Disclaimer: i dont own pjo

Sorry late post, it didn't feel right in some places but its 1am and i need sleep

Cy@ later - lob

I'll probably post a little Christmas short tomorrow

T-T

A woman with exhausted breath ran up to the duo. "Excuse me! Would you like to get a card reading?"

"Hm?" They said in unison. The two shared a look that asked if she was talking to them. Seeing that she indeed were talking about them, Percy asked, "Card reading? What's that?"

The out of breath girl huffed for a bit, intending to explain after she stabilized her breathing. Artemis decided not to say anything as the girl looked like she wanted to explain.

Personally, Artemis thought tarot readings was a bunch of nonsense, but she wanted to see how Percy would react to the explanation before deciding to do it.

"Card reading or tarot reading uses the stars and yourself as the medium to predict your relationship with another person. Of course, that's just the dumbed out version. There is a bit more to it than that, if you're interested I could tell you more on the way back!"

The look on her face was a mixture of excitement and anticipation. There was a sparkly look in her eyes that said, "Please say, yes. Please say, yes." She definitely wanted them to follow her for some reason. There was nothing that seemed malicious, but it was strangely excited.

If she was acting than it was quite impressive, probably award winning, but Percy decided to trust his instinct. It seemed harmless.

...

Artemis wasn't really paying attention to the girl's words and was analyzing her bloodline.

It seemed mostly mortal with a trace of divinity that felt familiar.

Usually, the eyes would be a dead giveaway, but it was never an absolute. If godly blood was diluted enough then the person could lose some physical trait that would associate themselves with the Greek world.

Godly blood was a dominant trait, so it would take generations upon generations to dilute.

Even though her eyes were brown and her hair was dark blonde, this girl seemed to be a descendant of her brother.

If Artemis squinted, she could probably guess which unfortunate girl he got pregnant, but she did not intend to investigate more.

The trip to the city was supposed to be relaxing, for the most part it was mainly for the girls, but who said that she couldn't enjoy her time here as well.

It just so happened that Artemis had a reason to be in the city.

Looking at Percy, he was most definitely interested.

He maintained eye contact when talking to her like his usual attentive self, but the goddess felt that he was being more attentive than usual.

There was no physical way to describe it, except for the fact that Artemis could just tell.

His green orbs turned in her direction as if asking for permission. With just a single look, he understood that his mistress didn't mind. Artemis did not have to say anything for him to understand that she was fine with any decision he made.

He said, "Please lead the way then."

A happy smile formed on her face, appearing as though she had accomplished her mission.

...

(Note: i have little knowledge of how tarot cards work so please bear with me.)

They entered a small shop that felt welcoming and nice. It was different from the reminiscent feeling that the cafe emitted. It felt more filled with potted plants, display cases, and couches, feeling more of a place to hangout rather than a place of business.

She guided them to small table, sitting herself on one side across from two empty chairs where presumably they would be seated.

"Sorry for not introducing myself before, but I'm Lydia."

"Hello, I'm Percy."

"Diana."

Motioning to the chairs, "Percy, Diana, please make yourselves comfortable."

She grabbed a small box out of the wooden display case behind her.

Pulling out the deck of cards, only around ten were placed onto the table face-down in front of them.

"There's no much to it, but I'll ask you some basic questions. Shall we begin?"

Percy and Artemis nodded along because neither of them knew how card reading worked.

"What month were you born?"

(Note: top answer is Percy and bottom is Artemis)

"I was born in XXXX." (Percy)

"XXXX." (Artemis)

"Favorite color?"

"Blue."

"White. And green."

"Interesting..."

"What do you think your relationship is?"

Percy glanced at Artemis.

Artemis thought for a moment. "Friends."

Her answer incited a small smile on the girl's face before she coughed to clear her throat. "Pick one word to describe your friend."

"Responsible."

"Loyal."

"Interesting. Now, you don't have to answer me, but if something happened who would you call? First person that comes to mind."

They immediately thought of each other, but their thoughts deviated from the question.

