Luke Castellan (anineiron) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-05-29 17:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | luke castellan, thalia grace |
Who: Luke Castellan & Thalia Grace
When: During the Star Wars plot
Where: The apartment & out
What: fighting Storm Troopers b/c reasons
Rating/Warnings: Violence, but nothing real srs
Status: Complete
Did Luke need to leave the place he shared with Thalia and Annabeth today? Well, no. Not exactly. But being cooped up wasn’t really an option. Especially not when there were people hurting people out there and he might actually be able to do something to help instead of hurt. He didn’t have all of his things from the dreams, but he had at least two weapons. That was all that he really needed. Maybe Thalia. He poked his head into her room. “Hey. I was hoping you were feeling bored and maybe a little reckless and wanted to go fight some Star Wars people. If only because I’m bored and maybe a little reckless. I figured if I went out without you, you’d get mad at me, so here I am.”
Of course, she’d be getting mad because of the fact that he ran into danger without telling her. It was less that he’d gone out without her.
Thalia was indeed bored. But as a socialite with a healthy trust fund, Thalia was often bored. It was just that some kinds of boredom were better than others. At the moment, she was just scrolling through the network feed and getting news about some sort of Star Wars thing - which figured, given where they were and what day it was.
So when Luke popped his head in and asked her out for some fighting, she looked up with a gleam in her eye. “I’m in.”
He’d done the right thing, inviting her along. She definitely would’ve been pissed off if he’d gone without her, mostly because it was stupid, but partly because he’d be leaving her out.
“I still don’t have my spear or anything, but I got my shield.” She held up her bracelet, which she’d come out with after being turned back from being a tree.
The look on Thalia’s face was one that he remembered. It was familiar from both here and in the dreams. It was sort of one of his favorite looks. Even if it usually meant trouble was coming right after it. Of course, this time he was the one that suggested it and he was the one inciting trouble.
Luke smiled at her. “Well, I have my knife and my nine iron. Which one do you want?” Because maybe he didn’t have armor or a shield, but he had two weapons. He knew how to use the nine iron pretty well. So it wouldn’t really be a problem either way.
“Keep them,” Thalia advised, setting aside her laptop so she could get out of bed. “I can probably pick up a blaster along the way.”
Had she ever used a blaster? Nope. But that didn't stop her from being fully confident that she could learn to use one. Hey, she had to do better than the Stormtroopers, right?
She hopped out of bed and went to the closet, only to pause there. That excitement for jumping into battle: that was the dream version of her talking. Dream Thalia had fought numerous battles, even at a young age. Real Thalia, not so much. What the heck was she doing, wading into a fight with movie villains?
She shook her head. “Wow. I just got this moment of...disorientation. Like me and Dream Me just got into a fight.”
Luke had almost forgotten about the blasters and other weapons that were out there. He knew they existed because people had been talking about them, but his mind hadn’t actually considered it. He’d mostly just considered the fact that he had his weapons. Everything in him knew how to fight, in his dreams, it was the only thing that kept them alive. Until it wasn’t.
This was different. They didn’t have to fight, but at the same time, there were people who were in danger. He wasn’t sure if they could protect themselves or not. Part of it was boredom, but there was a part that wanted to prove he wasn’t his dream self. Not entirely.
“What were you and Dream You fighting about?” He paused to study her for a moment. Just to see if he could figure out what exactly she was going to say. He couldn’t, though.
Now that she'd worked through the dissonance in her head, Thalia finished grabbing her jacket off the hanger.
“Dream Me’s like, ‘Rar! Let's kick Stormtrooper butt!’ And Real Me’s like, ‘Are you crazy? Have you ever even fought anyone other than reporters?’”
But she was thinking the same thing as he was: that there were people out there who were getting hurt, and if she could help them at all...well, at least then it would mean the dreams weren't really useless.
She turned and gave him a determined smile. “But I want to do this.”
And it would do them good, to be able to fight together, instead of each other.
When she replied, Luke understood. He had plenty of moments where he paused and questioned himself. Technically, that was more often than he really cared to admit, but then he did have a habit of getting himself into crazy situations. The most recent one was hiding Zeus’ Masterbolt. Only he felt a lot more comfortable going out to fight this time. He wasn’t sure why, but he thought maybe it was just because he was doing something to help others. He hadn’t considered that it was his dream self influencing him.
“Well, we technically have done plenty of crazy things. I think we should be able to do this.” He smiled at Thalia. “And people probably need people who know a little bit about fighting. Even if it is just in the dreams.”
He would be a better person than he was in the dreams. He would take whatever chances he had to. Plus, with Thalia there, they’d be better. They could protect each other while helping people around them. It was better than the dreams where they’d fought against each other. “Okay. First Storm Trooper we find, we’ll disarm. Then we’ll use his weapon to fight back against them. If we have to, we’ll get a couple blasters. Too bad Annabeth’s not here to strategize, but I think we can handle it.”
That being said, he made his way toward the door to go outside.
