The plant that keeps the world together.

"I wanted to thank both've you for doin' this for me." Dimitri said, his southern accent was as strong as ever. "Dakota said she lost her locket 'round here. I know it was a long hike up, but we owe her everythin'. What she's been doin' for us lately, all the hours at the infirmary, I had to tell her to stay back at camp. She's still so young. She needs a break from all've this." The demigod continued his walk up, though he kept an eye on Dominika. He couldn't help but worry about her, especially because of her prosthetic leg. The hike must have been a little unpleasant for her, but Dimitri still was even more worried about how she might feel being so close to where she'd lost her leg. They weren't on the hill, but they were close.

Dimitri still hadn't told Alex what had happened between him and Dominika. He hadn't told his best friend about the fate of his parents either. Things were complicated, though Dimitri could still feel a distant pang of guilt about his dishonesty with the son of Demeter. He hoped he could fix things one day.

"She said she dropped it when she got tackled near a lake. Sam had to pull her 'long with'er. I reckon that means it's somewhere 'round here." Dimitri finished his little speech. He'd kept himself isolated from his friends for sometime. But with recent events, and the dangerous waves that seemed to be ahead in his life, he'd accepted that he needed to be a part of a bigger purpose. Alex happened to be the first friend of his that he seeked out once more.

"I'll search the lake. I don't think we'll be lucky 'nough to find it so quick though. Alex, can you do me a favor, check around the vegetation? I figure that's your domain." Dimitri asked, a little smile formed on his face at the memories of morning farming. The grin quickly went blank though, when he thought about his parents. "Dominika. How are you feelin'?"

Dominika had been asked to help Dimitri find a locket that had belonged to Dakota. Dakota was one of the healers that night on the hill. It was weird being back. This time they were out during the day which put Nika a bit more at ease but the hike wasn't nearly as fun with one leg and a fake leg. She had gotten to meet Alex briefly on their way up, as he had been a friend of Dimitri's.

Soon enough she stared at the hill off in the distance, that hill still gave her nightmares to this day. It pained her to even look at it. The forest that lay behind it, was where most of the terrors were. Almost as if it had been yesterday Nika remembered the terrible beast. Nika remembered losing her footing and being grabbed by the monster off deeper into the forest. She remembered the pain as chunks of her leg had been taking out, and her cries had echoed throughout the forest. Even though her leg was gone, she could feel the pain that had once been there.

One tear rolled down her face. It sucked to stand there and relive something. Quickly she wiped away the single tear hoping no one would see. She didn't want to be a burden not today. They were looking for a locket for Dakota, not here to break down about things that haunted her every night.

Dimitri asked how she was feeling and her head turned to look over to him. "I'm fine." She said firmly. Pausing for a few moments she asked him, "Did you want me to look anywhere?"

It felt like it had been ages since Katy had last been on her own. Ever since she confessed to the other Hunters about what happened between her and a boy, it might have just been a single kiss... But even so, most of the other Hunters took it badly. She might have been forgiven for it, yet many of them no longer trusted her and many lost faith in her all together. Since then, she usually stayed with at least one of the other Hunters, enabling her to hide amongst her fellows rather than have to deal with boys or girls that she decided were attractive. Or at least that was what she told the other Hunters.
In reality, there was only one being which held her interest, her heart. She had not seen him in a few months nor even spoken with him. As far as the child of Himeros knew, he could have moved on, found himself a girlfriend rather than moped around wondering about a mysterious Hunter who kissed him.

Yes, she could still remember that day clear as day. She knew by all her vows that she should not have kissed him but... She found herself powerless to resist such a thing. Perhaps it was love and not desire, Katy did not know which one nor did she believe it be appropriate for a Hunter to find out which one it happened to be.
In the end it shouldn't have mattered, there could be no future for them with her a Hunter and him a boy.
Katy tried to silence her dark thoughts as she moved softly through the undergrowth. For her it was a simple mission, just to make sure that the monsters had no re-established themselves in the local area. She possessed no way of knowing how close she happened to be from running into Dimitri again, if she ran into him again who knew what might occur between them.

