Here we go. Another update, things are finally moving along again. Do enjoy, bitches. Deep editing will follow soon.
Percy Jackson
After visiting his mother Percy returned home to find Annabeth and Silena working in the kitchen. Silena was laboring over whatever she cooked and Annabeth sat at the counter with a pile of worksheets and scrolls as she worked on some project with rulers and pencils. Annabeth's hair, while considerably shorter than it used to be, now looked a lot more presentable again, he hoped. He still hadn't gotten used to the shorter hair, not that it didn't suit her.
"Hey ladies," Percy greeted them and entered.
"Not preggers," Annabeth declared without looking up.
"Oh well," Percy replied and kissed the side of her head.
"So, what's going on?" Percy asked.
"Making an early supper, both of you have work ahead of you..."
"Really?" Percy asked.
"Annabeth has a project, and you have a Dryad problem to address," Silena reminded him patiently.
"Yes Percy," Annabeth echoed. "You've got to get your very own nymph," Annabeth needled and shot him a quick smile to let him know she was just joking.
"Maybe she changed her mind," Silena suggested.
"I doubt it, that nymph is horny and wants a piece of my boyfriend," Annabeth muttered.
"He wasn't your boyfriend at the time. Have you considered that you two being together might make her change her mind?" Silena suggested.
"Hopefully, but she heard the two of you were screwing, and it didn't stop her," Annabeth argued.
Silena raised her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, bear it in mind. She is just trying to get away from Camp. And you already said you'd rather have her here safe with us than disappearing into some private collection."
"I do, it's just... the number of girls keeps increasing!" Annabeth exclaimed, clearly struggling to find the right words.
"You mean the number of beautiful women that your boyfriend could do whatever he wants to with?" Silena teased.
"Not helping," Percy hissed at her.
"Yes!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Not that I think you'd ever cheat on me, but still!"
"Not judging," Percy assured her.
Annabeth only nodded in response.
"At least this one is here voluntarily,.." Silena said with a shrug and then glanced over at Percy with a sideways look and offered him that dazzling smile that would have most men in her presence tongue-tied. "Now that we are on the topic, can we let Khione out of her cell?" Silena suddenly asked.
"What?" Percy and Annabeth simultaneously burst out.
Silena shrugged innocently. "While you lovebirds were off having fun Khione and I actually talked a lot and she isn't that bad. Not saying we give her her powers back or anything, just let her out of her cell while supervised."
"She tried to freeze Piper's face-off," Percy argued.
Silena shrugged. "I did a lot worse... Just saying, she seems alright. Just fought on the other side, that's all."
"How would you know?"
Silena shrugged, "Spent a lot of time drinking coffee and hot chocolate down in the basement. She has good taste music in by the way."
"A good taste in music?" Annabeth inquired skeptically.
"Really, I think she's alright," Silena assured him.
"I'll think about it," Percy assured her and earned one of those tongue-tying smiles. Feeling slightly flustered Percy looked away.
"Cut it out," Annabeth warned.
"What?" Silena asked.
"That smile thing you do to get guys to do whatever you want," Annabeth explained. "I've seen you doing it for years and I've finally come to the conclusion that you do it on purpose. It's almost as bad as Drew's or Piper's Charmspeak!"
Silena stuck her tongue out. "Never!"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Fine. Anyway, Piper will be moving any day now so I will call her and ask her for the dates. Percy, you make an appointment with Juniper, we don't want her to lose patience and suddenly run off to some other god."
Just then the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Percy announced when he noticed Silena's looking down at her pots unhappily and hurried upstairs to answer the doorbell after insisting that Ms O'leary stayed in her XXL dog bed.
When he opened the door he found himself face to face with Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon, in their mortal forms.
"Ahm, hi," Percy greeted them and bowed awkwardly.
"Ah, Percy," Poseidon greeted him brightly. "We just came by to check on the prisoners."
Zeus nodded slowly as if pleased with how things had turned out.
Sure," Percy replied.
"Want me to bring them up or want to go see them in their cells?"
"In their cells," Hera replied for the elder gods. "It would be prudent to inspect the holding facilities."
