Demigods : Version 3.0 { Closed, Started }

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Jia entered Chiron's office, still belting the Rose of Sunrise across her back, her hair damp and dressed in jeans and a faded Metallica T-shirt. "Odd mix. What's going on, Chiron?" She pulled a bottle out of her pocket and took a slug from it. She was at least fully rested, having spent most of the night in meditation. She'd received no new insights or anything useful, like a vision, but her mind was nevertheless clear and ready.

 

[Pm0n3y]

Gabriel would've thought this breakfast could've potentially gone on in a considerably quiet fashion. That is, of course, until the boisterous Hades camper known to most as Freya yanked him out of the breakfast line. The Harvestchild tried to pull away from the girl, but it was at this time where he learned of her sturdy iron grip. Before he could monotonously mutter "get offa me" in protest, she plopped him down at her table. He was surprised none of his food or coffee spilled during the rough transition.

"Seems we both got out of our missions unharmed. We went over to the mountains and I kicked the ass out of that Chimera..." Sitting down beside the boy, she started going on this tangent about the recent endeavors, while simultaneously stroking her own ego and stuffing mouthfuls of food down her gullet. A lot of it went mostly unheard to Gabriel. "How did your mission go?" Gabriel stared into his food. He wasn't all that hungry, anymore. "I dunno." He shrugged, staring down into his plate.

"What do you mean, 'you dunno'? Did you somehow fall asleep during your mission?" Freya nudged him a bit to get him to wake up, which is what she assumed was the reason he was just staring at his food. He sighed a quiet sigh. "I mean I don't know. We came home with prisoners. I don't know why. Me and Ambrose went somewhere else. I had to do...other things." He took a sip from his mug. Unsurprisingly, the bitter stream of caffeine didn't do much to perk him up.

"Ah, I see. Well, can't blame you for not knowing how your mission went, then. But what other things did you do, then?" Freya asked, wondering what he could have been doing instead. "I..." He was surprised he'd managed to answer that much. The topic was still fresh, and undoubtedly still quite heavy. "Don't worry about it." He replied simply. Had Freya been a kinder person, she would have stopped there and continued eating her breakfast quietly. But she wasn't. "Well, I'm curious about it, and I want to know. So I'm asking what else you did if you were off doing something else in the middle of your mission."

"Yeah, and I said don't worry about it." He got from the table, and opted eating somewhere else. Freya stood up as well, leaving the rest of her breakfast as she'd had enough, and followed Gabriel. "You sounded like you were about to start telling me earlier, so why the sudden stop? What's so horrible about what happened that you can't tell me?" Gabe, now realizing he was being followed, decided to just leave the mess hall entirely. "You don't need to know all my business, Freya. Don't fucking press me about it." Just a twinge of emotion peeked through there, his flat temperament beginning to diminish.

"I'm making it my business to know about it, so I am fucking pressing you about it. What the fuck happened that you can't seem to talk about it?" She grabbed his arm to stop him and face her. As soon as he spun, he shoved her away. "I don't hafta answer to you." His fists began to clench. "You'd best back up off me, Freya. I'm not in the mood today." He warned.

She crossed her arms. "Not like you could really hurt me. You can try if you want, but you're not going to be able to. Come on, just tell me. What were you doing that was more important than the mission?" She wasn't afraid of his little warning. She was tough enough to take on anything he could throw at her. Of course, she still had to take into consideration the oath that Icebrain made her swear, so she couldn't hurt him. Not like she planned to.

"Why're you so concerned for?" He tried changing the subject. "Like, why're you being so fucking nosy right now? I wasn't doing some sort of reverse psychology bullshit when I said "don't worry about it", I literally wanted you to not concern yourself with my problems." He began to walk off again. "Hrmpf." She summoned two skeletons to get in his way, keeping him away from walking away from her. "Why can't I be? I want to know, but you're just hiding it. If it's some kind of problem you're hiding, why not talk about it instead? Maybe you'll feel better. Who knows? But you're being really stubborn about this." She didn't really act concerned about it, but if it really was something he was hiding, it'd be better to get it out than keep it in.

"Getcha damn skeletons outta my face." Was all he said, pushing past the two skeletal guards. Freya thought of pursuing him further, but decided against it. Gabriel was being a brick wall, one she couldn't just beat into. But, he did mention something about the Sleepling Ambrose. Sounded like she accompanied him on his private "mission". She most likely knew what went down. And she'd definitely give Freya an answer. Determined to get the last laugh, Freya headed towards the Hypnos cabin, hoping to violently shake the Sleepling awake when she got there.

 

[NeoAC]

Brandon was still tired. He was going to see Chiron yesterday, but got sidetracked fielding questions from a couple of the greener demigods, and then he got into it with Leeroy again. While he didn't fight too well by his standards due to the calf-stabbing Carolina gave him, he still handed the hot-headed youngster with ease and once he was done giving tips, it was far too late to be bothering the old centaur. However, a bit more rest would have been nice before he was required to be in his presence. Especially this early.

The Colt trudged across the camp, a bit miffed that he would have to bypass the breakfast line to boot for this meeting. Least I'll get in ASAP for sure. Have me somma them there waffles. At least the nurse was right. His leg was feeling a lot better today. He finally arrived at the office, the head man himself was in there. So was Liz, which was understandable. Then there was Jia, ex-counselor and only member of the Colorado party in the vicinity. Wondered where tha hell they wondered off to. Feels like we were done ages before 'em.

"All right, ya'll got me up," he announced as he entered into the office. "Dunno why we could'na done this after breakfast, but whatever. I'm 'ere. So what we talkin'?

