𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 - p.jackson

𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.

i had a dreamless sleep.  usually demigods dream of many things, but as a child of aphrodite, i rarely got these terrifying nightmares.  

i woke up around sunrise, and noticed grover sitting with a furry pink poodle.

"uh, grover? why do you have a poodle?" i asked.

"riley, meet gladiola. gladiola meet riley." he said. "this is our ticket west."

"hey," i said to the poodle.

annabeth had woken up, and had the same conversation with grover. grover began explaining the plan, and annabeth cooked breakfast. the poodle sat in my lap, and i rubbed his ears. he purred in content.

"doesn't riley still have her credit card?" annabeth asked.

"oh yeah," i exclaimed, reaching in my pocket to get it. "my credit car...." i trailed off.  sometime during the quest, probably the bus explosion, the card melted. only a fourth of it remained. all you could read was 'to stk' from the name and the first two numbers.

"well, there goes that idea," i said. i patted the poodle, "sorry buddy,"

"hey, riles. you know i didn't mean to make you feel bad, right?" grover asked after a few moments.

"about what?" i asked.

"last night. there's nothing you can do," he explained.

"i know, i just—" i took a deep breath, "when i become ceo, i'm going to stop selling weapons," i decided.

"wait, seriously. you can't do that. stark industries is a weapons company. if you don't sell weapons, what are you going to sell?" he asked.

"i don't know. but i don't want to ruin the environment anymore. if by stark industries not selling weapons anymore, the quest for you to find pan becomes easier, it's a risk i'm willing to take." i said.

"wake percy up, willya?" annabeth asked me, cutting mine and grover's conversation short.

"sure," i got up and placed the poodle in grover's lap.

i tapped percy, "wake up,"

he woke up trembling. i decided not to question it. 

"so sleeping beauty awakens," i said.

"how long was i asleep?" he asked.

i sat back down. "long enough for annie to cook breakfast. oh, and grover went exploring. he found a friend."

the poodle yapped at him suspiciously. grover said, "no, he's not."

percy blinked. "are you... talking to that thing?"

the poodle growled. i picked up gladiola, and pet him. he nestled closer to me.

"this thing," grover warned percy, "is our ticket west. be nice to him."

"you can talk to animals?"

grover ignored the question. "percy, meet gladiola. gladiola, percy."

percy looked at me waiting for me to react. i stared right back at him, with a deadly serious expression.

"i'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," percy said. "forget it."

"percy," i said to him. "i said hello to the poodle. annabeth said hello to the poodle. you say hello to the poodle."

the poodle growled.