SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

0.5 - golden skin

IN THIS WORLD, everything was made for briar lovelace.

it was as if she'd been crafted handmade from the gods themselves. like at one point she'd been made from gold, weaved from minerva herself, and her hair reflected that, gold seeping from the tips of her hair. her skin was pale, it always was, but she could imagine that it had been made of gold once.

briar sometimes thought that she was made of gold. she also thought that her friends were made of gold, as if golden people aligned with golden people.

jason, who had spent most of his life in camp jupiter. they had always been best friends, ever since they were little. nothing else, despite what everyone wants from them. briar could never see him any other way than the person who probably understood her the most.

piper, who was accepted in the fifth cohort after her dad died, leaving her to find camp jupiter on her own. she's briar's sister, and probably the best she'd ever have. they were chaotic together, as piper was the only person who could bring out her rebellious side.

and reyna. gods, reyna. briar had a massive crush on her, and basically everyone knew it. except for the daughter of bellona herself. when she came to camp jupiter, twelve years old and fresh from escaping pirates, briar knew that she was the piece of their puzzle that completed them. their golden auras had brought them together and stuck them together.

briar was still respected in this camp, even if she's a sapphic person. she'd learned how to play the game at an early age, because she'd been born in camp jupiter. her dad had grown up in this camp, risen among the ranks and became a centurion, before technically retiring. he was — is, technically — one of the best soldiers of the legion, and after teaching her how to traverse the camp, he went on obscure missions that lasted months.

even if her dad was gone a lot, she'd still gotten the privileges that came with being his daughter and venus's, even if venus didn't give her much: mostly a lot of resentment, because she didn't get claimed by her mother. her father had to tell her who her mother was. her beauty and how her eyes become honey, amethysts, oceans, and emeralds in a second. the charmspeak that she wove into words and smiles. that was what she had inherited from venus, along with manipulation and insecurity.

but all of that was proof that the world would always evolve around briar lovelace. or maybe she's learned too much about manipulating the world so it fit into her vision for it.

what was her vision? back then, briar was highly ambitious. she wanted the world to bend under her rule. she was prideful, egotistical, even.

briar used to crave power. the power in her voice was not enough for her. she needed more.

and then reyna arrived. and immediately, briar fell for her. literally. briar had tripped on a fallen sword, which was real dangerous. she had cursed herself. how did she not realize sooner? and, gods forbid, who would be stupid enough to leave a sword on the ground where anyone could get stabbed in the foot?

reyna had caught her. with the reflexes of a roman demigod, even though she'd just came.

"you should be careful," she'd said to briar. "someone as pretty as you shouldn't have your defenses down like that. you're lucky i was there."

briar had frowned at her, unable to think of a good response. "i—"

but by then reyna was gone, whisked away by piper to go freshen up in the bathhouse.

jason had laughed at briar, looking down at her. even then, he shone like gold. he always did. that was why they were best friends, after all.

"flustered, huh?" he asked her, a giant smirk on his face. as if he didn't learn how to hide his emotions at the same time as her. "didn't know you could get that way."