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genericpuff · 4 months

Text

ok listen right

please don't take the implication of what i'm about to say the completely wrong way, there's a point i have to make here

there's this gross thing that happens in LO that's been definitely talked about numerous times (by many people) where fashion is used to label a character's like, "alignment" between "good" "bad" "pure" "tainted" etc. this is something that comes up a lot when discussing Minthe and Persephone because there are a LOAD of double standards in how Minthe was treated and viewed for dressing like a "slut" but then Persephone wears the exact same fit and suddenly she's a queen-

(image courtesy of @anoldplace on Instagram, I'll be showing a couple of their posts in this because they show off a lot of the great - and frankly disturbing - parallels in LO, whether intended by Rachel or not)

-but can we talk about how the "bad ending" version of Persephone where she ends up with Apollo slaps WAY FUCKING HARDER than anything we've seen her dressed in since she got with Hades ??

fucking hello?? where's THAT fit ??

you're telling me this girl is queen of the underworld and the best she can do in the fashion department is looking like a color-swapped version of Hera ???

and I WANNA MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR, this isn't me trying to say "Persephone would have been way cooler if she got with Apollo", that is FAR from the point, more so just pointing out the pattern of Rachel aligning "bad" with "dresses with more flavor than an extremely out-of-touch conservative boomer". Even when she tries to draw Persephone in more "out there" clothing it just comes across as ... tacky? And only at her own detriment?

Like, how the fuck is this supposed to be Persephone being drawn through a literal male gaze (Apollo):

And THIS is supposed to be Persephone being drawn from a female gaze (her own because she dressed herself):

Like literally how? How does this happen? Especially when the latter is STILL being framed from a male perspective (the green guy behind her, "Jeffrey") but we're supposed to believe it's some "boss babe" moment for Persephone to just be walking down the street while getting oggled inappropriately by a male onlooker? How could these scenes be any more different and yet more alike? She's still being objectified for the characters around her and the audience, but we're supposed to believe the second is better than the first one because... she chose to wear that?

Sure, one could argue that at least she dressed herself and that definitely gives her agency, but it's really Rachel telling on herself where her priorities are in trying to write a "feminist comic" that she had Persephone dress herself and then STILL have its only purpose be for men on the sidelines to stare at and objectify her. When you just know this same outfit would have undoubtedly been used to slut shame characters like Minthe or Thetis or Leuce.

I don't even know, man. The intentions in LO's writing are so confused, contradictory, and ultimately pointless. It's trying so hard to be "feminist" and a "deconstruction of purity culture" but then it turns around and reinforces all that same shit it's claiming to be fighting against anyways. Persephone would be an evil slut if she was with Apollo, look at her outfit! But not here, not the banana purse dress being oggled by strangers on the sidewalk, not now that she settled down with her old rich husband who she only knew for a couple weeks before being separated for 10 years but their love was just so strong and the thirst for dick so real that she and him loyally waited for one another until she was old enough to make it "not be creepy" anymore for them to hook up, but only after marriage. She's definitely not a gold digger like Minthe or a vapid slut like Thetis or a homewrecker like Leuce, nah.

I just wish she'd dress herself, for the love of god. Let her dress herself with her own input and not the influence of the people around her or the tone of the comic's own internalized misogyny that demands "woman must always be objectified for better or for worse, that is The Rule!"

Of course she can't "dress herself" though. She's an extension of Rachel and Rachel herself writes like an out-of-touch boomer who will and has gladly gone about how men are just clamoring at the bit to stare at her and get to her... but then claims she "didn't realize sexism was all that bad" until she started working on LO.

Sorry, this post got very long and very mean, I initially just wanted to make the comparison in a very silly haha "wild how bad ending Persephone has way more visual personality than good ending Persephone" way, but then I thought about it too long and pissed myself off LMAO

And no, I don't want to go back to beating the dead horse of "banana dress bad" because honestly, I think in any other context or comic, sure, it would be very cute to see her walking around in an outfit she chose herself even if it's "objectively" not a great outfit, it shows agency and not caring what other people think which is VERY freeing. But we're not reading that comic, we're reading LO, where a woman's worth and value is only determined by how the men around her react to her and only Persephone is allowed to be empowered by wearing outfits that would otherwise be treated as "slutty" if worn by anyone else.

I don't want the message to be "Persephone looks like a dumbass bimbo" or, on the flipside, "Persephone looks boring and out-of-touch", I want the message to be "Persephone is valid for dressing how she wants, just like how the women around her are valid for dressing how they want regardless of whether or not they're protagonists or antagonists."

Quit using women's fashion as an alignment chart, quit using these "not so sly for a misogynist guy" dogwhistles as a way to "other" the women around the power fantasy main character. Women deserve to dress how they want without shame or objectification - all women, not just the women you like.

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical

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spidernuggets · 3 months

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Hey, I've been reading your stuff for a while and I was wondering if I could request number 16 from the quote prompt list. Once again I think this will be great as usual <3

Jason Todd x Reader

Notes: HBOTitans!Jason Todd based while he was still Robin

"Why do you care? You could've just walked away"

You and Jason never got along really well. You hated his guts but at the same time, you didn't.

Ever since you joined the Titans, you and Jason began this extremely competitive rivalry. Who can knock the other one fastest during sparring. Who can come up with a better strategy. Christ, who can get to the bathroom the first in the morning.

You don't really know when this started. You knew Jason had a tendency to judge people before he got to know them. But you wanted to be his friend when you first met.

And you couldn't doubt that Jason was real attractive. Even when he was trying to one up you in everything, you couldn't help but admire how skilled he was.

Sure, you'd somehow show your appreciation to his abilities, but it's been over a year, and he still hates you. So you hate him, too. You don't know why he hates you. You didn't do anything wrong to him when you joined, but sometimes these things happen. And you told yourself not to let it get to you, but he can be so aggravating sometimes, and you hate that you don't truly hate him as much as he may hate you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, and Jason and Y/N, you two will be paired together to scout the area for the wanted convicts." Dick demands during the current debriefing.

A mishap occurred in Gotham Prison, and a load of felons and criminals escaped, scurrying all over Gotham. Dick gathered a meeting with the other Titans to round up these convicts and return them to the prison.

"Hell no," Jason said. "Pair them with Rachel. I'll go with Gar or- or anyone!"

"Love ya too," you bite back sarcastically, rolling your eyes.

Dick sighs in annoyance. "Listen, the two of you need to get along. These are just a couple of convicts. You'll be fine. You'll improve with your training if you learn how to fight together without fighting each other! We're not switching pairs, and that's that." He says, walking out of the room before Jason could complain again, the other members following suit, leaving you and Jason remaining in the debriefing room.

"Hey. Stay out of my way, or I'll throw you in Gotham Prison with the other convicts," Jason threatens.

You threw your hands up in defence. "Ooh, so scary. Don't clip a wing out there, birdie," you snarl as Jason storms out.

You rolled your eyes. Not even an hour into patrol, and Jason ran off on his own.

"Holy shit," you whisper, looking at the dark, isolated streets below.

A group of criminals dressed in prison uniforms, about 12, were spread across the gloomy streets, drinking booze that the most likely have already stolen.

Suddenly, a fight breaks out. You squinted your eyes and saw a familiar red and green figure, kicking some of their asses.

"For crying out loud, is this guy allergic to a plan or something. One of them could literally pull out a flamethrower from out his ass." You complain to yourself, watching Jason in action.

You can hear his cocky voice in the back of your head tell you that you're overthinking this, followed by some pet name he always gives you.

Impressively, Jason seemed to have it under control. You wanted to either sit back and watch or simpmy walk away. But he's still one guy against twelve. And he's still your teammate.

"For fuck- UGH," you groaned, jumping after him, joining the fight.

"Late to the party, sweetheart," he says, earning a scoff from you.

Most convicts seemed inhumanly buff, others quite lanky, but still able to pack a punch.

Luckily, both you and Jason were well trained and already knocked out almost all of the men.

"I got seven down!" Jason remarks, panting as he punches out another guy. "Might wanna catch up, babe," he yells over to you.

"Would you shut up for 5 minutes, Robin!" You yell back, kicking the ass of another criminal, marking your 4th knockout. "You know, you don't have to be an asshole about everything!" You bark, turning to face him. "You're better than me, okay?! Is that what you wanted to hear? Well, there you go!"

Jason stood a distance from you, speechless. He joked around many times to make you say that he was better than you. But he didn't mean it. He always thought you were better than him. You were barely trained when you first joined, and yet you fought so well. He admitted to himself that you were badass and that he wanted to be as a fast of a learner as you.

You scanned around the area, out of breath after your quick rant. But then you pause. "Eleven," you whisper.

Jason looks up at you. "What?" He asks.

"Eleven. There's- There's eleven here. There were twelve convicts. Where's the last guy??" You say, beginning to panic.

Jason's eyes widen. "Behind you!" He screams. You swiftly turn, and you're met with a tall, very muscular and gruff man, charging towards you. He runs past you, heading towards Jason.

With his keen reflexes, Jason throws one of his Rs, aiming for the leg. It lands perfectly as the man screams in agony, falling over. Jason stabs another R blade into the other leg, proceeding to kick him in the face with his boot, knocking him out completely.

"Shit," Jason sighs, looking around at the scene. Before he was about to link in with the others through the comms, he notices you in the distance just standing there, your back facing him.

"S/n?" He calls out, but you don't reply. He sees your arms move in front of you, and his eyebrow raises in confusion.

Your arms fall limp to your sides, and in one hand, you hold a long, bloody knife.

"S/N!" Jason yells out, running towards you, holding onto you tightly before you could fall to the ground.

Jason stutters out a string of curses, trying to apply pressure to your wound. "You're- You're gonna be okay, Y/n... Okay? I- I already called Dick and the others, they'll be here, just- just stay awake! You can do that, yeah? You're so strong, just stay awake, please!" He begs, his clothes drenching in your blood.

"I.. I can't, Jay," you weakly whisper out, muffled by your painful whimpers. Your eyes started to get heavy, and all the noise began to fade. All you could hear were the other Titans running up to you and Jason's voice yelling at you to stay awake.

You thought you were dead. You felt dead. But your eyes open to a very bright light. You groan, blinking away the burning sensation in your eyes.

"Sweetheart? Shit, okay, you're okay," a voice says in relief.

As your vision unblurs, you can make out Jason's face hovering over yours.

You groan something to him, and he repeats a few confused "what? What did you say?"

"Jesus, take this thing off me," you repeat, referring to the oxygen mask on your face. Jason complies, removing the mask and gently rubbing your face, smoothing out the red dents that the mask left on your skin.

"Shit, how long was I out for?" You ask.

"Two days," Jason replies, sitting in the seat beside your bed.

"My everywhere hurts, and I can't feel anything at the same time," your voice was rasp, and your eyes were tired.

"I could've handled them myself, babe. What were you even thinking?" He said, slightly annoyed but didn't want to stress you in your current state.

"That you were my teammate, and that it was my job to help you," you weakly reply back.

Jason just stares back at you. "Why do you care? You could've just walked away."

You let out a dry laugh. "That was my initial thought. Look, I know you hate me, but at least give me some credit here."

He looks at you dumbfounded. "I don't... I don't hate you.." He admits.

You face slightly scrunches up. "What? I... Then why are you always trying to beat me in everything? I tried- I wanted to be your friend but- but you just..."

"You started it!" He childishly says back. "You kept showing off at how much better you were at fighting than me ever since you got here."

Your face softens. "I just... I just wanted to impress you," you quietly tell him. "I saw you sparring with Gar while you were blindfolded. You were so amazing, and- and I just wanted to be like you," you confessed. "I don't hate you either."

Jason's shoulders slumped. All this time, he thought you were trying to show that you were better than him. But you were trying to impress him? You were admiring him?

