What the HADES is a wishing star? -annabeth-

[Momus]

Momus lounged in the afternoon right in the middle of the training field. The little annoying brats would be on their way to start some swordplay after lunch. He didn’t care, they could work around him and if any of them so much as grazed him with a sword he’d smite them. Okay, he wouldn’t smite them but he would do something to the little snots. Momus adjusted the metal sunbathing reflector and stretched a little more on the purple and teal beach chair. Even a God needed to get some sun.

Being at camp wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. There were plenty of people he could mock and get his fill of ridicule and laughs. Nike was a fun to mess with; it had been a long time since he openly mocked a God or Goddess to their face. Though, Nike was different she was actually one of the Gods Momus didn’t mind being around. It was almost enough to make Momus want to side with her in all of this war stuff. It wasn’t like Momus to choose sides but he was slightly more interested in watching Zeus and his pride tumble from the 600th floor.

Momus crossed his legs; he still wore the suit and tie. The heat didn’t bother him in the slightest, perk of being a God. It didn’t stop him from wearing sunglasses though. He bombed his head along to the music that blared through the earphones of the ipod Momus lifted from one of the campers. It wasn’t hard to take it from the demigod. All Momus had to say was that he was a God and give the suggestion that he could and would change into his actual form any second. It sent the young boy running. It was great for a laugh. In fact it was still funny for the God of Mockery.

The music choice on the ipod was rather limited all bands singing about how terrible their lives were and whining about unrequited love. It made Momus sick but he found a bit of good music that must have been put on there by either the kid’s girlfriend or the boy was hiding something.

“Cause he’s the reason for the tear drops on my guitar, the only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star.” He sang. Momus paused for a moment and made a face. “What the exactly is a wishing star? Its not like there are specific stars up in the sky that say ‘Hey, wish on me’. Bloody insane.” Momus continued to hum with the music regardless his foot tapping to the melody.

WORD COUNT//442

[Annabeth Chase]

This was one of the few times that Annabeth left her cabin these days. Lunchtime, when everyone else was busy. She didn’t use the time to go to lunch, though. She simply used it for some fresh air. In fact, she hadn’t eaten a thing since the disaster at the lake the day before that had ended in Percy breaking up with her. She’d thought a lot of things before were bad: the way she’d been treated by her family when she was little, watching Thalia stay behind to save her and Luke, Luke leaving camp and betraying everyone, holding up the sky, Percy nearly dying in the volcano explosion, the Battle of Manhattan, Luke’s death. But this was a whole new level of bad. One day short of their two-year anniversary, his birthday, today… he made the conscious choice that he never wanted to see her again.

Tears pricked at her eyes but she forced them back again. She was getting used to crying; it felt like all she’d done for nearly 24 hours now. Walking around was a nice change, as long as she stayed far away from the dining pavilion and from cabin 3, she was fine. Or so she assumed. The arena seemed a fine place to go. Percy certainly wouldn’t be one to show up here of all places. Most likely he’d be 20 feet below the surface of the lake if he wasn’t at lunch to start with. And she didn’t have to worry about running into Luke anymore, as he had left camp entirely. Again. She sighed quietly and walked into the arena, where she was met with a very unexpected picture: a grown man she’d never seen before… sunbathing. In a suit, to top that.

And he was listening to music, she noticed when out of the blue he started singing. And the oddest thing was… it wasn’t exactly the sort of lyrics one would expect a grown man to be singing. She couldn’t say she could place the song, not being the greatest popular music buff, but it wasn’t very masculine, that much was clear. Though she didn’t get much of a glimpse of it considering he broke it off after a line or two to ponder the lyrics out loud. Ah, this was something she knew about. And, as was her usual habit, she felt the need to inform him. Annabeth walked up. “The wishing star actually originated in ancient Rome, and wasn’t a star at all. It was the planet Venus, named after the Roman equivalent of Aphrodite. Since it was the first ‘star’ visible, people considered it lucky and wished on it, mostly concerning love. Though over the ages, the mythological and historical roots of the tradition faded and people began wishing on whatever star they saw first at night about pretty much anything,” she said matter-of-factly. “Oh, and on a side note, this may not be the best place to catch some sun. There will be training classes coming here in about 30 minutes. Maybe by canoe lake would be a better bet.” Of course, she only knew this bit because she’d seen several Aphrodite girls seemed to favor the lake side for perfecting their own tans. It was refreshing to slowly get back to her old spouting-random-wisdom self. Maybe everything wasn’t lost when the Son of Poseidon shattered her the day before.

