26, white, mostly an fma03 blog with occasional SW, ALNST and MCYT posts here and there, not FMAB friendly, not Anakin friendly – yes, I'm one of Those, occasionally dunk on things I like, like godforsaken Merlin BBC, because I am an equal opportunity hater
Had this idea for an au with my pookie Cal Kestis, and it was Technically a time travel au, but focuses more on Cal's relationship with the Order and the Force, but mainly the Order. The premise was that force slow alters the passage of time, and once Cal pushes too far (for whatever reason he may do that), it can either fully stop something and start to eventually reverse it. Applied on big enough scale, it can cause slips in time, and Cal drops into the High Republic story events, following them and learning and rebuilding how he sees the Jedi and the Order. I wasn't actually sure how to end it, so it went nowhere, but it's still a fun prompt.
Cal's whole Deal with time/memories is perfect for making him a connection between the past ajd the new, the realization that the old was never wrong or even misguided, he just cannotnapply its lessons in a time like his, but one day, he will return to those vows of peacekeeping. And he still Is a peacekeeper, or at least he tries to be. It's nice.
When Scar smiles at him, Grian's heart clenches with primal giddiness. His own face lights against his own will, eyes crinkling fondly, whole demeanor shifting into what other occupants of the Desert call his 'lovesick expression', but they do not understand. This isn't human love, nor is it love.
--
In his defense, Grian is not in his right mind.
When Scar smiles at him, Grian's heart clenches with primal giddiness. His own face lights against his own will, eyes crinkling fondly, whole demeanor shifting into what other occupants of the Desert call his 'lovesick expression', but they do not understand. This isn't human love, nor is it love.
Grian is a creature of Chaos at his core, and god, he is pulled into the orbit of a man that seems like the only one not only capable of causing it, but directing, fueling his own ambitions with it, serving his goals. Making the chaos submit. Grian's ugly, monstrous part aches for Scar's presence, hungry for the atrocities he will commit. It's hideous.
Grian is not in his right mind, in his defense.
When he met Scar for the first time, they were all but children, himself with a cloak made of secrets and the weight of the world and fate on his shoulders, and Scar, bright green eyes, starstruck expression, almost scarless body and face. They were all but passing acquaintces, Grian impressed with a mark of Fates on the boy, but not curious enough to dig deeper.
It would be his downfall.
He was fourteen and Scar was thirteen, which felt like a millennia, but it changed when Scar got a quest just a year later, the first one in years, decades even. Grian didn't volunteer to accompany him, selfishly chose his secrets over another human.
That was a mistake, and it couldn't have happened otherwise.
Scar failed the quest, of course, alone and clumsy and unpolished as he was. He clawed his way back, however, a year later, alive through sheer luck and force of will, littered in scars that told a story of a man who fought his way back to life, quite literally.
Haggling himself out of Elysium. Sometimes Grian still thinks about that, with an excited rush of adrenaline down his spine. Scar's gift of persuasion will bring the world to its knees soon.
The new Scar, with a look that promised hellfire, a comfort of a cold blade etched in your back on a scorching hot knight, has taken to Grian, following him around, promising sweet nothings in a light voice, teasing tilt to every sentence. Others thought he was joking when he promised to bring Tartarus out to earth, Grian's nature, the monstrous thing in his heart, told him it was a promise.
He tried. In his defense, he really tried, but just one night of allowing himself the indulgence of actually absorbing Scar's words, a moment of weakness, with fingers, calloused and rough, treading oh so gently through Grian's hair, voice soft and light, painfully convincing yet nonchalant, perfect picture of plausible deniability.
It was so stupidly Scar, to be so calculating, but earnest, that Grian couldn't hell but giggle. Scar laughed quietly back, leaning over, and his hair brushed Grian's cheek.
Like spiderwebs, entwining his mind and soul, corrupting, prodding, pushing, testing the limits of how far the glass inside of him, carefully crafted to contain the ravenous beast, can be pressed before it collapses, like all other signs of Grian's futile resistance. Too tempting.
Then, Scar whispers, soft, "Grian", he presses his hands to Grian's cheeks, "Just say one word, and we will bring the world to its knees".
