Gideon James Carlyle and Aella Lorraine Stedford
Ares Cabin ~ Camp Half-Blood
Pulling back gently though firmly upon the reigns to slow the pace as she drew closer to the top of hill that she now knew to be the entrance to the Greek camp, she steered her mare off slightly to the side, her balance never once seeming to waver on its back as the creature reluctantly came to a stop before shaking out its beautiful mane, the action causing the demigoddess to lean forward over the saddle, her hand softly gliding up and down the animals neck a few times in thanks and appreciation for getting her as far as she had. Leaving her life in Camp Jupiter behind had been easier than she had thought it was going to be- sure it meant leaving all her friends and those she cared about behind in her wake, but she’d made Nolan a promise… and she intended on keeping it, even though it meant uprooting her life and shipping herself off to Camp Half-Blood. Sitting up tall once more in the saddle as she turned her head back to the camp, her attention falling to glance back and forth between the other demigods milling about at their own pace and leisure- this place was so different to what she was used to… where were the uniforms..? Where was the structure..? It was going to take her a while to get used to living here…
Clicking her tongue a couple of times as she lightly pressed her heels into the side of her horse to once more gain its attention, she lightly flicked the reigns, urging the creature forward and down the hill to where she could see the most demigods milling about in the one area; her eyes flicking about her person so that she could take in as much as she possibly could before her eyes finally settled upon a small group staring up at her from where they stood, her eyebrow quirking ever so slightly before she nodded over to where the cabins stood tall surrounding them, “Ares; which one is it?”
Stooping her head slightly in thanks to one of the guys who pointed her in the right direction, she once more urged her mare to move forward, following the path that had been lined out for her to follow before eventually, she once again came to a complete stop, though this time in front of the cabin she now knew to be the one she was to be staying in; frowning heavily for a few moments as she looked up at it from where she sat, she leant forward slightly, her leg swinging back and over as she lowered herself to the ground, her hands working to tie the reigns to the porch banister before fumbling about with the straps on the saddle, silently collecting up her bags, “Be patient, Alcippe. Once I’ve unpacked my things, I’ll take you to the stables… wherever they are…”
Patting the horse lightly and rather affectionately against its neck a couple of times, she reluctantly pulled herself away from its side, her back straight and her head held high within her pride as she made her way up the steps before disappearing into the cabin itself, “Father give me strength…”
Turning away from the two blondes, Gideon's small smile immediately dropped off his face, and he let out an exasperated sigh. Running a stiff hand through his short hair, he dropped it down over his face, pulling at his skin and eyes. Ares could not be blocked out. Not for his eldest. Because Gideon was the oldest, he had the most connection to his father, and almost everything that happened to him, emotionally anyways, would happen to Gideon. His rage was the strongest control over his son... and it had nearly killed one of his best friends. Seeing an upcoming tree approaching, to let his anger out, he whipped out one of his katanas and sliced at a branch. The razor sharp blade cut through the wood with incredible ease. Going with the momentum of the follow through, Gideon placed the katana back in its sheath on his back.
He noticed a few of the campers by themselves on the training grounds and he pondered whether he wanted to join them.
Focus, he told himself. He needed to remember to grab those broken weapons from his cabin for the barbecue so Ky could help him out with that. He wouldn't admit it to her face, but he really was glad she was back, with or without her skill. He approached the cabin absentmindedly, but he was shocked into attention when he saw an unfamiliar horse outside the cabin. He paused, narrowing his eyes, and looked toward a group of guys nearby. He recognized one of them and raised his voice to yell, "Yo! Colt!" The blond turned his head and raised an eyebrow. "Who's here?" Gideon jerked his chin toward the horse.
"How the hell would I know?" the blond yelled back. "I just got here!" Rolling his eyes and muttering how that didn't help at all under his breath, Gideon approached the cabin with caution, but a little bit of excitement. He had been the only person in the Ares cabin for the longest time, and it might be nice for a change of pace with a brother or sister. He prefer the brother, but it was how it was...
