eachdraidh | [Video: Seelie] 01 Shadow

[Nico doesn't trust the Unseelie side. In fairness, he doesn't exactly trust the Seelie side, either. Of the two, he can at least trust that the Seelie side won't stab him in the back while he's asleep. He expects them to do it during the daytime.

At any rate, he decides to let his...allies (?) know at least one of his abilities. Two at most. The rest are best used as aces in his sleeves or whenever it actually comes up.

So, when the video feed comes on, Nico looks like he's up in a tree. He is because, man, he doesn't want his conversation jacked by Luke like in Jason's.]

My name is Nico di Angelo. The topic of transportation has come up a few times, and if the worms are any indication, then I expect that they're just the start of whatever we're going to be facing in this world. That's not even including the fact that we're most likely going to do battle with other people.

[A flicker of distaste crosses his face. Being a civilian in one war between mortals and a soldier in a war between demigods is just...not his idea of a fun time. Still, it needs to be said.]

I have abilities that don't include being good with a sword. I'm only comfortable with talking about two of them at this time. One is called shadow travel. It's best used at night, but the basics of this power is that I can go from one shadow to another no matter where it is. Distance and the amount of people I take with me have a very important factor in how much of an energy toll I get. Over seven thousand miles on my own will probably knock me out for a straight week, just to give an example. Even short jumps could leave me exhausted. I'm best used for emergency back up or just for emergency transportation if someone gets badly injured.

[Nico pauses, thinking about how to phrase the other one.]

The second ability...I'm able to affect the dead. I don't need anything special, it's just something that's natural for me. From spirits to the walking dead, I can either kill or banish them. Talk to them, too, in the case of ghosts.

[Okay, yeah, that's a lot of information, and hopefully it's useful.]

That's about it.

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[Crap, and he thought he was being too vague for that. Nico sighs.]

Yes, I can summon the dead, whether it's a ghost, reanimated skeleton, or just a zombie. It's...something I inherited.

So... You always knew you could do that?

[ tone: I AM CONCERNED IN A WHOLE NEW WAY NOW because wow that's genuinely scary to think about. trying to learn to control that kind of thing. ]

When I was a kid, I didn't really wake up to my power or realize I had it. The passive stuff I knew about. Seeing ghosts, talking to them....

[Feeling people die. Sensing those who are close to death.]

It wasn't until I was told about them and accidentally did something that I really knew what I could do. I found someone to help teach me how to control it, though.

[ oh okay wow, that cuts close to home. Jeremy could talk to ghosts too. it wasn't inherited, but still. ]

I still can't imagine what that must have been like. Well, I can on some level, but I wasn't born with the abilities I have, I kind of knew what they were before it all got thrown on me. I wouldn't have been able to figure it out on my own.

[She has definitely gotten his interest.]

How were they thrown at you, if you don't mind my asking?

[ just... locking this up ]

I'm a vampire. I- died with vampire blood in my system.

[ which sounds gross, so she's quick to add- ]

Longest story ever short, I was in the hospital with a really bad injury, and one of the doctors used vampire blood to heal me. For whatever supernatural reason, vampires can heal, and it's because of something in their blood. But then I ended up dying, like, right after I got back home, so now I'm a vampire. [ she's kind of wincing, like she wishes there was an easier way to explain this ] It's a whole process. But the first stage of becoming a vampire is dying with blood in your system, which is kind of why I wanted to ask you about your powers to begin with. Since I'm kind of, um. Dead. Technically.

[Nico nods, thinking about it. He accepts the rules of her world's vampirism pretty readily, all things considered.]

I can promise that I won't consciously use my powers against you. I can't turn off the one that allows me to kill the undead permanently, but I'll promise to be especially careful around you. Honestly, I've never come across a vampire, so I don't know if there's anything else I should avoid with you.

[He hesitates for a moment before sighing. Might as well come clean about himself since she did...and it's private, so....]

The person I inherited these powers from was my father, Hades. Greek god of the Underworld, Lord of the Dead.

Sorry, what? How does that work? [ w i d e e y e s ] The permanently killing the undead. Do you think I count for that? Undead is kind of a vague word, when you think about it, so maybe we should test things out, see what-

[ but there's that explanation, and she takes a second to just... absorb that ]

So you're a demigod? Unless your mom is a goddess, too. [ is she seriously talking to a god right now this is so not what she was expecting ] Okay. [ she's pretty accepting too, but there's an underlining ?????????? in that 'okay', for sure ]

[He's going to be good and keep his amusement under wraps. She has legitimate concerns and questions.]

Demigod, yes. My mother was mortal. Greek mythology in my world is very much real. It's considered lucky if a demigod lives past the age of 18.

[Now he'll tackle the first question.]

First, it's a gift from my father as Lord of the Dead. Things like zombies and animated skeletons...those can't be killed by normal weapons or by magic weapons most demigods use, at least where I come from. I can with any weapon I have in hand. Second, I have a special weapon for monsters regardless. My sword's blade absorbs their essence so that they don't get reborn. Like I said, though, I don't know if my powers will affect a vampire or not. I'd rather be on the safe side and not cause you harm.

[ after all that- ] I guess if vampires can be real... why not Greek gods, right? [ I'm trying here ] And I appreciate that. The not harming me thing. [ grin ] Vampires are capable of really terrible things, but I'm not like that. I let myself tap into that for a little while and it was probably the darkest time of my life. I won't go back to that. That said- there isn't any blade that can kill us. Unless you- cut off our head, but otherwise it's a lot more complicated than that.

[ she pauses, her brow furrowing ]

We're on the same side of things, right? But I do have a friend from home here who isn't on this side. He's an Unseelie, so- If there's some way we can find out if your weapons work against us, I want to figure it out. I'm not saying I think you should come at me swinging, but there has to be a way to check that isn't completely lethal, right?

Demigods are the same way. We have the potential to do terrible things, but we're lucky that most tend to lean more to doing heroic acts.

[Nico nods.]

Same side. I won't try to hurt your friend, but I can't guarantee it if I'm forced to defend myself. As for finding out whether our blades are lethal against you, I wouldn't suggest Stygian Iron to be the first thing we tried. Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold are the better ways to go about this. Those two metals don't absorb essence, so it should be safe. We'll be back in Caer Glaem in a few days and probably stay for a week, so if you have the time during then...?

[Video: Seelie] 01 Shadow

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