 

[Pm0n3y]

As Dorofei followed in after Brandon, Chiron couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the Ares camper's claim. "Hm. Thought I had the announcement call for you four after breakfast. But, I suppose it could wait, now that you're all here." He proceeded from the office, and beckoned for the four to follow. "As both teams successfully brought back prisoners, we would now have a potential lead in what our opposition is planning. If, we can actually get our former campers to talk." He explained, walking the group through the camp stables.

Nestled deep into the stable, beyond the horses and Pegasi, was an enclosure of metal bars, with the four incapacitated demigods roped up inside. The crew of Warchildren guarding the bars were soon dismissed as Chiron approached the cell. "They've yet to provide us with any useful information. Which is why I gathered you four here. You all helped bring them to us, and in turn you will help them relieve themselves of any reliable information." A incantation was muttered towards the barred door by the centaur, opening the enclosure and letting the four campers in.

"Consider this session off the books. Be as...persuasive as you need to be. I shall return in due time, lest you all successfully acquire information in a time span shorter than I've hypothesized." He concluded, closing the door behind him before proceeding out of the stables.

[hr]

The brave gaggle of campers guarding the entrance area began to make their return back to camp, to prepare for a little rest before the day's training sessions and chores. Yet, one of the girls of the group took a little longer than usual to regroup with the others. The group's leader, a Seachild, grew concerned. "Sarah? Sarah?!" He proceeded back out into the brush, in attempts to locate the missing camper. "Here I am!" He didn't have to far, thankfully, as she called out to him, appearing from a fairly obscured part of the woods to meet him. "Sorry about that. Had t' piddle." The Seachild grimaced at the shameless admittance. "Geez. TMI." He replied with a chuckle, bringing the two back towards the camp.

Just in that moment, Chiron had crossed their paths. Sarah hesitated. "Morning, Benji. Anything to report?" He greeted the Seachild. "Nothing too out of the ordinary, sir. Woods're clear for the mo'." He replied with a salute. The headmaster smiled in reply. "Wonderful. Make sure you inform the next group. Enjoy your breakfasts." With a nod and a smile, the centaur continued on his way.

"Cool. Sarah, wanna get something to eat?" The Seachild asked. "Yeah! Yeah. Lemme just...go wash up and change out of this armor first." With that, she hurried off, much to the boy's confusion. And to add to it, he could only look on as he watched her wander off in the wrong direction. "Uh, the Hecate cabin's that way, y'know." He pointed in the opposite direction. "Oh, ha, right, I knew that Benji." She hastily corrected herself, and proceeded in the correct direction.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Jia was a student of the art of war, and the first thing she learned about torture was this - it was a complete waste of time. You hurt someone enough to break them and they will say anything if they think it'll make you stop hurting them. Nothing anyone said under torture was ever remotely trustworthy. That wasn't all, torture wasn't just useless, it was actively detrimental. You left your fingerprints burned into their soul, and in so doing you burned yourself as well. Torturer and tortured gained nothing, and lost much.

"Split them up. Each of us take one. Do what you think is best." She entered the cage and looked over the bonds holding Diana Zeke, the Hephaestus child she had faced in the Chimera cave, lifting her to her feet. "I'm going to try Good Cop."

She pulled the unconscious girl up and dragged her out of the stables, then sat her down and knelt beside her, cutting the bonds on her ankles but leaving the ones binding her hands behind her back. "Wake up, Diana Zeke. You and I need to talk."

The prisoner quickly stirred awake, lifting up her head only to spit in the girl's face. "Fuck you." Diana replied simply.

Jia dug into a pocket for a tissue, wiping off the spittle and carefully wadding it up, a momentary narrowing around her eyes the only sign of her anger. "That was unbecoming of a Godchild. Do you know where you are right now?"

"In trouble, i'd figure. What're you gonna do, tell my daddy i've been a bad girl? Get the fuck outta my face." The Hephaestus child scowled in return.

"This is Camp Half-Blood. I get the impression you've never seen it." She took a seat beside Diana, looking over the bustle of the camp at dawn. "Aside from Chiron and a few others everyone here is a Demigod. It's our sanctuary from the creatures that hate and fear us."

She turned her head to regard Diana. "Where did you grow up?"

"None of your beeswax, chick. Whatever you think you're gonna get out of me, you're not."

"None of my beeswax? How old are you, kid?"

"Old enough."

"I'm gonna guess, what, sixteen?" She leaned against the stable wall. "What was it like when the monsters started coming? I got lucky, my teacher knew what was going on and got my family out of Hong Kong alright when a Drakaina attacked us."

"I took 'em out easy. Knew how to fight before I knew I was the child of a god. Could you tell when I fucked up your arm?" She gloated.

"You have potential, I'll give you that." She gave Diana an approving smile, like a mentor to a favored pupil. "So how'd you end up with Tristan?"

"I ran into him at random at a pizza place one day." She scoffed. "Pfft. Like i'm really gonna tell you."

"I've heard more unlikely stories. So where're you from?"

"From fucking MARS! Yup, i'm a straight up martian!"

"In the world we live in I could almost buy that. When I was young I was a little scientist, didn't believe in so much as Santa Claus, hard to believe how wrong I was."

"I know right?" Diana replied in a faux sense of agreement. "Not only is there a god, but there's a shit ton of gods! And almost all of them have several human children! What a world!"

"I know! Where does someone like Thanatos find any time for that?" She jumped on the moment of connection, no matter how sarcastic she might have been.