Grian still remembers, memories astoundingly fresh, as he gave in, with a gasp, the human facade he had built so carefully cracking apart as he came into being, becoming, with Scar watching, almost as enticed by it as Grian himself was, whispering, triumphant, "yes, baby, yes, that's how you like it, c'mon, Gri, I know you can give me more, you can be so much more–"
–and his existence snapped into place, untethered by morals and pretenses, and anything else mortals considered worthwhile.
They smiled at each other, and that was it.
Grian followed Scar out of the Camp, out of the mortal realm, talons ripping into people he once called friends and snuffing out the flame of their souls once the realization and horror set in, body instinctively going slack as an arm wrapped around his back, squeezing, and a warm laugh settled the burn down.
He showed Scar where Kronos lies himself, allowing the man set on destroying the world as they know it take the scythe, humming with appreciation, and stab it through the coffin's lid, taking the power for himself, turning to Grian with a grin, as if asking, "did you really think I would miss out on the main event?". Grian kneeled instead of answering, kissing the bleeding blade, pulse speeding up when the edge brushed his neck.
Grian gave up his soul and humanity for a life of servitude to a tyrant, and he is delirious with it. It is not happiness, because a creature like him cannot feel it, it is not satisfaction, because he always wants the nebulous more, the curse Scar cast on him that night.
It isn't love, no.
Grian smiles and allows himself to take in the faces of the campers, twisted by sorrow, grief and fear, before humming and leaning on Scar's shoulder, claws digging into his skin, close to his weak spot, dangeroudly, but not enough to graze. He wouldn't risk losing Scar like that.
It's the day they've been waiting for, and today, they take the throne. Scar smiles at him, and Grian smiles, too.
It's a grudge.
NOTES
This is a drabble out of context, but for some more info, bc I am not sure I will ever come back to it:
Grian is a son of Chaos who paraded around as a son of Eris (goddess of discord), looked human until Scar triggered him, giving him avian traits. Was raised by the Moirai for reasons he is not aware even within the fic's timeline.
Scar is a son of Peitho (goddess of persuasion), was partially raised by Pandora after a certain accident that left him alone. Can sometimes feel Fate, hence why he was interested in Grian from the beginning, but only properly figured out how to read people after his death. Moirai's Favorite.
Grian is technically responsible for Scar's death, since they were meant to go on that quest together, but Grian managed to get out of it through meddling with Fates. Scar knows it.
Grian lived his whole life with divinity (or rather monstrosity) under his skin, pretending to be an average demigod, afraid of himself, through his connections to his friends and force of will. His fatal flaw is self-satisfacfion before anything, though, so. Yeah.
The quest was essentially just Scar going through Secret Life, with a steady stream of tasks that led him into dooming himself until he crashed and burned.
Scott is the son of the Zeus who is the chosen one in this verse, but it is more like the prophecy of seven with multiple people participating almost equally. They are still shaken by Grian both turning on them and being, well, like this.
Uhhhhhhh, scar is 17 in the last scene, grian is 19
Desert duo snippet from an extra life series season fanfiction I am writing now, practice in writing in Grian's inner voice and dialogues. I am not really happy with the former yet, but we'll get there
Hypothetically (it would never happen), if desert duo were the last two alive again, the most evil thing Scar can do is kill himself or give his life up, no, I will not elaborate
I keep seeing so many people be like " Grian HAS to be buffer than Scar, because he canonically beat him in a fist fight!" SCAR WAS PURPOSEFULLY NOT HITTING GRIAN. Watching his POV of the cactus ring in slowmo, you can see that every time Scar's crosshair even got NEAR Grian's hitbox, Scar jerked it away. He hit the air around Grian, as Grian stood still, but he couldnt stop the battle, Grian had to keep fighting, even if Scar wasnt. If I counted correctly, Scar only hit grian SEVEN TIMES, and Grian hit Scar TWENTY TIMES. Scar isnt stupid, or bad at PVP, he wanted to let Grian win. And that was clear, from how he rarely jumped to crit Grian, but Grian did it too many times to count. It didn't matter how much stronger Grian was than Scar, Scar let him kill him. He didn't beat Scar, Scar allowed him to win. If he wanted to win, Scar would've.
