ℓεт үσυя мεмσяιεs gяσω sтяσηgεя αη∂ sтяσηgεя - Stri & Socks

Nico had never really thought about it like that. He thought he was real, he had a world that needed protecting, so therefore he was real. He was going to keep operating under the assumption that he was until the House found a way to prove it wrong. So far, it had been unsuccessful.
“You really are a philosopher,” Nico replied instead, holding off on stating that he didn’t think much about philosophy. He knew it was a big deal in Ancient Greece, but in his mind it was better to be out doing something that could tangibly improve the world rather than spending hours and hours speculating on whether humanity was good or not, or on whether you were real or not. It didn’t matter. If you functioned like all of humanity deserved better and that you were real enough to contribute to helping them, it would be better to just… do it. If you were wrong, then so what? You had devoted hours to doing something good for others, he didn’t see anything wrong with that.
“I guess… we don’t know what’s the House and what’s not. Maybe we’ll never know. But we do our best to survive rooms anyway. And I guess… I treat rooms and other people like they’re happening in my own world. Maybe that’s why they feel so real to me.”

“Oh,” Nico replied softly, shaking his head a little bit as he thought. It wasn’t often that he came into contact with House-created beings, but it was often enough that he thought he probably should have considered it. “I don’t know,” he admitted, shrugging just a little bit. He had been blinking for so long… there were so many things that he hadn’t actually considered. He knew that people had tried to mark the doors, knew that people had tried plenty of things to get out, but Nico hadn’t seen half of them, and he was certain that there were things people tried that he hadn’t even thought of. He hadn’t thought of befriending the House generated things… he thought of the turkey room, how he had been a little bit frightened of the birds before Din had showed him that they were actually rather nice. Perhaps he had befriended the turkey? Where was it now? Did it still exist?
“I guess… what I was thinking before was just… that we don’t really know what to expect from the House. But now I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever tried to consider House generated creatures as… well… real. I don’t know. I feel like… we assume we’re supposed to fight people when they turn up, but what if they can be reasoned with?”

“I guess… that makes sense. I don’t know. Real seems… relative, especially concerning the House.” Nico didn’t know how to explain what he had meant by ‘real.’ Surely the things the House created were real, but were they alive, or were they just… automatons, doing whatever it was the House bid them do? If the House were to create a ladybug and didn’t give it any express instructions, just told it to be a ladybug in a room filled with flowers, was the ladybug real? Did it have free will? Nico knew it was a complicated question… he would prefer to avoid thinking about it, if he were honest. But Myrnin was thinking about it, or something like it…
“We can follow this path?” Nico suggested, gesturing at a trail of slightly more downtrodden grass. Path was a generous term for it, but he didn’t know how else to reference it.
“Why did you go into a room alone?” Nico managed, not quite answering Myrnin’s question. He was… concerned. They may not have been close, but everyone knew that you didn’t go into rooms alone. That could only ever end poorly. Nico pointedly pushed away the memories of storming off into rooms alone himself… he didn’t need to think about that right now. This was about Myrnin, not him.

Nico knew a little something about self pity. It was warranted, sometimes, but more often than not it was a hindrance. He may not have been close with Myrnin, but he could see sone of himself in the vampire. A part of him that felt dangerous, like he couldn’t quite trust himself around the people he cared about. A part of him that deserved it every time an ally called him a traitor because of mistakes he had made in the past.
“I don’t… I don’t really know the difference between this you and the normal you,” Nico admitted after a moment, shaking his head, “But I know we were friends, and I don’t become friends with only part of a person. If I’m going to be here for you, then I’m not going to back away no matter what color your eyes are.” He knew that wasn’t the only difference, but it was the only physical indicator of it.
“The one thing we all tell newbies when they first blink in is not to try a room alone. What makes you think I would just let you try one all by yourself? I don’t remember why we’re friends, but we can’t be that close if you really think I’m selfish enough to just… let you do that!” Nico could hear his voice raising, though he couldn’t place why he was angry enough to be passionate about it being heard.
“I… I’m glad it’s a nice room, at least so far. But I am capable of making my own decisions. I chose to follow you. I’ll deal with any consequences the House doles out.”