Gideon walked up the stone steps of the cabin and pushed open the door. He looked around, but he couldn't see anyone in the front hall. Curiously, however, those were where most of the empty rooms were. His room was toward the back, being the biggest. He made his way through, looking in each of the rooms. The further back they went, the bigger in size they got. He finally paused at an open door by his room and saw a young lady with ombre hair in there. Hesitating, he rested his hand on the door frame and looked at her for a moment before saying, "Ares' child?"
Wow! Way to go genius! Way to greet your new sibling like that, his brain ranted at him. He shook his head, ignoring his thoughts, before looking at the girl for a response. "Who are you? No one told me about any transfers."
She would have preferred to have the biggest room; but the sight of someone else’s belongings in it had her doubling back for the room standing directly across the hall. It was only slightly smaller than the other, but it would do… for now anyway; least until she was able to convince whoever it was that lived here to swap with her- her clothes needed room to breathe. Frowning slightly as she let her dark eyes flick about the room for a few moments before she moved herself towards the bed that sat up against the wall, both her shoulders hunching forward slightly so that the straps of her bags slid down her arms before falling onto the mattress below- this was nothing like the barracks back home… she hadn’t had her own room since the day she had been sent to Camp Jupiter by her mother; her father for some unknown reason writing her an almost glowing reference letter which had gotten her accepted into the first cohort, and into a life that had had taken over and drowned out the luxuries she had grown used to when it came to living quarters and personal space.
Lifting her arms up from where they had been resting against her sides, she straightened her back, gathering as much of her long ombre hair as she could before she tied it back into a high though messy bun, doing what she could to ignore the stray strands that fell down about her face as she leant forward once more, her fingers fumbling only slightly as she undid the zip of the bag closest to her so that she could begin unpacking; the sound of a new voice filling the room from somewhere behind her causing her to tighten the grip over the hilt of one of the daggers she had hidden within her clothes, her back posture quickly straightening before she turned, the point of the blade directed towards the new guys throat- catching on to what he had actually said, she flipped the weapon, the blade pressing against the inside of her forearm for a moment before she lowered her arm back down to her side.
“..Aella Stedford, daughter of Mars. And no one knows about my being here, I asked my superiors and your camps director to keep my transfer quiet…”
Gideon eyed the younger girl, carefully examining her. He was not startled by the knife to his throat, but what did surprise him was how fast the little thing could move. He, almost, disarmed her with how fast she moved, but he thought against it. She was a daughter of his father's counterpart. It was always curious to him to look at the similarities between the Jupiter children and the Half-Blood children. Pushing himself back up from where he was leaning, he eyed her luggage and then turned his dark eyes back to her.
"Why would you ask them to do that?" Gideon asked out of pure curiosity. He found it slightly suspicious that a transfer would want to keep their transfer quiet. Many of the campers here knew about the new transfer, Logan, for a few weeks, but Gideon hadn't even heard of Aella. Carefully moving around her, he made her way into her room, looking at what once was the nice pristine room across from his that was now covered in clothing.
"Was that your horse outside?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you rode here all the way from Camp Jupiter, more power to you. I would've taken an airplane myself." He smiled carefully at her. He figured that he shouldn't frighten her off too quickly, or else he would be alone in this house once again. He ran his hands over the side of the wall as he eyed all of her things. How she was able to pack all of these bags on a single horse was beyond him. Rubbing the back of his neck, he made his way back out into the hallway again, leaning up against the doorway as he had before. He watched her carefully, waiting for an answer.
So this was the guy that she was supposed to be living with during her time within the Grecian camp- her new half-brother of sorts; or at least, their fathers being counterparts of one another connected them in one way or another. Narrowing her dark eyes ever so slightly, she let her gaze flick up and down his figure; muscular… strong... but then sloppily cared for when it came to toning. Though she couldn't tell whether it was due to not having a decent training partner, or whether it was just pure laziness? And... was that an accent? Turning herself away from him after a few more moments of sizing her new cabin-mate up, she once more gave her full attention back down to the bags and clothes she had laying over the bed, her arm reaching out to drop the dagger onto the mattress before she began to gather up the items she needed to have hanging up; her feet carrying her across the room and over to where the rather large closet door was open for all to see, the young demigoddess draping her clothes over the back of the nearest chair before she began to hang them up one by one in the order she was used to.
“Because I didn’t want anyone to make a big fuss; I don’t need a welcoming committee, or some big long tour that’s going to waste both mine and the other person’s time. I am more than capable of finding my own way around this place. Besides; I’m here because I made a promise, and I intend to keep it.” Keeping an ear out for the sound of his heavy footfalls as he moved around what she could now call her room, her attention remaining on what it was that she was doing, her hands continuing the repetitive motion that was draping her clothes over the hanger before placing them in their place only to go and start again, “You ask a hell of a lot of questions for someone who hasn’t even given me his name... But to answer you; yeah, that is my horse out the front of the cabin, her name is Alcippe. My mother organized transportation for us both once we were out of safety that was Camp Jupiter’s grounds but unfortunately, our transport had to depart from us just as we were heading out of New York. We rode from there.”
Gideon chuckled under his breath. This girl was feisty. Maybe having a half-sister wasn't going to be so bad after all. "Gideon. Gideon Carlyle. I would shake hands, but it seems as if you're busy." He was slightly disappointed, however, that she did not ride all the way from California. That would have made her ten times cooler in his eyes, but it was smart the way she did it. He reflected back on how she said that she had made a promise, and he looked at her carefully.
"Maybe a promise to who, precisely? And for what?" Gideon was not the most optimistic person, especially when it came to promises. He has always said that he will never make a promise that he cannot keep, and so far, he has kept that mindset. He has never made a promise that he hasn't kept. He had been known to avoid making promises that he knows he can't keep, and it is easy to tell when he avoids it, as he quickly changes the subject or does not promise.
Moving back to the inside of her room, he leaned up against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest. He rested his head against the back wall, putting a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He cringed when his left shoulder felt the pressure. That was the shoulder that Archer put an arrow above. He hadn't thought it had hit him, but it must have just slightly. At least, it was enough to make him sore. He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment, taking a deep breath, before opening one to look at Aella.
“Gideon… so you’re my new half-brother…” She paused her actions for only a few moments before she turned her attention back down to what she was doing, her hands quickly working to hang up the rest of the clothes in the pile she had picked up before she turned her back to the wardrobe, her head held high as she let her dark gaze lift up and meet with that of her (for all intents and purposes) new brother, “You really do ask a lot of questions don’t you..? You know, I’m curious, do you ever get sick of hearin’ the sound of your own voice, or does that strange accent of yours keep you amused..?”
Scrunching her features up slightly in obvious confusion about the accent itself, she shook her head lightly from side to side for a few moments before she made her way over to her bed, her hands coming up to pull off her jacket revealing a slightly modified Camp Jupiter top underneath; the arms cut out and the top looking more like a singlet to show off most of her back, the black tattoo like brand of her camp clear over the otherwise untarnished skin that could be seen- the young Texan leaning forward to drop her jacket onto the mattress before she once again began to fumble about within one of the many bags she managed to bring with her, “Not that it’s any of your business; but the promise I made was to my late boyfriend. As to what that promise entails; that’s not something I’m willing to share with someone I barely know- sibling or not, we don’t know each other boy.”
"You have to admit..." Gideon said with a smirk on his face. "My voice is
amazing to listen to." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "The only reason why I ask questions is so I know I'm not in here with a serial killer." He eyed her shirt. How someone could do that to a uniform or shirt of any kind was beyond him. He bought them normal and clean cut and that was it. Besides the once in awhile rolling up of his sleeves, he doesn't bother dealing that much with clothes.
