from the ashes

𝐳𝐚𝐲𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐢 | sᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ʜᴀᴅᴇs

“Zayyan, I don’t sulk. I brood. There’s a stark difference! We shared a room for gods’ sake,” he replies, wagging a finger. Victor looks at him and the ghost of his own smile comes back, a crooked, glass-cut thing that seems to cut whatever he aims it at. Levity was never something afforded to him, always something to do, something to achieve, something to be good at. But now, at least, at the calm before the storm, he lets himself just be.

He moves to where Zayyan directs him, allowing the small comfort of the cold iron beneath his gaze flit from building to building, trying to scrounge up whatever design tactics this place used to adapt to New Rome’s infrastructure. “Please tell me this place has some decent coffee. Nice, black coffee,” he tells him, trying to massage the knot in his brow. “The quest’s going to give me a migraine, and I’m going to savor this when I can.”

          “Forgive me for my poor choice of words,” Zayyan responds with a melodramatic sigh, as they proceeded with the same rapport  once customary of their college dynamic. “Brooding is sexy. Sulking does not require the same level of commitment. That, is therefore, unsexy.” The true differences between the two were lost long ago, but that didn’t stop Zayyan in his semi-serious attempts at analysis.  “Do you really think I’d ever leave you astray?” Zayyan inquires with narrowed eyes, looking back at Victor to ensure this was the same Victor who’d accompanied him on more coffee runs than he could ever count. “You know I don’t fuck around when it comes to coffee.” 

𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 : 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉.

APPARENTLY, enchanting mice to help you pack supplies was considered “ unethical ” and “ animal labor ” ⸺ but lena was off the opinion that chiron, as a half - horse, was somewhat biased on the matter. despite her huffing about it, she still sent her little helpers off ( with some snacks as a reward, let it be known lena paid them a fair wage ) and finished the work herself, complaining every minute. the weather was nice out today, and after so many years stuck inside the lotus casino, lena found herself unable to resist luxuriating for hours in every beam or patch of sunlight she could possibly find. 

now, her work was done ⸺ and lena was ready to enjoy the last remaining hours of light. in a dramatic gesture, she dropped herself down on the grass like a sack of spuds & closed her eyes, before realizing that might attract others to see if she was alright. not much later she felt a shadow falling over her, and lena had to resist letting out a frustrated sigh. “ this patch of grass is occupied, ” she spoke, though not as unkindly as was common for her. musing on, lena was mostly just grumbling to herself by this point, forgetting about the shadow hovering above. “ i’ve had a very long day of packing behind me. with all these uber applications, you’d think they’d make one for that as well. ”

       ⟢ —    

          zayyan considers himself to be an alert person, but the continuous circumstances presented to him in new athens reminded him otherwise. he remembers just how difficult expecting the unexpected was when actually putting it into practice. this current encounter became one of these reminders, for an unknown figure impeding his walkway was perhaps the last thing he'd anticipated during an afternoon walk. his face contorts perplexedly as he looks down, attempting to pair a voice to the face. “i’m afraid your selection of grass may have potentially lead to the occupation of my foot on your body,” he responds in a low grumble, still largely mystified by the present circumstance. “seriously though, I know quite a few demigods who can travel long distances without once looking up from their phones. you may want to look out for them.” 

          her next response allows him a bit more insight, and zayyan’s expression begins to soften, though his brows are still knitted in contemplation. their respective positions made conversing awkward for zayyan, so he lowers himself onto his own patch of grass, knees pulled to his chest at a comfortable distance away. “understandable. jewelry, especially, can be quite tedious to pack. though i’m not sure i’d hire the uber equivalent for packing. i don’t think i could entrust that to a stranger.” zayyan casts an assessing look in her direction, once more. “i have to ask, though— is there a reason you selected here of all places to rest? more specifically, you aren’t laying here as a result of an injury, are you?” he clears his throat, realizing he’d neglected to identify himself. “i’m... zayyan by the way.”

@ofeuropa

Frankly, Lunara wasn’t that concerned with ​the overwhelming feud between the Greeks and Romans. She saw it for what it is: another ploy that the gods would use between them. Perhaps it was because of her parentage. Apollo was Apollo no matter who worshipped him, why should she act any different?

Of course, she wouldn’t want her fellow Romans to look weak. But this was not a battlefield yet, this was a carefully constructed chess match and they were all the pawns. That was why she felt the need to ask Zayyan specifically for the dessert and wine tasting she found at the Ayza bar downtown. Someone highly respected and open to forming connections. 

“I read that they pair the wine based on the chocolate they’re serving.” She grinned, clearly pleased with this activity. “Have you ever been here before?”

          Building connections was a necessity, and one of the reasons why Zayyan, who largely neglected to do so in normal circumstances, took the initiative to do so as a prerequisite for the quest. He knew many of the Greeks and Romans didn’t share this same sentiment, and someone had to do it— if they wanted the Greeks and Romans working side by side to progress past the point of mythology. 

@ofeuropa​

Victor, in his time after the Second Titan War, let himself drown in the waters of academia, trying to find some order and structure from the aimlessness that he found himself in. It was hard, of course, the adjustment, but made easier by the fact that he had found an unlikely friend among the Greeks of all people. Equally guarded and equally skilled, Zayyan made a fine addition to the quest, though it always went without saying.

“Well, thank the gods that I know one of you has a decent head on your shoulders,” Victor quips, the small knot on his brow, ever-present, disappearing, replaced with the ghost of a smile on his face. “I hear that New Athens has some coffee I can drink? Wanna grab a cup for old times’ sake, or should I glare at everyone in the corner booth alone?”

          There were few familiar faces that Zayyan would voluntarily reencounter,  and Victor just so happened to be one of them. He’d also been a reminder of just how arbitrary the lifelong Greek and Roman feud was, and was their sustained friendship during college not proof of such? 

( OPEN )

it probably won’t be long before someone starts fighting with someone else, but at least it was peaceful right now. or at least, quiet. perfect time for hayal to do some investigating. the romans might have brought tension but the weapons were what caught their eye. they managed to get ahold of one of the roman’s sword – the name of the demigod already lost in her mind – and they held it up alongside one of their own. after all, the difference were clearly seen in the bright sunlight.

“what do you think kiwi?” hayal called out to the dove perched on a nearby branch. they sent the roman’s sword down on their personal workbench, tilting her head at it. “think ours might break this one?” 

          even during his downtime, zayyan is constantly plotting and planning. he finds being two steps ahead is unsatisfactory, and too uncertain for his liking, so his current personal quest— which had no particular objective— was meant to rectify this. 

         the probability of him actually discovering something useful seem to decrease with each passing moment. zayyan had resorting to aimlessly wandering, to wasting time, a state of being that began to agitate him, for he never liked to be alone with his thoughts for an extended period of time.

         though his name is not and never had been kiwi, zayyan cannot help but to snap his head in the direction of the voice, as he’d been unaware of anyone else being nearby. he scolds himself silently— knowing letting his guard down in any other setting could result in an egregious error. 

         had they... were they speaking to the bird? there didn’t seem to be any other demigods in the general proximity, and considering the plethora of abilities he’d encountered in new anthens, the ability to speak to birds wouldn’t be completely out of the question.