maskormenacelogs | Could use more dam snacks

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Could use more dam snacks

WHO: Demigod Squad
WHERE: International Waffle Haus
WHEN: 11/28
WHAT: Brunch! And talking about Lester being MIA.
WARNINGS: Likely swearing (looking at you Clarisse), but will tag for if other warnings are needed.

[ It's too cold for this. Living at Fauxhalla was one thing but going out into the cold WILLINGLY to get breakfast (lunch? Annabeth called it brunch but Nico's extremely skeptical about this) was another. The winter air was crisp, with a light dusting of snow on the ground from the previous night. Not that it'll end up staying (luckily) and the locals in the small town all said that it's a mild winter compared to the "snow storm of '85"... whatever that means. Nico was hardly paying attention when he walked into the diner.

The waitress manages to seat them without much of an incident, but the lack of a solid number of customers who were going to be there with them was concerning. He was pretty sure Will would show up, and Clarisse was coming. Did Annabeth text Magnus?

Nico sighs, looking over the menu in his hands before he tugs off his scarf. ]

So should we wait for everyone else?

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[ annabeth was there early - this was a pretty familiar place for her by this point, which meant she had a favorite spot, a preferred corner. when nico arrives, she's already settled into a corner booth - big enough for everyone if they all decided to come, but somehow still appearing full even with just annabeth and now nico. she closes her book when he comes to settle across from her, waving at the waitress for another refill of coffee. ]

I say no. Everyone knew what time it was starting. [ then again, she's also fairly unforgiving for tardiness, even if she's smiling a little to give the clue that she's also kidding. ]

We can order drinks and wait a little longer, but I didn't hear back from Magnus and we both know Clarisse won't be here for a while.

I think Will is at the clinic so, I guess we can't blame him too much.

[ Except he will totally blame him. Will isn't going to be able to live it down for at least a day. He orders a coffee, and starts picking out sugar packets to put into it. ]

Though he's been on edge since we realized Apollo was missing so working keeps him distracted. [ There's a brief pause in his thoughts when the waitress bring him his coffee. ] So that's been fun.

He's working a lot more lately.

[ it's more of an observation than anything, but nico's next comment kind of...answers that, and annabeth nods once, wrapping her hands around her own mug for a few moments - another pause before she continues. ]

You really haven't heard anything from Lester?

No. Will went looking for him the other night and I ended up dragging him away from it because there's no point if his id was deactivated.

[ Which was not something Will wanted to hear if he was honest. ]

I'm worried if he comes back, what news he'll bring with him.

Yeah, if his ID is gone then... [ annabeth feels the drop of it in her chest. she should have been checking on that, she should have been better.

she tenses at nico's next comment, then lets out a slow breath. right now, she's the furthest along. she knows what lester will come back with, and it drains the color from her face. ]

If he comes back, yeah. It won't. [ she sighs, running a hand through her curls, pulling them away from her face. ] It depends how much he remembers. What we were dealing with back home...

I wish I knew more of what he's dealing with in terms of his quest. I get that he needs to restore prophecy and free Delphi but there's a lot I don't know. And if he comes back... I guess I'm more worried of what he isn't going to tell us.

[ He pokes at his coffee with his spoon, idly stirring it. ]

Any ideas?

[ annabeth quiets, her eyes falling to her mug. ]

I have....some ideas. [ there's a kind of tension to her forehead, keeping her from looking up at him. ]

The Emperors are coming back. They're going to attack Camp Jupiter. He's- [ she sighs, pressing a hand to her forehead. there's another pause, where annabeth seems to be...trying to decide if she's going to do something, before she exhales. ]

Something bad is going to happen, Nico. It...happened while I was home. I didn't mention it, before, and I'm sorry I didn't but... [ annabeth is.....wrestling with this. and when she trails off, it's to look back to nico. to see how he's reacting before she can continue. ]

[ They're going to attack Camp Jupiter. Nico's eyes widened at that, before he furrows his brows. Camp Jupiter was well fortified and Roman training was relatively more structured. They would be safe but something wasn't right. There was an edge to Annabeth's voice that he didn't like.

He grips his coffee mug, trying his best not to glare at her as he lowers his voice. ]

What happened? [ It comes off harsher than he means, but he doesn't like being in the dark. ]?

[ she expects the look, so when he does glare at her she doesn't necessarily react. instead, she meets it and doesn't shy away. he has every reason to be mad at her, after all. she takes another breath. ]

They'd gone into the Labyrinth- Lester, Meg, and Grover, to find the next Emperor. I don't know all the details about it, but they go to Los Angeles and meet up with Jason and Piper and go after Caligula together. [ her voice gets a little tighter as she goes on, her jaw a little more tense. she can feel her eyes start to burn a little, thinking about it, but she doesn't back down from his eyes.

she won't. ] Jason doesn't...survive. The fight with Caligula. He dies making sure the others get could escape.

