Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Percy Jackson characters. Rick Riordan does Curses!
Conversations With My Dad, the Sea God
Chapter 1 I'm Feeling Miffed, Life Sux
Hello. My name is Perseus Orion Jackson, and I'm a demi-god and son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson. And I am 19 years old, nearly twenty. And I don't know where my life started taking such a wrong turn.
I just got to Camp Half-Blood, about an hour ago. I've been coming here since I was 12, and it was the usual long and torturous drive from New York City. My own car, a Ford (found on road dead) old p.o.s. something or other barely made it here, overheating all the way, or just about. My dad wanted to buy me a really cool sports car, maybe a Maserati. (Hey! A Maserati was good enough to get out of the Lotus Casino in!), and since he's the god of the seas, he has the money to get me pretty much anything! All that sunken treasure, ya know? Not to mention all that oil and natural gas, gold, silver undersea mines… One day….?
But my mom put the brakes on that, saying that the insurance alone would kill us and the car would just get stolen, what with us not having a safe garage to put it in. We live in a walk-up apartment in NY City, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan along East 93rd St, between 3rd and 2nd Aves, and mom was absolutely correct on both scores. At least my present wheels were so forlorn that even dedicated local car thieves stayed away from it!
And the insurance I was paying was bad enough since I was under 21; I'm currently paying $150 per month basic liability. (Too much, I know, Right?!) New York is really bad that way. It seemed that what money we did have went for my schooling and transportation. I was attending Kingsborough Community College/Maritime Services Division in Manhattan Beach, near Sheepshead Bay in Queens (my grades have never been good, but the great Italian food in that neighborhood is a real plus! Pizza! Pies big enough for me to swim in! Yum!).
That's right on the Atlantic Ocean, so I'm always close to water. I once got to school by swimming (I can swim really fast) when my car's heater decided it was too tired to work. Thank the gods, or at least my dad that I can stay dry while in the water, and that even as cold as it can get, I'm never affected by the temperatures. And thanks also that no one saw me exiting the surf on the beach just a few blocks from my school's campus. Hard to explain a thing like that, especially in February!
Fortunately for me, Leo and Calypso's Garage made demi-god tows and service a priority, so I had my car fixed with a new heating system AND a new a/c unit as a bonus. Never mind the ladies, this demi-god loves da Leo! And has a real soft spot for HIS lady, Calypso!
It's a long haul to school, but an apartment would cost even more in Manhattan Beach than the cost of running my shitbox car. My up-to-that point girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena (goddess of wisdom and battle strategy) had been accepted to and had completed her first year at Cooper Union University's Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture. It was one of the most difficult and the BEST schools for architecture in the NY City area to get into, and it's located in the East Village, around E 7th St and 3rd Ave, which is a kind of cagey area in Manhattan. It's also a very expensive, kind of hip neighborhood, still. The East Village close by what used to be CBGB's and still is McSorley's Ale House.
But Annabeth wound up with scholarships up the ying, along with grants that enabled her to live as she needed. Not in luxury, but as needed. Her mom would have bankrolled her completely in return for Annabeth being the Architect of Olympus and rebuilding the same after the Second Titan War. It was the least the gods could do, considering what an extraordinary job she was doing. But Annabeth did not want to deal with her mother constantly meddling in her life as a result of accepting the "Olympian Financial Aid package". My mom felt the same way for us, too.
Mom's now married to my high school English teacher, Paul Blofis and neither of them want my real dad sniffing around us, which was one of the reasons why she downed the Maserati idea. Add to the mix the fact that Athena literally hates my guts. And my dad's. This kind of attitude keeps the Divine parents at "arm's length distance". Honestly, I think it's probably the best way to go here, much more desirable. Except maybe for me (still thinking "Maserati" here).
Annabeth has been growing distant with me for the past two or three months. She lives with two other women in a two bedroom walk-up apartment on West 48th street between 8th and 9th Avenues. That's in Hell's Kitchen and that can be a really rough area. Unfortunately for the locals, Annabeth can kick some extremely serious gloutos. That's Greek for 'podex'. And she had to a couple of times. Even I watch my back more closely than usual in that neighborhood. Hey, I even have to watch out when Annabeth and I spar! Annabeth now carries a Yawara stick for fighting. She uses it like a dagger, and also for judo holds. And for her housekeys Ouch! Lol!
We haven't had a lot of time together this year, and the strain of it is starting to really show. I know she's been hanging out with a girl friend of hers, and quite a bit more than usual. And from what her one roommate, Tova told me a couple of weeks ago, her "girlfriend" might be a bit 'more' than just a girl who's a friend. To make matters worse, her 'friend' is a mortal, and not a demi-god.
