Percy bounced on the balls of his feet as he and the moon goddess sat outside of his mother's door. They'd arrive outside the building only minutes ago and it'd taken them a moment to get up to his mother's floor. It didn't take long for someone to answer the door, not that he expected it to. His mother was often in the kitchen around this time making herself something to eat. He wasn't all that surprised to see a pen tucked behind her ear and a notepad stuffed into one of her jacket pockets. Of course, that was all he got a chance to see before being crushed in a hug again, as was tradition.

As soon as she backed up though, her eyes flicked to his companion before returning to her son, "You didn't do anything stupid again did you?"

Diana laughed as Percy responded, "Always."

The mortal woman's eyes flicked between the two of them for a moment before fixing on the woman next to her son, "You would be Lady Diana, correct?"

The goddess was momentarily surprised but smiled nonetheless, "I am, but do just call me Diana. I am surprised that you recognized me so easily, especially given the Roman gods' absence. "

Sally tilted her head as she studied the goddess, something that Diana noted was quite similar to what Percy did, "Well, I haven't spoken to Neptune in a while, but it is a pleasure to meet you."

Diana looked confused for a moment, glancing at Percy. He didn't seem to notice as Sally led them inside to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a small plate of food set on the counter as Percy had said there'd be. The mother and son were chatting animatedly as they both set about the kitchen. It seemed that they'd done this a number of times given the way they bustled around without any issue. Percy had set out small trivets and tossed his mother a set of over mitts before moving to grab plates. Diana had attempted to help but had quickly been pushed into a seat and had everything set out before her.

"When you told me you were visiting, I expected Thalia to be here," Sally called over her shoulder, "Where is she anyway?"

"With the hunt," Percy had retrieved a few utensils and was busy setting them in place, "We're going there after."

Sally briefly regarded Diana with a smile, "I'll make some more cookies then."

Percy laughed as he walked towards the hall, "How's writing going?"

"It's going." Sally couldn't quite shrug due to the hot tray she'd just removed from the oven. She set it down on the trivets as she spoke, "What would you like to drink?"

Diana, not expecting to be addressed, had looked up hurriedly as she'd been taking in all the details of the home. It really was quite nice with a lived-in look. She'd particularly focused on one of the bookshelves across from her, observing a wealth of paperback and hardcovers as well as what looked like quite a few manuscripts. She desperately hoped that she didn't look as surprised as she felt, "Just water, but I can get it. I'm just sitting here."

Sally turned to look at her as she was making her way towards the cupboards, "You're a guest."

Percy returned from wherever he'd been and quickly retrieved a few items from both the heating oven and fridge, "Told you she'd say that."

Diana watched as he set out several bowls on the island counter before either spooning a bit of each into her plate, or setting it next to her dish altogether. While the goddess was accustomed to large quantities of food, this was something else entirely. Sally seemed to notice, "I made a few of Thalia's favorites since I thought she would be here. I'm sure Percy could fill you in whenever he sits down."

Diana nodded as she regarded her plate. It was rapidly piling up, not that she minded at all. The final touch was a rather large glass of water being set in front of her. It'd been a bit since she'd been treated to such a spread. Of course, that had partly to do with the fact that she hadn't been in control for a long time, but that was neither here nor there. After a few moments, she found herself seated next to Percy while his mother was on the other side of them.

"Why'd you sit here?" Sally asked her son.

"Easier to talk between three people," Percy shrugged as he handed napkins out to everyone, "I like sitting at the island but being in a line makes it a bit more difficult for everyone."

Both agreed on that end before Sally spoke up again, this time addressing Diana, "I can't say I've met many Romans. What brings you here?"

"It has been a while since I got to stretch my legs," The moon goddess responded easily before taking a forkful of food. As she expected, it had been delicious, "You said that you've spoken to Neptune before?"

Sally sipped from her drink before answering, "It has been a few years, but I have. I interacted with him often before Percy was born though."

Diana blinked, "How did that come about?"

Sally shrugged. Again, the Roman goddess was strongly reminded of Percy, "I never bothered with the specifics. Oftentimes, they were interchangeable with one another. Sometimes they were just the same person."

