(Percy hadn't adjusted to the lack of animals or plants. He'd likely never come to appreciate that lack of nature; he had to big of a heart for it. It would take him a while to genuinely appreciate the master craftsmanship of the city. He'd never much had the luxury to appreciate that kind of thing before. He mostly just stopped through cities and tried to get on to where he needed to be next as quickly as possible. He wasn't Annabeth either. Didn't have that same love of architect. Though as he stared about, he couldn't help but think she'd be losing her shit here.
None taken. Percy would be insulted if his horse wasn't properly admired. Blackjack was gorgeous and Percy would brag ten times louder about the pegasus than he would ever brag about himself. He had zero ego but all bulk up for the animal. Honestly, Percy would have no idea. Blackjack naturally took to the air. He was meant for flying, not racing. Were he to run on his hooves like that, Percy thinks Blackjack would give up on pure frustration. He wasn't as fast on his feet, definitely not, and Valkyrie would probably take the cake. The other horse looked strong in that kind of way, built for the tracks, and Blackjack was built for the air.
As soon as Percy hears Valkyrie speak in an Australian accent, he smiles ten inches wide from ear to ear. Oh, he hadn't expected that at all)
It's going pretty good, thanks.
(Blackjack's own ears were flickering forward, tail swishing curiously. He sniffed at the funky things in Valkyrie's mane, not recognizing the stylized way they were put up.
Ya done up all like a My Little Pony, you are. Don't that bother you? Not that you look bad or anythin' I'm just sayin'. Though I guess if Boss wanted my hair all braided up and fancy I wouldn't say no.)
Dude, your horse has a legit Australian accent. It's so thick, it's kind of great. He sounds like Steve Irwin or something.
(Wings just come with me. The Boss rides me natural like. I like it that way best no saddles, no nothin' in my mouth, don't like that. Feel like a real schmuck with bits and pieces all over. Not natural for a pegasus, nope. Don't gotta be strapped up to be a made man.
It's particularly hard for Percy. For him, it's as loud and clear as if two people were talking right next to them.)
No, not too bad. And no. Haven't been around much at all, gotta say. So should we head out then?
[Gyro wouldn't say he adjusted either, no animals or plants? Not even grass... not even a fly or bird or something? Yeah, there was no getting used to it, especially to a man trained in Rotation, a Technique that took much of his teachings from nature and the beauty in it. You had to have an understanding of this 'beauty' in things to use it at all. The lack of animals and plants truly had an impact on him. Having Valkyrie around helped though.]
[He saw the beauty in people too though, and definitely in Blackjack. It was hard not to keep glancing at the animal, he's never seen anything like him. And it was nice too, seeing how happy Valkyrie was, it was like his horse was glowing. Valkyrie hasn't been so happy in a while and it hurt that Gyro couldn't help, he couldn't be another horse though to keep him company. Even if the two wouldn't be riding much alongside eachother or racing. Just having Blackjack around would improve Valkyrie's mood.]
Hm...
[He puckers his lips, realizing Percy was talking to Valkyrie there for a moment and it was... strange. It sort of sucked not being able to speak to his own horse too, but that's why he was so excited to have Percy meet him.]
Eh? My Little wah? Nothin' I' ever heard about, it's tah keep my mane from gettin' in the bloke's face during a' bash. Can't have it up in his business, ya know?
[Though now he's not sure about it, bowing his head a little and flicking his ears. Did it look silly? Not that he cared much, but he cared about what Blackjack thought immediately.]
Wha- Australian?? [Gyro offers a wide grin.] That's where he's from, I figure he should have one! Still that thick though? I guess it's from not getting to talking with anyone these days.
[Said with a sort of concerned look to his horse. Uh- he looks back to Percy.]
Who's Steve Irwin?
What's it like then, up there? Birds give ya trouble? Guess not 'ea though since they all buggered off. Seems like a right scary place fer any brumby, ay? I need it though, gotta, keeps 'im on and saves me back and 'ooves, guess it's heavy though, feels betta with it off.
[Gyro could imagine it being tough, though he can't hear a word of it to his focus is back to Percy again, nodding as he checks his hat to make sure it's on right and then steps over to Valkyrie with a little click behind his teeth.]
Yeah, let's go, flying down? I'll be taking the pass so you'll have to wait up a little. [The pass being the trail down that leads from where the city it high up on the rocks. It leads down into the desert but it'll definitely take him longer since he has to go around rather than right over.]
(Yeah, Percy saw the beauty in people too. He had seen the beauty in them since arriving here. And it wasn't just an aesthetic thing either. There were good people in this place. He had met some, Gyro included, and it gave him some serious hope on the whole thing. Especially whenever he started thinking about stuff like the caste system and the sexual culture of the place.
Percy was used enough to people staring at Blackjack that he doesn't seem to mind Gyro's constant looking. Even back home with people who were used to magical things would find Blackjack beautiful to look at. He was stunning creature. While Valkyrie had been clearly lonely, it was also painfully obvious to Percy that the horse was still happy. It sucked for him not having other horses, absolutely, but Gyro was a real good owner of Valkyrie. The horse was healthy and pleasant. When he'd saved Blackjack, it had been obvious right away that he wasn't happy with Luke as a master. That sort of thing always was. Same thing with the zebra. Animals had a way of speaking when they felt traumatized.
Aw no worries, no worries, man. Just some jack show about girly ponies and weird hair and pink and blue and all. Nah it looks good on you! Really does I couldn't pull that off none nope no way. Makes plenty sense. My mane goes all flat like when we fly if I go real fast. The boss doesn't ride me into battle anyway.)
Could be. I've got no idea why Blackjack sounds like an Italian mobster, honestly. All his buds do too so maybe it's a pegasus thing. Maybe the way their accents work is different than how ours work.
(He's barely a scientist on the subject but he doesn't want Gyro to feel any worse for having his horse alone either. It wasn't the guy's fault and it really could be true.)
Oh. He's like this Australian nature documentary person and America's only reference to an Australian accent.
(It's real nice, real gorgeous. Stretches out the whole body then you get on them currents and ride the wind. Birds don't bother me none. I suspect it's either to do with boss or the fact that I'm bigger or maybe cause I don't bother them none. Boss don't weigh much but neither do I. I feel him more when I walk than fly.)
Yeah sure, that'll work. Once we get out somewhere open Blackjack will have no problem flying alongside Valkyrie.
(He wishes there was a way to fly them all up but he was the son of Poseidon, not Zeus. He slips himself up onto Blackjack without a sound and Blackjack whinnies excitedly. The horse clearly enjoyed flying with Percy.)
[That gets a laugh out of Gyro as he rubs at Valkyrie's neck and moves to adjust his saddle, pulling himself up onto it again and grabbing ahold of the reins. He just sounded like some gangster? What the hell, there had to be a reason for that, right? Amusing all the same though.]
How their accents work? Hm.
[Nooo idea what he means by that. You got an accent when you spoke a certain language for a while, right? They'd change and adapt as language often did. So he was saying their accents didn't work in the same way, so how else could they? He gets a little pensive on the topic as Valkyrie shows slight distress and getting pulled away already.]
Into battle, ay, that a' normal show, battle where yer fr- ay, ay what's that, already??
[He raises his head a bit, huffing and Gyro tightens his hold on the reins, leaning down to pat his neck.]
Going for a short ride, he's flying, got wings, don't he? Run fast enough and we'll get down there in no time, how about that?
[Said to Valkyrie as if he heard him speak clearly. He didn't, but he knew his horse, he really didn't need to understand what Valkyrie said at all. His movements, even his habits now, he got to know them, communicated with him in a variety of ways and did his best to calm his steed. It works too, and gets the horse excited to run, stamping a hoof down and shaking his head. It makes Gyro laugh a little, again happy to see how high in spirits his horse was.]
Low enough to the ground then? Good, you'll see what he can really do, Blackjack, don;t be jealous.
[A grin Blackjack's way before he looks back to Percy with his brows up, hopping his chin up a little in agreement before turning and bursting down the road. The faster the better, right? Not only does Valkyrie want to get being separated as fast as possible, but Gyro's got a mind to show off a little.]
Yup. Italian mobster. I got no clue, man. I just translate.
(He had never thought all that hard about it. Some horses had accents, some didn't. He could also talk to horses in general so this kid had become pretty good at just accepting things for what they were.)
We'll see you real soon, Valkyrie, don't worry.
(Percy speaks a certain way to horses that he doesn't humans. It's not a babying tone by any means but it's gentler, kinder, like he has an endless bout of patience in him for their behavior and an extensive wealth of kindness ready to be used. The kid was a bleeding heart sometimes and for animals most of all. That and people he cared about.
Percy merely grins. When Blackjack wanted to, he could dart through the sky like nothing. He was quick and strong and reliable. But Percy didn't have much of a competitive streak. As for Blackjack, well, he whinnied in indignation. Percy merely snorted at his horse.
For a moment, Percy merely stares after Valkyrie in subdued awe. He's enough to magical creatures that he sometimes forgot just how incredible normal animals could be too.
That's one fast horse that is.)
Yeah, he is.
(And then Blackjack took off, slamming into the sky and whirling around in an elegant loop. Flight was always going to be a little faster. He had the power of wind currents on his side but Percy knew and he was pretty sure Blackjack knew that if Blackjack were on his feet, he wouldn't have caught up with Valkyrie by a landslide. Blackjack wasn't built for speed. In the air, sure, but that was different.
They fly on ahead, clearing over the pass with ease and swooping down. Flying on Blackjack by now is second nature to Percy. The wind is fast enough that Blackjack's mane is whipped down and back rather than all over the place. He's an elegant thing. They eventually reach the rendevous point and Blackjack lands, tittering about excitedly.
[There's no such dialogue between these two as they run, not exactly like that anyway. Their dialogue was different, at times seeming one sided but never was. Gyro knew this speed of his friends was always in his potential and ability but he knew it was prompted here by his excitement. Valkyrie was an energetic, sturdy horse, a healthy and well taken care of one too. He paced over the ashy sands of the trail like nothing, like he was doing his own flying. As soon as his hooves were down, they were up, and he still had that same habit as always, a sway Gyro always compensated for with his riding and accepted now that he knew it.]