He understands the situation if Dick were in his place. Hell, everyone looked up and wanted to be like Dick. Never in his life has someone told him that they wanted to be like him. To be like Jason Todd.

Jason sighs. "I'm sorry, babe." He says, his head hanging low.

You lightly shook your head. "Nah, it's okay. But please, kill it with the pet names."

Jason laughs. "Why? Careful, sweetheart, you might make yourself look like you like like me," he teases, trying to get a reaction out of you.

But you only turn your head away from him, not answering. You thought this was a subtle reaction, but it got Jason raising his brows and leaning forward.

"Do you actually?" He asks genuinely.

You shook your head. "Forget about it. It was just a thing." You try to push away the topic.

He pauses. "Would it just be a thing if I said I felt the same?" He carefully asks.

Your head faces him, eyebrows knit together. "What-"

You're quickly interrupted as Jason stands from his chair, hovering over you and placing his lips against yours, one hand cradling your fave as the other holds him up above you.

You were too tired and weak to raise your hands to his neck, but strong enough to kiss him back, your lips perfectly synchronising with his.

I feel like i made that ending a little rushed, but the scenario was playing on repeat in my head and really wanted to add it in!!!

ALSO, it really makes my day knowing that you've been reading my stuff for a while, Anon!!! Hope u enjoyed your requested fic!!! 🙏🫶

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 10 months

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The retcon post got me thinking - what if Jordan was a Controller towards the endgame? It seems like something Jake might consider, given he’s in the unique position of living with the enemy as well.

• Aern 612 has seconds to react, when suddenly there is an andalite standing in the middle of Naomi Berenson's living room. There is an andalite, inside Jordan's house. Aern's frozen, sweat prickling all over Jordan's skin. It's here for her. It has to be.

«Do not be afraid,» the andalite says, «I am a friend of your sister, and we mean you no harm.»

Aern 612 lowers Jordan's hand away from the dracon beam in her pocket, suddenly unsure.

"Are you..." Sara squints at the alien. "A Pokémon?"

She has to mean someone dressed as a Pokémon, like for San Diego Comic Con — Sara's old enough to know that Anime aren't real — but the andalite nods solemnly. «I do not know this term,» it says, «so indeed, I might be a Pokémon.»

Aern makes a decision, then. Based on how humans treat children, based on that word we, based on the things she can get away with if she pulls Jordan's hair into pigtails and skips a little as she breaks into a building.

"Pokémon!" she shrieks, too high for Jordan's normal voice, and she rushes forward to give the andalite a hug.

Its hands touch her, and she forces the shudder to come out as a giggle.

• Rachel morphs. Rachel can morph. So can cousin Jake, and the blond kid that Rachel always loudly insists isn't her boyfriend, and an unknown number of additional humans. Aern is fucked. She is so fucking fucked. She and Reant 8132 inside Tom have hours to live, unless either of them can convince the Vissers of their usefulness.

"But I don't want to go camping," Aern says, high and plaintive, poking out Jordan's bottom lip. "I wanna go to my gymnastics meet on Tuesday!"

Sara shoots Jordan a look, frowning. Rachel doesn't even seem to notice, too busy arguing with Naomi.

Jake rests a reassuring hand on Jordan's shoulder, crouching slightly to look her in the eye. "It'll all be okay," he says. "I know it's scary, but we're going to be just fine."

Moron. Aern wants to spit in his face — she settles for a wet-eyed nod. She'll keep playing along, for now, until she figures out a way to get out alive.

Sixty-one hours, Jordan pipes up. At least three morphers watching you at all times. Tick-tock, slug. Tick-tock.

• It's Sara, two miles down the road, who says "But what about Daddy? Why isn't he coming with us?" Damn. Aern should've thought to ask that.

• Rachel directs them to drive, and then to hike, over thirty miles into the national forest. This is fine. Aern is fine. She'll figure something out, and she has over two days to do it. There are nearly a hundred uncontrolled hork-bajir in the valley when they get there, along with Visser One's empty host and three other morphers. It's fine. Aern will be fine. Yeah.

• Jake shows up later that night, alone.

Guess they found out about Reant 8132, Jordan says smugly. Maybe they're not so bad at detecting controllers.

«Or Reant's not nearly as good an actor as I am,» Aern tells her. «Or he couldn't get away with pretending Tom is cutsey and harmless.»

Then, just because she knows it'll bother Jordan, she goes skipping up to Jake. "Hi Jake!" she pipes up. "How come your family isn't here?"

Jordan flinches, out of sight of anyone but herself. Aern gets to watch Jake's face crumple, his eyes flooding with tears. It almost makes up for not spitting on him earlier.

• Aern doesn't sleep that night, no matter how hard she tries. Tick-tock, Jordan keeps saying, Tick-tock. Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock... Aern slaps herself in the face, which doesn't help.

• Tobias has an argument with Marco, the following morning. Aern is only able to catch half of it, since only Marco is bothering to speak out loud, but even that half is very interesting indeed.

• Aern pulls Jordan's hair into pigtails. She digs through the duffel Jake packed her without even asking — the entitlement of some people — until she finds a pink shirt and bedazzled jeans. A frilly dress would've been better, but this will do. She kicks off Jordan's shoes.

And then she goes marching over to the cabin Cassie's family is sharing. "Dr. Lee?" she calls, just in case either of Cassie's parents is inside. "Dr. Lee, are you there?"

There's no answer. Aern pushes back the blanket across the door, and ducks inside.

The bucket in the corner is empty. The unmade bedroll, empty. Michelle's suitcase, only clothes. Walter's, the same. An extensive first-aid kit yields only bandages and tape. Damn. Damn.

Tick-tock...

«Shut up!»

Cassie's bag, in the corner. Aern rips it open, not being as careful as she should. Overalls, jeans, more overalls—

Jordan's fingers brush against something hard and angular, wrapped in a flannel shirt. She fumbles it out. No bigger than a Rubik's cube, but boring blue all around.

«You were saying?» Aern asks, and Jordan doesn't reply.

• The first part was almost too easy. As for the second... Aern has a decision to make.

Jake might work. He's been distracted, staring into space and not making eye contact. But he might be too distracted, impossible to engage.

Rachel is out. She knows Jordan too well.

Cassie is sweet, and she trusts Jordan. But Aern has seen a lot of Cassie, enough to know about the canny intuition that lurks behind that welcoming smile.

Tobias won't work. The logistics are wrong.

Ax... No. Aern doesn't want to touch an andalite, ever again, and she doesn't trust herself to bluff her way through.

Cassie or Jake will serve as Plan B, then. And she has her Plan A.

• "Hey Marco, look what I found!"

He's up at the end of the valley, well away from his mom — Aern's not stupid — and away from the hork-bajir seer. He looks up from where he was... (whittling a stick? What is with these people?) and starts to smile. Until, that is, he sees what Jordan is holding.

"Kinda cool, right?" Aern tosses the morphing cube lightly from hand to hand. "You think maybe it's a hork-bajir toy?"

Marco stands, stick and knife dropping to the ground. "Where did you get that?"

"Found it on the ground," Aern says lightly.

"I need you to give that to me, Jordan. Right now."

She smiles up at him through Jordan's bangs. "Then why don't you come and get it?" This voice is very different from the one she used on Jake. It's deeper. Not that of the six-year-old Jake and Rachel remember, but that of a ninth grader with a crush on the cool older boy.

"Jordan." Marco takes a step toward her. "That doesn't belong to you, and it isn't a toy."

"I don't see your name on it, Mister." She takes a step back, grinning. Pretending not to notice the tension in his shoulders. "Finders keepers, right?" She bats her eyelashes. Not because it's actually seductive, but because it's so clumsy. An awkward kid trying to flirt, not a peer succeeding.

"It's a weapon." Marco keeps advancing on her. "A dangerous one. I'm not playing around, and I need you to hand it over."

Sighing, she holds it out. As soon as Marco raises his hand she yanks it back, laughing.

He loses his temper, exactly on cue. He lunges forward, grabbing Jordan's wrist in one hand and the morphing cube in the other. Not being careful about how he takes it, not thinking about why he might need to be careful. His hand closes over the top of it, even as Jordan's is gripped hard around the bottom.

A jolt travels through her entire body, hairs standing on end. Not clear if Marco felt anything either, if he noticed, but he's thoroughly distracted by wrestling the cube away from her.

Aern lets go. "YOU'RE A JERK!" she screams in Marco's face, so suddenly he stumbles back two paces. "I HATE YOU!" Before he can recover from the shock enough to wonder if he should've forced Jordan to set the cube on the ground, she's already turned and sprinted away.

Marco mutters something about girls and hormones and honestly. Jordan's shoulders are shaking, with suppressed laughter rather than sobs.

• Now all she has to do is find an excuse to touch a hork-bajir.

«Tick-tock,» she thinks at Jordan, giddy with triumph. «Tick-tock.»

• Returning to the yeerk pool is easy. She doesn't bother to file a report, just gets in line with the others. Reant is screaming in a back room, so loud and sustained that Tom's voice is down to a hoarse ghost of itself. What a moron.

• "Everything okay?" Naomi asks, when Aern slips back into their cabin in the wee hours of the morning for the fourth time since they came here.

"I can't sleep." Aern lets Jordan's voice wobble. "I can never sleep, ever since we came here."

"I know, baby," Naomi murmurs. "I know."

• Aern trails Toby, asking about defenses and troop numbers and What if...? But what if...? Aern pesters Jake for details of Animorph missions, hanging onto his elbow like a little kid. Aern swings Jordan's clasped hands back and forth as she asks Tobias what the valley looks like from overhead. Aren, to date, has not exchanged a single word with Eva, and she means to keep it that way.

• The Empire has the morphing cube now, she learns on her next trip back to feed. Reant 8132 of all people managed to get ahold of it. Maybe not such a moron after all.

• Aern is an identical copy of Tobias when she lands in the clearing just west of the valley, and she's back to looking like Jordan a moment later.

But Naomi is standing there, just beyond the treeline.

Aern freezes, half-crouched. She can't tell how much Jordan's mom saw, if she saw anything.

"Jordan," Naomi says. "What are you doing out this far? It isn't safe—"

"Mommy!" Aern runs at her, slamming into Naomi's stomach and wrapping Jordan's arms around her. "Mommy, I woke up here and I was so scared and I didn't know how to get back, and I've been out here for hours and hours and hours—"

"Oh, baby." Naomi smooths her hand over Jordan's shoulder. "You must be scared, you haven't called me 'Mommy' in years."

"I think..." Jordan's voice breaks around a sob. "I think I was sleepwalking?"

"Okay, baby," Naomi says. "It's okay."

• "Naomi." That's Visser One's body, standing to the entrance of the valley, watching their approach. "What have we told you about..." She frowns. "Jordan?"

Naomi lifts her chin. "Jordan wanted to turn back," she says. "I was trying to get us both away from this place, away from your madness. But Jordan insisted we turn around."

Aern pokes out Jordan's bottom lip, pressing close to Naomi's side. She glances at Eva, then quickly looks back down.

"This cannot keep happening," Eva says. Uppity bitch. Three months, and she's already forgotten her place. "Naomi, you're putting every life in this valley at risk. Including Rachel's. Including Sara's and Jordan's."

"It won't happen again," Naomi says. "I promise."

• The next time Aern goes to feed, she has just emerged from the pool and back into her host when a hand closes around Jordan's upper arm. She tries to yank away, but she's being pulled forcefully into an alcove by a larger, stronger human—

She stares up into Tom's face.

Busted, Jordan thinks.

"Funny, how one no-rank warrior can slip through the cracks," Reant 8132 whispers. "Everybody thinks the Animorphs killed you, Aern, and yet here you are. How'd you pull that one off?"

