eachdraidh | Video; open to both courts

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Uh--hi, my name is Bianca. Bianca di Angelo. I guess I'm new here?

[ She pauses after that and fiddles with the locket a little, not really sure where she should go now that she's introduced herself. She has a lot of questions, and plenty of concerns, but she's also not really sure where or how to start voicing them. It doesn't help that this whole thing feels very impersonal. It's almost like she's talking to a wall and not a whole bunch of different people. ]

Right, okay. So I get why I'm here. I've got something important inside me, and...all that. [ It's said a little uncomfortably. Not only is it a little weird to think she's been living her whole life with the shard of some otherworldly crystal inside her body, but she definitely has enough on her plate already, She doesn't want to worry about a another war on top of everything else. ] But what if--[ She hesitates again, biting her lip. ]

What if we have something equally important to do back home? Will they send us back? My--friends are in serious trouble. [ And it's definitively her fault they are. She didn't listen to Percy, and now, well, things are bad. Really, really bad. ] I'd like to be able to help them, somehow. Even if I can't return, there has to be something I can do from here, right?

[ And then, just to have something a little less heavy to talk about; ]

Oh, and are the imps always so rude? I tried to talk to one, but it bit my finger.

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[Nico has been checking the network regularly, mostly to keep an eye on his friends and make sure nothing unexpected is about to happen. He doesn't expect this post to come up.

For about six months, ever since seeing Luke here, he's been keeping the hope that he'll see Bianca again from getting out of control. He can't keep thinking about things like that, especially when she'd chosen to live a new life. Her death still cuts his soul, a wound that had been reopened during his brief stint in Tartarus, and that pain will always be with him, no matter how much time passes. Nico thought he'd been coping with it, but seeing Bianca's face again brings back the fact that he has only been deluding himself. Three or four years hasn't been enough time.

But he can't deny that, though he's in pain, he's also very happy to see her again.

Then Nico has one last fact sink in: Bianca is on the Unseelie side. The side that has a bounty out on him and Clarisse. The side that the Seelie Court is fighting against. Resolve hardens his heart. Nico is determined that while Bianca is Unseelie, he will protect her from those on his side who wouldn't mind seeing her blood spilled on the ground or would kill her just for being Unseelie. He's not going to lose her to these people. Never. He refuses to let that happen, to let death be her fate yet again. Nico doesn't think he can handle seeing that happen again, especially if he couldn't do anything to prevent it. Like the last time.

He has to take a moment to let his emotions stop running wild before he replies to Bianca. It's been so long...he's not sure how she'll react to how much he's changed since she saw him. Whenever that had been.]

Bianca--

[Nico chokes up. He swallows and tries again, tries to focus on something inane instead of something bigger. It's all he can do to keep himself from drowning in his emotions.]

I, uh, I don't know about imps, but the faeries are definitely nicer, but...they do like their pranks. Sometimes.

[ He strikes her as very familiar, she can even pick out features she recognizes, but she doesn't let her mind wander any further than that. She can't. He's too old to be her brother, after all. He's too tired looking and not nearly as excitable as the little Nico she's known her whole life. If he was her brother, he would be running around annoying everyone by asking about the imp's stats and hit points. He would be happy and healthy and bright.

The one thing she can't avoid is how shaken he seems, how he looks at her like he's seeing a ghost. But Bianca tells herself that it's not her. This whole situation is strange and unsettling, and maybe, maybe it's hitting him a little harder than some of the others. She knows somewhere down in the pit of her stomach that she's in denial. She knows him, it's in the way he says her name. It's in all the little things in his face and posture. But there are so many unsettling implications that come with him being her brother, and she's not ready to face them just yet.

The smile she gives him is small and impersonal. ]

I haven't seen any fairies. They're on the Seelie side, right?

[He tries very hard to not let that hurt him. How can he expect her to actually recognize him? Nico has changed so much since when she last saw him, no matter when that had been. Tartarus has wrecked what he believes is irreversible damage, and it certainly shows.

Nico wishes he could shadow travel from here to where Bianca is without negative effects on his health. He can't, though, and trying would be suicide in many different ways. At least if they were face-to-face, maybe this wouldn't be such a shock to his sister. Maybe...but a cynical voice in his head says that it most likely will only make it worse.

He swallows, though it feels as though a fist is clenching his throat in an iron grip. Nico tries to make this a casual conversation, though he's probably failing miserably.]

Yeah. A lot of people from our world is on the Seelie side. Percy Jackson, for example.

[ As soon as the name drops, she goes through a series of emotions in rapid succession. Shock's first on the list. He knows her, knows Percy and their world (of course he does.) It's followed quickly by guarded suspicion, like he's an enemy. Like he's hiding something. Then comes the realization. The horror. The denial. She drops the locket, and stumbles backwards, out of frame. Something drops to the ground and breaks. An imp curses at her and scratches at her legs but she doesn't notice.

