You Bottle Miette??

riptide chapter 9 

Katie sits between Grover and Percy on the couch while Annabeth stands at her mystery board, filling in some blanks.

“What do you mean you don’t know who you’re working for?” Annabeth asks, her brow furrowed. “How is that possible?”

Katie has her arms propped on her knees with her head in her hands. “I don’t know what to tell you. He’s very good about hiding his identity. All I know is he goes by Mercury and has super speed which is how he keeps tabs on all of us. It’s pretty hard to keep an eye out for someone you can’t see.”

Grover looks around the room like a prey animal who senses a predator. “Do you think he’s here right now?”

“No, he took Boar and Gemini on a mission to retrieve whatever it is he’s looking for. They’re not supposed to be back for a week or so. He just told me to keep you busy, and technically, I am doing exactly that.”

“You don’t even know who he’s the Champion of?” Percy asks.

Katie shakes her head as she leans back on the couch. “The only Houses I know of that could have super speed haven’t been active for at least three generations.”

“Well can you tell us more about Gemini?” Annabeth asks. “He’s the one in purple, right?”

“Yeah,” Katie confirms. “He’s kind of grumpy, to be honest. Not really a small talk guy.”

“What about his powers?” Percy asks.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag. Wild animals listen to him, and if he touches your forehead, he can make you lose it.”

“What do you mean lose it?”

“I mean the security guard at the first jewelry store we broke into spent a month in Bellevue before Mercury made him sneak in and return him to normal.”

“Jesus,” Percy says with disgust. “How the hell did that help anyone beat monsters however long ago?”

Katie shrugs. “My keeper said some powers have evolved over time, so that may not even be what that Champion started with. It can do different things to different people.”

“That’s so cool,” Grover says. “Bad but… pretty cool.”

continue on ao3

since i have not seen anybody share information on this here, please pay attention to the philippines right now and provide any support you can. if this bill passes, people's basic rights to free speech will be taken from them.

anyone seeing this from the ph, please stay safe and stay strong. these are scary times.

This situation in Sudan makes me so so so so so mad and angry because they CUT OFF the Internet so people can’t say what’s happening there and they rely on US to be SAVED because they’re currently living a NIGHTMARE they can’t even go to the streets NORMALLY and they can’t do ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE THERE IS NO INTERNET. THE SUDANESE PEOPLE RELY ON US. DO SOMETHING.

Here’s how you can help:

Donate to the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees: https://donate.unhcr.org/int/south-sudan/~my-donation

Donate to the Sudan Relief Fund: https://sdnrlf.com/campaign-cat/featured/ 

Donate to the International Medical Corps for Sudanese Medical Aid: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sudanese-medical-aid

Share share share share!!!!!

They count on us!! If you know any other way we can help, please tell me!!

PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS:

there are several posts going around about how to best help if you witness an ICE raid/arrest as a (white) citizen. many of them are filled with extremely bad, LARP-y advice such as screaming at agents and getting physically close to them. in most cases, this is just going to make things worse for everyone at risk (including yourself). you need to stay calm, and avoid getting someone accused of resisting arrest.

to be clear: most of these fascists dont care about the law. “illegal” is not a magic word you can say to make them stop. and, being a white citizen is not an impenetrable shield. you can still be arrested, so be prepared for that. you are, however, less likely to be arrested, and MUCH less likely to be killed or held extralegally.

here is what you should actually do to help:

record, and make sure your phone auto-backups to a cloud. streaming can be problematic because its best to have lawyers look over the footage first. be aware they might also grab your phone, even without a warrant. if they’re grabbing it out of your hands, try to lock it. make sure you have a pin lock, not pattern or fingerprint. here’s some other ways to protect your phone from cops.

if you are able to film, and have determined it won’t escalate the situation, make it obvious you are doing so, because secretly recording is illegal in several states. narrate any violation of rights you see. here is a Q&A about filming ICE.

stay several feet back from agents, because they can claim you’re impeding them. if you’re recording and they claim this, take several steps back, and announce it as you’re doing so, if you’re filming.

ask if they are free to go, if someone is being approached. if ICE insists on the person asking for themself, and they speak spanish*, tell them “por favor repita: ‘am i free to go?’” (this just means “please repeat”) if the agent says yes, tell them “usted puede dejar”. if not..

calmly inform people of their rights if they are being arrested. they do not have to speak at all to agents, answer any questions without a lawyer, or sign anything. they do have to show their paperwork if they have it, but do NOT have to hand over the paperwork/passport, or consent to a search of themselves/belongings, without a judicial warrant (not administrative! here’s the difference). it is crucial that they give as little information as possible to ICE.

