#also like. this doesn’t change the canon of the books??? the series will surely be a faithful adaptation in other ways

[spaceorphan18]

Romy Fic: Intrusive Thoughts

Rating: T for suggestiveness and one bare ass ;)

Summary: Taking place during XM #4 post-Basketball game. How exactly does Remy get Rogue to agree to go on a date?

Notes: Next piece in my canon series. Wanted to write about how we got from the charged (literally and figuratively) basketball game to Rogue agreeing to actually go out with him. Thus this scene was born. Also, it was an excuse to write Remy in the shower. ;) Thanks @ludi-ling for the beta!

I decided I'm adding a panel to go along with each entry...

****

Intrusive Thoughts

Remy LeBeau is in the shower, deep in thought.  It had been a hot day but that hadn’t stopped them from playing a good game. It had almost felt like being among friends instead of teammates.  Who would have guessed Jubilee would be good for his ego? And showing up the Wolverine is always a plus.  The physicality had felt good, so much more satisfying than the drills in the Danger Room the professor made them run.  Even as the game intensified, it had all been in playful fun.  They had been accepting of him more than he realized.  

Unintentionally, his mind starts to drift.  Starts to dig around in the dark parts that he prefers to keep hidden.  They tolerate him now, but if they knew…?  There are so many factors that may come into play, so many that may blow over his carefully stacked house of cards.  The Thieves’ Guild, would they take him back? (It’s been long enough - surely they would welcome him home?)  Sinister might want another favor.  (The screams of those poor mutants still keep him up at night).  Belladonna… (He doesn’t want to think of Belladonna… How long has it been since they’ve spoken? How long has it been since they’ve touched…).

He closes his eyes, trying to reach out onto something that isn’t connected to his past.  She is the first thing that enters his mind.  Rogue.   She has been on his mind constantly since he had arrived at the mansion.  A welcome distraction to the darkening intrusive thoughts that have been haunting him lately.  

Stormy had brought him to the X-Men, misguided faith that she had in him. And it’s been nice, for a while, pretending to be the hero.  Pretending that there is some actual good in the world he could do.  Pretending that this might be a family worth keeping.  He knows his track record though, and if he was to be smart about it, he’d take off and not look back.  It’d be better for them in the long run.  Maybe better for him, too.  

For as much as he feels the need to go, he doesn’t. Because she’s there.  A beacon of light enticing him.  A smirk climbs on his lips as he thinks back to the court, about holding her in his arms, about what it would be like if she were really under him.  Or above him.  Or anywhere close to him would do.  The beautiful apple of Eden; forbidden to touch despite knowing how sinfully delicious the taste would be.  He knows better, he does.  But she’s not just another pretty girl.  There’s something more going on with this one.  He just doesn’t know what it is yet.  

…Or maybe he does just have a death wish.  

He turns the shower to cold, needing to cool off.  They are, after all, community showers.  

The sound of a muffled jazz song floats through the air.  Intrigued, he finishes his shower. He then grabs a towel off the rack, giving himself a quick dry down, before wrapping it loosely on his hips.  If he’s hearing it right, the music is coming from the room next door.  And he knows whose that is.  He steals a quick look in the mirror, grinning at his own form, wondering how she will react when she sees him.  

Just his luck, Rogue’s bedroom door is wide open and welcoming.   The stereo on her dresser is playing a slow, soulful tune as she sits curled up on her armchair, reading a book.  She’s changed out of her uniform, and looking relaxed in a pair of sweats and an oversized t-shirt that hangs off one shoulder.  God have mercy on his soul. She doesn’t have to do a thing to be breathtaking.  Wanting her is a constant state he doesn’t mind having to contend with.  

She’s so buried in her book that she doesn’t notice him standing there, casually leaning up against the doorframe.  He takes a moment, just to watch her, just to enjoy the wonderful creature that she is before he lets himself be known.  

“That a good book, chere?” he asks. 

Startled, she looks up, finally noticing he’s there.  Her eyes bulge when she sees him, in shock but not with disinterest.  It’s enough to make him grin wider.  

“Gambit,” she says.  There’s a blush on her cheeks as she turns her head away.  “You have no clothes on.” 

“I was just walking by from my shower,” he says, ignoring her observation.  “And heard Glen Miller on the radio.  Beautiful sounds that old boy makes, I just had to stop and listen.”  He takes a step into the bedroom.  Her eyes narrow, but she doesn’t stop him.  “Surprises me, though.  Figured you’d be the type who’d like something a little more…country.” 

She rolls her eyes at him, but smiles.  “I’m allowed to like more than one thing, you know.” 

“So, country isn’t off the table?” 

She bites her lip, looking towards the ceiling as he walks in a little further.  “What do you actually want, Gambit?” 

He comes in close and leans over, nearly whispering in her ear.  “You already know what I want,” he says.  Her entire body tenses as he lingers over her.  He makes her nervous.  He enjoys that he makes her nervous.  He knows when to push and he knows when to stop.  The fact that she hasn’t kicked him outright from her bedroom is a score for the day.  With Rogue, it’s the long game he’s playing.  “What’s this book that has you so engrossed?” 

“Oh,” she finally faces him, surprised.  “It’s nothing.” 

“A Duchess in Need,” he says, intrigued by the title.  “A romance book?” 

“I doubt you have any real interest in my book.” 

“Nothing wrong with a good romance book.” he licks his lips. “I find them inspiring.” 

“I’m sure you do.” 

“So, you wouldn’t mind me having a look?”  He makes a grab for the book.  She tears it away, just out of reach.  He goes for it again, this time using both hands.  The lunge forward causes the towel drop.  

“Gambit!” she cries, dropping the book in order to cover her eyes.  She’s scandalized but he doesn’t much care as he scoops down to pick up the towel and grab the book.  He loosely holds the towel up to cover himself as he flips open the book.  He knows his ass is hanging bare.  He knows, as she peeks through her fingers, that she can see it in the reflection of the vanity mirror.  He wants her to.  

“Oh, this be a dirty book,” he says, very amused as he starts reading.  “Her lips tremble and quiver with desire…”

“Gambit, give it back.” She jumps out of her seat, attempting to get the book out of his hands.  

“His manhood throbs in her hand...” 

“Gambit, I swear, I’ll…” 

“She finally submits to her lust.” 

“Gimme that.” She finally tears it from his hands, pulling it close to her chest.  “I get that this may seem silly to you, but I’m allowed to enjoy my books.” 

He may have pushed a little too far this time.  She is more closed off than ever, holding herself tightly, her eyes once again looking off in the distance.  Only this time there is anger.  “Chere, this book - it’s no good for you.”  

“Why? Because they should only be reserved for perverts like you?” Her voice is sharp.  Cutting.  

“Because it isn’t real romance,” he says.  It’s the seriousness in his voice that gets her to pay attention.  Up until now it’s been all flirty games and teasing words.  Most women he’s encountered, that’s all they need.  Not Rogue.  She’s going to need more.  How far is he willing to go? He isn’t sure.  But he knows there’s something stirring in his heart.  Something he can’t quite figure out.  

He wants her.  He’s known that much since the day he met her.  But he’s learning he may want all of her.  And that’s a much more dangerous game to play.  

“Like you know what real romance is,” she spits out.  

“I do.”  He takes a moment to pull the towel fully around his hips, securing it tightly.  The gesture is not lost on her.  “We get dressed up nice.  I take you to a nice dinner.  We can find some live jazz and dance in the moonlight.  We can talk…” 

“And then?” 

He gives her a suggestive glance.  “And then I take you home like a proper gentleman.” 

She scoffs at him.  “I doubt that.” 

“Your call, chere.” He plays it nonchalant, but his chips are all in.   

A long moment passes. Her eyes flicker as the wheels turn in her mind. It’s like he can see them. Whatever she’s thinking… 

“Okay,” she says carefully. 

“Okay?” He almost can’t believe it.  

“But if you try anything, I’ll break you in two.” 

“I would expect nothing less.” 

He turns to leave, knowing that her eyes are lingering on him, and smiles.  

#xmen #x men #rogue #gambit #anna marie lebeau #remy lebeau #romy #rogue and gambit #roguegambit #s.o. writes things #i need to come up with a name for this particular series

[waitinqroom]

the way i have seen actual HORDES of white blonde girls on the internet complaining about the pjo series annabeth casting bc they think they are, of all things…. losing Smart blonde girl representation.

#yall are so unserious 😭😭😭 #miss elle woods is right there!!!! #buffy the vampire slayer!!! #the chick from 10 things i hate about you whose name im somehow forgetting!!! #and those are just off the top of my head. there are certainly SO many more blonde baddies out there for yall #let the women of color have this one please 😭😭😭 #also like. this doesn’t change the canon of the books??? the series will surely be a faithful adaptation in other ways #but if ur so insistent on huffing and puffing about these little kids’ appearance… just reread the books <3 #r #pjo #percy jackson

[makethosenarratorsfight]

UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; THE FINAL FINAL

Shen Qingqiu Propaganda:

The entire series is told from his POV and the story seems like a comedy. The side stories from other characters POVs make the story sound like a tragedy. He thought that Luo Binghe hated him and wanted him dead while everyone else knew that Binghe was in love with him.

the whole book he’s using his OWN interpretation of the world to explain literally everything, not knowing that his introduction into the world changed it so fundamentally that his prior knowledge of it is less than useless. he’s like “binghe is being sweet to me because binghe is sweet to people that wronged him before repaying their slight a thousandfold, and he only adds their acceptance of his sweetness to his tally of their sins!! i have to run away forever or he’ll tear my arms and legs off!!!!!!” and binghe in reality is like “wow the love of my life my beloved shizun is scared of me still :( i should act sweet and nonthreatening so he’s not scared of me :(“ and he literally doesn’t have this corrected until the end of the book. but even when that one thing is corrected he still is like “haha okay but these other six things-“ bro……. cucumber bro………….. you homosexualized the world just accept it

He examines the entire reality he's isekai-ed into as if it's still fictional and his inner monologue ignores any "character trait" of the people around him that doesn't fit into his perception of "canon" despite everything he's done to change reality from the canon of the novel he first read. He routinely mislabels his own emotions as well as making heteronormative assumptions about himself and the people around him before he finally realises he's in reciprocated gay love with a man. It's a book that benefits being read twice, so the second time around you can focus on the implications Shen Qingqiu blatantly misses.

Transmigrates into a novel he “hates,” assumes he’s doing a good job pretending to be the character whose body he got stuck in, assumes other characters will stick to their original paths. Lotta assumptions, lots of rationalizing, lots of incredible feats of misunderstanding/misinterpreting things. His internal narration is also hysterical.

Lemony Snicket Propaganda:

(I would like to preface this by saying that Lemony Snicket is the author's pen name, not a real person, and he exists as a character in-universe as well as being the one in-universe who writes the books!) I'd say he's unreliable because he spent time collecting information about the Baudelaire kids and then... wrote books about it. He has no idea what any of their dialogue actually was, what they were thinking, or even the whole plot, he's just doing research into the incidents and then filling in the gaps to make it a story. What ACTUALLY happened to the Baudelaires? Nobody really knows for sure

While the Baudelaire siblings are in potentially life threatening danger, he will randomly start talking about his own life and just leave the siblings hanging. For example, once Count Olaf was threatening to kill Violet, and then Lemony randomly began talking about how he met the love of his life at a costume party. This man CANNOT stay on topic. Usually when a new character is introduced, Lemony tells us right at the start that they’re either going to die or that the Baudelaire siblings will never see them again. Foreshadowing is not subtle in these books. CONSTANTLY emphasizes how miserable he feels while writing these books. At one point he admits that he had to put his pencil down and go cry for a while because of how sad it made him. Once he filled an entire page with nothing but the word “ever” to emphasize how dangerous it is to put forks in electrical outlets. He also repeated a paragraph about deja vu later on in the book to give the reader deja vu.

#unreliable narrators #final final #polls #unreliable narrator battle #shen qingqiu #sqq #svsss #scum villain #scum villain self saving system #lemony snicket #a series of unfortunate events #asoue #asoue books #asoue netflix

[very-straight-blog]

The higher you are the greater the fall and I’d say the audience currently has Rhaenyra on quite a tall pedestal. I’m curious if you think the audience opinion on her would change when the war drags on and she doesn’t even actively fight for her claim (despite having a dragon) as her Strong children die one by one, Daemon fucks off to start an affair with Nettles, the iron throne cuts her when she sits on it as it did her father, the small folk turn on her, she allows the dragons in the dragonpit to be slaughtered without lifting a finger & she’s forced to sell her crown and flee like a coward back to Dragonstone where Aegon will be waiting to end her.

I'm gonna laugh so hard. She's just pathetic.

I'm not sure, to be honest. You're talking about the book canon, but the screenwriters will obviously change it. For example, there have been rumors for a long time that Rhaenyra will participate in the battles in the second season. I'm also not sure if Nettles will appear in the series at all. The creators made Rhaenyra the main character and her relationship with Daemon - the main love line. I think they will protect them at all costs from any possible negativity.

#ask #anti rhaenyra targaryen #house of the dragon #hotd #team green #pro team green #hotd season 2 #opinion

[thekingofthenameless]

I’M BACK

And I’m rebranding everything.

Profile picture change, username change (in a few days), etc.

talesofarcadiaforever -> thekingofthenameless

I took a long hiatus from writing and Tumblr in general because of bad burnout and putting expectations on myself that I shouldn’t have. Ha. But I’m back! And good news! I started writing again! Better news?

I decided to officially discontinue Emerald Embers and the Daylight’s Redemption series and write my own book.

I was already making everything so different from ToA that it was practically an alternate universe already: redesigning Merlin, making Merlin and Charlie familiars, adding magical species that weren’t explicitly in canon, completely changing other characters… I still love ToA, but I’m not hyperfixated on it anymore. And that’s okay. I was so scared of letting go for a long time, but I’m happy with my decision.

