[IC] Ω Heroes of Olympus: the Hidden Gem (Nallore, Morose, Kirah) Ω

[Kirah]

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Niah Bautista

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Location: The Auguries
Skills: N/A

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Niah looked around the Auguries, she hadn't ever really been in here before. She had never gone on a quest before. The strewn corpses of stuffed animals was a little offputting, but she was glad it was stuffed animals instead of actual animals. She did remember hearing that the previous augur had done the same thing so it didn't come cold. But why wasn't she cleaning up after herself? Or at worst a Probate running around behind her to clean it up once she was done doing whatever it is an agur does.

Niah was glad she didn't have a sister here at camp. She had a sister, one she missed terribly. They had been the best of friends, so she couldn't quite imagine why Nancy was being mean to her own sister. Maybe it was different when you hadn't grown up together? She winced slightly as Nancy harrassed Alexandra awake and shifted a few steps away. She very carefully in her own mind wished to see her sister again but kept from making any promises.

"Alexandra. I need your help. I need to go on a quest." She said trying to be assertive. "A gem was stolen from camp by a faun and now a dragon has it. The dragon is taking it to Mount Rushmore. It has to be me." She glanced at Nancy as she finished. "Please do your thing."

[Nallore]

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Madalyne Crane

Location: Camp Jupiter, New Rome, the Auguries
Skills: N/A

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Madalyne watched Nancy as she started to shake her half sister awake, which was kind of entertaining to see, though she did think it was a little bit overkill, but snorted slightly when Nancy yelled at her that Pantene was having a sale. Alexandra woke up after the shaking and quickly drew out her imperial gold dagger and pointed it at Nancy's neck after being startled awake and glared a little bit at her. "You could have not shook me to wake up?" Alexandra said in an annoyed tone in her voice, she then looked at Niah and sighed a little bit, before sheathing her dagger.

"Get me a stuffed animal that isn't gutted then." Alexandra said, and Madalyne nodded slightly as she made her way towards a nearby shelf with stuffed animals that weren't gutted and grabbed a bunny before making her way back over towards her. "Will this work?" Madalyne finally asked. Alexandra snatched the stuffed animal from Madalyne and went over towards the altar taking out the knife again and started to gut the poor thing, and triggered a vision.

She could see the faun that had stolen it, and two others who were with it, and then the dragon grabbing the one who had the gem and then mount rushmore as well seeing it flying into George Washington's eye which was probably where it was nesting. "Theres two other fauns that were with it, maybe more information from them. And it's inside of Washington's eye where your dragon is sleeping." Alexandra said looking at them. "Anything else?"

[Morose]

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: New Rome - the Auguries
Skills: N/A

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Nancy stifled a very slight chuckle as Niah said do your thing. It struck her as a bit anti-climatic after everything else Niah had said, especially with the relatively professional and confident tone. Perhaps it was a little bit of her father's influence coloring her thoughts - he was the god of poetry, he had raised the Muses. It'd make sense for him to have a little bit of an opinion on prose. Of course, Nancy always figured she inherited two gifts from her dad - prophecy and music. She had a voice that could shatter glass. She couldn't hold back the snicker though as Alexandra aimed her dagger at her throat, mockingly raising her hands. "Would you rather I fetch a thing of water next time?" Nancy asked Alexandra innocently.

She winced sympathetically for the poor stuffed bunny Madalyne had selected, as Alexandra ripped it open viciously on the altar. Once again, Nancy couldn't help but feel that her tarot cards were the superior method for divining prophecies - not that she wanted people to come consult her, of course. She didn't want Alexandra's job at all. Her information more or less complemented what Nancy had seen - three fauns, one dragon, and the gem was inside the eye of Washington at Mount Rushmore. "Rad. Y'mind coming with us to chat to the Senate? I think the three of us are raging to go and all as soon as we can." The Senate would need to approve this quest, but they had Alexandra's prophecy as the augury now, so they were another step closer in the bureaucratic process.

