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[marred]

( AUDIO | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION | GEORGE AND MARTHA | ETC )

( identifiers: luke castellan | ophiotaurus | αλεπού (the fox) | george and martha through luke castellan || LOCKET + COMPASS )

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[marred]

[ with her wet, little nose, maia brushes it beneath his chin. momentarily, he's distracted by her fussing, trying to calm her within his hands as he knows the moment he lets her leap from his embrace, she'll charge forth once more. but he ignores maia the moment clarisse's proposal actually comes forth. he looks at her, but it isn't with trepidation toward the pen-sword that clouds his gaze. his brows furrow for a quick moment before his lips part, looking at her as though she's grown the two heads that make ladon's physique. ]

[ he doesn't expect her to trust him. being asked to join an elite team of shardbearers by her is strange in itself. though he suspects she's merely doing so for his skill, as he's never been one to properly humble himself until he sounds as though he can barely hold a sword within his grip, let alone wield it, he knows it isn't for the trust she may embrace when she takes to nico or annabeth that sees her coming to him. he's a knight of the golden cadre, and it's within ridire she trusts, not him. but he still finds himself taken aback by her proposal, having never really expected, nor ever presumed, he'd have a place on any elite team where she held power within her hands to whisper a list of names into the shell of ridire's ear. ]

[ maia wriggles within his arms. looking down at her, luke does as he hadn't wished to do, lowering himself to let her leap from his arms. instead of bolting as he had predicted, she simply runs circles around clarisse's legs, before she widens her berth and encompasses them both in her running. returning to his full height, luke bites his lip for a moment. ] Uh. [ this hadn't been what he had been expecting when she'd abruptly woken him up from his impromptu nap. distracted by maia for a brief moment, he watches as she runs laps around them, never quite tiring, behaving as though she's a kid of hermes herself. though his father's cunningness thrums within his veins, he doesn't feel the desire to trick her and say yes, or even have her leap through so many flaming hoops to inevitably reveal his answer is truly no. after his long pause, he looks up at her, pressing his lips together as he glances down at his feet. instead of being sarcastic or even self-deprecating in tone, his own voice is soft, as it cracks slightly, ] I can't.

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[rues]

[ she's almost ready to throw in the towel and just say forget it, seeming to get the idea from his hesitation that he's not interested and she's wasting her time — but it's the fact that he says uh, which, for a master of communication, isn't something she's used to hearing him say, that has her staring at him expectantly, brows slightly furrowed as she isn't quite sure what she expects him to say next. not interested or straight up no are at the top of her list. ]

[ he surprises her with i can't after an impossibly long pause, leaving her heart beating slightly harder than it had been earlier. he almost looks guilty about turning her down, which probably isn't the case, but he's definitely acting weird, like he actually wants to let her down easy instead of laughing as he lets her down the hard way. ]

[ she tilts her head, as if she hadn't quite heard him right. ] Wait. You can't? [ she's not even sure she knows what that means. what's more important than fighting the unseelie who will just destroy all of them if they don't do something to stop them? ] Why not? [ she doesn't mean to sound so entitled, but she really had been banking on him saying yes and she's still not totally used to not getting her way when it comes to things like this; or, even if he had said no, she expected it to be because he just didn't want to join her team, not because of ... something else entirely. ]

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[marred]

[ it takes everything within his power to not roll his eyes at the entitlement she's simply simmering in. he feels guilty for a split second before it ultimately is pulverised beneath her foot. it's almost akin to how she's always surprised by the things he can do — he can teleport, he can find foxes, he can sing a damn taylor swift song and hit every note without flinching — and it's all because she's never really shown any interest in him. keeping what sir lancelot has asked of him quiet, it's been his own attempts at being sneaky and cunning, disallowing the unseelie to even know he's around, prepared to dismantle traps and the like with his ability to pick locks if there's any that happen to be on the field — and he simply just hasn't had anyone to tell. one is the loneliest number, even if two snakes insist it's now four and less lonely, what with the big personalities of a fox, a husband, and a surrogate mother possess. ]