"Well when you're a god, i'm sure you can literally make the time. 'Sides, it apparently ain't much to take up a human form, jizz in some vapid *****, and wander off without another word."

"Too true." She nodded. "I've met a few Demigods who say they've spoken to their divine parent, but I've never received so much as an oblique sign Athena even knows I exist.'

"Hmph. Sucks to be you, then."

"Indeed." She nodded. "But hey, I have superpowers and get to fight Dragons for a living."

"Right. So now that we've had this little chitchat, are you gonna let me go, or continue to talk my fucking head off?"

"Diana, I have no desire to hurt you. I don't like fighting people. Monsters are more fun and I don't get to see their faces in my sleep. If I let you go now you will either die or kill my friends." She looked at Diana. "There is a third option, though. You can join us."

"Hmmm...is it okay if I reject your offer? Because not only do I not believe you, but I also don't want to join your little boyscout summer camp or whatver the fuck this place is."

"Sure, but I'm not going to just let you go. If I did on some level I'd be responsible for any deaths that resulted." She looked around the camp. "So what's wrong with the camp?"

"Not my style, simple as that."

"Fair, so why'd you try to kill us?"

"Because I have telepathic abilities and knew you were coming before you even knew you were coming, annnnd because I don't like your stupid little Jap face."

Jia's face went dark for a moment, the amiable smile vanishing under a cloud of rage that faded almost as quickly as it appeared. "Chinese, actually." She delivered the comment with a good humor so fake it was almost a threat. "So what have I done to earn your hate, besides being good at math and bad at driving?" Her second comment managed to come out with her intended good humor.

"What, you mean other than smashing most of the bones in my face, bringing me here, tying me and locking me up, and bombarding me with an endless stream of 21 fucking questions?"

"You lured me and my friends into a deathtrap, tried to kill me, and in doing so shattered my arm. As for tying and locking you up the alternative was murder. You didn't give me a lot of options."

"Well now, who's fault was that? Not ours! No one told you to find our stuff! So how's about you hop back in your fucking kimono, and go commit seppuku or something you stupid *****?" This was clearly going nowhere.

"Yyyeah, you need to cool your head a bit." She took the girl by the arm and lead her towards the Hera cabin. It stood empty, it would do for a temporary prison facility.

"Now what? What're you gonna do now? Ya gonna leave me here so you can go bomb Pearl Harbor?"

"You sound like an idiot, you know. And yes, I am going to leave you here, under guard and locked up. I'll have breakfast brought here in a while, in the meantime get comfortable. The more you're belligerent and hostile the longer you'll be there."

"Fine. You make it sound like I have other things to do."

Jia shrugged. "Maybe learn a skill. Crocheting. Poetry. Judo."

Diana shrugged back. She'd flip the Athena child off if her hands weren't bound behind her back.

"Fifteen year old punks, I swear..." She mumbled under her breath, just loud enough that Diana would hear as she took up her guard by the door. It'd be a few minutes before the proper guards took their place and secured the cabin.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Something about this situation didn't sit well in Jia's gut, but she couldn't place it. It wasn't as though anything in this situation put her at ease, and she couldn't very well call a war council on the basis of a knot in her gut and a teenage asshole who was unusually close-mouthed. She needed to sleep on it, trouble was that time was at a premium.

She took a drink from her bottle, the thick liquid a good enough substitute for food. Saved time in situations like this. She walked the camp perimeter, plotting out angles and vectors and strategies in her head - this situation was infuriating. An enemy they had nearly no intelligence on, and what little they did have wasn't actionable. They could be outnumbered, or the lion's share of the enemy could already be neutralized, and until their guests started talking they were working with dust.

Jia's course meandered through the camp, finally stopping at the armory. The Demigod there, a grease-stained Hephaestus girl a year or so Jia's junior by the name of Kate Mulciber, was up to her elbows in something that looked a little uncomfortably like a minigun, with an expression on her face that was one part "ow my hands are pinched" and two parts religious or erotic rapture.

"You need a minute?"

Kate's head jerked up with a start, finally noticing she had a guest. She brushed dusty brown hair out of her face and managed an embarassed smile as she tugged off her goggles. "Sorry about that, just...making some...final...mods to my armor." With that last burst of words she freed her hands from the weapon's guts. "All this war talk got me thinking, I can't just go into a fight with a sword and a dart launcher, gotta be all I can be, right? Like the Army."

"Army Strong these days. I need a gun."

"Really? They finally changed out Army of One? God that was a terrible motto, I mean, if it's an army of one why do you need an army? Not that Army Strong is...sorry! Gun, right. What're you looking for?"

"Light, high ammo capacity. Semi automatic sidearm."

"I'd recommend a Beretta 92. It won't help a lot against heavily armored targets unless you get them in the soft bits, but it's maneuverable, light, high capacity, and with hollow points your target will go down."

"I might be using this for Dragons, I need a weapon that can break armor."

Kate shook her head. "The bigger the gun the better the armor piercing but the wose the capacity. I could get you a Five-Seven, but they don't do much to unarmored targets. You want to fight a Dragon you need a long gun." Kate pulled a box off a shelf and set it down on the table, flipping it open so Jia could look. "Dragunov SVU. 7.62 by 54 millimeters, thirty round box magazine, PSO-1 telescopic sifght. Modified for fully automatic or three round burst firing and effective to twelve hundred meters. Bullpup design means the barrel is just as long as a contemporary while being lighter and smaller. I've already machined some bronze bullets for it."

Jia ran her hands down the gun and pulled it from the case, sliding the magazine in and feeling the weight as she stepped up to the range. "These are lead, right?"

