#demeter pjo

okay so like in regards to percy's relationships and bonds with camp in general - i explained it here but it was addressing an anti annabeth sentiment LMAO but this is the portion i'm talking about:

like that's not to say that percy is a horrible person, he's very empathetic and compassionate, but most people's first impression of him is not the best and that typically sets the stage for the entirety of the dynamic/relationship that's formed. anyway percy doesn't have these friendships and bonds with camp until botl out of guilt and shame from castor's death during the battle that he goes out of his way to become friends with the entirety of camp to the best of his ability:

(botl, tlo)

and this paired with camp's clear biases and prejudices and stereotypes - which is a big subplot in tlo:

the ares cabin is stereotyped as the warriors and empty headed fighters and that's the role they're meant to fulfill and clarisse is fed up by tlo - probably not the best time to make that point but ig it conveyed how serious she was about it. this also extends to the other cabins like the aphrodite cabin being airheads, gossips, etc. then the demeter cabin just becomes passive farmers for some reason as if demeter isn't one of the oldest gods, daughter of kronos and rhea, sister of zeus, poseidon, and hades, and the goddess that literally freezes humanity for 6 months bc her daughter resides in the underworld without her. as if aphrodite isn't one of the oldest gods born of ouranos and the sea who literally caused the trojan war - one of the bloodiest and tragic wars of that time. as if ares isn't also the god of courage.

(tlo)

i think we could also infer/interpret from this small snippet of the interaction with clarisse, that it shows percy's refusal to buy into the stereotypes and prejudice because clarisse doesn't blow up at him for his request for her to give the chariot to the apollo cabin and fight in the war - she understands that he's not brushing her off like the others. she knows he's asking it from a place of genuine care and concern for the survival and safety of everyone. IF percy had asked her that because he was minimizing her point of view on this topic, she would NOT be this calm. her response would've been more along the lines of something like "ofc u don't understand as a child of the big three - arrogant and entitled" blah blah blah. but she clenches her jaw and implores percy to ask for any other favor, implying that she would normally give in to his request had it not been in this specific situation. she knows he understands her point of view and the reason she's fighting this fight. he's trying to do what's best in regard to the war and she's trying to do what's best for her cabin in regard to the social structure and respectability within camp. he knows what she's fighting and why she's fighting it, he's not discounting it, he's not invalidating her. they both just have conflicting needs and differing levels of importance here.

anyway this prejudice ties into why hades children are outcasts and why nico never really had a home at camp - noted all the way back in tlt when grover laughs and brushes off percy's question regarding a potential hades cabin - but nico had a friend in percy. why poseidon children are isolated and the other campers keep their distance from percy in tlt out of both fear bc of the prophecy and him being a forbidden kid but also from poseidon's nature itself bc thalia comes back in som-ttc and camp seems to revere her in some regard that they don't hold percy in inherently despite her ALSO being a forbidden kid - he has to fight for that honor and respect, he has to earn it with them, but thalia claims it just because she's a daughter of zeus. there's a similar issue in camp jupiter with the way hazel and nico are outcasts in a way and reyna herself told percy that camp would never follow a child of hades/pluto. AND how jason almost immediately rose the ranks but he chose to climb the ranks properly without any assistance from his father and the power he inherits simply from being a son of zeus.

there is heavy prejudice based off parentage and percy understands that intimately then shows that he doesn't buy into that notion and doesn't hold those stereotypical ideals of the campers just because of who their parents are because he understands what that's like. he goes out of his way to protect and try to bring nico back under his wing despite him being a son of hades or maybe at least partially because he's a son of hades and percy knows no one else is going to look out for him so he does it himself - as well as out of guilt for the whole bianca thing and a sense of responsibility for the kid because bianca told percy herself that she was fine joining the hunters because she knew percy would protect nico in her absence - and because he genuinely cares for nico and sees himself/his inner child who was never protected within the underworld kids as well. but this isn't a post abt them so let me shut up and move on LMAO

that's also why percy's potential relationship with cabin 10 is soooo compelling bc. yeah. he wouldn't buy into that shallow notion of the aphrodite kids and he's shown to value their ideas and opinions and give weight to them where others would just brush it off:

(also percy just knowing that "givenchy" is referring to perfume...maybe i'm just stupid and uncultured but my first thought was it being like some faux leather or smth 😭 but i take that as further proof that percy + cabin 10 are siblings and hang out together TRUST 🙏) (tlo)

and so why wouldn't all this extend to demeter's kids? this is all i could find of percy's interactions/references to demeter kids:

(tlt, tlo, tlo, tlo)

so like percy is able to recognize their strength and power and abilities, he just also recognizes that they tend to be pretty passive or maybe just...resigned to the box the rest of camp pushes them into. he doesn't underestimate them - he gives them a tunnel to protect and says that they created a jungle that kept a squadron of titan army demigods at bay. he pairs them with satyrs/nature spirits there as well and he said in som that he's always had a soft spot for the satyrs and in ttc we see him saving and protecting sea creatures.

