brain full of bees. I don’t tag often enough for filters to properly work, so if you’re not down for occasional gore, suggestive topics, and general myth ickiness, I’d suggest blocking me. You have been warned.
I know that the first thing we are aware of in TOA is that Lester is Apollo but… What if Lester had amnesia in The Hidden Oracle; everyone is just waiting for this dramatic dork to get claimed by Apollo only to prove that he is still alive.
But eventually, we found out that Lester is Apollo and then understand why the book is named Trials Of Apollo.
I need a fic with this idea. How many changes can be in the saga? I’m pretty sure that’s a bad idea but yeah why not.
Oooh YEAH. I’m a sucker for amnesia fics! It’d change the series pretty profoundly - it’s very different from what we got in canon, with Apollo slowly coming to terms with his own actions and mindset he’d built up, breaking through his facade.
In this version he wouldn’t remember why he put on an act in the first place, and probably wouldn’t try to maintain more than the barest appearances of one for coping purposes. And the amnesiac dissonance when he starts getting some memories back, when he runs into people who Apollo’s hurt… oooooh. Apollo ALREADY has a lot of dissonance going on with how he acted as a god and the ways he grew during TOA - the ways he ALLOWED himself to grow, the things he’d known for a long time but refused to admit to himself. That dissonance would be SO MUCH GREATER with amnesia thrown into the mix, to the point that I doubt Lester would be able to reconcile how he and Apollo could be the same person, especially with most other people only seeing the facade, the act that Apollo put up.
And as more of his memories return Lester becomes more terrified that he’ll return to his old ways, maybe even thinking that Apollo might take over him like some sort of body-stealing jerk, thinking of him as some malevolent force - I mean, even canonically Apollo was terrified of falling into his old patterns as soon as he was no longer mortal. That fear would be accentuated when he doesn’t even realize why he did the things he did as a god, what he was thinking. When he can’t even imagine being that person at all.
Until he finally pieces together enough of his memories that he can begin to connect “Apollo” with “Lester”, understand how they are the same person. Understand that ironically without memories, trapped in a mortal body, he’d been more himself than he’d been as a divine god for the past several thousand years.
The Odyssey but retold as a low-stakes modern adventure of one guy out with his girlfriend leaving the bar with his buddies to do just one (1) simple thing real quick, it'll take like 15 minutes tops, he'll be right back, but then some bullshit happens and the trip keeps getting more complicated as more bullshit keeps happening while he just tries to get back to the bar because he promised his girlfriend that he'd get back and he knows that she's still there because she told him she'd wait there.
And by the time he finally gets back it's almost 3 am and the bar is about to close while she's sitting there stone cold sober, surrounded by 5 drunk guys unsuccessfully trying to convince her to give up on waiting for him and go home with one of them instead. And the guy shows up to proceed to beat the shit out of them before explaining himself to her like hey sorry bullshit kept happening, my phone fell into a storm drain and my wallet got stolen when I was trying to find someone who'd borrow me a phone so I could call and
His girlfriend had been fending off the 5 drunk guys for most of the evening by explaining that even if she was going to ditch her boyfriend, she can't possibly leave without finishing her beer, which she is keeping perpetually full via careful sleight of hand where she's just pouring it back and forth into and out of the pitcher.
However the drunk guys are also drinking, and eventually she can't afford to buy another pitcher for the table so she can't keep up the ever-full beer glass trick. At this point she has to resort to setting up the pool trick shot that she's never seen anyone but her boyfriend pull off, and says she'll leave with whoever manages the shot first.
That buys her another hour or so and then, finally, her boyfriend makes it back. He looks like shit, hair down and just a mess, he's wearing an entirely different jacket that he got from an alley, and barely recognizable—especially to 5 guys who've been drunk for hours now. He lurks for a minute, finds out what's going on, and proceeds to pull off the trick shot first try. Throws the jacket off, fixes his hair with a hair tie his girlfriend lends him, finally looks like himself again, and THEN beats the shit out of them with the pool cue.
ok ok. TOA swap au. you see this and agree. Apollo's just Some Guy who's an asshole and Meg is some sort of Nimona-esque figure but it's STILL the Trials of Apollo so this Some (MIDDLE AGED) Guy figure is going through like seven SAW traps back to back accompanied by this strange immortal little girl who randomly decided to tag along (?)
She's still being manipulated by the mortal Triumvirate. They're going after Apollo because he's still the heir to his father's money and Commodus, Nero and Caligula all have individual beef with him (they want to fuck him / be him so bad). Don't even worry about what Olympus could mean in this context
Artemis is just Like That. She's so uncharismatic and passionate and steadfast and headstrong that she loops back around to being incredibly charismatic Which could mean nothing. whatever she's got going on is incredibly legal.
Apollo does sort of in fact end up killing two CEOs and one mafia boss But the media assigned him the third CEO and that's four people total Which means nothing.
Can't decide the role camp half blood plays in this. on the one hand it would be very ominous for it to indeed still be there and the mystery behind What The Hell It Is in this context could be so interesting and uncomfortable (actual cult? a camp where parents know each other other? why? are they in a cult? why do they know about corporate goings on and fighting against them etc. etc.) but also holy shit it would be so funny if no one knew what the hell was going on before Apollo visited them. can you imagine. "Holy shit hi dad. i havent seen you in person since i was three whole years old. you walked into the woods of the summer camp i work at and passed out in a river. Fucking Nero CEO of Triumvirate Holdings is here and trying to burn down a-- sacred grove? National park grove? Your sister likes it? I have an aunt? Ok. Um could you get your... cousin? away from the flowers? she's arguing with them and refuses to stop until you come see her and i'm getting really worried about her. Ok. While you’re here can we bond over-- you have to go find another Triumvirate CEO? its-- you're in danger? you're being hunted for sport? ok."
