Arthur Stanford

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Location:Big House
Skills: N/A

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Arthur watched as the room reacted and started to vote, but kept quiet. Pushing further from here would be seen as desperation, and wouldn't actually help their case. No, the only thing he could do was keep his voice down and hope. He'd like this to go his way, but ultimately it didn't matter much either way at this point. Kristin was a fine choice, and, most importantly, Cassian seemed incredibly unlikely at this point. His dislike for the boy was honestly a little irrational for the level it had ascended to, but nevertheless, it was there, and he held onto it.

Arthur drummed his fingers on the table, his gaze eventually landing on Chiron. He was happy for each second he had with Andy, but there was also a small part of him that wanted to rip the Band-Aid off. The more they danced around leaving, the more that that was all he could really focus on, and eventually, it got exhausting. He knew he'd cry a lot when it happened, or at least shut down for awhile, but a part of him knew that that would pass, and once it did, he could start thinking about other things, and that was something he needed soon.

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Armory:

Where Stella was she'd be able to see a wide assortment of knives made out of celestial bronze, from butterfly knives, to bowie knives, and combat knives as well to. To the right of them Stella would be able to see a set of daggers there as well to if she chose to take a dagger from there to though none of them had any kind of magical properties aside from being made of celestial bronze. The armor that Mary had found out for Stella was also made out of leather, the lightest material that they had aside from the more heavier looking armor it'll be the perfect size and fit for Stella.

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Arena:

The campers seemed to frown a little bit seeing that the two had stopped sparing against one another, though it was true what Leda had said that she was the fastest person in camp. Tammy and Juan would always fight over for who's the second fastest, but Tammy always did end up winning if Juan did challenge her. The rest of the campers in the arena started to go back to either their sparing, training or target practice or whatever else they were doing currently.

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"The lake is probably more quieter and less crowded to in my opinion so lets go there." Kristin said as she started to make her way down towards the trail that led down towards the lake. Over in the lake there were a few campers who were swimming in the water along with a few naiads as well to. But there weren't to many people there really as Kristin walked over towards the shore of the lake and took her shoes off dipping them into the cool water.

"I usually come here to relax sometimes in the early morning it's pretty relaxing as well to in my opinion." Kristin said to Jason and Janelle as she ran a hand through her hair and turned to look at the two of them. "If we have time we can go to the beach next if you'd like as well." Kristin offered to Jason, she really wasnt sure how much longer the meeting would actually end up taking but she had a feeling that it might be ending here pretty soon.

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Danielle nodded slightly as she listened to Niah she knew that the three of them were pretty close, and they probably wanted to have some time to themselves before Niah and Mads left for their quest. "I'll stay until everything here is done." Danielle said as she looked over towards Andy seeing her waving towards Niah she returned the wave as well to just to be friendly. Kiera looked at the rest of the members in the room as the remaining votes started to go through.

Dean decided to vote in for his brother which wasnt to surprising in Kiera's mind as she looked at the remaining head counselors Bryan voted in Zeke. Scarlett-Rose from the Nemesis cabin was pretty hard to read, after she wrote down Cassian's name as well which was an odd choice for her to do in Kiera's mind. Eva then wrote down Demetri's name, Jace then wrote down Janelle's name, Isaac who looked like he was nodding off at certain points was able to write down Cassian's name to. Kevin from the Nike's Cabin wrote down Kristin's name, Dana from Hebe's cabin wrote down Demi's name, and Clifford from Tyche's cabin wrote down Cassian, Annabelle from Hecate's cabin another person who was pretty hard to read as well ended up voting for Kristin resulting in a tie.

Chiron looked down at the list of names and turned towards both Niah and Danielle before addressing the group. "It looks like we have a tie between Kristin and Demi." Chiron said as Rosie came down into the room looking at the others in the room knowing that she'd be the one to break the tie. She knew that Kristin was probably the best choice, though she thought that it'd be a good chance for Demi as well to and went over and wrote down Demi's name. "Alright the votes are in." Chiron said looking back at Niah and Danielle. "Do either of you object?" He asked them both.

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Madalyne was relieved that Zeke agreed to go and talk with Nancy, she nodded slightly as she listened to the instructions that Zeke had given her. Her eyes then went wide as Zeke asked Demi to come, and he started to follow shortly behind Zeke out of the infirmary she had a feeling that it probably wasn't going to end up well if Demi was there. There were luckily a few other children of Apollo inside as she handed the stuff over to the nearest Apollo child who was listening in. "Here if you can take over that'd be great." Madalyne said, after all Zeke did say that he didnt trust anyone outside of his own siblings to tend to their own wounded.

Madalyne started to make her way back towards the beach, only in time for Demi to head off in the opposite direction sighing slightly she should have said that she needed to talk to Zeke alone. She gave Nancy a slight nod before following shortly behind Demi towards where ever he was going. She wanted to see if Demi was alright as she managed to catch up to him gently grabbing onto his shoulder. "Hey is everything alright?" Madalyne asked him, she knew that he was Andy's half-brother making them related in a way.

