[ unremarkable ; ]

     Frowning, he answered, “ I don’t think I am still in that position to call her any type of pet names, buddy. ”

     “ If your name is Clearwater, does that mean you were conceived in the fucking water? Hm? ”  A snort.  “ Do you honestly think that I’d care enough where on Earth my parents were fucking when they made me? ”

Maxine couldn’t believe she was giving her brother advice. But she felt like she came here to ask him for advice, she better return the favor. And it looked like the male needed it too. Boys can be so insensitive with girl feelings, you’d almost think they don’t care about you. The female gave him a doubtful look, one to test if he was actually saying the truth. Toni had been his longest relationship and it had surprised Maxine that her brother was capable of having a stable relationship. And it was ironic that his longest relationship had been a long distance one, something the daughter of Dionysus doubted would last. “You’re not stable? That’s you excuse?” She looked at her brother incredulously, then she rolled her eyes, “Then make it fucking stable you dimwit! I think that’s the fucking reason she suggested to fucking move in so it would be stable - whatever you call your damn relationship.” She ranted, annoyed that her brother’s dumb reasoning will be the end of their relationship. “Well, do I look like I know what’s going around in her mind? Ask her to talk then!”

     Oh, boy. If his younger, dumber self could see him now --- him, seeking comfort and advice from his little sister. The irony of it all wants to make him smile if not for the fact that he was feeling kinda shitty at this moment. But Orlando was far from the insipid little boy from the past --- this time, he would like to face the dilemma that he has and offer a possible solution for that. Or at least, some closure will do for his situation. “I’m not excusing myself, Maxine, I’m just explaining why I didn’t want to do that in the first place before you clock me for being stupid.” he smiled wryly, wincing slightly at the female’s sudden vehemence in her words. Case in point, he knew she was right. But that doesn’t stop him from being stubborn. “What if it doesn’t work out as planned? What if, at the end of the day, we’re still not that steady? What am I ought to do, then?” he rubbed his palms against his face, sighing. “How am I supposed to get her to talk to me when I feel like she doesn’t want to talk to me whenever we interact? Ugh, why most of you women are like this.? It’s frustrating.”

Toni could deal with men like this everyday, just a normal typical conversation as long as she doesn’t put her heart into it. And she was trying her hardest to keep her heart away from her sleeve. The more she talked to him like he wasn’t her boyfriend, the more she would settle into whatever they were right now. “Ain’t I always a buzzkill.” She told him, knowing that it was her who almost killed their relationship but her pride told her it was the other’s fault. “Well, that depends on how you treat them, I guess.”

     Despite of the civil conversation they’re having, Orlando cannot help but to feel like that there’s this huge proverbial elephant wedging between the small space between them. The older demigod knew, deep inside of his prideful soul, that he has a million things to say to her; words that were begging to be heard but left unsaid instead. He doesn’t like it --- yet he doesn’t have that chance anymore since he wasted it already. “Don’t say that,” the son of wine contradicted her, frowning at her statement. “You were far from being a buzzkill. You were never one. You were just speaking your mind.” then he sighed, looking somewhere else other than her face. “Human nature is a force to be reckoned with, Toni. I can’t say I agree with you on that 100%.”

“You might have. But at least I’ll try to promise you something quick and painless,” she smirked at her own joke. She thought the dramatics were a bit much but still, it was pretty funny. “Oh you can’t influence them at all? I suppose that would make learning about it way too easy, wouldn’t it?” Sage sipped her drink, wishing to herself that she couldn’t influence people with her powers but there was nothing she could do to change it. “”So are bad puns apparently. The only thing you’d be depriving me of is frustration and studying stress! But I guess you don’t want to suffer alone.”

     “At least there’s some decency in that type of that. I thank you in advance.” he replied, making a show of faux sullenness as he take a bite of his food. “Oh, I can. But I can only control them in a way that I could only normalize their levels? Does that make any sense? The main reason why I can only cure 'insanity’ as opposed to my sister. She won’t be having any of those scientific mumbo jumbo explanations, though. I’ve tried.” Orlando snorted, shaking his head at the memory. If he were being completely honest, he doesn’t think that Maxine actually cares about what he’s saying for most of the time. “The pun was not intended, I swear. Though, really, who wants to suffer alone?”

One thing Maxwell tended to avoid was putting pressure on people by allowing his big mouth to run on and on about what he thought people were like. In this case, he wouldn’t insist on the older man being great if he didn’t think so, but the child of Hedone was glad to hear there was one angle at least he could take to compliment his new friend. Because yes, after something like that? They were definitely friends. “You’re trying very well. Succeeding, I mean. You do sound like a good person to me, at least. Most people get annoyed by the, hm, high energy? So it’s really nice, what you said. Thank you. I’m Maxwell, by the way! Maxwell Paige.”

