( if she notices the disgust in his voice, through her abilities as an empath, wanda keeps it quiet. it just really means that percy has no obstruction to being this open with her.
the way he talks to relate to her, it does make her feel her age, though. )
Yeah, we're cool. I do have magic from before coming here. I had a title and everything. The Scarlet Witch.
( maybe — he'll think that's "cool", even if she carries what that title means as a bit of a burden. )
[ He could probably learn a thing or two about shielding his emotions because it has generally gotten him into trouble in the past.
But ...
That's a future Percy problem. ]
Wow, how did you get a title like that?
[ He has glimpses from their godly hallucinations of seeing Wanda's magic as a god, but he doesn't want to assume that whatever she did then is the same kind of thing she does now. After all, it's not like he can transform into a gigantic tentacled monster and summon the entire ocean. (Thank the gods.)
For the record, he absolutely thinks that her title is cool too. ]
I guess maybe my sense of what's scary is a little messed up.
I've got uncles and aunts and cousins who could turn me into dust or ash with barely a thought. My dad nearly turned me into a grease spot once just for sitting in his chair.
( well, the thing is, percy— wanda can do exactly all those things, too. maybe not so much in abraxas due to the singularity's interference, but if that's something he considers to be scary...
[ He's got a whole slew of daddy issues, but he's working through them. Slowly. Kinda. ]
Zagreus? Yeah, he's kind of like ... I guess a multiversal cousin of mine or something, I think. Like, his pantheon's not exactly the same as mine but the names and the themes are similar enough.
( oh. that does make sense, but it surprises her how seemingly easy and nonchalantly percy is able to just state that information. when billy had been here, a multiversal version of her son, grown up, she hadn't reacted the best, truth be told. )
Yeah, he's pretty alright. And you're just — fine with it? Knowing you have family like that, that isn't quite yours to begin with?
My family is so weird and so unconventional, like I'm the son of a Greek god and my granddad once tried to rise from the depths of Tartarus in order to end the world as we knew it. And just before I got here we were battling Gaia, who is the primordial goddess of the earth and also technically my great-grandmom. My dad created horses so technically they're my siblings. I have a brother who's a Cyclops, and one of my best friends is a satyr.
After a while, you kind of tend to roll with the punches or you could easily lose your marbles. Alternate universe families start to feel like no big deal after that.
Yeah, and think of how I feel, I'm stuck right in the middle of it!
[ He's laughing though. She might feel the edges of humour with his message, even. ]
But my mom ... well, she's mortal. That's why I'm only half-god.
[ How does he even begin to describe Sally Jackson? ]
Her name is Sally, and she did the actual hard work of raising me, especially knowing what I was and how dangerous it could be just existing. I didn't always make it easy for her either, I know that. But she's the best person I know, and everything good about me came from her.
( all this makes her wonder what tommy and billy would say about her, if they ever had the chance to be raised by her and if they could have been a family properly. if they'd think that everything good about them came from her, if they would speak about her to other people with all this love and care. )
Sally sounds really lucky to be your mom. I'm sorry you can't actually be with her now.
( ah, he turns this on her, and— well, it feels a little silly, to be elated at the fact that someone asks for her sons in such an earnest and easy manner. everyone's always walking on eggshells around her when it comes to her time as a mother, in one way or another, and as much as she'd like to not remember how painful it is... she does wish she could talk about it more. )
Tommy and Billy. I wanted all-American names for them, though I only picked out Tommy. My husband picked out Billy.
Those are definitely all-American names, so I'd say that was a success.
[ Not that he personally knows a whole lot of demigods with all-American names — his own name doesn't exactly that sentiment — but he'd gone to school with a fair number of Tommys and Billys and Henrys and Bens. ]
Were they very much alike? I knew a few sets of twins at Camp and it seemed to vary.
Do you mean physically, or personality-wise? They weren't exactly identical, but you could tell they were brothers. Tommy was a little rougher around the edges than Billy, but they were both — happy and brave.
( oh, man. suddenly shifting into walking on a minefield, feels like, but wanda knows that percy means nothing mean or spiteful when he asks these oh-so-innocent questions.
and because it's percy, perhaps wanda isn't so quick to pull away from answering them. )
Matt isn't their father. I had someone who was like a husband to me back home. He didn't survive after — a war in my world happened. It's a really long story to get into if you ever wanted to know what that war was about.
As for Tommy and Billy, I ... had to let them go. My magic malfunctioned, and I needed to make a choice. Either to keep them, to keep my family, or to stop hurting others with it. Neither their father nor our kids would have wanted that.
[ Well — crap. There he goes, putting his foot right into his mouth. Not that he could have predicted such a thing, but he doesn’t want Wanda to think he’s some kind of insensitive, prying brat or anything either.
Like, he can be one, depending on the god who wants to cream him into the ground that week, but he means well. And Wanda … he doesn’t want her to hurt, being reminded of such things. ]
Oh, wow, Wanda, I’m really sorry. I feel like I just stepped into some real deep waters, and like, we can totally stop if you don’t feel like telling me anything else. And feel free to ask me anything, I feel like I owe you that much at least.
But yeah, I do want to hear about the war on your world. I might know a thing or two about wars.
