entrancelogs | OPEN | the "Lost People" mingle!

OPEN | the "Lost People" mingle!

Who: Every lonely person with a story to tell! (Check out the OOC details if you haven't yet!) Oh, and Peter Pan (

boyhood), too.
Where: Mingles are out on the mansion grounds.
When: June 4th-6th, night.
Rating: PG-13? We'll see.
Summary: Peter is up to old tricks. Using his influence as the Pied Piper, Peter gathers together everyone in Wonderland he can for a celebration. Are you ready to make some new friends, sad sacks? This doubles as a convenient excuse to see how many vulnerable children there are.
The Story:

So you heard a little tune on the air and you've come to play! The more, the merrier. Night 1 isn't strictly an action event, but if you'd like to have your characters react, or just want to thread something out for that time, go for it. Night 2 and Night 3 are where the action's at. The prompts are general ideas of what's going on!

Anyone who isn't invited is going to find they can't figure out where everyone's disappeared to, exactly, and if they do go to a location, it's going to look like nothing's going on. Strange, huh? For those who are invited, he only rule is this: mingle to your hearts' content! Make new posts, tag into things, do what makes the most fun!

After each night, everyone will be free to disperse before the sun comes up. They'll wake up in their beds feeling refreshed, with the pleasant, surreal sense they've just had a sweet dream.

Except it wasn't really a dream, was it?

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[ the response, every part of it, is a surprise to him. the admission of Clarisse's strength, the statement of the fact he's a human. the fact that he is, you know, human and was able to hold his ground as long as he did against a daughter of Ares.

Nico settles down a decent distance from him, watches where most of the celebration continues. he finds more enjoyment in this, in watching the others participate than getting involved himself. there's more contentment in talking to one person than the group at large. ]

"Just" human?

[ there's the barest hint of amusement in his voice, as though it's actually rather funny to him. ]

That's not a bad thing. Just human.

_{[Is this guy speaking from experience because he is, or because he has experience watching people from the other side of some invisible line? Adam can't tell. For Christ's sake, he'd just virtually challenged a demi-god to a game of chicken, brought on by Peter Pan challenging them to a much bigger game of chicken--goes to show that nothing is really what a person expects in Wonderland.

The boy could be anything under the sun, or not even a boy at all. Adam opens his mouth to answer, just rolling with it. He's not one to get shy over holding conversations with strangers, but there's a little less riding on the exchange than usual.]}

It is when you're in a real fight with something that's not.

_{[That is experience talking. He casts a thin smile at the bonfire, matter-of-fact rather than bitter, the latter result of what happens if he follows that train of thought too far.]}

Then it's just another way of saying "bottom of the pecking order." I wasn't expecting to take her out.

_{[And while Adam might have been serious about putting Jo's lessons to the test, Clarisse probably didn't need to. +1 in favor of the god squad.]}

[ the fact that he clarified the human part means that he likely knows Clarisse isn't, between that and the ease of the night thanks to Peter, Nico feels a little less on edge talking about it. ]

Even for a demigod, Clarisse is on the stronger side, in comparison to others.

[ in terms of brute force, at least. even Nico is fairly sure that, if it came down to only physical strength, Clarissa would be able to take him out. while most people at the camp were intimidated by that strength, Nico mostly thought it was really impressive. ]

I'm Nico, by the way. Guessing your name isn't Luke, otherwise Clarisse probably would have been ruthless. [ and the guy would probably, maybe, be dead by now. ]

_{[There it is again, that subtle confidence of someone who's speaking from experience of some kind, and it makes Adam wonder how this kid knows about this stuff. Another victim of Clarisse's "hit first, ask questions later" policy? Doesn't seem like it...

Then it hits him, and it's not at the moment Nico introduces himself, it's when he says the other name. Luke. Then it's like Adam's brain starts to assemble a puzzle he hadn't known he was mulling over, and he starts to see the other kid in a new light.

Another one of them, the god kids or whatever. Has to be. Normally, the mention of his other universe twin would be enough to sap all of the pleasantness out of the moment, but though his expression stills, he focuses instead on what this kid knowing the rest of them--and Luke--means. Nico must be a new recruit to Team Demi-God, because Adam's relatively sure he hadn't been around when Clarisse had mentioned who in Wonderland knew about Luke. Nico's name hadn't made the list.

He takes a moment or two to debate his reply.]}

No "probably" about it. Let's just say she found me before we got the lookalike situation figured out. Percy was supposed to be taking care of that so it doesn't happen again.

