FIRST PERSON POV: PERCY
My sleep was good. No demigod dreams and no being woken up from my sister crying, but I suppose I have myself to thank for the lack of dreams. After years of being told I should learn to properly navigate them, I finally did, you could say, mastered it even. Which came with some pretty nifty abilities if I did say so myself.
But now it was time to get to work, but first things first. Wake up Estelle to let her know where I would be if she needed me. Of course, it took me five minutes to do so, and I had to do it three times before she stayed awake long enough to actually listen. I let out a sigh before mumbling to myself. "I really hope she'll get used to this soon, otherwise waking her up every day just for that will be a nightmare."
Now to get dressed for my new job. I really hope it's not anything too bad. Otherwise, it may be embarrassment that finally manages to end my existence. Wouldn't that be a way to go. Percy Jackson, slayer of monsters, died not to one of the monsters he fights but to a work uniform.
I chuckled, "Yeah, I'm definitely going to lose a fight to clothes. Everyone does at some point, after all... I hope." talking to myself about nonsense? It's definitely not new, and certainly still not a good sign. Oh well, let's get this over with. "Oh, you have to be kidding me."
LINE BREAK, POV CHANGE 3RD PERSON
"Oh come Nyan Percy! I'm sure nyu look great!" Anya had proclaimed, trying and succeeding in coaxing the demigod into view of the rest if the workers there. A groan was heard along with some shuffling, and he finally showed himself wearing the men's version of the Hostess of Fertility work uniform. Something Which Mama Mia had to pay a fairly hefty price for in order for it to be made in less than nine hours.
"I look ridiculous in this thing. Is there a chance I can wear something else, Mama Mia, please?" She looked him over, inspecting him and the outfit. He looked good in it. Of course he would. She had designed it herself. While the girls all had a white frilly headress, black tights, brown boots, a green dress with a white apron covering the front with a white undershirt and an orange bow around the neck.
Percy's outfit was quite different. It had the same color scheme, yes, but that's all. In place of black tights and brown boots, he instead had black slacks and brown dress shoes. Where the girls had a white undershirt and bright green dress, he had a bright green long sleeve button up with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows showing the definition in his scarred forearms and the SPQR tattoo with three bars and a trident. Along with a black waistcoat overtop of it. In place of the orange bow and the white apron covering the front of their dresses. He had an orange tie around his neck hanging down and disappearing under the waistcoat, with a white apron that tied around his waist and flowed down to just past his knees. Instead of the frilly headress they wore, he just had his hair tied back into a short ponytail. A white streak of hair was hanging down the left side of his forehead with the rest running back to join the rest of his hair in the ponytail. To finish it all off, he had a simple ballpoint pen in the breast pocket of his waistcoat. He really didn't have anything to worry about.
Before she finally responded with. "Nonsense, you look just fine. The female customers are going to love you." She wasn't lying either. He had the good looks of a god, from his face to his body. There was no denying he was a handsome young man. Anya certainly seemed to agree with how close she was getting to him. Luckily, Ryuu pried her off of him and made her apologize.
Of course, Mama Mia also suspected that he may cause problems at some point, even if it wasn't his intention. But she would cross that bridge when she came to it. Right now, they needed to get to work, and the first order of business was cleaning the place up before they officially opened for the day.
TIMESKIP: TWO HOURS
Percy, as it turned out, was quite good at being a waiter. Using Riptide in pen form to take notes of what the people wanted, wearing a troublemakers smirk that ironically put people at ease and joking around with the patrons. He was a natural, or maybe it's just how genuinely kind he is.
Of course, he couldn't be waiting on people all day. He needed to do the same stuff as everyone else. Next up was cooking, another thing he proved surprisingly good at, especially when it came to baking. Mama Mia definitely made the right choice last night, letting him work here and lending him a roof over his and his sister's head.
After his shift for cooking, he was on dishes duty, and of course, he excelled at that too. But being a son of Poseidon definitely played some part as to why he was so good at doing dishes. After all, Syr swore she saw water rising into the air on its own out of the corner of her eye.