How to deal with this? Is it normal for grown women to sleep in the same bed together, given their age? Regularly?
Annabeth has been blowing off our regular nights together as well as the weekends when she would come over and spend the day with me, mom and my step-dad Paul. And Paul is a lot of fun to spend time with. He's the kind of "regular" dad I'd always wished for when I was still growing up. We all always had fun, just like a regular family. Pizza, popcorn, my mom's blue chocolate chip cookies (MMM! Better than ambrosia, according to Zeus! He got two dozen last winter solstice, mom was feeling generous, and Hera blessed mom cuz the queen split them with her hubby), and we'd have a full Sunday dinner. Hestia is proud of my mom, too!
We would study together, go to a movie, go to a museum, the Planetarium, or (during the warmer weather) Lincoln Center for a free concert at the Damrosch Bandshell depending on the weather. Sometimes we'd all go to the DelaCorte Theatre in Central Park for free Shakespeare performances. It's performed at a theatre built just like the original Stratford-on-Avon theatre that was built for the Bard's plays back then, back in England. Sometimes we'd see really famous actors playing and for free, such as Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, John Malkovich, Jon Cusack, Madonna; you name them! A great evening if you can understand the lines. Middle English, hah! It's all Greek to me.
Annabeth suddenly stopped coming over about two months ago, pleading study problems mostly, and once she even used the excuse 'womens' problems'. But for the past two weeks, no excuses at all. My mom offered to speak to Annabeth but I said no. It was my problem. I had to fix it. And so here I was, back at camp by myself. Annabeth had come out a month ago, just as soon as her classes were done until fall. That left me feeling kind of in the lurch as well. I still had a few weeks left and so I couldn't just pick up and leave for camp… and her.
So after school let out, I packed and left for camp. My mom made the usual fuss, and then both mom and Paul sat me down and tried to discuss "my problem" with Annabeth. They made sense, but I'm still the kind of guy who's gotta see things for himself. The next morning I left for camp about dawn. It's a long drive to that place; the North Shore of Long Island is a kind of a long and difficult drive. It's a solid 110 miles from Manhattan to Orient Point. There's a Long Island Railroad stop in Port Jefferson, and after that a few more stations as far as Orient Point. But driving is less time than the train and I made the trip in about 2 hours and not the 4 hours that the train would take me. The Long Island Expressway ends out in Riverhead by the Splash Splash Water Park (Yep! That's my dad's!), and then it's state road 25A to Mattituck. Then go north about 10-15 miles on local roads to what the mortals call Baillie Beach Park. There's a small River there; this is all inithe Northern Branch of Long Island, and would usually take a family about 4-5 hours to get out there from midtown New York. Thalia says Artemis' Hunters can run that in about an hour. Go look at the map and figure THAT ONE out! Huh. I'd like to see which road THEY take!
When I got there and parked my car in the lot provided for adult campers and families dropping off the ""summer only" campers, I saw a few old faces; there was Katie Gardiner, and both Stoll brothers. Chris Rodriguez was coming back from training and walking with him was Clarisse LaRue, in fully modern and modified Greek-styled battle armor. They'd been a real couple ever since Dionysus cured Chris of his Labyrinth-induced madness back about 4 years now. I think it'd finally gotten romantic because Clarisse was laughing. She NEVER laughs.
Lacey and Mitchell, two of Aphrodite's more reputable childrena and two of my absolute favorites waved to me and ambled on over. We chatted happily enough for about two or three minutes and were then joined by Drew Tanaka. Now don't get me wrong; Drew is knockout beautiful, and her makeup is always perfect. Her clothes leave little to the imagination however, and always emphasize and (dare I say it) overexpose her "very womanly charms".
Her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt fits a bit tight, plus it's been cropped almost to her... you know. And she can't really help that fit. Not with what she's packing! What she's got underneath that t-shirt is really amazing! And her jeans shorts are almost Daisy Dukes. Not quite; not allowed here, but just a bit of cheek showing atop some really lovely long legs. And her hair; it always smells of citrus and strawberries. And I've seen her in her bikini. What very little there was of the bikini. WOW. Yeah...
Chiron had to instruct her to get back indoors and cover up as the "bikini" was more like a micro bikini. Two postage stamps and some silken floss holding up an eye patch. No high heels on the grass, though. Now that would have been too far overboard! And here she was, in front of me, stepping right into my up close personal space. Honestly? I don't know how Chiron managed to keep himself "tucked in". He IS part horse you know! There's no hiding anything on that old horse, and he IS an elder son of Kronos, don't forget. Some things are just more so on demigods, and Chiron is "larger than life" in 'that certain area'. And I could see back then that even he was 'getting sweaty' around Drew that day! One of the consequences since we'd made the demi-god world a much safer place to live longer in.
