Some people have it other people dont, though the road that we've paved still goes both ways [W5 Th]

[hydrokinetics]

[It's starting to wind down around the hotel, and Percy's making himself a sandwich before going on bat-watch. He's in the kitchen and finishing up easily enough before he makes his way out of the kitchen, nearly running into Shinnosuke in the process.

He thinks about what Damian told them and he tilts his head, keeping his tone light and friendly as he sidesteps him.]

Sorry, dude. I didn't know you were there.

Comments

[hydrokinetics]

[A shrug.]

Before we got here, Annabeth and I hadn't seen another person at all for nearly three weeks. So it wasn't that gross for us.

[insincerely]

Coincidentally, it was similar for me. [Percy might recall Shinnosuke looking for someone on the first day.] Still gross.

[hydrokinetics]

[He does remember, actually.]

Is this the part where I just tell you you're gross and threaten to dunk you in the water again? The water might not listen to me like it usually does but it shouldn't be that hard.

[Hm.] Just think about what I said. That's all I'm asking.

[insincerely]

You'd drown a blind guy? How horrible.

[...]

I've already forgotten everything you said.

[Nope, nope, you can't make him socialize with people.]

[hydrokinetics]

Yeah, yeah, I'm a really bad person. Haven't you heard? [He rolls his eyes.]

We're probably meeting tomorrow. You can join us or not. [He's shifting to stand up.]

[insincerely]

... We'll see.

[hydrokinetics]

Good enough. [A pause.] ...follow my steps if you want. I'm heading inside. [Thus he's turning and beginning to walk, keeping his voice silent but his footsteps heavy enough to lead.]

...one more thing, Shinnosuke. What you told Natalie about Hal's employers. That true?

[insincerely]

[He kind of wants to not follow Percy out of spite, but ultimately, he does it anyway.]

About his employers as "beings of a sort" who exist outside of time and space, feed off of pain, and would go around killing universes if they didn't set up this stupid game? That's what I heard from him, anyway.

[hydrokinetics]

Sounds about in line with what else we've known about them. I told Natalie it sounded like aliens but...I'm wondering if it's something else. I've heard that they used to play this game among themselves before they got bored and started bringing people like us in. Hal told me if they felt like it, they could also send a conduit down to us to interfere. They're omniscient or whatever.

The fact that this world also exists outside of time and space freaks me out. [So there's that.] But one thing at a time.

[insincerely]

Yeah, our little pocket of murder.

[Though some people (or specifically, one person) he can think of probably benefits from that.]

This stuff is outside of my forte, though. Outside of brainless monsters, my worst enemy has always been other humans.

[hydrokinetics]

I think Annabeth and I might be some of the only people who could deal with this. We're trying to take down an earth goddess and her giant children back home. But this is a little weird even for me.