Child of Vanir

BASIC PHRASES IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE!!! 

Of course the monsters were dangerous. But he didn’t understand why they would attack a seemingly random mortal. He couldn’t believe that this guy was just walking around with that, completely uncovered. 

“I can heal some of it, if you want. But first, we should rinse that off with some water.” He always waited for permission to heal people.

What a stand up guy. Ryuu is glad that this kind stranger didn’t start spewing out words of concern- things like that always made him more than a little bit uncomfortable. Having a stranger dote on him like that would make him feel guilty.

“Shit, dude. I’d appreciate it. But how much is ‘some’? Is it worth my while?”

“I wonder how effective Jack would be against Greek monsters…” He mumbled, mostly to himself as he crouched down. His stupid trash can shield was dented beyond use, but maybe he could use it to hurl at one of the monsters. 

He felt a pang of pity for his cousin and Percy, hearing that they basically went to Greek Monster Hell. He might have seen some terrible things, and died daily, but surviving that place?

“It’s weird. It keeps… glitching for me. Like,” He faltered for words, wishing he had some of that magical mead to help him be more wordy. “I see the island, totally normal. Then it looks like a bad glitch animation and then I see a city in ruins. Empty, like Doomsday came and went and all that’s left is demolished buildings, places on fire, some stuff is frozen over. Oh, and I hear wolves. So that’s fun.”

“Glitching…yeah, that describes it.” Guess he wasn’t the only one who was seeing this place going in and out like a bad TV reception. 

Percy checked on the monster gang. “I think we’re safe, but if monsters can eat us we aren’t going to be safe for very long.” He looked around. There had to be some place they could get help…or, frankly, just hide out for a bit. Someplace to rest in Tartarus…he knew a place by that description.

He made sure to only grab Siren by the sleeve and pulled them along, his stomach in knots over the sound of wolves. He hated wolves. Why was it always wolves?? Though the whispering made him jump out his skin and he barely stifled a scream. 

“ That would be great. “ He sighed once he had taken a moment to catch his breath, then held his hand out for the notepad. He knew almost nothing of the city, but he did know about magic and how to trick the brain. Though normally, the Gap only effected mortals. The last time he’d been on the island hadn’t been long enough to learn anything about it, which he now regretted.

He spotted a run down looking building not too far away and started pulling them along again, sprinting towards it. Not an ideal place to hide in, but at least from a higher place, he could spot any wolves that might try to sneak up on him.

they really don’t like trusting people they don’t know all that well. especially someone they can only assume is human. humans always screw things up, and if they don’t then they’re just annoying. absolute headaches to listen to half the time.

in a situation like this, unfortunately, siren doesn’t find themselves with a lot of options. only arriving in the city a couple of days ago, they’d like to hope that this isn’t a regular happening. it’s not fun thinking about the very real possibility that this world is just a simulation, but if it is it should ideally hold up better than this.

Once they were tucked away from the windows, Magnus sat down and took a deep breath, then let it out. His grey eyes looked calculating as he muttered to himself for a few minutes before writing with the notepad he’d been given. “ What we see is two different things. I can hear you, but you can’t hear me, or yourself apparently. I see monsters, you don’t. Whatever is going on, we have to communicate with each other. “

“Ugh…. Owie, I got a boo boo.”

‘Boo boo’ is an understatement. He got too close-quarters with one of those weird monsters, and ended up with a massive wound on his leg. It was probably lucky that he managed to escape- let alone be able to walk.

Oh good, Percy’s brain was back online. He sighed with relief and helped him stand. “It’s like, what did Annabeth say was the Greek equivalent of the Gap? Mist? We’re seeing two completely different things. Whatever you’re seeing, I’m not. It’s… real. But not.” He knew it didn’t make a lick of sense, but it was as best as he could understand it.

He looked around too, hearing another wolf and tried to keep his knees from knocking together. “I would really like to not be eaten by wolves so let’s look for a hiding spot. Then I’ll see what I can maybe heal.” He wished he had Jack right about now. 

“I don’t know what’s going on exactly, I’ve been looking for people who are more experienced and might know more, but I haven’t had much luck. Can You walk?”

Percy frowned. He hated the Mist. Wolves he didn’t mind, but he understood that Norse wolves were a little more harbinger-ey than Roman ones. It was nice to know he wasn’t actually in Tartarus at least (although he wished it didn’t feel so much like Tartarus). 

“Yeah, I should be ok for now, although I’d like to know what in Hades is going on. You said something about wolves. Are we all seeing different places?” He figured that was the best explanation because, as far as he knew, Tartarus didn’t have wolves. The absolute worst monsters in the known Greek universe, yes. Wolves, no. Go figure.

