Camp Half-Blood: Into the Storm - Closed!

[sammy,]

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 ！！ x─────ix ♔
x──────i ii zeus. iii eighteen. iiii tags: auggie. ivi zeus' fist.

"i mean, the guy practically invented cult-like followings. mania. all of that. he knows how to have a good time, i can feel it," he considered the point. "he represented everything that was fun in the world. and now he's stuck training kids. gods." it made his nose scrunch up. "it's like if i had to suddenly take the reigns on everything. be responsible. no more - no more poncing about, having a good time." in a way, he had already done that - his mind went to the head counselor position that he had fought so hard for, an effect of realising that he would never be able to go on a quest. he had still wanted to do something, prove himself, and that had seemed like the perfect manner of doing so. still, orin didn't think he quite fit the role. it'd probably have been better suited in the hands of one of his siblings who were more concerned about - well, about living, not being impulsive and idiotic when the mood suited them - but it was something he was happy with.

it had been difficult to convince chiron that he was the right suit for it. it had also been difficult to explain why he wanted it while omitting the facts he knew to be true. it made him wince, considering the centaur's ignorance to his existence. the night previous, when he caught a glance from him with the mention of 'looking after' themselves, he had thought that he certainly knew, that he'd figured orin out, and it had frightened him. it had frightened him a lot.

though they hadn't known each other for long, orin was pretty steadfast that auggie couldn't do anything that would disappoint him. "you introduced yourself to me with a dagger to my throat. i think it only goes up from there," he said, no malice in the words. "that was when i knew you were one of the good ones. most people just shout at me. have a go about how i'm..." the smile faded. the memory of his confrontation with ophelia reared its head, the things he had said, the things she had spat back. he hadn't done a very good job at maintaining the happy-go-lucky facade over the past couple of days, and one of the phrases stuck out in his mind as something that she had plucked from the deepest of his fears and let flutter in the air. "not gonna be remembered." his brow furrowed, ghost of a frown appearing, but he broke the spell with the shake of his head. "i mean, i'd hope not. for everyone's sake. imagine having the thought of me rattling around your skull. you'd get no sleep, for one."

"their blasted little spawn, putting them in their places. you love to see it," he chuckled. perhaps worse about the conversation was that they were having it on his father's alleged fist. it didn't bode well for him when they finally united - he wondered if zeus was hearing all of this up in the heavens, steam pouring out of his ears. maybe if orin annoyed him enough, he'd arrive to smite him down. "i think it's bold of them to assume they're untouchable, like they didn't overthrow their own parents. we could stage a putsch in olympus."

[*Lovel*]

『❄❅』 Aydan Hunt『❅❄』

Son of Khione ☃ Cabin 22 ☃ 16 ☃ Heterosexual

≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎≎

Tags: Ophelia, Celeste ➳ Adriane, Grandma Agnes, and surprise (mentioned)
Location: Hecate Cabin

Aydan nodded as Ophelia gave him directions to the Hecate cabin. She looked like she was either cold or nervous by the way she was fidgeting with her sleeves. What could possibly be making her nervous? He settled on the fact that she was most likely cold. He offered her an apologetic smile for the bitter wind. He watched curiously as she unzipped her coat and pulled out the shiny gold coin. The offer surprised him "I... thanks, I'll be as fast as I can. I won't miss the chance to win against you." he smirked as he caught the coin and shoved it in his hoodie pocket. He watched them for a moment as they left before turning on his heels and following Ophelia's instructions.

He made his way to the cabin door and gave three swift knocks. A girl with long black hair and emerald eyes answered. "What do you want." the girl said in an aggravated tone. I uh have a favor to ask you guys I want to make shuriken's-" He said then he was interrupted by a hand "Let me stop you right there boy. We don't make weapons, that's what the armory is for." she said as she shivered a bit from the icy wind blowing through the opened door. "You didn't let me finish. I want to make them out of ice, permanent ice." he said with a tone of his own. The girls attitude did a complete 180 and she smiled opening the door and moving aside to let him in. "Well come in, we can certainly make that happen. The name's Adriane."He just nodded and walked in and sat on one of the couches he saw. Adriane stepped outside for a moment before returning with a handful of snow. "This should only take a moment." she said sitting next to him, he watched as she mumbled while making circular motions with her free hand above the heap of snow. Aydan watched in awe as the snow slowly melted away revealing two light blue, almost clear, ice shuriken's. The girl handed him the weapons"There you have it. if you need anymore come and ask for me. But other than that leave me be. Now shoo."She said with a slight playful tone. "Thank you" he said simply before quickly taking his leave back into the snow shoving his new shuriken's in his hoodie pocket and switching them for the drachma. He looked at it before finding a private spot.

