Edit: *Checks email* *reads title* God fucking dammit. I went through and fixed a couple of minor spelling errors and renamed the title to the correct one. The Moring After chapter will have to wait till later...
AN: Sup! It's Friday night for me and it's that time again. We're going to be pushing onward with Liam's little adventure, this time with a hangover that could kill a god. I've got no new guest reviews for ya today so let's just jump into it!
~enjoy
"Speech"
Thoughts
Powerful Being Speaking
-Setting/Line Skip-
The Morning After
Liam's breath came out in fast spurts. In his mouth, the boy could only taste the remnants of booze and something he couldn't quite place. It felt like he had not brushed his teeth for a week. Coupling all that with a pounding headache and an annoying girl yelling at him when he first woke up left Liam more than just a bit peeved.
The boy's mind raced as he tried to remember what happened last not to no effect. Liam could remember coming into the bar and meeting Sam then it all just went blank. It was like there was a large hole in the film that made up Liam's memory, a complete blank spot after he took his first drink.
Why in the hell did I drink it in the first place? Thought Liam while silently scolding himself. It just didn't make sense, why in Oblivion would he join in on a drinking contest with some stranger? Roughly the boy pushed himself off the shaggy carpet with a low groan.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" reminded a squeaky female still filled with anger. Looking over the boy could see her pacing back and forth by the room's only bed.
She was wearing cut off jeans that ended just above her knees, wrapped around the girl's chest was a familiar orange t-shirt. Unlike Liam's own, the article of clothing was in much better condition with the Camp Half-blood logo still easily visible. Well, that and it didn't have all the holes in it either.
A little bit of worry started to creep up in the vampire's throat as he faced her, still sitting on the ground. The Camper was obviously from Athena's cabin; she had long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and the cabin's telltale stormy-gray eyes. Her young face was marred with a low scowl.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself? You ruined my game!" growled the girl, angrily glaring into Liam. Her voice came to the boy like a wake-up call, quickly bringing him out of his hangover induced stupor.
Quickly trying to think up something to say, Liam replied, "Game? W-What game?"
The Daughter of Athena gave him another scalding look that seemed to convey the question, "Are you serious?" before deeming him with a response. Letting out a low sigh she said, "The best game here! And you came along to ruin it."
She was clenching her fists with a barely held back fury that seemed a bit unnatural. Something built upon the tip of the girl's tongue before she seethed, "You just had to bite the proctor didn't you?"
I did what? Pondered the vampire in disbelief. As the words left her mouth Liam could feel that nervousness increase even more, slowly eating away at him like a pestilent wound. If he was out of it enough to bite someone then who knows what else he could have done?
"I-I don't know what to say here...Just where are we?" deflected the boy as his eyes explored the room they were in. The place was surprisingly small for its inside furnishings with a single king-sized bed near its back. The only other identifying feature was an open door leading to what Liam assumed to be the restroom and one more completely closed on the opposite side.
Showing some willingness to forgive the boy for his unknown slight she said, "You did seem a bit out of it..." The girl's voice seemed to quiet down as she put one finger on her lips before raising it up. The anger from before faded slightly as she got up and walked to the door.
"Just...just don't do it again! I don't want to have to wait for them to get a new proctor for the game again." grumbled the female camper as she approached the single door, leading out toward somewhere unknown. Liam almost immediately took note of the way her emotions flipped on a pin. She was acting like his mother at that time of the month; involuntarily, Liam shivered at the thought.
Her fury turned docile as the door opened up.
"Wait a minute, who are you?" quickly inquired Liam as the girl continued to rush out. He was hoping for her to say something to him at least. She seemed to be a bit out of it, ignoring the boy's words while ranting on about some game.
The blonde-haired girl looked over her shoulder, squinting in the vampire's direction. Her stormy eyes came into focus before she answered, "Oh, my name's Annabeth. Now, leave me alone; I got a game to beat."
Saying her part Annabeth hurriedly closed the room's main door, leaving Liam alone inside. The boy's mind reeled a bit at the name. Memories of Chiron's speech came back as he thought Wasn't she one of the three on that quest?
Well there was only one way to find out, but first Liam wanted to try and find his stuff. Quickly heading over to the bed, the boy found just that. Liam's bright-blue bag caught his eye, easily standing out from the shaggy brown carpet and red covered bed.
Pulling it up from where it was, laying on the ground, Liam noticed something. His bag appeared to be quite a bit heavier than before; it was also bulging quite a bit in a circular shape. Lightly tapping on it, the boy felt whatever it was inside was completely rigid, not moving an inch at his touch.
