[IC] Times Have Changed, Camp Doesn't

[Skai]

Aurora let out an exhausted sigh, plopping down on a bench in the arena. She had spent her entire morning helping another demigod train with a sword. At the moment, she just wanted to sit and relax in the shade of a tree. Her sword, Orion, seemed to understand that the fighting was over and retracted back into the little owl charm she’d grown so fond of. With a soft smile, Aurora slipped it onto the metal chain necklace and fastened it back onto her neck.

“See you later, Rorie,” her sparring partner said with a smile as he walked away. “Thank you.”

Aurora smiled and waved in response, standing back up. She turned and left the Arena, heading back to her cabin. Once inside, she washed her face of the sweat and grime from sparring and changed into her casual clothes, which consisted of skinny jeans, a black tank top with a blue button-up overtop, and her black converse. She ran a hand through her hair as she stepped out of the cabin, a book in hand, and headed towards the forest in hopes of some R & R.

Unfortunately, Aurora’s interest was caught when she noticed new camp members filtering through the camp. She wondered if any were her step-siblings. The only one she knew of was Annabeth, who rarely was around nowadays. She sighed softly when none seemed to belong to Cabin #6. By the time there was going to be another addition to the cabin, Aurora would be long gone.

[Vicier]

"Um, hi. Mind if I join you?" The voice was soft and shy and shaking with fear as it hit her ears causing her to turn away from her plate full of food to look over at the guy who it belonged too, her dark brown orbs narrowing slightly as they came to rest on his figure her arm moving to rest lazily over the back of her chair as she sized him up. The kid didn't look anymore intimidating than a fluffy little white rabbit munching on a carrot but then again she had come to learn that looks didn't count for everything here in the camp... Unless you were one if the Aphrodite bimbos, then apparently looks were all that mattered. "I would say no, but then I would get an earful about it later fr these two..."

Sighing she rolled her eyes and faces her plate and the food once again her foot moving under the table to push a chair out for him, "Come on... Hurry up before my good and generous mood dissapears and I change my mind. Foods just been cooked, you can thank Adam for it..." Reaching over she gently patted the chair telling him to join them before she put all her attention back on her food, the baked potatoe already half gone from the plate in the time that had passed since she had grabbed it, "Your not one of the noobies we dumped with the Hermes kid... So why haven't I seen you round? Or have I..? If I have it mustn't of been worth my time remembering... Sorry." Though she apologised her tone of voice and lack of interest showed she barely meant it, the girls so called good mood not so far off from her bad one.

[ManoftheNorth]

"Don't mind Grumpy, you are welcome to join us. We have plenty of food, and it still plenty fresh as she said. Grab a plate and a seat and we can chat." He said invitingly while moving a few of the plates holding food around for him to reach. Adam's own plate was filled with a series of small portions of each thing had cooked up for them and he smilled looking up from a small drumstick of fried chicken. He smiled after wiping away some grease from his lips and then nodded as Erin finished her words.

"I think I have seen you around the arena some, you go alone, right?" He asked, not to pester him, but to just get clarification. Adam lowered his head again, not to ignore him, but to take another good moment of the food he had cooked and took up a large mouthful of mashed potatoes and then ate it, and followed it with another bite of his drumstick.

[Thedreadpirate]

"The more the merrier" Oscar said, raising an eyebrow at the attitude that Erin had showed the newcomer, This would be an interesting meal to say the least, and it was looking like it would be one that was deliciously so. He picked up the delicious smelling food, and as he did he hopped over the bar that separated the kitchen from the rest of the area in the mess hall. With some agility he hopped over tables and opened a window, before whistling through his teeth a high pitched screeching noise. And then, with a sound that could pierce even armor, let alone ears, Lucky landed on Oscar's arm and began to pick at the smaller food.

Oscar turned to the rest of the people present and apologized for his Bird's behavior, before taking a seat near the rest of them and waiting patiently for Adam's question to be answered, Oscar too had seen the young man alone at the arena, and he had thought it strange that one would go there alone, but to each his own he supposed.