"Nothing bad would ever happen to her if he has anything to do with it."

"Could anything even happen with Percy around?"

"Alright good!" While the girl was asking questions, she was substituting cards, adding and removing cards, seemingly at random because she didn't look at the face of the cards even once.

In the end, there were three cards that were added from the original ten. They were evenly spread across the table.

Looking at Percy, "Please pick a card."

Tapping his chosen card, the girl flipped it over.

"The Knight! Loyal and protective. You tend to persevere through tough times without a single word of complaint."

"Choose another."

"Ah. The High Court. While others may choose your path, the power of those above are inconsequential to what you decide to do. You tend to act regardless of how others think of you."

"Alright Diana, you choose."

"The High Priestess! Wisdom and knowledge are at your disposal. Your actions tend to serve a better purpose."

"The Moon. Mysterious and distant. You tend to hide more than what others can see."

"Diana, one last one."

"The Inseparable. Two rings that cannot be separated. Congratulations, you two seemed to be destined for each other."

"Percy. Please pick one last card."

He picked a card at random.

When the girl flipped the card, she got pale like she had seen a ghost.

Muttering to herself, "That's not possible... There has to be something wrong."

Percy was confused as the card she flipped over was blank.

In a disturbed voice, she asked him to pick a different card.

This time, it was of an hourglass with the sand 20% lower than the halfway point.

From the look on her face, it wasn't hard to understand that the card had a negative connotation tied to it as much as she tried to hide it.

She asked him to choose another card in a shaky voice.

This time, it was of a hooded figure, holding a scythe.

"Are you ok?" Percy asked.

The implications were obvious to the girl and Artemis, but to Percy he didn't understand what he was looking at.

Artemis stood up and said, "Percy. We're leaving."

Percy allowed himself to be pulled out of the store.

"Should we have helped her? She seemed a bit pale."

"She'll be fine. She is probably under the weather."

That saying was not something he had heard of but he could guess that it had to do with feeling sick.

Percy worriedly replied, "I hope she feels better. She seemed pretty nice."

T-T

A little bird circled above Artemis squawking out the words, "Mail! Mail!"

Inwardly, Artemis cursed from the sound of the squawking because she knew exactly what it meant.

It flew down and landed on Percy's shoulder, comfortably resting on him.

Artemis looked at the bird with a strange look, knowing full well that the bird was anything but an ordinary bird. As for why it was acting like that, she had a few guesses for the "ordinary" messenger bird.

Unperturbed by the goddess's gaze, it ruffled its feathers while trying to decipher her and her guardian's relationship. Just from its gaze, Artemis could tell that this bird wouldn't leave until it got what it wanted, which was something juicy to gossip about. It was attracted to rumors like a moth to a flame.

If she knew that it was coming then Artemis would've sent Percy away on an observation hunt with the girls to prevent him from being seen by the bird. Usually, the bird came every few years, but this time it came early. Much too early. Two years too early for who knows what.

From the moment she saw the bird, Artemis knew that it would start some trouble in the near future.

"Mail!"

The bird began making a coughing sound as a wooden box came flying down to the sky. It made a rattling sound as it fell as the lid of the chest was slightly loose.

Reflexively, Percy moved to shield her in his arms, expecting a heavy impact with debris flying everywhere when the box hit the ground.

His arms wrapped around her shoulders, embracing her without any resistance from the goddess.

Alarmed, the bird screeched, "Lovers! Lovers!"

Artemis knew that the creature said that in order to probe their reactions. It was probably paying more attention to Percy's reaction rather than hers since it knew that she was not the type of person to lose control of her emotions.

Whether he knew or not, Percy made the situation slightly better as he was more occupied in protecting her rather listening to whatever nonsense this bird was spewing out.

Usually, she would get flustered and enjoy their little embrace, but this time as much as she wanted to she couldn't pay attention to it. Her mind was worried about how to deal with this bird that was going to run its beak.

She didn't have to see the bird's expression to know that its beady little eyes, watching with extreme interest and trying to manifest the most absurd accusation she would ever hear. It knew of Artemis's reputation and her opinion of men; and it was analyzing whatever details it could to weave some rumor about her guardian being her lover.