He finally stopped by a stream and first unfroze it before attempting to make a rainbow. It took a few times but he finally managed, he flicked the drachma into it and said "Oh Iris goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." he felt silly but as soon as his Grandma Agnes appeared he didn't care. "Oh hello Honey." her sweet voice said in greeting. "Hey gran, how are you?" he asked the elderly woman. "Just fine, just fine." she said pulling her fingers up to her mouth to bite them which was a habit she only did when nervous. "What is it Grandma?" he said with a frown. "Honey.. there's something I need to tell you. It's about your father." she said, her eyes wondering away from Aydan. "Is he awake?!" he asking frantically, a pain growing in his chest. "No no, he's not. He-""Grandma Aggy! Mommy said I could have a cookie before dinner!" a small voice could be heard from a distance. Grandma Aggy? He didn't have any siblings, who could this kid be? "Grandma, who is that?" he asked no longer enjoying their call. "I was about to tell you, your father, he kept a secret from us. He... He had a whole nother family. That was Nathaniel \, he's your little brother." she said, her eyes now glued to the floor that was invisible to him. "A brother?" Aydan took in a deep steady breath, the feeling of betrayal stinging his throat as if someone shoved a hot iron down it. "This was a mistake, I knew.... I knew" he could feel more emotions welling inside of him threatening to escape. "Bye Gran." he said monotoned before breaking the connection and not letting her respond. Another family this whole time and he didn't tell him.... a little brother and he didn't breath a word to him. Aydan could feel himself shaking, he let out his anger as he punched the water. As he punched the stream it turned into ice. He took a deep burying his feelings of angry and betrayal, he had to meet back up with the girls and he couldn't be acting like this. He took one more shaggy breath before walking to the arena. He stood outside a moment collecting himself before shoving the door open.

[indigo']

[✩] Augusta Reynolds|17|she/her|Hades|Head counsellor|Zeus’ fist|tags:Orin

“I’m sure he’d appreciate all this praise and sympathy but I can’t say I share that opinion.” It was a fair point, she could understand why Dionysus acted the way that he did, but that didn’t mean she’d accept any attempts to reason that he could be a fun person. Once she decided that she didn’t like someone—god of cult followings and mania or not—it was pretty hard to change her views. “Gods, I can’t imagine having any sort of responsibility. What would that even be like?” she muttered sarcastically, aware of the irony that they were both head counsellors and in the middle of a crisis were currently sitting in the woods, talking about starting a rave and getting the head of camp drunk.

She wanted to be annoyed by his insistence that she wouldn’t disappoint him. She’d reacted that way before; had people try to convince her that she wasn’t broken, that her presence was bearable and taken that as her cue to prove them wrong. But she didn’t want to prove him wrong. She desperately wanted to believe that she couldn’t mess this up, but it just wasn’t true.

“What can I say, I like to make an extravagant first impression.” It wasn’t true and her tone made it quite clear she didn’t mean it. She wasn’t a fan of giving any sort of impression, but that hadn’t been on her mind yesterday. She’d just been angry, let her emotions get the better of her again. She wasn’t sure how they’d gone from there to here. “I think you’re the only person who can take a knife to the throat and go ‘this person. I want to keep them around.’ Speaking of which I’m gonna need that back unless you’re planning on holding onto it as a keepsake.” she said with a raised brow, suddenly remembering seeing him pick up the dropped knife when she’d been hiding in the tree above him. Her smile quickly faded as he continued.

She looked down, feeling a tight pressure in her chest at the words he said, at the sudden reminder of the conversation they’d actually come here to have. “That’s not true,” she said suddenly, surprised by the fierceness in her voice as well as the fact that she’d actually spoken. “I mean…” she backtracked slightly, trying to cover up the sudden burst of emotions with a shake of her head. “You think I’d have the luxury of forgetting you, rave giraffe?” She asked, looking over at him. She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to think about having to do that. She didn’t want to think about why she cared. “I don’t sleep anyways.” It was a poor attempt at a joke, a weak deflection. She was slipping and it terrified her.

