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“So this is Dungeons and Dragons? Where do the dragons come in?” Apollo’s furrowed his brow, looking down at the character sheet that Nico just handed him.
“This campaign won’t have any dragons, or really any dungeons for that matter. Just the name of the game, babe,” Percy patted Apollo on the shoulder. Percy was busy organizing his things on the table in front of him; a blue notebook with a blue ink pen, his character sheet, two sets of dice- one blue and one yellow, a calculator, and his new blue water bottle (which Apollo had so kindly slapped a sticker of the sun on).
“Okay, so in short, the mission is for everyone to collect a musical instrument, and then we’ll take on the boss. Shouldn’t be too bad, and it should really only take like a couple hours tops,” Nico informed the group.
Percy and Nico’s eyes met and they both fell into a fit of giggles. Kayla, sitting across the table, snorted, stifling her own laughter.
“Okay, let’s go. So starting off, all four of you are already together. Apollo, your name is Florian, you’re a human bard. Percy, you’re Dorcas, an elf bard- you’re all bards okay?? Anyway, Kayla, you’re Yomila, a-“
Kayla interrupted, “Yomila what?”
Nico rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Yomila….”
“Yes..?” Kayla grinned.
“Yomila Fapplegaggle! You’re Yomila Fapplegaggle, a gnome. May I move on? Okay, William, your name is Bram and you’re a human as well.”
“Why am I Dorcas?? And why is Kayla the only one who got to pick her own name?”
“Because, Percy. Feminism. Anyway, let’s get started.
Right now, the part is entering the Prancing Pony, a dimly lit tavern.
You’re up first, Dork ass.”
Percy shot Nico a playful glare, “Uh, let’s all go grab a table in the corner?”
“The party heads toward a table near the back wall of the tavern. They walk right by a wall with several papers tacked to it.”
“Oh can I see what’s on the board??” Percy bounced in his seat.
“Investigation.”
Percy’s hand hovered over his dice, debating between his blue and yellow d20s. He glanced up at Apollo beside him and chose the yellow die. Percy rolled the die around in his hand before tossing it onto the table. “14?”
“Dorcas glances at the board and sees a sign reading
Music Contest
If you can best me in any instrument, your prize will be 200 gold pieces”
“That’s sick!” Dorcas shouted, pumping his fist in the air and gaining the attention of his party.
“Apollo?”
“Uh, I- I’m not really sure what I’m doing?” Apollo muttered.
“Okay, dad, so basically you can do whatever you want. Like you have the chance to say anything you want, or like, if you want to perform an action of some sort you can roll for it,” Kayla spoke up.
“What would be the best thing to do right now?”
“To move this thing forward, probably suggest entering the contest? Whatever you want, dad.”
“Uh, okay.. Um, should we enter the contest? I assume we’re poor and need the gold, right?” Florian asked.
“Yeah dude, we should find some instruments in this town since we lost ours crossing the river- oh yeah Nico forgot to mention we lost our instruments coming into town, that’s why we have to find new ones- anyway, we lost ours in the river. Maybe someone in this tavern knows where we can find some?” Dorcas said.
“Kayla, you’re up.”
“I, Yomila Fapplegaggle, am going to ask the barkeep if they know where we could each find an instrument here in town. Oh, barkeep!”
“Hello little lady, what can I get you?”
“First of all, that’s really offensive. I am a perfectly average height for a gnome. Second, where can my party find musical instruments in town? We’re looking to enter the competition.”
“Sorry miss. You can find instruments at the old man’s house down the street. I’ll warn you though, that competition may be dangerous.”
“Cool, thanks! Now I am sharing this information with my party.”
“Thanks, Kayla.”
“William?”
Will shot a halfhearted glare in Nico’s direction before suggesting that the four should head out to the old man’s house.
“Alright, so the party exits the tavern and heads in the direction the barkeep pointed. They hear the sound of strings being plucked, and as they near their destination the sound gets louder.”
“I assume this is the old man’s house? Should we knock?” Dorcas asked.
“Roll.”
Percy picked up his blue d20 and rolled. “Ugh shit, I rolled a 3…”
“Dorcas reaches forward to knock on the door, and misses, accidentally knocking Florian on the back of the head.”
“Uh, let me try?” Florian says, as if it were a question.
“Roll your d20, Apollo.”
Apollo opens his dice bag, noticing that his dice are a bright sea green, with gold glitter swirling around. He dumps the bag on the table and reaches for the big one.
“17? Is that okay?”
“Florian steps forward and knocks on the front door. The music stops and the party hears a shuffling behind the door. Seconds later the front door opens and a white haired man with a long beard steps out to greet them.
“What can I do for you?” The man asked.”
“Well, sir, we were hoping to get some instruments from you for the contest this afternoon?” Yomila said.
“Ah, the contest. It’s dangerous to enter that contest. Are you sure that’s what you would like to do?”
“Yep!” Yomila replied.
