Thalia Grace (wasatree) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-10-07 13:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, killian jones (captain hook), thalia grace |
WHO: Thalia Grace and Killian Jones
WHERE: Killian and Regina’s place
WHEN: Oct 7
WHAT: Thalia gets a tool that might help Luke
RATING: PG
STATUS: log; completed
The further Luke got into his dreams, the more Thalia worried. It was clear that dream!Luke was running headlong into something awful, and the only thing that remained to be seen was if any of them was going to make it out alive. And if they didn’t...how would that affect them in real life? Would they die as well? Would Luke be permanently possessed? Even if he wasn’t, that kind of thing would affect him forever. Thalia hated it. She hated feeling so helpless. And yet, helpless she was. She simply had no idea how to help Luke, whether with the dreams or whatever came out of them. She’d talked to Killian and Regina before about this, and although they’d both pledged their help, none of them had a solid enough plan to make Thalia feel any better about this. “He’s got the Curse of Achilles,” she said over a glass of juice as she talked to Killian in his kitchen. “That’s, like, the last step before he gets possessed.” For this, Killian needed a beer. He knew Thalia didn’t drink, but the pirate certainly did. Oh, he’d cut back a lot, but for a conversation that involved possession (something that Killian had faced before - though being cursed with harboring literal darkness and evil may be a bit different, similar where it counted) required something stronger. He leaned against the kitchen island, sipping from a bottle while he also kept an eye on Meara, who was in her highchair working on soft-cooked pasta. She used the plastic kiddie fork sometimes. But mostly she was into picking up the pieces with her fingers. “And what exactly does the curse entail?” he wanted to know. “Is it removable, or...?” He just needed all of the information before he offered a potential solution. There was something he had in mind. “The Curse of Achilles basically means you’re invulnerable,” Thalia explained. “Which doesn’t sound like much of a curse until you realize what you have to go through to get it. You still have a vulnerable spot - Luke says it’s under his armpit - but you pretty much kill him if you injure him there.” Which was obviously not the goal of this exercise. “I’m not even sure if it can be removed,” she continued. “I mean, we can try to look it up and hope it works in our dream world. But I think the best thing to do is figure out how to prevent the possession thing from leaking into real life.” No, killing Luke wasn’t something Killian was quite excited about doing. It wasn’t something he wanted to do either. Certainly he would if he had to - but the lad was so young, he’d already had a shitty start to life, and he hadn’t asked for any of this. Plus, Thalia would be heartbroken. He cared about the girl and didn’t want her to have to go through that. And so she wouldn’t - they’d figure something out. “Aye, preventing the possession might be best,” he agreed, going around to wipe at Meara’s hands with a sponge. The grubby little sweetheart - mealtime was always messy time when they were this age. “I’ve something that may help with that.” “Yeah?” Thalia nearly shot out of her seat in her eagerness to find out what that something was, but she managed to refrain. Killian was busy tending to Meara, and no one messed with Queen Meara. Still, this was the best lead they’d had since this whole thing started, and she shifted impatiently in her seat while she waited for more details. The starfish was now clean, never fear (though her bib would certainly have to be washed - if they could indeed salvage that). Meara bounced in her highchair, clearly amused, and Killian lifted her up to hug her against his hip. He slung his chin in the direction of the living room, meaning for Thalia to come with him. Wheels were turning in his head - and while he didn’t know if this would work exactly (because different dreamworlds, though granted, there were some similarities - he’d dreamed of a few gods, Hades and Zeus and Megara and all of those folks), it seemed like the best option. “Watch her a moment?” he said, putting Meara in Thalia’s lap. Plopping the wee sprog there, more like. “I need to get something from me and Regina’s stash of magical crossover artifacts.” It was in the crypt, you see. Carefully guarded by Queenie the cobra. He’d only be a moment. “Yeah, sure,” Thalia said amiably. She would’ve said that even if he wasn’t leaving to find something to help her. Unlike most people her age, she liked babies. And from the way Meara burbled at her, she knew she was liked too. “Me and Meara are gonna have a great time, right Meara? And this time you won’t spit up all over my shirt, right? Yeah, I know you will. That was just wishful thinking.” Killian chuckled, giving Thalia a clean cloth just in case - to protect her shirt, and he draped it over her shoulder. “She usually only does if she eats too fast, so it should be alright,” he promised. Meara had mostly outgrown her spit-up phase, save for a few episodes here and there. Then he went to the crypt, the actual location outside in the yard and conveniently glamoured - Tigra, the place’s usual occupant, hissed at him when he came by. Of course she did. That cat was a bloody menace, but Killian simply hissed right back and she went running