Chapter Text
It hadn’t been long since Percy had clicked a mysterious link that sent him to a server for Blooming Panic, one of his favourite web-novels. Just over a week, really, but he already couldn’t imagine life without it. The constant spats between nightowl and onionthief, xyx’s constant odd pranks usually involving the more gullible members like Sal or two2, and NakedToaster’s attempts to get Percy to play Final Fantasy XIV were all welcome additions to his previously boring life.
Before, he’d lived in a pretty consistent loop; wake up, go to work, come home and contemplate if he would make dinner, go to sleep. The only break in that was the occasional Bloomic update, which he clung to like a lifeline. His job sucked, but it could’ve been worse- that’s what he told the server when he logged in later than usual tonight, anyway.
’your boss works you too hard!’ BIGLADY sent, after nightowl had typed several exclamation marks in response to Percy’s apology for being late, and a worried Lola emote.
’agreed. @slightlymeltedbutter quit ur job’ was xyx’s helpful input, but it made Percy laugh a little at least- xyx had been who Percy considered his first friend in the server, the one who’d welcomed him personally in a call- which, Percy had later learned, NEVER happened, so sue him for feeling just a little special, alright?
’regrettably, i enjoy being able to buy food for my pets. i think my dogs would eat me if i didn’t feed them breakfast for even one day.’ A mock-withering look was sent to one of his infamous dogs, a somewhat portly husky named Brisket who lay comfortable on Percy’s bed, undoubtedly getting an ungodly amount of fur on it simply by being there.
Unfortunately, for Percy anyway, he owned many more animals than just Brisket. The dog’s brother-by-adoption, a malamute named Oso, also liked to eat, as well as Percy’s two dwarf rabbits, three cats that were probably napping in the windowsills around the house, the many colorful little fish who lived in the large octagonal fish tank that lit up his room as it sat in the corner, the snake in the habitat just above the desk Percy sat at, and the dozen or so chickens that currently roosted in the old shed-turned-coop that sat in the backyard. They all needed to eat, and since getting rid of them wasn’t an option in Percy’s heart, and changing jobs meant change he wasn’t comfortable with, he worked the ridiculous hours his boss asked of him.
Percy scrolled through his computer’s photo library for a moment, before clicking on a picture he’d taken recently of him holding one of his birds in his arms like a baby, and sent it to the main chat.
’look at that little face,’ he typed. ‘would you really ask me to stop feeding General just so i could be in here earlier?’
’aw, you two are so cute!’ BIGLADY gushed, while xyx typed…. And typed… Before his tag disappeared completely, his profile moving to the ‘offline’ category as the ‘xyx is now OFFLINE’ message appeared in chat.
’oh, xyx left,’ nightowl helpfully pointed out, which made Percy frown. It wasn’t unlike xyx to just dip in and out whenever, but he wished xyx had stayed a little longer, he enjoyed talking to the group jokester. He was almost tempted to send a message to the dead channel xyx had added him into, but figured he probably wanted to be left alone.
’@slightlymeltedbutter !!! tell me about your chickens!! that’s the rooster, right??’ nightowl sent several emotes after his message, which made Percy laugh a little, willing to forget about the slight disappointment in favor of talking about his favorite topic: his pets.
Percy gladly talked about General the rooster to nightowl, who promptly called him ‘terrible at being a rooster’ when Percy talked about how sweet the bird was; he liked being pet and picked up and talked to in a sweet voice, which was admittedly a little odd for a rooster, but he protected the flock just fine when he wasn’t being distracted by treats. He was only online for a little bit, most of which was spent talking about a bird, but nightowl and BIGLADY wished him a good rest when he logged off for the night, which made him smile.
Percy didn’t have a lot of people he talked to- coworkers were usually busy doing their jobs, and when they weren’t, he was. He talked to his brothers sometimes, but they had their own lives going on. Percy was used to solitude, a loner in a way, but he couldn’t deny that the Blooming Panic server he’d found accidentally was nice to have. Even when there were fights, it was still a lot nicer than to simply fall back into the usual loop that had a vice grip on his life before.