Rewatching 3rd life for fanfiction purposes (just Grian's pov for now, but I will get to (mostly) everyone, trust), and it really strikes me how much desert duo's dynamic relies on Grian blatantly refusing to admit he is attached to their little faction, Scar's playstyle in life series (specifically) and the general Vibe while Scar plays along. I can look back at it and say "the only reason they work so well despite never discussing and pre-planning is because Scar just let Grian dig his own grave while being the one who makes most big decisions" and WHAT MAKES THIS KRAZY IS KNOW IN MY HEART THIS IS THE SAME REASON THEY DIDN'T WORK IN DOUBLE LIFE. The most cruicial part of desert duo dynamic To Me is that Grian is the one doing most of the fumbling and overthrowing while Scar has fun observing. (Fun juxtaposition iykyk)
On that topic, my characterization of c!Grian relies on him knowing perfectly how to mimic human behavior (with the exception of natural/instinctual physical reactions), but being an emotionally constipated, completely incapable of reflection, avoidant loser. (This is actually my default Watcher characterization). It makes for a completely fascinating watch.
He experiences genuine emotions and gets so spooked he proceeds to roleplay his way around them for multiple seasons.
He cuts down those he perceives as someone who wronged him without mercy when red, yet when he sees genuine remorse he cannot help but get flustered and completely fall apart. He needs and loves chaos, but strives to create. He cannot be alone without going mildly unhinged. He is possibly the worst person to team up with because of his tendency to be ruthless and make sacrifices when cornered. Sopping wet cat. Scrumpled ruffled bird. Character of all time
Rewatching 3rd life for fanfiction purposes (just Grian's pov for now, but I will get to (mostly) everyone, trust), and it really strikes me how much desert duo's dynamic relies on Grian blatantly refusing to admit he is attached to their little faction, Scar's playstyle in life series (specifically) and the general Vibe while Scar plays along. I can look back at it and say "the only reason they work so well despite never discussing and pre-planning is because Scar just let Grian dig his own grave while being the one who makes most big decisions" and WHAT MAKES THIS KRAZY IS KNOW IN MY HEART THIS IS THE SAME REASON THEY DIDN'T WORK IN DOUBLE LIFE. The most cruicial part of desert duo dynamic To Me is that Grian is the one doing most of the fumbling and overthrowing while Scar has fun observing. (Fun juxtaposition iykyk)
Need people to know that by trying to write out my thoughts on Grian's character narrative (completely made up in accordance to the videos and relying on bits of lore I liked), I accidentally cornered myself into making up how Watchers and The Council work, which led me to writing out the universal timeline of Minecraft universe, which led to more worldbuilding, and it truly is a loop of bad decions
Grian successfully throwing off the scent of the ore snatcher for Scar proves what we’ve all known since 3rd life, which is that Grian is at his best when he is being a henchman to Scar’s looney tunes ass shenanigans.
“watcher!grian hates himself for being One Of Them but hes inside still caring and kind”
BORING. make him a morally fucked and aware of it. ask him does he define his nature or does his nature define him. give him motifs of fighting against his own very nature as a creature of malice and also make him slowly forget what it is that he’s fighting for. (his humanity)
make him non-corporeal and inhuman. make him pretend to be one anyways.
because he has a stack of old ripped photographs of himself from Before and he spends hours in the mirror getting the hex code of his hair right. hes forgotten the colour of his eyes because he’d scribbled over them in all the photos. hes a liar and in denial. he enjoys hurting others. he still loves but its all wrong now. he clings to his friends and enemies to experience humanity through them. hes eons old and his name is long forgotten and his old friends long turned to soil. he doesnt look a day over 21. hes a bad person. hes still him. he was always a bad person. he makes himself so utterly average that he stands out because of it. he doesnt know how to express his thoughts because he himself doesnt understand them. he likes to pretend he isnt what he is. he finds ignoring reality cowardly. he likes being a watcher. he hates what hes been turned into. he wishes he didnt have emotions. he wishes he could feel more. he wishes he wasnt something inbetween and he wishes his life didnt feel like eternal limbo.
like what do you do if the way you feel IS actually wrong. what if you are actually a creature of malice. what then.
its suuuuch a great way to explore autonomy and sense of self because what part of you is the real one. is it the part that screamed in horror as it saw itself morph into something twisted without any way to stop it, or is it the inhuman and evil thing in your chest that is constantly clawing itself apart because it just simpy cant coprehend itself? where do you draw the line between the two? at what point did you change? what is yours anymore?
psyche-centric body horror is the absolute peak of body horror because there is literally nothing scarier than watching your mind melt into something unrecognizable. the blurring of 'consent' and 'choice' is terrifying as SHIT and it facinates me SOOOO MUCHHH.
