[center][hr][hr][h1][color=ed1c24]A[/color] [color=f26522]m[/color][color=f7941d]a[/color][color=fff200]g[/color][color=8dc73f]i[/color][color=8dc73f]c[/color][color=39b54a]a[/color][color=8dc73f]l[/color] [color=8dc73f]n[/color][color=fff200]i[/color][color=f7941d]g[/color][color=f26522]h[/color][color=ed1c24]t[/color][/h1]
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[img]http://static.tumblr.com/3137730c473551c07cba179d511223c3/uppdgpq/0Winuxoyg/tumblr_static_3whmajga3p8gs04swsowwkks8.gif[/img]     [img]http://67.media.tumblr.com/bb6ddb2d68589b6d69deda582936f444/tumblr_inline_mx034fw0Kn1s3m2fo.gif[/img]
[b][u]Location;[/u][/b] At the banquet → Outside
[b][u]Interacting With;[/u][/b] Eachother[/center][hr][hr]
The grand Baquet. Alex loathed it every year. Since his second year, he had done everything within his power to evade the inevitable. Dancing. Methods had ranged from not showing up (his mother had scolded him for that one) to trying to fly away on the back of a giant eagle, like last year. Sadly the enlargement spell on the eagle wasn’t very successful as the poor animal only grew a few inches. It would have been impossible to fly on its back. So once again he had been forced to go. Today, however, he had a different plan. One less magically charged. Sticking to the shadows. Pretend as if he already danced. Deception wasn’t his strongest suit, though. For the entire night, he had been nervously fiddling the small, golden ring around his left pinky.
 
[color=662d91]“I’m fantastic!”[/color] he beamed back at Tess, as his heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t expecting to find Tess. Or rather, he wasn’t really expecting Tess to find him. [color=662d91]“How have you been? How was your challenge?”[/color] Horrible, probably. Considering the disqualification.

Tess grinned at Alex as he replied to her. He was a nice guy, and she knew just as well as anyone else that genuinely nice people are rare. Plus, he was always up for a hike throughout the forest, where as Webster was more keen to read a stupid book, or work on a project. And she very much enjoyed her hikes.

[b][color=palegreen]"It could have gone better I guess. Zeus' Bitch over there fights dirty, but your girl here doesn't give up easy,"[/color][/b] she said, winking at him, and shooting another glare in Cecily's direction. She debated tipping Alex into her whole situation with Abe, but decided against it. She wasn't here to discuss the Kiss That Never Was.

[color=palegreen][b]"So I hear you and Webby are roomies this year. Should be fun for you,"[/b][/color] she said with a smirk, flagging down one of the servers and grabbing a glass of champagne for both herself and Alex. The rules on drinking were rather lax at the banquet, especially considering a good portion of the school was bordering on alcoholic anyway, considering their father. Handing Alex his glass, she waited for a response, taking a sip from her own drink. She knew that both Webster and Alex couldn't stand the other, and it amused her to no end, though she figured it made pretty good sense. Alex dealt with the illogical, and Webster dealt with the complete opposite. Still, she couldn't help but entertaint their little feud.

Alex never thought of Cecily fighting dirty. If anything, she looked like a genuinely good girl. But then again, she was an erratic one. As if she couldn’t keep her emotions in check. Maybe it had to do something with her brother? Sibling rivalry seemed to be a rather prominent thing. Still, he couldn’t know. There were some worrying whispers, though. Apparently, something that shared his blood had entered the school. Another child of Zeus maybe? Their presence always seemed to screw over certain flows. Alex decided not to care too much. The powers surrounding the school would settle down soon enough.
 
Then she dropped the name Webby.[color=662d91] “That guy will have to watch out! He’s playing with fire! I mean, the idiot would tell me to put grounded ox horn in my polymorph potion, if he saw it. Ox horn!”[/color] he exclaimed passionately. Before realizing that the daughter of Artemis probably had no idea what he was talking about. [color=662d91]“I mean… Ugh. He thinks he god damn knows it all but he doesn’t! He’s like a little boy telling a grown up how to prepare its food! I already hexed my door so he can’t enter. He has to look out though. I’ll send gremlins over!”[/color] he threatened. Again, nobody was entirely sure if he could send over gremlins. But everyone knew that there was a distinct possibility.
 
Having calmed down a little from his rant, but continuing to fiddle his pink ring he asked: [color=662d91]“So how’s your roomie? As awful as mine?”[/color]

Tess giggled at Alex's reaction to her mention of Webster. She couldn't help it. The fact that her two closest guy friends couldn't stand eachother was completely hilarious and the fact that now they were roommates? Well that was just a reality tv show waiting to happen. Her cheery expression shifted completely into a more wistful one as Alex inquired about her own roommate situation.

