tushanshu | o1 ♆ video

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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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[Percy opens his mouth to reply before he actually processes what she says. Oh. Yeah, okay, that's probably a good idea. His mouth shuts with a click, and he looks sort of sheepish]

You're distracting. [It's a teasing accusation as he untangles the two of them - reluctantly - and stands, holding his hand out to help her out] Can you show me around after? I figure if anyone knows this place's secrets, it'd be you.

[She smiles at his face and reaction, mouth and adorably sheepish look all in one.]

Shut up. [It's half teasing in response, because you know what, Percy's pretty distracting himself. She reaches for his hand and pulls herself up with it, but she doesn't let it go, even after they're both standing.]

It might take a few days for the full tour. But yeah, I know a thing or two.

[And man she's got a lot to share about this place.]

But you just told me to start talking.

[He's glad she doesn't let go of his hand, because he hadn't been planning on doing that either.

The suite reminds him of his cabin, a little bit. There's at least three fountains that he's found so far, and the colours are similar. It's not his cabin, though, and he doesn't know when he'll ever have the chance to see that again. If.] I don't have any problems spending a few days with you, do you?

[She rolls her eyes, ignoring the last bit of evidence that she was crying a little.] Don't get smart.

[When they walk inside, Annabeth carries herself like it's her own, even if she gives the room a scan with fresh eyes. She's had little opportunity to go inside the water sector suites until now. But that's liable to change. She squeezes his hand.]

Nah, I think that's something I can handle.

[Even if she's already planning on seeing him every day, as long as they're stuck here.]

Edited 2013-01-27 23:14 (UTC)

Right, right, that's your job.

[His hand squeezes hers back automatically.] C'mon, let's sit down. There's kind of a lot to go through.

Because I am.

[The suite might be his, but she sure does take the lead in tugging him towards the couch. She removes her knife and sets it on the table, before flopping onto the seat and pulling Percy down with her.]

[She's sitting on a couch with Percy Jackson. She stares down at their interlocked hands, fascinated. Annabeth's not quite sure she's going to stop thinking over the current reality in her head any time soon, after so long without him.]

[He's kind of tempted to tug her onto his lap or something as they sit down, but he does need to focus a little bit. He catches her looking down at their conjoint hands and smiles a little, rubbing his thumb over the back of hers] I guess you already know about Hera's exchange program, then. It didn't exactly go the same way for me as it did for Jason. [And he launches into the events that occurred during their separation, explaining the house and Lupa, his time on the run, how he found Camp Jupiter.]

Oh, uh - the curse of Achilles is gone, too. [He's not invincible anymore] The Little Tiber washed it away. [There's still more to tell - a lot more - but he doesn't want to dump everything on her all at once. She deserves to have time to actually digest things, time that she didn't have when they met up in Camp Jupiter]

[Annabeth's a careful audience; she doesn't interrupt as he speaks, just listens and takes it all in. Her expression changes with the story, but it's largely serious and thoughtful.]

Little Tiber. [She repeats, fiddling with his hand in hers in an unconscious motion. She's been holding it forever, but it's only now that she notices how scraped up it is.]

[Then she punches him.] After all the trouble you went to get it? Way to go.

[It's half teasing. It's a little worrisome, but he's Percy.]

It's a part of the boundary for Camp Jupiter. [There's something almost wistful in his tone when he mentions the Camp, not that he realises it. His gaze becomes a little distant, before he returns his attention to Annabeth.

A quiet hiss escapes him as she grazes one of the scrapes. He's almost forgotten about that, in the excitement of seeing her again.

A wounded expression steals his face] Hey, it was that or get eaten by gorgons! By the way, I'm not surprised that Medusa went around the bend if all she had for company were her sisters, let me tell you.

I figured. Because of the actual Tiber. [She picks up on his tone, watches his mind fall into distraction, and she wants to ask why. Except she gets interrupted by the noise he makes when she touches the scrapes, so she immediately stops and just takes to holding it again. She wants to ask - she's just waiting for the appropriate moment.]

Some of that's your dad's fault, too, you know.

[He manages a grin] See, this is why you're the smart one.

[He's Percy and therefore kind of dumb, so he's barely aware of the fact that his voice was carrying any particular tone, much less of Annabeth picking up on it. The grin widens] Your mom's the one who turned them all in the first place. Maybe she was thinking in the long term, trying to keep me away from you.

[Annabeth beams. She'll never get tired of people, especially Percy, calling her smart.]

[She rolls her eyes.] Yeah, because of your dad. And she's not that prophetic. Besides, she couldn't even if she tried.

[Though her expression falters a little, as she suddenly remembers the last conversation she had with her mother. But that's not for right now.]

[She couldn't even if she tried makes Percy tighten his grip on Annabeth's hand in spite of the cuts and scrapes. He sees her expression falter, and in one of those bursts of impulse and assumptions that are so characteristic of him, he manages to put two and two together]

I'm kind of getting ahead of myself here, but you help her. And she was wrong about what she said to you, okay? Don't beat yourself up.

[She tightens her own grip at his words, biting her lip.]

