robinnest | Children of Hades

[Nico is in fact annoyed when he returns to the cabin later only to find his bed missing. Or, he is at first anyway. It doesn't take very long to figure it out because he'd been expecting the other shoe to drop since Mal gave him that look. Better Mal than a Hermes kid. Once he's assured himself that his immensely talented sister is behind the theft and no one else, he hums in consideration. He is feeling a little tired...

And so he lies down to take a nap.

On her bed. Two can play at this game, Mal.]

[ when mal returns to the cabin, a whole new set of paints under her sketchbook, she has almost forgotten about the prank. a benefit to being the one typically doing the pranking. mal could just kick back and calmly wait for the results.

that dynamic changed when she and jay became friends. being closest to the prince of thieves meant mal often found her things missing: a bracelet, her paint cans, on one memorable occasion a cup of the thick bilge that passed for coffee on the isle as she was drinking it. things she would never have tolerated from anyone else, jay got away with by virtue of being the only other person on that island mal could stand.

but there were still limits.

when she walked into her room to find jay lying on her bed, going through her things, mal did not hesitate. ]

Off.

[ nico has one (1) second. ]

Edited 2019-08-31 23:50 (UTC)

[Nico sits up with bleary eyes when Mal comes in which means he's already facing her when she notices where he is. It takes him a moment to remember why he's not in his own bed and when he does, he pauses for a second to consider. He could not listen and stay there and wait for her to inevitably spell him off, but it doesn't seem right to push her (even if she is the one who started it.) With a yawn, Nico rises from her bed, gives her a short wave, and then goes to curl up on the floor where his bed used to be.

He's too groggy to care and he's slept on much worse. Besides, he hasn't had a nap so pleasant in weeks. It's hard to feel anything but content knowing he's not sleeping alone in his cabin for once.]

[ he is sucking all the fun out of everything.

mal hops onto her bed and starts sorting through her newest acquisitions. despite herself, her eyes continue to slide over to where nico lies on the floor perfectly content and not all put out. she tries to ignore him, but there's a twist in her stomach that mal has learned to identify as guilt and finally she can't ignore it anymore.

wanting to be good sucks. ]

Move.

[ that's all the warning he gets before she grabs him by the shirt and bodily drags him out of the line of spellfire. straightening, she leafs through her spellbook before finding the spell she needs. a green portal opens on the floor, spitting out his bed exactly as it was.

slamming her book shut, she gives nico a look before turning on her heel and stalking back to her bed.

#siblings ]

[Nico lets out a soft sound of surprise when Mal grabs him and finishes scurrying out of the way once she's let go. Even after already having seen her use her magic, he can't help being a little awed by it again. Nico meets her look with a surprised one of his own that slips into a slight smile but she's already turned from him and he smiles to himself instead.

He plops himself back on top of the (incredibly comfortable) bed and lets out a relaxed sigh. After a longer moment, he rolls over to the side and pulls the sketch she'd done for him from his nightstand drawer. He doesn't have a frame, but that doesn't stop him from setting it on top of the space there. His fingers ghost over the picture for a moment and he forces himself to put it down so he doesn't ruin it.]

...Bianca would have liked you. [His eyes are on the ceiling as he settles himself back against his pillow.]

It would have been terrible. You'd have teamed up on me for sure.

That's how you grow. [ mal, your isle is showing. ] Anyway, we would have also been the first ones to defend you so it balances out.

[ she looks over at nico smugly. ]

I'm terrifying when I want to be.

[ any remotely concerning effect is promptly ruined when she wrinkles her nose at him with a laugh. unzipping her jacket, she lays it out beside her. a golden dragon pendant swings back and forth from the chain around her neck. she uncaps the tubes of oil paint one at a time to test them. ]

Hmm. It runs in the family. [She might have picked up on that with the whole grass withering anger at her situation. He's laying on his side facing her and her laugh prompts a grin out of him.]

Me too, in case you didn't realize yet. I'll defend you too.[After a long pause he adds] Parents might suck, but siblings are different. I've got your back.

[It's on the sappier side for him and most of his friends would be shocked to hear him so clearly state his loyalty and affection, but Hazel and Reyna wouldn't. Family is different. There's no shame in making his stance clear on that. There's no reason to hide his feelings from Mal and leave her to wonder. From the sounds of it, they've both dealt with enough doubt and Nico refuses to be a part of it.]