if you speak spanish, list their rights in spanish as well, and translate what the agents are saying. if not, keep the google translate app on your phone – it’s not perfect, but it’s quick/accessible and can download languages for offline use. you can also memorize this sentence: “no tiene que responder/dar su consentimiento” - “you dont have to respond/consent”

get their lawyer’s contact info, if they have one and are being taken away by ICE. many people carry a card with emergency contact info on it, including childcare info and loved ones, so you can offer to call those numbers for them.

call for legal help. do not call the ACLU or other big organizations for immediate help, call your local immigration help center (for New York State, contact IDP at 212-725-6422. for California, call the TRUST hotline at 844-878-7801). United We Dream is an immigrant-lead organization that provides aid nationwide, and can be reached at 844-363-1423. please save these numbers in your phone!

know the ICE rapid response network in your town, and keep their number on hand. if there isn’t one close to you, here’s how to make one.

finally, here are some useful toolkits:

comprehensive ICE response guide

know your rights posters for in-home raid readiness, community flyers, and informative videos

ACLU videos explaining what to do in various situations with ICE

*of course not every immigrant speaks spanish; people from south america are being targeted en masse right now, but may speak many indigenous languages as well as portuguese. so ask if you dont know what language someone speaks, and see if google translate can help.

Resources:

abortionfinder.org

abortionfunds.org

lifebeat.org

plannedparenthoodaction.org

poem, “there’s laundry to do and a genocide to stop,” by vinay krishnan (x). transcription in alt text

I haven’t yet seen a tumblr post with these resources so I am making my own and hoping it shows up in the tags. I ASK EVERYONE WHO SEES THIS TO PLEASE REBLOG THIS.

THE INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT (ICWA) IS UNDER ATTACK. AND WE NEED HELP TO PROTECT IT USING THE RESOURCES BELOW.

I am not going to go into heavy detail on the bill, on its history, anything like that, the resources have a lot of information, but as a little bit of background:

It is a bill passed that forbids Native children from being adopted by non-Native families. This is for a good fucking reason, there have been historically large scoops of children taken from their Native families, at a much higher rate than white children (see the 60s scoop in Canada). These children are often abused in these homes, and their entire culture is taken from them (many end up not even knowing what tribe/nation they came from), hence the point of why they were taken in the first place (forced assimilation). Now, this does still happen through the foster care system, but this has protected in the case of adoption. It makes it that only Native families can adopt Native children.

White people hate this and have been smearing it for years (think of the whole Lexi Choctaw/Alexandria P. situation, which was so fucked how they used that little girl). Now, the state governments of Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana have taken it to the Supreme Court to be ruled unconstitutional. This case is called Haaland v. Brackeen. Because white people … really want to steal Native children. This is being heard by the court, oral arguments start WEDNESDAY. ICWA could be overturned in the matter of weeks or even days.

PLEASE USE ALL OF THESE TO PROTECT ICWA:

Petition that will involve you sending messages to your Congressional leaders through their text automated system, only available to those in the US (BUT NOTE YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A CITIZEN, OR ELIGIBLE TO VOTE TO SIGN, JUST NEED TO BE IN THE US):

https://resist.bot/petitions/PCCPGW 

Petition to send a message to President Biden and leaders at the Department of Justice, this does have a place to put in your country so seems like it may be available for those outside of the US but I am unsure (consider also donating to the Lakota People’s Law Project if you are able to):

https://action.lakotalaw.org/action/protect-icwa

Petition to be sent to the Attorney General and Secretary of the Department of the Interior, since it is through change.org it likely can be signed from outside of the US:

https://www.change.org/p/protect-the-indian-child-welfare-act

PLEASE SIGN AS MANY AS YOU ARE ABLE TO. PLEASE REBLOG IF YOU SEE THIS. PLEASE HELP US PROTECT ICWA.

erasing trans women from stonewall sure is something

can u guys believe we used to just live like this

47. “I’ve been in love with you for years.” 🥺

Percy Jackson is a coward. 

Freezeframe, record scratch, backtrack to the beginnings of the bad decisions. 

It all went south when Grover threw up. Drunk out of their minds and poor from a long night of bar hopping, the gang piles into an Uber that’s two spots too small to head back to Percy and Grover’s apartment. Grover takes the front seat while Percy and Annabeth are crammed in the backseat behind him—and yes, that’s the same one person seat, because Beckendorf, Silena, and Clarisse are stuffed next to them. Percy curses the Stolls and Katie for living within walking distance of downtown and wonders if anyone will Venmo him back for the Uber. 

If Grover doesn’t get them kicked to the curb, that is. Annabeth shifts in Percy’s lap to hold their friend’s head upright before he can pitch forward on a hard break. Percy tightens his arm around her waist in lieu of a seatbelt. Only a few more miles until they’re home free. 

