itinere | open | arrival of one seaweed brain

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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.

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Jill is just exiting the apartment building after having to come home from work to change clothes. Owning a bar comes with many wonderful perks and also a few downfalls, like when a drunk spills almost his entire drink on your clothes. Yeah, needless to say, changing clothes was the better alternative to being in wet clothes all day. In one of her favorite dresses and some boots, she's armed for the rest of the day, hopefully.

Of course, just outside of the apartment building she runs into someone who looks... lost. Jill has been here for a long, long time. She's gotten to where she can recognize a new face and that lost look as if a person isn't quite sure what to do. While she isn't the most personable or the best welcome wagon in the world, she does have a heart that wants to help if she can.

She approaches the boy with a little wave of her fingers. "Hey. Let me guess, you just got here?" She offers a hand. "I'm Jill."

So much of Gansey's time lately has been spent indoors. He's resolved to spend more of it outside, at least for now. Besides, he's got a great deal to think about right now. The monsters have gone and Noah has gone with them. He's gotten used to the idea of Noah's death back home, but here he'd gotten used to the idea of Noah alive. As per usual, he's distracting himself with research, with his notes. He's got a mint iced tea and he's sitting on a bench scribbling in his journal, paying very little attention to anything and anyone around him when he hears someone talking.

He looks up, brows rising. "Perhaps if you'd tell me your father's name I could tell you if he's here," Gansey says. "As for what this place is, Itinere. I've gathered some information, but it's not as informative as I wish it were."

Percy was just starting to make some sense of this place when the lady interrupted his innocent snooping around the outside. Which wasn't a great big deal, he thought. He may have snapped his head to attention when she approached him, but right away he could tell she wasn't a monster (or at least he hoped not), so he relaxed again, giving her an appropriate nod and a half cheeky smile.

"Yeah. Is it that obvious?" He answered, rubbing the back of his neck before even thinking to shake her hand right back. His hand extends to her eventually for a quick hand shake, though, because it actually felt more weird to him than he would ever let on. At least it did when it was with people he just met. He would remain polite just as his mom taught him to be, though. "--um, and I'm Percy."

Percy is aware on average talking to any God aloud is strange, but he's grown so used to it that he's only conscious of it when other people are around to catch him. Then it's another story. He turns to the guy talking to him and feels he has to come up with some excuse to cover for it. It's not like he could just say his father was Poseidon to just anyone, because that could cause trouble in many ways he didn't need.

So he does what he knows best when someone asks him a question he can't answer. Percy shrugs and tries to switch the topic. "Um, well, he looks a lot older than me and wears Hawaiian shirts." It's not a name, but it's descriptive enough to help anyone remember if they seen the Sea God walking around the beach with a fresh glass of lemonade in hand or something. Anyway, Percy soaks in the little bit of information given to him about this place. There's one thing that's been growing on his mind since he saw Gansey, though, and finally he gets around to it.

"Itinere, uh, okay." Doesn't help him know where he is too much because he's, maybe, 80% sure there was never a place called that in Greek Mythology. But that made room for 20% error. Annabeth would be the only one to know for sure, he thinks. But he was on his own, so right, asking that question. "How did you get here?"

"Well I've been here a long time so I tend to notice new faces, but yeah." It's obvious. Really, she hadn't meant to interrupt anything. Maybe she should have just kept on walking. But Jill also has a hard time ignoring a person in need. And most new arrivals need someone to let them know that things are as okay as they can be. For the most part, Itinere isn't a bad place. But if he's made any sense of it whatsoever, he's ahead of most everyone here.

"You're at the right spot, at least. Most people live in these apartments." Although sometimes people's homes from their world arrive here too. Itinere can make stuff like that happen, most of the time in the blink of an eye. "There's probably already a room for you to claim with your name on it at the front desk."

At some point, Kate's given up expecting her apartment key to open a door to anywhere but Barton's place. And it's not so bad, not anymore. A new bedroom has since appeared and she and Clint have purchased enough new furniture that it almost feels like her old bedroom back in New York. There are still issues having an unexpected roommate but... but when it comes down to it, she loves the futzing dumbass. And it's only the two of them. It's not like the months she spent traveling through dimensions on a small Kree ship with four other teens. That had been an adventure in itself.

