Can anybody stop this thing before my head explodes, or my head starts to ring [W1, Sat post-trial]

[hydrokinetics]

[It's pretty late, long after most people have retired for the evening but not Percy. Instead, he'd stepped out to take another walk to clear his head and found himself settled in the lounge alone. He figured out how to start a fire, not at all worried that someone might come sneak up on him and kill him.

They've seen enough death today, he thinks.

The longer he's alone, the more his thoughts drift to several things. He thinks of the trial, he thinks of what Tiara told him, thinks of things from home, and Annabeth remains at the front of his mind. More than anything he needs to keep her alive now. Keep them alive.

And thinking of Annabeth leads to thinking of things that remind him of Annabeth, and that's why he turns his attention to the small library. He scans the book titles, eyes narrowing as he tries to read them and decide what ones might be nice to take to her later.

This is the scene anyone will find upon walking into the lounge somewhere in the neighborhood of midnight. He's in his sleep clothes (pajama pants he picked up from the tailor and his original ripped (and now thankfully clean) t-shirt and surrounded by books on the floor, mumbling titles to himself. He's perfectly okay being alone, but he hears footsteps nearby. His work stops and he looks up, not quite looking at the entrace of the lounge yet.]

Who's there?

Comments

[sweats]

[ So, the trial. Will is actually not really effected by the deaths of Ao or Tiara -- not that he lacks sympathy, but the empathy is overwhelming enough for that part of him to shut down. He's spent a long, long time over the past few years of trying to... detach. And he thinks he's mildly succeeded. This isn't the Jacobis. This isn't the Leeds.

It also helps that he never saw the crime scene.

But from the moment he walked into the Town Hall, he knew it was Tiara. He could see her guilt, her fear, like blaring neon lights and so he took a seat in the back. He kept quiet and kept his focus on Hannibal because that was easier. Hannibal was an anchoring point when Will felt particularly adrift and he's slowly learning that in a place like this, he will constantly feel adrift.

But after the trial, they had -- joked. Flirted? He's not sure but he felt so run over by the events of the day that he wasn't quite watching what came out of his mouth. It made him feel good though and he was eager to continue it when they left.

Except then Hannibal gave a very polite excuse me, Will and Will felt lost. He was deeply angry for a moment that Hannibal would dare to prioritize something else over him. Wasn't Hannibal just -- he was for him. Will broke him out of prison, and that meant Hannibal was his. Then he's slipping away and Will didn't quite have a leg to stand on anymore.

So now, he slipped around into bitterness where if Hannibal didn't want to spend the evening with him, when he was finished with whatever he was doing -- Will wouldn't be there. He's roaming now, a few hours later, still mildly furious and just sort of off-kilter. He's torn between wanting to be around people and not wanting to be around anyone at all, so this is why when he walks into the lounge, he is incredibly surprised to see Percy.

There's a pause and he just looks at him, bewildered before, oh right. ]

Oh, hey. Percy. [ . . . ] What're you doing up this late?