Hiya!
New story I haven't been working on due to school, but winter break gave me at least enough of a kick in the butt to finish a chapter. I have the first 3.5 chapters outlined, but I'm in school for mechanical engineering and I'm overloading next semester, so we shall see about upload schedules.
I don't know why I loved the idea of Percy working at a marine center on an island and it isn't in the first chapter, but Annabeth is remotely doing architecture classes while working on a cruise ship. Not a trope you see much, but I just think it really fits their personalities.
Disclaimer: I don't have the energy to write two books a year, so I must not be Rick Riordan and thus do not own the characters.
Percy tried to make it look like his scowl was only a reaction to the blaring sun. Really, he was reacting to the humiliation of acting as tourist-herder. He'd been in the public uniform before: white shorts that required white boxers below and a Hawaiian shirt with light blue flowers and the Marine Preservation Center logo over his breast. Anytime they fed animals who were on the center's tour route they had to wear this outfit.
But the real affront was the flag. While the Center's colors were teal, navy, and white, they insisted on ordering the cheapest traffic-cone orange flags for the unluckiest employees to attract the sunburnt tourists with. Today, that job fell to Percy Jackson. He had been assigned to do an educational boat tour, explaining basic ecology and how humans are killing the ocean (without offending anyone). He'd left the bus driver driving around the block while he collected the tour group. Percy sighed, squinting in the bright sun. While it was only eighty-five degrees outside, the heat was beating off the dark asphalt of the docks and the slowly-growing crowd from the cruise ships on either side. He held a clipboard with his guests' names in one hand and the atrocious flag in the other. His black hair was, as usual, causing sweat to roll down the sides of his face.
There were only two upsides to this new boat-tour position. First, he'd finally be on a boat again. Since he was twelve, Percy had loved being on the water. He'd grown up in New York City with an amazing mother who worked minimum wage jobs. Percy's father reentered the picture and connected to his son through sailing when Percy was in middle school. He had fallen in love with the peace of being out on the water and wound up in marine zoology. Secondly, Percy hoped he'd get to share his passion for marine life with kids. Seeing a spark of interest in a young person's eyes as they saw a crazy-looking fish for the first time would definitely make this neon-filled hell worth it.
The people on his list began to arrive, flocking around the flag like moths to a lantern. Group by group, Percy was disappointed. These were all the stereotypical tourists: the richie-rich guy and his wife with a ridiculously wide-brimmed hat, the tourists from Japan who didn't know much English, a southern family with a bratty teenage boy and a snot-nosed 8-year-old girl. It was already past the time they were supposed to leave. Percy peered intently around the dock while keeping up small talk with his customers as the crowds started to thin.
Motion caught Percy's eye. About thirty yards away, a thin man with a young girl on his shoulders followed by a thin woman lugging a beach bag started bustling towards the orange flag like a self-destructing moth to a flame. Then he saw a flash of gold from the ship ramp the stragglers had come from. It was as if the world zoomed in as Percy focused on the source: a woman standing with other employees in crisp suits from the cruise line, holding a clipboard in one hand and winding her hair into a bun absentmindedly with the other. Her hair is what had flashed, brilliant gold that it was. From this distance, he couldn't see the exact color, but her eyes were light in a golden-tan face. She had a small smile on her face as she conversed with the other uniformed folks.
"Sorry we're late," the man panted, reclaiming Percy's attention. "Those cruise line people are terrible, we had to call the manager after they lost our itinerary." The wife (Percy noticed a ring on her left hand) smiled apologetically. Percy saw the beach bag cutting into her shoulder. With another quick glance toward the Olympian cruise ship, Percy cranked up a customer-service smile and flourished his flag.
"No problem, the bus is this way."
It is 10 in the gods-damned morning, Annabeth thought judgmentally as a couple in their 50's stumbled toward the dock ramp in a tipsy haze. Why would you possibly want to get drunk this early, let alone before going to an island known for its good rum?
But as the manager of offshore excursions for The Athena of Olympian Cruises, she had to not only help the hedge-fund alcoholics resolve their inability to choose an excursion before the day-of but also do it with a smile. Annabeth had become better than she'd like at presenting a 'the customer is always right' attitude while guiding dupes to the easiest solution for her by using a sickeningly sweet voice and a few manipulation tactics she'd pulled from an Intro to Psych book. The line at the faux-marble customer service desk dwindled as most guests found their ways onto the deck and to various flag-waving tour guides. From the desk, Annabeth could just see one of the exits, the bright white of another cruise ship across the dock glaring through waves of heat.
