𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

the evils of history

JASPER ELIANO
AT LEAST THEY DIDN'T END UP ON ANOTHER CRUISE SHIP.

The jump from Portugal had landed them in the middle of the Atlantic, where Reyna spent half her time tending to Jasper's bloody wounds and the other half of her time shooing kids off the Athena Parthenos, which they seemed to think was a waterslide.

Jasper hadn't half minded it. While Nico dozed, he got to chill out and stare out at the open sea, and in especially good moments, he would feel Reyna's cool hands pressing against the hot pain in his skin.

He wasn't sure he'd ever wanted to kiss anyone as badly as he had her in those moments. And he knew he wasn't alone; he hadn't missed the way her eyes had brushed his lips.

He still wanted to kiss her.

Unfortunately, their next jump landed them about ten feet in the air, hovering over a restaurant courtyard. Himself, Nico, and Reyna dropped onto a large birdcage, which promptly broke, dumping them into a cluster of potted ferns along with three very alarmed parrots. The Athena Parthenos landed on her feet with a THUMP, flattening a patio table and flipping a dark green umbrella, which settled onto the Nike statue in Athena's hand, so the goddess of wisdom looked like she was holding a tropical drink.

Honestly, Jasper vibed with it.

He scanned the bar, hastily got to his feet, brushed himself up, and stumbled over. "Man," he said. "I've missed this." He grabbed a soda gun and pointed it directly down his throat.

"Jasper―" Reyna started.

Too late. An explosion of soda hammered against his teeth. He grinned as it dripped down his chin, looking back at Reyna and Nico. "I already love this place."

Then he collapsed against the bar.

Nico seemed to agree, because he dragged himself out of the ferns and then promptly followed Jasper's example by collapsing into a nearby chair and waving off a blue parrot that was trying to land on his head. After the fight with Lycaon, Nico had discarded his shredded aviator jacket. His black skull-pattern t-shirt wasn't in much better shape. 

And Jasper's clothes? Man, he didn't even want to look at himself. If anyone had gone through the shredder, it was him. He had abandoned his shirt on the cruise ship, but his jeans were stiff with blood and ragged at the top.

He needed a new outfit pretty badly. He would probably be more worried about it if his entire upper body didn't burn like fucking acid.

Stupid werewolves.

"I've gotta sleep," Nico murmured dazedly, looking around. "Are we safe?"

Reyna scanned the courtyard, looking more and more tense with every dart of her eyes. Finally, she said, "This is Barrachina."

"Tropical and charming," Jasper said. "Just like me." He tried to heft himself up onto the bar but ended up falling down the counter and nearly scraping open his wounds all over again.

"You okay?" Reyna called over worriedly.

Jasper thrusted a thumbs-up into the air. More carefully this time, he managed to stand and snatched a jar of maraschino cherries. He sniffed them, a grin slowly forming on his face. "Oh, I love these. They make me sick." He fished one out and dropped it into his mouth, staining his fingers red. "Nico, you want one?"