Octavian symone who doesn't like affection very much x Jason grace who curls up next to him like a dog (they always end up on top of each other in some way)
I would LOVE your thematic dissection of Jason x Reyna x Octavian, because you mentioned all three pairs within the ship to be 'thematically delicious'. And now I'm curious as to what you think. Individual pairs, or the whole ship or both, whatever you feel like.
oh yah totally! this is the post anon is talking about btw. i firmly believe that those three (i usually refer to them as the imperial trio) were little friends and only grew apart later, before the events of hoo. like, if we had a roman prequel series, those three would be the equivalent to percy, annabeth and grover. i put most of it under the break, because it got longer than i anticipated xd
in my eyes, camp jupiter/new rome offers up so many good opportunities for drama, and that's true tenfold with these three. like, look at them: the golden boy, son of the king, chooses to join the shittiest cohort for whatever reason. the girl who joined after being kidnapped by pirates, rising quickly through the ranks, proving herself as a skilled fighter. the haruspex and augur who reveres tradition, manipulates, cheats and lies and is a sniveling little rat.
jason and octavian are the two kids who have been around the longest, they've known each other pretty much their whole lives. they never really got along. octavian envies jason – his lineage and his blessings, how revered and respected he is – all of the things jason resents. jason, the ever fair leader, respects octavian as a peer and as a seer. octavian resents this respect at times; if he were in jason's shoes, he'd have no reason to act this way. jason is one of the few people who come close to actually being friends with octavian, though. something about the hunger for power versus the desire to be unburdened with it, something to do with the sky and the heavens versus the sun. something about restraint and holding yourself back versus letting your wolfish snare get the best of you.
when reyna came to camp, jason was the one to put out a helping hand. for those years, they were inseparable. they relied on each other, always had each other's back; they were in harmony and balance. while jason was the golden boy and a certain level of seriousness was expected from him, reyna was the feral girl who floated over on a piece of driftwood. while trying to pass their bills in the senate, jason would diplomatically argue while reyna would bite and snare her teeth at anyone who disagreed. whenever jason was praised, he always made sure to praise those who had helped him get there, and those years, reyna was always the first name he said. they matched each other's wit, and battle strategy was always so fun to plan because they were on the same wavelength. they talked about their heroes and how they want to visit the ancient lands one day. it's about the intimate understanding they had. the golden boy who didn't have to do anything for his laurels, and the girl who did everything so she could be the best. the courage, the trust, the love.
and then jason left, or got kidnapped. and reyna couldn't even get a permit for a search party to go after him. and the entirety of camp relied on her presence, so going to hunt for him was out of the question. she had no idea what happened to him. had he died? had he decided camp no longer mattered to him, she no longer did? did octavian finally kill him? and then he comes back, and she's so happy, but he's different. he's greek. and his memory is wiped. he hardly remembers what things were like between them. and he has a girlfriend. that's all it took – a few months. and the worst part is, reyna is all alone in this grief. jason can't grieve what he doesn't remember. and she knows things'll never go back to the way they were before. i don't even have anything to say about that, that's just devastating and i'm eating it UP!!!
octavian and reyna are... difficult. reyna never really liked octavian, and never fully trusted him either. but she kept that restrained, because jason treated octavian with respect no matter what he thought of it, and she didn't want to make things difficult for him. octavian didn't really like reyna. he thought he either didn't care much for her, or was annoyed when she was in his way. there was a part of him that grew affectionate for her at a certain point in time, though he would never admit it. the two of them and jason certainly went on more than one quest together, and that forced proximity, coupled with the fact that they had saved each other from some pretty dire situations... if he didn't know any better, he might even have called her a friend. octavian hated when reyna became praetor alongside jason. he felt like he deserved her seat way more, and he felt left behind. and then jason disappeared, and reyna suspected octavian more than nearly anyone else. by that point, any sort of camaraderie between them was long gone.
so these three kids, two of whom had spent their childhood together, always remembering the other there; one joined late and grew as close as you can to another person without swallowing them whole; they grew close even though they never thought it likely. and then they grew apart, one ripped from the others while the two were at each other's throats. and octavian spiralled into complete madness while jason thought he found a new home and left reyna behind. they're all a TRAGEDY in their own right, and i LOVE IT SO MUCH
