here where the daylight begins

shiiki | reads & writes pjo stuff | fic LJ percabeth owns me

[dotshiiki]

Thanks again for sharing your amazing work of the Daughter of Wisdom series! Due to staying inside, I've had time to reread them again and you are such a talented writer. You give each character such depth and it's amazing to read!

I’m glad DoW’s provided some lockdown entertainment! I’ve had a tough time myself, being caught in a very sticky net, so that’s why I’ve been out of fandom the whole time since March. I’m very sorry for not replying sooner! 

[dotshiiki]

Rarely I connect to authors the way I connected to you. There were so many times as if I was laughing along with you in your ANs, sobbing over the smallest details, smiling warmly over a cute moment or even smugly over picking out a small plot line. At this moment, I want to do nothing more than give you hug and say Thank You from the bottom of my heart. I hope wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you be extremely happy in life...

Thank you! It’s nice to have the A/Ns appreciated. It was like having a conversation with readers while I wrote out the story, and that made it such a lovely experience for me. 

[dotshiiki]

Tumblr wouldn't just let me say Thanks properly. Every dam time it's just pops up a message that I can't include links. This is the fifth time I am writing the message but can't seem to send it. That one message wasn't enough to express the gratitude I am feeling at this moment. Just want to make you realise how much of an impact you have made on my life. But am simply unable to.

I’m logging in to my inbox for the first time in four or so months, so am just seeing these messages now. I’m not sure if you’re the same Anon with all the messages, but I’ll reply to each one anyway. Thank you for your lovely words and I’m sorry tumblr didn’t make it easy! 

It means so much to hear the story had such a (positive) impact. Thank you for taking the time (and much effort!!) to send me your messages.

[dotshiiki]

Hi, your Daughter of Wisdom in series is great, I take it practically as canon. I am writing a fanfic myself, thinking on doing a time travel thing where Percabeth kids arrive a day following the Minotaur attack. Would you be okay with other people using sort of your universe as canon there, with respective mention in the notes? Mostly for new characters names and probably some dialogue when Percy first arrives, everything changes after that.

Hello! And sorry this is such a late response. I’ve had some big RL challenges in the last four months since lockdown where I am. 

Thank you for your appreciation of DoW. I’m very honoured you want to use it and yes, that would be okay with the referencing in the notes! 

[dotshiiki]

Heyyy just a small question that will you writing something sometime soon. Fanfiction is already a bland place without you.

That’s so kind of you to say ... and unfortunately the answer is a very probably no. At least, nothing of the fanfiction variety. I’m writing plenty, except it’s all job and funding applications. :(

[dotshiiki]

I just finished reading The Tyrant's Tomb and I had to come back to your fic of Reyna and Thalia talking fondly of Jason before his funeral and I just wanted you to know I absolutely loved it. It made me feel more complete after finishing the book because I expected Rick to not focus on the more private stories since it's written in Apollo's perspective. Thank you so much for the contributions you've made to the fandom! 💕

Thank you! It’s nice to know that fic still works even after the new book. 

I was afraid I was going to have to go through the same thing with another character in the middle of TT, but ... let’s just say there was a lot of relief in that book! 

[dotshiiki]

Hey Shiiki! It’s been a bit since we’ve talked, but I just finished The Final Sacrifice (and the Daughter of Wisdom series) and I just wanted to thank you for the stories. I cried reading the series more than once, and I got chills in the last 7 or so chapters in the Final Sacrifice—this was a brilliant story and a perfect depiction of Annabeth

Hello! And thank you for following it all this time. I’m really glad you enjoyed it all the way to the end. It’s been quite an intense project and such great fun sharing it will all the readers. 

[dotshiiki]

Thank you for all of the Daughter of Athena stories. Thank you.

Thank you for supporting it! I love that it started to reach so many people as it went on. <3

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

(Yes, this is the last one.)

Excerpt:

My dad smiled. 'But call us often, okay? We'll get you a new phone. And maybe before you start school, you could—'

'I'll come and visit,' I promised.

'Bring that boyfriend of yours if you want.'

'Da-ad! How did you know?'

'I didn't. But I do now.' He grinned and pointed behind me. 'And he didn't look half as scared the last time I met him.' He leant forward conspiratorially and whispered, 'No guy looks that terrified of an old professor unless he's dating his daughter.'

Sure enough, Percy was peeking in from Rachel's studio. He shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot. 'Uh, sorry, I thought you might be—I mean, hi, Professor Chase.'

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Excerpt:

I waited for Percy at the end of the sky bridge, taking in the city and its ruined landscape. All over the mountain, nature spirits set to work re-growing the razed vegetation. So much of the infrastructure had been levelled to the ground that the slopes of Olympus were a blank canvas, an undrafted blueprint waiting to be developed.

Waiting for me to develop it.

In my mind's eye, I could see a hundred different possibilities. A circle of temples ringing the majestic mountain, their designs integrated with the natural landscape. A gradual evolution of the buildings' structures as they progressed outwards from the main palace, to reflect a slow modernisation of the gods' legacy. And this bridge, the link to the mortal world, lined with stones that glowed like the light of Hestia's hearth—to welcome us home when we visited.

Because if I'd learnt anything from Hestia, first goddess of architecture, it was that the heart of architecture was a connection to where you belonged.

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Excerpt:

Even if he survived now for all eternity, he would not be my Percy, with the unfailing loyalty that had captured my heart. What had Thalia said? The gods were incapable of loyalty. Their very permanence impeded fidelity.

