STRENGTH
━━ extra, nabi's birthday special.
┆ ° ♥ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °
( takes place after the events of the lightning thief,
before the sea of monsters )

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

   SILENA WAS BAKING HER FAMOUS BROWNIES WHEN DISASTER STRUCK... and by disaster, she meant the Stoll brothers.

She was in the Big House's kitchen, getting the ingredients ready to prepare a lovely batch of some homemade goods. What for? Nabi's fourteenth birthday was tomorrow; February twentieth. All of her friends, Silena included, were scrambling to sort out their presents.

They would've held a party, but the campers were actually banned from hosting birthday parties — there were too many of them, and before the rule was made, Connor and Travis had accidentally set fire to the Hephaestus cabin (a building that was supposed to be fireproof...) on Beckendorf's birthday two years ago.

They were always the root of the problem, apparently.

   Silena had a cute pair of blue, fluffy slippers she'd bought Nabi, as well as her batch of brownies she was currently making — she made them every year for the occasion, since they were her friend's favourite.

   As she was measuring out the amount of flour she needed, Connor and Travis burst into the kitchen. As previously stated: the root of all problems. Silena blinked, "Hey guys—"

   "HELP!" Travis yelled.

   Silena put the measuring spoons on the counter, and gave them an exasperated look. "What'd you guys do?"

   "Okay, first off," Connor placed a hand on his hip, "why do you think we've did something?"

   "You guys are always doing something." Silena deadpanned.

   Connor pursed his lips, and opened his mouth to protest, but merely shrugged and said, "Fair."

   "Anyways," Travis butted in, "we may or may not have... uh..."

   "Have...?" Silena gestured for him to go on.

   "We set a demon cat on the loose!" Connor blurted out, "It's this really cute, ginger cat. But don't let that— that beast fool you! It's insane. We were gonna gift Nabi a new pet, so we got one and it turns out it's literally Hades spawn!"

   "What?" Silena said, "Have you even asked Mr. D or Chiron for permission to bring in an animal?"

   "Uhm, no..." Connor shrugged, "but Malcolm from the Athena cabin has a pet owl, and we're pretty sure that Miranda used to have, like... a pet gorilla somewhere in the woods."

   "What."

"We're literally demigods," Travis said, waving a hand dismissively, "that's probably on the bottom of the crazy scale."

"Where'd Miranda even get one from?" Silena asked, "How did she get Chiron and Mr. D to even approve of a gorilla...?"

Connor blinked. "They didn't."

" . . . "

" . . . "

"Okay," Travis clapped his hands, "moving on — we need help catching it. If Mr. D or Chiron get to the cat before we do, then we're fucked."

Connor nodded, vigorously. "Yup... and if Nabi finds the cat before anyone, then it might kill her! The little shit is crazy— I have, like, a million scratches right now. And worse... it won't be a surprise!"

"How is that worse?"

"Less talking, Silena," Connor said, "and more finding that damn cat! We hired Lou Ellen to do a magic show to distract Chiron, and Mr. D's... doing whatever he does? Sleeping, probably."

Silena rolled her eyes. "I can't, I'm baking my brownies."

"Oh." The Stoll brothers said at the same time. Then, Travis said, "It's alright. Your brownies are more important than the safety of the camp."

"I can't tell if you're trying to guilt trip me," Silena huffed, "but it isn't working."

"Nah, we're serious," Connor shrugged, "those brownies can literally make anyone orgas—"

A loud scream could be heard outside.

"CONNOR! TRAVIS!"

All three of them cringed. That sounded like Miranda Gardiner, who they were just talking about. She was the current head counsellor for the Demeter cabin. Usually it was Katie Gardner, but Miranda took charge whenever it wasn't the summertime since her older sister wasn't a year-rounder.

   They heard Miranda as she bellowed, "Why is there a cat destroying the vines all over the Demeter cabin?!"

   "Why does everyone think we have something to do with it?" Travis huffed.

   "And why is it literally fucking insane?! It's swinging back and forth from one of the vines— it's hissing like a psychopath— FUCK, WHY IS IT RUNNING TOWARDS ME—!" Miranda screamed.

