It felt like his legs were going to fall right out of their sockets at any given moment. It was still early in the morning, so not very many people were up yet (not that he expected very many to be, after a Capture the Flag like that). He hadn't been able to sleep in his bunk, so he'd ventured outside and was sprawled out on a spot of grass in the middle of the quiet camp. As usual, he'd been roped into the game, but had generally used his typical strategy of 'staying back and slacking', but something about yesterday seemed to spur him on more than usual.

Oliver turned onto his side and squeezed his eyes shut. His head was pounding. Too much messing around with the Mist to try and disguise himself yesterday probably. It was always harder to convince demigods as opposed to regular folk.

He stayed like that for a while, enjoying the cool air and soft warmth of the morning sun as it spilled slowly into the camp. Eventually, as more and more people emerged, toting various degrees of injuries, Oliver opened his eyes and pushed himself up. It sounded like breakfast was about to get started. He debated skipping breakfast, but his stomach gave a growl in protest to just the thought, so that was that.

Slowly, carefully, he pushed himself up onto his feet and began to follow the steady, but thin, stream of people as they headed to pavilion. He was still dressed in his pyjamas - a plain, white t-shirt and some orange Camp Half-Blood sweats - as he trudged along, bits of grass and dirt clinging onto his back and hair. Food. He just wanted food. Then probably sleep for the rest of the day.

"Don't worry about last night, here at Camp Half-Blood when we try to kill each other it is just us bonding as a family!" The booming voice that belonged to no other than Barry Groves said with a hearty chuckle. The lively giant known as Barry was talking to a rather small looking girl who was walking just by his side, practically latching herself to his leg. She was one of the newest arrivals to camp having only gotten their two weeks prior, a young kid around the age of ten by the name of Ivy. Just as quickly as she arrived she was claimed by Demeter and placed into her cabin with no other than Big Barry himself. Barry offered his half sister a warm smile before patting her head. "But really Ivy that was just a game we were playing, no one here would want to hurt you." He said in a gentle tone that spurred a small smile from the equally small girl walking next to him.

After having set Ivy's mind at ease he looked behind him to the group have his half brothers and sisters who was fallowing him and grew a huge grin. "Come on guys lets pick up the pace, don't want those Ares kids beating us there and getting all the good grub do we?" He called back with a laugh, stirring the younger kids to cheerfully call back NO WAY and race on ahead of him and the older ones to chuckle and shake their heads and continue on their way though with a much more obvious pep in their step. Ever since Barry became the head of the Demeter cabin he had taken it upon himself to lead his half siblings to breakfast every morning and especially seeing how intense last night's capture the flag was he wanted to make sure their spirits were as high as they could be. He chuckled half to himself before continuing onward, casually placing his meaty hands behind the wild deep chocolate curls that was his hair.

---

---

Vanessa was awake with the sun, as per usual. Of course, not many would have known this non-ceasing early wake-up habit of hers, just because she was up this early didn't warrant her, in her opinion, a reason to leave her cabin except on the rare occasion she would watch the beautiful sunrise that graced its presence over Camp Half-blood's horizon. This morning wasn't one of those special mornings though.

She gives a sigh, running a hand through her orange hair, probably the most vibrant part of the already changed Vanessa between her black top, dark denim blue jeans and light skin. She rolls her shoulders looking up from the book she was reading to pass the time, or attempting to at least. Her mind seemed to wonder to the night before. Capture the Flag was intense. Unnaturally so. It was one of the few things Vanessa didn't awkwardly linger on the sidelines, perhaps the fact she felt more energized at night contributed to that. She assumed the underworld was a dark place as she felt more empowered in the dark though that may just be her for reasons other than her genes.

Eventually Vanessa slipped out of her bed and out of her room, passing the bed Penelope slept on, not noting if her half-sister was still there. She was starting to get used to having Penelope around albeit it being a month compared to the three years Vanessa had the Hades cabin alone. She continued on the the dining pavilion, taking a seat at the Hades table. She was early, a fair bit so. She spent the time in solitude watching the lake as demigods left cabins, chatting among themselves and cherishing the sun before the first lot of demigods, Demeter's children, lead by the ever-cheery Barry. She offered the man a small half-smile as he entered the pavilion. She didn't know the man that well, and she knew he knew little about her, Vanessa didn't open up to many people at all but over the years both had been campers it would be impossible for them to be practically strangers even if not much more.

