{oo9. 12(ish) drabbles written for the Mt. Olympus challenge.}
And when I say "ish" I mean, five of them are drabbles, three of them are stories that combine two or more prompts to get a super fic.
All of them are untitled because eh.
Sometimes, Percy lies awake at night, listening to the water in the fountain, and he looks up at the moon. He likes to think that Artemis sweeps away the clouds and lets him hold on to the vision. The moon always makes him think of Thalia. He misses her, sometimes. Not in a romantic way or anything. He misses her like he misses his mother’s blue waffles. He misses the familiarity of having someone around who could always make him smile and laugh. But he keeps that hidden inside and thinks of her and the big wide moon.
So there Percy is, minding his own business, just walking along, thinking about Annabeth and her big grey eyes when- BAM.
It feels like his spleen wants to make best friends with his lungs and maybe get a little frisky. His rib cage doesn’t want that friendship to happen and creaks. His heart feels like it’s somewhere near his eyeballs. “BROTHER!” Percy flails his arms, trying to get out from the loving-hug-of-absolute-doom and he hears Annabeth’s peals of laughter coming from somewhere close by as his bones keep creaking and it’s all he can do to splutter “TYSON. TOO MUCH.”
It’s rare that any modern artwork can make Chiron laugh the way he used to when Achilles would fall over his feet on a long march and Patroclus and Briseis would trip over themselves to take care of him. He once laughed, briefly, when his cousins at a (very large) family reunion discovered glitter. But sometimes, when he is alone and his heart feels weary, he likes to take the reel down from dusty shelves, turn on the projector and watch “Who’s On First?” Hermes’ sons were really a master of comedy and Chiron treasured their times together, laughing, indeed.
For thousands of years, the fire had slowly been dying, and Hestia had found herself growing colder as civilization and its many evolutions wore on. Few prayed to the gods anymore, even less to her. Few even knew of her, for she never had an epic adventures or warriors praying for her guidance. It was only when Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, (her personal champion) handed her Pandora’s Box and told her to keep his weakness safe that, for one, small moment, Hestia allowed herself to hope for the best. And, in that moment, oh, how the fire roared.
The thing about Thalia is that you never know where you stand around her. Percy learned this the hard way. The first time he met her, this came as a shock. Who falls out of trees after being in them for six years? But she was back up on her feet after a week and playing a game of capture the flag a week later, a game in which she soundly kicked Percy’s ass. Annabeth was so shocked to have her old friend and mentor back that it was all she could do to keep from gushing about her every moment she and Percy were alone together which, yeah, irked him a little bit. But the first time Percy and Thalia truly hung out together, he realized he actually liked her. Yeah, Annabeth once told him that Thalia and he would either be best friends or want to kill each other and he found this to be very true. Anyone who can laugh at silly potty humor while sitting with him and sharpening their swords had to be his best friend.
That still didn’t stop him from hating her, just a little, whenever she would take Annabeth away from him.
Thalia had never really felt like she was a part of a family. Once her mother abandoned Jason and had become increasingly crazier, she felt more and more disillusioned and detached from the idea of “family”. People said having a family was great, that having siblings was annoying as hell but really, underneath that, they wouldn’t trade anything in the world to be without their siblings. Well, Thalia missed her brother. She doubted she would ever see him again. And her mother? Forget it. She would trade the world to be away from her.
Which is why, weirdly enough, when she and Luke found each other, she was actually really happy. He was like the younger brother she could have had, a younger brother who looked up to her and felt just as wronged, just as lost as she did. They decided to stick together, to train out in the battlefield themselves, to try and make themselves better. Every day they swore vengeance against the fathers that abandoned them, every day they swore to each other that they would set the world right.
But when they found Annabeth, it felt different. It felt like they were an actual family. Sure, they were on the run. Sure, monsters were chasing them and they could never stop, not for a single moment. But together, they were safe.
Once, when they had nestled deep into a safe house and were catching their breath and patching themselves up after a particularly nasty fight with a Hellhound, Thalia looked at Luke. He had Annabeth tucked under one his shoulders, and was telling her a lively story while he cleaned a deep cut in her knee. Annabeth was so fascinated that she didn’t even notice pain, didn’t care that she’d be limping for days after this. She felt safe with him, completely believing Luke would always protect her. And wasn’t that, Thalia wondered, what fathers were meant to do?
