Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
Consul of the Underworld: Grinding Phase
Chapter Seventeen: Siblings FLC
Beta: ShadowofAxios
It was early evening in the Potter Manor in California with the setting fall sun painting the living room in a beautiful display of comforting oranges when the fire in the hearth suddenly grew in intensity and turned green. Out of these enchanted flames stepped out the two mistresses of the house, Alkaid and Pyrrha. They had returned home after a long day at Camp, and for Alkaid a day of college classes before that. Thankfully after the whole Golden Fleece quest, things had quieted down in Camp at least. Though they were still utterly exhausted and wanted nothing more than some rest.
Particularly Alkaid, who had been asked by Chiron to help with looking after her fellow children of the Big Three and was suffering for it.
Alkaid didn't mind helping Percy with his training or answering his questions because he was a sweet boy despite his awkwardness around her. It was why she tried to visit him every so often at his home even during the school year when he insisted on staying away from Camp to spend time with his mother, even if it was quite a hassle sometimes.
Now if only the other demigod child of the Big Three running around was as nice as the son of Poseidon. Thalia, the newly revived daughter of Zeus, was utterly intolerable with how gruff and cocksure she was. Now if she had any noteworthy achievements under her belt, Alkaid might have been more understanding. But she had done less than Percy yet seemed to think she was superior to both him and even Alkaid herself. Most of it was bravado, the daughter of Hades could see that much, but it nevertheless made her a horrible pain to be around.
Maybe it was because of their Fathers? But she was getting the urge to smack the little trollop down a few pegs, but that'd just be bullying the child. And yes, despite her teenage appearance, Alkaid still counted the girl as a child due to all the time she spent in her pine. Though if the girl kept annoying her fellow Campers with her attitude, she would be saved the trouble soon. Seriously bad mouthing Percy in front of a Camp full of people who he literally saved just earlier in the year? She was just asking for a beating sooner rather than later.
Sadly Pyrrha's siblings were egging the girl on. Most were still miffed with the whole Master Bolt quest conclusion and were more than happy to side with someone who was as against Percy as they were.
Not that the girl's attempts to grandstand were limited to Percy. Oh no! She seemed to want to pretend that she was better than Alkaid too. Of course whenever the little girl got confrontational with her, Alkaid as Assistant Activities Director simply punished the girl with some of the more… unpleasant chores. The stables were spotless for a whole week thanks to the daughter of Zeus' loving attention until the girl finally wised up and realised it was a good idea to not mess with someone who was her superior.
Of course maybe it was Alkaid's remarks at how Percy was much better behaved then Thalia and the smug smile Alkaid wore when she said it that set the little girl off. Well, it was the brat's own fault for saying she was the best fighter in camp, which was patently false hence the correction. That she couldn't handle the truth wasn't any fault of Alkaid's.
Alkaid was starting to see why her Father had such fun poking his brothers. If their reactions were anything like their children, it must be priceless.
"Mistresses," their Head House Elf said as he popped in and offered them a bow. "Welcome home."
"Yes, Cappy?" Alkaid asked, resisting the urge to just float to bed and deal with whatever issue later. She knew her de facto butler would not have come to greet her in person without a good reason. House Elves by their nature tended to prefer to work unseen and only made an appearance when they had to.
"Guests be waiting in the parlor. Dropped off my Missus Alecto just a short while ago."
"Guests?" Pyrrha asked curiously. "We expecting anyone?"
Alkaid furrowed her brow, "Nothing that comes to mind. Who are they Cappy?"
"A boy and girl, youngins, Mistress."
"Very well, tell them we'll be there in a moment."
Cappy nodded and scurried off to announce them.
The couple followed him at a more sedate pace and walked in to find Baba Yaga in her form as an old crone sitting back in a rocking chair and watching over Mina and a pair of obvious siblings as they seemed to be finishing up a jigsaw puzzle. All while, drinking from a flask that Alkaid was sure was full of some alcohol or the other.
"Oh girls, you're back." The old folk hero greeted with a smile. "You've got more adds."
"Haha, Baba," Alkaid said with a roll of her eyes. "You're too old to be hip. Stop trying."
"Bah, Alecto laughed. Shows how little humor you kiddies have."
"Alecto laughs at Father's lame knock knock jokes. Not even Stepmother laughs at those." Alkaid informed the old witch. "She's not a good gauge for taste in humor."
