Fair Ground [Reyna<3]

[thalia grace]

Thalia hadn't seen Jason in two days. Two days that he'd used to get back and used to everything in Camp Jupiter, as well as get to see old friends. She understood completely - coming back "home" was always a weird experience, when you never really knew that you left[she'd been a tree, he'd had his memory stolen - really, the Grace family had everything going for them, everything bad that was]. However, when it came to the fact that one of the praetors, Reyna, seemed to be eyeing him - that was there Thalia needed to interject. However, she couldn't get a chance to talk to him. Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, loved her brother. She knew that - even if she didn't like it, and would never like it, how much the girl was alright in her mind - but then there was someone here, as well. Plus, she seemed interested in Percy at the time - according to Annabeth, who'd been observing the leadership in Camp Jupiter with a keen grey eye. Thalia, who was extremely over protective of Jason, just wished he'd stay single. She was a Hunter - she knew how it was to be without anyone to love in that way[at least, that was what she told herself] - and it wasn't really that bad. He could get used to it. He didn't need Piper, and he didn't need anyone but Piper. However, she doubted he'd actually listen to her advice, because really, he was sixteen and sixteen year old boys never listened to their older sisters.

New Rome wasn't exactly her favorite place to hang out - however, when she was already sore from training, and it was late in the day, she really didn't feel like doing anything else but wandering around, maybe getting a bite to eat, or something of the sort. She didn't feel like going back to the Argo II because she was sure that Annabeth would probably want to talk to her about Luke or Percy and really, there were moments when Thalia wanted to escape everything that weighed heavily on her mind, since she couldn't plough right through it. Maybe the daughter of Athena would even want to fill her in on something about how the Greeks and Romans were planning to go and get Nico, or how the camps were melding together - anything of the sort. Thalia liked to be updated on what was going on, since she was never directly involved. She was sure that, at some point, she'd get even more sick and tired of the way things were now, and then completely pull away from the situation or she'd end up forcing her way in and demanding to have a say. She was a daughter of Zeus - she needed to have a say, she needed to be a leader, and she needed to be the one in charge. However, with her brother in charge, it wasn't like they needed a Zeus child to be an advisor - they already had one, just a child of Jupiter, which was somehow better in the Romans' minds.

She knew someone in the Roman camp, bar Jason, that would be a good leader. She was sure that he could be one of the people up front - maybe if he had wanted to be. However, he was too busy hiding from the Greeks to actually pull anything of that nature. He'd always had good input, and she was sure that if the two of them were involved, plus Annabeth, there would be no going wrong for the Greeks. Them, plus the members of the seven from their end, and really they were all set. She bit down on her tongue as she walked through New Rome. The person that she was thinking of, she wouldn't think his name because then that would be all she'd be stuck on, was a Roman now. Not a Greek. She didn't know who she was kidding, thinking that he was actually loyal to the Greeks anymore. He ... didn't really have any loyalty, except for those close to him. She didn't think he had any grand alliance to any one side. He'd fight for those who were close to him, just as she fought for those she loved as well. Half and half, always. She shook her head, long hair swishing with the movement. The thoughts would slowly drive her insane if she let them - not that she had ever stood on stable ground.

Water wasn't something that she was comfortable around. Her being a daughter of Zeus, being around water wasn't exactly a safe thing to do - especially when she was, supposedly, one of Zeus' "favorites". After all, hadn't be come down to see her when he'd, supposedly, almost never done that with any of his children? She hadn't told Jason yet, she hadn't told Annabeth yet ... she hadn't told anyone yet. She didn't know what to make of it. Not only his visit, but also the quill he'd left her. She'd stared at it all night, looking at it and trying to figure out why he'd given it to her. Why would he just give her something to write with, out of the blue? Did it have some sort of significance to him? Some sort of meaning? It didn't make any sense to her. She'd told herself that, if she couldn't sleep tonight, she'd write with it. She'd try it out and see just what it was about. Annabeth had given her an empty notebook a long time ago that she'd held onto all this time, and she was sure that one page being written on with an odd pen wouldn't do any damage - at least, not any more damage than leaving it blank would. The Lake came into view, little children splashing in it, and she plopped herself down ungracefully next to it. Hands shoved into her leather jacket, despite the heat, and dark jeans acquiring grass stains, she looked into the water with a lack of something to do. Maybe having nothing to do was exactly what she needed. Maybe it would make all her thoughts go away somehow, fix everything.

