the hills are alive with the sound of -- OH GODS IS THAT A WASP [private]

So, Bee may have snuck away from her cabin before lunch and ran for the hills. Not because she was an early bird or anything and absolutely wanted to start doing activities immediately, in fact far from it, but she didn't want any of her cabinmates breathing over her shoulder for any reason at all as one or two seemed very apt to do. For the past month and a half, a few of them had been subtly nagging her to go pick up a weapon, figure out her abilities, embrace them, and then use them because oh my gods Bee you have gifts as much as the rest of us. She'd stubbornly refused for the most part, still partially out of denial of her heritage and newfound life and partially because she wanted to spite those assholes out of another pawn to their schemes. It was hard to ignore the whispers about Cabin 21, and it frightened Bee to even be distantly related to any of them.

So: She'd train on her own. In secret. Without them knowing. Maybe. Hopefully. Find her own way without their help. Get strong. Go home before turning 18. Be safe. Yeah. This was a good plan.

The daughter of Melisseus wasn't exactly stealthy, but somehow she had gotten out of the cabin without so much as tripping over a loose floorboard while they were all gone at lunch (she had claimed she'd "catch up" but suspected no one would care what she was up to) and ran off into the sunset to the weapon shed with the dagger Stella had left on her pillow in hand. No one was around as far as she could see; they were all stuffing their faces at lunch and probably starting fights. Chiron had showed the arsenal to her on the camp tour when she first arrived, and thank God because she threw that piece of crap back into the pile and picked out her own weapons, ones she had had her eye on since she had first taken a closer look at the stores a week ago: some sort of mace and another dagger, albeit slightly shorter than the one she had just returned. She'd been right: they both felt balanced in her hands, perfect for her to use if she ever got desperate enough.

Cue her scurrying out to the power-developing arena with her loot in tow and hoping no one would see her, and then stopping short in the entrance to the PDA as she took everything in for the second time during her stint at camp. For the most part, it looked like a regular workout course in some parts: weights and a weightlifting bench going up to the 100 lbs each in one corner, some sort of running track encircling the arena with a speed checker you'd see on the side of the road, other things. Nothing she could or would use. Bee powers related little to running fast or to lifting weights.

She hadn't planned this far. Spur of the moment decisions to sneak away from people who could care less about her were, probably, a stupid idea but then again, so was the entire concept of this stupid camp Jesus Christ what am I going to d-- She stopped mid-thought as a faint buzzing sound approached her back.

Missus? Hello hello again miss.

"Oh, it's... you." Bee turned her head slightly in bewilderment as a bee began to encircle her head and then, after a brief pause, landed on her shoulder. It felt like absolutely nothing.

Remember me, missus? From the forest a week ago. We talked somes. I'm Daisy. You look mad?

