baggressiveâ:
Joshâs answer to the question was made clear by the fact that he purposefully didnât respond to it. Well, he didnât respond verbally. The look he shot over at Vince said donât without him even opening his lips. The only âunpackingâ the son of Ares wanted to do was what little stuff he brought with him to camp. He hadnât even gotten enough time to get comfortable before coming down here. Now, he wasnât even sure if heâd make it to see Olympus again.
âWho says youâve gotta become a better person?â Josh leaned back, resting on his good arm while letting the tainted one stay in his lap. âA lot of the gods were fuckinâ horrible. As far as Iâm concerned, weâre huge ass upgrades over them.â The bar was set pretty damn low when it came to his father in particular. âWhy beat yourself up over not being your best self when thereâs already shit down here ready to beat you up just for existing?â
The look earned Josh another grin, hands briefly lifting in mock surrender before turning his attention away, listening to the way the other spoke. It was a valid point, none of the gods seemed particularly good, but that wasnât who he was comparing himself to. He wasnât even good in terms of basic human, completely ignoring the divinity in his blood. A long silence, idling over thoughts, weigh shifting further forward to get another look below them.
âHow much of what youâve done do you justify as survival?â Itâs rhetorical at best, hand lifting in what was a typical âlemme talkâ movement without looking at him. âWanna know what my big, glorious reason for joining camp was, my driving force behind becoming somebody willing to try and save the world?â A soft snort, features drawing in to a bitter smile. âTo save my own hide. Again. A job went wrong, didnât have quite as much background as I usually do, but I went ahead with it anyway. Wanna know who you donât steal from? People with big, juicy wallets but contacts that kinda put yours to shame, and friends in very dark places. Last time a job went this badly I ended up bleeding out in an alleyway, and legally dead for twenty seconds on an operating table.â
People learned from moments like that. Took it as a sign to turn their lives around, because theyâd been given a second chance at life. Vince... Had cheated death, apparently. Not all that surprising, heâd cheated plenty the rest of his life.
âThe whole saving the world thing didnât even factor in to my thought process. Going somewhere near enough separate from the entire rest of the world? That was a get out of jail free card.â











