LUCKILY, PERCY WAS in a pretty deep sleep. He had woken up a few times, Chiron had reported, but he hadn't once been up long enough to make sense of his surroundings.
The delay of the two girls' plans to ask Percy about the Master Bolt gave Loralai a day or two to settle into camp. They, for once, were the only ones at camp that knew about the fight between Poseidon and Zeus.
Loralai was still trying to figure out why exactly Chiron told Annabeth. He had tried to call in Loralai and say the same after what happened to Percy. She told him that Annabeth had already told her and that was the end of that. Chiron made them swear that they wouldn't tell anyone else about it until a quest was assigned, they had reluctantly agreed.
It was a hot, sunny day, as are most days at Camp due to the Gods being kind, or too busy to switch it up. However, a few times a day Loralai would get a glimpse at the sea, observing the thrashing waves. The sea near Camp Half-blood was usually calm, something was stirring it.
Lightning flashed a few times throughout the day, also. When she had brought up the subject in the Combat Arena, most of the campers training said that they thought there was a storm outside of camp. Loralai knew better.
Cicadas chirped in the brunette's ears as she wiped the sweat off her brow and made her way to the armory. Loralai had promised that she would help Oliver and Caliz Chung, a daughter of Hephaestus, organize the armory. Or... try to.
It was no secret that the large metal shed contained all sorts of weapons, most of them just being tossed in any old place.
Every camper eventually got their own. Oliver had a gold guitar that he used to put a siren-like spell on his opponent, it was also strong enough to bash someone's head in if required. Caliz Chung had a small workbox where she stored her survival kit; it could also fold out and become a (although rusty) sword.
The irritating thing about being undetermined is that you don't just not know your heritage, you also have no idea what your skills are. Loralai, for the moment, had a plain old sword. The handle was leather, but the blade was celestial bronze, with amber jewels trailing down the center. The girl had only picked it out because she liked how it looked; the unexpected bonus was that it had a good balance for her. She didn't like having such a boring weapon, but it'd have to do until she got claimed.
When Loralai stepped into the shed, the first thing she noticed was how the air conditioning (if there even was any) was definitely not on. The hot metal walls combined with one of the hottest days of the Summer turned the armory into a furnace.
Metal clanking rang out, Oliver and Caliz had already started. Caliz's dyed dark red hair flicked around as Loralai knocked softly on the already open entrance. When Caliz spotted her, she smiled with her brown eyes and said breathlessly, "Finally, Annabeth said that you would be too busy feeding Percy pudding to help us!"
Oliver laughed, his dark blue eyes had that teasing twinkle in them. Loralai poked out her tongue mockingly. "Just tell me where to start," she eventually pronounced, "I'll get a heat stroke if we don't finish this fast."
Caliz pointed to a shelf and Loralai walked over, beginning to pull stray weapons off the shelf, placing them aside. Oliver gave her the brief rundown: Swords on the left hangers (if they had a strap, if they didn't they went in the long velvet boxes), knives in the short velvet boxes and bows on the right hangers. They would leave the labeling to the Athena kids. The three truly had no idea what any of these things were.
Loralai placed a sword on a hanger. "Gods, this place needs all the help it can get," Caliz exclaimed as she moved onto a new shelf, just as untidy and disorganized as the previous one. "Us Hephaestus kids gotta stick together," she commented quietly, shooting Loralai a playful grin. Oliver glared at Caliz and Loralai tilted her head. "I'm still undetermined, Cal," she reminded the older girl, "I have been for, like, five years." Caliz just waved her off. "Yeah, yeah."
"Well, I think she's Big Three material," Oliver sang out, grabbing a lone cardboard box and placing it on the floor with a clunk. Loralai got down onto the ground to help him go through it, smiling slightly at his words. "Thanks, Oli," she acknowledged doubtingly, "but I'm really not."
Oliver and Caliz theorized who Loralai's godly parent was almost every time the three were together. They even had a bet going: whoever guessed right, got everything they wanted at the Camp Store free (the other person paid) for a year. Light-heartedness made Loralai feel better about her situation, although sometimes she wondered if the bet would ever be concluded.