Once again it was fall. For most, autumn meant colorful leaves, pumpkins, hay rides, Thanksgiving, and 50% off summer clothing, but for Alex, along with the majority of his half-siblings, it meant something totally opposite. Persephone had returned back to her husband and uncle, Hades and Demeter was once again bringing ripened fruit and cold weather to the world.


However, one thing was certain on this fall day and that was the fact that his best friend, Dimitri was back. He hadn't seen him in some time now, roughly around a few weeks or so. The son of Demeter was able to meet a friend of Dimitri's who's name was Dominika. She was a daughter of Zeu- er, Jupiter which he thought was pretty cool and intimidating all at the same time. Apparently something happened to her leg, but he didn't want to ask. He figured perhaps a bad run in with a monster or some snare or trap. Then he wondered what type of hellish beast could do something like that to such a power demigoddess. "Sure. I can look around in the plants." He returned his smile with one of his own before venturing off toward the vegetation. Ever since Dimitri returned, it seemed that he was...distant. He couldn't figure out why that was, unfortunately.

Alex went over by the vegetation, trying to look for the lost locket. "It has to be around here somewhere."

Dimitri frowned at Dominika's bluntness, though he didn't dwell on it. It couldn't always be her job to be the kind one; especially with her former outlook on life taken into consideration. Even without that, it was here that she inflicted injuries that got her leg taken from her, and Dimitri knew that sort of trauma wasn't one that was instantly cured. He shook the bothersome feelings off of his shoulders, if they needed to be dealt with there would be plenty of time later. For now his only concern was finding that locket and bringing it back to Dakota. He owed her that much, especially for letting him keep his arm.

"Actually, yeah." Dimitri replied to Dominika. He'd have liked to have brought her under water to search there with him, but there was a time and a place for that and it wasn't now. "If you wouldn't mind, the dirt path. I know it seems obvious, but you never know how easily it'll get covered'n dirt. That leaves the water for me." Dimitri noted, though it was a no-brainer that he would take the water. With the ability to breathe, travel, and live underwater, he could search the lake faster than a whole search party. If only he'd just been gifted enough to be able to communicate with fish.

"Keep your eyes open, not just for the locket. I know the worst of what lived here is long gone, but that doesn't mean there ain't somethin' else leftover still lurkin'." Dimitri said, his feet slowly carried him over to the edge of the lake. "Stay in sight of eachother; but if you can't, make sure you're close enough that you can help eachother when you need it. If something shows up, yell for help. Once I go down there I won't be able to hear any've you until I resurfaced, so if you need me, throw stones into the lake. Is everyone comfortable with their tasks?"

Unfortunately, being the daughter of Jupiter, the ability to find things weren't her thing. Unless they had been up in the sky somewhere but that was very unlikely. To see Dimitri frown at her being blunt, softened her features up a little bit. She felt a twinge of guilt, as it wasn't his fault that her leg was gone. Wasn't even his fault about all the attacks. Nika could have declined the request to help out all together but she too the chance, to be able to further herself and prove herself. Despite already doing that, she just felt a good measure was always needed.

"I'm good." She said and after they separated their ways, Nika went towards the dirt path. So long as she didn't need to enter the forest she was good. Coming upon the damp dirt pathway, she had began to look left and right for the locket hoping she could find it soon. With every second passing, Nika would get more anxious and would look behind her. The only other time she had felt so scared was back when she was younger, and the man who was supposed to fill in the void of not having a father, abused his title. Her heart grew heavy with the thought, she just wanted to lay somewhere curled up and forgetting the world and its cruelty.

