[ Annabeth isn't the only one prepped and ready for the holiday season.
Well, mostly, anyway. Truthfully he could use another like, ten years, give or take, but nearly-a-year and some hard-earned lessons in botanical magic are the best he can manage on such short notice. Besides, it's the thought that counts; and yes he'll keep telling himself this as he goes back and forth on whether now or later is the right time.
Decked out in all of his new wearables, Percy busts through whatever room Annabeth happens to be occupying with a wide grin and bright eyes the second he spots his target. ]
[ any interruption is very welcome when he busts in with a mile wide grin and wearing all his gifts. annabeth looks up from her chair at the first sound of him and her face brightens up when she spies his attire. does how much he enjoys it make her stupidly happy?? yes. ]
[ any reluctance she might have had is thrown out the window. she closes her book. ]
Sure. [ that was easy. she climbs from the chair and moves to get her cloak (they get cloaks for cold weather here! it's pretty cool. she feels cool). let it never be said that annabeth is opposed to following percy's whims. ]
How come?
[ it should be clarification first, agreement after, but that's just not how it works for them sometimes. ]
Well, you got me all this cool stuff for the holiday — [ This is followed by a quick and delighted sweep to himself. ] — and it turns out that I've got something cool for you for the holiday too.
[ At least he hopes its cool.
It's a freakin' olive tree (or the babiest starts of one anyway) though, and he knows Annabeth's feelings on olives. If olives were a person, he'd probably have some pretty stiff competition in winning her affections. So. It has to be. ]
Except it's kind of stuck in one place, so I've gotta bring you to it.
[ her smile briefly deepens when he gestures at the goods he's wearing, and she definitely feels a little proud of the work and how much he likes it too. the smile stays on her face as he expounds on the fact that he wants to take her to a gift, even if her eyebrows scrunch a little in puzzlement. then she lets out a bit of a stupefied laugh. ]
Stuck? Like a building? [ of course that's where her thoughts would go! ]
[ she moseys up beside him and tucks her hand in his with a squeeze, mitten and all. ]
You think I'd build you a building and be totally confident in showing it to you?
[ He laughs because he's pretty sure doing anything specifically architecture-related would leave him wide open to some well-deserved criticism, and besides — he'd have next to no idea of how to even do something like that anyway.
Arts and crafts are not his thing. And design? Forget it. He's happy to leave all of that to Annabeth. ]
So I had this idea a little while after we wound up in this place, and it took a couple of trial runs for it to work ... plus there was the few weeks where we were all put in that weird dreamworld, and then the stuff with the king and queen happened so we were trapped underground, but uh ...
[ Is he rambling? Is he kind of nervous that this might have been a dumb idea after all? No. No, of course not. It's fine. But it's clear where they're going is not back indoors, but instead towards the fringes of the castle where there are courtyards. It's out of the way of all the hustle and bustle of the palace-dwellers but protection is still provided by way of the walls.
He tugs at her hand, mitten and all, towards the smallest sprout amongst the few trees already occupying the area. Even with the light dusting of frost covering the kingdom of Thorne, there appears to be a protective dome around the sprout keeping it green and vibrant. ]
[ okay, she laughs too. ] Maybe you found a cool one!
[ annabeth would gladly be lured into looking at a really cool building. then again, she has found almost everything she thinks is cool about the castle at this point - in the parts they're allowed in, at least. ]
[ still, when he starts to ramble, annabeth gets the sense that he's nervous, and sometimes it feels so ridiculous to her that he would be nervous when it comes to her. she teases him, of course, and does her best to navigate a relationship she's figuring out along the way too, but he's already proven how much he cares about her tenfold, and above anything else, that's the most important. ]
[ she squeezes his hand when he tugs her, growing more and more curious as they meander outside and he finally stops them before the smallest little plant. a baby tree, she thinks, she's not very good with botany but it's surrounded by other trees. it even looks like there's some kind of magic going on, to keep it warm and dry, but the overall shape of it is familiar in away, even if she's more used to seeing images of them fully grow. ]
Is that... an olive tree? [ she looks back to him, wide-eyed, and squeezing his hand again, only this time her grip stays tight. ] Did you plant me an olive tree?
