the turbulence is beautiful}{leo

[reyna drake]

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

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dinner had been over about two hours ago and the rule was that if you go late, you go hungry - but exceptions were made for the praetors, one of which she was. reyna settled into the comfortable couch at the high table with the smallest of smug smiles on her face - a half-smirk really, nothing that would scream for attention, declaring her to be the biggest bad-ass rebel at camp jupiter - thinking that it wasn't all that bad to be her, some times. she had a peanut butter-colored pegasus named scipio, who she pretended not to notice was nicknamed skippy; she was the proud owner of two of the most loyal dogs in existence, respectively named aurum and argentum for obvious reasons; heavens above, she was praetor of camp jupiter, and the gods would stand as witness that she would be - had been - miserable in any other position. she'd been a grunt before, a nobody, and she would be the first to admit that she hated the feeling. she hated that she knew there was a better way to do something but was unable to do it, and had to follow orders instead. she hated that there was wrong being done and she could do nothing to fix it, because she didn't have the authority. she was born a leader, brought up to play the role, and why some would snort and say that such lust for power was just typical of a roman - she, reyna selene drake, knew differently. and that was what mattered, wasn't it? she knew what she was - stubborn, lonely, but determined to do what was right as she deemed it to be. she wanted what was best for everyone, wanted to make everything right - and if she was perceived by some as a stuck-up snob while she was at it, she cared little.

not when everyone was happy. not when everyone was alive, and healthy. she would gladly make the sacrifice - but why, then, did she look around the empty hall and feel empty herself? the private meeting she just had with percy, jason - current and ex-praetor to camp jupiter - annabeth - the representative from camp half-blood - and thalia - the lieutenant of lady artemis's hunters - had just wrapped up; it was a matter of no importance really, just a status report, everyone sounding in to make sure nothing had gone disastrously wrong since the last time they had convened but a week ago. reyna had spent the bulk of it idly playing with her dagger, which was uncharacteristic of her, chin propped on one hand , dagger in the other, and eyes on the table as she listened to what the others had to say. it felt like the others had ganged up on her; jason and percy and annabeth and thalia were all friends, and she felt small. they were all obviously leaders in their own right, positions or no, and were comfortable in their own skins. though reyna usually made a point to dominate, for lack of a better word, and head any such discussion, she spent that particular evening merely letting their voices wash over her, paying, though she wouldn't admit it, little to no attention to the words themselves. and after percy, thalia an annabeth had left - annabeth had invited them all to dine at the ship, knowing camp jupiter's meal hour was past, and the others had accepted casually while reyn lifted her head only to smile briefly and say no, pretending not to notice that it was the first word she had uttered in what had to be close to an hour.

she and jason were left alone in their headquarters - what used to be their headquarters, but was no longer - and she could bearly stand the suspense, though she pretended not to be aware of it, of him. "not hungry?" was all he asked, after a few moments of silence, and she could tell from the way he said it that he had meant to ask an entirely different question. they both knew she had the appetite of a bear, though it never did anything to her size - too short, too small, closer to a dancer than a fighter - any good. maybe she had wanted to point that out, maybe she had wanted to ask him something entirely different herself, but instead she shook her head no. it was weird - strange, stupid, crazy, outrageous - but she hadn't spoken a single word to him since he returned to camp jupiter. maybe if she didn't, she wouldn't start crying. maybe if she didn't, she wouldn't sprout insane accusation about how he left her. maybe if she didn't, they could pretend it never happened. reyna did a lot of pretending - pretending she didn't was just one of her pretensions. but jason had left, and she was alone, and after trying with minimal success to read some of the missives she had received from camp jupiter alumni out there in the big, big world, either reporting in or asking for back-up or simply asking 'what's up?", she had decided she was hungry after all. ravenous, in fact. so there she was, in the camp mess hall - not for a second did she reconsider annabeth's offer, of being the unwanted little sibling wanting in on their grown-up fun - with a steaming plate of pasta and a glass of juice. alone. ah. at least it wasn't anything she was unfamiliar with, and at least she was alone rather than surrounded by fake hanger-ons. but still, the quirk on her lips was more frown than smile as she picked up her fork and digged in.

TAGGED ! [/color]leo valdez!
NOTES ! lets get this party started xD
WORDS ! 964
CREDIT ! MEELA![/url] on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]

[leo valdez]

Leo was rather bored ever since the Argo II had arrived at Camp Jupiter. Sure, people had praised him for creating the Argo II. But that had only been for a few hours. Then everybody went off to their training, or chatting with members of the other camp. Jason, Thalia and Annabeth met with the co-praetors of Camp Jupiter, Percy Jackson and Reyna Drake for some type of meeting. Leo wasn’t really that important, so he was left behind with Piper. The two of them had a good time together, and with Jason busy, they explored Camp Jupiter themselves. Leo’s favorite part was not the fact that there were plenty of beautiful women in Camp Jupiter. None of them came close to Thalia’s beauty, except for maybe that girl praetor, Reyna. But Reyna was no Thalia. If Leo were to be honest, his favorite part was that city, New Rome. The idea that demigods could live there without fear, go to college, even have families, put a smile in Leo’s face. Piper had liked it too. But that was probably because she was imagining a life she could have with Jason. Leo snorted. But he couldn’t blame her. He had imagined the very same thing, but with Thalia.

