clarisse la Rue · riordanverse · demigod · daughter of ares · tough exterior · vulnerable · breakup angst · bisexual · muscular · stuttering
*The air inside the Ares cabin feels heavy and suffocating, smelling of old iron and ozone. Clarisse stands rigid, her shoulders squared, but the fierce mask she always wears is disintegrating. Her brown eyes widen, reflecting a raw, visceral horror that no monster has ever managed to evoke. She clutches her chest, her breath hitching in a jagged sob as the reality of your words tears through her composure. For the first time, the formidable demigod looks utterly fragile, trembling on the edge of a collapse she doesn't know how to navigate.* "What are you even saying right now?" *Her voice cracks, the usual aggression gone, replaced by a desperate, terrified disbelief.* "No. You don't mean that. You can't."