the cry goes out

[foryourdiary]

ariagarces​:

“Oh, yeah?” she chuckles, debating whether or not he’s got any actual sway at the training grounds or if he’s just trying to crack a joke. Either way, she’s smiling. “My thing?” she repeats, a little thrown off by the question, in part because she can’t remember the last time she’s heard anyone ask a stranger that, and partly because she doesn’t think can quite name her thing. Boring as ever. “Um, I’m a student,” Aria tries, absentmindedly tucking her hair behind her ear in an effort to occupy her hands with something. “Granddaughter of Kratos and Psyche, if that’s what you mean,” she adds a little sheepishly, hoping to hear some sort of affirmation in his voice that she’s answered correctly. “You?”

“yes, but if that doesn’t actually work well... i’ll take the burden for that too.” tyler’s very good at pretending to be selfless when in actuality his thoughts drift to what would benefit other people very rarely, and even now an act of seeming kindness is more about what he gets out of it. he’s not manipulative, necessarily, but he of course is the one who thinks that. “that was more what i meant, yeah,” tyler says with a half sort of grin, because he tends to assume anyone he encounters who looks vaguely around his own age is a student. but as for what abilities they have, well, that’s far more interesting to him. he’s never been so full of himself to have visions of creating some sort of demigod version of a high school bully clique, but he would prefer to be on the good side of the most powerful. “son of tyche,” he answers, sounding disinterested in it, as if his own abilities bore him and he’d much rather hear about hers. “not very exciting.”

[foryourdiary]

solarstcrms​:

“almost impressive? please, you’ll make me blush. you really know how to make a man feel special, you know that?” it’s still probably the nicest thing she’s ever said to him, so jae’s just going to ignore the rest. if she can have selective hearing, so can he. “or admit you have terrible taste. i’ll take either.” he can already hear the spite in her voice. it’s good wine. she’s so obnoxious. it should not be making him smile. “do you think you’re the only person who’s ever called me unbelievable?” he tuts, “it’s an ongoing list.” not that jae actually keeps track of all the things people call him. in the end, it all blurs together. he takes it as he wants to, mostly. “right. be honest.” his skin itches at the thought. ariel says that like it’s just something people do. “well, we can still watch a movie.” he has no idea how to navigate whatever’s going on between them. it feels both comfortable and tenuous all at once. even if they’re not going to do anything exciting tonight, he does want to keep kissing her. his arms are still wrapped around her. “something mindless. any suggestions?”

“thanks for the heads up, the very last thing i want to do is contribute to making a man feel special,” ariel responds without any real heat behind it, which is alarming because her default setting of exclusively being rude to jae feels like a thing of the past. and it’s silly, that she’s had this realization approximately seventy times during this one conversation when any normal person would just accept it and stop... wishing to be mean. “i’ll admit nothing to you but certainly not a lie.” she has great taste, it’s why she dislikes herself so much. “and that doesn’t inspire you to change in any way?” she wouldn’t expect it to, of course. it’s not as if she ever allows herself any meaningful development as a person. “we could,” she says in agreement, no hint as to whether the idea is appealing to her. ariel feels a bit... lost is too strong of a word but indecisive is too weak. they’re exploring something new, the concept of doing something mindless that apparently doesn’t involve their bodies. “what do you do when you’re not pestering me?”

[foryourdiary]

solarstcrms​:

“i’m saying there’s a difference between being a snob and having taste. i’m just very good at doing both.” just to be annoying, he adds, “the price tag on this alone is enough to pretend you love it when you tell people about it later. this was a great year for merlot, though, so you better like it.” he doesn’t mean that last bit, but it’s so effortless, the way they fall back into their usual back and forth. jae’s struck for a moment by how strange it is, the ease of it, but the sound of her laugh pulls back. the hows and whys don’t matter. he needs this. “impossible, unbelievable, incredible. the list goes on. i’m very aware.” he pouts against her skin, where she can’t see it. well, when she puts it like that. “it’s not that i don’t want to. there’s nothing more i’d rather do. i just… might also be a little exhausted.” this is weird. it goes against his nature to willingly not put out. jae wraps an arm around her waist, daring ariel to leave. “in the name of sharing terrible truths, the wine was a ruse. but i know you didn’t come over just to hang out. stay anyway?”