My wip is now called The King of the Nameless!

Currently, there are five main characters, and tidbits about each of them will be a little further down. (Except for one guy. He sucks.) Their attempted designs will also be down there.

In some aspects, it probably hasn’t changed too much. I’m still basing it off of Arthurian Legends, and Merlin is still the protagonist. But I redesigned him. Again.

The deuteragonist is Charlie; he and Merlin are still familiars. I tried several different names for him, but none of them would stick for him no matter how hard I tried; so Charlie the dragon he stays. But he now has the last name Ambrosius to reflect that he and Merlin are found family as well.

The other three characters in this stage of the story are Igraine, Gorlois, and Uther.

Igraine is Arthur and Morgana’s mother in the Arthurian Legends, (which I did not know at first and was wondering how Arthur and Morgana were half-siblings because they have different fathers…) and will stay the same here. I couldn’t find any official last name for her besides Pendragon from when she marries Uther? (Which is not going to happen here.) So I gave her and her husband the last name “le Fay” to match their daughter!

Gorlois is Igraine’s husband, and like I said, is Morgana’s father. However, unlike some media, he’s not going to be portrayed as a jealous and abusive husband. He’s the epitome of the “I love my wife” guy.

Uther is… a piece of work, to say the least. He’s the character who’s going to have a separate post because of triggering topics that I don’t want in this post.

I’m also going to make a separate post for upcoming characters, which include Nimue, Morgana, Arthur, etc.

Bear with me on lore and designs though please (I’m still working on the lore and I’m not sure if these will be their permanent designs except for Charlie). Some of it might be just random babble until I decide on something 😭 You’ll definitely be able to tell which characters I think about most ahaha.

Anyways, in more good news, I don’t use Artbreeder anymore. I attempt to use Picrews, but sometimes they don’t have everything I want, so I also use character creators from video games. If I could use Baldur’s Gate 3’s, I definitely would, but I’d have to spend like $600-ish to get something to play it on and get the game. 😑 I could also play it with my boyfriend, but our schedules are so busy with both of us working that’s it not really a convenient option.

But there is a game called Dragon’s Dogma, and I’ve been using that one! It’s an older game, so it doesn’t really have many fantasy character options, but it’s good enough for human characters lol. I made Igraine and Gorlois with it, and a few other characters yet to be posted.

Design and lore time!

Merlin:

This is him at the beginning of TKN! Expect more art of him eventually.

• 6' 8"

• “my son crump he has every disease”: schizophrenia, C-PTSD, misophonia

• is still a cambion like in the Arthurian Legends (specifically half-human, half-demon)

• was supposed to be the Anti-Christ (also like in the Legends)

• is also a romance and sex repulsed, non-partnering aroace <3.

• usually excudes a regal, dignified presence, and his preference for flowing outfits helps

• may seem slightly formal with strangers, but on a good day where he can clock their personality, he’ll either warm up to them quickly, or distance himself, depending on the person

• has a strong sense of justice, which also makes him anti-authoritarian for the most part. (unless they’ve actually proven that they’re not just in their position for the power of it, or because of nepotism; and really do want to help people.)

• extremely loyal

• highly empathetic; cries easily

• has a lot of trauma, but is still kind because he’s not going to make people suffer just because he did

• adrenaline junkie in regards to flying with Charlie

• Doesn’t kill if not necessary.

• Is very punctual. If you tell him to come at 5 he’ll be there at 4:30. At most.

Charlie:

• 6' 6" (top of muzzle)

• 7' 3" (top of head)

• the marking on his leg is his familiar mark!

• still nice, seems a little rougher around the edges than Merlin

• says the things that his wizard thinks but won’t say, and doesn’t hide that he stares people down while gauging their character. he sometimes won’t care that he sounds mean or very direct either

• very protective of his familiar and is intensely loyal to him. isn’t really willing to leave the latter alone with people they don’t really know because of people attempting to take advantage of his schizophrenia in the past, gaslighting him into thinking that their actions weren’t real and were things he hallucinated/imagined

• Do no harm but take no shit

• Far more willing to kill than Merlin

• “Hey do you want me to kill that guy for you? Because it sounds like he sucks and I will totally kill that guy for you.”

• (I guess he technically counts as an emotional support animal but like. he’s sentient so idk 😭)

• is an omnivore (most dragons are, but he eats more human food than them from growing up and staying around them.)

Igriane:

• 6' 5"

• a wizard!

• was originally a red head before I realized that oh yeah. Morgana has brown hair, and a ginger and blonde would definitely not for the most part have a brunette kid

• purple eyes (haven’t decided if I’m gonna stay with this concept, but I like the idea of all wizards having some type of heterochromia, or technicolor eyes to show that they have magic)

Gorlois:

• 6' 0"

• he doesn’t have any type of unique eye color yet because I didn’t have the concept of that for wizards yet, and still not sure if I’m gonna keep it so. blue eyes for now

• again I say he’s the “I love my wife” guy!!

• also a wizard (which is where Morgana gets her magic when she’s born. You have two parents with magic you’re like. guaranteed to have magic.)

• maybe not really much of a fighter? Would probably use some type of sword if he was.

Wow that was so much lore. 👍 If anyone wants to talk to me about my ocs or suggest ideas, my ask box is always open! (And I love love love getting asks)

Artist credits!

Merlin:

Charlie’s original artist:

Charlie’s second artist:

Charlie’s saddle:

#yelling #that’s my new ramble tag lol #would like to mention that I’m keeping my archive of EE and DR content up! People can absolutely use those ideas if they want to lol #like go ham with the ideas I’ll probably never use again #writing #my ocs #The King of the Nameless #art stuff #character designs #Merlin Ambrosius #TKN Merlin #Charlemagne Ambrosius #Igraine le Fay #Gorlois le Fay

[alexanderlightweight]

Instead of giving you even more prompts this week, can I just request a continuation of something you’re already working on? Honestly there is so much great stuff to choose from. Anything would be good but I’ve been really thinking on the two time travel fics you put out. Really interested to see where you take those and how thoroughly the boys will destroy canon.

Really though, I’ll be happy with anything you might pick.

here! some more of the same sky where malec timetravel back to the past ^_^

i am hoping this is one of the two? i'm not sure which of the other tt is yur preffered second though

i hope you enjoy

<3 lumine

-

Alec dies on a Tuesday.

Alec dies on a Tuesday and the shadowworld goes to hell on Wednesday, as if Alec’s death was what broke the dam.

Jace knows it’s dramatic, he does, but that doesn’t mean he and Izzy both can’t feel that it’s the truth.

Alec died and now the downworld is locking itself down, as if Alec’s death is just the first catalyst in a series of unforeseen and terrifying events that even the clave doesn’t know how to deal with.

Demons killed Alec — and if it wasn’t demons than Jace is going to find out what it was that stole his parabatai away and destroy whatever and whoever it was — and Jace is fully dedicated to eradicating every single one. He’s going to ensure that he earns justice for the broken bond.

—

Alec frowns as he looks over a book with Ragnor, “Jocelyn shouldn’t need to use it again, but even if she does she won’t need your assistance. We don’t even need the book since he’s already done the spell before.”

Ragnor nods in obvious agreement and they share a look.

Alec hopes it means that Ragnor is also impressed by the fact that Magnus has never forgotten a spell that he’s cast.

“But I still don’t like leaving the Book of the White with Camille, there’s too much of a risk of it ending up somewhere it shouldn’t.

“What do you mean it’s with Camille?”

Alec frowns and racks his memory, “from what I remember, Dot Rollins traded it to Camille for some sort of safety for the Fray’s.” Alec takes a moment to consider Ragnor’s rapidly purpling face and then he wisely sets down the book he was reading and backs out of the room.

He doesn’t understand half of what Ragnor is saying but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s clear Ragnor could use a little space while he processes the information that Alec gave him.

“Everything alright, darling?” Magnus asks him and Alec leans in to press a kiss to his cheek and sigh in relief that he’s warm beneath Alec’s lips.

“I think I upset him. I didn’t realize he didn’t know that Camille ended up with the book.”

Magnus winces and shrugs while Cat stares at the both of them. Alec doesn’t know how to respond to this version of her. This Cat doesn’t know him and is only allowing his continued existence because of Magnus, Alec can tell.

He respects that about her, but he also misses sharing stories and love for Magnus while they watched Madzie at the park…

“Madzie—” Alec breathes out turning to husband and then Magnus’ face transforms into one of darkness.

“You’ll act as a distraction?” Magnus asks quickly, because they both know that right now they have the very best element of surprise.

Rouse will never expect Magnus to be working with a shadowhunter.

Just like Valentine won’t be expecting Alec to be working with warlocks.

What became common knowledge is now their secret weapon and Alec nuzzles Magnus cheek even as his gut twists in memory of being too late to save Madzie before she survived more trauma.

This can be a gift, to both this new start for her as well as the failure that still haunts him.

“Of course.”

“Cat—” Magnus turns to give her a serious look filled with fury. “I will need your expertise and any comfort you’d be willing to offer a warlock toddler. She needs the stability of a safe and steady home and lifestyle and her core seems to be similar in wavelength to your own.”

Eyes warm with trust and Cat merely inclines her head — and Alec had expected no less — “I’d be honored, Magnus.”

#lumine writes #writing wednesday #writing wednesdays #the same sky #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #team immortal #catarina loss #ragnor fell #shadowhunters

[xbomboi]

Hi, hello, you’re stuff is absolutely amazing and all the praises.

(Seriously everything eah you’ve made so far feels so canon plausible it’s hard to believe, are you planning to make a career out of these skills/have one? You’d do amazing)

Onto a very generic question I would not be surprised might already be sitting in your inbox.

I am aware that your current project is to continue on ever after high with all the cannon (mostly the cartoon I think, but I can assume the books count too? And maybe doll boxes/diaries? It’s a lot).

If there was one subject you would want to rewrite or remove from canon entirely, what would it be (challenge would be to not name the disaster that is epic winter).

And on a lighter note, favorite/stuck-on-repeat part of the series (I’m sorry this ask is so long, Idnk how to shorten things)?

omg no this isn’t too long at all i’m actually so thrilled to be given something this long to look at!

for starters, in terms of continuing ever after high, my thing is that i want to follow the show canon above all, but i do want to conclude a lot of the stuff touched on in external media such as books and dairies etc. though in doing so i’m not going to treat anything that doesn’t come straight from the show as something to abide by completely. because the show and the books and what not have inconsistencies in numerous ways, such as defining what a royal/rebel is, or characterization, or even the novelizations of the specials having alternate tellings of the stories. i don’t even want to really necessarily change anything mentioned in the books when adapting it so much as ADD to the information provided in ways that aid the story in which i aim to tell.

i.e. the evil queen turning raven’s puppy Prince into a bone rat. what about Nevermore? where was she? WHEN was she? well i think the evil queen could have perhaps, upon feeling remorse, secretly gone and sought out a dragon for raven, and brought Nevermore home without telling raven it was her doing, so that she would have a new pet companion.

anywho, as for your actual questions, for the first one, i’m probably gonna have to go with the whole sequence in Way Too Wonderland when they’re going from class to class. see, when i first watched it, i got this feeling they were going to go from class to class and in each one a different girl in the group would demonstrate their strong point in solving how to pass the class.

if not that, i think i’d change who got to go and do the whole storybook page thing in Thronecoming. i think it should have just been the core four + ashlynn there, really. and less of them could have opened the door for more time getting to see briar seeing what raven’s point of view is like when faced with the reality of her story.

on a more basic note i’d just go back and make sure everyone were not introduced to from the start is actually there. at least, there for Legacy Day. they don’t have to talk or do anything, it would just be nice to know they were THERE.

anywho, in regards to your other question, that’s a tough one. i mean, i have a few. basic answer is raven’s Legacy Day declaration. it’s just iconic and a real powerful moment that shapes the narrative. i love it. there’s also pretty much all of briar’s scenes in Thronecoming. (and obviously her snapping at apple moment. that shit’s too funny.)

BUT also when raven signs the real book in Way Too Wonderland and gets that dark magic power up. i’m a sucker for fight scenes and especially ones with extra narrative weight, so i always appreciated that one + the aftermath of it. and when apple declares raven as a hero. it’s great.

thanks for the ask!

#eah #ever after high #raven queen #apple white #briar beauty #ask #ramble #duncontent

[once-upon-an-animation]

If I could redo PJO and give each counselor and some minor characters an arc…

So one of the things a lot of PJO fans want to see done differently in the show is adding more depth to the side characters at Camp Half blood, particularly characters like the Stoll brothers, Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckendorf, etc. I’m not sure how much screen time these guys are really gonna get, but I keep fantasizing about each of them sort of having their own story, even if it would lead to a convoluted plot.

Therefore, in this post, I’m going to outline what kind of arc I would have given to each character/counselor in PJO if I had been the one writing the story. Some of these will be pretty close to what is already canon, some of these are a complete overhaul of the canon characterization, some will be inspired by canon but not obey it completely. I also can’t promise that they’re entirely original. Brace yourself, this is a VERY long post:

- Percy Jackson: Wouldn’t change much about his original arc. I would add the following things:

1) Make him more active in the resolution of the love triangle between him, Rachel, and Annabeth. Have him reflect more on what he likes about Annabeth over Rachel.

2) Have him hesitate more in his decision to give Luke that dagger. The hesitation can be caused by Percy remembering all the ways in which Luke has hurt people, including himself. Have him be angry and not want to give Luke the dagger; it would add more suspension to the choice and make it a more emotional one.

3) Have him train more.

4) The first thing that Percy told us in the book was that he didn’t want to be a half-blood. I think an awesome full-circle moment for him would be to have a moment where he fully accepts and embraces being a half-blood as a part of his identity, even if he doesn’t like it much. He doesn’t necessarily have to be proud of it, but I think it would be s cool character moment for him to make peace with it.