Percy quietly thought that she probably wanted to gloat over Khione stuck in a cage but bowed again and led them downstairs.
"What is that smell?" Poseidon asked hopefully as they walked downstairs.
"Silena is cooking dinner," Percy explained
Percy avoided the Kitchen, both not wishing to subject Silena to the embarrassment and not wanting to overly advertise how much time he and Annabeth were spending together.
So Percy swiftly opened the vault door and led the three gods inside where the two imprisoned goddesses were still sitting in their cages.
"I demand to be released," Circe immediately announced and yanked at her chains in protest.
"I don't think that will happen for a long time," Hera announced and examined the celestial bronze cell bars.
"You sentence me to be kept by this most junior of gods!" Circe screeched, her face flushing bright red in anger.
"I hope being your former enemy's servant will be a humbling experience to you," Zeus grunted. "All this is my fault," Zeus admitted gently. "I should have found you a husband after your encounter with Odysseus."
Circe spat and Percy awkwardly met Poseidon's gaze who only shrugged.
"No matter," Hera announced gently. "You will serve a purpose now and join Khione in welcoming Lord Perseus to godhood."
Hera's eyes flickered over to Khione. "I trust you are serving your master well?" she demanded.
Khione looked over at him uncertainly and fortunately only lowered her gaze. "That would be for Lord Perseus to say, Lady Hera."
Percy almost sighed in relief and shot her a grateful look.
"It looks like everything here checks out!" Poseidon announced briskly. "I see no further reason to further intrude on my son's private realm. However these sad excuses for goddesses are put to good use from now on, is not for us to pry in on."
"I will never serve him!" Circe screamed in rage. "That Sea Spawn will have to take me by force!"
Hera's clear and loud laughter echoed through the jail. "I am counting on that he does just that."
With Poseidon's help, the two other gods were slowly headed out of the vault and the prisoners were sealed back inside.
"Well, with that taken care of I believe we have opera tickets," Zeus announced again. "The best thing they came up with this millennia," Zeus grunted.
"You mean apart from cocaine and hookers?" Hera sniped.
Percy almost coughed but Zeus only chuckled. "Hookers have been around forever, but I agree, the cocaine is new."
Percy led the three gods back upstairs and showed them to the door.
"You two go ahead," Poseidon told his siblings and turned to Percy. "That Annabeth girl is in the kitchen I take it?" he asked.
"Ahm yes?" Percy confirmed.
"Good, I have something for her..."
Percy led Posesion back downstairs, where Silena and Annabeth almost jumped when the god of the sea entered.
"Lord Poseidon," Silena greeted him respectfully, and bowed deeply. Even Annabeth did, though not quite as deeply.
"Lady Chase, congratulations on your successful quest. I trust the two of you are taking good care of my son?
While Silena blushed deeply Annabeth only grinned unabashedly. "Yes, Lord Poseidon," Annabeth replied.
Suddenly Poseidon held out his hand and an almost four-foot-long package, wrapped in blue silk wrappings appeared in his hand which he promptly offered to Annabeth. "I believe you lost this?" he asked.
"I..." Annabeth broke off, her voice thick with emotions as she accepted the package. From the silk folds Annabeth pulled forth her Drakonbone sword. "The Mermaids ask you to stop littering," Poseidon added helpfully.
Annabeth looked up at Poseidon with shining eyes. "Oh thanks, you have no idea how much this means to me!" she rambled and then surprised Percy by stepping forwards and embracing the ancient god.
Poseidon too looked down at the daughter of Athena, clearly startled, but then his gaze softened and he returned the embrace with a single squeeze of his arm.
Blushing furiously Annabeth quickly broke away. "Ahm sorry," she muttered.
"No matter," Poseidon assured her and smiled gently.
"It pleases me greatly that you are my son of rekindling your relationship, I certainly wish you all the luck in the world. And you, Ms. Beauregard? Life is suiting you well?"
"It is," Silena replied respectfully. "Would you like to take something? I am almost finished?"
"Ah, no," Poseidon replied. "I must be going now. It seems you three have enough to do."
It quickly turned out that Piper's move was only a few days away and she had been visibly relieved when he and Annabeth committed their attendance. With that appointment locked down, they were left only with the less pleasant chore ahead. The Juniper problem.
