Camp Half-Blood: Into the Storm - Closed!

[sammy,]

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 ！！ x─────ix ♔
x──────i ii zeus iii eighteen. iiii tags: auggie.
ivi outside dining pavilion - cabin one - half-blood hill.

set in stone. something was in motion. it was the best thing that he could think of doing. what was the point in returning to the same old habits, pretending that all was fine when it wasn't? it wasn't right. he'd been given a second chance and wasted it. the third time around had to mean something, otherwise he was a hypocrite.

they split. quick feet led him to cabin one swiftly, storming through the door, looking around at all the mess. at the end of the day, it wasn't home. there were photos featuring him above the bed and the imprint of his back in the sheets, but none of it felt like his. this part of the room belonged to someone who was dead. even taking what he needed felt like stealing. the leather jacket, the tin of ambrosia cubes, a wad of mortal notes and drachmas. he didn't need much else.
should probably leave something behind. for the siblings, because they hadn't really done anything wrong, had they?

after sprawling the words GONE AWAY FOR A WHILE on a loose piece of paper and leaving it on his pillow, he figured that that was sorted. he wasn't sure how long 'a while' was, nor whether 'gone away' was the most clear way of putting it, but as long as they didn't assume him dead, it'd do fine.

a final look around the cabin. this felt right. time to move on with things. get on with a real life. he left without so much as a word toward the room that had fostered his childhood, and started toward the hill he had promised to meet auggie on. he'd see everyone later. this wasn't an ending. this was something being sorted out. this was redemption. this was proving himself as something more than just an idiot who had come back to life.

could see thalia's pine from the crest, the fleece that marked the borders. it was exciting.

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 ！！ x─────ix ♅
x──────i ii janus. iii sixteen. iiii tags: emmie. ivi cabin eleven.

conan near guffawed at the prospect of powers being used. "right, yeah, you can whip up a tornado, shock me into paralysis, and i'll get to work manifesting a door. i don't think that's a real even match, there. i mean, i'll allow it if you're that insecure about your skills with a sword, but... i mean, really?" he shook his head, baffled by the thought. "if you're the best this place has to offer, i really don't like our chances against this snow." joking, obviously. a bit of joviality in the freezing mess of it all.

"luck had nothing to do with it. pure skill," he said, then chuckled again. "maybe luck had a little to do with it. i don't mean to blaspheme against the good grace of fortuna. she gave us a leg up. we scaled the rest of the wall. to end up here, surrounded in bones and greeks. how could we have been so lucky?" lupa was the exact opposite of a pleasure, but he allowed the idea slide. "she's intense."

yeah, so he'd backtracked a little, but it was good to have the full picture. "our dad, he's the guy about town when it comes to change. and transitions. this sounds like his kind of remit. and the problem with that is that no matter how much you want to, you can't really get in the way of someone else's escape into the next room in the hallway of their little lives." he paused. "and you can't let yourself block your own doors up just because someone else needs you to hold theirs. you can talk to him if you want, if you think you'll get through to something, but it might just be that you're on opposite sides of the arch now. you have to focus on yourself every so often. your room, your house, your hall, the doors you've been ignoring for other people."

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬 ！！ x─────ix ♖
x──────i ii thanatos. iii seventeen. iiii tags: clive, ash.
ivi outside the hampton inn, the van.

"are you - i'm sorry, 'ow the bleeding and furious 'ell am i supposed to be the child of a cold sore you're just being silly now," smooth. "i've never even 'eard a different language. so riddle me 'ow i'd be able to translate one."
"you know that song by abba?" teilo asked. "the one that goes..." he hummed voulez-vous for a couple of seconds, then continued. "whass'at called?"
"do you want,"
"it's voulez-vous, clive,"
"literally what i just said. you've just repeated me. are you... what are you gaining from this?"
"hermes," teilo conceded. "there's that one solved."
"well, he's got some explaining to do,"

the explanation of the dreaded nickname was given. fine. that was fine, whatever. "dots connected. i'm connectin' em all," teilo heard. "no, she wasn't carryin' any weapons. just 'aving a little sing." well, that one was just lazy. "i dunno, mate. it's where i died. i'll always know it as the place i popped my clogs in. that's it. it's just an 'otel. mind, i am a bit... i felt it when someone smashed a mirror earlier. hit me right in the chest, it did. so maybe it's a bit more powerful than i thought."

