Disclaimer: i dont own pjo
T-T
"Percy?"
Five
"Hey Percy."
Four
"Percy. I know you can hear me."
Three
"You know that ignoring other people is rude, right?"
Two
Eviane was silent for a moment before quickly shouting, "Percy!" Maybe she thought that quickly saying his name would surprise him enough to get a reaction, but there was nothing.
One
His sword swung down for one last time before he let out a long breath, signifying the end of his exercise. "What's up?"
"Nothing. I was bored."
As if activated by a switch, Percy lunged at her without saying anything.
Realizing something wrong, she leaped away, kicking some dirt in the process, exclaiming, "NO! Don't touch me with your sweaty hands! Get away from me!"
Twisting his body, he avoided the incoming projectiles while maintaining his momentum.
Eviane clicked her tongue and continued to run away. From her estimates, it wouldn't take long for Percy to catch up to her, so she had to move quick.
The huntress flicked around, carrying her momentum with her, and threw a jab directly at his face.
"Why do you take every opportunity as a moment to train!" she shouted in tandem with her punch.
He deflected the blow, sending one of his own in retaliation. "You never know when an enemy might strike. I'm just preparing you for the worst."
"As if!" She shielded herself with both her arms in front of her face. The impact sent her a foot backwards with her feet dragging the dirt beneath her.
Her arms pulsed in pain, but Eviane had no time to think before she felt a right hook incoming. She was in no position to block and taking more blows like that would spell disaster for her.
The only way to get out of this situation was to disengage and make space. However, she knew that Percy wasn't going to make it easy for her. That, she was sure of.
As expected, he relentlessly barraged her with attacks, giving barely enough breathing space to the point, where she could avoid them if she put her all into it. Considering that this was technically a spar, Percy wasn't going full force, but nonetheless the pressure that he evoked still felt real.
She could feel the blows in the air where she was only a second prior.
Percy didn't let up the assault and continued to push her to the absolute limit.
"Is that the best you can do?" she taunted with sweat dripping down her forehead.
Hearing her sarcastic tone, he couldn't help himself from smiling, lightening the mood. For only a second, his barrage dialed back just a slight amount, but that was enough to give her an opportunity to counter attack.
Fully taking advantage of the opportunity she had created for herself, it was her turn to rain the fists.
Now, it was Percy's turn to be on the defensive.
Unlike her though, Percy didn't evade her punches, and instead he chose to deflect them rather than evade. The way he was able to deflect them seemed to be done so effortlessly. But despite that, she didn't get discouraged and continued to attack, mixing in kicks between her punches.
She didn't care whether or not they made contact or not and focused on keeping up the pressure.
Eviane noticed that his face seemed relaxed as if he was taking a walk in the park, which caused a switch to go off in her brain to attack harder and faster.
Percy, however, saw this as improvement, so he didn't question what made her act like this.
After a little while, he saw that she was quickly approaching her limit. Although her fists seemed to be full of vitality, the rest of her body was slowing down as she could barely inch forward to move. Clearly, she could not hold out for much longer.
It was time to end this round.
The guardian caught her fist and said in a clear voice, "We're done. You did good."
Hearing those words, she staggered into his arms, panting hard, completely out of energy.
"You did good."
Between her gasps, she managed to utter, "Thanks," as she weakly punched his abdomen. "I won, right?"
"Sure. Make sure to breathe."
She burst out in laughter as Percy tried to lay her against a tree. Percy summon a glass and filled his with water from his power. "Here. Drink this."
Eviane chugged the glass of water without question, spilling a little bit on her shirt due to haste.
"Good?"
"Yeah." Taking a deep breathe, Eviane caught a whiff of the unpleasantness she reeked of. Her face mirrored her thoughts. "Damn, this is exactly why I didn't want to do this."
"Oops," he said without an once of remorse.
"You don't feel sorry at all!"
Percy shrugged in response and conjured two balls of water as big as a basket ball.
One hovered near Eviane and the other over himself. They split up into multiple streams, cleaning the both of them at the same time, before they went into the ground.
Eviane shivered for a second and then said, "I will never get used to that."
"Hm? Why?"
"I dunno. It just feels wrong."
"Wrong in what way?"
Percy tilted his head as if he didn't understand. To him, it felt normal-ish.
He couldn't really describe it, but he probably guessed that he was used to it.
"Kinda feels like I got violated."
He didn't think it was that big of a deal was since he had cleaned her up in the same way multiple times before, and she didn't say anything those times. But, he guessed that she just felt uncomfortable about it.
"Oh. Sorry about that. How would you like for me to do it next time? Or do you want to clean up in the river? Or-"
"Stop!" she exclaimed, realizing that he was about to do the concerned thing again, "It's fine. It's fine. I'm just not used to it."
"Really?"
"Yeah, besides..." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at his face. "I didn't know you looked like that."
"Looked like what?" Percy replied before realizing what she implied. "Oh! You can?" Looking away, he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
Eviane was silent, processing the emotions she just saw, since she had never seen his face before.