Through Grover he had arranged a meeting with Juniper. He had wanted to take Annabeth but the daughter of Athena had reminded him that her presence might just scare Juniper off and have her run to some other arrangement with more severe consequences so they had instead chosen to take Silena along instead. With that done, Percy was left to address the more practical concerns.
Juniper swearing herself to his service was all good and fine. Now the main problem was that Percy did not have the faintest clue of how to actually get Juniper to his residence by himself. The choice fell on Apollo. That way he could skip Artemis's disapproval.
Also, Apollo was just about the only god he felt comfortable asking for help when it came to introducing pretty nymphs into his private collection. A private collection that was, despite Percy's very best efforts, still growing.
With Annabeth off on some construction site on the far side of Olympus, Percy headed off to Apollo's residence.
It was a neat blend between an ancient Greek manner and what almost looked like a casino and when Percy opened the door it was opened by a disheveled and hung-over-looking Apollo.
"Hey dude," Apollo greeted him. "A bit early, ain't it?"
"It's two O'clock," Percy explained.
"Oh it is, fuck man," Apollo grunted.
"So, what can I do for you. Heard you've been busy," Apollo grunted and grabbed a goblet of what looked like water from a scantily clad brunette that looked surprisingly mortal. "Run along Stephanie," Apollo ordered and gently slapped the girls rear as she began to scuffle around you. "The gods are talking."
The girl blushed and hurried off.
As Apollo led him further around he spotted a surprising number of women with a considerable lack of clothes lounging around the living room.
"Lord Perseus, join us!" one of them called over. "Apollo doesn't mind sharing!"
The rest of them laughed and looked at him with open curiosity. "Mind your manners, ladies," Apollo called out. "I will join you later."
"Sorry about that," Apollo announced and finally led Percy out into a back porch overlooking a beautiful garden. In the center stood a fountain similar to his own, only it was surrounded by small bushes and flowers. A number of naiads and dryads were chasing each other around the lawn and through the trees.
"Are those mortal girls in there?" Percy asked, surprised.
"Yeah, as the god of medicine, I have a practice where I work as a therapist in LA. So like when actresses come by with their problems,... anyway I came up with this thing called Nymphomania. They are pretty enough, I just offer them a job," Apollo exclaimed. "Just invent a Latin term, and suddenly it's an illness. Mortals are so gullible, there is nothing wrong with women wishing to make love!" Apollo exclaimed.
"Really?" Percy exclaimed. While he was no clinical phycologist, he was quite sure that men could suffer from nymphomania as well.
"Yes, the end of the Titan war convinced me that the mortals are worth more of my attention," Apollo explained brightly.
Just then a pretty, slender brunette with toned legs that gave off a clear hippy vibe stepped in. "Lord Apollo, we have rehearsals? Don't be late again!"
"I'll be there, don't you see I have a high guest?"
The blond sighed. "Just don't make us wait again. Those girls of yours are getting out of hand."
Then she turned to Percy and bowed. "Lord Perseus, it is a pleasure to properly make your acquaintance. My name is Calliope, one of the muses," she introduced herself.
"I recognize you," Percy said. "Saw you dancing a few years ago, you were amazing."
Calliope bowed deeply in an artistic manner. "I am a mere shadow of my sisters. I noticed you too, you were with that fair daughter of Athena," she mused. "Ah, now there hasn't been a scandal like that since Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia! My sister has even written poems about you."
"Yes, letting that happen. Hardly my sister's proudest moment," Apollo mused and then added, "I remind her every time she brings up Daphne!"
"Well, I will be going. Don't be too late," the Muse replied.
"It was a pleasure to finally meet you," Terpsichore then added, glancing back at Percy before leaving.
"So, what can I do for you?" Apollo finally asked for the second time.
"I have this dryad that wishes to enter my service, much like them," Percy explained and gestured at the girls fooling around in the garden.
"She offered, not gonna lie, that kinda is cheating. You are supposed to catch them," Apollo complained. "But fair enough. What's the problem?"
"Well, she is at camp and I have no clue how to actually bring her home with me..."