[Dust trailed after them, showing their route as they wound down away from the broad, exoskeleton of Hyaline and rounded down towards the rolling hills of the desert. Gyro took a moment to look up, glancing to the sky and smirked when he saw the others plummeting down, already seeing them need to slow down to start waiting for them.]
Come on, we know they'd beat us, but let's not make them wait, you and me, let's go!
[Said as he stands up in his stirrups and flicks his reins. Valkyrie yanks his head up and bursts in another sprint. The cloud behind them grows wilder as they move around the bend and soon hit mainland, drawing dust up along a cliff face now that lead up to the trail they had taken above. Quickly they move away from it, further into the open and in Percy and Blackjack's direction and make no attempt to slow down.]
[Nope.]
[Infact Gyro tugs Valkyrie to go right past them and bullet straight into the desert. You guys coming or not?]
(When Valkyrie and Gyro dart past them, Percy barks out a laugh and Blackjack splutters nonsensically.)
Calm down, bud. We'll catch up.
(He pats Blackjack on the side of his neck. His horse flaps his wings in three steady pumps and it brings him higher and higher up in the air. Percy threads his fingers through Blackjack's mane and twirls them around. He gives a light tug upward, encouraging blackjack to go higher and higher and higher yet. The winds down by the city and lower were pretty decent but the higher up they went, the stronger they got until there was a suction pulling them forward.
Blackjack rode the sky like Valkyrie rode the ground. He darted through clouds and vaulted himself forward along the pull of wind. His legs were folded up neatly but every now and then he'd stretch them out and gallop himself through the air to give himself that additional boost.
Percy had Blackjack dip low occasionally so that he could keep an eye on Gyro racing along. It wasn't too hard. As it turned out, Blackjack flew about as fast as Valkyrie rode. Blackjack dove down at the ground and if it were anyone else, they might've pissed themselves from the horse pulling his wings in and just dropping straight on down but Percy felt natural as anything on Blackjack's back.
A few seconds into the drop and a few seconds from the ground, Blackjack pulled himself upright and glided up alongside Valkyrie. Percy shot Gyro a bit of a smug look, his brows raised up to his hairline.
Ya a fancy runner. Now I get why your hair's all done up nice and slick there.
Blackjack doesn't seem like he has any plans to fly back up above the clouds. It had been fun for a while but Blackjack wasn't all too competitive. Percy could have his streak every now and then but Blackjack was far more interested in hanging out with Valkyrie than racing him. In any case, it was evident it'd take quite some time for there to be an obvious winner between the two.)
[It's hard not to look up and around a bit, to catch a HORSE of all things flying above. It's nice too with how there wasn't anything living around here aside from people. It was nice to see something... flying. It was nice to see something other than a person moving and living. It made the world more gorgeous even though Percy would notice there was nothing else up there to accompany them. No birds, bugs, nothing, just them and clouds and sun, the light steadily growing darker and more saturated as the night grew nearer.]
[As much as Gyro liked to watch though, he still needed to focus on where he and Valkyrie were going. He planned to head towards the Temple of Jupiter. Not all the way but between it, stopping off at a small grouping of ruins hidden among the mounds of sands in this part of Diedo. he had to make sure they were going the right way, was happy to see it, and then their company suddenly showed up along side them.]
Fast aren't ya!?
[Said with a bright, golden smile as he glanced over, his hair whipping back and his hat miraculously not flying off.]
Oi, ya came back, how's it up there? And ya got that right, hit him right in the face it would!
(Percy's flown Blackjack around enough times to take notice of the absence of animals and bugs by now. He'd remembered from his first time spent in Amoi being told about that and how Blackjack had even commented on it. In the sky, it seemed beautiful having this wide expanse to just themselves but when Percy really thought about it, it made something in him ache fiercely. He wasn't used to a world with no nature. He thought about Pan and how witnessing a god die was oddly one of the worst things he'd ever seen. This world would have made him weep.
Percy didn't know the structures and places around here enough to realize they were heading towards the Temple of Jupiter. Had he, he might've had a few questions. Likely would have a dozen questions and some reserved uncertainties.)
You're not all that slow yourself.
(There's a smile on his own face, significantly less golden but just as bright.
It's a real beaut. Can see the whole wide world. Down here isn't all that bad either though I gotta say. Watchin' the ground goin' so fast.)
[Blackjack would probably be more affected by it or notice it more than Percy too. As a horse or well, pegasus, he's bound to notice the severe lack of his kind as well as all animals, magical and not. Gyro knows Valkyrie has to deal with it after all, and it was plain in how excited and starved for attention from his kind he was when he met Blackjack too.]
[No animals but he'd definitely see the temple already. Hell, he would've been able to see it a little from where they started. The Tmeple was huge and while the desert's sandy hills rolled, they still weren't large enough mounds to obscure the strange, angular temple on the horizon.]
Hell no I'm not, number one, you're looking at number one here- but we're closing in on our finish line.
Real fast, faster than a bullet, hah! I'm betta' on harder ground though, sand's right foolish unda' me hooves.
[Said as he holds tight on his reins and Valkyrie starts to slow down. Gyro falls back into his saddle, sitting up as they near a small collection of rocky ruins. There's a few small toppled walls, a dried well or fountain, and small, spotty paths here and there. He slows to a stop before looking around and finally hopping off Valkyrie, letting go of his reins and patting at the side of his rump.]
(He had seen it though it didn't mean he knew what it was yet. He was still fairly new to all of this, new to the maps and the locations. That and he hadn't bothered to look too much into things outside of the places he thought he'd use the most. For right now anyway. Percy grins, snorting a bit.)
Yeah? I'm surprised you can ride so well at your age. If I were you, I'd be afraid to break a hip.
(Now he's just being a little shit. He knows perfectly well that Gyro isn't old- not even all that much older than him maybe -but Percy Jackson had a bit of an attitude and welp. Gyro was going to get to experience that sooner or later. Looked like it wound up being sooner. Percy had a way of being a little jerk though that was somehow lacking hugely in malice. Like he really was just joking in good nature - cause he was.
Sands a real pain on all hooves. Human hooves too. They sink and slip all over real bad. Poor suckers only have two little wobbly legs.
Blackjack catches the wind and uses it to buffer his speed, slowing himself down without landing. It isn't until Valkyrie has stopped that Blackjack lands neatly beside the other horse. Percy slides off and Blackjack at once is going up to Valkyrie, sniffing at him and nudging up against him. He even starts to nip lightly at Valkyrie's neck, affectionately grooming him. Percy takes a moment to appreciate the forming bond with a smile before looking to Gyro.)
All right, sure.
(Percy's been on enough quests that he knows a pretty impressive amount of survival skills for a kid who grew up in New York City. He shoves his hands in his pockets and walks off, looking about curiously for a nice area. When he gets to one of the crumbling fountains, he bends over and plants his hands on the edge. The fountain itself wasn't all that big - no bigger than a kiddie pool really.)
How about we put one in here? Should work just fine. Kinda like a fire pit.
[Spluttering at that, he stands up straight, giving a shocked expression and snarling a little as he points at him before thrusting an arm up, elbow bent, and slaps his other hand down against his forearm. Jerk! Fuck you!!]
[He is really quickly distracted by their two steeds though and has quite the cocky smirk when he watches Blackjack practically prance over to Valkyrie. Valkyrie's own response is to bow his head, turning to hit his neck up against Blackjack's a little in an affectionate thanks. He ends up lifting his head again to sort of huff at Blackjack's wings, brushing his face against them before stopping and realizing he's getting sand from his face on him.]
[Gyro looks back, unable to hear at all how Valkyrie fawns over the other horse;
I couldn't see ya, too high, up in those clouds, ya looked like something else, really, once you flew down too, not a piece a dirt on you! And 'ere I am, bogged down in a nun's nasty desert and with the coat ta show for it!
He follows Percy for the most part, leaning to let him pick and nods, moving over to Valkyrie once more with a casual little 'sorry' before he's pulling out some things from one of his packs and heading back towards Percy.]
Works I guess, yeah.
[Can kind of sit on the sides of it and what not. He moves to take out some of the 'wood' which is really like a sort of purple wood-LIKE substance, combustible though, lasts a good deal longer than actual wood too. He kneels into the fountain and starts to set up the fire, setting the other supplies behind him as he stacks the 'wood'.]
Twenty four?! Ohhhh man. I should never have agreed to racing you out like this. I'm so sorry, sir.
(Massive puppy eyes of apology going on over here and even a bit of a pout as if that'd really save him any face. He barks out a delighted laugh when Gyro gives him such a crude gesture.
Blackjack rustles his wings occasionally and doesn't seem remotely bothered by anyone touching them, Valkyrie or otherwise. As long as they didn't touch the very, very tips, the pegasus would remain relatively calm.
I'll make sure an' fly nice and low for you next time. It's too bad I can't strap you up and fly you with me. Bet that'd look real weird though. Naw. Flying in the sky is clean goin'. Don't take it so hard! You got character on ya. Look like a real don.
Percy doesn't mind- not a natural leader or a follower. More just someone who goes on gut instinct and whatever works the best. Sometimes that means taking the initiative and sometimes it doesn't. Simple as that.
He sits down and watches Gyro start the fire with fascination. He's started fires before, sure, but purple wood? That's a new one.)
What is that? That's not wood, is it? Or - I guess since they don't have plants here or animals then it must be something synthetic. How weird.
[Tossing up a little hissy fit at that. No one's ever called him OLD before!! But it's just for play of course, soon he's got his hands into dusty sand and purple wood, setting it so it points to the sky in a pyramid before he's pulling back and turning to fetch his flint. Does it the good ol' fashioned way, and he'll continue to speak as he sparks the two small rocks together.]
