i. Scrapper (2023), dir. Charlotte Regan  /  ii. Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost  /  iii. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), dir. Edgar Wright  /  iv. La La Land (2016), dir. Damien Chazelle  /  v. Gwen Benaway, Holy Wild  /  vi. Alejandra Pizarnik, Extracting the Stone of Madness  /  vii. El Apartamento (1960), dir. Billy Wilder

POCKET FULL OF POSIES!
( ❝ i'm not delicate like a flower. ❞ )
PLUCK PETALS UNTIL THEY ROT!
( ❝ but you should be cherished like one. ❞ )

━━━━━  JOSEPHINE PASCUAL was everything she wasn't supposed to be, and nothing she wished she could be. She had never felt like more of an outsider inside the gleaming, golden walls of Cabin Seven.

Being born with ichor in her blood didn't give her a sense of normalcy. She never had a chance at normalcy, not with a god for a father. If anything, with ichor flowing in her blood, Josephine was destined for a life of tragedy and a death worthy of being told — two things the Greeks were known for; two things they had invented and written into every great myth. (Every great myth that is still known, and told, by the modern world to this day; thousands of years later.)

With a god for a father, Josephine always wondered if the gods were able to love — or if it was just her father, Apollo, who showed no love. She still wasn't sure, not even these years later. The gods were a race that was supposed to represent humans, but despite that, it seemed the gods had this complete ... absence of mortality; a complete absence of humanity. The complete absence of mortality meant the complete loss of humanity. How human could the gods ever truly be if they couldn't even look upon what they were supposed to represent and feel any connection? Any familiarity? How human could the gods truly be if they never experienced love? How human could immortal be if they never love their children, innocent people destined to die cruel deaths at the hands of Fate? How human could they be if they never had the chance to experience human life?

How human could they be, even unable to love children that seemed nothing more than a mishap? A cruel joke of Fate?

Beau Pascual was a struggling artist in a sea of struggling artists. What was special about him? Maybe it was his aloof attitude to the man that shined brighter than the sun. Perhaps that aloof attitude made the man who had never been denied anything (besides the chance of being human) curious. It was only natural, of course — to be attracted to the one thing that seemed just out of your reach.

But, however unfortunate for Beau Pascual, nothing was ever truly out of reach for Apollo. The sun saw all; the sun knew all.

But a love that was destined to never last was already in the making. Apollo could never stay for long, and Beau Pascual was never the type to stay rooted, either. They seemed to be the perfect match (as perfect a match of a god and a mortal could ever be), but the prospect of a child never once crossed Beau's mind. But how could it? He was a man, and so was this man who was oddly named Apollo (you didn't come across many people named after Greek gods, after all).

The thought never crossed his mind — that is, until a child in a golden cradle appeared on his doorstep on April 13th, 1994 in D.C. A week after Beau's lover had left. No note; no nothing. Just Apollo's style.

Beau Pascual was never made to be a father, no matter what the Fates had decided for him.

It was already too late, however, Josephine Pascual was already born. She was born into a world destined to hurt her; a world full of danger and monsters, both human and not. A parent's love should've been able to do a lot of things, a lot of wonderful things, but protecting Josephine from fate wasn't one of them. (And it wasn't like Beau was any version of fatherly, let alone being very loving.)

As the years went by, the Fates caught up with Josephine, breaking down any sort of hope she had for the future. Strange things always happened around her, with her unable to explain them to Beau (who never wanted to believe her anyway) — a psychotic music teacher, a gym coach with furry legs and hooves for feet, and the late nights when her father would be possessed by spirits that were so unlike his own. It all became too much for after one particularly bad night, and Josephine ran away.

Camp Half-Blood was a home for kids who didn't have a safe one in the mortal world. Josephine had to do it by herself — no father, no godly father (as she would learn a month later), no Mrs. Hall (not anymore, at least), and no aunt and uncle (though, they had already been cut from her life many years before). She was all alone, something that was so uncommon for her. That never made it any easier. Crossing the unknown — realizing the world was a place full of real Greek gods and monsters — and into foreign lands — a camp designed to help kids like her (kids with a godly parent) — wasn't an easy feat. But Josephine had no other choice. She had to make it to Camp Half-Blood, otherwise, she feared her dreams would not only haunt her in her dreams. She feared those visions she saw would become a reality.