For the present moment she was just terrified of a monster grabbing her other leg and taking her away into the forest. This time she'd only have hopes Alex would be able to help her, or at that point she should probably just give up. To live in fear was almost unbearable, she felt so useless. Feeling something brush against her ankle she freaked out a little and quickly moved away, further on the dirt path. Nika could feel her heart beating in a brisk pace. It was difficult to contain herself and push down all the fear and tears that wanted to emerge. "Not today, not right now." She told herself softly.

Katy found herself by a lake, fortunate seemed to favour her today. There were no monsters in the area, though she did not know for how long. Still it felt good to know that at least for the moment, no monsters were around trying to kill her. Peering through the undergrowth, the hunter froze when her eyes rested on Dimitri. Her mouth suddenly felt really dry, her heart began to beat in her chest like the desperate wings of a trapped bird.
He looked just as handsome as she remembered, perfect as always. Katy longed to go out there and talk to him, hold his hand and... No. She shook her head in an attempt to banish such thoughts from her mind. Yet, there were no other hunters around. Surely no one would mind if she just spoke to him, literally just that. Surely speaking could not possibly lead to kissing, last time it took a net, a tree and monsters. Sure there weren't any monsters around or nets, but yes there was plenty of trees.

Summoning her courage, gathering her resolve, Katy took a deep breath and stood up marching over towards Dimitri. She told herself silently in her head that she was not breaking her oaths to Artemis. She stopped a decent distance away from him as if she suddenly found herself halted by an invisible barrier. Her throat seemed to tighten. "Di... D... Di..." She swallowed quietly, trying to talk to him. "I..." She sighed. "Hi." Katy finally managed to force out.
Right now Katy did not wish she was dressed like a hunter, it would automatically draw attention to herself. A handsome boy and a beautiful hunter girl, alone by the lake shore. That was surely going to make some form of a delicious story.

After heeding the advice from Dimitri about being in visible distance, or at least in shouting distance of Dominika, he went off to continue his search. However before he left, he looked over at the daughter of Jupiter and announced, "If you need me I'll be over here. If you can't see me, then just say my name into tree or somethin' and I'll hear it." After giving a warm smile, he turned and walked in the opposite direction.


Alex didn't know it yet, but things were about to get really awkward. How awkward was yet to be determined. The son of Demeter ventured more into the forest until he came to a good sized tree. Taking in a deep breath, he touched his head to the bark of the tree and started to ask if it had seen a locket around. Green speaking was one of the abilities that Alex loved and found very usual. You'd be surprise how much the trees and plants talk amongst themselves. Whispers started to come from the tree along with it's branches rustling even though there was no wind. The plants around it started to whisper as well, moving their branches in search of the locket.

After couple of minutes, he received word that one of the plants had found a piece of the locket by the their roots. "Thank you." Alex whispered before going into the direction. Once there, he knelt down and picked it up. "I just a caught...a piece-o-locket!" He did the whole "Ash finding a new Pokémon thing" before putting it in his pocket.

Dimitri watched his allies go their separate ways. He was glad to see that they were listening to him, especially Alex who was taking initiative of his own. The demigod was hopeful that his friends would all get along; a foreign thing that he hadn't had to worry about at Camp Half-Blood. When it came to being outside and taking care of themselves, people didn't have the luxury of selecting who they wanted to be around. Their choices would always be to work with eachother and survive or to split up over their differences. Dimitri often feared that the ladder was all too real of a nightmare that could happen to everyone.

Dimitri could still hear Alex not too far from him, so he decided it was time to get into the lake. With his boots on the shoreline, he was milliseconds from taking his first step when suddenly he heard a noise from behind him. Dimitri's hand instantly gripped his dagger that was on his belt, his body practically twisted around in an instant. He was ready for a monster, or even another person that was ready to inflict harm on him. What he wasn't ready for was Katarina.

Dimitri's expression changed from hardened and ready to immediately softened. His hand let go of the grip on his dagger. Dimitri's hands hovered up to his eyes, rubbing them violently before he looked up at her again. He couldn't believe his eyes, and he was ready to think they were playing trick on him. He wouldn't dare call back either of his allies and ask if they could see her; it would only make the situation an odd one. His chest welled with feelings that he thought were gone.

