Thalia's P.O.V
I was beyond honoured to be asked to be Annabeth's Maid of Honour; I just didn't know what it all entailed. So, like anything else I need motherly advice on, I went to Percy's mom, Sally.
"I really appreciate this Sally" I said as I sat with her in the lounge. Paul had taken Estelle to the park, so it was just the two of us.
"You're always welcome here, Thalia, you know that" she said and offered me a warm smile. "So what's the problem?" She asked me, I'd mentioned in my iris message that I needed some advice.
"Annabeth has asked me to be her maid of honour, and I've accepted I just don't know what I'm supposed to do" I said and looked down at my lap rather embarrassed. Which looking back on it was silly, the whole reason I went to Sally was because she's really easy to talk to and she doesn't judge.
"And why would you" she responded "it's not like you've had many weddings as a demigod or a hunter" I was grateful she hadn't added 'or as a tree'.
"True, but Piper seems to know so much about it all..." I trailed off I didn't need to tell her I felt like I was letting Annabeth down.
"Thalia," she said taking my hand, forcing me to meet her eye "you could never let Annabeth down. What you need to remember about Piper is that her father works in the movie business, and one of the things the movies portray is weddings, bachelorette and bachelor parties. So she may not have attended any but she certainly has a perception of how society perceives them."
"So Piper should plan Annabeth's then, she would be the better choice" I said sadly.
"That's not what I'm saying" she replied and I could see she meant it. "What I'm saying is, yes Piper has a perception of how mortal bachelorette parties should go. But, there is so much more to the role of maid of honour than that. The thing that is most important for this role is your relationship with the bride, Annabeth."
"I don't understand she's like a sister to me" I said, I was baffled.
"I know dear, on the day of the wedding, it'll be your job to keep Annabeth calm and make sure she has everything she needs and just generally look out for her for the day. I know you know how to do that." She said and I smiled appreciatively, because I did feel like I knew how to do that but I was worried I couldn't give Annabeth the bachelorette party she deserved. "And, I wouldn't worry about the bachelorette party. Annabeth wouldn't want a mortal take on that anyway, you know Annabeth we'll enough to know what she would want." I felt like sometimes Sally had the ability to read thoughts.
"What does a mortal bachelorette party entail?" I asked genuinely curious.
"Well it depends on the bride, but stereotypically it's a bar/ club crawl where you get blackout drunk..." I scrunched my nose at the thought of drinking "and sometimes there are strippers"
"Strippers?" I asked although I'm not sure I want to know the answer.
"Male dancers who remove their clothes for money" she told me.
"Eww gross! Why would anyone want that?!" I asked disgusted, Sally just laughed and shook her head.
"You'd be surprised" she told me and smiled at me "at any rate I think you know these things are not something Annabeth would choose to experience for her bachelorette. I think you know her well enough to know what she would want." I smiled at her.
"I agree she wouldn't want that. But, if not that what would you do?" I asked, because I really had no idea.
"Well there are lots of things you could do; the thing that matters is that Annabeth does something she enjoys with the people she loves. For example, I didn't really have one before I married Gabe but before I married Paul..."
"Please don't say they took you to a strip club" I groaned, I didn't think I would be able to shake that thought from my head if it were true.
She laughed "No, I think you know enough about me to know that's not really my thing either." She said smiling, this was the great thing about Sally, she did treat us all like we were kids but at the same time she treated us as if we were equal. It was something not all of us had, and through knowing Percy and being his friend, we had gained.
"I had an afternoon at the spa and a night in with friends, wine and gossip. We caught up on lost time, what our kids were doing not including Percy's dangerous quests of course and just had an evening full of laughs. That's all I wanted and it was perfect for me."
"Sounds like you had fun" I noted.
"I did, and I'm sure Annabeth will too, with whatever you decide to do."
"Thank you Sally"
I felt for the first time like maybe I did know what to do for this. That I would do a good job for Annabeth because she was my sister and it's what she deserved.
Piper P.O.V
After Annabeth left for her Anniversary dinner, my head started spinning with all the things we could do for Annabeth's bachelorette party. It had been two days now and I was still thinking about things we could do.
So I decided to iris message Thalia.
"Piper! How are you?" She greeted me.
"Hey Thalia! I'm okay how are you? Is now a good time?" I asked.
"Surprisingly yes we've just set up camp for the evening. Normally we hunt until dusk but we completed this one a little earlier than normal. I'm fine thank you. Is this about the wedding?" She asked.
Was I the only one who was super excited for this?! Then a thought occurred to me, had anyone else actually attended wedding before this?
"Yes! We need to start planning the bachelorette party!" I said and she rolled her eyes.
"I know, but I've never been to one so I don't really know what to do for one. But I've got some thoughts after speaking to Sally" She told me.
"I haven't either, but I know Annabeth wants quite a low key evening rather than the wild last night of freedom thing you see in the movies." I said, Thalia snorted with laughter. "What?" I asked.
"Could you really see Annabeth having 'one last wild night of freedom'?" She asked me using air quotes and I laughed too, I totally couldn't picture it, it just wasn't Annabeth's style.
"Okay yeah - no you have a point. What about like a quite night in with some games and a few drinks? Doesn't have to be a wild party just fun with friends" I said.
"I think she'd like that and I actually might be able to plan that. What about before that like a girls vs. boys capture the flag? Who's organising the bachelor party?" She asked.
"Ooo can you imagine? When was the last time Percy and Annabeth were on opposite sides for capture the flag? Wait have they ever been on opposite sides for capture the flag I asked?" Because they hadn't been since I'd known them. "Oh and Grover I think he's best man."
