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open | arrival of one seaweed brain
[ A ]
If Percy felt one thing about today, it was that he needed a BIG break like he needed a whooping BIG mac with extra cheese and extra hamburger to go with it for all the school work he had to today. So pretty much everything was a distraction. The way his pencil seemed to start to make a beat sooner rather than later when he tapped it on his desk thoughtfully, for starters. The way his page turned more into a connect the dot game in his mind when his eyes started seeing the words jumble around due to his dyslexia. But what took the cake was the distraction his plain white door was. It promised him easy freedom just on the other side of it when he looked over at it. All he had to do is get up. He resisted that urge successfully, though.
At least he did initially. He couldn't help turning back to it a minute later to find a blue door magically in its place. And THAT, he thought, he couldn't ignore. No way, no how. Besides as much as he could hear his girlfriend Annabeth say he should sit his ass down and do his school work and catch up, he could picture her saying it was important not to ignore signs from the Gods too. That's what he was assuming this was, anyway.
So Percy got himself up and opened the door. He didn't stop to think about what would be on the other side either, and walked straight through. He thought maybe a small peak couldn't hurt. And he was right. Wherever he was when he stepped over the portal threshold, there was fresh water and beach as far as his eye could see. The air smelled cleaner than it did in New York. And what's more curiouser was that it was a real paradise as far as he could tell.
He didn't get why he was brought here. So he thought he would just ask.
"Dad?" he began his question aloud, thinking he was definitely only here because his godly parent had something in mind for him. All he had to do was talk in the open and try to be tactful with his words to the God of the Sea. Percy wasn't paying too much attention to anything else, including anyone that might have been behind him to hear him. "Awesome place you have here... but, you know, if you could send me a sign telling me what this place is - or, what do you want me to do here - that'd be great too."
He'll just have to do the usual thing and wait until that happened, he thought.
[ B ]
Okay, actually. Truth is... He doesn't do well waiting or sitting still in one place very long. So shortly after his arrival, Percy partly chooses to go along with following the instruction to proceed to the Apartment buildings and makes his way around the premise to see what there is to see outside. He doesn't attempt to go in just yet. Find poking around anywhere. He's the perfect picture of a lost new face, but not an unfriendly looking one.
If Percy felt one thing about today, it was that he needed a BIG break like he needed a whooping BIG mac with extra cheese and extra hamburger to go with it for all the school work he had to today. So pretty much everything was a distraction. The way his pencil seemed to start to make a beat sooner rather than later when he tapped it on his desk thoughtfully, for starters. The way his page turned more into a connect the dot game in his mind when his eyes started seeing the words jumble around due to his dyslexia. But what took the cake was the distraction his plain white door was. It promised him easy freedom just on the other side of it when he looked over at it. All he had to do is get up. He resisted that urge successfully, though.
At least he did initially. He couldn't help turning back to it a minute later to find a blue door magically in its place. And THAT, he thought, he couldn't ignore. No way, no how. Besides as much as he could hear his girlfriend Annabeth say he should sit his ass down and do his school work and catch up, he could picture her saying it was important not to ignore signs from the Gods too. That's what he was assuming this was, anyway.
So Percy got himself up and opened the door. He didn't stop to think about what would be on the other side either, and walked straight through. He thought maybe a small peak couldn't hurt. And he was right. Wherever he was when he stepped over the portal threshold, there was fresh water and beach as far as his eye could see. The air smelled cleaner than it did in New York. And what's more curiouser was that it was a real paradise as far as he could tell.
He didn't get why he was brought here. So he thought he would just ask.
"Dad?" he began his question aloud, thinking he was definitely only here because his godly parent had something in mind for him. All he had to do was talk in the open and try to be tactful with his words to the God of the Sea. Percy wasn't paying too much attention to anything else, including anyone that might have been behind him to hear him. "Awesome place you have here... but, you know, if you could send me a sign telling me what this place is - or, what do you want me to do here - that'd be great too."
He'll just have to do the usual thing and wait until that happened, he thought.
[ B ]
Okay, actually. Truth is... He doesn't do well waiting or sitting still in one place very long. So shortly after his arrival, Percy partly chooses to go along with following the instruction to proceed to the Apartment buildings and makes his way around the premise to see what there is to see outside. He doesn't attempt to go in just yet. Find poking around anywhere. He's the perfect picture of a lost new face, but not an unfriendly looking one.
no subject
She tilts her head. "Are you into sports?"
