"I ... yeah? You know what they say, 'mortal until proven godly' — or something like that."

It's not ... actually what Percy believes, but with everything that occurred in the fake-god-universe, it somehow felt a lot more comforting to assume that everyone who had been through it suffered the same. Mortals becoming gods, mortals realizing how crappy it was to be a god, mortals who are thankful now for being mortals again. And everyone else with some kind of ability was just really good at magic.

It's a simple theory but it helps him sleep at night since that traumatic event, okay.

"Well, uh. Hi cousin." Is it weird to say 'Welcome to the family'? Maybe. Maybe it should be the other way around.

Still, it doesn't seem strange that they could be related as if the shock of such news has been worn down by other crazier things happening to him as of late.

"How are the folks?"