@kindofuneven || sort of planned, sort of unplanned starter (you know what you did, dumblr (¬､¬))

“You should see the other guy.”

Of course, the funniest part of that statement was that Percy couldn’t even see himself to compare, but he felt fine. Maybe by the fault of adrenaline. Maybe just because, Wow, it’s not like I’m not used to getting roughed around a little bit here and there; this is nothing. Or maybe, just maybe, he was equally as distracted examining his friend’s face: any nicks that wouldn’t already heal all on their own in that cheaty werewolf way, any sign of pain that wasn’t just . . . Man, Scott was concerned again. When was Scott not concerned, honestly—?

“Get me a bottle of water or something; I’ll be good,” Percy said with the shrug of a kid who’d just scraped his knee and was being fussed over by a concerned mom. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll go jump in the nearest body of water. I dunno— Frankly, I’ve got a bigger bone to pick, McCall.” He leaned back, but his attention didn’t once flicker from Scott’s face: eye contact secured and basically screaming, You know what you did, young man. “Didn’t I specifically tell you to hang back? What happened?”

@autopsified || cont.

Usually when someone made a remark like “Pinch me” or “Bite me,” it wasn’t actually meant to be taken seriously. But, see, Percy was outside the realm of “usual,” and when he barked comments like that, oh, he was absolutely issuing a challenge; frankly, if someone decided to take him up on it, he was impressed and recognized, Hey, they might actually be on level playing ground in the realm of “weird.” The difference and the unexpected of this specific encounter, though, was less about Medusa meeting his challenge and more about the way she met his challenge.

She could’ve pinched his arm. Anywhere on his arm. There was a lot there to cover: shoulder, bicep, forearm; it wasn’t like her options were limited. Heck, if she really wanted to get up close and personal, even a little twinge to the waist would’ve done the trick. (Would it have been a bit strange . . . ? Sure. But Percy would understand the logic; most people had a sensitive spot there.) What she did . . . could also be categorized as “up close and personal,” but like, more demeaning and basically the kind of gesture Percy would expect from his mom when he was way, way younger—

A small and sharp sting blossomed in one cheek, enough so that he actually flinched and reeled his head back. Effectively, that proud smirk dissolved into a grimace, and before he had time to stop himself, his free hand lifted to rub at the spot he could just tell had turned red. It didn’t make much sense why that warmth seemed to have spread to the other side, too. He decided not to dwell on it.

“Okay, wow, so you’re just gonna . . . say stuff like that. Pretty not cool comparison,” Percy complained, and as if he expected that she’d drawn blood, he checked his fingertips quickly. Satisfied with the lack of noticeable damage (outside of that flush in his face, apparently), his hand closed into a fist, and he met Medusa’s gaze.

Ironically.

“Uh, well, he’s not here currently, but . . . Yeah, he’s ‘allowed.’ Welcomed, really.” At least nowadays. Better not discuss the amount of animosity toward the poor guy years ago. . . . Regrettably not something Percy was entirely guiltless about. “Next time he visits, I’ll introduce you two,” he offered, and that smile returned a touch softer than before. “Bet he’d like you. He’s super friendly. Even with scary girls.” And especially with pretty girls, but Percy would sooner be caught dead than say that out loud.

@stygicniron || cont.

There, see? Eagerness? Gone. Good feelings? Basically held at knifepoint now—and trust him, Percy knew exactly what that felt like.

Look, he was about to duck out of the room real quick, see if he could stealth his way to the kitchen (they didn't need a whole “Nico welcoming party” right now) and swipe a few things from the fridge without his mom lifting a brow at the predictable insatiable appetite of a teenage boy, but Nico’s words froze him. Where the kid got the power to do that, Percy didn’t know. Sometimes all it took was one deliberate look. This time, it was a little bit of that, and the topic Percy loved ignoring… that Nico wouldn’t allow, as long as he was here.