[ closing his eyes for just a brief moment, he grits his teeth. but it does nothing to stop him from snapping. ] Because I can't. [ he thinks to leave it there, his answer standing for itself. it's the guilt he feels like she's pushing onto his shoulders, the guilt that has been forming upon the bone the moment she made her proposal, as he can't perform as she wants. to her impeccably high standards, he'll always fall — he doesn't know why she's so up in arms upset over the kid who disappoints everyone has done what he's best at with her. he rolls his eyes to diffuse how uncomfortable he is at feeling something other than mere irritation at her and her self-righteousness, as he shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest as maia ducks her head in a bush and hides. raising his eyebrows, he looks at her, tone biting, ] Lancelot asked me to be on the front lines, okay? I can probably count on one hand how many people there are in the court who can unlock any lock and happen to have a sword that can kill almost anything. [ it's the curses he thinks that sold it, but he thinks lancelot's merely a simple guy. if he says he can unlock a door within a minute, he's going to be sold. he's an easy sell. ]

[ but he really dislikes the manner in which he feels like a soldier expected to stand to attention simply because she has the favour of the high-king. he's never obeyed a single command unless it worked in his favour — or someone like beckendorf had asked, treating him like a human being as he expected luke to say no instead of yes — and he's not going to start, especially with clarisse la rue barking orders at him. he may not be a commander or a general, he may simply be a foot soldier expected to heel when the big guys within the court ask him to — and he has, he stupidly has with lancelot, but he thinks the seelie marshall's seen him for more than his abilities, even though that's how he's sold himself to him. he's always felt like he's beneath her — and it comes bubbling up now with her expectation that he'd say yes simply because she asked him. yes or no, she says, when he truly has no choice. ]

[ his brows pinch, his tone still sharp, ] So, I'm going to have to circle the slash between yes and no on your little form. [ he's tempted to snap you don't need me, anyway but he doesn't particularly wish to hear her reply you're right, i don't. ]

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[rues]

[ there's a kind of jealousy, an outrage, that bubbles up beneath clarisse's skin and at the back of her throat when luke mentions lancelot, but she swallows it down, forces herself to bite her tongue and keep her mouth shut. this isn't an argument; she's simply being outranked. and if the seelie marshall needs luke, there isn't much say she could have in the matter, not even if she took it up with ridire. but she wouldn't — luke isn't some plaything to fight over, and despite the childish whining in the back of her head, the tantrum she could throw over not getting what she wants, she knows she has to trust lancelot on this one (and she can't afford to let her sense of entitlement drive her actions as she'd let it during the titan war). ]

[ luke's right, anyway — and, by extension, lancelot. clarisse knows luke would be better suited to the front lines, which is why she tries her hardest not to sound too upset or disappointed or defensive that he'll be fighting in this war on a different front. she's still all of those things, but she understands this isn't just about her or her team, and taking out her irrational disappointment on luke isn't fair. before the truce, she wouldn't have cared, would have just kept barreling onward and turning this whole thing around on him, making it seem like it's his fault when it really isn't — but things are different now, and reigning in her temper has been something she's really been trying to work on, especially after she nearly ruined the negotiations with the cothromach. words may not be her strongest suit, but attempting to choose them more carefully instead of just blurting out whatever emotion-fueled rhetoric comes to mind might be something she's slowly picking up from luke's influence. ]

[ she raises a hand defensively, almost in surrender, brows drawn tightly together, more out of frustration than anger. she knows when to pick her battles, and this isn't one of them, even if she could very easily make it one. ] Okay. I get it. If Lancelot needs you, that's the end of it. [ she keeps the would've been nice to know before i wasted my time sitting on the edge of her tongue to herself. it's not anyone's fault but her own. ]

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[marred]

[ luke hadn't bothered to fight lancelot on it, either. he hadn't known clarisse was considering, and even then, he knows where he's best suited. it isn't infiltrating a castle, even though he knows he's probably one of the better candidates as he instantly knows his way around, capable of unlocking any cursed lock, and fighting in close quarters — but he doesn't think he's so integral to her little side mission that it'll fall apart without him. the team has her on it. he isn't necessary. ]

