Babette is a Maenad that appears in a short story in The Demigod Diaries.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The Demigod Diaries[]
Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford[]
Babette finds Leo Valdez and his friends Jason Grace and Piper McLean in the forest when Leo pretends to be the god Dionysus. She looks uncertainly at Jason and Piper asking if they are sacrifices for the party and if she and her friends should rip them to pieces. Leo rejects the offer and asks for introductions of which Babette introduces herself and then rattles off all the other Maenads names. Stepping closer to Leo, Babette comments, believing that Leo is Dionysus, that he is chosen an interesting form saying that "his form" is cute and youthful, but scrawny and short. Babette then asks where Leo has been saying that the Maenads have searched for so long. When Leo answers awkwardly and Piper corrects him, Babette continues to smile in a not so friendly way and then fixes her gaze on Piper asking if she is a recruit for the Maenads. When Leo denies it, Babette comments, while her fingernails begin to grow into talons, that it is a shame Piper is not a recruit explaining that they cannot allow mortals to witness the Maenads' secret revels. When Piper quickly says that she could be a recruit and asks if being a Maenad requires being drunk all the time, Babette explains that she and the other Maenads are underage and have not graduated to wine yet. Babette then giggles and slams her pine cone staff against the group making a white geyser bubble up. She explains that they drink the beverage of the season or eggnog.
Dionysus, who Babette follows.
After several moments, Babette sizes up Jason stating that he is obviously the sacrifice and the Maenads should start the festival by killing him. When Leo attempts to avoid Babette's plan, Babette asks why he is so interested in furniture and where his leopard and wine cup still semi-believing that Leo is Dionysus. Leo, Piper, and Jason try to word their way out, but Babette claims that they will not leave. She states that Leo does not act like Dionysus and that those who fail to honor the god will die and those who dare impersonate the god must die even more painfully. Babette then challenges Leo to prove he is Dionysus by knowing the order of the Maenads' revelries. Leo answers wrong and Babette gives him a last chance hinting that their revelries begin by singing the Bacchanalian Jingle. Leo sings the theme song to Psych instead, causing Babette to give the order to kill them. The Maenads eventually chase them to Bunker 9 and are captured and shipped to Atlantic City.[1]
Appearance[]
Babette has dark, curly hair that goes over her shoulder, freckles that splash across her nose, and a wreath of coral snakes that writhe across her forehead and is said to smell like pine needles.