With a jolt that left my skin tingling, I realised that permanent did not mean steadfast.

I'd told Percy that I hated for things to be temporary. But ... this was the gift and the curse of being mortal. Sometimes things went away, but they could always come back. And sometimes things ended, but something more beautiful could start. Temporary didn't always mean loss.

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Excerpt:

Another bloody cough wracked his body. His eyes were hazy. 'Did you ... Did you love me?'

In his words, I heard the hurt of the lost boy he had been, wondering if his father loved him. I heard his pain when Thalia renounced him on the cliff of Mount Tam. I heard the desperation when he'd stood on my doorstep, clutching for one last lifeline to lift him from the dark path he'd chosen.

I swallowed hard. 'There was a time I thought ... well, I thought ...'

Maybe I could have pretended, and soothed him with a lie. That would have been the easy thing, maybe even the kind thing to do. But our dagger lay between us, cursed by the promises that had turned false.

Promises that Luke had made because he needed to feel like he could do something right. Just as I'd made him out to be greater than he was, I had represented something else to him, too—proof that he was still a hero. I was his talisman, not something real.

We didn't love each other. We were each other's illusions.

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

This was last week’s chapter—tumblr was being annoying and wouldn’t allow me to post anything. Tomorrow’s is still meant to come out on schedule, but I thought I better pop this link here anyway in case anyone was actually waiting for it. 

Excerpt:

Percy landed sprawled next to me. His hand was still closed around my dagger.

'The knife, Percy.' My head swam. I had to explain—needed him to understand what we had to do, but I couldn't find the right words. My body ached to shut down. Going into shock, I thought dimly. I heard my own voice beseeching, 'Hero ... cursed blade ...'

Luke reached towards the hearth. Backbiter lay there, but the moment he touched the sword, Luke cried out. The blade fell back into the smouldering fire. Hestia appeared among the coals. She had taken on the appearance of a blonde seven-year-old with stormy grey eyes.

Me.

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Excerpt:

There wasn't even a block of amnesty. We emerged straight into the warzone. Clarisse had finally ceased her relentless chariot parade; she'd become a Hyperborean ice sculpture. The drakon carcass had been liberated and fashioned into a thousand bronze breastplates, gleaming on the chests of the advancing enemy demigods. Kronos himself was twenty feet from the entrance of the building. He was flanked by Ethan Nakamura, a dracaena, and two giants. It was the first time I'd seen Luke since Silena's death. The sight of him made my stomach turn.

Even worse, our last pillar of defence was guarding the doors with a bow stretched across his chest, arrow at the ready.

'Chiron,' I whispered.

Luke's head turned when we exited the building. Golden eyes landed on Percy, blazing with hatred.

'Step aside, little son.' The command was a fierce reminder of who was running this show.

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Excerpt:

Silena drew in a ragged breath. 'Before—before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me.' Her tears fell faster as she tried to explain how he had charmed her. Coerced her to keep helping the Titans, even when she wanted out. 'He promised ... he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt.' He'd even assured her Beckendorf would be safe. All lies.

My world tilted on its axis. I barely noticed as Clarisse sent her siblings off to carry on the fight. The battle at the doors of Olympus seemed a million miles away.

Tell them it will save more lives. Luke's voice, breaking through Kronos's façade, but intended to dupe the spy at camp. He'd dated Silena before he'd skipped camp. Made her promises and broken them before he'd fallen under Kronos's control. He'd toyed with her from the beginning ...

I don't care if I betray anyone else.

A cold clamp closed over my heart.

Silena exhaled with a sob. 'Forgive me.'

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Excerpt:

Rachel had finally stopped screaming. She flung open the helicopter door and grabbed my hand. For a non-athletic mortal, she had a pretty strong grip. With her help, I heaved myself into the cockpit.

'Are you crazy?' we yelled at the same time.

I shoved her away and pushed the sleeping pilot out of his seat. The helicopter's controls weren't completely different from a plane's, thank the gods. There was no yoke, but the pedals for directional control were in the same place, and so was the central joystick. Unfortunately, neither of these seemed responsible for generating lift from the blades. We nearly slammed into the university building on East Thirty-fourth before I found the lever on the left side of the seat. The pilot had fallen on it when he passed out, sending the chopper into an uncontrolled descent. I yanked it back into position and urged us back into a hover.

'Oh my god,' Rachel said. 'That was the craziest thing ever.'

For the first time, I noticed how she was dressed. A loose t-shirt hung over her artfully distressed shorts, paired with designer sandals. It was similar to the outfit she'd worn to the beach with Percy. What did she think this was, some fun holiday excursion?

'Crazy is flying a helicopter straight into a warzone,' I said waspishly.

[dotshiiki]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Excerpt:

'Percy!' For a moment, I wondered if he could pull back. Just like on the Williamsburg Bridge, the thirst for the fight was taking over. Was it all part of the curse of Achilles?

But then he stopped. He stood for a few seconds with his sword raised and pointed at Luke's retreating back. Then he turned around and came back to me.

'Chiron's smart,' I told him. It was a wise strategic decision. Even with the centaurs' back-up, we couldn't afford to spread ourselves too thin. 'We need to regroup.'

His fingers flexed around Riptide. 'But the enemy—'

'They're not defeated. But the dawn is coming. At least we've bought some time.'

Percy glared eastward, where the last of the monsters were disappearing around the NYU Medical Center. I wrapped my fingers gently around his elbow. At my touch, he seemed to relax.

'Come on,' I said, and led him back to the foot of the Empire State Building.