Prom 2016: Arabian Nights!

Dimitri let his girlfriend lead him to the dance floor. He had to admit, it was intriguing. There were colors, the lighting was fascinating, the music wasn't the same. He wondered what it would be like to live where this was normal. It had been a long time since Dimitri imagined what a normal life would be. Normal meant many different things for many different people. He knew for sure, living life like a demigod, was anything but normal. For anyone.

To say Dimitri wasn't good at dancing was an understatement. Maybe if his partner wasn't so excellent at it, he wouldn't notice how much flare it took. Dimitri, until he had been on the earth for seventeen years, had never once done any sort of dancing, much less even knew it existed. Dominika had originally introduced him to the concept, and ever since, had utterly dominated him in the art. Even still, he knew how much it meant to her. He also knew it was one of the few things she shared in common with her mother; a bond he wanted to last. Though, he suspected that it very may well not.

He had to focus in order to keep his rhythm. It wasn't as easy to find his niche in dancing as it was in combat and communication. His blood didn't have very much art in it. The issue was it was hard to focus with Dominika right in front of him. He could feel his cheeks redden after she had started showing him the steps. This wasn't the first time they had danced, but it still felt brand new to him. "Didn't think we'd be doin' this again." Dimitri whispered.

The ant disappeared into thin air and Daeseung chuckled gleefully. "Knew it!" she giggled. "Oh hey Annika, what's up?"

Grabbing two drinks and a plate of food, I followed Salem and sat down next to her. "Alright. What do you wanna kill?"I asked. "Not the barmaid, she's rather nice."


OOC: more characters later

"Well it's not entirely like I tried to hide it as a whole..." Elise said with a modest smile, rubbing her wrist. Might be a nervous tick. "If someone can peg you immediately, it's best to not try and bullshit them, don't you think?" She shrugged, glancing at whoever this girl was talking to now.

"Well there is no point trying to do that," Daeseung rubbed her hands. The ant illusion hadn't cost her a lot of energy, but it was simply a habit she had acquired after using one of her powers. Taking her glass back into her hand, she amiably smiled at Elise. "Are you here with anyone?"

Cleopatra giggled as Cyrus walked off, imitated by her girls.

"Oh em gee, I can't believe you just did that!"

"Wow, Cleo."

Scarlett frowned. "How dare he say your attitude is Walmart! That's so bogus, I mean. Just look at yourself. You're Prada, he's nada."

Cleopatra elegantly shrugged. "He just said that to cut his humiliation in half. Now he's drinking at the bar, and where am I? Dancing with the hottest crew of demi goddesses alive!" Her girls cheered and the dancing continued. You didn't always need a guy to have fun, a girl's night out was just as good, Cleopatra thought with a triumphant smirk. Sometimes even better.

"Good to see you agree on that front, I'd hate for you to make me see a giant spider next," she smiled, leaning against the bar as she grabbed her iced tea, lazily stirring the glass before taking a sip from it. Elise figured that what she saw had to be a trick. This kid having fear powers was definitely one indicator of that, but once the ant had disappeared she was pretty certain. Although the thought of a giant spider wasn't any more pleasant for her for realizing it, whether it would be fake or not. "And no, I'm here by myself I'm afraid," Elise shrugged, taking another sip of her tea before giving the girl a good natured smile. "But hey, scares aside, I'm enjoying myself so far."

Daeseung smiled and nodded. "I'm waiting for my girlfriend, but I don't think she's gonna show up. Not exactly the party type. What about you, are you looking for anyone?" She made her eyebrows bounce. "Boy or girl?"

Elise gave a light laugh at her teasing, covering her mouth as she calmed down for a moment. Usually that kind of humor didn't get to her, but she was here to relax. A good change of pace from her usual routine.

"Oh no, I'm not really someone who's hit the dating scene I'm afraid," she shrugged with a polite smile. "Usually I'm working or doing something... it's just never made itself a priority. But even if neither of us is here with anyone, it's all good, right? Got a good conversation going and good drinks, what more could you need? Honestly it feels good to unwind for once."

"You Athena kids are always so busy. Must be nice indeed to just get out and have fun," Daeseung agreed. She finished her drink and ordered another one. "Do you play any sports?"

"Yea, relaxing is great," Elise agreed, resting her arm on the counter. "But I feel like I might fall behind on whatever I'm doing if I'm away from it for too long," she shrugged. "And I don't play any sports competitively, but I do have a fondness for soccer. I feel like I'm getting fairly decent at it. Not great, but decent," she smiled. "What about yourself? You have any that you really like?"

"Really? I love soccer too." The Korean smiled and stole a spicy snack from one of the plates. "But I'm more of an acrobatics person myself. My mother's a contortionist so she kinda got me into that," she chuckled.

