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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Dec 18, 2020 8:22:39 GMT -5
Laurie exhaled when Guiney wrapped him in a hug, feeling a little more able to relax in her comforting presence. Guinevere was so warm, and kind, and caring. He hugged her back, appreciating the taller Ascendant.
Guinevere also seemed to always know what to say, as she assured him that he hadn’t done anything wrong. He wanted to believe she was right but honestly he wasn’t even sure any more. He didn’t know what he could be sure of. What had just happened felt so confusing.
Either way, he pulled away from the hug before he spoke.
”You’re probably right,” he agreed ”it just doesn’t make sense. He said he didn’t want to repeat what happened today, that he’d been too focused on me. But we could have talked about that. I know the others were mad about today but River would never break up with me just because of what someone else thinks.”
At least, Laurie didn’t think so, not based on what he knew about River. Then there was the whole thing of River not returning the ‘I love you’; was Laurie reading too much into that, or did that mean something?
He took another sip from the drink he’d retrieved - having put it down to hug Guiney - before he answered her next question.
”Depends on how you define breakup, but by most standards, yeah. This is my first breakup.” Laurie answered ”I’ve been with people, but those were always just a coup d'un soir, never serious. This was my first real relationship, with somebody I actually cared about.”
He didn’t want to burden her with his life story, but she had asked so he’d given as much information as he felt was required to explain. He’d never experienced a breakup or even a real relationship before. The most you did after a one-night stand was the ‘I’m not looking for a serious relationship right now’ or ‘it’s probably best we don’t do this again’ conversation, or even ‘last night was a mistake’ if you really regretted it. Laurie had been on both ends of those conversations before with both girls and guys, but never an actual breakup as it were.
Still, this wasn’t new. The rejection was familiar, even if it just hurt more this time. Laurie should be able to deal with it, like he always had before.
”It’s fine, I should be used to this kind of thing anyway,” Laurie commented ”maybe when we’re done talking though you could check on River, or send somebody else to. He must be hurting too.”
No matter how Laurie felt about that breakup, of course he still cared about River. He loved him, didn’t want him to be in pain or hurting. He needed somebody too. Someone to make sure he was doing okay.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Dec 18, 2020 8:43:57 GMT -5
Dillon wasn’t entirely sure that he believed Enzo when he said he was okay and that he didn’t need any help. The British boy was pretty sure he was better at reading body language signals than that.
”Are you sure?” he asked, before correcting himself ”I mean, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, I just... I know today was hard and I’m here if you need to talk.”
What was it about Lorenzo that always made Dillon trip over his words like that? He had a tendency to ramble a little when he got nervous and things, and even though Lorenzo was literally the least anxiety-inducing individual on the planet somehow he still made Dillon lose all ability to function like a normal human.
When Enzo brought up the meeting and asked if Dillon would be okay, the champion of Hera raised a hand to the back of his neck and sighed lightly.
”I did a bad thing,” he admitted ”the meeting... we discussed the events of today’s fight. In the end we - I - voted that River and Laurie should break up to prevent more of the kind of favouritism we saw from River today. I thought I was making the right choice, protecting the group because River can’t control his impulse to protect Laurie and what happened in that last battle could easily happen again. I just wanted to know that we could trust him.”
He didn’t even know why he was trying to justify it. He felt so guilty about what had ended up happening. He hadn’t even necessarily wanted it to go as far as a breakup, though he had thought that a break from their relationship might have been a good solution.
Still, trust was everything to him. Trust and loyalty. That was why Laurie and River’s relationship had been dangerous. It potentially threatened those things.
”I think all I’ve done is hurt both River and Laurie.” he said, a feeling of nausea rising within him.
He didn’t know if there was truly a right solution to the issue. It wasn’t fair to break River and Laurie up, but what had happened that day to Jason and Lucien wasn’t fair on any level.
Sure, River had said Jason had handled himself well and the leaders didn’t give him enough credit. But Jason was also now blind since that mission. Sure, Lucien claimed he didn’t care about what River had done. But he would have died alone on that battlefield without anyone even noticing if Cleo hadn’t stepped in.
Still, Dillon couldn’t help but wonder if some part of him had voted to break up the couple out of bitterness. Jealousy that River and Laurie had been able to be together and be so happy when Dillon had been forced to be in the closet for so long at home. That maybe made him sound like an awful person, but in some small way it might be the truth.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Dec 18, 2020 14:11:04 GMT -5
Guinevere hugged him a bit tighter, trying to pour as much comfort as she could for the boy into the action. He needed it, and she doubted he got comfort like this often.
"Some people do unprecedented things under pressure, Laurie." She whispered, as if the words would break him. Maybe they would, "Sometimes we don't recognize what they become. We never expect those we love to break," the love we have to break, "But sometimes the pressure can crack them."
But maybe River decided enough was enough. Guinevere saw how he acted that first week, closed off. Maybe he was closing himself off again. She didn't really know.
When he explained his experience with break-ups, or well...lack of them, she chuckled ever so softly. "Break-ups hurt like a bitch, don't they?" She had tons herself, either with lovers, close friends, or even family. A break-up wasn't selective to just romance, she had tons of falling-outs with friends, and even with her family and the disownment.
"The first one hurts, I won't say worse than others. Aphrodite's taught me a bit about love, but even she had her failings." The god scoffed at the comment, but Guinevere had a point. Aphrodite had her share of affairs. "But it's a pain you might not know, and I'm sorry I can't make it better."
Nothing ever made it better, did it? It hurt. It would continue to hurt for much too long. But Guinevere couldn't fix it for him. She could be there to offer comfort.
Didn't make her feel any better when he said he should be used to it, her adamant defense building up, "No, you shouldn't be used to it, Laurie. That's not right. I-have you tried to talk to him about this?"
He suggested her talking to River, but she shook her head. "I'm sure I saw Echo heading that way, right now I'm worried about you, Laurie."
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Dec 18, 2020 14:32:29 GMT -5
Lorenzo couldn't help the smile on his face, nodding once. "Like I said," he looked almost bashful for a moment, "I'm feeling better now. I just feel bad for not doing more to help," he trailed off, looking away from Dillon.
Lorenzo cupped both hands around his glass, looking at his rippling reflection in the water, the slight dip to his smile. The gentle rock in the water reminded him of rocks falling, Earth slipping underfoot, and he looked over the cup, back at Dillon.
Which, Dillon could be strangely endearing with those habits of his. Rubbing at his neck, Enzo picked up on that nervous habit. Dillon was stressed, so he tuned carefully into the words, careful dark eyes trained on his friend.
He couldn't fight the wince on his face when Dillon admitted what the decision had been. So that's why so many people had been missing that day. He bit his lip for a moment, tapping fingers on the glass for a moment. "I understand why you guys voted like that," he didn't agree though. But he wasn't a leader, and he wanted to comfort Dillon, "You guys want to make sure he'll do what's best for everyone, not just Laurie, right?"
But what did that mean then? Did Dillon view him like everyone else. Cleo surely saw kids as expendable...was Lorenzo expendable to Dillon? That's why they broke the two up, River and Laurie, right? Because Laurie wasn't as expendable to River as the others were.
"But-" his voice was smaller, stepping away from Dillon for a moment, as if being close to someone scared him (it kind of did, to be fair). "I think you guys should have given him another chance. Let him talk it out with Laurie, or separated them on missions or-something." The thought of either boy hurting was uncomfortable to think about. And try as he might, Enzo was disappointed in Dillon for that.
But Enzo wasn't a leader, and he had no right to judge him. Dillon might not know what it was like being in love, the extent you'd go to protect that special person. Or maybe he had been before, and that's why he made that choice.
Who was Enzo to judge? He might not pick that choice for others, but he held his own heart under a lock and key. So he spoke softly again, "And you weren't the only person who chose that," he couldn't be, obviously, the majority of leaders had to decide that, "You did what you thought was best, and I trust you, Dillon."
And he did. If Dillon thought it was for the best, maybe it was. Romantic love was messy as it was. Maybe it was better to leave it out.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Dec 18, 2020 14:55:12 GMT -5
Echo was looking for River and Laurie, expecting to see them cuddling somewhere, complaining about the other leaders. The thought made her smile a bit, giggling slightly as she stepped into the hall turning to River's room.
She paused, mouth falling open as she spotted Laurie running out, looking much too upset to be okay. It caused her heart to sink slightly, and she ran forward, debating running after.
The door was closing to River's room, so she pushed herself in there instead, wide eyes focusing on River who looked absolutely heartbroken.
"River?" She croaked out, voice sounding foreign to her, like it so often did. She looked at the door for a moment, as if Laurie was still there, before looking back at River. She opened her mouth, searching for words.
She settled on "Are you okay?" and immediately winced, because he wasn't and that was obvious.
Regardless, she waited for the answer, wavering by the door with worried doe-like eyes. She hated seeing her friends in pain, especially River.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Dec 18, 2020 16:40:55 GMT -5
"Ow..."
Jason was too tired to fumble his way to his room and rest. Even if his room was closer than the library was and his friends would have helped him. He just didn't want to be alone in a dark room made even colder by his blindness. He'd rather be surrounded by something familiar. So the Library it was.
And, granted, he had gotten pretty good at navigating the house while blind. If there was no way to reverse the curse then might as well figure out a way to live with it. He was almost walking at a normal speed now, as if he weren't blind. Although, as he ran into the corner of a table with his hip, he realized he still had work to do.
Jason heard the shuffling of book pages and quiet breathing. He approached the person slowly. His hands slightly outstretched to guide his direction and so that he wouldn't hurt himself again. "Chiara i'm guessing," Jason guessed raising an eyebrow and making his way to a chair across from her. "No one else really uses the library like we do."
Once he was settled, he ran his hand over some of the books on the table. He recognized some of the textures and was able to figure out which book it was. But that was only with 2 or 3 of the books. Information on Egyptian gods, Mythological monsters, and what might have been The Illiad.
"What are you reading?" he asked inclining his head toward her and the book directly in front of her.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Dec 18, 2020 17:06:43 GMT -5
River regretted every word, every sentence, every lie that came out of his mouth. Hated how he was making Laurie feel. Hated the look in his boyfriend- ex-boyfriend's eyes. Pain and betrayal. his throat closed as he forced himself to keep his stony expression. Telling himself that it was for Laurie's own protection and everyone else's too.
You're disgusting, River.
"I don't understand,"
Please don't make me explain. I won't be able to do it.
"I would never want to get in the way of-"
No, no you could never. You're now one of the only people that has made me thing happy in a long time.
"I think you and I took very different messages away from that fight."