“No—?” Nico’s question was a statement. Percy’s answer was a question. Seemed fair. He oscillated near his door, the hand once reaching for the handle finding better purpose in tugging at the collar of his shirt, like it had suddenly become too tight. More could’ve been said: they still had time, he just needed to think on it (guiltily knowing what he meant was “ignore it”)... Excuses. Those Nico likely had no interest in hearing, so.

Better idea.

“You find anything about your, uh… past, yet?” He could’ve just said “mom.” That was what he wanted to say. Percy wasn’t exactly sure why he avoided it, or why he suddenly felt so anxious to go out into the living room, now—as if his own mom would see the guilt on his face and ask him about it. “You know, if you gave me more information, I might be able to help out on my end.”

@ourdyingwords || cont.

Purposeful as getting under her skin had been, Percy also wasn't kidding. He meant what he said. He and everyone else on board weren't blind and weren't idiots for the most part. As little as Percy knew Leo, Piper, and Jason (compared to others here), what Leo and Eden had going on wasn't subtle. And from what Percy had observed... they really did seem weirdly great together. Which was sometimes funny to see in the same way Hazel and Frank were an odd but adorable couple: Leo with his messy hair, always having some kind of grease or soot on his face, endlessly talkative; and Eden who never set foot on deck without first applying her makeup, silently listening to Leo's rambling and, in most cases, finding some excuse to keep him company when he was tirelessly working on repairs.

Honestly, if Eden's reasoning for wanting to whoop a little venti butt was solely for the sake of doing something nice for Leo, Percy wouldn't have batted an eye. He'd leave it at that; her reasoning was sound, as far as he could tell. But, well, she did have a point about their obnoxiousness, which definitely lined up a lot more with Percy's personal motivations—maybe on top of feeling antsy to do something after he'd been told to stay back like some impudent child when they had their run-in with Hercules.

The irony of him now running off to agitate some monsters without a word to anyone else was lost on him.

Her muttered remark to combat him wasn't, of course, but Percy for once didn't push it; if both or either of them were going to get out there, deal with the issue, and get back before anyone noticed they were gone, standing here bickering for the next hour wasn't doing them any favors. So he let out a steeling exhale, rolled his shoulders and bounced on his heels once or twice to hype himself up. He didn't admit it, but having Eden around meant this might actually be more fun.

“Okay, how much ammo did you bring?” And no, he would never get used to the fact that he was hanging out with a demigod whose weapon of choice was a gun, of all things. (But then again, one of his best friends could just turn into a giant goldfish on command, so who's complaining?) “I can get us both out there, easy, and with you here, we might not even need to get that close... How much are you against me touching you? ... Jeez. Poor phrasing. Follow-up: do you mind getting wet?” Still poor phrasing. He'd get this. “Basically just... Heck, what's the lesser evil of those options? Because I can carry you out there mostly above water or see about some friends coming and getting us. Your choice.”

@ourdyingwords || cont.

The thing is, it wasn’t like Percy hadn’t thought about this before. He wasn’t against it. He knew his mom wouldn’t care; over and over again she’d proven her unconditional love for him, and he’d already decided even this wouldn’t so much as make her bat an eye. (You give birth to the kid of some god, and you pretty much have to be prepared for anything: this was baby stuff in comparison.) Had he gone his whole life just assuming things about himself…? Sure. Every romantic flick had a guy and a girl. Every advertisement for the latest limited edition collection at Kesslers flaunted that norm. Percy just kind of… went along with it.

Which was pretty dumb, when you thought about it. He had never been “the norm.” He was about as outside the norm as he could get. Of course he’d be sailing that same boat even here, of all scenarios. Apparently it just took actually being around a guy who made him double-check his appearance in the mirror, fumble over his words when things got mildly serious, for Percy to finally be like, Yeah, y’know…? I just might. And in the moment, his hesitations had nothing to do with any of… that.

—but all to do with some very similar sentiments rolling around in Carl’s head, too.

“C’mon, man.” He started an impressively more fluent response with a dismissive but heavy sigh, and also a shake of his head to loosen the muscles in his shoulders. “If I gave half a damn about any of that, I’d have driven myself insane by now. It’s not like I’m in the running for prom king or whatever.” Thank gods, too. That sounded worse than listening to one of Chiron’s lectures (sorry, Chiron).