His looks were slightly above average, but she thought that he was kind of handsome. Not a pretty boy type like Apollo, but he had a certain wilderness vibe that was attractive. Eviane wasn't attracted to him romantically, but she could see the appeal. She was sure he would be popular with other women.
He awkwardly waited for her response until she realized that was what he was looking for. "Uh yeah I can. I guess I'm the first one?" She said that to move the conversation away from his looks because she honestly didn't want to say much. Eviane didn't know if he was self-conscious or had esteem issues, but it looked like he didn't mind or didn't pay attention.
"Yeah, I guess you are! No one else mentioned being able to see my face before."
"Huh. Cool. How did that cover thing work by the way?"
"The Masking Mist? Oh, it goes away when there is a mutual trust between me and another person."
"Does that mean it's gone for everybody or just me."
"Just you. But, that's weird..."
"Whats weird?"
"I thought I could consciously make it come back."
"Is that how it's supposed to work?"
"Yeah."
"Did you try?"
"Well, I tried while we were talking a moment ago," Percy looked confused for a moment before shrugging it off, "but I guess it doesn't work like that."
Percy was about to ask her something when he heard someone's stomach growling. Laughing, he asked, "Hungry?"
"Shut up."
"Alright. Sit tight, I'll make something you something."
T-T
"Perseus," Artemis' tone indicated that she wanted him to follow her.
Looking apologetically at Eviane and handing her a bowl of soup with roasted elk, he said, motioning at the goddess who started to walk away, "Got to go. Help yourself to as much as you want and share it with the other girls."
Eviane looked at Artemis standing a little bit off in the distance. She was waiting for Percy to follow her as he continued to act like a worry wart.
"Make sure not to do too much physical stuff today because I might've pushed you a bit far. The soup in there is enough for a bit of people, but not enough for the all the girls. So share it with whoever you want. Also-"
"Ahem." Eviane did a light cough and glanced behind him.
Percy looked behind him to see what Eviane was referring to.
"Oh s-" He hastily finished, "Alright, drink a bit more water and I'll see you later." Shoving another glass of water into her hand, he chased after Artemis, who by now was walking away.
Looking at the two, Eviane had a question in the back of her mind.
Since when did Artemis wait for someone?
T-T
"Mis- Artemis. What's the problem?"
Artemis turned to say something with the first part of his sentence but quickly flicked back, deeming that she didn't have to say the words that were about to leave her mouth just moments prior, giving Percy the "That's what I thought" energy from that small motion.
"Nothing. I just wanted to walk with you."
"What?" The with you part was soft enough to where he could barely hear it, so he wanted to make sure that he heard correctly. However, the goddess did not say anything else and continued walking.
Catching up to her, he walked alongside his mistress, matching her pace along the trail littered with different colored leaves. The sound of crunching leaves synchronized together and created a natural harmonious sound akin to a grandfather clock.
The leaves varied from yellows to orange to red with a few greens and browns mixed in here and there, continually falling from the once dense troves.
Percy was watching the leaves falling and accidentally brushed his hand against Artemis' hand.
He said sorry, but she didn't seem to pay the action any mind as if it never happened. As much as he didn't want to admit it, there was the slight urge to hold her hand, however he repressed the desire to maintain his sense of duty.
Guardians was not supposed to have the emotion called "desire", even though it was human nature to want something. It was something that could and would prove disastrous if he ever acted upon his wants. His master mentioned that even emotions can cause guardians to act irrationally, which can have adverse effects when protecting their summoner.
To be a guardian meant that you had to sacrifice everything to perform your duty even when you have nothing.
There were some parts that Percy agreed on, however he believed that most of the attributes of a guardian were too rigid. Too many restrictions on guardians, and they had to follow a set code and guidelines with very little room to maneuver.
Cannot do this, cannot do that.
It essentially stripped away the freedom that a person would otherwise have, if some decided to be a "true" guardian like the ancestor.
That said, Percy tried to abide to most of the rules as he believed that they helped temper his self-control.
Clear of mind, act on time.
That was a simple motto that his master taught him.
For some reason, Percy decided that now was a better time than ever to chant it in his head. It was a spontaneous, yet correct feeling.
Eventually, they came across a bench that overlooked a lake with leaves falling into it. Some of the leaves floated aimlessly with others pooled along the edges of the lake.
With a sweep of her hand, the bench was cleared of any leaves that laid on top. Sitting on the bench slightly offset from the middle, she tapped the space beside her to tell him to sit down.
Percy sat next to her with a respectable distance between them but rested his hand near hers, almost touching but not quite.
After a few breaths, the goddess uttered the word, "Dense," like it was a fact.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Just ignore what I said."
He looked away and at the scene in front. There was little time for him to admire nature as it was in his busy schedule, and it was nice to have some time for himself and Artemis.
"It's nice," her silver orbs gazed at the ripples that the leaves made when they dropped into the water.
"Yeah..." Percy said as he watched leaves flying away with the wind.
