Happy Halloween

Chroluster

(verb)

To be chronically and clinically terrible at a specific activity even with multiple attempts at improvement.

Yellow.

A dulled, neon yellow.

He could tell that the yellow used to be bright and clean, but over time it had become dulled from use.

He pulled the color back to his cheek. The yellow tickled his sensitive skin.

"Okay. Good. Now, just pull back and once it's fully taut, let go. Don't touch the string or anything else once you release. Just release all three fingers at the exact same time."

Percy nodded and inhaled through his nose.

Holding the yellow still with his index, middle, and forefinger, Percy's hand began to shake.

He breathed out.

He released the yellow, and the once bright but now dulled color flew through the air.

The arrow whistled in the wind, the yellow feather flapping right behind the arrowhead.

It sailed 10 feet over the intended target, crashing into the bushes.

Percy winced at the sound of stone billowing through branches. As did his instructor.

"Honestly, I find this quite impressive." Antiope commented, her hands on her hips. "Never in my immortal life have I been witness to something so profoundly awful."

"Thanks." Percy deadpanned.

Donna chose that moment to let out a screech of laughter from a few feet away. She was also learning archery. To put it simply, she was having a much better time than Percy. He wasn't sure she had missed the target yet, and quite a few of her arrows were protruding from the bullseye.

"It's the truth. We've somehow made zero progress over the last week and I can't find anything wrong with your form or mechanics or anything else relevant." Antiope shrugged. "Perhaps we should give up."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you since the beginning." Percy whined akin to a child. "I swear to the gods above that I've been cursed. Maybe it was Apollo."

"Our patron Diana is a more reasonable explanation." Antiope tapped her chin.

"Nah," Percy waved off that answer. "Somehow, she actually likes me. It's probably Apollo. Or Hera. Nah, probably Apollo. I told him haikus suck once and he might've taken that personally."

Antiope just stared at him, as did Donna, who's nocked arrow was now sitting idly between her fingers.

"I always forget that you've actually met some of the gods." Antiope sighed. "You should be honored to have been in the presence of Zeus and Artemis and all the Olympian gods, but you speak as if their meetings are merely everyday occurrences." The warrior shook her head in exasperation. Percy knew she wasn't truly that upset at him, but he understood that she was just baffled at much of Percy's past. He didn't blame her. A lot of the stuff he had experienced was odd, to say the least.

"Trust me, you don't wanna meet Zeus' immature ass." Percy said. "He's about as temperamental as a teenager in the prime of puberty."

He looked toward the sky, but…

Nothing.

It was bizarre how much he wanted to be smited at that point in time. Well, not smited. But maybe just have a bolt of lightning strike the ground besides him. Something, anything, was better than nothing.

Since he had landed on Themyscira, he hadn't gotten an ounce of godly attention. Zero hints of the gods even existing. No crackling thunder at the mention of a god's name, no stray bolt of lightning after an insult to Zeus himself, no crashing waves or sudden change in weather or anything in between.

It was like the gods didn't exist at all.

Diana had told him that the Amazons hadn't had contact with the gods in millenia, but still… it just wasn't natural to him.

But then… that got him thinking. Was it just Themyscira that was shrouded in this avoidance of the gods, or would he still be ignored once he left? And if so, would monsters still hunt him? Would they still smell him? Would he actually have a chance at living a normal life? Could he own a fucking phone for once in his life?

Many questions, not many answers.

It had been a trend, recently. Not a good trend in Percy's opinion, but a trend indeed.

"You shouldn't insult the gods like that." Antiope scolded. "No wonder you were cursed to be horrid at archery. I'm surprised you still have all your limbs."

"Who said I do?" Percy asked, wiggling his finger. "Maybe this is a prosthetic. Or magic!"

Antiope raised an eyebrow, not believing him in the slightest.

"It would explain you sucking at shooting a bow and arrow." Donna yelled at him as she fired yet another arrowhead into the heart of her target. "But I don't buy it. You just stink."

