TANGLED, pjo₁

0.12

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PAINTING FOR REAGAN WAS THERAPEUTIC.

always has been, and as far as she's concerned it always will be. she never had a specific idea in mind when she began a painting, but as her brush dragged across her canvas she couldn't help but smile at the imagery display.

it was the inside of the apollo cabin, but the interior was different. there was a lack of privacy curtain between what was the girl's and boys side of the cabin, but if the mismatch of personal items (like michael's bow being next to her medical pouch which rested of her nightstand, or gavin's guitar adorned with stickers being placed on the top bunk above ally's dream board she was insistent in keeping in its spot) was anything to go by, there didn't seem a need when everyone started sleeping wherever they wanted.

the cabin also looked different. the jar of camp beads was still resting on its shelf, but the glass seemed to have the remanence of ash on the glass. as if it had been in a fire. the same with the posters...

though all that was just the background, the main focus of the painting was a girl dressed in sliver, with two long amber braids running down the front of her chest. she had a hand grasping tightly around her bow. something in reagan's gut told her that she knew the girl she was painting despite her face being covered by a hood. the moon shone through part of the curtain, but that was the only indication of what time it could be in the image.

a name rung out in her head, anna, it said, and reagan decided to take that as a sign. as a claiming to her sister's future.

for what? she wasn't sure.

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ONE THING YOU LEARN ABOUT HALF BLOODS IS THEY'RE COMPETITIVE.

the athena kids are the worst. they all share the same fatal flaw and gods forbid they acknowledge the fact their pride takes the wheel more often than not.

"if you think athena is bad, you should meet a child of nike," acid. hero? bitter. villain?? no, traitor??? she knew that taste, well voice by now. it was hard to ignore when it belongs to your sister's best friend.

luke castellan had been asked by chiron to give extra swordsmanship classes to a randomly assortment of campers. most of which, volunteered. but, reagan was never exactly interested in swordsmanship. which is why - by ellie's persistence - reagan was here in the first place.

"nike... she's the goddess of victory, right?" she asked the older boy, fidgeting with the hilt of her leather bound sword. as always, luke seemed to find her unease amusing, "i uh, didn't know we had any children of nine here?"

"there's two, identical twins. gloria and victoria, they're the most competitive people i know. always trying to be the best. glory captures the flag last week? well, vicky won the chariot race for the hermes cabin the week before." luke pointed to two girls with matching determined glares on their face.

both had straight black hair, but the one on the left wore her's in a high ponytail while the other had a small loose knot at the nape of her neck which held her hair out of her face. the girl on the left had a slit in her left eyebrow, seemingly from a dagger. even from such a distance, reagan could see that the small cut wasn't healed properly. it was infected at some point and never recovered based off the scar tissue.

"uhh... which is..?"

"glory has the scar on her eyebrow," luke responded, "she got it on her way to camp. i think it was an empousa? we try not to bring it up around them because then it's a whole argument about who killed the monster," he then proceeded to raise his voice in pitch and straightened his posture, waving his hands around in a flamboyant manner, "'it was my sword that killed her' 'no way, i stabbed it first!'" reagan chuckled a bit at the impression before looking down at her hands, which held the sword she was meant to be practicing with.

luke seemed to take notice of the look in her eye, the one reagan wasn't even aware she had.

"you don't like the idea of close range?" he asked her, a small - apathetic and almost genuine smile - crossed his face once she looked at him. something told her not to trust his smile, but a bigger part of her, the part that was both familiar and foreign to the girl, told her to open up to him.

the bigger part of her suspiciously reminded her of ellie, but she wasn't quite sure why.

"oh...uh, no..." she looked back down at her sword and furrowed her brows slightly, "it's not that... i- i don't know how to explain it. i know that i should able to use a sword, being a demigod and everything means i have to know how to use weapons, right? but... it's just weird."

luke nodded, "that's cause you're an archer. any other weapon feels like it's not gonna fit, but you're gonna need one."

it made sense, but then again, reagan wasn't found of the idea of using a sword. she pursued her lips and looked up when she felt the older boy throw an arm around her shoulder.

"how about i teach you how to use a dagger instead?" he offered, taking the sword out of the younger blonde's hands and leaning it against the wall behind them, "i  taught annabeth and she's probably the best in her cabin. plus, it's smaller and lighter then a sword, which means you'd be able to hide it on your person better and only have to really worry about your bow and arrows."

with his arm still around her shoulders, reagan was startled as he was dragged up from her spot on the bleachers and attempted to catch herself as the boy dragged her away.

"i'll tell ellie, and i'll fill out the commission for you to get a dagger, how that sound?"

reagan looked up at him and felt an uneasy smile pull on her lips, "y-yeah, is like that. thank you luke."

he sent her a mischievous smirk and a teasing wink, "don't mention it, reagan. but hurry up, im taking you with me to tell ellie. she'll be less pissed if you there too."

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a/n: hey guys wsppp... haha not me telling myself i'd update more this summer just for me to not touch this fic since july... tbf, i had a good reason, i kinda sorta got phenomena and have been sick, which kinda shot my inspo for either of my fics... plus i relapsed into an old fandom of mine and have been hyper fixated on MHA fics for like two weeks which DID NOT help my insomnia

but yeah, i had like 600 words for this chapter and no plans as to how it'd end so yeah, luke and reagan interactions, where Luke thinks reagan has a crush on him and reagan is so one edge for.... reasons..... that her fight or flight is kicking in!

also i'm kinda dropping plot hits here and there but like, it's unintentional even tho i kinda have to hint at stuff, yk?

anyways, an update! yayyyyyy (don't yell at me lsndbshka)