hazel levesque. (childofpluto) wrote in halloweening, @ 2013-10-01 17:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, hazel levesque, nico di angelo |
WHO: Hazel Levesque and Nico di Angelo
WHERE: Main Street
WHEN: October 1st, 2013.
WHAT: Hazel runs into Nico in Halloween Town. Literally.
RATING: Low.
STATUS: log; complete.
Hazel was an expert on weird. But finding herself being pulled through a magical portal through a tree and ending up in Halloween Town had shocked even her. After being given the creepy journal and being escorted to her new home in the Asylum, Hazel had worked very hard to keep herself calm. She was a daughter of Pluto, but the ghosts roaming the halls of her new home were starting to freak her out. Thankfully they listened when she put her foot down and ordered them out of her room. She’d had enough of living with spirits for one lifetime. She supposed being the daughter of Pluto had to have some perks. Just her luck that it included ordering ghosts around. She looked at her journal and considered using it to communicate with the new residents of the town, but set it aside on her bed instead. No, she needed some fresh air to calm her nerves. Already her unease had caused several diamonds and a fat ruby to appear by her feet. Hazel scooped them up dutifully and jammed them into her pockets. She’d make the Earth swallow them back up again once she was outside. “Nothin’ to be worried about, Hazel,” she murmured to herself. “You’re just stuck in a crazy Halloween town with no way home and a bunch of ghosts buzzing round your door.” She sighed and slipped from her room and back out the front door. Once Hazel was outside, she wandered a little way away from the house until she found a relative bit of privacy. She dug for the gems in her pocket and held them in her hand. After a moment they grew warm and floated up into the air. They hovered there for a moment before they plummeted back down underneath the Earth. But even as they disappeared, Hazel’s attention had been caught by something else. While concentrating on using her powers, Hazel had sensed Stygian iron nearby. There was only one person she knew who carried Stygian iron. “Nico,” she whispered. Was he here with her too? She hoped. Setting her round face in a look of resolve, Hazel marched off down the path as she followed the pull from the metal. As she grew nearer, Hazel knew without a doubt that it was Nico. She could sense him. She was so relieved that she didn’t realize how close to him that she’d gotten. Not until she rounded the corner of a building and nearly ran smack into him. In general, Nico couldn't say he had a particularly wonderful life. Demigods got the short end of the stick to begin with, between the negligent parents and the monsters trying to snack on them whenever possible. Given that both Nico's mother and sister had died, and his father was demanding, and he drew more monsters than most due to his father being one of the Big Three, he felt he had it worse than other demigods. In the past few days, however, his life had outdone itself. He'd gone into Tartarus to look for the Doors of Death, figuring that as the Son of Hades, he had the best chance of making it through alive. He almost did, too, but just before he'd reached the Doors, he had been captured by Giants and trapped in a giant vase for days. He'd had no food or drink or even air, and just after he was rescued, he was brought to this completely strange land. All in all, he'd had much better days. But then a small figure nearly barreled into him, and when they set themselves straight, he realized who it was: his half-sister Hazel, who had been among those to rescue him. She was such a welcome sight, it was almost enough to make him forget that he was a fifteen year old boy with a dark and brooding reputation to uphold. Almost. "Hazel?" His hands were still on her shoulders, when he'd automatically reached out to steady her. His face was gaunt, his eyes shadowed by all the horrors he'd seen in Tartarus. "You got sucked in too?" “Nico!” Hazel’s face lit up in a smile as she looked up at her brother. “I knew I felt you close by! Are you okay?” He hadn’t exactly been in great shape back in Rome and tumbling through a portal into another world probably wasn’t great for one’s health either. “I just got here a little while ago. I’m so glad you’re here.” "I'm fine," Nico said, although it wasn't really true. He was still reeling from his trip to Tartarus and his capture, and now his trip through the portal. He didn't want Hazel worrying about him, though. "I just got here myself. You? Are you okay?" “Liar,” Hazel said and set her hands on her hips. He wasn’t fine, and they both knew it. “You need to sit down and rest, I’ll see if I can find something for us to eat. Come on.” She nudged him in the direction of a plaza not too far away. There was bound to be something to eat there. Despite everything that had happened, despite everything he’d gone through, Hazel’s bossy concern drew a faint smile from him. She was a lot like Bianca that way: both so young, and yet so good about taking care of him. Nico might like to play the part of the brooding loner, but he needed care and love just as much as anyone did. He would always be grateful to Hazel for providing it even if he protested. “Yes ma’am,” he responded, and slowly they headed towards the plaza. Nico was still weak from his entrapment. “Do you know if anyone else is here?” “Good,” Hazel nodded with approval and gave him a smile of her own. Nico was the only family she had and she was darn sure she was going to take care of him. She kept her pace slow and even so he wouldn’t tire himself out further as they walked down the cobblestone alley toward the plaza. “No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I saw a couple of other people at the place they stuck me in, but no one else from home.” She’d be especially glad to see Percy and Annabeth right now. Because weird as this place was, it was still better than falling into Tartarus. When they reached the plaza, she spotted a little cafe with a few outdoor tables. She led Nico over toward them to