It does make sense, and my weird fandom pride is somehow happy that at least my preferred pairing is less strange than the OTHER pairing that, you know, I've been reading a lot.

I'm pretty sure we have covered all of the interesting talk about the pairing anyway, so good plan.

I totally support your hierarchy of favorite characters. Nico is just higher up on mine, and Thalia is just a bit lower, because Luke and Rachel are somewhere around her level.

This is very true. It's why my Percy/Luke thing is funny, because I THOUGHT I hated it when I was starting out, and it just... Grew less and less like hate, until I was at a point where I could be won over by fanfic. I think the fifth book did give him some leverage.

Yep, that was what I figured. That is sort of my feeling, although like I said, I can be convinced otherwise more easily than you. I think also since I have my own siblings, if there is behavior which is supposed to be sibling-ish, but it doesn't ring true based on my personal experience, it kind of lessens the sibling relationship for me. Because it's all in how they view each other, and if they don't seem to view each other that way...

It's like blurring the line.