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( CLOSED ) atlas wasn't given a choice to hold the stars — you were.
Who: percy jackson & charlie smith
Where: percy's place, the edge of the woods
When: after laura's and steve-and-poe's network posts.
What: just two friends going for a walk, nothing to see here
Warnings: vague references to a panic attack, will edit if anything else pops up
[ after the mayor's last address, during it, charlie has begun remembering things and listening to his art class teacher and a man he doesn't know talk about the mayor, this place, the hospital, about beings on the wall that they cannot identify, that had made him worry.
(it makes him feel closed in, too, like he's in a locked room — except there's still a lot of space around him and he can breathe, his chest just feels a little tight, it's fine.)
he doesn't know what to make of it yet, but he knows that things are very, very wrong here. that he isn't human and he doesn't belong here, that maybe none of them do. maybe it's hypocritical and inconsistent to think that he doesn't belong and to still seek out someone he only knows from the pines, but he makes his way to percy's place regardless. percy's his best friend, that still feels true. ]
Can I come in? [ he asks, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, wiping his hands on his trousers. ] Or maybe we can go for a walk. [ that sounds a lot better than being indoors right now, actually, even if the doors won't be locked. ]
Where: percy's place, the edge of the woods
When: after laura's and steve-and-poe's network posts.
What: just two friends going for a walk, nothing to see here
Warnings: vague references to a panic attack, will edit if anything else pops up
[ after the mayor's last address, during it, charlie has begun remembering things and listening to his art class teacher and a man he doesn't know talk about the mayor, this place, the hospital, about beings on the wall that they cannot identify, that had made him worry.
(it makes him feel closed in, too, like he's in a locked room — except there's still a lot of space around him and he can breathe, his chest just feels a little tight, it's fine.)
he doesn't know what to make of it yet, but he knows that things are very, very wrong here. that he isn't human and he doesn't belong here, that maybe none of them do. maybe it's hypocritical and inconsistent to think that he doesn't belong and to still seek out someone he only knows from the pines, but he makes his way to percy's place regardless. percy's his best friend, that still feels true. ]
Can I come in? [ he asks, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, wiping his hands on his trousers. ] Or maybe we can go for a walk. [ that sounds a lot better than being indoors right now, actually, even if the doors won't be locked. ]
no subject
[ Percy isn't sure what to make of the messages. He hadn't caught the first one, not really, and with his concentration issues, he only just barely got through the full extent of Steve and Poe's message.
But it's enough to leave Percy a little confused and shaken, too.
Things had seemed so normal here in a way that didn't feel real all the time. Most days he didn't even think to question it but now ... today ...
He'd been through something like this before. He doesn't know how or why or what happened, but it did. He knows that much. He remembers that much. It jars him. It scares him a little.
Percy makes a quick grab for his keys, shoving them into his back pocket once he's stepped outside of his kinda-crappy trailer and shuts the door. ]
Yeah. Lets ... I think I could use the fresh air. A walk sounds good.
no subject
Good. [ charlie's nod comes maybe a little too soon, and he hesitates, resisting the instinct to reach for percy for a moment before giving in regardless, settling his fingers loosely around percy's wrist.
once they're away from the trailer, somewhere where charlie at least cannot see any cameras, he asks: ] Did you hear the messages?
no subject
He almost stops short when Charlie asks him about the messages. It's a little bit like he knew exactly how to read him, and that's - well, it's reassuring, actually, that Charlie could know him so well. But he can't help but wonder if he's being too obviously unnerved. ]
Yeah.
[ His voice is low. ]
I saw the first one for like, a second. I read through the next one pretty quickly but I caught it before it disappeared.
[ He shakes his head. ]
I don't know what to think except to believe it. [ He tilts his head in Charlie's direction. ] What about you?
no subject
he leans in close to percy, pitching his own voice low as well. it only makes sense to be close now, doesn't it, to keep things even more quiet. but at the same time, he can't lie. it calms him, too. ]
The first one was about trackers. I've felt the bump of it. It's there.
[ he drags in a breath. they're outside, there are no walls to close in on him. he still feels trapped. ] If I'm really an alien and you're really a demi-god, then I think it must be true what they've said on the network.
no subject
[ It's more of a throwaway line than the actual truth, of course, because while living here in this town has felt more normal than anything Percy knows he'd ever experienced ... it has never really felt quite right. There'd always been something slightly off about his life here, not because the details were incorrect or anything, but the feeling.
He remembers he's a demigod and demigods ... they don't have lives like this one. They don't just go to school and work at a grocery store and have crushes on their best friend. They don't go to dinner with their adopted families every week, and have their adopted older brothers get them groceries to stock the fridge in their tiny trailer.
Percy feels an itch in his leg where he knows his tracker must be, if the trackers thing is real.
He nods slowly. ]
But it is, isn't it? Something ... happened to us.
no subject
they feel real to him. that is enough, isn't it? ]
I don't know what. But maybe people are from very different places and they're all brought here for a reason. [ it wouldn't be unheard of. charlie's encountered an alien prison before. the thought kicks the tightness in his chest up a notch and he has to drag in a deep breath. ] We're from very different places.
no subject
[ Percy frowns, glancing up at Charlie as though he might find the answers from his best friend.
He doesn't know what to think about all of this, about the growing feeling of dread that seems only to get a little bigger, a little more intense, with every passing day.
He lets out a breath, flicking his gaze back towards the town they're briskly leaving behind. ]
You're right though, Charlie. We're all from different places. I wasn't sure before but ... now that you've said it, it feels true.
no subject
You're my best friend, though. That feels true, too. [ he offers after a moment. it eases something inside his chest, but only minutely. ]
no subject
[ When Percy says the words, they don't feel like a lot of the rest of this town does. It doesn't feel false. It doesn't feel like a lie or a made-up memory. It just is.
That's kind of a relief. If he had to start doubting the way he felt about some of the people here, he thinks he might go crazy from this ever-rising sense of paranoia. ]
I'm glad we can believe in that. But the rest of it? Man, we've got to do something about it. We need ... answers.
no subject
they don't really have much reason to smile right now, do they? ] But I don't know how we'd go about getting them.