{ VIDEO } ♆ 004

[ripstides]

[ a lone figure stands in the Oxygen Gardens (one of the higher floors) surrounded by trees that shadow and shield him as much as holding his back to the camera does. his celestial bronze sword is out and every time his wrist moves, his feet shuffle or the wind sways him, the blade glints. he's wearing cargo shorts and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, though his dark hoody blots out the bright orange. his voice (when he speaks) isn't louder than it needs to be, no more than his sneaker cracking twigs. ] A long time ago, I believed the gods had everything figured out.

They had misguided intentions because they couldn't directly interfere but they were trying; to be better, to do better than before. [ his head drops, heavy on his neck and his shoulders. ] But what's the point in being able to predict the future if you keep repeating the same mistakes? If you're so detached from the world that you can't be involved in it, that you can't stop a blade of grass from dying, let alone a person? What's the point of living forever [ he lowers his sword, sinks the tip into earth, glares down at it like it's the root of his problems ] if the only thing you're going to do - if the only thing you can do - is pat someone on the shoulder and shove them into harm's way, time and time again, to do your dirty work?

[ he's not drunk; he doesn't drink. but what he's saying, the conclusions he's uttering are almost out of his control, gone before he can pull them back. they're everything he's ever thought but never intended to say out loud, where he can't pretend it doesn't bother him, that it doesn't keep him awake at night. ] If your only purpose is to safeguard your family but you can't even do that right, what's the point?

[ Anaklusmos shreds grass when he rips it from the ground and he turns, looks into the camera and in the little burrowed patch that's half branch overhang but with a large enough field for one or two people to train in, it's dark enough to obscure his face but light enough to play tricks. is there- is that armor on his face . . . or? (or is he like so many others lately, fallen prey to a mask?) it doesn't matter because the feed times out when he adjusts his sword arm (rolls out an ache in his shoulder) prepared to swing at a dummy that's certainly seen better days, considering it's slanting off a pole, splitting on one side, half an arm missing and it looks suspiciously like its head (compiled of sheets and other miscellaneous gathered goods) is about to fall off. ]

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video;

[cons]

[ ... ohboy. Wichita's still on the mend, mentally, but physically she's doing better than she was. her face is all bruised up, but! her run-in with Hayley didn't knock her out big time. at least, she's going to pretend real hard that she isn't still feeling blindsided by the whole thing. a n y w a y. more important shit to deal with, like the fact that Percy has his mask on why ]

I'm all for a good rant, but... where's this coming from? Run-in with an unexpected visitor from home or something?

[ hey man, she saw people too. she's not gonna be surprised, and she doesn't sound judgmental or anything either. just. kinda tentative. ]

audio;

[ripstides]

Yeah, right. [ he's scoffing, for the time being. ] Like they could find the time of day to make a detour. [ not when they're holed up in Olympus, pretending life is peachy. ] Nothing's changed. Since the moment I got here. It's coming from one example after another in my life.

[ Percy's antsy, feels a little like he's been caught (but he also doesn't care) so for the time it takes him to get his reasoning out, he overlooks her bruises. when it's out, though, he's frowning. he switches to audio because it's convenient and if he leaves this spot, nobody can find him. ] What happened to your face?

permavideo sup

[cons]

If I'm figuring right, it'd be one hell of a detour. Maybe they can't find you. [ yes she's aware of how stupid that sounds, even as she's saying it. ah. ]

I got into a fight with my mask. It was brutal. [ hey what who said you could switch-? well, Wichita's staying on video so you can watch her very serious faces, Jackson. ] I'd keep an eye on yours, by the way. Mine attacked when I was least expecting it.

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[mathematically]

The point is if they get involved more people die. It's all over most any myth you read from the pantheons that have a knack for having gods who make messes of things.

Trojan War rings a bell. [ Lydia are you lecturing a Greek demi-god on his myth knowledge. really. ]

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[ripstides]

People die anyway. [ they disappear, or they feel left out and they trigger wars. why are people allowed to have any kind of power if they squander it? ] And sitting on their thrones, acting like they're doing the noble thing, doesn't stop them from making a mess.

[ is she seriously going there? ] They can meddle all they want until their presence is actually necessary and then they disappear because it's convenient.

video; She's awful I'm sorry

[smallclothes]

[If there is one advantage that these strange devices yield, it is that it allows her to remain the observer from a distance. A wise decision, when the boy is clearly not within his right mind and wielding a large weapon.]

I suppose t'would be too much to ask that those who insist on being bound to a single purpose refrain from being surprised when they are, predictably, smothered by it.

video; don't be, he's kinda craycray right now

[ripstides]

[ remember that talk about not assuming anything about a person if you haven't lived their lives, Percy? no? okay, then. ] What would you know about purpose? Or my purpose, since you insist on pointing it out.

filtered to (Percy Jackson)

[backbiter]

[Luke doesn't believe what he's hearing. The words are so close to what he had once said. His thoughts. No this wasn't the Percy he knew. What had Percy been dealing with that had him like this? Was it the fact that Annabeth wasn't here? That the only person from there world was him?]

