PJO/HoO Around the Campfire

Would You Rather Do It (pt. V)

March 22, 2021

Piper sat back down against the wall next to Jason who, after waiting for her to sit comfortably, pulled her in for a kiss.

"Katie, darling, since you did such a job helping me I have to ask you next." Piper smiled at her, but it came off as more happy than conspiratory, and blew her kiss. "Would you rather eat a concoction of condiments that Travis and Connor can steal from the kitchen or sit on Travis' lap for the rest of the game?"

"Is Travis still wet though?" Katie asked, weighing her options.

"I'm not sure, but you aren't allowed to use a towel if you choose that option."

Katie turned to Travis, "have you dried off yet?"

"I'm not telling you until you choose one of the options." Travis smirked at her.

Katie sighed, still weighing her options. "Fine, I'll choose the first option."

"Good, because I have completely dried off. Connor, let's go." Travis jumped up, grabbed Connor, and they both ran out the door.

"Why am I dating him again?" Katie sighed and sat down, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"They have their moments," Leo muttered under his breath.

Piper's gaze stayed on Leo for a few moments more than he was comfortable with and he felt compelled to fill the silence. "So... How's Camp Jupiter?"

"We're doing alright here, there are a few... uh, situations in the town, but we have it under control." Reyna said this as if it weighed on her, not only because she had to deal with it, but also because she cared.

"We had to have some of Apollo's kids, and some of the medics, make a presentation on why Covid was a bigger risk than some of them thought." Frank said, looking just as tired as Reyna but with a little hope still left in his tone.

"I never thought it would come to that. But we're all fine, and that's being dealt with. And... we're here to have fun, not dwell on our problems," Hazel said, obviously trying to cheer everyone up but her tone made it clear that she wasn't all that cheerful herself.

"Hazel's right," Percy said. "We are here to have fun, so..." He jumped up, startling Annabeth, and started moving in a weird way in front of his bed..

"Percy? What are you doing?" Annabeth sounded mildly concerned for his sanity.

"Charades of course, just until the Stolls come back with their Stoll-en goods." He grinned wide and kept doing his motion. He had his hands pressed into a prayer position in front of him and he was weaving them back and forth through the air in front of him.

Will strained his back to get a better look at Percy, which made Nico move and he grumbled at Will before giving up and just sitting in his lap saying, "you made me do this" and "don't blame me, this is your fault". But it was obvious both of them were happy about it.

Nico had finished painting his nails with that terrible orange colour Percy had and was waiting for them to dry, he looked at Percy with mild interest, mostly focused on not smudging his nails.

"Swimming?" Hazel called out.

Percy shook his head and changed what motion he was doing. This time he climbed back onto his bed, where Annabeth still sat, and he put his arms above his head in a divers position, then  he jumped off, trying his best to point his head downward.

"Diving?" Leo called out at the same time Jason said "jumping off the bed with your arms above your head like an idiot" but everyone could tell he was joking by his wide smile and the little jump of his tone.

Percy stared blankly at him before sitting on the ground and doing something even weirder, maybe just out of spite. He sat with his legs out in front of him, his ankles connected and his feet turned out in first potion, if this were ballet, then he started moving his feet up and down, bending his knees and trying to make that same weaving motion he had done with his hands.

Frank stared for a moment and then said, "mermaid?"

Percy groaned out of frustration and sat thinking about what he could do next to convey what he was thinking.

Annabeth looked quizzically at him, that wasn't a face she liked to see him make, but she came to a realization., The guesses had been: swimming, diving, jumping off the bed with your arms above your head like an idiot, and mermaid, so of course she guessed, "Dolphin!"

A grin so wide it almost touched his ears spread over Percy's face and he turned to her pointing and shouting, "Yes! Yes, that's it!" Everyone burst out laughing at how serious those two were taking this game but it did help them take their minds off their worries, and they were all grateful for that.

"Annabeth, you go next. Here, I'll whisper what your thing is into your ear."

Annabeth obliged and stood up from the bed as Percy walked over to her. He leaned down the slightest bit to reach her ear and whispered, "Aphrodite," so that only she could hear him.

Annabeth thought for a moment, she didn't want to do anything to offend the goddess, how was she going to act this out?

She decided on a wau and walked the length of the cabin, she made sure that she was still in view of the fountain in the corner of the room.

As she walked she tried to exaggerate the sway of her hips, the floating motion of her hands, the straight-as-a-board posture, and the hair flip motions that all the beautiful women on television had perfected.

Percy knew he couldn't make guesses, or at least not serious ones, but he tried to suppress his ever growing grin at just how smart and beautiful his girlfriend was.

"Movie star?" Will asked.

"Royalty." Leo called out.

"Lion." Percy threw in, helpfully.

"Regal." Reyna said.

Annabeth threw her hands down and thought about a different way of doing this, she had to be more precise.

Annabeth walked to Piper and pointed at her, then she moved her hands as if cradling a baby.

"Piper's pregnant?" Leo asked.

"No! She must mean something else. Annabeth, sweety," her tone was sweet, almost as if she was using charmspeak but then it abruptly changed, "that's not working, try something else."

Annabeth waved her arms in a 'wings flapping' motion, she didn't actually expect anyone to get it from this but even putting the idea of a dove into their minds might help.

As she had expected, nobody made any guesses, but she changed her tactic and tried again. This time she made a heart shape with her hands, motioned it between her and Percy and then stood on the bed and looked down at them. She hoped this would convey the immortality aspect of a goddess.

Percy smiled and said, "I love you, my guess is battle axe."

Annabeth sighed at him, ignored his false guess, and decided it was worth it to break the rules of the game to tell Percy she loved him too.

"Aww," most, if not all, their friends said in unison.

Piper smiled at them and said, as if she knew she was right, "my mother, aphrodite, the goddess of love."

Annabeth smiled at Piper and started nodding but she was pulled down by her feet and landed on top of Percy, who had pulled her to him for a kiss.

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