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Ezekiel smirked when Nancy spoke her self-proclaimed motto. ”We gotta get you another catchphrase, Nanc,” he teased her. He looked in the direction Demi wandered off in. He couldn’t leave with the group. Not while Aphrodite was harrying Demetri. Nancy's voice momentarily distracted him.
”A long bun? Like a hot dog bun?” he questioned. Sometimes he forgot how old his half-sibling really was. It made him glad they could connect so easily. Cassian voiced Ezekiel’s concerns in an easy matter, and he sighed. ”Ya, maybe you three should go on ahead. Once Demetri gets back, we’ll meet you at Burger King.”

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"I think we still have those cards, if we want to sleep elsewhere... I'll admit sleeping on the train isn't appealing to me either. I'll even take sleeping on a hotel couch or something else for the night." Stella followed Jason and Niah to the cafe, keeping Arbor close and on the leash. Thankfully the mortals around them didn't seem interested in trying to pet the working puppy, so she didn't have to put up with that kind of fuss. She lined up with the other two and fished out one of those cheap paper menus the cafe had in a box near the front and looked it over.

"We should... do shifts or something right?" Stella had lowered her voice so that only the other two demi-gods could hear her. Thankfully the other mortals were chattering loudly about the strangeness of the bird attack, what they were going to order, or other things to hear what she was talking about. Even if they did pick up, it wasn't like they knew what she meant by shifts, right? "I mean, is that a good idea or should we all just try to sleep through the night?" She started curling the edge of the paper menu as she thought, her mind going miles a minute, having skipped past dinner already.

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Harrisburg Amtrak Train Station:

The line quickly started to move forward, there was a menu board just above the registers, and the menu that Stella got her hands on, there was a better selection than there was on the train. There were some chicken sandwiches, burritos, and some bagels as well to, coffee and various teas as well to for them to choose from. "What can we get you all this evening?" The person at the register asked the group, it was peaceful already for the most part and the coast was clear to for any monsters which was a good thing then still.

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"Sounds good to me love." Kiera said to her girlfriend giving her a loving kiss on the cheek as she quickly started to follow behind her girlfriend seeing where Sera had ran off to. "I'm going to drop the bubble around us just so you know. If you need it back up let me know right away." Kiera said she didn't want to keep holding it up for so long it was pretty taxing as it was now. A few seconds later Kiera had dropped the bubble around herself and Leda, with the perks of being the daughter of Poseidon you didn't have to worry about downing really. That and Kiera wanted to see her beautiful girlfriend's hair flow under the water to.

It didn't take to long for them to see Sera had finished repairing some of it and smiled towards her Sera seemed pretty friendly enough to her as Kiera moved alongside her half-sister. "It looks great there Sera." Kiera said as some more Fish-Blood campers were setting up spikes for the barricade they were also made out of corral to. Leda would feel something brushing up between her legs and then she'd come face to face with a sealion the cute little animal nuzzled against her and acting very cute clearly wanting attention.

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Madalyne was hoping to try and defuse the whole situation, Andy decided to shock him as Damon yelped in pain after getting shocked by Andy twice. He rubbed his arms and glared at Andy with a little bit of an annoyed look when he heard a familiar voice and his name, Damon turned his attention towards Mary. He remembered her from camp he did make small talk with her from time to time but nothing to big and nodded towards her. "Are you alright Andy?" Madalyne asked looking at Andy with a worried look for her niece.

"Yeah I remember you now, how you been?" He said as he sheathed his celestial bronze dagger while looking at Andy with an apologetic look. "Sorry for that, after being trapped down here and being alone for so long this place tends to fuck with your head." He told her whether Andy accepted the apology or not was up to her. Madalyne started to sheath her sword as Mary seemed to know him was a good thing then and the boy seemed to be calm now as well to. "Uh help yourselves to the food take a seat." Damon said as he went to sit down on the nearby bed bed.

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Joanie rolled around a little bit on Nancy's shoulder letting out a cooing like sound clearly loving the scritches and wanting a lot more of it. It seemed that the group had a majority and wanted to go to Burger King which was fine with her, she wanted the chicken fries in the first place anyway. Kristin looked at Cassian for a moment and then over at Zeke, the suggestion of splitting up didn't sit well with her but two separate groups of three would work no one was truly alone then and Zeke didn't want to leave his boyfriend behind. "Alright then ladies lets go." Kristin said and started to leave the train station, she wasn't sure what Cassian was mentioning another ride to their destination but figured that they could find out after they got some food.

