A/N: This was a plot bunny (or, as we say auf Deutschland, a Geistesblitz Kaninchen,) that hopped into my head and refused to leave. It's not a masterpiece, but I don't think it's quite horrible, either. Whatever your opinions please leave a nice little review for me, okay? Danke viel mas.
Jurassic Park
It was Thalia's idea, naturally.
Artemis was out hunting alone again. As the Titans grew more powerful and ancient monsters began to resurface, she was doing this more and more often. She had originally wanted to leave the Hunters at Camp Half-Blood indefinitely, but at their pleading looks and Thalia's tentative reminder that the place held bad memories, she had relented and allowed them to check into a mortal hotel. Thanks to the Mist, the mortals believed that the Hunters were a Girl Scout troop, their epic battle against a pack of hellhounds two days ago had been merely a group of girls shooing away some strays, and Owen the timber wolf was actually a seeing-eye dog. The Hunters were grateful not to be stuck on Long Island, of course, but they were tired, stressed out, and worried about their goddess.
So Thalia suggested they rent a movie.
"Look," she said. "It's been a long week. Why don't we take a leaf out of Apollo's book and—"
Phoebe looked up sharply from across the room. "I swear, Thalia," she said warningly, "If you even think the words 'poetry competition'…" she trailed off meaningfully, her hand drifting toward the enchanted Swiss Army knife in her pocket. It had been a gift from her father on her 25th birthday. It not only had the standard, run-of-the-mill- attachments like a corkscrew, bottle opener and nail file, but also a celestial bronze dagger and a very large double-bladed battleaxe. (It had once had a flamethrower attachment as well, but after setting fire to California seventeen times, Artemis had finally put her foot down and disabled it.)
"Easy, Pheeb," said Thalia, edging warily away from the daughter of Ares. "I was going to say carpe diem, actually. Why don't we try to relax, do something normal for a change?"
And that was how Cynthia had ended up at a Blockbuster down the street, with a mortal five-dollar bill and one rule: No romantic subplot.
She could not believe how hard it was to find a decent movie that followed this rule.
She considered Pinocchio. This not only met the no-romantic-subplot requirement, it also had the added bonus of quite a lot of boys being turned into donkeys. (Of course, jackalopes would have been better, but the mortals simply didn't have the Archeress' imagination.)
Hercules. Cynthia rolled her eyes. Now, there was a good idea. Zoë would—
The huntress cut her thoughts off sharply. Thalia was a wonderful lieutenant, and Cynthia had nothing but respect for her. And yet…as Ari had said once, the Hunters without Zoë just felt…wrong. The statement had been made without her usual cynicism and joking manner. Ari had been extremely fond of Zoë—hero-worshipped her might be the more accurate description, although she rarely showed it—and had become quiet and subdued since her death. Of course, being Ari McMurphy, "quiet and subdued" meant only stealing personal possessions once or twice a day instead of three times an hour, but still. A month ago, she had actually gotten caught stealing something, which was completely unheard-of and showed just how deeply she had been affected.
Cynthia was actually very worried about Ari. When most people looked at the red-haired elven whirlwind, they saw merely a hyperactive young girl, the kind of person you would never, ever consider taking on a road trip because you knew with absolute certainty that they would be singing "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall" the entire time. This was true, incidentally (they had discovered it the hard way) but there was more to the girl than that. She had a very sensitive streak, a fiercely loyal side, and that was why Artemis had invited her to join the Hunt.
Not to mention that she could probably break into Fort Knox if she wanted to. But Cynthia was supposed to be choosing a movie.
She picked up Jumanji. It looked interesting, but just by glancing at the back cover she could tell there was a minor romantic story in there somewhere. Sighing regretfully, she replaced the DVD on the shelf, and her attention was caught by the box next to it.
She read the back cover with increasing enthusiasm. Strong female characters, no romance…perfect.
~*~
"Jurassic Park?" read Thalia. "Doesn't really seem your style, Cynthia, but it's a great choice." She grinned at her second-in-command. Thalia had—with Artemis' permission, of course—offered to step down and let Cynthia take her place as lieutenant. After all, she said, she had been Zoë's second-in command; it was her right if she wanted it. The much older girl had refused, of course, but it had forged a powerful friendship between the two.
