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Hector's strong, jean-clad legs carried him up the stairs of the DemiDorms, one stair at a time. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten... eleven stairs to the landing at the top of the set, then three steps to turn to the next set of stairs. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... ten stairs on this second set. This landing had a door, and behind the door was a hallway; Hector chose to push the bar on this door to gain entry to the hallway. Both the stairwell and the hallway echoed with the sound of the door closing behind him.

Hector was somewhat surprised he had yet to run into one of the myriad of demigods who attend the Academy by now. It was almost a tradition for students to bump into one another in common areas before class had started - especially on the first day - so he had ascended the stairs slowly to allow for fate to take its most common turn. Perhaps it was just a coincidence. Perhaps it was because he was here an hour before the time most arrive. Perhaps his rippling muscles and rough motorcyclist look were scaring everyone away. Perhaps Ragnarok had occurred and he'd been left alone by the apocalypse. Whatever it was, all that mattered was the outcome, and that was Hector being without someone to chat with.

Oh well, he thought. I guess I will be unpacked by the end of this week for once. This was a strange, new sensation for Hector. He'd never managed to be unpacked before Thanksgiving, let alone before the end of the first week. In fact, the previous year he'd barely unpacked anything before he had to pack again to go home. It was an odd feeling to not have to pack his things to leave, but not nearly as odd as what he was experiencing now, looking down the hallway toward the door of his room. There it stood, merely four meters away, filling him with such familiar and strange feelings at the same time. He knew well what stood behind it, but still felt apprehension as to what he would find within for some unknown reason.

Hector was shocked out of his reverie by a sudden buzzing in his pocket. It was shortly followed by a cool, flowing sound - the music he'd chosen as his ringtone. While a bit long for a text ringtone, he liked it, so he was fine with it running as long as it did. He stood, enjoying the pulsating sound as it flowed into the hallway. I'm giving you a nightcall to tell you how I feel... Once it had finished, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the text. His phone, a Samsung Galaxy s4, felt comfortable in his hand, likely due to his years of usage. The phone ran on the Verizon network, using a grandfathered-in unlimited data plan paired with 4G LTE service. As if that weren't enough to distinguish it as a rarity among phones, he had also changed the operating system to Cyanogenmod, providing numerous improvements to the user interface and securing a consistent stream of system updates for the phone. Truly, his phone would be seeing use much longer than most phones were ever expected to live for.

The screen lit up, and a Handcent SMS notification told him that his father had texted him. Handcent SMS was the only SMS application Hector trusted with his texts. It provided exactly as much customization as he desired with the reliability of a long-trusted app. He could easily set up individual tones for important people, vibration patterns, and even choose the color of the notification LED. Plus, the app allowed him to read and reply to texts in a quick-reply dialog window that popped up on top of any app, providing unparalleled convenience in text conversations. It was in one such window that Hector found his father's message, waiting for him to read it.

"I hope ur having a grape ride! Have a good time at school this year, and remember that I loath u!" Hector's father had never been good with autocomplete.

With a sigh, Hector began to write up a reply. His fingers glided lightly across the screen, operating the Swype keyboard like a true professional. He missed only a single letter, but caught his mistake before hitting the send button. He stopped and admired his handiwork for a moment before finally sending the message; while a small, simple task, his attention to detail and perfect clarity stood in stark contrast to his father's frequent mistakes and laziness with text messages, proving once more that demigods were far above the human race. A small smile played across Hector's lips as his thumb inched toward the send button, finally coming to a rest upon it and replying to his father's message.

"Already arrived. Almost in room. Ready to unpack. No other students around. Later." In his texts, Hector was always short of word and thick of meaning.

In a well-practiced motion, Hector pushed the power button to turn the screen off while flipping the phone in his hand. He continued the motion, sweeping both hands toward his left pocket. The index finger of his left hand slipped into the pocket and pulled out, opening the pocket wide enough to easily slide the phone into with his right hand. With the screen facing away from his leg, he ensured that the phone wouldn't accidentally dial a number due to the imperfect design of the screen. Once he had managed to dial his hometown's prison and activate the speaker phone function at a party, which itself made for a great story at parties. However, he expected such things from human-developed technologies. Not all things were created by the children of Hephaestus, and Hector understood it as a simple fact of life. Plus, the solution to the problem was simple enough, so Hector wouldn't be caught complaining about it. He was better than that.

His phone safely and properly pocketed, Hector looked once more to the door standing four meters ahead of him. The time had come. He was ready to enter his room once more, to unpack his belongings once more, to begin the school year once more. Only four meters stood between him and his goal, and Hector was not about to leave it half-finished. The long legs of his tall, powerful body flexed into action, his right leg stretching forward to carry him 70 centimeters closer to his room. The left moved in turn, and another 70 centimeters were now behind him. He was so close now he could feel the cardboard in his hands as he opened his boxes of belongings and began to sort them into their proper places in his room.

With another two steps, he was left only 120 centimeters away from his room. Hectors hands moved to his jacket pockets as he began to search for the key to his room. Where had he left it? Which pocket was it in again? His right hand fished through the pocket of his jacket, finding a case of Altoids within the folds of cloth. However, the key was not to be found there, so he changed his focus to his left hand. Hector's ring of keys to his family's house and cars were within, but his room key was on a separate ring. His left pocket was also a bust! He tried his pants pockets next, starting with the right once again. This pocket, however, was completely empty, as well as being a somewhat tight fit for his hand, so he quickly withdrew his hand. It was then that he finally noticed the odd pressure he felt from his left pocket, which housed his phone. It was strange that he hadn't noticed the distinctive shape of the pressure as he searched his pockets for a lone key on a ring, as he could easily feel the ring shape against his leg. The key, however, was much more indistinct, but the general shape was there all the same.

With a bit of fishing and an emptied pocket, Hector finally had his key in hand. Finally ready to open the door, he took the last step to bring himself within range of the doorknob. With his long arms, reaching the knob 50 centimeters away was a cinch. However, since the angle wasn't quite right for him to get the key into the lock, he decided to take one more step to improve his positioning in relation to the doorknob, placing him a comfortable 20 centimeters away from the door.

This was it. The key was in hand, the door was in reach. All that was left was for him to reach out and grab his future with his own hands. As a demigod, the Fates allowed him to write his own story. They only interfered slightly in the affairs of those less mortal than humans, allowing demigods to live truly free lives. The freedom was exhilarating, and it was endlessly thrilling to know that the future was his to make. Some day students would look back upon Hector's life and wonder what would have happened to him had he not opened that door. However, they certainly wouldn't know, as he was indeed going to open it.

His right hand approached the knob, key held firmly in hand. He inserted the key... but it didn't fit! He tried again, and it just wouldn't go in. Thinking quickly, Hector flipped the key over and tried it that way. Still no sell! He tried once more, hoping it was all a misunderstanding, but it refused to enter. What could be wrong? As he began to panic, he flipped the key once again and made one last, desperate attempt to unlock his room.

Click.

Finally, the key inserted itself firmly within the depths of the lock, fitting snugly within its embrace. It was a perfect fit, as evidenced by the lock being perfectly okay with Hector moving his key within it. The rollers of the lock clutched the key tightly, but the key moved smoothly within, moving swiftly to bring the lock into an open state. The climax was coming... coming...

Click.

The lock gave way, releasing Hector from the hall. The door opened wide and Hector came into his room, finally at home within the academy. Filled with the ecstasy of being released from the hall, he pulled his key out of the lock, its task finally complete. He had spent five years of his life living in this room, and he was quite intimate with its unique quirks. Still, he took a look around the room to survey its contents.

To one side sat three large boxes which held his packed belongings. By the window sat Hector's trusty desk, at which he had written many a long, drawn-out essay for his classes, working late into the night for what he sometimes thought was not enough payoff. It had two drawers, which he normally stuffed with papers, notecards, and writing utensils. It was always good to have everything one needed right on hand where one used them most, after all. The chair was comfortable enough, a fairly standard rolling armchair. Padded arms covered in black vinyl were ready to keep his elbows supported for hours of writing. The taught mesh that served as the bottom and back of the chair allowed the chair to conform to any occupant's body without being permanently shaped, while still providing a cushioned sitting experience. Three levers could be found beneath the seat proper - two extending to the right and one to the left. The frontward lever on the right operated the hydraulic cylinder within the base column, allowing the chair to rise or fall to the occupant's preferred height. The lever behind it ended with a bar that the sitter could use to change the resistance of the back to force - or, more simply, how hard the sitter had to lean back in order for the chair to recline. The lever on the left was a bit less common than the other two among office chairs. By adjusting it, the sitter could change the angle of the bottom of the seat, allowing one to slouch while still sitting up straight in the seat or even to have proper posture while leaning back quite far. Luckily it seemed nobody had changed Hector's settings from the previous year, so he wouldn't need to adjust the seat to his liking yet this year.

