A/N Again, thanks for the many reviews and suggestions! I can't wait to try them all out (oh, the possibilities are endless...) so I'll be updating as much as possible. Here's a hint: keep bugging me about updating so my procrastination is limited. You guys are great. Anyways, thanks to Jazzy Amythest for this idea!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events or settings from PJO.
Target, the retailing company, had always scared Octavian. It was big. It was loud. He once got lost in it when he was a kid and cried for three hours-never mind that, it really doesn't help with the plot. The point was, Octavian avoided entering Target. Including the terrifying red and white target that he once witnessed being struck by an arrow that came from a large metal pigeon in the sky (it almost hit him). Yes, he was sane, thank you very much, and no, you shouldn't listen to anyone/everyone who disagrees. Yet here he was, Target's large entrance looming over him as Piper the greek, Annabeth the greek and Reyna the greek-contaminated-roman pulled him in.
Octavian really didn't appreciate being cursed. Or "beautified," as Aphrodite phrased it. His waist-length straw hair still hung limply, no matter how many times he cut it. His dress still reappeared, no matter how many times he changed. And his face was still gunkified in make-up, no matter what he used to take it off (please do note that Kool-aid and bleach are not effective make-up removers. Especially not the bleach.)
Then came the quest from the entrails of one of the Webkinz stuffed animals (a platypus, if you must know) that informed him that he must "enter where the hunter's target is painted in red, and coat thine eyes in the glimmer of darkness" if he hoped to change himself back into his glorious form. Effectively, that translated into going to Target. The whole blab about darkness, he hadn't figure out yet.
"OCTAVIAN HURRY UP OR I WILL GUT YOU WITH A SPOON," Reyna shouted from inside the automatic doors, throwing a shopping basket at the augur's head. Octavian stumbled forwards into the store before falling into a shopping cart which was then pushed by Piper.
"EXCUSE YOURSELF, GREEK, I AM THE MIGHTY AUGUR OF THE ROMAN LEGION, I DEMAND YOU LET ME OUT OF THIS-" Octavian crumpled into unconsciousness as Annabeth hit his head with her backpack.
"Was that really necessary?" Piper asked, looking at the now unconscious Roman in her shopping cart. Annabeth shrugged.
"He was disrupting my thinking process. Anyways, so... darkness," Annabeth mumbled from the store directory, thinking hard about what the quest's words meant. (Frankly, she had better ways to spend her Saturday *coughcoughwithPercy* but since the Romans were so desperate to have Octavian back to his normal form due to the increased hideousness of his face that apparently made their eyes bleed, she figured she could earn some brownie points for the greeks if she helped the legion in this time of need. Then again, throwing Octavian off a cliff would really help with the politics, but she wasn't one to use outright murder. Well, other than the incident but really, that was all Percy's fault, as usual.)
"What do we use to cover our eyes?" She asked Reyna and Piper. "What in this store could we use?"
"Sunglasses maybe?" Piper suggested. "They make things darker, simply speaking."
Three hundred pairs of sunglasses later, Octavian's "beautified" crumpled figure was still in their shopping cart. Eventually, the girls gave up on being clever and aligning with the prophecy, and just put everything on his face (black paint, clothing, sharpies, black licorice (ect)).
"Annabeth, what do we do?" Piper asked, exhausted. Annabeth looked around the store. What had they used? Food, check. Furniture, check. Technology, check. Clothing, check. Cosmetics, che-wait, no! They hadn't been there yet.
"To make-up, fellow comrades."
Products piled up on the floor, broken bottles, empty spray cans, tubes of lipstick, mascara wands and streams of nail polish.
"Maybelline's foundation?" Annabeth asked from the pile she was perched on.
"We've tried it," Piper replied from lying on the floor.
"Revlon's lipstick?" Annabeth prompted.
"All 82 shades," Reyna muttered from sitting dejectedly amid a stack of hairspray cans.
"Covergirl mascara?" Annabeth sighed sadly.
"Face it Annabeth, we've tried everything," Piper said.
With the shattered last shred of hope within her, she scanned the make-up aisle, which lay in ruins. All, except...
"YOU IDIOTS! LOOK AT THE BRAND OVER THERE."
All three girls sprinted to the small stand that stood in perfect condition in the corner, and picked up a random product.
"NYX's "Onyx" roll on eye shimmer. Perfect," Annabeth cackled, grabbing a bottle before sprinting to Octavian, and generously coating the powder on his eyes. The girls held their breath... and...
The room exploded into a swell of darkness which formed into the figure of a woman riding on a chariot led by horses.
"Greeting mortals."
Annabeth gasped. "Nyx?"
"The greek goddess of darkness, right?" Reyna whispered behind Annabeth to Piper, who nodded.
"Yes half-bloods, that is who I am." Nyx replied with a bored expression, as if she was used to consuming Target with darkness and dealing with incompetent demigods on a weekly basis.
"Do you think she owns the make-up brand?" Piper whispered back to Reyna. Nyx perked up at the mention of the make-up company, and even her horses seemed to smile a little bit. They still looked intent on eating the girls, but as if it actually appealed to them.
"Indeed. My cosmetic company appreciates delivering quality cosmetics for low prices to the mortal population. It also allows me to dominate the fashion scene."
"Umm, okay. Why are you here, if I may ask?" Annabeth asked, elbowing Reyna and Piper into silence.
"I've come here to... fix the roman augur in your possession. He will be returned to you in a short period of time."
"He's yours," the three girls shouted, pushing the shopping cart containing the unconscious Octavian towards the voice and running out of the store laughing like they were insane.
Nyx sighed as she looked at the roman, and turned to her horses.
"There is only so much a primordial goddess can do about a face like that."
A/N REVIEW OR OCTAVIAN WILL RULE TARTARUS AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD. DO YOU HATE THIS STORY? DO YOU ENJOY IT? SHOULD I KEEP GOING?
AS WELL, WHO GOT THE REFERENCE TO THE TITAN'S CURSE? (*)