Judging by Baba's wince she'd heard those jokes too.
"Okay, so maybe I wasn't as funny as I thought."
"I think you're funny, Baba." Mina said as she detached from Pyrrha who she'd been hugging in hello and tackled Alkaid in welcome as well. "Hello, Mum."
"Hello Mina, have you been a good girl?"
"Mina is always a good girl!" The pint sized goddess insisted with a pout.
Alkaid just smiled and ruffled her hair affectionately, which caused her daughter to squirm away and scurry behind Pyrrha for 'protection' much to the three adults' amusement.
"Hello," the older child, the girl, greeted nervously. She had a lean build, with olive skin and black hair and eyes that all but screamed her heritage, to Alkaid at least, as a daughter of Hades.
"Hi," her younger brother greeted shyly. He had messy black hair that made him look like he just got out of bed and the same olive skin as his sister.
"Hello," Alkaid greeted before turning to Baba for answers.
"They're your half siblings by Hades." Baba Yaga informed her. "The girl's name is Bianca di Angelo and the boy's Nico."
"Have they been briefed on what they are and monsters and stuff?" Pyrrha asked. Turning to her, Alkaid noticed that Mina had disappeared as had the di Angelos. It seemed her daughter had dragged them off somewhere in the brief moment she'd taken her eyes off them.
"Your daughter took care of it," the old folk hero said with a grimace.
"Oh." The couple winced in unison.
There was going to be mental scarring, that was for sure.
"I'll go find them," Alkaid said with a sigh. "Pyrrha, see Baba out?"
"Sure thing, 'Kaidy."
"Good luck with the brats, girlie." The old witch said with a toothless grin even as Alkaid just gave the immortal a distracted wave goodbye in response and left the room in search of the children. Not that difficult a task at all when they, or Mina at least, were talking loudly enough to be heard all the way from wherever they'd scampered off to.
Following the sound of their voices, Alkaid found herself outside the door to the small indoor aviary Alkaid had set up for her familiar, Rhip. Curious about her siblings, she decided to do some snooping before actually properly meeting them. As such, she stood in the hall outside the room and tapped into her familiar's senses to see what was going on inside.
Watching through her familiar's eyes she found that he was hiding in the high branches of the artificial trees that dotted the aviary while the children were trying to coax him down with some treats.
"Rhip, you're being a silly birdie!" Mina whined with a pout. "Why are you hiding from me? If you didn't belong to Mum, I would stabby stab you for it."
"Uh," Bianca said a little uncertainly. "Isn't it a little weird for people to keep a raven as a pet?"
"Rhip isn't a pet," Mina corrected. "He's Mum's familiar for her peeping magic."
Alkaid involuntarily twitched at that.
"Whoa," Nico said, his black eyes that he had inherited from Father, widened with excitement, "Can Ms. Alkaid really see through its eyes? Oh, can I learn to do that too if I had one?"
"Hehe, of course you could!" Mina chirped.
"Oh no you don't!" Bianca said sharply. "You're not getting one. You're not going to go around peeping into girls' bathrooms with a familiar!"
Nico sputtered at that, his face coloring at the accusation from his sister.
This left it to a tutting Mina to reply, "Silly, that's not how mummy uses Rhip. She doesn't need to! Mama is more than happy to let her see all the girly bits she wants."
Rhip, the traitor, cawed in agreement, leaving the two di Angelos blushing brilliantly.
While promising her familiar through their link that he wouldn't be getting any treats for the week at least, Alkaid's pale cheeks flushed in anger.
It's not like I'm a pervert like the rest of my family, right? Sure, I can be risque, but I'm not insatiable! I'm a healthy sexually active woman for my age.
Shaking her head, she put the thought aside. I can worry about that later. I have siblings to meet right now.
A little over five minutes later, the Potters and di Angelos were seated around the Manor's living room while the latter fidgeted nervously as they looked at the two women who were their new guardians expectantly.
In contrast to her younger siblings, Alkaid was quite serene, happily drinking some tea and waiting for one of the two to crack first. Off to the side, Mina was happily doing her homework that Baba Yaga had left for her. Laying on her stomach and merrily kicking her little feet in the air. Of the Potters, the only member who was anything but calm was Pyrrha who unlike the rest of her family was exasperated that Alkaid was putting her own siblings on the spot.
At last with a grunt, Pyrrha decided to take pity on the kids and shook her head.
