Ive Tried To Draw Dakota Upwards Of 5 Times Now And Have Failed Each Time

I’ve tried to draw Dakota upwards of 5 times now and have failed each time

I get the pose down everytime and then I start the first draft and suddenly I sit there and go, “I must draw a different character. My hands simply demand so.” And then next thing I know the goblet of sand kool-aid (because honestly that koolaid is probably super with all the unmixed sugar in it) is gone and now I’m putting a bow in the hair of Larry Ahlgren the legionnaire.

One day I’ll draw Dakota. Hopefully.

Larry the Legionnaire

I’ve lost it guys finally I’ve gotten around to the Larry post! Larry the Legionnaire (as he is sort of titled in the wiki which makes me giggle though it’s not an accurate title) is a character that shows up in SoN and I believe some point in ToA,

Larry is a Son of Mercury, Centurion to the second cohort and a Senator; though I believe that he swapped cohorts? In SoN I think it’s mentioned he was from the second but from what I’ve seen in Tyrants tomb he’s referred to being from the third. He first shows up in SoN to yell about how Frank shouldn’t be made Centurion because of several technicalities, and then from what I’ve seen he shows up in ToA though because I haven’t read Tyrants tomb and I’ve been… struggling through the hidden oracle and taken a break so I won’t really talk about it other than the brief notes on his personality.

Larry is a character that I think is silly. He is a goofball. But he also has one of the most frustrating roles to be played in like Camp Jupiter meta.

He is a character that directly muddles the water with rules over Camp Jupiter Centurion ascension requirements and Senatorial(?) requirements. Originally he could be read as a Senator who knows the rules and doesn’t like them being broken, he would’ve been the only named Senator we got- and that could’ve been interesting and would’ve solidified the idea that there are legionnaires whose other role is to be a Senator. But then we had to make him a Centurion, which (like I said in a different post) really made the Centurion and Senator roles very unclear (let’s be honest every role except Probatio and Legionnaire are unclear in the terms of ascension, the rules surrounding them, etc). But by making him a Centurion it only furthered the concept that they serve in the Senate as well and that rules applied to Senators could apply to Centurions (I don’t know if anyone else had that misconception, but I really did lol) and it just kind of sucked. I’ll make a post about my ideas over CJ role ascension and that stuff (not exactly canon because I don’t want to re-read through SoN and MoA trying to find that stuff)

Anyway! Uhhh, I would love to tell you about all the cool stuff about Larry, but all I really can say is the super limited things we get in SoN. Due to the fact I haven’t read Tyrants tomb..

However I will say the fact that according to the wiki they described him as, “Goofy” and said he expressed interest in becoming a pirate and that is very silly. I like the idea of Larry being just a goofy little guy that tries his best to be a good guy for the legion.

What I can draw from his character surrounds the idea that he is both a Centurion and Senator. The Senator is a voted on role in the legion and there’s only 10 of them (2 per cohort. And if we want to bring up the 5 outpost cohorts I talked about waaaay back in my earlier posts then the outposts have a separate group of senators that are sent down to New Rome) and that implies to me at least that we can draw that Larry is a likeable guy, he’s reasonable, from the fact he was in opposition to Frank’s ascension because he didn’t meet the requirements I feel we can take that in a couple directions,

One, that Larry is rule-oriented. He may canonically be lighthearted and goofy, but he still very well can be attached to the rules. Also would like to sort-of tangentially add that he was canonically one of the legionnaires that didn’t like and looked down upon the fifth cohort though that’s what everyone in Camp Jupiter commonly has agreed upon

Two, Larry was trying to say what was best for the legion. We know Larry is loyal to the legion and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he thought this would negatively impact the legion and tried to say his resignations; the fact that Frank was inexperienced and it’d be breaking the rules to make him a Centurion (but I guess Mars just didn’t care about that. Really like I don’t see much of a reason to make Frank in a position of power- but if someone else does feel free to tell me)