Laying the bag onto the nearby bed, Liam pulled on the container's main zipper. Following along the curve, Liam's backpack unzipped bringing the two lines of metal teeth apart. Inside he saw what looked to be his shield.
Well I might as well. Let's just take a look. Thought the boy before haphazardly dumping all of his supplies out on the bed.
The first thing to fall out was his shield with his club coming soon after. The wooden backed piece of armor had a few new modifications on it. The shield had what appeared to be large streaks of blackened metal that followed along where the Celestial-bronze bracing used to be. It crisscrossed in a large pattern; looking at it, Liam noticed a small rose engraved upon the metal, near its bottom.
Looking a bit closer, Liam could notice some small runes were carved into the black metal. They curved up and down the bracing, almost perfectly following the darkened black.
Taped to the shield was a small scrap of paper with an almost flowery handwriting covering it. Ignoring the rest for now, Liam picked up the piece of paper, hoping to find out what happened the night before.
Hey, it's your uncle Sam here! Hope you had fun last night because I know I did. I wanted to do a bit more, but consider this your late birthday present. I wanted to give them to you myself but after you passed out in the lobby; I decided to let you get some sleep.
I also put in an extra bottle of your favorite drink from last night in the bag too. Honeyed Bloodwine. It's a bit too sweet for my tastes, but you sure seemed to like it. Either way it will still make you as drunk as a skunk, so be careful...or don't! Whatever's more fun!
P.S. Try out some of your bound weapons on the gear. I had a few mages in the myriad suggest something. You'll like it, promise.
P.S.S. If you ever want to have some fun again, summon me. Just check near the end of your purple book. I added in my personal number if you know what I mean.
As soon as the boy fully read the little note it suddenly burst into flames. A little distressed Liam dropped the note with it burning to ash before it even hit the floor. Quickly calming himself Liam looked down to see what else spilled out of his bag.
All in all it looked like he still had all of his original supplies. There was the same sleeping bag from before tidily rolled up in a small bag, his toiletries (A toothbrush and toothpaste), the two different books, and his club. Although the club now looked like a mace.
Similar to the black metal covering parts of Liam's shield, his club had large black spike jutting up from where the celestial bronze head used to be. Each of the three spikes had the same runes running along with them, curving inwards as they went up. The outside part of the metal looked sharp enough to shave with. (1)
The only other item was a small golden bottle with a cork stuck in its end. Inside it Liam could see a darkened liquid sloshing around, not letting light pass through the golden glass covering it. Quickly, the vampire sat the bottle back down on the bed, still trying to ignore the feeling of someone squeezing his brain every few seconds.
"How in the hell did he fit all of that in there?" muttered Liam as he started to quickly repack everything but his mace and shield. After zipping the pack back up he clipped his shield to his waist, using its built-in leather strap as a connector through one of his pant's loops.
The boy's newly reinforced mace was hung much the same way just on his other side. A small length of leather was put through Liam's belt loop and a single chain length that dangled from the mace's handle. It held on fairly well, but the boy was a bit worried about cutting himself on it as the thing's sharp spines were rubbing up against the side of his knee.
"Alright what now?" questioned Liam, curiously staring at the door Annabeth left through. It was surprisingly quiet since she left; there was no noise, no nothing at all besides the methodical breathing coming from Liam's lips.
He expected something at least, not just an almost eerie silence which helped to push along his nervousness just a bit more. The boy would have to go out and look for something at least. It was better than waiting alone in an empty room.
Hoping there would be a way out of the building without someone to see his weapons, Liam walked forward opening up the door which led out into a long hallway. The hallway was filled to the brim with similar-looking doors, all looking the exact same except for the numbered plaque placed on their center.
Unlike the room from which he came the outside had a much more thin carpet with mixed hues of blue and white. They crisscrossed down the hall in either direction. Peaking his head out and turning it from side to side, Liam noticed one thing that stood out.
Around five doors down was a large sheet of metal indented in the wall. Just to the right of it was a small plate with two buttons on it. The first had a large yellow arrow pointing up while the second pointed down. It was an elevator.
After giving it a few more seconds, hoping to spot any incoming individuals, Liam briskly walked out into the hallway. A single finger pressed on the arrow pointing down as the boy reached the elevator doors. Instantly the button started to glow, turning a bright white.
