“oh, no, this was a mistake...he’s dying!” lydia shrieks dramatically, watching the marshmallow she’d turned into an adorable fluffy bunny melting in the flames. “i don’t know if i can eat him now.”
❛ JUST A LITTLE BIT . but hey , it's a year closer to graduation ; maybe i'll actually celebrate it this time . ❜ because when mina finished the standard track , her ’ graduation party ‘ consisted mainly of watching horror movies with cynthia , calling her parents and lighting candles to her mother . macaria did care at least a little bit about one of her children graduating , right ? ❛ oh really , and how would you do that ? should i expect you to spend a whole day texting me encouraging memes to remind me of my worth ? ❜ the suggestion didn't sound much like him , which is what made it hilarious to mina . so much so that she laughed . either way , it was nice to know that shiloh cared . ❛ you think so ? i'm getting better but i still flinch a little on days i have to actually touch people , ❜ yet there hadn't been any accidents where she got an unwanted vision . not thus far at least . ❛ i'll just have to find a patient mentor . ❜ eyes widen a bit when he mentions reading as of lately , ❛ really ? but that's great ! what are you reading right now ? maybe it's on my list . ❜
“you will,” he says confidently, and, hopefully, reassuringly. she obviously has the work ethic and follow-through to graduate, and at least this time it’ll be in a field she feels more passionately about. graduating from the standard track is always a bit disappointing, in his experience, so he prefers this turn for her. “well, no,” he scoffs, then smiles. “i don’t even know how to find memes.” in many ways, shiloh could be easily confused with a man from the 19th century, and his aversion/confusion towards the internet is just one of them. “encouraging words, though, maybe?” he’s not very good at that, either, but it’s easier when he’s just being honest. “that’s good. you still try to avoid it?” not that he blames her, but it’s hard to improve without practice. “i know it makes you nervous, but i think it’d be less intimidating if you tried it more often. you can always, i mean, touch people you trust, we’d want you to feel comfortable if you saw anything.” shiloh isn’t much for comfort but he’d at least offer it if mina needed any. “a decent mentor will be patient and i think there’s plenty around here.” even if he’s largely a pessimist, he knows the people at nl want each other to do well, for the most part. “do you read a lot of non-fiction?” he knows it’s boring to some people. “um, i’m reading an immense world by ed yong. it’s about animals--well, their senses, what they can see and feel that we can’t, that kind of thing.”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind but maybe I could ask you questions, that way you wouldn’t fully feel as if you were ignoring me.” An offering that she would rarely make to others. She wonders if he’d just freeze up if it genuinely made him nervous to be coding without entertaining her in the process. At his following words, she merely nods and smiles. It’s still hard for her to fully take in help from other people, there’s a stubbornness in her that she thinks is never going to leave. Nor does she wish for it to, not at the moment. Eloise will gladly take Oliver’s help, however. “That sounds nice. It sounds…..peaceful.” An emotion that’s foreign to her altogether. For a moment, she watches him curiously, wondering if he’s always been this way or if there are things about him that she doesn’t notice. He seems put-together; if a bit anxious, and always seems to have a kind word to say to other people, to her, even when she doesn’t offer all that much kindness in return. At least, she’s trying to redeem that a bit now, or she thinks that’s what she’s doing. “I haven’t, no.” Bites down on her bottom lip, cheeks flushing because she’s a bit embarrassed to admit the next part. “I’m afraid they’d think differently of me, I guess, if I…..I don’t know if I’m not as brave or whatever as I might seem.” There are a thousand walls that Eloise has built up around herself at the fault of the people who claimed to be her parents and even the mere idea of letting someone see through any of them terrifies her. Maybe inside she’s always going to be the little girl fearing a God that didn’t even exist, that he’d somehow come down and condemn her for having her power. Her power still doesn’t feel like something that should be celebrated and that’s precisely the reason why she isn’t able to put her heart into practicing. Some dark corner of her mind still thinks that if she were able to master it, she wouldn’t use it for good. She wouldn’t be a good person, let alone a hero to anyone. She looks up at him through her lashes, wondering if he’s ever going to stop seeming like everything that she’s not. “Do you think…..can I ask you something kind of strange?”