What this probably came down to was some form of denial: something that had convinced him there was nothing to pursue—maybe because Carl wouldn’t be interested, maybe because Percy felt he was hardly ready for something like this. Maybe because, big of a screw-up as he was, he figured even attempting a romantic relationship was basically asking for the universe to make some big joke out of it. Or if not the universe, then—

“Aphrodite has it out for me, y’know.” It seemed like an entirely random comment, but if Carl was going to give Percy warnings about the human world, then Percy could do him one better. “She straight-up told me my ‘love life’ wasn’t going to be easy—basically admitted she’s going to mess around with it because, like… that’s fun for her or something. Heck if I know.” He shrugged lamely. “So, you might wanna try to steer clear of that, if you can.”

@dragetunge || cont.

“That's funny, because I don't really remember asking for your permission.” Percy wasted no time arguing here, like he would perish on the spot if he didn't interject the very second his current critic paused for a breath. While Hiccup was assessing the damage done by a literal tidal wave that had been partially Percy's fault (well, mostly his fault, but for a reason), the “sea child” (thank gods Hiccup chose not to call him that out loud) continued glaring at the horizon. “Look, I saw a chance, I took it, okay? If I had waited for your signal, you'd have a lot more than just water to worry about.”

When he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, he jerked his head and noticed one Stymphalian bird who had fallen behind the rest of its flock when they fled the controlled swell from the sea. Percy summoned another stream of water to whip it where the sun doesn't shine as it took flight. With an offended squawk, the man-eating pigeon hurried off to rejoin its brethren.

“They're gonna come back, y'know; they're probably after me,” Percy said. Whether the birds had been sent by someone far worse or just had a vendetta against him for enjoying an occasional chicken nugget, he didn't pretend to know. “So if anyone's going to follow them and make sure they don't return... well, it sure isn't gonna be you without me.”

@howthesleeplesswander || cont.

So, here’s the thing.

It wasn’t so much that Kazuma was a strict, no excuses kind of instructor—which, yeah, sure, he definitely was, and no one at camp would ever argue that, but… The reason anyone ever felt any amount of disheartened under his keen eye usually had a little something to do with not wanting to disappoint the supremely cool, incredibly skilled and awesome katana guy who showed up whenever he wanted and disappeared like some crazy demigod vigilante. (Who also was considerably attractive, Percy supposed… if the reactions of some half-blood kids and even the dryads were anything to go by.)

Part of Percy knew Kazuma didn’t expect him to excel at this immediately. Then another part of him argued he should, that this technique should be well in hand by now (literally) if he hoped to have any chance against what was coming. Part of him figured he was annoyed at the prospect of letting Kazuma down—letting everyone down. Then another part of him shot back that there was more to this. It wasn’t just about—

He nearly jumped when Kazuma rejoined his side. In the prior few seconds, he’d fallen into somewhat of a trance, one that had him glaring off at the dining pavilion with thoughts of the winter before, of a particular young demigod responsible for the large crack across the floor. Because Percy had failed him (and still continued to).

A murmured “thanks,” and he took the water, downed a few gulps while Kazuma gave him his usual encouragement. He pinched his brows. “Yeah, I know. I mean… You’re right, I just—” He should’ve laughed. Maybe even said something like, What isn’t bothering me? But the energy wasn’t there today, and with some reluctance, Percy met the eyes boring into him. He weighed his options: what he should and shouldn’t talk about, what he could and couldn't trust Kazuma to know. Whatever ended up winning, a loud and practically surrendering sigh came first.