[reyna drake]

people change and promises are broken ,
clouds can move and skies will be wide open

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he was back. he was back he was back he was back. the same words, the same sentence, had been running through her mind over and over and over until - well, it hadn't really stopped, and reyna had been the one to uncharacteristically give in to her own whimsy. she. gave. in. to whimsy. in truth, reyna wasn't really all that surprised. gods existed. her mother was the goddess of war. her sister was the queen of the amazons. she was a roman praetor. there were, after all, only so many surprises a girl can take without spontaneously exploding or something equally ludicrous. and reyna drake was not a girl who did ludicrous. most undignified, really. she didn't do undignified either. which was why she'd left her council - all romans, and doing a very roman round of arguing with octavian trying to get himself heard over the din and raise the conflict level yet higher - before she could do something exceedingly undignified like, say, start skipping around the room. that would stop the arguing, but she wasn't ready to go to such drastic measures yet. never mind the fact that they would probably lock her up in the infirmary - she'd been trying from the second she accepted praetorship to shut up the lot of them without resorting to violence, and she was damned if she was going to do it after trying for so long by making them think she'd completely lost it. though, admittedly, there was the slight possibility that she really had. lost it, that was. not that anyone could blame her for it. truly, anyone who'd taken part in a roman council at least once deserved to have the occasional moment of not being so damned sane. and she - she was the one who had to lead the councils, to make sure their discussions stayed on track.

an endeavor in which she was not assisted by octavian - but now, she had percy by her side. she kept glancing at him though, hearing the calm steel in her voice, and thinking about how he was not jason. percy jackson was a bit of an idiot a times, something nearing a genius at others, but he was calm and determined and good. he was a good person, underneath everything else, and what with all the politics always involved - reyna forgot what that was like. she forgot what a genuinely good person who only wanted what was best for everyone else was like, forgot the kind even existed. jason had been like that, but jason had left. except that now he was back. and reyna didn't know how she felt about it, only knew that the person sitting by her side, wearily trying to redirect the arguments every now and then, was not him. percy was a lot like jason, she kept noticing that more and more now that she actually allowed herself to think about it, was actually able to think about it without tears filling her eyes and clenching her hands into fists, but he wasn't jason. he wasn't, no matter what she had secretly hoped when she first met him. she didn't need to hope anymore, one would suppose, because she had the real jason back. except he wasn't he, not really. or he was, because it would be wrong to strip him of his name just because he changed, but he wasn't the jason she had once known. which he probably couldn't care less about - but she did. she had smiled at him when he first arrived, a shaky little stretch of her lips to hide the way she was breaking inside.

not breaking, maybe, because that was perhaps a little over-dramatic. but she was definitely shaken, and when his eyes met hers - then she felt like breaking, because he was jason and he was back. and he had left her. something close to pity had flashed in his eyes, because he knew her better than anyone else, knew that she had issues, for lack of a better word. and that had hurt more than anything else, because he also knew that she was trying so hard to be good and strong and perfect, the ideal leader in times of strife, which had been so much harder when he had left to party it up with the greeks. he knew she was trying, he had to, and he had to have known that pity was the last thing she needed. and so she had averted her gaze - not so that she was avoiding his, which was cowardly, but so she could take everyone else in. or she she told herself - and straightened her spine, addressing the newcomers with all the authority of a true roman praetor. "welcome to camp jupiter," she had declared, the steel in her voice letting all and asunder know that the welcome was not without boundaries, without rules. percy was greeting his fellow greeks, and she saw out of the corner of her eye jason slipping past to be rushed by the romans, and she stood alone in the center, trying her best to stand straight and look in-command. she saw octavian smirking at her, not that she needed the hint. she saw the centurions try to restore order, and wished them luck. after taking a deep, tightly controlled breath, she barked out orders and had left the scene.


it was lovely, that. she might just make a habit of it, as a matter of fact. she had closed the senate meeting with full rites, but the lot of them had decided to stay and continue arguing and, well, that was alright with her. she didn't mind in the least bit, so long as they didn't mind her allowing herself some fresh air. they hadn't even seemed to notice - not that anyone would have dared to block her path if they did, flanked as she was by aurum and argentum. the three of them made a fine image, no doubt, with her purple toga billowing slightly in the gentle breeze as they made their way down to the lake. she was so focused on her thoughts, so focused on not skipping down the path because, of course, she was thinking of jason and he did that to her, made her want to move. she controlled the urge, however, and in retaliation it - the urge, that was - made her walk into someone, simultaneously kicking said person in the back and slipping on the slippery grass-sand lake-side combination till she herself was somehow landed on her rump, looking decidedly undignified. both dogs were growling at that, low and dangerous, though she wondered if that was the way they laughed. considering the other person's luck so far - oh, the indignity of being stumbled over when one wished for a little privacy - she rather doubted it, and barked a quick command to them in latin. pale skin slightly flushed, she brushed a strand of dark hair from her face, adjusting herself so she was in a kneeling position, on hand on the other person's shoulder, whose back was still to her. "my apologies," she said, and even though the mortification was burning at her her voice was still cool, still controlled, for which she rather prided herself.

TAGGED ! [/color]the amazing thals grace.
NOTES ! i missed youuu :3 lets get the awesome on the road xD sorry for the ramble-y, though
WORDS ! 1235
CREDIT ! MEELA![/url] on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]