In his dream, the warm salty breeze caressed Percy's face with such intensity that for a second, he truly believed himself to be there, sailing the crystalline seas on a pristine cruising multihull, the type only eccentric millionaires could afford – which alone gave away the absurdity of Percy owning one of his own. The beautiful sailboat cut through the ocean with the ease of a sharp blade, its sails propelled forward by the breeze that kept ruffling Percy's hair. The sun warmed his skin pleasantly, the sound of seagulls and waves were music to his ears. If Elysium was anything like this, he'd make sure to die a tragically heroic death in the future.
He was so lost in his thoughts and in the sheer pleasure of the experience that he completely failed to register the presence that suddenly appeared on deck next to him. When he opened his eyes, he jumped in fright and almost fell into the ocean.
"Dad!" he yelled at the man who stood by his side, perched so precariously over the bow railing he reminded Percy of that scene in Titanic.
Lord Poseidon's hair was longer than Percy had ever seen, tied on a bun at the base of his neck, his moustache and beard looking like they hadn't been trimmed for weeks. He wore a bright Hawaiian shirt with a pattern of palm trees, knee-length Bermuda shorts and flip flops.
"Ahoy, son," said Poseidon, his eyes closed as he took a deep breath. "Nice day for sailing."
"What – what are you doing here? Oh, no... don't tell me, you didn't–" The ship began rocking as waves suddenly crashed against the hull, the sea which had appeared so calm a second ago, started to churn as if sensing his agitation.
"Relax, Percy, I am merely dropping in to see you, it's nice to be me, for once," his voice was gruff, as if he'd spent the last few hours screaming.
"Is this a dream, or are you really here?" Percy asked.
"For all I know, I'm the one dreaming, and you are a figment of my imagination."
Percy chuckled. "I didn't know gods even had imagination."
Poseidon inhaled with such force the multihull went leeward for a second. "We sure do, how else could I have created horses?"
Percy shrugged indifferently. He wasn't in a rush to find out which way the conversation would be heading, as this was the nicest dream he'd had in months. They stood in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the sun and the breeze, until Percy couldn't take the suspense any longer.
"What are you really doing here, dad?"
"Does a father need an excuse to visit his son?" asked the god of the seas.
"Dad..."
Just as Percy added a tinge of threat to his enunciation, Poseidon phased right in front of his eyes, as if he had been a hologram all along and the connection was bad. For a second Percy caught a glimpse of a different version of his father, close to what he had resembled during the war with Kronos – his hair and beard grown past his shoulders, both streaked with white which gave him the appearance of an ancient, yet powerfully built old man, with bags under his eyes and the ruthless expression that had become a staple of Neptune during the glory years of Ancient Rome.
It lasted only a second, and then, the younger fisherman version of the god of the seas returned to his post by the multihull's deck railing. He shook his head as if shaking away a relentless fly.
"Sorry, what was I saying?" asked the younger, sunbaked version of Poseidon.
"Whoah, just like Athena," said Percy in surprise.
