All at Sea

06: Officially Family

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The flashing of cameras and reporters' overlapping chatter made getting out of the car feel oppressive. Percy walked through the hoards of people into the meeting room, she tugged at the hem of the fine dress she'd been told to wear, the emerald green fabric fell mid-thigh and had a respectable neckline. Her long hair had been done up in a french twist, adorned by pearly hair clips and she missed the weight of her hair falling on her shoulders. The walk to the entrance of the room was short, but it felt miles long with the reporters who'd been unable to get entry to the conference shouting questions animatedly at her.

Dick placed his hand on her upper back, mumbling reassurances through his show smile. He had been chosen to lead Percy into the boardroom while the rest of the family entered through the back ahead of time. They opened the door--finally--and walked through the hotel that'd been chosen's lavish lobby to the meeting room on the side. Percy was steered through the small back doors and was met by a long table facing a room filled to the brim with reporters, heavy film cameras with fuzzy microphones were placed in the back, blinding lights arranged throughout the room.

Percy took her seat near the center, at Bruce's left (Damian refused to be seated anywhere other than his right hand) with Dick on her other side, the rest of the family, sans Alfred, spread along the table, a plain black microphone in front of each member. Her chair made a grating scratching sound as she pulled it back, once seated she tried to laugh it off, but the room grew unpleasantly silent.

Bruce--bless him, Tyche; God of Luck--broke the incommodious silence with a clearly fake but charming smile. "Thank you all for joining us today despite the short notice. The Waynes are glad to announce that we are adding another member to our sizeable family, as I am taking in Persephone" he placed his arm around her shoulder, shifting the attention to her momentarily, "as my ward."

His pause was sufficiently long for the reporters seated in front of the cameramen to start raising their hands, questions surely brewing in their minds. A redheaded woman with a fierce glare was the first to speak.

"In your last interaction with the press, you were clear to say that after Cassandra, you would refrain from adopting any other children. What made you decide to take in another one?" Her tone was rather rude, though she was clearly very serious about her job. She adjusted the collar of her blazer while Bruce cleared his throat to answer.

"Percy is the daughter of my younger sister, Salome, who was thought to have died alongside my parents. Upon losing her mother, Percy has been placed under my care."

"And what about the father?" The redhead cut in before they could move onto a different questioner.

"To my knowledge," Bruce glared over his small rectangular reading glasses, "the father was out of the picture before Percy was born, and her stepfather was killed in a car wreck shortly before Salome's death."

A male reporter took the chance to ask a question, his hair was combed back lamely and the hipster glasses on his face didn't take away from his Superman-like build or his noble aura. "You introduced her as Persephone, but you refer to her as Percy, is there a reason for that?" His hand was posed with a pen over a yellow notepad.

Percy chose to answer the question herself, "I like 'Percy' better. Please don't call me Persephone," she was hunched over on the table, holding onto the microphone despite its stand on the table.

Another series of fairly average questions were sent their way, mostly addressed to Bruce, before a brunette with vulpine features and an inquisitive look in her eyes spoke up, "Mister Grayson, Mister Wayne has become sort of infamous for his taking in of orphaned kids. As the eldest, and the first to have been warded, how do you feel about getting new siblings added to your family so often? "

Dick looked up, startled by having been addressed, he put on a camera-ready face and pretended to not have been texting under the table. "The first time it happened I was sort of upset by it--having been an only child, and all--but I've grown to love having such a big family. They're all so different, too, so it's always a blast."

"It did kind of hurt at first. Tim was taken in while I was thought to be dead, so I feuded a lot with Bruce and Tim over that for a while, but it has gotten better and we all get along with-" Jason's eyes grazed over Damian before he corrected his statement, "-tolerate, each other."

The reporter gave a muted thanks before a blonde spat a question.

"Mister Wayne, having so many kids and now two teen daughters, wouldn't you think that a female influence would do the youngsters some good?" The sneer on her face was the only part of her appearance that reflected the lack of professionalism in her question.

"Not that it is any of your concern, but I was privately engaged with my long-term partner, Selina Kyle. Thank you all for your time, I'm afraid this conference must be cut short."

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I do not own any DC or Percy Jackson content.

p.s. me being in love with silena? more likely than you might think. yes, i did write in vicki vale as two separate characters just to slander her name. in case any of you were wondering, percy dresses like a skater and that's that. I'm gonna write in helena wayne 9as a baby) because helena (wayne and not wayne :0) is great

in other news, Salome is usually shortened to sally and i went with that as sally's name because i think it sounds more like a rich person name. I'll go into more detail about sally in Percy's buzzfeed episode. the story ended at 888 words and i think someone's trying to tell me something

mkay, ilysm bye

much love, Saturn♄