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Madalyne sat on one of the hammocks just outside of the Third Cohort barracks, quietly reading one of the spells books that she had on her at the moment, while twirling her wand with her freehand. It was just a little bit past noon and there was a little break time between duties at the moment. The weather was pretty nice as well to, she watched as a few of the other roman campers did some exercises, they had a War Games later on in the evening as well which she did enjoy doin and leading her Cohort. She became the second Centurion for her cohort last summer after leading her group really well.

Madalyne stood up and stretched a little bit and cracked her neck slightly as she started to take a quick little walk down seeing some of her friends were also eating and playing a few card games as well to pass the time. She started to think a little bit about her time while in the Lotus Hotel as well, which kept her trapped in for several years. She stopped for a moment when she started to hear some others talking about a gem had gone missing from the camp which started to catch her attention.

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Nancy had just finished her meal at the mess hall, her belly full yet her mind was wondering. She hadn't been sleeping very well lately. She hadn't slept well since she had become a Centurion for the First Cohort, the so called pride of Camp Jupiter. Theoretically, they took only the best of the best, those with recommendation letters or who were specially chosen by a Centurion. Being selected to join them after she finished her training with Lupa had been enough of a surprise - yet leading? It made Nancy feel like a fraud and caused her to look over her shoulder constantly, waiting for someone to expose her.

She made her way onto the Via Principalis, only to suddenly lurch to a halt. Everything felt fuzzy as she stared forward, seeing other members of the legion walking to and fro on their business. She could hardly hear, as if someone had shoved cotton balls into her ears. The sound of the blood pumping in her own body was all that was audible. Her knees abruptly jolted forward and she nearly fell as the rest of her body struggled to get up. "Fuck you, Dad," Nancy managed to stutter, as her fingers seemingly moved of their own accord, pulling the deck of tarot cards out of her pocket.

Nancy opened up the pack of cards and blacked out, unconsciously performing a three card cast. She first drew the Ten of Pentacles, reversed. The next card was the Eight of Wands, reversed. And lastly, she pulled Judgment. "The faun, the dragon, the stone," Nancy rasped.

Niah was used to a mild tingle somewhere right at the base of her head, just above where it met the spine. She scratched at it. Almost everyone had broken minor promises, she liked being around those who hadn't. There was no getting around it. As far as she was concerned they didn't even really count, but there she was with tingle reminding her they did. Fortunately, for her lies didn't. That could have hurt. She scratched at the back of her neck. It didn't help.

She had finished her mid-day meal and was following a good portion of the crowd out of the mess hall. Mealtime was chaotic, and the buzz at the back of her head was near-constant during that time. In the mess hall she honestly couldn't tell who was pinging on her obnoxious radar, but in smaller groups and especially one-on-one, or god forbid she touched a person she knew exactly who had and hadn't broken an Oath. With a touch that usually conferred what the Oath had been. Sometimes in obnoxious detail when she didn't want to know, which was most of the time.

Niah glanced to her left and saw Nancy stumble and almost fall. The Seer was even pulling out her deck of Tarot cards. That was probably a bad sign. Niah hurried to Nancy's side. First making sure she was okay. The tingle expressed itself, but Niah expected that around Nancy. They had been around each other often enough over the two years they had both been at camp. Second, she was there to make sure if Nancy had a full prophetic vision someone was there to witness it. A Seer didn't always remember their visions. What Nancy said made little sense to Niah, but at least she had the phrase.

When it seemed Nancy was back to her senses she asked, "Are you alright?" Technically Nancy outranked Niah, but Niah could ask out of the kindness of her own heart. Niah had no idea what the cards Nancy had pulled meant, that was definitely not her area of expertise. "Do you need anything?" She tried to keep a neutral tone, not sounding like she was worried or thought Nancy was incapable, but there for her just in case. Something Niah would have done for nearly anyone else at camp, there were always exceptions. Like Donald, he could suck an egg.

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Nancy would be able to get one more part of the vision, she'd be able to see Mount Rushmore in the distance before everything would return back to normal. There were a few legionnaires nearby who kept their distance just so that they wouldn't overwhelm Nancy at all, Madalyne turned her head slightly. She would notice a small gathering appearing further down the Via Principalis, she was curious what was going on, and turned and made her way down the road passing by the other legionnaires who were there. When she pushed her way through Madalyne looked down seeing Niah and Nancy there.