But soon came the daily lull as all the adventurers went down into the dungeon until the evening. So with nothing else to do, they decided to clean the place up once more so that they had some free time to spend before they needed to get everything ready again. It wasn't something that took long. Just sweep the floor and mop, wipe the counters, and finish up the few remaining dishes.
LINEBREAK: 1ST PERSON POV, RYUU
He was a hard worker, that was something s
I couldn't deny it, and he was a great fit for the Hostess of Fertility. Other than boyfriends and sometimes girlfriends being jealous when he waited on their table and gave that troublemakers smirk, he wore while waiting on patrons. But that was a minor inconvenience. Nothing was ever done. Words said yes.
But he always kept his composure and apologized to them. He was good. Good for the Hostess of Fertility, good at making quick friends, good at diffusing situations, and good for a nice laugh, apparently. But he was great at masking his emotions, I have no doubt I wouldn't have picked up on it if his sister Estelle wasn't such a weak spot for him. The way his features softened even more, became even more genuine as she showed herself and told him she was hungry. Those emotions he displayed to the patrons and us, his fellow staff members? They were fake, and I would have never known had it not been for his sister.
He was an even better big brother. It was clear in how he acted around her, always watched what he said despite having no issue swearing around strangers. The way he could cheer her up just by giving her a pat on the head as he walked by her, and how he was able to keep her innocence intact despite the situation they were in and her surprising intelligence.
"Percy, how come that minotaur had its arm in its mouth?" Percy froze, as did I. I didn't know what Estelle was talking about, but it didn't sound like something that should be witnessed by a toddler. Because she wasn't an infant, not in my eyes. Estelle is too smart to just be an infant. She's too quick and quiet, and she learns too quickly to be considered one in my eyes. It would seem even if he referred to her as his baby sister, Percy shared a similar sentiment, as proven by his answer.
"I can't tell you now, Estelle, when you're older if you still remember, maybe. But for now, let's just say the Minotaur was feeling a bit too silly when it got hungry. It must have decided that a hamburger sounded good." he looked over at her and smiled, and Estelle did so in return, giving a one word response. "Okay!" Before she went back to coloring in a book, Chloe had given her alongside crayons.
"Percy, could you come help me with this? I'm sure Ryuu wouldn't mind finishing that food for Estelle." Mama Mia had called him over to help carry a crate bigger than normal into the tavern, what I assume to be stuff she had gotten for Estelle. "Of course I wouldn't mind, I'll make sure your sister has a good healthy meal, don't worry." He hesitated for a second before heading to where Mama Mia called him over, giving a quick thanks as he went by.
"You're pretty, like Annabeth. You look smart like her, too." That wasn't something I had expected, but even that pailed in comparison to the next string of sentences to enter my ears.
"Yeah, she is, isn't she Estelle? Tho, I have to say, that constant neutral expression reminds me more of Zoë."
Estelle's brows furrowed. "So Miss Ryuu looks like a Persian princess too?"
He let out a laugh at that. "No, a princess maybe, but not a Persian one."
Estelle frowned a bit and finally stopped coloring. "Still pretty tho, right?"
He let out another laugh, lighter this time. "Yes, still pretty Estelle."
She wore a triumphant grin and nodded, like she was congratulating herself. Given that she seems to have won some sort of 'argument' against her brother, which she clearly looks up to, I suppose that would make sense.
But I had some questions. "I- Estelle," she looked at me. "Who is Annabeth, and who is Zoë?" I assume friends of his, or something more, based on how they talked about them.
Estelle seemed to gain an even bigger grin than before as she answered me. "Annabeth is what mama calls Percy's ex-girlfriend turned best friend. Zoë is someone brother had a crush on."
A sigh was heard before Percy walked back into view and over to the table beside Estelle, who was eating her food now, before he sat down next to her. "Zoë wasn't someone I had a crush on Estelle, but she was a good friend, is a good friend... almost definitely my most loyal friend, Grover and Annabeth being her only equals."