   Silena gaped. "Where did you even get it?!"

   "Relax!" Travis said, "We prayed to Hermes to deliver a cat in need of a home, and it showed up fast — it's one of the only benefits you get being his kid. Amazon Prime as your dad!"

  "We were gonna collect it ourselves from the adoption centre, but last time we snuck out of camp it was... bad." Connor shivered at the memory — it involved a stolen car and suspiciously familiar lookalikes of the brothers on the news, after Times Square had somehow been blown up. "But we also begged our dad to do it, cause, well..."

   "WHY IS THE CAT WRITING THE WORD 'EVIL' ON THE CABIN?!"

   "Yeah," Connor blinked, "that."

   "Anyways, see you later, Silena!" The Stoll brothers said at the same time, something that always weirded Silena out. They dashed outside.

   Whatever that was... she was not getting involved in it. (Spoiler alert: later on, she gets involved in it!)

【 🎉 】

   AT FIRST, WHEN HIS BROTHER PROPOSED THE IDEA, CONNOR THOUGHT GETTING NABI A CAT WOULD'VE BEEN GREAT! Yeah... no. It was the worst idea that their singular, shared braincell had ever thought of. Which was actually saying a lot, since they came up with a lot of bad ideas on a regular basis.

   "Yikes," Connor cringed, and muttered, "Noah Fence from the Hermes cabin, but you look... rough, Miranda."

Noah Fence was a guy from cabin eleven, and everyone used his name as an inside joke in replacement of the words 'no offence' — the poor boy hated it, but well, what can you do when the entire camp does it?

"I'm going to fucking kill you, Stolls." Miranda seethed. Her eye twitched as she tried to rip the meowing cat off of her head, which had messed up her hair horribly and given her scratches all over her arms. She scowled, "Get this— this thing off of me!"

   "Uh... will do." Travis awkwardly tried taking the cat off of her head, but it swiped at him, hissing loudly. "Yeah, you're stuck with that thing. Nope."

   "You better get it off," Miranda warned, "or I'm telling Katie that you have a crush on her, Travis."

   "You have a crush on Katie?" Connor gaped, "Our arch-nemesis — evil plant girl who blames us for everything, Katie?"

"What?" Travis squeaked, "No!"

   The Stoll brothers had somewhat of a rivalry with Katie; everyone at camp knew about it. Miranda said, "I thought it was obvious."

   "Yeah, well," Connor snorted, "look at Percy and Annabeth... blind as fuck."

   "Mhm," Miranda paused her usual 'Stoll brothers hating' behaviour to agree with him, laughing, "what about Nabi and Clarisse? Gods, at this rate, Travis and Katie'll start making out before—"

   "Did you not hear the woman, earlier?" Travis exclaimed with pink cheeks, pushing his brother forward, "Get that foul, loathsome creature off of her head, good sir!"

"Why are you talking like you've been cursed by the Apollo cabin?" Miranda mumbled.

   Suddenly, the cat screeched painfully loud, then jumped off of Miranda to scurry away. Connor yelled, "Get it!"

   They ran after it. Miranda screamed for them to never come back.

Despite being Hermes kids, they weren't fast enough to grab the furry thing — what the fuck did this cat eat? They chased it into the woods, weaving through trees and jumping over rocks. Connor and Travis were almost about to snatch the cat off of the ground, except right as they turned a corner, they realised that they were sprinting too fast and...

   "Shit!" Travis yelped.

   Splash! They weren't able to turn fast enough to avoid falling straight into a pond. Connor coughed as he swallowed a bit of water, shaking his fist in the air like a cartoon character, "We'll get you next time, cat!"

   The cat stuck its tongue out, then sauntered off.

Travis spewed water from his mouth, chucking a lily pad to the side as he got up. He helped his brother out of the pond, with both of them absolutely soaked, "We need someone to distract Nabi — getting the cat's gonna take longer than we thought it would..."

"Yeah," Connor nodded, "what's Nabi doing, right now?"