I THINK. all of this combined. his ability to recognize objective powers, his refusal to buy into the surface level perceptions of the cabins, and his open mindedness to like literally everyone, the way he gives everyone an opportunity to prove themselves to him before he casts judgement - as we see with ethan when percy finds him with luke and gives him the opportunity to come to camp instead (twice actually) and only operates based off his experience with ethan and never thinks less or looks down upon him for being a child of a minor goddess.

even his first interaction with clarisse, he just corrects his name without jumping to conclusions yet then clarisse keeps showing her ass and then he insults her. then later on sees her interaction with ares and his tone immediately shifts and changes with her as we see further in the short story with the chariot where percy tells clarisse that she's one of his friends. it's not that people have to fight to earn his respect or break out of these boxes he's shoved them into, he views and respects people based off of their behavior and actions. its why he's such a nuisance to the gods because they aren't entitled to his respect, they have to earn it, and a lot of the time they can't accept it and throw tantrums instead of being better.

um. anyways. yeah i think that could VERY easily apply to percy's potential relationship with cabin 4. especially post botl where he goes out of his way to make friends with the entirety of camp. and with the linked post all the way at the top + the hc from my drew/percy post and cabin 10 teaching him how to fight against charmspeak & how to use his looks to his advantage = i think percy learns a lot of his skill from every cabin/camper he can. water is adaptable and reflective and i think it would make sense for the underdog to mingle with the other underdogs and learn their skills and talents and use them to his advantage, sharpening his own abilities and giving him all these edges in battle, AND making him a hero for every camper to look up to and think to themselves "he's like me so i'm like him and i can be like him"

like he does it pretty obviously with annabeth where all the way back in tlt she says "even strength has to bow to wisdom" and he carries that for YEARS. all the way up to moa where he's facing chrysaor and percy's strength and skill with a sword is beyond matched leaving percy getting his ass handed to him twice (2), so he recalls the story of the dolphin men and uses that against them - playing smarter, not harder. fighting like a child of athena. he's fast and sneaky like a child of hermes. he spent all that time in the forges with the children of hephaestus. he's wild and chaotic like the ocean/poseidon...and arguably like dionysus too...were he not being forcibly soberized LMAO

anyway he so eagerly accepts frank as a descendant of poseidon and tells tyson that frank is essentially their brother despite being like fifty generations removed and frank being his like. great great great great great great great great great great great grand nephew lol so in regard to cabin 4/demeter's kids, he's able to recognize their power (as i screenshotted above) but also notice that they just don't use it - until percy instructs them to in the war and then they create a jungle in the tunnel. i don't think it's that far out of the realm of possibility for percy to look at cabin four, demeter's kids, demeter as his aunt and her kids as his cousins, notice that they're overlooked like hades kids and poseidon kids to an extent, and just. take them in. the way he does with the underworld kids.

that actually ties into why i think he clashes sooooo bad with zeus kids (among other reasons too) but not the point LMAO um but yeah i do think cabin 4 are his cousins and he claims them as such and they preen under his attention and appreciation and they hang out together too 🙂‍↕️

honestly i think this headcanon stems from atla and the specific movements and motions the characters do to bend the elements, but i think percy hanging out with cabin 4 and watching the way they command the plants and the way their hands move, he would replicate it and it could teach him precision and how to command water a lot more accurately. because percy uses his powers like a battering ram. he uses the sheer force and power to overwhelm his opponents but he doesn't really like. water bend a water whip the way katara does and i think if he spent time with the demeter kids and learned the motions they use to gently guide and control and command the plants, i think he would learn to mimic the motions and control the water a lot more precisely AND could lead to him bending plants the way swamp benders in avatar are water benders just controlling plants by controlling the water within them, also similar to katara's fight with hama and the way she drew the water from the grass to fight.

anyway i adore the idea of percy being like best friends with cabin 10, cabin 4, and nature spirits because they're so often overlooked, ignored, and underestimated and percy knows what that's like from even before he was a demigod and he levels with them and respects them and doesn't belittle or judge them.