Not wood, no wood here, remember what I said? Everything's synthetic, usually digital too, don't ask me how that works I have no idea. Even the food we eat's all coded some how. Imagine what it does to our digestive system.
[Click... click- spark! Fire! He takes both rocks in one hand and ducks down low, blowing into the small fire and helping it grow before he pulls back. Seems like the mauve material really lights up well too, it doesn't take long to get a nice size, Gyro moving to sit at the side of the fountain on the worn rocks.]
Tried asking a friend of mine who codes but even he wasn't sure the exacts. This place makes a lot of no sense. [A sigh, moving to pocket the flint and replaces it in his hand with a tarnished gold flask, opening it and taking a drink. He sucks the liquid through his teeth and lets out a gasped sigh, watching small sparks flicker up from the fire, dancing in a strange, blue-ish white smoke.]
Ummm. Definitely at least six, last time I checked.
(Percy takes the attempted insult in stride. Percy doesn't think he's crossing any lines. If he was? Well actually he would probably snicker a little bit about that because really.)
I listened, I listened. I just said there's no plants and animals. Just wondering what it was. Snytho-wood stuff. Got it. I'd rather not imagine that, thanks.
(He grins a bit though when Gyro gets a fire going. Not that it's much of a surprise. He's fairly certain anyone decked out as a cowboy needed to know how to start a fire. At least Percy believed they should.
He swings his feet over the edge of the fountain and scoots closer to both Gyro and the fire. For a while, he stares at the fire, having nothing much to say about the coding thing. He barely understands technology and it's one of those things where if it was broken down, plain and simple, he's pretty sure he still wouldn't understand it.)
Are you drinking alcohol?
(He asks this completely harmlessly, looking over at Gyro with some curiosity. He's pretty sure people only drank alcohol out of flasks but who knows?)
In a way, this place is kind of a vegetarian's dream, I keep thinking. How all the food is coded and stuff. They don't even need to kill plants. Er- I guess that'd be more of a vegan's dream?
[He fans the flame a bit, lowering his head to blow on it a bit more, shrugging at Percy's words.]
You get used to it.
[Looks a little weird but it seems like it works as a normal campfire at least. Warms in the same way, burns, will burn you too if you get too close. You can even cook over it, digital fare or actual. He certainly has. He practically lives out here during the late part of the rainy season and through the summer, scorching or not.]
No it's juice.
[Said as he hands the flask to him.]
Don't vegans want to eat plants? What is vegan anyway? That wasn't a thing back on my world. [Or it was later, but he has no idea. Certainly wasn't in his time at least. Too many people barely could eat at all, let alone could be picky like that.]
(He'll give Gyro that and then some for pity. Poor old guys never get their chance in the spotlight anymore, do they?
Percy merely shrugs.)
Hey man, seriously whatever works. I've seen some really weird stuff. Coded-fire isn't actually at the top of my list.
(He does however look quite surprised when Gyro clarifies that it's juice. He tasks the flask from Gyro and gives it a curious sip.
He pauses and stares up thoughtfully for a moment. What's a vegan.)
Uh....an aggressive vegetarian, I guess. Vegans don't eat anything that comes from an animal usually. So like, nothing with milk or eggs. Like that's your standard vegan. But then you can get into the deeper-set vegans who refuse to use any sort of living creature thing in their lives like wool or leather or honey. Stuff like that?
(Which isn't actually a bad thing and Percy doesn't have anything against it. He's a pretty big tree-hugger himself but he's seen some seriously nasty vegans being unnecessarily awful to people in the streets of New York City. Who promotes good things via harassment?)
There are people though who only eat plants that have naturally fallen but I don't think that's a big thing. Most vegans are hugely ethical-based instead of dietary so they would probably appreciate a world where neither animals or plants have to die. But I guess you don't have to be a vegan to appreciate that. That is cool.
Back in my world, a lot of animals are treated badly and nature is really disregarded as being worthless and pointless.
(His voice takes on a bit of a sad tone. Percy wasn't a vegetarian by any means but he had a massively tender heart for nature. Animals and everything else.)
Coded everything you eat though? It sounds simple but considering we get nourishment from us and it passes through us into poop, isn't that something to consider? It's a lot more confusing when you look at it like that... coding that actually acts just like food, so I guess what I'm saying is... I wonder what the down sides to it are.
[He's tried to figure it out but there's nothing to find. Maybe it really was a good alternative to growing food, maybe this place just hit that nail on the head. That or it's helped lead to a lot of the problems in Amoi. Sterilization being a big one, of both men and women. Women not being able to have babies even IF they're sterile, and memory loss. Maybe he wasn't looking at it right.. maybe it was a lot of things leading to it. But so far he just has a lot of questions and no answers.]
[He lifts a piece of the purple wood and prods at the fire, letting sparks flutter up from it while he stokes it.]
So they just want to waste away then, vegans? I guess in a futuristic world they can afford to do it. I guess we're all vegans here on Amoi too, aren't we? Well except me, I'll keep wearing leather 'till I die.
But this vegan thing, doesn't it just sound stupid? I won't argue with vegetarians, but vegans? Going that far's just making yourself suffer, do they die earlier? But I guess if you have enough processed foods and artificial shit happening in your time, maybe they could. Back where I come from, no way.
It's less cool when you consider there's no animals or plants around at all. Besides... in nature plants and animals have to die to feed eachother. So it's like some natural law, it's how it has to be.
[He sits with a smirk when he watches Percy sip from the flask. Definitely not juice. It's straight gin, and so he'll get a sudden shock of juniper berries in his mouth. His joke doesn't last though when Percy makes the topic a little more sad, and it's Gyro's turn to shrug, flitting up a hand in gesture.]
Humans doing, right? In my era... we were just starting to claim all the land in the Americas. [A glance up, watching the fire.]
Claiming land from people... taking it rather, building towns, mining for gold and oil, laying tracks. It's how we humans found to survive, seems like it was only natural that it'd lead to carving into the Earth enough to change it.
It's how things are. Things have to die. The only way to fix it's more death too, killing a lotta people. I'm guessing the population numbers high there, right? And not only that... but people won't just change or learn.
So in some way, death has to be involved. It's a part of life, nothin' we can do about that.
(Percy shrugs. He's sixteen, man, and he's barely been able to make it through a year of high school. As if he has a single clue about nourishment and the effects of it. On top of that, he doesn't full care either because again- sixteen. Pizza constituted as all the necessary food groups to him. Really, Gyro.)
Dunno, man. I'm surprised people here aren't running around with STDs like crazy but hey, no one seems to be questioning that any more than the synthetic food and fire wood. Don't you think if they can prevent diseases, they can probably provide nourishment? I saw other non-humans here and I mean really nonhumans and their nourishment requirements might be completely different than a human's. Kinda like how you can't feed a dog chocolate. Well, not like that, but you get what I'm saying. We're all eating the same food and no one's dying from lack of vitamins so...
(Again, he has no idea and it's not like he fully trusts the place but considering the circumstances, he literally has no choice but to trust Amoi. Otherwise he would just starve and he's a little bit too into living to do that.)
Well, no? They eat other healthy alternatives. It's a bit extreme and a lot of them are pretty rude about their opinions but it isn't like it's not a livable lifestyle. And I'm pretty sure the anti-leather ones are the ones who take it to the absolute extreme, so, you know.
(Percy raises his brows at Gyro, tipping his head.)
Vegans who can manage a better diet are usually perfectly healthy. I'd say Vegetarians are the healthier though - and kind of the most logical. I mean, I don't know about your world, but in our world red meat is super dangerous for your heart and people who over eat it wind up with a lot of heart problems so it isn't like meats the best for you. There's a lot of fat in it and stuff, I think. The vegan thing's only stupid because they don't seem to understand how cows need to be milked or how chickens just naturally lay eggs. But like I said, they take it to the extreme and a lot of extremists don't always think too clearly.
Sure, but again, I don't think that's what vegans are really fighting against. Okay, some of the crazy ones, totally, but like...a lot of vegetarians and vegans are just taking a stand against the industries because they do messed up things. So it's not really like you can fault them.
(The gin hits his tongue like acid and you know what's unfortunate about this Gyro?????
You're sitting near him and he's facing you because he's polite when he talks so when he spits it out- yeah.
You get some of that right back in your face in nice mist form. He makes a face and wrinkles up his nose.)
Dude, you're a jerk.
(That's fine, Gyro. Just take another drink of your flask. Gin has got some water in it so he keeps an eye on the next time Gyro decides to take a drink because he is sooo shooting that all over Gyro's face. You want a prank? That's fine but Percy will serve it right back.
Percy snorts, looking a bit somber.)
Yeah, well, we did a real good job of killing nature. That time especially. It isn't against you but I'm from quite a ways in the future from that. People only just started realizing how awful they've treated the world and how there's no fixing it. It's how we survive, maybe, but it wasn't the only option.
(Percy glares at Gyro a little bit.)
You're not getting it, are you? 'Things have to die'. Sure, I agree with that. But I really don't understand why an animal has to be beaten through it's whole life and then be killed horrifically just to 'feed people'. Like, no? You love Valkyrie?
(He points over to said horse.)
Do you actually want to know how some people treat their horses? Or are you going to just argue that 'welp, animals gotta die sometimes'. It's not about that. It's about how they're ...."allowed" to live until they die that's the problem. And you know, that's the problem- that mentality. "People won't just change or learn" - that's total bull. That mentality keeps everyone rooted to the past. It's stupid.
(Percy's actually getting fully worked up now. The kid had a stringent set of morals. It was actually this very topic, this idea that people just didn't want to change ever, that had caused the war that he was about to enter. He turns away from Gyro a little bit, glaring at the fire. He had seen friends die because people didn't want to change. It was such bullshit in his head and his morale didn't leave much room for feeling too keenly on it.)
You're close-minded, aren't you?
(He muttered quietly, feeling oddly disappointed. All adults were so close-minded. The gods were so stuck in their ways, all of the adults he had ever yelled in the faces of of why can't we change things?! had only ever shrugged and seemed to say: "That's just the way things are, Percy." He didn't get that. He never would and he never wanted to understand that. He'd rip apart Mount Olympus himself before he would and funnily enough, wasn't that what Luke was doing? Funny how sometimes you start to understand the 'villain'.)
