Camp Half-Blood: Into the Storm - Closed!

[indigo']

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

For the briefest fraction of a second, August thought that she was going to get away with it, that he was going to let it go and she could just walk away, continue on with the invention that nothing was wrong. Then he spoke again and she froze in her tracks, not turning back around yet.

We can ignore it, and maybe it’ll go away if we do. Yes. Please, please please. That was all that she wanted. It was easier not to deal with this. It was easier to walk away. But maybe it won't. She wanted to be mad. She wanted to be anything but terrified. He wasn’t running after her, or grabbing her arm or telling her to stop, and she was glad for that because she might’ve punched him if he did and she really didn’t want to do that, but the calm rationality in his voice was just as irritating. She didn’t want it to be anything but irritating, so that’s what she told herself it was.

She hadn’t moved, still standing rooted to the spot. Her heart was still pounding in her chest and her head felt fuzzy, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t turn around to face him. He spoke again and this time he sounded closer. Her hands clenched into fists inside her pockets. Did she actually want to go back to camp? Of course not, but at least the issues there were things she actually understood for the most part.

Auggie blinked hard, drew in a breath and put on her best impression of the cold, unbothered mask that had once come so easily to her. She didn’t care if he could see through it. She didn’t care if he didn’t believe her, he didn’t have a choice. She spun around to face him, gaze locking on his. She opened her mouth to respond but the words got stuck in her throat, refusing to come out. It would’ve been easier if she’d just ignored him and kept walking. The thought that she could give in to this briefly crossed her mind, if he’d trusted her enough to open up that she could do the same. But that only served to scare her more.

Her expression faltered only briefly before she finally responded. “It’s fine.” Her voice came out weaker than she would’ve liked, shaking slightly. “It’s fine, please, just…” She wasn’t sure what she was asking for, pleading with herself more than she was him. “It’s fine.” She knew the phrase she couldn’t seem to stop repeating was usually seen as a universal moniker for being the exact opposite. If the roles were reversed she knew that she wouldn’t believe it, but it wasn’t like she could tell him what was scaring her when she didn’t even know herself. She shook her head. “You can’t do anything. You don’t need to,” she clarified.

[sammy,]

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

there was certainly something about the distance between them that felt symbolic of something, but orin wasn't one for analysing such things. she was far away enough for him to be able to see her face, but not the intricacies of it. the mask was clear, the face behind it was not. perhaps that was part of the effort. if he stood far away enough, if she did the same, then they could both act as though auggie was not pretending. but, unfortunately for her, most of his experience with her had been seeing that mask and, subsequently, the true person behind it. it made it more recognisable. even from a distance. it was a tell.

there was nothing that he could do, reasonably, to force it out of her. it had to be intrinsic, otherwise it would hurt too much. blunt forcing his way through the barricade seemed like it would do little to release pent-up emotion and would instead leave decimation where he entered. still, it hurt his heart to see her standing like that, like she couldn't say the words that she wanted to, like they were barred from her throat.

he knew it well. perhaps that was part of what made him so hesitant to push and prod. it was a face he'd worn before, one of the great pretender. "okay," he said softly, and though accompanied by a nod, the word barely found its way into the air. "okay." he didn't believe her, but that didn't mean anything. "i might not need to, but i want to." it felt like something she didn't quite understand, and hearing the words come from his own mouth made him feel a bit of a hypocrite.

orin walked toward her, taking a bit of time to do so - as though movement that was too fast would spook her - and nodded once more when he reached arms' length. "that's fine. i get it," he said, trying to ignore the dark little creature that had taken root in the pit of his stomach. "back, then? i'm - i said i was gonna get something to eat earlier. forgot. brain like a sieve." if she wanted to pretend normalcy, he would do it just the same.

