I don't own Percy Jackson, obviously, or else I wouldn't be writing fan fiction instead of the real thing.

Chapter Two: First Impressions

"... with your councilor. Now, you'll be staying at the Hermes cabin until you are claimed by your godly parent, as long as your godly parent is another Olympian that is. Oh, and be sure to not wander into other cabins, especially the Artemis cabin. Wouldn't want you turning into a jackalope on the first day..."

Now in the office room of the Big House, Percy listened to Chiron lecture about camp rules listlessly. He was much more interested in trying to figure out how in the Hades the centaur managed to fit such a huge horse body into a wheelchair, all covered under a blanket.

After the whole ordeal with the Minotaur and the hellhounds, the demigod wasn't really surprised to find out that his history teacher had been the legendary trainer of heroes. He figured that someone had to know about training the campers, not only because that was the whole point of the camp, but also because after meeting the director, he knew no one else would've done so.

-Flashback-

Percy was still gawking at Chiron's 'transformation' when Beckendorf left to go check on his cabin. It wasn't every day that a history teacher go from being a scholarly cripple to a scholarly horse man.

"Now, as I'm sure you've guessed, I am Chiron, the legendary trainer of heroes. If you had any doubts about your learning while at camp, then rest assured, for I have several thousands of years of experience," Chiron announced with pride, until he looked at his student to find him inspecting his discarded wheelchair.

"Yeah, sure, so how'd you fit in here again?" Percy asked, causing Chiron's face to shift into a deadpan expression.

"Percy, I-" whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the creaking of the front door and the sound of heavy footsteps.

Percy and Chiron watched as a chubby guy with hair and a beard so black it almost looked purple, wearing a leopard Hawaiian shirt and carrying a diet coke in his hand walked around the corner.

He noticed them fairly quickly, and his eyes drifted from Chiron to Percy, where they turned from annoyed to even more annoyed. Percy squirmed at the intensity of the man's stare, but met his eyes in defiance, almost expecting a fight.

"Mr. D," Chiron finally said, after a few seconds of awkward tension, "I didn't expect you to come back so early."

'Mr. D' glanced over Chiron before rolling his eyes and taking a seat next to him behind the desk. "Yes, well my dear father decided to dismiss the council early after he got into a spat with Hera. Not like there's anything new there, but I'm sure he just wanted to save himself the embarrassment of getting chastised by his wife in public," he drawled out.

Thunder boomed, and Percy looked out the window only to see clear blue skies. Before he could ask about it, Mr. D addressed him after a sip of his diet coke. "So I guess this is the one you've been observing the past few months. What's your name, brat?"

Percy almost called him a fat geezer in response, but stopped himself, seeing as the 'fat geezer' was sitting behind that desk like he belonged there, which he probably did.

"It's Percy Jackson," he said as politely as he could, though the attempt was ruined by the death glare he was focusing on the man.

Mr. D didn't seem to notice how the young demigod tried to burn a hole through his forehead, and if he did he didn't seem to care. With a long, drawn out sigh he said, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Perry Johnson. I am Mr. D, camp director, and I expect you to blah, blah, blah."

The camp director looked at Chiron. "You can take care of this outside Chiron, I'll be in my office if you need me, which you hopefully won't."

He waved his hand at the door, and before Percy could tear him a new one, Chiron tightly gripped the hero-in-training's shoulder and led him out of the office and to the common room.

After taking a seat, Percy glared at his trainer. "Who does that guy think he is?" he asked with crossed arms. Chiron gave him a stern look before rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"That was Mr. D, also known as Dionysus, god of madness and wine," he said.

Percy's eyes grew to the size of diner plates. "That was a god? You're kidding me right?"

Chiron looked at Percy right in the eye and shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, that was a god. You'd be surprised at how most of them are, though I must warn you," his voice turned deadly serious, "do not antagonize them. You are but an ant to the power of the gods. They could crush you with a flick of the wrist."

Percy narrowed his eyes, but nodded for the sake of his teacher. If all gods were like Mr. D, it might be hard to stay respectful...

-Flashback-

"-cy! Percy!"

Chiron shook Percy from his memories with a hand on his shoulder. "Are you even listening Percy?" he asked exasperatedly.