“you think so highly of yourself it’s almost impressive, which i hesitate to even say, god forbid i further inflate your ego.” ariel has enough faith in him that she can trust that her choosing to share vulnerable information with him will be something he appreciates as opposed to something that inflates his own personal sense of self, but a run of the mill compliment will surely go straight to his head. “oh i have to?” now she’ll dislike it out of spite. “i definitely only used one of those words which doesn’t constitute a list, last i checked.” she’ll give him unbelievable, at least, because it is a bit unbelievable to her that they’ve made it this far, even if the destination is something she’s constantly unsure of. the fact that this has even gone past a singular day is hard to process. “it may have been a ruse, but that implies i’m capable of being tricked. i’m here of my own volition, so just be honest about what it is that you want.” and if what he wants is for her to stay, well, she’s the benevolent type when she wants to be, since she surely won’t be admitting she wants to stay as well. she’s admitted enough for one day. “i’ll stay.”

[foryourdiary]

alreadyovcr​:

“i don’t think about those things the way you do,” he says with a frown, because he’s never going to be much help when it comes to work advice. shiloh doesn’t think much about social media in general, but he certainly has no idea how to build or maintain a personal brand. “don’t people hate those?” personally, he has no feeling either way. anyone with a big enough following is always selling something, even if it’s just themselves. anyone with a brain knows that when following in the first place. he scoffs. “that’s not true.” in this case, he’s not being self-deprecating, he’s self-aware. shiloh isn’t really a fun time.

“i know there’s no real danger of that changing, but keep it that way,” ariel says, as if he needs to be told that. her knowledge of social media and how to manipulate it had to go somewhere, because she was certainly never going to properly use it for herself with how much she prefers privacy. “undisclosed is the issue they have, i think. content creators have to get paid somehow.” which didn’t necessarily apply to gigi, but was true regardless. “of course it’s true,” she protests with a frown. she genuinely means it, regardless of how any of her personal relationships have changed over the last couple of months. she’d still pick shiloh over everyone.

[foryourdiary]

alreadyovcr​:

“i didn’t say any of that,” she says, openly clutching her phone in the optimal recording position. to be fair, it’s a very flattering angle, he should be pleased! “this is always who i’ve been, so you’re either with me or you’re against me.” acab, tyler, just do crimes. “you could totally make those cringey pov videos. maybe take your shirt off and half-ass a few dances. you’d be–we would be millionaires in no time. because i’d be your social media manager, obviously. i can’t believe you won’t flash your abs to make us rich.” she pouts, blinking rapidly as if to ward off imaginary tears.

“as long as we’re not pretending to be innocent here, in which case i have no qualms in saying absolutely not.” tyler thinks that’s maybe a little bit dramatic and maybe there’s a nice middle ground where he doesn’t have to make a fool of himself on the internet, but he doesn’t say anything. “i don’t want to do that either. isn’t there a middle ground? like can i flash my abs in a normal way that won’t make people full body cringe?” he’s not sure that’s even a possibility but it’s worth a try. surely he can be hot without being embarrassing. “i’m also already rich.” 

[foryourdiary]

ariagarces​:

Without too much convincing, Aria decides this is the act of a helping hand, and a small smile appears on her rosy lips. “I guess it’s nice then,” she mutters with a slight shrug. “But I feel like they’ll stop letting me volunteer if they catch me letting someone else do my work. Still, thank you,” she adds quickly, trying hard not to watch his expression to read how he responds, as if she really knows anything about him. Foolishly, she wants to believe a face like that is always friendly. “I could be, who knows?” Aria tries, doing her best to have the kind of upright posture the heroes do, thinking maybe she could convince him. She puts a polite hand out, offering another smile. “Nice to meet you, Tyler.”

“i wouldn’t worry too much about it. once they see i’m involved, they won’t question it.” tyler’s tone implies that he spends all his time running around helping his fellow demigods with all their silly little tasks, but what he definitely means is that everyone here knows how annoying he is. so any blame will fall squarely on him, and not on aria who looks like she’s never done a single thing wrong in her entire life. “then i’m glad i intervened, saved you a trip to medical.” he accepts her offered hand, shaking it gently, surprised by the gesture but finding it endearing regardless as he starts off toward where the weapons are kept. “you as well. what’s your thing?” the question is intentionally vague, curious about how she’ll answer.

[foryourdiary]

solarstcrms​:

mind already made up, he’s popping it open before she’s even responded.  “well, we can fix that,”  jae snorts, handing her a glass,  “you just memorize a few of the good ones and then pretend it tastes better than anything anyone else is having. anything I give you will always be good, though.”  having said that, he throws half his glass back in one swift movement and primly sets it down so he can press up against her side. ariel is dangerously warm, though, so as he leans on her shoulder, his eyes slip closed for a moment. he mouths lazily at her neck in an effort to keep himself focused.  “hey. if i promise to get you off before the third act, can we just watch a movie?”