Donna blew a raspberry at him.

Percy blew one back.

Antiope sighed and shook her head.

"Children these days," she muttered.

"Hey! I'm not a child." Percy whined. "I'm over 20 years old!"

"And I'm so old I lost count a little after 1000." Antiope monotonously said back. "So to me, you are children."

"Pfft," Percy waved her off smugly. "If I'm a child, then you have a child to thank for reality not being ripped to shreds."

Antiope seemingly didn't have an answer to that.

"Ehhhh, that's a bit of a stretch." Donna said. She quickly drew and planted another arrow into her target's bullseye. Percy's eye twitched. "Reality? I'll give you New York, but reality? Eh."

"Donna, remind me…" Percy nocked a blunt arrow on his bow. "Who the fuck's talking to you?"

"Language, Perseus." Antiope scolded. "Not in front of Donna."

Percy responded maturely by sticking his tongue out toward the sister of Hippolyta, who lightly smacked her own forehead in exasperation. Percy shrugged before he lightly pulled back on the bowstring and sent the blunted arrow sailing toward Donna.

Somehow, it hit Diana in the head, who had just entered the vicinity and screeched in surprise at the flying projectile. The arrow forced her to fall to the ground and land on her ass.

Obviously, Donna found that hilarious.

Percy could only find it in himself to grumble about stupid archery and divine curses.

"I present to you the greatest warrior Themyscira has ever procured!" Donna squeaked out through her fit of giggles. Her bow had been cast to the side and she was now practically laying down on a wooden bench meant for archers to rest between their training. "Whew! Great reflexes Wonder Woman! Teach me your ways!"

"Haha. Hilarious." Diana deadpanned. She pushed herself off the ground and plucked the arrow from beside her. "You really haven't improved at all, have you Percy? If anything, you've probably gotten worse."

"Encouraging." Percy muttered, catching the arrow that Diana flicked over to him. he nocked it back on his bow and aimed it at his target, only for the arrow to somehow pop out of his hand and flop to the ground before he could even release the string.

"Yup." Diana nodded in affirmation. She was right.

"Yeah, I'm done." Percy tossed the bow to the side. Donna continued to laugh on the side, which was starting to get kinda annoying (not really). "It's hopeless."

"Could've told you that from the start." Donna said, her fit of giggles finally starting to subside.

"So could I! Antiope forced me to do this." Percy retorted.

"What happens when your opponent's looking down on you from a hill?" Antiope asked. "Are you going to throw your sword?"

"Why not?" Percy shrugged. "It'll literally come back to me in a couple seconds."

Diana looked to Antiope with a raised eyebrow, as if to say that Percy had a point.

"Whatever! Die for all I care." Antiope threw her arms up in exasperation. Percy smirked at the retreating figure of the immortal Amazon who grumbled a string of curse words as she stalked away.

"She'll be fine," he waved her off and turned toward Diana and Donna. Both of them had varying levels of a smile. "So, what brings you here, Diana? Didn't miss me, did you?"

For the last month or so, the woman had been spending most of her time in the mortal world, attending to her duties as a superheroine. Apparently, major threats against the planet and the potential of cities getting turned to dust occurred pretty often. Percy would've offered to help, of course, if only he didn't feel useless due to his lackluster control of liquid.

"Hera, no." Diana shook her head. "But, I am here because of you."

"Huh?" Percy asked, cocking his head.

"We'll get into it later." Diana said nonchalantly, instead changing the subject. "First, let's go to the beach."

"Can I come too?" Donna asked, perking up.

"Put your hand down." Percy grumbled. "We're not in a gods' forsaken classroom. I think I'd throw a fit if we were."

"Fine." Diana said, turning around to go in the opposite direction that Antiope had left. "Hurry up, though. We don't have all day."

"We just ate lunch." Percy mumbled. "We quite literally have all day."