[*Lovel*]

『❄❅』 Aydan Hunt『❅❄』

Son of Khione ☃ Cabin 22 ☃ 16 ☃ Heterosexual

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

Tags: Ophelia and Celeste
Location: Arena

Aydan made his way into the arena silently as not to disturb whatever they were doing, he still needed a moment to collect himself but he had a feeling that wasn't going to work fully. He didn't realize his fists were balled up until he felt the pain of his own finger nails digging into his palms, he let go of some of the pressure hoping he didn't break the skin and was bleeding. He looked up as he heard the sound of the gun firing. Celeste had more accuracy than he had patience, 3 of her 5 shots being headshots. "More practice? I think you did well." he said finally as he leaned against the wall. The words had a bit of an accidental bite to them. He obviously couldn't get rid of his feelings that easily. He looked to Ophelia, internally hoping that she couldn't read the emotions that would inevitably spill out. He pushed himself off the wall and walked over to her and whispered in her ear "Ready to lose?" even though his heart was beating a mile a minute he felt bolder in the moment.

Something in the back of his mind was telling him that sparing right now probably wasn't the best idea but he ignored it. He stepped back to pull his new weapons out to show Ophelia and Celeste."Permanent ice shuriken's courtesy of my new friend Adriane from the Hecate cabin." He said watching the way they glistened due to the light of the room then he turned his gaze to the girls waiting to see their reactions to his new weapons.

〖 ☾ 〗Ash Davis〖 ☾ 〗

Son of Hypnos ☼☽ Cabin 15 ☼☽ 17 ☼☽ Bisexual

☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆═━┈┈━═☆

Tags: Aiden and Mirabelle
Location: Stables

Ash waited patiently as Mirabelle fished the Dramamine out of her backpack. He took the tablets from her gratefully "Thank you miss." Ash said giving her a thumbs up with his free hand. He mostly ignored the hushed conversation between the two until Aiden mentioned goodbyes. He thought about how he hadn't said his goodbyes to Juliet or Delilah yet. If he didn't do it he knew he'd eventually regret it, especially if he didn't say goodbye to Delilah. "Hey Belle do you happen to know where Juliet and Delilah are? They are the only two I have to say bye to before I leave." he said feeling a bit guilty about not doing it earlier. He shifted his weight as he awaited her directions or lack thereof.

▶ ▷ ☁ ◁◀Emerson "Emmie" Grey ▶ ▷ ☁ ◁◀

Daughter of Zeus ☂ Cabin 1 ☂ 16 ☂ Heterosexual

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Tags: Reese
Location: Cabin 1

Emerson drew her attention away from the tv for a moment to take a spoonful of the ice cream. Though it was cold all she could think about was the burst of minty sweetness as it was shoved in her mouth. Her eyes lit up with joy as she realized how much she missed ice cream. All this place served was bloody healthy food, at least they were able to nab some ice cream that wasn't exactly for the health conscious.

She took a moment and tapped her spoon on her chin while thinking of the perfect movie. An evil grin spread across her face as the perfect movie came to mind. "I have a good one, if you get scared you can hide behind me Mr. Clyde." she said with a teasing wink and giggle. She snapped her fingers and the tv switched from Law and order to The Conjuring. She took another spoonful of ice cream accompanied by a little happy dance.

[indigo']

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

Auggie felt like he was staring right through her, even if he couldn’t see what she was feeling or why, she knew he could see past the expression she’d put on. It made her feel exposed and vulnerable and a little bit angry. Angry at him for seeing it, and angry at herself for making it visible in the first place.

She held his gaze firmly, as if daring him to say or do anything, daring him to try to make her confess. She wouldn’t. She wasn’t going to crack again. To her surprise, he didn’t push it, and she felt a surge of relief. It was as if her thin veil of security was returning, not the wall it had been before, but there was something. She didn’t want to push him out. The feeling of the distance between them and the coldness in her tone and expression felt wrong, felt more forced than it usually did. It was almost as bad as the fear of openness, of getting close to someone when she knew she shouldn’t. But it was safer.

