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Post by Ella Arima on Feb 17, 2010 18:55:26 GMT -5
It had been a long drive across the country in the backseat of Idyll's green Neon. Ella had slept most of the way, being unable to stay in the conscious world that she'd been in and that had so quickly been cracked. In one night...she'd lost both of them...her mom and the man she'd always called "Dad"...by a sea monster she had been positive she only dreamed of earlier that night. And yet Idyll's legs were obviously furry and ended in hooves and in her curly, bushy hair were two horns...and Ella could somehow read the sign of this camp with more ease than she'd ever read in her life.
Now dressed in a set of jean shorts and sneakers Idyll had bought for her, an over-sized T-shirt labeled CAMP HALF-BLOOD and the colorful rainbow knee-high socks she'd worn to bed that night, the little curly-haired twelve-year-old sat huddled in front of the fire near the cabins, her arms wrapped around her legs to bring them beside her chest so her forehead could rest on her knees. Ella wasn't sure which cabin was supposed to be for a daughter of Apollo (she never had studied mythology with Idyll: she wondered now if her dad, the dad she knew anyway, had not wanted her to for some reason), but at the moment she honestly didn't want to know all that much. All she could do was quietly sob into her knees, not even thinking about anyone possibly seeing her.
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Post by Nerissa Bywater on Feb 17, 2010 19:47:02 GMT -5
There are certain things Ella Arima should probably learn about Camp Half-Blood, mainly that everyone could see her.
Aidan had left the Hearth for all of 5 minutes - that was all, really! - to go to the bathroom, and look. Some little girl he'd never seen was sitting by it. See? Can't get anything done around here. You leave it for a few minutes and then someone has to go ruin it. It certainly didn't help that Aimée was running in circles around him and generally being a bother with all her stories of having found the Wormhole in one of Cynthia's shoes, although Aidan was particularly skilled at Blocking People Out.
Stalking towards the girl, Aidan stood above her, arms crossed. The fact that she was crying and probably not doing anything wrong didn't even cross Aidan's mind, mostly because he was stupidly possessive of the Hearth.
"Go away. You're going to put it out."
Aimée ran up behind him. "Hey! I didn't even get to finish, you je-oh, look, it's a new person!" Clapping her hands and gleefully jumping up and down, Aimée also completely ignored Ella's general state of Unhappy. She was absolutely ecstatic at the idea of getting a new person in her camper. The more people in Hermes, all the better for taking over the world.
Aidan stood around waiting for some response from the girl, but Aimée jumped around her, still clapping her bands and being an inexpendable not-ball of something that definitely wasn't energy. "So new person so new person who are you huh huh huh do you know who your parent is huh 'cause otherwise you've gotta come with me yeah right so do you like monkeys?"
Aimée is nothing without monkeys. But especially flying turtle-monkeys.
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Post by Ella Arima on Feb 17, 2010 20:04:26 GMT -5
The harsh-sounding voice abruptly broke through the little girl's consciousness, and her head abruptly shot up to look at a very tall boy with a ruddy complexion. Even though her eyes were very red and the tears were streaked down her face, she was obviously surprised, and she replied very awkwardly, stumbling to her feet and skirting back away from the hearth.
"...A-ah! I-I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to put it out, I just-"
Then, abruptly, a blond girl appeared from behind him, throwing very cheerful questions at her with the ferocity and speed as a really competitive person throwing balls in a game of dodge ball. The little girl recoiled only slightly at the teenager's great enthusiasm.
"Er..."
The question about her parent made her look down, the ball of upset in her stomach making the thought very uncomfortable. She had thought she had two regular parents, not too long ago...
"...Yeah."
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Post by Nerissa Bywater on Feb 18, 2010 17:04:37 GMT -5
Aidan, as was his wont, didn't have much to say in reply. He strode past her and grabbed a poker, stirring the logs.
