[IC] Camp Half Blood: Stolen Symbols

[RainDash]

Zula Aitken woke to her roommates giggling over her morning appearance. As she glared at the mirror on the ceiling, she noticed her hair had turned a bright red during the night and her eyes were now grey and brown. Fantastic. she thought as her hair slowly turned back it's regular blonde and her eyes were turned into her favorite shade of blue. Once she was done, she silently thanked her forward thinking for placing a mirror above her bed. It was definitely worth getting hit in the face a few times to make sure she didn't look like some kind of alien in the morning.

It looked like the bathroom was already in use, so Zula skipped the makeup for today. She loosely tied her hair up and dressed in her favorite hoodie and slacks, brushing through the pigtails with her fingers just in case. Some days, Zula would get lucky and be awake before the regular crowd were in the bathroom, so she'd put more care into her personal hygiene and how she looked, but she could probably skate by and brush her teeth later on. For now though, she was fine with walking to breakfast still bleary eyed and messy haired. As she walked, she noted the shelters she'd finished making last night and was glad to see that they were in use. They weren't much, but it would give some of the Hermes kids a little more wiggle room.

Zula still couldn't believe that she'd finally gotten lucky enough to be claimed. She'd thought she'd remain in the Hermes cabin forever. Not to say that she was glad for the bright pink barbie house which made her nauseated just too look at it, but at least she knew who was her mom. Some of those kids... there was a solid chance that they would never know. Lately though, it seemed like less and less were getting claimed, and that even Mr. D had lost his usual godly glow. The usually angry councilor was almost always locked up in the Big House, and Zula made it a point not to snoop. Her half-siblings would do that for her, and they were nothing if not predictable.

She finally reached the pavilion where breakfast was being served by satyrs and nymphs. Sometimes harpies too, but not today, thankfully. She hated the harpies, mostly out of her memories on the street. At least Nymphs and Satyrs looked human. Harpies... harpies were just as likely to help with the dishes as eat you. Zula wasn't a fan of being eaten. After she grabbed her waffles and bacon, Zula walked towards the ceremonial fire in the middle of the pavilion and tossed in an extra waffle and a strip of bacon. Like usual, Zula muttered some prayer about smelling nice or graceful and sat back down at her -at least for right now- empty table.

It feels like it's gonna be a long, boring, day.

[ParagonKrogan]

Addie awoke to a sharp pain in her neck and absolutely no feeling in her arm. Being the awkward human being she was, Addie had waited to get her own shelter until almost everyone else had gotten their own. She'd gotten lucky last night, since one of the younger kids insisted that she take one of the shelters, and she couldn't really argue due to the same awkwardness that made her wait. Of course, she was only lucky to have gotten a shelter. The one she ended up in was far too small for a girl her size, even though she was not the largest girl at camp, by far. She carefully scanned her clothes, decided that no one would notice that she was wearing the same clothes as she was yesterday, and started toward the pavilion for breakfast. The bathrooms were always crowded around this time in the mornings, and she was not going to risk running into one of those Ares girls. They were always very mean to Addie, and she couldn't avoid the teasing by looking at the ground like she normally did with them. That only made them angry, so Addie decided that the only solution was to avoid the Ares kids at any cost. She wasn't a fan of most Aphrodite kids, either, as they liked to give out makeovers, and she was fine with how she looked (most of the time).

Addie popped up her hood as she walked, almost blocking out other campers. She did this most mornings, and it mostly worked. A few newcomers would sometimes come to talk to her, thinking they already knew her or were already her friend. They would then sit with her for a couple days at mealtimes and leave after they made actual friends. Addie didn't really mind this pattern. After all, it did mean that she got to meet a lot of the new campers and hear some of their stories. Occasionally, she'd even talk about herself, but only if they insisted. Today, there were no new arrivals, so she had no plans to sit with anyone. Idly, she dumped some eggs and half her waffle into the ceremonial fire and tried not to pray something spiteful. She ultimately decided to pray for strength, the most generic thing she could think of. As she made her way for the corner table, she noticed the Aphrodite girl who helped make some of the shelters for the Hermes cabin. Maybe I should thank her? I mean, I wouldn't have shelter most nights if not for her...

