Https://ashes-and-ashes-dust-and-dust.tumblr.com/post/183716349959/so-i-just-reread-the-entire-percy-jackson-series

https://ashes-and-ashes-dust-and-dust.tumblr.com/post/183716349959/so-i-just-reread-the-entire-percy-jackson-series

Ugh because I like torturing myself, let’s keep going on this tangent.

Imagine afterwards. The magical campfire, the one that amplifies all positive emotions suddenly goes out. For the first time in almost 300 years, it just…extinguishes.

Nico is the first to leave. How can he explain it to the others, what Jason meant to him? How can he explain Cupid and the running and the hiding? He’s never been good with feelings, never been good with others, and so he just turns on his heel and leaves. Walks straight into the forest, not even bothering to bring any protection with him. Will follows him a moment after, because he known Nico and he knows that if he didn’t go with him, Nico might not come back out.

Frank is the one who has to make the call to Reyna. He stands in the stall, feeds the Drachma through and waits. Everything is still so horribly clear, burning through his head, and it takes less then a minute before the call is patched through.

It hurts. Reyna seems so much happier now, an easy smile on her face as she sits down. “Any news from the Greeks?” she asks. “Oh, that reminds me, I need you to verify these temple plans that Jason sent over…”

She trails off as she sees the look on Frank’s face. “Is everything alright…?”

Frank closes his eyes. Opens his mouth. Tells her everything.

When he’s down, Reyna is motionless. Her face has turned to stone, perfectly still as she sits on purple couch. It’s one of the things Frank always admired about her, the way she was able to shut down her emotions, create that mask of marble that nothing can penetrate.

There’s a silence, echoing and haunting, Reyna so, so still. She tilts her head, closed her eyes, then with a sudden movement, hurls a dagger into the wall. It sticks cleanly, quivering through the wood, and she’s stalked out of the tent before Frank can say anything else.

He ends the call, grimacing, the pain in his chest growing as he stares at the wooden wall in front of him.

Piper lies on her bed and screams.

She’s been screaming for hours, days even, because it’s so goddamn unfair. She’s saved the world, out the Earth Mother to sleep, risked her life and her family’s life, done everything she fucking could go protect everyone, and the fucking Gods couldn’t even give her Jason.

So she lies there, and she screams and screams and screams, and when she finally stops, Drew Tanaka comes over and purses her lips. “Well,” she says. “He was a hero. Heroes die young.”

And Piper snaps.

It takes the whole Aphrodite cabin plus half of the Ares cabin to pull her off of Drew. She’s clawing and biting, throwing punches and roaring and Lacey is holding her back and Drew is unconscious on the ground and there is blood everywhere. Someone is stroking her, holding her back and she can dimly hear someone say, “Yeah, she was one of the 7 heroes.”

The words burn, deep inside of her, and Piper is falling as she screams with all the rage and anger and magic inside of her “I DON’T WANT TO BE A HERO. I NEVER FUCKING WANTED TO BE ONE.”

She can hear gasps, feels something getting stuck into her arm, but Piper is beyond caring as she lets herself fade into the darkness.

Annabeth makes the call to Thalia.

She sits, crossed legged on the ground, cradling the phone in her lap. Hazel sits next to her, face still blank with shock, and they listen to the dial tone ring.

When Thalia picks up, Annabeth closes her eyes. Tells her that her little brother is dead.

There’s a pause, an absolute silence. Annabeth closes her eyes, because she knows Thalia, knows the rage sorrow that surely was flowing through her now -

Thalia howls.

An echoing, agonized scream, the sound of someone who was the only one left. A wordless cry because how can you explain loss like that? How can you keep on taking, keep on stealing, keep on ripping everything away and not expect someone to fall apart? Hazel bursts into tears at that, and Thalia is stil screaming and all Annabeth can do is close her eyes and cry.

Leo sits on the beach.

He’s curled into a ball, buried into the sand and he keeps expecting Jason to come, keeps expecting him to soar through the stars and land.

Because he can’t be dead, can he? He couldn’t be dead, not after all they went through.

Leo squeezes the sand, lets it seep through his fingers. He spent his whole life building, sacrificed his life to stop Gaia, sacrificed his life so that the others didn’t have to do the same and no it was all meaningless.

They all had paid. Over and over again, they had paid and it still wasn’t enough.

The flames erupt now, fast and sudden, so hot that Leo can feel the skin on his hand start to blister and burn. He can’t do anything about the flames though, just lets it burn and burn and burn until everything turns to glass.

When he opens his eyes, the glass in his hand has solidified, turned to an opaque sphere. Leo just stands, and shatters it on the rocks.

Will finds Nico kneeling in the forest.

It’s difficult. He’s never really known the Son of Jupiter, beyond the occasional hellos and goodbyes. He can’t even remember the last time they talked - something about Apollo and Prophecies and Delphi.