"Alright, so you two got the gist of your situation right? Any questions?"
"About a hundred," Bianca told her with narrowed eyes. "And not that I don't believe you, but this is kinda overwhelming. Um, Ms. Alkaid are you really our sister?"
Mina popped her head up from her books to reply. "Of course she is. I told you so earlier. You two have the same type of bleeding darkness in your mortal souls as Mum after all."
"It's, um, not like I don't believe you. It's just that this is kinda a shock and so we want a little confirmation." Bianca gulped a little, wringing her hands nervously.
"Yes, I am." Alkaid confirmed with a sigh. "And as Father decreed by dropping you off at my home, I'll be taking care of them from now onwards."
"Why can't he do it himself?" Nico asked, finally joining the conversation.
Alkaid shrugged her shoulders, "It wouldn't be safe to do so."
"He raised you." Bianca retorted, pointing an accusing finger her way. "Didn't he?"
"Mina told you that?"Alkaid asked, shooting her daughter a look.
"Shouldn't I?" The goddess of serial killers asked with an adorably cute tilt of her head.
Pyrrha chuckled as she reached over to fondly ruffle her hair, "You're lucky you're such a cutie, Mina."
Her daughter beamed up at her even as she fixed her hair, though from the tiny frown on 'Kaidy's face her lover wasn't too happy with what she must see as their daughter's double standard.
Gotta remember to get Mina to cuddle with 'Kaidy later. That should cheer her up.
"Back on topic," Alkaid said with a sip of her tea. "Yes, Father did raise me but the other gods aren't happy about it. He can't risk doing it again."
"Or what?"
"There'll be a war."
"Oh." Bianca said in a small voice.
Huh. She's quite smart if she can understand that so easily. Pyrrha thought and with a glance at 'Kaidy, it was clear she agreed. She looked pleased to see that her sister at least, had enough wisdom to understand the consequences of things. It was a good thing honestly, you needed a good head on your shoulders for this world.
Bianca leaned back and seemed to ponder the issue. Her distraction seemed to galvanise Nico to step into the conversation.
"So this house is pretty grand, does this mean we're super rich?" Nico asked, excitedly.
"Nico!" His sister chided.
"More like 'Kaidy is stupid rich. Though your old man is known as the Rich One. So who knows, you guys might've stuff saved up somewhere. Maybe." Pyrrha commented dryly, before shaking her head and muttering under her breath. "Honestly that's your biggest concern? Kids these days."
"Right, uh, Pyrrha?" Bianca asked uncertainly and receiving a nod in confirmation. "So you're our, uh, sister-in-law?"
"Well, we aren't married-"
"Yet," Alkaid said sharply, which made a small smile come to Pyrrha's face. "And only because this war makes us too busy to plan a wedding. Blasted Titans ruining my scheduling. I wanted a spring wedding!"
Pyrrha blushed brilliantly at this but nodded shyly. What can I say to that!?
"Oh," Bianca said fidgeting nervously. "So that's okay? I mean, nobody finds it weird?"
"Not anyone that matters." Alkaid said airily. "Same sex couples are quite accepted nowadays. Not common since we make up only a small percentage of the population but we're not considered strange. There is even a strong movement to grant us the right to get married at the federal level right now. So while there is still some discrimination for our sexual orientation, it's gotten a lot better."
"Huh? So we can't get married?" Pyrrha asked, disappointment lacing her voice alongside a burning sense of anger that swelled in her chest.
"We can get married in Massachusetts." 'Kaidy replied easily, "It's been legal there since 2004."
"Not that my Mamas need to be married to act married." Mina said with a pout. "If we lived closer to our neighbors, they would complain about the noise."
"Mina, finish your homework." Pyrrha said sternly, earning a pout from their daughter. Gods, is she still peeking on us?
"I want siblings." The little girl goddess insisted.
"That's, uh, different?"
"Things have changed from before you entered the Lotus, Bianca." Her girlfriend informed the girl.
"So the Lotus made us time travel?" Nico asked with childish excitement. Man, that was going to go away quick in the coming years.
"Not quite Nico," Alkaid informed him. "More like it took you out of time back whenever you walked into it-"
"1940 I think," Bianca helpfully chimed in while she rubbed her arms nervously.
Alkaid shot her a thankful nod before continuing. "In 1940 and then allowed you to reenter normal time now in 2007 when you exited it."