Percy blinked twice, then nodded. "Yeah, you said that since I already know pretty much everything on the introduction video, someone's coming to give me a tour, right?"

Chiron closed his eyes and sighed. "I wish I knew how you do that," he said blandly.

Percy gave him a cheeky smile and shrugged his shoulders. "I'll tell you when I figure it out myself."

The sound of a door opening prevented the old centaur from giving a retort. The shoes hitting the wooden floor came closer until Percy set his eyes at the girl that had just walked into the common room.

She looked about his age, with blonde hair so dark it could've been mistaken for brown, and light hazel eyes. Like everyone else, she wore the orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, though it was riddled with dirt and purplish stains. The girl was pretty, but quite obviously needed a bath. She must've also been used to it, because she came with no regard for her mud-covered face and tangled hair.

The girl walked up to him and took off her right glove, showing an unblemished and clean hand, a stark contrast to the rest of her body. "My name is Katie Gardner, and I assume I'm here for you?" she asked, sticking out her hand.

"Percy Jackson," he introduced himself, gripping her hand a little too firmly, though she didn't seem to mind. "Um... Yeah, I guess you're supposed to show me around." He stood up and, to his annoyance, found her to be taller than him by an inch or two.

They both turned to Chiron, who looked them over. "Here, Percy," he said, holding out an orange bundle. Percy took it and held it out, spotting the camp logo proudly printed on his new shirt.

Chiron gave him a warm smile. "I'll see you at another time. I'm sure you'll do great things here, just please don't do anything reckless!"

Percy smiled at his teacher's faith in him. "You got it, Chiron," he said with a firm nod. "I'll see ya around."

"Come Percy, dinner starts in a few hours," Katie told him, patiently waiting for him at the door.

"Uh, yeah! Let's go," he stammered, cursing Chiron in his mind when he heard the horseman chuckle quietly behind him.

He followed Katie out the front door and down the path leading to the cabins. Chiron watched them go from a window, then chuckled lightly to himself as he made his way to his room. "Great things indeed," the centaur murmured, getting ready to take a quick nap before dinner was served. It had been a long day.

Percy kept pace with Katie as she showed him around the grape fields. He figured she must've come from working there, as it would certainly explain why she looked so messy.

"... and even though we could make wine out of them, we're not allowed to, since Mr. D would probably try to get some. Not that it matters, there's lots of other things we can use the grapes for, like..."

"So, Katie," Percy interrupted, not really wanting to hear another grape lecture, "I guess you know an awful lot about plants."

Katie didn't seem to mind the interruption, as she just rolled her eyes and answered. "Yeah, well I am a daughter of Demeter. Plants are kind of our thing."

Percy perked up with interest. "Can you control nature then? Like, grow trees and stuff?"

Katie laughed at that. "No, nothing like that. I can make some small plants grow, but trees is out of my league."

Percy frowned a bit. Why wouldn't children of the goddess of agriculture be able to control things other than grapes? Maybe they just didn't train their powers enough? He was about to voice his opinion when he realized something else.

"Is it a coincidence that your name is Gardner and you're a daughter of Demeter, or did your dad name you that as a joke?" he asked with a smirk.

They sat down on a bench at the entrance to the grape fields.

"You're not the first to say something like that you know," Katie responded with a small laugh. "My dad's last name is Gardner, and he's also a gardener, so I guess Mom thought it was a once-in-a-life-time chance."

"A gardener named Gardner?" Percy asked.

Katie shrugged her shoulders. "Might as well, right?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, no reason to tempt fate. Sometimes you just gotta do the obvious thing," he looked her over. "Maybe you should do the obvious thing and go take a bath, it looks like you rolled around in a mud puddle."

Katie scoffed. "If you think this is bad you should see me on days when I don't get off early. Thanks for that by the way. I like tending the fields, but it's a lot of work and it's nice to get a break every once in a while."

Percy quirked his lips. "You're giving me a tour remember? How's that a break?"

Katie grinned at him. "Talking with you has been a lot better than watching over some grapes. But you're right, I'm supposed to be showing you the camp, so let's get going." With that, she stood up and made her way out of the grape fields and into the camp proper.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked, looking at him over her shoulder. "Get over here already!"