     Maxwell’s, as he introduced himself, words did made Orlando’s chest warm and fuzzy on the inside. The son of wine look down, humbled by the other man’s remark. It wasn’t that often he discusses this type of stuff with anyone aside from Toni, but it oddly feels nice to be validated by another person after his epiphany-turned-reformation. “I’m Orlando. Orlando Lerman. Nice to meet you, too, Max.” he grinned, reaching out a hand in greeting. “Thank you for that. And again, screw those people. They just don’t understand you, that’s all.”

Nico didn’t know Orlando well enough, which meant he had to take him at face value. Besides the son of Dionysus definitely gave off this cool vibe the (relatively) younger one could get behind. “I guess it does, amazing!” He retorted without containing his own sass. When in New Rome and Camp Jupiter he had to always make sure to look professional, and on the Greek side he simply felt an edge that didn’t allow him room to be fully himself. Mouthing off was much too natural for him to repress it all the time, though. “You never know, some people think it’ll be a fun adventure or a good training session. They’re not wrong, just unprepared for what they’re going to get.” Used as he was to the Labyrinth, Nico had forgotten the way it might look to other people. Trying to open a critical eye on the visual situation of it, he had to admit it wasn’t a pleasant sight. “I think it’s subconscious, because both sides aren’t ready to communicate yet. Working on the tunnels inside it’s something that has to happen, but at the same time it could dissuade a lot of people from going through.”

     Whatever rumours did Orlando hear regarding the younger male’s personality, he was sure as hell that “creepy” shouldn’t be in one of those. Intimidating? Quite, yes. But not enough to scare him off and give him the creeps. If anything, the older male actually thinks that Di Angelo was actually pretty cool. The sarcasm practically dripping in his response made him blink, sending him into an actual amused laughter due to that. “Thanks. That’s me. I’m amazing.” he joked, though he honestly think that he’s not, deep inside. “Godspeed to those brave souls. Though that theory sounds interesting, I think it wouldn’t hurt to clean the entrance quite a little bit. It might be kinda discouraging for those people who actually wants to communicate.”

Unconsciously, Aurel quicken his pace. Despite Orlando’s reassurances he still felt terrible at the thought of inconveniencing anyone. “If you’re sure! The other flowers are just as fantastic! You’re not to supposed to pick from the garden but there is a shop just inside the city limits where you may be able to take some home!”

     “Your city is sure full of surprises.” he remarked, strolling languidly right behind Aurel. “What’s your type of flower, then? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

Maxine never really thought that she would be talking relationship problems with her brother. Of all people, she knew that her brother wouldn’t have problems because of the way he kept switching from one girl to another. It was kind of surreal to finally see him think about his own problems with a girl. “What did you feel that time? Like… in terms of what you want with her.” She asked, wondering if her brother did feel something. Maxine laughed at his final words, shaking her head at him, “For someone who had million girlfriends, you sure don’t know how a girl works. Of course, she won’t listen. She only needs to hear what she wants to hear.”

     Orlando couldn’t be more frustrated with his situation. His current dominant emotion is probably the one to blame as to why he’s suddenly opening up to his sister, out of all people. At least she’s listening, and that’s good enough for him. “Of course I want to be with her,” the male shot her an incredulous looks, looking like it’s easily the most obvious thing in the world. “Her suggestion of moving in together is fucking brilliant --- a dream, to an extent. But we’re not stable, Max, you know our relationship. What if the on/off status of our then-relationship still continues within the household? That’ll be a recipe disaster. I just...I just don’t want to fuck that up, you know? But I still did. Classic Orlando.” he snorted to himself, displeased at the very irony that is his life. “What the fuck? How am I supposed to make her listen, then? Plus, I may have ‘millions’ of girlfriends before but she’s --- she’s different. I don’t know how but she is.”

They agreed on most parts which is why they worked well together. It was one of the things that kept their relationship intact when it would fall out. “You should’ve watched the president’s speech. If the monsters don’t trap or kill us here, it would be the mortals.” It was a morbid thought, and she knew that some of them out there would be dying to get that amount of money the president offered.

    Internally, Orlando’s amazed on how he and Toni could converse so easily as if they were just breathing. As if they’re still together and not going under the process of moving on from each other. “Fuck, ain’t that speech a buzzkill. At least with monsters, we’d know how to deal with them. Mortals are trickier, if not more dangerous, than actual monsters that we really face.”