And then it hit him. Like he was back in those underground fights and was throwing another fight. Getting punched in the head over and over and over again.
He said that he loved him on the battlefield. And now River was here breaking up with him. Breaking his heart because everyone was mad at him.
I'm disgusting.
"Laur-" River called after the boy as he went running out of his room. He heard his voice crack and a wobble in his step as he reached for him. But, he was too slow and too late. Laurie was gone. Out the door and running off.
I'm sorry...
River just stood there, tears starting to run down his face again. Everything felt too tight. Everything hurt and he couldn't think. He wrapped his arms around himself and wished he could take everything back. Run to Laurie and beg for his forgiveness. But, he couldn't and he could only comfort himself.
River looked up when Echo spoke looking worried. The sweet kid actually said something. If he weren't in so much pain, he would have wrapped her in a hug and eased her worries. But, instead, his brows furrowed and his lips thinned into a line.
"Yeah, kid..." He managed in a sharp tone. He didn't mean to be harsh. He didn't want it to come out that way, but he couldn't stop himself. "I'm fine."
But even still he was only able to sink to the floor, a complete mess and his emotions finally taking over. He curled into himself and covered his head, quietly sobbing to himself. He was such a f*ckup. He was a terrible person. He didn't deserve any of what he had right now. He had taken love and thrown it to the side for his own personal gain.
Just like your parents...
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Dec 18, 2020 19:27:24 GMT -5
Laurie didn’t have a response for Guinevere’s words about River possibly cracking under the pressure. Laurie supposed she could be right. River might have been forced by the guilt he was feeling. It hurt that River would value Laurie below his role as a leader, but he supposed it was fair enough, in a way. River had a role in the group, things that were expected of him. It hurt and it didn’t feel fair that Laurie was less important than that to River, but Laurie also knew the two of them hadn’t even been dating for that long. It would be too much to ask to expect River to jeopardise his leadership position for his sake.
Didn’t take the pain away, though.
”Like the biggest bitch there ever was,” Laurie agreed with another swig of his drink.
Yeah, this breakup wasn’t going to be easy to get through. Not least because it wasn’t exactly easy for the two of them to avoid one another given that they lived in the same building and everything. How were either of them supposed to deal with that? Maybe it had been a stupid idea to date another Ascendant, though he failed to see how dating a non-Ascendant would have ended much better, frankly.
When Guiney apologised for not being able to fix it, Laurie’s mouth twitched into a slight smile. Typical of Guinevere to want to protect and help everyone. Typical of her to want to take his pain away and make it better. She was probably one of the nicest Ascendants, for sure.
”You don’t have to make it better,” he said gently, earnestly.
She was supporting and comforting him, and what was all he needed. Besides, he didn’t think anything or anybody could make this one feel better. Only time could do that. Time, and maybe some distance from River.
He scoffed a little when she asked if he’d talked to River about it.
”It wouldn’t make a difference, Guiney. All it would do is make him feel guilty and it wouldn’t change anything about the reasons we broke up. No, best to just leave it now rather than make things worse.”
For both his sake, and also River’s. River had done the breakup quickly, like ripping the bandaid off. Clearly it wasn’t something he wanted to dwell on or have a lot of conversation about. It would be too painful, he supposed. Laurie intended to respect that.
He was glad to hear that Echo was going to talk to River; he didn’t want River to have to suffer either. Just because he’d been the one to break up with Laurie didn’t mean it wasn’t difficult for him.
When Guiney said she was more concerned about Laurie right now, he offered her a slightly bigger smile this time.
”Thank you for all of this, I really do appreciate it. You just being here for me really means a lot.” he answered
And it did. He’d needed somebody right then, to tell him he wasn’t damaged. To tell him that he hadn’t done anything wrong.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Dec 19, 2020 5:30:01 GMT -5
Dillon couldn’t help but smile a little when Lorenzo expressed concern that he hadn’t done enough to help after the fight.
”Only you could come out of a fight injured and be worried they hadn’t done enough to help,” Dillon pointed out ”it’s sweet.”
Lorenzo was sweet, Dillon thought to himself. And warm and generous and good-hearted. It was like if gingerbread became a person or something. Or a cartoon character became came to life.
”You did more than enough, Enzo.” Dillon assured him
Hell, he’d done more than Dillon had. The Hera champion did the best he could to help after fights but hadn’t actually been in one yet. He needed to figure out his powers, so that at least he knew what he was getting into. So that other people knew what they were getting if he was by their side in a battle.
He hated that he had to think about this. They were just kids, shouldn’t have to think about fights or life and death. If they didn’t, River wouldn’t have had to break up with Laurie.
”Right,” Dillon agreed with a heavy sigh at Enzo’s first words on their voting ”everyone in this group is special and important, and I wanted to make sure they’re all protected. None of us really know one another that well, we’re essentially trusting strangers with our lives. We can’t afford to jeopardise that trust even slightly or the whole thing falls apart. Though I think it did today anyway.”
There were rifts in the group now. The debate had divided the leaders, alienating the two youngest members who already didn’t feel listened to enough anyway. Not to mention the fact that both Luka and Lucien now probably had personal beef with Cleo after some of the things that had been said in that meeting.
He nodded, though, at Lorenzo’s next words about what they could have done instead, hand now moving to his forehead. He was right, Dillon knew he was.
”I know. Ugh, Enzo it was such a mess. Everyone was angry, insulting people. We could have done so much better.” Dillon knew that much. The group could have handled this so much better with just a little more thought and a little less yelling. They needed more people like Lorenzo, who didn’t see things quite so black and white.
When the champion of Helios said he trusted him, Dillon looked at him with slight surprise.
”Thank you,” he said earnestly, before adding ”though honestly perhaps it’s best you don’t. What the hell do I know about any of this anyway?”
Dillon had never really gotten the chance to properly fall in love. He’d fallen for someone, sure, but that had never been able to develop into anything.
Still, he wanted to move away from that topic now. It was too depressing to keep talking about it anyway.
”That’s enough about me, what about you?” Dillon asked ”what’re you doing still up?”
Changing the subject was probably best - what was done was done. And anyway, Dillon was far more worried about Lorenzo right now.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Dec 19, 2020 6:15:37 GMT -5
Chiara had heard footsteps, her enhanced senses picking up on the sound long before the individual in question became visible. She could also tell, by the slight unevenness of the step - and what sounded like the person colliding briefly with something - that it was the blind Jason.
He was actually not doing bad now at navigating the house while blind, and far be it for Chiara to try and undermine the independence he was developing. She was sure he’d prefer not to have her rushing to help him, and certainly he wouldn’t want pity.
He soon appeared at the doorway, guessing that it was Chiara in the room, since they were the only two who really used the library.
”You’d be guessing right,” she responded ”Hey, Jason.”
She watched him settle himself and examine the books, intrigued to see what might have been recognition in his expression. He knew the books in this library so well that he could identify some of them by feel alone.
He asked what she was reading, nodding towards the book in her hands, and Chiara’s gaze flicked to the page briefly before back to Jason.
”The Odyssey,” she answered, even turning the book towards Jason.
She knew he couldn’t read it, per se, but he could feel the pages if he wished to or handle the book. At that moment, Chiara mused that it might be worth seeing if Jason could learn Braille. Then perhaps the library could get some Braille books that Jason could read while he was blind. Granted, he wasn’t blind all the time, but he shouldn’t be unable to access the books that he enjoyed so much while he was blind. At the very least they could get some audiobooks, everybody would love those.
”I’m trying to find out more about this champion of Styx,” Chiara explained, before seeming to remember something “Strangest thing, I thought we had two copies, but one of them seems to be missing.”
She knew Jason hadn’t taken it, so she was confused. The others barely used the library at all, and she was surprised that one of them might have borrowed one of the books. For the life of her she couldn’t think who it might be.
Anyway, that was besides the point, because she had information to share.
”Turns out that the gods swear their most sacred oaths on the waters of the Styx. That might explain her weird powers, the ones Griffin, Theo, Lane and Seely talked about. Maybe the fact that she doesn’t respond to attacks the same way we do is something to do with the river’s powers to grant immortality.”
She wasn’t necessarily saying Styx was immortal - though she couldn’t rule it out based on the evidence - but she certainly seemed to be less bothered by injuries, pain and attacks.
Anyway, that was enough of the research she’d been doing, she wanted to know how Jason was doing. It couldn’t exactly be easy for him going blind periodically and she wasn’t so selfish as to keep going on about her own stuff when he clearly wasn’t doing so hot.
”Anyway, how’re you doing? Obviously the fight was a bit of a disaster.” the girl said
That was the understatement of the century, for sure. Barely anyone had come out of the battle uninjured and everybody had been extremely quiet after that leaders’ meeting. That didn’t exactly sound like a successful fight in Chiara’s opinion.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Dec 19, 2020 16:43:25 GMT -5
Echo's gaze lingered on the door when River spoke up, the sharp tone causing her to wince slightly. Though, she became accustomed to it, he was upset, and people lashed out when they got upset.
She looked back at him, eyes narrowing. "You're lying," she accused softly It was obvious he wasn't fine, he was crying for...well the phrase for crying out loud felt a little cruel in this moment. She kept speaking, some part of her fear of speaking vanishing under the weight of his heartache.
Help, that was the instinct. She had to help him. He sunk to the floor, and she say by him, wavering voice slightly stronger as she placed a hand on his back, tearing up a bit herself, seeing the strongest person she knew so hurt. "River, what happened?" she asked softly.
She couldn't help if he didn't open up to her. But from what she saw of Laurie running out, she had a horrible sinking feeling about what went down.
And she hated it.
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Post by Nariku The Avaricious on Dec 20, 2020 13:44:00 GMT -5
“You can prove them wrong, yeah?” Theo replied to Luka’s statement about how people expected the worst from her, tilting his head to the side as she spoke. For a moment, he couldn’t really see how something like that could be completely bad. People would be more impressed if she managed to prove people wrong about it. Though, for a moment he was reminded about the many times people mistook his confidence (or what he thought was confidence) as arrogance. Did he want to prove people wrong for assuming he was arrogant when they made that assumption in the first place?
“Though, I’m guessing you don’t want it to come as a surprise to people, right? That you’re a human being?” he soon replied after his moment to process. She probably didn’t want people to assume the worst of her just so she had to put work in to prove them wrong.
He stared at Luka when she mentioned she also hid stuff about herself from the others, giving her a little nod in response, “Yeah. Sometimes telling the truth about things causes more harm than good from what I’ve seen. In this situation, maybe a clean slate is what we all need.” It’s how he saw it anyway. Being truthful about what he felt always felt wrong to him, like he was admitting that he wasn’t doing as well as he wanted. Not to mention people usually weren’t so kind to his personal problems.