"Easy, just bring her tree home with you," Apollo exclaimed.
"But how?" Percy asked.
"Magic," Apollo replied and winked. "So, let me guess. You want to ask your homeboy, Apollo, the glorious and all-mighty god of the sun, raves, and all things awesome, to help you bring your little pet home?"
"Pretty much," Percy replied, keeping his face straight.
"Hell yeah man, it would be my pleasure," Apollo exclaimed and pulled a Kithara from thin air and stroked the cords. "Perseus calls for aid, and as the best Olympian god, I shall answer. When is this shit going down?"
"Tomorrow night at about ten o'clock. We want to keep this low profile," Percy explained.
"I see," Apollo said. "You dog!"
By now Percy knew better than to argue his noble attention and decided to just go with them. If he did, Apollo might even be tempted to add Juniper to his own collection.
"Then we will meet tomorrow at Zeus's fist then?" Percy asked.
"I'll be there, gotta get you set up. Though you are doing better than most...Khione and Circe? Now that is some high-profile ass. Not bad my friend, not bad at all."
Percy shrugged. "Thanks, I really need to get back to practicing my godly abilities."
Apollo laughed. "Artemis might disagree. She's been quite frustrated with your lack of motivation. But to be honest, you have nothing but time unless you are intending to go back to war. I saw how you and that pretty blond took down Circe, and your abilities are quite impressive. Especially for one as young as you."
Percy nodded awkwardly. "Thanks, I guess, though the credit goes to Annabeth. Took Circe down.."
Apollo laughter rang out like bells. "Yeah, she did, choked her right out. Probably one of the hottest things I have seen in many years."
"Yeah, it was," Percy agreed.
"So, better be on my way. Things to do, places to be, people to meet," Percy announced.
The next evening things went as planned.
With Annabeth joining Paul and Sally to some doctor's appointments, yes it turned out his mother did indeed prefer to take Annabeth to him to these appointments. Percy knew that Annabeth and his mother had built something of a mother-daughter relationship and a close friendship and his mother had explained it to be a girl's thing.
Percy was fine with that, and during his recent visit, they had gushed over the ultrasound pictures.
In the later hours of the day, Percy and Silena climbed into Blackjack, Silena having insisted on traveling by Pegasi rather than Ms. O'Leary. It would take longer, but...Silena had insisted. Originally Percy had wanted to leave much earlier, to compliment Leo on the superb work he had done on the Fero, but that would have brought too much attention. The plan was for Juniper to simply disappear.
Silena Beauregard
As darkness fell Silena quickly regretted insisting on taking a Pegasi. The Temperature plummeted quickly and soon Silena found herself shivering despite a long-sleeved shirt.
The worst part was that Percy sat right behind her, insultingly only wearing a shirt and seeming perfectly fine. Despite her best efforts, her back pressed up against his warm chest to steal whatever warmth she could. She really desired the physical contact for that reason alone but this was Annabeth's man and she would not intrude uninvited on Annabeth's territory.
As if the gods of the winds were with her they were hit by turbulence at just that moment and Silena was almost thrown off Blackjack's back and Percy chose then to wrap his arms around her waist and held her tightly against his chest. It was still cold, but better than nothing, and her thanks were almost certainly lost to the wind. Silena was an experienced rider, but without a saddle, it was hard to find any grip.
Finally, she could make out the familiar terrain of Camp Half-Blood in the distance. Many miles off Blackjack stopped flapping and began to glide, trading altitude for distance. They glided for almost ten minutes before Blackjack circled Zeus's fist once before finally landing.
Almost the exact moment Blackjack's hooves touched the grass a pillar of flames rose up not far away from them, causing Blackjack to buck and rise up in complaint. Then the flames faded there stood Apollo in a simple tunic and with a war bow strung over his back.
"Ah, there you are," Apollo greeted them as Percy slid of Blackjack's back and then helped her off. Silena didn't need the help, having spent much of her childhood climbing on and off Pegasi but she appreciated it regardless.
"Silena Beauregard, as beautiful as ever," Apollo greeted her with a slight bow.