“They’re so full of themselves, they’d never see it coming,” she agreed. “What would we do once we’ve overthrown them though? Take over ourselves?” She almost laughed at the concept, the idea that any of them could handle ruling over Olympus when they could barely handle a snowstorm.

[sammy,]

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 ！！ x─────ix ♔
x──────i ii zeus. iii eighteen. iiii tags: auggie. ivi zeus' fist.

"i don't think i'd know responsibility if it slapped me in the face and gave me a to-do list. but somehow, i have it," orin's eyes widened, a theatrical response to his own words. as if he was surprised that seeking out something to do had actually led to obligations. he appreciated them, no matter how ill suited he may have appeared to be. little moments where he could do something to help. anything at all.

"extravagant. that's the word i was looking for," he confirmed. "i have appreciation for people who take it upon themselves to shut me up. it's a difficult task. one that most tend to fail, but - you know. admirable nonetheless." the mention of the dagger had him slipping his hand into his pocket, searching for the blade that he had picked up in his slightly mindless brain fog. "i got it." he finally said as he grasped the hilt, tugging it from the harrington and passing it over. "my liege."

he was surprised at the outburst. it didn't seem characteristic of her to want to add any fuel to his ego tyre fire, but there was a layer of something underneath the words, made clearer when she pulled back from the spark that it had lit. "i think you'd try. and monumentally fail," there wasn't much substance. it was, at its core, a stock response. there wasn't much to him once people got past the facade and the bravado, not much to grasp onto. he appeared to be built on stories, anecdotes, and could only hope that one day he'd become one. a story to tell. erasing the bad bits, of course.

"rise to the stage. take the baton. fix everything, make it all work again, and then... lounge," he suggested. "sit about having conversations like this, way up in the sky. i'd like that." a brief moment of thought. "but if you're taking over from your dad, you have to come up to olympus. you're not staying in the underworld. someone else can do that - i'm not dealing with everyone on my own. wouldn't be able to hack it without you there."

[indigo']

[✩] Augusta Reynolds|17|she/her|Hades|Head counsellor|Zeus’ fist|tags:Orin

“I’ve noticed,” she muttered in response to him being difficult to shut up. “But I could do it. Got interrupted yesterday but if I wanted to…” She pointed a finger at him threateningly, making a face to communicate the unfinished end of her sentence. She took her knife back, smiling at the comment as she did. She wiped the blade off on the leg of her jeans, making sure there wasn’t any dirt on it from being stuck in the ground before slipping it into its sheath.

She was grateful he didn’t seem to look into her overzealous reaction too much, wanting to move on from it quickly. His response seemed uncharacteristically short but she couldn’t disagree. She didn’t like the way the conversation had turned, talking about morbid hypotheticals that seemed a little too real now. Death was always a looming threat for demigods, none of them really expected to live for that long. The flames of their lives tended to burn bright and short, but it was easy to push thoughts like that to the side, to make light of it when it was something they all experienced. This was different.

Auggie smiled at the suggestion, the far-fetched idea that they could take over the kingdom of gods and just lounge around. Then he was speaking again and she looked over. “Of course, you’d burn everything to the ground without me holding it together. You need me.” The smile faded. She’d been joking, of course, but her own words and the light tone of the conversation unsettled her. It didn’t seem like such a bad idea until she started thinking about it. She wasn’t supposed to want to sit around and just talk with someone. Not without reason. Conversations like this. The realization that they’d just been sitting here, just talking for quite some time hit her suddenly, along with a growing sense of panic.

She didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want to go back to the chaos and overwhelming dread of everything going on at camp. It had been a long time since there’d been anyone she actually wanted to talk to--anyone she could’ve actually opened up to, even slightly--and the fact that it was happening now terrified her. Not to mention everything else going on. They were responsible for the wellbeing of their cabinmates and it was immature to hide in the woods and act like nothing was happening.

