camp half-blood 1x1 - Harper. and helkenway

[Nunavik]

noble continued to eat away at his morning meal. he made no move to acknowledge his brother as he found a spot beside although the son of apollo did make a note of his presence. while he visibly showed not to be bothered, noble's mind whirled with the potential causes of the sinkhole the pair had discovered. at first, noble had thought someone or something had poisoned the area, but as he thought about it, that wasn't possible. there was nothing strong enough to eat away a hole deep into the earth and then continue to munch away at the lands around it. at this moment, there was nothing he could do. what he could do, however, was eat.

and eat he did. noble quietly sipped at his cup, slurping down a cool clear liquid. he took another bite of his food before finally, replying to spencer. "i'm not sure yet." he admitted. "adeline took my bow to fix. no idea when she'll have it done." the thought made him sad. he had been planning to teach archery to the other campers with chiron but now, it seemed those plans were to be put on hold. he supposed he could borrow another but there was nothing like having his own ─ perfectly balanced and customized to fit only him.

noble shrugged. he took another bite of a stack of pancakes that had reappeared on his plate. "maybe i'll go swimming later" he hummed, briefly entertaining the idea. "some beach volleyball might be fun too." a smile appeared on his face. it would be nice to do something that didn't involve training or thinking about the sinkhole. a dreadful thought poked at him though. he probably would regret such a decision later. noble glanced to his brother. he hadn't noticed it at first but now it seemed spencer was anxious. or bored. he found it hard to believe he was bored. noble was there.

"hey" the son of apollo commented. he put his fork down and grabbed his brother's shoulder. it wasn't a hard grasp but enough to draw spencer's attention. "what's wrong? did you speak with chiron? did he say something?"

[notactive]

noble's hand caused spencer to jump, he turned to his brother. "yeah, but he didn't really say anything. i think he was more worried about me then anything else." he mumbled sheepishly. funny, he thought chiron would be one of the first to know if something were wrong nature-wise. or maybe not, but he didn't really remember. "he was in a hurry, but not really a worried hurry," he added. he wondered if any of the satyrs or draiads may have been on edge this morning, but he didn't particularly remember seeing any of them, they'd probably been busying themselves. spencer shrugged. "its just been a weird morning, and i can't shake the weird off." he wasn't particularly well known for talking his problems out, and the moment at hand wasn't much different. he left it at "weird morning".

swimming and volleyball, he thought. he wasn't one for swimming by any means, he never learnt to swim and never had a fondness for water either. volleyball sounded alright, but at the same time, height wasn't in his favor. 15 or not, he still stood as tall as a lot of the 12 year olds at the camp, and even then a decent amount of them weren't far off from towering over him. the thought visibly annoyed him. spiteful volleyball it is. "i'm up for volley," he offered. without even really thinking about it, he succeeded at distracting himself with his own lack of a growth spurt.

[Nunavik]

all noble could do was give spencer an understandable nod. he understood that feeling as much as he tried to ignore it. the son of apollo took his hand back. he picked up his fork and took another bite of his breakfast. "well maybe a game of volleyball will cheer you." noble ran his fingers through his soft, black hair. noble had taken a few more bites of his food before pushing it away. the cup, emptied of the clear liquid, refilled. around him, the mess hall filled in with campers. adeline, a member of the hephaestus cabin and the girl fixing his bow, was among them. he offered the girl a soft smile before she took a seat with her own siblings and began to converse. a few minutes later, chiron appeared.

he was in his full form. from the waist up, he was a middle-aged man with thinning brown hair, bushy eyebrows, and intense brown eyes that seemed to bore into each camper he caught the gaze of, including noble. from the waist down, chiron was a white stallion. as many years he had been here, it was still taking some getting used to. chiron's legs paced in place. mr. d, better known as dionysus, the wine god, stood at his side to the right. argus, the camp's security guard stood at the bottom of the pavilion to chiron's left.

campers were already busy, filling their plates. under the clamor, chiron had to yell. "campers! heroes! listen up." another minute of silence passed before chiron could begin. "first order of business before our morning feast, i would like to formally welcome our newest campers. welcome to camp half-blood." there were several cheers and out of the corner of his eye, noble could spot a few members from different cabins giving smiles and pats on the shoulder to a few unfamiliar campers. chiron continued before noble could get a thought in. "secondly, to celebrate the official start of the summer, there will be a capture the flag game later this afternoon after cabin clean-up. make sure your gear is up to par and you are prepared. everyone participates."

noble let out a mental groan. "now, let's eat." immediately, the campers who had filled their plates got up. they went up to the firepit beside the pavilion and scrapped a portion of their meal into the flames as noble had done. at that point, noble had tuned out. his intense-blue eyes followed chiron who had leaped down from the pavilion. noble turned back to spencer. "are you going to eat?"