He didn’t want to help. He didn’t understand that and she couldn’t make him, but he didn’t want anything to do with what was going on inside her head. She didn’t want to put any of that on him. What he’d told her had been different. There’d been a reason. It was better for someone to know, even if she didn’t want to think about the situation where it could, her knowledge of his problem could actually help. This wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t even know how to explain if she wanted to and it would only serve to hurt him. He could think he wanted to help, but he didn’t.

Auggie watched him approach slowly and carefully, as though she were a dangerous animal that might attack if he walked too quickly--or the exact opposite of that. She wasn’t sure which one felt more like her right now.

She nodded to him, grateful for the calm response, for acting as if she wasn’t lying and everything was in fact fine. “Yeah,” she replied quietly, voice barely audible as she nodded again, trying to breathe slowly so as not to spiral out of control. Her hands were still in the pockets of her denim jacket, arms tight to her body as if she were folding in on herself, trying to make her presence as small as possible. “Yeah, sure.”

[Kveykva]

──── Ａｉｄｅｎ Ｓｅａｖｅｒ
[✦] | Athena Head Counselor | 15 | Male | ➡ The Stables | Tags: Mirabelle, Ash
❝𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚜❞

Much to Aiden's reassurance, Mira didn't sound as though she found the request silly or, gods forbid, childish. He doubted Mirabelle would in the first place, but that hadn't suppressed his hesitation to ask in the first place. "Saying goodbye can be..." Difficult. He knew that. Aiden knew first hand how hard goodbyes could be, but the thought of saying one forever felt cruel. The last thing he wanted was to deny the fact that this could possibly be the end of his time at Camp Half-Blood because... well, you know. He wanted to see Will, Hank, Caleb, go up to them and give them a good punch on the shoulder and hit 'em with that "see you later," but he couldn't. It wouldn't be fair if he never came back to see them later. "I haven't," Aiden shook his head. Saying goodbye to Wilhelm was a given, Aiden wouldn't dare leave without saying bye to his best friend. Who else did he have to say a proper farewell to? Hank, of course, Caleb, to give him a couple of words of wisdom and head counselor reassurance (Mira would definitely be an asset there), Juliet, Cass, Orin, Reese, Chuck... "There's a lot." He realized as he mentally prattled off names. "Oh no, there's so many goodbyes I have to make." It seemed to hit Aiden all at once. He heard Ash mention Juliet and Delilah both off to the side, which added a ninth name to his list so far.

──── Ｎｉｃｈｏｌａｓ Ｓｔｏｒｍ
[✦] | Horseman of the Apocalypse | 56 | Male | ➡ Mount Marcy training hall | Tags: Malcolm, Hicks, Vivienne
❝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑❞

Death allowed the demigod her freedom from the meeting, as the approaching summit did not concern her. In fact, he believed Khione would be against sharing said information with Vivienne. A small group of ghosts huddled next to the exit, whispering amongst themselves as they sat around a nonexistent campfire. Other spirits flitted about, but soon they all but faded, dismissed with a wave of the death deity's wing. "A lovely young lady," Nicholas chimed once Vivienne had gone. "She's a joy to be around, though I feel as though you'll get along better with our host." He spoke with a smile, worn as a near constant accessory. "Though, I have to wonder where Khione's run off to." his lips pursed thoughtfully as he turned, beginning to pace as he cast his senses outward. "There's plenty of activity around, but nothing I'm sensing belongs to her. I don't think, at least. Funny how that works." He approached one of the frosted walls, studying his reflection in the ice. Admittedly, it made for a rather nice mirror. "I wonder if you've gotta summon her. Like an urban legend. Could you imagine if all I had to was say "Khion Khione Khione" three times into a mirror and she'd show up behind me?"