   "She said she'd be busy Iris messaging Percy before lunch, which gives us a good while before the conch sounds," Travis told him, "they're calling since he can't be here for her birthday."

   "Has she Iris messaged Annabeth, yet?" Connor asked.

   Travis shrugged, "I dunno. If she hasn't, then we have extra time. Who's best at distracting Nabi?"

"WHAT THE FUCK— A CAT JUST STOLE MY SPEAR!"

The Stoll brothers perked up at the familiar voice and grinned. The girl who had just yelled (oh, they could hear how was currently threatening to kill everyone...) was their answer. The two of them ran to the sound of loud cussing and other obscenities, and exclaimed, "Clarisse!"

【 🎉 】

CONTRARY TO WHAT MOST PEOPLE MIGHT BELIEVE, CLARISSE LIKED CATS.

   What? She could like cats and be a badass.

   But this cat? This cat genuinely seemed like it had clawed its way up from the Underworld, baring its fangs and all, to wreak absolute havoc.

She was already in a not-so-great mood — way before it had shown up to the Ares cabin. Clarisse had been mumbling to herself, fiddling with a spear in her hands as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, "Hey, Nabi— so I got you this... this gift because— shit, how do I say it without being cheesy?"

Clarisse was rehearsing what she'd say to Nabi tomorrow, afraid the other girl would think her gift was too sappy or something stupid. Nabi liked sappy and stupid though, so hopefully, she'd like it.

"Uhm, I got you it because— because I thought it was kinda cute... and that is so disgusting," Clarisse scowled, "I sound... ugh, how am I supposed to sound normal and not some weirdo who likes her, gods..."

She took another deep breath.

"So, Nabi," Clarisse began once more, "I thought this gift would be... cool. Since I'm your best friend. Which is also totally cool— this sounds so stupid."

MEOW! RAWURRHAOWHAR!

What the fuck was that?

   Clarisse got up to open the door as she heard scratching from outside, curious. The sight in front of her was kind of surprising. An adorable ginger cat was staring up at the Ares girl, giving her such big, cute eyes that she almost died on the spot — it kinda reminded her of a certain someone. Clarisse let go of her spear with the intent of stroking the soft animal, "Huh... what are you doing here?"

   Big mistake...

The cat took Clarisse's moment of letting her guard down as an opening — it scratched her, then it swiped her spear out of her hands, which was a pretty heavy spear, by the way, attempting to drag the weapon outside by the mouth.

"What— what are you—?!"

Somehow, the cat was quick enough to run away with a freaking celestial bronze spear. Clarisse yelled a bunch of profanities, and was about to chase after it when Connor and Travis appeared. They were completely soaked from head to toe — Clarisse would've laughed if she wasn't pissed off over a stupid cat. "Care to explain what that was, huh?"

"Okay, okay," Travis huffed, panting, as they'd just ran over, "that cat's our present to Nabi, so please don't kill us, Clarisse, but—"

"How is that your present to her?" Clarisse glared. The Stoll brothers visibly paled as she got even more furious. She growled, "What if the cat hurts her? That thing looks feral— might ruin my spear and destroy it. I'll destroy both of you, if you don't—"

Connor gulped, throwing his hands up in a surrender motion, "Wait— okay, wait! We promise the cat won't... won't hurt Nabi! We swear!"

Clarisse continued to glare at them.

"We'll make sure Nabi gets a different present for her birthday!" Connor said, "Just— we need you to distract Nabi so that she doesn't know about the whole thing, okay? Please."

   The Stoll brothers did their horrible puppy dog eyes, putting their hands together in a praying gesture.

The Ares girl gritted her teeth, her scowl still plastered on her face. She clenched her fists, and it seemed like she was about to protest, but then she shoved past them to the Hermes cabin. "...Fine, I'm only doing this for Nabi. Not because of you two, punks."

The Hermes brothers sighed in relief. Travis said, "Thanks, Clarisse!"

"Fuck off." She grumbled. "If my spear has a single scratch by the time it's returned to me — you both are dead."

"You got it!" The Stoll brothers chimed.