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Ezekiel glared at Nancy’s retreating form. Of course she wasn’t going to give him a detailed answer or any advice. He had had enough of Nancy and her snark last night and no longer found it amusing. Maybe he shouldn’t have approached her today all half cocked but he was still agitated with her attitude towards him last night.
Ezekiel was just getting ready to walk over to her when Demetri grabbed his hand and hauled him over. Demetri clearly wasn’t impressed with the Apollo kids and their quick rise to anger and defensive mechanisms. Ezekiel felt a bit of shame creeping up from Demi’s words but it was replaced with worry and fear with Demi’s next words and retreating hand.
Ezekiel didn’t want Demetri to feel like unwanted space anymore. He wanted to ensure Demi understood how much he was wanted and not just by himself but by his siblings and the other campers here. Ezekiel squeezed Demetri’s hand tightly before it was released.
”I’ll come find you,” he told Demi as sincerely as he could before he looked back at Nancy. For now, he had to be present for another important person in his life. At least at one time Nancy had been. ”Look, I don’t know what in Hades is going on but neither one of us needed the backlash. His name is Demetri not *him* and he’s my boyfriend, so be nice.” Ezekiel felt his ears and cheeks warm as the word boyfriend crossed his lips and he looked down at the ground shyly.
”Let’s start over. I shouldn’t have come in like an Ares kid.” Ezekiel shut his eyes and blew out a breath before looking up at Nancy. ”Hey Nanc, Mads said you wanted to talk about a prophecy. What did you see?” It was a little awkward but Zeke didn’t know what else to do at this moment other than start over and hope Nancy wouldn’t leave him with nothing more than a bruised ego and the knowledge that he was going in unprepared to the Lotus Hotel with Demi.

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"Oh! Thank you! This looks like it will fit perfectly! Thank you again Marygold!" Stella smiled happily at that as she took the armor that Marygold had handed to her. She figured that since it was armor she could just try it on over her clothing, and so she tugged on the armor and it did fit her perfectly. She smiled a bit at that and then relaxed as she tried to see how it felt when she was just walking around, and relaxed more to see what was going on with it. Thankfully it didn't pinch, it didn't rub, it didn't bother her, so after a bit she tugged it back off and went to put it in her backpack of items.

Stella knew that while she had the scythe her mother had given her was a good weapon, it was best to have backup. So she looked over the collection of knives, and thought of which one to pick. In the end, she picked up a fairly innocuous looking dagger and tucked it away into a sheath and then tucked that into her backpack. She did one last look around the armory and then decided that she had what she needed. "I'm ready to head out of here whenever you are, Marygold. I think I've gotten what I need." She offered her older half sister a small smile at that point.

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Nancy honestly didn't care what this boy felt about the entire situation - she didn't even remember what his name was. She stopped and turned around to face him and Zeke. She recognized that he was the Jupiter kid - well, the Zeus kid - but that was about it. She hadn't bothered trying to learn the names of the Greeks. She only knew Zeke's name really as she had befriended her half-brother - she couldn't list off the names of any other Greek child of Apollo. And that had been intentional. Nancy didn't like letting people get close to her. "If you want me to feel sorry for offending you, son of Jupiter, I don't. And I won't," Nancy told Demi sternly, her eyes flashing with anger. "This isn't about you." Technically, it was - Nancy recognized that he had been in the prophecy as well, but she was too deep in her emotions.

She saw Mads come up and Nancy's heart shattered for a moment. It was hard to face her. She had to hope that her father could get Mads a cure - otherwise, Nancy's mind was filled with images of Mads falling into the Pit... and the possibility that she could be lost to them forever. Mads left though, steering the boy off with her. Demetri, apparently. Nancy wasn't going to apologize or anything for not knowing his name. She didn't care that Zeke was dating a boy - despite having been born in the 60s, Nancy had pretty modern opinions on sexuality.

"Would've been fucking nice for you to start off that way, but nah, you had to come in acting like some lovesick drunk nymph. But sure, now that you realize there's actual important information I have to give you, now you'll talk to me like a fucking person," Nancy growled. "I wanted to warn you that you're going to your fucking grave, that that place is going to chew you alive and spit you out and you'll feel like worthless, defiled garbage for the rest of your life - that you'll never scrub it out of your skin, that you're going to be tainted and stained, broken fucking grody ass trash. And the more you're there, the more you're going to feel like you're drowning on your own screams. But you don't need to know that - you're the fucking hero, you're going to ride in there with your boyfriend and it'll be fucking perfect! You'll find the door with the monsters and slay them all and hooray, you'll party and dance and laugh and IT'LL ALL BE SO FUCKING AMAZING!"

Her control over sound had started to go a little haywire now, some of the trees near her on the lakeshore were breaking, leaves were flying off the bushes, and the sand around her was kicking up into little spirals. Nancy was straight up bawling her eyes out at this point. In her head, she wasn't seeing the prophecy. She was relieving a hellish loop of the worst day of her life - the day in the Lotus Hotel and Casino where those men had... had had their... had tried to... Nancy couldn't even complete the sentence - she couldn't name what they had done.

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Leda raised an eyebrow, as Cassian explained that his mother had given him that gift. That made her extra interested in what he had done. She knew a few people with powers that didn't exactly match their godly parents - namely, Leda still wasn't sure how some people at camp had the ability to shapeshift, but she didn't say much about it. Cassian didn't strike her as one of those immortals turned mortal, so that ruled out his mother also being a goddess. Maybe she was a witch or something? Or another demigod? "Eww, why would I ever want to be alone with you?" Leda joked.