"Yeah, those..."

She put her eye behind the sight, a bewildering array of meters and symbols. It took Jia a second to work it out - elevation, windage, and range. She dropped the crosshairs over her target and squeezed the trigger, the bullet leaping from barrel to the target a hundred yards away, neatly piercing the bullseye.

"I'll take it."

"Thought you might." Kate reached under her work station and dug around. "It's here somewhere...ah!" She pulled out a shoulder belt. "This clips onto the stock and the foregrip. Sling it across your back - after you've removed the mag and cleared the chamber. Ammo mags go through these."

Jia nodded, adjusting the Rose so it rested on her left hip as she put the rifle on her back. "I still want a sidearm."

Kate nodded and dug out another case, setting it on the counter. "Beretta 92, nine millimeter parabellum, seventeen round magazine. Available are a suppressor attachment, since I know you like your ninja thing." Jia made a hmph, but Kate seemed to not notice. "Made some fine tuning to it, but the only big change is the mags - bottom quarter inch is armor grade steel plate, along with the end of the grip. Slam it into a target's head all day and they'll keep fighting."

Jia nodded, pleased, and slid it into the shoulder holster before putting it into place under her arm. "Do you have a second one?"

 

[blaze96]

Elizabeth saw Jia walk out with little in the way of success, she figured she may as well try her luck with the captive. She pulled out a knife from the holster at her hip and picked under her fingernails with the point.

"Alright Diana, perhaps you know me. I'd prefer to not hurt you, but I need information and you are going to be the one to give it to me. Before we start just know I won't show the same reservations as my predecessor."

"I'd prefer not to hurt you." Diana mocked back. "She says, pulling out a knife, and threatening to hurt me."

"I'd rather not have to, but I'm not going to waste time pulling the blade out when your mouth eventually gets you into more trouble." Elizabeth replied before continuing.

"So I'll start nice and simple, why did you join him and what was your mission?"

"D'you really think you're gonna get any answers out of me? After the other girl damn near talked me half to death? Just cut to the chase and start hitting me."

"Do you think why you joined would honestly fill me in as to anything? You must be a dumb one, child of Aries or something. All fight and no brain to back it up. No the reason I asked was to see if you even had a reason other than the unjustified rage of a beast. To see if you had a reason like a warrior or if you were just a scared, stupid, little girl who fell for the first silver tongued devil she ran across.

See I think Carolina would be a better source of information, at least she wasn't sent on a suicide mission. Obviously though nobody gave enough of a shit about you to even care if you lived or died. So will I hit you? Not yet, if you can prove me wrong. Prove me right however and I can make this so much worse for you than what would be done even by the standards of the Romans. Which, in case you didn't know, they would be very cruel to traitors before they ended them."

Diana remained fairly stonefaced at the spiel, only fidgeting some in her position. "Eh, fuck you." She replied quaintly.

"Proving me right." Was all the warning Elizabeth gave before slowly cutting her upper arm enough to cause a good amount of pain and bleeding but enough that it wouldn't leave a scar.

"You see, I take a more classical approach to traitors. That those who put themselves before the group are worth less than a rat. Deserving of only the worst that can be offered to them."

"Really? I thought...not snitching on my people would be me putting the group before myself. You got...a skewed view on how these things work, weirdo." Diana replied through heavy, fervered breaths, trying to keep on a brave face through the pain.

"Or perhaps I place the good of all demigods and even humanity above you and your little group. Besides I would think those who gave you food, training, and shelter might be owed more than betrayal. So no, it is you has a skewed view. Though I can't expect you to see the picture bigger than your own role in it, if you even see that." She repeated the process with the other arm. She then looked to one of the guards.

"We wouldn't happen to have an artifact of Aletheia, or perhaps the receipe for a potion of her's would we?"

"What good would that even do you? You ain't getting anything out of me." Diana spouted from behind her.

"A potion should be possible." The guard replied. "I'll look into it." He replied before leaving the cabin.

"Thank you, and if you don't know what that does let me inform you. Aletheia was the god of truth. I take a potion of hers, a truth serum if you will, then you don't get much a choice in the matter. If not it will cause you so much more pain than I could ever manage."

"Oh. Goody. I'm not afraid either way." Diana panted. Soon enough, the guard returned. "Got something quick from the Hypnos kids. Should do the trick for the prisoner." He handed Elizabeth a vial, full of a misty liquid.

"Good, thank you." She opened the bottle before forcing the girl's mouth open pouring the liquid in and holding her jaw shut with her head tilted up. She would be forced to drink it, when she had elizabeth spoke again.

"Now, let's try this again. Why did you join?"

From there, it seemed that the Hermes child would've gotten what she wanted. "F-fuck...you..." Diana's head lowered, her body began to tremble. "We...for...gggh..." The shaking only intensified. The smell of burning flesh and cotton began to fill into the cabin. The Hesphestus child crumpled over, something burning into her back like a red hot brand.

"Well we may lose a prisoner but we most certainly learn something." She then cut the back of her clothing off to see what exactly was causing the burn.

Child succumbed deeper into convulsions, smoke spouting from her mouth and ears. A sigil actively burning into her back. A collection of snakes left in the wake of what seemed to be a fail-safe of something beyond the girl's realm.

"Hmm, well that explains why you wouldn't tell me anything. Good to know your family was so nice to you."

----------------------------------

Sarah wandered into her designated cabin, and found a bed currently uninhabited. She didn't linger about the enclosure long. She took a seat, and simply waited. Soon, two of the kids movng through the cabin roughly bumped pass one another. "Watch where you're fucking going, bruh." One said. The other, completely bypassing the formalities, threw a punch. Naturally, those surrounding the two tried disarming the fight. Instead, they only ended up throwing around their own fists and feet.

