Leda cleaned her sword on the leg of her pants, the last remnants of monster dust falling away. It was convenient how monsters didn't immediately reform in the exact location they died in Tartarus - convenient and lucky. The respawn period was a blessing. Although, if Mads were to die down here, Leda wasn't sure if she would find it so great then - and if she were to die... Well, at least then she would have an answer to some of her questions about her status. She had spent her entire life relying on faith, faith in the gods and the stories. She ought to have been able to subsist on that a little longer, to just keep the faith that things would work out, that she would have her reward... But it felt increasingly hollow, increasingly meaningless. She had died for something she didn't even know if she believed in anymore.
"Why the mountain? Don't you know which way we're going?" Leda asked, turning her attention to the giant. He'd brought Percy and Annabeth to the Doors of Death before - wouldn't it be as simple as retracing his steps? Was there something else that Mads wanted to take care of at the mountain? And if so - what was it?
But those questions went unanswered, as her companions headed in the direction of the mountain - and Leda froze, in terror, disbelief, and thrill, as a dragon's roar pierced her ears. "Bloody hell..."
☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️
Location: Camp Half-blood Skills: N/A
Nancy nodded slightly, replaying what Zeke had said through her head again - it was a succinct summary of the plans, and she cringed internally a bit, both appreciating and yet ashamed by the fact that the refresher had clearly been for her. She should have been more on top of this, this was Mads they were talking about - this was her chance to right the wrongs she had done to New Rome, to bring back the person they had lost, and then... Then they could rebuild, and the Twelfth Legion wouldn't need her any longer. Her service would be over, and she would swear a new vow, a new vow to...
Her thoughts froze for a moment. It wasn't Lady Diana's name that came to mind.
It was Niah's.
She didn't know what to do with that.
She then stared at Demetri, as he explained his philosophy. She didn't know how much she agreed with it - it was both foreign to her, and intimately familiar. The legion taught that they needed to rely upon one another, that the strength of the group was what mattered, rather than the strength of the individual. But to be nice to everyone? Even a stranger? That was something that Nancy couldn't comprehend. She didn't trust people she didn't know, she didn't rely upon people that had not been tested.
Nancy then looked away. "I'll see you then," she then said, before leaving and making her way for the Roman side of camp - to do what preparations she could as the only praetor left standing.
April felt completely dazed. Not only had she gotten selfies with Evanthe and Harry, but Evanthe had hugged her. She hadn't even asked for a hug! And one had happened anyways! Her body felt like it was tingling, the excitement shaking throughout her. She hadn't managed to hug Evanthe back the way she would have liked to - she'd held her hands purposefully a bit away from the pop star, not wanting the trembling to freak her out - and her brain was still short circuiting, playing that all over and over again in a loop.
The minute she had her phone back, she quickly sent the pictures in that same group chat to Danni and Dorian, captioned with only a !!!!! But before she could add anything else, she saw a notification in a group chat she had thought she'd muted - one that hadn't been touched since her time in CAGE. Ordinarily, the sight of that chat being active would have filled her with dread, her stomach twisting into knots. But she was so energized from meeting Evanthe and Harry, it was like the bad feelings couldn't touch her - like she was immune, some sort of energy shield bouncing them away harmlessly.
The texts in that chat didn't make sense though - Leah had been the one to leave the bathroom, she knew where April was - or rather, where she had been. The lobby wasn't far either, so there was no way Leah would have missed her. And who was he? And Vicosn? She tilted her head slightly, torn between looking at the pop stars more in awe, figuring out what Leah meant, and doing as Vision said and heading to the examination for the Contest of Champions.
... For the Contest of Champions.
April's eyes widened as it hit her. They had less than ten minutes to get to Strange Academy!! They needed to show up for the examination - if they didn't make it to the examination, then they couldn't compete! And if they couldn't compete, then the rest of the team would be let down by their absence! And then when the team couldn't compete, it would be their fault! And she refused to allow that to happen. The stars had aligned to let her onto a team with Danni and Dorian, this was destiny, this was fate - they were going to win, with Ser Nemo's ghost smiling down on them. The Young Avengers, they were just kids, they weren't gods, they weren't invincible - and what better underdog story would there be than the new kids beating the old champs?
Meanwhile, the Vision looked around to see if all of his charges were accounted for - and all of them were, save for Ms. Bassard and Ms. Jordan. He pursed his lips slightly, and sighed. There was only one of him. And it would not do for them to be late. He glanced at his own students. "Ms. Chavez, if you would be so kind? One portal to the school, and if you would, please leave it open - I will wait on this side for our stragglers."
America grinned slightly, popping her gum. "On it!" She then cracked her knuckles, and threw a punch forward - reality cracked where her fist connected, as a gigantic star shaped fissure appeared, entangling two distant portions of space - the hotel lobby, and a mystical waiting room of sorts, where dozens of students were milling about with clipboards, filling out paperwork and awaiting their turn to be seen by the medical examiners to qualify them for the contest.
Percy nodded slightly. He knew how important the Contest of Champions was to Dorian. He cared about it, of course, but his reasons were different. He hated losing. That was his primary reason. Had he been on a team with his boyfriend, still, he would have given the secondary reason that it was important to Dorian, therefore it was important to him. But in the shuffle, Percy had been reassigned, placed on a team with his sister despite the redundancy in their powers - and despite the way his mind filled with a thousand scathing insults to direct her way. Diana was lucky Percy didn't have any healing powers, because if he had, there would be little chance of him directing healing her way during the match.
"I'm sure your debut will be incredible," Percy said, even with a slight pang as without me ran through his mind. It occurred to him it was entirely possible that he'd have to face Dorian in the arena in the next few days. Would he be able to fight his boyfriend, in order to secure a win? Could he raise up his axe and charge at him? He honestly didn't know. "What would you say your weaknesses are?" he then asked playfully. "And the main strategies that you are going to utilize?"
A clipboard would the shimmer and appear in the hands of each student there to compete in the contest - it contained several key documents, such as a summary of the Contest of Champions rules, as well as a medical questionnaire. Percy raised an eyebrow, as he glanced at the paperwork - some of the rules seemed too obvious to have to be spelled out. Only being allowed to compete on one team - who would try to compete on multiple? He rolled his eyes slightly.
Meanwhile, as more and more students continued to file in, a voice was projected all around them, such that no one would be able to determine its point of origin - "Welcome, Champions! Please fill out your pre-examination packet, and then proceed to the nearest available examination room once you are ready. If you need assistance or have any questions, please raise your hand and a staff member will come to assist you."
The room then blurred slightly, as ten doors appeared - ten different examination rooms, ready to handle the almost one hundred students present.
Legal Name:
School:
Qualifying Team:
Date of Birth:
Physical Age:
Emergency Contact:
Notable Abilities or Powers:
Declared Item:
Pertinent Medical History:
Signature Certifying that You Agree to Follow All Contest of Champions Rules:
This list is non-exhaustive - please ask if you have questions / if there is a major rule you believe I have missed!
Eligibility:
Students may be between the ages of 12 and 19.
Students are only allowed to compete on one team.
Students must be enrolled and in good standing at their home institution.
Students must be eager and willing participants.
Combat:
No animals / pets / other companions may be brought into the arena. However, summoning of creatures is allowed.
No maiming or killing.