[He listens and considers what is said about food and vegans. It's hard for him to make much commentary of Percy's world and how food works. His main problem with the idea of being vegan mostly just comes from how many people he knows are starving and are unable to get food at all in his own world. So people choosing just not to eat what's out there due to some high up opinion bothers him. So many people can't get any food, let alone highly specific types of it.]
[But before he has anything more to say on it, Percy's sputtering from the gin and Gyro's laughing, even as it sprays at his face.]
Nyo-hooo! Don't like it?? It's 'Juniper juice', hohoho!
[He'll take the flask back though, wiping his face and cackling before he'll somber up too. Seems to him that Percy's not the one who gets it here, even if he thinks Gyro isn't. His point was things die and it's natural. He never said it made sense for things to be tortured, or killed horrifically. ESPECIALLY not those things. As an executioner of criminals, he was taught to kill them as cleanly and perfectly as possible without any sign of suffering, he'd say killing should always be done like that, especially for food. He has no idea where Percy is getting all this shit about killing horrifically, after all, he never mentioned how things should die, just that they do and it's natural. Though he doubts it's Percy's own strong opinions leading him to just jump into this anger.]
[So Gyro will stay calm, quiet, and let him talk. Just let him get it all out. It seems that Gyro's quite able to put on a serious and emotionless face, doing so now as he watches him, staring.]
No, we're not going to talk about something else, it seems like you got the wrong idea, I'm not going to let you keep it.
Did I say a word about how people go about killing anything? Listen here.
People won't change.
You know why? They won't change completely, like you think anyway. But they won't because 'consent' exists.
[A breath, looking out now as he talks.]
People can be good or evil, or something like it... 'good' and 'bad' things exist, they will. Always will. And people will always be able to choose one or the others. That's consent, that's 'free will'. You can hope all you want that everyone's going to make the right choice about everything, but that's not going to happen.
Yeah, the world can change, more people can be smarter, figure out how to be better and stop hurting others and animals, and everything. But as long as 'free will' exists, the world's never going to be perfect. I get it, I get wanting it to be, I get wanting things to all be better, but sometimes it's not like that.
Sometimes... people are going to make the 'bad choices'. You can either have everyone choose the same good decisions over and over without actually choosing, or you can have free will. If you want 'free will' as a part of life, then you have to consider the down side...
that free will means people can't completely change. Not everyone.
[Lifting the flask, he holds it there, not drinking yet.]
As for what I said about life and death being part of it- why'd you ever think I meant people and animals should suffer? Did I fucking say that? No. Stop jumping to conclusions like that.
[And he'll drink. He feels sick on the subject, but people like Percy... they'd find out eventually that the world couldn't be all that they wanted. The point Gyro was trying to make was that you can go and try to change things all out want, and yeah, you could, you needed to keep going and making the right choices and try to get others to as well. But it was that people, that EVERYONE still won't, and you can't just make them either. Even after all your work there will still be people out there that not only choose to do the bad thing, but don't actually care at all either. It was just how things were. And you had to accept that. If you went around thinking you could make every single person do what you believed was right, free will wouldn't exist anymore. And like death, free will was a necessary choice in life.]
[He just hope the kid gets it, but maybe he won't.]
(Percy could understand how it'd make no sense for someone surrounded by people who had little to no food. It's not like he didn't get that. He grew up poor and living in New York City. He saw people starving on the streets all of the time. It's not like he was a vegan or preaching it, merely explaining it because Gyro asked. He thought some of the ideals were right but most of the execution wrong. Simple as that. Not that Gyro seemed to not get that part.
As for the rest of it, well. Miscommunication, really. Percy's loud and passionate but he's also not dense and stubborn enough to ignore when someone else is talking. He listens when Gyro starts to speak, looks at him and sits there quietly, not interrupting, because it's important to listen and he understands quickly enough that he misunderstood Gyro. Percy's a good kid, is the thing. He has a good heart and it's in the right place, even if he fumbles a bit with it and winds up getting more snarky than thoughtful.
After Gyro finishes talking, Percy rubs at his chin thoughtfully and stares briefly at the fire.)
I think you're right and I think you're wrong. I agree that people are always going to do bad things and that it sucks. But I agree that that's what free will is about. I know a perfect world is impossible- trust me on that. But I do thing people can change. I think people can change for the better, even the majority, even if it means that there will still be bad people. I get that. I do. I agree too. Evil is always going to exist.
I never said it wouldn't, you know. Just that people could change. Cause they can. It's dumb to say they can'. I mean, you don't know the future yet but people outlawed slavery, fought for the rights for African Americans, fought for the rights of women, and are fighting for the rights for gay people. I mean. It's slow and there's always crap and racism and sexism still exist but...things are better because people started to change. Bad stuff will always exist, people who want to hurt animals or people who want to hurt people for being different. Dude, the monsters in my world, the ones I fight? They don't die. They turn to dust and it takes years for them to reform. Wanna know why? It's cause they're more of a concept than a living blood-thing like you or me. Evil is a concept you can't kill. You can only push it out of the way for a while. I get that. Trust me, I really do.
(His voice is softer than before, his knees bumping together. He looks at Gyro and offers a genuine sort of smile.)
I'm sorry. That I called you close-minded. I can get riled up sometimes and jump to conclusions. I uh. Get in trouble for that a lot. But I am sorry. I didn't mean to jump to any conclusions with you. I know you're a cool dude.
(He means it too. He didn't mean to offend Gyro or insinuate anything - though he knows he did. He wouldn't even say he didn't. He's done it before and would likely do it again. Percy doesn't always think. He feels and then does. He tries to do what he thinks is right and sometimes he messes up. He's still learning though, still a kid, and at least he can admit when he's wrong and he had been in the wrong. To an extent, anyway, in having gotten worked up.)
I guess the subject just hits close to home, you know? It isn't personal. I shouldn't have made it personal. But I guess some things are hard to not make personal.
[Yeah and Gyro grew up pretty well off honestly. He was a servant of the king after all. But just because he knew what it was to have a house and food on the table, didn't mean he lived in luxury. And it didn't mean he didn't see the down trodden starving and sick in his family's clinic. He saw it more often than he liked.]
[He's happy though that Percy stops to listen to him. After all, a passion like that in the kid could mean they'd fall into interrupting eachother and eventually whatever sort of friendship this was would've crashed and burned. Gyro didn't show this happiness, but he felt it, and again would fall back to listen to Percy again, the fire crackling on. Valkyrie couldn't help but worry a bit at the 'vibes' gotten from that direction, but so like a horse to leave whatever was going on to who was involved. If anything he moved to stand a little closer to Blackjack as they rested and continued their own far less vehement conversation.]
Yeah, I'm not going to argue on that. 'Course people can change like that, but not everyone, and so in a way we don't change completely. Maybe saying 'people don't change' is a bad way of presenting it. I shoulda said 'they won't change completely' how about that?
[A breath at that though. It really means something to hear what he does. That things got better for people, that slavery stopped being a thing, that things changed for African Americans (though he does flinch a little at that term, people still had a bad way of speaking in his time after all, it's weird to hear someone casually use 'African Americans'.) It's weird too to hear about gays getting rights, he never even considered that but that did lead people to getting incarcerated in his time, even killed... it was a problem, a big one, it all was. But hearing that it does change in a version of Earth made him feel a bit more relaxed. It might in his own then, he hoped so. It didn't change his opinion on things though, after all, he'll stick by 'people don't change completely'. He's really not a pessimist though, it's not like he thought things couldn't change at all large scale.]
[He's even more happy to see that Percy understands him though. Gyro's a good person too, even if he can be an ass sometimes, but that was usually just for laughs. They're both good hearted and he felt like they'd be good friends. So it's nice to see he was right and they this conversation didn't spiral down into something they couldn't reverse. After all, some of the biggest feuds were sparked from merely a misunderstanding.]
Heh, yeah? Maybe it's too late, you already said it. I'm close-minded, am I??
[Said as he smiles back and moves to shove a hand at Percy's head before sitting back again and taking another drink of his flask. He wipes at his mouth with the back of his wrist.]
It's a crack. [A breath, pointing to him.]
A crack in your heart made by 'sentimentality'. But don't worry, that's a part of life too... [Staring into the fire.] No matter what anyone tells you.
(That was true enough. Percy had seen people as passionate as he was dissolve into pretty awful people because they let their passion control everything. He didn't think that was right either. He tried to listen to everyone. The kid even felt compassion towards his own enemies and not just the big ones. The foot soldiers, the ones at the very bottom just trying to do what they could do. Of course he's felt hatred towards people who had wronged him. He's wanted people to pay the price for taking the lives of those he's loved but he's also understood people just as much as he's resented them. Things were never black and white in his world. He thought listening was important though. That listening was half the battle of changing for the better- whether himself or others.
He grins at Gyro then and gives a nod.)
Yeah, I think 'people won't completely change' is fairly accurate. I can get behind that statement.
(He could too. He isn't the sort of person to just agree to avoid confrontation. It's more than obvious now that he isn't. He thinks that's a better way of putting it, that's all. People don't change was way too stringent and allowed no wiggle room. 'People won't completely change'? Now that fit the bill. Percy was trying to remind himself too that Gyro was from the past. One of his good friends Nico was also from the past and far enough from the past that he didn't understand certain things in the new world. He had to remind himself to give Gyro some wiggle room. It wasn't fair to think Gyro would automatically get certain aspects of the current world. But it was clear that Gyro was a certain sort of goodness that ran through human life and could result in change. Maybe not Gyro himself but Gyro....he didn't seem bad. Not even slightly. And Percy thought that even the smallest bits of good accounted for a lot. A man who diligently took care of his own horse, a man who helped others at a clinic.