_{[But getting attacked in the hallways isn't something he still needs to worry about, is it? He hopes not.]}

It's Adam. _{[He shrugs.]} Never met a Luke, dunno why we're supposed to share a face. Didn't even know you guys were real until Wonderland. Sorry, can't help you if you've got some more baggage with the guy.

_{[Everybody has a different flavor. Adam doubts he wants to get a taste of whatever Nico's would be.]}

Edited 2014-07-19 07:35 (UTC)

I don't have baggage; I barely knew him. Just strange to see people share a face and be from completely different places.

[ and that's that. because Nico never really got to know Luke; he met him, fought against him, caught glimpses of him in the Underworld. so it isn't as strange for him as it is for the others, not by any measure.

still, he has to feel at least a little bad for the guy. of all people to have the same face as around here, that wouldn't be Nico's first choice. ]

It's nice to meet you, Adam.

_{[And be from completely different parents, he means. No Greek gods involved in the process of making him at all... just some monster hunter with angels on his shoulder and ten lies for every true thing he'd said.

Being John's kid isn't anything to brag about, but it's how he'd come to be in the world. It's who he is, John and Kate's surprise pregnancy. It anchors him when otherwise this talk of sharing faces across time and space would sweep him out to sea.]}

It's mine. The face. _{[Luke borrowing what belongs to him is more accurate than "sharing," he thinks.]} Maybe we look alike, but it's how I've always been. The rest has got nothing to do with me. None of that "long lost twin falls through a crack in the universe" stuff.

_{[So in other words, he doesn't really care what he and Luke have in common; their lives don't intersect, they're not even close to the same person. He's glad that none of these people who know Luke have tried to make something out of nothing, draw some kind of connection between them when one doesn't exist. Even Clarisse had dropped the issue quick when she'd realized her mistake.

He's okay with questions, but when meeting someone he can guess isn't entirely human like Nico, he'd rather it be with a clean slate than dragging around memories of Luke.

Tonight, at least for tonight, he gives a small smile.]}

Yeah, thanks. _{[The "you, too" is implied. He flicks his eyebrows up for a second, questioning.]} And you're... part god, too?

If anyone thinks you're a long lost twin who fell through to a different universe, I might reconsider who you're speaking to. [ he pauses, briefly. ] Which is probably saying something, since Clarisse and I are from the same world.

[ but the idea that someone might imply there's a correlation between Luke and this guy seemed a little absurd, even to Nico. in all the ghosts he'd seen, it was rare to find people that looked similar enough to be compared as twins when they weren't born as such. the potential of a doppelganger? perhaps; if they were from the same universe.

this? this he just chalked up to Wonderland trying to be funny. ]

I am. [ he pauses, hesitating a little, because no one ever likes his answer to this. ] Hades is my father.

I've just about heard it all. Wouldn't be surprised if someone dreamed that one up.

_{[Sort of like how having similar DNA to a pair of guys somehow makes you a part of their secret hunter world, and that he should welcome them with open arms despite them helping to damn him to Hell. The cynical edge to his smile hints at how used he is to facing down ridiculous presumptions.

In comparison, Adam really does appreciate that these divine people (or whatever) aren't as bad as they could be. He'd given Percy flak on the subject, but he can see they have a human side--the ones he's met act more human than some humans. He wouldn't have believed it if someone had just plopped him down next to Nico and said "this is a demi-god." The proof is in the little things, the way they smile, the way they talk. And, he supposes, also in the big things. The not killing or torturing him is a big improvement from most non-humans.

Mention of Hades means little to him, as a matter of fact. It dredges up memories of Disney movies and cheesy pop culture, and Adam just lifts his eyebrows a little in response. More recently, Hades' name had come up in his conversation with Percy. That, more than anything, attracts his attention.]}

He's the guy who deals with your underworld. _[Right?] I heard he might be the closest thing to an expert you got on souls.

Considering where we are, I'm sure a lot of people have their theories.

[ crazy theories, but theories all the same.

Nico just assumes that people who share faces happen to do it on coincidence alone. after all, there's only so many different ways people can look, and when you combine infinite numbers of universes, it's no real surprise that people are going to look the same.

he's surprised at the statement more than anything, both of them. because he had grown so accustomed to people viewing him negatively, as though he were literal garbage, that the fact some people don't seem bothered by it in the least is still a shock to him. ]

He is in charge of the Underworld. Anyone associated with it can probably tell you a great deal about souls. [ he isn't an expert by any means, but Nico knows a bit. ] Did you have a particular question?

_{[Too many theories is the same problem Adam's come up against in the matter of human souls.