No usage of performance enhancing drugs, such as Mutant Growth Hormone.
No summoning world-ending entities, such as Galactus or the Phoenix
And before Percy could begin to fill out his forms, a star-shaped crack in reality appeared before him - and through it stepped the current champions, the Young Avengers!! (And Mary Sue, Zelda, Gideon, and April).
He was beginning to suspect his mutant gift of teleportation was not nearly as special as his mothers had insisted.
"Poison's the least of my concerns, luv - I'm dead remember?" Leda reminded Mads. Whatever she was, she wasn't alive. She wasn't like the last demigods to have found themselves in Tartarus, still possessing a mortal form. She was a ghost, a shade - able to interact with the world tangibly, but she wasn't alive. At least, she didn't think that she was. Her body was up on the surface, in the real world, if it was even still intact - if she hadn't been burned with her burial shroud. Had her siblings mourned for her? Did her mother even know? Not Iris, her mortal mother - had anyone told her? It felt strange and empty to think about the world up above, continuing to turn, people continuing to live their lives and she was... she was just dead, as if she had never been alive.
She swung her sword, killing the first basilisk that had jumped at her, only to scoff a bit at Damasen's suggestion. "Mm, yeah, next time I see the Lord of the Underworld for tea, I'll just ask him - real cas." If asking Hades or Thanatos had been an option, she would have done it by now. And besides, she knew her mythology. Odds were admitting to Hades that she was supposed to be dead and a ghost would only force him to keep her in the Underworld.
Leda is going to jump back out of the way of the one that just attacked her, and then swing at it with her sword
☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️
Location: Camp Half-blood Skills: N/A
Nancy was completely stunned, completely and utterly shocked. When she woke up that morning, she never would have expected this - that of everyone on the planet, Demetri was the one responsible for getting them to the Doors of Death. He was the last person she would have imagined she would owe her gratitude to - the last person who could be so crucial in reuniting her with a missing piece of her soul. Mads had been there since the beginning - since the Lotus Hotel. Despite being forced to live in one, Nancy genuinely couldn't imagine a world without her - could find herself struggling to breathe in the middle of the night, knowing that Mads was dead - that she was trapped and Nancy was powerless to save her. On some level, she knew that it was guilt - and that she clung to Mads as a lifeline, as the last memory of the person she had been before her trauma, before that night. She knew it was a fixation - that in some ways, she loved Mads because of what she represented, beyond who she really was. It was selfish of her - toxic, even. And it wasn't that she didn't love Mads, she did. It was just more complicated than that.
Demetri had every reason to hate her, too. They had come to a truce, yes, but she still had been cruel to him. He must have... He must have asked Thanatos for this earlier - before they'd come to an understanding. Had he been this person the entire time? Guilt swirled within her. She'd always assumed he was a liability, a whining, weak little thing that needed the approval of others in order to function - someone without grit, without substance. It was that shock that unmoored her for a moment, that untethered her - that kept her frozen in place, continuing the hug rather than immediately pulling away. She had assumed the worst of him.
She always assumed the worst of people.
"You didn't ask him just now to do this," she argued, as she let go of him, her eyes narrowed and her face pinched. "I can believe you doing this for Zeke. But for me? I took every opportunity I could to make you feel less than. Why are you kind to me?"
For once, the discussion of the plans and logistics were lost on her - for once, she didn't fully register as the Argo III was mentioned, as the supply considerations were raised, as Niah went off to inform their fellow Romans as to the plans, as they agreed to meet at the beach in half an hour. She was stunned, confused - and a little horrified, not with anyone else, but rather, with herself.
3:40 PM - Sun. December 12th, 2038 - New Orleans, Louisiana
@PatientBean: "A contest rookie, beating us? Big talk pretty girl. Hope you aren't too disappointed when I have you on your knees, all tied up like the present you are." Thuy laughed. "But why wait until after the contest? We could have a little fun tonight. You, me, your girlfriend, dinner and drinks and maybe a little more fun if the night takes us that way. I know you have curfew and all that jazz, but you won't be the only student out on the town." Thuy pressed another kiss against the inside of Sabine's wrist before letting it fall away.
"I typically hangout at Beach on Bourbon, so come see me if the two of you want to live a little." Thuy offered, one hand in her pocket as she stepped back and sauntered towards the opposite end of the hall. "And heads up rookie. If you're late to the exam, you're disqualified!"
Leah's father tutted slightly, shaking his head. "Marya, I raised you better than that - snarling, really? So juvenile." He strolled calmly towards her, not a single weapon or piece of armor in sight. Perhaps he really was unarmed, defenseless. Perhaps this was all just a dramatic show, to emphasize how much power he had over her simply because she believed it to be true. Or maybe he really was the nightmare she feared - maybe the weapons and strategies he had at his disposal were ones she could not see, a trap threatening to spring at her first misstep.
"I had wanted to afford you a bit of dignity that this... charming hallway doesn't afford you, but I suppose you're quite low on that these days anyways," he chastised. "Very well. I've come here to tell you this - your silly game, dressing up and playing hero? You have only been able to play it because I have allowed it. You will complete this school year, work diligently in your course, and then you will come home. If you do not, there will not be a school to return to. Do I make myself clear?"
He smiled. "Good." He hadn't waited for her to respond. "Good luck with the competition, Marya. I expect nothing less than greatness from my child. I'll be watching." And then, as quickly as he had appeared, his form flickered and he vanished.
Excelsior, with coach Ser Nemo
April
Danni
Dorian
Zelda
Sabine
Mads
Uncanny Avengers, with coach Lady Nimue
Percy
Zari
Andy
Diana
Leah
Mary Sue
Gideon
The Young Avengers, with coach Vision
Billy
Tommy
Teddy
Eli
America
Cassie
Kate
Sorcerer's Inn:
Room 1 - Billy, Tommy, Teddy, and Eli
Room 2 - Cassie, Kate, and America
Room 3 - Sabine, Leah, and April
Room 4 - Diana, Zelda, Mary Sue, and Gideon
Kingston-Gray Residence: room assignments will be given out by the NPCs
April didn't look at her phone for a few minutes, even as she felt it vibrate with an incoming message. It was probably from Danni or Dorian. They were probably worried about her - not that their fears were unfounded. She'd been a danger to herself. Maybe she still was one, as she shook with tears in the bathroom stall of the hotel, a swirling black cloud occupying her brain, a self perpetuating storm of fear and self-hatred and guilt and grief. It was supposed to be a good day. She was supposed to be happy, excited. She was competing with her friends - with her very best friends - but instead everything felt so incredibly wrong. She wasn't where she was supposed to be. She wasn't who she was supposed to be.
When she looked in the mirror, she didn't recognize the face staring back.
Her hands felt like ice as she rubbed them against her eyes, her face already swollen and puffy. And as she got up the courage to take a peek at the message, her heart shattered.
Why did she run from the people who cared - from the people who mattered?
What was wrong with her?
"I'm... I'm sick," April whispered, a bit hesitantly. She stared at the screen of her phone, as if another message would appear - as if Danni would be able to reach out again, even with his phone taken away. She could only guess that was her fault too. "I'm sick and that's okay." Maybe she hadn't been ready to leave CAGE. Maybe she should have still been there. Maybe that was where she belonged.
