marble arch.

in all the years she’d known rion, liliana had yet to see him celebrate a birthday. it didn’t take too long for her to make an annual tradition of gifting rion a birthday present randomly throughout the year, feeling like everyone deserved that little celebration. this year, she’d sorted out a gift on one trip to see her mom but was waiting for the perfect day to surprise rion. and today just so happened to be it when she woke up and found herself feeling exceptionally giving. so with the present wrapped in an ocean themed gift bag, lilly set out on the eonian grounds to look for him, making the odd pit stop at the stables and the aquarium along the way. after checking all the places she could usually find him, she finally spots him at one of the outdoor picnic benches.

walking up quietly to a child of ares was a bad idea, and lilly should’ve known better. still, her feet carry her softly to where he’s sitting, her gaze instantly fixating on the spread of food he’s got on the table with curiosity. ❝ oh gods, no i wasn’t ― i swear ― i just ― ❞ she immediately stutters out, hands held up in defense as the gift bag dangles from the crook of her thumb and index finger, and a worried look is plastered on her face. ❝ wait would you actually cut off my thumbs ? ❞ ( @rosries​ )

threats came easily to rion, both speaking them and following through. all of the horrible things he had done in this world, leaving someone relatively intact would be considered merciful for him. but as the voice registers and it clicks in his break who the intruder is, he relaxes. there’s a glance towards her, a raised brow at the bag hanging from her fingers. “if it had been anyone but you, yes.” he doesn’t ask about the bag, sure that he’s going to find out anyway, but he opens the pack of pocky and holds the box out in offering to lilly. it would be an unusually kind gesture if rion wasn’t always willing to share food with her. even food that he would maim people for so much as looking at. 

the giftbag is about what he’d expect from lilly, ocean themed and pretty like her, but part of him is feeling a little paranoid about it overall. celebrating birthdays past a certain age didn’t really happen in back home and he certainly wouldn’t have carried any of the traditions over to greece. it wasn’t uncommon for lilly to surprise him with something randomly during the year, since she didn’t actually know when his birthday was, but this year she’d hit a little too close to the actual day for him to not be a little suspicious. “watcha got there?”

admittedly, the question comes out of nowhere, even for her as the person asking it. but when rion doesn’t seem too taken aback by it, she figures it’s okay.  ❝ braid … your hair. i mean, if you don’t like it, i can just take it out. i just like playing with your hair. ❞ she rambles a little excitedly, fiddling her own fingers in anticipation of his answer. her brown hues glance up at the television for a split second although a movie has easily fallen to the backburners of her focus. ❝ really ? ❞ a smile lights up her face and she’s already moving to sit above his head before he can confirm.

@rosries​ asked: “ just … come back alive, okay? “

              WORRY TAKES OVER HIM as he hears the news of them having to split up for the quest they were sent on, unable to hide it as it washes over his face, “we have to…split up?” he’s not so much concerned about himself as he is about the other, and he purses his lips together while nodding slowly, “just…come back alive, okay?” teddy murmurs, and he means it, to be honest he didn’t know what he would do if something happened to the other one. the son of zeus hated leaving people behind, very much the one to protect those he held close, so he bites down the anxiety that bubbles up in the depth of his chest to seem strong for them. 

-

the last quest ophelia had been on hadn’t gone well. she’d been directly responsible for the death of one of her friends and then she’d used the trauma to bond with the third person she’d brought: the guy she had a crush on. if karma exists, which ophelia believes it does, the likelihood of her returning from this quest alive, let alone intact is slim. she sighs, stepping closer and pulling him in for a hug. “i was going to ask you to come. but i can’t risk you.” theo would be powerful to have on a quest, but perhaps too powerful. a son of zeus would draw the attention of every monster in the country, whereas three demigods of less powerful lineage might be able to skate relatively under the radar. 

@rosries​ asked: “did you think i forgot?”

               HOLDING THE SMALL box in her hands, a cupcake carefully decorated inside as she waited for the other outside, she began to think it was silly she was even here. the worry of looking like she was trying to hard was always lingering in the back of her mind, but it was seemingly too late as she saw them getting closer, “did you think i forgot?” the blonde asked with a careful smile, holding out the box with a little glimmer in her doe-like eyes as she peers up at them. “it’s from my favorite little bakery, it’s this danish cake thing but if you dont like it, that’s okay too…”

-

as a baker, rory had the awful tendency of being particular about pastries, especially once he didn’t have a hand in making. he often looked for any reason to pick it apart, to claim it wasn’t as good as his but shiloh looked so damn hopeful that he finds it hard to be anything but grateful as he picks up the box. it’s the anniversary of his mom’s death, something she’d had to have found out from vanessa, as rory didn’t talk about her anymore. he always took it harder than his sister did. “shy you didn’t have to do this,” he said, though the jaded fog he’d been in started rolling away. he broke the cupcake in half, offering the other half to shiloh with an insistent gesture that she take it. but as he bit into it, nothing jumped out at him to criticize. covering his mouth, full of food, he said, “this is really good.”

