Mac Attack

“About four blocks from here actually. It’s a pretty big building but most people walk right by it. I don’t think anyone really realizes it’s an ice rink.” Tayla shrugged and leaned against the counter while she waited for him. Truth to be told, she hadn’t even realized it was an ice rink until she went inside one day out of boredom. Once she knew they had one and where it was she kept going back to use it for training.

“Really? That’s not that far. I’ve probably walked past it then.” He said “Maybe they should make a sign outside, saying it’s an ice rink.” Mac suggested, although the ice rink probably wouldn’t change anything. He finished cleaning the mug and then turned toward Tayla, grinning. “Okay, lets go.”

He shook his head and laughed. “Mac, don’t worry about me really, i’ve got a therapist who I talk to about all of these things.”

“I’m not trying to be your therapist.” He said, joining in with Percy’s laughing. “I was just suggesting to go have some fun is all. Of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want.”

“No,” he said sharply, his mind racing back to the night in Adriana’s grandfather’s study. “I don’t need anything.” He was thinking about the way his body had cracked and moved into strange contortions as Percy literally took control of his blood. 

Mac frowned a bit, slowly nodding. “Okay, if you say so. But just know I’m here for you, whenever.” He said, picking up more garbage. “Do you need to get your mind off of things?” Mac asked.

Turning the water on she made sure to thoroughly rinse all the coffee out so it wouldn’t stain the inside of the mug. She didn’t want to be held accountable when someone else went to use it and it looked dirty still. Turning to Mac as he walked up she smiled and nodded, moving out of the way of the sink. “Once you’re finished rinsing we’ll head out. It’s not much of a walk from here.”

Once Tayla finished washing her mug, Mac did the same. He nodded as he turned the water back on and picked up the sponge to wash his mug. “Okay. Where is it exactly?” Mac asked. He had never seen an ice rink around, but he never really ventured very far out of his comfort zone at camp.”

Throwing his bag of trash into a larger bin he sighed and turned to Mac, smiling weakly. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m fine, just everything has been hard since I was taken.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about!” Mac quickly corrected. “Of course it has been. It would be surprising if you just quickly bounced back from it. If you need anything though, I can try and help!” Mac offered with a smile.

Tayla watched his face as he tried to think about whether or not he wanted go. She knew it could be intimidating when it was something that had never been done before, but she wasn’t lying when she said she’d help him out. So when he agreed she smiled with a nod. “Great! You’ll have fun, I know you will.” Finishing the rest of her coffee she hopped off the counter and walked over to the sink to rinse her mug. “They have skates there we can use.”

Seeing how happy him agreeing to go made Tayla, really made going ice skating worth it. With her around, he would be fine! Plus, if he did somehow get hurt, she would know what to do to help him the best way she possibly could. “Sounds good to me.” He said with a smile and took the last few sips of his tea and then followed her to the sink to wash his mug. “It’ll be a learning experience.”

“Yeah, well the earth and the ocean aren’t the only thing that are getting fucked right now are they.”

Mac blinked, a bit surprised at Percy’s comment. He never really heard Percy talk in such a way. Maybe he was upset about something? It sounded like his comment was a jab at something, or someone. “Is everything okay, Percy?” He asked as he started to pick up some of the trash that was scattered on the ground.

Tayla shrugged softly as she thought about it. She hadn’t noticed any big changes but she also hadn’t really tested her balance much since then to see if it had actually made a difference or not. “I don’t know. Maybe it has and I just haven’t noticed yet.” She shook her head when he talked about embarrassing himself and smiled. “You don’t have to worry about that. The rink is never really busy this time of day. Besides, if you do struggle then you can just grab on to me and I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”

“It probably has. You’ll have to test it out someway.” He suggested with a shrug. Ice skating sounded hard though, and Mac honestly wasn’t quiet sure he could do it. What if he accidentally hurt himself while trying to skate? Mac listened to Tayla as she explained that he would do fine and then slowly nodded. “Okay. I trust you. We can go ice skating then.”

“Yea, actually. When I started getting into training more I took up some figure skating to see if it would help with balance and agility and stuff. No idea if it actually did improve anything, but it was pretty fun and I got decent at it.” Tayla shrugged with a smile. She had found with her experience that the skating itself wasn’t too hard. It was trying to stop; that’s when she wiped out the most. “It’s not too bad. I’m sure you could pick it up pretty quickly.” 

“That makes sense though.” Mac admitted as he sipped more of his tea, thinking about it. It did really make sense. You had to have balance in order to ice skate, and agility. “I must have helped! I don’t see how it couldn’t.” Mac said with a shrug. “Do you really think so? I’ve never tried. I don’t want to embarrass myself though.”