It was strange, Nico thought at first, and then – no, it was perfectly logical that he would appreciate people who would sass him right back. It had taken time, but River and Will’s incessant  ( and exasperated )  lectures about how many people actually did not care about his parentage were starting to have an effect on Nico, as he finally started believing them. Not that they would lie, he was simply way too stubborn to admit he could be wrong. “I can shut some people up with just one glare, Lerman, and I don’t even need special powers to do it.” He tried to keep up the smug act, but his demeanour was relaxed and he sounded obviously amused. “I’m sure you can pull it off. I’d say try it in the Labyrinth,” he said as he jerked his chin towards the sinister-looking cave of sorts a few feet away from them, “but it’s better for you to take the Chariot or else you’ll be back late. As in, maybe days late.”

     With his smirk back again on his face, he cannot help but to tease the younger male further. “Oh, yeah? So do I. Does that make me one the coolest demigod out of all campers combined, too?” Orlando omitted the fact that his own silencing look thing was very situational; the son of Hades doesn’t need to know it only works for him when he’s legitimately angry about something. Not that he’d like to see that someday. “I’d rather not. My sister might have painted me as a dumbass while we we younger but that doesn’t mean that I actually am one by not taking the Chariot.” he whistled low, eyeing the entrance towards the Labyrinth. “You know, both camps should really invest in making its entrance less sinister. Or at least a sign would be nice ‘cause it looks like it’ll lead you more into Freakytown rather than the other camp.”

It was only through Orlando’s words that Maxwell realised how excited he must have sounded, and looked down sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, um, yes – passionate is the right word. My bad.” He looked back up with an incredulous expression when the older one spoke of hypothetically taking Max’s defense. “Wow. See, I came to you for your hair but I’m definitely staying for that just now. I mean, we hardly know each other. You’d really do that? You’re a great person.” Rose would undoubtedly take one look at this man and immediately approve of his inner beauty — there was bound to be a lot of it.

     Orlando blinked, confused at the other’s change in demeanor. “What’s wrong with being passionate with that? That’s something to live for, man. It’s admirable.” Despite his prior conviction to his offer, it was older male’s turn to look a tad sheepish. While it was true that he and Maxwell barely know each other, he feels acutely aware of that urge to feel a bit protective of him for some unknown reason. “Er, yeah. Of course I will. And I’m not really much of a great person, really. But I do try my best to be a better one.”

A cackle left Kennedy’s throat. He could get used to someone like this real fucking quick. He held out his hand. “You lead the way to your favorite place. My treat. Then we can talk interior design.”

     Kennedy’s infectious laughter made Orlando chuckle as well. Taking his hand, he raised his brow at him. “Alright then, Kennedy, since you ask so nicely. What’s your preference for today, mate?”

Aurel nodded and began walking, turning around so he could still see Orlando in the vision. “Are they the only flower? And I’m not keeping you from something pressing, am I?”

     Orlando just shook his head, “No, I am not really in a hurry, really. And yeah, it’s the only flower I’d like to see. It’s h--- a favourite.”

“Greek as fuck,” Jolene chuckled at the phrase after repeating it. “What exactly are the requirements for being ‘Greek as fuck?’ “ The bartender dropped a bill off for her, and as she reached into her pocket for her wallet she said, “Speaking of money…” before throwing some drachmas onto the counter. “I’ve gotta head out soon. I was supposed to be in class twenty minutes ago.”

     Orlando shrugged nonchalantly, taking another swig from his glass. Was it cheating to refill his own glass with his preferred liquor? Does he still have to pay it? “I have no idea. Well, I do. But me throwing psychology jargons at you wouldn’t be twice as fun, eh?” The Greek demigod nodded in understanding, bidding the woman goodbye. “Cutting classes just to drink alcohol? Fuck yeah, I can relate. Godspeed to you, Jolie.”

“That would be the dream,” Percy replied with a smile.

     “The true American demigod dream: without the gods or mortals fucking our lives over.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised they haven’t tried to implement a demigod wide dietary plan or something.” In fact, he had had a nightmare about it quite recently. People telling him to cut out all chocolate was not okay. Danny nodded his head, “Yup! Deathly allergic. Great job I went to a camp surrounded by fields of them, huh?”

     “Wow, that’s actually a pretty good idea. Why don’t you pitch that back in the Big House? Chiron would probably appreciate that suggestion. Though I wouldn’t suggest mandatory, since majority of the camp would probably out for your ass if that happens.” he chuckled, shaking his head at the thought. Orlando, however, blinked in shock. “Geez, that must have sucked for you real bad when you first came here.”