It could work best during his dip in the River Styx when he forgets who he is. When he initially grabs Annabeth’s hand, he not only remembers who he is just as a person, but he also remembers being a half-blood as a part of who he is. He accepts his fate and his life as a demigod for what it is, and makes a final decision to be brave and to take on the prophecy no matter how scared he is. In a way, he would also be accepting that Annabeth is also a demigod and can’t offer him an escape the way Rachel can, but that’s okay because he cares for Annabeth deeply, and they can work together to overcome their obstacles.

- Annabeth Chase: I’m going to be honest, I don’t think Annabeth had much of an arc l’in the original series. Her relationships with others definitely changed over time, but I personally feel that she didn’t change that much in terms of her core character traits or beliefs. She started the story as a prideful, aggressive, sentimental character and mostly ended the story that way (as evidenced by HoO). She ended up being right about Luke redeeming himself, so it’s not like she was forced to change her view on when to stop defending bad people. She’s also rarely called out on her flaws; Percy getting mad at her in BoTL is the closest we ever get.

So for Annabeth, I would enhance her arc by having her try to counter her hubris by actively working on her sense of humility. This can manifest in many ways:

1) Humility in the idea that she might be wrong about Luke and his ability to be redeemed. Humility in the idea that he is not a perfectly good person and that he’s hurt a lot of people.

2) Humility in the idea that she is not always right in general and she is capable of getting things wrong. More moments where someone other than Percy calls her out on her shortcomings could be a part of this.

3) Humility in the idea that she doesn’t own Percy and isn’t entitled to a relationship with him. If they’re going to end up together, she has to give him the room to choose that for himself just like she chose it for herself. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that Percy waffled around a bit and needed to be pushed/challenged a little. But like, he still has his own autonomy, you know? His relationships are still his choice. I just want to see Annabeth respect Percy’s autonomy more than she does in canon. It seems like when he doesn’t agree with her or do things her way, her usual move is to get mad at him or worse, hit him. I don’t like this and it doesn’t demonstrate a healthy relationship.

4) Humility in the idea that her plans don’t always work, and sometimes other people are better at things that she is weaker at. ie. Rachel knowing how to navigate the Labyrinth better than her.

- Grover Underwood: Wouldn’t really change anything, I would just reveal more of his quest to find Pan and what he sees/learns along the way, maybe by adding more interactions between Grover and nature deities that we haven’t seen yet. Grover’s arc and involvement with nature would also be a cool opportunity to involve Demeter in the story more and make her more than just a nagging mom character.

Perhaps she and Pan have a friendship of sorts, and Pan has asked her to help Grover subtly along his quest. Or maybe Demeter and Grover can connect over their sadness at the destruction of nature, and how Demeter sometimes worries if her own domain will fade someday as more and more human societies turn away from traditional farming and agriculture.

- Luke Castellan: Wouldn’t change anything about his core story. I would, however, change the way that Annabeth thinks of and responds to him in later parts of the story, and I would change the way that he and his sacrifice is viewed at the end of TLO. I would give the story a more balanced or nuanced view about Luke’s actions.

I would also make Luke’s motivations more cohesive and have his desire to help other demigods be the main motivation from the start. Lastly, I would remove that stuff about him developing a crush on Annabeth at the end of TLO *or* if we want to keep this, I would just age him down. I don’t think much would change if Luke was like, 2 years older than Annabeth as opposed to 6 or 7.

- Thalia Grace: The only thing I would add to Thalia’s arc is more emphasis on the transition between the end of SoM and the beginning of TTC. Thalia has been out of commission for 5 years and I’m sure a lot has changed in the world since. I would add moments where she feels behind with the way things have changed, aka her not being up to date with the latest tech, pop culture moments, slang, etc. that the other kids at her new school are using. On top of finding out that Luke is now a villain, this becomes a source of emotional stress for Thalia and Annabeth has to comfort her.

In addition, I feel like this gives Thalia an even stronger reason to join the Hunters. Not only does she want to write off love, but joining the Hunters allows her to withdraw from the modern world that she no longer feels a part of and stick with the type of life that she knows and feels comfortable with.

- Bianca Di Angelo: Wouldn’t change much; maybe add more nuance and hesitation to her decision to ditch Nico and join the Hunters.

- Nico Di Angelo: Wouldn’t change much within PJO, but I have a lot of thoughts on what happened with him in HoO. Let’s save that for another day.

- Clarisse LaRue: The inspiration for Clarisse’s arc comes from her deep fear of making Ares angry at her and not having the same respect he gives his sons, and her need for respect in TLO. In my mind, Clarisse’s arc would be about learning the right way to earn respect.

Picture this: she starts the series off as a daughter of Ares who feels disrespected by her father and is craving respect from elsewhere. She thinks about how Ares and the gods in general command respect by being intimidating and making people fear them, so she engages in bullying in an effort to make people respect her. However, throughout the course of the series, we learn that none of the campers really respect her or the other bullies in the Ares cabin, and Clarisse continues to struggle to feel respected.

Over the course of the series, Clarisse begins to realize that bullying does not inspire true respect, but she has a hard time unlearning this because it goes against what she’s always thought. She starts mellowing out a little, having some of her softer moments in SoM and BoTL, but she’s still struggling. In addition, every time she experiences disrespect, she reverts back to her old behavior.

This comes to a climax in TLO when the whole Ares/Apollo cabin beef happens and she initially sits the war out. The campers call her out for not being a good friend all these years and for not being able to put her grudge aside to help her fellow campers during their biggest challenge. They specifically tell her that the reason she and her cabin don’t get any respect is because they aren’t very nice. Clarisse tries to argue about Michael Yew and the chariot, but the Apollo campers inform her that Michael is dead. He died fighting beside his friends, making him someone worthy of respect…unlike Clarisse.

Clarisse is forced to think about what makes someone w worth respecting and what doesn’t, and realizes her most respectable moments was when she was being a good friend. She apologizes to the camp for all the bullying and for ditching them during the war, and fights fiercely by them for the remainder of it. Clarisse doesn’t necessarily become a sweetheart after this, but she certainly becomes a better friend and cools down on the bullying. She also encourages her siblings to do the same.

- The Stoll Brothers: The Stoll brothers are pranksters and thieves, always turning every moment into an opportunity to steal and loot…even during war. This implies to me that they’re not very good at taking important things seriously, so here is my arc for them.

We know that things in the Hermes cabin aren’t exactly the happiest. The cabin is overcrowded with unclaimed kids and minor god kids who are probably salty about not having a cabin. You also have the other Hermes kids who are witnessing all of this. I like to imagine that since CHB doesn’t have a therapist and Chiron is spread pretty thin, the campers usually turn to their counselors or older siblings for emotional support.

After Luke betrays everyone and leaves, a lot of the unclaimed kids and minor god kids start to think about joining Luke in overthrowing the gods as they feel he might be right. They turn to Connor and Travis for emotional support but since the Stoll brothers don’t take things seriously, they brush off their campers and prioritize their pranking and looting. This pisses of their campers, and after the battle of the Labyrinth occurs and they see a bunch of their friends die without much help from the gods, a bunch of them make the decision to leave CHB and fight for Kronos.

As they’re leaving, Connor and Travis question them and try to make them stay, but their campers aren’t convinced. They complain about the way things have been, and they call Connor and Travis out for being crappy counselors before they leave. Connor and Travis feel awful about this and vow to win back their campers.

During TLO, the Stoll brothers encounter their old campers on the battlefield and hesitate to fight them. They try over and over to apologize to them and convince them that fighting with Kronos is not the way. The old Hermes campers are not convinced that the Stoll brothers truly care about them. This changes when the monsters from Kronos’ army pull a trick that ends up endangering the demigods who are on Kronos’ side, and the demigods feel deceived. Connor and Travis risk their lives to save their old campers, which finally convinces them. The old campers defect from Kronos’ army and rejoin CHB.

After the war, Connor and Travis vow to be better counselors. They commit to cleaning up their cabin now that it’s less crowded, and doing a better job of listening to their campers concerns. They still prank and loot, but they make sure they take care of their campers first.

- Charles Beckendorf: Beckendorf’s arc is inspired by his sentiments in feeling that machines are easier to understand than people and him being the anchor for the entire camp.

Beckendorf starts the series out as a guy who is pretty introverted. He likes to stay in the forge with his inventions and stay away from all the drama and hullabaloo that goes on with other campers. As a result, no one really knows Beckendorf or how great of a guy he is. This changes in SoM. At some point prior or during the beginning of SoM, Silena and Beckendorf start interacting. I like to think it’s because Silena got her weapon damaged and Beckendorf is helping her fix it. Silena’s kind and charming personality leads to Beckendorf opening up to her a little, which helps her realize that Beckendorf is a really cool dude.

As the camp continues to struggle with monster attacks while Mr. D and Tantalus don’t help much, Silena asks Beckendorf to help her and the other counselors talk to Mr. D/Tantalus and help lead the camp defenses. Beckendorf hesitates because again, he doesn’t like dealing with other people and being at the front lines isn’t really his style. But he does care about his friends and knows he can make a difference. Silena convinces him to break out of his shell, and he sort of takes over while they wait on the Fleece to be brought back.

Through his leadership, the campers get to see what a great guy Beckendorf is and he becomes more popular around camp. This encourages Beckendorf to come out of the forge more often, and he begins making more friends and bonding with Silena a little bit more. Over time, he becomes the “anchor” for the camp: giving people advice, being a shoulder for people to lean on, making people laugh and smile, and just being a great guy all around. I like to imagine that he, Percy, the Stoll brothers, and a few other boys form a friend group where they regularly hang out together at camp.

- Silena Beaureguard: Silena’s arc would remain mostly same as her book arc. The only thing I would change are her motivations and the depth of Luke’s manipulations.

Silena’s arc would focus on courage to do the right thing. When Luke initially convinces Silena to help him, it’s less so because Silena thinks he’s cute and moreso because she genuinely thinks that Kronos cares about demigods more than the gods do. She lies to her friends and dances around them to keep up with her spying. However, over time, especially after the death of her friends and siblings in BoTL, Silena starts to realize that Kronos doesn’t care about demigods at all. She tries to quit spyings few times. Initially, Luke tries to convince her that she’s on the right side by telling her that the deaths can’t be helped; it’s the campers’ fault for fighting for the wrong side. Silena is not completely convinced, but after Luke threatens to tell, she becomes consumed by fear of how her friends would react, and moreso, what Charlie would think of her.

She becomes more and more anxious about getting caught, to the point where Charlie starts to suspect that something is going on. Silena also becomes more anxious about her friends dying, knowing that she might be contributing to it. When she tells Kronos about the stealth mission, she tries to beg for Percy and Charlie’s lives, but Kronos agrees to let only Charlie live. Silena feels bad about what might happen to Percy, and has a hard time facing Annabeth, Percy, and Charlie prior to the mission. Right before Charlie takes off for the mission, she expresses her fear of losing him and begs him to be safe. Charlie assumes that this is what has been bothering Silena and gives her some comforting affection before he leaves.

After Charlie’s death, Silena is angry as she was in the books. She’s also mad at herself. However, she continues to help Kronos not just because she’s mad, but because she is still terrified of being revealed as the spy. Many campers are still angry about Beckendorf’s death, and she knows they would never forgive her. However, the amount of injury and death she sees during the battle of Manhattan is too much for her (especially Annabeth). This inspires her to try and redeem herself secretly by getting the Ares cabin, and then she ends up dying after revealing her secret as she did in the books.

In the original books, everyone agreed to view Silena as a hero. But in my head, I find this unrealistic. Maybe not every camper was willing to say what they thought because they don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but in my mind, there are a lot of mixed feelings surrounding Silena after the war. Some campers think she was a hero and don’t blame her at all, some view her actions as heroic but believe that she messed up big time, and some actively refuse to see her as a hero. Notably, Beckendorf’s siblings and closest friends (think Jake Mason, Nyssa Barrera, etc.) have a particularly hard time viewing Silena as a hero, knowing that her actions cost Charlie his life. Drew also has a hard time with Silena’s betrayal, but I’ll discuss that later.

- Pollux/Castor: Pollux’s arc is inspired by his brother’s death in the books. His arc is about overcoming grief and desires for revenge.

Pollux and Castor don’t have much of a personality in the books, so here’s what I’m thinking. As sons of Dionysus, they are larger-than-life party boys. To them, life is one huge party and nothing can bring them down. They celebrate everything and find any excuse to throw a party. In addition, they have mixed feelings about their godly parent being present at camp. On one hand, it’s like being the children of the school principal; people don’t really like their dad and don’t want to get in trouble with him and Pollux snd Castor have to deal with all that weirdness. On the other hand, it’s cool having a godly parent who’s close by and not as absent as other godly parents.

As twins, Pollux and Castor are joined at the hip; they do EVERYTHING together (including quests!) and Pollux can’t imagine a world without his brother in it. However, Mr.D starts to wonder if they’re too dependent on each other. Mr. D makes this comment to Pollux but he brushes it off. It’s okay if they depend on each other because they’re brothers and Castor will always be there, right?

During BoTL, Pollux and Castor fight side by side. However, they get separated in the heat of battle and they have a hard time fighting enemy demigods because they’re not used to fighting without each other. Just as an enemy demigod is about to kill Pollux, Castor manages to find an push his brother out of the way, and takes the hit instead.

After Castor’s death, Pollux becomes consumed with grief and depression. He stops participating in camp activities and stays in his cabin most of the time; he also doesn’t throw parties anymore. Dionysus tries to talk to him, but Pollux doesn’t want to talk to him; his dad is a god who wouldn’t understand. Mr. D reminds Pollux that he was once a demigod who lost his mother, but while Pollux appreciates the comfort, he is still grieving. He also develops a deep hatred for enemy demigods, and doesn’t sympathize with them or act merciful towards them the way Percy does.