Word Count: 566

[Momus]

Momus bobbed his foot along to the tune his eyes shut. He was in his own world and that was exactly how he wanted to remain. It was only moments later that Momus’s world was invaded by the voice and insanely annoying knowledge of some demigod. His foot stopped tapping and steadily his eyes opened and in them read a warning, who-so-ever-disturbed-my-peace-has-ten-nano-seconds-to-vanish-from-my-sight. He glanced over to the source. A young demigod female with her straight brown hair and eyes that looked exactly like the Goddess of Wisdom stood over him lecturing him on the origin of a wishing star and giving him a tip on sun bathing.

There was no need to ask who this was the daughter of. The eyes alone gave her away as an Athena kid. The eyes were so full of wisdom and knowledge. It made Momus sick. He let her finished completely just staring at her in the same fashion. It was only after she had stopped talking did Momus make another movement. He folded his sunbathing reflector, set it besides the chair and then pushed him self up slightly. Momus then pulled the earbuds from his ears, turned off the ipod and set it on the ground. Finally Momus sniffed and folded his hands properly on his chest, the sunglasses still on his face. He stared at the Athena child for a long minute not breaking his gaze.

“I’m sorry I was in the middle of some private me time. I didn’t realize that you wanted to have a conversation. Forgive my rudeness, now that I have discarded my distractions I am all yours your grace.” Momus said with a gesture of his hand. There was a heavy tone of sarcasm in his voice. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was clearly put off by the situation. Momus shook his head and turned away for a moment from the girl and reached back for the ipod with every intention of putting the earbuds back in and ignoring her.

His inability to keep a good insult down though stopped him. Momus turned back to the Athena girl swinging his legs over the side of the chair. “Incase you haven’t noticed Wise Girl, I’m not bothered in the least about the brats training. Work around me. I was here first. Wow for a daughter of Athena you sure didn’t get your mom’s brains. You got her arrogance though mind you. With great wisdom comes great ignorance.”

Momus shook his head again and ripped the sunglasses from his face. He pushed up from the chair. He was taller than the Athena girl and basically towered over her, being a God Momus hoped he towered over her. “Oh, and on a side note that was a rhetorical question love, which means no one need reply.” His voice raised a level as the sentence went on. He looked away from her glancing over her shoulder the look on his face much more relaxed, distracted and childlike. “Aphrodite would make sure the first thing visible in the night sky was named after her. She always did have a strange obsession with herself. Great ass though.” He made an ‘o’ face at the thought and grinned.

Momus glanced back down at the Athena child as if remembering she was there. His brow furrowed a moment, “Oh, you’re still here.” he said and he sat back down. he snickered at the idea that the girl seemed to know so much but yet so little when it came to the Roman Gods. Momus entertained the thought of telling her straight out but Momus wasn’t as cruel to start a war between the demigods. He was the God of Mockery and the idea of the two sides fighting would be rather comical, he didn’t want the blood of children on his hands. Momus sneered up at the demigod. “What? Do I have a sign that says ‘talk-to-me’ on it? I’m exactly the best conversationalist. At least when it comes to you lot.” Momus shuddered. As he had told Nike, he was never a fan of children. He smacked his lips and sighed. “Momus, God of Mockery by the way. Apparently all those brains you got haven’t told you that you are in the presence of a God. You’re welcome.” He gave her a halfhearted bow.

WORD COUNT//729
NOTES//my gods i LOVE momus!!!

[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth hadn’t intended to have a nice lengthy discussion with this unusual character. She mostly had just needed to get some of her pent-up frustration out. And for her, frustration this time came out in the form of seeming arrogance in higher knowledge than another. She was proud of it, yes, but she never really intended to shove it in other peoples’ faces. Grover and Luke and Thalia and P-… others had gotten used to it so much she’d even caught them learning something once or twice. Apparently this person wasn’t used to her way of working though. Normally, she’d just apologize and be done with it, but she was not in a good mood, and his sarcasm didn’t help the matter. In fact, it made her completely pissed off, and as a decent number of campers could agree, a pissed-off Annabeth was not someone to mess with.

