Thalia Grace (wasatree) wrote in spinningcompass, @ 2012-10-15 19:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed |
WHO: Jason Grace and Thalia Grace
WHAT: Long-lost siblings reunite
WHEN: Monday
WHERE: Around town
WARNINGS: Low
STATUS: Closed/G’doced
This place was like a ghost town. Thalia walked down the empty street, her footsteps the only sound in the unnatural silence.
How had she gotten here? One moment she was hunting a manticore in the woods, and the next she was in a city, only no one else was in it.
It had to be the work of the gods. But who would want to take one of Artemis's Hunters in the middle of a hunt? "Hello? Lords, Ladies, anyone there?"
Jason had been in this place for several weeks now, and was pretty sure most people here considered him a bit of a freak. Of course, it didn’t help that he was a bit of a freak. He’d found that it it was calming for him to get away from the hotel on occasion, to excuse himself from the drama-fest that was generally happening inside. He liked the fresh air, the freedom, and it gave him the chance to practice and hone skills that didn’t work so well inside. He was pretty sure the hotel owners would be less than pleased with him if he summoned lightning in his room, for instance. But the way it exhausted him was proof that he needed to practice that particular ability more. After all, as good of a battle tactic as electrocution could be, falling asleep after delivering his final blow was probably not.
Today, as he wandered down the street, he heard a familiar voice, and his heart raced and his heart brightened in hope. There was nobody else from his world in this place, and if Thalia had showed up...
He jogged forward to catch up to the voice, and yes - there she was.
“Thalia!”
She whirled around at the sound of her name, narrowing her eyes at the sight of the blond boy who was running up to her. She’d never seen him before, although she got the vague sense that maybe she should find him somewhat familiar. Maybe it was the way he was grinning at her, as if he knew her.
Warily, she slid her bow from her shoulder to get it ready. While she wasn’t about to send arrows flying just in case this was a messenger from the gods, she wasn’t about to let herself get taken unawares either.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “And why am I here?”
Jason stopped, staring at her for a moment. Of course, he was aware that this place brought people here from different times, but somehow he’d just never thought that Thalia wouldn’t know who he was. His shoulders fell a little, and some of the brightness left his eyes.
“It’s...it’s me, Thalia. Jason.”
Thalia had known someone named Jason once, and it wasn’t the argonaut. But that Jason, her brother, was dead. She’d lost him when he was two. He would’ve been about the same age as the guy who was approaching her now, but unless she were in the Underworld and people aged in the Underworld, she was pretty sure it wasn’t.
Still, she looked at him searchingly as he came closer. “Am I supposed to know you?” she asked, guarded.
Jason wasn’t exactly sure what to say to her - she’d known him last time she’d come across him. What was it about the world that it so liked taking his family from him? Or taking their memories? Still, he forced a little smile.
“I hope so,” he shrugged. “I’m your brother.”
Now that he was closer, Thalia could see the electric blue eyes that were so similar to hers, and the little scar on his upper lip that he’d gotten when he’d tried to eat a stapler. “My gods,” she breathed. And then, hastily looping her bow back over her arm, she rushed forward to hug him. “My gods, how is this happening? Are we dead?”
Jason wrapped his arms around her, returning her hug tightly.
“Dead? No, I don’t think so. I don’t know what this place is. I just assumed that one of the Gods brought us here, like Juno did to me when she wiped my memory. But...I’m not sure if that’s what’s going on here.”
He shrugged a little, a bit confused himself. There was no one else here from his world with whom he could speak of his suspicions - at least there hadn’t been until now.
Thalia was still trying to process the fact that her brother was here, and apparently alive. She didn’t know much about the Underworld, but she didn’t think people breathed down there, or felt so solid or warm.
She pulled back to look at him. “Juno? As in Hera? That Juno? Why would she...I don’t...I thought you were dead!”
“Mom told you I was dead?” he asked, a bit of horror in his words. Of course, there was every chance he wouldn’t have survived Lupa’s training - not everyone did. The Wolf Goddess was not particularly sympathetic to weakness. But still, the vague memories he had of that last day with his mother convinced him that she’d known very well that he was alive when she’d last seen him.
