straight up not having a good time

[morsecodes]

who: Leo Valdez & anyone else!
what: a new demigod has entered the school
when: november
where: various places
warnings: n/a, will add if needed


a:

[Finding himself drenched in a bathroom was not what Leo was expecting today. He had stopped Gaea, died in the process, but Festus was supposed to give him the Physician's Cure so he'd come back but--- where the hell was he? This was not Ogygia. His first thought was maybe Percy drenched him to put out the flames of his fantastic explosion, since he was definitely soaked with sea water, but as his mind cleared and the nausea settled, he realized...

This was a school bathroom. It wasn't camp, but it was...weirdly familiar??

Uh.

But as he looked around, trying to take in his surroundings while feeling like literally garbage, his glance into one of the mirrors left him breathless. He watched in the mirror as a memory of his mom played out, her showing him how to fix something in the garage, but he blinked and it was gone. Just him, staring back at himself. In the ugliest school uniform he had ever seen.]

What the-- Alright, Aphrodite, you're hilarious! But I was busy! Can I get back to saving Calypso already??? [Because who else likes throwing him into random places in a new outfit? He had no idea how anyone would find this stylish, though.

Anyone wandering on the 2nd floor might hear him cursing in the bathroom, or find him wandering around, still soaked as he tries to figure out what the hell was going on.]

b:

[Leo was not happy about being here. He's dry and getting the lay out of things but he doesn't like it. First off, it was another freaking boarding school. How many of these places had he been sent? This one just felt....way more weird. Especially since he had weird, vague memories of being here before. It made no sense. He was glad to find his Camp Half Blood shirt in his locker, so he absolutely threw that and his army jacket back on, not even caring if he was technically supposed to be wearing the school uniform. Even if he did put it on, he was going to tear it up and make it cool, so. Better him stick with this.

But he still felt naked. No fire, no magic toolbelt. No friends. No Festus. And no Calypso. He hated this. He was supposed to be saving her and getting back to his friends. And now he was here, in this....school. Felt more like purgatory. Some trick from a god. Or maybe Gaea dragged him down to the Underworld when he killed her. Or...Tartarus. Either way, it sucked.

He's still wandering around, so you might run into him from time to time. You might find him around holding his hands out in front of him, trying to will his fire to appear with no luck. But if you happen to come across the young demigod while the ghosts are appearing, you might catch a glimpse of him looking absolutely terrified. He'll play it off if you approaching him, but ghosts freaked him out. Like. A lot.]


c:

[Guess who found the workshop? Leo was over the moon. Even if he was miserable here, building things made him feel so much better. Anyone that comes through there might find him tinkering absently. It was a good distraction.

If you happen to be in a class with him, you might catch him doing the same. He definitely isn't paying attention in class, anyway. He was too ADHD for that on a good day, but he literally doesn't care about anything the teacher is saying. Just wait for him to show off what he's making. It'll definitely make a scene.]

d:

[Wildcard! Feel free to hit me up for other scenarios!]

Comments

[morsecodes]

[Sorry Leo doesn't notice her right away, he's too ADHD and too distracted to really being paying attention, but eventually he sees her waving at him. A look of confusion crosses his face.]

Uh. Hi? [He waves back, but then goes back to trying to pat dry with paper towels. Until she grabs him and starts dragging him away.] Whoa, hey!! What's the big idea!! Where are you taking me? I didn't sign up for this?? Helloooooo, are you going to say anything? [Now it's his turn to wave at her, trying to get her attention, because he doesn't know if she's deaf or mute or what's going on.

Until he sees the fuzzy fabric and she cuts him a piece.]

Ohhhhhh. Bro, why didn't you just say that? [He's going to quickly turn into a Leo-burrito now.]

[mermaidcursed]

( nene pauses and... well, okay, he doesn't know, but he's right in that she probably could have been more communicative. she takes a moment to dig into her pocket, and instead of pulling out the pda he's likely found in his own pocket by now, she pulls out her cellphone, types something out and turns the screen to him. )

i lost my voice.
i also didn't really think it through though, i'm sorry
i'm nene yashiro

( after she's sure he's read it properly, she turns it around again and types again. )

do you know what happened? you're soaked to the bone. :(

( yes she is also frowning irl too. )

[morsecodes]

--- Oh. Oh gods, I am so sorry. [shit shit shit, Leo that was rude, she can't talk, and you were being rude about it!!] Dude, that was totally my b.

[Just. Awkwardly silent for a minute, while fiddling with the fabric.]

Right, I'm Leo. Leo Valdez. And honestly? I have no idea. I was wiping the smug look off of Gaea's face, set off my hella cool explosion to win the day, then. Here I am. Drenched. [Just shrugging. He's still figuring it had something to do with that, like maybe the gods decided to save him and threw him off course. Wouldn't be the first time.]

[mermaidcursed]

( tap tap tap... )

you didnt know its ok
its

fairly recent too tbh

( but that... huh. gaea? and... he'd been in a fight? maybe that's how he... ... no, maybe she shouldn't bring it up. last time didn't really go all that great. ... and... gaea... wasn't that a god or something? no, someone related to gods, but not a god. maybe he wouldn't take it seriously, and nene just does not wanna deal with that. )

a lot of people wake up here like the last thing they remember is something else. i remember i was talking to an artist friend last and then boom
here i am
that was months ago.