Anyway another notable thing is that Larry is a demigod. In a Camp where we’re told that legacies are the majority (or at least it’s implied? It’s certainly made to look like Legacies are the more common body in Camp) where seeing a Demigod says a lot. He’s not engrossed into Roman culture the same way legionnaires who grew up in New Rome and surrounded by it. How does that affect him? He gets to have the ability to not have that New Roman edge, to have a goofier nature that probably would’ve been frowned upon amongst the Romans. He’s fresh he’s knew, it’s relatable for other demigods in his position because they all come from not New Rome! And in the way of my headcanons he’s either in the Second cohort which is just full of legacies from New Rome who’ve gotten a higher cohort because of their letters of recommendation and continue to play second fiddle to the first- which makes it interesting to think about how Larry got into the cohort he did. And if it’s the third cohort than that’s the competitive cohort, then that puts an idea that Larry had some trait and characteristic that the third wanted. All of that is things I want to figure out in the future- which uh technically is the point of this post but Larry is a newer think for me.

We get no physical description for Larry, no last name for Larry. We get nothing for Larry!! And here is now some of my more random misc. ideas,

Larry’s name comes from Laurence- which itself means, “Crowned with Laurel” and I like giving character who have shorter names longer names (I don’t know why but I do). Though, as much as I want to go make his name Laurence- we have a Laurence, sure it’s a Bryce Lawerence. But the two would still be too similar, and I like just Larry- it’s silly, it is a short way to name a character that shows personality. In the best way Larry is just a silly name, it’s fun to say, I like saying Larry and a Larry looks like a good person in my mind. Though I’d like to say his last name is Ahlgren. Ahlgren is a Swedish last name that combines words for Alder and branch. This continues the plant theming in his name (first laurels and now Alders) while I also just wanted to use a last name from a place I usually wouldn’t. While I believe that Larry is from somewhere in Maine.. he just feels like a Maine guy, Larry’s mom worked in a little bakery in a small town and they had a pretty normal life. Sure the monsters were kind of odd but Larry mentioned them only for it to be his imagination. I’d like to say Larry came to camp when he was 11, his mother at some point sends him over (maybe due to Mercury or Lupaor some of Lupa’s wolves? We never like get how Camp gets legionnaires to the Wolf house other than Frank who like his grandma is like “okay go” and then like ??? Implied his mom and Grandma knew about it but still can I have details? Maybe I’m just forgetting.) where he survived through the Wolf house and went on to Camp. His quest (as funny as it is in my mind to just make it Luke’s quest again but I already did that gag for a Oc and I’m not doing it again) but his quest was definitely just a re-skinned old myth quest (because it feels like Hermes/Mercury likes doing that).

Anyway that’s all I have currently swimming around in my brain about Larry, I’ll probably add more in the future but for now, I just realized that Camp doesn’t seem to do offerings during meals from the one meal we saw which is… off? Odd certainly, maybe I’ll do a post over the offering/Divine side of Camp at some point but whatever. I don’t have any planned posts but I have a Castor/Pollux/Kind of Dakota post in my drafts that might be finished soon, I also took a nap this day and honestly couldn’t recommend more, feel asleep watching MandJtv plays I think? I like the Team Sky playlist.

Anyway goodnight!

Guys the Larry post will be… when I actually do sit down and write it but like aaaaah that’s for later me.

Anyway I just spent my morning drawing my silly little character,

Her arm is weird as hell but at 6:50 I didn’t want to re-do my draft and try to shove her hands to be visible in the pose because I like the look of her sitting there in a much more calmed rigid but relaxed pose (I usually draw her with her hands up in a surrender so I think having one of her hands behind her back in a very calm posing was a nice change of pace) but this is still Mercury (my oc I haven’t posted about in a while) and my oc fun fact that accompanied this post is that she is a bleach blonde and her hair is fried.