[WitchHazel]

|♡|Mirabelle Everhart|17|She/Her|Aphrodite|Head Counselor|Location: Stables|Tags: Quest Group; Ash, Aiden|

Delilah's name hit her like a punch in the gut. Though she did her best to maintain a calm and cheery exterior, some of the colour drained from her face. The lid to her bottle of guilt loosened again, but this time, it didn't quite fit back into place.
Last time I saw Delilah, she was crying and it's my fault. But she couldn't say that aloud. She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, forcing a smile. "Delilah was headed out of the dining pavilion last I saw her." Thank the gods her tone was steady, though a little higher-pitched than usual. "And Juliet... I-I'm sorry, I don't really know where either of them are right now. I would check their cabins, perhaps? Or if Juliet's not there, she might be in cabin three. She's been spending an awful lot of time there from what I can tell. She might also be by the lake, seeing as it's probably frozen over by now. She -" Mirabelle paused, biting back the bitterness that had begun to seep into her voice. "She likes to skate. If she's not at cabins eleven or three, my best guess is that she'll be out testing the ice."
Memories flitted to the forefront of Mirabelle's mind, encapsulating her in their warm honeyed glow.
"Just hold my hands and you'll be fine."
"But -"
"Meerkat, we're not at camp anymore. There's no one to hide from out here. Come on, don't you trust me?"
Juliet's lopsided grin stole her heart all over again. With a reluctant sigh, she allowed herself to be helped out onto the ice.
"There, see? It's not so bad. You haven't fallen over yet, anyways."
"Don't jinx it." Mirabelle's heart was racing, though from nerves or sheer proximity to Juliet she didn't know. Perhaps a combination of both.
Juliet laughed, a clear, ringing sound punctuated by a snort. "Come on. You're a natural."
"You're just saying that to make me feel more comfortable, aren't you?"
"Oops, you caught me! Juliet batted her eyelashes in mock-innocence. "Would it be better if I said that your legs look like noodles? Face it, sweetie. Without me, you'd end up sprawled on your butt in a pile of embarrassment."
"I will punch you, Jewel. I swear, I will."
"Then we'd both go down, wouldn't we?" Joy sparkled in Juliet's hazel eyes. "Looks like we found the one thing little miss perfect isn't so perfect at."
Aiden's voice pulled her out of her reverie; the once pleasant memories now stained with the bitterness of regret. She cleared her throat in an uncharacteristically awkward fashion, wincing ever so slightly at the minor discomfort it caused her.
"Oh no, there's so many goodbyes I have to make." A pit formed in Mirabelle's stomach at those words. Will, Dora, Mark, Hank, Emmie, Reese... The list went on and on. How in Olympus will I possibly make the time to say goodbye to everyone? Despite her best efforts, the despair shone through in her eyes, turning the blue to a stark blue-grey. "I..." She swallowed hard. "I don't know if we'll have the time to catch everyone." The sudden awareness hit her that she had let her cheery disposition slip. Right. Think positive, Mirabelle. They're counting on you. She took a small, nearly inaudible breath, forcing herself to perk back up. "But we can sure as hell try. Come on, let's get started before it gets too late."


|⟡|Juliet Pratten|16|She/Her|Hermes|Location: Cabin 3|Tags: Sa'd, Zahra --> Hu, Caspia|

Juliet nodded slowly while she listened to Sa'd and Set speak. She crossed her arms tighter over her chest as she regarded this newcomer - another adult, she noticed. And a rather alluring one at that. Sporting a tight burgundy t-shirt and a pair of black jeans, with a really awesome black leather jacket around her shoulders. Fingers covered in golden rings, a lion's head pendant dangling around their neck. Her golden eyes framed with black eyeliner. And were those combat boots? Man, Juliet wished she looked that cool. She felt dull by comparison, with her beat-up jeans and holey purple sweater. Her aviator jacket was pretty sweet, she reckoned. That ought to earn her some 'cool' points at least.
"Trading instead of taking... yeah, I can swing that." Juliet shifted on her feet. "Colourful rocks you say..." A sinister look crossed her face. A plan was starting to formulate in her brain of how to trick the gryphon, though she'd have to run it by Hu first. Oh, and Caspia, if she was the pranking type. "Yeah, sure. I'll tell ya how it goes." She waved offhandedly, though she would probably forget her agreement the moment Sa'd left.
"Anyways, good to meetcha, sad dude. And chaos guy or whatever. See you around. Or maybe not." She shrugged, her typical air of nonchalance doing its work. "And you too, I guess." The latter was directed at the adult and the weird girl following her around, though Juliet hadn't caught either's name. All in all not a big deal. She probably would've just forgotten their names anyways.