No. She mouths it and wraps her arms around her stomach, as thought it will protect her from the truth. She tries, futility, to explain it all away. He can't be Nico, she reasons. She wouldn't have let him become this. She wouldn't have let the light leave his eyes unless she--

I'm dead

No. ]

Sorry, I. Um. [ She takes a breath and tries to find normal again. ] I didn't realize Percy was here, too.

[ It's one of the dumbest things she can say, but she doesn't know what else to do. ]

[Nico tries for a smile, but it feels broken and fake on his face. He knows how much he's changed, his mind unable to let him forget this, yet...it's not until now that it really hits him how much he's changed since Bianca's death and falling into Tartarus. It makes him long for the days their mother was alive, when they'd been a fairly happy family, but that's not within his reach.]

He...hasn't been here for as long. He maybe arrived a couple months before you did. I've been here for almost...six months, I think.

[He debates telling her how long it's been, how much he's missed her, but he doesn't think he needs to tell her the latter. She knows. She's his big sister, no matter how many years have past, and she's always known him the best out of anyone, though Hazel is getting there pretty quickly.]

It's...it's been a long time, Bianca. A lot's...changed.

[ She nods but looks down and away. Six months? That could account for some change, but not everything. It looks more like years have passed, and she can't even pinpoint how many. Three, four, five? ] Yeah. [ I can tell. But the words are syrup in her throat.

She takes a deep breath and pushes her feelings to the side. It's time to be a big sister again. She can worry about her insecurities later, deal with all her emotions when no one's around. Right now, though, Nico's the most important. She has to make sure he's okay.

Even if years have passed, she can still do that, right? ] But it's okay. Change happens, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

[He almost says that Tartarus had been a very bad change for him, but he restrains himself. He can't tell her that, at least not when they're in two different places. That...is something that needs to be addressed face-to-face.

So, instead, he focuses on the very few nice changes and tries for a smile.]

I did find a half-sister of ours back on our world. Her name is Hazel, about a year younger than me. She's not here right now, but I think you'd get along great with her. And...I think you'd like a friend I've made back home, too. His name's Jason, and he's here in Caer Glaem with us.

[ She tries not to let jealousy curl up in her stomach. ] How did you figure out she was our sister? [ She would think a sibling of theirs would have been with them, unless they're half-siblings on their godly parent's side? Which means he knows who their father or mother is.

She smiles when he mentions Jason, though. ] He must be--[ "A good friend" gets lost when he mentions Caer Glaem. He had mentioned fairies earlier, but him being seelie hadn't occurred to her. Not because she saw her brother as chaotic, but because she hadn't thought they would be on separate sides. ] You're in Caer Glaem?

[Now he looks uncomfortable. Nico decides to make this a private conversation on the network, and glances around with slight guilt to make sure nobody's about to come waltzing down and overhear what they're about to discuss.]

I...uh...brought her back from the Fields of Asphodel. The day I met Hazel...well, Thanatos, the death god, was a prisoner in Alaska, so...security in the Underworld wasn't what it used to be. [Nico rubs his face, looking both awkward and sad.] At first, I thought, maybe...nobody would notice if I...um...could bring your spirit back. But you'd chosen rebirth at that time, so...I couldn't. Then I found Hazel, which I think was what dad wanted me to do. She was a child of our dad's Roman aspect, though, so I had to take her to the Roman version of Camp Half-Blood, over in San Francisco.

[Steely determination enters Nico's eyes at this point.]

Yeah, but even though we're on opposite sides, I'm not going to fight you. That's one thing the Monarchs are never going to make me do.

Oh.

[ That's really all she can manage. It feels kind of like her brain is going to shut down. This confirms her fears, that she's dead, and Nico brought someone else back, a sister from another time. Bianca doesn't really get it. Why hadn't she waited? Why choose rebirth, instead of wait for her brother? Her brother could be annoying, she had been sick of taking care of him and playing big sister all the time, but she still loved her brother. She wouldn't have wanted to leave him completely...would she have?

Not only that, but was Nico saying...their father is Hades? God of the Dead? It makes sense looking back on the journey she'd been on, but at the same time...good grief. She chews on the inside of her lip and steadies her breathing. She can't deal with this right now. She doesn't know how. It's like every ugly emotion she's capable of is sticking to her insides.

She nods. ]

How far away is the seelie side? Will we still be able to see each other, or is that not allowed?

[He nods, looking a little excited.]

Not very, if you take the faerie rings. Instant teleportation from one ring to another. On your side, there's one in The Llorona, and on my side the Southwood ring is the closest to Caer Glaem. I don't know how it is on the Unseelie side, but the Seelie natives don't treat Unseelie nicely. Any visits to Caer Glaem will need to be...ah...stealthy. Still, friendly visits aren't prohibited on either side, from what I've been able to tell.

[ Ah, that's a relief, at least. She nods. ]

That's good. [ She had been a little worried about that. ] Do the Seelie attack anyone from the Unseelie side, or are they just rude?

[He shakes his head, looking a touch rueful.]

Rude, for the most part. The only time I know of Seelie attacking an Unseelie is when there's a battle between the two sides.

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Video; open to both courts

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