Song Rec: "Stay With Me" by You Me at Six. This one's a bit different in terms of why I relate it to this song. It's not about Artemis and Percy. I've always associated this one with Percy and Annabeth. And in my mind, Percy's the singer so to speak, begging her to stay with him and to change for him. And, towards the end of the song, he realizes that that's not going to happen, and that even if it did, it wouldn't be for the right reasons. To me, that's pretty spot on for his character and one of the core reasons he initially moved on from her. There's a lot of songs I like by them, but this is definitely one of my favorites. Let me know what you think.

Percy pulled off his helmet, taking a moment to let out a long breath as he sat on his bike while Diana pulled in next to him. They'd gotten a little bored sitting in their hotel room. It had been nice to relax and all, but they'd both started messing with each other and built up a bit too much energy to just sit around for the rest of the night. Plus, Percy had gotten hungry. Whoops.

Diana set her kickstand down as Percy ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm down a little, "I feel like they don't love bikers here."

"He didn't seem very happy with you."

Percy rolled his eyes, recalling the truck from earlier, "I don't know why he was acting like I was the one in the wrong when he tried merging into me."

"Yes well," Diana shrugged, "People."

"No kidding," Percy grinned, "hopefully, this will be a bit nicer though."

"It seems nice," Diana said, observing the storefront. It was larger than she'd thought it'd be, but she wasn't complaining, "I like it so far."

"Me too. I don't know how to explain that it reminds me of an old library, but it does."

"I'm pretty sure you just did."

"I mean "why" it feels like an old library," he chuckled, "or maybe a wizards tower?"

"I see," Diana laughed softly, "And you said there's food here too?"

"I thought it was supposed to be like a coffee shop sorta thing, but this doesn't really strike me as that kind of shop. I think, and don't quote me on this, that they do medieval reenactments nearby or something like that. I think I remember Hermes saying it was a big spot for all the people doing that to come here after and so maybe there's some sort of pub thing either inside or connected to it."

"Cool," Diana nodded, seemingly interested, "Eager to get inside then?"

"Sure," Percy swung his leg over so that he could get off his bike, "I like the architecture."

"It's pretty," Diana agreed, taking a moment to admire the care that had been placed into the design. It seemed to be made of limestone, supported by a number of columns and ribbed vaulting. The windows had shone a rather soft orangey color and very distinctly reminded the goddess of the old priories of Europe.

"Looks like it really was a passion project," Percy said admiringly, waiting for the goddess to join him so they could enter, "Wonder how long all of this took."

Diana agreed, looking up at the building, "I do wish mortals spent more time working on such things as architecture."

"Yeah," Percy let out a short breath, "Wonder what the inside looks like."

In so many words, grand. The outside had made it seem almost deceptively small, despite looking to be rather large itself. And yet, despite its size, the interior, despite maintaining the same styling and structuring, was almost cramped as various furniture items and shelves took up a majority of the floor. There was a smaller half-loft above it all though, seeming to be sequestered away in a quiet corner that could be reached by a metal wrought spiral staircase.

The lighting was soft, just enough to read by, but not a touch more. Maybe in the day, it'd be brighter, but the current lighting gave the space a very cozy, secluded vibe. They both quite liked it. Obviously, a great deal of care had been put into the construction of this. Percy spied various interesting trinkets and oddities scattered around on odd shelves or tables. Quite a unique little space, packed full of character.

"We're going to have to come here again," Percy said, looking up.

"Agreed."

Percy smiled at that, moving with the goddess as they made their way deeper into the building. It opened up a little more in the back but another large portion of that was taken up by various long tables with benched seating. A few people were situated there, plates of food next to them as they went about their business. One or two were scribbling in little pads, likely college students trying to cram, while others simply sat around with a book. The back of the thing seemed to be some sort of kitchen or bar area that they couldn't reach, so he supposed that made sense.

"They really got that fantasy vibe down."

"Definitely," Diana said, looking around, "Food smells good too."

"Hungry?"

"You know that I can always eat."

