Classroom Bonding

Roy walked into the classroom with Irene. His class was already set up. He had gone to the nearby museum and got three things: the smaller, pure gold eagle headpiece Roy found when he went on an expedition with the boy scouts, and a pure obsidian sword, sharper than a razor blade, and the emerald and diamond trident he got recently. He had three things dealing with worshiping, and funnily enough they were from the big three. The pure gold eagle headpiece from Zeus's worshipers, the obsidian sword from the special human sacrifices from Hades, and for Poseidon, the emerald trident. The class was nearly filled, and, oddly enough...most of them were girls, smiling. Roy took this as a coincidence. It was almost 10, so there were still some time. The room had a chalk board, along with some pieces of chalk in place. Roy went up to the board and wrote 'Mr. Clark' in big letters, and then the subject beneath it: 'Ancient History'. He figured that he would elaborate when the class started; he wanted to do the revealing. Within 5 minutes, the class was filled (still with the unproportional ratio of more females to males), and it was 10. With a smile, Roy faced the class.

"Well hello, everyone. I assume you all received my class on your schedule today, and even if you have not, welcome. My name is Mr. Clark, and I'm here to teach you about ancient history." He summated, looking at Irene for some support. He wasn't feeling nervous, merely a bit overwhelmed at the moment. He didn't let it show, however.

"Now I'll begin by passing these things around, but be very careful of them. They're priceless artifacts, and I don't want them damaged."

"If they are so invaluable, then why have you delivered them here?" A voice spoke. He was a good looking fellow, and had three scars across his face, and seemed to be Roy's age. He had royal purple eyes that seemed to pierce Roy. Roy raised an eyebrow.

"To make things more interesting. He told the boy, getting out the gold eagle and passing it to the first row of desks.

"What's your name?" Arthur asked the purple eyed boy, getting out the obsidian sword.

"Arthur, sir." He said in a very calculating look. Roy passed the sword down the second isle, and then the trident down the third, the one that sat Arthur, who was in the far back.

"Now, can anyone tell me what these things are for by looking at them?" Roy asked, but the class was silent. Most of the girls were just staring at him, but no one seemed to answer. Either they were dumb, deaf, or no one knew. He looked at Irene for a response. Hopefully she would know.

Irene smiled at Roy and stood up from her seat in the back, she preferred to listen quietly and watch the students from behind, truthfully she was keeping an eye on the girls who were in the front row, particularly the blonde who was batting her eyes at Roy as he lectured.

She walked back up the row with the golden eagle that had reached her only seconds before Roy glanced at her. Normally she would never had stood up to answer a question, and instead would have raised a hand but she knew classes at camp well and if you know something it's alright to explain in your own way, the Athena kids loved that policy.

"This is an eagle headpiece, it's made of solid gold and if you skim your finger under it, you'll feel an indentation, this was more than likely propped up on a stick or staff of some sort to worship the mighty Zeus."

Irene walked down the isle of the second row and leaned over to the boy with dark brown hair and green eyes and whispered.

"I'll trade you this priceless artifact for that priceless artifact."

With that she took the sword and nodded back to the boy to move the Golden Eagle up his row so everyone would eventually get a chance to see each item.

"Over here, is a sword of obsidian, legend has it that it's so sharp you could go blind just by looking at it, obviously that isn't true or we wouldn't be sitting here perfectly ok. This was crafted by the worshipers of Hades, unlike the worshipers of Zeus, Hades had fans of a different kind. The sword was used for the utmost honorable human sacrifices.

Irene looked at the faces of the students, some looking shocked at the idea of human sacrifice, other didn't seem to be bothered by it, some Ares kids snickered at the back, and some just gazed past Irene and watched Roy. She walked down the isle of the third row wit the sword and looked down at the boy with the scars politely.

Wow, isn't he a ray of sunshine, slouching about in class. What is with this guy?

Keeping her comments internal, she nodded at the trident and swapped it out for the sword. Somehow Irene didn't feel too good about leaving a sword that could kill her in a heart beat in the hands of this kid but her need to look proper and not start an unnecessary fight prevailed as she scurried up the row and smiled once more at the class. Forgetting completely that this was Roy's class and not hers.

"And this, Oh.... well this...." Irene looked back at Roy in near disbelief, her smile evaporated.

How on Earth, did he get this ?

"Guys, this is the emerald and diamond trident the Hippopodes used to worship Poseidon in their... lost. underground ancient temple."

Irene set the trident on the desk of the first row who had waited a bit to get another artifact as she glared at Roy curiously and straightened out her dress. Irene wanted answers.

Roy smiled widely. Some of the kids rolled their eyes, others looked at Irene with great interest. Roy was doing the latter: looking at her with extreme interest, but he normally did that anyway. She was getting them all right as well, even to his surprise the trident he found at the temple of the Hippopodes. Now, he wasn't quite sure if he should explain that tale; it was long, and he was here to teach about ancient history, not about his adventures. Not many of the kids there anyway looked like they had an interest in Irene's insight, anyway.

