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As the manticore went to send out another spike, Demetri felt the familiar tugging once again, his hand reflexively tightening into a firm grip as all the tendrils grew taught and pulled the beast down to its knees. The damage had been done however, the manticore having gotten a spike off. Demi heard a loud thud behind him as the projectile embedded itself into a nearby tree. He took one step, having not felt the graze on his arm yet as he snapped his finger with his free hand causing his dagger to spring to life and fly into his hand. "You asked for it." he said, his voice shaky and gravely with a roil of emotions.

Demetri flung his dagger towards the manticore's tail, focusing on trying to separate it from the beast so that it couldn't attack with it anymore. His dagger flew past, grazing the creature slightly but doing no more than that. As it went past the tail the dagger curved around and flew back into Demis hand. He silently cursed to himself at his attempted and went in for another large arcing throw. This time it hit square in the center of the tail, catching it ablaze with blue flames to burn away at it. However as his arm released the dagger, Demetri felt a sharp pain in his arm. Suddenly he was aware of the blood dripping down his arm.

He took one step forward, the world suddenly pulsing. No. His vision seemed to be playing tricks on him as his eyes went in and out of focus from the immense pain now riddling his body. Demetri glanced around, seeing the tree he'd originally been by, slowly walking towards it as blood dripped down his arm and pooled at his sweater's sleeve, dagger in hand. Once he reached the trunk he pressed his back against the tree, placing it between himself and the manticore for a bit of safety hopefully. A hot tear streamed down his cheek as he whimpered to himself. "Zeke…please…help."

---

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Cassian kicked at the ground beneath him. Trying to think of what to do next. He walked over towards one of the archery displays, lifting his retainer bow and feeling its weight. It wasn't the kind he was used to using, but he'd left his personal one back at Dionysus Cabin so it would have to do. He notched and arrow, pulling it back to his cheek as he took aim for the center of the target. Cassin took a deep breath, held it, and released it along with the arrow. The shot flew wide, hitting above the target into the hay placed behind them to catch the arrows. He sighed to himself, grabbing another arrow as he readjusted his stance. Another breath, another shot followed by a second rapid fire shot directly behind it.

Both arrows whizzed through the air, hitting the target dead center and clustering the pair. He was about to go for another shot when Dean appeared behind him. The arrow fell out of his hand as the string panged with the empty shot. "Don't you know not to sneak up on people in the range? Well, not like these arrows do any real damage anyways." Cassian slung the quiver off his back, placing it and the bow against a nearby post. He cocked an eyebrow at what Dean was saying. Chiron wanted to see him? (And others). "What's it all about? Oh, and how'd the meeting go? Pick a liason already?" Cassian asked as he began heading back towards The Big House, gesturing for Dean to walk and talk with him.

---

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Nancy had lost her voice for a moment, when she tried to say what had happened to her in the Lotus Hotel, how she had been able to come to her senses when very few people managed to do so. But on the subject of Zeke's beau and Apollo, Nancy managed to find her voice again. "How the hell have I been tearing into him? I don't know him! I don't care! And are you really fucking jealous of what I talked to Apollo about? Because it WASN'T FOR ME! I DIDN'T ASK FOR A FAVOR FOR ME! IF YOU HAD EVEN STOPPED TO THINK, YOU MIGHT HAVE FIGURED THAT OUT!" Nancy screeched, her face red. She couldn't say what she had asked Apollo for - what she had talked to him about. She had asked for him to speak to her godly sibling about a cure for Mads, a means to undo Jupiter's curse. If Jupiter found out Apollo was meddling in his curse, the consequences could be dire...

She wasn't moved by his declaration that he would burn down the Lotus Hotel. If it had come from Mads or Niah, she might have been; but from Zeke, it just felt like pity - like he was playing the role of the savior, of the hero who rescued the poor damsel in distress. "Why would you want to burn down that grody ass place? Why would you even care?!" Nancy asked, her hands shaking - sometimes, her hands were open, at other times, her palms were clenched into fists.

Truthfully though, she didn't want Zeke going in there unprepared. There was a reason he was one of the only Greeks that Nancy gave a damn about - one of the few children of Apollo she considered to actually be a sibling. It was so hard though for her to think about the Lotus Hotel. Her mind had wanted to block the entire thing out of her head. Some of the memories she had managed to block out - or they had just become so faded from her time in the hotel. "I - I don't know how it starts," Nancy then admitted, her voice breaking. "I-I remember running away from home, going inside because it was always so hot in Vegas, planning on pickpocketing enough cash to take a bus to Hollywood... And then it's all a blur... Until... Until the night... That... I can't talk about this. I can't. I can't I can't I can't."

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Leda misunderstood Cassian for a second, thinking that he was calling her a kid of the big three, and she was about to correct him before she realized what he had meant. She snorted slightly. "Again, kid, your time will come," Leda assured him. "And 'course I will. Wouldn't miss the post-saving the world celebrations." She then left fully, making her way over to the Big House just in time to see her girlfriend emerge. Leda returned Kiera's hug and kiss, grinning at her. "Nah, you weren't gone nearly long enough for me to miss ya," she teased.

