camp half-blood 1x1 - Harper. and helkenway

[Nunavik]

noble would have very much liked to ride down to the meadows. while it appeared to be a short skip and hop down the hill from zeus's fist, he knew it would take a moment or two to get down to the strange meadow. noble trailed behind spencer and his pegasus. the teenager did his best to keep away from the pegasus. he was still in slight fear of being attacked by another equine. granted, noble wasn't actually attacked but it felt like it. he was sure a bump was already beginning to form. when the pegasus began to fidget, noble came to a stop. he let spencer gather the mare as he scanned the hill. just a few feet away was the beginning of the forest. a low-hanging branch stuck out like a sore thumb. "over there." noble pointed to the tree branch. "we can come get her when we're done. hopefully we find mr. skiddish as well." skiddish seemed like the perfect name for his white pegasus whom was no where in sight.

[notactive]

spencer snorted at the nickname. "he's probably gone back to the camp by now." he coaxed the pegasus to the tree, tying the reins to the branch. he returned to noble, stopping to stare at the meadow. "guess its time to go check it out," he mumbled halfheartedly. he'd been looking toward to a normal morning, having a good time, bonding with one of his many half siblings one-on-one, and here they were, presented with nature seeming to have just simply shut down. as they got closer to the meadow, the reality of what it actually was startled spencer in more ways then one. it was a sinkhole, which had caused what looked like rustling. it had pulled in dirt, plants, flowers, and really anything that stood in its way. it was like a giant, rugged mouth. after standing there, staring into the giant hole with a stunned expression, annoyance hit. "this thing was the source of all of this? a sinkhole??" spencer gave the clearing an annoyed glance. but a gut feeling told him that the sinkhole was only a part of it, and his annoyance quickly faded, replaced by concern.

[Nunavik]

"probably." noble affirmed. he stood in his spot as spencer left to tie the pegasus. when spencer returned, noble followed after him. the sight they stumbled upon left him confused. he had never seen a giant hole. let alone one that seemed to suck away everything it isn't path. even as they stood looking down into the hole, the hole opened more, sucking in plants, weeds, and anything else that was nearby. noble reached for spencer, drawing him back from the edge. "watch out." it was a bizarre sight to view. even as they stood, noble was stumped. what was powerful enough to create such a large sinkhole? it was deep as well. noble thought if they fell in, they probably would be falling forever. honestly, he was a little bit fearful. noble didn't like deep, dark holes in the first place. not to mention the area felt dead. dread filled the air. noble crouched, plucking a few pieces of grass from the edge of the sinkhole. as he examined it, the grass crinkled together. it broke into pieces then crumbled into dust in his nimble fingers. noble glanced up to meet his brother's gaze. "have you ever heard of anything like this? it feels like.. death. if what i imagine about death is anything close to the real thing."

[notactive]

spencer took a few steps away from the sinkhole and glanced at noble. "i don't know, i can't think of anything that could do something like this," he replied, bringing his gaze back to the hole. a disturbing thought was that something crawled out, but there was a definite aura of death, and if something had the power to kill everything around it, there'd be more then a sinkhole surrounded by dying plants and grass. staring into it made him feel increasingly uncomfortable, and he tore his eyes away. "we should get back, if some monster crawled out or caused this sinkhole i'd hate to meet it." he said, wringing his hands nervously.

[Nunavik]

a cold chill ran down noble's spine. the son of apollo straightened. his hands flew to his shoulders, rubbing them tenderly as if to warm his body. in some way, he was also trying to shrug away the nagging sensation that something terrible was about to strike camp half-blood. "i agree." noble said. he found himself wanting to leave the sight behind and never speak of it again. it was clear death followed the sinkhole and being in the borders of the camp, noble knew the pair couldn't simply walk away and forget about it. some other camper was bound to discover it later and later likely meant it could get worse. more than likely, it would. "it should be time for breakfast by the time we get back. we should tell chiron as well. i'm sure he'll want to know." it wasn't even eight yet and already something eventful had occurred although how eventful was still left undetermined.