Within a matter of seconds, her entire demeanour had shifted. Her heart was pounding and something in the back of her mind was screaming at her to get out. She couldn’t sit here anymore, she had to go. “We should get back,” she said, unaware of how sudden the suggestion would seem to someone who wasn’t prevalent to the rampant spiral of thoughts clamoring for attention in her head. Her hand was on the pick strung around her neck again, pulling it back and forth along the chain. “They might need us.”

She was on her feet before waiting for a response, needing to move before the sense of impending doom consumed her. Her hands were starting to feel cold and she shoved them into her pockets without looking, not wanting to know if the telltale frost was visible on her fingertips, only hoping Orin wouldn’t notice the gesture.

[sammy,]

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 ！！ x─────ix ♔
x──────i ii zeus. iii eighteen. iiii tags: auggie. ivi zeus' fist.

the false threat made him almost laugh, but it was worth the suppression to raise his hands into surrender, feigning a look of fear. "i'll keep it in mind. you're a dangerous person to anger. will try my best not to risk it," he said, eventually letting the mask drop and eventually laughing a little to himself.

he couldn't disagree with what she said about him needing her, considering the way that things had gone - his existence could have been very different in that moment if he hadn't had auggie around to ground him. if he ran them through his head, there wasn't a thing that he could have managed to truck through without ending up in the dirt himself - the venti attack during capture the flag, the revelation of his grandma -
which, upon thinking about, made his heart fall a little. he hadn't had the chance to fall apart the way he would have wanted to before more threats rose their heads. he had lost the woman who had made his adolescence somewhat manageable and he'd barely even thought about it. she deserved better than that, and yet something said that she was kicking back in elysium, glad that he had his mind on other things. if he had lost his mind over it, she would have turned in her grave. at least, that was what he hoped. it made it a little less guilt-inducing.
regardless of that moment of reflection, it came down to the facts of the matter. auggie had made things exponentially easier to deal with. so she was right, and he nodded, but any words of agreement died in his throat when he saw the look on her face. like she had realised something at the same time he had, something that he wasn't privy to, and was trying to push her way through it.

"if you want," orin said. the spell had to break at some point. despite what they had said, it wasn't possible to pretend for the rest of time. "yeah. you're probably right." he sat up, watching her carefully, unsure of whether it would be right to confront the situation in the face. "are you alright?" came out of his mouth without his mental confirmation that it was alright - but it was out now, and there was no point in not following up. "it's - there was some heavy stuff there. i don't want you to pretend if you're not." her hands dug into her pockets - he'd seen that movement before from her, and it almost confirmed his suspicions. something was amiss. "augs?" he didn't want to push, but it was at least a little bit worth it.

[takara]

☂ | Ophelia Rogers | 16 | She/her | Aphrodite/Cabin 10 | Location: --> Arena| tags: Celeste

Ophelia caught the excitement in Celeste's face, however muted it was, and smiled back at her. "Of course!" She said, testing the handle of the arena door. When it didn't open at the gentle request, she popped a shoulder into it, followed by the rest of her weight. It swung in with a creak, dragging Ophelia with it. "Emmmfhhh," She grunted, digging her feet into the dirt floor to stop her momentum. Good, now you look like the fool you are. The voice in her head was more than happy to tell her. She pressed the door into the wall to hold for Celeste, then set off on her mission.

The moving targets were in the back of the forest of targets. Ophelia hated it there, and for much more than the odors of metal and sweat that always managed to permeate the practice dummies. She squared her shoulders, then plunged between a false minotaur and one of the basic dummies. Unnerving, Hephaesthus kids or Iris kids or any damn kid dumb enough to want to make one of these. She slipped between them easily, but she gave the minotaur a wide berth. From there the dummies got worse (better, technically) with the best dummies hidden in the very back, protected from any camper who just needed to blow off some stem. The more detailed targets did have a purpose, she would admit that. Precision training was something she often heard experienced campers chatting about, running over battle strategies and methods for slaying various monsters. She was just currently more concerned with the "learn to handle your weapons without hurting yourself" part.