Sarah, satisfied at the spontaneous occurance of chaotic violence, pushed her way back out the cabin. "I'll just let that simmer for a while..." She murmured, before turning her sights towards the forest. "Hmm. Sure there'll be something in there that'll want to get involved~" She added, and headed towards her next destination.

Unknown to her a child of Hermes cabin was watching from a distance, heard the sounds of the fight and watched her leave with a smirk. That combined with her odd actions earlier was certainly enough to report in. He broke the system Elizabeth had told them last night and rushed to the stables before asking somebody where Elizabeth had gone and heading there. He arrived and didn't question the sight before him.

"One of the campers is acting odd, we need to investigate."

"Lead the way." Was her response.

 

[Lambi]

When Freya got to the Hypnos cabin, she knocked as hard as she could on the door. "Hey! I need to speak to one of you! Someone named Ambrose!" She wasn't exactly yelling, but she was speaking loudly. After a few more bouts of knocking, a young demigod opened the door half asleep, a blanket still tangled around him. He looked at Freya, confused. "...what...?"

"You heard me. Ambrose. Where is she? I need to talk to her." She tried to show some curtosy by not just storming in and look for Ambrose herself. "I don't know who that is..." the kid answered tiredly. "Most of the older campers are outside in the back... if you wanna look there..." Freya mumbled a thank you to him before now storming in to look for Ambrose. She found where she thought the older campers were and poked each of them until one of them would answer her. "Where's Ambrose? One of you must be her."

"Hey! You can't be in here!" One of the masked campers shouted, pointing back to the door. At the mention of her name though, Ambrose lifted her mask up temporarily, wondering if she knew Freya from somewhere, or if it was deja vu, or if they hadn't met... either way, she stopped what she was doing and followed Freya out. "Do I know you or something?"

"Not me, no, but you know Gabriel. I was talking to him about our missions, how mine had gone well, and he didn't want to talk about yours. So what the fuck happened that makes him unable to talk about it?" Freya wanted some answers, and Ambrose looked like she'd be easier to get answers from. Ambrose seemed to ignore Freya for a while, rubbing her nose with the arm of her sweater. "Yeah, Gabriel. We didn't really do much on the mission. He went and did his own thing while we were in New York. He grew up there, so..."

That was certainly more than he'd told Freya. "And what happened there?" she asked Ambrose. She was being surprisingly patient with the Hypnos girl. "Um... why are you asking me? You some kind of stalker? He went to see his family." Freya blew air quickly out of her nose. "Like I said, he wouldn't tell me anything about what happened, and I'm making it my business to know. It would have been simple enough for him to tell me he was going to see his family, but since he didn't, that makes me think something more than that happened." She was many things, but stalker wasn't one of them.

"So what are you then, his girlfriend?" Ambrose sat down in the grass. "It wasn't a nice reunion, so... I'm sure he's gonna have some bad memories. "

"If I was his girlfriend, he'd probably have told me what happened. Just a bad reunion?" Freya took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes before putting the glasses back on. "Why is it so hard for everyone to just tell me what exactly happened there? Did someone die there or something?"

"Well maybe people think it's none of your business? Just a thought. Would hate for you to go make Gabriel feel worse about this." It was certainly looking now like it'd be just as hard to get Ambrose to answer her as it was to get Gabriel to answer. "I'm making it my business. I'll leave you alone if you just tell me." Hades damn that ice-for-brains, making me take that oath, or I swear I'd have the answer by now in my way.

Ambrose yawned. She needed more coffee. "Fine. Tell you what. I need more people to practice my sleep magic on. That worth it for you?" Freya had to think about it for a moment, then gave Ambrose her answer. "Fine, I'll help you with that if you'll tell me what happened."

"Promise on your house?"

"Yes, I promise. Now let's get it over with."

"Geez, it's not all that exciting. His adoptive Demeter family threw him out. People he grew up with, you know?"

"That's it? I guess it would be something he wouldn't want to talk about." Freya was almost disappointed it wasn't something else, after all the shit he gave her for wanting to know what it was. "Well, you told me, so now I'll help you."

"Heh, I told you it wasn't juicy gossip." She pulled out her pendant, wrapping it around her wrist. "Now just relax. You'll feel a little prick." she said sarcastically, the air growing heavy with sleep. "Who're you calling a prick, you...little..." Freya couldn't finish that as she grew sleepier until she fell asleep.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Kate was running Jia through the essentials in handling her weapons - Jia was no stranger to firearms, but she was more proficient in their use than their ownership, and the Rose of Sunrise didn't require much maintenance beyond wiping off the blood and viscera and occasionally polishing it for that extra sunrise quality.

"Fifty-nine second field strip. Not bad, pretty good...for a Human."

Jia gave Kate a look that suggested she was seriously considering rendering her down into bullets. "Alright, hotshot, show me." Jia slid the Dragunov across the table to the other woman. Kate grinned.

Her hands were like blurs, the weapon almost seeming to disassemble itself, parts just coming to rest on the table in a neat order until Kate's hands were empty, then began vanishing in reverse order as the weapon reformed around Kate's lightning fast touches. "Time."

"Twelve seconds. Holy shit."

Kate shrugged and slid the rifle back over to Jia. "Comes with being a Forgechild I guess. Keep practicing when you get a chance, maybe work it up as some kind of meditative focusing exercise."

"I'll give that some thought. How many guns do we have here?"