My favourite trope in the world is overpowered main characters who think they aren't that great at whatever they're doing and they're just scraping by, meanwhile they're the devil incarnate from everyone else's pov
boy i sure do love a character who is playing a Character. a character who you have to basically forcefully cut open to get a glimpse of who they actually are. bonus points if they themselves have no fucking clue because theyve been pretending for so long theyve forgotten who they are when theyre not
time travel au where lester and meg from tower of nero suddenly end up in the original pjo timeline, get mistaken for runaway demigods, and proceed to be accidentally recruited into kronos’s army.
problem: they’re stuck on the princess andromeda. problem: they have to figure out how to stop kronos from rising without being discovered. problem: the fact that lester is quite literally the god apollo is unbeknownst to luke castellan, who very much dislikes (huge understatement) the gods.
what follows is that encounters with camp half-blood don’t go too well, considering they’re nominally on opposite sides. lester and luke have some complicated conversations about the gods and their parenting. apollo realizes belatedly that most of his kids haven’t died yet. in ways, the older-brother-younger-sister dynamic between lester and meg vaguely reminds luke of annabeth.
also the obligatory secret identity shenanigans (‘the gods doesn’t care about us, lester. apollo hasn’t done shit for you. you don’t owe him anything.’ ‘well. um. about that—’)
Okay, listen: I AM NOT COMMITTING TO ANYTHING, I cannot be the one who writes this entire fic. I simply have too much on my plate.
That said, this scene sprang forth fully-formed from my mind like Athena, and I needed to get it OUT of my brain, so enjoy. Whoever does end up writing this, feel free to incorporate this scene as long as you toss me some credit.
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"Are you a son of Apollo?"
I clenched my teeth as I struggled to answer. Or not answer, depending on how one looks at it; Surely, I'd thought, surely there would be no issue in pretending to be a son of Apollo. The requisite divine spark was there, after all.
Unfortunately, I hadn't anticipated Alabaster Torrington. Clever young man. Intense. Powerful. If only those strengths could be pointed in a more favorable direction.
That truth spell had my voice in a vice grip. I clenched my teeth and pressed the sides of my tongue firmly against my molars, trying to speak a single syllable. Sadly, my attempt at a YES escaped my lips as little more than a soft breath, as my larynx stubbornly refused to cooperate.
Pulled by some unseen force, the tip of my tongue crept toward my front teeth. Unfortunately, when my voice finally returned to me, it did not say what I wanted it to.
"N... no," I choked hoarsely. I closed my eyes, trying to shield myself from Luke's suspicious scowl. Even without sight, I could feel his gaze on me.
Alabaster pressed the business end of that Truth Trinket harder into my skin, its cold burn reminiscent of Tarquin's venom in my veins. "Who is your godly parent?"
Here, dear reader, is where I made perhaps my most greivous error. You see, I was so committed to the lie of being one of my own children, it simply did not occur to me that I could speak the name of my mother. In hindsight, uttering the name Leto could have prevented many of the problems I would soon encounter. What use would Kronos have for a demigod of motherhood? Moreover, in getting my mother's attention, I could easily convince her of my identity and obtain her aid.
Unfortunately, my mind was too occupied to properly think that through. I was instead desperately trying to come up with a line of logic that would allow me to say "Apollo" truthfully; But Alabaster's charm compelled an answer before I could do so.
By the time I felt the name on my lips, it was far too late to stop myself.
"Zeus."
The word hung in the air, surrounding us with a silence that felt strangely claustrophobic. The implications of what I'd just admitted would inevitably have terrible consequences, and I was terrified to find out what they were.
I glanced between my interrogators, hoping they couldn't see the terror on my face at that admission. Alabaster pulled away, looking utterly shocked, while Luke...
Luke's expression had softened, and he looked at me as if he recognized me. I clamped my mouth shut, turning away as he slowly approached.
Calloused fingers curled around my jaw, gently but firmly forcing my gaze back toward Luke, his face barely a foot from my own. His eyes did not meet mine, instead trailing along the edges of my face, scrutinizing every detail, and I could feel his warm breath as he leaned in close
Dear reader, please do not judge me when I say this may have triggered a butterfly or two in my belly. Yes, my life was in danger, and I'd long since learned from Commodus not to let attractive older men cloud my judgment. But if his thumb gently caressing my lips, coming to rest at the corner of my mouth, were to send a pleasant shiver up my spine, could you truly blame me? Even gods can enjoy close personal attention from a handsome older man.
Well, sort of older. Fully grown, at least, unlike Lester, who was me, who was unfortunately very mortal, despite a brain brimming ancient godly memories.
Perhaps the semantics didn't matter, anyway, as there was a distinctly un-romantic air to Luke's attention. The thumb at the corner of my mouth grazed upward toward my cheek, tracing a small scar I'd incurred in some battle or another. He knit his brow, and I could see recognition in his eyes, the kind of recognition one feels when they're right on the brink of solving a puzzle.
For a moment, I wondered if he'd somehow figured me out. But nothing could have prepared me for what Luke said next.
"Are you... Jason?"
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