When I woke up, I was still in my bed, which wasn't too unusual. This of course meant that no alter had been so scared that they ran somewhere else, but that didn't mean that no alter came out at all. I noticed that the paper was on a different spot than in the evening. Did that mean someone wrote on it? I grabbed a celestial bronze knife that was on the table next to it so I'd have light. Then I took the paper, unfolded it and excitedly read what was on it. There was a short text, in a handwriting that wasn't mine.

Hi. My name is Chris. The one who sang in your head yesterday. Playing the song again brought me out, since it is among my earliest memories. I have existed pretty much since that elevator ride out of you-know-where, so I kind of have a special connection to it.

I just wrote this message to let you know we exist and you're not insane. Maybe one day soon we'll have a more in person meeting. Hope you will have slept well.

Chris.

I had just written with one of my alters. That was already great progress. I decided to write back. But what should I write? About how I wanted to learn more about my "system". I should probably write that. And don't forget to be nice and welcoming. They've hidden for the past week, so they could hide again. I had so many questions, but I decided that these were better asked in person. And so, I started writing.

To whomever reads this: Hi.

I'm so excited we finally got to talk, even if it's only via paper. I can't wait to learn more about everything is happening in my head. I'm hoping to see you soon.

Annabeth

When I checked my phone, I saw that I still had about an hour before I'd have to get up, so I decided to try to sleep again. I remained in a state somewhere between awake and asleep for the rest of that hour, before properly waking up together with my siblings. I think camp half blood is the place with the highest chance for the word sibling to actually refer to a half sibling. Speaking of half siblings, I realized that I would eventually have to tell my mortal family about my DID. Maybe I could visit them after celebrating my and Percy's birthday. It was less than a week away after all.

At breakfast I noticed the cat from yesterday coming to me. I picked it up, making sure it wouldn't get any of my food. "Since when do we have a cat at camp?" someone asked. "Since yesterday. It's one of the skeleton cats that Atlas accidentally made. I named him small Damasen, but Percy insists his name is lil dam. We've picked him up from Washington DC on our way back from our date" "What did you do?" "Well, Percy said that there was one thing we had never done in the almost year we've been together" This resulted in a short discussion that even I had trouble keeping up with. I had someone mention birth control, while someone else asked "Do we really want details?" "Guys, chill, all we did was go eat somewhere we hadn't eaten before: The dam snack bar." Seriously, why were people always so dirty minded? I mean, I did suggest doing it, but that still doesn't give anyone the right to assume it.

I looked back down at lil, uh, I meant small Damasen. I slowly stroked his fur, making him purr almost as loudly as small Bob. It calmed me down, but it also confused me which didn't make any sense. Maybe someone else liked the cat as well. I didn't want to risk switching out, especially to a child, while I was with all these people, who I had not told yet.

After breakfast I met up with Percy and we made our way to the lake. Small Damasen followed us there. I sat down next to him and got back to stroking his back while talking to Percy. After a few minutes, I head a child's voice shout "Kitty" and I felt like I lost consciousness.

After what felt like just a few seconds, I came back. Percy and small Damasen where still there, but the sun was at a slightly different spot. I looked to Percy for an explanation. "The child came out. She played with lil dam for a bit, and then I guess she got bored and you came back. I'd say around twenty minutes passed." "Well, looks like at least one kid felt it was safe enough to come out. That only leaves, oh gods, how many alters do I even have? Given the sheer amount of trauma I've been through, I'd guess there's at least fifty, but I hope it's not actually that many." Now everyone else just had to show up. I knew that I had to give them time, but I wasn't exactly the most patient person in the world. Of course, I was a born strategist and had no problem devising a plan that would take days to complete and actually going through the whole thing. What really bothered me was spending my days without making any sort of progress.

That progress came two days later, right after combat training. I still wasn't so used to fighting with a sword, so Percy actually defeated me for the first time in years. But this time, I would beat him. Just a few more strikes, and I had my sword raised to gently tap his neck. Of course, in an actual battle, I would cut his head off, but this was just training, so 'If I had not just made the conscious choice not to kill you, you'd be dead' was enough. I let my sword glide down, ready to stop right before his neck, when it was suddenly pushed away from him, before flying out of my hand. Percy looked at me with a proud grin. "Next time you fight the son of Poseidon, make sure your sword doesn't have any pores in its surface, cause those can easily fill with water" "That was unfair. This is weapons practice, not power practice. I won" To enforce my message, I looked him dead in the eyes until he said "We'll call it a draw. You already win often enough. A draw is a good way to end this session" I think I agreed to a draw, but I was distracted by a voice in my head. I didn't quite understand what it said, something about a blue branch I think, but I knew it was the same voice I had heard on our date. Luckily, we were already far enough away from the arena so the others wouldn't hear me. I didn't need anyone thinking I was a crazy person talking to myself.

