Consider:
Leo Valdez was not born. Instead, two pairs of hands form him from bronze and steel and gold. His hair is copper wires so thin they bounce like natural curls, and his eyes glimmer with silver flakes. The joints of his body are plated so delicately, so perfectly, the segments are near indiscernible, smoothly gliding over each other. Faint traces of fingerprints and flecks of impurity are deliberately left behind for their uniqueness, a form of impossible signature of his creators.
Most importantly, gilded bars curl around each other in his chest, protecting the red-red-red flame that pushes his eyes open everyday, that beats in tune with his thoughts, that heats his body to expand and grow.
A metal child is not so different from a human one, and yet is so far from it at the same time. He is curious, about the world, about himself, and he picks apart toys and TV remotes and his arms, spilling their secrets before his constantly shifting eyes. He does not cry from fatigue or thirst or hunger, but a bump, a dent, a scratch never fail to draw tears. He splashes in the rain and snow, carefully bundled in waterproof coats and jackets, and runs from baths like he's possessed, fire flickering in fear.
The first time he meets someone like him, an endeavour he had long thought hopeless, it is a malfunctioning dragon others call for the death of; he is too unpredictable, too dangerous, too broken. Leo looks him in ever-shifting eyes glimmering with silver and sees himself if the cage in his chest ever bends, cracks, shatters, if the gears beneath his skin ever jam and stick and wear down irreversibly.
It is not golden flowers and godly aid that preserve him; just as he'd done for his twin-in-all-but-appearance, he creates a new body, with new fingerprints and impurities mapping his design. His hair is more bronze than copper, now, and his eyes more gold than brass. The plates of his joints scrape against each other faintly, and the gears of his bones grind together uncomfortably — he only had so much time, so much material to use, he could not polish every element of himself in the way he wished, but it holds together.
Most importantly, he reinforces the cage in his chest, coats it in layers upon layers of metal, to ensure his flame will not go out in the explosion, that Festus will be able to salvage it and lay it gently in the chest cavity carefully carved in his new body, bringing it to life.
He returns to Camp, movements more clunky and mechanical than should be, and his siblings finally pin down his segmented limbs, his shifting eyes, his clicking fidgeting. They are ecstatic, just as fascinated with him as they had been with Festus, and he lets them. He lets them take him apart, piece by piece, clean out the sand of Ogygia from his organs, polish and oil his gears until they glide against each other, press new fingerprints, new signatures of belonging, against his skin.
Most importantly, they craft him a secure, intricate cage, with golden flames licking up the bars, with delicate chains shielding it from the elements, and his flame settles inside it, flickering happily, finally truly, truly comfortable in the cage of his body.
Leo Valdez may not have been born, but he was crafted with the most loving hands imaginable, and is that not so much better, for a son of the Craftsman?
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You guys know on how InuYasha, the few times he talks about it, badmouths his father and says he doesn't care to avenge his death when he battles Ryukoltsei?
I wonder if InuYasha starts to regret his mindset towards his father once he himself becomes a father. Or at the very least, he starts to understand his father better. Especially if you want to go by the Movie 2 canon where part of Toga's death was from protecting InuYasha and his mom.
Just makes me wonder if InuYasha looks at Moroha or any of his other children and has the thought that it'd break his heart if any of his kids felt resentment towards him like he felt for his own father, especially when everything he ever does is to protect them. And I wonder if it makes InuYasha start to look at his father's memory differently, now that he's a parent himself and would do anything and everything to protect his kids, even if it meant dying and leaving them without a father.
Not that he'd go and try to get himself killed, as he wants to actually be alive so they don't have to grow up like he did, but you know he'd sacrifice himself if it meant his children could live, just like his father did for him (according to movie 2).
I don't know, I just wonder if InuYasha starts to ever regret the way he looked at his father's memory back when he was a teen once he becomes a father to Moroha and starts to understand his father's actions as a parent now that he himself is a parent. Ya know what I mean?
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ideal romanstewy dynamic is like "ken and stewy are off going to college parties while roman sulks about getting left behind, up until stewy is like "c'mon, he's cool. you're cool, right?" and convinces ken to bring him with. and roman tries to play it off like that didn't mean anything to him, but he also kind of starts perking up whenever stewy is around like a lovestruck puppy (which he WILL deny if confronted about, because that's literally ken's cringe ass friend who chooses to hang out with him. on purpose. lmao.) and eventually he does grow out of his crush, because he wasn't joking, that literally is ken's cringe ass friend. except sometimes stewy does something nice to him and it makes roman's insides flop over in what's probably annoyance but is also definitely not, and so it's whatever. he can deign to acknowledge stewy's existence if they're in the same room. out of necessity to share custody over ken. or whatever."
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Just thinking about how heartbroken Reyna must have truly been when Jason came back to Camp Jupiter and barely remembered her.
Because she met Percy, she does know that even when Juno takes your memories away, if you truly truly love and care and need another person you will be able to remember her, even if not entirely perfectly, but the memory will be there with you the whole way. Like the memory of Annabeth was with Percy.
And then Reyna sees Jason arrive with Piper, and it's okay really, it doesn't even hurt that much, she's Praetor, she has got a job to do, she cannot be getting distracted with silly little sentimental things like that.
And, okay, sure, Reyna can say, maybe Jason and her weren't that close in that sense, it's okay, but they were still good friends, co-leaders of a grand city, he still mattered a lot to her.
And same thing right, Percy did remember Nico, not that vividly or anything, but he did immediately know Nico and him knew each other from somewhere before, because The Ambassador was important to him, in a different way but still, important to Percy.
And then, Jason tells her that he didn't remember her at all, no name, no blurry face, no dreams, no voice, no vague sense that he was missing somebody from somewhere.
That he only started sorta remembering her days after he had already finished his quest, for his new patron goddess, and his new friends, at his new camp, in his new life, with his new girlfriend.
But it's fine, really, Reyna is mature, she doesn't let little things bring her down. She's roman, truly roman, daughter of a fully only Roman Goddess. She's Praetor, she's strong, she will welcome these strange Greek people into her city and throw a feast in their honour, she won't even be salty or rude about it. Really, Reyna is fine, it doesn't even hurt.
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