@peripheral - Auden LeBlanc, son of Hephaestus @emythos - Larkspur Merrow, daughter of Demeter @chaoticArbiter - Adara Byrne, daughter of Thanatos @rats - Terri, child of Hermes @Bel Capricorn - Jack, child of Boreas @KarrinBlue - Dina, daughter of Adrestia
It was a crisp fall day in Camp Half-Blood, and the camp was a bit emptier than usual, since only year-rounders were in camp at present--the ones who stayed just for summer had left a few weeks back, leaving behind only those for whom it was too dangerous to leave or those who had nowhere else to go. The forest was still nice and green, as were most of the plants around the camp. While the forest would eventually turn orange and lose its leaves, most of the plants at the Demeter cabin would stay that way for the entire fall and winter, given the Demeter kids' abilities with plants and growing them and keeping them alive through circumstances they shouldn't survive. Of course, it would likely not snow throughout the winter, since Mr. D didn't often want snow and so didn't allow it to fall into the camp. It would, however, get much colder as time went on, because the temperature certainly couldn't be kept out. At present, Adara Byrne, one of the ones with nowhere else to go, was wandering through the camp, on her way to visit her friend, Jack, in the Boreas cabin--or at least, she hoped they would be in the Boreas cabin. It was around noon, and she couldn't think of anywhere else Jack would be, except maybe getting ready for lunch or cleaning the cabin for inspection later that day. Adara had finished cleaning and decorating her cabin earlier that day--a black and gray building, the inside had black bunk beds with cushy mattresses on them and soft black sheets and silver pillows (Adara's idea), and an altar to Thanatos. Adara mostly ignored the altar, as she had no real reason to contact her father. The cabin was decorated with pretty flowers on the outside, which Adara had begged some of the Demeter kids for a while back and then grown herself, and the wallpaper on the inside was gold, a choice of Adara's from when the cabin had been being built. The dressers were a solid oak, and covering them was pretty pale blue lace, also Adara's choice. Adara enjoyed having her own cabin to herself, so she could decorate it how she chose. In any case, she was on her way to the Boreas cabin in the hopes of finding Jack. At present, she was wearing her usual thin hoodie, under which was a white T-shirt, and was also wearing light purple jeans, and dark blue fuzzy boots. She was, of course, cold, and was planning to complain about that to Jack, because one of her favorite pastimes was annoying them with her complaints about the cold weather. It was worth enduring being cold to be able to annoy her friend a bit. She also happened to have her nose stuck in a book, a book about a girl who became a spy, and was as such not paying attention to where she was going. She knew her way around camp well enough that she knew she wouldn't accidentally walk through the archery area and get stuck with an arrow, although there was always the risk of tripping or running into someone else, but it was worth it to be able to read. She loved to read, though her dyslexia made it difficult. Because she was reading, she hardly even noticed some of the stares a few of the other campers gave her--even after two years, some still weren't comfortable with the daughter of the personification of death being around, and some were still a little weirded out by her wings. She didn't mind as much as she used to, and was mostly resigned to it now, although she spent a lot of time in the forest, walking with Jack or just by herself, so as to avoid the attention from those campers who were still made nervous by her.
Larkspur was also wandering around. She was looking for a place to settle down and to reread one of her own books. Her cabin was nice, but a bit crowded right now,what with siblings and a good amount of the plants that had been moved inside for a bit, to spruce them up for winter. As she walked, she was lost in thought, whipping between thinking of her books and her plants. Most people politely moved out of her way as she walked, and at least part of that could have been attributed to her particular level of resting bitch face at the moment. Since she was absorbed in thought, she didn't notice as she began to walk directly into the winged girl also wandering around.
Auden noticed the Thanatos girl walking through camp, nose stuck in a book. He debated just walking up to her and saying "Your wings are really cool!" which would be dumb, or commenting on the book she was reading, which, if he was reading the title correctly, he had read, and had enjoyed. Auden was one of the year-rounders, since as he'd grown older the divine blood he had from both sides of his family (directly, in the case of his dad, indirectly, in the case of his mom) meant he was at a pretty good chance of being killed if he left alone. His mom could protect him somewhat, but she was only a sixteenth divine, and didn't have much in the way of abilities, though she could fight well for a mostly-mortal. He was really bored- a lot of the kids in the Hephaestus cabin, the few there were as year-rounders since Dad was actually pretty good about protecting his kids in the "wild" as it were, they were off doing something in the smithy and Auden didn't really want to prove to everyone again how bad he was at that particular kind of smithing. Eventually, he just decided to walk up to her and say hello. That is how conversations worked, right? He was about to walk up and say hello when he noticed another girl, also reading, about to bump into her. Was he supposed to say something?
Adara continued walking, completely absorbed in her book, and didn't even notice the other girl--right up until she walked right into her, sending them both tumbling to the ground. The book went flying out of Adara's hands as Adara flapped her wings frantically as she fell, managing to keep herself upright for just a few seconds longer before she landed hard on top of Larkspur, bonking her head against the other girl's collarbone with a wince. It took a few seconds for her to regain her bearings, but upon realizing what she'd done, Adara immediately got off the other girl and scrambled to her feet, starting to say, "Oh, gods, I'm so sorry, I--" and then cutting herself off as she looked at Larkspur. Oh, gods, she was attractive, was Adara's first thought. This was a bad enough first thought, causing her to start blushing, but as if that weren't enough it was followed by I just ran into her, oh gods, she probably hates me. Mortified, Adara looked at the ground as a blush made its way up her cheeks and the back of her neck. This was why she should watch where she was going, she decided ruefully. Otherwise, things like this happened...