Above him, the boy heard a small ding before the double doors opened letting him inside. As quickly as he could manage it, Liam went in looking at another set of controls. Seeing the large array of numbers Liam thought Where ever I am, it must have a lot of floors...
The boy's eyes were drawn down the list before suddenly coming across one that stood out. Unlike all of the numbered floors above it this button had only one single identifying factor. A large G was printed onto the device in much the same manner as all the other ones above it.
Not thinking much of it, Liam hurriedly pressed it. Following soon after, the elevator doors closed locking the boy inside. Slowly small dings were heard as the machine descended pulling Liam further below.
-Ground Floor, Lotus Casino-
One thing Liam really didn't take into consideration when trying to leave the building was that he was armed. From previous experience he knew that most people wouldn't see exactly what he was carrying, but they would see something at least. (2)
If they were just a normal human they could see nothing, or they could see a gun holstered at his hip. Personally, the boy was hoping for the first. Whenever he was at camp, Liam never had enough time to really ask much more about it, the mist. When the elevator reached its stop, the device let out a loud ding before revealing the ground floor to Liam's eyes.
Large flashes of lights and games lit up the building. The boy's eyes went wide as an employee carrying a virtual mountain of champagne bottles passed by in front of the elevator. Farther out in front of him was an entire floor filled to the brim with games.
Vaguely, the boy could remember the place like an old memory lost to age. He was drawn to a large line of blackjack tables before quickly looking away; they were familiar, but he didn't come down here to gamble. Doing his best to not look out of place, he quickly hurried out and into the floor. Surprisingly none of the people passing by seemed to care about what Liam was carrying.
All of the busy people were rushing by moving from one machine to the next with vacant looks in their eyes. The employees continued about carrying food and drink all throughout. Liam's quietly noted large men in suits at every exit. He could easily see long white wires wrapping around their ears coming from their suits. The mirror shades covering each fo their eyes coupled with the stylish suits made the guards look like they all just walked out of a Men in Black screening.
I guess it's just some casino...thought Liam as someone in the distance caught his attention. The same girl from before, Annabeth, was haphazardly throwing around a silver card.
Out in front of her there was some type of screen laid out flat, similar to a table. From what Liam could see, the game appeared to have something to do with city building as when she tapped on the screen large buildings would come to and fro. Loud noises of construction or destruction would follow after each other as the city changed to the wannabe architect's whims.
Quietly approaching the boy thought Why would they let kids in a place like this?
It was a bit weird to the boy. The crowd of people constantly bustling by didn't much care about the obviously underaged children mixed in with them. Making Liam even more suspicious there were more kids than just them. A few younger teenagers dotted in with the crowd, going about while playing games.
Not a single soul within the building seemed to care. There were already too occupied with some game. What finally set a small worm of fear into Liam's stomach though was the people's eyes.
Each and every person in the building except the staff looked dead. Almost like walking corpses with their unintelligent eyes slowly moving from one machine to the next. Not a single one of them was talking, let alone showing the ability to have intelligent thoughts. They were nothing but mindless drones serving an unknown hive. It sent an unnatural shiver of fear down the boy's spine.
Looking away from the line of slot machines the vampire whispered, "What is going on here?"
Approaching Annabeth from behind, Liam saw something that made the girl stand out from the rest. The same look the other walking meat sacs wore was noticeably absent on her face. Replacing it though was a constant muttering beneath her breath which only appeared to be matched with look of fluttering worry in her eyes.
"Best. Best. I gotta be the best. The best city. The best walls. I have to-" The camper's gray eyes shot over to a building on the other side of the game table. She let out a low growl before quickly tapping on it, demolishing the entire thing. "-not good enough..." she ranted while pacing back and forth.
Her voice came out in an unnatural monotone, sounding as dead as everyone else in the casino looked. It was completely absent of the anger and vitriol from before, only filled with a latent need for something. The tone made Liam a bit sick to his stomach. From what Liam could see there was no "proctor" as Annabeth had described it; the only person around was her, hurriedly making decisions in the city of her design.
"Hey, Annabeth right?" he asked while lightly tapping the girl on her shoulder. Liam's voice came out with a bit of his own nervousness, making the feeling known to those around. Well it would If any of them were listening.
At first the daughter of Athena didn't seem to notice him, even with the firm grip on her shoulder. As she tried to walk around the table however, Annabeth showed some recognition. Quickly turning around with a little bit of the fire from before in her eyes she said, "What...Who are you? Better yet what do you want, can't you see I'm busy?"
