Percy raised a brow as he saw Ariadnê and Apollôn stroll through the kingdom. They had gotten abruptly close out of nowhere. Percy hadn't been able to believe his ears when he had heard his sister's twinkling laugh echo around the square only to turn to see her giggling at something Apollôn had said.
He knew that the others were confused also, but Ariadnê waved away their concerns. They were building a friendship around their shared love of Hermês. He moved closer to the duo watching as Ariadnê was handed a treat and Apollôn summoned his own food since gods could not consume mortal food.
(Which should have really been obvious to them from the beginning since they did eat in Castellan, though Katie and the cooks did use ingredients brought directly from Aunt Hestia who blessed their materials so that the food was always made to be consumed by the divine-born.)
The war was winding down; they were able to enjoy themselves more.
And sure, their lives were a bit more endangered from the gods that they were pissing off on a daily basis with their interference, but they were having too much fun to care. Percy had helped Katie and Nico just the other day build a jungle gym for the kids to play on with a full playground not too far away.
(He was sure that he saw Chris go at one of the swings with a makeshift chainsaw after Travis and Katie spent some time there during what was supposed to be their nightly patrol with something that Ariadnê made for Katie and way too many vine straps. On another note, Travis hadn't been able to walk the next morning.)
He watched as the two climbed atop of the wall, looking out to the people still fighting in the war. One of Katie's babies was cheerfully marching through the masses, tossing people up and around as if it were juggling.
Thalia was running a women's self-defense class with Annabeth's help that leaned more towards the fact that if the men wanted a woman, then he needed to work for it with some class and not thinking he could just take it.
(Ariadnê delivered one of the guards–Alas something—to them with an actual bow on top of his head as the first volunteer. Percy had never seen a man with that many holes in him.)
Percy climbed up after them, nodding his head when they turned to look at him. He turned back to the battlefield, not blinking when he saw Connor dragging a cackling Katie by her collar before depositing her in her boyfriend's arms.
His attention was grabbed though when he saw his sister metamorphosis a brush into her hand as she did her hair. The god raised a brow in interest before turning to let her do his own.
Ariadnê squealed, clapping her hands before gently taking the brush to his hair. Percy was a little confused because he knew from her hate-rants once upon a time, that the god rarely even let the Kharites touch his hair. Yet there she was carefully braiding the hair, weaving larkspur and laurel flowers into it alongside swan and raven feathers.
He blinked as he paid attention to the words that they were exchanging.
"But mi'lord, if Lêthê has the capability to wipe the minds of all that touch it, would it not be better to have the enemies of Olympos drink from its banks so that they may be more malleable and start anew?"
Percy winced because the conversation reminded him very much of Bob.
Apollôn shook his head lightly from within her grasp, voice chiding as he said: "You know better, Ariadnê. While that is a choice to do, is it not monstrous of us to strip away their freewill and recreate them in our image?"
"But would that be so bad," she mused. The god, however, sounded almost amused as he answered her as if her more immoral and violent tendencies were mere jokes. "Tis a conversation that dwells heavily within the argument of nature versus nurture. We gods may be better than the Titanes before us as every god after the Kronides have been raised in their image and glory. Yet if you were to strip us of our minds and remake us in your image... our divine natures still hold on to certain things. We are the celestial dust of the beginning and the end; bound tightly together by divinity that flows through us. Our true selves could vanquish mortals from the land above to reside with Haidês, lord of the dead men. I am Phoibos Apollôn. I am the heavenly light of Olympos. As I stand alongside the lordly sun-god Hêlios Hyperionides, my light covers the world and brings about both healings and plagues. You can strip me of all that makes me Apollôn Latôios and tell me that I am a Titan, but it will not change the part of my essence that knows that I stand as Apollôn Intonsus."
