to: all, with apologies to nico di angelo

[areou]

( the message is deliberately written in ancient greek. for most summoned, the network will auto-translate, but she's hoping there might be others who recognize the original text. )

WILL SOLACE COME RETRIEVE YOUR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT GOTH I'M NOT HIS BABYSITTER

( helpfully, she adds an illustration that no one asked for: )



( then, because nico seriously needs more friends and it's her duty as former head counselor of the ares cabin to embarrass any and all younger campers: )

↖  BTW THIS IS NICO
HE LOVES LONG WALKS THROUGH THE UNDERWORLD AND BROODING IN GRAVEYARDS
HE'S SPOKEN FOR BUT I'M SURE HE'LL BE THE AFTERLIFE OF YOUR NEXT PARTY
CHALLENGE HIM TO A GAME OF MYTHOMAGIC TODAY!!!

ALSO IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS SEEN THESE DEMIGODS CONTACT ME ASAP
LOOKS LIKE ZEUS IS SUPER FUCKING PISSED AGAIN AND WE NEED A GAMEPLAN

( more shitty doodles follow, this time vaguely resembling percy and annabeth, although this time she labels them: )



— CLARISSE LA RUE, DRAKON-SLAYER, DAUGHTER OF ARES

( she figures she may as well cover all her bases here since all of this feels like a ren faire on steroids anyway.

ooc | threadjacking is more than welcome and, frankly, encouraged. let's all go hog boar wild. 🫡 )

Comments

[seaweedbrain]

[ He has so many questions. But first — ]

Whoa wait hold on, Nico has a boyfriend????

[demigoth]

Oh my gods how is that the only takeaway?

[seaweedbrain]

I mean that's pretty big news, dude.

I always thought

[ Uh, yeah, actually you know what, he's not gonna continue that train of thought. Sometimes he does have two brain cells to rub together. ]

Congrats?

[demigoth]

[ No, please, continue. ]

You always thought what? Are we doing this again?

[seaweedbrain]

Doing what again?

[demigoth]

This conversation. Don’t make me keep telling you you’re not my type.

[seaweedbrain]

Uhh what?

Gods no, I didn't think that you

that I was

[ Seriously, look at him, he would never think he was anyone's type, unless that type was premium half-blood monster chow. ]

Okay you know what can we just strike this whole convo from the record and start with the 'congrats' part?

[demigoth]

No. We can’t cause you’re being weird. You knew. The whole camp knew. So quit it.

[seaweedbrain]

I mean I suspected the other stuff but the actual boyfriend part was news to me.

Like, good news! But news.

I'll stop being weird though, promise.

[ jk this is soo awkward.

Annabeth help — ]

[sonofacesius]

Wow, where have you been?

[seaweedbrain]

Um literal hell?

Sorry my daily subscription for People magazine didn't reach that far.

[sonofacesius]

Ooooooooh you just came back from Tartarus!

Bob says hi btw.

[Except he didn't. Sorry Percy.]

immediately makes this sad ✌️

[seaweedbrain]

[ Hearing — or, okay, seeing — Bob's name should bring him a little bit of joy and relief, right? To see that he's still alive somewhere, and hadn't been completely lost to the depths of Tartarus because of him ...

Except, it kinda doesn't. It still plants something sharp and painful in his chest, the guilt of having to leave him behind after everything he (and Small Bob) had done to help him and Annabeth get out. ]

Yeah, guess we didn't exactly have the time to send out a memo before winding up here.

yeaaaah sorry about that.

[sonofacesius]

[Will feels a little bad. Percy's a good guy. But...he still left Bob and Small Bob down there and Will and Nico had to go and save him. And they Percy and Annabeth had both tried to talk them out of it.]

Yeah. They don't exactly give you warning before kidnapping. But he's fine. They're both fine.

[seaweedbrain]

It's starting to get old except this time I guess I can't blame Hera.

So, you saw them?

[sonofacesius]

Nope, this time it's not Hera. Or any of the Greek Gods I think. Honestly though, I'm still not convinced someone was trying to get you or Nico and ended up grabbing me instead. I mean, you guys are here so.....they kept trying?

And yeah, I saw them. Nico and I got a quest. To....save Bob.

[seaweedbrain]

You guys got a quest?

Wait ... how much time has passed since we got out of Tartarus if you're already being sent on a quest to get Bob? Gods this is confusing.

And if it was because they were trying to get at me, I'm really sorry man. That's really unfair. But we'll figure out a way to get out of here, there's gotta be a way.

[areou]

( first, thank fuck. second, the fuck? )

Don't hurt yourself trying to think too hard, Percy


Wait, you're not still amnesiac, are you

( if he's still partially hera-whammied, this is all going to be a lot more annoying. )

[seaweedbrain]

No I'm fine, I'm me.

I guess a lot happened while we were away.

But you're here too ... so what the heck is going on?

[areou]

So you're back to being a regular dumbass, that's comforting

What's the last thing you do remember?

( she missed will's messages about tartarus and, frankly, that's the last thing she wants to assume. )

[seaweedbrain]

[ uM RUDE 😒 ]

Hmm let's see ... the cries and screams of the eternally damned?

The acidic smoke in our lungs? And nearly getting crushed to death by so many of our old pals? Monster hugs are 0/10, do not recommend.

[areou]

( it takes a long moment for her to respond, almost as if she hadn't seen the message at first. but she saw it, alright. and now she's trying not to think about all the horrible shit they must have been through. percy's good at making light of it, but she knows him better than that, knows there's a lot he must be holding back (she'd been the same way after the labyrinth, which, compared to tartarus, may as well have been a pleasure cruise). she won't push him about any of it right now. the network is definitely not the place to have that kind of conversation. there's an itch under her skin that makes her want to barrel through the badlands to get to thorne the hard way. it would probably be suicide — but she's not annabeth. her ideas are usually terrible. )

Yeah, a lot's happened
How much do you want to know?

[seaweedbrain]

[ It's easier to make jokes of an experience so crappy, so hauntingly nightmarish that said 'cries and screams' can still be heard when he closes his eyes at night, every memory of watching him and Annabeth lose a part of themselves seared into his brain so that he feels like he might explode at the wrong word.

It's the kind of Pandora's pithos he'd rather keep locked up tight, and this network thing is, for sure, the last place he wants to metaphorically spill his guts. ]

Great question.

Will the time-space continuum collapse on itself if you tell me too much? I feel like I wanna know everything but maybe I shouldn't.

[areou]

( she has no idea what a time-space continuum is or what that means, so ... )

Look, if I don't tell you, you'll probably just see all this shit in a dream anyway, so would you rather hear it or see it?

( knowing how shitty demigod dreams are, she imagines he'd rather just hear it directly from her. at least she can add some levity to it all. )

[seaweedbrain]

[ Watch a movie, Clarisse!!!! ]

Good point.

But maybe we can take it to a less public place?

[ Percy Jackson? Using some semblance of good sense? Well, dating Annabeth had to rub off on him at some point. ]