Slowly, she started to type, deleting each message before even sending it:
I think I need help. I'm really struggling, and I'm scared.
You didn't do anything wrong! I'm just losing my mind.
Sorry I didn't want to scare you! I just hate that everyone is there but me. I'm jealous.
I'm in the bathroom at the Sorcerer's Inn. Can you come?
I think I need to go back to CAGE.
Everyone seems to hate me, and I think I hate me too.
im so sorry!! please don't be mad. i love you too! i hope i didnt get you in too much trouble with your dad :((
And then -
im scared im having an episode.
And -
sorry i know he took your phone away. its not your fault at all! please don't think its your fault. i was already upset bc sabine spent the entire trip making a huge deal out of ignoring me, and then nemo died and how you were so calm about it made me scared that if i had died, you wouldnt have cared. and then vicky getting to be at your house and i cant go there really fucking sucks.
Maybe they liked Vicky more than her.
There was a gentle knock at the door to the women's bathroom. "Ms. Flynn?" the Vision called out softly. Her uncle, technically. Well, ex-uncle. She stiffened. As much as she knew she needed help, hearing an adult put her on edge, bringing all of her defenses online. Was the night at the pool about to play out again? She both did and did not want Vision to tell her that she was going to be taken to the hospital - that she wouldn't have to struggle against her own mind, that she could let the doctors and the nurses and the pills do it for her.
"We need to leave for your examination at Strange Academy momentarily," the Vision then paused. "Are you alright? My sensors indicate that you are in distress."
"I'm..." She could lie. She could tell him that she was fine. If she didn't lie, would he take her away? Would she watch everyone else compete in the contest without her from a medical ward? Would her parents pull her out of school? The thought of them made her nauseous. She never wanted to see them again. "I'm having a hard time," she admitted, her voice breaking.
"But... I'll be okay," she added. She didn't want to miss the examination. It was part of the agreement to participate in the contest - a moment where they could be checked to make sure that no one was trying to cheat, that no one had hired a super skrull to pretend to be them or were abusing mutant growth hormone to get ahead.
She took a deep breath, and dried her eyes on the sleeve of her coat, before unlocking the stall, and then opening the door to the woman's restroom to face the Vision.
April avoided eye contact with him for a moment - and when she got the courage to meet his expression, it was surprisingly tender for a robot. Was he pitying her, seeing the familial curse play out once more? She had never really interacted with him - he didn't teach any of her courses, and she had never been picked for his team for the Contest of Champions. He was a stranger, the ex-husband to an aunt that April had never really known.
"You're not alone, Ms. Flynn," the Vision said gently. "Remember that."
They did not speak, as April returned with Vision back to the lobby, where only a few remained - The Young Avengers, Gideon, her sister, and... April's jaw dropped.
"What the fuck?!" she stage whispered, her eyes wide. Evanthe Moore and Harry Simmons?! They were both just... just casually here in the hotel?! It wasn't even a particularly nice hotel, it was one of the cheapest ones on Bourbon Street - that was part of the entire reason why they could afford to stay here, after all. The school wasn't paying for the rooms. Her brain short-circuited, the intense feelings of sadness and self-loathing and fear and insecurity vanishing for a moment, replaced with starstruck awe.
"Language, Ms. Flynn," the Vision chided. He then blinked, and text messages would appear on the phones of all of his charges: Please proceed to the lobby. We must depart for your examination or you will risk disqualification.
Casper tilted his head slightly, a little perplexed. He could have sworn there was something going on between Andy and Zari, but technopath hadn't made a single move to go off after Andy. It wasn't something he could relate at all to - even in his own marriage, he whined a bit every time James went into a different room. He still "pretended" to be bad at pool and other activities, just for an excuse to get his husband to put his arms around him and guide his hands. The honeymoon phase had never really ended for him - so whatever was going on with the little lesbians, it was... He just couldn't understand it.
It was so confusing that he completely missed his husband's slight irritation, still trying to figure out what was going on between Andy and Zari. Had it been another set of tiny girls on Genosha he was thinking about? Was he mistaking them for Sunshine and Marrow? Where were Sunshine and Marrow, anyways - weren't they coming to see their nephews compete? He spun around on his heel, trying to see if there were any half-feral adults breaking into the house, as was their custom, but he didn't spot anyone. And as he finished his spin, he did catch his own name. "What?"
He replayed what Max had said. Casper you heard James, this can wait until later. But what had James said? He furrowed his eyebrows, concentrating as much as he could. Max went on to talk about the seance. So it must have been that James didn't want the seance to happen now. Or did he even want it to happen at all? Was he not supposed to summon ghosts for children? Was James worried that the kids would be scared of the ghost of their dead teacher? Casper had been terrified of ghosts as a kid - and as an adult, too, well into his thirties. "... Right. No summoning ghosts on the lawn... Or before dinner," he said very sagely, nodding his head.
He wished Ben was here - he was always so much better than him at paying attention to things.
He then gasped slightly. Ben was here. Casper then desperately tried to capture his eye, hoping his ex-service ghost could give him a brief rundown on what he had missed while he was... What had he been doing, again? What had distracted him? He couldn't remember. It had been important, right? Right? It had something to do with... He had no idea.
Meanwhile, the portal to California had finally closed, after Firestar had promised to send Max a text as soon as she found out if a seance was okay - ordinarily, she would have consulted with Lady Nimue, the magic professor, on this but with her off in Otherworld after Nemo's passing... Firestar was going to have to spend some time combing through the teacher handbooks and pray that there was a mention on whether or not students were allowed to commune with the dead.
As for Percy... He turned a faint shade of pink as one of Dorian's fathers remarked that he was having issues with his key. All of this magic, it was very new to him. He didn't understand it. He didn't intuitively know what he was supposed to do with a glowing key, and his lack of knowledge being advertised by Dorian's father made his skin crawl with a bit of shame - shame that compounded on top of the fact that another one of the parents knew that he had been extremely hungover. He'd barely said a word to them and already, he was messing it all up. He just wanted Dorian's family to like him - to make a good impression for his boyfriend's sake. A few months ago, he would have bitten back with a snarky comment, likely snapping that he wasn't having issues with his key, that he was having issues with the over zealous use of magic - that there was no reason to use a magical system to find a room, instead of just telling people where they were.
But he'd changed since then.
Instead of lashing out a bit to hide his insecurity, Percy sat with it. He was both grateful and embarrassed as Dorian took his hand, and guided him into the house, and along the glowing path lit by the key. Once the door opened, though, his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Is this... supposed to look like your half of the dorm room?" he asked. It was like a carbon copy of Dorian and Danni's room at Avengers Academy, only with Danni's space mysteriously missing, as if it had never been there. The same decorations were up on the wall, the same bedding on the bed - even the same nicks in the desk, worn in there by either Dorian or some student before him.
It was a magic house.
His eyes widened, as a deeper blush hit his features. "Dorian... Are these rooms enchanted beyond the keys?" Agatha had told him on the first day of school that he was hopelessly in love with him. Was the house saying the same thing? Or was this a mind game from Mr. Gray, a way to let Percy know that he knew how obsessed he'd become with his son? Or was this just Dorian's room, and the key had made a mistake? He wouldn't have been entirely surprised if his boyfriend had recreated his room at home at school.