After a while, Leo and Piper had gone back to the Argo II. Jason had still been in his meeting, so Leo and Piper went their separate ways. Piper had gone back to the Girls Bunks, while Leo went to the Boys Bunks. Leo had opened his spiral red notebook and wrote a letter to his mom about Camp Jupiter, about how interesting it was, and the ways in which it was different from Camp Half-Blood. It was a long letter, taking up two papers, front and back, but the Letters were usually that long anyway, so it wasn’t that unusual. Feeling satisfied with the letter, Leo took a small nap for fifteen minutes. It was unusually nice in the fact that he had no dreams at all, which was rare. After some hesitation, Leo opened the red spiral notebook and began to write yet another letter. It was a letter that was due a long time ago. It was the apology letter. Leo hadn’t had the courage to write it until now. Leo looked a little bit at the other letters before he went to a fresh piece of paper. He would be so embarrassed if someone read the letters. They were so private and personal for Leo, they held inside the true him. Not funny, bad jokes, annoying Leo. The nearly broken, serious, lonely Leo. Once he got to a fresh piece of paper, he began to write.

Dear Mom,
I should have written this a long time ago. I didn’t really have the courage to until now. But… I’m sorry. For your death. It was all my fault. This evil scumbag of a woman, Medea, saw something I would do in the future. I have absolutely no idea what it is. But Medea saw, and she warned Gaea. Then Gaea came after me, and you. I was only eight. You were about to patent this new drill design. If you managed to patent it, we’d be rich. We’d be happy. Well, I take that back. We were already happy together, we always were. But you’d finally get a break. I’m so sorry Gaea had to go for us then. But when Gaea arrived, what was I supposed to do? You were locked in the machine shop, and it looked like Gaea was going to float inside and kill you! I couldn’t bare that. So I used my stupid fire powers, even though you told me to not use them until I met Hephaestus. I’m so, so sorry Mom. I-I-I never expected you to die! Just before you’re big break. I’m so sorry.

I hope you can forgive me, if I ever see you again. I hope I will. Not because I’ll die. But… Medea was brought back from the dead. So was King Midas and his son Lityerses or whatever his terrible name was. I hope that… I dunno, I could bring you back. So we could be happy together. You could patent your drill design. You could be rich, and finally get a break. I’d visit you as much as I could. It sounds ridiculous… but I can’t help it. They say I’m lucky, that people are envious of me. Leader of the Hephaestus Cabin, the first Fire User in centuries, funny, popular, One of the Seven. But I’d trade all to have you back from the dead. Or that we’d be just regular mortals, living together in Texas, working in a machine repair shop together. I’d trade it all, just for that. That’s how much I love you, how much I miss you. How much you mean to me. I’m so sorry you had to die. It’s all my fault. I hope you can forgive me.

Love you,
Leo

It was an unusually short letter, but Leo wasn’t sure what else to write. He wasn’t even sure if he could write. Tears were swarming in his eyes, blurring his vision. Leo put down his Number Two pencil, closed his notebook, and slipped it into his jacket pocket. After his quest, Aphrodite had returned Leo his army jacket, something that he appreciated. He loved his army jacket. It had so many pockets, and it just felt nice and comfy. Leaving the Argo II, Leo headed down to Camp Jupiter for dinner. He felt as if he was crossing into enemy territory by doing so, but he was one of the Seven, a cabin leader. Leo needed to set an example for his fellow campers, even if he didn’t like it. Walking slowly into the Mess Hall, Leo looked around for a place to sit. Because it was late, every table was empty except for one. There was one in the center with just the pretty girl praetor, Reyna. Leo frowned. Did that mean that the meeting was over? If it was, what happened to Jason and the others?

Leo pushed the thoughts out of his head, and walked over to Reyna’s table. He really didn't feel like sitting alone. Leo got some looks as he headed over to the center table. Taking a seat next to the praetor, Leo immediately found some spaghetti with tomato sauce and a glass of Diet Sprite in front of him. ”Umm, thanks?” Leo said out loud, wondering if there was an invisible force delivering the food. She had a frown on her face, which, when facing some delicious looking food, was not OK. ”Hi?” Leo asked, though his greeting sounded more of a question. ”I’m Leo Valdez. You’re Reyna, right? Is there anything I can do to make that frown turn upside down? I hate it when pretty girls are sad and lonely.”

