o5 ♆ video

[kelpful]

[Percy is firmly established in Annabeth's suite again. He's frowning absently at the screen, almost like he's totally forgotten what he was going to say. Instead of words, you get the steady pop pop pop of him messing around with a sheet of bubblewrap in front of him. From the right angle, he appears to be popping it in the shape of a sword. Or a stick. Or maybe just a line.

All of a sudden, his hands stop. He glances at the camera like he's just remembered that it's on, and opens his mouth. Shuts it. Open it again] Hey, I think...I'm seventeen now.

[There's a brief moment of silence before a wide grin breaks out across his face. He laughs, and there's a certain relief in the sound.] Not bad for someone who wasn't supposed to make it past sixteen, huh? Oh man, how did I miss this?

[He leans in towards the screen intently, a certain determination stealing his features. Percy's ADHD brain has caught onto an idea, and it is Extremely Important that it be addressed Right Now] Okay, I know that things are really tight and tense right now for everyone, but this is...well, it's important. Or at least, it'd mean a lot to me. Does anyone know where I could get my hands on some blue food dye? Or like, something that dyes...food...blue.

[That's the same thing, Percy.] I can pay. Or, I don't know, blast you with salt water. I guess no one really wants to swim in the canals right now. [Briefly his expression falls, reminded of what he sees as his failure in trying to save the Water Sector] But yeah, if anyone knows where I could get some, that'd be great.

Comments

[kelpful]

Thanks, Kara! It's cool, I don't really need anything. Maybe keep an eye out for the food dye, if you can?

[notdreaming]

I'll keep an eye out, but the only dye I've seen has been for clothes. What do you need it for?

[kelpful]

A cake. It's a thing from back home, with my mom. Every birthday or special occasion, we'd have blue food.

[notdreaming]

Because of the water thing?

Maybe there's a blue fruit you could have in your cake.

[kelpful]

Nah, it’s just my favourite colour. I wanted blue food once, and my step-dad said there was no such thing. So my mom went out and got as much blue food as she could find, and what she couldn’t find, she made. Kind of like an ‘anything can happen if you try hard enough’ sort of thing. [His voice is fond, but sad. He misses his mother like burning.]

Hey, that’s a good idea!

[notdreaming]

That's silly. Blue is a common color in nature.

[kelpful]

Yeah, he was that kind of guy. The whole reason my mum was with him was because he was seriously so unimaginative and mundane that his smell hid mine from the monsters.

[notdreaming]

[ What ]

Oh. I didn't realize that imagination had a smell.

[kelpful]

What? Oh no, it doesn't. It's like - monsters can smell demigods for whatever reason. I think it's the whole god thing. And we smell like they want to eat us. Most normal people don't have a smell to them, but some are so boring and terrible that they start to smell bad, I guess. Monsters don't like going near them.

[notdreaming]

[ Huh. Who knew? ]

If he did such a good job of it I can only imagine how boring he must have been.

[kelpful]

He was a jerk. [And is currently decorating someone's garden as a statue 83]

I can look after myself now, though. My mom gave up a lot to protect me, but she doesn't have to be with him any more. So that's something.

[notdreaming]

It sounds like your mother really loves you. That's good. [ She misses her mother :c ]

[kelpful]

She...yeah. [His voice is suddenly a little hoarse] Yeah, she does. [Sob, so does he]