Elise listened with a smile as she took another sip of her iced tea, doing her best not to spit the drink back up as she gave a surprised glance at the girl, covering her mouth. "Wait, wait... you're a contortionist? But... how does that even? Jesus Christ I can't even imagine trying to bend my body like that... it hurts just thinking about it."

"I'm fairly flexible. All it takes is a good amount of practice and the will to train,," she said. "My mother's real contortionist , I'm an amateur. But there again I'm an amateur at several circus disciplines." She chuckled. "Funnily enough, tightrope walking can come in handy during fights."

"Still impressive though," Elise shrugged honestly. "I bet flexibility can come in handy in plenty of situations. I like to feel like I know my tactics, but I just have to ask... how has tightrope walking possibly come in handy in combat so far? I'm not denying it does... it's just a point of curiosity."

Daniel walked into the mess hall, not really sure what to expect. He wasn't a dancer, certainly. He definitely wasn't comfortable at events like this, but he needed to unwind, according to his brothers and sisters in Cabin 4. He smiled slightly, wondering if they'd be upset at him showing up in jeans and a t-shirt. Classy wasn't really his style. He looked around, amazed at the way the mess hall had been transformed. It looked downright exotic compared to the way it was usually adorned. Realizing that he was standing at the entrance and probably looked awkward as all hell, he strode over to the bar, suddenly wishing he had dressed up. He hated attention.

"Hey, could I get some whiskey? Neat? Jameson if you have it." The son of Demeter drummed his fingers nervously as he looked around. There were girls and guys dancing together, the band was playing, and he felt completely out of his comfort zone. Hopefully the whiskey would help.

"During the battle of Manhattan, I may or may not have fired bolts from the top of laundry strings," she admitted. It hadn't been easy to find a string strong enough to carry her bodyweight, but when she had found one, she hadn't left it for twenty good minutes.

The bartender nodded and gave Daniel a small glass of whiskey.
"Hey Dan!" Jana Kay waved at her brother from behind the buffet. "You showed up, that's awesome!" The fourteen years old Scot beamed at him and nudged a plate of snacks over to where he was standing.  She had been one of his siblings to tell him to come to prom, as it was always a fun thing to do.

Daniel smiled wide as he heard Jana Kay greet him. She was one of his favorite siblings, despite her always telling him to relax. He thanked the bartender and moved towards the buffet, glass in hand. He laughed a bit as he took a sip of his whiskey. "I had to think about it for a long time. Wasn't really sure I wanted to."

Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. "Definitely didn't want to dress the part. You guys did a great job with the buffet! Sorry I wasn't more help with the cooking." It wasn't that the sixteen year old farmer hadn't tried to help, it was just that he didn't know how to cook anything more exotic than pizza.

"Not the sturdiest things... I have to commend that," Elise said with a cheeky smile, raising her glass. "I'm not really an up-front fighter myself, but pulling something like that is on a different level entirely. Props to you for pulling it off."

Salem scoffed again. "I could fire magic her into a pile of ash if I wanted to." She said with distaste in her mouth. "Ugh, why am I even here? I'm like that sister no one likes, but is forced to because of her older sibling." The daughter of Hecate turned to look at Morgan.

Robert listened to Lia talk about the history of Turkey. It was all information he already knew; but hearing it all come from Lia left Robert with a peculiar expression on his face. He didn't have any doubts that Lia could be smart, but he didn't think she would be that in depth with it. It was impressive, it caused Robert to look at her in a different light. Not that he hadn't respected her before, but it was different when someone had above-average intelligence. That was one of his favorite things about living in the Athena cabin; most of his half-brothers and half-sisters were very knowledgeable. Upon further inspection, he was beginning to see that Lia was one of the more bright minds at camp as well. Though, their thoughts on transparency seemed to be opposite.

"Believe it or not, I did know that." Robert replied. Sure, he loved to be a show-off with his knowledge (despite his desire for transparency) when it came down to his bare skeleton. But he didn't like to be cocky when people shared their knowledge with him. It was an utterly pleasant act when people could teach one another. That was a much more efficient system, Robert figured. Self education, combined with small groups and word of mouth, could work wonders for at least smaller communities. "But, I'm impressed you know. There's an utter abundance of people who don't know anything about lesser-re-known countries."

"Their drinks are very different from what you would find in our own culture. Then again, I don't think I would count our capitalism-based beverages as only our culture anymore, as they're certainly international. More classic American beverages would be coffee, or even tea, which was invented by the Chinese and not the English. In a lot of Middle Eastern beverages, classic ones, anyway, they use a lot dates and milk. Often times they brew, or use plants in their drinks." Robert explained. He suspected that they wouldn't have those sorts of drinks at a prom, they weren't exactly appealing to a lot of people. Regardless, he followed Lia over to the bar.