|❀|Chuck Oakes|He/Him|Satyr|Location: Outside Dining Pavilion|Tags: Yuno|

"Like, thanks, man!" Chuck bleated, breaking into a grin. "You have like, no idea how relieving it is to hear that, you know?" He watched as Yuno jotted something down, absently chewing on his sleeve. Always organised, that one. They reminded him of Mira in that sense - though Mira tended to have a mental checklist rather than a physical one. He absently wondered if Mira's mental checklist was colour-coded and had little sticky notes all over it.
"Uh, so like, where do we even start?" Chuck shuffled his hooves in the snow. "We can totally like, get the other satyrs to help and stuff, most of them are like, trying to anyways, I think." He'd seen a few fellow satyrs out in the woods, mostly consoling dryads and attempting to offer help, though they had seemed a bit confused as to how exactly to do so.

|⊙|Zahra Al-Amin|217/Looks 32|She/They|Magician; Eye of Sekhmet|Location: Outside Cabin 3 --> Behind Cabins|Tags: Jay, Sa'd/Set|

Zahra was a bit miffed at being called a 'girl' by the chaos god - she was two hundred and seventeen years old, for crying out loud. That, and they weren't fully a woman to begin with. Sure, she had been using 'she/her' pronouns more in her head that day, but that tended to fluctuate depending on how they felt. Nonetheless, the Eye of Sekhmet led the Host of Set and their accompanying god behind a row of buildings, which Chiron had called 'cabins' earlier. Zahra thought that was rather funny - the only building that looked cabin-like in any regard to her was the one the aforementioned gryphon was seated outside. They checked back to make sure that Jay was following; she and Anubis should hear this information as well.
When they were far enough out of earshot of any demigods, Zahra stopped walking and turned to face the three. "Jay and Anubis, I believe, have already made my acquaintance, but allow me to introduce myself. I am Zahra Abubakar Nashwa Al-Amin, Magician of the Ninth Nome and current Eye of Sekhmet. I wish there were time for more formalities, but I must 'get to the point', as they say." Her tone was clear and sharp, but not unkind. Their mixed Arabic-London accent had thickened in her haste, and they hoped the three could comprehend what she was saying. "Set, Anubis - we need your help. The Duat is in chaos - almost literally, I'm afraid. You two recall the Ogdoad, though I am uncertain if your Hosts have recollection. Hosts, do either of you know of the Ogdoad? I can explain briefly if I must."
-
At Jay's admission, Zahra's face grew almost disappointed. "I see. They must not be teaching the Ogdoad cosmology in your Nome. Shame on them." She hadn't necessarily meant it in a mean nor chastising way, but it certainly came out that way. "The Ogdoad are eight gods; the first gods. They were born of the Sea of Chaos and are thought to be extensions of Isfet itself." She paused to let that sink in. "The eight are as follows. Nun and Naunet; the gods of chaos and water, Heh and Hauhet; gods of boundlessness, Kuk and Kauket; gods of darkness, and Amun and Amaunet; gods of invisibility, of air, and void. They are frog and snake gods respectively. " She watched the two teenagers' faces as she continued. "Something has greatly angered them, and caused them to awaken from their slumber. They are wreaking havoc in the Duat; tearing it completely asunder. The Sea of Chaos - it is expanding. You can see why I have been sent. We need your help. The gods need your help."

|❄|Vivienne Isole|18|She/Her|Khione|Location: Mount Marcy Caverns/Mount Marcy Training Hall|Tags: Venti/Nicholas, Malcolm, Hicks|