Anyway, Larry will be coming up but I was proud of my silly art and I was happy to finally draw someone with some form of background behind her. Do I know where she is? Of course not I just wanted to draw pillars because I had an excuse to make them a arch/doorway and I thought that was a nice little reference to Janus legacy stuff (forgot to draw her tattoo because she added onto it but I am not about to change the drawing again because I Finnicked with the colors of the lineart for WAY too long)

Maybe I’ll do bigger pictures like these for other characters- unlike my writing posts I make no promises.

I wish Tales of Greece and Troy by Robert Lancelyn Green and illustrated by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnston along with Jason and the Golden Fleece were more widely available and easily accessible,

Because my Gods are they stunning!

Beautiful! Amazing pieces! A shame their so rare,

I gobble their art so much, and I can only beg to have a fraction of their talent because my god it looks stunning.

Anyway I have no idea why I felt inclined to post this but please take the time to look at some of their art, it’s easy to find on like Pinterest and whatever and it just looks so pretty (in my opinion).

Fighting the urge to make another post about Bryce Lawerence 😔…

Another post about Bryce Lawerence!

(Guys I gave into the urge)

Okay- but like. No one cares about him, it’s like if I went on an entire post for Larry the legionnaire (that one is still on my list to make- **Update from future Kleos who’s finishing this right now, Larry the Legionnaire post is going to be started directly after this is posted!***). But I really like talking about him because he literally stole a part of my brain and refuses to hand it over.

And there’s so much to him that we don’t know that can be explored! Like- there are so many possibilities with his character and I want to include him more in my Re-imagining because if we’re gonna make him a monster then why not actually display his absolute bat shittery in the book. Or I don’t know.. make him an actually compelling character that gets to be an actual character and not a maniacal stereotype that is put in the plot so we can show Nico’s.. thing? (I don’t know, I’ll be honest don’t like Nico that much- like him in the first arc when he’s a silly little baby and then an emo 10 year old)

Like we know he cannonically committed a bunch of crimes, barely got away by the skin of his teeth because of nepotism and then like??? We don’t know how old he was when he committed said crimes, his most notable one oh I don’t know, MURDER, that feels notable is left as just an afterthought like- there were so many ways this could’ve affected everything just from how long ago the murder was! (I think I did a whole other post on Bryce just talking about that! But it could seriously affect camp and I feel like there was major potential that could’ve improved the story)

Bryce could’ve been a convincing demigod villain that would be an actual threat and the scariest part would be that he wouldn’t have been working for Gaea (at the very most he might’ve done like mercenary work for stuff like triumvirate holdings or whatever it’s called but because I haven’t finished TOA I refuse to make any conclusions) he’d be a separate much more real entity and threat (because how many people were really tensed up and nervous over the Camp Jupiter-Camp Half-blood conflict. Because we don’t see any of it and if the story was tweaked and all of protags weren’t shoved in the same boat away from the b-plot it would be better but that’s for me to yap about-)

And; may I propose a concept (that fits with my hcs-) that Bryce would’ve been in the first cohort, he canonically murdered his Centurion in the war games (It’s not plural in the books to I have to assume that it’s just one of them) but this is my idea that he killed the Centurion that Micheal too over for, and that either Bryce killed them to clear the way for Michael (which opens a whole new avenue for a Michael and Bryce and what their relationship would’ve been that would lead for Bryce to do that-) or that Bryce wanted to take up the role but didn’t get it.

Of course there’s the scenario that Bryce did it for fun. Which is what Rick implied though I don’t like that because it feels… icky? Most people (even people who do heinous crimes like this) don’t just murder for no reason. There is more often than not, a motive. And I think giving Bryce a motive would make him a lot more interesting than just saying, “oh he’s wild guys, he’s just a quirky little guy” and moving on. Again; let’s not make the character with some form of implied psychopathy just a harmful stereotype of an already incredibly stigmatized condition. Alright, cool.