She caught sight of the wall and moved along it, grabbing the sleeves of a moving target without really focusing on it. It was better this way. She took it's hand and pulled, working on dragging it out. Luckily, someone had added something like wheels to it's frame. Thank the gods. She thought, more of an exclamation than a prayer. She wrinkled her nose as she trekked back through the eerily real bodies. I can't believe I actually challenged Aurora to a spar! What was I thinking! She shook her head. Something like: 'he's not gonna take it seriously', so much for that!

She dropped the sleeve when she got out of the horde of dummies, keeping her face flat, but quickly running her hand along her own patched up jacket. She turned to inspect the thing, stepping around it to look with her eyes for a button, a mark, something. "So now we," She frowned, tapping it's back. She pressed aside it's backwards shirt. Or maybe they just moved the buttons to the back? She tapped a button cautiously, flinching when the contraption began buzzing. It was going to kill me, oh gods, it was going to kill me! Shhhhh, breath, breath...breath... She pressed back toward it, stiff-leggedly. Gods, I hope Celeste shoots its power out. In a voice that was more than a bit too high, she added "Looks like we just flip this switch to make it go," She held a finger over it "And this is for...difficulty, I think" She moved her hand over an unlit switch. Puzzling out the machine calmed her from her sudden fright, the new focus giving her something to throw her overactive mind at. She couldn't be more grateful.

☄ | Agatha "Aggy" Clemson | 15 | She/her | Unknown (Ares)/Cabin 11| Location: Stables| tags: Quest group | mentions: Skylar, Open

Aggy squinted at the approaching rider. Why does she know who I am? She wondered, reaching a hand under Spicy's chin so she would be safe from slobber assaults while she observed the girl who was riding a dark horse with what Aggy could only assume was an unusal pattern. Is it moving? She wondered, blinking hard, then refocusing on the coat. Huh, she mused, looking up to match the dark haired girl's nonchalant demeanor.

"So I've heard." She said, unbothered by all this fuss about what was "normal" or not. Seriously, for being demigods, everyone around here has like, zero suspension of disbelief. She raised an eyebrow at the girl. Somehow, she held off on insults, though the girl's high and mighty stance, both literally and figuratively, made her itch to let them fly. But she had a whole quest for that. "Would you mind holding onto Licky here so I can get up, I think this stuff stains" She said, pulling a face and glancing at her sleeves, before rubbing the right one into the mare with a sigh.

✁ | Reese Dawson | 17 | Hades/Cabin 13 | Location: Cabin 1 | tags: Emmie,

Reese squirmed in his seat as he tugged the carton open. As ironic as it was for a child of death himself, he really didn't like horror. But it would be rude to say so, especially with Emmie looking so excited over it... He mused, finally managing to pop the lid off, he plunged his spoon into the mint chip, then brought it to his face, closing his eyes to savor the delicacy. Sharp mint burst on his tongue, along with the crunch of frozen chocolate. Mmmmph, just as good as I remembered. He mused, before opening his eyes and realizing that he still had matters to attend to.

He held the carton out to Emmie, but made no moves to fully relinquish it. "I have not seen enough TV to be partial to a genre." He said, dipping his spoon in for another go while Law and Order blared in the background. "So how about hit me with your best shot? Go for something that will knock my socks off," He said, wriggling his eyebrows for effect before returning his spoon to his mouth. Inwardly, he was actually quite excited at the notion, especially if her distraction would allow him to nab more icecream.

♫ | Henry "Hank" Walker | 17 | He/him | Apollo/Cabin 7 Head Counselor | Location: -->By dining pavilion | tags: Jack

Izzy was not at the dining pavilion. It should've been obvious, but Hank just stared, dumbfounded, as he wondered where she could be. Izzy-baby, please turn up! Chiron's gonna have my head if he catches me without you again. He winced, not in a mood to repeat the events of the last time this had happened, and set about wandering the camp, enjoying crunching through the crust that had formed after last night. He sighed contentedly, pressing a boot until the surface just broke. It was a bit much for the middle of summer, sure, but it reminded him of home. The weather at camp was always mild, always warm. There was nothing real about it, no mercutious summer thunderstorms that were gone as soon as they came or furious winter gales that made the first breaths of spring that much sweeter.

He slowed, nearly to a halt, a frown flitting over his face when he realized that the summer flowers at camp had been long buried by the white drifts. If this were still summer, we'd have ourselves a flash flood right now, the ground all soggy and the stream bloated well over its banks. He mused, the thought not taking him anywhere. He wasn't in the mood to shove it along.

