mykidisthebest

[ at some point, somewhere, lethe will find:

cepheus standing near one of the cardboard cut outs, speaking quietly. it's shaped like a girl, tall and sporting blonde curls, eyes bright like she knows something you don't.

he notices lethe after he's done talking, half-smiling and waving him over ]

This isn't exactly what I had in mind for a first meeting, but...want to meet Annabeth? Annacardboard? Cardboardabeth?

[he observes her with...some amount of wariness. sorry Cepheus he is just used to things that try to murder them in the pasture]

This is her? It's nice to meet you, Annabeth. Where did you...find her?

[ that's fair. also, gives him a little bit of a squint ]

I mean, she's usually a lot more three-dimensional and little less made of paper. But it's what she looks like, anyway.

[once paper Annabeth does not seem inclined to attack, the tension slips out of his shoulders and he adjusts into a more relaxed position]

You can make her three-dimensional with an illusion, if you wanted to. But I get the idea even without that. I'm guessing I missed...something.

[ opens his mouth to say something, closes it. frowns at her for a second and...then the cardboard cutout looks a lot more like a real girl!

once that's done, ]

Yeah, I dunno what happened. There's cardboard people walking around the pasture, which is where I found her, and paper...plants? Don't get near those. That's bad news, as far as I can tell. The paper people seem harmless, at least.

[gives him a thumbs up in approval at the illusion]

Paper, paper...Did you see a paper demon wandering around at all? I gotta talk to that guy.

Is that a thing now? We have paper demons, too?

I'm starting to think there's a demon for everything. We've met the kissy demon, the bomb demon, the inner feelings demon, the gambler demon, the mom demon, and we kind of met the paper demon once. It was during an anonymous confession, so we don't know who it was for sure.

I hate everything about that sentence.

But yeah, no, I didn't see any paper demons walking around. If I had, I would've torn him a new one...pun not intended.

Hey, hey, didn't we say no fighting demons without backup? You need to have at least two other people with you. It's required.

...I think you just made that one up, actually.

I didn't. Ask Ananke if you think I'm messing with you. It's practical! One other person as backup, and one more to go get help.

No, I believe you. I just didn't remember that one. But, sure, no fighting demons without adult supervision.

[opens his mouth

closes it....

no ok opens his mouth]

It doesn't have to be adult supervision. Just two people. Though preferably at least one who you know can stay calm in a fight, if they're giving you backup. Though, obviously, I'd prefer to know.

[ nods. slowly, ]

I actually am trying to do less of the...you know. Making big decisions without talking to anyone. I didn't know how used to that I was? Um. So it's not easy, and it probably doesn't show, but...I'm listening, when you guys say this stuff. I hope you know that.

...

[leans over to ruffle his hair!!!!!!!!]

I know. I can tell you're trying. And I know it's not something you can change overnight! Especially when you're not used to relying on people. Even I have a hard time with it. We all help to remind each other.

[ some grumbling and trying to get his hair to lie down flat post-ruffling (impossible), but it's clearly performative. he's smiling a little, even ]

It's not like...I don't ever rely on other people. [ glances back at fauxnnabeth ] Annabeth has pretty much always been there for me. We've always faced the worst situations, and I mean the worst, together. Ever since we were kids.

Well, that makes sense. You've known her for a long time! You're still getting to know the rest of us, so it's harder to build up the habit. I'm sure it took you a little while with Annabeth too. Do you go on all of your quests together?

Usually. There have only been a few times we haven't, but those were special cases. Or like, it made sense to split up our skills or something.

For a quest, you normally want three people. Sometimes taking more can be okay, but three's the lucky number. So it's been her, me, and our best friend Grover, or my brother Tyson, or both that one time...or, like I said, sometimes we mix it up.

[the three-person rule was right Lethe is validated]

Your brother goes on quests with you too? That's kind of how it is with my brother and I too.

[glances at the Annabeth in the sort of way one might glance at someone being quiet during a conversation; he is speaking mostly to Cepheus, but he isn't ignoring her. the look kind of implicitly adds her into the conversation even if she isn't speaking]

Of course, if Annabeth is one of the smartest people you know, it makes sense to have her come with you as often as possible. Where do you guys usually go on quests? I'm guessing there's more to it than heading to the next town over.

Sometimes. Tyson's usually pretty busy working at...um, forging stuff under the sea. But he comes to camp some summers, which is always great.

All over? [ glances at "annabeth" with a half-smile as he considers the question ] We've been cross-country to Los Angeles and San Francisco, we've had local quests just around the city, we've gone as far as Rome and Greece. We're usually Stateside, though.

[perks up at the mention of a forge, clearly interested, but mentally sets it aside in favor of considering this information]

Never Korea, huh? That's a pity. I guess it would be too far to travel when you're from America. And your Greek guys probably don't go that far either. What's the worst place you've been? I'll put it on my list of places to avoid.

It's probably better that way? We can visit for fun stuff like seeing you, instead of quests.

[ but for the worst place —

pales immediately at the thought, frowns sharply in the direction of "annabeth," whether out of habit of sharing with her or to just not be looking at lethe a moment. swallows before answering, quiet, ]

You don't really...it's not any place mortals would survive. Or go.

[ takes a deep breath and attempts to fUCKING RALLY ]

Um, but. Have you ever heard of the Bermuda Triangle? Because that's really the Sea of Monsters, and it's full of trouble. Including one of Poseidon's other kids, Polyphemus, who's a serious piece of work. 0/10 on Yelp.

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