"Oh, gosh,” he exhales, already imagining that he’ll be absolute rubbish at explaining literally anything it is that he does. Then his eyes flick over to hers and he smiles, realizing a moment too late that his reaction didn’t come across the right way. “No, yeah, th-that would be helpful! For both of us, like, I pretty much always work alone but maybe having to explain it all to someone else will help me think it through better, too.” If he manages not to trip too much over his words. Oliver often forgets which terms are actually just jargon. He laughs a little at that. “Peaceful? I guess the surroundings would be calming if we did it at my place.” Of course, Oliver finds his living space is be exceptionally peaceful, though it can get a little bit suffocating when his plants are feeling particularly needy. Which is ironic given...you know, how much oxygen they produce. “You don’t have to worry about that stuff with family,” he insists. And that’s coming from someone with Kaia for a sister. However, perhaps because of his own upbringing, Oliver knows that his sister would never judge him for something like that. “First of all...nobody’s as brave as they seem. Or you can’t be brave if you’re not scared to begin with. And I know Ezra would never judge you for asking for help. Besides, you never got to see him in his messy era,” he jokes, though there’s some truth to the fact that all of them arrive at Nemean Lion slightly clueless and in need of guidance. “Even though I don’t know a lot about what it’s like to have your powers, I think I have a decent grasp on controlling something that feels stronger than you are. Have you ever tried meditating?” Oliver assumes he knows the answer, but it’s only fair to make sure before he suggests it. People don’t usually preface their questions, he thinks it’s a bit funny, mostly endearing. “Sure, I love strange.”
August glanced around the training floor and tried not to look as overwhelmed as she felt. During orientation, Marina had been firm about all demigods reaching a basic level of combat proficiency regardless of their official track, and August knew she was nowhere near where she needed to be to protect herself or anyone else. Running and hiding isn’t going to cut it anymore, she thought grimly. Now, she just needed to figure out where to start …
For practical(ish) reasons, Lydia understood the reasoning behind strengthening her hand to hand skills. She fought well when it came to using her magic; Lydia knew how to focus on one form of magic at a time and bend its purposes as to not exhaust herself. Without her powers was another story, though, and it was better to be safe than sorry. Or worse, dead. So when she showed up to train without her sister or a friend to spar against, she immediately looked around for a willing partner. “Hey! August, right? We’re both doing Tech. I mean...I think!” She was certain but that seemed a little creepy given they didn’t know each other well. “Are you looking for someone to train with?”
Klaus makes a face at the healing bite mark on their forearm. A long night out resulted in mosquitos making the demigod their dinner. ❝ I’ve only really iced it. ❞ He admits. Most of pain had subsided away at this point, but the bump had only slowly dissolved in comparison. ❝ Isn’t there some sort of spell, or some shit, to get rid of it ? ❞
"That’s not a bad start,” she comments with an appreciative smile, because that’s more than most people do, and it’s what she would do if she discovered a mosquito bite on her own arm. “Perhaps there is. But I’m not a witch, I’m a doctor.” And she sure as hell didn’t bust her ass through med school just to cry on a mosquito bite! “Do you want me to make it better or no?”
“from a personal standpoint, obviously,” ariel says, tapping her stylus absentmindedly against the locked screen of her tablet, already itching for the distraction work offers again. “professionally, it makes sense because i’m sure she’s annoyed about it anyway.” she’d hoped to avoid tiktok as a content source as long as possible but she’d had to learn to embrace it. “unfortunately. but sponsored posts still pay well so… it is what it is.” ariel attempts a look of scorn but it fails, too amused at the thought of shiloh not wanting to be around her to ever actually take offense. “and to think you’re my first choice to spend time with.”
"i don’t think about those things the way you do,” he says with a frown, because he’s never going to be much help when it comes to work advice. shiloh doesn’t think much about social media in general, but he certainly has no idea how to build or maintain a personal brand. “don’t people hate those?” personally, he has no feeling either way. anyone with a big enough following is always selling something, even if it’s just themselves. anyone with a brain knows that when following in the first place. he scoffs. “that’s not true.” in this case, he’s not being self-deprecating, he’s self-aware. shiloh isn’t really a fun time.
