txkethefall

[txkethefall]

"I'm fine," Percy said firmly. He didn't want to talk about parents right now. The lady was right. While he'd definitely been in more precarious situations, this one wasn't stable. He offered out his hand, from the arm that didn't have metal in it, obviously, trying to offer a way to help her up.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" He asked instead. 'Here' wasn't safe, clearly by her own definition, and he wasn't a fan either, but he didn't have a 'there' to go to either. Unless that was a bus station out of town.

She was bleeding. Or he was bleeding. No, he was bleeding. She couldn't feel anything hurt on herself. He was definitely the one hurt out of the two of them. Pressing her lips together, she observes the child for a moment as she struggles to her feet.

Her agents scramble towards her and she gestures for them to assist the young boy as well as she takes the arm of one of her agents, her ears ringing.

"Where's your parents, sweetheart? I can get you to them. Come with me. It's not safe here."

[txkethefall]

"Oh. It's a questing bag," Percy glanced down at it. Sure, it looked like the kind of bags many of the school kids carried, but he knew what she meant. It had plenty of drachmas, normal Earth Person money, sword sharpeners, a few crystals to help reach Iris... a bunch of stuff he figured he'd understand if he was from around here...

"I'm supposed to go and kill a-" He frowned, forgetting the right word. He settled with curling his fingers over and saying a simple, "gr."

Then he shrugged. "I know what it looks like, it's fine. Do you know how to get to South Carolina without a plane?"

@txkethefall

Though it wasn't something she'd ever expected, or even really encouraged, Percy had become a frequent visitor to her premises. Seeing him come through that door was now a familiar sight and, considering his circumstances, Lilia didn't begrudge him that little comfort.

She did, however, begrudge him bringing a questionable looking bag along with him.

"What is that?" she demanded immediately, frankly pointing with a ringed finger at the offending item. It looked entirely ordinary, but Lilia could See that it wasn't. Not its contents anyway.

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"Yeah," Percy shrugged. Maybe it didn't have a lot of sense to it, but Sally had done so much for him. Maybe he couldn't talk to the therapists she forced him to go to, but the effort was sweet and kind. She was good, and all he wanted to do was help her. Maybe make up for all the terrible things him intruding on her life had caused.

She could have been mourning the lost child Poseidon had hidden from her. Instead she had to deal with him, and all the weirdness he had going on as he tried to figure out the culture surrounding him.

He shrugged. "He says I'm still his son, born in his waves. Changed my eyes, gave me abilities. Gods are weird, though."

He glanced at her, unsure of what to do with the sentiment. "Yeah, well. I doubt you asked to watch five hundred kids die like that."

"The one you had before you came here," Lilia surmised, her tone neutral, revealing no commentary or opinion either way. Whether he considered the mother he had now to be his true mother or not was his own business, and not something she was going to pry into.

It wasn't really anything she hadn't Seen already, but hearing the precise details, the actual facts, was still shocking. And obviously traumatic for the boy; how could it not be? To have not just your home, but your entire planet, dying before almost dying yourself, surrounded by panic and destruction; it was a wonder he had recovered as much as he had.

"You became the ward of a god." The realisation of all the implications dawned on her as she spoke. "Poseidon made you his." That would certainly mean he was protected, but Lilia wasn't certain it was the kind of protection she'd ever want for herself; the gods were unpredictable, inviting any number of unpleasant dramas into the lives of anyone connected to them.

"It isn't the first time I've Seen those kind of tragedies," she told him gently. "Death isn't an unfamiliar face to me." Meaning to reassure him, she now wondered if she hadn't just made it sound even worse.

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"Can they be blueberry?" He asked. He was never one to turn down blueberry pancakes.

Percy smiled at her, a small little beam under her praise. It did mean a lot - both her pride, and the insinuation that his mom would be too. He felt pretty lucky to have her; sure, anyone would be better than Smelly Gabe, who'd probably been very close to getting custody what with being his step dad, but she was there and felt like a rock. "Thank you."