[ All things considered, the little sprout with its thickening trunk and smattering of olive-leaves looks pretty healthy. It'll get bigger, and eventually bear olives — hopefully within their time here — and then Percy's sure he can pretty-please ask Carmy whether something awesome can be made from them. Maybe a lot of somethings, even.
He's the olive tree's official caretaker, and his own plant-based magic is getting better. Grover would be so proud. ]
Yeah. [ His glance when he looks back in Annabeth's direction is some strange combination of anticipation, nervousness, hope, and a smidge of bracing himself for the possibility that this was kind of too off-beat.
But he manages to muster up a grin, small as it is. ] Guess I did. What do you think?
[ annabeth looks over the little sprout, with all the care literally and metaphorically glowing around it, and feels a surge of affection for percy beside her. beyond the simple fact of her love for olives, there are a lot of connotations for olive trees in concept for the pair of them, combined with the fact that he's apparently been working on magic in secret for months - ]
[ her eyes well up against her will and she throws herself at him in a hug. she wraps her arms around him tightly and buries her face in his neck, letting out a startled but joyful laugh with the rush of emotions she can feel ping-ponging around her body. ]
[ voice muffled, it takes her a few long moments to finally say something from where she continues to hide her face. ]
[ He's grinning, his voice a little muffled by Annabeth's curls in his face as he returns the hug with about as much enthusiasm, arms winding around her tightly, bodies pressed against each other so that he can very faintly feel the beat of her heart pounding against his own.
Better than growing a tree and using magic and not screwing it all up, it's Annabeth's reaction to it that has him feeling over the moon, like he just made a perfect score on the hardest exam in math class, or like he just kicked Zeus' ass again.
Either way, he's not in any rush to pull back from her embrace. ]
[ it could have been the ugliest, half dying tree, and annabeth would still love it, just because of what it means for his effort, for the existence of the tree itself. ]
[ she's not going to cry over a tree!! except she totally is. luckily she remains hidden in his arms, and they're happy tears, at least. maybe it's the implied longevity of it, even if they go home tomorrow or in a few months or in a year - there is something very permanent to the growth of a tree. an olive one, too. ]
[ she does not want to let go of him either, so maybe they'll just stay there for a while, hugging next to her olive tree, but there are far worse places to be. in fact, this might be one of the better ones to be. ]
[ her voice is a little watery next time she speaks and muffled from still hiding her face in his neck. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
it's beginning to look a little bit like christmas, if you squint a little
Well, mostly, anyway. Truthfully he could use another like, ten years, give or take, but nearly-a-year and some hard-earned lessons in botanical magic are the best he can manage on such short notice. Besides, it's the thought that counts; and yes he'll keep telling himself this as he goes back and forth on whether now or later is the right time.
Decked out in all of his new wearables, Percy busts through whatever room Annabeth happens to be occupying with a wide grin and bright eyes the second he spots his target. ]
Hey. Can you come outside with me for a sec?
no subject
[ any reluctance she might have had is thrown out the window. she closes her book. ]
Sure. [ that was easy. she climbs from the chair and moves to get her cloak (they get cloaks for cold weather here! it's pretty cool. she feels cool). let it never be said that annabeth is opposed to following percy's whims. ]
How come?
[ it should be clarification first, agreement after, but that's just not how it works for them sometimes. ]
no subject
[ At least he hopes its cool.
It's a freakin' olive tree (or the babiest starts of one anyway) though, and he knows Annabeth's feelings on olives. If olives were a person, he'd probably have some pretty stiff competition in winning her affections. So. It has to be. ]
Except it's kind of stuck in one place, so I've gotta bring you to it.
no subject
Stuck? Like a building? [ of course that's where her thoughts would go! ]
[ she moseys up beside him and tucks her hand in his with a squeeze, mitten and all. ]
Okay. Lead the way.
no subject
[ He laughs because he's pretty sure doing anything specifically architecture-related would leave him wide open to some well-deserved criticism, and besides — he'd have next to no idea of how to even do something like that anyway.
