halfbloodhill_logs | stealing hearts of marsh king's daughters

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stealing hearts of marsh king's daughters

Who: Annie Cresta & Finnick Odair
What: Finnick is gonna teach Annie some knots. Annie's wary about his motivations. Awkwardness will ensue.
When: November 3rd
Why: Because unstable alleged-murderers from the East Coast need to stick together.

Annie, to be completely honest, knew a good number of knots. It kind of came with the territory, but for her it was automatic and there was no feeling to it. What she wanted was the comfort and education, she supposed. To know WHY certain things in the knots needed to be the way they were. That was the sort of thing you didn't get from being Neptune's daughter. So when Finnick Odair of all people, offered to teach her, well, she jumped at the chance. She wanted to get to know him better, to be around him. With Percy's warning still ringing in her ear, though, she was more than cautious. If it was all a joke- if this was part of his Rite of Passage... She didn't think she could take it.

But being around Finnick Odair was completely worth it, wasn't it?

To the girl who had once had a poster of the famed surfer on her wall, well, it totally was.

And Finnick, too, had much in common with her. She'd been a swimming prodigy, and with the death of her family, all of that had crashed around her. Finnick was in the same boat, if you forgave the water pun. This was his method of coping. And any sort of tether to reality that Annie could get- that didn't involve harming herself- she was going to take.

So the two, on the cool November day, marched together towards the woods, Annie hardly saying anything as they walked along the creek. Every once in a while, she'd look around wildly, fearing that she'd once again see Briley in the woods. But there was nothing. Just her and Finnick.

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It was just her and Finnick, yes, and he was quite content with that. There were no ulterior motives here, just a desire to help her if he could. The silence and the woods put him at a bit of ease, not quite as much as the Sound would, but he was still grateful for the relative quiet.

"So. Uh. What sort of knots do you know already? I shouldn't have assumed you didn't know any, being a daughter of Neptune and all." He attempted a bit of a charming smile, but he felt like it mostly came out awkward.

"Knots? Oh, right." That's why they're here. She practically winces at her own words. "Uhm, I'm good at, ah, a lot of basic ones. But I kinda get tangled up with ah, more complicated ones. Pretty ones." Oh god, Annie, stop right now.

"I mean, you can do like, a monkey's paw, right? Because, ah, well, that'd be, ah, pretty cool to learn." Has there ever been anyone on this earth more awkward than Annie Cresta?

"Sure, I can teach you that one. My grandmother taught me a bunch about tha kind of stuff." Not to mention, that particular knot might come in handy in a fight, with a thick enough rope. At the mention of his grandma, he certainly seems a little more at ease. Mags is generally a safe subject for him, she's the one person at home he can trust anymore.

"We don't have to do that right now, though, we could just wander for a while if you want."

"That's really lucky." Annie had never known her grandparents. Another reason she had felt so alone, so confused after her family's murder. She had had no one to visit her, to tell her how they loved her and believed her. Instead, she had the entire world against her.

"I'd like to wander. With you. I mean, in general- sorry," She stammered, blushing furiously. "We can wander. It's so pretty here, in the fall."

"Yeah, well, my -- I, uh, we had kind of a thing with the ocean. She makes nets, sometimes. Taught me enough to be somewhat competent." Right. Family probably wasn't the greatest subject, here, and he would much rather not talk about it either.

"Okay." He gave her a bit of a charming grin, pleased. "It is, big change from home. It's nice, even if it's cold."

"Wow," she said softly. "That's really great. We had a thing with it, too. But, ah, for different reasons." Her father had loved to fish, and would take her with him. She just loved to swim, and had always felt at home and safe in the water. To people who didn't know about her secret identity, they weren't surprised she'd gone to the pool to try to drown herself.

"At least it's not raining!" she chided, smiling back up at him. "It's always raining in Seattle. But it's about the same sort of temperature."

"Too cold." He wrinkled his nose teasingly, gave her a bit of a playful nudge. "At home --" He trailed off for a moment. It wasn't home anymore, hadn't been for four years at the least. Maybe it wouldn't be, ever, now that the Romans were here on Long Island. But he'd continue that thought, anyhow.

"....Anyway, uh. In California, I can go shirtless for pretty much eleven months out of the year."

"Of course you go shirtless," she muttered, surprised at how bitter her own words were. Hastily, she added "I know, Camp Jupiter was outside of Berkley. It was beautiful there."

Was.

Wow, they couldn't talk about anything without stomping all over something, could they?

"....I am terrible at picking conversation topics, I'm sorry." He gave her a sheepish look and a sigh. "I dunno, let's talk about something else. Please? Pick something."

"No, no, it's okay. I promise. We just- I just am really hard to talk to. I know it. I appreciate your effort. Really." More than he knew, though if he looked at the way she looked at him, it was easy to tell.

Annie pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "What does ambrosia taste like for you?"