She had known Nancy the longest since they were both trapped in the Lotus Hotel together for several years, she managed to get through the group of people. "Whats wrong Nancy?" Madalyne asked, and looked towards Niah and gave her a slight smile, as she offered a hand to help Nancy up to her feet. She had a feeling that it was some kind of vision that she saw, but Madalyne wasn't really sure what it was she actually had seen either. "Do you guys want to go somewhere less crowded?" She offered.

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When Niah approached Nancy, asking if she needed anything, she hadn't quite come out of it yet. She gripped Niah's hand tightly, her knuckles white. "Mount Rushmore," she rasped. "You must go to Mount Rushmore." Her vision then cleared and her muscles slowly relaxed, as she came back to consciousness. The tarot cards were still on the ground, somehow grim despite their rich purple and gold designs. She hated her prophetic abilities, considering them more of a curse than a gift. Her memory of the vision was fuzzy at best, just flashes. Her head was pounding, like she had come down off of a sugar high. "...It happened again," she muttered to Madalyne and Niah weakly.

She then looked down at the tarot cards, picking up the three carefully, before rising to her feet again. Her knees were covered in dirt, with bits of gravel sticking to her pants. "I need a coffee - let's go to New Rome," she told her friends, her voice hoarse. New Rome had a fantastic coffee shop that she loved to frequent and it would give her some space from the legion. She didn't want to face the praetors or anyone at the moment. She didn't want to deal with them pestering her with questions about what she had seen.

Talking to Niah and Madalyne about it was different, though. She trusted Niah to keep a secret - and since she had come out of the trance grasping her hand, she knew this prophecy involved Niah. Madalyne was another demigod out of time, a survivor of the Lotus Hotel and Casino, and the only one who knew what happened to Nancy there. Those two deserved to hear all of this.

Niah's heart dropped and her throat went dry when Nancy said 'you must go to Mount Rushmore'. Niah didn't want to go on a quest. Especially to one on the complete other side of the united states. She took a deep breath holding Nancy's hand. There was little doubt in her mind that Nancy was talking about her personally since they were touching. Why did she have to come and help? She could have pretended she hadn't seen...no she couldn't have. That wasn't like her.

Madalyne was there next to them. Niah nodded, thankful. She knew that Madalyne and Nancy had known each other from before camp. Niah made sure Nancy was steady on her feet before she let go of her hand. Though she did stand near her in case she stumbled again and was ready to try to catch Nancy. "I heard the whole thing I think." Nancy said. "I saw you fall and you hadn't fully pulled your cards out. But it seems like you remember. And it isn't like I have a clue what those cards mean. Yeah, we can go there."

Niah walked beside Nancy, not daring to ask any questions yet. She'd let Nancy talk when she was ready. The crowd was busy because lunch had ended recently, but it wasn't too difficult to get through to New Rome and then to the coffee shop. It was a fantastic little shop. Niah ordered a chai, not wanting to get something with too much caffeine since it was afternoon now.

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Madalyne felt bad for Nancy, she knew that her friend had gone through a lot and the visions she got didn't help matters really either. "Sounds good to me, and rounds are on me." She said to the two of them, offering to help Nancy if she did need it and started to make her way down the Via Principalis and into New Rome proper. But they were immediately stopped by Terminus the statue god of boundaries and the protector of Roman territories. "Stop, do any of you have weapons on you?" Terminus asked, Maddie rolled her eyes slightly as she took out the wand she always kept on her, as well as her sword to. Julia the gods assistant popped up from behind Terminus holding out a tray Madalyne dropped the two items in while looking over at Niah and Nancy as well.

"It's really annoying having to do this all the time." She said shaking her head slightly as the girl shook the tray some more staring at the others. Once they did, they were able to enter the city, Madalyne entered the coffee shop and made her way towards an empty table she was actually craving a hot chocolate instead of a coffee. "How are you doing Nancy, what did you see?" Madalyne asked gently holding Nancy's hand in a friendly comforting way. The coffee shop wasn't super busy only a few older people were in who had finished their service to the legion, and a few younger legionaries around their ages as well enjoying the afternoon.

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Nancy remembered little flashes from her prophetic episode. The warning signs tended to match those of an oncoming seizure, yet she felt epilepsy would have been far more pleasant than what she had to live with. Even though the prophecy had been issued from her lips, she couldn't understand it more than the others. She didn't have additional information about what she had seen. As they walked, she got a little bit steadier on her feet with each minute that passed, as time brought her farther and farther away from the episode.

