kelpheaded | get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now

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get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now

When she wakes up, she doesn't realize anything's wrong at first. She's in a bed, soft but supportive, tucked under a thick blanket. She's cuddled up against a warm body, her head pillowed against a firm chest that moves up and down steadily with even breaths. It's comfortable, and when she cracks her eyes open and sees she's in a (hotel?) room that's empty aside from her sleeping companion, no monsters (why would she be looking for monsters?) or anything else dangerous in sight, she almost shuts her eyes again to fall back asleep.

It's the thought that she doesn't quite remember how she got here that really wakes her up. Because: how did she get here? Where is here? It might be safe... ish... in that she might not be in immediate danger, but there's a lot of unknowns right now, including the question of who the frick is in bed with her.

It would probably make more sense to stay quiet and take in more of the situation, but the realization that she's in bed with a stranger causes her to flail backwards in a way that would absolutely have had her falling off the side of the bed if the mattress itself wasn't surprisingly large. Instead, she ends up tangled gracelessly in the sheets and slightly frozen in place, like the guy waking up won't see her if she's completely still.

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The front desk associate is as annoyingly unhelpful as Percy feared. In fairness, she's very kind, and about as confused as Percy that she's unable to tell her who's paying for their room. The hotel has confirmed that the money's good, though, and anything they put on the hotel bill is covered. She can't say anything about what shape Jason and Percy were in when they checked in, since she wasn't on duty, but she's concerned and sympathetic when Percy says that they don't seem to have much in the way of luggage, and she confirms that the hotel's not holding anything for them.

Percy finds herself bullied kindly into stopping at the hotel's gift shop and picking out a couple shirts to charge to the room, and she returns to the room empty-handed save for. Well. A bag with some new shirts in it.

"You find anything?"

Jason's in the process of slamming one of the three dresser drawers shut; when he turns around, his face looks a little flushed, color high on his cheeks.

"Nothing useful," he says quickly, and his eyes go to the bag in her hand - and thank the gods, a distraction.

(Thank the gods? Is that a thing people normally think?)

"What's that?"

Percy is… definitely suspicious of what Jason found (nothing useful doesn’t mean nothing), but sure, she’ll answer his question first and open the drawer to see for herself soon. “A couple shirts. They were concerned when I said we seemed to have lost our luggage and pointed out I could charge gift shop purchases to the room. Aside from that?” She sets her bag down and sighs. “They can’t tell us who’s paying because of some privacy rule, and they don’t know anything about if we seemed okay when we checked in. Aside from confirming we’re paid for, I got pretty much nothing.”

Well, that's something at least. Jason had not found extra shirts, to be sure.

He does sigh, though, even as he's not entirely surprised she got no new information out of them. That had certainly been the impression he'd gotten on the phone, but there was always the hope that an in-person confrontation might have been more successful.

"So I guess we really are stuck here for now." Sure, newlyweds probably shouldn't think that way, but he's still not sure he really feels like a newlywed. There's too much else clamoring for his attention. "We definitely didn't show up with a lot of supplies. Just, uh. Extra underwear, I guess."

That pink tinge is creeping back into his cheeks.

“Well - we could leave,” she points out. “No one’s keeping us here. But this place is comfortable and comes with food and stuff, so I don’t think leaving early is the best option?”

If he wanted to, though, she’d go with him. Even if they weren’t apparently married, it seems like a good idea to stay together while they figure it out. “Where’s you find the extra underwear?”

It's true - they could leave. He just has no idea where they'd go.

So - she's right, and they both know it. "No, we should stay," he agrees. "I just don't like - not knowing."

But of course, neither does she, he knows.

And then they come back around to the, ah. Underwear. He points to the drawer, because there's no point in hiding it. "I'm not sure it looked all that, uh. Comfortable?"

There hadn't been a whole lot to some of it.

She pulls open the drawer he points to, and looks inside.

And yeah. There it is. Most of the stuff that would be for her is lacy, and pretty see-through, and she's a little suspicious of whether or not those bras would provide a lot of support. They're mostly designed to be ripped off her body, which makes sense for a honeymoon.

She sighs. "I mean. I guess it's not that much worse than what I'm wearing now."

"Oh... it's not?"

Jason cringes as the words come out of his mouth, and he covers his face with one hand. "Sorry. Sorry, that's - rude?"

He thinks. Just like the way his eyes keep wanting to go to her orange t-shirt like maybe they could see through it.

Definitely rude.

"I guess you're set for the next few days, at least."

He would really like to sink through the floor right about now.