At least there's one fact that won't change, regardless of whether she lives with Clint or apart. Someone has to take care of Lucky and Kate doesn't entirely trust Clint to remember to walk him regularly. So while Percy's outside poking around, Kate's making sure the one-eyed dog does his business before leaving him in the apartment for the rest of the night. When she notices Percy, she offers a quick grin. "hey. You looking for something?"

Percy's attention to his surroundings can sometimes be his greatest problem, but Jill is right to assume that today he's ahead of most everyone here. He's already learned a few things about where he was from other people. Now he only needed to find out why the blue door appeared in place of his room door and brought him here. He thought this was a quest, after all.

So when she mentioned that people lived in the apartment building here and there was a room for him to claim, he raised his brow. "What do you mean there is a room for me to claim?" Honestly, he couldn't help but be suspicious of that. The last time a free room was offered to him, after all, it had been at a hotel that tricked him into believing days stolen from his life was only hours. "I just got here."

For a mysterious town Percy assumes the Gods have brought him to, there were sure a lot of ordinary people around, he thinks. And no clues to what quest he assumes he is to be doing. Which is why he was grumbling to himself - something about a giving him a clearer sign already - by the time Kate and her one-eyed dog came upon him poking around the outside.

The annoyance for his situation washes out of his features as quickly he can make them when she catches his attention. She wasn't to blame for this, after all. He hides his feelings as best he can by trying to give a smile back. "Yeah. Um, clues? Still learning where this place is, honestly." He admits. "The best I got so far is that this place is called Itinere."

Ordinary? Look, Kate might not have the kind of powers a lot of her friends have, but she'd like to think that she might still be considered something a little more than ordinary. She won't hesitate to call herself a superhero. Not too many people can say that.

"Yeah, it's a lot to take in at once, isn't it?" Maybe a little less for her than others; who knew you could grow complacent with dimensional travel after a while? Tugging on Lucky's leash, she walks closer to Percy. "So what kind of clues are you looking for?"

"I know it's weird. But this place, I guess it's kind of sentient? It has a place for everyone who arrives here." She says with a shrug. "And it runs on wish magic. Like your room will probably be something familiar to you. And it'll conform itself to your wishes." There's no magic in the world she comes from. So she can't even begin to understand or explain the mechanics of it. She just knows it is what it is, in a superficial sort of way rather than a deeply involved way.

She pulls the PDA out of her purse and swipes through the screens to her contact list until she finds the name Percy, as he'd introduced himself. She turns the screen toward Percy so he can see his name PERCY JACKSON on her screen. "Your contact list will have every name of every person in Itinere. It just shows up or disappears when people arrive or leave."

Don't get him wrong, Percy would love to see an extraordinary human woman doing her superhero thing, but right now? He has no idea what she is capable of. He can only really count himself lucky that she isn't monster and probably... hopefully not a goddess toying with him either. It has happened more times than he can count, truth be told.

"Kinda." He has some experience in travelling to the strangest places known in mythology, after all. But this would definitely be a first for dimensional travel. He isn't sure that's what it is yet. Which is why his eyes turn to sweep over his surrounding again, before focusing on her again.

"Well-" he couldn't exactly tell her the truth, he thinks, but he wasn't the best liar so he thinks to go with part of the truth. "Anything really. Not everyday you arrive somewhere you've never even heard about because of a blue door. I'm just trying to look for the reason why anyone or thing would want me here." He finishes saying as calmly as he can pretend to be.

Gansey would probably believe him, and ask a gajillion questions. This is the boy who went on a quest for a five hundred year old, long buried, Welsh king who was more myth than fact.

Gansey frowns, considering that description. "I can't recall seeing someone like that, but I haven't been looking." Gansey is all about handing out information. He's got a journal full of information about this place. It hasn't done him much good, but he's got it none the less.

As far as Gansey is aware, there wasn't. It's Latin for journey. Outside of that, there's no mythology that he can uncover about it unless one wants to consider this place as the sort of Utopia that Sir Thomas More (who happens to be Greek) discusses in his book, Utopia. Or, perhaps, some sort of afterlife, but as far as Gansey is aware, he hasn't died ~~again~~.

"Through a blue door, actually. It's probably the same one that you came through with a different world on the other end."

