Enjoy this chapter in which Percy plays big sister to a fellow big sister and earns some undying loyalty. Also- Poor Bianca struggling to adjust. Also, Carter and Zia are half adopting Annabeth because she's so much like them in a way.
Replies:
rage2091: I mean, Sally is definitely the best, and you get a point for mentioning Setne. He's scheming a lot. And he is involved.
Undeath9087: Oh yeah, you can just imagine Sally on the phone to him. He'd come back begging for forgiveness like a kicked puppy. And yeah, Carter would just be there like 'Woah- woah hold on a second who are you and where's Sadie? Are you an alien?
Guest: All good theories but none of them are right. :D
Ryan Fowler: Sally wouldn't let him get a single word in to defend himself. She protects her babies, biological, step or honorary.

Percy was bored. Piper was spending the day with her dad on her own- after he'd done a fair amount of pleading with her for forgiveness for not coming in person, though he hadn't agreed to fire Jane.

Meanwhile, Carter, Zia and Annabeth were off in Egypt- they'd offered to take her to see a local museum with them because Carter needed to go anyway to discus a recent acquisition they'd got, Percy wasn't sure of the details but Annabeth had been excited. Percy might have gone with them but she'd had a meeting in the morning about a possible role for her- she really was building up quite the list of movies and shows she'd either starred or had minor roles in- this one wasn't a big role and she wasn't sure about taking it yet but she'd agreed to go and talk about it.

Of course that had only taken up a few hours of the morning, which left her free for the rest of the day, without her friends.

It was a strange feeling, to say the least, and Percy decided to wander through Brooklyn House, looking for someone to distract her. Fortunately it didn't take her long to stumble upon someone.

"Hey." Percy shoved her hands into her jeans pockets, wandering towards Bianca, she was sat out on the balcony in the sun.

"Percy." Bianca's head turned and she gave a small smile, "I thought you were out."

"I was, I'm back now though. What you up to?"

"Just-" Bianca gave a small shrug, turning her gaze back towards the city, "Just thinking I guess. It's so weird not having Nico constantly chasing after me."

"Where is he?" Percy tilted her head slightly.

"Off chasing after Walt I think. Or Felix." Bianca's lips turned down ever so slightly, and Percy noticed a hint of sadness in his eyes. "He's settling in really well. He seems happy."

"What about you?" Percy headed towards the stone railings, hopping up so that she could sit on the ledge facing towards the daughter of Hades, realising that she'd been so busy lately that she hadn't had time to check in on Bianca since the trip to France. She'd been doing well though- though- "Where's Kaya, I thought you were hanging out with her a lot." though now that Percy thought about it she hadn't seen Kaya around lately either.

"She's visiting her family in Japan." and that answered that question. Percy felt a surge of guilt for not realising before. With Kaya gone Bianca didn't have that many friends yet- oh she was friendly enough with the other residents of Brooklyn House but she still hadn't fully settled in. And Percy had been too busy to notice that she'd started drifting again, without the distraction of a friend or the anchor of her little brother.

"Well," Percy considered for a second before, "Since Kaya's not around you wanna hang out with me for the day?"

"You don't need to, I know you're pretty busy-"

"Nah, I've got a free day." Percy pressed a hand to her chest dramatically, "I have been betrayed, abandoned by my dearest friends, I may perish from loneliness-"

That made Bianca giggle, "You're ridiculous you know that Percy, okay I'll hang out with you, to save you from dying of loneliness." she rolled her eyes, "Not that I really know what to do with the day." she let out a little huff, "I don't think I've left Brooklyn House since we were dropped off here." and- that made sense.

"Well." Percy clapped her hands together, hopping off the railing and flipping her curls over her shoulder, "Why don't I show you around modern Brooklyn?" she offered, "I know everyone's been showing you modern tech and music and movies and things but you'll still be totally at a loss when you do start school and stuff if you haven't been outside." she paused, "What about Nico has he-"

"He's fine-" Bianca gave a wry smile, "Walt's taken him on some trips to practise with his powers and I know he hangs out with Felix sometimes."

"Ah yes." Percy gave a sage nod, "Training, always super fun." she gave Bianca a sidelong glance, "How's your training going?"

"Well enough." Bianca nodded, "I mean, I'm not as much of a natural with my powers and Nico is but I'm starting to get the hang of some of it. I'm not bad at shadow travel- or that's what Walt said in our last lesson. I need a break when I do it but I mean, even Nico can't do it more than twice without having to take a few hours to rest."

"Powers can be exhausting." Percy agreed, nodding sagely, "There's been times when I've nearly passed out because of overuse of my powers. You gotta be careful. Besides, even if Nico's a bit better with his powers it doesn't mean you're not gonna be good at other things. Have you done any fight training?"

"No." Bianca admitted after a moment, "I don't have a weapon or anything."

"Hmmm." Percy pressed her lips together, "Well, let's go, we can do some shopping, have a girls day and then when we get back we can go through some weapons- we have a supply of more traditional styled blades given the Greeks in the building. We'll see what feels right for you."

The smile Bianca gave Percy at that was almost radiant and she nodded, "I- that sounds great Percy, seriously-"

"Of course it does, because I'm the best. Now-" Percy looked Bianca up and down, pursing her lips.