Percy grinned, "Let's order something then explore a little, yeah?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

And order they did, getting enough food to feed three additional people. In Percy's defense, he hadn't eaten much today, and Diana could eat as much as she wanted, plus they could always take leftovers back for tonight when they would inevitably get hungry again. After all, you could eat twice as many leftovers.

Their food took a little bit to come out, but they were more than happy to stroll around and examine a few of the various areas while they waited. Percy couldn't exactly make heads or tails of where they were, often finding himself lost before Diana would inevitably find him again. That was until they both happened to stumble across a rather animated conversation by one of the many benches situated in the building. Two women seemed to be arguing about something, not in a bad way, but certainly with a lot of passion. Percy hadn't meant to listen in or get involved at all, but that didn't matter much as they both turned to him when they saw him. It seemed that they needed someone to pick one side or the other.

Percy, being who he was, was unsure of how to proceed but joined them on the bench regardless, tentatively listening to both of them argue their points while desperately hoping that Diana would find him and pull him away. Thankfully, the goddess seemed to sense this and practically materialized in the same area. Unfortunately though, she seemed rather interested in their conversation.

And, that was how the four of them ended up seated at one of the tables in the food area with plates of warm food and drink.

"So, reiterate your arguments for me," Diana said interestedly, leaning her chin on her hand. Percy tried to be as quiet as possible while the women spoke, gently picking at bits of food and eating while forming his own opinions. Essentially, it seemed that one of the girls - who's name he couldn't remember for the life of him thus leading him to unofficially dub her "Freckles" in his head - was writing a book and one of the core ideas was love. Supposedly, it was some romance story that she'd dreamt of and had ended up writing.

The interesting part of it all was that it was between a god and a mortal, something that both Percy and Diana happened to have experience in, even if neither of them quite realized that the other did. Still, the idea of that sort of love was far less foreign to them than most, and as such, it was quite interesting to hear what was being said. The other friend - named "Green" for her eye color since (surprise surprise) he couldn't remember her name either - had read it and disagreed with one of the main statements for a few reasons. Said statement was that gods and mortals loved differently from one another and as such, a romance between the two would be impossibly tumultuous and very, very difficult. Primarily, Green thought this would be because of politics and tradition while Freckles focused more on the intrapersonal aspect with both gods and mortals being inexorably different.

While Percy agreed with the difficult part, simply due to the nature of love, he wasn't so sure he agreed about both gods and mortals loving differently. He didn't align with Green or Freckles completely in either regard, but both made good points. Diana certainly seemed interested as she listened along while idly picking portions of food off of their shared plates.

"But that's the issue," Freckles pointed out, "How can a god and a mortal be similar? They're inherently different."

"In what regard?" Green asked.

"Longevity, for one," Freckles explained a little more, "Think about it. A human brain couldn't possibly remember centuries worth of information. Even the most advanced human minds wouldn't be able to because of the constraints of their biology. A god doesn't have that issue."

"Sure, they might not remember as much," Green started, "But you also have to think that there's absolutely the possibility that a god has the same constraint. You see plenty of mythology about gods forgetting things or simply not caring enough to remember. You could make the argument that that is because they're not that different from regular humans. You can't really pick and choose which aspects of humanity they get to keep and which ones they lose. Sure, they may be more long lived, but what does their memory have to do with it?"

Percy thought memory had a lot to do with it, but he didn't say anything as Freckles continued, "Think about it this way. Let's put this in a more common perspective. Dogs. You adopt a puppy right? You're that dog's entire life. But you'll outlive it, several times over in fact. And despite the fact that you love that dog, after it dies, you'll probably get another one - even though you loved it so much. It's the same with gods."

"Are we saying that because "dog" and "god" are the same word reversed?" Percy joked to himself in his mind, projecting it ever so slightly. Diana chuckled next to him, clearly having heard it.

"Be nice," Percy heard the goddess respond in his mind, "They bring up interesting points."
Percy didn't say anything as the two women continued. Green seemed to take a moment to respond, but she eventually did, "Okay but I think I disagree with that. Love between two people is very different from love between a pet and owner. At the end of the day, you can't really compare the two. A human partner can't be simplified down to being a simple pet, even despite a power difference between a god and human. Both are living, sentient beings capable of advanced thought and emotion, both of which are capable of connecting on a deeper level."