WE NEED MORE HORROR CENTERED AROUND EVIL FUCKED UP PEOPLE. LIKE WHAT IF YOU WERE THE MONSTER IN THE LITERAL SENSE AND THAT IS JUST WHO YOU ARE.
GOD i need to get back to writing that draft fic. it is exactly about this because i am going INSANE over here.
ps you dont know how hyped i got when i opened my inbox and saw a reblog with tags so long that it took up the entire screen. i felt the angels sing in joy.
(I hope you don't mind another wall of text sorryfnfjv i got excited)
YOU GET ITTTT. The horror exemplified by the very human you who was already twisted, enough to attract the creatures that invited you to join them, enough that you accepted it and delight in things it allows you to do. Yet still human, with painfully human emotions and wants, and how those slowly break down into nothing, how the horror is slowly replaced with muted irritation, anger at yourself. Mind horror is so peak, especially when the character knows there is nothing they can do. This is just who they are now.
[Evo Grian is so interesting to dissect btw. He acts much softer and hesitant than current Grian for obvious reason (experience as a content creator and age in general), but from a lore perspective of him turning into a Watcher, it just. Ugh. Everything about him got dialed up to a 20 and his mean streak turned genuinely vicious in the life series. He became a caricature of himself tailored for entertainment and chaos]
C!Grian is actually a funny case of it, bc technically by the time Life series rolls around, he has alr accepted himself in most ways, he is a Watcher. He makes the game, he enjoys it, he thrives in it. Yet, he still has exactly one thing left from his humanity, and that is his desire to be Involved. And, as the series goes on, he just becomes more and more empathetic, in his own way, as if relearning empathy and emotions as a monster. It's sooooo. UGH.
AND and. Watchers are corrupted creatures yet they don't actually seem to delight in causing chaos personally. They like to set things up and then, well, watch things play out. They are undeniably evil, but they are evil in the exact way omniscient gods are expected to be. GRIAN, THOUGH? He does like to watch bloodbath unfold, but he loves CAUSING it even more. Did he ever think about it? That he is worse than those he is repulsed by? Worse than he is already expected to be? Being evil as part of monsters is one thing, being uniquely evil as yourself is another.
I hope that if he wins another series, it would be with a bloodbath but shh you did not hear that from me
I am glad you enjoyed my strean of consciousness btw skfjgnrjd. Your post was too good, I just had to.
im just mentally screaming because YOU SAID IT SO FUCKING well and IDK HOW TO ADD ONTO IT BUT
Grian in a way is always peforming. like to himself just as much as for others. he plays pretend in his own head by mirroring the thought process of normal people but behind those actions is just void. its a muscle memory. he doesnt smile because he is happy he smiles because thats what you do when youre a person. he doesnt drink tea because he really likes it, he does it because it was grians favorite drink. he doesnt do good because he is good he does it because grian did that like a task even when he was a person and he continues it like a routine. its also why it is so hard for him to cope when he DOES infact feel something human. hes supposed to pretend to feel guilt not actually feel it! his chest hurts with grief and he wants to rip it out because that isnt supposed to happen anymore. not when he has gotten so comfortable not caring about that stuff.
because what does it make him if he does mourn and feel guilt? hes too grotesque to be human but monsters dont mourn. accepting that he is still capable of caring means actually confronting the shit he does head on, and dealing with the option that he might still not actually regret anything. if its just his nature as a monster to not feel regret its not his fault but if he is more human than he thought that means that he is responsible for his actions. ofc he is responsible in both cases but seeing himself as a monster is a scapegoat argument to avoid accountability for him, and not so much about the actual arguent.
AUFJFJCJ talking about c!Grian as a villain instead of misunderstood hero always beings me joy, it's soooo good.
I also like that Grian's relationships in the Life Series are mostly so surface-level that exceptions REALLLYYYYY stand out, making it even more blatant just how much he plays up/fakes and how much he struggles with actual emotions.