She crossed her arms and glared at him. No one insulted her. “Well, excuse me. I didn’t realize the esteemed queen of England,” she took a jab at his manlihood and his accent for the heck of it, “did not desire and answer to her question. Forgive me for interrupting your beauty treatment. Gods know you need all the time you can get for it.” Then he turned his back on her. Mistake number two. She had half a mind to pick up some of the loose dirt from the ground and dump it on him and she almost did before he turned around.

And he called her the name that she least wanted to hear at the moment. Wise Girl. Mistake number three. She took a deep breath, eyes flashing. “In case you haven’t noticed,” she inserted an ancient greek name that was anything but flattering, “this area was designated for training long before you planted your butt here. So technically speaking, we have the right to be here first. Get over it. And you think I’m arrogant.” She rolled his eyes when he stood and proceeded to define a rhetorical question for her. “I know what it means, genius. Excuse me for feeling a little extra knowledge may be in order. But perhaps you’re not the type who believes learning things is worthwhile. Your loss, really.”

When he started babbling about Aphrodite, she couldn’t help but sigh and roll her eyes yet again. Though mentioning her rear end was a bit too far. She reached over and smacked him on the arm. “Do you mind not being a pig? I don’t much care for Aphrodite, but that’s still really sexist.” She continued to stare daggers at him as he sat down. “Maybe not a talk-to-me sign, but you certainly seem to be writing ‘ignorant fool’ across your forehead with every word that comes out of that mouth of yours.” She decided not to take the ‘you lot’ comment too offensively. He already had a disturbingly long list of strikes against him. She raised an eyebrow at him when he introduced himself, with yet another jab at her intelligence and most likely, indirectly, her mother. Oh, he was going down, hard. “Well, allow me to grovel at your feet, or great god of mockery. Sounds important. Yes, I’ve heard about you. Popular on Mount Olympus, as I recall.” It was sarcasm, of course, and a very risky thing to say she imagined, but she didn’t care. He wanted to take a jab at her pride, she’d just strike back. “And you happen to be in the presence of Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, councilor of the Athena cabin, and recent Official Architect of Olympus. Not that I would expect a god to recognize any of the most recognizable demigods at Camp Half-Blood. You’re welcome.” She mocked his tone and finished it with a halfhearted curtsy.

Word Count:634
Notes: She's dead meat, isn't she?

[Momus]

Momus gazed at the demigod. There a dozen if not hundreds of things swimming around in his mind right and were all ways to respond to this insolence of this girl. She was blatantly disrespecting a God something that was only funny when it wasn’t him. He figured this daughter of Athena was either very brave or very very dumb. His listened silently as she called him out his face remaining placid the entire time, his body unwavering. She tossed out insult after insult. Momus was ready to smite the girl then and there but something stayed his hand.

“You’re just like your mother.” He replied after a minute. “Talking, but not saying anything I want to hear. Just yammering on and on but not really saying anything.” He began to circle her eyeing her like a vulture would a tasty meal. And with his tall practically gangly appearance Momus almost resembled a vulture. “You know you said an awful lot of things that I could rightfully smite you for right now. Rain down vengeance on you, or change into my real appearance without warning just to watch as your eyes bubble from their sockets.” After the third time of circling he stopped.

Momus sniffed the air and shrugged half heartily. “Truth is though, you have guts to stand up to a God like that. Again, much like your mother. You either had a death wish dear Annabeth or you simply figured that mommy would save you from your fate. Even your mother wouldn’t stand up for all of the pure disrespect you’ve shown. And I know a bit about unloyal mothers. To save their own hinds they will let you burn.”

He cleared his throat and sat back down on his chair. “I’m sorry if I have interrupted your little training session but work around me. I don’t really care, but if one single half blood brat or sword touches me I will not hesitate to watch as you all burn in the presence of my true form. I may be the God of Mockery love, but it does not mean I am without power. Go on, continue to test me and see where you end up. I dare you.”


Momus laid back in his chair putting his sunglasses back on. He lay still for half a minute before popping back up with a huge grin on his face. He burst out laughing and stood up. Momus ripped the sunglasses from his face and flung his arms around Annabeth in a great a hug. “I’m just messing with you.” he boomed. “You should have seen your face you were all, ‘oh no please don’t hurt me Mr. Momus sir!’ Priceless!” He slapped her on the back and sat back down once more laughing the whole time.

