God's not in the Silver City Anymore.

I like to think that while the Reiatsu has a feeling to it, it also assaults all five senses.

So, here are the Vizards:

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Rose feels like the very beginning of spring. The scent of fresh roses (much like his namesake), the feeling of the sun on your skin after a long winter, the light breeze in the air-

But beneath that is the frigid nights, the lingering sensation of death being right around the corner. The bloodlust of a battle, the pain and terror that comes with it. The taste of iron bursting in your mouth.

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Shinji is the dead of summer, when the cicadas sing and make your eardrums pulse with the sound.

Heat, confusion-

The smell of just /hot/. How asphalt smells, the mirage that builds up from the top that confuses the eye.

Like how it smells when its 100°+ and it hurts to even go outside. It's uncomfortable and unbearable to be near.

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With Lisa, it's the scent of Japanese Cherry Blossom- the perfume. A layer of vanilla settles under-

But beneath it gives the impression of rotten flowers, of grave dirt and a cold, bitter wind.

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Hiyori is ozone.

Like how those old TV sets felt when you got too close to them?

How your hair stands on end and you get that odd taste in your mouth.

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Mashiro is spring time incarnate. Overly sweet, so sweet that it makes you nauseated.

Like when you drink the syrup at the bottom of a snow cone. It makes the back of you jaw hurt, like you ate a sour warhead.

Cotton candy settling over lime and lemon juice.

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Kensei is the smell of apple pie and peach cobbler and sweet rolls. Cinnamon sugar. It's nice, at first. His is harder to sense-

But then it hits you.

When the apples spoil and become bittersweet and the scent makes you gag.

When you bite into a peach and expect sweet only to get /wrong/.

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Love is the feeling of a concert at night in the park. It smells like early fall air, that just barely there crispness that tells you fall is coming soon.

Candied applies.

But also-

Decay. Fresh blood, that iron tang that makes your mouth water in that odd way of a warning that bile is coming up.

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And last but not least-

Hachi.

Who is bubblegum sweetness mixed with sour lemon warhead. He, too, is ozone- stronger than Hiyori, though.

Since y’all liked my last ‘unnerving demigods’ post, here’s another!

Zeus kids: They’re pure static, stand too close to them and your hairs are all on edge. Their feet barely touch the ground- they float. Sometimes whenever they scream, the air leaves your lungs.

Hades kids: They’re half dead, they’ve always been half dead. They breathe far less than they should and never blink unless they want to. You can never hear them coming, half shadow they are, not even when it’s too late

Athena kids: They’re perfect. Born directly from a goddess’ imagination; They’re little dolls from uncanny valley, every hair out of place is placed there. Sometimes, out of the corner of your eye, they appear to be pure godly energy. Sometimes, you need glasses after living with them for too long.

Apollo kids: Perfect incubators of pathogens, with words that seem rehearsed in their poetry. They glow in the dark and are robotic with each dawn and dusk, in sync with the sun. They smile as they heal you, but you can’t tell if it’s the fact that they’re healing you or the fact that you need them to be healed that makes them so happy.

Hermes kids: You can never focus on them for too long, they’re always moving too quick for your eyes to keep up. You cannot tell if the words coming from their mouths are words or just sounds, yet you smile and believe them anyways.

Aphrodite kids: They’re always changing, somehow they always fit each fashion trend even when they shouldn’t, and you never quite realize that’s because they’ve changed their bodies to fit them. A photo of them one year is of a completely different person than the person before you.

most demigods don’t even know what quite sets them apart. it’s like clouds that have a faint golden lining: it’s unnoticeable except to a keen eye that of course, knows what they’re looking for.

children of zeus have eyes that are a striking blue, but more importantly have unfathomable breadth. looking into them is like seeing the endless sky from a plane for the first time; immeasurable, wonderful, but underlying dangerous.

children of poseidon have eyes with a disturbing depth to them. their eyes are wild. most unnerving is when you look too carefully, and they seem to swim, tides rolling against the restraints of its irises; the ocean within them, begging to be free.

children of demeter have hands and feet that are sturdy, yet nimble. their hands uproot weeds, and carefully pluck berries from the vine; steady. when you grasp their fingertips with your own however, there isn’t just physical sturdiness - there’s an inexplicable fervor lying beneath their skin, one yearning to raze, and to nurture.