She rolled her eyes slightly at his whiny pick me attitude at the end. "Your quest will come, mate. I didn't get picked to go on the last one. Been a hot sec since I went on my first quest with Kristin and Zeke. But with how everything seems to be going to hell, I think your number will be called any second. Just practice those cheats while you can and then you can try them out there in the real world, with the real monsters."

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Demetri stopped his tracks for a brief moment as he felt Zeke squeeze his hand. A brief flicker of appreciation fluttered through his heart before becoming consumed within darkness. He'd promised to come find him, but regardless of how genuine the words were, they fell on deaf ears. Demi didn't need Eidolons to whisper darker thoughts into his head. He didn't need the soldiers of Gaea to turn him against himself. He did it fine all on his own. Nancy's words stung more than she could possibly know. Each one digging further into what Demetri already knew, no one truly cared about him. No one wanted him around. Zeke was most likely only putting up with him as a ploy to pull Janelle's attention.

Tears began to swell in his eyes as he continued moving away. Demi tried holding them back, trying not to make a scene, when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around and saw Madalyne. Demetri pulled back just enough so that her hand would fall off, her question broke him. "No. was all he managed to choke out before he began to sob. But Mady didn't need to see this, she didn't need to be burdened by him anymore than Zeke and Nancy needed it. I'll come find you. Fine. If that were true, Demetri would have to see. He quickly shifted into a small bird and took flight. Darting up into the sky and past the fields, soaring over the trees that made up the capture the flag forest and made his way down into his and Zeke's secret spot.

Demetri careened down, shifting at the last second as he just let himself fall two feet from the ground. Here he was safe. Here no one could bother him. Here he couldn't bother anyone. He crawled over to the nearest tree trunk, huddling up against it as he tried to stifle his tears. His breaths were shaky, shallow, and irregular as his tears turned into sobs. He tried to reign it in, to bottle it up inside and act like everything was fine. But for the first time in a long while he felt utterly alone. His flaw kept creeping up on him, making him think things that weren't even true. He's not going to find you. He won't even try. Why would he? You're of no real use to him yet. He doesn't even care enough to remember how to get here. Demi tried to push back the thoughts, but the more he fought the more they came.

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Cassian chuckled at her joke. He hadn't thought of it that way, especially being that she was in a relationship with Kira. But nevertheless it had been said and now she had it over him to tease him. "Not at all what I meant. Just. Like to stay a bit private about certain parts of my life. I'm sure you could understand." He wasn't even sure she could understand. She seemed so bubbly and outgoing, even if her sparky remarks set a good barrier between her and others. But even still, she didn't seem guarded, nor was he certain she had a family legacy that could spoil her reputation. He watched as she rolled her eyes at him and he couldn't help but wonder exactly what had annoyed her, that is until she spoke.

No one liked someone who whined. And while he certainly just had, he couldn't help but feel jealous. His father was Dionysus. A demi-god who rose to God hood from his deeds and quests. How was Cassian to live up to such an experience when all he did so far was work at camp and help the nature spirits with their magic. Leda went ahead and called his powers cheats again, though he sensed no malice in her words. She had no other way to describe them, being that he hadn't revealed anything. "Don't worry, I'll make sure my skills and cheats are polished for when my number does come. Hopefully we can end this all soon…I finally get to be at my fathers camp and he has to go off and deal with the gods. I thought I'd finally get to meet him. Till then, all I can do is try to make him proud." Whatever the issues where, he hoped his great grandmother wasn't involved.

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"Eh, it was just a suggestion, either wahrks fahr me, as I said, I dahn't really care ahr 'ave a plan fahr where to wander around to," he commented with a bit of a shrug. He didn't care whether to go to the lake or the beach, he was still just sort of just waiting around until he had to actually go off on his quest or whatever. Who really knew how that would go still, but oh well, he couldn't exactly do anything much about it now.

"De lake sooehnds like a great idea to me," Janelle commented with a smile. Any place where she could just relax and feel the wind blow through her hair was definitely a place that she wanted to go to. Both options had that sort of appeal to her, but that was just how things were. Not to mention, they both had water, and she personally enjoyed the idea of going into the water, even if it was just her sticking by the edge and dipping her feet into it.

Following along after Kristin and still walking by her brother, Janelle listened as she heard the sounds of a few people swimming around in the lake, and she listened to the sounds of the world around her. Kristin was talking about how this area was calming, and she could definitely see how it could be that way, especially when there weren't that any people in the area, at least at the moment. It was super calming to her.

Jason just followed along after Kristin to the lake, and he understood why she found the place calming or whatever. "I can see why you'd fend dis place relaxin, it definitely seems like it is," Jason said towards Kristin, looking out along the lake. Though he was at this point wondering how long the meeting with the counselors was going to take, since the sooner if ended, the sooner they'd be heading off on their quests, though he still wasn't too sure about the whole thing.

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"Oh, I'm all set to go. Got the throwing knives that I was after, so that's something, and back with my other stuff in the cabin I've got a sword to use for more close range attacks. So yeah, I'm all set to go when you are. And no problem about the armor, figured you might need something like that, so thought I'd look around for it," she commented with a bit of a shrug towards Stella as she thanked her and was talking about being all set to go.

Of course, they may be all ready themselves, but there was still the counselors in their meeting, so odds were that they weren't going to be able to go off on their quests quite yet, since after all, some people going on quests were in that meeting. "Well, what do you want to do now? The counselors are still in their meeting probably, and who knows how much longer that'll take, and we have to wait until that is over before we can probably go meet up with the others to head off on the quests."