"Hi..." Dimitri replied. His head glanced down at the ground, he simply couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes. The hunter he'd met so long ago was suddenly here once more. How was he supposed to tell someone who had faith in him what he had become? When it came to those he called his friends, they had the chance to see him change over time. The last time Dimitri had seen the hunter he'd been a much different person. "I uh. I didn't think we'd ever be seein' eachother again..." Dimitri muttered. He wasn't sure what to say, much less what to feel.

"Neither did I." Katy answered, feeling distinctly self concious and guilty. She should not have headed over to talk to him, she needed to leave. They both walked different paths, completely different paths. Katy was a hunter, whatever she felt could never be.
Such was life, such was her fate. "I suppose I should go." Katy whispered quietly, knowing in her heart that precious little good might come from their interaction here together. Especially if other Hunters were in fact watching this exchange. She needed to leave. Part of her longed to press close to him, his arms wrapped around hers as their lips met, but she knew that it was forbidden. Why was it the forbidden fruit that happened to be the most desirable?

She glanced nervously over her shoulder, staring back at the direction she had come from. Katy wondered if she should have asked the other Hunters to come with her. Yet, she had no way of knowing that she would have run into Dimitri. It was regrettable but also heart warming. In a weird way, it felt good to see him again even though it really should not. She knew the other Hunters weren't best pleased about what happened and Katy held no desire to jeopardise her position in the Hunt any further.
"I really should go, I... I..." No good could come from their meeting.

Dimitri was still short of breath at seeing her; it was unreal to see someone he'd shared unknown things with. Dimitri retrieved the calling card she had once given him from his pocket. What was he supposed to say to her? She didn't even want to see him enough to say more than hi. "I uh. I never called you." Dimitri said, in reference to the card. "I never called you because I just couldn't. You have a family." Dimitri could feel his heart slam against the floor at his own mention of family. The family he had once so loved and depended on was now gone, and he was never going to get to see them again. "You have a family. And, I know how precious that is. I couldn't bare to take that from someone." Dimitri said, regret filling his voice.

He missed his parents.

Dimitri held the calling card in his hand, something that had gone with him wherever he went. He handed it to Katarina, leaving it there for her to take, though he wouldn't force her to. Dimitri was good with physical contact, but in this case, it was different. It wouldn't be fair to Katarina, who had the curse of being a daughter of Himeros.

"Things are different now. I'm not the boy you gave this to." Dimitri said. His arm was covered in long sleeves, but the scars under it were a good way to tell who he was and what he had gone through. Dimitri took his free hand to his other arm, pushing the sleeves upwards to reveal hideous deep scar tissues in his arm, no part of his forearm was untouched by cuts and bites. "Things are different now." He reiterated. "You wouldn't believe the things that I've seen. The things I've had to do. It ain't nightmares that haunt me anymore; it's reality. I'm not the boy you kissed anymore. I'm just another monster out here."

Katy shook her head when he offered her the Hunter card back. "No." She told him simply. "You can keep that and or give it to a girl wishing to join the hunt." She did not trust herself to go close towards him, it might lead to things, they might start kissing each other again. "You don't need to explain why you did not call." If he had called her whilst she was with the Hunters it might have raised further questions.
It certainly would not have pleased Aria. "The Hunters are like a family, they are my sisters and I their sister in return." She was not sure if his own family happened to be intact. Katy felt like it was not her place to comment or ask about it. The pair of them after all failed to talk to each other since she returned to the Hunters. Perhaps she should? But... Then again her question might be anything but appreciated by him. Besides the Hunter happened to be terrified that she might kiss him again. "Things are different here and regardless of how I feel about you I can't... I..." She shook her head, taking a step back from him. "I can't feel this way about you even if we could be our own family together as much as I...." Katy stopped herself. "We... I, all of this has to stop and despite my feelings we can't ever be." She never mentioned his own feelings, for she did not know them.
Right now, all she wanted to do was to kiss him, yet she resisted the dark desires that tried to drag her away from the path of a Hunter, the path she had chosen to walk. She swore an oath to Artemis and she would do all that was in her power to keep it.