ash explained eris, and teilo's fingers tightened on the steering wheel. "great. that's great, that is. she couldn't have just been the goddess of... of sunday dinners, or... or streetlights, or those stupid little handbag dogs. strife. that's great. brilliant. bendigedig. christ," evidently, he was getting a little het up. his white knuckles said enough, his voice, which grew in volume slowly and then all at once, said enough. "kingston is a proxy of eris. so that's not just one goddess we're up against, another one's put their sodding chips in, and we're sat about being mauled by harpies and birds pretending like we've got any hope doing this? i mean, what am i doing here? what am i here for? because someone died and told me that i had to go to america and i listened to them. and then i had a dream that said i had to be here and i listened to that as well, jesus christ," he slapped the steering wheel. a little honk from the horn, almost comical.
"teilo,"
"no, no, no, shut up. shut up. tactically dull. there's another one you can add to your list. lovely way to say 'useless as a fondant sword'. suppose it doesn't ring the same way as taffy, does it?" he let out a groan, the boil lowering to a simmer, and pressed his head back against the wheel. "i just want this done."

[indigo']

━━━ 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬

[✩]17|she/her|Hades|Head Counsellor|Cabin Thirteen, Half-Blood Hill|tags: Orin

The blood washed off her hands easily enough, scrubbing the dark stain from the surface of her gloves proved to be more of a challenge. Fortunately, there was no one present to question how she’d ended up in such a state, though she wasn’t sure she’d be the one worse off in that situation. Auggie watched the pink-tinged water swirl away down the drain, fighting back a wave of nausea as images continued to flash through her head. It didn’t matter now. It had happened and she couldn’t take it back. Leaving was good. Putting as much distance between herself and what had just happened was good. If all she could do was destroy things, she was better off putting that to use.

Once the blood had been dealt with and she’d managed to steady her breathing again, she set off towards Cabin Thirteen to retrieve the cellphone and whatever else she might need. She didn’t actually have that much to bring with her. The phone was retrieved from her nightstand, gaze briefly catching on the photograph of her uncle—guitar in his hands, beaming at someone behind the camera, his eyes shining with some joke long since forgotten. She was immediately struck by a wave of guilt, as if Jack were still standing there with that disappointed look on his face, telling her off for her reckless behaviour. “Shut up,” she muttered under her breath, stuffing the photo back into the drawer and slamming it shut. If he refused to haunt her like a proper ghost, he had no right telling her what to do. She grabbed the small amount of money she had tucked away, double checked she had her sword and both knives, and then she was off, the thought of leaving any sort of explanation for her absence never even crossing her mind, the door shutting with a thud of finality behind her.

It was difficult to believe, as her feet led her back across the field of snow towards the hill, that they were actually leaving—finally breaking out of this place that was supposed to be a refuge but felt more like a curse now. She didn’t think she’d miss it, but she was used to leaving things behind, and she was used to telling herself she didn't miss them. The hill came into her line of sight, Orin standing atop it, and she quickened her pace to meet him, a hint of a smile crossing her face despite the circumstances. “Hey.” She pulled the phone out of her hoodie pocket, holding it out to him. “Ready?”

[sammy,]

( *:･ﾟ✦ ) xx❝xx𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 ！！ x─────ix ♔
x──────i ii zeus iii eighteen. iiii tags: auggie.
ivi half-blood hill - outside border.

there wasn't much time to regret the decision before auggie was scaling the hill. a pass over of the jacket and retrieval of the phone. "yeah," he confirmed. he hadn't been certain if it was true until he heard himself in all of his conviction. this was the right thing to do. it had to be.