Arts and crafts are not his thing. And design? Forget it. He's happy to leave all of that to Annabeth. ]
So I had this idea a little while after we wound up in this place, and it took a couple of trial runs for it to work ... plus there was the few weeks where we were all put in that weird dreamworld, and then the stuff with the king and queen happened so we were trapped underground, but uh ...
[ Is he rambling? Is he kind of nervous that this might have been a dumb idea after all? No. No, of course not. It's fine. But it's clear where they're going is not back indoors, but instead towards the fringes of the castle where there are courtyards. It's out of the way of all the hustle and bustle of the palace-dwellers but protection is still provided by way of the walls.
He tugs at her hand, mitten and all, towards the smallest sprout amongst the few trees already occupying the area. Even with the light dusting of frost covering the kingdom of Thorne, there appears to be a protective dome around the sprout keeping it green and vibrant. ]
no subject
[ annabeth would gladly be lured into looking at a really cool building. then again, she has found almost everything she thinks is cool about the castle at this point - in the parts they're allowed in, at least. ]
[ still, when he starts to ramble, annabeth gets the sense that he's nervous, and sometimes it feels so ridiculous to her that he would be nervous when it comes to her. she teases him, of course, and does her best to navigate a relationship she's figuring out along the way too, but he's already proven how much he cares about her tenfold, and above anything else, that's the most important. ]
[ she squeezes his hand when he tugs her, growing more and more curious as they meander outside and he finally stops them before the smallest little plant. a baby tree, she thinks, she's not very good with botany but it's surrounded by other trees. it even looks like there's some kind of magic going on, to keep it warm and dry, but the overall shape of it is familiar in away, even if she's more used to seeing images of them fully grow. ]
Is that... an olive tree? [ she looks back to him, wide-eyed, and squeezing his hand again, only this time her grip stays tight. ] Did you plant me an olive tree?
no subject
He's the olive tree's official caretaker, and his own plant-based magic is getting better. Grover would be so proud. ]
Yeah. [ His glance when he looks back in Annabeth's direction is some strange combination of anticipation, nervousness, hope, and a smidge of bracing himself for the possibility that this was kind of too off-beat.
But he manages to muster up a grin, small as it is. ] Guess I did. What do you think?
no subject
[ her eyes well up against her will and she throws herself at him in a hug. she wraps her arms around him tightly and buries her face in his neck, letting out a startled but joyful laugh with the rush of emotions she can feel ping-ponging around her body. ]
[ voice muffled, it takes her a few long moments to finally say something from where she continues to hide her face. ]
I can't believe you're growing me an olive tree.
no subject
[ He's grinning, his voice a little muffled by Annabeth's curls in his face as he returns the hug with about as much enthusiasm, arms winding around her tightly, bodies pressed against each other so that he can very faintly feel the beat of her heart pounding against his own.
Better than growing a tree and using magic and not screwing it all up, it's Annabeth's reaction to it that has him feeling over the moon, like he just made a perfect score on the hardest exam in math class, or like he just kicked Zeus' ass again.
Either way, he's not in any rush to pull back from her embrace. ]
no subject
[ it could have been the ugliest, half dying tree, and annabeth would still love it, just because of what it means for his effort, for the existence of the tree itself. ]
[ she's not going to cry over a tree!! except she totally is. luckily she remains hidden in his arms, and they're happy tears, at least. maybe it's the implied longevity of it, even if they go home tomorrow or in a few months or in a year - there is something very permanent to the growth of a tree. an olive one, too. ]
[ she does not want to let go of him either, so maybe they'll just stay there for a while, hugging next to her olive tree, but there are far worse places to be. in fact, this might be one of the better ones to be. ]
[ her voice is a little watery next time she speaks and muffled from still hiding her face in his neck. ]
I love you.