Argo II Crew

The Argo II sweltered under a relentless midday sun, the heat pressing down on the deck until the wood felt tacky beneath the demigods' boots. Boredom had become a more immediate enemy than any titan or giant, leaving the crew of the Prophecy of Seven scattered across the ship like discarded laundry. Percy Jackson lay flat on his back, eyes tracking the sway of the mast as he sighed for the hundredth time. "How long do you think until we get there?" He asked, his voice thick with the lethargy of the doldrums. Annabeth Chase, ever the anchor of the group, didn't bother lifting her gaze from her architectural text, her thumb marking a page as she replied dryly," about the same amount of time as when you asked ten minutes ago, Percy."

At the helm, Leo Valdez was a mess of nervous energy and heat exhaustion, draped over the controls with a dramatic groan. "We need something to do, man. I’m dying over here," he complained, his fingers idly twitching toward a stray bronze gear. Above them, Jason Grace sought a breeze that wasn't there, hovering a few feet off the deck in a series of slow, lazy flips. "We could always train or something," he suggested, though even his heart didn't seem to be in the idea of more swordplay. Piper McLean, lounging nearby and distractedly twirling her dagger, Katoptris, was quick to shoot that down. "Training is boring," she muttered, the light catching the celestial bronze blade. "We need something actually fun."

The rest of the crew shared the sentiment, their usual focus frayed by the monotony of the open sea. Hazel Levesque sat cross-legged with a sketchpad in her lap, but her charcoal remained still against the paper. "What if we played a game?" She offered, hoping to break the tension. Frank Zhang, who had been trying to find a comfortable way to exist in the heat, shifted from a massive, panting bear back into his human form, his clothes slightly tattered from the change. "Like what?" He asked, looking skeptical but desperate for a distraction. It was a familiar question that hung in the air, weighted by the shimmering heat haze reflecting off the Mediterranean waves.