meadowlarklogs | she's a siren in the night, with streaks of red and blue

You realize that by saying 'don't look down', that pretty much means that the person in question is going to look down.

[ but marcos doesn't because, even though this is a dream, he really doesn't want to lose what little food he has in his stomach. maybe that can't happen in a dream but he's not going to risk it. ]

So, what are Titans? Figure I should know something about these guys before I get dream killed by them.

[ he is no wrong, silena really bombed that. ]

You won't be killed by Titans, I promise. We win. [ she doesn't.... sound very sure about that.

as they follow the pathway across the sky bridge and enter the mountain city proper, silena's disquiet grows, mouth pinched into an uncertain frown that does not suit her pretty face. the city is eerily quiet, silent. no music, no laughter, no voices of any kind. the mountain seems abandoned. the streets are empty, shops closed. a single cyclops was sweeping a side street with an uprooted oak tree, but he paid them no mind.

they pass under a huge marble archway with statues of a man and a woman on either side. ]

Zeus and Hera, king and queen of the gods.

Oh, comforting.

[ except not very. he watches her face and sees her discomfort which makes him wonder if she's lying to him to try and make him feel better. if he dies, he dies, but he wishes she wouldn't lie if that's what she's doing. ]

Are they who you're going to see?

[ he's really not dressed to meet a king and queen. or gods. or literally anyone but maybe a homeless person eating from a dumpster. ]

[ technically, she is not lying. their success is an assumption. none of her siblings died, however, so if he sticks with her... they should be fine. until she is not. she really hopes the dream doesn't last that long, it's tomorrow. ]

The plan is to politely ask Zeus to stop being a baby and defend the city.

[ politely.

blue lights streak across the sky like tiny comets, fizzling out as the reach the mountain. everyone pauses. a boy with a bow-- ] That's Michael, son of Apollo. [ --says: "Infrared scopes. We're being targeted."

the black haired boy-- ] That's Percy, son of Poseidon. [ --obviously the leader based on everyone following his lead, marches them onward toward the unguarded palace and into the throne room.

the throne room the size of madison square garden. high above their head the ceiling is dotted with constellations glowing like they are real stars and twelve enormous thrones, empty, standing in a semi circle around a hearth tended by a pleasant brunette woman with a simple brown dress and brown eyes that seem to reflect the red-gold fire, but from within.

"Hello again, Percy Jackson. You and your friends are welcome."

also there is a floating sphere of water the size of a house in which a half-cow, half-sea serpent is swimming around. he moos happily, swimming in an excited surface.

percy bows to the woman and all the kids follow suit, silena whispering: ] Lady Hestia, goddess of hearth and home.

[ okay so, he's just going to do his best to follow silena's lead. he bows when they bow and he tries not to look directly at any gods and goddesses just in case that's a thing. ]

Do you know what Zeus says?

[ are they about to make a very power being mad? ]

[ it's just hestia for now and she seems a welcoming presence, which makes sense consider what she is the goddess of. ]

He does nothing.

[ he might, later. he might come save the day but it doesn't seem likely. percy keeps talking to hestia and annabeth so silena takes marcos' hand and brings him to the thrones. one in particular that is carved with doves and apple flowers.

WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO, SMITE HER? too late! ]

Boost me up.

What?

[ is it possible to ground his fake daughter in a dream? because he feels like this is a bad idea and he doesn't want to do it if it's going to cause problems. ]

Why? What are you going to do?

[ should you be climbing on things that were the property of powerful deities, silena? ]

I want to sit on the throne. Boost me up.

[ she is insistent and weirdly persuasive for not having said anything to persuade him. silena doesn't have range of charmspeak that drew has, she is simply determined to get what she wants in this situation and she is determined for marcos to help her. ]

It's a dream, they can't stop me.

[ and yet hestia's gaze turns to look at her as if silena's attitude summoned her attention. silena ignores it. the gods have no power here. ]

Edited 2019-10-03 03:34 (UTC)

[ marcos mutters some rapid fire, not so nice words in spanish but does boost her up because he...can't figure out a reason to tell her no. even when he feels someone's gaze on them, he keeps helping. ]

Silena, this is a bad idea. Yeah, I know it's a dream and you think you can do anything you want but try to keep it within reason.

[ #dad ]

You can still piss people off and who knows if they'll somehow have this same dream or something wherever they are.

In order to be pissed at me, they would have to pay attention to me.

