1x1 with яαιnнeαят and Éibhear the Blue.

[kannagi]

Dylan
For once, Dylan agreed with Jacob. "Yes!" He exclaimed through a mouthful of BBQed chicken. He accidently spit some of it out in his excitement, but he didn't notice. "I always wanted to play some real-live casino blackjack, and maybe some pool. Plus we can--" Rose cleared her throat, shutting him up immediately.

"First off," she said abruptly, "we're all underage to gamble. Secondly, we're all on a quest... and it's somewhat important if you haven't forgotten. So, no, we can't stop to enjoy ourselves."

Dylan frowned, but he knew she was right. He didn't bother arguing with her.

[ragemonster]

Rose

Rose sighed, standing and stretching. She took her Boston hat out of her bag, slapped it on her head, and said, "We should get off. The conductor will notice four half-crazed-looking teenagers if he decides to inspect his train for stowaways, and I don't want to have to break out of police custody when that happens. It'll take too long."

[kannagi]

Dylan
Dylan nodded. "Yeah. But one problem: the train is still going roughly 10 miles per hour. Who wants to jump first?" Dylan peered over the side at the rough, dry, red dirt. He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. "Jacob, Rose. You're children of Zeus." The two of them exchanged glances that probably said, well, duh. "Do you think you could manipulate the wind to let us down... easier? So it's not as rough, and we don't have to worry about broken limbs or anything."

[ragemonster]

Rose

"Of course," said Rose, at the same time as Jacob said, "I guess." They really had to quit doing that. "So Dylan? Are you going first, or would either of you like to?" she glanced at Martin and Amaryllis. As usual, the Huntress looked calm and cool about the situation, and Martin looked unsurprisingly horrified at the idea of train-jumping. Rose herself wasn't scared, but she would admit it seemed a bit dangerous. Which naturally made it seem all the more fun.

[kannagi]

Dylan
"Well, I think we should test this out on the lightest person first, so it's the easiest on you two..." Dylan looked pointedly at Martin, who gulped rather loudly.

Martin
Martin felt his stomach flutter with butterflies when he realized what they were suggesting. "I.. uhh.." He gulped, as he saw all their heads swiver in his direction. "M-me? But.. it's dangerous.. and it's definitely notwise."

"I have to agree," Amaryllis said, frowning. "It is not safe... or smart. But are only other opinion would be to wait until the train stops. We have to go now."

Martin felt guilt overwhelm him as all the others looked away, dejected. They knew he wasn't going to do it. Not him, not wimpy, pathetic Martin from Cabin 6.

He had to. He had to prove to them that he was more than just a pathetic, undersized kid. "I-I'll do it." He said shakily. "I can do this." He muttered this over and over under his breath as he walked over to the edge of the cart, his heart pounding. Amaryllis, who still looked worried, stood in front of the cart door in a feeble attempt to stop him. But eventually she just sighed sadly and moved out of his way.

Jacob and Rose were standing behind him, staring at him aphrehensively, like they weren't too sure this was going to work, either. "Ready?" He asked, and they nodded.

His last thought before jumping out the cart, was that the ground was moving a lot faster than he remembered.

[ragemonster]

Rose

Rose concentrated very hard, scowling deeply as beads of sweat gathered on her brow. She knew she had about half a second to make the air respond to her will, but it was costing her precious energy. A soft thump outside told her that Martin had hit the ground, but was he ok? She lurched to the door, peering around hurriedly, and saw Martin picking up his glasses and shaking dirt from his hair. He seemed okay. He looked up at them and grinned with a thumbs-up. "Okay," said Rose, "He's fine. Now, who's next?"

[kannagi]

Dylan
Dylan quickly volunteered himself, and jumped out the door as fast as he could, before he could change his mind. He closed his eyes tightly. He knew that Jacob and Rose had about one second to get this right, and if they didn't he would be in trouble.

At first nothing happened. But then, he heard a familiar crackle of ozone, much like the one that always seemed to follow Jacob when he's pissed. He could practically feel himself grow lighter as his descent slowed down, slow enough that he could land standing on his feet.

He stared at the ground, amazed that he wasn't hurt. "Oh. My. Gods." He muttered, still shocked. He stood there for a few more seconds, before turning around to give the others a thumbs up.

A few seconds later, Amaryllis bailed out of the car. She fell out awkwardly, as it appeared she tripped and stumbled out of the car instead of jumping. However, thanks to some help from Rose and Jacob, and her cat-like reflexes, she was able to sort of tumble and do a little somersault onto the ground to avoid harm.

[ragemonster]

Rose

Rose and Jacob eased the other two to the ground, each of them landing more or less smoothly. The train was still going too quickly for them to jump —Rose recalled it took about a mile for a train to stop completely— and she turned to Jacob. "Are you going next, or do you want me to?" Jacob replied, "I'll go." He walked to the door and jumped, and Rose concentrated all her energy to making sure he landed softly. A rush of cold fear bolted through her, though, when she heard Jacob's pained, "Ow!" followed by several snarling curses, some in English, the others in Greek. "Are you okay?" she shouted. "I'm— gods dammit— I'm fine!" he called back. "Just hit the ground awkwardly and cut up my arm. Be careful when you jump! Without our combined efforts, it's tricky."

[kannagi]

Dylan
Martin ran up to Dylan, an uneasy grin on his face. "That wasn't so bad.."

"Thanks to you! We'd still be arguing on the car if you didn't go first." Dylan smiled as Martin's face flushed pink. "Now come on. Let's go check on the others." Dylan ran over to Amaryllis, who looked fine, if a little pissed. She was brushing dirt and red clay clumps off her clothes and out of her hair.

"That was a terrible idea," she said through gritted teeth. "That was probably the most damn dangerous thing I have ever done, and I have fought some terrible monsters." She turned and stared them hard in the eyes. "Thou saw none of that, correct?" She blushed slightly, while gesturing to her and the train, instinuating her fall.

"No. No, of course not." Dylan said quickly, at the same time as Martin.

"Good. Now let us make sure Jacob and Rose are okay." Amaryllis said, less harshly.

[ragemonster]

Rose

Rose nodded, closed her eyes, and jumped, calling on the air to cushion her fall — but was alarmed to find that she had almost no energy left. She flailed like a chicken thrust out of a moving car, and landed hard. She'd managed to, at last second, put some sort of upward current between her and the ground and that had slowed her some, but she still cut her arms up pretty good. She spat some choice curses, sitting up and brushing the dust and rocks off her shirt. Her hat had landed next to her and she aggressively slammed that back onto her head. She looked at the undersides of her arms and grimaced as Jacob ran over to help her up. His looked no better, and, like hers, were bleeding freely. "Gods dammit!" she shouted as he began picking the sharp little rocks out of her cuts. "Son of a fire-spitting hydra, that freaking hurts!"