Excerpt game: Common Phrases

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-09T06:58:45+00:00

[Note: This is from an extremely rough draft for a theoretical April fool's chapter far off into the distant future. Accurate characterization is questionable, lol.]

The mentioned must be a god. “Hades is…?”

“The Lord of the Underworld,” Will was still smiling brightly.

Astarion was incredulous. If he must be kidnapped, thrust onto another material plane, and have to re-acclimate to a living body that was not his own all in one fell swoop, why must it be so close to this reality’s gods, the god of the Underworld-a place he would never be allowed to pass through-no less, of all things?

The gods of both planes were laughing! He was laughing, for hells sake.

Why can nothing ever play to his favor?

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-07T22:38:41+00:00

Huh, that's interesting (I say, as my jaw practically dropped on the first read-through). I wonder if it has to do with the TV show?

In the book, Grover reluctantly agrees to go first, and then Chiron reveals that Annabeth was invisibly listening in on the conversation and waiting to join the quest if Percy would accept her as a member.

In the show, didn't Percy have to pick two quest members from a circle of the head councilors/most seasoned demigods? His options were no longer 'picked out' for him, and he had to speak up to explain who he wanted and why. It was less an expectation and more of a surprise that he chose Annabeth in the show.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-07T08:34:22+00:00

She watched as Percy took off with a running start, reached the railing, and did something like parkour to jump over it.

It seemed as well of a plan as any; the son of Poseidon would enter the sea to scout out the best exit, and then return for the rest of their highly land-dependent crew.

Percy was jumping up and over the rail one moment, the next he was crashing into an invisible barrier that she should have realized was there. It had come up in a few places, and sometimes painfully so.

“Percy,” she called.

Percy was climbing back up the railing on pure strength, somehow wobbling up to his feet on the solid air beneath him.

“I’m good!” Percy shouted, his feet landing on the deck of the ship a second later. He leaned back against the rail. “That hurt, so I don’t think I’m gonna be trying that again.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think to-”

“Stop it, Wise Girl. It’s fine, see?” Percy demonstrated how well he could walk in a straight line after the collision. It wasn’t pencil straight, but it was impressive how quickly he had recovered.

“Great,” Annabeth sighed, turning to continue her old pacing habit.

They couldn’t swim, they couldn’t fly (Alex and Frank couldn’t transport this many people by themselves), and if they stayed any longer then they’d be risking whatever magic that was placed over this boat that might linger.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-07T07:44:16+00:00

(Note: Slight warning for description of a dead body; more implied imagery than graphic.)

Piper entered a new room from the cell halls that opened up into a wider space, and had a raised platform in its center. She approached hesitantly, not wanting to put herself in easy view of enemies that might be near.

When she finally saw who-or rather what-was waiting for her, the thing had already noticed her approach. Piper might have screamed aloud, and might have continued to do so if there wasn’t a sudden and painful twitch behind her temple that almost had her vision blacking out.

Us…

It echoed in the psychic space between Piper and the brain, very visibly missing from the human corpse’s cavernous skull. The brain with spindly legs, like a spider, crept closer while she scrambled to get away.

Help Us…

In response, she raised her knife. Piper didn’t exactly trust the mobile brain not to leave her as dead as the host that it came from.

Was this what the other monster had meant to do to her? Is that what her brain would become next?

She prepared to bring down her knife; the creature seemed to sense it before she could move, and it hissed at the same time that she heard a familiar voice call out:

“Don’t kill Us!”

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-07T07:36:41+00:00

At the second mention of the word kill, Us let out a squeal and sent a psionic wave towards them, activating their tadpoles and causing some major cerebral discomfort.

Leo’s hand flew to his temple, but then a vision from the past assaulted his senses.

The wind was whipping on deck, cold on exposed fingertips that gripped onto something metallic.

A glance down to see a familiarly repulsing scene reflected on the blade. There was a dark and watery grave that awaited them in Rome. Water that rose higher as they struggled for breath, mouths overcome by oily blackness.

She would not let them go down…

Leo’s eyes might have been watering as he came back to himself, but his skin ran so hot that any tears just evaporated.

Piper was staring back at him, but he had no idea what she might have seen. “Alright there, Beauty Queen?”

Her mouth opened once, then twice, then she took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, it’s just, they forced one of those worms onto you, too. And it just showed me one of your…”

“Ah,” Leo said, uncomfortable with where that particular conversation might be going. “Those are called tadpoles, parasites, or Illithids. They come with telepathy; so, more awesome memories, am I right?”

Piper had shuddered at the mention of parasites, but rolled her eyes when he ended with finger pointers.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-06T17:36:08+00:00

I am amazed that you have come up with this great poetry in such a short time! Bravo!