Silena smiled awkwardly but made a point to step slightly behind Percy. She was here to make Juniper feel as comfortable as possible and not run off to some other god or even better, get her to abandon her foolish endeavor. She wasn't here to play eye candy for Apollo.
Silena looked over at the eight-foot-high Juniper tree where she knew the dryad would appear and sure enough, the dainty female, no taller than herself, melted out of the stem and began to nervously walk towards them. In the faint moonlight, Juniper's lush greek skin looked a dark shade of gray.
"Lord Perseus, Lord Apollo?" she greeted the two gods.
"Good evening Juniper," Percy replied and Silena could almost sense how uncomfortable he was.
"Are you still certain you wish to go through with this?" Percy asked.
"Yes," Juniper insisted after a long moment of hesitation. "So, how does this work?" she asked.
"So," Apollo announced. "Basically, you swear your unconditional loyalty to Percy here. Unless Percy wishes to keep you here I will put you in an enchanted trance, and will magically shift your tree to Percy's nymph fountain. Once your tree has recovered from the trip you will wake up in your new master's home."
"About the oath," Percy swiftly cut in because Juniper looked like she was just about to start swearing her life away.
"I want you to know that this is real. That as my slave, I will use you, however, I see fit just like any other god would and if you misbehave I will punish you. You won't always like what I will have you do," Percy warned, it was a bluff but it might just work.
Not meeting their gazes Juniper nodded. "I understand," she said softly and her cheeks flushed a much darker shade of green.
"I was thinking the oath you swear should leave you a way back out," Percy began and Apollo cleared his voice.
"I am sorry, Percy. But these shifting arrangements...they are intended to last to the death, usually the servants," Apollo explained. "The fates really don't like it when you go against ancient practice."
Percy froze and exchanged a look with Silena who only shrugged.
"I am fine with that, " Juniper assured them. "And I know the oath I need to swear. I, Juniper, swear myself to Lord Perseus. I swear by the river of Styx will serve him and his household as a loyal servant in what have capacity he desires with no reservations and of my own free will. All I ask in return is that he takes me away from here and lets me take my place in his household."
While thunder rolled in the distance to the sacred oath there was no other reaction to the oath. No flash of light or glowing chains appeared around her. He felt no different and Juniper too looked slightly uncertain.
"It is done, little dryad," Apollo announced gravely. "May you serve your master well."
Apollo slowly walked over to the now trembling Juniper and smiled at her. "Don't worry, you won't feel a thing."
When Apollo touched Juniper's arm, the dryad evaporated into a small cloud of leaves and flower petals. A moment later her tree disappeared, leaving nothing but flat ground and grass as if the Juniper had never been there.
"She'll be at your residence once you arrive," Apollo announced. "Have fun with her, she is a very pretty one. You ever need help with your girls, let me know."
With that Apollo evaporated back into a pillar of flame until she, Percy, and Blackjack were left alone.
The moment they were alone Grover emerged from the trees and trotted over to them, a sad expression on his face.
"Hey guys," he greeted them.
"Grover," Silena greeted him and gave the Satyr a firm hug.
"So, she's gone?" he asked.
Percy sighed. "Yeah, don't worry man. I'll keep her out of trouble and you are always welcome to come by."
Grover sighed sadly. "I spent the past three days begging her not to, it was like arguing with a tree. I don't what has gotten into her. She was usually really low maintenance."
Percy shrugged. "All I know is that I have more women in my life than I can handle. At least Silena doesn't cause trouble."
"Don't tempt me," Silena warned and winked, her not causing trouble was by design. She knew how frustrating her gender could be for guys at times, especially for Percy who had put up with the clusterfuck Annabeth presented. It would not do for her presence to cause Percy more headache than it already did.
"I'll keep an eye on Juniper, she will be fine," Silena promised. "Though I think her life will be a lot more boring than she expected. There are a lot fewer wild parties and excitement going on than she probably imagines and I am going to arrange her a tight plan of chores, she is going to regret this in all the right ways."
Grover actually snorted and looked at them with grateful eyes. "Thanks, take good care of her. She's just,...naive."
Percy shrugged. "Hey, don't sweat it. You gotta do what you gotta do and I'll keep her out of trouble."
