SEN
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"New clothes?" Tyson questioned as he looked at the two blue backpacks Sen had to buy from the store. Tyson's clothes were so large they didn't all fit in one, and they didn't have XL backpacks.
"Yeah, buddy." Sen smiled as she led him on. "Clean clothes. You've got a bunch of nice new stuff in there. Once a week, we take them to get cleaned by the naiads."
"Naiads?"
"Water spirits." Sen explained. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Percy sitting on her hammock, eating leftover cookies.
Tyson instantly got excited. "Percy is my new brother?" He giggled.
Sen nodded. "Yes..." She took one look at Percy's vacant expression and urged Tyson on. "But, this is all a bit of a shock to him. Let's give him some space."
Tyson frowned. "Percy... does not want to be my brother?"
"No, no, no!" Sen shot down. "Don't ever say that, Tyson. Percy's just very surprised. He thought he was the only son of Poseidon, you see. Everyone did."
Tyson seemed to accept this. "I will make Percy glad to be my brother."
Sen didn't know how well that would work out. "Look! We're here! Come on, Tyson." She led the Cyclops inside, already savoring the smell of the sea breeze. It was still empty inside. Percy hadn't even fully moved in yet.
Still, Sen knew where his bunk was. She had forgotten to make up the sheets after she slept in it. "This one is Percy's, so you have to choose a different one."
Tyson chose the bunk right next to it.
He sat on it, smiling. "Soft."
Sen nodded. "Yes, the bunks here are very nice. Do you like it in here?"
"Smell nice."
"Good!" Sen grinned. "Do you have everything you need? Toothbrush, soap, clothes..."
Tyson dug through his bags. "Yes, Sen."
"You know when to use those things, right?"
Tyson nodded. "Shower every morning. Change after. Brush teeth after. Brush teeth before bed."
Sen grinned. "Awesome. And remember, I'm just down in Cabin 11, on the porch. You can stop by if you ever need me, but you have to be careful about the harpies."
"Where going?" Tyson frowned as Sen started to leave.
"I have to get ready for bed." Sen explained. "After dark, campers have to be in their own cabins. You'll be okay, right?"
Tyson nodded. "Have Percy."
Sen turned away. "Good. Sleep good, Tyson!"
As she walked down the courtyard, several people started snickering and giving her sideways looks. Even people Sen used to consider friends were whispering, pointing, dropping their voices, and avoiding eye contact.
Sen saw Percy just leaving the Hermes cabin. He was petting Rafael, who'd somehow found him.
"He's gotten big." Percy remarked. "You didn't mention that in your letters. You didn't mention a lot in your letters."
"Neither did you." Sen replied, her arms crossed over her chest.
She stared at Percy. He was a little bit taller than before- taller than her, still shorter than Annabeth. His shoulders were starting to broaden, his voice was starting to drop. His nose looked longer and sharper, he looked thinner, but like he was developing a bit of muscle tone. But his cheeks were still full, his skin was smooth, his hair was silky and wispy, and lips were thicker. His two front teeth weren't completely straight, and he was starting to have little red pimples sprout up. He was in that in between stage of life- in between adulthood and childhood.
"You look nice." Percy mumbled.
"You're avoiding the elephant in the room." Sen said as people started filing into the Hermes cabin, all giving Sen and Percy funny looks. Percy eyed someone behind her, and Sen turned, seeing Travis standing awkwardly with some drachma in his hands.
"Just came to pay you back for that ice cream the other day." He said to Sen. Sen accepted it and Travis quickly ran inside.
Percy stared at Sen. "He seems distant."
"Probably because he's not my boyfriend anymore."
Percy looked like he'd been shot and then given a pile of gold. "What? You didn't tell me this."
Sen sighed and sat next to Percy on the patio, trying to keep her voice down. She was about to talk, but everybody in the Hermes cabin loved eavesdropping, so she took Percy on a walk instead.
"We broke up in October." Sen shrugged. "I've dated a few people since then."
Percy whistled. "Why... did you break up?"
Sen paused. She wondered if she should tell Percy what really happened. Percy was weird already. Should she really get into it?