"Uh, can you hear me?" I asked. I said the question out loud, not just in my head. Percy turned to me. "Not you Percy. Someone here" I pointed at my head. Then I asked again. "Do you hear me?" This time, there was an answer. "Yes, but it's like through cotton. Hard to understand" I focused on talking more clearly now. "It's a bit muffled for me too, maybe I can go somewhere quiet" Percy took that opportunity to expand upon the ever-growing list of problems that can be solved with water by creating a dome that blocked out noise. Surprisingly, it actually worked. Normally, water just transmits sound, even better than air, so he must have done something really complicated to the water to make it block out sound like that. I was actually proud of my seaweed brain for that. Anyways, back to the conversation. "Well, it's quiet now, do you hear me better now?" "it's a bit better, any reason you wanted to talk?" "Not really, I just heard your voice and tried talking to you. This is all so exciting, having people just chilling in my head. And all that because of a spider attack nine years ago. I was seven back then. Well, some part of me still is seven, and apparently she likes skeleton cats." "I've noticed. You sat down next to lil dam and Annie must have noticed that, cause she just screamed 'Kitty' and came rushing to front like a tornado" "Aw, that sounds cute." I tried to imagine a seven year old version of myself running around 'like a tornado'. "That's about what it looked like" Chris said. "Wait, can you see what I'm imagining?" "A bit. But only if I focus on it."

I noticed his voice becoming harder to hear and I knew I didn't have much time left to talk. "It was nice talking to you, but I guess our time is up now. Hope I'll see you soon. Bye." "There's a good chance you will. Bye" His voice faded away and my head was silent again. "He's gone" I told Percy and he dropped the sound-numbing water dome. It collapsed and soaked us completely. Well, it soaked me, Percy stayed dry like he always does. Of course, I wasn't soaked for very long either, as Percy dried me of by tapping my shoulder. That's actually one of my favorite things about dating Percy. All water related problems just vanish from my life. "So, what did you talk about?" "Not much. Just how weird it is that I have people in my head and how much Annie loves cats. Oh, and he could see what I was imagining" "Then you better be careful in you how you think about me. And before you try to say you don't find me attractive in that way, you're about one dam date too late for that." "What can I say? Guilty as charged. Now, can we change the subject?"

"Sure, summer's over tomorrow. Are you staying at camp?" I hadn't really thought about that myself. "Well, I'll be at our party two days after that, so going home to my mortal family would be stupid. So I guess I'll stay at camp for those two days, and then I'll see. I still have to tell my parents about this" I knocked on my head. "So I have to visit them at some point. And I promised to bring my dad blue cookies. What about you?" "I think I'm gonna go home once summer ends. I'd say we can handle two days without each other." "I think I'll manage. I've gone almost thirteen years without you, and now over six months. Two days should be doable. Of course, my trauma has, like, doubled to tripled since those 6 months, but I still think I can do it. There's more to trauma processing than just hugging your boyfriend." "You can do this. Now, are you ready to lose another match?" "I would have won if I had had my knife. I wonder where it is now. Maybe it's somewhere hidden under the sand, and it kills every monster that accidentally steps on it. Maybe there's some monsters child playing Tethys on my laptop." "Thetis? Isn't that your grandma?" "Almost. Metis is my grandma. Tethys is my great grandma though. But I was referring to a game some mythology nerd once made, probably as a joke. It's basically Tetris, but all the blocks are Tethys. Whoever did that is really lucky that the titans were overthrown, because I doubt Tethys found that funny. And you know what gods do to those they consider unfunny." "Who knows, maybe she came back during the second titan war. Her husband was there so why not. I just realized something. If Metis is the daughter of Okeanos, that means if we ever have children, they'll be descended from both Poseidon and Okeanos. And wasn't Thetis also related to water? That makes three ocean deities. I think they might be stronger than me. "Children" I said. The thought of having children or even just a normal relationship seemed so unreachable at the moment. "Have you ever considered when you want kids?" "Well, assuming Leo did somehow survive and is now with Calypso, I'd say once she gets pregnant we need children too." "Where's the connection?" I asked. "Well, I don't want a world with fire controlling children without also having water controlling children that keep them in check." "That's an interesting motivation for having children but whatever. If it prevents the Valdez family from making the world fall to fire again, why not" It felt weird to already consider having children with this boy. Of course I loved him, but the physical aspect of our relationship was pretty much nonexistent. I barely reached the point of being shirtless in front of him. But on the other hand, I was totally willing to go further and Percy didn't seem to mind either. Maybe I needed a relationship expert. Or maybe I didn't and I was just massively overthinking this whole thing. I turned to Percy. He looked at me in a way that said 'I don't know what you're thinking about, but it's worrying you so unless it's super important I'd suggest you stop thinking about it'. Yep, I was overthinking.

So, that was the first instance of intentional external communication. And also the first instance of internal communication. In retrospect, it's probably a bit too early for Annabeth and her system to be able to do that. But now I've already made the chapter, and the realism will just have to deal with it, as persassy likes to say