The dreams were helpful at times, too. They were the reason she found Camp Half-Blood — visions of golden trails along paths, visions of a blond man with a bow telling her she was doing the right things, the visions of what looked like battles, with people screaming at her that she had to keep moving forward otherwise they would all die. And somehow, she made it. She was quickly whisked away without many questions about how she had made it there all by herself at the age of ten. They couldn't waste much time into making her a valuable weapon for the gods, of course!

It took longer than any other child of Apollo, but she was claimed — a month to be exact. And as a daughter of Apollo, Josephine should've been everything her siblings were; everything her father was. She was supposed to be full of warmth, happiness, and cheeriness. But Josephine just ... wasn't. There was no reason behind it, at least, no reason she ever knew of.

And it wasn't even that, either; she was horrible with a bow — her father's very own weapon! Horrible at archery; caused more injuries than she ever healed; and even snapped the strings to Michael's lyre one time. (And he was pissed. Josephine thought she was genuinely going to lose her life that day.) The only thing she ever showed any promise at was poetry, and she hated poetry!

It was beyond embarrassing. It was beyond depressing. Disheartening. Whatever other word that could've been used. Josephine was nothing more than a disgrace to Cabin Seven, to Apollo, and to her siblings. She was someone who made a mistake at every turn.

Instead of being a beacon of light, as every child of Apollo should be, it was like Josephine Pascual sucked away any happiness the sun provided.

PLUCK MY HEART LIKE A FLOWER ...

JOSEPHINE  ❛POSIE❜ PASCUAL
━━━━━━━━━ olivia rodrigo!

☀️  daughter of apollo, god of the sun and light!

PERCY JACKSON
━━━ as described!

🔱 son of poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes!

AND TELL ME IF YOU LOVE ME OR NOT!

as described! . . . wyatt fitzgerald!
chandler kinney! . . . annabeth chase!
as described! . . . grover underwood!
austin north! . . . luke castellan!
kristine froseth! . . . rose ashford!
max barczak! . . . lee fletcher!
as described! . . . michael yew!
young!skandar keynes! . . . nico di angelo!
as described! . . . will solace!
as described! . . . thalia grace!
isabelle furhman! . . . bianca di angelo!
as described! . . . zoë nightshade!
as described! . . . rachel dare!
malina weissman! . . . silena beauregard!
as described! . . . clarisse la rue!

i. disclaimers!   i own nothing in the percy jackson and the olympians universe besides josephine pascual, her story, and any other characters i have made. everything else you see in this book that is not original to this fanfiction belongs to rick riordan. all rights go to him, besides josephine pascual and any other characters i have made.
               any gifs used in the book do not belong to me, they belong to the original creators. i have simply edited the size of them to fit what i want. the graphics, although, do belong to me.

ii. trigger warnings!   this book will talk about and/or include cussing, the neglection of a child, mental illness (depression, anxiety, ptsd, etc.), death of a parent(s), death, gore, physical illnesses and sickness (cancer), daddy issues (kinda a joke, but not ... really?), apollo (as hot as he is, he deserves a trigger warning), and the regular percy jackson and the olympians themes that are present in the books.
               do not read this book if any of that is triggering to you. reading this is not — and never will be — more important than you and your mental health!

iii. other things!   if i get anything incorrect or come off as insensitive, please tell me and i'll absolutely fix my mistake!
               also, don't steal! that's not cool. i'll find out and i'll make you ... take it down or something.

iv. other notes!   this plot was a reskin (i guess that's the best way to put it -) of this heroes of olympus plot i had (that i didn't take anywhere) (which kinda sucks because it's a really good plot tbh)
               super excited to write it pocket full of posies because i think it's a really cool plot and i love posie <3 she's so slay
               though i'll admit i am a bit scared to write it bc it does get kinda fucked up here and there but you know - this is my therapy (and because of that, all of my ocs need therapy desperately)
               and yes, this is now edited/currently being edited (as of oct. 7th, '24) and hopefully it turns out good LMAO

v. dedications!   THEY-WHO-REMAIN , fciryriots , ollyoxenfrees , -lovesickmelody , ih3artreggie , olympialogy , artyez, sssseasons , yllwjckts , madxmaddie , cIearwaters , GryffindorGodric , laciesrot and to old and new readers! i love you all and love to hear what you think/have to say <3