Sentient? If that word didn't make his brain snap to a more serious side, nothing would. He knew a thing or two about sentient places, though. Like his time spent in Tartarus. And sentient things they were usually never a good thing either. Which is why he knotted his eyebrows together, trying to understand how her way of putting it made it sound like it wasn't half bad.

"What's the catch?" He asked, about to quiz her more with other questions too. But he paused to look at what she was doing with her device. He haven't thought to use his because it spelled big trouble in his world. (Monsters usually were attracted to demigods using phones. Don't ask him why.) So when she brought up his name, he looked at it in disbelief.

"What? Just like that?"

The thing he doesn't need right now is a gajillion questions at him when he has a gajillion ones of his own to sort through, anyway. Percy's lip tugs to one side in clear frustration and disappointed to Gansey's declaration. Who else would bring him to such an interesting, maybe cool place not trying to kill yet?, he wonders to himself.

Every other god he knew wasn't that great to him. "Okay." So not Poseidon, he thinks, collecting himself. "What about anyone else that stands out a lot?" Because you know, the gods normally stand out quite a bit. Ares usually made him want to fight, Hades was weirder where everyone wanted to serve him (obviously he didn't want to think about that), Athena made his brain feel like it wanted to run away or it'd explode, and you probably get the idea.

Percy's head bobs when the other guy says blue door. That's exactly how he got here too. (How they all did, he'll realize soon enough. But for now it's a big of a big deal. His mind is processing just how bizarre it is.) "Whoa, back up! You did too? You're not vacationing here or something?"

A GREAT big pause.

"Different worlds?"

Edited 2016-11-11 04:59 (UTC)

Itinere has it's moments of terror, but it really isn't that bad for the most part. She's had her eyes opened to things here that she never thought could have existed. And she's experienced things she never thought she would have experienced. It's very... strange. And scary. And also kind of wonderful compared to where she's from.

"Just like that. Everyone in Itinere is on here. It's a good way to keep track of friends." She says.

As for a catch, she hasn't been able to find one yet, well... except for the obvious elephant in the room of not being in your home world where you should be. "Day-to-day in Itinere is kind of stepford. But I haven't found a catch yet. I wish I could tell you something more. Most people here are pretty nice though. And I only say most cause I don't know everyone. I know a lot of people and they're all nice and helpful."

Understandable really. Kate isn't a monster and she isn't a goddess toying with him, either. But she does know what it can be like to fight monsters (or at least evil assholes) and how annoying gods can be (Loki, anyone?). Being cautious isn't such a bad idea. Especially when finding yourself in strange places.

"I have a friend-" Yeah, friend seems like a good enough term to apply to America. It's a lot easier than saying teammate and explaining the Young Avengers, presuming he's from a different world. Which may or may not be the case. "-who can punch her way through the multiverse. Which is probably irrelevant, actually. Point is, not everything has a reason. Sometimes you just wander into another world without even realizing it."

Yeah, it'd probably be best if Gansey restrain himself and not ask a bunch of questions. He is, before almost anything else, an academic. His curiosity is one of the qualities that make him so good at research. Gansey shrugs a little, seeing the reaction.

Percy's question has Gansey frowning as he considers that question. "Aside from the girl that moves faster than the eye can see and the two musketeers..." A lot of people stand out here, Percy. So sorry. "It's a rather interesting place," Gansey tells him. That's a bit of an understatement.

"Indeed not. I was vacationing before I arrived here. In Kenya, actually. This has been quite the layover. My friends and I have been here for almost a year." He won't mention the unplanned stop over home because that just makes things more confusing.

Ah yes. He was wondering if Percy would get to that part and whether it would be of note or not. He's met a few people here who are accustomed to places like this, places that pull people from different worlds in.

"As far as I can ascertain, yes. Different worlds. There are a number of people here who are fictional in my world, but are quite real here."

Whoa, whoa. Back this up for a second. Did this woman just say she had a friend that could punch through the multiverse? Percy's read enough comics and played enough video games and generally lived to see some pretty convincing stuff to get a picture of what that might look like. So to be honest, he believes her.

"Who's your friend?" He asks, obviously distracted from what they were talking about only a moment ago.

Dude, seriously. You say the girl that moves faster than the eye can see and the two musketeers like it's not going to distract him from everything else. But that's exactly what it does, though!