Nor were they so forgiving about past mistakes. He knew he wasn’t as forgiving as most people were. He didn’t need to know what Luka was hiding in her past. If she didn’t want to talk about it or let it impact how people looked at her, it wasn’t in his place to pry about such stuff.
Nodding along to what Luka said, Theo couldn’t help but spit out a loud laugh at the Pork Chop statement regarding his dad. He didn’t know what it meant exactly, and it probably wasn’t as funny as he thought, but the imagery of his father’s face being replaced by a porkchop was too funny to him. “Sounds about right” the young man mused when she mentioned the ‘sh*tty parents’ club. At that point, it seemed par for the course that many of the kids there would have garbage parents. Though, he couldn’t say he had it worse than many of them.
“Raluca sounds like you growling at someone,” Theo replied, tilting his head to the side as the younger girl talked about her name, “Luka seems more fitting anyway.” He was a little surprised at her deciding to go with calling him ‘Theo’ instead of the ‘Theodore’ she had been using, though he was fine with the change.
“Theo is fine, yeah.” He stated, “feels weird to have someone younger than me saying ‘Theodore’. It sounds like I’m getting in trouble for something.” He wasn’t lying about that, since it felt like people only used his full name if they wanted to yell at him about something.
Though, he eventually could feel the grip of sleep grabbing at him. He let out a long yawn, and his eyes started to hurt from not getting enough sleep. “Why does it have to be so early,” he muttered under his breath, wiping his face with his blanket as he sagged a bit on the couch.
“Did you, like, get any sleep tonight?” Theo asked, remembering that Luka seemed to be awake for a decent amount of time before he’d even arrived. She was looking at those reports, though he wondered why she couldn’t do them during the day. Maybe it had to do with her background, like she’d been implying, though it didn’t seem like something she needed to stay awake for.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Dec 22, 2020 16:00:26 GMT -5
"Maybe," Luka agreed, shrugging off the comment as if it hadn't bothered her, "But I shouldn't have to."
That grumpiness hadn't left, and while she spouted insults and sarcastic retorts still, most of them were with an angry, hopeless undercurrent. There was a constant stinging by the tattoo on her wrist, a reminder of the fact that she was a snake. Snake, snake, snake. A constant burning signifying that she now had no control in that part of her fate.
It wasn't that she didn't like snakes, but she didn't like the connotation in which people referred to her as one. They didn't see the cute little ring snakes who loved gentle pats on the head, they saw a dangerous venomous creature waiting to hunt and kill. And like poison, that stung under her skin, creating a dizzying feeling of nausea that wouldn't go away.
"I'm not human, not anymore," But maybe that wasn't so bad. "People are stupid anyways, I'd much rather be...whatever I am right now than some pitiful excuse for a person in the middle of Australia."
She grinned at the words, a clean slate, that's what this was. Cleo was stuck up in their past, but the others? They weren't contained to that stupidity, that prejudice. This was a new beginning, something to finally believe in. A spark, a flame, a light. They might be pawns, but at least they were on the game board, how many kids were out there, still forgotten?
She snorted at his laugh then, dissolving into small chuckles of her own, and that burning, horrid feeling started to pull back a little. Glancing at her friend, she cupped her hands in the air, a small flicker of flame building, allowing her to pull forward a bit. Suspending the small flame ton a nearby candle, she quickly scooped up the papers on the table, placing them into a bag she had with her, before zipping it up. She leaned back afterward, yawning once more.
"Oye, mate, let's remember whose the authority figure here," A joke, obviously. It did seem weird that Theodore was older than her, most of them were, and yet Luka was still a leader to them. Lucien and her probably didn't get as much respect due to being younger, but she'd joke about it from time to time. She still pointed at him, "And you owe me like, pancakes or something."
The question caused her to pause in her movements, her finger curling back into her palm as she balled it up a little, thinking back a little, before a quiet, "No," escaped her. "Can't sleep well, too many thoughts in my head," she admitted, snorting, "It's like my mind has a race with Lane at nights."
A few moments of silence brought her to closing her eyes, a calm silence roaring in her ears. But not uncomfortable, like it often was before. It was filled with smiles, grins, and singing horrid songs in the dead of night. Lucien's soft singing and guitar playing, wafting through the Pantheon, Kaz's laughter when someone would crack a joke, a feeling of warmth and contentedness, which brought a soft smile to her face.
Sanna, on that night, on fire. Laurie's drunken whisper about River, and River's soft returning glances. Cleo, Irene, Naida, Dillon...they couldn't stop that.
"You say ‘no one is allowed to die’, but that’s clearly not a promise someone can keep..." He had said earlier.
Eyes closed, she hummed for a moment. "I won't allow you to die," she commented, "Friends protect each other, Theo, if I'm not going to kill you, no one will. So you're not allowed to die." Because if Loki was destined to kill Baldr, they were going to defy that fate. Theo wouldn't die, not on Luka's watch. No one would.
"Your not Baldr," she added, "And you're not your dad." her eyes drooped, sleepily glancing at him, before curling onto her side, "You're Theo, and that's what matters."
And she was Luka, and that's what mattered to. That's why she was leader, because she was a tiny asshole, sure, but she was reckless, sometimes stupid, mischievous, but she was more than some snake.
Eyes closing again, her body morphed quickly, shrinking down. It hurt, she doubted it ever wouldn't hurt, but it didn't feel like venom. It was warmth, and soft. When she was just a ball of fluff, the pain subsided, like the sting of a bee under her skin, the shifting of bones halting. Shaky, tired, and exhausted.
The ball of fluff on the blanket stood blearily, yawning with a small snap of a jaw. Then the fluffy creature looked at Theodore, jumping up to sit on his leg, pawing at the blanket with a soft but insistent meow.
"Go to sleep, asshole," She commented, tiredly, claws extended as she walked in a full circle, before collapsing down, nose shoved into the blanket, grumbling, "And never speak of this again." a pause, "Or I'm hiding mistletoe in your room."Hiss hiss g'day mate has become a furry:
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Dec 26, 2020 15:21:10 GMT -5
Jason nodded as Chiara spoke. Listened to her explanation on Styx and why she might function the way that she does. All of it made sense to a point. And learning about the enemy right now was probably the best plan they had in a while.
He leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms his head angled down. His face stiffened and his body stilled. "I'll be fine," he said curtly. He took a breath and let it out, trying to control his tone. "I got out better than some of the others. I don't want to talk about it really... nothing good came from that fight," He explained a little painfully.
Yes, he was still sore and his body hurt but it wasn't life-threatening. Pascal and Lucien had seen to that. But, the others... they got out with just their lives. They were just kids. Sad, hopeless kids who would never be missed by their families. And they were fighting for their lives.
His mind brought it up so often it was hard not to think about every moment.
Pushing the thought from his mind, Jason leaned forward again, reached out, and touched the book that Chiara was reading gently. His head was inclined towards Chiara but his eyes didn't meet her's. They simply couldn't physically.
"Let me help instead. I wanna distract myself," Jason insisted. His expression was serious and tired. He was exhausted but couldn't feel himself falling asleep anytime soon. Especially, not in his room. If he was going to be here in this house with these other powered beings then he was going to earn his place beside them.
"Can you read to me? Two minds might work better than one."
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Dec 26, 2020 18:46:31 GMT -5
Chiara understood Jason’s reaction to her question about whether he was okay. Of course he wouldn’t want to talk about the fight. Some people had come away from it seriously hurt. Without Pascal’s help, who knew what might have happened to some of them?
”Hey, if you don’t want to talk about it that suits me just fine.” Chiara responded with a shrug, even though she knew Jason couldn’t see it ”I’m not particularly good at the whole talking thing.”
Not with the comforting side of it, anyway. Chiara could debate and talk in that sense forever, but she wasn’t particularly skilled at helping people feel better.
She did care, though, and that was why she decided to do what she knew she would be better at and focus on studying these books with Jason instead.
When Jason reached out for the book and expressed a desire to help, she moved it closer to him so he could touch the pages as much as he wanted to. She didn’t know exactly what Jason needed but she knew he did, so she would listen to him on that. She wouldn’t question his desire to stay and help.
He asked her to read, which brought a light smile to Chiara’s lips. It reminded her of when she was young and her mother had always read to her, every single night.
“Sure,” Chiara agreed, leaning forward a little to see the words on the page better ”I’m at the part where Odysseus and his men are trying to escape the cyclops Polyphemus.”
She cleared her throat a little, finding her place on the page
”As soon as rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, Cyclops relit the fire. Then he milked the ewes, and bleating goats in order, putting her young to each. When he had busied himself at his tasks, he again...”
And that was it. A welcome distraction for both she and Jason as she read the story, weaving the poet’s words into a story as best she could with the aid of the author’s translation.
It felt right, anyway. These kind of epic poems were meant for the spoken word. She couldn’t speak Ancient Greek, unfortunately, and her guide knew Old Norse but could not help her with the original language. Still, the English version hopefully had some semblance of the atmosphere of the Greek.
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Post by Lioncl on Dec 28, 2020 15:59:15 GMT -5
Daniel gave Lane a small smile "I gotta kick myself about it every now and again to try and help remind myself that I'm not that person. Though I guess it does tend to backfire sometimes. It's just not something that I can or really want to easily let go of, you know?"
The small smile widened as Lane kept talking. "You can stop complimenting me already, you're gonna make me blush at this rate. I get you think I'm a decent person but I don't think I will ever be as kind and as you are everyday. Just you being you puts a smile on everyone's faces. But I'm glad that I can be of some help to you after everything you've done for me. And I promise I'll keep being your anchor for as long as you'll let me" he said
Daniel once again heard the loud booming laughter of Sobek in his head. It seemed like the god was enjoying watching Daniel in this situation.
As soon as Daniel noticed that Lane was hesitating to tell him, he knew he had brought up a tough topic which was confirmed moments later. He listened to her tell him the reason why she stayed on the street in silence and waited until she was done talking to finally speak. "I'm sorry for your loss. I can't begin to imagine how tough it was to lose them. I'm glad you chose not to go into the shit-show that is the foster system though. I didn't exactly have some good experiences in it and I would have hated it if you had to go through even a little of what I did. But I'm glad it all worked out for you in the end."
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Dec 31, 2020 2:16:36 GMT -5
Cleo had adjusted to this new place, a strange one, it was. It had only been a total of three days, and yet they had gained some status as a leader among this group of misfits.