Percy snorted before standing up, taking his camp shirt and stuffing it in his bag. "I'm going, I'm going."

The Apollo cabin was golden. No, really, it was made of solid gold, and it was very, very bright.

"How do they even sleep? I'm going blind just by looking at it!" Percy complained, holding his arms in front of his face to try and block out what felt like a continuous camera flash directly in front of him.

The Apollo campers didn't seem to mind the intense light, as they were easily walking to and fro with no care for the miniature sun that they lived in. The blonde hair they all seemed to share looked almost white with all the light reflecting off it, making things worse for any other camper in the area.

"I don't know honestly, never really thought about it," Katie told him while mimicking his actions. Even after years of going to camp she still wasn't very used to the sun god's cabin, and didn't think she'd ever be. "Come on, I try not to look at it as much as possible, or else I'd burn my eyes out."

As they walked, Percy noticed several campers turning to look at him. Some looked confused, some looked slightly jealous, but most had an expression he couldn't believe was directed at him of all people.

Admiration.

What had he done to deserve this? 'I just got here today,' he thought, 'unless... Beckendorf must've told them about the Minotaur. But that can't be it, right? It couldn't of been that big of a deal if someone with no skill or training killed it.'

At least Katie hadn't noticed, or she thought that everyone was staring at him because he was new. He didn't really know how to deal with it yet, and was hoping it didn't come up any time soon.

The two kept walking until they reached the Artemis cabin, which seemed to be solid silver, a sharp contrast to the gold plated flash bomb next door. It was decorated with pictures of animals, most of them being the stag.

"Not hard to figure out which this one's for," Percy muttered.

Katie nodded. "Yeah, it also shines at nighttime, just not as much as Apollo's." Almost as an afterthought, she also said, "And don't go in, it's bad enough to take up her space, but since you're a boy it would not end well."

Percy remembered what Chiron said about Artemis and jackalopes.

"No worries there," he said quickly. "Let's keep going, I'd rather stay away from this one as much as possible."

Katie smirked at him. "What?" she asked jokingly. "Scared of being turned into an animal? I'm sure you'd get used to it."

Percy met her smirk with his own. "Look who's talking. You still need a bath by the way."

Katie rolled her eyes and walked toward the brick cabin filled with smokestacks and the sound of steel hitting steel. "The Hephaestus cabin," she presented.

Something at the back of his head told him to hide behind something. All the Hephaestus campers were at least twice as big as he was, hammering away at a sword or a piece of armor. Some seemed to be tinkering with small machinery, and gods knew how they managed it with such big hands.

"The place were Beckendorf lives," Percy observed, mostly to himself, though Katie heard him.

"You know Beckendorf?" she asked.

Percy just nodded his head, checking out the cabin-turned-forge that his first friend lived in. "He's the one who brought me to camp. You think he's here?" he asked.

Katie shook her head. "I haven't seen him all day, but he's probably with the group gathering supplies for the forges."

Percy sighed, a bit disappointed at not being able to see the one who introduced him to the world of gods.

Katie seemed to notice this. "Come on," she said, pulling on his sleeve as she half-led, half-dragged him to the next cabin.

Percy smelled it before seeing it. Perfume hung thick in the air, and when he looked up he couldn't help but gawk at what he could only assume was the Aphrodite cabin.

It looked like a life-sized dollhouse, complete with elegantly painted grey walls, checkerboard deck, blue roof, and marble pillars. The Aphrodite kids were also easy to see, especially since they seemed to like showing off to the other campers. They looked like supermodels out of a magazine, dressed in designer clothing and sporting popular hairdos.

"I kinda feel like crap now," he told Katie, eyes glued to some of the girls that had noticed him and were now waving and blowing kisses. He was about to wave back, when Katie resumed her dragging until they were out of sight.

"I know what you mean," she told him after he snapped out of his slight trance, her voice a bit more subdued than before. "It's almost unfair that I have to pass through it on my way back to my own cabin, especially after working on the fields. Even the biggest ego can take a blow after a visit to the Aphrodite cabin."

Percy could tell they were heading towards a touchy subject. Before she could get depressed, he tried to reassure the blonde.

"Hey, I think it's worth it! I mean, uh..." The young demigod scratched his cheek, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't make him look like an idiot. "Um... I mean that, you're not afraid to get dirty when you need to, and... and that can actually be useful at some point... er..."