“I’m not sure you understand,” Nico managed softly, giving a small shake of his head. “I’m not saying you have to be my friend when you’re… well, when you’re like that. Im just saying that I won’t stop being your friend in those moments, if we end up really being friends.” That still wasn’t a given, yet. He didn’t really know how to react to Myrnin… he just knew they used to be friends and he thought he wanted to understand why.
Being friends with someone in Nico’s eyes meant supporting them through everything, if they needed you. Of course, boundaries were important, it was just… if Myrnin ended up as Nico’s friend, he wasn’t going to abandon him just because Myrnin could be dangerous. Nico could be dangerous, too. He wasn’t sure how much gold eyed Myrnin would like having his soul grabbed and yanked around. Nico would do that, if it came to it. First, though, he would try to get the Myrnin he liked back.
Slowly, Nico sat down besides Myrnin. He didn’t trust the vampire, but he found he liked him more than he had expected. In his memory, Myrnin had always seemed rather childish and silly. There was depth to that, it seemed. Depth that Nico hadn’t expected.
“I’ve spent most of my life learning to protect myself from threats,” he managed after a moment, not looking away from Myrnin’s eyes. Green, for now. Green, which meant if they were going to be friends, it had to happen now before Myrnin ended up gold eyed forever.
“Besides, whether we’re friends or not, if you think I’m going to let you isolate yourself, you’re sorely mistaken. It seems like a good idea, I know it does, but maybe people can help. Maybe having friends around will just make it easier, even if it’s technically dangerous.”

Nico wanted to give friendship his best shot. He couldn’t make any guarantees – he really had no way of knowing what would endear other people to him, and most of his friendship were formed on accident rather than a purposeful ‘I’m going to be friends with you,’ but he and Myrnin were already sort of friends… technically. They were just… Nico pushed the thought away. He had no idea what to make of the situation. All he knew was that there was something he was missing, and he wanted to figure out what it was. He wanted to be friends with Myrnin. He wanted this all to make sense… and he figured the best way for that to happen would be to just… try to help Myrnin as much as he possibly could.
“Worthwhile memories,” Nico echoed, looking up at the garden. “Well… the House is certainly the place for those. Memories, at least… I don’t know if all of them are worthwhile, but they certainly are memorable.” There were a great number of rooms that Nico didn’t really consider worth it, but… he also had relationships that never could have been formed without those rooms. So maybe they were worth it, even if they were painful to remember. This room, though… it seemed nice. Nico didn’t want to believe that it could change into anything dangerous.
Nico took a few steps forward, making sure to keep pace with Myrnin in spite of his much shorter legs.
The change in scenery was interesting. If Nico were honest, it felt a lot like walking through the Labyrinth. You could enter in one climate and leave in a completely different climate. There was no way to predict it unless you knew exactly where you were going and where you were coming from.
“I guess it gives us something more to explore,” Nico commented, taking a few steps on the broken pathway. He didn’t really want to walk in the sand… he frowned, then took a seat so he could take his shoes and socks off. He had a feeling the exploration phase would be a lot more enjoyable if he didn’t have to worry about getting sand out of his shoes later.

Nico frowned a little bit, looking out across the desert.
“I hope the House decides not to kill you,” Nico commented, and there was a strange note of sincerity to his tone. He may not have known Myrnin particularly well, but he knew for certain that he didn’t want him to die. He just… he wanted to figure out what this room was, and he wanted to solve the mystery of why Myrnin thought they were close even if Nico himself didn’t remember all the reasons. There was a gap in his head – the moment they had been close, the knowledge that they were, and the fact that they had been near strangers just moments before it. He shook his head of the thought, trying to focus on Myrnin and their surroundings.
“Maybe it just wants to keep us on our feet,” he proposed, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I mean… I think anyone would be surprised to find themselves somewhere like here, and if the surroundings keep changing we’ll never get bored. And that means there’s something to do and talk about…” was the House trying to give them experiences they could bond over? It seemed nicer than the House usually was, but it had never been predictable.
“I’ve been to a desert or two before,” he added after a moment with a small shrug. “I’ve never really had to cross one. I’m… betting you haven’t? A desert seems like a death trap for a vampire.”

Nico wasn’t really sure how to react to Myrnin. He wasn’t sure how familiar to be, or if the vampire wanted him to be familiar at all. They were… sort of friends. Friends, but not. Existing in the weird in between place of ‘we should be friends, but something is missing.’ Nico wished he could make it make sense, but he couldn’t. The most he could do was charge forward and hope that this all sorted itself out the more that they spoke.
“The sun is… pretty harsh in a desert,” Nico commented, glancing over at Myrnin. “Do… vampires burn up more easily in Morganville than they would somewhere like… England, where it’s cloudier most of the time?” He wasn’t sure that was the sort of question that Myrnin wanted him to ask, but it was the first one to pop into his mind, and when he was invited to ask questions… well, sometimes he wasn’t able to stop himself. Even when some people would say that the questions were rude or inappropriate. He was just curious, and it didn’t seem like he really needed to censor himself here.