"Basically you were put in a freezer then taken out." Pyrrha dumbed down. "Like a really old popsicle."
Nico chuckled at the analogy but Bianca wrinkled her nose in slight disgust.
"That's so cool!" Nico said with childish enthusiasm. "So we're half god half mortal right? Does that mean that we have super powers like that?"
"Yes, though we'll leave it till you get to Camp for you to figure out what exact powers you inherited from Father. I like my manor intact."
"Camp? What's that?"
"Camp Half-Blood is where half-bloods like us go to get training to become heroes." Pyrrha told the di Angelos with a quirked lip.
Bianca seemed unsettled by the news if her frown was any indication while Nico's eyes practically glowed with delight as he bounced in his seat.
"Don't worry Bianca. I work there and will make sure both of you are safe." Alkaid reassured her, she was stupidly good at just saying the right thing. "Besides, not every Camper ends up a hero. If you feel like that's not your calling after you've finished your training, I'm more than happy to support you as you find your true calling."
"Yeah," Pyrrha said with a nod. "We'll be here for you. Even if you want to be a pastry chef or something."
"Mum is going to be a teacher!" Mina excitedly informed her aunt and uncle. "You can do whatever you want too!"
"Oh, okay." Bianca said thoughtfully. "Thank you Alkaid, Pyrrha."
Alkaid just waved the thanks away. "It's the least I can do for my siblings."
"Uncle Nico, what do you want to be?" Mina asked curiously.
"A hero, of course," the young boy declared enthusiastically. "I want a cool sword and all the other magical stuff heroes get in the stories!"
Bianca just sighed and shook her head.
"Don't worry, sister." Alkaid said with an amused smile. "He'll grow out of it."
"I won't." Nico insisted.
Bianca ignored her brother and nodded.
"Mamas! I'm hungry." Mina said suddenly, shooting to her feet and looking as adorable as always.
Pyrrha and Alkaid glanced at the clock. It was roughly dinner time already.
"Alright, so what do we want?" Pyrrha asked with a smile for the two di Angelos.
"Italian." the two kids said on reflex.
"I should have guessed," Pyrrha said with a chuckle. "Pizza it is."
"Actually Missy Pyrrha," the house elf Pinky said as she popped in. "Wes have cooked dinner already. All Italian to welcomes Missy Bianca and Young Master Nico."
"Well done Pinky." Alkaid told the elf with a smile. "Then let's go for dinner shall we? We can sort out anymore questions you have later."
"Okay, um, big sis?" Bianca asked hopefully.
Alkaid actually perked up at the title, much to Pyrrha's amusement. The daughter of Ares knew that she had never been called that before. She had always been the 'baby' of the family, especially since the family were all immortals. Thus it must have been immensely refreshing for her to be referred to as such.
"But Bianca, aren't we older than Alkaid?" Nico asked, looking adorably confused. "I mean we were born in the 1920s and-"
"No. She's our big sister. That's final." Bianca says sternly.
Gulping, Nico nodded.
Looking on, the Potters just grinned in amusement at the di Angelos' interactions as they gently guided the two siblings to their dining room where dinner awaited.
The next day, which rather conveniently was a Saturday, Alkaid and Pyrrha decided it was time to take the di Angelos to Camp. Mina, of course, had tagged along.
The moment that the Potter family had stepped out of the green flames of the central hearth, Mina happily grabbed hold of her young aunt and uncle and dragged them off loudly declaring that she was giving them a tour of Camp.
"Your daughter is as excitable as always, Alkaid," Aunt Hestia said with a giggle from her place next to the fire pit.
"She's irrepressible." Alkaid agreed, even as Pyrrha gave the eldest of the elder gods a more formal greeting. "Are you here to meet my new siblings, Lady Hestia?"
"To sneak a look, as you young folk say," the goddess of family said in a stereotypical old lady's voice before bursting into another fit of child-like giggles.
Alkaid and Pyrrha both shared in her mirth for a moment.
"You two should run along," the goddess in the shape of a child said as she calmed down. "I'm sure you don't want to leave the children unsupervised for too long."
"Of course, Lady Hestia," Alkaid replied with a polite bow that Pyrrha copied. "We'll get going then."
The goddess waved them along even as she returned her attention to the hearth.
"I'll go follow them," the daughter of Hades said as she turned to her lover and gestured to the large bag slung over her shoulder. "You go help them set up in Cabin 11?"