There was no way she could have humanly rolled her eyes any harder when Terminus and Julia, his sidekick of sorts, stopped them and asked for weapons. "My voice is a weapon, do I have to put my vocal chords on the tray too?" she asked, annoyance dripping from each word she said. She pulled out two imperial gold daggers and set them down. She kept her sword among her possessions at the barracks and she didn't consider the tarot cards to be weapons. "Smell ya later, Terminus," Nancy said, as they parted ways and continued on into New Rome proper.

She then saw the most beautiful building of them all, better than the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus - the Coffee Shop. It was her promised land. She went inside with her friends, appreciating that Mads was holding her hand comfortingly. She normally was averse to physical affection, but once again, she knew Mads and trusted her more than probably just about anyone else in New Rome or at Camp Jupiter. Once seated, she set the three tarot cards she had pulled on the table quietly. She lowered her eyes, studying them. "... It's all a blur. But the gem that was stolen... It was by a faun. The faun doesn't have it anymore. A dragon does. To retrieve it, Niah must go to Mount Rushmore..."

Niah had turned over her invisible sword. She wasn't one to carry weapons much, which was probably why her sword was invisible as long as it was on her back. Its weight was reassuring, and not having it made her a little nervous. Though, someone would have to be suicidal to start a fight in New Rome.

"Thanks Mads." Niah said when Madalyne said she would get the drinks. She was thankful for the cup in her hands when Nancy confirmed what she had feared. She was the one who had to go to Mount Rushmore. Niah took a deep drink from it. And then asked, "You said 'dragon' as well. Uh, is that something I should be particularly concerned about." She had accepted she was going on the quest no matter how much she wanted to fight it. A prophecy was a prophecy.

[color=0080ff]"Like is this dragon just being chill and holding the gem for me to show up? Or is it gonna be particularly angry that I want it back?]/color] She felt like she was babbling. "Sorry, I know you probably can't answer that...and it is probably not a nice dragon. Nothing is that easy is it?" She could dream.

"Okay, important question. Do you know who I am to go with? Or can I choose?" She already knew she would choose the two of them if she could. Sometimes quests had special requirements though. She certainly didn't want to be surprised with 'oh you have to go with Donald'.

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Madalyne ordered herself a hot chocolate, and then looked over towards Nancy and Niah. "What do you guys want?" She asked, as Madalyne leaned back in her seat. "So, we should maybe question one of the fauns around camp, maybe one of it's buddies knew the one who took it?" She said, as Madalyne rubbed the back of her neck slightly. "It's probably Smaug from The Hobbit or something, since he had a huge hoard of treasure in his mountain." Madalyne said jokingly, as she waited for their drinks to come over to them looking over at Niah who asked about whos to go on the quest.

"Well, usually whoever is the one who got issued a quest gets to pick the two who goes with him or her." Madalyne said as she ran a hand through her hair slightly, she really did want to get out of the camp for a bit and go on a quest. It would actually be her first quest since being in Camp Jupiter as well. "Did you have anyone in mind anyway?" Madalyne asked Niah.

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Nancy sighed, wishing that she already had a few coffees to drown herself in. She couldn't blame Niah for asking for more information, but she had told her what she could - well, beyond the meaning of the tarot cards she had pulled. "I'd assume the worst with the dragon," Nancy said. "Not because I saw anything evil about it or anything it's just... Well, we're demigods. We're not supposed to catch breaks. Our lives are supposed to be filled with either being hunted or recovering from injuries." It was a bit of a bleak outlook, yet Nancy had found it to be true. With the exception of their time at Camp or in New Rome, the outside world was just an everlasting shit show. It was one monster encounter after another until you either got to safety or you died.

"I didn't see anything about your companions, but Mads is right. You usually get two. Three's a sacred number. Three fates, three sons of Saturn, three forms of Trivia," she listed off. "But I mean, it'll be up to the Senate. They get to decide practically everything... You're a centurion, so there shouldn't be any problems with you leading the quest." Nancy frowned slightly. She didn't like all of the red tape in the quest process. "Maybe the auguries could tell you more... Could you get me a raspberry mocha with three extra shots?" she then asked Mads, turning her attention to a priority - coffee.

"Just a chai for me." Niah said when asked what she wanted. She tapped her foot and was trying to keep her thoughts organized. There were many at Camp she'd want to go with her. And they weren't wrong, she would need two others joining her. It was an obvious sort of thing that it should be Nancy and Mads, but she could understand if they didn't want to go. If she had the choice she wouldn't want to.

"Not sugar coating are you, and I'm barely a Centurion. I think they promoted me for formality rather than actual ability to lead." Niah gave Nancy a wry grin. Not that she minded the honesty. She preferred that. Honesty was a good trait to have. There was something about lying, while not directly related to Oaths, that Niah hated. It was just a bit too close for comfort in her opinion. Even if she had no 'power over it' so to speak.

