deercountry | magic, madness, heaven, sin

magic, madness, heaven, sin

JULY 2022 EVENT

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: A statue of Lady Justice with her sword against a man's throat. ]
[Image Two: A pair of hands covered in blood. ]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Two people trying to reach one another being pulled back by multiple, disembodied hands. ]
[Image Two: A feminine figure lying on a boardwalk above the ocean. ]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A pair of black scales held by a statue. ]
[Image Two: A single hand reaching up from the water, implying drowning. ]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

GOOD AND EVIL

WHEN: July
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, revenge, possible torture, possible death, mental manipulation

An excerpt from the book Thus Comes the Reckoning:

Are we inherently good or evil? Are we hard-wired for empathy? Or is violent behavior our innate reaction when the world has done us wrong? This is something that has been debated for centuries, even in the times Before Sodder. Have we evolved since the Dreamless World? Since the Nightmare? Have the Pthumerians and their blessings made us more peaceful and understanding?

While it is true that our world is more generous and caring than the ones we have read about in the Dreamless World, where in spite of our shortages, we want for nothing that we truly need, the very existence of corruption and beasthood should speak of our true natures and of the true natures of Sleepers. There is no time that this is more prominent in our world than in the month of July, when the Reckoning holds sway.

It is unclear if it is the unbearable heat, the Pthumerian's influence, or perhaps just our true selves coming forth, but each July is the prelude to chaos. The pleasantries die off, the generosity wanes, and we forget the lessons of our more kind and gentle benefactors. Fist fights over minor disagreements, people attacking one another with weapons when they don't get their way or wait too long in line, and murders over the loss of a game. Does the summer make monsters of us all? Or does the Beast Moon simply encourage what is already inside of us?

Sleepers will find themselves encouraged towards violence. Many will be drawn to do evil. They will feel a pull to hurt others, particularly those who have hurt them first. Anger will seem like a natural state and many will find that they have lost all ability to reason when they become even minorly frustrated. Vigilante justice will seem like a great idea. Did someone hurt your loved one? Then tear them apart! Did a person borrow something from you and never return it? End them. Criminal activity will skyrocket, particularly violent criminal activity, throughout the month of July. People will feel more inclined to steal, to damage property, to kill, and to get revenge. Torturing others will seem like a perfectly reasonable idea. It is the month to do so and it might even feel good to hurt other people.

Sleepers will also feel violently protective of those they love. They will want to make sure that the violent crimes happening to other people doesn't happen to their people and they might go to such extremes as locking their loved ones up so that nothing can get to them. It's an obsessive need to protect and not let go. Someone might even feel so inclined as to kill their friends just to make sure that no one else can hurt them.

On the flip side, those who manage to resist the violent urges will be more inclined to help those who are violent. Even if you are someone who has never wanted to help another person, you will be drawn to do good. It's not impossible to talk others down, to sway them to being better people and to remembering who they are. It's just a lot of work. But still, those who are impacted by the good will feel that same need to protect others; only for them, it doesn't have to necessarily be someone they know. They want to do the right thing, to protect people from themselves. Unlike the evil, they will know there are limits, and they will not hurt others in their attempt to protect them. But they may end up being willing to, possibly uncharacteristically, sacrifice themselves to do so.

QUICK FACTS: 1. You can only be impacted by The Good or The Evil at one time. Someone who is Good can be corrupted into becoming Evil. If someone is talked down from being Evil, they can either go back to being their normal selves, or they can become impacted by The Good instead. This can happen as many times in the month as possible, but they can only be Good or Evil at one time. You can not be both at once.

2. Characters who can usually heal demons/possessions/etc. can cure Evil in people. Their powers will work the same as they would in their canon/from their blood powers. Game based items that would normally cure corruption however will NOT work to cure Evil. They will still work to cure corruption/beasthood.