"What girl that moves faster than the eye can see?" He asks. "Aren't the musketeers from a book?" You know, fiction, not real. Thankfully, unbeknownist to him, he is mostly right, or Annabeth would likely be less than impressed with his knowledge of history.

Agreed. This being a interesting place is definitely more of an understatement now. He lets his brain wrap around the rest of the details this guy shares. So that put another person out of 'vacationing here' and 'came here through the blue door' box. This place was also someplace else. Hm. Okay. He'll deal like he always did and figure someway to get home. He'd take the opportunity to look around more first. There looked like there was a ton to see...

And pulling his mind back. Beside the fictional people and different worlds being real, did he hear this guy was here for a year somewhere in there?

"Wait. We're stuck here?"

"That's... uh, cool, I guess." He said. Of course he really doesn't know what to make of it happening just like that. His name being on there for the world and monsters to see makes him more nervous with it confirmed. On the inside, at least.

On the outside, he tried to listen to the rest of what she said without worrying too much about the monsters yet. It was just more important to figure out the catch of his situation. When she said there was none she knew of though, he frowned at the thought. "So the only thing is that we're stuck here?" He didn't need to read her mind to come to that conclusion. Besides his ADHD and other flaws, he was smart when he had to be. "Not like it won't be awesome to really have a vacation for once, but I'm needed back at home, you know."

While Jill is trying to help soothe whatever nerves Percy might have as a newcomer to Itinere, she gets the impression that she's not helping all that much. Maybe, she's even assuming, she's making things worse in a way. It isn't really her intent to do that. This place just by being what it is can be disconcerting at first.

"Yeah, I get that. Lots of people who come into The Houndstooth talk about being needed back at their homes wherever they're from." Not that she knows a lot of people. But as a bartender, she overhears a lot of conversations. Nobody notices the bartender standing there until they need another round.

"From what I hear, the world back home pauses. If... or, I mean when, you get to go back, it's like no time has passed at all." Which, she figures also isn't going to make Percy feel any better. She's really not the best welcoming committee. "I know it's weird. Sorry."

Well, he was really only answering Percy's questions! Honestly.

"A redhead. I haven't met her. She's quite tall and she makes no effort to hide her speed." As for the next bit. "Indeed. Well...these are. They were also a military unit in France, but these happen to be the musketeers from the book." Gansey is unsurprised by Percy's knowledge and wouldn't be surprised if he thought the musketeers were from a movie. He's constantly disappointed in the youth of today, despite the fact that Gansey is the youth of today.

There is a lot to see and a lot to do. One need never be bored here. Gansey spends most of his time doing research on this place.

"Indeed. At least most of us seem to be. Some people can go back and forth through the door, but I'm not sure they can control when."

It's quite the opposite actually. She's helping him grasp about as much of any situation he's found himself in the last five (or so) years of his life. He is grateful in his own way, just currently too caught up in his situation to act anything like it. There's so much he isn't sure he can tell her right now as well.

Still he realized they both are in about the same situation so he tried to push away his nerves. The whole monster bat signal and phone thing wasn't a problem for him or anything right now anyway.

"What's the Houndstooth?" he had to ask. Because it sounds like a hybrid of a Hellhound if you ask him, but he knew that wasn't it. People coming into it made him him gather it must have been a building but not much else.

It doesn't make him feel better at all to hear that home is stuck on pause while he is here, but it is a small plus. Last thing he needed after all was his friends, girlfriend and family thinking he has missing all over again. That would be too much for them. And maybe it was like his turn? The last time his memories were taken from him when he went missing from their lives and now it was his turn to notice when they didn't... Maybe that was the price for this vacation, he thought.

But pushing such thoughts away eventually, he shook his head in response to her. "I don't think it's weird. You'd be surprised some of the stuff that happens where I come from." Him and his big mouth, but it's complicated to lie or not speak of any it given he is already in a situation just as weird as the others he's seen. "I don't know . . . if maybe that's the price we pay for being here. Missing our friends and family and stuff. I hope you're right about them not knowing I'm gone. I'd feel better knowing if it were just me." So yeah, she's kind of made him feel better.

(So tell him more. He is listening now.)