“Alright, come in, come in.”
The old man leads them into his home, closing the door behind them.
“I’d like to take a look around the room, if that’s alright?” Bram asked.
“Please roll, William.”
“15.”
“Bram looks around the room. The far wall is full of shelves, each one having several instruments lined up in neat rows. To the right, there was a small round table with 2 wooden chairs.
“Come in, make yourself comfortable. Do any of you have a preference for a specific instrument?”
“I play the flute!” Dorcas exclaimed.
“Uh, the lyre, I guess?” Florian said.
“Ooh, the guitar!” Yomila shouted.
“Uh, I guess also the guitar?” Bram stated.
“Before I lend you these instruments, you must complete a task for me. There are six little monsters that terrorize my garden, and I’d like for you to get rid of them for me.”
“Alright, lead the way!” Dorcas replied.
The old man leads the party to the garden at the back of his house, where they immediately see six creatures digging through the vegetable patches. Each creature is about two feet tall, with sharp teeth and sharp claws.
“I think it’s Kayla’s turn.”
“Okay, I’m going to use my rapier to attack the creature closest to me.”
Kayla grabs her dice and rolls, getting a 16.
“Yomila lands a hit and- hit points??- kills the first creature. Bram?”
“I’d like to use my knife and attack the next closest monster.”
“Oh shit.. shit, I rolled a 1,” Will deflated. He doesn’t even like this game, he just joined today because of Nico and Percy’s plan.
“Bram unsheathes his knife, and it flies across the garden, landing in front of one of the creatures. The creature looks up at him and moves to attack. The creature swings its claw toward Bram and- oh shit- the creature lands a fatal hit. Bram’s dead.”
“Fucking WHAT?” Will shouts.
“It’s okay, sunshine, it’s just a game. We can do a different one another time?” Nico whispers.
Will puts his forehead on the table and sighed. Nico reaches over and runs his fingertips along the back of Will’s neck before moving on with the game.
“Okay, so Bram is dead, and there are still five monsters.”
“I want to attack the one that just killed Bram with my sword.”
This small battle goes on for a little longer than Nico planned. Kayla and Apollo weren’t landing many hits, and the hits that Percy was landing only dealt low damage. Regardless, the three eventually killed all of the remaining creatures, and sustained very minor injuries.
“Well, sorry about your friend, but come on in and I’ll get you those instruments, if you’re sure you still want to borrow them.”
“We’re sure. Bram would want us to do the competition. For Bram!” Yomila yelled.
“Whatever…” Will mumbled. Nico squeezed his thigh under the table, earning him a small smile.
“The party grabs their chosen instruments, thank the old man, and leave the house. The group continues in the direction of the competition. Upon arriving to the amphitheater, the party registers and takes their seats.
A divine looking man takes saunters onto the little stage, lyre in hand. He grins and gestures to the row of competitors, signaling the start of the competition.
Yomila picks up her guitar and takes her place on the stage.
“I’d like to play a face melting guitar solo for you,” Yomila addresses the crowd.
“Yomila adjusts the guitar and- is that a 4?- she strums the guitar too hard. The strings snap, and she’s booed off the stage.”
“Godsdammit!!!” Kayla huffs and throws herself back in her chair. Will pats her on the shoulder and nods sympathetically.
“Dorcas is up, he grabs his borrowed flute and takes his position on stage. The handsome man-
“Nicooo,” Will groaned, grabbing his boyfriend by the elbow.
“The VERY HANDSOME MAN gave Dorcas a once over, assessing the competition. Dorcas brought the flute to his lips and- fucking hell Percy- Dorcas takes a deep breath, too deep. He inhaled a fly and chokes, earning jeers from the audience.
Percy shrugs and sits back in his seat, throwing a bright smile in Apollo’s direction.
“Finally, Florian picks up his lyre and takes his position on stage. He refuses to look at the stunningly beautiful and very sexy man on stage next to him, and he won’t spare a glance toward the audience either.
As soon as his hands meet the strings-“
“Okay I roll the 20 sided one, right? Um, okay it says 20.”
“A nat 20? Nice!” Kayla hi-fives her dad.
“As soon as Florian’s fingers find the strings, he’s playing the most beautiful melody the audience had ever heard. The man on stage with him is enraged. As soon as Florian’s song comes to an end, the crowd erupts in cheers.
A short man approaches the stage, standing between Florian and the handsome man.
“I’m here to declare a winner!” The judge announces, “the winner is Florian!”
“No!” The beautiful man shouts, “he can’t be better than me! That is impossible!” The beautiful man turns to the judge and waves his hand. The judge stars to transform into a donkey. “How dare anyone suggest that anyone is a better musician than me!”
The man approaches Florian next, a knife magically appearing in his grasp.
“Apollo?”
“I’ll pull my sword I guess? And, uh, swing it? At him?”