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Her brother won. Only barely. She smiled. At least she would have been happy with either Kristin or Demi getting it. Cass got too many votes in her opinion and wondered who thought that would be a good idea. He was too much an agent of chaos and would have probably caused issues on purpose.

She looked at Niah as she spoke about yet another prophecy. Andy wondered what it was about. She couldn't read what Niah was thinking but she had never seen her with such a cool expression on her face, except maybe just before the battle. She frowned. Was Niah scared of something? She stood up, ready to find her Aunt and see what was going on.




Niah took a moment to think about what she knew about Andy's brother. She figured other than being a little impulsive he seemed fine enough. She glanced at Danielle and then nodded. "Demetri is fine." If only she knew. "And since you're all assembled, we have another prophecy. It seems a group will be going to the Lotus Hotel. I do not have all the details. Nancy should be speaking with Zeke now as he is involved." Enough time had passed that Mads should have found him by now.

She looked to Rosie, knowing that she was the Oracle for the Greeks. "I do not know your process, but any further details you can provide would be appreciated." Asking Nancy to go over the prophecy would be torture in her opinion. For now, though she was projecting a cool demeanor refusing to allow her emotions about the situation to take control.

Arthur Stanford

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Location:Big House
Skills: N/A

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Arthur allowed himself a smile, pleased that that had worked. A part of it, honestly, was he liked the feeling of exerting power over things. He'd felt powerless recently, and he just felt like this would not have come to pass without his action. It made him feel like his actions mattered; like his thoughts and feelings actually counted for something. He liked that, even though the gods didn't seem to care at all one way or another about what he wanted, his fellow demigods thought he counted for something; that thought brought him significant comfort.

At the mention of another prophecy, Arthur cocked his head a bit. The group splitting more was worrisome, he at least had the comfort before that some of the people he cared about would be safe at camp, but now that wouldn't really be true. He didn't know what this hotel was, but he knew the places that people got sent around here were rarely safe. He wished he had more complete information at the moment, but he could at least be patient. He'd know before long, and that was enough for him.

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Armory:

The armory doors opened slightly there were a few Hepheastus kids entering the room and grabbing some weapons off of the racks to do a little maintenance on them one of them started to speak. "So when do you think the meeting will actually be done and over with?" One of them ended up asking as the other one answered "The meeting should be done pretty soon I think, so Lauryn should be out pretty soon and we can finish up on the other stuff we have been working on." They said as one of them turned to look at Mary and Stella giving them a friendly smile and wave towards them before heading out of the armory and over towards the forges that were close by and started to do their work.

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Arena:

There wasnt much else going on in the arena currently as some of the Romans decided to come over into the arena to use the resources of the arena to do a little bit of training themselves. There was some tension coming from some of the Greeks that were there seemed to be a little bit uncomfortable but they kept their distance for the moment and continued to do some training while others started to talk amongst themselves. But they did agree to allow the Romans to use anything in the camp if they needed some area they were welcome to use it, both Cassian and Leda would be able to hear one group of campers about the meeting ending pretty soon.

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Kristen looked over at Janelle and Jason giving the two of them a smile as she watched some of those that were swimming in the lake at the moment. "Have you guys ever gone fishing before or anything like that?" Kristin decided to ask, she had gone fishing a few times before in the past when she used to go out on trips in the summer with her aunt and cousin who she hadn't seen in a really long time either. "I did it from time to time whenever I was with my extended family out in their cabin over in Alaska." She said as she started to think a little bit about the quest she wasnt sure how much longer, but she had a feeling that it might be ending pretty soon.

"We should probably get you back to the Big House soon for your quest something tells me that you'll be leaving soon." Kristin said as she started to walk over getting her shoes back on looking at Jason. "Want me to walk you back to the Big House?" She asked him if he wanted the company or not was totally up to him though and she wasnt sure what Janelle wanted to do either.

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Danielle nodded slightly, though she remembered hearing that the kid had shifted into a damn dragon in the middle of the sewers, which was probably really crazy to her in her opinion. But if Niah approved it then she was alright with it as well in her opinion and nodded slightly towards her. "I'm fine with the Son of Jupiter then." Danielle said towards them all, as Niah started to mention another prophecy which had gotten her interest.

Rosie looked at the group for a moment and nodded slightly, though she was alone in her room at the time, before pulling something out of her pocket and slid over a picture that she had drawn in really good detail that looked like it would have taken hours to draw. "I ended up drawing this a few minutes ago, and was going to bring it up to you all." Rosie said as she set it down on the table, which showed the outside of the Lotus Hotel and Casino in front of the group, it showed the group's face in detail which were Kristin, Demetri, Zeke, Nancy, Janelle, Cassian. Rosie then pulled out a second drawing which looked to be a room and what looked to be the Doors of Death in another room with what looked like a group of poker tables.

Kiera looked at the drawings for a moment, she wasnt in any of them which was probably a good thing then in her opinion as Kiera turned to look at Niah giving the place a name. "Hi, so kinda new still and all that fun stuff, but what exactly is the Lotus Hotel?" Kiera ended up asking Niah, as Chiron inspected the drawings that Rosie had done before turning his attention to Kiera to answer her question. "The Lotus Hotel and Casino is a place created by the Lotus Eaters, it makes anyone who enters it not want to leave, and time never passes in there either. So a day in there could mean a week outside in the real world." Chiron told her.