"Right," Pyrrha said with a nod. "See you in a bit."
Alkaid just smiled in reply and the couple split off for now.
She caught up with the children by the canoeing lake where her two siblings were trying to give it a wide berth even as Mina eagerly described the myriad of activities that Campers carried out on the lake.
"It's not that bad," Alkaid informed the younger children of Hades. "The water, I mean. Uncle Poseidon is pretty chill about us so he won't hurt us or anything and water activities can be quite fun."
"We'll, uh, take your word for it." Bianca replied hesitantly, still eying the lake warily.
"Now, it's the sky you have to worry about. No flying, no pegasus rides either. Not that they'd let you near them. The equine jerks are a pretty stuck up bunch, even if Uncle Poseidon allows us to ride them they just refuse saying they don't like us."
"It's cause Mum smells like death." Mina giggled at the sorceress.
"So we should stay away from the stables?" Nico asked with a disappointed pout.
"Not really, go bug them all you want. Serves them right."
"That's mean," Bianca noted with a chuckle.
"Mum's right," Mina insisted. "They were mean first so it's totally alright to be mean back."
"So two wrongs make a right?" Nico cocked his head to the side.
"In this world? Pretty much. At least when it comes to divinity." Alkaid shrugged and pointed off to the distance, "Let's go take a look at the strawberry fields. I'm sure we can sneak one or two if we're sneaky."
Cutting back through the Cabin area, where the di Angelos got quite curious at the large crowd that had gathered at Cabin 11, they eventually reached the strawberry fields next to the Big House. It was mid-morning by this point so most of the gardening was done, but a handful of satyrs and dryads were still wandering the fields checking on the health of the crops.
"Now, a good thing to know is that we have no green thumb whatsoever." Alkaid instructed the two. "In fact, you could say we have black thumbs. Except for our Stepmother, Persephone."
"Yes, you children of Hades have quite the adverse effect on plants, Miss Potter," a stocky satyr said as he canted over. "So can I take it that these two young'uns are your siblings?"
"Yes Stanley." Alkaid politely replied. "These are Bianca and Nico di Angelo. Say hello."
"Hello Mr. Stanley," all three children, even Mina, said with a smile.
"So uh, Lord Hades broke the oath again?" The satyr asked nervously.
"Not quite. More of a technicality. Let all those gossiping dryads know that."
"A technicality?"
"Grandpa used the Lotus as a time travel fridge thingy." Mina explained helpfully.
"Ah!" Stanley nodded as if that explained everything.
"Oh, oh!" Mina jumped up and down in excitement, "Mum, can we see the lava wall next? Maybe someone's burning alive!"
"Sure, but before that," Alkaid said with a indulgent smile towards her daughter before turning to Stanley. "Any chance we could have some freshly picked strawberries?"
"Not on my watch!" The satyr said proudly, even as he tossed a freshly packed bag of the fruits at Mina who happily caught it.
"Thanks Mr. Stanley." The goddess of serial killers said as she tore the bag open and began snacking. She offered some to the di Angelos but they were a little distracted.
"Lava wall?" Bianca asked, her face ashen, ignoring the conversation with the satyr.
In contrast her brother had an excited gleam in his eyes at the prospect.
"Nico," She warned, which seemed to be a reflex from what Alkaid figured.
"It's not as bad as Mina makes it sound," Alkaid assured her siblings as she guided them towards the Climbing Wall and absently waving goodbye to Stanley. "It's actually just Camp's Climbing Wall."
"So there's no lava?" Nico asked sounding almost disappointed even as Bianca sighed in relief.
"Oh no, there is lava." Alkaid insisted. "And you do get hurt if you can't avoid it. But that's almost never happened."
"You can hear them screaming until they don't have bones." Mina grinned wickedly, her greenish yellow eyes shimmering with deadly delight.
"Almost never happened?" Bianca said as her face blanched. "That means it's happened before?"
"Once or twice a year when newbies climb the wall, but nothing serious. Chiron and Cabin 7 had them all healed up in no time at all." Alkaid reassured the di Angelos, though neither seemed all that calmed. With even Nico now looking a little hesitant.
"Don't worry uncle, auntie, you can have your bones grown back. Skin too!"
