Icarus ﾉ Luke Castellan

𝒊𝒗. The Truth Comes Out

IT ISN'T EASY TO GET USED TO A NEW BLADE. Especially when it is so much heavier than she is used to. The dagger is more solid, yes, but she can't toss it the way she used to. It is much more a weapon than it used to be – Taio is insanely, annoyingly good at what he does. The weather leaves nothing to be desired either, instead, leaving a heavy, dirty feeling in the air. Tessa thinks it strange. It's not her postcard-perfect bubble that she has become so used to. The change in weather rattles her, making her loathe her blade. You'll get used to it, she tells herself, but the overcast clouds taunt her with the promise that she will not.

She shoves it into the sheath that is permanently strapped to her thigh, the leather worn and fraying at the edges before tuning into the conversation at hand.

The sun is too hot, the air much too heavy to enjoy being outside, and with Roo Jia talking the ear off of Annabeth, Tessa finds herself inching closer to the edge of the Pavilion. From what Tessa can make out, they seem to be ranking pasta shapes. Well, Roo is. Annabeth is meticulously laying macaroni shapes on a sheet of pale blue card in the shape of New York. As if realising that Annabeth is paying less attention than Tessa thought to be possible, Roo turns her attention to the other campers and starts flicking pieces of dried macaroni and penne off of skulls.

Juniper Kobayashi sits, hands folded in her lap, looking at an ink well and some paper. Creepy bastard.

She cannot shake Luke's desperation for more. She thinks about how for just a brief second, for just a split second, she too wanted more. Tessa has never once thought about a quest or letting down her father because of it. Granted, she worries about letting her father down in a multitude of other ways. But now, she wonders if it is selfish to be desperate for it, if just for a second. She lands on it is. It is selfish to want to do more than what she has already; she needs a punishment, and this is it. The Gods don't like show-offs.

Tessa is pulled from her mind as the sharp side of a dried penne tube makes its way into her eye. She yowls, stands up and slams her hands on the table, knocking over paint water and sending glitter tumbling down the table, carried by a hot breeze.

Roo Jia's eyes blow wide, and something akin to fear passes across their sharp face. Annabeth looks between Roo and Tessa and back again.

Tessa presses the heel of her palm to her, now watering, eye and mutters an excusal. White hot pain has bloomed behind her eye as she makes her way to some peace and quiet.

She cannot stop thinking about Luke. His words clog her senses, and she cannot escape him. She sees him when she closes her eyes, can smell the faint salt water of his skin when she focuses, and she can hear his laugh when she doesn't want to. She can't sleep either, explains why Roo is bein' so annoying, plagued by images of a scarred face and an iron blade coming crashing down on her ribs. As Tessa rubs her ribs, trying to soothe the phantom pain, she mulls on how demigod dreams hold a semblance of a prophetic nature. She has always had an overactive imagination.

That doesn't allow her to shake the feeling of blood seeping through her fingers.

Stop bein' pathetic. She chastises herself internally, knowing it will do no good to dwell on it. She knows that being on edge is dangerous for a demigod. It is dangerous, selfish and entirely indulgent. But he said those things, something has to have changed.

A shadow is cast over her, turning the grassy patch she has made herself oh-so-comfortable on a funny shade of brown.

Tessa glances up, coming face-to-face with Silena Beauregard. She lets out an audible groan, contrary to her much better judgement. She has never liked the Aphrodite kids.