The Sun Will Rise [Luke<3]

[Thalia Grace]

YOU ARE BROKEN AND CALLOW CAUTIOUS AND SAFE YOU ARE BOUNDLESS IN BEAUTY WITH
FRIGHT IN YOUR FACE WHEN YOU'RE GONE WILL THEY LOVE YOU

It was in silence that Thalia went to the Big House the next day. The day after ... the day after yesterday. That was a sufficient enough explanation, in her mind. She hadn't slept a wink that night. It hadn't been a thought in her mind. She hadn't done anything, really. She'd sit on her bed, in the Zeus cabin, kind of glad that for once, for once, she was totally alone. The statue that sat in the cabin, the cold, empty cabin, had felt it was glaring daggers at her. She wondered what Zeus thought of her at the moment. She wondered what her father would do if he actually paid attention to her, and had seen what had happened in the Big House. But he didn't care. She was a demigod. She wasn't important. Not in the grand scheme of things. Yes, she was probably the child of the Great Prophecy, but nothing could go forward with Luke in the gods' clutches. The demigods' clutches, really. The gods had barely batted an eyelid. They thought that Kronos would get someone else. Thalia thought that was stupid. She'd never say that, though. She wouldn't say anything. She wouldn't say anything. She wasn't removed from the situation. That wasn't it. She just ... didn't know anymore. Not right now. Maybe never. Who was really certain right now? She couldn't name one person. Not Chiron. Not the person she thought would be. The one person that should have been.

She didn't know what to do with him, really. He got to walk around the grounds, not train - no weapons, he wasn't allowed weapons - and really, she knew that was the one thing that might have helped him. She knew that he needed a release of tension - surely being locked in that little room all the time couldn't be even remotely pleasant - but she couldn't do anything. She didn't have the authority. Another little demigod pawn in the immortal lives of the gods, right? Wasn't that what they all were. So she lead the way, to Fireworks Beach. All of the stares that he got, they couldn't be good. All of the murmurs, she knew how all of that was. She knew how it was to be marked with a certain look. Maybe it wasn't as severe as what he was feeling, but it was a start. It was disconcerting, it was affecting in a way that she couldn't explain. She didn't care about what people thought about her, neither did he, but it did something to a person.

The sand was burnt, here. She focused on that. She had barely looked at Luke, not even able to focus on him because really, if she did, she didn't know what she'd do. It was a crappy day to be on shift, and if she didn't have her pride, she would've asked Clarisse to switch with her. But it was fine. She'd deal. It was an hour, two hours at most. She would be fine. She just needed not to say anything, focus on everything but yesterday, and she'd be fine. She pulled her coat closer together, her boots and jeans and long sleeved blue shirt not giving her enough warmth. Her hair was up in a messy bun, something she'd done with an elastic ten seconds before she'd laced up her boots and thrown on her coat and walked out of cabin one to the Big House. Her black scarf was thrown around her neck, not tied, and it really didn't serve the purpose it was made for. Then again, she didn't really mind the cold. Maybe the cold was better than being warm. When it was cold, there was just a need to stay warm, not a need to speak. And since they were near water, it was even colder. She hadn't thought about that. She hadn't thought about this idea, really. Burnt sand. Focus, Thalia told herself. Anything. The color of the sky. Burnt sand. What the fireworks looked this summer. Just ... focus.

TAGGED ?! luke! <3
WORD COUNT ?! seven oh six
MUSE ?! i don't even know anymore. lmfao
NOTES ?! she doesn't think things through. i don't think she knows how to. they're both incapable. youknowyouplaythukewhen ...
CREDITS ?! thanks to COTI - TASTIC ?! of caution two point oh for the graphics. thanks to the hush sound for the lyrics, with their song that's okay.

[Luke Castellan]

IT'S FUNNY
I THOUGHT IF YOU COULD HEAR ME
I COULD HANG ON SOMEHOW
SILLY ME
@} - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Luke actually got a decent amount of sleep for the better part of this morning. Rather, he had forced himself to go to sleep. For the longest time – he lost track of the time, so he's unsure how long exactly – after Thalia fled his room, he simply sat there staring at the spot where she had stood. It was almost like she was still there, like a figment of his mind was making his eyes believe he could still see her. Next thing he knew, the sun was rising, and instead of spending the next few hours sitting on his bed and destroying himself, he'd let someone else do it for him. Luke had told his guards that the mornings would be when he slept, so they shouldn't bother bringing him out for breakfast. Though instead of just staring at the walls, he made sure he fell asleep that morning. Lately he had been avoiding sleep because that's how Kronos got through to him, but after what Luke had done to Thalia... It was sort of a self punishment. As he had fell asleep, he knew what was waiting for him; the anger, right along with the words that would just cut into him, much like Luke's had to Thalia.

When he woke up only a couple hours later, he felt like his stomach was about to completely rebel from his body. Thankfully nothing surfaced, but if Luke had actually eaten in the past twenty four hours it would probably be on the floor right now. The conversation – the extremely one-sided one – was floating around in his head. Kronos had done exactly what Luke had hoped; torn him apart. The Titan Lord started off by saying that Luke didn't need the silly daughter of Zeus, he didn't need anyone but the titan. Luke hardly got a word in as Kronos kept on screaming in his brain, now switching to threatening the boy. He was told that if he didn't find a way out within a week, the titan would start sending his creatures to attack the camp. That is, if Luke followed through with his second part of the plan; to weaken the barrier again. Then before he knew it, she was walking into his room, and wordlessly ushering him out. Luke was going to make some sort of comment about how she actually showed up, instead of taking the day off – because he wouldn't have blamed her. Then again this was Thalia, she dealt with everything she was given. So she stuck with her guarding duty, she just kept silent the whole time.