"But is it?" Freckles shot back, "Who's to say that a god and a human experience the same depth of emotion?"

Diana made a small noise at this, but only Percy noticed as Green responded, "You're going to say that because a god lives for so much longer, the majesty of life sort of loses meaning, but I think that only matters based on your definition of love. You have to think, love is different for a lot of people. True love, to me at least, means you have one partner. No matter what. You have that single partner and lover and that's it. There isn't any moving on from that."

"But a god could," Freckles sounded triumphant, "They live so long, is it really hard to think that they might have taken on a lover simply for the pleasure of it? At what point do they stop caring? Or do you really expect for someone so long lived to care till the end of time?"

Green didn't say anything, but Percy did, cutting in a little, "If I may?"

"Of course," the two women chimed in unison.

Diana looked at him, clearly curious about what he was going to say. Percy took a breath before speaking, "I think that it's almost a little demeaning to say that all gods or goddesses couldn't love someone till the end of time so to speak just because a majority couldn't. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, it almost sounds a little elitist to say that a god couldn't love someone that way. I think that comes down to character, rather than it simply being dictated by the nature of being a deity. That's not to say that it couldn't come down to that. It absolutely could and probably would given the power dynamic, but I don't think that being a god precludes someone from forming meaningful relationships that last a lifetime, independent of however long that lifetime may be."

"See," Green grinned appreciatively at Percy, "Someone gets me."

"And what about my point about the dogs?" Freckles asked, "You mentioned that it comes down to character, but what about those who have bad character? What about the asshole gods that don't really care?"

"Firstly, I think that depends on how you've written your particular god so I can't really speak on that since I don't have anything to base it on. But, I'll definitely say that the comment about owning a pet isn't a bad analogy. I think it's quite apt, actually. But I think that's yet another thing that comes down to the personality of the deity which is hard for me to speak on since I haven't read your book. But, if you look at other pieces of mythology, you see that there's definitely a pretty wide spectrum of characters so to count all gods out seems a bit odd. You see it all over the place in all sorts of mythology that different gods have different temperaments and ideals and I think that's an important aspect of their character.

Now, most gods probably wouldn't commit in full to a mortal, or even really consider them equals because of the power difference or lifespan. The idea of a god's longevity making them less likely to commit in full to a relationship is a very valid one and I know that's not exactly what you said, but I think it's a good enough approximation for this. At the same time, if you go back to your dog analogy, you're essentially saying that you don't value that dog all that much because you get another one and I think that's wrong.

People absolutely love their pets, to the point of calling them family members. Just because you get another one doesn't mean you're trying to fill the void left. Some people might, but that's the wrong way of looking at it in most cases. What if you said that about kids? If you have one kid already, why do you need another if you love them so much?"

"That's a little different though. Most parents don't have kids just to replace another or because they don't love them enough," Freckles shot back.

"You're right, but I'm just taking your example and furthering that line of thought to another situation that's similar."

"Sure, but who's to say that a god wouldn't just consider a mortal to be their little pet?" Freckles asked, "You even mentioned the power dynamic which I'd argue is more like a pet and an owner than parent and child."

"And you're right about the power dynamic thing, but you're not giving the god or goddess any chance either. Why wouldn't a mortal just treat the god like some tool for power or a better life? Power dynamics go two ways when there's mutual interaction."

"Well," Green made a face, "don't you think that a god would see through that?"

"Not really," Percy shook his head, "Herakles tricked Atlas into getting the golden apples for him."

"And Tantalus killed his son and tried to feed him to the gods then got cursed for it," Green responded in turn.

Percy grinned at the memory of Tantalus's curse while he was at camp, "That doesn't make a difference. If it can happen once, it can happen again. A god was tricked, so it's not impossible."

"Okay, regardless of that," Freckles started again, "Don't you think there'd be some disconnect from their nature as gods to choose someone so different. You said yourself that it was more akin to pet and owner, so wouldn't it be strange for a god? I think that there'd almost be a disconnect from reality if a god were to do that because they're so inherently different."

