Junior (TS)

Not part of Riordanverse The following article/section is from the Tristan Strong continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon.

Junior
Biographical information
Full name	Stone Thrower
Gender	Male
Age	Teenage
Family	Anansi (father) Trouble Seer, Road Builder, River Drinker, Skinner, and Ground Pillow (brothers) Nyame (paternal grandfather) Asase Ya (paternal grandmother)
Item	Satchel
Status	Alive
Physical description
Eye	Dark
Hair	Dark
Species	Demigod
Behind the scenes
Appearances	Tristan Strong Destroys the World Tristan Strong Keeps Punching The Gum Baby Files

“	I'm not playing games, Anansesem. It's just... The story box is legendary. All the stores, held forever and carried across worlds and realms? It is...a treasure. All I want to do is tell a story about my father, and how he defined me and helped motivate me. He...left, a long time ago. This story about him is all I have left, and I would be forever grateful if I could tell it.	”
–Junior to Tristan on his love for his father in Tristan Strong Destroys the World.

Junior (real name Stone Thrower) is one of the six sons of Anansi.

History

Junior was born to the trickster god Anansi, who he was close to. He disappeared when Junior was young. After the defeat of the Maafa, he would try to get into Nyame's Palace to no avail.

Tristan Strong Trilogy

Tristan Strong Destroys the World

When Tristan Strong and Ayanna arrive at the Golden Crescent, he greets Ayanna and is cold and insulting towards Tristan. When Tristan says he needs to speak to the gods, Junior says he is not important enough for the gods to see, but offers to show him a way into Nyame's Palace if he can beat him there and demands he leave a story in the story box if he wins. Without telling Junior he doesn't have it on him, he accepts and they race. He bobs and weaves through the alleyways of the Golden Crescent and into the palace grounds. As Tristan is stopped by Kumi, he takes in the orchids giving Tristan a chance to catch up and beat him. He reveals that the race was the secret passageway as Sarah and Rose catch and stand the two boys and lead them to a room with a fountain and a statue to wait for Nyame. As they wait they get hit in the head and blame the other for it. He tells Tristan what he thinks of him just as he notices that the statue is gone and something lands on Tristan. After Tristan realizes the attacker is Gum Baby, he asks if they know each other. Gum Baby tells them John Henry wants to see Tristan they set out with her telling Junior embarrassing stories about Tristan along the way. When they arrive he is started by John Henry's voice. When they get back in the room, Tristan simply tells him that John Henry is sick as Gum Baby and Ayanna arrive with news that the Shamble Man is in Nyanza, a city in the Grasslands. He declines to join them, but offers to get them out. As they board the keelboat, he explains his disdain for everyone wanting him to be better then his father and Tristan offers him to join them, which he accepts. He is started when hearing Anansi's voice and backs away from Tristan after seeing him in the Story Box Phone. After Tristan falls overboard they track him to the Grasslands and help him fend off DJ Kulture and his flock. After the buzzard is defeated, they go to Nyanza.

After an hour of walking, the raft returns and they fly to Nyanza. He stares suspiciously at Tristan, who reveals Anansi escaped after the SBP was damaged. They soon crash and land in a dried river bed where they are escorted in by invisible guards. He keeps a stone in hand as they are escorted through the empty city. When Gum Baby runs, the others chase after her until they meet up with, with him meeting for the first time, Chestnutt. The rabbit explains the storm inching closer and that the city's patron goddess, Mami Wata, is missing. He urges Tristan to show Chestnutt SBP and she suggests they have Lady Night, a Boo Hag who can fix anything fix it and shares her theory of the Shamble Man being a god from MidPass.

