Chapter 2: Getting Ready and Eating

The gods stood, dazed, in the room. It wasn't much of anything, they thought, but they were immortal gods with no stop to their power. It was about the size of their throne room (which was pretty big) with a blue-black chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. It had twelve beds, each styled in the god's likeness. Apollo and Aphrodite found a mirror, and looked at themselves. Aphrodite pulled out lip gloss and put on extra layers, while Apollo was flexing his arms and brushing his hair.

"I look awesome!" Apollo said. "I feel a haiku coming on-"

"Apollo, will you stop doing that- it's getting annoying." Artemis said. She saw herself and thought, I am a very beautiful eternal maiden. Too bad I can't date, but not really. Hephaestus looked at his reflection. H e was surprised he wasn't crippled, wasn't beyond ugly, or anything along those lines. He also had a dark tan. Aphrodite looked back and smiles. "You still need some improvements, husband, but you're fine for now."

Everyone else looked at their reflections and wondered how mortals put up with being in these bodies. Athena was the first to speak up.

"If we are to be mortals and act normal, and hide our identities; we shall come up with different names." After thinking up something, they came up with this:

Athena- Mackenzie Tula
Zeus- Zarek "Zeke" Salome

Poseidon- Brooks Salome

Hades- Earnest "Ernie" Salome

Aphrodite- Amberly Taylor

Hephaestus- Silver Coleus

Hermes- Pandareos "Pan" Messier

Ares- Louis Carbine

Apollo- Chuck Alpine

Artemis- Caine Alpine

Demeter- Heather Piscine (A/N I forgot, she has shoulder-length brown hair and dark green eyes)

Hera- Jennifer "Jenny" Salome

Hades said, "I don't seem like an 'Earnest,' do I?" Athena said he'd have to do with that. Ernie shut his mouth. After complaining and whining, Zeus, I mean Zeke; let them decorate the room into twelve equal parts. Zeke regretted it afterwards, because the sight of so many colors gave him vertigo. In the end, the room was just rainbow colored (Iris would be proud) with each god's animal shining on the floor, one after another. Hades was the only one complaining, saying, "Why couldn't it be black."

They went outside, and saw there were six bathrooms (Aphrodite went into one to check her makeup so much they preserved it for her) a vending machine with any food you like, and cars downstairs for anyone who wanted to drive.

"So," Amberly (Aphrodite) said, checking her reflection in the mirror, "What should we do in the free time? Look around the mortal world? I heard they had a beauty salon-"
"That's nice, Aphrodite," Caine (Artemis) cut her off, "but we should be learning the way of mortals. Now, do I have my bow and arrow...?" She looked around the room, and then kneeled down to under her bed. "There it is. I thought I had lost it. We should really be going," she said. Mackenzie (Athena) trotted down the stairs. Poseidon (Brooks) looked after her, wondering how she could be so beautiful, then shook the thought out his head. Everyone followed Mackenzie, until they reached a Cadillac.

Zeke and Brooks stared at each other, and then started fighting for the driver's seat. All the while, Hades whistled and walked to the door, and gently pushed the key into the ignition. The car started, and the boys stopped. They walked quietly into the car, muttering.

Chuck, Caine, ("This is only because my hunters aren't here") and Pan got into a Maserati Spyder. Amberly, Mackenzie, and Louis got into a Ford, and Silver, Heather and Jenny into a Tahoe.

In the Spyder

"Chuck, will you stop with those ANNOYING haikus!?" Caine shouted. "They're driving me insane!" Chuck pleaded for one more, and Caine gave in, but found a way to argue about who was born first. All the while, Pan had his hand on the radio dial, trying to hack into a good radio system, or at least Hephaestus TV.

In the Tahoe

"Heather, FOR THE LAST TIME, I'm not eating your cereal!" Jenny was arguing.

"Cereal's good for you- Why, if you don't like it, I'll shove it down your face. " Heather said.

"Maybe my cows will give you a little present in your-"

"IF YOU TWO DON'T SHUT UP, WE'RE TURNING THIS CAR AROUND." Silver blurted from the driver's wheel. All the while he was thinking, this is why I don't talk to organic life forms. Why am I here again?

In the Cadillac

"The water is waaay better than the sky, Zeus! Water can destroy people. A hurricane just went over Florida." Poseidon "Brooks" was boasting about his powers, arguing with Zeus.

"Still not calling me with my mortal name? The sky is better, Brooks, because it can make storms. Everyone occupies it. A storm just overtook Carolina." Zeke boasted.

"You can both be quiet," Ernie said. "Every mortal dies soon. There's no way to show you that, but I can run somebody over. And if you don't shut your mouth, Air Head, your son will find a nasty surprise when he wakes tomorrow."