Reaching forward, Oliver grabbed Loralai's cheek and pinched it. "Come on, look at this dead face, Cal, doesn't she look like a Hades kid?" Loralai brushed his hand away, scoffing. "Dead face?" she challenged jokingly, raising her brows and grabbing a knife from the box. Oliver's eyes widened with fear as he jumped up. "I'll show you a dead face !"
-
THE DUNES SOFTLY recycled sand, littering new piles everywhere. Loralai tucked her knees to her chest, watching the piles fall and get built up again and again. The wind blew across her face, adding some relief to the beaming sun's heat. Softly brushing her long brown hair to the side, she watched as the breeze made ripples in her orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. She took in a deep breath, tasting the salty air.
Behind her, she heard the wish-washing of someone walking on the sand. Noticing the footstep pattern, she smiled to herself, turning slightly. "It's peaceful today," Annabeth said, announcing her presence. She sat next to Loralai with a content look on her face and crossed legs.
Loralai nodded, then remarked, "The sea isn't." Following Loralai's eyes, Annabeth looked onwards towards the beach, the stray curly strands from her ponytail slightly disrupting her view. The waves were roaring, lapping onto the beach like it was trying its hardest to grasp the boiling sand and drag it into its pool of frigidness.
"This will probably earn me a lightning strike, but, Gods are so dramatic," Annabeth professed after a long silence, snickering. Loralai cautiously laughed along with her. "Yeah, and my dad will probably kill me, whoever he is, but he's sooo lazy," Loralai added, "you have a whole child, dude!" The two girls laughed together for a while.
Their laughter abruptly stopped when their words did, in fact, earn them a lightning strike. "Sorry, Zeus," Annabeth whispered weakly. "My fault, dad," Loralai muttered. Even though you deserve it, she thought.
There was a moment of peace where the two just sat there. They would have probably sat there for hours, if Grover hadn't called them back to the big house. Quickly running over, the girls had assumed it was something urgent.
Grover just handed them a bowl of pudding. Loralai stared at him blankly in disbelief. "Are you serious?" Annabeth whispered, walking inside with the bowl, Loralai following behind with the spoon. When they reached Percy's place in the infirmary, they understood why Grover didn't want to go near him.
First of all, his clothes hadn't changed and he had fought a minotaur. Why would that be a problem? Because Percy smelt like a wet dog. Second of all, Percy was a drooler... his entire pillow was practically soaked.
"Oh, that's messed up," Loralai declared with horror, hesitantly taking a spoonful from the bowl Annabeth was holding and stuffing it in his mouth. The brunette smirked as she scraped the drips off of his chin. Annabeth repressed a laugh when another plop of drool fell out of the boy's mouth. "I'll go get a towel," she offered.
Loralai watched her leave, glancing back only to see Percy's green eyes open. She jumped in fear at the sudden action. "Stop doing that," she whispered. Percy groaned incoherently. A sudden jolt of realization hit her. Percy had been asleep, asleep meant dreams.
"Percy, who will go on the quest?" Loralai quizzed him. Percy managed to croak, "What?" Loralai looked around carefully, afraid someone would overhear her next words, which were, admittedly, very unclear. "Did you steal it? If you didn't, who did? We've only got a few weeks until the summer solstice!"
Someone knocked on the door and Loralai quickly stuffed his mouth with pudding.
-
(a/n)
- who do you think loralai's godly parent is?
- do you guys like caliz and oliver? i want to say here because it might not be specified in my future writing, but caliz is 14 (2 years older than loralai), and oliver is 1 year older than loralai (13).
- ik guys filler agaaiinn. but im doing a double update today bc i FINALLY GOT MY UPDATING SCHEDULEEE figured out ok so:
wednesdays and thursday only 1 update.
mondays, tuesdays, and fridays up to 2 updates (depends on homework)
weekends 2-3 updates (each day). this may vary a LOT because i still have school and stuff but i will try my best.
- ok i noticed that i had a few accidental messes up BUT I FIXED THEM: annabeth asks percy what was stolen (meaning chiron didn't tell her) in the book but in this fanfic she knows. i think there was more but only small things, they will be changed to make sense dwbi.
REMEMBER TO VOTE, ADD TO UR READING LISTS AND LIBARIES (for updates)! you r all very much appreciated !
-eustelia
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