Vivienne nodded stiffly to the three men before taking her leave. She stalked briskly from the room, reassembling her tattered sense of dignity. Where on Earth is mother? Or the venti, for that matter? If she wasn't chronically cold, her blood would have been simmering. Vivienne was itching for something to take her frustration out on. Or someone.
In her haste, she nearly collided with a ventus moving the opposite way.
"Watch it!" she snarled, brandishing her axe.
"Sorry miss!" the ventus hissed back.
Vivienne huffed, allowing her mood to stagnate for the time being. "I don't suppose you have the slightest idea as to why I have not been summoned to the battlefield yet?"
"Uh - about that... Gale and her group flying in from the north kinda... got lost."
"What!?"
"I know, right? It is just sooo like Gale to wind up in New Jersey instead of New York."
Vivienne wanted to hit herself in the face. "Find them," she barked. "Immediately. I shall begin my own journey posthaste."
The ventus nodded and flexed their wings before disappearing in a shower of snow.
-
Khione apparently thought it would be hilarious to manifest directly behind Death in that moment. Truth be told, she had been listening in on the conversation the entire time, waiting for the perfect moment to make her presence known. The prospect of startling Death himself was too much of a cruel opportunity to pass up. The goddess may have not had a sense of humour, but playing with her pawns - ahem, allies was something she had always taken pleasure in.
"You summoned me?" If Khione could look amused, she certainly would have in that moment.

[sammy,]

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

it seemed that accepting the false narrative was working. it normally did, he found, for the short term, and orin couldn't blame her for choosing it over the terror of confronting whatever nature of beast was feasting on the inside of her skull. more frightening, being confronted with the fact of being seen, he had found. it made everything feel a lot more real.

"come on, then," he said, nodding his head in the direction that would lead them out of the forest. the beaten path was, almost ironically, the same one that they had taken the day previous, weighted by the attack of the venti. the snow spirits seemed to pale in comparison to the things they had done since, and yet they were the only threat that they could stand to contend against with their weapons and their training. at the thought, his hand slipped into his pocket, rolling the lighter over in his palm absently. with the thoughts out of the way, he began to walk.

she was closing in on herself, but that might have been the cold. it could have been attributed to a lot of things that he threw into his head in lieu of a solid reason. a solid reason that, to note, she couldn't share with him. one that she'd seemingly only realised in the moment, one that had shaken her enough to pull her out of their concocted dream scenarios. though it was tantalising to theories on what it could have been, it wasn't fair. she had shut him down on that front. speculation would get him nowhere but out in the cold. or with a dagger to his neck. the only ideas he could think of were ridiculous anyway, things that wouldn't make sense to anyone who knew them, let alone the two of them. his thoughts did linger, though. momentarily. then they were cast aside. it wasn't right.

the walk continued with a silence from him that wasn't very characteristic. it hadn't been intentional, not really, and in any other situation he would have started talking the way he knew best, pretending that all was well, but he didn't quite feel the need to fill the silence. it didn't feel as dangerous as it normally did. additionally, the threat of lucy's listening trees had irked him a bit. he wasn't going to let anything slip with those lying about.

as the trees dwindled in number and the camp that they had chosen to ignore came into view, orin frowned. not at the state of it, nor the things going on in it, but at a crown of golden hair that caught the dull light of the morning even from a few hundred metres away, near the ruins of the big house. "oh, there he is," he grumbled, sounding a little unhappy with the fact. his mind went to the sound of tyres screeching - it lined up with the arrival of the previously absent son of apollo nicely. coming back with a bang. "'an hour' my left ear." his head dipped a little when the head that held the hair turned, and as they emerged, he spotted more things - duffel bags, a collection of coats layered on top of one another, something that, even from far away, resembled a pensive frown. "bugger." he could only pray he hadn't been spotted yet. he had thought he would have had a bit more time before felix shattered the figurative glass door, sauntering back into his life.
yes, he had wanted the old friend to return, and yes, he had been prepared to get on his damned hands and knees to ask for it, but that didn't mean that he could make it a surprise.