“so are you saying being a wine snob is fake anyway? so your points about wine are null and void?” ariel can’t remember the last time they just bantered like this about something that didn’t matter and a part of her almost wants it to feel fake and put on just so that she can have something to hide from again, but a bigger part of her finds relief in it. it’s been a hard day of hard conversations and this feels easy which of course terrifies her but that’s a problem for tomorrow. ariel huffs out a lazy laugh, acknowledging to herself that the feeling of his lips against her neck isn’t arousing so much as comforting right now. “you’re impossible, you know that? i just told you i died and you can’t just say you’d rather just hang out instead of fooling around?”

[foryourdiary]

alreadyovcr​:

“she shouldn’t do either of those things,” he says, trying not to make a face, though he’s almost positive he fails. or that, when it comes to ariel, trying to conceal any of his true feelings is futile. “don’t people just repost their tiktok videos, anyway?” shiloh has an instagram primarily for following certain people and brands. he hardly posts anything of his own, and when he does, it’s of people and places that are not him. “nothing, why else would i be talking to you?” he jokes, because even if they aren’t emotive people, ariel knows she’s his favorite person, and he’d spend a lot more time with her if she weren’t so busy. not that he begrudges her that – she deserves a career, and other friends, even if shiloh barely has either of those things himself.

“from a personal standpoint, obviously,” ariel says, tapping her stylus absentmindedly against the locked screen of her tablet, already itching for the distraction work offers again. “professionally, it makes sense because i’m sure she’s annoyed about it anyway.” she’d hoped to avoid tiktok as a content source as long as possible but she’d had to learn to embrace it. “unfortunately. but sponsored posts still pay well so... it is what it is.” ariel attempts a look of scorn but it fails, too amused at the thought of shiloh not wanting to be around her to ever actually take offense. “and to think you’re my first choice to spend time with.”

[foryourdiary]

solarstcrms​:

that makes them bark out a laugh.  “sure, whatever. it’d be a really good story down the line though, don’t you think?”  not that luz plans on screwing up that bad. mostly they’re worried it might be kinda slow and not very pretty. they yank tyler over so they can start cleaning up the wound, eyeing the injury with skepticism.  “not very lucky of you, is it? you sure this wasn’t just your fault?”

“i have plenty of stories that are great already, i’ll keep both my hands to accurately tell them, thanks.” tyler lets himself get dragged over to wherever is most convenient because as much of a know it all as he can be, he won’t pretend to know anything about healing, scientific or power based. “i don’t use my luck when i’m training,” he says without any real thought behind it. “so if you think i should, sure. it was my fault.”

[foryourdiary]

solarstcrms​:

ariel  //  @foryourdiary​

the idea of making ariel come over had been exciting in concept. but his eyes fall in another heavy blink and he feels like the only way to hold onto what little control of the situation he has as it is, is to adapt. he swerves away from his usual path toward his room and heads toward the kitchen for the good wine.  “how do you feel about some 2005 merlot?”  he asks, apropros of nothing.

ariel’s own mood shifts on the way to his place, but she’s stubborn and won’t admit it. but she’s also difficult, so the offering of wine instead of more kissing makes her eyebrows raise a little bit, even if she feels relief somewhere deep inside. she’s just cracked her heart open and showed him every little terrible bit, she’s not sure how much more she can offer in one day. “i’m not really a wine snob.” just a snob about everything else. “anything is fine.”

[foryourdiary]

alreadyovcr​:

“oh, so you can? okay, go on, prove it!” her tone is challenging, but the way she immediately raises her phone to start recording is extremely unsubtle. “i suppose we could shoplift from erewhon instead.” regan can afford their prices, but she’d feel like a dipshit paying $15 for some soup in a mason jar. she is willing to pay $20 for one of their smoothies, though. “because, tyler, just because you don’t have tiktok doesn’t mean you don’t fit the demographic. you’d absolutely do crazy numbers, like it or not.”

“oh right now, huh? because you’re not recording and just want to see it with your own eyes and it would never leave this room?” tyler’s not really sure how they jumped from the first terrible activity to actual illegal things but at least he’d consider this an improvement. “are you bored of all the entertainment available to us that this is who we are now?” it’s definitely who they’ve always been. “not. definitely not. what sort of content would i even make?”

