Archived Roleplay:Main Forum/General/Moonlighting

RP
Aria: After a strenuous workout early in the morning, Aria had hoped that she would feel more awake and energized during the day. However, she had immediately felt completely drained of energy, a sensation which even drinking alarming amounts of coffee did nothing to remedy. Still exhausted but now unable to fall asleep, Aria did her best to carry out her daily routine despite her lethargy. And perhaps therein lay the answer: routine. Everything she did lately--organizing cabin events, training her fighting abilities, studying for her degree--was blurring together into a mindless cycle. Many of her friends had already left Camp, so for the past few months Aria hadn't even been able to rely upon her unruly companions' antics to draw her out of her ruts and onto their adventures. What was the point of living such a mundane life? Would rejoining mortal society even bring her the same enjoyment it once had? Burying those depressing thoughts for later, Aria shook her head and focused on how she could escape her funk. If routine was the cause of her torpor, then why not see if breaking her routine would have an effect?

Nyxil: Nyxil was uncharacteristically passive for the rest of the day after he got back from his fight. Obviously there'd been one - one look at him made that much clear, what with how f*cked he looked. Like, sure, "ragged" would be a perfect description of him any day of the week. But now the term was just unrealistic. He was... yeah. F*cked. Maybe that was why everybody had steered clear of him when he got back. Nobody interrupted him on his way to the forest. So he'd spent basically the whole day there, the woods came to a cliff overlooking Long Island Sound. The sun was just hiding itself under the horizon. Stars were starting to peek through the orange-to-purple whatever above. Nyxil - lying down with legs up on a tree and head down over the cliff's edge - flipped them off. Then he realized he'd done it with his cigarette hand, groaned, took a long draw, and used the other instead.

Aria: Aria seldom went for nighttime walks around Camp anymore. When she had been a new camper, she had frequently explored the campgrounds at dusk, illuminated by light from first the setting sun and then her father's starry realm. On some nights she would meet new friends along new paths, while on others she would rendezvous with her old friends at other cabins or along the beach or in the woods. Now that she considered it, a walk through the woods would both break her routine and provide a tranquil place to mull over her thoughts. In no time Aria had hiked deep into the woods, surrounding herself with old-growth trees and overgrown paths. Soon she arrived at a cliffside clearing--one already occupied by a stranger who was precariously perched atop the edge of the cliff. He was smoking a cigarette, a habit which Aria generally disliked, but based on his body language and facial expression, it looked like he really needed that cigarette, so Aria held her tongue. She wasn't about to pester someone who looked like he'd been dragged to Tartarus and back about making healthy decisions. Keeping a respectful distance away from the stranger, Aria settled down at the edge of the cliff, watching the sea of vibrant colors above settle into a soothing navy blue.

Nyxil: As much as he was literally in the process of cursing the night, it did give him strengths. Or, not as-much-as. That was in part the reason he was cursing it in the first place. Either way, as the daylight gave, a sixth sense woke in him. Rustling leaves were a background static now alive in his head, their details just as obscure as the shshsh they made in the breeze. Waves below were something similar, but more surging. Grass was the opposite. Aria, on the other hand, stood out. People blended together to him when they were in groups, or cities, same as leaves and waves and grass. Not out here, though. Her stillness was unique. Nyxil tried to make out her features without looking - as he always did, since it'd probably work one day - but gave up and looked over at her. ''... Oh. Constellation chick. ''"Stars are gay," he said. It was so matter of fact, that, coupled with the fact that he was back to flipping the sky the bird again, it was hard to tell if he'd event meant it for her to hear.

Aria: When the breeze wafted cigarette smoke in her direction, Aria discreetly used her gravity powers to draw the smoke away from her. She settled back against a tree a few meters back from the cliff, conserving her energy. Such a light gravity field would only affect small particles in the air and wouldn't drain her powers that quickly, but she was sufficiently tired that it would become a nuisance soon enough. As the sky darkened, Aria's field of vision expanded until she could see the stranger's face more clearly. He looked familiar--yes, he was one of the people who had been roped into James' and Nin's giant arena brawls. Aria remembered talking to him in the midst of conducting damage control during one of those free-for-alls. She hadn't seen him much around Camp besides that... did he just say that stars were gay? Aria chuckled, unoffended by the remark but surprised at the suddenness of the declaration. "You're gay," she eloquently retorted, no force or insult behind the words. "If you keep moving your fingers like that, they'll get stuck in that position," she joked, halfheartedly bantering with the not-quite stranger.