Dominika had searched up the dirt path quite a ways by this point. She had a few different problems arise, mostly just her fears and she wanted to take Alex's offer up of calling into a tree but she couldn't be that weak, there was no way. Nika being stubborn wasn't the best of things to be now a days. She sighed softly and then she began to walk back. Slowly she made it back into view. She saw Dimitri with a girl. Her hair long and ginger, she was wearing hunter clothing and she could see Dimitri holding out a card. Was that the calling card he had mentioned to her a few months back?

Walking back towards them, to tell Dimitri she hadn't found anything, she could hear part of the conversation. She was talking about her feelings in relation to Dimitri. To Nika it pulled a few chords with her, but she still continued forward. This had to be the girl Dimitri mentioned before. Is it likely he called her? Or did she just end up here? Either way, Nika figured he hadn't spoken to her since. Finally coming up to the two, she looked between them and looked to Dimitri. "I didn't find any part of the locket on the dirt path."

The African American demigod made his way back to where the group was with part of the locket in his hand. Alex saw someone, a girl, talking with Dimitri. He was curious as to who it was. Perhaps another person to help search for the other part of the locket. He got there a few seconds after Dominikia did.

"I actually found a part of it." He smiled, opening his hand to reveal part of the locket that belonged to Dakota. His head turned between Dimitri and the girl, then to the daughter of Jupiter, then back between the two. "Uhhh...Hi! I'm Alex, son of Demeter." He out stretched his hand toward the ginger haired female.

Dimitri was silent, throughout the entirety of Dominika and Alex arriving. He wondered how the hunter felt about them showing up out of nowhere. Dimitri himself felt conflicted about whether he wanted them here or he wanted privacy now. Of course, he felt obligation to Dominika to let her be here to hear this. Dimitri still had the calling card in his hand, and in truth, he wasn't sure if he wanted to hold onto it for even another second. It served as a reminder to the girl that had shown him odd feelings. "I don't really believe in sendin' girls to the hunt." Dimitri said, despite the pair having met up with them. "It ain't that I have anythin' 'gainst the hunters. They're strong. But that means I'm sendin' off my own people." Dimitri made a point, though he wasn't sure what intent he held.

"Katarina, this is Dominika. She's a daughter of Jupiter. Very brave and very strong. She reminds me of you in some ways." Dimitri put his arm on Dominika's shoulder, and looked towards her. "Thank you for lookin' for me. Dominika, this is Katarina. She's the hunter I told you about." Dimitri said, though he wasn't sure he wanted to expand on his memories of Katarina. There was a strange feeling that pulled at him when he thought about mentioning that she was his first kiss. "Alex, this is Katarina. She's a hunter I met one day when I was trapped outside of camp. It was a while back, before I knew how to... y'know. So she looked out for me."

Nika was confused for awhile until introductions where being made. Dimitri had spoken to the hunter who Nika now knew as Katarina. Was this the hunter that he had kissed awhile back. Any thoughts that tried to swirl her mind in that moment she tried to shake away. She couldn't think those things, it wasn't right and they weren't fair. Soon enough she felt his arm on her shoulder and he looked towards her. Smiling at him, she gave him a nod and a quiet "you're welcome." As he introduced her to Katarina.

Confirmed, this was the hunter he had kissed awhile ago. Dominika wasn't sure how she felt about that. Not like she was with Dimitri at the time, and it wasn't a secret either. Just to see her in person was a bit unnerving, she supposed. It was when, he spoke to Alex that she remembered he found a piece of the locket. It was sad that the locket was broken in two. This made their work a little bit harder.

