abraxaslogs | ( open + closed ) this world is gonna end

[ He knows exactly what will happen if he tells someone what not to do because he's been that person. Granted when he had been younger it had resulted in plenty of amusing stories and anecdotes. Now as he grew older? The stakes were definitely that much higher.

Not in this case though. In this case they're just talking about a cat and having a totally normal conversation that doesn't remotely read like a sibling-esque conversation. ]

I'm not calling him Bob Cat.

[ Despite his response being incredibly flat, Annabeth can probably recall what it sounds like to hear the hint of petulance in his voice. It doesn't last long though.]

Do you want to make him one? I can get you the materials. [ There's a pause. ] Thought if you make one it can't stay in my room.

Edited (decided on a different icon don't @ me) 2024-08-11 04:42 (UTC)

[ luckily for annabeth, she still is younger, so she can be stupid that way without as many qualms. the adhd probably doesn't help. ]

[ she makes an almost 'hmph' kind of sound, just as teasing. it all continues to feel so easy and so normal, but she's afraid to analyze it and lose it. ]

You're depriving him of name recognition. How's he going to learn his own name?

[ her expression does a little !! at his question. building things?? hell yeah. she's always down. she is already thinking about how to design it before she even answers him. ] I could easily make one, with built it toys to keep him occupied too. But why can't it stay with you? Don't tell me you're embarrassed. We're trying to get him to want to hang out with you, remember?

It's a placeholder until I can think of a better name.

[ Except unbeknownst to Cassian and maybe Annabeth, Bob Cat already knew his name was Bob Cat. And was smart enough to understand that when Cassian called him "Cat" it was truly just short for Bob Cat. No other name was going to stick at this point. ]

I have a roommate. It's enough that she has to deal with a hyperactive kitten.

[ Never mind that Merrin actually liked Bob Cat. ]

Didn't you say I have to socialize him with other cats?

[ Is the implication there that Cassian is calling Annabeth a cat? …Maybe. ]

You're in denial.

[ he asked for their help...... and then does not accept the results.... absolutely rude. ]

[ annabeth vaguely gestures at and around the room they're in. jinora has disappeared, but percy and annabeth weren't always alone. ] It's not like this is closed off to new recruits. We're all basically in a dorming situation here. Everyone has roommates. That's not an excuse.

[ she squints at him suspiciously. did he just call her a cat. ] I don't see any other cats in here either.

[ It takes a rude one to know a rude one, just saying.

What Annabeth says isn't wrong though. Summoned could appear at any given time and need a place to stay. However, that isn't the case currently.

Seeing her squint however he stares back at her.

...And doesn't say anything. ]

[ she glares at him, unable to follow up on the urge to shove him for his silence without disturbing bob cat, and we all know the golden rule of disturbing cats (you cannot). ]

Stop being annoying.

[ bob cat then moves of his own volition... but simply climbs into her lap instead. her expression softens a little, and she immediately starts petting him again. she has to admit, there is something in the way cassian's cat seems to like her that she takes far more personally than she probably should, but in a way that feels comforting. ]

[ she likes cassian, and she's very glad he keeps sticking around. if she projects on the cat, only she knows. ]

I don’t think I’m being annoying.

[ There’s a feigned look of innocence on his face that is definitely annoying and he knows it. But there is something in the way that his expression also softens when he sees the way Bob Cat curls up onto Annabeth’s lap.

The whole image gives off a sense of peace - peace that he feels like he’s only ever been able to grasp a handful of times over the course of his life. Moments with Maarva sat in her chair with Bee charging beside her while he was in the kitchen making her caf or tea. As the years had pressed on and they had both grown older those times had grown far and few between, dragged down with a heaviness that lingered after Clem’s execution.

It draws an unexpected lump in his throat and he’s quick to shake it off. ]

Just let me know what supplies you need for the cat tower. I’ll get them when I’m in town next.

That's what all annoying people say. [ and she would know. she has experience being both older and younger sister, even if both are marred by severe emotional trauma. ]

[ she doesn't really feel any of that right now though. mostly she's just content to hang out with cassian and his cat, and if her mind drifts a little to the mass illusion, she can't be blamed. it feels a little like that, albeit with far different circumstances and no curse of godhood - but she feels comfortable, and that counts for something. ]

I'll sketch up some designs later. [ when she is no longer trapped by cat. ]

[ she pauses, scratching being bob cat's ears and idly looking up at cassian, her tone just as idle. ] I could just come with you. It'll probably easier.

[ what if she just invites herself along. ]

[ Cassian's gaze slowly shifts from the floor to Annabeth with a bit of a curious expression. It's not that he didn't want her to come along - he didn't really care if people tagged along on the scattered number of errands he had to do on any given day.

It was more like he was surprised that she wanted to tag along with him even if the goal of it was for to build a cat tower for Bob Cat. Maybe she just wanted it done properly which he couldn't blame her for. If there was anything he quickly learning about Annabeth it was that when she was doing something, she wanted to do it right.

That didn't mean her presence, her company, wouldn't be unwelcome though. ]

I'm heading into town on deliveries tomorrow. You can come if you don't have plans.

