U_Touch_My_Cookie

literally in the first book grover was constantly stressed out about being responsible, and like sure annabeth was too but the SECOND percy is doing/coming up with dumb shit annabeth is like "ok, fine, but here's how we do it right."

so to fix that one meme (not sure who posted it first im sorry)->

Percy: Guys I impulsively bought a snake, what do I name him

GROVER: You did WHAT--

Will snorted. "So what you're telling me is that I should never go on a quest with the two of you and Thalia?"

Percy nodded, and even Nico had to agree. He knew how the three of them tended to get when they were together. Even Jason turned tail and hide. Annabeth was the only one willing to keep up with them, and she was just as insane as they were. She just hid it better.

Summary: It's been two years since the Giant War. All Percy wanted was a simple life of going to college with his girlfriend and living a happily ever after. That didn't exactly work out, but apparently, it was for the better, because then he got roped in to being an assistant for New York's resident genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist.

Percy has no idea how he got into this mess.

Actually, scratch that, he does. Kind of.

All he knows is that he wanted to sign up for a small job as a tour guide in a local aquarium. And the next thing Percy knows, he’s sitting in front of the most intimidating woman in the world for an interview to work for the biggest company in existence.

How, exactly, did that happen? He has no idea.

Ms. Potts gave him a kind smile, “So, Mr. Jackson, what do you say?”

“Uh…me?” Percy asked dumbly, internally kicking himself.

Ms. Potts gave a light laugh, “Yes, you.”

“So let me get this straight. You want me, Percy Jackson, the least qualified person in the world, to be your personal assistant? Me?”

“No, of course not.” Ms. Potts assured.

Not going to lie, Percy did feel a little hurt at that.

“I want you to be Tony’s personal assistant.”

His jaw dropped to the floor, “I…what? Tony? As in Tony Stark? As in fucking - I mean - freaking Iron Man?”

Potts gave another one of those tinkling laughs, “Yes, that Tony.”

“I - no.”

The woman startled, blinking as if she did not expect that answer, then again, it's not every day a teenager denies working for a superhero. “No?”

“No.”

“Can I ask why?”

Percy sighed, “Ms. Potts, I appreciate the offer, really, I do. But I am the least qualified person you could have chosen. I applied by accident. All I wanted was to work for the aquarium. I don’t even have a college degree.”

“Neither do I.”

Percy stopped, “What?”

The woman shrugged, “I never went to college, my family couldn’t afford it, so I went straight into the workforce instead. Albeit I got very lucky compared to others, but look where I am now.”

“But why me?”

Ms. Potts leaned forward and placed a comforting hand on his fidgeting one, a gesture that reminded him of his mother, “Percy, accident or not, when I saw your application I knew you were the most qualified person for this position.”

Percy blinked at her owlishly, not knowing what else to do. What is someone supposed to do when one of the most powerful women in the world tells them something like that? “But - I - have you seen my record? How can I be -”

“I believe I can answer that for you, young sir.” A British, male voice sounded from somewhere around him. The demigod jumped, not expecting the sudden voice, and had to fight down a curse in greek.

“What the Ha–hell was that?”

“My apologies, Mr. Jackson. I am JARVIS. Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. I am an Artificial Intelligence Mr. Stark created to lend help to his daily life, as well as his little endeavors when he assumes the identity of Iron Man. I also help Ms. Potts run Stark Industries to the best of my ability.”

Percy stared up at the ceiling in awe, “An AI? I didn’t know he made one! That is so cool! How did he do it?”

If artificial life couldn’t chuckle, whatever JARVIS did in response to the teen was about as close as it could get, “I believe that is a terrifyingly long process that will take much too long to explain. Shall we get to the matter at hand?”

Pepper interjected, “Yes, JARVIS, will you please inform Mr. Jackson here of what you found during his background check?”

“Of course, Ms. Potts. Mr. Jackson, if you could please direct your attention to the screen to your right.”

Percy did so as said screen came to life with endless files about him. From his vaccination files when he was a baby, to scans of his embarrassing artwork from elementary school, to news articles from the several times he was on the run from the authorities (some demigod-related and some…not). Until it landed on a very specific document: test scores.

JARVIS started speaking again, “Mr. Jackson, are you aware that your mother, Sally Jackson, requested the faculty at your school to give you an IQ test when you were in 5th grade?”

Percy made a face, “No, I–” Then it hit him, he does remember taking a test. “I am, but I just assumed everyone else was doing it too. I mean, it wasn’t that hard.”

“Yes, well, I believe I understand why.” JARVIS zoomed in on the final score, a bolded 275 standing out from the screen.

The teen stared at the screen in confusion, “I don’t get it, what does that mean?”

Ms. Potts leaned forward again, fingers threaded together as she rested them on the desk. “Percy, it takes a score of 160 on an IQ test to be considered a genius, Tony’s is 270. You are currently the smartest man on record in the US.”

