Die, die, we all pass away

[burntbridges]

who: Letha, Laurent, Damen and Nico.
what: Waking the dead!
when: 4/16, arriving in the morning and getting back a little after sunset.
where: Southeast of the wall, off in the forest.
warnings: Will be added as necessary. There will be a lot of dead people and necromancy.

--

Letha hadn't exactly bothered to meet anyone she'd invited in person, but she'd managed to arrange for them to meet her just outside the wall as the festival was ending. She's a little sad to see another celebration go, but if things keep going to way they are she's sure there will be more to come.

Truth be told, Letha is not the type for leadership - she's not even particularly worried about the commune they're headed toward, more the excitement of getting to use her powers for some good and spend time with a fellow necromancer. She has no speech prepared, no plan in particular, nor any sort of armor to speak of; she's waiting for them in a knee-length dress, which she figured was the best she had for being out in the woods, with her hair braided to keep it out of the way and her pet Phantump out and about so he could get some fresh air.

Whoever makes it there first, they'll inevitably spook her. She's a bit busy in her own head, planning ahead for when a few certain someones have to concede that her powers are good and useful and she's not a menace to society. (The fact that she is entirely at fault for their opinions being, of course, irrelevant.)

Comments

15 mins late without starbucks

[deathkid]

"Me."

The voice comes from behind Laurent as a young man dressed in dark clothes literally emerges from Laurent's shadow. It's a bit like melting in reverse if one watches carefully and once Nico di Angelo is fully standing, he glances around.

The thing is, he's been watching from the shadows for some time, curious about the people with whom he was going on a quest. They're all strangers save for, perhaps, Letha. But even she is someone Nico has only spoken to on the network. Nico is cautious by nature, always has been thanks to how short and violent the life of a demigod can be. And having been on his own for most of his life, he's even more careful than most demigods. So he'd taken a few moments to watch the others with the shadows cloaked around himself. The most impressive of the group is naturally the larger man with the equally impressive sword (Damen, Nico notes). It relieves the young demigod to some degree knowing that he isn't the only one familiar with battle.

It shows too. As Nico makes himself more visible for the rest of the group, it's clear from his stance that he's no stranger to danger or fighting for one's life. There's a mildly haggard look in his oil-slick dark eyes and whatever part of him isn't covered by black jeans, or the black skull-design tshirt is heavily scarred. At his hip, on a chain belt, hangs a lethal-looking, black sword that seems to emanate actual cold and fear, and when Nico looks up at the others, he has a clearly guarded expression.

"I'm Nico. Son of Hades."

hail and well met! aight from now on posting order is letha-damen-laurent-nico.

[burntbridges]

She nearly jumps at the sight of Laurent's shadow splitting off from him - though honestly, it's not from fear of a monster. She's just glad she wasn't somehow hallucinating that.

Nico is closer to Letha in size, but she can tell from one look at him he's much more capable of keeping himself alive. She can already tell that necromancers are much more capable in his world... which makes her a little jealous, but not enough to show.

"Right... now we're all here." She clears her throat quietly, "Were you... here the whole time?"

At least her Phantump is less afraid now... he seems to have gotten it in his head to float around Nico's head and investigate him.

[goldcuffed]

Letha nearly jumps, but Damen reacts quickly when a boy suddenly seems to form out of Laurent's shadow. He uses their linked hands to pull Laurent farther away from the new arrival, to angle his own massive form between them, protective of his fiance. He tried to be willing to tackle this whole magic thing with an open mind, but it's clear from his open-book expression that a line has been crossed. The calm, friendly good-naturedness melts away into something more wary, something harder.

They are not prepared for magic and that has become obvious. His guard is back up, and will likely not be coming down, even around his current teammates.

"Let's get this done."

[redoublement]

He didn't jump, but the sudden feeling of someone's presence behind him caused Laurent's hand to move to the hilt of his sword, his body twisting, suddenly just as sharp and alert as Damen, his blue eyes sharpening. He lost some of his more casual body language, his lips thinning in distaste.

"I've never heard of Hades, but then clearly you've never heard of manners. So I suppose it equals out," his voice was cool, almost casual in their elicitation, but the insult was clear as he gazed at the younger teen. He placed a hand gently on Damen's shoulder, squeezing softly- an effort to calm the other. He may not have liked this level of magic any more than Damen, but his love made his own weakness too it perhaps too obvious.

"Damianos is right, though. No sense in standing around here."

