Yes, I'm aware I missed the update last weekend, but my life is picking up, since form now until the end of May I have softball for an hour and a half every day, sometimes more, and a tournament every weekend. I really feel bad when I let you guys down, though, so I'm going to keep trying to update weekly. As far as the 50th chapter spectacular goes, the current winning vote is for more Belle and Jacob drama, so cast your votes because that could still change. I don't really have much else to say, so I hope you guys enjoy and stay awesome!
-ROC6
Tuesday, June 20th, 23 years after defeating Gaea
The Latina let her fingers dance over the circuit board with a practiced precision, closing her eyes for a moment, letting the feeling of building something take over her. Snapping the last piece into place, the dark haired girl hummed with satisfaction as she could feel the vibrant hum of a ready to go piece of machinery buzzing beneath the pads of her fingers.
She and her friends were off building another contraption, mostly because they got bored and they were teenagers with ADHD and nothing to do. Thus, they were sitting in the lake bed of Camp Half-Blood building something. They'd each brought portable workbenches, and her two compadres were assembling a few basic materials, which meant attaching the glass panels and LED boards, while she worked on the more intricate parts of their entertainment. Were her friends talented with machinery? No. But years of hanging out with her had taught them some basic mechanics. Some more basic than others, she thought wryly, glancing over at her friend Jacob, a raven haired legacy of Poseidon, who was assembling some basic parts while he maintained their underwater bubble, occasionally pausing to fidget with his blue t-shirt.
Turning back to her task, Rose paused a moment to plan her next step. As a legacy of Hephaestus, the Greek god of blacksmiths, she was more adept at building things and, as a result, her tasks during their escapades were always more complicated.
The teen was quickly interrupted in her work by one of her associates saying something to her she didn't catch, leading to her responding with an absent, "¿Qué?"
"You're hot enough, Rose," Aiden repeated, his focus clearly directed elsewhere, "Can you weld this for me?"
Confused as to why he would even need something welded in the first place, Rose started moving towards his workplace, sparks flashing between her fingers as she stopped a few feet from his workbench.
Raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms, Rose stared at him, "So. I'm hot enough, am I?"
"Well, yeah, that's what I just- Oh," Aiden trailed off, his cheeks flushing bright red, "Oh. Oh gods, Rose, that's not what I meant, it's just that-"
The buzzing beneath her skin that she hadn't even realized had come as a result of his words lessened slightly at his words, but she rolled her eyes regardless, ignoring the snort from Jacob's worktable.
"-I knew you could weld this for me," he explained, lips curled up in his signature nervous half-smile, then, realizing what he just said, "Not that you aren't hot-which you totally are-it's just-"
The legacy of Jupiter slowed his frantic talking again, his face redder than the flames licking at Rose's hand as she melted his two pieces of metal together, "I should probably just stop talking now. And you know that's not what I meant."
"Whatever you say, Thunderpoop," she said slyly.
"Aw," Aiden lamented, "Not Thunderpoop again. I thought we were over this. I hate that nickname."
"Oh, we were. But I decided to bring it back," Rose said cheekily, swiping her hair out of her face as she set the newly attached pieces of metal down, "Thunderpoop."
"If you don't stop," he threatened, whispering the next part in what was supposed to be a spooky way, "I'll bring back the name."
Rose whipped around so fast her ponytail whacked the side of her head, and wielded a pipe cleaner at him threateningly, "Don't you dare, Aiden. Don't you-"
The blonde grinned like a madman, "PinkiePie."
"-Dare," the Latina finished lamely. She scowled at him, "That was a dare from second grade! And you swore never to speak of that again!"
"Well, you swore never to call me Thunderpoop again, but you did."
Still scowling Rose turned around to return to her worktable, "If we want to finish installing the disco floor in the lake bed by dawn we'd better…"
Aiden frowned, furrowing his brow as he turned to find out what had led Rose to stop talking, something that never happened, "Wha-?"
He, too, stood dumbfounded as he turned and found his friend, Jacob, sitting in a beach chair with a bowl of popcorn and sunglasses, facing where Aiden and Rose had just been bickering.
Confused glances flickered between the two legacies as their green-eyed friend commented, with his mouth full, "No, no, keep going."
He shifted, some, in his seat so that they could make out what was on his stark white shirt. After a moment, the dyslexic teens made out the writing, in bold black font, that read Roden is my OTP. The picture below was inked inside a pink heart, with two anime style heads, one a Latina with an impish grin and the other a blonde haired boy with a half-smile.
With the additional knowledge from the caption on Jacob's shirt, the two other legacies groaned simultaneously, and Rose muttered, "Not this again."
Also, I wanted to respond to a review by Muse45, a guest: Thank you for your review, it honestly made my day, and is one of the nicest reviews I've ever gotten. I'm glad to hear that "Family" inspires you, it makes me so happy to hear that, as it's one of the things I set out to do when I started writing. I'm shocked one story had that much of an impact on you, but I'm glad to hear it makes you happy, and I will continue to write this, so thank you so much for your wonderful review.