[Kirah]

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Niah Bautista

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Location: The Auguries
Skills: N/A

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Niah winced as Alexandria held a dagger at Nancy. She supposed that was family business. They could hold daggers at each other if they wanted. As long as Alexandria wasn't holding it at her. Thankfully the dagger was sheathed. Madalyne retrieved a stuffed bunny for Alexandria who proceeded to do her thing. With surprisingly little complaint.

"Thank you." Niah said. And nodded in agreement with Nancy's request. "Do you know which fauns? Or is this an ask around till we find a sufficiently guilty-looking one?" Niah disliked the fauns. They were, in her opinion, nearly useless. She didn't even understand why they kept them around New Rome. At least give them a task. Now one was guilty of stealing an important gem from camp.

[Nallore]

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Madalyne Crane

Location: Camp Jupiter, New Rome, the Auguries
Skills: N/A

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Alexandra shrugged slightly, she didn't recognize their faces, Fauns always came and went to camp all of the time and in her opinion they were pretty much useless other than begging food and taking things that aren't theirs. She was glad that they weren't allowed to work in the Legion really either. "Unless you guys want to pay me to help you search and question fauns all day. But yeah I can go to the Senate and have an assembly later in the day." Alexandra was rudely woken up by her half sister Nancy after all.

Madalyne always did feel pretty bad for the Fauns around camp however and would always help them out whenever they did ask for something she'd give them some money or food to eat. She looked at Niah and Nancy to see what the two of them wanted to do, question some Fauns until they assembly could start or do something else while they waited. Madalyne didn't really care to much about having to wait either really at least she wasn't a Praetor or anything like that yet that job wouldn't be to fun for her in her opinion anyway.

[Morose]

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: New Rome - the Auguries
Skills: N/A

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"Pff, we're not paying you, sis," Nancy told Alexandra confidently. "One, don't have the money for that. Two, if we had the money for that, why in Pluto's name would we want to give it to you? What would you even use it for - to buy out a Build-a-Bear workshop?" she scoffed. She had seen one when she was being brought to Camp Jupiter from the Lotus Hotel and Casino. It had been sickeningly adorable - the sort of thing she would have adored having in her childhood. Of course, Nancy didn't have a good concrete reason to dislike Alexandra so much. Maybe she could blame it on the fact that in Alexandra, she saw a fate she never wanted - becoming an Augury, reduced to just a mouthpiece for prophecies. Or maybe it was the fact that Alexandra just reeked of casinos. Maybe Nancy just disliked blondes.

"I'm not sure it's worth questioning the fauns," Nancy then admitted. "We know where this gem is - Mount Rushmore, in the eye of good old George. We know it's being guarded by a dragon. The fauns seem... irrelevant, to me? I think we just gotta motor, get the gem, and bring it back here." She didn't have a hatred for fauns or anything, she didn't like them but she didn't dislike them either. They were just sorta there, other beings that lived in Camp Jupiter and depended on them for (stolen) food. They might as well have been shrubbery.

[Kirah]

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Niah Bautista

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Location: The Auguries
Skills: N/A

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They would have extra time between now and when the Senate meeting would start. They were always a little slow. She would rather get going. Niah shifted on her feet a bit considering her options. She winced a bit when Nancy was mean to Alexandra, but she did agree with Nancy. They didn't have the cash to pay Alexandra to help them question fauns for like two hours.

"I partially agree with you Nancy, about the fauns, but they might be able to give us some details about the dragon. If they do then we might have an idea of what we are dealing with. Personally I've never met a dragon. I'd like a step up against it, they might be able to help with that." She turned back to Alexandra, "Thank you though. When will we be able to meet with the Senate?"

[Nallore]

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Madalyne Crane

Location: Camp Jupiter, New Rome, the Auguries -> Senate Building
Skills: N/A

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Alexandra looked at Niah and gave a slight shrug. "Maybe an hour or two, someone will send for you guys." Alexandra said as she started to gather her things and started to head out, and set up the meeting while their current session was on their afternoon break. Madalyne looked at Nancy, and Niah and gave a slight shrug. "I guess we can go and quest some Fauns see if they know the one who stole the gem." Madalyne said as she made her way out of the Auguries.