It was odd, in so many forms. The other leaders were interesting, and Cleo felt they had a good judge of character. Naida was secretive, she seemed smart, but part of Cleo had issues in trusting her. She seemed so closed off, though everyone had their secrets.
Dillon was very sweet, and Cleo found they didn’t hate being in his company. He seemed kind, checking on others. Another good pick for a leader.
Irene and the unnamed anger boy were interesting. Very aggressive, in their opinion. Irene seemed more focused on justice and truth, however, while the unnamed boy just seemed aggressive and overly protective of the poor girl who seemed mute.
Cleo chose not to give the girl, Echo, too much attention. The poor girl got so much as it was, no wonder she was always so scared.
Then there was Lucien, who Cleo had no respect for. He was rude, disrespectful, a trouble-maker, and the absolute furthest thing from a leader.
Luka was another young kid, and it confused Cleo to no end on how 2 children got leadership status. Two of the youngest in the Pantheon, and they had been voted in. Though for what it was worth, Luka seemed to be a bit of a jokester, a bit of an asshole, but not an overall vile person.
In actuality, everyone of the leaders would do fine with a little work. Cleo was sure of it. Lucien and Luka could grow up a bit, learn to prioritize others, and everyone could grow out of the awkwardness.
They had finally been accepted, they realized, as they sipped a bit of water at the dinner table, ruminating in their thoughts. The thought almost made them smile.
Perhaps, with time, this place could feel like home.
—
It had only been a week and a day. Sleep was a stranger, as of now, beyond all the stress of their situation. The injuries people faced. Just yesterday, the paradise turned into a nightmare. Cleo was one of the lucky few who were spared.
One of the few who took the situation in stride.
Inside they were cracking under the pressure. The guidance people looked to them for. The worried eyes, the voices asking for what to do. The fact that they were Ma’at’s chosen made them a target for such requests.
People thought they knew what to do, the right steps, all because they knew the truth. People relied on them, and it seemed like they relied on Cleo’s opinions more than the others.
It seemed understandable, almost. Naida was so mysterious and reserved, Dillon could be much too kind, too scared to hurt feelings. River was so aggressive and set in his way. Irene was also aggressive, and it seemed to quick to react to bad situations. Lucien was young, and also aggressive. Luka was young and treated everything like a joke.
Cleo had their faults, they knew that. Though one would be incorrect to assume they didn’t think things through. They weren’t entirely apathetic, but in a situation of life or death, one couldn’t afford to make mistakes.
It had been an accident, stumbling upon an article about a famous singer’s lost son. The man was building up some pity story, fans sharing media about the man. Cleo recognized him, some of the features. It’s not like they purposely looked up into Lucien’s past. Like they were trying to do some background check on him.
It just happened to be trending. Like many of the missing kids, and snippets of their stories or theories on what happened to them. When they spotted their own name among it all, they felt sick, closing out of their browser with a nervous bought of fidgeting.
Lucien’s anger did make sense, to a degree. Though Cleo couldn’t forgive River for making an enemy of the boy. They couldn’t forgive anyone for making him leader. A kid Lucien’s age should be in high school, harassing their friends or teachers with pranks or whatever. A kid Luka’s age should be taking stressful exams and writing papers, laughing at friends, not risking their lives to lead a bunch of failures.
And yes, failures, that’s what they were. People who wouldn’t be missed if they died. Cleo did some research on that too, spoke to Ma’at some. About the first wave, the failed ones. Pestering their guide about the exiles seemed to work slightly, but they didn’t get a lot of information. Just a snippet that they weren’t the first, and probably wouldn’t be the last.
They still didn’t know how to feel about some of the kids. They didn’t like Laurie, he was too much of an idiot and drunkard for their tastes, which River seemed to absolutely love. Irene was a bit annoying with her aggressive demeanor, but she was capable. Lucien was annoying, and that was literally all they could reflect on most of the time.
Dillon seemed so nice it had to be fake. Naida was secretive, mysterious, and seemed like she had dark secrets, rather than just being shy. Like she was hiding.
They didn’t know what to think of Luka, so they felt pretty much the same about her as they did about Lucien. Just another annoying kid. They had thought, anyways.
Sure, they never quite trusted her. It seemed strange that the champion of Loki was selected as a leader, given his whole chaos and disorder spiel. But overall, other than being absolutely horrible in general, Luka wasn’t too terrible. Better than Lucien, in many respects, at least in the fact that she didn’t attack everything that moved.
Though, they should have seen it when Luka came back with Chiara, not looking scared or worried for the other girl, but quite frankly looking annoyed.
They didn’t get the chance to think anything else over about the fights the day prior, as someone was already pushing past them to get into the kitchen. As they turned, the spotted the tired girl standing on her tiptoes to reach a cabinet, which was still out of her reach.
“How are you so short?” They questioned, aghast really, because she was so tiny in comparison to them. They got a glare, and before they could offer help, Luka deadass climbed onto the counter to reach her cabinet, pulling out a box of cheddar crisps before hopping off like the terror of a child she was.
“‘M not short,” Luka retorted, groggily, shoving the crisps into her mouth as she glared at Cleo, “What ‘re you doin’ ‘wake?”
A staring contest ensued, with Cleo completely confused at what Luka had been attempting to say. Eventually they caught the general gist, blinking owlishly a few times, “It’s literally 7am, Luka.”
“Oh.” Cleo could hear the small girl take a deep breath, a few seconds passing, before finally Luka continued, “That’s gross.”
She popped more crisps into her mouth, much to Cleo’s raised eyebrow. “No, it’s really not. It’s like, a normal time for people to be awake. It’s literally when people should wake up.”
“Maybe insane people,” Cleo took it all back, Luka could be very annoying, “‘M not insane. I have standards, and my standards are not waking up at 7 in the morning like a deadass f*cking lunatic.”
“Luka,” Cleo took a deep breath, focusing themselves, “You are literally awake.”
She didn’t look impressed, so they continued, sputtering slightly, “Have you even been to sleep? You’re a child, Luka, you need sleep.”
“Don’t tell me what I need.” Luka completely ignored the question, instead eating more crisps, stubbornly holding eye contact for a moment. “Not a child either, don’t call me one, dipshit.”
They paused for a moment, rolling their eyes, “Why is like, the every second word you say either a curse, insult, or both?”
“I’m Australian,” Luka replied, as if it was a proper response, raising both eyebrows in an almost comical fashion, “What the f*ck kind of question is that?”
Cleo rubbed at their eyes. An exhausted appearance on their face for a moment, before deciding to press into matters. “Whatever,” they responded, shrugging, “What, are you worried about Chiara or something?”
“Pfft,” Luka snorted, appearing nonchalant, “No. why would I be?”
They detected some kind of lie in that statement, but shrugged it off in return for pressing the matter at hand. Something about Luka’s grin seemed offsetting to them, like something was amiss. “She got attacked by a giant wolf, almost lost an arm. You guys could have died?”
Luka seemed to sober up slightly, tone annoyed, “That’s not my bloody problem, now is it?” That annoying box of snacks got set down on the counter she had previously climbed on, her blue gaze instead focused solely on Cleo. “What are you getting at, anyways?”
Well, blunt and to the point it was then. They wanted to figure out Luka a bit, find out why she seemed off to them. “Luka,” they started, softly, tiredness in their voice, unsure for a moment, “Would you ever hurt her?” Luka’s eyes widened, by a fraction. “Would you ever hurt us?”
“What kind of question is that?” Luka retorted, voice rising slightly in her common defense tactic.
“What kind of answer is that?” Cleo responded, stepping closer. Something seemed wrong, so very wrong with Luka. They wanted to get to the bottom of it. How was Chiara bleeding out like that, but Luka merely scratched?
Luka seemed to relent, looking away from Cleo then. “Why are you even asking?”
It still wasn’t an answer. So Cleo pushed more, “Chiara came back really injured,” Luka at least winced at the reminder, “And yet you came back fine. And that lady on the TV, your guardian...”
Cleo knew that was dangerous territory, and they wanted to apologize immediately with how Luka’s face twisted up. Before the girl could complain, they rose their hands up, stepping back, “I’m not judging. I’m just saying, she seemed...wary of you?”
“I don’t have a bloody f*cking clue what you’re talking about.” Luka snapped, turning away, apparently ready to storm out of the room.
Cleo shivered slightly, the telltale nagging reminding them that Luka was lying. Luka knew exactly what they meant. Which meant...that woman did have some reason to be wary then, right? Maybe they shouldn’t have pressed, but none of it added up.
“Then answer the question, Luka.” Cleo pressed, voice grating on the edge of inpatient and annoyed, “Would you ever hurt us?”
Luka was almost out the door, pausing for a moment in the low light, head turned over her shoulder with wandering eyes. She seemed to focus, sighing out, slow and even, with a forced grin on her face. “No,” she affirmed, stepping out of the room towards her own room, probably to sleep.
Cleo should have felt relieved. They should have, but they stood there, feeling dread pooling in their stomach, stepping back slightly. Putting as much distance between themselves and the snake.
Luka had lied.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Dec 31, 2020 12:18:27 GMT -5
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Apollo's voice, a relative rarity for Lucien, startled him. Not that the boy would ever admit it.
Following the meeting and his attempt to commiserate with River over the decision the rest of the council had come to, the boy had immediately headed to his room. After what Cleo had done, what they had said in that meeting, the teenager had no desire to see or talk to any of the other Ascendants.
What right had they to call Lucien a child, anyway? They were only two years older themselves. Luci, though, was fairly sure this was not the thing to which Apollo was referring; it was the whole 'daddy issues' comment, the one which had almost sent Lucien into a rage. He didn't know what might have happened if River had not held him back from attacking them. He doubted he would have been proud of the outcome.
The boy, who had been sitting on his bed and absently, distractedly, strumming the guitar, stopped with a sharp sigh. He let the guitar remain on his lap, leaning forward a little as if to rest his arms upon it.
"Based on everything you know about me, take a wild guess." Lucien muttered in his usual snarky manner.
Why would Apollo care anyway? What could Apollo possibly have to say that could help? After all, he was a god. It surely wasn't as if he could really know anything about ordinary mortal problems. Apollo's biggest problem was the tendency of his crushes to transform into trees just to escape him.
"I'll probably understand, you know," Apollo ventured "I mean, have you seen my family?"
Okay, so Apollo did have a point there. The Greek pantheon were not exactly the picture of functionality. In fact, they were probably the most dysfunctional family Lucien could even think of.