Nyxil: He laughed softly. Nyxil always looked tired, but today he actually felt it. He hated feeling tired. "That would be... so freaking convenient," he mused. Nyxil had seen Aria's face around camp a couple times, but it wasn't until he really looked that she started reminding him of Cal. He couldn't remember if Astraeus and Asteria were actually related. Something to check out. He lowered his arm slowly and turned his attention to the sunset. Upside down it painted an even worse message - like all the light was climbing away to someplace beyond, with the whole world pinning him down where he couldn't follow. Instead he was just left hanging over an abyss full of... more f*cking stars. "Really, though, screw stars. They suck. This whole night business, it's- it's..." He trailed off. He didn't know exactly what he was thinking, and the only worthy explanation he could think of was giving up and settling on his cig.

Aria: The distinctive thorns in the quasi-stranger's hair combined with his particular personality (a contemplative soul masked by a mien of apathy and weariness) should have made it a piece of cake for Aria to remember his name, but it had been a hectic time when he first introduced himself, and she had always been better at recalling faces than names. Nick? Nixon? No, it had been a more unusual name--Nyxil? Aria had mistaken him for a new camper then, and she hadn't even seen him around Camp after their first encounter until now. "What did the stars ever do to you, my dude?" she asked, staring at the twinkling dots of light reflected onto the Sound. "They're too far away to really affect people on Earth. Unless you're talking about the Sun or about my constellation constructs from that big arena battle, that is," Aria amended, remembering how Nyxil had extinguished her constructs in a wave of darkness the last time they'd met. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Personally, I'm okay with the night. Everything's quieter, and I can see things that the daylight always covers up. Relaxing things like stars, meteors, the ocean beneath the moonlight--things like that. There's always something different about the world when it's dark outside. But I know not everyone thinks the same way I do about nighttime. From one night god's kid to another, what's the reason behind your take?" Aria asked quietly, closing her eyes. Around her, the last of the summer's crickets chirped, and the beginnings of an autumn breeze stirred the trees.

Nyxil: "Too much... time to think," Nyxil said slowly. This was far from the first night he spent staring at the sky, trying to drown out the starlight with one little ember of his own. He wove his cigarette between his fingers. "Night used to be a kind of freedom, yeah. That's how I always felt about it. Years and years, I'd do everything I could not to waste it sleeping. Less clutter. Less noise. Now all that just grates on me though. For demigods, they get to know that the sun, or the stars, or storms, or the sea, or whatever - those things are their parent's domain. Nyx is something, different though. So that's one part of it," he sighed. "The night sky up there, it's literally her. No matter what, I'm guaranteed a daily reminder that she's right there in full view of me, and doesn't give a damn what she did." He hesitated, realizing that he'd raised a question he didn't want to answer. "She, uh. Yeah, "mother" and I aren't on speaking terms right now. Not that we've ever been," he mumbled.

Aria: The daughter of Astraeus exhaled gently and opened her eyes again. Aria wasn't always the most socially perceptive kid around, especially during moments of exhaustion, but something about the strangeness of the encounter and the mournfulness of her surroundings made her feel like asking too many questions would shatter her immersion in the moment. Perhaps it was better to let the conversation ebb and flow naturally, like the waters of the Sound below. "Can't say I've been through something similar," she spoke after a few moments. "I guess I'm pretty darn lucky to have Astraeus as a dad. He doesn't go out of his way to meet with his kids, but he hasn't wronged any of us as far as I know. This might be sacrilegious to say, but even though he was on the 'evil' side of the Titanomachy, my dad seems to have been a lot nicer than some of the Olympians." Aria waited to see if Zeus would smite her with a lightning bolt or if Hera would attack her with an angry peacock for her blasphemous words, but when the moment passed and she hadn't been dismembered, she figured she was safe for now. Maybe she should change the topic away from the gods, just in case they were still listening. "Hey, is there a reason you're never at Camp anymore?" Aria blurted the first question that came to mind, her brain-to-mouth filter steadily disappearing as she grew more tired.