“You demigods need to lighten up, maybe I would like you more.” he said staring up at Annabeth. Momus had been genuinely upset but he loved to play the big bad God bit, it was quite fun and always good for a laugh. “You stood up to me kid and threw out some great zingers my way. I respect that had me on my toes! The Olympus comment hurt a little though. But seriously,” his tone dropped and so did the smile. “Next time I will enjoy watching your eyes bubble from their sockets.” Momus held the straight face for a several seconds before smirking again. “Look at me I can’t even keep a straight face when I say that! You’re all right, for a daughter of Athena. Well, for a demigod, well for a girl.”

Momus winked at her and patted the empty space next to him. “Come on I don’t bite. Unless you want me too, but mind you that tends to make the conversation go in a weird direction.” He gazed off into space as if he was recalling a time where that exact situation occurred. He blinked and focused back on Annabeth.

WORD COUNT//663
NOTES//he is probably the best thing ever. ::squeezes momus::

[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth watched him through cold, calculating eyes. She didn’t need any extra persuasion to convince her that this god was on the same level or respect from her roughly as Hera herself. And that was not a compliment. Especially when he decided to take a jab at her mom. It wasn’t that Annabeth was especially close with her mother, Athena, but she still had a good amount of pride in her mother being the goddess of wisdom, battle strategy, and the useful arts. That was nothing to sneeze at after all. “Leave my mother out of this,” she said quietly and icily. “I speak of my own will.”

If he was going for creepy with his circling bit, he at least got a bit of it, though she tried not to let it show. She wasn’t totally unnerved, but she couldn’t say she enjoyed having an angry god behind her where she couldn’t defend herself as easily should she need to. She didn’t doubt that he could and would be perfectly willing to do everything he listed off, but she stood her ground. She’d stood up to Hera and was still alive, right? She couldn’t say she was completely fearless though. Dying for the simple fact that she insulted a god for little to no incentive? That seemed a lame reason to die. She blamed Percy. Him breaking up with her had made her miserable and angry and confused and sometimes, worst of all, reckless. This was one of those latter times.

It was relieving when he shrugged it off, but her anger ebbed again when his refused to stuff his foot in his mouth, which probably would have been the better option. “I am not waiting to be saved! I never have been and I never will be! I don’t expect anything from anyone! I can protect myself, thank you!” It wasn’t totally true. There were so many times she’d needed saving. So many times she’d put her hopes in someone else. So many times she hadn’t been able to protect herself. But without Luke or Percy anymore, she felt… alone. Vulnerable. Almost… scared. It was a feeling she hated, so she threw up the walls that Momus was now bashing his inflated ego against.

His final remark, or so she thought it was, was enough though. He had a point. This was a needless battle, and one that she could not win. She sighed and just stared at him with resentment. “Enjoy your sunburn then,” she muttered. She wasn’t about to risk other campers lives for her own pride. Annabeth watched him for a second to see if he was really done and he seemed so, so she took a deep breath and was about to turn and leave when he jumped up out of the blue and hugged her. “What the-?” But he wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he was blowing his own horn. Honestly, she hadn’t thought she’d been that bad….

She honestly wasn’t sure what to make of this guy. “Um, sorry… that may have been a bit much,” she chimed in at his mention of the Olympians comment. So yeah, it might have. Oops. And his drop in tone and expression indicated that yes, indeed, he was not a fan of it at all either. She opened her mouth to apologize when he smirked and started talking again like it was really nothing at all. This guy was seriously out there. “Um, thanks. I think.” She wasn’t sure sitting next to the most mental god she’d ever met was the best idea, but the threat of her eyes bubbling from their sockets seemed worse, so she decided not to insult him any further an rather accept his invitation. So she ended up sitting down next to him and waited patiently for him to stop staring off into space. “So, um, what brings you to Camp? Or should I ask?” She wasn’t really sure what she was supposed to talk to a god about, especially one she had just greatly insulted. The weather was really a lame topic here, as it hardly changed, but at least there were a few Camp equivalents. At least this time it made sense. A god at a demigod camp was generally not normal.

Word Count: 713
Tag: The great and magnificent Momus!