But the thing about Apollo's family? They stayed together. They fought and argued and hated one another and had enough family drama to last (quite literally) an eternity, but nobody ever just up and abandoned the others. If they left they always came back.
______
"Dad?"
A young boy of about ten years old poked his head around the doorframe, peeking into the living room of the small family home. He was a little gangly, obviously likely to be a little taller than average. He rubbed sleep out of blue eyes. His short blond hair stuck up in all directions, the boy having obviously just rolled out of bed.
The dead silence in the house, the air almost seeming to be muffled by the darkness of the early hours, had been broken by the word the boy had whispered.
A man with features rather similar to the boy froze, his shape silhouetted as he tense, not moving from his position in which he had been packing things into a large bag that had been lying on the couch.
The child caught the flash of his father's eyes as he turned to look at him.
"Son," the man commented in surprise "what are you doing awake? It's late."
The boy didn't feel as if he owed his father an explanation for why he was awake, and he certainly wasn't going to give one. Not while he had more pressing things on his mind - like wondering what the hell was going on.
"What're you doing, Dad?" he asked
The words hung in the air for a few moments. It was like the words were some kind of rabid animal that had been set loose, an animal that the older man had no interest in engaging with in case he should get hurt.
Eventually, though, the boy's father cleared his throat and began to talk, sitting down on the couch and tapping the space beside him - the child obliged, taking a seat beside his father and looking at him with expectancy.
"I have to go, Luce." the man explained "I can't stay anymore."
Lucien furrowed his brows, struggling to understand. Why would he want to leave? Nothing was wrong here. Sure, they didn't have the most money or the best house, but they weren't terribly off, not with both parents' wages. The family had one another, and that was what was important in the boy's eyes.
"Is this about that fight you had with mom earlier?" the boy questioned
He recalled his parents fighting - in fact, they'd still been fighting when he and Elara had finally decided to go to bed. They had been fighting more and more of late, though they tried mostly to hide it from their children. Especially Lucien, who was younger than his sister.
His father didn't seem to quite know how to respond, shrugging lightly as he massaged his temples for a moment, letting out stressed exhales of breath.
"It's about a lot of things." the older male finally answered "I'm not happy here - you want your dad to be happy, don't you?"
Lucien inhaled, his eye drifting to a framed photograph on the wall of the entire family together. Lucien next to his sister, both smiling, and their parents on either side. Not next to one another holding hands, granted, but they didn't look unhappy. They still looked like a family.
The kid looked up to his father an awful lot, in the way every child did at that age. It didn't seem believable to him that his father could be doing something wrong, even if something deep down told him that his father running out on the family like this wasn't right.
"Of course I do," Lucien nodded, his gaze flickering back to the photograph "but can't you be happy here, with us?"
The man resolutely shook his head, hand reaching out to rest upon the bag he had been packing before his son interrupted him.
"No," his voice was confident, like he had made his mind up long ago "I've got dreams out there, son, that I can't do if I stay. I have to give this music thing a try or I'll never know."
He rose to his feet, and that caused the young Lucien to jump up from the couch, obviously concerned his father was going to leave without saying a proper goodbye.
"And then once you know, you'll come back, right?" he questioned, his voice uncertain and holding a note of desperate pleading.
He wasn't ready to lose his father.
The man grabbed his bag in one hand and, with a tight smile, ruffled Lucien's hair with the other.
"We'll see, Luce."
And then he strode towards the door, stepping out into the hallway. Lucien followed him just in time to see his father step out into the lamplit street, pulling the door closed behind him. He paused only to put his key on the hallway table.
Lucien knew better than to leave the door unlocked - his mother was terrified of that, said there were too many dangerous types in this part of Chicago. So the boy grabbed his father's key and locked the door, before allowing himself a few moments to stand in stunned silence and allow what had just happened to sink in.
He was gone. Just like that.
______
"Look, I know you're just trying to help, but-"
Lucien started to speak only to be interrupted by Apollo.
"Lucien, come on, I-"
"I DON'T!-" Lucien exploded suddenly, unable to control himself as he grabbed his guitar more tightly
His shouting seemed to startle both him and Apollo into silence, the sound seeming to ring in the air for a long, excruciating moment in which neither champion nor guide made a single sound. Everything felt tense suddenly, which wasn't what Lucien had intended at all.
Lucien seemed to remember himself, loosening his grip on the guitar and regulating the tone of his voice more. It was a softer level now.
"I don't," he swallowed "want to talk about it."
Apollo seemed to respect that request at that point, obviously afraid to try to press Lucien any further about the issue. It was pretty clear that the teenager had no intention of addressing the issue yet, not even with his guide. He already knew he risked having questions from the others, though he felt fairly sure that most of them would respect his privacy and not ask too much about it.
If they did he'd spend all his time with Luka. She was the only person Lucien was 100% certain wouldn't ask questions about his past. River, too, but he and River didn't exactly have that kind of relationship, even if he had been on Lucien's side when Cleo brought that stuff up in the meeting.
It was then that Lucien realised that Apollo had been rather quiet up until that point, ever since Lucien had said he didn't want to talk about his father.
"You know, for the record," the god began "I was proud of you today. The way you handled that meeting and everything. You did good, kid."
And, though if Apollo brought it up later Lucien would surely deny it, the boy couldn't help but feel warmed and comforted by the god's words. It felt far more to him than he was even willing to admit that even his guide was starting to truly believe he was doing the right thing.
He even found the corners of his mouth twitching into a small smile.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 3, 2021 9:17:23 GMT -5
TIMESKIP/TRANSITION POST
It had been only a few weeks since his breakup with River, and truth be told Laurie hadn't exactly been handling it very well. He'd kept much more to himself than usual and spent an awful lot of time in his room. He didn't want to risk the awkwardness of running into River.
The boy was aware that trying to avoid someone you lived with wasn't exactly a very sustainable solution, but he needed some time to get his head together and collect himself. He'd never had to get over anyone like this before - right now it didn't even feel possible. Which was stupid, because they hadn't even dated for that long, but Laurie had loved him. Plain and simple.
It was Hallowe'en, and the Ascendants had gotten the unwelcome news (from news reports and Chiara's danger-sensing abilities) that the exiled were up to their usual tricks again. Strange activity in Italy, for one, and Chiara had picked up on the apparent presence of at least one of the exiled in an abandoned factory. Most likely more than one, for her to be able to detect a danger. Something felt very wrong, she had said, more than just a normal exiled encounter.
Cleo had dropped a message over the intercom summoning a team to be led by Naida, with River as second-in-command. Laurie was to be part of it, apparently. Laurie had been so busy preparing for the possible fight that he hadn't heard Lucien appear over the intercom later with a further message.
Laurie had prepared himself as well as possible. He had his staff - it had been replaced after his fight with Fenrir, and Dionysus considered this one "new and improved" because its design was now that of a thyrsus, apparently something exclusive to Dionysus and his followers. All Laurie knew was that it now had ivy leaves winding round it, carved into the wood, and was topped with a carved pine cone.
He'd even dressed a little more warmly for the occasion - he didn't exactly expect an abandoned factory to be particularly warm, adding a tan jacket and a deep burgundy scarf over his usual button-down shirt. His ring with the ram design, his key for the Pantheon, sat on his finger, ready for Laurie to access it should he need to. He was as prepared as he could possibly be for what he doubted would be a particularly fun night. The last exiled fight he had been involved in hadn't exactly gone well, and he certainly didn't think his recent break-up with River was going to make things any easier.
With that, he headed out of his room and started heading down the hallway with the bedrooms, on his way to meet with the rest of the group downstairs. He could already see that the Pantheon was in some commotion; Lane was rushing backwards and forwards with messages so fast that she was practically a blur (she almost punched a hole in Pascal's door when she didn't quite slow down fast enough), he could hear people calling to one another from different rooms, and footsteps moving to and fro on the wooden floors both upstairs and downstairs. He could smell cooking from the kitchen - it didn't smell as good as Lorenzo's cooking so he suspected Chiara had perhaps busied herself in the kitchen, trying perhaps to feed those who weren't leaving or to make sure those who were heading out would have food when they returned.
Sure, it was too late at night for it really to be considered a viable mealtime but it wasn't like any of the others would be getting any sleep while the group was gone.
As he headed past the bedrooms, he noticed that the door to Dillon's room was ajar, revealing a room with pale blue walls, with a subtle abstract design resembling lotus flowers. The floor was of pale wood, covered with a rug woven from light blue, lavender and gold threads. The whole room seemed to smell of lilies and fresh rain. The furniture was beautiful too, all of grey-toned wood; an antique desk, a tapestry with a willow tree on the wall, a dresser.
On a four-poster bed with light blue sheets - and deep purple and blue cushions decorated with peacock feather designs - was a bag. Dillon had the dresser drawers thrown open and was folding a few items of clothing into the bag. Unusually for the peaceful champion of Hera, the peacemaker of the Pantheon leaders, a scabbard containing a sword was attached to his waist, bumping against his hips as he busied around the room.
"Dillon," Laurie greeted softly, leaning against the doorframe
Dillon obviously hadn't noticed Laurie was there and started when he heard his name, a hand flying to his chest as he looked at the champion of Dionysus.
"Jesus, mate," Dillon replied with a nervous laugh "A little warning next time, yeah?"
"Désolé," Laurie apologised before stepping closer to the younger male, nodding towards the bag he was packing with raised eyebrows "What are you doing? Not skipping out on us, I hope, because you're definitely in too deep now."
Dillon appreciated the joke, apparently, rolling his eyes and making a sound of amusement as he folded in what appeared to be a map of a city. Laurie was unable to see the details of it.
"Alas, no," the British boy explained "Did you not hear Lucien over the intercom? Enzo and I have a mission in Italy and I'm not sure how long we'll be gone. I thought it was worth packing some clothes."
Laurie in fact had not listened to what Lucien had said over the intercom, and hadn't even realised that there was another mission going on. Chalk one up for nobody listening to Lucien - it was his own fault really. He ranted over the intercom so often that people tuned him out and didn't bother listening. It had been bound to bite him in the ass one day when he actually had something important to say.
Laurie didn't respond, too wrapped up in his own thoughts, so all he did was make a distracted 'oh' sound. Dillon looked at him with some concern, stopping his packing and drawing his eyebrows together as he approached Laurie.
"You okay?" he asked with a concerned tilt of his head
Laurie shrugged in response, jamming his hands in his pockets.
"Just not feeling great about this mission with River," he admitted
Dillon made a sound of recognition, obviously only just now understanding exactly what the issue was. He didn't think it should be a surprise, given that the breakup was still incredibly fresh and nobody had really seen all that much of Laurie since. but maybe that was just him.
