Thinking Out Loud - Clarisse La Rue

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓷

"I know we're supposed to be saving the world, but would it be unprofessional if we just hung out here for a bit?" Percy asked.

They listened to the music coming out of the casino and noticed the lights, games, bars, and dancing. It seemed like a pretty cool place. "Honestly," Alana mused. "It seems like a vibe in there."

Annabeth turned to the two like they were crazy. "We find Hermes, we get him to hook us up with a ride to Los Angeles and a plan to get into the Underworld, and we are out of here ten seconds later."

"I was kidding," Percy quickly said.

"I wasn't," Alana muttered.

"Wait, hang on," Grover stopped Percy and Alana from stepping forward.

"What?" The blonde asked.

"Your mom told you all the stories. Did she read you the Odyssey?" The satyr asked.

"The graphic novel." He admitted. Annabeth gave him a look, which he noticed. "It counts."

"Odysseus lands on a beach. There's these guys who've forgotten where they came from, forgot everything that was important to them, and they got that way because they ate..." Grover ranted.

"The lotus flowers." Percy finished.

The older boy nodded. "If we go in there and then forget everything, that would be bad on a number of levels."

Percy understood, but if they didn't go in it would he just as bad. "But if Hermes is in there, though, then what choice do we have?"

"Yeah we kinda need to talk to Hermes," Alana added.

They stayed silent for less than a second before the son of Poseidon turned to Annabeth. "What do you think, Wise Girl?"

Alana immediately noticed the nickname. Now he has a nickname for her?

"Just don't eat anything," she answered, glancing at Grover.

He noticed. "Wait, why were you looking at me when you said that?" They walked inside and were immediately overwhelmed at the sight of everything. "This place is a lot bigger than it looked on the outside." Grover mentioned. "He could be anywhere!"

"Let's split up," Alana said. It made sense to her. Cover more ground. Even if they traveled in pairs they would cover a lot more than just one group.

Percy looked at her quickly. "I thought we didn't do that anymore. Also, you guys have seen him before, but I haven't. So I'm not gonna be much help alone."

Annabeth nodded. "Gover, Go check that side of the floor. Allie, go over there. I'll take Percy this way. One way or the other, we meet back in the lobby in 20 minutes."

"What do I say to him if I find him first?" The satyr asked.

"Nothing." The daughter of Athena answered. "Meet me here and you'll take me to him. Allie... we can talk to him together if you find him."

"Yeah. Of course," Grover responded.

"Ok, makes sense. No matter what we meet back here, okay?" The huntress clarified. They all nodded and split off.

Alana walked around and looked at everything. There was a lot of cool stuff here. Were there a lot of places in the normal world like this? Did people experience these things all the time? Actually, what would it be like to have a normal childhood? Not have to train your whole life, not fear for everything, go to school, have freedom, any of that. It must be so cool.

Where would Hermes even be? He's the god of travelers, he could be literally anywhere. What if he wasn't even in here on the specific day and time they were here? What if they never found him and got hungry then lost their memories? Ok, Alana, that's crazy. Calm down and-

She bumped into someone and fell over, interrupting her train of thought. "I'm so sorry!" The archer apologized.

The girl she bumped into offered her a hand to stand up. "Don't worry about it," she answered sweetly. Alana got a good look at her. The girl was about her height and age, maybe a year or two older. She had wavy blonde hair, freckles, and hazel eyes. "You're really pretty," she complimented, looking Alana up and down.

The daughter of Artemis felt her cheeks heat up. "Oh! Thank you. So are you!"

"Thank you, I'm Betty, by the way."

Alana relaxed slightly and smiled at the other girl. "Betty, that's cute. My name's Alana."

"Say, you wanna come play some games with me? If you're not doing anything, that is," the blonde offered.

The green eyed girl smiled and nodded. "Wait, I..." she trained off, unsure of what she was going to say. "I had something I was... um... I... don't... know..." Alana looked over to the other girl who cocked her head in confusion. "Sure, I can't think of anything I was doing, so it must not be important."

Betty grinned and grabbed the brunette's hand. "Great! C'mon!" The girls giggled all the way through the crowds until they stopped at some arcade looking games. They played a few happily until sitting on a bench together. "Do you want something to eat?" Betty asked.

Alana immediately shook her head. "No, I'm not supposed to."

"Why?"

"I..." the huntress trailed off, unsure how to answer the question. Soon enough the teens were leaning closer to each other, Alana watching the other girl's lips the whole time. Soon enough their lips connected and moved in sync. Betty brought her hands to the demigod's hair. Alana brought her left leg up onto the older girl's leg and they stayed wrapped in each other for 2 minutes, or so it felt like.

The daughter of Artemis let out a breathy laugh and pulled away. "Lana, you taste so good," Betty purred, connecting their lips again.

"Oh Risse."

The blonde pulled back and looked at Alana. "Who's Risse? You got a girlfriend?"

Alana looked at her confused. She didn't know why she said that... Risse sounds familiar though.... Maybe she was her girlfriend! "Um, yeah! Maybe!"

"Sorry hun, I don't do the taken chicks thing," Betty admitted, kissing Alana's forehead then moving away. "We can definitely still play ga-"

"Alana! We need to find Grover and get out of here!" Annabeth yelled, as Percy grabbed her arm and stood her up.

"Oh! Ok!" Alana had no idea who these people were, but they knew her name so maybe she knew them! "Bye Betty!" She yelled as they pulled her away. "Gover. Gov-er. What's a gover?" The archer questioned. "It sounds like grower. Grower. Like a tree! You have a friend who's a tree?!"

Percy shook his head. "No, but you have a friend who's a tree."

"Percy!"

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A/N: see it wasn't that bad, I just figured you would be mad abt Alana kissing someone.

I just like messing with you guys 😭