Aern yanks away again, and this time Reant lets her go. "No great mystery. I'm just the better actor."

"No." Tom's eyes narrow. "No, I'm pretty sure you're a traitor. You went over to their side, and they sent you back here to spy on us."

"That's not true!"

Reant smirks. "Then prove it."

Jordan's heart is pounding. Reant doesn't believe what he just said, that's clear, but— but—

"Then again, what's a little more treason between friends?" His smile grows. "After all, we're family, right?"

"The fuck do you want?" Aern doesn't have to fake the tremor in Jordan's voice this time.

"You morph," Reant says. "Or at least Jordan does — only way you could be making it back here every cycle. I'm organizing those of us who morph. We're splitting off from the Empire, doing our own thing. You in?"

Aern considers. She's not a hero, is the thing. She's not visser material. She's not even brave, which is why she still hasn't gotten around to blowing her cover and reporting back to Command.

She just wants what every yeerk wants: Eyes. Hands. Music and food. Security. Freedom.

"Yeah," Aern says. "Tell me the plan."

• Jake is planning something. That's obvious, from the increased pace of drills, from the meetings he has around the fire with Eva and Toby and his fellow Animorphs. He and the others are away more and more. Aern hasn't seen Rachel in weeks, outside of occasional passing glances between them. Sara's heartbroken about Rachel's apparent apathy, but it works in Aern's favor.

• "Here's the plan," Reant says, when Aern meets him that night. Which is how she finds out he's working with Jake.

• "Here's the plan," Jake says to the Animorphs' families, the following day. Which is how she finds out he's working against Reant.

• "We hold position," Eva says, walking down the line of human family members and assorted hork-bajir. "Loren and Ket are on vanguard if the attack comes. Peter and Michelle are overseeing the evacuation. I'll play loose between groups — I'm in charge here until Jake gets back. Listen to your squad leaders, but listen to each other as well. Is that clear?"

They break. They go to their watch posts, spread along the rim of the valley.

Aern cups her hand loosely around the cockroach, and a few minutes later she's up, up, and away.

• Aern huddles with the other morph-controllers on the Blade ship, awaiting Reant's signal. He must have told the others she was coming, because no one questions her presence when she joins the crowd of flies on the underside of the ship's console. If Reant can't get control of it in time, if Jake's contingency goes off too soon... Aern didn't even succeed in finding out what the contingency is; he's been so secret about it that she overhead even Tobias demanding more answers.

• A dracon cannon goes off, somewhere outside. The Blade ship rattles with the force. «May the kandrona shine on us all,» Carger 710 whispers. «Shine on us this day.»

The andalite fleet is approaching. So close, it's starting to ping Earth-orbiting satellites. Only Reant and those closest to him know this, but Aern can't unknow it.

And then the door of the Blade ship hisses open, and a human figure walks inside. "Thank you, Visser." Tom's voice is too loud in the enclosed space. Signaling to them. "I'll take good care of it."

• The door hisses shut, and there's a few minutes of general chaos as everyone demorphs and then most of them remorph to battle forms. There have to be over forty of them, Aern sees with a swell of relief, even though Reant said he couldn't be sure he'd get more than two dozen. They're a proper platoon, enough to hold their own.

"The Animorphs are dead," Reant says briskly. "We wait for the Navy to engage the Empire, and then we run for it. Head for Kelbrid space, where the andalites won't —"

The comm screen switches on, showing the bridge of the Pool ship.

Apparently, Reant spoke a little too soon about the Animorphs being dead.

Reant spins around. He and Jake start exchanging taunts, something about treason. Aern ignores it, busy staying out of sight. Busy counting to five, there on the screen. Busy looking around — and spotting the flea that swells into human shape underneath the control console.

"Animorph!" Aern screams. "Animorph on board!"

And just for a second, the Animorph in question freezes. She doesn't move to attack, doesn't immediately start killing, just for one crucial second.

Because Aern's got Jordan's face, doesn't she. She's speaking with Jordan's voice.

Rachel powers through it, of course, rolling forward and starting to morph again. But that second of hesitation cost her, as did the second of extra warning for everyone else on board.

Tom's right arm wraps around Rachel's throat, yanking her off her feet. His left hand comes up, and fires the dracon beam twice into her head.

The second shot is unnecessary. There's nothing but skull fragments left after the first.

• Aern is screaming, moaning. "Rachel, Rachel, RACHEL—" Her throat is raw, skin cold, but no, that's not her screaming. That isn't her voice coming out of her mouth. She's not the one pounding fists against Tom's chest, smearing Rachel's blood across them both.

"Get ahold of yourself!" Reant is shouting. "Get control of your fucking host, Aern!"

Half a dozen morphers — lionesses, cape buffalo, alligator — surged toward Rachel and Tom in the second between when she'd been exposed and when she'd been killed. All of them stopped dead when Reant fired. And yet none of them makes a move to intervene in this pathetic scene, Jordan shrieking overtop the shouts of disbelief and scream of pain from the comm screen.

Finally Efflit 1318 gets arms around Jordan's body and drags her off of Tom. Aern is still scrambling for control. She's never faced resistance like this before, nowhere close.

Efflit tosses Aern aside, barely noting when she skids across the floor and rolls to a stop in the corner. Jordan's burst of control is slipping away as she retreats back into her mind, screaming for her sister.

And then Aern is in charge again. Aern is okay. Aern doesn't care at all that Rachel is in pieces on the floor.

• Most of the controllers are demorphing. "Set course directly away from Sol," Reant is saying. He tosses the dracon beam onto the console. "Once we're far enough, then we head for Kelbrid territory. Someone dump that out of the airlock, and get a cleaner in here. We also need—" He stops. He's looking at one of the humans who just emerged from lioness morph, a frown pulling Tom's eyebrows together. "Who the fuck are you?" he asks.

"Hi." The human who was a lioness waves. "My name's James. Your host's aunt suggested I come on board."

"What..." Reant's frown deepens. "What are you talking ab..."

"Oh, and that's Kelly." James gestures at one of the ones who has yet to demorph. "And Tuan, and Pedro, and Liam and Erica. Collette should be around here somewh—"

Aern never does find out how that sentence ends. There's only a burst of pain, and then nothing at all.

#animorphs #long post #jordan berenson #animorphs au #animorphs ficlet #violence #gore #character death

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baby-alien11 · 15 days

Text

Met Gala (Y/N Ulrich Universe)

taglist (open): @volturi-girl-imagines @dessxoxsworld @camiesully @ethanlandryluver @nowitsmissing @aliciacat20 @gabbylovesreading @nikfigueiredo @itsaaliyah2

Ever since the invitation for you and Jack to attend the 2024 MET Gala arrived, you and Jack along with both teams of stylist started to work for the looks, managing to pull a replica of a Dior vintage dress and Jack got a custom made suit to match with your dress

"I'm not going to let you go with a boring suit", you said to Jack during the design process of the outfits, "We're going to serve in the Gala"

The months previer to the Gala passed between doing personal projects, fittings of the outfits and tests of hair and make up; and when the time to fly to New York for the even, both of you arrived on saturday night, to be able to watch the Miami GP races on sunday, which ended up in Jack being over the moon to watch a McLaren win, which made you happy because it was one of his favorite teams

The monday of the MET Gala, preparations started early with the styling, and the best thing was that the disagner both of you were using wasn't spoiled online, and you were sure of that thanks to being chronically online

"Almost no one is serving", you commented seeing the first looks arriving

"What's with the beige and black colors?", Jack frowned

"I know, they're not with the dress code"

Having multiple views of all the attendants of the event, the styling continued for almost an hour, in which your hair was the longest to get ready, during which Jack got dressed in his blue with embroidered flowers suit

Once your hair and make up was ready, it was time to put on the dress (which they made floor lenght for the gala), shoes, earrings, bracelet, necklace and took the purse chosen for the look, even putting a bit of pink eyeshaown in your tattoo; before leaving for the event, photos and videos of the looks were taken, individually and in couple, before covering both of your looks with black capes and keep the surprise for the carpet

"I remember when getting ready for the Scream premiere, in that same hotel, you said about feeling like going to the MET", Rachel mentioned on the van on the way to the event, "And now both of you are going, how does it feel?"

"I can't believe Anna Wintour knows who we are", Jack said causing laughs for everyone

"Exactly the same thought", you nodded, "I thought it was going to be a few years before attending, but we are going before turning twenty, this is crazy"

Arriving at the MET, a few more minutes after you were able to go down thanks to the guests arriving, and standing in the line to wait to step into the carpet, but feeling a bit nervous to talk to someone, both of you kept the talking between yourselves, until a voice behind you spoke

"Nice outfits guys"

Hearing that voice, both of you stayed in shock for a few seconds before turning to look at Sir Lewis Hamilton with a black outfit and gold accesories, smiling at both of you

"Thank you", Jack said a bit starstruck

"Is Dior?", Lewis asked

"Yeah, I'm wearing a replica of a 1949 Dior and Jack got a customed suit", you explained, "I'm sorry, we didn't introduce ourselves, I'm Y/N Ulrich"

"Hi, Jack Champion"

"You're the kids Max, Carlos, Lance and Mick talk about", Lewis exclaimed recognising your names, "Nice to finally meet you, also I saw the interview, it was amazing"

"Thank you so much", you smiled, "By the way, amazing outfit"

"Thanks, it's inspired by John Ystumllyn, one of the first black gardeners in England", Lewis explained before opening his coat, "Even I have a poem about him in it"

"This is incredible, all the detail in the look", Jack recognised reading the poem, "By the way, we saw the race yesterday, well, all the weekend, it was incredible"

"It hasn't been a good year for us, but we are pushing the car the best way we can, and thank you for the support, and Max said something about both of you going to Monaco for the race"

"Yeah, he invited us, it was one of the gifts in the box", you nodded

"Well, regardless of both of you being in the Red Bull garage, you are welcome to the Mercedes one, also in the Ferrari one next year"

"It's an honor, thank you", Jack nodded

Soon, the conversation was over as a photographer approached asking for a photo of the three of you, at what all of you possed for it; as the line kept conitnuing and the time to pose in the steps, the three of you continued to talk

When the time to go arrived, Lewis gave both of you a few advices on how to pose and to show the outfits, which both of you made sure to follow, not noticing he was taking photos of both of you with his phone

Walking along the stairs, both of you stopped at the top for a Vogue interview

"Now, we have Y/N Ulrich and Jack Champion, one of the IT couples, guys, I love the outfits, I want to know everything about the looks", the interviewer said

"We are wearing Dior, this is a replica of a 1949 couture dress"

"And this is a costum made Dior suit, it was made so we can match, and stay with the theme"

"Stunning, also this your first MET Gala, how does it feel?"