[Lady Seraphina]

Peter smiled reluctantly as he took a few steps closer to them. The girl in the group was rude and Peter thought perhaps a little judgemental. He didn't really have a problem labelling her as a Daughter of Hades. The other two welcomed him without much thought. They would be harder to peg down. Peter might eventually just have to ask them.

He took the chair that the Hades girl had kicked out for him. He knew he shouldn't be here. It wasn't safe for them to be around him, what if he did to them what he'd done to Marcus? He wouldn't be able to stay at the camp any more. Peter would have to go it alone in the world full of monsters. He supposed that uncontrollable ice would do better against them but he didn't want that to happen. Inevitably though his need for social interaction overcame his fear of them being hurt. Besides, they could probably handle themselves.

He took his seat and an extra plate and started to dish out mashed potatoes. The spoon he was using started to grow tiny ice crystals out from his hand as he was dolling himself a healthy portion. He pretended to knock the serving spoon on the floor and got a new one from the kitchen hopping no one had seen. Then one of the boys mentioned seeing him in the arena, fighting alone. How did he explain that one without sounding like a freak or a tool. He decided it was best to play it cool. "Haven't made a lot of friends here. It's hard to start a decent sparing match when you don't know who'd be willing to go a few round with you or which ones would be able to teach you a few things." That was a pathetic answer but he supposed it would have to do.

[Vicier]

"Don't mind Grumpy, you are welcome to join us. We have plenty of food, and it still plenty fresh as she said. Grab a plate and a seat and we can chat." Erin's head snapped up her eyes narrowing almost to a slit as she stared at Adam his words annoying more than most as they his her ears, "Did you honestly just call me grumpy... Just remember, I know where you live buster..." She fell silent again listening to what was being said around the table before she let her mind wander her thoughts taking over. Okay, so she could have been a little nicer to the new guy... She would just have to work on it, there was no harm in that, besides, most people blamed her parentage for her horrid attitude and that she didn't mind one little bit.

Raising her eyebrow she watched as he sat down beside her the spoon in his hand suddenly gaining a thin layer of ice over the metal handle, now that was odd... Pretending not to notice it she scooped another mouthful of her food into her mouth containing herself from rolling her eyes as the taste of garlic butter, bacon, potato and the rest of the toppings mixing together in her mouth. "Haven't made a lot of friends here. It's hard to start a decent sparing match when you don't know who'd be willing to go a few round with you or which ones would be able to teach you a few things." It really was a pathetic answer but then she sympathized with the kid, she had been exactly the same when she had started out in the camp. Hell, she still was. Adam really was her only friend, and Oscar... Well, she had no idea what her and Oscar were, "Kid, relax, geeze. You can learn from almost everyone in the camp, Sparring with anyone will help you learn how to defend yourself and attack against demigods from a different cabin, not to mention against creatures that have the same sort of skill set. Oscar's not bad with his pigeon over there. Adam has a thing for ice. And me... Well, I'll send you for a nice visit with my dad and his..." She shuddered pulling a disgusted face, "...His cheerful, plant loving wife..."

[ManoftheNorth]

Adam chuckled at Erin's words after having listened to the seemingly organized rotation of words. He finished his plate a few moments later and then slid it to the side while adjusting the whole assortment for greater ease to the other three at the table. He then turned and looked at Oscar's companion. Adam gave it a quick surveying look before smiling and turning back to the new member of the table.