3. The Reckoning can still punish you. Just because you're being influenced by outside forces won't matter to her. If she catches you doing something bad and it isn't for revenge purposes, she will punish you as she sees fit. This is left up to player interpretation.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

FORTUNE'S FOOL

WHEN: July
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Star-Crossed lovers, encouraged suicidal ideation, possible death

Love. A complicated feeling that puts people into complicated circumstances. And yet, people will find themselves focused on this emotion more so than usual this month. For someone who is already in love, the emotions will become even stronger, almost overwhelming, wanting to burst out of them like a song. For those who were not in love before, they may find themselves suddenly easily falling for others. Maybe they will love multiple people or maybe just one, but love will be an all consuming emotion to those who fall victim to it.

The only problem is that love isn't always accepted. People who are deeply in love will suddenly start to feel persecuted and judged from those around them. They will feel as though their love is unallowed, that the person that means the most to them is being rejected by their family, their friends, by society itself. It doesn't matter if that's the truth: there's just something inside of people that makes them thoroughly convinced that their love is not meant to be. Star-Crossed. Unattainable.

There will be an increased urge to solidify that love as being real and unbreakable. Maybe this is done through fighting back against those who are saying no. Maybe it comes in the form of secretly saying vows and loved ones spiritually tying themselves together forever. Or maybe in the end, the only true way that lovers feel they can truly be together... is in death. All of these will seem like reasonable options— or maybe even the only option. Love is never ending, after all, even if life is.

QUICK FACTS: 1. Anyone can fall in love with anyone else. It doesn't have to be the character that you're already shipping with if all players agree! You can fall in love with someone you know, someone you've just met, or even a total stranger. Love is a gift to everyone, right??? Who needs pesky things like introductions.

2. You do not have to commit suicide. You can, of course, and many will definitely feel drawn to it with the basis of the prompt, but it is not required. Please make sure to mark all threads accordingly!

3. The persecution against your relationship does not have to be real. You can, however, tie this into the first prompt, and have even the smallest slights be reason to think that your love is persecuted. Similarly, people who are impacted by the first prompt may be more likely to actually shun those who are in love. Feel free to work with it however you see fit!

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

OUR OWN PRISONS

WHEN: July
WHERE: All over, but particularly by the ocean.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Self-hatred, judgement, suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, possible drowning.

Everyone has personal flaws. Things about themselves they don't like, reactions they wish they didn't have, habits that they want to break. Sometimes the awareness of flaws can outweigh the awareness of our strengths as well. It's easy to get caught up in the feeling that we're less then perfect, that we'll never be able to fix ourselves no matter what we do.

This month, those feelings seem to be amplified. Sleepers will see flaws everywhere; in the people they love, in the Trenchies, and most heavily in themselves. Feelings of self-hatred and judgement will be amplified and even those who are usually confident in themselves will find that they're suffering from it. Sometimes these feelings may manifest as a simple bout of anger and depression; but for others, it can become more severe quickly.

Those who find themselves suffering heaviest from these feelings will feel called to the ocean. Maybe it's a desire to go back to a squid form, a place that's simpler and more straight forward. Or maybe it's the unbearable heat that's putting these thoughts in someone's head and they'll feel like going for a swim would cure it. But there's something inside everyone that knows that if they go into the ocean, they might not come back out again.

Sleepers will feel like the ultimate judgement is waiting for them out there. If they are seeing flaws more in themselves, being by the ocean will amplify feelings of suicide. If they're seeing flaws in everyone else, they might feel compelled to bring those people down to the ocean to drown them. The ocean, associated so heavily with rebirth, could be the very thing to cleanse people of their imperfections, after all. Maybe it would be a favor to everyone if someone just gave in and tried to fix themselves and others. For the good of Trench.

QUICK FACTS: 1. These feelings can cause people to become more corrupt. The longer they are exposed to these feelings, the closer they will get to high levels of corruption, and eventual beasthood.

2. Because these feelings can cause corruption, they can also be relieved through the same methods as corruption. Talking, touching, Moon Drops, get some therapy, whatever the player chooses.

3. People who do not address their feelings and/or who spend too much time by the ocean will inevitably deal with feelings of suicide and/or homicide. Please be sure to handle these topics appropriately and content warn your threads.

[JUMP TO TOP]

CODING

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ So far, Nico has been content to simply use his legs to get around, it forces him to interact with other people even if it's just a nod of his head. Human contact - most people need it and Nico probably needs it more than most.

