I Have An Exam Tomorrow And It's Weird, Because Months Ago I Was Studying With It For My Dad, And Now

Oh my god, ok listen, I need to fucking vent.

I'm rereading PJO and I'm reminded of how much I hate how Rick portrayed Ares in Percy Jackson.

A BULLY? A THIEF? A CRIMINAL?

YOU KNOW WHAT RICK DOES TO ARES? HE TURNS HIM INTO THE BULLY WHO GIVES KIDS WEDGIES, WHO TEASES YOU AND STEALS YOUR LUNCH MONEY.

AND THAT'S FUCKING WRONG, BECAUSE ARES IS NONE OF THAT!

ARES IS THE GOD YOU PRAY TO TO GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO FIGHT AGAINST THE BLOODY FATHERFUCKERS AND DICKSUCKERS. HE'S THE GOD WHO HELPS YOU GET UP AFTER YOU BREAKDOWN FROM THEM. HE'S THE GOD WHO MOTIVATES YOU TO FIGHT AND DEFEND YOURSELF FROM THEM.

Percy hates Ares, BUT RICK IS WRITING PERCY!

So either Rick Riordan or his son HALEY RIORDAN (because Rick writes Percy mainly for Haley) hates Ares.

And you know what's so sad?

That this could've been a moment for self-growth from Percy. That he could've looked at Ares, what the god did, and think, 'Hey, I kind of hate him, but he's not all bad. He loves his kids and has done good things. Not everyone I hate is a bad person just because I hate them.'

But no. No, he has to end Ares' section in PJ'S GREEK GODS AND HEROES BY REWRITING ARES' MYTHS AND TWISTING THEM TO MAKE HIS OWN VERSION.

I'm so sick of how Dick Diordan writes Ares. I'm so sick of it. I'm so sick of how he villainizes the crap out of him, because there's no fucking reason to do so.

Same with Aphrodite. I don't know what Rick's fucking deal is. Let the gods be gods.

WHAT WAS CAMP HALF BLOOD LIKE IN THE EARLY CENTURIES?

Ok, ok, LISTEN. THIS IS IMPORTANT. I HAVE LITERALLY NEVER HEARD ANYBODY TALK ABOUT THIS, AND I WOULD LOVE IF EVERY PJO FAN COULD SEE AND TALK ABOUT THIS! Does ANYONE ever wonder what Camp Half-Blood was like in the centuries before the 21rst? What about the 15th or 16th century-where did they go then? The concept of a summer camp is very modern, so what was Camp Half-Blood like? Did more demigods stay there? Did more demigods SURVIVE to adulthood because there was no technology? Was Camp Half Blood a sanctuary of some kind-how many demigods stayed there for a full year? And what were the cabins like? Did boys and girls have separate cabins or something? How were Christians and other Abrahamic people affected knowing that the Greek Gods existed? What did girls and boys DO in the camp? How did Chiron manage all of them-how many children filled up the Dionysus cabin?

And Camp Jupiter, what was it like there?

Oh my god, please reblog this! I would like as many fans as possible to see this so we can discuss it! Thanks for reading, and I will DEFINITELY read ALL comments, so don't be shy!

Does anyone else think about this?

You know, I have to tell all of you something. It's really important, so please read this before any other post that's caught your eye.

I'm glad that there's a large majority of people who accept that Rick kind of fucked up Greek Mythology in Percy Jackson..........

But does anyone feel the same about The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase?

The way Rick portrayed Anubis as a hot white teenage emo boy who was SIXTEEN years old when in Egyptian Mythology he was a GROWN ADULT WITH A WIFE AND A DAUGHTER really nags at me.

And, what's more, Anubis 16 while Sadie is at first twelve and then thirteen.

Walt's age is debatable because he's said to be fourteen and then sixteen. It's generally accepted that he's sixteen, but some people also think he's fourteen, so ok, your choice.

BUT ANUBIS IS SIXTEEN AND HE'S DATING A 12-13 YEAR OLD?

If Anubis DID indeed have the maturity level of a sixteen year old (weird choice, Rick) then he wouldn't even LOOK at Sadie romantically, because sixteen year olds don't do that!