He didn't think Gyro was pessimistic. Not really, not after they discussed things in greater detail. He would maybe peg him as more of a realist. Which Percy could respect. Percy himself was a bit of an optimistic realist. He wasn't completely blind to the faults that lay in the system of basic human comprehension.
Percy smirks a bit and pops his chin into his palm.)
Oh, super close-minded. I can't believe you don't even get the vegan life style.
(Completely teasing now and it's more than clear from the tone of his voice. He outright laughs at the shove to his head and yeah, things are just fine between them. He really did like Gyro.
He looks at Gyro, blinking sea green eyes. He looks down at himself, like he would be able to see his heart if he tried hard enough. He looked over at Gyro again then. Eventually, he grins, a soft sort of grin.)
[It was true his mindset was a lot different from Percy's. Really, Gyro was heavily forward thinking in his own time, and often marked as eccentric or stupid because of his choices. He just came from a whole different time, the sort of time where people still called native americans 'indians' because they didn't know any better, and sometimes he wouldn't know any better either. It was just how it was. Not everyone did things out of malice, sometimes it just never seemed harmful enough to stop. It was a completely different world back then after all.]
[Either way it's why he didn't just leave the conversation where it had been even though normally? He would have. But when he knows something it happening between him and someone else, he still wants to preserve it. It's just a good thing he has an easier time talking about this sort of thing than something really personal about his own feelings or history. It was a difficult thing to get Gyro to talk about how he felt on a more specific and personal level. What his opinions were here was personal, sure, but not to the same degree. It wasn't like he was talking about his feelings on his father, or what family or love meant to him. Those things came harder to him.]
Vegans just sound like assholes freaks. I bet they're green coloured and their teeth fall out, nyeh-heheh.
(Percy could honestly empathize with that. Mostly everyone he met assumed he was a complete idiot. Damn, even some of his long-term, good friends thought he was a complete idiot. He's been called stupid more than anything else in his entire life and really, he doesn't care. He'd rather be called stupid or ugly or whatever else before he was called something like disloyal or a liar. Percy was smart though. He was aware and observant and he knew Gyro was from the past and that things Gyro said and did had to be taken with a grain of salt. Which Percy was fine with doing. Outdated mentality didn't mean a bad person and it didn't even mean a stupid person. He got that.
Percy's glad Gyro had preserved it. Chances were good Percy would have cooled off later then regretted being dense. It was a lot better this way. He wasn't used to adults talking to him like that either and it shifts his respect towards Gyro. Percy was a relatively open book. The kid didn't have many secrets. It's hard to when you were as passionate as he was. But there were things that he carried with him that he'd be more reluctant to share.)
Um well, you're not wrong. They're not green colored or anything but uh, they're not always smart. Some of them are actually stupid enough to put their dogs or cats on vegan diets and it's kind of like, stop?
(He's quiet after that, looking at the fire. Then after some time of silence, he grins over at Gyro and pokes him in the shoulder. No touch laws, sure, but they're completely alone.)
Hey. You know, you're probably one of the first adults that isn't completely backwards that I've met.
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None taken. Percy would be insulted if his horse wasn't properly admired. Blackjack was gorgeous and Percy would brag ten times louder about the pegasus than he would ever brag about himself. He had zero ego but all bulk up for the animal. Honestly, Percy would have no idea. Blackjack naturally took to the air. He was meant for flying, not racing. Were he to run on his hooves like that, Percy thinks Blackjack would give up on pure frustration. He wasn't as fast on his feet, definitely not, and Valkyrie would probably take the cake. The other horse looked strong in that kind of way, built for the tracks, and Blackjack was built for the air.
As soon as Percy hears Valkyrie speak in an Australian accent, he smiles ten inches wide from ear to ear. Oh, he hadn't expected that at all)
It's going pretty good, thanks.
(Blackjack's own ears were flickering forward, tail swishing curiously. He sniffed at the funky things in Valkyrie's mane, not recognizing the stylized way they were put up.
Ya done up all like a My Little Pony, you are. Don't that bother you? Not that you look bad or anythin' I'm just sayin'. Though I guess if Boss wanted my hair all braided up and fancy I wouldn't say no.)
Dude, your horse has a legit Australian accent. It's so thick, it's kind of great. He sounds like Steve Irwin or something.
(Wings just come with me. The Boss rides me natural like. I like it that way best no saddles, no nothin' in my mouth, don't like that. Feel like a real schmuck with bits and pieces all over. Not natural for a pegasus, nope. Don't gotta be strapped up to be a made man.
It's particularly hard for Percy. For him, it's as loud and clear as if two people were talking right next to them.)
No, not too bad. And no. Haven't been around much at all, gotta say. So should we head out then?
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[He saw the beauty in people too though, and definitely in Blackjack. It was hard not to keep glancing at the animal, he's never seen anything like him. And it was nice too, seeing how happy Valkyrie was, it was like his horse was glowing. Valkyrie hasn't been so happy in a while and it hurt that Gyro couldn't help, he couldn't be another horse though to keep him company. Even if the two wouldn't be riding much alongside eachother or racing. Just having Blackjack around would improve Valkyrie's mood.]
Hm...
[He puckers his lips, realizing Percy was talking to Valkyrie there for a moment and it was... strange. It sort of sucked not being able to speak to his own horse too, but that's why he was so excited to have Percy meet him.]
Eh? My Little wah? Nothin' I' ever heard about, it's tah keep my mane from gettin' in the bloke's face during a' bash. Can't have it up in his business, ya know?
[Though now he's not sure about it, bowing his head a little and flicking his ears. Did it look silly? Not that he cared much, but he cared about what Blackjack thought immediately.]
Wha- Australian?? [Gyro offers a wide grin.] That's where he's from, I figure he should have one! Still that thick though? I guess it's from not getting to talking with anyone these days.
[Said with a sort of concerned look to his horse. Uh- he looks back to Percy.]
Who's Steve Irwin?
What's it like then, up there? Birds give ya trouble? Guess not 'ea though since they all buggered off. Seems like a right scary place fer any brumby, ay? I need it though, gotta, keeps 'im on and saves me back and 'ooves, guess it's heavy though, feels betta with it off.
[Gyro could imagine it being tough, though he can't hear a word of it to his focus is back to Percy again, nodding as he checks his hat to make sure it's on right and then steps over to Valkyrie with a little click behind his teeth.]
Yeah, let's go, flying down? I'll be taking the pass so you'll have to wait up a little. [The pass being the trail down that leads from where the city it high up on the rocks. It leads down into the desert but it'll definitely take him longer since he has to go around rather than right over.]
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Percy was used enough to people staring at Blackjack that he doesn't seem to mind Gyro's constant looking. Even back home with people who were used to magical things would find Blackjack beautiful to look at. He was stunning creature. While Valkyrie had been clearly lonely, it was also painfully obvious to Percy that the horse was still happy. It sucked for him not having other horses, absolutely, but Gyro was a real good owner of Valkyrie. The horse was healthy and pleasant. When he'd saved Blackjack, it had been obvious right away that he wasn't happy with Luke as a master. That sort of thing always was. Same thing with the zebra. Animals had a way of speaking when they felt traumatized.
Aw no worries, no worries, man. Just some jack show about girly ponies and weird hair and pink and blue and all. Nah it looks good on you! Really does I couldn't pull that off none nope no way. Makes plenty sense. My mane goes all flat like when we fly if I go real fast. The boss doesn't ride me into battle anyway.)
Could be. I've got no idea why Blackjack sounds like an Italian mobster, honestly. All his buds do too so maybe it's a pegasus thing. Maybe the way their accents work is different than how ours work.
(He's barely a scientist on the subject but he doesn't want Gyro to feel any worse for having his horse alone either. It wasn't the guy's fault and it really could be true.)
Oh. He's like this Australian nature documentary person and America's only reference to an Australian accent.
(It's real nice, real gorgeous. Stretches out the whole body then you get on them currents and ride the wind. Birds don't bother me none. I suspect it's either to do with boss or the fact that I'm bigger or maybe cause I don't bother them none. Boss don't weigh much but neither do I. I feel him more when I walk than fly.)
Yeah sure, that'll work. Once we get out somewhere open Blackjack will have no problem flying alongside Valkyrie.
(He wishes there was a way to fly them all up but he was the son of Poseidon, not Zeus. He slips himself up onto Blackjack without a sound and Blackjack whinnies excitedly. The horse clearly enjoyed flying with Percy.)
See you there?
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[That gets a laugh out of Gyro as he rubs at Valkyrie's neck and moves to adjust his saddle, pulling himself up onto it again and grabbing ahold of the reins. He just sounded like some gangster? What the hell, there had to be a reason for that, right? Amusing all the same though.]
How their accents work? Hm.
[Nooo idea what he means by that. You got an accent when you spoke a certain language for a while, right? They'd change and adapt as language often did. So he was saying their accents didn't work in the same way, so how else could they? He gets a little pensive on the topic as Valkyrie shows slight distress and getting pulled away already.]
Into battle, ay, that a' normal show, battle where yer fr- ay, ay what's that, already??
[He raises his head a bit, huffing and Gyro tightens his hold on the reins, leaning down to pat his neck.]
Going for a short ride, he's flying, got wings, don't he? Run fast enough and we'll get down there in no time, how about that?
[Said to Valkyrie as if he heard him speak clearly. He didn't, but he knew his horse, he really didn't need to understand what Valkyrie said at all. His movements, even his habits now, he got to know them, communicated with him in a variety of ways and did his best to calm his steed. It works too, and gets the horse excited to run, stamping a hoof down and shaking his head. It makes Gyro laugh a little, again happy to see how high in spirits his horse was.]
Low enough to the ground then? Good, you'll see what he can really do, Blackjack, don;t be jealous.
[A grin Blackjack's way before he looks back to Percy with his brows up, hopping his chin up a little in agreement before turning and bursting down the road. The faster the better, right? Not only does Valkyrie want to get being separated as fast as possible, but Gyro's got a mind to show off a little.]
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(He had never thought all that hard about it. Some horses had accents, some didn't. He could also talk to horses in general so this kid had become pretty good at just accepting things for what they were.)
