Sitting by the Creek

He laughed. "Quite the accurate impression! And yes, we can't have the trail lead back to us if we're gonna survive this...." He trailed off for a moment, and Lennie found himself staring at Stealle's lips. He blushed more when he caught himself and studied the ground. "But it sounds like we've got ourselves an awesome prank..."
Again he trailed off. He smiled, though, remembering her comment about cheese. Was that because she kissed him? He noted that while he had been staring at the ground, Stealle had been intently studying the river. Lennie felt a thought click from within and stood up. Oh gods, he was going to take a risk...

Steallle closed her eyes and just listened to the rushing water, thinking intently. She didn't notice Lennie standing up, and didn't notice him staring at her. A ghost smile was on her face. "yeah, an awesome ki... Prank!!'' she hopes she had corrected herself. She didn't look up, and tried not to blush, but was that something you had control of? Did she have a choice?
Stealle sighed and tried not to think about what she had just said, what she had just done, Lennie hadn't said anything yet , but he was blushing as well, and standing up, Stealle finally noticed. Her heart race increased. She could feel her stomach turn into butterflies. What is he doing? Is he going to run? She was sure that if he just ran she would be able to track him down again. Again, she averted her eyes and tried not to care. But she cared a lot.

Lennie walked over to her, hesitantly edging nearer as he came closer. Did he have the courage? Did he even dare? He felt as if his heart was punching his ribs, trying to escape. So nervous was he that he almost wished it would. Though the mischievous glint was still in his eyes, a sudden shyness came over him as he stood next to her. "Stealle...um..."
His stomach wrenched as he spoke. Never mind. No speaking.
Slowly, he turned to her and carressed her head with one hand. It was a terrible suspense. How did she do this so simply before? He guessed it was the moment. Lennie believed he was terrible at this.
But before he could back out of it, he leaned in and brought his lips to hers.

Stealle's heart went into overdrive when he took her face in his hands. When their lips touched, she didn't break it. It was different this time. This time it meant something, this time it was real. That is what Stealle was afraid of. She pulled away and gave him a sad look. "I can't do this... I can't loose you." Stealle could not make commitments in fear that she would loose whoever she was committed to. People at camp die all the time, it could very well be Lennie, with all the pranks he does, but she longed to just stand there and hug him, never let him go. She stood and pulled him into a hug, resting her head on his shoulder. He was about an inch taller, but she didn't really care. "Don't let me loose you." She whispered into his ear, a ghost smile on her face.

Lennie hugged back, almost concerned. Stealle suddenly seemed to have something bothering her as the kiss broke off. What did she mean lose-- oh. Yikes.
She was right; that sort of thing was common around here. People died way too often... But him? For some reason, he never really thought of himself dying. He was concerned about the welfare of others, but when it came to his own life being at stake, the idea seemed almost foreign. But still, it was possible. And what of Stealle? What if something happened to his one and only friend? That be even more terrible...
"I won't," he answered with a short, reassuring squeeze. A feeling of stinging cold shot through his arms, but it quickly subsided. "But you've gotta promise me the same, mmkay?" he mumbled into her shoulder.

"No, I know you won't, not intentionally anyways. People don't know we exist... just don't fall off any cliffs or drown in any toilets and I think we'll be fine." She tried to reassure herself of that, but couldn't quite bring herself there. She broke the hug and stepped back, holding tightly to his forearms. She hadn't smiled since the kiss, and for some reason, didn't really want to. She was in that strange depressing mood.
Stealle tried not to look too worried, but she couldn't help it. She didn't like relationships, and couldn't make commitments. She didn't want to be a 'couple' with someone, it just seemed too... Aphrodite-ish. Going around, forcing your boyfriend to do stupid stuff to prove his love, it made her sick. But, really, she was sitting here kissing this guy she had just met... But she would probably never speak of it to anyone, because she didn't have anyone to speak of it to... but found herself studying his face again.

Lennie was staring at the ground, feeling something he couldn't describe in the pit of his stomach. It was a cold kind of feeling that reached up and pulled down at his heart. Stealle's face. It was so concerned... He felt kind of guilty. That's what that feeling was-- remorse.
He couldn't help but feel that he had brought the worry upon her because of the kiss. Uggggh, why was he so stupid? He'd gone and made friends with another camper, just as lonely as he was. This friendship, it was quick, which meant it was utterly fragile. And then he'd gone and kissed her, adding to the confusion. He'd gotten so wrapped in a moment that...
Hold on a moment, he thought, breaking his chain of mental rambling. Do you regret the kiss?
Well, yeah, kind of. I mean, look at the aftermath.
Okay, Eeyore, you can stop with the gloom. Did you enjoy the kiss? Was it good?
Lennie blushed at the memory that his own conscience had conjured and grinned. Yeah...It was the best. Well, the only one too, besides the first.
Right. She kissed you first, didn't she?
Yes...But it was a spur of the moment--
Shush. She kissed you first. Problem solved. Now stop worrying, ya schmuck.
Lennie smirked mentally. His conscience was tougher than he was.
Soon, he found himself observing Stealle's light hair. It had a bit of blue in it, Lennie realized, the corners of his lips rising just a little. That was cool.
And so was his arms. The icy jolt of cold raced up and down his forearms until eventually it stopped. Although they had kissed, and it was nice, he didn't want to rush her into a relationship. In fact, he wanted more than anything to at least be good friends with her. At least? Did he just think 'at least'? Okay, maybe a relationship would be nice. Really nice. But a close friendship was fine too~
If anything, he didn't want to be a burden to her. But she didn't know what to do with him, did she? Lennie searched her eyes innocently. Stealle was deciding something.