It's disgusting, really, to do something like this. And don't start on Anubis not knowing the cultural practices of today. They're not real. Rick Riordan wrote this knowing how disgusting it was. It's unacceptable.

I honestly don't get why Anubis had to be a 16 year old. TKC could have been rewritten with no change if Anubis wasn't a 16 year old and was a proper god. No Saltnubis, which is an added bonus. Polyamory should be for adults, not children or teenager minors.

Also, Anubis did have a wife and daughter-Anput and Kebechet respectively. And they never even get mentioned.

Ok, even if Rick didn't mention them, that Saltnubis plot was horrible.

Also, Isis possessing a British white woman is a little odd when she's Egyptian. Why don't they possess Egyptian people instead. Is it because the main religion is Islam? Then why didn't they just possess Egyptian immigrants? Oh well. not sure about this one.

I mean, I'm not Egyptian or a Kemetic Pagan, but I just wanted to point this out. Sorry if anything I said is rude-tell me and I'll change.

But TKC had something that Magnus Chase did not. It actually respected its gods and reminded the readers that while they took on human forms and possessed humans, they were in fact, still gods. We could tell that they were gods and they inspired a certain amount of awe when they were around.

The gods in MCGA.......just don't have this spark.

I mean, yes, they WERE funny and human at times, but there's a reason that they were worshipped and respected as gods.

And it's frustrating because they should have had that spark. Yes, we see Odin's cunning by disguising himself as a troll, but Heimdall is also made out to be a complete idiot who just takes selfies and neglects his duties of guarding the Bifrost Bridge which is very important.

And Loki.........actually, Loki was kind of evil in the myths, so this one is ok. I'm still a little disappointed at how he never cared for Alex or Sam, though.

I know I'm treading sensitive waters with this one, but there is something nagging at me about how they're portrayed.

We know that Vivienne, Jude and Taryn left when they were 10 years old-about the same time that Madoc courted and married Oriana.

Do you think that they left home because of this very reason? It's canon that they were worried about it, because Madoc might send them away, so it's a real possibility.

I wonder how he reacted when they ran away and then came back.

THE TRAVESTY OF THE VIRGIN GODDESS ATHENA

Note: red highlighted parts are important and must be read.

This is a link to a post that beautifully talks about Rick Riordan's horrendous portrayal of Athena and the other goddesses down below-

It's a must-read. Please read it.

ATHENA SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAD CHILDREN IN THE FIRST PLACE

Rick has made many, many egregious writing decisions. I can't say which one is the most horrible, but a leading candidate is the fact that he chose to make Athena, a virgin goddess, have children.

For the shocked Pikachus who have had the utter bliss of not having to know how Rick Riordan ruined Athena, yes, Rick made Athena have children.

She doesn't lose her virginity though-she has brain children formed from the thoughts of her and her lover, which she considers the purest form of love.

And this is terrible, because the Ancient Greeks equated virginity to not bearing children and not marrying. If Athena bears children, then how can she be a virgin?

Yes, Athena's children ARE HER CHILDREN. They are explicitly called her children. And she's said to be their mother. That means that she's not a virgin anymore.

And Athena's virgin goddess status and refusal to marry reinforced her role as a powerful goddess who was independent. Marriage symbolized subordination to a husband, so by not marrying, Athena's autonomy and power were shown very clearly.

Athena's key qualities-wisdom, strategy and war-are associated with rationality and independence, which were not associated with love in Ancient Greece. If she loved men, then she would be unable to retain her identity as goddess of wisdom and war.

Virginity oaths for goddesses were taken very seriously. When Artemis came close to loving Orion and breaking her oath, Apollo decided to kill Orion and risk the long lasting wrath of his sister rather than having her break her oath. That's how serious they were.

And this is already so terrible, but you know what the worst part is?

She doesn't tell her lovers that she's going to give them a baby. She just forms the baby and then DUMPS it on them, which is horrible, because-

ATHENA IS THE GREEK GODDESS OF WISDOM!