"Ooo, are they in trouble?" Leda asked, very curious as to what Chiron could want with Kristin and Janelle. She could only hope that they were in trouble for something - it would probably do both of them good. Although, come to think of it, Janelle would be an excellent troublemaking partner - people would never suspect the blind girl. Leda made a mental note to talk to Janelle about helping her out with some pranks around Camp after the quest. There was a lot of potential there to tap into.

"Eh, ready to go already," Leda told Kristin with a shrug. She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. She never liked Kristin much. Small talk was annoying enough.

---

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They were dismissed. Andy sighed relieved. They were going to have to do another vote. She had no idea who she would even vote for. It seemed like everyone was leaving on a quest now. "Let's go. I've got to find Mads and Mary and let them know I'm ready when they are." Leaving was not something she wanted to do. She wanted to stretch out the last moments. Maybe she could go look for her brother and let him know he was wanted in the Big House. That he had his own quest now.

She stood and half followed Kiera out, walking with Arthur, still hand-in-hand because that was the only way she wanted to be right now. Maybe they were heading for a terrible co-dependency. But when your life is one of the demi-gods you hold onto what makes you happy as long as you can. Outside the Big House, they found Arthur's quest partners. Were they forced to part here? "Hi." She said quietly. Not really wanting to get Leda's attention because it meant Arthur would leave with her and Kiera.




Niah nodded and pushed herself up from the wall. It was time she found her quest partners. Her bags were packed and ready. She hoped the same would be true for the child of Mars and the little girl, the daughter of Ceres. She expected this quest would not be a socially easy one.

She left the Big House and didn't see either of her quest partners in sight. She decided instead of looking for them first she'd find Nancy and Mads and say goodbye first. She headed for the beach.

It wasn't hard to know where Nancy was. It also wasn't hard for Niah to know now was not the time to approach. She stayed back. She waited, looking out to the water. She could wait to say goodbye a little while longer. At least until Nancy could compose herself. Then she'd go find her quest partners. And she'd leave the Greek camp and if she was lucky, which was unlikely, by the time her quest was done they would have found a way to get New Rome back. Then she'd forget about this place and keep living her life the way she had come to love.

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"Sounds calmin, it might be fun to attempt to do at sahme point," Janelle commented with a bit of a shrug. She wasn't too sure how things would go with regards to her attempting to go fishing. Despite how she tended to act, and though she wouldn't admit it out loud to anyone, some things she was a bit limited on with how she might be able to accomplish things. Fishing would likely be a bit of an experiment with regards to to how she might be able to do it.

"I dink you'd do fine at feshin, you prahbably could feel de fesh yankin ahn de pahle and reel dem in dat way," Jason said to her reassuringly in general. He knew that she could be a bit self-conscious about any sort of limitations she might have with certain activities. So he was just trying to reassure her, he was pretty certain that she'd be able to go fishing or something like that if she wanted to.

She just sort of shrugged in response with regards to the whole fishing thing, before Kristin said they should go ice skating some time, "Dat would be fun, I'm all fahr it," she said to her with a smile, thinking for a moment about it. It would be fun to try and do, though she's not too sure where in the area that they'd be able to do that. Ice skating wasn't exactly easy to do year round unlike some activities.

He didn't say anything else immediately as they reached the Big House, seeing that the meeting was being let out and everyone was starting to go separate ways and all. Glancing around, he didn't really see those who were with his quest, but he did see others he knew were going on quests. Though hearing that Kristin and Janelle were wanted by Chiron was an interesting thing to think about. "Well, you two 'ave fun wit whatever, I'm prahbably 'eadin out as soon as I fend where me quest partners are," he said, giving his sister a hug, before she ended up taking Kristin's hand, and heading inside with a slight wave.

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"Yeah, make sure to give him plenty of pets and belly rubs," she said with a laugh, rubbing her hand along the cat's back, who then proceeded to flop over and clearly wanted belly rubs. "Nun, Uno, du bist besser ein braves kleines Kätzchen, während ich weg bin, okay?" she said softly to the cat, slipping into her native German. Of course, she didn't care to explain what she said, since she really didn't care as she gave the cat belly rubs now.

Her attention was drawn away by people asking if they were all ready for their quests and all. "I'm just about ready to go. I came to get my sword after picking up a few other things from the store and the armory along with Stella. Plus I wanted to say bye to this little guy. Though we probably should get going and all soon," she commented with a shrug. They probably should go off to try and find everyone else, since the meeting was probably over or something by now.

Arthur Stanford

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Location:Big House
Skills: N/A

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This was the end and Arthur knew it. His hand was resting lightly in Andy's, and he, somehow, didn't feel like he was on the verge of a breakdown. There was a quiet sadness in him; an acknowledgement that this was about to happen, and was inevitable. He found himself memorizing the details of the feeling of their hands locked together, a token he did with the understanding that it would not be a feeling that he'd get for a very long time afterwards. He silently prayed to homemade that he'd be able to remember everything about her so well that it would almost seem like they were still together, but he knew that was just wishful thinking.

