Shattered

Piper

"How are those suits coming, Kokyangwuti?" she cried out as she inspected the assortment of sunglasses Andy, Chad, and Sparky had gathered from the protestors and demigods. She was quick to discard a pair of Dora The Explorer shades, but hesitantly set aside a pair of Ray-Ban's that, frankly, she just thought looked cool. Aviators! We need Aviators!

Spider Grandmother looked up from measuring Reyna's crotch and removed the dozen or so needles from her mouth. "They'll make Armani look like rags," the weaver said, eyeing her own work with an approving eye. "Your friend here's a bit lanky, but she'll look even more fierce in this bad boy." The elderly woman then morphed into a spider, her measuring tape that had hung around her neck falling to the floor, and scurried about on Reyna's leg, weaving a fine black silk as she went.

"I'm- I'm not lanky," Reyna stuttered, watching the spider weave a pant leg in a matter of seconds.

Piper beamed when Chad walked in carrying two pairs of Aviators and a smirk of his own. She took the pairs of sunglasses from the Thunderer and gave him a high-five before walking over to Reyna. "Of course not, Reyna," she said as she placed the reflective lenses on the one-armed praetor. "You're beautiful babe." She then leaned in and pecked Reyna on the cheek, making the older girl stutter in confusion.

Piper placed the other glasses on her own head and jogged out of the tent into the early morning sun. She took a deep breath, only to immediately choke on the unpleasant scent of diesel fumes, sun baked port-a-potties, and weed. "Freaking hippies," she hacked. "Ugh," she coughed one more time. Straightening herself up, the daughter of Aphrodite jogged over to center of the Nation's camp, where a group of demigods, Sparky, and Ptesanwi were busy painting Betty White. "How's the old girl doing?"

Ptesanwi set down her pallet, placed her brush in a mason jar filled with dirty water, and stood up from her white buffalo hide. "Well your vehicle is no longer bronze," the wacan said, gesturing to Betty White's shiny, new black coat of paint. "But I still have to paint the seal on the passenger's side." The young (in appearance) woman bowed her head. "I apologize, Gayegogi."

Piper suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, instead patting the wacan on the shoulder. "No need to apologize, I'd rather have this done right with a slight delay, than risk using a rush job. Hades, it's amazing enough that this is even possible in the given timeframe." White Buffalo Calf Woman beamed and flopped back down on her furs, picking up her brush one more to continue work on the impressive eagle.

"Nice shades, McLean!" Sparky snickered from the other side of Betty White. The Thunderer had kicked up two small dust-devils next to the previously bronze SUV, using the wind they generated to dry the fresh paint. It required a good percentage of the earth covered storm spirit's concentration to control the winds so that they would not make the paint run, or embed dirt into the still tacky paint. "You look like a state troop with those things on!"

"That's the idea, Sparky!" she called out. Seriously, everyone looks cooler and more intimidating in a pair of Aviators! She let her mind entertain the idea of Jason wearing a pair of the awesome shades while on the beach in nothing but a pair of board-shorts. Ooooo, that's nice. She expanded her fantasy a little further and had the son of Jupiter playing beach volleyball with Leo and Annabeth; the blond leaping into the air to spike the ball to the ground in delicious slow motion, his tone body- Okay, better stop that now, she thought, fanning herself as her body was suddenly very hot. Let's get back to work.

Collecting herself, Piper crossed the open area and popped inside another tent to check on yet another critical component of her plan. "How's our fierce titan coming along?"