"Hmm." She really was proud of him. Percy was always a strong boy, but she was immensely proud of him at that moment. "You should know I am damn proud of you, Percy. Your mother would be proud." She kisses the top of his head. She had taken Percy in when he was younger as the last remaining friend of Sally and a demigod to boot. "How would you feel about some pancakes for dinner?"

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"No. Perseus has been dead for a long time now," He said quietly. And his poor mom - Sally, who had done so much for him. But he couldn't speak up, couldn't tell her to start mourning her true child. How could he? He'd end up in Area 51 or some other hellhole like that.

"Annabeth never met the real Percy," He shrugged. He didn't know how to explain it. "She doesn't know. She started with just me, so I guess, it doesn't really count."

Lilia threw him a look in answer.

"Well, it's certainly not anyone else's. Not anymore." Perhaps the boy would think that was harsh, but it was nothing more than reality. He couldn't undo what had happened, turn back time or change things; this was his life now, whether he felt he had ownership or not.

Raising her eyebrows at the mention of the friend, she felt more interested in reading a little of that connection than in the deceased monster turning to dust beside them.

"If none of this is yours, then what about Annabeth?" she asked with a knowing look in her eyes. "Is she your friend, or is that not really yours either?"

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send in " take it easy. you're safe now, but you need to relax. " for the sender to greet a waking receiver after having found them badly wounded and on the brink of collapse at their doorstep.

alternatively, send in " how long was i out for? " for the sender, having woken up on the receiver's sofa/bed/spare bed, to greet the receiver after showing up on their doorstep earlier with serious injuries and in a weakened state.

[txkethefall]

He shrugged. "My first mother took me to the ship yard."

He didn't like saying that. Sally was his mom, now. She held him tight and never let him go, unlike his first mother. When the soldiers took him, she pushed his hands away and lied to him. "They called it the Children's Ship. The biggest one we had, stripped down to fit all of us. But not my brother, no one's sibling. They locked us in the dorms so our captain could talk to us while taking off, and there was this big bang. The big kids were trying to bully the little ones, telling us that it was our planet exploding behind us, that there was no grown up ship, and we'd be alone for forever. That's when we started crashing. And we didn't stop until we crashed into your planet and I..."

His mouth twitched. "Because of the fire, when I jumped, I didn't breathe first. Poseidon says that's how he had me, my first breath was his water."

He cleared his throat, straightening in the seat she had offered him. "Not surprising Death was there, considering how many kids died. I'm sorry you saw all that."

"Not exactly," Lilia told him, smiling a little awkwardly at the half-admission, knowing it was only going to lead to an inevitable, and further, explanation. So much for trying to appear as a fraud. "But I do See it. How you came here, what happened, who you really are. Or were," she added as a qualifier, knowing it was too complicated for simple definitions.

"It doesn't necessarily mean you were supposed to die," she reasoned sympathetically. "But there was Death there when it happened. When you took on this life for yourself." A new identity rather than a false one, he still wasn't the boy everyone thought he was. At least, not originally.

"What do you remember from when you came here?" she asked. "What happened after you crashed in the ocean?"

[txkethefall]

"How many people have tried to kill you?!"

“To anybody who has tried to kill me, you’ve all been forgiven. I honestly can say that I don’t blame you so let’s call er’ even. Cheers.”

[txkethefall]

[txkethefall]

Percy and Annabeth Percy Jackson and the Olympians - S01E03 - We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

[txkethefall]

"That's a bit hard when none of it is really mine," Percy said.

His mouth twitched. He could consider all the people who had died. A ship full of five hundred children, crashing for so long he was all that was left, just him and the captain, until the captain used the last of his strength to give him this life, a life that wasn't his to begin.

"I think you need to get to know me better." He snickered a bit. He watched as the Greek monster began to glow, a dark monstrous light, until it dissolved to dust. "Annabeth would be quick to tell you, the only thing I can do is something stupid."