Desert duo obviously 🔛🔝, with how consistently weird Grian is about Scar — consistently circling him, but never close enough to actually be friends; when forced to be in proximity, struggling to stay away, yet still being incapable of saving him from himself in the end; when actually offered friendship, managing to bury his anger [at Jimmy for killing him, and anger is c!Grian's most prominent emotion in general] until Scar dies and all bets are off, seeming genuinely pleased about it; etc. There is So Much about them you can say additionally, the parallels of being Watchers' favorite, their obviously devious nature, albeit Scar shows his through half-truths and thinly veiled lies, Grian constantly killing Scar whenever he is able to, Scar avoiding killing Grian on multiple occasions, Grian and Scar STILL TO THIS DAY using the same tactics they learned in 3rd Life to play Life Series, Grian's obvious mix of guilt and delight at Scar's deaths whenever he sees them in chat, him seeking Scar out every season to at least see what he is up to, Grian most often using his admin advantage to help Scar, and it is all So Very Interesting, but they honestly deserve their own mega post with the amount of stuff you can say.
But there are more!!!! His bond with Mumbo is clearly more genuine than most, with him actually grieving him properly, and I wonder how much of it is about the friendship he remembers from Before, how much it is about Mumbo being so disarmingly honest and how much of it is Grian's desire to fit in slowly morphing into something he fails to define (it is attachment). It is also So fun how Mumbo is possibly the only bond Grian actually aknowledges as something that matters to him, as if it is a more low-stakes one, not something that actually affects him much as a person, due to, again, it being alr established prior to the Life Series.
And the Bad Boys! He tries to shrug their deaths off, but he still wears his custom skin and uses things they made together, and finishes up a few things for them. Rather than the active denial with Scar and casual acceptance with Mumbo, his bond with them seems to be based off of quiet embarassment. "How could I get attached to them of all people. This is mortifying. I will never mention this ever again. I will, in fact, actuvely try to eliminate those two every season from now on at least once".
Like you said, c!Grian is Constantly at war with himself about the extent of his monstrosity/humanity, and seeing different people bring out different sides of him is fascinating. He is so very weird about it, yet so earnest, emotional capacity fluctuating seemingly every minute. I need to microwave him.
“watcher!grian hates himself for being One Of Them but hes inside still caring and kind”
BORING. make him a morally fucked and aware of it. ask him does he define his nature or does his nature define him. give him motifs of fighting against his own very nature as a creature of malice and also make him slowly forget what it is that he’s fighting for. (his humanity)
make him non-corporeal and inhuman. make him pretend to be one anyways.
because he has a stack of old ripped photographs of himself from Before and he spends hours in the mirror getting the hex code of his hair right. hes forgotten the colour of his eyes because he’d scribbled over them in all the photos. hes a liar and in denial. he enjoys hurting others. he still loves but its all wrong now. he clings to his friends and enemies to experience humanity through them. hes eons old and his name is long forgotten and his old friends long turned to soil. he doesnt look a day over 21. hes a bad person. hes still him. he was always a bad person. he makes himself so utterly average that he stands out because of it. he doesnt know how to express his thoughts because he himself doesnt understand them. he likes to pretend he isnt what he is. he finds ignoring reality cowardly. he likes being a watcher. he hates what hes been turned into. he wishes he didnt have emotions. he wishes he could feel more. he wishes he wasnt something inbetween and he wishes his life didnt feel like eternal limbo.
like what do you do if the way you feel IS actually wrong. what if you are actually a creature of malice. what then.
its suuuuch a great way to explore autonomy and sense of self because what part of you is the real one. is it the part that screamed in horror as it saw itself morph into something twisted without any way to stop it, or is it the inhuman and evil thing in your chest that is constantly clawing itself apart because it just simpy cant coprehend itself? where do you draw the line between the two? at what point did you change? what is yours anymore?
psyche-centric body horror is the absolute peak of body horror because there is literally nothing scarier than watching your mind melt into something unrecognizable. the blurring of 'consent' and 'choice' is terrifying as SHIT and it facinates me SOOOO MUCHHH.
WE NEED MORE HORROR CENTERED AROUND EVIL FUCKED UP PEOPLE. LIKE WHAT IF YOU WERE THE MONSTER IN THE LITERAL SENSE AND THAT IS JUST WHO YOU ARE.
GOD i need to get back to writing that draft fic. it is exactly about this because i am going INSANE over here.
ps you dont know how hyped i got when i opened my inbox and saw a reblog with tags so long that it took up the entire screen. i felt the angels sing in joy.