NO GODDESS OF WISDOM WOULD DUMP A CHILD ON AN UNPREPARED MORTAL'S DOORSTEP AND FORCE HIM TO RAISE THE CHILD WHEN HE DIDN'T WANT TO!

IF RICK HAD TO MAKE HER HAVE CHILDREN, WHICH IS ALREADY SO HORRIBLE, THEN HE ABSOLUTELY SHOULD HAVE MADE ALL THE MORTALS WHOM SHE HAD CHILDREN WITH REQUEST HER TO AND GIVE THEIR CONSENT TO THE PROCESS!

And Athena did not even have to have children in the first place.

ATHENA SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A BAD MOTHER

Also, even if Rick was inexplicably desirous of going through the terrible process of making a virgin goddess have children, did he really make ATHENA, goddess of WISDOM, think that Annabeth would be well-treated and cared for with a single father who was unprepared and did not even want her in the first place?

Athena was a bad mother to Annabeth simply by creating her without her father's permission and placing her with a father who did not want her, thus leading to Annabeth being neglected and abused. Athena knew that Frederick didn't want a child and still created one and made him raise her-she didn't even give Annabeth away to an adoptive family who would most likely have raised her better.

On some level, she knew that Annabeth would be traumatised-even Frederick would be traumatized by her actions. That makes PJO Athena a horrible person and a bad mother.

She did claim Annabeth, but she also let her wander the streets even if she guided her to help-and that help was two other traumatised children.

And to say that she let her children fight their own battles-a seven year old shouldn't have to fight their own battles when their battles are monsters and living on the streets. Gods have been shown to break laws multiple times, so why didn't Athena do this? Zeus wasn't watching all the time and he's pretty much the only one who enforces these rules.

And when she deems one of her children worthy, she gives them a Mark and sends them to find her statue, despite knowing that it's fruitless and that all of her other children have died.

Just read this post-it explains a lot.

Let me digress here and tell you a little something about Myth! Athena.

Athena had an adopted child in the myths. His name was Erichthonius, and even though he was a product of an attempted rape on Athena, she adopted him as her own, wishing to make him immortal, and frequently protected him. He, in return, honored her by founding a festival for her (Panathenaic Festival) and setting up a wooden statue of her on the Acropolis. Their relationship was a very good one-

So tell me, why would Athena conceive a child without asking the father for permission and then force him to raise a child despite knowing that he did not want to?

Exactly. Real Athena would never do this. Rick's Athena would. Note the difference, please.

Of course, this is just another frustrating portrayal of a Greek God as a bad parent which continues throughout the PJO series-then again, that is its core foundation. Still, thought I'd write this section just to set things straight.

HOW SHE'S INCORRECTLY PORTRAYED

Athena is quite vilified in the original PJO series and all throughout the franchise.

First of all, she disapproves of Percy's relationship with her daughter. This is at first understandable, because he's a son of Poseidon, her archnemesis, and at first glance she might not like him.

But something annoying here is that she always gets bad moments with Percy, threatening him if he dared cross her, while POSEIDON NEVER GETS ANY BAD MOMENTS WITH ANNABETH.

In fact, Real Poseidon is more likely to be the person who hates Percabeth given his mythological characterisation, though he would lay off Annabeth for the sake of Percy, because he loves his children very much.

Setting that aside, my real concern here is how Myth! Athena would not do this.

Real Athena, would judge Percy based on his merits and not his parentage.

Of course, she might threaten him if he crossed her or her daughter, as befitting of a goddess, but she wouldn't continue to judge him based on his parentage. Once he proved himself, she would help him and not threaten him.

In fact, in some versions of Theseus' myth, including the one used in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, he is a son of Poseidon, so Athena actually helped a son of Poseidon, that too in the PJOverse, so it makes no sense for her not to help Percy when it's for the good of all of them.

She also helps Bellerophon, a son of Poseidon, in the myths. In fact, she does this in the Riordanverse too, so why she would hate Percy after helping Bellerophon and Theseus?

PJO Athena also tells Percy to stay away from her daughter during a war, when romance should be the last thing on her mind.

I mean, if Athena told Percy not to get distracted by Annabeth and focus on the bigger picture which would be beneficial to everyone, I'd understand, because she's the goddess of war tactics and wisdom.