A little bit over two hours later, Madalyne couldn't really find any kind of information from any of the Fauns that were in or around camp, until one of the messengers came over to the three of them. "The senate is ready to meet you guys." Before handing the three of them the letter before heading off. Madalyne looked down at it, and then the two of them, she had only been in there a few times once she had gotten her Centurion rank, as well as her initial placement within the legion as well. Madalyne stood in the room seeing all of the senators within the room talking amongst each other.

[Morose]

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: New Rome - the Senate Building
Skills: N/A

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Nancy always felt that the Senate was dreadfully boring. Ten demigods served on it, deciding pretty much everything for the legion. She could hardly imagine sitting on the stone benches for hours at a time, debating the finer aspects of quests and the possibility of war. She liked to keep moving if at all possible. The only time she ever slowed down was to get her coffee from New Rome - and even then, she could hardly resist gulping it all down at once like a shot. She peered at the letter, squinting her eyes as she tried to make her dyslexic brain focus on it. It was in English, but she got the gist of it pretty quick. They were summoned by the Senate.

She made her way to the Senate House with the other two, taking a moment to look around. Of the two praetors, one of them was from Nancy's cohort - Maggie Ortega, daughter of Venus. The other, Jasper Moon, son of Bacchus, was from the fourth cohort. It wasn't a terrible cohort to be from, but it definitely lacked the shiny reputation of the first and second. Yet even though she was a centurion, Nancy didn't know too much about both of them beyond just that. She had no idea if they would get pedantic about things, if they would try to give this quest to someone else, or if they would be reasonable and give them the green light to go. "So do we sit anywhere?" Nancy asked, standing and feeling a bit awkward.

[Kirah]

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Niah Bautista

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Location: The Senate Building
Skills: N/A

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Niah was frustrated with the lack of information. She hated it. They were getting to the point where Niah was about to snap when the runner came up with the letter for them. She was thankful for it. After several deep breaths, she went with the two of them to the Senate. She had been here often enough. Usually for her Oath Binding. This was more awkward though. She had never been here for the start of the quest.

"We have a prophecy about the missing gem. I'm supposed to go to Mount Rushmore, the gem is in the eye of George Washington." That was a sentence she had never expected to say. "I've chosen Nancy Parker and Madalyne Crane to go with me." She didn't know what all she was supposed to say, but that felt concise and to the point. Hopefully, it also sounded assertive. Her insides were twisting with fear and she could feel her hands were sweating. She wanted to wipe them on her pants.

[Nallore]

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Madalyne Crane

Location: Camp Jupiter, New Rome, the Auguries -> Senate Building
Skills: N/A

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"I guess take a seat anywhere?" Madalyne said to Nancy, as she found a nearby seat while some of the other senators were talking amongst themselves. Maggie and Jasper sat in their usual seats in front of the other senators, all of them were in traditional roman attire while they spoke. And then a few seconds later Alexandra came into the room, seeing the trio again, she stared at Nancy in particular as well for a long moment. When Niah spoke, the group of senators looked at each other, when Maggie usually the one who spoke up the most and acted mostly as the leader. "So, you want to go out on a quest with both Madalyne and Nancy?" She asked, when Alexandra spoke up. "I did see in the vision that the three of them were to go on this quest." She spoke up.

Madalyne sort of sat there looking over at Nancy for a moment, while the Senators spoke to each other and whether or not if they wanted to vote for the three of them, or choose to pick someone else to go out on the quest. "This is taking forever." Madalyne whispered to Nancy before they ended up taking their vote.

Four of them wanted to vote for others to go out on the quest, and the other six, voted and to allow Niah's picks to go when Jasper spoke. "Looks like the majority wins. The three of you are permitted to go on the quest to retrieve the gem and bring it back here." He said, both Jasper and Maggie agreeing for the three of them to go on their quest as well. Madalyne let out a slight sigh she was glad that they would allow her to go with Niah and stood up looking at the two of them. "I guess we should all get ready and go then?" She said.