(I hope you don't mind another wall of text sorryfnfjv i got excited)
YOU GET ITTTT. The horror exemplified by the very human you who was already twisted, enough to attract the creatures that invited you to join them, enough that you accepted it and delight in things it allows you to do. Yet still human, with painfully human emotions and wants, and how those slowly break down into nothing, how the horror is slowly replaced with muted irritation, anger at yourself. Mind horror is so peak, especially when the character knows there is nothing they can do. This is just who they are now.
[Evo Grian is so interesting to dissect btw. He acts much softer and hesitant than current Grian for obvious reason (experience as a content creator and age in general), but from a lore perspective of him turning into a Watcher, it just. Ugh. Everything about him got dialed up to a 20 and his mean streak turned genuinely vicious in the life series. He became a caricature of himself tailored for entertainment and chaos]
C!Grian is actually a funny case of it, bc technically by the time Life series rolls around, he has alr accepted himself in most ways, he is a Watcher. He makes the game, he enjoys it, he thrives in it. Yet, he still has exactly one thing left from his humanity, and that is his desire to be Involved. And, as the series goes on, he just becomes more and more empathetic, in his own way, as if relearning empathy and emotions as a monster. It's sooooo. UGH.
AND and. Watchers are corrupted creatures yet they don't actually seem to delight in causing chaos personally. They like to set things up and then, well, watch things play out. They are undeniably evil, but they are evil in the exact way omniscient gods are expected to be. GRIAN, THOUGH? He does like to watch bloodbath unfold, but he loves CAUSING it even more. Did he ever think about it? That he is worse than those he is repulsed by? Worse than he is already expected to be? Being evil as part of monsters is one thing, being uniquely evil as yourself is another.
I hope that if he wins another series, it would be with a bloodbath but shh you did not hear that from me
I am glad you enjoyed my strean of consciousness btw skfjgnrjd. Your post was too good, I just had to.
oh and ANOTHER interesting thing that Riordan does with Percy in the tartarus chapters to never ever bring up again is Percy achieving seemingly impossible(?) physical feats.
Like when Percy kills Arachne, he does so so quickly that Annabeth can't comprehend it. She literally asks him "How did you move so fast?" and he just shrugs and is like "Gotta watch out for each other right? Anyways..." and immediately changes the subject.
Then later he jumps over a river with Annabeth on his back and again, right before it, she's like "How are you going to do this??? It's twenty feet across. How can you possibly do that?" and he straight up is just like "yeah I can do it just close your eyes" and then does it???
of course these moments happen during Annabeth's pov so we'll never know for sure but its just so fascinating cause Riordan goes out of his way to indicate that Percy was displaying strength, speed, agility, etc way beyond his typical threshold while also implying that not only was Percy aware of it but he was either trying to downplay it to Annabeth or avoid discussing it altogether.
okay there has been a lot of great discussion in the notes/tags on whether Percy was aware of what he was doing or not (and if he was purposefully trying to downplay it) and like on one hand I do agree that Percy is often oblivious or very nonchalant when it comes to his power threshold suddenly increasing... but idk idk there's also just something about the way these specific moments in Tartarus that feels different. Aware. Intentional. Like Riordan (through Annabeth) goes out of his way to emphasize the impossibility of it all.
Like in the part where Percy kills Arachne, Annabeth specifically asks Percy how he moved so fast. This is Annabeth's reaction, who has seen Percy make hurricanes and blow up volcanoes and fight with the curse of achilles. And Percy shrugs and says "Gotta watch each other's backs, right? Now, you were saying..." and if this was the only instance of Percy doing something he shouldn't be able to, then yeah, his response could def read like he hadn't realized how fast he was moving and thus doesn't quite understand what annabeth is asking. Sure.
But then we get to the scene where Percy and Annabeth are about to get attacked by the children of Nyx and its Percy who says that they'll have to jump the river. It's entirely premeditated. And again, Annabeth recognizes the impossibility of it. "You said it was twenty feet!" "Yeah" "How can you possibly-" and then Percy just does it. And even Annabeth tries to theorize how he does it -- maybe using the force of the river, maybe through pure adrenaline -- but she thinks about he leaped with more strength than she would have thought possible.
And I'm just dying to know what was in Riordan's head when he was writing this. Because these parts, paired with the Akhlys scene... its not just that Percy was scary powerful or strong or fast, its specifically portrayed as if Percy shouldn't have been able to do these things. But he did.