The year between BoTL and TLO, Pollux becomes more and more bitter, getting snappier with his friends.. He also becomes consumed with training, because he has struggled with fighting monsters without Castor at his side. His friends try to talk to him about his behavior and mental health, but he doesn’t want to hear it. All Pollux can think about is his anger and desire for revenge.

During TLO, Pollux is absolutely brutal towards the enemy demigods, despite the campers he is with reminding him that the enemy demigods deserve sympathy. Pollux brushes this off, as the enemy demigods had no sympathy for him or his brother. Pollux eventually runs into the enemy demigod that killed Castor. Pollux becomes consumed by revenge and actively tries to kill this demigod, even if it means not following the battle plan. As a result, he endangers both himself and his fellow campers. One of the campers, who is Pollux’s friends sacrifices themselves to save Pollux and the others, allowing Pollux to get away with just an injury.

As he’s escorted to Olympus to heal, Pollux feels so bad about the dead camper and how much he has let grief and revenge consume him. As he rests in Olympus, he thinks about how the camper and Castor sacrificed themselves for him because they wanted him to live. Grief and desire for revenge has stopped him from living, which he feels is not a great way to honor their memories. Pollux decides that it’s time for him to accept his brother’s death and move on.

Before the campers head back to CHB after the battle, Pollux finds out that the enemy demigod who killed his brother was killed in battle somehow. Pollux remembers the kid’s name and godly parent from when they fought, and ensures that he receives a shroud at the final funeral. Pollux also decides that he wants to move on from Camp Half Blood and enjoy the life that Castor and his camper friend sacrificed themselves for. This is why he disappears after TLO. But before he leaves, he decides to host one last CHB cabin party with the help of other campers to celebrate the camp’s victory over the titans.

- Katie Gardener: Katie’s arc is inspired by her maternal personality and Demeter’s distant nature from her children. In addition, it’s also inspired by the fact that Demeter kids are not seen as super combative or strong in the first series.

Like Pollux and Castor, Katie barely shows up in the book and has no known personality traits except for the fact that she is stern/maternal. So along with her maternal personality, I like to think that she is stern but kind and caring towards her friends, especially her siblings. She looks out for them the way a mom would, making sure everyone’s on track and well taken care of.

I also think Katie is protective, the way Demeter is protective of Persephone. She sees it as her duty to nurture and protect her fellow campers, especially her siblings. When she fails to live up to what she perceives to be her responsibility, she beats herself up. Katie is very passionate about family. She prioritizes being there for her friends and family as much as she can. She loves culinary arts, and regularly bakes, cooks, and adds to her recipe book in her spare time. I like to think that she and all the Demeter kids get along really well with the nymphs and satyrs moreso than any other cabin.

Lastly, Katie is very mature. She hardly ever pulls pranks or breaks rules. She’s also very wholesome and “vanilla”. Her sense of humor is very kid-friendly, and you won’t catch her doing things like making out in public or spending a night in the stables with a romantic partner, unlike another couple we know! 😉

As for an arc, here’s what I’m thinking. Demeter kids are less likely to encounter their godly parent than other cabins, because of how distant Demeter is. The kids all feel a little sad about this in various ways, especially Katie, whose father never remarried. Katie occasionally tries to reach out to her mom via prayer but Demeter never responds. Because she loves her siblings and prioritizes family, Katie takes it upon herself to be the “cabin mama”, and looks after her siblings in a similar way that a mother would. This leads to Katie also becoming very protective of them, especially on quests and in battle.

Now, Demeter kids don’t deal with monsters too much, so it doesn’t bother them to not be as skilled or strong in combat. But when battle/war with the Titan army becomes inevitable, they begin to worry that they might not be strong enough. Katie is especially worried prior to the BoTL, because she wants to protect her siblings and get them through the battle alive. She and her siblings do their best, but the Demeter cabin ends up losing the most campers during the invasion, for which Katie feels responsible.

After the battle, Katie becomes preoccupied on how to become stronger in battle so she can protect her siblings; she begins training more and more. In addition, she wants to increase her magical powers beyond growing fruits and cooking food. Unfortunately, Katie still struggles with insecurities about feeling weak, especially when she trains with stronger campers and loses in duels to them.

She becomes desperate and frustrated enough to pray Demeter for help. Katie admits to Demeter in her prayer that she has insecurities about being a child of Demeter. Not only is Demeter distant, but she feels like she’s not as strong as other campers. She begs Demeter for help, some kind of magic item or assistance that will make her stronger. Katie doesn’t think that the prayer will work as Demeter rarely responds, but she tries anyway, reminding Demeter that her kids are family and mothers should look out for their kids.

Demeter is initially silent, which angers Katie. Upon returning to her cabin one day, she finds bags of various seeds from her mother. which angers her even more. These seeds are not special; they are the same plants that Katie has always grown. Katie feels like her mother didn’t help at all, and declares Demeter to be an uncaring mother.

During the battle in TLO, Katie is very nervous about fighting and losing more siblings in battle, and she worries if her training will pay off. Unfortunately, when the battle first starts, the Demeter kids take a few losses. Katie finally snaps, and uses one of her seeds/plants in a way she’s never used it before to take down some monsters.

Surprised by this undiscovered power, Katie continues experimenting with her gifted seeds, and ends up discovering a bunch of new ways to use the plants in battle and protect her siblings. The Demeter kids take her cue and begin doing the same with their seeds, turning their assigned tunnel into a jungle and defeating the monsters.

Katie eventually realizes that Demeter gave her those seeds as a reminder that Demeter kids have always been strong and that they have to grow their own strength. Katie’s insecurities about being weak begin to fade away, and she and her siblings kick butt in the remainder of the battle.

Now, I don’t ship Tratie (Travis and Katie), but a cute Tratie moment would be if during one of the final skirmishes, Travis gets into trouble and is about to get killed, but Katie pulls off some awesome plant magic and protects him. Travis thanks Katie and is surprised that she’s looking out for him, and Katie tells him that even though he’s kind of immature and annoying, she still cares about all her friends and would never let him die on her watch.

- Lee Fletcher: Lee’s narrative is kind of hard because he has even less of a personality and lines of dialogue in the original books than Katie does. However, I am going to base his arc off the fact that he’s an Apollo kid and some of the things Apollo mentioned in ToA about not remembering his children.

Now, as far as counselors go, we already have an archery kid (Michael Yew) and a healer kid (Will Solace). We don’t really have a music, poetry, or prophecy kid who’s lead the cabin. However, I want to stick with archery for what I’m imagining with Will’s arc. However, since the kids can have multiple interests or powers, I think it’s okay for Lee to be a good archer AND a good something else. I’m leaning towards poetry because we’ve already seen a lot of music-related powers in ToA. So poetry-related skills would be a little different. Here we go!

So in my mind, Lee’s arc is all about trying to get his father’s attention. I imagine Lee’s backstory like this: he came to camp when he was pretty young, like maybe 8 or 9. However, it took a really long time for Apollo to claim him (think a year or two). Most of the campers suspected that he was an Apollo kid due to his good archery skills and interest in poetry, and saw his claiming as just a formality, but unfortunately, the claiming took a while to come. In fact, unclaimed Apollo kids who arrived at camp after Lee were claimed before him.

After he was claimed, Lee was excited to finally know where he belonged. However, he couldn’t help but feel like Apollo didn’t care about him or live him as much as his other kids. While other Apollo kids received quests, had their prayers answered by Apollo, or even got to meet him once or twice, Lee has never met Apollo or received any quests from him directly.

Lee missed the pre-TLT trip to Mount Olympus because he was helping another camper out with one of their quests. Lee decides to try and gain his father’s attention/respect by becoming the best he can be at his skills. He trains hard to become one of CHB’s best archers and his poetry is incredible; he has a special poetry book full of his best work. Lee’s siblings (and other friends at camp) love him and really look up to him, especially Michael Yew. I like to think that the two could be close, and regularly train at the archery range together. But while Lee appreciates his siblings’ love and attention, it doesn’t make up for Apollo’s absence.

If I remember correctly, Apollo drops Percy, Thalia, and the Hunters off at CHB before leaving in Titan’s Curse. Lee hears about this after the fact, and is so angry about him missing such a close chance to finally interact with his father in a meaningful way. As Apollo continues to ignore Lee, Lee grows more bitter over the years, despite his siblings and friends continuously trying to cheer him up. He even writes some sad poetry to express his feelings. When some of the campers start to talk about joining Kronos prior to BoTL, Lee genuinely considers going with them, as he wonders what makes the gods worth fighting for.

Just as he is deciding to leave, he has a heartfelt talk with some of the siblings in his cabin, including Michael Yew and Will Solace. Lee realizes how much he loves his siblings and friends at CHB and how much they’ve supported him. He decides that while the gods might not be worth fighting for, his friends and siblings certainly are. Lee enters BoTL, ready to defend the camp with his life, and that’s exactly what happens. He takes on more monsters than he can handle to protect his siblings, and ends up being taken down.

His siblings grieve him deeply and promise to never forget the hero he was. As an epilogue to Lee’s story, I know this didn’t explicitly happen in ToA, but I like to think that one of his siblings brought up Lee to Lester/Apollo while Lester was at CHB during The Hidden Oracle. Perhaps they even show Apollo Lee’s poetry book. As Apollo reads through the book, he’s very impressed, but notices that the poems get sadder and sadder, and are referring to Apollo not caring about Lee. Apollo notices the last page of the book is empty and asks what happened. The kids reveal to Apollo that Lee died in the BoTL before he could finish the book. It devastates Apollo to discover that Lee died believing that Apollo didn’t care about it; Apollo spends a long time feeling like an awful father.

At the end of ToA, Apollo honors some of his kids who have died recently, including Lee and Michael, by writing a heartfelt memorial poem on the last empty page of Lee’s poetry book. The end of the poem also honors the Apollo kids who are still alive, and Apollo ends the poem with a few lines where he promises to contact his children more. While Apollo’s affection came far too late, Apollo wants Lee to know that he was an awesome kid, and that Apollo is proud of him and all of his children.

- Michael Yew: Michael Yew is another hard one. While he definitely has more of a personality than Lee or Katie, it’s hard to think of an arc for him that matches his personality and the theme of his death. But here’s what I’m thinking (sorry if it’s not great!): Michael is known for being on the shorter side, but offering lots of attitude to compensate for his height. He also holds on to that chariot dearly, only letting it go when he realized that the battle was more important.

So here’s an arc: Michael dreams of being a great hero, the kind that people praise for their strength and wit during battle and talk about for years to come. However, when most people think of heroes, they think of big strong macho guys, not little guys like Michael. Michael is insecure about his stature and physique, so he tries to compensate through his personality and his battle skills. In addition to his attitude, Michael is slightly cocky and arrogant. He puts himself on a pedestal, tries to act like more than what he is. He can also be a little reckless in battle; he occasionally ignores the danger of a situation if it means getting to have his heroic moment.

Michael trains hard with Lee and becomes a great archer. He’s not quite as good as Lee, but he’s still pretty good. Now, Michael got claimed much faster than Lee did and he was on the pre-TLT trip to Olympus where he got to meet his dad, so Michael knows Apollo cares about him. However, while Michael has helped others on their quest, he’s never had a chance to lead his own. He dreams of this, as it would be a chance to show off his skills and his leadership.

After Lee’s death, Michael becomes the new leader of the Apollo cabin, a role he takes seriously as he continues to try and prove himself. However, Michael’s attitude and arrogance come into play again a little bit, always looking for a chance to shine. His siblings tell him that he’s doing a little too much, but Michael doesn’t listen.

When the summer of TLO comes and quests are thrown out the window in favour of the raids, Michael is actually excited, because the chance that he will get to lead raids like he’s always wanted is more likely. However, the leadership thing doesn’t really work out because other counselors who already have experience leading (Annabeth, Percy, Clarisse, etc.) usually take charge. However, in the quest with the Ares cabin, Michael finds his moment to shine and ends up being a major hero in the battle. As he finally gets his moment of glory, Michael feels that as the “hero” of the raid, the chariot is his to keep, but as we know, Clarisse disagrees. The argument plays out the same way it did in canon, while emphasizing Michael’s arrogance.

As the campers are getting ready to leave for Manhattan as per Percy’s request, some kids in the Apollo cabin suggest to Michael that he should give Clarisse the chariot. When Michael demands to know why, his siblings tell him that it’s critical for the Ares cabin to be there if they go into battle, and that the chariot and his personal glory as a hero is not worth their absence.

At first, Michael disagrees, but then he does some self-reflecting not only on the chariot, but also on the qualities of a true hero. He really doesn’t want to let it go because the chariot is like a symbol of personal glory to him. However, he realizes that trying to shine as a hero isn’t the most important thing in the world; what matters is all the campers coming together. He tries to make peace with Clarisse by the chariot, but as it happens in canon, Clarisse holds on to her grudge, and Michael gets mad at her.

The battle begins and Michael’s on the bridge with his siblings. Michael is trying his best to lead and takes on the bulk of the monsters, but they’re struggling a lot and a lot of his siblings are getting hurt, even killed. In that moment, Michael doesn’t feel like much of hero; he feels like he’s losing and that the battle is impossible. Thankfully, Percy and Annabeth show up and things play out as they did in the books, right up until the beginning of the bridge scene. Michael’s siblings are trying to get to safety on the Manhattan side of the bridge, and Michael knows that he should probably get down and join them. However, he notices that the bridge is weak and comes up with a brilliant plan. Michael realizes that if the plan works, they’ll earn a win over Kronos by stopping him and his army from crossing over. Not only will this save them, but it’ll be a plan that Michael came up with. It’s a heroic moment that Michael has trouble resisting, even after his self-reflection from earlier.