[Morose]

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: New Rome - the Senate Building
Skills: N/A

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This was one of the things that really frustrated Nancy about democracy. Only six of the ten voted in favor of Nancy, Niah, and Madalyne undertaking this quest - despite the fact that the Augur had a prophecy confirming they were supposed to go. It reeked to her of favoritism and politics. She liked being a Centurion, yet she doubted she'd ever go any farther with Camp Jupiter than that. The Senate was a great idea in concept, but it baffled her how people could just vote against facts and logic like that. Maybe that was why there were no demigod children of Minerva. "Tubular," she said, getting up from the seat she had taken next to Madalyne. She was itching to go. She shook out her legs slightly, trying to get the blood flowing again after what felt like eternity watching the Senate deliberate.

Her weapons were back with Terminus at the boundary line. She'd need to grab her daggers. Her hip flask was filled with nectar, enough to hopefully last an entire quest. Her walkman would have been nice to bring, but she doubted it would come back in one piece - and a working walkman was hard enough to get these days. She'd leave it in the barracks. The only thing she wondered was whether she should exchange her daggers for her sword, but at least the daggers would return to her hands. She then laughed a bit to herself. Everything she'd want to bring on a trip, she essentially already had with her. A bag with extra rations in it would be the only other thing she'd want. "Let's get some bags, fill them with rations and medicine, grab whatever we need from the barracks, and roll out. We can take a train as close as we can get to the Dakotas."

[Kirah]

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Niah Bautista

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Location: The Senate Building
Skills: N/A

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Niah decided there really was an end to her patience. She was stressed while the Senate debated, and wanted to pace. That seemed like it would reflect badly on her so she sat as still as she could muster. Why was there even a debate? Alexandra had confirmed that it should be the three of them. It was supposed to be her according to Nancy, and Alexandra had confirmed that Nancy and Mads were with her. She was clenching her fists when they finally said that the three of them could go together. Also, why were there ten on the Senate? Shouldn't it be an odd number for breaking ties?

Niah took a deep breath and turned to Nancy and Madalyne. "Yeah, I need my sword. And an extra shirt would be nice. Meet at Deccumanian Gate?" Niah was already coming up with a few other things she wanted to grab. Some nector, maybe an extra imperial gold weapon, her sword was great, but like a boot, dagger would be nice. "And thank you for putting up with the red tape with me." She gave them a smile. They were good friends, even if they hadn't been close. Niah felt like being on a quest would either secure their friendship or they would not survive. Be that literally or figuratively as friends.

Leaving the Senate Niah turned back toward the barracks. It would be nice to get her sword back. And she could let the cohort know that'd she would be gone. It shouldn't take long. They would be gone by sunset.

[Nallore]

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Madalyne Crane

Location: Camp Jupiter, New Rome, Senate Building -> Third Cohort Barracks -> Deccumanian gate
Skills: N/A

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Madalyne didn't really take interest while the senate debated on who should and shouldn't go on the quest but luckily they were given the greenlight to do it. She quickly stood up and stretched slightly looking over at Niah and smiled towards her and nodded, it was a good place to meet up once they got their things. "There should be some trains in San Francisco so we could easily find a train ride there." She said, agreeing with what Nancy had said, before leaving the building itself and smiled towards Niah. "No problem at all, we are all in this together after all." Madalyne said.

She left and once she was close to leaving the city limits of New Rome Terminus appeared again, and handed back all of their weapons once they left. "Meet you guys there." She said heading over to the third cohort barracks and went to grab her things, stuffing some spare clothes into her pack as well as some camping gear. Once she was done Madalyne waited for Niah and Nancy back at the gate so that they all could leave together.