"All the more reason to appreciate what you have," Lilia countered pointedly through a gritted smile.

"If someone has died to keep you alive, maybe you should consider that next time you..." Lilia looked in the direction of the destroyed beast of a monster, and thought about how to sum up what had just happened here. "Do something heroically stupid."

[txkethefall]

WALKER SCOBELL & ARYAN SIMHADRI starring as PERCY JACKSON & GROVER UNDERWOOD in PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS (2023 - ) dir. James Bobin

[txkethefall]

OOPS! ALL ANGST! PROMPTS *  assorted dialogue, adjust as necessary

when were you going to tell me the truth?

so you're telling me everything has been a lie.

i never should have trusted you.

you've done nothing but lie.

i had to make you believe me in order to get you to come.

there's nothing you can do for me now.

go! i'll fight them off! get to safety!

i'm done with this place.

we were never meant to be together.

there's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise.

i put my faith in you, and this is how you repay me?

you should have known better than to trust me.

is that all this is? a ploy? a game? is that what i am to you?

you've been playing with my heart this whole time.

was any of it real?

i'm never coming back here again.

i have a message from your father.

you were a waste of my time.

so that's it then? you're leaving?

we always knew this was a one way trip.

it's been an honor serving with you.

how long have you known?

did you ever love me? i mean really love me?

they made me a better offer.

it's not my fault you fell in love.

i need you to promise me you'll do everything in your power to fight.

what are you talking about? i'm not leaving you here!

there's nothing we can do now.

it's useless to try and fight.

i always thought there was more to you. turns out i was wrong.

you betrayed me for nothing.

you made me a promise.

it's no use. i've tried everything.

i can't believe you fell for that.

everything you've ever known is a lie.

do you want to hear what really happened?

i should have told you this a long time ago.

you're going to want to sit down for this.

i'm not sure you're ready for the honest truth.

i have a message from your mother.

get out of my house!

i'm never speaking to you again.

i'm not going to repeat myself.

i told you to never contact me again.

i warned you this would happen.

you're really good at fucking things up.

don't worry. you'll never hear from me again.

you were wrong about everything.

you already missed your chance.

i never asked for much.

i've loved you since the day we met.

i don't want you to be here when it happens.

you're such a disappointment.

i can't go on without you.

you have ruined my life!

we should run.

[txkethefall]

Reconciliation verse

[txkethefall]

[txkethefall]

"I didn't know you were alive when I stole your life," Percy reminded him. He tried to say more, and failed to find decent words. None of them would really work or fit here. He shrugged uselessly and ended up settling. "If you want to see your mom, I can't stop you. It'd be selfish."

He watched Perci spin out, and did his best to keep his hands to himself. "Yeah. I guess you would. Do ... you think she won't recognize you?"

"Yeah, I did. Why didn't you talk me out of it!? This was a horrible idea!" He was trying not to yell loudly, his voice quiet despite the tone he was using. He knew why, he had seen how guilty he felt the second Percy knew who he was.

But even if he just came to say 'Hello' and use the lie of being Amphitrite's son, her and Aunt Amy had been close once. Would she see the lie? Would she be able to tell who he was? Honestly the idea of her not recognizing him almost seemed worse. "Even if she doesn't recognize me, I told you why Dad took me. I'll still probably have to tell her I'm Amphitrite's son."

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"Please. If I should have died only once, things would be easier. We were crashing for months. Plus what all the big kids said," He grumbled the last part, almost chuckling at how ludicrous her reaction felt. "It definitely feels borrowed. When our pilot said he'd die to make sure we lived, we thought he was exaggerating."

"So you just chase towards death because you had a near miss with it once?" Lilia challenged in no-nonsense disbelief.

"When you get a second chance at life, you're supposed to savour it, not deliberately risk it." She punctuated her point with a smack to his arm for emphasis. "There's no such thing as borrowed time. The time is yours."