fandomhighdorms | Salle | Afternoon | Tuesday

It felt like it'd been awhile since Percy had been the salle. He'd come down maybe once or twice during the break weeks but other than that, he'd taken those weeks to just relax and enjoy not having any responsibilities. Now, with classes back in session, he'd forced himself to get back into the habit of training. He really didn't need Luke poking at his stomach and telling him he was getting soft. That'd just result in Luke's unfortunate death via drowning.

So, he was working himself up to a sweat today. The poor practice dummy was the unfortunate victim and Percy felt about as good as ever with Riptide in his hands. In his mind, he let his thoughts wander. He saw the labyrinth and Luke's ship. He saw Pan dying and Grover's grief. He remembered Bianca sacrificing herself and the anger Nico directed at him after that. He could see Annabeth and Rachel Elizabeth Dare sniping at each other and he could remember the utter devastation when his mother had been snatched by Hades. It seemed like so long ago but it wasn't.

And Percy knew it wasn't over. He drove the sword viciously into the dummy and left it there with only the hilt exposed. He wiped his brow and stretched tense muscles. Well. He'd be feeling this tomorrow.

[Open salle, open post]

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"But, I'm not bad with a sword," Percy said, keeping an eye on Luke even if it looked like he wasn't going to get tackled. "Admit it."

Considering the teacher he had, Percy thought he was pretty freaking good with a sword.

Luke pretended to think about that for a moment. "Nope. Don't think I want to."

"Ass," Percy griped, making a face and momentarily considering sending more water at Luke. "The last time we sparred, you barely beat me."

Percy was forgetting that time with Nico.

"I still beat you. And the last time I saw you spar you got knocked unconscious like a dork." No, Luke hadn't forgotten that.

"Shut up," Percy groused. "So did Nico and he spends his life down in here. Can he beat you yet? Do you compliment him?"

"Of course he can't beat me." There was no yet about it, in Luke's opinion. "And I might compliment him from time to time. What's it matter?"

"It doesn't," he scowled, taking a hacking slash with his blade and burying the sword in the dummy's neck. "I'm sure he appreciates."

The dweeb.

Luke frowned and used one of his hands to wring out his shirt. "If it doesn't matter then why did you ask?"

"Curiosity," Percy said, letting his sword stay stuck in the dummy while he shook his hands out again. "I can't be curious now? I don't train with you guys so I don't know how it goes."

"I didn't say you couldn't be curious," Luke said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Our sparring sessions go like any normal one would."

"You do realize you're both not normal, right?" Percy checked, still scowling.

"I didn't say we were. I'm just saying we have typical sparring sessions," Luke said. "What is your problem?"

Luke was the wet one here, he should be the one that was pissy.

"Nothing," Percy said but even he knew that wasn't true. He just had no idea what his problem was. "What's yours?"

"Right now you are," Luke said honestly. "And I'm wet, but I guess that also counts as a you problem."

"Hey, I'm not a problem!" Percy protested, frowning. "I'm just...thinking about stuff, I guess. Crappy stuff."

Luke relaxed a little and rested his sword across his shoulder. "What kind of stuff?"

"Lots of stuff," he said, shrugging. "My mom got kidnapped by Hades once. I ever tell you that?"

Percy figured he could tell the story and twist it a bit to keep Luke's future stuff secret.

"I think you did once," Luke said, remembering hearing something about that from either Percy or Nico. "Never really told me why though."

"Does it matter?" Percy asked, shaking his head. "It was because of me, man. That was enough to suck pretty damn badly."

Luke gave Percy a sympathetic look. "That kind of stuff is something we all have to deal with, man. I had to leave my mom because she kept getting attacked and I didn't know camp existed as a safe place."

"And stuff like that never catches you off guard and kills your mood?" Percy asked him curiously. "It seems to happen to me more often than I want."

"Of course it does. It happens all the time," Luke said, shaking his head. "I try to not let it affect my mood though since there's nothing I can do about it."

Well, he was working on fixing that.

"Yeah well, it got me today," he said and shrugged. There was more to it than that but whatever. "And I came down here to beat the hell out of a dummy to get it to go away.