reflection ● jason grace

Octavian looks stupid, as usual

They left Galveston early the next morning.

Jason walked alongside Daria through the busy streets. It reminded him of Los Angeles, except he felt older, finally starting to lose the baby fat on his cheeks. Nathan said he was beginning to look a little bit like the statues of Roman gods, then Michael had chimed in, "yeah, the ugly ones."

Anyway, accompanied by the fact that Reyna was 14, Octavian looked like a meek slenderman, and Daria looked like she could kill someone, fewer mortals stared at them when they traveled alone. Which Jason figured was a good thing; even if it was small, they didn't want another Daphne.

"What're you thinking about?" Jason asked Daria. Reyna had shooed him away, calling him too chipper for 6 in the morning.

Daria shivered. It wasn't really that cold. Actually, it wasn't cold at all. It was August in Texas, it was miserably hot. But Jason knew the shiver to be a nervous tick.

When they learned about Daria's anxiety, she was miserable for a while. With the sudden prophecy and the stress of the primus pilus nomination, Jason wanted to help out.

So he read. He read all about anxiety and how to make life easier for Daria and then he had taught all of their friends about what he'd learned. He figured a few books were a small price to pay as long as he could keep annoying her with retorts.

"The church, death, the end of the world," she flicked her wrist. "You know, cheerful stuff."

"Uh huh, so that means you haven't taken your meds today?"

She pursed her lips, trying to walk faster. Jason kept up easily. He knew Octavian was watching them from behind, so he kept his voice low, like they were talking about something secret.

"Don't yell at me," Daria muttered when she realized her escape was useless.

"Do you hear me yelling?"

"Well, we're in public," she pointed out, lip twitching. "Raise your voice here and people will think you were raised by wolves or something."

Jason snorted in spite of himself. "You're not funny. Take your medicine."

"Yes, mom." Daria grinned at him. Jason figured she was probably the reason he was a morning person. "I'll take it when we break in a couple of hours."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jason heard behind him. He turned to see Reyna apologize bashfully to a man she had run into. They'd only known Reyna for one day, but the daughter and Bellona and being polite didn't match up.

"What was that about?" Jason asked as they stopped to let her catch up.

Reyna pressed a finger to her lips, motioning for them to stay quiet. Her expression was back to normal: stoic and humorless. She held up a couple of twenty-dollar bills. "Bingo."

Daria raised her eyebrows. "You stole that from him?" Jason sensed a hint of disapproval. That was shocking, but he couldn't exactly say anything without stirring up drama.

"My shoes are falling apart," Reyna explained, motioning to the tattered canvas. She had definitely picked up on Daria's mood – her tone grew almost icy. "I don't suppose you've ever run away before."

Octavian huffed. "If we're stopping to go shopping, I'm buying some sunglasses. I can't see anything!"

"I would say you'd look ridiculous," Jason commented. "But you look like that all the time."

Octavian scowled, which was only a little different than his resting happy-go-lucky expression. He turned to Daria for approval, though Reyna didn't look like she would care if Daria gave it or not.