But no-her message explicitly tells Percy to stay away from her daughter because she didn't like both of them together.

And yes, she doesn't like Percy because he's too loyal and he was apparently supposed to choose a dear friend over something more important when she thinks that he should choose the big picture but his loyalty never causes any serious consequences and everyone is fine in the end, so this is absolute nonsense and it's not a good reason for her anymore.

Let me digress and tell you a little about real Athena here.

The REAL Athena would help Percy commit war crimes if it helped their side win. Hell, she'd play matchmaker for him and her daughter if it somehow helped them win (well, Aphrodite could do that, but you know what I mean.)

Real Athena was a patron of Odysseus who was a literal war criminal. Actually, she was considered to be one of the most important gods in the Odyssey. She even helps Diomedes by blessing him and directing him to wound the god Ares as well as the goddess Aphrodite (Who caused the Trojan war).

Also, Real Athena is considered a patron of heroes. Not only that, she helped tons of heroes. Odysseus, Hercules, Perseus, Jason, Bellerophon, the Argonauts, Achilles, Cadmus, Tydeus and Theseus.

She also aided several women such as Penelope, Eurynome, the Danaids, Menippe and Metioche and Nyctimene the last of whom she turned into her sacred symbol, the owl.

Athena was also believed to have invented every kind of work that women in Ancient Greece did.

The only time Athena abandoned a hero (Tydeus) was when he committed cannibalism-before that, she planned to make him immortal, in fact, but left him in disgust when she learned what he had done.

There was so much that Rick could have done with her status as a patron of heroes-have her help and advise Percy and Annabeth on their quests (indirectly so as not to risk her father's wrath). Helping Annabeth get over her prejudices and chastising her for letting her jealousy of Rachel almost ruin her chance for a successful quest.

Not.........whatever the mess that PJO Athena is.

And yes, I know that she's thought to have helped Percy in The Titan's Curse-but she just gave him a useless platitude. That was barely help at all. The only time she really helped was when she sent Hermes back to inform Annabeth about Plan 23. For a wisdom goddess of war tactics, she is surprisingly little help in the war.

And in Heroes of Olympus, a lot of people blame Athena for her cruel treatment of Annabeth while it was in fact Minerva who gave Annabeth the Mark. Athena was severely split between her Roman and Greek form and was unable to properly think at the time.

THE SUBTLE YET CONTINUOUS WAY RICK TURNS US AGAINST ATHENA

And it's clear that Rick continues to denigrate Athena-not just by using which myths he wants (Medusa being turned into a demon by Athens after willingly doing it with Poseidon in her temple in TLT, and now Ovid's myth in the PJO show) which he's allowed to do-

but he also actively takes the myths and twists them to form his own version.

Confused? I'll elaborate.

In case you didn't know, there's a Percy Jackson book called Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Heroes, where Percy rewrites a lot of myths from the Greek Mythology.

I'll give you some advice-just skip it. It tells you about the myths, yes, but it's quite biased, and if you don't know the real myths, please read the real ones first and then read these if you really want to.

You see, if you think that it's just a book, you're wrong.

This is written in a biased fashion and subtle comments like these turn you against certain gods and goddesses that Rick doesn't like.

When Aphrodite arrives at Olympus, Rick writes all the women as immediately thinking, 'Oh, I hate her because she's the most beautiful of us all.' Not the goddesses. Just the women.

This is also shown with Ares, where Percy calls him a bully, loser and a jerk. He also says that he wanted Poseidon to beat Ares up when Ares was defending his daughter from being raped by Poseidon's son because apparently it would have been awesome to watch.

This is shown with Aphrodite as well when Percy outright states that he hates her and twists the stories about her by rewriting the narrative and adding subtle comments to make us dislike her.

It uses terrible sarcasm which is concerningly childish for a grown writer. I don't know what Rick has against Ares or Aphrodite. He definitely has a hate boner for Ares.

Sorry, I digressed a little bit there. Returning to the subject of this essay-

Athena is featured in some of the stories in this book. In one, Athena and Poseidon compete to be the patron of Attica. When Athena says that she has an idea as to how they can settle this peacefully, Rick writes- 'Typical. Athena always had some sneaky idea.'