As he said that, I thought I saw the ballpoint pen in his breast pocket give off a faint warm glow. But I chalked it up to my imagination. That wouldn't make sense. "This Zoë, the way you speak of her with such fondness, but as if she isn't here -"
He gave a scoff, not one of disdain, but closer to a sort sarcastic annoyance. "Zoë is and was a good friend, one who's always with me even if she goes by a different name now. And no, I didn't have any feelings for her behind platonic ones, but she is beautiful, that's not an opinion of a boy with a 'crush' that's just the objective truth. But if you ask me, she's more beautiful now than before." He said that last bit with a bit of a playful lilt to his tone. At the same time, the pen in his pocket briefly glowed a bright silver. At least now I know I'm not seeing things.
I pondered on that for a while, not on his words, but how special that pen was. So I had to ask, even if the answer would have been no. "Could I see your pen? I wish to write to someone."
He looked confused for a second before he responded. "Oh, uh, sure? Yeah, here." And he took it out of his pocket to hand it to me, where I promptly dropped it onto the floor, and a loud thud was heard along with shaking happening.
That, what? Why is that pen so heavy. How is that pen so heavy. I can't even lift it off the floor. "How can you carry something so heavy around all the time? It makes no sense."
His brow furrowed, like he didn't understand what I meant. And he picked it up, causing his brow to furrow even more. "She's not heavy at all. What do you mean?" He actually didn't know what I meant. He carries that around all day, no problem. So I guess it makes sense he would think it's light.
LINEBREAK: PERCY POV 1ST PERSON
When Estelle asked about the Minotaur I froze, I did what I did back then because I knew she wouldn't be able to actually see it, it would have happened to fast for her to see, and for a second I regretted making that birthday wish to keep her safe, not because I don't want her safe, I do. But the blessing Lady Artemis gave her as a way to grant that gift. It made her quicker and more quiet. And made her smarter than any other child her age, allowed her to learn certain things such as speech and motor functions quicker too. Luckily, it was clear she hadn't realized what happened, so I made up a fib. We both knew it was one. But if when she was older and more mature, she decided she'd rather know the truth, I'd tell her.
After a bit of 'debate' with Estelle on Ryuu's beauty, which Estelle 'won' by the way, because objectively speaking, the girls here are pretty. We talked about Zoë, or Anaklusmos, someone I 'talked' with often, which surprised me when I first found out I could. But given her immortal essence from her time as a Hesperide resides within Riptide, it only makes sense that there would be some side effect, or two, apparently.
The first of which is said 'communication' which she does by glowing in various ways, a brief but bright flash indicates annoyance, a soft warm glow indicates happiness, smugness too, a brief brightening before dimming indicates sadness or disappointment, a steady and radiant glow indicates her being competitive, a bright harsh glow indicates anger, and continues flashing in various intervals is just her getting her point across clearly through Morse code, which I am supremely happy I had learned from Annabeth.
The second side effect I had just learned, or I guess it's a combination side effect of her immortal essence being placed in Riptide, and being linked to me, now I don't know exactly how it works so don't ask me, the best I can come up with is godly bullshit. But upon further thought and confirmation from Anaklusmos using Morse code. It seems she magically reduces or increases her weight so she's always perfectly balanced, which makes some sense, after all I went from being above Olympic level athletes, to being able to hold the sky, which as it turns out is more physically impressive than previously thoughts, I mean, I held Ouranos, he physical embodiment of the sky, that's the earth's atmosphere centered on one point, with some sort of metaphysical weight added on, or something I don't know, I tuned out of Athena's lecture after that. But it would explain how even when I was injured, it was still perfectly balanced too.
It also turns out the reason she wasn't perfectly balanced when I tried fighting Atlas, is because Ares' one time curse worked similarly to that enchantment on the Marvel Thor's Mjölnir, which sucked, but I'm glad it's gone now.
"Well, that's something new for sure." everyone just stared at me, looking disbelieving, well the only other ones to hold Riptide was Chiron before it linked to me, Annabeth when we were in Tartarus so Riptide was about as light as it was when I was 13, little Julia who was holding a magic tray which was almost certainly connected to the god Terminus in some way, and Zoë who is Riptide, or is Riptide Zoë? Ah, who cares? They're connected to each other.
"Okay, maybe not new, but the first time I've realized it, I'm the only one who's ever held it." That was a lie, but I'm not comfortable with anyone knowing too much about my past yet. It's going to stay that way too, so long as ai can help it.