[notactive]

spencer nodded in agreement, giving the hole one last unsettled stare before turning and walking to the pegasus, untying her from the branch. the pair climbed onto the pegasus' back, the mare being more then glad to get away from the dead aura. it was a silent ride back to the stable, the energy around them was definitely not dead, but gloomy and uncomfortable. spencer's worry was what would come after a creepy sinkhole. ironically, he was going full year for normalcy, where he wouldn't have to worry about the next family fight, or tiptoe around his two other half siblings. now awful had seemingly followed him here, albeit a probably far scarier awful. they returned to the stable, returning the brown pegasus back to her stable and unsurprisingly finding mr. skiddish back inside as well. at least he'd gotten back safely.

[Nunavik]

the return ride had left noble in a sense of discomfort. most of it stemmed from what the pair had discovered. his stomach grew butterflies and they fluttered around nervously long before camp half-blood came back into sight. noble couldn't help but let the sense of dread overwhelm him. perhaps it was worse as his stomach now rumbled with hunger. he was grateful when the pegasus stables came into view. noble quickly slipped down from his brother's pegasus. he gave the mare a quick scratch behind the ears, uttering a soft "good girl" then glanced around the stables. mr. skiddish, the pure-white pegasus had returned. someone had returned him to his stall as the equine was settled in, chomping away at his breakfast. when noble caught the stallion's attention, the son of apollo pointed at the horse. it was clear in the exchange noble wasn't happy and skiddish was equally less than thrilled with the morning's events. "let's go get some breakfast." noble finally announced, breaking the exchange between half-blood and pegasus. he turned to his brother. "i'm going to go find adeline and see if she can repair my bow." he hadn't noticed at first but the string had managed to snag during his fall and now it was held together by nothing but a very thin part of the string. "i'll meet you at the mess hall. if you see chiron, tell him we need to speak with him after breakfast. i don't want to everyone to get worried with us speaking with him after announcements."

[notactive]

spencer nodded. "yeah, i'll see you there." he hurried to the apollo cabin to drop off his bow and quiver. he didn't want to run around, looking like he'd just seen a terrifying death-hole, and instead tried to go for a somewhat unnerved but otherwise typical spencer's-not-happy-and-no-one's-surprised frown. he didn't get a look at his face, but he didn't get the feeling it was convincing. otherwise, he avoided an unwanted conversation, and instead nearly ran into chiron, distracted by the current situation and whether or not he actually had the look he was going for. convenient, but rather awkward. "h-hey," he forced out. "is everything all right?" chiron asked, his eyes full of concern. no, he thought bitterly. "yeah uh, noble and i need to talk to you after breakfast." he mumbled, wringing his hands. "all right, we'll talk later." chiron turned to the mess hall, with spencer vaguely following behind him, leaving him to his jumbled thoughts.

[Nunavik]

the walk to hephaestus's cabin had been long but finally, he had reached the cabin. the chat with adeline had been short and sweet and she had promised to fix his bow after breakfast. noble was a bit disheartened, not being able to take it out for the remainder of its time in adeline's custody but there were plenty of other things that could be done at camp without it. who knew? maybe he could convince spencer to practice sword-fighting with him later. returning to the mess hall, noble took a plate that was stacked up on an empty table. he picked pieces of different foods from the large trays before turning to the fire that roared to life in the center of the hall. noble scrapped a portion of his breakfast into the fire. he sent a silent prayer to the gods that nothing terrible was to come before leaving to the apollo's table. he slipped into his seat and wasted no time in digging in, savoring every bite.

[notactive]

spencer glanced at noble wistfully, his appetite in comparison lacking and ruined by the deathly feeling from the sinkhole, like it still hung over him. he wished he could just forget it for a moment like his half brother seemed to have, but his attempts to wander off in his thoughts just circled back into worry, albeit a generalized worry. "what are you up to today?" he asked, fixing his gaze on noble, and fidgeting in his seat. spencer tended to go with the flow, either sticking with familiar faces or forcing himself to do something new if he was feeling particularly brave, which ended either in regret or some new thing he didn't realize was up his alley. today was a definite go with the flow day, probably all familiar things to help remind him that yes, camp half-blood is normally a very safe place.