"d'you fancy a walk round the back of the armoury? we can admire all the architecture from a different viewpoint. might find some secrets," he asked auggie, vaguely aware that his distaste had been verbalised moments previous. it wasn't like she'd have been surprised that he was trying to avoid the son of apollo, but putting it into words made him sound notably rude.

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐦 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 ！！ x─────ix ♙
x──────i ii eris proxy. iii thirty-seven. iiii tags: nicholas, khione.
ivi mt marcy.

malcolm wasn't much surprised when vivienne made her exit, though had to admire her gallantry for what appeared to be such a young age. she can't have been older than nineteen, and even that felt like a push - though with interactions that would have fit better in the mouth of an aged army general, anything appeared possible. she was admirable. he would give her that. her mother must have done a hell of a job getting that side out of her.

"an urban legend?" he rolled the thought over. it did ring a bit of a bell, though through a memory that had been long since forgotten - days in boarding school as nothing much more than an army brat, muttering the dreaded 'bloody mary' in the mirrors before matron noticed that an unusual amount of the boys were out of their beds. a brief, fond spark, snuffed by the sudden arrival of the goddess.

it made him smile. in the corner of his eye, hicks' eyes widened, but his reaction did not go much further than that. good on him, malcolm thought. he was learning the rules of diplomacy. one of the biggest ones being that, upon first meeting, one did not tend to scream at the sudden arrival of a potential ally. "i was promised a grand entrance. colour me satisfied." he said simply. the itches of eris rumbled, perhaps in wake of the new arrival. "and i must say, i love the lair. very..." was there a way to describe such a place? "sci-fi." it was a one-size-fit-all descriptor, he supposed, and not too far from the truth.

[takara]

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

Aggy rolled her eyes at the older girl's statement. Anyone who feels the need to prove their power is just afraid of losing it. "Her name is Spicy, but she loses name privileges when she gets slobber on me." She said, stepping to the side to eye the mare and consider how to get up. She frowned at the prospect, inwardly wondering if she should ask this Skylar about mounting, but not eager to follow through with it.

Oh well. I'm not about to look like some dumbfounded statute. She threw a foot into the stirrup and kicked off the ground with her other foot, swinging her leg over to the mare's other side and retrieving her reins from Skylar. She didn't quite snatch them, but it was close. What's all this about fighting gods being something new? Don't they do this every quest. She scrunched her nose at the now similar in height daughter of Hecate, shifting her backpack to even out the weight. "What's with the fear factor?" She asked, innocently, had it not been for the way she turned to match Skylar's blue-eyed gaze with her brown one.

[indigo']

[✩] Augusta Reynolds|17|she/her|Hades|Head counsellor|woods/stables|tags:Orin, Aggy, Skylar

Without a word, she started down the path out of the woods. Her hands still felt cold, but it was starting to feel more like the usual cold one would expect in the snow chilled air, nothing more than that. The thoughts in her head were still tumultuous, a raging, swirling storm that threatened to overtake her, but if she could keep her mouth shut and just manage to steady her breathing she’d be fine.

It took a minute for her to realize that Orin somehow hadn’t said anything. It worried her for a second, thinking she’d messed up, that his silence was somehow her fault—it would make sense if it was. But it didn’t feel that way. It was a comfortable silence, not needing to be filled with pointless banter, and at the moment, it was a relief to just walk. She hadn’t shaken off her sudden moment of panic entirely, the thoughts that had crept into her head, muddled up her brain were still there, lingering. But it was easier to deal with now that she was moving, now that they were doing something with a purpose, even if that purpose was just walking back to camp.

Auggie glanced over when Orin spoke, his tone making it clear he was displeased about something. She followed his gaze and saw the earlier mentioned sun of Apollo who had obviously just arrived back at camp. Part of her wondered if Orin’s decision to confide in her now had had something to do with that, but she didn’t ask. She almost cracked a smile at his suddenly jumpy behaviour, clearly not ready to interact with Felix just yet.