"You're assuming that a god has no human traits, simply because of their status. Dogs have human traits, hence the ability to anthropomorphize them. We have animal-like tendencies so why wouldn't it go both ways? It's a good point, but I think you're coming from that sort of supremacy standpoint where a god isn't capable of advanced emotion or feeling simply because of longevity. Gods, I think, are slow because of their longevity but that doesn't mean they can't change at all. I think one of the main counter arguments is that a god isn't necessarily static. While they may not commonly change quickly, neither does a tree. That doesn't mean that an external force couldn't suddenly and rapidly change it either. A tree could fall if chopped down or struck by lightning. A god's the same."

Percy finished speaking, leaning back for a second to think, but it seemed that nobody was willing to respond. He quickly backtracked, "Was that too much?"

"No," Freckles responded quickly, shaking her head as she said it.

"Not at all," Green mirrored the other woman's response.

"It's just a lot to think about," Freckles laughed, "Some of us aren't so great at arguing, I guess."

"Yeah," Green let out an exasperated breath, "Feel a little like a fish out of water, but hey. Whatever you say Mr. God."

"Sorry," Percy rubbed the back of his head, electing to ignore the way Diana suppressed a snicker, "I know you guys were looking for a concrete answer, but I think you're both sort of right."

"That means were both sort of wrong too," Freckles laughed.

Percy offered a short laugh, "Sure. However you want to say it.

There was a little more conversation before the two girls got up. There was an exchange of goodbyes, and they were gone, but not before Percy asked what the name of the book was, intent on buying a copy if or when it was available.

Still, as soon as they were gone, Percy leaned back a little, letting out a quiet whistle, "That went on for a bit."

"Feeling a bit exhausted?" Diana joked, stealing the fork in Percy's hand.

"Yeah," the son of the sea shook his head, "I feel like you could make that into a very circular argument if you wanted to."

"Absolutely," the Huntress agreed, "But I think you responded excellently."

"Really?"

"A bit more verbose than I thought it'd be, but still very eloquent and well thought."

"Yeah, felt like I was waxing poetic a bit, but who knows?"

"It was nothing like that," Diana laughed easily, "You're quite smart when you want to be."

"Thanks, I think?"

"It's a compliment," the goddess took another bite, "You're well read. I know I've said that before too. It's very difficult for most people to dissect an argument with so much back and forth and you did it rather quickly."

"It wasn't like I wasn't paying attention."

"That's not my point," Diana smiled before changing the subject, "But how did you end up in that conversation anyway?"

"I was trying to find a book and they were arguing and they asked me what I thought."

"And then we ended up here."

"Yeah pretty much," Percy agreed, "I do feel a bit bad though. I didn't remember their names."

"Really?" Diana laughed.

"I just called them "Green" and "Freckles"."

"Why?"

"Well one had green eyes and the other had freckles."

"Percy, they both had green eyes."

"Oh," he rubbed the back of his head, "uh, then I feel double bad."

Diana smirked, "As you should. Imagine what people would say if they knew you named them based on their physical appearance."

"You're making it sound worse than it is."

"Oh certainly," Diana teased, "But it's fun."

"Still."

Diana hummed, clearly amused as she picked a bit of food off of his plate, "What do you think though? Do you think that you and I might love differently?"

"Well, I'm immortal now, so I'm not sure it exactly applies, but I think we're both the "for life" sort. Is that what you're asking?"

"Not exactly, but I like the response regardless," Diana shifted in her seat a little, " But I ask moreso because it's a thought that I've had."

"In what way?"

"That I'm not sure how I love, so to speak," The goddess looked at Percy for a moment - just out of the corner of her eye - before continuing, "Mortals seem to feel so much more passionately sometimes. It's a wonderful thing. And sometimes, I think that I miss out on it because of my longevity."

"I wouldn't be too worried about it, Diana," Percy chuckled, stabbing his fork into a chunk of potato, "I've seen the way you treat everyone around you. Your hunters, me, Apollo even."