[morsecodes]

Months? Damn. [Was he really going to be stuck here months? At least the world wasn't depending on him anymore. They stopped Gaea, so... Well, he certainly hoped so, anyway. Nothing could survive that explosion. Not even him, fireproof and all.]

And like, the weirdest part? This school seems hella familiar. But I'm pretty sure this isn't one of the boarding schools I was sent to before? [Sure, he had been to a lot of boarding schools over this years, what with his constantly running away and causing problems in the foster care system, but he's pretty sure he would actually remember this place.]

So how did we even get here? What is here? Is this some like purgatory, in-between worlds, magic school or something?

[Oh, and because this is driving him crazy--] Can I please turn on text to speech for you? I hate reading. [dyslexia is lame]

[mermaidcursed]

( nene blinks, and then immediately flusters, fiddling with the phone for a moment- it should be on now, and she is very clearly apologetic as all hell. a soft, stilted voice will read out, from now on: )

i'm so sorry! i didn't even think of that!
but we all had that, too- we woke up with our real memories, and memories of living a normal life here
but once we woke up, we could no longer leave the building
now we have more freedom, but we're still confined to the school grounds
we don't know what makes us difference though

( it sounds so bleak. ... it is bleak. there's so much... nene sighs. )

at the dorms there's a writeup of things we've figured out so far.

[morsecodes]

Nah, you're good. I didn't know you couldn't talk, you didn't know I was dyslexic. It's all good.

[He's not mad, mostly because she's being nice about it. There's been a lot of people over the years that have given him crap for struggling with that. At least he understands why, now.

As she explains everything, he can't help but close his eyes and pinch his nose between his eyes.]

Cool. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. [Spoilers: it isn't cool.] So this has to be some kind of magic. The work of some god or deity or something. [How else would it be able to do this to them? Too bad he barely paid attention to the Greek and Roman stories his friends rambled about so he had no idea which god or goddess it could be.]

[mermaidcursed]

( nene watches sympathetically, remembering when she thought the problem was actually something she would or could encounter in life. ... well, in a way, she and hanako both weren't wrong. it is a boundary in a sense, but it's also very different. after all, purgatory and the painted world are very different. )

you should have a change of clothes in your locker- you can find out which ones yours and the combo to open it on your pda. there's also showers in the dorms, if that was salt water? so your hair doesn't get all stiff and stuff.

[morsecodes]

Maybe Hades got mad I was trying to beat death? I mean, sure, he let Hazel slide, but that's his daughter. Or Zeus didn't like me trying to save Calypso? Or, or-- [damn his lack of knowledge when it came to Greek myths. SIGHS. Don't mind him rambling, just trying to work thinks out outloud.

Anyway, he shakes his head, before scrunching up his face when Nene mentions a PDA. He makes a show of patting his pockets, before he finally pulls out the thing and frowns.]

Holy Hephaestus, this thing is ancient!

[mermaidcursed]

( ......... ohhhh this is more than just being like, really pagan and also jrpg-ish, isn't it. modern times, but with greek- is it greek. yeah. yeah it's greek- myth thrown in... wild. but then, didn't olympus have it's own afterlife? what was he doing here? frowning, nene watches... but yeah, it super is. )

it was such a relief when i found my phone one day
these are sooooo bad? but also they're rigged to connect to the vending machines to pay through these and they have finger print based lock screens, like it can't make up it's mind on what it wants to be capable of!!!

[morsecodes]

That...is really weird. [Leo's casually going to be scrolling through it, looking at all the functions and things he can. It sure is something. He makes a mental note to go through open network to see what the other people here have been saying but he knows he's probably going to forget. There was a lot going right now.]

I mean, geez. These were all the rage, what, like ten years ago? Least they could do is give us an Iphone. [Though technically he knows he's not really supposed to carry a phone. But he wonders if that still applies to here. Can he attract monsters in a weird locked school? Who knows.]

[mermaidcursed]

( an iphone... well. planned obsolescence would make them dead technology, right? but also... )

this place is like
90s japan
so i'm familiar on some level but that was still before/when i was born, you know?
its so weird though

( why purgatory so weird... )

[morsecodes]

Oh that is weird. I'm a '94 baby, myself, so that's not far off from me, either. [It was only 2010 where he's from, after all.]

It's still ancient. Technology went nuts while I was growing up, plus I'm kinda used to hella crazy god magic-technology-stuff these days.

[he did make a holographic scroll for communication, so this tiny PDA was a joke lol]

[mermaidcursed]

( oh, gods? ... well, the literal goddamn devil is here too, so. yeah. she's ultimately not too surprised. )

check out the robotics club sometime, add-kun's from another world. his tech is waaay different

[morsecodes]

-- Robotics club, you say? [HELLO that's right up his alley! He would absolutely love to hear about crazy technology from different worlds. He still has no idea how any of this works or makes sense, but....he's dealt with weirder things.]

[mermaidcursed]

( nene nods, and walks to the door to point at the door across the hall- the workshop where the robotics club meets, usually. hopefully add isn't too rude about it all? he can be kinda

yeah. )