Percy stared at the woman, mouth opening and closing like a fish as he struggled to find something to say, “I…what?”

Percy wanted to believe it, really he did. But there was no way, there was absolutely no way that he was smarter than the Tony Stark. For the gods’ sake, his ex-girlfriend made up a nickname for him that she used every time he said - or did - something stupid. Yes, it was used fondly, but it still hurt a little. This, though, whoever had the score that he’s seeing in front of him, it’s not him.

“I-I’m sorry, Ms. Potts, you got the wrong guy.” He got out of his chair and paced to the glass door.

He heard Ms. Potts get out of her chair, “I don’t believe I do, Mr. Jackson.” When Percy turned to look back at her she sighed and sat back down, “Look, because of…recent events, as I’m sure you’ve seen on the news, Tony and I have fallen out. And because of that I’m stepping down as CEO and moving back to Malibu, meaning Tony has to take back his mantle. But it’s been proven in the past that he cannot do it alone, not well, at least. So I need to choose my successor to help him, one that can keep the company on its feet and keep him alive, just as I did. And I believe that successor should be you.”

Percy looked down at his feet, considering her words. All he wanted to do was work in an aquarium, and somehow he ended up in this mess. But it wouldn’t be so bad, would it? He’d be working for an actual superhero who is also Tony Stark, the genius that he has idolized for literall years. Who knows? Maybe he’ll be introduced to Thor.

JARVIS’s voice tuned in again, “If it helps, I believe Sir himself requested you before Ms. Potts saw your file.”

Personally, I felt that Rick did a really good job by starting a character off like that despite the hate she gets. It's not as blatant of a change as Clarisse, but over the years I've come to appreciate the character more. Annabeth is very real in a way other prominent female protagonists aren't. Real girls, even good and nice ones, get jealous and petty. When girls get assertive they get called bossy and annoying and know-it-alls like Annabeth. They don't become cunning and the leader of a rebellion like other female protagonists who were popular at the time when the original movies came out that I've seen Annabeth tested against over the years I've been on Tumblr (Katniss Everdeen, Tris from Divergent). One thing PJO has always had going for it was the realness of the characters. Chiron messed up as a teacher all the time. Luke's worst deeds were easily forgiven because he did one really good thing. Percy was the underdog who ended up in a leadership role he and everyone around him agreed he wasn't suited for but he was forced to deal with anyways. Grover was the bestest of friends and he was still selfish regularly. Thalia seemed larger than life but when Percy was faced with her in real life she was arrogant and mean and unsure of herself. We always judge Rick's writing for it's plot failures and the characters for their actions, but quite frankly they always made it more real to me because that's how real life works. It's imperfect. People are selfish sometimes, and rude and mean and tactless. Sometimes when I see posts about how awful Annabeth is of a friend to Percy at first, I think about the OP and wonder what they've done in their life along those lines because we all have. Those moments don't define us anymore than the ones before it or after it, but it's real. We hold the heroes of stories on way different standards than we do real people.

Which I worry about the casting of this actress and the potential for long term damage because of the character. Fanfiction authors have a tendency to hate Annabeth because she is arrogant and and for the first few books, she was entirely a greater good type of hero (not unlike Dumbledore, who is a character who gets a lot of bashing for that very reason in the HP fandom). Her character is hotheaded, occasionally cruel, and downright hubric, and I don't see that coming off well. She got slack for it as a book character because she was a white girl and there was a precedent for protagonist white girls being mean in popular media around the same time (Regina George, Elle Woods...). I really hope this young lady doesn't suffer for it, but I'm really concerned she's either going to get hate for staying true to the character of Annabeth or she'll get the hate for the character of Annabeth being changed because I don't think people are going to take either possiblity sitting down, and I highly doubt that many people will take the time to recognize that the role and writing are not the actress. People already fail to do that, as we all should know very well, especially given this is a work with an intended audience of children and the character is a protagonist. It's easier, I've found, for people to acknowledge that an actor isn't their character when their role is distinctly separated - when they don't look like their character (Marvel superheroes like Gamora and Nebula, for example) or when their characters act distinctly different than most everyday people (the antagonists, for instance; I don't look at Michael Jordan and think, Yeah, that guy is out to kill his cousin and claim his throne.) However, when I see Tom Holland or RDJ or Chris Evans, it's a little easier to connect them to the better traits of the heroes they protray and expect them to emphasize them even outside of Marvel films.

Rating: Cute!

Rating: Cute!

Ethan Nakamura was mostly defensive, resigned and even afraid in canon. Boy begged Percy Jackson to end his life, Thalia Grace made him run for his life, he was stuttering while talking to Kronos, he was always written as either a loyal lackey or as a defensive teenager who tried hard to defend his bad decisions (Prometheus + duel with Percy scene).

*everyone piles in for a group hug*

Clarisse: Who the fuck just stole my wallet.