Clarisse is giving Grover a passionate and profane pep talk from her middle seat when Percy looks her way, and Silena and Beckendorf look like they’re trying to swallow each other on her other side. He buries his face between Annabeth’s shoulder blades and groans. His five star passenger rating is going down in flames. 

“Hey,” Annabeth pinches his arm. “Don’t you go giving out on me too, Jackson. We still have to go up three flights of stairs and I carried Grover last time.” 

“I carried Grover last time.” 

“You carried Connor. Now listen up, we’re almost there and I have a plan.” 

“Oh god, she has a plan.” 

“Shut up. You love my plans.” 

“Whatever you say, captain.” 

“Grover is going to puke as soon as we stop, so I’m going to run and open his door. I need you to push him out of the car the second I’m out.” 

“And if you don’t make it?” 

“I’m gonna make it.” 

The car stops and abruptly ends the argument. Annabeth flies out her door and Percy shoves Grover forward by the shoulders just as he yells about puking. Never bet against Annabeth, or something like that. Grover tumbles onto the sidewalk without leaving a mark in the Uber. 

Instead he throws up on Annabeth. 

The only sound is Clarisse cackling as Percy wrestles his way out of the car. Grover starts crying while Annabeth sits there, covered in vomit and a look of shock. 

He presses his keys into her hand. “You go shower, and I’ll be up there soon with—” The Uber driver starts yelling at Clarisse. “Hang on.” 

He pulls the other three out of the backseat before anything else can go wrong. The Uber speeds away the moment the door closes.

Annabeth pulls Grover to his feet. “You’ll lose Silena and Beckendorf if you try it alone, and I really don’t want to bail anyone out for indecent exposure in the morning. Take Grover before I strangle him.” 

Percy knows better than to question Annabeth when she’s got that fierce look in her eye, so he hoists Grover over his shoulder without the usual sideways comment. “Once is enough, buddy,” he says quietly, hoping Grover doesn’t puke down his back. 

Annabeth leads the way up the stairs, holding Clarisse’s hand and pausing every ten steps to shoo Silena and Beckendorf forward. She’s right, as always: Percy would’ve lost them. But Annabeth handles it with her shoulders squared and her expression fiery, making Percy glad once more that he’s as close to sober as he is. It’s so easy to get dumbstruck looking at her, even when her makeup is smudged and she’s covered in their best friend’s vomit. No matter the circumstances, Percy will always find her beautiful. 

By the time he dumps Grover in his own bed, the lovebirds have claimed the couch and the shower is running. Just as the panic of missing Clarisse strikes, Percy hears Annabeth curse at her from the bathroom. 

“Percy!” she yells.

Then Clarisse. “Yeah, c’mere Twinkle Toes.” 

“Shut up.”

He raps his knuckles against the door. The shower is running. “You okay?” 

The door opens wide enough for Annabeth’s face. “Could you grab me some clothes? I think I left some last time I spent the night.” 

Clarisse coos. “Spent the night, huh?” 

There’s a thud, a curse, and Annabeth nearly slips as she presumably kicks Clarisse. She catches herself just as her bare shoulder comes into view. 

Percy clears his throat. “Uh, yeah. No problem.” 

He retreats to his room and grabs an old sweatshirt and pair of plaid pants for her. She definitely left something of her own the last several times she came over, but sue Percy for enjoying the sight of her in his clothes. 

Clarisse answers the door looking suspiciously like she’s been sprayed by the showerhead. “Do us all a favor,” she hisses, “and tell her how you feel. How long has it been, anyway? Silena owes me money if I’m right.” 

Percy waves her off and tosses the clothes in her face, but once everyone has gone to bed and Annabeth is asleep and smelling like his own bodywash on the other side of his bed, he faces the truth. 

He is a coward harboring a secret truth that shines like sunlight, one that can only be faced alone at night because it’s so blinding. 

“I’ve been in love with you for years,” he whispers, watching her chest rise slowly in the moonlight. 

And then her breath catches, her eyelashes flutter, and Percy is an idiot caught in her headlights. 

She doesn’t move, just swallows deeply and says, “Say that again.” 

“I thought you were asleep.” 

“Percy, please.” 

The please and the fact that she hasn’t run out of the room are the only reasons he’s able to repeat himself. 

“How drunk are you?” She sounds small, unsure, and entirely unlike herself.

He props himself up on his elbow and nearly reaches for her. “Completely sober.” 

And then she’s rolling them over faster than Percy can process, and he would want to slow down this moment if her lips weren’t on his with a fervor he’s only dreamed of. The world is blindingly bright in the midnight morning; the sun isn’t out, but it might as well be. 

Percy says “I love you,” against her mouth, and he thinks maybe he could be brave for her. If being brave means a lifetime of this, he’ll never take the coward’s way out again.