eachdraidh | video / open to both courts

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video / open to both courts

[the image on the lockets is clearly from inside the cave system that whole moon hunt is taking place in. jason seems to be taking a break, and while he's pretty dirty and scuffed up (and definitely not enjoying being underground), he attempts a smile anyway.]

I know Nico and Rachel were talking about us doing the whole Greco-Roman myth storytime thing regularly, when he shared the whole "Hades and Persephone" story the other month, and switching off between Greek and Roman stories, and I guess since I'm still our token Roman, I might as well do a Roman myth.

[he's babbling a little. sorry.]

To be honest, most of the Roman myths are just Greek ones with the names changed, but the story of Romulus and Remus is all Roman. Mostly because it was their way of explaining why Rome was the most powerful city in the world.

[which is...honestly a pretty roman kind a thing to do. at the very least, none of the other demigods plus rachel should be surprised.]

So there was a princess named Rhea Silvia. Her uncle, this guy named Amulius, seized power and had all the legitimate male heirs killed so no one can challenge him. Rhea Silvia was dating the god of war, Mars, and she ended up giving birth to twin boys, Romulus and Remus.

Amulius was scared that Romulus and Remus would grow up and overthrow him, so he had them put in a basket and abandoned to die in the Tiber River. Y'know because that worked out great in the hundred other stories where they just abandon the baby out in the wilderness somewhere and hope it'll die.

[seriously. atalanta? oedipus? ion? that shit never works and no one ever learns.]

So anyway, the river just carries them to safety, and they're found by a female wolf called Lupa who raises them for a while. She's, uh, actually still around, and still trains new Roman demigods. They're just not usually babies these days. I spent a while with her when I was little, but I think most people go to her when they're a bit older, and just for a few months before they're sent to the Roman camp.

[he's getting off track. jason's mouth twists, stretching the little scar at the corner of his lips, and his shakes his head and continues.]

Anyway, so eventually Lupa left Romulus and Remus for a shepard to find, and they were raised by him and and wife until they grew up. They eventually find out the truth about everything and go kill Amulius, but instead of taking over a co-kings, they decided to make their own city instead.

So they found a place they liked for their city, but they couldn't agree which hill to put it on. They argued about it a lot and looked for signs from the gods to decide who was right, but they even disagreed about the results of that and eventually Romulus just started building the wall of his new city.

Remus was annoyed and started making fun of his brother's wall and jumped over the wall to point out how easy it was to get over, and Romulus was so angry he killed Remus. Romulus went on to finish his city and named it "Rome" after himself.

[jason looks more than a little embarrassed at his own roman-ness, now that he's actually going through the details of this dumb story. this was clearly a mistake.]

So...yeah. I guess it's supposed to mean that Rome is the best city ever because it was founded by a demigod, but in hindsight I'm not sure why everyone's so proud of a founded who killed his own brother because they had a really stupid argument. But Rome did go on to become the most powerful city in the world for over a thousand years, so...whatever.

[jason frowns, glancing away. okay, so maybe storytime was kind of a stupid idea. he'd just wanted a distraction from the whole "hanging out in uncle hades' domain for an extended period of time" thing, alright?]

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[Nico takes a seat next to Jason. He's not as tired as the others, but, then, he's not typically claustrophobic or noctophobic. Besides...it doesn't hurt to rest, despite how pressed for time they are in finding the Moon.]

Founded on bloodshed and political power, which pretty quickly became Rome's legacy. One of Italy's greatest prides.

[He may not be a Roman demigod, but his roots are Italian, and he can't deny that makes him partially connected to Rome.]

Not a nice history, but Greece doesn't have a nice one, either. Especially Sparta.