................Really?

This wasn't a sneaky idea. Athena literally said that she had a fair idea for a competition-both of them would create gifts and the mortals would decide which one was better. How is that sneaky?

In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, he writes her as a romance-hater (242-243 page no). While there's no evidence to indicate that she likes romance, making a virgin goddess who's heavily implied to be aroace hate romance is very aphobic. Not everyone aroace hates romance-that is a negative stereotype.

Of course, Rick promotes these stereotypes, so what can I expect from him. *Sigh*

Rick subtly makes Athena seem unlikeable like this. It's one of my biggest frustrations-that he makes gods that he doesn't like evil in one way or another through blatantly incorrect misinformation or subtle denigration like this.

All right, so moving on to the more serious story in which Athena is deprecated yet again. It's called 'Athena adopts a handkerchief'.

Brace yourself.

So in the original myth, after Hephaestus catches Aphrodite cheating on him with Ares, he's pretty depressed.

So when Athena comes to him to comfort him or ask him for weapons, Hephaestus literally tried to climb on her and RAPE HER, and she DEFENDED HERSELF from him. A woman defending herself from a man trying to rape her-that's what it was.

But Rick specifically writes Hephaestus begging and pleading and oh so miserable, even when Athena clearly walks away and yells at him to stop. And then Hephaestus cries into her bare leg, and she kicks him away in disgust.

We're supposed to root for Hephaestus here, and even if we aren't, he's still portrayed in a sympathetic light, which is completely fucked up.

Let me tell you something. If a person is crying and begging for your attention and walking after you and grabs you, whining, even after you clearly and firmly tell them not to-

You can defend yourself from, even physically. Doesn't matter if you're a girl or boy or if they're a girl or boy. You have every right to kick them away. Now matter how pathetic they seem, they are still knowingly coming after and harassing you.

But there a lot of people that don't think like this. They feel bad for men who seem 'pathetic' and often denounce women who reject men like this, even though the women have every right not to want to be with men, even if the man seems pathetic and lonely.

Rick wrote Hephaestus to seem pathetic (he literally called Hephaestus poor guy WHEN HEPHAESTUS WAS TRYING TO RAPE ATHENA) and Athena to be cold and bitchy for not acquiescing to Hephaestus' wants, thus flipping the script to make us feel bad for Hephaestus and disdain Athena.

And yes, even if Athena was ultimately written to be the one in the right here, most people will favour Hephaestus and disdain Athena in this narrative simply because of the way their behaviour is written.

It's ingrained in our brains and psychology-let men off, blame the women. Nearly everyone thinks like this-it's practically the default way for society.

I'm not saying that everyone thinks like this. There are very good people who don't think like this or are working on their behaviour and thoughts...........

But they're a minority. There are too many people who default to the 'men good women bad blame women automatically' mindset, even the supposedly progressive ones.

Rick knew the original myth and instead, he chose to twist and write it like this, having us root for Hephaestus instead. That HAS to tell you that the guy has some form of misogyny about Greek Goddesses.

Red flags for Rick Riordan? Hell yes. This was published in 2014, so we can only hope that he's improved on his behavior a decade later, but considering the recent changes in the show, I don't think it's happening.

ATHENA ISN'T ALWAYS WRITTEN BADLY IN PJO

Now, I'm not saying that Athena is always demonized when she shows up. She has a few good moments in PJO and there are some good parts to her.

She realises that Typhon was a distraction and convinces Zeus to send Hermes back, thus greatly helping the demigods.

(But this is overlooked because Rick made her tell Percy to stay away from Annabeth for no good reason. He didn't have to do this at all-but as a very wise person once said, this was another way of trying to distance Percy and Annabeth but not knowing how to properly do so, and of course, Athena becomes the scapegoat who must take on the blame here even though Poseidon could have also said this, thus giving him an actual moment that shows that hey, he's not all-good, Percy and readers!)

She does love Annabeth, as seen when she guides her on the streets to help, immediately claims her at camp, gives her the invisibility cap, appoints her the architect of Olympus itself and compliments her in front of the entire Godly council and many demigods too.