Percy was still feeling flustered as he put his bag down - not on the bed, of course, he didn't want to let the dirt from the suitcase's wheel touch the sheets - and stared around the room for a moment. It made him feel strangely calm. He didn't know how to examine that feeling - didn't know what to do with it, instead turning his gaze to meet his boyfriend's eyes - and in the moment, that sense of peace spread all the way across him.
Agatha had been right, of course.
He was hopelessly in love with Dorian Gray.
He leaned forward and kissed him gently, softly.
Meanwhile, Ben and Casper were both still out on the lawn, as Danni hauled the stragglers into the house. Ben let out somewhat of a sigh of relief, all of the children finally sorted. It had taken a shockingly long time to get everyone inside. He walked up to his husband, and propped his chin on Max's shoulder for a moment. "You're going to have to open up portals beneath their feet to get them anywhere on time," he murmured. Danni and Dorian were already enough of a handful. But at least most of the time, they weren't outnumbered. And now they were. Three adults and Casper against six children. "Are we allowed to use those backpack leashes? Or one of those long ropes they use to escort a group of preschoolers around with?"
"Beeeeeen we can't put kids on leashes that's inappropriate!" Casper chided.
"Not those kind of leashes, Casper."
Moments later, the lawn of the Kingston-Gray residence was finally empty, as the adults - and Casper - reentered their home.
She took Sabine's hand, pulling herself to her feet, and bringing Sabine's hand to her lips to press a kiss to it. "Only when they look like art and royalty all wrapped up in one pretty package." She grinned, a little crooked, and chuckled at Sabine's revelation. "Yeah, on the Strange Acadmy team myself. Getting the parents settled before this afternoon." She took half a step into Sabine's space, drawing her hand to rest on Thuy's should and thumbing at the inside of the wrist softly. "I'm Thuy. I don't have anything goin' on until the exam so maybe we can... play around with something else you'd wanna call me." Thuy glances down at Sabine's mouth. The shadows on the wall stilled and drifted back down onto the floor.
While the Sorcerer's Inn may not be the most extravagant of hotels, it makes up for it in character - with old peeling paint, dusty carpets in desperate need of resurrection, and furniture that must have predated the Battle of New Orleans. And of course, one of the more notable features was the almost random procession of hallways, a veritable maze with poor, inconsistent signage. It was easy to get lost - she must have passed the same copy of Circe Invidiosa at least half a dozen times when she would feel her goosebumps crawl up and down her arms, and a tingling sensation at the back of her neck. She would feel his presence before she saw him - before she saw her father at the other end of the hallway, dressed in a button up-shirt and shorts like he was any other tourist, a soft smile on his face.
"Mayra. It's good to see you, dear." He took a step forward, before holding up a finger, shaking it slightly as if to chastise her. "Now, I obviously do not need to tell you the consequences will be severe should you run off to any of your friends. Such as your girlfriend, Sabine Bassard. Huge fan of her social media. Such a pretty face. It would be such a shame if her brief brush with fame had to come to a premature end. So you will come with me, then, and I will talk, and you will listen. Do we understand each other?"
The Vision regarded Mary Sue carefully, a pang of sympathy running through him. He had often wondered the same thing - for the loss of people he loved, through death or other means. He had grieved the loss of his marriage, just as he had grieved the loss of friends. Nothing in his programming had provided him with an answer to that same question - what was the function of grief, when faced with an unsolvable problem? Many feelings had a utility to them - pain was no different than an alert, a notification that there was a problem that needed to be solved. Even love was a sign of safety and trust, the foundation by which communities could be built in order to ensure survival, from simple companionships to larger families to entire peoples.
But there was no function to grief - no actions that must be implemented, no strategy beyond to simply feel it. It was only after Wanda had left him that he began to glimpse the true purpose of grief, to see that it was simply a different emotion under another name. He knelt before Mary Sue, bringing himself to her eye level. “Grief, my child, is love persevering. To ask what is the purpose of grief is no different than asking what is the purpose of love.”
He then rose back to his feet, considering Diana’s question. “There will not be replacement coaches. I will be here to offer you guidance in their place. I believe there will be additional teachers coming to act as chaperones, but they are not prepared to coach you, nor have they been approved by the Contest of Champions organization to act as coaches.”
Gideon, of course, wasn’t listening. Any conversation that didn’t involve her or something she was interested in, it was like it didn’t happen. Just in one ear and out the other. At best, if she really focused, she could catch a few sentences here or there. But it was soooo hard to bring herself to care about what the robot was saying. She didn’t listen to her vibrator so she definitely wasn’t going to listen to Vision. Instead, as she looked away from her phone for a brief second, her eyes latched onto an absolutely fucking gorgeous ginger across the way. She pulled down her sunglasses to get a better look, hardly believing what she was seeing.
Evanthe fucking Moore. Her favorite artist's favorite artist. She didn't even notice the other celebrity next to her, instead completely starstruck. Pop wasn't usually her taste, however songs about eating box definitely were. Gideon pulled her sword out of its scabbard, where it had been strapped to her back, and made a beeline up to Evanthe, the two-handed broadsword easily six feet long, if not longer.
"Would you sign my sword?" Gideon asked. "Please? You're, like, a legend, my dude."
Wiccan approached the pop stars a bit more nervously, constantly glancing back to Teddy with a bashful blush. Was he sleep deprived, stressed, and in the middle of learning about a demiurge problem that threatened all of existence? Yes. Was he a teenage gay boy meeting Harry fucking Simmons and Evanthe fucking Moore? Yes. "I love all your music," Wiccan gushed, preening a bit as he stood in front of Harry and Eva - as if Vision hadn't just told them one of their teachers had died. "My boyfriend and I, we got them to play David at prom last year, it was absolutely incredible. A-and your last album, Evanthe, can I call you Evanthe? It's a masterpiece. I'm - I'm Billy, by the way. It's an honor to meet you both!"
Excelsior, with coach Ser Nemo
April
Danni
Dorian
Zelda
Sabine
Mads
Uncanny Avengers, with coach Lady Nimue
Percy
Zari
Andy
Diana
Leah
Mary Sue
Gideon
The Young Avengers, with coach Vision
Billy
Tommy
Teddy
Eli
America
Cassie
Kate
Sorcerer's Inn:
Room 1 - Billy, Tommy, Teddy, and Eli
Room 2 - Cassie, Kate, and America
Room 3 - Sabine, Leah, and April
Room 4 - Diana, Zelda, Mary Sue, and Gideon
Kingston-Gray Residence: room assignments will be given out by the NPCs
"Okay," April said softly to Leah, as her insides briefly felt like they were curdling. For a brief moment, she couldn't help but wonder if she had hurt her - if she should have stopped the call to go talk to Leah instead. It wasn't what she wanted for herself, right now she just wanted to talk to Danni and Dorian, if she talked to anyone at all. And yet, she felt anxious, guilty that maybe she should have gone to Leah - even if they were exes, even if nothing was the same anymore and they could never go back to the friendship they'd once had - even if her fears were right and Sabine really had messed with her mind, and maybe then Leah's, too...
There were times, when talking with Danni and Dorian, that April felt like an alien. Her tears stopped for a moment, as she listened to Danni explain that it was fine, that Nemo was just a ghost now, and they could call him back to talk as much as they liked - that his death wasn't really any different than someone going home for summer break.