But he knows. Nico told him once, when the nightmares were bad, about ruins and Jason and the god of love. Will’s never felt like that, brittle and thin and stretched to the breaking point, but he understands his boyfriend’s pain.

He comes up behind Nico, wraps his arms around him. He’s trembling, deathly cold, and Will closes his eyes.

When the bones erupt around him, Will stiffens, but doesn’t let go. He jut holds Nico tighter, lets his tears fall onto the ground, and lets the skeletons form a dome around them.

Hazel sits next to Frank.

They are both numb. Both in shock. They can’t do anything but sit next to each other, weapons clinking funky against the log. They had both grown up with the stories, of Jason, the Hero, the Praetor of New Rome.

He had become that, again. Nothing more then a story now, someone who only lived inside of them.

Hazel hated it.

What was the point of being a hero, if you couldn’t even save the people you loved? What was the point of trying, when everything was ripped away.

She thought they were safe. She had never been more wrong.

Percy was furious.

He slams his sword into the monster over and over again, until his fists are bruised and bleeding. He’s covered in dust, enough to turn his skin white and his hair lighter, so that if he turns quickly enough the glimpse in the mirror almost looks like him.

He didn’t know how many monsters he killed - 50, 60, 70. Enough that he was choking on it, choking on air, choking on the hate that was welling up inside of him and refused to disappear.

He always used to wonder who the strongest hero was. Always used to wonder if they would ever find out, him and Jason, if there would ever be a war where they would be on opposite sides. He supposed he’d never know now.

And then he’s screaming, his sword clutched in his hand and he knows, he knows that nothing will bring Jason back but he can damn well try, and Percy thinks that he’d do it, he’d rip down the world and drown it, he’d fight the gods themselves if it meant that his friends could live in peace.

Percy wipes his sword, the blood soaking through the orange of his shirt and heads off to find more to kill.

family drama

Jason: [bursting into room, Damian in his arms, anguished] It’s a violent case of hiccups! Will he live, Doc?

Damian: [kicking] Let–hic–go–hic–Todd!

Dick: [drops everything, becomes very solumn, ear to Damian’s heart] He needs medicine badly. Nurse!

Tim: [salutes and grabs water bottle] Of course sir, right away sir!

Dick: Hold him down.

Jason: You got it.

Damian: [struggling] I’m–hic–going–hic–to hang you–hic–from your–hic–thumbs!

Dick: [stonily] Grab his nose, Nurse.

Tim: He’ll bite me, sir.

Dick: Get yourself together, man! Are you a goddamn nurse or not?

Tim: Aye aye, sir! [pinches Damian’s nose]

Damian: [voice muffled] Hang–hic–you above–hic–PIRANHAS–hic!

Jason: The patient is delusional!

Tim: Hurry, doctor!

Dick: [squirts water bottle into Damian’s mouth] LET US CAST OUT THIS ILLNESS!

Damian: [angry gargling]

Jason: AGAIN!

Dick: [squirts eight times in sequence]

Damian: [choking]

Tim: Best to put him out of his misery, doc

Dick: Keep hope, nurse!

Damian: [sputtering] I DESPISE ALL OF YOU!

Jason: He is healed!

All three: Hallelujah!

All three: [parade to Bruce’s study singing hymns, burst in and drop Damian in Bruce’s lap] THE POWER OF MODERN MEDICINE!

Bruce: [looks at boys]

Bruce: [looks at Damian]

Bruce: Why is your brother soaking wet?

Dick, Jason, Tim:

Damian: Hic!

Dick, Jason, Tim: [pounce]

Damian: [latching onto Bruce like a spider monkey] FATHER NO HELP ME

Bruce:

Bruce: I’m changing Robin’s uniform to neon pink.

Damian: [gapes]

Damian: [softly, full of loathing] I will disown you.

Bruce: Are your hiccups gone?

Damian: I will not have it! Do you hear me? I will not!

Dick: His hiccups are gone.

Damian: Neon pink doesn’t camouflage well into the night, I couldn’t–

Tim: What, and red, green, and yellow do?

Damian: SHUT UP DRAKE THIS DOESN’T INVOLVE YOU

Bruce: [nods wisely] Alternative medicine.

Tags

batfam

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dyingisfortheweekends

4 years ago

Hey folks, I live in Seattle and up till a couple years ago I lived on Capitol Hill. I still have friends living there. So I thought I’d provide some local insight into the CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone).

There is a lot of misinformation out there, especially from Fox News, which photoshopped a gunman into pics, wow.

First, the best resources to find CHAZ info are local to Seattle: The Seattle Times, Capitol Hill Blog, and the CHAZ livestream where you can see the streets for yourself.