children of ares have purposeful steps; thundering. their heavy footfalls are like muffled gunshots. they have a sense of permanence, and importance to the way they interact with the world; confidence in every motion. you want to fall in line with them.

children of athena have a timeless look. the structure of their face is reminiscent of old photographs, and of the cover of fashion magazines. their eyes, dark gray, seem to have read thousands of words, and studied many faces - like your own.

children of apollo have skin that is always faintly golden-hued and sun-kissed. days spent indoors, tending to the wounded and sick in the infirmary can’t even diminish their glow, and the inexplicable warmth they always radiate.

children of hephaestus have sturdy features; their bone structure is refined, sharp and strong, like a finely-tuned machine. those who work with their hands ere more to the side of sturdiness, while those who can control fire are more angular. both however, have an unnerving gaze; they know want to know what makes you tick.

children of aphrodite have eyes that seem to know the beauty of the world; they do not hold it for themselves, but they recognize it, and with that, comes a sort of wisdom. they look at you, and know what you hold dear to your heart.

children of hermes have an impish quickness to them. they always seem to have an aura of lightness, and nimbleness to them. watching them move is akin to a deer in a forest; light, careful, yet with unrestrained speed hiding below the surface.

children of dionysus have a voice like honey against your ears; absolutely intoxicating. you could listen to them for hours. it rolls through your mind calmly, yet with passion. you are inebriated by the way they sound, and how gracefully their lips seem to move.

MEANWHILE, THE JEDI:

the baby jedi wander around the temple and have wholesome educational adventures and learn new things and play pranks with grandmaster yoda

the baby mandos can't avoid coups and battlefields and everyone stops to coo at them and help them find what they need and teach them how to use various weaponry before they go back to killing each other

Well-written relationships between characters are what makes a story beloved. And while writing romance has it's own difficulties, it's even more tricky to write good and believable friendships.

What role do friends play in a story?

It depends a bit on if the friendship is between MCs or if the MC is friends with side-characters. The friendship with another MC could be the focus of the story and driving point for the plot. But the friendship with a side-character could help your MC to rant about their problems, to get a second opinion, to get an honest truth, to see a situation from another perspective and to realize that they are not alone in this. They can also be helpful to show your MCs regular life outside of whatever special happens to them in the story and helps to show why your MC is the way they are.

Types of friends

the best friend

the friend group

the situational friend

the old friend

The best friend - they share almost anything with each other, their opinions matter, able to tell them off if they are wrong, closest thing to a sibling, people know them as a duo

The friend group - in on all the tea, give honest opinions, help out where they can, can have deep, but also very casual scenes

The situational friend - friends because of circumstances (having classes together, being on the same sports team, having mutual friends), are friends when they see each other, don't really seek each other out outside of that situation, knowing about specific parts of each other's life, but not other parts and wouldn't share deep conversations

The old friend - think about childhood friend vs. college friend - the friends have met in completely different parts of each other's lives, know each other in different ways and probably have a different understanding of each other, the old friend would probably not know everything about their life right now, but they still fall back into old patterns with each other (good and bad)

Give them something in common & some differences

Humans like to flock together with people with similar interests, personalities and lives. So give your fictional friends things they have in common. Sharing the same goal, liking the same things, having compatible personalities, having the same outlook on life,...

But friends are not a carbon copy of each other. Give them some differences that don't hurt their friendship in the long run, but rather some that can the characters can build off of these differences. Taking advice from a friend who has more experience with something, a friend who sees things a bit different, or becoming more confident because of their friend's confidence.

More tips

Make sure to give the friends their own life. They are not just there to bounce ideas off with your MC. They should have their own goals and personalities. Make sure they could be their own character without the MC.

To have a friendship that the reader likes and roots for, you have to make sure that the reader can see why they are friends. The quite, nerdy kid is not going to be best friends with the loud, edgy, popular kid without a believable reason. Why would they hang out if they have nothing in common? Having been friends since kindergarten is not enough of a reason to still be best friends in high school if they have nothing to talk about and don't like to do the same things and if their personalities just don't match at all.

So I wonder if part of the reason it's so easy for Percy to kill other demigods (especially the ones who used to be at Camp with him) is because one of Percy's first experiences at Camp was a girl on his team (Annabeth) setting him up to be jumped, watching it happen, and then completely brushing him off instead of apologizing when he's upset about it.

One of his first lessons at Camp Half-blood is that there is no loyalty between demigods.