[Private IM] 05 Souls

[deathdiduspart]

[Private: Natalie]

[Nico has been trying to keep his distance from the whole Hazel/Leo debacle. Trying, but failing miserably as the urge to punch Leo is still there. He is giving up and sending Natalie a private message since the silly Hephaestus kid is her boyfriend.]

Natalie? I have a some important questions to ask you, when you've got a moment.

[Private: Jehan]

[After his discussion with Natalie, Nico decides it's in his best interest to tell Jehan about it, too. Welp.]

Do you have a minute, Jehan?

Comments

[clearasil]

Wow, referring to him by surname, that sounds bad.

[ Natalie closes her notebook, still chewing on her pen. ]

Not very much. I think she left Cosette's party after talking to him and I just assumed he was being ... himself.

[deathdiduspart]

He's in a lot of hot water with me right now.

[He doesn't sound angry, though....]

In order to really understand what happened, I need to tell you something that has to stay between you, Valdez, Hazel, and I. Would you feel comfortable keeping it a secret?

[clearasil]

What? [ She waves both hands at him, sputtering a little bit. ] Hold on, what?

[ It strikes her as odd, Nico coming to her about business with her boyfriend. She's not his keeper or anything, but she supposes she should hear him out before jumping to any conclusions. Her lips purse. ]

I won't say anything.

[deathdiduspart]

[He takes a deep breath and gets right down to it.]

Hazel is from the 1940's like I am. The difference is that she died. I went down to the Underworld and brought her back to life from the Fields of Asphodel. Since Thanatos isn't gunning for her soul back, I can only assume that they're turning a blind eye as long as she stays out of the Underworld during her second chance.

[Nico hesitates.]

There was...a side-effect that neither of us counted on. She has flashbacks to her old life, like her soul is trying to live in two time periods at once. Hazel managed to take Valdez with her on one of those flashbacks to explain not only her death, but that he apparently also looks like an old crush. And Valdez botched it up by saying something along the lines of, "Having no music will make me think twice about dying."

Which brings me to the important question: may I please punch your boyfriend? I promise I won't hit his face.

[clearasil]

[ Natalie stares, her jaw dropping open the further Nico gets into his account. For a moment, she is rendered speechless, nervously clicking her pen up and down up and down. ]

Okay, so my boyfriend took a jump back in time with a girl who had a crush on his dopplegänger and Leo tried to use humor in reaction to this strange and sad flashback to events in her past, in the Forties. [ Demigod life. ]

And you want my permission to punch him not in the face. Why are you asking my permission?

[deathdiduspart]

[Yeah, children of Hades/Pluto life in a nutshell. It really kind of sucks.]

Because you're his girlfriend and if he shows up the next day with a black eye, then you'll probably be wondering why. Plus, I don't know if you have a date with him soon or not.

[clearasil]

I can agree that, like, he needs some reprimanding for that shitty comment, but -

[ This is a real conversation she is having. ] Avoid the face? He's gonna meet my dad this weekend. I'm on a fetch mission for the Weird Science Collective against the Red Room.