Before he could continue his failure at complimenting his new friend, she laughed, shoving him lightly on the arm and holding her stomach. Percy blushed slightly, thinking that he had made a fool of himself. A few campers glanced their way when they heard the bellowing laughter of Katie Gardner, only to shrug and walk away, figuring it wasn't too important.

After a few more moments, Katie stopped and looked at him with the biggest grin he'd seen from her all day. "I get it, you dork. I didn't mean to get all insecure like that, so thanks."

Percy let out a sigh of relief. So he hadn't messed up. Or he had, and that's why she was thanking him? Girls were weird.

Smile still in place, Katie motioned for him to follow her, already on her way to a cabin lined with grapevines. "Let's get going, we still have a long way to go before we're done."

Percy decided it didn't matter what he had done, just that he'd done it, and followed her with a grin of his own.

"So let's review. What did you learn today?"

Percy rolled his eyes at Katie's question.

"Sorry," he said, not really sorry at all, "I didn't know I'd be tested... Ms. Gardner."

Katie gave him a mock glare. "Come on Percy! What was the point of today if you didn't learn anything?"

After finally finishing the tour, going through all the cabins and other camp locations, the pair were heading to the Hermes cabin so Percy could get himself set up and ready for dinner. Katie would then go and finally take a shower after spending an entire day walking around in muddy clothes.

"Alright," he relented. "You're really bossy, you know that?"

Katie just hummed in response, having heard the comment before.

Percy started ticking off with his fingers. "Hermes gets all the campers that aren't claimed or that are from minor gods. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served at 8 AM, 12:30 PM, and 6 PM respectively. Never go into the Artemis, Hera, Zeus, or Poseidon cabin, or face an unfortunate fate. Be careful with your personal belongings in the Hermes cabin, especially around the Stolls," he ignored the low growl that followed that statement, "Ares campers are mostly assholes, but good at fights, so don't piss them off until you can defend yourself. Always give an offering to the gods during mealtimes. Listen to your instructors, and don't go wandering alone into the forest, or else. That good enough for ya?"

Katie just nodded appreciatively. "I'm glad I didn't have to repeat myself. You have a pretty good memory, considering you barely payed attention to what I actually wanted to talk about and interrupted me constantly."

Percy rubbed his cheek. "Yeah well, I'm not good with long lectures."

Katie scoffed at him, shaking her head. "I'll never know how someone so inattentive could beat the monster of the Labyrinth."

Percy just shrugged his shoulders. "Me neither," he told her with a grin, making her chuckle a bit.

Katie had been showing him the climbing wall (which he thought was a bit too extreme; lava? Really?) when a camper finally mustered up the courage to ask him if he'd really finished off the Minotaur.

He hadn't really wanted Katie to know about it, but when he saw that she didn't care he just said that he'd been lucky and left it at that. Afterwards, she asked him how he'd done it, and he showed her his sword and told her about earlier that day.

The young demigod sighed. 'It's only been a few hours since I took my history test, but it feels like years.'

Percy was cut off from his thoughts when someone roughly grabbed his arm. He looked up to see an Ares camper he'd spotted hanging around the sword arena earlier, backed by two of her siblings, one of which was holding Katie, stopping her from trying anything violent.

The camper holding him was a tall girl with dirty blonde hair and sneering, pig-like eyes. She looked as strong as anyone from the Hephaestus cabin, but was obviously a fighter with all the weapons strapped across her chest and around her waist.

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here," she mocked, bringing in a crowd of several campers who didn't seem like they were about to jump in his defense.

'Some heroes they are,' Percy thought with both anger and disappointment.

The girl continued with a voice full of contempt, "The Great Minotaur Killer, Percy Jackson!"

Katie glared at the bigger girl. "Let him go Clarisse!"

Even in his current situation, Percy allowed a small smile to play at his lips. 'At least someone's on my side.'

Clarisse though, scoffed at Katie's command. "Shut it, Flower Girl." She turned back to him, smiling cruelly. "He's new, and you know what we do to new campers."

Clarisse then effortlessly dragged him towards the bathroom, the crowd parting to clear her way. Percy looked back at Katie, who seemed to be struggling with her captor, and gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster. He didn't see if it did anything or not, because he then got right to glaring at the crowd of campers that had surrounded the confrontation.

