Cool Kids

Today was perfect! Narcissus didn't have to go to the arena today to practice his swordsmanship or did he have to listen to the Athena kids lecture on and on about Greek History. Now just because this son of Aphrodite got bored about having to learn about the city-state that is Athens, doesn't mean he wasn't respectful; it just meant that he didn't want to hear it from the grey eyed robots.

He was sitting back on his hands while basking in the beautiful light and warmth of the sun. He wore a pink tank top with light blue swimming trunks. A pair of black sunglasses rested on on the bridge of his nose along with a shark tooth necklace that rested on his neck and collarbone. Blue, pink, white, and yellow wristbands were lined up on his arms and flip flops rested beside him. All of course was designer. Nothing could possibly ruin this day for him. Nothing at all.

Valerie walked silently along the beach, near the shoreline her bare feet just out of reach of the waves. She happened to be rather short, standing a rather unimpressive four foot nine, coupled with her general small frame the young Daughter of Apollo could be mistaken for eleven despite being fourteen. Of course, if one chose to consider the date of her birth, while Valerie was in fact much older than fourteen. However that was a long story, one which the Campers she made friends with were familiar with.

In spite of her generally friendly nature, she enjoyed spending some time alone. It did not take a genius to know that she mourned her lost friends, virtually all of who were either old men and women now, or worse dead. To them, Valerie disappeared many years ago on a failed mission. Valerie would sometime mention her old friends when she wasn't thinking in conversations and then a sad look would fill her ice blue eyes as the sudden realisation dawned that they were no more. What was a memory to her, to others was history. There still remained the impossible hope that one of her friends might still be alive, but few volunteers wished to go with Valerie for it. Especially after how the last attempt failed miserably.

Valerie's white trainers where laced together and slung over her left shoulder. The girl felt more than a bit self concious in a one piece swimming suit, coloured the same orange of the Camp's t-shirts. She took comfort from the fact that she wasn't wearing a bikini, those were far too embarrassing to wear in her opinion. In her right hand she carried a black sports bag, which contained a towel, bottle of pineapple juice and the rest of her normal clothes as the trainers would not fit. She noticed her friend Narcissus, Valerie found his name impossible to pronounce correctly, she blamed it on her still rather thick Albanian accent. "Hey." She called out to him, forcing a smile onto her face and sounding as friendly as possibly. Valerie disliked feeling sad, but some days it could not be helped, just like some nights she cried herself silently to sleep.

The demigod glanced up over his sunglasses when he heard a familiar say "hey" in his direction. A small smile appeared on Narcissus' face when he found out that it was one of his favorite Apollo child. "Vale! It's so nice to meet you!" He exclaimed, his perfectly white teeth shinning in the sunlight. "Please, come, sit by me." He had an itching feeling that Valerie was hiding something, but he didn't point it out, well not right now anyway.

"Likewise." Valerie replied as she made her way over, putting her stuff down in the sand, before placing her trainers on top of the bag. From there she sat down on the warm sand, enjoying the feeling of the heat as seeped into her skin. "What are you doing out here by yourself?" She inquired, smiling at him as she asked her question.
She knew why she had come to the beach, but as to why one of her friends had? Well there she could only guess. Valerie knew why she had elected to come to the beach and that was to mostly be alone with her thoughts. Her brothers and sisters probably could tell that something was up with Valerie she just did not seem like her usual happy self. She missed her old friends, she of course made knew ones here but the ones from the time she was or had been meant to exist in were no longer around. Despite having been at camp half-blood for a while, she felt like she did when she first arrived all those years ago, just this time with the exception of knowing that the gods were real and here being the only safe place for her kind.

Well... Lets be honesty here was not exactly completely safe. Even inside the camp there were dangers, no wheree was totally safe.

Narcissus ran his well manicured hand through his dirty blonde hair before responding to the daughter of Apollo. "Eh, I needed a break from my friends." He rested his hand on his lap, a small smirk forming on his lips. "And lovers." The seventeen year old demigod winked at Valerie playfully, chuckling a bit. Narcissus stood up and looked at Valerie. "What about you? What are you doing here at the beach?"

Valerie blushed at his wink and looked away for a fraction of a second. "Thanks." Valerie had to look up at Narcissus since she was so short. "Just... Needed some time by myself." She admitted reluctantly to him. "No lovers for me to get away from." She regretted telling him that despite Narcissus being one of his friends. Sometimes the daughters and sons of Aphrodite took that as an opportunity to attempt at being more than just friends.