"A few hundred. Got some real antiques. Got a couple flintlocks that still work. One got used by Paul Revere."

Jia gave Kate a blank stare.

Kate huffed and glared at Jia. "Oh, come on. Midnight Ride? Legendary Hermes child?"

"Not ringing any bells. This some American history figure?"

"You know, I know who Guan Yu was."

Jia snorted, busying her hands loading bronze into her magazines. "You know about Guan Yu because of Dynasty Warriors, Kate."

"And you'd know your American history figures if you played video games!"

Jia shook her head, grinning. "So do we have enough serviceable guns for the whole camp? Sidearm and long arm for everyone?"

Kate stood up and moved to the racks of weapons and stacks of cases. "Maybe. The real trouble is ammunition, enough bronze..."

"Lead will do. As long as it kills Demigods."

Kate looked over her shoulder, her smile vanishing. "You're serious?"

"If what I'm afraid of is correct we're looking down the barrel of the Second Demigod Civil War."

What remained of Kate's cheer dissipated. "This is why I don't invite you to play games anymore."

 

[Pm0n3y]

In the forest, Gabriel had decided to take up his usual pastime of brooding and lounging up against trees. He sighed in his usual fashion, staring upwards towards the almost blanketing canopy of those surrounding trees. "Ugh, that really wasn't the best way to start this morning." He was thinking about Freya's encounter, and how she basically ruined his breakfast. "Dammit, I was actually hungry, too." He barely had a bite, now that he thought about it, and as he continued to think on the subject, his stomach began to rumble. He sighed again. "Maybe they're still serving..." He rose to his feet. But, before he could begin proceeding out of the forest, he caught sight of a girl entering. He began to pay her no mind.

"Hey!" Gabriel heard, and paused his gait. Looked like some kids were quickly approaching her. "What just happened in your cabin? With all that fighting?" He could hear a male voice ask. The girl didn't turn around. From his distance, he couldn't make out the smirk she began to wear. "Follow me in and i'll tell you." She said before bolting away. The boy, unimpressed with the tease, took off after her. "Wait-!" The other camper (the one that sounded like that one Hermes girl, Elizabeth) tried to stop him, but he was already out of range.

"What the..." Gabriel murmured, looking on as it all played out. As the girl ran deeper into the forest, the treetops began to rustle once more, a usual sign of harpies. "Ah goddammit." He began to resume making his way out of the forest, not aiming to get into another close encounter with the bird-like monsters. But then, nearby brushes began to jostle with activity as well. The sounds of growling and hissing and other hostile noises began filling the air. Something was agitating the beasts (even more so than usual), and now he really wanted to get out of the forest. The boy in pursuit paid no mind to the developing events, and failed to do anything about the towering naga closing in behind him. Before he could put his hands on the girl, the snake-woman pounced on him before ripping out his throat.

"Nope!" Gabriel retreated into the nearest tree, hopefully he went unnoticed by the two. The naga didn't attack the girl, rather, it proceeded towards camp, and more importantly, towards Elizabeth. Seemed she wasn't the only one, as he could spot harpies taking to the skies, and a multitude of other beasts breaking out of the forest. Judging by the following screams and sounds of fighting, they were all invading the campgrounds. "Oh man-" His astonished look at the developing events was interrupted, as a harpy near missed him. "Shit, time to go." He conjured vines to help him get through the trees. And as he touched down on one, a new harpy would appear and join the mob currently chasing him. He could ensnare some, but the tenacity of some kept the chase far too close.

"Last tree-" A jump from one branch to an outstretched vine seemingly covered his escape, that is, until the vine was cut mid-swing. Airborne just briefly, the Harvestchild was tackled to the ground by one harpy. "Why does this keep happening to me?" He thought with a scowl, as his sapling grew to ensnare her face in an enclosure of thorns. She blindly scratched at him, and he stabbed in fierce rebuttal. He had to get to his feet quickly, as the defeat of the one bird only seemed to bring another in his direction. He began back towards the camp as fast as his feet could travel.

 

[SkyeNeko]

Going back to what was essentially making potions could wait. Ambrose had a fresh new dream to probe. Time slowed as she entered her dream state, her surroundings slowly fading into vagueness. Ambrose decided to go for the low hanging fruit: no need to pry too deep into a stranger's mind. She figured she'd try and look for anything involving Gabriel.

Greek?

I've had my fill of creatures like you jumping out of the forest and attacking innocent people. You could have killed the Demeter Child because you're petty and childish and want people to think you're strong.

It was a male voice. Even the Greek sounded like he had an accent...

What are you talking about? When I tried to jump Gabe in the forest? That was just a prank! Do you think I actually wanted to kill him?! Do you think I'm that stupid?! Yes, fine, I tend to bash people's face in if they get in my way, but I don't kill anyone!

That was this girl. Woman. Ambrose realized she had no idea who she was. It sounded like she had narrowly dodged a bullet though. She had some strong feelings when Gabriel came up though... Ambrose had no doubt she was one of those kids who liked to pull on pigtails to show affection. Before she could dig more into that, their conversation continued with something slightly more interesting.

Fine. You're useless in getting me to your father, but you still need to swear on the River Styx that you'll never attack another camper outside of self defense or training.

Whoa, he serious?

Hmpf. Fine, fine, I swear.

Now, Ambrose wasn't a gossip. Kind of. But she figured one good turn deserved another. If this girl took a piece of Gabriel's sensitive information, Ambrose could make it up to him a little.