Some seemed ashamed and somewhat apologetic, while others only looked on in mild interest. Before he could say anything to try to make them feel worse about themselves, the helpless demigod was pushed through the door of the bathroom. Clarisse looked back at the Ares camper who hadn't taken hold of Katie.

"Make sure no one gets in," she told him, and he nodded before turning back to face the dispersing crowd, who seemed to lose interest as the action was moved out of sight.

Clarisse shoved him through a stall, where she then grabbed the back of his head forced him into a kneeling position in front of the toilet. "Get ready for a face full of toilet water, pipsqueak," she announced gleefully.

Percy was in full panic mode at this point. 'I am not putting my face in there, no way!' he thought. 'Think Percy! What can you do here? I can't take out Riptide, not that I'd be able to beat her even if I could, so what else do I have?'

He thought back, trying to think of anything that could save him. When the answer hit him, it was so obvious he would've palmed his face if his arms weren't desperately working against Clarisse's attempts to splash his head. 'Duh, my powers! Demigods can use their powers, so I could probably control mine if I tried hard enough!'

His arms were shaking at this point, the pressure from Clarisse's weight pushing him into the toilet too strong for him to take any longer. The young demigod looked at the toilet seat that was currently opened. 'Nothing like a good motivator...'

He thought back to all the times he'd ever used his powers accidentally, tried to remember the feeling of making things move without touching them. He imagined taking the toilet seat and throwing it hard at Clarisse, his focus so great he briefly forgot about the strain of his arms, or how close his head was to the dirty water. 'C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!'

Finally, with a tremble, the toilet seat flew off its hinges, over his head and straight into Clarisse's face, breaking her nose with a trail of blood. Percy quickly stood back up and twisted himself to stand behind the daughter of Ares, who was now kneeling and cradling her broken nose, the shock from the sudden hit stunning her.

With their positions now reversed, Percy smirked before using his foot to shove Clarisse's face into the toilet and then pressing the flush. "Payback's a bitch don't 'cha think?" he mocked, almost laughing out loud.

Outside, Katie and the two Ares cabin members heard the distinct sound of a flushing toilet. The daughter of Demeter paled, and the two bullies grinned at each other before going inside to check out the results.

Percy heard them come in, and quickly picked up the toilet seat laying on the floor before throwing it at one of the goons, hitting him right in the head and knocking him unconscious.

The other guy was so surprised that he didn't move until Percy rushed at him and kicked him right in the nuts, making him groan in pain and cradle his family jewels as he fell onto his knees.

Before Clarisse or any of the others could stand back up, Percy dashed out of the bathroom and closed the door. Looking around, Percy found a stack of retractable wooden chairs leaning against the wall of the bathroom. He quickly went to take one and placed it under the handle of the door, locking the three siblings inside.

"Percy?"

Said boy looked over at a very confused Katie, who was checking him for any injuries. Finally, she stopped in front if him. "What happened in there?" she asked.

Percy scratched his cheek, laughing nervously. "Uh, I guess you could say that their plan went... down the drain," he said with wagging eyebrows.

Katie just stared at him, a full deadpan expression on her face. "Please don't tell me that was a one liner."

Percy smirked a bit. "Yeah, my first one. I think I'm gonna like this hero business if I get to do that after every fight."

Katie just rubbed her forehead, though a small smile could be seen on her lips. "Ugh, you're a huge headache, you know that? Your first day here and you already got into trouble."

Percy grinned sheepishly. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe it was a one-time-thing?"

Katie looked at him exasperatedly. "We can only hope. Let's go, it's almost dinner time and I really need a shower."

Percy followed the rest of the Hermes cabin up to the Dining Pavilion, led by the councilor Luke Castellan. He was an older camper, about eighteen or so, with sandy blonde hair and a scar over his left eye.

After hearing about him from Beckendorf, he thought the son of Hermes might've been angry or depressed for being the reason no one got any quests anymore. It turned out he was a pretty cool guy, though he was obviously a bit miffed about the whole thing.