Nyxil: "Hm?" He laughed softly, a smirk not visible from how he was laying, but its amusement audible in his voice. "Well, how long do you plan on staying in here? There's shit to do."

Aria: The son of Nyx didn't like talking about himself much, Aria surmised. That was perfectly fine by her. For better or for worse, Aria was an open book, always willing to share or to listen. "I'm transferring to a full-time university next fall," she admitted, something she had only told her own lieutenant counselor so far. "Ever since I first came here, I've been going to the cafe in town to complete my general education requirements at an online college. Free Internet at the cost of possible monster attacks, which really isn't a bad deal because it gives me practice fighting monsters. Keeps things interesting, y'know," she laughed. "I don't think the demigod world has much for me in the future, to be honest. I've always wanted to become an astronaut, and the only way I can do that is by studying in a mortal university." Aria paused and mulled over her next words. "It's not a particularly popular opinion around here, but I view Camp as a place where demigods can learn the skills they need to rejoin mortal society, not as a place for us to form an isolated, permanent half-blood community. Like you said, 'there's shit to do.' All the famous scholars and ancient heroes who were demigods managed to contribute to mortal society despite dealing with monster attacks, so we also should be able to if we want to. Still, I'm not sure I'll even be happy to rejoin the mortal world, now that I've been here for so long. Call me sentimental, but no matter how tired of Camp I get, I'll still miss it at least a little."

Nyxil: Nyxil shook his head lightly. His hair shifted a bit, and he could feel the weight of his laurels tugging down. There was probably a metaphor in that fact somewhere, and it pissed him off. A lot of things did that. Including that fact itself. He and Aria had a similar conversation that first time they met too, he remembered. They seemed to agree on things, in critically different ways. They both fought at the arena - she because she didn't want anyone to drop dead that night, but he because he didn't want anyone to drop dead all the nights after. It all came back to the same thing for him. He bit his tongue and started flitting his gaze around, the obvious way that people do when their thoughts are rebounding. Is that a way to describe things? Fuck. He felt so out of it, but so... Gods. It was-- It was like the feeling of paralysis from a sudden shock. Suddenly you can't move, but really, no, you're tensing up, you're twitching in ways that hurt and you can't control it, it's moving, but. His cigarette slipped from loose fingers. "I don't get it," he said slowly. His eyes were trained on the sunset, but he wasn't thinking of that anymore. He couldn't say it - or even think of it, more than just subconsciously - but he at some level hoped that Aria would help him. The hell does that even mean? It's his own fault.

((OOC))
Nata: I wrote so much for Aria's initial post that I split it up into two parts, putting the first part before Nyxil's first post because they're happening simultaneously. Is that alright with you? Also, is Nyxil still in the same body that he had during the arena megabattles, or did he change bodies since then?

Tox: Yeah that's chill, it works nice. And yeah, Nyxil's in the same body. He hasn't changed for a few years now actually. Even his outfit is linked to the curse, so he's basically been wearing the exact same thing for 2-3 years. Only thing that's changed over time is his hair, it's grown out a bit more and got permanent rose-thorn laurels matted into it. Took them from Nyctimus (Lycaon's son, who I headcanonned is the new werewolf leader in an an off-wiki rp) after running him off, then found out they wouldn't come off. I think he already had that by the time of the arena battles tho. Oh and the whole deal there about describing things moving, that's from the new Nyx set I put up a vote for way back. I've been treating it as canon, but technically  not enough people have voted for it to pass. Rip.

Nata: Who's Cal? Also, for reference and your rereading pleasure, here is the old megabattle RP where Nyxil and Aria first met. Though they sometimes interacted indirectly through their powers during the battle, the real conversation began towards the end of the RP, after Nyxil unleashed a blackout on the entire arena. Coincidentally enough, both Aria and Nyxil were very tired during that encounter, too.

Tox: Cal is a nickname for Calixto Ryler, an Asteria kid from the old 2012 era. He, Nyxil and Blake were a trio back then. They basically bonded over a mutual love of jumping off of things in the forest. Good times, good times.

Nata: Off-topic but I took a look at Calixo's old character page and realized that along with being starchildren, he and Aria also share the same height and weight. Spooky

Nata: >says we should keep posts short >posts a freaking essay