"Look at him." Dionysus stared out the window, the window blinds slidely askew due to his finger pulling on them. "Acting like he doesn't even know we're watching."
"...I'm fairly sure he doesn't know we're watching, Lord Dionysus," Chiron responded.
"No, he knows." The God of Whine said plainly. "I know it, deep in my bones."
Chiron didn't know what to say to that.
"What's he doing?"
"Something horrible, catastrophic, nefarious."
"Which is?" Chiron blinked.
"He's stepping on my toes, Chiron!" Dionysus threw his hands up.
"Come again?" The Trainer of Heroes was confused.
"Madness is my shtick." Chiron threw his can of Coke across the room. "And now some…some newly ascended god tries to strut into my chicken coop, acting like he's the big cheese!?"
"Mr. D…are you drunk?" Chiron asked carefully.
Dionysus let out a laugh. "Of course I am. Do you think I could survive all the bullshit recently without being drunk?"
"Didn't the King forbid you from drinking?" Chiron took a step back as if he were expecting a stray lightning bolt.
Oddly, he saw Dionysus shoot him the most condescending look. "Chiron. I'm the God of Wine; do you think I can't make myself drunk without drinking wine?" If anything, Dionysus sounded offended to Chiron's ears. "I just never cared to do it because I knew there would be a day. A day that I would need a little pick-me-up. I know Pops would throw a fit, but he's too busy right now, so I thought fuck it."
Chiron was surprised.
Impressed but surprised.
Usually, Dionysus didn't work with that kind of subtlety.
"And what are your thoughts on….him?" Chiron decided not to touch the subject anymore. It was none of his business and if Dionysus broke any rules, it wasn't his place to say anything.
"Pfft, shit is crazy," Dionysus snorted. "Don't know what he did to himself, but I have no doubt that there's something messed up in that kid's head."
Chiron frowned. "What makes you say so?"
"Well, he's currently teaching Poseidon's other brat to, and I quote, 'Ascend to the Heavens, sever the laws of mortality, and achieve immortality with a single swing of your sword.' End quote."
Chiron opened his mouth briefly, then paused. "…are you sure?"
"Fairly sure, yeah."
"Lord D…this is the same person who achieved the unprecedented feat of self-ascension for the first time in…thousands of years. The same person who retrieved the Lightning Bolt and the Golden Apple Tree and even fought Ares."
In Chiron's mind, the Cyclops had to be someone of frightening intelligence.
Sure, he may be a bit…odd.
Many of the strongest or smartest people were eccentric.
Even Athena had her quirks that he learned over the years.
"Chiron, you had a bunch of brats he 'taught' in Camp not long ago before we sent them on their way, or whatever. I wasn't really paying attention to what happened ot them."
Chiron let out a sigh. "They're undergoing schooling to acclimate to this time period."
The children were rescued from the time-locked casino; it was a difficult issue to handle. The gods had argued about how to handle them for a long time before they finally settled on…well, pushing it off until they were educated.
A big nothing response, but still, it was the right move in Chiron's mind.
Especially since he wasn't the one forced to educate them.
He already had enough on his plate.
And, of course, the one responsible for rescuing them was the same person they—Dionysus—were spying on.
"There!" Dionysus suddenly shouted, startling Chiron. "He just called my mother a…a he just called my mother a placeholder for future character development!"
Chiron stayed silent as Dionysus waved his arms around.
"I don't know what that means, Chiron, but by Father's Beard, this can't stand!"
Chiron let out another sigh.
"I don't think—"
"I am not a background NPC!" Dionysus interrupted him, seemingly ignoring the Centaur entirely.
Chiron simply shook his head.
He hadn't seen Dionysus drunk in so long he forgot what it was like. He felt silly for even considering the man's words at this point.
It was safe to assume that anything he said was ignorable.
[Line Break]
"Pimp Bro, you alright? You were staring off for a minute." Percy stopped his sword practice to ask.
Ocean Song blinked and smiled. "Sorry, I was just dealing with something a bit away. Show me your form again."
Percy went through the sword motions that Ocean Song taught him as the Cyclops nodded.
"For a Two-Eyed Cyclops, you have picked it up quickly."
"Thanks, Pimp-Bro!" Percy beamed. "But…uh, not to sound like a downer, but will this actually do anything? It feels more like I'm dancing."
Ocean Song perked up.
He walked over to a tree and snapped off a branch and gave it a few waves.
Without a word, he walked to the edge of the lake and held the sword up; he swung it crisply through the air, and then he followed the same set of sword forms that he taught Percy.
They looked meaningless, even strange from an outside perspective.
But as he finished, and his sword came down again, an invisible weight was carried along with it.
Percy felt like he was standing at the top of a mountain, like it became harder to breath.
Malcolm, who was sitting nearby, consolidating his newfound cultivation, opened his eyes and felt a tremble in his body.
Perhaps even more than Percy, with his now foundation establishment cultivation, he could see the way the branch in Ocean Song's hand moved through the world.
The branch was brought down, and with it, the lake was split in two unto the lakebed.
Both boys saw the lake part all the way to the other side before the water filled back in on itself.
