The fluidity of the sea and its people (Khr X Pjo)

chapter 9

"What would you propose?"

Sally had no idea what she was going to say.

Tsuyoshi was clearly a man not to be messed with. It also didn't help that he was currently exerting a faintly threatening presence.

And even without looking her unique ability, Sally could tell Tsuyoshi was holding back.

She desperately wanted to fidget with her sleeve, but she needed to put up a calm collected presence.

Sally was pretty sure Tsuyoshi knew that she was panicking on the inside, but that was no excuse for her to start breaking down.

(Tsuyoshi did in fact have a hunch that Sally was making up about half of what she was about to say)

"Well," Sally began, her voice pitched low, hoping the baby, Takeshi, wouldn't wake up. Sally ran across her brain, hoping the correct words would come to her.

If they are, they aren't coming fast enough, Sally thought irritably.

She pushed down the urge to scratch the itch on her neck, "as you may kno-"

"Mommy," a young voice interrupted.

Sally looked down to see Percy walking over towards her.

Percy grasped his mother's arm, giving Tsuyoshi a passing glance before focusing his attention back onto Sally.

"Taak-shi," Percy said slowly, fumbling with the foreign syllables, "is now my brother, so can we stay with him?"

Percy ended off his sentence with a determined grin.

Sally eyes slightly widened. She had known her son had gotten along with Tsuyoshi's son quite well, even to the point of adoration. But Sally had no idea Percy would want to declare his ideas out loud, especially in front of a stranger.

Another part of Sally however, was beaming at the fact Percy was coming out of his shell more quickly than not. 

She had feared because of Gabe's influence on Percy's early life, her son would remain skittish around people other than Sally herself.

Clearly Sally had underestimated both a demigod's, and Percy's own strength of will.

Still, Sally needed to respond to her son.

"I'm glad you and Take-shi are getting along so well."

A quick look at Tsuyoshi showed he looked rather amused at Percy's claims.

Sally continued, "but babies need a lot of time to sleep. And we wouldn't want to disturb little Take-shi's sleep."

Percy looked slightly dejected before once again brightening up.

And Sally recognized the look on her son's face. It was the same look Sally was told she had, when she had an idea.

Sally remised fondly on Percy's own infancy, remembering how cute and adorable he was.

She also however, remembered the flip side; the sleepless nights, and how her eye-bags in the morning seemed to have doubled.

In a nutshell, Sally was perfectly aware how fussy a baby could be.

And as a fellow parent, Sally felt she should at least have the courtesy to make an attempt to allow Tsuyoshi some decent sleep.

The man's eye bags were rivaling her own, and that wasn't to be taken lightly.

Mostly considering the causes of her problems were Greek Gods wanting to probably murder her son, monsters also harboring the desire to kill her son, the fact Percy's only source of camouflage against said monsters is currently rotting in prison.