"Uh. Well." She probably looked ten times more uncomfortable now than before. Was this really a power she could train? Just talking to bees? Maybe she had something else she could do, because as far as she knew no other demititan had so few powers and, for that matter, such a useless one. (Not that she'd actually seen them all use their powers. Why would she?) There was nothing here for her, maybe, except a few dummies standing so innocently in the middle of the arena. She could... talk to bees or something and maybe persuade them to attack people? Something like that. She had no idea what she could do and maybe had been hoping to figure that out today. "I... might need help with something, Daisy."

~~~~~

[ooc: i have no idea how this came to bee it just happened

also i have no idea what this place looks like sooo]

Bee almost had a heart attack when a new voice, much louder this time, came into the picture -- she hadn't seen her there and, frankly, hadn't expected to see anyone at the power-training arena during lunchtime. The new girl was nonchalantly eating a sandwich and dressed like she was about to run a marathon in the city. Not too far from the truth, maybe.

It took her a second, but the daughter of Melisseus recognized this girl: she was one of her cabinmates in good ol' 21, but they had never really talked at all. (Her name was Sheila or something, wasn't it? Something with an sh- sound at the beginning. Shiloh. Sheena. Shawna. Shakira.) She could not for the life of her remember half of the other demititans' names, probably 'cause she never talked to any of them for more than two minutes before scuttling away to hide in a corner while they talked about their silly camp stuff or try to pick fights with other people (including each other, ha). It didn't help that she had never been formally introduced to most of them and had little to no basis to go on for playing her guessing game with their names except for the daily almost-fights they all got into.

Hopefully this one was nice.

"Uh. Heh. Sorry, didn't see ya there." Was her face burning? It felt like it. Maybe -- hopefully -- Dionysus had amped up the sun's heat a bit today and that was why she felt so uncomfortable. "I was just, uh, talking to this bee here. Named Daisy."

"Uh, well. Didn't like sitting at the table." Bee frowned at the other girl, who was beginning to do this weird manipulation thing with this semi-dark substance swirling above her hand. Like light manipulation, maybe? She didn't know. She didn't really want to know, she didn't care because what was she gonna ever need to know that for? Nothing, unless for some reason they accidentally switched powers one day and needed to fight some insidious creatures to get everything right again. Knowing this camp and all its alleged magical properties, she wouldn't be surprised if that were the case one day. "I don't like hearing them pick fights all the time, either, but whatever. What can I do? I just wanna train and then go home as soon as possible. I don't like it here."

We'll always defend you, missus! The bee on her shoulder buzzed almost happily; she would have patted it in response, but frankly that would have looked a lot weirder than this whole situation already was.

"Er, thanks, Daisy."

Some are cool? Well, Bee certainly hadn't interacted with any demititans worth calling "cool" -- not even this girl, because who knows. Maybe she'd turn around and blast her full in the face with that pretty light magic stuff from her hands, and then Bee wouldn't have a face or something. She didn't have a high enough opinion of any of the people in camp yet to think otherwise. Magic seemed to be very dangerous, and if Bee wasn't careful there were billions of potential problems she could get into.

She watched the girl form her lights into some sunset-esque display, admiring it for a brief second before deigning to form a reply in her head. "Oh, just Maryland. My mama works at the University of Maryland in their entomology department. How 'bout you?"

Maryland? We have cousins there, there in Maryland. Daisy buzzed a bit louder now, but stopped when Bee gave her (or him?) a slightly annoyed look. But you say you need my help? I will help my lord's daughter any time. As will my brothers and sisters.

Asking a little bee for help. How low would she go? "Uh. Yeah. You know anything about, ah, Melisseus' powers, Daisy?"

He controls the bees! He is a master beekeeper. He controls bee hives and honey very well. You could maybe do the same, but only if you do the tries.

Amazon? Like, the big website where you could buy anything from phone cases to live ladybugs? Well, it was a large company, so it wasn't too far-fetched that this girl's parent -- mortal parent -- could work there.

Bee shrugged, side-eyeing the light tendrils as they began to strangle the dummy. Would have assumed they were some sort of light show-esque display if it weren't for the fact that she could physically see them squeezing the dummy like a dog's squeaky chew toy. "There's no honey around, so I can't really try. And why would there be? That isn't, like, the most common power out there."

You can try calling my brethren? Daisy suggested suddenly, buzzing in what seemed like a serious tone. Why did it sound like that to her? Maybe Bee could sense bees' emotions too. They might come. Lord Melisseus wouldn't leave his childs defenseless.

"Maybe, Daisy. How far's your hive?"

Mile at most.

Creating honey? That was a possibility too, maybe, but she didn't have anything to create it from. Light, like what this other girl used, was one thing; honey was another.

"What other powers do you guys have?" Bee wondered aloud, half to herself and half to her cabinmate. She had rarely seen the others use their powers, besides some brief flashes of light or something and gusts of wind and all -- but that was only when she had to turn around and leave, because she sure as hell wasn't gonna sit and watch them beat the snot out of other people.

Missus? Missus, try calling my siblings. That's a start, isn't it?

"But how, Daisy?"

Concentrate in your head. S'how lots of demigods do it -- to summon stuff.

"On what?"

Uh. Bees. My hive a mile away. Maybe. I think there is one closer.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply, wondering where the hell her life was going. What if she concentrated... and nothing happened? Oh well. It wasn't like anyone but Bee could tell what was going on in her head. Hesitantly, she frowned to herself and concentrated, mentally chanting to herself: Bees. Bees. Flock to me. Bees. Do something please.

Bee only half-heard Shay's reply, concentrating with a furrowed brow on calling out to a hive or something as Daisy buzzed on her shoulder. It was almost like the bee was humming to comfort her, soothe her head from going a mile a minute as she mentally chanted: Bees. Bees. Come to me. It kept her grounded there, even though it barely registered in her head; the only thing she noticed was a faint buzzing from the back of her own mind, almost like a ringing as she thought and thus overtook her internal chanting and rendering it into a half-word, half-bzz monstrosity of thought.

But at last, she resurfaced, opening her eyes and frowning at nothing in front of her. Bee rubbed her forehead and took a quick glance around. "Anything?"

Nope. But perhaps be patient? Takes time to fly.