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nico di angelo

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Who:

zombiedude and OTA
When: After the event
Where: The park or around Cerealia if you want to run into him walking about
What: Nico is back from his canon update that was about a six months time jump for him, so come get reacquainted with him if you're already established CR or come meet him for the first time if you're interested in meeting a demigod son of Hades with a three-headed Rottweiler.
Rating/Warning: Probably some references to things that have happened in The Hidden Oracle

[Nico feels a bit strange being back in Cerealia. He'd been here for almost nine months without ever seeing home and without ever knowing when he would see it again. He'd started a relationship with Will, gotten tossed into the sewers with a group of others and had an unexpected and not very pleasant adventure happen, lost Will after he disappeared a few days after that, then finally - finally - went home too.

He'd spent almost nine months in Cerealia before, but he'd been home for almost six, so now he has that much appreciated buffer this time. He has mixed feelings about being back. It's Cerealia and when has anything good ever lasted for very long here, but he's in a better place now because of that trip back home and what had happened during it, and he's more prepared to deal with whatever Cerealia throws at them next. Apparently, he'd returned during some sort of weird going on (no surprise there) even though nothing had happened to him. He'd taken the time to go through his returned memories of his stay here before during it instead.

A part of him is quietly amused that he and Will started up a relationship here then had the same thing happen when they had gone home. He's not quite as upset about Will not having returned with him, now that he has six months of memories full of good times at camp, getting to know Will better, starting to date him, and settling into a comfortable relationship with the son of Apollo during that time. It'd been six months of finding his place at camp, gradually being accepted by the other campers, strengthening the friendships that had started during the war against Gaia, and most importantly of all, six months (mostly) of peace. Sure, there had been disturbances going on here and there, but when you're a demigod, that becomes normal fast. Then trouble had started up again, and Nico hopes that things can get resolved with Apollo and the Oracles before another big war erupts. At least he knows for sure now that he won't miss anything. He'd showed up at home the exact moment he'd been brought to Cerealia the first time.

It'd been amazing to see his sister and friends again, but now that he's back and remembers the people he knew only here, he's making a list of all the people he remembers to see if they're still around and go pay them a visit. It might be strange for them to have him suddenly pop in because it probably hasn't been that long since they've seen him, but for him, now that he remembers, he misses certain people and wants to see how others are doing. He probably looks slightly different to them, a little older and taller, hair a bit longer. In his time in Cerealia before, his skin had stopped being so pale due to all those months spent outside of the Underworld where the colors didn't get leeched from him, and while he's still pale now, he's nowhere near as bad as he was when he first arrived after shadow traveling halfway across the world and practically literally fading away into the shadows.

Speaking of people he's missed, a few barks make him look up from his list and smile softly when he spots a red rubber ball resting nearby his hand. Cerberus definitely falls into that category. He's been throwing Cerberus' favorite toy to him as he's been writing down names, and he picks up the ball to give it a good throw, watching as Cerberus tears off after it excitedly. He definitely doesn't have the same sort of bond with the three-headed Rottweiler back home. In his father's kingdom, Cerberus is Hades' guard dog. Here, Cerberus is his dog and practically his best friend. He's one of the few things that have been constant in this consistently changing place ever since the canine first showed up in Cerealia months ago. Cerberus isn't something he's going to take for granted while he's back, especially not now when he's once again the only person from his world here.

All in all, of course Nico wishes he could have just stayed back home, and he already is missing a few people again, but now that he's back, he's more prepared to deal with whatever comes next than he was before.]

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[After everything was over, Takeru couldn't help but feel just a tad bit dizzy. All things considered, the fact that Cerealia had the ability to mess with people's memory and have them look into other people's memories as well? While the latter wasn't a bad thing, he had a problem with the former.

For the past couple of days, he happened to be wandering around having no clue who his brother was at all.

To make things even worse? He could have sworn he saw his mother running around too. As he walked around the area, he started to mumble to himself. Whatever was going on, he wasn't sure but he wished it would stop.

Although, when he saw a familiar looking dog nearby, that's when the boy started to perk up a little. If Cerberus was here, does that mean...?]

Nico-san? Nico-san, is that you?

[Nico looks over when he hears someone call his name. The -san attached to the end of it and the familiarity of the voice... He knows this person, knows they're someone he has warm feelings towards. And when he spots the young face, he gives a soft, gentle smile of recognition.]

Takeru. Hi.

[As the boy walked over to him, he couldn't help but continue to smile! Although, was it just him or did Nico seem a little...different?]

It's been a while since I last saw you, Nico-san! I ws wondering where you were!

Longer for me than you. I went home for awhile.

How have you been?

[Now that made the little boy stare at Nico rather oddly. As far as Takeru knew, he was never aware that his friend had left the colonly and went straight back home!]

R-Really? I didn't know that! But it wasn't scary was it? Especially when you mentioned before that you came from a world where there were a lot of Gods...?