"Ack!" went Larkspur, as she tumbled to the ground, dropping her book as well. For a second, she had no idea what was going on. Everything was a mess of feathers and landing and AHH. Lark's collarbone hurt. Ow. But, whatever, it wasn't too bad. "It's fine, I'm alrig-" she began to say as she stood up, but she cut off when she looked at the other girl. so cute, she thought. Shaking that off, she grabbed the two books that had been dropped. "Hey, this one is your's, right?" she asked, holding it out to the blushing other girl.
"Um. Yeah," Adara mumbled, taking the book and stealing a glance at the other girl. She was so pretty. Adara tended to clam up around people she didn't know well, and it was worse when she thought they were cute--and this girl was definitely very, very cute. So cute. And then Adara realized she was just standing in silence, staring at the other girl. Oh no. The last thing she needed was for this girl to think she was weird and then decide to avoid her--enough of the other kids in camp already did that! "I'm sorry!" she blurted out, then winced internally. Great. Nice job, Adara. Sighing, she took a breath and looked down at the ground again as she added, "Um, I mean, f-for staring. And also for walking into you." She shuffled her wings a bit, nervous, as she waited for the other girl's response.
Jack leaned back in their bunk, groaning a little when they accidentally knock their earbuds out. They completely failed to grab them and then their phone fell to the ground. Great. They put their face in their hands for a second, then hopped off the bed to retrieve their phone.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." The other girl was blushing, and honestly Larkspur could feel her own face starting to heat up. This was bad, she was so cute. And Lark had walked into her. That had to be the second or third most embarrassing way to meet cute girls. It was like something from a bad romcom! She had to get out of here before she embarrassed herself worse. "I've got to go, uh, water my plants." As Larkspur took off, her face blushed entirely. That hadn't worked at all! That was NOT how you flirted with someone that cute, who clearly liked reading, and hadn't she been around occasionally to ask for plants? She was adorable. Lark had to find a way to fix this.
Adara sighed when the other girl walked away, feeling like she'd completely missed a chance. Why hadn't she at least introduced herself? Or something? She'd completely embarrassed herself and then she hadn't even made the best of it....but now that the other girl was gone, she might as well continue on her way. Sighing, Adara made her way to Jack's cabin, pushing open the door and checking to see if any of their siblings were around. Noting that none of them were, Adara made her way into the cabin. "Jack! Jack, you're never going to believe what happened on the way over here," Adara began, chattier now that she was with a friend. "Okay, so I was walking, and I was reading, right, like usual--oh, and it's super cold out. Anyway, I was walking and reading and I walked right into someone. And she was totally cute! And then she just...walked off to water her plants and now she probably hates me and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh." Adara flopped onto Jack's bed, not bothering to ask if this was okay, and put her hands over her face, then peeked out between her fingers at Jack. "Oh, what are you doing?"
Larkspur proceeded to find a nice tree to hide behind, and blushed furiously for about the next five minutes.
"What am I always doing? I'm listening to some short stories," Jack said as he picked up his phone and paused the audiobook. "So, do you know this girl's name? You said plants? Demeter cabin, then."
"Cool. Oh, yeah, that makes sense! Demeter...I don't know her name, but I've been to the Demeter cabin before. I'm sure if I go they could tell me who she is and what her name is if I describe her, she had like, floofy pink hair and white flowers in her hair, and she was really pretty...I mean, her siblings have gotta know her name, right? Or maybe she's there right now!" Adara said, sitting bolt upright. "We should go there. We could go now!"
Jack grinned. "I thought you were busy being embarrassed," they teased. "Yeah, okay. Let's go. I'll probably get kicked out for being a frost hazard, though."
Adara scoffed. "There is no time for being embarrassed anymore! There is a super-cute girl out there whose name I must know! Regardless, excellent, let us be on our way. If you get kicked out for being a frost hazard I'm going to laugh." She made her way out the door, waiting for Jack to follow before trotting off to the Demeter cabin. Upon arrival at the cabin, she knocked on the door and waited for an answer. One of the Demeter kids, Kira, opened the door and nodded at the two of them. "Come on in," she said, stepping aside. She was one of the kids who'd helped Adara pick out flowers beforehand. "Don't tell me you're back for more flowers? Did they die on you?" "No, don't be silly," Adara said, a bit nervous now that she was around so many other campers. "It's just, um, well..." She trailed off, struggling to find the words to say what she wanted to say, and finally casting a 'HELP ME' look in Jack's direction.
"She's got a crush and I'm her wing - wait am i allowed to say that? Is that offensive?" Jack looks at Adara. "I'm helping, right?"
Adara groaned. "It's not a crush, it's--it's--okay, maybe it is a crush. But, uh. I..." She glanced at Kira. "Thing is, I don't know her name, but figured she would be from this cabin because she mentioned plants, and um....yeah. She's...got fluffy pink hair, had white flowers in her hair...." Kira contemplated this for a minute, then nodded. "Sounds like Larkspur! She...should be around somewhere. I won't tell her about the whole crush thing," she said with a grin. "When she comes by, I can tell her you were looking for her?" "No! Wait, I mean, yes? ...maybe? I don't know. Jack, do I want her to know I'm looking for her? I do, right?" Adara sighed. Crushes were hard. And also something she'd rarely, if ever, navigated before.
"Oh! Right. Okay. I want you to tell her I was looking for her, yes," Adara said, nodding. "And, um, tell her my name, please. And also that I'm in the Thanatos cabin...." She sighed. Most people meeting her for the first time were a little put-off by the whole 'child of the god of death' thing. "Can do," Kira said cheerfully. "Awesome!!" Adara exclaimed. "Thank you so much!" She turned to Jack. "So...what now?"
Larkspur, meanwhile, finished the chapters she'd been meaning to reread, and figured she'd stopped blushing enough to be okay with being in public. So, she began to head back to her cabin.