We'll see you real soon, Valkyrie, don't worry.
(Percy speaks a certain way to horses that he doesn't humans. It's not a babying tone by any means but it's gentler, kinder, like he has an endless bout of patience in him for their behavior and an extensive wealth of kindness ready to be used. The kid was a bleeding heart sometimes and for animals most of all. That and people he cared about.
Percy merely grins. When Blackjack wanted to, he could dart through the sky like nothing. He was quick and strong and reliable. But Percy didn't have much of a competitive streak. As for Blackjack, well, he whinnied in indignation. Percy merely snorted at his horse.
For a moment, Percy merely stares after Valkyrie in subdued awe. He's enough to magical creatures that he sometimes forgot just how incredible normal animals could be too.
That's one fast horse that is.)
Yeah, he is.
(And then Blackjack took off, slamming into the sky and whirling around in an elegant loop. Flight was always going to be a little faster. He had the power of wind currents on his side but Percy knew and he was pretty sure Blackjack knew that if Blackjack were on his feet, he wouldn't have caught up with Valkyrie by a landslide. Blackjack wasn't built for speed. In the air, sure, but that was different.
They fly on ahead, clearing over the pass with ease and swooping down. Flying on Blackjack by now is second nature to Percy. The wind is fast enough that Blackjack's mane is whipped down and back rather than all over the place. He's an elegant thing. They eventually reach the rendevous point and Blackjack lands, tittering about excitedly.
But I'm still faster! Right Boss?)
In the air, yeah.
(Ayyyye!! What's that supposed to mean!)
Oh, nothing. Don't sweat it.
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[Dust trailed after them, showing their route as they wound down away from the broad, exoskeleton of Hyaline and rounded down towards the rolling hills of the desert. Gyro took a moment to look up, glancing to the sky and smirked when he saw the others plummeting down, already seeing them need to slow down to start waiting for them.]
Come on, we know they'd beat us, but let's not make them wait, you and me, let's go!
[Said as he stands up in his stirrups and flicks his reins. Valkyrie yanks his head up and bursts in another sprint. The cloud behind them grows wilder as they move around the bend and soon hit mainland, drawing dust up along a cliff face now that lead up to the trail they had taken above. Quickly they move away from it, further into the open and in Percy and Blackjack's direction and make no attempt to slow down.]
[Nope.]
[Infact Gyro tugs Valkyrie to go right past them and bullet straight into the desert. You guys coming or not?]
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Calm down, bud. We'll catch up.
(He pats Blackjack on the side of his neck. His horse flaps his wings in three steady pumps and it brings him higher and higher up in the air. Percy threads his fingers through Blackjack's mane and twirls them around. He gives a light tug upward, encouraging blackjack to go higher and higher and higher yet. The winds down by the city and lower were pretty decent but the higher up they went, the stronger they got until there was a suction pulling them forward.
Blackjack rode the sky like Valkyrie rode the ground. He darted through clouds and vaulted himself forward along the pull of wind. His legs were folded up neatly but every now and then he'd stretch them out and gallop himself through the air to give himself that additional boost.
Percy had Blackjack dip low occasionally so that he could keep an eye on Gyro racing along. It wasn't too hard. As it turned out, Blackjack flew about as fast as Valkyrie rode. Blackjack dove down at the ground and if it were anyone else, they might've pissed themselves from the horse pulling his wings in and just dropping straight on down but Percy felt natural as anything on Blackjack's back.
A few seconds into the drop and a few seconds from the ground, Blackjack pulled himself upright and glided up alongside Valkyrie. Percy shot Gyro a bit of a smug look, his brows raised up to his hairline.
Ya a fancy runner. Now I get why your hair's all done up nice and slick there.
Blackjack doesn't seem like he has any plans to fly back up above the clouds. It had been fun for a while but Blackjack wasn't all too competitive. Percy could have his streak every now and then but Blackjack was far more interested in hanging out with Valkyrie than racing him. In any case, it was evident it'd take quite some time for there to be an obvious winner between the two.)
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[As much as Gyro liked to watch though, he still needed to focus on where he and Valkyrie were going. He planned to head towards the Temple of Jupiter. Not all the way but between it, stopping off at a small grouping of ruins hidden among the mounds of sands in this part of Diedo. he had to make sure they were going the right way, was happy to see it, and then their company suddenly showed up along side them.]
Fast aren't ya!?
[Said with a bright, golden smile as he glanced over, his hair whipping back and his hat miraculously not flying off.]
Oi, ya came back, how's it up there? And ya got that right, hit him right in the face it would!
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Percy didn't know the structures and places around here enough to realize they were heading towards the Temple of Jupiter. Had he, he might've had a few questions. Likely would have a dozen questions and some reserved uncertainties.)
You're not all that slow yourself.
(There's a smile on his own face, significantly less golden but just as bright.
It's a real beaut. Can see the whole wide world. Down here isn't all that bad either though I gotta say. Watchin' the ground goin' so fast.)
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[No animals but he'd definitely see the temple already. Hell, he would've been able to see it a little from where they started. The Tmeple was huge and while the desert's sandy hills rolled, they still weren't large enough mounds to obscure the strange, angular temple on the horizon.]
Hell no I'm not, number one, you're looking at number one here- but we're closing in on our finish line.
Real fast, faster than a bullet, hah! I'm betta' on harder ground though, sand's right foolish unda' me hooves.
[Said as he holds tight on his reins and Valkyrie starts to slow down. Gyro falls back into his saddle, sitting up as they near a small collection of rocky ruins. There's a few small toppled walls, a dried well or fountain, and small, spotty paths here and there. He slows to a stop before looking around and finally hopping off Valkyrie, letting go of his reins and patting at the side of his rump.]
Let's pick a place to set up a fire.
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Yeah? I'm surprised you can ride so well at your age. If I were you, I'd be afraid to break a hip.
(Now he's just being a little shit. He knows perfectly well that Gyro isn't old- not even all that much older than him maybe -but Percy Jackson had a bit of an attitude and welp. Gyro was going to get to experience that sooner or later. Looked like it wound up being sooner. Percy had a way of being a little jerk though that was somehow lacking hugely in malice. Like he really was just joking in good nature - cause he was.
Sands a real pain on all hooves. Human hooves too. They sink and slip all over real bad. Poor suckers only have two little wobbly legs.
Blackjack catches the wind and uses it to buffer his speed, slowing himself down without landing. It isn't until Valkyrie has stopped that Blackjack lands neatly beside the other horse. Percy slides off and Blackjack at once is going up to Valkyrie, sniffing at him and nudging up against him. He even starts to nip lightly at Valkyrie's neck, affectionately grooming him. Percy takes a moment to appreciate the forming bond with a smile before looking to Gyro.)
All right, sure.
(Percy's been on enough quests that he knows a pretty impressive amount of survival skills for a kid who grew up in New York City. He shoves his hands in his pockets and walks off, looking about curiously for a nice area. When he gets to one of the crumbling fountains, he bends over and plants his hands on the edge. The fountain itself wasn't all that big - no bigger than a kiddie pool really.)
How about we put one in here? Should work just fine. Kinda like a fire pit.
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[Spluttering at that, he stands up straight, giving a shocked expression and snarling a little as he points at him before thrusting an arm up, elbow bent, and slaps his other hand down against his forearm. Jerk! Fuck you!!]
[He is really quickly distracted by their two steeds though and has quite the cocky smirk when he watches Blackjack practically prance over to Valkyrie. Valkyrie's own response is to bow his head, turning to hit his neck up against Blackjack's a little in an affectionate thanks. He ends up lifting his head again to sort of huff at Blackjack's wings, brushing his face against them before stopping and realizing he's getting sand from his face on him.]
[Gyro looks back, unable to hear at all how Valkyrie fawns over the other horse;
I couldn't see ya, too high, up in those clouds, ya looked like something else, really, once you flew down too, not a piece a dirt on you! And 'ere I am, bogged down in a nun's nasty desert and with the coat ta show for it!
He follows Percy for the most part, leaning to let him pick and nods, moving over to Valkyrie once more with a casual little 'sorry' before he's pulling out some things from one of his packs and heading back towards Percy.]
Works I guess, yeah.
[Can kind of sit on the sides of it and what not. He moves to take out some of the 'wood' which is really like a sort of purple wood-LIKE substance, combustible though, lasts a good deal longer than actual wood too. He kneels into the fountain and starts to set up the fire, setting the other supplies behind him as he stacks the 'wood'.]
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(Massive puppy eyes of apology going on over here and even a bit of a pout as if that'd really save him any face. He barks out a delighted laugh when Gyro gives him such a crude gesture.
Blackjack rustles his wings occasionally and doesn't seem remotely bothered by anyone touching them, Valkyrie or otherwise. As long as they didn't touch the very, very tips, the pegasus would remain relatively calm.
I'll make sure an' fly nice and low for you next time. It's too bad I can't strap you up and fly you with me. Bet that'd look real weird though. Naw. Flying in the sky is clean goin'. Don't take it so hard! You got character on ya. Look like a real don.
Percy doesn't mind- not a natural leader or a follower. More just someone who goes on gut instinct and whatever works the best. Sometimes that means taking the initiative and sometimes it doesn't. Simple as that.
He sits down and watches Gyro start the fire with fascination. He's started fires before, sure, but purple wood? That's a new one.)
What is that? That's not wood, is it? Or - I guess since they don't have plants here or animals then it must be something synthetic. How weird.
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[Tossing up a little hissy fit at that. No one's ever called him OLD before!! But it's just for play of course, soon he's got his hands into dusty sand and purple wood, setting it so it points to the sky in a pyramid before he's pulling back and turning to fetch his flint. Does it the good ol' fashioned way, and he'll continue to speak as he sparks the two small rocks together.]
Not wood, no wood here, remember what I said? Everything's synthetic, usually digital too, don't ask me how that works I have no idea. Even the food we eat's all coded some how. Imagine what it does to our digestive system.