One look at Percy told her she should. He was her best friend, after all.
She turned to Percy. "We were on the beach, and... he told me he loved me."
Percy frowned. "That's good, right? People love being told they're loved."
Sen shuffled awkwardly. "Not always, Percy. The problem is... well, I didn't say it back."
Percy shrugged, his face turning red. "Well, maybe you just weren't ready. My mom says that happens sometimes."
"You don't understand." Sen sighed. "I knew you wouldn't. Percy, the problem isn't exactly that I didn't say it back. Easily, I could have. Lying is exceedingly simple."
Percy stared.
"But... Travis knew I would never say it back. That I would never mean it." Sen said softly, looking down at her shoes. "He knows I'll never love him, so he broke up with me and we decided we'll just be better as friends."
Percy was fixing his hair, his shirt, his face, everything. He was bright red and moving like some sort of jitterbug. "I don't understand. Why don't you love him?"
"I'm surprised you have so many questions." Sen rolled her eyes. "Percy, you can't exactly control these things. Nobody can... except the gods, of course. They always say you can't control who you fall in love with, but there's a second side to that. One they don't always talk about. You can't control who you don't fall in love with."
The sun was setting. Sen didn't have much longer.
"I wanted to love Travis. I did." Sen groaned. "He's a really great person, he treats me right. He's still my friend and accepts it without hesitation even though I think he might still have some feelings for me. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. He's just not my person. And I dated some other people, but that didn't work out, either, and there's only so many people at camp during the year. I didn't mention it in my letters because- well, if my first relationship made you act like a lunatic, I didn't know how seven more would fare."
"Se-sev-seven?" Percy gulped.
"See? This is why I didn't mention it." Sen pointed out. "You're really weird about it.
"Pssshhh- whaaaaa? I'm not weird." Percy shrugged, taking a step back. "I-I just- y'know, you're fourteen. Love isn't everything."
"It's important." Sen shrugged. "To me, at least. I think it's important to find out what I like or don't like. What kind of person I want. But it was a little hard, since I can't really ask anyone for advice. Silena has liked one boy her whole life, Annabeth knows as much about love as a squirrel, and you're weird."
"I'm not weird!" Percy repeated.
"So, if I walked up to Travis right now and kissed him and asked him back out, you wouldn't be weird."
Silence.
"I'm a little weird."
Sen snickered. "Uh-huh. We need to go to bed, Perce. And Tyson's in Cabin 3 right now. I expect you to be nice to him."
Percy nodded. Sen walked up and gave him a warm hug, laying her head on his shoulder. It was weirder, somehow. Maybe since he was a little taller.
"Bonum noctis." Sen smiled.
"Bonum noctis."
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Sen was awoken by Annabeth sitting on her.
"Ugh." Sen groaned as she lifted up her pink sleeping mask. She raised an eyebrow at Annabeth, who was dressed like she was ready to train for six hours- a tank top, olive shorts, and good shoes, with her blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. Her arms were crossed as she looked at the girl she was sitting on.
"Get up."
Sen looked around. Hardly anyone was even moving. The sun still looked oddly young. "Dude, what time is it?"
"No matter. I wanna train."
The only people really up were the Apollo kids, since they rise at dawn every day. "Go train with them." Sen grumbled, nodding at Cabin 7 as she brought her blankets closer up to her neck. "Leave me alone."
"That's no way to treat a friend after nine months without visiting."
"Come back around brunch." Sen said as she brought her sleeping mask back down.
Rather than leave, Annabeth proceeded to lay down right on top of Sen. "Now what're you gonna do?"
Sen moved the covers over Annabeth. "Cuddle with ya."
And that was the story of how Sen and Annabeth passed out in the hammock, and Percy Jackson discovered them.
"What the hell."
Sen lifted her sleeping mask. Annabeth was glaring at Percy as she laid her head on Sen's chest, which was funny, seeing as Annabeth was nine inches taller. Sen raised an eyebrow at Percy.
"Jealous?" Annabeth prompted.
Percy's face turned pink, but he played it off. "Not in the slightest. I don't like to be anywhere near you."
