This!!

This!!

I feel like (Rick probably just forgot or didn’t bother-) but it very much could’ve been in New Rome? Separate from camp Military/religious things-

That there probably is a temple for Vesta separate to temple hill (which again- I wanna talk about in a separate post because the concept is just-) in New Rome because the Vestal Vrigins were important,

They took care of the hearth of the city from my quick skimming, they would be chosen before puberty so it’s not super far-fetched to assume they wouldn’t serve in the legion (They also had a bunch of other stuff too, and the Vestal’s had special privileges and it wouldn’t be wild to assume that these would translate to modern day with the priestesses not having to serve in the legion due to their important status) so I think to give the benefit of the doubt (genuinely forgot the saying so uh-) Rick probably just didn’t mention them because we didn’t see much of New Rome and its functions and whatever.

Why doesn't Camp Jupiter have a Temple for Vesta? And like Vestal Virgins? Wasn't it like super important in Rome-

Fighting the urge to make another post about Bryce Lawerence 😔…

Another post about Bryce Lawerence!

(Guys I gave into the urge)

Okay- but like. No one cares about him, it’s like if I went on an entire post for Larry the legionnaire (that one is still on my list to make- **Update from future Kleos who’s finishing this right now, Larry the Legionnaire post is going to be started directly after this is posted!***). But I really like talking about him because he literally stole a part of my brain and refuses to hand it over.

And there’s so much to him that we don’t know that can be explored! Like- there are so many possibilities with his character and I want to include him more in my Re-imagining because if we’re gonna make him a monster then why not actually display his absolute bat shittery in the book. Or I don’t know.. make him an actually compelling character that gets to be an actual character and not a maniacal stereotype that is put in the plot so we can show Nico’s.. thing? (I don’t know, I’ll be honest don’t like Nico that much- like him in the first arc when he’s a silly little baby and then an emo 10 year old)

Like we know he cannonically committed a bunch of crimes, barely got away by the skin of his teeth because of nepotism and then like??? We don’t know how old he was when he committed said crimes, his most notable one oh I don’t know, MURDER, that feels notable is left as just an afterthought like- there were so many ways this could’ve affected everything just from how long ago the murder was! (I think I did a whole other post on Bryce just talking about that! But it could seriously affect camp and I feel like there was major potential that could’ve improved the story)

Bryce could’ve been a convincing demigod villain that would be an actual threat and the scariest part would be that he wouldn’t have been working for Gaea (at the very most he might’ve done like mercenary work for stuff like triumvirate holdings or whatever it’s called but because I haven’t finished TOA I refuse to make any conclusions) he’d be a separate much more real entity and threat (because how many people were really tensed up and nervous over the Camp Jupiter-Camp Half-blood conflict. Because we don’t see any of it and if the story was tweaked and all of protags weren’t shoved in the same boat away from the b-plot it would be better but that’s for me to yap about-)

And; may I propose a concept (that fits with my hcs-) that Bryce would’ve been in the first cohort, he canonically murdered his Centurion in the war games (It’s not plural in the books to I have to assume that it’s just one of them) but this is my idea that he killed the Centurion that Micheal too over for, and that either Bryce killed them to clear the way for Michael (which opens a whole new avenue for a Michael and Bryce and what their relationship would’ve been that would lead for Bryce to do that-) or that Bryce wanted to take up the role but didn’t get it.

Of course there’s the scenario that Bryce did it for fun. Which is what Rick implied though I don’t like that because it feels… icky? Most people (even people who do heinous crimes like this) don’t just murder for no reason. There is more often than not, a motive. And I think giving Bryce a motive would make him a lot more interesting than just saying, “oh he’s wild guys, he’s just a quirky little guy” and moving on. Again; let’s not make the character with some form of implied psychopathy just a harmful stereotype of an already incredibly stigmatized condition. Alright, cool.

But if we just got a little forethought and Bryce was a bigger part in the plot (which could be my biased perspective because I like the little man) then it could’ve been so much more interesting in camp! It would set up a post Bryce-debocle Camp Jupiter when we first see in in SoN. Where Reyna’s struggling to keep camp together and has to deal with the lingering outside threats of the dude that would probably have a vendetta because she exiled him from the life he’s ever known that could quite possibly still be close to camp (remember Camp Jupiter doesn’t have the magic border-) and developing a following (Make Reyna paranoid, make her fall- make her be a prime example of the perfect soldier, then make her crumble, see as she begins to spiral and fear that she is becoming every closer to her own fathers paranoia, allow her that and put in the message that it gets better and that you can get help. But that’s another post-) a First cohort that is still trying to adjust to the power exchange of a new Centurion, a camp that is on guard and is mourning the loss of a valued and dear member of their legion (I’m not saying we make a Redtail out of the unnamed murdered centurion- but I am saying make a Redtail, and if you get the reference, rad) a camp that is unwelcoming more so than usual all because of this one person. A legacy no less- give us a proper opportunity to dive into Legacies and the culture surrounding them!