Today, he doesn't want those small interactions - or any interactions. Staying in bed and doing nothing sound much better. If it weren't for his Omen, Nico might be going through with it. That yellow bird may be small, but it is mighty. Or its voice is, anyway.

This is what leads Nico into appearing out of a shadowy corner of Palamedes' office without any sort of warning. See, he can do magical appearances out of nowhere, too. There are no words as he finds the nearest seat and plops face-first onto the desk.

Muffled words do happen: ] Don't mind me, I'm not here.

[ Nailed it. ]

[The Sanctuary itself does wonders to keep its occupants uncorrupted and unbothered, for the most part; no system is completely closed, even a place radiating anti-corruption energy can have gaps, etc. But Palamedes has been fortunate enough - more fortunate than most, given the rest of the month people have been having - to sit at his desk unimpeded by any intrusive thoughts or particularly damning urges to do violence, or what-have-you. He knows to appreciate that, and he has done so, hm, silently, lest he tempt fate.

So there he is at his desk, placidly sorting some papers and doing some formulas when Nico appears out of the corner, ah. He glances up, eyebrows raised, and looks back down when it's just Nico, a welcome presence in the office. Credit the office this: the chairs are very comfortable, although Palamedes doubts the surface of his desk is a very good pillow...

Hm. He says,] Alright; you do you.

[And he continues his formula-ing, at least for a few more minutes. It's a fine sort of companionable silence, broken only by the scratching of his pen and then the idle scuff of footsteps, when he gets up to put some other papers away and peer at his shelves for a bit. When he returns to the desk he doesn't sit again but leans against the edge of it, next to Nico, tapping lightly on the wood next to his head. Hi.]

I've run out of 'not minding' juice. What's wrong?

[ Nico spends a lot of time here, so it has possibly helped with all of the other things going on, but the demigod has always struggled with his own insecurities and flaws. Less now than he had in the past, though it's a Process of working through it all. Will isn't here to drag him out of his own bubble of darkness, or bring that beam of light in to soften it. The Omen helps.

It's enough to be here in the presence of someone, to not be bothered while Palamedes goes about his work. The chair is comfortable, the desk hardly the worst thing he's ever laid upon, but he won't use books or paper to make it better. Nico simply listens to the sounds of busy-work the man is doing around the office.

When the silence breaks, it isn't unexpected nor unwanted. Even just those few moments are appreciated. His head turns towards the tapping sound though Nico doesn't sit up at all. ]

Probably just this place doing what this place does. Toying with my emotions. Dragging me down.

[Palamedes hums, an understanding of the Trench Issue without needing to belabor the point. He's familiar with it; worse that he's become resigned to being familiar with it, he thinks, because it's always a touch bleaker than one typically wants, to realize how desensitized they've become to unmitigated misery.

But it is still understanding, and Nico hasn't been here nearly as long, and so while Palamedes might have dismissed this kind of behavior in himself, seeing Nico slumped on his desk in despair kindles his empathy instead, on automatic.]

It's been a rough month, [he says, nodding.] Congratulations on your first proper Trench introduction.

[Ah, but let's not be totally flippant. He reaches over and tousles Nico's hair, a friendly affirmation that he's here and listening.]

You'll make it through. If I send for some tea, will you sit up and have any?

[ That's all he has to say for the people here to understand. A few words and the other person just gets it. Maybe it's not as healthy as putting all of his feelings out into the air, all the things he still needs to work on, but they should be worked on when Nico is able.

So, for now, Palamedes handling it as a Trench Issue suits him just fine. Makes this place feel like a safe space for when he is ready to tackle all of the mental baggage. Even with the handling, Nico can sense that should he willingly try to lay this burden down, Palamedes will help him. ]

There should be celebrations held for getting through the Trench orientation phase.

[ Dry humor, where Nico lives and breathes. The hand coming to ruffle his hair has him tensing for the briefest of moments, then relaxing again. Touch is still something unfamiliar to him, but he has accepted that Palamedes will be one of the few who can. ]

Do I have to sit up to drink it or are there straws in this world? [ Pause. ] Does that make me a heathen - wanting to drink tea with a straw?