Apparently, Luke was the best swordsman in three hundred years, and he was the one who trained people in swordsmanship. Percy couldn't wait for his first lesson, because honestly all the fights he'd been on up to that point had been won through a combination of surprise, dirty tricks, and sheer luck.

The large group finally reached the Dining Pavilion, which had several tables surrounding a bonfire, one table per cabin. Mr. D sat on his own table, with Chiron, his children and a bunch of satyrs.

Percy couldn't help but think of how lucky the Dionysus campers were, being allowed to eat with their godly parent three times a day, and they must've realized the same thing, as they were both making the best out of it.

The Hermes group sat down in their own table, where Percy felt a bit cramped, just like the cabin itself.

Chiron raised his goblet. "To the gods!" he announced.

"To the gods!" said everyone else, and dinner had officially began.

Wood nymphs went around and served the food, consisting of BBQ, some fruits (including grapes), cheese, and bread. Percy looked over at his goblet, which was empty, but he'd heard about this from Katie.

"Orange soda," he said, and the goblet magically filled up with the requested drink. He was about to dig in, but remembered what his plant-loving friend had said about giving offerings to the gods.

Everyone stood up and formed a line in front of the sizable bonfire, and each camper started to burn a portion of their food to the gods. Most offered their food to their respective parent, and with his turn imminent, Percy realized that he hadn't really thought about his own parent.

He hadn't been claimed yet, and he knew that many campers never were, the Hermes cabin being a good example of that. The thought of never being claimed depressed him a little, but Percy didn't let it get to him. He'd lived his entire life without any parents, and had already cried enough about it when he was a kid.

"To mom... or dad, I guess, whoever you are," he murmured, splitting a part of his food and dropping it on the bonfire. The odd smoke that came out didn't do much to assure him that they got the message, but he walked back to the Hermes table and sat down.

Percy looked around, watching everyone eat their food and enjoy the company of their friends. He spotted Beckendorf, who looked like he was just listening to what his cabin mates were talking about, nodding every once in a while, and occasionally saying something that everyone would stop talking to listen to. Katie was in a pretty deep discussion about something with one of her sisters, though Percy couldn't really hear from across the pavilion.

Even Clarisse seemed to be having a grand time with the rest of the Ares cabin, something he perceived as a good sign. Maybe she'd gotten over the whole 'broken nose and locked in a bathroom' thing?

The daughter of Ares must've felt him looking at her, because when she turned around, nose full of bandages, she gave him the most hateful glare he'd ever seen in his life. Percy felt like someone had just marked him for dead, and a shiver went down his spine.

First day of camp and he already had someone out to kill him. Great.

He averted his eyes and decided to talk to his own cabin mates. For the rest of the dinner Percy actually had fun. The food was great, as was the company.

The Stolls were hilarious. The young demigod didn't know why Katie seemed to loath their existence, besides the fact that he had to keep a very careful eye on his belongings. Not that he had very much to begin with. His only belonging of any real worth was Riptide, and it was impossible to steal.

When everyone was just about done, Chiron stomped his hoof and all the campers went silent. Mr. D stood up with an annoyed look and began speaking.

"I just need to say that capture-the-flag is this Friday, Cabin number five still has possession of the laurels."

The Ares cabin gave a loud cheer that made everyone else cringe.

Chiron coughed at Mr. D, giving him a meaningful look while the camp director became more annoyed. He sighed before continuing.

"And I'd also like to welcome the new camper Peter Johansen-"

Chiron shot Mr. D a stern look.

"I mean, Percy Jackson. Now go to your campfire songs, I've got things to do."

The campers gave a loud cheer and left the pavilion, heading to the amphitheater where they all sat down in a circle and sung campfire songs with the Apollo cabin.

Percy felt pretty good sitting next to his new friends, eating s'mores and joking around. He already liked it there, and when the campers all went back to their cabins, he slept with a smile on his face, glad to have found a new home.

AN:

One more down. Sorry if it seems too slow, but I just wanted to flesh out the characters, and that's actually what I'm going to do next chapter too, though there will be more action involved.

So I'm sure that some of the cabins weren't exactly like they were in the books (especially the Apollo cabin), but it doesn't really matter. Most of them won't play too big of a part, plus I think it's kinda funny that there's a miniature sun in the middle of camp preventing people from sleeping.

Anyway, 'till next time! :D