“Florian pulls his sword from its sheath and swings at the man- yeah the 20 again- and he- huh- misses, falling forward onto the floor. The man draws his knife back and- oh well- lands a fatal hit in Florian’s back. He then picks up Florian and begins removing his skin-“
“Okay Neeks can we maybe skip that?” Will grimaced.
“Ugh, okay so he’s flayed Florian, and he tosses his body in the square for everyone to see. The end.”
The group stares silently at Apollo, waiting for realization to hit.
*about a week ago*
“Nico, we should get Apollo and Will to do a short campaign with us! I think it would be fun.”
“I don’t know if Will would be into that, Perce. He doesn’t seem interested in rpg.”
“What if… what if we troll Apollo? Use one of his myths as the story?”
“Ooh we could have one of the Hecate kids enchant some dice for him, so he rolls what we want him to? And in the story, Apollo can be like the bad guy, final boss person?”
Percy and Nico hi-five and get to work on the campaign.
*now*
Apollos brow furrows as he stares down at the dice in front of him.
“I don’t think I cared for that,” he said softly.
“DnD? Or-“ Percy started.
“The final bad guy. He just seemed like an asshole. Florian seemed to win, fair and square, and the guy just killed him for it? If anything, that guy deserved to die. He was a shitty person…”
The other four sat back and stared at Apollo in confusion, definitely not expecting such a sad response. Kayla was the first to move, reaching toward her dad to get his attention before pulling him into a hug.
Will snapped out of his sad confusion and joined his sister and dad. Apollo held both of his kids with fondness.
“What is this for?” he asked, still confused.
Will and Kayla sat back down in their seats, built spreading across their faces.
“Dad, Nico and Percy came up with the idea to use one of your myths for the story, as a joke. It was supposed to be funny… but it clearly wasn’t…” Will admitted.
“‘Pollo, I’m really sorry-“ Percy started.
Apollo’s gaze shifted down to his hands, which were folded in his lap. His face scrunched together with unreadable emotion. When he finally looked back up at Percy, he nodded and said, “It’s okay, seashell. I know you guys didn’t mean it to be mean. I’m going to step outside for a minute though. I just need some air.”
Apollo stood from the table and stepped out of the cabin.
Nico quietly started packing up his things into his designated DnD folder. Will and Kayla moved their items to their respective bunks and began tidying up.
“Shit,” Percy muttered. “I need to go talk to him, huh?”
Nico nodded, “Yeah, you do. But so do I. And I’d like to talk to him first if that’s okay?”
“O-okay.”
“Hey,” Nico said, sitting down beside Apollo on the front steps.
“Hello, Nico.”
“Ugh okay, talking to people is still hard for me okay so please just listen? I’m really very sorry for hurting you. We thought it would be funny to see how long it took for you to realize it was one of your myths- altered of course because it’s still a game- and then I guess it just… it wasn’t funny. We should have just done a normal monster fighting game and had fun together, and I’m sorry.”
“I’m not mad, Nico. When Will said that the game was one of my myths, and the bad guy was based on me I just- it made me realize how awful I used to be. I killed a guy for being good at something. And that’s not the only time something like that happened, either. I killed a lot of people for such trivial things. My time as Lester changed me, sure, but is it enough to really deserve… to deserve the happiness I have now?”
Apollo met Nico’s gaze with tears in his eyes. Nico has known Apollo since he was 10, and has gotten fairly close with him since he started dating Will and hanging out more with Percy. He’s never seen Apollo as his godly self looking so sad.
“You’re right though, Apollo. You have changed. You wouldn’t do something like that now, and we all know that. You made that promise to Jason, and you’ve more than kept it. You remember, and you actively go out of your way to help demigods. You are good, and you do deserve this happiness.”
Apollo let out a wet sounding laugh and sniffed. “Such kind words, son of Hades. Thank you.”
Nico gave Apollo a small smile, and then moved to get up. He stopped, hesitating for a second before he leaned back toward Apollo, embracing him. Apollo jumped, startled at the act of affection from Nico di Angelo, but sighed into the friendly touch. He wrapped his arms around Nico, embracing him back.
“Okay, that’s enough physical contact probably for like a year. Percy wants to talk to you, too,” Nico muttered, pulling himself out of Apollo’s warm- and tight- embrace.
Apollo chuckled and waved Nico away. He shut his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths when he felt a gentle hand on the back of his neck.
“Hello Perseus.”
Percy pulled Apollo closer and planted a soft kiss against his hair.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know. I’m not mad, Perseus. Not at you. Or Nico, or Will, or Kayla. Just… just sad that that’s the kind of god I used to be.”
“Well, Phoebus, you aren’t that guy anymore. I know you. And I’m sorry that we brought that memory back up, and I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
Apollo buried his face in Percy’s neck, inhaling the scent of the sea. Percy carded his fingers through Apollo’s silky hair while they sat together in silence.
“I love you, seashell.”
“I love you, too, Phoebus.”