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- The ones hugging Will are his fellow Apollo children, Kayla Knowles and Austin Lake. I would definitely expect Kayla to be supportive. You know how I mentioned that we learn from Apollo that it's possible for gods to have children in same-sex relationships? Well, Kayla was born from his fling with her mortal father, Darren Knowles. So basically, not only does Kayla have two dads, but she has two biological dads. Guess anything's possible when you're a demigod.

The four holding the pride flags are (top left to bottom right) Jake Mason, Piper McLean, Paolo Montes, and Malcom Pace, all mentioned to have been encouraged to come out after Nico did. We don't know what their sexualities are exactly, just that they're LGBTQ+ in some form. Piper has a girlfriend now and was in a relationship with Jason before, but she doesn't know how to describe herself. She could be bisexual, or pansexual, maybe a lesbian if she never likes another boy. For now, she's just a "big, ol' queer mess".

Speaking of Piper, I wanted this comic to include part of her and Nico's Iris-message towards the end of The Sun and the Star, but I forgot.

- In case you're wondering why Will looks like that in Panel 3, this is part of The Sun and the Star. Will isn't doing so hot because he's a child of Apollo in a place with no sunlight. The creatures in the boat are also from The Sun and the Star. They're two of Nico's cacodemons, or, as he calls them, "Cocoa Puffs", creatures born from his worst emotions.

- As an asexual person, I was excited to learn that Reyna is canonically romantic asexual. Kinda sucks that it was revealed through a tweet rather than in the text (I hope we get a future book where she's explicitly referred to as such), but her speech about how she's always felt pressured to find a partner, when it's more something she feels she's supposed to want than something she actually wants, still resonates with me as an aroace person.

For me, personally, the best part is knowing that Rick Riordan, a straight, cis person from an older generation, recognizes and accepts asexuality as valid, when so many people just don't understand, even if they're mostly LGBTQ+ supportive, accepting, or even tolerant. My dad seems to expect me to grow out of it, I've had people online tell me it's "not a thing", or even equivalent to psychopathy and sociopathy, and here's an interaction between me and...some driver:

Driver: "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Me: "No, I'm not into boys"
Driver: "So you're a lesbian?"
Me: "No, I'm asexual. I'm not attracted to anyone"
Driver: "That's not real. You've got to be attracted to someone"

Dealing with this makes seeing Riordan praise a book on Goodreads for having a romantic asexual character extra sweet. (review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3151640805)

I'll admit, I'm a little skeptical of the character's portrayal being as good as he said it was, just because he himself isn't asexual. Riordan once gave a positive review to this book of interviews from transgender teens and even credited it with helping him write Alex Fierro, his trans character, meanwhile I saw the book had multiple negative reviews from trans readers, so I don't think it's unreasonable to think that if I, an asexual person, read the book, I might notice problems he didn't.

Even so, it's wonderful seeing someone like him appreciate that aspect of the book, when most non-LGBTQ+ people, especially from his generation, would likely either ignore it entirely or condemn it as "woke garbage". It's small things like this that help me feel less alone.

That's about all I have to say here.