Opposite his boxes of luggage sat his twin-size bed. The comforter was decorated with a nebula pattern, standing out magically in the otherwise rather plain room. The sheets beneath were dark blue, matching well with the dark expanses of space that sat atop them. Two pillows sat at the head of the bed, cloaked in the same deep blue as the bedsheets. The bed itself was lifted so that the top of the bed was one meter above the floor. This was to allow Hector to store certain personal effects beneath it for easy retrieval. In a previous year, it had been raised even higher to allow a sofa to fit beneath the bed, which, when coupled with a wide-screen TV he had found at a thrift store mounted on the opposite wall, made for a wonderful game night setup. However, the friends he had enjoyed the game nights with had since graduated, so he left the sofa in a storage unit at a warehouse not too far from the school. The TV remained mounted on the wall, partially hidden behind the boxes he had come to unpack.

Home sweet home, he thought for the umpteenth time since he'd initially been assigned the room. I guess I'll start unpacking with the essentials and just move on from there.

Hector stepped further into the room and made himself at home. He set his motorcycle helmet upon a pillow on the bed, four centimeters away from the headboard and ten centimeters from the edge of the bed, and it sank two centimeters into the downy depths of the fluffy pillow. With a few more steps and a light clink, he had placed the room key on the corner of his desk. His hands and arms now free of their burdens, Hector slipped his leather riding jacket off his shoulders. He caught it just as the collar came even with his hands and, with a flourish, swung it around from behind him to in front of him. He gently hung it over the back of the office chair, causing the back of the chair to lean a single centimeter back, confirming Hector's settings had not been meddled with. Finally, Hector turned to the boxes lined in front of the TV.

It wasn't difficult for Hector to spot the box marked with a large letter E on its side. E for Essential, E for Enlightenment. E for EXERCISE. Keeping his body fit was quite important to Hector, so he made sure he had the exercise equipment necessary for full body workouts. Surprisingly, that came out to very few individual pieces, but the additional modification pieces greatly increased the bulk - and weight - of the set. Hector could imagine the person delivering the boxes straining to lift it before finally gently rocking it onto a cart and wheeling it to his room, making good use of the elevator. Hector, on the other hand, was perfectly fine moving the box without such assistance, lifting it and moving it to the center of the room before pulling off the tape and opening the top.

Looking into the box brought a joyful smile to Hector's face. He'd gone a full day without his beloved exercise equipment, and he had missed it all dearly. At the top was his door frame-mounted pullup bar, which had seen quite a bit of use throughout his years here at Olympus Academy. It was a most wonderful tool that allowed him to forgo searching for places to do pullups, instead turning any door frame into the perfect exercise location in seconds. He pulled it out of the box, got up, and quickly installed it in the door frame leading into the bathroom.

Next in the box was his set of HeavyHands. Similar to dumbbells, the HeavyHands were a pair of weights connected by a bar used as a grip. What set HeavyHands apart from normal dumbbells was the design. The grip bars were coated with a thin, slightly spongy material that made them easier to hold when running. A flat bar of metal extended from the end of the bar, then bent to run parallel to the bar before returning on the other end, forming a sort of knuckle guard. This was enclosed in a foam tube, painted on one side with extremely an extremely reflective silver coat to provide greater visibility of runners with the HeavyHands to cars when in the dark. But the most important feature of HeavyHands were the weights. Hector had a set of weights for the HeavyHands ranging from a single pound all the way to fifty pound pairs. He set about unloading and sorting the weights beneath his bed.

And so the unpacking continued...

---

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Delilah enjoyed the walk to campus, listening to her good friend chatter on and on. Every once in a while she would interject and add her own thoughts and opinions, but then go back to listening again. It was a lovely day, with the sun shining brightly over them. While she did not seem to glow like Vi did in the sun, Delilah felt her mood brightened in correspondence to the weather. The twenty minutes went by almost too quickly and before she even knew it, they have already arrived. She could not help but smile as she admired the school ground. Like Vi had pointed out, there were a lot of people here already and there were even some new kids that she didn't know yet. Hopefully she will be able to make more friends this year as well.

As they were entering the Assembly Hall, Vi apparently received a text that did had ruined her usual upbeat mood. After she had explained what has happened, Delilah did her best to comfort her. "I'm sure he has his reasons for not coming," she assured Vi. "He did have to travel pretty far just to get here. Maybe he's all worn out. A-and... I think it would be nice to have an older brother. At least you know he cares for you, right?"

Delilah never really had much of a chance to talk to Dallas, despite the fact that he was her best friend's older brother. Nor did she really know much about him. But she believed in the best of people and Dallas was a person so he fits in there somewhere. She had heard rumors about him and his mischievous ways, but she doesn't care much for rumors anyways.

The Assembly Hall was filling up and the two friends began to look for some available seats. Seeing a familiar face, Delilah whispered to Vi, "Look, it's Dallas. He showed up after all, aren't you glad? Do you want to sit next to him?" Not really giving her time to answer, Lilah dragged her friend to reunite her with her brother again. Once they have made their way there, she gave the boy a polite wave. She then took a seat, leaving the chair next to Dallas open for Vi to sit in.

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Zeke was already texting some of the guys, letting them know about their plan for the night and asking them to bring a few cases of beer if they could. He also had to figure out a way to get back to his home to pick up that case of beer if need be. Hopefully he wouldn't need to. He was seriously planning on ditching the assembly and maybe just lay low somewhere; the boy's locker room maybe? At least, until he got a text from his one and only older sister. After reading the text, he groaned.



He sighed, slipped his phone into his jeans front pocket, and reluctantly made his way to the Assembly Hall. While there wasn't a threat or anything in her text, he had a feeling that he wouldn't have been able to be off the hook easy if he didn't show up. "What a pain in the ass..." He kicked a rock and managed to send it almost halfway across the courtyard. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, he didn't hit anyone with it.

By the time he arrived at the Assembly Hall, he saw his sister sitting with a guy that he didn't know. "What happened to sitting alone? he asked in an annoyed tone as he came up to his sister, not even bothering to acknowledge the kid. He took a seat and looked around the crowded hall. He scanned the room until he found Clarissa, a smile creeping up on his face. However, that smile turned into a frown as soon as he noticed that she was talking to another guy. Zeke did not know who that guy was, but he did not like him one bit. He was going to have to talk to him as soon as this stupid assembly was over.

@scrapula@MiddleEarthRoze@Onarax

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Cori was glad that she was being of actual help, but a little dissapointed that the girl hadn't given her her name. But before she could ask her, a boy interrupted her attempt to make a friend. Though he seemed to have every good intention, she was still annoyed by his intrusion in this crucial part of the first schoolday. He apologized shortly after, which made her a bit more forgiving. And he did look quite tired actually. Poor kid. I might just as well make another friend. She thought to herself.

"Well hi Zaheen, I'm Corinthe. New indeed. So what year are you in?" Then she turned to the girl. "And what's your name?"
Then Zaheen continued to give the answer to the riddle. Cori had known it as well. Actually, the scene was playing in front of her eyes. And Zaheen missed the most crucial part. the answer was


That.

"...."

The girl beat her to it. With much ado, the box proceeded to reveal a book. The Silmarillion, read the cover. Before Cori could inquire after what the book was and why it had been in the box, another guy entered the conversation. He looked older than Zaheen, though he said he was new. Apparently age didn't matter much in a school for the demigods. That thought made her realise, that these people she was talking to, were all demigods. All real sons and daughter of actual gods. Like herself ofcourse, but still it was weird. She wondered what powers they had and who their godly parent was. How was their relationship with their parent? She glanced around at all the people on the campus. The gods sure liked to reproduce. many people here might actually be half-brothers or -sisters. Would she have one? Would there be actually living walking family of her, right here on Olympus Academy? Hades, or who she assumed was Hades had seemed rather loyal to her mother, that one time when they met. But who knew. She was sure to find out. What would she look like? or he?

Alex explained the guy where he should go. "Oh hey" She told the guy. "I still need to get my key as well, we can try to find the office together. I'm Corinthe by the way." stretching out her hand to shake his.
Then there was an announcement all over campus, that the assembly was going to start.
"I guess the keys have to wait." She told her company. Somehow it had grown rapidly into a little group.
"Zaheen, I bet you know where we have to go for that assembly. will you show us?"

Cori was happy to hear Alex thank them, even though she had only helped just a little. she beamed. "I'm glad I could help." she stated. "One per day? That sounds like fun. I'm definitely looking forward to next one. If you want my help ofcourse." She corrected herself on her intrusiveness.
"Why does she do that?"
The next question she had, she didn't speak out loud. Who is your mother?
She wasn't sure what the etiquette was when it came to someone's godly parent. The box didn't seem much like a mortal gift to Cori.
Besides, if she asked that, someone else might ask her about who her divine father or mother was. And she wasn't quite sure if that was the first thing she wanted people to know about her.

"Allright guys, let's go see that assembly"

She was só exited.

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“You’re probably right,” Vivian said, shrugging away her annoyance and returning to her usual, upbeat and positive mood with a smile.

The Assembly Hall had quite a few of familiar faces, some that Vivian liked and some that she didn’t. Among them, she saw daughter of Aphrodite, Clarissa Price sitting next to someone she didn’t recognize. He was a cute one. Vivian would have to introduce herself to him soon. If not for the fact that he was new and was possibly setting himself up for a trap with Clarissa, then for the fact that he was new and she wanted to make him feel welcome at Olympus Academy.