Percy. [He says in a stern yet concerned way.] What's happening, man? [Luke didn't know if he had any trust in the gods. Or if he even cared but to see Percy like this? Something must have been up.] Everything okay?

( FILTERED )

[ripstides]

[ (don't you realize how useless it all is?)

hey bro, what's happening? it's funny, that the one person he can relate to most right now is one of the first to see him donning an eerie gladiator mask. he doesn't bother to hide it from Luke (of all people) and he laughs a bitter sound, shakes his head, like he really has to ask. ] You asked me once and I didn't get it. I didn't get how someone could be that tired or that angry.

The answer is yes, I hate it. I hate being used by them.

video.

[disheartening]

Is it not what the gods usually do?

[ from the reading she had done. Hi, Percy. ]

Gods and men share a need to preserve mostly themselves. Why would a selfish being act otherwise?

video.

[ripstides]

If you kept repeating the same mistakes, wouldn't you want to try to do things differently? You can't make an improvement if your choices are the same as they were hundreds of years ago.

[ and because!! ] Because family's supposed to mean something more than yourself.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

Are you wearing your mask?

[text]

[ripstides]

no more than the one everyone else on this ship wears

[king]

Simply to live, perhaps. Every man has a role to play, great or small.

[ but he's less interested in philosophy and more interested in the fact that someone else has a sword and armour. ]

Where do you train?

[ripstides]

And if you're tired of that role?

[ it's a serious question. can't someone else do it? aren't there other heroes? did he really have to die to get out of another prophecy? ]

In the holodecks, usually. Sometimes, I want the the real deal and I have to find a spot in the Oxygen Gardens.

[killarevolution]

[HELLO.

WAY TO STRIKE A NERVE, PERCY. Because hahahaha shoving people into harm's way. Kill him now.]

You do that a lot, do you, boy?

[ripstides]

Do what?

[ practice swordfighting, fight off Titans because of some age old feud or go off about his family? either way, the answer is probably shaped as a yes. ]

voice;

[toasterprophet]

There is only one true God, and his works and purposes are beyond our understanding.

But there may be others, greater in aspect and power than most mortals, who are called gods. They are both worthy of reverence and fallible, and subject to the same forces of Fate as we are.

[dreamy, considering] We all stand upon the Great Wheel of Time, and we all play different parts. A different part each time. But the story remains the same.If you believed your own story to be a straight line of accomplishment, endeavor and triumph, then it may seem pointless. You may be indignant at the thought of being the plaything of destiny, or wish to break the cycle.

But the sorrow and anger and loss of your own life are not made less by the Cycle of Time. And whatever joy and pleasure and illumination you have felt are not invalidated. They're magnified, if anything.

Take comfort. You may not know the point, but never doubt there is one.

voice;

[ripstides]

That's one opinion. They're all true gods, unless you ask the Romans. [ but he's not about to preach because the general message that comes through is something he needs to hear. his gods don't strictly exist in a religious sense, not to him, despite being worshiped. true, he knows. they're flawed, all of them, no matter how powerful. that's why there are giants designed to destroy them and each of their children, purposely created to serve as the anti-version of each god. knowing how fate will turn and feeling badly about it doesn't mean they can rewrite it themselves.

they're so good at finding loopholes that he forgets what little they do give is often times too much already. ] Take comfort in the unknown. There are too many unanswered questions now that I can't go through my life trusting the gods based on their gut instincts or ideas. I don't like not knowing what I'm up against.

Video

[servant]

If that's your purpose, I'm not sure it can be helped. But it's a heavy burden to be placed on your shoulders.

Video

[ripstides]

I'm not a god. [ so technically, not his purpose. although, through demigods like himself, they do accomplish great good (or misfortune.) an instrument of the gods, that's what he is, what he hopes he won't be eternally. ] Maybe it can't be but I just wish they'd acknowledge that they need us as much as we need them, for more than five minutes.

private;

[northerner]

[ and this post abruptly touches quiet a few nerves. robb is quiet for a long moment before he speaks, tone solemn. ]

To what purpose do you speak of gods, Percy? Do yours see you now, even though we are all far from home?

private;

[ripstides]

[ well, it should. this is, after all, your sister's fault. ]

Airing some old grievances. I heard it's healing. [ there's a pressure in his head, telling him he should feel something, say something or explain but he presses on. faint guilt forgotten in the cover of his new face-shaped shield. sorrows different than the one he'd been experiencing here, but still a sorrow. ] If they can, I wouldn't be able to tell. They sealed their doors to us awhile back. If anything was going to work, it was this message.

video;

[stimulations]

Perhaps because gods are more human than they're often expected to be. [A pause, wondering if he should avoid humour, but he keeps his tone light.] And I suppose, as agriculture staff, I should also probably ask you to try and refrain from poking pointy things in the ground.

video;

[ripstides]

Right, sorry. [ it was an accident? no, okay, he did it on purpose but in a rage, not necessarily because he has a grudge against being able to breathe. Percy's for preserving nature. ] Only they rebel against it so hard every time they realize they might be the tiniest bit attached to the mortal world and seal themselves away. It's not a good human reaction on their part.