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Madalyne looked at Demetri for a moment seeing the emotion in his face before he shifted. "Wait!" Madalyne said as Demi started to fly off and away, she closed her eyes and let out a slight sigh as she stood there for a moment, before she could hear Nancy's voice and a slight gust of wind as well to. Madalyne started to make her way back but stayed in the tree line wondering if Zeke had fucked it up and started to piss off Nancy more than she already was right now.

She waited to see what Zeke was going to do, she didnt want to jump out and attack him. But her heart broke for Nancy as her friend started to breakdown in front of Zeke like that seeing her loosing control over her powers like that as well to. The campers who were out on the beach quickly started to keep their distance as well to seeing and hearing what was going on pretty clearly.

Over where Demi was it was fairly quiet for the most part until he could hear some loud banging sounds, in the distance Demi would be able to see a Manticore smashing against the camp's barrier staring directly at him. Though for the moment it looked like that the barrier was holding it's own. It wasnt to common for a monster or two to wander around the permitter of the camp, as the manticore sent out some spikes though were able to get through as one nearly slammed against Demi.

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Stella was thinking about what she would want to do next, while waiting for the meeting to finish, when the other campers walked in. She listened to them, and they mentioned the meeting would soon be over. "Oh, if that is the case, can you lead me to the entrance then, since that's where we're suppose to meet up, yes?" She was still a bit nervous at the idea of heading on this quest, but she was much better prepared now. She had supplies, her phone, her charger, some armor and a few weapons, should she need them. Sure, she would like a few more fighting lessons before she left, but that was on her for volunteering so quickly.

She did look up at Marygold and paused a bit. "Oh, um, unless there is anywhere else we need to go first? I mean we could go back to the cabin, and then I could organize my things in the cabin, since I won't be there for a while." She did realize that she had only haphazardly tossed her things into the cabin earlier. She had been hungry and in a rush at the time so she had thought nothing of it. Now? She wasn't sure if her half-siblings would be happy looking at the mess on her bed for who knew how long.

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So much for being diplomatic. Now, from an outside perspective, one might actually sympathize with Nancy but Ezekiel had a fire burning in him as well that Nancy flared to life once more. Perhaps it was a natural thing being the child of a god who piloted the sun around the Earth.
”What right do you have tell me how I’m treating you when you treated Demi like wasted energy just because you’re having a fucking melt down? Get off your gods damn Roman Chariot of avoidance and precious calling to be a hunter and tell me what actually is happening! Gamise!” Zeke cursed in Greek. He turned from Nancy and ran a hand through his hair. He wouldn’t be surprised if the entire camp came running now thanks to their screaming match and Nancy’s sonic boom. Which of course, wouldn’t help anything.
Zeke turned back around to face Nancy, feeling the quick anger burn out of him once more. Caring for people was exhausting and he didn’t know why he started to care in the first place. His damned gift for healing had made him soft. It was so much easier hating on everyone and keeping a wall firmly in place.
”You need to talk to me, Nancy. I know this Lotus Hotel is not to be taken lightly and you being pissed at me isn’t going to save either of us. Tell me how to survive the Lotus Hotel so we can burn it down together.” He closed the distance between them and grabbed onto Nancy’s hands, uncaring if she shoved him aside or slapped him across the face or whatever because she was being touched during a moment of intense flashbacks or anxiety.
”I’m sorry about yesterday. I was attacked after my own emotional moment with Demetri and I just… reacted.” Ezekiel hoped it wasn’t too late to repair their relationship for both their sanity and their lives.

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Nancy liked to think that she was pretty good at keeping her outbursts to private settings - but that really wasn't the case. She regularly lost her shit in front of the Senate when it came to Leandra; when she got angry, it was like rules and decorum just vanished. It was just her and her rage, burning with the intensity of the sun, blinding anyone who dared to look into her eyes. (Un?)fortunately, Zeke was able to match her energy and rage. Greek or Roman, they really were their father's children. "I don't give a shit about the son of Jupiter right now!" Nancy snapped. "I'm sorry if me not bending over backwards to congratulate you on leaving the closet behind offended you to your fucking core, but it's not about you and your love life right now! And my calling to be a hunter? What about your calling to be a royal kiss ass to Diana?!"

As he turned away from her, Nancy narrowed her eyes. Her heart was pounding thunderously. She honestly hadn't meant to dismiss or belittle the son of Jupiter, but now she was feeling defensive, she wasn't going to back down on this. She had drawn the line in the sand by accident and Nancy was too proud to admit otherwise. Nancy flinched as he turned back around and took her hands, and she yanked her hands out of his grip. She wasn't a touch-y feel-y sort of person on a good day. "You wanna know how to survive the Lotus Hotel?" Nancy laughed, the sort of laugh that a person who had snapped from anger or fear made. "You wanna burn the place down? It'll probably just pop back up like any other grody ass monster." She didn't think of Mads until after she had said that and she regretted it, hoping her friend wasn't listening.

