this is a terrible voicetesting option but #yolo

[aegist]

[ the compound is located under a dome. there's grassy fields and woodland and even a desert under the dome, too, with scattered buildings, but they all stay in the compound...mostly. there are things beyond the other "contestants" that can kill them in the wilds. it's the usual murder game scenario. there's a host, there's motives, and there are contestants. there are many people with many personalities and they don't get on always but whatever. some of them, like thalia, argue that they will never kill, no matter the motive. this tides her over through offers of power, through promises to change the past, through the ability to save any one person from death and bring them back (she does not look at luke). luke, the complete idiot (thalia's words), probably has argued that everyone will kill, given the proper motive. if not publicly, at least in private. but thalia has always been prideful and while she has also always been aggressive and willing to fight, she sees herself as a hero. she's a demigod, the lieutenant of artemis, a huntress. she will not bow to the whims of some idiotic game.

then it's the sixth week and they're called to the main courtyard of the compound and the holoscreens give this week's motives: hostages. kill or yours dies.

there's a boy with electric blue eyes and a scar on his lip from when he'd tried to eat a stapler when he was a baby. there's annabeth chase, looking mad as anything. and thalia grace whirls on her heel and stalks off, her bow appearing on her back as she leaves the compound entirely in a rage.

it's not like it's an uncommon reaction to motives. people always get mad. thalia especially always gets mad, and often loud. and while she's probably found herself talking to luke eventually more often than not, she's never found herself outside his assigned room's door before, about to prove him right in the worst way possible.

because it's thalia, she just. hammers on the door until it opens after she finally gets back from her stress-related hunt, and she glares at him whenever he bothers to open the door to find the one person from home on the other side. ]

We need to talk. [ it's not a question and if he doesn't step aside she will elbow him in the gut and let herself into his room. this is fine she's fine she's just gonna prowl around the place like a caged tiger it's chill. ]

Comments

[chiseler]

[She's not wrong, he won't get rid of her. It's Thalia and she's pretty much allowed to do as she pleases since after being removed from Kronos and his goals for so long, he's starting to remember what's important. He's remembering that she can get away with just about anything with him.]

Definitely don't share an alibi, but a piece of the alibi can match up so we can also confirm it. The key to creating a good alibi is focusing on habits we've developed. You're on the right track with thinking like that. Nobody's gonna question if you and Katniss are hunting in the woods. And do me a favor and don't break bones.

[He leans back, staring at the ceiling blankly.] Friends, or alliances? Those are two different things.

[aegist]

Who are you either with?

[ what the hell does he even categorize thalia as? it's not like she's particularly good with differentiating between "friends" and "alliance" despite herself, but luke is..."complicated". facebook status it's complicated. gods. ]

But fine, we can avoid breaking your bones. Wimp.

[ that's almost teasing but not quite. because she's a little too worried to tease, and also: luke. ]

[chiseler]

It's not being a wimp, it's keeping you clean. You're the only one in the complex who wants to break my bones. You know somebody would twist it to be that you broke my leg because I saw you kill somebody. [He's also on the borderline of teasing but he's cautious. He's cautiously hopeful that they can make things work to their benefit.]

...since you started becoming friends with Katniss, I took on Finnick. Not a bad guy, really clever if you think about it. Uh, and that Lightwood kid. Alex? No, wait, Alec. Him.

[...it should say a lot about Luke's priorities that he hasn't really bothered to get to know that many people aside from what he's familiar with.] I'm working on it. I have alliances more than I have friends here.

[aegist]

Wait a second.

[ she half-turns on the bed, glaring. ]

You became friends with Finnick because I started hanging out with the one person from his world?

[ is there a right answer here. probably not. ]

[chiseler]

...no? [Yes. And the fact that he's not looking at her entirely is enough to say that that is precisely the reason. They're both flopped on opposite ends of his bed and this conversation's weird because it backs Luke right into a corner.] It kind of happened and I thought it made the most sense to keep an eye on him to learn about her in case she decided to turn on you.

[So. In some fucked up way he was kind of looking out for Thalia. It makes sense to him.]

[aegist]

[ she's kind of clearly torn between yelling at him or not. people aren't allowed to look out for her, generally. luke used to have clearance to do so, but that got revoked, didn't it? but she is here asking him to like, follow her into hell. so.

shit. ]

If she were going to it'd be over this. I don't know what your friend told you, but I think her hostage was Prim. Her kid sister. Shit, what's with all the kids?