“you think i’d just let some ghosts bully me? all they do is cry way too much. it’s tryin’ to get them to stop that’s exhausting.” rory frowns, incredibly unimpressed. no one’s got a solid sense of self-preservation these days. “lettin’ people talk when they’re already runnin’ their mouths is how you end up a doormat. you know to defend yourself, don’t you?” he meets her smile with a grimace. there’s just no way that’s the answer. “ugh, no. what’s there to smile about? they’re dead.”
“i don’t think any ghosts are bullying you!” she argues, because crying at someone is not a form of bullying. and most ghosts are...just minding their business. yes, some are kind of rude, but prim doesn’t exactly blame them. prim would probably be a bit peeved if she was dead, though she’d take solace in the fact that she could still talk to her brother. “rory,” she whines, which is not a great start. “i’m training in the hero track, if you’ll remember! i can totally defend myself.” her hands ball into fists, as if this means she’s always ready to protect herself. “yeah, but you’re not. so that’s something to smile about right there!”
“Well, you can just pretend I’m not there. I’m very good at being quiet.” Because for the most part she rarely speaks to anyone as it is. A couple of her siblings and Oliver are the exception. Some people believe it’s because she thinks she’s somehow above them but really it’s because she’s a nervous wreck most of that time and that tends to project aggression rather than shyness. Nevertheless, she wouldn’t want to make him uncomfortable in his own space, not on purpose. “I wouldn’t want to impose on your coding and then have you help me study.” Despite herself, Eloise is hoping he’ll object to her rejecting his help. Partially because she could use the tutoring and the other reason, well, she won’t allow herself to think about that. She listens intently to his story, there’s nothing in it that she finds embarrassing, it’s most endearing and very Oliver in a way. “Your power protects you or at the very least makes you feel protected. It’s nice.” That’s something she would like to be able to do. Eloise doesn’t hate her power nor does she ever wish that it wasn’t hers to carry but she wishes it wasn’t something that people immediately feared or that was incredibly difficult to control. Particularly with the temper that she tended to carry, there was always a subtle fear that she’d end up hurting someone instead. How could she be helpful if she found it so hard to figure out what she was doing? “Yeah, you’re right.” She says the words passively as if it embarrasses her to direct them towards anyone out loud. “I should focus more on practicing.”
“I don’t think I’d be very good at that,” he admits. “I’d feel bad ignoring you.” Oliver is the kind of person who can work on separate tasks in the same room as someone else in companionable silence, but this would be him doing a task and Eloise watching him do said task...he’d feel obligated to entertain her, because as much as he loves it, coding is not entertaining. “You’re not having me do anything if I volunteer, Eloise.” Sometimes, Oliver misses having assignments, though he’s smart enough not to admit it because he assumes Eloise will not feel the same way once the homework starts rolling it. “It’s nice caring about plants and knowing they care about you too -- I mean, it’s not exactly the same for them, their thoughts are a lot simpler than ours. Makes them pretty good listeners, though.” Oliver is lucky enough to have people who will let him vent or complain or anything else, but plants are the least judgmental, they really don’t care about human concerns. As long as they’re watered and given properly trimmings and exposure to sunlight, they won’t complain. “Have you ever asked your siblings for help? I bet they’ve got some neat tips.” The classes at NL do a lot, but there’s nothing like talking to someone with the same powers.
Kane thought that he’d meet the beginnings of rainfall when his vision adjusts, but there’s mostly clear skies sprawling behind Regan’s head. His sister looks unimpressed, nothing to be alarmed about. Kane lets his head connect with the floor again. “Weirdo’s worse than dude,” he points out to be annoying. “Ssh, you hear that?” Kane pauses, relishing in the silence. “That’s the sound of me going back to sleep.”
“But it’s more accurate,” she defends. Although Regan’s best friend may be a boy, she’s never been one of those girls who says she’s really just one of the guys (cringe). “Next time someone wakes you up, they might not be as loving about it. I mean, right now, there’s only one dick drawn on your face.” She is lying, of course.