[color=palegreen][b]"Oh, it's not that bad,"[/b][/color] she said, smiling sightly as she cast a look over at Abe, who was currently serving drinks. Snapping back to reality, she looked back over at Alex. [color=palegreen][b]"But I didn't come here to discuss roomies! I came to dance! Now come on!"[/b][/color] she exclaimed, tossing her head back and finishing off her glass of champagne, before dragging Alex onto the dance floor, and forcefully placing one of his hands on her hip, while she grabbed the other one, laughing as she began to lead them around the dance floor, graceful as ever.

Alex never saw the glance towards Abe. He was far too nervously fiddling with his ring. He didn’t have time to even take a sip (being a bit of a lightweight) before Tess grabbed him to dance. The girl was always far wilder than he could ever be. [color=662d91]“No! No! No!”[/color] he tried to protest. But there was really no way he could help it. When she forced one of his hands on her hip the blood rushed towards his face. Having rarely been close to a woman, it all came far too sudden for him. Especially because it was Tess. While the girl gracefully danced, Alex tried (and failed) not to stand on her toes. Every time he did hit them, he muttered an apology. For several agonizing minutes, they danced, Alex getting a little less clumsy. But he used the small period of time between songs to slither away from Tess back to his glass he put on his table.
 
And then a ghost appeared. Only he could see ghosts, for as far as he knew. And he knew this one. Angelique. A French girl. She never said where she came from, or why she was a ghost. But she followed Alex around, calling him a good [i]anchor[/i]. He wasn’t sure if that was good but he didn’t seem to have much say in it. [color=662d91]“Oh hi, Angi! How’s it going?”[/color] he asked while taking his first ever sip of the champagne of the evening.
 
[b]“I… You don’t know yet?”[/b] the ghost girl asked surprised? To outsiders, Alex would look like a total idiot now. Talking to thin air as if there was an actual person there. With facial expressions and all.
 
[color=662d91]“Know what?”[/color] asked a confused and little worried Alex. Usually, he knew exactly what people meant. Mostly because he caused whatever [i]knowing[/i] entailed. Or at least, he witnessed it. Alex had always been an observer as well as the causer of very odd phenomenon. Sometimes he didn’t even know how they happened.
 
[b]“It’s… It’s not my place to tell you. But –euhm- keep your eyes open, okay?”[/b] Those were the last words of Angi before she vanished in thin air. As ghosts often did. Alex got used to it.

Tess came off of the dance floor, grinning and laughing. She returned to where she'd set down her drink, and gave Alex a playful punch on the shoulder. [color=palegreen][b]"Who were you talking to?"[/b][/color] Tess had seen her friend chatting with someone, but she hadn't been able to make out who, and by the time she'd arrived, they'd disappeared into the crowd.

However, it seemed an answer would have to wait, because just as quickly as the words had left her lips, the behemoth that was Atticus Caesar was going on a rampage. Her eyes struggled to follow the chaos and just as soon as it had begun, it was over, with the teachers stepping in and herding the other students outside.

Standing outside, the breeze played with the auburn strands of hair that fell onto Tess' shoulders, and the moonlight gave her a scarily beautiful appearance. Perks of being the daughter of the goddess of the moon. Turning to face Alex, she shot him a grin, one that showed that she was having the time of her life. [color=palegreen][b]"Well that was exciting!"[/b][/color] she shouted over the babbling of other students. [color=palegreen][b]"So, who were you talkin' to in there?"[/b][/color]

Usually, Alex wouldn’t pay the brute of Atticus any mind. The big bully was nothing but what he appeared: simple minded. A lot of muscles and no brain. With a mass of wealth around him and a clear temper problem. Alex wouldn’t even utter a word to him should the bull stand ready to charge. He was far too predictable to Alex. However, the chaos he caused was a welcome relief of the ball. He silently whispered a prayer to his mother, thanking her that the party was over and with it, any chance to have to dance again. He kept silent as he walked outside with Tess.
 
The girl knew that he could see ghosts. But Angelique, like many other ghosts, seemed to hate the idea that any other mortal knew them by name. She seemed to dislike the daughter of Artemis especially though Alex never got to hear why. [color=662d91]“Oh, just euhm. You know, some ghosts with their cryptic messages.”[/color] He looked around, feeling the colder breeze. Everyone was dressed for a ball, not for standing outside for long. [color=662d91]“People will get cold.”[/color] He thought out loud. He didn’t really like that. 
 
