caughtinanetwork | Quest ♆ oo1 [video]

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Quest ♆ oo1 [video]

[Percy looks tired. He's in his pajamas and drinking milk at the counter in his kitchen.]

Hey, people of Vatheon. I figure it's about time I introduced myself on here. So far I've met some really cool people, and it's helping me get my bearings in this strange new place.

[He takes a swig of the milk, then wipes away a milk mustache with his sleeve. So classy.]

So anyway. I'm Percy Jackson. Been here a couple weeks now.

[His smile fades.]

I haven't been sleeping well. Anyone have any tips?

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Dude, I'm sorry if any of it's my fault. I keep catching myself singing songs while I've been reading the Archimedes scrolls.

Also been losing track of time.

Was it just me or were you singing "Great Balls of Fire" earlier?

It's good that you've got something constructive to do with your time. I've set up a few swordfights but mostly I'm just bored.

I might have been? I don't really pay attention to what I'm singing. It's all stuff I used to listen to with my mom when I was little. [Before she died is something he didn't need nor want to add.]

Yeah, I got lucky with that. Well, you still owe me surfing lessons. We haven't done that yet.

Well I think that's what it was. And you were dancing a little bit too.

Yes. Anytime, dude. As long as the weather up on the island is good, we are on.

[He laughs] I must have found something really cool in the scrolls then.

How about tomorrow? I think the weather is supposed to be good. If not, we can just chill.

Yeah, how's that going, then? Anything I would understand?

Tomorrow it is. You and I haven't really had much time to spend together, have we?

There's a lot of descriptions of really cool things and all the math and measurements to go along with it.

[He doesn't want to make assumptions about what Percy would or wouldn't understand, but chances were if he went into detail, Percy would be as lost as Piper and Jason had been when he was explaining the syncopater for the Argo II.]

No, we haven't. Need to fix that man. I think I've spent more time alone with your girlfriend than with you. [A pause] When I was helping her fix the Daedalus laptop.

Cool. You'll have to show me once you get some celestial bronze.

And there's that whole thing where I was missing the entire time you were at camp.

Definitely. I need to figure out a way to earn some money around here so I can buy some. There's a lot of mechanics here, I think it would be hard to drum up that sort of business. No clue what I could do instead.

Yeah, but I spent most of my time in Bunker 9 working on the ship.

Yeah, that's something I can do too. Help you earn money. I don't really have anything else better to do. Is there a help wanted section in the paper or whatever?

Man I still can't believe you slapped that whole thing together so quickly.

Don't you want to use that money for things for yourself? There's gotta be something from back home you want that you can't get here. But if there's not, I won't complain. I need some celestial bronze if I'm going to finish fixing the laptop for Annabeth. It functions, but not like it used to.

It's not like I was working on it alone. The whole Hephaestus cabin was. And someone from ages ago had drawn up blueprints and left them behind in the bunker. So we had that to work off of.

I can't think of anything I need, and if it'll help you and Annabeth out, I'm there. I have Riptide and I have Annabeth. I'm all set.

Still. You're the one who pulled it all together.

You sure? [He doesn't think he deserves that much kindness. He's still blaming himself for them winding up on the way to Tartarus/here in the first place.]

Yeah, but it never would have been completed in time if it were just me. Besides, I almost blew up a mile of forest and the bunker because of a tiny mistake.

Of course I'm sure. [This is what Percy DOES, Leo. You are his friend and he will help you.]

But you didn't. And we made it all the way to Rome.

But we didn't make it out of Rome. Not all seven of us together. [He doesn't say how he feels about that, but from looks alone it's obvious he feels guilty.]

[Well it's definitely not Leo's fault Annabeth was attached to Arachne via spider silk or that Percy decided to fall with her! Percy doesn't get what he feels guilty about here.]

Yeah, about that. Annabeth and I have been thinking, and...someone needs to close the doors from the inside. At least one of us was going to have to go to Tartarus to complete the quest.

[Yeah, but he's not thinking logically about this. He still thinks this is due to using the fortune cookie from Nemesis.]

So? That doesn't mean you should have had to fall there. Couldn't someone have just walked through the doors and closed it?

[They still would have lost someone to that, but it had to be a better option than Percy and Annabeth falling for who knows how far into Tartarus surrounded by monsters.]

[Percy doesn't know about the cookie. He just thinks Leo is craycray.]

I don't know if that would have worked.

[He sighs.]

But this is what's happening.

[Oh, he definitely is craycray. And he knows it... but he doesn't think he's being crazy about this.]

I don't know. There's no saying that the two of you landing in Tartarus would work either. And how would we get you back? You could be gone forever.

...I know.

Sorry, man. Didn't mean to bring you down to my level.

Nah, I was already there. Not your fault.

That sucks.

What can you do.

Nothing.