safe || leo valdez x oc

thirty-six: the myth of wise-bottom

ARUNA

~•♡•~

once they got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. with the oars damaged, and the foresail torn, leo could barely manage a controlled descent. the others strapped themselves in below, except for coach hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail and yelling, "YEAH! bring it on, lake!", and aruna, who was using her anti-gravity abilities to loudly sing wake me up before you go-go.

"dude, what in hades is taking so fucking long?" aruna groaned loudly as she hopped down from the railing, opting to peer over leo's shoulder.

"you try flying this thing, space girl, and then you can complain about my landing skills!" leo announced back. the son of hephaestus cut her a side eye before smirking, and winking, resulting in aruna cursing him in minoan and turning away.

festus whirred and creaked in his special machine language that only leo could understand. "i know, i know." aruna heard. festus must have also been complaining.

while leo was busy controlling the massive war trireme with no help, aruna took the opportunity to investigate the scenery. a city was nestled in the foothills of a mountain range. blue and purple in the afternoon shadows. a flat desert landscape spread to the south, which disgusted aruna as she despised deserts.

directly beneath the argo II, the great salt lake glittered like aluminum foil around a really good meatball sub. great, now aruna was hungry again. the beach was a white stretch of land like lines of cocaine, which almsot made aruna snicker.

"hang on, coach!" leo called. aruna studied him. his floppy curls moved as he violently contorted his body to steer and lower the ship. he almost jerked around, with his lips slightly parted and his rustic eyes furious. "this is going to get rough!"

aruna had to quickly look away, and refocus on the mountains.

"i was built for rough!" coach announced.

a massive thud rocked the ship. a swell of saltwater washed over the bow, dousing coach hedge. the ship dangerouly listed to the side, but luckily righted itself before the daughter of selene was dunked.

"good job, festus." leo said. "take us toward the south shore."

"yeah!" hedge pumped his fists in the air. he was drenched from horn to hoof in water, but still managed a maniacal grin. "do it again!"

"uh, maybe later." leo sad."just stay above deck, okay? you can keep watch in case- you know, the lake decides to attack us or something."

"on it." hedge nodded assertively. aruna snorted as leo rang the all clear bell. leo made a go for the stairs, but before he could, there was a small thud, thud, thud and a tan stallion appeared before leo and aruna, with hazel levesque on his back.

"ooh! he's beautiful." aruna gleamed.

"how-" leo seemed to be at a loss for words. "we're in the middle of a lake! can that thing fly?"

the horse whinnied angrily.

"arion can't fly," hazel explained. "but he can run across just about anything. water, vertical surfaces, small moutains- none of that bothers him."