"Estelle, I have something I should tell you in private." She looked up with some sauce on her face, causing me to smile. But that quickly fell off my face with what I was going to tell her. It was about to be the hardest thing I've ever done, even more so that fighting Keonos or the Gigantes.
She nodded and hopped off her chair, going up the stairs to the room Mama Mia lent to us. I let out a sigh, I really didn't want to do this. But I had to, and I had to let her know that some things shouldn't be said. She would undoubtedly have to lie at some point, something she didn't like doing. I can't blame her. Lying was a betrayal of trust, but I wasn't risking anything. If it came down to Estelle or the people here, of course I would lie to them and have Estelle do so too in order to protect her. That was a no-brainer.
"Mama Mia, I'll be back down. I just have to set a few ground rules with Estelle." She waved me off, and I took that as my okay. Walking up the stairs to the rooms was a trial, each step growing heavier. My heart broke in anticipation of the tears Estelle would no doubt shed. I was going to soften the news I was delivering as much as I could, obviously, but that didn't mean there wasn't going to be any hurt or sadness.
I opened the door and saw her sitting on the bed, swinging her feet with a smile. She looked up and asked me a question, one I was prepared for, but still floored me. "When can we see mom and dad again?" and I knew by the way she frowned that my expression gave away more than I wanted it to. But she needed to know, and I was the only one who could tell her.
I took a deep breath to prepare myself, only that didn't work either. But it made sense, I was always terrible with breaking bad news to Estelle. She was a ball of joy, always smiling and laughing. To cause that joy to falter should have been a crime, it should have been against the ancient laws if you asked me. But it wasn't part of the ancient laws, so there wasn't an excuse I could use to not do so. "That's what I wanted to talk about, Estelle." her frown lifted up slightly.
Gods above, she was making this even harder than it should have been. Unknowingly, too, I released another sigh. 'Rip it off like a bandaid, Percy.' I thought to myself. "We may not see them again for a while, Estelle, but I'm looking for a way. I just need to get us in a good spot in this new place." She frowned again and began tearing up. It broke my heart seeing her like this. It wasn't natural.
"You're going to have to lie about some things, Estelle. I know you don't like to. But it's going to be needed. We moved to Orario so I could get a job as an adventurer, so I could save enough money to help out our old town. Our mom and dad sent you with me, so you would be better off until the town was stable enough you could go back. That's going to be our story guppy. Can you do that? Can you lie about that? Because these people can't know certain things, it would be bad for both of us if they did." She was looking down the entire time, and I was worried she wasn't listening, that I would have to repeat it all, and I didn't think I would be able to do so.
But she looked up, tears streaming down her face as she nodded, and my heart shattered at seeing how scared and sad was, and sad, lost she was. She wanted to see mom and Paul, and she didn't want to lie, especially to these people who were willing to break the rules of their tavern to allow me a place to work for a while. So that me and Estelle wouldn't have to live on the streets. I didn't want to either. They were good people. But some things needed to he done.
"Will you be okay, guppy?" She nodded, but I knew she wouldn't be, at least not for too long.
She looked at me with tears still running down her face as she wiped them away. "I'll be okay, Percy, you need to work. I promise to go to you if I need something." Estelle was a smart girl. So I trusted she would.
I gave a wane smile. "You do that, I'll be up in a while if you're not down there by the end of the second rush." I released what I hoe was the final say for the day. This was going to be tough, but we would make it through.
TIMESKIP: 5 HOURS, 3RD PERSON POV
The Hostess of Fertility was back into full swing again, patrons laughing and drinking. Food was inhaled while someone told a story, and the staff rushed about to keep everyone happy. It went that way for the rest of the day, only a few mishaps that were quickly sorted out.
"Mama Mia, can I have more juice?" Estelle had asked from her place behind the counter with her. She had been led down by Ryuu earlier on and given food and some juice.
Mama Mia had given her a smile. "Of course you can pumpkin, her you go." Then Estelle was given her fifth glass of juice. Almost as big as her head, same as the others. That was gone in record time. Almost as soon as she wrapped her hands around, it was it empty.