“We can… talk for a minute, if that’s okay. Can we—?” Percy capped Riptide, stowed the sword-turned-pen back in his pocket at the same time as he pivoted toward the nearest bench. He paused only to glance back. “Only if you don’t have someone else, uh… lined up to train anytime soon? I don’t want to interrupt…”

@folkorae || plotted starter for kronos verse annabeth! 👀

You know that feeling like there’s some sort of bubble growing in your gut? It starts small, maybe just a little disturbance that makes it hard to eat, makes you think you’re never hungry because it’s taking up all the space. But then it expands. It presses up into your lungs, shortens your breath, causes everything to feel tight, suffocating, wrong… Eventually, you would give anything for it to burst despite knowing how messy it’d be—

Anything to feel even a fleeting trace of relief.

Okay, good. Now imagine that about a hundred times over. That was a fraction of how Percy felt right about now.

He had maybe a thousand things he wanted to say to her. Give or take a few accusations, dozens of questions, all the emotions accumulating into one massive How could you? And yet all Percy managed to bark (at the burst of that bubble) was “A letter, Annabeth? Really?!” His voice cracked. He didn’t have time to care. Much like he didn’t have time to care about discretion or being even remotely quiet despite literal hours beforehand getting onto Tyson for being “noisy.”

The fact that it was the middle of the night on a ship he wasn’t supposed to be on, right outside a row of suites, shouting at the girl he’d just happened upon—all of that faded into the background. None of that mattered. In those moments that could’ve been hours for how much his perception of time had been royally screwed, Percy saw nothing but her. Thought of no one else. Okay, well, except maybe—

“You know, at least Luke had the decency to be a traitorous jerk to my face.” An older and wiser Percy (aka: the Percy of maybe ten minutes from now) would be astounded and upset at his putting “decency” and “Luke” in the same sentence. “So what’s your excuse?”

@ourdyingwords || cont.

Really, cynical as Percy could be about stuff like this (Get whipped back and forth by gods and prophecies enough times… You try to be gung-ho about the next one), Enid’s presence did a whole lot for his overall mood. That restlessness he usually felt—like a ceaseless churning in the pit of his stomach, an undertow that would yank him in if he didn’t keep moving—lessened while he stood by her side. It was gentler, muted, buried deep enough for the time being that he could simply exist until the next problem came along. (Rather than worrying about when and what it would be.)

She’d always had this effect on him, though. It shouldn’t have been remotely surprising. Even before Percy knew her face, her name, anything about her, Enid was as much a strength as she was a comfort. He couldn’t imagine what he’d be feeling right now if she was leagues away, holed up at camp having nothing to do but worry about Percy ever coming back…

Did he have his doubts and lingering regrets about putting her in danger? Well, here’s one better: Is the ocean salty? Yeah, duh, of course Percy felt that way about anyone under some threat he could prevent—or do his absolute best trying to—but weighing his options here, taking into account Enid’s feelings as well as his own… This was the natural course.

And considering it felt right among so many uncertainties, Percy figured they didn’t do that bad.

“I guess this beats the city, huh?” His smile curved just a touch higher on that cheek she kissed. Neither of them needed a reminder of how that had gone: lessons were learned, filed away, kept safe for future outings that didn’t involve getting sick. He assumed the open air was probably especially good for her, and when Percy turned his head just enough to peer down at her face, he swore she seemed so much more radiant. Which was honestly extremely impressive, as Enid always had this glow to her he never truly figured out how to describe.

He breathed in and out heavily, letting the ocean breeze fill his lungs to full capacity while listening to Enid speak. She had this way of bolstering his confidence without an effort, like her support and trust in him came as easily as blinking. Percy threw an arm around her shoulders and gave her a small squeeze: a quiet thank you, as he’d never fully grasped how to express in words everything she meant to him, and how everything she did for him was worth more than what any god could offer.

“Keep talking like that, and you’re gonna turn me into an optimist,” he joked lightly, his words skirting out on a breathy laugh. “But, y’know? Worse things have and will happen. What’d be impressive is if you start having an effect on Eden.” Percy would sooner see himself kneeling to Ares (again, that is; but he liked to conveniently forget he ever did before) than believing something like that could happen. It was almost scary to think about. “You’re right. Things will be fine in the end… I think. I’d, uh, like to think that.”

tag dump !!