(alright that's fine! Let me know. You doing alright, btw?)
Midas took in Percy's words, studying him in silence for a very long moment. "I see." Those were his only words for another stretch of time, and then he stood. "I shall consider it. In the meantime, if you would stay here?" He arched an eyebrow. "Not necessarily in this room, of course. There are guest rooms that you and your…creatures could stay in, provided they do not tear up the furniture. I should hate to have to replace it with, say, them."
Percy swallowed, shaking his head. "I need to return to my forest, Sir. I promise, I am not attempting to deceive you into helping me. I just can't leave my creatures, as you call them, be. They don't do well without me for too long, hunters and all that. I'm sure you'd understand, with how many people have made attempts on your life in the past." he said softly, fearfully even.
His eyes flashed at the reminder of his own brushes with death. "I am not an animal, Persephone." He replied in a low tone. "And my death would not have the same result." He stood, studying the other man critically. "Return to your forest, then. I shall conduct some investigations into the troubles of your forest. Return within a week, that we may speak again."
"Animals fear too, Midas. They feel, too. Good day, Sir." he said gently, not meeting Midas's eyes. He turned to leave, walking slowly out of the room, trying not to seem to eager to get out of there despite him desperately wanting to get out of there. He didn't want to become a gold statue, didn't want to become something dead and frozen in time forever.
Midas watched him go, eyes slightly narrowed. He took a few moments to think, then returned to the downstairs, where the party had resumed. The music had started up again, and no one paid much attention to Persephone's departure, save to dodge away from the lions. They noticed, though, when Midas reentered the room, parting for him as he surveyed the room.
It was a few days later, after the whole debacle, and Percy was getting impatient. So far, he hadn't even seen or heard of anyone in his forest, much less anyone of Midas's group, coming to help them. He looked over to his animals, all sleeping around the small cottage at the wood's edge. He sighed. He'd have to confront Midas again, would have to make him listen this time. He took one of his horses, asking her if he could saddle her, before riding off to go see Midas. Again. Unfortunately.
Midas had been conducting research, though he had not yet sent an emissary to the forest. First he had been studying books and other resources, considering the possibilities. The forest was not, however, his priority. He had other things that he deemed a bigger concern to focus on. A forest run by a strange young man was not a large concern, not with an election coming up in the next few months.
The Red Forest, however, held much magical power. Midas seemed to have barely considered the implications of how that would affect his standing if word got out to the other Magicals that he was just letting Percy's forest die. So he rode on, entering the city with its smoke and automobiles, and stopped at Midas's little-well, big-palace in the center. "Wish me luck, Marci… if I come out of this alive, you get all the hay and apples." he sighed, entering once more.
This time, when he entered, one of the men who worked for Midas recognized him, coming up to him. "You are Percy?" he questioned. He had a rough accent, and the pinkie finger of his left hand was solid gold; obviously he had crossed Midas in some way, but not in a major enough way to warrant a more severe punishment.
"Yes. Yes, I am." he said, stepping back. He didn't want to get hurt, but he also wanted to see what would happen next. "Can you take me to him?" Percy asked, voice shaky.
The man nodded slightly. "Yes. He instructed us to do so if you came in again." he turned, obviously expecting Percy to follow him through the club. He wasn't an overly tall man, but was probably a few inches taller than his employer, and more muscular too. He led the other man up to the stairs, up into the "business" level, and into a room where Midas sat at a large wooden desk, papers strewn across its surface. To one side was a bookshelf that took up the whole wall, along with a few leather chairs to sit in. The desk was large, made of polished, gleaming wood, with golden detailing. Midas looked up as Percy entered, the pen in his hand ceasing its motions. "Well, good day to you, Persephone." he greeted in a calm tone.
"It's Percy, Sir." he looked down, suddenly feeling deeply uncomfortable. Percy stepped forward, looking up, then down again. The room was admittedly magnificent, but in a way that scared him to him bones. He scanned the room for quick exits, but the only one was the door, where the man who had greeted him was guarding.
"Take a seat, Percy." Midas replied, gesturing with the pen to a seat opposite from his desk, facing towards where he was sitting. "What have you come about this time?" he shuffled some of the papers, clearing a space to set some more down. These had notes across them in a flowing cursive, organized quite well.
Percy sat down, feeling like a mouse trapped in a jar. He could barely speak, and mumbled a reply to the question that nobody could hear, just a vague “ajdjfhdhshchfjsj” sort of sound that made no sense to the human ear as it was in the languages of not just human, but of many animal too.
Midas sighed very quietly. "Please speak louder. I'm not hard of hearing but I can't hear when you speak at the volume of a whisper." he said, tapping the pen against the table. "I'm not going to kill you in my office, you know. It makes quite the mess."
Percy shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sir." he'd spoken up just barely, but you could understand him now. "I just, my forest, nothing's happened and it's getting worse by the day." he said in a small voice.
Midas sighed faintly. "I'm working on that, Percy. I have a lot of things to keep track of. I've been doing research on the forest and on things like it to try and figure out what precisely is the problem, but there's an election coming up, you know, and those are important." Even if he rigged them. They were still important.