[Nico raises his eyebrows back in slight amusement as Takeru looks him over.]

It wasn't scary, no. Actually, it was nice. The war we were in the middle of the first time I was brought here is finally over.

It is? Then does that mean you won't have to fight any other scary monsters anymore? And that you're going to be okay when you go back home?

[Because you know. Just in case!]

I'm a demigod; fighting monsters is a regular occurrence for us. There'll always be monsters coming after demigods, but hopefully, they won't be in an army united under a leader for a long time. [He gives Takeru a light, reassuring smile.] But I'm sure I'll manage things fine when I go back home for good.

Hopefully not because if it is, it would mean you'll have to fight! And you might get hurt really badly the next time around! I don't want that to happen to you!

[Even if he was a demigod, he just didn't want to see anymore of his friends get hurt!]

Edited 2016-06-28 23:34 (UTC)

[Oh Takeru. Nico doesn't want to say it's probably highly likely he's going to have to fight again and his life is probably just going to be like that, dealing with monsters for the rest of it, so he just keeps that to himself and tries to be reassuring instead.] Let's hope. I wouldn't mind never getting hurt badly.

[For a moment, Takeru didn't know what to say back. This was such a somber topic and to talk about war? tt was a little challenging for his mind to understand outside of how bad it was.

However, until he's older?]

Well...at least you're here now right? I know Cerealia isn't a good place but at least you don't have to worry about a war here.

[Nico bites down on the inside of his cheeks to keep from letting out a short, wry laugh. No, there hasn't been a war with large battles fought here, but Nico wouldn't say there's no war going on whatsoever. They just don't have much to fight back with due to CERES having the ability to control things like their powers and memories. It's hard to oppose someone when you don't have much at your disposal to use to fight against them.

No, Cerealia isn't a good place, but at least, in a way, it's somewhat predictable? Bad things happen, then they're over with after a determinate amount of time, like clockwork. And the majority of the other people stuck here too aren't bad at all.]

I'm here now. [He nods in confirmation. Yes, he'd rather be home, but he'll make due being here. He's survived worse.]

Are Hikari, her brother, and your brother still around? [He hopes so; he knows from experience it's hard not having your siblings around, especially when you're young.] Han? [He's spoken with Han a few times, most notably when that elevator fiasco happened on that tour CERES gave some months back.]

Hm? Yeah, all of them are here! They haven't left yet!

[Although, Takeru hoped that neither of them will. It was selfish but he just didn't want go be lonely. And especially his brother. After everything the brothers been through, all Takeru wanted was to spend some more time with his brother.

When spending all that time in the Digital World was the only time they got to see each other for an extended period of time, Takeru just didn't want to let that go. ]

...But I kind of hope they won't ever have to.

I hope everyone from your world can all stay together until all of you are able to go home at the same time. [That's probably the best thing to happen.] But I'll probably still be here for awhile. If you ever find yourself alone, you can always look me up. This place doesn't seem to want to get rid of me for good yet. [He says it with a hint of a sardonic tone, although he's genuine about helping Takeru out with anything. The kid didn't run screaming from him in terror once he found out about his powers and parentage, and Nico is willing to do whatever he can for Takeru to repay that kindness.]

I'm sure we will! But even if we don't, I think that could be okay too. Because I know they shouldn't be here.

[Although, despite his words, he sure sounded like he didn't want that to happen. If anything, he really would rather have everyone stay together. But he knows that can't happen and it sucks. A lot]

But don't worry, if anything happens, I know I'll call you! You're my friend and I don't want you to go either!

Neither should you. Nobody that's being held here against their will should be.

[Takeru calling him his friend makes him smile lightly.] Thank you, Takeru. [It means a lot.]

It's not a problem!

[Although, now that Takeru thought about it?]

But...what are you thanking me for?

Thinking of me as a friend.

[For a moment, Takeru didn't know what to say back. He always thought of Nico as a friend but...didn't Nico?]

Well, of course I do! You're really friendly and nice, why wouldn't I think of you as a friend? And especially when you got a really cool power too!

[A lot of the people Molly knows best have vanished. And mostly they haven't come back. So she's really excited to see Nico, even if he's not the Nico she misses the most. So she runs over when she spots him. Not even with new people?]

Nico!

[He looks different. THat's kinda weird but she's just glad to see him.]

[Nico smiles lightly when Molly comes running up to him. She's definitely one of the people he's written down on his list and he's glad to see her again too.]

Hi, Molly. Doing okay?

Better now that the weirdness let up.

[Maybe that was all she could really ask for here. This place can really get into your head.]

Nothing tried to kill us this time at least.

What happened this time? [No attempted murder is good but still.]

There were the animals that no one else could see... but they were definitely hurt.

[That poor kitty. It always hissed at her but it was always around]

And stuff happened with memories, if they touched anyone.