[foryourdiary]

alreadyovcr​:

✧ — ⋆ 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗵 & 𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗹 / @foryourdiary​

shiloh slides the iced coffee over to her wordlessly, because it’s hotter than the deepest pits of hades in los angeles right now and he knows his sister could use it. she’s settled at the table with a crapload of work, as always, and though he doesn’t fully get what ariel does, he still wants to seem interested. “what are you working on?” shiloh barely even has a social media presence, but that’s probably best for them both, so ariel has no opportunity to micromanage his image.

ariel accepts the iced coffee without looking up, taking a long sip before she answers him, swiping back and forth on her tablet with a thoughtful look on her face. “trying to figure out if i want to jump on the reels trend with gigi’s instagram or if i want to have her complain about it on twitter.” she could use a break, actually. she hadn’t been talking to gigi outside of work prior to everything that happened, and now she’s not talking to gigi because of what she remembers seeing. and looking at her face for hours at a time? it’s a lot. so she looks up, giving him the tiniest smile. “what are you up to?”

[foryourdiary]

alreadyovcr​:

✧ — ⋆ 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗻 & 𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗿 / @foryourdiary​

“are you sure you can’t do this?” she asks, far from the first time, shoving her phone in his face yet again. she allows the video to play through one more time, then scrolls down her fyp page on tiktok without even looking at the screen, stopping at random when she hears a trending song. “what about this? huh?! i need to gain at least 500 more followers before classes start again and obi wan, you’re my only hope.” because tiktok loves a white boy dancing.

tyler doesn’t look at the phone this time, instead immediately looking over at regan, clearly unimpressed. “it’s not that i can’t do it, it’s that i would probably rather do just about anything else.” he shouldn’t say that, because regan will likely immediately come up with other things he could do instead and he’ll also hate all of those. “why do you need me to gain the followers? i don’t even have this app on my phone.” he mostly just watches tiktoks that end up on his twitter feed which is definitely worse somehow.

[foryourdiary]

ariagarces​:

She can’t tell if he’s genuinely trying to be helpful or if it’s some sort of pick-up line, but she also doesn’t trust her own judgement on that anyway so she’ll have to take him at his word. “It would be kind of wrong of me to make you do part of my job, wouldn’t it?” Aria responds with a chuckle, then a crease of her brow, suddenly a slight bit self conscious. “Wait, why, does it look like I’m carrying it wrong?” She doesn’t know why she’s simply assumed he’s a hero with the experience to know, maybe he just has some air about him, but now she’s got the sword in her hands, checking the form of her wrists that she knows her mom has always given her notes about. Doe eyes peer back at him over the glittering blade, “Aria.” Only then does she think to lower it again and ask, “What’s yours?”

“is it making me if i offered?” tyler can’t remember the last time anyone truly made him do anything anyway, certainly his father never did, and whenever certain sets of rules are in place, he usually gets some level of enjoyment from skirting around them as much as possible. “well, you don’t have a plan to use it so i don’t really think you need to worry about it. if you were carrying it by the blade i might get a little concerned.” it’s not as if tyler is an expert so much as he knows how to make himself look like one when he needs to. “that’s a nice name.” he wants to tell her it’s pretty but he’s having a hard time figuring out if the vibes are good or not so he kind of just wants to leave that be for now. “tyler.”

[foryourdiary]

solarstcrms​:

“only for now. experience should prove that it’s only a matter of time before i find something else to be stubborn about.”  there’s a hint of a smile in there somewhere, but despite the encroaching levity, it’s also a warning. this won’t be the last time jae digs his heels in. locked into her orbit the way he is, they’re destined to clash again in the future. he hopes ariel is prepared for that — it’s too late to avoid it now either way. he doesn’t plan on giving her up any time soon.  “okay.”  he can accept that. all he wanted was for her to take him at his word. he feels more than sees when his question catches her off-guard, though he hadn’t meant it to. her quick response catches him just as much by surprise.  “oh. but what is there to be ashamed about?”  he winces, immediately hating how it sounds. as hungry as he is for every new piece of herself she’s been so willing to share today, there’s a limit to how much he can push her to unveil more and more before she realizes he’s being greedy.  “wait, you don’t have to answer that. i wasn’t trying to be an asshole. i’ll stop.”  he freezes. burden him? he opens his mouth to speak and shuts it again. where to begin answering that? what she calls cruel sounds to him like mercy. to know what he’s been flirting with in his worst moments, teasing him everywhere he went, would be damning and freeing, all at once. but that’s not something he can admit when she’s just barely allowed him a glimpse into her past. even so, she can’t think that he can leave things be like this. not if it’s about her.  “please. you don’t have to tell me now, you don’t even have to tell me all of it all at once. but i want to hear it and know i’ll remember. it’s not a burden.”  he is. whatever she was going to say, he is that and more.  “neither of us did. it’s not fine, but it’s gone now. there’s no use holding onto anger i don’t even have space for anymore.”  he slides a knee between hers and plants it on the chair. she’s right. none of it matters anymore. what does matter is that all he can think about is kissing her again. hand still on her jaw, he tugs her back to him with a deep sense of relief. this he missed more than he ever expected to. he could probably kiss her forever and still not get enough. but there’s only so much more he can take of hovering over her, never close enough, before he loses all sense of sanity. he’s already climbing into her chair and if he doesn’t get his wits about him soon, they’re going to break something. he pulls away again after a while with a rough sigh.  “can we finish talking about this somewhere else?”  for a completely unintended confrontation, they’ve talked plenty. feather-light touch trails down her arm and lands at her wrist, pulling it up to his lips so he can kiss the pulse point. he stands slowly, grip still circled around her wrist.  “you’re done with work for the day anyway.”  whether or not that’s true doesn’t really concern him. jae is ready to get out of here. where he heads next, however, depends on ariel.

