Goddess Of Temptation

Asriel followed the shouts and cheers of encouragement as far as the colosseum. Sure enough, there everybody was, with their tacky giant foam hands and coloured ribbons, mostly hollering their support to none other than her own little sister. Well, half-sister. Clarisse La Rue. Daughter of Ares and some mortal or other that he'd taken a fancy to a few years ago. Asriel wouldn't have admitted it out loud to anyone, but Clarisse was tackling the obstacle tower pretty expertly, competing against a boy with dark hair and flimsy-looking elbow protectors.
On the opposite side of the compound, on a platform beneath a canopy, Chiron stood chatting to Dionysus, who was watching Clarisse's progress with interest as he poured himself a glass of wine that changed immediately to water. Asriel was sure her uncle considered that to be the absolute worst part of his exile. Becoming the director of Camp Halfblood for a hundred years was nothing compared to the God of Wine being denied his favourite beverage.
Well, Asriel thought, I may as well make an entrance that Dad would be proud of.
She hit the bottom of the tower running, swinging effortlessly onto the rope ladders whilst simultaneously deftly dodging the thumping gauntlets. She met the dark haired boy halfway. He was going down. Some kid dangling by his foot from a ladder had called for help. Clarisse had ignored it. So had she. His rescuer was knocked to the ground for his troubles.
Just her and little sis, then. Asriel grinned to herself. Clarisse didn't yet know that her elder sister was there, she thought her victory was assured.
Ha! Asriel laughed inwardly. We'll see about that, and she smirked to see the surprise on Clarisse's face when the tower stopped spinning right before she swung herself onto the uppermost level.
Dionysus didn't realise it wasn't Clarisse that had won at first. He was too distracted by his beloved glass of red becoming water, and so used to seeing his youngest niece holding the glass eye aloft that it took a moment for the realisation to sink in.
"Oh, no," he muttered.
"What?" the centaur asked, following his line of vision. "Oh, no..." he echoed in dismay, earning himself a glare of annoyance from Dionysus.
Asriel. Goddess of Temptation. Her black hair was streaked with red this time, instead of blue. Her lips were dark, and she still had those irritating tattooes around her eyes that drove Dionysus crazy. The sunlight made the gem in her nose sparkle, and she was dressed completely in black. Clearly going through what the mortals called a 'goth' phase, Dionysus decided, with a roll of his eyes.
She grinned down at him, almost scornful in her triumph as she raised her eyebrows at her younger sister in a mock apology. Clarisse glared back and the two young women somersaulted and flipped their way down the tower together, landing on their feet in the gravel at the exact same moment.
"What are you doing here?" Clarisse questioned rudely.
"Grandfather sent me. Apparently one awkward god causing conflicts on Olympus is enough at the moment." She was referring, of course, to Ares, who always managed stir up trouble wherever he went, a trait both girls seemed to have inherited and mastered with very little effort.
"Asriel. How lovely to see you," Chiron greeted smoothly, looking like he would rather have been stabled for a month than spend an hour in her company.
"Hi," Asriel said, striding past him and leeching herself on the edge of the table Dionysus was seated at. He stared at herm and she looked back levelly.
"Did Zeus send you?"
"Hmm hmm," she answered, clearly unphased by the lack of greeting, taking the glass from his hand and holding the stem nonchalantly between her thumb and forefinger as she disdainfully tipped the remaining water onto the porch floor. She then proceeded to fill the goblet with wine, and Dionysus gazed at it longingly as she lifted it to her lips and drank deeply.
"It was a very good year," she murmured, when she came up for air.
Dionysus peered at her contemptuously, knowing she was doing it to get a rise out of him, but unable to stop himself falling for it.
"Have you been a bad girl?" he asked.
She gave him a stare that anyone else would have backed away from, but he simply lounged back in his chair, knowing he'd grazed a nerve.
"Why else would I be stuck here with you?" she replied sarcastically.
"Oh, yeah, because my life will be soooo much easier with you here, won't it? He's done this to torture me. It can't be for any other reason."
"Maybe he thinks you look lonely, and need some family around you."
"Whatever. How long are you staying?"
Asriel shrugged. "Until he misses me, I guess."
Dionysus rolled his eyes again, and heaved himself to his feet.
"Oh, joy." He grabbed a long-handled metal object from behind his seat, and lumbered down the steps. "Perry Johnson!" he barked, addressing dark haired boy from the obstacle tower.
"Actually, it's Percy Jackson, sir."
"Whatever." Asriel heard Dionysus respond, as he cupped his arm around the kid's shoulders. She watched the demigod guide the boy across the compound, and present him with a rake before walking off in the direction of the Big House. Asriel considered the boy for a while as he worked, and then she, too, headed for the camp's oldest building, wandering in like she knew exactly where she was going, which, indeed, she did.

Notes