She was laughing and I didn't know whether it was at my reel of questions or Grover being best man.
"Once" she said to me, and then got a devious look in her eye, I liked this side of Thalia it meant she was formulating a plan and you just knew it was going to be fun. "Grover huh - hmm okay let me have a think on it. We're making our way through camp this week, I'll make sure we get together with Grover and we can set the ground work."
We chatted for a bit longer and then we disconnected. I still wanted to plan, but I didn't have anything to write plans down on. I wondered if Malcolm had a spare note book I could use.
Grover's P.O.V
Best man, BEST MAN! Blaaaah! I couldn't wait to be Percy's best man; I was really looking forward to the wedding. It had taken them so long to get together when everyone knew they should be together, that this wedding had felt like it was a long time coming. I hadn't needed the empathy link to know how Percy had felt about Annabeth, I just wish he'd figured it out sooner – all that fighting was painful! I just wanted to yell 'you're only fighting because you love each other!' But of course I never did. They would just have denied it anyway. Similarly with Annabeth I knew how she felt without an Empathy link. From the age of 12 they both had a crush, from the age of 14 they were both falling in love, by the time we went into the labyrinth they were totally in love. Then that quest set them back to being awkward but the feelings were still there. Maybe it they had admitted how they felt before that it would have made that quest easier, who knows? It's all ancient history now anyway right? Wow - I best start pulling that up for my speech though; you had best man speeches at human weddings right?
My biggest problem was I'd only been to satyr weddings I'd never been to a mortal wedding before. But, the principal was the same right? Make sure he turns up on time and doesn't do anything stupid and throw him a kick ass bachelor party.
Blaaaah... what would Percy think was a kick ass bachelor party?! I wonder... I bet there are some people who could help... I contacted Frank, Nico, Malcolm and Tyson and we decided we would meet up later that day to start working things out. We didn't have long the wedding was in a month and a halves time, which meant if it was going to be kick ass I needed to get planning like yesterday.
"Grover!" I heard Thalia's voice and about jumped out of my goat skin when she pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Thalia!" I cried "how are you?" I'd not seen her in ages.
"I'm okay, I've been trying to get your attention for about five minutes" she said to me through the iris message.
"I'm sorry, I was thinking" I said truthfully and smiled at my friend.
"I was hoping you'd be free and able to be at camp on Thursday?" She asked.
Thursday ... yeah that could work!
"Sure, why's that? Have you got new charges for me?" I asked.
"No goat boy" she said to me "we've got planning to do for this wedding"
"Oh! Right... yes!" I said Thalia would be the perfect help for Percy's bachelor party. "I'll be there" I said and we worked out the rest of the details before we disconnected. I had to get ready to meet Tyson.
Thalia's P.O.V
The hunters and I arrived at camp on the Wednesday evening. As we set up camp in cabin eight, there were some questions as to whether we could have breakfast at Annabeth's. (They respected Percy, but they would not admit they wanted to go to a boy's house for any reason, even if it was only for food). I laughed it was nice that they were starting to see why I appreciated visiting camp and my friends so much, it meant that staying here to create better relations between the two groups was getting working. It could also mean we could leave on Friday morning without any of the Apollo campers being injured. To be fair since Will had become head counsellor things had been a bit better, he had a sensible head on his shoulders, though he has to, to be dating my cousin Nico.
I had a really good idea for Annabeth's Bachelorette and I hoped Grover didn't mind if we paired it up a little as I really liked the idea or a girls vs. boys capture the flag. I actually thought there were a few camp activities we could do as like a girls vs. boys contest as maybe a mini Olympics and then maybe part ways for the evening. I'd spoken to Clarisse she was meeting Piper and I with the boys tomorrow to discuss it, she was letting the girls stay at their house. It wasn't completely finished but it would be by the time we actually did this.
I was thinking maybe a lava wall relay and a chariot race, and maybe a canoe race and to balance out Percy's skill with water maybe archery. It would make it an all day event and then I thought we would split off in our separate parties for the evening. This was the bit I needed help planning as I had never done this part before. Piper had suggested truth or dare but what was the point of doing dares with a house full of just girls? Maybe a round of truths? I thought, though I don't really know how that would work. Piper had a lot of suggestions and I thought some would be really good fun and then there were others like the truth or dare that I wasn't sure about. I was hoping the meeting tomorrow would help clear that up.
I woke up excited for the day ahead we were meeting in the mess hall while campers had their activities and the hunters had decided to take this time to plan their strategy for the capture the flag later tonight. I think they actually enjoyed the challenge of tripping up the campers. Anyway I digress...
I met Piper in the middle of the cabins and we made our way to the mess hall, she had a note book with papers hanging out of it under her arm. She really had pencilled down a lot for this and I was grateful she wanted to help out so much.
Grover and Tyson were already waiting in the middle of the mess hall Clarisse was a few minutes behind us as was Nico, we greeted each other before settling down at the Poseidon table to plan it out.
~Author's Note~
Thank you for reading this, the feedback and response to it from you all is amazing so thank you again! I really hope you enjoy this and I know It's not as long a chapter as normal, I hope you can forgive me for that, I really wanted to get something out I'm super excited to share with you what they'll do.
It's my first chapter without Percy or Annabeth's point of view which are the two characters I'm most familiar with so I hope I've held the ones I've chosen true to how you perceive them in the books. I really do want to know who you'd like to see up next so please leave a review or send a DM to let me know!
Tirzah19 – As always thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you like the direction it's going in and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Happy Reading all