Even after a month, Penelope still found it difficult to sleep in this new place. Ever since leaving the Hotel she had trouble sleeping. Before it was the monsters and the constant threat of danger, but here - it wasn't home. Not yet. She supposed with time she would feel different, but this was still all new.

Including last night. She stayed out of the game, choosing to watch both what went on during it and how Shadow reacted. She wasn't willing to force him to stay back in the cabin, and he followed her wherever she went. Considering how much more intense it seemed than she was told it would, it was probably for the best. Just watching seemed to have Shadow antsy to get into it, and it took her physically holding onto him to keep the deadly beast from getting involved.

Thinking about the game only ate up an hour of her sleeplessness. The rest of the time between the brief bits of sleep she did get, was spent reading. There was so much to catch up on, between learning about everything her parentage would bring and what happened the last seventy years. A lot of the information was thanks to the intrusive help of an overly enthusiastic child of Athena, which meant she had more books than she needed and plenty of subjects to read. The piles were carefully stacked, out of the way for ease of movement, and as confined to the space right around her bed as possible.

She hadn't realized what time it was until Vanessa walked past her bed. That was when she finally got up from the lounged position she both read and slept in last night, and Shadow jumped off the bed. She didn't bother taking her sanguine-red hair down from the braid she put it in for the night; she could do that later. She changed from the camp pants and oversized tee shirt she called her pajamas into a different pair of camp pants and a better fitting camp tee shirt. That was really the only wardrobe she had at the moment aside from jumper and button up white blouse she arrived in and she preferred it that way; she picked it out, and when she eventually wanted to tackle the world outside of camp, she would choose different clothes.

Shadow climbed down from her bed once Penelope finished dressing, and kept pace with her as she made her way to the dining pavilion. Not needing to depend on someone to show her around was nice. Vanessa and the other campers had been nice enough, but she hated needing someone. She kept her gaze on the ground and kept moving until she reached the Hades table.

"G'morning," She murmured as she sat opposite her half-sibling. Shadow slipped underneath the table to sit next to her leg with his head on her lap. "Shadow says g'morning as well."

Last night was intense, more than the average Capture the Flag game. He had been in enough fights and games to know something was up. He hadn't seen what it was, but he knew it wasn't Law's fault everyone else was as riled up for the game as the Ares cabin. It wasn't until he finally woke up after passing out in his own bed that he heard any murmurs about what had gone down that he hadn't seen. Considering he spent a good deal calming his siblings - or at least intervening with the ones that got a little too carried away to keep them from doing worse than just land other campers in the infirmary - he didn't get to do much else once things got out of hand. It was par for the course in being the cabin head.

That was also why he didn't sleep in like he would have rather do. He wasn't surprised he was one of the last to wake up, but at least the others waited. That was why he decided to make quick work of getting ready, changing clothes and just making sure he wasn't a mess from the fight; a few scars on his arms being left exposed from the tank top wasn't anything new, though the couple of fresh claw scars that disappeared under the cloth were. A few passes of his hands through his short dirty blond hair made sure any debris was out of it.

"All right guys, grubs on. Last one to the pavilion has to be Law's first training partner," he called as usual. His sibling didn't bother waiting for him to get moving. That was kind of the point, considering he wanted a leisurely pace and didn't want to keep his siblings from their breakfast because of his pace he usually used a threat only he enjoyed. He never made a threat he wouldn't deal with himself.

Following the flood of Ares kids toward the pavilion, he spotted Barry not too far off. "Hey, Bear, that was quite some match-up, huh?"

