Perseus summoned his weapon. “Come forth, Trident of the Sea God, Neptuna!” causing Jaclyn to do a double take. “...Hol’ up.” Hector also seemed confused. “Percy, why did you say Neptuna? Shouldn't it be Poseidon?” Perseus sighed. “Yeah, I was born male and under normal circumstances the personification would be the same gender as me. But the weapon tried to bond with me before my birth so I could be molded to be the perfect host. It backfired so the weapon couldn't manifest till recently and when it did finally do so was female. The working theory is in the life before this one but after I was William I would have been female.”
Jaclyn put her hand on her chin and nodded “And as such the personification chose the gender of your soul before it had a chance to try and adjust to your new body. That's… interesting. But as long as you can still fight all the same I guess it doesn't really matter.” Perseus nods. “Should we get started with our little training montage then?” Hector grumbled “You never answered me as to why you two were so awkward on that first day but whatever. I guess that can wait.”
All three prepare themselves but it doesn't take long for Perseus to realize that Hector and Jaclyn are not exactly trained combatants. Although Hector blocks, parries, and strikes back with his weapon it is clear he had little to no combat training before becoming an Armatus holder. Jaclyn on the other hand keeps her distance and sticks to ranged attacks. It only seemed natural as a candelabra wasn't exactly a melee weapon. It wasn't a weapon period. So she seemed to stick to treating the thing like a casting focus.
Perseus goes in for a horizontal slash with Jaclyn creating dark fire under her feet to body a dodge for what must have been the third or fourth time. Leading Perseus to take a break. “Why don't you try to block or strike with your Armatus?” Jaclyn tilted her head. “It's a candlestick. It's not exactly a traditional weapon.” Perseus chuckled. “Yeah but it's magic so it's not like you are going to break it. Besides, the candlestick is one of the weapons in the game Clue so it can't be all that bad as a bludgeon.”
Jaclyn looked at her weapon and nodded. “Right. I guess I'll just have to do away with traditional thinking when it comes to these things.” The three sit down and Perseus takes out snacks for them. “Well we are learning and that's the entire point of this.” Hector nods as he nibbles a cheese cracker. “Yeah, we didn't come here simply to beat the crap out of each other for fun. We have to get used to using our weapons, especially if there is an incoming conflict with MacGonagall. Based on when he came to power thanks to the growth rate of his oddly extremely localized crime organization I would guess he's had his Armatus for at least five years.”
Perseus nodded. “He's got us beat in experience by miles, meaning we'll have to use our teamwork to our advantage and to our best to close the gap as much as possible. It's possible he has other users in the payroll like he did Apollo. So who knows what we'll be up against.” Hector and Jaclyn both nod. Hector enthusiastically said “After what you did for me, I'm not letting you go it alone.” Jaclyn shuffled back and forth. “I only joined the training so I could understand my new powers better. I didn't even know you'd be the one training with me till you showed up.” Hector plants his staff on the ground. “Okay, I was being really patient before but now I need my serving of tea. Spill it, what happened between you two to make you so awkward?”
Jaclyn rubbed her arm. “I uhhh… used to make kissy faces at him in highschool. From across the cafeteria or if we had a class together from across the class. I'd even wiggle my eyebrows at him. I was trying to be cute and flirty in an obvious way that wouldn't be seen by everyone else. He'd just glare at me.” Perseus sighed. “I believed she was being disingenuous due to some negative past experiences. Neither one of us tried pulling the other aside to talk things over until one day I kinda blew up at her about how sick I was of women pretending to be into me just to mess with me and hurt my feelings.”
Jaclyn shifted her feet as she pivoted back and forth. “After that I stopped making kissy faces at him, but I did scold one of the other students when I suspected her of trying a trap similar to the ones Percy already experienced. Although just to be clear, I wasn't being disingenuous or whatever. I actually thought you were cute.” Perseus had a blank expression for a moment as entire sections of his life replayed in his mind. “Oh. Well that's awkward. There's not much point in dwelling on a missed opportunity though. Hopefully now that we've cleared that up it'll ease the tension between us and things will be smoother from here on out.”