"Surreal", you smiled, "It's like another world"

"Guys, I know you are the Ghostface princess and prince, but today, you are the floral royalty"

"Thank you", both of you smiled blushing a bit

A little after, both of you continue the way to the building, greeting Anna Wintour who was at the steps greeting all the guests, before entering to see the exhibition and meeting more people (which included you and Rachel Zegler finally meeting in person), and then going to the salon where the dinner and show would be held, finishing the first MET Gala for both of you (and fortunately more to come)

#baby alien creations #y/n ulrich universe #jack champion #jack champion x reader #jack champion scream #jack champion fluff #jack champion fanfic #jack champion imagine #jack champion x y/n #met gala

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punkeropercyjackson · 14 days

Text

The depunkification of Percy by normie Pjo fans they call 'Punk Percy' is wildddddd

'Percy's a devil may care rebel without a cause😏'He's a rebel because he grew up getting bullied by his classmates for being audhd with no idea how to mask and poor and abused by authority figures and his stepdad so he learned how be tough and run his mouth as self-defense and he's been a bully beater his whole life because he cares about other mentally disabled people and minorities in general

'He's secretly LOADED thanks to Poseidon and he's besties with a bunch of gods!'He refuses to ask Poseidon for shit since he hates rich people and he hates the idea of having power even more and personally hates Ares,Hades,Apollo and Hermes as people for various justified reasons + Punk is inherently anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment so that and God/Titan/Primordial!Percy can't co-exist

'His type is blondes and he's upset with Nico saying he's not his because that's his too!'His CANON type is princess-y girls,that's how he described Annabeth's hair and what Rachel acts like,his name is Perseus so of course that's gonna be the kinda girl he has a thing for,Andromeda was the princess of an african country(Ethopia)and there's Leahbeth and the high posibility that Rachel's gonna be black too,Nico explicitly called Percy still physically attractive to him but not personality wise and that was a trans Percy moment if it was queer Percy.Also Nico is basically Percy's son,y'all fucking weird

'He's such a guy'See above and even if Percy's a cis man,that dosen't change the fact that she was written to defy traditional manhood and femme men exist and we're an important part of punk culture since it relies on and requires heavy noncomformity and Percy's also a canon misandrist who worships women and thinks they're way better than men which is another layer of transfem coding and it ain't my girl's fault you want her to worship men instead as if they've ever done anything for her

'Grunge skater bo-'She dresses like a boymoder in canon and if Rick put his whole pussy into his writing she'd be crustpunk and solarpunk with pastel punk bits since she's femme and hates 'true maturity',she canonically gave up skateboarding to join the swim team and was never heavily invested in it anyway,Piper saying 'he looked like a skater' was her having internalized cisheteronormativity and i know for a fact when y'all say being a skater and being a punk are the same thing you don't mean Ska Punk but that overrated ass song that's done irreperable damage to our society

'He HAS to be white to be punk'Look at my url.D'you think i made the word Punkero up.'He's a Switfie and would like Hp/The Marauders and Mcu'Yeah alright,you officially know literally nothing about punk

AND y'all's designs aren't even aesthetically accurate

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lfc21 · 1 year

Text

Godparents

Player: Trent Alexander Arnold

TW: Children, party, Fluff

Prompt list: Children

Summary: The news of being godparents sent a feeling of immense pride over you but what about the idea of parents?

You and Trent had been invited to Rachel and Andy's baby shower. Since you had been with Trent you and Rachel had become inseparable besties. The moment you found out Rachel and Andy were going to be parents you could have exploded with pride and excitement. It was like a movie, you and Rachel both cried, laughed and planned about a million things all in the space of one night. What are friends for?

"Thank you so much for coming," Rachel said as you embraced her in a hug. Trent and Andy were already chatting away about their next match and any inside gossip they had heard from within the team. It was always this way - you started altogether but by the end of any occasion it was you and Rachel and the boys left to fend for themselves.

"You're so welcome! I honestly think you have invited the whole of Liverpool" You joked as you looked around at all the people laughing and talking as the summer sun sat on them all. You had to admit the party looked incredible, food everywhere, lots of balloons and the most amazing display of gifts you had ever seen.

"It was Andy" She admitted with a whisper and a roll of her eyes. "Half of the Scotland squad are here as well" Rachel added as she leaned closer to your ear with a whisper as she didn't want anyone to hear her complaints. You both quickly grabbed a drink before heading towards all of the other WAGs. You loved days like this - nice dresses, lots of drinks and enjoying yourselves.

"Everyone I would like to make a speech" Andy shouted as he tapped a fork onto a glass champagne flute. The conversations stopped and everyone found their way to their partners or designated groups. Trent was soon at your side and wrapped his arm around your waist as he pushed his sunglasses onto his face, you couldn't deny how good he looked. "Rachel could you come here for a second" He added in his famous Scottish accent. "So as you all know in two months' time me and Rachel will be welcoming our first baby into the world" Andy explained with clear pride written all over his face.

"Go on son!" Jordan shouted from behind you with a punch into the air causing heaps of laughter to bellow through the garden. You couldn't help but find amusement in the captain's very immature yet funny actions.

"Thanks for that skipper," Andy said with a nod to his familiar captain standing proudly at the back with a very embarrassed wife on his side. "As the time approaches we wanted to surprise very two friends of ours with some news" He added trying to explain the need for this big speech.

"So" Rachel and Andy both said in unison as if they had rehearsed that very line.

"Trent and y/n would you do the honours of being our Godparents?" Rachel asked with a huge wide smile. You couldn't believe your ears. Trent ran straight for Andy jumping into his embrace as if he had just scored a winning penalty. You quickly made your way straight to Rachel with the biggest smile. She embraced you in the tightest hug before being both crushed by Andy and Trent wanting to join in. You couldn't have asked for a better moment altogether. You heard all the cheers and congratulations from behind you and were filled with such honour and grace to be a part of such an amazing family.

You sat on the end of your bed pulling off your heels and tying your hair up. The madness of today shed a feeling of exhaustion on you and all you wanted was your bed and cuddles from Trent.

"Can you believe we're going to be godparents?" Trent asked as he wandered out of the bathroom door and back into your shared room. He had nothing but his boxers on and you were sure you were about to make yourself parents and never mind in the name of God.

"I know it is amazing" You softly replied with a smile as he sat himself down behind you. His arms wrapped around your waist as his head fell into the cruck of your neck. His warm skin was against yours as the comforting feeling of his being fell all over you.

"You're going to be the best god mum" Trent explained with a giggle as he shut his eyes and wondered about you as a mum, not just a god mum but a mum to his children. Your children. You didn't need to say any words you simply turned around and grasped your hands onto his cheeks and locked your lips with his. He was irresistible, he was everything you wanted, and he was yours. Maybe this was the start of your tiny family?

Hey guys 👋🏻 this is my second Trent imagine today 😱 I hope you guys enjoyed this one 😘 please leave feedback and requests as they are greatly appreciated 🥰 have the best day 🤗 masterlist 2022 💌 masterlist 2023 💌

@prettylittletrent @cornertakenquicklyyyy @trentalexanderarnold @robbo38 @robbothegoat @kostasstsimikass @chelseamount @chloereddy @tsimikasfamily @avenirdelight @blueathens @jordanhendersunshine @mrs-henderson @thatonesexycancerian @hendersons1truelover @nyctophilic0vitnir @peekapeaches @tsimikxs @tsimikostas @trentalexarnofan @leddows @moneymasnn @superkittywonderland @virgilvansike @virgilvandickmedown @hopefulromantic1 @robbo-trent-fanfiction26

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twoidiotwriters1 · 2 months

Text

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: How are we feeling? We're halfway through this book hang in there! -Danny Words: 2,468 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Renegade' -by Big Red Machine ft. Taylor Swift

XXXIII: Depression Isn't a Joke, but My Will to Live Sure Is

I watch Annabeth and Percy huddle together in front of a broken altar. Behind them is Bob, the titan Percy fought with Thalia and Nico. I'm guessing he's there to help, cause he's not trying to kill them while their backs are turned.

"What are you doing?" Percy asks, his clothes are ragged and he's got scratches all over his body. The sight makes my stomach churn.

"Sending a message," Annabeth answers, looking as bad as Percy. "I just hope Rachel gets it."

"Rachel?" Percy frowns. "You mean our Rachel? Oracle of Delphi Rachel?"

"That's the one," Annabeth says with a hint of amusement.

I read over her shoulder what she's written on a crumbled-up napkin:

Connor,

Give this to Rachel. Not a prank. Don't be a moron.

Love, Annabeth

"Now I just need to burn it," she says. "Anybody got a match?"

The ground opens and swallows me, then I get hurled back out in the middle of a fight with the Kerkopes. Octavian is screaming curses and orders, Reyna is next to him looking just as harassed, but unlike Octavian, she's fighting. Further ahead I can see my camp.

"Your attempts are useless, daughter of Olympus."

This is the first time I hear Gaea's voice, but I recognize it immediately.

"I was wondering when you'd come," I look at the woman in a dirty veil, dressed in clothes that look like moss and roots. "Hard to fear your threats when every bad guy you've sent has been nothing but embarrassing."

The sleeping lady smiles. "You're as vain and stupid as your patrons." Gaea dissolves only to appear closer. "They chose you as their General because you rather die than let them down, but don't be mistaken, the children of Olympus always fall onto me. I'll feast on your power, and destroy everything you love."

She touches my chest with two fingers, pushing me back.

"And I'll start..." Gaea's sleeping smile grows. "With Leo Valdez."

Ara falls off the bed, scratching her forehead with the nightstand. She swears, getting up and feeling her wound. She's tired of waking up like this almost every day, but at least there is no blood, so she gets up to get dressed.

Ara doesn't bother to check the time, nowadays she can't go back to sleep even if she wakes up in the middle of the night, and she rarely feels tired anyway. Ara guesses that it might be the blessings, all that power ought to do something to a mortal body that was previously below average.

The girl walks to the mess hall, then stops, ponders, and walks past to go to the top deck. As expected, Nico is on the foremast, eyes glossy like his mind drifted away hours ago and he hasn't moved since then.

Ara tries to whistle and then remembers she's never been able to, but a loud noise comes out effortlessly and makes her stop in shock. Nico looks at her scowling. "Did you just whistle at me like I'm a dog?"

"I didn't know I could do that," she replies in surprise.

"What do you want?"

"We need to talk," she says in her General voice. "Come to the mess hall."

Ara leaves knowing he'll follow her, she grabs two plates from the cabinets and fills them with nice-looking food, when Nico gets there she seizes him by the shoulders.

"You're having breakfast with me."

"Wh—don't touch me!"

"You haven't eaten in a whole day—you thought I wouldn't notice?" Ara sits in front of him. "Don't get up or I'll force-feed you."

"What is your problem?" He fixes his jacket. "I'm not hungry, you can't—"

"But you can meddle in my relationship with Leo?" She asks sharply. "You need to know your place, I won't allow this to happen a second time."

Nico looks down at his plate with scorn. "This is absurd."

"What's absurd is your attitude," Ara scowls. "I mention a tiny mistake I did before coming to this journey, and you decide to poison Leo's mind—"

"I told him what he had to hear," the boy argues. "Hades knows you won't do it."

She keeps her voice steady, furious enough to not lose it like other times. "You don't know what he needs. He's not Michael."

"You're right, he's nowhere near as strong as Mike was, or as strong as what you had with him," Nico grabs a fork begrudgingly. "I won't finish this, by the way, it's too much."

"It's enough for a kid your age and body type. Eat." Ara brushes it aside. "And I didn't have anything with Mike, he was just a friend."

Nico's eyes flare up with irritation. "He made you what you are and you do him a disservice by denying what you felt. And you're not my doctor."

"And you're not my therapist," Ara eats a mouthful of bacon angrily. "I don't want you meddling with my crew and telling them things that you don't even understand."

"I understand way more than you think."

"Why are you trying to get Leo to break up with me?"

"What?" Nico raises a brow with slight surprise. "It was you who tried to end it by dying!"

"How did you find out about the curse?" She presses.

"Why haven't you told Leo?"

Ara tenses at his question. "I wanna trust you, Nico, but then you do this... Is it impossible to understand why I said what I said to Lily?"

"You're blessed, and you waste yourself on what? Teen romance? Your selfishness is gonna get Percy killed!"

"And Annabeth."

Nico blinks. "What?"

"Percy and Annabeth," Ara corrects him, prowling to a subject she knows she shouldn't touch. "You always skip her when you're agitated."

Nico's face flushes. "I gotta give it to Valdez, I didn't think he'd ask you, considering he eats out of the palm of your hand. Perhaps he will dump you, eventually. He should. I'm not sorry I told him."

Ara jumps out of her seat, but Leo enters the hall at that moment. He notices Ara and stops. "Am I interrupting another murder attempt? Should I come back later?"

