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[demigoth]

Display Name: Nico di Angelo
Profile Photo: Viria art is blessed by the author
Notes: CW: the briefest mention of malnutrition
[ A teenaged boy is standing in front of the Diadem Hotel. He's wearing black skinny jeans that only have one hole in them, and a black t-shirt with a graphic of skeletal pegasus. The bomber jacket that he's insisting on wearing despite the heat covers up some of the words, and so the shirt reads P HALFBL above the image and BIN 1 below.

Nico is pale, and while there's a sheen to his skin, it's not summer sweat. He looks... clammy. His eyes are deep set and dark lashed, but the darkness around them is more than that. If it's eyeshadow, you need to know his brand because it's holding up great for July. But it looks genuine - lack of sleep, not enough iron, teenaged growth spurts. Whatever it is, he looks like a Hallmark movie about fans of the Cure.

Except for the annoyed expression. That's not very Hallmark.

The Diadem Hotel sign can be scene in the background over his shoulder. Nico is standing in the middle of the drop-off zone. ]

I don't care what the guilds say - I'm not staying in another magic hotel. I' I tried to go home, it's not there. I tried to go back to camp - it's not there.

[ He's gesticulating as he talks and doesn't always remember to limit it to the hand that isn't holding the camera. Enjoy the free motion sickness. It makes harder to see how Nico himself is swaying a little. ]

And I can't leave or - what? The hordes of heroes are gonna find me and put me in foster care if I don't find somebody to be a foster parent? Foster care with one of their heroes that I don't even know? Then I have to go to some school in the sky in a couple of weeks?

How do you find a foster home? Like one that don't care where you are because you're fine.

Comments

audio - @knightflynn

[thelaw]

Admittedly, I am not well-versed in this world...

[That's an understatement.]

But if your intent is to be left alone, the inn- ah, hotel- does seem to be a good place to stay until you find a more suitable living situation.

video because Nico can't figure out audio only

[demigoth]

[ He still looks dead set against it. ]

The beds are magic to mess with how you sleep. I'm not staying in a magic hotel that is enchanted to affect me. What if that's not the only spell they've got on it?

[thelaw]

I'm not certain I understand. I always feel well rested after I sleep at an inn?

[VIDEO GAME MECHANIC...]

These are enchanted? Regardless, we aren't the first to arrive here. Wouldn't someone else have noticed if there were additional spells placed on it?

[demigoth]

So maybe you like hotels. Maybe you've never had a bad experience with one. I don't know, but yeah. It's on the pamphlet I got about it, right before they start bragging about the thread-count of the sheets.

[ Who has the time to count threads? Honestly, it sounds like one of those stupid tasks you have to do before some lesser god will tell you what you need to know. "Count all the threads in these sheets that I got in Egypt." Ugh. ]

No? If the magic is good, no one will ever notice.

[thelaw]

I have the feeling that even if we found an experienced mage, you still wouldn't trust the magic beds...

[So no point in arguing it further.]

What is foster care? Why is it something you need to have?

[demigoth]

It's when they get adults who don't care about you to let you live with them. Like a permanent babysitter. And they want me to have them because they think I'm too young to take care of myself.

[ It might have something to do with the fact that he's just gotten here and he's publicly saying he has no intention of going to school. ]

[thelaw]

How old are you?

[demigoth]

The legal age.

[ He’s 15 and looks it. ]

[thelaw]

That's a vague answer. I can't be very helpful to you if I don't have some honesty in return.

[When you know 14 year old who's actually at least 40, you don't assume these things anymore.]

video, un: Stephen Strange

[rehandle]

[ Yikes, somebody is not having a good time. ]

Breathe, kid. You're okay.

[demigoth]

[ There are old men on this? ]

I'm okay. I woke up underwater, and something like sirens took me to Atlantis, and now all of -

[ Nico waves a hand in circles. The hotel, the school. ]

I tried to go home, but it's not there.

[rehandle]

No, it's not. And that's hard. Depriving yourself of a free month in the Diadem to get your feet under you isn't going to make that any easier.

[demigoth]

There are other free places to stay.

[ Parks and such. He should know better than expect anyone to understand. ]

You can’t trust enchanted hotels and casinos.