As they fly back to the Golden Crescent, with Gum Baby flying, they crash and the doll abandons them as they are surrounded by security. As they are about to be let go, their boss orders them to be taken in. They are brought before Big Big, who takes their belongings. He tries and fails to hang on to his satchel as a servant, Cookie, escorts them away. She informs them that Big Big has already alerted the Shamble Man and promises to get them out with their belongings if they get her her skin. They realize she is Lady Night, and he tells her how she helped out people like himself and his father, just as Gum Baby crashes into the juke joint and unknowingly distracts Big Big. They take the opportunity to take the skin and succeed. As Big Big returns their belongings, she wraps him in a cloak and offers them a meal as thanks while she fixes the SBP. She takes them to a booth in the back and he chastises Tristan for breaking the SBP as Lady Night tosses it into a pot of Jollof Rice. As the Boo Hag explains the SPB needs stories, that risk attracting the Shamble Man, to finish repairs, he and Ayanna offer support for Tristan as he asks the patrons to tell stories of those who helped them during the iron monster attacks. It works but attracts plat-eyes. He, Ayanna, and Lady Night herd them towards the stage as Tristan uses an app to see their story. Soon afterwards the Shamble Man arrives and Tristan calls him by his true name, Brer Bear. As the rogue god nearly lands a blow on Tristan, he hits him with rocks and his true identity as Stone Thrower is revealed as he stays behind the cover his friends escape.

He makes it out when Alke is destroyed and, two days later, Tristan receives a picture of his in his world on the SBP, wearing modern clothing coming out of a gas station with Ayanna and Gum Baby. He is seen chewing bubble gum.

The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities: New Stories About Mythic Heroes

The Gum Baby Files

When in Jackson, Mississippi, Ayanna tells Gum Baby to stop listening to Tristan's message to the displaced Alkeans and scolds her for listening to the message out loud, fearing they would be seen. Gum Baby then rests on his head and the bus they were hiding behind pulls away. Ayanna uses one of his stones to clean sap off her staff as best she can. The three see a group of campers are Junior and Ayanna's age about the enter the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. As they plot their next move, the counselor, Ms. James, mistakes Ayanna and Junior for campers as Gum Baby hides behind Junior. The teens go with Ms. James as she takes Ayanna's bat and has Junior check in his bag. When they enter the museum, they fail to notice a gray cloaked figure close by. As they get into the elevator, Gum Baby rips herself free from his hair, causing him to yelp and Ms. James takes notice of her. Ayanna says she is a stress relief object, but Ms. James does not allow her to keep Gum Baby for the trip and drops Gum Baby, Ayanna's bat, and Junior's pouch into baggage check in. As Ms. James escorts her companions to the elevator, Gum Baby notices a figure made out of gray cloth get in with them and, with help from Granny Z, she gets out to help them.

However he and Ayanna are blamed for Gum Baby's mess due to a security guard finding a sap covered stone on her. Ms. Fields takes the teenagers to her office and Gum Baby watches as she scolds the two and says she is looming for their permission slips and will call their parents. She gets a call from Larry, who cannot find the permission slips, and Gum Baby enters to try and save them and that she found the ghost. However they tell her to return to the lost and found before she gets them into more trouble.

They are brought to the exhibit on Ida B. Wells by Ms. Fields and Larry walking to the exhibit with Ayanna and Junior in tow. The ghost appears, visible to everyone, and drapes itself over the curator and security guard. As it stretches towards the printing press to erase Ida B. Wells, Gum Baby makes a replica of Ever's journal and says the names of Evers, Hamer, and Wells. Junior and Ayanna join in and the ghost goes to grab Gum Baby, however it's tendril gets stuck on her and Gum Baby fires a ball of sap at it.

In the lobby, Mr. Clyde wheels the sap covered ghost, believing it to be part of an exibit, as Ms. Fields demands answers from Junior and Ayanna after none of the counselors can varefy if they are campers. Granny Z comes over with Ayanna's bat and Junior's bag and says they are with her, and their parents are coming soon. Ms. Fields accepts this and leaves. Granny Z says she will take them where they need to go and that someone wants to talk to them. Ayanna speaks into her staff and Mami Wata replays, says Tristan is missing.

Soon after he becomes separated from Ayanna and Gum Baby.

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching

After being separated from Ayanna and Gum Baby, he is taken captive by King Cotton and placed on a train. The haint tells him no one will come for him, but about a week and a half later Tristan finds him just as he was just about to give up on being rescued. They make their way to a trashed and abandoned dining car. Tristan sees his backpack and finds Gum Baby, much to his relief, but no bracelet. Tristan finds Gum Baby's phone and calls the River Queen, learning that John Henry and the other gods have arrived for reinforcements, however his father is not present. The crew of the River Queen rejoice when they learn he has been found, but panic when they learn King Cotton has the bracelet. As Ayanna asks where they are headed, Tristan and Junior enter the next car and Tristan freezes in fear after recognizing the car as an L-train car and realizes Cotton plans to end things in Chicago. They enter the car to find a redliner reading a newspaper. He spots them and tells them to turn around as Harold speaks over the intercom and a breaker appears. The intercom announces the next stop is Bronzeville, his home neighborhood, as Tristan and Junior back into the next car and Lewis, one of the kids Tristan freed, appears from behind. Tristan picks the young boy up and runs into the next car with Junior. Tristan has Junior take Lewis to safety as he fights off the breakers.