"What took you so long?" asked Diana, who was checking that the curtains were firmly closed…for the eighteenth time that night.
"It's almost impossible to find a movie with no romance!" exclaimed Cynthia. "Really, can the mortals think of nothing else?"
"Jurassic Park's a good idea," said Ari, materializing at Thalia's elbow. "The CGI stuff's cool." Ari had disappeared for about ten minutes and returned carrying several bottles of Coke, three bags of popcorn, and a package of her favorite cherry gummy bears. Thalia had no idea how she had acquired these, but had learned quickly not to ask. However, she highly doubted legality had been involved.
Grabbing a bag of popcorn and emptying a large portion of it into a bowl, Thalia flopped down on a bed and turned on the TV. "Couldn't agree more, Ari," she said.
~*~
In many ways, Thalia reflected, watching Jurassic Park with the Hunters of Artemis was like watching it with anyone. They smiled in spite of themselves at the first glimpse of the brachiosaurs, jumped a foot in the air when the velociraptors attacked in the breaker room, and burst into applause when the lawyer was eaten.
However, there were some definite differences. The first was the enthusiastic murmur of approval at the revelation that all the dinosaurs were female. ("Looks like they've got the right idea there!")
When the gallimimus herd made its appearance, Diana gave an appreciative whistle. "Now, those would be good hunting!" she whispered to Alene. "Better than hellhounds, at any rate."
"Yeah!" said Alene. "But raptors would be better. They're smart, they would be difficult to hunt."
"It's been ages since we've had a decent challenge," agreed Cynthia. "Well, the drakon was fun, but—"
"fun?" demanded Diana. "That stupid lizard almost killed me!"
They continued like this until Kim hissed at them to shut up, she was trying to listen to people getting eaten.
They shut up, and for a while the room was quiet except for the sounds of Tori's soft murmuring as she described the various dinosaurs to Kim, the crunch of popcorn, and screams of terror and violent disembowelment from the screen.
When the raptors entered the kitchen, Ari surprised all present by clambering over Cynthia's legs to curl up next to Thalia.
"What're you doing?" asked the lieutenant, unconsciously covering her silver bracelet with her other hand.
"Can I sit with you?" whispered Ari. "I'm scared."
Thalia was surprised at first, but then, after all, immortal Ari may way have been, but she was still a ten-year-old girl. "Sure you can," she replied soothingly, putting her arm around the tiny girl. A slow smile spread across her face. She hadn't fully realized it herself, but this was the sign of acceptance she had been craving. She felt a glow that had nothing to do with her strange silvery aura. It was a warm, wonderful feeling that this girl looked to her for protection and guidance, that she was a safe port in a storm, that Ari trusted her to keep her safe and—
"—Thalia?" said Kim suddenly, from her position at the foot of the bed.
"Yeah?"
"I just thought you might want to know—Ari's eating your popcorn."
Looking down, Thalia found that, as usual, Kim's excellent hearing had been correct. The familiar devilish gleam was back in Ari's bright blue eyes as she glanced up at Thalia. "What?" she said defensively.
Thalia considered being angry, but it just didn't work. She shook her head disbelievingly, then placed the half-full bowl of popcorn between them. Unable to stop an affectionate smile from creeping into existence, she ruffled Ari's short red hair and whispered, "help yourself, then, you little…"she trailed off, trying to find an appropriate word.
"Flibbertigibbet?" suggested Cynthia.
"Will-o-the-wisp?" suggested Diana.
"Clown," said Phoebe with finality.
"Shut up," said Kim.
"How do you solve a problem like McMurphy?" sang Ari.
Kim hit her with a pillow, and she shut up. But Thalia noticed that she didn't move from the lieutenant's side until the end credits rolled and there was no more chance of a carnivorous dinosaur appearing out of nowhere, and that thought—the thought that Ari felt safe near her, that is, not the thought of being safe from dinosaurs--made Thalia happier than she had been in a long time.
Although she wasn't looking forward to explaining to Lady Artemis why Ari would be humming show tunes for the next three months…