“how serendipitous,” marisa smiled warmly at the other girl, pleased to have the help. she seemed bright enough, eager to help, at least, so marisa almost didn’t feel guilty about getting lost for the fifth time that day. “of sorts, i guess — i’m training in the medical field and helpin’ miss marina with the recent problems.” her smile turned more serene, fully nonplussed by the discomfort she expected was felt by some of the people on campus. “have you ever met an anthro?”
“yeah, my m--mhm, yes, it is!” she says brightly, deciding not to mention that she sort of has to live in moon. although she considers her mother to be entirely absent in her life thus far, she’d hate to get on her bad side by choosing to live in the sun building! “oh! that’s great because, well, i work in the infirmary. i’m talia, by the way, it’s nice to meet you.” the way she talks about her, marina almost sounds like a personal friend, whereas talia essentially sees her as another godlike figure. “a...er, no. not that i know of.”
“For now, you’re Oliver who can talk to plants, so I’ll count my blessings,” he chuckles. “Of course not!” Peter contests back easily. “I would reassess my work schedule, learn all about the proper maintenance of the various species in this apartment, and probably invest in some automatic watering cans,” he explains, already mapping out the itemized spreadsheet he would make in his head. “The more important thing is that I would really prefer nothing actually happen to you, Ollie.” He glances back over at his friend, assessing his facial hair and whether or not it makes him any more fatherly. “I think it’s the reproducing part. We’re too young, aren’t we?” Peter asks, though he already feels a million years old. “Too much going on, I mean.”
“Until I free a genie and wish for even more powers -- or at least to have different powers for a week.” Oliver would never give up the powers he already has, but a little test drive of magic sounds pretty cool. “All right...” He says skeptically, not quite believing his roommate. “I guess if I meet an untimely demise, maybe my plants won’t have to suffer.” In all seriousness, the fate of his plants is a real concern in regards to passing away. “Of course, I would also prefer that, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. And that means having an emergency plant wellness contingency guide.” Which he does have, instead of an actual will, because it’s entirely too gruesome to make one at this age even though sudden death is a real possibility as a demigod. “...somehow that’s more offensive. You act like it’s hard.” Which, for some people, certainly there’s a lot of effort and precautions taken to remedy infertility, but Oliver can only assume (and hope) he’s not one of those people. “My life is pretty boring, Peter, I think I could handle throwing a kid into the mix.”
[ TZUYU (CHOU TZU-YU), SHE/HER, CIS WOMAN ] — [ SU-WEI “LYDIA” SHI ] is a child of [ CIRCE ] with the power of [ MYSTIOKINESIS ] . they were born in [ 1999 ] and have been in nemean lion since [ 2016 ] . with the change, they [ ARE TRAINING IN ] the [ TECHNOLOGY ] role which makes sense since they’re usually [ TAKING THINGS APART & GETTING LOST IN WIKI RABBIT HOLES ] . if you’d like to meet them try the [ SUN ] building .
BASICS
hometown: redmond, washington
eye color: brown
hair color: black
height: 5′8
sexuality: bisexual
birthday: july 1, 1999 ( cancer )
BIO
lydia’s father was born and raised in hualien city, taiwan, and he always thought he would raise his family there, too. he was a certified genius, but he was humble about it, partially because he came from such a humble background. his family wasn’t poor, but it felt like they always just had enough to make it by. although the idea of traveling and seeing the world sounded like a nice idea to keung, he thought it would remain nothing more than a dream.
and he was...happy with that, actually. or if not happy, then satisfied. he loved his hometown, and his family, and he liked the idea of a life staying exactly where he was. but thanks to his entrance exam results, he had his pick of which school he wanted to go to, so he went to national chiao tung university, a school where the majority of his peers would be studying the same thing as him -- engineering.
keung had always loved computers, even when his family didn’t own one at home of their own. as a child, he had always wanted to learn everything about how they worked and how to make them better, if that was even possible. this passion carried him through college and he applied to work in the states, assuming it was a longshot.
much to his surprise, keung was offered a job as a software engineer at microsoft, and though he was never as confident in his abilities as he should have been, he knew he had to take the job.
it was in seattle where keung met circe. he had never been very successful with women. they liked him, or so he was told, but that was just the problem. he needed to be told that people were interested, otherwise he’d never notice. it was partly a lack of self-confidence and partly the fact that keung was always so inside his head. his brain didn’t have a snooze button, so on and on it whirred, even when he was doing seemingly mindless activities.
