So, far from using this quarantine to be a productive member of my household, or catching up with class work, or doing absolutely anything useful, here I am.

Bit plotless, if I'm honest, but I wanted Thalia and Nico to interact in TTC.

Are disclaimers still a thing? I don't own the Riordanverse.

A Question for a Question

"My favourite of Zeus' demigods," Grover exclaimed, bringing the di Angelo boy forward.

"And hopefully the only one," Thalia replied, hoping her eyes didn't give anything away.

"We've been assigned babysitting duty," Grover sat on the snow, next to her. The kid followed his example.

"Artemis only asked you," the boy murmured, raising an eyebrow at Grover.

Thalia snorted, "Nico, right?"

The kid nodded, "What's going on? Why did Artemis want to speak to Percy?"

Grover threw her an annoyed glare, as though she was the one asking questions.

"Lady Artemis probably wants another point of view," Thalia said.

The kid looked like he might insist, but instead he cocked his head, like a random thought had interfered with his inner monologue.

He asked, "Do you and Percy fight a lot because he's the son of Poseidon and you're the daughter of Zeus?"

Apparently this wasn't a new question because Grover muttered 'Oh gods almighty...' under his breath. Thalia didn't mind. Anything to take her mind away from the whole Annabeth fiasco, and the despairing feeling it brought.

Thalia smirked, "Yeah, we fight sometimes."

"And don't you get hurt?"

"Nah," Thalia shrugged. "There's always someone to stop us before we go too far."

"Like that girl," Nico guessed. Thalia's eye twitched. She hoped he wouldn't ask anything painful about that girl. "Is she Percy's girlfriend?"

Grover fought a grin, Thalia just snorted, "Not yet. They'll get there. Eventually."

"Slowly," Grover added.

"When they get their heads out of their..." Thalia made a face and turned to face the boy.

Nico wasn't fooled, he smirked at her. Thalia had to hand it to the kid, he was rather adorable. Tiny, with those chubby cheeks and big eyes. But gods, did he ask some random of questions.

Before the kid could open his mouth again, she said, "Let's do a question for a question. You asked one, so it's my turn. Then you again, and so on."

"Okay..."

"Where're you from?" she inquired.

"Italy."

"You don't say, Don Corleone. Your accent's a giveaway," Thalia rolled her eyes. "I meant, where in Italy."

"Oh."

Grover shook his head slightly, and Thalia remembered the kid didn't know about his past.

"Venezia," the boy said. Grover and Thalia stared at him.

"I thought you didn't have any memories before Westover," Grover said.

Thalia elbowed Grover in the ribs, could he be any less subtle.

"It's in my passport," Nico explained. "Bianca showed me. And I do know things, I just... don't remember most of it, mi capite?"

"Maybe a little bit," she admitted. She sighed and put her hands closer to the fire in front of them. "I was a tree for a while, and it felt a little bit like that."

"You were a what?"

"Is that your question?" Thalia teased the kid.

"That's also a question," Nico pointed out. "So it's my turn again."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. Grover smiled a bit and said, "He's not wrong."

"Okay," the kid apparently assumed Grover's word was law. "Who's Luke and what does he have to do with us?"

Well if this child didn't have a talent to hit the enemy right where it hurt.

"He is... he was our friend," Thalia didn't look at Grover as she spoke. "He's the bad guy, but he was good before. Like... like Darth Vader. He's mobilising the titans —the gods' parents, and grandparents—, and he wants to end the reign of the gods. He wants to create an empire for the titans to rule."

"Sounds messy," the kid summed it up, rather nicely in Thalia's opinion.

"Word War Two would be like a playground fight," Grover said.

"World War Two?" Nico seemed to find it confusing.

"Yeah, Great War the sequel: Germany Strikes Back," Thalia offered. The kid still looked confused, "Or, like, Adolf Hitler? It doesn't ring a bell?"

She had been about to remind the kid that they were getting side-tracked, but the way he was frowning worried her. What kind of amnesia made you forget the most absolutely infamous conflict in history?

"Wait," Grover held up a hand. "You know who Darth Vader is, but not Hitler?"

"My roommate —ex-roommate, cioè— was a fan," the kid shrugged. "Not of this World War Two, though. But the name does... how do you say it? Ring a bell."

"This is crazy," Grover mumbled.

Thalia pushed him with her shoulder, "He's ten, it's not that crazy." She turned to Nico. "Do you remember whether your mortal parent is your mother or father?"

Nico started to shake his head but stopped, "I think it was mamma. I... yes, my mother."

Thalia tried to cage him into Camp's stereotypes, but she couldn't quite choose one. He was clever, and he liked to know, clearly, but he didn't have the Athena vibe. He was fidgety enough for Hermes, but hadn't once tried to pickpocket either of them —she would know, Luke had taught her the tell-tale signs of possible thieves—. Many she discarded at once: Apollo —not likely, or Artemis would've recognised them—; Dionysus —too shy—; Hephaestus —not shy enough—; Ares —she almost snorted at that one, this little kid was the furthest thing from an Ares child she'd ever encountered—.

That left minor gods, but then again, she thought, why would Luke be that interested in the children of a minor god? Besides, Grover had assured them these two were powerful.

And of course, Thalia glanced behind her, where Percy was still talking with Artemis, there was her father and her uncle.

"Dai, ragazza!" Nico's pull of her sleeve startled her out of her reverie. "You were very still for a while. I thought something had happened."

"But then you turned," Grover said, gesturing with his head towards Artemis' tent, giving her an 'are you okay?' look.

"I was just thinking," she said simply.

"What were you thinking about?" the kid wondered. Thalia took in his naive curiosity. Pure and untouched by the world's cruelty. How soon that could change.

"About..." No point in lying, right? "Your godly parent."

"Hmmm," Nico's eyes weren't as doubtful as she expected. "I'm not sure..."

"But you have an idea?"

"I've..." the kid looked like he might lose his courage, but he continued. "I've seen some things these months. I think maybe..."

But whatever he thought, Thalia would never know, for in that moment, Percy stormed out of Artemis' tent. A giant scowl in his face. He gestured for them to get closer.

"Later, kid," Thalia ruffled his hair as she stood up. "I think your sister wants a word."

"Nice talking to you," Nico smiled that dimpled smile that reminded Thalia of Annabeth when she was younger.

"Yeah, you too."

They saw the kid run to Bianca, who had a serious expression, but who looked a lot less annoyed than Percy.

"So, what happened?" Thalia asked, once she, Percy, and Grover were huddled together.

Percy's frown deepened, "You're not going to like it…"

So far it's just this one one-shot, but I might make it a series of them, kind of like "Immortal Families Are Eternally Messy". Then again, it's me, I'll probably update once every millennium.

Hope you liked it!