[Morose]

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: New Rome - the Senate Building -> Temple of Diana -> First Cohort Barracks -> Deccumanian Gate
Skills: N/A

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"Deccumanian Gate. Got it." Nancy gave Niah and Madalyne a smile and she left the Senate House. She walked with the others to the Pomerian Line, grabbing her daggers back from Julia and Terminus. Nancy couldn't remember who Julia was a child of, and she had to wonder if Terminus was her godly father. "See you all then," she said, waving at the other two in parting, before she turned left rather than head on to Camp Jupiter. She continued to walk along the path, crossing the Little Tiber with the stone bridge, before finally arriving at Temple Hill. The temples were impressive and she took a moment, just staring at all of them.

After she had been rescued from the Lotus Hotel and Casino, she had met her father, Apollo, in his temple here. He had written her a letter of recommendation for the First Cohort as an apology for not noticing she had been trapped for about forty or so years. He had given her the enchanted tarot cards to help her channel her gift of prophecy. And while Nancy went to Apollo's temple about every week, he hadn't appeared to her again. It had been all silence. She continued along the path, approaching the temple of her father, yet as she looked forward... All she could feel was frustration for the curse he had given her - the "gift" of prophecy.

Nancy kept on walking, not really sure where she was going until she found herself at the Temple of Diana. Since her father was the son of Jupiter, she had a lot of aunts and uncles. Diana was the twin sister of Apollo though and Nancy always thought of her as her favorite aunt. "Auntie... It's me again. Nancy," she breathed out awkwardly. "If you could wash away my curse... That'd be great..." She paused, not really knowing what else to say. She tossed a small offering into the flames. "Thanks. You seem pretty rad, from what I've heard."

There wasn't much else to say and she didn't want to keep the other two waiting. Nancy quickly left her aunt's temple and made her way to the First Cohort Barracks. She checked in with her fellow Centurion, let them know what was going on, before she packed up a bag for herself with her belongings. She put in a week's rations, a box of matches, and some duct tape as well. They all seemed like reasonable possessions. She then left the barracks and made her way to the gate, waving at Madalyne as she approached. "Where's Niah? We gotta motor if we're gonna get good seats on the train."

[Kirah]

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Niah Bautista

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Location: The Senate Building -> 2nd Cohort -> Deccumanian Gate
Skills: N/A

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Niah went first to get her sword back. The weight of it felt right on her back. She hated not having it. Niah had been trained too well to not have it. Then headed back to her barrack. Classic Romans. She thought as she entered and went to her bed. Niah was pulling stuff out of the trunk there when Eric Chandler came up to her.

"Bautista, where have you been?" He sounded aggressive, but that was basically his default state. He wasn't happy that she had been promoted to Centurion. The joke was on him, neither was she. Thank god she hadn't been forced onto the Senate. She'd go crazy.

"Dealing with the Senate. I've got a quest." He raised an eyebrow. "Prophecies you know how it is." She shrugged and shoved a shirt in her bag, as well as a handful of other helpful things. "Do we have an extra nectar?"

"Yeah, but do you need it?"

"Only if you want me to return from fighting a dragon." He sighed heavily and then pulled a small bottle out of storage. A single dose of 'save your ass'. "Thanks. I should go. Nancy and Madalyne are probably waiting for me already."

"You're questing with them?" She couldn't tell if he wanted to make fun of them, or her. Probably both. She didn't want to deal with that conversation.

"Yeah, I chose them." She said matter of factly.

"You're lead?" He scoffed.

"Yep. Bye." She slipped her backpack on. If he said goodbye it was muted by the door of the barracks door closing behind her. She sighed relieved. It wasn't anything against Eric necessarily. Okay, he was antagonistic and she didn't want to be around him. The stress of the day seemed to be getting to her. She wasn't usually this snappy.

"Sorry I got caught up talking with Chandler." Niah explained as she joined them. "I am ready to get the heck out of here. So San Francisco Amtrak station." She hoped that the cash the three of them had would be enough to get them across the country. If not... They'd figure it out. They were Demi-gods that's what they did.