But if we just got a little forethought and Bryce was a bigger part in the plot (which could be my biased perspective because I like the little man) then it could’ve been so much more interesting in camp! It would set up a post Bryce-debocle Camp Jupiter when we first see in in SoN. Where Reyna’s struggling to keep camp together and has to deal with the lingering outside threats of the dude that would probably have a vendetta because she exiled him from the life he’s ever known that could quite possibly still be close to camp (remember Camp Jupiter doesn’t have the magic border-) and developing a following (Make Reyna paranoid, make her fall- make her be a prime example of the perfect soldier, then make her crumble, see as she begins to spiral and fear that she is becoming every closer to her own fathers paranoia, allow her that and put in the message that it gets better and that you can get help. But that’s another post-) a First cohort that is still trying to adjust to the power exchange of a new Centurion, a camp that is on guard and is mourning the loss of a valued and dear member of their legion (I’m not saying we make a Redtail out of the unnamed murdered centurion- but I am saying make a Redtail, and if you get the reference, rad) a camp that is unwelcoming more so than usual all because of this one person. A legacy no less- give us a proper opportunity to dive into Legacies and the culture surrounding them!

Also would like to state that in my legacies post I briefly fluttered by the mention that I think his father was a demigod and that made him a first gen legacy, but on his mothers side I’d like to give the consideration that she’d come from a long line of legacies of Ira (or Furor- or Lyssa as she was in her Green counterpart) but Ira was the spirit (not a goddess, felt that should be known though I’m unsure if that matters or if she can really be interchangeable and still regarded as a minor goddess-) of mad rage, frenzy, and rabies in animals. I say to add this aspect because it feels right in my brain. Sure demigods shouldn’t be stereotyped into personalities based on who they’re related to directly in divinity. But- like, I just wanna have this. I don’t get to talk about Lyssa a lot and I find her interesting and it’s my head-canon (no idea why I’m arguing with myself because literally none of you guys care.)

Okay! I’ve been writing this and recently finished reading zazzanders‘s (please I don’t know if I should be using a direct mention- link thingy? If I should let me know because I’d rather have my posts… somewhat easier to read, like obviously the writing style invokes someone hunched over their phone just typing out random sentences for the fun of it because that’s what it is but I want there to be some form of ease. But you should go check out their page because they make really cool and interesting content) reblog of one of my posts and I too just realized how insanely powerful Bryce is? I don’t know how I would like nerf him but I feel he significantly needs to be chilled out because he has a lot of stuff going on. Like a lot of powers and stuff and whatever and it’s all weird and Rick just yelled whatever when writing him and anything to do with Camp Jupiter so it all ends up weird as hell. Until I figure all that out I’m not touching it and I’m leaving Bryce in this weird zone- and I can’t say screw it and make him blessed by Orcus because with his title alone I think there is no way he would condone or agree with anything Bryce has done,

Which launches me into sudden change! I want to know what Bryce and Orcus’s relationship is. We know Bryce is said to have gone and survived a trip to the underworld because of his edgy 12-year-old comment about the screams from the field of punishment sounding like music to his ears (seriously the more I write the more like I feel like he’d be one of Ramona Flowers’s evil ex boyfriends) so it can be implied that at one point he tried to make contact with Orcus. How did that go out? Not well because I expect Bryce broke a shit ton of oaths about like being a good legionnaire and he probably lied on stand during trial because he’s totally the type of beetle that would do that, so I want to know what that was like- how that affected Bryce, all that stuff. And I know I’ll probably write out how I think that scenario played out in the future.

Anyway I’m pretty sure that I’m just grasping at straws and really if I wanted to I could just keep talking about this character because I don’t know why but I just like- woke up one day and couldn’t get him off my mind sooo..

Larry the legionnaire post next! Then after that I don’t know, maybe something about New Rome or Camp Jupiter. Maybe I’ll finally get around to being confused about the jobs in camp or something,

Maybe goodnight? I don’t really know because the Larry post feels like it’ll be short.

when u like a character for their potential to be interesting and complex more than how they’re actually written