Hey guys! Things are starting to settle down so hopefully it'll get back to normal soon.
Replies:
Weirdhead: Percy's doing her best! Also, Tyson is very confused and upset and we love him very much okay?
gabriela bandeira: I know, poor Percy just wants to remember too.
The Official Clarisse: Yeah they're the best friends and we love them very much, because they don't even for a second consider that Percy is bad- they're just like 'well that sounds stupid so nope, you're good' and she deserves that.
Undeath9087: Percy whenever something mildly inconveniences her 'I did not die for this shit!' and yeah, yeah Percy is always loyal no matter what she's going through. She does her best for her partners. And I said you'll want to murder me because let's be honest, she's already so traumatised and this is more trauma- which will have an effect.
Update on the KC Au: I have so many plans and idea's- the worst thing is it'll take so so long to get to them because they're for once the PJO plotline starts, but I will do it! Also- end of chapter for a little snippet of the KC AU.
Percy went to sleep not long after that- after reassuring Frank and Hazel that the boat should stay on course even when she was sleeping.
They had both agreed to stay awake and keep watch so Percy had headed back below into the bedroom, curling up in the bed, and she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
And she dreamed- a part of her was almost grateful for them, they gave her flashes of faces- hope for her memories- another part of them hated the sense of loss she felt afterwards.
She dreamed of herself on Mount Tamalpais, fighting at the old Titan stronghold- which didn't make much sense- but it felt so familiar.
She saw faces, Annabeth, holding her hand, a huge weight crushing them down- the girl from the photo with the choppy dark hair, Leo- her brother she was sure of it- a living fireball attacking a man who Percy was pretty sure was a Titan- she saw a boy, bright emerald green eyes staring down at her as she gripped his wrist tightly- it was disjointed- unclear and she couldn't make much sense of it- though the boy made her feel irrationally angry- or maybe not irrationally. She had no way of knowing did she?
Then she saw the giant warship in its dry dock. The bronze dragon figurehead glinted in the morning light. The riggings and armaments were complete, but something was wrong. A hatch in the deck was open, and smoke poured from some kind of engine. Her brother- Leo was there, cursing as he pounded the engine with a wrench. Two other demigods squatted next to him, watching with concern. One was a teenage guy with short blond hair. The other was a girl with long dark hair.
"You realize it's the solstice," the girl said. "We're supposed to leave today."
"I know that!" Leo whacked the the engine a few more times. "Could be the fizzrockets. Could be the samophlange. Could be Gaea messing with us again. I'm not sure!"
"How long?" the blond guy asked.
"Two, three days?"
"They may not have that long," the girl warned.
"You think I don't know- argh! We've got to get there I have to fix this."
Something told Percy that the girl meant Camp Jupiter. Then the scene shifted again.
She saw a boy and his dog roaming over the yellow hills of California. But as the image became clearer, Percy realized it wasn't a boy. It was a Cyclops in ragged jeans and a flannel shirt. The dog was a shambling mountain of black fur, easily as big as a rhino. The Cyclops carried a massive club over his shoulder, but Percy didn't feel that he was an enemy.
He was looking around- and crying? There were tears pouring from his eye, "You smell her too- not just the Romans! You smell sister too!" and the giant dog barked in response and the boy shook his head, "Might be trap. Can't tell the others yet. Got to know for sure."
"ROOF!" the dog barked, and Percy's dream changed again.
She saw a range of snowy mountains, so tall they broke the clouds. Gaea's sleeping face appeared in the shadows of the rocks.
"Such a valuable pawn," she said soothingly. "Do not fear, Percy Jackson. Come north! Your friends will die, yes. But I will preserve you for now. I have great plans for you."
In a valley between the mountains lay a massive field of ice. The edge plunged into the sea, hundreds of feet below, with sheets of frost constantly crumbling into the water. On top of the ice field stood a legion camp—ramparts, moats, towers, barracks, just like Camp Jupiter except three times as large. At the crossroads outside the principia, a figure in dark robes stood shackled to the ice. Percy's vision swept past him, into the headquarters. There, in the gloom, sat a giant even bigger than Polybotes. She recognised him from her last dream. His skin glinted gold. Displayed behind him were the tattered, frozen banners of a Roman legion, including a large, golden eagle with its wings spread.
"We await you," the giant's voice boomed. "While you fumble your way north, trying to find me, my armies will destroy your precious camps—first the Romans, then the others. You cannot win, little demigod."
Percy lurched awake, almost falling out of her bed as she let sucked in a shaky breath, slowly climbing out of the bed and making her way up onto the deck, snatching some bags of chips she found after rummaging in the little kitchen on the way- she found herself smiling slightly at the sight that met her eyes- Frank had used the button operated roof to cover up the seating area because it was raining- Frank was still awake but Hazel wasn't- she was curled up on the bench, head resting on his chest, and Frank had an arm wrapped around her, a blanket pulled up so that it was covering them both up.