“ the keyword there is considered. you either do, or you don’t, ” she shrugs, her gaze shifting away from him as she works on her own drink. she frowns at the lack of eye contact when she looks back at him. she sighs softly when she follows his line of sight, realizing that her approach may have been too aggressive. “ i mean, it’s fine — like, whatever. the past is in the past, and people need to mind their own business, anyway. ” she wants to outright ask what the issue is, but she’d already done a lot of pushing just getting him to the party. “ think we’ll run into many of your friends tonight? i’ll be nice. ”

-

being a person is hard sometimes. between the never ending list of books he’s struggling through, dyslexia be damned, and classes, he doesn’t always have the energy left over to actually go out and socialize. it was not a priority for him and he’d much rather be holed up in his room with pixel. he’d left her back at the athena house tonight and was missing the familiar weight of her in his pocket. non-committally, he says, “maybe,” but in order to run into his friends, he’d have to have them first. “you don’t have to stick around with me, you know. i’m perfectly capable of handling myself at a party.” he was also looking for a chance to escape out of the back door. 

closed: @rosries ( rory & rui ) location: hades house

again, rui finds himself skulking around the house at an ungodly hour of the night. but he can’t be blamed, can he? especially when he has a particularly annoying ghost jabbering his face off every time he feels like trying to sleep. but he finds some solace in the fact that he’s not the only one awake, not entirely surprised to hear the click and swing of the door opening, a sibling of his returning back to the house at exactly four-oh-two am.

rui twists on the lounge room’s lamp (his shadow retreats like a darting fish, back underneath the soles of his feet). under full light, he catches sight of rory’s face in greater detail - and with certainty he tells him, “you look like shit. where’ve you been?”

despite all he tried to hide it, rory often felt that his extracurricular activities were becoming more and more obvious to those closer to him. while he often holed up in his room, hiding away from his siblings, he got careless from time to time: walking to the bathroom without a shirt on, tracks visible in the crook of his arm. it felt like the kind of secret everyone knew about but didn’t discuss. 

it’s not what rion expects to hear as he scrolls through netflix on the tv in his room, his head in lilly’s lap. “you want to do what?” he repeats, though he heard her clear as day. instead of acknowledging the request, he keeps going until he finds a movie that looks even remotely interesting to him while still being the type of movie lilly could stomach. it’s not worth it to pretend that he has any intention of saying no, so he slides off the bed and onto the floor, his head against the mattress. “go for it.”

@rosries​ asked: “ hey. we show our faces for an hour, then we leave. promise. ” (araceli+gabe)

“ yes, i promise, and then we’ll do whatever it is you want to do after. scout’s honor. ” she’d never actually joined, but she’d done all of the tasks just to prove that she could. “ this will be good for you. be open-minded for this next hour, ” she says, pouring a drink and sliding it toward him, before doing the same for herself. “ someone asked me yesterday if you still lived on campus, and that is unacceptable. ”

araceli promised him that they would leave after an hour, but gabriel isn’t so sure he believes it. rather reluctantly, he takes the drink she pours him, sighing as he knocks some of it back. “i’m plenty open-minded. just last week i considered going out after class.” he doesn’t look at his sister as he fiddles with the woven bracelets around his wrist, his usual technique of avoiding a topic he didn’t want to discuss. without saying a word, he takes another sip of his drink, pretending like araceli hadn’t said anything else.

@rosries​ asked: “  are you finishing that or … ? “

                      WATCHING THE OTHER at the bar, he noticed the way they were fiddling with the glass in their hand. son of dionysus, dax couldn’t help himself but to comment on the way they put off finishing the last sip, “are you finishing that or….?” the dark haired boy asked over the pulse of music in the air, raising a brow as he motioned to the almost empty glass, “to be honest, it’s probably just melted ice by now with how long it’s been just sitting in your hand…”

-

          most days, orion drank to get drunk. there was no enjoying, the primary goal was to simply get hammered. this drink was a little expensive, hence his savoring it. “if you so much as even look at this glass, i will put a knife through each of your hands and the bar. understand?” it’s not hyperbole, more a warning, and his voice never once wavered as he said it. to punctuate his point, he took a sip, eyes dead ahead.