Percy seemed interested, but not in his normal way, "Is that not normal?"

The huntress shook her head, "It is almost unprecedented. That would also mean that Perseus could be both Greek and Roman."

Percy paused, fork halfway to his mouth, "How'd you know that?"

"Know what?" Sally asked curiously. Percy could see the gears turning in her head.

"That I'm both."

"It would make sense that you are a child Neptune and Poseidon. Could be part of the reason the prophecies were about you specifically," Diana supposed that look on his face made sense now. "I take it that you knew?"

Percy set his fork down and sat up a bit straighter, "Yeah, but it's kind of supposed to be a secret."

Diana shook her head in disbelief, "How long have you known? And who else knows?"

"Well," Percy rubbed the back of his head, "My dad knows, and Zeus knows. And I think Athena knows? Hestia knows for sure since my dad was the one who let it slip. And I found out during the Giant War. Both Neptune and Poseidon visited me in my dreams and both were all like 'Oh it is good to speak with you my son.' so I asked them both about it. And Athena figured it out since I could read Latin without learning how to. And maybe Hera or Juno knows since I was the one who got put in Camp Jupiter? We're still not really sure what happened."

"It would explain why you are as strong as you are."

"That's what my… Dads?" Percy paused for a moment, "That's what they said. Probably why my water powers are so strong."

Diana nodded in interest before addressing the young man's mother, "Did you know about this?"

Sally smiled, "Not at first, no. Poseidon visited me at some point and informed me though. I just don't see what difference it made."

Percy agreed with her, "Not sure why it had to be some big secret."

Diana sighed, "Guess it's a good thing you're going to be an Olympian. It'll save you a headache."

"How so?" Percy asked. Unfortunately, he'd never get an answer to that question as his mother snapped to attention.

"You're becoming an olympian?" Sally asked, turning to her son, "How long has this been a thing?"

Percy chuckled nervously again as he addressed his mother, "It's not."

"Yet," Diana added, "We are adding another Olympian and Percy's the choice for many of us. He is by far the most favored candidate, even for Juno and Pluto."

Sally looked back at her son, "So why is this not a thing?"

"Because I don't think I'm ready yet."

Sally cocked her head, "You know what I'm going to say, right?"

Percy grumbled, "Not you too."

Diana laughed, "It seems everyone thinks you're the best choice."

"I'm not sure I am," Percy stressed. He tapped his fork a few times in a semi-nervous gesture, "I'm not even in my mid-twenties. There are so many people with more experience."

It was Sally's turn to take a crack at convincing him, "More experience perhaps, but less character. You know what things are like and that's what's important now "

"Consider yourself versus your brother, Triton," Diana jumped in, picking up where his mother left off, "He has more experience by far, but you could not be more different."

"And," Sally tacked on, "Think about all the good you can do. Do you really trust someone else to do it?"

Percy had to concede that point as his mom continued to speak, "I hear a lot about your world, and I've heard about all the good you've done. You want to make the lives of demigods easier, right? Wouldn't this be the best way?"

Diana paused before smiling at the other woman, "Maybe I should have come here first to try to convince him."

Sally's laugh was similarly light as she turned to look at her son, "He's always been that way. Stubborn, but he knows when to yield."

Percy poked at his food with slight disinterest. He hadn't considered that the both of them would gang up on him, even though he probably should have. "That's half the battle."

Sally smirked as she stood up. It seemed that her son knew he'd lost so she instead turned her focus to Diana who'd picked her plate clean, "Can I get you anything dear?"

The goddess in question stared down at her plate before looking back up, "I'm alright. I can always get it myself."

Sally shook her head with a smile and went around to collect the dishes, "Not when you're my guest."

Diana looked a little uncomfortable at the treatment. Percy snickered as he glanced from his companion to his mother, "I had to get it from somewhere."

"From both your father and I," Sally called from the sink, having clearly heard him. Of course, no water came out as Percy had stopped it from doing so.

He stood up and quickly strolled over, "I can do the dishes. You cooked, and I'm not a guest."

