Piper
I'll admit it, I kind of envy the way Annabeth can completely focus on one project for hours and completely ignore everything else. She sometimes ignores things she really shouldn't, like her need for food and water, but other than that it's a useful ability. While Annabeth was designing her model, I decided to kill time by looking through old photos. Since I rarely used my phone for obvious reasons, there weren't that many. The newest one was Annabeth cutely sleeping in Percy's lap. There were a handful of pictures from our journey with the Argo II and everything else was from before the Grand Canyon. Interesting, there were some pictures from before that point that did show Jason, meaning that Hera had manipulated not only my (and everyone else's) memories, but also my phone's gallery. I hadn't thought about my false relationship with Jason in months, probably because my current, real one was better (nothing beats a date while flying (unless you're afraid of heights like certain other children of the sky god)). While looking at these pictures, I also lost track of time until Annabeth said "Okay, I've added in the doors and elevators" "In five minutes?" "Five minutes? It's been like two hours." I checked the time. "You're right, it was two hours, I was just too hyperfixated on looking at old photos to notice" "And I was too busy coding in realistic doors. See, it opens smoothly when you approach" "I don't really understand what you did there, but nevertheless I am impressed" "That was the idea" "I thought the idea was to prepare for a monster attack" "That was the primary purpose, but why not get some extra validation out of it" "You're the only person I know who has a way higher self-esteem than what is good for her but also wants external validation" "Well, I don't want validation to know I'm awesome, I want it in order to know that you know because if you like me, you won't leave me" I wasn't sure if I agreed with that logic, but disagreeing might have broken Annabeth's sense of security in some regard, so I didn't say anything. "So, do you already have an escape plan figured out?" "No, that's what I was going to do next. Want to help me?" "Sure. I'd say we start from our room and find every escape route" "You're getting really good at logical planning" "That's what happens to people who spend a lot of time with you" "Haven't really seen that change happening to seaweed brain" "That's different. He's not so good at… thinking" "Only I am allowed to make fun of Percy" "Says who?" "This" Annabeth pulled up a document on her laptop, signed by Percy, that only Annabeth could make fun of him. "Why does this exist?" "Because I want to be able to defend my rights" "Your rights to make fun of your boyfriend?" "Exactly"
"Going back to the topic, what are possible escape routes?" "The most dangerous bottleneck is actually our room and everything right in front of the door. Once that is cleared, you can at least run down the corridor in two different directions. If you turn around this corner here…" We spent a good while planning out every possible way (legal and otherwise) to leave the school. There were a lot. After that, I came up with something else "How about we design some improvise-able weapons. Preferably ones that can move" "With all the stuff in the gymnasium, we could basically build a tank" "Why didn't we do that in PE on Monday?" "Bringing any objects, except balls of course, over to enemy territory is unfortunately against the rules" "That rule sucks" "I am aware, but I guess it kind of helps with balancing. If one team has a tank that's a tad bit unfair and there aren't enough materials for two of them" "But we can still design one, right" "You've spent too much time with Leo. But sure, we can, let me just add everything that is in the material room. I mostly have it memorized"
Annabeth spent another thirty minutes or so adding things to the 3D model. "Okay, this is everything we'd have if ever locked in the gymnasium" It was a whole lot of material to work with, so we began to design. After gods know how long, we had something that looked pretty decent. The construction had an ljw-motor (literally just walking), making it very fuel efficient. It was almost indestructible as long as whatever was trying to destroy it had the mental and physical capabilities of a mortal first grader. It was even weaponized, having a crossbow for shooting tennis balls. "Really Piper, tennis balls?" Annabeth asked. "Have you ever been hit by a high velocity tennis ball? It hurts. This is probably the best long range weapon available" "And what would be, in your opinion, the best melee weapon?" "Swinging those metal rods that the volleyball net is attached to. If those are still too long, use a hockey bat." The crossbow was of course stabilized against vehicle movement. Last but not least, the makeshift tank featured a trampoline for quickly obtaining the high ground without a significant risk of being attacked yourself. By the time we were done, it was already time for dinner. Annabeth did one last rigid body physics test before following me to the cafeteria. "I really hope the thing I just spent my whole afternoon on will be completely pointless" She said as we left the room. Nothing interesting happened during dinner at first. We talked about things. Annoying boyfriends for example. Annabeth managed to complain about Percy for over five minutes straight before ending with "But that's just what seaweed brains do. I think it's cute." "I have to agree that you two are just the cutest schist. Except for maybe Frazel. Unless I have the word you refer to everyone inside, then you'd be the cutest" I spoke quickly so as to not be heard by anyone. People didn't have to know about Annabeth's disorder. I don't mean that in an I-don't-want-to-be-seen-with-these-people kind of way, it was just a safety thing that Annabeth agreed with. "The better people know you, the better they can hurt you" was her reasoning. Once again, this had made me so aware of how Annabeth had been treated badly and hurt by almost everyone most of the time that the only logical thing to do had been to give her a hug and to tell her not to worry because I wouldn't hurt her (except maybe accidentally in training). "Speaking of everyone inside, why the Hades am I dissociating again? I think I might even switch. Since I'm already finished, I'd say I go to our room." "If you think it'll help" "Probably not. The main thing isn't getting rid of the dissociation, I just don't want it to happen here where I'm among other people and therefore vulnerable" "Can you make it to our room alone?" Someone a few seats away was starting to look at us. Annabeth looked back. He looked away. "Always a useful skill to have. But don't worry, it's not that bad yet. I can make it" Annabeth assured me before making her way back up to our room.