In comparison, wrapping his head around some underworld god's offspring is practically a piece of cake. Nico's no stranger than any of the other kids from his world. They're all equally weird, and Nico doesn't get a special tier because his dad is death-flavored. Death had been a good thing at one point, a release from pain, and what frightens him isn't the prospect of an afterlife or gods who control it.

He worries about a different kind of beast: the monsters one can't immediately identity, the ones who don't advertise themselves. The beautiful, righteous ones who make a person want to believe in them. Isn't that what Satan is, in the end? The most beautiful, seductive, and the worst of all the world's monsters, and that's why he'd swayed humanity to listen to him? If Hades and the rest of his rug rats came up to Adam acting as grim and dismal as a cartoon Grim Reaper, he could handle that better than the alternative.

It's harder for him to think about what the alternative is--angels, full of light and fake altruism--and how he and his soul are wrapped up in them. He does have questions, a lot of them, but...

Almost a little embarrassed, Adam looks away, rubbing his thumb on his opposite wrist.

How does he ever explain he's probably got just as much baggage dragging behind him as this Luke person seemed to have? That Hell and a pair of archangels had picked up his soul and threw it on the ground like a piece of glass, and now Humpty Dumpty's broken into a million pieces? He's worried he's always going to feel this way, twisted and half-human, because of how damaged this soul of his is, but it just seems like the wrong night to piss on everything with that sob story. The story of his whole life.]}

Nah, not tonight. Let's not bring down the mood. Maybe later. _{[Finally, he shakes his head, unable to keep the self-conscious edge out of his smile.]} What's the underworld supposed to be, anyway? Like the afterlife?

Edited 2014-07-31 19:35 (UTC)

[ Nico can already sense things about Adam. can feel the death that follows him, the pain and pressure that drives deep down in his chest from whatever it is that killed him. his senses are dulled, his ability to sense death included, and he's sure it's because of the party. the energy of it, the company they're keeping -- Nico could feel the lightness in his chest. it made it difficult to pinpoint anything about the people surrounding them, even Clarisse.

he mentally files it away for later, to ask Adam again. Nico knows that his abilities aren't the most helpful thing in the world outside of a battle, so being able to use it for something useful- he'll take the opportunities he can get.

when he asks about the Underworld, Nico feels the barest hint of a smile tug at one corner of his mouth. it doesn't last long, never does, but there's a flash of it. because the Underworld, for him, is the closest thing he has to a place to call home. ]

It is the afterlife, yes. The Underworld- it's made up of different parts that create the whole. There is the River Styx, which you must pay to cross. On the other side is the pavillion of judgment. Three spirits will judge your soul and the choices that you have made during your life -- they rotate out on occasion, to make sure that the judges aren't complacent. They are the ones that will decide on where you will spend your afterlife.

_{[He interprets the smile as a humored one. Is something funny about him asking?

As they've covered in-depth, he's only human, not an expert on this stuff by any means. His soul is older than it has any right to be, but it doesn't mean he knows anything, which still sucks, but he now knows he can get physical with a demi-god and not have her knock his block off, and that's better than nothing.

This version of an afterlife sounds better than Lucifer's Cage, it's true, but fantastic enough to warrant a smile like Nico's.]}

I thought those were all just stories.

_{[He doubts he's the first or last person to ever say that.]}

No angels? No Heaven?

[ the concept of heaven and angels isn't exactly foreign. Nico still has the barest memories of being a child and learning that they were concepts, but not something to believe in; just an idea that some people held.

still, he almost prefers the idea of the Underworld to that. having two options of places to go where only one person gets to decide the outcome of your eternal resting place? the idea doesn't sit well with him.

he shrugs at the question, remembers he hasn't answered. ]

No angels, at least. I guess you could say we have something similar to Heaven? It's called Elysium. If you've... lived a good life, or if you sacrificed yourself for the greater good, if you had a good heart- You'll go there. If you reach Elysium and choose to be reborn, and the judges send you there three times, you're then sent to the Isle of the Blest. I guess that would be something like... VIP Heaven? [ he isn't sure how else to explain it. ]

_{[No angels? Hallelujah. Except Adam's not so ignorant as to think "no angels" means the same thing as no monsters at all, no threats, no powerful creatures that know how to lie to a person. That's what gods are for, probably. If they don't have angels to do the job, they must have other things to fill the gap and keep douchebag levels steady. He's still not sure how he's supposed to feel about learning all these places and people exist in the universe, but he thinks everywhere must have the same amount of suck.

For the Adams and Lukes and whatever other names his lookalikes go by, maybe places just suck a little bit more for them.

Destined for a shit ride down the road of life. That sounds about right.]}

I heard a little bit about it.