Looking at his future group mates, Arthur made himself smile. He had to hope that they'd enjoy themselves together, or at least whatever was the most reasonable analogue of that for children being sent on a death mission to serve the needs and wants of at best uncaring gods. They were nice enough people, Arthur thought, and they wouldn't be totally screwed between the group members, but he still kept his hand in Andy's, a pit in his stomach as they neared separation.

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Demeter Cabin:

"Yep we can certainly take good care of him while you guys are away." Their sibling said to Mary before turning to look over at Stella and nodded as well to. "We'll keep your stuff safe as well to usually the Hermes kids tend to sneak into other cabins to pull a prank or two, but we'll keep an eye on your things so don't worry about it." They reassured Stella as they went over towards their own bunk. "Good luck and see you when you two get back." They said trying to reassure that they'd be alright on this quest and they'll come back alive and well to.

---

Arena:

"Sneaking up on people is kind of fun though to see their reaction anyway." Dean said with a slight shrug as he looked at Cassian asking for some details on the meeting and gave a slight shrug. "Chiron will explain what he wants once you and everyone else he wants is there." Dean told Cassian as he started to walk alongside him and nodded a little bit. "Yep you can say that." Dean was being intentionally vague knowing that his half-brother really wanted to go out on a quest though it looked like he got his wish sooner than expected. "Though i'm sure you'll like the news that you are going to get."

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"Maybe I should stay away a little bit longer then." Kiera said teasingly towards her girlfriend as she looked towards Kristin and Janelle giving them a slight wave seeing that the Roman girl had left as well to and was making her way towards the beach by the looks of it. She wasnt sure why she was heading there now when they'd be leaving for their quests soon anyway. Kiera quickly turned her attention over towards her girlfriend and then at Jason for a moment. "Apparently Rosie got yet another prophecy or something like that and it involved them, Cassian, Demi and Nancy the Roman leader to." Kiera said as she looked towards Jason for a moment wondering how he'd react to his sister going on yet another quest.

Her attention turned towards Andy and Arthur as the two of them came up, and noticed that the two of them were holding hands which she thought was really cute and adorable. She started to think that they were possibly dating to maybe she wasn't sure really or they were just really close friends. "So ready to get going?" Kiera asked, they were just missing Stella, and Mary and Niah by the looks of it probably to go and get Nancy most likely she thought.

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"I think there are a few indoor ice skating rinks somewhere in the city possibly. And fishing you don't really need to have vision I don't think and you can just feel and try to reel them in." Kristin said to Janelle giving her a slight smile as she made her way down towards the basement, and looked around seeing Rosie, Chiron and the new Roman girl who she didn't really recognize as she made her way over towards an open seat. "So whats this all about?" Kristin asked Chiron she was pretty curious as to what was actually going on and she was wondering who else Chiron wanted to as well.

Danielle sat there quietly as she looked over at the two Greeks who had come in who were in the drawing that Rosie had made and then looked over towards Chiron. She wasnt a Greek so it really wasnt her place to mention it at the moment at least until Nancy was here which she should be on her way soon hopefully. Chiron went over towards a nearby cabinet and pulled out some snacks just in case anyone was hungry and looked at Kristin. "Once everyone is here i'll explain but if you are hungry or anything feel free to help yourselves." Chiron offered to them. Kristin raised an eyebrow at that but she decided to take a small handful of chips and started to eat while they waited for the others to show up.

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Madalyne continued to track down the son of Jupiter and where he had gone, she hadn't really explored this area of Camp Half-Blood before when she was able to pick up Demi's scent and quickly followed it. When she could hear the sounds of roaring coming that made her worry that monsters had somehow found a way into camp. When she came into a small clearing she noticed Demetri was on the ground and in pain. Her attention turned towards the manticore that was there. Due to the pain that Demi was experiencing the shadows around the manticore disappeared and it was on fire still luckily and started to run off into the woods away from the barrier of the camp.

She quickly turned her attention back towards Demetri and made her way over towards him, she noticed the spike in a nearby tree and noticed the blood on his shoulder. "You'll be alright." Madalyne said as she started to think what to do, and quickly pulling out a small bag of what looked to be gold and silver looking powder and then poured some onto the wound and it would start to heal and the pain would subside. "How are you feeling? And you better not run off again like that again." She said to him.

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Stella offered her half-sibling as smile as they assured her that they would keep an eye on things and keep anyone from taking anything from her. She was thankful for that, but she had made sure to take the things she wanted out of her bag, and the things that were left wouldn't be terribly missed. "Thank you, I do appreciate that. I'll see you when I get back then." She offered them a small smile and a wave before she turned to look up at Marygold and offer her a nervous smile, as her emotions were getting the better of her. She took a deep breath to calm herself down before speaking again.