When the two gals moved their way near some seats, Vivian heard her phone go off again. Rolling her eyes at who it was from, she opened the text. It was from Dallas and it said that he was feeling better. Sighing lightly, Vivian texted back,



Vivian often wondered why she was cursed at having such an idiot of an older brother. She loved him, yeah; but it was the way he annoyed the crap out of her that made her think like that. She tried not to let his antics get to her. She knew he was only doing it to annoy her. Worst part is though: it was working. Each time he would tease her about everything she did or who her friends were, he would get the kind of reaction that he was hoping for — the reaction of annoyance. Even if she knew he did it out of love, it always put her in such an agitated state that it was a surprise that she kept her positive outlook on things when he was around.

And just as her uncles and aunts above had timed it, there he was in the distance with his headphones in, no doubt blaring music into his ears.

“Yeah, let’s do that. Better than sitting by ourselves,” Vivian said, agreeing to go to Dallas.

And so the two of them did. They took two seats next to Dallas. Whether he saw them approach him or not wouldn’t matter. When they sat down next to him, he would definitely see them. Even more so, he would feel the flick that Vivian would give to his head. That would definitely get his attention through the loud music blaring into his ears.

Dallas Relo

Dallas saw the two girls coming out of the corner of his eye, and silently noted that there were two open chairs ripe for the taking. When Delilah sat down with a polite wave, he spared her an easy smile and a half-wave in return. He'd turned his attention to the front of the stage in time to give Vivian a prime view of his ear, half-obscured by hair and headphones. She promptly took advantage of it and flicked the lobe, hard. The demigod turned to look at his little sister and smiled as though the swat had been a kiss.

"Ow," he drawled lazily.

Dallas pushed the headphones off from over his head, sending tinny, insulated rock music into the air between them while he looked at his sister with as much angelic innocence as he could fit in an expression. When he laughed, his shoulders and neck shook slightly, and the headphones around his throat bounced when he reached out to throw an arm around his sister. He really did go in to kiss his sister on the cheek, grin only widening as he slid closer to her and then back away. His arm, however, didn't leave her shoulders, and he twirled one strand of her hair idly while he pushed at his own.

"Can't believe you're not even gonna ask me how I'm doing. That hurts more than a thousand roadside deer, babe." Dallas grinned wider and decided to leave his hair sit where it was, pushed to the side and tousled at the front.

Stella walked alongside Thomas into the assembly hall then felt her phone vibrate and saw her brother's reply as she smiled. She had to figure out a way to ditch Thomas before her brother got there but of course, the odds were not in her favor. Stella bit her bottom lip out of being a bit nervous as her brother came up beside her to sit down. Hearing his words, she rolled her eyes then smiled towards him. "I had to have a backup plan unless you didn't show. But you didn't want to feel my wrath and you showed up anyway." She teased him while nudging his arm a little bit then noticed that his eyes were locked on someone. Clarissa. The daughter of Aphrodite and probably a huge slut. Stella chuckled to herself at the thought then looked at Thomas. "So, is this your first year here?" She asked him but the headmaster, Mister Mark Henderson stood at the podium, asking for the students to settle down.

The ones that didn't got a quick glare from him and then they settled down, for sure. He opened up the speech as always with his voice booming. "Welcome To Olympus Academy." A few people cheered while a few idiots jeered and the professors eyed them. Stella basically had the whole speech memorized as she tuned him out. It was a welcome back to Olympus Academy speech that detailed their year and what they were going to be studying. The only thing and person new was the Headmistress, Miss Celina Lewis. Stella ears rung when that name was mentioned as she wondered to herself why would Olympus Academy need a Headmistress. Was Mister Mark dying? Was she here to take over? "Why a Headmistress?" Her voice was in a hushed tone as the assembly ended with the introducing of the professors, both old and new and with a brief notice that classes were going to start in about two days.

Of course, being the somewhat Queen Bee of the campus, Stella had heard about a party later that night but was a but unsure of its location. Her brother had to know something but since he was a bit preoccupied, she'd just have to ask him about it later. "So, Thomas, are you going to the party tonight?" She asked him while standing up since the assembly ended and she was ready to change into a different outfit. After hearing Thomas' response, she waved him goodbye and blew her brother, Zeke, a kiss. "See you guys tonight, hopefully." She strutted off and walked over to her apartment to get ready for tonight.

---

Time had flown by as the once lit up skies had turned dark completely and Stella was prepping herself for the party as she sat down at her mirror, applying on makeup and some blush upon her cheeks. She smiled in the mirror as she still had a robe wrapped around her frame as she got up and waltzed over towards her closet, opening the doors, her eyes peered over her various options with a smile. She picked out something worth partying it, which was a white blouse that stopped well above her belly button and a pair of blue pants that snugged itself to her lower body. Adorned upon her feet are a pair of blue and white, peep toe heels. She reviewed over herself in the mirror then sat back down to comb her hair, which lengthened itself to the middle of her back. With one quick and final review, she grabbed her blue clutch purse and cell phone, typing a message towards her brother.



She sent the message and walked down the stairs as her feet touched the cemented sidewalk. She walked back over towards the campus of the Academy, waiting for her brother to text her the whereabouts for this party as she wondered around the campus alone. Of course, no one was going to really mess with her unless they wanted to feel her wrath and she can assure you that her wrath is a lot bigger than her father, Zeus.

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After the assembly, James left the hall as he had entered it, alone and virtually unnoticed. He heard the arrogant kid from earlier complaining of his stolen wallet and smiled. That particular heist was well worth the tiny bit of trouble it had taken. Making his way to his dorm, he grinned as he thought of the outfit he had chosen for the party.

It took him little time to change and even less to be out of the building, staying in character with his costume. Really, there was no better character for him to copy; a magician and a thief. Putting on his hat - he had removed it to get out of his dorm quickly - he strolled along the campus, attracting quite a few glances. After all, it wasn't often that the Kaitou KID graced Olympus Academy.

With KID's trademark Poker Face firmly in place, James masked his slight bit of nervousness and stopped next to a demigod. "Pardon me, but would you happen to know where the party will be?" He questioned, allowing a smile to upturn his lips. "I seem to have lost my way, and I really can't be late."

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Serafina had made very few changes to her outfit. She dropped off her sunhat and put on a necklace, but that was about it. Experience had taught her that no matter what she did, the Aphrodite girls would get the most male attention. Not that she wanted it that much, but... she was getting a bit lonely. For now, her family was enough for her.

Walking around campus at night might not have been the best idea, but no one ever messed with Serafina. If they tried, she would give them this look that made them feel guilty, like they had just been mean to their mother. It wasn't an angry look, just sad and disappointed, as if she knew they could do better.

Keeping an eye out for her family, Serafina continued on her way. She was looking for one boy in particular, and that would be Luka. He was one of her favorite children, and the one she was most protective of. People didn't mess with her children; no one wanted to see Serafina in full mama bear mode.

Jonas Highwind and Tara Niklos

Location: Lots of 'em.
Interacting with: Eachother, Momma Highwind, an Automobile

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To her credit, Tara's anger was not immediately evident from her driving. Her SUV pulled up in the driveway calmly, her face seeming to be actually a little calm...

HONKKKKKKK.

There went that illusion. Tara practically kicked open her door, hopping out of the car and turning to her brother. "Stuff goes in the back. Don't scratch anything, or I'll scratch you." Hopefully... He wouldn't notice how many marks she'd made.

"You better listen to her, honey. I want you coming home in one piece." came the entirely unpreturbed chirp from the front lawn, eliciting an exagerrated roll of the eyes from Jonas as he easily tetris'd his luggage into the back of the SUV, wryly grinning at the amount of scratched already there, but smart enough to not mention them.

"Not gonna stand up for me, Mom?"

"I'm already on my feet this early, what more do you want?" she snarked.

He spread his arms. "Hug?"

"Have a good year, sweetie," she said, obliging him with a tight embrace. "Keep in touch, okay?"

"'Course."

"And Tara, dear?" she called to her son's half-sister. "Look after him for me."

"It ain't my first year any more, mom."

"I mean it, don't let this troublemaker raise hell over there." she continued jokingly, shooting him a mischievous smirk.

Moms.

"Don't worry. If he gets in trouble it'll be with me, not with any snob of an instructor at the academy." She smirked, the spark of the devil in her smiling eyes. She'd watch out for Jonah, alright- nobody else was going to get to beat him before she did. A pause.

"Jonas! We have to go."

"Right. By Mom, love ya!" Jonas waved, turning back towards the car, pulling the passenger side door open.

"You kids drive safe!" she called one last time, as the door closed behind the big guy and he strapped himself in. She always did stick around to see them drive off, huh? Even despite the fact that he knew that she wanted nothing more to do than sleep.

Throwing her a salute through the windshield, he addressed Tara as she got into the driver's seat. "Thanks again, sis."

Tara didn't respond. She just grumbled and threw the car into gear, setting off down the road and toward the academy.

