Luke Castellan (anineiron) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-07-22 22:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, luke castellan, percy jackson |
Who: Luke Castellan & Percy Jackson
When: Mid May
Where: A park!
What: Luke and Percy run into each other!
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Luke was still learning to navigate the OC. It was always like this initially. Stay long enough to be able to find your way around and then disappear again. The only difference with here was that niggling voice in the back of his mind that told him that he was going to end up staying there. Thalia was here. He wasn’t really happy with her at the moment. In fact, staying here was really met with mixed emotions. He almost left immediately, but he didn’t have the money to leave immediately, so he stayed.
He needed new clothes, he decided as he looked down at his shirt, which was a little rattier than he’d have liked it to be. He’d check a few of the thrift stores. He didn’t have to look too nice, considering that he was one of the “youth” and no one really expected him to dress any way other than the way he did. He was currently sitting on a bench at one of the parks, focused without being overly focused. Anyone that looked suspicious, he watched. Everyone else was left alone. He had every intention of leaving the park once he was finished his drink, but he was enjoying the sun until then.
Finished with finals, Percy had only a few more days that he could stay in the dorms, luckily, his mom and Paul would be arriving in the OC any day now from their cross country drive then Percy would be helping them move into the new house. He wasn’t sure just yet if he was going to live in the dorms next semester or live at home now that his mom and Paul would be closer, but he still had time to figure that out. Since finals had ended, he’d been spending time packing up his dorm room, so he’d be ready to go once they arrived and also dealing with the strange dreams he’d been having. He’d just arrived at Camp Half-Blood and in his last dream was receiving a tour of the camp by Annabeth. He was told that he was a demigod, but he had no idea who his godly father was so he was told that he would be assigned to the Hermes cabin until he was claimed.
It was a little strange, when he thought about how in both the dreams and real life he had no idea who his father was. While he’d been curious over the years, he’d never wanted his mother to think that he didn’t appreciate the things she did for him and besides, what good would knowing do? Eighteen years had passed and his father had never come looking for him, so it wasn’t as if he would go looking for his father. If he were completely honest, he was happy with the way his life had turned out and as far as he was concerned, he didn’t need to know.
After packing up most of his room, he’d decided to get out and take a walk. He’d decided on a nearby park and was wandering around, hands in his pockets, one hand fiddling with the pen that was now ever present in his pocket no matter where he left it.
Luke knew what it was like to live without knowing his father well, but he didn't live in a world where he didn't know him. It was difficult, really, to imagine a world where his dad even cared enough to be around, so he'd stopped being the kid that dreamt that his dad would get his head out of his ass and come be a real dad. The only thing was that his mom was now so far away. He tried not to think about it too much because it really hurt to think about. He was never supposed to desert her that way. Maybe if he found a place where it was safe, he'd have her come and live with him. Maybe he'd get her some treatment instead of just trying to deal with it all on his own. Maybe he'd make his dad pay for it.
Once he'd finished his drink, he stayed for a little bit, delaying the inevitable. A few minutes later and he got up to throw it away, his mind working through various scenarios and ideas. He just barely missed running into someone. "Sorry." His brow furrowed slightly and he looked at the boy in question. He'd seen him somewhere, but he couldn't place it. Maybe just around. That happened occasionally. "Terrible attention span."
Percy was also pre-occupied, thinking about his mom and Paul’s cross country drive and was trying not to think about all the things that could go wrong on their way out to California, but it was difficult to keep his mind on other things when he kept thinking about them getting a flat or getting lost or worse. When his mind started wandering to the worse part, he would always try to think of something else. In this instance, he was just beginning to think about them getting in some sort of car crash when a guy almost walked right into him. “It’s okay. I totally understand that.” Having ADHD meant that Percy also had a very short attention span so he could relate.
Luke gave the other boy a sheepish smile and adjusted his clothes for no reason other than having something to do with his hands. "Must be something in the water," he joked. It wasn't really anything like that, but Luke didn't really know how to explain that it had been most of his life. He tried to channel the ADHD into something better, into being able to take in a lot of details, but mostly he was at a loss for how to keep his attention on any one thing at a time. It was mostly ending up trying to focus on a lot of things at once. "Hi. I'm Luke Cas-- Uh, Luke. Really sorry about almost running you over again."
