vatheon | Monthly Mingle Log + Marks

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Monthly Mingle Log + Marks

Though things are certainly a bit busy, Station Master has decided to go ahead with the welcoming party for the new arrivals. Partially because he had decided to take this task upon himself and he certainly wasn't going to slack, and partially because making things appear as normal was as good a cover as they had right now.

However with how much has been going on, this party is not quite as extravagant as previous ones have been. The location is near to the elevator, on the beach. A large banner hung between two trees proclaims a cheerful 'Welcome to Vatheon'. The long food tables that normally take up most of the space are missing. There simply hadn't been the capability of whipping up the sort of food they normally served. What is there however is a lot of fruit. Fresh apples and pears. Bananas. A few bowls of strawberries and pièce de résistance several large and perfectly ripe water melons. One or two have already been split, the water melons pieces set out on small plates on one big table ready for any to take. Drinks are available too. Fresh water and fruit juices. The weather might not be entirely the best for this kinda thing (though occasionally the sun seems to peek out from between the clouds!) but at least it isn't raining.

But that is not all.

In the cover of the storage building turned bubble reparation headquarters sits C. She has been contacting the people who signed up for catching the fish, asking them to start bringing them to her today so she can start working on the marks. Similarly the people who have signed up for early mark change have been invited too to drop by today or in the next few days so the first step in making sure the coral is returned to proper working conditions can be taken.

[ooc: This month the monthly mingling log is combined with the log for the fish catching + early mark changing. Also, if your character is new but you want them to learn what is going on, please leave a small ooc note on your comment and we'll send a NPC your way. The mingling log part of this post is only on the first, in the afternoon. The fish catching and mark changing parts will serve as a collective point for threads of this nature for this whole week.]

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Percy touched Annabeth's face softly.

"Yeah, there's definitely an underwater city," he said. "It's inside this huge bubble, but the bubble is cracked and it's been flooded." He made gestures with his hand to indicate the enormity of the bubble and how big the crack was in comparison.

"There's an elevator shaft connecting the bubble to the island, but I couldn't tell much more. There wasn't anyone down there I could talk to. At least that I could see. The water is deep and goes off in all directions for miles and miles."

Leo had been wandering around talking to people and getting what info he could about the place, but nearly everyone was as new as he was. As he made his way toward Percy and Annabeth he could see Percy gesticulating about something large, probably the city.

"I got some good news and some bad news," he said, stopping a few feet from the pair. "I was talking with this guy named Italy - not just like the country, he claims he is the country. Anyway, he says it's possible to leave this place. He's had friends from home - Germany and Japan - who lived here with him that managed to go back home. Bad news is he doesn't know how, they just suddenly disappeared and even worse is he's been here for two years already."

Leo looked back and forth between his two friends as he spoke, gauging their reactions. When he finished he added, "What did you two find out?"

"Some kind of minor god?" Percy asked, brow knitting in confusion. He couldn't remember there being a god of Italy, but it didn't seem completely impossible. "Was it him that brought us here?"

Percy went through what he'd seen below the island for Leo, his gesticulations even bigger this time around.

Percy had gone straight into his explanations of the underwater city before Leo could better explain about Italy. When he finished Leo so astutely summarized, "So the city is like an inverse aquarium with a leak?"

Only after the words came out of his mouth, Leo realized what he'd said. "Sorry man, didn't mean to remind you of Atlanta."

Percy winced. The aquarium.

"The Ichthyocentaurs said they would help," he said, reminding himself as well as Leo. But then the thought of the Ichthyocentaurs reminded him that he hadn't gotten to meet them.

"So this Italy guy," he said, changing the subject.

"Right." Leo was glad to be able to change the subject back to the safer topic of Italy.

"He's not a god and definitely not behind our winding up here. I don't really think he'd do something like that, he seems like a nice guy. He said he's like an avatar for the country and that everything the people there are good at, he is too. And then I asked him if he meant an Avatar like the movie with the blue dudes, but he just looked confused." He paused for a moment to take a breath.

"He said his brother is South Italy and his grandfather is Rome. As in the ancient empire and not Camp Jupiter. He did also say his friends are Japan and Germany, which are definitely not Greek or Roman gods."

Percy tried to take all of that in.

"So you're telling me that Rome, as in the ancient empire, is a person, and has nothing to do with the gods. We've either landed on an island full of insane people, or something is...I don't know. Wrong? Weird? Completely crazy?"

"Yes." Leo replied. "That about sums it up. It could be any and/or all of those things."

"Great. This is exactly what we needed right now," Percy said sarcastically. "What do we even do now?"

They couldn't just sit back and relax and forget about the quest, forget about the others.

Annabeth stood there taking all of this in. "An island full of insane people is making the most sense right now. Funnily enough."

She looked at Percy and rubbed his shoulder. "All we can do is the usual - keep vigilant. See what else we can find out. The more information we gather the more chance we have of getting home and helping the others." She sighed.