Bianca's fashion sense was still a little old fashioned, though it was better than it had been when they'd first met.

It wasn't bad exactly, but ankle length khaki colored skirts and light brown silk long sleeved blouses were not what most teens in Brooklyn would wear. "Come with me Bianca, and let's get you dressing a bit more fashionably." they could go shopping and Bianca could get herself a whole new wardrobe if she wanted.

Thankfully that didn't take long, and soon Bianca looked like any other teen, clad in a pair of blue jeans and a less old fashioned silky blouse, black and white patterned with short ruffled sleeves that suited the daughter of Hades.

She even slipped into a pair of Percy's flats wither than the boots she often seemed to wear.

It was probably still a touch old fashioned- especially compared to Percy's knee length flowy sea green skirt and her white halter necked tee, but it was a lot better than what she usually wore.

And soon enough the two girls were wandering the streets of Brooklyn, Percy towing Bianca along behind her as they explored the shops.

Bianca seemed to favor darker and more natural colors- blacks, grays and greens, but she also liked flashes of colors in her clothes as well, and it didn't take long for the girls to gather a lot of clothes- though each time they got new bags they'd slip somewhere private and Percy would tuck them safely into the duat so that they could keep exploring more.

And as they did she watched Bianca light up, coming to life as she gushed over how different things were from what she was used to, her arm hooked through Percy's as the two girls wandered the streets.

To make things even better, in Percy's opinion, she discovered that Bianca also loved being pampered, unlike Piper, who hated it, or Annabeth, who was too practical about it all, Bianca was excited when they stopped into one of Percy's favorite salons to get manicures and pedicures, and Bianca even got her hair styled after as a little bonus.

By the time they got home they were both in a great mood- they'd stopped on the way to get some pastries and milkshakes.

Once they were in they headed straight to Bianca's room, so that Percy could help her unpack all of her new clothes, putting them away before heading to the training room, and thankfully it was fairly quiet so Percy and Bianca would have some privacy for their training.

After several long minutes of consideration- of weighing the different weapons in her hands, Bianca settled on a set of daggers, two of them, rapier thin, perhaps six inches long and incredibly sharp.

Of course once Bianca selected them Percy started with the basics- before Bianca could safely train with her blades she needed to at least have some basic knowledge of how to fight without weapons- so that was where Percy started.

And she lost track of time, truthfully, focusing on the lessons, and Bianca was a good student, the daughter of Hades was a natural, she picked up on Percy's corrections and suggestions, and soon enough she was going against one of the large training shabti, Percy watching and calling corrections and suggestions every few minutes, tossing Bianca two short wooden daggers- not quite the same shape as the pair Bianca had chosen but good enough for now, and she watched the daughter of Hades as she tried to adjust her sparring style, getting used to the feel of using the weapons.

She made a mental note to make this a regular thing.

After all, she set aside a time to train most days, often with Piper and Annabeth, or demonstrations with Carter and Sadie. It would be a good idea to set aside an hour or two every week to do some training with Bianca. After all, Nico was getting a lot from his lessons with Walt, Bianca deserved the same personal attention except she hadn't clicked with Walt the way her brother had.

Percy could be that personal attention.

When Percy judged that Bianca had had enough for the day she called out the order for the Shabati to stand down and she watched as Bianca slumped to the floor, panting from exertion, but there was a wide smile on her lips as her gaze shifted to Percy.

"How did I do?" she managed, her voice breathy.

"You did great." Percy walked towards her, shoving her hand into the Duat and drawing it back out, a bottle of water in her grip, which she set on the floor as she sat down in front of Bianca, watching her snatch the bottle up and open it, taking a long deep swig of the liquid before she let herself flop fully back so that she was led down on the floor.

"Can bones ache? I feel like my bones are aching Percy."

That earned a laugh from the daughter of Poseidon, her lips quirking upwards once more.

"Ah yes, that is a familiar feeling. It means you've had a hell of a work out." she declared, "You should feel proud of yourself, seriously Bianca you've got talent. Give it a bit of time and you'll be kicking ass with the best of them. And when I say the best of them I mean me-"

"Of course." Bianca lifted her head slightly, a grin on her lips. "I've seen you fight. If I'm even half as good as you I'd be a total badass." There was a certain admiration in Bianca's gaze that made Percy feel a surge of pride.

"Well, you stick with me and I'll make sure you can kick ass in no time." she held out a hand, "Now let's go clean up and then we can raid the kitchen, I'm pretty sure there should be some blue cookies in the fridge."

"What is it about blue cookies?" Bianca accepted Percy's hand and they both got to their feet, "I don't get it- I mean, the cookies are great, your mom is the best baker I've ever known, but somehow when they're blue-"

"I know right?" Percy gave a manic grin, "It's like they've got crack in them or something-"

"Crack?" Bianca hesitated, confusion flashing across her face, "What's-"

"Sorry-" Percy laughed, "It's slang for a type of drug, I just meant that they're really addictive."

And Bianca's expression cleared, "Oh, well that's right then because they really are." and together they left the training room, and Percy silently promised herself that she'd keep a closer eye on Bianca.