It took a minute to convince his mother, but he managed. She'd refused at first, but Percy had refused to let any water come out of the faucet so that she physically couldn't. Sally had playfully grumbled about it before making her way to the warming oven again. Evidently, she'd stashed a number of trays in there, many of which contained the coveted blue cookies. She had to admit that she'd been eager to try them since her counterpart had. They could often see or hear the same things, but it was often limited to that alone. That led to the aspects being mostly dormant while the other was in control.

Sally led her out towards a sitting area and set a tray of them down on the coffee table. Diana appreciated the amount of natural light in the room, bathing it in a comfortable golden glow. Bright, without being harsh. Sally set about moving a few things around, rushing around to clear a bit of space.

"May I?" Diana asked the woman. Sally's head snapped up to hers before nodding in confusion. A simple snap was all it took for everything to be put away neatly, causing the older woman to chuckle.

"I'll never get used to that," she smiled as she sat down, offering the goddess the tray. Said goddess attempted to suppress the feeling of childlike glee but was unable to. It was a good thing that her brother wasn't around because she wouldn't have ever lived it down. Or Percy for that matter. Regardless of that, she could understand why her Greek form insisted on having them whenever possible. She'd have to get Perseus to sacrifice a few to her too. And, she began to feel a bit bad about not bringing her Lieutenant. Not for long though as she was quickly distracted by their conversation.

It started a little slowly at first. Diana could tell that the other woman was trying to figure her out, but the goddess couldn't blame her. If she were many of the other Olympians, it would have been an apt reaction. Soon though, a wider smile broke out across the older woman's face and their conversation began in earnest with both discussing various topics. At first, it'd been about writing since it was an interest of Diana's, and Sally's own job. The huntress had been amused to hear about one of Sally's first books being about a woman who killed her husband to save her child and home, something that strongly mirrored what actually happened with her ex.

Of course, no normal mortal knew that, but the goddess certainly did and that had prompted another string of conversation about the man in question. Suffice it to say that the goddess had no love for the dead 'man' and had a newfound respect for both Sally and Perseus. That had prompted the goddess to share a few of her own stories, of which there were many. They briefly touched on the nature of blue food and the reason that Percy seemed to love it so much before moving on to something separate entirely.

Interestingly enough, they happened to settle on one of her brother's domains. Music, as it happened, was of interest to both of them with the older woman having a shelf full of old records and various albums. As it happened, Sally herself was versed in several different instruments as she'd had nothing better to do for a long time as a child. She'd started off on piano as a classically trained musician, before moving on to the bass guitar. From there, she'd joined a band that didn't really go anywhere, but she had picked up the guitar as well. While she typically stuck to acoustic, she did own a few electrics that happened to be hung up in her study.

Consequently, this had also been the time in which she met Poseidon. It made enough sense to Diana, even given her limited interaction with the god. And, as Sally had said, from that point on, the rest was history. Percy had been born a while later, and then the two parted ways due to the nature of relationships between mortals and gods. They'd quickly shifted back to music though as Sally had asked about the moon goddess's own interest.

Given that her brother was the god of music, she'd naturally developed her own skill through sibling rivalry. As such, the goddess had a number of instruments under her belt ranging from the common Greek instruments such as the lyre and pan flutes to more classical instruments such as the viola and harpsichord. And, of course, with their following of Western culture, she'd naturally picked up various instruments across the genres. She did, after all, have the best possible teacher, even if he pretended that he was awful.

She also explained that it'd become a running joke that the god of poetry was actually awful in regard to his own domain. It'd initially been something he'd done to annoy her, but it'd slowly just become an inside joke that they did wherever they were. It was one of the few things that they still shared, even despite seemingly not getting along as well as they used to. Slowly though, that relationship was mending, not that Diana told Sally any of that. No need to bog her down with her emotional dump.

