(LUKE) here's to us.

[Lucan Lucchesi]

Despite the brief awkwardness between the two, Luke couldn't stop grinning when she kissed his cheek. It seemed to ease the tension he felt between them for a few seconds. He understood how uncomfortable for her it must have been for him to be hands on so quickly. Luke looked at her and smiled out of gratitude. He knew that it wouldn't change anything, they loved each other. That meant a lot to him and he was sure that she thought it was a big commitment too.

"That's good," he momentarily glanced at her ankle. "I can't wait until it heals up, we can do more stuff together then." At the moment they probably couldn't run about and do a crap load of stuff with her ankle and all. Luke was usually a sort of impatient guy but for Tal? He genuinely cared about her so he would be patient for her. "Yeah sure," he smiled as he stood up from the roots. "Just take it easy, okay?" Tal probably though he was smothering her and all, with the whole going too fast incident.

"I need to work my muscles," Luke agreed. Okay, was it weird for him to start thinking about training? He supposed a child of Ares would want to keep fit but he was obsessed with exercising. He found it really hard to put his feet down and forget about how many hours he had allotted into all his different routines. "Ladies first," he smirked and gestured with his hand.

Luke was trying really hard to be a gentleman and besides, he probably would've went too quickly for her and lost her. It was better that she went first so that he could keep up with her pace.

Words: 303.

[Talia Winchell]

"That's good. I can't wait until it heals up, we can do more stuff together then."

"I can't wait either," she said, smiling at him as she steadied herself. This whole thing where she practically couldn't do anything at all was so, so sh!tty. For a girl like Tal, who couldn't go a day without running or pranking unless she was trying to drive herself crazy, being cooped up like that was the worst thing. Okay, so it wasn't exactly being cooped up, but really, it was close enough. She took almost nothing for granted anymore.

"Yeah sure. Just take it easy, okay?"

If he insisted. "Okay," she said, smiling at him as he stood up much quicklier than she had.

"I need to work my muscles...Ladies first."

Working his muscles. Tal giggled slightly as she began moving out of the shade of the tree. Seriously, the tree was huge. She'd have to ask a Demeter kid how old it was; as lame as that was she was sort of genuinely interested in that kind of stuff...that was something not many people knew. The branches seemed to extend forever. After maneuvering around the roots for a little bit, she craned her neck and saw that Luke was still stationary. "Oh, come on," she said, smiling, beckoning him forward with her eyes.

((Sorry; the quality of my post stinks x.x))

[Lucan Lucchesi]

Luke smiled at her when she said that she couldn't wait either. He wondered what they would do first when her ankle healed up. The only thing he did really was train, and he didn't think that Tal would enjoy it so much. Perhaps they would just go for the simplistic approach and go on walks and have a picnic or something. He didn't really care, as long as he had good company he would enjoy it.

"Good," he looked at her with a sense of concern. Last thing he wanted was for her to end up making her injury worse. It probably wouldn't have mattered if Luke was a child of Apollo, the kids that helped fix wounds up, but his father was Ares who pretty much caused injuries.

Luke felt a little embarrassed when she giggled at him. He thought that maybe she was giggling at him because she thought it was funny that he would relate a relaxed walk to some kind of workout. It seemed that his whole life revolved around the next exercise was, or when he would get a chance to go on a quest and kill some monsters and save the day. He was determined to get it and he would someday, being one of the strongest kids in camp meant that when it came to fighting he was one of the go-to kids. A lot of people, including his siblings, had asked for him to give them pointers on combat and if they were lucky he would train with them.

"Uh?" Luke perked up suddenly after the realization that he had been stood in the same spot like some kind of dork. "Oh yeah, i'm coming!" He maneuvered around the roots and followed after her. "So, do you walk often?" he asked with a smile as he ducked under a branch that extended from one of the trees.

Words: 324.

[Talia Winchell]

"Good."