Lacey was abruptly cut off in mid-sentence by Drew; Mitchell's face screwed itself up and he made a gagging sound. Drew ignored him. "Well hi, Percy," she purred at me. I could feel the warmth of her smooth and tanned thigh against mine. She kept on pressing against me, her breasts just about reaching my upper abdomen… I had gotten taller (6'2") and filled out some over the last year. To say I was buff would be putting it mildly. A six pack? Try an eight pack in the abs; all those last eight years of training. My shoulders came in like a quarterback's. My arms? Muscular. Think like Arnold Schwarzenegger. And I still had an overall swimmer's body. Olympian grade? Pfft!
Lacey fortunately got in between us and firmly pushed Drew backward about three feet. I couldn't believe how much little Lacey had grown up! "Drew! Stop that rubbing yourself all over poor Percy! He's taken already, and you know how loyal he is! Are you looking for Annabeth to kick your perky ass all over camp?!"
At that point Mitchell joined in; "Cripes! You'd think she never gets any!" I started blushing like never before! And Drew just stood there laughing. "Percy is a BIG boy. He knows what he wants". All of a suddenly, Lacey, who was now standing with her shapely little butt against my… personal space, stiffened up and looked shocked. So had I, and that was the problem.
She sort of tiptoed away choking out a "SeeyoulaterPercy!" as she walked away, blushing heavily. Mitchell gave me a sympathetic look and said, "Lucky bastard"! I was blushing too, because while Drew had gotten me hard, Lacey's little derriere had gotten me harder. And Lacey had backed right into me, full contact. Oh boy.
Drew just stood there laughing almost uncontrollably. "That was probably Lacy's first time feeling a man at high mast! Was it good for you, too?" I tried to answer her, but found my mouth wasn't really working quite right. I'm really big on boundaries and mine had been thoroughly invaded. And as aroused as I was, I was even angrier at Drew.
And all of a sudden, like a bell, the sweetest voice I'd ever known, next to mom's: "Seaweed Brain! There you are!" My Annabeth… or at least I hoped she was still 'my' Annabeth. "Drew. Well. What are you doing here?", she demanded of the tempting siren standing next to me. "Well, Annabeth. Hello. I was just saying hello to Percy here; you'll both have to excuse me, as something… came up". Drew turned on her heel and strutted and shimmied away, giggling and laughing; even Aphrodite must have trouble being proud of that one.
Or maybe not? You can never tell with a god; they just aren't like us. No, I'm really serious! They aren't like us at all!
"So what was that all about, big boy?" asked Annabeth, looking at my still hard package. One thing about being a child of one of the Big Three, they aren't called "big" for nothing. And that extends to their children. You should see Thalia's chest! REALLY BIG. But getting back to Earth, Annabeth and I had made out loads of times, and we had done some… stuff. But never all the way. Not quite. Neither of us was comfortable with 'that' yet. My attention was now completely on my Wise Girl.
"Uhhh, nothing. You know Drew. She just never stops", I stammered out. "Yeah, sure, I have two eyes", she said smiling at me. Oh thank the gods, she wasn't angry! What a RELIEF! I mean, who can resist reacting to a babe like Drew, or Lacey for that matter? Especially since Lacey turned 16 this year; Oh boy! What a beauty she was turning into! I hoped I hadn't scarred her for life! It's a really good thing that Annabeth knows me as only loyal to just her. Waitaminnit; she wasn't angry. Why not?
"Seaweed Brain, we gotta talk later, after dinner. Look, I know I haven't been there much lately, and I need to tell you what's been going on with me. Honestly, if I didn't have you to talk to I don't know what I'd do sometimes, and I've missed you".
I wasn't sure I liked what she was saying, so I asked her, "What's up, Wise Girl? I've missed you, too. So has mom and Paul. It's been about eight or nine weeks now. Where ya been"?
"Later, Percy. Right now I have to get to the Arena. I'm teaching Knife Fighting in five minutes. See you after at dinner?" I knew I wouldn't get anywhere with Annabeth like this, so I just mumbled " 'K Wise Girl" and let it go at that. But I felt put off by Annabeth, yet again.
How long was this gonna go on? I really needed to talk with someone. But who?
O-KAY! So we see where his life is at, sort of, so far. And if you don't mind, please do leave a review. All encouragement gratefully accepted! And even some constructive criticism!