Nico di Angelo | Percy Jackson (sonofhades) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2019-08-30 19:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !log, ~2019 september, ~25 points, ~~ian gallagher (orange_boy), ~~~~~nico di angelo (sonofhades) |
WHO: Nico di Angelo and Ian Gallagher
WHAT: Nico’s arrival
WHEN: This evening
WHERE: By the river
WARNINGS: Nico’s creepy?
STATUS: Started in Gdocs, will continue in comments
Shadow-travelling always took a lot out of Nico, so for a moment, reappearing in the world, he didn’t notice anything off. He bent over with his hands on his knees, fighting the exhaustion it always caused in him and struggling to catch his breath. It wasn’t until he looked up that he realized that something was very, incredibly wrong.
Instead of arriving at Camp Halfblood, he was by a river, in a place he’d never seen before. Hills rose on the opposite side - not mountains, but taller than anything on Long Island. He’d overshot - or undershot? It happened, but not that frequently anymore. He’d gotten a lot better at judging distance traveling between shadows, which was another reason this was incredibly surprising.
It was dark out, but the lamps that lit the riverwalk above him gave him more than enough light to see by. He was, after all, a child of the underworld, and traveling in darkness was kind of his thing. Even here pretty much blended into the darkness. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt with a skull design on it. On his finger was a silver skull ring, and his silver studded belt held a scabbard with a black sword that seemed to suck in all the light that dared approach it. His black boots and scraggly black hair finished the ensemble, making him look rather goth. On top of that, he had a lesser version of his father’s aura of fear, causing a cold, creepy feeling in anyone who approached him. He was used to it by now, and he’d come to even like who he was, even if other people didn’t quite know what to make of him.
Walking up the hillside to the river walk, he kept his hand casually on the hilt of his sword, as if unsure what he was about to encounter, and determined to be ready if Monsters descended upon him.
***
Ian hadn’t had time for his usual run before work, so he decided to go after work even though the sun was going down. There were plenty of lights on the river walk, and it was a nice, pretty place to run, so he headed down there after work.
He’d just finished his first mile when he saw the dark figure. There was something about it that made him a little uneasy, so Ian was on his guard as he approached the figure, although he didn’t change his path or his pace. When he was just about to pass him, Ian got a closer look, practically did a double take and quickly jogged to a stop and circled back to the young man.
“Nico? Is that you?” Ian asked as he approached.
***
Nico blinked and looked over at the redheaded guy who had addressed him. He wasn’t a demigod, he could tell that immediately. Nico didn’t know many mortals - at least not very many living ones. He tensed a little. He wasn’t the most social guy in the world and he wasn’t used to people knowing him when he didn’t know them.
He approached him cautiously, his hand not moving from his sword.
“Yeah? So?”
He sounded a little defensive, maybe, but this was weird.
***
“You’re back! That’s great.” Ian definitely found Nico creepy, but he still considered him a friend. As long as he wasn’t raising any dead critters he was pretty cool.
“It’s Ian...do you remember me?” Ian had been here long enough to know that sometimes people went home for a while and came back, and when they did sometimes they remembered their lives here and sometimes they didn’t.
***
“Back?” Nico had no idea what he was talking about. He was pretty sure he’d never been here before, and it certainly didn’t look the least bit familiar. Neither did the guy, although he was kind of cute. Way too old for Nico, but still. He couldn’t help but notice.
“I have no idea who you are. Or where I am. Or how I got here.”
He didn’t like it, either. He hated when things were out of his control. The grass began to wither and die around his feet as he started to realize that something was very, very wrong.
***
“Yeah, back. So...I guess that’s a no.” Ian ran his hand through his red hair as he often did when he was frustrated or nervous.
“Look, you’re in a town called Madison Valley. You were here before, but apparently you don’t remember. That’s not unusual here, it happens sometimes. We’re all kind of...trapped here, under this, like, dome-thing. Nobody knows exactly why or how we’re brought here, but we can’t leave.”
He took a step closer, moving slowly, not wanting to spook the kid. “We knew each other when you were here before. We were sort of friends. Sort of.” Ian had tried to make friends with the kid, but it hadn’t been easy.
***
Nico took an equal step back, not allowing Ian to get any closer than he already had. He didn’t remember the guy. What he was saying didn’t make any sense, since Nico was convinced he’d never been here before. He didn’t like the word ‘trapped’. It gave him flashbacks to being trapped in that bronze jar, which was going to give him a panic attack if he wasn’t careful.
“Who trapped us here?” He asked. “Gaea is gone. The gods aren’t in danger. Who is our enemy now?” It could be a monster. There were always monsters. But this guy wasn’t a demigod, so how would he know that? Nico was pretty sure he couldn’t see through the mist so he wouldn’t know what monsters or gods were anyway.
As his heartrate increased from his nerves, the dead patch at his feet broadened and something beneath the ground began to tremble.
***