#sam.ask

without the pressures of new rome, jason spends a lot of time thinking of his self and how he's meant to be the son of jupiter. he's like, "why do i feel so good when piper calls me pretty? why do i like nicknames like 'jay' much better than my actual name?" [for this last thought he mentally apologises to juno so much that she breaks zeus' ban on interacting w/ their kids to tell him it's ok. and then she disappears in the dream, leaving him very confused.]

so he goes to the first person he can think of to talk about this, his best friend! leo however who is trans but in the opposite direction goes "i've never felt anything like that" [false, he has when he was very little and his mom called him mijo instead of mija, but he doesn't make the connection.]

so jason goes to his second best friend, his girlfriend. and piper is like. "i think i know what you're feeling, jas--jay". explains how transgenderism felt for her. tentatively asks, "do you want to try out being called a girl?" & jay agrees. when piper says, "this is my girlfriend, jay, she's a great fighter..." jay's heart feels like it's exploding in joy, she's so happy. finally something feels right.

[side note: after a life of epithets like "jupiter's son," being called "piper's girlfriend" also makes her delighted]

she's spent her whole life being smothered under expectations. under what she should be. she never had the chance to question what she could be. she's so excited!! leo throws her a mini-coming out party with just the three of them, and they help her brainstorm a name.

at first, she thinks she should keep with the theme of juno's patron, but then she decides not to. after all, juno herself said she was okay with her calling herself "jay" when her name didn't feel right. so in the end, she picks a name that's still from greek mythology, as jason was, but different. she picks the name clio, after the muse who was the goddess of history & historical writing.

at camp one evening, she introduces herself as clio to the camp, and chiron says something about there now being a second daughter of zeus/jupiter. sometimes clio catches herself in the mirror thinking did mom look like me? and thalia almost reinforces that when she sees clio next by saying "you two were always so similar," which sends clio into a mild spiral. but piper (& leo) are very sweet to her, and say she'll never be like her mom.

canon events till the end of hoo proceed as normal, though the whole time clio is experimenting with her appearance. she grows out her hair, tries out some makeup, impulsively cuts her hair short again, goes clothes shopping, and lets the aphrodite cabin carry out makeup tests on her. piper insists she must "experience girlhood," so they have sleepovers in the hera cabin and paint each others' nails, etc. post-hoo [in this au somehow leo doesn't die, although he does find a way to get calypso back], the trio embark on more travels w/ clio because she decided to honour all the deities.

also, she doesn't die in toa because i said so. since leo didn't die, her and piper weren't forced to interact under extreme grief, and since she transitioned, problems w/ personal identity didn't drive a wedge between them. she'd still be travelling around the world, possibly helping on his quest, but nothing else. :)