"Those are the surface details of course though." He stated to the boy. "I, aside from my frozen finese, am a bit of a walking Bestiary. I have always adored the wild animals, and I even once thought about seeking out a companion, such as Oscar's friend here. If you would like, I could help you train some. I notice you are casting a bit of a freeze over the things you handle. I take it, you fear for implementing that accidentally on other campers?" He asked the boy. Adam may not have been the oldest camper in the whole expanse, but he was observant and intelligent. He then chuckled once more, but with a hardier tone this time. "I actually find it somewhat ironic. I have seen you practice, with a staff, and I train with a similar weapon. This is all the more reason you and I could begin training together, as well as with my friend and Oscar here. We can all begin training together." He stated while observing the frost and ice the boy created. "It wouldn't hurt us to start connecting a bit, that is what this camp lacks at the moment after all. Connection between campers. I mean, you have the cabins, who connect among their own cabin members, or of course the Aphrodite and Apollo children connect with other campers, but real connection is what we need." He added while smiling and then standing to stretch his back. Adam never could sit still for too long, he was always quite filled with energy, but that energy was seemingly mood dependent. Anger made his energy a strength, valiance made his energy stalwart, sorrow made his energy fluent, and happiness made his energy long-lasting. Adam himself was unsure of whether this was due to his mother, or his own inherently godly-nature. That of course was a possibility, but one not so commonly seen. Demi-gods over the ages always exhibited different influences from their parents, such as Hercules who was the son of the Zeus, the bolt caster, and yet his inheritance was a strength beyond many others, a minor feat of Zeus' often over looked. There were many other cases as such, there was once even a son of Poseidon who inherited the god-given gift of all-natural navigation. No matter where this men went, or how, he could always direct himself to his goal without the use of navigational tools, and without the use of the moon, sun, and stars. Adam, was an uncertain case though, and frantically it wasn't important enough to matter to him at the moment.

[Thedreadpirate]

Upon hearing Erin's pigeon remark, Lucky, if it were possible that such beings could do so, turned his head and glared a mix of predatory curiosity and boredom, but perhaps that was all in Oscar's head, regardless after a moment the bird once again got hungry and nibbled a bit of fried chicken skin from Oscar's fingers. Oscar for his part, was thoroughly enjoying his food and the conversation equally. The food was simple, yet delicious, and the conversation was stimulating, a perfect match, and, before adding his own part to the dialogue, sat up fully, closed his eyes, and savored the moment as he felt the succulent meat of the chicken slide down his throat and into his stomach. Afterward, Oscar reopened his eyes and expressed his thoughts on the matter proposed.

"I've actually been meaning to find such a few people, regulars to go and train in the arena with, so you'll get no arguments out of me on that score" Oscar smiled as he said this and took another bite before continuing "besides bro" he said, addressing Peter as he did, his voice calming the bird on his shoulder, "That's the point of the Arena, to practice, to spar, to go head to head, to try your hardest, to give it your all, to use every bit of strength and will that you have so that you can learn the true depths of your own well of skill and ability, and ultimately to lose, to fall hard, right on that pretty-boy face of yours, no offense meant, because you're sparring against someone who's ultimately better than you, but you keep trying, because you know you are slowly getting better at whatever it is you are getting your ass handed to you in, and eventually you try again, and you lose again, and so you try again and again and again until eventually you surprise even yourself with how much you can do" Oz's eyes misted over as he said this, and he stared into space for awhile, caught up in the beauty, before eventually regaining his compsure and continuing "and I imagine it would be extremely hard to efficiently complete this process without someone, or a few someones, there to help you out." Oscar turned, taking a sip of some water he had poured himself, and addressed Adam as he continued "That having been said, I appreciate your offer, and would definitely appreciate some help re-training Lucky, he still favors one of his wings from an accident awhile ago. If you want, I could pay you in hand-to-hand lessons, not an overly greek sport, I know, but It's one of the few things I do well in this world, that and driving chariots" Oscar took a breath and enjoyed a little more Mashed potatoes and Chicken as he finished his, rather winded if he was honest with himself, bit of speech.

[Vicier]

She rolled her eye back pushing her now empty plate away from where she sat as she listened to the conversation around the table, it was definitely something worth thinking about; maybe even worth joining in on. She had the blades that her father had given her, training blades he had called them though they did have little power to them. Groaning loud enough to get the attention of the three sat around the table she lent back in her seat her arms lifting back so that her hands were resting against the back of her head, "Okay, so maybe I might be interested in this little... Sparring group. I guess I could dust off my babies, they do need some fresh air... Some action... Some blood..." She took in a deep breath letting it out in the form of a yawn before continuing, "Okay, well that's sorted, the four of us I guess are now some weird sort of group thingy."