Edited (when you forget to pick an icon) 2022-07-17 20:39 (UTC)

You could pretend the festival was an advance celebration, I suppose.

[Ha ha. He doesn't disagree that there's a sort of rite of passage feeling to it - join the rest of them, the beleaguered masses exhausted by trials of personal growth et al. - but that doesn't make it less frustrating. If nothing else it serves as a distance-maker, between the thorns of one's heart and the 'look what Trench has done this time' excuse; Palamedes knows that one already.

It's easy therefore not to press, to let Nico speak about only what he wants to - even if that is drinking tea with a straw. That Nico came to sulk in his office is speaking volumes in and of itself, Palamedes thinks, so - sure. Tea with a straw, they can talk about that.]

I would recommend that you... didn't? For your mouth's sake?

[Like, more power to him, Palamedes can find him a curly straw somewhere, but it's hot liquid?? Nico, please.]

It's the tea from the festival, the one that helps corruption. The kitchens have the recipe now, and even if it doesn't act as a cure-all— it's tasty.

Feels like cheating. There should at least be gold stars that say "you survived" handed out.

[ Nico is no stranger to rites of passage - this is just the newest one. He will soon officially be One of Them as he'd been on the unaffected side of the previous "events". People don't need more thorns, Nico's barely just started on his previous ones.

This isn't the easiest thing for Nico to deal with, but he's currently in the third step: 3. Make witty small talk. It's going great! Really, he should take these steps more often. ]

I wasn't planning to guzzle it down like it's healing fire water.

[ Which he may have actually had a drink or two of said healing fire water before. Still, Nico pries himself up from the desk to lean back in the chair. Progress. He looks paler than usual, and exhausted in a way that sleep just won't help with. ]

Don't think I had any of that at the festival, but sounds like this place needs it. Maybe me too.

Don't tempt me; I've still got paper left from the tree wishes.

[And some old timey scissors just itching to cut out a gold star. Maybe he'll save it for after Nico is through this... this, because it will definitely hit differently in the after stages than now, when he's so down in the dumps and looks as poorly as he does.]

I think you do need the tea, but not for guzzling, of course. Hold on.

[Give him a minute to cross to the open doorway, waving down the nearest passing staff member to ask for tea and also Abigail's tender mercy, because she's put him on her hit list of skinny nerds who don't eat enough, so there's definitely going to be snacks delivered whenever this tea comes. He returns to his leaning spot at the desk with a nod as if to say, there, that's settled. Tea is coming.]

Trouble sleeping? No offense, but you look terrible.

You can probably think of much better uses for the paper.

[ If Nico ends up with a gold star, he will hang it up in his room. Right next to his bed so he can remember this should anything similar happen again. Or something that just makes him want to stay there. ]

Might need that tea a lot.

[ While he's very good at suppressing all those terrible emotions, he's still getting the hang of releasing them without hurting himself or others. Snacks would be good, Nico tends to not eat when things get like this. ]

Nightmares, daymares, reliving some of my worst memories and inflicting all that on other people. All the fun stuff.

I don't know, I'm coming around to 'crafts'. You should have seen me with paper when I first got here, I was inconsolable. [Which is a wack and weird thing to say, so he clarifies,] We have a cheap imitation back home, considering we don't have any trees.

[He's chattering; it's intentional, like it usually is. He can chatter about paper and Nico can ease into talking to another person, the same way Palamedes puttered around the office for a while before disturbing his sulk in the first place. Paper-related babbling is, therefore, a Pro Strat, and he's doing excellently at it.

He looks from Nico to the doorway, as if that will make the tea and snacks come faster, and folds his arms to drum his fingers on his elbow. Hmm.]

Memories— we've done that one already. Or is that yours?

[A skill of Nico's, he means, because he's not heard of anyone pushing into each other's psyches again, like the last time. A dubious skill, perhaps, but Palamedes' psychometry is fundamentally the reverse of the same, so - no judgment there.]

I'm in the process of acquiring a sleeping tincture, though it might be a while. If you're interested.

