"You know..." Thalia drawled, and Percy looked up from the Greek Mythology book he'd been squinting over. "I reckon you'd be a son of Poseidon." Percy frowned at the irony of that.
They were sitting cross-legged on the carpet, in the living room of Percy's apartment, skimming through the books Piper had lent them, depserate for the answers of their essay. "You do?"
"Well, obviously. You're captain of the swim team, you have some weird obsession with fish, and you're always rambling about the beach." "I do not have an obsession for fish." "You were staring at the fish tank in science the entire period." "There was nothing else to look at!"
"Whatever," Thalia said, "But I still think you would be a child of Poseidon." "I guess." "Maybe I should call you Kelp Head." Percy blinked at her, dumbfounded. "Excuse me?" Thalia looked satisfied. "Kelp Head it is." Percy gaped at her. "What?" He tried to come up with something to counter the nickname, but he found nothing.
"Well, um... You'd be a daughter of Artemis..." Percy trailed off. Thalia snickered. "Artemis is a maiden goddess, Percy. She didn't have kids. Only hunting companions." "Oh, right." "Silly Kelp Head."
Name the Olympians and their Domains, the sheet said.
Thalia mumbled names as she wrote. "Zeus... Poseidon... Apollo.. Aphrodite.. Artemis... Ares... Um, what are the others?" Percy squinted further as he read and tried his best to pronounce the names properly. "Hepheastus, Hera... Dionysus, Hermes, Demeter, and.. Athena." "And their domains?"
"Zeus - God of the sky, thunder, lightning, and storms. King of Olympus."
"Poseidon?"
"God of the sea, hurricanes, horses and earthquakes."
"Apollo?"
"God of music, the sun, archery, poetry, prophecy, and medicine." (*cough* and awesomeness! Oh, um, sorry... I'm just gonna go)
"Aphrodite?"
"Goddess of love and beauty."
"Artemis?"
"Goddess of maidenhood, the hunt, the moon, and childbirth."
"I never really got that."
"That Artemis is the Goddess of maidens but she supports childbirth?" Percy guessed.
"Exactly." Thalia agreed. "Ares?"
"God of war."
"Hepheastus?"
"God of blacksmiths and fire."
"Hera?"
"Goddess of marriage, family, and children. Queen of Olympus."
"Dionysus?"
"God of wine, grapes and insanity."
"Hermes?"
"God of thieves, travellers, roads, and messaging."
"Demeter?"
"Goddess of agriculture, the harvest, and plants."
"Athena?"
"Goddess of wisdom, the crafts, and strategic warfare."
They just stared at each other for a few seconds before Thalia said, "I hate this project already."
Percy agreed.
But then he grinned. Thalia looked at him. "What?" "You'd be a hunter of Artemis." (The irony is REAL) "Cool, but that doesn't explain the stupid grin."
"I've thought of a nickname."
She made a go on gesture and crossed her arms. "Well then, Kelp Head?" An eyebrow raised.
"Pinecone Face."
Her eyes widened and Percy felt a tinge of triump.
"I was honestly expecting you to own a motocycle." Thalia admitted as they headed over towards where the vehicle was parked. "Nope. Just the Prius." He said. He had gotten it as a sort of hand-me-down from Paul last Christmas. Not the best kind of ride, but definitely better than nothing, or walking and catching the bus.
He sat in the driver's seat and Thalia rode shotgun. "Uh, where's your house again? I kind of forgot..." "Idiot..." Thalia mumbled. "Would you prefer it if I memorised where you live?" He asked, and she shuddered and shook her head. "Exactly."
After following Thalia's directions, taking a couple wrong turns, and almost running over a bird ("It flew right infront of the car when we were moving! It wasn't my fault!" "Not an excuse, Percy."), they arrived at their destination.
Thalia had warned him about her mother, so Percy knew better than to walk with her to the door. She got out.
"You're a crappy driver, you know." She commented with a smirk. "Hey! I'm improving." "Certainly proved that." Percy pouted and slumped into his seat. The door was closed by her pale hand.
"Bye Percy." She began to walk towards her door. "I'll pick you up for school tomorrow?" He called out, and she replied with a "Yes" and a wave. After saying goodbye, he drove off, praying that his mom had baked her famous blue cookies.
But apart from lazily lounging on the couch and feasting on blue cookies, he didn't know how to spend the rest of his day. It was only four o'clock (as school ended at two), and he had spent a good while on the project with Thalia. They had agreed that they would work on it at the library at school. (That's what we do at my school. Well, I actually play games, but that's irrelevant.)
Apart from that, Percy didn't have any school work. Well, not vital school work, at least.
His fingers subconsciously drummed a beat on the steering wheel. Darn, he hated his ADHD a lot. He turned up the volume on the radio, humming under his breath as music blasted in his ears.
To his right vehicles sped by on the highway like race cars. Percy saw women with children, men wearing business suits on their way home from work, and all sorts of others in various kinds of transportation.
On his left, a crowd of people floated and swam in the ocean as the sun beat down on them, a yellow eye glaring at them from above. Others lay stretched out on towels dotted across the beach, getting a tan. He looked down at his own skin - evenly toned. Everyone was always telling him they were so envious of his "perfect tan", always assuming he went to the beach, like, every day.
Not even someone as beach obsessed as him would go to the beach everyday. He'd probably get skin cancer, or melanoma. He just told them he had good genes for it. That's what his mom said. That he got it from his dad. Percy had seen photos of "Poseidon", and that guy had a huge tan.
He decided he would go to the beach after stuffing his face with blue cookies. Maybe he would practice his surfing, or avoid the girls who would try to talk to him. Why did girls always want to talk to him? He didn't get it.
Finally, I finished. Gods of Rome, that took ages. I had like... Writers block. I also wrote another chapter, for a NEW story, but I didn't upload it. It's probably the best thing I've wrote on this site. Tell me if you want me to publish that.
Geeez, Percy. You're oblivious as a snake.
Annabeth: Snakes aren't oblivi-
I know. Percy's oblivious as a shoe.
Dear Athena,
Do you hate me?
The other day at school, TWO sewing machines screwed up on me in tech, and the bag I'm making looks like dog shit. So I don't know if you cursed me or what, but like, if you did, I don't really know why. Annabeth isn't even with Percy in my stories.
From me.
Salmon!