[ Hiccup looks equally as Fuck This, I Need A Sit-Down when he flicks on his locket's video, dirt scuffed over his face where he chills out alone. He listens intently, an open expression easing the tension over the past couple of days. ]

I've heard all about Rome's wonders and that it's the hub of the civilised world, I've just never had time to go. Its stories sound as crazy as ours on Berk, even though we're so far away up in the north past Valir. [ After a moment's thought, he tacks on, ] Pretty sure the Latin for that is Gallia? Sorry, I've been getting the impression off other people that I'm a throw-back from an earlier time, I might be getting the names of places wrong.

Are you really a Roman?

Most people can ignore the little details they don't like in stories. [Annabeth was sitting nearby, her back against a wall, her eyes closed. Her draken-bone sword was stretched across her lap, and her hands were folded on it. She had probably looked like she was sleeping, but she'd been listening! Her eyes opened finally and she smiled some.]

Or they just don't know that part. That's a lot more detailed than I ever read the story.

You mean Gaul? [wow, that's like...Iron Age kinda stuff.] I mean, yeah, Gallia is right, just...huh. Yeah, it does sound like you're from kinda far back.

[and far north, but he's not nearly familiar enough with other myth and regions to guess anything for sure. something nordic maybe?]

I'm Roman, but it's probably not the kind of Roman you're thinking of. That Rome fell out of power a long time ago. It's still around, but it's mostly just a tourist thing these days. I'm from New Rome, in the U.S. [uhhh when was the new world discovered? shit.] Um, that's a continent to the west across the ocean from Rome and all that.

[it's not quite claustrophobia, just...is there a word for fear of being buried alive by your godly uncle? still, he seems grateful for the distraction, and nudges nico's knee with his own.]

Well, we don't exactly have the best present either. Everything about this pantheon is kind of a mess, honestly.

[The word is "baby" in Nico's opinion. He raises a supremely ironic eyebrow.]

What's not a mess about incest galore?

[tilting his head in her direction, jason manages a slight smile.]

Chiron didn't even tell you guys that there were Roman demigods. I'm not surprised that he wasn't really teaching you guys in-depth Roman myths.

[hey, not everyone knows what a secret softy your dad is.]

Ugh. We're not having the incest talk.

Viking.

[ Said with a shrug since it already explains more than he could, apparently. ]

Oh, it did? It's still going really strong, as far as I was aware. [ Wait, what. ] A continent to the west? I've mostly flown eastward past Sviar to the aspen forests, that's where I was charting prior to coming here. What's the Yew-Ess like?

Wow. Yeah, that's...pretty old.

[you're kinda scrawny for a viking, dude.]

It's pretty varied. Size-wise, the U.S. is around the same size of all of Europe. Uh, that is, most of the area that was part of the Roman Empire, all the Germanic lands, and all the islands up around where I'm guessing you're from.

[ It's not your size, it's rIDING A FLAME SPITTING FLYING LIZARD that counts!! ]

Wow. What kind of dragons are over there?

[ Still not out of the habit of assuming they're everywhere back home, or that other worlds don't have them; at least, not as rife as his own. ]

Edited (sobs about typos) 2014-10-09 00:39 (UTC)

[ Rachel is absolutely listening with her chin in her hand, and it's only in part because of how tired she is. this hero business is tough work, okay. so tiring. running around in a cave ( which you'd think this Oracle would be used to but nope this is way different ) with a weapon that kind of makes your arm hurt to use after a while, but. anyway. so she's all ears during Jason's story, because she's unashamed to admit that story time, of any variety, still tends to help her relax. she's a big kid like that.

she'll even quietly clap at the end ]

That story's kind of sad. But I was pretty excited to learn that Lupa is still around. I mean, I knew she was back home, but. Yeah. [ a beat, a tired smile. she's still got her head in her hand, but the other waves expressively as she talks ] I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like if Camp Half-Blood had someone like that look after demigods before they got into camp. It's like a test, almost, right?

Uh. None? I mean, there are a some, but that's like, a demigod-only thing. I know there are sometimes dragons guarding things in myths, and there's a gold one at Camp Half-Blood that guards the camp boundary, but most of the country -- most of the world, actually -- doesn't actually believe that dragons exist.

