eachdraidh | 2 ☭ VIDEO & TEXT | SPECIAL LOCKS FOR SEELIE AND UNSEELIE

( SEELIE LOCKED )

luke's exhausted, and it's clear in his expression, of how gaunt his face is beginning to look. if he had a mirror, he'd be frightened by what he saw — he looks as though he's travelled back in time to be beneath the thumb of kronos, skin splotchy and patchy, the light dulling behind his eyes, and purple almost blossoming beneath his them due to his refusal to sleep. nightmares don't plague luke, not as he had witnessed them grab nico tightly when he had gone camping with the boys, but he doesn't want to risk succumbing to them with clarisse about. it's already awkward enough between the two of them — he doesn't want to make himself even more vulnerable to her. but the dara is sheathed at his waist, backbiter in his hands, as he glances at it idly, as though he's not interested in the question he poses to those of his court, but more in the blade that makes him feel a little more balanced than anything else in the drabwurld.

translation to words he can't form his lips into the shape of: is everyone okay?

and with a little camera work, he reveals the dara to be sheathed at his waist.

( UNSEELIE LOCKED )

if he's going to be stuck in unseelie territory for the time being, slowly making his way back to caer glaem, he figures he might as well make the most of it — meet the natives, set up a few dates, perhaps even end up going steady with a few of them.

Anyone up for a game of two truths and a lie? Pick the lie and you win the prize of feeling good about yourself after such a hard few weeks. I'll start! 1. I'm Unseelie. 2. I'm a big fan of Nike. 3. My father's the inventor of toaster strudel.

so, maybe, that's a lie and a half. hermes totally could've invented mean girls, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So you did get left behind.

[he'd pretty much figured as much when nico mentioned having missed a few people, with clarisse and luke still being MIA. good to see luke's alive, at least, and jason's even tactful enough to not mention that he looks like shit.]

[ it sounds as though someone had purposefully chosen to leave him stranded in unseelie territory. and perhaps that assumption is right, since luke could easily blame nico for abandoning his post as the grey sisters. but blaming the kid for not performing a head count before the given time was up isn't particularly fair, nor something luke wishes to even entertain. ]

More like forgot to say the magic words at the right time. Guess our carriage really did turn into a pumpkin at midnight. [ or he and clarisse are just simply too stupid to wear watches and ensure nico's within the vicinity to parent them. ]

Are you okay? Is Clarisse with you?

[he's been worried, hush.]

Yeah. [ whether that's a good thing or a bad thing — luke's lying if he says it's unfortunate she's still with him. she may be a pain in the ass, and someone who he doesn't wish to spend another moment with, but it's important he doesn't follow his quick and stupid impulse to abandon her. they're a team, if not an incredibly stupid version of the brady bunch. all his humour is lost, his expression turning serious. ] We're okay. Just slow. It'd help if everything wasn't trying to kill us — [ the humour creeps back in with a tiny smirk and a lift of his shoulder. ] but, hey, slow pokes can't be choosers.

Nico's down for the count right now, or I'd say we could come pick you guys up.

[and the temptation to say so anyway despite nico being pretty much comatose right now is pretty tempting. however much he likes to coddle that kid, the idea of clarisse and luke being out in the wilderness alone together for however long it takes them to get back is...well, horrifying.]

[ he shakes his head, lifting a hand in a gesture of don't worry. ] Di Angelo needs to recharge his batteries. Kid did a dumb thing dragging all those Seelie guys back to Caer Glaem. [ and by dumb he means stupidly heroic. ]

[ luke's still uncertain of how nico's abilities work, never being in possession of the ability to travel himself, but if it's anything like opening a lock, luke figures it's the equivalent to opening at least a hundred and more. tiring and exhaustive work. ] He's lucky the strain didn't kill him.

Don't worry, I agree with you.

[if you haven't noticed, jason is the president of the "taking care of nico di angelo" club.]

Don't think about putting a cape on in a telephone booth, either. While it'd be great to be saved from Little Miss Sunshine and put my feet up on a couch, I'm sure it's more embarrassing for you to be seen wearing your underwear on the outside of your pants.

[ can jason even fly that far? luke doesn't know. but he wants to ensure he tackles every possible route these two idiots might take to get them back to the castle. it's not worth it. the strain of travelling so far ... luke feels exhausted from doing as the mortals do and walking. ]

I wouldn't leave Nico here on his own when he can't even get out of bed.

[not that he isn't tempted to try. but luke and clarisse at least have each other to watch their backs (as much as they might be the ones to stab said backs in the first place). he can't in good conscious just abandon nico.]

2 ☭ VIDEO & TEXT | SPECIAL LOCKS FOR SEELIE AND UNSEELIE

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