Was he going to go all motherly on her now? Eh, whatever. Tal craned her neck a little bit more so she could see him. He was still standing there, his face glowing in the buttery sunlight of crevices in between leaves and branches, shining down, that made it look like he had a halo or some other holy, godly, perfect thing that fit him perfectly.

"Uh? Oh, yeah, I'm coming!" He caught up to her easily. "So, do you walk often?"

"Meh, not as often as I used to, obviously," she said, turning her head to the side to see him more clearly. Finally, she got out of the tepid tree shade. The sunlight kissed her face and the soft breeze blew her hair back, the way it had that awkward day where Luke had ended up walking away since he was so embarrassed. "Zeus, the sun feels really good!" she said, giddy with delight. It was one of the first summery days that the camp always got in April. The strawberries seemed to radiate, and everything was simply perfect. Tal didn't get out as much as she used to, so she appreciated all this a few million times more than normal.

"I'm so glad the weather's getting warmer," she said before the pause was taken as awkward. But seriously, talking about the weather? Oh so classic clichéd "fill-in-the-blanks" conversation topic. "What've you Ares kids been up to lately?" At least it wasn't a yes-no or agree-disagree question. "How's Seri?" Okay, so Tal didn't know Seri at all, but she knew Seri and Luke were close to some degree.

[Lucan Lucchesi]

"Oh, yeah," Luke looked down at her ankle and frowned. He'd forgotten that Tal had broken it, so it probably seemed like a stupid question in hindsight. "Walking's good." He thought he'd try and help prevent another awkward silence. Luke could remember when his uncle had walked with him through Little Italy one day. It was a bittersweet memory. He just wished he could turn back the clocks and be a kid again, when he was completely oblivious to what he was.

What snapped him out of his trail of thoughts was the sunlight that shone in his eyes. It was a change because lately the camp had been having mild weather. He looked at Tal's hair blow with the wind and he grinned. She looked beautiful in the sunlight. It was like the rays of sunshine hugged her skin. "Yeah, it's beautiful isn't it?" Okay, so that might have been a bit of a rhetorical question. But seriously, it made him smile to see her so happy. At least the gods were good for something, they had made the day they got together so beautiful. Even the slight breeze wasn't at all bothersome.

"Me too," Luke replied. He moved a step closer to Tal and he listened to her question. Did she actually care what his cabin was doing? Her cabin seemed so awesome and he felt like his was so dull. It was always about who was the alpha male or female. "Nothing, my brothers and sisters aren't very interesting people," he scrunched up his nose as he thought about how to answer the question. "I mean, some are cool and all but for the most part they just keep throwing their weight around lately." Tal seemed to be an understanding person, so he hoped that she would understand the torment he went through with some of his siblings.

"Oh Seri's good," he offered her a small smile. "How's December and everyone?" Luke was pretty close to December, although he felt really uncomfortable around her, but he hadn't seen her in a while. Besides, it didn't have to be all about him all the time. It made him feel a little selfish because he should be paying attention to what she had to say too.

Words: 393.

[Talia Winchell]

"Oh, yeah. Walking's good."

"Haha, yeah," she said, not exactly sure what to say. She surveyed the area, not sure what else to do, since there was really nothing else to be said. There were satyrs playing on the reed pipes, some eccentric-looking hippie campers dancing, and several Demeter children and demi-nymphs picking the plump, decadent-looking strawberries. The sun was beating down and it was hot, though comfortably so. "Hey, look at them," she said, laughing a bit and pointing at the dancing campers. "Niiice."

"Yeah, it's beautiful isn't it?"

She smiled at him again. "Totally." She missed the sun...well, a lot now. Having spent a lot of her pre-Camp life in southern Florida, she was used to the sun and was glad to have it back. She had nearly died when winter came...cold weather, to her, was hell...well, Tartarus. When winter arrived, all she wanted to do was transform into a bear and stuff herself before hibernating for several months. That would be amazing, actually...

"Me too..Nothing, my brothers and sisters aren't very interesting people. I mean, some are cool and all but for the most part they just keep throwing their weight around lately."