"Look, I'll pay for lunch on the way." he offered as they backed out of the driveway.

"...Fine."

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Assembly

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"Are these ever gonna be something besides a cure for insomnia?" one asked.
"No." came the curt response of the other.

Both found themselves zoning out with the rest of the student body.

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Party

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Jonas scanned the place for familiar faces. He'd seen Zaheen and Dal somewhere in the crowd during the assembly, but never managed to get over to them. Dallas texted him about this earlier, so he figured he'd have to be here somehow, but...

To: THE GREAT ZAHEEN

You at the party? Was gonna catch up with you and Dale here

To: THE GREAT ZAHEEN
Dal*

fuck AutoCorrect

---

---

Hearing Jay confirm that he was going to come to the party, made Clarissa smile warmly. Nodding towards the new student she spoke softly "Great, I'll see you there Jay." she seemed to be happy that the new student was going to show up at the Party. But soon enough Clarissa could feel a fresh pair of eyes on her; when she caught Zeke's alluring and piercing blue eyes; her smile faded away as she looked neutral and not exactly the most pleased at being eyed by his sister Stella either. Clarissa looked past the children of Zeus and she tried to concentrate on the Assembly. Clarissa glanced around the hall a few times, wondering where on earth her brother Skye had gotten too; she couldn't find him in the crowd of Demi-Gods and that made her frown with displeasure.

Seeing Zeke's eyes focusing on her and Jay; Made Clarissa raise an eyebrow at Zeke as if she was giving him a hint to back off. She didn't exactly see anything special in the son of Zeus; besides his charming handsome looks and the blue eyes that would drawn anyone in. Then Clarissa couldn't help but think about Jeremiah, this wasn't going to go down well if something happened; for a few moments she was almost forgetting why she seeked him out in the first place...the obvious answer was to have fun and hurt him....Now she wasn't so sure, if that would be the course of her actions, no matter how much that part of her wanted to come out and play.

---

---

As soon as the Assembly was over; Clarissa left the hall as quickly as possibly, she didn't dare look behind her to see if Zeke was eyeing her of if she left Jay confused by her abrupt departure. The Children of Zeus were intimidating, especially Stella....Clarissa was not fond of them one bit. With a sigh, Clarissa pulled out her phone and she scrolled through her contacts finding her brother. She began to send him a message.



Sending the text message to her brother; Clarissa found her self by her own room. Walking inside she sighed to sigh in relief but she couldn't help but think how she would try and handle Zeke; everyone knew he was charming, everyone wanted him. The girls were like putty in his hands just from a single dashing smile. Shaking those thoughts out, Clarissa looked through her bags until she found a skirt and a strapped t-shirt. It looked cute and party style. After the Demi-Goddess was changed into the new outfit, she brushed her curls over her shoulder just slightly adjusting her hair-style and put on some light mascara to make her eye-lashes longer; allowing her eyes to stand out a little bit more. Grabbing her purse with her phone, she checked to see if Skye had replied to her message....Still nothing.

She sighed setting her phone back into her purse and she then left the Demi-God apartments and started to make her way towards the destination of the Party. The light breeze ruffled her brown curls; Clarissa kept her chocolate eyes peeled looking out for anyone...but most likely her brother Skye.

---

---

Rozalia hadn't been talking very long with Serafina when the announcement for the beginning of the assembly split them up, and Roze had soon found herself among a sea of students in the assembly hall. A lot of them were pretty zoned out, probably not a first-timer like herself, so they'd likely heard the speech plenty of times.

Roze took this chance to take a look at her fellow students. Most looked fairly ordinary, like your usual kids in High School. And then there were some who truly displayed their Godlike side in their appearance. Some of them were absolutely stunning. She had clocked one guy who had been so good-looking and radiant that he could have only been a son of Apollo.

On the other hand, Roze could definitely find the contending 'Queen-Bee's' of the academy. One blond girl who looked as if the world was on her leash in a fairly smug manner, and another, dark-haired one who was practically wrapped around yet another good-looking boy. Roze figured she would either hate the guts of these girls, or actually become friends with them; there was generally no inbetween with her. At the very least, the dark-haired one had a hint of mischief about her. For Roze, that was always a good sign.

Once the assembly had finished, and the students began milling out, Roze heard the word 'party' mentioned more than once among the crowd. Oh boy. She hoped it wasn't invite only, because she sure as hell was going to gatecrash it anyway. It would be the perfect chance to make friends - and have a drink, if she was lucky. Pausing outside and seeing a jock-like dude texting someone else, she figured that this guy was the type to be throwing parties. Walking over to him, she offered up a grin.

"Hey, big guy. I hear that a party is going down later. Could you do a girl a favour and let me know where it's happening?" She asked, just a hint of hopefulness mixing in with her mischievous tone. She didn't want to come off as too desperate; no-one wanted that kind of trait attached to them. Anyway, this guy seemed like he could be fun to hang around with.

---

---

---

---

Before Peter could even thank the group for helping him out - or ask about the book in the box - an announcement filled the yard, letting people know the assembly was about the start. Sighing quietly, Peter dumped his bags back in his car, silently praying his spear wouldn't follow him to the the hall.

As it turned out, the assembly was quite uneventful. Rather than truly listening to what the Headmaster was saying - other than picking out the necessary information, like locations and room keys _finally, - he spent more time admiring the decor of the interior, and wondering if the teachers were Demi-Gods themselves; or perhaps something a bit more magical.

Eventually, the assembly ended, and Peter was able to go and retrieve his room keys with Corinthe. He felt somewhat glad that he wasn't the only new person this year. According to the Headmaster, there were quite a few new arrivals.

Keys and bags retrieved, the pair walked towards the apartment building, and Peter noticed more than a few of his fellow students smuggling bottles underneath coats from their cars, and plenty spilling out of the buildings in far more dressy attire than before.

"Huh. Must be a party going on or something." Peter mentioned to Corinthe, followed by a grin. "I could use a drink myself - hopefully we'll find out where it is." He then paused, glancing at Corinthe. "Or I'll just work it out myself. There can't be many places on this campus you can hide a bunch of loud, drunk teenagers."

Once in his apartment, Peter simply dumped his bags on the table and looked through them, dragging out a change of clothes. Black jeans, grey sweatshirt. That'd do him. Rounding a corner, he paused, nearly bumping into something that was in his main living area. As he looked at it, he couldn't help laughing and looking up in disbelief.

"Thanks Mom." For once, those words were not uttered in a sarcastic tone - because she had been nice enough to materialise a grand piano in his living room. It was beautiful, made of a dark, polished oak. Opening the lid, he pressed a few keys, smiling in bliss as the perfectly tuned keys reverberated through the room. Oh, he was going to have fun with that later.

Once dressed and cleaned up, Peter leant against the wall in the corridor outside Corinthe's apartment; he said he'd wait for her.

---

---

“You’re lucky that it was only roadside deer you had to worry about. I’d hate to see what dad would think if he saw you tormenting his little girl.” Vivian smirked, threatening to tell their father about this.

She knew that, despite all that he did to her in the love of being an older brother, there was something he didn’t want and that was their father’s anger upon them, especially since Apollo obviously saw Vivian as his favorite and why wouldn’t he? She his little girl, — his sparkling beacon of sunshine. The one person that, if you do wrong by her, he will completely mess you up. Or at least, that’s what Vivian would like to believe. Though, truth be told, she doesn’t wish harm upon anyone. That’s a trait that she shares with her best girlfriend; they both despise violence. If Viv could help it, she’d rather not fight with anyone, even her annoying older brother.

Turning her head away from her brother and to what was directly in front of her, she saw that the assembly was about to start. It began like it always did: The headmaster calling for silence in the hall. He began to spout the traditional stuff, “Welcome back to Olympus Academy! And for those new students, welcome to your first year.” Even Vivian had to admit it got dull at times. She had heard it once before and that was enough. It was as boring as it was the last time, if not more so.

As he went on, he introduced someone -- someone that Vivian didn’t recognise. Like everyone else in the Assembly Hall, their eyes went open and mouths went shut. Even those who were whispering lowly hushed. The sight of a new teacher was definitely something to pay attention. However, that wasn’t exactly who she was.

A headmistress? She thought.

Vivian found it odd. She couldn’t have been the only one who thought that. To her and everyone’s current knowledge, the Headmaster wasn’t retiring or dying, so why bring a Headmistress in? It could be that she was his wife or little sister or something like that and that he was pulling favors for her. But still, that would raise up a bunch of other questions that only hurt Vivian’s head.

“Whatever,” Vivian said lowly, the assembly ending on the note that it always does: the first classes start bright and early in two days; don’t be late.

When she and Lilah got up, they exited the hall and Vivian released a squeal of excitement. “Can’t wait for tonight, can you, Lilah?” Vivian’s voice was filled with excitement, “the party better top last year’s. It was so much fun then, I bet it’ll even better this year, don’t you think?” Vivian looked towards her friend, “we shouldn’t waste any time. I’ll text you right before I’m starting to get ready and I'll be over when I'm ready. See you then~" Vivian said, all excited-like.