_{[He admits this after a moment of thought. Despite being curious, Adam isn't comfortable Q&Aing someone he doesn't know in-depth about it all--this is a demi-god he's talking to, he's the expert, he's the one in control of forces Adam won't ever understand. As easy as it's been to talk to these other people like equals, they're not equals.

There's still a hard knot inside him that warns him that if he steps into someone else's sandbox, if he engages with them too much and asks too many questions, he'll risk some kind of blowback. Angels' life lessons have stuck with him. It's safer all around to not draw attention to himself.]}

Sounds like a lot of red tape. _{[He shrugs.]} Other worlds make everything more complicated. Never saw anything like that.

_{[He had the added experience of actually remembering going to Heaven. He didn't need to be convinced of the afterlife. He'd died. He'd been there, he'd done it.

And then there'd been the other place. Hell. He'd been there, too. Practically snatched out of Heaven and thrown down the stairs into the pit instead, sacrificed for the greater good. With hindsight on his side, the idea of judges scoring a soul over and over again fills him with fear, to be frank, because if there's one thing worse than screwing up on your own dime, it's some entity deciding your fate for you.

He wonders how Tartarus fits into this, but refrains from asking. Is there a VIP Hell? What a fucking thought.]}

[ yeah, no angels, but that was definitely the part where the gods stepped in. because, as if there weren't more important things to be concerned about, the meddling in the lives and quests of demigods quickly became the business of the gods who became personally invested.

still.

he imagines that their situation is better than most; the gods were easy enough to discern and the monsters were simple to spot, which made all of it pretty straight forward. just, you know, incredibly dangerous.

there's a tug at the corner of Nico's mouth. ]

The Underworld is probably one of the more complicated things about where Clarisse and I come from.

[ which he didn't wholly mind -- not really.

still, the mention of Clarisse has Nico's eyes scanning their surroundings to try and spot her. ]

Speaking of which, I should... probably find her and make sure she isn't doing any permanent damage. [ seeing as though he has yet to see anyone else from their world at the gathering. ]

It was nice to meet you, Adam. And if you ever decide you feel like asking about the soul stuff... I don't mind trying to answer your questions for you.

_{[If this kid believes in straightforward, Adam's a tad envious. Normally, there's no such thing as straightforward when it comes to non-humans, not for someone as conditioned to mistrust them as Adam, and talking to these demi-gods is still untrodden territory on a lot of levels. They're complicated, too, like this underworld. Putting him and them together is extra complicated.

On the flip side, playing around with Clarisse and talking to this so-called son of Hades with a vibe like a black hole is an act of breaking new ground. Whether or not said ground will still exist come morning, well... that remains to be seen. Nice things like trust and safety don't stick with him, which is why Adam has to wonder if they'll ever actually talk again once Nico gets ready to backseat drive Clarisse.

Even if it's just the one time, even if it only lasted a little while, Adam can still say he's done something he'd never thought he could do: have a conversation with a demi-god that didn't involve pulling teeth.]}

Sure. Probably a good idea.

_{[Happy where he is, Adam stays crouched, arms across his knees.]}

Maybe, yeah. Thanks. _{[He glances down for a second, then offers another small smile.]} And thanks, for not... being just what I'm used to.

_{[Not just monsters. Not just teeth, and hunger, and fury.]}

Oh, um- You're welcome.

[ that surprised him more than anything, really. and while he might not know most of what Adam is used to, he's glad to have not been what he was expecting. people might have been hesitant around Nico, uncomfortable, but being able to offer up the feeling of being better than what someone was accustomed to was something he wasn't really familiar with.

he returns Adam's smile with one of his own, far less hesitant than what it may have been under normal circumstances. he blames the energy of the party for it, for his ease in the entire conversation. but it's also allowed him to speak to someone that might have otherwise been too uneasy around him. ]

Thanks for treating me like a person.

[ instead of, well- anything but.

with that, he turns to wander off in search of Clarisse. mostly because he's not entirely sure she's capable of staying out of trouble, even on a night like this. ]

_{[Touche, Nico. Adam's not at all used to monsters... well, non-humans... wanting to be people.

He keeps the surprise off his face, but watches Nico go with a blink. Anything's possible in Wonderland. Shouldn't he know that by now? He'd just walked away from play-fighting one of the demi-gods, after all, and one who's ferocious in her own right. Yet he finds he's still learning lessons. How much nicer would have life have been if he'd met non-humans who'd just wanted to fit in before everything in his life had changed?

For once, the thought doesn't immediately overwhelm him with a sense of loss.]}

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OPEN | the "Lost People" mingle!

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