Meanwhile, Aimée stopped spinning around for a moment, looking at Ella with one head tilted to the side. "Oh, you do? Well, who is it? Huh?" Bounding close to Ella, she tapped the girl on the nose. "Nto Hermes, your nose-isn't-pointy-enough." Those last few words were slurred together in a rush, as Aimée grabbed the girl's hand.
"Well, tell me! I can take you there, you know! You're lucky, most people don't know their parents when they get here!" Aimée was strangely positive today, but that may have been because she wasn't spending a whole lot of time around Luminita lately, who felt largely the same way.
Nevermind the fact that Aimée didn't even know this girl's name yet. She was going to help her out! Or at least, help her until she found something shiny. Although it was strange that Aimée would help someone who wasn't going to be in her cabin, jealousy usually barring her from that. It couldn't bode well.
Aidan was probably going to forget about this whole incidence and ignore the two girls until they left, but then Aimée did the unthinkable.
"Aiiidaaaan why don't you come with me Aiiiidaaaan do something goooood for a chaaaangeeeeee!" the daughter of Hermes pleaded, also tugging on Aidan's hand, which looked a little strange. "Come ooooooooon!"
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Post by Ella Arima on Feb 18, 2010 17:55:33 GMT -5
Ella was taken aback by her hand being grabbed so that she was dragged a bit like a doll by an inattentive child, but she answered as politely as she could.
"Yeeek! ...Um...no, it wasn't Hermes...Idyll said it was Apollo."
Inwardly she hoped she remembered the name right; she didn't know very much about the Greek gods. Bringing her arm up to shove her tears from her face, Ella looked from the excitable blond to the slightly intimidating boy called "Aidan." "Do something good for a change?" That seemed kind of like a weird thing to ask someone to do.
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Post by Nerissa Bywater on Feb 19, 2010 16:44:18 GMT -5
Aimée nodded, her expression suddenly quite serious. "Okay then. I know what we must do. Yes, I do." She fell silent for a few minutes, looking at the ground attentively, brow furrowed.
Aidan stared at her blankly. He didn't really want to follow her, of course, so he jerked his hand out of hers. Without a word, he walked back towards the Hearth and sat down, folding his arms.
Noticing one hand missing, Aimée looked up. She made a face at Aidan as if she were highly affronted.
"Aiiidaaan!" she whined plaintively. "Just come with me, okay?"
The son of Hestia didn't deign to reply. Rolling her eyes, Aimée leaned in towards Ella, whispering in a conspiratorial manner, "Aidan's not very nice. He doesn't mean things. Meanieface."
Her tone had changed to one of condecension, as if she were tlaking to a very young child, which suddenly proved what Aimée was doing: she was talking down to Ella, since she couldn't have the girl in her cabin.
Aimée has a very strange way of doing things.
Suddenly remembering what she was going to do, Aimée perked up.
"To the Apollo cabin!" she cried, running back to Aidan and yanking on his shirt collar until he stood up. In the back of his mind, Aidan decided that he could at least go along with this so that Aimée would leave him alone.
Grinning exictedly, Aimée tugged Ella and Aidan along towards the Apollo cabin, which was an exquisite shade of Blinding in the afternoon sun.
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Post by Ella Arima on Feb 19, 2010 19:30:16 GMT -5
Yes indeed...even someone as naive as Ella couldn't help but think this blonde was weird. Still, being from an upper-class family, she would never say such a thing out loud.
"I-if Aidan doesn't want to come, he doesn't have to-"
Ella was distracted, however, when a very bright cabin shoots a shine right into her brown eyes. It was bright enough that it made her shield her eyes at first.
"...Wow, that's...awfully bright..."
The preteen girl lowered her hand once her eyes get enough adjusted to it, which didn't take all that long.
"So...you said your father is Hermes? What kind of god is he?"
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Post by Nerissa Bywater on Feb 20, 2010 11:09:54 GMT -5
Aimée stopped and, letting go of Ella's hand, swung her arms back and forth. "Well, this is the Hermes cabin!" she remarked, and was about ready to walk up to the door when Ella's question stopped her.