As Tristan heads to the lakefront, he, Ayanna, Thandiwe, and John come over to him and they figure out a plan to stop Old Angola. They head to Oakland Beach as Ayanna realizes that all their final battles have happened on a beach, when a group of Redliners blocks them. They tell the children to turn around as members of Rolling Thunder and residents of Bronzeville come out and rally against the Redliners. As the hate group retreats, Tristan and the others advice, but Tristan gives John High John's pouch and tells him to stay behind. When the four get close enough, they see King Cotton syphoning energy from the living plantation as Patty Roller and Twennymiles watch. Cotton then acknowledges Tristan and company.

He listens as the haint taunts them and fights him with Ayanna and Thandiwe as civilians run away. They strike to no avail as Cotton goes to grab Tristan, fortunately John Henry appears and blocks the haint. Cotton attacks John Henry with little success as she and her friends regroup. They watch as Cotton almost over powers the steel driving man and help get civilians away safely. Just then the other gods arrive and box Cotton in, however Tristan realizes it is a trap and warns the gods to late as Patty Roller leads hundreds of breakers into battle against the gods. He, Thandiwe, Tristan, and Ayanna make it to the River Queen and watch as the gods fight King Cotton's forces. The gods put up a fight but soon grow tired. As the others want to help the gods, Tristan refuses. The others berate his decision until he says they should not fight King Cotton, but rather Old Angola. As the others ask how he plans to sneak up to the moving plantation, Tristan points to the sky as Old Familiar flies up to them with Brer Bear, Brer Rabbit, his father, who is freed from the SBP, and a fourth passenger on his back. As Junior stairs at his father and the girls discuss a sneak attack, Tristan jumps into the beach and towards Old Angola. He watches a he takes out both the living plantation and King Cotton.

After the battle, he and the others congratulate Tristan as he exits the ruble that was Old Angola. He, Thandiwe, and Ayanna are given an apartment down the street from Tristan's, paid for by Granny Z, and the four start school together. A month after the incident, upon arriving in home room, they learn their teacher, Mr. Tyson, has moved to Delaware and their new teacher, Mr. Kwaku will be in shortly. When Mr. Kwaku arrives, the four of them, especially Junior, are surprised to learn he is Anansi.

Appearance

Junior is a tall and lean young man with dark skin and dreadlocks tied back in a ponytail.

Personality

Junior is a young man who is not afraid to challenge others and talk back, however he can be serious at times. He feels people are always on him simply for being his father's son.

Abilities

• Agility: Junior is quite agile, being able make tight turns with ease.
• Speed: Junior is very fast.
• Marksmanship: Junior has an accurate aim, being able to hit most targets with ease.

Items

• Satchel: Junior keeps a satchel, which he got from his father, on him at all times. He keeps it filled with stones that he uses to throw at enemies.

Relationships

• Anansi
• Ayanna
• Tristan Strong

Anansi, his father.

Junior greatly loves and respects his father and misses him since he vanished. He is shocked to find him imprisoned in the Story Box Phone. After the Battle of Lake Michigan, he grew concerned when his father vanished unexpectedly and was surprised when he became his teacher.

Ayanna, his friend.

Junior is familiar with and friendly towards Ayanna. They traveled together for a short time after escaping Alke, relaying on one another to escape unintended situations.

Tristan Strong, his friend.

Junior dislikes Tristan and believes he is a false hero. He hates that he stayed to take credit for the defeat of the Maafa, but left when the work of rebuilding had to be done. However, as they travel across Alke together, they form a bond. When Lady Night's Juke Joint is attacked, he sacrifices himself so that the others can escape. When Tristan finds him aboard King Cotton's spirit train, Junior becomes overjoyed to be rescued by his friend.