"Sorry, but that's just the way it is," Dillon answered "We need River. Lucien needs to stay so our healer's not incapacitated like last time - not with two groups out fighting. Cleo has to monitor everything from here. Luka and Irene, while they're both strong, don't have the fighting know-how of River and Ares. We need you because you're one of the oldest and your powers are effective against even Styx. That, and..."
Laurie had to admit he found it quite amusing to imagine Lucien being told he couldn't join the fight in case he got hurt. He could practically see the teenager's furious face, hear his angry protests that he wasn't a child, thank you very much.
Dillon sighed lightly, running a hand through his hair - which for once wasn't covered by a beanie, presumably in preparation for Venice being relatively warm even in October and November, despite slightly chillier nights.
"You need to get out of your room, Laurie," Dillon continued "You and River have to figure out how to work together and be around one another. This is a leader decision, and it's final."
The firmness of those last words offered no room for negotiation, despite Dillon's gentle and sympathetic expression. Besides, they were sensible, the French boy could see that. So Laurie simply huffed but nodded, stepping out of the young leader's room to leave Dillon to finish up his packing.
Staff in hand, he headed down the stairs to meet with the rest of the group.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Jan 3, 2021 17:00:51 GMT -5
When Chiara had come to Clementine with news of danger on the horizon, they had become rather concerned. When some of the Ascendants did further research, they found out that abnormal activity had been detected. They were able to pinpoint the locations they needed due to it, and Chiara's abilities.
A team had been selected, by a select group of people. River was a given to going on this trip, given his abilities as a strategist, chosen of Ares. But Cleo and several didn't trust him as the main leader of the party, so Naida was enlisted to truly lead the party.
The others were a bit more difficult to place. Cleo wasn't exactly happy with it, but understood it. Laurie had a defense against Styx, it seemed, and Daniel has that strength of his. Pascal hadn't really revealed powers yet, but had been revealed as good at handling wounds. They couldn't risk Lucien, so Pascal it was. Among others, Echo was also chosen. Echo hadn't revealed any abilities so far, nothing at all. They were hopeful that she could practice her abilities on this trip, and Laurie and River were there along with Daniel, everyone was sure she would be safe.
That didn't prohibit some...complications, however. Cleo mourned how the morning had went when the smallest Ascendant turned from Echo, checking over her, and glaring at Cleo. "Why am I not going?" Luka questioned, though the tone wasn't questioning, but rather angry and demanding.
Cleo remained silent, scanning the map before them, they had pinpointed the location they would need. They hoped Luka would just shut up, for once.
"I mean for crying out loud, Echo, Pascal, Dillon, and Enzo get to go on some bloody mission!" Luka snapped back, eyes narrowed.
"We don't have time for this!" Cleo commented back, rubbing at their face, annoyed, "They go, because they don't complain and they are capable fighters. We have to keep some fighters here, and Enzo knows Italy, hence why he's going to Italy. Stop being a baby, Luka."
The tinier girl scoffed, flipping them off once more, before scurrying off to help with preparations.
As they scanned the room, they spotted Guinevere with a trey of mugs, coffee and hot chocolate being passed around to those who would be traveling. Echo herself had a coat on, mittens over her hands, as Luka spoke to her. The youngest leader had her frown long gone, cracking jokes that had Echo's tenseness leaving slightly, small smile on her lips as she looked for River.
Cleo frowned, a deep feeling of worry in their chest. Lorenzo was running out of his room in a rush, a bag of clothing and such in his hands, a beanie pulled over his blond hair. Unlike those going to the factory, Dillon and Lorenzo would possibly be gone for a while, sense they'd have to track the issue down and get it figured out.
"Good luck," Cleo announced, looking over the preparations, as they addressed the people. Guinevere looked at them with respect, Echo with a tense anticipation, Lorenzo with strange mix of apprehension and excitement, and Luka with complete disdain and stubbornness. "Please be safe, all of you who travel today. Everyone else will remain in the Pantheon, feel free to call us for backup if you need it."
Strangely, they left their own phone in their room, on their drawer. Whatever.
Looking down, they let off another breath, "Dillon and Naida will lead your parties, respectively. Please listen to them, heed what they say. Remember, you have no need to fight, only get to the source of what is going on."
Stepping away from the intercom, they glanced at the room. Today was a big day, and they had heard rumors of some of the more chaotic kids planning some stupid event that evening. Part of them hoped everything would go smoothly, so all the tension from the past weeks could have a chance to be relieved. If this mission went well, it would only be fair to revoke that decision, regarding River and Laurie. If both boys did better this time around, that was.
Luka, herself, looked around for Lucien, Theo, or Chiara. After her whole fight with the other leaders, and then falling asleep as a cat, she had woke up that day to plenty of confused glances. Theo was supposed to be her enemy, and Loki wouldn't shut up about how he was befriending his mortal enemy. Laurie hadn't been any fun, and Luka had extended her hand in helping others. She couldn't help Laurie get over something like a break up, especially when her emotions on it were to suck up and move on, since River was the one missing out as it was.
Luka didn't say any of that, electing to give her friend the time he needed. She had a distaste in Cleo, Dillon, and Naida. She always had a distaste in Irene as it was. River earned a spot on that list when he bowed down like a dog to Cleo, rather than fighting and just making the others suck it up. Lucien was the only leader Luka had any interest in talking to anymore, but she had come to seeing the title as nothing but what it was, a title.
A title that had given Cleo too much power in this cursed place.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Jan 4, 2021 5:38:54 GMT -5
Days after the breakup no one had seen River. He was holed up in his room for endless hours, not coming out to communicate or eat during the day. If someone was lucky they might find him in the kitchen around 3am, absent-mindedly eating the remains of a chip bag's contents. Eyes bloodshot and hair a mess.
If they were lucky enough to get close to him at that specific time without spooking him and causing him to go back into hiding, mumbling could be heard coming from him. Presumably talking with Ares as, at the moment, he had no one else.
Closer to the present day, River had started appearing at meetings again. He'd never say anything or contribute to the group, but it was evident that he was listening. And during those meetings he wasn't blind the looks he got. Pity, disgust, content.
Luka was upset that he had folded. Let them get the better of him and break his spirit. It's why she wasn't interested in speaking with him anymore he was sure. Not that he blamed her but he hated himself enough as it was. He just didn't see a way for him to protect everyone. And he had offered to sacrifice himself.
Maybe she could have defended him instead of sitting there and making jokes like usual.
He'd become hostile again. Reserved and closed off to everyone just like on day one. He wasn't snarky or tried to pick fights with anyone. It was just a quiet rage. Glares sent towards people who tried to get too close. The only ones he was softer towards were Echo, Lucien, Jason, and Luka (despite her previous before mentioned actions toward him). But, he was anything but kind.
What could he say? He didn't handle emotions well.
The only time he felt even a fraction of calm come over him was when he was training with his new spear. A stronger metal Ares said this one was. Pretty gold with sweeping red designs and still fully collapsable. He'd train for hours, alone with nothing but the sound of the air being sliced with the new blade. What a beautiful sound it made.
He was there today when the mission was announced. His heart involuntarily dropped when he heard Laurie was going with him on the same mission. They just loved torturing the two boys huh?
River went to go get prepared. A heavier coat and fingerless gloves. Was it really that cold where they were going? Regardless, he put the clothing on and moved to the room where everyone was, his spear- with the tip pointed down to the ground, slung over his shoulder.
Griffin was closely behind Guinevere, helping with passing out treats and drinks before anyone left. Poor sweet thing that he was, offered River something only to be met with a glare. He didn't flinch though, he just shrugged, said "You're loss," and moved on.
River didn't bother listening to Cleo. Only made it look like he was. And when they caught his tired, sleepless eyes, they were only met with disdain and rage. The boy felt nothing in those words. Hollow and empty is what he got whether they really were genuine or not.
"Stay safe," Jason murmured to the Ares Champion, startling him. He looked at the Thoth boy and softened his looks for a moment. Jason patted River on the shoulder with a thin smile before walking away.
That one felt genuine.
Naida gestured for River to take his place next to her and for a moment he hesitated. But, he followed through and stood next to her in her two layers of jackets and a giant flask on her hip. She crossed her arms over her chest and started talking looking at her team in their eyes while River looked off into the distance.
"We don't know what we're expecting. Be prepared to fight, be prepared to negotiate, and be prepared to run. We want to be in and out as quickly as possible. Understood?" she asked getting quick to the point and making sure everyone understood their orders.
With each confirmation in hand, Naida turned and reached for her bracelet. She popped one of the blue pearls off of it and tossed it a foot in front of her. A portal opened and the leader ushered each person through before stepping through herself.
And on the other side?
It was dark, dirty, musty, and covered in a thick layer of old dust. Graffiti covered walls and boxes were left over from whatever production had been done here. Machinery covered in rust and looming over the ascendents as their footsteps bounced around the old factory.
Breath could be seen coming from each of the kids. It seemed the warm clothes were a good choice. But, what they didn't account for were the shelves of boxes and the machines forming a maze around them. A maze with multiple directions.
"I want teams of two. Daniel with Echo," Naida started turning to her group. She pointed at each person as she said their name and their partner."Pascal with River. Kaz, you're with me and Laurie."
Turning on her heel, Naida issued her two to follow her down one path and began walking. Over her shoulder she called, "Spread out. And call if you need assistance."
"We shouldn't be spread out so thin..." River grumbled to himself watching as everyone dispersed. He shoved his free hand into his jacket pocket and huffed out a breath causing the air to cloud.
"Why don't you say that?" Ares encouraged flatly.
"Who'd listen anyway?" River hissed before walking past Pascal and raising his voice so he could hear him. "Let's go."
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Post by Nariku The Avaricious on Jan 4, 2021 13:37:01 GMT -5
Ever since the meeting about River and his eventual break-up with Laurie, Irene could tell there was a lingering sense of gloominess throughout the pantheon. Not only because many of the kids were still shaken up by what had happened, what also contributed was the apparent sadness from Laurie and River’s rampant hostility to almost everyone.
The first couple of the Pantheon, broken up because her fellow leaders felt it was unfair for River to prioritize his boyfriend over the lives of the other kids. Just thinking about the meeting left a foul taste in her mouth. Yes, River had to learn to take responsibility for many of his failings in that situation, though the champion of Zeus couldn’t help but wonder if breaking up their relationship was the best course of action, like Dillon had suggested. It felt like a good compromise at the time, but...
