The Older I Get The More I Recognize That Grace, Gratitude And Mercy Are The Best Virtues Someone Can

The original percy jackson series is about cycles of abuse and neglect, right. Were introduced to percy as a kid who has clearly been left behind by a school system that has given up on him, restless and unengaged and self-defetist because hes been given nothing that works for him and no one even tries to meet him where he is. Then hes told no, listen, your neurodivergence is amazing and you just need to be given something that actually utilizes your unique palatte. And thats obviously the uplifting idea rick wanted for his kids, right. But once we get to know chb the same cycles are happening there too. There are kids "left behind" there too for one reason or another, because their parents dont want to claim them, because their parents werent important enough to get a cabin. Do you get it, all the kids who dont fit the most common neurotypes get shoved into the same closet. Kids are being left in a cruel world to fend for themselves without the tools they need. Theyre dying because no one bothered to accommodate them. Its such an obvious parallel that the first chapter introduces a teacher whos written to be especially hard on percys disability and she turns out to literally be one of these monsters trying to kill him. Meanwhile sally jackson tells him she named him after Perseus because she wanted a redemption for a hero whos story ended in tragedy. Meanwhile every book in the series replicates a greek myth step for step until the moment they break the cycle. Annabeth, playing Odysseus, is talked down from her hubris and grounded by her friends. Percy, playing Heracles, meets someone wronged by the original Heracles and rights his wrongs by refusing to go down the same selfish path as him. Monsters are reborn because they are--as the books explicitly call them--achetypes. These kids are stuck inside the cyclical nature of mythology because thats what happens to mythology, it gets retold over and over again. But these are the kids who have to live it. The series ends with percy being offered immortality and he rejects it because he wants to use his godly favor to force them to break their cycle of neglecting their kids. The series ends with a declaration that we cant keep letting this happen. The very first book offees the same choice. It ends with percy refusing to keep the head of medusa as a spoil of war, refusing his heroic reward. He lets his mother have the head and use it to kill gabe. Isnt that fucking crazy for a kids book? Gabe wasnt a Monster. He wasnt going to Turn to Dust and Disappear in a narratively convenient way. He was a living breathing mortal dude and percy and his mom killed him without remorse. Break the cycle of abuse!!!! Dont let this happen again!!! Anyway thats why the original percy jackson series is Hey where are you going with our breadsticks

the smallness of the quest, returning a lost chalice, let the audience see a side of percy that is different.

a percy that has time.

he isn't running from monsters or at the epicenter of a war.

this is a percy that had time to go to school and join clubs. a percy who has time to go to smoothie shops with annabeth and grover. a percy that has time to have dinner with his mom and step-dad.

a percy that has time to think, about what he wants, about what he's scared of. a percy that has time to be a kid and just exist.

when jeanette winterson wrote “i want to be able to call you. i want to able to knock on your door. i want to able to keep your key and give you mine. i want there to be no gossip. i want to make supper with you. i want to go shopping with you. i want to know noting can come between us expect each other.” and when franz kafka wrote “you clam you haven’t done enough nice things for me, but is there anything nicer, any greater honor you can show me than simply being with me and allowing me to sit in front of you” and when james schuyler said “not to be in love with you i can’t remember what it was like it must’ve been lousy” and when caitlyn siehl “You are making breakfast in every dream that I have of you. You are in the kitchen, your soft middle pressed up against the cold marble countertops like a vision too beautiful for the magazines, sprinkling dark chocolate chips over pancakes. I think for a brief second that I am dreaming inside of my dream, that I had to make you up twice, just to get it right. You, brushing your dark hair out of your face, smearing batter across your cheeks. You have come and made my dreams smaller, narrower. Filled them with sugar and your body humming in the same room as mine. I dream, now, of a normal life with you. A life where breakfast lasts until the sun goes down, until I have finished gazing at you from across the table, flour dried to your forehead like a kiss.” and when sanna wani wrote “I want to eat fruit the same way you eat fruit with your lips not your teeth tongues stained with juice when I smile I want you to smile back wipe the corner of my mouth with your thumb kiss me kiss your thumb show me how fruit tastes in your mouth just a touch different from how it tastes in mine” and when daniel walsh said “I crave the simplest love of you with you. a cold night, warm sheets, and your skin against my own. certainly, that is all I could ever ask for.” and edna st. vincent millay wrote “I am going to make you love me. sweetheart, what I mean is: I want to sit on the edge of your bed while you have your breakfast - i want to laugh with you, be incredibly silly, be incredibly happy, be like children, and I want to kiss you more than anything in the world.”

Tartarus boys and the Cocoa Puffs

alone with you in the ether by olivie blake

indigo film poster (so excited for the album!)

kiddie au for fun

when jeanette winterson wrote “i want to be able to call you. i want to able to knock on your door. i want to able to keep your key and give you mine. i want there to be no gossip. i want to make supper with you. i want to go shopping with you. i want to know noting can come between us expect each other.” and when franz kafka wrote “you clam you haven’t done enough nice things for me, but is there anything nicer, any greater honor you can show me than simply being with me and allowing me to sit in front of you” and when james schuyler said “not to be in love with you i can’t remember what it was like it must’ve been lousy” and when caitlyn siehl “You are making breakfast in every dream that I have of you. You are in the kitchen, your soft middle pressed up against the cold marble countertops like a vision too beautiful for the magazines, sprinkling dark chocolate chips over pancakes. I think for a brief second that I am dreaming inside of my dream, that I had to make you up twice, just to get it right. You, brushing your dark hair out of your face, smearing batter across your cheeks. You have come and made my dreams smaller, narrower. Filled them with sugar and your body humming in the same room as mine. I dream, now, of a normal life with you. A life where breakfast lasts until the sun goes down, until I have finished gazing at you from across the table, flour dried to your forehead like a kiss.” and when sanna wani wrote “I want to eat fruit the same way you eat fruit with your lips not your teeth tongues stained with juice when I smile I want you to smile back wipe the corner of my mouth with your thumb kiss me kiss your thumb show me how fruit tastes in your mouth just a touch different from how it tastes in mine” and when daniel walsh said “I crave the simplest love of you with you. a cold night, warm sheets, and your skin against my own. certainly, that is all I could ever ask for.” and edna st. vincent millay wrote “I am going to make you love me. sweetheart, what I mean is: I want to sit on the edge of your bed while you have your breakfast - i want to laugh with you, be incredibly silly, be incredibly happy, be like children, and I want to kiss you more than anything in the world.”

Keeping this quote to my grave