Swingin around, she threw her arms wide. "He's the god of people who steal!" was the first part of her reply. Bringing her arms down, she continued. "Also a god of messenger type things, which is why I can leave the chat whenever I want. And kind of a weenie god. But mostly the stealing."
Aidan rolled his eyes. He was about ready to turn and leave when Aimée, noticing him slouching off, cried "NOOOOO BUT I NEED TO SACRIFICE YOU TO APOLLO!" She flung herself at him, grabbing his arm. (No one would ever know what she meant by sacrificing him to Apollo; then again, this is Aimée we're talking about.)
"...okay."
Aimée grinned up at him perkily, then flounced back to the door. "Okay! Now, here we go..." She reached up and knocked on the door.
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Post by Nestor Ricci on Feb 20, 2010 13:15:59 GMT -5
There were many things that Nestor disliked about Camp Half-Blood. First and foremost was the abundance of insane kids who ran around screaming and acting dumb. Not that he didn’t feel the urge to joke around sometimes, if only to keep himself in the loop. He didn’t like other people very much, and so one of the things that he liked about Camp Half-Blood was the fact that there weren’t very many people in the Apollo cabin. He talked to them, laughed with them, and they generally left him all alone – though the second he needed to talk to them, they were right back to being his “best bud”. So when Nestor heard the knock on his door, ecstatic wasn’t exactly the best word to describe his mood.
Please tell me it isn’t a new kid. Please, please, please, God – err, Apollo, whatever, dad – please tell me you didn’t go and have even more promiscuous sex. When he opened the door, hair tousled and white shirt wrinkled – Nestor absolutely refused to wear the dreaded neon orange sign of conformity – he found his fears confirmed. Always one to save a sinking composure, Nestor smiled broadly. ”Hey. Are you new here? I’m Nestor. I guess if Apollo’s your dad, I’m your brother.” He addressed the new camper, already knowing the other two, and acknowledged them with a nod.
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Post by Ella Arima on Feb 20, 2010 23:06:04 GMT -5
A god of thieves? It seemed like kind of a bad reputation to Ella, but she supposed that just because the blond teenager was the daughter of a god that ruled over people who stole didn't mean she liked to steal or anything.
When the door opened, a boy not too much older than her with black hair answered. His smile made Ella feel more comfortable than she had first been meeting Aimee...the "brother" thing, though, visibly startled the little girl, and she blinked twice very quickly.
"Huh? Y-you are?"
The twelve-year-old guessed that she had to have expected that, if all of the children of Apollo lived in one cabin...but somehow she just honestly hadn't really thought of it that way, her having siblings. Having always been an only child, it was kind of strange...but once she's received it, she actually felt kind of...happy about it. Her face seemed to lighten up despite the redness of her eyes, making her look kind of excited.
"...I-it's really great to meet you! I'm Ella!"
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Post by Nestor Ricci on Feb 21, 2010 11:53:23 GMT -5
She looked small and young – maybe a couple years younger than him – and Nestor felt himself relenting as his smile became a touch more genuine. He didn’t dislike everybody, and she didn’t look like someone who he’d dislike. She actually looked a little fragile, and scared, considering that her eyes were rimmed with red. He sighed internally, decided to make the most of this, and extended a hand. ”Pretty name. You want to come in? The sun’s kind of bright and the cabin’s kind of… not so nice to look at without super duper Ares-style sunglasses.” He moved to unblock the door, yawning and then shrugging sheepishly. Being up all night kept him tired during the day, which also added to his reputation as somewhat lazy. His brown bedhead wasn’t helping either.