---

When night came, Vivian had spent almost all afternoon and most of the evening filled with such a gleam in her eyes that her positivity spread out to anyone near her. It went out towards those near her or those that she walked by on campus. At any given moment that she was smiling and the sun was still out, Vivian shared her glorious mood to anyone who would have it. As such, most of the people who she passed by on her way to her apartment gave her smiles and friendly hello’s.

In her apartment, Vivian couldn’t decide which outfit she wanted to wear. There were so many and so little time to try them on to see if they felt right or not. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to wear a frilly dress or shorts and a cute top. Everything in her closet spoke her. Wear me, they said. No wear me, another said. Each top and bottom tugged at her like a game of tug of war and it was evenly matched between the dresses and two-piece outfits.

“Gahh!” Vivian moaned, falling backwards onto her comfy bed, “Mmm,” She moaned again, but this time out of pleasure and comfort.

Feeling the soft cushiony fabric of her bedding, Vivian closed her eyes as she tried to imagine herself up in the sky. She tried to imagine that she was up there, floating on a cloud. The white, puffy, airy, fluffs of absolute comfort floating in the sky and she was on one of them, soaking in the sunshine. A moan escaped her mouth again as she wiggled herself lightly on the bed, delving deeper into comfort-filled unconsciousness.

As she had laid there for several minutes, Vivian slowly opened her eyes. Out of pure coincidence, she saw something that brought her frame upright. It was something hanging next to her collection of dresses. It was something that not only stood out to her above all of her other clothes, but it said something to her. It was as if it was saying “I’m the one,” and Vivian believed it. She took to her feet. In a light sprint, she went to it. The outfit that she would wear to the party. It was perfect. A low-cut, yellow tank and Hawaiian-themed, mid-thigh-high shorts.. Added to that, she grabbed a pair of yellow heel sandals


Vivian had sent to Lilah.

So, as she had finally found it, Vivian started to finally get ready. First she showered. That was key. She could not go to what could quite possibly be the party of the year without getting all squeaky clean. That would be the easy part of her getting ready. The shower itself would only take ten minutes tops. The next part would be slightly harder and that was getting her hair in the way that she needed to. How would she have it? Should she keep it down in its natural form or should she do it in some kind of ponytail-type of style? Perhaps braid it. Yes, braiding it would be the best direction to go for her hair.

As all that was decided, Vivian took the time of one hour to make sure she got her hair braided just right. She wanted to make sure that each braid was even and tight. She wanted to make sure that it was perfect for the party. The makeup she would put on would be minimal. Some blush here and there would be all that she needed. Some cherry lip-gloss, some shades of black eye-shadow, and a light touch of mascara. Yes, that was perfect.

The end of the hour drew near, and Vivian came out of her bathroom looking as stunning as ever. Her hair braided perfectly, and her makeup bringing out her natural beauty even more. The way the mascara and eye-shadow brought out the piercing blue of her eyes even added her attractiveness. To add to things, her outfit was something that only Vivian could pull off. The low cut top was slightly on the sexy side and her heels along with her shorts showed off her legs.

As she made sure she had everything, Vivian checked her pink leather handbag. “Okay, everything is there,” She nodded approvingly. Vivian exited her apartment, shutting the door behind her, and locking it with her key. She then went down the halls and towards Lilah’s place. Hopefully she was ready. If she wasn’t, Vivian would help any way that she could.

As she arrived, Vivian gave three loud knocks on Lilah’s door, “Lilah!~ You ready girl?” Vivian yelled excitedly through her friend’s door.

---

---

After his time talking with Clarissa -- which he enjoyed more than he originally thought he would -- Jay sat through the Assembly as quiet as a mouse. The rest were too when some lady addressed as the Headmistress was introduced by the Headmaster. Jay didn’t really understand what the importance was about her. He tried not to think much into it.

When the assembly was over, Jay bid Clarissa a goodbye with a shy wave and he moved his way to his own apartment. It wouldn’t take him that long to get there. He did so alone, of course, but it still wasn’t all that bad. He had his music calming his nerves, so at least that was a plus side of him walking alone. Everyone who passed him were either with someone else or they didn’t think about even looking towards him. Those that did often looked at him with a superiority glance. However, there was one group that didn’t do that. It was the duo of the blonde and brunette that Jay got a good feeling from before. The blonde greeted him with a smile and for some reason, Jay found his neutrality fading into positivity. He didn’t find it odd at all.

I wonder who she is, Jay thought curiously.

Whoever she was, perhaps that’s another person that Jay would see at the party.

When Jay got to his apartment, he made sure to save enough time for a shower and getting an outfit picked out. It wouldn’t take him that long to fix himself up. A shower ten minutes tops, fixing some food another ten or fifteen. Picking out an outfit wouldn’t take that long, either. All Jay was going to wear was a pair of semi-baggy blue jeans, a long-sleeve, black shirt, a pair of grey and black walking shoes, and to finish it off, a grey leather jacket. Once he had that picked out, he would simply have to do his hair, which wouldn’t take much time. He simply would tie it up into a ponytail. But given how long his hair was, it would definitely leave some bangs over his ear and off the side of his head.

Once Jay had gotten ready, he did one last check to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anyting. When he checked his pockets, he felt his phone and wallet as well as his keys in there. So, with that, he was ready to depart.

As he locked the door behind him, Jay took a few steps and he stopped., “wait, do I know where this party is at?” Jay asked himself. Did he know? “I wished I asked Clarissa back when I had the chance.” Jay laughed at how moronic it was of him not to ask Clarissa.

Disappointed in himself, Jay had half of a mind to trek back to his place and forget even going to the party altogether. That thought soon left his mind about a fraction of a second later when he realized that he wouldn’t’ be able to see Clarissa again. Besides, he made a promise that he would be there. If there’s anything the Son of Demeter is known for -- well, aside from being a good cook and being shy as fuck -- it’s that he never went back on his word. He always made it his mission to follow his word. But there remained the problem of where to go.

“This is going to be a long night.." Jay sighed, walking aimlessly through the halls of the Demigod Apartment Building. He hoped that at least someone friendly knew the location of the party.

---

---

"Hm?"
The candid look up from the stream of messages to and from his phone brought a girl into view, someone he didn't really recognize. New, maybe. Having lost (or more likely been ditched by) his younger sister in the chaos of the crowd of people thinking "THANK GOD WE'RE DONE WITH THAT", he'd simply propped himself up on one of the outside walls of a nearby building to try and parse the flood of incoming details assailing his poor phone. "Oh, uh, sure. One second. Pretty much getting a feed of live updates on all that."

Fucking Dallas. He loved the fucker like a brother, but he alweays played these things by ear.

"Alright. So, you know where the dorms are, right? It's gonna be in Dallas Relo's place. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it. Probably the biggest and loudest damn Apollo building ever created." he relayed to her, glancing down periodically towards the nigh-metronomic buzzing phone. The place was simple enough, but the time...

"As for when... huh." he stated, perplexed. Face comically knotted in befuddlement, he stared at his phone for a moment, before giving a glib shrug and turning his eyes back to the daughter of Poseidon. "Says he'll send a group text at around ten. If you don't get it, just follow the crowds, I guess." he explained. Stepping out, he managed to tear himself away from the wall and onto his own two feet, sliding his phone into his pocket.

[center][h3][color=red]Tara Niklos[

---

---

Gods, not this crap again.

Blah blah blah blah blah blah don'tkilleachotheroncampusgrounds blah blah blah.

Tara shook her head, her attention going from the headmaster to the people in the crowd around her. How so many people she despised could be in the same room at the same time she had no idea, but it was a thing that happened. As much as her brother annoyed her, at least he actually backed it up. She rubbed her chin again. Still burned. A sigh, then a pause--her eyes fell on Stella and her brother. The children of Zeus-the good looking, powerful, attractive demigods who seemed fated to rule the school, as it were. And rule it Stella appeared to, the damn Queen Bee of the entire stupid fawning hive. She didn't hate Zeke quite as much as she did Stella... He was an idiot, that was for certain, but she had to admit he seemed tough-through work, not so much by birth.

She made a short, disgusted sound, then looked to the side--And another version of her own personal horrors confronted her. Another daddy's little girl, actually-Vivian Corette. Her egotistical brother was there too, the latter of which she knew a little bit toooooo well through Jonas. The former... The former she was glad she didn't know. Being around her was just... draining.

It was at this point that she started to wonder if she naturally hated blondes.

And... Counterexample. Clarissa Price. Brunette and still on the hate list. Actually... Except for maybe Stella, highest. She generally disliked Aphrodite kids the most, to be honest. All beauty. Generally low brains, low brawn. Sometimes smart but that intelligence was normally consumed with manipulations and subterfuge, not anything useful or straightforward. They tended not to fight fair... And Clarisse was just like the rest, another manipulative queen type, as far as Tara could tell. Gods, if anyone flirted more than she did... It'd be illegal in 49 states.

Tara's mind returned to the present. She dully noted a brown haired girl talking to her brother--looking for the party, no doubt. Tara went every year, even if only as a reminder that all demigods acted like stupid children when drunk. Normally, kicking rabble out was up to her, and she had to admit...