Liam's lips pursed down into a frown. Letting go of her shoulder the boy thought What the hell is going on here? Goddammit, Sam where did you take me...
The boy just couldn't understand it. Every single person in the casino just seemed out of it. Everyone he had seen except for the girl in front of him appeared to be as docile as a sheep, huffing about with no real purpose. Making it all the more worse, Annabeth seemed to be slowly slipping into the same stupor as those around them. Every once in a while the boy would catch a glint of the same dead expression as everyone else in the casino.
"We just met a little bit ago...I-I think somethings wrong here-" began Liam before the girl in front of him sharply cut him off.
Annabeth raised one of her hands in the air before interrupting, "I don't care, just let me beat this level first."
As soon as she finished her sentence the camper turned back towards the LCD-topped table in front of her, quickly tapping away at its screen. Apprehensively, Liam's eyes peeked back towards the guards still standing by, blocking every exit.
Finally making his choice, the vampire roughly pulled the girl away from the table. Once more her eyes lit up with barely restrained fury. Still firmly holding her wrist within his hand Liam growled, "Come on I thought the kids from cabin six were supposed to be smart! Look around you, doesn't all this stuff seem weird?"
Annabeth's eyes still wrought with rage pushed him away. Immediately the girl's mouth opened only to spew a line in, what Liam assumed to be, Ancient Greek. It came out and with it the anger quickly fled only to be replaced with a bit of confusion.
Slowly her eyes trailed down in the casino before going out towards the entrance. Stuttering a bit the daughter of Athena mumbled, "I-It's only been one day..."
The small phrase came out almost like a prayer as if she were truly hoping what she said was true. Stormy-gray eyes shot up, this time filled with purpose. They walked their way around the casino floor before roughly landing on a giant symbol a pink lotus flower on the wall.
"Oh no..." gasped the girl with her eyes widening in despair. Seeming to finally completely take hold of herself, Annabeth rushed past Liam grabbing his arm as she walked. Her eyes frantically darted around the room searching within the crowd.
"H-Hey, watch it! I can walk fine by myself," grumbled Liam as he wrenched himself free from the girl's grasp. She stopped in her tracks letting out what sounded like a low growl.
With her face marred with frustration the girl said, "Come on we don't have time for this. P-" In the middle of her speech, the girl's eyes widened. Quickly Liam up and down Annabeth continued, "You're not...Who in the hell are you?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you! First it was the crap back in the hotel room and now this? My name's Liam; I was...I am a camper." explained the boy. His words came out a bit frustrated with him roughly scratching at his scalp. The pounding headache was still there, slowly growing and shrinking with all the noise around him.
It feels like someone's sticking my head in a blender. Thought Liam as the small waves of pain continued to roll in.
Annabeth looked a bit surprised at his answer before muttering something under her breath. Liam could see the gears hurriedly turning within her mind. Less than a second later she replied, "J-Just come with me; we need to get out of here. The whole damned place is a trap. I-I need to find the other two...crap."
The pair rushed through the slot machine section of the casino before Annabeth finally spotted one of the other two who went with her. Standing next to what looked like an Elvis impersonator was Percy Jackson.
The boy was slowly pulling down on the slot machine's main lever with his eyes glazed over. Every once in awhile Annabeth could see him change machines, for some reason following after the guy who looked like he was straight out of the sixties.
With a grimace on her face the daughter of Athena thought He might actually be...
The girl knew of this casino. She'd read about it multiple times back at camp. There was one thing that didn't make sense to her though. Annabeth knew this place was the new home of the Lotophagi, The Lotus Eaters.
Weren't they supposed to eat some type of addictive fruit? Thought the girl as she pulled through the crowd, quickly running up behind the son of Poseidon. (3)
From what she had read at least, the eaters were supposed to be addicted to some kind of succulent fruit that grows from a special lotus tree. They were said to bewitch those around them into staying with them, usually forever. Odysseus even had a run-in with them, during ancient times.
It worried her. Annabeth instantly made the connection between the large swaths of people that just seemed out of place. Pulling on the back of Percy's shirt she thought Who knows how long we've been in here?"
The boy in front of her almost instantly snapped out of his stupor slamming a hand behind him. The boy's green eyes glared a hole into Annabeth's chest as he growled, "What! I already told you I don't want anymore...Annabeth?"
His words came to an end with the daughter of Athena quickly hushing him. Just behind her Liam stood, feeling a little stiff. He felt out of place even just being around the two. It wasn't comfortable per-say but it definitely was noticeable to the boy.
