#darephi

@darephi gets a starter!

@darephi gets a starter!

Rachel managed to do the thing that Mai couldn't. It's something that saddens her, even if she knows that the Oracle is fickle. Delphi's spirit has taken part of Rachel's mind, chewing out a little corner for itself, and it's for Rachel to interpret now.

Nothing of what Mai has seen makes sense. It's what leads her here, to meeting Rachel in the corner of a busy city cafe, to talk to her.

She drums her fingers nervously against the side of her teacup as she looks at Rachel.

When he'd first heard of the oracle, he'd pictured a woman in traditional Greek dress blessed by the sun. Or the mummy everyone talked about in the attic. Not wild red hair and paint stained fingers on a girl who probably wasn’t old enough to drink, not that he knew when that was. Tanner hadn't been around when whatever happened to the other oracle occurred that triggered Rachel's prophecies, still having no idea how that even worked. Something involving weird green mist if Percy was to be believed. She doesn’t look ready to start spouting off quests-she looks young and concerned and for some reason that makes him feel as aged as the tall trees around them. As if he hasn’t logistically barely been alive for less than a decade.

He spends so long staring at her he doesn’t immediately know what she’s talking about. Wide eyes blink, head recoiling as his focus somewhat returns. “Oh.” He’s doing that thing again. Where Tartarus seems to be seared into the very fiber of his being and his skin looks near glass clear down to burnt bones and ashen insides. A very disturbing sight no matter how many Apollo healers reassured him he was physically fine or as fine as one could be in his case. For whatever reason it leaves his feathers alone, letting wings remain hidden under gold unless someone went looking in between plumage.

" was i talking too much ? " jason asks when he felt the warmth of her hands against his cheeks , stopping his train of thought , and his head automatically looking up and seeking her eyes . her bright greens against his icy blues , which seemed to flicker at the light of the hearth beside them . and a part of him hoped it was dim enough to hide the color of his face , which was undoubtedly beet red based on the flush he could feel rushing to his cheeks .

and for a moment , even though it was midnight , the zeus cabin felt like the warmest place in the world . or maybe he became the warmest thing in that room . because even the marble floor underneath him , which is always ice cold to his touch , felt like the coziest piece of linen against his skin . and the massive statue of his father , which stood proudly over them , seemed to disappear in the background as well . for a moment , it was just him and her ... and he can't deny that something in him wished he could just live in that moment a little longer .

snap out of it , grace .

he chuckles then , but made no effort to pull away . this was supposed to be a discussion about the temples and statues he was hoping to build , and the new cabins for new campers to start calling home ... and now he is afraid he might be boring her with his endless rambling . but he has never been this passionate about something in so long . lived his whole life with everything planned for him . for the first time he was doing something he wanted , and every part of him wanted to make sure he won't mess this up . " sorry about that . " he says , absentmindedly nuzzling against her palm . " i didn't mean to wake you up just for this . "

"You could say that." She grinned looking around the camp shielding her eyes from the sun. Sally had always been curious about just what this place would look like since the day Chiron first told her about it. In reality that conversation was a little more charged and guilt laden than a regular old info-session. She'd let herself sometimes imagine the worst, other times the best, she was never too sure which scenario made her feel better those years before she finally sent him. Tearing her gaze away from the truly horrifying climbing wall Sally glanced at the redhead beside her. "How're you doing here Rachel? I haven't heard much and I do worry you know." Situationship-relationship, break-up/parting whatever it had been at the end of the day Sally had missed seeing the girl around. "Percy told me they have you in a cave? I couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a joke or not."

by the lakeside he lays at peace, fingers dripping gold paint down the length of his forearm — not dissimilar to blood. scott watches with rapt attention as the molten valley parts into rivers, into streams, into veins, and wonders again why he’s alive and allison is not.

the past month was harrowing. now, a sense of wrongness has settled beneath his skin. two days ago, he returned to camp halfblood without the daughter of athena by his side.

now, he lays by the lakeside at peace, rachel’s paints drip, drip, dripping down his arm. scott looks up, eyes lacking their usual gold.

     ‘ is it harder to make metallics? ’