“Fuck me if I know what’s going.” Not that he ever really knew what was going on. He was always in a constant state of confusion when dealing with things, and his friends rarely helped enlighten him. “I mean, the Gap is real. It’s a space between the mortal world and the other realms. Like the Mist. So this might be real, but it might not be. Which is confusing. And not helpful. How scary do the monsters look? I don’t like our chances, because I don’t have my talking sword. And you don’t have your sword that my sword was obsessed with.”

He heard another howl and recoiled, pulling out his trash can shield and holding it out nervously. They were still further away, but they were getting close. He wanted to cry and run, but he wouldn’t just leave this person.

Turning back towards them, he nodded briefly. “I can hear you.” Then he pointed to his own wrist, and then at Siren, miming that he wanted to grab his wrist. He hated touching people but with the city shifting between the island and Midgard, he didn’t want to loose track of them.

“Too long to explain, I need paper or whiteboard.“ He hated whiteboards especially after vising Alfheim and dealing with all those stuck up rich elves, and Hearth’s dad. His expression changed from cowering to angry for a moment, dark grey eyes hardening. 

siren hated being touched just as much, if not more. but they know they aren’t in any capacity to complain. grateful that their words can reach anyone’s ears, they decide to at least stay quiet for now. they can take the hint that it’s hardly an appropriate time to start blathering about how sad it is that they can’t hear the melodious sound of their own voice.

they usually speak in a sing-song way, but the dire state of things leaves their rhythm more calculated. focused on getting out what they need as quickly and clearly as possible. siren’s free hand digs in their pocket when magnus suggests having something to write with. the lyrics written in his notepad are messy and personal, but at least the last half of the book is blank.

siren flips slowly with their thumb, choosing to trust and let magnus take the reigns on their path for now. such lyrics that they usually find soothing are only further stressing them out, as they fear they’ll never get the chance to hear how they sound or truly create a tune for them. they take a deep breath, biting back the tears that always seemed to come so easily.

“ That would be great. “ He sighed once he had taken a moment to catch his breath, then held his hand out for the notepad. He knew almost nothing of the city, but he did know about magic and how to trick the brain. Though normally, the Gap only effected mortals. The last time he’d been on the island hadn’t been long enough to learn anything about it, which he now regretted.

“Gotcha.” He picked Percy up, a struggle because his warrior strength was gone, and dragged him to where he had pointed. He couldn’t see a river, but if he could get Percy close to it, he hoped Percy would be able to get it for himself. 

“Can I heal you while you drink?” He couldn’t fix Percy’s PTSD but he could hopefully soothe some of the symptoms. Why wasn’t the city changing back for him?? It kept glitching out into different worlds, like if the World Tree had broken down and suddenly all the worlds were crashing into each other. Or if a computer game broke and you suddenly found yourself at the next level early.

Swallowing the….liquid (calling it water would be an insult to water) of the Phlegethon was just as disgusting as he remembered. Thankfully it helped Percy manage that pesky dying feeling. 

For a brief moment as Percy felt better, he saw regular old Isola, before the whole Tartarus business started. Then the world seemed to glitch out (weird) and went back to the steaming hell-pit. At least he could get up (painfully) and look around without his head spinning. He looked at the familiar blonde figure and immediately felt like an idiot. He should’ve figured it wasn’t Annabeth earlier. Then he felt very confused.

He looked around too, hearing another wolf and tried to keep his knees from knocking together. “I would really like to not be eaten by wolves so let’s look for a hiding spot. Then I’ll see what I can maybe heal.” He wished he had Jack right about now. 

“Oh thank the gods! You’re alive! Percy, you gotta talk to me ok? What do you see??” He was leaning over him, still keeping his hands to himself as he scanned him for injuries. “I need your ok to heal you, whatever’s messed up. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can find out once I know you’re safe. Annabeth would kill me if I let you die.” 

He was grateful for his short hair, since he wouldn’t have to pin it out of his face to see Percy. He couldn’t see any physical injuries, so maybe it was his mind?? Annabeth had told him a lot of what she’d been up to in the Greek Gods half of the world, but he didn’t know everything. He wracked his brain trying to remember what the Phlegethon was. All he could think of was a river. 

Wait. The city. Mangus brought his hands up to his head and tried to think. It was a lot. A lot was going on. But one minute, everything seemed just fine!

“It’s a river right??” Maybe he could trick Percy’s delusional brain into thinking it was where it needed to be. “Can you direct me to it? I’ll carry you, right after I heal you.”

Healing sounded nice. It also wasn’t a thing Annabeth could do. But now wasn’t the time to worry about things making sense.

Percy managed to sit up slowly, ignoring the excruciating pain, and looked around for the flaming river. He would be able to figure everything out a lot better once he ingested some of that disgusting fire-water and cleared his head. Finally, he spotted it.