"Why is Annabeth acting so weird sometimes? Like, what does dissociated even mean?" The guy next to us asked. I thought about what I could tell him without violating Annabeth's privacy. "Let's just say, she's seen things you couldn't even find in your worst nightmares and not all her scars are physical." "Like a war veteran?" "Exactly, just younger." "How young" "I feel like answering that question would be an infringement on her privacy, if you want to know, go ask her directly. If you dare" "She is kind of scary, I'll have to admit" "She could probably kill you in under ten seconds. Skill-wise at least, maybe not morally though." "I'd hope so" "I don't think she ever killed a human, so don't worry too much about it" "Who else did she kill then?" "Doesn't matter. As long as you're nice to her, nothing can happen" I finished my dinner and left, leaving behind a very confused and slightly terrified classmate. I made my way to my room where I found maybe Annabeth. She smiled widely upon seeing me. That was probably not Annabeth. "Hello Piper" "Hi whoever this is" "I'm Luisa. Where were you? I've been waiting here for ages" "I was at dinner. Also, unless there's a time dilation between this room and the cafeteria, you can't have waited for much more than five minutes" "Five minutes is very long. I was really bored" "Fine, it's super long" Seriously, I might be immune to charm speak, but I still couldn't resist this absolutely embodiment of cuteness. "Do you know why you're out?" "I heard a song I liked and it triggered me out, but when the switch had happened, there was no music." "Annabeth left to go here as soon as she felt the switch coming, that's why the music is gone. It was in a completely different room" "Oh, ok. Can we go there?" "There's a lot of people there and also, the song is long over by now. But if I can use Annabeth's laptop, maybe I can put it on" "She's fine with it" Luisa said after a few seconds. "Says who?" "Uh, Annabeth. Not me" This didn't sound all too true, but I decided Annabeth would forgive me. "Okay, what was the song?" Luisa told me the name and I put it on on Daedalus' laptop. It took me a while to figure out how everything worked since the operation system was quite literally ancient. Ancient, but probably better than what was in use nowadays. Luisa obviously enjoyed the song. "Is there a reason why you like this song so much" I asked. "I just listened to it a lot when we were little. It makes me feel safe and protected. I think dad used to sing it to me" "I'm starting to notice a theme of alters being triggered out by songs that make them feel safe." "Wait, who else does that?" "Chris. When he left Ta-" I stopped myself. If Annabeth had all these identities, each one aware of only a fraction of the trauma, there was probably a reason for that and I really shouldn't interfere by telling any alter about another's trauma. "The body was at a scary place and left through an elevator. Chris holds those memories and is triggered by the song that played in the elevator. It tells him that the danger is over I guess. Do you think it would be harmful if Annabeth learned more about the inner world?" "There are some scary places. She won't like them" "I'm guessing those are related to specific traumas. Annabeth maybe shouldn't learn about those. What else is there?" "I don't know what Annabeth has seen, but I think there are some nice places she doesn't know" "But you know them?" "Some. Why do you ask. Do you want to tell her things?" "Not really. She's made a model of the inner world in Blender, but of course it's only the places she knows. She could use some help I think." I switched over to the communication app. "Can you read this message?" I asked. "I can, but it'll take long because of the dyslexia" I read the message out for her "Hey guys, I'm working on a inner world model, but I haven't seen a lot of it, so I wanted to ask you for some information on it. Only share what you think is safe. Hope I'll hear from you." "Can I answer her?" "Of course" I clicked on her name in the alter selection menu on the left. "You can type your answer or make a voice recording" "I'll do that" She pressed the button for voice messages and began talking. "Hi, I'm Luisa. I'm here with Piper and I'm gonna help you with your inner world model. Also, this app is really cool. Okay, byeee"