"You don't survive the Lotus Hotel. It chews you up and spits you out," Nancy warned. "And by the gods, no one will ever get me to go back to that waking nightmare." She didn't acknowledge his apology. She was thinking about how she had "survived" there - that after the assault, it had been like she was wide awake but trapped, painfully aware of where she was but unable to escape. "They take over your mind. Make you think you're fucking happy, that you never want to leave. The only thing that broke that was... well... It..." Nancy was opening her mouth now, but no sound was coming out. She couldn't bring herself to say the words - to say what had happened to her - to say what had allowed her to "survive."

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Leda shrugged slightly at Cassian's complaints about a distant parent. Most demigods didn't really have a close relationship with their parents. Leda's godly mother and her hadn't ever really spoken, just a few brief interactions - Iris was too busy, rushing from place to place. And despite Leda enjoying tending to shrines of all of the gods, she never really went out of her way to try to speak to her mother. "You see more of your Olympian parent than most do, kid," Leda said, even though there wasn't much of an age difference between the two of them. "Or you will, I s'pose. He'll come 'round again. No way Zeus is ending his punishment early."

Zeus wasn't that sort of parent.

Leda shifted her weight to her other foot. She was beginning to get a bit bored. Not many people realized this about her, but she could be a bit two-faced at times - caring on the outside, bored on the inside. This conversation just wasn't interesting to her and she wasn't really invested in how Cassian felt. "I should probably go see if they're done blathering on about things, see if my mates are ready to leave for our quest. I'll see ya when I come back - dead or alive." Leda said, before waving goodbye to Cassian and rushing off.

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Demetri both relished and loathed the quiet of this Grove. While it was true that he couldn't be a nuisance to anyone in here, it did have the unfortunate downfall of allowing him to simmer within his own thoughts. Memories flashed inside his mind, times spent with Zeke at this location. He reached up to feel the beanie Zeke had gifted him near his birthday, his thoughts cut short as a loud banging began to resonate nearby. Demi hadn't been aware of how close to the border this grove was, but as he shifted his way around the tree he saw a large beast bashing into the camp's barrier. He flinched at the next thud, worried for a moment that the defenses would fail just in time for him to become dinner. "Can't I have one moment of privacy?"

Demetri felt something inside him tug. A marionette pulling the strings of his body as if to direct him on what to do. His eyes fixated on the Manticore, studying it, before decidedly going for the large stinger on its back. Demi lifted his hand, the shadows of the beast's tail following suit as they wrapped around the appendage and jabbed the stinger into the creature's back. If it had a poison, it didn't seem to affect it. He now stood on the thin line of anger and concern. His other hand moving as if on its own, the shadows of the manticore wriggling up and wrapping around its legs to keep it held in place. "Leave here, or my next move won't be so kind." The strings he'd felt tugging on him began to feel taught, ready to snap at a notice. Shadows creeped around him without his notice as he stared down the manticore.

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Cassian cast his gaze downwards as Leda mentioned the other children of the gods. He hadn't considered how selfish it must seem to whine about not seeing your father when there were kids who weren't even claimed, others who had never met their parents, and then those who only saw them when they needed something from their children. He pursed his lips before exhaling. "I suppose you're right. I'm lucky enough that he was punished to be here, and I'm sure I'll see him soon. After all that what you big three prophecy kids are for right? To end all of this?" The gods had to stop arguing once the items were found…right?

Cassian had overheard a few campers talking about the meeting. Some saying that it was most likely going to be ending soon. He supposed that Leda had also heard, watching her as her weight shifted from one leg to the other. He was about to try and break off so that she could go when she ended up doing it herself. Cass awkwardly chuckled, giving her a half-cocked smile. "Yeah. Sounds like it should be wrapping up pretty soon. But try and make it back alive ok?"

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"No, never been. Dedn't exactly get much o' a chance to do dat sahrt o' din. Dedn't really do a whahle laht o' stuff really, especially wance we gaht 'ere to de states frahm Ireland," Jason responded to Kristin's comment and question with regards to fishing. Yeah, in the states they didn't really do much, especially since when they first got there, they were still dealing with the whole repercussions with what had happened to their parents that resulted in them having to move to the US in the first place.

"Naht entirely true," Janelle interjected, "We ded do a few outdoor activities back 'ahme. We used to go ice skatin wit mahm and dad when we were lettle. Never went feshin, but we stell ded at least sahmethin right?" She did have a few good memories of that, and her mother guiding her onto the ice and helping to ensure that she didn't fall was always a nice memory for her to think back on, especially considering their current situation and all.

"Right, we ded do dat dedn't we?" Jason responded with a bit of a laugh at Janelle's comments. "I also remember when we first came stateside after everythin, we 'ad absahlutely no idea what de 'ell we were doin, ahr 'ow anythin wahrked 'ere," he continued with another laugh, before listening to what Kristin was saying about heading for the Big House. "Well let's get goin den, I already tahld you I'm fine wit de cahmpany ahr whatever."

"Well it was a lettle easier fahr you when we gaht to de US. I 'ad to learn where everythin in de city ahr whatever was, befahre o' course cahntinuin to apahlogize to people if I accidentally ran into dem. Persahnally one o' de reasahns why I like it 'ere at camp better, I dahn't feel as bad if I run into anyone, sence dere are less people and dey prahbably should see me first befahre I run into dem so usually it's avoidable," Janelle responded, "Well, let's get to de beg 'ouse den."

