Jeyna should have happened

thinking about all the misadventures that jason and reyna probably had. the quests, the side quests. the shared looks. the way they know each other instinctively. the whispers between them and about them. them running for praetorship together. jason keeping an elastic on his wrist because reyna hates having her hair in her face. reyna memorizing wind patterns because they symbolize jason’s moods. jason learning spanish through the broken lullabies reyna sings to herself when she thinks no one is noticing.

he spies her talking to someone? he goes over and holds her hips while plopping his chin on her shoulder.

they’re trying to move through a crowd? he’s holding her hips, trying not to lose her.

the first chapter is here! Hit the link, leave a comment (even if it's just a lightning bolt and a crown ⚡👑 for the roman heroes), but most of all, I hope you enjoy: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49890916/chapters/125951440

He was covered in inchor and his own smeared blood. His body burned in agony and yet he felt so distant from it all.

And yet to everyone Jason looked like the untouchable son of Jupiter who'd killed a titan singlehandedly.

Well almost everyone.

In seconds Reyna had rushed to his side, and told him it was over. Smiled at him, also exhausted but he was so much wider.

"Rest, Jason. I've got it from here."

Than and only than did the sword fall from his grasp. Than and only than did Jason sway and fall to his knees, and blacked out.

But when he fell, Reyna caught him in her arms. Because he didn't need to be strong anymore.

thinking of the way reyna would separate their paperwork and give jason the more morally questionable ones because he likes to challenge his brain that way, how she would let him lean into her space during dinner at the praetor’s table because she thought he needed to be close to her, but was really letting him close enough to see her imperfections.

thinking of the way they would laugh while watching war games, how they would dance in the middle of the night because neither of them could sleep, how they would hold each other before they said good night.

Best Friends to Almost-Lovers to Strangers

bonus sketch below:

Best Friends to Almost-Lovers to Strangers

bonus sketch below:

i do not care what the trigger is

i will tag it for you

you have legitimate reasons to be triggered by it

and i am not one to question those reasons

so just send me an ask

anonymous if you’re scared

and i will tag it all the time in future

i might be on mobile

i might be dumb

i might have forgotten

just send me an ask

anon if you’re scared

i’ll correct it

I will tag it (as much as I can remember) because

“Reyna and I used to talk about Diocletian,” he(Jason) said. “We both kind of idolized the guy as a leader. We talked about how we’d like to visit Diocletian’s Palace. Of course we knew that was impossible. No one could travel to the ancient lands. But still, we made this pact that if we ever did, that’s where we’d go.” -The House of Hades

the power these two could’ve had. They met at 12 too! If I recall. They probably had trials and adventures like Percy and Annabeth. Honestly I like Jeyna. Though I don’t mind that they didn’t get together. And I’m happy for Reyna. It’s just that I wish the rift was explored more. How the parrallels between them and percabeth began to drift apart. What steps she didn’t take, what things he didn’t notice. Stuff like that. Guess I’ll explore that myself!!

People tell me I am a big name fan in my chosen fandom.  I don’t quite get that but for the purposes of this post, let’s roll with it.  On my latest one shot, less than 18% of the people who read it bothered to hit the kudos button.  Sure, okay, maybe that one sort of sucked.  Let’s look at the one shot posted before that - less than 16% left kudos.  Before that - 10%, and then 16%.  I’m not even going to get into the comments.  Let’s just say the numbers drop a lot.  I’m just looking at one shots here so we don’t have to worry about multiple hits from multiple chapters, people reading previous chapters over, etc.  And if I am a BNF, that means other people are getting significantly less kudos and comments.

Fandom is withering away because it feels like people don’t care about the works that are posted.  Why should I go to the trouble of posting my stories if no one reads them, and of the people who do read them, less than a fifth like them?  Even if you are not a huge fan of the story, if it kept your attention long enough for you to get to the bottom, go ahead and mash that kudos button.  It’s a drop of encouragement in a big desert. 

Fandom is kept alive by readers, watchers, lookers, commenters, and supporters.  And the FiKi fandom has some MAGNIFICENT ones…but a lot more who click, consume, and say nothing.

And just some numbers from my side.

I have a one shot that has 173K hits, and 4.6K kudos.  That’s about 2.4%  For every hundred people that read that fic, less than three bothered to click the kudos button on the way out.  Even assuming that we’ve got some major rereads in there, that’s a depressing statistic.  Most days I just ignore the hit and kudos count, because if I look at it, I’ll lose my marbles, but I can’t imagine being a new author, being a kid who’s trying hard to be brave and write a thing, only to not know if those other 97 out of a 100 just noped out, or hated it, or what.  

Especially if they only have a few works.  Especially if they’re new.  Especially if they’re trying to break into a new fandom.  Especially if they seem to be struggling.  Take a moment and write them a few kind words.  Give them a reason to believe the effort was worthwhile.

FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT!! if you want that fic to update, leave some love. If we feel like we are shouting into the void it doesn’t give us much motivation to keep posting.

Comment.

Bookmark.

Tell your friends.

We don’t get paid and we don’t have marketing teams. Word of mouth is the only game in town, *especially* in big fandoms.

Are we hungry for validation? YES. Probably. Most of us. But do you know how much time and mental energy goes into writing a good story??? Is a few kind words too much to ask in return? Much less the click of a button?