Alexios gave a slight shrug towards Demi. "Its whatever my mom and your dad wants, and i'd much rather not be on their bad side honestly." Alexios told Demi, he wasn't to thrilled with the proposal but he'd rather not invoke the wrath of both parents either. Aphrodite turned to face Demi giving him an evil and annoyed look, she couldn't believe the audacity of the mortal making demands of her. "Honey you don't make demands of the gods unless you REALLY want your life to be miserable just as a warning i'm feeling nice and won't turn your lover Zekey into an animal or something." Aphrodite said as she ruffled Demi's hair. "I'll leave you two to get aquainted with each other laters!" Aphrodite said, and with that she was gone Alexios letting out an annoyed sigh rolling his eyes slightly at his mother's antics.

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Demetri rolled his eyes once Aphrodite disappeared, waiting a two count before finally speaking to Alexios. "In my experience it doesn't really matter what you do or what they want. They'll meddle in regardless and make your life a living hell. Before this quest I'd never even so much as spoken to your mother, let alone done anything to make her mad at me." He shrugged, looking back over his shoulder at where he'd come from and wondering how Zeke would take this all. It'd barely been a day and already they were facing so much hardship in their relationship. What if Zeke started having second thoughts? Not only about Demi but about his whole identity and perspective? Deciding if this is how Aphrodite treated queen relationships that perhaps maybe it wasn't worth the effort.

Demi sighed, giving Alexios a leveled and apologetic look. Clearly the god didn't plan for any of this either, and it was harsh to take out his frustrations on him, but he also couldn't exactly do it to Aphrodite. "Look, I know you didn't mean for this to happen, but I do have a boyfriend and it's kind of new so…please try and get along while we sort this all out. He just found out he likes guys, I don't really need to throw in having multiple partners at the same time. We're gonna go grab a bite to eat and discuss what we're doing from there. So…come on." Demi grabbed Alexios' hand, purposely not intertwining his fingers and holding it more as a way to guide him like a friend than an actual loving way.

Luckily the walk back was short meaning he had little time to think of more ways for Zeke to hate him, unfortunately it also meant the walk was short so now he'd have to face his boyfriend sooner. As they rounded the corner he could see his boyfriend right where he'd left him, breaking into a light jog as he dragged Alexios along with him and stopping just a few feet away from Zeke. "So…uh…there's no easy way to say this Z but…apparently dad and Aphrodite made some sort of a deal and now im…betrothed. Ta-da here's Alexios god of…something, Son of Aphrodite and Ares." Demi let go of Alexios hand, using both of his to gesture towards him as he introduced Alexios.

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Cassian couldn't agree with Ezekiel more. Nancy seriously needed a new catchphrase, mostly because if he had to hear her say it one more time he may actually oblige her and make her choke on a spoon. Though he quickly dismissed those thoughts and thought better of it. His mother always said 'The first thoughts you think are what society has raised you to think, the second is the kind of person you are' He certainly didn't want to be the kind of monster that Nancy seemed to think he was. Cass was quickly pulled out of his own head as Zeke suggested hotdog buns at Burger King. Was this another IHOB situation? Did Burger King once attempt to make and sell hotdogs at their stores? The idea alone was repulsive, but he didn't say anything on it.

Thankfully Kristin and Zeke had both agreed to his plan. It was never good to split a party, but he figured in this situation it should be fine. Besides, three's were their lucky numbers after all. With those two in agreeance, it was a majority vote and Cassian had already waved goodbye to Kristin as she began to make her way out. "Zeke, level with me, any idea on why Aphrodite has taken an interest in you two? Did either of you do something to piss her off on a quest or at camp?" He'd of hoped it was a boon, but given Demetri’s inability to use his powers up until now, it was clearly a detriment. Not long had passed until Demetri finally came back, bringing another man in tow. But to hear who he was…it left Cassian speechless as his gaze affixed on Zeke to see how he'd respond.

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Nancy had been in the modern world for a few years now, but she still had trouble when it came to adapting to new slang. It mostly happened because one of her best friends also happened to hail from the 1980s, and the slang she picked up at Camp Jupiter tended to be demigod slang. She understood most of the new terms - like yeet and bae and kms - but they didn't always feel natural to her when she used them. So at her half-brother's prompting to get a new catchphrase, Nancy flipped him the bird. "It's a common expression, you grody bitch," she complained. Had anyone else commented on her outdated slang, Nancy probably would've actually been angry.

No one seemed to know what a long bun was, so Nancy was expecting to be disappointed. "Kinda like a hot dog bun, but it's not, like, connected in the same way. It's really just a hamburger bun... but it's long," Nancy explained. "But it's whatever, if it's not a thing anymore then that's fine, I can live with that." A lot of things that she had grown up with weren't around any longer. She didn't talk about it much, but it was one of the reasons why she liked Camp Jupiter so much - she didn't have to deal with how drastically the world had changed while she was in the Lotus Hotel.