[ when she notices him watching her, annabeth finds herself straightening, almost like she's daring him to say no. it's instinctive but ultimately not necessary, and deep down she probably knows that. ]

[ still, she's relieved anyway when he agrees. ]

Maybe just a magic lesson, but I can skip it. Bob Cat deserves a tower.

[ she absolutely wants it done properly and will have a lot of say in the supply choices, but it is very much pushing her way into spending time with him too. so there. ]

[ The sound he lets out is something akin to a laugh. First River, now Annabeth - what was with them skipping classes for what he thinks are one-off, rather insignificant things with him? ]

Tomorrow then.

[ He leans back into his chair, his body language relaxing that much more. ]

Hopefully you're not skipping anything important.

[ she made him laugh?? somehow?? it's a win. she relaxes a little too. ]

Don't you know I'm a juvenile delinquent, Cassian? [ he probably doesn't, actually. ] I can skip a class or two.

[ just because annabeth likes learning doesn't mean she subscribes to a classroom is the be-all-end-all method!! besides. cassian's important too or something. ]

[ The same flicker of amusement remains as he regards her. ]

No, I didn't actually. I got the impression that you were more or less by the book.

[ Considering her penchant for knowledge and how she'd reacted to his and Percy's joint stunt at Jongo, Cassian had every reason to believe that those similar habits of sticking to rules (most) of the time followed over into her academic life. ]

[ she snorts. ]

I've never attended the same school two years in a row. I didn't even go to a public school for five years - I stayed at Camp all year round for a while. [ does cassian even know what public school is?? ]

Just because I know the books doesn't mean they're always worth following. [ books, obviously, being a metaphor for rules. it's important to know the rules so you can figure out how to bend or break them. sometimes, annabeth very much thinks she simply knows better. ]

Demigods don't usually have great track records in education.

[ Not everything in space is that different from Earth, Annabeth!! But that's a fair question to wonder. At the very least she can be comforted knowing that there's no flash of confusion on his face at the use of the term.

She had shared with him that she had spent time at the Camp; he just hadn't realized how much time it had been. That there had been so much transience and impermanence in her life because she always seemed so grounded and sure in spite of her young age. ]

Because it was hard to stay safe outside of Camp?

[ her camp record exceeds... everyone else, she's pretty sure. she's been attending in some capacity for ten years now. most kids arrive around eleven or twelve. ]

It can be dangerous when you're not prepared for the monsters. Some kids just use the summer to train and prepare for the rest of the year at home, but sometimes they're year-rounders instead, for various reasons. [ explaining it like it it's a fact and not a personal experience, despite literally just telling him it is. ]

[ she absently continues to pet bob cat, finding a softer comfort in him. ]

I've been going since I was seven, but I only stayed year round until I was about thirteen. We attract a lot of negative attention in school, so we have a tendency to get kicked out or drop out. I've cycled through a bunch of schools in the last few years.

I don't think anyone can ever be prepared for monsters for the first time.

[ While the wildlife had also been driven out of Kenari no thanks in part to all the harm the Empire had done to the planet, there was still enough unknown lurking out there that you had to approach it with some level of caution. Sometimes lessons come by experiencing something for the first time. Even if that is the hard reality of how he'd grown up, it doesn't make it any easier to wrap his mind around the idea of Annabeth - a much younger Annabeth - needing to learn how to defend herself against monsters.

It only dawns on him a beat later that they had been around the same age when she had arrived at camp and when Maarva and Clem had found him. ]

And these monsters - they know how to find you?

That's probably true no matter what universe you're in. [ even when the monsters function differently. ] Did you ever fight any, back home?

[ her very first weapon had been a hammer at the age of seven, guided by her mother as she lived on the streets before luke and thalia found her. but she'd been attacked by monsters before she'd left home. it was part of why she'd left in the first place, after all. ]

They can smell us. Apparently we have a very tasty aroma. It's easier for them to track us down once we're aware of what we are, and the more powerful your godly parent, the more delicious it is too.

[ she pauses. ] Usually we start figuring it out when we're about twelve or so. I knew earlier than most. That's, um, part of how I ended up at camp so young.

Edited 2024-08-28 02:18 (UTC)

Not intentionally.

[ And they weren't monsters like the demigods they had fought together in the dreamscape. Sometimes monsters took on the shape of people. And if that were the case, then his answer isn't entirely truthful.

There's probably some stupid joke he could make here about the smell being that of a teenager, but the subject matter is a little far gone past that point. Nor is he someone like Percy where levity came easily to him. Everything she's told him thus far turns over in his mind. He doesn't want to assume, but he's always trusted in his instincts and the conclusions that came from that so he asks - ]

Why did it start so young for you then?

It's not always intentional for me either.