[Which was a problem when... no one could see anyone else's]

And I kept hearing Gert. I'm still not sure if that was the animals or not.

[Nico frowns when he hears the thing about memories. As someone who has had his own memories messed with before he came here, he's definitely not a fan when CERES decides to do it.]

You mean if the animals touched anyone, something happened with someone's memories? Like what?

Who's Gert?

We'd see their memories. And they'd forget something. Until it was all over.

[The worst part is when they get in her head]

Gert's my friend... was... she died a while ago. But I kept hearing her.

Sounds like it was rough. Did all the memories get... reset when it was done?

[Nico feels a twinge of anger that Molly had to go through something like that. He's hallucinated Hazel being here more than once, so he knows the people here are capable of it, but to mess with someone younger than him...]

I'm sorry you had to go through that. [Both that she lost a friend and that she had hallucinations.]

Yeah... everything's back to normal now. But I think everyone had something out there that they didn't really want other people knowing about.

[It's really nice not being a Child of the Pride here. There's a reason she doesn't really talk about her parents.]

I can understand that. [Twice, he's had other people get a glimpse into personal memories of his life even just back home. Granted, Jason and Reyna seemed to understand and accept him better because of it, but still. Having someone being shown personal things without any say in it wasn't something he'd say was fun.]

I hope no one gave you any trouble for seeing anything of yours you didn't want them to see. [Because he'd be happy to pay a visit to them if anyone did mess with her.]

[The bright red ball bouncing past her and that three-headed Rottweiler pouncing on it is such a familiar and recognizable sight that Veronica immediately looks in the direction of the thrower, her eyes brightening on seeing Nico.

True, he was older, but he was here. That was enough, wasn't it?]

You are back.

[Nico grins when he sees Veronica and Cerberus comes bounding over to her, dropping the ball at her feet as his tail wags in excitement.]

I am, yeah. I got to go home for awhile.

[The grin seems to come so much more easily to his face and she can't help but to return it before leaning down to scoop the ball up, ruffling each pair of Cerberus' ears.]

I see. What was it like? Did you like it?

[She gives the ball an experimental squeeze before she tosses it back in Nico's direction to see if Cerberus will chase it.]

It was... good. [Yeah, 'good' is a good word to sum it up.] The war was over and things were more or less peaceful.

[Cerberus is more than happy to take off after the ball, all of his heads pleased that they all got attention.]

I am very happy to hear it. [Just because there wasn't peace back home for her doesn't mean that she can't be genuinely happy for him.]

I am glad that everything was peaceful. More or less.

[The ball rolls to a stop in front of Nico and Veronica walks after it, as well.]

[Cerberus' heads tussle a bit with each other before one of them snatches the ball up, then the dog trots the rest of the way back to Veronica and drops the ball at her feet.

Nico gives a light smile of amusement.] You'd think he's starved for attention.

How have things been here for you? I heard CERES was messing with people's memories again.

[Crouching down, she ruffles the ears of each head, laughing and telling Cerberus what a good boy he is.]

Is he not normally like this? [Well, her own dog way back when had been a very calm, unruffled pup. Maybe he was normally like that?]

It has been...odd. [For one, she actually forgot things. Not just small things, but people and places and memories.] I did not like it very much and I am only glad it is over. Although-

[Although one part of her worries if she's really regained all her memories.]

...I worry that perhaps I have not regained everything.

Edited 2016-06-29 05:02 (UTC)

[Cerberus flops down on his side, an open invitation for belly rubs.]

Normally he's guarding the gates of the Underworld and is a lot bigger. I don't think he has many chances to just be a regular dog... as regular a dog as he can be for having three heads. When he first showed up here, he was a lot more guarded, but he's become more relaxed over time, I think. Still protective though. [And Nico's become just as protective of the dog in return.]

I'm sorry that happened. [His words are genuinely sympathetic.] I've had a few experiences with memory loss... It's hard to remember you forgot something if you can't remember you forgot something in the first place. CERES usually... resets things after some time, if that's any consolation, so if you still don't have some back, chances are you'll most likely remember given some time.

[Veronica definitely recognizes that invitation and accepts it very happily. At least with belly rubs, she's can put all her attention to one spot and not three.]

I do not think having three heads makes him irregular. He is unique, but I do not think it is a bad thing. I am glad that he is more relaxed. My dog Glen always liked having fun as well: chasing balls, napping, taking walks. Though I suppose that is because he has never had to be a guard dog.

Thank you. I am not sure that I will know to miss them, which is why I worry. But I would be very glad if it proves unfounded and I regain everything that I have lost.

Cerberus discovered he likes to do those things too, especially chasing red rubber balls. [Percy had discovered that before Nico even knew he himself was a demigod, but the knowledge came in handy once he learned it.]

What kind of dog was yours?

He was a German Shepherd. [And she missed him a lot...but tucks the thought away, her smile just a bit more wistful as she ruffles the ears on one of Cerberus's heads.]

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