Building bridges - to improve relationships between people who are very different and/or do not like each other or to increase understanding between different people or groups.

...

It has been a trying few hours for Jason, but that wasn't anything new. Being a demigod meant living a very trying existence. (He wasn't sure if trying was the right word but he couldn't think of anything more apt to describe the situation.)

A few hours after the Argo II landed in Camp Jupiter (and he was reunited with his family and friends), they held a meeting on how he and the rest of the seven were going to unite the two camps and defeat Gaea (more like a meeting on how they weren't). During the meeting, he had the urge to strike Octavian with lightning but sadly resisted (much to everyone's disappointment actually).

(As much as everyone wanted to remove Octavian from his position as the augur since they know of Rachel's - the Oracle's - existence, they can't. Jason won't let them. Octavian was - unfortunately - Roman while the Oracle was Greek. Greek, Roman, it matters.)

They were currently holding a party in honor of his safe return, which was endearing but exhausting so he escaped. He needed some time for himself so he went to his favorite place in camp: a hilltop that overlooked the whole camp. No one knew of this place, maybe except for Hazel since he showed it to her before he disappeared, so he was alone.

But not for long because he arrived.

Percy Jackson. The boy who had too many titles (and Jason wasn't sure if all of them were true). A boy (because he was only about Jason's age though he has already courageously faced more that what most men would have to in their lifetime) wearing a purple shirt and jeans instead of the praetor's toga, like he was supposed to wear. 'Your praetor's toga you were supposed to wear.'

Jason spent years training and fighting and doing gods know what else just to be treated more than the bratty kid from when he joined the legion. He spent months making friends and allies alike - garnering their respect and recognition. He spent only a few weeks as praetor before being sent on a quest by a goddess. (And of course he can't deny a goddess, much less his patroness, Lady Juno.)

And to top it all off, here was Percy Jackson, an amnesiac demigod, who only had to win the legion's support, respect, and recognition in only a few days. The same demigod who was disturbing his well-deserved break before all Hades breaks loose.

Life was unfair. His life was unfair, to be exact.

"Uh, hi," Percy Jackson said as he self-consciously rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while the other was in his pocket, fisted as if holding something.

Jason didn't know when his hand was also in his pocket, fisted around the golden coin, ready to toss it at a moment's notice. He loosened his grip has he gave the other demigod a nod and greeting, "Hello to you, too."

"You mind if I sit here?" he asked and Jason noticed that his hand wasn't in his pocket anymore. He just shrugged his shoulders as he returned his gaze towards the city. There was no point in denying the other demigod even though he did mind if the Greek demigod sat down.

(He had a feeling that this was some kind of test and he can't afford to fail.)

If he started fighting with the other demigod, then Lady Juno would lose in the gamble. They were supposed to unite and Jason wished that she gave him more instruction on exactly how they were going to do just that.

Greeks were undisciplined, but loyal to the end. They depended on neither rank nor order, rather on instincts and guts. They weren't soldiers, yet they can fight as well as any. These traits and more are exemplified in their appointed leader: Percy Jackson.

He has heard of stories (more like myths and legends) about the missing hero. He was loyal. He was instinctive. He was brave. Yet he was also defiant, rebellious, and impertinent as befitting of the son of the Greek sea god. How could he join forces with the Greeks when their leader was like that?

As his thoughts wandered, he was shocked when in his peripheral vision Jackson was taking off his purple shirt. He faced the other demigod with wide eyes since how could he brave the biting cold of the night with no shirt? "Purple's not really my color. I think it's more of yours," he said casually as he offered his shirt to Jason.

A beat. (Then Jason knew the answer to the question that was never asked.)

"Yeah," Jason replied as he took off his own orange shirt and offered it in return to Jackson. "And I think orange is more of yours," he found himself saying as he took the proffered shirt while Percy took the orange shirt with a grin.

It was a bit too loose and smelled too much like the salty sea for Jason's taste. And judging by his expression as he wore the orange shirt, the demigod beside him agreed, somewhat. "It's a bit too tight. And smells like er...lightning and ozone," he said with his nose scrunched. But then his expression eased out as he gave Jason a grin as he stared at the partying at the distance and said, "But it fits."

"Yeah, it does."