Thalia was close behind. Her philosophy, whether it was her own or her dream self’s, was fairly simple: find Stormtrooper, kick his ass, get his weapon. No need for a Daughter of Athena for that kind of thing. Maybe if they came upon a whole group of them and found themselves outnumbered….
...as they did when they stepped outside the door of the apartment.
Fortunately, the white-uniformed clones were too much of a hurry to head somewhere to notice them. Still, Thalia pressed Luke against the door, keeping them as small and in the shadows as possible, until she spotted a straggler. Oh yeah. Two on one. Much better odds. And he was even carrying a rifle!
She nodded at Luke to indicate the guy she wanted to take.
Luke held his breath when she pressed him against the door. He didn’t move, but kept his eyes on the Storm Troopers as they walked past. He wasn’t going to put them in danger. Even if he had a feeling that they were terrible shots and the two of them together could dodge if they had to.
But he waited for the signal from Thalia before they moved. It didn’t take much to take the guy down. Like Luke assumed, he had shitty aim. And he had a golf club. Like Xena said. You just swung. He’d hit the back of his knees because that seemed like the easier place considering the helmet would protect from almost anything else.
As expected, the clone went down easily from that whack in a vulnerable spot - and Thalia was waiting to give him a good shove forward as he fell. Unbalanced, he flailed his arms - allowing his rifle to fall and skid several feet away.
Thalia was already running for it before the storm trooper hit the ground, and by the time he lifted his head, he had his own rifle pointed at him.
“Thanks,” Thalia chirped.
The act of stealing a Storm Trooper’s weapon and then pointing it right back at him while thanking him probably shouldn’t have made Luke want to kiss Thalia at that moment, but he couldn’t help thinking it. He didn’t kiss her, though. He just flashed her a smile before swinging his golf club at the base of the man’s skull and hoping to knock him out. At least they hadn’t killed him? Not that it probably would be for any good. The man would likely just kill someone else later if he didn’t die because of someone else.
“One day, I’m going to try on a Storm Trooper costume just for the fun of it. Only you can’t shoot me if I do.” He moved to Thalia’s side, eyes scanning the area around them for any other stragglers. True, he didn’t need a gun, but it wasn’t like it could really hurt to have something a little more long-range than a golf club and a dagger.
Not seeing anyone in the immediate area, Luke motioned for Thalia to follow him and started out further from the apartment. “After this is over, I’m pretty sure we’re making out. Just so you’re prepared for that.”
“I’ll brace myself,” Thalia said, smiling in anticipation as she scanned the street in search of someone else she could steal a blaster or rifle from. She'd feel better if Luke also had a long range weapon.
Seeing nothing for the moment, she took the time to flash him a wicked smile. “Put on a Han Solo costume, though, and you're probably going to get more than just making out.”
What could she say? She loved them charming scoundrels.
And just to give him some extra incentive, she leaned up and brushed a kiss at the corner of his mouth.
“Come on. I think I saw some turn into the alley.”
Luke found himself grinning at her response. It was something he hadn’t thought that he’d want again. Or...at least, he hadn’t thought it would happen again, but here he was. The comment about the Han Solo costume only made him smile a little more. “Han Solo costume. Got it. On the list of things to purchase.”
His whole body stilled when her lips touched him. It wasn’t a proper kiss, but he was never really that great at not being affected by her. Even the smallest of gestures meant a lot, which probably was ridiculous, but considering the fact that she could get him to do things just by looking at him both in and out of the dreams, it wasn’t that surprising.
Following her lead, Luke made his way into the alley she’d mentioned, golf club at the ready. His knife was at his waist, so he could grab for it if he needed it, but he would stick to the nine iron until he got something else. He observed the area, ducking to avoid a shot fired his way. “Guess they know we’re here,” he whispered before ducking another shot. “Still bad shots.”
“Luckily,” she whispered back, “I am an excellent shot.” Thanks to her dream self, Thalia had found herself with way better reflexes and depth perception than she’d ever had. It would’ve come in handy during PE, when she’d been still in school, but she definitely wasn’t complaining about having them now.
She took aim, fired, and knocked two of them off their feet.
“Go quick, grab it,” she told Luke, indicating one of the rifles that had skittered out of a Stormtrooper’s hand. “I’ll cover you.”
Luke smiled at her, darting forward once the men had been knocked to their feet. His fingers closed around the rifle. It was nice to know that the dreams gave them abilities other than just whatever lock-picking powers he’d gotten. Being able to take in a situation and start considering battle plans or at least plans of action was nice. Plus the reflexes.
He was also glad that Thalia had the same abilities or he might actually have gotten himself into trouble by now. With a quick roll, he was back to Thalia’s side. “Thanks for not letting me die. Promise I’ll make it up to you.”
Which was when he heard the sound of footsteps behind them and shot one of the Storm Troopers that was coming into the alley. “I didn’t expect to have to keep that promise so soon, but you’re welcome,” he said, grinning widely.
It was so quickly and smoothly done that Thalia was left to just stare at the Stormtrooper on the ground. Then she turned to give him a quick, fierce smile.
“Smooth, Castellan. Now, let's go kick Stormtrooper butt.”