Winter's Coming.

[refantasma]

Who: Nico and You!
Which: Open Log + Post. Backdated to December 1st.
Where: The park
What: Nico's come back from waking.
Warnings:Spoilers for Trials of Apollo and The Sun and The Star



I. Quando il gatto non c’è i topi ballano
Nico had been gone for a month here but almost a year in the real world. He's a little taller than he had been, and he has new scars, especially noticeable are the ones on his face.

He looked around the park, sighing, reaching up, and lightly touching the scars on his face, checking that they were still there. He wears them with pride.

Those who know him could see he was a bit more settled into himself, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

There is sorrow in his eyes. Being back here... and no Jason. And all the memories that he had forgotten while back in the waking world. That's something he'll think about later. He needs to go to the apartment he shared with Jason, go to Leo's, and find another place to live if he's back here. But he's in no hurry to do either.

II. Ciao di nuovo

Hey. Nico here.

I've been gone for a bit. It looks like I was in the real world longer than I was gone from here. Since Halloween just ended when I left, and it looks like Christmas is coming up. Weird. Percy, do you remember we went to Italy to get a present for Annabeth?

So, what did I miss here? You all missed out on me becoming a father. Maybe some of my kids, I have fifteen of them, will show up here. I hope they do; they're really cute.

Comments

[refantasma]

Considering Nico had a nice, also blond, boy back home, he wasn't going to be jealous either way.

"I don't really remember what he said about it. It was a while ago, and then I woke up and spent like a year before my dream self fell back into this place," he shrugged. "He said it was from his world and that we shouldn't eat it." He rolled his eyes. "Some people here would take that as a challenge, though."

[foremother]

Her lips move but no voice comes out. She's parroting him, soundlessly repeating, 'shouldn't eat it', as though she might puzzle out why this might be a warning Link felt the need to share. Then, Nico clarifies&mdash a challenge. A soft huff of a laugh leaves her.

"It seems," she starts, "that many interesting things happened to you at once, Link's friend. How are you adjusting back in Reverein?"

[refantasma]

"It's... odd," Nico said after a moment. "I have friends here, Percy and Leo, but they're from different times than I am."

He blew out a sigh. "Things that happened here last month are now things that happened over a year ago for me. It's... weird. And I miss my kids."

[foremother]

She's about to comment that different times from the same world isn't as unusual as it might seem, and that she can kind of relate, in fact, but.

....Kids, he says.

"You have children?," it's a question she poses dumbly, eyes wide and thoughtful. Eventually, she decides to continue, "Tell me about them."

[refantasma]

"Yeah, fifteen of them," Nico said, smiling. "Their names are Despair, Isolation, Guilt, Contempt, Sadness, Shame, Grief, Fear, Gloom, Jealousy, Envy, Bitterness, Stress, Rage, and Disgust. A goddess ripped them out of me."

im so sorry i caught the flu and just managed to get well recently!! pls ignore if you've moved on!

[foremother]

Fifteen children, he says, and the explanation that follows is just as strange as that number. For a moment, her surprise is betrayed in her features— only for a sigh and an amused smile, accompanied by a slumping of her shoulders, to grace her features.

"Goddesses do thinks like that, do they?"

Posed as a question, it might be innocent, but she can picture it easily, in truth. She might have done something like that as Hylia, if she thinks about it. Who is to say?

"With fifteen, holidays must have been big, and so little time for relaxation. No wonder you look so morose."

No worries

[refantasma]

Nico's shakes his head.

"Some do, some don't. Nyx, the goddess of the night, is one of the eldest primordial deities. She's so powerful that she plays by her own rules."

Looking up at the sky, he goes quiet for a moment.

"That's not why I'm sad." He blew out a sigh. "Before I woke up, a friend of mine was here, and he woke up too. We dated while we were here, but we didn't remember it when we woke up; I never got to see him again. And now he's passed on to my father's realm."