sit down. “Do you think we’re here because of our dad?” It didn’t seem too far a stretch that the children of Hades would end up sucked into a town filled with the dead and monsters. After making sure Nico was resting at the table, Hazel ventured inside the cafe to get them some food. She had a little money in her pocket. She just hoped they accepted it here. Thankfully they did, and Hazel did her best to order something from the menu that didn’t have “eye” or “tail” in the name. A few minutes later, she returned to Nico’s table with a tray of sandwiches and drinks. Nico hated feeling like such an invalid, but that was exactly what he was at the moment. Even the short walk to the plaza had worn him out, so he was grateful that he had Hazel to get food for them. Not that he was particularly hungry - he’d eaten nothing for days except those pomegranate seeds, and his stomach hadn’t realized that food was available again. He thanked her anyway when she sat back down, and made a good attempt at nibbling at his sandwich. “I don’t think it’s him,” he said, answering the question she’d asked before going for the food. “No one’s seen him in weeks, and we’re not the only ones being yanked into this place.” Nico was gaunt and pale on the best of days. But after days of being locked in a giant jar, he looked especially frail. Hazel wished she had some nectar for him. They had some for emergencies on the Argo II, which did her zero good right now. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be wanting to kill them at the moment, so she supposed good old fashioned food and rest would have to do. She took a bite of her sandwich and tried not to think too much about what was actually in it. She nudged Nico’s water glass toward him before she took a sip from her own. “I just wondered. Thought that maybe because he’s our Dad that there was something in us that pulled us here. Halloween Town.” She gave him a half smile and tore off a piece of the bun that her sandwich was on. “Did you see the man in charge?” She leaned forward to whisper. “He’s a giant skeleton.” Despite everything he'd gone through, Nico couldn't help but smile a little. Hazel was as wide-eyed and full of wonder as always, and it was like aloe on a burn. "Don't tell me you haven't seen worse," he teased. "Not when you made it all the way to the Old Lands." “Well he’s no Shrimpzilla,” Hazel commented with a wrinkled nose, “but he was definitely a shock to see.” She looked past her brother out over the plaza they had settled in. A ghost floated past them, and a trio of witches trotted by as they gabbed excitedly. “A lot of people here are. Guess we’re not so weird, after all.” Nico had to disagree with that. No matter what the guy in charge looked like, or what other creatures there were here, he would always feel weird. He didn't say that aloud, however; he didn't want to bring Hazel down. She'd already been through enough. "Apparently I'm housemates with a zombie, vampire and a ghost," he said. "You know where you're staying yet?" “The Asylum,” she answered. “It’s an old insane asylum. There are lots of spirits still haunting it. They’re talkative. I don’t know how anyone is ever going to get sleep with them hanging around all the time. But one of my housemates is a Vampire slayer. She seems nice. Where are you staying?” "Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" Nico asked, slightly teasing, because he could hardly let that go without a reference. "I'm at the Mansion. Things don't work the way they're supposed to, but..." He hesitated. He valued his privacy greatly, insofar as he could have privacy with so many housemates, but his threshold for other people in his space was raised much higher when it came to family. "If you want to get away from the ghosts, you can stay with me." “Yeah! That was her name. Buffy. Do you know her?” Nico knew a lot more than she did, and Hazel just assumed he’d managed to meet Buffy somewhere in his travels. Most pop culture references were pretty lost on her. She smiled when he offered to let her stay with him. She knew that wasn’t something he’d offer to most people, and the gesture wasn’t lost on her. “That’s real sweet of you to offer. Let me try out the Asylum, and if it’s too bad, then maybe I’ll come switch and stay with you.” Nico's eyebrows shot up. "No way. Buffy is seriously your roommate?" Or asylum-mate, to be exact, but he wasn't splitting hairs here. He'd seen that people whom he'd only known from books or movies were somehow here, but every time he encountered a new one, it was still surreal. Hazel’s own eyebrows raised. But hers was more out of slight confusion. “Yes?” For the first time since he was rescued in Rome, Nico smiled fully. "She's pretty cool," he said, and finally got around to answering her am question. "I don't know her personally; I just know of her. You know how people are being pulled in from different worlds? She's actually from a tv show." Hazel nodded slowly. After everything that she’d seen in her short life, multiple worlds really shouldn’t have been too difficult a concept to grasp. But the TV part was throwing her. If other people here were from the television, Hazel knew she wasn’t going to have any idea who they were. Hopefully it wouldn’t leave her the odd man out. She’d had enough of that in her life. “Well if you’re real good and eat some more of that sandwich, then I’ll introduce you.” She gave him a teasing smile, and took another bite of her own before stopping to think for a moment. “We should check and see if we can find any of the others too. Frank, Jason, Piper. Or maybe Leo.” Or Percy or Annabeth. Hazel was still desperately worried about her friends and chewed on her bottom lip. “No, that’s not necessary,” Nico said quickly, because he didn’t need to meet Buffy the Vampire Slayer, no matter how cool she was. At least not in his current state. He could barely keep standing for long stretches at a time. Checking for the others was much more productive. He did eat more of his sandwich, though, as hard as it was, and finally he set it back down, only half-finished. “All right, let’s go find the others.” |