"Shall we head to the entrance then? I've got my things and it seems you've gotten yours." Stella tugged her backpack over her shoulders at that point and then tugged on the straps to adjust them. She stepped outside of the Cabin, giving it one last look before taking her first step out and towards where she remembered the entrance of the camp being. It was weird to think that she had only just arrived and now she was leaving again, after being there for roughly around twenty-four hours. She just hoped that she would return after her quest.

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Ezekiel gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He was becoming increasingly annoyed with Nancy’s attitude in not caring for any other person other than her small group of friends. She didn’t have a problem at all defending them the other night when Zeke was defending himself and Demetri.
”If you stopped to think, then you would know exactly how you were tearing into Demetri but instead you are yelling at me for the same thing and of course I’m jealous! He hasn’t done a gods dammed thing for me. All he cares about is the glory I bring when he sends me on quests. I’m sick of him and the others pushing us around like game pieces and then he comes here to see you specifically and grants you a favour, what, just because you ask? That’s bullshit Nancy!” He had put himself out there for her but she had pushed him aside like the last several months had meant nothing. It didn’t matter to him that he had done the same to her. It was Zeke’s own insecurities coming out and he doubted his vulnerability would do anything. Nancy made it pretty clear she didn’t care. Well, that didn’t change his feelings for her, even though it should.
”Because I care about you Nancy for some stupid reason! Because I care what happened to you in that bloody place and if I can bring suffering to those who caused you pain, I will.” His eyes were determined as he stared down his half-sibling. There was no mistaking the fire of truth within his eyes. Deep in his core, Ezekiel cared for Nancy like they had been raised together rather than just meeting less than a year ago. ”Can’t you see that, Nanc? I care about you even if you’re pissed at me. I care about you even if you don’t care about Demi. I am hoping one day you will because he is important to me and if I matter to you, I would think that would become important as well but if it doesn’t, I’ll find a way to let it go.” Being children of the gods they had to put up with a lot of pain and suffering, a bond they all shared, but the kind of psychological and emotional turmoil Nancy went through was too much in Zeke’s opinion. She didn’t deserve that suffering anymore and she deserved to know that people cared about her. Zeke didn’t like her because of what she could give him, Zeke liked Nancy because of who she was and that included the fire in her that didn’t allow her to back down from him.
As it was, Nancy had been on her own for most of her life and at a peak moment of growth, she had experienced something life altering. Zeke knew Nancy had run to get away from her mortal parents, to start her own life and career on her own away from her already corruptive mother. At least Zeke had grown up with a mother who cared for him. The pain of Nancy trying to relive her worst moment was starting to break Ezekiel. He was a healer at heart and he didn’t like seeing anyone in pain and not being able to fix it.
”Okay, okay. Let’s just take a break for a minute, okay? It was hot in Vegas, they must have made themselves look more enticing than the other dozens of casinos on the Strip. We can keep an eye out for that. Maybe Chiron or Mr. D will have more information on this place. We can ask them for some facts.” As much as Zeke didn't like the gods, Mr. D was probably their best source of information at this point and he wasn't about to keep pushing Nancy on this subject.

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Andy put a smile on her face. Letting it cover her nervousness. "Yep. I'm ready." She said nodding. She had carefully packed her bag, and most of her stuff like her dagger was always with her. She had gotten used to fighting in tandem with Arthur and was nervous about having to fight without him. Even though she knew he hated going into fights. She enjoyed the fights against monsters. She wouldn't admit that to Arthur though.

She shifted and looked out at the camp. Looking for signs of Mary or Mads heading their way. She wanted to ask if they'd wait until her quest partners showed up. She also figured they'd have to since they'd all be going in the camp vehicle to town.

Andy looked at Arthur suddenly, she opened her mouth to say something but paused remembering the others were nearby. She closed her mouth and instead hugged Arthur. "Be safe." She whispered. There was so much more she wanted to say. Wanted to tell him that she wanted him to come back no matter what it took. But she also didn't want him to break himself in the process. She wanted Arthur as he was.




Niah moved farther away. Not wanting to intrude on the conversation. She did notice that Mads wasn't there. Niah had figured that after finding Zeke, which Mads clearly had, she would have joined with them to discuss this. She looked around trying to see signs of where Mads might have gone.

She glanced up and down the beach and couldn't see her anywhere. Niah wondered if maybe she was elsewhere and then she looked down and saw footprints that matched Mads. She nodded and started following them into the woods. Until she found Mads talking with the Son of Jupiter. Well, that made it convenient.

"Rosie saw the same vision." She said to both of them. "You should head to the Big House." She told Demi.

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She wasn't entirely too sure what was going on, or why they were wanting to have them meet up right now. This was definitely a bit strange to say the least, since she wondered why such a specific group of people or whatever were being called over. It didn't make too much sense to her, but there wasn't much she could really do about it now. She was here already at the least, they hit rather perfect timing with heading to the Big House clearly, since the groups going off on quests were about ready to head off or so really.