@Nightfury Kat @Saarebas
Laurence ran the bronze spear head over the turning whetstone, and watched as sparks danced in the air. He was up before the rest of his siblings, as usual. What wasn't usual was the large number of bruises that stung all over Laurence's body. The game last night had been brutal, surprising considering it was Capture the Flag with Demigods and real weapons, and where the main rule was that maiming ended with revoked dessert privileges. Snorting to himself, he raised the leaf-shaped spear point and began examining the polished bronze. It was unnecessary, but the simple and repetitive actions of maintaining his weapons offered a time to meditate and center himself for the day.

Turning his thoughts back the last night's game, Laurence frowned to himself. The game had gone out of control fast, and he had feared that his powers had run rampant without his consent. But he quickly reassured himself that as he nobody sported red smoke coming out of their eyes. Whatever in the God's names happened was beyond him, but he would have to be more vigilant.

Deciding his weapons were properly cared for, Laurence got up as a horn blared out in the distance signalling breakfast. Stowing away his weapons, he picked up the clipboard next to him. On it was a list of Ares Cabin members that had been a bit more seriously injured and hadn't come back to the cabin last night. There was also a list of all the cabin members who were to be punished for breaking the rules last night, but most of them weren't relevant until dinner or free time. Thankfully all of his half-sibling survived, but Laurence doubted his friend and Cabin Head would really enforce the punishments, which meant Chiron would get pissed at teh cabin in general.

Heading off towards the pavilion, Laurence was surprised to see his friend up on time and talking with the Demeter Cabin's head. Walking up to Erik, he tapped his shoulder and said, "I'll watch the campers at the table." Before continuing on his way to the food line.

Hecate’s table was always rather empty, mostly because it didn’t seem like his mother was as keen to get it going with the humans as the other, bigger Gods. So, Oliver found himself seated at what was basically an empty table as he watched Demeter’s boisterous cabin head lead a crew of kids into the dining hall, and then as a couple of Hades’ kids trickled in, followed by Ares, the Aphrodites and so on.

Where were his siblings anyway? Sneaking off somewhere to test some highly dangerous potion? Knowing one of them, Oliver wouldn’t be surprised. The other was probably still sleeping in…and that was about all the Hecate kids that he knew about. Oh well, nothing he could do about that!

Sitting up a bit, he picked up his goblet and cleared his throat a bit. “Apple juice, please.” He said, waiting a moment for the goblet to fill up with the sweet, amber liquid before bringing it up to his lips to take a long sip.

He should have brought something to do. Now he was just getting kind of bored waiting for the food and for Chiron’s inevitable lecture. Oliver propped and elbow up on the table top and leaned his cheek against the heel of his palm, casting his bored, bespectacled gaze around the increasingly noisy dining pavilion.

Maybe he could just break custom and head over to sit at a busier table. Maybe pretend to be an Apollo kid. Zeus, if he was feeling suicidal. Nah...maybe Aphrodite? He snorted out loud at that, grinning at himself. Right, like he could ever fit in there.

Then, realizing he was smiling rather stupidly at nothing (and probably accidentally staring at someone), Oliver cleared his throat a bit, adjusted his glasses and took another sip of juice.

"Just remember to go easy on 'em. We all get carried away every once and a while, Erik called after Law. Not that he actually thought the guy would do anything rash over last night, but there was a sliver of worry. It was something he would do, roles reversed. But then again, Law was much more composed - like, annoyingly so all the time - than he was.

Lyre was pulled out of her sleepy daze as the rest of the campers filed into the pavilion. Her own table became crowded with the bunches of daughters and sons of Apollo, thanks to the ever outgoing god, their table never seemed empty.

She stood up, helping the younger owns squeeze in between the experienced campers before seating herself on the edge with little room for herself. Her gaze roamed around the hall, watching others mull into the place.

Her eyes passed over the tables before stopping back at Chiron. He leaned forward, straightening his posture as if ready to begin his next lecture." Settle down children, please quiet down. " He called, hoping that sooner than later, the rowdy campers would quickly calm down.

