Jason could say one for certain about Craig Ainwir, the boy had a knack for squirreling away when he was in an uncomfortable mood. This is why he was watching as Craig's hoodie closed slowly over his face and Craig squeaked as he disappeared into the bowel's of his poncho, never to be seen again. It was very endearing but at the same time Jason wondered how Craig ended up as their leader. Did Jason think he could better? Maybe. He wasn't very good under pressure, meanwhile Craig acted like he had no other choice but to be good under pressure. It was quite the event to witness.

    "Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Percy spoke, the first few words in a long while.

    "I guess." Jason answered. "I mean, not much else for us to do but talk."

    Percy smiled, ever so slightly. "Is Craig asleep?"

    "I think so."

"Great. How long have you known him?"

Jason tilted his head slightly. "Uh, a few months. Feels like longer."

"Has he always had those powers?"

Jason paused. "Okay look, I don't think I should be—"

Percy sighed. "Sorry sorry, you're right it's just... I've never seen anything like it."

Jason looked down at his boots and clenched his fist slightly. Yeah, you have. Truth be told, he was been making an effort to be especially kind to Percy. He noticed every time he voiced some of his annoyances with the woman, Craig would get this look on his face, it was like Jason had just kicked a puppy. Jason didn't want to kick puppies.

    "Where do you come from? If you don't mind."

    Jason glanced up at her, he wasn't counting on looking annoyed, but it this case he could seem to help himself. Percy frowned, realizing she was making him uncomfortable, and started to apologize again.

    "Sorr—"

    "No, it's fine." Jason cut her off, glancing at Craig again.

    He would give her one more chance, for him.

    "I'm the one who should be sorry. It's been a bit of a long day." That was a bit of a lie, but Percy didn't know better.

    She nodded. "Fair."

    "I'm from the North West, a little tribe called Cheimónas." Jason explained.

    Percy smiled. "Oh, I've been there a few times, it's a wonderful place."

    "It is."

    Jason hadn't visited Cheimónas in two years now. He wondered how things were getting along without him. Probably fine. They were probably glad to see him go. If Jason witnessed the same that happened to him, but to someone else, he probably would have picked up a sword and threatened to decapitate a young boy's head too.

    "My family is from the South East." Percy reminisced.

    Jason watched at a light entered her eyes, it looked like something close to longing.

    "Never been." He admitted.

    "It's gorgeous, everything is so green and lush as the ocean, oh the ocean!" She smiled to herself. "It's clearer than the diamonds on my crown, and shallow too. You can walk for a mile and it doesn't even come up to your waist."

    "That's pretty cool." It was sincere.

    "Yeah... sorry I'm rambling."

    "Nothing wrong with that." Jason assured.

    Percy shrugged. "I'm the Queen, I should be a little more dignified. I can't just be gushing to a bunch of kids half my age."

    "I'm... sixteen." Jason said slowly.

    Percy snorted. "I'm glad you're under the impression I'm lot younger than I actually am. It makes it easier to get along. I'm actually quite horrible with children, I used to spend a lot of time with them but that was... a long time ago... I'm doing it again."

    "It's fine."

    Percy smiled awkwardly at him again. Jason thought it was weird. He always had this idea of what the Queen was like in his head. Then again, so do most people with celebrities. He pictured Queen Persephone as the kind of person who makes he servants pick thing up off the floor for her. She sends food back into the kitchen for arbitrary reasons, when it could have gone to someone who needed it, and she only cares about other people for their money. In reality, she acted a lot like he did, like a dorky, well-meaning, friendly person, he wasn't sure if that was something he like or not.

    This is probably how Craig felt when Percy told him he might have things in common with Apophis.

    "I'm going to try and get some rest too." Jason announced.

    Percy's smiled faded. "Ah. I probably should too. Who knows what's in store for us, we're going to need our strength if we're going to fight our way out of captivity."

    Jason didn't reply to that. He felt the sudden urge to separate himself from Percy. All of a sudden, he didn't like the idea of associating himself with anything that had to do with the Queen of Zoo. He felt like if he didn't make a conscious effort to drift away they might overlap, and she wasn't the kind of person Jason wanted to turn into. Sure, on the outside she seemed like a sweet lady whose best interests are the safety of her country, but Jason should know better.

    It takes a special kind of woman to sentence kids to death.