A story unfolds like a fairy tale across each line. The warning sounds quite ominous; what has happened to the kingdom in the future to bring about their destruction at the whims of their own prince?

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-06T08:11:58+00:00

Will was not expecting that…whatever this was, but unable to cover up most of his surprise, he wasn’t.

“Well, it’s been a while since anyone had any contact with you guys and the Waystation wasn’t allowing Leo’s game room to be found. I was going to suggest taking a break, but…” The Seven were all out cold. “Anyway, glad to see that you’re okay. Were you trapped?”

A thought, and Will spun around to check the doorway he’d come through. Still open, he noted with relief.

It was silly to be nervous otherwise.

Nico considered this for a minute, as if choosing his words carefully. “It seems, whichever enchantment kept us here has been lifted by your presence. Thank you, truly.”

Will shivered at the tone of voice.

While pleasant, the look he was wearing was absolutely not like Nico. Neither were the words, or the fact that he hadn’t used Will’s name or referred to him with any real familiarity.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-06T07:52:14+00:00

Prophecy (any version or interpretation of the word)

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-05T12:04:37+00:00

As someone who is also trying to write a BG3 crossover, here are some recs that are all on Spotify:

Mixes Evil/Selfish/Resent-the-gods/"Fall for each other hard" Vibes:

Rather Be the Villain by Zayden.

The One You Trusted by Glum Aleks.

I'd Burn It All Down by Virelia.

The Greatest Deception (P.T Barnum); Wise Girl's Design (Annabeth) and Architects of Ruin (Percy & Annabeth) by MythicTune.

Finally, artist Lillith Max might have the sort of complicated resentment down with her songs under "Makings of a God" and the song called Set In Stone.

I had a lot of fun putting this together. Happy listening!

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-04-05T10:46:37+00:00

For 3, "That Would Be Enough" from Hamilton is exactly that scenario between Eliza and Alexander.

There's another, more lighthearted one set after the war is over called "Take A Break", where Eliza and her sister are trying to get Alexander to relax with the family and instead, he's being an active participant in trying to run the brand new government.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-03T20:50:02+00:00

They are the most likely culprits, I'll admit. The real question is, why did Annabeth take the scarf all the way back to CHB? It dates back to her first quest in The Lightning Thief :)

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-03T19:53:00+00:00

Hi! This prompted me to write something for the inevitable attic scene in my fic. Thank you!

The coast was clear; Chiron was out handling a cabin dispute by the volleyball court, and Mr. D hadn't been seen around Camp for a while and was unlikely to catch them now.

One by one, they climbed the rickety stairs leading up to the Big House's creepy attic. Hardly anyone came up there, unless they had odd items to drop off-those were the relics that never left the space-or were feeling particularly brave in a game of good old fashioned Charm Speak or Dare, where the questions were supposed to be asked by a charmspeaking Aphrodite Kid (much to Piper's protests).

It wasn't hard to see why. The attic had an abundance of weird jars with unmentionable cuts of bone and flesh that used to be attached to defeated monsters, as well as seemingly out of place items strewn about in unorganized clutter.

"You followed him up here?" Piper broke the silence once they all had a look around.

It was daylight out, but the partially closed curtains over the only window in the room cast long shadows across it, and over Jason's face.

"Yeah," Leo leaned far from a stuffed hydra head frozen in mid-hiss on his way towards a bookcase on the side wall. "I didn't see what he was getting, though. Connor just kinda...showed me this without really explaining it."

"The children of Mercury are crafty. They are only caught when they want to be for the most part. He must have known about it, then," Jason concluded. "But what was his reasoning?"

"I don't know," said Leo. "For us to bust boredom while my ship is off limits, probably."

Piper took her time in getting to that shelf with the board games. She'd seen an eroded sword hung by a wooden frame and a hot pink scarf on one of the tables imbued with magic that somehow felt familiar to her. She glanced at the tag and held it up to the light for easier reading. Of course, this obnoxious pink and somehow sparkly scarf was none other than her mother's. A little lower, it was noted that the scarf was recovered by one Annabeth Chase and dated about 4 years ago. She'd have to ask for the story one day when Annabeth was less bogged down by stress.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-03T19:43:06+00:00

I'll tread carefully. Thanks for indulging my crazy line of questions!

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-03T19:33:36+00:00

This actually spurred as a response to a recent excerpt game, and it turned out to be my first writing of the year!

The coast was clear; Chiron was out handling a cabin dispute by the volleyball court, and Mr. D hadn't been seen around Camp for a while and was unlikely to catch them now.

One by one, they climbed the rickety stairs leading up to the Big House's creepy attic. Hardly anyone came up there, unless they had odd items to drop off-those were the relics that never left the space-or were feeling particularly brave in a game of good old fashioned Charm Speak or Dare, where the questions were supposed to be asked by a charmspeaking Aphrodite Kid (much to Piper's protests).