When Annabeth is in Tartarus, she speaks to her and tells her that she did well and gives her a message to send, indicating a gesture of trust, honour and respect from mother to daughter.

(But she was also a bad mother to Annabeth for reasons I've stated before in this essay. She neglected her, forced her to stay with an abusive father, did not bother to find an adoptive family for her, etc)

In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, she instructs Cadmus on what to do with the dragon's teeth. She rightfully blinds Tiresias for staring at her while naked and not immediately looking away and covering his eyes, but then gives him a walking stick and lets him understand the language of birds so that they can direct him when she learns that it was an accident.

She also helps Percy on his quest in Chalice of the Gods by sending Ganymede and the cart that Percy's hiding in back to the kitchens to save Percy.

It's just that...........her portrayal in PJO had some serious problems. It was hideous, horrendous, ghastly, frightful, atrocious, shocking, appalling, grievous, gross and a whole of lot of other synonyms to match. And she is more often than not criticised and hated on for her bad moments than she is noticed for her good moments in Percy Jackson.

CONCLUSION

I know that Rick is free to use whichever version of the myths he wants, but I just want you to see that he denigrates her and portrays her in an appalling manner. Making her have children without the father's permission and forcing the children onto them and making her neglect her children was absolutely unnecessary and Athena did not need to have brain children.

Now, I'm not saying that Athena isn't portrayed in a positive light. She does have good moments in Percy Jackson, but what I want to say is that a lot about her characterization in Percy Jackson is absolutely egregious for the most part considering her actual mythological counterpart.

Athena is the only virgin goddess who has children, and she's also the only virgin goddess who's portrayed as an adult. Coincidence? I think not. In fact, if Rick hadn't made Athena have children, he would have made her a child too.

He turned Hestia into a child for no reason at all, so it's not entirely implausible to think that he would make Athena a child too-probably use the stupid excuse of 'children learn better and their brains are more flexible than adults' brains!'

(I don't want to give him any ideas.)

To conclude, Athena more often than not demeaned in PJO and her overall portrayal is absolutely ghastly when compared to her mythological counterpart. There are a few good parts to her, but not many, and her portrayal in such a famous pop culture series that has impacted so many people will be an eternal tragedy.

@superkooku

@cynthiav06

@fandomloverangel

Properly developing and writing LGBTQ ships.

Ok, but when have we actually SEEN a good LGBTQ ship being DEVELOPED AND WRITTEN PROPERLY?

Like with Percabeth, you can see their development over the course of the series. WHEN HAVE WE SEEN THAT WITH GAY MALES OR LESBIAN FEMALES? I've never seen it (if you have, though, tell me please.)

We almost never get gay characters as major characters. Sure, Piper Mclean is bisexual, but we never knew it until the literal END of Trials of Apollo even though she was a major character in HOO and even starred as a side character for Trials of Apollo. Was her POV in HOO about discovering her bisexuality and coming out? No. Piper's representation is so shoved in that it barely counts, TBH. Though that is just my opinion on this matter-no need to agree with it.

And Nico di Angelo is gay, but his rep was handled terribly. A forced coming out with no closure and being paired off with a random side character to 'prove' his gayness. Also, Will being a terrible partner for Nico (sharing his medical information without authority, and being someone's doctor and boyfriend is problematic for boundaries. Nico could have had another doctor. Seriously, are there no Athena kids in the infirmary, or no trainee Apollo kids?).

I'm just saying that I'm not sure if Solangelo is good representation because we don't really get any development and whatever development there is on Nico's side is somewhat deteriorated. We don't even get much of Will as a character. No development at all.

And with the lesbian couple, Jo and Emmie, in ToA? No development-plus they got kicked out of a supposedly safe space for being lesbians. Very problematic.

And Piper and Shel? NOTHING. No page time. None whatsoever. No development or good writing.

Lavinia and Poison Oak? We're told, not shown. We don't even see Poison Oak.

Fierrochase is the only developed ship, and even then, it's a little rushed. (Just my opinion).