[Click... click- spark! Fire! He takes both rocks in one hand and ducks down low, blowing into the small fire and helping it grow before he pulls back. Seems like the mauve material really lights up well too, it doesn't take long to get a nice size, Gyro moving to sit at the side of the fountain on the worn rocks.]
Tried asking a friend of mine who codes but even he wasn't sure the exacts. This place makes a lot of no sense. [A sigh, moving to pocket the flint and replaces it in his hand with a tarnished gold flask, opening it and taking a drink. He sucks the liquid through his teeth and lets out a gasped sigh, watching small sparks flicker up from the fire, dancing in a strange, blue-ish white smoke.]
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(Percy takes the attempted insult in stride. Percy doesn't think he's crossing any lines. If he was? Well actually he would probably snicker a little bit about that because really.)
I listened, I listened. I just said there's no plants and animals. Just wondering what it was. Snytho-wood stuff. Got it. I'd rather not imagine that, thanks.
(He grins a bit though when Gyro gets a fire going. Not that it's much of a surprise. He's fairly certain anyone decked out as a cowboy needed to know how to start a fire. At least Percy believed they should.
He swings his feet over the edge of the fountain and scoots closer to both Gyro and the fire. For a while, he stares at the fire, having nothing much to say about the coding thing. He barely understands technology and it's one of those things where if it was broken down, plain and simple, he's pretty sure he still wouldn't understand it.)
Are you drinking alcohol?
(He asks this completely harmlessly, looking over at Gyro with some curiosity. He's pretty sure people only drank alcohol out of flasks but who knows?)
In a way, this place is kind of a vegetarian's dream, I keep thinking. How all the food is coded and stuff. They don't even need to kill plants. Er- I guess that'd be more of a vegan's dream?
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[He fans the flame a bit, lowering his head to blow on it a bit more, shrugging at Percy's words.]
You get used to it.
[Looks a little weird but it seems like it works as a normal campfire at least. Warms in the same way, burns, will burn you too if you get too close. You can even cook over it, digital fare or actual. He certainly has. He practically lives out here during the late part of the rainy season and through the summer, scorching or not.]
No it's juice.
[Said as he hands the flask to him.]
Don't vegans want to eat plants? What is vegan anyway? That wasn't a thing back on my world. [Or it was later, but he has no idea. Certainly wasn't in his time at least. Too many people barely could eat at all, let alone could be picky like that.]
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(He'll give Gyro that and then some for pity. Poor old guys never get their chance in the spotlight anymore, do they?
Percy merely shrugs.)
Hey man, seriously whatever works. I've seen some really weird stuff. Coded-fire isn't actually at the top of my list.
(He does however look quite surprised when Gyro clarifies that it's juice. He tasks the flask from Gyro and gives it a curious sip.
He pauses and stares up thoughtfully for a moment. What's a vegan.)
Uh....an aggressive vegetarian, I guess. Vegans don't eat anything that comes from an animal usually. So like, nothing with milk or eggs. Like that's your standard vegan. But then you can get into the deeper-set vegans who refuse to use any sort of living creature thing in their lives like wool or leather or honey. Stuff like that?
(Which isn't actually a bad thing and Percy doesn't have anything against it. He's a pretty big tree-hugger himself but he's seen some seriously nasty vegans being unnecessarily awful to people in the streets of New York City. Who promotes good things via harassment?)
There are people though who only eat plants that have naturally fallen but I don't think that's a big thing. Most vegans are hugely ethical-based instead of dietary so they would probably appreciate a world where neither animals or plants have to die. But I guess you don't have to be a vegan to appreciate that. That is cool.
Back in my world, a lot of animals are treated badly and nature is really disregarded as being worthless and pointless.
(His voice takes on a bit of a sad tone. Percy wasn't a vegetarian by any means but he had a massively tender heart for nature. Animals and everything else.)
I hate thinking about it. It pisses me off.
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[He's tried to figure it out but there's nothing to find. Maybe it really was a good alternative to growing food, maybe this place just hit that nail on the head. That or it's helped lead to a lot of the problems in Amoi. Sterilization being a big one, of both men and women. Women not being able to have babies even IF they're sterile, and memory loss. Maybe he wasn't looking at it right.. maybe it was a lot of things leading to it. But so far he just has a lot of questions and no answers.]
[He lifts a piece of the purple wood and prods at the fire, letting sparks flutter up from it while he stokes it.]
So they just want to waste away then, vegans? I guess in a futuristic world they can afford to do it. I guess we're all vegans here on Amoi too, aren't we? Well except me, I'll keep wearing leather 'till I die.
But this vegan thing, doesn't it just sound stupid? I won't argue with vegetarians, but vegans? Going that far's just making yourself suffer, do they die earlier? But I guess if you have enough processed foods and artificial shit happening in your time, maybe they could. Back where I come from, no way.
It's less cool when you consider there's no animals or plants around at all. Besides... in nature plants and animals have to die to feed eachother. So it's like some natural law, it's how it has to be.
[He sits with a smirk when he watches Percy sip from the flask. Definitely not juice. It's straight gin, and so he'll get a sudden shock of juniper berries in his mouth. His joke doesn't last though when Percy makes the topic a little more sad, and it's Gyro's turn to shrug, flitting up a hand in gesture.]
Humans doing, right? In my era... we were just starting to claim all the land in the Americas. [A glance up, watching the fire.]
Claiming land from people... taking it rather, building towns, mining for gold and oil, laying tracks. It's how we humans found to survive, seems like it was only natural that it'd lead to carving into the Earth enough to change it.
It's how things are. Things have to die. The only way to fix it's more death too, killing a lotta people. I'm guessing the population numbers high there, right? And not only that... but people won't just change or learn.
So in some way, death has to be involved. It's a part of life, nothin' we can do about that.
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Dunno, man. I'm surprised people here aren't running around with STDs like crazy but hey, no one seems to be questioning that any more than the synthetic food and fire wood. Don't you think if they can prevent diseases, they can probably provide nourishment? I saw other non-humans here and I mean really nonhumans and their nourishment requirements might be completely different than a human's. Kinda like how you can't feed a dog chocolate. Well, not like that, but you get what I'm saying. We're all eating the same food and no one's dying from lack of vitamins so...
(Again, he has no idea and it's not like he fully trusts the place but considering the circumstances, he literally has no choice but to trust Amoi. Otherwise he would just starve and he's a little bit too into living to do that.)
Well, no? They eat other healthy alternatives. It's a bit extreme and a lot of them are pretty rude about their opinions but it isn't like it's not a livable lifestyle. And I'm pretty sure the anti-leather ones are the ones who take it to the absolute extreme, so, you know.
(Percy raises his brows at Gyro, tipping his head.)
Vegans who can manage a better diet are usually perfectly healthy. I'd say Vegetarians are the healthier though - and kind of the most logical. I mean, I don't know about your world, but in our world red meat is super dangerous for your heart and people who over eat it wind up with a lot of heart problems so it isn't like meats the best for you. There's a lot of fat in it and stuff, I think. The vegan thing's only stupid because they don't seem to understand how cows need to be milked or how chickens just naturally lay eggs. But like I said, they take it to the extreme and a lot of extremists don't always think too clearly.
Sure, but again, I don't think that's what vegans are really fighting against. Okay, some of the crazy ones, totally, but like...a lot of vegetarians and vegans are just taking a stand against the industries because they do messed up things. So it's not really like you can fault them.
(The gin hits his tongue like acid and you know what's unfortunate about this Gyro?????
You're sitting near him and he's facing you because he's polite when he talks so when he spits it out- yeah.
You get some of that right back in your face in nice mist form. He makes a face and wrinkles up his nose.)
Dude, you're a jerk.
(That's fine, Gyro. Just take another drink of your flask. Gin has got some water in it so he keeps an eye on the next time Gyro decides to take a drink because he is sooo shooting that all over Gyro's face. You want a prank? That's fine but Percy will serve it right back.
Percy snorts, looking a bit somber.)
Yeah, well, we did a real good job of killing nature. That time especially. It isn't against you but I'm from quite a ways in the future from that. People only just started realizing how awful they've treated the world and how there's no fixing it. It's how we survive, maybe, but it wasn't the only option.
(Percy glares at Gyro a little bit.)
You're not getting it, are you? 'Things have to die'. Sure, I agree with that. But I really don't understand why an animal has to be beaten through it's whole life and then be killed horrifically just to 'feed people'. Like, no? You love Valkyrie?
(He points over to said horse.)
Do you actually want to know how some people treat their horses? Or are you going to just argue that 'welp, animals gotta die sometimes'. It's not about that. It's about how they're ...."allowed" to live until they die that's the problem. And you know, that's the problem- that mentality. "People won't just change or learn" - that's total bull. That mentality keeps everyone rooted to the past. It's stupid.
(Percy's actually getting fully worked up now. The kid had a stringent set of morals. It was actually this very topic, this idea that people just didn't want to change ever, that had caused the war that he was about to enter. He turns away from Gyro a little bit, glaring at the fire. He had seen friends die because people didn't want to change. It was such bullshit in his head and his morale didn't leave much room for feeling too keenly on it.)
You're close-minded, aren't you?
(He muttered quietly, feeling oddly disappointed. All adults were so close-minded. The gods were so stuck in their ways, all of the adults he had ever yelled in the faces of of why can't we change things?! had only ever shrugged and seemed to say: "That's just the way things are, Percy." He didn't get that. He never would and he never wanted to understand that. He'd rip apart Mount Olympus himself before he would and funnily enough, wasn't that what Luke was doing? Funny how sometimes you start to understand the 'villain'.)
Whatever. Let's talk about something else.
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[But before he has anything more to say on it, Percy's sputtering from the gin and Gyro's laughing, even as it sprays at his face.]
Nyo-hooo! Don't like it?? It's 'Juniper juice', hohoho!