I guess I told you, huh? [She's not surprised at all. If she shared it with anyone, it would be him. He just hadn't been around till now.]

[There's a long few seconds of silence before she can bring herself to ask, and when she does, her tone is quiet. A little hesitant.]

Did I find it?

I'm a hard guy to keep secrets from.

[There's some small part of him that wishes she hadn't found it, if only because of what happened after. If he could have saved her from that, he would have] Athena Parthenos. Of course you did. By yourself with a broken ankle, too. I didn't really get the full story, but I know you were amazing. It's on the Argo II now.

[She rolls her eyes again. Is it weird to miss that feeling? The simple ability to just roll her eyes at him? She's so aware of it happening at the moment.]

[His admittance takes a huge weight off. She found it. She did it. She'd done what no other child of Athena could. She takes both his hands in hers, holding them tightly and pressing her forehead to his, closing her eyes. Even if she doesn't know how, she did it. It's such an overwhelming relief.]

[She opens one eye.] A broken ankle, huh?

[She totally does not sound a little impressed by herself, what are you talking about.]

[His eyes shut again as she takes his other hand. He holds on a little tighter with that one, although he's aware enough not to start crushing bones or anything. He has to open his eyes again after a couple of seconds, though, because when he shuts them right now he sees her face, and the mouth of Tartarus yawning below them.

He sees her open her eye and laughs, both at that and the way she sounds totally impressed with herself.] You made a cast out of bubble wrap. [He'd had maybe half a minute to be impressed with that himself before--

He clears his throat] Anyway, I'm way ahead of myself here. You made it to Camp Jupiter. Things were sort of tense at first, but it seems like it was going to be okay until Leo kind of fired on the Romans.

[For a moment she starts considering the benefits of a bubble wrap cast, wondering how she got it, what actually happened to her ankle. All the while simultaneously listening and absorbing what Percy's saying.]

[Except then.]

He what?

It wasn't his fault! [Percy had been kind of mad at first, obviously, but he'd gotten over that pretty quickly. Especially once Blackjack had kicked him in the head.] I'll get to it later, but the short version is that he was possessed, and he wasn't the only one. But the whole meeting of Greeks and Romans didn't go down as well as it could have.

Possessed by what? And who else?

[Gods, she really did miss a lot. She hates not knowing, feeling behind both Percy and Leo. She appreciates the catch up, but it still bugs her.]

By 'not well,' I'm assuming you mean 'disastrous?'

An eidolon? It was Leo, Jason, and me. They're gone now though, Piper charmspeaked them away.

And yeah, it was pretty bad. The Romans took being fired on by Greeks about as well as we would've taken them attacking us. It wasn't all bad, though. They...operate a lot differently from us. A lot of members of the Legion aren't even demigods, just relations. They have a whole town where people can live with their families. [That wistful tone is back in his voice, and his thumb absently starts sliding back and forth over Annabeth's hand again.]

But anyway, I got there, and that's when I met Frank and Hazel. Kind of like how Piper and Leo ran into Jason, I guess. [And then he launches into Son of Neptune: Abridged, finishing up with a--] And then they kind of made me praetor.

Piper. Of course. Good. [And she's really glad for that, even if it makes her remember how much she misses Piper, too. They'd gotten fairly close in the last few months of being home. But eidolons? From Gaea, no doubt.]

[She picks up on the wistful tone again, for the second time, even if she's 99% sure he's not aware of it himself. But she doesn't want to interrupt - the sooner they get through the important bits, the better.]

[When he concludes with the declaration of being named Praetor, Annabeth can't help but grin. Somehow, somehow, she is not surprised in the slightest.] Praetor Percy Jackson. Hope you're not getting too Roman on me.

[He grins] I think I'm a little to wild to be a proper Roman. They're pretty regimented. There's a bunch of procedures and formalities that I was never going to remember. But it's like...the Greeks are pretty solitary, you know? We've got all these stories and myths about single heroes who beat everything. Rome's all about working together to create something great. I still think they could stand to loosen up a bit, but not everything was bad. We could learn a lot from each other.

[She smirks, in agreement. She might not have seen the Roman Camp yet, but from all Percy's shared, and all she knows about Rome in general, it's hard not to. He's Greek, through and through, and the Romans hadn't changed him. The thought makes her lean forward and kiss his cheek.]

[There's still the tattoo on his arm. She noticed it earlier, but she'd been a little too distracted to say much. So it's only now that she slides one of her hands for it, runs her fingers along the lines. As permanent as Jason's, no doubt. She wants to ask about it, but instead:] Hopefully it's not too late for that.

Edited 2013-01-29 01:40 (UTC)

[He blinks, taken by surprise when she kisses him on the cheek. It gets another smile out of him though, and he gives her a nudge with his shoulder.

Her fingers tracing the tattoo feel nice, a combination of the new and the familiar] They also take their camp attendance a lot more seriously than we do. And I don't think it is too late. The Athena Parthenos was supposed to help with that. Jason and Hazel and Frank are all Roman, and Reyna - that's the other praetor - she at least recognises that the world's going to end if we can't even pretend to get along.