She was in a much more cheerful mood than earlier, and Percy wasn't sure why. But given the fact it was Ryuu who had led her down earlier with Estelle smiling and talking her ear off. He assumed it was her doing, and he was, of course, grateful for that, sending her a smile and a nod of gratitude when she caught his eye on her way down. He had asked what she did to cheer her up, but Estelle had just responded with girl talk and a mischievous smile. That made him want to know much less, especially since it made Ryuu lose her stoic expression and give a light smile of her own. He didn't know her for too long, but he didn't think that was a good sign
But if Percy had pressed just a bit more, he would find that it wasn't girl talk at all. He might have even laughed after he learned of what happened, well of what they told that is.
FLASHBACK 1 HOUR: 3RD PERSON POV
Mama Mia had asked Ryuu to take some empty crates upstairs and get new ones with drinks from the storage up there. It was as she was bringing some down for the third time that she heard quite sobs from the room Mama Mia had lent out to Percy and his baby sister Estelle. Ryuu hesitated for a bit before knocking, right as she was about to ask a question, however. The door flew open, startling Ryuu and causing her to trip and spill one of the drinks on her. Estelles eyes widened before she laughed, her eyes brightened up as they closed, tears falling out she was laughing so hard.
It would be hard to blame her. The ever graceful and poised Ryuu Lion tripped and spilled some form of alcoholic beverage on herself. Her own eyes wide and wet bangs hanging over her eyes, Ryuu let out a light chuckle herself before getting up and using her apron to clean the little bit that got on Estelle's face. Ryuu knew enough about her older brother to know he wouldn't appreciate alcohol being near her, let alone in her. But she couldn't blame him, not only did he clearly have bad experiences with it based on how he talked about it with such distaste with the staff. But Estelle was also a child. She shouldn't be around that stuff anyway.
"What was wrong, Estelle?" Ryuu wished she hadn't asked. The expression she made caused her heart to hurt. She now understood how Percy was unable to keep his mask up around his sister, how he was always so genuine when she was around. Someone so innocent could easily break down the most perfect defenses, especially if you wanted to keep them happy.
"I just miss mommy and daddy, but we can't see them yet because our town isn't a good place right now. They sent me with my brother so he could take care of me in a safer place until the town is safe." Ryuu understood now why Percy had talked in private with his sister and why he seemed so downtrodden when he came back down. He had to break the news to her, and doing so clearly hurt him.
Ryuu and Estelle talked for a while as Ryuu cleaned herself up of the drink that was on her. "Do you like horses, Miss Ryuu?"
well, she didn't have anything against them, and they were beautiful creatures. "Yes, I suppose I do. Do you like them?"
Estelle giggled and nodded. "I really like my brother's horse Blackjack. He's fast, strong, and brave! One time, when I was playing outside. some monsters tried to get me while my brother was away, but Blackjack came in and ran them off after making some turn into dust!"
That definitely surprised Ryuu, a horse did that? She had to know. "Do you remember what the monsters looked like, Estelle?"
She nodded, and explained it was five dog like animals, that her brother had said were hellhounds when she explained them to him that was impressive, for a horse to kill two hellhounds and make the other three flee, that was nothing small. Her brother must have been great at training animals.
"My brother has a hellhound of his own! But she's back home too, he said she was given to him by an old friend. Her name is Mrs. O'leary, and she's really friendly and protective and strong too! She fought off a bunch of hellhounds and a minotaur with a big axe and armor one time." If Ryuu thought his horse was impressive, then the hellhound he apparently owned was even more so.
If Ryuu hadn't studied Estelle's face as she was told about them, she might have chalked it up to a child exaggerating a story. Of course, her brother exaggerating details after she undoubtedly explained what happened is a possibility, but based on what she knew of Percy, Ryuu doubted that was the case.
"Everyone always says Percy is handsome. Do you think he is, Miss Ryuu?" That caused Ryuu to pause. Objectively speaking, she couldn't deny that.
"Yes, I would say he is." Estelle giggled, and Ryuu had a feeling the little girl was reading too much into it.