Death to her, it was... Final. Scary. Horrifying. It was an end. It couldn't be walked back - sure, some superheroes managed to get resurrections, but most of the time, death was death.
But just like money, death meant something different to Danni - it seemed almost... meaningless.
She stared at the phone. If she had gone through with it - if she had died that night - would he have been just as cavalier about it? Would he just have casually asked his dad to summon up her ghost? April wanted to hide from the thought, to bury it and never return to it. She wanted to break the promise she had made - the promise to not hide. "D-Danni... Is this what you would have done if I had died?"
Then Dorian dropped a bomb - Nemo wasn't supposed to die yet. He'd somehow seen this on the Astral Plane - April didn't know anything about how that realm worked or operated, had Dorian been seeing visions all along? Or was this something brand new? But if Nemo wasn't supposed to be dead... She didn't know what to make of that. Was the TVA going to come and prune their entire timeline then, because someone had died who was supposed to be alive? Had Nemo faked his death with Nimue's help? Was Nemo going to be resurrected somehow? Was the grave in Dorian's vision just incorrect?
Hypocritically, she couldn't help but be hurt too that Dorian hadn't told them - that he hadn't trusted them with this information. If she had seen that... it would have messed with her head. Hadn't they all just promised no more secrets? What else had Danni and Dorian been keeping with her? First the house, now this...
The emotional rollercoaster continued as she heard Danni ask one of the dads if they could do a seance, and then shouted out by name all the kids who had been lucky enough to get to stay there, including Vicky... Her body tensed up. It was killing her that Vicky, the person who had gone out of her way to bully her in Coulson's office and then again at CAGE, got to be at the home of April's best friends - meanwhile, April was stuck in a hotel with people who hated her. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.
All the water in the pipes came to a complete standstill.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Her hands felt like ice.
And her heart was pounding so furiously she thought it was about to burst.
"I-I have to go," April squeaked out, before hitting the end call button, and a fresh wave of tears rocked her.
She'd been doing better. She really thought she had been. She thought the meds and the new tools from Dr. Whitehall had been enough. She'd thought they'd fixed her.
Percy didn't know what to think, as he caught onto the course of the conversation - that Ser Nemo was dead. He had the vague sensation of his skin crawling, discomfort enveloping him. He knew that death was natural and that it happened - that one day, each person on the lawn outside of the Kingston-Gray home would be dead, including himself. But death was normally distant, something that happened to people he didn't know. He didn't know how to feel about Ser Nemo dying. He hadn't liked Ser Nemo. He had hated him at times. Percy hadn't known exactly why, either - there was just something about the old man that got under his skin, that brought out this irrational anger he couldn't entirely control.
The others were discussing holding a seance to call back his ghost, and whether or not he was even dead. Dorian was on the phone, so Percy had made sure to hang back, unlike some of the others who seemed content to crowd around and join in on the conversation. Phone calls were supposed to have some element of privacy to them, even if Danni and Dorian had decided to have it in front of everyone else, so Percy did his best to respect that. In some ways, it felt almost like an out of body experience, as he watched so many strong opinions and personalities interact and clash, while he felt completely lost and untethered, an outsider looking in. Even Zari was preoccupied with other things.
"Weeell..." Casper paused for a moment, glancing over towards James. No conjuring ghosts on the lawn. Not after what had happened last time. He nodded, before giving his husband two big thumbs up. "I gueeess if your father says it's okay, then sure! Your coach wasn't violent, right? I might not be as scared of them now that I have babes around to help protect me, but I would love to not have to deal with an angry violent ghost if I can avoid it. Wait. Babes! Do we need permission slips for them to summon ghosts? Or is it okay since it's their teacher's ghost?" He then spun around, quickly locating Max. "Maaaaax can you make everyone really cute seance outfits too, if we are doing a seance? We all need to match the ✨aesthetics✨ of the room you built for me for this or it won't be nearly as fun!"
Needless to say, Ben wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that his sons' teacher had died - and he was somewhat concerned about the idea of hosting a seance. Not everyone had the relationship to death that his family did. And even among his family, Ben was somewhat of an outlier - he still usually excused himself whenever Casper summoned up a ghost for them to chat to, even if it was for the best of intentions. He remembered all too well what it was like to be on the other side, stuck, unable to change, while the world moved on without him. His tentacles grew restless inside their pocket dimension. "Yeah, let's all go inside, and get everyone's stuff put down, and then we can talk about this," Ben agreed, before trying to catch Max's eye.
"Thank you," Firestar said softly to Max. "I... I have obviously never had to do this before," she admitted, somewhat sheepishly. "And... yeah. I might take you up on that later. Thank you," she repeated, before stepping back away from the portal, still in California, as she had seen all of the children safely through. She had so much going on today, she wasn't able to step away to go attend the Contest of Champions - couldn't do more than just this one little duty to help fill in.
"...Yes. I will participate," Percy shifted his weight a bit uncomfortably. He didn't really want to - Nemo's death made him feel strange - but he assumed it would have been rude to decline, especially given that one of Dorian's dads would be running the seance. He wanted to make a good impression. So he would chat with the ghost if that was what was required of him. And then, having seen no one move towards the door, but still motivated to try to win over Dorian's parents...
Percy stepped forward, and carefully gripped the door handle. His hand jerked away from it suddenly, as an antique key appeared in the palm of his hand, the metal cool to the touch. The door then swung open, and a small glimmer of light shone off of the key, leading towards one of the staircases. He quickly looked back at the adults present, before specifically looking at Dorian. Was that supposed to happen?
"I died," Leda answered simply. She still got flashes of it, the moments leading up to her death. They were just as vivid now, the memories not faded. "I'm not supposed to be here, I think - I'm supposed to be in, like, the Underworld proper, getting judged and all. I should be going for reincarnation, to try for the Isles of the Blessed..." Her heart, however, wasn't in it anymore. She'd lived her whole life thinking the reward at the end would be worth it - that all of her worship and devotion to the gods would amount to something. Instead, it had been meaningless. She died and had ended up in the Pit. Some reward.
She paused in her trek through the swamp at Damasen's warning, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. Basilisks? She had read Harry Potter enough times before Rowling's cancelling to know that couldn't be anything good. And no sooner had Damasen warned them than the attack had started, with one of them spitting fire at Leda - "shit I didn't know they could do that!"
Leda is going to use the bone sword to try to decapitate the basilisk that attacked her.
☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️
Location: Camp Half-blood Skills: N/A
Nancy frowned slightly. Her thoughts were almost entirely consumed with Mads, with possible contingency plans in the (likely) event that something went wrong. And what energy she didn't have devoted to Mads and the Doors of Death at the moment was instead directed towards everything that had just happened - with Niah, with Zeke, with Demi. She didn't have the space to think about movies. A few hours ago, she would have snapped at Demi for thinking about movies at a time like this, but... She had to try. As frustrating as it was, she had to try. "...I like musicals," she finally offered. Maybe it was cliché for a child of Apollo, but she genuinely loved watching musicals. They told a story in the way an ordinary movie never could. And her favorite musical, of course, was Heathers.