Hector chuckled and shook his head, saying “idiot” under his breath. Jaclyn nodded. “Yeah, I guess it was weird to feel awkward about it in the first place since I have a boyfriend now anyway. Let's just focus on refining our skills so we can take on the local drug kingpin.” The trio once again take combat stances before returning to light sparring, Jaclyn doing her best to get used to using her candelabra like a weapon. Blocking hits between candle holders and even swinging it around with the intent to bludgeon with it.
Eventually Jaclyn even managed to wrap Perseus on the face with it, burning him a bit with the Blake flames coming off the candle. “Oh god Percy, I'm so sorry.” Perseus runs his cheek. “It's fine, I'll heal.” He uses a bit of his energy to conjure healing water to mend the minor wound. Jaclyn looked over her weapon. “I still feel like this was intended more as a casting focus. Although I can use it like a bludgeon that seems more like a “only when you have to” sort of deal.” Hector nodded. “Every Armatus is unique. Although mine is probably better at melee then my sisters it too is built more for magic and support. “
Perseus looks at his trident. “Yeah, my weapon is heavily combat focused and is great at close to mid range. So maybe we should consider team tactics. Put me in the front, keep Jaclyn in the back and Hector who is more balanced between us. We can easily cover one another's weaknesses as long as we work together. Although synergy between our elements might be an issue. Water and fire don't mix, light and dark don't mix. So we might have to be careful not to accidently counter each other's attacks.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Hector and Jaclyn both take seats on rocks to rest a bit. Jaclyn dies her best to get comfortable. “You know what the worst thing about having these powers is? Not being able to talk about them with anyone who doesn't have them. I tried explaining things to my boyfriend three times but he always gets this blank expression then forgets. Hecate’s vail is both a blessing and a curse.” Perseus tilts his head. “I've yet to see that because I told Victor what was going on and he retained everything despite not being a holder.” Jaclyn tilted her head. “Okay but… how?” Perseus shrugged. “I haven't exactly tried to figure that out yet. But considering how often it seems to come up for me I'd guess reincarnation.”
Hector looked a bit confused for a moment before he had a realization. “Oh! You are saying that Victor’s ability to retain memory rather than get mind fogged is not because of something in his current life but a previous one. However, that would suggest there's a percentage of people immune to the effect of Hacate’s vail regardless of being a holder or not.” Perseus nodded. “I would guess somewhere around ten present of the population because for some reason it's always ten present. You'd be surprised how often there's a rare thing in humans and it's somehow oddly close to a one in ten chance.”
Hector laughed. “Haha. That's wild but you are actually not entirely wrong. Left handedness, one in ten. Homosexuality, one in ten. People estimated to always be immune from any given illness, it's one in ten. Granted the real numbers are probably bigger than one in ten for the first two, because those were based on people willing to admit to those things back when gay marriage was still illegal and church schools could still use rulers to “correct” left handedness and it was considered fine and normal.” Perseus let out a big groan. “Ugh. Yeah, thank goodness for the progression of tolerance.”
Jaclyn shifted back and forth. “So are we done training for the day?” Perseus shrugged. “I'd like to work on our teamwork and using combo attacks. But we could do that another day if you'd like.” Jaclyn nodded. “Yeah, another day. My boyfriend gets worried if I'm away outside of work for too long. He's such a silly noodle sometimes.” Perseus leads them back to his car and drives Jaclyn home before taking Hector to his. “Hey Hector, what are the odds of four Armatus users living in the same town? I mean it's a big world and even if all four pantheons had twenty each that would be only forty in a sea of billions.”
Hector thought about it for a moment. “I think the weapons are drawn to one another somehow because from what I've seen they always seem to cluster up. There'll be like five or six areas with multiple Armatus users. They want to interact and have conflict with one another. There are actually two reasons for this. One, it's a good way to test your user and their compatibility. Two, immortals are really good at holding grudges.” Perseus laughed a bit at the second one. “From what I know of mythology, that's extremely accurate. You'd think something as big as losing your full power and being forced to exist inside a weapon bound to a single human just to survive would be a humbling experience that would recontextualize how you see the world. Especially with them being forced to see the world from the perspective of us mere mortals. But nope, haters gonna hate.”
