#gonna reread that fic after i sketch this comic. who am i kidding after i FINISH this comic ffs

[todayisafridaynight]

sorry i still think that Phone Sex But Not But There's A Phone And Mine's Being Unhinged minedai fic's cinema. in text form.

[dotshiiki]

The Evolution of Hydras

Ahh so this is gonna be kind of weird because Rhodes airport doesn’t have wifi and my data plan doesn’t charge me extra for my phone use but it won’t let me hotspot overseas so I’m gonna try actually posting fic on tumblr mobile. Well, I have 90 minutes to wait til boarding anyway.

So this is for the final day of @percyjacksonweek2k17 -- free day! And I’m continuing from yesterday’s fic. I’m actually curious to know if Paul’s ‘method’ (okay, really mine) works, or if I’m just barking up the wrong tree with it. So, uh, let me know? :D

Summary. Paul devises a novel way to help Percy with school stuff. | Paul, Percy genfic | 1170 words

The problem with science textbooks, Paul thought, was that they insisted on presenting information in the driest way possible. Would it really kill the authors to inject at least some semblance of a narrative into the bare facts they attempted to shove down your throat?

Charles Tetley had been confused when Paul had asked to borrow a copy of the biology text he assigned his twelfth-graders, but he’d handed it over readily enough. Paul reread the notes he’d made on the chapter, double-checking them against the relevant paragraphs. Given the problems Percy was already having with the subject, it probably wouldn’t make things too much worse if Paul messed up a few points, but it’d be much better if his analogies were accurate.

The fire drill during second period had been quite the godsend. Not for Paul–he didn’t exactly appreciate the disruption to his class–but Percy had Biology second period. Which meant his test now had to be postponed to the following week.

It gave Paul a chance to see his idea could help.

He spent his free periods and lunch break sketching. It had been years since he’d put together a comic (it was a hobby he hadn’t indulged in since college) and it was quickly and clumsily drawn, but he thought it got the point across well enough.

Paul only hoped Percy would think so, too.

He caught up with his stepson that afternoon right after the last bell went. Percy was among the throng of seniors on their way out of the building when Paul tapped his shoulder.

‘Oh hey, P–er, Mr Blofis.’

‘Mind if I have a quick work?’

‘Er, yeah, sure.’

'So, the fire drill today–’

Percy held up his hands immediately. 'I swear, that wasn’t me.’

'No, no, that wasn’t what I–’ Paul sighed. The poor kid–he really was accustomed to getting blamed for anything out of the ordinary. 'I just meant to say, I guess your Bio test didn’t happen?’

Percy ran a hand through his hair. 'Yeah, it’s next week now. Got a stay of execution.’ His mouth twisted wryly. 'Too bad Annabeth went to Frisco this week. I could’ve used her help figuring out that evolution shit.’

'About that …’ Paul held out his amateur comic.

'What’s this?’ Percy scanned the sketches first with bewilderment and then a glimmer of understanding. 'Hydra evolution?’

'Let me know if it helps.’ Paul patted Percy’s shoulder again and headed back to his office. He smiled when he turned back at the end of the corridor and saw Percy studying the comic as he left the school.

OoOoO

Everyone knows hydras have multiple heads. But they didn’t always look that way.

When Poseidon made the first hydra from a magic green gem, it was a pretty normal dragon. Okay, yeah, normal’s relative. But you know–breathes fire, spits poison … hey, it’s a dragon, what do you expect? But one body, one head. Cut if off and it’s dead, game over.

But what fun is that, right?

Athena decided to 'improve’ the design a little. She used her magic grey gems and came up with multi-headed hydras. Maybe she watched too much baseball, because she went with the three-strike policy: strike one, there’s still a second head. Strike two, there’s still the third. Strike three, sorry hydra, you’re out.

So Poseidon had his green, single-headed hydras and Athena had her grey, three-headed ones, and they didn’t really mix until one day, a Poseidon hydra and an Athena hydra had a big adventure involving a daring escape from a demigod hero, a lot of flames, saving each other from certain death, and–okay, the details aren’t important. The point is, they fell in love.

And had lots of little hydra babies … who all had only one head apiece.

Poseidon was pretty insufferable about that, since he was sure it must mean his hydras were better than hers. But he stopped boasting pretty quick when the grandkids came along and out of nowhere, a pair of single-headed green hydras popped out a grey, three-headed baby.

See, the thing is, hydras mix their gems when they mate. And when you mix green and grey, all you really see is green. But it doesn’t mean the grey isn’t there. It’s still hiding under the surface, passed along down generations until one baby gets two grey gems. Without the green to overshadow it, the greys work their magic, and poof: three heads.

So the hydra population grew along merrily, eating heroes whenever they came along. For years, their numbers didn’t change much–Poseidon’s hydras seemed to be more numerous, since the mixed-gem kids always came out green and one-headed. But Athena kept saying, wait and see.

Then the heroes got bigger and badder and started carrying sharp bronze weapons. They got better at killing hydras.’

And Poseidon’s hydras got hit the worst. I mean, one good slice was all you really needed to take them out.

Athena’s hydras made it lots further, with their multiple heads. If they lost one, the others could still attack the hero. Their chances of survival were loads better.

So as time went on, the heroes killed more one-headed hydras than they did three-headed ones. After a while, the green gems that gave the hydras their single heads began to disappear.

Finally, only Athena’s grey gems were left–which now kept producing three-headed hydras, unshadowed by the green gems that kept the multiple heads from developing. And today, demigod heroes must contend with all hydras having too many heads to fight.

OoOoO

Percy was sitting at the kitchen table when Paul got home that evening. He had the hydra comic in front of him, as well as his biology textbook.

'I don’t know what my dad and Annabeth’s mom would think of the story,’ he said, 'but this finally makes sense.’ He jabbed a finger at the biology text.

Paul hoped he hadn’t inadvertently incurred the wrath of two Greek gods. He hadn’t really thought about that when he was sketching his Darwinian analogy. Maybe they’d forgive him; he was only trying to help their kids out, after all.

Percy pointed to a few highlighted passages in his textbook, cross-referenced against Paul’s comic panels. 'The gems are genes. And the heroes are selection pressures, right?’

Paul beamed. 'Right.’

'This is brilliant!’ Percy said. 'Do you think you could do this for, like, history and chem and–’

'Whoa.’ Paul held up his hands. 'I’m not that great an artist.’ Not to mention he’d have his work cut out for him trying to figure out all those subjects. But then, this was what it meant to be a teacher, wasn’t it?

No, scratch that. This was what it meant to be a dad.

'We can talk about it,’ he said.

A wide grin spread across Percy’s face. 'There’s one thing you should know though.’

'What’s that?’

'You do know hydras regenerate heads, right?’ Paul laughed. 'Well, maybe you can give me a crash course on monster physiology in return.

A/N: If I had any drawing skill at all I would totally do that comic. As it is, even my stick figures are pathetic, so a written version is all you’ll get.

Disclaimer–I know nothing about the US school system save what I’ve seen in popular media. My sincere apologies for an inaccuracies and I am open to any corrections anyone would suggest I make!