Cutting it up must have been a nightmare for you back then. [ He gets it, no trees on Mercury. ] Did you cry over a book?

[ It helps, talking about someone else. Though he knows it will come back around to him at some point, that it will be better for him and everyone around him.

Just going to slouch in the chair so his head dangles over the back. His gaze shifts to Palamedes at the question then away. ]

Mine. It happens at times like this. Probably a play on one of dear ol' dad's powers.

[ He's trying to work on it with D, getting that under control and something he can actually wield rather than it bursting out. It's not his favorite skill, and can hardly be counted as a skill until he can properly use it. ]

I'll be okay. Shadow travel can knock me out easily. The trip back to my room will have me out for hours.

I didn't cry over a book. [He's close enough to nudge Nico's knee faux-scoldingly with his own and so he does, like please? Cry? Over a book? As if,] I wouldn't even touch books without a dozen security measures. Have you seen the study room in the Archives? Did they take down my blackout curtains?

[Which, fundamentally, were just the cut-up bits of a cloak he acquired and immediately destroyed to prevent light damage. It was a whole thing. That he can do crafts now is the biggest point in favor of personal growth he's got.

But he didn't cry, which is the important part. Moisture would kill a book, good god.]

Relying on shadow travel isn't the most secure method, or the healthiest, I imagine... but I am trying to peddle tinctures, so let's worry about health when I've got the formula nailed down.

[So shadow travel today, maybe a nice NyQuil in a week or two? Keep a pin in that. He considers the nature of this power - just radiating memories, like that, uncontrolled? - and then twists to grab for a notebook, because of course.]

You know, the darkblood abilities allege that we can all 'distort reality' in some way or another. There's a chance that if you mastered your blood magic, you could master that.

[ Nico could avoid that nudge if he wanted, but he doesn't, allowing his leg to sway back and forth at the act. ] Hey, it's not like I asked if you cried on a book. [ Playfully. ]

Only a dozen? I haven't seen the study room in the Archives, so cannot report on your curtains. [ Guess he'll have to check out the room next time he goes there. Just so he can report back. Crafting with paper is a big step in personal growth.

A small sigh, only because he knows it's not smart to rely on shadow travel to put him out. ]

No, it's really not. I wasn't planning on using it much with all the other teleports around here, but it was the only way I was going to come here. [ The smallest nods of his head. ] Don't accept a lot of peddlers, but since it's you, I suppose I can make an exception.

[ Shadow travel today, other methods in the future. He doesn't want to be reliant on either method, hence why he's already tried to get ahead of this mess. Nico doesn't even blink when Palamedes whips out a notebook to write in. ]

Already got myself a teacher on that. He's giving me one-on-one lessons. Then another person is helping with my non-darkblood abilities.

[ He lifts his head. ]

Are you writing down all my abilities? [ Nico doesn't sound offended. ]

[Palamedes scoffs, waving a hand dismissively like, stop, please, he will never shut up about books and protective security measures at this rate.]

There's only so much I can do without a supply of helium and lockboxes on hand. See about the curtains, next time.

[He'll never go back unless under duress, but he's still curious? Could his curtains still be up, since the end of last year...? That would be a legacy to spite Never Mind, sort of.

But more importantly, this... thing with the abilities. He nods back, understanding, and offers a brief quirk of a smile, grateful. He promises not to feed Nico any questionably poisonous tinctures.]

I'll see what I can do. Who's your teacher?

[A darkblood expert? He must Know, in case that ever comes in handy. Needs must, and so on.]

And— no, not quite. I'm making a diagram.

[He flips the notebook around; it is indeed a Venn diagram, helpfully labeled with a skull doodle on one side, for Death Abilities, and a blood drop on the other, for, well, darkblood.]

Your abilities are going in here, admittedly; I'm curious about how much overlap you'll have. Of course, my only comparison right now is me, but... [shrug!] It should be interesting.

[ Just so long as they never implement those kinds of security measures here, that seems like a lot of work in order to read a book. ]

Thanks the gods for that. [ SHAKING HIS HEAD, PAL. ] Yeah sure, it'll psyche out the opponent for sure when I scope the place out.

