Not-So-Triumphant Return (Action)

[againstallodds]

[Most people (newbies excepted) would probably recognize the teenager that walks straight out of the ocean on the afternoon of the 19th, just as casually as if he were walking down the street in Anytown USA. If the fact that he's choosing to swim fully-clothed in October in New York doesn't give away who he is, the fact that he isn't soaking wet probably does.]

[He needs to meet with Chiron, but the first place Percy goes is actually the Poseidon cabin, closer to the ocean and his home-away-from-home, so he can drop off the small pack he's carrying - but less than ten seconds after he walks through the door, he tears back out it again and back down to the ocean.]

When were you gonna tell me I had a sister?!

[Yup, he's totally screaming at the ocean. This would have been nice to know, okay Dad?]

Comments

[againstallodds]

Wait a minute, you're not human? [Because she looks entirely human. This is weird, okay?]

Then what are you?

[creepyfreezone]

An automaton, a daughter of Hephaestus.

*Look, if anyone in the camp shouldn't be weirded out by a lifelike automaton, it's you Percy.*

[againstallodds]

[Actually, that thought does not give him comfort. The first automaton he met killed one of his friends, although it wasn't exactly human-looking and was a few hundred feet tall. The second one he met was entirely human-looking but started out betraying them and leaving camp to let them all die before having a last-minute change of heart. Not exactly a beaming track record, there.]

Did... you used to be alive for real, then? And put your soul in a new body?

[creepyfreezone]

I am alive and real. But if you're asking if I was human, no I don't think so.

Hephaestus made me, but was told I would be needed later. So I was put to sleep until my brother Leo woke me up.

[againstallodds]

[Not like Quintus then. And if Hephaestus made her... well, he's not that fond of the guy, but he's one of the gods Percy does have more than a grudging respect for. Helps that he's one of the gods that never personally pissed him off. And Leo woke her up? Okay. He'll trust Leo unless he's given reason not to.]

"Needed later?" Any idea what that means?

[creepyfreezone]

I didn't hear much of Hephaestus's conversation with Apollo. Sorry.

*She seems really sincere about that apology too, like it's her fault she can't understand a conversation she barely heard which had very little substance and was a long time ago.*

[againstallodds]

It's nothing bad, it'd just be nice to know what that means. [Because when gods start talking that way about something, that usually means trouble for the human world sooner or later.] So Leo found you, huh?

[creepyfreezone]

I didn't know it was about me until Hephaestus took me to the workshop I would sleep in.

*Sky nods.* He did! Forty-One days ago. Since then I've been living in Cabin 9.

[againstallodds]

You just gonna stay there then? Everyone there know you're a- a robot?

[creepyfreezone]

Automaton. And... they're my siblings, isn't that where I should stay?

*The only complaints about her in Cabin 9 have been from the various automatons Leo has built not liking Sky around. Her siblings have been nothing but accepting of her.*

[againstallodds]

Sorry, automaton. [You should know better than that Percy.] I guess that makes sense, as long as people treat you right. [She's a little like Naomi in a way - so very, very innocent.]

[creepyfreezone]

*Sky is about the youngest camper there, so the innocence can't be too much of a surprise.*

Most people don't really understand how I work, except my siblings. Who are a lot more patient when I ask a lot of questions about things I don't know.

[againstallodds]

[Well no, but also automaton - you never know how much they've been programmed with.]

That makes sense; they're your siblings, after all. That reminds me, I need to ask Leo if he can come fix something in the cabin. You're talking to Chiron too, right? He can explain pretty much anything the other Hephaestus kids can't.

[creepyfreezone]

What needs fixing?

I've asked Chiron things too, but usually I ask things as they come up. I can't just drop everything to ask Chiron in that case.

[againstallodds]

There's a fountain in our cabin that I cut in half a couple of years ago and I never got around to getting Tyson or Beckendorf to fix it. Now that we've gotta stay here I should get that fixed so we can send IMs. [You know, without the entire camp listening in.]

Maybe not, but he can explain the big things. He's been around for a really long time, so he knows it all like the rest of us don't.

[creepyfreezone]

Who are they, Tyson and Beckendorf? *She was learning everyone in camp, she'd never heard those names.*

Anyway, I can look at it if you want. I've never fixed a fountain before, but if Leo can do it I can probably do it. It might not look exactly like it used to, but it'll work for iris messages.

Until then, do you want my prism?