She didn't protest too much when the split was proposed, heading off with Kristin and Janelle to get there ahead of the others. Joanie was still perched on her shoulder and Nancy gave her another few scritches, hoping to keep the dragon happy and content during the walk.

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Whatever that magic weed had been, it also was preventing the weight of the ocean from crushing Leda, so that was really nice. Her eyes stung at first from the salt water, but she quickly grew use to the feeling. She remembered when she was little how much she hated having her eyes open underwater - her kid self would have been horrified. As she walked, her blonde hair flowed in the water around her, taking on a slight green-ish tint. "Oh shit, Imma look like seaweed for a week," Leda complained with a giggle. She didn't actually mind that much.

Sera looked like she had gone really great work with the coral - and other people were working on it as well. "Think you can teach us two how to do it, eh?" Leda asked, figuring it might help build up Sera's confidence some. Or at least, give her a moment to bond with Kiera. She was distracted, though, as something started to brush up against her leg. Had she been a jumpy person, she might've screamed. Instead, Leda glanced down and saw a cute little sea lion. She hesitated for a moment, before kneeling down, and petting it the way she would pet a friendly dog or cat. "Uh, hey there, little fellow," Leda greeted. "What's your name?"

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Location: New York City

Skills: Hydrokinsis

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Sera gives a smile and nods. "Okay, its simple really. Just gotta take this mixture-" the girl grabs some of the wet sand glob "-and put it on the coral." She starts to show how to fix the barricade and looks over when Leda speaks again. "Oh a little sealion. How cute." Sera had been watching some of the sea creatures swimming around the area. Sometimes getting a bit distracted by some if they came close while she had been fixing the holes and such. A handful of jellyfish were hanging around her, which thankfully they stayed up high so nobody would be getting stung by any tendrils.

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"Yeah, I'm okay." Andy nodded at her aunt's question. She resisted saying something snarky to the boy. Andy was irritated at him and while she didn't say anything mean to him she was frowning.

"Apology accepted." Andy couldn't blame him, not really. But she could hold a grudge. She decided she didn't like the boy. Arthur would never have done that to someone. Not after a million years in the Labyrinth.

She didn't sit down. Andy just wanted to leave. Even if this was a good place for them to rest. They really could use something relatively safe to sleep in. Andy wasn't certain how long they had been traveling, but her feet hurt. She didn't want to complain, but they had done a whole lot of walking.





"So we're in agreement, food then find somewhere reasonably comfortable to sleep at." A hotel would be nice because those tend to be safe. There were of course exceptions. There always were. She shuddered and got a little angry knowing Nancy was heading to the worst of them all. She missed her friends. She wished they could have stayed together.

"I'll have a chicken sandwich, no mayo, please. And a large drink." Niah ordered, holding out her coupon for the person tending the till. She stepped aside so Stella and Jason could order too. She would fill the drink with soda for the meal and then switch to water after that. Water was always good and important to drink while on a quest.

"Maybe we can ask around for a hotel after we eat." Niah had a feeling a lot of the hotels nearby might get filled quickly with people who all had vouchers too. She hoped that there would be at least one room they could share.

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She wasn't even sure what it was that Nancy was talking about, but it didn't surprise her that Nancy used terms that were a bit strange, but it didn't overly matter for the most part. The whole conversation was a bit strange to her, but apparently it had been decided to split up or something and a few of them were going to head off to go get food and the other three were going to join them once Demetri decided to stop screwing around or something like that and actually stick with the group.

Of course there was the sound of footsteps coming back over to the group, and she figured that it likely was Demetri returning, but she found that she very much didn't care if it was or not. So listening to the direction of Kristin and Nancy, she didn't say anything else to the group and walked after the pair. Making sure that she managed to make her way along, paying attention to the sounds around her in general to ensure that she didn't accidentally run into anyone else.

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He waited until Niah had ordered her own food, before he stepped forward to order a sandwich and a drink, keeping it fairly simple and he was basically fine with that. The other two were talking about other things, namely finding a place to sleep, and Stella came up with the notion of them potentially having a watch cycle or something like that during the night. Considering the fact that they could potentially run into more monsters or something like that in general. It made sense to him, which was why he'd figure about doing that sort of thing.

He stepped to the side after ordering too and looked over at Niah, ensuring to also keep his voice down a bit too. "I dink dat Stella 'as a point ahr sahmethin... Sence even if we're in a 'ahtel knowin our luck we'd run into mahre mahnsters while tryin to sleep, so keepin a watch cycle ahr sahmethin like dat might be fahr de better..." he ended up saying, figuring that would work out the best for them overall.

