o2 ♆ video//joint post with annabeth

[kelpful]

[The following is actually posted from Annabeth’s console. Despite his girlfriend’s warning that he should wait to post until he’s in a more stable frame of mind, Percy’s ADHD self has decided it’s necessary to let potential turtle-talkers know about the dangers RIGHT NOW. His expression is sort of dazed as he starts the feed.]

So...[Excuse him for a moment, he’s just going toget distracted by the screen and the colours and wondering how it all works. It takes him a couple of moments to get back on track, shaking his head] Uh. Yeah, if you can talk to turtles? My advice would...be... [HOLD ON he said the word turtle and holy shit, that turtle was old. Like, mega old. And it knew so much, had seen so much that Percy couldn’t even imagine...

Yeah he’s gone again. Please hold.]

[And somewhere in the suite, Annabeth hears Percy talking, so when he trails off, her voice calls out:] Percy? Who are you talking -

[There’s a pause, when she realizes.] You idiot.

[If there’s one voice that’s guaranteed to get through to him, it’s that one. Percy jerks, twisting around to face the direction of his girlfriend’s voice. His expression is sheepish, and he mouths ‘caught’ at the screen] Hey, I was just being a concerned citizen, letting our fellow Turtle-ites know about the dangers-- [and then he cuts himself off, frowning slightly, because is it really dangerous? He feels good. Peaceful. Small, maybe, in the face of that vast mind, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Yeah he’s basically sitting there with his mouth hanging open again]

[With a sigh, she just walks over and punches his shoulder, then peers down into the video, very much linefaced.] He’s been like this for a day.

Ouch! [Percy’s mouth shuts with a click. His glare is pretty ineffectual, a mixture of the turtle’s peace and the fact that he still has this tendency to smile at Annabeth when he sees her these days. Rubbing his shoulder, he wakes up enough to actually finish what he was saying in the first place]

Yeah, so, talking to the turtle didn’t end up going as planned. I think it’s...too ancient to really communicate with us, if that makes sense. It’s pretty overwhelming, I wouldn’t suggest trying it. At least, not unless you have an overeager girlfriend to hit you if you get sucked in too far. [He turns back to Annabeth and murmurs, although it’s still loud enough to be heard] Seriously, you hit me a lot.

Only when you deserve it. [She says it completely deadpan, then just walks away and out of view.]

[Percy rolls his eyes at the camera, and then switches it off. Jackson gets the last word for once, aww yeah]

Comments

[fatedchaos]

Are you... Okay? [Sniffing a little glue lately there, buddy?]

[kelpful]

Tried to talk to the turtle. [At least he's at the point now where the word 'turtle' doesn't send him into raptures] It's mind is, uh. Big.

[fatedchaos]

[There are so many things someone could say to this, honestly. Vanessa bites her lip.] Why were you trying to talk to the turtle?

[kelpful]

Hey, if you could talk to turtles and found yourself on the back of a giant one, wouldn't you want to talk to it?

I was hoping it would give me an answer that wasn't 'ask the Emperor', actually.

[fatedchaos]

[She doesn't even need to think about that one.] No, not really.

[Ah.] But the turtle is just carrying us. The Emperor is the one most likely to have the answers. [Oh, so naive.]

[kelpful]

[He looks surprised at that] Really? They're usually not this, uh, strong minded.

[He shrugs] It has a whole city on its back. Animals usually pick up some information about what's happening around them. Even if they don't know what it means. [He rubs his forehead] In this case, the turtle knew a lot. Too much to even start processing.

[fatedchaos]

I wouldn't go around talking to turtles if I had the ability. [Okay, it's just weird. And would make her even more of a freak.]

But would the turtle really pick anything up? What I'm saying is, this is a fairly large turtle. Would sounds carry? And it's not like it can actually see what's happening. [Turtles just shouldn't have information. Or too many thoughts to process. What is reality?]

[kelpful]

That makes no sense at all.

I don't see why not. I think people go up to the head sometimes because they like the peace. And it's a really smart turtle. I mean, it's already big enough to have a city on its back, so there's obviously already something weird about it. [He rubs his neck idly] At the end of the day, it was better to go ask it in case it did know something, and be wrong about that then to not ask it and find out later that it did know something useful. [a beat] If that...makes sense.

[fatedchaos]

What about it doesn't make any sense?

[She gives a small smile.] I doubt that they're going up there to spill all kinds of state secrets to the turtle. [Sigh.] In any case, it was probably a better idea than anything else. The Emperor supposedly holds audiences, though.

[kelpful]

Well I mean, I don't go out of my way to chat with animals, but if you can do it, why not? Sometimes they say interesting things. I mean, I was pretty dubious when my friend Grover first started talking to a poodle, but then it turned out I could chat with a zebra, and that was pretty neat. It's saved our lives on more than one occasion, too.

[Percy coughs, grinning a little sheepishly] I've never beeen all that good at holding audiences with people. There aren't a lot of people in power who like being told how it is, you know?

[fatedchaos]

Because talking to animals... [Is weird as fuck. But no weirder than reading someone else's mind or telling the future or time traveling or... Being able to control your own molecules. With a frown, she looks down at her hand for a second.] Because you don't always have to do something just because you can or because you should.

[She gives a small smile.] Yeah, tell me about it.

[kelpful]

[He rubs the back of his neck a little] Actually, I kind of do. Have to listen, at least, I can't turn my ears off. [He grins] Fish talk about the most boring things, seriously.

[The grin stays when he sees her smile. Success /o/] Sounds like you've had a couple of run-ins yourself.

[fatedchaos]

[Powers are stupid.] What do they talk about?

Oh, you know. Parents and teachers and stuff. [Stuff like goddesses and the Fates and the Atrox.]

[kelpful]

Food, mostly. Or me. Thankfully fish are generally animals that don't think we're the same thing.

Oh, right. Yeah, I have even worse luck with them. Well - okay no, my parents are cool. Especially my mom. Teachers? Not so much. I think the nicest thing one of them's ever said about me was that I'm a 'handful'.

[fatedchaos]

That sounds like a simple life. [It's not an insult. It just sounds easy.]

I've never really had problems with teachers, but I... had a friend, who got into trouble a lot. My mom, on the other hand. I worried her a lot. Sometimes adults just get too overbearing.