too much insanity

“You always did have a strange sense of humor in the sense I always made you laugh though I am not sure if you were laughing at me or with me or if you think I was cute.”

He sighed a little, as he was prone to do these days when his eyes were far away from what was now his reality. “---Thinking about her makes me tired. She’s got so much energy it’s actually scary sometimes.”

It was good to see Castor smile. It really was. (Even only briefly.)

“I - I’m sorry.” In an attempt to lighten the mood, she added, “And that’s just unfair. Not eating because you don’t need to shouldn’t be a ‘carry over into the living world’ thing.” Not that many shades probably had that problem. 

It was odd, too, realizing how young Castor remembered them. With a start she realized that if he hadn’t aged then - they’d be the same age now. Maybe that was part of the reason why it seemed easier to talk to him now, despite the whole coming-back-from-the-dead issue. 

“I do approve.” It had taken her a bit to adjust to the idea, but just because Pollux was as far from Katie’s type as you could get didn’t mean he wasn’t ‘the one’ for Lou Ellen. “I just - at first, I couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t going to get her heart broken and after the Battle of Manhattan -” She swallowed. “But I think they kind of brought each other out of the dark, cheesy as that may sound.” 

“Eventually it got to the point where Kayla and I were scheming about how to get him to ask her out because honestly. Although if anyone asks, I completely blame Kayla’s influence on me for that.” She considered his last question briefly. “Some whispers. Not as many as there would have been if we weren’t so relieved that the war was over.”  

“Don’t be, K. It’s all right.” And it was. Kinda. It would be, at the very least.

“S’pose I’m gonna have to get used to it again. There’s a challenge if I ever saw one.” The boy sighed a little and ran his hands through his spiky hair. In his memories they were far younger than they were now, but then again, it had been ages---literally so---since he’d saw them last.

Castor chuckled, half tempted to refer back to the whole ‘Pail and Shovel’ debacle. The first one was the only one he remembered, after all. “That sounds great, actually. I’m sure he needed someone like that ‘cause my, uh, departure was probably one of the reasons he got into that dark in the first place. I know my brother, Katie. I know of his capacity to love. It’s greater than mine.”

This time he laughed, if only a little. It was gone as quickly as it had reached Katie’s---and his own---ears. “Duly noted, flower child.” The nicknames he’d used on them quickly came back to him. “You still a good cook or what?”

He needed to know that.

For personal reasons as well as others.

firstborndvino

Detention. For correcting a teacher on something that was so obviously wrong. How stupid.

Annabeth scowled as she attempted to, yet again, concentrate on the book in front of her, but it was futile. Useless. Because she could still feel that burning pair of eyes focused on the back on her head, watching her. And so, for what was probably the third time in the past five minutes, she turned to glare at the person.

It was a long shot, she knew, but hey, anything to get him to leave her alone.

“So Castor” Aeolus began as he picked up his goblet. A silent cringe could be felt by Pollux and Rory as they heard their brother’s name.

“Both your brothers played in the last two Quidditch matches and helped our house stay on top. Is there any reason why you didn’t play, my son?” He turned his stone cold blue eyes at his second eldest son. He could feel the way the other children, except Olivia, tensed up with fear. That made a smile touch on his thin lips. They feared him, therefore they respected him.

He had begged Madam Pomfrey to let him play, but she had been relentless. Still, he wasn’t mentioning any of that, because that woman was the only matron Hogwarts had and he’d rather not that their father got her fired or something. She was like the grandmother he had never known.

firstborndvino

Detention. For correcting a teacher on something that was so obviously wrong. How stupid.

Annabeth scowled as she attempted to, yet again, concentrate on the book in front of her, but it was futile. Useless. Because she could still feel that burning pair of eyes focused on the back on her head, watching her. And so, for what was probably the third time in the past five minutes, she turned to glare at the person.

"Get your eyes off me, now.”

The boy rolled his eyes, very tempted to ask what would happen to him if he didn’t. His hands were up in the air now, a gesture that was meant to calm her down (it probably did not work). 

"You are just jealous because I prefer your brothers to you, they are charming you on the other hand…" he voice trailed off as her eyes closed, she turned to him then poking him hard in the chest "You don’t get to do that. I know who he is, my best friend is relying on me to save his life so he isn’t Lou El’s family he is a patient nothing more nothing less. Understand?"