Beach; Late Saturday Afternoon

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Avoiding gods was harder than it looked, especially when your father was the god of the roads and traveling. Luke's powers came in handy when he wanted to zip around the island quickly, but the trouble was his father had the exact same powers. So, after listening to radio, he came up with a new strategy. He figured that Hermes would want to avoid his uncles, so he headed towards the beach, hoping that his father would be smart enough to steer clear of Poseidon's territory.

Luke picked a quiet spot on the beach and sat down in the sand, not really having any idea of what he wanted to do other than avoid his father. After a few minutes he decided that, hey, he could use a stiff drink. Unfortunately his concentration was off so whenever he tried to snap up something alcoholic he ended up with...root beer. Which was delicious, but not what he wanted.

This weekend sucked on so many levels.

[The beach is open omg if you want to talk to Luke (Hermes thread with Luke comes first, though) or if you just want it for your own shenanigans]

Comments

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

The one thing Luke was forgetting was that the other gods needed Hermes. He was welcome wherever he liked for the most part. Sure, he was never completely comfortable by the ocean or in the Underworld due to his loyalty to Zeus, but everyone knew messing with him would be A Bad Idea. Once Luke had finally stopped moving around Hermes was determined to meet up with him no matter where he happened to be hiding.

"I keep forgetting you kids have the best of my powers," Hermes said with an amused smirk. See, Luke, he could do the creepy apparition thing too.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke cursed inwardly. Figures Hermes wouldn't care about breaking the rules. "Maybe it'd be easier for you to remember if you spoke to us every once in a while."

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"I'm speaking to you now, aren't I?" Hermes said lightly, even though he knew Luke probably wasn't in the mood for jokes. "I tried speaking to you yesterday but that didn't go so well..."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke pushed himself up off the sand, not really feeling comfortable confronting his father sitting down. "I told you I didn't want anything to do with you, and I meant it. Accept it and move on."

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"I don't want to leave here with you hating me," Hermes said. He knew he shouldn't care so much knowing what would happen in the future, but he couldn't help but try to make things better in his own small way. Even if he knew it wouldn't do anything in the long run.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke curled his hands into fists. Why was he trying to be friends now? Why not years before when Luke really needed him?

"You know what you have to do to make me forgive you," Luke said. He felt like he was back in his mother's house years ago when he and Hermes had first met. The difference now being Luke was older, scarred and had three more years worth of resentment with him. "Tell me. Tell me what Mom saw."

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

Hermes shook his head. "You know I can't do that, Luke."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Why not?" Luke shouted. "If it's so horrible why won't you tell me so I can stop it? I know you don't care enough to help, but I can help myself!"

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"I do care about you. I swear, Luke, I do," Hermes insisted. "But I can't tell you. It'd only make things worse."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Oh, screw you, Dad," Luke said. It was stupid speaking to a god that way, but at this point he didn't care. "Someone who cares does not leave their kid to be raised by a crazy person."

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"Do not speak of your mother that way," Hermes said, wincing at hearing May be insulted like that. "She cared about you, Luke. She still does. If you saw her once in a while you'd see that."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"You can't be serious. You want me to go back to that? Do you know what she did to me?" he asked. "I still get nightmares about it--of her having one of her fits."

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"She couldn't help it, you know that," Hermes said, feeling anger flare up. Not at Luke, but at Hades since what happened to May had been his fault. "I told you before, I wouldn't have left you there if I didn't think you couldn't handle it."

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

Considering this was Poseidon's territory, Luke shouldn't be so surprised to see the God of the Sea striding towards him. There was no smile on his face but there was no aggression in his step either.

"Luke Castellan," he said as he approached.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke jumped when he saw Poseidon approaching, not exactly sure what to do. He had only seen the god from afar on field trips to Olympus. Luke was surprised that he even knew his name.

"Lord Poseidon," Luke said, bowing his head slightly. He was comfortable telling his dad off, but he wasn't so stupid as to show disrespect to the sea god.

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

At the show of respect, it was even more apparent to Poseidon that what Percy had said was true, that this was not the Luke he'd last seen.

"Percy told me you were here," he explained, stopping a few feet in front of the young man. "Is your father here as well?"

He was fairly certain he'd seen Hermes around.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"He was," Luke said, unable to hold back a frown. "I'm not sure if he'll be sticking around much longer."

Hermes had said he'd stay but Luke never took him on his word.

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"An unfriendly visit?" Poseidon guessed, crossing his weathered arms over his chest and regarding Luke coolly.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded slightly. "We don't have the same relationship you and Percy have."

He very well knew that all gods had crap relationships with their kids so he was being slightly condescending, yes. But it was true that Percy and Poseidon had the better relationship, so he wasn't being a complete smartass.

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

Poseidon's lips thinned just a bit at the smart comment but he didn't rise to the bait. He could have just had the ocean swallow up Luke right now but he was on his best behavior.

Poseidon wasn't going to try and get into the middle of a father/son rift, though. "Percy seems to be thriving here. Are you as well?"

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Better than I was at Camp Half Blood," Luke said. "This place gives me a lot more freedom."

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"Mmm. Do you think that's a good thing or bad thing in the long run?" Poseidon asked curiously. Percy had been given a lot of freedom and Poseidon hadn't yet decided if it had been a good or bad choice.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Of course it's a good thing," Luke said. "I was going crazy at camp."

Quite literally, as it would turn out.

[divinefamily.livejournal.com]

"And you've no structure, no trainers, no ways to prepare for the hardships that demigods face," Poseidon retorted quickly.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"It's not like they were going to let me go out and face anything," Luke pointed out. "And I was the trainer back at camp. I'm still training here. I'm even helping Nico out."

He didn't mention Percy since gods know he'd show up out of nowhere just to shout that Luke didn't train him.