𝔯𝔦𝔭𝔱𝔦𝔡𝔢

Banishment Hobbies

I just realized it's been a hot second since I last updated this. Sorry for the delay!

||Percy Jackson||

"I don't like you."

"Well, I don't like you either," I exclaimed. "Look at that, we have something in common! There's no need to fight." The mercenary, a big bulky man named Gerard the Charger, towered over me, the horrible stench of overly-consumed alcohol reeking at his breath. It took all my willpower not to break his jaw so he would be forced to keep his mouth closed.

Gerard moved forward, swaying slightly between the walls of the alleyway outside my favorite restaurant. He bared his rotten yellow teeth, his greasy shoulder-length hair nearly moving forward to slap me in the face. They couldn't have at least sent a mercenary after me with a sense of personal hygiene? Even his BO was intolerable and I had to repeatedly resist the urge to gag.

"You know that happens to people I don't like?" Gerard grunted, bringing his ax out with both hands. "They die. It makes it all the better when there's money involved..."

I grimaced, shoving my hands into my pockets in a way that made it seem like a tantrum. My right hand grasped Riptide, feeling the familiar cool surface of the pen. I relaxed fractionally, the touch of my weapon calming me down.

"... And there is a very large bounty on your head, Son of Chaos."

Great. My father still managed to bring me nothing but trouble even when I was far away from Earth.

The day I was born must have been a real treat for the Fates. Oh, look how innocent he is... it's going to be so easy to ruin his life!

I liked to imagine all three Fates sitting around a table with their knitting needles, casually competing for who could come up with the best idea to make my life infinitely worse. Make him think his mother is dead to start off his hero journey? Yeah, that sounds good, an origin story always needs a good tragedy... Erase his memory? You are amazing at this! While we're at it, let's throw him into Tartarus. Hmm, we could also spring the parent plot twist to hurt him as much as possible, and then have him banished from his home forever.

"So I take it there is no way I can convince you to walk away," I said, putting my thumb on the clicker of Riptide, ready to press it if the need arose. "Believe me, if you go through with this, you're not going to walk out of here. Probably won't be alive to see the next day either."

Gerard guffawed, a great ugly sound. "You think you can kill me with that sword you got in your pocket? I guess no one told you what I'm known for."

I bit my lip, backing up a half-step. The way he said it made it seem like it would a good fact to know before either of us rushed into any conflict.

"Celestial bronze doesn't work on me," Gerard taunted, brandishing his ax like a madman. He swung it in his hands, which I'm sure he would have been able to do expertly on any other day, but with how drunk he was, it looked awfully clumsy. I cringed just looking at it. Ares would probably get along with this dude. "My skin is impervious to it, so your weapons are useless. What are you going to do now, Son of Chaos?"

Sighing, I released my hold on Riptide, bringing out my hands in a surrendering position, keeping my head low so Gerard could not see my eyes slowly closing. I took in a deep breath, forcing my rapidly beating heart to slow as I calmed down.

In... and out...

It was so incredibly easy now. Two years ago, it had taken a lot of my concentration to merely summon a tall wave of water or a hurricane, but now it was as easy as raising a hand or breathing.