She withdrew from the dream, snapping back to the reality of overgrown grass and a hot summer day. The other demigod was still knocked out, drooling in an opium-induced coma. Dammit, what's the word again? Afypnisis? Xy...pniste? she snapped her fingers, trying to wake her up quick. Welp. Sorry, stranger. You're just gonna have to sleep it off. Ambrose got up, dumping Freya on the ground, and went off to find Gabriel.

After a few minutes of talking to the neighboring Aeolus kids, Ambrose found out Gabriel was seen walking off into the forest. Typical. Instead of the standard Demeter hangout in the fields, he had to go someplace dark, dangerous, and moody. Ah well, she could catch him on his way back, she figured.

[hr]

As Gabriel ran towards the camp, he was met by a familiar white scrap, which kept up with his speed effortlessly.

Oooooh you're not supposed to be in the dark place

"I'll make sure to regret it later." He replied to the kitty. "Find someplace to hide." He added.
Lethe happily jumped on Gabriel, claws digging in, and made her way into his backpack, making space and poking her head out.

Ooohh you're gonna be in trouble

"Lethe!?" Ambrose knew her cat was around, probably hiding, but she wanted her back in the cabin. Where were these things coming from? She was fighting with an older Aeolus demigod, allowing her to slack off for the most part, especially since they were still close to the cabins.

It's all his fault!

"Found her." Gabriel announced, approaching the Sleepling. "Go to Ambrose, Lethe."

No

"Well, just the Demeter spawn I was looking for. Gabriel, there's this crazy girl with red streaks after you, you know."
"Yup. Sounds like Freya." He dryly replied. "What'd you tell her?" He immediately assumed.
Ambrose ducked to avoid a harpy, letting it run into a wall. "That your adoptive family threw you out. Freya, huh?" She swung her scythe, decapitating the harpy. "You should probably go out with her before she kills you and keeps your body under her bed or something"
"Wow, no. Don't even joke like that...To the "going out" part, I mean." Sounded like she left out some of the more major details that lead up to his expulsion, which he appreciated, but he just knew it would just give the Hades child a reason to persue the subject even further. He let out a bit of a sigh as he narrowly dodged a flying harpy's talons.
"Well, if it helps, I did get something else, if you wanna know..."
"Something else? Like what?" For some reason, that caught his interest.
"Heh, she must have lost a bet or something. Swore by the Styx that she wouldn't hit people outside of practice."
"Huh. Must make some of these campers sleep a little easier." If anything, it explained why she didn't physically press him earlier.
"But yeah. Maybe you need to talk to someone sometime. She gave off the vibe that she could be... persuasive." Ambrose pulled out one of the bombs they had been working on. No time like the present... She lobbed it as hard as she could, and told the Aeolus demigod something about blowing the wind towards the forest. The grenade went off in a white burst, and 4 or five harpies dropped out of the air, giving them some time to get further into the camp.
"Gives off the vibe..." He recited back to himself as he made sure the Sleepling's back was covered. "That's putting it lightly." He added with a scoff. Even if he would've wanted to talk about his problems, the last person he want to talk to would be the girl that would most likely just ridicule him for his failures. "Y'got any more of those bombs?" He asked.
"Nope, lucky I had that one. The cabin leader should be taking the rest of them out for defense though, hopefully, if they sound an alarm sometime soon..."

 

[Lambi]

After a while, Freya woke up again with no Ambrose to be found nearby. "Hrmpf. Typical. You help out with an experiment, and then you're left on your own." She stood up and did a little stretching. While she could have gone to find Gabriel again and try to ask him further about his family, she had much more pressing issues right now. She could see creatures coming out of the forest and into the camp, with campers either getting attack by surprise or attacking before getting attacked. Not long after that, a siren could be heard to let all the campers who weren't aware of the attack know. Must have been one of the campers who was able to fight their way to it. she thought to herself about who had activated the siren.

Freya wasn't armed or armored at the moment, as she hadn't been expecting to get attack so soon after breakfast, but she had to get back to her cabin somehow. While she was fairly strong, she wouldn't be able to fight hand to hand for too long. She summoned three skeletons, which she didn't have to do often as one or two were enough for most cases, and headed for her cabin, the skeletons fighting any monsters that came close to them, and Freya punching whatever creature she had to that came close to her in order to get to her cabin mostly unharmed.

Once she was there, Freya headed into the empty cabin, as the other Hades children were out there, fighting. In order to use her armor fully, she had to put her contacts in. Her skeletons stood around her as guards while she did that, since she didn't know who or what could come into the cabin while she did that. Her contacts in now, and her glasses in a safe place by her bed, she had to be quick about putting all her armor on because the creatures weren't just going to stand around and wait for her to get ready. She put the sheath belt on her, and didn't bother to put her sword into it, because she'd be using it quickly after going outside anyway.

With her sword in her right hand and shield in her left, and fully armored, Freya now headed outside, ready to fight some monsters. She kept her skeletons around for help, since she wasn't able to see anything that was behind her, so the skeletons would be able to take care of that. A harpy grabbed one of them, though, but the skeleton sliced its feet off to be let go. While it came down crashing and Freya had to summon a new one, it meant that particular harpy was now a lot less dangerous without its claws. A naga made its way towards Freya, who looked towards it with a grin one could only call a slasher smile, visible only since her helmet was open around her lower face. "Come to mama, you *****!" she yelled before charging towards it, sword kept to her side in order to swing at the naga.

With one naga dead, she turned to the next monster, continuing taking them down. She moved through most all of them with ease, but she had to be careful not to accidentally hit a fellow camper.

 

[blaze96]

Elizabeth had to quickly dodge the attack and fired an arrow into the best.