Annabeth Chase
After spending a quality day with Sally she had finally returned home and found a Juniper lying in the flowerbed next to the fountain, though as of now there was no sign of the girl that went along with the plant. Annabeth shrugged to herself but before she could so much as walk more than a few steps Juniper's motionless form appeared lying on the flowerbed.
In the twilight Juniper's slender form almost looked childlike.
With another deep sigh, she knelt down next to the snoring dryad and felt her pulse before scooping her up into her arms and carrying her back into the main courtyard where she gently ut Juniper down on a deckchair and covered her with a blanket. "You stupid girl," Annabeth said, shaking her head slightly. "You stupid, stupid girl."
Deciding that her problems weren't about to solve themselves anytime soon Annabeth took a page out of Silena's book and poured herself a well-deserved glass of scotch and took a sip from the liquid and made a face. What people saw in that god-awful drink was beyond her, but the general situation warranted a drink. Annabeth marveled at how her already chaotic and unpredictable life had unraveled. A few mere months ago everything had been, well almost reasonably normal, apart from of course the monsters, gods, giants, and titans.
One panic attack induced breakup and makeup later her boyfriend owned two slaves with two more just having joined. The worst part was she couldn't fault him for it.
Just as she took another sip of the sharp liquid the rhythmic thud of wingbeats filled with night and moments later Blackjack landed with Percy and Silena. Moments later Ms. O'Leary melted free from the shadows and trotted towards then and began to lick Silena's arm. Apparently having succumbed to Ms. O'Leary's love she scratched the hellhound's jaw.
"So there she is," Percy announced and glanced at Juniper nervously. "Has she woken up yet?"
Annabeth shrugged. "I guess being uprooted and planted somewhere else has cost her much of her strength."
"Looks like it," Silena replied. "So, Percy. Time to make a choice, what do we do about Juniper now that she is here?"
Percy sighed deeply and rubbed his temples. "She wanted to be a servant so badly. I say we give her what she wants. Silena, you have seniority so I will put you in charge of her, hand out chores, and put her to work however you see fit."
"Spoken like the head of a divine household," Silena mused.
"Sorry," Percy replied, realizing he had indirectly placed Silena as his inferior by the poor choice of words.
"Don't be," Silena assured him. "It's what will keep us out of trouble."
Annabeth nodded in agreement. "She is right, if they see you being all soft of Silena, Khione, or Circe, they will take you for weak."
Suddenly Juniper stirred and opened her eyes and looked around, clearly disoriented and confused.
"Where am I?" she asked, blinking slowly and sat up.
"Welcome to your new home," Silena greeted Juniper, trying to sound bright and welcoming.
Juniper slowly rose to her feet and looked around with wide eyes. "Hey guys!" she greeted them with a shy smile and her cheeks turned a darker shade of green.
"So, welcome Juniper," Percy replied awkwardly and Annabeth felt for him, imagining how comfortable this must be for him. Here he was with his girlfriend, and more women just kept entering his household. Juniper folded her hands, letting her slender form seem even smaller. She was no taller than Silena but lacked the latter's curves. However, Annabeth had to admit that it seemed to work for her elfish features and pointed ears.
Fortunately, Silena was as usual on top of it. "Come with me Juniper, I'll show you around."
Juniper looked over at Percy who cleared his voice. "Ahm yes, Silena is in charge around here. Just do what she says," he confirmed.
Juniper nodded slowly. "Yes, my lord."
"It's Percy," Percy immediately corrected. "Don't call me my lord, especially not when we are alone."
Juniper awkwardly bowed, blushing furiously and even Annabeth cringed. "Yes, Percy."
"We will talk later," Percy announced.
Juniper blushed even deeper and lowered her gaze and Annabeth guessed that Juniper was expecting a quite active sex life.
Annabeth shot Silena a grateful look and Silena winked back at her.
For a long moment, they stood in silence as Annabeth began to realize that she might need to entertain a new relationship doctrine.
So, this is it. I trust you enjoyed yourself. Deep editing will follow soon. Code: 9kT6Qbn
Also, feel free to ping me any time. I go by Henry James Locker#2531.
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Henry Locker over and out.