"I don't think you are, I think you're great to talk to." He really does, honestly, she's one of the only ones he feels like he can open up to, here, except maybe Alcuin.

"Um." He considered this for a moment, mock-frowning. "French dip sandwiches. From this one place in LA called Phillipe's. What about you?"

She flushed. "No- you're just saying that. I'm really bad at conversation." She used to be decent at it, even though she'd always been shy. But now? Conversation with anyone was difficult.

"That sounds... Interesting. For me, it's my mom's freshed baked cookies- sea salt, chocolate chips, and just a dash of cinnamon. I know that sounds really cliched, but... I miss them."

"Well, I mean. I can talk to you, is what I mean, I guess." That actually means a lot more than he's letting on.

"No, I get it. I miss stuff my dad used to make, too."

"Oh." The word was short, her lips forming the same letter perfectly. "I, ah, I like listening. So you can talk to me whenever. I hope you know that." She knew how important it was to have someone to talk to, after all. Lord knew she didn't have anyone.

She smiled softly. "I'm glad. Not- not that you miss him, but I mean- I am- but-" she stammered, blushing furiously, her hands back in her hair. "I'm sorry. Just- forget I said anything."

"Well, thanks." He gave her a small, shy smile in response. "You can too with me, you know. I might not -- get everything, but I'd like to think I might be able to help you out." Because Annie's someone special to him, alright? He'd like to help her whenever he can.

"I know what you meant. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Oh, uhm... Thanks, Finnick." She turned her gaze up to him once more. It was really hard to look away, once she saw that smile. He was more than handsome, he was beautiful. And kind. Percy was wrong. He wasn't trying to break her heart. He couldn't be. He was just so...

No. He was a son of Aphrodite. He was supposed to appear that way.

"I always worry."

"You're welcome." --Percy was wrong, incidentally, but he wasn't about to let onto that right now. He'd more than likely scare her off, at this rate, and he would quite like to do this without his mother-granted skills.

"Yeah, well, you don't need to around me."

"No," she explained softly, looking back down at her feet. "You need someone to worry about you. I don't think you worry about yourself, so I make up for it. I, ah... You're a good friend. I don't have many. So I don't want anything to happen to you.

By the time she'd finished the sentence, her hand was back in her hair, twisting the dark locks.

"Oh." There was an almost shy grin. He'd never really had that in the past four years, save for perhaps Mags. His contact with her was somewhat infrequent, but even so.

"Well, uh, thanks," he continued. "I don't want anything to happen to you, either." And he would likely seriously hurt anyone who tried to hurt Annie.

She shrugs his concern away, shifting her body subconsciously. "Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to me. I promise."

"'Course not. You can take care of yourself." They all can, or they try to be able to, here. "But I'm gonna worry anyway, just so you know."

Annie casts her eyes downward, scuffing her toe against the dirt. "Why? No one else worries. Or cares. I know I'm... I'm different to you. And that means a lot. I'm sorry, I just don't know what to say to you. I'm sorry. Maybe the walk's a bad idea, and I should go back to my cabin and talk with Percy or something."

"No, you don't have to, I'm just --" He hesitates a bit. "I mean, you can if you want, I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do. I just....thought we could get to know each other better. You know?"

"No," Annie says after a moment. "I want to stay here. With you. I want to get to know you better, too..." But if he hurt her... She twists a few strands of her hair between her fingers.

"It's just that no one has ever tried to get to know me before. Not, well... Not recently."

"Well, they're idiots, then." That slightly charming little smile returns, but he doesn't really mean anything by it. "I'll go as slow as you want, I promise."

She giggles, blushing behind her dark hair. "Thank you, Finnick. I appreciate it. I..." She looks up at him. "You're a really great guy."

That grin intensifies, despite his best efforts. "Well, I try to be. I don't quite believe it most of the time."

"I know what you mean. But uhm, it's what I think. So around me, it's true."

"Well, let's hope it stays that way, I guess."

"I hope it does. So... I don't think it will." She offers him a sheepish smile, before the bell signaling dinner tolls in the distance.

"Oh, we should... get going back."

"Oh -- yeah," he replies, with an awkward little smile of his own. "Before everyone else eats all the food. If we're late we might get some impossibly boring chore to do."

She wrinkles her lightly-freckled nose. "And that's the last thing we want. I, ah, need to make a good impression, anyway." Not that anyone thought she was remotely impressive at all.

Well, Finnick does, but he's somewhat biased. "Yeah. I guess we should go, then." And he's turning to head back towards camp, with an inquisitive look in Annie's direction.

"What?" She asks after a few moments. "You're looking at me strange."

"Nothing! I was just, uh. ...Nothing. Don't worry about it." Way to be awkward, Finnick.

"Oh. Uhm. Okay..." She swallows, looking down at the forest floor again. "Sorry. Let's just, ah, go."

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stealing hearts of marsh king's daughters

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