Percy tells Michael to go but Michael ignores the request and informs Percy about the bridge. While Percy considers the plan and then goes to execute it, Michael has a split second chance to get off the bridge. But he’s so caught up in seeing his plan work out and watching the bridge collapse, that he doesn’t notice the cables giving way underneath him. He falls and smacks his head on one of the metal rods on the bridge, which renders him unconscious so that he doesn’t scream when he falls silently into the water. He ends up drowning In the river.

When Michael Yew’s death is confirmed, his siblings honor him as a hero. However, when they give their euology, they emphasize that what made Michael a great hero wasn’t necessarily how cool he was in battle. It was his better moments, like comforting Lee, and giving up the chariot if it meant getting Clarisse to come. This is what he is remembered for.

Sorry, I know this arc is kind of lame. I also know that it implies Michael is to blame for his death. However, I just couldn’t think of a reason as to why Michael would stay on the bridge long enough for it to collapse and take his life. Even as he fell, he could have jumped or even resurfaced in the water and yelled for help. The logistics of his death are really sketchy, so I did what I could.

- Will Solace: So out of all the tertiary characters in PJO, Will is the most fleshed out due to his newfound importance within the Solangelo ship. However, I’m going to be honest: I do not like Will’s canon personality. Therefore, I’m going to deviate from canon big-time and cook up a different Will in this post.

When I envision a boy who’s into healing/medicine, I imagine a much softer and sweeter person who pushes people when they need to be pushed, but in a gentle loving way (so more therapeutic). I also envision Will as a slightly flirty guy who enjoys romance a lot, and fantasizes about his ideal relationship all the time. Lastly, given his role as a son of Apollo and his light-related powers, my imagined arc for Will is all about toxic positivity, and his challenges dealing with the darker sides of being a half-blood.

Additionally, this version of Will Solace is a fairly sheltered kid. He lives in a part of the country where there isn’t much monster activity and crime/tragedy etc. He grew up in a relatively happy family…no significant trauma, abuse, neglect, relationship issues, etc. As a result, Will is a pretty optimistic, happy-go-lucky person who’s almost never in a bad mood. He always looks for the bright side in everything.

However, while Will’s optimism is generally a good thing, he sometimes falls into the trap of toxic positivity, where he pushes away darker topics and serious conversations in favour of keeping things light. This initially makes him a hard person to have nuanced conversations with, as he tends to dodge the issue at hand. Will also does this with himself. Whenever he feels sad or dark feelings, he refuses to do emotional reflection. He just bottles up whatever he’s feeling and forces himself to be “happy”.

Will is forced to confront the darker aspects of demigod life and life in general when he arrives at CHB the first time. As he talks to new friends and siblings about their backgrounds and learns more about the gods and the Greek world, he realizes there’s a lot of dark conflicts going on around him. In addition, as a healer, demigods don’t just come for healing with physical injuries. They also tend to talk about their emotional scars as well.

As much as Will cares for his siblings and friends. he finds all of the trauma overwhelming, and pushes it away as much as possible with toxic positivity. To him, anything can be fixed by just choosing to be happy and focusing on positive things. His siblings try to point out this toxic positivity and ignorant bliss, but Will doesn’t understand at first. To him, there’s nothing wrong with choosing to focus on happy things instead of dwelling on difficult feelings.

However, as the conflict with Kronos progresses, more battles happen, and more and more demigods get injured and killed. Campers open up about their grief of losing friends to death or to Kronos’ army, and Will finds it harder and harder to keep acting like these issues aren’t happening. All the feelings he’s bottled up come spilling out in BoTL (a recurring theme in this post, as you’ve noticed). Following the battle, there are a lot of dead demigods to assess, and a lot of injured demigods to try and heal. The healers from the Apollo cabin are working overtime and are struggling to attend to everyone. Will tries his absolute best to save as many demigods as possible, but some of the injuries are just too grave to fix.

The worst is Lee Fletcher. Will is tasked with trying to save his older half-brother and Will overextends himself trying to fix Lee’s injury. Unfortunately, it was never going to work as Lee was already almost dead anyway. After watching his brother die, Will’s first reaction is to do what he’s always done: bottle up the bad feelings. His siblings notice this and tell Will that it’s okay to not be positive all the time, and sometimes the best healing comes from facing sad and dark feelings instead of running from them. Will finally breaks down and sobs, letting out all the fears and worries about the dark side of being a demigod that he has kept inside over the years. His siblings give him advice on how to handle and overcome these dark moments.

Between BoTL and TLO, Will starts to change. He doesn’t lose his optimistic outlook, but he stops running away from difficult topics and conversations. He slowly becomes one of the best healers at camp not just for physical injuries, but because he’s now able to talk to people about emotional stuff as well.

This comes in handy during TLO after Michael Yew dies and the Apollo cabin is an emotional mess after losing another counselor within a year. Will is very nervous about being the new counselor; he’s not a renowned archer like Lee Fletcher or Michael Yew and doesn’t think that he will be as useful in battle. However, Will finds his groove as the battle progresses. His archer siblings take care of the battle stuff while he focuses on healing, and using his newfound coping skills, he’s able to console his siblings and keep the cabin (and camp!) together emotionally until the war is won.

These coping skills that Will has learned within this arc complement his future relationship with Nico. Nico’s status as a child of Hades causes people to fear him because of the creepiness of Hades’ domain and Nico’s powers. However, Will is one of the few campers that has no issues with Nico because Will has gotten better and better with confronting uncomfortable things. In addition, his therapeutic skills come in handy when talking to Nico about his trauma and emotional hardships. Rather than the snappy/angry Will that we get in BoO, we have a softer Will who validates Nico’s feelings and experiences, but gently pushes him to see that he is cared for and that there are people who want to be his friend, especially Will.

- Jake Mason: Jake Mason’s arc is all about living in the shadow of Charles Beckendorf.

As the anchor of the camp, Charlie is not only loved by all the other campers, he’s loved by his siblings. People admire his personality, his engineering skills, his looks, everything. As a result, the Hephaestus kids start using Charlie as the standard to live up to, especially when they’re building inventions. “What would Beckendorf do?” quickly becomes the motto of the cabin.

Jake Mason has mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Charlie is a great guy and totally deserves this kind of praise. And Jake really admires him too. On the other hand, as the next oldest sibling, Jake feels a lot of pressure to be just like Charlie and to do everything the way Charlie would do it. Jake has a hard time with this because he’s not as talented as Charlie and he has a different way of doing things.

This becomes a major issue in TLO after Beckendorf dies and Jake becomes the new cabin counselor. Not only is Jake grieving, but now he has to lead his cabin mates in war while they’re all grieving as well. Since everyone misses Charlie, Jake feels a TON of pressure to be Beckendorf 2.0, and he’s not very good at it. His siblings don’t mean to add to the pressure; they just really miss Charlie and are accidentally projecting that onto Jake. Things come to boil during the battle of Manhattan when Jake tries to build and use an invention that Charlie designed. Unfortunately, Jake did not build it correctly and the invention ends up failing, leading to the Hephaestus kids nearly losing the skirmish and needing to be rescued by other campers.

After this, Jake goes to sulk. Nyssa Barrera and Will come after him, and he talks to them about all the pressure he’s been feeling to be just like Charlie. Will tells Jake that he knows how he feels - Will has also worried about not being enough like Lee or Michael. Will also tells Jake that he can’t be anything other than himself, and that he should focus on what he is good at instead of what Charlie was good at, just like how Will focused on his healing. Nyssa apologizes to Jake on behalf of the cabin for putting so much pressure on him to be just like Charlie, and she tells Jake that they appreciate him exactly as he is. She also supports Will’s message of focusing on what he can do.

Jake takes this advice and builds his own invention his way, instead of the way Charlie would have done it. When it’s time for battle, the invention seems like it’s going to fail at first, but it ends up pulling through, and the Hephaestus kids win the skirmish. Jake grows a lot in confidence and leads the cabin through the rest of the battle using his own style of leadership instead of trying to copy Beckendorf.

- Drew Tanaka: So like many fans, Drew’s canon character disappoints me because I’m tired of all the girly girls in this franchise being depicted as mean or shallow with no additional depth. I’m okay with Drew starting out as mean/rude girl but I want there to be more to her character.

My arc for Drew is her struggle with Silena’s betrayal. Prior to Drew’s first arrival at camp, she struggled with making true friends. Most of her friendships were based on shallow things, like wanting to be pretty and popular. This changes when she comes to CHB and meets some of the nicer girls in the Aphrodite cabin, including Silena. Silena is incredibly sweet: she looks out for all the girls in the cabin, is always willing to give a helping hand, is always offering a shoulder to cry on, is always willing to give her siblings advice about beauty, fashion, romance, and is just a good friend in general.

Despite Drew’s more blunt personality, she enjoys spending time with Silena because Silena shares her interests but also offers her a friendship with kindness and love. Silena’s motto of “spreading love and beauty” makes Drew admire her a lot. Drew and Silena grow really close as they get older; they’re practically besties and hang out together when Silena isn’t with Beckendorf. They shop together, do each other’s makeup and hair, help each other pick out clothes, bedazzle their weapons together, etc. They talk about everything under the sun; light-hearted stuff like makeup and clothes, and deep stuff like their family backgrounds and the gods maybe not being so great. Lastly, there are these matching charm bracelets that the girls share. One of the charms on the bracelet is of two girls holding hands. Silena and Drew both have this matching charm as a symbol of their friendship.

Aside from Charlie, Drew is the only other camper to suspect weird behavior with Silena as the story progresses. During one of their more serious conversations, Silena says some things that make it sound like she’s siding with Luke and the Titan army. This is because Silena is feeling insecure about her spying and is secretly trying to seek validation for her actions. Drew finds this odd and shuts Silena down; as far as Drew is concerned, Kronos is evil and there’s no siding with him. Drew is surprised that Silena would even bring this up. After all, Kronos/Luke has harmed a lot of demigods and as a sweetheart, Silena should show more empathy about that. Silena feels bad about getting shut down and doesn’t bring up the topic again.

During Silena’s death in the canon story, Drew was not present. However, in this version of her arc, she is present when Silena dies. Drew is shell-shocked and heartbroken when Silena reveals that she is the spy; she can’t believe that her sister would betray everyone at camp like this, including her own siblings. When Clarisse insists that Silena is a hero, Drew is the is the first to openly push back against this narrative. She argues back and forth with Clarisse about the extent and the awfulness of what Silena has done, including the fact that the spying led to Charlie’s death and the harm of other campers. She vows that she will never view Silena as a hero, and runs away from the scene in tears.

When Silena’s shroud is being burned at the end of the battle, Drew hangs back and doesn’t follow her cabin to burn the shroud, a symbol of her refusal to forgive Silena. Clarisse tries to talk to her about it, but Drew shuts her down. When Drew becomes the new cabin counselor, she does everything in her power to get rid of Silena’s influence; she changes a bunch of cabin rules and traditions that Silena had implemented. This makes Drew’s siblings upset, but Drew doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to be reminded of Silena whatsoever and she doesn’t believe in honoring traitors.

At the end of the summer before she goes home, Drew is standing alone in the cabin. She looks at the friendship charm on her bracelet, and thinks about everything that happened with Silena that summer. She thinks about how much she valued Silena for her kindness and true friendship, only to find out that Silena was betraying her and the camp all along. Drew starts to cry and rips the charm off her bracelet in anger. She tosses it in the garbage and leaves camp for the summer.

Drew’s arc concludes in HoO when Piper comes along. In order to have Drew’s arc play out how I want it, some of Piper’s story has to change. However, I’m not interested in the HoO characters for this post, so I won’t go in depth on how Piper’s arc changes, but just know that this version of Piper is also a deviation from canon. In this version of the story, things are still messy in the Aphrodite cabin, with Drew having changed a lot of cabin rules. and with her personality souring a lot since last summer. Prior to Piper’s quest, things play out similarly to how they did in the books but this time, with more emphasis on how Drew’s heartbreak regarding Silena is influencing her behavior.

When Piper returns from the quest, rather than having that classic “new girl stands up to mean girl moment”, Piper insists on figuring out why Drew acts the way she does. A heated argument occurs between the two girls until Piper says the phrase “spreading love and beauty”. This reminds Drew of Silena and Drew breaks down in tears. She reveals to Piper that Silena used to say something similar, and finally opens up about her heartbreak regarding Silena. Drew specifically mentions that she brought back the heartbreaking tradition because Silena’s betrayal made her very pessimistic about things like true love. Piper, Drew and the Aphrodite siblings have a heartfelt conversation about love, heartbreak, and why Silena might have done what she did. After the convo, Drew is not quite ready to call Silena a hero, but she has a lot more empathy towards Silena than she did before.

Drew’s arc ends with some of the Aphrodite kids revealing that they saw the charm that she tossed out last summer and decided to hang on to it. Drew accepts the charm back, symbolizing her finally making peace with Silena’s actions and death, and forgiving Silena to some extent. She peacefully offers the counselor position to Piper, stating that she (Drew) could use a break, and that Piper would make a great counselor. In addition, Drew helps Piper reinstate some of Silena’s cabin traditions.

- Malcolm Pace: Malcolm’s arc is inspired by the idea that he is a good battle strategist and the fact that kids who academically excel often struggle with perfectionism.

Like most Athena kids, Malcolm is pretty good with all academic subjects, but his favorites are modern history, especially warfare and military conflicts. In particular, he likes to study the battle strategies used during those conflicts. Malcolm’s goal is to become one of the best battle strategists at Camp Half Blood. While his siblings are good at coming up with plans for smaller monster encounters, Malcolm focuses more on large-scale battles. He studies formations, battlefield weapons, military strategies, and other things.

Malcolm’s personality is the following; he’s generally a kind person, but he can be a little snooty at times, like most Athena kids. He doesn’t make fun of anyone for being uneducated, but he does get annoyed when he hears dumb ideas. He’s also very passionate about academia, and his idea of fun is always book or learning-related, like study dates, exploring libraries, watching history movies, etc. Malcolm is also incredibly studious; while other campers are pulling pranks or riding canoes, he’s analyzing battle elements.

