Cal 🪴

yall gotta go to my instagram to get the scoop on my 1909 klace au

I've actually gotten Anon hate over this, but I will kill on the hill that Rick wrote most, if not all, of the characters to have some kind of trauma to get readers to sympathize quickly but then because the trauma was for the sake of the plot and not for the characters, there are few, if any, lasting effects from the trauma. Even the kids who weren't actively abused or living on the streets, etc, were involved in war and were very close to death (physically, I don't mean they were dying) and saw friends die. And yes I understand these are kids books, etc, but if you don't think the outcomes of these situations are for kids to read about, then don't write about these situations in kids books.

From a reader engagement standpoint this doesn’t make sense. Leo’s death was supposed to be the climax of those entire five books, and was hugely built up to, and should have been the most significant moment for his character- and literally nothing substantial happens as a consequence, aside from “yay we defeated the Big Bad”. It just doesn’t feel like he really sacrificed anything, and so the moment holds a lot less weight. A way to get around this? Give him trauma! That way it feels like one of the biggest moments in five books of writing actually had a lasting effect on the characters, and makes Leo seem a lot more compelling since he did this brave thing and saved everyone despite the risks, because Rick actually needs to do the work to convince us it was risky at all.

Now I know it’s part of Leo’s character to keep it all inside of him and hide how much it hurts and since TOA is not from his POV it could be difficult- but not impossible. There are several moments in the Dark Prophecy when this could’ve been shown. Leo literally runs around shirtless for the first few chapters (another weird writing choice, mind you) and there’s no mention of any physical scarring at all. When Apollo and Leo share a room, you could’ve had him have a nightmare or something and wake up, and in fact one of the lessons Apollo learns in that book is about sacrificing yourself for your friends, and Leo would’ve been a great person to have a discussion with about that. I haven’t read that book in a long time but I’m sure there were other moments it could be included.

Nico? Lost his Mom and sister and was rightfully emo about it, but he also went into the labyrinth?? And was homeless for like a year??

Annabeth forgiving her Dad who never really apologized?? We didn't even get much about her life outside of camp after the first series?? And also, again, wheres the trauma from being homeless for months when she was 7?? They showed she was upset about Thalia dying, but that makes sense!

Don't even get me started on Percy! People have talked about the Gabe thing not being talked about enough in the books and I agree! The guy was abusive! They show how upset Percy is about a death that just happened over and over in the first series and great! Awsome! Why did we forget about all of this in HOO??? And them going into Tartarus and recovering in a day??? They swallowed fucking POISON, WHAT DO YOU MEAN????

Theres so many more but I can't rant about all of it otherwise it would be a long ass post and I'm pretty sure I got my point across.

Everytime Nico went down on him being looked at in a different light.

The tracker being used so Leo can cockblock Nico from anyone else.

leo thinking nico’s whole “i’m just with you because i’m bored” is a front (it is) until he meets percy and jason and realizes he absolutely is not nico’s type and was just a convenience to him,,

leo being petty and jealous and intervening whenever nico is talking with other guys, maybe making drones and shit to act up or borderline using a phone to attract monsters

Annabeth: Aw, thanks. For me it has to be Percy’s sense of humour. Nothing gets me through a tough day like his well placed sarcasm.

Nico: That’s nice.

Nico, joining in: Leo is so stupid. Just a real dumbass.

Leo, offended: You think I’m stupid??

Nico, placatingly: But stupid is really cute on you.

Leo, pleased: Oh :)