Booting the children of GODS into the hall and street had a certain charm to it.

@MiddleEarthRoze

---

---

The Assembly was not as inspiring as Corinthe had hoped it to be, and her exitement had faded somewhat. Nevertheless it was pretty informative about what the year was going to look like and some of the questions she held were answered in the speech. Still, it was too long and too boring to keep her attention until the end. Her focus shifted to the people around her. Left and right of her were her new friends. She was glad the group stuck together for more than just the puzzle.
The other students interested her as well. She observed.
A lot of them were bored to death by the speech of the headmaster. There were some duo's, trio's and groups of people. Friends, she supposed. Though some looked more like they were siblings. Which struck her as odd, since from her mortal school experience she remembered that brothers and sisters weren't always the best of friends. She had none though, so she wouldn't know. Unless she was to find out somehow that she did have brothers or sisters. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed likely that she did. There were a lot of other students. So either only the other gods had multiple children, or there were at least some related to her here as well. Children of Hades, where are you?
Her eyes went over the crowd of students. The only thing that she could go on was that there was a good chance that they weren't blond. But that still left half of the students.

After the speech, Corinthe went to pick up her key with Peter. Apparently there would be some kind of party later. Which she definitely wanted to go to, but first she had to get into her new room and unpack a bit. Install her stuff. Make herself feel at home. Well, not that there was much to unpack. But at least she wanted to ditch the backpack.
The room wasn't that hard to find. And The appartment looked really nice. During her travels, only a few times, she had slept in the more luxurious bedrooms. Money wasn't a problem, but simple was enough for her and spending on what she didn't need seemed decadent.
So she knew luxury, but she was used to less than what she found when she opened the door of her room.
She threw her backpack on the bed first, and then herself. It was really comfortable. This new life certainly wasn't so bad so far. She hoped it would stay that way.

After emptying her backpack and placing her stuff in and on the closet and the desk that the school had provided, she already felt more at home. Now that she was actually going to stay here for a longer time, she thought she needed a bit more to make it really look like hér room, instead of just á room. For now she only had the jewelery that she made and she made a little exposition of them on a shelf in the open closet. The rubies, emeralds and diamonds scattered the light through the room which gave a nice atmosphere. That was all she had right now, but she would get to equiponderate more, soon enough. First there was this party she was told about.

She didn't have much when it came to clothing - it wasn't easy to travel with - but she did want to look good sometimes. So there was a very small selection she could choose from for tonight. From her closet she took the only dress she had at the moment. It was plain green and rather simple, but it suited her and she had grown rather fond of it. It matched her eyes as well.


This also meant that her trusted boots had to stay home tonight. And she put on the only other pair of shoes she had, which were also black, but much lighter and delicate. They fit pretty well with the dress.
Finally she decided on her jewelry. Her bracelet would stay on. She had made it long ago, and it would fit to the rest of the outfit.

With that she would wear earrings that she had made recently. With gold ofcourse.

Cori looked at herself in the mirror and was pleased. Time had passed rather quickly and by now the other would be done as well. She wouldn't want to make them wait for her. Peter also said he would wait for her outside of her appartment. Back then unfortunately, she hadn't been able to give him directions yet. But it wasn't hard to find and Peter came of as pretty intelligent.
She opened the door to see if he was already there. And he was.
"Oh hi Peter. I hope I didn't make you wait very long."
She locked the door behind her.
"So these appartments are certainly a pleasant surprise. How is your room?"

---

---

By the time Delilah and Vi had settled into their seats, the assembly had begun. It was the same as it was every year and while Delilah understood there were new, first-year students that had never heard the speech before, they should at least mix it up a bit for all of the returning students. She sat up straight and did her best to pay attention anyways, without yawning or zoning out. It turned out to be a harder task than she originally thought it would be.

Well, there was one thing that had changed. Apparently there was a new headmistress and she looked strict. Delilah wondered why they would need a new headmistress as most of the other returning students were probably doing. At least she got her wish; something new in the speech to keep it interesting.

Once the assembly was over, the two friends rushed out of the Assembly Hall with the rest of the crowd. Vi was gushing excitedly about a party though Delilah had some more mixed feelings on idea. These parties tended to have alcoholic drinks and other wild activities that she did not feel comfortable with. Though at the same time, it was a good opportunity to have fun with friends and make new friends. And Vi was looking forward to it, so she really didn't have much of a choice. "Yeah, I'm sure we'll have a great time," she replied, doing her best to sound as enthusiastic as possible. "Okay, I'll see you then!" She managed to say the last part before her friend quickly zoomed off to get ready. She herself, decided to take a more scenic route and enjoyed a slow walk back to her apartment. Every once in a while, she literally stopped to smell the roses or other flowers that were planted on campus. Actually, she had planted a lot of them herself during the school beautification project. She took pride in caring for the flowers and was relieved to see that the staff had done a good job maintaining it during the time she went back home to visit her father for summer break.

Eventually after maybe half an hour or so, she made it back to her apartment. She plopped tiredly on her bed and decided to take a quick nap before getting ready for the party.

---

She woke up, and realized that she slept a little too much. She had awoken to the sound of Vi's text. She jolted upright and went to take a quick shower. She still hadn't decided on what to wear yet, but it wasn't like she was dressing to impress anyways. After her shower, she rushed to her closet and picked out a pink, laced dress. She dried her hair, and left it down in its natural curls. She applied just a bit of make up, some eyeliner and eye shadow to make her eyes pop, and clear lip gloss just to make her lips look all sparkly. She then got her white sandals and packed her essentials in her purse.



By the time she was finally ready, she heard knocking on the door along with a very familiar voice. "I'm coming! I'm ready! Yay!" she called out as she put on her shoes. Then she opened the door and gave Vi a warm hug. She took a step back and admired her friend's beauty. "Wow, Vi... You look absolutely stunning. You are going to make all the guys there fall in love with you," she smiled, her words genuine and kind.

She locked the door behind her and the two of them headed to Dallas' place. "It's pretty cool that your brother is throwing the party." she said, as they were walking. She was already outside and on her way, but she still was unsure whether or not she really wanted to go though she didn't show it. Well, at least she was going with her best friend so it should be fine.

The party starts late at night, and the moon was already out, illuminating the sky with its dim, yet beautiful light. She was glad that she was wearing a long-sleeved dress, or else she would be freezing. As they approached the party, there were a lot of people making their way in and already having a good time. She took a deep breath and smiled shyly. "Well ready to go in?" she asked, and while it seemed like she was directing the question towards Vi, it was really more for herself.

---

---

---

---

---

Zeke was not paying attention during the assembly. Then again, he never paid attention to it. But this time he had too many things on his mind which was different. Clarissa and that other guy was most of it, though he did think about the party he and Dallas were throwing tonight as well. By the time the assembly was over, he realized that he did not hear a single word of it though probably nothing changed nor affected him. He was going to get up and approach Clarissa and that guy but they had already disappeared into the crowd. No matter, he would probably find them tonight.

Speaking of tonight, his sister said something about the party. "Damn it, she knows about it. Maybe she will be cool for one night. Dallas' place is huge anyways so hopefully I won't even see her there" he thought to himself. Still, he had to get all the beer somehow. Maybe some other drinks for the girls too. It seemed that the party was going to be blown out of proportions and out of his and Dallas' control. Word flies around here quick apaprently. Heck, who cares anyways. It'll be fun, at least he hopes.

---

---

Zeke had already delivered the drinks to Dallas' place beforehand but had now went back to his apartment to get ready. He had plenty of time so he decided to work out a little bit, or rather a lot. It helped get his mind off, well, you know and helped blow off some steam too. Afterwards, he hopped into the shower for a quick rinse. He doubted Clarissa would be impressed if he was all gross and sweaty.

Then he put on a plain blue v-neck with his varsity jacket and a pair of jeans. He wasn't a very fashionable dresser, but he didn't need to be to look good. He ran his fingers through his hair to casually style it up and put on a bit of deodorant. Glancing at his reflection in the mirror, he was satisfied with himself and made his way to the party. He saw his text from his sister but didn't reply. Worse come to worse, he'll just pretend he didn't see it and face her wrath later.

Along the way, he saw Clarissa, walking by herself. He was a bit nervous and hesitant to approach her, but quickly shook it off. "Just don't think... go!

He went up to her, with both hands in his pocket, and said, "It's dangerous walking alone at night, especially for a pretty girl like you. Allow me to escort you to the party?" His voice was surprisingly gentle-sounding, despite his horribly cheesy line.

As Clarissa walked through the campus, she soon noticed a familiar figure which caused her to come to a slight halt. Biting her lower lip; she saw Zeke approaching her. 'Now what does he want?' she couldn't help but think to herself. The closer Zeke got to her, she caught a whiff off his deodarent. He smelled rather good actually...her jaw clenched ever so tightly, trying to avoid eye contact with him for a few moments; his blue eyes were just too alluring.