It was on nights like that that Thalia swore she would never leave Luke or Annabeth; never let them become lost or abandoned. They had all ready been abandoned enough in their lives. Regardless of what happened, or who they met, they would stick together. When Luke eventually woke up and took over watch, she squeezed his hand before she nestled into a sleeping bag, her head resting against a tree with Annabeth asleep on her lap.
The next morning, they were found by Grover.
Sally Jackson cried when she felt her water broke. Her feet were aching, she couldn’t see over her stomach and she couldn’t even stand without someone helping her. Poseidon was by her side for every moment, trying to amuse her with tales of thousands of years spent under the sea and of finally having his game room completed, but it didn’t work. She was scaring herself with each racking sob and huge gasp for air. Generally, Sally wasn’t much of a crier (she only cried sometimes, and then it was during depressing movies and, of course, Gone with the Wind), but the hormones were doing terrible things to her body and making everything painful- especially breathing. But that wasn’t why she was crying. The pain didn’t bother her. (She didn’t even know what the first few contractions were- they just felt like gas.)
No. What Sally was crying over was the fact that, when her child was finally going to be in her arms and she would finally be able to see down to her toes again, this was the beginning of the end of her relationship with Poseidon. It was obvious to her that they could never marry, that they could never be together after this day. There was just too much in the world that he needed to focus on. She knew he wasn’t really all there when they were together. Today was the beginning of the end.
When she finally gave birth and her son was in her arms, Poseidon sitting beside her in an uncomfortable chair looking utterly exhausted, Sally felt herself smiling. Yes, this was the end of her relationship with Poseidon (a relationship, she knew even then that she would never really get over) but, really, this was so much more.
This was the beginning of her life with Percy.
I never told Percy why I married Gabe. He didn’t need to know. He’s still too young to understand why we live the life I set out for us. It may not be fair to either of us, but he cannot- he will not- know why I keep Gabe around.
Gabe is a mockery of a father, the kind of terrible step-father that only exists in movies. Before I met him, I didn’t even know that men this terrible could exist.
Two days ago he told Percy and I that there was no such thing as blue food, that there was no need for it. We’ll see about that.
Word count (so far): 1,420.
All of them are untitled because eh.
Sometimes, Percy lies awake at night, listening to the water in the fountain, and he looks up at the moon. He likes to think that Artemis sweeps away the clouds and lets him hold on to the vision. The moon always makes him think of Thalia. He misses her, sometimes. Not in a romantic way or anything. He misses her like he misses his mother’s blue waffles. He misses the familiarity of having someone around who could always make him smile and laugh. But he keeps that hidden inside and thinks of her and the big wide moon.
So there Percy is, minding his own business, just walking along, thinking about Annabeth and her big grey eyes when- BAM.
It feels like his spleen wants to make best friends with his lungs and maybe get a little frisky. His rib cage doesn’t want that friendship to happen and creaks. His heart feels like it’s somewhere near his eyeballs. “BROTHER!” Percy flails his arms, trying to get out from the loving-hug-of-absolute-doom and he hears Annabeth’s peals of laughter coming from somewhere close by as his bones keep creaking and it’s all he can do to splutter “TYSON. TOO MUCH.”
It’s rare that any modern artwork can make Chiron laugh the way he used to when Achilles would fall over his feet on a long march and Patroclus and Briseis would trip over themselves to take care of him. He once laughed, briefly, when his cousins at a (very large) family reunion discovered glitter. But sometimes, when he is alone and his heart feels weary, he likes to take the reel down from dusty shelves, turn on the projector and watch “Who’s On First?” Hermes’ sons were really a master of comedy and Chiron treasured their times together, laughing, indeed.
For thousands of years, the fire had slowly been dying, and Hestia had found herself growing colder as civilization and its many evolutions wore on. Few prayed to the gods anymore, even less to her. Few even knew of her, for she never had an epic adventures or warriors praying for her guidance. It was only when Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, (her personal champion) handed her Pandora’s Box and told her to keep his weakness safe that, for one, small moment, Hestia allowed herself to hope for the best. And, in that moment, oh, how the fire roared.
