Snowfall

Women

"Fuck you," Percy groaned, laying on the floor with multiple blunt arrows scattered in the dirt around him. "Fuck all you girls."

"Surely you don't mean that," Artemis smiled innocently, fingering her bow and arrow. Her huntresses laughed.

"Come on, Kelp Head, you're fine. We didn't hurt you that bad," Thalia mocked, prodding his bruised arm with her foot. Percy slapped her shin in retaliation, rolling onto his feet.

"Why do I keep coming back?" Percy sighed. "I'm just used as a punching bag."

"You love us, don't lie, Jackson," Jaislee taunted, her purple eyes glinting with amusement.

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you too," he scowled playfully. "I'll just go back to Camp if you're going to continue treating me like this."

"Sure," Phoebe replied, rolling her eyes knowingly. A few of the younger ones didn't understand that he was joking and looked horrified. Lyric raced up to him with Maisie following behind.

"You can't leave! Please! We'll stop!" Lyric begged, looking up at him with wide eyes. Maisie locked onto his legs, looking up at him with her wide green eyes. She had been recruited about a decade ago and was the youngest member of the hunt at seven years old, though she acted younger due to the fact that dryads aged slower than mortals.

Thalia stifled a laugh. "Hey, Lyric," she said. "C'mere."

Lyric reluctantly edged back to Thalia. "But he's gonna leave!" The young girl protested, pointing back to him. Thalia ushered the girl closer, crouching down to whisper in her ear, though still loud enough that the rest of the hunt could hear.

"He's joking. He won't leave." Lyric's mouth formed an O and she flushed red as the huntresses laughed. Thalia chuckled and ruffled the girl's hair. "Don't worry about being embarrassed. You know we'd never hold it against you."

Percy smiled, taking the dryad still locked onto his legs and lifting her up, resting her on his hip. "I wouldn't leave so suddenly," he said.

"Sure you would," Thalia retaliated. "If it wasn't for the little ones keeping you here, you'd be perfectly fine with ditching us."

"But the little ones are here," Percy pointed out, setting Maisie down and nudging her away. "So I won't ditch you."

"Why've you suddenly switched sides?" Phoebe asked out of the blue. The two cousins looked at each other, noticing that she was indeed right.

"Uh . . . who wins?" Percy questioned (because that was obviously what mattered).

"Obviously me," Thalia said, pointing to herself as if to exaggerate her point. "You were supporting my side."

"Well, you were supporting mine!"

Thalia growled and lunged toward Percy, raising her fist. He caught her punch, throwing her back. She hit the ground, rolling back onto her feet. The two began to circle each other and the huntresses formed a wall around them.

Thalia, of course, made the first move. She charged at him, raising her fist but instead of punching she lashed out with her other hand, slamming him in the side and sending him staggering. Her foot followed, a kick to his side taking him down. He swept at her legs with his, taking her feet out from under her. He rolled over towards her, grabbing her wrists and they began a wrestle for strength.

Percy saw out of the corner of his eye Artemis crouching low and stringing an arrow. Although it was unclear who she was aiming her and why she would even aim in the first place, Percy fought back against her attempts. He bunched his legs up under him and rolled so that Thalia was on top of him. Before she could pin him, he slammed his feet into her stomach, sending her flying and crashing into her mistress.

The hunters gasped, some cheered, but Percy watched as the two girls tumbled across the ground landing one on top of the other. Artemis grunted as Thalia's weight landed on her small body, her lieutenant muttering an apology as she rolled off. Thalia stalked back over, a scowl on her face. Artemis stood up, brushing herself off. "I think the winner here is clear."

"Yeah, yeah," Thalia grumbled. She had never taken well to losing.

"Try again next time, Thals!" Percy called after her, a smile on his face. She snarled back at him.

Winning was great.