Nico pushes his plate—almost empty—away. "You know what, arae? I wish it'd been you instead of Percy and Annabeth, maybe the fall would've fixed whatever's wrong with you."

Nico walks past Leo, and Leo looks back at her and whistles lowly. "That was cruel."

"That is Nico," she retorts with composure. "The one I know, anyway..."

"Were you arguing about what I said last night?"

"I was going to kill him for three years' worth of disrespect," Ara pushes her plate—almost full—away. "I'm sick of having him on the ship, he brings out the worst in me."

Leo thinks what she says is true, but that's probably not smart to admit out loud. He watches intently, the vibrant energy she used to have during their first quest is sorely missing. "What's the deal between you two?"

"He wants to see me alone in the world," she states with certainty. "He can't hate Percy, so he puts it all on me."

"You haven't been a saint, though, have you?" Leo asks pointedly. "Not with him."

"Do you think..." She can't even finish the sentence.

Leo shakes his head. "I want to feel like before—"

"There you are!" Hazel walks into their conversation. "Ready to train me, General?"

Ara walks out of the mess hall glancing at Leo with concern. "Let's go."

"Before I forget," she rummages through her Octopi bag and pulls out a Ziploc from it. "Ginger. It'll help your seasickness."

Hazel examines it. "Where did you find it?"

"Triptolemus," the girl shrugs. "While Frank and Nico were looking for the barley, I searched through the cabinets to get some."

"Who taught you all this?" Hazel asks with curiosity. "The medicine and healing stuff."

"Michael Yew," Ara hangs her octopi over one shoulder. "Son of Apollo. Taught me many things so I wouldn't be helpless on my own... I owe my level of preparation to him and my friend Lily."

Hazel hums. "Nico told me about him. He used to train you both, right?"

Ara nods, gaze wistful. "Your brother didn't get to know him like I did," she looks back at the younger girl, now much smaller than her. "Ready to start?"

"Before we do that," Hazel lifts the bag of ginger and examines it shyly. "The way you've been acting towards Frank and me..."

Ara's expression fills with guilt. "I'm sorry, I—"

"No, I mean," the girl interrupts her. "You're helping us."

She stares at Hazel blankly. "You don't want me to?"

"You can do whatever you please, it's just... why?"

"Why am I helping?" Ara raises a brow. "I'm not following, Hazel. Why are you asking me about it just now?"

"Well, I kind of got the impression that you knew about Leo's er... situation with me."

Her cheeks get warmer. "Oh," Ara leans both arms on the railing. "Leo and I struggle with the whole sharing-is-caring part of relationships but sometimes it... spills out. I'm sorry."

"I'm glad he told you about it. It might help him."

Ara looks back at her. "What?"

Hazel tries to cover it, but Ara sees her flinch at her reaction. "He might understand the situation better this way. Does your prophecy have to do with a curse? I spent a lot of time around cursed souls during my first life, and Nico called you an—"

"Nico called me Arae, which is my name," the girl scowls at the skyline. "I'll be honest, Hazel, my prophecy didn't sound good the first time I heard it, but as time goes on I like it even less. Your brother thinks he knows all about me, but he doesn't."

Hazel shifts her weight from one foot to the other. "Curses can't be broken by the person who carries them. You've helped everyone here, we owe you our lives one way or another—"

"That's why I haven't..." Ara makes a face and groans. "You're linked to Leo by an old promise his great-grandfather made, right?"

"Yes?"

"This curse is centuries older," she explains. "I shouldn't let just anyone get involved in it—not until I have a clear view of things. I don't want to freak y'all out."

"Ara—"

"The crew is doing well," she holds so tightly onto the wooden rail that her knuckles turn white. "I don't want to taint that... I always end up making things worse, I won't do it this time."

Hazel makes a face. "So what are you planning?"

"I'm getting Annabeth and Percy out of Tartarus," then she remembers her dream. "They're still alive—Bob is with them."

"Bob?" The girl raises a brow. "Who is that?"

"An old friend, Nico knows him. My point is, that their chances of survival have increased. Not by much, but it's promising, I'll put all my focus on that."

"But what if your prophecy comes sooner?"

"It won't."

"Are you sure?"

"No," Ara moves away from the railing. "But I must believe it."

When the giant turtle shows up, Ara isn't surprised. She's been wondering when they'd face their next sea monster, and this seems to be it. They reach a narrow passageway and the turtle stops attacking them, but the real problem shows up.

"Well..." Piper glances at the creature and shrugs. "At least the turtle can't get us. We're safe here."

An arrow comes down flying and pierces the mast only a few inches away from the girl's face. Everyone scatters and gets to the ground, except Piper, who freezes in shock.

"Piper, duck!" Jason whispers hastily.

"Up there," Frank points from his hiding spot. "Single shooter. See him?"

"Who the heck is he?" Leo asks grumpily. "Why is he firing at us?"

"Guys? There's a note," Piper tells them shakily.

"Oh awesome," Ara grumbles.

Hazel gets there first and grabs the note. "First line: Stand and deliver."

"What does that mean? We are standing. Well, crouching, anyway. And if that guy is expecting a pizza delivery, forget it!" Hedge complains.

"There's more," Hazel continues. "This is a robbery. Send two of your party to the top of the cliff with all your valuables. No more than two. Leave the magic horse. No flying. No tricks. Just climb."

"Climb what?" Piper frowns.

"There," Nico points up.

Hazel continues reading "I do mean all your valuables. Otherwise my turtle and I will destroy you. You have five minutes."

"Use the catapults!" Hedge demands.

"P.S. Don't even think about using your catapults."

"Curse it! This guy is good."

"That guy made a mess of our ship with his pet and now he's robbing us?" Ara speaks with annoyance. "I'm done with men thinking they can take away my stuff without a fight. This is—"

"You're going..." Leo interrupts her with a tired tone.

"Well, yeah! He's telling us to climb and I'm the best climber here. Is anyone against it?" No one responds.

"This guy has a sharp aim, you can't fight him even if you reach the top," Leo points out. "Look, that's not a good trajectory. Even if I could arm the catapult before that guy pincushioned us with arrows, I don't think I could make the shot. That's hundreds of feet, almost straight up. He's crazy good."

"Yeah," Frank pouts. "My bow is useless too. He's got a huge advantage, being above us like that. I couldn't reach him."

Ara hates it when people tell her she's got no chance. What do they know about what she can and can't do? She's the daughter of the gods, and this stranger feels like a god sent... which she shouldn't say out loud, they already think she's unreliable.

"I'll go with Ara," Hazel offers.

After their conversation yesterday, Ara wasn't expecting this from her. "Are you sure? I mean..." her eyes go to the weasel that jumps to Hazel's shoulder. "Who is that?"

The creature screeches and farts, and Ara makes a face. Hedge snorts. "Says its name is Gale, and that she's here to check Hazel's skill."

"Listen," Hazel insists, "this robber wants valuables. I can go up there, summon gold, jewels, whatever he wants."

"If we pay him off, you think he'll actually let us go?" Leo asks skeptically.

"We don't have much choice," Nico replies. "Between that guy and the turtle..."

Ara's almost vibrating with the need to hit something. Hazel's horse (he helped them escape the turtle moments before) whines and shakes its mane with indignation. "I have to, Arion," Hazel tells him. "Well, Ara? What do you think?"

"We go together," Ara nods to the group. "You guys keep the ship safe."

"My sword," Jason looks at the water with a scowl. "It's back there at the bottom of the sea, and we don't have Percy to retrieve it."

Hazel doesn't even think about it when she opens her palm and leaves it hovering over the rail. The sword flies out of the water and the girl catches it. "Here," she says handing it to him calmly.

"How... That was like half a mile!" Jason exclaims in awe.

"I've been practicing. Now, if there are no other objections, we have a robber to meet."

Ara pats her shoulder and gives her a grateful look. Hazel doesn't return it, she has no choice but to follow her General. Leo seizes Ara by the wrist and whispers in a heavily concerned voice.

"Don't you dare dying. We still need you."

Ara lets out a dry chuckle. "If you say so."

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled @thepixiechicksh

#twoidiots writing #pjo fanfic #leo valdez fanfic #doo #leo valdez x oc #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians

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n0brainjustvibes · 8 months

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Okay, so I've been listening to Take Me to War by The Crane wives and debating myself on if it's a Rachel song or a Taylor song or maybe a third worm character that i cant connect to the song because im too fixated on Taylor and Rachel, so I'd love to see what your input on this is.

Oh, a song I know! :D It's a funny coincidence that you link it to Taylor and Rachel, because to me it's been The Definitive Lisa Song for quite a while - we're collecting all the og main girls here, lol.

My reasoning for the Lisa association:

Words as a weapon

Dress me in red and throw your roses And I'll wrangle the beast with words It's a graceless dance of epithets We learn to make someone hurt

and a relative lack of physical power

I've earned myself a reputation That my bark is much worse than my bite

plus "there are no stones at my disposal" and "all of my tiny might"...

but - and there's a really good post by @skitterstan about this - Lisa's not soft. She's vicious by necessity, and she finds enjoyment in it. Hence the chorus.

I think the ferocity of the chorus and the theme of fighting back against much larger opponents fit Taylor and Rachel, too, but one thing that doesn't really fit them is the theme of appearing pretty/docile/non-threatening: "I'll be the sweetest thing to ever scare you".

It also fits Lisa's backstory, imo. Especially these bits:

They will consume your sweet resistance And they'll carry your heart in their teeth (...) All of the words I have swallowed All of the sharp things I've kept in my mouth I am always bleeding out

I read 'sharp words' as referring not only to taunts Lisa bit back, but to the words levelled at her when her family blamed her for Reggie's death. 'Swallowing' her own words also works, though, along with the "I am always burning up" verses, since I got the impression that she bottled up her own feelings of guilt, grief, and (justified) anger.

Oh, and returning to the theme of fighting larger opponents-

"I watched a weed usurp the garden And it poisoned the rest of the crops Would take days of fighting stubborn roots To tear the whole damn thing out So I will leave it where it's standing And instead I will find me a match I'll turn it all to kindling I'll burn it all down to ash!

[cough] Coil. [cough].

Returning to the other Undersider girls, I think it fits Rachel more than Taylor - Taylor tends to shut down, at least at first, when she is provoked, whereas Rachel lashes out. And late-game Taylor would be the one taking THEM to war...

#lisa wilbourn #banger tunes for my blorbos #wormblr

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mymanyfandomramblings · 13 days

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Glee-cap: Episode 4x14--I Do

I'm watching Glee for the first time, and writing recaps of my episode reactions (I'm also watching it a second time through with my sister, and I'll provide those recaps too). Here's my reaction recap for I Do

We start off strong--Finn and Rachel. Together! (Know that I am a Finchel shipper, before we go any farther)

Aaaaaand Rachel giving Finn terrible advice. Please stop.

Also, I do love Finn's 'not everything is about you'. I love Rachel, but she needed to hear that

Yesss Emma!! I love how confident she's gotten. Stressy, but a lot more confident

"I hope it's Britney again." Never change, Brittany, never change

Cory Monteith's facial expressions are perfect. Especially the 'internally screaming' one.

Emma knows exactly how to communicate with Artie. To a vaguely concerning degree.

Marley is so cute, especially with Jake. Her smile is so sweet, and I totally believe they are In Love

Jake is a sweetie too

Ryder is so level-headed, and I love him as well. Also yes, call out Puck dating a sophomore (as much as I like Puck, I don't like that subplot whatsoever)

Shoutout to the ridiculous outfit that looks like the lovechild of Kurt and Mike's fashion sense that Puck is wearing in the flashback

The bro-ship between Ryder and Jake is amazing. Ryder's acting is so bad. The tuxedos are everything

Jake and Marley's musical chemistry is *chef's kiss*

Not gonna lie, that bouquet was gorgeous

Yesss, Mercedes!! I love her!