[Nallore]

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Madalyne Crane

Location: Camp Jupiter, Deccumanian gate
Skills: N/A

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Madalyne leaned herself up against the side of the gate looking at the barracks close by quests were usually pretty dangerous for them all to leave and wondered if it was going to be the last time or not. She started to tie her hair into a pony tail making sure that her pack was secured on her back. When she saw Nancy approaching her and smiled waving towards her glad that she was already to go on this quest with her and Niah. "She will be here pretty soon I think." Callie said when she saw Niah coming up to them and smiled towards her as well, and shook her head slightly at the mentioning of Eric.

"Isnt he always a little bit of an asshole?" Madalyne said jokingly as she searched through her pockets seeing that she did have enough money for the Amtrak train. "Lets head to the closest bus stop then that would take us to the train station then." She suggested as she started to make her way down the road leading out of Camp Jupiter itself, occasionally seeing some Fauns slacking off near the side of the road and on the grass laying down.

[Morose]

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: Camp Jupiter - Deccumanian Gate
Skills: N/A

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Nancy glanced into her wallet. She probably did not have enough money, but they'd figure it out. She wasn't sure how far $50 would get you these days - it was different in the 80's. Everything had been cheaper back then. Of course, everything had been free at the Lotus Hotel and Casino as well. The reality of having to pay for things with real money and at higher values? It was horrid. "What did Chandler want?" Nancy asked Niah as they walked to the bus stop. She couldn't help but be a little bit curious. "Rachel and I said, like, less than five sentences to each other before I motored." Her fellow Centurion for the First Cohort was Rachel Jefferson, daughter of Victoria - the goddess of victory. That was one useful demigod talent to have - winning.

She looked at the fauns that they passed on the sides of the road, wondering if any of them had been involved in stealing the gem. She wasn't sure what the fauns responsible for the theft had intended to do with it anyways. Maybe they were going to sell it to some sorcerers. Actually, the more she thought about it, the more it bothered her. "So let's say you're a faun, right? You steal a gem, you're probably trading it for something or selling it... I know the dragon has it now, but where do you think the faun was going to take it - is there a black market for stolen demigod goods?"

[Kirah]

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Niah Bautista

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Location: Deccumanian Gate
Skills: N/A

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"Yeah, but that comes with the territory I think of being a kid of Mars. He wanted to know where I was." Niah shrugged. "I guess he wanted me around for something, but search me for what. And gods know he didn't think I'd be useful for anything." She sighed frustrated. "I think he is jealous that I got a quest. It is my first one anyway. And I think he's been on one. He seemed extra annoyed that I was the run in charge, but let's all be honest I'm going to rely heavily on you two."

"Oh gosh. I didn't even think about that possibility. I figured the Faun just stole it for the dragon. It is likely they stole it for another purpose and the dragon then stole it from them." Niah cursed slightly in Tagalog to herself. What was the purpose of the gem anyway? She knew it was used for some spells. "Do either of you know what the gem is used for? That might give us an idea of why the fauns might have wanted it. Could they even use it? Or did they just think it was a pretty shiny?"

[Nallore]

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Madalyne Crane

Location: Camp Jupiter, Deccumanian gate -> Amtrak Station San Francisco
Skills: N/A

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"He has always been an ass to me ever since Nancy and I came to camp, at least he isn't here with us right now so that is a plus." Madalyne said as they made it to the bus stop close by and quickly got onto it. She started to think a little bit Fauns usually took things that weren't theirs for either profit or they were wanting some kind of respect. Or just to hoard things, she didn't see the gem herself though she knew that it was pretty powerful an enhanced anyones magic. "I'd probably sell it off to someone, or someone had asked them to take it maybe." She said shrugging slightly.

It was a pretty short bus ride and eventually they were now at the bus station she quickly climbed off and stretched slightly digging into her wallet. She had heard from a few other kids at camp in her cohort who took a train or two the tickets were fairly cheap, looking over at Niah and Nancy she had one hundred dollars on her. "I have a hundred dollars on me, how much do you guys have?" Madalyne asked the two of them.