In the Ford

Amberly was checking her hair and makeup in the side mirrors. She would finish fixing herself, then shake her head and start over again.

"Louis, how do I look; do I need more eye shadow, or my hair down, or highlights?" She asked Louis for his opinion.

"I think you look good," he replied, but he was actually listening to the war song on the radio by 30 Seconds to Mars. He kept asking Mackenzie to replay it, and he'd annoyingly sing the lyrics.

Amberly carelessly put on another layer of light green eye shadow that complimented her eyes. "No, no, I don't like this one; how do I look now, Louis?"

With that constantly going on and the singing, Mackenzie had enough of it. She turned around and said, "My owls have not tasted ichor in years. Unless you'd like your pretty faces ruined, I suggest you keep quiet."

At McDonald's

The gods pulled up at a restaurant that Ernie had suggested at some point. It said in bright red and yellow letters, McDonald's.

Chuck started singing, "Old McDonald had a farm-"until Caine cut him off and said, "What is this, McDonald's, Ernie?"

Ernie replied, "Nico used to go here to raise the dead. He'd get a Happy Meal and Coke and try to summon Bianca. He doesn't do it often anymore, but I couldn't think of another mortal food place." Hades thought of his daughter, and almost smiled.

The group of "teenagers" walked into McDonalds and saw something that made Amberly giggle. Nico had a fry in his mouth, a Zeus toy in his hand he was making fly. Leo was making a race car out of his empty boxes and things. Reyna was cleaning a smoothie off her armor, while glaring suggestively at Leo. Percy and Annabeth were trying to feed each other, but it was more like force feeding.

A few things happened at once. Nico saw them, and quickly ate his fry. He put down his toy and yelled that he could explain. Leo pushed the race car as a test drive, and when Reyna finally finished cleaning, her new smoothie messed it again. Percy accidently poked himself in the eye with a straw, and Annabeth giggled at him.

"I CAN EXPLAIN!"

"LEO! You klutz!"

"On the bright side, the car works."

"OUCHIE… That hurt, Annabeth, stop laughing."

"Seaweed Brain, that was hilarious."

Ernie and Zeke shrugged at Nico, and then walked up to the counter, asking for 11 cheeseburgers and 1 salad. In the end, it was 4 salads, 6 cheeseburgers, and 2 bacon burgers, after about 20,000 different order changes. Then after that, they asked for money. Of course, it was a whole lot, and Jenny wasn't exactly skilled with mortal ways and money yet. It took her 10 minutes to find the money, and kept staring at the $5 bills, wondering if they were 50 or 5. By this time, the demigods had left half an hour ago. It took such a long time that the employee threatened to call for security if they didn't go faster.

Amberly batted her eyelashes and flashed her blue-green eyes, the employee being a man, and said, "You wouldn't ever call security, would you? I know you wouldn't. You won't. You'll give us a discount and lower the price to $15." It was a risky try, but the employee looked confused. Pan was rubbing his hands together, secretly proud of Amberly for manipulating.

"I will not call security. I will let you give me $15." Silver and Mackenzie counted the money and gave it to him, and they got their 12 orders. They sat down at an empty table, as most of the restaurant was. They ate very quickly, not wanting the poor man to remember why he didn't call security. Brooks quickly ushered them out of the restaurant, back to the cars.

The trip back to the house was very confusing, as it took awhile to find it. Silver had to quickly pull out a GPS, Mackenzie had to maneuver their way back home, backtracking, and Zeus had gone overhead and steered Ernie. What the mortals saw, they didn't know- maybe a teenager running in the streets, pointing to the house. Maybe they saw the truth. Hopefully not. The conversations inside the cars were pretty much a repeat of the way there.

It was getting dark outside. Mackenzie stood up and said, "Lord Zeus- Zeke, shall we get our mortal money straight, for we shall need it soon? And make sure we remember mortal names, maybe use a mortal…pencil, is it? And use regular arithmetic and learn it, and keep an eye on our children, also?" Zeke said yes to all of this. The gods did a quick count of mortal money, retelling it all to Jenny and Ares, who didn't seem to understand the concept. Then, they had mini lessons that Mackenzie teached them, until Ares threw his book at an owl, and the Big Three got in a fight, arguing about how "lightning doesn't come from clouds" and "lakes are hard to conserve" until it turned into a deadly skeleton/wave/lightning fight, and the lessons had to stop. They soon all lay down for bed, ready for the day to come.

So, it's after the Giant War. I decided to do canon couples, with the exception of Leo's and Nico's relationships. So, does anybody want me to do Caleo, because Leo went back to the island, and Rico, Reyna and Nico? Tell me in comments.