"I mean... I don't think it's what I usually wear, but. Yeah. I guess I am."

She's just not going to be that comfortable for the next few days. "You want to go outside? I feel like we're not going to find much else in here."

"Honestly? Yes," Jason breathes. He really does want to get out of this room, even if it's just for a little while.

Plus, they might as well explore the hotel. For more than one reason.

He hesitates, but only for a second before he reaches out, offering his hand to her even as he's reaching for the door to pull it open.

Jason offering his hand is a surprise, but not a bad one. He's cute. He's her husband, somehow. And she's been trying to figure out how she feels about him and about being married to him, and one of the ways to figure that out is definitely experimenting with a little harmless physical affection, right? Maybe it'll trigger a memory.

So after a moment of hesitation, she takes his hand and follows him out.

Relief washes over him when Percy slides her hand into his. It just feels better this way; Jason squeezes her fingers gently and then leads her out into the hall, following the signs to the elevators and down to the main floor, where it seems most of the outdoor amenities are. And he would really like to get outdoors, even if just for a little while.

There is the beach, after all - in fact, it appears that this place has private access to the beach. There's also a pool, according to the map (isn't that a bit much?), a spa, tennis courts... and stables?

His eyebrows shoot up. "This place is huge. And - a lot."

"Only the best for our honeymoon, I guess." Percy is, admittedly, very tempted by the scent of the ocean, but she finds herself unconsciously leading him by the hand in the direction of the stables instead. She's not sure why, even when she notices it, but maybe it's the best idea to follow their instincts. There might be a memory hiding underneath them.

Jason is pretty easily tugged along when their positions reverse; he has no priorities other than getting the lay of the land, so his eyes scan their surroundings as Percy pulls him toward the stables.

Of course, he's starting to wonder the same thing. "Maybe we ride...?" he suggests, as the building comes into view around a bend in the artfully curated path.

“Maybe? This feels familiar.” Well, not this particular set of stables, exactly. But the smell of horses, that’s hitting something in her sense memory, like she’s spent a lot of time around them. “Does it feel familiar to you?”

"I'm... not sure?"

He's not - he doesn't think he minds being around horses, and actually does sort of get the feeling that he can ride one.

And yet there's something odd about that feeling, too. Which seems silly to even admit, since he can't put his finger on it at all.

"But I guess I don't feel bad about any of it, so that's a good sign."

"Maybe."

Some of the horses have been allowed to roam freely in a fenced-in area of grass, and when Percy gets close enough, they trot closer to say hello.

- To say hello literally, as she could swear one of them looks right at her and addresses her as lady, and Percy startles badly.

Jason reaches out on instinct, putting a hand to the small of Percy's back. Every sense is on high alert, every muscle tensed, as his eyes dart around, looking for the threat.

"What is it?"

The horse also apparently gets worried because it moves closer and nickers, and she hears it ask what's wrong, lady?

"Do you - do you hear that?"

Jason frowns, eyes darting around again, but, "No?" He's still tensed, like he's ready to jump into action, but there's no one to act against that he can tell.

He glances at Percy. "Unless you mean the horse."

Which is, as far as he can tell, making regular horse noises. Of course, it might not be obvious that's what he means.

Yeah, okay. She is absolutely not sticking around for this. She starts walking away, doing her best to ignore the horses calling after her to come back, and by virtue of still having one hand in his, she ends up dragging him along with her without an explanation. She just needs some distance from the talking horses first.

Jason goes, though he stays on alert, not-quite-stumbling after her in his effort to keep an eye on literally everything around them.

Something is definitely wrong. But he can't tell what. So he just worries and asks quietly, "Is someone following us?"

“No! I think. I think you might have married a schizophrenic, actually, so good luck with that - “

Well.

No one was following them, up until the horse that came up to her first jumped the enclosure and is now cantoring towards them at a swift pace. Lady, wait! What’s wrong? Is that Son of Zeus bothering you?

"What?" Jason pulls her to a stop, confused, because that doesn't make any sense at all -

And then he hears hoofbeats and whips around to see one of the horses has somehow escaped and is cantering up to them.

His heart rate skyrockets and the wind starts to pick up almost like a switch has been flipped, tossing sand and dirt around and tugging at their hair, almost like it's trying to lift them up.

Hey! Stop! Don’t worry, Lady, I’m coming! the horse whinnies, and something tells Percy this is about to get very complicated. Because she might be hallucinating a horse talking to her (might be? has to be?), but it really is running towards them, and it really does look like it might kick them or something.

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