The younger children of Hades just paled even more at Mina's little encouraging observation. A look that Alkaid found quite fitting on her siblings. She imagined it would match how they'd end up looking once they fully came into their powers and the olive tan they'd inherited from their mother faded. It was a little bit of a shame, since the prospect of a child of Hades with a tan of any kind was quite something but Alkaid knew it was a pipe dream. All children of Hades had pale skin that resisted a tan. Melinoe had tried, and despite being a goddess had only ended up with it sticking for a couple hours before it faded. It was, to the daughters of Hades, one of the biggest drawbacks to their paternity.
Ugh, it made going to the beach a nightmare. Alkaid herself had tried once or twice and had only managed to waste her time. Melinoe had laughed at her for days too. Just the memory brought a frown to her face.
It was while she was sporting this look of displeasure that the sorceress arrived at the Climbing Wall, a fact that seemed to make her siblings even more wary.
Mina skipped to her side, giving her a sharp poke with a finger, breaking the young woman out of her memory. Her hand reached to pat her white locks, but Mina evaded it with a mischievous giggle.
"Alkiad," the bored but yet exasperated voice of Mr. D said from behind her as he ambled over. "What's this I hear from the dryads that your father's let loose a pair of new siblings of yours from the Lotus?"
"Ah, Mr. D." Alkaid smiled kindly at the unhappily sober god. He didn't seem too irritable today. He seemed to lighten up when Mina was around. Maybe it was their shared madness domain?
"This them?" The god of madness asked, gesturing at the di Angelos.
"Indeed," Alkaid said, putting reassuring hands on each of her siblings' shoulders, "Nico, Bianca, this is Mr. D or Dionysus, the god of wine and the minder here. Be sure to be respectful or you'll be turned into a squirrel."
"And then run over with my SUV." Mr. D said with a demented smile, "So, Alkaid, mind telling me what your Father is thinking having these out of timers running around now? He must know that this makes them potentials for being the subject of the Great Prophecy, correct?"
"With me too old and the irritable porcupine out of her tree, I'm assuming Father is thinking that it would be safer for him to have a couple horses in the race too."
The god of wine groaned, rolling his bloodshot eyes. "By Gaia's teat, those three should just whip them out."
"Whip what?" Nico blinked in confusion.
Bianca's face, however, was a faint red with a curious mixture of green.
Alkaid just smiled at the god's crude language. "Yes, it might save the rest of us some trouble wouldn't it?"
The sound of distant thunder reminded her that despite appearances they had a much larger audience than was immediately apparent.
"Blah blah blah, you know she's right." Mr. D snorted and looked at Alkaid, "Least be grateful it isn't you. It'd get boring if one of the brats I tolerate got hit by a stray bolt or twenty."
"Thank you for the bolt of confidence," Alkaid joked.
Mr. D chuckled at the lame joke and turned around to walk back to the Big House.
"You're getting better," the god shot over his shoulder. "Still lame, but better. You'll develop a sense of humor yet. In the meantime, go finish settling Nick and Betty in."
"Nico and Bianca," Alkaid corrected playfully, knowing the god knew and didn't care.
True to form he ignored her and just kept walking without replying.
"It's a game to him, making up silly names for you mortals." Mina told Alkaid's siblings. "I help him once in a while with really really stupid ones."
"Stupid names?"
"No, with silly names for the most stupid mortals."
The di Angelos just exchanged a indecipherable look and nodded.
"Un, Big Sis," Bianca said hesitantly. Though Alkaid could pick up some excitement as she said the name. "Could we take a break?"
Before the older daughter of the Underworld could reply, her daughter chimed in.
"Mum," her adorable murderer of a daughter singsonged. "Auntie Bianca and Uncle Nico are tired. Which cabin are they staying in?"
"Cabin 11, of course." Mr. D said shouted from halfway back to the Big House. "That's where all the Campers whose parents don't have cabins sleep, isn't it? So no sneaking them into your room! It's bad enough that Pepper spends almost every night you two are here with you making you scream! I don't need rugrats running around too."
Alkaid blushed, but only just a little. Her very healthy sex life was pretty much a known quantity in Camp, so she wasn't too embarrassed by it. The di Angelos didn't agree though and were blushing brilliantly.
"Understood, Mr. D," Alkaid shouted back. "I'll show them to Cabin 11 now."
The god made no reply, but the sorceress took that as the dismissal it was and turned back to her siblings who were exchanging nervous looks.
"But isn't that place like super crowded?" Bianca asked looking uneasy. "We walked past it earlier and it looked very full."
