tushanshu | o1 ♆ video

[A messy-haired teenage boy is eyeing the computer with an expression somewhere between dubious, irritated, and relieved] One minute I’m falling to Tartarus, the next I’m stuck on a giant turtle and surrounded by water. I’m pretty sure that no one can blame me for thinking that sounds too good to be true.

We are on a giant turtle, right? Like, I didn’t hit my head and hallucinate that or anything, there’s definitely a turtle with a whole city happening on its back and everything? Has anyone tried talking to it yet? Because I could really use an answer that isn’t ‘ask the Emperor’ right now.

[He glances down at his hands and falls silent for a moment. One of them shows signs of the skin being ripped and torn, but it’s the other one he seems to be focussing on. He clenches his hand fruitlessly for a second, before glancing back up at the camera] Uh. I’m Percy, by the way. I’m looking for a girl called Annabeth Chase. She’s tall, has curly blonde hair, and a bad attitude. If you tell her I’m looking for her, she’ll probably start badmouthing me. Or – Frank, Hazel, Nico, Leo, Piper. Jason, even. If you’re here, get in touch.

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[oops] Uh - sorry. I didn't mean it the way that it sounded.

How many kinds of quests are there?

Well, there's the kind where you're going to learn something about yourself, the kind where you're trying to find something, the kind where you're trying to get rid of something, the kind where you're proving your worthiness, the kind where you're trying to save someone...lots of different kinds.

[She's royalty from an atavistic monarchical society she knows this stuff.]

[He grins] Sounds like you know your stuff. I think I can check about half of those off, at least.

Yeah, when I was a kid, it was more interesting than memorizing lists of my ancestors.

[Eyeroll.]

[He winces sympathetically] Yeah, I bet. What would even be the point in that?

[She rolls her eyes.]

Because my people are stuffy and boring and apparently being able to just look up who was king a zillion years ago isn't good enough.

[Atlantean recorded history goes back 8,000 years and the Imperial line of descent is unbroken. Imagine how much fun history lessons are.]

Ouch ['My people' sparks some curiosity, though, and there's a brief pause before he speaks again.]

Uh. Do you have gills?

Yup!

[She tips her head back and to the side, flaring her gills the way someone might wrinkle their nose.]

That's really cool. Uh, are you going to get offended if I ask if you're a sea nymph or something? [the last guy didn't take it so well]

[Nita giggles. Nymphs are fabled to be of stunning beauty; why would she be offended?]

Not quite, but I could probably fake it.

[He grins] That's okay, I think we can both live without that for now. Seriously, though, how'd you get the gills?

[Baby, she was born this way.]

I'm Atlantean. We all have gills.

[Because one branch of humanity evolved into water-breathing mammals, duh Percy.]

Like...the island that sunk into the ocean?

[Ohmigod why is this so hard for everyone to grasp?]

Yeah, that one.

Whoa.

Awesome.

We're not the original Atlanteans. They died when their continent, y'know, sank, as far as anyone knows. My people settled it later.

[She has told this story more in six months here than in her entire life before. Back home, everyone just accepts that Atlantis exists. Hard not to when it keeps attacking New York.]

Oh. That sucks, I guess. But the whole concept of people living underwater is pretty good. How do you handle the pressure? Are you built that way, or do you have some kind of barrier or whatever like this turtle apparently does?

We're just tougher.

[Nita is a little taken aback. What did you think they did?]

Before I went to live in New York, my cousin warned me that surface dwellers were more fragile, but I didn't believe it until I watched a football game. They wear so much padding!

That's an understatement. You can handle the cold, too?

[That gets a laugh out of him] Hey, don't judge the rest of humanity by football players. They're not exactly the best of the bunch.

Oh, sure.

[Should have seen her wandering around in her swimsuit when it was two degrees above freezing.]

Yeah, um, most of you are actually more fragile than that.

[She doesn't hold it against you! You can't help your genetics!]

When it comes to ocean pressure and temperature? Well, yeah. I like to think that most of us have a bit more in brains and general pleasantness, though.

Huh?

[Nita has to have most surface dweller stereotypes explained to her.]

Mr. Grimm [the Fantastic Four's Thing, for our readers following along at home] played football in college and he's perfectly nice.

[She thinks practically everyone is perfectly nice.]

[He grins, spreading his hands] There're exceptions to every rule, I guess. What's it like? Atlantis, I mean.

[She's just going to let your weird inexplicable surface dweller stereotypes go, Percy.]

Well, people have said it reminds them of Rome.

I've stayed in Roman places before. It must be, uh, impressive.

[video]

littlecousin - 2013-02-09 20:57 (UTC) - Expand