"Come along Estelle, let's get you some food and drink." So they made their way down with Estelle holding one of Ryuu's hands, and Ryuu holding the crate with the other.
END OF FLASHBACK 1ST PERSON POV BELL CRANEL
I was walking down an ally when someone bumped into me, she looked like a brown haired Prum, but I didn't have much time to ponder on that as a guy with dark hair and eyes in a maroon jacket came running and swinging his sword, I didn't get to catch what he was saying. I was too busy getting the Hestia knife out to block his sword.
"You got a problem, this mongrel a friend of yours." He had asked as he went to sheathe his sword
She isn't a friend, but she was in danger, so I responded. "No, I've never met her before." As I held my hands up.
He raised an eyebrow as he asked another question. "Then why are you trying to help her?"
"Uh, well, because she's a girl." was my response as I lowered my hands a bit.
I don't think he liked that response if his own was anything to go by. Unsheathing his sword as he said, "Well, that's a ridiculous reason to die."
"That's enough! Please, crossing swords within city limits. You two aught to be ashamed." looking up I saw an elf girl with green hair pale skin and sky blue eyes, wearing a Hostess of Fertility uniform and carrying a bag full of groceries, her voice was soft but strong, and a little deeper than most girls I had met. Next to her was a tall male. He had black hair with a white streak running through it tan skin, and sea green eyes. He wore what looked like the male equivalent of the uniform the girl wore and carried two more bags, his clothes, and a few toys.
I don't think the guy who was chasing the Prum liked being interrupted if his words were any indication. "And you aughta keep your fat mouth shut! Now beat it before I-"
He was cut off by the elf glaring at him. "Be quiet. We should avoid resorting to violence, I tend to get carried away sometimes."
He seemed to heed her words, but he didn't leave without one last word. "Skank."
The guy next to her clearly didn't like that based on the fact he went to go after him. Luckily, the elf girl stopped him by grabbing his wrist for a second. He obviously didn't agree based on his scoff, but he listened to her obvious request and stayed where he was.
I let out a sigh, "Well, that was pretty awesome. Thank you for saving me." I said as I had put the Hestia knife away.
Her and her companion reached the bottom of the steps as she responded. "I probably shouldn't have interfered."
Ah, I just remembered. I should check if that Prum is okay. "The girl left just after the guy did." He had a bit of an accent. His voice was calm. Steady and smooth. But changing in the way he said certain things, it was both cold and warm. It was unbreaking. It didn't betray his emotions until it suddenly did when he said some rather unpleasant things about the guy from before, in a pleasant tone. If I had to describe his voice in one perfectly encapsulating word. It would be stormy.
I turned around to find she was, in fact, gone. "What, where'd she go?" The guy found that amusing based on how he chuckled.
"Syr would be extremely upset if you got yourself hurt." Ryuu nudged the guy with her elbow as she said that, and he stopped.
"So, your this Bell Cranel Syr was talking about earlier? I have to say I understand what she meant when she said you looked like a rabbit. My name is Percy. Nice to meet you." He had a typical troublemakers smirk when he said that, one that put me at ease. He put his hand out for a hand shake after shifting one of the bags over to his other arm, one which I reciprocated.
He chuckled again. "Be careful, Bell. we wouldn't want poor Syr to be heartbroken if her rabbit went and got hurt." His smirk turned a bit mischievous as he said that, and my face went red.
"Well, goodbye then, Mr. Cranell." Ryuu had started walking off with Percy as she said that, Percy said something which she nodded to.
Before they could get too far. "Thank you so much, Miss Ryuu, Mr. Percy."
"Mhmm, goodnight." Ryuu said at the same time Percy responded with, "Yeah, no problem, but it's just Percy." With a wave over his shoulder.
I heard a last interaction as I watched them walk off. "Thanks again for helping me with this stuff for Estelle Ryuu." She nodded again. "Of course, but must you thank me every thirty seconds?" He laughed, "I'll stop when we get to the Hostess of Fertility."
~~~~~END OF CHAPTER~~~~~
No actual notes for today, other than it seems like there might be a chapter a day or a chaoter every two days, that's subject to change of course, but with the way things are going. It's highly likely.