BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning | August 28

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

In most instances, no one would bat an eye at seeing a boy and his dog. In this instance, some people might actually run away screaming at the sight of this boy and this dog. Percy Jackson didn’t look all that intimidating on his own. He was average height, dark haired and carried a ball point pen in the pocket of his jeans.

Of course, the huge hellhound sitting behind Percy might have turned a few heads if not for the Mist. Thankfully, most mortals didn’t see Mrs. O’ Leary, Percy’s inherited hellhound sitting lazily in the BWI airport lounge (how the hellhound had fit, Percy didn’t know).

Percy himself didn’t look as relaxed as his dog. His eyes were jumping left to right, almost as if he expected something to attack him or for Luke to emerge from the crowd with that more smirk than smile look on his face.

This was about the fourteenth school Percy had been to since age twelve. He didn’t expect it to last. He wanted to be at Camp Half Blood. Instead, he was waiting in an airport lounge for a shuttle to cart him and his hellhound to a place called Fandom.

Percy frowned. He didn’t think this day could get worse.

[Open shuttle bus! Mrs. O’ Leary is a big ole hellhound that most mortals probably would not see because of something called the Mist. If you’re not exactly all the way mortal, you’d see her though. She’s not going to attack anyone, I promise.]

Comments

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba stood in a corner, arms folded deliberately across her chest. She had on her glasses, a simple black outfit and a blue woven cap on her head. Her hair was braided and tucked neatly behind her.

This was not what she had expected, especially not after having experienced the wonders of travelling through a magical portal. Elphaba felt quite alone, and was acutely aware that she had to brace herself for the inevitable gawking stares, pointed fingers, and whispered conversations.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

Percy wasn't going to gawk or point but he was slanting glances at her every so often. He couldn't help it, her skin was pinging off his monster radar. He'd been attacked by green things and green people before. She didn't look dangerous but looks were deceiving, he'd learned that the very hard way.

Behind him, Mrs. O'Leary yawned like she was utterly bored and utterly over just sitting there. Percy looked at her and nodded. He could agree with that sentiment.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba caught one of his glances and gave him a very hard look in return. She tilted her head and peered over the rims of her glasses.

"Well, I'm waiting," she said, her voice sounding partly defensive, partly resigned.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Waiting?" Percy repeated, not completely sure what she was getting at. "Yeah, so am I. I think we're all waiting, actually."

And now he was wondering why she'd called attention to that fact.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"You're going to ask some clever question," Elphaba said. "If I chewed grass as a kid or if I got terribly seasick and never got better. I'm waiting to see if you can come up with one I've not heard before."

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

Percy furrowed his brow and wondered when potential monsters got so picky. He'd seen them be a lot of things but never stingy about what he said. They were monsters, they didn't get offended.

"I wasn't gonna say anything," he replied, eyebrows raising. "I was looking at you. I didn't think that was against the rules."

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"So you'd rather just stare instead of talking to me," Elphaba exaggerated. She sighed and adjusted her glasses. "Oh, I know, I must have something in my teeth, right? And you're afraid I'll be embarrassed?"

Her tone definitely implied she didn't think she actually had anything in her teeth.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

Quite predictably, William was staring. Without trying to look as if he were staring. It's just that he'd never seen a green person before!

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba had been expecting it, but at least he had the sense to try and pretend he wasn't. She sighed and looked back over at him. "You could at least ask my name," she said, folding her hands together.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

Social niceties were not exactly his strong suit. "Oh! Right. Your name! Which is..." he trailed off, still trying to come up for an explanation as to why she was green. Perhaps she was planning to attend some sort of costume party? Or had just come from one?

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Elphaba," she introduced, adding her last name like punctuation with a "Thropp." She looked over, actually amazed he seemed to not just be playing along, waiting for a chance to mock her. "And yours?"

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

Mockery wasn't really a part of William's repitoire. Curiosity on the other hand, was, and it was only his own ineptitude with social graces that kept him from figuring out a polite way to inquire about her skin. "William Murdoch," he replied. "Elphaba, that's an unusual name," he commented, trying for a relatively safe smalltalk topic.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"I've not met another," Elphaba admiited. "Then again, there's hardly ever a name alike in all of Oz. There's so many possible names it seems like folly to ever repeat one."

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

"You are green."

Zatanna smiled at Elphaba. "That is so awesome. Are you like, magic?" She had to, green people couldn't just be regular. Or she was a mutant, which wasn't as cool as being magical, but hey, it was something.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba was about to snap, but then Zatanna had added the second sentence which caught her entirely off guard. "Awesome?" she said, unable to contain her incredulity. She even had to repeat it. "Awesome?"

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

"Awesome, yeah." Okay, odd. "You know, like really cool? So are you magical or something?" Her curiosity couldn't be left aside, oh no.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Not really," Elphaba said. There was something, of course, but she wasn't supposed to talk about that. It only happened when she got upset and something came over her, so she didn't like to talk about it, either. "I'm just a normal girl. Or, as normal as you can be like this."

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

Hm.

Well, she looked nice anyway. "Ah well, I think green looks good on you anyway." And it wasn't a lie, really." Then Zatanna supposed she would keep her own magic at bay.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba gave Zatanna a look. "It's certainly a new approach to teasing me," she said, unable to take her words as genuine.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George was trying to ignore people, and look unapproachable. It looked like the green girl might be doing the same thing.

Why would you dress up like that if you didn't want people to notice you? Maybe she'd been stuck at an early Halloween party. Maybe it was a new Goth trend she'd missed. Whatever.

She wasn't meaning to stare, but she probably was, anyway. Boredom and curiosity more than anything hostile. Not that it necessarily came across like that.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba stared right back, but she didn't have much bite left in her.

"Do you want to get the questions out of the way?" she said with a sigh. "I've heard them all before."

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I didn't ... have any questions," George managed, awkwardly. Shit. She'd been spotted.

The downside of people watching: sometimes you got caught. She lifted one shoulder. "Your costume's cool."

It took a lot of balls to go out of the house painted green. George could respect that.

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba gave up on trying to be outraged. "It's not a costume," She said. "This is how I was born."

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"... seriously?" George asked, wondering if this was some bizarre form of street theater. "What is that, a skin condition?"

Re: Mingle [NS 08/28]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba's expression soured, but she didn't have the energy to get angry. "It's just the color of my skin," she said. "It's not like it itches or flakes or scales. It's just green."