A part of herself still resented the fact she didn’t speak up once during that entire conversation. The woman who prided herself in not being afraid to speak her mind in any situation, dumbed into silence because she didn’t know how to approach a situation.
A situation where 7 kids could have died.
After River had stormed out, the most Irene could say was, “This was a f*cking disaster.” In a vacuum, she could understand what River would have been feeling in that moment, but given his responsibilities and the lives of everyone at stake, would that mentality really benefit the pantheon as a whole? What if River was forced to pick between Laurie and some other kid, could he be trusted to make such a choice? At this point in time, it was too late to wonder.
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On the day of Halloween, Irene furiously shuffled around her bedroom, tossing articles of clothing onto her unkempt bed as she listened to other Leaders speak over the intercom. For that day, there was going to be 2 missions going on. One group was checking out an abandoned factory, while another one would be scoping out Italy because of some strange activity going on. The factory group was pretty fully decked out, with Naida, River, and Daniel going along to make sure everything was alright (even though she wasn’t entirely sure Daniel had completely learned how to control his powers. They had Laurie, Pascal, Echo, and Kaz going as well, but Laurie and Kaz both had at least some experience in fighting, so they had better odds of making it out alright.
The other group, however, Irene was less sure about. The group was only composed of Dillon and Enzo, both of whom were extremely inexperienced when it came to fights. Enzo had been out in the field twice, but she doubted it taught him much, given how injured he got in the last encounter. When it came to Dillon, Irene was even less confident about him than she was about Enzo. He’d never gone out on a mission before, never really did much training, and to top it all off, she didn’t even know if his powers had fully developed in a way that wouldn’t get him killed.
Sure, there was a chance that their mission wouldn’t have as much conflict in it, but there was always the possibility of it being a trap. Did she want to risk it? If she didn’t go and either of them got hurt, she guaranteed that she’d end up regretting it later.
After all that happened previously, there was no way she was going to sit around and let someone get hurt. Not when she knew something could get done about it.
“I don’t recall any of the other Leaders asking you to join on the missions. Taking action in spite of them I see,” Zeus boomed in the back of her head, “Though, are you sure you want to go with the Hera kid of all things-”
“Oh my f*cking f*ck,” Irene groaned, stuffing her clothes into a backpack, “I don’t give a sh*t about your petty marital drama. I’m going and there is nothing you can say to stop me, you get that?!”
“Don’t use that tone with me, girl,” Irene nearly winced at his use of girl, “you’re still my champion, don’t test my patience.”
Even after so much time together, enough where the young woman had gone from 19 to 20, Zeus still didn’t respect her in any way. He saw her as a child, or someone beneath him. It was frustrating to say the least.
“Don’t f*cking threaten me and just do it already if you’re sick of my *ss. I’m done with your sh*t with Hera and Atticus, none of that should be my problem, so I would rather it be kept that way. Okay? Okay.”
Throughout the rest of her time packing up, Irene chose to ignore Zeus’s curses to the best of her ability. Which was difficult, given he was literally talking in her head, but still somewhat manageable.
Once everything was together, Irene grabbed her backpack and made sure her dagger was strapped to her waist before she hurried out of her room to where the groups were setting to leave. The Factory group had already left, but thankfully the Italy group had yet to leave.
“Sorry boys,” Irene said to the both of them, “but I’m coming along too.” She didn’t care if Cleo would get upset at her for it, she didn’t care if anyone got upset at her. This was something she needed to do and she wasn’t going to let anyone stop her.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Jan 4, 2021 15:29:28 GMT -5
In his hands, he held his staff, the green jewel bein the only thing illuminated in the halls of the dark building, and even it wasn't bright. It seemed instead as if catching stray sunlight, barely gleaming, illuminating that poison green in his doe-like brown eyes. Gently tapping the wooden staff on the ground, the gleam faded, it was preparations, setting the traps.
He had made it to the planned destination, causing some chaos to alert the magic users. They had the champion of Heimdallr, and based on the fact that the girl faced the wolf, and research he had done, there was a good chance she would be smart enough to find out what it was. Though he didn't exactly know to what extent.
Ripley was, for very specific reasons, obviously confusing to him. Kissing him, leaving, pretending life nothing had happened. The leader elected to follow in that track, and ignore. They had missions to attend to, they had people to stop, before even more people got hurt.
He ignored the way the cold, dark building caused him to shiver slightly. Instead, he took his spot, using his abilities over vines (which had overgrown in the factory, desolated as it was) and hoisted himself up onto a shelf, all for a better vantage point. Still, he climbed into a shelter of foliage to hide, hidden away by dilapidated wood casings and vines. It gave him a small peephole as a vantage point, able to keep a gaze on the nearby alley.
Fishing out his phone, he sent a quick text to the others on this mission.
Get in position. Separate and knock them out, we want to take as many back as possible.
Pocketing his phone afterward, making sure it was on silent, he waited.
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Post by Nariku The Avaricious on Jan 4, 2021 16:13:08 GMT -5
Ever since he stepped up to help heal those kids after their mission went wrong, he couldn’t help but notice people have a slightly different attitude when it came to him. While he still preferred to be on his own, the other kids didn’t seem to be nearly as uncomfortable with him as they did, or they did a good job at hiding it. Even Hades seemed less judgy about him choosing to not spend so much time learning how to fight.
While it was a welcome change, he felt conflicted. He didn’t really like being around people in general, so having people come up to him over Lucien in some medical cases seemed awkward, especially since the young man didn’t know everything about medicine or healing people. Sure, he knew more than most and was able to stabilize many of the wounds based on what he remembered, but it wasn’t enough to make him confident.
So, when he was asked to accompany the others on a mission for his medical knowledge, he was noticeably nervous and hesitant to go. Not only would it likely be dangerous, he’d have to go around and make sure people didn’t die. That was a lot of pressure, especially for him. It didn’t help knowing what day it was.
October 31. The day of his birth.
Even at a young age, Pascal had a particular disdain for his birthday. It was a laughing point for many kids growing up who found it amusing that the gloomy kid with the garlic allergy was also born on Halloween. Didn’t help the fact that he didn’t particularly enjoy parties and never once set one up to celebrate the day that reminded him that he was one step closer to dying of old age. Everything about that day was depressing and he was surprised people actually enjoyed it. So, he chose to keep it to himself. People overbearing him about a celebration would just make him feel worse about it.
As he waited for everyone to get ready, Pascal huddled in his layered coat for warmth, chugging down a couple cups of coffee that were provided to him to calm his nerves. Around his torso, he’d strapped on a messenger bag filled with first-aid medical supplies and other stuff they might need, like hand-warmers. He wanted to be prepared for anything, though he was still uneasy about everything. The coffee didn’t help him there.
Stepping through Naida’s portal and to their destination, Pascal’s unease seemed to grow bigger as he set his sights on the building. Old, disheveled, and abandoned. It got his brain spinning about what reason the place could have been left to rot. An accident? Supernatural monsters? Safety code violations? What were the chances they’d end up walking side by side with the dead?
Pascal shivered at the thought, watching as the other kids split off into small groups. Just like any modern horror novel, ripe for the picking. His attention went back to River when the boy raised his voice, telling him to go.
The champion of hades let out a pained sigh before muttering, cryptically “We’re all going to die.”
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 4, 2021 17:00:58 GMT -5
It didn’t take long after Laurie had left for Dillon to have all of his stuff together, after which he rushed downstairs to join everyone just in time for Cleo’s speech, nodding along with their words.
It did kind of terrify him that he was leading this mission; he’d never even had any fighting experience before. He’d trained a little with his sword, of course, but fighting wasn’t really Dillon’s thing and he preferred to avoid it when possible. Not to mention the fact that he hadn’t even used his powers before.
There was absolutely nothing to suggest that Dillon was at all qualified for this. But there was only one way for him to get the experience he lacked, and that was going in at the deep end and leading a mission. They just needed to figure out the situation, and hopefully keep Enzo safe for another thing.
He had turned and was just about to open a portal and head out with Lorenzo when he heard a voice behind him, turning back to see Irene behind him, saying she was going to join him on this mission.
Dillon wasn’t about to argue with her, for several reasons. Firstly, Irene was kind of scary. Secondly, he’d be dumb to refuse any extra help on this mission. Thirdly, he and Lorenzo weren’t exactly big on the whole fighting thing should that become necessary and it would be good to have someone on the team who could do that.
”Alright, sure,” Dillon shrugged with a smile ”a team of three is always useful.”
Dillon could be a lot of things; jealous and petty among them. But he certainly wasn’t the type to deny help when he needed it out of pride. Leave that to people like Lucien, River and Luka.
So, he twisted the crown on the side of his watch, his key from Hera, which opened up a portal. If Chiara’s danger-sensing abilities are anything to go by, this was the right city in Italy to be checking out. And this wasn’t something to scoff at, either.
Chiara hadn’t been as scared by this as she had been by whatever it was the other group were going to face, but he’d still seen the flash of concern pass across her gaze, the way her grip had tightened on the book she’d been holding. The danger the other team had been sent to face had been enough to make the hairs on Chiara’s arms and the back of her neck stand on end.
Still, this wasn’t going to be something small. There was something happening out here.
”Alright, here goes nothing I guess. Get ready, and stay close to me for now.” he firmly said to Enzo and Irene, trying as best he could to keep the nerves out of his voice.
So Dillon stepped first through the portal.
He emerged into an unfamiliar city, and was hit immediately by the scent of the canals, the waters of which glittered nearby in the streetlights.
Venice, Italy. Lorenzo’s home city. Also known as the City of Masks and the City of Bridges. La Serenissima. The Floating City.
He looked over his shoulder to Enzo, thinking it likely best to get his guidance on the city. After all, he was the expert on the place. Dillon was only leading because he was a leader, really Lorenzo was the one whose guidance would be essential to get them through this mission.
”So, Enzo, if you were an exiled, where would you make a beeline for?” Dillon questioned
He hoped there might be some abandoned buildings, some lesser-frequented parts of town. Anywhere the exiled might find it easiest to do whatever it was the exiled did.
He did know that there was plenty of water here for that girl that Lucien and River had fought months ago, but Venice also had plenty of sand around; for example, not far from the city centre he’d sure he’d seen a beach on the map of the city he carried in his bag. The Venice Lido, or the Lido di Venezia. That could accommodate that sand boy too, and it was just one of several.
A place two of exiled would feel at home? That seemed as good a place as any to start.
”Know anywhere near the Lido di Venezia?” Dillon asked ”that seems like the kind of place some of the exiled would seem comfortable, so maybe they’re somewhere near it. Maybe we can get a hotel around there just in case we’re here a while.”