[ Don't worry, Nico's got this. He can be the spy... I mean, scout.

This thing with the abilities is very important, as it will now serve as a clue for whenever Nico is having a bad time. Just appearing out of the shadows near Palamedes. Thanks for that. ]

Okay. Uchiha Sasuke over at Ninjutsu Training. I've got one-on-one lessons with him for now.

[ He doesn't know if the guy has taught to darkbloods, only that his current students are palebloods. Still, handy to know. ]

Ah, separating out regular abilities from those of a darkblood's.

[ Figuring out the possibilities that a darkblood can do with their new abilities. Nico hums thoughtfully at the last part. ]

You can ask about my abilities, get the whole list so you can study it sooner.

[Who said anything about reading them, maybe everyone else needs to get a Perfect Memory (tm) for all text before it goes into storage forever.]

Be sure to scoff at the shelves and whatnot. Anything that looks even slightly disorganized. Let him know what we're about.

[Haha... eat it, Never Mind.

Palamedes nods; he doesn't know this Uchiha Sasuke at all, not even by name, which - in some ways, is a positive endorsement. What is a ninjutsu, though... sounds mysterious.]

Something like that. Take, for example, the ability to communicate with the dead. Yours would go here, [he taps the pen against the skull doodle side,] and mine here, [in the middle,] because I'm still on the 'using blood to summon' level, which fundamentally connects it to darkblood, in this place.

[So really, what he's going to need is a lot more diagrams. He turns the notebook, to scribble 'summon dead with burger' into the skull side, then looks up again.]

There; added. I'm adding 'shadow travel' to the middle, for the reality-manipulating nature of it. Give me another one, we'll hash it out.

[See? A fun activity to do besides wallowing in despair. He's nailing this.]

[ Sorry not everyone has a brain that works like that, Nico sure doesn't. Don't deny your adopted son the books. ]

I'll throw in some disdainful glares too. Just for good measure.

[ He's got some good ones.

Uchiha seems like a good guy, and apparently ninjutsu is close to how blood powers work so... bonus? ]

I get it. So 'summoning my sword' would probably go in the middle, too.

[ Because where does it come from, where does it go? Pal will probably need a loooot more diagrams. ]

Osteokinesis: rather than summoning a skeleton, I've manipulated bones to form shields, traps, and weapons.

[Fair point, Nico gets son privileges that the others do not, like a special lockbox code or something. Treasure it.]

That's the spirit. You're thinking critically now.

[This is a joke, but also Palamedes' approval? It's multifaceted.

He nods and wiggles his pen in the affirmative (there are many different pen wiggles with varied meanings to learn, welcome to the experience), jotting down 'summoning sword'.]

Anything that involves summoning an object from elsewhere I would classify under 'reality manipulation,' that's right. Good call.

[And he grins briefly, for osteokinesis. Ah, are they sure the Ninth House and this Hades fellow's extended family aren't actually related...]

For us single-specialty necromancers, we call that a bone adept. Darkblood abilities lean away from straight matter manipulation, so I'm putting that one under just you.

[ He won't share it with anyone else, not even the Athena bookworms. ]

Don't worry, I'm a pro at this.

[ Nico is also joking while being somewhat serious. Small he might be, but intimidating he knows.

Maybe he'll learn what all those pen wiggles mean, after seeing enough of them. For now he'll just be amused. ]

Okay, what about hypnokinesis? I have an ability that sort of allows me to dreamwalk. I can sometimes control my own dreams, and I once inserted my dreamself into the dream of another so I could talk to him.

[ He has a weird collection of powers, he knows. Maybe they are. It would be interesting. ]

So then geokinesis - earth manipulation, cryokinesis - cold manipulation, and pyrokinesis - fire manipulation could all fall under just mine. I'm not very good with them, though.

[Well, he gets another pen wiggle for that, so start making a mental list.

Palamedes glances up from his chart, eyebrows raised.]

That is paleblood, actually. [Hmm, how should he note that, actually... After a moment, as he jots it down,] I'm putting it under yours, but with an asterisk, I suppose. That's a completely new level of overlap I can't think about yet, but I'll remember.