" I'd like to discuss last nights events. As all of you know, something unexpected happened last night, and though that happens at all capture the flag events, it was different. Last night, we were attacked by some sort of creature that hasn't been seen in many many years. And I apologize to those who were harmed in last nights events, but actions shall be taken in hopes to prevent that. We shall also be putting forth much effort into how that creature came to be and why here. "

As his speech came to a close, the pavilion became quiet. A hand was raised, though from her seat, Lyre couldn't see who it was, followed by a quiet and timid question. " What was the creature? "

Chiron gave a weary smile at the child's curiosity. " A dragon. "

Even after so many meals, the cups still unnerved Penelope. It took her a quick glance around and carefully listening to others request their drinks before she finally looked at her own goblet. One hand on Shadow's head, she gripped the cup in her other and lifted it close to her mouth. She whispered the desired drink into it and watched as the amber liquid filled the goblet. As far as strange things she had to get used to went, at least enchanted goblets were simple.

Her attention shifted to Chiron when he called for attention. She had been expecting some big explanation, something at least more substantial than just that something happened and it be investigated. Of course, there hadn't been much time between the occurrence and this morning, but still. At least he was able to give them something, a name for the creature that attacked. A dragon.

It sent a shiver down her spine. A hint of a frown tugged at the edges of her lips. She hadn't encountered a dragon in her travel to camp, but she remembered all the other monsters encountered on the way and how underprepared and ill-equipped she felt trying to help fight her way there. If it hadn't been for Shadow fighting and Rowan giving her advice when she had to get involved, she wouldn't have even made it here. Now monsters were just showing up where she was supposed to be safe. Well, learning about the decades she missed could wait.

She looked back at her drink, appetite gone for good for the time being. Her gaze fixed on the liquid in the cup, but she wasn't actually seeing it. No, her mind was going over what she could do to get better at fighting and utilizing her gifts. She had to get better at fighting, and stronger with her abilities. Her father didn't give her Shadow and the dagger idly; it made sense her abilities were the same and she needed to get better at using all of it if she was ever going to be able to properly defend herself without counting on someone else to do it.

---

Well so much for a bit of fun banter regarding last night. Chiron always had to go and be a major killjoy about things. Erik stayed standing once he got to the Ares table. The laughter had left his eyes, leaving the remaining smile a bit more dark than usual. Good thing Law wanted to give them hell for getting too riled up for last night's game; they needed to train. "Lucky us that we're first in the arena. I want you all to drill twice as hard." His gaze fixed on Law. "Give 'em hell, then make 'em do it all over again."

His attention turned to Chiron. "When is the war council getting together on the matter?"

Cato Ortega

Son of Hermes

---

He was one of the last out of the cabin, but not for laziness. Hermes Cabin had always been a bit of a mess- but now days they at least had to give it an effort. He was still dusting off his clothing when he arrived at the pavilion. He was in time to hear Chiron attempt to call the campers to order, and squeezed himself into a seat at Herme's table. He asked his goblet for a suicide- it was interesting to see what it would interpret it to mean today, since it changed frequently.

Chiron's opener wasn't too odd, they all knew something had gone down last night. A quick glance down the line of Herme's children was enough to show it wasn't any of them. No smiles, chuckles, shrinking, or satisfaction present there. He took a sip of his drink and choked, having a coughing fit at the word 'dragon'. His face was pale, and he fell off the stool, retching. It was a good ten seconds before he reappeared above the edge of the table, dragging himself upright and slowly pushing his goblet away. He shrugged at the expressions of everyone else. "Bad drink order... sorry." His voice was a bit raspy, but he had cleared most of the foul stuff out of his mouth. "I don't suppose the Oracle has said anything yet?"