As much as she loved how protective Percy was, this was one of those times where the goddess wished that he wasn't so protective. Artemis could already foresee that this damn bird would tell the entire Greek world about what had just happened, and the troves of gods that would come see for themselves.

Now was a really bad time.

If literally anyone else saw that, she might not have cared, but this damn bird was a bit different.

This damn bird was the most reputable source of gossip since the conception of man.

Wonder how Zeus always got caught no matter how well he hid his tracks?

Of course, it was none other than this damn bird.

It didn't have a name, but everyone knew when someone mentioned that bird. The gossip bird.

Right now, it was taking refuge in Hermes's messaging services because even he cannot deliver messages by himself, all day every day. Hermes would be driven to insanity.

The bird decided to work for Hermes as there was nothing "interesting" that was happening recently. Especially since, Zeus's escapades were no longer that frequent, it had nothing else better to do, besides to deliver messages in hopes of spotting something interesting to blab about.

Whenever some sort of godly drama happened, you would already know that the bird would flake on its "duty" and flock to it like its life depended on it.

Artemis didn't really pay attention to it since she didn't never direct involvement with it, only hearing from her family members (mainly her father) about how annoying it was to have to deal with it.

The only advice her father gave in regards to the bird was to never do anything that would give that blood sucking parasite a reason to latch onto her. At the time, she brushed it off thinking that there would never be a situation where the bird could ever come close to making a rumor about her, but here she was.

In a situation where that stupid bird could latch onto her, like the blood sucking parasite it was.

The wooden box landed on the ground in just a few seconds with an anticlimactic thunk.

There was no flying debris.

No dirt and pieces of wood flying everywhere.

Just the box landing from an absurd height and defying the laws of physics, no big deal.

Within milliseconds, Percy realized what had happened and let go of his mistress.

Immediately lowering his head, he went down on one knee, "Mistress, I apologize. I failed to recognize the situation."

...

So rigid!

Even though she thought this, she also thought that Percy was the absolute best.

The way he immediately kneeled like it was a rehearsal for a play was muah chef's kiss.

It was perfect, more than perfect.

There was no way that bird would ever believe there was anything between them after that. Percy acted like no man she had ever knew, and in this situation

If she could, Artemis would go up to him and give him the biggest kiss.

His tone showcased a certain distance between them that would make the bird think they weren't lovers, which they weren't even romantically involved to begin with.

Although, it was strange to her that Percy began to be more respectful.

It was a little worrying because she would much prefer for him to speak more comfortably.

Maybe Percy caught on to something, which was more likely than not, considering his track record.

He was quite perspective when it came down to things like these.

Regardless of her feelings, Artemis outwardly displayed no emotion, staring at him passively, which created a foreboding atmosphere to anybody watching.

However, the gossiper wanted to find out more about their relationship and would not leave empty handed. Although convincing, the bird thought that was something to find out and again squawked, "Lovers! Two lovers!"

She was unaware of the exchange between Percy and the bird.

He noticed that Artemis looked off, ever since the arrival of the bird, probably because it spewed out nonsense like them being lovers.

Annoying as it was, he couldn't outright kill the bird as it seemed to be an important messenger. Plus, he was not in that sort of relationship with Artemis.

She wasn't looking for a partner and neither was he.

His only fate was to be her guardian, being someone's lover was out of the question as he wouldn't be able to focus on his mistress. It would be a disservice to him, Artemis, and whoever he would be in a relationship with.

A lover was a commitment that Percy couldn't afford to divide his time to. It would distract him from protecting his mistress and sour a relationship that was supposed to be good for both parties.

As his master said, love was not something Guardians partook in. Guardianship was a soul-bound duty, fit for only the most committed and dedicated of members.

It was not something of leisure and relaxation.

Bonds with others could also harm a guardian's ability to protect as it could distract them from their duty. In some cases, it can prove beneficial, however it is to be avoided as much as possible. At least, that is what his master said.

