tho :)))
hhhh anon im sorry i absolutely would love to write this for you into like an actual fic but it takes me a long time to write fics :(
but! i can def give you headcanons! after all they’re like fics but in outline form and much less grammatically correct! but if i do make a fanfic, i’ll be sure to post it. maybe you’ll like it! can’t make any promises i’d write it anytime soon though cuz i have a few more projects on the line but you know... i’m def considering making one after everything i’ve written in this post...
okay exactly yes i totally agree that leo only gets with them after he’s emotionally stable & after toa5
this is straying from soldezangelo a little but i made a post here about what i personally think should have happened w/ leo’s ending in HoO, if you’re interested in reading it. i’m gonna make the following bullet points based on that
but tldr: i’m just basically saying that i wish caleo ended up leaving ogygia as friends so that leo didn’t get that forced romance on him
so he stays at the waystation for a while with calypso (only as friends; like they’re staying there and are really adorable friends) and all the while he’s really thinking only about himself and his well-being. he goes back to high school and keeps up with that project he’s doing w/ other kids and giving them opportunities to make things (GOD THAT WAS SO CUTE)
then leo decides that maybe for the winter, he’ll go back for a trip (i also hc that piper and percy and annabeth go to chb for the same winter so that some of the seven see each other!)
there, he meets will and nico, but i think mostly he’s interested in talking w/ nico. so they talk a lot. nico expresses how angry they were for leo dying like that and scaring everyone, and leo says he’s sorry but he had to. i think this also provides nico and leo the perfect opportunity to talk about jason, since they were both really good friends with him. and nico also understands that it was leo’s decision and his sacrifice. but they also talk about how leo’s sacrifice kind of... felt weird. since in the end, they still lost the storm but the fire lived on (ehehhehe idk if that made sense but i was tryna be smart lakjsdlfkj) 
i think that opportunity ultimately provides nico and leo to get along a LOT better with each other, and they both realize that they actually have been through a lot of similar feelings. by which i mean theyre both so fuckin mentally unstable and they relate to one another.
nico talks about how he’s been in a relationship with will for a while, and leo’s happy for him, really. but i think a small part of him is jealous, too. not because “oh god here’s another couple im supposed to worry about after ive just started getting over this ingrained idea of needing romance to solve all my issues and feeling like i belong,” but more because i think leo’s always been a little attracted to nico since they were on the argo II with each other. i don’t think he ever acted on those feelings, especially since a lot of the people on that ship were more judgmental towards nico and he probably felt like he had to be as well (by the way, none of this is an excuse to leo’s treatment of nico, or, by extension, an excuse for anyone’s treatment of nico on the argo II.)
leo apologizes to nico about how he treated him, and nico smiles and tells him it’s fine. like, nico has had his own bout of personal growth as well, especially in the past year. he doesn’t - and won’t - forget how people treated him, but now he’s learning to just let it go, in a sense. 
and i think this is when leo and nico kind of develop underlying feelings for each other. 
leo and nico probably hang out a lot, but will also joins becuase he’s nico’s boyfriend, and nico loves to have him tag along. so i think leo feels a little intimidated by will, like “damn my crush is really just bringing along their boyfriend huh??” 
and leo’s like. so jealous. like “ugh why does this hot golden ray of sunshine have to ruin everything. why is he always around. he’s so fucking distracting. like hello i’m trying to simp for nico but he’s so gorgeous for the both of us.” and then it hits leo that oh wait oh fuck he actually likes both of them and that “intimidation” he was feeling was mostly just him being attracted LMAO
leo and will get a bit closer through nico, and then i think the two of them are like very joke-y with each other, and they totally connect with each other about texas and being absolute fucking NERDS (since they are both canonically absolute dumbass nerds HSDHFSLFKDJ)
and leo’s struck with how cute he is omG 
and then nico’s like “wow they’re both so glowy aslkdjffdj HHHHH” 
and then will’s like “damn they’re both so dark and mysterious” 
and also not to mention they all totally relate about mental illnesses, abandonment issues, and the like. i mean, after everything that’s happened to all three of them (since will has been through like two wars, has lost two brothers, and has probably lost a lot of lives and feels guilty for it) they probably really relate to each other about always feeling... this dark uncomfortableness inside them. a void. they get really deep about mental health, and i think nico actually suggests to both of them that they should all talk to dionysus, just like he does (because, as we all fucking know, love cannot fix mental health and it doesn’t matter how much they’re all attracted to each other, they will not cure each other just because they’re in love) 
i think somewhere in the relationship between will and nico, a tension starts to build up a little. they’re not really sure how to exactly deal with teh fact that they like leo (and neither of them actually admits it to the other because they like the other as well and they really are not in the mood for a “”””love triangle”””)
but the funny thing is, they probably all talk about it with dionysus in their separate times. and Mr. D is just. he’s so done. 