There was an almost annoying sense that Liam just didn't belong like he was intruding just by being there. If the Prince within his head were feeling talkative he would agree. Although for very different reasons.
He hated the very notion that his progeny would mingle with those weaker than himself. It was made even worse that they were the children of those so-called gods.
"Percy, snap out of it; we gotta go! This place is a trap." explained the girl all the while nervously eyeing the black-suited guards around the casino floor. They didn't notice any of them yet, but Annabeth would bet that would change.
The male camper seemed to slowly pull himself away from the slot machine. Finally getting a few feet away from it, he gave the gambling machine one last longing look before walking over to were Annabeth and Liam were, just a few feet away.
Deciding to interject himself into the conversation Liam said, "Looks like you're finally out of it..."
The other boy directed his gaze at Liam for a few seconds before noticing the Camp Half-blood orange within his tattered shirt. Slowly Percy turned back towards Annabeth before quietly saying, "So who's this?"
His voice came out with a hint of suspicion in it, almost like he was expecting something. Liam didn't pick up on the tone, but Annabeth caught it as soon as it left the boy's lips. Almost immediately Percy supplanted himself between the two, using his body as a sort of barrier to block him.
Meanwhile Liam didn't seem to really notice the body language at all. He didn't have the experience for it, having spent most of his childhood hopping from school to school never really talking to anyone until he met Sammy. The vampire saw Percy's posture as a bit weird but not much else.
Although he sure as hell didn't like the look the boy was giving him.
"Percy just...just drop it for now." chided Annabeth as she slowly turned around looking for someone else. Immediately as the words left her lips the son of Poseidon seemed a bit annoyed, all the while he continued to give poking glances at Liam.
The green-eyed boy opened his mouth saying, "But you know what it said. The prophec-"
With a low growl Annabeth cut him off interjecting, "I know that Kèpfos, just drop it alright? You don't know if it's him." (4)
The demi-god stuttered for a few seconds before grumbling something under his breath. Slowly he was drawn back towards Liam who was still just awkwardly standing there giving out a grimace every once in a while, grasping at his head.
"What's wrong with you?" Percy asked in a still doubtful tone. It was like he was actively looking for something to hold against Liam, whether or not there actually was. If only he knew.
Slowly pulling down his hand from his temple, the vampire responded, "Ugh...I met part of my extended family a little while ago. He wanted to celebrate my birthday, wouldn't take no for an answer."
As the somewhat informative lie left Liam's mouth he thought Well, if I had said no in the first place...
Percy's scalding look slowly faded before he let out a huff of air through his nose. Slowly he lowered his defensive posture, standing to the side.
Annabeth quietly peeked around the corner of the line of slot machines with her stormy-gray eyes frantically searching for one last person. The two boys stood behind her with one starting to wonder how and why he got into this mess.
Ugh...Why in the hell did I take that damned drink? Pondered Liam while trying to shake off the aches and pains coming from his body. The hangover was starting to slowly ebb away, but every once in awhile it would come back, blasting the boy's head with hot iron.
The daughter of Athena's eyes stopped their search near an arcade machine. Showing a little bit of hope within the orbs, she pointed out her finger before whispering, "There!"
The game cabinet looked to be some type of shooting game. From what Liam could see, there was a rather young looking boy was shooting away at the screen in front of him, ranting and raving about hunters. He looked to be hunched slightly in his jeans; it was a bit similar to the way Sam walked around with the Rasta-capped boy in front of him having an awkward bend near his knees.
He's a Satyr. Commented Liam from within his mind.
Annabeth and Percy quickly hurried over pulling the boy from his game. After no small amount of grumbling and griping the two got Grover to snap out of it with him letting out a nervous bleat. As quickly as they could the two quieted him down with Liam awkwardly standing next to the group.
"W-Who's he? How long have we been here? Oh, gods-" started the young satyr while looking around, his eyes blasting every which way. There was a certain jittery undertone that made the uncertain boy sound just a bit more scared than everyone else in the group.
Quickly taking charge of the situation, Annabeth interrupted him saying, "Not enough time goat boy. We need to get out of here. This place, it's the home of the Lotus Eaters."
Grover sent a nervous look towards the guards, who were starting to look increasingly more aware of the group's actions. One of them was quietly muttering into an earpiece they wore, wrapped around the ear's lobe.
Percy turned his gaze back towards the main entrance, spotting something that might just let them get out of their current situation. Just a short distance from the main lobby was a marble fountain, slowly spewing out a guzzle of freshwater every few seconds. Even at a distance, the son of Poseidon could feel it like a presence on his mind only a short distance away.