"Red hair?" The picture he gets kind of sounds like a friend of his-- right down to the not hiding who she is part, actually. But instead of speed thing, there's the whole Oracle of Delphi thing. He thinks better of blurting that though, instead nodding to show he makes note of the girl's description. It's something he'll definitely be keeping in mind. As for the musketeers? His expression changes more with what could be called a boggled look.

"Man, so anything is possible here?" He asks, nay states, sounding as if he's talking to himself almost. But it's certainly the conclusion he finally comes to after all that. It certainly feels like nothing every changes, though. Amazing and unpredictable things happen to him all the time. It's not really anything new. "I can't say I get it, but I get it. Weird place, weird stuff has got to happen."

At least that's how logic in his life usually goes. He may not get it like he says he does, but he'll get there. Try to, at least.

"Uh, okay." It's a major downer to hear that he is stuck... but sticking to the positive... "But there's a way out, though. Just got to find the when and the how. The door is the answer?"

"Oh! The Houndstooth is the bar I run. It's in the center of town right down that way. It's really a bar and grill cause there's food too, but..." Semantics. But still worth mentioning in case Percy is hungry and doesn't want to cook for himself. "I worked there back home. And I guess I was missing it cause one day it just showed up here... the whole place, just like it is in Tuscaloosa."

Wish magic. Which is probably even more unnerving and yet still wonderful than the phone thing or the sentient apartment building thing. "Basically, if you need or want something, you can just think about it and it usually shows up."

Yeah, she's really not trying to freak Percy out. She's trying to help.

"Where are you from exactly?" She asks curiously.

Food may as well be the magic word here. Not some sentient apartment or wish magic. Just food. Because while Percy can cook a little, he is like any 17 year old teenager; often too distracted to do even the simple stuff of the microwavable variety. So her offer is something he considers right then and there.

"Yeah? Does it cost anything?" He...isn't sure if he should think it is or not. Or if there is a catch to it, too. Because it's not everyday someone offers to slave over meals for free as nice as that is. "I don't have any money on me." He admits...

Which gets him thinking about the wish magic she tells him about, as a result. Could he wish up money? Food? Or did it not work that way and he'd have to figure out a job in this new place... Her help is great but it's making him all the more confused.

He quickly forgets all that when she asks him where he is from, though. His state of dress is typically American so he can see why she can't guess. "Well, no place like Tuscaloosa. Where's Tuscaloosa anyway? ...I'm from New York."

"Oh no, it's free. Everything here is free." It isn't so strange a question. Jill didn't grow up with money so she was always worried about it. Itinere is great in that regard. Also a little suspicious in that Jill has always thought that nothing in life is free. But it is in Itinere. It's definitely otherworldly in that way.

"The Houndstooth has all kinds of comfort foods. Burgers and steaks and chicken fried steaks, sandwiches and salads. Personally, I like the fried pickles." She explains. "You're free to stop by any time."

He can wish up anything except people for the most part. Although Jill tries very hard to keep some semblance of normalcy. She wishes things into her kitchen for cooking her own meals and goes to the clothing store for clothes and the book store for books, etc. It's unnecessary though, given wish magic.

"Oh, the big city. I've heard there's great shopping there." In New York. "Tuscaloosa's in Alabama."

Oh man, for real? He must be in some sort of paradise. Or she was just really that nice. He was good with going with both those assumptions because either way it was awesome. It's true what they say, a man's ~~heart~~ trust is earned through his stomach.

"Alright." There are no more questions about that here. "If you keep a cheeseburger aside for me, I'll it out later." Which in reality would probably be pretty soon. Exploring was cool and all and maybe he still had his apartment room to check out, but now food on his mind.

And personally he didn't know how to use it or where wish magic was coming from or at what cost, so for the time being he was okay with not finding out. Anyway, her mention of where Tuscaloosa really is comes as a revelation to him because before it honest to the Gods sounded like a tropical island. His eyes widen and brows raise in surprise for moment, feeling stupid he was wrong.

"Uh... So you're a small town girl? New York is pretty big with shopping as much as anything else, yeah. Not as big as it seems after you been around it a couple of times, though." Well, when playing hide and seek and chase from monsters it is. That's a story for maybe another time.