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Mary listened as they were talking about the meeting being over with, and she turned to look at Stella when she asked her question about being led to the entrance, or heading back to the Demeter cabin first. "Actually, I'd prefer to go to the cabin first. I need to go grab my sword which is the main weapon I use that's there before going off on my quest," she said to her with a shrug, "If you don't mind the detour of course with stopping by there first, then we can go meet everyone by the entrance."

She waved to the campers who had entered the armory, before heading out herself and going towards the cabins. There was another reason of course that she wanted to stop by the cabin first, but the sword also gave her an excuse to stop by there. Once reaching the cabin, Mary walked over to her bunk, finding her sword and setting it on the bed, before waking up the red furball that was currently sleeping on her pillow. The cat yawned and stretched a bit, before walking over to start rubbing up against her, clearly demanding pets, "Hey there you little furball, wanted to say bye and be good before I head off," she said to the cat as it rolled over wanting attention.

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Andy shifted in her seat. She looked at the drawing and was glad Kiera asked what the Lotus Hotel was. Her brother was going there. She sighed frustrated. It was like fate itself was trying to put everyone she knew in danger. The life of a demi-god. She understood Arthur's frustration with the gods really well at that moment.

She didn't know what to say. So she sat back quietly. It was one of those moments she really felt her eleven years old. Most of the time she could deal with the age difference, but today she felt so much a child. Lost and wanting to do something but being unable. She hated it. Hated that feeling. It was too close to hopelessness. Something she couldn't allow herself to feel. She reached out for Arthur's hand without even thinking about it.




"Well that rules out several of the people voted for. It might be easier to just have you appoint someone Chiron. At least for now." Niah says seeing what Rosie had drawn. She frowned thinking. Then looked up at Kiera asking what the Hotel was. Chiron explained it better than she could so she stood there listening. Niah, having been friends with two people who had been held by the hotel knew more about it than most and less than her friends. More than she wanted to know. If she was honest in her heart she was glad she wasn't going.

It was clear who was supposed to go in this case. Niah didn't know all the people in Rosie's painting, and the ones she did she knew were Greek. That meant Nancy was the only Roman on this quest and that annoyed her. But it meant Leandra wasn't going, which was at least a small favor from the universe. But how did Leandra end up below later? That part of the future was still confusing. And worrisome. It also put the onus on most of the quest on the Greeks. She only had to worry about Nancy.

Arthur Stanford

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Location:Big House
Skills: N/A

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Arthur drummed his fingers on the table, eager to learn about what exactly this place was. He was concerned, of course, about the potential dangers that any given place could have, but it sounded like this was a known location, which meant that, hopefully, the demigods of Camp Halfblood were well equipped to deal with whatever threats their loved ones would need to face. This was better than, in his mind, them going to a place that was not as well defined, and having to deal with dangers on the fly; this was something that Arthur's mind would likely never want to engage with.

Arthur grabbed Andy's hand instinctively, making small circles with his thumb on her wrist. He hadn't thought much about physical contact before, but he quickly realized how much he would miss it. Even if they could keep in contact with Iris Messages or Chocolate, it wouldn't be the same. He realized just how much he'd be needing a hug from her the very moment they were reunited, and her squeezed his hand as he thought about his.

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Demeter Cabin:

There were a few of Mary and Stella's half-siblings hanging out in their cabin some were making their beds while some of them had their own plants that they were tending to as well to. When one of them turned to see Stella and Mary entering the cabin they gave her a wave and smile seeing Mary and her little cat. "We'll take good care of him while you are away and supply him with tons of catnip as well to keep him happy." They said as they walked over and knelt down to gently pet the cat who was loving all the attention clearly. "Are you two all ready and packed up to head out?" They asked.

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Arena:

The arena was pretty quiet for the most part as the arena was more or less being used by both a mix of Romans and Greeks, as the meeting was being let out Dean walked past Leda and gave her a slight wave as he started to make his way over towards the arena itself seeing Cassian there and made his way over to his half-brother. "Did you miss me?" Dean asked Cassian as he thought about what had happened in the meeting. "Also you might want to go to the Big House Chiron wants you and some others there as soon as possible." Dean told him.

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Chiron looked towards Niah and nodded slightly though he was worried about the group that was going to be going to the Lotus Hotel, knowing that people who entered rarely ever wanted to leave. "We'll figure something out." Chiron told her as he looked to the rest of the group who was there. "You are all free to go now, and those of you who are going on your quests you may leave now. Though if some of you could find Kristin, Cassian, Demetri, Janelle, Zeke and Nancy that way we can inform them on this." Chiron asked as some of them nodded and headed out as well. Though Danielle decided to stay just in case Nancy did show up and that they could talk about what to do next for the Legion before she left to.

Kiera was satisfied with the answer and she was actually pretty glad that she wasnt going to be going there, she started to get up and headed out of the room. Kiera saw her girlfriend and went over to give her a hug and kiss. "I'm back love did you miss me?" Kiera said to Leda and gave her a smile as she noticed Janelle along with Kristin and Jason there. At least it saves the others from going out on a scavenger hunt for the others who were also going on this new quest. "Hey Kristin and Janelle Chiron wants the two of you he's down in the basement where the meeting was." She informed them.

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"Fishing is actually pretty relaxing, just either sitting on a dock or on a boat listening to the water it's really nice." Kristin said to both Jason and Janelle as she smiled towards them as she went back to putting her shoes back on while looking over at Janelle. "Ice skating sounds like fun i've never really actually done it before. We should do it sometime if you'd like." Kristin offered as she started to make her way over towards the Big House again.