"I wanted to- no, I mean... Erm, that is... Uh, thanks for helping with the, um, the... the shelters for, uh, for Hermes cabin."

Wow, great wording there, Addie. Absolutely inspired.

[SomeoneSomewere]

A dull, repeated thud sounded from the arena. Large meaty fists pounded into the dummy in front of the hulking body. He wasn't wearing a shirt, a fine layer of sweat covering his muscular body. His eyes were narrowed, his head naturally turned slightly to the right. It was a habit, it gave him a great view of what was on his right. His muscles rolled and flexed as he moved, eyes narrowed. He suddenly pulled his lips back over his teeth, wound back, and slammed his fist into the dummy, breaking it. He pulled back, nodding slightly, walking over to his shirt. He pulled it on, stretching. He already went for a run this morning. He often woke up very very early.

He walked out, gazing around the camp with a straight face, mouth pressed into a flat line. He then ran his hand through his dark, basically black hair. He walked towards breakfast, looking around again. His head turned to the right to get more of a view of everyone, before returning to get food. He walked over to the fire, tossing in a small piece of food, mumbling a quick prayer for strength and what not. He then went and sat down, gazing around at the other tables. He then began to eat, literally shoving food in his face. He swallowed, drinking some stuff. He tended to eat a lot. With his body size, he ate a ton of food at one sitting, he needed it to keep the energy all day, yet he tended to crash at night.

His finger ran over the scar across his face, a dark scowl forming on his face. He hated it. He hated what happened. He hated not being able to see our of his right eye, and being held back by Chiron because of it. He taught himself how to deal with it, but he couldn't do much about his depth perception, as frustrating as that was. He learned how to fight with it, reading body movements. That didn't mean he was perfect at it. The cross work of scars covering the right side of his body was obvious proof of that fact. That never stopped him from continuing to fight back.

He watched the people around him, studying them. He viewed most as useless, and weaklings. Only the ares kids were close to his level. Even then, he was still by far the strongest and largest. It was easy to think of them. His eyes landed on two people, Addie and Zula. A snicker formed on his face. Addie, not even claimed. Not worthy enough of being claimed more then forgotten, in his mind. And Zula, the idiot Aphrodite, that constantly chalanged him to a duel, due to him being mean or something. He could beat her effortlessly with one hand tied behind his back. Both of them, so pathetic. He shook his head, rolling his eyes in their general direction.

[Beebee2121]

Walker woke up late that morning after having stayed out late last night, dodging harpies and hanging out by the lake. There was no way he would miss breakfast, though. Between the early risers going bump before light and everyone else going bump with their morning routines, there reached a point where he couldn't sleep through all the noise. He got up, still wearing yesterday's clothing, and heaved a deep yawn. He took his time with the showers and getting dressed, so by the time he got to the pavilion, he was half-awake. The pragmatist part of him wanted to sit where he damn pleased instead of at the overcrowded Hermes' table, but the part of him that could barely keep his eyes open thought it was too early to stick it to the man. He scraped off some of his food into the fire and moaned something that sounded like "energy".

As he went back to his seat, he spotted Adrian at the Ares' table, stuffing his face like some kind of animal. He gave him the courtesy of approaching him from his good side so he could see him as well as hear him snidely say, "Don't choke, meathead." A smirk curled on his lip.

[Scarifar]

Press was on his bed, reading a book off a tablet, when he heard a growling. He pulled his attention away from the story and looked around for the source. The sound appeared once more, and Press identified it as his own stomach. With a sigh, he rolled out of bed and landed on his feet. He folded his tablet (yes, folded) in half and stuffed it in a drawer in the side of his bed. He clapped twice, and 4 mechanical arms came out from the sides of his bed and straightened his sheets. When done, they retracted back, and the bed itself retracted into the ground, panel closing the hole where the bed retracted into.

Press grabbed his scarf and coat, then went into the bathroom to do his daily routine of brushing his teeth and washing his face, then patting down his scarf and coat for his trusty gadgets. Satisfied, he put them on and strolled out of the bathroom, then walked to the stand that he had built for Horus. He held his arm up, and Horus walked off his stand and up his arm onto his shoulder.