Malcolm’s desire to be a top strategist stems from two things:

1) He really wants to impress his mother. Malcolm has never met her, and he wants her to be proud and impressed by him the first time she meets him. Malcolm knows how much Athena admires wisdom and good planning, and him leading the camp to victory in an epic battle using good strategy would be the perfect way to stand out to Athena. He would be a hero not just in terms of strength and prowess, but also in terms of being smart and clever.

2) With the arising conflict with Kronos, battle is becoming more and more likely. Malcolm knows the camp will need help with preparing for battle, and he wants to be the one to do it. Yes, a big part of it is pride and impressing his mom, but he does genuinely care about the camp and wants to protect them.

As the story progresses, Malcolm gets a couple of chances to show off his knowledge starting in SoM against the monsters invading camp; he does pretty well and his plans help the campers take down the monsters. Malcolm is proud of himself, but in his eyes, these are just small conflicts. He wants to prove himself in a real major battle.

He gets his chance when BoTL rolls around and the campers learn of a possible invasion. While Malcolm is of course afraid for the camp, he knows that this is his major chance to prove himself as a strategist by outwitting the Titan army. While Percy and co. are on the quest, Malcolm is planning like crazy. He’s scouting the area around Zeus’ fist, he’s analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each cabin, he’s looking at the placement for canons and other battlefield weapons, he’s mapping out offensive and defensive strategies.

The day of the invasion arrives, and Malcolm believes that he’s ready and that his plans will lead to victory. Unfortunately, Malcolm misses a few details in his planning due to stress and overworking himself. In addition, he has not planned for certain things with the Titan army, such as Kampe. As a result, Malcolm’s plan starts to fall apart partway through the battle. He tries his best to salvage it, but it doesn’t work out, and this leads to the deaths of a few campers.

After the battle, Malcolm is devastated and feels that he failed big time. However, because of pride, he is too ashamed to acknowledge what went wrong and refuses to talk to anyone about his plan falling apart. He decides to just ignore the whole thing and pretend that it never happened.

Unfortunately, Malcolm is forced to confront his failure when Athena chooses to visit him for the first time at the end of the summer when everyone has gone home. Athena is visiting Malcolm out of concern for his mistakes made during the invasion. Athena feels that these mistakes were very avoidable and were a big oversight on Malcolm’s part. She is even moreso disappointed that Malcolm has chosen to ignore the whole thing. She tells Malcolm that she has high expectations for him and wants to him to wisen up, as more battles will come and Malcolm will need to get it together. After Athena vanishes, Malcolm cries; he imagined his first meeting with Athena being a much happier one, but all she did was express disappointment, which makes Malcolm feel like a huge failure.

Over the next year, Malcolm’s perfectionism kicks in and he goes overboard with the studying and analyzing; he refuses to do almost anything else, not even sleep. In addition, he becomes hypercritical of himself, beating himself up for every mistake, even the little ones. His siblings, especially Annabeth, become concerned, but he doesn’t listen. He refuses to fail again, and will do anything to show Athena that he can do this. Unfortunately, this lack of balance isn’t good long term, and Malcolm starts to slip. During the raids in the summer of TLO, he has a hard time focusing in battle and starts making more and more mistakes, which he beats himself up for.

This vicious cycle comes to a boil during the battle of Manhattan. When the campers realize that they’re going to engage in another big battle to defend Manhattan all by themselves, Malcolm realizes how important strategy is going to be and how this will be a second chance for him. In addition, Annabeth will be staying with Percy for the battle, so it’s up to Malcolm to lead the cabin. However, Malcolm isn’t feeling very confident. His strategist skills have felt weak for some time, and he isn’t sure if he can lead the cabin to victory.

When the fighting initially starts, he does okay but is feeling very stressed. During one of the skirmishes midway through the battle, another one of Malcolm’s plans fail, causing him to finally snap and cry out of frustration. When his siblings try to comfort him, he reveals to them that Athena visited him last summer to express disappointment about his failures and he hasn’t had faith in his plans since. His siblings reassure him by sharing some of their own failures with him and reminding him that failure/mistakes are a normal part of gaining wisdom. They tell him that no matter how many mistakes he makes, he is still a smart guy and an awesome strategist.

Malcolm feels very comforted by his siblings, and regains a bit of confidence again. Instead of running away from his failures this time, he sits down and thinks about what is causing his plans to fail, analyzing what went wrong and what went right. He comes up with a new series of plans for the rest of the battle that end up working really well, and Malcolm becomes happy again as he feels he has gained back his mojo.

At the end of the battle, Annabeth congratulates Malcolm and says that he did a fantastic job. At the end of the summer, he gets another visit from Athena, who expresses pride in him for his work during the battle. She reiterates how important it is to not run from one’s mistakes and to keep learning from them, she reiterates that this is wisdom. Malcolm is happy to finally hear his mom say that she’s proud, and goes on to become an excellent strategist.

- Butch Walker/Lou Ellen Blackstone/Clovis: (different minor god kid perspectives)

These mini-arcs are based on different perspectives and experiences the minor god kids could have. We already had Ethan, who joined Kronos army immediately after learning who his godly parent was.

Butch: Butch can be an example of a minor god kid who came to Camp Half Blood and decided to support the gods in the war. This was not an easy decision because the demigods use Iris’ domain for communication all the time, but don’t see fit to give her cabin, something Butch finds disappointing. However, he’s made a lot of good friends at camp and couldn’t imagine siding against them. In addition, rainbows are often a sign of peace, so the idea of carrying out a war doesn’t sit well with him.

Lou Ellen: Lou can be an example of a minor god kid who is initially at CHB, but decides to switch sides. Lou feels that despite being a powerful goddess, Hecate doesn’t get enough respect. When Hecate switches sides, she calls out to Lou to join her and Lou does. However, Lou is one of the campers that Connor and Travis talk to about how Kronos doesn’t really care for them. When Lou realizes this, she questions fighting for Kronos and decides to switch back to CHB, much to Hecate’s frustration. After the war, Lou and Hecate speak about what happened and reconcile.

Clovis: Clovis can be an example of a minor god kid who has known his demigod parent for some time and has always sided with Kronos from the start. When he’s not sleeping, he’s very busy with doing favours for Kronos/Morpheus including helping them recruit demigods by sending messages in people’s dreams or putting enemies to sleep in battle (similar/identical to what happens in one of my favourite PJO fanfics, Daughter of Wisdom. I can’t remember the author’s name at this time but it should come up if you Google it).

In line with the idea that Kronos doesn’t truly care about demigods, Clovis starts being overworked at some point, which exhausts him more and more. He asks for breaks and rest time, but the army doesn’t care; he has work to do. Clovis grows more annoyed with the army over time, even debating quitting. When the titans lose the war but minor kids are welcomed to camp, Clovis feels a sense of relief, as he can now rest and feel safe/welcome.

Aaaaaaaand that’s it! If you read all the way to the end, thank you! I know this was a very long post 😂 Anyhow, I really enjoyed this creative exercise and coming up with story arcs for these characters. If you liked any of the ideas, please let me know. I like writing and want to write my own story someday, so feedback on which arcs were good would be helpful. Thanks!

#percy jackon and the olympians #PJO #pjo series #percy series #percy jackson #annabeth chase #clarisse la rue #charles beckendorf #silena beauregard #will solace #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #malcolm pace #drew tanaka #lee fletcher #michael yew #jake mason #pollux #katie gardner #travis stoll #connor stoll #lou ellen blackstone #clovis #butch walker #luke castellan #grover underwood #thalia grace

[harryjpotter-shitpost]

I can give Dudley the redemption arch because he was a child following after his parents (very abusive behaviors) but people are really defending Petunia and Vernon???? What the fuck?? Like it pretty much says in the first sentence of the whole series that they’re assholes! And it is canon that both Vernon AND Petunia were physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive to Harry until the last moment he left private drive.

The only reason I can give Dudley any kind of redemption or forgiveness is because we see him change in the books after the Dementor attack. I don’t think he and Harry will ever be close or very friendly, but I can see them having a civil relationship at least for their children. Or even just to make up for their shitty childhood that they shared together, as Dudley was also abused too. But this would definitely be after years of therapy and trying to make amends, it wouldn’t happen until many years after the war was over.

You would be surprised on how many posts I’ve crossed where people almost worship Petunia and say that Vernon is the one who forced her to hate her sister!!!

I believe that Dudley deserves redemption cause as you said he was a young person living in a very toxic environment. However, I’m always rather conflicted on how his relationship with Harry is post-war. I’ve read a few fics that had different perspectives on what their relationship have come to, and they’re all very interesting! But I’m not set out on one opinion. Sometimes I think Harry would try to leave it all behind him, but sometimes I think that maybe they’d reconnect as Dudley was obviously a very huge part of Harry’s life (even though it was horrendous) and the same goes the other direction. But I’m sure of one thing; I don’t think they’ll ever have a “close brotherhood” kind of relationship. Maybe sending presents over the holidays or reconnecting every few years, but never close, yk?

But anyways let me get back to my rant about Petunia. It’ll be under the cut :)

CW: mentions of abuse

Let’s get one thing straight: Vernon did not make her hate Harry nor was he pulling the strings in that house and the abuse regarding his nephew. It was Petunia. She collected ALL the hatred in that house and made sure it was taken out on Harry. Why? Because she’s a petty, small-minded and disgusting woman who abused the power she had over a child. All that to let out some of the childish jealousy she had against her DEAD little sister.

Here are some quotes from the books to use as a starting point:

“Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister,”

“They didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child [Harry] like that.”

“she [Petunia] always got so upset at any mention of her sister.”

"He [Vernon] cleared his throat nervously. ‘Er — Petunia, dear — you haven’t heard from your sister lately, have you?’ As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn’t have a sister. ‘No,’ she said sharply.”

“Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he’d heard the name ‘Potter.’ He decided he didn’t dare.”

“‘Harry’ [Said Petunia]. ‘Nasty, common name, if you ask me.’”

So these quotes are from the first chapter of the first book (Philosopher’s Stone).

As you can see, pretending the Potters don’t exist is a mutual decision from both sides and it seems that Petunia is more bothered by the mention of her sister than Vernon is because when he tries to bring up the Potters his main concern is upsetting Petunia. Never once does he mention his own disgust with them when trying to bring them up. No, it’s Petunia’s reaction he’s worried about. This doesn’t seem like a behavior of someone who is forcing his wife to hate her sister.

If anything it seems to me that Petunia have explained to her husband how much she dislikes the mention of her sister (and her sister’s entire family too) and so Vernon got the memo that the Potters should never be brought up. Which shows that Petunia is the one who fuels the hatred for the Potters in their household.

Now I’m not saying that Vernon is completely innocent, no he’s hates the Potters too. But his is more personal. After the whole double date incident when he felt that James was taking the mickey out of him and undermining his power. A bully like Vernon who likes to show off his money and power being insulted by a teenager made Vernon hate James’ guts.

“…James was amused by Vernon, and made the mistake of showing it. Vernon tried to patronise James, asking what car he drove.”

“Vernon could not tell whether he was being made fun of or not, and grew angry. The evening ended with Vernon and Petunia storming out of the restaurant.” -Pottermore

And I think that Vernon usually likes to pretend that the people he hates don’t exist, he’s way to high to be bothered by a cocky teenager who ‘doesn’t have a future’. He feels way too superior. During his wedding he made sure not to give James any attention, but made sure to return the humiliation he felt during the double date.

“Vernon refused to speak to James at the reception, but described him, within James’ earshot, as ‘some kind of amateur magician’.” -Pottermore

After Vernon obviously felt satisfied with his comeback, he never gives James a glance.

That’s why when mentioning the Potters he doesn’t even mention the double date incident because technically who’s that James next to him?? No, his wife’s reaction is the main concern.

And that’s the difference between the hate Vernon has towards the Potters and Petunia’s hatred. Whereas Vernon hates James specifically for undermining him and his money and power, Petunia hates them all because she ‘knows’ she’s less superior and special. This fuels her jealousy and anger towards them.

Therefore; Vernon’s ultimate superiority and Petunia’s ultimate loathing.

And you can see that Petunia already has it out for Harry even though she hasn’t met him yet; calling his name “Nasty”. Now I know some of you might interpret her sentence as Petunia criticizing her sister’s choice of names, but if that was the case she would’ve claimed the boy’s misfortune of having such a name or the kid’s misfortune on having parents like the Potters. But no, she mainly focused on the child. Which gives the impression that she’s disliked Harry the moment she knew about him.

“she [Petunia] received from Lily and James the announcement of Harry’s birth, and after one contemptuous look, Petunia threw it in the bin.” -Pottermore

These things sets the foundations for her dislike towards Harry. So when the moment comes where she actually meets him, he will be connected to the ‘detestable’ announcement and the ‘nasty’ name.

Then the times comes where she has to handle that child’s responsibilities and raise him.

And she did take him in, no one’s denying that, but this happened:

“She did it grudgingly, and spent the rest of Harry’s childhood punishing him for her own choice.” -Pottermore

She spent the rest of Harry’s childhood punishing him for her own choice.

She took him in. She hated every single moment of having to raise him. So she made sure he was punished for it.

If that is not abuse as some people like to say, then what is exactly???? Punishing an innocent child for taking him in? Are you guys serious?

That’s why her character disgusts me so much. I cannot stand her at all. Because if anything this is a psycho level of behavior. A sane person wouldn’t dream of hurting a small animal let alone a child. Her nephew.

And as for Vernon’s hatred towards Harry it stems out of the humiliation he felt when he met James. The fact that Vernon made sure to return that humiliation during the wedding satisfied Vernon and he didn’t have to think about James anymore. But Harry ( the carbon copy of James) serves as a constant reminder of that feeling, so his hatred towards Harry stems out from his injured masculinity. As Pottermore says:

“Uncle Vernon’s dislike of Harry stems in part, like Severus Snape’s, from Harry’s close resemblance to the father they both so disliked.”