Stealle was a little creeped out when he started to randomly smile, like he was having a nice little conversation with himself. It was slightly disturbing. She let go of his arms, turning back toward the creek. "Beautiful, isn't it?" She asked, no smile on her face. The sun was setting, casting shadows over the two, giving the scene a drearly look. She almost wanted to just stand there forever, in the cold, in her home. She felt wet snow falling onto her bare arms, and wished she could just pack up and move to Antarctica. Stealle loved the feeling of the snow on her arms, and turned her face up toward it. Feeling the snow on the nose and cheeks, not even feeling an inch of cold anywhere on her body. She loved the feeling of the snow, but realized that Lennie mitt not, and probably didn't. She used the same arm thrusting motion thing to stop it this time as she did last time. "I just want to freeze the world, stay in this moment forever." She said quietly, no emotions on her face.

Lennie finally decided it wasn't his fault that she stopped smiling, and allowed his own to linger upon his face. Unlike Stealle, it was quite easy to make him smile. "Yeah..." he said softly, his warm eyes following the slow descent of the sun. "Very..." He was reminded of home before camp, where the golden fields reflected the sun's burning orange light. How his mom and him would go on picnics to watch the setting sun... The image melted away as a snowflake landed on his nose, and his smile faded away. It was too dangerous for those types of picnics now. Ever since the cyclops incident...He blinked desperately, snowflakes intertwining with his already water-webbed lashes. Lennie hated thinking about that day.
Stealle ceased the snow, and he took a moment before responding. "Forever would be nice," he said finally. "But I think we'd get hungry after a while..."

Stealle rolled her eyes, wishing she could read minds. She was always wondering if boys only thought about girls and food, and occasionally sports. She wondered if those stereotypical girls only thought about makeup and boys, and maybe clothes or shoes. She wondered what most people though about her, if the even cared enough to do that. She wondered what went on in peoples heads as they fought and cried. And mostly what went on while they were reading or running, if their thoughts were patterned or had anything to do with what they were doing. What strange thoughts went on her head, she was glad no one could read her mind, she would probably accidentally drive them insane or something...

He looked at her and smirked at her reaction. "You know I'm only kidding... Mostly." In fact, he felt he could stand there forever. But soon, goosebumps began to rise on his arms. He thought that maybe it was Stealle. She was always cold. But Lennie's guess was wrong. His gaze lowered to the creek, and because of something nagging his nerves, he turned around. Seeing nothing much, he faced back to his original direction. But wait...
He snuck another peek at the woods behind them.Oh gods.
He paled and naturally grabbed Stealle's arm in both surprise and warning. His other hand went to Stinger, the dagger at his side. "Ummmmm fun fact about the Deadly Forest: it's deadly."

Stealle quickly drew her sword when he touched her arm. She turned slowly, wondering what could have shooken the boy up so terribly. Her light blur eyes widened at the sight of the monster, about their hight with wicked deadly teeth. She nodded, tryig to think of a plan. Yha thug had stubby legs, meaning he couldn't run very fast. It's pale color sugested it was used to te warm, for most winter monsters have darker complextion. "What even is that?" Stealle muttered, drawing her sword in her right hand and her knife in her left. "Because that would sure help me kill it." Her face was focused, taking in every detail about the monsters body. It's eyes were black, and she could barely make out his ears. It probably relied on it's sense of smell and eyesight, so taking off was a bad idea, although they could outrun it easily, it would destroy half the forest trying to follow, also not good. Strafing her breathing, she assumed battle position, prepared to fight, offense or defense, although offense was preferred.

"No idea," Lennie said, breathlessly drawing Stinger from its small sheath. How long was it standing there? How long had it been making it's way to them? It didn't matter. Its intentions probably weren't very good. Lennie held his breath as he observed the monster. Its teeth were sharp and drool dripped down from the side of its mouth. Lennie felt like his stomach flipped upside-down, but he settled into a stance. Whatever this monster was, it wasn't gonna hurt them. He was not really good at offence...at all...but whatever fell upon them, he'd be ready to face. Or try to, at least. "Sorry," he said. "I probably should've mentioned this before..." Monsters always found him. He kind of forgot over the past hour.

"We're all demigods, we all get followed. Monster stalkers, I wouldn't be surprised if they were even following us on Facebook..." Stealle whispered, backed slowly toward the creek, trying not to make fast movements. Maybe this wasn't he best time for comments like that, but its how she coped with awkward or stressful situations. She decided she was fine making loud noises, considering its hearing probably wasn't that good. Testing the hearing thing was probably a good idea, before they went around screaming to each other. She would do that when she didn't feel cornered. She decided to go ahead and call this thing a butt, because that's basically what he looked like. His legs were stubby, and he wasn't very tall, but his teeth and claws were lethal. He was on all fours, like a dog. Stealle couldn't see behind his head, because he was about their height, but he didn't look like he would be able to stand on his hind legs, considering his front ones were very very short...
Stealle really didn't want to be cornered anymore, she felt helpless. "Okay, we need our backs facing the sun, it looks like he relies mostly on eyesight. The light from the sun should give us an advantage. Run to your left on the count of three."

"Aristaeus kids though, we..." he began to whisper but trailed off as he watched the monster. It's back was arched, teeth bared... it almost looked like a combination of a bear and a pussy cat....and maybe even a werewolf. He didn't know. They'd have to look it up if they got back to camp. When he corrected himself. Not 'if.'
"Alright, on your count," he tried to say confidently. He secretly hoped it worked.

Stealle gave him a look, because he didn't sound too sure. "one" she whispered, putting her sword away, but keeping her knife firmly at her side. She was read to run, maybe run for her life. "Two..." she said, trying to look strong. She was scared out of her pants... Having long legs, it shouldn't be that difficult to run. But her body wasn't built for running, she was built for fight. Mostly offense, to be specific. She could barely defend for her life. "Three!" She yelled, bounding to her left.

Lennie bolted to the left, arriving at their destination just a second before Stealle. He wasn't much of a runner, but when there was a reason, he was fast. He turned his head to glance at the monster to see if it noticed. Its head wiped to the side, and a river of drool leaked from the side of its mouth. Yep. It noticed.
"Plan B?" he asked Stealle. The monster stepped toward them, and Lennie's grip on Stinger tightened. Should he call the bees back? They might help...

Stealle took a deep breath. "Whatever plan B is, sure..." Stealle muttered, rolling her eyes at the disgusting monster, pulling her sword up, ready to strike. She was biting her lip again, trying to formulate a plan. The sun was obstructing the monsters vision, so all they had do worry about was it smellig them, and they probably smelled like demigod. I wonder why. Even though the monster wasn't coming closer to them, she could feel it's energy.
Stealle was starting to feel trapped again. Hating that feeling, she looked around hopelessly. Okay, she could run back to camp, leaving Lennie here with the monster, which did not seem very nice, or stay here and fight, which could possibly end in death. For some reason, te second option seemed more appealing. Funny how that works.

"Okay," Lennie said, and from his lips emerged a shrill whistle. The monster roared and covered its ears, and Lennie could only hope that it would work. His bee friends weren't always reliable, but when they came, they arrived in packs. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, there was a faint buzzing. The buzzing grew and grew until there was a loud humming surrounding them. A whole hive's worth of bees floated next to Lennie, even one or two landing on Stealle's arm. He felt a small nudge at his knee. Looking down, he realized that even two goats had shown up. "Heh," he said with a weak laugh. "Stealle, meet my lil' forest friends..." The bees and goats turned around and started heading toward Stealle. "HEY! Not Stealle, she's a friend. We need you to get that guy," he said, pointing at the monster. "Or at least distract him for a while. Think you can do it?" Without even a buzz or a snort, the animals and insects made a beeline for the monster. "C'mon," Lennie said, turning to Stealle as the monster began to fend of the bees and goats. "They're strong, but they won't last forever."

Stealle looked at the bee's and goats, which looked like they wanted to eat her... Wow. She didn't like the bees landing on her arm, but didn't have enough common sense to shake them off. Or maybe she had just enough to know shaking them off would probably tick them off. Maybe a little bit of both. She didn't want any of the animals to get hurt, but sadly didn't really care about the insects, she was compassionate like that. Stealle was trying to think of ways to contribute, but her head was already starting to hurt from the accidental use of her powers, oops.
She started to study the monster again. It resembled a dog in many ways, like its body structure. Its stomach rested about 9 inches above the ground, Stealle could probably just fit under him on army crawl... At that thought, a very very stupid idea popped into her head. It was actually so stupid it was amusing. She wanted to tell Lennie, but somehow thought he would stop her. Oh boy...
"Lets just hope I don't die..." She muttered, getting back into running position. Before she could stop herself, she ran straight toward the monster, sliding like a baseball player underneath it, thrusting her sword into its stomach. She missed it's heart... crap. All she managed to do was get herself covered in gold dust and aggravate the thing, maybe slow it down a little. She stood again once she was a few feet behind it. It bellowed in rage. "Not nearly the effect I was hoping for..." She yelled, finding another fighting stance.