"need to figure out where he is. do a few covert operations. might even put a voice on," he said, wiggling the device in his hand. feet walked him toward the pine as he turned the thing on, waited for it to reconnect to its network. it didn't feel much of a goodbye, but he supposed that was for the best. easier to just leave quietly, save the mess of a farewell. they had to work on the little impulses, orin figured, so that they wouldn't end up regretting it and retreating back to the safety of idleness.

before that, though, it felt important to address the elephant in the room. he paused outside the border, considered the events that had led up to the rush of movement. "are you alright?" he asked. "you don't have to... if sleeping dogs wanna lie, then i'll let 'em. but that was intense. seems the kind of thing that needs a debrief." in his hand, the phone buzzed frantically, going entirely ignored. just texts, probably meaningless. a group chat, or something. "can walk and talk, if y'fancy having a little rant."

[WitchHazel]

Mirabelle Everhart
|♡|17|She/Her|Aphrodite|Head Counselor|Location: Hampton Inn|Tags: Aggy, Jamie, Karter, Ash ➡ Isabelle, Rochelle|

Mirabelle shot Ash a grateful look when he draped a jacket over her shoulders. She wanted to protest at first, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that she was cold. "Th-Thanks." She tugged the coat on properly, though it didn't ease the chill in her bones by much. As people started to head towards the van, Mirabelle stayed behind. She lingered at the door for a moment, hoping to see Isabelle and Rochelle on the other side of the glass. Damn. No such luck. I'll have to go in after them.

The doors slid open before her, but Karter's voice made her pause. "I'll be f-fine," she murmured in response to his offer. "S-Simple retriev-val m-mission." She forced a sad attempt at a smile as she walked back inside the hotel. The rush of warmth was most welcome, though her body was taking its sweet time absorbing any. Right. Last I saw them, they were - there! She didn't have time to finish the thought when Isabelle came sprinting into view, Rochelle not far behind. "Good to s-see you m-made it out." Was it good? Of course it is, Mirabelle! They might be an insufferable pair, but they're still people. "Right. Let's get t-to the v-van, the others are w-waiting."


Juliet Pratten
|⟡|16|She/Her|Hermes|Location: Thalia's Pine|Tags: Sam, Aoife|

When Aoife made her little quip, Juliet stuck her tongue out in her general direction. "Yeah, it's a lot, alright. The monsters suck. Sometimes literally, I mean, empousae are basically just weird vampires so -" she'd made her point already, and stopped herself before she could potentially cause any damage. "Yeah. Uh, Mr. D is... well, he's Mr. D. Good for a laugh but man you do not want to piss him off. My friend Ethan from the Hephaestus cabin helped me light his shirt on fire when he was sleeping once, and... yeah. Good thing we got outta there before he could turn us into dolphins." She shrugged, seemingly unphased at the notion of becoming a marine mammal. A small glare was cast Aoife's way when she referred to Camp Half-Blood as "hell", though it was half-hearted at best. "It's not usually 'hell'," she clarified. "Though the amount of jokes I could make about hell freezing over right now are pretty tempting. We've just been having some... um... problems lately, with an evil snow goddess and her evil daughter. It's kind of like Frozen but if Anna had died and Elsa had gone full villain arc. Oh yeah, and undead armies that randomly appear and stuff."

With her piece said, she turned her attention to Sam's voice. She was totally about to say 'ran away', wasn't she? Juliet kept her lips sealed, however - she wasn't one to pry into people's personal issues, unless they affected her. That, and she'd seen runaways turn up at camp before. "Yeah, one of our parents is a god," she emphasised. "Probably your mom if your dad's around, but hey, could be another dad. These are Greek gods we're talking about, after all. They're all a little gay if you ask me, and I happen to be an excellent authority on homosexuality." She winked at both Sam and Aoife in turn, the playful smirk never leaving her face. "Look, Samwise. Truth is, no one feels like they belong here. Not at first. But that'll change when you see how awesome this place really is. Snow actually getting in the border means ice skating! And more importantly, ice hockey! I'm gonna put a few teams together and have us duke it out on the canoe lake later. Lemme know if you guys are game."