But before they could get too far into that conversation, they arrived at the arena. Demi hurried on over to Nancy's brother, and smacked his ass - she gagged slightly, having hoped they would have gotten it out of their system after she left medical but... Evidently not. She was always uncomfortable around more intimate displays, regardless of who was doing them. She couldn't remember if she had been this way before the Hotel or not - if this was just who she was or just another way her trauma manifested itself.
She was quickly distracted, however, by the revelation that Demetri was why Thanatos was finally here - why they were going to be able to rescue Mads. She hadn't realized he'd asked the party god to contribute for once - that he had used a bit of influence to get something to happen, when so many gods before had failed them. Her eyes widened slightly. Demetri was... competent?!
”...You did this?" Nancy asked, absolutely stunned as she stared at Demetri for a moment - before walking up to him and pulling him into a tight hug.
The wallpaper had seen a few too many suitcases bang up against it, large tears and fraying corners marked with black, gritty streaks marring the strange beige. A crooked painting revealed a bare patch where they'd cut out some where guests usually wouldn't see and plastered it somewhere else in the hotel. The cheap wood laminate peeled up off the doors where stops and shoes had banged against them. The building was old and the mustiness of the carpet, buckling and cracked, spoke volumes to its lack of maintenance. Water damage, creeping in at the edge of one of the lights, spoke to a recent leak and shoddy patch job. Still, another poor unfortunate soul stepped out of a room just past Sabine's. She barely glanced up from her phone, clearly in a hurry, but a roll in the carpet caught her foot and she went stumbling, slamming face first into Sabine, her phone fumbling, and she hit the ground hard with a sickening thud.
“Cái quái gì vậy?! What fucking gi-” The woman, her shadow dancing up along the walls, paused her irritation as she stared up at Sabine. Instead, a pleased curl rolled at the corner of her lip. “My bad, my bad, but I gotta ask. What's a gorgeous thing like you doing in this shithole?”
Gideon blinked twice, as Diana calmly informed her that someone had died. "The goldfish... Oh! Oh. Shit... I mean he was hella old, right? That's kinda what old people do? They die?"
The Vision studied Mary Sue carefully for a moment, a thousand algorithms or more computing in his head. She was a child. He took no issue with answering the questions of children, and a quick analysis of her body language shed great insight into how she was feeling. "There are many ways to answer that question," Vision began gently. "The first is factual. Your teacher, and for some of you in this room, your coach, has passed away. His death has required Lady Nimue to return to Otherworld, meaning the coach for you, as well as others present, is similarly absent. This is information you deserve to have the day before you compete, as they will not be there to guide you."
"Certainly, I could have deceived you. I might have told you that Ser Nemo was very ill, and that Lady Nimue had to go to be with him. This, however, would not be acceptable. As Seneca the Younger noted, 'grief is better conquered, not deceived.' In fact, leading child psychologists similarly recommend against such things, citing that it may lead to greater confusion and anxiety. It is paramount that you are allowed the opportunity to grieve, and that you are not deprived of it."
"Consider for me, if you would, how would you have reacted if we had engaged in such practices - if we had informed you tomorrow morning that Ser Nemo had passed, would that have been more palatable? Had we waited until the end of the contest, would you genuinely have preferred that? Or perhaps we might have never told you at all, and simply explained that he retired - would that have been right?"
"And lastly, Ms. Sullivan, I must ask - are you disappointed in my breaking this news because that is genuinely how you are feeling? Or is it an attempt to focus on an emotional reaction to me, rather than begin to process the loss you have experienced?" Vision proposed. "Are you upset with me for bearing this news? Or you simply hiding from your grief?"
Of course, not everyone was paying rapt attention to the Vision. For instance, Wiccan's jaw had dropped as he recognized two people in a small group enter the hotel, and he audibly gasped, before quickly pulling on Teddy's arm hissing: "It's him!! And her!!" Nemo's death wasn't affecting him so hard that he couldn't fangirl out for a moment over two of his favorite singers randomly walking into the shitty hotel they'd booked for the contest.
Excelsior, with coach Ser Nemo
April
Danni
Dorian
Zelda
Sabine
Mads
Uncanny Avengers, with coach Lady Nimue
Percy
Zari
Andy
Diana
Leah
Mary Sue
Gideon
The Young Avengers, with coach Vision
Billy
Tommy
Teddy
Eli
America
Cassie
Kate
Sorcerer's Inn:
Room 1 - Billy, Tommy, Teddy, and Eli
Room 2 - Cassie, Kate, and America
Room 3 - Sabine, Leah, and April
Room 4 - Diana, Zelda, Mary Sue, and Gideon
Kingston-Gray Residence: room assignments will be given out by the NPCs
Through the bathroom door, as April heard Danni and Dorian shuffling on the other side of the voice, she heard her ex-girlfriend's voice. It wasn't Sabine, of course. Sabine had made her feelings about her abundantly clear on the plane trip. She had no idea how they were going to function on a team together for the contest when Sabine wouldn't even speak to her. They'd said they would stay friends, but... That didn't seem to be the case. She couldn't blame her, though. Who would want to be friends with someone's whose life was falling apart at the seams?
"Th-thanks, Leah..." April sniffled. "I-I'm on the phone, s-so I can go talk to you later, but... That means a lot. That you're still here. No one else in this group is - not even Sabine, after... Sorry. I'll - I'll talk with you later, I promise," she said, all of this audible to Leah, as well as those on the other end of the call. She dried her eyes on the back of her coat sleeve, before staring again at the phone in her hand, hidden away from the world still, at least for now, in the hotel bathroom.
"Y-y-yeah. He - he had a heart attack, Viz said," April repeated again. "I-I-I guess he was really old and like... like that stuff happens but... But I... I-I don't know if I'd be alive if it wasn't for him and he - and he's dead now and..." she choked back a fresh wave of tears. "Sorry, I don't - I don't want to make this all about me, you two knew h-him so much more and like... You deserved to know, I don't - I don't really know anything else about what happened. But, um, yeah. He's - he's gone."
How were they supposed to do the contest now?
Even without Nemo's death, a third of her team hated her. Maybe - maybe it would have been better if she'd stayed behind, if she hadn't left CAGE. She could feel that she was one good sob away from her control completely slipping, and the ancient pipes in this hotel bursting. And if she were gone, Sabine and Zelda would be happier - and maybe Excelsior would stand a chance at winning without her in the picture.
She hanged her head for a moment, fighting the impulse to say that she had to go, to end the call.
Percy did his very best not to flinch as Mr. Gray put a hand on his shoulder. He knew that it was supposed to be comforting. He knew that there wasn't malicious intent behind it. However, with the hangover overwhelming him, his knees buckled a bit at Mr. Gray's touch, and he quickly stumbled somewhat backwards to enforce some distance. His only luck was that the wizard was exceptionally busy, and quickly moved on to chat with Vicky, leaving Percy free from further contact... for the moment. He let his shoulders relax slightly, although it did nothing for the spike of anxiety that had gone through him, not really. Another drink would have helped - he should have considered that earlier, and made a switch from coffee to another shot of bourbon before leaving. It would have relaxed him, calmed him.