[ her eyes do fall away from him, then, turning to her mug, where her fingers are tightened around it. ]

No. No, no no. You can't be-- no.

[ He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Jason... Jason's dead? Jason Grace was one of the strongest people he knew and he doesn't survive the fight with Caligula? The tone of her voice, the moment she finally looks away-- he's never known Annabeth to lie and here he was wanting to disbelieve her.

That is was some sort of cruel joke.

He huddles in on himself, clutching his coffee mug tight and lowering his gaze down. How could this have happened? Of all the people, Jason and Piper didn't deserve this. ]

Fuck. [ And it comes flooding out, silently as tears slowly roll down his cheeks. ] Not Jason... why did they take Jason?

Why didn't you tell me sooner?! [ He lashes out, his body shaking as he tries to contain his anger. Maybe having his conversation in public was a bad idea. ]

[ annabeth all but winces at nico's words. she hadn't wanted to do this, she hadn't wanted to bring this up at all, really, but she can also recognize that moment that she wants that and understand the cowardice to it. nico, of everyone here, deserves to know.

which is probably why it's the hardest one for her to say. it's so easy, here, to forget about what happens back home. to ignore the fact their lives are still the same, still dangerous, still bad.

the silence that follows is telling, and annabeth tells herself to do better. to say something. but grief is hard, annabeth knows better than anyone, and she still remembers that phone call. still remembers how helpless she'd felt. the fuck pulls her out of her thoughts, and as annabeth looks up, that's when nico lashes out, angry, upset.

she takes it, is honestly fine to let him be as upset as she wants to be. he needs somewhere to be angry, and this is her fault. she should have said something, and she didn't. ]

Because I couldn't. [ he deserves honesty at this point. ] Because I felt helpless finding out about it back home, and I didn't want you to have to deal with that here. It was a mistake, and I'm sorry.

I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm not just going to run off and get myself lost in the labyrinth! Jason was someone I could trust with anything.

[ Though, maybe he regretted telling Percy that he wished he was dead all those years ago-- it still didn't change the fact that no one told him until Percy was back at camp that his sister was dead. He wasn't helpless. He shoots a glare at the waitress before she makes it to the table, and he dabs at his eyes with his sleeves before he tears his gaze away from everyone.

Jason was gone. He couldn't ask Piper if she was all right. Couldn't find his way to the underworld and talk to him one last time-- one last chance to stay goodbye--

He tries to steady his breathing, then quietly, so quietly says, ]

He was there when Cupid forced me to admit I am gay.

[ He's held onto that for so long, and immediately he wonders if he should have told Will first. He chews on his lip, daring to look up at Annabeth. ]

How... How's Piper?

( listen, she's only late because she was standing in line at warbucks, despite being invited to a literal breakfast establishment that also serves coffee. it's not the same, okay. and no one wants to see her get cranky over crappy diner coffee. she needs to be caffeinated or else the whole place might break out into a warzone. (she's still simmering from The Incident with her shop, even the renovations are steadily underway. she won't be forgetting the damage done anytime soon.)

by the time she makes her way to the table nico and annabeth are sitting at, half her venti coffee is already gone. and, to be quite honest, she hadn't really caught much of what they were saying before she walked up. she might have been a little distracted by the waitress, who she intercepts a moment afte nico glares at her and she nearly bumps into clarisse in her attempt to alter her course for the time being. they exchange a few words, making a bit of small talk before clarisse winks her off and joins the other demigods, completely oblivious to the emotional energy of the situation.

she scoots in next to annabeth, then finally takes stock of the air between them. she looks across the table at nico, then back at annabeth. )

Okay, what the hell is wrong with you two? Brunch should not be this serious.

( fuck, does this place serve mimosas? )

[ there is a part of annabeth that almost responds with i know- she knows nico and jason were close, she knows nico isn't just a kid, she knows she should have told him. but she also knows any kind of snipping back at nico right now would throw this entire place into chaos. so instead, she bites back the response, takes a deep breath, tries to swallow back any initial response to fight back, to argue.

she's not looking at nico for the moments after, so she doesn't see him glare at the poor waitress, and definitely doesn't notice clarisse stepping inside. there happens to be...a little bit more happening, here. she should say something, something closer to an apology that might actually make this better, but then she catches nico's almost whisper and her eyes shoot up.

less angry at nico and more...protective? maybe? ]

Cupid forced you to do what?