She glanced over at each of their faces with a bored expression before she narrowed her eyes letting them come to rest on the bird, "You said the pigeon favors one wing more than the other yes? I'll help you retrain her. Don't know if she'll like that or not, but to be honest, I'm pretty good with animals..." She turned her eyes away from them before she stood up picking up not only her plate but Adam's empty plate as well, moving around the table she slipped into the kitchen and over to the sink pushing her sleeves up before she began to wash the dishes.

[HellHoundWoof]

Nikolai woke up in the bed, he sat upright and narrowly missed the bottom of the bunk on top of him. He pushed his thick black hair out of his face and stood up stretching. He pulled on the combat boots that had been left by the bed and tied them, the whole time thinking. Was that even real? Did I really just meet a Greek goddess? He knew it had to be real, as much as he wished it wasnt he knew. He stood up and walked outside the light wasnt as intense as it had been when he first arrived, it felt like it was a different day as well. He looked around and saw other campers some relaxing others walking to the north, and he decided to follow those that were walking. He smelled food, and heard people laughing along with the clink of silver ware on plates.

Nikolai quickened his pace and eventually saw a group of tables some food and kids sitting around eating. Nikolai grabbed a plate and tossed pork chops onto it, chopped potatoes, a salad, bacon bits, and a glass of milk a glass of lemonade. He made his way over to a somewhat empty end of a table and ate his food. His pace wasnt entirely fast but it was even ever four bites of one dish he would take two drinks from each drink, he continued this pattern until his food was completely gone. He stood and carried his plate and two glasses over to where the rest of the kids were carrying their plates, he saw a fire pit and next to it a pile of plates, he simply set his plates and glasses down then returned to his bunk. He searched through his duffel and found his gray sweat shirt and sweat pants, he switched out his clothes and put them on. He started jogging about the camp grounds and saw what looked like an out door theatre, he walked inside and began running up and down the stairs for about 8 minutes, after that he began running about the camp ground again and found himself staring at a massive rock climbing wall.

He ran up to it and jumped onto the wall, he grabbed hand hold after hand hold and hoisted himself up as quickly as he could. Trying to push himself, he could feel his body straining and he was only a third of the way up. He swore to himself, he couldnt believe he was so weak he continued to push himself and reached for a hand hold just a bit out of his reach and missed. His body fell for a quick 2 1/2 feet, his heart pounded in his chest and he grabbed out for anything. His right hand caught onto a hand hold and his body slung back into the rock he felt his body hit and bounce back for a second. After a moment of pain he gripped with his left hand and then readjusted his right, he found footholds and stayed where he was motionless for a moment. He laughed nervously as he made his decent down, he decided it would be wise to go back to his cabin and try to converse with his 'brothers'. On his way there he spotted a girl sitting under a tree, he watched her as he jogged and slowed his pace to a walk.

[Skai]

Aurora shifted in her position under the tree. She’d gone and found this perfect area of shade, with a good view of the arena, and relaxed as she read her book. It was on the mythology of giants. She loved the library at Camp Half-Blood due to the fact that all of its books were the real deal. None of them were fake, like most mythology books she’d read before she came to Camp Half-Blood.

Her attention was torn from the book when she heard grunting coming from the arena, and she looked up to notice a boy roughly her age attempting to climb the rock wall. Her brows furrowed as she didn’t recognize the boy. For someone so new, he was oddly older than most of the newcomers. She gasped softly when he nearly fell, but chuckled as he caught the wall after he fell a little. Aurora averted her attention back to her book, shaking her head softly. She remembered her first attempt at climbing the rock wall. It was tough, for someone who hadn’t climbed one before. It took her a few days before she could beat the easy level.

Aurora only read a few lines before she heard the pounding of his feet against the ground approaching her. She paused, hearing him slow to a walk as he came closer. This was her chance to find out who he was, and how he could have hidden from the monsters for so long. She closed her book, memorizing the page she was on, and looked up at the boy.

“Don’t be too upset that you couldn’t climb the rock wall. Most new campers can’t.” She said with a warm smile. “I’m Aurora, Daughter of Athena. Some people call me Rorie."