And Sue is officially hilarious. "What, this old thing? It's an exact replica of your wedding dress."

and we're back with the random cracks about Finn's weight. The dude's insecure, and everyone needs to back off him

Aside from the aforementioned fat-shaming, every word out of Sue's mouth is gold. Not whatsoever helpful for poor Emma, but comedy gold

And Jayma Mays shows off hitherto unsuspected talents with Getting Married Today, as does Amber Riley. I haven't loved any of Emma's songs before this point but goshdarn it, Jayma knocks this out of the park.

Emma's freaking out, meanwhile Sue is just eating, and I love it.

Brad is the organist. Guy cannot catch a break.

Shout out to Becky, the world's most angry looking flower girl. Also shout-out to Kurt's reaction.

The doors open and...SUE. Gosh, I love her sometimes. And the organ crashing to a halt is hilarious.

Will and Sue's faces straight afterwards are delightful

Brittany mouthing that Sue 'looks so good' as she walks down the aisle at someone else's wedding. Never change, Brittany.

Jane Lynch hit comedy out of the ballpark in this episode. Everything Sue does here is hilarious

Finn now has himself in deep trouble

I am, at my heart, a Samcedes shipper, but I can't lie, he and Britts are pretty cute

Marley looks so pretty in that darkish pink.

I am vaguely frustrated that my hunch that Ryder has been having all of Jake's ideas all this time was correct, but I do still appreciate that they're bros, rather than, you know, fighting.

Jake and Ryder: Most Reasonable Dudes in the Glee-verse

Kurt's dance moves always make me laugh. I also love that Blaine looks so intense while he sings, and meanwhile Kurt's shimmying around and making Big facial expressions

Yes, Artie!!! For all his faults, Artie is really good at standing up for himself (no pun intended)

Sam and Brittany are so unhinged together /affectionate

Lots of people find Tina OOC in S4, but ever since The Power Of Madonna she's been given to occasional outbursts where she never gives her outburstee enough context to know what they've done

The comic timing on 'Did you vapo-rape my ex-boyfriend' is so perfect.

Did my eyes deceive me, or was Sam also lining up to catch the bouquet too?

Finn is my favourite character but occasionally he takes this particular tone with Rachel, and I Don't Like It

Whoa, Finn gets poetic and metaphorical. Guess being a teacher did make him smarter

Rachel missing the point is always hilarious.

I love Finn, and I love Finchel, but he's being just a tad presumptuous and condescending here, and I wish he'd express these same sentiments in a different way

Okay, what's with almost every couple heading upstairs. I kind of hoped that Marley would set some boundaries for Jake to respect (I mean, I'm not saying she has to, I'm saying that it would have been nice to see what would actually have happened if Ryder had been right, and how Jake would respond)

And that's how you know that I'm writing this as I watch, because I got what I wanted. Jake is so chill about it, even after getting his hopes up, and I'm glad he's not letting Marley apologise

Ah the glorious love between Brody and Rachel where they're constantly lying and being unfaithful. Love it /heavy sarcasm

Tina's dress is so cute

RYDER! You have been being so great the last few episodes now you ruin it!!

Artie's French accent is so cute

Their final song is really good, even if the dancing makes them all look completely insane

I also appreciate that their final-episode songs are starting to look a lot more low-budget and like real school performances than they used to

It's way too soon for Rachel to actually know if she's pregnant--unless there was supposed to be a timelapse in that song, but okay then.

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acaplaya-musings · 3 months

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Voiceplay Visuals: Moana Medley

For the second part of this series of mine, we're going with Voiceplay's most popular video on YouTube (and Facebook) ever: their Moana Medley! Released on the 19th of August, 2017 (just a few days shy of Geoff's 37th birthday), it currently has over 44 million views on Youtube, and it truly is impressive in its arrangement and vocal performance. But I'm not here to talk about vocals, I'm here to talk about the visual stuff! So let's go!

Group shot! I love how Rachel is wearing a cute red(?) tropical dress, and the others... barely even try with their outfits 😂

Layne is wearing long pants (or three-quarters at least), but he's at least wearing a "surf Cali" shirt, so there was at least some thought in it. Earl I will allow, as he's just kinda got Beach vibes here ngl (I think it's at least partially the hair). Eli kinda looks more like he's ready to go play golf, and Geoff is wearing a hoodie! Geoff, dude... 😅

I was thinking about this video a while ago and was like "wait, who did J play again?" and then I had to remind myself "oh right, this was before he had become a full-time member (for about 3 or 4 years) (but after Tony left the group to focus more on Pattycake Productions and behind-the-scenes stuff)

Kind of a lucky coincedence that this video was the one that introduced a lot of people to Voiceplay (before Oogie Boogie's Song at least), since they actually tell you in the video who everyone is and who they're representing from the movie.

"How many pounds of sand did we use to create our fake beach?" Voiceplay asks in the description. I don't know, but i'm guessing Quite A Lot.

Consider the COCONUT! (the WHAT?) Consider its treeeee!

(Voiceplay assured fans via video description that no coconuts were harmed in the filiming of this video 😋)

I said in another post that I was really tempted to do a thing studying the way Geoff's hair has changed over time and the various styles it has taken, and screw it, I'm doing it via this series! And this is what I mean by it:

A quick trace over a screencap (using a drawing app I have on my laptop), plus a few colour-picks from his hair (because I swear the shade of brown changes a lot just from the lighting alone). Anyway, we continue onwards!

Shoutout to Geoff's expression on "that's right!" from the opening song, Where You Are, love this boy

Who did the waves? Was that Kathy? (She's done puppeteering for other videos, such as Get Back Up Again). It's very cute, love the dedication

Rachel as Moana? Yeah nah yeah you don't say! 😂

"HEY!"

(Okay yes a lot of this is just going to be me pointing out amusing moments, but Voiceplay really know how to be funny, and I'm having fun, so eh)

Eli is underrated when it comes to comedic moments tbh, and also the king of Eyebrow Game (Geoff's a close second)

Well that answers my question about Earl's upper arm tattoo from the This Is Halloween video, anyway! (I.e. it is apparently real)

Layne was in charge of both the music arrangement and the video for this cover, so like, did he cast himself as Hei Hei? 😂 He could have been "Mini Maui", who is another nonspeaking character, but would have made more sense for his singing/rapping bit, but hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing! He makes a great Hei Hei 😁

(Also the fact that Layne's character card thing is orange, and this was before he earned the title of Carrot Lord! The foreshadowing!)

Geoff just deadpan handing a coconut to Layne, love that (also what is it with Voiceplay and nearly every single video screencap looking like a great Draw The Squad/Tag Yourself prompt? 😂

"Get the hook! Geddit?"

Geoff with not-yet-shoulder-length hair (i.e. Younger Geoff) is a different vibe to long-haired Geoff honestly. I very much love him as he is today, of course I do, but I still very much enjoy him here too <3

It's a freaking crime that they cut away from Geoff on the "I can't" part of the "I'll never hide, I can't, I'm too shiny!" line tbh /j

Geoff wears a watch a lot in videos (and since the last few years at least, he usually has something on the other wrist too), but for this video he apparently decided to not wear a more regular black or brown watch, and instead went with something a lot more, well, Shiny! (low-key drama queen vibes ngl, love that for him)

The "Know Who You Are" section is absolutely beautiful in every single way, 10/10, no notes

Love Rachel's dancing, she's a brilliant performer, both on mic and in front of the camera!

This might not be one of the biggest displays of "hey check out what I/we can do!" for any of the Voiceplay members out of all their videos, when it comes to vocal ranges and stuff, but it's still a great one to watch, and I'm happy that it did so well on social media! It's got the playfulness and silliness that has always been and continues to be part of Voiceplay's overall "brand", while still being a really good production and arrangement.

#voiceplay #acapella #geoff castellucci #eli jacobson #layne stein #earl elkins #earl elkins jr #rachel potter #moana #moana medley #acaplaya analysis #voiceplay visuals

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belovedindierock · 2 months

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Bent out of Shape

Cranky, playful, and maybe just a bit cracked, THOM YORKE has channelled his anxieties into a new solo album. Join him as he ponders the future of Radiohead and the end of civilization.

by Brian Raftery / Photographs by Jack Chessum

THE FLIGHT LAST night was torturous. He didn't sleep—he never sleeps, in fact, no matter what he tries. The herbal pills shut down his body but not his brain, and melatonin gives him wide-awake nightmares that he dubs "the horrors." Sometimes he works on songs on his laptop, but usually, by the time he's halfway through the air, Thom Yorke is silently freaking out. But this morning he woke up, put on a Björk tune, and got a massage. Sitting in an abandoned, librarylike meeting room at Philadelphia's Loews Hotel, he walks over to a window framing the skyline. The sky outside is a wondrous blue, and the 80-year-old Ben Franklin Bridge looks as if it could reach into heaven. Yorke takes it all in, sweeping his arm across the display of buildings. "You know, you land in the U.S., and you look out the window here," he says. "And all this infrastructure, everything that's going on... it will not exist."

He launches into an explanation of how it will all go down: The world's oil supply will be depleted, American won't be prepared, and the City of Brotherly Love as we know it could be gone in the next 100 years.

This is what Thom Yorke is like on a good day.

His malaise is understandable. Yorke is a few months shy of 38, and like most people who pay attention to what's going on in the world, he's scared shitless. Much of this fear is channelled through The Eraser, a heavily electronic side project—he bristles at the term solo album—that Yorke recorded with Nigel Godrich, who has also produced albums for his band Radiohead. Its nine songs are jittery meltdowns about alienation and anxiety, and it's hard to listen to it without thinking, Man, does his voice sound good when it's so far up in the mix. Also, is the apocalypse going to arrive before track six is over?

And yet, because he has a partner, Rachel Owen, and two young kids, Agnes and Noah, and because it's no fun to be a gloomy Gus all the time, Yorke remains a 21st-century optimist, one who believes that things are bad but we're not entirely screwed. Yet, "I have to be positive," he says, "because when it comes down to it—how do I say this without sounding really revolting?—you have to get up every day with love in your heart."

He pauses, his face frozen in a wince.

"There you go. I sound like some sort of lunatic. I'll just say I haven't slept much."

There is absolutely nothing surprising about seeing Thom Yorke in person. With the exception of the mid '90s Pablo Honey era—during which he rocked a blond shag that made him resemble Garth Algar after partying in The Dark Crystal—he's appeared more or less the same for over a decade: spiky dark hair, a flatlined gaze (the result of a lazy left eye), and some tentative stubble. He dresses his age, in jeans and a white short-sleeved dress shirt, but looks five years younger—not surprising, perhaps, since 33 is the scientific proven median age of Radiohead's fan base.

What is surprising, though, is that while Yorke sounds as tense as ever, he's looking relatively relaxed these days. The perpetually tortured glare that greeted reporters and hangers-on during the OK Computer era has been replaced by an occasional nervous laugh and some self-deprecating digs. "It's difficult to tell how people have changed," says Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien. "But Thom's been in a better headspace for quite a few years."

Part of the reason for this reversal, Yorke admits, was The Eraser. After Radiohead's exhaustive tour in support of 2003's Hail to the Thief, the band needed a rest. Yorke retreated to his home base of Oxford, England, gathering blips and beats that had been lying around for years and assembling them with Godrich's help. "After the last tour everybody decided to take a break and have kids," says Godrich. "But Thom had actually had his kids first, so he was given this space to think about what he should do. And he thinks very hard about that." Everyone in the band knew about the project, but when Yorke describes the recording, it's as though he's talking about having an affair. "We were getting together a week here and a week there, and it really wasn't a big deal," he says. "And because it wasn't a big deal, it was fun. It felt like nobody was watching."