She did, however, mind the rank. That had happened very reluctantly on her part. And she had not stopped hearing 'power should go to a reluctant ruler', which she normally wanted to counter with, 'yes but that person should actually be good at leading'. The last time she had said that though her counterpart in the second cohort and said smoothly that she was good a leading if she'd stop letting her own brain get in her way.

"Would you two go with me?" She finally asked. "If the Senate would allow it, and I suppose if the Auguries don't disagree." Niah didn't see herself as much of a leader, but if she were with two others of equal rank it would make the quest a bit smoother. She could then take their advice with less side-eyes. This did not help that it would be Niah's first quest. What kind of leader was on their first quest after two years at camp? "We would be a well-balanced team I think. Magic badassery, general badassery and me."

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"Sure thing you guys." Madalyne said as she quickly got up from where she was sitting and made her way over towards the front counter and ordered their three drinks, before coming back to the others. She slid over Niah's and Nancy's drink, before sitting down looking over at Niah and smiled towards her friend. "I would be honored to go with you on your quest." Madalyne said and looked towards Nancy for a moment, she did have a point outside of the camp grounds they were always constantly in danger. She took a sip from her hot chocolate looking at the two of them, she didn't like all of the red tape either in order to go out on a quest. But then again it was also for the camps security as well she guessed.

"Then lets go to the Auguries after we finish our drinks, the quicker we get things going the sooner we can get this quest done and over with as well. All of the red tape is really annoying to." Madalyne said, she was a little bit excited to get out of camp for a little while, and leave her duties to her other centurion as well she gave Niah a slight smile and nodded towards her. She was pretty confident in her magical abilities that they could handle things to.

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Nancy smirked a little bit as Niah asked if the two of them would go with her. She didn't need the curse of prophecy in order to have seen that one coming. She cradled the mocha in her hands, allowing it to warm her palms for a moment, before she took her first sip - the warm, chocolate goodness sliding down her throat. The bitter aftertaste of the coffee jolted her, energizing her more than just about anything in the world could. It had to be the only thing that tasted better than the food and drink of the gods. "I'll go with you, but there's one condition," Nancy explained. "You have to swear on your life that we will not set foot in Las Vegas. Or a casino." She held Niah's gaze, her eyes carrying a serious intensity. Nancy joked around a lot. This was not one of those times.

Nancy then continued to drink her mocha, savoring it at first, before she downed it all at once and shuddered, slamming the cup back onto the table. "Gods, I love this place. May it never close - at least not before I die a painful, bloody death." She then carefully took the tarot cards and put them back in with the pack, ensuring to not get a single stray drop of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate on the cards. As much as she hated her prophetic abilities, the tarot cards were a magic item - a gift from her father, Apollo. Without them, the episodes would be much worse. She probably would have been stuck in a cave or something by now and people would have just called her the Sibyl or the Oracle, her individual identity gone.

Niah finished her drink and gave a smile to Madalyne thankful that she was willing to go. "Thank you." The fantastic hot drink was refreshing. Niah was okay with the red tape. It made it so kids wouldn't wander off thinking just anyone could be heroes. However, she would like to just get this all over with. They likely wouldn't even get out of camp until tomorrow morning.

"Wait what?" Niah blinked at Nancy as she made her demand. She had to know that Niah didn't like making oaths and here Nancy was making her swear on her own life. But a part of Niah's memory clicked as she thought about it. Nancy and Mads had been found in a hotel in Las Vegas. Something awful must have happened. The way Nancy was staring into Niah's very soul.

Could she do it? Was this something Niah could promise? Quests tended to be chaotic and getting to Mount Rushmore...well they could go around the entire state of Nevada just to be safe. And the Oath was just for this quest. Her stomach twisted and she wished she still had some tea left. To buy herself some time she fake sipped at it. "I..." She froze. So much of her last few years had been avoiding making Oaths, especially of this magnitude. Niah closed her eyes breaking contact with Nancy. Then took a deep breath, reopened her eyes and looked back at Nancy. "I swear." She could feel magic gathering around her gently. "To not step foot in Las Vegas or a casino on this quest." The magic tightened and she knew the Oath was complete, and she hated doing it.

"Let's get this over with." She put her empty cup away and left the cafe. Her hands shaking.