[And as for the others, good lord,] Coldbloods are the elementals among us, if I recall. I'm not entirely sure; I've met so few. Camilla was one, but...

[A shrug, before he quiets save for the noise of writing. Oop, we're looping back into the sad thoughts portion, can't have that--]

Asterisk, again. How are you with gravity?

[ So many pen wiggles. It would almost be intimidating but he knows this is all about abilities and not mental or emotional problems.

Should he be glad that he's crossing into the territory of other blood types or worried? ]

Are you trying to figure out why we get the bloodtypes we do? [ Rather than just how to classify all the powers. ]

[ It doesn't stop there, Pal. He's got A Lot. ] So I'm crossing a lot of lines here.

[ Many asterisks. He watches the man write. ]

Nothing with gravity, except for my new bloodpower. I have to deal with it the same as most people. Actually, I'm not really welcome in the sky. Clashing territories of my dad and his brother.

[Is it less intimidating overall if his pen is a sparkly glow in the dark one with a moon shape on the end? Because it is. He stole it, but it still is a cute moon pen.]

Maybe! That's a bigger project than I have time for right now, but I do wonder. Necromancy and reality manipulation may as well be the same thing to a lot of people, you know? Judging by the reactions I've fielded here. But to me, it's only what I was born capable of. Practically a science.

Which is all to say, 'all necromancers and suchlike are darkbloods' plain doesn't make sense. And then there's you, crossing plenty of lines, yes.

[His voice pitches fonder at the end there, like he's proud of Nico for kicking over all the blood type boundaries. He kind of is? For the implications of it.]

I'll put gravity under blood. Your... uncle?

[ Yes, actually. A therapist would have a more serious and not-cute pen, probably. He's actually never been. ]

So starting small with the people closest to. To a lot of people, there's a solid line between life and death that doesn't get crossed. Necromancers defy that line and cross over it. I creep people out because of what I can do - at least at home.

[ Even if it's a lot better now, he tried to avoid people because of it. ]

Okay, so what kind of power would I need if I wanted to cross the vileblood line?

[ WOW! Nico shifts his head away from Palamedes because what is that sound in his voice? That's not a flush on his cheeks, you're seeing things. ]

Zeus, King of the Gods, lord of the sky. Jupiter - fifth planet from the sun.

I'm in charge of my people, at home. [He makes a face, briefly, a little frown meant to imply that that's because he's very good at necromancy, but accidentally fills in the spaces between with other home-related anxieties he tries not to think about while here, in his new home. It usually works.] I'm told we have enemies, and I'm sure it's true, but I told you about the black-eyed emperor making things worse for everyone around town, here; I'll never be given the whole truth from him.

[And neither will the internet, apparently, but Palamedes has very strongly stayed Away From All That, having renewed his vows for staying in his own lane. Either way: bone wizards should have rights, but maybe not the ones playing god?

A concept. He taps the moon-shape end of the pen on the diagram idly, then,]

Vileblood is poisons, broadly. And they smell like flowers, but not in a nice way.

[Now, what is this... embrace his #dadamedes moments.]

The Fifth is pretty influential in the Empire. [why does it keep matching??] Most people I've met from the Fifth are— thoroughly decent.

Is everyone in the Empire a necromancer? [ Being the head of a House sounds important, though he doesn't know if a person is elected based on their abilities or if it's bloodlines. ] We've talked, not about anything important. He seemed more interested in skirting around it.

[ If Nico intends to consider joining the Sixth House, he figured he should at least talk to the guy who runs the Empire. He doesn't think he'll be fighting or killing for the guy, that's for sure.

At that, he shakes his head. ]

Haven't got anything in way of poisons, and I tend to kill flowers more than smell like them.

[ Hades has never said that Nico has made him proud - earned his respect, yes. It's not exactly the same. ]

That's not really much of a surprise. [ He feels like Zeus would rise up if it wasn't. ] Zeus-Jupiter's kids are more than decent.

[ Ah, the temperature in the room around Nico is dropping at this topic. Plants might be next if there are any in here. ]

@palamedes

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject