Raleigh Holter Theron
"There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it." - 'Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?' by Mindy Kaling
Parties were never his thing, aside from maybe subtle bird watching in a stray corner—that's what he'd dubbed the term. Eavesdropping sounded too mischievous, as if he were to sell the stories to a local third party. He'd read the headline in his head multiple times, at the thought: What's the Matter with Kids These Days?! And then the Birdie song trailed through his mind a couple of times, breaking his focus on whatever book he was currently reading. No one ever really pegged a Poseidon kid to be thoughtful, or any of the Demigods for that matter, aside from Athena's children. If anyone read piles of books, they often did. No, his father was known for a lot of different things, things he wasn't too proud of, but would never mention if brought up. Then again, there were a lot of things the Gods were known for, a lot of them being purely negative, for the most part.
Staring quietly at the cover in his hands, Raleigh had avoided the campers today at all costs. He'd been there for a few years, being among the only children stuck inside his cabin. He was alone, for the most part, and, despite getting a new batch every year, he'd given up after he'd arrived and was given one of the loneliest Cabins in existence. It held one or two heroes, one he could think of at the top of his head, but never any more than two people found a home inside. Despite the stories, his father was the least sexually driven of any of the Gods. He shared the same lonely feeling with a few of the other campers, but the majority of them had more than enough brothers and sisters populating their homes that they'd have starved the first week of the Great Depression.
However, Raleigh wasn't much for moping—his ADHD kept him somewhat active. At least, he was active enough to take a walk down to the lake and set up a small area of his on the dock to relax for the day. He'd only be mildly surprised if Erin stormed over and demanded why he'd not found it in himself to take one of his siblings on a tour. There wasn't any room in his brain to focus on fledgling brats running around with gifts from their parents like crazed toddlers hyped up on caffeine. From the sounds of it, caffeine wasn't the only thing they were hyped up on. He'd have to talk to one of the Gods residing about limiting how much alcohol each camper could take—not to be a stickler, but just to keep assholes from running through a game of Capture the Flag hopped up on vodka and soda, twirling a sharp object over their heads and screaming something unintelligible. There was a point where Raleigh simply stopped expecting anything of the campers and now was probably one of those days.
At least the sounds from the designated party cabin were dulled enough for him to relax peacefully by the waters, munching on a sandwich he'd managed to make from a few left overs and reading John Green's Looking For Alaska. It wasn't many people's ideal summer, no, but for Raleigh, it was more than enough. When stuck with a pile of hormone driven teenagers, a moment to calm down and relax compared to even the best beach vacations. Of course, Raleigh wouldn't dare call himself an adult; he just had different priorities that weren't getting laid, drunk, or doing something stupid for hashtag yolo purposes. The best moniker Raleigh could think of to call himself would probably be a nerd. A nerd who had as much skill in archery as any of the Apollo kids and found himself inadvertently scaring the shit out of random campers.
"Oh, fuck!"
Like that.
Raleigh sighed, gave a wave to the stumbling camper as he fell flat on his ass.
"I'm sorry—shit, I did see ya' there, dude," the boy apologized, blushing a deep crimson as he continued murmuring, "Scared the fucking shit out of me. Goddamn. Wear a bell, jeeze."
Raleigh simply nodded his own apology, never taking his eyes off of his book, "I'll invest in one once I get my paycheck. Maybe lay off the booze next ti—"
The camper vanished in an instant, or so he thought; the rest of his surroundings blurred into the distance, as well, leaving him plopped on a rough surface with sand threatening to pool into his sneakers. He'd instantly deduced his relative area, finding he'd been the one to up and disappear—the kid probably pissed his pants after that. The thought brought a smirk to his lips that turned into a confused frown in an instant. Standing from his position, Raleigh gave a look around, forgetting about the food he'd just dropped; hunger wasn't exactly on the forefront of his mind. The book, however, remained tightly clutched, whilst his other hand found its way to the key chain hanging from the belt loop of his khaki pants.
It was the gift his father had given him when he'd first arrived, something he'd never take for granted. The chain he'd dubbed Scylla after the monstrosity of the Strait of Messina. Six vicious, black heads looped and coiled around to form the band, each reminiscent of the canine's attached to the monster herself, a naiad turned beast out of jealousy, after gaining the love and affection of Poseidon himself. When he'd learned of the story, he was positive his father was trying to tell him something probably extremely negative. A kind of warning. But, Raleigh was never the type to read too deeply into things like that and had dropped it down to a mere gift out of concern and love. At least, that's what he'd hoped for; there wasn't much else Poseidon had to show evidence that he'd cared about him. It was the most he'd gotten out of the guy after what seemed like his whole life.
The thought, however, quickly found its way out as the situation dawned on him. Raleigh looked up and around, seeing familiar and new faces alike. This seemed a lot more ominous than what he was previously making it out to be, but being the introvert he was, Raleigh kept his mouth sealed shut as he waited for the others to come to their senses. He kept his eyes on Erin and Thane, in particular, the two he'd always thought were the most level headed of the campers. That may not have been saying much, since everyone currently trapped was just your ordinary teenager, aside from the god blood that ran through their veins.