The Curse of Oenone (Daughter of Olympus II) - [Leo Valdez xF!Oc]

I'm Mere Seconds Away From Violence

"Check it out," Jason points at a bronze statue of Neptune.

"He's naked," Ara makes a face. "Why?"

"Ah, jeez." Leo groans quietly, but his eyes scan the statue anyway, as they do with everything. "Some kind of clue?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Jason replies. "There are statues of the gods all over the place in Italy. I'd just feel better if we ran across Jupiter. Or Minerva. Anybody but Neptune, really."

"I feel like he's judging me—hey, you little runt, you threw my son to hell!" Ara tries to imitate the god. "New York is packed with statues, and they were all there for a reason. This can't be just for show."

Leo approaches the pedestal where Neptune is. "They were automatons, right? The ones back in New York? Perhaps this dude can give us a hand..."

Leo enters the dry fountain, his eyes moving around like he can read an invisible text over it. She loves it when he does that, it feels like he can do anything and it gives her a sense of safety. As long as she's with Leo, there is no problem they can't solve.

"It's mechanical," he announces. "Maybe a doorway to the dwarfs' secret lair?" 

"Ooooo!" Exclaims a voice behind them. "Secret lair?"

"I want a secret lair!" Whines a second one.

"Oh, you can talk!" Ara follows the voices and finds one dwarf sitting at a café table. "Good! That means you'll understand the curses I'll put on you when I send you back to Tartarus!"

"If we had a secret lair," continues the dwarf ignoring her, "I would want a firehouse pole."

"And a waterslide!" adds the other, seated on the statue. He's the one in possession of Leo's belt.

"Stop that!" Leo tries to seize the creature by the foot, but he can't reach him.

"Too short?" The dwarf cackles from above his head.

"You're calling me short?" Leo looks around in anger, then turns to glare at the little guy. "Give me my belt, you stupid—"

"Now, now! We haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Akmon. And my brother over there—"

"—is the handsome one! Passalos! Singer of songs! Drinker of coffee! Stealer of shiny stuff!"

"Stinky, annoying, and about to die," Ara lists, drawing out Almighty. Passalos runs away at an impressive speed, and she crashes onto the table before she can catch him.

"Hey!" Akmon frowns as he spots her sword. "I stole that! How did you take it back?" 

Passalos snorts. "Because you're lousy!" He pulls out Katroptis and starts cleaning his teeth with it. "I'm better at stealing than you."

"Hey!" Jason points at him with a scowl. "That's my girlfriend's knife!"

He tries to catch him, but once again the dwarf jumps and holds onto Leo's waist. "Save me?"

"Get off!" Leo tries to beat him away, but Passalos moves before he can even touch him, and the moment he's out of reach, Leo's pants fall around his knees.

Passalos shows them Leo's zipper with a pleased grin, holding it above his head to taunt Leo. Ara blushes, if they continue like this they're going to steal everything from them.

"Give—stupid—zipper!" Leo struggles to keep himself covered while trying to seize the creature.

"Eh, not shiny enough," Passalos tosses the zipper away.

Ara's mind is trying to do something with the information she's gathered, but without her Octopi, she doesn't have the tools to make anything, and she can't go back to the ship and risk losing track of Passalos and Akmon. Only Leo has the skill to make something out of nothing.