Was Vivienne ever aggressive like Madoc? That her redcap nature, though somewhat tempered by her human nature, played a role in her pre-Elfhame childhood? Was that why their parents and the other adults were so worried, apart from the cat eyes and fairy ears? Do you think that Eva saw Madoc in Vivienne's eyes and shrank from her? What about Justin? Do you think that they homeschooled her to keep themselves safer? Do you think that she was angry and ferocious at Madoc, then saw that he liked it, then tried to calm down and be nicer and go against her fiery nature and not learn battle strategies and swordplay in order to displease him?

Percy was not smart-Procrustes was dumbed down

This post is about the 12 year old trio (well, 14 biologically and 28 chronologically in Grover's case) getting caught in Procrustes' store in TLT.

So, our heroes run into Procrustes' store after being chased by mortal teenage wannabe gangsters.

And they come to Procrustes' store where he's nice at first and then traps them in the waterbeds

He leads Annabeth to another bed and when she doesn't want to get on, he pushes her onto it and traps both Annabeth and Grover.

And then he wants to get Percy on a bed, and instead of simply grabbing him and putting him on one........he tries to convince Percy to lie down?

Why did Procrustes have to convince Percy to lie down? Why didn't he push him onto the bed? It was pretty obvious that he could, but for some reason, he stopped and tried to convince Percy.

What, you're telling me that he sat down to demonstrate for Percy, knowing that Percy could just snap his fingers and say ergo and bind him to the bed?

Is this because Percy was agreeable to him? What, did Procrustes not think that Percy might want to rescue his companions and might be lying? Because if so, Procrustes is dumb.

Percy might have rescued his friends, but his wits in this are diminished by the fact that the villain was dumbed down.

Percy wasn't smart. Rick had to dumb Procrustes down, which undermines both the antagonist and our protagonist's supposed smartness. It's frustrating to see people use this as an example-please don't.

I want to draw you (Part 2)

Heather showed Vivienne her drawings. They were amazing-Vivienne loved how they portrayed her cat eyes and faerie ears, making them pop. 

‘How long have you been drawing?’

‘Well, since I was a toddler. I’m going to attend community college and major in something involving art. I just love drawing and painting-it’s my central passion. I’d die if I couldn’t draw anymore.’

‘So, drawing is the thing that calms you down?’ Vivienne said.

‘Most of the time, yeah. It doesn’t always help me, though-sometimes my emotions are so intense that even if I draw, I can’t calm down, and when I have art block, it’s the worst.’

‘Yeah, art block sounds bad if your main thing is drawing,’ Vivi agreed. ‘Um, hey, want to go get some Chinese food? Just you and me-I can pay for it.’

‘Ooh, really? That would be great! I’ll pay for my own food, though. You can pay for yours.’

They went to that great Chinese restaurant-the one with the amazing fortune cookies. Heather had been there once and she’d gotten the funniest fortune-there is money in your future-that doesn’t belong to you.

‘They have really funny fortunes, though you find generic ones too.’ she said. She started talking about the restaurant and telling Vivienne all about it, though Vivienne had been there a few times before (in glamour disguise). Still, Vivi nodded her head and pretended that she was just going there for the first time, just to hear Heather talk about it.

They ordered spring rolls and sweet and sour chicken. Heather talked about her life and family and Vivienne listened to her. 

Before she knew it, hours had passed and Heather had to go home. They exchanged numbers and she left, Vivienne staring after her. 

When Vivi returned home, Taryn asked her why she was smiling so hard, and she blinked and noticed that she was. She simply shook her head and went to her bedroom, then jumped onto the bed, squealing and giggling. Maybe life wasn’t so bad after all.

(I recently learnt that there's a short story on Heather and Vivienne in Faeries Never Lie-The Honest Folk. If I've made any mistakes in this short story, please let me know! Thanks for reading!)

Why do Linh and Tam have light silvery blue eyes

Why did Shannon have to give LINH AND TAM of all people the LIGHTEST EYES? It has racist connotations and ok, sure, all elves have blue eyes, but there are so many different shades of blue-she could have gone with really dark blue for the Asian looking characters as well as the black looking characters. Like Oxford blue or Navy blue, something like that.