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She was so glad that she managed to kind of calm Damon down enough for him to stop and pause to think for a moment about the idea of who they were or how they got there. It was a good thing, so they didn't have to worry about a whole lot for the moment anyway. "Well, alright aside from the fact that you know, we're in the Labyrinth right now, doing alright. Though figure might want to introduce the other two with me... Damon, this is Andy, she's a daughter of Zeus, and this is Madalyne, she's actually from Camp Jupiter and the Romans... Bit of a long story as to how that whole situation happened and all..."

Mary wasn't entirely sure of how Damon was still here, or what happened with the others he had gone into the Labyrinth with years ago. It was a bit weird in general to think of how that was. "If you don't mind me asking... What happened? And no offense, but considering how long it's been, a little surprised you aren't dead from the monsters here... How did you manage to stay alive here for so long? I mean I'm glad you have but still, it has been a while..."

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Grinning at Nancy, Zeke blew her a kiss before the girls left. He had an understanding with his half-sibling and was thankful they could have a playful back and forth. It only made their bond stronger. Besides, Zeke was a fan of humour when it came to difficult situations, like finding yourself still a teenager in the late 2010s rather than the 1980s.
Ezekiel looked back at Cassian and shrugged. He shifted his weight from foot to foot. ”I’ve never dealt with her, and as far as I know, there aren’t any issues between her and my father. Not sure if there is anything between her and Demi or Zeus.” Ezekiel just figured the goddess was bored like they usually were when the gods started messing with mortals or their children. Ezekiel just hoped Aphrodite would get bored soon.
Finally, Demetri returned, and he wasn’t alone. Ezekiel frowned as Demi approached. He noted his boyfriend holding this stranger's hand and didn’t distinguish the differences in hand holding. Hand holding was hand holding as far as he was concerned. Demetri got close, and Ezekiel turned his gaze from the joined hands to Demi’s face. The words from his boyfriend weren’t even close to what he thought they were going to be.
”You’re what?” Betrothed? Engaged?! To a dammed God!? Ezekiel’s eyes slowly drifted to Alexios. All he saw was his father’s face, Zeus’ face and Aphrodite's smug face. Ezekiel stepped around Demetri, hands balling into fists. His shoulders tensed as he shifted his weight and threw a right jab into Alexios face. The god responded immediately and shoved Ezekiel so hard that he stumbled back and landed on his ass. Ezekiel quickly got back up and grabbed Demetri’s hand, pulling him away from Alexios and heading toward Burger King. Damn the gods and their stupid games and zero regards for human emotions.

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Stella nodded as they agreed that they should find a place to rest for the night, that wasn't the train and those hard seats. Stella stepped up last and put in her order for a sandwich, with no mayo and extra mustard, and an iced tea to drink. She didn't need coffee or soda, and honestly preferred a good cup of nice iced tea. She had to thank her otou-san for that, as he always made sure there was a fresh pitcher of iced tea in their house, when he wasn't making fresh hot tea from his own tea plants and flowers. Thinking about that made her heart ache for a moment, and she shook her head and then took a step back from the counter once she had presented the coupon for the food.

"So watch would be a good idea then?" It did seem that Jason was on board with that idea, even if Niah hadn't heard her the first time, or had heard her and hadn't acknowledged it. "And asking about the hotel after we eat sounds like a good idea. We do want to make sure we get a room together, right?" She offered them all a small smile as they waited for their food to be ready.

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Harrisburg Amtrak Train Station:

It took about ten minutes or so but their food was handed to the three of them, there was a few seats that the group could take as well as a nearby bathroom. The lounge started to get quiet now as some of the other passengers decided to head off to their hotel room, or they went out to seek other transportation to wherever their destination was. The group hadn't encountered anymore monsters yet still which was probably a good thing then at least. In the distance the group could also see a car rental area if either Jason or Niah had their license they could get a car there as well to in order to get to their destination, maybe a backup plan in case they did miss their train the next morning.

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"Awww looks like you made a new friend there love." Kiera said to her girlfriend as the little sea lion nuzzled against her face before swimming off into the distance. Kiera's attention then turned to her half-sister as she started to explain what to do and nodded towards her. "You'd have fun with the Athena and Hephaestus kids back at camp." Kiera said to Sera, when she stopped and could hear some barking like sounds in the distance as a group of Telekhine's can be seen holding various kinds of weapons from swords, axes and even some hammers as well to.

Kiera remembered them being mentioned a few times back at camp, the little sea demons usually worked in forges for the titans and whatnot as well. They were still dangerous in numbers as they suddenly charged forward, there were around twenty of them as the other merpeople suddenly got into fighting positions. "We are under attack again!" One of them yelled as a Telekhine with a hammer smacked the person in the head knocking the kid out. Another one suddenly launched itself forward managing to tackle Leda into the sand of the ocean floor and started trying to claw and scratch at her. While another one with a sword swam forward swinging it at Sera cutting her arm slightly, and another one managed to sneak up behind Kiera stabbing her in the shoulder with a dagger causing Kiera to cry out in pain and drew out her sword managing to kill it.

