Me: Decided to take HecateA advice, bought the SoN, and just finished. Seriously irritated at the ending. Highly amused at the:

*staring at a camp of Laistrygonians*

"What are they?" A (Canadian) Frank ask.

"Canadians" Percy answers.

"Excuse me?"

I laughed my head off.

The reviews were amazing, as always. :) Thank you so much!

This is: Multitasking

It's a freeverse-poem-ish and multistory chapter.

I don't own PJO.

Percy, Nico, Annabeth, Rachel, Thalia

Summary preview: Multitasking your life away.

"I find it highly amusing on how you can steer the ship, talk to me, and manage to read the manual all at the same time. I didn't know you could do multitasking so well."

"I resent that."

"You would. It was meant as a compliment, though I now realize it was a backhanded one."

"You think?" Percy asked dryly, not even looking up.

Nico just laughed.

Laughing, steering, sparkling

Breathing, seeing, entertaining

The ocean is always busy

.

I am insane.

Nico sighed in acceptance, then threw the article over schizophrenia into the corner of his room, while mentally debating on what to do with the small army of ghost that had taken up residence in his training room.

Then he picked up a piece of paper, pulled out his phone, and started writing down symptoms of schizophrenia, while calling Percy to see if he could legally be considered insane.

A feeling of loss went off again, reminding him that Death was still mocking him, and Nico sighed. Death had always been better at multitasking then him.

Whispering, calling, demanding

Taking, sneering, taunting

Death is always busy

.

Annabeth sighed. The construction was right, the measurements were right, and the building looked right.

So why didn't it feel right?

She gazed critically at the building, snapped open her phone and called her co-constructor Olivia, while still searching for flaws.

While conversing with Olivia, her eyes narrowed in on a crack in the far wall. Rushing towards it, Annabeth smiled. It was only paint.

She told one of the crew members to clean it off, and then wrote down some notes over the overall appearance, still talking to Olivia.

Annabeth had always been the best of her friends at multitasking.

Whirling, pacing, studying

Measuring, testing, observing

Wisdom is always busy

.

Rachel looked down at the drawing, frowning. The image wasn't good enough. The hair wasn't dark enough, but if she added too much paint then it would be too dark. The expression was alright, but in art, there was always room for improvement.

So she tossed the entire picture away into on of her floor's corners, grabbed a new paintbrush set and canvas, and set down to draw again.

And when the Oracle mugged her, she woke up to find that she still couldn't remember anything, but the picture showed quite enough.

A tranquil setting on Olympus, the gods either smiling or laughing, a few satyrs and minor gods walking around.

Beneath them, sat two camps, Camp Half-Blood in a state of peace, completely at ease. But something was off.

The guy that most people were listening to,...

It was some blonde guy in a purple shirt.

In the other camp, Camp Jupiter her mind whispered, was a miniature army camp line-up.

The leaders were two people in togas and purple capes. One the right was a girl with dark hair and a determined look.

On the left... was Percy Jackson.

And in the distance...

Rachel screamed and leaped backwards, seeing the horrifying monsters, marching towards the mini army, prepared to destroy them all.

Unfortunately, Rachel had never been very good at multitasking and the picture was knocked over into a can of paint, quickly sinking towards the bottom, even as she tried to make a rainbow to IM Annabeth to warn her.

Seeing, making, believing

Changing, frustrating, laughing

The Oracle of Delphi is always busy

.

Thalia gazed outside as the rain poored down, and briefly considered going back to sleep. It was, after all, 2:53 A.M. and by all rights she should be asleep.

But no, she was at her cousin's place and she just had to have a nightmare about a certain blonde haired son of Hermes. It was probably bad that even ten years later, he was still haunting her, but whatever. The rain was soothing her mood, turning her terror at the dream into a distant curiosity while she watched lightning flash in the distance.

So when she started crying silently, she didn't even notice until she was laughing quietly.

Because her emotions on Luke had always multitasked, switching between love and betrayal, hate and lonely-ness, longing and irritation.

But through all that, she would always miss him.

Falling, clearing, changing

Inspiriting, controlling, illustrating

The sky was always busy

.

Me: Sigh. If only this chapter had been called 'Busy' instead. Oh well. Thoughts?

Next Chapter: Horror

Should it be about a (half-mock half serious) fight between Aphrodite, Artemis, and Apollo, or Nico over the whole I-just-got-busted-at-the-roman-camp-by-my-somewhat-favorite-cousin? Either will have a non-depressing ending.

Thoughts are welcomed!

~ Anna/ Booklover98