He walked out of the Hephaestus cabin and into the dining pavilion where a few people were already there. He sat down on his designated table and selected 2 ham and cheese sandwiches and a box of froot loops. He went up to the ceremonial fire and tossed in the better-looking sandwich and the entire box of froot loops. After he gave a quick prayer to Hephaestus and sat back down, he looked around to see who else was around. There wasn't anyone really interesting though, aside from that Aphrodite girl. She seemed cute, which was natural for being the love goddess' child, but Press learned long ago to guard his heart from a pretty face, especially after that empousa incident. Finally he turned his attention to his sandwich and began to eat.

[ramblingbard]

Just like every day for the past several years - even before she ever knew the Gods of ancient Greece were still around and she was entangled in the ever building history - Ariel awoke just as the sun kissed the sky awake to the very first hint of grey. She was one of the few, even amongst her half-siblings, to wake so early. It was nice to be one of few awake; not that she minded having half-siblings, but she still enjoyed time to herself. In the dark of new dawn, she dressed and combed out her hair for the new day; showering could wait as it usually did the day after she actually washed her hair least she ruin the silky tresses with over shampooing. Once dressing and grooming were complete, she quietly made her bed - a little preference to always keep her area nice and tidy.

Violin in hand, and her satchel across her body so it rest on the hip opposite the shoulder supporting it, she crept out of the Apollo cabin to at least practice playing her violin. Her sketchbook, a pencil, and an eraser - though it rarely saw use - lay within the satchel just as always. She had considered setting up in the arena to practice, but spotted Adrian on his morning run already. A thought of setting up to draw if he did go to practice, as she had noticed was a bit of a custom for him, crossed her mind but she quickly pushed it out. Not everyone that woke early were morning people and if he was usually in a foul mood on a good day, she didn't want to find out what kind of mood he might be in during the growing dawn hours. Instead, she found herself by the lake, playing a serene melody appropriate for the growing light and waking world.

Before she knew it, the laughter of several nymphs joined in her violin's song. That was how she knew more of the camp was waking, more than the warm kiss of golden light. Still, she continued to play, swaying with the music as it grew livelier, until the familiar voice of one of her brothers broke into the melody, informing her that it was time for breakfast. A smile graced her face as she let her the final stroke carry on the strings before lowering the instrument and bow. "Thank you for getting me," she replied to his otherwise worried remarks about her not being in or near the cabin - though it wasn't that unusual really; in the meantime, she put her violin and bow away and picked up the case.

They walked together to the pavilion mostly because he apparently thought some monster might appear out of thin air to attack her even in the camp. The Apollo table was already filled by the time they reached it, but she never fretted over most of the meats being gone. Someone had apparently saved her a plate of fruits, to which she added a waffle and a piece of ham that another sibling suggested she take for the offering; that was always how it happened though, someone would help her pick out an offering of meat to go with bit of other foods she gave to Apollo as well. With a quick prayer and the offering made, she sat amongst her siblings and listened to their chatter while she took delicate nibbles of her fruit and the other half of the waffle she took.

[HellHoundWoof]

Nikolai pulled back his sweatshirts sleeves and looked at his watch, it was near 6am. He shook himself and got into a starting sprint position, he had gone far from the camp near Zephyr Creek, he watched the water to his left and looked down at his watch. 5:59, his breathe picked up and he sprinted towards the camp. He pushed himself hard sprinting with a smile on his face, he lept over a small log and continued on the rocky shore rushing toward the camp. He kept sprinted and noticed movement to his right, a water sprite was running in the water alongside him, she was passing him and he forced himself to go faster, he could feel his calves and thighs burning. Eventually the camp was in sight and he could see the fork in the water, the cabins looked like the camp was just waking with a few weary teens walking about. He looked to his left and saw the sprite had fallen slightly behind, he smiled and laughed as he sprinted into camp. He put his legs in front of him, pedling his feet to slow himself down. He collapsed to the ground under a nearby tree with a smile on his face, he laughed ran his hand through his hair.

