#pre-toa

[thecinnamonr0ll]

Why do I just imagine Nico casually mentioning that his dad occasionally just appears in front of him to ask if he want to go to the family dinner, and it goes something like this:

Nico: “Oh yeah one time my dad sent a skeleton instead of himself to invite me-“

Will: “WAIT- your dad talks to you?”

Nico: “Yeah? Does your not?”

Will: “..”

Nico: “I’m going to kil-”

[didnt-want-to-be-a-halfblood]

Will: hey Nico, can I ask u for a favor?

Nico: need help in the infirmary again, Solace?

Will: no, no. Actually, my siblings and i are all exhausted from the overtime. We decided to have a kinda get-together to relax. And, well...

Will: i want to officially invite you to the Apollo cabin for our cereal killer party!

Nico, now very interested: who are we killing?

Will: bowls of cereal! We all sneak in a box of cereal of our choosing, we all make sure to bring something different from one another, then we sit around and compare cereals in between gossip

Nico: well i hate cereal but... the inherent violence of the title has me intrigued

Will: yes! Okay, starts at sundown after the camp sing-along. And if u can, try to get a box of cereal that uhh suits your personality

Nico, flatly: personality?

Will: yeah, something that screams "Nico"

Nico: i don't think they make cereals that salty but sure why not

Later

Will: nico! You made it! And u brought cereal!

Nico: yep... it's uh...

Nico: ...

Nico: fruit loops

Will:

Nico:

Will:

Nico:

Will, half-joking: is this your way of coming out?

Nico: haha what? Pfft what? No that's- no that's not- im not, i mean, there's no point in- yeah anyway great party but i have to go excuse me-

Will: wait! I uh... i brought, y'know

Will: fruity pebbles

Will: so... you know....

Nico: oh

Will: yeah

Austin and Kayla, munching on Lucky Charms and Reese's Puffs: ohmygods just ASK HIM OUT ALREADY

[drakonfire12]

The Five Ages of Man

So I’m on chapter 11 of When They Came by TheTimeTraveler24 and then I got this idea since I recently reread HoO. I know the below format is like really pretentious, but I wanted to write down the idea before I forget it. It’s kind of like in the fanfic, except not. 

Basically, Gaea wins and they have to call in backup because no way demigods alone can defeat any sort of primordial god. Last time it took some titans or a weapon of the other element (in regards to the mythology itself it begs the question of what actually got Ouranos in the end). Anyway, here’s what I got:

The Five Ages of Man

In the Golden Age, there was harmony between the gods and mortals.

There was no need for work.

They lived ended in peace, not pain.

The Silver Age was one where mortals did not do appropriate sacrifices to Zeus.

They lived as children for a century with their mother.

Then in adulthood, they slaughtered each other as one for trivial reasons.

As to the sacrificed not made, Zeus struck down these people.

The Bronze Age was named for weapons of the same material,

It was also named for war and conflict.

Then came the Age of Heroes.

These were the great heroes everyone knows.

These were men like Achilles and Odysseus.

These were the men who died and went to Elysium.

Then finally, the Iron Age,

This was the age driven by personal vice.

This was the age where the young were born old.

This was the age of conflict and no loyalty.

This is the one we are living in now.

- Wait, WAIT, WAIT!-

- What?-

- That's not how it was.-

- How do you know how it went? Who are you?-

- I'm Calliope. How dare you question the protector of heroic hymns herself?!-

- Uhm...Sorry?-

- That's better. Now, move over, let me tell this story.-

- Wait but I'm supposed to tell it.-

- Then tell it right. Here, take this microphone.- SCREECH- Ekk, WAIT. ONE, TWo, oNe, Two. Oh, that's better. Try it now.-

- Hello, is this thing on?- Tap. Tap.

- Get on with it already.-

- OK. So Let's see there were five ages of man according to Hesiod...-

- Hesiod is overrated, the truth isn't, get on with it.-

- FINE! There were five stages of man...

- Oh try something original, why five?-

- Will you just let me do my thing?!-

- No, I'm a muse dear. We tend to drive some people mad, but art is worth some sacrifices. Now, why five?-

- Well, it slowly gets worse, it's a lesson on morality...-

- Well, the Heroic Age definitely doesn't fit the pattern-

- Yeah but everything else does.-

- Still...It doesn't make sense...

Sigh. - Okay, what do you want.-

- Explain. Why five? Why do the heroes live after the Bronze Age and after the Iron Age?-

- Well, Homer's texts were written in the 8th century or thereabout...