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She called him out on his blush, which he knew would happen. He couldn't sneak anything passed her, not that he tried to, ever. He recalled what her mother had said to him about her hair being down. He'd only known her for slightly over a year, but very little of that time was spent without feelings for her. Ever since that day he saw her outside of Camp Jupiter, and they bonded over their views on life, he knew he felt strongly about her. It took him a long time to figure out what she meant to him, more than anyone before her. She wasn't just a friend, but now, it was clear what she was. She didn't like dresses at all, and in the moment, Dimitri questioned why he'd asked her here. He couldn't keep his eyes away from the daughter of Jupiter, but if she didn't want to be here, he didn't want her to be. He just wanted her to have a night away from being a demigod. They all deserved at least that much.

Dimitri's face suddenly lit up as he heard her words come out. His teeth flashed, while they completely halted their dance. Dimitri couldn't help but chuckle, and even begin giggling over it. He moved his hands from position and wrapped them around his date, giving her a wide hug, pulling her in. "When, huh?" Dimitri asked, though all he felt was a beaming joy running through him. He left a long kiss on her lips before drawing his face just in front of hers to re-establish the eye-contact. He'd thought about asking her, even tonight, it's what he wanted. But he knew that there were some loose ends to tie first. Then he could pop the question to her.

"When we do get married, where d'ya wanna live?" Dimitri asked, in a gentle whisper into her ear. The idea was comfortable to Dimitri at this point. He'd felt a desire to be her partner, forever. If he thought it was safe, he would have gone through with it where they stood. He just needed a little more time. But he did want to make her feel happy about saying what she did. "My parents woulda wanted me t'do a church wedding." Dimitri admitted.

"Oh cheer up, grumpy cat. No one hates you." I handed her a drink and raised my glass briefly. "To a prom with a low death count!"
I knew Salem was heartbroken about Ryan, and hid it under an extra layer of sassy snark. I honestly couldn't blame her, but I also wanted her to forget about it and have fun. The best fixes to a broken heart were a drink and a dance floor . Ryan wasn't the only person she could date here!

Daeseung shrugged. "Thanks. It's really just about focus and finding your balance. Once you got that you can do pretty much anything, even fire stuff at your enemies."

"You're not the only one out of theme," Jana Kay said. "Don't worry about it, just have fun! I'll be here if you need a snack."

"But wouldn't even the slightest resistance pose an issue there? I mean you need like... absolute balance, so even a little shake has to threaten to knock you off, right?" Elise asked. "Then again, with your talents, maybe you just scared them all away from you," she teased with a smile, finishing off her drink.

Daniel shuffled a bit, looking around at everyone. The concept of talking to most of them slightly intimidated him. There were guys that were elegantly dressed, and there were girls that would probably look at him like a worm. His jeans were covered in dirt and mud, and you could barely make out the original color of his boots. In fact, he'd probably get yelled at for tracking mud everywhere. His orange camp shirt was a bit faded, though much cleaner than his jeans, with some tears near the base.

Brown eyes flicked back towards Jana Kay in dismay. "I don't know how to dance." He managed to choke out in a whisper. Having been raised on the farm with nothing to do but work, he never got around to going out and learning. All he really wanted to do was relax. His square face betrayed his embarrassment, and he started picking at some of the snacks Jana Kay had given him. "I'd rather be playing soccer. At least the music is good, though." At that, Daniel gave the first smile of the evening, the reaction looking much like a boulder cracking open. He moved back to the bar to find a spot to sit, waving at Jana Kay. "Thanks for the snacks, let me know if you want me to take over the buffet so you can dance!"

Daeseung nodded. "Oh yeah, you have to be ready to jump at a second's notice. I thought one of the demigods was gonna knock me off at some point. Apollo kids have these boxing glove arrows, you know? Aimed it right at my feet, the b@stard."

Jana Kay nodded happily. "Sure thing!" Even though her boyfriend James wasn't here right now -- off on holidays with his mother -- she still had Penny, Lisa and Coral. Oh, and Dayami! It would be fun to have a girl's evening like this where they could sprawl out on the couches and stuff their faces with deliciously gooey chocolate snacks. And you know, forget the existence of dignity.

Daeseung glanced at the guy who had sat down near Elise and her. He was one of the Demeter guys, Daniel. He looked a bit out of his comfort zone so the Korean girl nodded at him before looking back at Elise.

"To me not causing a fire and ruining everyone's night." She raised her glass as well and pressed it to her lips. Her eyes scanned over the prom dance floor and became more upset. "Can I leave now? There's no point in being here!"