"Okay, I can help with some things. Where is the model?" It took me a few seconds to find the right program, but then I showed Luisa the world Annabeth had created. "Oh, that's only a part of the world. A tiny one. There's so much more for her to see" "Can you put those things in here?" "I can't. I don't know how this works" "Neither do I, but it took Annabeth years to reach the skill level she is at now so if skills don't transfer between alters, which appears to be the case here, you don't really have any chance of making this model yourself." "Then what else can I do?" I opened another program. "I guess you could make some drawings and have Annabeth model those in Blender." "That sounds fun" I gave Luisa the laptop and she made some drawings of places from the inner world. "That's all the places I can think of" "Okay, one more thing" I created an orthographic screenshot of everything Annabeth had created so far (I might not know a lot about Blender, but Annabeth had taught me the basic camera controls), pasted it into paint, cropped away the menus and expanded the image. "This is a map of what Annabeth knows. Can you mark where the things you drew are?" "Of course" She put a few numbers onto the map, many of them far away from the original screenshot and therefore far away from anything Annabeth had seen. She finished with another message. "It's me again. I don't understand your 3D program, so I made some drawings of my favorite places. I made a map to show you where they are. I hope I helped you. Bye." She sent the message. "Okay, what do I do next?" "You could tell me some things about the inner world. Just general stuff that isn't specific places" "Well, it's like this world, but easier. For example, you can't get hurt by falling because I think that has happened to us in the past. Another thing that helps is that hot food stays hot and ice stays cold. There's also some other physics stuff that is different, but I'm too little to understand them. But most things are like in the real world. We need to eat and sleep, which can be kind of annoying. I already have to deal with that in the outside world, why inside too? I don't think I can change anything about that though" "I've heard you have some crazy machines in there. Maybe you can build one that automatically feeds you" "We can try that, but it'll still be annoying." "Any ideas on what you want to do? I still have some leftover homework. Do you want to try and help me" She took a look at the task. "That's work for big people. I'm too small" "I believe you're already a big girl" "I'm not" Luisa protested. "I'm only seven" She sounded almost scared at the idea of being a 'big girl', like I had told her she was going to be an arachnologist (Was that a word? I had just made it up, but it still might be one) her reaction was so strong that I assumed it had triggered some traumatic memory. "Did someone call you a big girl before?" "Mhm" "Who?" She hesitated for a few seconds before answering "My stepmother" "And you didn't like that?" "No. I told her I was scared but she said I was a big girl and had to deal with it myself. But they were so scary" "The spiders?" I guessed. Luisa just nodded. At the same time, she tried to hide in her shirt. It was her Nico protection squad shirt, so it was a bit too big on her. "Listen to me, there's two things I want you to know. One, you're safe from the spiders here and two, here, you can be as small as you want to." "Really?" "Of course. You're most likely the smallest person in this entire school and you deserve to act like it" "I think I like that. But you reminded me of then and I'm a bit scared" "Do you want a hug from me?" "What do you think I'm doing right now?" I hadn't noticed it, but Luisa's arms were wrapped around her such that she was basically hugging herself. I took over that job for her by giving her the most protective hug I could pull off. "Is this better?" "Yes. I feel safe" "That's what it's all about. Speaking of feeling safe, did you hear about what Percy did?" "Did he do something not safe for us?" "No, don't worry. Annie told me that she feels safe when she's in a small room like a pillow fort and I told Percy, so he built up a cardboard fort in his cabin" "I've seen some memories of that. I think I would also feel safe in that. I like small spaces, especially the one under my blanket" "That's probably the cutest thing anyone has said all day" "I like being cute and small" "That's interesting because Annie hates being called cute, unless she does it herself, but you like it. I guess you're all different people after all." Well, I have a reason to like being called small or cute; I don't like being called big. I don't know how it is with Annie. She was also homeless, right?" "That is correct, she just wasn't alone" "Maybe to her, being small meant being unable to deal with being homeless." "So, you're saying that Annie sees cuteness and being small as a weakness, but you see it as an advantage?" "Yes, I think that's how it is." "Seeing how much you differ from each other due to your different experiences is so interesting to me. The way everything ends up making sense even though it might not seem like it at first is kind of fascinating" "You're starting to sound like Annabeth." "Well, I do spend a lot of time with her, so maybe she's starting to influence me" "Definitely"