"The Forms may seem silly and nonsensical as well. But they all serve a purpose: to help you feel the flow and to control your Qi. Once you reach small success with the sword forms, you will no longer be beholden to the sword forms and can utilize the sword techniques properly." Ocean Song explained.
He realized that as a prestigious Sword Dao expert, not everyone would have his understanding of the sword.
That, and they didn't have 20 years on a time-locked island to do nothing but swing their swords every day.
And in hindsight, he could understand that perhaps this was a bit extreme and may or may not have had a side effect on his psyche.
Especially since he was a newborn and it was his development years. When he should have been socializing and growing, he experienced intense loneliness and isolation with only thoughts of cultivation to keep him sane.
Yes, it was a sudden and debilitating realization.
Therefore, as a proper cultivator, Ocean Song repressed those thoughts because true cultivation doesn't have emotional growth.
They just get stronger and beat up anyone who contradicts them.
He recalled the train of thought he was having before and continued.
"These sword forms are the beginning of the ocean sword techniques I created. If you master them, then you will be able to learn each technique far easier than if you tried to learn the techniques before."
Like training wheels on a bike.
The moves were about feeling the ebb and flow of the ocean's Qi, churning it and spinning it, controlling it, and focusing your intent and training your control.
"If you say so." Percy scratched his head, not understanding much of what he said.
With a shrug he got back to practice.
Truth be told, it made about as much sense as anything else he learned since coming to camp.
He didn't know why the others were so freaked out by his pimp bro.
Their parents are literally gods.
Greek gods.
In comparison, was it really weird that someone could shoot a dragon out of their sword?
Really, the only thing that would faze him at this point is if he found out that the Gods were actually giant robots or something.
But that would be ridiculous.
Ocean Song pat his brother on the shoulder. "Keep practicing. Once it becomes second nature, then start experimenting; see what you can do. If you hit a wall, I'll come help."
Percy smiled. "Sure, I'll just keep dancing away, and hopefully I can shoot dragons from my sword eventually."
Malcolm snorted but didn't rebuke him.
"Malcolm, consolidate your new realm and get used to your new strength before you spar with someone again," Ocean Song warned.
"Will do." He answered before closing his eyes and going back to meditating.
Ocean Song felt like a very good teacher.
Were his students just that good?
No, it was him that was amazing.
He would have clasped his hands behind his back, posing heroically with his robes billowing, but he had something he wanted to go do.
He gave them instructions, so it was time to disappear mysteriously when they were looking away.
"Hey, what's that over there?" Ocean Song pointed in the opposite direction.
Both of them looked, and he took that chance to escape.
Truly, they would be confused and be bewildered by his sudden departure.
Like Batman.
As he left, Percy and Malcom were sort of confused, alright.
"I think my brother is kinda…special."
"Yeah, what gave you that idea?" Malcolm rolled his eyes. "But he's not wrong, apparently."
With a shrug, Percy was about to go back to swinging his sword, but he saw someone run over.
"There you two are!" Annabeth let out a breath. "I was looking all over for you both. Why are you even over here?"
Percy and Malcolm shared a look.
"Just hanging out," Percy said.
"Nothing." Malcolm spoke at nearly the same time.
"Boys." Annabeth sighed. "There's something weird happening in camp. There's a toilet; it's just…sitting there—"
"That's what toilets do." Percy blinked. "Unless…that's not what they're supposed to do…?"
Annabeth smacked her forehead. "No, I mean, it's in the middle of the courtyard near the cafeteria. And there are words on it saying that whoever lifts it will get all of Ares' power."
"Will it?" Malcolm opened his eyes fully.
"No one can lift it up. You two want to give it a try?" Annabeth asked.
Again the two boys shared a look, then quickly got up and followed her to find the mythical toilet for themselves.
[Line Break]
Ocean Song walked through the camp.
People gave him strange looks, but they seemed much more interested in something else happening.
There was some excitement about something that had them all worked up and running in the opposite direction.
Well, he didn't know what it was, but he had his own goals.
Though, he found himself stopping.
The campfire at the center of camp had one person poking at the embers, making sure it was still going.
Sitting on a wooden log.
She looked up, and Ocean Song met her gaze.
She didn't speak, but she had the disappointedmother look that was powerful enough that even Ocean Song's Dao Heart shuddered.
Yes, Hestia, Goddess of the Heart, was all but saying, I know what you did with her eyes.
It may or may not have something to do with the fact that Hestia was very clear on who actually stole Hera's Divine Apple Tree. Yet, somehow the blame got placed on Ares while the true culprit was currently standing only a few feet from her.
"I'm not apologizing." Ocean Song blurted out after finding his courage to overcome the look.
Hestia let out a long sigh.
That may as well have been verbal permission from the goddess to go.
Ocean Song perked up. "You'remysecondfavoritegoddesshere'sagift." He said it all in one quick breath as he used his fastest speed to escape from the goddess.
Hestia's eye twitched because there was a golden apple now sitting in her lap.
"Second favorite? Hmph." Hestia angrily took a bite of the apple, though it lacked any true irritation. "You're lucky; I was going to smack you upside the head for what you did. I'll forgive you this once."