He believed that bonds were good for guardians. It didn't take away from the duty but enhanced it. The connection between the guardian and their protectorate would allow for a more cooperative and open relationship.

Even though it was their duty to dedicate themselves to the person they protected, their dedication to honing themselves was just as important.

Mental state meant everything.

Bad state of mind resulted in bad results and can lead to an untimely demise. Therefore, it was the guardian's duty to keep themselves in the best shape possible.

The main point was that the relationship would be built on trust and preservation.

This animal tried to introduce a factor that could possibly harm their relationship, so Percy did not see it as a harmless mention from an unknowing animal.

He could've ignored what the bird said, but something told him that there was malicious intent behind it. From the moment it showed up, he didn't have a very good feeling about it, plus Artemis's reaction to it made him dislike it even further.

Its eyes reflected a great amount of intelligence that a normal animal just did not have, which made him think that someone was behind the creature, controlling its actions.

From the corner of his eye, Percy shot the bird a death glare that said he would chase it into the afterlife if it didn't shut up.

It caused the bird to fly up in a panic, which somewhat surprised him with how effective it was.

What he didn't know was that the bird was a sentient creature and was completely terrified.

The bird felt like it was inside of jaws of a beast that could bite down at a moment's notice, serrated teeth surrounding it like the bars of a jail cell, ready to clamp down to snuff its little life.

For the first time in its life, it was afraid. It had always played the role of the slippery prankster that nobody did anything towards because in reality it was just a nuisance. In its head, there was no such thing as consequences for its actions because not even Zeus scared it. Today was definitely the first.

With all rationale was thrown out the window, it exclaimed, "Holy Shi- Caw!" It almost broke out of character that it had created in order to deceive Percy in the first place.

Without a single look back, it hastily flapped away, learning a very valuable lesson or learning never to mess with Artemis ever again at the very least.

It flew away so quickly that left the two speechless for a moment.

Artemis curiously asked, "What did you do?"

Percy continued staring in the direction that the bird left. "... Nothing too bad?"

She let out a sigh of relief, "At least, it's gone." His mistress didn't elaborate further, so he didn't ask more about it.

Instead, his attention moved to the chest. "What's inside?"

Again, she sighed, "Probably some love letters."

His face looked in her direction, asking for an explanation. He knew that Mistress did not like men, but to be receiving love letters in the middle of nowhere was strange, probably some sort of magic was used to find her location.

Percy could feel Artemis's annoyance how she had to keep moving in order to avoid suitors. "I'm sorry..."

Artemis was surprised and confused, "For what?"

"Well, it probably gets annoying to get letters wherever you go. It would make me annoyed."

Nodding her head. "It does happen quite a bit. Too much."

Artemis made no indication to look in the chest, which intrigued Percy a bit. "Are you not going to read them?"

She waved dismissively. "No need to read words of lustful men." Her eyes landed on Percy. "..."

His mistress was about to say something when Percy put up his hand to stop her. "It's alright. I'm not offended."

Mistress really had a rough time with men hasn't she. Percy slightly shook his head in sorrow.

"What's with that look on your face?" Artemis said suspiciously.

"It's nothing."

"Liar."

"Don't worry about it."

"Worry about what?"

"We should probably get rid of these letters if you aren't going to read them."

"..." Artemis silently blinked a few times to figure out whether Percy was ignoring her on purpose or not.

Her thoughts seemed to appear on her face as Percy quickly apologized.

Realizing the fact that he did do it on purpose, it did make her a little bit mad. "So you did," the goddess stated simply, sounding colder than usual.

"My apologies, Mistress." Feeling bad, Percy unintentionally reverted to being polite. He never meant to offend his mistress in the way he did.

"..." Artemis remained silent, pretending not to hear him. Unbeknownst to him, at this moment in time the more polite he got, the more angry she got.

"Mistress?"

The only thing that replied to him was silence.

He just now understood that he had made a terrible mistake.

Percy proceeded to spend the next few weeks trying to get back on her good side.