"Sometimes I worry that I'm not affectionate enough."

Percy grinned again, "That's another thing. You can fix that, so don't worry too much - not that you're broken or anything! Just like… It's one of those things you can't control, you know? There's no sense in being upset over something you can't change right?"

Diana let her hand rest on his forearm, "I understand, Perseus."

"That's good," Percy nodded, "I started rambling again then, huh?"

"I've come to expect it at odd times," Diana smiled, "It's endearing."

"That's a plus," Percy shook his head with a slight smile, "I'd hate for you to be annoyed by it. Sometimes I don't say things because of that."

"What do you mean?"

"Like there are times I want to say something or like, want to talk about a topic and I don't because I'm like a vampire and you need to invite me to talk about it otherwise I worry that you're going to be annoyed."

"That's stupid," Diana laughed softly, "But I hear you. Promise I don't mind though."

"And you'd stop me if you did?"

"Have I ever struck you as someone who'd just sit there and let someone grate on my nerves?"

Percy recalled her rather small amount of tolerance for annoyances or bullshitting during meetings on Olympus, "No. Not particularly."
"Exactly."

Percy let out another sigh, leaning back a little bit, "I guess it does help that I happen to be best friends with a goddess."

"What?" Diana laughed, confused by the sudden statement.

"With the love thing," Percy explained, looking at her, "We sort of live the life to know what it's like, you know? We've actually seen gods do that stuff."

"And have you seen a god or goddess that's fully committed to their partner before?"

"Uh," Percy drew a blank, "Not sure actually."

Diana laughed, "It's not particularly common, but I can think of one who has and one who would."

"Who has?"

"My mother," Diana explained, "Only ever partnered with my father, who happens to be a rather poor choice, but still."

Percy chuckled, "I'm not going to insult your mom in any way. And how exactly did that happen anyway?"

"A good idea," Diana agreed, taking a bite out of her food, "And I couldn't say for certain. I know that my father used to be a very different person than who he is now. But I do know that my parent's relationship happened prior to my father's marriage to Hera."

Percy blinked, "What? How?"

"My father had a number of wives before Hera," Diana said, sounding mildly annoyed, "But my brother and I were born after they had separated."

"Like he went back and cheated with your mom, or she was already pregnant and then he got married to Hera."

"I have never asked for the specifics, but either of the two are plausible enough."

Percy let out a long breath, "Gods and their relationships."

"Truly," Diana agreed.

"Wait," Percy turned to her quickly, "does that mean you're first second generation Olympian?"

"Minerva was born before I was, but after that, I am oldest."

"Your dad's a dick."

Diana chuckled, "Again, truly."

"I wonder what changed."

"Power, I'd imagine," Diana said distastefully, "Hence why I like you so much."

Percy chuckled, "If you say so. Speaking of power though, do you think there'd ever be a power that you'd want?"

"I'm a goddess. I already have powers, so to speak."

"Huh. Good point."

"But to answer your question," Diana laughed, "There are none that I can think of that I'd particularly want."

"Okay, well have you ever thought about being a superhero?"
"I can't say that I have," Diana looked over at him with a smile.

"I guess it is more of a mortal thing," Percy considered.

"It would seem so. Have you?"

"Yeah. But that was before the whole demigod thing."

"And what sort of superhero would you have been?"

"I dunno," Percy shrugged, "I know a lot of people love Spiderman, but I've always been a DC comics kinda guy."

"So Nightwing?"

Percy seemed surprised, "How do you know who that is? And I know for a fact it isn't Apollo this time."

Diana laughed, "No, it wasn't Apollo. A few of the younger girls likened some of the others to superheroes from the comics they used to read as kids. They liked all sorts of comics and things of that sort and I got roped into learning about some of them."

"Don't make it sound so bad," Percy teased gently, "We both know you'd do anything for those kids."

Diana smiled rather softly at that, "I suppose you're right."

"Still, Nightwing?"

"Am I not spot on?" Diana tilted her head amusedly.

"Uh."

"Let's not be humble about this one, yeah?" Diana smiled, "Use humor to cope, loved by those around you, heart of gold. Sounds pretty spot on to me."