Also would like to state that in my legacies post I briefly fluttered by the mention that I think his father was a demigod and that made him a first gen legacy, but on his mothers side I’d like to give the consideration that she’d come from a long line of legacies of Ira (or Furor- or Lyssa as she was in her Green counterpart) but Ira was the spirit (not a goddess, felt that should be known though I’m unsure if that matters or if she can really be interchangeable and still regarded as a minor goddess-) of mad rage, frenzy, and rabies in animals. I say to add this aspect because it feels right in my brain. Sure demigods shouldn’t be stereotyped into personalities based on who they’re related to directly in divinity. But- like, I just wanna have this. I don’t get to talk about Lyssa a lot and I find her interesting and it’s my head-canon (no idea why I’m arguing with myself because literally none of you guys care.)

Okay! I’ve been writing this and recently finished reading zazzanders‘s (please I don’t know if I should be using a direct mention- link thingy? If I should let me know because I’d rather have my posts… somewhat easier to read, like obviously the writing style invokes someone hunched over their phone just typing out random sentences for the fun of it because that’s what it is but I want there to be some form of ease. But you should go check out their page because they make really cool and interesting content) reblog of one of my posts and I too just realized how insanely powerful Bryce is? I don’t know how I would like nerf him but I feel he significantly needs to be chilled out because he has a lot of stuff going on. Like a lot of powers and stuff and whatever and it’s all weird and Rick just yelled whatever when writing him and anything to do with Camp Jupiter so it all ends up weird as hell. Until I figure all that out I’m not touching it and I’m leaving Bryce in this weird zone- and I can’t say screw it and make him blessed by Orcus because with his title alone I think there is no way he would condone or agree with anything Bryce has done,

Which launches me into sudden change! I want to know what Bryce and Orcus’s relationship is. We know Bryce is said to have gone and survived a trip to the underworld because of his edgy 12-year-old comment about the screams from the field of punishment sounding like music to his ears (seriously the more I write the more like I feel like he’d be one of Ramona Flowers’s evil ex boyfriends) so it can be implied that at one point he tried to make contact with Orcus. How did that go out? Not well because I expect Bryce broke a shit ton of oaths about like being a good legionnaire and he probably lied on stand during trial because he’s totally the type of beetle that would do that, so I want to know what that was like- how that affected Bryce, all that stuff. And I know I’ll probably write out how I think that scenario played out in the future.

Anyway I’m pretty sure that I’m just grasping at straws and really if I wanted to I could just keep talking about this character because I don’t know why but I just like- woke up one day and couldn’t get him off my mind sooo..

Larry the legionnaire post next! Then after that I don’t know, maybe something about New Rome or Camp Jupiter. Maybe I’ll finally get around to being confused about the jobs in camp or something,

Maybe goodnight? I don’t really know because the Larry post feels like it’ll be short.

when u like a character for their potential to be interesting and complex more than how they’re actually written

Tomorrow my family is going to have a Christmas desert bake off (I am being pitted against my tiny little baby siblings) and instead of doing something id usually do (last year was lemon cake pops because I despise the flavors deemed christmassy)

I am making Libum. Found a recipe online and it better preform good or I’m gonna sob

Anyway, very excited. I had to buy ricotta cheese for it, and then I also get to make pozole(? Never thought of how to spell it) so that’s rad. Also probably going to put out a post on my thoughts on legacies (because I swear to the gods they make no sense- literally so undefined and just act as demigods with a different name and it makes it odd to differentiate them to the point that like halfway through HoO they drop calling legacies legacies.)

Guys the Larry post will be… when I actually do sit down and write it but like aaaaah that’s for later me.

Anyway I just spent my morning drawing my silly little character,

Her arm is weird as hell but at 6:50 I didn’t want to re-do my draft and try to shove her hands to be visible in the pose because I like the look of her sitting there in a much more calmed rigid but relaxed pose (I usually draw her with her hands up in a surrender so I think having one of her hands behind her back in a very calm posing was a nice change of pace) but this is still Mercury (my oc I haven’t posted about in a while) and my oc fun fact that accompanied this post is that she is a bleach blonde and her hair is fried.

Anyway, Larry will be coming up but I was proud of my silly art and I was happy to finally draw someone with some form of background behind her. Do I know where she is? Of course not I just wanted to draw pillars because I had an excuse to make them a arch/doorway and I thought that was a nice little reference to Janus legacy stuff (forgot to draw her tattoo because she added onto it but I am not about to change the drawing again because I Finnicked with the colors of the lineart for WAY too long)

Maybe I’ll do bigger pictures like these for other characters- unlike my writing posts I make no promises.