[ he thinks to say great, but maia steals his attention from him by running into his leg before sitting on his foot. moving it gently beneath her, she raises herself and steps back. squatting down, he picks her up, her wriggling in his grasp before she settles against his neck and shoulder. her nose is cold against his throat, but he doesn't think anything of it. just as he doesn't dwell on her not fighting for him, either. she's a kid of war, she knows her place in the military ranks. he knows if it was him, he'd damn the hierarchy to hades and insist she's better suited on his team — it's probably why no hermes commander has ever lived long enough to make it into the history books. ]

[ he doesn't notice his shadow darkening before it begins to move again, his left hand pointing at clarisse. ]

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[rues]

[ she's about to say i guess we're done here and head to annabeth's, but she's distracted for a moment by maia, who manages to bring a twitch of a smile to her face before she notices that, yet again, luke's shadow is doing that thing. she can't help but jump slightly, as it's currently pointing at her — why does this only ever happen around her, anyway? ]

Oh, for fuck's sake, not this again. [ this is a joke, right? she doesn't sound enthused in the slightest, staring down at luke's shadow unimpressed. there's a slight edge of panic to her voice, considering the shadow is pointing at her, and she still doesn't know how this whole thing works. it's just supposed to lead him to something, right? last time it let him to maia; it doesn't occur to her that it would always lead him to a fox, and she's currently standing right in the direction he's supposed to go, so of course she'd think the shadow might be trying to tell him something completely different. she's had enough experience with bullshit signs from the gods to know this wouldn't be the weirdest one. ]

[ she steps to the side, just to see if the shadow follows her; thankfully, it doesn't, which at least settles some of the anxiety swelling in her chest. with a war on the horizon, she really didn't want to have to deal with someone (or something) thinking it was funny to try and play matchmaker. ] You're going to follow it, aren't you. [ it's not even a question, because she already knows the answer. of course he is. and she'll probably end up following him, just out of curiosity. it's like the shadow knows, even if it doesn't. ]

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[marred]

[ a second before clarisse even speaks, maia begins to wriggle violently within his arms. releasing her, she leaps from where she had allowed him to cradle her to his chest as she bounds in the direction of where his shadow is pointing. luke glances up the moment maia's feet hit the ground, expecting her to linger and nip at his shoelaces and the wings of his converse as she often does. his lips begin to form what? until he glances down and notes his shadow is pointing to her. immediately, he knows it's not at her, as she's neither a fox nor even one of black shuck's own (not like him). he does expect one to be right behind her legs, but, of course, as per how it had been with maia, this discovery requires a little travel and adventure. ]

[ looking up at her, she says what he's thinking — the very action he's chosen to take. maybe it's careless in the true scope of things, but luke's never been careful. living on the side of recklessness, if he never heeded his instincts into telling him to follow his shadow, he never would've found maia at all. and he thinks about it now, what it would be like without her — she may just be a fox, a quite little thing that often thinks his bed is her own, but she's family. george and martha treat her as if she's their own kid, in the similar manner in which they treat him. he doesn't even shrug his shoulder as he begins to walk, strides long as maia disappears behind some bushes. he doesn't have backbiter to cut through the gardens as he takes the longer route, walking along the dirt and destroying any print she has left within the earth as maia runs toward one side of the bailey. ]

[ and then she disappears in a bush, only to emerge, second later, from the left. she disappears again, running in sharp and fast circles, as she emerges to disappear to only reappear again. but instead of diving into the bush to continue her circle, she pushes her head through the leaves with her tail and hind legs sticking out. to him, it isn't thick, merely a small bush that's grown in patches, but to her, it's an adventure — and it's one he doesn't want to tug her into his arms and pull her away from. he approaches her, brows pinched, a bemused laugh in his voice, ] What's got you so worked up?

[ and then he sees them: two foxes tackling and rolling with one another on the dirt. a pure white and a not so pure white, he notes how the grey upon the latter's fur is more clean than the one the colour of snow as dirt and mud and leaves stick to her coat. thinking this adventure to be shorter than when he had discovered her, he's taken aback by the sight of two instead of one. he crosses his arms over his chest as he shakes his head with a laugh. ] Guess you got family, Maia.