"Stellae, what are you do-- oh gods." He began to run after her, but his running slowed to a stop as she slid under the monster and slashed at its stomach. Whoa. That was pretty awesome. But then the monster turned on her. She looked like she was settling into another stance, but she was awfully close.
Maybe he could sneak... He didn't really think it through really. Aristaeus was also a god of hunting, and Lennie was good at stealthily moving. He was already moving to attack the monster while it was distracted. Before he could even move, however, the monster whipped around, and Lennie stumbled back a few steps. "Curse my strong scent," he muttered, keeping the dagger close to him. If the monster lashed out, he'd poke it faster. He hoped.

Stealle was breathing hard when the monster turned to her, but she just got annoyed when it turned back to Lennie. Maybe if she had long range weapons, she would be fine with that. But she didn't, so she wasn't. "Okay, ugly. I see how it is." She muttered, tilting her head to the side. She knew that Lennie had a stronger demigod scent, because Stealle had always had a weak one. Taking a deep breath, she raised her sword and brought it down hard on the monsters rear end. That should get its attention... Stealle thought, shuffling backwards. She looked desperately toward Lennie, hoping he would get the idea. Her bright blue eyes were full of confidence, but they showed fear as well. Stealle had always wondered how she was going to die... I guess this is it... Was the only thought she could process without contradicting herself. The monster turned toward her again. She made her expression show no emotion, although she swallowed hard. C'mon Lennie... your turn.

Lennie panicked, stuck between two possibilities. He knew that Stealle wanted him to do something, but he wasn't sure what. Stab it in the butt like she did? Or finish it off? He had to choose something quick, because the monster was nearing Stealle. He rushed forward and tried to aim somewhere, anywhere vital. But then again, being Lennie, he didn't want the monster to suffer. Stinger pierced the beast's furry flesh effectively, except... Except... He tugged. Not good. His dagger was well-stuck in the monster's side. The monster reared in pain, but it moved even closer to Stealle in reaction, backing her up against the creek. Lennie decided to try something kind of crazy. Well, he didn't decide, he just...
Lennie grabbed hold of his dagger, and after a try, heaved himself onto the beast's back. It began to shake and fling itself around. "Hurry!" Lennie shouted to Stealle, not bothering to disguise his fear as he clung to the beast for dear life. If he flew off, death was likely in more than a few ways. He had no weapon. "Now!" he encouraged Stealle, flashing her a reassuring grin. If only he could reassure himself. But being a distraction was kind of fun.

Oh, thats why people hated indirect commands. Stealle had no idea what Lennie wanted to her to do. He was holding on to his dagger impaled in the beasts back, but it looked like his grip was weakening. He probably couldn't hold on much longer.
The beast was thrashing about, trying to shake Lennie from its back. Eventually, it reared, exposing its stomach for a short about of time. Oh! Oh do it again little ugly putt monster, c'mon, I just want to kill you. Its not that bad, right? Stealle said it in her head so she didn't look completely insane. When he wouldn't lift his front legs for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only 4 minutes, Stealle had to do something stupid... again.
She charged the beast, bringing her sword across his front paws, but her sword only made it to one before it snapped at her with its teeth and swiped with the other paw, leaving a bleeding wound on her left arm, causing her to drop her sword. There was a low growling sound in her throat, and she charged the best again. Her defense was horrid, this is where she had most flaws. She was bad at deflecting blows, but managed to get one quick swipe at the paws again. This time, the beast reared, and before she knew it, Stealle had picked up her knife and drove it into the monsters chest. Stealle collapsed in front of the monster, who was roaring in rage.

Lennie was worried as he watched Stealle rush forward again. The monster nearly bit her head off.
And meanwhile, his grip on his dagger was slowly sliding, his clammy hands giving way to gravity. No... no just a little bit longer! he thought anxiously as he tightened his grip on the hilt. Just a wee bit longer so Stealle can do what she needs to... The monster reared, flinging Lennie off of its back as it was mortally stabbed by Stealle's weapon. Fortunately, Stealle was safe and he had landed carefully. Unfortunately though...
"Oh gods." The beast fell backwards with a furious roar as it began to die, right onto Lennie. "Oof!" he yelped as the beast crushed him. He tried shoving it off, but then it burst into golden dust. Lennie sat up, covered with monster dust and coughing and swatting away at it. Then finally, he collapsed in relief. "Good...good one, Stealle," he panted.