Willing things to happen was harder than it sounded. It wasn't enough to just want it to happen... You had to force it to happen. It was a bit hard to explain, Perseus supposed, like telling a blind man what it was like to see, or teaching someone with no arms what it felt to grip something. You had to do it to know what was going on. Flashing was... It was crazy. Or perhaps it was sensory overload from his new godly status.

He followed Aphrodite as she flashed off of Olympus, a little blip telling him his destination. Rome, yet again. It seemed like there was far too much going on here for the city to ever stay quiet. He tried to just... want it to happen. It didn't work. He summoned water particles out of the moisture in the air - his favorite trick. It was weird. There was air in the water, and water in the air, and in the end... Nobody really cared.

He swished it around, feeling it, testing it out. Using his powers before hadn't been the easiest - but it hadn't been too difficult, either. He had to pay attention to the water as a whole, had to make sure he kept his senses out to detect it, to bend it to his will. Now... It was effortless, and that was almost... scary. It swished around. He brought some more water out of the air, and he inhaled... Something he realized he hadn't done in well over an hour. It just... wasn't something he needed to do.

More spheres of water joined the first. Perseus closed his eyes. They started to dance around him, swaying, droplets bouncing up and down. He started to rotate them, then speed them up, faster and faster... A wheel of water formed, and he let himself get lost in the movement...

"Perseus?" The water fell to the ground as Perseus was startled.

"Lady Aphrodite!" He gasped, and suddenly remembered his original plan of flashing to Rome. "My Lady, I am-"

She waved his concerns off. "Please, as if a few minutes mean anything to me. I figured you were having a bit of trouble, but... that was something else entirely," she said, remarking on his little 'water show'.

Perseus blushed. "You didn't see too much, did you?" The goddess rolled her eyes.

"Define 'too much'," she replied. "Zeus would only raise his paranoia if he saw you had that much control over your powers already, and I doubt that your father wouldn't be just a bit jealous..." Perseus winced.

"You're not going to say anything, are you?" He was well aware that his hydrokinesis was a rare gift, as rare a child of Zeus gaining electrokinesis or aerokinesis. Er.. maybe a bit more, considering how much Zeus 'got around'...

Aphrodite didn't respond for a moment. The tense air only got thicker and thicker before she spoke again. "Did you know I was born out of sea form?"

"What?" The change of topic didn't go unnoticed by the godling. "I thought that..."

Aphrodite smiled, a bit sadly. "Mortals thought I might be a daughter of Zeus or Poseidon, but in reality... I'm alone in this pantheon, truly. The rest of them, descended from the Titans, be it the Crooked One, one of the Cardinal Titans, or what have you... And here I am, just a pretty face, made from someone's final wishes." Perseus looked at the woman, shocked. She was a goddess, how could she feel left out from... anything?

"Lady Aphrodite..." Perseus was stopped by her clearing her throat.

"Enough of that," she smiled, her demeanor instantly changing. "Let's see if we can't help you figure out how to flash travel, shall we? Show me what you've been doing."

The black-haired god showed her. She snickered at his form. "It looks like you're trying to pass a kidney stone," she snarked.

"A... what?" Aphrodite waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, you need to use your power just like you used it to control that water earlier. You know how you tapped into it, and told it to move that water? Do that again, but this time, tell it to take you somewhere." She ordered.

Perseus closed his eyes, went through his process, and... He opened his eyes. Still on Olympus, definitely. A large ball of water was in front of him... by about 100 yards. He gasped in surprise and dropped it. "Not exactly what I was thinking of..." Aphrodite giggled, a tinkling sound.

"So... what did I do wrong?" He asked.

She shook her head in faux disappointment. "Now, where would the learning experience be if I simply just told you... And more importantly, where would the fun be in the that?" Perseus sighed. He'd probably have to get used to this, wouldn't he?

He focused again... He felt for his power, felt for the pool in his stomach, grasped at it... And forced it out. He wanted to move. He wasn't quite sure where Rome was from here exactly, a little to the west, and a little bit down, right...?

Perseus opened his eyes again. For a moment, he wasn't sure if it had worked. But, no; He wasn't on Olympus, nor was he in Rome, so that begged the bigger question...

If he wasn't there, where the hell was he?

A-ha! Some more confusion added into the mix. Enjoy it! Sorry that I missed last week's update! Like I said, the end of school was hectic... which may or may not have been because I procrastinated on all of my work, but whatever.

Much love,

PJO Fan Power