robinnest | Children of Hades

[By the time they've had their fill of ice cream and greasy fries, it's late afternoon. Add to that the time it takes for their cab (taken in Nico's effort to keep Mal from witnessing another shadow travel induced moment of weakness) to reach the bottom of Halfblood Hill, and it's only a little before sunset when they begin the ascent up the hill to Camp. The walk up the hill isn't very long though it always feels longer when monsters are in pursuit and soon enough they reach the invisible border that separates Camp from the mortal world. Mal's feet cross without incident and though Nico hadn't had any doubt, his heart soars in his chest, reveling in the tangible reminder of who Mal is (to him.)]

We can let the camp director know tomorrow since it's already getting late. [Not late for Nico, and not so late they couldn't have dropped by the Big House, but he'd rather get Mal used to Camp on his own before introducing her to some of the weirder elements. It's been a long day.]

Do you want a tour?

[The good news is, Mr. D. isn't chasing them. The bad news is, Mal doesn't look even a little bit sorry. (The worse news is all of Nico's disapproval is faked because how is he supposed to disapprove of her roasting Mr. D. like that?)

When they're far enough away that Nico is positive they won't suddenly sprout fins or branches, Nico finally stops running and tries very hard to look stern.]

I can't believe you said that to Mr. D.

[ mal's first night at camp proved…interesting. chiron officially welcomed her into camp, making a whole show of it. ( weird. ) every single table was either whispering or craning their necks to get a better look at her. ( weirder. ) mr. d made a snide comment. ( that she was expecting. ) nico sat across from her at the hades table and she kept her word to watch for his health: when he refused to voluntarily join the apollo table, she waved her finger and flipped the bench he was sitting on. that got more whispers and even the centaur was staring, but mal took one look at nico's stunned face and broke out laughing.

after so long being alternately shunned or harassed in auradon for being maleficent's daughter, camp proved a lot easier to take.

besides, the only person whose opinion mattered just picked himself up off the floor and plopped himself down next to her with a grin.

for her second outing into new york, mal opted for a more low-key look than the distressed, studded leather and five hundred belts of her first day. still leather and still cropped, her varsity style jacket has dark purple sleeves and a multicolor body, varying from black through purple and magenta to gray. she settled long ago on purple and violet as her dominant color palette, and she has remained faithful to it ever since. the only exception to purple is green as in the case of her olive green cargo pants.

her jewelry remains the same with studded black bracelets around one wrist and a dragon ring resting over two of her fingers; on her other hand, a bold ring with a large oval onyx circles her thumb, one of the few gifts maleficent saw fit to give her daughter. a wristlet hangs off her wrist. it resembles the backpack she carried on her first day because it actually is the same bag—and just as much a bag of holding considering she stuffed her spell book inside it despite the bag being half the book's size. she also offered it to hold the pouch of mortal money with a few divine coins strewn in that chiron gave them. the pouch disappeared inside with no sign except for the sweet jingling of the drachma when mal jiggled the bag.

over her zipped up jacket rests her gold dragon pendant, identical in shape to the dragon on the cover of her spell book.

she leans against a parking meter while nico finishes getting whatever he needed to get at the pharmacy. they decided to get the responsible stuff out of the way first and blow the rest of the day on touristing.

from the wristlet, mal removes her cell phone. no messages. no calls. to be expected considering she lost signal the moment she hopped into the mortal world, but she's still disappointed. scrolling through the photos, she smiles at the faces of her friends. finding two photos she likes she changes the lock screen to one of the four of them taken in a huddle, her, jay, evie and carlos backlit by the sun above them, and the home screen to one of her and evie making faces at the camera. even when she's being ridiculous, evie still manages to look like the prettiest girl in the world. and mal knows what she's talking about; she's seen the aphrodite kids. they still can't compare to e. ]

Edited 2019-09-04 02:11 (UTC)

[Two weeks.