[does that mean this guy comes from a different version of earth or something? or is there like, an equivalent to the whole greek thing over in viking-land?]

My best friend found one made out of bronze and fixed it up, though.

O—Oh, right. Okay. [ It hits him unexpectedly, which irritates him for not remembering that you aren't back home. Hiccup frowns, looking put-out, but it isn't at the other young man on view. ] No, yeah. That — Yeah, that was really good of your friend to do, fixing that bronze statue up.

What's Camp Half-Blood? If you don't mind my asking.

Yeah, sort of. It's more like...we just saw the Roman stuff as an extension of our parents. I don't think it ever really occurred to us, at least not to me, that they'd be different people.

[Although, thinking about it, she probably should have. Athena and Minerva were nothing alike, after all.]

It's not a statue, it's a machine. I think. We call him Festus.

[festus is kind of permanently awake now and kind of sentient? but that's all Leo's territory so he's not gonna try explaining it.]

But yeah. Camp Half-Blood is a place for Greek demigods to train and live where they can be safe from monsters.

[ So, so weird. A machine shaped like a dragon? That moves? That's incredible to even imagine, let alone consider as real. ]

If you're a demigod, which god is it that you take after?

[well, it's nice that for once the whole "demigod" thing isn't he most unbelievable thing here. leo can defend his pet dragon himself, maybe you guys can even bond.]

My dad is Jupiter, god of the sky.

Does that mean you can fly or ... do sky-related stuff?

[ Because that sounds super neat, yo. ]

Yup. To both questions. But we're all kinda at half-power right now, and in a cave, so you might have a wait on a demonstration.

[do you want a flying buddy while you're without your dragon. because he can totally give you a lift.]

That's amazing. [ He laughs slightly, delighted. ] I have a flightsuit that lets me glide, but I expect the real thing is pretty different when you're not a passenger.

[ Yes, excuse him - Leo heard Festus, so he'll be shoving Jason out of the way because this is his territory. Get out, Superman. It's the mechanic's turn to talk. ]

What Jason is trying to say is that Festus isn't just any machine, he's an automaton. [ Hear that, Grace? Automaton. Get it right. ] He was kind of going haywire when I found him, but there was something wrong with his control chip, so I fixed him up, reattached his wings, and when he fell apart, I made him the figurehead for our ship. And he's still going strong! I can't believe they ever wanted to disassemble him.

[ Can you tell he is really proud of his best dragon buddy? Because he totally is. ]

What's an automaton? How does a control 'chip' work? Like a notch on him somewhere that you have to turn with a key?

[ Actual Viking in the house. Time for the nerds to meet halfway about their passions for smithing, mechanics and dragons. ~~Ahw yiss.~~ ]

Automaton literally means "acting of one's free will," so they're basically machines that can move and act and think all on their own, but they need a control chip. Most of it's standard mechanics, but the control chip is the brain. Without that, an automaton is basically just a hunk of lifeless metal.

[ As much as he hates to admit that. ]

It's about... this big, [ Leo explains, holding up his hand with about an inch of space between his thumb and forefinger. ] There's a lot of wiring involved, but there's usually a control panel you can open up with a slot where the chip goes. For Festus, it's on the back of his head. You don't really need a key or anything, though, you just need to know how to open the panel and where the chip goes, and it only goes in one way. It's pretty simple. [ To a son of a divine mechanic, maybe. To a Viking... eh. Guess he'll find out. ]

[ Wiring makes him think of his connector to Toothless's saddle, simple cords yanking and cinching. ]

So he operates on a sort of pulley system? With the wires.

[ Which Hiccup can sort of equate with making sense, albeit without factoring in the part about the automaton moving around without someone there to control it. It's all a little beyond what little technology exists in his age and he has the feeling he's once more out of his depth with future mechanics. He really needs to hit up some books on science and modern tech, it's getting to be an itch he severely wants and needs to scratch. ]

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