Kathryn Blackwood
|☽|17|She/Her|Hecate|Location: Outside Cabin 13|Tags: Nikki|

"A grimoire?" Kathryn snorted. "Honey, a grimoire is a spellbook. And trust me, I've got plenty of those." An attempt at a bit of humour, if one could call it that. The smile never left her face, yet her brain remained cold and calculative. "Nice to meet you too, doll." She straightened up as Nikki rose to her feet. "Magical creatures though, huh? Quite fascinating," she mused. "And always good to be prepared in case you run into any in the wild. Most tend to be quite unfriendly to demigods such as ourselves. And by unfriendly, I mean they'll rip you limb from limb and use your bones as a toothpick, given half the chance." She let out a small laugh, intending to keep the mood light even under such dark topics. "Diablo and Duncan... apt names for Hellhounds." I bet that big one drools a lot. Yuck. "They are Hellhounds in disguise, are they not? I would assume nothing less from a daughter of Hades." Her deep brown eyes flickered up to the crow perched atop the cabin. "Mazingo... interesting name for a crow. Gorgeous bird, if I do say so. I'm rather fond of corvids."

Ambrose Fletcher
|♠|19|He/Him|Hades|Location: Cabin 7|Tags: Oliver, Apollo NPCs|

"I wouldn't say 'harmless', the lad can handle himself in a fight. Hank's a good one, he is. A might dead from the neck up, but a good one no question." The mention of Juliet had him smiling again, although his heart was still racing from the sight of the clown. "Jules, yeah! She loves 'em. Showed me most of the lot I've seen." The question about movies like drawn pictures had him puzzled momentarily, but his brain made quick work of formulating an answer. "You mean animation? Yeah, they've got that! Draw a mess of pictures and make them move, like a flipbook. Now they've got special gadgets and gizmos to do it for 'em, but same principle, I believe."

Oliver's admission drained a bit of colour from his face for a short amount of time. "Guns? Oh, Ollie, those pricks must've been monsters on their own. Scum like them don't need a face fulla fangs or a thousand eyeballs or whatnot. Just bein' human is enough to make 'em into beasties." Ambrose paused, allowing his mind to catch up with his mouth. "Right. 'Safe'. If spending an eternity stuck in there is safe, not sure I want it anymore. Zombified minds, more like. Rather be out 'ere than in there. Erm, now that you're here, anyway. As for meetin' new blokes, yeah, that's warranted. But you've got me to tell you who's a goodun and who you've got to watch out for, yeah?"

He made his quip, and Oliver laughed. The sound of his laughter made Ambrose's heart bloom. It was a beautiful sound, especially on someone usually rather dour. All too quickly it was gone, leaving behind the lingering taste of it in the air. A more serious topic came to light, one Ambrose was less willing to talk about. Mainly because it filled him with guilt. The affirmation that Oliver wasn't angry, paired with the hug, softened his reluctance into something more malleable. "Right. I suppose..." Ambrose took the offered seat beside his friend, the cot letting out a small creak as it was disturbed. "I do owe you an explanation of sorts. Well." He took a breath, both to steady himself and prepare for the story that would burst forth.

"You know how much I love gamblin', yeah? So there I was, minding me own business, and some girl comes over an' starts yakking at me. Something about a prophecy, how I'm a super-powerful demigod, their satyr could smell me from miles away, I had to come with 'em to this camp thing she mentioned, that load of tripe. I'd heard about the camp before, yeah, just couldn't remember it at the time. Lotus Casino addles your thinky bits, mate. I told her where to stick it. But then she offers me this deal - I win a game o' blackjack against her, she leaves me alone. She wins, and I go with 'em, no arguments. You know me, I can never resist a good gamble. I'm jammy, I am. I've got this in the bag. Turns out she's jammier. Never gamble with a child of Tyche, I'm telling you, mate." He sighed, a dramatic sound that reverberated through the cabin. "Went with 'em 'cause I had to, I lost the bet. Tried to find you to say goodbye, but... we had to leave quick, she said. So the allure o' the casino didn't snag 'em as well. Had some larks, ponced about. Killed a giant. Got claimed by dear old dad. Got back here, and have been ever since. I didn't want to leave you, Ollie, I really didn't, not like that. Not without a goodbye or tryin' to get you to come with. It - it makes me sick to think about it. I'm sorry, Ollie. Deeply and truly sorry."