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"It's nice to meet you." Madalyne said to Damon as he looked at the Roman girl and simply nodded as Mary introduced him to the rest of Mary's group. He didn't seem to really care for the Roman girl by the looks of it, there was still some tension between the greek demigods and roman demigods by the looks of it. That and he was still a little bit annoyed that she was stealing his food when he came into his little cottage.

"Well we did have a map of sorts that was hidden in some riddle book or whatever when we went into the Labyrinth, when we encountered the Sphinx." Damon started as he took a seat on the nearby bed looking down at his arms Madalyne noted the various scars that were on his arms, and figured that they were caused by fighting in this place for so long.

"It killed one of our quest partners who had the book and we got separated from each other. I just barely managed to find this little grove or whatever you want to call it of sorts and been hiding here ever since." He told Mary, by the time Damon had finished his story Madalyne finished making the food, it was a very basic soup as she found some bowls and started to give them to Mary, Andy and Damon.

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Kristin looked over at Nancy for a moment and shook her head slightly. "Last time I was there they didn't have those sadly, but it does sound really good though." She said to Nancy as she continued to leave the station and out onto the street, it was dark out and slightly cold as well to. "They did just add the spicy chicken fries so I might try that when we get there. The whopper would probably be pretty good for you if you want a burger." Kristin told her, luckily it didn't take them to long to get to the Burger King. The restaurant was pretty quiet. "Luckily we aren't in the dinner rush." Kristin said as she pulled out her wallet and made her way towards the counter to put her order in there was a small family in the corner of the store eating their dinner Joanie had fallen asleep on Nancy's shoulder for once small puffs of smoke were coming out of her nose with each breath and snoring could be quietly heard. "What are you going to get Janelle?" Kristin asked.

Alexios rubbed the side of his face a small bit of golden ichor could be seen but it was gone rather quickly, he looked really, really angry now at Zeke and wanted to just smite the mortal right then and there. "Well seeing as your boytoy just punched me I was going to be nice and answer why my mother is so invested in your relationship i'm not going to answer." Alexios said with an annoyed voice, he obviously knew why Aphrodite was so interested but he clearly wasn't going to say anything now as he quietly followed behind Demi. "And also i've learned to not piss her off or Zeus, you ever heard of the Kingdom of Troy?" He said to Demi.

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Demetri noticed his boyfriend's frown, hoping very hard that his explanation would be enough to alleviate him of it. Zeke's words were sharp, short, and everything anyone should expect when you introduce your significant other to the "other woman". It made him flinch involuntarily, nothing major just a small wince as if bracing himself for a hit. But the hit never came. Instead he watched as his boyfriend began to move, hoping for either a hug for him or at worst a warning to Alexios. He'd fully missed as his hands balled into fists, shock and horror stricken across his face as Zeke punched the god in his. Demi wanted to say something, but before any words could get out, Alexios shoved Zeke to the ground.

Again he wished to speak up, and again only noises barely fit to be the first sound of a word came out as he watched the scene unfold before him exasperated. Before he knew it he was being dragged away by Zeke, his hand in his as they made their way towards Burger King. Demetri couldn't help but look back towards Alexios, watching as golden ichor stained his once perfect face. He looked back at Zeke, his voice low and almost afraid. "Why did you do that?" The question felt as if it was still in his throat. Pain seared inside as he tried not to cry. "I'm not happy about this arrangement either but he has just as little say in this as we did. There was no…sigh there was no sense in hitting him."

Demetri gave Zeke's hand a small squeeze, attempting to be reassuring but his grip wasn't as strong as it usually was. He was torn between what Alexios had said and how Zeke had acted. About the power that Aphrodite could hold in starting wars and her coupled god that followed them. Everything inside him felt as if it was at war with one another and his legs began to feel heavy with every step. He wanted to look back at Alexios to see how angry he was, he wanted to look at Zeke's face to make sure he was ok. But he was afraid to do either, instead facing the floor as they continued on their way. He spoke again, his voice still low. "Are you ok? Like actually ok?..."

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More and more Cassian was loving his decision to stay behind. He harbored no real ill will towards Zeke or Demi, but a good show of chaos was always a bright way to spend an evening. He'd almost forgotten the question he'd posed earlier, uncaring that Zeke held no answer for him beyond guesses. The answer, it appeared, was right before them. Much like every high testoroned straight boy in a movie, Zeke lead in fist first, words later. Cassian hadn't even used his powers and chaos was already ensuing around him. A god and demi-god, betrothed and boyfriend, legality and love. If he was a gambling man he'd think his grandmother had a part in this.