[ it only takes a basket of his hands and a little boost for silena to scramble onto the throne. it's huge, built for a god twenty feet tall and silena looks like a baby propped up on daddy's recliner for a comical photo op.

except she is standing on the seat of a goddess and the power is enormous. her eyes change color, blue to brown to green to violet, her hair somehow flutters free from her braid, long, glassy curls blown back from her face like on an invisible breeze. even her hair seems to shimmer through every color, black to brown to honey honey brown to a soft buttery blonde back through all the shades of brown and blonde, a blink and you miss it flash of black hair with streaks of green. the change isn't jarring, despite how quickly she filters through the changes it is with a softness, cycling through the ideals of beauty, surrounded by a soft pinkish glow.

until that soft pinkish glow begins to highlight how pale silena is becoming, tendrils of smoke rolling off her like she is about to spontaneously combust. ]

Silena, get down. Silena, get down right now.

[ this might be a dream but marcos knows that's not right. what he is seeing is not right and he wants her to get down before something actually sticks from this dream. he reaches up, extends a hand to her. ]

Silena, now. You're going to hurt yourself or something's going to hurt you. Get down! Please. Please, get down.

[ oh my gods, dad, you can't tell her what to do! but in feeling the rush of love from her mother's powers, she is also reminded of her love for marcos and she can't ignore his fear. she isn't her mother. she can't ignore her family.

she puts her hand in his, letting him help her down. ]

Sorry. [ for worrying him, for being a butthead. ]

It's fine. You just — you gotta be careful.

[ because it looked like she'd been about to catch on fire there for a second. ]

I get that you wanna run wild but I don't want to watch you get hurt. It might not be real but it's still gonna look real to me.

I know.

[ she has the decency to look chagrined at her own behavior, the rest of the dream or the memory carrying on as if in the distance, dim and muted. she is better than this, except she is not. she is seventeen and hurt and not over any of this since it happened three weeks ago. ]

When I said stick with me I should have remembered I am the problem.

The problem?

[ why did that sound so foreboding? ]

How much of a problem are we talking?

[ silena doesn't want to tell marcos the truth because she doesn't want him to be disappointed in her. would it have been easier had he not been her father in zerzura? probably, but it isn't like silena wants to disappoint anyone. ]

There was a spy in camp, telling the Titans our plans.

[ she doesn't say anything else but she is pretty sure he can figure out the implication. ]

A spy?

[ his eyes narrow as he focuses on her. ]

Why would someone do that?

Because they were thirteen and the boy that was always sweet to them asked. By the time they realized it was wrong everything was out of control and when I told Luke I wanted to stop he threatened to tell everyone it was me, he said he would hurt Charlie.

[ luke was charismatic, charming. silena was a teenage girl with a crush and he told her that she would be saving lives. she was a child. luke made her do awful things -- she poisoned thalia's tree and framed chiron at his request -- but losing charlie hurt more than anything else and she gave up fighting luke until she couldn't anymore. ]

He promised me no one would get hurt, but Charlie...

[ her voice cracks and she trails off. ]

I'm sorry.

[ he says the words quietly, reaching out to put a firm hand on her shoulder. she hadn't done anything wrong. she'd been used and manipulated and had her feelings abused by someone who trusted. ]

I'm sorry about Charlie. I'm sorry that you trusted the wrong person. I've done that too. It's...I'm sorry.

[ silena desperately wants his compassion, she wants to think that it all comes down to trusting the wrong person and not some personal moral failing on her part, but it doesn't matter. she still did it. lee and castor and all the other demigods at the labyrinth died because of what she did, how many demigods were going to die today or tomorrow?

charlie died. ]

I never thought it would go this far.

[ no one ever does. ]

I know. It's not your fault. It happens. It's happened to me before.

[ he'd trusted esme, hadn't he? let her into the mutant underground and look what happened. ]

The only thing we can do is try and be better about it in the future. We grieve those that might have been lost and we try and do better.

[ silena's expression crumples for a moment. marcos had been so unhappy about the people that died in zerzura, silena decides she doesn't need to add to the pile of death at his feet. she plasters a smile on her face, brittle and fragile.

she might not have a future in this dream, but she's alive somewhere and maybe new amsterdam is her chance to make up for screwing up so enormously in new...york. ]

You're right.

Silena, what's wrong?

[ you weren't going to fool him with a smile like that. he's seen it before and he knows there's something else lurking behind it. ]

It's okay, you know? It's going to be okay and we're going to be okay.

[ a dream couldn't kill them. ]

It's okay. I'm gonna wake up now.

[ AND SHE FUCKING DOES? was the power within her the entire time and she just let it play out because she wanted an easy way to explain her life to marcos and also to sit on the throne?

yes, 100%.

the next moment, they are both awake in their respective beds in new amsterdam, in reality, free of silena's demigod dream. ]

[ marcos wakes up a few seconds later, staring up at his ceiling and blowing out a breath.

he considers sending a message to silena to make sure she's okay but...decides to let her have her quiet time. that's what he wanted when he'd come out of a dream.

so, he just lays there and stares at the ceiling. ]

she's a siren in the night, with streaks of red and blue

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