Hearing him speak, She couldn't help but let out a stiffled laugh "Wow...that is so cheesy. Seriously, the most cheesiest line I've heard you use all year." she told him and she rose a slight eyebrow at him. Clarissa looked at him in disbelief when he asked her to be her escort to the party. "Why would you escort me? I think I can handle myself...thank you." she told Zeke, but she couldn't help bite her lower lip.

Her brown eyes scanned him over slightly as she looked at him once again; silent for a few minutes "Trying to impress someone, are we? May I suggest, cutting back on the cheesy lines if that's what you're doing."

Zeke smiled for a moment before revealing a mock-hurt expression. "I try so hard but I get slammed down every time," he returned playfully, placing both his hands over his heart. "Clarissa Price is going to be the death of me."

He pretended to fall over, then quickly regained his balance perfectly. His blue eyes were twinkling with excitement. Even when she was turning him down and messing with him, he could not help but like her. She wasn't like all the other girls; She was interesting; she had bite. He couldn't blame her if she didn't believe that he actually liked her; he had his womanizing days and he still could not help but flirt with other girls. But damn, Clarissa Price was still something.

"I guess cheesy lines don't work on you," he replied, feeling more confident in himself after their little banter. "But you know, the offer still stands if you need someone to walk with you to the party."

Clarissa rolled her eyes into the back of her head at his expression, when he put his hand over his heart and mentioned her name; she stopped and looked at him with slight wide eyes "I am sorry...what did you just say?" She tilted her head at him in curiosity. No one liked her...for her, let alone someone like him. "Maybe you should try fawning over some other girl, like you always do. I am sure one of them would throw themselves at you." she simply retorted.

Crossing her arms over her chest; she noticed the slight dazzle in his blue eyes. She never really took time to notice that Zeke could be sweet, he was known as the Dumb ass, or 'Meat head' so to speak and mostly it rung true. He wasn't much of a brainer at class, even through he was the son of Zeus. "Do I look like the sort of girl that likes cheesy lines, butterflies and floating on clouds?" she asked raising her eyebrow at Zeke "Don't think so. If you want cheesy, try Vivian or her friend Lilah. They might appreciate your cheesy lines, more than I do."

She was silent for a while; as she glanced away from him for a few moments and she sighed to herself in thought "Why do you even like me?, No one likes me just on their own....You're.....the son of Zeus, If you haven't noticed, I've never been particuarly fond of you and your sister. So why me? There's plenty of girls you could try and win over." Clarissa breathed out; it seemedlike she was thinking out loud but her words were aimed at him too.

Zeke scratched the back of his head, trying to think of how to respond to all of that. Actually, he already knew what he wanted to say. It was something he wanted to say for a while now. He bent down and leaned his face closer to hers for a moment and said softly, "I said, Clarissa Price, you will be the death of me." He stepped back again before she would react in time to punch him or something. "Do you know what that means?" he asked in his normal tone of voice, straightening himself up to his full height so he loomed over her. "You and I are on the same boat, you know? Who likes Zeke for Zeke? I'm Zeus' son. I'm an idiot who messes around in the back of the class. But I'm not completely stupid. I know that you don't like me. You probably have me wrapped around your pretty, little finger and it's torture. It's actually one of the worst feelings in the world. To like someone a lot and not even know for sure why. To like someone who sees you as an idiot or a meat head."

He stopped for a moment to glance at her face. She had so many different expressions and he wondered how she would react. Would she laugh at his face? Would she bite her lower lips shyly? Then he continued, "Don't feel bad for me or anything. Like you said, I am Zeus' son. But I'll let you know how I feel, just this once. I don't want people thinking I'm soft or something. If you want me to leave you alone now, I will. Just say so," He waited patiently for her to take that all in and give him a response.

Seeing Zeke lean in closer to her; Clarissa caught her breath in the back of her throat. Their faces were closer than she had ever been to him before and it caused her to start blushing "I...I know what it means, not the first time someone implied, I'd cause their death." she glanced away from him, her brown curls falling over her face to hide her blush as she bit her lower lip. She could feel his tall and slim figure looming over her like a hawk, she felt petite compared to him.

Clarissa shook her head little head "I don't see you, as being wrapped around my little finger....you might be....well not the smartest person out there, but then again, I am not probably not any better with Skye." she shrugged her shoulders softly as she bit into her lower lip slightly. She then took a deep breath "You're kind of sweet....I guess I just never took the time to notice....maybe walking with you won't be such a bad thing. Maybe you can assume me with one of your classic jokes, you always try and tell in the middle of class." Clarissa gave Zeke a soft smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

She wasn't sure if she felt sorry for him; or something else. It seemed like the daughter of Aphrodite was having another kind moment today. "You're far from soft...maybe the Mysterious type of guy....but not soft."

Zeke was surprised by Clarissa's answer, as he was almost ready to just leave. He gave her a bright smile, and the rest of his face seemed to light up. "Alright. I already promise to avoid cheesy lines for the night and no physical contact unless requested," he said cheerfully. He finally felt like he was moving a step forward in their relationship. At least she was willing to be nice to him now. That was a start.

"Mysterious? The tall, handsome, mysterious demi-god does have a nice ring to it," he joked.

He lead her towards Dallas' apartment where the party was taking place, simply chatting and telling jokes. He was having a good time already and he hasn't even arrived at the party yet. He hoped she was enjoying herself too. As they approached the party location, there were already a lot of people. He supposed that they did take a while to get there, with their whole heart to heart talk and all. "Ready to party?" he asked her before they were going to enter; Some of the attendees, noticing it was indeed Zeke Carter approaching them, made a path for them to enter. "Cool, huh?" he whispered as they walked through.

Clarissa saw the surprise on his face, but she couldn't help but smile back at him softly. She bit her lower lip and she nodded "Thanks...I think." she told him, when he mentioned no physical contact unless it was requested/wanted. As they walked and chatted; Clarissa couldn't help but laugh at his jokes, they were pretty good. For once, it felt nice being 'herself' and talking to someone that understood her...being around someone that was like her in a way. Maybe she and Zeke were more alike, than she would have first given him credit for.

As he joked about being Mysterious, she shook her head smiling "Mhhh...fits you too a tee."

When they reached Dallas's aparment, Clarissa noticed the crowd; it seemed like the word spread around already. More people had shown up than in previous years. She took the scene in and she gave Zeke a soft smile "You bet...you getting your groove on?" she playfully nudged him as they walked inside. To Clarissa's surprise, she noticed how spacious and impressive Dallas's apartment looked for the party. "Wow...well this is impressive." she breathed out before her brown eyes landed on Zeke once again.

Zeke grinned mischeviously as Clarissa nudged him. "Woah, Missy. No phsyical contact without a request, remember? I'm going to have to get my lawyer." he playfully returned. After a short pause he sighed, "Well, just this once, I'll let you off the hook. But you're going to have to be more careful next time." He gave her a wink.

Before he could offer to get Clarissa a drink or even say anything while she looked into his eyes, some of his football friends ran up to him, chanting, "ZEKE! ZEKE! ZEKE! ZEKE" and all of them had to work together just to pick him up. All of it caught him off guard and he gave Clarissa a disappointed look that said, "I'm so sorry. I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible." as he was literally getting carried away.

Well, this had escalated. Not that Dallas wasn't one to adore some escalation, and not that he hadn't explicitly avoided moving in until the party started popping off; his apartment, devoid of one couch and a mattress currently without a bed frame, remained unmolested by such nuisances as furniture or school necessities or food. He had a phone charger, a sofa, and a place to sleep; until such time as the last guest had walked out and the last drop was dry, that was enough to sustain Dallas Relo through most things. The only problem was that, after all, he hadn't had a wink of sleep the night before, and that the party's higher and higher frequency must have been directly proportional to the dangerous spikes in his brain waves.

Not only had most of the class of demigods fit into his apartment and started burning through the beer (all praise to the football team, for augmenting his and Zeke's beer reserves with enough brews to float them through to homecoming) but it appeared that, as the night had gone on, only more and more people had started forwarding his group text forward, so that there was a constant stream of activity around the door. Originally the plan had been for an 18+ age limit, but Dallas had quickly scrapped that after Jonas' sister - whom Dallas, despite (and because of) the constant and violent threats towards his face, perennially flirted with - had showed up and declared herself bouncer of the party. When he'd seen Vivian, the reason he'd wanted to keep the party quiet in the first place, filter in with Delilah, he said fuck it to policing demigods and started letting whoever in.

Then there had been the case of his missing church key - not twenty minutes after he'd taken it off and left it on the counter where he would frequently serve beers to whoever asked, he walked up to grab a lager and found that his mother's bottle opener had been made off with by someone. For someone who was such a kleptomaniac himself, the reaction prompted wouldn't have looked out of place, if, say, a child of Ares was revealed to have a glass jaw within ten seconds of stepping into the octagon.

Or, you know. If someone had broken into da Vinci's flat and started wiping his ass on every drawing with an invention on it.