[ nico does ask about piper, and clarisse does show up, but both of these facts are pushed away as annabeth is still turned to nico, eyes hard, waiting for an answer. she does scoot over a little bit for clarisse to slide in next to her on the booth, though it seems more like a subconscious movement than anything. ]

[ He's actually grateful that she doesn't say the obvious I know to him. He knows that she knows but sometimes he feels that being the youngest among them he is often treated with kid gloves. Annabeth knows as much as he does about the horrors they have both gone through. Both of them have been to Tartarus, walked through their own personal Hell but that look - the hard expression, the immediate focus on his words. ]

Cupid forced me to admit that I... I'm gay. In front of Jason.

[ Made him admit that he had feelings for Percy in front of Jason. Things he barely liked admitted to Percy's girlfriend of all people. ]

It was before we made it to Epirus.

[Will is late. Mostly, as Nico had pointed out far earlier, because of his extra shifts at the hospital. But it had his mind refocused, his mood lifted significantly just from being able to help others.

This nice cheery outlook lasts all the way to the Waffle Haus. Lasted past a flustered (miffed?) waitress and through the dining room. Heck, it lasted right up till he got to their table.]

Sorry I'm late I--why in Hades does it feel like Nico is going to have zombies crawling out from between the floorboards?

[We can blame his lack of knowledge or awareness of the current conversation on the earbuds he was pulling out of his ears as he tentatively slides into the booth beside Nico, eyes warily looking for those aforementioned zombies.]

( clarisse just keeps sipping her coffee, mostly in an attempt not to say anything that might dismantle ... whatever the fuck is going on here. and then nico mentions jason (among other things that she doesn't have enough context for), and she has a hard time swallowing her next sip. annabeth must have told him. and it hasn't gone well.

she glances to will when he arrives, her expression somewhat grave. sure, annabeth already told her the bad news, but she still doesn't feel completely comfortable being in the middle of a conversation that probably should have stayed private. )

Welcome to the Bad News Club.

( as if that says everything. except that it doesn't, but she'll let the others explain. )

Is that what-

[ will arrives late, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. but it happens to be just enough of a thing that it catches annabeth's attention, pulls it away from nico to will, and then back again, like she's desperately trying to put the pieces together. trying to make two and two get to seven. it'll take another moment or two, maybe another three, but she can do it. ]

Did you know? [ not accusatory towards will, but more. unsure how she didn't know this fact in the first place (nevermind the situation being one of keeping information from people). but then she turns back to nico, still upset and much of that being upset translating into her almost sounding angry. at cupid, yes, but still. ]

Is that how you came out? Because Cupid forced you?

[ not to derail the conversation away from jason's death or anything, but annabeth is going to take the knowledge she's just now learning over ruminating over her own mistake right now. ]

[It's about .03 seconds of silence before Will is turning to Nico, eyes wide, a simmering anger at a particular god of love building just under the surface.]

Cupid did what?

[Needless to say, Annabeth. No, Will had absolutely no idea. All he knew in relation to this was the fact that Nico hated Valentine's Day. That made a whole lot more sense now.]

I didn't have a choice! [ He groans, immediately covering his face. ] In order for Jason and myself to get Diocletian's scepter, we had to face Cupid. And in order to actually conquer him I... needed to face love. The sadness, the fear... admit that I had a crush and in front of someone I barely knew.

But Jason-- [ He chewed on his lip, trying to hold the tears back. ] He told me it was okay. He would let me come out to everyone else on my own time.

He called me brave for facing Cupid like I did.

[ He manages to draw his feet up into the booth, wrapping his arms around his legs. How could this happen to someone like Jason? Jason Grace was one of the kindest people he knew, someone he could count on despite everything that told him otherwise. He and Reyna both were people he would drop everything for. ]

How do we make Caligula pay?

[ He told himself he'd never do what he did to Bryce Lawrence again but he was certainly considering it for Caligula. ]

( there are a lot of things happening in this conversation that ... well, kind of fly right over clarisse's head, so she keeps her mouth shut and keeps sipping her coffee, waving a give us a minute gesture to the waitress when she tries to make her way back to their table. they're having a fairly sensitive discussion, here, and she can't imagine nico would appreciate the interruption. clarisse is fine playing interference while the rest of them talk about shit that's, mostly, Seven Exclusive™.

she really only tunes completely back into the conversation at the mention of caligula, because she'll never pass up a chance to beat up some shitty roman emperor. especially one that's directly responsible for killing one of their own. )

Now you're talking my language. Give me five minutes with the bastard and he's toast.

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