[He'll take the flask back though, wiping his face and cackling before he'll somber up too. Seems to him that Percy's not the one who gets it here, even if he thinks Gyro isn't. His point was things die and it's natural. He never said it made sense for things to be tortured, or killed horrifically. ESPECIALLY not those things. As an executioner of criminals, he was taught to kill them as cleanly and perfectly as possible without any sign of suffering, he'd say killing should always be done like that, especially for food. He has no idea where Percy is getting all this shit about killing horrifically, after all, he never mentioned how things should die, just that they do and it's natural. Though he doubts it's Percy's own strong opinions leading him to just jump into this anger.]
[So Gyro will stay calm, quiet, and let him talk. Just let him get it all out. It seems that Gyro's quite able to put on a serious and emotionless face, doing so now as he watches him, staring.]
No, we're not going to talk about something else, it seems like you got the wrong idea, I'm not going to let you keep it.
Did I say a word about how people go about killing anything? Listen here.
People won't change.
You know why? They won't change completely, like you think anyway. But they won't because 'consent' exists.
[A breath, looking out now as he talks.]
People can be good or evil, or something like it... 'good' and 'bad' things exist, they will. Always will. And people will always be able to choose one or the others. That's consent, that's 'free will'. You can hope all you want that everyone's going to make the right choice about everything, but that's not going to happen.
Yeah, the world can change, more people can be smarter, figure out how to be better and stop hurting others and animals, and everything. But as long as 'free will' exists, the world's never going to be perfect. I get it, I get wanting it to be, I get wanting things to all be better, but sometimes it's not like that.
Sometimes... people are going to make the 'bad choices'. You can either have everyone choose the same good decisions over and over without actually choosing, or you can have free will. If you want 'free will' as a part of life, then you have to consider the down side...
that free will means people can't completely change. Not everyone.
[Lifting the flask, he holds it there, not drinking yet.]
As for what I said about life and death being part of it- why'd you ever think I meant people and animals should suffer? Did I fucking say that? No. Stop jumping to conclusions like that.
[And he'll drink. He feels sick on the subject, but people like Percy... they'd find out eventually that the world couldn't be all that they wanted. The point Gyro was trying to make was that you can go and try to change things all out want, and yeah, you could, you needed to keep going and making the right choices and try to get others to as well. But it was that people, that EVERYONE still won't, and you can't just make them either. Even after all your work there will still be people out there that not only choose to do the bad thing, but don't actually care at all either. It was just how things were. And you had to accept that. If you went around thinking you could make every single person do what you believed was right, free will wouldn't exist anymore. And like death, free will was a necessary choice in life.]
[He just hope the kid gets it, but maybe he won't.]
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As for the rest of it, well. Miscommunication, really. Percy's loud and passionate but he's also not dense and stubborn enough to ignore when someone else is talking. He listens when Gyro starts to speak, looks at him and sits there quietly, not interrupting, because it's important to listen and he understands quickly enough that he misunderstood Gyro. Percy's a good kid, is the thing. He has a good heart and it's in the right place, even if he fumbles a bit with it and winds up getting more snarky than thoughtful.
After Gyro finishes talking, Percy rubs at his chin thoughtfully and stares briefly at the fire.)
I think you're right and I think you're wrong. I agree that people are always going to do bad things and that it sucks. But I agree that that's what free will is about. I know a perfect world is impossible- trust me on that. But I do thing people can change. I think people can change for the better, even the majority, even if it means that there will still be bad people. I get that. I do. I agree too. Evil is always going to exist.
I never said it wouldn't, you know. Just that people could change. Cause they can. It's dumb to say they can'. I mean, you don't know the future yet but people outlawed slavery, fought for the rights for African Americans, fought for the rights of women, and are fighting for the rights for gay people. I mean. It's slow and there's always crap and racism and sexism still exist but...things are better because people started to change. Bad stuff will always exist, people who want to hurt animals or people who want to hurt people for being different. Dude, the monsters in my world, the ones I fight? They don't die. They turn to dust and it takes years for them to reform. Wanna know why? It's cause they're more of a concept than a living blood-thing like you or me. Evil is a concept you can't kill. You can only push it out of the way for a while. I get that. Trust me, I really do.
(His voice is softer than before, his knees bumping together. He looks at Gyro and offers a genuine sort of smile.)
I'm sorry. That I called you close-minded. I can get riled up sometimes and jump to conclusions. I uh. Get in trouble for that a lot. But I am sorry. I didn't mean to jump to any conclusions with you. I know you're a cool dude.
(He means it too. He didn't mean to offend Gyro or insinuate anything - though he knows he did. He wouldn't even say he didn't. He's done it before and would likely do it again. Percy doesn't always think. He feels and then does. He tries to do what he thinks is right and sometimes he messes up. He's still learning though, still a kid, and at least he can admit when he's wrong and he had been in the wrong. To an extent, anyway, in having gotten worked up.)
I guess the subject just hits close to home, you know? It isn't personal. I shouldn't have made it personal. But I guess some things are hard to not make personal.
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[He's happy though that Percy stops to listen to him. After all, a passion like that in the kid could mean they'd fall into interrupting eachother and eventually whatever sort of friendship this was would've crashed and burned. Gyro didn't show this happiness, but he felt it, and again would fall back to listen to Percy again, the fire crackling on. Valkyrie couldn't help but worry a bit at the 'vibes' gotten from that direction, but so like a horse to leave whatever was going on to who was involved. If anything he moved to stand a little closer to Blackjack as they rested and continued their own far less vehement conversation.]
Yeah, I'm not going to argue on that. 'Course people can change like that, but not everyone, and so in a way we don't change completely. Maybe saying 'people don't change' is a bad way of presenting it. I shoulda said 'they won't change completely' how about that?
[A breath at that though. It really means something to hear what he does. That things got better for people, that slavery stopped being a thing, that things changed for African Americans (though he does flinch a little at that term, people still had a bad way of speaking in his time after all, it's weird to hear someone casually use 'African Americans'.) It's weird too to hear about gays getting rights, he never even considered that but that did lead people to getting incarcerated in his time, even killed... it was a problem, a big one, it all was. But hearing that it does change in a version of Earth made him feel a bit more relaxed. It might in his own then, he hoped so. It didn't change his opinion on things though, after all, he'll stick by 'people don't change completely'. He's really not a pessimist though, it's not like he thought things couldn't change at all large scale.]
[He's even more happy to see that Percy understands him though. Gyro's a good person too, even if he can be an ass sometimes, but that was usually just for laughs. They're both good hearted and he felt like they'd be good friends. So it's nice to see he was right and they this conversation didn't spiral down into something they couldn't reverse. After all, some of the biggest feuds were sparked from merely a misunderstanding.]
Heh, yeah? Maybe it's too late, you already said it. I'm close-minded, am I??
[Said as he smiles back and moves to shove a hand at Percy's head before sitting back again and taking another drink of his flask. He wipes at his mouth with the back of his wrist.]
It's a crack. [A breath, pointing to him.]
A crack in your heart made by 'sentimentality'. But don't worry, that's a part of life too... [Staring into the fire.] No matter what anyone tells you.
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He grins at Gyro then and gives a nod.)
Yeah, I think 'people won't completely change' is fairly accurate. I can get behind that statement.
(He could too. He isn't the sort of person to just agree to avoid confrontation. It's more than obvious now that he isn't. He thinks that's a better way of putting it, that's all. People don't change was way too stringent and allowed no wiggle room. 'People won't completely change'? Now that fit the bill. Percy was trying to remind himself too that Gyro was from the past. One of his good friends Nico was also from the past and far enough from the past that he didn't understand certain things in the new world. He had to remind himself to give Gyro some wiggle room. It wasn't fair to think Gyro would automatically get certain aspects of the current world. But it was clear that Gyro was a certain sort of goodness that ran through human life and could result in change. Maybe not Gyro himself but Gyro....he didn't seem bad. Not even slightly. And Percy thought that even the smallest bits of good accounted for a lot. A man who diligently took care of his own horse, a man who helped others at a clinic.
He didn't think Gyro was pessimistic. Not really, not after they discussed things in greater detail. He would maybe peg him as more of a realist. Which Percy could respect. Percy himself was a bit of an optimistic realist. He wasn't completely blind to the faults that lay in the system of basic human comprehension.
Percy smirks a bit and pops his chin into his palm.)
Oh, super close-minded. I can't believe you don't even get the vegan life style.
(Completely teasing now and it's more than clear from the tone of his voice. He outright laughs at the shove to his head and yeah, things are just fine between them. He really did like Gyro.
He looks at Gyro, blinking sea green eyes. He looks down at himself, like he would be able to see his heart if he tried hard enough. He looked over at Gyro again then. Eventually, he grins, a soft sort of grin.)
Yeah, I know it is. Thanks though.
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[Either way it's why he didn't just leave the conversation where it had been even though normally? He would have. But when he knows something it happening between him and someone else, he still wants to preserve it. It's just a good thing he has an easier time talking about this sort of thing than something really personal about his own feelings or history. It was a difficult thing to get Gyro to talk about how he felt on a more specific and personal level. What his opinions were here was personal, sure, but not to the same degree. It wasn't like he was talking about his feelings on his father, or what family or love meant to him. Those things came harder to him.]
Vegans just sound like assholes freaks. I bet they're green coloured and their teeth fall out, nyeh-heheh.
No problem.
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Percy's glad Gyro had preserved it. Chances were good Percy would have cooled off later then regretted being dense. It was a lot better this way. He wasn't used to adults talking to him like that either and it shifts his respect towards Gyro. Percy was a relatively open book. The kid didn't have many secrets. It's hard to when you were as passionate as he was. But there were things that he carried with him that he'd be more reluctant to share.)
Um well, you're not wrong. They're not green colored or anything but uh, they're not always smart. Some of them are actually stupid enough to put their dogs or cats on vegan diets and it's kind of like, stop?
(He's quiet after that, looking at the fire. Then after some time of silence, he grins over at Gyro and pokes him in the shoulder. No touch laws, sure, but they're completely alone.)
Hey. You know, you're probably one of the first adults that isn't completely backwards that I've met.
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Maybe let this one end, just due to age so we can start something new? That cool?