"I'm curious too as to what's goin ahn," Janelle couldn't help but say out loud, since she was a bit curious as to why Chiron wanted them there. There was a few different things it could be, but she also was a bit concerned that it might involving going off on something or almost like a quest of their own. That would be interesting, but she also wanted to know exactly who all was supposedly going to be involved in this entire thing. "Who are we waitin ahn?" she ended up asking.

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He didn't say anything else to his sister as she left, but his attention was drawn away rather quickly by Kiera, who seemed to have an idea as to what it was that Chiron wanted. Another quest? Really? That would make, like, technically four quests or whatever at this point. Since you had the three smaller groups of three people each, and then whatever the quest was that they were talking about or something like that, which sounded like it involved quite a few people at this point. This was definitely an interesting thing to have happen.

"So do you know anythin about what dat quest invahlves? Ahr ded you naht 'ear dat part?" he asked Kiera, before looking to see who all was currently gathered by the Big House. He noticed that mostly, it was mainly the two who were going with him on the quest that currently weren't there. That definitely was a fun thing to think about. Jason couldn't exactly go off without them, so for the time being, he was more or less stuck there waiting for them before he could try to head off.

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"Good, don't make him get too wired though," Mary commented with a bit of a giggle, knowing perfectly well how most cats tended to react while on catnip. It was an amusing sort of thing really to watch (after all, every so often she'd give her cat some, and he'd practically be bouncing off the cabin walls), but too much could kind of be a bit of a bad thing really. So she hoped that they wouldn't give him too much by accident, but she said nothing else with regards to it, grabbing her sword off her bunk.

Glancing over towards Stella, she nodded her head, "Alright, let's get going," she said to her with a smile, and waved slightly at everyone else in the cabin. She knew that they were trying to be a bit reassuring, problem is usually when people attempted that sort of thing, then it sometimes has the opposite sort of effect. Being optimistic was a good thing, but sometimes being overly so could make things worse really. She headed out of the cabin along with Stella, heading to see about meeting up with everyone else.

Arthur Stanford

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Location:Big House (outside)
Skills: N/A

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Arthur found himself staring pensively at Andy, and let out a small breath as he was hugged. Wrapping his arms around her, and closed his eyes, and just existed there, in that moment. This was all so much, but it would be a thing that had to be endured. If he kept himself together, if he just fought and won and they both came back, everything would be fine. Gripping his hands tight, he whispered back, "I will. I promise. Please come back safe." That was all he could really muster without showing an amount of emotion that would have been wholly inappropriate.

Arthur just nodded towards Kiera. The whole thing seemed so unfair, and he knew this couldn't be a new occurrence. The nature of quests probably meant that people who were close to each other got split up a lot, but it still stung. He wondered what exact mechanism fate worked by, did this serve some greater purpose, or was it just the way things were? If these prophesies existed, why did they need to try to follow them? Wouldn't reality just make it so? Did they actually have the ability to choose how to act, or were they just being puppeted through a future that would always come?

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Demi could feel the strings beginning to slack. His concentration slipping away along with his vision as the shadows made their way back to where they were meant to be. He heard a voice nearby, then felt something cold press against his arm. It wasn't a totally unfamiliar feeling, though slightly unpleasant until suddenly he could feel the pain fading away. The strain leaving his body and allowing his sight to slowly fade back into view where he now saw Madalyne next to him as the Manticore ran off into the woods away from the camp. He offered her a weak chuckle as she threatened him not to run off again. "Never felt better. And I doubt I have the strength to do that trick twice right now." He shifted his weight, scooting himself up further against the tree so that he didn't look as worn out from the recent events.

Demetri wiped away the tears, making sure to avoid using the bloodied sleeve as he did so. He took in a deep breath and gave the practiced words he'd said a million times before. "I'm fine. Honestly. Manticore poison is no joke though, stings a bit more than your average wasp so I'd avoid getting hit by one." Truthfully he wasn't fine. He felt shit, and had no idea why Mads was even there, why would she care about him? It felt as if the Romans didn't do caring. Then again he was certain this was Andy's aunt, or was he confusing her with another? His head still pounded a bit from the pain as it continued to recede, making it difficult to think too much.

"How'd you find me anyways? This place is supposed to be secluded…hidden. Kinda a me place." Before Mads could even answer another Roman came traipsing into his and Zeke's place. Making him wonder if he should hang a big keep out sign by the hedge wall needed to cross into the area. "Well now its a party. You Romans must have a way with tracking I swear. Anyways, if Rosie saw the same thing then I guess I should go hear it from her. … After I get up that is."

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As the pair began to walk towards the Big House, Cassian couldn't help but notice how extremely vague Dean was being. It was odd to have him be so secretive, then again Cassian had never asked about what happened in the meetings before. He gave his brother a critical glare, sizing him up at the moment as if it would somehow give him a clue about what all was going on. "Alright then, keep your secrets." he said, quoting The Lord of the Rings. He wanted to ask more questions, but figured he would only get vague answers or silence. Now he knew how Leda felt, the way she was always running around. He wished he had her speed, wanting to get there in the blink of an eye and find out what news awaited him.