"I promise to have food for you when you stop by." She says with a slightly crooked smile and a nod. The Houndstooth never runs out of beer and food, at least it hasn't so far. Everything, the kitchen and the keg room, are fully operational. "Baring any unforeseen events that might change the status quo, of course."

There's no reason to feel stupid, really. Jill has never traveled outside of Alabama until now. There are so many places she's heard of and never been to. There are so many places she's never even heard of. It's a pretty common thing, she thinks.

"Well, medium sized town girl. It's a college town so it's a pretty good size but... it's not New York or Austin or Los Angeles, if you know what I mean." She says. "Someday I'd like to go to New York and see some Broadway shows. I probably own every Broadway soundtrack there is. But I've never actually gotten to see a show."

"Count on it." He says with pretty much all the enthusiasm he has because it's free food from a nice non-threatening gal. He should really question who he accepts free food from more often given past examples, but this time feels different. That's good enough for him. "Are we talking about a crowded restaurant? 'cause if that's the case, I'll slide in where I can." (Percy, please look up what status quo means one more time.)

In that case, or in either case really, it shall be forever engraved in Percy's mind as a not-island city of America. He's doing his best to make mental notes, yep.

And does actually know Los Angeles apart from his home town of New York. His first quest had lead him there to the entrance of the Underworld. It's not the typical vacation experience so he decides not to bring it up, though. But there are some other places he is comfortable thinking of, let alone mentioning. "No. I guess not. Is it anything like Westport, Connecticut? Lots of trees, low stone walls, and very big houses? New York is the opposite of that. The rare tree, tall buildings, small houses. Also beware at shopping at mattress stores. Never been to Broadway shows, but I hear they're okay."

"Oh it's a sports bar and grill. It's super laid back and hardly ever crowded here except for big sporting events." Yes, she and Lucy had wished all the sporting events from Earth here. So all the TV's are always showing football, basketball, soccer, baseball, NASCAR, horse races, etc... It's kind of fantastic for a sports fan like Jill.

Jill has never been to Connecticut but his description sounds accurate. "Yeah, kind of like that. I've never traveled outside of Alabama but there are lots of trees, rolling hills, big, old houses and buildings. It's pretty homey. But still a college town so the population is a decent size. Lots of hotels for football weekends."

Oh, so she meant sporting events? A slow realization grows over Percy's face. Of course he isn't 100% sure that's right, he's no stranger to smelly people drinking or watching them get rowdy in excitement for lame shows on TV. So what she means doesn't seem so bad anymore.

"That's no problem. Avoiding rowdy people is easy for me. What games do you follow?" Personally, he hasn't had the time to watch much sports and they just don't interest him or compare to the real thing, but for the lack of any better to do, he would consider coming to some of these events. That's the day he would quickly get into NASCAR and horse races, probably.

Alright. So he was spot on. A part of him is relieved because it's not fun being wrong, but mostly because some people do take offence to misconceptions about their home town. But also what's more is that he can't help but think she must miss her home. It kind of sounds like it. And the realization along with his own awareness of missing home already, he swallows the small lump that seems to form in his throat. "Sounds like a great place, then. Connecticut was a homey place, too. Not much traffic and not so big with the mo-- the crowd. You miss it?" He stumbles over his words and the question stupidly.

"Well Lucy and I try to make some Alabama games. Roll tide." Roll tide, which would only make sense to an Alabama fan. They both attended the university for a spell. Jill had to drop out because the money ran out. Now there's the Houndstooth. "And as for the NFL, I like Green Bay. Go pack go. Anything else, I'm only an idle fan so I can't really claim to have a certain team. Sometimes I like soccer but I never know who to root for."

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?"

"Riptide?" Did he hear that right? He subconsciously reached for where his sword pen rested in his pocket, eyes flashing wide for a moment. It sounded just like a game to him, but it made him cautious of if it was one he even wanted to know about for just a second. Which is of more why he has to ask, "What sort of game is that?"

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, Roll tide. It's what University of Alabama football fans say cause they're the crimson tide." And she's getting the idea that Percy is not a huge sports fan. That's okay. It isn't for everyone. She and Lucy are very passionate about it though. They're the crazy fans that dress up and paint their faces and have no voice after a game from all the screaming they do.

"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.