"I heard that."

"I'm just saying, there's no reason we can't have candy on the island."

"Actually, there's a perfectly good reason."

"Name it." Donna challenged.

"We don't want the small amount of children we have to get cavities." Diana said simply. "That and we want our warriors to not have to rely on sweets and sugar in their diets. There's a reason all of Themyscira is reasonably fit."

Donna harrumphed.

"That's stupid."

"Agreed." Percy nodded rather enthusiastically. Diana quickly turned to glare at him. He shrugged and smiled brightly at her.

"I just want one chocolate bar!" Donna whined. "Just one! Do you know how long it's been since I had a piece of gum or even a freaking breath mint?"

"A long time?" Percy guessed.

"Exactly!" Donna threw a hand up. "A long time! A very, very long time. Hell, I could go for a goddamn cough drop at this point!"

"Language, young lady." Diana commented off handedly.

"You know, you should get in the habit of using Greek curses." Percy grinned. "Like, say gods damned and Hades instead of Hell. I like to say Zeus' pants sometimes when I'm feeling especially angry."

Donna just stared at him for a moment, confused and conflicted on how to react.

"How about this," Diana smiled. She ruffled Donna's hair (who yelped) and clapped Percy on the back with enough force for him to know it wasn't just a love tap. "Both of you shut up until we get to the beach, and the next time I go to the mortal world I'll get you both a bar of chocolate."

Donna shut up immediately.

Percy had the urge to scream and ruin it for her.

"I just fucking can't." Percy nearly growled, releasing his arms from their tensed positions and flopping them to his sides.

"No swearing in front of her." Diana glanced at Donna for a moment before she looked at him apologetically. "It's not bad"

"I thought you could summon hurricanes?" Donna asked, her hand scooping up a handful of sand only to let it sift through her fingers to the ground. Percy suddenly regretted being silent for the rest of the walk over. Maybe he would steal the chocolate that Diana would later smuggle to the island.

"Emphasis on could." Percy sighed, plopping down into the sand next to the girl. Diana soon followed, patting him on the back.

"And that's why I'm here." Diana smiled sympathetically. "You still think that this might be connected to your memories, right?"

"I mean, yeah." Percy said, taking a random pebble and just hucking it into the ocean. "For all I know my own father could've disowned me."

His memories still plagued his dreams (which for some reason were extremely normal). Or rather, the lack of memories plagued his dreams. He had no idea how much time he didn't have, but he knew for sure there was something missing. And for some reason, he had a hunch that his lack of powers was connected directly to that. The fact that he had some type of connection to his element but couldn't break through to that barrier was all the more frustrating.

"Well, let's hope your problem's a little more fixable than that." Diana said. "One of my friends is a telepath. He's helped others recover lost and stolen memories, so I have full confidence he can help you regain yours."

"Who is it?" Percy asked with a contemplative look. Diana smiled at the fact that he was even considering it.

"He goes by J'onn J'onnz. Donna would know him as Martian Manhunter." Diana said.

"Manhunter?" Percy asked, more than slightly alarmed. Donna barked out a laugh at this. "Doesn't that sound like a little bit of a red flag?"

"Trust me, he's harmless." Diana laughed. She paused for a moment, looking to the shoreline. "Scratch that, he's only harmless if he doesn't like you. And he'll like you. Oh yeah, and he's a Martian."

"A Martian?" Percy's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets before he shook his head. "Never mind, I shouldn't be surprised."

"So you'll do it?" Diana asked hopefully.

"Ehhhh…" Percy blew a stray strand of hair out of his face. "I guess I don't really have any other options. I gotta get these memories back somehow."

"Perfect." Diana gripped his shoulder in a friendly way. "And hey, we'll be going to the Watchtower, so just think of it as you going to space."

Percy deadpanned at her. Donna was probably doing the same.

"You know, you really should've led with that"

"Can I come!?"