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Madalyne was sipping from her hot chocolate and smiled towards Niah giving her friend a nod, she'd do just about anything for her friends and anyone she'd considered family. She almost choked slightly when Nancy made Niah an oath to not set foot in Las Vegas, or any kind of casino. They never spoke about what happened there to anyone really, and she didn't intend to at the moment, though she trusted Niah and considered her a friend. She just really didn't want to reveal all of that information and dump it all out on her either, as Madalyne finished up her hot chocolate and set the cup down.

"Lets just hope that some random disease doesn't force this place to shut down. Anyway lets head out." Madalyne said looking at Nancy again, she wasn't sure if Nancy would tell Niah what had happened there or not but she stood up and stretched slightly. Madalyne made her way out of the coffee shop. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and waited for her two friends to leave the store and head over to the Auguries.

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Not everyone would have sworn an oath like that - but Niah did. It earned her Nancy's respect. Others likely would have pressed for more information or refused. Niah's mother was the goddess of the River Styx, the same river that gods swore their oaths on. Breaking an oath sworn on the River Styx was a death sentence... Nancy had to imagine that any oath Niah swore was just as binding as that. "You're alright, Bautista," she complimented. "That was pretty rad of you to do." She looked inside the cup for another moment, wishing that more mocha would materialize somehow. She could have ordered more. She really could have.

"Ugh, don't even joke about that, Mads," Nancy groaned. "If that happens, I'll have to ask my dad what exactly his damage is." Her father wasn't just the god of prophecy after all - he was the god of medicine. He was the sender of plagues. She got up from the table and headed out of the shop with the others. It wasn't too far to get to the auguries - they were near the Senate. At the very least, it was convenient that way. The Auguries didn't have to go far to tell the Senate about their impending doom. When she had first arrived at Camp Jupiter, she had been worried they'd force her to become one of the Auguries due to her powers.

"I just hope fate doesn't contrive to make me break that. It better have been for a really good reason." She said following the other two out of the coffee shop. "I don't even want to imagine how deadly it would have to be to get demi-gods to shut down their coffee shop." She shook her head at the idea of it all. Thankful for the absolutely ridiculous idea to shake out the much more reasonable fears. Like dragons eating her face.

A swelling of appreciation for the two girls welled in Niah's heart. Sure, they all had their flaws, they were demi-gods, but the two were good people. Failed oaths aside. Maybe there was hope for people with more gaming failed oaths in their past. Not that Niah could break the one she had just made. If she did she would likely drop dead immediately and then go to a special place in the afterlife specifically designed to make her regret everything.

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"If that did happen I think your dad would have some kind of really bad argument with Diana, or a lover really pissed him off or something." Madalyne said with a slight laugh, she walked down the road, seeing Terminus occasionally stopping someone for a weapons check, and Julia holding that bin as well. She continued to make her way down the road, seeing the Senate building in front of them Madalyne didn't really see herself being a leader, though she did lead her cohort pretty well. Then she saw the small building off to the side, where Camp Jupiter's Augur usually stayed.

"So, anyone met the augur before?" She asked, Madalyne heard stories of the previous one Octavian who had nearly destroyed the Greek Camp a couple of years ago. She then opened the door, the room was fairly barren though there was an alter at the center of the room with several stuffed animals there who had been gutted pretty brutally. "Well someone really likes gutting stuffed animals.." Madalyne said awkwardly, when she looked over the alter and noticed the augur was asleep.

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"I think it would have to be something pretty extreme - like the gods started to fade - for them to shut down the coffee joint," Nancy admitted. She had only been at Camp Jupiter for a few years, yet from what she had heard, New Rome pretty much always carried on, no matter the threat. The city of demigods had survived so far, to its credit, so clearly they had a good way of running things. On the mention of Diana, though, Nancy couldn't help but smile. She loved the myths about her aunt. She was easily the coolest goddess in her opinion - not that she was daft enough to go around spouting off about it. She liked being alive and not killed by Venus or Minerva or Juno.

She sighed slightly as the entered the augur's quarters. "Yeah. She's pretty grody. Alexandra's my sister and, well... She takes after my dad in some rotten ways." Alexandra hadn't been the augur of Camp Jupiter for a year, yet Nancy had already formed a strong opinion on her. She found the use of gutting stuffed animals to be incredibly weird - and childish. Her long blonde hair and exposed skin reminded her of Vegas - and Nancy hated being reminded of Vegas. She found her voice annoying, though at that point Nancy was really just looking for reasons not to like Alexandra. Had the augur been anyone else, she wouldn't have cared that they were asleep - but since it was her sister, she had to roll her eyes in annoyance.

"Alexandra, wake up! Pantene is having a sale!" she shouted, shaking the augur.