"That's because you're allergic to IQs over 75."
"Can we not?" Sen groaned. "Percy, what time is it?"
"A little past ten."
"Cool." Sen suddenly gasped and shot wide awake. "Oh my gods! I never got to make you guys a treat!" She bolted out of the hammock with such force, it did a 180 and Annabeth flopped to the floor with a yelp.
Percy said, "Yep. I'm real jealous."
Annabeth cursed at him in Ancient Greek.
"Sen!" Percy called as Sen started running through the camp in red pants and a white sweater. "Sen, where are you going?"
"BE RIGHT BACK!" Sen cried out as she burst into Cabin 10. Several people started screaming, since they were in the middle of preparing for the day. "Silena, what did you do with that book?"
Silena walked up with a towel around her head and another around her body. She smelled like fresh roses. "It's right under my bed. Finally gonna make something?"
"I gotta! I forgot to!" Sen yelped as she bolted through the cabin. She stole the giant book and ran towards the community kitchen- one the Demeter kids had built, since the main one was underground and filled with harpies. "MOVE! I GOT SHIT TO DO!"
The people moved.
After flipping through the book for about ten minutes, Sen finally landed on a recipe she liked. She quickly gathered all of the fresh produce from some nymphs and found the other stuff in storage, and set to work, wildly determined to get this done.
By the time she was done, it was shortly before lunch time. After carefully wrapping everything in a little box, she began walking back to her Cabin.
Percy was still on the porch, looking a little pouty. Annabeth was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Annabeth?" Sen asked. "Oh, and Tyson? I made some for him, too."
"Annabeth went to go train."
"And Tyson?"
Percy frowned. "He's probably still at the lake. He wanted to go see the naiads."
Sen nodded. She didn't like that Percy was leaving Tyson all alone, but Percy was only thirteen. He couldn't be expected to act very mature about all of this. "Wanna help me go find them?"
"'Kay. What's in the box?"
"You all gotta open it together."
"Boring."
They found Annabeth at the archery station. She was decent at it, but nothing like other campers. In the long run, she wouldn't be requested to use one in a war, but if need be, she'd do just fine.
"Oh, hey." Annabeth waved as she let an arrow fly. "What's up?"
"Sen made us something." Percy said, standing next to the shorter girl. Sen grinned happily, now wearing pale purple tights, black slip-ons, and a floral dress with pink flowers on it.
"Okay. I'll be there in a second."
"Just meet us at the lake." Sen waved off.
At the lake, Tyson was sitting on some rocks, playing with a toad.
"Hi, Tyson!" Sen grinned. Tyson beamed when he looked up at her.
"Hi, Sen!" He held up the toad, which sat calmly in his palm. "Frog."
"Actually, that's a toad." Sen explained as she sat next to him. "It's warty and drier than a frog, and it's legs are short, see?" She said, pointing to different parts of its body.
"Oh." He held up the toad. "Toad."
"Yes."
Annabeth walked over a few minutes later. Her face instantly soured upon seeing Tyson. Percy whispered something to her- Sen didn't hear since she was explaining how tides work to Tyson- and Annabeth just crossed her arms.
Sen handed the box to Percy. "Okay, open it! Tyson, it's for you, too."
Tyson peered inside. "For me?"
Annabeth and Percy's face softened. Inside was a simple fruit tart separated into thirds; one had blueberries, blackberries, and blue filling. The second had lemon filling, kiwis, papayas, and blood oranges. The third had raspberries, strawberries, and plums with a mango filling.
"I did the citrus stuff for Annabeth." Sen explained, pointing to the second wedge. "She always seemed to really like that stuff. Percy, it's obvious which one yours is. Tyson, I made this one for you since it's sweeter and I think you might like that a little more."
"Sen..." Percy breathed.
"Oh, almost forgot." From her pocket, Sen pulled out three forks.
"Okay, eat up!"
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i dont wanna hear shit about "sen being a whore" yall, she is fourteen and just wants to find love. everybody felt like that some time in middle school, let's not lie.
oh, and sen is canonically pansexual, and the nymph Poppy was a girlfriend of hers