The Beach | Afternoon | Friday | September 3

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

He'd made it through a week of classes. It was sad that Percy was half amazed at that. The only other place he'd manage to stick around longer than a day was Camp Half Blood and that didn't really count.

Percy wasn't going to celebrate or anything stupid like that but he had gotten Mrs. O'Leary out of the stables and was now watching her run up and down the beach, digging her feet into the sand and occasionally crashing into the water when she caught sight of a bird. She never actually caught sight of the bird but she did manage to get soaking wet which in turn got Percy soaking wet.

Or, well, it would have gotten Percy soaking wet if water affected him that way. Since it didn't, he stayed dry. That was such a handy talent to possess. The local sea animals were in his head again, talking excitedly about the son of Poseidon being so close, asking for his help and just generally treating him with reverance.

That was still...so weird. Percy tried to talk back, to assure them he'd do what he could but things were different and he couldn't make scenes. Instead, he started making waves just for something to do. He'd make them bigger and bigger until they were too big and he sent them crashing down.

Mrs. O'Leary yelped happily and ran into the surf. Percy felt almost relaxed.

[Open, sure sure. Remember, if you're mortal, you're only going to see Mrs. O'Leary as a standard poodle. If you're not all the way mortal, you can see the hellhound. And there's no outward sign that Percy's making the waves either!]

Comments

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke tended to spend most of his time outdoors, since being inside tended to make him a bit antsy and claustrophobic. He thought he had walked most of the island a few times now, and had flown over it more than once, so he knew the place well. Now he tended to use his powers to quickly get from spot to spot, cutting down the time it took him to get to his favorite places.

So if it seemed like Luke came out of thin air it was because, well, he had. "Hey, cousin."

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

Despite knowing that Luke had that particular power, he was still startled enough to nearly trip over his own two feet. He didn't though, just barely, so he was saved from a face plant into the sand.

Percy glared at Luke even if he was annoyed at himself for being caught off guard.

"Hey, cousin," he replied, glancing to see where Mrs. O'Leary was. Still happily in the water, trying to tackle waves. "You look like you're having fun."

Percy was just not going to call attention to the fact that he'd been surprised.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Well I am now," Luke said with a grin. "Didn't mean to scare you."

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"You didn't," Percy lied, making a face and letting the waves subside to normal since he wasn't concentrating anymore. "I just thought I was alone."

And that was a different way of saying he'd been startled. Great. "You like to pop out of thin air and catch everyone off guard or is that just for me?"

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"I honestly didn't think anybody would be here," he said, looking out towards the ocean. "But I suppose you'll be spending a lot of time out here, huh?"

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Probably," Percy said honestly, shrugging and concentrating on getting some bigger waves going again while he talked to Luke. "Either here or the pool but the pool's not natural."

Chlorine sucked.

"You hang out here a lot?"

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke shrugged slightly, mostly focused on watching the ocean. "Often enough, I guess. I don't like to stay in one place for too long and there's only so many places to go on this island."

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Claustrophobic?" He knew that feeling. And he'd started feeling it in the small, enclosed dorm room already. "Or just restless? I thought you said this island was weird. Telling me you miss monster attacks?"

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"It's a bit of both, I think, and then some. Dad's genetics probably keep me from wanting to settle down," he explained. "God of travelers and everything."

Travelers, tricksters, thieves...he had a lot going for him, all right. At least he had athletics going for him.

"And this island is weird. Just not all the time," he said, though he had had the feeling Percy would have to experience the weirdness for himself before understanding. "I've been missing monster attacks for the past year and a half, this town is the first place that will give me something to do."

[dontvotemeout]

After dealing with obnoxious teachers and potentially poisonous ice cream, Jason needed to clear his head. Going for a run had seemed like a good idea, until he got to the beach and saw who else was there. For a moment, Jason was tempted to turn around, but then he realized how stupid that would be, and kept going. "Jackson," he said noncommittally as he approached. "Is that your dog?"

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

It was amazing how quickly Percy could go from relaxed to glaring but it happened. He glared over at the face stealer and thought about not answering.

"Does it look like there's anyone else here who she could belong to?" That was...sort of a yes. "Yeah, she's mine."

That was better.

[dontvotemeout]

"I was gonna give you some credit and say you didn't look like the poodle-owning type," Jason said. "What's her name?"

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

Oh, if Jason only knew. And if he'd wondered about Jason being completely mortal before, he wasn't now. Percy felt a little smug about that.

"Mrs. O'Leary," he said grudgingly. "I didn't name her before you start mocking the name. I inherited from my old swordsman trainer."

[dontvotemeout]

"Is there a Mr. O'Leary then? And is that the same trainer who forgot to tell you not to draw your sword on an innocent person?" Jason asked. It would make sense - only someone crazy would give a dog such a weird name.

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"What innocent person?" Percy asked, ignoring the first part of the question. "What the heck are you talking about, Jason?"

He'd drawn his sword on Luke and Luke was far from innocent in Percy's experience.

[dontvotemeout]

Yeah, well, that was because Percy was an idiot and blinded by hormones. "Luke said you tried to attack him. You should know that if you ever seriously try to hurt him, you'll have to deal with me too. He's a really good guy."

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"You don't know what you're talking about," Percy snapped heatedly. "You might know what Luke told you but it's not that easy. And I'd be happy to deal with you, Jason."

It couldn't be that hard. Jason was a face stealer but he was a mortal.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

A hellhound playing in the water. Nico had seen everything. And really, today was the day to see things, as he'd spent it exploring the island, partly in hopes that he'd find a hidden McDonald's express or something, shh.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to spy Percy...and others hanging around. Nico would just stay far off from the actual water and watch things.

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Mrs. O'Leary spotted Nico before Percy did and started bounding for the other boy. She knew two whole people on the island and both of them were here now.

She was a little wet so Nico would have to forgive that. When Percy spotted the hellhound running off somewhere, he turned, ready to stop her when he realized Nico was there.

He probably couldn't have stopped her if he'd tried.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Nico was bowled over before he could get out of the way. Ass in the sand, he couldn't do much to help Mrs. O'Leary covering him in...wet. Slober, saltwater, Nico found no difference there.

He'd say hi when she let him have his face back.

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"It's like she has a radar for you," Percy said, walking over and stopping a few away from the son of Hades and the hellhound. "I'd offer to help you get dry -- "

That sounded less...weird in his head.

" -- but this is kind of amusing."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Using Mrs. O'Leary to help get back to his feet, Nico frowned at Percy for not helping. "She smells the dead on me. It's more common than you'd think."

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"I've never had a hellhound as a pet before," Percy said, shrugging and giving Mrs. O'Leary a light smile. "Considering Quintus tamed her, she's not really the most typical hellhound."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"The radar, I meant," Nico said, patting the hellhound and appreciating her affection. "There's nothing typical about Mrs. O'Leary, though she and Cerebus enjoy playtime."

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, if I hadn't seen that myself, I wouldn't think Cerebus had an ounce of fun in her," Percy admitted with a light laugh. "I didn't think you liked the beach, Nico. Turning over a new leaf?"