Liv Keary
|✂|15|She/Her|Iris (Unclaimed)|Location: Near Armoury|Tags: Cass|

Liv shot a half-hearted glare in the older girl's direction. "Just for that, I'm taking an axe out of spite." The explanation about her sword wasn't really an explanation, but Liv figured she could just figure it out later. It had to be some sort of magic, right? Wasn't that what this whole place was about? Weirdo teens with magic powers?

"You're asking me to pick a favourite?" Liv huffed. "That's like asking Ted Bundy to pick a favourite murder victim." Dark humour, but humour nonetheless. "I mean, the Shining is definitely up there, and Friday the 13th is pretty great. The first two are the best, of course. All kinda goes to crap from there. Slashers are my favourite genre, I guess, if I had to pick." She shrugged, doing her best to seem nonchalant about it. It was a difficult task, seeing as she had found someone who was evidently not boring or stupid. Despite her best efforts, the giddiness leaked out. A hint of a smile here, a bounce in her step there. It was nice to know she wasn't totally alone in her interests.

"So what's your name, anyways?" she eventually asked. "And don't tell me it's one of those stupid millennial names like Cortlyn or a horrible misspelling of Journey. Or Treed, but I think that's a boy's name. You'd have to be completely nuts to think naming your kid the past tense of tree is a good idea. I didn't even think 'tree' had a past tense!" She paused, realising she had yet to give her own name. "I'm Liv, by the way. Just Liv. No stupid nicknames allowed."

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

"Are you kidding, man?" Chuck laughed. "It's like getting a hug from a dog! Like, what could be better than that, you know?" He proceeded to give Luna's head a hearty scratch, especially behind the ears. "Dogs are like, the best." The conversation turned to the quest group. Drew aired his concerns, Chuck aired his. The satyr could do absolutely nothing to hide the panic spreading across his freckled face. "Uh, I feel you there, man." Drew's worry was contagious."Like, I don't think any satyrs are missin'... uh... like, if they don't have a satyr with 'em, they're like, monster chow, man. Mr. D like, totally would've made sure a satyr went with them... uh, right?" It didn't seem like a very 'Mr. D' thing to do.

"I mean, like, Mira and Aiden are like, totally capable, uh... dunno about the others, but they're like, totally groovy at fighting and stuff! And smart, too. Uh... don't tell Mira I said that. She likes to pretend to do this whole 'dumb blonde' thing I don't really get, around her cabin, uh, anyways. But like, a satyr can smell the monsters coming. If they like, don't have one, they're totally at a disadvantage, man! Uh... I know Will was like, gonna Iris Message 'em sometime today... maybe we could like, do that? Just to see if they have a satyr, and uh, gulp, if they're like, still alive." The amount of 'like's and 'totally's punctuating his sentences certainly indicated how concerned he was, if nothing else. Not to mention the fact that he'd actually said 'gulp' aloud instead of performing the action. "Like, they'll be groovy, right? They have to be okay... like, I can't lose my best pal like that, man. I almost lost her once, I'm like, not gonna do it again." He was rambling more to himself now than anything, the fear having fully taken over as the gravity of the situation sunk in. In his wild panic, he completely missed the crowd that had rushed outside the dining pavilion. Something big was happening, and he was entirely clueless as usual.