Ocean Song didn't know how close he came to divine spanking, but he found the object of his quest rather quickly.
It was a fair distance away from the other cabins, but he arrived in front of the new Hecate cabin.
It was closer to the woods, smaller than the others too.
Ocean Song realized it must be an ego thing.
The other gods wouldn't want this near theirs nor be on the same 'level' as them.
Ocean Song understood it.
If another sect dared to set up close to his home, he would have to go style on them and make sure they knew who the top sect in the area was!
Ocean Song ran a hand through his hair, making sure it was tidy. He fixed his collar as well, double-checking to make sure that his clothes weren't unkempt.
The outside of it looked like a gothic mansion almost.
A metal fence around the 'perimeter' and various decorations that seemed like they wouldn't be out of place at Halloween.
It all but screamed witches live here.
He walked up to the front door with a bit of nervousness as he knocked on it.
Someone answered quickly as the door flung open.
"Yeah, what do you want?" A woman answered rather bluntly.
Probably mid to late teens, dark hair, and he noticed she had her mother's eyes.
"I—" Before Ocean Song could answer, a yell came from further inside.
"Mr. Ocean!" A little head barreled past her and ran straight into Ocean Song.
He smiled, hugging the little girl. "Lyra, have you been well?"
The little girl he had escorted home not that long ago.
She squeezed him even tighter. "Mr. Ocean, everyone here is so nice! And I got to learn how to do things! My big sister taught me how to make paper birds fly! Do you want to see some drawings I made? I gave some to Mom, and she liked them."
"Wait, this is that Ocean guy you were talking about!?" The girl at the door had her eyes widened.
Ocean Song realized he hadn't properly introduced himself. "Greetings, this one is Ocean Song. Sect Master of the Sword Heart Sect."
The girl was confused for a moment. "I'm Lou Blackstone, the head counselor for the cabin, or so I'm told. Not used to even having a cabin still." She looked him up and down. "But I guess we got you to thank for that."
"Mr. Ocean, did you bring me a present?" Lyra looked at him. "Momma said you would bring me a present when you came to visit."
"Of course I brought a present." Ocean Song puffed up. As a proper cultivator, he had prepared for this moment long before he even met Lyra. That is to say, he hoarded everything he could get his grubby mitts on and had plenty of things to give. "But first, I brought food!"
He slapped his storage pouch and produced several pizza boxes. "For everyone." He added.
"Everyone, Mom's boyfriend brought pizza!" She hollered, and it was like a fire alarm as everyone came pouring out.
Probably a good dozen kids of varying ages, but none seemed to be older than Lou.
"Boyfriend?!" "Ocean Song," repeated absentmindedly as the pizza was taken from his arms.
"You are Mom's boyfriend, right?" Lou eyed him. "Lyra wouldn't stop talking about you, then someone asked her when she was giving lessons, and she didn't give a straight answer."
Ocean Song paused briefly.
Well, they kissed twice.
And he asked his uncle this same question, or close enough to it.
His uncle called him an idiot and kicked him out of the underworld.
He didn't know if that was a yes or no.
"Maybe?"
Truly, the minds of women were far too complicated even for a proper cultivator to understand.
"Well, you're not ugly at least." She gave him another up and down look.
Ocean Song preened under the praise.
Being complimented by the daughter of the woman he admires was a great feeling!
"Didn't Lyra say he was a Cyclops? Ask him why he has two eyes." One of the children called out, a boy in the back.
"Don't say that," Lou hissed. "It sounds racist."
"I was born a Cyclops." Ocean Song wasn't offended and answered.
It was important to bond with Hecate's children; thus, it wouldn't be proper to lie.
"How old is he?"
"Is he a god?"
"No way, never heard of a god with his name before."
Lou let out a sigh. "Guys, don't pester him with all your questions, for real. Mom's going to get annoyed and give you that look during the next lessons."
Most of them gave half-hearted apologizes or just rolled their eyes as children do.
Ocean Song, though, continued to smile good-naturedly. "I don't mind."
"Are you a god?" One girl, named Elaine, asked.
"What did I just say?" Lou snapped at her.
"I truly don't mind." He reassured her. Though he appreciated her sentiment, though perhaps it was protectiveness towards her half-siblings because many gods were capricious. "I am not a god; I am a Cultivator!"
"What's –"
"How old are you?" Someone interrupted her.
"Chris, that's rude." Lou was like a broken record, but having to wrangle so many kids at her age, it was hard for her.
Though Ocean Song just continued to smile, showing no anger or annoyance at the pestering.
"I was born earlier this year." He said happily.
The room went silent.
The kids all stared at him.
"God dammit, Mom." Lou let out a sigh, facepalming. "You literally robbed the cradle?"
For some reason, Ocean Song felt death was breathing on his neck.
He turned around to see that it was, in fact, not Death.
Perhaps it would have been kinder, because it was Hecate.
He had a small inkling that she was mad at him about something.
[Line Break]
A/N
Ocean Song finally meets the Hecate children.
It goes about as well as expected.
If you want to read 1 chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
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