[rehandle]

[ Oh, boy. He's heard this one before. ]

Look, I get it. And I'm sure you have your own reasons to feel that way. But magic is pretty much my entire deal and I stayed in that place for as long as the free ride lasted. I can promise you they're just trying to make sure their usual clientele get a good enough night's sleep to not take their business elsewhere.

[demigoth]

Magic hotels don’t like you taking your business elsewhere, so they make it so you never, ever want to leave. I’ve stayed in one before, and I don’t want to take your word for it.

Magic might be your thing, but you’re not Hecate.

[rehandle]

[ Another god kid? Great, good. Even better. ]

It's not a magic hotel. It's a hotel that occasionally uses enchantments to enhance the experience for its guests, who pay a lot of money to stay there. You don't have to be Hecate to figure out that they're not doing it so a penniless teenager will stick around after the guild has stopped paying your way.

[demigoth]

[ Oh, Nico wishes that his sister were here to deck them out in jewels just to win this argument against another nosy adult who only wants him to stay in the hotel like a good boy. ]

I wouldn't be penniless. There are two groups willing to sign on demi- what do they call us?

[ Nico hurriedly pulls out of pamphlets from the pocket of his jacket and fumbles at them. ]

Starfallen. They pay for the hotel, they give us credit cards, so that we sign up for their Legion and fight for them. They say they'll pay us and give us a permanent place. So heroes with powers have value here.

[ Nico is walking away from the hotel now, and turning down a shadowy blind alley. ]

Why would the casino do it? I don't know - why did the Lotus-eaters eat the lotus? When things seem too good to be true, they are.

Text | Anonymous

[atypical_echo]

Yeah, creepy lavish hotel feels like it's got strings attached. And a special school for kids sucks too. But, as much as it sucks, I gotta say this.

How far do you trust the Guilds? Back in my home, people like us, people with abilities? Held against our will. Controlled in other ways. Sometimes, if you're less 'harmful', it's an edge to go along with their plans. Leaves you in a place to get yourself ready, build some stability, and be able to run.

If you need advice, let me know.

[Mark, you are not helping hte kid's paranoia.]

Video

[demigoth]

[ That’s a lot of text, and Nico has yet to discover the accessibility settings, so it takes a minute. ]

What’s with the text? Video’s so much faster.

[ For Nico. ]

I don’t know? Not a lot. Id like them better if there was a nice option for people who don’t want to be a hero or… reformed villain? I still don’t know why they’d need a group at all. If they’re reformed, aren’t they heroes? Why don’t the “villains” have a group?

In my world, humans don’t know that people with powers exist.

Re: Video

[atypical_echo]

Video is also, shock of all shocks, non-Anon. So yeah, I'll keep this up. Plenty of smart phones have text to voice anyway.

And for all that the Society apparently was 'for Reformation', I hear they dropped that a few months back? So, uh, maybe they do? But the unfairness to us people just trying to live our lives is BS.

Video

[demigoth]

[ Nico is tapping at the phone as he talks. ]

I’m not anon. You haven’t said anything that bad. They have to know people have feelings.

[ Admittedly, he didn’t know that anonymous was an option. He also has just discovered the setting he needs to make it talk and hurriedly toggles it off when the phone immediately starts reading everything. That’s for later. ]

They changed their name? I don’t think they’ve cleared all the old brochures out of the rack.

Re: Video

[atypical_echo]

YOU may not be anon, but I am. So texts from me.

[Seriously was this that hard to understand? He didn't think so.]

Paperwork always takes forever. But who knows, maybe one of the other Confluence Meta-Adults will be willing to cover you?

[demigoth]

Why do old people make things so difficult?

[ Reading's hard, presumed old man. Some of us have A/V brains. ]

That was the idea of asking, but nobody wants to.

[atypical_echo]

Because I don't trust the guilds?

I wish I could offer you shelter. Pretty sure they wouldn't let you go with some who was unaffiliated.

[demigoth]

I don't know. I don't remember them mentioning it. Everything they do is based on joining one of the guilds.

Like if you want to join the Alliance, you can call this person. If you want to join the Society, you can call this person. But nothing about what to do if you're alone.