Nico di Angelo is the (angelsbreath) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-01-08 02:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | nico di angelo, thalia grace |
WHO: Thalia Grace and Nico di Angelo
WHERE: Best Buy
WHEN: Nov 22
WHAT: A meeting of dream cousins
RATING: PG
STATUS: log; completed
The one good thing Thalia’s mother had done for her - probably at someone else’s urging - was set aside a trust fund that was completely independent of her own money. That way, no matter how much money went into booze and gold-plated toilet seats, Thalia was able to live quite comfortably herself. She had no need, then, to hang out at Best Buy, eyeing their pre-Black Friday sales. She did it anyway, though, because there was still a certain satisfaction to be had from getting a good bargain. There was also, perhaps, a lingering memory of being homeless and penniless in her dreams, so that cheap electronics was an incredible treat. She was checking out the newest Fitbits when she caught sight of a familiar face - familiar, because she had recently dreamed about him. He was much younger in her dreams, but the pointy features and shock of dark hair were quite unmistakably her dream cousin. “Hey,” she called as he passed by. “It’s Nico, right?” She herself would be recognizable even if he hadn’t gotten to the point of meeting her in dreams. His dad was a director and her mom was an actress. And Thalia herself was tabloid bait. *** Nico had only come to Best Buy so that he could start getting an idea of what to give everyone for Christmas. And to pick up a new hd cable for his television. He had taken a little detour though to look at Fitbits and other new devices. And to kill some time so that he could avoid his thoughts. He looked up in surprise when he heard his name being called and it took him a minute to put it together who it was talking to him. “Yeah. And you’re...Thalia?” It must be annoying to her that so many people knew who she was because of her mom. “Hey.” *** He certainly didn’t greet her like he recognized her beyond seeing her face on tabloids. Then again, the people on the network had probably gotten really good about hiding who they were and what they knew from people who weren’t; there would’ve been a lot more of them in the mental hospital otherwise. Thalia tilted her head and studied him for a moment, then decided to go for it. Subtlety was nobody’s friend. “Would you think I’m on drugs if I said that I’ve seen you in my dreams?” *** That question made him pause and he looked at her for a minute. “With everything else I’ve heard around here - no I wouldn’t. But then I’ve heard some pretty crazy shit happening in people’s dreams.” His best friend was a skeleton in them. And then there was Larry. And his dad’s dreams affecting him the way they had. He didn’t think anything would surprise him about the dreams anymore. *** Well, that was a relief, at least. Thalia hadn’t figured out what to do past just laying it out there. “Anything crazy happen in yours? Say, in a boarding school?” If he didn’t recognize her, it meant he wasn’t as far along in the dream timeline as she was. She just wasn’t sure where he might be, since she’d only first come to meet him at the boarding school with Bianca. *** “I haven’t dreamt anything about a boarding school. You wouldn’t happen to know Percy would you?” Percy had mentioned running into him in the dreams too and Nico had to admit that he was curious how many people might be dreaming about...him. Gods that was a weird sentence to think. *** “Yeah, I know Percy.” Thalia looked at him, puzzled. “How do you know Percy if you haven't gotten to the boarding school part yet?” She would've known if Percy had met Nico before. It wasn't as if the guy was subtle. *** “We met here through my friend Annabeth. They go to school together.” Nico said with a shrug. “She and I met when my dad was giving a speech there and I just kind of tagged along.” *** “Oooh,” Thalia said, dragging out the word over several syllables. Right - real life Percy. She’d been so caught up in dreams she lost track of the real world. Scary how easy that could be. “He tell you you’re in his dreams?” *** “He...hasn’t said anything about it yet but...I think my sister knows him in hers and I’m in them so it just kind of makes sense I’d be in Percy’s too. So far I’m just hearing about the dreams from people. That’s bad enough I think.” Nico said trying to give her a friendly smile. *** “Bianca?” Thalia guessed. As far as she knew, that was the only sister Nico had. Then again, the gods weren’t exactly the most chaste of folks. Pact or no, they could be getting it on with all sorts of people and have a bunch of kids running around. “Guess you’re not quite where we are yet.” *** “Actually....Hazel. Bianca hasn’t said anything about any Dreams the last few times we talked but then she’s going to school outside of Orange County so she might not be having any,” Nico told her. He’d only known about Hazel for a couple of years himself so there were times when people mentioned his sister and his first thought was still that they were talking about Bianca. Even if they’d never met her. *** “Hazel…” The name sounded familiar, and after a moment Thalia recalled a small, curly-haired girl who'd shown her what should have been an impossibility. “Oh! The one with the jewels. I didn't know she was your sister too.” *** “Yeah. She’s my younger sister. Half sister actually. She moved in with us when we moved here from Italy,” Nico told her, leaving out the fact that that was how he’d found out about having a little sister. *** “Surprise half-siblings. How very Hollywood of you,” Thalia remarked. Having grown up among the glitterati herself, she wasn't surprised by this revelation. What did surprise her was the time; she'd been loitering on Best Buy longer than she'd expected, and now she was going to be late for her lunch with Luke if she didn't hurry. “Hey, it was nice talking to you, but I gotta take off. Say hi to Hazel for me.” *** “Oh yeah. My life’s turned into a movie,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not that bad I guess. It just took some getting used to.” He glanced down at his watch as she mentioned she had to take off. “I’ll tell her you said hi. Maybe we’ll run into each other again sometime. When we’ve both got more time.” He said waving at her as he walked away to the games section. |