Mal has been at camp for two weeks before Nico loses his nightly battle for the first time since she'd arrived. It's actually a small miracle that he'd lasted as long as he did, but negative thoughts always fueled his inability to stave the nightmares off, and it was hard to feel anything but joy watching Mal laugh, waking to her grumbles that mirrored his own, teasing and being teased and generally falling in love with her presence. The fear and anxiety hadn't even had a chance to rear its head.

But even when he won the day battles, the nightly ones persisted. They clawed at him, always pulling him back, always yanking away. Always dragging him back to that place where it was dark and hot and everything hurt.

He'd lost tonight, perhaps for no other reason than he couldn't stall the inevitable forever, and it was inevitable. Nico shivers in his sleep while the temperature in the room drops, shaky exhalations visible against the chill. The room is cold but Nico is burning. His skin is melting and his throat is on fire, poison seeping into his lungs, everything too hot and too much. Silent tears wet his pillow.

He doesn't wake (he never does.) He doesn't cry out (no one could hear, no one could help, what was the point?) A deep cruel voice whispers the truth of his existence into his ears and he curls into a ball, unable to fight or run away.

No one loves you. No one needs you. You're too broken. Too damaged. Your sister left you, she'd have rather died than stayed shackled to you. Do you think this one will be different? She'll leave you when she sees what you are.

She'll realize you're nothing and then you'll be alone again. It's what you deserve.

Nico is silent and still and the room grows colder.]

Edited 2019-09-09 09:25 (UTC)

[ cabin number thirteen has a new addition: a blood-red curtain hung across the open door.

several campers have paused, curious, especially with the strong smell of paint fumes issuing from the interior. general wariness where the lord of the dead and his children are involved stops anyone sneaking too close.

the sign pinned to the curtain, the sign which spells out APPROACH AT YOUR OWN PERIL, also helps. the skull and crossbones painted in black underneath reinforce the warning.

upon stepping inside, it is obvious where the curtain came from: two of the curtains are missing from mal's four-poster.

mal was supposed to join a few of the kids from apollo's cabin to practice archery. then she should have met nico for sword practice. she did neither. inside the cabin, she shakes a can of spray paint. on her bedside table, next to maleficent's aquarium, mal has set her phone. she sings along with it as she works. her mother glares balefully at the phone.

at mal's side of the room, she has immortalized a portrait of herself framed by thorny purple-violet vines on the wall. nico's portrait dominates the wall at his side of the cabin, silver-white bones as his frame. the vines and bones both trail to the back wall against which the shrine to their father sits. there, they smoothly become part of another drawing. there, mal can be found, bringing hades' palace to life with only a careful laying and alternating of purple-violet and silver-white lines and touches of vivid green against the profound black of the wall.

it took mal the better part of a week to work out the exact composition to get paint that a) would stick to the obsidian walls and b) show against it. even with the project as of yet unfinished, she is damn proud of herself. ]

Edited (now fixed so there is a logical flow; never tag late at night, kids) 2019-09-14 14:11 (UTC)

[It's the morning of a day in late April when Nico is sitting at the Apollo table, Mal already having finished breakfast leaving Nico to retreat to sit with Kayla as he finishes his meal. His sister is hanging out with Val today though Nico has no idea what they're actually doing. Will has the midday infirmary shift today which means that as soon as he finishes breakfast, he intends to head straight over and help out where he can.

Those were his plans anyway until he hears a commotion a little beyond the Big House and after shooting Kayla a puzzled look (who merely shrugged in return) gets up to see what the noise is about. When he reaches the Big house, a small cluster of campers are gathered around someone, offering back slaps and high fives, and Nico realizes that someone is either visiting or starting their summer session early. A brief gap in the cluster allows Nico a glimpse at the returning camper and Nico's eyes widen in shock.

Iris messaging was still being weird more often than not and even hand written letters didn't always make it to their destination, which means they haven't actually had a chance to talk in months. Still. There's no way he isn't going to give Jason a hard time about not letting him know he was coming.

Rather than intrude or make himself known, Nico merely stands there waiting, a smirk on his face.]

Arrival at Camp

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