Well, hi. Long time no see. *nervous laugh* Okay, I am sincerely sorry for not updating for a WHOLE week. I'm clearly a ridiculous person as I had an entire long break. Sheesh. I'm really sorry, I'm going to avoid that in the future. I'm even going to set a tentative deadline of posting every Wednesday. Yes, I said tentative. So don't count on it or anything.
Anyway, I know you guys may be a bit confused with my story right now. I know, I throw a lot of stuff at you guys and disappear off the face of the earth for a month. Not pleasant. Here's a quick recap and explanation, it should be pretty easy to follow…..
1. In my little AU, the main parent's name is turned into their children's family name. Therefore, their house, family, and estate is all named that one parent. And, here's the awkward part, their family name is part of their surname. So Annabeth will be Annabeth Chase Athena. Or, the shorter version, Lady Athena.
2. Also, there is a difference for Poseidon himself. He will be referred to as, The Duke Poseidon, since he is a duke in my story. Since Percy is his son, he is Lord Poseidon. A duke's daughter is called a lady. Since Ares is also a duke, Clarisse will be Lady Ares.
3. No, this is not historically accurate. Family names were actual last names. But, titles and names do get passed down among whoever's children, and if any of the Olympians had last names then Percy could be called something other than Lord Poseidon. Alas, RR did not write an AU. Thank goodness, that would be weird.
That's it. This all will stop being confusing when Annabeth gets closer to Percy *wiggles eyebrows* and simply calls him Percy. See, she doesn't know him at all, and he's also a pretty important figure in their circle, so she has to refer to him as his fancy schmancy title.
Last thing. For some weird reason, back in this time, handsome could be used on girls. It means "beautiful" with them. Yeesh, that is a LONG A/N.
Enjoy!
Annabeth excitedly pressed her face to the smudgy carriage window, her eyes analyzing all the passing buildings. None of them had gray and black bricks, or a very flashy gold doorframe. Finally, her carriage came to a stop at the salt-and-pepper driveway. Annabeth hopped out, barely waiting for the footman to help her, and strode up to the door. She was mostly likely grinning improperly.
After a few sharp knocks, the heavy-set wood door swung open. A lithe, green-eyed girl stared back at her. Annabeth didn't have a chaperone beside her, and she wasn't offering a calling card, so the nymph-like servant girl was probably surprised.
"Oh, hello. I am here for Miss Thalia's party." She tried to look nonthreatening, since the girl servants in Zeus' house were all easily scared.
The girl coughed into her delicate fist. "Annabeth, I am Juniper!"
Her brain scrambled to find to locate the name. Ah, one of her many childhood friends. She was very similar to the other "tree nymph", as everyone called them, servants. "Oh, Juniper! Hello! I am so sorry, I did not recognize you after this time."
Juniper's pale cheeks reddened slightly. "It's fine. Come inside, please, the party has barely begun." She easily took Annabeth's hand and led her done the winding, lavish halls of the Zeus house.
After her feet were tired of trampling through thick and lush Persian carpets they finally ended up at a tall, grand hall. The ceiling stretched up for stories, with a dripping crystal chandelier throwing pieces of light onto their heads and the smooth marble floor. The tall, many-paneled windows had their deep velvet drapes drawn back, displaying a gorgeous garden and miniature pond. A giant seating area was arranged off to the side by a small brazier. The center of the room was dominated with a long, pine table set with sliver cutlery, fine lace napkins, and golden candelabras. It was all expensive, but not too showy, just like how Thalia held her parties. There wasn't even a tablecloth on the dining table.
Just as she entered, an entity of people swept off their comfy seats to greet and look over at her. Thalia herself rushed over and encased her in a warm hug. Annabeth felt herself utterly at peace in the arms of her almost-sister. Thalia pulled back, grinning but softly searching her face. She set a few long fingers on her cheek. "Well, I know your Season just began. How was it?"
Thalia hated men always, and normally she could make a childish face at any mention of suitors, so it was really kind of her to ask Annabeth. "Well, it was alright. I danced with a lot of nice suitors, and Luke."
Thalia's electric blue eyes shone with a new light. Annabeth was unsure if she ever liked Luke, but if she did Annabeth would gladly back up for her two older, more mature almost-siblings to get married. However, she always expressed approval of him and her, so Annabeth guessed that she didn't. "That's brilliant. You could have a perfect family with him. Think of your kids, the cleverest in the circle!"