What happened on that last tour that made you so anxious to work on The Eraser?

The last show was Coachella, and by the end of that, we'd completely lost interest and lost confidence. Part of the nail in the coffin for me, personally, was going on after the fucking Pixies. It's like going on after the Beatles. It was a massive big deal, and I really, really, really didn't want to do it. It was an odd situation, as well, because I think the Pixies misread it. They thought it was because we didn't like them. I lost sleep for a month. It was time to stop for a bit.

What happened when you stopped?

The interesting thing was the lack of momentum, the lack of doing anything. You just sort of go into this loop where you're like, "Ahhhh, fucking hell," because nothing's done. Unless you finish a song, you can't move on. That's what was the good thing about The Eraser, going bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and it was done. I want to get a bit of that bang, bang, bang, bang thing back again.

Making The Eraser may have been cathartic, but it's a very bleak record. There are songs about distrust, isolation, bombs in the Underground...

I have many bleak thoughts. Don't get me started, man, It's one f my specialties, apparently. I'm concerned for our future, generally speaking. I'm concerned for my children's future. The reason I called it The Eraser is because the whole thing was written just trying to forget all the things that scare me. For example, we've reached the point where the [oil] supply has peaked. So what's going to happen? It's this enormous fucking elephant in the room, and everybody in the Western world is ignoring it. It's insane. And me being me, I don't ignore it. I guess I have too much time on my hands. So yeah, big surprise that I happen to be writing about that.

How do you keep those things in mind and not have it weigh down your life?

I have periods like that, which probably means I should be [institutionalized]. But I'm not a pessimist. I've gotten involved with this Friends of the Earth [group]: in the U.K. they're a big thing, like Greenpeace. They have this campaign to get the government to reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2050 or something like that. And it's quite interesting to be sitting down with these people, and them actually saying, "These things are achievable."

We've got 50 years to reassess how we interact with the world around us. And it could be really exciting. It's not like this [points to window] is making us happy. Sitting in gridlock is not a blissful experience.

So what about stepping up your political involvement, like Bono or Bob Geldof?

I'm not capable of becoming a big spokesperson. I don't think it's a good idea for the sake of my sanity. You have to know what your limits or strengths are, otherwise you'll crack. And taking on the responsibility in that way is really tough. You have to retain your independence of mind because everybody has a different [opinion]. It's not good for you. It's purely self-preservation.

But you've spoken out against Bush and Blair in the past.

I have a problem when I make personal attacks. I always say, "Well, they don't make personal attacks on me." It's bad karma doing that shit. But at the same time, they're pretty good at racking up their own bad karma. I find it very difficult to worry about that level of karma when they're still preaching about democracy.

Do you ever wish you weren't aware of all this stuff? That you could shut it out?

I wish I could find the pill. Unfortunately, all the ones I've tried only make it worse. [Laughs] The stuff that makes it go away for me is listening to music. That's always going to be the best way.

Have you ever tried antidepressants?

Oh, no! GlaxoSmithKline's legacy to the world is these poor bastards who can't get off Prozac. That's a fucking evil organization. Oh, I can't say that, can I? [Pauses] That's a very astute organization. They obviously know exactly what they're doing.

IN NOVEMBER 2000 this magazine put the pouty faces of Yorke and his bandmates—O'Brien, guitarist Jonny Greenwood, bassist, Colin Greenwood, and drummer Phil Selway—on the cover, along with the question, "The world's greatest rock band?" At the time the answer was pretty easy: Sure, why not? They were only a few years removed from the laser-show vignettes of OK Computer, and they'd just released the successfully audience-segregating Kid A, the only chart-topping record to include a relevance to rampant lemon-sucking. Besides, the pickings were slim—other groups mentioned in that issue included Disturbed and the Insane Clown Posse—and so being the world's greatest rock band was about as admirable as being the world's most dazzling salt-rock formation.

Despite the good-but-not-great sales of 2001's Amnesiac and 2003's Hail to the Thief, the fact that they have released only one new song in the past two years, and the ascent of bands that sound more like old-school Radiohead than Radiohead do, the answer remains the same: Of course they're the world's greatest rock band.

Much of this has to do with Yorke being one of the last truly myth-shrouded frontmen left. Not to slag on the competition, but the Gallaghers no longer have the tunes, Bono isn't enough of a recluse, and Chris Martin still hasn't written a song as good as "Karma Police." Even musicians who aren't Radiohead fans speak glowingly of them. "What they're doing with musical ideas is really genuine and authentic," says Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. "They could really become super arena-rock, because they had that promise. But they take another turn with [their sound], because they want to do different things.

And like Moore, Yorke finds himself in the position of unlikely rude elder statesman.

Do you feel old?

I feel old. And wise. It's a fucking weird thing, because I've always wanted to do that thing of growing old disgracefully, one way or the other. It's a bad idea to say to yourself, "I wish I was 20 again." I hated it. I used to go through really bad periods.

What was going on?

I was—well, I am—sort of confrontational. If I don't agree with something, then I'll rant and rave about it. It was almost pathological. Early on I used to get into all these scrapes with people. I'm sort of proud of that, because it kicks up the dust. The Arctic Monkeys—they have a bit of that, which I think is good. I don't really understand the music myself, but they've been put in that position, and they're really young, and they don't give a fuck. There's all these people all over them like a rash, and I can remember exactly what that's like—all these people going [affects a sleazy coo], "Oooh, we'll have a piece of you." And I think biting the hand that feeds you is incredibly important.

Nowadays are you more comfortable with the inanities of fame?

They don't happen anymore. There seems to be this threshold, and during the OK Computer period, suddenly all this shit started happening, and you're this moving target, and weird people start attaching themselves to you.

With Kid A and Amnesiac, it was tough making those records, but at the same time, it was exciting to feel like you were basically jumping off: "Fuck the lot of you! We're off!" The most amazing thing about it was I remember sitting in Central Park, and Kid A was No. 1 for one week—like some sort of clerical error was going on. How the fuck did we do that? No videos, no bullshit—we minimized it as much as we could. Knowing that we'd never get away with it again was like our little proxy Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.

So do you have a normal life in Oxford?

It's fine. Really. It's good for the soul to see the same people walking down the street and not get hassled. I only get hassled once every two or three days—someone might come up, but it's usually a nice thing, a positive thing. So I cannot complain.

Are your kids old enough to know what you do?

My [five-year-old] son came to our first show in Copenhagen. I can't get anything about it out of him: "So what do you think?" [Mimes a childlike shrug]

LIKE SO MANY other easily distracted creative types with too much free time and too little restraint, Yorke started blogging last year. The posts? Strung-together rants, plus the occasional in-the-studio update (Radiohead have been recording a follow-up to Hail to the Thief since last fall, though Yorke says they're nowhere near done). Yorke's prose style is choppy and scattered, and his entries make for an often disturbing read: Extremely personal, grammar-be-damned lines like "I was struggling, feels like we been trapped for a long time" are posted with no additional details, leaving readers to wonder if Yorke has gone completely crackers (and also to ask, "When did he start using smiley-face emoticons?").

I'm going to read you a few of these blog postings...

Oh, goody.

"Have come through another crisis, shaky but intact." What crisis?

[Pauses] Just wondering whether [Radiohead] should be carrying on. I always wonder whether we should be carrying on. We all do, really. In January and February we were still trying to work out what was what. It just seems to take a monumental effort to get everything back in gear. We stopped for so long. You need to be hanging out a lot and sharing ideas without realizing it. You can't disappear for six months and come back and expect it to be wonderful. And by rights now, we should have split up. Isn't that what we're fucking supposed to do at this point? We're not fucking 20.

Here's another one: "I'm fucking tearing my hair out. Too much at once." It sounds like you put a lot of pressure on yourself.

The pressure's from all of us. There was a long period of time when we didn't have a producer. We didn't have someone external giving us feedback. And by default, that meant that I, for whatever reason, was the one saying yes or no, and I was tearing my hair out because I couldn't wear both hats.

How about "There are giant waves of self-doubt crashing over me."

Ah. There I go again.

Is this an allusion to depression? You've talked about depression in the past.

Maybe. I mean, I can never work out if it's depression or just lack of energy.

A FEW NIGHTS LATER, outside Philadelphia's Tower Theatre, a determined-looking teen stands on the corner, index finger in the air. Like so many other 'Headheads milling about, he has an almost zero chance of getting in; the Tower holds only 3,000, and the seats for tonight's show—the band's first Stateside concert since they were forced to headline over the Pixies—sold out in seconds.

So he'll miss out on the mad rush when the band takes to the stage with "You and Whose Army?" He'll miss the nine new songs, many of which sound like a return to the rock-oriented Radiohead of The Bends (especially the soulful "House of Cards" and the Wire-in-a-haunted-house "Open Pick"). And he'll miss out on one of Yorke's most physically animated performances to date: the frontman staggers, flails, and waves, and at one point appears to approximate Axl Rose's shimmying snake dance (thought the homage is probably accidental). To the casual observer, it could even look as if he's having... fun.

When you were in the studio earlier this year, pondering the breakup of the band, how serious did it get?

What will probably irritate me about talking about that is that people make a big thing out of it. Well, what do you want me to say? Do you want me to say it's all wonderful and that we never thought about it? I think it's good to be honest about wanting to still have genuine reasons for doing this. But when you say that some days it doesn't feel like the right thing to do, it's made into this big thing. But surely, that's fundamental. That's a fundamental part of the whole process of being a musician—choosing whether to work this way or that way.

How bad did it get? I don't know. Lots of discussions. I think we're a lot closer now than we have been for a few years.

Do you still enjoy being in Radiohead?

Yeah, I do. Ultimately, it's important to me to be sharing ideas with the others. That's the way we do it. You don't notice it until you actually decide to not hang out with each other for a bit.

You've been cracking jokes and smiling a lot on this tour. Do you think your reputation for being humourless is fair?

No. I think it's widely unfair. But it's out of my control. I'm humourless when I think people are wankers. I'm not tolerant of idiots.

What's the biggest misconception people have about you?

Well, that's the same as the previous question!

Johnny Cash Movies, Pixies Who Sing

THESE ARE A FEW OF YORKE'S FAVOURITE THINGS

Walk the Line

"Fucking hell, what a great film! I liked the way they were able to take the [characters'] biographies and dramatize them in a way that wasn't naff."

Liars, Drum's Not Dead

"My favourite record of the moment. I don't know what it is about it—when you have it on, you just zone out. They moved to Berlin, and they sound like they're smoking loads of ganja."

The Bug vs. the Rootsman

They're on Rephlex, which is Aphex Twin's label. It's all sort of bit-crushed, and I guess it's drum'n'bass. I don't know. I'm too old to actually know the difference between this and grime. I'm supposed to know this shit."

The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, by James Howard Kunstler

"It's an American book. [Album cover artist] Stanley Donwood lent it to me because we've been obsessing about suburbia. It's an analysis of the way America's developed since the first settlers. There was this period before and after the Second World War where America could have gone one way or another. And it chose to go [toward massive development]."

Björk, "Unravel"

"While you are away, my heart comes undone/Slowly unravels in a ball of yarn/The devil collects it with a grin." I'm trying to get Radiohead to do a cover, because I think it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard."

"Ain't No Fat on This Record"

YORKE COMES CLEAN ABOUT HIS ALBUMS

PABLO HONEY

1993

"Some of the songs we did justice to, and some we were in a bit of a hurry to do. But I think we did a good job on that record, considering we were kind of wet behind the ears."

THE BENDS

1995

"I like the fact that The Bends was so direct, but it [required] a lot of aborted sessions and starting over. For 'Street Spirit [Fade Out]', we were bashing our heads against the wall for days and not getting anywhere. We had countless versions that didn't make sense. I was being impatient."