"Go, sound the alarm, we are under attack!" She shouted at the child of Hermes who immediately bolted as fast as he could back in the direction of camp.

She made sure to kill the naga before falling back a bit to cover her cabin-mate from any harpies that tried to attack him. It was imperative that the camp be warned of the goings on here.

"Don't get separated!" She yelled to the other campers, knowing they would fight better as a team than what amounted to a rabble of less than ten people.

 

[Pm0n3y]

As if the Hermes girl's plea carried on the wind, the sounds of a air horn blared to life. If you weren't aware of the obvious attacks ravaging through the camp, you'd surely get the memo by now. Counselors gathered their younger siblings, and herded them back into their quarters as quickly as they possibly could. With the help of some brave wood nymphs, Rosa managed to get her group out of the gardens.

Gabriel, on the other hand, managed to stick close to his sleepy friend as they did their best to fend off razor sharp talons and claws and teeth. In the slightest lull of battle, he spotted the Hermes camper across the field. "Come with me." Taking Ambrose by the hand, the Harvestchild sprinted across the field, dipping and ducking and dodging through the thick of chaos in order to discuss things with the girl. "We need to go after that girl. The one that ran into the forest." He told Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had shot a couple of the harpies before the harvestchild ran up and told her to do the blatantly obvious thing she had just been doing. The look on her face was about as deadpan as anyone had ever seen from the child of Hermes.

"You kid, have a lot to learn. Try to keep up." Was the quick phrase she uttered before immediately running off towards the forest before quickly making her way up into the branches and leaping after the girl. Years of training at the camp coming back into play once again.

"Well, it ain't look like you were taking the incentive until I mentioned it..." With Ambrose firmly tucked under an arm, Gabriel thrust out his free hand, and a gaggle of vines followed, grappling on to the nearest tree. VWOOP! With but a thought, the two disappeared into the treetops. The swift footed Hermes camper may have had a headstart, but Gabriel was in his element here. Even with Ambrose in his grasp, it didn't take much to bring up the rear. "We won't be able to stay in the trees for long." He stated, thinking back on all the harpies that chased him down just a few minutes prior. "I saw the girl run further into the forest, but I never saw her slow down. I don't know how much deeper she's gone." "If going by that crab me and Ammy fought yesterday night, who knows what else might come out of this forest."

Elizabeth didn't slow down for a moment as she continued on her path. The girl was not very well trained in stealth, her path was sloppy and relatively easy to track. Footprints and handprints were left on the ground from where she had jumped over a log to a hard landing.

"It's fine, unless she slows down I can track her. She's in escape mode, not trying to hide but trying to outrun. Then again she may get some friends to distract us, also I suggest you protect as much of yourself as possible. I don't know how but she is able to convince people to fight each other, could be pheremones could be mind control I don't know." Just as Elizabeth made the mention, something smashed through the canopy, a massive tower-like figure breaking the gait of both young demigods. It let out a spine-shivering hiss that echoed throughout the entire forest. The beast resembled a imposingly large serpent, one that stood in front of Gabriel, Ambrose, and Elizabeth. It stared the three down with its fearful red eyes. "Yup. That's definitely an distraction." Gabe commented, having a thought of getting out of the tree as quickly as humanly possible.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

"Did you hear that?" Kate said, withdrawing a q-tip from the barrel of a battered Kalashnikov. Jia was already on her feet before the quick note had receded, reflexively drawing a familiar weapon, the Rose of Sunrise bursting into light as it left her sheath.

"Alarm horn. Camp is under attack."

Kate let out a bellow of obscenities in ancient Greek. "Cover me! I need to get my armor!"

"Move!" Jia took up a guard stance at the entrance to the armory as she heard a clattering behind her, the Hephaestus girl flinging weapons and debris out of the way to get at the massive imposing suit hidden away in the back of the structure. Jia didn't pay attention, hearing the distant sounds. She slid the Rose back into the sheath and slung the Dragunov off her shoulder, peering through the scope. Through it she could see a number of creatures swarming out of the forest, attacking the Demigods who were near the treeline. She dropped the sight on one, made a quick adjustment for windage and the long range, and pulled the trigger. The harpy she had targeted fell from the sky, most of the skull from the jaw up reduced to a spray of meat and shattered bone. She kept firing, harpies and hellhounds dropping dead or staggering from crippling injuries with every squeeze of the trigger.

"Mags!"

"Bronze doesn't grow on trees, Jia! Jesus! I don't have any more seven six two twenty six mags loaded!"

There was a sound of whirring pistons and shifting actuators, and Jia felt the ground tremble slightly. Turning her head she saw Kate standing there, fiddling with the helmet for her armor. "Leave it for now! Most of the other campers are going to still be at breakfast, head for there and make sure it's secure. I'm going to go help at the front lines." She slung her rifle and once again drew the Rose, not waiting for a response from her friend as she took off at a dead sprint for the treelines. As she got close she let out a string of rapid fire Mandarin.

"Wǒ shì chǔnǚ zhàn de háizi, wǒ zāoshòu kuángbào!" [footnote]Loosely, "I am the child of the battle maiden, suffer my fury!"[/footnote] She cried as she leapt into them blade first, the Rose tearing through the armored hide of a Drakaina to pierce the heart in one quick thrust. She tore the blade free amidst a gout of hot blood, twisting aside to dodge the geyser as the beast fell to the ground. Jia didn't pause to gloat, instead leaping into the fray, kiai's ripping from her throat as blood sprayed around her, monsters falling dead around her. "To me, sons and daughters of Athena! Drive these scum from our home!"