How Do You Say Gods- Last Olympian

1: I GO CRUISING WITH EXPLOSIVES Part 1

And so it begins, the book you've all been waiting for...mostly (Looking at you HoH, we'll get there when we get there.)

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Jason didn't mean to overhear, but he was walking past an open door tossing cornnuts into his mouth so he got a shoddy reception of an answer to a question he hadn't thought to ask.

"- so the counters keep track of health, for both monsters and gods characters. And a second set tracks attack points-"

Something about that excited voice nagged in Jason's mind. It was more of a feeling than a memory, something that glitched in and out of his mind to fast to understand the impression of someone once saying this to him, but he turned about and poked his head into the door on instinct to hear more.

"-and the counters have two sides, different colours. You can choose a colour for the game, so everyone knows whose pieces belong to who. There are tons of options, because people like to buy them to match their deck's theme-"

"Do they have them in tie-dye?" Jason found his mouth moving on autopilot, an old joke he was suddenly sure he'd made once before. "Just in case you can't pick a color?"

Nico startled, his deck fleeing from his hand in a cascade, a wolf card landing near Jason's shoe. Will looked up, completely unabashed, and smiled. "I bet we can make our own. I'm all for getting creative with it."

"How about we actually get through a full game before you start trying to invent your own rules," Nico told him in exasperation as he shuffled around, rotating his hips and his bum to try and snatch them back. Then he turned to Jason, an obvious flush to his cheeks as he glanced around at their set up, then a stubborn set to his jaw as he met his eyes like he was waiting for something.

"Can I play?" Jason asked.

That clearly was not what Nico had been expecting, and his jaw went slack, along with his hands were his cards scattered again.

Will pursed his lips, his eyes darting between them, but Jason didn't have time to worry what that hesitation could be about as Nico gave a weary, but pleasant smile. "Yeah."

...

Magnus and Alex's dinner lay in a chair forgotten as they sat laughing and practicing with each other.

"No, you're using your fingers to much," Magnus gently corrected, showing her again slower. "It's just your palm, angle lower."

She tried again with a look of curious concentration.

"Perfect!" Magnus signed and said. "Now you're embarrassed!"

"Sweet," she signed as well, her mismatched eyes gleaming with pride. "Okay, let me try freestyle, and correct me if I'm wrong as brutally as you need to."

"Oh, I'm sure that won't be necessary," Magnus grinned as he watched her attentively sign she loved pottery, art, and painting.

"You got all the signs right," Magnus promised before she could even ask, "but you look angry. I know you're just concentrating, but try to relax. Facial features matter, it's a very expressive language. Take a breath, you know those, try again."

She took a deep breath, shook out her hands, and then looked him in the eyes and smiled, her face alighting with excitement like she was telling him all over again her favorite hobbies were pottery, art, painting, and reading.

"That was, perfect. No notes, I promise!" He insisted before the words were even out of Alex's mouth, or hands, to protest.

Alex laughed with pleasure, and Magnus was guilty for a beat he wasn't actually deaf while he got the joy of hearing such a thing.