He flushed when he spotted Percy coming up- but he couldn't move- if he did he'd risk waking up Hazel and it didn't seem like he was willing to do that.
The scenery around them was so different from the images in Percy's dream that it took a moment for her to register it all.
The Poseidon's joy floated on an iron-black river through the middle of a city. Heavy clouds hung low overhead. The cold rain was so light, it seemed suspended in the air. On Percy's left were industrial warehouses and railroad tracks. To her right was a small downtown area—an almost cozy-looking cluster of towers between the banks of the river and a line of misty forested hills.
Percy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she moved to sit on the other side of the table to Frank and Hazel, "Portland?"
"Yeah." Frank nodded, "Seems like you were right. It takes you wherever you want to go. I gotta admit this boat is pretty cool."
"What can I say, dad gives me the best presents."
"He definitely does." Frank nodded, "The boat seems to know where we're going even if we don't."
"That's a relief- hey-" because Hazel had shifted slightly and the daughter of Pluto lifted her head, stifling a yawn, "Hey guys- everything okay?"
"Yeah," Frank nodded, "We're still sailing on the river so all seems to be going well for now."
"For now anyway." Percy hesitated before speaking, "I had some dreams last night- I think some of them were memories. And some- my brother, Leo. I think he's planning on coming to Camp with a warship to help out. And- for some reason a Cyclops and a giant dog are looking for me- they seemed pretty worried-they could smell me but they thought it might be a trap so I don't think they'll tell the others."
"Because they think you're dead." Hazel frowned, "That's horrible but- a Cyclops?"
"He's friendly. I think he's family." Percy said quickly, "And I saw Alcyoneus." she described the icy frozen fort and Hazel looked troubled.
"So he's on a glacier. That doesn't narrow it down much. Alaska has hundreds of those."
Percy nodded. "Maybe this seer dude Phineas can tell us which one."
The boat docked itself at a wharf. The three demigods stared up at the buildings of drizzly downtown Portland.
Frank wiped the rain off his flat-top hair.
"So now we find a blind man in the rain," Frank said.
"Yay." Percy gave a manic grin that made her friends laugh and roll their eyes.
Soon enough they were leaving the boat- thankfully they'd brought lightweight Polartec jackets with their supplies, so they bundled up against the cold rain and walked for a few blocks through the mostly deserted streets. This time Percy was smart and brought most of her supplies from the boat. She even stuffed the macrobiotic jerky in her coat pocket, in case she needed to threaten any more killer whales.
They saw some bicycle traffic and a few homeless guys huddled in doorways, but the majority of Portlanders seemed to be staying indoors.
As they made their way down Glisan Street, Percy looked longingly at the folks in the cafés enjoying coffee and pastries. She was about to suggest that they stop for breakfast when she heard a voice down the street yelling: "HA! TAKE THAT, STUPID CHICKENS!" followed by the revving of a small engine and a lot of squawking.
Percy glanced at her friends. "You think—?"
"Probably," Frank agreed.
They ran toward the sounds.
The next block over, they found a big open parking lot with tree-lined sidewalks and rows of food trucks facing the streets on all four sides. Percy had seen food trucks before, but never so many in once place. Some were simple white metal boxes on wheels, with awnings and serving counters. Others were painted blue or purple or polka-dotted, with big banners out front and colorful menu boards and tables like do-it-yourself sidewalk cafés. One advertised Korean/Brazilian fusion tacos, which sounded like some kind of top-secret radioactive cuisine. Another offered sushi on a stick. A third was selling deep-fried ice cream sandwiches. The smell was amazing—dozens of different kitchens cooking at once.
Percy's stomach rumbled. Most of the food carts were open for business, but there was hardly anyone around. They could get anything they wanted! Deep-fried ice cream sandwiches? Oh, man, that sounded way better than wheat germ.
Unfortunately, there was more happening than just cooking. In the center of the lot, behind all the food trucks, an old man in a bathrobe was running around with a weed whacker, screaming at a flock of bird-ladies who were trying to steal food off a picnic table.
"Harpies," said Hazel. "Which means—"
"That's Phineas," Frank guessed.
They ran across the street and squeezed between the Korean/Brazilian truck and a Chinese egg roll burrito vendor.
The backs of the food trucks weren't nearly as appetizing as the fronts. They were cluttered with stacks of plastic buckets, overflowing garbage cans, and makeshift clotheslines hung with wet aprons and towels. The parking lot itself was nothing but a square of cracked asphalt, marbled with weeds. In the middle was a picnic table piled high with food from all the different trucks.