Tayla tapped her fingers on the sides of her mug as she tried to come up with ideas on the spot, lightly biting her bottom lip. “Well, we could always go to the ice rink and go skating? Or swimming? Or maybe shopping? It honestly doesn’t matter to me.” She shrugged her shoulders, sipping on her coffee slowly so Mac wouldn’t feel rushed to drink his tea. When he came back to sitting beside her she angled her body bringing one leg up onto the counter so she could face him. “Is there anything in particular you want to do?”

Every idea Tayla suggested sounded fun, Mac didn’t know what to pick. “Do you know how to ice skate or skate in general?” He asked, jus curious. He had never learned, never even been to a rink before. That would be an embarrassing time filled with a bunch of fails and a bruised butt later on. “It doesn’t matter to me either. Whichever one is the most fun.”

“Grab a bag buddy, we’ll get going and clean stuff up.” 

“Good.” He said, quickly grabbing a bag. “It makes me sad that people think throwing garbage onto the Earth or into the ocean is okay. It’s so awful, why would someone want to do that?” He asked, really just thinking out loud.

Tayla smiled, unable to help the slight blush that crept up onto her cheeks. It was insane that after all this time together he could make her blush with one little sentence. “Have I mentioned that I love you yet today? Cause I really do.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek before laughing softly and nodding. “Well in that case, once I finish my coffee and you drink your tea we’ll go do something.”

Tayla’s blush was something Mac could never get over, even to this day. It always brought butterflies to his stomach. It was nice to see her blush, considering that Mac was the one that did most of the blushing in their relationship. “I love you too.” He said, smiling softly as she kissed his cheek. “Really? Where are we going to go?” He asked, looking over to see his water was hot enough. He poured the hot water in his mug and then added the tea bag, as well as a little milk and sugar. Then, he took back his place next to her on the counter. 

Tayla hummed happily to herself as she watched him move around the room, enjoying getting to see Mac as well as get some caffeine in her system. She put mug down beside her and smiled when he joined her on the counter, looking over at him and playfully nudging him back. “Sitting on a counter is the most exciting part of your days? I think I need to get you out more.” 

Mac laughed at her joke, shaking his head. “No, silly. Seeing you is the most exciting part of my day.” He corrected. It was true, he always had a smile on his face when she was around. Just her presence made him happy, she didn’t even need to say anything really. “Going out more would be good too though. I’m with plants most of the time..”

“Exactly, honestly Mac, sometimes I think that you might be the only person who understands the real issues.” He frowned and tossed some more trash in the bin with a frown, “You want to help out?”

“Yeah, it’s really sad. Some people don’t see how damaging trash can be to the Earth.” He said with a sigh. “Of course! I would love to help.”

“Yea, coffee isn’t for everyone. But that just means more for me!” Tayla smiled when he kissed her cheek sipping on her coffee again once he started looking for the tea bags. She put her drink down long enough to hop up and sit on the counter, taking the mug in her hands again to warm her fingertips once she was up. “It’s been fine, I guess. Nothing horribly exciting as of yet. How about yours?” She asked as she leaned back against the cupboards watching him with a small smile on her face. 

Mac eventually found some tea bags and took one, as well as a mug, and waited for some water to heat up. In the meantime, he walked over and hoped up on the counter, sitting next to Tayla. “My day’s been the same, nothing really exciting. This is the most exciting part of my day, or any day really.” He said with a grin, nudging her lightly.

Emerging from the water of the lake with a number of items of trash in one hand, Percy stuffed them into a bin and stormed away. An angry tinge in his eyes. “Fucking litter, isn’t a joke..” he muttered under his breath angrily.

“More people are littering? Really?” Mac asked with a frown as he saw Percy throw some more garbage away. “Why do people think that littering is okay? They’re ruining the earth!”

Adriana stood against the sideline of the arena, supervising the ongoing training sessions with an analytical gaze. There was a wide variety of talent (and lack thereof) to be observed, but her attention failed to settle on any of the campers in particular until one was thrown roughly onto their back, sword and all. When they didn’t immediately get back up, she stepped forward and stood over them, making a subtle, sly expression toward the one who’d knocked them down. “You’re not gonna let them get away with that, are you?” She proffered an arm to help them up. “C’mon. Let’s show ‘em what you’ve really got.”

Mac was trying, he was trying very hard actually to become a better fighter. He had been training for weeks now, and was slowly building up strength. Like before though, he was still a bit sensitive and never wanted to really hurt someone unless given a very good reason to. When he fell on his back he sighed, laying there for a second to take a deep breath. He looked up and saw Adriana looking down at him. “Well, I can’t hurt them. I can fight harder though.” He said, taking her hand and standing back up and grabbing his sword.