OK COMPUTER

1997

"The house [in Bath, where it was recorded] was the most haunted house we ever encountered. Some people saw things, some people heard things. What tends to happen to me with haunted houses is I hear the thoughts of this other entity. You can't determine what they're saying; they're not that specific. Unless you're under the influence, and it gets really specific!"

KID A

2000

"I often think about the horn section on ‘The National Anthem'. Me and Jonny were standing in front of all these players; Jonny was writing out scores, and I was going, ‘Just play it like a bunch of cars in a traffic jam! They're really cross!' I really didn't give a shit what they started playing. I was listening to a lot of Charles Mingus. I wanted to take that to the extreme."

AMNESIAC

2001

"It never felt right to make Kid A and Amnesiac all one record; they both have [their own] weird flow. Amnesiac has some good songs on it—we play ‘Dollars & Cents' a lot. And I'm really proud of ‘You and Whose Army?': Jonny was listening to [30s vocal group] the Ink Spots, and he and Nigel had a bee in their bonnet about how it should be done. And I was like, ‘Are you sure about that?"

HAIL TO THE THIEF

2003

"Of all the records we did, I'd maybe change the playlist. I think we had a meltdown when we put it together. ‘There There' is amazing, and ‘2+2=5' is good, but as Nigel says, I wish I had another go at that one. We wanted to do things quickly, and I think the songs suffered. It was part of the experiment. Every record is part of the experiment."

THE ERASER

2006

"Ain't no fat on this record — it's a lean motherfucker. Short records are a good idea—40 minutes is the length of a school lesson, isn't it? Besides, we didn't have a lot left over. There's a B-side called ‘Drunk Machine,‘ which was cool, but The Eraser has a nice sheen to it, and if we put that in, it would have been like putting a massive stink bomb in the middle of the record."

Troubled Man

Confusion reigns on the Radiohead leader's solo debut [3 out of 5 stars]

by Jon Dolan / Photo-Illustration by Joe Magee

Rock music is based on a symbiotic relationship between artist and audience: They do whatever they want, we think it's genius. Get coked up and drive your car into a rehab clinic? Genius. Sober up and sit around a castle IM'ing with the Dalai Lama while a sexy robot maid rubs your temples? More genius. But some rock gods don't play that game, and Thom Yorke is one of them. The career of the Radiohead frontman has been an ongoing process of building a strange, maybe unprecedented empathy between a musical icon and his teeming minions.

Throw on any Radiohead album since 1997's OK Computer rewrote the book on stadium-rock alienation. Each is a little black pool of prog-rock drift where Yorke marinades his ego until it nearly dissolves, leaving him and the listener in a liberating state of disorientation. The woozier the vertigo, the deeper the bond. Now he's also got a blog (www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/) where he can share his most personal, tortured thoughts. Celebrities get rich commodifying their elusive inner beauty, but Yorke's freebie outpourings are kind of subversive.

The Eraser, a stopgap en route to the next Radiohead album (due in 2007), offers nine excursions into ambient neurosis that only heighten that shared sense of confusion. The skittery, out-of-focus beats and electronica brutalism are unsettling, and Yorke's dire musings are more obtuse than ever. But for him, that's just honesy, and this is his most personal, confessional work (Yorke created all the songs with producer Nigel Godrich). Call it a blog with beats--low on guitars and high on abstract expressive moodiness. "The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear/The more I try to erase you, the more that you appear," he yelps above the blurry piano on the title track, before the tension breaks with an almost humane house-music groove. It's one of the few moments when his body takes precedence over his troubled mind.

These are the weirdest tracks Yorke has ever been a part of; even devotees of Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's comparatively pleasant orchestral outing, Bodysong, may be a little freaked out at first. "Analyse" suggests Swan Lake performed on a hot plate, and "Skip Divided" is like an EKG machine humming old soul tunes. Echoing Radiohead, these songs dwell in the space where everyday communication fails, and we have to look deeper or look away. But Yorke's ability to make alienation seem reassuring--what he refers to here as his "elliptical caress"--always draws you in. Whether he's singing about his childhood or postmodern apathy or math or rain, his drippiest distress calls sound like gospel. Even if he's going nowhere in particular, you can't help but tag along.

#radiohead #indie rock #indie music #thome yorke #jack chessum #SPIN #spin magazine

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doevademe · 2 years

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Here is another prompt, high school au where Percy is the punk skater boy who isn’t so much a troublemaker as trouble just happens to always find him, Nico is the smart loner boy who keeps to himself and thinks no one beside his small group of friends notices him, but Percy does. One day Percy sees Nico hanging out with Will and think that Nico might like and gets sad, but is determined to win Nico over so he dyes his hair blonde. Hilarity ensues. Bonus points if Nico and Percy were friends as kids but grew apart when Percy started high school

When Percy had turned 6, his father had brought home his old friends from college to talk about business ventures.

His excuse had been that his friends had children around his age, so he could socialize a bit more, since his reputation at school wasn't the best (the restroom thing had been a set-up, he'd tell anyone willing to listen).

While he had made friends with the Grace siblings, it was the younger di Angelo sibling that had become his best friend.

Nico thought everything Percy did was cool, and he would follow along with all his ideas and share the blame when they got in trouble.

He had never paid attention to the fact that Nico was two years younger than him. The boy was as mature as he was, and much cooler than the kids his age who would call him slow for his reading problems.

The two years only became a problem when it separated them once Percy entered High School. They didn't lose contact completely, but their relationship fundamentally changed once they had different schedules, subjects, and friendships (yes, Percy eventually managed to make friends his age aside from Jason).

Now they were together again but... Percy was a junior and Nico a freshman

The powers that be had decided that freshmen and juniors just didn't mix.

Percy hated that.

He was forced to see as Nico got his own small circle of friends, from Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang to Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, and seemingly forgot about him.

In the two years since they shared everything, Nico had grown more reserved, meeker, while Percy had just decided to embrace his reputation as a troublemaker and dress the part (even if his record was remarkably clean despite the numerous incidents in science lab and gym), with ripped jeans, leather jackets, the whole package.

For the past two years, he had been convinced that he only missed his old best friend (couldn't call him that now with Grover around), and had been sad that even now he couldn't get back what they had.

That all changed when Will Solace entered the picture.

The boy was not subtle at all about his interest in Nico, and that had made Percy realize that he didn't just want Nico back as a friend, but to be able to tell Will Solace and everyone who tried that Nico di Angelo was taken.

"And that's why my life is over," Percy whined as his head hit the table at the library. "I can't just talk to him! At this point, we're more like acquaintances."

"You know, most ex-girlfriends would kick your ass for talking about your current crush with them," Rachel pointed out. Annabeth hummed in agreement as she turned a page of her book. "You're lucky you dated us."

"That's because I only like the coolest girls," Percy said, trying to butter them up. "Maybe they're cool enough to tell me how I can get Nico to ditch Solace and notice me?"

"Nice try," Annabeth said, putting her book down. "Percy, you don't even know if Nico is interested in Will Solace."

"Nico said he wanted to marry Phoebus when we were kids," Percy muttered miserably.

"The blond guy from the Hunchback of Notre Dame?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow. "Eh, I'm more of a Kristoff gal, myself."

"He also had figures of him! And John Smith, and I think Freddy from Scooby-Doo!" Percy's voice rose enough to get 'shh' from the librarian. He ducked his head and whispered, "Don't you get it?"

"That you guys watched too many cartoons?"

"No! He likes blondes, which means, Will has a chance!" Percy dropped again. "It's over, and it didn't even start."

"Percy, please," Annabeth said as she patted his head. "I'm sure Nico is not that shallow."

"But he has advantage," Percy said, voice muffled by the table. "Like, if we were even I could—"

Percy's eyes widened. He grinned like a maniac.

"Percy..." Rachel warned. Percy just shook his head.

"Thanks for the help I need to go now!" He said quickly and loudly, running out before the librarian could reprimand him again.

"He's going to do something stupid, isn't he?" Rachel said groaning. Annabeth picked up her book.

"Did you forget who we're talking about?" was all she said before losing herself in the pages again.

----

Nico opened his locker, glad that it was a friday. Just one more day of classes and it would be him, Frank, and a night of Mythomagic Online.

Someone bumped into him and made him drop his books. It wasn't on purpose, but the girl who did it kept on going as if he was a ghost.

He sighed. He was already used to being overlooked, but it still stinged a little. In fact, no one had ever paid him much attention aside from his current friends and Will.

Well, no one except for Percy.

The older boy had been his hero all through his childhood, and he always fought to include him, even if it got him bullied by his grade peers for talking to 'a rugrat'.

Nico had come down with a bad case of the Percy crush when he was younger, but once he had started high school things had changed between them. Their schedules were too different, and even if Percy had vowed to keep their relationship, it had turned even more difficult when they both made their own friends and what little free time they had could no longer be spent together.

Now he only caught glimpses of the boy in the hallways, and they would pass by each other as if they were strangers.

"Need help?" Someone asked, offering a hand. Nico looked up to see a blonde guy with a charming smile. Nico took his hand and stood up.

"Thanks," he said, looking to make sure he still had all his books.

"You're welcome, Ni."

Nico froze. There was only one person who called him that, but...

"Percy?" He asked, looking closer to confirm that yes, the person in front of him was indeed his childhood friend. "What happened?"

This was so wrong. Now that he knew it was Percy, his face looked all wrong with that hair. Percy's natural dark hair made the blonde dye look darker in places, with patches that seemed almost red with the lighting.

"Just wanted to update my image." Percy shrugged. "What do you think?" He struck a pose. Nico stared for what felt like an hour.

The started chuckling.

It turned into full-blown laughter as Percy looked more and more confused.

"I... I'm sorry Percy, but it really doesn't suit you at all!" He managed to say. Percy's face fell, making Nico feel guilty. "B-but maybe you just chose wrong! Maybe a darker blonde would suit you better?"

Percy sighed and kicked at nothing.

"It had to be this shade," he said glumly. "It's the shade you like!"

"The shade I... like?" Nico repeated, confused. Percy blushed.

"It's the same shade as those Disney guys you said you liked..." Percy admitted quietly. "You know, back when we were kids."

Nico blinked. Some people were glancing at them, but at this point, Nico couldn't care less.

"The guys that I... Percy, did you dye your hair for me?" He asked, incredulous. Percy's cheeks turned a deep red.

Honestly, Nico was not far behind.

"I just... I wanted you to notice me." He crossed his arms. "I... I missed you so much, but here we are, almost three months after school started and... we still act like we don't know each other."

"Why didn't you try and speak to me?" Nico asked. "It wasn't like I would turn you away."

"Well I didn't know that!" Percy defended himself. "I thought maybe you had moved on, that you didn't want to be friends anymore. It's been two years, you know!"

"I thought... you had forgotten about me," Nico said. "You know, people tend to not notice me. They pass right by me. I thought you had finally gotten the memo."

"I've always noticed you," Percy said, smiling hesitantly. "Ever since you gave me that figurine for my sixth birthday."

Nico smiled back, leaning on his locker.

"And yet I never got you into Mythomagic," he said teasingly.

"The card descriptions are small! Blame my dyslexic ass!" He said, laughing. Nico laughed too.

The bell ringed. Nico needed to get to class soon.

"I have Chemistry," he said, almst sadly.

"And I have... to wash this dye off," Percy said back. They both chuckled. "But hey, if you're free, maybe we can have lunch together?"

Nico pretended to think it over. He nodded.

"I'd like that, Percy."

"Great! See you at lunch then!" Percy took a couple of steps backwards, not breaking eye contact until he bumped into Clarisse, who started insulting him.

Nico hurried to class. He berated himself. He was supposed to be over Percy.

His heart, however, was hammering in his chest, happy to disagree with him.

#Percico #my writing #writing prompt #ask #heroichalfblood #not much to say about this one #just some fluff

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