I don’t quite know how to title this post but it’s a general Pjo canon question/word vomit/thing?? But it’s the, ‘Monsters are not doing the monster mash”

That’s an arguably weird way to explain it, but like,

In the lightning thief, we are told that monsters hunt down Demigods like people hunt down the Costco samples (stupid example I know) and episode three of the tv show really brought that back to the front of my mind when Annabeth was talking about Percy and Thalia.

If I remember correctly (I don’t have my copy of the book on my but I’ll probably reblog this post with added new information) in the lightning thief it’s said that after demigods have their ‘awakening’ (when they begin to figure out their demigods, I think is how it’s described. But like when their powers begin manifesting and stuff). Then after that they’ll be plagued by monsters trying to eat them, that’s what things like Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter/New Rome are so important, they save demigod lives (Well, Camp Half-blood is a bit more secure than Camp Jupiter and probably saves more demigod lives but whatever) and we get examples of this?

Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth all get swarmed and are constantly facing, drawing, and meeting monsters during their run. Sure it’s like weirdly said that Hades sent some of them and it’s mentioned that Hades sends monsters in TLT though it’s like a little??? I get confused by it when we’re not talking about the Furies.

Percy during his quest is dogged by them and after he displays powers he is also attracting the Minotaur (not counting Mrs.Dodds because she was like sent and like?)

We know that it’s called out when the majority of the Aphrodite cabin (which I feel like should’ve been housing a much smaller group of Demigods because from what I remember over my very limited knowledge of myths she didn’t fall with mortals very often *Literally abandoned Aeneas because of the circumstances there with like arrows and mortals* and she never really had that many encounters? But I’m in no way the one that should be talking about myths lol) leaves camp because they don’t attract monsters as much or like monsters just don’t bother (which is dumb and I don’t really like what was done with the Aphrodite cabin the more and more I talk about it because they were done so dirty and just like? Is infantilized the right word?) but it’s like-

We get conflicted that “Camp is important, camp is the only place demigods will be safe from the dangers of monsters” and that, they train demigods not to be heroes or whatever, but to equip them to survive that hopefully monsters find it to be too much trouble to eat them and will not attempt to (Again; then it feels like from what we know of the Aphrodite cabin they’d be in constant danger because Rick wanted to characterize the general group as people that are shallow and vain and don’t train. Maybe I’ll just do an Aphrodite cabin post after this idk) and that demigods who aren’t trained and have had their awakening would be in constant danger and would be constantly around monsters.

But also, “yeah go home for the rest of the year even if we’ve stayed that you’ll totally be in danger constantly but hey! We never really see that-“ for kids like the big three (why was Percy allowed to go home? Would he have forced his way home, probably. Should we have heard about how miserable it probably would’ve been with low level monsters trying to constantly get at him, maybe?) or people like Annabeth (who ran away from her home where one of the canon reasons was her parents couldn’t take the constant monsters.) but we don’t get any info that there are still, constant monsters when she’s home.

Maybe I’m not remembering the books much but we are given that “Demigods are never truly safe in the world and Camp is a safe haven” while also not being really shown that? Like, Leo should’ve been having monster problems. Canonically Piper wouldn’t have to deal with it because of the weird Aphrodite cabin unfairness.

And Frank, uh. I don’t like the fact that Frank never had to deal with monsters- but we don’t know the deal with legacies and monster attraction but i don’t want to put more braincells into that for the moment- but he didn’t have his awakening. He really just didn’t have any awakening until like the middle of his quest so I give him a pass because it’s.. sort of explained? If you read between the lines enough it makes sense.

And that abruptly leads to the next thing. What was Camp Half-Bloods deal before Thalia? Because we know the barrier came with the whole Thalia thing (it was her turning to the tree that also brought the barrier, in SoM when her tree is dying the barrier is growing weaker) there is a canon CHB that was also running without a barrier and hoping for the best. Can we get more info on that? Like between the fact that Camp Jupiter also has no barrier (also made a post on that, think it’s the injuries one but I believe I have thoughts on there. Not my best work but it fits in with all the other posts) and that monster would’ve canonically been swarming?

Aaaa, just monsters don’t make sense in my brain between what we’re told and shown, it really just was brought back to my brain during the whole,

“Thalia met a heroes fate”

“She also met a pinecones fate” 😐

Annabeth scene in the latest pjo episode. I meant to do this post like months ago but just fell on the back burner.

Anyway I’m finding myself relating to Annabeth more and more while watching the show and like- aaa idk.

Anyway meant to finish this post a couple days ago but I was visiting family friends so I was just chipping away at it and this is just the aftermath of it. I didn’t present any ideas of my own and just kind of blabbed about my confusion for a bit but I do that frequently. Anyway I’ll probably make that Aphrodite cabin post because I haven’t realized how much they were just like, let down? Also would like to add as a general I’ve heard the hello I’m Shelly Duvall Audio so many times that whenever someone says hello with a little pause I hear her voice-