[indigo']

━━━ 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬

[✩]17|she/her|Hades|Head Counsellor|Half-Blood Hill, outside border|tags: Orin

Auggie took the jacket and slipped it on, glad to have the warmth as well as the comfort of familiarity back. “Is that actually necessary?” she asked, eyebrow raised at the suggestion of putting on a voice. The reality of what they planned to do hadn’t really set in yet, not fully, but it seemed better not to think about it too much—to stay focused on the rush of adrenaline and the sudden thrill of freedom, rather than the possible moral repercussions of what they intended. “Shouldn’t be difficult to find him,” she commented, an obvious note of sarcasm in her voice. “Only about, what, maybe a thousand hotels in New York? Just call up each one and ask if any of them are harbouring a Brit.”

The following question was expected, but it still rendered her silent for a moment, unsure how to respond. She’d been a mess in the moment directly after, resorting to anger in an attempt to hold back the flood of fear and guilt threatening to drown her. She wasn’t sure she actually wanted to think about what had happened, but she also didn’t want to brush it off and act like it hadn’t. “I talked to Stella…” she said slowly, voice still slightly hoarse, eyes going foggy as she tried to pick out words that wouldn’t lead to another breakdown. It felt like treading water, finding an explanation without going too deep and bringing herself back into that moment. “It didn’t go well.” Understatement.

She started to walk, seeming as if that would be the end of it, then she spoke again. “You were right. She forgave me. I’m thinking she probably shouldn’t have.” She let out a shaky breath. “She said something I didn’t want to hear. But she didn’t deserve what I did to her.”

[sammy,]

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

"it's necessary for the purposes of entertainment," orin decided. the vast number of hotels should have been an issue, but the cogs whirred behind his head. "that's what tabloids are for. you think there's such thing as privacy in the news? they'll have his name, current address and phone number plastered under a picture of him brushing his teeth this morning. it's just..." ideally, they'd get to the room. "maybe a brief stint in identity theft'll be necessary. in my defence, though, the guy should feel lucky that i'll be stealing his name. he's dragged it through the mud himself. should be glad to be rid of the awful moniker." he hadn't anticipated to be so ready for this. the plan had crept up on him insidiously, and now laid out in the forefront of his mind, it felt real, outside of the realms of imagination that he had banished it to.

a brief recount of the events that had led them outside of the camp. they made sense. "i'm sorry," he said. "y'deserved a happy reunion. least you should've gotten." but this was just the way that things went, wasn't it? nothing went as smoothly as it did through sunflower lenses. "for what it's worth, i don't think that i would've done any different." he didn't need to conceptualise a scene to hinge his conclusion on. there was evidence. proof. different situation, but not entirely far-flung.

finally, the phone stopped its incessant buzzing. at a glance, a lot from minty, from saint. ignored. whatever it was, they'd figure it out. didn't need the distraction of another tragedy, not while there were things coming to pass. "right. here..." a flit through the news regarding the politician. "public opinion seems to be that his bodyguard's a catch." a bodyguard was probably a bad thing. then again, mortal. and only one named. for show, maybe. "i've got the hotel. millennium. right." that was easy. that was impossibly easy. "you're sure about this, are you? 'cause i don't wanna drag you into something if..." it was something he felt he had to do. that didn't necessarily mean that auggie felt the same. "if you're not certain, you can say so."

[indigo']

━━━ 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬

[✩]17|she/her|Hades|Head Counsellor|outside border|tags: Orin

“Better be a good impression then,” she said in response to his decision on entertainment purposes, frowning in thought as he went on. It couldn’t possibly be as easy as Orin was making it out to be. “Oh yeah, I bet he’s sitting around right now, just wishing for a couple of teenagers to steal his identity and break into his hotel room. He’ll probably thank us when we get there.” Resorting to flippancy and sarcastic comments was a natural reflex, but reality had begun to seep in, the words holding more weight than they had when their schemes had been nothing more than a hypothetical concept, a half-joke made in passing. Now pieces were falling into place, plans being made, feet moving on the path towards something that would change the course of their lives, possibly of everyone’s lives. Auggie thought she should’ve felt a little more apprehensive towards it, but her brain was in too much of a haze to decipher one emotion from the next, and something about this felt necessary. Kingston was the domino that had started it all, he deserved what was coming to him, she was certain of that.