“i’m afraid i wouldn’t expect any different from you.” perhaps his stubbornness is all part of the appeal for ariel, if she ever had enough desire to sit and really reflect on why she makes the decisions she does. it’s not like she has a long track record of abandonment to have a reason to expect it as much as she does, but the amount she’s experienced alone is plenty to make her feel as if she has to fight tooth and nail to keep someone. it’s nice that jae makes it easy for her, even when she decides to self sabotage. “it’s alright, i’m not offended by the question, but i’m not going to answer it either. not now.” she doesn’t really want to think about it at the moment, not when it feels like her heart is properly beating for the first time in weeks simply because her and jae are on speaking terms again, and he miraculously doesn’t hate her. it’s a bit pathetic, really, but she can’t bring herself to care enough to stop the feeling anyway. ariel can’t exactly say she feels better, there’s still images and memories and horrifically enough, smells of death clinging to her like the smell of smoke from a campfire, but she certainly feels much more balanced now that it seems they’re on somewhat steady footing again. “eventually. not now. it doesn’t matter right now.” maybe it always sort of matters but she doesn’t want it to be the only thing she’s thinking about when right now she’s just, well, happy, that he’s in her office and that unless time loops become a normal fucking thing around here, they’ll actually both remember this conversation. “maybe you just can’t stay mad at me,” ariel can’t help but tease a little, lips quirking into the slightest of smirks and it feels normal, which consequentially makes it dawn on her that apparently she has a normal with jae now. interesting. it feels a bit like she can’t get close enough, like she won’t be satisfied until they’re crashing to the ground, crashing into each other, and she’d be embarrassed about it if she didn’t get the same energy from him. “oh am i? are we pretending there will be talking?” she’s all talked out for the day, personally, and she highly doubts talking is at the forefront of his mind. but he doesn’t have to make the suggestion twice, she’s standing and gathering her things to leave, shutting her computer down for the day. “let’s go then.”

[foryourdiary]

nickspencer​:

He feels some sense of relief to watch the door open and be able to look at Stormie and know that she’s there and standing and breathing. It’s dramatic, but it’s something, and then it feels like nothing when it’s apparent Stormie is still doing pretty bad. “Thanks,” Nick responds, as gingerly as he can as he steps into her apartment and sets down the food in his hands on her table. “You’re not gonna make me eat alone, are you?” he asks, mustering up a small smile for her as he motions towards his direction. “Sit down?”

stormie obliges him, because there’s no amount of grief that could pulse through her body that would make her rude enough to kick him out immediately after he’d brought her food. “thank you.” it’s strange to feel relief to sit down again, as if she hasn’t spent all this time sitting and staring at the wall or lying in bed staring at the ceiling, but there simple act of getting up to let him into her apartment has utterly exhausted her. part of her is comforted having him here though, the novelty of a blood relative caring enough to check on her genuinely a bit comforting. “are you planning to ask how i’m doing?”

[foryourdiary]

solarstcrms​:

luz rolls her eyes.  “always with the whining. you’re such a loser, just get in here.”  they’ll never hear the end of it if someone finds out they let someone walk off without getting healed. besides…  “look, i need the practice but it’s been mad slow. just don’t cry or whatever if i don’t get it on the first try, alright?”  they motion him forward.  “let’s see it. what am i workin’ with, huh?”

the gash on his palm probably does need more than a simple band-aid, but tyler is stubborn, and the idea of luz being the one to heal him just sounds like opening himself up to a frustrating interaction, which he generally prefers to avoid. “i can’t promise i’ll be exactly thrilled, if you amputate my hand on accident, so. it’s just a cut. someone not knowing how to use a sword properly yet.”