Capitol Hill is a very densely populated neighborhood full of apartment buildings and bustling restaurants and bars. If you work there, you live there (because it is hard to navigate by car, like NYC), and if you live there, you are probably super liberal. It’s also the center of counter-culture and LGBTQ culture in Seattle.

Are the protesters terrorizing the locals?

No, the protesters ARE the locals. They live in the many, many apartment buildings on Capitol Hill. Having lived there for years, believe me when I say “fuck the police” is a prevalent opinion there even when there isn’t a nationwide protest.

Is there looting? How are businesses protecting themselves?

The local businesses are not being looted; they are open and are doing a booming business. Also, a lot of workers / business owners ARE protesters.

I saw a picture of Seattle on fire!

Actually you saw a picture of a protest in Minnesota that Fox News pretended was Seattle because they are frauds and shills.

How big is the Autonomous Zone?

Six square blocks.

How did this situation come about?

There was a peaceful march. The mayor abruptly set a 5 pm curfew. The protesters ignored it and marched anyway. Then the police set up barricades to stop the march. The cops started using tear-gas and flash-bangs and the situation devolved from there. (You can find videos of this on Capitol Hill Blog.) What prompted the tear-gas was … one of the protesters thrust a pink umbrella over the barrier. Yes, really.

The situation deteriorated for several days/nights running until the police abandoned the East Precinct on Capitol Hill. The violence was very one-sided: the police attacking the protesters.

Then the police left. From what I heard the mayor ordered them out due to rumors or fears that the police station would be burned down? Which didn’t happen. Anyway, they abruptly left. As in, hired a literal moving truck and emptied out their headquarters, in almost a comedic beat.

Do you have to show your ID to enter the Autonomous Zone?

No. People come and go freely. City services are also allowed to come and go (and I presume delivery trucks but I haven’t looked into that.)

What’s with the physical barriers if people can come and go freely?

They’re to keep vehicles out.

Backstory: While the protests were ongoing, a guy (whose brother was an East Precinct cop) tried to ram his car into a crowd of protesters. A brave man eating a hot dog threw himself at the side of the car, grabbed the steering wheel through the open window, and stopped him. Whereupon cop-brother-car-man shot him with a gun.

Personally I think cop-brother-car-man was planning a mass shooting because he had extra ammo taped to his hoodie sleeve. You can see the blue tape on his arm in the pic above. (The protester who was shot thankfully survived. Check out those brave medics tending him while an ACTIVE SHOOTER is standing feet away!)

But anyway, that’s why there are barriers. I believe they move them aside for approved vehicles, like emergency vehicles or deliveries.

Are there people with guns roaming around?

Not on a regular basis, although I’ve heard a local gun club had some members there one night when it was rumored the Proud Boys (a Nazi group) might show up. (They didn’t.) But in general, no.

Is it scary??

No. The neighborhood is fully on board and overall there is a festive atmosphere. There are speeches about BLM, about discrimination, about what people want for the neighborhood. There are first aid stations, medics and counselors, and people offering free pizza. If you watch the livestreams, you can see people walking their dogs, out with their kids, etc.

Where will this all end?

I don’t know. The barriers can’t stay up forever and I think everyone knows that. The “Autonomous Zone” name is tongue-in-cheek, the protesters aren’t actually trying to secede from the United States. Basically, this is a boiling over of frustration. The police have never been good-faith neighbors on Capitol Hill. Also Seattle police have always been pretty racist and had a problem with excessive force.

Look at this whole situation. All the police had to do was stand back and let the protesters march; they would have marched and gone home and that would be that. All the police had to do was nothing. Instead they turned a neighborhood into a warzone.

By the way, did you know that yesterday (6/12) in a different Seattle neighborhood 60,000 people marched to support BLM? And because the city had learned its lesson about dumbass curfews, they let everyone march and nothing bad happened.

Weird how the national news didn’t report on that march, huh? Almost like they cherrypick the protests that will appear “scary” to their audience.

Tags

blm seattle protests capitol hill autonomous zone

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dyingisfortheweekends

4 months ago

Tragic brothers.

Dexter: Dexter Morgan and Brian Moser. Genesis by Valzhyna Mort † Abel’s Body to Cain by Joseph Fasano

Tags

poem Dexter the ice truck killer

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dyingisfortheweekends

4 years ago

TWILIGHT: but it’s just 3 chaotic (probably gay) best friends...

group pic

Edward

Bella

Jacob

Tags

twilight jacob black bella swan edward cullen

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dyingisfortheweekends

5 years ago

Obi-Wan: “Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords are our speciality!”

Ahsoka Tano, fifty thousand light years away and running for her life through a burning landscape as a grinning Sith Lord chases her: “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

Tags

star wars ahsoka tano anakin skywalker crack starwars darth maul obi wan kenobi the siege of mandalore you left her on the planet with a sith lord and a handful of troops

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dyingisfortheweekends

5 years ago

Why not?