[HellHoundWoof]

Nikolai watched the girl for a bit, he thought she was pretty cute. He was almost out of sight but the girl looked up and Nikolai tried to look like he wasnt looking at her but just looked at the ground like an idiot. He looked back up from the floor and began walking over to her. She said her name was Aurora, and that she was a daughter of Athena.

"I'm Nikolai, from Moscow." he said his Russian accent showing, "Hypnos, cabin 15. "

He sat down in the grass in front of her still in the shade somewhat.

"So you're really smart right?" Nikolai asked "Like really, really smart... You know because of Athena and such."

[Skai]

Aurora noted the Russian accent. It was a relief to know that someone else had an accent as well. Even though she'd dropped most of the British vocabulary, Aurora still had her British accent. It made her stand out, compared to the amount of Americans here.

She smiled and chuckled as he asked one of the very questions she'd been asked from multiple other newbies throughout her time at Camp Half-Blood. "Although I do have a high IQ, I doubt its all because I am Athena's daughter. Athena was also known for her strategic mindset as well as her wisdom. It would be like saying that you must sleep a lot because your father is Hypnos."

Aurora smiled softly. "Does that answer your question?"

[HellHoundWoof]

"Yeah," Nikolai said smiling "So you're smart but not because of your mom. Your just smart, or something."

He would have continued the conversation but a rather fat blond boy ran over and grabbed him by the shoulder. The boy pulled him up and put out his hand and smiled broadly.

"I'm Clovis!" The boy said exitedly, " One of the other sons of Hypnos! I'm so happy to meet another one of us!"

"Erm," Nikolai said " I'm Nikolai..."

"Wow," Clovis said excitedly "A Russian demigod! Thats pretty unusual! Follow me!"

Clovis grabbed Nikolai's arm and pulled him along violently, he looked behind him at Aurora and waved over his shoulder. Clovis drug Nikolai back to the cabin and closed the door behind them. This was the first time Nikolai saw no one sleeping in the cabin and everyone was standing up. All of them were watching Nikolai and some were smiling some were talking nervously, then there was Clovis standing amongst them all like a child on Christmas.

"So you're the one who he sent," Clovis said. Nikolai looked confused and the other sons of Hypnos chattered worriedly, Clovis turned to them and shushed them. He put his hand on Nikolai's shoulder reassuringly and began to explain.

"Ok, clearly you have no idea whats going on here. A child of Hypnos is going to lead us to incredible victory, we're going to help us win every game we get into. The rest of us we're not exactly the most fit nor the most trained, so we asked pops for a savior. A real tough guy, someone who could bring us to victory. A true soldier! So are you that guy?"

Nikolai looked at his half brothers, Clovis was right none of them seemed to have any real build nor did it look like they ever even left their beds. He looked at Clovis himself, he may have been their 'leader' but he was definitely not capable of winning a fight with his own pillow. Nikolai smiled, he was finally going to be back to his old self. A soldier, the leader, the big bad Niko. Nikolai addressed his troops.

"Well I did used to be a wrestler..." He said.

[Thedreadpirate]

"Try not to sound so excited" Oscar laughed in response to Erin's remarking on the 'sparring group'. He looked around the table, a rag-tag team to be sure, but not without potential, certainly it would be interesting to see how Peter and Adam interacted, and while he had never actually seen any of them in the arena, including Erin, he was certainly looking forward to the experience. Upon seeing the rather grouchy girl get up and begin to clear as she volunteered her, admittedly unproven to Oscar, avian training skills, Oscar joined her, finishing up his own plate of food, not too quickly, he was still enjoying the savory sensation of the way the chicken almost melted in his mouth, the perfect texture of the mashed potatoes and the mixing thereof.