“What’s wrong, Gorman? Tryna hide from someone?” She raised an eyebrow, some of her usual fire starting to return. It was easier to pretend she was okay when the attention was off of her. If she could act like her usual mean self then maybe she could convince herself that that was reality, not the person who cried on the floor of her cabin or sat in the woods and hid from the world. She opened her mouth to respond to the question, when a flash of dark red hair by the stables caught her attention, the words she’d been about to say fading on her tongue.

She’d seen Aggy when they’d been in the dining pavilion and Orin had interrupted the meeting with his ‘suggestion’ to check the news, but she hadn’t realized the younger girl had stayed. Would Chiron actually let a brand new camper go on such a dangerous quest? There weren’t really rules against it, and from what she’d seen yesterday, Aggy wasn’t going to give up on a chance to prove herself.

“How about a detour to the stables?” she asked Orin, realizing she’d trailed off in responding to him. She figured he wouldn’t object, considering it was far enough away from where the son of Apollo was arriving, and he could probably stand behind a pegasus or something. She didn’t wait for a response before moving, already on her way towards the two girls on Pegasi, her expression more set than it had been moments before. She had to physically stop herself from glancing back to check if Orin was following. If he did then he did, it didn’t matter.

“Hey,” she called, when she was close enough to be heard. She glanced briefly towards the other demigod, recognizing Skylar as one of the other head counsellors, but she didn’t know her very well besides that. She turned her attention back to Aggy, giving her a harsh look that was a mixture of concern and confusion, but most likely came off as anger. “You’re going on the quest?” she demanded. She already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear the girl say it anyways.

[sammy,]

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

"i don't hide. i'm not hiding. i'm just... avoiding. completely different," and he wasn't. when he was prepared, of course he would welcome the son of apollo with arms. it was just that he hadn't had the time to prepare yet. he hadn't put himself in the mind of the person he had been when he knew felix, whose mere presence simultaneously made him feel comforted and yet also deeply unsettled.

perhaps it was the fact that he had said that he wouldn't come back for anything. nothing at all, and now he was back, despite all of his best efforts. that solidified things as worse than they may have appeared in the mind of orin, who had slowly habituated to the chaos that had grown in size over the past few days. at least, and there was one silver lining to all of this, the man would have some kind of insight on what was going on on the outside. it made him ponder on what the final straw was. was it the weather or the politician's speech? was it a mixture of both? felix must have been frightened. that scared orin more than anything. nothing seemed to shake the boy. nothing in the past had, anyway.

the offer to go to the stables had him nodding, noting that there was a little collection of the questers who were sorting themselves with their pegasi. it was a good hiding place, at the very least. "yeah. that works," he nodded, following along behind her.

the atmosphere inside of the stables was not quite describable as chaotic, but it worked at a push. there was an energy of anxiety that came off of a lot of them. it wasn't something he could empathise with, but he certainly knew the danger that they were throwing themselves into. it can't have been easy.
as auggie confronted aggy and skylar, he dipped in the direction of some of the pegasi, catching one of the campers he had not yet conversed with watching him with a frown as he saddled up a fiery pegasus.

"that's heinz," he said. "you're new, aren't you?
"yeah," said the boy. "thanks. i was - kind of floundering for what to call him."
"it's orin, by the way. is that an accent you've got there?" it wasn't often he heard anything more than the drawls of the americas.
"teilo," his poorly masked grimace seemed to stutter at the mention of his voice, and a little smile appeared. "you've got me."
"you'd better come back safe. music to my ears," he murmured. "are you alright?"
"why wouldn't i be?" teilo asked in return.
"you were looking at me like i'd just kicked your grandmother," orin said. "something wrong?"
he was quiet for a while, as though trying to figure out exactly that. eventually, he shook his head. "no. just - somewhere to look," it didn't sound convincing, but it was enough to get orin off of his back. clearly, there were other things at play, things that he didn't necessarily want to know about.
"well. nice to meet you, teilo. good luck, and all that," he gave a weak, halfhearted salute, and drifted away toward some of the others, one eye on auggie and the other on the slowly disappearing figure of felix. must have been on his way to unpack. that was good. less danger.