When he got there he noticed a few people he had expected to see there. Quest goers gathering together and getting ready to depart after having deliberated on their previous meeting. But once he made his way past them and inside, he was greeted by an unexpected guest. He hadn't expected Janelle to be one of the others mentioned. "Hey Janelle, any idea what this is all about? Or has everyone been cryptic with you as well? Since Dean here is apparently of no help." He said teasing his brother. He made his way over and grabbed a chip, taking a calculated bite before leaning against the wall. "Let me guess. They shot down every proposal for a liason?"

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Nancy wasn't able to focus on the Demetri side of this conversation anymore. Her chest felt tight and her hands incredibly cold. Zeke's words sounded distant to her. She could see his lips moving but she couldn't really make out what he was saying. She could hear him, but nothing was processing. He might have been reciting a recipe for how to make spaghetti or describing the intricate way he would like to salsa dance with a dragon one day, and she wouldn't have had a clue. Her ears were ringing and each breath felt incredibly difficult. Nancy wasn't even aware of what she said - it felt like some sort of foreign entity was moving her mouth, forcing words out through her lips. "I don't need you to save me," Nancy said. She didn't remember that even seconds after the words left her mouth.


In the real world, Nancy started to scream. It wasn't a scream of anger - it wasn't her screaming at Zeke, furious at him. It was a scream of terror, of pure fear. Nancy's control over sound went overboard again, dirt and sand flying up around her, the force of the waves causing Zeke to stumble backwards.

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"Damn, Rosie is just popping them out lately, huh?" Leda commented, whistling a bit. It was probably not a good sign that Rosie had issued another prophecy. That put them at four prophecies, four quests (she assumed the new prophecy had a quest attached to it). One prophecy was already enough to set people on edge, but with the current atmosphere up in Olympus, four was definitely a bad sign. Things might have already gotten worse. But Leda didn't want to worry Kiera about that. So she didn't share her concern that they were already too late to fix things, that the fourth prophecy was a sign that things were going to go terribly wrong.

No, she wanted to have a nice time with her girlfriend, killing monsters - and babysitting the tiny Hades spawn accompanying them.

It was very cute, seeing the two little kids hug each other. Jason's question to Kiera was almost indecipherable - his accent was incredibly thick at times. But Leda was more or less used to it, being a Brit herself and having been to Ireland on more than one occasion. Of course, she didn't know much about the prophecy, just the little tidbit that Kiera had given. She sighed slightly. They were going to have to wait for everyone before they left, weren't they? And everyone else seemed to be taking an eternity to get ready.

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Kiera's attention turned towards Jason as he asked her about the prophecy that Rosie had seen and took a moment to look back at the Big House where the others had gone into before turning her attention back towards Jason. "Rosie apparently had some sort of vision and ended up drawing Janelle, Cassian, Kristin, Zeke Demi and Nancy the Roman leader all standing in front of some place called the Lotus Hotel and Casino." Kiera said as she started to remember what else that Chiron had said about the place which really did sound bad and she wasn't sure how Jason would react to the info. "From what Chiron said it's a place where once you enter you don't want to leave and that time acts differently in there." Kiera told him.

She watched Andy and Arthur for a moment and thought that it was pretty cute that they were really close, when she looked over and spotted Mary and Stella leaving the cabins and started to wave towards them to get their attention. "Hey over here." Kiera called out to them to try and get their attention. They just needed the two other Roman's to show up and they'd be good to go then by the looks of it wherever they were right now anyway.

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Dean looked towards his half-brother and gave him a slight shrug towards him but still smirked towards Cassian and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll see you later and good luck as well to." Dean said as he started to head back up the stairs and out of the Big House itself, he gave a slight nod towards everyone who was there before heading off towards the cabins. Kiera decided to take a handful of snacks that were there thanks to Chiron as her attention turned towards him as she waited patiently for him to tell them all what was actually going on.

Chiron looked at the others who were there, they just needed Nancy, Demetri and Zeke and they could continue with the rest of what was mentioned about the quest. "We are just waiting on Nancy, Demetri and Zeke to come." Chiron answered Janelle's question as he turned to face Cassian asking about who would do the liaison thing. "We did come to pick however we'll have to fix it once the remaining three get here." Chiron answered Cassian's question as Kristin listened she was curious who they ended up picking as well to, but from the sounds of it they have something going on.

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Madalyne looked at Demetri and gently patted Demi's good shoulder as she stood up as he asked her how she found him and smiled slightly. "One of the good things with the curse your senses are heightened a bit, so picking up your scent wasn't that hard really." Madalyne said as she turned around to see Niah coming into the clearing she wasn't really expecting her to come out and meet them here really. But she was happy to see her friend as well to here with her, she wasn't to surprised that the Greek's Oracle had gotten a prophecy like Nancy's either really.