[notactive]

spencer nodded. "yeah, hopefully." he replied, slouching in his seat. chiron had appeared for announcements, giving a welcome to the new campers. spencer glanced over the sea of faces, spotting just a few of them. he wistfully remembered his first/previous year at the camp. a nice break from his family, yet still overwhelming and scary, and learning he had far more then two half siblings was startling, and nerve wracking, not helping that he didn't particularly get along well with his sister, a five year gap and only half related? good luck. as it had turned out, the apollo cabin was very much welcoming, as had been hermes, though he hadn't spent long with them. spencer only half listened to chiron, perking up ever so slightly at the mention of capture the flag, though with distaste. he had a rocky relationship with capture the flag, as it had him tripping constantly, whether he was chasing someone, or being chased. maybe not the most graceful kid for being a son of apollo.

at the mention of breakfast, he'd only just remembered he actually hadn't eaten any, and wasn't really feeling it either. he shook his head no. truthfully, he didn't have breakfast a whole lot. maybe not good for him, but it was something that slipped his mind a lot or he just generally didn't feel hungry enough to had. spencer watched chiron, his stomach was in knots now, the talk with him just moments away.

[Nunavik]

a frown appeared on noble's face. it was rather worrisome for him to see his brother refuge to eat. but, he supposed he had just woken up recently. not to mention they had discovered something odd located not far from the camp. noble had no real excuse. he had been up much earlier and starving well before he had left camp. the son of apollo tried his best to push away the questions raising in his mind. "alright." noble pushed himself to his feet. he emptied his cup. as if they understood he was done, the empty plate and cup disappeared. noble then turned his brother. "let's go find chiron." the centaur had trotted off after the announcements. with mr. d and argus no longer in sight, he figured they had returned to the big house for a card game.

[notactive]

spencer stood up and took a moment to take in the cozy environment of the mess hall for the last time. though it was an unknowing calm, it steadied him, the chatter clouded over his worried thoughts. it reminded him that the threat wasn't big yet, no one was in any immediate danger. he almost felt silly for getting worked up and for worrying noble. the moment he should be as worried as he had been was when there was a clear threat actually affecting campers at this moment. but he couldn't blame himself, either. he wasn't a morning person, it gave him a groggy mind on top of the need to think things through over and over before arriving on a non-panicked conclusion. "yeah, he's probably waiting outside right now." he cleared his thoughts, and the brothers set off for the exit, weaving between tables and campers. the hermes kids were immediately looking ready for mischief, probably a food fight, chiron would probably be glad to miss witnessing it if that were the case. outside the mess hall stood chiron, waiting as spencer figured, his powerful gaze fixed on the two of them.

[Nunavik]

under chiron's watchful eye, noble suddenly felt rather small. around his siblings and fellow campers, noble always tried to be the jokester. for an apollo kid, it was quite a surprise he mimicked the personalities of the hermes camp than his own. others campers and his mother viewed it as his need for attention but deep down, noble knew it was for making up for something. when he had arrived at camp half-blood nearly five years ago, noble had finally found a place in the world, but there were still things that he found his false confident personality compensating for. trying to save face even though his expression held nothing to betray his concern, noble turned his hazel eyes to the centaur. he tried his best not to let the camp director's gaze distract him. something about chiron's fixated posture made noble want to confess his sins. "chiron," he said, "spencer and I found something near zeus' fists we thought we should tell you about."

[notactive]

chiron was already excellent at making spencer feel small by appearance alone, but his look alone made him feel like he'd sunk to the ground. "what did you see?" he asked, glancing between the two of them. spencer had to stop himself from calling it a death hole, as fitting as it was. "it was like a sinkhole, but everything in and around it was dead, and even before that it was weirdly quiet, like everything was scared." spencer had the uncanny lack of an ability to control his voice or expression, and today was no exception. he hoped for a generally calm-ish appearance, his voice quivering and barely able to hold eye contact. i'm fifteen and this stupid death hole has me shaking like a leaf, he thought miserably.

[Nunavik]

noble sent a grateful glance to spencer. his hand flew to his shoulders. he rubbed them tenderly, trying to pass his nerves aside. his mind still reeled with reasons behind the sinkhole. "yea, what he said." noble confirmed. his gaze turned from spencer and towards chiron. the centaur had folded his arms over his own chest. his white legs paced unsteadily. his head gaze seemed to falter slightly. noble continued, "we were wondering if you had any ideas of what might have caused it." noble's gaze darted briefly to spencer. "i thought it might be someone might have poisoned the area but the sinking of it seemed too much like something more powerful than poison."

[notactive]

/just letting you know that i won't be able to reply till thursday cus i'll be at a trip all day tomorrow