But his reprieve from interacting with Dorian's fathers was short lived - as another one stepped up. James Kingston. He held out his hand for Percy to shake, and Percy stared at it, the entire world around him feeling like it was lurching, like it was rocking, as his vision contracted and tunneled. It was like he wasn't in control of his body, just watching from another person's perspective as Percy forced himself to reach out, to clasp James' hand in his own. Somehow, it hadn't occurred to him that Dorian's parents would want to keep making physical contact with him. His own mothers rarely did, and Diana knew not to as well. It wasn't something he'd really discussed with his boyfriend, as physical contact with him was fine - welcome, even. It was abnormal, unusual - and not the sort of impression he wanted to leave on Dorian's family. So Percy made himself shake James' hand, and then suddenly... The hangover vanished.
Like it had never happened.
The exhaustion of a sleepless night remained, but the headache, the nausea, the way the lights glared in his eyes? All of it was gone. "... It's nice to meet you, Mr. Kingston," Percy said, stunned. But the hangover symptoms were quickly replaced with fear - Even if you can't figure it out, I can. His eyes darted over nervously towards Dorian, but his boyfriend was running off to his brother, leaving Percy standing there alone, shocked. He didn't know what to do.
He didn't know what James would do.
Meanwhile, Selene in her carrier was screaming as loud as she could, despite the fact that her doll-prison had terrible acoustics. "YOU'RE GIVING ME TO HIM?!?!?!?!" Selene shrieked. "MY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, BETRAYING ME?!??!?!" There was a sound of a pop, as one of the doll's eyes shot out, hitting the door of the carrier harmlessly. "A curse on you, daughter dear!! May you wander alone for eternity, never knowing love or sanctuary!!"
Casper didn't retain much of what Andy told him, despite it having only been moments. Half of his attention was on her, a third of it was on Selene's hissy fit, a tenth was on a Snikt! he had seen earlier that morning, and the rest was vaguely aware that his husband was approaching. "If it makes you feel any better, Andy, I'm forty nine and I still don't know what I'm doing," he said seriously, maintaining eye contact with her. "People like us, sometimes it takes us a while to figure it out. The secret is to find a type A spouse. That and rehab. But you need an addiction to go to rehab and I dooooon't really see drug use for you, bb. I mean you have the aesthetic for, like, cigarettes but anything harder than that? Nah. I don't see it."
"Oooor actually, you might even be ahead of me, I'd love to shove my dad inside a cat carrier and shake him around a bit like a babysitter with their least favorite baby!"
Firestar was frozen for a moment, just processing everything that was happening, before she sighed slightly, collecting her thoughts. She kept her voice low, as she whispered: "I was just told that their coach, Ser Nemo, died from a heart attack this morning in Otherworld..." She then hesitated, clearly looking towards Max for direction on what to do - and then, seconds later, her jaw dropped as she heard Dorian and Danni scream that someone was dead.
Ben immediately made a beeline over to his kids, seeing them huddled together on the phone. He'd heard what they'd screamed. Someone was dead? He really hoped it was just a fictional character in a show or something, and he hovered near them, somewhat protectively. "Boys... What happened?"
Hi all! NPC CS code for the Contest of Champions. These are characters that you play in a limited capacity as NPCs. For example, these could be parents who came to watch the contest, or students from Strange Academy who are watching in the stands. (Note for SA kids, this is 2 years before that RP will take place).
Parents don't have to have been in a previous RP of mine - it's totally chill for them to be new characters in their own right.
Either way, just make sure you come and chat with me about it, and post the CS + tag it here when you're done. :) Make sure your NPC color code is unique and not too close to any of the characters.
No real deadline for these :) Have fun! And again, post it here in the OOC and give me a tag once you've finished. For clutter's sake, if you have multiple claimed NPCs, try to consolidate them into a single post in the CS tab lol.
[hr.][hr.][h1][b][i][color=??][center]Character Name[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h1][center][img]Image Here[/img][/center][hr.][hr.][h3][b][i][color=??][center]Character Overview[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h3] [b][color=??]Name:[/color][/b] [b][color=??]Alias:[/color][/b] [b][color=??]Age:[/color][/b] [b][color=??]Gender:[/color][/b] [b][color=??]Powers:[/color][/b] One line description here of the origin of their powers (i.e., mutant, inhuman, etc) [list] [*]List the powers they have here [/list] [b][color=??]Personality Traits:[/color][/b] Trait ~ Trait ~ Trait ~ Trait ~ Trait ~ Trait
[b][color=??]]Summary:[/color][/b] At least one paragraph, possibly up to three. This should give us a good sense for who the character is, and what they're all about. If this is a character from a previous RP, feel free to focus mostly on what they've been up to since that RP! Basically, this should be all the information someone brand new should need to understand who this character is
[b][color=??]Extras:[/color][/b] Anything that I have missed here! List out things that are important to the character. If they are a character from another RP, please include a link to their CS.
3:10 PM - Sun. December 12th, 2038 - New Orleans, Louisiana
@Forsythe: Vicky's initial reaction to the magic of the French Quarter, combined with the portal, was just the beginning. As she continued to stand on the edge of the portal, it was like the breeze carried more of the magic on through - or perhaps it simply had enough time to permeate her systems. A thousand error messages popped up at once, initially in her default system language, before glitching into an odd mixture of French and runes, her voice similarly going through a series of pitches - at one moment she would sound like herself, the next like Darth Vader, the next like a chipmunk, and so forth. Her limbs began to no longer respond, half of her body already shut down, and the other half about to go into critical failure, if she did not take action to remove herself from the environment. Agatha had been able to revive her last time without erasing who she was - could Mr. Gray do the same, if her systems went completely into failure?
Excelsior, with coach Ser Nemo
April
Danni
Dorian
Zelda
Sabine
Mads
Uncanny Avengers, with coach Lady Nimue
Percy
Zari
Andy
Diana
Leah
Mary Sue
Gideon
The Young Avengers, with coach Vision
Billy
Tommy
Teddy
Eli
America
Cassie
Kate
Sorcerer's Inn:
Room 1 - Billy, Tommy, Teddy, and Eli
Room 2 - Cassie, Kate, and America
Room 3 - Sabine, Leah, and April
Room 4 - Diana, Zelda, Mary Sue, and Gideon
Kingston-Gray Residence: room assignments will be given out by the NPCs
Danni answered the call, his voice coming through a bit staticky, and she couldn't quite make out what was going on in the background of the call. She was too frazzled to really tell if it was just her own inability to focus, or just more problems with the audio quality. It was an old hotel. The reception was probably bad in here for a number of reasons. But that wasn't what was going through her mind as he picked up, no - it was that he sounded so happy, so excited.
And she was about to ruin that.
She bit her lip, silence on her end of the call as she fought a quiet war in her mind - if she ought to just pretend everything was fine, and let Danni be happy and having fun with everyone else for a little while longer... What right did she have to be sad over Ser Nemo, anyways? Had she ever even had a proper conversation with him? She was being selfish, making his death all about her. And she would be fine dealing with this on her own, really. It was probably better for everyone, quarantining her mood away from them all. Even Mads hadn't bothered to go stay behind with her. And how could April blame her? How could she blame anyone for choosing to go to the Kingston-Gray house, and leaving her exiled behind at the hotel with people who pretended she didn't even exist, less than weeks after promising that they could still be friends?
Maybe she ought to just tell them she was calling to let them know she'd made it to the hotel, and that everything was fine, and that everyone was being so friendly and so chill and she wasn't miserable at all - that Nemo was completely fine, he wasn't dead, and she couldn't hear Leah screaming at Vision in the lobby.