He couldn't help but look around, his eyes glancing from corner to corner as he attempted to spy any possible interference from Eris. It was almost unbelievable when he'd found not a single trace of her work. No golden apples, or threads of chaos, no bits of power lingering from a well woven tapestry of spurned love. Just two teenage boys and a god stuck in the worst possible love triangle. One in which two clearly wanted to be together and the third merely existed. It took him a moment before Cassian noticed everyone had moved on, stunned by the show as he quickly walked up to catch them. "Sorry about that, I'm Cassian." he said extending his hand out towards Alexios.

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Andy's eyes went a bit wide when the kid explained what had happened to his group. They had had the book they now had. Andy glanced at Mary to see if she wanted to tell the boy they had it. If the Labyrinth were predictable in any sort of way they could tell him how to get out. But if he was alone...

Could they take him with them? Andy did know that quests were done in numbers of three but she didn't understand why. She ate some of the soup. It wasn't the best food in the world, but it certainly wasn't the worst. She ate it slowly thinking. She didn't like the idea of having a kid whose first reaction had been to hold a knife to her throat with them. There was a certain level of trust she just could never have with him. However, since he was from camp she felt bad for thinking it best to just leave him behind. So Andy kept her thoughts to herself. Let the older kids decide.





Niah nodded. It was as good as any plan. Their food was all ordered and paid for with their vouchers. Niah looked for a table. She found one near the bathroom and sat down.

"Yes, a watch will be a good idea. We need to make sure we are all awake and back here in time for the train too." Niah said, her stomach growling. She could tell she hadn't been on a quest in a long time. She thought of a truck and wind and her friends. She hoped Mads was alright. Was Nancy getting along with the large group she was with? Or had she screamed their heads off yet?

Niah sipped her drink. "Anyway. I prefer the first watch, but I'll take the middle since it is the roughest. If you're not good at falling right back asleep you'll not get enough sleep at all."

Once their food was brought to them she went quiet to focus on eating. Also, the cafe had gotten quiet and she didn't like the idea of talking about stuff in a quiet room. Loud rooms were better for talking about stuff people didn't think was real. That or you pretended it was about dungeons and dragons. No one paid attention if you were talking about that (unless they were also nerds).

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Location: New York City

Skills: Hydrokinsis

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"Oh they do building and stuff?" She asked then looked towards the sudden barking. Her face went pale upon seeing the Telekhines. Barely having time to get away before one had slashed at her. The newly formed wound stung as blood floated into the water. "Oww!" She whined while trying to figure out what to do before the monster attacked her again. Sera remembered the watch around her wrist and got it activated after a moment. Which she was rather glad since it seemed to have been a shield. She could protect herself from the Telekhines sword.

The girl backed up but tripped, falling over, keeping the shield up. Now was not the best time to be clumsy like she always was! Sera looked scared and nervous as the monster was coming for her again. "H-help!" She yelled, hoping for someone or something to save her.

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Ezekiel was fuming as he stomped away. The only positive he had taken from letting his anger out was the fact that he made a god bleed. However, the joy in that was short-lived. Demetri was not happy, but honestly, what was he expecting? Ezekiel to laugh and find the bright side that now they had a god for their quest and let the newcomer make eyes at his boyfriend through the whole trip. All Ezekiel could hear were the kids at his school telling him they were better than he was because they had better clothes, newer books, more than one pen, more money, both parents… It was an onslaught of negative thoughts that continued to bounce around his head until he felt the feather-light squeeze of Demetri’s hand. Ezekiel looked back at his boyfriend and slowed in his walk. Making Alexios bleed felt good, but seeing the pain and fear in Demetri’s eyes didn’t feel good.
”No, Demetri. I’m pretty far from okay.” He ran his free hand over his face, scrubbing at his eyes before his fingers slipped through his hair. He sighed and faced Demetri. ”Our entire lives, the gods have sought fit to control us. It’s written in our history, and it still happens. We are on this damn quest because of it, and now, this,” Ezekiel nodded back to Alexios. He shook his head and looked down at the ground. ”For once, I’d just like something that was mine and not for others to control.” He looked back at Demetri and pulled his boyfriend in for a tight hug. He buried his head in Demetri’s neck and took solace there.
”I’m sorry.”

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She wasn't entirely sure what to say in response to the conversation that Nancy and Kristin were having with regards to sandwiches and all that were at the fast food place. Janelle didn't say much of anything once they reached the area, not really feeling too talkative at this point in general. The place was seemingly kind of quiet though from what she could tell, so that was something for the moment at least.