He let out a few exhausted breaths and walked back to the Hermes cabin, most people already slept soundly in their beds. He had always wondered how people could sleep so much, he crept slowly between his brothers and made his way to the showers. He made his shower quick and reached his hand outside the curtain groping for a towel, after a moment he found one and dried himself off. He grabbed his jeans and pulled on a black T-shirt with red Russian lettering, he smiled looking into the mirror he checked his hair then briefly flexed in front of the mirror. He knew he wasn't massive but he was more fit than any of his cabin mates, which wasnt bad. He walked into the main part of the cabin and sat on his bunk, he pulled on his sneakers and then grabbed a black zip up hood. He stood and walked outside towards the Mess Hall, his stomach growled as he began to smell the food. He quickly grabbed a plate and loaded it up with sausage, bacon, a fruit bowl, pancakes. He went to cabin's table and set his food down then went back to the food and grabbed another plate and a bowl, he loaded it with Corn Flakes, orange juice, milk for the cereal, and finally a donut. He sat at his table with relief and looked around the Mess Hall, he noticed a massive looking kid wolfing down a large amount of food, two girls, one who was particulary pretty and the other wasnt bad looking herself. He was still new here and hadnt made many friends in the two weeks he'd been here, all he did was sit and drink his orange juice.

[SomeoneSomewere]

Adrian swallowed his food slowly then looked at Walter, a familiar anger in his eyes. He stood up, easily towering over him. He was at least a foot taller then him, if not more. He spoke, his voice dangerously low," I'd keep your mouth shut, air head, if you want your body to remain in one peice." He sneered down at him, his eyes narrowed at him. He was a daunting person to even look at, and he didn't hold back too much when fighting. He wasn't to good at verbal come backs, he prefered just to punch the person senseless.

[Beebee2121]

Walker stopped when the chid of Ares stood up behind him and slowly turned around to face him. Sure, he was taller than him by about a foot, even when Walker straightened up, but if he felt threatened, he didn't show it. If anything, his grin grew a little wider.

"What's-a matter, beefcake? Can't take a joke?" He picked up a waffle from his tray, dipped it in the small puddle of syrup beside it, and took a bite out of it right in front of the other boy. "But really," He said with his mouth full, "I'm sure someone here would miss you if you died on a piece of toast or something." He couldn't get through that last line with a straight face. He was laughing at the end, but his eyes were sharp, watching and waiting for that first punch.

[SomeoneSomewere]

He spat," watch who you mess with, little man. Your in way over it head." At the rest of his words, anger flared in his eyes, muscles tensing as he looked at him. He didn't have to wait long for that first punch. He took a step forward, his right arm swinging for an uppercut that would hopefully connect right below his rib cage. He hit any higher he would have broken some ribs if he didn't manage to move out of the way before it would impact his chest.

[Scarifar]

Press was halfway through his sandwich when he heard the taunting. His first thought was that it'd soon fade, but then he heard the unmistakable tone of a child of Ares. He realized that things would soon go downhill, and Press looked up in time to see the Ares kid throw an uppercut. He briefly wondered if he should just let them get it out of their system, but quickly decided that that would be a bad idea. Press got off his seat and reached into his coat, pulling out a tazer. At the same time, Horus flew off Press' shoulder, landed on a nearby table, and gave off a loud and piercing screech. "Break it up, you two, or my tazer will do it for you," Press calmly said as he walked over to them, showing his tazer in his hand in a threatening manner to show he meant business.

[ramblingbard]

Ariel looked up when she finally heard a familiar laugh; at first she thought it was just her imagination, but there was something worrisome about it. She turned to look, because she just had to make sure the owner of that laugh wasn't getting in trouble. Unfortunately, by the time she figured out it was - in fact - Walker, and he was - in fact - getting into trouble with Adrian, the commotion the two created already escalated to a dangerous point. She shot to her feet just as the regrettably anti-social Ares son was taking a swing at still unclaimed boy. Her fork clattered to the plate, forgotten.

Her face fell, seeing the swing for the punch and a frown wore onto her face more when she heard Press before she even saw him walking over. "Everyone just stop, please," she said, doing her best not to shout. Even if that hit landed, she could deal with the injury. She prayed to her father, and any other god that would listen, that this not get worse. It wasn't something they would intervene with, but it didn't stop her from praying.