The guy in the bathrobe was old and fat. He was mostly bald, with scars across his forehead and a rim of stringy white hair. His bathrobe was spattered with ketchup, and he kept stumbling around in fuzzy pink bunny slippers, swinging his gas-powered weed whacker at the half-dozen harpies who were hovering over his picnic table.
He was clearly blind. His eyes were milky white, and usually he missed the harpies by a lot, but he was still doing a pretty good job fending them off.
"Back, dirty chickens!" he bellowed.
Percy wasn't sure why, but she had a vague sense that harpies were supposed to be plump. These looked like they were starving. Their human faces had sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. Their bodies were covered in molting feathers, and their wings were tipped with tiny, shrivelled hands. They wore ragged burlap sacks for dresses. As they dived for the food, they seemed more desperate than angry. Percy felt sorry for them. WHIRRRR! The old man swung his weed whacker. He grazed one of the harpies' wings. The harpy yelped in pain and fluttered off, dropping yellow feathers as she flew.
Another harpy circled higher than the rest. She looked younger and smaller than the others, with bright-red feathers.
She watched carefully for an opening, and when the old man's back was turned, she made a wild dive for the table. She grabbed a burrito in her clawed feet, but before she could escape, the blind man swung his weed whacker and smacked her in the back so hard, Percy winced. The harpy yelped, dropped the burrito, and flew off.
"Hey, stop it!" Percy yelled, pulling Riptide from her pocket, though she didn't uncap it yet.
The harpies took that the wrong way. They glanced over at the three demigods and immediately fled. Most of them fluttered away and perched in the trees around the square, staring dejectedly at the picnic table. The red-feathered one with the hurt back flew unsteadily down Glisan Street and out of sight.
"Ha!" The blind man yelled in triumph and killed the power on his weed whacker. He grinned vacantly in Percy's direction. "Thank you, strangers! Your help is most appreciated."
Percy bit back a growl of anger- she wasn't trying to help the old man after all- he seemed horrible and no matter what the harpies may have done they didn't deserve that. But- they needed information from him so she swallowed back the urge to slap him in the face.
But- well, once they'd got the information she could pummel the asshole, that should be fun.
And here's the KC au snippet, a cute scene this time, from the 3rd chapter. Sally and Percy are travelling with Julius at this stage, he's technically employing her to help him care for Carter whenever he's working.
Sally could hear Julius' voice- and she set the bags down on the counter before she moved to the children's rooms- and she felt her expression go soft as she peered through the crack of the door. Percy and Carter were sharing a bed, Percy curled up into Carter's side, blankets wrapped around them tightly, with Julius sat on the edge of the bed.
"-some say that Persephone's story was a sad one- but I think she chose to eat the pomegranate seeds that that her mother wouldn't be able to keep her from her love. And for six months of the year she rules the underworld by her husbands side."
"I liked that story." that was Carter's voice, thick and tired- and he yawned as he said the words. "It's new."
"It's a Greek tale." Julius' voice was so gentle, still deep and rich but so incredibly soft, "I thought Percy might like it, since it's the story of her namesake."
"I did." Percy's voice was muffled from where she was snuggled in close with Carter.
"Good." Julius leaned forward then, pressing his lips gently to the top of Percy's head as he smoothed her hair back, "Now you two should get some sleep." he smoothed his hand over Carter's cheek.
"Night dad." Carter murmured the words, and a moment later Sally heard Percy's voice too.
"Night daddy-" and she felt her heart twist as she took a small step back, pressing a hand to her mouth before she forced herself to breath, and then she was moving quickly away from the door, over to the couches, which she lowered herself onto.
A few minutes later Julius emerged from the children's room, giving Sally a slightly amused smile.
"I noticed you eavesdropping Sally."
"Sorry- I was just checking in and-"
"I know." Julius' expression was distant. "She called me daddy."
"It makes sense." Sally admitted softly, shaking her head. "Percy's never met Poseidon, and Gabe- he was no father. You're the closest thing she's ever had- but if you mind I can talk to her-"
"No." Julius shook his head- and was it just Sally or were his cheeks almost flushed "I don't mind. She's a sweet girl. In some ways she reminds me of Sadie-"
"Your daughter." he'd told Sally about Sadie three weeks in, and about his wife's fate three months in.
"Yes."
"You miss her."
"I do." Julius' expression was pained, "I- I would do anything to have her with us but- even if I could get custody- it's dangerous, the House-"
"I know." Sally reached out, grabbing his hand, "Julius- you're doing your best- she'll understand that when she's older-"
Julius closed his eyes, a pained look on his face. "I won't blame her if she doesn't- I know she resents me. She thinks I chose Carter over her- that was never the case but-"
"The world isn't fair." Sally shifted, so that she was closer to Julius, "Our children deserve better than they've had. One day maybe we'll make the world better for them."