Chiron raised his hands. " Settle down please. " He called, in hopes to calm down the outburst of murmurs and questions after his statement. " I'm sorry to announce that the oracle has not said anything to the matter. We currently have no word from her. " He said with a bit of shame. Though he had no control over the oracle, he had nothing to tell the children spread in front of him.
" And to answer you question, " He said, motioning to Erik. " The war council shall meet immediately after they are served food and have eaten. We have a lot to go over, you'll need all the energy you can get. " He sat down, signalling that he was done speaking and wouldn't say anything more on the matter.
Lyre frowned, her eyes cleared of her morning sleepiness. She had seen the injuries caused by this dragon, she had seen the harm it had caused and she couldn't sit still with the idea that something was happening to bring those creatures back. She knew a bit about the creatures, and if they were to send anyone on a hunt for the source, she had a feeling that she needed to be a part of it.
The food appeared but since her mind was clouded by her new found worries, she poked at her food, forgetting Chiron's words. She pushed her food away after a moment, deciding to head up to the big house early. Her hopes were that if she got there, she would feel a little more secure.

Penelope frowned harder listening to the ruckus starting up and how tired the camp director sounded. Nothing about this sounded good. A bad feeling gnawed at the pit of her stomach, growing worse the more she thought about what it might be like to fight an actual dragon and how that thought brought back up the still fresh memory of how dangerous the monsters out there could be.

She shook her head lightly. It was the best she could do to get the frown from her face and shake herself from her thoughts. Her gaze passed around the pavilion once more, trying to gauge how the others reacted by more than just words. The children at the Ares table seemed like they were excited for the challenge. Many of the others rightly looked worried, some even scared.

Then her gaze landed on the Hecate table, and the boy staring in her direction. Maybe he wasn't actually staring at her; maybe he was just stupidly grinning and smiling at something past her. Or maybe he was staring at her, and that grin meant absolutely anything. Either way, she didn't like it.

Her eyes narrowed. A growl rumbled out of Shadow in reaction to the negative shift in her mood. She switched hands so the one on the side the Hecate table sat. Manipulating shadows was easy, at least as far as darkening places went at least. It took a bit of concentration, and subtly aiming her hand in Oliver's direction, but she slowly began to pull the shadows from under his table. The darkness crept up slowly, stretching to overtake him in a darkness wrapped in power and impenetrable by normal sight.

Wrapping in someone in pure darkness was by far the kindest thing she could do to someone.

Several things happened at once, which took Oliver a good couple of seconds to process. First, Chiron had started to speak, explaining that the reason their Capture the Flag had gone so badly was because there had been a dragon. Instantly, Oliver was wondering how on earth he’d even missed seeing that thing. What had he been doing?

Then, as the dining hall practically exploded into a ruckus of murmuring, with some asking loudly about the council and the oracle, Oliver felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise. He frowned, looking around the relatively tiny Hecate table and trying to figure out what was going on as Chiron was answering the questions people were asking him.

Okay, those shadows were definitely moving.

Oliver’s gaze quickly flitted over to the larger Hades table, a purely confused look on his face as he scanned the crowd to see who, exactly, was trying to pull a fast one on him (or at least, he hoped it was a fast one, it was hard to tell with any of the kids from the Big Three). Then, when his attention landed on a girl who looked to be glaring at him, he blinked.

Oh, so he had been staring at someone on accident, then. Uh, he wasn’t sure if this was really the appropriate response but he wasn’t about to sit around and get swallowed up by God knows what – especially now of all times!

“Ex-cuse me, miss!” He called right over at her, hardly caring if anybody else hear him as he squirmed a bit in his seat, trying to avoid touching the creepy darkness, “Would really appreciate it if you didn’t try to kill me before breakfast!”

Penelope didn't bother looking apologetic or even surprised when the rude boy across the pavilion figured out what was going on. She rolled her eyes slightly, an exasperation she had learned over the time spent with Cade Oakskin. Weren't the kids that sat at that table supposed to be smarter?

"A bit of darkness never killed anyone," she called back. Standing - because who wanted to actually shout across a crowd? - she crossed the pavilion. Shadow followed at her heels; his ears flattened as his sable eyed gaze fixed on the boy's face. She stopped at his table, standing with her arms crossed.