[deathkid]

Something flashes in Nico's eyes at that response. A mixture of loneliness and acceptance. He's used to people responding to him in that way and he knows it's partially his fault. However, it doesn't hurt any less when people pull away from him. There's nothing to be done about it now, so he shoves his hands in his pockets and lifts his shoulders in a shrug.

His gaze shifts to Letha, ignoring the way her phantump flutters around him. No move is made to shoo it away, but he does stride away from Laurent and Damen, closer to Letha.

"He's god of the Underworld where I'm from," he quickly explains. "That's why I have power over the dead. Speaking of which, Letha... Do you know the way?"

[burntbridges]

Letha moves toward Nico at the same moment; both because Damen and Laurent's sudden shift makes her nervous, and because she understands perfectly what she saw in Nico's expression. No one is quite as misunderstood as those who are tied to the death like they are, and she wants him to know she's there for him. Her phantump, meanwhile, settles on top of Nico's shoulder and clings to him with his tiny little ghost paws.

"Of course... I procured a map while I was gaining information about it, but the directions are a bit vague." She twiddles her thumbs nervously, "Though... if we're being completely honest I've never been outside of a city like this, so I haven't got the slightest idea... about anything that we should be doing on the way."

She apparently failed to mention that this is effectively an escort mission to get her there.

[goldcuffed]

Whatever resignation is there in Nico, Damen isn't buying it. He isn't as naive as he once was, and invading Laurent's space with magic, whilst carrying a sword, is not easily forgiven. Laurent is all he has, and he is all Laurent has, with both their families dead and gone. It is not so easy to trust anyone else with this precious life after everything they have so recently been through.

The hand on his shoulder bleeds some of the tension out of his posture, Damen reacting automatically to Laurent's touch. He doesn't comment on Hades nor on necromancy, instead holding out a large hand to Letha in expectation. "Laurent and I can handle the navigation. We're good with maps." Maps and swords, their jobs in this group are quite clear.

[redoublement]

In Laurent's opinion, it was far too earlier for tensions to rise through their little party. He was going to have to do something about that, for both his and Damen's sake. They didn't need to trust one another wholly, but they had to at least a little, and while they might have been severely underclassed when it came to matters of magic- that was what Letha and Nico were there for. To offer some level of equality for their shortcomings, and vice versa.

"Well, it shall be an adventure for all of us. Damen and I have also not yet travelled beyond the cities' walls. Yet there is no time like the present." As for Nico, for now Laurent chose mostly to ignore him. He hadn't received an apology for the invasion to his space, after all, and therefore Nico deserved a bit of a cold shoulder for now.

kicks school to the curb for making me slow

[deathkid]

Nico neither sighs nor expresses any further emotion as his fingers reach up to pet the creature that has settled itself on his shoulder. While he's not keen on the reputation he's already beginning to form, he still plans on continuing with the group. He gives Laurent a brief nod but seeks out Letha's eyes, willing her to be the spokesperson for their part of the proceedings.

"I agree," he says, cutting his gaze away from her towards the other two. "Lead the way."

[burntbridges]

She nods, a bit of nervous energy making its way into her movements as she pulls her map from her bag and offers it to Damen. It's rather vague, but it's good enough to get them there. "I suppose we're ready to go, then."

While they're looking at the map, her attention moves back to Nico. "I don't believe I've asked this before, but... can you visit the afterlife like I can? I know our powers are different, but - my family always used the afterlife to contact each other quickly, it would be nice to have someone to speak to there that isn't... a stranger."

[goldcuffed]

Damen takes the map from her with a nod, and takes a step back to unroll it, holding it down so that Laurent can join him in figuring out their direction. It feels a bit like being on the road together in Vere again, the two of them bent over maps, strategizing together. The directions are vague indeed, but he thinks they can puzzle it out. "It looks like we need to go south-east, to begin with," he says, running a finger along the paper, tracing what looks to be the first leg of the journey.

He can't help but give Laurent a skeptical look when he hears Letha talking about the afterlife to Nico, though, and pitches his voice a little lower, switching from the easy common language of Riverview to the lilting tones of Veretian, "If you think it's a bad idea to continue, we can make our excuses."

[redoublement]

"It's all right, Damen. I don't think either of them wish to hurt us," of course, whatever they might find upon their quest was another matter entirely. Yet still, Laurent was willing to take the risk. At the first sign of there being anything they couldn't handle, and they would get the hell out of there. "Besides, if we don't go along they'll end up hopelessly lost, and I wouldn't like to have a couple of children lost in the jungle on my conscience,"

"It's a bit like a treasure hunt, don't you think?" he said, both to Damen, and loud enough for the two teenagers trailing behind them to hear, inviting them into the conversation, if they wished.