SLKDJFKLSDHFLJSDKFSDKJFSFDLJK - Mr. D falling asleep at night thinking about this soldezangelo thing because he thinks it’s really funny that they all like each other but don’t wanna admit it
he totally suggests that nico and will talk about it together, and after lots of hesitation, will is probably the first one to come outright and say that he likes leo as well. and nico’s like “OMG WHAT ME TOO. like i really like you but i also really like leo...”
so they’re both actually really relieved, because they didn’t really want to break up with each other but they didn’t really want to keep lying to each other, either. 
and they tell leo, and then leo’s so happy because lKJSDFJLSLDFK YALL I LIKED YOU FOR THE LONGEST TIME
and bada-bing, bada-boom, ya got yourself a little soldezangelo!!!! 
i hope you liked that!!! i’m actually tempted to make this into a fic now, but since it’s already in headcanon form is there a point? hmm... imma think on this though. thank you SO MUCH for the ask!!!
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winryofresembool · 3 years
Text
Caleo one-shot: Back in Waystation
Warning: Tower of Nero spoilers! Do not read past this point if you don’t want to know anything that happens in the book!
Summary: Calypso returns from the band camp and she and Leo finally sort some things out (Post ToN).
A/N: Here’s the 'fix it' fic I promised. Like I said in one of the author's notes of TWLitF, I feel like Rick did these two very dirty in ToA, especially in the end when he left things so open ended. It would have been better for both characters if he had made them, you know, deal with their issues. I know this fic ended up being very sappy but it was something I myself would have liked to read so... I hope you guys enjoy it too.
Also, since this fic has taken a lot of my writing time for the past 2ish weeks, I'm not going to post a new chapter for TWLitF tomorrow. But worry not because I am hoping to post normally again next Thursday! Stay tuned!
Don't forget to let me know what you think of this fic!
Words: 4100+
genre: fluff, slight hurt/comfort (you know, the usual)
warnings: none
AO3
...
It was already late August. The weather had started getting slightly cooler in Indianapolis and people were getting prepared to go back to work and school after the summer vacation. Even Leo was preparing for the start of the new high school year; he had finished his community service teaching the homeless kids shop skills a week before and gone to buy some supplies for the school year. Now all that was left to do was waiting.
If the young demigod was totally honest to himself, he was getting a bit antsy. His girlfriend had been gone for pretty much the whole summer, counseling at a band camp and not telling him when exactly she would be back. If ever. Leo was worried that she’d meet someone way cooler than him at the camp and just leave some message that he shouldn’t be expecting her to return.
Before she had left, things had been complicated between them; they had been arguing quite a lot and Leo hadn’t exactly been his usual self after returning from his trip to California. He had found out about the death of his best friend Jason and accompanied the heartbroken Piper to her new home before flying back to Waystation where the information about Jason had fully sunk in. Unlike Leo himself, Jason would never be back.
Calypso had never known the son of Jupiter and she didn’t know how strongly his death had affected those who had known him. That’s why Leo felt like he couldn’t show his mourning to her and for a few weeks after his return he had been pretty withdrawn. Instead of going back to school with Calypso he had been tinkering in Jo’s workshop until Jo had dragged him out of there and forced him to take care of himself, to eat, to shower and so on. She had also been the one to suggest the community service for Leo, and after considering it he had finally decided it could be a good idea. Having something to do that forced Leo to leave the house had a positive impact on him and even though he still missed Jason, he also knew that Jason would be mad if he didn’t try to move forward, so he did. That led to Leo’s current issue, Calypso. He wished he would have had an opportunity to talk with her properly before she had left….
Loud clanking pulled Leo back from his thoughts. He was in the workshop again, this time with Jo and Georgie, trying to fix a part of Festus’ wing that had broken when one of Leo’s homeless pupils had accidentally thrown something at it, not knowing Festus was there. Jo was instructing Georgie with something that looked way too dangerous in the hands of a 7-year-old but Leo knew from experience that since she was a demigod (suspected to be Apollo’s daughter), she would have to learn to fight sooner rather than later. Waystation may have been a safe haven for demigods but Georgina wouldn’t be able to hide from the monsters forever.
Leo was going to ask Jo’s opinion on how to make the wing part more durable when the workshop door opened. Expecting it to be just Emmie who would tell them the dinner was ready, he didn’t even turn to look at the newcomer. But soon he felt weird tingling on his skin that had absolutely nothing to do with Emmie as he smelled the very familiar cinnamon scent and realized that the steps were lighter than the older woman’s.
“Hi,” he heard a soft voice say and he finally turned around to see his girlfriend standing right behind him. She was smiling at him, although slightly awkwardly, probably as unsure about their situation as he was. A hundred different emotions rushed through Leo as he took her in; happiness, nervousness, uncertainty… and how had he forgotten she was so damn pretty? When he didn’t say anything for a moment, she tilted her head slightly, looking at him expectantly. Finally the gears started moving again in Leo’s head and he spread his arms, leaping into a hug.
“You late, Sunshine,” he mumbled against her shoulder as he tightened his arms around her. Calypso recognized the reference to what she herself had said back on Ogygia and couldn’t stop her smile from widening a bit as she responded to Leo’s hug. He probably would have kissed her on the mouth too but Jo and Georgina’s presence made Leo a bit self conscious about showing affection and he ended up kissing her cheek instead. “Missed ya,” he whispered after that.
Eventually the couple pulled away from the hug. Calypso greeted the other two people in the room and turned her attention back to Leo again.
“So, I’m Sunshine now again? No more Mamacita?” Her tone was suspicious but Leo could tell that she was actually happy about the change.
“Yeah,” Leo shrugged. “Reyna had quite a talk with me about how ladies should be addressed and apparently Mamacita isn’t an appropriate way to do that,” he said sheepishly.
Calypso cocked her eyebrow a bit at that piece of information. Even though she hadn’t met Reyna personally because she had left for her band camp before Reyna and the other hunters of Artemis had visited Waystation, she did remember hearing the name before. “Reyna? Isn’t she that girl who you saw in that vision back on Ogygia? The one with dark hair and…”
“Yes, that’s her,” Leo said cautiously. “She’s a Hunter now so she and her group visit here pretty often.” Before Calypso had time to say anything to that, he added: “She’s acting like a sister figure towards me and she’s scolded me a lot for… well, a lot of things.” He decided to not reveal that a lot of their talks had revolved around Calypso.
Calypso’s expression softened at his comment. “I’m glad someone has been keeping you in check while I was gone. Maybe I should let her do that more often.”
Worry flashed briefly in Leo’s eyes because he thought she was implying that she would be leaving Waystation so she decided to calm him down. “Relax, Repair Boy. I didn’t mean it that way. I wanted to stay here with you and that hasn’t changed. Besides, high school is pretty great, you know? I want to get through that. But, um… I’ve been thinking. About what was going on between us before I left.”
“Oh? Yeah, me too,” Leo replied, combing his messy hair with his hand.
Suddenly they remembered that there were two extra pairs of ears in the room listening to them, ending the conversation there.
“Ahem,” Jo cleared her throat, understanding the situation all too well. “Leo, how about you take Calypso’s bag into her room? I can see the wing meanwhile. I promise Festus will be better than new soon.” “Sure, I can do that, mom,” Leo said with slight reservation in his voice.
Calypso gave Jo a thankful look, exchanging a couple of words with her and Georgina before pulling Leo out of the workshop.
The two occupied the room Calypso used to sleep in before the band camp. Leo didn’t hang out there that often, but he was reminded of one particular time earlier that spring when he had been there. That night Calypso had had some nightmares and she had found out Leo was awake as well. They had stayed up talking for a long while in Calypso’s room until falling asleep next to each other. Even though they had been fully clothed when Emmie had come to wake Calypso up for some morning gardening (Leo felt like bursting into flames even at the thought of having done something that involved taking their clothes off. It wasn’t that he had never thought of it - he was a 17-year-old boy who was very much in love with his girlfriend after all - but he didn’t think they were quite there yet. And he highly doubted that Calypso would appreciate him even requesting that), the mother hens of Waystation had still pulled them apart and had some very embarrassing talks with them. Comparing it to the time when Percy and Annabeth had fallen asleep at the stables of Argo II, Leo felt like those two had gotten off easy.
“So… How was the camp?” Leo started awkwardly after setting Calypso’s bag down in her room, snapping out of his memories.
“It was good,” Calypso said simply, sitting down on her couch, Leo following her. “I am impressed by how talented these kids with no special powers can be.”
“Don’t underestimate the regular mortals,” Leo noted. “In my homeless kid group there were a few that were really good at the shop skills even though I’m pretty certain they couldn’t see Festus.”
“What do you mean with that?” Calypso asked. Before she had left for her camp, she had heard about Leo’s plans for the community service, but what she didn’t know was that Leo had used Festus as the place to teach the kids. Leo explained the situation to her.
“But isn’t that kind of risky?” she wanted to know then. “I mean, I know he’s your friend, and all, but what if he had accidentally started blowing fire at them or something?”
“C’mon, of course I had safety precautions for that,” Leo protested. “I may be an idiot but I do know my way around mechanical dragons.”
“Right. Of course.” Calypso said. Before their break she might have started a debate about Leo’s safety precautions but given the circumstances she decided that it would be better to not question it. A silence fell between the two as both wondered how to approach the topics they really wanted to talk about.
“So how have you been doing, really?” they asked almost simultaneously.
“Um, you go first,” Leo said, attempting to be polite.
“Like I said, I did enjoy the camp,” Calypso answered, getting a dreamy look on her face. “It’s… still so fascinating to me to see how the regular mortals – I guess I’m one of them now – live, having no idea what’s going on behind their backs… And I learned a lot of things about modern music that Apollo didn’t teach me. I know how to play the guitar now! But…” she hesitated a bit. “What about you?”
Leo got a strong feeling that she was actually going to say something else after that ‘but’. Her face told him that she was debating in her mind about something. Maybe she was even going to say she had missed him? But instead of asking about that, he answered Calypso's question.
“Decent, I guess, all things considered… Who would have thought that I enjoy teaching? But I guess it helped me that I could relate to those kids’ situations… and it’s kept me distracted from what happened with Jason…” He was looking down at his hands, hoping it would manage to keep him calm enough.
“Yeah…” Calypso seemed to be thinking about something for a while. Eventually she asked: “Hey, would you like to tell me more about him? I mean, what was he like?”
Leo was surprised by the request but he did what he was told to do.
“Jason… He always put the others’ happiness before his own. On the day we met, Piper was about to fall in a canyon but he jumped after her without knowing that he could fly. Crazy, I know, but that’s the kind of guy he was” He noticed that even though it hurt, he was now able to smile at the memory.
“I don’t remember if I’ve told this to you but Hera had messed with his memory; he didn’t remember almost anything about his past, but I think he took it all like a boss. If I had been in his boots I would have probably punched her in the face. Jason also accepted me as his friend even though…” Leo’s lip started trembling but he bit it and managed to continue: “Even though I had never had real friends before Piper and Jason and didn’t really know how to act around other people. That’s why the jokes. He was probably everything I wished I was - strong, smart, etc. - but never made a big deal out of it. He was so humble. After what happened with Dirt Face he probably thought he’d get to live a normal life and be a regular high school student, but...
“The Triumvirate…” Calypso said for him, having heard that part of the story before.
“Yeah,” Leo nodded sadly. “From what I’ve heard, Jason knew he would have to die in order to let Piper and the others survive and Apollo to succeed in his mission. He wasn’t like me, though. I hadn’t really accepted death when I decided to sacrifice myself against Potty Sludge so I used the Physician’s Cure. Jason, though… he had accepted his fate and he died knowing that Apollo would make things right. I’ve heard from Apollo that his last wishes were that no minor god would be forgotten again, and that Apollo would remember what it was like to be a human even after he becomes a god again. And to me it seems Apollo is holding to that promise. I know things won’t probably ever be perfect for us, but… if even one god is on our side… I feel like some things might improve at least for the next generation of demigods and… Jason didn’t die in vain.” He sighed, fiddling with his hands like always when he was dealing with difficult topics.
“So you think that Jason was the reason why Apollo was able to change?” Calypso asked.
“No, probably not the only reason, but… a reason nevertheless.” Leo said absentmindedly.
“Jason and you were willing to die for your cases. Sometimes I wonder… if giving up my immortality was the right choice, but hearing these stories makes me feel more peace with it. Life is short when you are a mortal and that’s why we should live it the fullest every day… and that’s why…” Calypso leaned towards Leo until their lips touched. It was a short and gentle kiss but it made Leo flustered and worried he might accidentally burn something.
“W-what was that for?” he stuttered when they broke apart.
“Stupid. You thought I found some hot clarinet guys from the camp and forgot about you?”
“You still… love me?” Leo asked in return. Even though he technically knew it (how else would he have gotten out of Ogygia in the first place?), it wasn’t something Calypso said aloud often and especially after the events of the past couple of months Leo had had a lot of doubt in his mind. Hearing it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he felt a smile spread on his face automatically.
“We may argue sometimes and you may be kind of insufferable when you’re in that mood but after taking some time to think I recognize that I am at fault too for the issues we’ve had and I am willing to admit that. Sometimes I’ve blamed you for things that were not your fault and I’m sorry about that. Besides, I see that you have learned a thing or two while I was gone. Not calling me Mamacita is a good start. So, yes, Leo Valdez. Se filo.
Even though Leo hadn’t spent a lot of time learning Ancient Greek at Camp Half-Blood, he still knew what Calypso’s line meant. His heart suddenly feeling full, he had to admit that the line felt more powerful when said in your first language. But there was a language even more near and dear to him than Spanish; one that his mother had taught him when he had been very young, one that he had repeated countless and countless times when missing her. During their flight from Ogygia back to the States he had taught a certain rhythm to Calypso so she knew the meaning too. When he started tapping against the back of her hand, a small sniffle came out of Calypso’s mouth.
“You haven’t done that in a long while,” she said quietly, her voice slightly cracked. “Gods, I feel I’ve been pretty selfish lately… All this time I have been thinking about my own struggles and have forgotten you have your own… yet your feelings towards me haven’t changed… You know, Apollo was right to get mad at me that one time.”
“What?” Leo asked, not understanding what Calypso was talking about.
“When we were on our way to that zoo…” she referred to the time when they had just arrived at Waystation. “Oh, never mind. What matters is that I see more clearly now. I’m not sure if I’m much better than those men who left me in Ogygia.”
“Of course you are!” Leo exclaimed. “You were stuck there for thousands of years! I… can’t even imagine… being forced to fall in love that many times and having to watch all of them go… I would have gone nuts. Thinking about it, I find it crazy that you didn’t just throw me out of your island. You deserved something better.”
“Leo…” Calypso said, turning his face towards her gently. “I think the fact that you weren’t exactly the type of hero that I was hoping for back then was the reason why things ended up going differently with you. I did not fall for you because of the curse. I fell for you despite that. And… after spending so much time together without having any time off from each other, I… started taking things for granted and forgot to be grateful. I owe you a lot. But I want to make it clear that that’s not why I want to be with you. I want to be with you for you. Sarcasm and bad puns included. And that’s what I remembered while I was gone.”
“Hey, Cal…” Leo removed Calypso’s hand from his jaw and took it into his. “I think we’ve both been faulty for these issues. The others here have made me realize that I haven’t exactly been the best boyfriend material either. I don’t talk about my issues. I make jokes at moments when I shouldn’t and probably make you think I don’t take our relationship seriously. Like that one time when I compared it to machines. I… I think I can see now why that annoyed you but that’s just how I roll. A machine geek and a clown. Those will probably always be a part of who I am so I’m not gonna promise that I’m just gonna magically change. But what I can promise is that I will try to make you see that I do take this seriously. Because I do.”
Calypso gave him a small, genuine smile and squeezed Leo’s hand slightly.
“I believe you. And… maybe we’re just one of those couples who enjoy bickering. What’s a life without challenge?”
Leo chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t have said it better myself, Sunshine.”
“I haven’t given my permission for the nickname ‘Sunshine’…” Calypso gave Leo a pointed look, which however quickly melted into a mischievous smile. “But we’ll see about that. More seriously speaking, though… I should try to keep my temper in check more as well. That doesn’t mean that I won’t call you out, though, when you deserve it.” She nudged him playfully.
“That’s fair enough,” Leo admitted too, giving her a lopsided smile.
“Yeah… Listen,” Calypso said suddenly. “In case you still doubt my commitment… I have something to show you.”
She went to her desk and took some papers out of the drawer.
“Here. Something I found on Ogygia after you left. Thought you might want to see it again.”
Leo took a closer look at the drawings and his mouth opened in surprise.
“You… these…” he said, dumbfounded.
“I just made Leo Valdez quiet? Miracles do happen.” Calypso teased but then turned her focus on the papers as well. It was a blueprint of a garage building Leo had drawn while stuck on Ogygia with Calypso. Besides Leo’s own workshop, there was a space for Calypso to do her work as well. For something that had been sketched in only a few hours, it seemed that he had still put a lot of thought into it. Even Annabeth Chase would have been proud of it.
“I… I wasn’t expecting to see these anymore,” Leo said with a hoarse voice, his eyes gleaming in the dim light of the room.
“But it was something you dreamed about, right?” Calypso asked, worried she had done something wrong.
“Yeah… still do.” Leo nodded, the papers shaking in his hands. “I didn’t think you’d remember…”
“I remember a lot more than you think I do,” Calypso said. “I used to be a titaness, remember? But… when I saw it I knew it was important to you and I kept it because it was my way to hold onto the hope that…” She swallowed. “That you would come back to me.”
Leo leaned in to give Calypso a kiss on her forehead. “And I did. Hey, wanna hear a secret? I took something from Ogygia to guide me back there. I think I still have it…”
He started fiddling with his toolbelt for a while before he found what he was looking for. It was a tiny piece of crystal from Calypso’s old cave.
“It was thanks to this that I got the astrolabe to work and managed to find back… You can have it.”
“But I…”
“It has done its job. It brought me to you. So, who is more suitable to carry it?”
“Thank you.” Calypso looked at the crystal with teary eyes. “It… may have been my prison but it was also a home… This… means a lot to me.”
“I hope it’ll remind you of the good things you experienced there. Not the bad," Leo said quietly.
“Yeah. Don’t worry, it… it will.”
“Good.”
Calypso leaned against Leo’s chest to calm herself down, getting his shirt wet but he didn’t complain. She didn’t move from there for a long time, and Leo was starting to get a bit worried before she finally lifted her head and swiped her nose on a tissue Leo dug for her from his toolbelt. Then she looked at him with her puffy eyes, somehow still looking good in Leo’s opinion.
“I don’t know what just happened there…” She mumbled. “I guess… this whole past year… or more… has been a lot. Yet I haven’t been able to cry even once… Somehow it just all flooded out of me now.” “’s OK.” Leo said, stroking Calypso’s long hair. “Trust me, I’ve been feeling that way… well, probably since I was 8.”
“When your mom…”
“Yeah,” Leo nodded. “But wanna hear a weird thing? Even though things haven’t exactly been easy for us… Right now I’m feeling more balanced than in a long time.”
“And why is that?” Calypso asked.
“This is gonna sound cheesy as hell but I think it’s because I’ve finally found a home. No, I don’t mean Waystation as a place, although I admit it’s cool as heck and the only place about as safe as Camp Half-Blood. But I mean the people here. You guys make it home.”
Even though Leo didn’t say it aloud, his eyes told Calypso that he wanted to say ���especially you’. She understood.
“I think… I feel the same way,” she said.
Leo brushed a strand of her hair aside from her face and leaned in to kiss her. The gesture made Calypso happy because so far Leo hadn’t been the one to initiate the more romantic displays of affection, even though she sometimes wished he would. It might have been a bit sloppy, but neither minded, just enjoying the warmth of the kiss.
After they finally separated, they continued talking for a long time, occasionally bickering, but it cleared the air between them. Calypso wanted to teach Leo to play the guitar (“But what if it makes me too irresistible? You’ll have to drive all the ladies away!” “You have a bit too high expectations on yourself, Leonidas.”). Leo told her about his pupils’ and Georgina’s most recent shenanigans. They also ended up speculating about Apollo’s plans now that he was a god again and reminiscing the times on Ogygia. At some point Leo dug the Valdezinator from his toolbelt and got Calypso to sing along to the music, making both a bit emotional again but in a good way. They fell asleep huddled in each other’s arms on the couch and didn’t even care when Jo and Emmie found them there the next morning, giving them quite a scolding again.
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spoopyghostbones · 3 years
Note
listen i am an anxious person, you cant just ask me to go off anon as if its something simple but well... what can i do
Fuck now I gotta actually do it ...................
Well here we go I guess 
GODS: Life
Zeus: What’s your name or nickname?
Y’all can call me either Ash or Lyra :)
Hera: Where are you from?
The Southern Hemisphere, African continent (That’s vague)
Athena: How old are you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwK_WOXjfc0
Hephaestus: When is your birthday?
5 Mayyyyy
Aphrodite: What’s your relationship status?
I am v e r y single
Poseidon: What are your pronouns?
she/her
Dionysus: Are you and extrovert or an introvert?
I am rather introverted, but I can be extroverted with the right people
Demeter: Do you have any pets?
I have 12 cats, 5 fish, 3 dogs (No I am not exaggerating)
Apollo: What kind of music are you into?
Many different kinds, but mostly whatever you can find on MrSuicideSheep’s YouTube channel (there’s some great writing vibes there 10/10 would recommend) and some pop songs 
Artemis: What do you first notice about new people?
How they act around other people, and I guess me especially? I don’t like to embarrass myself so if it looks like they don't want to talk to me I leave quickly 🤷‍♀️
Hades: What’s a big fear of yours?
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbeingforgottenandnotmakingadifference
Ares: What’s a big pet peeve of yours?
People chewing with their mouths open (and people using repetitive words like ‘like’ and ‘um’)
Hestia: Where do you consider home?
Wherever I am with my family
CREATURES: Lasts
Pegasus: Last movie you watched?
Please don't judge me but it was Barbie and the Three Musketeers (I can do what I want am big boi)
Mermaid: Last tv show you finished?
Uhhhhhh I’m halfway through season 2 of Westworld, does that count? 
Centaur: Last book you read?
Fanfiction or book book? Because if book book theeeeennnnn... jeez when’s the last time I read a real book. Um. I think it was actually The King’s Men (AFTG book 3) which is upsetting because that was like, March. I may have a slight fan fiction addiction. Nobody look at me.
Siren: Last song you listened to?
Anxiety by Besomorph and the Tech Thieves (great song)
Gorgon: Last thing you ate?
A donut! Five minutes ago! I had two!
Cyclops: Last time you cried?
Hnnnnnn........ I’m gonna say January because I genuinely can't remember but I think that's when it was 🤷‍♀️
Minotaur: Last time you were truly happy?
There was a day a while back where it was really cloudy and I got to go and walk by the water and sit on some rocks and just watch the waves and listen to the thunder in the distance and smell the coming rain and I felt like I had everything figured out and it was such a beautiful day and just... yea I miss that day
Sphynx: Last text you sent?
“Ohh, yes do it.” No I will not provide context
Chimera: Last call you made?
To my best friend so we could play Minecraft (Sup nerds I’m a gamer )
Griffin: Last thing you did before going to sleep last night?
...........read fan fiction 
Nymph: Last dream you remember?
Oh lol it was very messed up and had a lot to do with terror so. I'm not gonna go into detail (it wasn't fun)
Satyr: Last time you couldn’t stop laughing?
Today on the call with my best friend (have you met my best friend? I love them so much. hey @crabbeverage I love you) (they make really great art you should totally go see)
HEROES: Experiences
Heracles: Have you ever had a dream come true?
You know those weird prophetic dreams where you dream a thing and the next day it happens? Yea that 
If we’re talking figuratively, I reconnected with my childhood best friend during Lockdown that I never thought I’d speak to again (We hadn't seen each other in eight years sooooo)
Theseus: What is your worst regret?
Oh boy. Um. Being gullible? I’m not sure of anything more past that, at least nothing I can think of right now
Perseus: Have you ever been arrested?