He gestured to Aidan and Aimee. ”You guys wanna come in too?” He didn’t really understand how people enjoyed being out in the sun all day. He got a lot of ”You’re a son of Apollo, you should be out frolicking, blah blah yadda yadda from other campers, though always in a good-natured way. He straightened his plaid pyjamas, a little self-conscious that two kids from other cabins were witnessing his attempts to stay in his cabin all day. ”So uhh,” he began. He was a big brother now. Well, he was before, but this girl seemed to be relying on him for today’s sanity purposes. ”What’s your story?” |
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Post by Annalise Fidel on Feb 21, 2010 12:32:54 GMT -5
“Free balloons~! Would you like it red, pink, purple, green, blue, white, black, or polka dotted?” Libby bounced towards the cabin, jutting a tangled string of balloons out to the welcoming committe -ish thing. Lilith Lyell’s other hand was gripped firmly on much smaller fingers, belonging to another person squirming frantically while keeping a secure hand on her wide-brim hat.
“I’m going to introduce myself, m’kay? I’m Lilith, but you can call me Libby…Since we’re going to be great friends! You can have a ballon, I mean…if you want. But I know you’ll probably totally want it. You other people can too.” The older one grinned, nodding in an ‘I’m all wise’ way.
A pause.
As if finally noticing the girl she had hooked onto her arm, Libby gasped. “And this is Annalise. You can’t call her Anna, though. Or she’ll try killing you. I know since I called her Anna…Twice! She likes my white balloons, you know.” Lise straightened her spine and smiled in a *false* sweet way, subtly jerking her hand free from Libby’s.
“But you can call me Lise. Yeah, and Libby wants to come in.”
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Post by Ella Arima on Feb 21, 2010 12:56:36 GMT -5
Ella had never been used to meeting a lot of new people; having been homeschooled her whole life and having such protective parents, she hadn't had much experience with it. But she thought to herself that, at least as far as she could see, Nestor seemed nice. So she accepted his hand, holding it in a way that wasn't clingy but still was comfortable.
"...Mm-hm."
And then two more girls approached, one speaking of balloons. Turning around and blinking curiously, Ella looked from Libby to her balloons; then she smiled a bit and said with the most politeness possible.
"Um...it's very nice to meet you! I'll take a pink balloon, too...if that's okay."
At Nestor's questioning of her, Ella looked at him with something of surprise before her expression becomes more thoughtful.
"My story? Um...well, my nanny Idyll brought me here...she's a satyr. She had to take me away from home because there was a sea monster that attacked our house...it's on Coronado, right by the water. She said the monster was called...'Cephissus'...and he was trying to get at me because Apollo turned him into a sea monster."
The thoughtfulness became sadder the more she talked.
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Post by Nestor Ricci on Feb 21, 2010 13:33:49 GMT -5
He felt genuinely happy, deciding that he liked this new Apollo girl. But just as he was beginning to get more comfortable around her, two more demigods that he decidedly wasn’t a fan of bounded around the corner and before the cabin. The first thing that caught his attention was the balloons, floating in the sky and casting a distorted colour light on everybody. ”No thanks,” he passed on the balloons, smiling anyways. This was the reason that he preferred his cabin. There was nobody to deal with and he could lie on his bunk envisioning his delusions of grandeur… alone.
He smiled as Ella took one, but his face almost froze when the second girl smiled and detached her hand. So she wasn’t as, well, simple, as the other girl with the balloons. He liked simple people better. They were so much easier to get along with. Nestor ran a hand through his hair before turning his attention back to Ella as she talked. He nodded vaguely through her beginning, only half-interested in what she was saying. It was the same story for every camper.
Wait.
”Sea monster?” he asked, focusing sharply on her. ”My school bus was attacked by a sea monster. Everyone else on it – they didn’t survive.” He told that story often, but usually it was just a subject of conversation. Everyone had one. This time was different. So his dad had turned this guy – hopefully not another disgruntled gay lover – into a sea monster, and so it had attacked this small girl. ”Nice going, Dad,” he muttered under his breath. Just another way that his family was screwed up. |
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Post by Ella Arima on Feb 21, 2010 13:48:49 GMT -5
Ella looked up again with surprise. He'd been attacked by a sea monster too? Was it Cephissus? Did he attack a lot of children of Apollo? Was he really that mad at him?
"No one else did...?"
She looked down at her lap.
"...That's what happened at my house, too."
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