[ she thinks of carlos, always there to help make her plans a reality; of jay, ever present at her shoulder when she might face trouble; of evie, evie who would take her by the arm and walk through the halls with her, evie whom she trusted more than she did anyone in any world, evie whose absence feels like mal has lost some intrinsic part of her. ]

Yeah…they are.

[ she flicks a little paint on a clean page. ]

We didn't really have friends on the Isle. That was too sentimental; better to be partners, like, in crime. So if something happened, it was whatever. It took leaving to realize I'd actually found brothers there. Everything else may have sucked, but we had each other.

Edited 2019-09-01 02:31 (UTC)

[The more he hears about the Isle, the more his heart breaks for her. It wasn't fair. (He'd learned a long long time ago that nothing in life was fair, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt sometimes when he's reminded.)]

I'm glad you had them. [I'm glad you weren't alone, he doesn't say.]

Everyone at camp...we all have messed up relationships with out parents. The gods aren't known for being parents of the year. Most haven't ever met their godly parent, and a lot of our mortal parents are gone. [Dead or having abandoned children who they didn't want.]

Siblings are the only real family we have.

You've met our dad.

[ spoken off-hand, like it's only an observation rather than a blatantly obvious fishing for information. ]

[He has. It makes him different from most of the other campers and he knows it. As far as he knows, only the Seven have met their parents but even that was incredibly circumstantial.]

...it was complicated. There was a war. That's the only reason he noticed me. [Maybe that's not entirely fair to Hades, but it's not like they'd started out strong.]

After the war, things got better. It's...still strange with him though.

[ she raises her head, frowning at the mention of a war. one potential landmine at a time, though. mal shelves her curiosity for another day. ]

Strange how? [ she asks instead. ]

[Nico shrugs, struggling to answer. It isn't that he's uncomfortable talking about Hades so much as everything comes back to Kronos and Gaea, the wars and everything that happened in them.]

Strange like...he's an immortal god and we barely live in the same world. He cares in his way. But it'll never be how a mortal parent is.

Yeah, no. I know that. That’s fair.

[ she 100% knows what a mortal parent’s love is like. she had, like. tons of that growing up. it’s great. ]

[Again, Nico wonders about the apparently living mother that Mal left behind. He's a little envious, honestly, but it's not like he begrudges her the love of a parent.]

If you want, we can go see him sometime. I know how to get to the underworld. It's safe for us.

[ yeah, about the "left behind" thing.

also the "love of a parent" part.

speaking of, it's funny how wanting to find hades was all she wanted — the only reason she had undertaken this difficult, impulsive and incredibly reckless trip to the mortal realm. but when she's given the chance, doubts close like a fist around her heart. her fingers touch the dragon pendant at her chest, a nervous gesture. her thumb smooths over the warm gold. ]

If he wanted to see me, he'd make it known. [ how to state a fact and feed your insecurities at the same time: the thrilling sequel. ] I mean, it's not like he can't know by now where I am.

[He doesn't see the way she glides her fingers over her necklace pendant for what it is, even with its striking similarity to the way he twists his ring around his finger. He will eventually, but not yet.]

Yeah. [Maybe he shouldn't agree, but Mal isn't wrong. It had taken years for Hades to acknowledge Nico. It's like he said, godly parents sucked.] He didn't care about me at first either. [Just in case she took his agreement as a measure of her worth.]

Guess you'll have to make do with me.

Yaaaaay. [ her smile softens the sarcasm to an exasperated fondness. she shoots him a faux warning look. ] Just remember where you stand in the pecking order.

Oh, is there a pecking order now? [That's all sass back.]

If you don't want to look your age. [ she playfully waves her finger to the left, to the right, and up. ]

On the plus side, you'll definitely know then how much Will likes you for you.

[He snorts, unfazed.]

Sounds like a good excuse to shake my fist at people and sleep all day.

[ please. ] I've known you for two days, and I already know you don't need an excuse.

I like sleeping. People don't try to talk to you while you're sleeping.

Oh, ho! Is this you telling me to shut up?

[ she throws one of the, well, throw pillows at him. ]

[The pillow whaps him in the head and he grumbles softly, too lazy to do much about it.]

Not you specifically. There are so many people here who disturb my sleep.

Children of Hades

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