"It also tells me a lot about you, when you don't answer my questions or question my questions all together." He managed to confuse himself with that sentence, but he didn't let it show. "Like in avoidance of the answering the final question that I asked, it tells me that something happened to your late boyfriend. Something bad." He pushed himself off the wall and walked closer to her. Nudging her shoulder with his hip, he smiled at her. "You can tell me anything. I swear on the Gods I will never tell another soul unless your life depended on it."
“Is every Grecian in this camp as full of themselves as you are, dear brother..? Or is that just a special family trait that I should know about…” Unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes at his rather obvious inflated ego before she straightened herself up once more, she let her fingers curl around the light material that was one of her many tops, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side as she allowed her dark eyes to flick over it before dropping it down onto the mattress, “I can assure you, Gideon was it, that I am not a serial killer. I have more integrity… more honor… and more discipline. I don’t kill in cold blood without reason; and unlike you Grecian’s, my word can be trusted- especially when it comes to family.”
Letting her words trail off into nothing as she finally managed to come across one of many tops she had packed that caught her interest in the last few moments, she dropped it back down to the mattress before crossing her arms over her body, her fingers curling under the bottom of her top before she lifted it up and off of her body; tossing it over towards the top of the bed before she once more took a hold of the one that had caught her eye, her body turning slightly so that she was looking back over her brother, “It tells you nothing that I don’t want you to know... I called him my ‘late’ boyfriend; using that word in particular already tells you that he has passed on. That isn’t something I wish to hide, I don’t see the point in doing so; I loved once, and now that love is lost... But my promise to him has nothing at all to do with him, and is something that I’m not willing to share at this point in time.”
Relaxing her shoulders and lifting her head up slightly as she continued to watch him with slight curiosity, she slid her arms one by one into the singlet top, holding onto the rest of it as she tilted her head lightly to the side, “I appreciate the sentiment of family trust- truly, it’s touching that you’re offering such… loyalty to someone you not only just met, but barely know. Tell me, why do you feel such an obligation towards me..?”
Gideon still kept a still face, but on the inside he was sighing. There was no talking to this girl. He had been hoping for a competitive mate, one that he could fight with on the field and not feel bad. Walking away from her again, he leaned up against the wall and listening to her again, shaking her head as she talked about Grecian's like they were dirty liars. He cracked his knuckles in front of him before taking a deep breath to answer her last question.
"I feel that obligation for you because I've never had a sibling before," Gideon said with an external sigh this time. "I've never had anyone to protect, anyone to stand by. As you probably know, as we are both his child, it's hard to exactly be understood by others as a child of Ares. His anger is our anger, his fear is ours. He is the only God who tends to be us more often than we are ourselves." He leaned his head back against the wall. "I've never had anyone who has understood that about me before, or gone through the same thing."
He rolled his shoulders, dropping them lower to the ground. It was realized throughout most of the camp that when Gideon was being truthful and apologetic, he made himself a lot smaller and more vulnerable. He no longer looked like a child of Ares'. He looked like a hollowed down, broken man that he was on the inside, not like the son Ares is always proud of and that bestows Ares' gift upon him. "I am sorry for prying. I just want to know if those who are the same as me are going through the same as me."
“..you aren’t alone; we share the problems of our fathers… the anger, the fear, the hatred- it’s a burden that only we can bare and only we can understand.” Stooping her head down so that her eyes were lingering over her top for a few moments before she pulled it over her body, making sure that it was covering her chest and torso before finally, she turned and closed the gap that was between the both of them; a frown playing over her features and a slight understanding flashing across her eyes as she lifted her gaze up to meet with his own.