"Very well done, excellent, Irene." Roy smiled as he patted her on her back and nodded to where her seat was.

"Yes, you are correct in every one of them. Even the emerald trident -- but I'm here to teach ancient history. If you want to hear about that story, you can see me after class," He spoke.

"For today's lesson, I'm teaching you about the ancient greek mythology. Their ideas of creation. Now, as we all know, the legends are real, or else we wouldn't be here, but you do have to remember there are the Egyptian, Roman, and Nordic gods that are also true. So we start off with Khaos, or Chaos, the main primeval god, who brought into the world Sky and Earth..."


"...and we'll leave off with Kronos eating his kids," Roy finished his lecture. He had a chart on the board displaying the titans and who they bore. The artifacts were on his desk, and he opened the doors of his classroom.

"You are all dismissed," He smiled, as the kids went out the door. It seemed that no one wanted to hear his story, or the kids were too nervous to ask; most of the girls held their book close to their chest and giggled as they left, some trying to get another glance at Roy.

"Thank you, Mr. Clark, you did well," A younger boy said. "I can't wait to hear the next lecture." And with that, the unnamed boy left.

"How'd you like it, Irene?" Roy asked her, with a smile on his face. He thought he did pretty well, but then again, he knew some kids don't like history very much.

Irene listened intently to everything Roy said, she already knew it, but she liked the way his voiced rang in her ears.  She stood up at the end of the lecture and walked over to Roy with the most genuine smile she could have.

"You were marvelous Roy, don't be distraught by the few that didn't listen, most of the kids here didn't get to pick the class, it was just what was left over at the start of camp."

Irene had not forgotten about the trident, she walked to his desk and gazed down at it's luster, next to it, the obsidian sword looked, dark and really intimidating as comparison.

I wonder how many heads you've cut off in the name of Hades... the thought made the hairs on the back of her neck shiver, Irene looked back at the trident and you, my pointy friend, how did Roy even find you.

She pivoted on her heel and faced Roy, trident resting openly on the palms of both her hands. "So professor Clark, care to tell me how you came to possess this? The underground temple has been lost for centuries. I'm interested in what else you could have in that museum of yours, assuming you actually leave them in a museum and don't hang them up on your cabin walls for kicks that is"

Irene smiled jokingly, though she was dead serious about her question, knowledge floating around that she didn't know about, especially something personal like a relic of an Olympian was a pet peeve, she hadn't even heard of an expo by any museums, if Roy really took  it to a museum it must still be going through the clearance process before being put up on exposition.

Which means teacher here must have some serious connections to the museum if he was allowed access to the trident and be able to bring it to Camp Half Blood, I wonder how he explained to the museum why bringing a priceless relic to a strawberry field was an invaluable decision.

Irene sat in Roy's "teaching" chair though, Roy had been standing and writing on the board the entire lecture so she was the first to sit in it, and twirled it around the way she did at the hospital when she waited for her mother to clock out after volunteering hours were done. She stopped spinning only to hear Roy intensively as he spoke.

"Thanks," Roy said, as he erased the board from behind Irene, smiling a bit. He had thought he told her about his adventures, but then again, he didn't remember telling her what exactly he did. He just said he was just known for his adventures; nowhere did he mention his journeys through various temples.

"Well... I simply found it," Roy spoke, finishing up with the board and now sitting on his desk, looking at Irene.

"You know, in it's temple. It was very grueling; I almost drowned, let alone died a couple of times, but I found it. It belonged to be in view to the public, so that's what I did. I did that for a lot of things. All these artifacts here have a story behind them, and I simply added mine to the mix." Roy grabbed the sword and the gold headpiece with one hand.

"Can I have my trident back, Irene, or do you want me to explain my story first? Roy asked, with a light smirk on his face as he talked to her. There was something about her that made him much happier than usual.

"How many more artifacts are there that you contributed to? And haven't I heard your name around before, I keep up with these things, new information, I make it my hobby to keep up with as much as I can, content wise. Also, you only die if you're not smart enough to do it right the first time" Irene winked at that last part, smiled, and turned around leaving the trident in Roy's hand, doubting he even noticed she put it there.

He's not the only one who can wink. I don't let these things slide unnoticed.

"How about you just explain this to me on the bus to the museum, I've been here for four years and haven't been to the museum in like two, I have to go get my bag, I'll see you on the bus to the museum ok?" She looked at the clock on the wall above Roy and knew the next bus would leave in 20 minutes, but she liked being there early. "Fifteen minutes. Don't be late."

Irene walked out in a matter of fact, she knew he'd show up neither of them had any actual plans for the rest of the day and she loved museums. Excited to see some new artifacts that she had read up on, Irene rushed to her cabin to get some cash and her purse, she had a habit of buying souvenirs at places even though she's already been to them on more than once occasion.