circe, of course, was different. she spoke her mind, no matter how strange her thoughts may have sounded. he was astonished by how little she knew about technology and took on what he believed to be something of a teacher role when it came to setting up her various devices and showing her how to use them.
little did he know, circe had no use for these things. they were all just a ploy to get closer to him. because he’d become her own personal geek squad, he found himself spending a lot of time at her home, sharing dinners and endless conversations with her. when she asked him to stay the night, he planned on saying no but heard himself agree instead. it was strange, because it wasn’t that he didn’t want to, he just wasn’t the type to let himself get close to someone like her, who was so above him in nearly every respect. keung blamed it on the wine; when he kissed her first, when he pulled her closer with his hands on her hips, especially when he guided her towards her bedroom, all of it could be attributed to his low tolerance levels. even if he didn’t feel drunk.
(classic circe, she do be spiking everything with potions HOWEVER it was just a truth potion like he had to <3 be true to his heart <3 not something sketchy!!!)
this continued for a while, because it turned out he had completely fallen for the goddess, but everything changed when she announced her pregnancy and soon enough su-wei was born. and hey isn’t this post supposed to be about her i’m so sorry
after that...circe disappeared. she told keung the truth of who she was, why she couldn’t stay, how she had already stayed much longer than intended because of her fondness for him. suddenly he was raising a child on his own in a country that was still largely unfamiliar to him, much earlier in life than he ever could have imagined.
thankfully, seattle has a pretty big taiwanese population so he found a support system through fellow immigrants and those raised by them, and they helped him navigate through both living in america and raising a daughter.
lydia, as she went on to be called, completely adored her father. he never raised his voice but his quiet disappointment was enough to make her regret any and every mistake she ever made. she wanted to do well in school to make him proud. overall, she tried to be the perfect daughter to make up for the fact that it was just the two of them. with a dad like him, she didn’t need a mother.
but when she inevitably found out who her mother was, her tune changed a bit. she was immediately obsessed with the idea of her mother being someone so cool and the fact that she herself could do magic thanks to her. lydia didn’t use it for anything that fun at first, mostly just for dumb things, to prove to herself that this was really real and she had powers.
growing up with just her father, she spent a lot of her childhood in and around his office, as well as being babysat by his co-workers or having playdates with their kids. her love for technology was, then, inevitable. it was in her blood, and thanks to her surroundings, it had seeped into her skin, too. but lydia’s interest in technology was different from her father’s. she didn’t necessarily want to improve upon what already existed, she wanted to invent and create things that nobody had ever imagined before.
unfortunately, just like her father, she had difficulty fully believing in herself. she’d get so invested in projects and then completely fall apart when they failed. keung would tell her it was all part of the process, the failing was especially important, but it was hard for her to accept. she also had something of a fear of rejection. people generally seemed to like her, but she was so afraid of losing their affections that it was hard for her to put herself out there. she found herself falling into friend groups, dating people just because they expressed interest, becoming somewhat of a voyeur of her own life.
although her father was highly intelligent, he was also protective, and not much for self-defense. he could pass on his coding skills and inquisitive mind, but he couldn’t help his daughter when monsters came hunting her down. for that reason, he sent her south to nemean lion and trusted that they would keep his lydia safe, as well as teach her all the things that he couldn’t.
RANDOM FACTS
god why is this so long let’s kind of treat this section as a TL;DR for lydia’s personality! lydia is all of the following things: headstrong in her beliefs, self-conscious in her self worth and own talents, hesitant to voice her feelings, especially when they’re unpopular, and always doing her best despite all the doubts in her head. but once she’s alone or with someone she trusts, she’s much more honest and unfiltered, super duper vocal about her thoughts and self-righteous about doing what’s right and defending those she loves. it’s much easier for her to stand up for others than it is for her to defend herself
she always wants to help others, to reach out when they’re clearly struggling or having a tough time, but it can be very hard for her to put herself out there unless she’s extremely close to the other person...which is in itself difficult, because she’s not good at opening up. the words don’t always come out right, sometimes it feels like they never do, and she hates the fact that her mistakes can ruin things that she cares about
lydia wears glasses, she has a bunch of different frames, not really because she’s super into fashion and coordinating her accessories, but because she is extremely indecisive and easily swayed by sales and ads! BUT ANYWAY, she mostly wears them around her apartment, during morning classes when she struggles to spend to much time getting ready, and whenever she loses her contacts or can’t be bothered which is lowkey often. thankfully she has 2974784 pairs of glasses so it’s impossible to lose all of them!
