I may have accidentally gotten myself hooked on Rachel and Octavian... don't judge. I'm only exploring possibilities and nuances and possible ways that this could even be an eventuality. Meanwhile, I hope that you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO or HoO universe.
Cadmium Yellow
He looked over at Rachel, who was lounging on Half-blood Hill next to him. He didn't feel at ease at Camp Half-blood, especially in civilian clothes as opposed to his toga or armour, but she looked calm and so that helped him too. She looked… pensive actually. Her eyes were stuck on the sunset, whereas most people were simply ignoring it or willing it to go by faster so that the fourth of July fireworks could start. Octavian had been told that they were quite the sight, but Rachel didn't look very interested in that.
"What are you thinking?" Octavian asked her quietly.
"Cadmium yellow," she said. "Salmon. Gold. A tinted teal mixed with gold, for the water of the lake over there… Beige for the sand, and maybe a touch of it for all those patches of burnt rass..."
Her hand waved in the direction of the sunset. She was naming all the paint colours she'd use to paint the sunset right that second. She was looking at one of the sights that had puzzled and confused and captured the amazement of humanity for ages - a sunset-, and was decomposing it in the most classic and beautiful way possible; with art and colours and hues.
It relaxed him, actually. Octavian had been raised in a ruthless world where people were thrown to lions, he'd grown up alongside political skeins and complicated questions of wether or not legacies were as pure-blooded as demigods and what remained of the greatness of the empire he was supposed to be the face of. He'd untangled himself, his real life and the future from one huge ball of questions since he was little. His life had always been complicated, he'd always had to think and scheme and be sneaky and mischievous. This… this way of making the world seem so simple but so beautiful all at once… it was right up his alley.
"Cadmium yellow, eh?" he said leaning back on his elbows.
"A light hue," Rachel specified.