The shadows slowly slipped away, melting back into their original form. "I suppose your mother never taught you manners. It happens to be rather impolite to stare. I was simply asserting my displeasure. Would you mind apologizing?" She kept her tone as flat as she could, but she couldn't help the edge of anger that made her Irish lilt a bit more pronounced. This was probably the most she had said to anyone at camp yet, but it was also the first time she had been angry at anyone in earnest. She might not have been physically intimidating - only five foot three, underweight, and lacking much in muscle mass - but she knew how to harden her eyes and the look on her face to make someone think twice about messing with her. That glare was what she leveled on the boy before her now.

here's my charachter.

Name: Maho Giorno Cheshta, Child of Hecate.

Nicknames: Jojo, Carrot top, Drippy, (long story) and Lasagna. (AYO! LOOK AT DIS DUDE! HE BUILT LIKE A FRIGGIN LASAGNA!)

Theme song: Giorno’s Theme Epic Version By Samuel Kim

Signature lines: “I swear upon my last breath, You will die today!!!” “Bruh. Like, what the hell just happened?” “UNLIMITED POWER!!!! Wait… what do you mean it’s limited?!” “私の魂の中にある魔法が解き放たれました。神さえも震え上がらせる、私が持つ現実そのものを超える力を目撃してください!”

Age: 11

Flaws: terrified of spiders, terrified of the unknown, Can never have enough power.

Fatal flaws: power, loyalty, and grudges.

Appearance: Red poofy yet still kinda spiky hair, white skin, pink 3 piece suit, gray ugg boots, really skinny, and blue lensed glasses.

Personality: Hyper, and chaotic. ADHD, has strong emotions, dyslexic, autistic, loyal. can read people well but, not good with reading situations. if you hurt or insult him, he’s fine with it, but as for his friends, do ANYTHING intentionally to hurt them, and you will have a life-long enemy, at least until his friends apologize. Can be very violent at times. Has a singing voice like none other. Fear of the unknown, as well as spiders.

Sexuality: Prefers women, but will take what he can get. ;)

Cabin and godly parent: Hecate, Cabin 20? I think it’s 20. Right?

Weapons: dual celestial bronze broadswords strapped to his back (gets at camp), as well as a dagger on a chain, but he’s not very good with the dagger, except for throwing it.

Added details: He likes all animals, except for spiders. Speaks japanese whenever he’s angry, or just if he really wants to.

Camp Arrival: at the age of 9, Maho was exploring, on the run from a group of angry mortals, when he heard the voice of someone in trouble. He followed it, trying to save them, but when he got there, it was just a cyclops, Using a little girl as a hostage to trick him. He tried to sneak up on the cyclops from behind, but it smelled him and tried to eat him. It broke his arm from grabbing him too tight, but with his other hand, Maho managed to stab the cyclops in the eye. As he got free he helped the girl do the same. The cyclops, now blinded, could still smell him, and tried to eat them both, But was shot in the face by 4 celestial bronze arrows. It turns out that these arrows had come from the hunters of Artemis, and they guided him to the camp, but the girl he saved joined the hunters instead.

Abilities from godly parent: Sometimes in his dreams, very rarely, instead of seeing stuff like other half bloods, the magic he inherited from his mother, aka hecate, messes with his mind and he has out of body experiences when he can’t interact with anything, but he can see ghosts and stuff as well as the normal world, which can be an amazing way to gather information, except for the fact that anyone he’s near feels a presence in his general area. He has the innate ability to manipulate the Mist (the magical veil which separates the magical world from the mortal world). Children of Hecate can create anything from the Mist, which are called "Mist-forms". Children of Hecate can sometimes have Umbrakinesis (shadow manipulation).Children of Hecate have the power to invent their own spells, just by visualizing what they want the spell to do, and by making their own incantation. Children of Hecate also have the power of telekinesis, or the power to move objects by thought alone. Children of Hecate sometimes have the power of necromancy (manipulating the dead), since their mother is associated with it, however they cannot bring people back from the dead. Children of Hecate can Shadow Travel, though they can't jump as far as children of Hades. Children of Hecate have the ability to focus all their magical abilities into transforming themselves into any living being, or even a being of their own imagination. This power is, in essence, the ability to shapeshift into anything the user can imagine.

Story: (still in the works)