- Boring! I'm snoring! Who is going to want to hear that?

- I thought you wanted the truth?

- I do, but I'm the muse of Homeric poems, and you sir are ruining my reputation. They are my prized works. Pride and Joy, you know.-

- So where should I start?-

- How about the beginning of your age?-

- But that's near the end, why start there?

- The past is always useful in the present. It's boring if you can't relate to it. So make it relatable.

- OK, I get it. So let's see...

Glorious Muses, sing me of the ages of man,

Sing me of how:

When Gaea awoke,

The gods retreated to Olympus along with the children they could save.

They hide in the sea.

In the sky,

They flooded the earth. They melt the ice caps. It's the only way. They only way to restrain her. Even then it was not enough.

Many died.

Well.

Most died. They could only save so many.

The Gods tried.

Those humans on the sea lived, those on land ran.

The islands were better. There were more nymphs and naiads to restrain her who called on the power on Pontus to chain her down. But where she is the majority there is only death.

There was guerilla warfare.

The Egyptians retreated into their Duat, they would not be pulled into more wars after winning their own battle. The Duat allowed them to avoid Gaea's attacks. She soon gave up trying to attack their projections, they can go away for all she cared. Or at least she did until the House of Life reorganized and made a pact with the demigods. They sheltered them. But this was only later in the war.

The Norse demigods did not have a place to go. They only died. After Odin made a pact with Zeus and so his einherjar did battle the earth. And so they died again.

Some mortals were saved in this way. Small colonies lived a fear-filled life. The Mist still did its job, but some things slipped through. More began to see. Belief in gods strengthened, and so did the gods. Ironic how the apocalypses worked.

The Ichthyocentaurs have it worse. Sometimes she tries pushing pillars of earth through the small openings in the sea but they, mostly Rhea, called on every god and titan to keep her down: Pontus, Oceanus, Tethys, the Oceanids, the Potamoi. Oceanus, particularly, had something to prove after his involvement in the Second Titanomachy. He preferred neutrality but with Gaea, he did not like the possibility of her causing chaos. Thanks to them the sea went against all the laws of physics, like a mesh of matter running through the earth restraining it. It drained them all, but it was needed to stall for time. Of course, Gaea too was gathering strength. There are different types of gathering.

The earth is never the same. No earth can be inhabited other than small pockets. Many turn to piracy. People have to eat.

They had little food. Gaea made sure to push the fertile soil down below and the barren soil towards the surface. They had to rely on seaweed. Fish became the staple food. Malnutrition became to rise. Many mortals started raising small ad hoc shrines to nature spirits to draw them near and save them. Most nature spirits were loyal to Gaea, but some later switched sides after realizing that they liked being worshipped.

The turning point was Ouranos, they woke him up with much sacrifice.

After years, they finally isolated Gaea above water, strangled by Pontus and Oceanus. They defeat her.

There was a reason that the heroes were to put her to sleep and not to awaken her. The battle took years and many sacrifices.

Zeus, himself, in possibly his only, and last, selfless act reawakened Ouranos. Like the Big Bang, they found a part of Ouranos that was more promising than most. They started an explosion that woke him up. Like starter cables to a car engine. In this Zeus died, as Ouranos had no need to let Zeus live. He cannot allow for another to overthrow him. He has learned his lesson after Kronus. Instead, he absorbs Zeus. As Zeus once absorbed Metis. Under Ouranos' aegis, they began the end of the end. They tore Gaea apart. Ouranos wanted for her to feel that oblivion that she had given her. Kronus became his next target, though gone, Ouranos was paranoids that his son would awaken.

The peace did not last. The heroes knew this. Ouranos wanted to rule, he did not was anyone to usurp him. Even gods learn from their mistakes. Especially primordial ones. The heroes learned that from Gaea's long years of scheming. Ouranos' revenge plans for his son would only distract him for so long.

Ouranos put away his children where he did not have to endure them. Back to Tartarus they went. With no monsters, there was hope once more. But with that came the question of what Ouranos would do. Would he keep the demigods around because of their pleasant faces? Will he allow his descendants the earth?

They did not take the chance. Once it changed, they moved Olympus back to the mountain. Olympus was situated inside the mountain. It could not be allowed air.

But, again there is a before and after. For years there was the age of Gaea. This one was marked by Ouranos.

Ouranos though previously lethargic decided he wanted recognition. That is how the primordial started another fight. How the earth began a new beginning.