themainframe | 001 ♆ video

[The video feed clicks on to show a dark haired teenager in his apartment room with a Crabmon sitting on the bed next to him. The boy looks a little scowly, but he sounds more serious than angry when he actually starts talking.]

So, my name's Percy Jackson, and this is- [He turns towards his partner, who is just visible in the corner of the screen.] Dude, seriously, why don't you call yourself "Steve" or something? You are a Crabmon, that's like naming your kid Human or Centaur or something.

I don't know! Aren't there other people named Percy?

Sure, but they don't look exactly like me.

Well, do you want me to call myself Steve?

Do you want to be called Steve?

[Crabmon shrugs.] You're the boss!

[That gets a sigh out of Percy - it just seems like he can't get away from people calling him that - who focuses his attention back on the camera.] And this is Crabmon, or Steve, I guess, and this is not the first time I've been given the whole "you're basically here to save the world" speech, and believe me, it's not fun to hear it the second time, either. Or the third, or the fourth. [They get it, Percy.] And I mean, I get it. People are in trouble, and if I can help, I want to. But people are in trouble back home, too, and I can't stay here forever. And I bet I'm not the only one. I mean, I'd at least like to be able to tell my mom where I went, you know?

And I know some of you have been here before, or at least know more about what's going on than the rest of us, but in my experience? Just about any monster wants to eat you if you don't do the right thing around them. And believe me, I've had lots of experience with monsters wanting to eat me. [Still, there's a part of him that feels slightly guilty for insisting that, considering his brother was a cyclops and all, and it wasn't like his partner had been anything but helpful so far, so he makes a little bit of a chagrined face before amending that statement.] I mean, maybe some of them don't, here, but I'd still be careful. You can never be too careful when it comes to monsters. Especially ones that promise they're friendly.

[Sorry Steve. He'll get over it eventually, hopefully. He does actually look a little guilty as he says it, and glances over at the crustacean for a second.] I mean, I guess I trust him, he did kind of stop me from drowning like a loser, but you never know. Just be careful.

[He chews his lip a little for a moment, considering what to say next.] Anyway, I'm not trying to lecture anyone or- I don't know. I just want to help, and something tells me this guy- [He sticks a thumb towards Crabmon.] wants to, too. Let us know if there's anything we can do.

[For a moment, it looks like he's maybe going to say something else, but he ends up just switching the feed off.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[You have no idea. B(]

Yeah, it's a- [Steve has heard this enough to know where it's going, and promptly chimes in.] Long story!

Killing and maiming have been in the cards, too, but you'd be surprised which ones decide teenagers apparently are part of a balanced breakfast.

[ What kind of world did this guy belong to ---- then she remembered that her world was killing off people one by one and using a world inside a television. Teenagers were doing the rescue too.

So maybe his world was just as bad as hers at least ... but eat them?! ]

What is your world like? Back home could be pretty scary too but ... [ Pouts. ]

[Percy's... really not sure how to explain. Really, he's not even supposed to explain it to a mortal, mostly because they'd probably think he was insane and try to stick him in a mental institution, but he sort of thought there were other reasons, too.

Then again, explaining any of this to someone back home would probably make them think he was nuts, too, demigod or not.]

It's... complicated. I mean, I used to think it was pretty normal, but then I found out a while ago that there have been monsters trying to kill me pretty much my whole life, and now I'm trying to stop them. [Which was... close enough.] What about yours?

[ Well, it couldn't be that bad. At least for her. She's been kidnapped, shoved into a television, fought with her shadow self and made friends with a hallow teddy bear that can move and talk.

Then again, he didn't know that. ]

I guess I can understand. Before a few weeks ago, I learned the hard way that our world is pretty weird and complicated too ...

Hnmmm ... I was almost killed by myself actually. It's not really suicide though! [ How was she supposed to explain this? ]

... it was like a shadow me. Err --- from inside a TV world.

Edited 2013-05-08 05:07 (UTC)

[... Yeah, you might need to explain a little better than that, Rise, because both Percy and Steve are looking at you funny.]

What?

[ ... yeah. She didn't quite believe it either at first too. ]

I told you it would be hard to explain.

And believe me, I get hard to explain.

[Still, he's a little hesitant to just tell people by the way, Poseidon's my dad and I've spent the last two years fighting all those monsters you read about in that boring Greek myth textbook you hated reading in the third grade.] Sorry. That sounds pretty lousy.

It's okay. It isn't so bad now that I am not about to get killed. I got to meet some great friends and ...

... I guess I learned something about myself.

[ beat. ]

Come on. It's your turn. Try to beat that.

[He hesitates, and Steve glances up at him a little, with a look that says either "just tell her, it's not like this is a big deal here" or "man I have no idea, you're on your own".]

... How much do you know about Greek gods?

[ She thought about it, but had to admit that she didn't know much about it. It wasn't really discussed a lot in school, but she knew about some of them at least.

Aphrodite of course, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. She can't remember the less popular gods and goddesses anymore. ]

Not much really ...

My tutor and school didn't really talk about it much. Why do you ask?

Well, all that stuff is kind of real where I'm from.

[Which is really weird to just say out loud like that. BV]

Yours too?

[ She just got her Persona who is based on a Chinese goddess named Kanzeon. ]

I'm ... not really sure if Kanzeon is the real goddess though ...

Kanzeon?

My Persona ...

It's a long story. I'll tell you later! Finish your story!

Oh, well, sometimes the gods have kids with mortals, and I'm... kind of one of them? So monsters are usually trying to kill me.

Mortals can't see them, and I guess we're not really supposed to talk about this kind of thing? But it kind of sounds like most of us have something that would make people back home start calling the men in the white coats if they heard us start talking about it.

[ Okay, Percy. Maybe you do win. She can't really compute this. Well, she computed the fact that you are part-god though ... ]

... whit coats?

You know. People from a mental hospital?

[ Laughs. ]

I suppose so. They probably would do the same thing if I told them I could go inside televisions.

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