Her thoughts were still sort of drifting around a bit at the words with regards to what they were supposed to do. Nothing seemed to be happening at the moment, but she was still listening in general to keep tabs on whether or not something or someone showed up to cause them trouble. Janelle got pulled a bit from her thoughts by Kristin's question, and she just sort of shrugged. "I dahn't really 'ave a preference ahn anythin at dis point..."

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The conversation assured that they'd be taking watches of some sort. They needed to make sure they were all awake so they hopefully didn't miss their train. Having to find a car or something was not something he'd want to do considering as far as he knew, they probably wouldn't really be able to just find a rental car, most places you had to be in your 20s, and all three of them were clearly underage in that regard. He barely was able to be considered an adult at this point, so they would potentially have to steal something or figure out another thing with a car if they missed that train.

"yeah messin dat train wooehld likely end poorly at dis point. dahn't want to really try and fend anahther way to get dere if we mess dat train. and 'ahnestly? i 'aven't exactly slept a foehll night's sleep in a lahng time, ahr slept easily in general, naht fahr a few years at dis point, so i'm fine wit whechever watch you all want me ahn." he responded with a bit of a shrug. Jason didn't really elaborate why, even though he actually could pinpoint down to the day when that sort of issues started.

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Mary didn't say anything at first, just listening as Damon explained what had happened to him and the rest of the group in general. It didn't surprise her to hear that a member of their group as far as he knew had died from the Sphinx. Though hearing about them having found the book that they now had, but for them had been lost during the fight with Sphinx and all made her think a bit. It was a bit ironic to her that somehow they ended up with the same book that they had back when they first had entered the Labyrinth.

The other kid that he had gotten separated from she couldn't help but still think likely dead. This was the only place they'd come across that had been inhabited by anyone other then monsters. Mary figured she'd mention the book, before pulling it out and holding it up. "When you mention the book guessing you meant this book? Killed the Sphinx when we first entered the Labyrinth and it dropped it. Has the map in the back of the book..."

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Nancy shrugged off Kristin's suggestion as they entered the Burger King. She was somewhat used to this - so many things were different from where she came from. It was honestly one of the reasons the Hunt appealed to her - almost every huntress working for Diana could relate to that, most of them far older than their physical appearance would suggest. Nancy wouldn't feel so displaced in time when with a group of girls where all of them were temporally displaced.

When they entered the Burger King, Nancy took a moment to note the relative emptiness - just the staff and a small family. She almost wanted to warn them all to leave the building, that a bunch of demigods in a mostly empty restaurant was a recipe for a monster attack, but they'd probably just look at her like she was crazy. However, her attention was then pulled by Janelle's noncommittal answer. She didn't know Janelle very well, but in her experience, people tended to have a food of choice at a fast food place. And Janelle had exploded on Zeke earlier that day. "Alright, you want to talk about it, or are we brooding?" Nancy asked Janelle, as she got in line behind Kristin. She was probably just going to get a whopper, fries, and a shake. "You probably have twenty minutes until the next monster decides that we're dinner, so I'd open up now if you are planning on doing it at all tonight."

Blunt? Yes. Too blunt? Maybe. But Nancy could tell this girl was hurting - and the boys weren't there at the moment.

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"Fine, keep your secrets, then," Leda said jokingly, as the little sea lion swam off as quickly as it had come. She then stood back up to her full height, as the little sea friend had gone off to do whatever it was sea lions liked to do. Sera seemed to really like this construction job, and Leda agreed with Kiera's assessment - she'd fit in really well with the Hephaestus and Athena kids. But it did make sense, to a certain extent - the legendary cyclops forges were here under the sea, so a child of Poseidon having an inclination towards creation wasn't surprising to Leda.

But construction time was short, as suddenly, they were under attack by a pack of telekhines. The demons were vaguely humanoid, but with the faces of vicious dogs. Leda was caught off guard, knocked down into the ocean floor by one of them, the demon trying to claw and scratch her. "Urgh, get off of me!" Leda shouted. She couldn't grab at her necklace to trigger its transformation into her sword, so instead Leda focused on one of her demigod gifts. She heard Sera scream for help, but there wasn't anything she could do at the moment for her - the daughter of Poseidon would have to figure it out on her own.

Leda's body changed, as she looked like she was made out of rainbow-tinted light and energy, like she was a cosmic magical girl. She blasted the demon off of her with pure rainbow light. She moved quickly, tugging on the chain of her necklace as it snapped, coming off of her and then immediately transforming into her glowing sword Ultraviolet. She scrambled up to her feet and ran the telekhine through on her blade, turning it into dust. "Your breath stank, by the way - try a fucking mint next time," she said to the pile of dust that had settled down on the ocean floor.