A clattering of footsteps and rustling bags broke her out of her reverie. A man, a woman, and a child were barreling towards the counter. One of the usual customer service agents, Will, called them over. Annabeth saw a panic build behind Will's eyes as the man spoke rapidly through pants about their itinerary and the email it had been on. Will followed protocol to the best of his best abilities, typing in the last name of the guest.
"I… don't see it. I'm sorry, sir. You don't have any reservations today associated with your name."
The couple started to get agitated and Annabeth saw a wail start to rise in the little girl perched on her father's shoulders. Time to intervene, she thought, walking the fifteen feet to them.
"Hello," she said sweetly. "I'm the manager of excursions, Annabeth. What's the issue we are having?"
Pretending you don't know anything about what's happened to get them to slowly reiterate the problem, first step in calming a guest.
"We need our itinerary for the day so we can confirm ourselves with the tours and we are late for our first thing already. I have it in my email, but apparently the internet cafe is closed for shore days?" The man spoke with a deep and gruff voice.
"Let's see…" Annabeth stepped into Will's place in front of the computer. "Mr… Taylor? Was the email direct from us to you? Did you make all the reservations in your name?"
The man sputtered before explaining that no, his mother-in-law had set up the excursions to use her frequent-cruiser discount.
"Uh-huh… that would do it as excursions can be separated from your personal guest account despite having your name on the itinerary," Annabeth pretended to type something in the computer, but was actually just backspacing Mr. Taylor's name out of the search bar. The guest continued to complain. "Yes, we complain to the IT department all the time, yes, I heard we are getting a software patch when we get back to mainland. Mhm, and your mother-in-law's name? Last name? Yes, here it is. And…. print! Will, would you grab that for me? And a massage certificate for the lady? Yes, thank you, glad I could help, have a nice time on the boat!"
And finally, the desk was cleared. Annabeth took a deep breath, turned to Will, and huffed it out.
"Well, at least we got them out," she said. Will nodded, shoulders starting to relax, smile creeping back onto his face. "I'm going to go check on Luke and Thalia down on the ramp, see if they survived."
To look official, she grabbed a clipboard of random policies as she headed out onto the deck. The heat hit her immediately, but luckily the white suit jacket and pants were made of cotton that was breathable, if not stain resistant. Her friends, Luke and Thalia always managed to get assigned to work on the same ramp in their roles as valet and security respectively. They got to joke and laugh their way through the most brutal heat and rudest travelers. Annabeth greeted them and was about to tell them about the intense dude she'd just handled when the very same group of three ran down the ramp. They looked even more panicked as they blew past. Maybe the little kid had needed to pee, Annabeth mused. She ran her hand through her hair to get it off her neck.
"That was who I was about to tell you about."
Annabeth's eyes followed the guests' beeline towards a tour group. The extraordinarily orange flag didn't have a logo on it. Then its bearer took a casual step back from the group. Annabeth's eyebrows rose unprompted. A tall man with black wind-blown hair was holding the flag. The sun was glinting almost green off his hair and even from this distance, she could see his eyes were a similar color. She recognized the logo and flowered shirt from one of the pamphlets she constantly distributed. His arms were shapely but not bulky, his calves looked like he ran or maybe swam. The shape of his torso definitely indicated swimming.
"...Sounds like a nightmare." Annabeth quickly turned her head back toward her friends. Luke had been sympathizing. The heat was radiating from the asphalt of the dock, so she pulled her hair off her neck and twisted it up. Wish I had a hair tie, she thought.
"It wasn't the worst thing," she replied. "Seriously, though, look at the gorgeous guy leading the tour group they're headed towards. Two o'clock."
"It's eleven, 'Beth," Luke said, but Thalia got the memo and discreetly shifted her body to look for the man. "Ohhh, right." Luke glanced quickly.
"Keep looking at me, Annabeth," Thalia said with quiet urgency. "He is completely checking you out."
Despite the warning, Annabeth flicked her eyes back toward the flag. Had he been so flushed a second ago? For the rest of the day, her face carried an unconscious smirk.