"Oh," she said. "Well, that kind of stinks." Her siblings were sort of the same, though in a different way...they were always trying to out-prank one another, for one. That definitely got annoying...especially when other kids got dragged into a prank-war.

"Oh Seri's good. How's December and everyone?"

"Good to hear," Tal said, although really she didn't know anything about Seri Winchester at all, except for she had a lot of tattoos. "December's good. So is everyone else...Bailey and a few others got that crappy flu thing, though." She took a breath. "Do you know if the Apollos found anything more on it...yet?"

[Lucan Lucchesi]

Luke followed Tal's gaze when she pointed out the dancing campers. Everyone seemed so happy, like they had forgotten about the fact that there was a virus going around and that monster attacks were becoming more frequent. It was a nice change to the usual depressed mood that lingered around camp. "They look like they're having a great time," he smiled as he admired the view. The fields were so beautiful anyway but the sun shining on it just made it ten times better.

"Yeah, it makes a great change." Luke was practically raised on the streets with the guidance of his uncle, so he wasn't a stranger to harsh conditions. Perhaps in the long run it would help him because he wasn't at all bothered by cold and damp places. The only thing that bothered him was small spaces, it made him feel cramped and restricted. Luke should have been used to it though, having spent a lot of time with family friends and then friends of those friends and so on. However despite that he seemed to hate massive crowds and the like.

"It really does," Luke locked eyes with her as he spoke. "It's sort of like a punishment being the son of the war god and all." A lot of people probably would've thought that being the son of an almighty god, the god of war to be precise, would be great. It totally wasn't though. Luke was constantly working himself to be a better fighter so that he could put up a fight against monsters that wished to kill him. If not that, he was sitting in his cabin thinking about how much the whole god and demi-god thing sucked.

"Good, good," Luke nodded his head when she said that December was okay. He liked her, the only problem was that sometimes he confused her for Tal and she also scared him a little. Maybe it was weird for a six foot son of the war god to be scared of a girl. The problem was that she wore makeup and because of that Luke felt like she was unnaturally pretty. "I hope they get better soon," he smiled. "I don't know, I've spent most of the past month training so i'm out of the loop."

Words: 397.

[Talia Winchell]

"They look like they're having a great time," Luke said, smiling in the direction of the spazzing, smiling campers. To Tal, when Luke smiled the whole world got a little brighter. He was so, so perfect. There was nothing wrong about him, and she was always happy whenever he was around. The whole thing was sort of magical. Tal had made an effort to look nicer than normal today in the hope that she might juust run into him — not that she was desperate or anything — and, well, everything had worked out. Better than she had hoped, really, if she was completely honest. She'd basically become certain that Luke had been avoiding her after that last completely awkward conversation. But apparently not, and for that, Tal was very glad. She nodded at him, smiling in the rare sunlight.

"Yeah, it makes a great change."

Gods, he had gotten that right. She was sick of watching the clouds lumber around, trying to penetrate the boundaries of the camp, like bad things in your past you had to face sooner or later unless you wanted to go completely crazy. If it wasn't for the magical borders, the camp would probably be swamped in mud, rain and clouds. But not today. Today, the sun was shining down on them. Apollo must be ecstatic about something. "I'm pretty sure that if it had been cold again today, I would have gone crazy," Tal remarked, looking at him. She liked having excuses to be outside, even now.

"It really does. It's sort of like a punishment being the son of the war god and all."

"So you don't really like being a son of Ares, then?" Tal asked, more tentatively, since the gods could definitely eavesdrop if they wanted to. "Surely your siblings aren't all bad though, right?" At least, she hoped not. So maybe her own siblings weren't exactly the cream of the crop, but they were nice and funny and easygoing. It was a family trait. Ares had some family traits, too...and Luke definitely did have stuff in common with the rest of his siblings, even if he wasn't a ruthless murder machine.

"Good, good. I hope they get better soon. I don't know, I've spent most of the past month training so i'm out of the loop."

"Any of your siblings sick?" she asked, speeding up a little to keep up with him.