tushanshu | o5 ♆ video

[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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm definitely a non-believer, but you should probably keep his life story to yourself anyway. I'm a tough sell.

[aka stop trying to troll me, I am untrollable]

Fine, but if you burn in the fiery pits of hell with all the gnashing of teeth and whaling or whatever—not that I get what whales have to do with hell in the first place—then don't be hatin' when I say "I told you so." [kanyeshrug!]

Anyway! Aside from renewing your faith in Jesus, I can also probably lend you a hand with the filtration system.

I think I can avoid the fiery pits of hell on my own.

... You can? [Bruce isn't skeptical that someone that could be trying to trick him a second ago could have mechanical knowledge. It's more that he's having an intense moment of deja vu where he wonders if this is what Tony was like as a teenager.] Are you another, part of the pantheon?

[Is it rude to ask who his parents are? Bruce thinks it's probably rude. Who doesn't have daddy issues? So this is him trying to be circumspect.]

Uh, no, we're all Greek here, but whatever. [oh no, he misses the Romans and the rest of the Greeks now—even that loser Frank] Point is! I totally can. I mean, how hard can it be, right?

[Is pantheon a Roman thing? Bruce doesn't even know. He's a science genius, okay, he's never really had a reason to care about gods before.]

I appreciate the... the offer, but I don't really want to take risks on this project if you're not sure.

[wow rude bruce leo is always sure]

Uh, dude, after building a flying, fully-armed ship, I'm pretty sure I can handle working on a purification system.

[he sounds almost proud at that!]

[Look you can't judge him for not taking him seriously. Look at him.

Bruce is trying not to be rude, but he ends up sounding a little skeptical, anyway. Less at the idea that he could handle it, and more at what he just said.]

Why were you building a... flying, fully-armed ship?

[Percy is just going to butt in here, because a guy claiming to be the son of the sea god is a totally reliable reference]

Leo's a son of Hephaestus. If you need something machine-related built, he's the guy you have to go to.

[The scary thing is that it is working as a reference. Bruce has no real reason to disbelieve anyone about the crazy things they can do, it's just that Leo tripped his bullshit alarm and it made it hard to trust anything he said after that.

So Percy he believes, if he knew exactly what he was talking about.] Who's... Hephaestus? Another god? [He really doesn't know his mythology, okay, and Hephaestus is a little more obscure.]

But if you say so, then. [A small shrug, like, okay, I believe you.]

[He nods] Yeah, he's the God of the Forge. But the meaning's kind of...updated with the modern age. Leo basically has a thing for anything mechanical.

Oh. Wow. [Okay, now he looks a little bit impressed. It's Bruce, so it's a subtle difference, but you can tell if you're looking for it.]

... Let me guess. He comes up with brilliant ideas on the fly, likes the attention, and can't give a straight answer to anything?

Oh, well this bird kept pissing me off by crapping on my shoulder every morning so I thought I'd teach it a lesson and—come on, man, we were at war with like, Mother Earth and all her brainless goons, what else did you think it was for?

[LMFAO JUST... RATTLING OFF WITHOUT BOTHERING OR CARING TO EXPLAIN...]

Edited 2013-05-07 16:44 (UTC)

[There's several long seconds of silence as Bruce's eyebrows go up higher and higher and he just looks at him, not responding.

But he's hard to faze, and all this ridiculousness is provoking some of his own ability to be sarcastic.] Right, that's what you usually build them for. All of... that.

[ Whoops unfortunately you're not a machine, Bruce, so that silence is completely misinterpereted ]

Yeah, I know, I'm pretty awesome. So! [ a clap! ] Am I in or not? Or do you need more references other than the Son of the Sea God over there?

[Wow. Maybe this is what like talking to a teenage Tony would be like.

It's probably the same thing that makes him get along with Tony that makes him faintly, wryly amused here, not correcting the assumption that it was a pause of admiration. What that thing is, Bruce would like to know.]

No, that'll do. You're... in. Come stop in at Stark Industries in Fire sector sometime, ask for Bruce Banner.

You're Leo?

Awesome! Yep, I'm Leo Valdez, Tragically Handsome, Supersized McShizzle, Cause of Many a Nymph Swooning. But you can just call me Lord of Awesome.

I'll stick with Leo. [He still sounds pretty dryly tolerant.]

If you're that good, then we'll be glad to have you. I've gotten a couple other volunteers on the set up side of things. We should get this together pretty fast.

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