"If you're as good with animals as you are with people, I'm sure you'd be the perfect person to help retrain HIM" Oscar retorted sarcastically, his tone made it clear that the tanned boy was joking, for the most part, and putting a good amount of subtle emphasis on the capitalized word. He did this as he moved to help clean up, taking a couple plates himself, never one to leave one person to do all the work, he took the serving plates, some of which still had food on them, as well as his own plate, and stacking it on top of the others as he passed Erin in the kitchen, he took up his post in a nearby sink and began to help out, taking a bit off the top of the large pile of dishes that lay on the countertop between the two sinks. "So, what IS with you and Lucky? do you just not like large birds? or do you ACTUALLY think he's a pigeon, cuz he's not" Oscar remarked casually, putting nothing more than basic curiosity behind the inquiry as he began cleaning the plates.

[Vicier]

"If you're as good with animals as you are with people, I'm sure you'd be the perfect person to help retrain HIM" His sarcastic response almost made her laugh as she rolled her eyes leaning against the bench as she watched him enter into the kitchen his arms full of both empty and full plates, taking some of them from him she placed them on the bench reaching out to pick little bits of food here and there as she tried to figure out how many containers she would need. Glancing around she she caught sight of what she was looking for reaching back behind herself to grab them from the shelf before she began to pack the left overs of the different foods into different containers, one by one placing them into her bag; she may have been nicer than normal today, but there was no way she was sharing the rest of her food with anyone unless it was Salem.

"So, what IS with you and Lucky? Do you just not like large birds? Or do you ACTUALLY think he's a pigeon, cuz he's not." She glanced over at him her eyes scanning his face for a moment before she turned back to packing the food away for later, "There's nothing with me and your bird... And it's not that I don't like them, just more that I'm a cat person. I know he isn't a pigeon, I'm not stupid. My ex had a thing for birds, it was one of the only things in his life he was actually nice and loving towards." Putting the last of the containers into her bag she zipped it up moving it over to another bench so that it wouldn't get knocked as they cleaned up, turning back to the sink she rolled up her sleeves diving her hands down as she began to scrub the dishes clean.

[Thedreadpirate]

Oscar paused and watched carefully as the girl put the remaining food into the containers and put the containers into her bag. As she did so he kept at cleaning the various dishes, and after hearing her response to his question he stopped for a moment, pausing only long enough to come up with a response before continuing his labor "I never said you were stupid, I simply implied that you might be unknowledgeable about various species of birds is all" then his tone became more somber, after all she had ust revealed something about her life to him, and while that not seem like much, the greeks are a very secretive, yet hospitable, people by nature,so he figured that perhaps the best way to approach this was by a means more subtle than his usual bluntness "sounds like a bad dude, at least you have Adam now" he decided on, keeping more of his original bluntness than he had originally intended. He quickly moved on "Why are you so eager to help if you not only prefer cats, but have some bad experiences associated with birds?"

He worried that perhaps it was too much though, as he waited for her reply, moving through the, albeit somewhat small, pile of dishes at a reasonable rate, he looked down at his work, worried of what would happen should he meet her eye, worried of what he might be reminded of, or who, or of the memories that might come back up, as well as Vice versa, he knew that everybody at the camp not only had secrets, but had experiences in the past that they preferred stayed there, and while it wasn't often that they did, that never seemed to quiet the swarms of people willing to try.

[Vicier]

"I never said you were stupid, I simply implied that you might be un-knowledgeable about various species of birds is all. Sounds like a bad dude, at least you have Adam now." She smiled mostly to herself as she listened to him tip toe around the subject, she could tell that he was curious about her past and with two slip up and the statement that they would talk about it sometime after they ate hanging in the air, she knew it was only a matter of time before her past came out for his own knowledge. It was something from her past, like most others in the camp, that she would of preferred to keep to herself; the only other people knowing being her mother, her friends, and Adam. She turned her gaze back down to the sink her smile fading as quickly as it had come as she went through dish after dish, the pair quickly managing to clean up the mess than had been made, "Hmph. Adam saved me... I owe him my life."

"Why are you so eager to help if you not only prefer cats, but have some bad experiences associated with birds?" It certainly was an interesting question to ask, truth was she loved animals, no matter what kind they were. And even though she had horrible memories that involved some of the feathery creatures, it wasn't them that she blamed. "I'm not eager to do anything, if I had my way, I would be in my cabin watching movies with Salem and ordering take out. But Adam insist's that I at least try, and I don't like letting him down. And even though birds are part of my bad memories, they weren't what made them bad; I don't see why I should punish them. So I treat them as I treat everything else in this world."

