First Day (01)

"Unless they've been building an army," Kastor reasons while his motorcycle picks up speed down a long stretch of road. "I wouldn't put it past Crius. I just hope your mother keeps him in check. Persy says she's very important there."

"I think my mom is the kind of person who makes sure she's important no matter where she goes," I answer, a bit of pride seeping into my voice. "She did build the world, after all. The goddess to a world of gods. I'm sure she'll keep her eye on him." I take a breath, about to say more, about to comment on how Crius always worries me but now that he's settled in his other world, maybe he's chilled out? But I don't know enough about it to really say and honestly, the whole thought sort of dampens the party mood.

"Is that the only reason you're going to this party? To be a...sentry on call in case issues arise?"

"It's not the only reason," he answers, his tone a little defensive. "I also want to have a good time. Dance... a little." He trails off as his list seems very short. "How was school stressful for you, by the way?"

He can't see it, but I raise a skeptical eyebrow at his answer. It's such a short list, and so generic, that it's hard to believe him. Still, I let him have it. We're still just getting to re-know each other again. I'm not going to push it.

He asks about school and I scoff. "Do you mean it wasn't stressful for you? The syllabus shock alone would've been bad enough."

"I don't know what classes you're taking, but I'm not going to college, so I signed up for cake stuff," he says confidently. You see the Towne Club at the end of the street and Kastor slows down his bike to find a parking spot. There's no line, but very few empty places are on either side of the street.

I wish I'd been smart and signed up for all the easy classes like Kastor. It would make my life so much easier, except then I'd probably have Dad worrying and JS trying to emulate me and a teacher or two breathing down my neck about the senior slide.

"Looks busy," I tell Kastor as we troll the street for a spot. "Oh, heads up, my vampire uncle is working tonight. So don't go all Nestor-the-vampire-slayer, okay?"

He drops the kickstand on his bike and slides off it, removing his helmet smoothly. His hair looks perfect, "Wait, did you say your uncle? Is a vampire? Who works at this club?"

I inhale a short breath of surprise. "Oh. Sorry, I...forgot you didn't know. Yeah." I get off the bike too, unclasping my helmet from under my chin and taking a deeper breath before saying, "Don't laugh." I pull the helmet off and hope my hair isn't too extreme, though I expect it will be either extremely flat from being mashed down, or extremely frizzy from static and friction. I watch Kastor's face to try to get a read on which way it's gone.

He barely suppresses a smirk and you gauge that it's frizzy. "I guess I do owe you one. Maybe ask your mom about that cantrip... if that's even a thing. Read about it, sort of small-time magic." He turns to look at the club. "I can already feel the music. It's going to be so loud in there."

I run my hands through my hair, attempting to fix it. "Ugh. You really do owe me." I lean down to the mirror of his bike, but it's so small and it's getting dark so it's hard to see much. "I wonder if my mom has a homework cantrip instead. I can deal with bad hair." I straighten up and turn to look at him. "So, my uncle is not just my dad's brother, he's my dad's twin. But I got him a mask he can wear to change his appearance, so I'm not sure if he'll be using that tonight. He's been staying in my sanctum under Thalia's comedy club. I broke him out of prison and then made some deals for evidence of his existence to be...erased, basically. So...that's the short story." I shrug a shoulder, giving him a little smile. "Life is weird, I guess. Thought I should tell you before the music drowns out our ability to, you know, talk."

He blinks. "Wow. That's... a lot. Still, it shows how far you go to help the people you care about. Thanks for the info. I'll... meet him if he lets me, I guess." He glances at the front door. "Your hair looks fine, Jules. Don't worry about it. We're all going to be sweaty in five minutes anyway. So, ready to go?"

I stop fussing with my hair and laugh a little. "Yeah, good point. Let’s go."

For a second, I almost want to reach for his hand as we walk in together, but I know we’re not really together together, and frelling other people is different than holding hands with them on the way in to a party anyway. A party where my boyfriend and a bunch of people who know us are. No hand holding needed here.

Kastor doesn't reach for your hand either, but he does move up to open the door for you. However, the door opens before he even touches it. A very large, very as in eight feet tall, "man" with one large eye in the center of his forehead leans out the door to look at each of you.

"Kastor Black. Juliet Parezzi. You are welcome here." He intones the accented words formally, his voice clear and brassy as it carries over the electronics playing inside the club. The cyclops steps out of your way to urge both of you inside.

The interior of the Towne Club is radically different. It feels larger on the inside somehow. Where wooden and plaster walls stood have been replaced by stone walls and arches. You recognize Luna and Hannah among a cluster of young women in short silk chitons holding wooden and ivory masks.

Some of the Olympians are here as well - Heph and Eos, Apollo, and Demeter. They're drinking and chatting with Hyperion, Theia (attended by Booker), and Selene.

You spot some of your Weirdo Club together - Crissy, Steph, Zeke, Iao, Soph, and Eudora for some reason. They're all in a big circle gabbing as they move to the music and sip their drinks.

Servants move fluidly between the different cliques, offering food and drink. There is a long, long buffet table against a far wall with a ton of Greek food and other tasty morsels.

The Muses and Oceanids are dancing with satyrs and Big D himself, laughing and teasing each other.

Knox isn't around - perhaps he's working in the back.

What do you do?

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see when the doors opened but an eight-foot-tall cyclops wasn't on the list. I like to think that I recover pretty quickly, though.

When we head inside and I see the transformation, I'm a little slower to recover. "Gods, this place looks incredible!" I say over the music to Kastor. "This is crazy!"

I take in the crowd, noting the masks in the hands of Luna, Hannah, and the others. It reminds me of Persy's party at Laureline's and all that came with that. When I see the food, my eyes get a little bigger. Knox wasn't kidding. We're never going to eat it all. I don't even know if we'll eat half.

"I don't see my mom yet," I tell Kastor, and I realize now that it puts me in a bit of a spot. Who do I greet first? If she were here, no one would fault me for choosing her. But now I feel like I have to choose. Gods? Weirdos? Muses? It feels like such a choice. I wet my lips with my tongue, then decide, "We should go say hello to the host before he's too drunk to remember we showed up."

I don’t even have to have heard the beginning of the joke to get the gist of it. I crack a smile myself as I approach.

"Thank you," I answer, swirling my skirt a bit for him. "This is quite the event for such short notice. What’s with the cyclops at the door?"

There's something about seeing Dionysus here, in his element, that makes him seem like...I don't know, like a really fun god to get behind? It's weird. Magnetic. He seems so generous and fun. I give him a grateful nod and move to step away when my eyes catch on Melpomene. "Is it right that you've been spending some time with Gabriel Corrin?"

"Dren, seriously?" I frown a bit. "That sucks. Are you...actually consoling him? Or just making him feel worse about it so you can luxuriate for longer?"