"Conflict amongst each other never does any of us any good." As she spoke, she stepped away from her table and closer to Adrian and Walker. She had no intentions of getting too close, preventing either from moving if necessary, but she at least needed to be closer to help if - more likely when - one of them was hurt. That one would probably end up being Walker.

[RainDash]

Zula was chewing on her bacon when a Hermes kid walked up to her and thanked her for the shelters. Zula smiled and replied, "it's really not a problem. I used to sleep in there, so I know what it's like. I'm good at making shelters, so I might as well help out at least a little, right?" she smiled, but she heard the ruckus from the table nearby. She wanted to go break it up, but it sounded like the Hephaestus kid was doing a good enough job of settling things for now. If things escalated and they continued fighting, Zula would be in the fight faster than you could say 'Aphrodite'. Still, she also had no intention to lose to the Ares kid this early in the day either.

"You can sit with me, my half-siblings will be busy until later. Plus, by then I think we'll be done eating. I'm Zula, by the way. If you ever need me, I'll be there to back you up." Zula flashed the girl another smile. Then started to wolf down her waffle. It was no good waiting to eat the darned thing.

[Beebee2121]

Walker saw the punch coming and twisted his tray to act as a shield against the fist while simultaneously flinging his syrupy breakfast onto Adrian. Adrenaline surged in his veins and he watched his tray connect with the punch and the force sent him almost airborne a few steps before the tray split in half. The rest of the punch met the air in front of him, but he wasn't going to wait for him to give one that landed. He didn't even hear Press warning them off of each other.

He flung the broken halves of the tray at Adrian. It didn't matter if he aimed, it's not likely they would have met their target if he did, and so he was already turned, running and swallowing the rest of that waffle before he could see where the trays went. He made it not three yards away from Adrian that he saw ahead to Ariel standing in his path. He skidded and swerved around her, all the while saluting and greeting her with a, "G'morning, princess."

[ParagonKrogan]

"Oh, I, er, uh, thanks?" Addie said. She internally chastised herself for lingering after thanking the girl. There was nothing wrong with being polite and nice, but sticking around after fumbling with your words only to fumble with your words again was a mistake. To top it all off, she now would have to sit with this girl because she didn't know how to say "no." Addie set her plate down across from the other girl and tried to ignore the argument nearby that was going to lead to a fistfight, no doubt. She also tried to ignore the fact that she recognized a voice. It was a little difficult to ignore the loud screech from a falcon- maybe?-, but she managed it. She'd gotten very good at ignoring things ever since she decided that her number one rule was to shut up. It was much easier to not care about things when she decided to not speak up at all. When you spoke up or tried to dismiss yourself, people like Adrian would call you a coward and punch you in the face. Well, he mostly just told her that she wasn't even worth it, which Addie wasn't willing to argue. Honestly, she sort of agreed, in a way. She was a nobody, and she rather liked it that way.

Nonetheless, Addie decided to sit down and make an attempt at conversation with the Aphrodite girl. What did Aphrodite kids like, though? Addie didn't know how to talk to pretty people, and this girl was very pretty, even though she was stuffing her face (how did she manage that?). How do you even introduce yourself to a pretty person? Unfortunately, Addie found herself stuck in a stupor, trying to figure out what to say.

[SomeoneSomewere]

Adrian felt the tray give way to his punch, snapping it in half. It hurt, but he simply ignored it. He spotted the trays flying at him and he quickly caught one, dodging the other. A frustrated scowl formed as he started to prepare to throw it. He couldn't tell how far away he was. So, he went with very far. He threw it, directly at Walker's back. If it connected, it wouldn't be a pleasent feeling at all. He spat," yeah, run away like cowards always do." He looked around at the watching people, the people trying to convince them to stop. The one that really got his attention was Press. He snapped," stay out of things, metal man. This is not your problem. So shut up and put that toy away."

[Scarifar]

Press considered his various options to deal with the situation, none of which were good. He could go on with his threat and try to stun him with his tazer, but this Ares kid was quite agitated, and Press might not even be able to touch him. He could get Horus to help distract the kid, but there was still no good spark of guarantee. He could always get Chiron to break it up, but he had no idea where the centaur was. He could use his electric stun gun pistol in one of his coat pockets, but that was still being tested, and he could even stun himself if he used it.

