Mun might be considering a game....

[keeperfromtheflame]

You know.

I'm starting to think you don't like me as much as you say you do.

Comments

[getupandgo]

Ain't nothin' 'bout love. Most a'them love us too much and wanna see us suffer. Shit works backwards.

[keeperfromtheflame]

[It took a moment for her brain to adjust to the accent, not used to that manner of speech.]

I would say that doesn't make sense...but then again, you should meet my family sometime.

[Or not.]

[Ever.]

[getupandgo]

[ You alright there, miss? He's easy enough to understand, just a matter of getting used to it. ]

Family's th'worst of it. [ That being said, he loves his own. ]
There's a lil' sadistic monster crawlin' 'round in th'pupper masters' attics, gotta be ready for it to poke its ugly lil head out.

[keeperfromtheflame]

...are we talking about an actual monster, or are you being metaphorical?

[WITH HER LIFE, YOU NEVER KNEW]

[getupandgo]

Option B. But s'a lil worrying if ya gotta deal 'with real ones.

[keeperfromtheflame]

Only a little?

[She tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach her ears. Was this...really something she should be talking about, come to think of it?]

[getupandgo]

[ He's not even this talkative to begin with, usually. Normally it happens on accident and he gets all weirded out when he notices. Like when one is suddenly aware of every move they make. ]

Just a lil'.

[ But he offers a sympathetic smirk that ends up hidden when he rubs his nose.]

So...where ya bein' sent off to?

[keeperfromtheflame]

[It was a strange thing when you spend so long being the quiet one, Hazel had noted. Something that had been true back in the 40s and 50s, and still seemed true even now. People were often more willing to talk to you.]

[Maybe they thought you'd be a better listener?]

I'm not entirely sure yet. Something about a...blind girl named Alice and a pair of queens?

[getupandgo]

That righ'?...

Think my mun knows that place. [ Scratch scratch at the back of his head. ] Thought 'bout joining it long a'fore I came along. Never got through with it, tho'.

Some Alice in Wonderland thing?

[keeperfromtheflame]

That's the one.

I used to see some kids from school reading it when I was younger. I never thought in a million years that it would be an actual place, though.

[...then again, when she was a little girl, she never dreamed of half the things that turned out to be real as well.]

[getupandgo]

A lotta stuff's real 'round here. Pretty much every fuckin' thing, apparently.
Pretty nice. Except when it's fuckin' horrible and kills you dead every five seconds or makes ya some kinda monster from another universe or somethin', but 'ey. Possibilities are endless, and stuff. Somethin' like that.

[keeperfromtheflame]

[Thanks to over a year of military school Camp Jupiter, Hazel had grown used to coarse language. She barely batted an eyelash.]

[She also had to bite her lip to resist a been there, done that quip at the "kills you dead" line.]

You'll forgive me if I don't find that all too reassuring.

Can we go back to the nice parts?

[getupandgo]

Ain't nothin' wrong with that.
Gotta take the bad with the good, tho.

OHAI

[ognesperanza]

All mundanes lie. It's best to not listen to them, Hazel.

Yo'

[keeperfromtheflame]

All of them?

That seems a bit cynical, Nico. Even for us.

[ognesperanza]

Okay, maybe not all of them. But it's a smarter way of thinking about it. If they're not lying, they're thinking of bigger, more fun ways to torture us. Not exactly trustworthy.

[keeperfromtheflame]

[Torture?]

[...it probably said a lot about the life she'd already led that the mere thought wasn't enough to frighten her. Not completely.]

Reading might have been a nightmare when I was younger, but I'm not exactly sure I would call Wonderland torture.

Weird, yes. Insane, definitely. But we've all been through a lot worse.

[ognesperanza]

Wonderland? There's a game based around Wonderland?

[to him, that just sounds one part ridiculous and two parts horror possibilities]

[keeperfromtheflame]

That's what I'm being told.

Alice...the queen...the cheshire cat...it's all there. And so are some of the others.

[ognesperanza]

I don't trust it. That sounds way too bedtime story to be safe.

[keeperfromtheflame]

Is there anything you do trust?

[She all but figured that to be a rhetorical question. And that thought alone saddened her. They came from the same era...they shared a father...and yet, there were times when she felt more distant from her own (half) brother than any of the other demigods.]

ahhh I love your Hazel

[ognesperanza]

[he glances away--that cuts a little deep--then back to her]

I trust you.

<3 ty. I've been doing a lot of recent canon review to improve~

[keeperfromtheflame]

[Oh. That was...]

[Almost immediately, a wave of guilt washed over her for her previous thoughts. He just always seemed so alone. So isolated, even for a Son of Plu--Son of Hades. How could she have known?]

[...no, that wasn't true. He had told her before, in his own way. She was just too worried to really listen.]

I trust you too, Nico. [And she offered a hesitant, but warm smile. One only a sister could carry for her dear brother.] I always have. Ever since you saved me.

nice! it definitely shows. <3 I still have to re-read MoA and HoH

[ognesperanza]

[He tries for a small smile back. It's true that he really does trust her, even if he doesn't act like it sometimes. They've shared a lot of stuff already, right? Some pretty serious stuff, too. He hopes she trusts him too, so he believes her]

[Afterall, she's his sister, and in a way, she saved him, too]

Well, that's good to hear.

you have no idea how happy that makes me to hear

[keeperfromtheflame]

[The fact that he tried at all...it meant far more than he would ever know.]

I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true.

Are you going to be alright?