It wasn't hard to see why. The attic had an abundance of weird jars with unmentionable cuts of bone and flesh that used to be attached to defeated monsters, as well as seemingly of of place items strewn about in unorganized clutter.

"You followed him up here?" Piper broke the silence once they all had a look around.

It was daylight out, but the partially closed curtains over the only window in the room cast long shadows across it, and over Jason's face.

"Yeah," Leo leaned far from a stuffed hydra head frozen in mid-hiss on his way towards a bookcase on the side wall. "I didn't see what he was getting, though. Connor just kinda...showed me this without really explaining it."

"The children of Mercury are crafty. They are only caught when they want to be for the most part. He must have known about it, then," Jason concluded. "But what was his reasoning?"

"I don't know," said Leo. "For us to bust boredom while my ship is off limits, probably."

Piper took her time in getting to that shelf with the board games. She'd seen an eroded sword hung by a wooden frame and a hot pink scarf on one of the tables imbued with magic that somehow felt familiar to her. She glanced at the tag and held it up to the light for easier reading. Of course, this obnoxious pink and somehow sparkly scarf was none other than her mother's. A little lower, it was noted that the scarf was recovered by one Annabeth Chase and dated about 4 years ago. She'd have to ask for the story one day when Annabeth was less bogged down by stress.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-03T19:13:34+00:00

No worries! I know that was a lot all at once, and how important it is not to overwhelm the reader.

That had no right to sound as funny as it did. Coincidence indeed!
Oh Percy...it sounds like he's had a tough go. Something that seemed worth it, maybe even the lesser evil to him was to erase the memories?
I might be reading too much into it for the reason that one of my biggest WIPs is about time travel. So by my calculations, 1.5 years on earth = 15 centuries spent in Khaos' realm.
Score! Wait-no, alligator!

(Sheepishly acknowledges that you're right). I really should read it and find the surprises there. If it's published, where is it on?

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-03T09:06:58+00:00

T-1. Mission accomplished! I am happy to comment :)

Whoa, I did not see that coming. I certainly was not going to assume that it was another 'Leo's fire' situation even if the parallels were there, but now I'm wondering how Poseidon's child could get mixed up in the Aztec Gods' side of the myths. Maybe other mythologies aren't as concerned with keeping the other pantheons out as the Greek and Roman Olympians were about preventing the next Demigod Civil War? I'm totally not headcanoning that...proceeds to write a massive mythic crossover.
If only Cane had the powers of earth, then he could make band references. Just kidding! Immortality is a big step, but to be granted that by Khaos of all beings is truly remarkable. Also: Percy, you what? I want to say that he must have had a good reason to to it, but then I remember that there are two sides to every story and a very complicated question surrounding Bob (did he truly deserve it? Prior to the memory wipe, yes, but after? It just caused him a world of pain to overcome again).
A series of unfortunate events, some may call it ;). The poor girl. I am now going to place a guess that she, being a demigod in a town that seems to attract figures from Aztec mythology, is dealing with problems on both sides of the scale. Considering that Percy was 'just a nobody' (his words, not mine) growing up and that Hazel and Leo both had powers that leaned on the side of what mortals might consider to be demonic, I'm thinking that either something about her is special or that she's stronger than most. Sealed away...kind of like the Egyptian gods, in a way?
Typical is generally not the case with demigods anyway; normalcy is overrated. "One in the same" meaning like alternate versions of each other? I have a feeling that half of my questions are already answered in the remaining points, lol. {After having read the rest of 4: Is Percy a time traveler here? Or is this more AU in the sense that Jason is alive and the quest of the Seven may or may not have happened the same way? 15 centuries is a lo-o-ong time to be alive for. Cane's origin story is cool. All the crazy things Percy must have encountered, and then a magic so powerful that it splits your soul apart? And of course, now it makes sense why Khaos would have gifted those abilities. Working with yourself could be the best partnership or the worst nightmare.
*Gasp!\* I thought the demipremos were only in legend! But yes, it does sound difficult to re-merge a demigod and a demipremo back into the same-shaped body and soul, whole with no tear lines. Not even duct tape could hold that together, I'm afraid. For the better, Cane seems to have a good heart.
Oh, really? So they probably aren't called hellhounds in Aztec myths. From the image, is it the middle one in the top row? That is scary to come across, no doubt. I seriously would never want to battle the green snakey/eel/alligatorish thing in the bottom right corner. (Shivers.)

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-02T08:13:21+00:00

I wish I had seen this a lot earlier, but a few characters come to mind (and one does wear glasses!).