"Greetings Katarina, it's nice to meet you."

Katy took a step back at the arrival of another boy, even the arrival of another girl did little to ease the tension building in the situation. "Hi Alex, Hi Dominika." She greeted them both evenly, she made not attempt to take the card from Dimitri.
"I should go." She insisted this time taking a step back. She found her eyes narrowing at Dimitri's arm being around the other girl. The Hunter however was not sure whether her dislike of it grew from the fact that it meant she probably would not become a Hunter, or whether it stemmed from jealousy. After all this was something she knew she would never experience nor was meant to know.
"I should return to my sisters there are no monsters here." Her eyes lingered on Dimitri for a moment longer before she whipped around, heading along the lake shore. The Hunter decided to not look back, she found herself feeling hurt about Dimitri. She knew that she should not get upset over a boy of all things, besides it was not like there could ever of been a future for them together. This was far better for them both, this fact however did precious little to alleviate the pain caused by it.

Dimitri stood where he was, the card in his hand still held out as though someone was standing in front of him. He felt conflicted, guilt-ed by the pain of the poor cursed hunter. Part of him also felt sorrow from the whole thing. After what they had been through and survived through, she hadn't even said goodbye to him. And for the first time in his life, Dimitri suddenly felt as though he'd been used by another person. The sensation was not a pleasant one at all. His expression hardened, and his eyes narrowed. He still had a locket to find, and having his friends there helped him. Thanks to Alex, they were halfway done their job.

"Thank you." The demigod said to the son of Demeter. Dimitri looked back to Dominika. "Hey." He said, he wanted to get her attention. Dimitri wished he'd told Alex that he was dating Dominika. But due to the recent circumstances of his loved ones having been killed, it felt too dangerous for it to be known that Dominika was his last loved one left. "You do know that I-" Dimitri began, though his words were cut off.

A tentacle wrapped around the demigod's leg, and he looked down just in time to notice it before it pulled. "Je-" Dimitri exclaimed, though the tentacle quickly yanked him into the water. For that moment, Dimitri got soaking wet and inhaled water. For that instant, even his instincts were too shocked to remember he was amphibious. Dimitri breathed in a breath of air under the water. If there was anything lucky, it was at least that he was the one pulled in.

Dominika watched as Katarina had said hi and practically left. Nika couldn't help but feel bad for the hunter. She seemed to have a lot of love for Dimitri and it obviously hurt her. There was nothing Nika could do though. Not before long Katarina was walking down the lake shore and when she heard Dimitri speak she turned to look at him. He was saying something but his words were cut off and he was dragged into the lake. "Dimitri!" She yelled out, not sure what to do and concerned about him.

It was then that she was hit hard in the back and toppled to the ground. Something was angry. Grunting she got up turned to face the monster. Was this place infested with them or something? Hopefully these ones didn't want to eat her flesh. Nika got her spear ready and was ready for the next attack. She just hoped Dimitri would be fine. She thought about using her lightening but she could accidentally hit Dimitri if she tried to hit him with that. Plus electricity and water didn't really mix well.

Katarina turned round at the sound of a struggle and Dominka's shout. She drew her repeater crossbow, scanning for a threat. Yes she might have lacked the same accuracy as her sisters, but she possessed a much higher rate of fire than them. Unfortunately she could not risk firing at this range for she might hit Dominka who appeared to be fighting what looked like a tentacle.
Evidently it seemed that the monsters were still infesting the area. They merely had been waiting for the tasty demigods to group themselves together. Now she wished that she had brought a couple of the other hunters with her. But she had not, so she would need to fight along side the other demigods instead of her fellow sisters. With a heavy sigh, Katarina slung her crossbow, drawing her silver daggers and heading back with all speed to help Dominka. She did not know where Dimitri had gone, yet with the lake close by, it was not hard to hazard a guess at where he might be fighting.

OOC: sorry about the late reply.