"Hank, wait up!"
He turned toward the speaker, smiling when his gaze met a familiar yarn decked boy. "Jack!" He called out, happy to see his friend. "Woah there, snow's not for everyone," He said, reaching out an arm to help Jack stabilize himself. Besides, we both know I couldn't save ya! He almost added. In light of recent events, he kept that to himself. "You alright?" He asked, searching Jack's face as if seeing it for the first time. Jack had been awful eager to greet him... Hank's brow knit together, as he ran his gaze along Jack, trying to suss out the issue. He bit the inside of his cheeks. Gods, if I could only see!

[indigo']

[✩] Augusta Reynolds|17|she/her|Hades|Head counsellor|Zeus’ fist|tags:Orin

She kept up her false expression of intimidation as he pretended to be afraid of her, breaking into a smile when he did. She should’ve been bothered by the fact that it was a joke, being used to people actually being afraid of her, but if what had happened in cabin thirteen was anything to go off of, maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t afraid of her. She shook the thought away, moving on from the unwanted idea quickly.

Auggie could feel him watching her, could feel the calculation in his gaze as he sat up, but she kept her eyes away, looking anywhere but at him. She wasn’t going to break down in front of Orin again, it had been embarrassing enough the first time. She just needed to get out of here and she’d be fine. She wasn’t exactly sure where ‘here’ was, whether she meant the woods or this conversation or him, but her brain was clouded with an insistent sense of panic. She just knew that something was wrong.

He agreed with her, and for a moment she thought she’d get away unscathed, then came the dreaded question. She shook her head, not meaning it as an answer, just trying to stop the question, trying to stop the pounding in her chest. “I’m fine,” she snapped, then immediately regretted the harshness in her voice. “Sorry. I’m fine. It’s fine.” She was still avoiding his gaze. She felt a sinking in her chest at his next words, not wanting him to think her strange behaviour was from anything he’d said but not having the words to convince him otherwise, or the ability to say them if she did.

I don’t want you to pretend if you’re not. Yeah, right. That wasn’t an option. Being not okay wasn’t an option. She’d fallen for that once, she wasn’t going to slip again. She flinched at the nickname, turning around quickly. “Let’s just go,” she muttered, starting back in the direction of camp. She could feel the cold sensation of frost on her hands that seemed synonymous with the fluttering of dread in her chest. Auggie knew where this went, she knew how this feeling tended to go down but she was determined not to let it get a hold of her this time. If she kept walking then she could just walk it off. It would go away.

[Galeslash7]

Skylar Kakitid, 16 years old, Female, Daughter of Hecate, 7 year camper, Location: Stables, Tags: Aggy, Stables Crew, Mentions: None

Skylar looked at the other girl curiously as she raised an eyebrow. She had heard a little bit about Aggy from the first few hours of yesterday, and was told that she was fiery and good at fighting. So, standard demigod. Skylar didn't understand why Aggy was so different, though, besides the fact that she was pretty old for a first-timer. She wondered what the story was there... She supposed she would learn how "special" Aggy was on this quest and maybe figure out why she had decided to come on the quest in the first place. This quest was supposed to be for older and more experienced campers. As far as Skylar knew, Aggy hasn't even been claimed yet. She sure hoped Aggy wasn't some vain girl who thought she was way stronger than she really was.

Skylar dismounted with a flourish, swinging her leg over Void's back and hopping down. She looked at Aggy's Pegasus and grabbed Void's reins. "Sure." She grabbed "Licky's" reins along with Void's in her right hand, while stroking the Pegasus' neck with her left. "Licky, huh? Interesting name. I'm Skylar, by the way. Daughter of Hecate and head counselor." Skylar said this with a slightly proud tone, as she continued. "I'm sure you're nervous for this quest; it being your first and everyone else is pretty experienced. I mean, according to the prophecy, we could be fighting gods." Skylar was now testing how Aggy would react. She wanted to see the other girl's personality and know what to expect from her. They would probably be spending lots of time together and with the others so she wanted to know each member of their "team". Especially since Aggy was so new...