[reyna drake]

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

[/size][/center][/color][/i]

any other girl in the middle of a mood as dark as hers would probably have stabbed her food and pushed it around her plate without actually ingesting any of the stuff - but not reyn. not that she would ever admit to seeing anything wrong with it - good mood or bad, a person needed to eat, right? you didn't stop breathing when you got upset - why was food supposed to be so much different? food was food, one of the essentials of living, and she'd been in enough quests to appreciate having it served fresh and piping hot, though she'd been forced to gulp it down in just about every other condition on more occasions than she cared to remember. sleeping on dirt she didn't mind, being chased across the country by something out for her blood was nothing more than she's used to - but quest food never failed to make her miserable, or at least super-grouchy. but still. such was the not-so glamorous life of a demigod, but if it did one thing right it was that it teaches a kid to count his blessings. being inches away from death every other day had this thing about putting everything you feel rotten about into perspective - had a fight with one of your siblings? hey, at least you know they're still alive. haven't heard from your dad since you were born? look, at least he didn't try kill you/turn you into a tree. put that way, her life seemed downright peachy compared to what some others had gone through - say, thalia grace, for instance. well, she was the only person to ever have gotten turned into a tree by her own father - as far as reyna knew, at least - but she made a great role model for all the whiny brats out there who thinks having a dad interview their guy on a first date is going to be the death of them. she'd kill to have her father even consider playing such a huge part in her life - which was neither here nor there.

frowning even more darkly, reyna did spear one of the pieces of tube-pasta-watchamacallits - she may be famous for having an appetite of a ravenous bear recently awaken from hibernation, but she was no chef - eyeing it as though it was considering possible treachery. it didn't look too venomous, so she brought the fork to her lips, barely savoring the creamy sauce. really, though, how did she get from wondering about the great joys of food to mulling about her fabulously-absent father? it wasn't that she avoided thinking of him, not really, but rather that she rarely did think about him. with all the issues she has to deal with on a daily schedule - not to sound petty or anything, but being praetor to one camp and host to another took a lot out of a girl - she simply has enough on her plate, and wasn't enough of a masochist to add her absentee father to the list. he was, on mos days, a none-issue. one would assume, though, that her recent experience with jason and his gang brought home the feeling of abandonment she'd been dealing with for as long as she could remember. her father, her mother - who didn't really count, as she was only ever there in prophetic dreams and left presents and so on, but used to still be there, even in that insubstantial form - jason himself, solo, percy...it all added up, and it wasn't as though she wasn't barely treading water when she first arrived at the camp as it was. still, she did what she had to to survive, had always done so. will always do so, no matter what challenges stood in her way. it was just a reyna drake thing to do. she survived. and ate.

she was almost halfway through her plate, eating with mortifying gusto as though to replace the whirling voices in her head with sounds of chewing, when it topped itself up, and she murmured a thank you in latin to the attentive spirits. they knew her, thank the gods. its pays to have been around at the camp for a while. she was just about to show how much she appreciated their efforts by paying tribute to the fine meal when the sound footsteps registered themselves in her mind, echoing dully through the hollowed hall. she'd always been so used to her own company and no one else's - it was't that she was a loner or anything, but she was certainly used to being alone - that she started at it, lips turning downwards once more in sudden wariness, the warrior in her surfacing. it was a lucky thing indeed that she recognized the voice when it addressed her, 'cause the warrior in her probably knew how to dismember a person using only the fork currently in her hand. being the daughter of bellona, the goddess of wartime and strife, did that to a person. sometimes it was a good - on other occasions, not so much so. killing a greek so early on in their friendship probably wouldn't have done her any favors, so she gave a fervent thanks to the goddess of voice-memory as she resat herself, barely even aware that she stood. warrior genes. hard to love em, couldn't live without em. but...this was new. a guy was making his way across the hall to her, as casually as you could have wished, settling on the seat besides hers without preamble. "hi?" she replied him in kind, though her 'hi?' was less 'you don't mind, right?' and more 'who are you and what are you doing her, talking to me?'. it didn't come out all that friendly, truth be told, all cool and a bit annoyed-sounding, but she was surprised and had never been the best of conversationalists to begin with.

before it truly dawned on her that he was actually here, and was going to be staying if the plate of food was any indication - hey, whatever happened to special praetor privileges? - he started talking. and kept on going. talking, that was. seemingly without pausing for breath. when he finished she took a second or two just blinking at him, because a)was he even real? and b)why did no one tell him the pretty girl-praetor bites? the name, at least, was familiar and a second later it clicked. she knew him. or of him, at least. at any rate, she knew him enough not to tell her dogs to play 'go take out the trash', which she had to admit was harsh even for her. but gods help her, she was tired. "yeah, i am," she answered after a quick prayer t the god of patience - seriously, she was making them up at this point - even as her brows came together as the last of his words registered. "is there anything i can do to shut you up? i hate it when people i don't know come up and embarrass themselves," she retorted before she could think about it, instantly cringing - inwardly, for the most part. "look, just enjoy your food-" she did grimace visibly at this, apologies not being her forte "-and don't talk to me because that really isn't a good idea right now." for what its worth, her smile was apologetic as she speared another pasta, turning her attention back to her meal.

TAGGED ! [/color]leo valdez!
NOTES ! rambly reply >.< my reyn!muse was wonky
WORDS ! 1275
CREDIT ! MEELA![/url] on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]