So ya this is my rant about them. Sorry if this is all over the place, English isn’t my first language and this topic pisses me off so much🙂.

And I’d like to conclude that I hate them both, but hate Petunia at tad bit more :)

#cw abuse #the Dursleys piss me off so much #harry deserves better #that poor thing was punished for nothing #don’t let me catch one of y’all defending petunia #I’ll genuinely loose it #she’s one of the most vile women #i could write more about this topic #but i think this is too long already #golden trio #4 privet drive #petunia dursley #vernon dursley #aunt petunia #uncle vernon #harry james potter #dudley dursley #harry potter #harry potter series

[orionsangel86]

Subtext Glorious Subtext! A Dreamling on Netflix analysis in The Sandman - Part 3

1589

Insert distracted boyfriend meme here...

1589 is when the queer coding starts ramping up a notch. Let me tell you how I am fascinated by their choice of actor to play Shakespeare - a twink with stars in his eyes - amazing. Bravo. Not even Hob manages to look at Dream like he wants to be utterly ruined by him the way this actor looked at Tom Sturridge. Here on Tumblr.com I am sure we are all very much aware of the theories and speculation about the actual Shakespeares sexuality with the consensus being that he was probably bisexual, and my GOD have they decided to lean into that on this show.

There is a lot to analyse in this scene. Hob’s dialogue about what he has been up to is almost word for word the same as the comic, but Ferdie’s delivery is perfect with its mix of flirtation and desperate need to impress. Look at this dramatic fool:

Dream’s curious reaction to his bragging is almost as if he is trying to figure him out, but unlike the comics/audiobook, the conversation between Shakespeare and Marlow is interspersed with this one, with Shakespeare pulling Dream’s attention before Hob has even finished talking. This adds extra tension to the scene and raises the emotional stakes. In the comics, Hob had already finished talking when Shakespeare gets up and starts reciting Faustus to the point that he draws Dream’s attention prompting Dream to ask Hob who he is.

One of the interesting changes made is the removal of Hob’s description of Kit Marlowe as “bent as a pewter ducat.” A wise choice as it comes across as somewhat homophobic, but its removal also serves to not “other” Marlowe and therefore “other” the idea of homosexuality as something different to Hob. The other similar change to the show was the removal of Shakespeare flirting with the waitress whilst Marlowe claimed he’d “stick to boys, my horned “actresses”.” 

It’s funny to me that by removing the moments in this scene that canonically confirm one characters queerness, the show also removes any interpretation that could “no homo” the other characters, ultimately making everyone appear much gayer in general!

(My giffing skills are woefully inept so have an image of Shakespeare's heart eyes instead)

When Dream approaches Shakespeare in the show it is insanely heated. The music swells with mystery and intrigue, Shakespeare stands and stares at Dream in complete awe. Enraptured by Dream’s gaze. The whole

“Have we met?”

“We have, but men forget in waking hours.”

Sounds like the ultimate pick up line. It's basically a play on One Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty in my opinion! This line is in the comic, and also in the audible book, but the delivery of the line in the show is the only time it comes across like a come on. Tom Sturridge please explain yourself?!?

In fact, all the acting choices here blow my mind. Seriously. I wanna know what the director told these two. Its really easy to see Dream’s proposition to Shakespeare as something beyond a business transaction. With the mysterious and rather romantic music, the soft candlelight, and the cameras keeping in close up of the two characters as they hold each others gaze... It’s a moment where you raise your eyebrows and wonder if the show just implied that their lead character just took THE Shakespeare off for a one night stand passionate enough to inspire the entire “Fair Youth” series of sonnets.

Joking aside, it doesn’t help the extremely queer undertones when the camera cuts back and forth between Dream, Shakespeare and Hob looking on at them with an expression one can only describe as hurt.

(Gif link)

It’s the editing in this scene that really sets it apart from the comic and audible book. Dream is distracted throughout Hob’s talk, and continues to look over at Shakespeare much to Hob’s apparent distress. When he eventually gets up to leave, he holds a hand up to stop Hob talking and simply walks away. Which only causes to further upset Hob and heightens the emotional intensity of the moment. As Neil Gaiman said in the episode 6 watch party - Hob is having to watch his date get up and leave him half way through. It’s specifically framed in a way to emphasise the hurt Hob feels, as well as the envy towards Shakespeare.

This is far more subtle in the comic and practically non existent in the audible audiobook where Dream actually tells Hob “Excuse me” before approaching Shakespeare. I found this funny because where the audiobook interpreted Dream’s behaviour in the comic as rude and clearly sought to attempt to change that, the Netflix show makes his behaviour worse by framing it as Dream abandoning his date. Playing up the emotions of the moment and making the whole scene come across like a live action distracted boyfriend meme!

I do encourage every Sandman fan to listen to the Audible audiobooks, but fair warning, the tone is NOT the same. The meeting with Shakespeare is played completely straight (in both senses of the words). This is in no way a criticism of the audiobook, but it is an excellent indication of director decisions and how different elements in different mediums can convey certain tones. I find that the show in general plays heavily into Dream being other and oftentimes it is very easy for other to be subtextually layered alongside queer (see the entire history of queer coding in cinema and why gay people love the horror genre). Interestingly, the audiobook doesn’t give Dream this same vibe. People such as Hob, Shakespeare, Constantine, etc, they just treat him as a bit of a posh lord. His otherness isn’t heavily emphasised in scenes set in the Waking World, indicating he is better at blending in than he is in the show.

So after Dream goes off to ravage Shakespeare - ahem - make a business arrangement with Shakespeare, the final 1589 scene is Hob’s final reaction. The line is the same across all mediums.

“Everything to live for, and no where to go but up.”

In the comic, the final panels here do not give any indication that Hob is upset by Dream’s leaving. He get’s distracted by the joys of having white bread. Simple pleasures please comic!Hob far greater than mysterious black clad lords.

The audiobook follows this along to the letter. Audible!Hob is joyful, laughing and happily reminscing about killing for bread (NGL I don’t particularly like Hob in the audiobook. No offence to Mathew Horne but 1. I can’t separate his voice from Gavin in Gavin and Stacey, and 2. I just think he comes across as really laddish and I find it offputting.)

In the show, Ferdie gives an absolute brilliant performance with just the right mix of hurt at being ditched for a young twink, and hopeful optimism for the future. Gone is any mention of killing for white bread, and in it’s place is a thoughtful Hob who looks at the spread of food laid out for his Stranger, and accepts it almost as a consolation prize. He’s gonna eat through his hurt and try to forget about this for the next century, but we all know he won’t forget at all.

Follow on to Part 4 to read my analysis of 1689

#Dreamling #dreamling meta #the sandman #sandman meta #dreamling week #dreamling week 2023 #sandman comic spoilers #dream of the endless #hob gadling

[chrkrose]

A few considerations about the rumor that are circulating that Nettles might be cut off from House of The Dragon:

- “Rhaena can take nettles storyline” no she CAN’T. BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. Nobody would be saying this shit if Rhaena was white like she was in the books. They have opposite arcs, their role in the story have nothing in common, the only reason the showrunners might think this is a good idea is because like the same people who say this bs about Rhaena taking Nettles storyline is because THEY ARE RACIST.

- Cutting off Nettles from House of The Dragon has no other explanation other than RACISM. And I mean it. She’s the only canonically black character from the dance. Her role is VERY importante, and what she possibly represents not only to the story but to the entire lore of asoiaf is HUGE.

- The Velaryons being black was NEVER about representation and inclusion and I’m sorry, just because I’m black it doesn’t mean I need to be content with scraps. The Velaryons were racebent so the showrunners could PRETEND they cared about this shit, while making sure to shit all over these characters once they became black. And they were racebent so the Targaryens wouldn’t look so bad, especially Rhaenyra.

- The Velaryons being black is a DISSERVICE because they are Valyrians, Valyrians came from an SLAVER EMPIRE, are y’all not seeing how ridiculous it is for the story to have them as black people? And I’m proven right because now the only canonical black character might not even be adapted because apparently there’s a quota for black people to be seen in the series and HoTD has reached it. I would rather have a canonical black character who’s story checks every single hero trope and who’s arc is super important to the story than a bunch of race bent characters who weren’t even black in the first place and when they were made so, their roles were diminished and changed to cater to white characters.

- Nettles is also being cut off (in case the rumor is true) so Rhaenyra won’t look too bad being classist and racist against her, and so we won’t see the white girlboss Queen being abandoned and becoming second best to a black woman. And y’all know this is one of the main reasons.

I really really hope the rumor is not true, but if it is, I will not bother watching second season and I will NOT be silent about the RACISM House of The Dragon showrunners and writers are displaying.

[yasminthespiritfaninnit]

Hello everyone! I have something to say. I have seen some arguments that I didn’t like at all. But, I still respect everyone who made it.

So, Imma say my perspective.

Tommy didn’t deserve Exile or to be exiled at all.

Dream didn’t deserve to be tortured in prison or to be imprisoned without a fair trial.

I will detail what I mean the best that I can.

First, let’s start with Dream and the prison.

Dream was imprisoned, after Punz led the entire server to him, before he could kill Tubbo in front of Tommy.

Am I saying that he shouldn’t have been arrested? Hell no. His list of war crimes and atrocities against humanity at this point was and still is a mile long.

But the group failed to give Dream a fair trial to defend himself.

Instead, Tommy (after killing Dream twice as revenge for the two deaths that Dream committed against him. Note on that one, I completely understand Tommy’s rage. But killing Dream was not right, nor did it help anyone.) had Sam, (the warden) to imprison Dream after he claimed that he could revive Wilbur.

Neither Tommy or Sam or anyone here had the authority to imprison Dream. Especially not without a fair trial. But they did it anyways and that’s not right. Dream was unlawfully imprisoned against his will.

Now, the torture. Imma say it bluntly. It was 100% not Dream’s fault.

Quackity, who had no authority to do this, wanted the revive book.

Dream said no as he had the right to say that.

So, grossly abusing his rights as a visitor, Quackity started to torture Dream.

So, yeah.

And now, we get to Exile and Tommy.

Exile was an overreaction and rigged from the start. Plain and simple.

Was Tommy completely in the right for the conflict? No. (In order of least to most fucked up in my opinion.) He grief-ed and robbed George’s house, compared Tubbo to Schlatt, tried to frame Niki, and tried to use Dream’s dead horse against him.

But also, Exile was both a unfair punishment and one that was pushed so heavily.

Dream, (the main ring-leader for getting rid of Tommy from L’Manburg) provoked Tommy to make him look worse, pushed Tubbo into a corner about the topic, and tried to frame Tommy of many more griefing incidents (with the help of a unwitting Puffy.). He was pulling the strings when the real victim, George, didn’t even give two shits. Tommy’s damages were easily fixed and everything stolen was easily recovered.

Should Tommy be punished for griefing George? Yes. But he should have been put on probation and made to fix the damages (and recover the stolen property) to George’s house, not put through a rigged series of events that got him banned from his own home.

(And I have an extra argument for this part. Canon is canon. Just because nothing came of something doesn’t mean that it is not important. Tommy’s framing of Niki was immediately shut down. But he still tried instead of fessing up. Dream’s framing of Tommy didn’t seem to do much. But he still did that, showing that he was trying his hardest to get Tommy out of L’Manburg no matter what.)

And now, the exile itself.

It was 100% not Tommy’s fault. Nothing during exile was his fault and nothing was exaggerated by the fans.

Dream really did make Tommy throw his stuff down the hole to destroy it.

Dream really did beat Tommy with an axe if he mustered the tiniest rebellion.

Dream really did changed up his rules and the rules of Exile on a whim.

(For example, Tommy was only banned from L’Manburg. But when they got there, Dream told him that he couldn’t go *anywhere* that was established.)

Dream really did make sure that Tommy was dependent on him for everything.

And Dream really did all of this to control Tommy, to make him a protégé. (Cc!Dream confirmed this over Twitter.)

When people say that Exile was abuse, we didn’t exaggerate it. In fact, I think we didn’t do the horrors justice. Exile was torture as much as the prison was for Dream and Vice versa.

If anyone wants to discuss, please reblog this with your opinions or comment on this blog.

#dream smp #dsmp #tommyinnit #c!tommy #dreamwastaken #c!dream #mcyt #dream smp analysis #slight discourse #more just me telling facts to show my opinion as calmly as I can. #pandora’s box #exile #tw: abuse #a lot of it. #disc duo #primeboys

[anti-dazai-blog]

This is in regards to that unpopular character post you made - I'm not sure she counts, but I'm obsessed with Yosano. She's got parallels to basically every character, has the potential to be the strongest character in the series considering she can't be killed, has a bunch of unhealthy coping mechanisms no one talks about and is clearly a mess of a person while managing to be competent and mature about it. I really want more focus on her soon because she's a core member of the ADA yet she's gotten like 2 fight scenes and barely any focus.

Also, I think Naomi Tanizaki is such a fun character. People don't like her because of the whole incest thing, but what we see of her beyond her brother is someone who's cunning, manipulative, but also proactive and demonstrates more desire to save people than like anyone else in the Agency lol. I've read the book her character is based on and she could be a strategic character so easily because she's clearly intelligent and if Asagiri stepped away from Fyodor's bullshit to remember she exists I'm convinced she could become a fan favorite.

I think Yosano technically can be killed, since her ability requires conscious activation (as in, it doesn’t just activate on its own when she’s gravely injured—she has to choose to activate it)— so if she were to be killed in a way that kills too quickly to activate it, or if she were unconscious when attacked, then theoretically she can be killed.

That being said, she is very powerful and very underutilized in the series. Credit where credit’s due, I appreciate how Asagiri had her be a part of the combat unite that was sent to accost Chuuya during the Guild arc. Both Chuuya and Kenji are objectively incredibly strong combative (some of the strongest in the series), and I love that Yosano was grouped in with them.