When Clarisse got to the Hermes cabin, Nabi was the only one in there — waving goodbye to Percy through a misty call using Iris messaging. She rolled her eyes. Although she'd promised to Nabi that she would try to be nicer to the kid, Clarisse still disliked him. Percy said, "I'll give you the other matching whale plushie the next time we see each other, okay?"

"Can't wait!" Nabi grinned, "I know I technically don't have the birthday gift yet, but thanks, Perce!"

"Of course, Nabs." He smiled back, then swiped a hand through the mist to end the call.

Nabi hummed, still thinking she was alone in the cabin, when she spun around and yelped, "Jeez— Clarisse!"

She tripped backwards, but Clarisse grabbed her by her shirt's neck, pulling her in to prevent her from falling. The Ares girl laughed, "Did I scare you?"

"Yeah," Nabi said, "it was 'cause of your face."

Clarisse rolled her eyes, and sarcastically said, "Wow, I'm so hurt. Anyways, how's it feel turning fourteen, tomorrow?"

   Nabi plopped onto her bed, and Clarisse sat down opposite from her. The angel girl murmured, "I feel so old, ew... jokes. I'm kinda excited, since Con and Travs told me they have a special surprise."

   "Uh huh..." Clarisse pretended she didn't know there was a demon cat on a rampage outside, with Nabi blissfully unaware.

   "What're you doing here?" Nabi asked, "Didn't you say you were busy doing something?"

   Oh. Yeah, Clarisse had made an excuse so she could practice her lines... shit— she couldn't think of an excuse. Lying wasn't really Clarisse's strong suit, it was mainly just... beating stuff up? Clarisse avoided the question, by murmuring, "I wanted to see you, is that so bad?"

Apparently, that was the right thing to say, because Nabi laughed. She said, "Yeah, okay. Oh, y'know, I think we should go to the canoe lake, since—"

"Uh, no!" Clarisse blurted out. She had to keep Nabi in the cabin, at least, until the Stoll brothers had caught the cat. "I... I wanted to stay here. Just to chill."

   Nabi raised an eyebrow, confused. "Okay? We can do that."

   Clarisse relaxed. It didn't take long for the two of them to start talking about anything and everything, with Clarisse letting Nabi play with her hair as she rambled. It went from random topics like Nabi stealing Silena's favourite eyeliner and getting chased out of cabin ten by her; their favourite chocolate bars — Clarisse was a snickers person, but Nabi much preferred mars bars; and even talked about their plans for after Camp Half-Blood. But somehow, it led to a dumb conversation on pick-up lines...

"Wait, I've got another one," Nabi giggled to herself, finding the joke funny before she'd even had the chance to say it, "Are you Apollo? Because you light up my day."

"That was so bad." Clarisse tried not to smile.

Nabi only continued, "Are you a child of Hypnos? Because I can't get you out of my dreams."

"Please, stop." Clarisse pretended to cringe, but the smile was definitely there, now.

"Are you— wait, this one's so good," Nabi was cracking up at her own jokes, even though they weren't even that good, "Were you made in Hephaestus' forges? Because you're smoking hot."

Clarisse laughed. "That was the worst one."

"At least I'm trying!" Nabi said, grinning, "You make one up, then."

"No way. I'm not embarrassing myself." Clarisse huffed, leaning back on her arms.

Nabi shrugged. "Probably 'cause you're so bad at it."

"I am not."

"I bet you are!"

"Fine..." Clarisse rolled her eyes, then paused to think about one, before saying, "Are you Poseidon? Because I'm drowning in your eyes."

" . . . "

" . . . "

"Huh," Nabi narrowed her eyes, thinking long and hard on what to rate it, then went, "that was a solid four out of ten."

"That deserved a ten!" Clarisse exclaimed.

MEOWWR!

They paused their conversation when a loud screech could be heard from outside — Clarisse tensed when Nabi looked out the window to find Travis and Connor sprinting after the cat. Nabi gasped, "Oh my gods, Clarisse! There's a cat, look!"

"Oh, what cat?" Clarisse tried to move so that she'd block the window, "I don't... see a cat."

