Annabeth Chase my darling perfect baby girl. God she’s so good I love her so much the development they’ve already given her is fire. Leah is killing it. “He isn’t that way. He’s better than that. Maybe I was that way once, but I don’t wanna be that way anymore” devours, eats, finally someone in her life that calls the gods out on their bs and shows her that there can be a better way. The trust the two of them already have is so admirable. They admire each other for different reasons and you can see Annabeth start to change her thinking because of Percy. Like yes she’s a badass but she’s also a 12 year old girl who has constantly wanted praise and love from her mother and from other adults and never gets it. Of course Percy challenging that, showing her that isn’t how it has to be, that she can and should be loved without condition? Someone who has so drastically changed her worldview so quickly she would abandon Ares’s shield to try to help him? She chooses trying to save Percy over love and respect from her mother which has been such a core motivation of hers. Because her mother left her to die, invited Echnida in, and Percy pushes her down the stairs to save her. Watching her realize the importance and value in that human connection and allowing herself to have that friendship instead of being stoic and stabdoffish? It’s so 12 year old girl are you kidding me? It’s that She-ra quote that’s like “you’re worth more than what you can give to other people.” Like she’s realizing she has value just because she exists. Not because she’s Athena’s favourite, or the smartest, or the toughest, but simply because she IS. That’s such a staggering moment and honestly it doesn’t even have to be a romantic thing like. When you’re like she is? The person that gives you that realization, whoever it may be, is an incredibly special individual. Her emotional journey feels so real, and even if it’s not exactly like the books it makes so much sense for her and it’s so REAL.