hadriel | Dictation - 4 [Text] (Forward Dated to the 7th)

[When he had blinked back into life upon Hope's altar, Rosen had felt neither joy nor sadness at the fact. He had stared dumbly at the ceiling, noting with vague surprise and disappointment that death seems to do nothing for alleviating a person's mental and emotional exhaustion. They, or at least he, simply felt the same heaviness and dull discomfort that seems to come with owning mortal flesh. Mortal flesh that has aged and withered, had grown gaunt and grey.

There was no ceremony or eagerness to the way he pulled himself up, sat for another moment or so, and gathered himself onto his feet.

There was a slight haze. A disorientation that felt like heavy fingers gripping lazily at the back of his brain, just tightly enough to be a constant drain but not an actual impairment, and with the same slow, apathetic demeanor he had begun the trudge back to the spires, climbed the steps, opened the door, then tucked himself away inside his apartment, slumped into a chair at his kitchen table.

What now?

Should he call someone? Inform someone that he was back? In his tired fog he couldn't really see a point to telling anyone. What difference would it make? Was it even important? His empty apartment almost felt, in that moment, like evidence confirming that no, it was not.

At some point his fingers crept into his sweater pocket and fished out his phone, and at last he typed out a simple and emotionless text]

Has anyone seen my satchel?

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[Rosen begins shifting eggs to the plates, and then a few sausages and a bit of a vegetable resembling a yam that he has prepared like hash browns.]

I only know some of those names. Gaea, Tartarus... but there was no Annabeth or Piper in my Greek epics course in college.

[He hands one of the plates to Will then nods towards the table]

So these doors of death, when they were open, did that mean that death was no longer permanent? Or that death just, er, didn't happen?

[That looked amazing Rosen. Will was still new to this whole cooking thing. Usually there were harpies who cooked for them. Actually, harpies were good cooks, at least the ones they had at Camp. Good cleaners too, although the incentive to eat any campers who hadn't filled out the appropriate form stating they were staying yearround was probably the highlight.]

They're friends, or rather, not friends, but demigods who know my boyfriend. I travel in slightly less....well, different circles.

[Because saying 'less prestigious' seemed like an insult to him and his friends.]

Annabeth, daughter of Athena, Piper, daughter of Aphrodite.

[Will took the plate, his eyes widening hungrily.]

This looks wonderful. It meant that the dead? They could just walk right back out again into the world. The Doors of Death are right by Tartarus too, so lots of great folk. Thanatos was apparently captured, which made it super easy for Gaea and her forces to open the Doors and keep them open. With Thanatos captured, it gave monsters the ability to reform pretty much immediately. Normally, they reform, eventually. Could be a week, could be a thousand years. Monsters are archtypes, they don't die like you or me.

[Will winced, wondering if this was making Rosen uncomfortable.]

[Rosen eases himself into his usual chair, setting his plate before himself as he listens to Will. Though his expression remains somewhat vague, like someone a step or two behind the tempo of a conversation, he's trying to focus on what the boy is telling him. Though now and again the same static that has dogged him for the past day or so since he'd returned gets in the way]

Monsters? [He decides to attempt another question. Hoping engaging will be more successful]

Are we talking like, um, Cerberus or the Charybdis?

[Will was noticing how muted Rosen seemed. He wasn't doing well. But it hadn't been that long since he'd come back. It was bound to be hard. He wished he had more experience with this but, well, it wasn't every day when someone came back from the dead. Well, when that someone wasn't a child of Hades, or Pluto. He sat down and stabbed an egg, eating.]

Monsters. Exactly like that. Although Cerberus tends to stay in the Underworld. I've never met him, but I know people who did. He apparently likes red balls.

[Will thought that was kind of a terrifying concept, wondered if he could crush the souls of the dead while playing fetch with the ball]

The Minotaur, drakon, giants, empousai. I head the Clazmonian Sow appeared during the Battle of Manhattan.

[He paused, looking at Rosen.]

You're having trouble, aren't you?

I missed the Battle of Manhattan. I must have been out of town that week.

[His attempt at a joke is weak. though the concept of battle at home hits a bit close to the mark. Then with a soft sigh he nudges one of the sausages with his fork]

Is it that obvious?

[Will smiled at his weak attempt at humor. He was trying. That was enough. For now.]

Probably for the best. Gods know what mortals attributed it too. Terrorist attack, gas explosions, global warming.

You'll get there. You just need time. And someone to talk to. Several someones if you need it. What you've been through, no one can expect you to bounce back from quickly.

That doesn't sound too different from what the government says about my- [he falters.] - um, about Alphas.

[They aren't his Alphas anymore, are they?]

I've never been very good at the whole having my hand held thing.

[Its not said with any condescension. Rosen has no stock in trying to pretend to be a tough guy. Its a simple fact that he doesn't know how to be on the receiving end of help]

[Will noticed the catch, something had happened. Now was not the time to ask though. Rosen was having enough trouble as it was without him bringing up more bad memories. He'd tell him if he wanted him to know.]

I can tell. It's probably a good experience for a doctor to have though, don't you think?

Dictation - 4 [Text] (Forward Dated to the 7th)

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