She shook her head at the apology. “It was, for a second. It's my own fault it didn’t stay that way.” She couldn’t even feign surprise, she'd been prepared for disaster from the start. Though Orin’s admission that he would’ve done the same did little to remedy the situation, it did offer her some comfort in the knowledge that he wasn’t judging her for what she’d done—not that she’d expected he would have. “I saw you talking to Jude,” she said as a statement rather than a question, an invitation to talk if he wanted to, or shrug it off if he didn’t. “That looked pretty intense, too.” Not life-threateningly intense, but it was still something, and she knew well that sometimes words could be just as bad as spilled blood.

“That’s useful,” she muttered. The hotel name was retrieved relatively quickly, and then came a question that hadn’t even crossed her mind. The concept had been proposed and she’d been on board, eager to get away as quickly as possible, eager to do something. He'd seemed sure and she hadn't bothered to second guess that. “If you think I can be dragged into things I don’t want to do then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did, but I’m pretty sure you can figure that one out. I want to do this.” All the anger and pain that had built up over the previous two days had to be directed at something, better to choose a deserving target than an innocent scapegoat. And if Orin felt like he needed some sort of redemption through this, then she was going to help him get it. “Besides, I’m already a killer.” Her voice wavered slightly on the last word, but her expression never faltered. “No going back now.”

[Deoledath]

| Drew Byrne | 16 | He/Him/His | Athena | Location: Dining Pavilion | Tags: Chuck |

Drew couldn’t help but chuckle in response to the question. He agreed with him and showed that in his eager nod, but he also knew not everyone felt as connected to animals as he seemed to. “I know! Dogs are my favorite creatures on this planet, no offense to all of the magical creatures I’ve discovered since arriving here… but dogs are meant to be a man’s best friend!” He would stand by that because it was true. “Some people just care more about their clothes not having fur on them than they do about how lovable dogs are.” He shrugged in reference to Ambrose’s earlier seemed distain. The conversation shifted and it seemed like the satyr was equally worried. He had no idea the effect he had on others. “I think so! Doesn’t there have to be a satyr to go on a quest with them?” He asked, because he thought he remembered it being some kind of unspoken or perhaps even spoken rule, though honestly he was aloof enough to not know for sure.

Then Chuck started to ramble about it and his eyes widened a little as he listened to the ramblings. He was really worried and that just created an echo chamber, making Drew more worried in turn. Luna seemed to sense this and whined softly, trying to get them both to calm down a little though for Drew, that effort was futile. “I’m sure they’re still alive… I dunno, I feel like we would have heard bragging or something if they had failed their quest.” He tried to assure, creating a sense of hope at least within himself. “They have to be okay… I’m sure they are.” He watched as the crowd rushed outside the dining pavilion and his head shifted to the side. “Where are they all going?” He asked, bringing attention to them in an effort to stay somewhat in-tune with reality.

[sammy,]

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

"you know, i wouldn't be surprised if he was," the politician had to be expecting this. he had no idea where the information that the man held was sourced from, but whether it was a leak from the inside or the influence of some blighted god, there was no doubt that he knew that something was coming. he had to anticipate a fight back. seemed strange to think about a man they planned to slaughter being excited about their oncoming presence.

it had been an emotionally charged time. he could see why she blamed herself, but there were some things that just had to be pushed away in favour of the future. "we do mad things when we're confronted with the past," he settled on saying, finding a wince when jude was mentioned. "yeah," there was a lot to say on that front. simultaneously, there was nothing to say at all. a book had closed and it should have been sad but he couldn't bring himself to care just yet. "i expected it. came as no surprise. it was a lot of..." tripe. "things change. maybe i should have been completely honest from the start. but i wasn't." it had felt right at the time, and that was what mattered, he believed. going to camp had indulged a fantasy of vague normality in that department. now, it was done. "basically, she said that if i don't trust anyone here then i should just leave. here we are." a lot of other things had happened to contribute to the moment they were suspended in. it was reductive to present it only as that. "even the person i came here with's gone. was just you left, really." he had his siblings, obviously, but this felt more honest, less bound by godly heritage and more by an array of oaths.

auggie sounded certain about their drive, which was good. "okay. good. that's good," a weight off his shoulders, at least. he wasn't being entirely unreasonable. if they were both doing something impulsive and stupid, then it seemed a little less dire. the direct way she described herself made him cringe. "and i'm a traitor. pair we make," she was right, though. no going back. "future's all we've got, i think."