As he followed her, he kept his gaze on anything that wasn't her. Which got surprisingly easy once they started to pass other campers. Every time he heard a quiet snicker, or a hushed comment, his eyes would flick over to find the source. If looks could kill, Luke would be on a spree at this point. He already was in his head; mentally taking out his anger violently on anyone that said anything in a quiet tone. Normally he just simply put up with it, because a part of him knew he could take just about anyone here. Today was different though, it felt like he was being mocked. Clearly the talk he and Kronos had was already planting seeds of doubt in his mind. He needed it, though; it was nothing less than what he deserved. Luke only started to pay attention to Thalia one more just in time to not walk right into her. She had brought him to Fireworks Beach, which was a lot less populated than the area of camp they had walked through. By that, he meant not at all; they were the only ones there. When a few minutes passed with still no word, he huffed. “So this is where you try to kill me, right?” A simple question, completely in a joking way. Though it came out a bit stiffer than he had meant, it was supposed to lighten the mood. They both knew that it wouldn't be them that fought it out. Maybe this just wasn't the time for his lame attempts at humor.

The Tag: Thalia <3~
Th Count: Seven-one-zero, 710
The Notes: I don't even know with these two anymore.

[Thalia Grace]

YOU ARE BROKEN AND CALLOW CAUTIOUS AND SAFE YOU ARE BOUNDLESS IN BEAUTY WITH
FRIGHT IN YOUR FACE WHEN YOU'RE GONE WILL THEY LOVE YOU

Thalia hadn't eaten that morning. Her stomach had churned at the thought of food. She didn't think she could hold anything down. Plus, the thought of being surrounded by so many people in the Dining Pavilion didn't sound like any fun. They would all stare at the three tables that had less than anyone, the three tables with the children of the Big Three. And now with Luke in camp, people stared even more over, wondering what the most powerful demigods in camp thought about it. Thalia didn't reveal a single thing. She kept her head down, her lips tightly shut, and that was it. She'd close to punching quite a few people in the face because of the very same reason - they thought they knew her, they thought they knew her problems, they thought they knew him, they thought they knew his problems - when really, they were ignorant to everything and everyone around them but the people in their immediate circles; and for some demigods, that wasn't saying much. It was with this thought in mind, mixed with her lack of tolerance, plus her inability to hold food down, that she hadn't eaten this morning. She wondered if Luke had. She wondered if, maybe, he hadn't been able to stomach anything, either.

She had been sure that Luke wouldn't want to go with her. Or maybe he would, just to show that he wasn't bothered. But he was acting bothered - she saw, out of the corner of her eye. Then again, with the whispers and looks he got, she'd be looking bothered if she were him. She got them too, just not in the same way, and not as hostile. Pitying, at times. Jealous, at others. People wanted to be the hero, here. Demigods wanted glory, they wanted to be the ones to win the war, to play the heroes. Was it so bad that she didn't? She was weak to power, yes. But not glory. She was a daughter of Zeus - she already had glory. She already had attention. Being a war hero didn't appeal to her, not in the way that it did for the other demigods. Luke's offer ... Luke's offer had appealed to her. She had wanted to change things, to make the world better, to have all that power at her fingertips. But as soon as the idea had felt golden, it had cracked and she had felt soashamed at the fact that she had even considered something so crazy, something so stupid.

When he spoke, her neck snapped toward him, and her eyes found his. She snorted, not being able to help herself. She knew he was trying to be funny, but he'd never had the ability. He was amusing, but that was when he wasn't trying. When he did? He was the most ridiculous person on the planet. "My spear hasn't tasted blood in a while. But I wouldn't kill you here. The sand's already burnt, why paint it red, too? What did the sand ever do?" What did I ever do to deserve that? Yeah, I pushed you, but that ... her thoughts turned in another direction, nothing spoken out loud, but the last question had carried a serious weight, even though she'd tried to make it lighter, and play on his words. She wasn't up to it, not with what happened yesterday. She wouldn't back down from taking on guard duty, that was true. It was a responsibility. Thalia did what she needed to do, end of story. But she couldn't act like nothing had happened. It was the same reason that she had been silent on the walk to Fireworks Beach, the same reason that she'd been unable to keep the conversation light. Maybe it was for the same reason that he'd been unable to keep the conversation light. The words had been meant as a joke - but the stiff tone that had accompanied them hadn't fit, had turned them into something else. Maybe she was over thinking, maybe she was under thinking, but she didn't want to know how he'd respond.

TAGGED ?! lukee <3
WORD COUNT ?! seven ten
MUSE ?! thalia is thalia. need i say more? xD
NOTES ?! seriously, what are they doing? i just can't with them anymore.
CREDITS ?! thanks to COTI - TASTIC ?! of caution two point oh for the graphics. thanks to the hush sound for the lyrics, with their song that's okay.