"It is, but I have a workaround to that problem." Alkaid said with a smile. "Come on, Pyrrha should be done helping you guys set it up by now."
"Set up what?"
"You'll see, Uncle Nico." Mina reassured him. "It'll be cool!"
The di Angelos exchanged another look but shrugged and followed after their big sister and niece as they headed to Cabin 11.
From the Climbing Wall, it was a short walk pass the Dining Pavilion, which Mina pointed out to the di Angelos, till they reached the Cabin area and specifically Cabin 11. They arrived to find it as crowded as they had last seen it but walking in they spotted a notable change from the norm. In a corner there was now a small tent sent up with Pyrrha standing next to it with her wand out casting a few spells.
"Not done?" Alkaid asked as she walked over.
"Just finishing up the set up for the cable." Pyrrha said as she put her wand away with a satisfied grin. "It was on the fritz a bit when I did it the first time."
Alkaid nodded.
"Cable?" Connor Stoll exclaimed in shock from where he stood among a crowd of his gawking cabinmates. "That thing has cable!?"
"There's a fully furnished apartment in there," Alkaid informed him. "Of course there's cable."
"We will do whatever you want for the next twenty flag games if we can get one of those. Run interference, play distraction, you name it, Pyrrha!" Travis begged.
"You'll have to pay real money if you want this," Alkaid said coldly. "This tent cost me a pretty penny. Pay me for it and I'll happily supply you any tent you want."
"Travis, to the ledgers!" Connor announced as he scurried away.
A lot of campers in cabin 11 were running to find what money they could scrounge up.
"Man, you find business everywhere." Pyrrha said, shaking her head in amusement at her smirking girlfriend.
"I am my Father's daughter after all."
Bianca opened the flap to her new home away from, well, home and revealed a hallway that led into a luxurious living room instead of the empty tent she was probably expecting. A sight that caused the whole of Cabin 11 to ohh and ahh in jealous want even while they continued trying to search for enough cash to buy their own.
"I want to learn magic so much right now." Bianca muttered as she stood there looking at the tent in awe.
"Don't worry," Alkaid reassured her. "I'll teach you. Nico too."
"I'm fine, thanks." Nico said sounding a little overwhelmed. "I think I'm more of a sword and shield kinda guy."
"A kid after my own heart." Pyrrha laughed.
Alkaid offered her lover an affectionate shake of her head, before loudly clearing her throat to get all of Cabin 11's attention. Much to her pleasure, they all dutifully turned to her.
"Now I know a few of the more sticky fingered children of Hermes might be thinking of nicking the tent from my siblings," Alkaid said with a pleasant smile, which was anything but to the rambunctious campers. "But let me just remind you that I am both Assistant Activities Director and a master sorceress. Attempt to steal it at your own peril."
With her piece said and one last terrifying smirk at the occupants of Cabin 11, Alkaid turned to her paler than usual siblings and ushered them into their new tent. It was time to show them around.
Done and done, thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios!
Alkaid, you sappy girl you, you just wanted lil siblings to spoil. Still, can't blame her. Being the baby all her life? I think she's going to love having Nico and Bianca around!
Nameless: So Alkaid is a Big Sis now. And boy does she really like to be called that. It's a role she's never had the chance to experience and so is happy to do so now that she does. And she'll get plenty of it too, since Bianca especially is loving the idea of having someone else being the responsible one in her family. That's not to say she's going to do a heel turn and let Alkaid make all her decisions for her from now onward. E4E and I discussed this and we concluded, despite her new sense of freedom she can't unlearn everything she's developed since her mother died overnight. Thus she'll still be a responsible person devoted to taking care of Nico, just less stressed about it. And definitely less prone to making reckless decisions than in canon.
Of course, giving her sibs a comfy tent to sleep in is a bonus for the kids. And a new source of revenue for Alkaid. Wheeler and dealer that one is. Still, I think Bianca is the one we're going to have the most fun with since she didn't get a chance to blossom in the series much. I'm stoked for the chance to write her out more like we have done with Andi!
Nameless: And Nico. But there's no significant changes form his canon characterisation at least in comparison to the same relative point in the stories. Though as I'm sure most can tell by now, he definitely won't be quite the same Ghost King. Having an actual family to love and support him changes things. A lot.
Yeah, he's got more of a support system now and an actual teacher, not some ghost looking for a leg up in the world.
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