Madalyne then offered a hand to help Demetri back up to his feet. "Well lets get you back to the Big House then, we should be getting ready to leave here soon anyway as well." Madalyne said, as she turned to Niah she was tempted to ask if she had seen Nancy and Zeke they were still talking but she decided to not bring it up yet. "Lets get going." Madalyne said as she started to make her way back over towards the camp itself.

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Stella silently followed Marygold towards the entrance of the camp, as she wasn't sure what she would say if she did speak. She would be going on her first quest soon, and with two older kids that she didn't know very well. She just hoped that she wouldn't be a burden on them, and that between her scythe and her seeds she would be able to help fight any monsters they came across. She was sure that she would be fine, and she was sure that she would be coming back from the quest. She had to keep telling herself that over and over, and keep that smile on her face at that point as they headed to the entrance.

Once there, she looked around to see that Jason was there, but the Roman girl, Niah, didn't seem to be there yet at that point. She tugged at the straps of her backpack a bit, waiting for everyone to gather up there, so that they could soon get going. She looked around at that point, unsure if she should go join Jason, or is she should stay with Marygold for just a bit longer before everyone split up to go into their quest groups.

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Ezekiel wasn’t sure when Nancy started to shift. Truthfully, he was still upset with her lack of sympathy for anyone else. It didn’t make sense to him that she expected him to sympathize with her but not care for anyone else. She told him that she didn’t need him to save her but it sounded different. Ezekiel frowned.
”I never said that Nanc. You’re not some damsel in distress but I want to help you.” Ezekiel watched Nancy transform before his eyes. She was calm, well as calm as one could be and then in the next she was blank faced and screaming. Ezekiel stumbled back as her power kicked in to aid her screaming and Ezekiel threw his hands up to his ears in an effort to block out some of the sound.
Ezekiel was somehow okay this time. Maybe Nancy was using her power differently, Ezekiel really didn’t have a clue but that didn’t matter right now. Her scream was terrifying him as it was one of complete fear. His heart was pounding in his ears as Nancy continued to scream, feeling adrenaline course through him as he listened to her terror and tried to decide what to do to snap Nancy out of it. He dropped his hands from his ears, walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
”Nanc, come on, it’s Zeke. You’re okay. You’re here, with me. Come on,” he begged, truly at a loss for what he should be doing. Suddenly, he missed the confines of the infirmary. Physical wounds were easy to deal with, this… whatever was going on with Nancy, he didn’t wish it on his worst enemy.

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"I will." She swore. It didn't have the weight of a vow, but she knew she'd do everything she could to keep it. Andy kept it together as she let go of Arthur and stood to face the older kids surrounding them. She knew they had all been watching her and Arthur hug, and she was a bit embarrassed about it. But she also didn't care. Arthur was her best friend and they were about to be separated and she didn't want them to part without a good hug.

She saw Mary and the new girl, Stella, if she remembered correctly, heading their way. She waved. Next, all they needed were Mads and Niah and she thought that would be everyone going on the quests. Andy adjusted her own backpack. Once they approached she said. "I think Niah went to get Mads and Nancy and let them know the meeting was over." She explained, half to Jason and half to Stella since they were the two going with Niah.




"And I found you because I know my friend's footprints and followed them." Niah smiled, though it seemed particularly forced at the moment. To Mads it would be clear she was worried. "You should probably get cleaned up before you get to the Big House. You look a bit like death warmed over." Niah told Demi.

"The voting finished and everyone who had any votes worth anything is on the quest to the Hotel. You may find this as a surprise, but Demetri you won the vote. Your sister's friend advocated nicely for you to be the liaison." Niah explained. "I told Chiron he'd have to just assign someone in that case, at least for now. And hopefully, there is no need for a longer liaison than that." Maybe in the future it would be good for cultural exchange between the two groups, but that was a future problem when the Romans had their own home again.

She waited for Demi to stand, whether he took Mads offered hand or not. Then started making her way to the Big House, avoiding the beach. She'd let Nancy and Zeke continue their conversation in hopefully uninterrupted privacy for now.

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"'ahnestly no idea, we were just wanderin around a bet and den tahld to comb 'ere, and dey mahre ahr less refuse to explain anythin until everyahne else is 'ere," Janelle responded to Cassian with a bit of a shrug. Of course she was wondering what was going on, but was more then a bit annoyed that Chiron was refusing to tell them anything while just having them sit around waiting for whoever else was going to show up at this point.

Janelle couldn't help but make a bit of a strange face when Chiron said they were waiting for Zeke and Demi (and the Roman Nancy or whatever) as if she was a bit annoyed at this point about running into those two currently. Personally, she didn't really care if they showed up or not, she more of wanted to hear what was going on with Chiron wanting them all in one place. "To me it would be easier to just go one wit de explanation, and den catch de ahther three up so we aren't waitin around fahrever waitin',"" she added to Cassian.

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Jason listened as Kristin more or less was explaining what it was that was going on, and why Chiron wanted that specific group of people to talk or whatever about a quest of sorts. He wasn't sure what to think of the place that was mentioned, he had no idea what the place was, or why apparently it even existed. Honestly, he still wasn't too sure about all of the different places that existed, but a place where time ran differently? That just sounded more then a bit strange in general in his opinion.

