#bitbyboth

Send ‘fly on the wall’ for a Drabble of my muse talking to someone else about your muse

@crew-from-capulet

“You have family outside of camp?”

Nico flinched. Instinctually, he crumpled the letter he had been writing (the first to his usual bushel that he would send off for Capulet City); the paper bunched and pressed tight against his chest - like it were some precious artifact to be protected. When he realized it was only Percy, Nico sighed and scowled in equal measure.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” he said snappily. He set the letter back down onto the ground - the uneven terrain of the Underworld hardly made for a quality writing desk, but it was the best he had - and tried to focus on writing. Clearly the son of Poseidon had other plans.

“Well your previous letter is addressed to ‘Dad’,” said Percy as he held up one of Nico’s finished letters in his hand. “I would’ve assumed this was for Hades, but then the address is for Capulet City; so unless the God of the Underworld relocated there--”

Nico snatched the letter from Percy’s hand. “Didn’t anyone teach you how rude it is to rifle through other people’s stuff?” He snapped.

“Nico...” At the call of his name, reluctantly, Nico looked up. Percy was looking at him with an odd expression that seemed to be equal parts annoyance as well as equal parts...relief? “Is that where you’ve been after... Well, after your sister--”

“Yes,” was his hasty response. He didn’t want to hear her name. He didn’t need to be reminded. “Yes - I have family outside of camp. Yes - that is where I have been since I left that stupid camp, and if it weren’t for this stupid prophecy, I would still be at home with my dad - my real dad. Not the distant, blunt, heartless jerk who clearly never wanted me; but rather someone who does want me and actually cares about me and gave me a home! 

“Now does that answer your question, Jackson?”

Silence. For a minute that expanded as if it were eternity, there was nothing else said between the two of them. And Nico had thought that would be the end of their conversation - the one and only attempt at “friendly banter” that Percy would make during their time traipsing through the Underworld together. Then...

“I’m glad you have a place to go back to, and that you have someone who, you know, as you said, ‘actually cares’. You deserve that, Nico,” said Percy. Even despite Nico’s frankly abrasive nature, he still spoke to him with kindness, and with a friendly smile. (It was driving Nico mad.) 

With a huff, Nico packed up his letters - the unfinished and finished - and quickly got back up on his feet. Clearly he was not going to get it finished; thoughts thoroughly derailed. 

🍊 - What are your favourite genres of threads? Fluff? Angst? Etc - You know this already, Arie 👀 I love fluff, action and angst combined haha

🍇 - Have you even encountered any partners that threw a tantrum at you? - No, luckily not

Bambi - What is your muse’s relationship with their parents like?

Depends on which parent, really.

With his mother, Leto, Apollo adores her. Practically sets her on the highest pedestal imaginable. He would, quite literally, do anything for her; and anyone who so much as makes the smallest negative comment against her will find themselves a walking pincushion for his arrows. (Don’t believe me? Read the Niobe myth.)

Zeus, on the other hand, is strained. To some degree, Apollo respects him, but only as a king (and even then, that has its limits. Remember - Apollo has assisted a coup against Zeus before.). As a father? Apollo can barely tolerate him. If he had his way, he would cut off connection. But since that is not possible, Apollo settles for blatantly ignoring the man whenever he can.

Pinocchio - How honest is your muse? What is their moral stance on white lies?

As the God of Truth, Apollo has a high preference for honesty and strives to be so himself. However, he is not perfect. He is guilty of withholding information should the option prove beneficial to him; and, so long as it is a minor offense, he can commit the occasional white lie here and there.

And when Apollo does lie, it’s rarely ever with malicious intent. The most common lies that he has told are often for the sake of others - lies to sooth hurts; lessen grief; half-truths and white lies that would delay inevitable despair.

Frozen - What is your muse’s relationship with their siblings like?

Apollo’s relationship with his siblings is...chaotic, to say the least.

Depending on the situation and his current mood at the moment, Apollo’s relationship with either Artemis or even his half-siblings can vary from being friendly for the first second to neutral tolerance in the next and then to flat out animosity by the third. An unfortunate side-effect to having to deal with said siblings for, practically, eternity.

However, despite how often they come to blows, when his siblings are in danger, Apollo is quick to come to their aid - regardless of who they are and whatever grudges they are holding against each other. 

(Unless it’s Ares. Then Apollo would spare a moment to get the full story before he decides to aid him.)

Alice in Wonderland - What does your muse often dream of? Do they have strange dreams? Pleasant ones? Nightmares?

Unfortunately Apollo doesn’t dream much. He’s a busy god and when the day ends and he settles in to sleep, he’s dragged too deep for dreams.

Send “🤕” or “Badly hurt” for my muse to wake up from serious injuries and is now in your muse’s care.

She tried to move when she woke up, that was-- well, probably not her first mistake. Definitely one of them, though. A groan escaped her as she settled back, feeling the way her pulse pounded in her skull.

❝ i-i mean, i guess that makes sense. ❞ was this man saying that anyone he knew could be a secret vampire? though, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. if people were aware of vampires existing, they would be in danger ---- telling anyone who would believe him would cause a panic. not to mention the fact that it would be incredibly mean! 

The Dark: Did your muse sleep with a nightlight as a child?

When he and Bianca still resided in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, Nico would beg Bianca to leave at least one lamp on as he was very much afraid of the dark. He did not like the... emptiness that it would create; how it would rob him of his sight and leave him feeling entirely alone.

This habit would follow him as they relocated to Westover Hall (much to the chagrin of the students Nico roomed with, as well as the teachers who took charge of watching over them) and even in his short stay in Camp Half-Blood (of which his preference was met with minimal complaint from the residents of Cabin 11).

Of course. Once he was on his own, Nico did not have the luxury of a nightlight. The closest he had were the occasional small camp fires that he managed to make for himself. In the end, he had little choice but to learn to get over his uncomfortablness with sleeping in the dark (and his fear of the dark in general).

(Though it did resurface with a vengeance after Tartarus.)

Mirrors: What is your muse’s least favorite thing about their appearance?

Nico does not like his appearance entirely. He finds himself to be the most unattractive thing in camp. However, if he had to choose which facet of his appearance that he dislikes them most, he would choose his eyes.

They are two pits, in his opinion. A void that reflects the pain, the trauma, everything terrible that he has been through. And after Tartarus, he hates the broken sheen in his eyes - that announced him as something that could not be fixed (or something that needed fixing entirely). To Nico, his eyes are cold and empty and creepy - and a likely strong reason why so many of his fellow demigods are so uncomfortable looking at him properly.

Fire: Would your muse rather be very cold, or very hot?

Nico prefers the cold. He already had an abnormally cold body temperature after spending so much time shadow-traveling; and his time on his own has left him exposed to many unkind and uncomfortable elements of nature before - the cold can be manageable.

//In a sense - yes. Nico did come from a religious family.

The paternal side speaks for itself. His father is the God of the Underworld, and thus, being his son, the myths and practices of the Ancient Greek pantheon have a heavy sway on Nico's life.

However, on the maternal side, it's a bit... foggy for Nico. He has scant memories of his mother - what little he does recall are very brief flashes that he cannot make sense of - so her own religion-heavy upbringing is unknown to him, but that does not mean it has no sway to his character.