Jill catches his stumble over his words and normally she might press just a bit. But she just met Percy and she wants him to have a chance to settle in and get to know her before he shares anything he might not be so keen to share. "Not really. I mean... I have Lucy here and she's all I've ever really needed. So as long as she's here with me, I'm good. Do you miss Connecticut? Or New York?"
no subject
He is only able to relax again as she continues to talk about sports, thinking he definitely heard her wrong. No way she said riptide. Or if she did, it meant something else. He thinks about it for a moment and then shrugs. "Yeah, something like that. I don't have the chance to watch any, but we do a lot of crazy sports in camp where I'm from."
'Cause capture the flag he's heard is a sport in itself. Greek or Roman history says so.
He's glad she doesn't say anything about his slip up, because for right now he knows it's better not to say anything and risk sounding like an insane teenager at large. Never mind how their shared situation is already weird enough. "Yeah, missing it a lot already," he starts, seeing no reason to hide it. "New York is where my mom and girlfriend are."
no subject
"Oh, you live in a camp? Or you go camping?" Now she's as confused as he is. This is fun, the way they keep confusing one another.
Mention of a family worth missing makes Jill smile a little, a small and crooked smile. "Sometimes people surprise you and show up here. Maybe they'll do that for you." She knows it's weird to wish people here, and that it does no good since wish magic doesn't work on people, but she knows what it's like to miss people.
no subject
"My mistake," he says. "They sound like a pretty scary-cool team, though, if they go by 'Crimson tide.'" Of course the image he gets is one of his father Poseidon when he is in his foretold scary mood swings, the other side of the nature of the sea.
They are making this pretty confusing, aren't they. He notices how his comment might seem weird after the fact, but nods. "Yeah, well. Sorry. I mean, I live in New York for half the year and at Camp for the other half of the time. It's sort of a family tradition." If you count how he's been doing it for years and how all demi-gods are basically family.
"Yeah, I hope so. That, or going home. I'd take either at this point so they know I'm okay." He notices her little crooked smile, and offers one of his own awkward feeling ones right back. "Maybe they'll do that for everyone." He adds.
no subject
That explanation makes a lot more sense to her. "Is there a reason for half the year at camp or...? I mean, what's the camp like? I'm imagining log cabins and row boats and stuff. Is there a purpose for it or just six months of no family and camp... stuff?"
She's also imagining Percy's family being both able to pay for said camp and being willing to get rid of their son for six months. She kind of wishes her parents had had the money for that.
no subject
As for camp that was a lot harder to explain any further without dropping the demigod bomb shell. Something that he was hesitant about doing. "Well, yeah. It was sort of a place my father wanted me to go ever since I was a baby and...uh, then one year it just happened because my mom thought it was a better environment than the city and it stuck." He stammers just a little. That was the normal version of it, too. "It's just for fun mostly. We got cabins, camp activities like capture the flag, and sing-a-longs every night. The usual."
There was also flying (talking) horses in the stables, swords and javelins to use with no parental supervision, a wall of lava challenge, and the always fun ritualistic burning food to the gods at supper time. Oddly enough still, it was home. And all of it was at no charge to them, too. Fun! He just felt that was better to leave out.
no subject
The normal version sounds pretty good and Jill is partly impressed and partly still curious about why the camp lasted so long. She would figure a week or two for camps. But this sounds like a super elite kind of thing that her parents definitely couldn't have afforded.
"It sounds great. Just... a long time to be away from home. Like the best escape from reality ever." She adds jokingly, because from her perspective, given what little he's told her, it is just that.
no subject
"Sure. Let me know. I'll be definitely be around taking you up on your food offer way before then."
(Not that he knows it yet, but a week or so from now he'll see if he can't include his friend Leo in on this party too.)
She's not wrong to think it's super elite of some sort, but the last thing it was was for rich kids. At least as far as his case went. As for Camp being a whole summer thing, it didn't occur to him how odd that was either. It was just the other half of the year when he wasn't stuck being that delinquent student.
But was Camp the best escape from reality ever? Hardly. Still, like the next guy, he could enjoy a joke when he one. Plus, it kind of was like escaping one reality he had once only known, so. "Sure is. If you ever happen to set foot in it, it's like entering a whole other world. It took me some getting use to at first, but you don't really notice how long you're there's always something going on. Maybe, kind of like this place?"
no subject
"I'll definitely let you know when it is and I'll hope to see you around, Percy." Jill says. "If you need anything or have more questions, you can text me on the phone you got when you arrived." She shrugs. "I don't know all the answers but I'll try to help if I can."