[ she looks down at bob cat with a small frown and rubs his ear, feeling a vague undercurrent of anxiousness, but at the same time she doesn't really feel discomfort from his question. maybe if he'd asked a month ago, or even so immediately after the illusion, it'd be different, but as she's already established, hanging out with cassian is something she simply enjoys now. ]

[ and she trusts him, even if she's still working through the leftovers from his time as her brother and what it means now, how much she still kind of wants it. it doesn't stop her from answering his question at the cat instead of the person. ]

Well. My dad explained what I was, though I was kind of on the verge of figuring it out already too. So... the monsters started finding me. [ she really was so small. ] My dad got married when I was about five. They had twins. The monsters kept coming and I got blamed for putting them in danger, so I left and eventually made my way to Camp.

[ Cassian hadn't looked away during their conversation so he sees this internal thought process play out. Watches as her gaze turns downwards to focus on Bob Cat who already seems so enamored with her despite not having spent that much time around her. The look she gives the creature is vastly different from the one from before.

There's a nervousness to it, but one a little bit different than what he'd witnessed in the Horizon several months before. Just like last time it had been directly related to the topic of her parents, leaving him wondering if he should tell her that she doesn't have to answer that if she doesn't want to. But then she answers – and he hates that his hunch had been right in some ways.

Cassian's gaze sharpens, jaw tightening at the thought of a young Annabeth, someone who was far too young to have any blame placed on her for a choice that was not hers, deciding that running away from home was the only choice she had available to her. Protectiveness turns his voice into a knife's edge. ]

They blamed you? He didn't try to take you there himself? Your mother didn't do anything to protect you?

[ annabeth glances up at his tone, finding herself surprised at it and at the look on his face. her hand stills briefly against bob cat, who lifts his head to nudge her back into petting, how dare she stop. she absently continues, drawing comfort from the purring creature in her lap. it's not that she doesn't have people who care about her, but given the topic at hand, perhaps it jars older feelings of that loneliness and her journey to find those people. ]

[ she doesn't really know what to do with his protective reaction. she supposes she forgets sometimes that not everyone knows her camp arrival story, just one more in a long line of demigod struggles. but it's not like most people know the details how of how and why she left at seven either. ]

[ given cassian's anger on her behalf, perhaps she's reminded it really was kind of awful. mostly she tries to put it behind her, but it's impossible to do so wholly when so much of that experience has played into her path to today. ]

The gods don't really... involve themselves in raising us. We're supposed to make our own way to Camp. Athena helped guide me to some other older demigods, but she didn't interfere otherwise. As for my dad... I don't think he really knew what to do with me back then. [ considering when she'd been a baby, frederick had tried send her back to athena. she pauses. ] We're working on it, now.

[ Cassian has never had children of his own but he doesn't have to to know in his gut that how her parents - both human and god - had treated her isn't right. He's only known children with hard upbringings, who had to survive by cutting their teeth instead of having any sort of normal childhood. Not being involved, not knowing what to do, thinking that having a child fend for themselves when there was and are other options, simply isn't good enough.

This only further proves to him that gods are careless. He he had been careless but that was why he had clung so desperately to humanity and desired to help them even if it was a helpless cause. They didn't deserve to suffer at the hands of those who thought themselves above consequences. Above responsibility.

In Cassian's eyes they had failed her. ]

That's not an excuse. Why have children if they aren't going to take care of them? To protect them?

[ He's sitting ram rod straight in his chair now. ]

You shouldn't have had to go through that on your own.

[ in spite of herself, annabeth's eyes well up, between what cassian says and the conviction in which he declares it. ]

[ she likes to think she's over it, insofar as she and her father have been trying again to figure out how to be father and daughter, entirely on her own terms, now that she is closer to adulthood than childhood. but that seven year old who ran away is still there, and sometimes annabeth only wants to protect her too. she had to, because it was recurrently hard to find someone else who would, someone with the consistency to never leave. everyone had. ]

[ until percy. ]

[ and, perhaps cassian. he'd had every chance after the illusion, but he's still here. given the current state of things with her mother, she's rather inclined to agree with his hostility towards divinity, but mostly she's a little overwhelmed by his support. few people tell her much she hadn't deserved any of that. ]

The Greek gods have always run around having children. We're like a bridge between the worlds. [ it continues to be easier to talk about objective facts in the nature of demigods. ] We live in the mortal world, but can touch the divine.

[ her experience in the mortal world just hadn't been great for the first half of her life. ]

I - [ she sniffles and stiffens. ] I'm not alone anymore.

[ Both Bob Cat and Cassian have similar reactions to Annabeth's sudden wave of emotion. They both still, Bob Cat's head turning towards her suddenly aware that the gentle petting he had been receiving had stopped. Seeming to realize that something is amiss he burrows into her, head butting up against her hand.

And Cassian is glad for it. It's not something he can do that would be remotely appropriate, nor is he the type anyway. He had shuttered himself to physical affection, and now it feels distant like the last time he had shown any had been in the dream.

So instead, shamefully he stays rooted to the spot, hands clenched into fists in his lap caught between his desire to do something to comfort her and the anger he feels towards her parents that he's unlikely to ever meet.

There's a beat of silence that follows what she says before he draws in a breath. Despite his indecision here, words don't fail him, reassurance woven through them that he hopes will comfort her instead. ]

You aren't. Not in your world or here.

( open + closed ) this world is gonna end

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