off. Funny thing was, Queenie the cobra in her cage didn’t hiss at him, just moved to get his attention. Like the Evil Queen was trying to hypnotise him - and why not? She’d managed to do that even in human form; this pirate had a special bond with her. “Bet you want something to eat, don’t you?” he asked her, watching her forked tongue flick out to taste the air. “Dead mouse coming soon, love, I’ve just got to take care of something first.” What he grabbed from the vault were a pair of golden shears - originally he’d given them to Emma, but then when she moved he took them back. He knew he’d find a use for them, and so that had arrived. Heading back inside, he exchanged Meara for the shears - well, he set Meara on her playpad so he could explain this artifact. “Those are the Shears of Destiny,” he said. “If used correctly, they’ll sever his fate to be cursed - thus stopping it from happening at all.” Thalia stared at the Shears in her hands as if they were a combination of poisonous snake and crown jewels. She wasn’t quite sure whether to throw them on the ground and run away or grab them and run away before Killian changed his mind and asked for them back. Either way, the urge to run away was strong. “The Shears of Destiny? The Shears of Destiny? Like, from the Fates? How in the gods’ names did you get them?” “Yes, exactly,” Killian nodded, pleased that Thalia knew what they were - he felt better about this whole thing, then, and figured that their vague dream similarities would be useful one day. That day had arrived, it seemed. “They’ve changed many hands over the years; originally they were stored in a vault by the fairies and it’s a long story but Emma wanted to use them to sever her fate as the Savior - she received them from Aladdin, believe it or not. He had previously used them as well, since he was once the Savior. Only Emma changed her mind at the last minute so she gave me the shears and trusted I would get rid of them.” However, he hadn’t - Emma expected him to throw the damn things into the sea, yet he’d kept them. As a ‘just in case,’ and mostly for her protection. Shit hit the fan after that, the shears ended up buried in a graveyard, but he had them now. And he was perfectly fine with giving them to someone who could use them. “They’ll work - since you know what they are, you know what they can do. Use them to save your boy from being possessed.” Thalia was still staring at the Shears. These were treasures, the kind demigods were sent on quests to get and often got killed over. And here Killian had just handed them over to her. Literally. “You said when they’re used correctly, they’ll work,” she said slowly. “How do you use them correctly?” Well, that was a fair question. Killian hadn’t exactly used them himself - he just was their caretaker, for a time. “I imagine by ‘correctly’ that means not using them to cut paper,” he chuckled. “But...you’ve got a bit of magic in you, I think.” She was a demigod, and with that came extra abilities and an aura that wasn’t exactly human. Not all the way. “When you put your will into it, you should be able to wield them - and see the golden thread you have to cut from him,” the Captain advised. Of course, it went without saying that if Thalia cut the wrong one, Luke could very well just keel over and die. It was a lot of power to put into someone’s hands but in this case, that power would be used for good. Thalia wasn’t afraid of power - in fact, in her dreams her desire for ever-increasing power was her fatal flaw. But this was immense power, and real life Thalia wasn’t as power-hungry as her dream counterpart. She made an attempt to put her will into the Shears, just to see if she could, and gasped when she spotted the multiple strands floating around Killian and Meara. “How would I know if I get the right one? I can’t just go around cutting them all.” “You’ll be able to sense it, I think. Listen to your instincts, your gut.” That was Killian’s advice, what he thought - not only would it be sort of a test for Luke, but for Thalia too. Could she overcome her dream self’s fatal flaw in order to save the person she loved? Christ, it sounded like something from a soap opera. He almost chuckled. “I’d say get some practise first - but that’s not the type of magic you can really do that with,” he pointed out. It wasn’t the type of magic that really had an instruction manual either. “Do know that I’m pulling for you, love.” He believed in her. Believed that she could do this. He wouldn’t have given her the shears if he didn’t. “Is this some variation of Luke, use the Force?” Thalia grimaced, still handling the Shears gingerly. But if they were going to help with the Kronos issue...well, she had to give it a try. “If you could come up with anything more concrete, though, let me know.” She got up. “I’ll go tell Luke about this.” And Annabeth too, probably. The girl was a daughter of Athena, after all. She might have some ideas about the best way to use this. She did give Killian a wan smile, though. “Thanks. This is huge, lending me the Fates’ Shears. I’d hug you but I might accidentally stab you with them and that won’t be fun.” “I’ll take a hug later,” Killian said, standing up to walk Thalia out. He knew she had things to do and people to confer with - threads of fate to cut, things of that nature. “When your boy is safe and sound, alright?” In the meantime, he’d just hope that everything turned out for the best. Gods, this place was utterly mad sometimes. |