"Right," Percy rubbed the back of his head as glanced at the various shelves around them, "You know my mom used to buy me those old comics when I was a kid?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Had an old collection of them from when she was a kid and ended up giving them to me when I was a kid."

"That's sweet," Diana said easily, wondering if she'd be able to share moments like that with her own kids. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself but it was a nice thought, "Were there a lot of things like that?"

"Not really," Percy shook his head, "She had to sell a lot of the things she loved to help raise me."

Diana didn't miss the bitter hint in his voice, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Percy seemed to lighten up a bit, "I've been trying to track down small things I can find."

"Like what?"

"I found her first guitar," Percy explained, seeming distinctly happier as he recalled the process, "it's one of the one's she keeps hung up on the walls. She sold it to one of her friends when I was a kid because she needed the cash and they ended up moving away. It took me a bit and I needed some help from Hermes, but I managed to track them down and buy it back. Same with a few pieces of old jewelry. Our family hasn't exactly been the type to pass down things like that because there wasn't much to pass on, but I know she liked a lot of those things and wanted to get them back if at all possible."

Diana didn't say anything for a moment before coming over to him and setting her hand on his forearm, "You really are a kind person, you know. I know it's not something you know how to respond to, so don't but know that I see and appreciate who you are."

"I try," Percy said, lamely giving her a thumbs up and an awkward smile, causing Diana to laugh, "Stop that."

"You're also an idiot."

"That's more like it."

They both laughed with each other before Diana asked another question, "What would you be for Halloween?"

"Why? Want to match?"

Some interesting topics approached here. Wonder why. Anyway, more of a filler chapter than anything, just to explore Diana and Percy a little more and buff up some of those interactions. Might get another one of those after this, but after that it's more progress with the story. Anyway, let me know what you think. I liked the chapter well enough and it was fun to write, but I don't know if it flows very coherently since I've been all over the place when writing it. On to the fun stuff:

To TomorrowCarpe Diem: Good to hear from you and I do too! It's been a ton of fun over the journey. To Wathie The Monster: Don't worry too much. As soon as Artemis comes back, you're getting your confession. Didn't hear it from me though. To Professor Donger: True, there's been an established history of Zeus causing storms on bad days. Poseidon too, but you get the point. To Nocturnal8: Here we are again. Hope you enjoy! To Reader0404: Yeah, but I'm super happy to hear that you still enjoy it. I'm very happy that this is one of the one's you enjoy and that's definitely an interesting concept that's worth thinking about. I've got on in that same sort of vein, but it's still a little different. Anyway! Thank you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy! To kikinder: Yeah that was how I felt when I wrote it but I think it's one of my favorites somehow. Anyway! Leto and Sally will be coming towards the end of the road trip because yes. Fun ideas with that! To IsItReallyTho: That's lovely to hear even if a little crazy to me. And I really enjoy getting to write their thoughts since it involves a little more thinking on my end as to what they'd say. And don't you worry. I've got some fun stuff planned with Zeus. One of my favorite scenes that I've drafted, but I just have to get there! To Savien X: And I appreciate you! Hope you enjoy! To iNeptune: This chapter's so-so but the next one or two should be fun! To sushiman57: Ah I have the benefit of being able to write scenes in whatever order so I've been able to scratch that itch. Hopefully soon, I'll be able to post it though! To The Last Centurion 1: Thanks! Diana's definitely one of my favorite characters to write. To JustCasper: Thank you! Here it is. To McL1008: Next chapter is up! Hope you enjoy! TO HellRaiderS: Newest chapter! Hopefully still good. To Jerrydamaster: Haha I'm glad to hear that. And I made him immortal sort of off-screen. I'm of the mindset that you shouldn't talk about every little detail and just include them in indirect ways. It helps things flow a bit better to me. And I thought about doing that, but the reason I avoided that is actually because both Artemis and Diana tend to buck tradition and do their own thing anyway so I figured that the one who's constantly cooped up would probably be a bit crazier and carefree given the limited time.

Anyway! Let me know what you guys think. Enjoy!