[Lady Seraphina]

The Hades girl made another snide comment that Peter tried to ignore. It was Adam that Peter found interesting. When he spoke the boy mentioned a certain frozen finess and suddenly Peter knew where he recognized the boy from. The shape of his face and the look in his eyes matched that of the woman that had led Peter to Camp Half-Blood, the snow girl. He'd researched her later. She was his half-sister Chione. She was however a full goddess.

Peter stood up abruptly when Adam mentioned his ability or his curse as he'd come to think of it. He said he trained with a staff and could help Peter but he had no idea, no idea what swirled around in Peter's heart threatening to burst out in every moment. "I don't think a sparring group is a good idea." he said quietly but the others had started to run with the idea and didn't seem to hear him. Oscar launched into a rather inspired speech about giving something your all and ultimately falling flat on your face and learning from the experience. These people didn't know Peter's true problem. It wasn't that he wasn't giving it his all, it was that he struggled to resist putting everything into his fights. He was so angry all the time and he had to be very careful that anger didn't hurt anyone else.

Oscar and Erin adjourned from the group to clear the dishes. Peter turned to look at Adam. He needed to understand just why this couldn't work. Oscar was on board, Erin was alright with it though she didn't seem enthusiastic about anything and Adam had brought up the while wretched idea. "Adam, this is a bad idea." He said it with more force in his voice this time. "You were lucky with your parentage. Snow has a hard bite and a cold embrace but it's always calm. The North Wind that lives in my soul is anything but." He glanced at Oscar as he said the next part. "I don't have a problem with trying with 'giving it my all' that would be so easy for me but I can't. I don't know how far my powers go, how much damage I could do. When I was walking to the Camp years ago the worst storm New York has ever seen blew in to guide me. If I can do that imagine what my unbridled power would do to this Camp and once it gets going I can't stop."

To emphasis his point Peter knelt down to the ground and touched two fingers to the cold tile floor. From his fingers a thin layer of ice raced across the tile crawling up the counters and walls. The windows became frosted and the water in the sink froze. Peter quickly removed his fingers from the floor and as heat returned to the room his ice very slowly started to melt as it should. "That is what happens when I don't put all my efforts into holding it back. How much damage could that do if I let it run wild like Skippy over there is suggesting." He said motioning to Oscar. "I need to calm the storm inside of me before I can even think about trying to control it."

[Skai]

Aurora chuckled as she watched Clovis drag Nikolai away, amused by Clovis’s eager attitude. Nikolai was definitely different than his half-brothers. Perhaps it was the Russian background. Either way, he seemed more energetic than the rest of Hypnos’s Cabin. She wondered if he had any of his father’s abilities.

With a soft sigh, Aurora returned to relaxing against the tree’s base. A gentle breeze flew through the camp, cooling it down from the hot day. This was one of the things she enjoyed about America and Camp Half-Blood. In England, it usually was raining or cloudy, but here, it was almost always sunny and warm. She especially loved that there were no cliffs to climb down in order to reach the beach. All one had to do was walk onto the sand, and there they were. The only downside to the camp was that it was the only place where she was truly safe. Even a visit to her father put risk towards him. As much as she wanted to stay with her father, she knew that being at Camp Half-Blood kept him safe.

Opening her books, Aurora returned to reading. The book was about the enemies of the gods, and it fascinated her. Of course, she had read some books about the enemies of the gods, just so she wouldn’t be ignorant if a threat to the camp was ever made by them. This knowledge was good to have when one was a demi-god. If no one read about them, how would the demi-gods know friend from foe unless they stated it? The most intriguing stories were about the Titans, especially Kronos, and fights between the Gods. While the stories were exciting, she hoped that none of these events would come to pass again. Even though she couldn’t guarantee that nothing more would happen, she was at least glad that she was prepared for it.