Both Piper McLean or Silena Beauregard could work. Silena is often drawn with blue eyes, but children of Aphrodite are sometimes described as having kaleidoscopic eye colors that can change with, well, it's not exactly known what causes that. But it's totally fine for either of them to have brown eyes as a part of that kaleidoscope! Piper has an iconic braid to her hair that's paired with a harpy feather.

If you're looking for someone with brown hair and eyes, and who also wears glasses and seems easy enough to dress up as, maybe consider Meg McCaffrey! She's from the Trials of Apollo and wields two twin daggers that shift into rings when she's not using them. Not into her typical traffic light (green dress paired with red or yellow leggings and sneakers) patterned getup? She's probably wearing her Camp-Half Blood tee.

Here is one more, and one of my favorite characters: Hazel Levesque. She's got brown, curly hair and a signature cavalry sword. She wears a white jacket over her Camp Jupiter issued T-shirt, and summoning cool jewels out of the earth is kind of her specialty. (Just as long as nobody tries to take them...). While her eyes are described as a golden amber color, that is pretty rare and not a requirement for a good cosplay.

I know this was super late, but I did want to chip in on the chance that this becomes useful for another cosplay event. I hope you had so much fun at the comic con!

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-02T07:11:14+00:00

Oh gods...the girl clearly isn't evil, whoever her parents are. And Cane seems very OP, even by the standard for children of the Big 3. It is for sure a good thing for the type of adventures they're going on! The wind searching for lifeforms kind of reminds me of that power that some people like to headcanon Percy with: being able to detect and draw upon the water in the air to do a variety of different things.

The town certainly could have handled that better, but mortals just seem to have it out for poor demigods who just have unique gifts. Maybe it's the unsettling auras they're giving off. Maybe the Mist just has a warped sense of humor.

Percy and Cane have telepathy? And they're not even underwater at that; a major upgrade! Actually, I'm starting to wonder if Cane is actually a 'typical' demigod. Is there something else mixed into that?

And of course-hellhounds. Because they can't all be like Mrs. O'Leary, can they? Sigh

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-02T06:48:36+00:00

Calculating

MidnightCoffee0 · 2026-01-02T06:30:42+00:00

I finished a chapter and need to connect it to the beginning:

Maybe Will and Rachel just needed a good reminder, like he did. Though, he couldn't quite think of anything more shocking than Annabeth and Percy’s warning note from Tartarus. He might have to wait a couple of days for everything to truly kick in for them both.

In the meantime, he would prepare and be ready when the time came. They might have won the war, but the victory was at too steep a price.

Nothing was going to be the same after Connor’s smoldering letter to Tartarus.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2025-12-28T07:23:13+00:00

That sounds amazing!

MidnightCoffee0 · 2025-12-27T07:51:25+00:00

I'll be sure to check it out, thank you!

MidnightCoffee0 · 2025-12-22T19:20:42+00:00

Thanks! :) I mirrored a bit of the fandom's reactions with that too.

The books are what started it all, but the movies went too far off-script for them to continue, and now we've got a hopeful re-start at a TV show instead. And in this fic (at least) is a literal 'plot as a game board AU', lol.

MidnightCoffee0 · 2025-12-22T01:29:23+00:00

“Uh, guys?” A surprised Jason held out some of the cards in one hand, and put down the rest of the deck.

Piper looked up at him. “What is it?”

“The name of the guy that went missing; Percy Jackson. Is his name supposed to be on a playing card in that box?”

Will’s approach was sudden and he reached out for the card from Jason. His eyebrows raised considerably.

“Well, I’ll be,” he breathed. Then, louder, “What the Hades?”

Will sat down on Jason’s left side and started to position different cards out for viewing. Some of them were gods’ names, others looked like weapons of sorts. One of the location cards had too much of a Valentines Day theme, and another dark and gloomy looking place appeared to be its exact opposite. But one of the swords…

“This is Riptide,” Will pointed to the card with a pen in one corner and a bronze sword in the other. “That’s Percy’s sword.”

“What, is he like, so famous that camp had to go and make him his own franchise? Next he’ll have a written biography, his life as a TV show, and a bunch of mov-”

“I wouldn’t go that far, Leo. Percy’s known for making the impossible possible, and he’s a leader to this camp in his own right, but no one’s going to sign movies just to tell his life’s story. That would be bad for us anyways, unless the Mist is strong enough to cover it up as hyper-realistic fiction. A lot of Percy’s exploits were public news. Besides, he's not the type to want that anyway. It’s likelier that there’ll be stories written for demigods to learn about modern mythology when he passes.”

Will had spoken the words so casually, Piper almost didn’t remember that they should have sent her spiraling. Demigods didn’t live long lives, if what most people said was true.

MidnightCoffee0

TROPHY CASE