Gansey nods in response. Yes. Red hair. He may or may not see her running about. Gansey had only seen her because she'd come to a stop then disappeared all in little more than the blink of an eye. Boggled is an excellent response to the reveal of the three musketeers.

"As far as I can tell, pretty much anything." Gansey understands that it's a lot to take in. "Indeed and weird things do happen, but nothing that we haven't been able to make it through."

Adjustment takes a little bit of time, but Percy will get there.

"Yes and it all seems to be the same door. However, when and where it opens to depends on the person. A few months ago my friends and I returned through the door home. I was in Kenya one evening and opened the door to the place we were staying. I ended up here, as did my girlfriend. When I opened the blue door again to go back home, all I found was a stone wall."

"America Chavez," she answers easily. Not that she expects the name to mean anything to him. It hadn't meant much to Kate until she had met America herself. She and the other girl still don't always get along all that well, but there's an understanding. Friend might almost work as a description. "Hey, that reminds me. I never got your name."

The name doesn't ring any particular bells, but the word slash name America gives one faint idea of a superhero he's seen. He can't pinpoint who again and most his friends were like the real life equivalent of superheroes anyway, though, so mental shrug.

"Cool." He says, though. "Sounds like someone from the comic books."

Oh? Did he not say who he was? He's so used to people already knowing or somehow smelling it off of him or guessing that he didn't think. "Percy Jackson. Nice to meet you."

Roll tide, she corrects him. Well, now he thinks he should have listened to his initial instinct of hearing her right the first time because he's a little embarrassed by the correction. He doesn't know much about sports, though. No. Not in the sense she's thinking of with face painting and cheering on your favorite team, at least. Not university football.

"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.

"They are a pretty scary-cool team. You should come watch a game at The Houndstooth sometime." She and Lucy can get pretty rowdy during those games, yelling and screaming and jumping around. People who think they know them would barely recognize them.

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.

Wow, it should be nothing new to him to find out something he thought was fiction is real in some way. Like Elvis not really being dead because all that happened is he became some minor god of music. (Honestly, that one was one he still didn't know was true or not for certain, but it's what he heard now that Camp Half Blood was building cabins for the minor gods.)

He adsorbs the idea of the three musketeers and the general weirdness of this situation another moment longer before bobbing his head. "Right, of course. There's special guests. But this place looks like an alternate universe vacation spot."

He could learn to deal with that. As usual he didn't really have a choice, though.

Percy lets Gansey finish before saying anything. "So what you're saying is that it's a waiting game? Those are my least favorite." A mild complaint to cover up the weird way he feels this guy is lucky enough to have come back with his girlfriend. Everything is making him think about her and his friends and family, though.

Fortunately for him that he doesn't know her at all then. Whatever he sees of her in the next little while will what he'll learn she is like. And so far she seems pretty decent and the offer she gives seems pretty chill. "What time do they play?" He asks, considering her offer seriously enough.

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.

"Well it depends on the day, they move all around. We just had the division championship game. Now comes the playoffs and they have to schedule those so..." Jill tries to explain, knowing she's probably making zero sense to someone who doesn't watch football. "Anyway, I'll let you know when I know. We're just right here at the end of the season for college football."

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.

If this were a bet right now, she'd be the big winner there. It was obviously making as much sense to him as reading a unfamiliar shops name did most times. Thankfully, though, she said she'll let him know and that was easy language to understand.

"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?"

"This place is definitely that." Sure, it has its problems, but Itinere has really been great for both Jill and Lucy for the most part. Jill really can't complain too much at all. That, and she's not really much of a person to complain about anything in the first place.

"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."

That probably makes as much sense as anything else, whether it's true or not. There's a lot of things here that don't make sense, but Gansey is learning to accept that some things are true whether you believe in them or not, that some things don't make sense and won't ever make sense.

"That's because, as far as I can tell, it is an alternate universe vacation spot, only you don't ever go home here."

"That depends on how you choose to deal with it," Gansey tells him. "I've chosen to go ahead and live my life here as if it's going to be my life. I check the door every few days to see if, perhaps, it is prepared to send me home. However, I've learned that it matters little whether you check the door or not. If Itinere is ready to send you home, any door will do." Gansey is very lucky to have his girlfriend and his friends here. He knows that. Maybe Percy will be lucky enough to get his girlfriend and friends here as well.

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