"alright. i'm going to work a bit of magic, and you're going to stand there trying not to look impressed," he said, putting on a smile. the lines were prepared, layered for the moment. the plan. the big plan. caution about monsters thrown to the wind, he dialled the number of the hotel, held the phone to his ear. it was just a brief call, he reasoned. good luck to any creature that dared descend on the pair of them. a ring, another, then -
"millennium, reception speaking."
"hi, this is rick o'shea calling from the irish department of foreign affairs, my minister is seeking a brief discussion with mister kingston regarding a few sensitive subject matters. i've got people on their way to deliver press packs, but one of our juniors has muddled the system, lost his room number. this is confidential stuff, you understand, i can't just leave it at a desk. has to be hand-to-hand. could you pull a few strings and let us know where he's staying? i've the press breathing down my neck here." a few buzzwords plucked from the mind, recounted with disconcerting ease. he raised his eyebrows at auggie once the monologue was finished, surprised with himself.
"uh... give me a minute,"
"what part of sensitive materials isn't translating in your head?" well, if he was going to use his ex stepfather's name, he might as well use the opportunity to drag it through the mud a bit.

[indigo']

━━━ 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬

[✩]17|she/her|Hades|Head Counsellor|outside border|tags: Orin

Mad didn’t seem to properly describe the magnitude of what she’d done, but it was impossible to find the right words for every tragedy. Nothing could be said to fix the situation, and there was nothing to do but keep going, try to do something useful and stay a step ahead of the guilt threatening to drag her to the ground. She caught the wince at the mention of Jude and wondered for a moment if it was something she shouldn’t have brought up. Then the explanation came and her expression melted into frown. Cynical by nature, Auggie didn’t tend to be surprised when people showed a side different from the one they usually portrayed, but this caught her. She hadn’t been very close to Jude, but she’d liked her, and hadn’t expected her to be a source of more hurt. As painful as it could be, it was interesting to see the way people’s true motives came out in times of crisis.

“You didn’t owe that to anyone. You don’t owe them your trust and you’ve never owed them an explanation for anything. That was your choice to make.” There seemed to have been a rapid onslaught of events that had led them to where they were. Auggie had never believed in fate, that certainly wasn’t changing now, but it felt good to be making a decision for themselves, even if it had been swayed by external sources. “Yeah, I always end up stuck with me, too.” She offered a weak smile. “Sorry.”

“Yeah,” she huffed on a laugh devoid of mirth. “So much for being heroes.” But at least they had the future, one thing to hold onto. The past had never been kind, and she’d thought she’d given up hope for anything better a long time ago, but now it was starting to creep back in, insidiously lurking around the corner, ready to rip her feet out from under her again. Things weren't exactly looking up, the blood lurking in her recent memory and a plan for more on the horizon, but she wasn't nearly as afraid as she had been. “The bad guys always have more fun anyway.”

“Oh, yeah?” She raised her eyebrows at him. There was a beat of silence as the phone rang in which she paused to scan their surroundings, alert for any sort of sound or movement. It would be just their luck to get attacked before they even made it to the road, but any monster daring to come close would soon regret it. Her hand rested close to the hilt of her sword, though it didn’t seem that a physical blade was really so necessary anymore. She didn’t want to think about her other option. Orin spoke and her attention snapped back to him immediately, face twisting in confusion. “Rick O’Shea?” she mouthed. She stared at him as the speech went on, the corners of her mouth twitching in barely suppressed amusement at the ease with which he spun the lie. She returned the look of surprise when he’d finished, giving a short nod, conceding her respect. Maybe this would be as easy as he’d made it out to be.