[ not that jason's a kid? he's actually probably technically older than her now in terms of actually having aged and lived out those years, which is weird to think about, so she usually doesn't. ]

So, have you killed for him before? A human being. Not monsters.

[ the lord he decided to ditch everyone for. or is she his lucky first? maybe this is a bad question but her brain to mouth filter has never exactly been stellar. ]

[chiseler]

[There's a short pause because yeah, this made things awkward din't it? He's staring at the ceiling even if she's sort of turned to face him. It's hard to stop himself from making a face because yeah, what's with all the kids? Annabeth could run circles around her captors and probably kill everybody who stood in her way, but it didn't make it less worrisome.]

His hostage is his wife. The thing about this is that a lot of us have hostages we'd kill for. Dunno about Katniss, but I know this isn't the first time Annie's been taken away from Finnick. This is where we have to be careful. We're either going to have to cover our tracks, or fight our competition.

[Thanks for asking an incredibly complicated question, Thalia. His eyes widen a bit and he holds his breath as he debates how to respond.]

…no. Up until real recently I was inside Camp most of the time. [Should he bother telling her he tried to kill Percy?] This is gonna be new for both of us. But I can tell you something. Murders will only be murders with intent behind it. No half-assing. We have to stick around and make sure to get the job done, not just leave them and hope for the best.

[aegist]

[ luke she already knows about your repeated murder attempts regarding percy jackson. thankfully everyone sucks at trying to kill him? but okay. she's...actually not sure if luke had killed by the time he died. thalia made very very certain to never ask that question.

and then just completely barreled into it here. but. ]

No, really? I already know what Jason dying would be like, okay? [ she lived through that. he'd been alive, but she'd figured he was dead, and she'd left and never spoken about him again because it'd hurt too damn much. ] And Annabeth - and you know what, I'm a Hunter, I do know that you don't leave a job half done. So I'll...do whatever I need to do. Have you told Finnick or anyone else anything about us?

[ not their skills or abilities. she means them. thalia and luke and annabeth when they were younger. when they were friends. does anyone know that while thalia's at luke's throat most of the time, she'd come to him like this?

she hasn't said much to katniss beyond really hitting the "he's a traitor and also i hate him" note hard when it comes up but. well. ]

[chiseler]

[It's still weird to think that Thalia knows more about his life than he does and it's weird that she's…not a tree? The timelines being fucked up isn't helping any of this so he can't even give her a proper answer.

Instead, she snarks back at him and it's almost familiar and if he weren't actually worried about Annabeth he'd probably laugh. He almost seems to ignore her question but then he focuses again. Right. There was a question, not just "shut up Luke I know what I'm doing."] Don't worry, you're not associated with the enemy or whatever. I just told people that you and I are from the same world and we used to know each other. That's pretty much the truth, isn't it? [There really isn't a right answer here, is there?] That would have come out eventually. I'd rather it be from me than something else.

matching lineface a+

[aegist]

It's not about associating with the enemy, it's about whether or not anyone would figure I'd actually...

[ ask him for help with murder? that luke would actually go along with it? because that sure would be a stupid stumbling block to getting away with this. ]

That we'd actually work together.

[ well. they used to work together well and it's kind of terrifying that still appears to be true. ]

the true reason they're friends tbh

[chiseler]

They wouldn't have a clue. I try to keep as many lines clear as possible in this place because I don't trust any of 'em. Even more reason our alibis should be clear and distinct and that this murder won't lead back to either of us.

And anyway I don't think anybody would suspect you of asking for help in the first place, so there's that.

[aegist]

I'll have you know I'm a team player.

[ amazingly, lightning does not strike her down???? like. she works ok with certain people and she's since learned to be a better team player in her time with the hunters, but it's still not like she's percy jackson levels of working with people. ]

Anyway so that's my alibi settled. Do you think you could hang with Alec or whoever? Or again, putting you "out of commission" still sounds like a plan to me.

[chiseler]

[There's a derisive snort that he tries to cover because yeah, sure, okay. One woman army Thalia Grace sure is a team player. They used to work really well together, he knows that, but he wouldn't call that being part of a team. Even the Hunters work in smaller packs as far as he remembers.]

I'll make it work. Don't worry about me. [He lifts an eyebrow.] You really just want to break something on me, don't ya? I still think that might be a little too suspicious.