Hector chuckled. “See this is why we're friends. You're good at making me laugh. Part of why I'm into you. But I know you don't swing that way and only flirt for the fun of it. Besides, who doesn't like the occasional compliment?” Perseus chuckled. “There are times I can definitely use it. I've struggled with self confidence so it helps to know at least someone finds me sexy.” Hector nods. “And it seems my sister and I have a similar taste in men considering she used to try and flirt you up too.”
Perseus pulls up to Hector’s house. “Yeah… I do feel kinda bad about that though.” Hector shook his head. “Don't. You were in a bad place and in no condition to date at the time anyway. You have a good rest of your day, alright?” Perseus nodded. “You too, man.” Hector then leaves with a wave and goes into his house. Perseus then drives to a local coffee shop. “Normally I'd make my own but they also sell snacks here and feel like treating myself today.” Perseus walks in and gets in line. There were a few people waiting in front of him. The price and the lines are why he usually avoided this place.
Perseus finally gets to the counter and a barista comes up to take his order. “Welcome to Moondoe’s coffee. How many I serve you today?” The woman delivered in the most “I hate this job” or “I'm done with this” voice Perseus had ever heard. However, he barely heard her over his own thoughts reeling when he saw her. She had purple lipstick and eyeshadow, ear, nose, and lip rings, short black hair with dark purple tips. She had the goth girl aesthetic that Perseus often had a thing for in women. However, that was not what gave him pause. No, it was the fact he had seen this face before. His eyes widened. “Hacate?” He accidentally said out loud. The woman blinked a few times “Excuse me?”
Perseus shook himself. “Sorry, you just remind me of someone.” The woman sighs. “Are you trying to hit on me?” Perseus frantically waved his hands. “Nonono. I'm not usually that forward. I mean if I were more confident then I might, but no. Sorry. I'll have a… bag of yogurt and chocolate dipped pretzels and a triple shot New Moon Midnight with cold foam and a nitro boost.” The woman's eyes widened and she blinked a few times. “That's quite the strong drink. I should know, it's my go-to combo.” Perseus smiled “I've had a fun but exhausting day so I felt like treating myself. Normally I avoid this place and make my own coffee. Though I can't replicate the order I just made at home.”
The woman nodded. “Name to call when it's ready?” Perseus replied “Percy” then paid for his order and sat in a chair to wait. After a while he heard his name called and got the cup with his name on it and a bag of pretzels before walking out. He put the coffee in his cup holder and drove home. Once inside his house he plopped into a chair in the living room, turned on TV, and started on his snacks and drink. Once he was done munching on his chocolate and yogurt dipped pretzels and drinking his absurdly strong coffee we went to toss his cup before starting chores when he noticed a number on the cup. “Did… that barista give me her number? Nice.”
Perseus placed the cup someplace safe then started chores with a smile on his face. He had a productive day. While he washed dishes Neptuna appeared. “Today was a really good day. I got to stretch my legs, you hung out with friends. I feel like we have a good connection so far.” She side-eyes the cup then grumbles “You got a lot of attention from attractive women today.” Perseus nodded. “Yeah, I feel good. Though it is a bummer to learn that Jaclyn was genuinely trying to flirt back then it's best not to dwell on it. Can't change the past. I'll just have to be careful not to let the next opportunity slip by.”
Perseus finished the dishes then grabbed the cup with the number on it to put it in his bedroom for safekeeping and put the number in his phone. “I can't believe I got the number of that cute goth girl barista when I wasn't even trying. She's definitely one of the types I like to go for visually speaking. Though it does bug me that she looks just like the Hecate girl from my tyrant dream. Maybe I've met her before.” Neptuna responded in a somewhat huffy tone. “Well I get bad vibes from her.”
Perseus chuckled. “I'll be careful Neptuna, I'm not going to just dive in recklessly. But I'm also not going to deny myself a normal life despite the strange situation I'm in. If we are not a good fit then you'll move on and everything goes back to normal for me. If we are a good fit then we leave this world and become a new entity. I'd rather not have any regrets.” Neptuna put her hands on her hips like she wanted to protest more but didn't. “Whatever.”