“Percy.” He straightened his own clothes then instinctively put his hand in his pocket to check that Riptide was still there. He didn’t quite know why he’d done it, because even if it fell out of his pocket, he knew that it would appear there again in a few minutes. “And neither of us got hurt, so it’s okay. It’d be a different story if you’d knocked me over and broken my ankle or something like that.”
Percy. He'd heard the name, but he didn't really think of that as overly strange. There were plenty of people named Percy in the world. It was probably just one of those moments where something sounded familiar, but it wasn't really a thing. "I can only imagine that it would be. I'd probably have to take you to a hospital." And he wouldn't have any money to pay for the care. He'd be in debt or he'd have to do some questionable things to get the money. He was happy not getting himself into situations where he had to do questionable things to get money. "I definitely am not rich enough to pay for anyone's medical bills, so I'm going to count myself lucky for that. It would be a pretty shitty way to start the first month of residency in the OC."
Percy couldn’t help but laugh, “I don’t know how much my medical bills would be if all you did was knock me down or something. I mean, sure, I could have hit my head a gotten a concussion, but that’s probably the extent of it.” Unless he’d gotten knocked into someone on a bike or something like that. However, Percy didn’t think that was likely. “But in all likelihood, they’d probably just send the medical bill to my mom. So you probably wouldn’t have to pay it.”
"You can never be too sure, since apparently this place is rife with-" He cut himself off before he could say weird things. He didn't know if this person was one of those people that talked about dreams or not. He wasn't even sure if it was common knowledge that things were weird in the OC. Outside of the strange TV shows about the place. "Possibly dangerous parks," was what he ended up going with. It was weak, but he hadn't really known how else to go with that. "Yeah. I guess not." He sobered for a moment before he forced a smile. He didn't know what that was like. Not entirely. "But you never know, I guess. I doubt your mom would take kindly to dangerous park folk. Since I guess that's what I'd be, but at least your mom has insurance and everything."
Percy laughed at the thought of his mother getting angry at Luke, “If you’re worried about my mom coming after you, you’d be safe. If it was an accident then she’d want to make sure you were okay too.” Sally was pretty much a mom to everyone unless someone was actually trying to hurt Percy. “But maybe we should avoid possibly dangerous parks for awhile.”
Luke’s gaze dropped to the ground for a moment as his thoughts shifted again to his own mom. One day he was going to stop feeling guilty. Maybe if he stayed, he could move her out here. “She sounds like a good mom.” He looked up again, smiling at the last comment. “It’s entirely possible that we should. I don’t think my mom would like me running into people or getting hurt in them either. It’d be a mess.” There was a shrug as he looked around. “So do you know this place that well? I’m still trying to find my way around.”
“I know it fairly well. I’m not from here originally, but I’ve been here the whole school year, so I’ve figured out my way around,” It had taken Percy awhile to figure out where things were once he’d moved to Orange County and he wouldn’t admit it, but he had gotten lost once or twice. “It’s definitely not like New York, but I figured it out. How long have you been out here?”
Luke thought for a moment on how long it had been. He wasn’t entirely sure about the exact length, but that was more because of a high level of distraction than anything else. “Not long, honestly. A few weeks. But the first part was finding a place to stay, which was a little more difficult than anticipated.” He didn’t feel it was necessary to explain that he was living in a homeless shelter. It wasn’t like they were really close. He still hadn’t told Thalia either. “You’re from New York? I’m from...somewhere around there.” He frowned briefly before saying, “Uh. Connecticut, actually.” It was probably safe to say Connecticut. He was trying to remind himself that it was more suspicious not to say the state than to say it.
“We were practically neighbors then.” Percy didn’t understand why Luke seemed so reluctant to saying where he was from, but it wasn’t Percy’s place to pry. “I say practically since Connecticut is a pretty big state.” Percy’s phone began vibrating in his pocket and when he took it out he saw that it was his mother calling, “It’s my mom. Her and my step dad are driving cross country, so I should take this. It was good to meet you, Luke.”
“It is, yeah. I haven’t been back in a while, but my mom still lives there.” He nodded at Percy’s statement. “No. That’s fine. I’d have done the same. It was nice to meet you, Percy. I hope your family makes it here okay.”