"You aren't even looking outside," Nabi huffed, "stop looking at me when you could be looking at something so cute! Look, look!"

"I already am." Clarisse murmured.

"What?"

"I said— uh," Clarisse turned, putting on a false display of surprise, "woah, did you know there's a really cool cat outside?"

Shit, that was what she wasn't meant to do.

"Exactly!" Nabi grinned, and pulled Clarisse up from the bed, "We have to go see it, oh my gods!"

So much for distracting Nabi...

【 🎉 】

   TRAVIS HAD NEVER HATED AN ANIMAL MORE IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE. The little rascal had somehow managed to destroy the camp's volleyball court; ruin Silena's batch of brownies; and create a hole in the Apollo cabin. Currently, the Stoll brothers were still trying to catch it, but Miranda and Silena were so fed up that they'd decided to help also.

   "It's running back into the woods!" Silena yelled.

Travis couldn't help groaning. He didn't want to end up in the pond for a second time, especially in a singular day... yikes.

"Guys, Nabi's making her way over," Connor said, panicking, "abort mission, abort mission!"

"What do you mean abort mission?!" Miranda made an infuriated noise, her nostrils flaring in rage, "That cat's a menace!"

Sure enough, Nabi was walking towards the group, with Clarisse following her. Travis couldn't help thinking how odd they must've looked — Miranda's hair still looked like a bird's nest from earlier, him and his brother were flailing their arms about, and Silena had brownie batter all over her clothes.

"What happened to you guys?" Nabi asked, "And did I just see a cat?"

"No...?"

"What? Of course not!"

"What's a cat?"

Nabi's question was answered when the cat appeared, slowly strutting over. Instantly, everyone stiffened and held their breaths. Silena muttered, "It's planning an attack..."

"Nabi, don't touch it," Clarisse said, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking forwards, "that cat's genuinely crazy."

The cat was close enough to kill any of them within a split second...

Travis could practically feel the death stare it was giving everyone, and he shivered. That was not a cat. That must've been one of the Furies in another form. They all got into fighting stances, apart from Nabi, who merely cooed at the little (but terrifying) creature. It lunged forward, aiming for Nabi, and—

...Why was it in Nabi's arms and purring?

"You're so sweet, baby," Nabi murmured, stroking the cat as it mewled softly, "I can't believe you're so cute!"

Travis was actually going to cry.

Nabi lifted the cat up, giggling as she played with it and soothingly rubbed the soft animal's head. Connor's eye twitched, and he muttered, "I can't believe the solution was... was Nabi."

They all let out sighs of relief, relaxing as Nabi continued to play with it. Travis decided to pretend like everything was fine, laughing nervously, "Yeah, the cat's— it's our birthday present for you, Nabi!"

The girl grinned, "Wait, are you serious?"

"Totally." Connor said, trying to muster a smile despite being absolutely exhausted, "Just... make sure you train it well."

"Oh my gods, no way!" Nabi squealed, saying 'thank you' a bunch of times as she cuddled the cat. She began playing with its paws, but the cat didn't seem to mind as it stuck its tongue out innocently. "Does the cat have a name?"

"Huh... not yet." Travis blinked, realising they hadn't given it a name. "You can name her."

Even though Travis and Connor knew the cat was a girl, they had been referring to the thing as an 'it' this entire time... probably because the cat had been acting more like a devil than a regular pet.

   "I'll name you..." Nabi hummed, "Honey."

Miranda muttered, "I can't believe that's what we're calling that thing."

Travis swore the cat was giving them all a smug look as Nabi gave her kisses. If Honey were a person, he knew that she'd be laughing in all of their faces.

"I still hate it." Clarisse glared.

Nabi gave it another kiss, cooing, "You're so adorable, yes you are, baby. Aw..."

"Y'know," Connor said, "the cat kinda reminds me of Clarisse..."

"I'm nothing like that little shit," Clarisse scoffed, "so shut up before I rip your throat out."

Travis totally agreed — the cat was just like her. He snorted, "Maybe you're just jealous that Honey got to kiss Nabi before you did."

"You have three seconds to run, Travis."

