𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒆 - pjo x hp [₂]

xx. loud italian men

"𝐘𝐄𝐒, 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐋. 𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐎 𝐈'𝐌 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐃," Tantalus announced at dinnertime.

As he spoke, he inched his hand toward his refilled dinnerplate, as if maybe the food wouldn't notice what he was doing, but it did. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within six inches. 

"And here on my first day of authority," he continued as if that hadn't just happened, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat." 

Dionysus clapped politely, leading to some halfhearted applause from the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, looking uncomfortable, but every time he tried to scoot out of the limelight, Tantalus pulled him back. 

"And now some changes!" Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!" 

Murmuring broke out at all the tables — excitement, fear, disbelief. 

"He's insane," Raya muttered. "They were discontinued for a reason."

"He's lost it," Lee agreed.

"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice, "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems." 

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," Will announced. 

"Yes, yes!" Tantalus said. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?" 

An explosion of excited conversation — no KP for a whole month? No stable cleaning? Was he serious? 

But the Border?

"Sir," Raya stood, still sporting an assortment of small cuts and bruises on her face and arms from the attack with the bulls. "With all due respect, we still have patrol duty."

"You will be excused to ready your chariots," Tantalus said.

Clarisse stood as well, "If we drop everything to ready our chariots—"

"Ah, both heroes of the day," Tantalus exclaimed. "Brave Clarisse, Fearless Raya, who bested the bulls all on their own."

Clarisse blushed, but Raya was immune to false praise by now.

"We had eight other campers on duty, and three people not on duty help out," Raya said factually. "We still barely made it out. All the more reason not to drop border patrol."

"Raya's right," Clarisse said. "We didn't—"

"And you two are modest too," Tantalus grinned. "Not to worry, my dears! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?" 

Raya tilted her head, "But the tree—" 

"And now," Tantalus said, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat. Raya looked around at the other campers, but no one wanted to stand with her. Even then, she remained standing, arms crossed, as Tantalus continued, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here." 

Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson. Uneasy murmuring spread among the campers. A lot of sideways looks at Percy. 

"Now, of course," he said, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"