"Dat sounds like a place you wouldn't want to end up in," he ended up saying to Kiera, before he glanced towards who she was waving over. Looked to be Mary and Stella, the kid that was going on the quest with him and the Roman girl. He wasn't too sure what to think with regards to everything still about where it sounded like his sister was going, but he did know that she was typically capable of protecting herself, even if sometimes he could get a bit over protective of her. "Hey there," Jason said to Stella with a slight wave.

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Of course, Mary was more then ready for them to all head off on their quests. It made sense to her to see about getting it all over with already, and allowing them to deal with whatever the hell was going on. Truthfully, she was not too thrilled about them not having a full idea yet of what actually was going on with the quests, or what even was the real goal in general. Something about getting the main weapons or things for the Big Three right? Made sense, in theory, if they didn't get into even more trouble for doing that sort of thing.

"Well, looks like most of us are here," Mary commented, as she walked over with Stella to where the others were gathered outside of the Big House. She still needed to wait for one member of their group still, and actually, looking around, it looked like the only people really missing were the Romans who were going on the quest. "Well, we can't just wait around here all day, even if one went to go find the others, you'd think they'd all have heard that the meeting was over already," she said with a shrug, not sure what else to say. They were just waiting (at least for her group) for Madalyne to join them.

Arthur Stanford

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Location:Big House (outside)
Skills: N/A

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Arthur waited around after letting go of Andy, and looked at the group of kids around them. He didn't particularly care if they say him show affection or not, he had difficulty caring about most anything outside of Andy recently. A part of him hoped that time away from Andy would give him the opportunity to branch out in that department, and find some hope in the world. Everything had just been so awful for so long, he felt like he might take anything to just have a little bit more.

In the moment though, nothing much seemed to be happening. He supposed that was just the calm before the storm, or whatever. There wasn't much point in starting stuff when they'd all be scattered to the wind in a few minutes. Arthur crossed his arms, and just breathed in, existing at the camp for as long as he could, before he'd be thrusted into the much more dangerous world, with people he didn't much know, to server gods he didn't really care all that much about.

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Demi forced a smile for a moment as Madi mentioned her curse. Pain stinging behind the dimpled charade as he thought about how his godly father screwed over yet another person with no repercussions. It was no wonder Zeke didn't like him at first if he thought he was anything like him. He looked around, saw the blood stained flowers and grass beneath him, Niah's smile though he wasn't sure what she was smiling for, and Mad's hand outstretched towards him. He thought back towards Nancy's reaction to him being at the beach and a thought crept back into his mind. Maybe he wasn't any better than his father? All around him were people suffering because of him existing and all he had was a single gash that had now closed and a pain that had mostly subsided.

There was a hollowness inside of him now, an empty feeling he'd felt a few times in the past. "Gotta love silver linings." he said flatly. Demetri took Mads hand, helping himself up as he used his bloodied hand to press against the tree and support himself. "At least it's death warmed over. Hate to be two day old cold leftover death. Now then you should worry." He took one step forward as he listened to what Niah had to say, pausing as he felt and odd rush through him. Why would anyone vote for him? Clearly it must've been some practical joke…but then again Arthur was great with words. He decided not to dwell on it for too long as he continued forward through the bushes to break out into the forested grounds most new.

Demi felt more like he was being babysat as he walked alongside Mads and Niah. He realized the path they were taking would avoid the beaches, making him glance off towards that direction. His pace slowed slightly as he mulled words over in his mind. "You two know Zeke's sister pretty well right? Does she…Well…I mean to say. Why does she hate me?" His smile had faded, grown weaker as he spoke. Though if anyone had to ask he'd just blame it on residual pain. But a part of Demi wondered if Zeke could date him and keep a healthy relationship with his sister if she hated him. Especially enough to simply kick him away for being.

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Cassian watched as Dean left the room, sticking his tongue out at him before returning to the snacks that were there before them. "Good luck? What does that even mean? Wait, are we in trouble? Cuz I haven't done anything I swear. If anything it was probably Demetri or Zeke. I feel like those two are always going at it with each other." He grabbed a handful and began to eat them meticulously, trying not to get any on his clothing or to drop any. He swiveled towards Janelle as she spoke, seeing she was just as much in the dark as he was, no joke intended.

"Oh great so they're all being cryptically vague. That's nice. I'm actually on board with Janelle here. Wouldn't it be easier to just tell us what's going on and then have the others get caught up? Or is this one of those one time deals where once it's said or shown it vanishes kinda thing? In which case…we still don't really need them. We have at least three campers here. That's the golden number for quests, if this is one, so why wait?" Something about the others in the room felt off. Rosie, a Roman, they were waiting on two others and a Roman prophet? It felt as if time was dragging by, telling him something big was about to happen. But the quests had already been given, three groups one for each of the Big Three. What more was there?