She knew what it was like; she’d grown up with her father’s fury running through her veins, and it was because of that anger and hatred that she had wound up at Camp Jupiter in the first place- all the fights, all the jealousy… it was all him; all his influence on her life, not that she had ever really minded. Her father’s guidance had made her strong, “I hear them you know… like my brother before me; I hear our father’s voices inside my head. They don’t argue as much like they used to, but they can still barely agree on anything together…”
Pausing for a few moments as she continued to stare up into the eyes of her new brother, seeming to size him up before finally making her choice, her body physically relaxing before his very eyes in an attempt to show him that she was willing to at least attempt to make a family connection with him, “I’ve had brothers and sisters before- though at Camp Jupiter you get split up into different cohorts. We didn’t live together as a family; didn't eat together, and we didn’t spend time together unless we were in the same cohort… I guess you could say that we were siblings, but then we also weren’t at the same time... As for someone who wants to protect me like that... I've never had someone like that, unless you count Nolan…”
"They do argue fairly much, don't they?" Gideon said with a light hearted chuckle. He was glad, in all honesty, that the two gods were not fighting at this moment, else they would interrupt this somewhat touching moment between new brother and sister. He was glad he was no longer alone. No longer alone in the house, no longer alone in the pain and rage felt through his father's emotions. He could sometimes hear Ares' voice in his head in battles, criticizing him, which was never fun, and during practice fights his father would always give him advice, but it always seemed to be as if Ares was disappointed in him. He tried to live up to his father's standards, but he could never seem to make him proud of him.
"That's the thing," Gideon stated, after she explained what happened with her half-siblings at Camp Jupiter. "It's different here. We stick together and we protect our own. In stories, us Grecian's may have a bad rap, but you can't put on us what our ancestors did in the past. We are different from them. We are better. Both types of demigod, Roman and Grecian." He smiled softly at her. "And with the protection... I guess it's just a brotherly instinct. You may have to get used to that." Puffing out his cheeks, he muttered to himself, "I might have to get used to that." Dodging his eyes back over to her, he said, "Whatever happened in the past is the past. You're here now and that is all that matters. What happened back at Camp Jupiter, all your faults, all your sorrows, all your pain... let it go. And I swear I will not start singing that damn song." He laughed. "I don't mean to get philosophical on you right now, but it would be easier, I think, on both of us, if you let a slight amount of it go now. To release tension and awkwardness..."
“To be perfectly honest with you; I don’t know what song you’re talking about.” Tearing her dark gaze away from his own as she once more fell into a silence for what felt like the longest of times, she turned her back to him so that she was instead able to look about the room that she had chosen as her own- as much as she hated to agree with a Grecian on anything, he had a point… Things at Camp Half-Blood were vastly different from how they were back at Jupiter; the very fact that siblings weren’t split up into different cohorts the minute that they arrived was a sign of that- and if the both of them were going to be living together as brother and sister for the duration of her stay within the camp, then she had to make an effort to at least open up and let him in… even if only the tiniest amount to release the tension that seemed to build between them.
“..Nolan and I met when I got accepted into the first cohort… he wasn’t just my boyfriend; he was also my superior, and he helped me a lot after I first arrived at Camp Jupiter. Above him in rankings, was Logan. They were war buddies; partners I guess would be a better word for it… they never did anything without the other knowing.” Smiling softly to herself as some of the memories she held of both her and Nolan began to fill her mind, she took a single step to the side before she fell back and against the wall beside him, her arms raising from her sides to fold over her chest, though the action held no malice or any sign of defensiveness, “There was just something about him… I couldn’t refuse him anything; so when he asked me to promise him something, I jumped in with both feet first and said yes without hesitation. He asked me to look after Logan; to keep an eye on him if anything ever happened. I take my promises seriously, all of them; but I never thought I would have to fulfill this one…”
Dropping her head down slightly as she took a few moments pause to keep from pushing her emotions too far, she closed her eyes, taking a couple of slow and deep breaths to keep a steady beating heart- it had been about a year since both Nolan and Ashley had passed away; she’d mourned… she was still mourning. The loss of them both from the world had hit her hard; she had lost her boyfriend, and one of her best friends… but she still had Logan- at least, until he had decided to transfer over to this camp, “It’s been a year… and he won’t talk to me, he won’t sit with me during meal times; he can barely even look at me anymore. I know he’s in pain too; but he did what he had to do to protect the camp and everyone they loved. I don’t think he sees it that way though… I think that’s why he transferred here from Jupiter. But either way; that’s why I’m here… to keep the promise I made; even if Logan doesn’t want me here… even if he doesn’t speak to me, or doesn’t want to have anything at all to do with me, I will look out for him… I just can’t do that if we’re not in the same place.”