On top of all that, Zaheen, that Aladdin-looking motherfucker, had locked himself in Dallas' bedroom almost instantly. Probably just marathoning Diablo or something yet again. Now bereft of a bedroom and a family heirloom, a headache had started to churn behind his eyes like storm clouds, obscuring his very vision. The pain in his eyes only grew worse with beer - every cold drink felt like a needle through his irises. But drinking was the name of the game tonight, and by God, he was going to be the Tom Brady of tonight's game. Even if it meant that the normally quite-provocative demigod was reduced to responding to yelled greetings and high fives with a series of:

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Good to see you."

And, when thanked for the party,

"No prob. Thanks for coming out."

And the greetings and high fives were constant. Dallas' apartment had been the topic of half the conversations he was dragged into so far during the night, and the son of Apollo himself was unmistakable with his electric blue jacket, bold eyes, and face on full display. He managed grins when he had to, thanked the contributors when he saw them, and made an effort to float through this party as sober as he could manage.

Despite the temptation.

Which he could totally beat.

...Maybe.

---

---

After thanking the jock-like dude for the location, Roze had rushed on back to her apartment; not wanting to be too late to the party.
Swiftly deciding that this party would not be important enough to yield wearing a skirt, Roze decided to go with black jeans and heels, deciding the extra height in the heels would make her look a lot less like a midget. After a bit of dithering between shirts, she decided on a purple v-neck - it was a splash of colour among the dark.

Adding some subtle make-up - a bit of eyeliner and mascara to make her blue eyes pop - Roze was ready and out of her apartment in no time.
As the guy had said, she could simply follow the crowds to the party. Judging by the people in the corridors and the noise erupting from a room, 'crowd' was certainly the correct word to use.

Upon entering, she recognized a couple of people from the assembly - Serafina was there, along with the potential bitches and hot guys she had clocked.

"Gods, I'm glad they don't have a bouncer. Roze muttered to herself with a small grin, making her way over to the drinks. From what she could tell she was one of the youngest, if not the actual youngest, in the academy. However, there were obvious under-21s drinking here, and no-one batted an eyelid as she took a cool cider from the icebox. In fairness, she'd had plenty of alcohol before. With an Italian mother, it wasn't abnormal for Roze to have some wine with her dinner from a fairly young age. Rather than encourage further drinking, it simply led her to respect the beverage. Well... apart from a couple of nights, but she preferred not to think about those.

Easing her way through the crowds of people - while trying to avoid being trampled by what was obviously the football team (MY GODS, this place really is like a High School. Jocks, Popular bitches... this place is shaping up to look like a mythical mean girls. Obviously, I'm Janis.") - and keeping her drink from spilling over herself, she noticed the insanely attractive guy from the assembly earlier stood by himself, a somewhat pained look on his face.

"Hey, are you alright? Roze asked him once walking over. "You look ill." Roze had decided to go with 'ill' rather than 'drunk' - it seemed more polite. Besides, he seemed somewhat sober... unlike some of the others at the party.

---

---

Oh hey, the son of war thought with a smile. Found Dal. His grin widened as he spotted the young lady who'd asked him for directions earlier right next to the always radiant, yet distinctly-less glowing than normal son of the sun. So she'd made it after all! Good for her, they said you hadn't lived until you'd been to one of Dallas's parties.

Unless, apparently, you were either Dal himself or one of his friends. Jonas had never been too much for parties, but he was always up for a chance to chill with the friends he had here, so he learned to tolerate it. Zaheen, on the other hand, was even less for parties, and even more adamant about the fact, no doubt sequestering himself away to speedrun Diablo 2.

Tara, she was an odd one. She hated parties, hated the people who attended them, even (probably) hated the host-- But every year, without fail, he'd learned that she would show up anyway, and declare herself the one-woman security team. After all, the party meant alcohol, and alcohol meant low inhibitions. And low inhibitions meant, more often than not, fights. And let it be known that there was nothing Tara loved more than shoving her boot so far up some uppity demigod's ass that she could tap-dance on their tonsils. A sentiment he tried not to share that often.

Finally, there was the host himself. Handsome, funny, more facile in a social setting than anyone here by a country mile--

And stuck playing the beleaguering role of the greeter. Dallas was at his best when he was at someone else's party, something he could be the life of. Stuck in this spot, it was easy to imagine the opposite occuring: the life was being sucked out of him. He couldn't be free and let himself go like this. There was no way to let himself have the kind of fun he had, while maintaining necessary decorum.

Sagely sipping some punch, the Ares boy nodded as he stood near the wall, for all intents and purposes just another haphazardly thrown piece of furniture to the crowd of demigods and demigoddesses.

Poor dude had to play by the rules for this one.

---

---

“Me? Look at you!” Vivian said, doing just as Lilah had done to her just a moment ago. The way that beige-colored dress brought out a certain kind of simplistic beauty from Lilah was truly living up to who she was in every single way. “You’re going to turn more heads than I will. Trust me,” even if Lilah didn’t believe her, Vivian did. She truly believed that Lilah would be the hottest hippie at the party, bar-none.

As hey left the building, Lilah mentioned something about how cool it was of Dallas hosting the party. Initially, Vivian shrugged at that. She was still a little annoyed at the stunt her brother pulled with not showing and then ending up on showing at the Assembly. It was mainly his annoying antics that got to her and not Dallas himself. Regardless, Vivian did think it was mighty impressive that he was able to host such a big party on short notice.

“It’s a big responsibility. He better not be hammered half the time,” Vi laughed lightly, seeing as the view of the party came to her gaze. “Wow, a lot of people,” Vi commented, seeing how many people there were.

She was actually surprised that there was such a large turnout. There must have been a bigger list than originally estimated, or at least that’s what Vi thought, anyway.

As they stood there for a few moments, Lilah would ask if Vi was ready to go in. She simply nodded and smiled widely, “yeah, let’s go,” she said, taking Lilah’s hand as they would enter the wild fray.

---

---

He had no clue whatsoever.

As Jay stood outside of the Demigod Apartment Building, he was still as a rock, laying in wait for there to be some kind of clue to lead him to where the party was. He needed some sign, be it hoards of people flocking in one, single direction, or something of the sort. He need a push in the right direction, perhaps someone bumping him to the way of the party or him seeing someone he recognized going a specific direction.

And then it came.

By the grace of the Greek Gods, Jereimiah’s hopes came true. It wasn’t a minute or so after he had been waiting that he saw multiple people who were all dressed up going in one, single direction. If that wasn’t a sign, Jay didn’t know what was. So he followed, trekking behind them in a slow, but steady pace. He made sure not to go too slow so that he didn’t end up on losing them, but not too fast so that he ended up on giving off strange vibes. More importantly, he didn’t want to go too fast that would bring attention to him.

Following along the path he was on, Jay was indeed going on a steady pace, but he then spotted a couple of people familiar. The first was built tall and fully of athletic muscles. He wore the varsity football team jacket. The man was identifiable even from behind, especially with his blonde hair. There was no doubt that man was Zeke Carter, Olympus Academy’s resident jock and all-around meathead. From what Jay has only heard from tales and whispers, he was the guy that picked on people like Jay. The Son of Demeter worry would further be amplified when he realized that the one he saw Zeke talking to was someone that Jay himself had talked to earlier in the day, the friendly and equally as warming, Clarissa.

What should I do? If I go slower, I’ll lose sight of her. If I go faster, she might just see me. What’s even worse, Zeke would surely see me and might want to have a word with me. Oh god, that would be even worse. Jay couldn’t bring himself to accelerate his walking speed. He simply would keep it as it was.

Even though he had all kinds of anxiety about being seen, Jay’s eyes wouldn’t leave Clarissa’s backside. No, it wasn’t because of her figure. While as nice as it was looking at, it was her brown hair and how, in the moonlit night, it glistened beautifully, much like fireflies in the blackness of night. He found his green eyes being drawn to it and nothing more, and when they came to a stop, so did he, several paces away mind you.

Looking around, Jay was amazed at the large amount of people around. He was intimidated, sure, but he also felt a weird sensation go through his body. It was as if there was something in him that felt at ease. It couldn’t be the people -- no definitely not that. Perhaps it was something -- or someone -- that was present that was giving him this feeling.

“Perhaps it’s Clarissa,” Jay said lowly, his green orbs falling upon her face. Yet again, Jay found himself being pulled to her. Maybe I should go talk to her.. Jay hesitated; his body was half-frozen still.

He felt his legs shake as if they were jelly. Sweat dripped down his body as he felt the anxiety take form of it, staining his shirt. Jay hated himself for not moving — not being able to do what he wanted to and that was walk over to Clarisssa and say hello. Why couldn’t he do that? Was he so pathetic that he couldn’t do so much as say hi to the one person that he was at the party for in the first place? Was he such a coward that he would not let her know that he was here?

“What am I doing? I can do this. No, not can -- I must -- do this.” Jay said, gathering up his inner-courage.

It started with a single step and several more after that. With his left went in front of right in rapid succession, Jay had, through the willpower of his goddess mother, walked up to Clarissa. With a few heavy breaths, Jay then spoke, “Hey Clarissa,” he said with all the nervousness in the world and the wave of the hand to match it, “it seems we arrived at the same time.” Jay said, trying to start some form of conversation with her.