I would count her as relatively not popular, purely on the basis that all the bsd girls have significantly less fandom attention than the guys. While I would say Yosano is the most popular girl (mainly because she’s the one with the most thorough backstory, and one of the few characters to have connections to multiple organizations), that’s really not saying much when you compare her popularity to some of the less popular bsd guy characters.

And onto Naomi—yeah the anime completely destroyed her entire character. When I read the manga, I was surprised by just how interesting of a character she is. You know how there’s this running theory that she’s just an illusion from Tanizaki’s ability? I posted a few months ago (half-jokingly) that she’s actually the one with the ability and Tanizaki is the illusion she’s creating.

That being said, I’d like to change that theory a bit. Both her and Tanizaki are real people, but Naomi is the one with the ability. Every time we see Tanizaki use his ability, it’s actually Naomi creating the illusions, and Tanizaki is just miming being in control of them. In scenes where Tanizaki is doing things when Naomi’s not physically there, Naomi is just overlaying Tanizaki’s image onto herself.

But back to the canon stuff—I wanna see Naomi fight the Port Mafia (or whoever the enemy of the week is next). In all seriousness, I really want to see what Naomi is capable of. The manga demonstrates that to some extent in the Guild arc, but I want her to have at least one significant enough scene in the manga that Bones won’t be able to cut.

#You’re so right Yosano and Naomi deserve more love #Naomi specifically #Not that Yosano doesn’t. Just that Naomi is ignored a whole lot more #I’m half convinced that the whole incest thing is just a big running joke #That Naomi and Tanizaki are doing to mess with everyone #anti dazai asks #Oh also yeah ask game’s still open. It’s open forever actually because I love hearing about unpopular blorbos #Bsd #yosano bsd #naomi bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs

[infini-tree]

so me and and a friend have been spitballing some concepts re: tetocu, but mostly the kids introduced. a lot of it involved having them show a more varied/deeper look at them to emphasize the original book’s themes of kids vs. the school system and it lowkey snowballed into what’s basically an indulgent dt17-esque reboot (in terms of how much it keeps faithful/what it changes with the source material), but tetocu.

anyway, here’s a lineup and a few out-of-context doodles of potential interactions/conflicts/’episodes’. there’s more info on the characters under the read more

general points

one of the main points of contention was the kids. the ensemble cast was honestly a good call for a tv series, but the kids are just surface-level tropes, if they even have a particular angle to them in the first place. as cute as the MISFARTS concept was, it was difficult to buy into it considering how little development there were for the introduced kids

the kids

gooch (aka steve aka suketsugu) is practically a bit of a rewrite situation from his canon counterpart. he’s moved from japan to the US, and frequently around the country as a result of his family needing to move with the museum pieces they’re taking care of. during this time, he’s had to pick up english, and as a result he’s learned to be a bit of a fast-talker to make sure conversations don’t derail from him. him, stanley, and bo are a trio in this one

stanley’s a pretty chill guy for the most part and ridiculously strong as a result of hauling produce on the family farm. a few years ago, he transferred from a different, much rougher school thanks to his new stepdad

bo is mostly the same, save from elaboration re: his background. bullshark had this idea where he lived in a woodsy area all his life and was immediately made the subject of school rumor after bringing a whittling knife. the heart of the trio

dressy is another rewrite situation where her hippie gimmick was angled more towards Animal Enjoyer, which was then further angled towards That One [Insert Animal Here] Kid. as a result of her independent nature, she doesn’t get along with the rest of the kids initially since she has a similar near-sightedness to the boys re: their pranks, but with her LARP shennanigans, sometimes picking fights

erica is a little nerfed in the sense that she isn’t this ultra perfect girl anymore. she leans more into the type of child forced to grow up too fast to help with their parents-- in the dm’s she helped around the house by taking care of her siblings. in reality, she’d love to do kids’ stuff like LARP as her self-insert

jessica (and by extension the sophies’) gimmick was angled more towards being a pageant queen. she’s still plenty vain as her canon self, but she can pinpoint anyone’s emotional vulnerabilities after being in the pageant circuit for so long. she also hides her own vulnerabilities regarding her dad who had left in a divorce a few years ago

sophie one is still her right hand/a bit more favored with jessica, but with the justification that she and jessica had prior history together as a result of her mom being part of jessica’s pageant crew-- so she actually knows quite a lot about the world of fashion, sewing, hairdressing, etc. there’s also the concept of her having an older sibling who was once in the pageant circuit, leaving her alone while her mom and sister were off backstage

other sophie mostly just tags along with jessica and sophie 1 of her own volition, but the other kids don’t get it (she has a baby crush on jessica).  mostly just a daydreamer and bookish

#mells draws a thing #captain underpants #tetocu23 #(like dt/17. listen i just needed a snappy tag for organization #in any case im pretty sure there were some talking points i forgot to put in here rip)

[gffa]

As time goes on and Disney canon gets messier and messier, I have come to the position of "Lucas views/canon >>>> Disney movies/TV series > Disney supplementary canon" as to what I hold as my own view of Star Wars and how I reconcile things. Sometimes you just can't reconcile things between them and I think for me to try is a fruitless path, because I'd never be satisfied by it.  That's why I think viewing these things as different continuities is really the best way forward--when Disney diverges from Lucas' views, well, that's what is true for Disney's canon/continuity, but it doesn't affect Lucas' canon/continuity/views, they both exist at the same time and one cannot change the other. For the attachment thing specifically, I mostly get along by pointing out on my blog that it's not what Lucas put into his movies, it's not what the Jedi say in TCW, and then I just have to move on after that.  I love many things about Disney canon, but sometimes I disagree with it and that's just where I have to leave it!  I can talk about it on my blog, I can give examples, I can write/encourage others to write the kind of fic that I want, but I also just have to be okay with understanding that sometimes Disney canon doesn't get something right or that they want to change something, but that's only true for that continuity, it doesn't change the one I care about as my foundation (Lucas' continuity). Same for the celibacy thing--is it true for Disney's continuity?  Sure.  It's true that those characters said what they said.  But what does that even mean?  It doesn't mean I suddenly have to accept it, I can just say, "This conflicts with Lucas' statements, so I'm going to ignore it on my own level." or I can say, "It's not part of Lucas' canon, so it's not relevant to this discussion." if we're talking about Lucas' canon or I can say, "It's part of Disney's canon, they get to say what goes into their canon, but I get to say what goes into my fan creations and that thing in particular is getting tossed out the window." So ultimately how I reconcile it is that the context depends on the discussion we're having, whether it's relevant to that particular discussion or not (if we're discussing Disney's continuity, it's relevant, if we're discussing Lucas' continuity, it's not relevant, if we're discussing my bigger picture on the narrative themes of the Jedi, I get to personally say it's not relevant to me, everyone else gets to make that same choice for themselves and decide what they want). When I read or watch Disney era stuff, basically I just go, "Yeah, that's not what Lucas said, so I'm throwing that part out, but I'll happily enjoy the rest of the story!" For me, Lucas' continuity always takes precedence, because I'm not writing official Disney content.  I'm writing posts on my blog and while I do strive to be objective and accurate when talking about Disney canon, I'm also okay with operating in a mixture of different continuities + my own personal "canon" of what I accept/don't accept. By the way, this is setting aside the huge thorny deliberately unsolvable question of the reliability/need for 100% coherency within Disney's continuity, like, seriously, I think everyone should let that dream go, it is not going to always be reconcilable, like we cannot reconcile the Kanan comics with the The Bad Batch to 100%, we just gotta live with that, and I think Lucasfilm operates on that understanding, no matter what else they said.  Anything about how books/novels/comics are on the same level as the TV shows is an absolute lie. It's also setting aside that Lucasfilm has operated on the, "This is what this character said, they may not be a reliable narrator." idea for awhile now too, like when Rael says that Jedi are supposed to be celibate, that's what that character is saying, it's not necessarily written in the narrative stone as undeniably true.  (I do think that Disney's Jedi are meant to be celibate, but since we're going with this example, I'm using it to show how I operate within the continuity, if that makes sense!) That's my general philosophy about these things anyway!  And I think it's important to ask, what's the point of what any of us want to do here anyway?  Why are we having any given conversation?  Is it just to have fun?  Is it to analyze themes, parallels, or contradictions within various source materials?  That determines so much of what and how we reconcile things.  If I'm just being silly on the internet, I don't give a shit what Disney says, you know?  If I'm examining a Disney novel, okay, I give a shit what Disney says, but it doesn't have to change my bigger views of the Jedi, I might reject it but I might also like it better and adopt it in. At the end of the day, do what makes you happiest, there's no punishment or reward for breaking/following any "rules", only what satisfaction you personally derive from it!  It makes me happy to prioritize Lucas canon, so that's what I do.  If someone is happier prioritizing Legends or Disney canon or a mix of all three, they should do that!  We can recognize when we're talking different continuities with each other and that should be fine.  Each of us gets to choose what we do/don't reconcile with everything else.

#lumi.txt #meta

[highladyluck]

Season 2, Episode 2 Liveblog

Teaser:

Good lord the WLW Agenda on that girl! flawless, no notes

Oh Rand honey, your heart is in the right place but your hands are not

How long, Selene? How long EXACTLY?

Rand is here and he’s having a bad time

Rand made fun of Mat for wanting to pay rent by sleeping with the hot innkeeper, but here he is, doing just that!

Oooooh the Foregate! Oh, this is interesting! Rand the nerd is always researching, and I guess he’s researching madness.

Lmao Verin is such a smartass

Moiraine you are being such a regular ass right now

Eeeeey it’s the fly trap! That’s a neat little book cameo. Oooooh and the dead Fade too.

Oh yeah I was waiting for someone in Cairhein to give Rand shit for looking like an Aiel 😅 gonna give that guy even more PSTD

Ok, looking at this guy’s waffleknit bathrobe… Donal Finn is RIGHT, Mat has been wearing a bathrobe this entire time. I want him out of Liandrin’s weird torture basement and into some fancy duds immediately!!!

I bet this guy reminds Rand of Tam, assuming he knows Tam’s backstory

Wow who vets these employees?

Liandrin like ‘I’ll just pocket this deadly poison don’t mind me”

I am here to watch Nyneave Heal and to make snarky comments about Liandrin and I have paused the episode so I am temporarily out of snarky comments about Liandrin

Oh I like the Accepted sleeves

“Men who can channel are not a disease” You tell her, Nyneave!!!

I don’t think they should let Liandrin teach Accepted either >:( also lol @ thinking you could stop Nyneave from being a Yellow, that ajah has her name all over it

…honestly I’m with Mat, we just saw her palm a poison and Liandrin doesn’t give anything nice to men without an ulterior motive

Ok I laughed at Mat’s choreography

I really hope he’s breaking out and not breaking into A Secret Dagger Chamber or something

Oh Elayne you are about to get a shock

Oh Egwene’s face was PERFECT

“You know, some of the greatest pairings have been between novices in adjacent rooms” Good lord the WLW Agenda on that girl! flawless, no notes

I would also be like ‘yeah yeah’ if a Green told me the Last Battle was coming, tbf. They’re the Apocalypse Prepper Ajah, you gotta take it with a grain of salt.

Love the canon detail of Nyneave never giving Aes Sedai their honorifics

Watch Nyneave discover Mat’s oubliette but he’s already gone 😂 (my guess)

BIG FISH

Oh Verin :D

Uh oh, I remember this part with the Trolloc mask.

Oh Rand honey, your heart is in the right place but your hands are not

Lmao she does not ever stop

This is not femdom!!! Illegal illegal red alert 🚨 🚨 🚨 Robert Jordan is rolling unquietly in his grave 😡 although I guess Selene got what she wanted so maybe it is femdom 🤔

Hah, I was wondering how Elayne got away with fancying up her room.

Liandrin loves someone??? OH SHIT that’s her son.

Awwwwwww we needed Min and Mat bonding and this is giving!!! I love that the show really shows how these people are friends

Mat is sharing his spoon, my heart ♥️

Moiraine like ‘oh god shut up, fine’

I do love the pond story, straight from New Spring :D

I cannot wait for Mat and Min shenanigans!!!

I was not sure about Donal b/c I loved Barney, but he makes his eyes sparkle & the little half-smile is pure Mat, so I’m sold

Ah Mat, you’ll change your tune on knowing the shit headed your way, if only so you can better dodge it

Awwww stabby??? No no stabby!

Lmao Selene he absolutely can hurt you

How long, Selene? How long EXACTLY?

Oh my god Elayne making hooch in her dorm room is the canon I never knew I needed, she absolutely would

Accepted Test! Accepted Test! *bangs on the table in rhythm*

The music in this series is so gooooood

Lan don’t read that, it’ll give you nightmares

Moiraine like ‘I knew you were the one when I could abandon you and you’d survive’ but a) you could not, Lan’s deathwish is So Big and b) I see Moiraine’s mentorship strategy at play here lmao

Moiraine is absolutely trying her best to platonic lifebond break up with Lan

(And ‘we were never equals’ is not a denial)

The battle sequences feel very RJ- chaos, impressions, brief intense focus

I would NOT want to piss off Loial

Also I only JUST realized it was the Seanchan a beat before the damane showed up, b/c I recognized the Samuri-ish armor

They all have baseball bats!!! This is so funny to me, I’m sorry, but then again what is more American and Japanese than baseball bats? (Besides imperialism)

They look so scary!

Oooooh American accent! Not Texas enough but still

Damn Rand, did you intend to take his job? Yeah, ok, I see you did. Damn, that’s cold! On par with book 2 Rand tho

#wheel of time #WoT on prime #wot on prime spoilers #wot on prime s2 #WoT on prime s2e2 #Elayne Trakand Defamation Squad #Elayne Trakand Defense Squad #They’re the same squad