“Oh… you can?” Nico asked, brow furrowing. He didn’t actually know that – he didn’t spend enough time out in the sun to get sunburned, usually, and when he did he was usually wearing his jacket. His arms never got burned, at least. It sort of surprised him that the sun could still burn through clouds – it was an unfortunate fact for vampires, he thought. There really weren’t very many places they could exist where they weren’t in danger of being burned during the day.
“Wait… why is rain a problem?” Nico asked, tilting his head. He hadn’t ever heard of rain making things difficult for vampires, but it was possible there was a gap in his memory. Or, perhaps, he had just never heard this particular fact about vampires from Myrnin’s world. Or, the logical part of his brain piped up, it was possible that Myrnin just didn’t like rain very much. Nico himself was ambivalent about rain. Thunder was very often too loud, but the rumbling feeling of it was comforting in a way that few other things were.
“Thanks, House,” Nico breathed, attempting to keep his voice light. “I suppose I owe you one.”

Nico blinked. He hadn’t actually thought there was anything that could successfully hunt vampires except, perhaps, human beings. Humans did it out of a desire to protect themselves and their kind from being hunted themselves, but… the idea that there might be something out there that hunted just because it could? That targeted vampires? The thought sent a chill down Nico’s spine. He could understand why Myrnin and the others wanted to live somewhere without much rain, even if such a creature was extinct.
“That makes sense,” he said quietly, gently kicking at some of the sand beneath his feet. “I wouldn’t want to take that risk either, even if whatever it is doesn’t exist anymore.” It was hard to believe that a threat was truly gone unless you had actually seen its body. Something told Nico that the body of whatever this creature was had never been found. It could, in theory, still be out there.
“I’m glad you found somewhere away from it,” Nico said lightly, uncertain how to move the conversation forward. He could understand Myrnin’s hesitation to talk about something that could be a weakness. They weren’t exactly friends yet. Even if they were… if there was another vampire Nico made enemies with, he could use this information against them. Clearly, Myrnin trusted him enough to tell him this. Nico wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that information.

Nico could feel the heat, but one benefit of being a child of Hades was that he was basically his own air conditioning unit. It took more out of him than he cared to admit, but he was able to make the air around himself cold enough that walking through the desert was tolerable. He could see the ripple of heat off in the distance, and though he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to hold out for very long if he let his powers falter, he was fine, for now. He couldn’t help but hope that the House decided to change it up again, soon. He wasn’t very tolerant of heat. He was better in cold. Almost immediately Nico wished he could take the thought back. In a room like this, the House could easily be feeding from what they were thinking about. If he thought too hard about cold, it might plunge them into the North Pole or something, and the last thing Nico wanted was for either of them to freeze.
“Marriage?” Nico asked, jolted from his destructive cycle of thought. “You mean… mirage? Marriage is the wedding thing…” he trailed off, deciding to follow Myrnin’s lead. He took a small nod, heading towards the mirage. He had a hard time believing that was what the ripple was. It looked so real. It looked permanent.

“X,” Nico echoed, eyes wide as he stared at the very obviously marked spot. Treasure, or at least that’s what the connotation was on most old maps that used this sort of notation. Nico couldn’t help but wonder if there actually were any old maps that marked things in this way, or if they were just maps made for children that made it easy to find where the treasure was. It seemed awfully convenient (and far too obvious) to mark a real map like this. But this wasn’t even a map. It was just… the ground, which was even more impractical. Clearly something the House must have thought amusing.
“Sure,” Nico replied, seeing no alternative. He fell to his knees, beginning to pull away chunks of sand from the X. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to disappear as he started digging, which meant they couldn’t get off track. Whatever the House wanted them to find here, it was going to make sure they found it.
“What do you think is down here?” Nico asked, lifting his gaze to meet Myrnin’s. “I mean… do you think it’ll be worthwhile?”

Nico glanced at Myrnin, eyes narrowing at the wooden trapdoor under the floor. He didn’t trust it, but he didn’t trust most of what the House threw at them. There were so many obvious traps that he had lost track of how many he had walked right into. This? This was par for the course. Nico gave Myrnin a quick salute, then stepped in through the trap door, braced for whatever it was the House wanted to throw at him next. And so he blinked out.
-
Nico’s next blink wasn’t even a day later, but he looked a little more well rested than he had the blink before. The dark circles under his eyes, while still present, were much lighter, and there was an airiness to his step that hadn’t been there in what felt like years. He frowned a little bit as he noticed the House, but he didn’t know what it was going to throw at him. It could be anything, really… he just… wasn’t sure what he was going to do if it was Myrnin. He was still trying to figure that one out, and he hadn’t had much luck.

For good or ill, Myrnin was exactly who blinked in. Though he seemed more subdued than the last time that he'd appeared. All of this ... well, there wasn't much to focus on. It was a bit ... fuzzy. And he disliked that, because that was exactly the feeling from the last time. This was exactly ...
He found himself rubbing at his temples ass he nodded at Nico.
"How are you?" he asked. He even offered a small smile. "Have a headache, sorry."
That wasn't true though. I was like the absence of a headache. Or the absence of thought, creeping in.