Annabeth blushed, just as any lady would at the mention of kids with a potential suitor. "Maybe," she hedged. "But there was an interruption—"
A tall, extraordinarily beautiful girl appeared at their elbow. Her warm brown eyes glittered excitedly. "Yes, it's a huge deal. Percy came up to her, signed his name on her dance card without permission, and swept her onto the dance floor! They were making eyes at each other the whole time!"
Thalia turned an amused gaze onto Annabeth, who was reddening into a bright, bright red. "Ah, a rebellious romance with the mysterious and cocky archnemesis. Aren't there millions of books about that. But I never pegged you as that type."
Annabeth raised her gloved hands in defense. "Silena means swept, as in, forcibly pushed into the crowd of people. I did not make any eyes. Maybe Lord Posi—he did, being, indeed, cocky, but I certainly did not. I was struggling to get out of his arms."
Silena flexed her thin, lace-draped arm. "Yes, his very muscular ones."
Annabeth's cheeks felt like they were getting burnt. She decided to not answer. "It was horrible, Thalia! I'm ruined now, all because he decided to saunter over and steal my marriage prospects."
Thalia was still smirking. "You're not ruined, Annabeth. Your reputation is too polished to even dent. No need to dramatize the Season anymore."
That was an entirely new perspective, even if Thalia was very exaggerative and normally without a care in the world. "Well, I still can't believe he wanted to dance with me. He was purposely trying to mess things up."
Silena smiled the classic Aphrodite girl smile: all perfect white teeth displayed with their full lips turning up into a slight smirk. "Well, perhaps he danced with you to gain your attention. Or even, affection."
Annabeth gaped unbecomingly. "What? Him-Percy-no, Lord Poseidon-whatever, wanting my affection?" She almost dropped to the gleaming floor in shock. "Why would he like me? I'm his nemesis! Our family has a generation-long feud! I am meant to have strife with him once our parents are gone! How, no, why would he ever consider my-my…" she didn't dare finish the sentence.
Silena swooped in. "Your heart? Annabeth, not everyone thinks in terms of rules and regulations. Especially not the heart." Her voice tilted to a singsong for the last part. "Perhaps he likes your character and looks."
She felt a strong urge to cover her face with her lacy fan. "My looks?"
Piper walked, no, glided over. "Well, hello. Did I just hear you ladies talk about Annabeth's rather stunning looks?"
She ducked her heads, unused to the compliments. "No, no, I'm rather plain. Not handsome like you two."
"Are you talking about our mother?" Silena laughed, the sound like the trill of bells. "Annabeth, dear, every lady from Olympus is handsome. It's all part of our wretched curse." The last part was teasing.
"Luckily, then, I am exempt." Thalia smirked at them.
"Oh, please, Beryl was famous for her beauty. And you are definitely a very pretty lady on your own," Piper said, poking her arm.
"Definitely. The ton would chase you across London in all their rich aristocracy for your hand, even without the wealth." Annabeth looped her arm in hers.
And then, all their playfulness was severed off. A tall, somber figure slipped into the hall, and his presence was so alluring everyone turned his direction. He swept of his dark hood, and a pair of sea-green eyes pierced right through the room, onto Annabeth's.
She felt a bit faint. She debated breaking their locked eyes or rushing out of the room or even stepping forward. All of those were ridiculous, of course. She couldn't even pull her eyes from those burning emerald gems.
They were as unreadable as her mother's, but they were certainly not cold and glass-like; Lord Jackson could never be as heartless as her mother. This realization was startingly. First, she called him Jackson, and she rated his personality without knowing him at all. But those sea-green eyes hid something special, something that, if she reached beneath those swirling waves, she could pull out and be rewarded with treasure. She was completely sure of it. And the way he gently handled her, brushing her across the polished marble floor during their dance, spoke of possible kindness.
Her thoughts were cut short when he cocked his head slightly. A flurry of panicked emotions slipped through her heart at the curious look in his eyes. He took a step forward searchingly. Annabeth's entire body was braced.
But then something cloudy flitted across those emerald irises. He turned and strode past her to his friends. They greeted him eagerly. Like a spell was broken, everyone turned back to their company and continued talking. Piper and Silena started chatting up a storm of white noise around her.