Yeah, okay. He wasn't risking it. Travis took off into a sprint — he had never been more grateful to be a Hermes child, otherwise, his legs would've gave up ages ago.

"Get back here!" Clarisse yelled.

Forget Chiron and Mr. D finding out about all the mayhem that had happened — Travis was already fucked.

【 🎉 】

THE NEXT MORNING, NABI WAS PLAYING WITH HONEY IN THE HERMES CABIN. For some reason, everyone seemed a little wary of her newfound pet, but that didn't stop her from giving Honey all the love and affection she deserved.

Everyone had said their birthday wishes and given their presents — Nabi had thanked all of them with a gleeful smile before spending some time with her lovely cat. Of course, she had to go through a stern lecture about the pet rules and regulations with Chiron. Then, Nabi was told to tell Connor and Travis to meet him after her and the centaur were finished talking. Whatever criminal acts the Stoll brothers had committed, Chiron wasn't too happy.

Nabi heard a knock on the door.

"The door's open," She said, "come in!"

Clarisse walked into the cabin. She smiled, "Happy birthday, princess."

"Thanks." Nabi smiled back at her.

Clarisse seemed nervous as she came closer, with something tiny in her hands, sitting down next to Nabi. Begrudgingly, Honey made room for Clarisse, but she was able to curl up in Nabi's lap, so she didn't seem to mind too much. Clarisse said, "I got this for you."

She opened the box in her hands, and Nabi's mouth opened in surprise at a silver necklace with a blue butterfly charm hanging from it. She mumbled, "Oh my gods, Clarisse..."

"It's meant to match the bracelet you have," Clarisse explained, "but it doesn't turn into any cool weapon, so... yeah. I thought it was really cute looking, and it would've suited you because— because you know..."

"I don't think I do." Nabi said, teasingly.

"You're... also beautiful, like the necklace," Clarisse said, her face getting pink as she grumbled, "gods, I bet you're enjoying this."

"I totally am," Nabi laughed, "but I love it. Thank you, Clarisse."

"Do you... do you want me to put it on you?" The Ares girl asked.

"Sure."

Nabi lifted her hair to the side, turning slightly so that Clarisse could clasp the necklace around her neck. She couldn't help smiling, staring down at Honey as the cat watched the interaction between them. She felt Clarisse's hands lightly brush against her skin, and Nabi swallowed a lump in her throat.

"It looks pretty on you." Clarisse muttered, looking at the necklace she'd help put on Nabi, then gazing back into Nabi's eyes. "...Really pretty."

Honey meowed, like she wanted to be complimented too. Clarisse huffed, and almost like she didn't want to, mumbled, "Yeah, sure, you're pretty too."

Nabi's smile only grew. She'd celebrated a lot of her birthdays at Camp Half-Blood — in a place she loved, with people she loved. Though with each and every birthday, WITH EACH YEAR SPENT WITH CLARISSE AND HER FRIENDS, THEY ONLY EVER SEEMED TO GET BETTER.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦!

જ⁀➴ woohoo, nabi's birthday !! happy bday to camp half-blood's ( and clarisse's ) angel girl !! and ofc ,, happy bday to everyone else who have recently / are currently celebrating / are abt to have their birthdays whilst reading this 🫶🏼 it was super fun to write & i wanted to get some moments with our group of friends before shit hits the fan in the later acts LMAO u guys are soo gonna cry with nabi and clarisse in sea of monsters + everything afterwards 🙈 i'm soo nice to u guys ... tehe !! ( this is a warning. be scared. )

   i love everything abt the chaos in this chapter like ?? silly shenanigans that the stoll brothers definitely cause on a weekly basis ?? everyone being fed up ?? ugh guys they're so cute !! and ofc our fav couple being soft again !!

   this is probs the last special i'll be doing in a while since there isn't much else to celebrate , lols. but i wanted to get this finished before publishing the first chapters of the sea of monsters since this takes places right before it ,, chronological order yk ? i'll defo publish the new chapter soon !! anyways, thank u so much for reading & ur comments ,, and i'm also super grateful for ur votes too !! love u guys !! <3