disclosures | Week 5: Wednesday

My father is garbage. [It's reflexive, she didn't think about it.

But being a literal son of a god seems bizarre.]

What's that like? Is he... an involved parent?

[He quirks an eyebrow. That was fast. And yet...yeah, he can see that.]

I wouldn't call him garbage, but I wouldn't call him father of the year material either. [He frowns a little.] Death isn't exactly warm and affectionate, but there is some mercy sometimes. He...tries. Or has been trying, at least, which I suppose is better than nothing. It's been better in recent history but he's told me his own fair share of lies and I often go months without hearing from him. Or years.

[She got to have all three of her girl group members tell off her dad. That part was great even if it was during one of the worst moments of her life.

And she's had a lot of bad moments.]

At least he's trying. That's a lot more than mine's ever done.

[If she was told before murder castle that she would bond over going places for a boy and daddy issues with a teenager? She wouldn't have believed it.

And yet.]

[A lopsided smile. Look, it's a bad thing to bond over but at least he's hoping she won't feel as crazy. (Granted, Nico himself can be a little manic, too...but whatever, details.)]

He's trying now. Before that...my father was simply concerned with one of his children being the hero of olympus. [...] I was a second choice, but he worked with what he had.

[Later, much later, (like six months ago) Hades actually spoke kindly to him and it was still a little weird, but it's been better than before.]

[It's what we all hope for Rebecca but the chances are slim. Years of build up aren't so easily taken care of.]

... What? You have siblings? Were you all children of gods at... that was summer camp, right? Gods really exist where you're from.

[Wow. And here she is still questioning if God even exists, but it sounds like these are more the mythical types than the Jewish variant.]

...yes and no. [How do you explain...okay, whatever, let's back up here.] That was Camp Half-Blood, a training camp for demigods. It's not that far from the Long Island Sound. But it's only for demigods of Greek parentage. My father is Hades. There's a second camp in California just outside of San Francisco called Camp Jupiter. It's a training grounds for Roman demigods. It's where Reyna's from, and where my half-sister lives. Her name is Hazel. She's a daughter of Pluto.

[...] I didn't know about Hazel until quite recently. About a year now, maybe a little more. But my other sister was a child of Hades as well.

[Was. You know how that goes. He tries not to linger though.] Gods exist. [He thinks back to the memory.] Jason's a son of Zeus, Will's the son of Apollo, Percy's the son of Poseidon and Annabeth's a daughter of Athena. The other people Jason mentioned, Piper and Leo, they're the daughter of Aphrodite and son of Hephaestus. Most demigods also have different mortal parents from their siblings.

[Rebecca is standing here like fuckin' wild. There's really a world out there where gods are having sex with mortals? Greek and Roman gods exist for real because they obviously have children.

But she heard "was". As rude and blunt as she can be, she knows better than to prod a wound like that.]

That's... gotta be weird, right? Or do you all know who your parents are?

[Haha wait until she learns there's also a Norse demigod here. Whoa!! As it is, he's pretty grateful she doesn't actually ask about Bianca because despite the fact it's been almost five years it's still painful enough he avoids it where he can.]

All of us know who are mortal parents are now. [Is that a joke? Maybe!] For a while several of the gods didn't get in touch with their children and many of them went unclaimed. When Percy became the hero of the prophecy, one of the things he bargained for was for the gods to claim their children by the time they were thirteen. Some demigods over the age of thirteen might not know their parentage but gods can claim their children later in life. Annabeth knew who her mother was since she was seven, I think, maybe sooner. I learned about my father when I was ten. Piper and Leo were only claimed last year.

[Why are there so many demigods in Murder Castle. Save them. Shouldn't they be immune to bad luck? Looks like they're as prone to it as everybody else.

Is that comforting or not?

While she listens now, she's probably going to forget it easily enough in a few days.]

... You know, being a kid of a god sounds really stressful and weird when they don't get involved with your life until you're thirteen.

[They've been through worse, they're fine.]

Unfortunately it can be really stressful and weird even when they are involved. But a lot of the time the gods can't meddle with the affairs of demigods. It's why my father sometimes will tell me things and send me to do things but won't tell me what they are. You get used to it.

[That's not at all comforting.]

Are you all weirdness magnets?

They can't get involved? Not even to like, check up on their kids? Talk about absentee parenting. Do they at least help pay for college? [That's a weird list of concerns.]

More like monster magnets. [But he shrugs.] They can't in several cases, and some of them choose not to. Father will sometimes check in, but during the Giant War it was hard for them to contact any of us because they were split between their Greek and their Roman selves.

[But he blinks a little.] I don't know about college though. Father paid for tuition at this boarding school for Bianca and I but we weren't there for very long. I haven't been to a real school since.

[Her mind screaming loudly:]

How long haven't you been in school?

The last time I attended a real school I was ten. [Sorry Rebecca!!]

What?

[It's almost like she's blue screening.]

...when we left Westover Hall, Bianca and I were taken to Camp Half-Blood and since then there was never a reason to go to a normal school. A lot of year-rounders don't.

[?!?!?!?!]

Do you... at least get educated there? Like learn how to do math and read? I mean, obviously you can read, we defaced some fairy tales together.

We figure it out. A lot of summer campers go to regular schools in the normal world, but for those of us who stay year-round we sort of teach each other. We have regular lessons for stuff, too.

[She lets out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding.]

Oh good. That's important, no matter how uh... god-ish your heritage is.

[...and now for something rare...he laughs.]

Out of everything, that's the part you were worried about?

It's important! Of course I was worried. Reading and math are so important even if you do drop out of normal school!

I don't know if knowing how to do math is ever going to really save me from a fight with a bunch of monsters, but I guess I can see your point.

I don't know maybe the monsters will like... have riddles three and the three riddles will be calculus.

...you're thinking of a Sphinx and I don't think she ever gave math riddles.

Maybe they'll get an updated riddle collection? Wait, they're real too? ...Why am I surprised, your world has gods in it.

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