With his hand cupped, he whispered: [color=662d91]“P'Arakh B'Nuoroa D'Yoheb Okhuomaa”[/color]. The ring on his pinky finger, a small golden band that didn’t look so significant, was ,in fact, a Focus. When he cast the spell, it pulled energy from the Igni-flow, as Alex called it. Several small but warm wisps of red glow appeared from his cupped hands. Flying up and above everyone. Their warmth radiated strongly but the heat wasn’t unbearable. It was meant to comfort and keep people from shivering. Exhausted, Alex slowly sat on the ground. [color=662d91]“Sorry… That spell asked a little more than I thought it would.”[/color] He said with a smile to Tess. Though in fact, he felt drained because the invocation was faulty.  [color=662d91]“So tell me, what are the wild plans for this year? Moonlit midnight hunt in the woods?”[/color] he joked, trying to get the subject of the night off him and back to her.


Tess smiled and looked down at her friend, thinking about the rave Dusty had mentioned earlier. [color=palegreen][b]"Well, there's this rave that Dusty told me about earlier today. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun, and it would be even cooler if you came,"[/b][/color] she said with a grin, and a pleading look on her face.

She knew that a rave wasn't necessarily Alex's scene, but she figured it couldn't hurt for him to break out of his shell, maybe even meet a nice daugter of Aphrodite or something. The possibilities were endless for what they could get up to, especially with Dusty there.

[color=palegreen][b]"Not to mention, a rave would be way more fun than sitting in your dorm and sleeping. I mean, we're demigods, we've got to go big or go home,"[/b][/color]

Alex just chuckled. Him, at a rave. Alex felt like there were many places he could call home. But a rave was not one of them. Maybe an old library? Or some ancient temple! He loved to learn how all sorts of people around the world actually worshiped his mother. Still, a rave. It had a certain pull. He realized that a lot of energies would be summoned up at such a party. If he could gauge those energies... Maybe harness them. [color=662d91]"A rave? Really? Sure, I'll come."[/color] He said with a smile. He wasn't entirely sure why Tess asked him. Maybe she felt bad for him. She knew him all too well, he would have stayed in his room for the entire night if she didn't tell him. [color=662d91]"Thanks for telling me."[/color] Sometimes people didn't realize how much a simple invitation meant. But Alex knew, so the thanks was sincere.

He then realized why they were all herded outside. Someone had gotten hurt. [color=662d91]"Hey, Tess, who actually got hurt inside? I knew it was some new victim of the big, bad gorilla but who was it this time. Some freshman that pissed him off?"[/color] he asked, curious.

Tess thought back to the catastrophe that seemed to be wrapping itself up inside the banquet hall. She'd recognized the girl Atticus had picked up, seeing as how they'd been on the same team for the race. [color=palegreen][b]"She's a first year, I know that. Her name was...Francis. No. Felicia? No, no, it was Felicity! Felicity Underwood. Daughter of..."[/b][/color]

Tess knew the strange feeling of finding out you had a half-sibling, especially if you didn't know about them. She remembered finding out about Hunter, way back when she had just begun school at OA, and she wasn't sure how Alex would take the news. Still, it wasn't her place to keep that from him. 

[color=palegreen][b]"Alex, that was your sister. She's a daughter of Hecate,"[/b][/color] Tess said, biting her lip nervously, silently praying to her mother that Alex would take it a bit better than she had, when she'd found out about her siblings.

So many things went through Alex's mind. Never in his life did he ever thought he'd meet someone like him. Someone that could understand him. Sure, some tried. Some did pretty well at it. But who could understand what he went through? Seeing ghosts when he was so young, be able to play with candles. Suddenly being expected by his real mother to learn so much in such a short period of time. He wasn't complaining, but it wasn't easy. There were barriers to overcome and the constant learning and understanding left him pretty lonely. But now that he realized he had someone who could share all that, only one thing went through his mind.

He shot up, looking anxiously around as if he could find her with his eyes. But he she was gone. He turned his gaze back to Tess. He looked intense, with a fire she probably wouldn't have seen quite often in such an odd kid as Alex. [color=662d91]"I'm sorry. I have to go."[/color] he tried to stay polite, but horribly failing as he then suddenly vanished among the crowd.

[color=662d91]"Spiritu vocat Angelique ante me. Appare nuntius."[/color] he whispered, as he cleaved his way through the crowd in particularly uncaring fashion. Angelique appeared before him, saying: [b]"You know I hate it when you summon me like that."[/b] Alex didn't care, though: [color=662d91]"Find me my sister."[/color] For a second shock went over Angelique's face. She wanted to say something but realized that whatever she'd say or ask, it would have to wait. She vanished in thin air again.