A bit (a lot) late to this but my theory is that Rick Riordan planned to make Percy ascend during BoO, and make it one of the main conflicts of the book but chickened out
The giants requiring to have a god and demigod work together to kill them, the intentionality of the way those impossible feats are written in, the "glass" breaking (aka his mortality shattering), the pieces are piecing
An ending of Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Frank leading a battle against the giants while Leo, Piper and Jason took on Gaia would make more sense than the 2.5 minute battle we got with the gods against giants, and the 1.1 minute battle we got against gaia with half the cast completely absent
On the other hand it wouldn't make sense in the sense of location (since there needs to be 2 different battles, one in ancient lands and one in camp. but eh. the camp could've easily been roma vs greece conflict solved by Reyna+Nico+the hunters. i mean gaia spawning in the camp changed nothing anyways), might've trivialized the ending of tlo and damaged percabeth + Rick just likes the idea of percy leading a normal life more.
Still, it has more potential. And Rick cancelling a prior plan at least gives him an excuse for writing BoO which was flaming hot garbage
oh and ANOTHER interesting thing that Riordan does with Percy in the tartarus chapters to never ever bring up again is Percy achieving seemingly impossible(?) physical feats.
Like when Percy kills Arachne, he does so so quickly that Annabeth can't comprehend it. She literally asks him "How did you move so fast?" and he just shrugs and is like "Gotta watch out for each other right? Anyways..." and immediately changes the subject.
Then later he jumps over a river with Annabeth on his back and again, right before it, she's like "How are you going to do this??? It's twenty feet across. How can you possibly do that?" and he straight up is just like "yeah I can do it just close your eyes" and then does it???
of course these moments happen during Annabeth's pov so we'll never know for sure but its just so fascinating cause Riordan goes out of his way to indicate that Percy was displaying strength, speed, agility, etc way beyond his typical threshold while also implying that not only was Percy aware of it but he was either trying to downplay it to Annabeth or avoid discussing it altogether.
okay there has been a lot of great discussion in the notes/tags on whether Percy was aware of what he was doing or not (and if he was purposefully trying to downplay it) and like on one hand I do agree that Percy is often oblivious or very nonchalant when it comes to his power threshold suddenly increasing... but idk idk there's also just something about the way these specific moments in Tartarus that feels different. Aware. Intentional. Like Riordan (through Annabeth) goes out of his way to emphasize the impossibility of it all.
Like in the part where Percy kills Arachne, Annabeth specifically asks Percy how he moved so fast. This is Annabeth's reaction, who has seen Percy make hurricanes and blow up volcanoes and fight with the curse of achilles. And Percy shrugs and says "Gotta watch each other's backs, right? Now, you were saying..." and if this was the only instance of Percy doing something he shouldn't be able to, then yeah, his response could def read like he hadn't realized how fast he was moving and thus doesn't quite understand what annabeth is asking. Sure.
But then we get to the scene where Percy and Annabeth are about to get attacked by the children of Nyx and its Percy who says that they'll have to jump the river. It's entirely premeditated. And again, Annabeth recognizes the impossibility of it. "You said it was twenty feet!" "Yeah" "How can you possibly-" and then Percy just does it. And even Annabeth tries to theorize how he does it -- maybe using the force of the river, maybe through pure adrenaline -- but she thinks about he leaped with more strength than she would have thought possible.
And I'm just dying to know what was in Riordan's head when he was writing this. Because these parts, paired with the Akhlys scene... its not just that Percy was scary powerful or strong or fast, its specifically portrayed as if Percy shouldn't have been able to do these things. But he did.
"I would live for you" hits a lot harder than "I would die for you" imo. you're so important to me that I would pick myself up out of my grave for you. you give me a kind of hope that I thought I couldn't feel anymore. a future with you in it is a future I want to be there for. dying for you is easy, living for you is making the choice every day to get up and keep going
So this is Persocom/Chobits AU where Kaito and Shinichi childhood friends. Kaito has a crush on Shinichi so he made a little persocom that looked like him. Instead of APTX Shinichi’s encounter with The Black Org ended with Shinichi waking up inside Kaito’s persocom. So Kaito helps Shinichi to find more about the Black Org and a way for him to return to his body, and Shinichi (reluctantly) provides some technical support for Kaito’s Kid heists and helps finding Pandora.
