¹On This Spring Day, percy jackson & the olympians

Interlude(?)

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ interlude(?)

━━━━━ IN ALL HONESTY, I didn't get the concept of "forbidden"—like forbidden love, that Forbidden Forest thing from those Harry Potter books ( that's what it's called, right? I only half-listen to Annabeth when she starts going on tangents regarding books ), forbidden fruit ( you know, that pomegranate Persephone ate ages ago? )—

               Wait ... was "forbidden fruit" used for that apple Eve ate in the Garden of Eden? Look, I really don't pay attention unless it piqued my interest. It was something my mother, Dahlia, had always fussed at me for. Granted, however, she was always fussing—saying I was "too curious" and "extremely nosey" ( as if! I'm just ... trying to understand why things are forbidden ), or fussing that I was too "hot-headed" and needed to "cool down" ( she has a point, not that I would ever tell her that ). Besides, it's not like it mattered, at least—if God, like, the God was real, I didn't have time to give him any mind. I'm too busy with the Greek gods and Greek monsters to give any attention to God and the Bible. Mainly, what I was trying to do was stay alive; you wouldn't believe the number of Greek monsters out there wanting to use my bones for toothpicks. ( Truth be told, I don't know if there are monsters out there who would use my bones for toothpicks, that sounded like a good, monster-esque threat. And ... I also hadn't encountered many monsters besides Ms. Aarden—I'm not complaining! I love a monster-free life! )

               Compared to most other campers at Camp Half-Blood, I was a newbie ( and Clarisse La Rue loves to remind me of that every time she sees me ), and I was considered "a baby" or an "amateur" when it came to monsters, too. Sure, maybe they're right, but I didn't understand the obsession with comparing your monster fights with another camper's first monster fight. It was like comparing your deck of cards against another's—

               Nevermind. That analogy isn't good, and it doesn't even make sense either. But an odd thing I noticed over my few weeks here was that all the campers who did willingly give their story—the fights against the Greek monsters that hunted them—were children of the Olympians. The twelve Olympians. To me, in a twisted way, the reason those campers were much more comfortable sharing that information is that they knew their ... "status" as a demigod would never be questioned. Not the way my status would be, as Eros's daughter. Or the way AJ Mortimer's status would be, or the way Ethan Nakamura's would be—both of whom are unclaimed campers who stay with me in Cabin Eleven.

               It was a hard pill for me to swallow—the realization that people would look down on me or scoff at me simply because I was Eros's daughter. It shouldn't matter, but it does to some. Luke, my head counselor for Cabin Eleven, tried to make the best of the situation—helping me, AJ, Ethan, and other unclaimed or children of minor gods get situated. But there was only so much he could do also have to watch over and counsel all his other siblings ( and as far as I've counted, excluding Luke, there are around six or seven other of Hermes's children in Cabin Eleven—that's a lot, mind you ), and there were a lot of unclaimed half-bloods and children of minor gods shoved into Cabin Eleven, too. He was stretched thin, and I could see why he was. I tried to make it easier for him the best I could—stay away from the troublemakers at Camp, do my own thing during archery practice ( as Eros's daughter, I guess I had a pretty strong advantage with bows—I tried not to shove that in other's faces, but ... I have to sometimes ), and I do my best to play peacemaker in Cabin Eleven when Luke was trying to make peace on the other side of the cabin.