It looked like the meeting was just finishing as the cabin councilors were all filing out of the Big House now and they were heading off in different directions by the looks of it to do whatever they were needing to to. Kristin turned to see Leda and smiled towards her giving her a slight wave. "Hey Leda hows it going?" Kristin asked her, she was pretty sure that she was waiting for her girlfriend now at this point to get going on their quest now. Kristin was confused for a moment but nodded she was curious why he needed the two of them. "Alright then." Kristin said looking over at Janelle and offered her hand if she wanted it before headed inside.

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Madalyne was still contemplating on jumping in as she continued to listen in on the conversation between Zeke and Nancy, she had a feeling that if the Hotel was destroyed it'd simply just come back as well to. She was slightly hurt by what Nancy had said, but she knew that it really wasnt directed at her. Zeke seemed to want to help despite him being really angry by the looks of it but they were both related and Apollo was sometimes known for his anger to. She decided to try and track down the son of Jupiter and see where he had gone and see if he was alright. One of the perks of her curse was her heightened senses as she walked back to where he was before to try and track him down using his scent.

The manticore growled in pain as it was forced to stab itself with it's own stinger, though luckily it was immune to it's very own poison so the stinger hurt it but didn't feel the effects of the poison. The manticore growled loudly as it tried to break free, and sent another spike flying, the shadows around it was tightened and was brought down to it's knees it's tail being pinned down as well. However the spike did graze against Demi leaving a nasty cut, and he'd feel intense pain caused by the poison itself luckily the poison isn't fatal.

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"Alright, cabin first then the entrance. I don't mind the detour." Stella was glad that Marygold wanted to go back to the cabin, so she could leave less of a mess. She followed her older half-sister back to the cabin she had been in briefly earlier, and then walked inside. She perked up a bit when she thought she heard a cat and then turned around to see Marygold petting one. She squeaked happily at that sight, but she didn't move over to pet the cat, as much as she wanted to. She turned back to her bunk, to see the bag she had managed to keep on her in a pile on the bed.

She pulled out a few things from her bag, mostly her money, her phone charger, and one of her comfort stuffed animals. She gently tucked them into her new backpack, and then smiled a bit as she was sure that she had everything she would want or need for her quest. She tugged the bag over her shoulder and turned back to her sibling at that point. "I'm mostly ready to head out, thanks. Can you guys must make sure that none of my stuff gets up and walks away please? I doubt it... but I just worry." She reached into her pocket, just to double check that she still had her bag of seeds, which she did.

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Were all women this infuriating? Nancy was yelling at him about things that were so far past the point. He wasn’t expecting a hero cookie for dating a guy or a child of Zeus for that matter. He was pissed that Nancy had disregarded Demetri like he didn’t matter. That he wasn’t involved in this as much as the two of them were. If she didn’t want him hearing her pain, fine but he had a name and a purpose in this quest and it wasn’t to be Nancy’s punching bag.
”You can tear into me all you want Nancy but you have no right to tear into someone you don’t know. Your pain doesn’t give you the right to cause others pain! And me, kiss ass Diana? I thought you were going to run to your tent and write Apollo a letter expressing your gratitude when he came down and bestowed whatever the hell that gift was! He wasn’t there for you Nanc! None of the gods were!” Apollo. Diana. The gods in general were a sore topic for Zeke and one sure fire way to get Zeke to lose it even more than he already was.
Nancy pulled away from Ezekiel, which he wasn’t surprised about but he had felt compelled to do something. She was probably right about the Lotus Hotel being indestructible but that didn’t matter. That place had broken Nancy and that had always bothered Zeke, even now.
”Let it come back! I’ll burn it down again! Let that be my eternal death for all I care. As long as I get to see it burn and no one else has to go there.” It was irrational and purely emotional but Zeke had wanted to do something since he first learned of it from Nancy. He was emotionally hot, angry, frustrated, hurt and sad. All of it revolved around the person standing in front of him and they continued to feed into each other’s need. Maybe it was what they needed?

Now he just listened to her, the things she could say and the things she couldn’t say. Ezekiel still didn’t really understand the prophecy or what she had seen but Nancy was adamant about not going. Zeke wondered if she was telling him that or begging him. He stepped closer to her, hands raised, wanting to take her shoulders but he clenched his hands and dropped them back down again so she wouldn’t pull away from him once more.
”If you don’t need to be there, then I don’t want you there, Nancy. You went in alone, didn’t you? If I’m going with Demi, maybe we’ll get each other out but you need to tell me what to watch for. They make you think you’re happy? Okay, do you remember how? You broke the spell and survived… clearly not in a good way but you did. You’re the only one I have Nancy to talk to. But we can take our time, okay? I’ll tell Chiron so if I have to and it can just be you and me talking while we fire arrows, whatever. Your friends too if you need them but this is unfortunately something you are going to have to talk about. Unless you really do want me to just figure it out as I go. Most of the time we have even less than this to go on for quests.” Zeke was being pushy, sure but there was a bit of a time crunch with these things. He was being as attentive as he could at the moment but unfortunately, like most things, the gods didn’t care about trauma or the person they were sending into peril. When they sent you a prophecy to do something, it meant they wanted it done. Now.