( she starts, at his blatant panic and wanting to fill her head up with apologies for taking a misstep in the conversation. none of what happened is anyone's fault. )
It has been about three years since. I want to remember the good things about my sons.
( —but, perhaps unsurprisingly, this kind of conversation wears her out emotionally. )
We can probably talk about all that some other time. The person who helped me with tending the animals in the barn is not here anymore. I've got to go feed them now.
Well, any time you wanna tell me good things about your kids, I’d like to hear about them.
[ Obviously it’s up to her when and if she even does, and he’d be happy to hear about it. He wonders if maybe his mom goes around talking about him the same way too sometimes. Good things, happy things — the stuff that don’t involve monsters and gods and how many times Percy had come close to dying. ]
We can talk later, I hope.
[ You know, if this conversation didn’t like ... totally weird her out and change her mind about him in the end. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seaweedbrain) wrote2024-04-05 11:53 am
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the way he talks to relate to her, it does make her feel her age, though. )
( maybe — he'll think that's "cool", even if she carries what that title means as a bit of a burden. )
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But ...
That's a future Percy problem. ]
Wow, how did you get a title like that?
[ He has glimpses from their godly hallucinations of seeing Wanda's magic as a god, but he doesn't want to assume that whatever she did then is the same kind of thing she does now. After all, it's not like he can transform into a gigantic tentacled monster and summon the entire ocean. (Thank the gods.)
For the record, he absolutely thinks that her title is cool too. ]
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I guess maybe my sense of what's scary is a little messed up.
I've got uncles and aunts and cousins who could turn me into dust or ash with barely a thought. My dad nearly turned me into a grease spot once just for sitting in his chair.
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best keep it to herself. )
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Poseidon, god of the seas.
[ Note the mild family resemblance in godly abilities. ]
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( his god abilities— )
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Yeah, it probably does.
[ He's got a whole slew of daddy issues, but he's working through them. Slowly. Kinda. ]
Zagreus? Yeah, he's kind of like ... I guess a multiversal cousin of mine or something, I think. Like, his pantheon's not exactly the same as mine but the names and the themes are similar enough.
But unlike Hades himself, Zagreus is pretty cool.
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( oh. that does make sense, but it surprises her how seemingly easy and nonchalantly percy is able to just state that information. when billy had been here, a multiversal version of her son, grown up, she hadn't reacted the best, truth be told. )
( she might be projecting a little?? )
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My family is so weird and so unconventional, like I'm the son of a Greek god and my granddad once tried to rise from the depths of Tartarus in order to end the world as we knew it. And just before I got here we were battling Gaia, who is the primordial goddess of the earth and also technically my great-grandmom. My dad created horses so technically they're my siblings. I have a brother who's a Cyclops, and one of my best friends is a satyr.
After a while, you kind of tend to roll with the punches or you could easily lose your marbles. Alternate universe families start to feel like no big deal after that.
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( greek mythos really is messed up and confusing. she was never particularly into it, outside of what little schooling she got about it. )
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[ He's laughing though. She might feel the edges of humour with his message, even. ]
But my mom ... well, she's mortal. That's why I'm only half-god.
[ How does he even begin to describe Sally Jackson? ]
Her name is Sally, and she did the actual hard work of raising me, especially knowing what I was and how dangerous it could be just existing. I didn't always make it easy for her either, I know that. But she's the best person I know, and everything good about me came from her.
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[ He's the one who lucked out in the mom lottery. ]
Yeah, it sucks. Even before I got here I hadn't seen her in so long.
But tell me about your kids. What are their names? I mean, if you want to.
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[ Not that he personally knows a whole lot of demigods with all-American names — his own name doesn't exactly that sentiment — but he'd gone to school with a fair number of Tommys and Billys and Henrys and Bens. ]
Were they very much alike? I knew a few sets of twins at Camp and it seemed to vary.
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Well, they sound really cool. And because they had you for a mom, I can see them being both of those things. Happy and brave, I mean.
Are they back home? And your husband ... that's Matt?
[ Aka his fake dad in those godly memories? ]
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and because it's percy, perhaps wanda isn't so quick to pull away from answering them. )
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Like, he can be one, depending on the god who wants to cream him into the ground that week, but he means well. And Wanda … he doesn’t want her to hurt, being reminded of such things. ]
Oh, wow, Wanda, I’m really sorry. I feel like I just stepped into some real deep waters, and like, we can totally stop if you don’t feel like telling me anything else. And feel free to ask me anything, I feel like I owe you that much at least.
But yeah, I do want to hear about the war on your world. I might know a thing or two about wars.
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( she starts, at his blatant panic and wanting to fill her head up with apologies for taking a misstep in the conversation. none of what happened is anyone's fault. )
( —but, perhaps unsurprisingly, this kind of conversation wears her out emotionally. )
wrapped! 🎀
Well, any time you wanna tell me good things about your kids, I’d like to hear about them.
[ Obviously it’s up to her when and if she even does, and he’d be happy to hear about it. He wonders if maybe his mom goes around talking about him the same way too sometimes. Good things, happy things — the stuff that don’t involve monsters and gods and how many times Percy had come close to dying. ]
We can talk later, I hope.
[ You know, if this conversation didn’t like ... totally weird her out and change her mind about him in the end. ]
🎀