The thing about Thalia is that you never know where you stand around her. Percy learned this the hard way. The first time he met her, this came as a shock. Who falls out of trees after being in them for six years? But she was back up on her feet after a week and playing a game of capture the flag a week later, a game in which she soundly kicked Percy’s ass. Annabeth was so shocked to have her old friend and mentor back that it was all she could do to keep from gushing about her every moment she and Percy were alone together which, yeah, irked him a little bit. But the first time Percy and Thalia truly hung out together, he realized he actually liked her. Yeah, Annabeth once told him that Thalia and he would either be best friends or want to kill each other and he found this to be very true. Anyone who can laugh at silly potty humor while sitting with him and sharpening their swords had to be his best friend.
That still didn’t stop him from hating her, just a little, whenever she would take Annabeth away from him.
Thalia had never really felt like she was a part of a family. Once her mother abandoned Jason and had become increasingly crazier, she felt more and more disillusioned and detached from the idea of “family”. People said having a family was great, that having siblings was annoying as hell but really, underneath that, they wouldn’t trade anything in the world to be without their siblings. Well, Thalia missed her brother. She doubted she would ever see him again. And her mother? Forget it. She would trade the world to be away from her.
Which is why, weirdly enough, when she and Luke found each other, she was actually really happy. He was like the younger brother she could have had, a younger brother who looked up to her and felt just as wronged, just as lost as she did. They decided to stick together, to train out in the battlefield themselves, to try and make themselves better. Every day they swore vengeance against the fathers that abandoned them, every day they swore to each other that they would set the world right.
But when they found Annabeth, it felt different. It felt like they were an actual family. Sure, they were on the run. Sure, monsters were chasing them and they could never stop, not for a single moment. But together, they were safe.
Once, when they had nestled deep into a safe house and were catching their breath and patching themselves up after a particularly nasty fight with a Hellhound, Thalia looked at Luke. He had Annabeth tucked under one his shoulders, and was telling her a lively story while he cleaned a deep cut in her knee. Annabeth was so fascinated that she didn’t even notice pain, didn’t care that she’d be limping for days after this. She felt safe with him, completely believing Luke would always protect her. And wasn’t that, Thalia wondered, what fathers were meant to do?
It was on nights like that that Thalia swore she would never leave Luke or Annabeth; never let them become lost or abandoned. They had all ready been abandoned enough in their lives. Regardless of what happened, or who they met, they would stick together. When Luke eventually woke up and took over watch, she squeezed his hand before she nestled into a sleeping bag, her head resting against a tree with Annabeth asleep on her lap.
The next morning, they were found by Grover.
Sally Jackson cried when she felt her water broke. Her feet were aching, she couldn’t see over her stomach and she couldn’t even stand without someone helping her. Poseidon was by her side for every moment, trying to amuse her with tales of thousands of years spent under the sea and of finally having his game room completed, but it didn’t work. She was scaring herself with each racking sob and huge gasp for air. Generally, Sally wasn’t much of a crier (she only cried sometimes, and then it was during depressing movies and, of course, Gone with the Wind), but the hormones were doing terrible things to her body and making everything painful- especially breathing. But that wasn’t why she was crying. The pain didn’t bother her. (She didn’t even know what the first few contractions were- they just felt like gas.)
No. What Sally was crying over was the fact that, when her child was finally going to be in her arms and she would finally be able to see down to her toes again, this was the beginning of the end of her relationship with Poseidon. It was obvious to her that they could never marry, that they could never be together after this day. There was just too much in the world that he needed to focus on. She knew he wasn’t really all there when they were together. Today was the beginning of the end.
When she finally gave birth and her son was in her arms, Poseidon sitting beside her in an uncomfortable chair looking utterly exhausted, Sally felt herself smiling. Yes, this was the end of her relationship with Poseidon (a relationship, she knew even then that she would never really get over) but, really, this was so much more.
This was the beginning of her life with Percy.
I never told Percy why I married Gabe. He didn’t need to know. He’s still too young to understand why we live the life I set out for us. It may not be fair to either of us, but he cannot- he will not- know why I keep Gabe around.
Gabe is a mockery of a father, the kind of terrible step-father that only exists in movies. Before I met him, I didn’t even know that men this terrible could exist.
Two days ago he told Percy and I that there was no such thing as blue food, that there was no need for it. We’ll see about that.
Word count (so far): 1,420.