Gideon was silent while the girl explained about the promise. He leaned back against the wall, running his hand through his hair in surprise and shock about what Aella just explained. Going through all of that, Gideon couldn't help but feel horrible for the new transfer, Aella and Logan both. He couldn't even be in Logan's shoes, as those feelings would come with an event that would take Archer from him. And Aella... He couldn't even comprehend what she was feeling. To lose someone you loved like that must be horrible. He had never had that happen to him, family or partner. He had broken bones, sprained joints, dislocated sockets, felt bruises, cuts, healing scars, but he had never encountered a broken heart before, and he knew that was the most painful thing in the world. He had broken a femur before, and he knew that a broken heart was more painful than that.
"I... I'm so sorry, Aella," he said, staring hard at the ground. His hands were on his knees and he looked like he was about to throw up, but he wouldn't. What the poor girl must be going through to have one of her closest friends cut her off after her best friend and boyfriend died. He felt kind of like an asshole after what he did by greeting her. He stood up, taking a deep breath, and facing her. His voice was now quieter than it had been. "I can't bring them back. I can't change Logan's mind, or rewrite the past, or go out and slay the monsters that killed them-" He smiled a little bit at the last part. "-but I will make a promise to you. And I
never make a promise I can't keep. I will be there for you, Aella. As a brother, as a friend, whatever you need me to be, I will be there for you and do my best in helping you. I swear."
It was a strong promise to make, especially to someone he hardly knew, but deep inside him, he felt that it was right to say so. This would be a difficult promise to keep, but it was necessary for him to keep it, with all this girl had been through. Still staring at the ground as he spoke, he stated, "And if you need someone to talk to Logan, I can try, though I don't know the kid well enough yet." He smiled carefully at the ground again before leaning back against the wall, resting his head against it.
She couldn’t help the small and amused, though still ever grateful smile that played over her lips at her new-found brother’s words of comfort and promise- maybe they had been wrong back at Jupiter… maybe the Greeks weren’t as bad as everyone claimed them to be; at least, Gideon didn’t seem to be untrustworthy or a sneak that would try and double cross her the very moment he had the chance to do so. He wanted to try and help her fulfill her promise to Nolan… to try and make things right between her and Logan. It was a sweet sentiment; but there was no way that he was going to be able to fix the damage that the past had created in the relationship the two of them had with one another- while they hung out, while she considered him to be her friend and someone she had on occasion been able to turn to; she was his subordinate… one that unless Nolan and Ashley had both been in the picture, he never would have spoken to outside of training.
“You are kind to offer… but I don’t want you to talk to him. Like me, he’s grieving the loss of his best friend and love as well; I won’t force myself on him when he doesn’t want to be in my company. He doesn’t even know I’m here; I kept it from him, but even if I wanted to tell him, he wouldn’t talk to me.” Shaking her head lightly from side to side as a gentle sigh slipped out of her soft pink lips at the very thought of how Logan had been avoiding her for almost a year now, she finally pulled snapped her mind back to the present, allowing the memories to once more settle in the back of her mind as she pushed herself away from the wall before eventually, she turned her body around to face him completely; the small smile that had been playing over her lips growing into one that was warmer and more sincere as she motioned towards the door with a gentle nod of her head.
“Enough of the past; and enough unpacking for now, don’t you think? There’s plenty of time later for me to do that. But right now; I have a horse to tend to- mind showing me where the stables are… and maybe giving me that rundown and tour of camp that I didn’t want..?”