Speaking of the mortal woman though, she was also very informative about her son. Apparently, he'd listen to anything. Pop? Sure. Punk rock? Of course. Metal? Yeah. Just random loud noises and whale sounds? Why not? While he did have preferences, there typically wasn't much that he minded. Apparently, his mother had gotten him into music at a young age, but he'd stopped having time for it upon becoming a demigod. It is, after all, rather hard to justify listening to music when you need to be listening out for potential monsters coming to kill you.

His preferences did match up with his looks and character quite well. He'd always been the brash, rebellious type so his natural love for punk made perfect sense. What had surprised her most was his love for blues and jazz. His mom had joked that he only liked the first one because it was also his favorite color, but there wasn't much of an explanation for the second.

At that point though, he'd come into the room after having finished up everything in the kitchen. It looked like he'd also adopted some cleanlier habits in his time living alone, something that the goddess could appreciate. From there the three had spoken for nearly three hours, all gathered on the couch. Paul had come home around halfway through and Percy had introduced the goddess to his stepfather. He seemed like a decent person, and she trusted that someone like Sally wouldn't have poor judgment in character. He was intelligent, but not obnoxious about it, and he was respectful. Two major wins in her book.

From there, the four made their way to the kitchen so that both Paul and Percy could eat, even despite the latter having eaten less than two hours ago. He'd laughed and said it was in his nature to eat. Sally had commented that it was a wonder he wasn't a hundred pounds heavier while Paul defended him, saying it was natural for boys his age. Diana laughed at both of those, having both seen the way that the young man ate, and what her brother had been like during that time in his life.

Eventually though, their time did come to a close as Percy reminded her. Surprisingly, the goddess had actually been the one to lose track of time, overshooting their intended time by nearly an hour, not that either of them minded. From there, it'd been a quick goodbye and a flash near the huntress's camp.

Apparently, Artemis had assigned them a quick mission so they were still situated on the western coast of the States, having moved up to Washington to visit the Amazons again. That had been a short endeavor though and they found themselves camped out in a large stretch of temperate rainforest. Percy could feel (and see) the amount of moisture in the air, and while it bothered others, he found that he didn't mind. The brume was persistent, pooling around the ground and completely obscuring the floor.

It was times like these that he was glad that he was as surefooted as he was. That didn't stop him from tripping over an exposed root though. Diana had laughed as he face-planted, completely disappearing into the thick blanket of fog but she was quick to offer him a hand and pull him up to his feet. All in all, it was a fun walk that was occasionally punctuated with light conversation. Currently, they were talking about their path.

"So where is camp?" Percy ducked under some low-hanging branches.

Diana seemed to almost glide as she walked, not even disturbing the fog as she casually strolled through the forest. It was quite clear that she was at home as she responded, "Another half mile west."

Percy jogged up to walk next to the goddess, "Why so far?"

Diana turned to regard him, a small smile present, "I wished to enjoy the walk."

Percy attempted to speak, but he ended up nearly tripping over something he couldn't see. He would have fallen had the goddess not grabbed his hand and steadied him. He sent her a grateful look before starting again, "It's a good thing you took the trays."

"It is," Diana's response was simple, but it conveyed her relaxed state quite easily. He marveled at how easily she seemed to navigate, "I would hate to see my Lieutenant string you up for dropping them."

Percy chuckled, "You'd still watch and laugh."

"And then I would heal you," she replied easily.

He puffed his cheeks a little, "Oh how kind of you."

"Indeed."

"You're the worst."

Diana smiled, "You're just upset you have the grace of a newborn puppy."

"Not true," Percy laughed, "I'm at least as graceful as a kitten."

"That is not much better."

"But it is better."

The huntress smiled, "If the distinction helps you sleep at night, so be it."

Percy could only laugh as they made their way towards the camp. While he couldn't see it, he was almost certain that they were getting close. Maybe it was the sounds of training coming from over the small ridge, or perhaps it was the arrow that had lodged itself mere inches away from his head but he honestly couldn't tell you why. The moon goddess had seemed mildly amused as Percy narrowly avoided the oncoming projectile. He'd heard the twang of the bowstring before he'd seen the hunter, but it'd been all the warning he'd needed to avoid it. Of course, he was sure that he couldn't have simply avoided it if his cousin had been intent on hitting him but the daughter of Zeus had always greeted him that way. And, she'd never actually hit him. Other than that one time she did.