HAH no, but I almost got my parents arrested when I was four (I started young in a life of crime)
Cadmus: Have you ever had your heart broken?
N o p e
Achilles: Have you ever had to be hospitalized?
I had teeth surgery many, many times so does that count? Nothing for an emergency or anything though
Actaeon: Tell about a memory you wish to forget.
Lol I can't remember anything I wish to forget ... guess it worked 
Bellerophon: Have you ever passed out?
Nah
Agamemnon: What is an achievement you’re proud of?
I got 99% average for biology last term! I’m gonna be proud of that for the rest of my life 
Oedipus: Have you ever been in love?
Nah
Jason: Have you ever travelled abroad? Where?
I lived in Mauritius for five years, I’ve been to Mozambique and also Namibia 
Atlanta: Have you ever stood up for someone else?
My brother, I think. When my parents were yelling at him 
Hippolytus: Tell an experience you will never forget.
Answering all of these (You are Mad, @siriuslyjames )
MAGICAL ITEMS: Favorites  
Trident: Who are your favorite people?
My friends and family! Shut up I can be cheesy 
Lightning Bolt: What are your top three favorite movies?
- Ladyhawke
- Semi Soet
- The Phantom of the Opera
Sun Chariot: What is your favorite mythological creature?
How can you make me choose??? NO??? Dragons.
Lyre: What are your top three favorite songs?
- Beauty by Layto
- Chemical Roulette by Jennings Couch 
- RISE by League of Legends
Caduceus: What is your favorite color?
Teal! And black (yes, @art people, I know black is a shade but w/e)
Aegis: What is your favourite book or series?
Hnnnnn.. favourite series is the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson and favourite book is A Court of Mist and Fury by Sara J. Maas (I know it’s the second book in a series but don’t judge me I have f e e l i n g s)
Scythe: What is your favorite tv show?
Currently its Westworld! Otherwise Wolfblood 
Bident: What is your favorite way to spend free time?
f a n f i c t i o n (or movies, series, or Minecraft)
Harpe: What are your top 3 favorite places?
That I’ve been? Uh.. Mauritius, the whole of it, the dam by my house, and Swakopmund in Namibia 
Cornucopia: What is your favorite place to eat?
A restaurant called Dala Mala because sushi and also noodles 
Winged Sandals: What is your favorite thing to do when you hangout with your friends?
Face masks, or wool shopping, or sushi dates ( @crabbeverage we gotta do all three again soon my face is h e c t i c )
Golden Fleece: What is your favorite animal?
FOXY BOIISSSSSSS
PLACES: Goals and Wishes
Olympus: Describe your dream job.
Something I would enjoy doing every day, that isn't repetitive or menial, and that pays well, and hopefully can allow me to work from home 
Tartarus: What’s a short term goal you hope to achieve?
Getting first in biology and maybe computers, because my school is weird and they give awards for that 
Underworld: Describe your dream vacation.
Camping on the beach under the stars, preferably with a bonfire and close friends and family, maybe a mountain to hike 
Styx: How would you like your life to look like in 10 years?
I mean I hope I’m stinking rich 
Athuna: If you could live anywhere in the world for the rest of your life, where would it be?
Beach! More specifically, Greece 
Sparta: Do you have a bucket list? If so, what’s on it?
Sky diving, bungee jumping, spending forever in a carnival 
Elysium: If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Telekinesis! The remote is always far away when I’m comfortable on the couch, and that is not okay 
Ogygia: Describe your dream husband/wife/life partner?
Someone who would love me for me, know my limits, understand me, someone I can love (obviously), someone I can trust implicitly and enjoy spending time with, hopefully they’re funny but like I’m pretty funny on my own so 🤷‍♀️ (lol they should at least laugh at my terrible jokes, lawd knows I do)
Troja: What is the craziest thing you wanna do before you die?
Jump! From plane 
The Labyrinth: Have you ever died and came back to life as a vampire?
I will neither confirm nor deny that statement, that information is classified
Delphi: Are you currently doing anything to pursue your dreams?
Uh, does school count? Also like, writing 
HEY YOU JAMESIEBOY ARE YOU HAPPY?? THIS TOOK AN HOUR but lol I guess it was fun so 
Here you gooo
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