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Ten minutes after placing the order, food was being called for Stella and her companions, and she walked up to the counter to pick up her part of the order. The first sip settled her a bit, even if it wasn't anywhere as good as anything her otou-san made. Thinking about it again made her heart pang, but she had to push that down once more. Mission time was more important and she had to listen to the other two while she nibbled on her sandwich. She took another sip of her iced tea and looked between Jason and Niah. It sounded like Jason didn't care which watch shift he took, and Niah was volunteering to take the roughest one.

"If neither of you mind terribly, then may I take first? I've never done this before so I might work... better on some uninterrupted sleep. If not, I can also take the last one and make sure we all wake up and get to the train on time." Stella gently slipped some meat from her sandwich to Arbor, making sure that he got some food as well. She really needed to figure out what he ate, and quickly.

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Harrisburg Amtrak Train Station:

If Niah or Jason wanted to they could give either Mads, Nancy or Janelle an Iris message in order to check up on them and see how their quests are progressing, they just needed to somehow make a rainbow and use some drachma to send out that message if they chose to. The rest of the little lounge cafe area started to fill in again as another train entered the station to unload their passengers. The group should check in with their hotel sooner rather than later as one passenger entered the cafe area and started to sniff the air, and a few others now were doing it as well to. But due to the mist none of them could identify what kind of monsters they were at the moment one of them looked like it was pulling out what looked like a club. "I smell demigod meat." One of them said, the hotel that they were booked to was just across the street from the train station.

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Kiera turned around and managed to turn around using her good arm as she swung her sword at the telekine managing to chop off it's head, Kiera stumbled back slightly as she held her bad arm. Blood started to flow around her in the water, it hurt like hell as well to as more telekines came into the fray. They started to attack the merpeople, some of them managed to take them out, while others weren't so lucky and were attacked. Sera could hear what sounded like a sealion, as the one that befriended Leda came back with a few friends it seemed, and managed to take the telekine off of Sera knocking it off of her easily.

Kiera quickly came over to her half sister. "Are you okay?" Kiera asked Sera with a worried look the sealion swam back to Sera and nuzzled her happily, Leda would feel something climbing up her back it was another telekine and started growling and yanking at her hair rather roughly which would hurt like hell. Kiera turned to see that her girlfriend was under attack again quickly went over and managed to knock it off of her but it was still alive. Kiera leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "You owe me dinner now love." Kiera told her.

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Damon turned to look over at Mary as she held up the book towards him, his eyes going wide and nodded towards her he was surpised that they managed to take out the Sphinx where he and the rest of his quest mates had failed. "Yes thats actually the same one that we had when we entered the Labyrinth in the first place." He told her as Madalyne sat down next to Andy gently wrapping her arm around her niece. While she ate, Madalyne was really curious how this kid survived so long inside of the Labyrinth himself for so long for a Greek that was pretty rare surviving alone.

"So since you have been down here for so long, do you know the area here pretty well or at least the surrounding area in this portion of the Labyrinth itself?" Madalyne asked Damon as he turned to look at the Roman girl who had addressed him. He nodded slightly as he got up and moved over to a small shelf and pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper it was a map by the looks of it and notes of some monsters that he had encountered in the area. "Yeah mapped out the area as best as possible." He told them, Mary could reference both maps to see how accurate they were with the one that she had on her.

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Kristin looked between Nancy and Janelle it was just the girls really and no boys at least for now which was probably a good thing then. "Seeing as the boys aren't here at the moment you could vent about it if you want just between the two of us." Kristin said to Janelle gently resting a hand on her shoulder while looking over at Nancy. She didn't know her all that well really but they could at least try and see if they can find a way to talk things out while the boys made their way over. "What can I get you ladies?" The person at the register asked them. "I'll just have the spicy chicken fries, a large fry, and coke please." Kristin said while looking at Janelle and Nancy.

Alexios was clearly still eyeing Zeke with an annoyed expression while he was hugging his soon to be man, still contemplating on just smiting the son of Apollo. When his attention was quickly drawn towards Cassian as he introduced himself and shook his hand. "Alexios, son of Aphrodite and Ares, God of Parties all that fun stuff and what not." Alexios said while walking continue to walk alongside him towards the Burger King.

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Location: New York City

Skills: Hydrokinsis

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"Saved by sealions... Huh." Sera hadn't expected that. Nor did she expect the sudden Jellyfish swarm from above to descend at the Telekine. Hopefully those little guys would attack and zap the hell out of the Telekine. "Okay sea creatures are pretty dang cooler now in my book. Oh I'm fine, yeah, just got a bit wounded. Kinda feels bad." The young demigod decides to look for a weapon to at least grab so shes not just relying on the help of others. She kept her shield out in case another one of those horrible monsters came at her. Oh a sword, perfect, that would be useful against anything right about now.