Just below it was a rather large reservoir of the liquid, just what he needed.
"Come on you two...and what's your name, I think I've got us a way out of here." said the son of Poseidon before slowly walking towards the exit. Annabeth appeared to be a bit worried before she spotted Percy's hand slowly pulling itself up.
Following soon after, large snake-like tendrils of water rose up from the fountain before shooting into the sky. The tentacles splashed into two of the guards near the entrance knocking them off their feet. As soon as they were downed Percy yelled, "Run!"
All across the casino floor chaos erupted with the doll-like people suddenly coming to their senses at the sound of the commotion. Despite still having their deadened looks, they quickly rushed about with the guards trying to corral them. From within Liam's mind the voice of Molag Bal commented, Sheep.
The word came out as an insult with an almost derisive sense of anger. Slowly that feeling rushed through Liam's mind, becoming his own. Gradually, the vampire's opinion of the meek collection of people began to change.
He tried to ignore it at first, pushing the thoughts down hoping they would go away, but in the end it would do nothing. The same question kept popping back up in his mind. How dare they? How dare they exist? With nothing but their weak wills, only suited to serve. It made him angry, no furious that they would breathe the same air as him.
Yet, at the same time the boy knew the emotion was not his.
Liam quickly shook his head, demanding that the thing leave him alone. Looking at the three that had veritably left him behind, he brought up his shield. Suppressing an angry growl, the boy rushed through the crowd, roughly pushing through those in his way.
Within the back of the boy's mind, A Prince brought its attention elsewhere, cutting off the swirl of rampant emotions that pushed at the boy's psyche. It had done its part.
Liam heard a sickening crunch just as he reached the edge of the crowd. Bringing his shield out of in front of him, he could see a bit of blood on its front, smearing onto the wood. Ignoring the substance the vampire sprinted after the trio of campers out into the street.
Little did he know what awaited him within the streets of Vegas, or rather what waited below.
AN: Well ladies and gentlemen that's a wrap for today. I ended up having to split up part of this chapter and rewrite a few scenes as what I was planning to do didn't fit all in one. I had planned for this entire scene to be the opening to something else you will see soon, but as I was writing the character interactions it just kept flowing a bit too well for me.
In the end, I decided to just focus on developing the golden trio and Liam some more by showing how they would interact. With the trio I tried to show their chemistry by making them actually able to work around each other rather effectively. With Liam however, I showed some of his inexperience with that sort of thing through him awkwardly standing about and not taking conversational hints very well. In time I feel like he'll be able to do better but for right now he's going to stay as-is. He needs to develop his social skills some more before really achieving much there.
Other than that though I think it's about time to move onto the annotations, so let's keep it rolling.
(1) For these two little "upgrades" to Liam's equipment, you all will find out more about it later. I have something planned that will introduce it beyond what I've described. The metal is ebony which seemed to fit the best for any type of work done by Daedra. Overall it's just a bracing on the shield and spikes added to the mace; the runes will come into play later. If you don't know what ebony is, in the Elder Scrolls at least, it is basically a really strong metal. However, the metal is fairly rare with it being hard to smith and shape. Overall it is used to make Daedric weaponry along with some other fun ingredients.
(2) This is supposed to show Liam's rudimentary understanding of the mist. He knows that it exists, through just being in Camp Half-blood, but he is not particularly educated on the exact hows and whys of what the reality-bending magic does. In time he may learn more or not. Who knows?
(3) Funnily enough while doing some research on the Lotus Eaters, and rereading the scene myself, the fruit they eat was never mentioned by Riordan. It was however shown in the movies and just mythology in general. I decided to just add a few references to the flower as it was shown in the movie as that would make more sense than just being addicted to the games. It works better than just having a somehow magically addictive casino.
I was thinking of actually adding in the tree (as a centerpiece to the casino floor), but I decided not to once I checked how long the chapter already was.
(4) Kèpfos is basically just an Ancient Greek way to call someone an idiot. It doesn't translate like that exactly, but it's close enough. Overall I decided to start adding in stuff like this rather than just saying that, "They cursed in an unknown language." It just fits better and I can mix it in with the previous stuff for more dialogue. From now on if there is any language being spoken that Liam can't understand I'll just translate some stuff and put it in.
Other than that though, like always I'm open to any and all criticism so if you have any go ahead and hit me with it! I'll be seeing you guys again in a couple of days!
~ciao