“Yes, that Juno. The one the Greeks call Hera. Juno, wife of Jupiter, Queen of the Gods, and all that. You really don’t remember? Juno wiped my memory and threw me into the Greek camp. Because of the Prophecy.”
“The Prophecy’s done,” Thalia said, still confused. “A Half-Blood of the eldest gods/shall reach sixteen against all odds? That was Percy. I don’t get why...”
She trailed off, trying to make sense of it all. She’d believed, for as long as she could remember, that her brother was dead, that she’d failed to protect him from their own mother and Hera’s wrath. But now it seemed like he was alive, in this strange world, and there was something about a memory wipe? It was a lot to take in, but one thing was for certain.
“Gods, I’m just so glad you’re still alive,” she said, hugging him once more.
“No, not that one,” he said with a shrug, and began to recite the Second Great Prophecy, as he knew it best, in Latin. “Seven half-bloods shall answer the call/To storm or fire the world must fall./An oath to keep with a final breath,/And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.”
He cocked his head slightly as he hugged her back.
“Wait,” he said, backtracking. “You don’t know about Camp Jupiter, do you?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. The moment was a little limited, given that she was still hugging him as if he might disappear if she let go. “And I haven’t heard that Prophecy either, but I’m a little out of the loop since I’ve been hunt--are you speaking Latin?”
She understood it, but not in the natural, easy way that she understood Ancient Greek. This was more like understanding a language that she had learned in a foreign country.
“What’s the last thing you remember from back home...?” he asked carefully. She was obviously from some time before he was, but if she hadn’t even heard the Second Great Prophecy...
“Yeah, Latin,” he said with a shrug. “You know, your brain is hardwired for Ancient Greek, mine’s hardwired for Latin. Because you’re Greek and I’m Roman.” He said it with an easy shrug, as if it made all the sense in the world. Because to him, it did.
“The Titan War was over, and I was in the Smoky Mountains hunting for the Erymanthian Boar,” Thalia said, not sure if this would mean anything to someone who’d been missing for almost twenty years. “How are you Roman? I don’t...wait. So you’re telling me that there’s another camp for Half-Bloods, only they’re just for Romans? How do you even get to be Roman? It’s definitely not because you ate Wheaties, because I ate them too.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying,” he said with a shrug. “Camp Jupiter. New Rome. Our Camp in the Bay Area, where I’ve been living since I was three.” Untangling his arm from his sister, he showed her his right forearm, as if the tattoo somehow proved where he’d been, and who he was.
“And...from what I understand, it was, uh, dad. When he and mom got together and, er, made you, he was in his Greek manifestation. So you’re a Greek demigod. But when he came back, he was Jupiter. Making me a Roman demigod.”
"That's just really weird," Thalia said, but she didn't let herself be bothered by it. She had her brother back, and whatever the reason was for it, she was going to make the most of it.
"Gods, you're so tall," she marveled. They had lost so much time. "How are you doing? What do you remember? I want to hear everything."
“Everything?” he asked with a little laugh. “Well, that’s going to take some time, and we’ll probably want to be someplace more comfortable. But I remember the day mom gave me to Lupa. I remember that time, and all my training at Camp Jupiter...I remembered you, even after Juno took my memory. I remember the Titan war, too, of course. The part of it you Greeks never even knew about.”
He shook his head and smiled a bit.
“But I’m doing good, I suppose. I’m a praetor, I’ve got good friends, and there’s this girl,” he blushed. “Yeah, things could be a lot worse, even if they are a bit crazy at the moment. That’s a demigod’s life - crazy - right?”
"Oh, a girl," Thalia said in the teasing tones only a sister could fully manage. She tucked her arm through his. "I want to hear about her, and Camp Jupiter, and Lupa, and everything. So how about you show me around this place and we'll find somewhere to catch up?"
“Sure thing,” he said with a smile. “Have you figured out your room assignment yet? Somebody gives everyone a place to stay when they arrive here. We could start with that. See if any of your things are here.”
Thalia smiled back. "Sounds good," she said as she started walking with him. She hoped she wouldn't have to stay here long - Artemis would not be pleased by her disappearance - but it would be great to catch up with her brother.