That was how she had survived for years. She lied to others and she lied to herself.
She had made a promise, though.
April pinched her eyes closed, her breath shuddering in her throat.
"It's Nemo," she said softly. "Viz just told us, he's - he's... He's dead."
For once, the pipes in the bathroom did not burst, even as the water within them rapidly froze and thawed. "I-I'm so sorry, I know you're all - you're all having a g-great time over there but... but I thought you'd want to know. They said - they said it was a heart attack. L-Leah's yelling at Viz about it now, I don't - I don't know if they told him anything else, though. I'm so sorry, Danni." In the hotel lobby, Leah's shouts were beginning to draw attention, employees at the front desk unable to help but sneak quick glances over at her, and other guests going about their day being less discrete about their interest. The Young Avengers were shifting uneasily - even if they were first class superheroes by this stage, they were still children, for the most part. Billy Maximoff whispered something to Teddy Altman, and Tommy Shephard's eyes narrowed at Leah, clearly unamused with her shouting at his father.
"Ms. Jordan, I understand that you are upset," the Vision said, his tone gentle but firm. "But I will remind you once again that even though we are no longer at the Margaret Carter Institute, you are representing our school right now. The school's policy for foul language still stands. Yet given the circumstances, I will not be issuing you a detention... this time," he warned. "Nor will I be prohibiting you from participating in the Contest tomorrow."
Having taking the small bit of disciplinary action out of the way, he then continued. "I understand that you are grieving - it is only natural. I know that some of you have spoken before with a therapist the school has a relationship with, Dr. Whitehall, and I can attempt to get in touch with her should any of you wish. You may also speak to me, if you would prefer, or one of the school counselors... I unfortunately do not have many details that I may disclose to you as to what happened, merely that it is important to have informed you now, rather than hide this fact from you. As for your question, Ms. Novikova, he was rather old. At his age, the risk is high... and compounded by other factors, such as lifestyle choices."
Cassie Lang pulled out her phone, her eyes a bit misty - she didn't know Nemo, yes, but she wasn't heartless. She shot off a quick text to her sister - Nemo passed away :(
Meanwhile, Gideon glanced up from her phone, where she had been swiping away on GrindHer, confused - had Vision said something?
The contents of Percy's stomach lurched dangerously, his head aching as Mr. Gray approached him. Even with the sunglasses on, everything around was far too bright, and he had to resist the urge to squeeze his eyes closed. It was pure nerves and adrenaline that was keeping him standing, that was preventing him from collapsing to the ground as an unconscious, hungover mess. His gaze flickered over briefly towards Dorian, and then towards the others who were still on the other side of the portal, as if waiting at the threshold for a more explicitly formal invitation. He couldn't tell if anyone had noticed his state, and he desperately didn't want to disappoint Dorian, at the very least. The others... Percy wasn't as concerned about.
But as Mr. Gray mentioned the museum, and Percy's mind immediately snapped back to the events of that day - the shopping trip, the bus ride, the bathroom, the heist, the food trucks, the dessert, meeting with Morgan... His panic skyrocketed to eleven. He didn't know how to react to this. Was Mr. Gray angry at him? Was he impressed? The more he studied Max's face, the less he was able to sus out, and the more the Louisiana heat seemed to rise all around him. What did he say to his boyfriend's father? He had already introduced himself, and Max had brought up a date - and all the research he had done indicated that he needed to be respectful and polite. How did he apply that here? What was the polite thing to do after his boyfriend's father alluded to their heist? Why hadn't he thought to be more specific around this exact scenario in his searches?
"Dorian told me a lot about you, too, Mr. Gray," Percy settled on, before his brain froze again - what had Dorian told him about his father before? What was something polite and respectful he could say that his boyfriend had mentioned before? "He said you're very good at clothes." He winced, immediately regretting it, but it was too late. He was incredibly thankful that Vicky was trying to pull Max's attention away from him.
Ben Gray hadn't noticed really yet that Zari and Andy were on the other side of the portal - he was usually observant, but having his son back home caused him to focus his attention on Dorian - and on Dorian's boyfriend. The poor kid seemed incredibly nervous. "Yeah, my husband does make nice clothes," Ben agreed, before rolling his eyes slightly at Max. "And he has an incredible taste in colors - with a matching sense of humor..."
Casper Kingston, however, tilted his head slightly as he saw his son answer a phone call from April. He'd never really met April before, but he'd seen photos of his sons with a blonde girl before. And kids changed how they looked so fast! So when he'd seen a blonde girl on the other side of the portal, he had just assumed that was their friend. But clearly that wasn't, unless she was secretly skilled a ventriloquist? He'd completely missed the part where Max had called her Ms. van Dyne, as he wasn't very good at paying attention. He'd never been. He used to have a ghost with him to help out, sort of a Seeing Eye Dog of sorts, but for paying attention to things. He probably could have found another ghost, but... He'd been too lazy to do it. And too distracted. And James usually prompted him when they needed him to do things. Like he still wasn't too sure what was happening in the family D&D campaign, but James made sure to nudge him when he needed to have his fighter (was he a fighter?) kill something.
But before Casper could ask Danni why April was calling, when she was just standing over there, his eyes finally fell on two kids he hadn't seen in ages. Andy and Zari. He gasped, his hand going up to cover his mouth. "Oh my fucking god, where have you two BEEN????" Casper practically sprinted through the portal, his head comically pivoting back and forth between Andy and Zari for a few seconds, before he pulled them both into a tight hug. "We thought you died!! Like, you ghosted us, but for real!! As actual ghosts!! Are you ghosts? Hmm, no, can't be, I'd be able to throw you around like a bouncy ball. Zombies? Nope, you don't smell anything like what Avery dragged into the house one time... Really good skin care routine?? Also, so fucking hurtful that you just bailed, after everything we'd been through together!" he squealed.
And then his eyes widened again, as the cat bag next to Andy began to scream...
"I recognize the stench of Maximilian Gray anywhere!" Selene hissed, before making her best imitation of the sound of spitting, as the doll she inhabited lacked saliva. Not that it was truly a doll, after all. It was an acheron, a mystical object used to trap beings of immense power, such as herself. It was only what little magic that remained to her that had allowed her to warp her trap into something that resembled herself, albeit in the form of a doll - and through her mutant gift to control inorganic matter, she could roughly puppeteer it, giving her limited freedom of movement.
But should the warlock who had betrayed and confined her all those years ago (well, last year really, from her perspective - to be honest, only a few months ago) wish to, he could easily lob her prison into the sun - or devise some means of actually harming her. And Selene would not allow that - not without a fight!
She focused the totality of her mutant power and her magics, lashing against her prison, the most aggressive and powerful attempt she had made to escape since her capture - to those watching, the cat carrier was thrashing violently, falling out of Andy's grip and hitting the ground, where it continued to jump, spin, fall, and jolt as if possessed by some wrathful ghost.
"DID YOU BRING FUCKING SELENE?!?!??!?!?!"
Firestar then coughed politely, trying to get the attention of Mr. Gray, so that way she could discuss something with him. He had more experience working with children than she did, and the news she had just received was heavy... And she wanted an adultier adult to be the one to figure out how to broach the subject to them all - to tell them that their coach had just passed away.
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