But, even he had to admit that he deserved it. For one, it'd been right after disappearing from Olympus for nearly a month after Annabeth had broken things off. He'd sort of just shown up some distance away from the hunt's camp at the time with a young demigod in tow. Despite Artemis's express permission to enter the camp when he had business, he'd chose to respectfully wait for someone to grant him permission again. Of course, that someone happened to be his volatile cousin and she'd shocked him to all hell before finally letting him in.

Currently, said cousin was on her way up toward the duo. As per tradition, Percy felt a small sting of electricity run up his spine as she crushed him in a hug. He was certain that he was going to get chewed out again in a little while, but he didn't really mind. She was, after all, just looking out for him in her own strange way. The moon goddess seemed to be even more amused as her Lieutenant spoke to her friend. They were good for each other, as many siblings tended to be. In a way, it reminded her of an earlier version of herself and Apollo.

Thalia, seemingly remembering that her patron was also there, was quick to greet the goddess, "My Lady, it has been too long."

Diana agreed, "How have you fared since I last visited?"

"We've been steadily adding new members in the past year, but monsters have been few and far between," Thalia paused, "Some of the younger hunters are going pretty slowly since there isn't as much need for urgency."

Diana nodded, "Fear for one's life is often the best motivator. But they are proficient, are they not?"

Thalia made a 'so-so' gesture with her hand, "Their archery and hunting skills are as good as ever, but some of their other weapons skills are rather lacking. Hunting knives are good, but few know how to use a spear, and some struggle with even a sword."

The goddess looked pensive for a moment, "Then it is a good thing that Perseus is here then. Perhaps the two of you can instruct those in need of it."

Percy, not having paid attention, snapped out of his stupor in a state of confusion, "What are we teaching to who?"

"Head's still full of kelp," Thalia said glibly, "you're going to teach my sisters how to sword fight."

Percy nodded in confusion but accepted his assigned role regardless, "When do we start?"

Diana spoke up, "Perhaps it would be wise to see where they are at first. A small test, if you will. Your training will have to be tailored to their skill."

"How do you guys plan on testing them then?" Percy asked curiously.

"Oh no," Diana smirked, "Not us. You."

Percy didn't quite blanch but his eyes widened slightly, "I know they like me well enough, but doesn't that seem like a bad idea?"

Diana shrugged, "It is of no consequence to me."

"It's not you I'm worried about."

Thalia grinned, "You know they love you."

Percy conceded that point, "Probably won't after I start teaching them."

The younger woman could only laugh, "You're a hardass when you teach, but they'll appreciate it. Trust me. Nobody's ever upset that they have a good teacher, especially if it saves their lives."

Diana agreed, "You will do wonderfully, I'm sure. The campers under your tutelage have excelled. And, my Lieutenant will help you when the time comes. For now though, you may relax. I have no interest in spending what little time I have training. Perhaps in the upcoming weeks, I may ask you to help."

"I'm free whenever you need me," Percy said before shooting Thalia a sly grin, "Between your spear and my sword, I'm pretty sure you're outclassed."

The dark-haired girl smirked, "Whoever wins sets the other's tent up."

"You're on."

The goddess smiled at their antics, "You may hold your little competition after dinner. I wish to inform the other hunters of your plans, and Perseus's mother was kind enough to make something for everyone."

Thalia's eyes widened before a wide smile broke across her face, "She would."

"She also made you a plate of your own," Diana called over her shoulder as she strolled off.

The younger woman pumped her fist in victory, "Perks of being the favorite."

Percy chuckled as the two began to make their way into the camp, "Don't be too happy. She made Diana her own tray worth."

Thalia paused mid-step before grumbling good-naturedly, "You win some you lose some."

Hey it works. I won't respond to reviews right now since it's a lot of typing and this method is sort of glitchy. Thank you too all who did review though! Massively appreciated as always. Anyway! Thank you all for reading and I'll hopefully get to respond once I'm back in two weeks. Enjoy.