He suspected they could be. You could move quickly through Venice, and they could find themselves chasing whichever member of the exiled this was for quite some time.
Next he turned his attention to Irene.
”I appreciate you coming, Irene. You’re the best fighter out of all of us, so as we move through the city we’re going to need you to keep an eye out for any threats and make sure nobody’s following us. Basically, you’re covering us as we go through the streets.”
Dillon would be too busy reading the map and listening to Enzo’s directions, Irene was the only one who could truly be the eyes and ears of the group, as well as their frontline fighter should they need it.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 4, 2021 18:19:51 GMT -5
Laurie had carefully made sure not to make eye contact with River from the moment he entered the room. It was just way too awkward, way too painful, and he wasn’t going to put himself through it. Not when the others needed him.
”He’s just a boy, Laurie, it’s just a breakup,” Dionysus commented ”You need to get him out of your head and focus.”
It was exceedingly rare for the normally fun-loving Dionysus to try to encourage Laurie to focus. Normally he was encouraging him to cause some kind of chaos or another. But he supposed even Dionysus must have gotten sick of Laurie’s reclusiveness these last few weeks, and this mission was certainly important. Too important for Laurie not to be as prepared as possible for.
He listened blankly to Cleo’s speech, though he did his best to listen a little more closely to Naida’s words. They might, after all, stop him from getting killed. He nodded when she said their aim was to get in and out as soon as possible.
He stepped through the portal, immediately taking in the abandoned factory. Laurie was grateful for the warm clothes as his eyes tracked a silvery cloud of his breath.
The place instantly creeped him out. There was just enough light to create shadows, melting into one another and seeming to move if one looked at them for long enough. But not enough light to expose with the brightness of day the scene around them.
Laurie reached out to a graffiti-scarred wall, drawing his finger on it and pulling it away to see the thick layer of dust that seemed to permeate the place. It choked the chilly air, and Laurie didn’t doubt that it would be settling on the Ascendants themselves as they moved through the place.
Something didn’t feel right about this place. Laurie’s pulse seemed to speed up, a chill surging through his body, his hand gripping his thyrsus tighter. He could feel goosebumps rising on his skin even beneath the jacket and couldn’t figure out if it was because he was afraid or because he’d neglected to wear gloves.
He didn’t like this, not one bit.
Still, Naida’s speech drew his attention as she directed Laurie and Kaz to follow her. The boy wasn’t sure whether or not he caught River muttering something, but he was too far away to know for sure as he followed Naida through the maze of shelving and old machinery.
He would’ve drawn attention to the fact that splitting up was like the worst thing one could possibly do in this situation, as anyone who’d watched even a single horror movie would know. But Laurie didn’t have the authority to question Naida, and even if he did he didn’t really think she’d necessarily listen.
She was the leader, after all, and he had to take his lead from her.
As they headed through the labyrinth, Laurie brushed a cobweb out of his path with his free hand, eyes searching uselessly in the writhing shadows for any sign of movement or danger.
”A place like this on Hallowe’en?” Laurie muttered - and in the echoing air, hundreds of Lauries muttered - ”that seems like a deliberate choice. I don’t like it one bit, something feels off.”
He wasn’t just being paranoid. He knew the exiled liked to hang out in some creepy places, but this one truly took the cake. It was like they knew it would draw the Ascendants to them, which was strange because they normally seemed to choose larger, more open battlefields. Or at least they didn’t hide.
This did not feel right. And he certainly wasn’t going to question Chiara’s danger-sensing powers because she’d never been wrong before. In fact, he wished she were there now. She’d have a better chance with her enhanced senses of seeing into the shadows or hearing if there was anyone in the building.
Unfortunately she was back home making pasta or whatever it was she was cooking for the others.
The boy allowed Kaz to get a few steps in front of him, figuring Laurie could focus on covering the group from the back. Make sure nobody was behind them.
He hated the way every footstep seemed to echo, creating a ripple of sound through the place. He also hated the feeling he had that they were being watched, though he could see no eyes in the darkness.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Jan 4, 2021 19:26:19 GMT -5
"Look at them," Ripley purred watching the poor little ascendents from his perch on top of an old machine with a twisted smile. They were splitting up into groups and searching the place in true horror movie troupe fashion. Did they know nothing? "Walking right into a trap. How precious."The boy twirled the dagger in his gloved hand as he watched each one of them move through the maze of shelves and boxes. A soft laugh fogged the air in front of him as he caught the french boy in his sights. Well, Atti wouldn't be happy about this, would he? Speak of the devil, the text message from their esteemed leader showed up on Ripley's phone. He glanced at it for a moment before deciding to answer back. Yes sir ❤️ coming to a stand, Set's Champion flipped his token up into the air and let it catch the small amount of light that was in the factory. A signal to the giant wolf nearby before sliding down the machine and splitting of to go find the french boy's group. Fenrir looked up at the signal and immediately started moving. Picking up the sent of each of the kids. Only one Norse god though. Sea salt, ocean winds, and sand were what he smalled on the girl. A champion of Rán. He would have gone after her if he wasn't so warry of the goddess herself. Traitor to her own king and too loyal to that king of theirs. Besides, he didn't swim as well as he thought he could. Another sent caught his attention. Familiar. Sweet and innocent, with a god he didn't recognize. Egyptian it seemed. The girl.The small fragile thing was with only one other person. How fast would the other children run to help her if she was hurt. How much would they sob if they only found an arm left? How sweet she must tase. Unfortunately, the boys wanted them alive. So, he would do his job for now, and stick to the shadows as he navigated his way through the maze to them.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Jan 5, 2021 7:58:01 GMT -5
Laurie wasn't exactly feeling better about this place the deeper they got into the maze. He wanted to convince himself that he was just being dumb and paranoid, but this started to feel more and more like it was some kind of trap and he certainly didn't appreciate the fact that the group had split up, as grateful as he was that Naida hadn't kept Laurie and River together.
Kaz was a good kid too, for sure, but none of this put Laurie at more ease in this place with the huge glinting machines and shelves of boxes. It felt so closed off; if one disappeared in this maze nobody else would know about it.
He froze when he thought he saw a flash of shadow shifting not too distantly behind the group, narrowing his eyes as he tried to catch any other sign of movement. No other came, and Laurie supposed it must have been his mind playing tricks on him. After all, he'd been getting more and more anxious ever since they walked into the place, it was no wonder that he was starting to see things.
But he couldn't shake the feeling deep in his gut that something was wrong.
When he glanced back over his shoulder to check Naida and Kaz, his eyes widened to see that they'd already disappeared into the darkness, not even their retreating footsteps to track; echoes of footsteps seemed to come from several directions with the rest of the group moving around the abandoned factory and it was too disorienting for Laurie to even attempt to lock on to which ones belonged to Naida and Kaz.
"Merde," he groaned quietly to himself
He didn't want to call out Naida and Kaz's names because they had to be careful in here; the exiled were likely there and it didn't seem like they were there to make friendship bracelets or daisy chains. Laurie was not about to risk drawing loud attention to the fact that he was on his own, he wasn't about to give away his location to the entire factory, and he certainly wasn't about to expect Kaz and Naida to yell back and reveal their own locations.
"I don't like this either," Dionysus sounded concerned "whatever you do, don't just stand there. Keep moving."
Laurie rolled his eyes but he could see the sense in the deity's words. It didn't make sense just to stand there and wait for somebody - whether that be Kaz and Naida or one of the exiled - to find him. He needed to keep trying to get through this place. After all, Naida and Kaz couldn't be far ahead, Laurie couldn't have stopped for more than ten or fifteen seconds at most.
"'Split up', she said," Laurie muttered under his breath as he walked on "'in and out as quickly as possible', she said. Has nobody here seen a horror movie? Or even, like, Scooby-goddamn-Doo?"
It was just as he said these words to himself that he came to a point that made him stop. This maze of shelves and machines seemed to have split. That was a problem. He was sure Naida and Kaz couldn't be too far ahead, but the problem was that Laurie couldn't know for sure which direction the two had gone in.
"Just pick one, you're bound to run into some of the others eventually if you keep moving." Dionysus suggested.
Laurie scoffed lightly, peering down each route for a moment to see if he could see any sign of Kaz and Naida, though he'd known before he even did it that he would be unsuccessful.
"Yeah, maybe I'll run into my ex," Laurie murmured sarcastically "that'd be fun."
Laurie had no desire to run into River, even though having someone else around would feel a lot safer. The last thing he wanted River or anyone else thinking was that he was weak, or stupid, or needed protecting. And yet once again it seemed that he'd proven himself incapable of even the simplest of tasks - in this case, not getting separated from the group.
Still, he didn't want Naida and Kaz to worry and start searching for him. Laurie was an adult, they weren't responsible for him. Besides, he had his staff and he had his powers too. He'd fought the exiled before. Maybe he could reunite with Naida and Kaz before they even realised he was gone.
He had a 50/50 shot of going down the right route. Not amazing odds, but he'd had worse before. Laurie chose to turn left, raising his staff a little as he went. He was on his own now, he had to be prepared for the possibility of a fight if it came to it.
His eyes were constantly searching in the dark, over-vigilant. He knew that if he was on his own it was impossible for him to keep watch in all directions, which concerned him a little bit. Right now he didn't have a choice, he had to keep moving.
The clouds of breath seemed to be rising faster and faster as Laurie's breath quickened, his entire body tense with the adrenaline flowing through him.
This was officially the worst Hallowe'en ever.
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Post by Lioncl on Jan 5, 2021 22:00:40 GMT -5
As soon as Daniel had heard that he was being chosen for a mission, he had quickly gotten ready. He could finally do something other than sit around playing with his thumbs. He wouldn't have to take a back seat while he watched his friends get hurt time and time again and now that he head some control over his transformation, it would make protecting his friends that much easier. He grabbed his axe as he left his room and went down to hear Cleo's speech. He wasn't surprised when they said that Naida would be leading his team since it seemed like most of the leaders had some trust issues with River. Daniel didn't really care too much about it though, they would come around to River eventually he was sure and it wasn't like his role in the mission changed just because someone else was leading the group.
After Naida opened up a portal, Daniel followed everyone through. He looked around his surroundings as he came out the other side and let out a groan "I hate mazes" he muttered. His attention turned to Naida as the Champion of Rán spoke. He was slightly confused as to why they would split up in unknown territory but he kept quiet. He was slightly glad that he was paired with Echo since that meant he would be able to protect her if something ended up happening. He walked over to Echo and pointed at the only path that hadn't been taken yet "I guess me and you got that one. You ready?" He asked
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