she’s super curious about, like, everything, and asks questions because she wants answers! she hates wondering about something and just not knowing...u kno??
i’m not positive that any of this makes sense but in my head she makes sense!
also she has a slight dairy intolerance and a shellfish allergy rip
OH ALSO VERY IMPORTANT, SHE HAS A DOG, HER NAME IS MACARON AND SHE’S A BLACK AND WHITE KELPIE/COLLIE MIX AND SHE’S VERY NICE AND FRIENDLY AND SHE LOOKS LIKE THIS THANK YOU ♡
POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS
for some reason i do have a very specific connection idea and it is THIS: someone she started dating very shortly after coming to nl. they both would have been teens, so it wasn’t very serious, either at the time or in retrospect. this person would have been her first real boyfriend (she was identifying as straight at the time....mb this person is the reason she doesn’t anymore idk AJSKHD). but her feelings towards him are complex! like she doesn’t hate him...but it’s awkward? because the relationship felt so Real and Important at the time and love yous were exchanged sort of quickly and then suddenly it was over...he ended it, and they’re friendly now, but she sort of resents him but NOT bc she won’t let herself and mostly she’s like why did i date the first person who was nice to me screams
i think it’d be cute if she had a roomie who is either a fellow techy and they can nerd out together and have coding marathons n stuff or mb like a medical student who makes sure her water bottle is always full and she goes to sleep before 4am and all that! keep my girl alive ty
she’s been at nl for a while now, so some og homies? good pals, people who know her well even though she has some walls up, they just cared enough to knock them down and now they’re super close!
a mentor ofc who’s down for her endless questions and 3am text messages
“Oh, she comes with a name already,” Cece laughs, glancing back at the plant and noting that the name did kind of fit. “Ramona who?” she asks, letting the words trail behind her as she’s already picturing the way she was probably going to get a lecture for not catching this pop culture reference. “Right, right, right, I always forget over-watering is a thing,” she muses, trying to commit it memory as she opens the fridge to scan her inventory. Nothing too exciting, but maybe Oliver would be into the tea she’d made just this week. “Sadly, the only house-warming gifts my friends bring me are cute plants, no cool mini-fridges,” Cece teases, grabbing the pitcher and a couple glasses. “Are you at all a milk tea person?”
“You can rename her if you want,” he offers, his tone implying that he would be mildly offended. “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World? First a graphic novel series, then a movie featuring scene stealing performances from Captain Marvel and Roman Roy? It sounds like we need to have a movie night.” Sadly nobody escapes knowing Oliver without being forced to watch Scott Pilgrim and actually same for me. “Plants can drown just like humans,” he says a little too seriously. “Have you seen the round ones that look like cute little bears? I could get you one of those.” It’s an easy offer to make when he knows she’ll refuse the gift, not that he wouldn’t get her one. “I’ve only had the kind that comes in a bottle. But yeah!”
“isn’t putting stuff on it to heal it your job, ma’am?” whines nate, trying to sound polite despite his words. “no, i haven’t. i don’t want to make it worse. that’s why i came to a medical professional.” he’d gotten a wound on his arm, nothing too bad but definitely an eyesore, in his opinion.
“yes, but once you wait this long, the healing part hurts. it would be less painful if you took preventative measures yourself.” fangsu doesn’t rejoice in seeing her patients in pain, even if she enjoys making them feel better. “well...thank you for coming in. maybe you could come by sooner next time.” she gets the feeling that trying to teach him injury aftercare for himself might be a losing battle. “hold still, i almost forgot.” fangsu promptly holds up a thermometer to his forehead, then reads the results. “you don’t have a fever, so it is probably only a cosmetic issue for now. we can put some ointment on it.”
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