"My sources couldn't help much. They were all as new as we are, except one, and the only thing I found out from him was something about changing tattoos on the local fish." Annabeth's expression showed just how nutso she thought that was.

"Tattoos on fish?" That was a strange thing for fish to have and then a thought struck him like lightning. "Do they look anything like this?" he asked, pushing up his sleeve and showing the mark on his arm. It was in the same place on his right arm as Percy's SPQR tattoo. "I noticed it earlier when I arrived."

Percy checked his own wrist, but there was just the SPQR tattoo there.

"Whoa, man. Is there one on me too?"

He started searching his own body, and when he lifted his shirt he found it on his chest, right over his heart.

"What in Hades is going on here???"

Annabeth blinked at Leo, eyes going wide. "Holy Hephaestus how did you get--"

But then Percy's was right on his chest and-- "Whoa whoa whoa!"

She started checking herself as if a spider had just fallen down the front of her shirt, flapping her hands as she rolled back pieces of clothing. She finally found the mark on her left, unbroken ankle, sitting there happily like it'd been there for months.

She looked up at both of them, eyes still wide. "I don't know but we need to find that Station Master again."

Leo's mind started racing. There were too many things flying through his mind as he tried to put everything together. He'd met a country personified, a troll, a very weird looking girl who could float, and the three of them all had the same mark on their bodies which according to Annabeth the fish also had? Steam began to rise off his body like it would on a blacktop road in the hot Texas summer heat. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice nor did he hear anything said after Annabeth found her mark.

Percy studied his mark incredulously and then he moved to do the same to Annabeth's.

"Do you have any idea where he went?"

By the time he turned to inspect Leo's mark too, Leo was steaming and so hot Percy thought he might burn himself if he tried to touch him.

"Whoa, Leo. Cool down, buddy."

"I saw him talking to a few other people while I was talking to Saber over there." Annabeth gestured, hands still flapping slightly. "I can't see him anywhere now though." The music was getting louder and she had to raise her voice to be heard.

When Percy spoke, her eyes flicked to Leo and she immediately went into cool, calm and collected mode. "Leo, it's fine, we'll figure this out! Just... don't set anything on fire."

"Oh, uh... sorry," he said sheepishly, trying to cool down. At least this time he was on a solid beach and not on an ice bridge, putting himself and his friends in danger of falling hundreds of feet to the rocky terrain of a mountain.

He tried to clear his thoughts, but that was ineffective. They may as well have been asking him to sit on his hands for 10 minutes. The smell of steaming gym socks and hot leather began to fill the air.

"Percy, I could go for some plan sea right now."

"Just make a run for it," he said, pointing to the ocean, which was maybe a hundred feet away.

"I'll keep an eye on you. Just be aware that the'res a ridiculous drop-off after a few hundred feet."

"Right." Leo nodded and ran off and into the water, steam rising from the surface like a boiling pot of water as he submerged himself. Why hadn't he thought of that solution instead of asking Percy to douse him?

Annabeth watched Leo hightail it down the beach, shaking her head slightly. At least he had an easy way to cool off in hand.

Turning to Percy, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forehead near his jaw.

"I know what you must be thinking. Don't worry. We've gotten out of worse situations and we'll get ourselves out of this."

Percy's arms went around Annabeth and he held her tight. Thank the gods she was here with him and not in Tartarus alone, but what in Hades was this place.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just don't know what to do next. The sea feels foreign and I can't orient myself in the water."

He sighed and kissed Annabeth on the cheek.

"I don't know if the gods can hear us here."

"Really?" Annabeth's expression showed her concern. If the water felt foreign to Percy then they must be far from home. She felt selfish to think it but she was glad she wasn't here alone. Thank the gods she had Percy and Leo here. Thank the gods that Percy wasn't in Tartarus all by himself.

Selfishly, she clung to Percy a moment longer. "I don't think they can hear us either. Somehow I think we're somewhere even they can't reach." Even worse than Alaska; they were somewhere on earth that she had never heard of. Annabeth kept quiet on that though. As always, the answer was in gathering as much intelligence as they could. "We just have to talk to as many people as we can. Find out as much as we can. It's the only way out of here."

Edited 2013-05-05 13:05 (UTC)

Percy nodded. If anyone could find a way out of here, it was the three of them, for sure.

"So we should find the station master guy again. He was pretty cagey when I was talking to him earlier, but maybe now that we have more specific questions he can help us."

Really, between the three of them there was nothing they couldn't do. Annabeth was sure of it. She had faith that it was just a matter of time.

"You talked to him too? Yeah he definitely wasn't giving anything up easily. I think you're right though, some specific questions might get us a little further this time."

Annabeth craned her neck. "I can't see him in the crowd though, can you?."

Percy scanned the crowd, but came up empty.

"I don't see him. But I'm sure we'll run across him soon enough. What else do we want to ask him, other than about the tattoos?"

Annabeth was always the best at coming up with a plan.

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