Hey guy's it's been a while hasn't it? I guess you could call this chapter a preview? I might scrap it since I think I may have deviated from the direction I wanted though. Anyway I just wanted you guys to have a look.
'We should probably talk this one out, shouldn't we? Unless you have a way to explain your sudden jump in strength and my sky rocking talent in swordsmanship.' Percy sent telepathically to Grover.
'Yeah it might be hard to explain. Let's see if we even can talk this out in the first place though.' Grover replied.
As the group approached them, Percy took note that the leader returned. It seemed Grover had held back with his kick to the chest and by the way he was swaggering towards them he seemed to think that he could take the two of them if he was 'ready'. Fat chance of that.
"You two, what have you got to say for yourselves? Ignoring people for informing you of the rules around and then choosing to kick them when in your way, is that the way you should behave yourselves?" He seemed to be very eloquent, forcing all the blame onto them and none to himself.
"We apologize I am unfamiliar with the rules around here and challenges my friend here to a spar we hadn't meant for it to take long at all. As for why you were ignored we were so focused on our spar that we hadn't noticed you approaching and subsequently attacked you after being startled." Percy replied. He'd learned to talk too and after a lot of experience he learned that having the morally higher ground helped garner sympathy from some and prevented other groups them from joining in with the enemy.
In this case while he didn't really have the morally higher ground he could even the field. That was to say if someone informed Chiron or Mr. D all of them would be punished equally.
"Humph you talk well for a little kid." The leader seemed to now be taking them seriously. Not that it would help.
"I appreciate the praise." He replied stiffly knowing full well it wasn't a compliment.
"Well as long as you know your wrongs, I hope you don't cross us again." He seemed to have realized what Percy had done.
"Are you just going to let them go without even beating them up a little?" someone yelled from the crowd. It was the dude who started this whole mess in the first place.
"Idiot! Can't you see boss doesn't want us all to get in trouble? Use your brain for once." Someone else reprimanded him.
"Let's go." The leader said and with that the group dispersed.
'That was rather easy wasn't it?' Grover asked.
'Yeah these guys are a lot smarter than I initially took them for.' Percy replied.
'Speaking of things being easier than expected. I've gotten the seeds to grow quite a bit. They're really different from grape vines, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy. I think that land in my mindscape makes things a lot easier to grow and combined with Pans seed it's like magic. I think I'll have quite the vineyard by next week.' Grover informed him.
'Then we should probably start gathering the things needed to take things out of your mindscape. Let's ask gramps about the materials.' Percy replied.
With them agreeing on that, they further planned how they would gather the materials they would need. He didn't think that they would be able to get them at the local supermarket, so they'd have to ask for a leave from camp if possible or sneak out.
'Let's check out the seeds, I wanna see how they're growing.' Percy suggested.
He focused inwardly and within a few seconds he found himself inside his mindscape. After a bit of practise it was getting easier to instantly enter and exit… well not exactly in an instant, but given time he thought it might be possible.
Conveniently enough he found himself at the edge of his mindscape just a few steps away from Grover's.
'Are you not even going to bother with greeting me, child? You know in some cultures not greeting your elders when your visiting barring certain situations is considered disrespectful.' Gramps jibed playfully.
"Yes and I think in all cultures being trapped inside your grandkids mind and not bothering to give some privacy to them would be considered rude." Percy sent back.
He'd found out that gramps had witnessed almost every moment of his life with exception of parts he considered 'boring'. Luckily it was Percy's short experience with romance that he found boring and he mostly only viewed his quest and mishaps at school.
He almost thought that was him showing a little respect for his private moments until the old man started spouting out tips to improve his romance quoting a book 'written by a genius' called 'How to Get the Heroine 101'. It wasn't that the man respected his privacy, but he actually found it boring. Did he think his life was some kind of reality show?
Just thinking about got him worked up. If he wasn't already used the idea of people watching him for his amusement from the gods he might of reacted a little worse.
'Touché, but come on now there's no need for that, what do you suppose I was to do for entertainment a man can only sleep for so long. Think about your poor old grandpa sitting in the dark all by lonesome for years sealed away. I apologize for my behaviour, but it's not like I could even contact you at the time, or do anything for that matter. I thought witnessing your life was all the break I would get before being sealed away again.' The old man said in his most pitiful voice.
"Whatever, I already said what's done was done didn't I? No need to repeat your act." Percy replied sympathetically, if he had known earlier that this was an act he might have been a lot harder on this old fox.
'My qualms are definitely not an act. I seriously feared for my sanity, if I was sealed for a longer period of time I don't know what would happen.' He started again.
"Yeah you might've unsealed yourself for fresh air or something." Percy cut in.
"Yeah I might've unsealed myself. Wait how'd you know I could- I mean I might've gone insane trapped in there for all of eternity. Oh how awful that would be." The old man caught himself too late.
"So my hunch was correct." Percy smirked.
"Wrong. Stop thinking about useless stuff. This is also an unattractive trait to females and if you'd read my book you might've known this!" The old man yelled changing the subject.
"I though you said it was 'written by a genius', 'A man amongst men' and what was is 'someone to be admired'? I'm not sure about you, but even I know being too into yourself is an unattractive trait isn't it, or do you not have that in your book?" Percy mocked going along with it, he wasn't really interested in the old man's secrets anyway.
"So you have read my book. Still you're a little bit inexperienced, while being too self absorbed is a quality woman dislike a man must also have self confidence. You must learn to have balance in your life. Now moving on, your approach with women is rather lacking you must be more confident. While some women find you blushing like a tomato upon the littlest of things cute it gets boring rather quick. Their ideal man must…" Percy drowned him out for a little.
"I'm going to Grover's, we want to check out how the plants are holding up and we were going to ask you what materials we needed to be able to take things out of our mindscape. Are you coming or not." Percy cut in after realizing the old coot wasn't going to end anytime soon.
"Hm yes let's see how young Grover is doing. I hope to give him some tips o bettering his control of Pans seed of power and maybe hopefully in a few years time he'll have totally absorbed it to make it his. Yes that might just work, with a little guidance he'll be quite the opponent." He said almost switching into an entirely different person.
'The difference in treatment is just too much!' Percy lamented in his mind.
It seemed when it came to guiding Grover the old man was super serious, but all he got was a 'read this book and it'll set you free' and 'the road to a woman's heart lies within this book'. It got to the point where he thought maybe there was a secret meaning inside the book, but after flipping through it a bit it really was all about 'saving the Heroine and stealing her heart'.
'Well' He sighed 'At least one of us is getting proper training.'
They quickly went to Grover's place with Percy sulking over the unfairness of the world.
"Hey Percy! What took you so long? Eh oh ahem, greetings Teacher." Grover said finishing with a formal bow.
"How has your training been?" Was this really the same person he was just speaking to a moment ago?
Percy couldn't help but notice how much more calm and collected the man looked in comparison to the way he acted around him. He could see why Grover had such respect for this old fossil. Maybe he just brought out the worst in people, but he couldn't help but feel that this wasn't really an act. Maybe this was a case of multiple personality disorder? He shrugged off his thoughts for now it seemed Grover and gramps were done speaking.
"Well I guess we should head over and check how your progress goes with growing the seeds."