But Annabeth was all too aware of his long, lean body slip past hers, close enough that if she reached out, she could touch his arm. But she didn't, of course. She just subtly swiveled so she could watch him embrace Jason, his cousin and Thalia's brother and then a few other boys he was always friends with. She stretched her neck forward to hear his slow, "Hello." Contentment trickled through her mind at his full lips moving.
She immediately took a step back and shook her head, trying to clear it. That hazy moment, where all her attention was trained onto him and her heart beat like a drum, was so thrilling but completely undeserved. Nervousness racked through her mind. She clenched her jaw in worry. Where were these traitorous thoughts coming from? How could she possibly like him? He wasn't even good-mannered or polite or nice or… Her mental rant broke off in annoyance.
It was the constant talk of him around her. Him as her possible runaway lover, utter archnemesis, and so on. She accepted the excuse, clearing her mind of these shadowy thoughts, and slipped back into the conversation with Piper and Silena and Thalia.
They were talking about the destined-to-be-married couples. Piper and Jason was on the very top of the list. Her friend was blushing profusely by the end of their conversation, when Thalia glanced at the carved grandfather clock and announced that dinner was beginning.
She was allowed to choose her seat, as Thalia would never bother to personally monogram name cards for each seat, so she found a space between Piper and Thalia. But to her surprise, Thalia sat next to her brother, who, being best friends with Lord Jackson, was next to him. In conclusion, Percy was two seats away from her.
Every time his deep voice sounded out, laughing at Leo's jokes, announcing news he found out, and, of course, discussing girls he wanted to court. Yes, he was loud and brash about that. His gaze even flickered over to her once in a while, burning through her head, and she felt herself blushed deep red at his attention.
It was almost suffering. Her heart would not stop thumping at his near presence, and she only half followed the conversation her friends were having around her. She managed to shake him off for some moments and chatted along with the newest developments along London, and even enjoyed the delectable heaps of food that were served, but she was still conscious of Lord Jackson's every word a few chairs from hers. How she managed to keep track of the largest and newly bought estates Thalia was discussing along with Percy and Leo's debate about most pretty girls in London was a mystery.
When the last plates were cleared, the crowd shifted back over to the hodge-podge of chairs by the hearth. She selected a chair turned away from him to talk with Piper late into the night, and he managed to disappear off her mind as they gossiped about all the childhood friendships in the Olympus circle.
And then the dinner party was over. They all stood in the Zeus' driveway, picked up by their carriages one by one. Suddenly he turned and his eyes found hers. They were like round green lights in the night. Her breath hitched and the whole world seemed to stop.
No matter how long she waited, he didn't look away. Her carriage arrived with a lot of rustling among the pebbles of the driveway, but neither of them turned. And even as she boarded her carriage those crystalline sea-green eyes remained on hers, and they kept her warm throughout the chilly night.
Ahhhhhhhh I'm done YE-AYYYYYYYYYYYYY! Okay this is a shorty weirdo zero-dialogue/description chapter but its okay. I'm not going to write super late at night again (hopefully) because that's bad for writing quality.
Anyway, yeah, I know this is moving slowly, interesting stuff will happen sound. I'll also make up for the low quality here with some good stuff next chapter, plus the usual Percabeth. So stick around, please.
Also, review, I want to answer your questions and talk and stuff.
JC RH: Woah double review yay! I'm so happy you saw talent in me. Thanks for saying this is well-written because I did work hard on last chapter. (Not this one:)) But that's so nice. I seriously adored your review. Sorry for the confusion. And the slow updating. Not anymore, I hope.
Guest: DOUBLE DOUBLE REVIEW! Wow. Hi, thanks for saying cool chapter to a very lecture-y one. And for answering me. Yeah, I try to respond to reviews cuz they're so awesome and nice. And OF COURSE I read them they mean everything to me because I know that someone out there is appreciating my work and enjoying it. And that's like one of the only reasons I'm on this website. Thanks for being so nice.
Piggyhero! :): Well, hello. Nice to see you again. I do tell you when I post. Like, the next day. I barely put any Tratie but yeah I love it too get ready to see a bunch in a future. Okay, I can't kick Athena out, that would be a bit awkward, but I'll do something similar. And actually resolve stuff in my story. Also, sorry for being a huge slowpoke. I will hurry up and stop being a slow updater. That makes the plot slow, actually. I'll see you soon, hopefully.
Au revior,
Pride-and-loyalty