Then he remembered another of his more ingenious devices he had created. He reached into his coat and removed a small round object, then pushed its only button. To any onlooker, it would appear that Press turned invisible, but what happened was that small reflective bits were dispersed and were floating around him in a sphere, held in place by magnetic fields. Ingenious, if he thought so himself. However, the sphere was fragile, and even the slightest contact with another object could damage it, but it was still useful.

All Press had to do was walk up behind the Ares kids, then turn off the cloaking sphere to not damage it, and taze him to subdue him. However, it was easier said than done. Still, it was ther best option he could come up with. Press proceeded to go through as planned, attempting to walk behind him, then try to taze him. At the same time, Horus flew in front of the Ares kid and landed, then spread his wings in a threatening manner. He gave off another screech, though not as loud as before.

[RainDash]

This girl seemed so tense. Zula smiled after finishing her waffle and sat back. "Oh, do I have something on my face?" she pretended to pick at her face, as though she were look for food. She rubbed her right eye and made it green, so when she opened it again, it was a completely different. "Did I get it?" she sounded genuinely curious, but she was waiting for the other girl's reaction. Messing with people like that was fun, but she couldn't do it all the time without getting yelled at.

As she joked with the girl, she heard the situation heating up. There were falcon cries and zap noises, and suddenly, Zula had no interest in breaking up the fight. She was without her sword and no good at hand to hand combat yet. More than likely she'd just be in the way and get hurt from doing anything. So instead she continued to indulge in her conversation with the Hermes kid. Or maybe she was unclaimed? Zula couldn't assume anything with the Hermes cabin inhabitants, which was kind of sad. There were so many people stuffed in there like unwanted toys.

[ParagonKrogan]

Addie's eyes widened slightly as the other girl opened her eye and it seemed to change color. No, maybe it was always green, and she simply hadn't noticed until now. Either way, it only made Addie more uncomfortable. If it had changed color, Addie was oblivious to some power that made this possible or she was hallucinating. If it hadn't, she just wasn't very observant. Calculating the correct response was next to impossible without all the information, and it would be considered odd for her to ask, since she couldn't properly form sentences anyway. She froze for a moment before speaking.

"Um, yeah, I think you got it," she said. "You know, you're, um, you're very pretty. Even for an Aphrodite girl." Addie then looked down at her food in an attempt to hide the fact that she was probably blushing now. She had a guess that the other girl would probably make a comment that would give away whether she'd changed the color of her eye, but Addie wasn't counting on it. If no comment was made, she just figured she'd follow her rule and shut up about it. Maybe. She wasn't good at being innocuous, though, so she'd probably accidentally alienate this girl. Besides, commenting on the other girl's beauty got it off her chest and allowed her to possibly eat instead of staring like a freak.

[ramblingbard]

A sigh sank Ariel's shoulders, though she wasn't sure if it was relief or disappointment. On the one hand, nothing more was injured than Adrian's hand - and if there were no broken bones, that was a minor thing to mend - while on the other, with Press' metal falcon involved even after Walker was away, things were probably going to get worse before they got better. The frown still bore deep lines on her face while her gaze followed Walker around her.

"Good morning, but I keep telling you I am not - " A gasp cut off her sternly toned words as someone -the same sibling that always went looking for her when her bunk was empty from the sound of the shouted warning - yanked her backward; if he hadn't held onto her, she would have fallen flat on her backside. The tray half clipped her cheek as she fell back against her sibling; a glaring red mark pecked with blood remained as evidence.

She ignored the stinging - it would fade soon enough when she went about her day in the sun - and stood up. Looking back toward Adrian, she spotted the mechanical bird in front of him. "Boys, please, just settle down. Walker is no longer near him," her gaze scanned the demi-gods for Press, but he was no where to be seen. "So if you would please call back Horus maybe we can all just sit and have a pleasant meal. There is no reason for this confrontation to continue." It wouldn't do anyone any good, especially not anyone that continued to act aggressively toward Adrian.