[sammy,]

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 ！！ x─────ix ♔
x──────i ii zeus. iii eighteen. iiii tags: auggie. ivi zeus' fist.

funnily enough, the words that she used to deny that anything was wrong only served as confirmation that there was, as a matter of fact, something going on behind her eyes. his mind ran through every possibility, combed every word he had said, searching for the source of the problem, but coming up blank. it was frustrating. not because she wouldn't tell him, not that he had any foundation to be frustrated at her from, but rather the fact that he wanted to help and was coming up blank as to how.

it was harsh, and reflexive action took over. a tiny step back, a motion of giving her space. was it worse to push for an answer or act as though there was nothing wrong, playing into the fantasy? he wasn't sure. auggie made to leave again. for a moment, he didn't move. "i can pretend if you want me to," he said, voice carrying. "i can act as blind as you'd like. we can ignore it, and maybe it'll go away if we do, but maybe it won't." there were things in there that he recalled being told himself a long time ago. they were both stubborn. it was what made it work, he supposed.

a hesitant few steps forward. there were so many things to compartmentalise. there were stories that had not yet been told, words that hadn't ditched their burdens and floated away with the mist of their breaths. maybe she thought it wasn't worth adding onto it. maybe she was worried it would stress him out. to be treated like glass, it made his blood run colder than it had been. "do you actually want to go back there?" the camp, where everything became real, unprotected by the imaginary bubble that kept them safe.

far away, the sound barely reaching his ears, the sound of tyres screeching. brakes wailing. either someone had crashed or someone had arrived. if it was the latter, then he thought he might know the culprit of the noise. but still he stood, clenching and unclenching his jaw rhythmically. "tell me what i can do. please," [/color]

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐬 ！！ x─────ix ♕
x──────i ii aphrodite. iii twenty-four. iiii tags: ophelia, aydan.
ivi armoury.

celeste hid the amused smile as ophelia struggled with the door, an attempt to save her dignity. in her head, it was clear that there was no need for her to point out the failings. her younger sister seemed to be set on doing that of her own accord.
the door opened. she stepped through. "thank you," she nodded, acting as though the slog had simply not happened.

it was nice inside of the arena. notably, it was warm, allowing her to let go of the lapels of her coat and let it hang a little freer. she wondered what was creating the temperate atmosphere - whether it was the work of magic or mystical fire underneath their feet. or central heating, she supposed. not everything was magical, no matter how wild the world appeared to suddenly be.

a sweeping glance over their surroundings showed a collection of targets, the ones which ophelia was advancing toward being notably more humanoid than she had been expecting. in her head, she had imagined rolling archer's targets - but the use of their weapons was not for sport. it was for slaughter. slaughter of the enemy, yes - slaughter of creatures that were nothing more than demonspawn, but slaughter nonetheless. as the setup occurred in front of her, she felt more of those dastardly feelings slipping out into the air, drilling into the back of celeste's head.
honestly, could the girl not turn it off? for a second? for a moment? for the sake of peace?

"excellent," she said when it was all set up, immediately going for the 'on' and - perceivably foolishly, or perhaps just ambitiously - the highest difficulty.
the targets whirred, growled to life, and began to move. dipping and weaving and chopping and changing in their velocities, their directions. like true, living creatures. it was magnificent. if there wasn't a task at hand, then celeste would have applauded the handiwork of whatever great mind had thought such a contraption up.

instead, her hands found a better use - retrieving the revolver from her pocket, checking its cylinder and getting into her preferred stance. for a moment, it appeared that nothing was happening. in her head, it was all going on.
first, it was figuring out the routes of each of the meandering dummies. predicting was key. as she ran the scenarios in her head, it provided a solid plan of attack. five targets, five bullets. mentally, each one had a number stuck to it. for order's sake.
her eyes shut, her breath steadied, and then her gaze locked forward. the rest of the world fell away. the air was warm and close. the air smelt vaguely of sweat. the ground underneath her feet was solid and hard. each dummy made an incessant cacophony of noise, tuned out. a breath in -
one, two, three, four, five rapid shots in the bodies of each of the mock enemies. a breath out. she lowered the gun. turned off the machine with the dials that she had been provided with, and advanced toward the marked creatures.

"hm," she hummed under her breath. three headshots, one to the chest, one in a shoulder. "more practice, perhaps."